| PA police beat anti-peace protesters Posted: 01 Jul 2012 04:44 PM PDT For the second day, there were protests in Ramallah against the very thought of Mahmoud Abbas meeting with a Jewish Israeli leader to discuss re-starting peace talks. And just like yesterday, the PA police turned violent: Palestinian protesters said security forces used brutal force Sunday during the second demonstration in as many days protesting Palestinian Authority policy.
Police attacked protesters with batons, beating and injuring at least seven people. Another seven protesters were taken to a police station along with at least two journalists, a Ma'an correspondent said.
Protesters shouted against police brutality, and the police responded by beating them. Journalists were also attacked for the second day in a row, the correspondent reported.
The reporter said Reuters photographer Saed al-Hawari was attacked and photographer Ahmad Musleh was arrested. A camera belonging to journalist Ahmad Ouda was confiscated.
Another Palestinian journalist told Ma'an that a police officer tried to hit his camera, and when he defended himself, grabbed him by the neck. While the police officer was removed by colleagues, he warned the journalist: "I will see you another day."
"It was more crazy than yesterday, you can't imagine -- they hit girls and were laughing like they don't care about Palestinians," the journalist said.
Near the headquarters of President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, a violent clash broke out as police tried to prevent protesters from crossing a line of security forces, the correspondent reported.
A spokesman for the Palestinian security services said 10 people were hospitalized, and several arrested, without providing the number of detentions.
Adnan Dmeiri said fighting only broke out when protesters tried to reach the presidential headquarters, which police are required to stop as protesting there is forbidden.
He said police were investigating who was behind the protest, saying the "agendas of those unknown movements are to create chaos and harm security and attack Palestinian police." Here's video of the clashes: Tweeters are quick to blame - America! They are pointing out that the PA security forces were trained by the US. To them, Abbas is an American/Zionist stooge. Keep in mind that the protest was originally against even discussing restarting peace talks with Israel before it grew into an anti-police violence protest. These are not Hamas fanatics, but the "liberal secular Arabs" that the West loves to love. There has never been a Palestinian Arab anti-terrorism rally like this. Or a Palestinian equivalent of "Peace Now" rally. If this is the start of a "Palestinian spring" - and it very well may be, because of the ham-handedness of the PA police - you can expect the trajectory to be much like Egypt's. The ultimate winner would be the Islamists who are staying on the sidelines, waiting for an opportunity to swoop in, expand the protests and ultimately co-opt them. 
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| Sunday links Posted: 01 Jul 2012 02:45 PM PDT From Ian: This is why Israel profiles behaviour. Vietnamese immigrant charged with helping al-Qaida in Yemen "Minh Quang Pham was arrested in Britain. He is accused of traveling to Yemen to train with members of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP." Russia helped Syria shoot down Turkish plane, UK newspaper claims "London's Sunday Times reports that Russian technicians helped make split-second decision to fire at jet as a warning to NATO" PA envoy Holocaust was 'greatest crime in history' "Abdel Shafi's comments about the Holocaust are unusual for a PA official, especially in light of a doctoral thesis written by PA President Mahmoud Abbas at a Russian university in the 1980s in which he described the Holocaust as a "Zionist fantasy, the fantastic lie that six million Jews were killed." Will this be reported in the Arabic press? Israeli Ice Cream Shop Serves Hummus Ice Cream "Ice cream maker Boris Schwartz said the flavor has the familiar taste of hummus but that "it is a little sweeter than usual."
"It is a little strange, not for everyone, it's for people who like special things," said Schwartz. 
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| Saudi women drove cars; one might go to Olympics Posted: 01 Jul 2012 01:00 PM PDT From UPI: Saudi Arabian women drove cars to mark the one-year anniversary of a campaign to end the ban on women getting behind the wheel, officials said.
"What's happening today is not a protest," said Aziza al-Yousef, who took a 15-minute drive Friday. "We want to remember the day and the issue."
Earlier this week, members of the women's group demanding the right to drive called off a protest scheduled for Friday, saying they didn't believe Saudi Arabia was ready for a protest, Bikyamasr.com reported.
The women also sent King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz a petition urging him to lift the ban on women driving.
"Our initiative is not aimed at violating laws," said a letter to the king from Manal al-Sharif and Najla Hariri, 45. The petition asks for "the possibility for women to get a driving license in nearby countries and allowing them to start driving." The LA Times has an interview with the leader of the movement. Meanwhile, it looks like the Saudis will send a woman to compete in the Olympics: Saudi Arabia, in a sudden turnabout has lifted its ban on women athletes competing in international tournaments little more than a week after the death of Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, an opponent of women's participation in global sports events.
It was not immediately clear what prompted the reversal that was announced in a statement by the Saudi embassy in London. A Saudi women equestrian is expected to be the conservative kingdom's only female athlete likely to qualify for next month's London Olympics. The kingdom does not encourage women's sports, offer girls physical education in public schools or include women in its national sports plan.
