Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

More murders in the PalArab paradise

A seventeen year old youth from Haris Chehab was found naked and tortured (it was not clear what his name was). Just for context, whenever Israel is considered responsible for the death of a 17-year old the youth would be called a "child."

Another Palestinian Arab, Jamal Freih Abu Salim (35), was and killed by those ever-elusive "unknown gunmen," driving a Mercedes. Another was shot and chained at a beach during a carjacking.

Never fear, though: the tens of thousands of Palestinian Arab policemen are investigating. Order will be restored as soon as possible.

My count of PalArabs violently killed by each other since late June stands now at 181.

And here was another gem from al-Hayat: On October 24th, a Muslim cleric was shot in an assassination attempt during his sermon in Ramallah. (Somehow this story flew under the radar.) He was transported to Hadassah Hospital. He has been in a coma and stillrequires much more treatment. Israel wants to transfer him to a different hospital and the Palestinian Arabs are upset, saying that it wil endanger his life (although it looks like he has brain damage.)

And his family is complaining about how long it took him to get transported to the hospital and the quality of his medical care, holding Israel responsible. Not a single word about his would-be Arab assassins!

Arab psychosis, part 2

We recently highlighted part of an interview with the Al-Jazeerah editor blaming every single problem in the Arab world on Israel.

Lest one think that this is an aberration, look at the final statement that came out of the Gulf Cooperation Summit that just ended (the one where they say how important it is for oil-rich states where the sun shines 365 days a year to develop "peaceful" nuclear energy.)

I could not find a human English translation of the statement, but Al-Ayyam provides one in Arabic which appears to be identical to the words spoken by the Emir of Qatar three weeks ago. So I will use the Emir's wording:

The absence of a just solution of the Palestinian cause and the great sufferings by the brotherly people of Palestine that goes beyond all imagination, are the real causes of the aggravation and diversity of conflicts in the Middle East. Hence it is the obligation of the international community to give top priority to reaching a just solution of this cause in accordance with international legality, since temporary solutions or partial settlements are no longer adequate or acceptable if this area has to enjoy security and stability.

So how exactly do Israeli actions affect people in Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE?

Obviously, because some Jews who live 1500 miles away happen to control a sliver of land. This is very distressing and it causes them not to concentrate in school enough to become the leaders in science and industry that Arabs have been for centuries.

It all makes sense!

Dhimmi Carter, liar extraordinaire

An absolute must-read article at Jewish Current Issues showing in great detail how Jimmy Carter effectively lies in his book concerning the Israeli positions during the negotiations in the waning days of the Clinton administration. He not only plagiarizes Dennis Ross' maps of each proposal, but he misrepresents the maps as to what they mean.

The article shows that while the Clinton plan was fundamentally accepted by Barak and the Knesset with specific reservations, Arafat rejected it completely. But Carter's book makes it sound like Israel never accepted it at all and did not give a response, while Arafat's rejection was based on an "interpretation" of the Clinton offer that is simply impossible.

Carter's desire to demonize Israel is so ingrained that he cannot even bend the truth to support it - he has to make up facts out of whole cloth.
(Hat tip: Boker Tov Boulder)

Iran takes aim at American legitimacy

After this week's Holocaust-denying conference in Iran (where they disinvited a Palestinian Arab who runs a Holocaust museum in Nazareth,) Iran is already gearing up for their next conference:

The deputy foreign minister [of Iran] said that his ministry will also host another international conference on February 27th to study genocide of the American aborigines by European immigrants, concluding that there are many world phenomena which require further studies and examinations by the international community and that Iran is always willing to host such debates and discussions.

As I've said before, Iran's main target is the US, not Israel. The same "logic" that says that Israel is illegitimate and colonialist - and must be wiped off the map - is being against the United States.

Jim Baker looks like more and more of an idiot every day.

Civil war watch

The weekend itself seemed relatively uneventful on the Palestinian self-death front, but the "law of averages" works quite well in the PalArab territories:

GAZA (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen killed three sons of a Palestinian intelligence official loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza on Monday, firing at the car as it dropped them at school, police and hospital officials said.

An adult bystander was also killed in the attack in Gaza City, amid growing tension between Hamas, the governing militant movement and Abbas's Fatah faction.

Angry mourners firing automatic weapons later stormed into the compound of parliament during a funeral procession for the boys, who were aged between 6 and 9. Witnesses said the mourners fired at the building. It was unclear if anyone was hurt.

For those who like to keep track of these things, this comes a day after an unsuccessful attack at a Hamas leader.

Our count of PalArabs violently killed by their own since late June is now at 179. Unlike practically all of those, though, this one has made headlines, even in the PalArabic press.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian Arab "human rights" organization held a seminar in London on the terrible conditions in Gaza - and did not mention PalArab infighting or crimes even once. As usual, it is all Israel's fault.

"The American Muslim" attempts to show how moderate Islam is. It fails.

"The American Muslim" website is very upset that so many in the West say that Islam is not condemning terrorism consistently and loudly. In response, its editor, Sheila Musaji, has been putting together lists of fatwas and statements and articles by Muslims showing how they do indeed condemn terror.

Unfortunately, their condemnations are very selective, and it is nearly impossoble to find any of these fatwas condemning any terror attacks against Israeli civilians.

It is most disingenuous to quote Sheikh al-Qaradawi's condemnations of a terror attack against a synagogue in Tunisia in 2002 and ignore the same man's support of suicide bombings against Israeli Jewish civilians.

Perhaps Ms. Musaji thinks that no one will actually look at any of the articles she links to, such as this one showing how Saudi clerics differentiate between Jihad and terrorism:

MECCA, Saudi Arabia - Muslim scholars meeting in the holy city of Mecca stressed Thursday that terrorism is alien to Islam, which the West has often associated with terror since the September 11 attacks on the United States.

In a statement issued after a six-day meeting, a group of scholars affiliated to the Muslim World League spelled out their definition of terrorism, saying it applied to "any unjustified attack by individuals, groups or states against a human being."

This includes attacks on a person's "religion, life, property and honor," they said.

The scholars meeting in this Saudi city said "any act of violence or threat ... designed to terrorize people or endanger their lives or security" also amounts to terrorism.

"Damaging the environment and public or private facilities, and endangering natural resources" is equally an act of terror, as are "murder and banditry."

