Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, January 05, 2014

Another EU program to take land away from Jews

The EU continues to ignore the Oslo Accords and to actively work to grab as much land in Area C as possible and give it to Palestinian Arabs without coordinating with Israel.

Here's a new initiative.

Innocuously called the "Land and Water Development Programme," here are its objectives:

The global objective of this Call for Proposals is to promote social and economical development in the 'Area C' of the West Bank through supporting agriculture growth and profitability.

The specific objective of this Call for Proposals is to enhance the access to and the utilization of land and water.

The priority-components of the Action/project that will stem from this Call for Proposals are:

land reclamation of non-utilized agricultural lands (including rangeland reclamation).The activities related to land reclamation under this Call for Proposals, will be of the kind of 'heavy reclamation works', such as land levelling, building or rehabilitating of retaining walls, etc. The 'light reclamation works’, such as ploughing, fencing, planting seedlings or intercropping, etc., will be the responsibility of the farmers and/or of their associations or cooperatives;

rehabilitation of agriculture roads to facilitate access to markets, inputs, equipment and services.The rehabilitation of agriculture roads will be carried out with the purpose of improving productivity and competitiveness;

increase water availability for agricultural purposes (rehabilitation or construction of rainwater harvesting cisterns, community-reservoirs, small dams, steel water tanks, rehabilitation of wells and springs, water conveyance systems, etc.) and,

capacity development to farmers' associations/cooperatives to strengthening their management skills, including women's empowerment initiatives, and improving agriculture practices, in particular, the development and adoption of good practices in water demand management.

Besides pre-determining the outcome of negotiations, the EU is also ignoring its own positions. If Israel is the legal occupier of Area C, then it is the party responsible for governmental functions like land registration, digging wells, building roads and so forth. By the EU ignoring Israeli responsibilities for the area, it is - ironically - not recognizing Israel as the occupier under international law.

The EU, quoting the PA's "Agriculture Sector Strategy 2011-2013," says this initiative is meant to "Promote farmers' perseverance and attachment to their land and retention of their occupations - Palestinian farmers’ adherence and attachment to their land is one of the most important components of resisting the occupation and settlement activity."

Expert: "Palestinians may have used Czech Rep for arms transit"

From Ceske Noviny. as a followup to the story of the Palestinian Arab envoy to Prague being killed by an explosion:

Palestinians may have used the Czech Republic for weapons transit, former Czech chief-of-staff Jiri Sedivy has told server Aktualne.cz, reacting to the unregistered weapons the police uncovered at Palestine´s embassy in Prague where a safe explosion killed the ambassador on Wednesday.

The safe exploded in the brand-new building that is to become the embassy´s new seat.

"Maybe the affair in question involves a well organised weapons and explosives distribution network, including the weapons´ further recipients," said Sedivy, who now heads the security studies section at Prague´s CEVRO Institut university.

He said he was not speaking of terrorism but of the gathering and distribution of military equipment that could be used in an action if need were.

"This is the worst of the variants I´m thinking about," Sedivy said.

According to available information, 70 firearms, unregistered by Czech authorities, have been found in the future embassy building in Prague 6-Suchdol.

The Palestinians have not explained the weapons´ presence in the building.

"I´m horrified. This is not only a blatant violation of diplomatic norms and habits but also of security rules related to keeping such an arsenal, that also implies the tragic death of ambassador Jamal al Jamal," said Sedivy.

He said he is afraid that apart from Prague, similar arms arsenals may also be secretly kept at other Palestinian embassies in Europe and overseas.

"I my opinion this is very probable. The [Prague] blast, which occurred by sheer coincidence, may have uncovered something incredible...on the verge of monstrosity," Sedivy said.

He said Palestinian representatives have "played theatre" within the investigation into the case so far.

Their possible explanation that the weapons were to help defend the embassy is unacceptable. No one jeopardised Palestinians in Prague, Sedivy said.

"From the beginning it has not been a mere minor local scandal that would be soon over...but an incident of international dimensions," Sedivy said.

He said the find of the weapons at the future Palestinian embassy is a far more complex issue than how official places have presented it.

Sedivy also said he does not trust the version about the exploding safe that killed the ambassador.

"This is utter nonsense...In my opinion he died as a result of improper manipulation of an explosive," Sedivy said, adding that the ambassador probably did not respect safety rules for handling an explosive.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a Czech anti-terrorism official pointed out the possibility that the Palestinian embassy in Prague served as a transit point to freely ship firearms to any of the 26 Schengen Area countries (European countries that do not have passport or immigration controls.)

A further article in Aktualne has a columnist asking other military experts and diplomats if they agree with General Sedivy, and most of them agreed, although some preferred to remain anonymous.

The former head of Czech foreign intelligence service Karel Randák said bluntly: "What did you expect?! Sure General Sedivy is right. This is without a doubt! I'm bot surprised at all.

"If this scandal of a collection of weapons and explosives cannot be plausibly explained by the Palestinians, the Czech authorities should terminate that mission without pardon. Diplomats who violate every conceivable principle have no business being in the Czech Republic," he said. "But I can not think how they can explain this. It's Inexplicable and indefensible, so that - at least in my opinion - we have no choice but to expel the Palestinians. Let's start with the new Palestinian diplomats on a green field - for me, there's no other way."

The story also recalled the discovery in 2003 of an entire arsenal, including an anti-tank weapon, in the Iraqi embassy in Prague. The intended target was found to be Radio Free Europe.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

St. James Church won't let supporters of Israel in

Last week when one of the people behind the "Bethlehem Unplugged" anti-Israel stunt wrote in The Guardian:

When we have been challenged about "taking sides" and "politicising the church" – which is a fair discussion to have – we are clear that we are not "pro" one side or another but we are instead campaigning for equal human rights for all people regardless of ethnicity or background.

Well, that isn't true.

From Sussex Friends of Israel:

Historic Lebanese Christian library torched by angry Muslims

From RT:

Two-thirds of a historic collection of 80,000 books have gone up in smoke after a library was torched in the Lebanese city of Tripoli amid sectarian tensions. The blaze was started after a pamphlet insulting Islam was reportedly found inside a book.

Firefighters struggled to subdue the flames as the decades-old Al-Saeh library went up in smoke on Friday in the Serail neighborhood of Tripoli. Despite firefighters’ best efforts, little of the trove of historic books and manuscripts was recovered from the wreckage.

“Two thirds of some 80,000 books and manuscripts housed there,” a security source told Agence France Press, referring to the items destroyed. The source added that the blaze was started after a manuscript insulting the Prophet Mohammed was found hidden in the pages of one of the library books.

A demonstration had been planned in Tripoli after the pamphlet was found but was reportedly called off after the library’s Greek Orthodox owner spoke with Muslim leaders. Lebanese news outlet Naharnet also reported that one of the library workers was shot and wounded Thursday night.

“The library owner, Father Ebrahim Surouj, met with Islamic leaders in Tripoli. It became clear the priest had nothing to do with the pamphlet, and a demonstration that had been planned in protest over the incident was called off,” the source said.

However, Ashraf Rifi, former head of the Internal Security Forces, told AP the attack had nothing to do with a pamphlet and was, in fact, triggered by speculation that Father Surouj had written a study on the internet that insulted Islam.

"This criminal act poses several questions [about] the party behind it that aims at damaging coexistence in the city and ruining its reputation,” Rifi told AFP. The Lebanese police have launched an investigation into the incident.

Naharnet says that the protest was because of rumors that "claimed the father had published a book deemed insulting to Islam."

[T]he Greek Orthodox priest forgave those responsible for the attack, in a statement aired on television on Saturday.

The contrast between how Muslims and Christians act could not be starker.

