| For the 10,000th time, Hamas confirms its dedication to jihad Posted: 25 Sep 2011 05:40 PM PDT Every once in a while some credulous Western journalist, or politician, or UN special rapporteur, breathlessly reports that they spoke to a Hamas leader who assured them that the group is ready to offer a cease fire/accept a two-state solution/ name your wishful thinking here. The funny thing is that it takes no effort whatsoever to read Hamas' own views on the matter. From the Al Qassam website: The Hamas Islamic Resistance Movement says that it can not abandon the path of jihad and resistance and its dedication to the martyrs with their blood and their sacrifice.
Mr. al-Masri expressed the keenness of his movement this evening during a speech organized by the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, in the Jihad Abu Shahid mosque in the Sawyerh Zawaida village in the central Gaza Strip, on the eighth anniversary of the martyrdom of leader Abu Jihad Qassam Sawyerh.
The deputy Palestinian Legislative Council member said that the continuation of the Zionist siege is a form of the conspiracies being hatched against the Palestinian people to undermine their dignity and freedom. Really hard to misinterpret this. 
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| Elder poster sighting in Trafalgar Square Posted: 25 Sep 2011 04:12 PM PDT From Point of No Return blog: In the week of the UN's Durban 3 charade, Harif, the UK Association of Jews from Middle East and North Africa, held its first ever protest rally on behalf of the forgotten refugees of the Middle East and the wider Muslim world. It was a good-natured affair, as 100 or so demonstrators in London's Trafalgar Square drew attention to the UN's hypocrisy.
 | | Detail of one of the photo with my posters |
The demonstrators held balloons, distributed sweets and carried placards pointing out that the Durban III conference against racism was 'no joke for oppressed minorities'. They drew attention to the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Jews of the Middle East - down to 4,000 in Arab countries from a 1948 figure of almost one million. The UN and international community has ignored them, preferring to pass resolution after resolution on Palestinian refugees, and condemn that beacon of democracy and pluralism - Israel.
The mood was cheerful in September sunshine, with bystanders stopping to express interest or sympathy, and only a few confrontations. Kurds turned up to show solidarity, and the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell sent a message of support. (h/t Lyn) 
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| "Irvine 10" guilty Posted: 25 Sep 2011 02:55 PM PDT From JTA: A California jury found 10 Muslim students guilty of misdemeanors for disrupting a 2010 campus speech by Israel's ambassador to the United States.
In an incident that drew national attention, 11 Muslim students stood one by one and interrupted a February 2010 speech by Ambassador Michael Oren at the University of California, Irvine. Oren twice walked off the stage as students shouted "mass murderer!" and "war criminal!" before they were hauled out of the room by campus police. A planned Q&A session after the address was dropped.
The Orange County jury on Aug. 23 found 10 of the students guilty of two misdemeanor charges for conspiring to disrupt and then disrupting the speech. Charges against an eleventh student were dropped last month.
The 10 students were sentenced by Superior Court Judge Peter Wilson to 56 hours of community service and three years of probation, though the probation will be reduced to one year if the defendants complete their community service by Jan. 31 of next year.
According to The Orange County Register, Wilson said that jail time was not warranted because the students were "motivated by their beliefs and did not disrupt for the sake of disrupting."
The Muslim Student Union at UC Irvine, which organized the heckling, was suspended for a year by the school for violating its code of conduct, but four months later the suspension was changed to probation on appeal. The Volokh Conspiracy discusses the case: The relevant statute, Cal. Penal Code § 403, says: "Every person who, without authority of law, willfully disturbs or breaks up any assembly or meeting that is not unlawful in its character ... is guilty of a misdemeanor." In re Kay (1970) held that, to be convicted under the statute, the prosecution must show "that the defendant [1] substantially impaired the conduct of the meeting by intentionally committing acts [2] in violation of implicit customs or usages or of explicit rules for governance of the meeting, of which he knew, or as a reasonable man should have known," and [3] "the defendant's activity itself — and not the content of the activity's expression — substantially impairs the effective conduct of a meeting." Legal nerds or nerd wannabes can read more there. (h/t Yair) 
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| Tens of thousands of Copts fleeing Egypt Posted: 25 Sep 2011 01:28 PM PDT From Al Masry al Youm: Nearly 93,000 Coptic Christians have left Egypt since 19 March, a report by an Egypt-based Coptic NGO has said.
The number may increase to 250,000 by the end of 2011, according to Naguib Gabriel, the head of the Egyptian Federation of Human Rights, which released the report.
The current trend of Coptic immigration endangers the structure of Egypt's population, Gabriel told Al-Masry Al-Youm on Sunday. He urged the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the Egyptian cabinet to work on curbing the phenomenon.