But jihad (holy war or struggle) cannot be equated with terrorism, the scholars said, noting that "struggling against occupiers and colonial settlers who drive people from their land and against those who help them" is legitimate in Islam.

Struggling against "those who renege on their commitments" or prevent Muslims from "peacefully preaching" their religion is a form of jihad, they said.

This definition of jiahd is broad enough to include every Israel man, woman and child. I did nto see one condemnation of Hezbollah's or Hamas' random firing of rockets into civilian areas of Israel.

By extension, this definition of jihad can also include any members of any nation that doesn't ostracize Israel (struggling...against those who help them.) Meaning any citizen of any nation that trades with Israel can be easily interpreted to be "helping settlers and occupiers."

So while she marshals a large number of fatwas against 9/11 or the Madrid bombings, this is hardly the same as saying that Muslims are against terror. Because as long as Muslims consider Israeli civilians as legitimate targets, as countless fatwas attest (see Islamonline.net for many examples, quoting many of the same clerics that Ms. Musaji does,) one must conclude that Islam does indeed support terror - just they would like to pretend that these cases aren't terror at all, but legitimate holy war.

Islam is a legal-based religion, and in legal-based religions each word is very important. As such, without a much clearer definition than the weasly one offered by the Saudis (terror is only an "unjustified" attack against human beings but no definition of what is considered "justification") we can only conclude that this entire list is an example of subterfuge to cover over Islam's real feelings towards terror.

I would define terror as the purposeful targeting of a civilian person for a political purpose. Qaradawi's definition of every Israeli man, woman and child as being in the military is absurd and should be condemned by any real moderate Muslim.

Where are those fatwas, Ms. Musaji? Where are solid definitions that would work consistently for all people? How can we in the West know that the Israeli "occupation" is different from the Spanish "occupation" of former Muslim Andalusia? Who dares to condemn major Muslim leaders who support suicide bombings? What Muslim organizations or individuals condemned Hezbollah or Hamas for their indiscriminate attacks against Israeli civilians?

For that matter, Ms. Musaji - as a representative of moderate American Islam -what do you think? Would you go on the record in your magazine to condemn Qaradawi's reprehensible beliefs? Would you be willing to publicly stand up against Palestinian terror attacks, and condemn Yasir Arafat's campaign of terror from the 1970s through his death? Would you condemn the heroes of the Arab world in your pages?

If you want to show the world what moderate Islam looks like, I'd love to see you put your own words behind what you say you believe, without finding exceptions that seem to only apply to Israel - at least in English.

The terror supporters who bankroll Jimmy Carter

In the Annual Report of the Carter Center we see a list of a large number of people and corporations who donated more than $1 million to that institution.

The identity of some of the donors can easily help explain how Dhimmi Carter turned into such an Israel-hating putz. Although it is difficult to discern cause and effect....

His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin
Abdulaziz Al Saud Fund
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin,Said Al Said
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Bakir M. BinLadin for the Saudi BinLadin Group
The Saudi Fund for Development
Government of the United Arab Emirates

To be sure, there are plenty of other donors, ranging from European governments to philanthropic Americans and many Jews. But the interest shown by the Arab governments, especially the Saudis who fund so much terror of their own, indicates that Jimmah is in bed with "friendly" Arab oil states that are ardently anti-Zionist and pro-terror.

Just like Jimmy.

(Hat tip: Seraphic Secret)

HH XCVII

This week's Haveil Havalim (#97) is out at Jack's Shack.

I am honored to have had one of my postings chosen for this weekly collection of the best of the JBlogosphere.

I am doubly honored to see that in the Jewish Blogmeister interview of Bagelblogger that BB chose this as one of his favorite blogs!

There are lots of other great articles there. Check it out!

Morons can publish anything and Google calls it "news"

Yet another anonymous incoherent anti-semitic rant. This one is so utterly disjointed and rambling that it makes most similar articles appear to be written by Rhodes Scholars.

It would be really funny if it wasn't for the fact that Google News indexes this article and presents it to the world as legitimately as the Times of London.

This despite repeated emails to Google News that this site ("The People's Voice") is a haven for anti-semitic lunatics.

An Islam free from Zionist subjugation is the last hope of the world

An elite ruling class has risen in Western Civilization — at the top of this elite are the merchant bankers who are Zionist (Jewish supremacist) Jews who believe in racial superiority and class superiority and in the right of power — the power to take control of nations that where liberal republics and, by control and manipulation of the money supply, by the creation of monopolies, especially of capital and land convert these nations into plutocracies where the middle classes are plundered and robbed of political participation and voice – or, as often as not, they have their control from outright conquest –as the defeat of Germany after both world wars, the subjugation of Russian under (Jewish — and covertly banker-controlled) communism. The Jew bankers means of gaining power is ultimately through wars — they create wars — and cold wars — in order to organize all of a nations economy — its “war economy” — under their control.....

