Kadima - and Bush - want a Palestinian Arab state more than PalArabs do

The world continues to go topsy-turvy as the West and Kadima blindly pursue the establishment of an Arab-only terror state in two pieces surrounding Israel.

President Bush yesterday said, "I strongly support the creation of a Palestinian state. I believe it's in the interests of the Palestinian people, I believe it's in the interests of Israel to have a democracy living side-by - democracies living side-by-side in peace."

And when the "democracy" elects a terror government - what then? We've already seen the fruits of giving election powers to Palestinian Arabs when they have been raised in an environment that lionizes terror and seethes with hate. I like many things about President Bush, but when he read Natan Sharansky's book, The Case for Democracy, he either fundamentally misunderstood the message or he ignored a crucial part of it - the Town Square test:

If a person cannot walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm, then that person is living in a fear society, not a free society. We cannot rest until every person living in a "fear society" has finally won their freedom.

All the events in the territories prove that Palestinian ARabs are not ready for free elections, let alone a state, and when the leaders of the world effectively reward them with a state while they continue to support violence then the world is rewarding terror. (Not to mention that after Hamas took over Gaza, Abbas resorted to extreme non-democratic measures to maintain power in the West Bank.)

And it is not only Bush. While Israeli newspapers emphasized Tzipi Livni's speech yesterday saying that a secure Israel is in the Palestinian Arab interest, they ignored what the Palestinian Arab newspapers highlighted about the speech - she said that a Palestinian Arab state is in Israel's interest.

History shows, however, that Palestinian Arabs have not the slightest interest in a state. The could declare a state in Gaza today if they wanted to; they could build all the institutions they want and make a model democratic society in a contiguous area where not a single Jew or Zionist lives. When they were offered a state in 2001 they rejected it, as they did in 1947 when they rejected partition and in 1950 when the West Bankers voluntarily chose to be annexed to Jordan and become Jordanian citizens.

Time and time again the Palestinian Arab leaders have proven that they do not want to establish an Arab state but to destroy a Jewish state. Their refusal to consider compromise on Jerusalem - an ignored part of the Arab world until Zionism came along - is only one proof of this. Their refusal to compromise on the 1967 borders - which the Arab world did not recognize in 1967, but belatedly found to be acceptable after the Six Day War - proves this. Their refusal to push the Arab world to allow Palestinian Arabs to become citizens of their nations, rather to leave them stateless to increase pressure on Israel proves that they don't even care about their own people, let alone statehood. (Does anyone really think that PalArab leaders would welcome some five million Arabs of Palestinian descent moving into the West Bank and Gaza? )

And if Israel debased itself so much as to allow a state to be established on the entire West Bank and Gaza, who is so naive as to think that the leaders of this state would make any serious moves to prevent terrorists to infiltrate Israel from the territories as they did during the '50s and '60s? Who can claim that the Palestinian Arabs, or the Arab world as a whole, would not use this state as a launching pad for further terror and pressure - just as Hezbollah does with Shebaa Farms, you know that Palestinian Arabs will choose even the tiniest border disputes as excuses to keep terror going.

Why shouldn't they? Terror has gotten them this far, and the world is telling them that they can accomplish all of their goals not with freedom and democracy but with violence.

Read More

Frenzy over Israeli dates hits Egypt

It is not only Morocco that is freaking out over the existence of Israeli dates in their marketplaces, but even Egypt, that country that signed a peace treaty with the Zionist state some thirty years ago. Because, of course, there is such a great possibility that Israeli fruits are poisoned (presumably to make Egyptian men sterile.) From Palestine Today (autotranslated):

Crept into the Egyptian market varieties of dates in boxes wrapped with the slogan "Star of David" symbol of the State of Israel, in the absence of control bodies concerned.

The newspaper quoted "Egyptians" Egyptian officials that the Israelis came to Egypt during the past few months brought in a shipment dates help Jordanian exporters.

That shipment was packing slogan of production Saudi adhesive tape mask-making in Israel in Hebrew, has met these dates turnout heavily on the supply of supermarkets, shopping Almulat large, and the focus of those dates sold in the markets of Cairo, Giza, Alexandria and Sinai.

