Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Elder of Ziyon
Wednesday, October 27, 2010Elder of Ziyon
BDSOn May 16, 2006, after four-day conference of the Arab Boycott Bureau in Damascus, Syria, a "source close to the conference" reported that "the majority of Arab countries are evading the boycott, notably the [Persian] Gulf states and especially Saudi Arabia. ... The boycott deteriorated a lot, regressed and even almost collapsed... We should not lie on each other, because the boycott is quasi... paralyzed.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010Elder of Ziyon
Wednesday, October 27, 2010Elder of Ziyon
Tuesday, October 26, 2010Elder of ZiyonThe presence of the international community in the Gaza Strip is vital to the stability of the de-facto government; over 60% of the Gazan population is food insecure, according to UN sources, and unemployment surpasses 50%; thus, a majority of the population is either partially or entirely dependent on humanitarian aid. The assistance provided by the international community, particularly by UNRWA and WFP. eases the burden on the de-facto government of managing the needs of its impoverished and dispossessed population, enabling the de-facto government to achieve a modicum of legitimacy. Thus, even the partial reduction or suspension of humanitarian aid activities in the Gaza Strip as a consequence of a disintegrating internal security environment would have devastating consequences for both the population and the de-facto government's legitimacy.The skepticism of regarding Hamas as a terror organization is evident in this report, as well as the pride in how NGOs prop up Hamas as a political force.
The presence of the international community in the Gaza Strip is also a major political benefit to the de-facto government. The willingness of international governmental and non-governmental organizations to send diplomatic delegations and expatriate staff into the Gaza Strip demonstrates a level of trust in the security infrastructure of the de-facto authority.
Moreover, the presence of expatriate staff in Gaza implies that expatriates do not feel threatened by the de-facto government itself a boon to the credibility of the Hamas movement in the international arena, in which the movement has for years been labeled as a terrorist organizationh by the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010Elder of ZiyonIn a spat last week, Rabbi Arik Ascherman of Rabbis for Human Rights, which helps Palestinians harvest their olives in the West Bank, confronted [Erez] Ben-Saadon and accused him of using land owned by Palestinians.This perfectly fits in with the meme of fanatic, religious settlers disregarding the law to grab land that belongs to Palestinian farmers - a meme that is so widespread as to be axiomatic among many.
Ben-Saadon said he was farming on land given to Jewish settlers by the Israeli military. He said he had no ownership papers -- but needed none.
"Our land deed is the Bible," Ben Saadon said.
Near Har Bracha, a verbal confrontation erupted yesterday between Jewish farmer Erez Ben Sa'adon and Rabbi Arik Ascherman, the head of Rabbis for Human Rights. Ascherman claimed Ben Sa'adon was harvesting olives that belonged to Palestinians from nearby Karyut. Ben Sa'adon, whose nearby vineyard had been destroyed by unidentified parties the previous night, said he had leased that plot for the past 12 years and the olives were his.It certainly looks like the AP reporter read the Ha'aretz story and purposefully omitted the part where Ben Sa'adon was proven to be the rightful owner of the olives, and Arik Ascherman proven wrong.
Civil Administration officials were called to resolve the dispute, and they summoned the mayor of Karyut - who admitted that the trees belonged to Ben Sa'adon.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010Elder of ZiyonAcademic normalization with Israel is very dangerous, since he sees it as an attempt to perform a "Zionistic brainwash".
United Nations Special Middle East Peace Negotiator Robert H. Serry told Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday that the UN will a support the declaration of an independent Palestinian state. Serry spoke to Fayyad while the two picked olives together near the West Bank village of Turmus'ayyeh, close to the Israeli settlement of Shiloh.
According to “confidential reports,” the French Defense Ministry has information about Hezbollah’s arms supply route to Lebanon through Syria, French newspaper Le Figaro reported on Tuesday.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010Elder of ZiyonIn the weeks following Operation Cast Lead, Israel's air and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip in 2008 and 2009, the rich oil sheikdom of Qatar and other Persian Gulf governments vowed to dig deep into their desert robes to help Palestinians rebuild. Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, pledged $40 million in February, 2009, to fund humanitarian relief operations by five U.N. agencies, including $30 million for U.N. humanitarian operations in Gaza and an additional $10 million for a U.N. Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) set up to respond to humanitarian emergencies anywhere in the world. The office of U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon greeted the pledge with effusive praise.We once again see how deep Arab commitment is to helping out Palestinian Arabs in their everyday lives.
But the money has never arrived.
U.N. officials say that their repeated requests to Qatar to honor its commitment have been met with vague responses indicating that it is facing what it has described as "unforeseen circumstances." Steve O'Malley, the chief of the CERF secretariat, said simply: "We followed up with the Qataris and they are following up back in Doha."
The Qatari mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.
Qatar's Gaza pledge illustrates one of the truisms about international aid: Faced with conflicts or natural disasters that capture the world's attention, states make generous pledges. But getting them to actually cut a check requires a sustained diplomatic effort by the United Nations. The problem has been particularly acute in the Arab world, where governments have consistently fallen short of their commitments to the Palestinians, according to U.N. officials.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which is responsible for assisting more than 4.7 million Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East, has been hit especially hard as a result of a global financial crisis.