I know that many Moslems — I write “Moslems” and not “Muslims” because 50 years ago in the United States publications used the term Moslems, and I remember an English teacher telling me that “Muslims” was a spelling that carried a pejorative cargo, and now I find, in this Jewish age, that “Muslim” is exclusively used by the Jewish media, and so I will still use “Moslems” — just so you understand — now, as I was saying — I know that many Moslems believe that Saddam Hussein was evil because he fought back when the Kurds attempted to overthrow him or that he used brutal tactics against those whom he thought the CIA was using to overthrow his country or because he is Sunni and not Shiite — I don’t know — but for whatever reason some Moslems say they are glad Saddam Huessein is gone — but I look at it differently — to me Saddam Hussein was a nationalist who was for this country and wanted it to be great, wanted its people — all of them — to be great. He did all that was in his power to make Iraq a great and good country. But Saddam Hussein’s nationalism and pro-population view ran counter to the world order that the Jewish bankers want. And so Saddam Hussein was lured into — perhaps the war with Iran (I do not know the particulars here) — but more important he was definitely lured into attacking Kuwait — attempting to reunite a part of his country — as Red China seeks to reunite Taiwan (the Republic of China) with China — or, looking at it anther way — as the Republic of China (Taiwan) would like to reunited the mainland with itself (and, yes, the Jewish bankers supported communist mass-murderer Mao against the liberalizing party of Sun Yat Sen and a nationalist republic — Zhou Enlai murdered Sun Yat Sen.) — but back to Saddam Hussein — Saddam Hussein was a populist — and he was elected to his office — and it is exactly populist nationalist leaders that the Jewish bankers seek to destroy — the Jewish merchant bankers do not want countries where the masses have a high standard of living and a culture (and a faith in God) of their own — the Jewish merchant bankers did not want Saddam Hussein showing the world what a country could do if it devoted its wealth to national development — and so they lured him into a war so that the United States could make war with him in 1990 Gulf War — then US President George Bush actually signaled US permission for Saddam Hussein to go ahead with his invasion over the issue of slant drilling — only after this — and after a flood of Jewish newsmedia propaganda — now all shown to be lies (like the falsely alleged stealing of hospital intensive-care neo-natal isolets — which never happened) and so the Americans led an expedition to slaughter the Iranians. And after that came the sanctions — started under the older Bush and continued by Bill Clinton (both tools of the Jewish Merchant Bankers) — sanctions that starved millions, that prevented Saddam Hussein from furthering his national policies — sanctions, but also the no-fly zones and bombing sortees (more bombing sortees were flown during the eleven years of sanctions than were flown during the actual Gulf War) — sanctions that prevented even current medical journals — during the sanctions hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children under five died during the 1990’s from preventable, curable diseases: primarily water-borne bacteriological infections and acute respiratory infections that Iraq simply lacked the anti-biotic and other medicine to cure (what irony when the US supposedly went to war over stolen infant-care isolets that were never actually stolen!) — prevented from reaching Iraq due to sanctions — whereas in the 1980’s Iraq’s medical facilities were comparable to those in the United States. In the name of preventing Iraq from developing weapons the sanctions destroyed all of Iraq’s industry and trade. But this is as nothing compared to what the Jewish Merchant Bankers are doing to Iraq today.

...So where am I going with these ramblings of mine — I couldn’t sleep and so came down to the basement and typed this out — but it needs a conclusion — and that conclusion is this:

Islam is the hope of the world against domination by Jewish merchant bankers (whose religion is Zionism) — it is my hope — that Islam will triumph — that the truth of this war against Islam will become known to all who have been brainwashed by Zionist propaganda — that the world will see that Islam is attacked because it is good — because it is God’s will for mankind - and not the enslavement of mankind that Zionism, the enemy of Islam, represents.

And I hope for Christianity too — that it may purge itself of Zionist and pagan falsehood — and return to the message of Jesus which directs man to God.

This joke of a "news" site can print whatever it wants, but to be given implicit legitimacy by the largest news gathering site on the planet is simply irresponsible.

Another "honor killing"

A woman named Saber Bedier was shot in the chest and killed at her home in Kfar Qasim, apparently by her father-in-law and her husband collaborating. It looks like it happened last Monday but of course most of the Palestinian Arab press didn't report it at the time.

To their credit, it was reported recently and in very negative terms by Kul al-Arab and Fasl-Al Maqal.

Also, a mother and son were killed in an explosion in Hebron . The PalArabs are quick to blame some leftover Israeli explosives, but it is not like Hebron is the target of cluster bombs, so it seems much more likely to have been a Palestinian Arab weapon that exploded.

My very undercounted PalArab self-death count since late June now stands at 175.

Arab psychosis

There was a very interesting interview of the Al-Jazeera editor by a Swiss journalist. The entire thing is worth reading but this part is the most revealing:

(Interviewee Ahmed Shiekh): In many Arab states, the middle class is disappearing. The rich get richer and the poor get still poorer. Look at the schools in Jordan, Egypt or Morocco: You have up to 70 youngsters crammed together in a single classroom. How can a teacher do his job in such circumstances? The public hospitals are also in a hopeless condition. These are just examples. They show how hopeless the situation is for us in the Middle East.

Who is responsible for the situation?

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most important reasons why these crises and problems continue to simmer. The day when Israel was founded created the basis for our problems. The West should finally come to understand this. Everything would be much calmer if the Palestinians were given their rights.

Do you mean to say that if Israel did not exist, there would suddenly be democracy in Egypt, that the schools in Morocco would be better, that the public clinics in Jordan would function better?

I think so.

Can you please explain to me what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to do with these problems?

The Palestinian cause is central for Arab thinking.

In the end, is it a matter of feelings of self-esteem?

Exactly. It's because we always lose to Israel. It gnaws at the people in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million. That hurts our collective ego. The Palestinian problem is in the genes of every Arab. The West's problem is that it does not understand this.

We've spoken before about Arab pride and how ingrained it is in the Arab psyche. But even though there are many examples of how important "honor" and "pride" is to the Arab people, one can almost wish it away by thinking that it is only a side-effect of being religious, or poor, or oppressed, and not something that is truly inherent.

But here we have Ahmed Sheikh, an educated man, an editor for a worldwide news service, someone who is a journalist and is trained to be careful with his words. And this man is saying with a straight face that if Israel did not exist, the Arab world would not have any problems - and that the reason is this perverse sense of pride.

The clear inference, of course, is that it is Israel's very existence that is the problem from the Arab perspective - not territories, not occupation, not supposed Israeli war crimes.

Earlier in the interview, Sheikh justifies suicide bombings and says how convinced he is that Israel targets civilians purposefully. Again, this is supposedly an objective journalist that represents the mainstream thinking of the Arab world at large - no fringe group, noIslamic cult, no poverty-stricken or easily manipulated Arab street crowd.

This is the Arab intelligentsia.

And it is psychotic. There is no other word for it - there is no way the Western mind can rationalize or comprehend this mental illness.

Too many Westerners are willing to accept this as a fact of life and sacrifice Israel on the altar of realpolitik - which means that the inmates are this much closer to ruling the asylum.

About "Palestinians"

Bradley Burston in Ha'aretz has been railing against those who say that there are no such people as "Palestinians" in his comment section. He does not attempt to address their arguments, but rather asserts:

I believe that it is a form of racism to tell an entire people, millions upon millions all over the world, that their culture is not a true culture, that their identity is not an identity, that they do not, in fact, exist.

I believe that the reason for denying their existence is to deny the legitimacy of their pain, their aspirations, their longing, the facts of their history, none of which make for a comfortable fit with the history that Zionism originally wrote for itself.

The very idea of the Palestinian Arab represents competition for limited resources of land, the moral high ground, and the self-esteem of long-oppressed peoples.

