| Dueling accounts of shooting in Samaria Posted: 24 Mar 2012 10:00 PM PDT Which sounds more likely? From Ma'an: A Palestinian man was shot and injured Saturday during clashes with Israeli settlers who attacked his village in the central West Bank, medical officials said.
Hassan Muatan, 40, was shot in the abdomen after armed settlers stormed the Burqa village east of Ramallah and attempted to vandalize property, witnesses said.
Muatan was evacuated to the Palestine Medical Compound. His wounds were described as moderate.
According to residents of the village, locals confronted the settlers who then opened fire. Security forces also intervened and themselves fired at the villagers, they said.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said the army was aware of the incident but uninvolved. From Arutz-7: A Palestinian Authority attack on Samaria Jews ended with a PA man's injury on the Sabbath. The incident took place between the Jewish village of Givat Assaf and the PA town of Kfar Burqa, both in the Binyamin region.
A group of Jews from Givat Assaf were walking in the hills near their town when they were attacked by PA Arabs from Burqa. The PA group lobbed heavy stones at the Jewish hikers.
One of the men from Givat Assaf responded by pulling out his gun and shooting an attacker. The man later told police that he had felt his life was in danger.
The PA man he hit was lightly wounded. He was treated in a PA hospital in Ramallah.
Police and IDF soldiers arrived at the scene and separated the two groups. The incident is under investigation. Given that religious Jews are unlikely to go out of their way to vandalize property on the Sabbath, the very small possibility that the IDF would open fire in a situation like that, and the notorious unreliability of Palestinian "eyewitnesses," the Arutz-7 version of the story seems to be closer to the truth. Walla seems to confirm the Arutz-7 version of the story - nothing about vandalism, nothing about the IDF shooting, both of which seem highly unlikely. But it says that the shooter, a 19 year old, was detained by police. 
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| Lebanon says it is BFF with Syria Posted: 24 Mar 2012 08:10 PM PDT From Ya Libnan quoting SANA: Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stressed that Lebanon distances itself from decisions taken by the Arab league against Syria because they pose a threat to its stability and security. He said "the relationship between Lebanon and Syria is very special and unmatchable in the world and we can't take any hostile or biased attitude [towards Syria]".
The Lebanese Minister said in an interview with Lebanese As-Safir Newspaper published on Saturday that the Syrian crisis will not be solved through the military solution or violence, pointing out to "the importance of abstaining from imposing economic sanctions if we want to help Syria implement reforms because such sanctions cause sufferings to the Syrians", he added.
The Lebanese FM stressed that Lebanon will never participate in the so-called "Friends of Syria" conference which is to be held in Istanbul next month, highlighting that Lebanon will not recognize this council. It recognizes of the Syrian state and Lebanon is tied with the Syrian state through distinguished historical relations, being a brotherly state, adding "we do not abandon the brotherly country and we should help it get out of the crisis." In other Lebanon news, a safe has been discovered that some people think belonged to Arafat: A safe believed to belong to late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was found in southern Lebanon on Saturday, a Lebanese TV channel reported.
The locked container was discovered by a Lebanese man near the site of a former Fatah military base when Arafat lived in the country, Al-Jadeed TV said.
The one-meter wide, 2-meter long safe weighs seven and a half tons, and was transferred from the site in Al-Raml Al-Ali for inspection by a security committee with representatives from Hizbullah and Amal movements, the TV report said.
Spokesman of the Palestinian embassy in Beirut Hassan Ashanina told Ma'an the discovery was not near Arafat's former residence, and questioned the media linking the safe to the late leader and president.
Lebanese authorities will issue a statement on Monday regarding the safe, he added. 
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| Gazans know Hamas is responsible for fuel crisis Posted: 24 Mar 2012 06:40 PM PDT Ma'an reports; People in the Gaza Strip mostly blame the Hamas government for the ongoing fuel crisis in the coastal enclave, according to a poll released on Saturday.
In Gaza, 48 percent hold Hamas responsible for the cutoff in fuel supplies that plunged the strip into widespread blackouts, the study by the Arab World for Research & Development said.
Just 21 percent charge Israel with responsibility, the PA at 12 percent, and the government of Egypt at 10 percent, according to the poll. The poll was taken two weeks ago, so the numbers of Gazans who blame Hamas probably have gone up significantly since then. Hamas is meanwhile rejects the idea of fuel being pumped from Israel, which started on Friday with PA help. They say that the reason is because they are protecting Gaza consumers from paying too much for fuel. No news on the black-market price of fuel in Gaza today. YNet has something interesting: Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip have instructed gas station owners to stop selling petrol and diesel fuel in order to enrage the local Palestinians and encourage them to riot against the Egyptian government. The terror organization wishes to pressure Egypt to supply Gaza with fuel without preconditions, reported Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper on Saturday.
