Help save Palestinian children

PALESTINIAN CHILDREN ON THE FRONT LINES

Justus Weiner has authored a comprehensive issue brief entailed, "The Recruitment of Children in Current Palestinian Strategy." Weiner is scholar in residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (http://www.jcpa.org), headed by Dore Gold and Lenny Ben-David. (To subscribe to the Jerusalem Issue Brief, please send a blank email message to:
brief4-subscribe@jcpa.org)

Weiner cites recent examples of how Palestinian children and teenagers have assumed an integral role in the murder of Israeli civilians:

- February 2002 - Nora Shalhoob, a 16-year-old Palestinian girl, was killed while charging a group of Israeli soldiers at a military checkpoint with a knife in her hand.

- March 2002 - A 16-year-old Palestinian girl named Ayat Akhras walked into a Jerusalem supermarket and detonated a bomb concealed under her clothing, killing two Israelis and wounding 22 others.

- April 2002 - 17-year-old Andaleeb Taqataqah was recruited by a terror squad and sent to her death in a suicide attack on a crowded Jerusalem market.

- April 2002 - Three teenagers - Anwar Hamduna, Yusef Zakut, and Abu Nada - from Gaza, attempted to crawl under the perimeter fence and attack the residents of the Jewish community of Netzarim, only to be shot dead by guards.

- May 2002 - For over a month, Palestinian children as young as 10 barricaded themselves in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, alongside Palestinian gunmen.

May 2002 - A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was arrested in a taxi near Jenin with a suicide bomb on his body.

- June 2002 - A 15-year-old Palestinian girl, arrested for throwing a firebomb at IDF soldiers, admitted during interrogation that she had previously been recruited as a suicide terrorist.

- July 2002 - Israeli security forces arrested another 15-year-old Palestinian girl who admitted to having agreed to carry out a suicide attack in Israel.

Early in the current intifada, Weiner notes, children acted as decoys, burning tires and shooting slingshots to attract TV cameras while making it harder for the world to identify the gunmen lying in ambush. Knowing that Israeli soldiers are ordered not to shoot live ammunition at children, Palestinian snipers hide among groups of youngsters, on rooftops or in alleys, often using kids as shields when aiming at exposed IDF soldiers. On some occasions, these gunmen apparently have inadvertently shot Palestinian children from behind.

for full report [read more]

E-mail thrusts pro-Palestinian parley into spotlight


"With your help, we can bring down the Zionist country and thereby rid the world of another racist country," the e-mails state. "Jews in Palestine have systematically destroyed the lives of the indigenous Palestinians who had lived there for hundreds of years. It is time for us to speak out and be heard, and you can be part of this revolution!"

Two e-mails containing these anti-Israel, antisemitic sentiments, along with encouragement to challenge "Israeli Apartheid," were sent to more than 1,000 University of Michigan (U of M) faculty, staff members and student leaders on Sept. 25. The e-mails invite faculty and students to "speak out against Israel" at the Second National Student Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement scheduled for Oct. 12-14 at the university - www.divestmentconference.com

As tensions grow and debate heats up concerning divestment of campus-held stock in companies doing business in Israel, reports of the controversial U of M e-mails thrust their upcoming conference into the national spotlight. Sponsored by a U of M student group, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), the conference plans to encourage divestment and discourage U.S. aid to Israel.

[more]

Mideast war rages on U.S. campuses
Websites add to arsenal of students fighting anti-Israel bias


WorldNetDaily.com

A Mideast war rages on the campuses of universities across the U.S. as pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel student groups, professors and activists clash in a microcosmic intifada.

Battle lines have already been drawn at the University of Michigan as that school prepares to host a national student conference on the "Palestine Solidarity Movement" this weekend. Students Allied for Freedom and Equality, or SAFE, is the registered student sponsor of the conference. According to its website, SAFE is a "diverse group of students, activists, and community members organized to promote justice, human rights, liberation and self-determination for the Palestinian people."

The group "condemns the racism and discrimination inherent in Zionism" and outlines its mission statement for the conference as promoting "divestment from Israel, ending U.S. aid to Israel and right of return." The website expresses tacit support for terrorism by stating, "As a solidarity movement, it is not our place to dictate the strategies or tactics adopted by the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation." It further lists suggested "tactics" for conference attendees that include "education, public demonstrations and rallies" and "civil disobedience or direct action."

Among the panelists scheduled to speak at the conference is Sami Al-Arian, a tenured professor recently suspended by the University of South Florida amid a federal investigation into his suspected association with terrorist organizations. USF is suing for the right to terminate Al-Arian, claiming it can prove that he has maintained ties to terrorists for 14 years that have seriously damaged USF.

[more]

Lebanon prepared to restrict controversial water tapping


BEIRUT (AFP) - Lebanon appears to be compromising in its simmering water dispute with Israel, which bluntly threatened to invade its northern neighbour over its tapping of a key border spring.

Beirut is now reportedly prepared to restrict the amount of water it taps from the southern Wazzani spring, which was visited Saturday by a key US State Department water official.

The country may now only pump drinking water from the controversial spring, and not use it for large-scale irrigation projects in nearby villages, as had originally been planned, the An-Nahar daily said Saturday.

"Lebanon will make do with pumping drinking water from the Wazzani river, from Wednesday, and will put off indefinitely irrigation projects following American 'comments,'" the newspaper quoted informed sources as saying.

Specifically, An-Nahar attributed the decision to limit the drawdown to "American comments contained in a report prepared by an American expert."

The newspaper did not say to which report it was referring, but US State Department water expert Charles Lawson has been working to defuse the crisis.

On Saturday morning, he toured the Wazzani spring site, protected by 50 elite army commandos and some 20 bodyguards from the US embassy.

He spent about 20 minutes inspecting the pipes installed at the source of the spring and one of the pumping stations about a kilometre (half a mile) away in the area close to the Lebanese-Israeli border.

Israeli soldiers watched closely through binoculars from a few hundred metres (yards) away.

But fighters from the Shiite militia Hezbollah, which effectively controls parts of the south, were deployed in force in the area during the visit, but remained out of sight during Lawson's tour.

Lawson also took a look at the Hasbani riverbed, to the north, which is dry at this time of year.

He first visited Lebanon and Israel last month. He returned to Lebanon on Tuesday, and met the next day with Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

On Friday, Lebanon also delivered a report to the UN Security Council and the European Union on its exploitation of the Wazzani.

The report said two pumps could exploit a total of 10 million cubic meters (325 million cubic feet) a year, much less than the 35 million cubic meters (1.235 billion cubic feet) granted to Lebanon under an unratified 1955 agreement.

Israel's hardline Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has threatened war over Lebanon's plan to tap the Wazzani.

The river is the main source of Lebanon's Hasbani river. That flows into the River Jordan, which, in turn, feeds the Sea of Galilee, Israel's main fresh water source.

On Thursday, Sharon said the "Americans are trying to find a solution, and the case is the subject of contacts between the parties."

Lebanon plans to provide drinking water initially to 20 villages in the border area, which was under Israeli occupation for 22 years until the May 2000 troop withdrawal.

The pumping station was successfully tested on Wednesday.

Christian Coalition Rallies Faithful


Christian Coalition leaders fired up the faithful Friday with a pro-Israel rally and a pitch to renew the group's power by rousting out the vote in November for conservative candidates.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., exhorted the crowd at the Washington Convention Center to vote liberals out of office.

``If you don't do it, it ain't gonna be done,'' he said. ``You will be doing the Lord's work, and he will richly bless you for it.''

``Faith with Action'' was the public theme of the coalition's Road to Victory conference, which opened Friday. The underlying purpose of the three-day event was to raise the Christian Coalition's profile after a string of setbacks and to turn its claimed 2 million supporters into voters on Nov. 5.

The conservative activist group and its new president, Roberta Combs, are battling a widespread perception that the coalition is far less a political force than it was in the mid-1990s.

Combs, a longtime coalition organizer from Hanahan, S.C., took over the group in December after founder Pat Robertson said he wanted to spend more time on his ministry.

``I think that as long as we're here, we'll also have influence,'' Combs said this week in an interview, after months of avoiding media contact. ``We're still here; we're still involved.''

Some people assumed the coalition was disappearing as a political force. Director Ralph Reed left in 1997 to become a Republican activist in Georgia and became chairman of the state party last year. In 1999, the Internal Revenue Service ruled against the coalition's tax-exempt status, which forced it to reorganize. Robertson's departure last December was a blow.

Reed's party chairmanship became a symbol of what has happened to the Christian conservative movement.

Part of the reason for the Christian Coalition's lower profile, however, is its success. Republicans took control of Congress in 1994, after 40 years of Democratic majorities. Seventy million voter guides and 1 million get-out-the-vote calls helped elect George W. Bush president in 2000.

Bush sent the convention a videotaped message Friday, greeting the Christian conservatives and promising an administration that would advocate the group's key agenda items: anti-abortion activism, low taxes, limited government and judges who don't legislate.

The demonstration of solidarity with Israel is consistent with a long-standing alliance with that country, which Christians consider a part of the biblical Holy Land.

Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert saluted ``the great believers and lovers of Zion'' gathered in the convention hall. He said their support helps Israelis endure Palestinian bombings.

``It is hard to live with the sights, to go to sleep with them, to wake up in the morning, to know what you have seen,'' Olmert told coalition members. ``But don't get it wrong. This is pain and tears but not weakness.''

He received several standing ovations from coalition members waving Israeli flags.

``This rally is to say there are people, there are millions of us,'' said Coalition founder Robertson. ``We will stand with Israel.''

So with an ally in the White House and ``the largest and best-equipped lobbying team in coalition history,'' the group opened its annual meeting with messages designed to motivate.

The notion of separating church and state with such policies as disallowing prayer in public schools ``is a deception from Satan,'' said Joyce Meyer, a convention sponsor.

``If God is in fact separated from the government, then we can never possibly have a godly government,'' Meyer said to a standing ovation. ``There's no way for America to be good if she's not godly.''

Meyer, head of Joyce Meyer Ministries of Fenton, Mo., said activists probably will find more spiritual awareness in the aftermath of the ``wake-up call'' of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. God did not cause the attacks, she said, but they should teach the country a lesson.

``If we don't obey God, God's protection is lifted,'' Meyer said.

The convention hall, set up to accommodate 6,500 seats, was less than half full but a larger crowd was expected for events over the weekend

TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LAND:
Still calling for Israel's destruction
Arafat aide admits PLO Covenant never altered after Oslo Accords



Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's foreign minister has acknowledged that the PLO National Covenant, with its many clauses calling for violence and the destruction of Israel, has never been changed, reports Dubai newspaper Al Bayan.

The paper quoted Foreign Minister Farouk Kaddoumi in an article earlier this week.

The 1993 Oslo accords required Arafat to remove those clauses from the National Covenant.

[see link for complete article]

EU lining up behind U.S. view on Arafat


The European Union is slowly moving closer to the American view of the Palestinian Authority and its chairman, Yasser Arafat, according to reports that have reached Jerusalem in advance of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's planned trip to Washington next week.

Four days ago, Arafat hosted the EU's foreign policy coordinator, Javier Solana, at his office in Ramallah. Solana reportedly used the meeting to deliver a stern warning and urge Arafat to transfer the reins of power to someone else. Moreover, senior EU and United Nations officials have recently been saying in private conversations that Arafat is an obstacle to reforming the PA and must be replaced.

Solana's visit to Arafat initially elicited strong criticism from both Jerusalem and Washington. Sharon and Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told Solana that his visit had hindered efforts to reform the PA. But once the contents of the conversation became known, the American administration changed its tune and praised the visit.

State Department officials are now working on a "road map" for calming the Israeli-Palestinian violence and restarting negotiations. They have been exchanging drafts of a detailed three-stage plan with European colleagues based on an outline released last month by the Quartet (the U.S., EU, UN and Russia). The plan calls for a cooling-off period, followed by establishment of a Palestinian state with temporary borders, and finally a permanent-status agreement. According to the Quartet's outline, the process will be completed in 2005.

Data reaching Israel indicate that the U.S. draft makes tough demands on both sides. During the first stage, Israel will be required to withdraw to the positions it held before the intifada broke out two years ago and to freeze settlement construction. The Palestinians will have to rebuild their security services under a unified command and implement comprehensive financial and administrative reforms.

The plan also calls for the temporary Palestinian state to be established on more than 50 percent of the West Bank. This means an additional Israeli withdrawal would be necessary, as well as the likely evacuation of some isolated settlements. However, this is still only a draft, and it is not clear the White House will approve it as is. The administration has already promised Israel that it will not take a stance on the final borders, leaving this to direct negotiations between the two parties.

For Sharon, the most problematic part of the plan is the strict timetable. Sharon opposes all timetables, arguing that they merely serve to increase pressure on Israel and absolve the Palestinians of responsibility. Instead, he would like every new stage of the process to be contingent on each side meeting specified benchmarks.

Assistant Secretary of State William Burns will visit the region in the next two weeks with the twofold task of obtaining Arab support for an American attack on Iraq and discussing the "road map" with Israel and the Palestinians so that it can be implemented once the Iraqi issue is settled.

During his meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush next week, Sharon will be devoting considerable attention to "the day after Iraq" in an effort to obtain a pledge that the U.S. will not force an agreement with the Palestinians on Israel. He will also try to determine how much freedom of action the Americans are willing to give him with regard to military operations against the Palestinians, both in the period leading up to an American war on Iraq and during such a war.

Government sources in Jerusalem believe that in the long run, Sharon has no reason to worry, since Bush is not interested in getting deeply involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the near term, however, the White House is demanding quiet on the Israeli-Palestinian front, and some of Sharon's advisers have consequently recommended that he demonstrate flexibility next week, for instance, by a partial withdrawal of the IDF in Gaza or by a meeting with a senior Palestinian official.

Police: Would-be bomber arrested



TEL AVIV, Israel - U.S. Embassy security guards overpowered a would-be suicide bomber who had tried to enter a crowded cafe nearby on the Tel Aviv beachfront on Friday, police said.

"The security guard at the entrance to the cafe searched him and when he found the explosive vest, the man ran away and the guard chased him while calling for help from security personnel of the American Embassy," said Shlomit Herzberg, chief spokeswoman for police in Tel Aviv.

The embassy security guards overpowered the man and called police. She said a bomb squad removed the man's explosive vest and it was being neutralized.

There were no immediate reports of injury and police said they did not know of any other people involved in the attack.

The suspect, whose identity was not immediately available, was detained and taken to a police station for questioning.

The embassy is a prominent three-story brick building on a beachfront promenade lined with bars, restaurants and high-rise hotels. Security guards there include both Israelis and Americans.

The incident occurred a day after a suicide bomber killed a 71-year-old woman and injured four other people near Tel Aviv.

An Israeli bus driver closed the door before the 30-year-old Palestinian could board his crowded bus, then joined with a doctor in pinning the man to the ground while most of those nearby fled.

Also on Friday, more than 10,000 supporters of Arafat's Fatah movement rallied in the heart of Gaza City, many firing automatic weapons into the air.

It was a show of strength directed at a rival group, the militant Islamic organization Hamas. Demonstrators insisted on the surrender of men who killed the head of Palestinian riot police on Monday.

An even larger crowd of police officers and militiamen marched Thursday in the funeral procession for Col. Rajah Abu Lehiya, who was killed by a militiaman from the Islamic militant group Hamas.

The policeman's killing set off skirmishes in which six other people have died - the latest a 17-year-old youth who died Friday of injuries sustained earlier in the week.

Appeasement, Concessions, Inaction, “Going Wobbly”

The articles I posted on October 10 and 11, entitled, “Don’t go wobbly, Israel”, expressed my concern about attempts to appease terrorists and their supporters by making concessions to them. It may be useful to put these concerns in a broader context.

The “mother of all appeasements” was, of course, Munich, September, 1938. All democracies paid a horrible price for this attempted appeasement, with Canada alone losing 40,000 lives out of an army of 1.2 million. Even this toll dwarfs in relation to the losses suffered by the Jewish people and the people of the former USSR.

But in relation to Israel, it is instructive to note the history of British attempts to appease the Arabs in the region, and the Palestinian Arabs in particular. In her monumental opus, From Time Immemorial, Joan Peters documented the British vain attempts to appease the Palestinian Arab population at the Zionists’ expense, between 1920 and 1940 (see complete reference at article’s end). The list includes:

1920 - Arabs engage in Anti-Jewish “Easter riots” - British set immigration quotas on Jews to appease Arabs.
1921 - May riots by Arabs against Jews - British suspend Jewish immigration temporarily, then (1922) lop off “Trans-Jordania” from Jewish National Home.
1929 - Arab riots against Jews, Hebron massacre - British attempt to appease Arabs with the Passfield White Paper (1930), restricting Jewish immigration AND Jewish land purchases.
1936-1939 - Large scale riots by Arabs against Jews AND British, including the assassination of a British District Commissioner, Lewis Andrews. Further British attempt to appease Arabs by the Peel partition plan, giving most of Palestine’s territory to Arabs, and reducing the Jewish National Home to a tiny sliver. Arabs reject, will not be appeased. New British White Paper (1939) cuts Jewish immigration to virtually zero, at a time when Jews must flee Nazi occupations. Land purchases by Jews further restricted (1940).