Gabriel based the data stated in the report on information from Coptic churches and communities abroad.
"Nearly 16,000 migrated to California, while 10,000 moved to New Jersey, 8000 to New York, and 8000 to other American states," according to Gabriel. "Around 14,000 left to Australia, 17,000 to Canada, and 20,000 settled in the Netherlands, Italy, England, Austria, Germany and France."
Gabriel attributed the Coptic emigration to hardline Salafi groups seeking to apply Islamic law, deny Copts senior government posts, and reduce incoming tourism. He also blamed attacks on Coptic churches and the government's failure to bring attackers to justice. The smell of Arab spring seems more like poison to religious minorities. 
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| Egypt allows 664 Palestinian Arabs to become citizens Posted: 25 Sep 2011 11:50 AM PDT For the second time in the past two months, Egypt is allowing some 600 Arabs who have Egyptian mothers and Palestinian Arab fathers to become citizens of Egypt, implementing at 2006 court ruling. As I wrote in August:
Tens of thousands of Gazans have applied for Egyptian citizenship, some paying huge sums to lawyers to help make their case. In 1959, the Arab League resolution 1547 confirmed earlier resolutions calling on Arab countries to treat Palestinian Arabs well - but recommends that they " retain their Palestinian nationality." Meaning, that Palestinian Arabs should not obtain citizenship in their host countries. Every time a loophole has emerged in various countries allowing Palestinian Arabs to become citizens, they eagerly flock to take advantage of it. Yet the world human rights community is silent - or, in the case of Human Rights Watch, complicit - in this gross violation of not only the human rights of Palestinian Arabs, but of their very will to become naturalized in the countries in which they were born. It is very simple. Palestinian Arabs have shown time and time again that they want to be citizens of their host countries. Their right to a nationality is being categorically denied. But the UN, HRW and other NGOs, instead of fighting for them, are parroting the lies of their so-called leaders that they prefer to remain stateless and part of the "Palestinian nation." The human rights of millions of people are being systematically denied, and no one is standing up for them. Not only that, but the worst offenders are the very people who claim to be acting on their behalf! 
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| Oakland museum had agreed to show fake "Gaza kids art" anyway Posted: 25 Sep 2011 10:35 AM PDT Two weeks ago I reported the controversy at an Oakland children's museum where an art exhibit that was allegedly made by Gaza children was dropped after complaints. The anti-Israel (and pro-terror) activists who were behind the show vowed to show the drawings anyway outside the museum. As I noted, a number of art experts (also see the comments) flatly said that there was no way that some of these drawings were made by children. Moreover, I noted that it is strange that the names of the alleged artists were not mentioned, nor were these pictures signed - something every child does with drawings they make. As far as I know, no one from the museum has established the provenance of the artwork, as any museum would be expected to do with any art. It now appears that the museum tried to cave to the anti-Israel activists. From NPR: The chair of the MOCHA Board of Directors, Hilman Sorey, did issue a statement saying: Parents, caregivers and educators did not wish for their children to encounter graphically violent and sensitive works during their use of our facility. And Sorey said the decision to cancel the Palestinian kids' art exhibit was not a judgment of the art itself or related to any political opinions.
But Late Friday another board member, Randolph Belle, issued a more conciliatory statement, saying the museum would work with the sponsors of the Palestinian kids' art exhibit to re-schedule the show. I know that people wrote to MOCHA about the questionable source of these drawings. Apparently, the museum was ignoring it. Anyway, the activists turned the museum down, saying they found their own space to show their anti-Israel propaganda: The Alliance's executive director, Barbara Lubin, said she received a call Friday afternoon from a museum representative asking to meet with her group to discuss rescheduling the exhibit.
"I just laughed," she said. "I said, 'You must be crazy; we have spent the last three weeks looking for a place to display (the artwork.) ... I can't believe you have the chutzpah (audacity) to call me at this late date.' I have just signed a lease on a space for (an exhibit) for the next two months."
The museum's interim executive director, Masako Kalbach, was sympathetic to the views of museum critics.
"We do understand their feelings about our offer of being too late," she said. "We would really like to talk to them."
...Late Friday, museum board member Randolph Belle issued a statement.
"When we canceled the exhibit 'A Child's View from Gaza' earlier this month, we did so both because we lacked a formal policy for sensitive content, and because we were not confident that we had the resources to deal with the numerous concerns we received regarding the exhibit. In response to input from the community and careful consideration by our board of directors and staff, the Museum of Children's Art has developed a new policy governing the exhibition of items with sensitive content," the statement said.
Belle's statement said the Middle East Children's Alliance has been invited to reschedule the exhibit in keeping with the new policy.
Lubin said she had not seen Belle's statement Saturday.
She is traveling to Gaza next month to collect new artwork from the children based on how they feel about having their exhibit banned from the museum.