Security sources added that the Egyptian Interior Minister Major General Habib al-Adli assigned to the Director of Public Administration DETECTIVES Supply refueling intensive campaigns at all Almulat shops, and supermarkets throughout the republic to control these types of dates and withdrawn from the market as soon as possible.

It was also impose stringent security measures at the customs, cargo village and Alexandria airport to thwart any attempt to introduce spoiled food or poisoned by the Egyptian markets.

It looks like there is a burgeoning underground economy in Arab countries for Israeli goods. Once again, ordinary Arabs are infinitely more practical and clear-headed then their supposed "leaders."

Speaking of, here is a wonderful piece of logic from a Palestinian Arab professor:

"If one kg of Israeli dates is worth about 35 shekels, and the expenses of making one bullet of M16 rifle is worth 8 agora (an Israeli currency unit), that means that the Palestinian consumer contributes to the manufacture of about 44 bullets, which is enough to kill 44 Palestinians."

Not only does all of the Israel profit from dates go directly to bullets to kill Palestinian Arabs, but the very rules of mathematics gets suspended when dealing with Israel. (The math works out to 437 bullets, not 44. The problem is ten times worse!)

One can almost imagine the foaming at the mouth of these self-proclaimed academics and intelligentsia as they do everything in their power to impoverish their fellow Arabs - in the name of "unity."

Read More

Hamas hiding behind pregnant women. Literally.

From the Jerusalem Post:

IDF soldiers operating in Nablus on Sunday arrested a Hamas operative who attempted to escape by hiding in a weapons cache located under a pregnant woman's bed.

Soldiers who entered the house where Ahmad Al-Az was believed to be hiding asked the pregnant woman to search under her bed but she refused. The woman was then moved aside and Ahmad was found under the bed with several weapons.

"Israel Occupation Forces Harass Pregnant Woman in her Bed" is how Arab terror apologists would spin this one.

Read More

Arab-American: "I am with Israel" (NY Daily News)

I don't know how I missed this piece from last week (h/t Augean Stables):

'I am with Israel': One Arab-American's salute

Despite all the spit, kicks & insults, the Jews would rather build than destroy

EMILIO KARIM DABUL

One of the greatest Arab poets of the 20th century was a Syrian named Nizar Qabbani. He was, in his own way, the Pablo Neruda of the Middle East. His love poems in particular are on a par with anything Don Pablo wrote.

So, it was with great disappointment that I came across one of Qabbani's poems written in the late 1990s, entitled, "I Am With Terrorism." I hoped the title would prove ironic. It didn't. Not even close. In fact, it is one of the most naked, awful pieces of anti-Israel, anti-U.S. drivel I've ever read.

Witness this rhetorical device in which he is able to insult two peoples with one poetic stone:

"I am with terrorism as long as this new world order is shared between America and Israel half-half"

And that is actually one of the more moderate sections of the poem. As an Arab-American, I came away from reading it with a real sense of despair. If one of the great voices of Middle East poetry can do nothing more than recycle the Arabs-as-victims stance, justified in horrendous acts of violence against their "oppressors," then what hope is there ever that Arabs and Israelis will ever know true peace?

Having just passed the sixth anniversary of 9/11 - and in the midst of a new conversation about the so-called "Israel Lobby" that allegedly dominates U.S. foreign policy - I want to offer an antidote to that toxic verse and the other vitriol that has poisoned too much Arab thought.

Israel, with all its imperfections, remains the beacon of light for the Middle East. For that reason, I wish to salute her, not only as one of America's greatest allies in the war on terror, but as one of the true miracle countries of this time or any other.

With no apologies to Qabbani, I give you my twist on his verse:

"I am with Israel

because a people so long denied bread and freedom,

crushed under the wheels of pharaohs, emperors, czars and Führers,

has done more than any other people to free the world from itself.

What single people in history have contributed more to faith, science, philosophy and the arts?

And done so against the greatest odds, with a sword at their throats...

I am with Israel

because my people, so long in the desert,

have not had the courage to acknowledge the great teachers among them,

but instead have turned on them,

blamed them for all evil and shed their blood...

What other people could crawl away from the wreckage of the Holocaust

and, instead of seeking revenge, build the miracle called Israel?

Why, as Wufa Sultan has asked, have there been no Jewish homicide bombers?