Clearly, these and all subsequent British attempts to appease the Arabs were equally unsuccessful. For example, during WW II, Britain had to use brute force to squash pro-Nazi governments in both Iraq (April, 1941) and Egypt (February, 1942). During Israel’s War of Independence, Britain intervened on the Arab side numerous times, including an ultimatum on December 30, 1948, that eventually forced Israel to relinquish the Gaza strip into Egyptian hands. This attempt to appease Egypt (then under British influence) was so “successful”, that within a few years Britain was ejected from her Suez Canal bases by her very own Egyptian proteges.

Britain met the same fate in Transjordan, the very state Britain created at the expense of the Jewish National Home. Britain may have created the Transjordanian army and provided it with funding, hardware and commanding officers (notably, John Glubb “Pasha”), but this did not stop King Hussein from expelling the British officers, including John Glubb (March, 1956).

The attempts of the US to curry favour with the Arabs were just as “successful” and honourable (or, in this case, should I say ‘honorable’?). In 1956/57, Eisenhower’s brutal pressure forced Israel to withdraw unconditionally from the Sinai, sowing the seeds of the 1967 War. But Egypt (and Syria) still fell into the Soviet orbit: the West gained nothing from bullying our sister-republic and appeasing the Arab world.

And then there is the book of Western appeasement by non-action. For the three decades prior to 9-11 (2001), the West was subject to a long list of terrorist attacks by Islamists against Western (non-Israeli) targets, none of which met with an appropriate response on the part of the Western democracies (terrorism against Israeli targets since 1948 warrants a separate chapter). In an article posted on Dawson Speaks on August 16, 2002, I listed 30 major attacks that occurred in the period 1973-2001, including the murder of the US ambassador to Khartoum, Cleo Noel (1973), the hijacking of an Air France plane to Entebbe (1976), the attacks in Lebanon against the US embassy and the US Marines (1983), the Lockerbie airborne bombing (1988), the (first) bomb at the World Trade Centre (1993), the Khobar Towers bomb (1996), and the bombing of two US embassies in Africa (1998). In the face of Western inaction-for-appeasement, 9-11 was inevitable.

Will we ever, ever learn?

Reference:

Peters, Joan. From Time Immemorial - The origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine . New York: Harper and Row, 1984. The incidents cited in this article are listed in pp. 318-320.

Contributed by Joseph Alexander Norland

French Jew wins Nobel Prize
for cooling and trapping atoms



- Frenchman Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics with two American researchers, is delighted with the honor, but embarrassed by the bombardment of calls from the media and well-wishers.

Cohen-Tannoudji is a professor at the prestigious College de France and a member of France's Academy of Sciences.

He is the third Jew to receive a 1997 Nobel Prize. Stanford University Professor Myron Scholes was named a co-recipient of the the Nobel Prize for economics, and Stanley Prusiner, a professor at the University of California at San Francisco, received the Nobel Prize in medicine.

Cohen-Tannoudji shared the award with Steven Chu of Stanford University and William Phillips of Maryland's National Institute of Standards and Technology for developing methods to cool and trap atoms with lasers -- work that in the future may be applied to medicine and space-related industries.

``Of course I'm immensely happy, but I haven't had a minute to myself. After all, what I love to do is research and teach,'' Cohen- Tannoudji, 61, said.

``In the United States, where there are many Nobel laureates, they are celebrated, but then very quickly they return to being physicists, chemists and biologists, like everyone else.

``Here, I wish there wasn't this sudden focus on me,'' he added.

Cohen-Tannoudji was born in 1933 in Algeria, then a French colonial possession.

A Hungarian Jew who survived
Auschwitz wins Nobel for literature


An Auschwitz survivor who recently was criticized for defending Israel became the first Hungarian to win the Nobel prize for literature.
The award to Imre Kertesz, 72, was announced Thursday. Hungarian Jews said the prize was gratifying to the entire community, while Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy told Kertesz that because of him, “the citizens of Hungary can be proud to be Hungarians.”

Kertesz was deported from Budapest to Auschwitz and from there to Buchenwald, where he was liberated in 1945. His books, all of which deal with the Holocaust, have been especially popular in Germany.

Among his most popular books are “Without Fate,” an autobiographical account of his experiences in the Holocaust, and “Kaddish for a Child Not Born,” in which he condemned a world that permitted the Holocaust.

Kertesz has been a frequent target of the Hungarian far-right. Far-right writer Istvan Csurka condemned Kertesz for saying that “my luggage is never unpacked, waiting in my house to leave Hungary.”

Kertesz has been an outspoken critic of the far-right, often writing in Hungarian newspapers to condemn the anti-Semitism espoused by the nation’s extremists.

This spring, after Kertesz visited Jerusalem for a conference of Holocaust survivors sponsored by Yad Vashem, he was criticized in a Hungarian literary journal for writing a pro-Israel article.

That criticism came from left-wing intellectual Istvan Eorsi, another Hungarian Jewish writer.

Kertesz on Thursday told Hungarian radio that his life will not change because of the Nobel. He currently is on a one-year scholarship in Berlin, where he is working on a new novel.

British academic denounces boycott of Israel as 'deplorable'





LONDON Baroness Susan Greenfield, a renowned neuroscientist and the director of the Royal Institution, has condemned a proposal to impose an academic boycott on Israel. The proposal was made by academics from Britain and Europe who were joined by some of their colleagues from Israel.

Speaking at an event organized by the British-Israel Chambers of Commerce, Greenfield said that "the idea of an academic boycott on Israel is deplorable and reflects British academia in a very bad light because the reasons for it are wrong and groundless."

She said that a British scientific team was planning to visit Israel shortly and that she is personally working with a firm that is cooperating with an Israeli company in developing medical software.

Greenfield, a professor of pharmacology at Oxford University, is the first woman to head the Royal Institution, one of the most prestigious in Britain.

The volume of trade between the two countries stood last year at 2.6 billion pounds sterling, making Israel Britain's largest client in the Middle East.

Report: Hezbollah fears weakening Iranian support

A delegation of senior representatives from the Hezbollah organization visited Tehran recently to discuss the continued support of the group with senior Iranian government officials, the international Arabic newspaper Al Sharq Al Awsat quoted Iranian sources as saying on Saturday.

The newspaper's Iranian affairs correspondent reported that fears were raised among Hezbollah leaders that Tehran's support for the organization might weaken as a result of growing American pressure on Iran. It was noted that the fact that Hezbollah leaders received differing reports regarding continued support of the organization during recent meetings between senior group leaders and Iranian officials.

Last month the brother of Iranian President Mohammed Khatami visited Lebanon, while, according to various reports, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Yahya Rahim Safavi, also visited Lebanon.

The report noted that Hezbollah's fears stemmed from the fact that a news site representing Iran's reformist camp quoted a senior Iranian official as saying that if Khatami and his associates resign from the government, Iran would have to cease its support of the Hezbollah. The report also stated that Iran recently decided to increase its "humanitarian" support for Hezbollah and increase its support for southern Lebanon.

Leaders from Hezbollah and the Lebanese Shi'ite Amal movement met on Friday, after armed activists from each group battled in southern Lebanon, fired on each other, and hurled hand grenades. The fight between the two groups broke out on Thursday when Amal supporters reached one of the villages in the western section of southern Lebanon. This was another battle in a series of conflicts between the two groups in recent weeks, amid a growing struggle for areas of influence in southern Lebanon. Group leaders released a statement in which they announced the need to maintain stability in southern Lebanon.

Michigan Conference


A couple of articles on the UMichigan divestment conference:

Activists gear up for showdown at Michigan divestment meeting, which has a photo from the Concordia U. riot I haven't seen before. It shows a Palestinian rioter waving a Che Guevara flag, which pretty much sums up the nature of the anti-Israel forces--anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-capitalist, self-styled '60s revolutionaries.

Israel supporters rally on campus ahead of pro-Palestinian conference, which notes the sad and pointless efforts of a left-wing Jew to "dialogue" with the Palestinians. Why do such people bother? There's no one on the other side who wants to "dialoque" with us, just blow us up.

A Balanced Article in the Economist?!


I never thought I'd see this, but this article in the Economist lays out a pretty fair explanation of why Israel's refusal to follow UN demands isn't similar to Iraq's, contary to the beliefs of the anti-war, anti-American, anti-Israel left.


The UN distinguishes between two sorts of Security Council resolution. Those passed under Chapter Six deal with the peaceful resolution of disputes and entitle the council to make non-binding recommendations. Those under Chapter Seven give the council broad powers to take action, including warlike action, to deal with “threats to the peace, breaches of the peace, or acts of aggression”. Such resolutions, binding on all UN members, were rare during the cold war. But they were used against Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait. None of the resolutions relating to the Israeli-Arab conflict comes under Chapter Seven. By imposing sanctions—including military ones—against Iraq but not against Israel, the UN is merely acting in accordance with its own rules.
...
Resolution 242 of 1967, passed after the six-day war and frequently cited in the double-standards argument, does not say what a lot of the people who quote it think it says (see article). It does not instruct Israel to withdraw unilaterally from the territories occupied in 1967. It does not condemn Israel's conquest, for the good reason that most western powers at that time thought it the result of a justifiable pre-emptive war. It calls for a negotiated settlement, based on the principle of exchanging land for peace. This is a very different matter. In the case of Iraq, the Security Council has instructed Mr Hussein to take various unilateral actions that he is perfectly capable of taking. Resolution 242 cannot be implemented unilaterally, even if Israel wanted to do so.
...
Over the past two years, the intifada has given rise to a new batch of resolutions. Some rebuke the Israelis for using “excessive” force, others make specific demands. Resolution 1435, for example, calls on Israel to pull out of the Palestinian cities it has recently reoccupied and back to the positions it held before the violence started in September 2000. It has been ignored. But like most recent resolutions, this one cuts both ways. It makes demands of the Palestinians, too, which have also been ignored. In this case, the Palestinian Authority is instructed to cease all violence and incitement, and to bring “those responsible for terrorist acts” to justice.
...
What, though, about Israel's nukes? Does its status as an undeclared nuclear power put it on a par with Iraq, which has tried to become one? No. In 1981, Resolution 487 scolded Israel for sending its aircraft to destroy Iraq's Osiraq reactor, which Israel said was being used to manufacture a nuclear weapon, despite having been given a clean bill of health by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. Noting that Israel had not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), as Iraq had, the UN called on Israel to put its own nuclear facilities under the IAEA safeguards, as the NPT requires.

Two decades on, Israel has still not signed the NPT. This infuriates the treaty's supporters, who have been striving to make it “universal”. But, as with any other treaty, governments are free not to sign. What they are not free to do is sign, receive the foreign (civilian) nuclear help to which signing entitles them, and then try to build a bomb secretly. This, it is now ruefully accepted, is what Iraq tried to do, and may still be trying to do. Israel is thought to possess a large nuclear arsenal, about which it is not being open and honest, and this is provoking to its neighbours. But it is not evidence of “double standards”. Being a nuclear-armed power is not, by itself, a breach of international law.
The article does make a few comments about Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria that are wrong, but at least the Economist seems to be trying to do a better job than it has in the past, as explained here by Bret Stephens. There was a response by the editor of the Economist, and a rebuttal to the response by Stephens, but I can't locate them.

Israel Should Give Financial Support to Basque Terrorists, the Real IRA and the Italian Red Army


Two posts below is an article concerning Europe's willingness, once again, to murder of Jews, by providing gun money to Hamas.

To be frank, I do not believe that arguing with Europe will be successful. I generally support the practice of fighting fire with firing.

Israel should dollar for dollar match the European funding of Hamas and other Jew murdering outfits by providing donations to European militants like the Basque separatists, the Italian Red Army, the Real IRA, etc. For Israel's dollars to work the most efficiently, instead of providing hard cash, Israel should use the earmarked money to purchase locally manufactured guns, ammunition, explosives, and other necessary equipment and deliver it to these activist groups.

Perhaps Europe will turn from its Jew murdering ways for the sake of its own self interest.

PS - IN a NYT article today it mentions that the Israelis killed two "youths" - one youth was 18. Not much of a youth in the West and certainly not in the Medieval Middle East. That is why the NYT SUCKS.

The Axis of Envy
Why Israel and the United States both strike the same European nerve

Anti-Israelism and anti-Americanism travel together. In the Arab Middle East, the link is standard fare, but a more interesting case in point is Europe. Take José Bové, who first gained notoriety around the world in 1999 by leading the charge of a "deconstructivist" mob against a McDonald's restaurant in France. In March 2002, he showed up in Ramallah, denouncing Israel and pledging enthusiastic support to Yasir Arafat while the latter's headquarters was being surrounded by Israeli tanks. Arafat's cause was Bové's cause, this mise-en-scène suggested-never mind that the Israeli army had not simply dropped in for a little oppression but in defense against mounting terrorist attacks.

Pick a peace-minded demonstration in Europe these days or a publication of the extreme left or right, and you'll find anti-Israeli and anti-American resentments side by side-in the tradition first invented by the Khomeinists of Iran, whose demonology abounds with references to the "small" and "great Satan."

What explains this linkage? First, Israel and the United States are the most successful states in their respective neighborhoods: Israel in the regional arena, the United States on the global beat. They boast the most fearsome armies, they command impressive technological infrastructures, and the Israeli economy vastly outperforms those of each of its neighbors while the United States has the world's number one economy. Moreover, both are stable, vibrant democracies. One need not invoke Dr. Sigmund Freud to infer that success breeds envy and resentment. The resentment is compounded by the rampant modernity both countries epitomize. Relentless change, as inflicted from outside, does not sit well with European societies, which obey a very different social contract-one that favors social and economic protection against the effects of the market and rapid technological transformation. The unconscious syllogism goes like this: Globalization is Americanization, and both have found their most faithful disciple in Israel.

EU nations balk at blocking
Hamas finances

The Bush administration has acknowledged failure in winning full cooperation from the European Union in halting financing to Hamas and other Middle East groups deemed as terrorists.

U.S. officials said the EU has placed Al Qaida and related groups on the European list of terrorist sponsors. But the EU has failed to act against insurgency groups linked to the Arab-Israeli conflict, Middle East Newsline reported.

The officials said the EU insists on distinguishing between the political and military activities of insurgency groups.

The result has been a slowdown in international efforts to halt financing to Al Qaida and its satellite organizations in the Middle East. A key dispute between the United States and the EU regards Hamas, officials said. They said the EU maintains a distinction between the military and political wings of the Palestinian group.

"There are some countries that make a distinction between the political wing of Hamas and the military wing of Hamas," Treasury Undersecretary Jimmy Gurule said. "Unless the U.S. government can provide information that traces money directly to the military wing that is supporting suicide bombings in the Middle East, there is some reluctance, or in some cases unwillingness, to go ahead and designate those individuals or entities. And it's a very difficult diplomatic and political problem with respect to those countries."

Gurule told the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday that he did not have a list of EU countries that have refused to cooperate with the United States. But other officials said France presents a key difficulty.

The result is that EU countries are refusing to freeze assets of those financing Hamas, officials said. The Islamic movement is said to obtain tens of millions of dollars a year from Iran and Saudi Arabia as well as individuals.

The EU has placed the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade on terrorist list. The Fatah-dominated umbrella group is said to be responsible for much of the insurgency attacks in the current war with Israel.

Officials said the United States and EU also differ on Iran. They said the EU has refused to halt investments in Iran, cited as a terrorist sponsor by the State Department. U.S. law prevents major investments in Iran's energy sector.

Undersecretary of State Alan Larson told the committee that the administration is pressing Gulf Cooperation Council states to draft and implement tough measures to halt the private financing of Islamic insurgency groups. He said Kuwait and Saudi Arabia "have indicated plans to take some serious action" to ensure that charities don't raise money for groups deemed as terrorists.

"I'm going to the Gulf shortly, and Dubai is one of the places I'm going to go. And one of the conversations we intend to have is, you know, what further steps can be taken to strengthen surveillance and oversight in the banking system about the money that moves in and out?"

Don't go wobbly, Israel - Cont.

With reference to my posting yesterday about Israel’s inaction concerning the Wazzani diversion, the inevitable has happened: the people behind the diversion, and Hizbollah in particular, have been embolden. The Jerusalem Post reports:

Lebanese technicians reportedly added a second pipe Thursday to the controversial Wazzani Springs pumping project, a day after testing the pumps despite warnings from Israel.

