יום רביעי, 4 באפריל 2012

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder of Ziyon

Iran accuses Syrian opposition of being Zionist

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:35 PM PDT

From Syria's SANA:

Iranian Chairman of the Shura Council, Ali Larijani, stressed on Tuesday that Istanbul Conference held recently with the theme of "Friends of Syria" is in fact a conference for those bought by Israel and not for Syria's friends.

Larijani added that the United Kingdom offered 500,000 pounds to fuel unrest in Syria and the US is talking about helping the saboteurs and terrorists inside Syria to undermine the Resistance against the Israeli entity.

Speaking at an open session of the Majlis on Tuesday, Larijani said, "The name of the recent conference in Istanbul, which was called 'Friends of Syria', was not 'Friends of Syria', but rather its name was 'bribers of Israel' (who met) to breathe a new life into it."

Of course, the Syrian opposition accuses the Assad regime of being Zionist too, so it all evens out.

UNRWA director brags about instilling "Palestinian identity" in schools

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 04:46 PM PDT

From a speech by Filippo Grandi, Commissioner-General of UNRWA, at the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development Conference and Exhibition earlier this week.

....Like other education providers, we have two major assets which are priceless: highly-motivated teachers and highly-motivated young students. Precisely because they belong to communities in exile, they all know that UNRWA schools are central to Palestinian identity as well as to individual success. The school is the beating heart of the refugee community. You would be amazed to see how much of its daily life revolves around getting the children and young people to school and seeing that they do well, hopefully well enough to lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

This is thus my fourth key message – and it is a message which resonates in all refugee situations, and especially so among Palestinians: education is the crucible of identity, national as well as personal. I believe this is a very important issue for DIHAD's consideration: humanitarian crises generate displacement. Displacement threatens identity. Those at most risk, in this respect, are the young. The Palestinian refugee crisis is the biggest, longest, gravest example of this – even more so now, with peace seemingly very distant, the occupation of Palestinian lands becoming bolder every day, and a just and lasting solution of the Palestinian refugee question fading into oblivion. If Palestinians in their dispersal have held on for so long to their identity and their aspiration to a state of their own, it is also due to the forging of their identities in UNRWA schools.
Grandi here is unwittingly admitting two things.

One is that, instead of relying on parents to forge identity - the natural way that identities are assumed - UNRWA chose long ago to forge the "Palestinian" identity for the children who attend the schools. In fact, Palestinian Arab identity was very weak, and practically nonexistent, up until UNRWA started teaching a new generation of children in the 1950s that they must identify as Palestinian and not as a member of the counties they were born in. Instead of working towards solving the refugee issue at that critical time, UNRWA instead chose to teach the children that there was no alternative to "return" and that they must remain stateless until they move back to homes that don't exist into a nation that will never accept more than a token amount of them in context of real peace.

Which brings up the second point that Grandi is saying. Even though he admits that a solution is far off, he still is proud of pushing this identity - which itself makes the problem insoluble. Any reasonable observer knows that one way or another, Palestinian Arabs will have to assimilate into their host countries. UNRWA knew this in the early 1950s as well. But the rank and file teachers instead taught that "return" was imminent, and the students who grew up with that fantasy were encouraged not to fight for their rights in their host countries and assimilate the way every other refugee population does. They were taught to wait until their fictional "right to return" is implemented.

UNRWA is in no small part a reason that Palestinian Arabs will remain stateless and miserable. Those  identities that Grandi is so proud of are in fact the exact reason that generation after generation of Palestinian Arabs believe in intransigence and unwillingness to accept Israel's existence.

All this besides the fact that a UN agency has no business teaching what is effectively a political position. Palestinian Arab nationalism was designed from the ground up to negate Jewish nationalism, and UNRWA is now admitting that it has been a historical part of anti-Israel feeling in the Middle East.