01/04 Links: Prague Mayor: kick out Palestinian 'embassy', Let there be more Stephen Harpers

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: Absolute moral squalor on display at a London church

It is utterly disgraceful that St James’ church has presented this partial view of Israel while ignoring the plight of their co-religionists. Here are some festivals we are very unlikely to see taking place at St. James’s Piccadilly anytime soon.
A festival set up to highlight the victims of suicide-bombings which murder Christians while leaving church in Pakistan.
An installation — ‘Borno Unwrapped’ — commemorating the 12 people killed last weekend (whilst ‘Bethlehem Unwrapped’ was going on) in two Christian villages in northeast Nigeria, including the eight Christians murdered by Islamists at a wedding reception in Tashan-Alede village.
A small event organised to condemn the savagery which led Islamists in Iraq to plant three bombs at churches and other Christian areas in Iraq on Christmas Day, and which murdered 37 people as they were celebrating the birth of Jesus

Where Are the Other Replica Security Walls?

Here, then, is an instructive question: why is there no art installation decrying the EU's 'apartheid' security barriers on the Spain-Morocco border? What about the human rights of impoverished Moroccan and sub-Saharan African illegals, who surely deserve a temporary monument in a major capital city (and an accompanying festival) at least as much as jihadis determined to infiltrate Israel and murder innocent men, women and children, deserve one? Perhaps such a project will be next on the agenda for the baleful coterie of trendy British priests and fading, 'socially conscious' media figures currently assembled at St. James's Church.
A list of security walls, barriers and fences around the world: (h/t Bob Knot)

Human Rights Watch Should Rescind Reports

What is truly reprehensible, however, is that given the questions now surfacing with regard to al-Karama, Human Rights Watch has not rescinded the reports in whose development it had partnered with al-Karama. Take the case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which last year successfully busted a coup plot by al-Islah, the local affiliation of the Muslim Brotherhood. Human Rights Watch condemned the UAE and accused it of torture in a study that it conducted in conjunction with al-Karama. Now it seems that its partner’s leader was committed not only in rhetoric but also fact to advancing al-Qaeda’s goals. Can HRW really, in hindsight, take seriously the group’s work which castigated a government which has cracked down on al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood? Frankly, it seems plausible that al-Karama’s leadership wanted to use HRW’s mantle to castigate those it saw as ideological enemies.

NYT again downplaying Palestinian Arab rejectionism and embrace of terrorists

The New York Times has an editorial about the current negotiations, and as usual it places the blame for poisoning the atmosphere primarily on Israel.

Signs of failure are everywhere. On Thursday, standing beside Mr. Kerry, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a harsh assessment of his Palestinian counterpart, President Mahmoud Abbas, and, implicitly, the prospect of a Middle East peace agreement. Days earlier, Israel let it be known that it would build more settlements in the West Bank, further poisoning the political atmosphere while shrinking the territorial space for a deal. Hard-liners in Mr. Netanyahu’s government are pushing a bill that would annex settlements in the Jordan Valley area of the West Bank, where about 6,000 Israeli settlers and 10 times as many Palestinians live.

There are questions about the Palestinian commitment as well. Palestinian leaders have said that any new settlement activity could lead them to seek membership in the International Criminal Court and sue Israel there, a move they had promised not to take when peace talks started in the summer. An official close to Mr. Abbas has dismissed Mr. Kerry’s push for a "framework agreement" as biased toward Israel.

In his remarks on Thursday Mr. Netanyahu claimed that members of the Palestinian security force were involved in a recent attack against Israelis. Mr. Abbas should investigate the claim and, if it is true, bring those responsible to justice. He also needs to crack down on the incitement of hatred against Israel in Palestinian schools, textbooks and government-controlled media.

To its credit, the NYT at least mentions incitement, an issue that it has been all but silent on in its news pages. Even so, the bulk of the complaints are against Israel.

It is silent about the daily insistence by the PLO leadership of their "red lines." As I wrote yesterday, here is one recent list given by Saeb Erekat:

First we can not accept Israel as a Jewish state. Secondly we can not accept any Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, without Jerusalem. Thirdly we can not accept any Israeli on Palestinian territory, sea or air, after the completion of the gradual withdrawal. Fourth we can not accept any solution without the exercise of the refugees' right of return according to Resolution 194, the right of return and compensation, and (fifth) the release of all prisoners at the signing of the agreement. This is the Palestinian position.

It doesn't exactly sound like the PA is preparing its people for any compromises whatsoever. The hawkish, absolutist position of the PLO has not changed in over 25 years. Yet the NYT doesn't bother to mention that, as it never does.

Here, though, is where the NYT again shows that it is willing to give Abbas the benefit of the doubt, no matter what he does:

As part of the negotiating process, Mr. Netanyahu agreed to release 104 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails over nine months rather than halt settlement construction. But when Mr. Abbas welcomed the latest group to the West Bank this week, Mr. Netanyahu accused him of embracing terrorists, even though Mr. Abbas never condoned the prisoners’ crimes.

He never condoned their crimes? He called them heroes, multiple times! It's not like he was hiding it - Abbas was there, in the middle of the night, to greet them and embrace them personally, one by one, to kiss them and then to speak out about how they were heroic!

It takes a special kind of wishful thinking to look at that scene and then try to minimize it by saying that Abbas didn't condone their murders. The PA is offering these murderers free jobs for life, paid for by Western funding.

But the NYT, like other mainstream media, has its narrative of a "hawkish" Israeli leadership and a "moderate" Palestinian Arab leadership and it will do everything it can to protect that narrative. Thsi op-ed is a prime example.

(h/t Herb)

01/03 Links Pt2: Five Years Later Goldstone Revisited, First Chinese-Israeli Car Sold!

From Ian:

Five Years Later: Operation Cast Lead and the Goldstone Report, Revisited

The Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center report: “Hamas and the Terrorist Threat from the Gaza Strip: The Main Findings of the Goldstone Report Versus the Factual Findings” published in March 2010 (pp.82-83), found that the decision by Hamas to violate the lull/ceasefire long predated the November 4 tunnel incident:

“Hamas’ unilateral decision to the end lull and the escalation it initiated played a major role in the events which ultimately led to Operation Cast Lead. On September 18, the Hamas leadership met to discuss whether or not to extend it. Opinions in the Gaza Strip leadership of Hamas were divided, while the Damascus leadership, headed by Khaled Mashaal, chief of the political bureau in Damascus, decided to bring it to an end in an attempt to achieve a new lull with better conditions for Hamas. The decision was made knowing that it would lead to an escalation. The leadership, however, assumed Hamas would be able to control and contain it. Hamas was joined it its decision to end the lull by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the other Palestinian terrorist organizations.

CAMERA Prompts NY Times Correction on Gaza Shortages, "Palestinian" Cities
The newspaper commendably published the following correction on Dec. 31:

"An article on Dec. 19 about Mohammed Assaf, a Palestinian singer from Gaza who has become a star in the Arab world after winning the “Arab Idol” competition, referred incorrectly to cities in Israel Mr. Assaf sings about. While they had largely Arab populations before Israel became a state in 1948, they were not “Palestinian” in the sense of being part of a Palestinian political entity. The article also referred incorrectly to shortages of water, gas and electricity in Gaza. While Israel places restrictions on some goods coming into Gaza, and many Palestinians blame Israel for shortages, they were worsened by Egypt’s closing of smuggling tunnels and by a tax dispute between the militant Hamas faction, which governs Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority."