Israel Radio said the Lebanese have also begun paving an asphalt road from the pump to a nearby village in addition to other preparations for a planned October 16 dedication ceremony of the site to which thousands of guests have been invited.

I am not alone in being profoundly concerned about the far-reaching implications of Israeli inaction. The following citation from Arutz 7 is particularly instructive:

Military Option In Lebanon

If Israel continues to practice restraint in the face of the Lebanese water-pumping, this will deal yet another blow to Israel's deterrence ability." So warned top IDF leaders last night in a meeting with government leaders. They were referring to the new southern Lebanese water pumping station, which is scheduled to start regular operations next week. The new installation, only about a mile from the Israeli border, will draw water from the Wazani River, which pours into one of Israel's main water sources, the Hatzbani River. Prime Minister Sharon is said to agree with the military warning, yet feels that the American mediation efforts must be given another few days to succeed.

Talk about “deja vu all over again”! This “must be given another few days” is exactly what we heard on the eve of the Six Day War. Wake up, Israel!

The second part of my posting yesterday concerned the dismantling of outposts in Judea/Samaria. A reader commented that “the outposts were removed because they were illegal, i.e. were not approved by the government... Democracy cannot exist without the rule of law.” IMRA must have anticipated such a comment, for the site posted this ready-made response:

[T]he Palestinians have followed a consistent strategy of illegally erecting buildings on roads - including new bypass roads (infrastructure serving settlements) - that can be used as firing position from which to attack Israeli vehicles as they travel to and from settlements.
...
It is bad enough that the very same people who call out with great fervor for the demolition of every Jewish home in the West Bank that is missing even one of a myriad of approvals were silent about illegal Palestinian construction that may threaten Jewish lives. But some of the Israeli Left, who appear to put the value of an illegal Palestinian building over the value of Israeli lives, even go so far as to help rebuild them when they are demolished within the framework of the law.

Meantime, the demolition of Jewish settlements proceeds with zeal and alacrity. Ha’aretz reports:

Eight illegal settlement outposts were removed Thursday, bringing the total number of outposts dismantled this week to 12.

Read and weep.

Contributed by Joseph Alexander Norland

An article of Great Interest


The October 14&21 (double issue) of The New Yorker has an outstanding piece called In The Party of God, by Jeffrey Goldberg, which asks if the terrorists in Lebanon are preparing for a larger war. Mr. Goldberg interviews a number of Hezollah leaders, discusses the history of Hezbollah, its ability to court and win support among the Palestinians, and its ultimate aim. The piece concludes with an Israel perspective, noting, according to one general, that Israel will--perhaps after the American war against Saddam-- have to take on this major terror group once and for all.

This article, unfortunately, is not available on-line, and I do not have a scanner, so I can but point you to the article and hope that you read it.

Suicide Bomber Kills 2 in Israel

An Israeli bus driver and a paramedic pinned a Palestinian suicide bomber to the ground Thursday after spotting his bomb belt, then fled with other bystanders before the man detonated the explosives. The assailant and an elderly woman were killed, and four people were injured.

Amish Tech says that it is really one dead and one ibn kelb piece of crap only dressed like a human being who made it into the title as a result of spintifada.

The examination of why they let the person go will be interesting. My understanding was that the dog was kicking his hind leg thighs up into the bomb and they were worried that the bomb was going to go off. After release the bomber ran towards a group of people who should have not been watching or should have been helping and killed and injured those people. Also, you would have thought that someone would have shot the dog. The two guys who caught the bomber are heroes.

Arafat's Advisor Arrested for Transferring Money from Iraq to Families of Palestinian Suicide Terrorists

The Israel Security Agency, working together with IDF forces, recently detained for questioning Rakahd Salim, the head of the Front for National Liberation in the West Bank, who was directly responsible for the transfer of Iraqi aid funds to the families of suicide bombers and Palestinian terrorists.

Rakahd Salim, the General Secretary of the Front for National Liberation in the West Bank, was arrested on October 2, 2002 after documents seized by the IDF during operation "Defensive Shield" indicated that he was responsible on behalf of Saddam Hussein for the distribution of money to the families of Palestinian terrorists and suicide bombers.

During the course of questioning by the Israel Security Agency, Rakahd Salim said that as head of his organization, he was in close contact with the Palestinian Ministry in Iraq as well as with the Iraqi Ba'ath party's United Pan-Arab Command. Salim last met Saddam Hussein in the year 2000, when he talked with him mainly about the situation of the Palestinian people.

In addition, Salim said that in the framework of his activities he distributed money to the families of Palestinians who were either killed or wounded. This money was received primarily from the Iraqi government and its leader, Saddam Hussein. When questioned, Salim said that so far he received and distributed approximately $15 Million of the Iraqi government's money.

How Salim Transferred the Money to the Palestinian Families:

The president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was the one who decided that the money be given to families of the Palestinians who were either killed or wounded in the territories, and Saddam Hussein also determined the amount of money transferred to the bank. Initially, the money was transferred to the Iraqi "'Mashraf Al-Rapidin" bank in Amman, Jordan, and from there it was transferred to the Alastismar Bank in Jordan. The money was then further transferred to the account of the Palestinian Front for National Liberation in the Alastismar bank in Ramallah.

Salim said that resolutions of Iraqi Ba'ath party's United Pan-Arab Command provide for the family of a Palestinian who was killed to receive approximately $10,000. A seriously wounded Palestinian receives approximately $1,000 and a lightly wounded Palestinian receives $500.

Salim also said that as part of his job, he held regular weekly meetings with the heads of the Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front, in which he discussed with them terror attacks against Israel. He admitted that as senior member of the Palestinian Front for National Liberation he was aware of the activities and operations of his organization's military arm. This military arm carried out terrorist attacks in the 1970s in the Israeli communities of Kfar Giladi, Kfar Yuval and Misgav Am, among others.

Since 1997 Rakahd Salim has served as Arafat's advisor for international and political affairs. According to Salim, the Palestinian Authority is well aware of the Iraqi financial aid given to the families of the Palestinian suicide bombers.

Arabs Destroying Temple Mount - Another Bulge in the Wall.

The Jerusalem Post reports that another swell in the wall of the Temple Mount has appeared. Not defending the Temple Mount and allowing the Muslims complete control over it is seen as a sign of weakness by the Arabs. From the Arab point of view, isuch seeming indiference is the ultimate sign that the Jews lack a connection to the land and will eventually leave it.

More equality than in Europe


The gap between the rich and relatively advanced State of Israel and the lagging Arab world has much increased (the Arab states are at the bottom of the United Nations' Human Development Index, behind South American, Caribbean, and Southeast Asian countries) and is liable to be another obstacle in the future of relationships between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East. In Israel itself, however, despite the events of the last two years, equality between Jews and Muslims has grown in many aspects. Data from the health authorities, at least, attest to a better situation than in Western countries.

The data from the health authorities are most important because they measure not only the welfare of society but also its relations to the minorities living within it and because the right to health, which is one of the human rights, is actually the right to life and is of utmost importance. The UN, therefore, also views the data on infant mortality - perhaps the most important indicator for measuring public health - as the most important component of the Human Development Index. Infant mortality indexes are also considered the most reliable and can be compared internationally.

In Israel, there are gaps between the infant mortality rates among Jews and among Muslim Arabs. In 2001, the infant mortality rate among Arabs was 7.6 per thousand live births (Muslim Arabs, 8.2; Christian Arabs 2.6; Druze, 4.7), while among Jews it was 4.1. This is a substantial gap, which the Health Ministry explains is caused mainly by marriages between close relatives. It is worth noting, however, that the gaps in this area are shrinking at a truly impressive rate. During the years 1955-59, the infant mortality rate among Muslims was 60.6 per thousand - while among Jews it was 38.8 per thousand (take note, you who miss "the good old Israel"). The relationship between the two sets of figures may not have changed much, but the massive drop in infant mortality in the Muslim sector also brought this sector closer to Western rates.

An even more important fact is that the infant mortality gaps in Israel are lower than between Muslim minorities living in some Western countries and those of the local population. Researchers from the International Organization for Migration, based in Geneva, published data on these rates for the first time in 2000. In France, for example, the rate of stillbirths per thousand live births was 8 among the French and 13 among Arabs from North Africa. The mortality rates for babies up to one week old were 6 and 15 respectively. This means that the fetal and early infancy deaths among Arabs are more than twice that among the French majority.

In rich and developed France, the infant mortality rates among Arabs (most of whom speak the language of the country, and some of whom are already second, third and fourth generation natives of France) are not only much higher than in Israel - the gap between the minority and the majority there is considerably larger than in "racist Israel." These numbers speak for Israel more than dozens of anti-Semitic articles and anti-Israel resolutions.

In general the gaps in infant mortality rates between majorities and minorities - even when there is no national conflict between them - are higher even in the richest of countries. In Switzerland, the infant mortality rates per thousand for Swiss and Turks are 8.2 and 12.3, respectively. In Britain, 7.8 and 5.6 (English and Pakistanis). The situation is worst in the United States, where the rate for whites is 8.5 and for blacks, an astounding 21.3.

Against this background, it seems Israel's accomplishments are great, considering this is a country less wealthy than those mentioned above and one under conditions of severe national conflict between the majority and the minority. We must not suffice with this achievement. On the contrary, it proves that even under such conditions, Israel can reach full equality in every aspect of life between members of the Jewish majority and the national Arab minority.

source: URL

'Israel at Heart' tours America

Hadar Manor, 24, was not on campus when a bomb killed seven of her fellow Hebrew University students -- including five Americans -- in July, but recalling the memory of that day has been difficult.

While visiting college campuses, high schools, synagogues and other institutions as part of a program called Israel at Heart, Manor fields questions about returning to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem to continue her studies.

. . . Manor traveled to New York with 47 other Israeli university students. Israel at Heart is a new initiative, sponsored by Joseph Low, a financier from Westchester, NY. Low is spending more than $100,000 to send Israeli students here, in the hopes of better informing locals about the situation in Israel.

Last week, Manor traveled to Florida with Shaun Sacks of Bar-Ilan University, and Yossi Cobe, who plans to attend Hebrew University next year.

Their mission is to educate American Jews and non-Jews about the situation in Israel, and to gain support. But Manor says it's not money that's needed, just informed support.


source: LINK

Two Outposts Dismantled, More On The Chopping Block

Ben-Eliezer, in his never ending attempt to win favor with the radical anti-Israel left, is once again threatening to destroy Jewish homes in Yesha. While Gush Shalom holds rallies for Barghouti, the loyal citizens of Yesha are sacrificed to the gods of appeasement and Ben-Eliezer’s re-election dreams. I wonder if the Likud and National camp voters who elected Sharon ever dreamed that decisions on Yesha would now be being made according to the bizarre whims of the deranged radical left. Meanwhile the terrorist murderers are being rewarded for their efficiency at murdering Jews. With Ben-Eliezer’s help they may yet attain their goal of a Judenfrei Middle-East. First Assaf, then Hebron, then Jerusalem and then Tel Aviv. We may yet live to see the day when, G-d forbid, Shimon Perez can realize his lifelong dream of personally surrendering Israel to Arafat and then throwing himself into the sea.

(Arutz Sheva) Popular opposition in Yesha (Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) to Defense Ministry plans to uproot Jewish residential outposts in Judea and Samaria is growing, as news of these intentions spreads. Following the dismantling of two unmanned outposts in the Shomron last night - one near Elkanah, and the other one near Kedumim - the Defense Ministry now plans to dismantle 24 more outposts, including at least three populated points: Assaf, at the turnoff leading to Beit El; Hilltop 762, near Maaleh Levonah; and Eshtamoa, near Hevron.

Yesha Council spokesmen say that dismantling the outposts rewards Arab terror, as many of the locations were established in response to murderous Palestinian terrorism acts. One of the two outposts dismantled last night, for instance, was named Gilad in memory of Shomron security officer Gilad Zar, and was situated very close to the site of his murder. In addition, the above-mentioned Assaf outpost, with six families, was established as a strategic outpost along the Jerusalem-Ofrah highway in memory of Assaf Hershkovitz, who was murdered nearby by Palestinian terrorists.

Pinchas Wallerstein, Binyamin Regional Council Chief and a long-time Yesha leader, accused Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer today of "blatant violation of the assurances he gave us." He said that Ben-Eliezer had promised not to evacuate certain places, to take action only via dialogue with the Yesha leaders, and not to '"reward the Palestinians" by evacuating only Jewish areas - "but now we see that he is doing exactly the opposite." Yesha Council sources say that it is clear that Ben-Eliezer is acting out of his own political considerations, and that his desire to win the Labor Party election for party leader next month is motivating his actions.

Arutz-7's Kobi Sela reports that contrary to the past, "when Defense Ministry threats to remove Yesha outposts would be followed by negotiations with the Yesha Council and then the riddance of a few empty caravans from some hilltops ... this time it looks much more serious." At an urgent midnight meeting last night with Central Command Chief Officer Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, the Yesha leaders learned that he had received strict orders to take down 24 more outposts within no more than a week. One consolation for the residents of the outposts, however, is that the Supreme Court recently ruled that populated outposts cannot be dismantled without prior warning, and that residents must be allowed a hearing before being evacuated.

Regarding the above-mentioned Assaf outpost, Wallerstein said,
"We paid in blood for this site, and this is the true Zionist response. We will continue to remain there, despite Ben-Eliezer's political needs… I can promise you this: We have done a lot in recent years, with the help of the residents and with the help of G-d, and in the coming month, at least 20 new caravans with families will be put up in the Binyamin region."

For the love of democracy - don’t go wobbly, Israel!

I am troubled by two news stories from today’s [October 9] press.

The first concerns the water diversion scheme in Lebanon. Ha’Aretz reports:

Lebanon pumped water on Wednesday from the Wazzani River, testing for the first time a project to draw water from the river that also feeds Israel. An official overseeing the project described a four-minute test of Lebanon's biggest project to date to pump water from the Wazzani river as "very successful."

The Hezbollah guerrilla group described as "a great victory" the four-minute test of Lebanon's biggest project to date to pump water from the Wazzani.

Israel has made it perfectly clear that the diversion would be considered casus belli, yet there seems to be no real action on Israel's part. I am reminded of the days before the 1967 war, when diplomacy to reverse the closure of the Straits of Tiran only succeeded in emboldening Nasser more and more (since the 1956 war, Israel made it clear that the closure would be considered casus belli). In the end, the embattled democratic republic of Israel was forced to resort to arms against the autocratic regimes surrounding her.

The second troubling news item concerns the dismantling of settlements in Judea/Samaria by the Israeli government. The Jerusalem Post reports:

The IDF dismantled three Jewish settlement outposts in the West Bank on Wednesday and plans to remove 24 others in the coming week, Defense officials said.

The action came a day after four Israelis were wounded in an ambush on a car in the Hebron area, one of whom remains in critical condition at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem's Ein Karem.

I realize that as a Canadian living in a peaceful country, thousands of miles away from Jerusalem, I have no right to "advise" the democratically-elected government of Israel how to run its affairs. And yet, reading these two news stories I can hardly squelch my plea, “For the love of democracy, don’t go wobbly, Israel!”.

A concession to terrorists anywhere hurts democracies everywhere, as the appeasement calamity in Munich, 1938, proved. And who should know this truth better than Israel? A comprehensive examination of the consequences of trying to appease the Arabs through concessions is a job for an entire book, not for a blogger’s article, but I can hardly refrain from mentioning two major Israeli concessions that failed miserably: the Oslo Accords (September, 1993) and the unilateral withdrawal of the IDF from Lebanon (May, 2000). Both resulted in emboldening terrorists.

And so, once again, for the love of democracy, don’t go wobbly, Israel!.

Contributed by Joseph Alexander Norland

Kill Zionists, not each other - PLO

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) bluntly called on people on Tuesday "not to kill each other" following deadly clashes sparked by the gangland-style slaying of a police commander in the Gaza Strip.

The 11 groups making up the PLO also condemned in their statement all who “attempted to sow discord" among Palestinians, after two days of sporadic street fighting between Islamists and police that claimed the lives of four people.

"The blood of Palestinians is sacred, and Palestinian arms must be used solely against the Zionist enemy," they said, referring to the two-year uprising against Israeli occupation.

for complete article, see link

Palestinians leaders looking at new tactic: Israel citizenship

Palestinian leaders frustrated over the stalemated peace process warned the Bush administration this week that they are contemplating a radical and explosive new tactic: dropping their longstanding demand for an independent Palestinian state and instead seeking full citizenship within Israel.