You can't just wish away the Palestinians.

A actually agree with the last sentence. There is, today, a clearly defined group of people who call themselves "Palestinian" and redefining them or renaming them does not solve their day to day problems.

But to call those who say that there were no historic, separate Palestinian Arab people "racists" is simply a form of censorship and intimidation by political correctness. (In fact, Burston briefly censored many of the commenters.)

It does not serve any purpose to deny history in the name of anti-racism. Facts should be easy enough to discover and verify for themselves and Burston is at least as guilty of trying to wish away history as he accuses his critics of wishing away today's reality.

It is indeed way too simplistic to say that since there has been no historic Palestinian people or culture that the problem is solved. But one cannot solve any problem without defining the problem properly, and like most people who think they know the solution, Burston shows no interest in defining it.

History is an integral part of the Israeli/Arab conflict. To deny that is to deny reality itself. Today's arguments depend to a large degree on historical facts, whether the history is from last year or from 200 or 2000 years ago.

When this blog refers to "Palestinian Arabs" it is not to deny peoplehood, but to be as accurate as possible. There are a not small number of Palestinian Jews who have lived in the area at least as long as most Palestinian Arabs, which from my research indicates a large influx from Syria and other Arab areas in the 1920s. Calling only the Arabs that lived in the area "Palestinian" does not serve the purpose of truth and as such does not go towards solving the problem.

On the other hand, I will not call them simply "Arabs" even though that would have been more accurate in the 1940s. For better or for worse, this group of people have become a separate group since 1948 and have been treated as such, mostly by the other Arabs themselves.

I am not going to go over all the arguments as to the fiction of a historic Palestinian people. I have written many articles on this blog about that topic. But I do not write these articles to be bigoted against a people. I have on numerous occasions written that the PalArabs have been screwed continuously by their so-called "leaders," and only relatively recently have I started blaming Palestinian Arabs themselves for their problems (mostly in the wake of their electing Hamas and the constant polls showing a clear support of terror among them.)

It is not racism to point out that the UN's self-perpetuating definition of "refugee" to include descendants of only a single set of refugees is a tragedy for the Palestinian Arabs themselves. It is not racism to point out that the neighboring Arab countries, by not assimilating them as every single other refugee group in history has been absorbed, have contributed more to the suffering of this people than Israel has. It is not racism to ask that a people that want to have their own country begin to act like responsible members of the world community. All of these are "history" and they are relevant today.

Saying that there is a "Palestinian" people implies accepting the Arab narrative of history in which Israel is a usurping colonialist imperialist apartheid state. Accepting at face value the claims of these people without looking at real facts is not only irresponsible but it can itself end up being a bigoted viewpoint against the Jews of the Middle East.

How can the status of Jerusalem be decided without looking at history? Saying that today's Palestinian Arabs hopes and dreams for Jerusalem has the same weight as the Jews' historic yearning for its holy city is a perversion of both history and of today's reality. One does not have to go back that many years to see how well the PalArabs treated Jerusalem when they did have control. To judge the merits of their arguments without taking a clear-eyed view of history is not helpful towards defining, and therefore solving, the problem.

Scientology was borm roughly the same time that the "Palestinian" people were born. Scientologists are clearly a real group of people with real beliefs. Does this mean that Scientology now has an equal claim of being a religion, should get tax-exempt status, should be taught in history classes in the same manner as Christianity or Buddhism? Of course not. One must look at the context, one must look at history, one must look at the facts. To uncritically accept a people's narrative without history does a disservice to everyone as well as to the truth. And it goes nowhere towards solving the problem.

There is another set of victims that come from uncritically accepting the Palestinian Arab narrative. These are the other peoples who indeed do have long historic or religious histories and aspirations of nationhood. The Kurds and Armenians and others suffer, partly, because the world is giving priority to the problems of a people who do not have nearly the same claims of peoplehood. There are finite resources on this planet and it only makes sense that people with a true history of suffering and discrimination should be taken care of before those who believe, no matter how passionately, in a fiction.

I do not claim that saying that there is no historic Palestinian Arab people magically solves their or our problems. But denying reality has a cost as well. And buying into the ahistorical narrative does a disservice to everyone.

Looking south, about 10 PM last night.

You can now vote for the Best Middle East or Africa Blog at the Weblog Awards.

Already after a few hours, Iraq the Model (going for a threepeat) and Rantings of a Sandmonkey have more votes than I'm likely to get after the full week. Treppenwitz is doing respectably. I'm avoiding the dreaded last place position so far.

Normally, I do not ask for votes for things like this, but in some ways David's and my blog seem to be representing the entire JBlogosphere to the larger blog universe, so in that sense I would like to see my readers vote for either this blog or Treppenwitz. (Dry Bones is also up for an award in the Best Comic Strip category.)

You can vote once a day until next Friday. So check out the nominees and vote!

UPDATE: Treppenwitz has a shot to win this thing. I don't. Do the right thing.
But I will accept a few pity votes.

UPDATE 2 : Jack's Shack is also up for an award.

Adding up the PalArab budget

The EU said that so far this year they paid $865 million to the Palestinian Arabs.
The Hamas finance minister says that Arab governments are giving $45 million each month, which annualized is $540 million.
Hamas has smuggled $60 million into Gaza this year.

This adds up to $1.465 billion of foreign money into Gaza in 2006.

The PA budget in 2005 was roughly $2 billion.

So without lifting a finger or selling anything of value, the PA is getting three quarters of what it got last year. The entire shortfall is covered by Israel's withholding of tax revenue.

Some boycott!

And the UN wants to add $450 million more.

Amazing.

What Palestinian Arabs have given the world

Fatah's secretary in Gaza, Ahmed Hales Abu Maher, proudly said on PA TV:

“Oh warrior brothers, this is a nation that will never be broken, it is a revolution that will never be defeated. This is a nation that gives an example every day that is imitated across the world. We gave the world the children of the RPG [Rocket Propelled Grenades], we gave the world the children stone [-throwers], and we gave the world the male and female Martyrdom-Seekers [suicide bombers]."

[Palestinian Authority TV, November 14, 2006]

Their generosity is touching.

And Mr. Maher is being modest, too. Because his people also popularized the airplane hijackings in the 70's that culminated in 9/11.

Their R&D efforts are not slowing down either as they plan to export their expertise in grandmother suicide bombers, stuffed animal bombs, and booby-trapped donkeys.