The agency is facing an $80 million funding shortfall, and will not be able to pay salaries beyond November, according to UNRWA officials. The agency's largest donors -- the United States, Britain and the European Commission -- have continued to fund UNRWA, providing 95 percent of its operating budget, according to agency officials.
But they say efforts to convince Arab governments to meet their commitments have fallen short. "UNRWA faces an unprecedentedly serious financial situation this year," Andrew Whitley, the director of UNRWA's New York office, told Turtle Bay. "Certain donors have not kept up with their promises while others have been pressured to cut back because of the financial crisis."
"Our biggest donors have maintained, and in some cases increased, their contributions slightly," Whitley added. "But our efforts to broaden the donor base to non-traditional donors, particularly Arab governments, have not borne fruit."
In September, at a conference of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo, Filippo Grandi, UNRWA's commissioner general, said that Arab countries needed to address the crisis or they would face the prospect of greater political insecurity in the region.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010Elder of ZiyonunrwaAndrew Whitley, due to soon leave his post as director of the United Nations Refugee and Works Agency’s New York office, told the National Council for US-Arab Relations’ annual conference that...Palestinians must start acknowledging that the refugees will almost certainly not be returning to Israel, so that they can improve their situation.So how predictable was this? From UNRWA:
Palestinians have long maintained a “right of return” to Israel and the homes they – or their ancestors – fled during Israel’s 1948/49 War of Independence. The issue has been one of the most difficult to resolve in peace negotiations.
“If one doesn’t start a discussion soon with the refugees for them to consider what their own future might be – for them to start debating their own role in the societies where they are rather than being left in a state of limbo where they are helpless but preserve rather the cruel illusions that perhaps they will return one day to their homes – then we are storing up trouble for ourselves,” he declared.
Whitley acknowledged that few Palestinians or even officials in his own organization have been willing to publicly discuss the issue.
“We recognize, as I think most do, although it’s not a position that we publicly articulate, that the right of return is unlikely to be exercised to the territory of Israel to any significant or meaningful extent,” he said.
“It’s not a politically palatable issue, it’s not one that UNRWA publicly advocates, but nevertheless it’s a known contour to the issue.”
UNRWA unequivocally distances itself from the statements made by the Director of its office in New York, Andrew Whitley, at the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations in Washington on 22 October 2010. These statements in no way reflect the policies or positions of the Agency and are the personal views of Mr Whitley.Because it is better to pretend a problem doesn't exist than to tackle it.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010Elder of Ziyon.jpg)
Tuesday, October 26, 2010Elder of Ziyonunrwa
Tuesday, October 26, 2010Elder of ZiyonThe Hamas-led government in Gaza has warned officials and leaders of Palestinian factions to avoid buying the new cars that have been entering the Strip over the month, according to media reports late Monday.So let's wait for ordinary Gazans to buy them and see if they get blown up!
"A note has been circulated to all concerned parties, warning them of the new cars the Israeli occupation has allowed in Gaza before they undergo special tests by security services," a Gaza security source said according to one report.
Gaza Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab Al-Ghussein confirmed the report, saying " ... it is still a possibility that the occupation fixes tracking devices to the cars or even booby-traps them."
Monday, October 25, 2010Elder of ZiyonSamar Badawi, the 29-year-old Saudi woman who was incarcerated for not obeying her guardian (mahram) following a lawsuit by her father, was freed Monday.There's more in the article, but there is only so much bizarre 8th century thinking that the human brain can absorb at one time.
Samar has been in prison for seven months after her father filed a case against her accusing her of disobedience.
Abdullah Al-Othaim, the head of the District Court in Jeddah, told Arab News that a warrant stating that Samar Badawi is free has been issued.
“Samar’s uncle (from her father's side) will now take care of her, being now adjudged her male guardian,” he said.
Samar was sent to Briman Prison in Jeddah on April 4 after her father lodged a complaint against her accusing her of disobedience. The father filed the counter-suit after Samar had lodged a legal complaint accusing her father of preventing her from marrying. Samar is a divorced woman with one son.
Samar accused her father of abuse and fled her family home in 2008 to live in a shelter. Samar's mother is deceased. Samar fled the shelter last year after learning that her father had instituted the case against her.
Under Saudi law a woman who has no guardian or who is in dispute against her guardian becomes a ward of the state who can face imprisonment for refusing to stay in authorized women's shelters.
Monday, October 25, 2010Elder of ZiyonDoesn't he look like a peace activist?The Viva Palestina 5 ship carrying "peace activists," which docked at the al-Arish port recently, brought along not only humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza, but also enthusiastic Turks who took advantage of the opportunity to visit local Islamic Jihad members.
n pictures obtained by Ynet, the Turks are seen holding weapons and rocket launchers. While their prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to blast Israel and demand an apology for "state terrorism," two of the guests put on the uniform of the al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad's military wing.