Such a move, broached by a leading Palestinian reformer and his delegation during meetings with senior Bush administration officials on Monday and Tuesday, would be the diplomatic equivalent of using a population bomb against Israel. Demographic trends indicate the number of Palestinians will exceed Jewish Israelis within a decade, meaning that Israel could not grant all Palestinians citizenship without jeopardizing its identity as a Jewish state.

But a Palestinian official asserted that Israel's continuing expansion of Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas, as well as the Israeli military re-occupation of most of the West Bank and Gaza, is destroying the viability of any future Palestinian state, thus compelling Palestinians to pursue other avenues to achieve their rights and alleviate the burdens of Israeli checkpoints and curfews.

For complete article, click on LINK

Livingstone: ‘Sharon is a war criminal’




While protesting a possible Amrican/British war against Iraq, the Mayor of London manages to spend a good deal of his time blasting Israel...how quickly some people lose focus.

Mayor Ken Livingstone has infuriated political friends and foes by accusing Ariel Sharon of being a war criminal and a mass murderer in a TV interview during Saturday’s London march against a war on Iraq.

Speaking on Sky News, he said: “Only one country in the Middle East has nuclear weapons — Israel — and we are making no attempt to remove these. Once again it is double standards with the US taking a broadly anti-Muslim, anti-Arab position.”

Asked whether weapons inspectors should go back into Iraq, Mr Livingstone said: “The reality is that he [Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein] is not the immediate nuclear threat. There is no danger about nuclear weapons [from Iraq]. The only nuclear weapons in the Middle East are in the hands of Sharon, a very unstable leader with a record of war crimes and mass murder.”

The mayor’s remarks followed his recent move to ban a Trafalgar Square demonstration by the radical Muslim group Al-Muhajiroun, which has repeatedly described Mr Sharon as a war criminal.

He was taken to task by the deputy mayor, Nicky Gavron, who is bidding to be his Labour challenger at the next election. She told the JC: “It would have been better if Ken had said some constructive things about the Middle East.”

Ilford Labour MP Mike Gapes accused Mr Livingstone of remarks “not helpful to community relations in our city. It is wrong for the mayor of London to take such an unbalanced view of a conflict issue,” he said

for full article, Click Here

Baby Wipes
Did Little Green Footballs miss these two pictures demonstrating Arafat's obsession with baby wipes (perhaps with babies as well, but obviously not personal hygiene).

1 - Behind the tissues

2 - Above the mummy's hand.

Not the West Bank but Judea and Samaria

"The historic regions of "Judea and Samaria" — their official names as indicated on all British mandate maps until 1948 — were annexed and became the "West Bank" of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1950. "

One of 14 facts to understand when thinking about the Arab Israeli Conflict.

Read this good article.

Low point of powerlessness


I won't dignify Edward Said's rant by posting it here. For those interested in the tricky writing of a skilled rhetorician, you can see how he cleverly twists facts. No where does he mention peace offers. No where does he mention terror attacks. Poor Arafat (whom Said loathes) is isolated, trapped by Zionists. Meanwhile the entire Palestinian people, with the most of world is strongly united, he claims, against what Israel is doing ! And oh yes: there is a conspiracy among Jewish students and academics to stifle those who would support the Palestinians etc etc.

But if you want to get annoyed then by all means read the piece at URL

Opposition to Anti-Semitic Conference at University of Michigan

An anti-Semitic conference at an American university is arousing groundswells of objections. The University of Michigan has agreed to allow a three-day "Palestinian Solidarity" conference to be held on its grounds, beginning this coming Saturday. The conference supports campaigns to urge university and corporate divestment from Israel, and its web site condemns Israel for "occupation," "colonization," and "apartheid," and claims that "racism and discrimination are inherent in Zionism."

Pro-Israel groups have organized opposition to the conference, including a "Shabbat Against Hate" at the University of Michigan this weekend with Rabbi Avi Weiss. In addition, buses will be leaving New York on Saturday night to hold a counter-demonstration.

The Detroit News newspaper, in a Sep. 29 editorial, described the conference as "a student workshop that expresses tacit support for terrorism and has as its mission the destruction of Israel," and asked, "Should forums that espouse hate and push to the very edge of inciting violence find a warm spot at a public university to grow their detestable ideals?" University of Michigan President Mary Coleman said recently that the conference "represents the views of the organizers and not the University of Michigan," and said that she does not support divestment. Richard Dorfman, co-founder of Michigan Student Zionists, has sued the University of Michigan for "endangering the security of students on campus by allowing the incitement of violence by these speakers."

source: LINK

A Virtual Visit to the Israel Museum (with Audio Guide)


Every so often, it is good to back off the troubles in the Middle East and see what Israel has that makes the country so great and worth fighting to preserve.

see: LINK

Civil war: Hamas, Palestinian Authority in firefights

GAZA CITY — Fighting has broken out between Palestinian Authority forces and Hamas insurgents in the Gaza Strip after an assassination attempt on a senior Palestinian official.

PA forces stormed Hamas strongholds and in the ensuing gunfight at least five Hamas members were killed and 30 injured. The operation came in wake of an assassination of a senior PA officer by Hamas gunmen. Hamas denied being involved in the assassination.

A PA statement said a Hamas force of 20 agents, dressed in police uniforms, abducted and killed Col. Rajah Abu Yehya, 55. Abu Yehya was identified as head of the PA riot police who led operations against Hamas and its supporters.

It was the first clash between the two organizations in more than a year, Middle East Newsline reported.

The statement said Palestinians threw stones at PA police who sought to arrest Hamas agents after the assassination on Monday. Thousands of Hamas supporters later surrounded and torched a police station in Gaza City.

Two of the Hamas members were killed in a shootout in Gaza City. The others were killed in the Nusseirat camp during a PA police operation to capture suspects. The police force withdrew under Hamas fire.

A PA security source said the assassination of Abu Yehya was headed by Imad Aql, the brother of a Hamas agent killed by police during demonstrations in support of Osama Bin Laden in September 2001. Three Hamas members were killed during the pro-Bin Laden protests in the Gaza Strip refugee camp of Jabalya more than a year ago.

PA National Security Adviser Mohammed Dahlan warned Hamas to hand over the suspects in the assassination of Abu Yehya. Dahlan's call was echoed by the ruling Fatah movement loyal to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.

"Fatah will not permit anybody to weaken the internal front and will hit with an iron first those who look to launch an internal fight in the Palestinian street," Fatah said in a statement.

On Monday, 14 Palestinians were killed and 70 were injured during an Israeli military raid of the Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis. Hamas, which was the target of the Israeli operation, has called for attacks on Israelis and their supporters.

On Tuesday, Hamas gunners fired Kassam-class short-range missiles at Israeli communities in the Gaza Strip. Nobody was injured. Outside the West Bank city of Hebron, an Israeli national was shot and killed in a Palestinian ambush

source: URL

The Teflon Gang

As usual, the anticipated, universal condemnation of Israel over the recent IDF operation in Khan Yunis raised in my mind three questions.

First, Kofi’s participation in the anti-Israel chorus triggers the question as to whether the person who was condemned by the UN itself over Rwanda is the right person to cast the first stone at our sister-democracy in the Middle East. For those who do not remember Kofi’s role in the Rwanda genocide, here is a reminder, quoted from an official UN report (page 30, beginning of Section III):

The Independent Inquiry finds that the response of the United Nations before and during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda failed in a number of fundamental respects. The responsibility for the failings of the United Nations to prevent and stop the genocide in Rwanda lies with a number of different actors, in particular the Secretary-General, the Secretariat, the Security Council, UNAMIR and the broader membership of the United Nations. This international responsibility is one which warrants a clear apology by the Organization and by Member States concerned to the Rwandese people.

But Kofi is a Teflon man, and nothing will stick to him even as he maligns our sister-democracy, Israel.

Second question: why is it that the causes of the Khan Yunis operation deserve no condemnation whatever, even as Israel is pilloried for engaging in self-defense? The constant shelling of Israeli settlements from the Gaza Strip has not eluded the press, nor has the fact that the Gaza Strip is home to terrorists who don't even bother to conceal their determination to murder Israeli civilians; and yet there is barely a reference to the terrorists’ provocation in the midst of the chorus of anti-Israeli condemnation. Interestingly, at the end of July, 2002 (a mere two months ago), Israel went after the arch-terrorist Salah Shehada and several civilians were killed in the course of assassinating him. The chorus of standard condemnations that followed inevitably was answered in an article posted by an article in the Wall Street Journal/Opinion Journal on July 27, 2002. The article, entitled Civilian Casualties: No Apology Needed - America should learn from Israel, not criticize it, was authored by Ralph Peters, introduced as “a retired Army officer”, and “the author of Beyond Terror: Strategy in a Changing World”. In his article, Ralph Peters notes, inter alia:

Earlier this week, Israel succeeded in killing Salah Shehada, a savage Hamas mastermind, and one of his top aides. A dozen Palestinian civilians died in the attack, including members of Shehada's family. The civilian deaths may be lamentable, but they also were justifiable. A terrorist leader used his relatives and neighbors as shields, and they died with him. Their deaths were Shehada's fault, not Israel's.

Once again, much of the world has applied a double standard, accusing Israel of barbarity for inflicting civilian casualties as part of a legitimate military operation, while overlooking the hundreds of Israeli civilians killed intentionally by Shehada and his subordinates. For Europeans, especially, Jewish lives count no more today than they did in 1944.

Why are Palestinian terrorists allowed to target civilians without exciting an international outcry, while every accidental civilian death inflicted by Israel is a crime against humanity?

But the Palestinian Arab terrorists are Teflon men, and nothing will stick to them even as the Quartet maligns our sister-democracy, Israel.

The third question is this: quite apart from terrorist acts against Israel, the Palestinian Arabs are guilty of the most despicable conduct, from internecine murder, through the use of ambulances and children as war weapons, to overt antisemitism. Yet this conduct goes un-noticed by those who are so overly eager to pounce on Israel at every turn. A detailed documentation of the foregoing allegation warrants a separate article, but for the sake of illustration, following is a random collection of recent incidents concerning “collaborators”; all the human rights abuses listed below were reported in a 16 day period:

1. On August 24, 2002, the Jerusalem Post reported that

At least 200 Palestinians suspected of collaboration with Israel are being held in Palestinian Authority prisons, according to informed Palestinian sources. Many of them have complained of torture and may face execution.

2. The next day, August 25, Reuters reported under the headline, Palestinians Kill Woman 'Collaborator' in West Bank:

Palestinian militants accusing a woman of collaborating with Israel wrenched her from her West Bank home, took her to the town square and shot her dead, Palestinians said Sunday.

Ikhlas Yassin, a 35-year-old mother of three, was forced out of her Tulkarm house Saturday night, made to confess to collaborating with Israel and shot in the chest and head by militants in a group linked to President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.

On the same day, HaAretz added the following detail:

The son of the first known Palestinian woman to be executed as an Israeli collaborator Sunday said gunmen tortured him until he invented a story about his mother's involvement in a militant's death.

Ikhlas Khouli, a 35-year-old mother of seven, was shot dead Saturday after being seized from her home in the West Bank city of Tul Karm.

Bakir Khouli, 17, lifted up his T-shirt at his one-room house in Tul Karm on Sunday to reveal black and blue marks he said were made by electrical wires shortly before his mother was killed.

3. Pround of their achievement, the Palestinian Arabs continued in the same vein, as the following piece from Ha’Aretz, 31 August 2002, reveals:

Palestinian militants shot a teenage girl in the head, killing her for "collaborating" with Israel, Palestinian sources said on Friday.

4. Also on the same day, August 31, 2002, the Jeusalem Post reported that:

Palestinian sources told Israel Radio that a 22-year old resident of the village of Jab'ah, south of Jenin, was executed by the brigades on Saturday for allegedly collaborating with Israel.

5. On 9-11-2002, probably to celebrate 9-11-2001 the Palestinian-Arab way, two more “collaborators” were executed, as reported by the Jerusalem Post:

Two Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel were killed Wednesday night by Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank, Israel Radio reported.

The first man, 35, was killed in the village of Amin near Tulkarm by masked Fatah men.

In the village of Jayous near Kalkilya, a 65 year-old man was killed. He had been arrested in the past by Palestinian forces on suspicion of collaboration.

But the Palestinian Arab terrorists are Teflon men, and nothing will stick to them even as the Quartet maligns our sister-democracy, Israel.

Contributed by Joseph Alexander Norland

UN Complicit In Murder Of Israelis

(CNSNews) The United Nations was accused Wednesday of allegedly helping Lebanon's Hezbollah terrorist forces ambush three Israeli soldiers and abduct an Israeli citizen traveling in Europe.

The accusations were made by the mother of one of the Israeli soldiers and the chairwoman of the House subcommittee conducting a hearing on the fate of the Israelis.

According to press reports at the time, on October 7, 2000, Omar Suaed, Beni Avrham and Adi Avitan were in an Israeli army jeep when Hezbollah forces allegedly ambushed it near the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Disguised as United Nations peacekeepers, the Hezbollah guerrillas allegedly lured the soldiers close to the border fence, blew open the gate and opened fire on the soldiers in the proximity of the real U.N. peacekeepers operating along the Lebanese border.

Within minutes the Israelis had been bundled away across the border, but at the time of the incident, United Nations officials denied their peacekeepers had aided the Hezbollah guerillas.

Zipora Avitan, the mother of Adi Avitan, told the House Middle East subcommittee she believes the United Nations was complicit in her son's death.

"We are ordinary people, not politicians, and our hearts ache at the way the U.N. treated us, at its deception. Slowly, as details of the incident became known, we started forming a clear picture of what happened. It was discovered that the terrorists used U.N. uniforms and vehicles, with the knowledge and consent of U.N. personnel," she said, during her subcommittee testimony. [Read More]

Danish Owners Of Hashmira Freeze Activity In Territories

Once again the Danish are leading the global charge of anti-Semitism, now forbidding security guards in Yesha, lest someone prevent a mass murder by a heroic "freedom fighter." You can contact the company in question and let them know how you feel at the addresses below.

contact@group4falck.com
np@group4falck.com

(Jerusalem Post) The new Danish owner of Hashmira, the country's largest security firm, has ordered it to cease providing protection for Jews living over the Green Line, the company said in a statement issued Tuesday.

According to Copenhagen-based Group 4 Falck, which acquired Hashmira only six months ago, it asked it to "present a plan for the phasing out of all activities in the West Bank at the next board meeting on October 28."

Group 4 said the company's operations in the territories have a defensive and preventative aim only, with activities that include guarding schools and day care centers.

At the time of the acquisition, the company said it knew of Hashmira's operations in Judea and Samaria but that its legal advisers did not say this constituted a problem.

The company said that under criticism from Politiken, a Danish newspaper, it agreed to carry out another investigation of its activities to determine whether they contradict the Geneva Convention. In the meantime, the company has asked Hashmira to cease all activities in the region. (Emphasis added)

Girl killed in southern Gaza as Sharon ignores US rebuke

This is an interesting piece of writing. Note the title: Bad Israelis did not obey President Bush. As though the Palestinians do.
Note the language--so flavorful in its contempt! People are killed. Why? Well it seems the naughty Israelis were in hot pursuit of terrorists. And on and on it goes, slipping in the occassional fact of a Hamas killer or a Palestinian shooter. And at the very end, ah, fighting between and among Palestinian factions. But read the article:

JERUSALEM (AFP) - A Palestinian girl was killed in the Gaza Strip as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon pledged more army raids into the bastion of Islamic militants, the day after an incursion killed 16 Palestinians there and drew a strong rebuke from Israel's top ally Washington.

In other violence, four Israelis were wounded, one of them seriously, in an ambush near Hebron in the West Bank, while new clashes erupted between Palestinian police and supporters of the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israel also took a drubbing from the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross who pronounced the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territories the most dire in 35 years of Israeli occupation.

Another life was claimed in the Gaza Strip Tuesday as Israeli gunfire hit Maisa Zanoun, 12, in the chest in the southern town of Rafah, Palestinian medical sources said.

Military sources said troops stationed at a base on the outskirts of Rafah, along the town's border with Egypt, were attacked by a number of Palestinians and had returned fire, but said they did not know whether there were any casualties.

The bloodshed came hours after a defiant Sharon vowed more army raids into the Gaza Strip like the one on Monday in Khan Yunis that claimed the lives of 16 Palestinians and drew strong international rebukes including a barrage of criticism from Washington.

US President George W. Bush is "deeply concerned" about reports of Israeli raids in Gaza that have left civilians dead or wounded, his spokesman Ari Fleischer said in a statement Tuesday.

Bush's scolding came on top of harsh words from the US State Department as Washington looks to quiet the two-year conflict between Israel and the Palestinians as it threatens military intervention in Iraq.

"We are in touch with the Israelis to tell them that they have to examine their actions with great care, to avoid this kind of loss of life which does not further our efforts to find a peaceful solution," US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday, referring to the deadly Khan Yunis raid.