UPDATE: In the infamous Catherine Ashton speech where she compared Gaza to Toulouse, she said something essentially identical to Grandi (via Petra Marquardt-Bigman):
We know too that the Palestinian refugees face additional challenges; they leave [sic!] in countries which even after so many years they cannot consider home. This is why UNRWA's work is so special: it has gone beyond the provision of universal needs and helped them establish a sense of identity that otherwise is lost to the world, an identity which people here are absolutely proud of. And that comes about through many things that UNRWA does.
She also effusively praised him, meaning that she seems to have gotten this theme from him directly.

This seems to be a new UNRWA theme, and the people pushing it are pushing an agenda of negating Jewish self-determination on the altar of relatively new-found Palestinian identity - with UN funds.

Linkapalooza

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 12:00 PM PDT

CiFWatch exposes the background of the next "flytilla."

The goalie of the Palestinian Olympic soccer team and Palestinian Red Crescent employees were among 13 West Bank residents arrested for an attack on Israeli soldiers. The arrests in the Jan. 20 shooting attack against Israeli troops were announced Monday by the Israel Defense Forces. No injuries were incurred during the attack but a vehicle was damaged, according to the IDF.

Clothing will be exported from Gaza to England next month for the first time in five years.
This makes me high tech

Turkey's Greek Orthodox citizens living on the island of Gökçeada (Imbros) in the north Aegean cannot buy property on the island, the Taraf daily claimed on Sunday. The issue emerged when lawyer Erhan Gökçe complained in court about officials who put up difficulties before non-Muslims on the island who want to obtain property. He first petitioned Gökçeada's Land Registry and Cadastre Department, demanding to know why Muslims can easily buy property on Gökçeada while members of the Greek Orthodox community cannot.

The winners of a singing competition TV show in Israel, Eyal Golan Kore Lecha, are a Muslim and a Jew.

French Islamists planned to kidnap a Jewish magistrate, say investigators.

Iran's PressTV: says Zionist media in US are using Trayvon Martin case to divert attention from attacking Iran.

Michael Totten - on false moderation among Islamists.

Iran is also still pushing the 9/11 narrative that Israel was behind the attacks. They quote a known crazy conspiracy theorist.

My reporting was used as a basis for Arutz-7 articles twice in the past two days. Israel Today also linked to me today, as did Commentary. All for different posts.

(h/t Ian, Yoel)

Latest peaceful PalArab poll

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 10:45 AM PDT

Highlights from the latest PSR public opinion poll in the territories show that both West Bank and Gaza Arabs think that their governments are corrupt, that there is only some or no press freedom, and an overwhelming majority say that they cannot criticize their respective governments without fear.


5)
Do you think that there is corruption in PA institutions under the control of President Abu Mazin? 
1) Yes
72.9%
73.1%
72.6%

2) No
17.7%
15.8%
20.7%

3) DK-NA
9.4%
11.1%
6.7%


Total
West Bank
Gaza Strip
6)
Do you think that there is corruption in PA institutions under the control of the dismissed government in the Gaza Strip 
1) Yes
61.6%
57.3%
68.7%

2) No
21.2%
19.3%
24.3%

3) DK-NA
17.2%
23.5%
7.0%


Total
West Bank
Gaza Strip
7)
In your view, is there a press freedom in the West Bank?  
1) Yes
23.0%
23.3%
22.5%

2) To some extent
43.1%
40.0%
48.3%

3) No
30.6%
33.0%
26.7%

4) DK-NA
3.3%
3.7%
2.5%


Total
West Bank
Gaza Strip
8)
In your view, is there a press freedom in the Gaza Strip?  
1) Yes
16.2%
16.5%
15.8%

2) To some extent
33.8%
30.9%
38.6%

3) No
40.4%
38.9%
43.0%

4) DK-NA
9.5%
13.7%
2.6%


Total
West Bank
Gaza Strip
9)
In your view, can people in the West Bank today criticize the authority without fear? 
1) Yes
30.2%
33.7%
24.5%

2) No
66.0%
63.5%
70.0%

3) DK-NA
3.8%
2.8%
5.4%


Total
West Bank
Gaza Strip
10)
 In your view, can people in the Gaza Strip today criticize the authority without fear?
1) Yes
21.9%
25.2%
16.6%

2) No
67.5%
60.5%
78.9%

3) DK-NA
10.6%
14.3%
4.5%


Total
West Bank
Gaza Strip


Other highlights:

72.6% said that the "right to return" (i.e., the destruction of Israel) is either the top or the second most important national goal.