BBC Watch: As Sharon’s health deteriorates, BBC updates profile claiming he sparked second intifada

As can be seen in the screenshot above, that article also links to the newly updated profile of Ariel Sharon which – despite its recent amendment – features repetition of the long-promoted BBC myth that the second Intifada began because of Sharon’s pre-coordinated thirty-four minute visit to Temple Mount in September 2000.
That BBC myth has been previously addressed on these pages and readily available statements by numerous Palestinian figures relating to the fact that the intifada was pre-planned have been presented.

Terrorists care about the strength of the shekel

The fact that Palestinian Arabs use the shekel as their currency means that Arabic terrorist media will regularly publish the exchange rates of the shekel against other world currencies.

This means that we have a situation where Islamic Jihad media closely follows the strength of the shekel against the dollar, euro, Egyptian pound and Jordanian dinar.

A strong shekel means that they can buy weapons for a better price.

The terrorists know quite well that if a Palestinian Arab currency would be created, as some urge, it would be a disaster. Staying with the Israeli currency is good business for terrorists.

01/03 Links Pt1: Kerry vs. Rabin on Israel’s security, IHH Smuggling Weapons into Syria.

From Ian:

Kerry versus Rabin on Israel’s security

Given his warm praise of Rabin and Rabin’s perspectives on the parameters of a genuine, durable peace, one would expect any blueprint from the Secretary of State to incorporate what Rabin defined as areas vital for Israel’s defense.
Rabin, like the authors of UN Security Council Resolution 242 – still the foundation stone of Israeli-Arab peace negotiations – recognized that Israel’s pre-1967 armistice lines left the nation too vulnerable to future aggression. He insisted Israel must hold onto a significant portion of the West Bank to block traditional invasion routes and to protect both Jerusalem and the low-lying coastal plain, the latter home to some 70% of the nation’s population. In his last speech in the Knesset before his assassination, Rabin declared:

The Israel-Palestinian Negotiation and the American mediation: The Jerusalem case

Now John Kerry tries again with the clumsiness of an elephant in a porcelain shop to bring the parties to conclude an agreement, while the issues raised for the “solution” are not the real issues. The US continues to see the subject matter with its wrong mistaken mirror image, as if the “occupation” of the 1967 territories, and the Palestinian refugee issue of 1948, and the Issue of Jerusalem as the capital of the newborn Palestinian state, are the main obstacles to conclude the peace agreement. The US continues to stumble as if she has the formula that brings the parties not only to the negotiation table, not only to a peace agreement, but to peace relations between Israel and the Palestinians. Moreover, the US continues to believe that by reaching this end, most of the issues in the Middle East are solved, and harmony and tranquility reigns over the region.

Language and Lenses: “West Bank” versus “Judaea and Samaria”

Until the Arab-Muslim world gives up its Koranically-based hatred and disdain for the Jewish people, it will be impossible to have any faith that a “Palestinian” state on historically Jewish land will be anything other than a terrorist state devoted to the annihilation of the Jewish state, if not the Jewish people.
Whatever the eventual outcome of this long-standing Arab-Muslim war against the Jews of the Middle East, it should be obvious to Jewish people that denying our own history in that region cannot be a benefit to our people.
It is one thing to give away Jewish land, but it is another thing entirely to give away Jewish history. The former, in my view, might be acceptable if the recipients were kindly disposed toward their Jewish neighbors in acceptance.
The latter is an abomination. (h/t Bob Knot)

EU-funded TV show demonizes Jews

From Palestinian Media Watch:

EU-funded NGO for youth dehumanizes Jews as "crows"

PA TV narrator: “Sometimes we are reluctant to raise our heads in the streets of Jerusalem, because the sight above the walls disturbs us (i.e., of the Israeli flag). Its blue color has nothing to do with the sky or the sea. Its white color is not the color of peace but the color of a rag dipped in our blood. The Star [of David] in its center does not light our way... We may wake up to locked gates and expropriated houses in Jerusalem. The crows pass by and caw (visual of religious Jews) and the rats are armed (visual of Israeli soldiers). But we know that the gates will smile only when we enter them... Jerusalem will never accept any language other than Arabic and any nationality other than Palestinian, no matter how much the flags of the foreigners fly in its sky.”

Note: The Palestinian Youth Association (PYALARA), the producer of this program, is funded by NDC. NDC's international donors include: the European Union, the World Bank, the French government’s Agence Française de Développement, a donor consortium of Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, the Islamic Development Bank, the United Palestinian Appeal, and the Palestinian private organization the Welfare Association. [NDC website, accessed December 2013]

NDC is a Palestinian Arab NGO.

PYALARA is also funded by the Olof Palme International Center, the umbrella organization for the Swedish labor movement.

(h/t Ian)

Saeb Erekat, that moderate darling of the West, keeps making preposterous statements in Arabic that the Western media ignores.

His latest is that he is fearful that Abbas would meet the fate of Yasir Arafat - meaning, of course, that Israel would assassinate Abbas the way that Erekat fearlessly accuses Israel of killing Arafat.

He added, "I'm telling you: if Mother Teresa was Chairperson of the Palestinian people and Montesquieu was the Chairman of the Parliament and Thomas Jefferson was president and prime minister and favored a Palestinian state on the '67 borders and Jerusalem as its capital and resolving the refugee issue, our partners [Israel] would describe them as terrorists and say they should get rid of them."

Erekat then showed off his flexibility and moderation by once again listing the PLO's red lines:

First we can not accept Israel as a Jewish state. Secondly we can not accept any Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, without Jerusalem. Thirdly we can not accept any Israeli on Palestinian territory, sea or air, after the completion of the gradual withdrawal. Fourth we can not accept any solution without the exercise of the refugees' right of return according to Resolution 194, the right of return and compensation, and (fifth) the release of all prisoners at the signing of the agreement. This is the Palestinian position.

In other words, if they cannot be allowed to destroy Israel demographically, the Palestinian Arabs would prefer not to have a state at all. A peace agreement is less important than allowing murderers to go free and become heroes. Taking away Jewish rights to practice their religion in their holiest city is a basic Arab right. If the PLO does not receive all of its demands, then it would prefer not to have a state with compromises. It would prefer that millions of Palestinian Arabs remain stateless for the next 65 years. It would consider terrorism as a right to get what it demands (as the Fatah platform states explicitly.)

Doesn't this sound just like something Mother Teresa or Thomas Jefferson would say?

The media, of course, is hiding Erekat's absurd words.

Erekat made the same comparison over a year ago. The ever vigilant media missed the story entirely.

Ma'an reported on the assassination accusation - but studiously ignored the part about Mother Teresa that was in the very same article.

But there's more.

Nine years ago, Erekat made another version of this statement that is even more outrageous - and that showed that he justifies terror.

Erekat added that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory "would have turned Mother Theresa and Nelson Mandela into terrorists."

This is what Erekat really believes - not that Israel falsely considers Palestinian Arab leaders to be terrorist, but that they have the right to be terrorists.

Over the years he has honed that message to be a bit more Western-friendly. He still says stupid things, but he can rely on the media to edit his words so he is not embarrassed. After all, he is the chief negotiator for the Palestinian Arabs - it wouldn't be right to show that he is an immoral supporter of terrorism, right?

"Quenelle 4 Ever" scrawled on St James Church stunt wall

In the Guardian "Comment is Free" article I referenced earlier about the pathetic defense of the "Bethlehem Unplugged" wall stunt in Piccadilly, the writer claims, "Anything offensive written on the wall has been removed immediately."

Oh, really?

"Quenelle" refers to the neo-Nazi salute that Jew-haters are performing worldwide, often in front of Jewish institutions and sites of atrocities against Jews.

This comes courtesy of Sussex Friends for Israel, which is holding a demonstration against the stunt on Saturday night.

Here is an excellent flyer they are handing out, click to enlarge.