However, Israel's right-wing premier, forced to bow to US pressure last month to end his siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's base, appeared to pay no heed to the stream of international outrage over Monday's raid.

"The complicated operation we carried out was a success. It was an important one and there will be other anti-terrorist operations of this sort in the Gaza Strip," Sharon said.

Army officers said the raid, which saw 40 tanks storm a residential area, was aimed at rooting out Hamas' homemade rocket factories.

Sharon's comments appeared to fly in the face of US attempts to calm the region even as he prepares to visit the White House next week to hear what Bush wants from Israel concerning the looming showdown with Baghdad.

Sharon's pugnacious remarks also drew irate reactions from the Palestinians, who qualified them as tantamount to a declaration of war.

"Sharon's announcement was a declaration of war against the Palestinian people and a major challenge to UN Security Council resolutions" calling on Israel to quit Palestinian land, senior official Nabil Abu Rudeina said.

In a boost for the Palestinians, Israel's reoccupation of the West Bank was taken to task by the head of the International Committee for the Red Cross, Jakob Kellenberger, who is on a visit to the region.

"The humanitarian situation has never been as bad as it is now," said Kellenberger, whose humanitarian organisation has had a permanent presence in the territories since they were captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

"We are in a crisis," he told reporters in Jerusalem, adding that the situation had deteriorated sharply since March when Israel first reoccupied Palestinian self-rule cities in the West Bank to stamp out militant groups sending suicide bombers into Israel.

And Palestinian security forces were still searching Tuesday for a renegade Hamas operative who, together with 20 of his men, abducted and murdered a Gaza police chief, in apparent revenge for the killing of two Islamists a year ago in anti-US riots which the police tried to suppress.

In gunbattles after the murder, four Hamas supporters were shot dead as police tracked down Imad Aqel, the local Hamas leader who carried out the hit.

Fresh clashes broke out Tuesday when Hamas supporters threw three home-made hand grenades at Gaza police headquarters before being dispersed. Nobody was injured in the skirmish.

In a bid to calm the situation, the National and Islamic Forces, an umbrella group of the 13 main Palestinian factions, including both Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and Hamas, met in Gaza City Tuesday night to try to resolve the feud, a high-ranking Fatah official said.

But the talks ended without any agreement being reached, a Hamas leader said later, who stressed the sides would keep meeting.

source: url

Shin Beit Shows Documents Revealing Saddam Paid out $15m to
Palestinian Suicide Killers’ Families in Two Years
Iraqi Ruler Also Awarded $10,000 to Relatives of
Every Israeli Arab Killed in Pro-Palestinian Riots in
October 2000

headlines from http://www.debka.com/

Violence and non-violence
by Palestinians and Israelis: four views


Two Israeli views and two Palestinian views on this topic, for which see LINK

Israel: 'More Than 90 Percent' of Incoming Missiles From Iraq Could Be Destroyed

Gaza Strip The Islamic militant group Hamas threatened new attacks Monday after Israel fired a missile into a crowded Gaza street and killed 11 Palestinians. Israel drew U.S. condemnation and Palestinian allegations of massacre after killing 14 Palestinians in a raid on suspected militants in the Gaza Strip. GAZA CITY - Ten Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded today during an Israeli incursion into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, officials and doctors said, most when a helicopter fired a missile that exploded in a crowd. Israel, which has deployed two of its cutting - edge Arrow anti - missile batteries and is building a third, believes the air defense system would destroy more than 90 percent of any missiles launched by Iraq, officials said Sunday.

There are five articles on this topic that can be found at URL

Palestinian reforms said to be paralyzed

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Fledgling Palestinian reforms are at a standstill after last month's Israeli siege on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound, and crucial changes in finance and security have virtually ceased, according to people who know about the efforts.

Palestinian legislators gave in last weekend to an appeal from Arafat that likely will further paralyze reforms. After a stormy discussion, legislative council members agreed to give Arafat another month to name a new Cabinet.

Last month, in a surprising challenge to Arafat that was seen as the spark of democratic initiative, the council threatened a no-confidence vote unless Arafat named a new Cabinet, cleaned of corruption, in days. Such an initiative now seems stunted by circumstances, council members said.

"The siege had a very, very negative effort," said Nabil Amr, a member of the legislative council who had publicly challenged Arafat. "It just didn't postpone steps and measures. It has created a whole new set of hard issues."

Reform at the Finance Ministry, one of the most troubled agencies, has stopped in its tracks because of a lack of money, a situation that worsened dramatically during the 10-day siege and has not eased in the week since the Israeli incursion ended.

The situation is so dire that Finance Minister Salem Fayyad has traveled to Washington to appeal to Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice for an infusion of funds, sources said. Fayyad, who was also trapped inside the compound by the siege, is seeking U.S. muscle to persuade Israel to release $700 million in tax revenue withheld in retribution for terror attacks by Palestinian militants.

For complete article, go to [click here]

Suicide bomber's father: Let Hamas leaders send their own sons


"Why doesn't a single one of all the sheikhs who compete amongst themselves in issuing fiery religious rulings, send his own son" to blow himself up? This was the question of the father of a young Palestinian who carried out a suicide bombing in an Israeli city four months ago that appeared in the London-based Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat last week.

In the letter, translated by MEMRI - Middle East Media Research Institute, a man identified as Abu Saber M. G. starts a rare open criticism of suicide bombings and the Hamas leadership with a quote from the Koran. "Act for the sake of Allah, and do not throw yourselves to destruction with your own hands." (Koran 2:195). Then he goes on to describe the loss of his son and the displacement of his family after their home was razed by the Israeli army in the wake of the suicide bombing.

for complete article click here

Palestinian minister demands end to suicide attacks

JERUSALEM – The Palestinian interior minister said in an interview published Friday that militants must halt suicide bombings against Israelis or else face "isolation" by Palestinian society.

"Stop the suicide bombings, stop the murders for no reason," Abdel Razzak al-Yahya said in remarks to an Israeli newspaper published a day after Israeli troops killed four members of a Palestinian family in Gaza, drawing Hamas vows of retaliation.

The Israeli attack, which prompted Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer to express regret and order an army investigation, put new strains on a nearly two-week-old security deal meant to lay the groundwork for a cease-fire.

It also dealt a fresh blow to efforts by Yahya, named interior minister in June as part of a series of reforms demanded by Washington, to persuade militant groups that suicide attacks hurt the Palestinian nationalist cause.

Raising the specter of conflict on a second front, Israel demanded Syria and Lebanon restrain Hizbollah guerrillas or face retaliation after an attack on the northern border Thursday that wounded three soldiers and drew Israeli air strikes.

Israeli security sources said Ben-Eliezer told visiting U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield that Israel would not stand idle if Hizbollah rocket fire continued.

for complete article, go to [url]

An Eichmann trial for Arafat


What's all this debate about expelling or not expelling Arafat? Have we all gone mad? How will expelling him solve the problem (him)? As I recall, Arafat was in 'exile' till 1993 - and from exile he was able to lead a terrorist organization and plan attacks on Jews, Israelis, and others, around the world and in Israel. Oh yes, he also managed to hobnob with the rich, famous, and powerful, lobbying for a 'Palestinian State' in his spare time. Can someone tell me what expelling Arafat will accomplish other than turning him into a 'victim' again? A roll he plays so well.

The debate shouldn't be about expelling or not expelling him - either way we're still stuck with his 'leadership' of the Palestinians. The real debate that has yet to begin in earnest, in Israel, is over trying him for crimes against humanity, i.e. the Jewish People and others. The only decent question for decent people to debate is whether he should receive life in prison, or the death penalty.

I believe an Eichmann-like trial would educate a generation here in Israel and abroad to his murderous criminal activities. It would teach the world how to deal lawfully with terrorism and how not to appease it. Some might say that Arafat, as a head of state, is immune to prosecution. Well, guess what? He's not the head of any state yet. Besides, that didn't seem to stop Belgium when they contemplated prosecuting Ariel Sharon.

for complete article, see click here


>

Only point of Ashrawi talk at SCSU: Vilify Israel

[note: a letter to the editor in the New Haven Register. Ashrawi spoke at Southern Connecticut State University]



Propaganda is dishonest and destructive not because it tells outright lies but because it tells partial truths that masquerade as reality. Hanan Ashrawi's talk at Southern Connecticut State University distorted reality in just such a way.
The talk was to focus on the role of women in the Middle East conflict. In fact, it simply vilified Israel. What Ashrawi left out was more significant than what she said.

She never condemned the suicide bombings.

She never dealt with the 19 years (1948-1967) when Palestinians were herded into refugee camps by surrounding Arab countries and refused citizenship. They were a lot poorer and more oppressed than now, but they launched terrorist attacks against Israeli Jews instead of against their Arab oppressors. Was that because of racist hatred of Jews?

Ashrawi justified Palestinian terrorism as a response to Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. But she overlooked the terrorism of the Palestinian Liberation Organization from 1954 to 1967, when there was no Israeli occupation of those territories. What was the PLO planning to "liberate"?

Ashrawi claimed Palestinians want peace, but she never dealt with Palestinian parents who hold parties to celebrate the death of their children and that these parents are paid up to $25,000 for each child who explodes himself or herself and kills Jews.

Ashrawi pretended to talk about women, but she ignored the brainwashing of Palestinian girls who have been filmed being trained to become suicide bombers.

Peace will come to the Middle East only when people like Ashrawi start telling the truth and start helping their people prosper economically instead of turning them into bombers and blaming everyone else for their problems.

Rosette Liberman

New Haven source: url

Various Current Articles with Summaries and Links from JCPA

Progress Report on Palestinian Security, Economic, and Political Reforms

What have the Palestinians done since Bush's speech?

Visit Jerusalem by Internet

See the Jerusalem Archaeological Park next to the Temple Mount - a unique visual Internet Experience offered by the Israel Antiquities Authority.

American Citizens Killed or Injured by Palestinian Terrorists
Since September 13, 1993, at least 37 Americans have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists and at least another 72 Americans have been injured. This is a list of names and dates of attacks on U.S. citizens.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions on Palestinian Violence and Terrorism

611 People Murdered by Palestinian Terrorists since September 2000

In the Ruins of the "Intifada"
Two years ago, Mohammad Falah, 19,
and his teenage friends would finish their Friday noontime prayers at a mosque in Ramallah, then hurry to the outskirts of the city to throw rocks at Israeli troops.
Falah took three bullets in his left leg and hand; seven of his companions have died. After four surgeries and months spent in and out of hospitals, Falah admits: "We didn't achieve anything."
Western and Arab nations have largely lost interest in helping Arafat's government.

IDF: Most Casualties in Gaza Raid Were Armed

Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said that all but one of the 14 Palestinians killed in an assault on a Hamas stronghold in the Gaza Strip were armed. "I advise you to verify the details with Israel before you publicize your reaction to IDF operations," he reportedly told visiting European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

    The commander of IDF forces in Gaza, Brig. Gen Israel Ziff, reported on Monday, "According to the aerial videos and reports from our observation posts, we see that the helicopter strike was directed at a group of armed men who fired and threw grenades at IDF soldiers. It is very hard for me to understand why, in the midst of a battle, the civilians left their homes to see what was going on outside. As our forces were leaving, a large number of armed men gathered and started shooting at us. We fired in response."

    "There was significant resistance - gunfire, grenades, large explosive devices, anti-aircraft and anti-tank (RPG) fire. Our forces reported at least 40 incidents where they fired on armed men. Unlike previous times, this time they put up a fight, endangering our forces. For the first time in Gaza, they were shooting from the windows of the houses. Usually they don't shoot from inside the houses in order not to draw return fire. We returned fire accurately at the source of the firing." (Yediot Ahronot)

Hamas-PA Clashes in Gaza

In Gaza Monday, a group of armed Hamas men assassinated Palestinian riot police chief Colonel Rageh Abu Lehiya,
whom they held responsible for the death of a Hamas demonstrator during a riot last year. In subsequent clashes between Palestinian police and Hamas activists, two men died and 15 were injured.

Jordan Restricts Palestinian Travel

Palestinian Authority officials say Jordan has instituted a total ban on the entry of West Bank and Jerusalem residents, reflecting Jordan's growing fear that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will flock to the kingdom when and if the U.S. attacks Iraq. One reason for the new regulations is connected to reports that many Palestinians are trying to travel to Iraq via Jordan to join the Iraqi army in the fight against the Americans and their allies.

Israel Releases More Funds to PA

Under intense American pressure, Israel has released NIS 70 million, the last payment out of NIS 200 million it agreed to hand over to the PA after Arafat installed Salam Fayad as the new Finance Minister of the Palestinian Authority. But the U.S. is now pressing Israel to release additional funds. Israel says it won't release the money unless there is a mechanism to guarantee transparency so the funds do not reach terrorist organizations.

The Israeli Capital - Max M. Kampelman

The White House's decision to ignore a Congressional provision requiring the United States to identify and recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital is contrary to President Bush's campaign pledge that he would "begin the process of moving the United States ambassador to the city Israel has chosen as its capital."

As a former ambassador, I know it is common and appropriate for a nation to respect the decision of a sovereign government, let alone a friendly and democratic one, where it wishes to place its capital within its borders.

To challenge Jerusalem as Israel's capital city is to challenge Jerusalem as a part of Israel and thus to provide encouragement to those who would not only undermine Israel's legitimacy, but also destroy it.

Suicide Bomber's Father: Let Hamas Leaders Send Their Own Sons

In a letter to the London Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat, the father of a young Palestinian who carried out a suicide bombing wrote: Four months ago, I lost my eldest son when his friends tempted him, praising the path of death. But the last straw was when I was informed that the friends of my eldest son were starting to wrap themselves like snakes around my other son, not yet 17, to direct him to the same path towards which they had guided his brother. Sending young people to blow themselves up in the heart of Israel deters no enemy and liberates no land. Who gave these leaders religious or any other legitimacy to tempt our children and urge them to their deaths? Why doesn't a single one of all the sheikhs who compete amongst themselves in issuing fiery religious rulings, send his son?
(MEMRI)

Strategy Page Blog of the Week

That is right, Israpundit is Strategy Page's Blog of the Week.

Thank you Strategy Page. We did not expect to win so have no speech prepared but we would like to thank our moms, our friends and, of course, our fans (if any).

Sidenote - when spell checking this post with the blogger pro spell check I noted that it tried to replace the word Israpundit with Saudi. Strange.

Don’t miss these pieces

1. In a Washington Post article dated March 6, 2002, Charles Krauthammer labelled the EU “a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Arab League”. In the course of observing the conduct of the UN, I’ve come to the conclusion that this august organization deserves Krauthammer's epithet even more. In fact, I have posted in CitCUN a collection of some 30 articles corroborating this statement. If you belong to the group of those who are interested in the UN and its foibles, don’t miss a recent article by Robert L Bartley, entitled, Who Elected the UN?

2. The sorry state of Israel’s PR has been of great concern to me for a long time and I have written about this topic repeatedly (see, for example, http://www.dawsonspeek.com/archives/000483.php#000483.) If you too are concerned about this issue then you would probably be interested in a news story printed in Ha’Aretz, and entitled “State Comptroller: Israel's PR bodies at war with each other”. The article notes that:

In his biannual report, Justice Eliezer Goldberg found that the government's public relations mechanisms suffer from lack of coordination, are beset with internecine divisions, and are busy waging bureaucratic war on each other, rather than working together to get Israel's message across.

Goldberg singled out the Foreign Ministry and the IDF, which he said were not prepared for the outbreak of violence two years ago and did not formulate an organized public relations policy. According to Goldberg, "the uncoordinated dispersal of energy invested in the public relations effort has led to duplications, highlighting a waste of resources."

He added, however, that the government now understands better the importance of the war for international public opinion, but "there is still a gap between recognizing the theoretical importance and implementing it in an energetic, consistent and systematic manner."

3. How many countries support the US on the issues of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and Iraq? This question is tantamount to asking, “how many Israels are there?” Now, anyone with common sense knows to reward friends and punish enemies. So how does one explain this news story, quoted from the Jerusalem Post:

The U.S. State Department stepped up its criticism of Israel on Monday saying it was "deeply troubled" by raids on Palestinian-held areas that killed civilians.
...
The Israeli army said most of the victims in a raid in Gaza were armed men. But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said many civilians were victims.

He said there were civilian casualties in other Israeli raids, as well, and "we are deeply troubled."

Note: According to Arutz 7, the Gaza operation was undertaken after Israeli settlements were hit repeatedly by missile fire. Additionally, only one single Palestinian Arab civilian was killed. In contrast, while bombing suspected targets in Afghnistan, US planes recently attacked a wedding, killing scores of civilians.

