Is Abbas this smart?

March 7: Abbas seems to endorse Olmert and Kadima. "I hope that Olmert wins ... I know him well, and I believe that I could work with him in a productive way."

March 7: Abbas says "I have no problem releasing Ahmed Saadat tomorrow, but with one condition: to have a letter from the PFLP politburo saying that I am not responsible for what would happen to him after that."

Now that Saadat is released and captured by Israel, Olmert gets a boost from the Israeli electorate.

Beyond that, Abbas had nothing to gain from Saadat being in the PA parliament, as he would work against both Fatah and Hamas. By freeing him he would strengthen his opposition.

I tend to doubt it, as Abbas never betrayed any political smarts before, and it was not a huge win for him - the world Arab reaction has been that Abbas was humiliated by the Israeli operation. Still, it is something to think about.

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Everything you need to know about Palestinian Arabs....

...you could have learned yesterday:

• "(PFLP leader) Saadat's cell was more of an office. He had telephones and television sets. The jail's Palestinian guards stayed away from his quarters, which included a kitchen and an area to receive guests."
  
• "Under the terms of the Ramallah Agreement, the six prisoners were meant to be kept in seclusion although this was routinely violated by the Palestinian jailers. The monitors made a note of these violations but they were powerless to intervene."
• "Security officials contended long ago that the Jericho jail sentence was a joke. Except for a sign announcing the facility as a jail, there were no other trappings of such. Visitors were frequent, including Palestinian leaders. Comings and goings were almost unimpeded. The most egregious moment was when the secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Ahmed Saadat, was suspected of masterminding from his jail cell a suicide bombing in the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv."
• Abbas on March 7: "'I have no problem releasing Ahmed Saadat tomorrow, but with one condition: to have a letter from the PFLP politburo saying that I am not responsible for what would happen to him after that.' " Abbas on March 15: "What happened is an unforgivable crime and an insult to the Palestinian people."
• "Following a flurry of abductions Tuesday afternoon, foreigners in the Gaza Strip fled for the Israeli border with the help of the Palestinian police.

  "Angry Palestinians abducted two French women doctors of Medecins du Monde, a Swiss delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and three unidentified foreigners. Two French journalists were also abducted, but it was unclear if they were from the hotel."

• "The outgoing Fatah regime in the Palestinian Authority voted on March 5th to grant honorary citizenship to Lebanese terrorist Samir Quntar who murdered a 4-year-old Israeli girl and her father."

• "Leaders of the Palestinian group Hamas were feted at a reception by hardline Saudi clerics during a visit this week to ensure continued financial aid from the wealthy Muslim country, a delegation source said. Members of the five-man delegation, headed by exiled leader Khaled Meshaal, said that Saudi officials had assured them of continuing political and financial aid in private meetings since their arrival on Friday."
• "As for being considered a terrorist organization, (Hamas Politburo chief Khaled Meshaal) said that none of the Arab and Muslim countries accepts this unjust categorization of Hamas, which is mainly an American categorization. "Whoever considers Hamas a terrorist organization is categorizing the whole Palestinian people as terrorists because they chose Hamas."

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Without a touch of irony

Reuters' caption:
An Indonesian Muslim student walks in front of a banner during a protest against visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice outside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta March 14, 2006. Rice began a trip to Indonesia on Tuesday, seeking closer ties with the moderate Islamic country in a region where China's influence is growing. REUTERS/Crack Palinggi

With moderates like these, who needs extremists?

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Original Mohammed Artwork Here!

Inspired by AbbaGav's thoughts, I hereby present some original works of art depicting the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh):

First is my variant on AbbaGav's brilliant original picture:

The Prophet (pbuh) on an Overcast night in Medina.

Next, I took the theme in new directions:

Mohammed (pbuh) After the Avalanche on his Swiss Ski Vacation

As a true artist, I knew that like the proverbial shark, I must move forward or I will die. I am broke new ground with this masterpiece:

An Extreme Close-Up of the Prophet (pbuh)'s Iris in his Left Eye (pbui)

And what's art without a little controversy?

The Prophet (pbuh) Completely Wrapped Up in a Flag

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happy, freilechen, purim sameach

Just wanted to wish any readers out there a great Purim!

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Mubarak: Pay Palestinian Arabs, or else

Sounds suspiciously like a protection racket.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that cutting aid to the Palestinian Authority would encourage terrorism.

"The aid is used by the man-in-the-street to buy medicine and to send his children to school. If this money is cut, terrorism will grow and all the (Palestinian) people will suffer," Mubarak told reporters after meeting in Vienna with Austrian President Heinz Fischer, whose country is the current EU president on Monday.

"Hamas was elected by the Palestinian people and Israel must recognize that it can form a new government. The renunciation of Hamas of violence and its recognition of preceding engagements (in peace talks) is for a second stage," Mubarak said.

Here' a crazy thought. If the West has so many aid dollars to give, why not give them to starving and sick people who don't threaten us with more terror?

Egypt would be a great starting place - the $2 billion it receives every year from the US could help untold millions of people. It wouldn't be wasted on propping up an autocratic government that supports terrorists and threatens us every few weeks.

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Insane Muslim Protesters of the Day - Taanit Esther Edition

They didn't get the memo.

Entire forests have been felled by columnists who insist that Islam has no problem with Jews, only Zionists. And then these hotheads in Pakistan show up and set that propaganda initiative back by years.