If they can accomplish so much with so little, the least we can do is reward their selfless work with a state so they can work on much more effective and efficient methods of mass-murder.

A little selective reporting from Reuters

Reuters just blasted out a dispatch to its hundreds of newspapers and other media subscribers, where it is being reproduced on hundreds of websites, with the headline:

Israeli forces wound 2 Palestinians on Gaza border

The story goes on to say:

GAZA, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Israeli troops shot and wounded two Palestinians on the Gaza border on Thursday, medical officials said, the second time Israeli forces have opened fire since a truce took effect along the strip last month.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said a number of Palestinians approached the Israeli-built border fence near the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya and began to sabotage it. Soldiers fired warning shots that were ignored, she said. "The force fired at one Palestinian and hit him in the leg," the spokeswoman said. The army said it was unaware of a second man being hit.

Palestinian hospital officials said two brothers had been wounded, although it was unclear if it was from the same shooting.

Residents said the men were collecting scrap metal.

One gets the impression of poor, helpless unarmed Palestinian Arabs just scavenging for scrap metal (seemingly on the ground or from another structure) near the border, heartlessly shot by trigger-happy Israeli soldiers, with the lame excuse of "sabotage" concocted afterwards.

You need to go to The Jerusalem Post to learn a bit more:

IDF troops shot and wounded a Palestinian man Thursday morning he and nine others tried to cut the Gaza Strip security fence near the community of Netiv Ha'asara.

According to the army, it was unclear whether the Palestinians were planning on infiltrating Israel, or if they were just stealing the metal from the fence. An IDF patrol that arrived on the scene called on the group to disperse, and after they refused, opened fire at their legs.

Nine people cutting a border fence, for whatever reason, is a bit more serious.

And clearly Reuters knew this because they mentioned the "collecting scrap metal" idea but didn't bother to say that it was metal from a fully functioning security fence, not "scrap." Also, the JPost story above was written when only one was known to be injured while the Reuters update mentions two, so Reuters knows quite well it isn't "scrap metal" and what they were doing.

But in the Reuters Bizarro world where Kassam rockets are "home-made" even while Israel used to target "metal workshops" in Gaza, and somehow the reporters at Reuters were never able to put those two pieces of information together, it is not surprising that "collecting scrap metal" and "sabotaging a fence" can seem to be unrelated as well.

I wouldn't be surprised to see al-Reuters starting to refer to PalArab tunnel-diggers as "miners."

It would be completely beyond the intrepid Reuters reporters to even consider the slightly wider context that those nine scavengers may have been sent to draw fire as a pretext to say that Israel is violating the "cease fire." After all, the fence has been there for years now and we have not seen any scrap metal collectors show up before, as far as I can recall.

(I'm surprised that Reuters didn't highlight how the PalArab media is describing this - that Israel took potshots at farmers who were working their farmland. )

Ahmadinejad: We'll crush our enemies

Let's see what our favorite messianic nutcase with imminent nuclear weapons is saying:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Wednesday that the Iranian nation has achieved victory in the field of nuclear energy and will crush its enemies.

"The Iranian nation is nearing the pinnacle of nuclear victory through the efforts and wisdom of its talented youth. It is now recognized as a strong and courageous nation and a model for regional states," he said.

He added: "The Iranian nation has walked the path of nuclear technology and is about to reach its end with the grace of God and through resistance.

"There remains just one step to be taken before complete victory.

"We will hold a big, nationwide nuclear celebration by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2007)."

It is interesting that he links nuclear technology with crushing enemies.

Must be peaceful nuclear technology and crushing enemies economically.

EoZ is a finalist for the Weblog Awards

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this blog has been nominated as a finalist for the 2006 Weblog Awards under the "Best Middle East or Africa Blog" category.

Being considered as a finalist among the tens of thousands of blogs that are out there is a huge honor, and I'd like to thank those who nominated this blog and got it to the final round.

Congrats also to David Bogner at Treppenwitz which is the only other JBlogger nominated. (Of course, he and the other nominees have the advantage of actually being in the Middle East or Africa.)

Thanks!

UPDATE: I just found out that Linda from Something....and Half of Something is the person who originally nominated me, so thank you!

Blogging will be light the next couple of days

Don't go through withdrawal symptoms for my sake.

But it would be nice!

"Israeli woman spreading AIDS to Palestinians"

There is an interesting pattern in the PalArab territories. Every time there is an "international day" to raise awareness on any topic, they ue it as an opportunity to bash Israel and blame the Jews for their part in that problem.

For example, last Monday was the "International Day of Disabled Persons." So the Palestinian Arabs wrote press releases asking the world to stop Israeli attacks disabled PalArabs.

Last week was the "International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women," sp the PalArabs trotted out statistics of women that Israel "attacked." Somehow, Kassam rockets and suicide bombers don't make it into that report.

Well, we have just had International AIDS day. And guess what the PalArabs are saying?

"Israel is trying to hurt the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people also by means of exporting AIDS, drug trafficking, promiscuous norms, and making prostitution legal," warned president of the sharia religious court in the PA, Sheikh Taissir Tamimi, and spokesman of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Atalla Hanna.

Hanna also said that he had read in one of the Palestinian newspapers about a young AIDS-infected Israeli woman who, according to the article, arrived in Jerusalem in order to infect young Palestinians with the disease. The archbishop called the Palestinian public to beware of such dangers.

Two religious figures emphasized that people with AIDS should not be ostracized "because there is no certainty that they were infected through immoral acts or forbidden sexual relations outside of marriage, but may have been infected for other reasons. Therefore, they should not be excommunicated."

No word from these figures on the probability that Yasir Arafat had AIDS, and not due to "other reasons."

A real source for murder stats in the territories?

My never-ending quest for real statistics on the number of Palestinian Arabs killed by each other got a boost today as I saw that Al-Hayat, which hardly ever publishes stories about PalArabs being murdered, printed this (autotranslated):

Ramallah, Ibrahim Abu-Kamish statistics showed by the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizen's Rights , announced yesterday. a big increase in the proportion of homicides that occurred in the light of the growing phenomenon of insecurity in the Palestinian territories during the year 2006, compared with the previous years.