Contributed by Joseph Alexander Norland

Gaza raid prompts speculation that Israel plans wider operation


JERUSALEM, Oct. 7 (JTA) — A new Israeli military operation has many wondering if the army now has the Gaza Strip in its sights.

Israeli forces for months have been engaged in a massive anti-terror operation in the West Bank, but have not carried out such operations in Gaza.

Several reasons were given, including the argument that an incursion into the densely populated area would exact heavy Israeli casualties.

Israeli officials also said a security fence between Israel and Gaza was preventing terrorists from attacking Israeli targets.

In recent weeks, however, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spoke of the inevitability of military action in Gaza to root out the terrorist infrastructure there.

Following a series of Palestinian mortar and rocket attacks from Gaza, the army carried out a strike in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, early Monday.

At least 13 Palestinians were killed and more than 100 injured in the raid on a Hamas stronghold. At least two civilians were among the dead.

The Israeli army denied Palestinian claims that a military helicopter fired a missile at a crowd of civilians outside a mosque. The army said the missile was fired at armed Palestinians who were shooting and throwing grenades at Israeli soldiers.

During the operation, Israeli troops detained a Palestinian with a bomb and blew up a bag containing three mortars, Army Radio reported.

Palestinian officials denounced the strike as a massacre and called for international protection.

During clashes later in the area, eight people were wounded by Israeli fire directed at a Palestinian hospital. The army said it targeted the hospital after Palestinians fired from the facility at a nearby Israeli settlement.

Shortly after the military operation ended, Palestinians fired three mortars at an Israeli settlement in southern Gaza, but caused no injuries. A senior Hamas official called for revenge and urged all Palestinian groups to attack Israel.

Brig. Gen. Yisrael Ziv, the army commander in Gaza, told Army Radio the operation was “very important” because it made “clear to the other side that there is no place that constitutes a fortress against the Israel Defense Forces.”

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said Israel was trying to disrupt a mission to the region by E.U.’s top diplomat, Javier Solana.

“Every time we see efforts to get the peace process back on track, the government of Israel commits new war crimes against innocent civilians,” the Israeli daily Yediot Achronot quoted Erekat as saying.

With the threat of more violence in the offing, and the United States asking Israel to avoid flare-ups that could distract attention from the U.S. campaign against Iraq, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres defended the operation.

“Israel tries to employ restraint, but it is committed to acting to prevent terrorist activity,” Peres told Army Radio.

source: [url]

Unfortunetely, these people are still breathing, Part II - The Magic Button

The other day I posted the below info on professors at Israeli universities who had signed the Harvard/MIT petition calling for a renewal of the Arab boycott of Israel - something Larry Summers, the president of Harvard, has labelled anti-Semitic in effect if not intention.

Well - if you click on the magic button, below, you can send them an email (well, only 4 out of 5, one seems to have changed his email (Farjoun)). Be creative with the text and expressing your views of their actions.

The Magic Button - Click and send mail now


Again, here is a list of professors in Israel who have signed the Harvard MIT petition to boycott Israel

Emmanuel Farjoun, MIT PhD in Math, now professor at Hebrew University
Yosef Grodzinsky, MIT Postdoc in Linguistics, now profssor at Tel Aviv University
Idan Landau, MIT PhD in Linguistics, now lecturer at Ben Gurion University
Tanya Reinhart, MIT PhD in Linguistics, now professor at Tel-Aviv University
Nomi Shir, MIT PhD in Linguistics, now professor at Ben Gurion University

Here is the petition they signed.

Ari Fleischer Is Mistaken--There Is Evidence Of Saudis Funding Palestinian Arab Terror

NEW YORK - Contrary to the recent claim by White House spokesman Ari Fleischer that there is no evidence of Saudi Arabian financial support for Palestinian Arab terrorism, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) points out that there is, in fact, considerable evidence that the Saudis are doing so.

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said: "The Bush administration's position is yet another example of its policy of appeasing regimes that harbor or sponsor terrorists, such as Syria, the Palestinian Authority, and Saudi Arabia."



* State Department condemned Saudis for rewarding terrorists' families:

The Saudi Arabian government provides cash payments of $5,333 to each family of any "martyr" who is killed while trying to murder Israelis, and a telethon on Saudi Arabian government-controlled television in April 2002 has been "raising money for the Palestinian uprising"--and it has raised $92-million so far. (New York Post, April 12, 2002; Washington Times, April 24, 2002.)

A press release posted on the official web site of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington reported that the Saudi government had provided financial support to "1,000 families of Palestinian martyrs" in the year 2000, and in March 2001, according to the web site, $33-million was set aside for this purpose. State Department spokesman Greg Sullivan told the Forward (March 22, 2002): "This is not going for assistance of an humanitarian nature. That's clearly in the avenue of encouraging terrorism...We've seen the same thing from Iran and Iraq, though I don't like putting the Saudis with those two."

On February 18, 2002, the Saudi Interior Minister, Nayef bin Abdul-aziz, published a notice in the official Palestinian Authority newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, offering instructions to the families on how to apply for their Saudi rewards. Documents captured by the Israeli forces from PA offices include a list of one group of beneficiaries-- "the relatives of eight Palestinian terrorist bombers, all of them specifically and explicitly singled out by Saudi bookkeepers for their participation in amaliah istishadiah: 'suicide operations'." (The Weekly Standard, May 20, 2002)

Additional documents captured by the Israelis include correspondence between PA officials and Saudi officials, in which Yasir Arafat complains about that Saudi aid "does not reach the Fatah, but is given to Hamas and radical Islamic groups associated with Hamas." (The Weekly Standard, May 27, 2002)



* Powell called Saudi subsidies to terrorists' families "a real problem":

On July 3, 2002, the official Saudi Press Agency "reported that the kingdom has transferred more than $500,000 to the PLO. The agency said this was the second remittance by the government-sponsored People's Committee for Assistance of Palestinian Fighters this year." Asked about the report, Secretary of State Colin Powell "did not deny Saudi financing to Palestinian insurgents...'With respect to payments to organizations such as Hamas and similar organizations, we have spoken to our Arab friends, and the president has made reference to this in his speech, that this kind of payment should stop,' Powell said. 'The Saudis would say that they are not giving it to an organization, they're giving it to individuals in need,' Powell said. 'Nevertheless, I think it's a real problem when you incentivize in any way suicide bombings.'" (Middle East Newsline, July 4, 2002)



* "Saudi Arabia supports Palestinian resistance":

"Saudi, Iraqi Money Relieve Palestinian Suffering" was the headline of an article in the July 4, 2002 edition of the pro-Arafat newspaper Jerusalem Times. It described how the Palestinian Authority channels funds from the Iraqi and Saudi Arabian governments to "the families of martyrs, whether they were armed fighters or civilians." The money is also given to families of imprisoned terrorists. The article reported that Ahmed Bahr, "president of the largest charitable organization in Gaza," as saying that he receives money from abroad, "including some from Saudi Arabia, and distributes it to orphans, the injured, prisoners, and needy families." The article also quoted Ahmed Al-Kurd, director of another such 'charity', the Islamic Rapprochement Organization, as saying that "Saudi Arabia has supported the Palestinian resistance for 54 years."


* Jaffee Center: Saudis support Hamas:

According to a study by the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, at Tel Aviv University, "Hamas's organizational infrastructure is dependent on external sources of financing, mainly contributions to local Islamic associations from the Gulf states, primarily Saudi Arabia." No such associations could operate in Saudi Arabia without the approval of the Saudi government. (Anat Kurz and Nahman Tal, "Hamas: Radical Islam in a National Struggle," Jaffee Center Memorandum No. 48, July 1997, p. 20)



* Saudis fund Hamas missiles:

In the spring of 2002, U.S. troops in Sarajevo found, in the office of the Saudi High Commission for Relief of Bosnia and Herzegovina, "documents that proved Saudi funding of the Hamas terrorist group to enable it to produce a short-range missile called the 'Qassam.'" (New York Post, April 15, 2002)


* Saudis financed PLO terrorism:

During the peak of PLO terrorism, in the 1970s and 1980s, the Saudi Arabian government provided the PLO with over $100-million in annual aid. (Jerusalem Post, Sept. 18, 1981)



* Saudis gave U.S. weapons to PLO:

The Saudis also provided weapons to PLO terrorists. For example, the terrorists who massacred 38 Israeli civilians on the Tel Aviv highway in March 1978 were found to have been armed with U.S.-made M-16 automatic rifles and standard U.S. Army explosives, bearing Saudi Army markings and serial numbers. These armaments had been provided by the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, and were then given by the Saudis to the PLO. (Jerusalem Post, April 4, 1978.)

source: url

This excerpt from The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler



A Dozen Palis Killed In Raid
Seems the IDF finally had it with the Palis firing rockets into Israeli settlements and decided to go clean out Gaza a little.

As the IDF withdrew after the raid, armed gunmen assembled in the streets and fired at the IDF, according to Israeli Brig.Gen. Israel Ziff. Helicopters were called in and opened fire on the groups of armed men, killing 12 (as of this time)

What does, say, the Roto-Reuters "news" agency have to say about this?

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed 12 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip Monday, including 10 who died when a helicopter missile hit a crowd, in a raid that battered a new international peace effort.
Yep, that's the IDF for ya, firing willy-nilly at non-specific "crowds" so's to batter the "peace efforts" that have met with so much success in the past.

But what about The Children™?

Don't worry, the Roto-Reuters are right on it:

They said a child of about 12 was among those killed in Israel's helicopter-backed tank incursion into Khan Younis when the missile hit a group of people who had come out of their homes and gathered outside a mosque thinking the raid was over.
...gathering peacefully by the mosque with absolutely NO weapons anywhere, nosirree...

But why, oh omniscient "news" agency, why?

The Israeli army said the aim of Monday's incursion was to hit the "terrorist infrastructure" of Hamas, which has spearheaded a two-year-old Palestinian uprising for independence and carried out a wave of suicide bombings.
Thank you so much for the sneer quotes. We wouldn't want anybody to think that there were actually any terrorists nearby, would we? Oh no we wouldn't. It's only an "uprising for independence", after all.

Reuters, one man's news agency is another man's case of third stage syphilis.

source: [url]

There is something disingenuous about today's anti-Israel sentiment


Of course Israel is a big problem in the Middle East, particularly for the beleaguered Palestinians. But today, there is sometimes something disingenuous about anti-Israel sentiment. Many disparate groups - from British Muslim organisations to the anti-capitalist movement - have oriented themselves around the Palestinian question, taking every opportunity to have a go at Israel.


Often this is driven by an understandable sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians. But the strength of feeling against Israel among so many diverse groups in the West, and the sudden sentiment that we're all Palestinians now, reveals more about us in Europe and America than it does about events in the Middle East. Sympathising with the Palestinian cause seems to be more the result of the widespread politics of victimhood, with many in the West wishing to empathise and emote with the world's 'ultimate victims'.


This kind of anti-Israel rhetoric is cheap - with protesters challenging Israel's unapologetic violence against the Palestinians, rather than asking awkward questions of Blair's foreign policy or the confused and confusing war on terror. Ariel Sharon has become the punchbag of the anti-war movement - the easy target 'mass murderer' who everybody loves to hate.


And often, criticising Israel for being vulgar and violent sits perfectly well with calling for further intervention in Middle Eastern affairs - which is the last thing either Israelis or Palestinians need, after decades of British and US meddling.


'If we need a war against anyone, it's Israel', said one speaker. Others pointed out that Israel has ignored every UN resolution going, that it has far more weapons of mass destruction than Iraq, and that Ariel Sharon has killed more Palestinians than Saddam has killed Kurds. 'We should focus on Israel, not on a piss-poor country like Iraq', said James from Liverpool. 'We should weapons inspect the Israelis, not the Iraqis - though we'd find the same in both cases: weapons from America.'


Anti-Israel sentiment has little to do with demanding freedom and democracy in the Middle East, and more to do with calling for Britain and America to 'sort out Sharon'. Many seemed keen to convince Bush and Blair that they should focus their efforts on 'stopping Israeli violence' and 'ending the Israeli occupation', instead of bombing Baghdad

Note: this is an extract from an article about the anti-war protests recently held in Great Brittain. I have put the Israeli portion of the article at this site. For the full article and source, see url

Morris on Transfer.

Controversial historian Benny Morris reviews the history of the idea of transfering the Arabs out of Israel and concludes:

One wonders what Ben-Gurion - who probably could have engineered a comprehensive rather than a partial transfer [of Arabs] in 1948, but refrained - would have made of all this, were he somehow resurrected. Perhaps he would now regret his restraint. Perhaps, had he gone the whole hog, today's Middle East would be a healthier, less violent place, with a Jewish state between Jordan and the Mediterranean and a Palestinian Arab state in Transjordan. Alternatively, Arab success in the 1948 war, with the Jews driven into the sea, would have obtained the same, historically calming result. Perhaps it was the very indecisiveness of the geographical and demographic outcome of 1948 that underlies the persisting tragedy of Palestine.

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Bush Asks Sharon Not to Respond to an Iraqi Attack, say Israeli Papers

Listen to Ross Dunn's Report from Jerusalem (RealAudio)
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Israeli newspapers say that when President Bush meets Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Washington later this month, he will address Israeli concerns about possible military action against Iraq.

Mr. Sharon and Mr. Bush are scheduled to meet at the White House on October 16 to discuss America's plans for possible military action against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Israeli media report that one of the aims of the meeting will be to allay Israel's concerns about the possibility of Saddam Hussein launching an attack against the Jewish State in the event of an American strike against Iraq.

The Hebrew daily Ma'ariv says Mr. Bush wants to reassure Mr. Sharon that the United States has Israel's interests in mind, and there is no need to be drawn into the conflict. The newspaper says Mr. Bush is expected to tell Mr. Sharon that, from the first day of any American military action, the U.S. forces will focus on the western part of Iraq to prevent the positioning of mobile missile launchers or Iraqi jets flying out to bomb Israel.

In exchange, Ma'ariv says, Mr. Bush will insist that Israel pledge not to retaliate, even if an Iraqi missile succeeds in hitting Israeli territory, for fear this could spark a wider regional conflict.

Mr. Bush also reportedly wants assurances from Mr. Sharon that he will not escalate the conflict with the Palestinians or against the Hezbollah guerrilla fighters in southern Lebanon.

Another Hebrew newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, says that, in order to encourage compliance with the U.S. plan, Mr. Bush intends to give Israel 72 hours notice of any initial American attack and put American satellites capable of identifying missiles launched from Iraq at Israel's disposal. In addition, the United States reportedly will provide Israel with more Patriot missiles to target any incoming Iraq missiles.

source: [url]

U.S. approves $32 million aid to Lebanon

Let's see if I understand this one. Syrian has some 30 thousand troops occupying Lebanon. Syria and Lebanon allow Hizbollah to commit terror acts against Israel. Those who dislike Israel complain about money given yearly to help Israel but remain silent about the 2 billion going to Egypt. And this money?

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. Embassy in Beirut said Tuesday that Washington has authorized $32 million in aid to Lebanon, denying reports that assistance had been suspended because of tensions between the two countries.

An Embassy statement said the sum was authorized Sunday for the fiscal year 2002.

The statement explained that the U.S. Agency for International Development could spend the approved money any time between October 2001 and October 2003 for "creating economic opportunities, strengthening municipalities, managing water resources and promoting democracy."

"There has been no shortfall in funding to our USAID projects in Lebanon," it said.

The statement said the U.S. Congress was considering the 2003 budget, including assistance to Lebanon. If approved, these funds will be spent between October 2002 and October 2004.

The Embassy confirmation came after Lebanon's As Safir newspaper quoted U.S. sources as saying Monday that Washington had suspended financial assistance to Lebanon over tensions between the two countries. The newspaper said U.S. officials were annoyed with the militant Hezbollah's continued "activities against the Israeli forces" in the disputed border Shabaa farms. The U.S. State Department considers Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization.

A water dispute between Lebanon and Israel over the Wazzani River and the "Syria Accountability Act" tabled before U.S. Congress added to the tension. Lebanon reportedly angered U.S. State Department officials by threatening to punish some Christian opposition leaders for supporting the act that calls for sanctions on Syria.

Washington also says the Beirut government could have notified the United Nations or Washington of its plans to pump more water from the Wazzani river, which Lebanon shares with Israel.

source: url

Terrorist Fire Leads to Death of Arab Civilians


Here is an Israeli appraisal of the article below: note that in the one article, Israel is doing what it must to prevent terror but in the second article (the one below this one), non-military civilians were killed. Now, I have been in the army twice, and I have been in a war zone, but from my experiences, a military person usually was wearing a uniform that marked him off has being on one or the other side. By contrast, the Palestinians, be they terrorists (militants) or civilians, wear "street clothes," civilian non-military outfits. Do you wait for what seems a civilian to shoot at you to yell out: Hey! a soldier without a uniform! Get him.