Perhaps it is because despite all the spit, kicks and insults they've faced,

along with the constant threat of extinction,

the Jews would rather build than destroy.

I am with Israel

because I am with life,

and because beyond its verdant desert,

Israel offers the knowledge that those most desirous of peace and freedom

are a people who have so long been denied it,

and who with all they know of the world,

look still toward Jerusalem and reach for their enemy's hand."

Dabul, an editor with the American Congress for Truth, is author of "Deadline," a novel about terrorism.

Read More

A small peek at Muslim hate - for Muslims

A couple of days ago, some Fatah members shot at a Hamas jeep in Gaza and allegedly injured two people. Some new group named the Abu Ghraib Martyrs or something like that took credit. This is hardly news, and in fact it was only reported in the pro-Fatah Palestine Press Agency.

What is more notable is the vitriol shown for Hamas by the Fatah supporters on the site. This is a bit more graphic than what one would see in even the most raucous Western websites. The autotranslation breaks down when the source material is written poorly, but the gist is pretty clear:

Yes, it was the first good will, God willing winter rain and loss of blood

The Awadnakam you sons of adultery operations Here are the sons of Conquest are you strike again, and tell you that pork lo saying the rain Everyone to hell you build beggars, prostitutes who Basoko Pkponh Zahar of pork and Siam Yellowdog and Haniya Bugger Meselmeh liar and Mashaal Queer Shiites because you analyze this and the Burktm explosions and forward you sons of Conquest heroes and blessed Sutantkm tremendous victory or martyrdom and the mercenaries and lackeys of the Zionist occupation Shiite Iranian Syrian Country

Name of God the Merciful: Oh Burktm Giants blessed you pure driving trigger always blessed Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Al-Quds military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine yes pursued those pigs in Ghorham to Ahgo Almlain those who abandoned their God continued Dharbackm continued Jihad against the enemy of Allah and your enemy, you will bring glory of Jerusalem and Park God you forward Dear Jihadists, With greetings stormy Thundershowers

Blessed hands and wish that the news is true this gap kick Almenkellepin eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and initiator darkest also wish Conquest brave men to be very high security alert and be the person responsible for dealing with only one and that is a link to others so as not to be revealed as not official God as we wish them good selection Mujahideen selection of concealment of work and strict confidentiality, ethics and God used succession

The beginning of the end for owners of the Shiite doctrine in Palestine: Welcome these operations superb indelible lines injustice line and the line We at the hands of these heroes mujahideen sons opened honest

O Lord, drive and hit a shot against the Shiites Humasaoyen Rehana O Lord God of injustice

We say death and disgrace and shame of Savoyen infidel dogs Iran and Syria
And very soon we waited Oh dogs Hamas death and hell and Nhaitakm will not all of you will not exclude you only need one home and declared his innocence of Hamas Alangas
And tomorrow for the warden soon .. It is a struggle .. Jihad victory or martyrdom

May God never ماننساا our land and kill you Dignity sons Conquest and cruel الحمساوي putschists and the scourge of the next The punching of a fire Revolution to Mathdi Aztec destroy Beniankam Obsolescent Yamelchiat death

Kill them and the injuries are not Tafhein These Essou God, you and we each and every bullet you Alvthaoyen O heroes May peace and God's mercy and blessings be upon you

As with the Arab/Israeli conflict, the major source for the hate is the humiliation and shame suffered by the losers. The Shiite/Sunni divide, as with the JudeoChristian/Muslim divide, is not nearly as important as the fact that in these cultures there is no greater disgrace than losing a battle that you felt should have won. The words of these people are dripping with the desire for revenge and restoration of what little perceived glory Fatah once had.

Notice also the frequent invocation of "Allah the merciful" as they describe how much they want to butcher the Syrian/Iranian/Shiite/Hamas pigs. I don't think that Islam is as important a factor in their hate as their Arab honor/shame culture, but it certainly is a useful tool in magnifying the seething that is dripping from their keyboards and tongues.