St. James Church's immoral arguments

In "Comment is Free," Lucy Winkett defends St. James Church for its anti-Israel "Bethlehem Unplugged" stunt.

We are supporting a peaceful Palestinian principle known as "beautiful resistance"; expressed in theatres, music projects and festivals that exist to counter military dominance with a commitment to non-violent artistic expression.

According to Winkett, lies and anti-Israel incitement are OK as long as it is positioned as "art". When the lies are built into plays, exhibits such as this, and music, they are transformed from incitement into something "beautiful."

We are acutely aware that antisemitism is real and pernicious and we stand strongly against all forms of racism including antisemitism.

I will donate $100 to St. James Church if they publish an unambiguous and undiluted statement on their website specifically condemning Arab antisemitism.

It is easy to say that you are against antisemitism as an abstract concept, but how courageous are you when you might offend a few hundred million Arabs who learn antisemitic lessons from their newspapers, miniseries, TV shows and schools every day?

We support the state of Israel's right not only to exist but to flourish as a member of the international community within secure, internationally recognised borders.

Let's look at this statement. Israelis were suffering a wave of suicide bombings. Clearly the borders between them and the Palestinian Authority ruled areas were not secure - by definition. So what could Israel have done to secure its citizens, in church logic? Again, it is easy to say Israel has the right to security, but if the church condemns Israel's actions to achieve that security and (by implication) would prefer that the status quo be maintained, then their statement that they support Israel's existence in secure borders is nothing but hot air.

Secondly, we have been challenged that the installation does not acknowledge the government position that the wall was built for security reasons to protect Israeli citizens. It is important therefore to repeat that this is articulated on every leaflet, every display board, and on the festival and church's own websites.

The problem is that the church doesn't recognize that the wall has saved countless lives. Here is how it is mentioned in the St James Church website:

The stated aim of the wall at its inception in 2002 was to protect Israeli citizens from terrorism.

The implication is that this is what the Israeli government claims, with no evidence backing it up.

Yet the number of suicide bombings dropped dramatically as the barrier was erected, and the terrorists freely admit it.

Whether Winkett admits it or not, the very idea of building this stunt wall in London shows that St James Church dismisses the value of Israeli lives. There is no other way to interpret their negative views of the separation barrier.

Back at the St James Church site, we see another whopper:

This wall is symbolic of walls all over the world that divide and confine peoples, restricting free movement and dominating the imagination of those who live behind them.

Ah, so this wall is not to condemn Israel - they are just using it as a symbol of all other walls!

So why choose Israel's?

Well, just like all other people who hate Israel and pretend that they are being morally consistent, "one has to start somewhere." For some reason, that somewhere is always the single Jewish state.

What an astounding coincidence.

01/02 Links Pt2: Even Peaceniks are terror targets, Yemeni Columnist Denounces Calling Jews 'Apes And Pigs'

From Ian:

Even Peaceniks are terror targets

Winston Churchill famously remarked “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.”
I’ve often suspected the reason some Jews join with our enemies is that the belief that if they support terrorists who want to destroy Israel and the Jews, they will be spared. Many learn too late that it doesn’t matter if you’re a self-hating Jew who is happy to denounce Israel and your fellow Jews; to a terrorist you are still a Jew.

MEMRI: Yemeni Columnist Denounces Custom Of Calling Jews 'Descendants Of Apes And Pigs'

Dr. Youssuf Al-Hadhiri, a columnist for the Yemeni paper 'Aden Al-Ghad, came out against the practice of Muslim clerics and preachers to call the Jews "descendants of apes and pigs" and entrench this expression in the Muslim public discourse. In a recent article, he discusses the Koranic verses that are the source of this expression in order to prove that it is false, and argues that the use of this expression only damages Islam. (h/t Bob Knot)

In Europe, Elites Create the Atmosphere That Allows Popular Anti-Semitism to Grow

One group cloaks its prejudice in high minded rationalizations. The other openly appeals to people’s most base hatreds. The elites might never personally assault anyone or espouse violence. However, they create an atmosphere that allows others to more freely engage in anti-Semitic actions. It is not a matter of one group being worse than the other. It is that both are necessary for the perfect storm. This storm might take a very long time to gather to gale force—but the atmospheric elements increasingly seem to be falling into place.
Yet, before reading this as a license to panic, let’s remember how different things are today than in the Europe of the 1930s. Even before Jews protested and demanded a response to Anelka’s salute—something we can freely do today—political leaders, commentators, and public intellectuals were already condemning it as an expression of racist and anti-Semitic prejudice. Many among them were clear about seeing the ideas underlying the silly hand gesture as a threat to the kind of society in which they wish to live.
Dieudonné, Anelka, and Parker have all responded defensively, variously insisting that their actions have nothing to do with anti-Semitism or were misconstrued. Thankfully, no one believes them.

Has the earliest Hebrew inscription been decoded?

From Times of Israel:

An ancient eight-letter inscription — dating back to King Solomon’s reign in Jerusalem some 3,000 years ago — was deciphered by a researcher from the University of Haifa, shedding light on the Solomonic kingdom’s impressively sophisticated administrative system.

The carving was discovered on a clay jug in the Ophel area, near the southern wall of the Temple Mount, by a Hebrew University archaeological team headed by Dr. Eilat Mazar. It is considered the most ancient Hebrew engraving to emerge from the archaeological digs in Jerusalem to date.

However, the meaning of the cryptic inscription eluded researchers until Professor Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa interpreted it as a classification of a type of wine stored in the jug. He published his findings in the journal “New Studies on Jerusalem.”

Galil estimated that the carving was written in the middle of the tenth century BCE, after King Solomon built the First Temple, his palaces, and the surrounding walls that unified the three areas of the city — the Ophel area, the city of David, and the Temple Mount. These tremendous infrastructural projects contributed, Galil said, to the sudden need for copious quantities of poor-quality wine.

“This wine was not served on the table of King Solomon nor in the Temple,” Galil wrote. “Rather it was probably used by the many forced laborers in the building projects and the soldiers that guarded them. Food and drinks for these laborers were mainly held in the Ophel area.” His theory is shored up by pottery fragments found in Arad, Galil wrote.

Haaretz had details:

Galil suggested that the letters were early Hebrew and identified the key word as "yayin", meaning wine.

Of all the region’s languages, Galil noted, only southern Hebrew wrote the word yayin with two instances of the letter yod, rather than one.

According to Galil’s interpretation, the inscription describes the wine that was in the jar bearing the inscription. The first letter is a final mem, which could be the end of the word "esrim" (twenty) or "shloshim" (thirty,) referring to either the twentieth or thirtieth year of Solomon’s reign. Next comes the word "yayin" (wine) followed by the word "halak", and then the letter mem, the first letter of the wine’s place of origin.

"Halak" is an oenological term from the Northern Syrian language of Ugarit. It referred to the lowest of three types of wine – “good wine,” “no good wine” and lowly "halak". Galil speculated that the poor-quality wine was drunk by the king's conscript labor force working on various building projects.

Here is Galil's illustration of the letters in the ancient Semitic alphabet:

The three rightmost letters are partially conjecture on Galil's part; most of them fall outside the actual piece of pottery:

When you see that, then the "two yod" theory seems much less strong - those points could be part of other letters of the alphabet at the time.

The word "halak" (h-l-q) seems to be the best evidence for the missing letters to spell "yayin" but it is not a sure thing. This paper from July posits that the letters should actually be read right to left, and he also assumes that some letters are different than Galil's assumptions - for example, instead of h-l-q it might be h-p-q or h-l-r.

Still, Galil's hypothesis is interesting and any inscription in Jerusalem from First Temple times is spectacular.