Lubin said she will consider working with the museum to show this set of artwork as long as they do not censor the show. (h/t Samson) 
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| Fatah official describes the PLO's real goals Posted: 25 Sep 2011 09:15 AM PDT From MEMRI: Following are excerpts from an interview with Abbas Zaki, member of the Fatah Central Committee, which aired on the Al-Jazeera network on September 23, 2011.
Abbas Zaki: The settlement should be based upon the borders of June 4, 1967. When we say that the settlement should be based upon these borders, President [Abbas] understands, we understand, and everybody knows that the greater goal cannot be accomplished in one go.
If Israel withdraws from Jerusalem, evacuates the 650,000 settlers, and dismantles the wall – what will become of Israel? It will come to an end.
[...]
Who is nervous, upset, and angry now? Netanyahu, Lieberman, and Obama... All those scumbags. Why even get into this? We should be happy to see Israel upset.
[...]
If we say that we want to wipe Israel out... C'mon, it's too difficult. It's not [acceptable] policy to say so. Don't say these things to the world. Keep it to yourself.
I want the resolutions that everybody agrees upon. I say to the world, to the Quartet, and to America: You promised, and you turned out to be liars. The PLO's Phased Plan is in full swing. (h/t hakunamatata) 
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| Palestinian Arabs slam Quartet; accuse Blair of Jewish connections Posted: 25 Sep 2011 08:15 AM PDT YNet reports: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which was the focal point of the 66th UN General Assembly in New York, saw more than just the historic bid for Palestinian statehood and impassioned speeches, but also the near-disassembling of the Mideast Quartet, Ynet learned on Saturday.
The Quartet of Middle East mediators, which is made up of the he United States, Russia, the European Union and the UN, worked frantically throughout Thursday and Friday to put together a blueprint which would facilitate the resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, but their efforts nearly brought about the forum's end, with Russia facing off against the United States over the Quartet's draft.
The Russians vetoed Israel's demand for Palestinian recognition of the Jewish state as a prerequisite for the talks, which led to the dismissal of the Palestinian prerequisite demand for the negotiations to be based on the 1967 lines.
After what was described as "harsh, discordant tones" exchanged between the Russians and their Quartet colleagues – which were accompanied by concerns that the former would be excluded from the final Quartet statement – a draft was finally completed. Here is the full Quartet statement: The Quartet takes note of the application submitted by President Abbas on 23rd September 2011 which is now before the Security Council.
The Quartet reaffirmed its statement of 20th May 2011, including its strong support for the vision of Israeli-Palestinian peace outlined by United States President Barack Obama.
The Quartet recalled its previous statements, and affirmed its determination to actively and vigorously seek a comprehensive resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, on the basis of UN Security Council Resolutions 242, 338, 1397, 1515, 1850, the Madrid principles including land for peace, the Roadmap, and the agreements previously reached between the parties.
The Quartet reiterated its commitment to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East and to seek a comprehensive resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and reaffirms the importance of the Arab Peace Initiative.
The Quartet reiterated its urgent appeal to the parties to overcome the current obstacles and resume direct bilateral Israeli -Palestinian negotiations without delay or preconditions. But it accepts that meeting, in itself, will not re-establish the trust necessary for such a negotiation to succeed. It therefore proposes the following steps:
1. Within a month there will be a preparatory meeting between the parties to agree an agenda and method of proceeding in the negotiation.
2. At that meeting there will be a commitment by both sides that the objective of any negotiation is to reach an agreement within a timeframe agreed to by the parties but not longer than the end of 2012. The Quartet expects the parties to come forward with comprehensive proposals within three months on territory and security, and to have made substantial progress within six months. To that end, the Quartet will convene an international conference in Moscow, in consultation with the parties, at the appropriate time.
3. There will be a Donors Conference at which the international community will give full and sustained support to the Palestinian Authority state-building actions developed by Prime Minister Fayyad under the leadership of President Abbas.
4. The Quartet recognizes the achievements of the Palestinian Authority in preparing institutions for statehood as evidenced in reports to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, and stresses the need to preserve and build on them. In this regard, the members of the Quartet will consult to identify additional steps they can actively support towards Palestinian statehood individually and together, to secure in accordance with existing procedures significantly greater independence and sovereignty for the Palestinian Authority over its affairs.
5. The Quartet calls upon the parties to refrain from provocative actions if negotiations are to be effective. The Quartet reiterated the obligations of both parties under the Roadmap.
6. The Quartet committed to remain actively involved and to encourage and review progress. The Quartet agreed to meet regularly and to task the envoys and the Quartet Representative to intensify their cooperation, including by meeting prior to the parties' preparatory meeting, and to formulate recommendations for Quartet action. As Xinhua reports: The Palestinians on Saturday slammed the statement issued by the International Quartet Committee for peace in the Middle East Friday night, which called for the unconditioned resumption of the direct peace talks between Palestinians and Israel.