Make no mistake, though - as much as they hate their fellow Muslims, their hatred for the entire non-Muslim world is much greater, with "Zionists" and "Crusaders" at the top of the list. The very idea that people who are raised in such an environment have the ability to even conceive of living in peace with Israel, or on a global level that Arabs or Muslims who subscribe to this worldview can learn to truly accept Western hegemony, is ludicrous. Being the rulers is where honor lies, and being ruled - even indirectly, or even to a small extent - is the definition of disgrace. Avoiding disgrace and trying to recapture honor is the driving force behind the entire Islamic war on the West, and everything else is BS that is meant to obscure this primal, visceral rage.

Read More

Abourezk, part 5

More fun from the comments section of the California Literary Review:

• Brad Brzezinski Says:
  September 23rd, 2007 at 2:38 pm

  My goodness! You’re all still at it. I salute your indefatigability.

  Mr. Abourezk’s mention of Camp David piqued my interest as this was the issue that led me to takes sides on the Israeli/Arab confab. Given that we had the Israelis and the Palestinians in failed negotiations, why would one simply believe either side? It seems reasonable to at least turn to the mediators for some understanding. In this case, the two chief functionaries were Clinton and Ross, both of whom categorically blamed Arafat.

  Given the enormous cachet that would have attached to solving this issue, it seems highly likely that the mediators did in fact seek a real solution and the balance of probability strongly suggests their accounts should be reliable.

  Even if not, even if the stories about how it was a bad deal are true, it was the best offer ever. (I know this because the media in general was quite adamant and even at that time when I paid less attention to world affairs, I knew the general media was hardly pro-Israel.) Given that Israel was bending so far, what on earth was the point of not only not negotiating further, but starting an Intifada? It speaks volumes.

• James Abourezk Says:
  September 23rd, 2007 at 5:41 pm

  I’m given to wonder whether both Elder and Brzezinski are in touch with reality. When Dennis Ross left the government, he returned to a component of the Israeli Lobby to work. I guess it’s OK to identify Wolf Blitzer as a part of the Lobby, mostly because he worked for AIPAC. If these folks deny that AIPAC is part of the Lobby, then I find it impossible to continue this debate.

  And yes, I think Bill Clinton lied a lot about a lot of issues when he was president.

• Brad Brzezinski Says:
  September 23rd, 2007 at 8:51 pm

  Fair enough Mr. Abourezk, but I offered an argument even if Clinton & Ross were wrong. You have not countered what I said for that case.

  It also strikes me that if someone working for “a component” of The Lobby is automatically disqualified from talking on this issue, then the same must apply to you on the other side for you have made your biases very plain.

• Elder Says:
  September 23rd, 2007 at 10:21 pm

  I appreciate that Mr. Abourezk finally acknowledged a couple of my comments, even if they were extremely peripheral to the major points I was making. (Wolf Blitzer indeed edited an AIPAC newsletter some thirty years ago although he never lobbied for AIPAC, and Dennis Ross indeed works for a pro-Israel think tank now - although I am not aware of any earlier work he may have done for the “Lobby” that Mr. Abourezk implies from the word “returned.”)

  The implication that Mr. Abourezk is making, of course, is that anyone who is pro-Israel on any level is assumed to be a liar.

  While I gave specific reasons why the books written by Ilan Pappe and Clayton Swisher can be considered unreliable, from their own words and/or omissions as well as my own original research, the best that Mr. Abourezk can do to cast aspersions of Ross’ book is to mention that he now works for that evil “Lobby.” Using that logic, of course, would allow us to assume that Abourezk is equally suspect for being an uncompromising supporter of Arab causes. I prefer to stick with facts, not guilt by association, and any problems I have with Mr. Abourezk come from his own words, most specifically his praise for Hezbollah and Hamas terrorists that was mentioned earlier in this thread and that he has studiously ignored so far.

  In the end, the biggest flaw with Abourezk’s positions is that he consistently ascribes the best of intentions to Arab and Muslim countries and the worst of intentions to Israel and, often, the US. In one particularly hilarious paragraph in his review above he says that “both Iran and Syria have proposed a nuclear weapons free Middle East.” The reported events of recent weeks by British journalists who can hardly be considered pro-Israel indicate that not only did Syria have a clandestine nuclear weapons program, but also that there was a major chemical weapons accident this past summer killing dozens of Syrians and Iranian engineers with WMD that were meant to be placed on missiles. But Abourezk, quite willing to publicly assume that anybody who supports Israel is not trustworthy, has no such skepticism about the public pronouncements of dictators and the world’s worst human rights abusers.