I couldn't figure this one out, though:

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Give peace Hamas a chance

When Hamas decided to run in the Palestinian elections, there was a small problem: it could not do so legally, under Oslo Interim Agreement Annex II:

The nomination of any candidates, parties or coalitions will be refused, and such nomination or registration once made will be canceled, if such candidates, parties or coalitions:

1. commit or advocate racism; or
2. pursue the implementation of their aims by unlawful or non- democratic means.

So Hamas changed its name for a couple of months and everyone looked the other way as they continued to advocate the genocide of Jews from the Middle East. At the time many people excused this illegal act by saying that Hamas will reform and moderate as it uses the political process.

Then Hamas won, but those who want to fund those who want to destroy Israel didn't miss a beat. They said the West should continue to fund the PA because Hamas hasn't taken power yet.

Then Hamas took power, and those who want to fund those who want to destroy Israel didn't miss a beat. They said that we need to wait until Hamas publishes its platform, and until then the money should flow freely.

Now Hamas released its platform, which includes:

We announce that the founding principles of our government will be based on the following points.

1. The expulsion of the occupation and the establishment of a sovereign independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

2. A commitment to the right of return of Palestinians to their homes and property. We believe that the right of return is a private and collective right that can't be given up.

3. Resistance in all its formed is a legitimate right of the Palestinian people in its path to put an end to the occupation and the reinstatement of its national rights.

Now, let's see how many of the advocates of "peace" will take a principled stand and agree that no money should go to unreformed terrorists.

Because if they still want to fund Hamas (directly or indirectly) after giving the terrorists so many chances to embrace peace, one must start to wonder whether peace is really their goal.

I anxiously await the principled peaceniks' pronouncements.

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The latest in tznius fashions

Religious Jewish women always has problems finding fashionable yet modest clothing on-line. Sure, they have places like ModestWorld.com but as religious standards get stricter, the bar goes higher.

Tznius.com is so last year.

Forget Below the Knee.com.

If you want modest fashions, you've got to go to Gaza:

Trendy green and calligraphy along with the baseball cap (so people cannot see the shape of your covered head) is the latest "in" thing in the religious fashion world.

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HH - Roger Maris edition

Jack of Jack's Shack has put together an excellent Haveil Havalim roundup of the weeks best JBlogosphere posts.

I am honored to be mentioned 3 times - for The Most Moral Army in History, for the Esther Hamalka Oranges from 1936, and for the interesting way some Goerings turned out.

It is a great collection of links - check it out!

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Another peaceful protest in Gaza

A Palestinian militant from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades carries a homemade rocket launcher during a protest demanding job opportunities at the Palestinian Electric Company near Nusseirat in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, March 11, 2006.

Oh dear, I'm out of a job. What is the best way to get one?

I know! I'll dress my best, go to a good company, hand in my resume and ask them to hire me! I'll prove to him that I am industrious, hard-working and reliable.

Or, I can just cover my face up with my keffiyeh, bring my homemade rocket launcher and threaten to blow up anyone who doesn't give me money.

The latter method has a better track record in Gaza, anyway.

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Dhimmi Carter: Israel is the problem

Jimmah has come out with his most anti-Zionist rant yet, in an article published in Pakistan. Even though he would insist he was being "even-handed" he purposefully uses words that he knows will be interpreted by his Muslim audience as being against the entire state of Israel's existence. Here is Pakistan's Daily Times' summary of his words:

The pre-eminent obstacle to peace is Israel’s colonisation of Palestine... Acting prime minister Ehud Olmert and others pointed out years ago that permanent occupation will be increasingly difficult as the relative number of Jewish citizens decreases demographically both within Israel and in Palestine. This is obvious to most Israelis, who also view this as a distortion of their moral and religious values

The article itself seems to imply that Cater calls "Palestine" the West Bank and Gaza, but he clearly chose words that could make that impression ambiguous, as he certainly knows that his readers consider Palestine to be a state between the Mediterranean and the Jordan.

He also peppers his text with outright lies:

...since 1967, the universally adopted UN Resolution 242 has mandated Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied territories. This policy was reconfirmed even by Israel in 1978 and 1993, and emphasised by all American presidents, including George W Bush. As part of the Quartet, including Russia, the UN, and the European Union, he has endorsed a “Road Map” for peace. But Israel has officially rejected its basic premises with patently unacceptable caveats and prerequisites.

Again, Dhimmi knows very well the text of 242 and that it does not speak of total withdrawal.

He goes on to imply that Hamas should be respected because it was democratically elected, that the Clinton/Barak offer was woefully inadequate, that the wall to stop terrorists is unacceptable - on and on and on, a word-for-word capitulation to the Arab viewpoint of the conflict that could have been written by the editors of Al Jazeera.

He ends off with yet another completely unfounded piece of fiction, saying effectively that if Israel trusts him, the hundreds of millions of Arabs who shout "Death to Israel" in rally after rally will all accept her right to exist:

There is little doubt that accommodation with the Palestinians can bring full Arab recognition of Israel and its right to live in peace. Any rejectionist policies of Hamas or any terrorist group will be overcome by an overall Arab commitment to restrain further violence and to promote the well being of the Palestinian people.

Proof by assertion, along with large dollops of wishful thinking to replace real facts. A favorite far-left prescription for peace.

And if he's wrong? And if he has been willfully ignoring the mountains of evidence that is as clear as day that Arabs will never accept Israel except perhaps as a temporary accomodation on the way to its total destruction?

Oops.

Jimmah is now a sick joke, an embarrassment to the United States who now is actively working to undermine the current administration.

He is a hero - to terrorists and their supporters.

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