In answer to the question "If you think there are other options to solve the financial crisis confronting the PA, which of the following you would choose?" 52$ say "Return to negotiations in order to obtain greater donor support" (i.e., get more free money from the West by pretending to want peace) and 27% said "Dissolve the PA."

Here's where years of propaganda pays off: 62% said Israel's long term plans are "Extending the borders of the state of Israel to cover all the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea and expelling its Arab citizens." 21% more said that Israel plans to annex the entire West Bank and keep the Arabs without any rights.

39% of all Palestinian Arabs, and 55% of Gazans, support a return to "armed resistance" (i.e., terrorism.)

47.5% of all Palestinian Arabs, and 62% of Gazans, support "armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel."

(h.t Andreas)

A victory over lawfare

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 09:30 AM PDT

From NGO Monitor:
In a key defeat for NGO "lawfare" in the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) today decided that it does not have jurisdiction to begin an investigation over cases related to the 2008-09 Gaza War because "Palestine" is not a state. In January 2009, the Palestinian Authority (PA) filed a letter with the Court, purporting to accept the ICC's jurisdiction in order to bring war crimes cases against Israeli officials, notes Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, which was involved in the case from the outset.
"Throughout this process, the ICC – created to punish the worst perpetrators of war crimes and mass murder – was exploited by several EU- and European-government funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which intensively lobbied the OTP as part of their campaign to attack the legitimacy of the State of Israel," says Anne Herzberg, legal advisor for NGO Monitor. "The NGOs Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Al Haq, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Federation Internationale des Ligues des Droits de l´Homme (FIDH), and Adalah campaigned at the ICC in support of the Palestinian Authority's political goals. This clearly was contradictory to the spirit and substance of peace negotiations."
On behalf of NGO Monitor, Herzberg submitted a legal brief on the case. The brief argued that the ICC's jurisdiction is defined by the 1998 Rome Statute, which makes clear that only states can accept the Court's jurisdiction. The Statute was adopted after years of careful diplomatic negotiations, and allowing the PA to fall under the Court's jurisdiction would have essentially amounted to a re-writing of the Statute.  In addition, the brief argued that, contrary to claims by NGO proponents of the PA initiative, the ICC was not established as a court of universal jurisdiction, and NGO attempts to transform it into such would be legally improper. The OTP used similar arguments to support its decision.
"The fact that the case even proceeded this far was clear legal overreaching, but it shows the strength of NGOs that lead the de-legitimization and demonization campaigns against Israel," adds Herzberg.  "The OTP's decision today is a strong rebuke to these NGOs, their political agenda, and their campaign to isolate Israel from the international community," notes Herzberg. "International arenas are routinely hijacked for political purposes, but today's decision was markedly different."
 
The original paperwork for this was filed over three years ago by the PA. It is amazing that it took three years for the ICC to determine the obvious fact that the PA does not represent a state. It is unfortunately not amazing that so many "human rights" organizations supported this attempt at lawfare.

NGO Monitor was not the only organization that submitted a paper opposing this instance of lawfare.  The European Center for Law and Justice filed a couple, including an answer to Al Haq's submission, as did Dore Gold, a group of American legal scholars, an association of Jewish lawyers, and others.