(h/t DM)

The hundredth school to condemn ASA's boycott of Israel

Avi Mayer has been keeping track of the colleges and universities who have condemned the ASA for their boycott of Israel. So far, one hundred have joined the condemnation.

(I am hearing noises that the ASA itself might not survive this kerfuffle.)

The hundredth institution is Catholic University of America, and their letter is worth posting here:

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT JOHN GARVEY

ON THE AMERICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION BOYCOTT OF ISRAELI UNIVERSITIES

The American Studies Association’s recent call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions is lamentable. The Association has appointed itself as a kind of inept volunteer fire department, aiming to put out the Israeli-Palestinian conflagration by throwing gasoline on the fire. That’s not exactly right. It has decided to pour gas not on the source of the fire but on bystanders, some of whom are trying to extinguish the flames. No good can come of punishing academic institutions for the shortcomings, real and perceived, of their nations’ leaders and policies.

Rather than restricting academic freedom to advance political causes, academic organizations like the ASA should be working to foster dialogue with their foreign interlocutors, perhaps especially those they disagree with. The academy – universities, faculties, and satellite institutions – is a place where research, open discussion, and creative thought can lead to reforms and new approaches to longstanding problems. I hope the ASA’s call for a boycott produces just the opposite of its intended result – a proliferation of U.S. linkages with Israeli universities and other universities in the Middle East.

Jamal "Boom-boom" al-Jamal

Yesterday:

An explosion on the premises of the future Palestinian embassy in Prague-Suchdol killed Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic Jamal Al Jamal, 56, but Poice President Martin Červíček said this was not an act of terrorism.

Prague Police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulová said a security system may have exploded on the safe.

Well, so much for that theory, which the New York Times accepted without question.

A large, illegal weapons stockpile was found Thursday at the home of the Palestinian ambassador in Prague, Jamel al-Jamal, Czech media reported, a day after al-Jamal was killed in an explosion there

Respekt, a Czech weekly newspaper, reported that the arsenal was enough to arm a unit of ten men.

Czech police spokeswoman Andrea Zoulova confirmed that arms had been found in the ambassador’s residence, which is located within a newly constructed Palestinian diplomatic mission in the city.

Channel 2 News reported that the stockpile included heavy firearms, that it was held illegally, and that its existence had not been previously known to the Czech authorities.

Assuming that Jamal was not the one responsible for the explosives and arsenal of weapons, who was?

It seems likely to be this guy:

The first ambassador of the State of Palestine to Prague was Samih Abd al-Fatah, known as Abu Hisham, a veteran of the Palestinian movement who was close to Yasser Arafat. He was Jamal's superior and diplomacy teacher. As a result, Jamal, too, was Arafat's man to an extent, a source from the Arab community in Prague told LN.

A State Department cable revealed on Wikileaks describes Abu Hisham as "a close advisor on security affairs to PA President Mahmoud Abbas."

Is it conceivable that a cache of weapons and explosives could have been hidden at the PLO's Czech mission without Abu Hisham's knowledge? And is it conceivable that the decision to have such a weapons cache didn't come from Ramallah?

The PLO is a Soviet-style top-down organization where very few people are allowed to act or think independently. There is no way that this is peculiar to the Czech mission.

I hope that every PLO office worldwide is being searched now.

All of this makes the EU's insistence that terror groups can have "political wings" seem rather quaint. Along with the idea that Fatah and the PLO are peace-seeking organizations.

01/02 Links Pt1: Will Arab Countries Label the MB a Terrorist Group?, PA doc. predicts ‘third intifada’

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Will Arabs Have the Courage to Label Muslim Brotherhood a Terrorist Group?

The question being asked today in the Arab world is whether other countries will take similar measures against Muslim Brotherhood groups and branches.
Buoyed by the Egyptian move, Palestinian and Jordanian political analysts and activists have urged their leaders to seize the opportunity and crack down on the Islamists in their countries.
But for now it seems that most Arabs, especially the Jordanians and Palestinians, are reluctant to follow the Egyptians — the reason why this week the Egyptians urged the members of the Arab League to enforce a counter-terrorism treaty that would block funding and support for Muslim Brotherhood.
Badr Abdelatty, spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign ministry, said Arab League members that signed the 1998 treaty should enforce it against the Muslim Brotherhood, which has a presence in most Arab countries.

The "Palestinian Revolution" Began In 1965

In 1965 - before the 1967 conflict which resulted in the "occupation" and before "settlements" were constructed.
So says Abbas (thanks IMRA):-

Final Status Agreement Guarantees Our Rights
“We negotiate with Israel to reach a solution that leads to a Palestinian state within the 1967 occupied territory, with Jerusalem as a capital. We negotiate to reach a fair solution to the refugees’ issue based on the UN Resolution 194 as stated in the Arab Peace Initiative”, said Abbas.
...Abbas made reference to the 1965 Revolution by saying it was a success; its ideas of adhering to the national rights and aspirations have been successful from one generation to another.
(h/t NormanF)

CiF Watch prompts correction to false Indy claim about “caged” Palestinian kids

A couple of hours ago we posted about a horribly misleading report in The Independent (Israel government tortures Palestinian children by keeping them in cages, human rights group says, Jan. 1) which included the following:

The broad, unsubstantiated insinuation, based on very vague wording in a report by the radical NGO PCATI, that Palestinian kids detained by Israeli security personnel are “tortured”.
The charge, based on completely uncorroborated allegations, based on a PCATI report, that Palestinian children are sexually abused while in custody.
The completely erroneous charge that Palestinian children were caged “for months” - an allegation which was not even leveled by PCATI, nor by anyone involved in the story.
Following our complaint to Indy editors, the word torture in the headline was placed in quotes and, more importantly, the false charge that Palestinian children were caged for months has been amended.

The Telegraph exposes "Breaking the Silence" (and the entire NGO funding ecosystem)

When you get NGO money involved, all of a sudden the truth is less important than pleasing your sponsors. This is a must-read from Jake Wallis Simons:

In a grimy corner of downtown Jerusalem, tucked away on the top floor of an anonymous-looking block of offices, is the headquarters of an organisation called Breaking the Silence.

This is a group of former Israeli soldiers who have served in the West Bank, and aim to “expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories”.

...
I liked all the members personally, and at first found them to be sincere in their beliefs. But when the interviews began, something didn’t feel right.

For one thing, the majority of the testimonies seemed to reflect the roughness of the military rather than any human rights abuse. The indignity of checkpoints; the intrusion of house-to-house searches; the unpleasantness of curfews. All of this stuff is awful, but only a small percentage of it appeared to warrant court martial.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that Breaking the Silence was milking it.

It was only a hunch at first. But later, the bias of the organisation became clearer. During a break between interviews, I asked Yehuda Shaul, one of the founders of the organisation, how the group is funded. It was with some surprise that I learned that 45 per cent of it is donated by European countries, including Norway and Spain, and the European Union. Other donors include UNICEF, Christian Aid and Oxfam GB. To me this seemed potentially problematic....It appeared that these former soldiers, some of whom draw salaries from Breaking the Silence, were motivated by financial and political concerns to further a pro-Palestinian agenda. They weren’t merely telling the truth about their experiences. They were under pressure to perform.

Indeed, I later discovered that there have been many allegations in the past that members of the organisation either fabricated or exaggerated their testimonies.

The matter became more unsettling when one of Breaking the Silence’s former soldiers accompanied me to Hebron...

We set up our video camera outside an army base in the Israeli sector of Hebron, and I began to interview the former soldier from Breaking the Silence. He was talking about his army service, and came out with the line, “the first time I ever met a Palestinian was when I entered his house in the middle of the night”.