The embassy statement followed months of sea-saw [sic] pronouncements on whether women would be allowed to compete in London, topped in April by a statement by Prince Nayef categorically ruling out. Prince Nayef, largely viewed as a conservative hardliner with close ties to Saudi Arabia's religious leadership was succeeded as crown prince by Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz who is believed to be more liberal.
"The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is looking forward to full participation" in the Olympic Games. "The Saudi Olympic Committee will oversee participation of female competitors who qualify," the Saudi embassy in London said.
If indeed implemented it would mark the first time that Saudi women are allowed to officially participate in an international sports tournament and would mean that the kingdom no longer is the only country in the world that refuses to allow women to compete on a global scale. 
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| Gunshots fired at Manchester yeshiva Posted: 01 Jul 2012 11:30 AM PDT From TheJC: A gunman has targeted a Yeshiva in Manchester firing shots at the building before escaping in a car.
No one was injured in the attack. Early reports say the incident targeted the Shaarei Torah Yeshiva in the mainly Jewish area of Broughton Park at around 2am last night.
Two cars were reportedly driving erratically around the yeshiva, the largest of its kind in Manchester and a large multi-storey building prominent for its Hebrew writing fronting its street entrance.
Some of the talmudic college's 170, mainly teenage, students came outside the building to discover the source of the disturbance when a flash was seen and a shot heard coming from the window of one of the cars. At least one bullet casing was discovered by students on road shortly after the cars sped off.
Police are currently on the scene, after having arrived moments after the incident, and have cordoned off the road immediately outside the college. Forensic teams are expected to be investigating the scene for clues as to who was responsible.
Most of the college's students are residential, and it is understood the scene inside the building is calm. There happens to be a trial going on in Manchester of a couple who planned to bomb the Jewish community there: A married couple inspired by al-Qaeda to blow up Jews in Manchester had planned a terror attack from their wedding day, a court has heard. Antisemitic Islamic hate speeches and videos of beheadings were found in their home.
Oldham hairdresser Shasta Khan denies charges of planning to acquire substances to produce a home-made bomb, relating to a period beginning August 10 2010, the day the pair were married at a small Islamic ceremony at Mrs Khan's parents' house. They had met through an Islamic marriage website.
Husband Mohammed Sajid Khan has already pleaded guilty to preparing for acts of terrorism and three counts of possessing terrorist material at an earlier trial.
Yesterday prosecution lawyers said that the couple could have been days from producing explosives and were following al-Qaeda instructions to make a home-made pipe bomb.
...The potential Jewish targets for the couple's alleged bomb were also partially disclosed. Mrs Khan told police that she had driven her husband to a Prestwich synagogue, and twice they had sat in its car park watching Jewish people enter, while her husband said a Koranic-inspired verse calling Jews "dirty" and said "we must kill them all".
The couple had repeatedly driven past synagogues on Shabbat on Northumberland Street, in the heart of Salford's strictly Orthodox community.
The Jewish Agency in Prestwich was a favourite destination on the couple's Tom Tom navigation device, with its website bookmarked on their home computer, alongside that of the UJIA.
Turning to forensic evidence of the couple's two computers, Miss Cheema said that their small terraced house contained a "huge amount" of proscribed terrorist material.
Mrs Khan had watched Jihadi videos of gruesome beheadings and cars exploding, on a "nightly" basis with her husband, Sajid Khan, as she massaged his feet. See how loving they are? 
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| Elder "Zionist Games 2012" T-shirt sighting Posted: 01 Jul 2012 10:15 AM PDT |
| Another potential natural gas find off Israel's coast Posted: 01 Jul 2012 08:15 AM PDT From Globes: Isramco Ltd. today announced that "substantial signs of petroleum (natural gas) have been found at the Shimshon 1 exploratory well."
Last week, "Globes" reported that drilling at the Shimshon well had reached the target strata and that initial tests had found signs of natural gas.
Today, Isramco said that the well reached the target strata at 3,302 meters in 1,103 meters of water. The target strata have a net thickness of 19 meters. All the well's partners have decided to go ahead with production tests, which are due to begin in a few days, and will take 35 days. The production tests will include gas flow at different rates from the target strata and measuring the well pressure and composition of the natural gas.
The estimated cost of the production tests and preparation work of the well for future production, assuming there is a gas discovery, is $33.7 million, of which Isramco's share is $13 million.
Drilling of the Shimshon 1 well began in April. The Shimshon prospect has an estimated 2.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas with a probability of success of 20%. The size of the reservoir is less than a quarter of the Tamar discovery.
If Shimshon is found to be commercial, it will be Israel's first large natural gas offshore discovery in which Noble Energy Inc. and Delek Group Ltd. are not partners. Isramco and its affiliates own 60% of Shimshon and well operator ATP Oil & Gas Corporation (Nasdaq: ATPG) owns 40%. Besides the obvious importance of making Israel more energy-independent and a potential exporter of fuel, having competition in the natural gas space reduces the chances of corruption by a monopoly. 