The body that 322 Palestinians had been killed citizens in the areas of the Palestinian National Authority until the date of 30 / 11 / 2006 236 citizens were killed in the Gaza Strip, 86 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank. , a rise of 90% for the full year 2005, which collapsed during which 176 citizens were 97 shells in the Gaza Strip and 79 shells in the West Bank. The equivalent proportion of those killed in the Gaza Strip until the date of 30 / 11 / 2006, three times those killed in the West Bank.

The statistics point to a rise in the monthly rate of murders during 2006 up to 26 cases per month, while the monthly rate through 2005, 15 cases, The monthly rate during 2004 amounted to 8 cases. as well as the Statistics of the documentation section in the body that during the 17 killed in 2005 against the background of what is known as honor killing, signed including seven cases in the Gaza Strip and 10 in the West Bank. while they recorded 14 cases of the killing of citizens against the background of what is known in the family's honor in 2006 until the date of 30 / 11 / 2006, 5 cases in the West and 9 cases in the Gaza Strip, the total number of bullets from the women, which was signed on various backgrounds including murder against the backdrop of honor of the family had arrived in 2005 to 26, while a woman Rtva number during the year 2006 until the date of 30 / 11 / 2006 for up to 27 women.

The deaths of children who have died due to security problems have reached during 2005, 28 children while until the date of 30 / 11 / 2006 killed 33 children in the same background.

The STA pointed out that 95% of the killings were a firearm or explosive materials.

Until the date of 30 / 11 / 2006 killings were classified as follows : 41 cases of murder committed on the political background of which 40 occurred in the Gaza Strip and one in the West Bank. 88 homicides occurred due to family quarrels signed 54 of them in the Gaza Strip, 24 of which occurred in the West Bank. 83 murder cases resulted from the chaos and the misuse of weapons, the case of 71 shells in Gaza, 12 of them fell in the West Bank. previous classifications and the total up to 222 murder cases by 59% of all cases, As for the rest of the cases, which reached 110 cases by 41% and has signed the background issues and revenge killings against the backdrop of the so-called family's honor.

At the level of other attacks that were committed during 2006 and until the date of 30 / 11 / 2006, it reported that its statistics in the attacks came as follows :

A 12 attack on academic freedoms, and 16 attack on the municipalities or workers or on their property, and a 12 assault on the symbols of the judiciary, as well as the 22 attack on press freedoms. There have also been 93 kidnappings individually and collectively, to the citizens and foreign visitors, , 344 incident falls under the pretext of security problems occurred injuries individually and collectively.

These numbers are much more in line with what I've been able to gather, but their report is not available on their website and last year's report is only there as an executive summary, so I can't compare specific cases and see if they are missing any.

Still, this list of deaths from 2006 so far seems to be more accurate than any others I've seen. As usual, it is being buried in the PalArab press (it was the very last story on the "local news" page of al-Hayat) . It verifies that there is nearly one murder a day in the territories, again which are hard tofind in the actual press. It shows that the rate of self-deaths is much worse in the West Bank than I thought, as almost all of the ones I've seen were in Gaza.

I'm also not sure if Hamas/Fatah battles are reflected here.

I'll keep an eye on the website of PICCR to see if the final report is published there. I'm not optimistic; the site is terrible and has very little information. Also, it is funded by the PA and while it pretends to be independent there may be entire classes of murders it turns a blind eye to.

UPDATE: The Jerusalem Post has the same information in real English.

The bubble-wrap protest

From YNet:

The plight of Sderot's residents struck a chord with students from the Jerusalem Visual Theater School who decided to opt for an ironic display of protest in their effort to convey frustration with the state's continuous foot-dragging over the residential fortification project.

The students decided to go ahead and fortify a home in Qassam-struck Sderot by themselves. With bubble wrap.

The students call it a social-art project, but Merav Svirsky, who used to live in nearby (and often Qassam target) kibbutz Be'eri said that the group has no political pretensions.

Wrapping the house in Sderot with bubble wrap (Photo: Amir Cohen)

"We aren't holding a political protest because we don't have political solutions," says Svirsky, "we're not pretending to save the day or come up with solutions. We came here to discuss the fortification problem and the absurdity that it has been dragged for so long. There is protest in our actions, but no political statement."

The house selected for the bubble treatment belongs to Moshe Nagar who lives in the heart of town. His house has been damaged by Qassam rockets more than once in the past.

"At first I thought that they were coming to fortify my house, so I was pleased," said Nagar, "but even after Svirsky told me it was only a display I agreed."

Nagar says that one of the reasons he agreed to have his house bubble-wrapped was his desire to keep the fortification issue on the agenda.

Who will be the next Sderot sacrifice?

Last week, the Israeli Government posted on its website:

As part of the cease-fire announced this morning (Sunday, 26 Nov 2006), Israel has begun withdrawing all of its forces from the Gaza Strip.

This decision was taken in an effort on Israel's part both to bring about a calming of the situation and as a signal of Israel's readiness to contribute to an improvement in the security and political condition of the region.

Israel is interested in maintaining a cease-fire as a means to end the violence and to enable progress in the political negotiations. In doing so, Israel is knowingly undertaking the risk that the terrorist organizations will exploit the cease-fire to rearm and to rebuild their infrastructure.

Despite the fact that the cease-fire came into effect at 06:00 this morning, five Kassam rockets were fired after that hour from the Gaza Strip at Sderot and communities in the Western Negev. It must be pointed out that if the Palestinians do not observe the cease-fire completely, Israel will have no choice but to respond.

It does not matter which organization carries out the firing -- the obligation to observe the cease-fire absolutely applies to the Palestinian Authority, which bears the responsibility to enforce it without exception.

It should also be recalled that Israel left the Gaza Strip last year with no intention of returning, but was forced to act there in order to prevent acts of terrorism. Accordingly, Israel will refrain from operating in the Gaza Strip as long as all acts of terrorism and rearming there cease. Israel will continue to monitor events in the Gaza Strip and will respond in accordance with developments.

Israel's ability to deter terror would be significantly enhanced if it would actually act on its tough words. As it is, Israel's promises of retaliation are regarded as a joke by the terrorists who have kept firing rockets since this was written.

The incompetent Olmert government is once again waiting for someone to get killed (or, in the case I linked to, to be kidnapped) before they act.

This is not how one defends one's country. It is as if Olmert feels he doesn't have the political chips to act until someone is dead, reducing Israeli citizens to game pieces.