It appears that the anti-Israel groups were arguing that Palestine is a state and therefore any Israeli actions on its territory can be prosecuted by Palestine; if Palestine wishes it can give that authority to the ICC. Since they clearly cannot prosecute Israelis in Palestinian Arab courts, this is obviously a big stretch.

One point that still seems problematic is this paragraph from the ICC in an earlier letter to the UNHRC:

In accordance with Article 12 (2) (b) of the Statute, the Court may exercise its jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed by nationals of a State Party to the Statute. In this regard, South African lawyers have communicated to the Office information on alleged crimes committed in Gaza by individuals possessing South African nationality.
Does that mean that people can dual-citizens of Israel can be prosecuted by the ICC at the request of their other countries? I think it would have to be from a request from the nation itself, but that seems like something that people who wage lawfare would try to use next.

(Usual disclaimer - I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV.)

Hamas claims great influence at WB Bir Zeit University

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 08:15 AM PDT

Hamas' Palestine Times newspaper has a photo essay and article bragging about how Hamas is making early gains in the campaigns for student leadership at Bir Zeit University, near Ramallah.

According to the article, for the last three semesters Fatah did not allow Hamas to run in these student elections, but now Hamas is back and doing well.  It notes that Hamas' green flag can now be seen all over the university.


Hamas caption: "Foreheads bowed to Allah, God willing, will not be defeated"
These are the best and the brightest of Palestinian Arab youth - university educated and dedicated to a genocidal death cult. 

Abbas: New threats and old lies

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 07:00 AM PDT

From YNet:
The Palestinians plan to send [a letter to] Netanyahu next week which specifies the Palestinian Authority's conditions for jumpstarting the peace negotiations.

According to Abbas, the letter states that if Israel is not willing to return to the negotiating table, the Palestinian Authority will file a complaint with international bodies.

"Israel must accept international legitimacy and stop construction in the settlements," Abbas said in Cairo.

He said that in the letter, the PA leadership wrote to Netanyahu: "You have made the PA a non-authority. You have taken away from the PA all its commitments and what it was doing and supervising. Now we have been left with nothing."
Um, I forgot, who is refusing to go to the negotiating table again?

I also love "now we have been left with nothing." If Abbas had nothing, then he would have dissolved the government by now, or he would have pushed harder for "unity" with Hamas and elections.

In the end, the entire reason that Hamas and Fatah have kept their distance is the same reason they have been trying to keep things reasonably quiet with Israel. Both of them have something to lose.

Both the PA and Hamas are arresting members of the other camp, arresting journalists and others who say anything negative about them, and in general acting like dictators who will hold onto power for as long as they can.

And, as I've noted numerous times, Abbas himself has said "In the West Bank we have a good reality...the people are living a normal life." He only cries about how desperate he is when it suits him, but when it is politically expedient to say things are fine and time is on his side, he'll say that as well.

Merah's lawyer says he was innocent; Jihadi forum says he was pious jihadist

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 05:40 AM PDT

What do you get when you cross a Jihadist sympathizer with a lawyer? You get a really bad liar:
An Algerian lawyer said Monday that she has evidence that the young man accused of killing seven people in attacks on French soldiers and a Jewish school claimed his innocence to police.

Mohamed Merah, 23, was killed after a more than 30-hour standoff with authorities, who have said that during negotiations he confessed to the killing spree in southwestern France and refused to surrender peacefully.

But Zahia Mokhtari, a lawyer for Merah's Algerian father, told BFM television on Monday that she had two identical videos of Merah that contradict the police narrative.

"In these videos, he says, 'I am innocent. Why are you killing me? I didn't do anything,'" she said.

Mokhtari would not detail how she got the videos, saying she would reveal more on their origin once she files a lawsuit in French courts against the elite police force, RAID, that killed Merah.
In case you have only short-term memory, the AP article helpfully reminds us:
A police official with knowledge of the investigation cast doubt on her claims Monday, noting that Merah led police to evidence that proved he was the perpetrator.