While he was speaking a car drove by behind him, drowning out his words. I said: “Just give me it one more time about how… the first time you ever met a Palestinian was when you kicked down his door in the middle of the night”. This was my mistake; he hadn’t said that he kicked down anything.

He duly repeated it. This time, however, he took my lead and changed his account from “entered his house in the middle of the night” to “kicked down his door in the middle of the night”. On the surface it may seem like a small detail. But when we played back the tape I found the ease with which he exaggerated his story very troubling. We didn’t use the interview.

Most worryingly of all, Breaking the Silence focuses almost exclusively on Hebron, presenting it as typical. Several times a month it ships foreign diplomats, officials and ordinary folk to this unhappy place, showing them the grim military infrastructure and providing testimony about the abuses carried out by settlers and soldiers.

The group does not offer tours to any other settlements on the West Bank. This one city, they say, is a “microcosm of occupation”.

Now, there is no doubt that Hebron is a highly disturbing place, or that violence takes place there on a regular basis. But all the anti-settlement organisations I spoke to, including Peace Now, B’Tselem and Rabbis for Human Rights, acknowledged that Hebron is the exception rather than the rule. Most settlements are far more peaceful and less abusive. A few even have supermarkets where Arabs and Jews shop side-by-side.

This isn’t to justify the existence of the settlements, or to soften the debate about their legality. It is to illustrate the simple point that Breaking the Silence appears to be sexing up the harshness of the Israeli presence on the West Bank by focussing only on its very worst manifestation. That is to say, it is warping the terms of the debate. And it is funded largely by Europe, and by extension the UK.

Whatever your view on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is surely self-evident that it must be based on the truth of the situation, not a biased and partial interpretation of it.

This is the problem with all of these anti-Israel NGOs. They depend on funding to exist, and that funding comes from sources that want them to justify their existence by fulfilling the agenda of the funders. The pressure to constantly issue anti-Israel reports is literally existential. No one is paying anyone to create reports that say that Israel treats Arabs well - there is no political gain from that.

The decision to oppose Israeli policy has already been made by the EU, and it funds groups to support that decision, not to uncover the truth. The NGOs, in turn, happily fulfill that role to continue to receive tens of millions of dollars. Lazy reporters, in turn, are happy to parrot the findings of these biased reports, because it is easy to cut and paste and they can get to their pubs earlier in the day. It is a self-feeding cycle.

The entire ecosystem of NGO funding is rotten, but that story isn't sexy enough to attract funding either. And most reporters aren't energetic or honest enough to dig behind what the NGOs themselves are saying.

Kudos to Jake Wallis Simons for looking beyond the stories being hand-fed to hundreds of journalists in Israel.

You won't believe how many new settlements have been approved by Israel since 1990

Here is a BBC comedy program that spoofs what the world agrees is Israel's inexorable expansion of settlements:

The reason that people think this is funny is because it appears to be based on what is universally accepted as truth - that Israel keeps building more and more settlements. For decades we have heard that these settlements are endangering a two-state solution because they are grabbing more and more land, and eventually there won't be any land left for Palestinian Arabs to live on.

What is the truth?

Well, just ask Peace Now: From their report on April 19, 2012:

According to reports, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated this week that the Government will approve the establishment of three settlements (Bruchin, Sansana and Rechalim), in the upcoming cabinet meeting on Sunday, April 22. This decision is required in order to legalize the illegal outposts.... If approved next Sunday, it will be the first time since the Shamir Government in 1990 that the Israeli government is deciding on the establishment of new settlements.

That's right. In 23 years, Israel has approved exactly three new settlements.

Since then, no new settlements have been approved. Peace Now also has a report on settlement activity since Bibi was re-elected and not one new settlement is mentioned.

To be sure, within existing settlement boundaries, there have been many new buildings added. The vast majority of this building takes up no additional land whatsoever. And the vast majority of the building also takes place in areas that Israel will continue to control in any possible peace agreement. (Sometimes, a few times a year according to Peace Now, new neighborhoods are approved that expand existing settlements into state land as well, never into privately owned Arab land, and always in Area C, where only about 2% of Palestinian Arabs live to begin with.)

It is true that dozens of illegal outposts have been set up as well, against Israeli law. (Which means, by definition, their existence is not against international law no matter how you interpret the Geneva Conventions.)

Of course, the Netanyahu government has made no secret that it intends to legalize other older settlements. Yet - it hasn't, after being in power for nearly five years.

In 2002, Btselem claimed that 1.7% of area of the West Bank is taken up by settlements plus roads to them. Peace Now put the amount of settlement lands at 1.36% at the time. However, Saeb Erekat said that an aerial survey of the area funded by the EU showed that Israeli settlements only took up 1.1% of the land in 2011! (He was actually arguing that since they take up so little space, "Palestine" should be created based on the "1967 lines.")

This is hardly the massive expansion of land that is being portrayed by the media, politicians, and now comedy programs. In real terms, Israel's settlement policy has done very little since before Oslo to imperil any two state solution.

Outside of celebrity scandals, Israel's settlement policy is perhaps the most exaggerated issue in the history of news media.

(h/t Anne)

Egyptian astrologer says Jews will be powerful in December 2014

Great stuff from MEMRI:

In an end-of-year interview on Al-Nahar TV, Egyptian astrologer Sayyed Al-Shimi warned that whenever Saturn enters a fire sign, the Jews become stronger. Attributing various events, including the first World Zionist Congress, the Balfour Declaration, and the 1948, 1956, and 1967 wars, to the constellation of the stars, Al-Shimi warned that in December 2014, Saturn would enter Sagittarius again.

Following are excerpts from the interview, which aired on Al-Nahar TV and was posted on the Internet on December 31, 2013:

Sayyed Al-Shimi: Saturn will enter the fire sign of Sagittarius. My late father and I have had a long history with Saturn entering fire signs. As Sheik Daud Al-Antaki wrote, when Saturn enters any of the fire signs, the Jews grow stronger. Don't believe in this merely because I say so. It's been tested. We tested it, and it turned out that...

Interviewer: What happened in the past in such a case?

Sayyed Al-Shimi: We discovered that Saturn entered the fire sign of Sagittarius when the first World Zionist Congress convened. The Balfour Declaration was released when Saturn was in the fire sign of Leo. The Haganah Brigades began organizing and helping the English in 1928, when Saturn was in the fire sign of Sagittarius. The 1948 war took place when Saturn was in the fire sign of Leo. The 1956 war took place when Saturn was in the fire sign of Sagittarius. The 1967 war took place when Saturn was in the fire sign of Aries.

Between 1963-1967, my late father warned in his annual reports: "Beware, Saturn will enter the sign of Aries in 1967, and this means that the Jews will grow stronger, just like in 1956 and in 1948." "Beware," he said, "something is about to happen." But they refused to believe him.
[...]
After visiting the sign of Aries, Saturn entered the sign of Leo. This was in 1977, when Sadat visited Jerusalem.
[...]
The last time Saturn was in the fire sign of Leo occurred in 2006. I started warning them in 2004: "Beware, when Saturn enters the sign of Leo, the Jews in Palestine will get stronger. Something leading to this will inevitably occur." What happened? The Palestinian Authority split into Fatah and Hamas. Now Saturn is about to enter...

Interviewer: It all happens in fire signs? Saturn never enters a water sign, or whatever?

Sayyed Al-Shimi: It does enter water signs, but in December 2014, it will enter the fire sign of Sagittarius. Therefore, I hope that until December 2014, the Arab leaders must do whatever they can to resolve the Palestinian problem.

[...]

I guess Al Shimi disagrees with the Talmud (Shabbat 156a) that says that astrological portents do not apply to Israel (ein mazel l'Yisrael.).