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| Morsi - and a lot of Egyptians - want '93 WTC terrorist released Posted: 01 Jul 2012 06:07 AM PDT From the NYT: President-elect Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood pre-empted the military's choreographed swearing-in ceremony by taking an oath of office a day early on Friday, in a televised speech to tens of thousands of supporters in Tahrir Square.
But a promise Mr. Morsi made as part of his speech may provoke Washington: to work for the release of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the Egyptian-born militant Islamist convicted after the 1993 World Trade Center attack of plotting to bomb several New York City landmarks.
Mr. Morsi referred briefly to Mr. Abdel Rahman in an almost offhand aside in the context of a vow to free Egyptian civilians imprisoned here after military trials under the rule of the generals. "I see signs for Omar Abdel Rahman and detainees' pictures," he said. "It is my duty and I will make all efforts to have them free, including Omar Abdel Rahman." An "almost offhand aside?" No, not quite. Rahman's son told Al Masry Al Youm that Morsi personally promised him that he would lobby for Rahman's release in an upcoming meeting with Hillary Clinton, so this wasn't an off-the-cuff remark as the Times seems to imply. It is not only Morsi who wants to see the "blind sheikh" freed. There are large banners in Cairo calling for his release, and many people have rallied for it: A massive banner some four meters wide and tall sits atop a traffic light near the American Embassy in Cairo. On it is a man, wearing sunglasses and his beard hang down from an aging face. The "Blind Sheikh", or Omar Abdel Rahman, has a group of followers in his native Egypt who have been pushing for his release since the revolution ousted former dictator Hosni Mubarak.
They sit sprawled out on a side street leading to the American Embassy. The group of some 20 protesters are demanding the release of blind sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, who has remained in American jail since being convicted of being the mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center attack.
 "He is innocent and we demand him be allowed to return to Egypt and live out his life," said a family supporter late last year, who like Rahman, is also an American citizen and asked that his name not be revealed. He plans to travel to the US in the new year.
"We are here to show America that they cannot create charges and then put a man, who is not healthy and who is old, in solitary confinement," he told Bikyamasr.com. Here are some other photos of pro-Rahman rallies in Egypt: This paragraph from the NYT is also unintentionally illuminating:: A Brotherhood spokesman said later that Mr. Morsi intended to ask federal officials in the United States to have Mr. Abdel Rahman extradited to Egypt on humanitarian grounds. He was not seeking to have Mr. Abdel Rahman's convictions overturned or calling him a political prisoner. Given that Morsi supposedly officially quit the Muslim Brotherhood after winning the election on Sunday, isn't it interesting that a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman is speaking for him on Friday? 
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| Second Temple mikveh was discovered on Temple Mount in 1927 - and hushed up Posted: 01 Jul 2012 04:15 AM PDT From Israel HaYom: In 1927, an earthquake struck Jerusalem, killing 130 people, wounding 450 and destroying or heavily damaging about 300 buildings, including Al-Aqsa mosque. The Muslim waqf, led by Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Husseini, began restoring the mosque. Robert Hamilton, the director of the antiquities department during the Mandatory period in pre-state Israel, spotted an opportunity in the midst of disaster.
 | | 7th century BCE finding from Temple Mount project, saying "From Gibeon to the King" |
Hamilton took advantage of this unexpected window of opportunity to reach an agreement with the waqf that would allow archaeological investigation on the Temple Mount, for the first time ever, in the area where the mosque had collapsed. Hamilton documented the reconstruction work done by the waqf, photographed, sketched, excavated, analyzed and wrote about a series of findings, some of them surprising.
But this unprecedented cooperation between the British archaeologist and the Muslim clerics was not without a price. In the book that Hamilton later published, he makes no mention of any findings that the Muslims would have found inconvenient. It was no coincidence that these findings came from two historical periods that preceded the Muslim period in Jerusalem: the Second Temple era and the Byzantine era. These findings were hidden deep in the Mandatory archives department (which today is part of the Antiquities Authority archives in the Rockefeller Museum). These days they are finally coming to light.
...Beneath the floor of Al-Aqsa mosque, which had collapsed in the earthquake, Hamilton discovered the remains of a Jewish mikveh [ritual pool used for purification] that dated back to the Second Temple era.
Apparently, Jews immersed in this mikveh before entering the Temple grounds. This article is a little maddening. It describes the latest findings from the Temple Mount sifting project that is going through tons of debris that was criminally destroyed by the Waqf on the Temple Mount, and adds details I was not aware of, like: ...[P]iles of earth remain on the Temple Mount. In an extraordinary move, the High Court of Justice has ruled that the waqf is forbidden to move them.
"We are willing to allow the waqf to remove the earth from there under certain conditions that will allow us to carry out a better archaeological examination of it, or if they allow us to sift it there. Meanwhile, the waqf refuses to allow either option. Not only that, but it is deliberately mixing this earth with modern-day trash and construction debris in order to reduce our ability to get something out of it in the future," he says. But outside some Byzantine-era mosaics, the other findings that Robert Hamilton made, and presumably photos, are not delved into. If they are at the Rockefeller Museum, and they have not been yet publicized - why not? (h/t Yoel) 
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