  This, in a nutshell, is the problem with Mr. Abourezk’s positions on the Middle East and of the “Israel Lobby.”

Read More

Peaceful PalArab weekend

A Hamas member who was shot four days ago by Fatah in the "Shati" camp in Gaza has died.

The Central Gaza headquarters of Fatah al-Yasser was set on fire.

Fatah arrested a Hamas leader in Nablus.

Hamas confiscated a car belonging to a Palestinian Arab TV director.

A peaceful women's rally in Ramallah was hit with tear gas from PalArab security forces.

Our 2007 count of Palestinian Arabs violently killed by each other is now at 527.

Read More

Abourezk, part 4

James Abourezk continues to dodge commenting on his terror-supporting performance on Al Manar while trying desperately to find more verbal missiles to shoot at the anti-Palestinian terror crowd:

• James Abourezk Says:
  September 21st, 2007 at 11:50 am

  I neglected to mention one other book that will help those who are historically deprived with respect to the Middle East. It is: “The Truth About Camp David,” by Clayton Swisher, who interviewed dozens of witnesses to the events both at the U.S.- Syrian summit when Ehud Barak backed away from a promise of a deal, and the Palestinian-Israeli talks later. Unfortunately, as Swisher points out, Israel’s negotiators refused to compromise, but Dennis Ross, who was supposedly a neutral U.S. mediator, got to the press first and told the world that both the Syrians and the Palestinians refused the best deal they were ever offered–just the opposite of what happened.

  Also, my regards to the person who claims to be Wolf Blitzer’s mother. Not realizing that my description of him could be interpreted as anti-Semitic, I had said he was short and asked hostile questions. I probably should have said he was just “not tall,” and that his questions were as “sweet as honey.”

  But you can see how easy it is to be thrown off the subject. We are now discussing Wolf Blitzer’s height rather than his work for the Israeli Lobby back then.

  As well, Alan Dershowitz attacked my in his column which he wrote for the Jerusalem Post. I tried to respond with a comment, but apparently Arabs are not allowed onto that website.

  Mr. Dershowitz came up with something original–he said my remarks on a television interview I did with Almanar television, which is actually Hisbollah’s station, were anti-Semitic.

  I had always thought that Mr. Dershowitz and I could have been friends, except for his support of torture, his efforts to have Norman Finkelstein thrown off the faculty of De Paul University, his plagiarism, which Norman caught him doing, and his defense of O.J. Simpson during the famous murder trial. Mr. Dershowitz will most likely be busy now with O.J.’s latest venture into the world of crime.

  He did a magnificent job, however, of trying to change the subject of what Israel is doing to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, which is to brutally occupy an unwilling population.

• Elder Says:
  September 23rd, 2007 at 8:43 am

  Ah, so now Dennis Ross - who was actually at Camp David - is a liar.

  Of course, Mr. Abourezk is silent on whether Bill Clinton is also a liar for saying that Barak accepted Clinton’s plan and Arafat rejected it. But if he accepts the words of graduate student Clayton Swisher over what Clinton and Ross have said, that is indeed what he is saying.

  (Swisher seems to base much of account on interviews with Saeb Erekat, who is an accomplished liar in his own right - see http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2007/08/laughing-it-up-with-liar.html for some examples. But Swisher’s agenda is clear when he completely fails to mention the official PLO response to Clinton’s offer, where they reject virtually all of it - and it is still on their web site: http://www.nad-plo.org/inner.php?view=nego_nego_clinton_nclinton2p )

  So I just documented proof of what Dennis Ross said from the PLO’s own words that Abourezk’s recommended source inexplicably ignores.

  Another innovation brought to us courtesy of Mr. Abourezk is saying that Wolf Blitzer’s “hostility” towards him is evidence that Blitzer is himself a member of that amazingly powerful Lobby. It appears that the definition of this “lobby” has been watered down to pretty much anyone who is not lockstep with the Abourezks of the world in supporting Syrian and Palestinian terror.