Hamas admits Gaza is not under siege

Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades tweeted:

Palestine Crops From #Palestine Land To #GlobalMarket pic.twitter.com/f04YpP4pQm
— Alqassam Brigades (@AlqassamBrigade) December 31, 2013

Funny, I published that same photo in 2011.

The only way that Gaza can export strawberries is through Israel. So Hamas, by tweeting how wonderful it is that Gaza can export produce, is admitting that there is no siege on Gaza.

On Sunday, Israel allowed seven truckloads of strawberries and one of cherry tomatoes to go through Kerem Shalom to be exported to Europe.

01/01 Links Pt2: 92 Unis reject BDS, Israel bans European Hamas group inc. fmr. MP Clare Short

From Ian:

Israel Outlaws Hamas’s European Front Group CEPR; IDF Could Arrest its MP Board Members on Arrival

Citing emergency defense regulations, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has outlawed The Council for European Palestinian Relations, a Belgian-registered non-profit organization that serves as terror group Hamas’s mouthpiece in Europe.
The members of parliament include British Labour MEP Richard Howitt, German representative Alexandra Thein, Swiss MP Geri Müller and British MP Norman Warner, a member of the House of Lords, who was a health minister in Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government, and now serves on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Palestine. Former British International Development Secretary Clare Short, who resigned in 2003, when the UK entered the Iraq War, is Chair of CEPR’s Board of Trustees, and would also be barred from Israel by the move.

St James’s Church’s replica of Israel’s security wall cost….£30,000

For British Jews the replica wall and Bethlehem Unwrapped are a disaster. I agree with Melanie Phillips when she states that its inevitable effect will be “to incite hatred against Israel and all who support its defence”, which means even more vigilance at synagogues, Jewish schools and Jewish events.
Some will benefit though. Ottolenghi and his chef partner Sami Tamimi and Dembina, Zaltzman and Cohen will have had their faces and names plastered all over the gates of the Church which looks out onto one of the busiest roads in London. Not forgetting Justin Butcher, Geof Thompson, Dean Willars and Deborah Burton who all helped to design the replica wall (see below).
In the end the £30,000 cost of the wall could have been donated to help those that St James’s Church, Piccadilly, really claims to care for: the people of Bethlehem.

Unwrapped: An ugly Guardian smear

Of course, suggesting that Israel engages in codified segregation by erecting such a fence fails the most obvious tests of logic and common sense, as Palestinian Arabs who live in the West Bank are NOT citizens of Israel and therefore can’t possibly be expected to enjoy the same rights and privileges. Suggesting that Israel’s barrier represents “segregation” (a word which typically refers to separation or isolation based on race) is as absurd as claiming that United States is practicing ‘segregation’ on their southern border because Mexican citizens aren’t allowed to automatically cross the ‘fenced’ border into America.
In short, there is no racial component to Israeli checkpoints and security fences.
Finally, it is interesting to note that when you look closely at the Guardian’s photo it is cut off around the lower left where two Brits (Sharon and Lesley Klaff) spray painted in red the words “THIS WALL SAVES LIVES”.

Just happened to take this shot this morning.

Hey, it's New Year's, I need a break sometimes!

From Al Arabiya:

Gunmen blow up a gas pipeline that feeds an industrial area in Egypt’s desert Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

Official sources said the explosion caused no casualties, AFP reported.

They have escalated attacks on soldiers and policemen following the military's overthrow of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi in July.

The group spearheading the attacks, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, is inspired by al-Qaeda and has claimed bombings targeting police in mainland Egypt.

They used to blow up the pipeline to Israel (and Jordan); now they are blowing up ones used in Egypt itself.

There is only one explanation.

It's the Mossad.

Or maybe it is because Egypt is not at war with Israel.

Whatever it is, it is a problem that will be solved by an Israeli peace agreement with the PLO. We know that because there is more Western effort, time and money in fixing that problem than in solving the problems of Egypt, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Kuwait and Jordan combined.

01/01 Links Pt1: P.A. Czech Amb. Killed in blast. Hamas test long range rocket, Putin: annihilate terrorists

From Ian:

David Weinberg: Rejecting false linkage

The Palestinians also make a link between their issue and the Iranian issue. Specifically, they learned from the American diplomatic collapse in Geneva to give Washington no concessions in terms of territory, refugees or border controls. After all, the Palestinians see that Iran's persistence in retaining all its nuclear properties pays off. Washington acquiesced in the easing of sanctions against Iran without Teheran really giving up any significant hard assets.
Abbas learns from this to hang tough and wait for Washington to shunt Israel's concerns aside, just as Obama did on the Iranian issue in Geneva.
In the present situation, Netanyahu has, quite bluntly, even less reason to trust the Obama administration than he did before. Netanyahu should now be saying to Obama: If you're not going to protect Israel and the region from the Iranians, expect less cooperation from me on other files. You screwed Israel over Bushehr, so don't expect me to give you Yitzhar. America is not the only party that can play linkage politics.

Analysis: Ya'alon reveals why he rejected US security proposals

“When I’m told about the security answer in Judea and Samaria, and when they talk about satellites, drones and technologies, I say, ‘guys, you’re wrong.’ The principal problem is education. If in Nablus and Jenin they continue to educate the young generation as it is being educated today, to idolize terrorism and jihad, and that the Jewish people have no right to this land, if this is how they’re educated, than technology stops nothing,” he said. “If the education does not change, we’ll have the same pressure from the inside. And then there will be a Hamastan in Judea and Samaria, like in Gaza. It’ll hurt us, it’ll hurt Jordan and it’ll hurt other interests in the area.”
The “guys” Ya’alon is referring to appear to be Kerry and his aides, and the defense minister’s message is unequivocal. No amount of drones or satellites can replace boots on the ground – of both IDF battalions and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) – when it comes to containing Palestinian terrorism.

Israel reportedly offering land and its 300,000 residents to Palestinians

Israel has raised the idea of transferring parts of the territory in “the triangle” southeast of Haifa — along with the hundreds of thousands of Israeli-Arab citizens who live there — to a future Palestinian state in return for annexing West Bank territory including settlement blocs, Maariv reported on Wednesday.
The idea is not central to the formal talks being brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is due back in Israel on Thursday pushing a “framework” peace agreement. But it has been discussed “at the highest levels” between Israel and the US, the report said.

Creating engines that run on water - Israel vs. PalArabs

From Technion:

Prof. Alon Gany, Dr. Valery Rosenband and their PhD student Shani Elitzur of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, present model electric boat and car as technology demonstrators for in-situ hydrogen production from aluminum and water. The reaction is based on an original activation process, and electricity generation on-board via PEM fuel cell. Filmed at the Fine Rocket Propulsion Center at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Technion.

The technology is based on a patented novel method developed at the Fine Rocket Propulsion Center for aluminum activation to react spontaneously with water. It enables compact, safe, and efficient hydrogen storage which can be used on demand.

The combination of this hydrogen production and storage technique with a PEM fuel cell can yield "green", non polluting electric energy with specific energy (energy per unit mass) greater by 10-15 fold than common lithium-ion batteries used today.

The technology may be applied, for instance, for marine and automotive propulsion, for emergency electric generators, for power supply in remote communication posts, and for civilian and military outdoors operations, providing convenient, safe, clean, and quiet operation.

But if you think that is impressive, how about a Palestinian Arab who claims to have created an engine that runs purely on water?

Mahmoud Abbas met personally with inventor Atef Abdel Rahman Shkoukani who received a Palestinian patent for his car that runs only on water.

Al Jazeera says that Atef worked on his invention for two years in his father's auto repair garage.