Hamas officials, such as Mahmoud Askoul, Palestinian Authority's Secretary General, and Yossef Raska, advisor to Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh, have publically criticized Egypt for besieging the Gaza Strip and intentionally preventing the transfer of fuel and diesel oil, in order to bring Hamas' leadership to its knees.
Sources stated that Hamas' long-term goal is to solely relay on fuel and commodities from Egypt. The same sources claimed Egypt recently informed Hamas' leaders and the Palestinian Energy Authority that Israel has denied any intent to hinder its fuel supply to Gaza. The Egyptians have made it clear that any fuel shipments will only pass though Israel's crossings, but Hamas insists on receiving their supplies only through Rafah crossing.
Egyptian officials have tried time and time again to convince the Hamas government that Israel is obligated by international law to supply Gaza with fuel, but the terror group keeps insisting on dismissing Israel from such commitments.
Some 450,000 liters of diesel fuel was transferred on Friday from Israel to Gaza. The fuel which was purchased from Dor Alon and which is designated for Gaza's private sector was ordered by private companies in Gaza. I don't know if I believe Al Ahram in the first paragraph; it is close to Egypt's government and it seems to be more of a pushback for Hamas' very real attempts to pressure Egypt - for example, organizing rallies on Friday to protest Egypt's not sending fuel to Gaza directly. Egypt is hardly in a position to freely provide Hamas with cheap fuel: Egypt is asking for assistance from certain Arab countries to help ease the fuel crisis it has been facing for over three months now, MENA reported on Saturday.
The state-run news service quoted a high-level military official as saying that Egypt thought of seeking help from Arab countries when the fuel crisis started.
The nationwide gas and fuel crisis has continued in Cairo and other governorates this month, with demand increasing as buyers fear further shortages.
Protesters demanded that the government take action in various governorates, and cars queued for several kilometers outside petrol stations in some regions.
The Islamist-dominated parliament blamed the government for failing to respond to the crisis, saying that such a failure is a reason to remove the cabinet. It looks like Hamas has badly miscalculated in its creation of, and handling of, the fuel crisis in Gaza. Egypt is not bending on its insistence on fuel coming through Israel and Gazans aren't believing Hamas' lies. Even so, Hamas TV announced that a child died in a hospital when its ventilator shut down, apparently still gambling that Gazans will be angry at Egypt. (h/t @challahhuakbar) 
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| Hitler shampoo commercial being talked about all over Posted: 24 Mar 2012 05:34 PM PDT The story I broke (thanks to a tip from Gurhan) of a Turkish cosmetics company using video of Hitler to sell shampoo has gotten serious press. It is in The Times of Israel, the Jewish Chronicle, MEMRI, the ADL, YNet Hebrew, Israel's Channel 2 and all over the Turkish press. The latest from Digital Journal: In keeping with the adage that there's no such thing as a bad advertisement, an Istanbul ad agency created a truly striking shampoo commercial with the "endorsement" of an historical figure: Adolf Hitler, who was cast as a symbol of virility. Reaction over the use of an Adolf Hitler speech in a Turkish shampoo commercial grew as Turkey's Jewish Community made an announcement to condemn the act. The TV commercial was prepared for a new "men's shampoo", which claims that the product is effective against dandruff and stimulates growth of hair. Part of a Hitler speech was dubbed where he declares: "If you don't wear women's clothes then don't use a women's shampoo. Now there's a hundred percent men's shampoo Biomen. If you're a man you use Biomen." The Jewish Community announcement said "We are reminding once more, with emphasis , that it is unacceptable to use, in a commercial and in the name of creating a difference in advertisement, Hitler who represents the perverse mentality that has caused the brutal deaths of millions of people. We are condemning this mentality and stressing once again the necessity of apologising to the public in order to repair the injury inflicted on humanity's conscience." Turkish media also blasted the commercial and the company that has so far refused to withdraw it, saying it's socially irresponsible and in bad taste. Fatih Cekirge, a columnist, criticised the cosmetics industry for demeaning women and casting Hitler as a symbol of virility. He asked "Who's going to clean up the anger created by this advertisement?" The commercial has been aired on most TV stations across the country.
My YouTube edit of the commercial has 17,000 hits so far. 
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