Every other Israeli govenment had its priorities straight. Even if people disagreed, it was undeniable that the previous governments acted in ways that they passionately felt was the best for the security of their citizens. Olmert is doing the exact opposite.

Israel's massive hasbara failure

An article in the Palestine-Israel Journal from yet another well-meaning and wrongheaded author on how to establish peace between Israel and the Arabs shows, in passing, where Israel has utterly failed in its PR.

The author bases his peace plan on the following premises:

The unspeakable tragedy that has unfolded in the sixth Israel-Arab war should force us to focus on what peace might look like. The building blocks are clear, but they are threatened particularly by those who stop thinking when it is most needed. The building blocks are:
(1) UN General Assembly Resolution 194 and UN Security Council Resolution 242 demanding the return of Palestinians who so wish and the withdrawal of Israel to the pre-June 1967 borders.
(2)The resolution by the Palestine National Council of November 15, 1988, thereby accepting a two-state solution.
(3)The proposal by Saudi Arabia in 2002 that Israel withdraw to the 1967 borders in exchange for recognition by all Arab states.

Putting the building blocks in place, we get two states side by side, with East Jerusalem and most of the West Bank reverting to Palestine (Israel has already withdrawn from Gaza), the Golan Heights to Syria, and some minor border problems solved, sometimes through creative adjustments. It is not a big revolution; it only takes common sense.
But there are also minimum and maximum demands on both sides. Palestine has three minimum, non-negotiable demands:Palestine has three minimum, non-negotiable demands:

* A Palestinian state in line with (1) and (2) above, with
* East Jerusalem as the capital, and
* The right of return — as a right, the numbers to be negotiated.

Israel has two minimum, non-negotiable demands:

* Recognition of the Jewish state, Israel,
* Within secure borders.

All five goals are legitimate and compatible.

Besides the fact that the author purposefully frames the minimum demands in such a way as to gloss over the differences, this list shows Israel's complete inability to define its red lines to the world as clearly as the Palestinian Arabs have.

Israel's red lines are - or should be - at a minimum:

No return to the "Auschwitz" borders of pre-1967, even with "minor adjustments." An eight-mile wide Israel is not acceptable and was not a part of UN resolution 242, as most people choose to misinterpret it.

Major settlements will remain intact and a part of Israel.

No negotiations on East Jerusalem - it is a part of Israel forever.
Not only recognition, but support for the idea of a Jewish state in the Middle East.

Implied within that is the idea that all neighboring states that support Israel's right to exist will themselves act against any terror groups on their territory that act contrary to this idea.

Implied also there is no real PalArab "right of return" to the Jewish state beyond a token number

Recognition that the PalArab "refugee" problem is not Israel's problem. By any definition, the vast majority of PalArabs are not "refugees" and those in camps in neighboring states should have been absorbed decades ago. UNRWA should be dismantled.

The problem is that Israel has had successive wishy-washy governments that weakened or violated these "red lines" repeatedly , usually under pressure from the West but sometimes out of the misguided idea that Israel was not under an existential threat. So we see, for example, that Israel allows Jerusalem Arabs to vote for the PA government, or that Barak has made the Old City of Jerusalem negotiable.

The tragedy is that this author is not making up these Israeli "red lines" - he is following what the Israeli government has been signalling themselves. The very retreat from Gaza did more to undermine Israel's long-standing position that the territories were "disputed" and not "occupied" than anything else. One resolves "disputes" with a give-and-take; one does not abandon your his position altogether.

So we have a Palestinian negotiating position that is based on very clear and oft-stated red-lines of their own - right of "return," East Jerusalem, free passage between Gaza and West Bank. And an increasingly fuzzy Israeli position on these same issues that makes the West think that Israel will willingly bend on them.

Who can blame the West for wanting to pressure Israel - Israel herself has signaled that these positions are all on the table and the Palestinian Arabs have made clear that their positions are non-negotiable!

The fact is that the two sides cannot agree unless the Palestinian Arabs show more flexibility. The idea that the sovereign state is the side that has to keep giving in indefinitely and the people who supposedly desire a state can keep making demand after demand is ludicrous. For better or for worse, Israel has already accepted the idea of a Palestinian state and it is up to the PalArabs to act as if they are willing to build one.

The very idea that a Palestinian Arab state cannot possibly exist without Jerusalem, for example, is absurd on the face of it. It is a purely emotional requirement that has no bearing on the viability of a state. Why is this considered a "red-line" for the Palestinian Arabs and not for the Palestinian Jews? Yet this is the sad situation Israel finds itself in because it has not been more adamant about Jerusalem than the Palestinian Arabs have been. And the blame rests squarely with the State of Israel wanting to appear "flexible" and "reasonable" to the West, sacrificing two thousand years of yearning for the vaporous hope of a short-term peace.

Similarly, the idea that the descendants of 1948 refugees have the "right" to "return" to Israel is a non-starter that has no bearing on the real viability of a Palestinian Arab state. Once a state is established, it can let in anyone it wants, but in no other case in world history has such a "right" been considered legitimate - otherwise every set of refugees' progeny can claim land all over the world with impunity.

Israel has failed miserably in putting forth consistent and logical positions and it is hurting Israel's negotiating position far worse than any terror attacks or threats.

Another PalArab "human rights" org

I found another Palestinian Arab "human rights" organization based out of Gaza, Al-Mezan, that again downplays internal PalArab security issues and emphasizes any perceived Israeli issues. But digging deep in the website I saw that they do pretend to keep track of internal security incidents, although without giving details so I can see which they are missing.

It is still instructive to see how the number of internal PalArab incidents soared as Israel left Gaza, even if the numbers themselves seem underreported:

STATISTICS ON INCIDENTS OF SECURITY UNREST IN THE GAZA STRIP

No. of the victims during the last four years.

Year

Incidents

Injured

killed

Kidnapped

No.

minors

No.

minors

foreign

Pals

2002

3

2

0

2

0

0

0

2003

39

111

9

18

3

0

0

2004

121

178

6

57

6

6

10

2005

394

895

151

101

23

16

23

16/8/2006

453

636

77

107

15

14

40

Incidents of the state of insecurity and internal violence during the period 3/3/2002 to 24/8/2006

Type of incident No. of incidents

family feud 199

Conflict between political factions 43

Conflict inside the PNA apparatuses 13

Clashes between political factions and security apparatuses 60

Clashes between families and security apparatuses 29

Clashes between families and political factions 16

Firing in Ceremonies 21

Firing in Marches 11

Misuse of weapons 90

Assassination of traitors 4

Kidnapping 83

Killing 70

Assault against employees, public characters and foreigners 101

Closure of road 57

Assault against Institution 163

Explosion 67

Other 73

I suppose "Other" includes honor killings.