This was one of 22 patents registered by the PA in 2013. (Israel had nearly 2600 in 2012.)

Details on this revolutionary, patented invention are sketchy. Here is the illustration of how it works from Al Jazeera:

Impressive, isn't it?

A few years ago another Palestinian Arab inventor claimed to have created a car that runs on only air, but for some reason it does not seem to have made it to market yet.

Palestine Today, an organ of Islamic Jihad, has an article today saying that Gaza is not at all like the image of "destruction and siege" that the world believes.

Far from the image of war, destruction and siege in the Gaza Strip, Gazans during the year 2013 restored many aspects of normal life after years of blockade.

"The return of building and construction in the first half of the year, and the entry of modern cars, luxury goods, and the emergence of artists in the international arena in the areas of singing and painting, in addition to the Arab reader who is the best in the Arab world in the recitation of the Koran, as well as the continuation of weddings and other happy occasions. are some of the aspects of the Gaza Strip in 2013," said the article.

It goes on to say that many building projects were started, roads were paved, Gazans won recognition for their singing, art and Koran recitation talents, and there are concerts and weddings daily in the sector.

Roger Cohen shows his ignorance yet again

Once again, Roger Cohen blames Israel and Israel alone for his fearless prediction that current negotiations will fail:

But I am going to make one prediction for 2014. It is that, for all John Kerry’s efforts, this will be another year in which peace is not reached in the Middle East. ...

Plenty of bad things have happened between Israelis and Palestinians of late. There has been a steady uptick in violence. Israel’s freeing of 26 long-serving Palestinian prisoners was naturally greeted with joy in Ramallah, and by a wave of Israeli government tweets condemning the celebration of terrorists. Along with the release came word that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government will likely announce plans for 1,400 new housing units in the West Bank, just as Kerry arrives for his 10th peace-seeking visit. This has infuriated Palestinians. So, too, has an Israeli ministerial committee vote advancing legislation to annex settlements in the Jordan Valley. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the vote “finishes all that is called the peace process.” Such contemptuous characterization of a negotiation from a leading protagonist is ill-advised and bodes ill.

Then there is the rebounding Israel-is-a-Jewish-state bugbear: Netanyahu wants Palestinians to recognize his nation as such. He has recently called it “the real key to peace.” His argument is that this is the touchstone by which to judge whether Palestinians will accept “the Jewish state in any border” — whether, in other words, the Palestinian leadership would accept territorial compromise or is still set on reversal of 1948 and mass return to Haifa.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, says no; this “nyet” will endure. For Palestinians, such a form of recognition would amount to explicit acquiescence to second-class citizenship for the 1.6 million Arabs in Israel; undermine the rights of millions of Palestinian refugees; upend a national narrative of mass expulsion from land that was theirs; and demand of them something not demanded from Egypt or Jordan in peace agreements, nor of the Palestine Liberation Organization when, in 1993, Yasir Arafat wrote to Yitzhak Rabin that it “recognizes the right of Israel to live in peace and security.”

This issue is a waste of time, a complicating diversion when none is needed.

...Of course, any two-state peace agreement will have to be final and irreversible; it must ensure there are no further Palestinian claims on a secure Israel. It may well require some form of words saying the two states are the homelands of their respective peoples, a formula used by the Geneva Initiative. But that is for another day.

If Israel looks like a Jewish state and acts like a Jewish state, that is good enough for me — as long as it gets out of the corrosive business of occupation.

Cohen doesn't understand the basics of Israel's insistence that it be recognized as a Jewish state.

First of all, it is not Netanyahu who first came up with this formula - it was the liberal dream negotiating team of Livni and Olmert. As the Palestine Papers showed, the Palestinian Arabs refuse to, on principle even admit the existence of a Jewish people!

During the 2007 negotiations, Livni, rather passionately, argued about why such a formula is essential:

TL (Livni): I just want to say something. ...Our idea is to refer to two states for two peoples. Or two nation states, Palestine and Israel living side by side in peace and security with each state constituting the homeland for its people and the fulfillment of their national aspirations and self determination...

AH (Akram Haniyeh): This refers to the Israeli people?

TL: [Visibly angered.] I think that we can use another session – about what it means to be a Jew and that it is more than just a religion. But if you want to take us back to 1947 -- it won’t help. Each state constituting the homeland for its people and the fulfillment of their national aspirations and self determination in their own territory. Israel the state of the Jewish people -- and I would like to emphasize the meaning of “its people” is the Jewish people -- with Jerusalem the united and undivided capital of Israel and of the Jewish people for 3007 years... [The Palestinian team protests.] You asked for it. [AA: We said East Jerusalem!] …and Palestine for the Palestinian people. We did not want to say that there is a “Palestinian people” but we’ve accepted your right to self determination.

AA (Abu Alaa) : Why is it different?

TL: I didn’t ask for something that relates to my own self. I didn’t ask for recognizing something that is the internal decision of Israel. Israel can do so, it is a sovereign state. [We want you to recognize it.] The whole idea of the conflict is … the entire point is the establishment of the Jewish state. And yet we still have a conflict between us. We used to think it is because the Jews and the Arabs… but now the Palestinians… we used to say that we have no right to define the Palestinian people as a people. They can define it themselves. In 1947 it was between Jews and Arabs, and then [at that point the purpose] from the Israeli side to [was] say that the Palestinians are Arabs and not [Palestinians – it was an excuse not to create a Palestinian state. We'’ve passed that point in time and I'’m not going to raise it. The whole conflict between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is not the idea of creating a democratic state that is viable etc. It is to divide it into two.] For each state to create its own problem. Then we can ask ourselves is it viable, what is the nature of the two states. In order to end the conflict we have to say that this is the basis. I know that your problem is saying this is problematic because of the refugees. During the final status negotiations we will have an answer to the refugees. You know my position. Even having a Jewish state -- it doesn’t say anything about your demands. …. Without it, why should we create a Palestinian state?

...There is something that is shorter. I can read something with different wording:
That the ultimate goal is constituting the homeland for the Jewish people and the Palestinian people respectively, and the fulfillment of their national aspirations and self determination in their own territory.

Linvi answers Cohen's objections. Cohen ignores this completely, and in all probability is not even aware of it, since his grasp of the Middle East is paper-thin.

Similarly, Cohen glosses over the Palestinian Arab demands of "return" as if that is not really a serious issue. In fact, the "Jewish state" formula is meant to eliminate this bogus "right" to destroy Israel demographically.

I suggest that Cohen read the Palestinian Basic Law of 2003, which describes "return" as the biggest issue:

The birth of the Palestinian National Authority in the national homeland of Palestine, the land of their forefathers, comes within the context of continuous and vigorous struggle, during which the Palestinian people witnessed thousands of their precious children sacrificed as martyrs, injured persons and prisoners of war, all in order to achieve their people’s clear national rights, the foremost of which are the right of return, the right to self-determination and the right to establish an independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as a capital, under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole, legitimate representative of the Arab Palestinian people wherever they exist.

Abbas repeats this practically every day.

Similarly, given that Cohen seems sympathetic to Palestinian arguments against Israel as a Jewish state, he must be unaware that the same Basic Law defines "Palestine" as an Arab state - and Islam is the official religion:

Palestine is part of the larger Arab world, and the Palestinian people are part of the Arab nation. Arab unity is an objective that the Palestinian people shall work to achieve.

...Islam is the official religion in Palestine. Respect for the sanctity of all other divine religions shall be maintained.

The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be a principal source of legislation.

Then again, I shouldn't blame Cohen for his superficial understanding of the issues and his ignorance of the basic texts and words of the Palestinian Arabs. After all, he only gets his news from The New York Times.

See also My Right Word.