  Apparently, there is another liar in the room: Mr. Abourezk himself. Dershowitz did not call Abourezk anti-semitic in his article in the Jerusalem Post, although he does broadly imply it - in much the same way Abourezk broadly implies that Jews (i.e., “Zionists”) were behind 9/11. I don’t know whether Abourezk’s comments to JPost were indeed censored, but I for one would love to see him actually address what he said on Al-Manar rather than change the subject repeatedly as he has done on this thread (notice that he chooses to attack the weaker Zionist posters on minor topics and ignores my substantive responses and challenges.)

Since I wrote that I saw that Dershowitz has posted essentially the same piece at The Huffington Post, and Abourezk did not comment. Was he being censored there as well?

I emailed The Jerusalem Post to ask if they in fact received any comments from Abourezk.

The book by Clayton Swisher is a partisan joke that invoked Rachel Corrie for dramatic effect. Parts are online here. He does seem to have done a good job documenting what the Camp David participants ate, though. To see a takedown of that book, which no one takes seriously outside the pro-terror crowd, see this post at Peace with Realism, which is where I found out that the book ignored the PLO January 1 2001 response to Clinton.

UPDATE:

• Elder Says:
  September 23rd, 2007 at 2:21 pm

  Sorry, but I just had to mention a couple of other things:

  It is difficult to respond to the accusations that Israel-bashers are fond of hammering away at that the Zionists who built Israel were racist bigots hell-bent on ethnically cleansing Palestine of Arabs. How can someone prove that the mindset of the vast majority of Zionists were the exact opposite, that they truly wanted to live in peace with the Arabs despite the daily terror that the Jews of Palestine were subjected to?

  I posted something last week that does in fact go a long way towards proving exactly that - http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2007/09/zionism-and-intense-desire-for-peace.html . I took a single issue of the Zionist Palestine Post from March 10, 1946 and analyzed exactly how the Zionists quoted there, as well as the editors of the paper, wrote about Arabs. The desire to live in peace with the Palestinian Arabs was not just empty words - it was pervasive. I invite anyone to look at the archives of the old Palestine Post and try to find articles that disprove what I am saying. You have two decades of issues available online. The tendency of historians to take individual quotes out of context is reprehensible when it is done for partisan purposes - but here is real source material that cannot be faked that shows, pretty clearly, that Abourezk and Pappe are not being honest in their slander against Zionism.

  I also noticed that the Dershowitz column was also published in the Huffington Post, and Abourezk didn’t have a reply printed there either. Is the HuffPo part of the Israel Lobby as well? (I emailed the Jerusalem Post to ask them whether they censored Abourezk’s reply to Dershowitz.)

  Cheers!

Read More

Couple of Sunday morning links

Daled Amos has a good update on the latest from Columbia University inviting Ahmadinejad to speak.
Columbia's "free speech" fig leaf would be more convincing if they would invite someone like David Duke to speak.

Israel Matzav analyzes the latest report about Syrian nukes.
He's been skeptical from the start, always convinced it was chemical WMD, which at this point in time is possibly worse.

Yom Kippur in Afghanistan (h/t Sophia)

Crossing the Rubicon presents A Hard Day's Night - in Yiddish.

Read More

Israeli dates sold in Morocco - Muslims freak out

One of the top stories at IslamOnline.net:

RABAT — Branded with Israeli trademark "Bat Sheva", Israeli dates are flooding Moroccan markets during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"I found dates carrying Israeli trademark in the markets," Abdel-Jalil, a teacher, told IslamOnline.net Saturday, September 22.

Trademarked "Bat Sheva" – the Hebrew name of the town of Beersheba (well, no it isn't - it is the Hebrew name for Bathsheba - EoZ) – the Israeli dates can been seen in abundance on the shelves in eastern and central Morocco.

The "Made in Israel" label is obviously seen on the packages.

"We used to buy dates from Arab countries such as Tunisia," said hajj Mohamed, a dates vendor.

"I myself would not buy dates produced by our enemy," he said.

Mohamed said some merchants are greedy and uncaring.

"They disrespect the sensibilities of Moroccans and are only after money," he said.

He said some retailers are baffling merchants like him and mix Israeli dates with Arab ones.

"The other day, I was shocked to know that some of the dates were made in Israel," he said.

Abdel-Jalil, the teacher, says merchants tend to remove the Israeli label and sell the dates as if they were made in Arab countries like Egypt.