The main site will occasionally mention some internal security chaos but will downplay it or ignore it most of the time. For example, the internal fighting between Hamas and Fatah in the beginning of October left about 12-15 dead, but Al-Mezan had a single article mentioning two deaths and no follow-up. Meanwhile, every minor Israeli incident is highlighted.

This biased, anti-Israel site (which, along with other Palarab "human rights" organizations, supports PalArab human shields that HRW condemned) is funded by:

Core Donors
• Netherlands Representative Office (NRO)
• Swiss Agnecy for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
• Global Ministries of Churches (Kerkinactie)
• International Commission of Jurists- Sweden
• Norwegian Representative office(NORAD)
• The Ford Foundation(FF)
Project Donors
• Mertz Gilmore Foundation
• The French Consulate (funded the library in 2002-2003)
• Swiss Agnecy for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
• The Ford Foundation
• Save the Children Sueden (SCS)

HH XCVI

Soccer Dad hits another one out of the park.....um, scores another goal...in the latest Haveil Havalim, the 96th weekly compilation of the best of the Jewish Blogosphere.

Check it out!

Another peaceful PalArab weekend - UPDATED

No deaths that I could find reported, but enough to show yet again how great it would be to have an independent Palestinian Arab state...

A group calling itself "Just Swords" announced a new modesty campaign for Gaza. So far they take credit for bombing an Internet cafe, throwing acid in the face of a young woman who was not dressed in a hijab, and destroying a car that was playing it radio too loudly for them.

More details from Al-Ayyam: they bombed 12 stores that sell music not to their liking, video shops and Internet cafes, with RPGs. They said that these stores were in the service of the "Jewish Zionists" and their "crusader masters."

Hamas responded by saying they did not support these attacks, and if people wanted to outlaw Internet and force women to cover every inch of their bodies they should use the normal political process for this goal.
The Arab Bank in Gaza was firebombed. It's main gate and customer lobby was destroyed. The bank will go on strike in response.
Two bombs destroyed a car .
A clan clash involving two families and some bystanders with explosives and other fun weapons. It looks like the families have started a two-month truce, though.
An armed clash between "security forces" and a family in Gaza City, 11 injured.
A man, Sulaiman Khamis Muammar (40 years old), was murdered in Khan Younis with two shots to the heart. The famous "unknown gunmen" killed him.
Hebron "police" issued a statement about a dramatic increase in crime over the past month, including 2 murders and one "accident". No details are given but I do not recall any Hebron murders in my death count, so the number of PalArabs killed violently by each other since late June now stands at 168.
UPDATE: 4 more dead since last week besides Muammar mentioned above:

Earlier on the same day, at approximately 07:00, the Palestinian police found the corpse of Hammad ‘Awad al-‘Arouqi, 40, from Nusairat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on a tract of land belonging to the Abu Meddain family in the east of al-Boreij refugee camp. According to medical crews, al-‘Arouqi was found handcuffed with his face to the ground. He was hit by 3 live bullets to the chest. The corpse was transferred to the forensic medicine department at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

At approximately 13:00 on Friday, 1 December 2006, the corpse of ‘Alaa’ ‘Abdul Karim Matar, 21, was found inside a flat in Block 4 in Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip. He was hit by a live bullet to the head. The corpse was transferred to the forensic medicine department at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, and the police initiated an investigation into Matar’s death.

At approximately 17:10 on Thursday, 30 November 2006, Salim Ashraf Salim al-Masri, 20, from Kahn Yunis, was killed by several live bullets throughout the body. He was shot for family revenge.

At approximately 13:30 on Wednesday, 29 November 2006, Mohammed ‘Araef Rashwan, 31, was killed by a live bullet to the chest, and his colleague, Ahmed Hamdan Abu Sha’ar, 24, was wounded by a live bullet to the thighs, when they were inside their security site in the east of Rafha. Live bullets were unleashed by mistake from the rifle of a security man guarding the site and hit Rashwan and Abu Sha’ar.

So now our count has hit 172.

UPDATE 2: PalArabs claimed the IDF killed a 15-year old boy in Nablus; the IDF denied it. Which means that he was killed by some other PalArab. We are now at 173.

(Monday morning update: it seems ambiguous enough for me to not count the last one. Still 172.)

Arabs caught cutting down their own olive trees

Hat tip Joe Settler:

Are the settlers hurting the Palestinians or are the Palestinians hurting themselves?
Frequently Palestinians farmers complain that settlers cut their trees and hurt them and their livelihoods. At times even IDF soldiers and police had to protect the Palestinians farmers in the territories during the olive harvest season. But the police suspect now that in some cases the Palestinians themselves are those cutting the trees and then blamed the settlers and demanded compensation from the Civil Authority.
Foresters of the JNF patrolling the Shaar Efraim area today noticed to their surprise a number of Palestinians cutting olive trees in violation of the law as they were damaging scores of olive trees. The foresters hurried to call the police who arrived and held four of them for questioning.
The four were transferred to the police station in Kedumim and in their interrogation they said that the owner of the property invited them to cut the trees for firewood. A police spokesman for the Judea-Samaria District, Superintendent Pintzi Mor, told Maariv NRG that the owner of the area would be called in for questioning.
Sources in the police said that over the years the police have experienced a phenomenon of the filing of complaints to the Civil Authority regarding the destruction of olive trees, along with a claim for financial compensation. In the last year alone the Palestinians in the area of Judea and Samaria filed claims for 350 thousand shekels for the destruction of olive trees.
The police now intend to check the complaints in detail. A senior source in the police told Maariv NRG that "most of the complaints for damage to olive trees were filed in recent years at the end of the harvest season or towards the end, something that increase the suspicion that this is a cooked deal."

Joe Settler has been all over these stories for months, but there is no shortage of Israel-bashers that believe anything bad said about "settlers." We've touched on the PalArab historic love of olive groves here . UPDATE: Soccer Dad has been skeptical for much, much longer.