Prosecutors say Merah spoke at length with negotiators from the RAID force throughout the long standoff last month while he was holed up in a Toulouse apartment.

During these conversations, authorities say, Merah told them where to find a video he took of the crime spree. Al-Jazeera television has said it received a copy of the video, which shows the deaths of three paratroopers, three Jewish children and a rabbi from the killer's point of view.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of police rules, added that Merah had toyed with police during the standoff, initially agreeing to surrender but later vowing to "die with his weapons in his hands."
Tipster Samson notes that the lawyer, Zahia Mokhtari, resembled both Death in Bergman's "The Seventh Seal" as well as Igor in Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein."


In related news, MEMRI translates a posting in a jihadi forum that claims that, contrary to news reports, Merah was a pious Muslim and dedicated jihadist:
In the post, Abu Al-Qa'qa' gives details about Merah's travels to Afghanistan and Pakistan, which he allegedly heard from Merah himself. He strongly rejects the Western media's claims that Merah was a disturbed young man, describing him as a pious Muslim and praising his technological skills and his eagerness in training to be a mujahid. He adds that Merah was supposed to carry out a suicide bombing in Afghanistan, but that his plan was abandoned for reasons he is not at liberty to disclose.

According to Abu Al-Qa'qa', Muhammad Merah made two trips to the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. The first time, he traveled to Afghanistan through Egypt, Syria, the Palestinian Territories, Iraq and Tajikistan, but was arrested before he could join a jihad group. The second time he managed to obtain a visa to Pakistan, and while there, met with Taliban members who introduced him to Jund Al-Khilafa.

Will PA subsidize Gaza fuel going through Kerem Shalom?

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 03:03 AM PDT

Palestine Today reports that Hamas and the PA have reached a "partial agreement" to the fuel crisis in Gaza.

According to a senior political source in Gaza, power plant fuel and will enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

He said that the price of liter of industrial fuel to be supplied on a daily basis to Gaza would be 3.3 shekels (or 3.71 shekels), excluding tax.

If this is true, it means that the PA will heavily subsidize the cost of fuel to Gaza to a price similar to the price of smuggled Egyptian fuel, which is itself subsidized by Egypt for the use of Egyptians.

Assuming that the heavy-duty diesel is priced roughly similar petrol used in cars, the PA is agreeing to subsidize 60% of the cost, as Israeli fuel is now about 8 shekels a liter. (That includes high Israeli taxes, though - h/t Shtrudel)

This means that Hamas' blackmail has worked, and it has managed to use the threat of suffering Gazans to avoid paying market rates on fuel - and allowing Hamas to tax the cheap fuel for its own profit. And Western powers will now be paying for Hamas to be enriched by this political blackmail through PA subsidies.

According to this poorly translated and unsourced article, unemployed Gazans are waiting for hours at gas pumps to buy fuel at 3.75 shekels a liter in order to resell it for 5.2 shekels on the black market, earning about 350 shekels a day.

Next hearing on Palmer murders on April 18th

Posted: 03 Apr 2012 01:00 AM PDT

I received an email from Michael Craig Palmer, father and grandfather to Asher and Yonatan Palmer, who were murdered last year in a terror attack.

The next significant public hearing for the murderers of Asher and Yonatan Palmer הי"ד will be on Wednesday, April 18, 10:30 a.m. at Machane Ofer.

The strong public support at the hearing on March 11 demonstrated strongly that terror victims and Israeli society at large expect justice from the justice system. This was not the message at the February hearing where there was barely any Jewish presence and the murderers openly received encouragement from their supporters in the courtroom! It is, I believe, very important to show the prosecution and the court that Asher and Yonatan, and all victims of terror, are remembered and that we demand justice for their murderers.

Please do what you can to get the word out about the April 18 hearing. Anyone interested in being there should contact me at mcpfiveone@gmail.com [so he can submit the names to the army for security clearance - EoZ.]

Regards,
Michael
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