The pictures from the Turkish delegation's visit were put on the al-Quds Brigades website as part of the coverage of their visit.
During their visit to Gaza, the Turkish delegation members visited several Islamic Jihad posts. One of the guests was quoted as telling the group's gunmen that they are "a source of pride for all decent people in the Arab and Muslim world." He defined them as "the forefront of the struggle against the Zionists."
Monday, October 25, 2010Elder of Ziyon1. The Palestinian Arab people have chosen the course of armed struggle in the fight to recover their usurped territories and rights. The current phase in their armed struggle started before the defeat of June, 1967 and has endured and escalated ever since. Moreover, despite the fact that this struggle renders a service to the entire Arab nation at the present stage, insofar as it prevents the enemy from laying claim to a status quo based on surrender, and insofar as it keeps the flame of resistance alive and maintains a climate of war, preoccupies the enemy and is an object of concern to the entire world community, that struggle is nevertheless a true and distinct expression of the aspirations of the Palestinian Arab people and is inspired by their objectives. In addition, we feel bound to declare quite frankly that this struggle goes beyond the scope of what it has become customary to call “the elimination of the consequences of the aggression", and all other such slogans, for the objectives of this struggle are those of the Palestinian Arab people, as set out in the preceding paragraph. The fight will not cease; it will continue, escalate and expand until final victory is won, no matter how long it takes and regardless of the sacrifices involved.While the PLO has not been as successful in rallying the Arab nations behind it in recent years, its propaganda plan has been executed flawlessly. Even though their plan describes how the Palestinian Arabs are part of, and depend on the help of, the much larger Arab nation, they present themselves as an isolated, tiny, besieged and victimized entity to the West, compared to the huge Israel/World Zionist/imperialist alliance.
2. The enemy has chosen Blitzkrieg as the form of combat most suitable to him, in view of the tactical mobility at his command which enabled him, at the moment of battle, to unleash forces superior to those deployed by the Arabs. The enemy chose this method in the belief that a lightning victory would lead to surrender, according to the pattern of I948, and not to Arab armed resistance. In dealing with it, we must adopt a method derived from elements of strength in ourselves and elements of weakness in the enemy.
3. The enemy consists of three interdependent forces:
a) Israel.
b) World Zionism.
c) World imperialism, under the direction of the United States of America.
Moreover, it is incontestable that world imperialism makes use of the forces of reaction linked with colonialism.
If we are to achieve victory and gain our objectives, we shall have to strike at the enemy wherever he may be, and at the nerve centres of his power. This is to be achieved through the use of military, political and economic weapons and information media, as part of a unified and comprehensive plan designed to sap his strength, scatter his forces, destroy the links between them and undermine their common objectives.
4. A long-drawn out battle has the advantage of allowing us to expose world Zionism, its activities, conspiracies, and its complicity with world imperialism and to point out the damage and complications it causes to the interests and the security of many countries, and the threat it constitutes to world peace. This will eventually unmask it, bringing to light the grotesque facts of its true nature, and will isolate it from the centres of power and establish safeguards against its ever reaching them...
5. An information campaign must be launched that will throw light on the following facts:
a) The true nature of the Palestinian war is that of a battle between a small people, which is the Palestinian people, and Israel, which has the backing of world Zionism and world imperialism.
b) This war will have its effect on the interests of any country that supports lsrael or world Zionism.
c) The hallmark of the Palestinian Arab people is resistance, struggle and liberation, that of the enemy, aggression, usurpation and the disavowal of all values governing decent human relations.
6. A comprehensive plan must be drawn up to fuse the Arab struggle and the Palestinian struggle into a single battle. This requires concentrated ideological, information and political effort that will make it clear to the Arab nation that it can never enjoy peace or security until the tide of Zionist invasion is stemmed, and that its territory will be occupied piecemeal unless it deploys its resources in the battle, not to mention the extent to which the Zionist presence constitutes a drain on its resources and an impediment to the development of its society.
Palestinian action regards the Arab nation as a reserve fund of political, financial and human resources on which it can draw, and whose support and participation will make it possible to fight the successive stages in the battle.
7. The peoples and governments of the Arab nation must be made to understand that they are under an obligation to protect the Palestinian struggle so that it may be able to confront the enemy on firm ground and direct all its forces and capabilities to this confrontation, fully assured of its own safety and security. This obligation is not only a national duty, it is a necessity deriving from the fact that the Palestinian struggle is the vanguard in the defence of all Arab countries, Arab territories and Arab aspirations.
8. Any objective study of the enemy will reveal that his potential for endurance, except where a brief engagement is concerned, is limited. The drain on this potential that can be brought about by a long-drawn out engagement will inevitably provide the opportunity for a decisive confrontation in which the entire Arab nation can take part and emerge victorious.
It is the duty of Palestinians everywhere to devote themselves to making the Arab nation aware of these facts, and to propagating the will to struggle. It is also their duty to endure, sacrifice and take part in the struggle.
Buy EoZ's book, PROTOCOLS: EXPOSING MODERN ANTISEMITISM