Thirteen Arabs, many of them armed terrorists, were killed over the night in an Israeli offensive in Gaza. The raid followed yet another Kassam rocket attack on a Gush Katif community last night, which injured no one. Despite IDF explanations that the forces fired at terrorists shooting at them, condemnations of Israel are coming fast and furious. Hamas vows to avenge the act, and says that Israeli civilians must be killed in retaliation.

The anti-terror offensive began shortly after midnight, when IDF troops, armor, and engineering corps, backed by combat helicopters, entered a Khan Yunis neighborhood - a Hamas terrorist stronghold - near the Jewish community of Ganei Tal. The Israeli forces arrested a man carrying a bomb in his coat pocket and blew up a small arsenal of mortar shells. The forces were fired upon and were greeted with some explosions, but no one was hurt. They left in the early morning hours. Arab sources report, however, that "Hamas activists" and civilians went out to the streets, and "some of them" conducted gunbattles with the IDF forces - at which point, a helicopter fired a missile into the mob. The world media are full of Arab "eye-witnesses" describing the incident as a "massacre," but fail to emphasize that the mob was engaged in attacking Israelis when they were fired upon.

PA spokesmen were quick to take advantage of the situation. Saeb Erekat, ignoring the defensive nature of Israel's raid, called upon the international community to "protect the Palestinians," and said that Israel was carrying out "war crimes" in order to thwart the European Union's "efforts to revive the peace process." The EU's Javier Solana is to meet with Yasser Arafat today in Ramallah, despite Israel's objections; it is not clear how this could "revive the peace process," as Arafat is not considered a negotiating partner by Israel.

source: url

Ten Palestinians killed as Israeli tanks enter southern Gaza city: Palestinian officials.


GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Ten Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded Monday during an Israeli incursion into the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, officials and doctors said, most when an Israeli helicopter fired a missile that exploded in a crowd.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the missile explosion. Israeli military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the operation in Khan Younis was limited and not a large-scale invasion. It came a few hours after Palestinians fired a mortar shell at a Jewish settlement in another part of the Gaza Strip, the military said.

The Israeli missile strike came at the end of the four-hour incursion. It wasn't clear what the target was. Residents said people came out into the streets around 4:30 a.m. when they heard the tanks pulling out, but two Israeli helicopters remained overhead, and one of them fired the missile.

Doctors said 10 people were killed in the raid, including eight in the missile attack. They said at least 65 people were wounded by the missile blast.

Abed Ouda, 29, said he was parking his car when the missile struck. "I heard a huge explosion," he said, "and people were wounded and bleeding on the ground in front of my car."

Dr. Mohammed Abu Dalal of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis appealed for more doctors and supplies to help treat the large numbers of casualties.

After midnight, about 40 Israeli tanks, backed by helicopters, had entered the Khan Younis and shelled houses on the main street, witnesses said.

Israeli armored columns have frequently moved into Palestinian-controlled areas in recent weeks, destroying workshops where Israel says weapons are made and arresting terror suspects.

On Sunday, two Palestinian men were shot dead in the northern West Bank, one in a gunbattle with Israeli troops, the other allegedly shot by a Jewish settler in an olive grove.

Palestinians accused Jewish settlers of killing Hani Yousef, 22, as he was harvesting olives near his village, Aqraba. Another Palestinian farmer was shot and wounded by the settlers, who came from the nearby settlement of Itamar, according to the Palestinian mayor, Ghaled Mayadme.

Israeli police spokesman Gil Kleiman said the farmer's death was being investigated, but no arrests had been made. The farmer had been shot in the back, he said.

In the Jenin Refugee Camp, also in the northern West Bank, Israeli troops killed Samer Jalamneh, a 22-year-old member of the radical Islamic Jihad movement, after he opened fire at them with an assault rifle, witnesses and the military said.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, speaking from the remnants of his Ramallah compound, accused the Israeli army of covering up settlers' actions.

"The army is protecting their daily crimes against Palestinian residents in their homes and against Palestinian farmers," Arafat said after a meeting with Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of Red Cross, who is touring Israel and Palestinian areas this week.

Also, the Palestine Legislative Council gave Arafat another four weeks to appoint a new Cabinet, following the resignation of his previous Cabinet last month, Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmed Qureia said.

Arafat asked the legislature for an extension on his original two-week deadline to name a new Cabinet after Israeli troops besieged his Ramallah compound, destroying several buildings. Palestinian reform plans were put on hold during the siege.

In Jerusalem, four Arab residents of the city's traditionally Arab eastern sector, accused of helping bombers carry out three attacks that killed 35 people and wounded almost 200, went on trial amid a flood of insults from relatives of the Israeli victims.

Relatives shouted obscenities and insults at the accused. "You should all be strung up on a crane," said Gila Arazi, aunt of Danit Dagan, who was killed with her fiancee, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Cafe Moment in Jerusalem on March 9.

In addition to that attack, which killed 11, the group is accused of helping to arrange a suicide bombing that killed 15 at a pool hall in Rishon Letzion, near Tel Aviv, and planting a bomb at a cafeteria in Jerusalem's Hebrew University that killed five Americans and four Israelis.

Inside the courtroom, the four accused and their families were protected by riot police, who stood in a row facing the angry relatives of the victims. The accused, Wael Qassem, Wissam Abassi, Ala Abassi and Muhammed Oudeh, sat handcuffed to prison guards. The prisoners' legs were also shackled.

source: url

Why one should oppose a second Palestinian-Arab state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza - Part 8 of 23

This piece continues a series of which the first seven parts were posted on September 8, 9, 11, 17, 19, 22, and 23, 2002. The object of the series is to provide a database that is not only reliable and well-documented but also one for which documents are easily accessible, preferably from web resources.

8. The Palestinian Arabs had at least three opportunities to establish their own sovereign state by peaceful means: the Peel commission plan of 1937 which the Arabs rejected; the UN partition plan of 1948 to which the Arabs reacted by engaging in war; and the Barak/Clinton offer of July 2000/January 2001, to which the Palestinian Arabs reacted by igniting Intifada II. (The Oslo Accords of 1993, stipulated self government, i.e., autonomy, and not sovereignty.) By their actions, the Palestinian Arabs have forfeited any right they might have had to a sovereign state in Palestine.

It is common knowledge that the Palestinian Arabs had an opportunity to establish an independent state in Palestine both in 1937, when the Peel Commission recommended the partition solution, and in 1947, when the UN General Assembly reached the same conclusion by a 33-13 majority (with 10 abstentions, including Bevin’s UK); in both cases, the Palestinian Arabs rejected the proposals that would have given them a sovereign state. Since these facts are common knowledge, they warrant only a brief discussion.

To substantiate that the Palestinian Arabs rejected the Peel Commission’s partition plan, suffice it to quote any of the relevant Palestinian-Arab web sites. For example, the Islamic Association for Palestine informs us that:

At the height of the 1936-39 disturbances, a royal commission of inquiry came to Palestine from London to investigate the roots of the Arab-Jewish conflict and to propose solutions. The commission, headed by Lord Robert Peel, heard a great deal of testimony in Palestine, and in July 1937 issued its recommendations: to abolish the Mandate and partition the country between the two peoples. Only a zone between Jaffa and Jerusalem would remain under the British mandate and international supervision.

The Jewish state would include the coastal strip stretching from Mount Carmel to south of Be’er Tuvia, as well as the Jezreel Valley and the Galilee. The Arab state was to include the hill regions, Judea and Samaria, and the Negev. Until the establishment of the two states, the commission recommended, Jews should be prohibited from purchasing land in the area allocated to the Arab state.
...
[T]he Arabs rejected the proposal and refused to regard it as a solution. The plan was ultimately shelved.

Considering the tiny sliver of land that would have been assigned to the Jewish state under the Peel plan, one has to marvel at the malevolence and pettiness of the Palestinian Arabs; it would appear that they adopted the most bizarre version of a “dog in the manger” in order to frustrate the Jewish national aspiration even at the cost of depriving themselves of a sovereign state.

Turning to the Palestinian Arabs’ rejection of the UN partition plan of 29 November 1947, the following quotation is from Encyclopedia.com:

The struggle by Jews for a Jewish state in Palestine had begun in the late 19th cent[ury] and had become quite active by the 1930s and 40s. The militant opposition of the Arabs to such a state and the inability of the British to solve the problem eventually led to the establishment (1947) of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, which devised a plan to divide Palestine into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and a small internationally administered zone including Jerusalem. The General Assembly adopted the recommendations on Nov. 29, 1947. The Jews accepted the plan; the Arabs rejected it.

The events surrounding the Barak/Clinton offer to the Palestinians at Camp David (July 2000) and in the negotiations that followed (to January 2001), were common knowledge during the first year after Arafat walked away from the negotiating table, but subsequently, the Palestinian-Arabs activated their disinformation machine to the point that some of Arafat’s apologists summoned the audacity to deny the details of the offer as they were known at the time. For this reason, it may be useful to deal with this chapter in greater detail, in order to substantiate the statement that the PA did, indeed, walk away from a most generous offer, and opt instead for the violence that still continues.

An authoritative account comes from Clinton’s Middle East envoy, Dennis Ross, who participated in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks personally. In an interview with Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard and with Brit Hume of Fox news, dated April 23, 2002, Dennis Ross said:

ROSS: The ideas were presented on December 23 by the president, and they basically said the following: On borders, there would be about a 5 percent annexation in the West Bank for the Israelis and a 2 percent swap. So there would be a net 97 percent of the territory that would go to the Palestinians.

On Jerusalem, the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem would become the capitol of the Palestinian state.

On the issue of refugees, there would be a right of return for the refugees to their own state, not to Israel, but there would also be a fund of $30 billion internationally that would be put together for either compensation or to cover repatriation, resettlement, rehabilitation costs.

And when it came to security, there would be a international presence, in place of the Israelis, in the Jordan Valley.

These were ideas that were comprehensive, unprecedented, stretched very far, represented a culmination of an effort in our best judgment as to what each side could accept after thousands of hours of debate, discussion with each side.

FRED BARNES, WEEKLY STANDARD: Now, Palestinian officials say to this day that Arafat said yes.

ROSS: Arafat came to the White House on January 2. Met with the president, and I was there in the Oval Office. He said yes, and then he added reservations that basically meant he rejected every single one of the things he was supposed to give.

HUME: What was he supposed to give?

ROSS: He supposed to give, on Jerusalem, the idea that there would be for the Israelis sovereignty over the Western Wall, which would cover the areas that are of religious significance to Israel. He rejected that.

HUME: He rejected their being able to have that?

ROSS: He rejected that.

He rejected the idea on the refugees. He said we need a whole new formula, as if what we had presented was non-existent.

He rejected the basic ideas on security. He wouldn't even countenance the idea that the Israelis would be able to operate in Palestinian airspace.

You know when you fly into Israel today you go to Ben Gurion. You fly in over the West Bank because you can't -- there's no space through otherwise. He rejected that.

So every single one of the ideas that was asked of him he rejected.

HUME: Now, let's take a look at the map. Now, this is what -- how the Israelis had created a map based on the president's ideas. And...

ROSS: Right.

HUME: ... what can we -- that situation shows that the territory at least is contiguous. What about Gaza on that map?

ROSS: The Israelis would have gotten completely out of Gaza.

ROSS: And what you see also in this line, they show an area of temporary Israeli control along the border.

HUME: Right.

ROSS: Now, that was an Israeli desire. That was not what we presented. But we presented something that did point out that it would take six years before the Israelis would be totally out of the Jordan Valley.

So that map there that you see, which shows a very narrow green space along the border, would become part of the orange. So the Palestinians would have in the West Bank an area that was contiguous. Those who say there were cantons, completely untrue. It was contiguous.

HUME: Cantons being ghettos, in effect...

ROSS: Right.

HUME: ... that would be cut off from other parts of the Palestinian state.

ROSS: Completely untrue.

And to connect Gaza with the West Bank, there would have been an elevated highway, an elevated railroad, to ensure that there would be not just safe passage for the Palestinians, but free passage.

...

HUME: What, in your view, was the reason that Arafat, in effect, said no?

ROSS: Because fundamentally I do not believe he can end the conflict. We had one critical clause in this agreement, and that clause was, this is the end of the conflict.

Arafat's whole life has been governed by struggle and a cause. Everything he has done as leader of the Palestinians is to always leave his options open, never close a door. He was being asked here, you've got to close the door. For him to end the conflict is to end himself.

This account has been confirmed numerous times. For example, in January, 2002, Clinton visited Israel. According to a report in Ha’Aretz, dated January 21, 2002:

Former U.S president Bill Clinton said that Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat had missed a "golden opportunity" for peace and called on Israelis and Palestinians to be prepared to compromise in order to achieve the dream of peace. Clinton was speaking at a ceremony at the Tel Aviv University after receiving an honorary degree Sunday.
...
Referring to the failed Camp David peace talks held just before the outbreak of violence in October 2000, Clinton said "I think we have the outlines of a reasonable settlement, last year I believe Chairman Arafat missed a golden opportunity to make that agreement, I think the violence and terrorism which followed were not inevitable and have been a terrible mistake."

Another relevant document is the so called EU description of the outcome of permanent status talks at Taba. As a staunch supporter of the Arabs, the EU can hardly be accused of upholding the Israeli line; still, the "EU description” is consistent with that given by Dennis Ross.

Occasionally, it appears that the truth, as presented above, is even penetrating the minds of some of the Palestinian-Arab supporters. For example, on Thursday November 15, 2001, Reuters reported:

Palestinian political analyst Ghassan al-Khatib said ... Israel and the Palestinians would have reached a deal during U.S.-sponsored talks in July 2000 if the Palestinian Authority had agreed to compromise on the rights of refugees.

The peace summit at the Camp David presidential retreat collapsed due to disagreements on refugees and the final status of Jerusalem. The Palestinian uprising erupted two months later.

By and large, however, the Palestinian-Arab apologists prefer to indulge in misinformation rather than face the facts. They have even found a junior pro-Arab US official, Robert Malley, to support their case (see, for example, Malley's comments and response by Dennis Ross).

In my opinion, any fair-minded observer would have to conclude that the acts and behaviour of the Palestinian Arabs prove that they were not interested in a sovereign state; rather, their interest has concentrated on acts of spite against the Palestinian Jews, rejecting at least three opportunities to have a sovereign state.

Contributed by Joseph Alexander Norland

Roundup of news items in Middle East

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NABLUS, West Bank - Israeli troops yesterday killed a Palestinian youth during clashes in the West Bank's most populous city, the fifth such death in two weeks. Israel's military intelligence chief, meanwhile, said Yasser Arafat's followers are trying to prevent terror attacks inside Israel.

In Washington, a Bush administration official said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet with President Bush on Oct. 16. Israeli news media said the talks would deal with the Israel-Palestinian conflict and possible U.S. action in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Arafat yesterday signed Palestinian legislation defining Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmed Qureia said.

Qureia said Arafat decided to sign the two-year-old bill now in response to a demand by the U.S. congress that Jerusalem be recognized as Israel's capital.

Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital in 1950, but most countries, including the United States, have their embassies in Tel Aviv. Eastern Jerusalem was captured by Israel from Jordanian rule in the 1967 Six Day War and annexed afterward.

The new Palestinian law is symbolic since Israel has full control over both parts of the city and Sharon has pledged not to redivide it.

In the West Bank, the shooting of Amer Hashem, 15, came during the sort of confrontation that has become common in the Nablus area, where youths often defy the nearly continuous curfew Israel has imposed since mid-June in response to two suicide bombings by Palestinian militants.

The army said soldiers fired in self defense after they were attacked with stones and at least one bomb, but they were not aware of any casualties.

Foreign governments and aid organizations have increasingly expressed concern about the deaths of children during the two-year Palestinian uprising against Israel. More than 230 children or teenagers are among the more than 1,800 Palestinians who have died during the uprising.

Many Nablus residents routinely skirt the curfew, emerging from their homes when they don't see soldiers in the area. Many children attend school and troops often ignore them.

But there have also been clashes, often when children and teenagers throw stones at tanks and draw a response of tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds.

Four other Palestinians aged 10 to 15 had been shot to death in Nablus and nearby refugee camps over the past two weeks and a 12-year-old was in critical condition after being shot in the head. An Israeli soldier and two Palestinian adults also have been killed.

Masked men firing rifles carried Hashem's still-bloody body on an angry funeral procession through the Al Ein refugee camp bordering Nablus following the death.

Meanwhile, Israel's military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi-Farkash, appeared to contradict Sharon and other senior politicians yesterday when he said that the Yasser Arafat-led Palestinian Authority was trying to halt terror attacks inside Israel.