"This is provocative," said Khaled Al-Sufiany, coordinator of the national group for the support of Iraq and Palestine.

"The pro-Israel camp is exploiting Ramadan and slam dunk a trade normalization on the laypeople," he added.

The advocates "are funding the Zionist regime to continue its daily crimes against the Palestinians," he said.

Morocco repeatedly denies any trade relations with Israel.

The North African kingdom closed its trade office in Tel Aviv and the Israeli trade office in Rabat following the outbreak of the 2000 Al-Aqsa intifada.

But non-government groups say that the two countries are having booming ties, especially in the agricultural field.

A recent report by Israel Export Institute said that Israeli exports to Morocco mushroomed by 5.3 percent in the first quarter of 2006.

The comments on the article are even funnier:

could be harmfull

By bilade on 2007-09-22 16:55 (GMT)

israel is known to put chemicals in food they export to arab countries that make you steral. there not harmful chemicals but they make you not have children anymore. so good luck with that!!

By Ahmed on 2007-09-22 20:16 (GMT)

I fully support the previous comment by Bilade commented. I really disappointed by our Muslim bothers not only in Morroco but sadly almost everywhere. And this is prove of that ahadith of our beloved Rassullu allah (S.A.W). Which says that. There is the time will come we (Muslims) will be many but fibble.

I feel very sorry for our brothers in Palestine

By Nawale on 2007-09-22 22:54 (GMT)

I'm a Moroccan girl and I feel manupilated from our government and those merchants that sell us those Israely products without our knowledge.
It's a shame . Hasbona Allah Wani3ema Alewakile

UPDATE: I just saw that Israellycool beat me to this story. But he does have a six hour advantage :)

Read More

Israel thwarts Yom Kippur Tel Aviv suicide attack

From Ha'aretz:

A suicide attack in Tel Aviv was thwarted on Saturday when security forces found an explosives belt in an apartment in the city, designated to be used in an attack over the Yom Kippur holiday.

The belt was found Saturday morning in an apartment near the southern end of Allenby Street by the Shin Bet security service, operating with Yarkon District Police.

The apartment was occupied by Palestinians residing there illegally. It was apparently smuggled in parts from the West Bank City of Nablus.

The belt was intended to be used in an attack to be carried out by a suicide bomber who was arrested in Nablus late Thursday, after a three-day operation by the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet officers.

The IDF had deployed large forces in the Beit Ilma refugee camp in Nablus, in an effort to capture a cell of militants that included members of Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The security services had received intelligence information that the cell was planning to carry out a suicide bombing attack in central Israel during the holidays.

The Shin Bet security service had picked up the trail to the explosives belt when it arrested Nihad Shkirat, the head of the joint Hamas-PFLP cell on Thursday, the army said. Shkirat told investigators he passed the belt to another Palestinian who works in Tel Aviv.

Police arrested that suspect Friday night and were led to the Tel Aviv apartment where they found the belt.

During the three-day operation, IDF Staff Sergeant Ben-Zion Henman was killed, as were two Palestinians, a civilian and an armed PFLP militant.

During the entire week the Palestinian Arabs were complaining about the Israeli operation near Nablus (except, of course, for the part where an IDF soldier was killed - they bragged about that part.)

The world sees Israel arresting Palestinian Arabs (the PalArabs call it "abducting") they it is always condemned as being disproportionate or inflammatory. The 24-hour news cycle can't be expected to relate what happened last week with the fact that possibly dozens of lives were saved this week as a direct result of they perceive as Israeli cruelty.

Objectively speaking, it would be much crueler to let the PalArabs bomb Israeli civilians at will, but the world is not objective.

Read More

G'mar chatima tovah 5768 - גמר חתימה טובה

At the moment, my most popular post is one I made 3 years ago wishing everyone a G'mar Chatima Tovah, as many people are now Googling that phrase. (Also popular are my Yom Kippur wishes from 2005 and 2006.) It is nice to see so many people wishing each other to be sealed in the Book of Life!

I wish all of my Jewish readers an easy fast and a meaningful Yom Kippur. I unconditionaly forgive anyone who may have wronged me during this year, and I ask forgiveness for anyone I may have wronged as well.

May we all be sealed in the Book of Life and have a year of peace, prosperity, unity and wisdom.

Read More