The Quartet, that compresses the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, called on Israel and the Palestinians to resume the stalled peace talks between the two sides within one month, in order to reach a final peace agreement by the end of 2012, saying that "the two sides should abandon obstructions and resume bilateral talks unconditionally."
Ahmed Majdalani, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official told Xinhua via telephone on Saturday that the Palestinian leadership "criticized the statement because it neglected the Palestinian demands of halting Jewish settlement activities in the West Bank and east Jerusalem."
"The Palestinian leadership would review the statement to respond," Majdalani said, adding "but we can say that we have many reservations because it doesn't meet the Palestinian demands."
The PLO official also criticized the statement because it didn' t include the conditions of getting back to the negotiations while talking about a time table. Palestine Press Agency, a Fatah mouthpiece, reports that the Palestinian Arab leadership is so upset that they are suggesting boycotting Tony Blair altogether, accusing him of corruption and taking bribes from Jewish businessmen while in office. (The illustration here comes from that article.) Palestinian sources revealed to'Palestine Press News Agency' that voices in the leadership of the National Authority strongly call for a boycott of Tony Blair, Quartet Representative in the Middle East.
These voices accuse Blair of political corruption and the lack of objectivity and balance in dealing with the Palestinian position and the Palestinian cause in addition to his known background of cases of financial corruption and suspicious transactions concluded during his term as prime minister of Britain.
Blair is the first leader of the British investigated by British police on charges of corruption, in addition to its history when he took the President of the Labour Party and Prime Minister of Britain, and his dealings of suspicious financial transactions with Jewish businessmen which enabled him to reach the highest echelons of politics in Britain. The article goes on also to talk about how the Russian delegation to the Quartet told the PLO that they were upset at the initial draft statement, and then goes into details about the "Jewish businessmen" who allegedly donated money to Blair in exchange for his supporting Israel. This looks like a coordinated campaign by the PLO to destroy the Quartet. 
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| The annual "settlers uproot olive trees" libel Posted: 25 Sep 2011 06:45 AM PDT From Ma'an, today: Dozens of Israeli settlers on Sunday uprooted over 400 Palestinian-owned olive trees near Nablus in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian Authority official said. And last week: Israeli settlers uprooted over 500 olive and fig trees in Deir Istiya village in Salfit on Monday morning, witnesses said. As usual, there are no photos of these "uprooted" trees. Based on the research that Yisrael Medad did, plus the comments on that post, it is inconceivable that a few people can uproot that many olive trees in a day - it can take hours to destroy one. And as we have seen in years past ( 1993 2005 2006 2008 2010) the claims are often either ludicrous or proven to be lies. 
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| Video: PalArabs throwing shoes at video of Bibi's UN speech Posted: 25 Sep 2011 05:17 AM PDT Netanyahu: The Palestinians should first make peace with Israel and then get their state. But I also want to tell you this. After such a peace agreement is signed, Israel will not be the last country to welcome a Palestinian state as a new member of the United Nations. We will be the first. Response: (h/t Yoel) 
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| Driver, son may have been killed due to rock throwing Posted: 25 Sep 2011 03:07 AM PDT From YNet:  | | Asher Palmer | Israel Police suspect that what initially appeared to be an ordinary car accident that killed a man and an infant was actually caused by an act of terror.
Asher Palmer, 25, and his 1-year-old son, Yonatan, were killed Friday when their car overturned on Highway 60 near Kiryat Arba. After an initial inquiry, the police denied the possibility that the accident was caused by stones that were hurled at the vehicle by Palestinians. However, evidence revealed in the police's autopsy request suggests that the option was not ruled out completely.
According the request, filed with the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court, investigators who arrived on the scene of the crash found a hole in the car's windshield that appears like it could have been an entry point of a stone. A large, blood-stained stone was found in the car. An analysis showed that it was human blood that stained the stone. The steering wheel was torn, suggesting that it was hit by the rock.
Moreover, "The deceased's face was crushed in the region of the lip, which immediately raised concerns of the possibility that the car accident could have been caused by a rock that was thrown at the vehicle," the request read.
It was also mentioned that the accident is being investigated by a special Hebron District police force that deals with incidents where rocks are pelted at Israeli vehicles from moving cars. So far, there have been 18 such cases, and it appeared that the current case was no different.
From the start settlement leaders claimed that a terror attack was behind the crash, assuming that the police denied the possibility to maintain public order. Remember, stone throwing is one of those activities that Mahmoud Abbas praises as "non-violent resistance." (h/t Kramerica, Yoel) 
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