Farkash said that Arafat's Fatah movement and its affiliated Tanzim militia were not carrying out attacks beyond the West Bank and Gaza Strip, occupied by Israel in the 1967 war, and were pressuring militant Islamic groups to follow their example.

"Not only are Fatah and the Tanzim not doing this," Farkash said. "Senior people in the Palestinian Authority are starting to take up the issue with Hamas and Islamic Jihad to stop their operations."

Arafat himself denounced such attacks in an interview published on Saturday by the London-based Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat.

"We are the ones who decide as a leadership," Arafat said. "Neither my military honor nor our Islamic religion accept the killing of a woman in the street or at a cafe, or a civilian man or a child, or in a university."

But he denied having condemned attacks on soldiers or settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In other events:

Jakob Kellenberger, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, arrived for a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories to highlight the organization's concern at "a steadily worsening situation, characterized by disregard for the principles of international humanitarian law." It is the first trip to Israel in seven years by an ICRC president.

Four Palestinians from the village of Aqraba near Nablus were hospitalized with severe cuts, saying they had been attacked while picking olives by Israelis from the West Bank settlement of Itamar. Settlers there have often clashed with villagers over plans to expand their settlement into now-Palestinian lands. On June 20, a Palestinian infiltrated Itamar and killed five settlers. The army said it had no information on the incident.

In the Gaza Strip, the Islamic militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for explosives that went off in the path of an Israeli military patrol yesterday. Israel's military said no one was hurt in the blast near the Israeli settlement of Nisanit. Hamas said the explosion was "the first in a series of attacks" meant to avenge Israel's unsuccessful Sept. 26 attempt to kill Hamas bomb maker Mohammed Deif.

(Published: October 6, 2002)
source: URL

Syria on Brink of Conflict Over Lebanon

Oct. 6 — One of the last satellite nations in the world is pushing for independence.
Syrian forces have occupied Lebanon since the country’s civil war began in 1975, and an estimated 35,000 Syrian soldiers remain stationed there. But now Lebanese religious and political leaders from across the political spectrum are calling for the withdrawal of those troops.
Although the calls aren’t new, developments both within and without Lebanon will make them impossible to ignore. Most importantly, the growing anti-Syrian sentiment opens the door for another player — Iran — to undercut Syria’s influence in Lebanon. Increased tension within the Levant could spark conflict between the two Middle East nations.
Although anti-Syrian factions have always criticized Lebanon’s occupation by Syrian troops, two major developments recently brought the issue into the spotlight: the pullout of Israeli troops from South Lebanon in May, and the death of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in July.
Syria is strategically and economically important to Lebanon. Controlling Lebanon allowed Damascus to threaten Israel without directly challenging the Jewish state.
Changes in the Region
Damascus had long used the Israeli occupation of South Lebanon to deflect criticism of its own deployments in the country. But now the withdrawal of Israeli forces has undermined Syria’s reasons for occupying Lebanon.
Additionally, President Hafez al-Assad dealt severely with dissent and thus enjoyed cooperation from many of Lebanon’s religious and political leaders. The new Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, hasn’t yet established a similar reputation for ruthlessness.
The fallout from the Israeli withdrawal and the elder Assad’s death came to the forefront in campaigns for Lebanese parliamentary elections in August and September.

A United Opposition to Syria
For the first time, competing factions found themselves united against the Syrian presence. On Sept. 25, the Council of Maronite Bishops issued a call for the withdrawal of Syria’s troops.
A few weeks earlier, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt called for the redeployment of the troops in accordance with the 1989 Taif accords.
In fact, all of Lebanon’s main political groups issued statements criticizing the presence of Syrian forces in the country and the continued influence of Damascus in Lebanon’s internal politics.
The apparent unity won’t last long. Jumblatt has already backtracked on his earlier statements after traveling to Damascus to meet with Assad. Nonetheless, anti-Syrian sentiment among the nation’s citizens has clearly strengthened and could create an opportunity for another outside power, namely Iran.

Iran Exerts Influence
Iran also exerts political and economic influence in Lebanon. It has provided financial and military support to the Islamic group Hezbollah for years.
Now, it may offer support to the emerging independence movement. Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon recently expressed his government’s support for Lebanese “territorial integrity,” according to a Sept. 27 report by the Iranian news agency IRNA.
Although Iran has made similar statements before, the context has changed. Previous statements were directed against the Israeli occupation; now they can only refer to the Syrian presence.
By stoking anti-Syrian sentiment, even indirectly, Tehran may strain its already tenuous relations with Damascus.
And if Damascus doesn’t quell the movement, the reign of Syria’s new president could be threatened. Bashar is not his father. The changing of the guard has prompted all those Syria once controlled with an iron fist to redefine that relationship.
Even Syrian-backed Lebanese politicians like Jumblatt used protests against Syria’s occupation as a campaign issue.
The next step could be violence against Syrian forces.
Already, an unknown Lebanese group calling itself the Citizens for a Free and Sovereign Lebanon are attacking Syrian nationals living in Lebanon, according to a Sept. 26 report in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Safir.
Bashar will have to act. So far, the new president has appeared content to let Lebanon’s competing factions undermine each other. But threats to Syrian nationals and Syria’s continued hold on the Levant cannot go unanswered.


Jamie Etheridge is an analyst covering the Middle East and Africa for Stratfor.com, an Internet provider of global intelligence.
source: [URL]

Pilger Pilfers the Truth


A British documentary is a veritable encyclopedia of every anti-Israel canard in existence today

On Sept. 16, while most of British Jewry was celebrating the Yom Kippur break-fast, Britain's most popular television channel, ITV1, aired a ferociously anti-Israel documentary entitled, "Palestine is Still the Issue." The program was produced by Australian-born John Pilger, a columnist for the UK Daily Mirror with a 25-year record of anti-Israel activism.

Scant effort was made to provide context, Israeli perspective or even explanation, with Prof. Ilan Pappe used as a token academic Israeli historian. However, Pappe is far from objective, having run for the Knesset on the radical Communist Party ticket, and is disgraced and discredited in Israel for falsifying historical evidence. Coupled with his post-Modernist perspective and active engagement with Palestinians in an attempt to discredit Zionism, it is unsurprising that Pappe supports Pilger's thesis concerning Israel's fault.

HonestReporting questions not only the biased content of the program (detailed below), but also the decision to broadcast -- on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar –- such a clear affront to the Jewish community. Furthermore, Pilger's discussion of the program on the Gloria Hunniford chat show (carried on British TV Channel 5) was aired on Yom Kippur afternoon, when few Jews were available to participate.

To accompany the documentary, Pilger also published an article in The Mirror, one of Europe's leading dailies with several million readers. Entitled "Israel's Routine Terrorism," Pilger's article mirrors the gross violations of media objectivity seen in his TV documentary.

Read the Mirror article at:
http://pilger.carlton.com/print/116732

Read info on Pilger's documentary at:
http://www.johnpilger.com/palestine

The chairman of Carlton Television, Michael Green, strongly criticized his own company's documentary, John Pilger's "Palestine Is Still The Issue." Green said the program was "factually incorrect, historically incorrect," and a "tragedy for Israel so far as accuracy is concerned."
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?story=334942

In the meantime, Pilger himself bellyached against HR members in a column in the UK Guardian, saying that critics are "orchestrating an email campaign against my film; curiously, many of the emails are coming from America, where it has not been shown."

===== CRITIQUE OF THE DOCUMENTARY ====

From start to finish, Pilger's documentary is a veritable encyclopedia of every anti-Israel canard in existence today:

- Referring to Israel's War of Independence (following Arab refusal to accept the UN partition plan), Pilger's documentary simply stated: "In 1948 the Arab world rose up, when Palestinians were forced to flee from their homes in a blitz of fear and terror." Read carefully: Pilger suggests that the 5-nation Arab attack was in response to Israeli aggression.

- The Six Day War is described similarly: "In 1967 Palestinians were forced to flee again when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, describing it as an act of self defense." Pilger insists that 1967 was simply an Israeli fantasy about Arabs wanting to destroy it.

- Operation Defensive Shield is portrayed as a deliberate attempt to vandalize and destroy Palestinian culture; no mention is made of the wave of suicide bombings that forced Israel to defend itself.

- Pilger suggests that Israel systematically murders Palestinians, claiming that 90% of Palestinians killed are civilians. In fact, scholarly studies show that in the last two years of violence, 39% of Palestinian deaths are "non-combatant" -- versus 79% of Israeli deaths are "non-combatant." (See study at
http://www.ict.org.il/researchreport/projectsummary.htm)

- Pilger suggests that the victims of terror are morally equivalent to the terrorist, and asserts that killing a terrorist before he can murder is also "terrorism."

- Pilger decries the inconvenience of IDF checkpoints, but fails to mention that the checkpoints were set up as a response to terrorism. Nor does he mention how the editor of the notoriously anti-Israel Guardian found that the average wait was 20 seconds to pass a checkpoint, with the soldiers being polite to the Arabs.

- Pilger claims that checkpoints have destroyed the Palestinian economy, while ignoring the fact that violence against Israelis forced the loss of tens of thousands of Palestinian jobs. Pilger also omits mention of the severe damage to the Palestinian economy due to corruption of Palestinian Authority officials; Arafat's personal wealth has been estimated at $1.3 billion.

- Pilger interviews an Arab couple who claim that their newborn baby died due to alleged IDF harassment at a checkpoint. The woman says: "This is how they treat all Palestinians. I'm sorry to say this, but they would rather help an animal than an Arab." Pilger offers no counter-claim, and declares that such a story is "typical of the everyday treatment of the Palestinians."

- Pilger characterizes the 1948 refugee issue as "ethnic cleansing." However, it is a historical fact that most Arabs were persuaded to leave by Arab leaders who promised to invade and destroy Israel. Time Magazine (May 3, 1948) reported that "The mass evacuation, prompted partly by fear, partly by orders of Arab leaders, left the Arab quarter of Haifa a ghost city... By withdrawing Arab workers, their leaders hoped to paralyze Haifa."

Pilger of course selectively omits mentioning the equal number of Jewish refugees who fled from Arab countries, and settled in Israel. He also omits that in the 1880s there was no native Palestinian population to displace (as the journal of Mark Twain and other contemporary sources confirm), except in about 5% of "Palestine." In fact, as is thoroughly documented in Joan Peters' classic work, "From Time Immemorial" (available at http://www.amazon.com), most Arabs immigrated into "Palestine" after the Zionist pioneers had worked hard to cultivate land that they had legally bought from absentee Arab landlords, bringing commerce to the region.

- Pilger compares Israel's treatment of Arabs like that of apartheid South Africa. He fails to note, however, that Arabs living under Israeli rule enjoy a far greater freedom of speech and freedom of the press than do Arabs living under the PA, and that the first Middle East country to grant Arab women the right to vote was Israel -- not Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, or any of the 20 other Arab Middle East states. Nor does Pilger mention how in much of the Arab world, Jews and other non-Muslims are treated as second-class citizens (the despised Dhimmi).

- Pilger categorizes at least 3 Israeli prime ministers as "terrorists."

- Pilger claims that "For much of their resistance, the Palestinians have fought back courageously with slingshots." However, he omits reference to the Hebron riots of 1929 when 67 Jews were slaughtered. Or the period of 1951-55, when more than 3,000 armed attacks were launched against Israeli civilians, resulting in the deaths of 922 Israelis and foreign tourists. Or the Oslo period (1993-2000), when 300 Israelis were murdered by Palestinian terrorists. (To cite a few of the many historical examples.)

- Pilger accuses the Jewish world of carrying out a conspiracy to manipulate the non-Jewish world into believing that any criticism of Israel is “anti-Semitic.”

- Pilger complains that Israel is being heavily supplied by America, but he selectively omits mention that America gives billions of dollars annually to Arab countries such as Egypt and Jordan.

- For his final thrust, Pilger employs the classic canard of suggesting that Israel's battle against Palestinian terror is akin to Hitler's treatment of the Jews. The conclusion of the documentary, to paraphrase Pilger, is that the world stood silent during the Holocaust -- "will they stay silent again?"

If you believe that Pilger's documentary is biased, write to:

Email: dutyoffice@carltontv.co.uk
Phone: 020-7240-4000
Fax: 020-7615-1775

Write to:
Carlton Television
101 St Martin's Lane
London WC2N 4AZ

Source: HonestReporting at URL

Remember Rehavam (Gandhi) Ze'evi HY"D

Today marks the one year anniversary of the murder of Gandhi, may G-d avange his blood, by the savages. Meanwhile the Oslo criminals who are responsible for his death remain in power and continue to actively support the murderers. Let us remember on this sad day the price of their treachery and cowardice and say to ourselves "Never Again." Let Arik Sharon remember the words spoken by Ze'evi's son at his funeral:

"You did not merit, beloved son of this land, to be accepted when you were alive. You took upon yourself to be loyal to Eretz Yisrael, even when everyone blared in your ear that a 'New Middle East is shining.' 'You are hallucinating!,' you answered them."

"And to you, you who murdered my father, you temporary residents of Canaan, I am telling you that we are staying here, because this is ours!"

"And to you, Arik, a friend who was so close at the beginning of the way: Take revenge, the way that Gandhi would have done after you, and go back to leading the country the way we knew you."

"And you, dear residents of Yesha, and the rest of Israel: We are burying Gandhi today, but he asked me to charge you to be strong and continue to be loyal to the path."

Let us also remember the wise words spoken by Nadia Matar a week after Ze'evi's death.

We must remember, and not forget, that Oslo murdered Gandhi. Or, to be more precise, the "Oslo conception" murdered Gandhi.

That same terrible conception that says that we must surrender to terror. Gandhi's murder, like the other murders of Jews since Oslo, is a direct result of capitulation and surrender to terror. All the architects- criminals-supporters-continuers of Oslo cannot say, "Our hands did not shed this blood." Just as they cannot say this about the other victims of the Oslo war. We must recall that Shimon Peres and the other Oslo criminals gave the enemy guns, and ammunition, and cities of refuge. These guns are murdering us every day. These guns also murdered Gandhi.

The war today in Israel is between the "Oslo conception" and the "Gandhi heritage." A war between the post-Zionists and the Zionists. A war between the Israelis who are willing to concede Eretz Israel and hand it over to the enemy, and the Jews, such as Gandhi, who love the land, love the people, and are willing to give their lives for a continued Jewish existence in all of Eretz Israel.

In the last elections the people chose the Gandhi heritage. A heritage of love of the people of Israel, the Land of Israel, and the Torah of Israel.

We thought, in our innocence, that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would represent that heritage. But in recent weeks we were stunned by Ariel Sharon's statements in favor of the establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of Eretz Israel. At every occasion - even at Gandhi's memorial ceremony in the Knesset - Sharon repeats that he is willing to make "painful concessions." In the last few days, the "Ha'aretz" newspaper has leaked that Sharon has already presented President George Bush with a clear plan for the creation of a Palestinian state in Yesha. When Bush asked Sharon what will happen to the many settlements in those areas that are supposed to be handed over to the Palestinians, Sharon is quoted as saying: "Don't worry. I know how to deal with them". Remembering that it was Sharon who was in charge of uprooting and destroying Yamit, we know what he means when he says he will "deal with the settlements." In fact, people surrounding PM Sharon have told and warned Yesha people that Sharon often repeats that "only he is capable of uprooting settlements."

With his statement in favor of a PA terror state, Sharon thus joined the small band of "Oslo conception" supporters who are struggling against the Jewish "Gandhi heritage." Such an announcement is a betrayal of the mandate that the people gave Sharon. Agreeing to the establishment of a Palestinian state is also a betrayal of the Likud platform, a platform that Sharon is supposed to represent, that states explicitly that "no Arab state will be established to the west of the Jordan." Consent to the establishment of a Palestinian state is a slap in the face of thousands of years of Jewish history in Eretz Israel. It is also a slap in the face to Gandhi's family, to the family of the victims of Oslo, and to the family of all the terror victims and the families of the soldiers who fell in the war for the establishment of the State of Israel.

Throughout our people's entire history, despite all the persecutions, despite the Inquisition, despite the pogroms, despite the Holocaust - no leader could conceive of foregoing a single bit of Eretz Israel. By what right does Ariel Sharon now surrender our land and homeland? Did we establish the State of Israel and sacrifice more than 20,000 of our sons in Israel's wars, in order to give over our land to a foreign people? We call upon Ariel Sharon to retract immediately, publicly, his shameful proclamations of assent to the establishment of a Palestinian state in the heart of Israel.

Ariel Sharon received a mandate from the people to continue the "Gandhi heritage." A deviation from this mandate will compel us to bring down the government and to find other leaders.

We pledge to Rehavam Ze'evi - Gandhi, may the Lord avenge him, that we will neither be silent nor still. We will continue his will with greater vigor: the struggle for the people of Israel, the Land of Israel, and the Torah of Israel.