יום רביעי, 5 בדצמבר 2012

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder of Ziyon

Night reading: When Kuwait expelled 400,000 Palestinian Arabs

Posted: 04 Dec 2012 06:34 PM PST

The Middle East Forum has a nice article by Steven J. Rosen about the seldom-remembered episode when Kuwait decided to ethnically cleanse hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs in 1991.

The largest forced displacement of Palestinians from an Arab state took place in 1991 when Kuwait expelled most of its Palestinian residents in retaliation for the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) endorsement of Iraq's brutal occupation of the emirate (August 1990-February 1991). It mattered little that this population, most of which had resided in Kuwait for decades, was not supportive of the PLO's reckless move: From March to September 1991, about 200,000 Palestinians were expelled from the emirate in a systematic campaign of terror, violence, and economic pressure while another 200,000 who fled during the Iraqi occupation were denied return. By September 1991, Kuwait's Palestinian community had dwindled to some 20,000.

Yet while this expulsion was near the order of magnitude of the Palestinian 1948 flight (estimated by the Israeli government at 550,000-600,000 and by the Arab League at 700,000),[2] driving PLO chairman Yasser Arafat to declare that "what Kuwait did to the Palestinian people is worse than what has been done by Israel to Palestinians in the occupied territories,"[3] it was largely ignored by the international community with neither the U.N. Security Council nor the General Assembly doing anything to assist the newly displaced refugees and punish their ethnic cleanser.

...Many of the deportees were subjected to abuse or worse during the process of expulsion. In March 1991, the Associated Press quoted a grave digger at the Riqqa Cemetery in Kuwait, talking about mass graves: "They were all Palestinians … One man had a severed head." The agency later reported that even some members of Kuwait's ruling family were involved in the killings of Palestinians, and Kuwaiti pro-democracy activists claimed the royal family had formed private "death squads" to execute people suspected of collaborating with the Iraqis. The director of the Palestine Human Rights and Information Center reported interviews with four Palestinian men who escaped Kuwait after being imprisoned there, saying that they were beaten with metal rods, burned with cigarettes, and interrogated by Kuwaiti officials during their imprisonment in Kuwait City.[14]

Palestinian children were expelled from public schools while heavy financial burdens, such as new health fees, were placed on Palestinians who wished to remain. According to the Palestinian group Badil, "About 4,000 people were killed, and 16,000 tortured in Kuwaiti detention and interrogation centers. Most of these were Palestinians."

...Most of the world was silent in the face of this enormous expulsion, including Kuwait's fellow members of the Arab League. A Palestinian observer lamented that, "You can call it deportation ... But I call it the third catastrophe after 1948 and 1967. Imagine what would happen if Israel deported 300,000 people. The whole world would be up in arms. But when an Arab deports or kills his Arab brother, it's all right; nothing happens."

No resolutions were adopted by the U.N. Security Council or by the General Assembly. Not a word was heard from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People, or the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the Situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian Territories Occupied Since 1967. All remained silent on the situation in Kuwait.

The General Assembly-established Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People did record twenty-four statements on expulsions and deportations of Palestinians during 1990-91,[37] but not one of these statements was about the 400,000 Palestinians deported by Kuwait. Instead, all twenty-four statements were angry protestations objecting to Israel's deportation of four convicted Palestinian terrorists with blood on their hands.
It is worth reading the whole thing to get an appreciation of what hypocrites the Arabs are when they claim they care about their Palestinian brothers. Not to mention the UN.

(h/t Josh)

Why peace is impossible, reason #4821

Posted: 04 Dec 2012 03:20 PM PST

Al Watan Voice quotes a Sheikh Hussein Qassem, an apparent religious leader among Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon.

He says that the UN vote is a step on the way for Arabs to reclaim the Negev, Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, Nazareth and Safed and all Galilee.

That's not enough of a reason to say that peace is impossible, though.

But Qassem brings up something else that is undoubtedly a widespread belief, one that does make peace literally and totally inconceivable.

The sheikh said:

We in the House of Palestine Scholars stress the legitimate principles for the liberation of all of Palestine from the sea to the river, from north to south, and we will not give up a grain of sand; all Muslims and Arabs will help us and stand by our side through jihad and resistance to liberate our land from the clutches of this usurper entity and this is their duty - because Palestine is not the property of the Palestinians only and not the property of the Arabs, but belongs to the Islamic nation, Allah bequeaths the earth and hence the Arab and Islamic support for our cause all have the power to return it to its owners...

Even if the Palestinian Arabs decided that they are willing to compromise for peace tomorrow, the larger Islamic world will never accept anything less than every inch of Israel that they believe is their God-given right.  They would brand the Palestinian Arabs as traitors and start the next stage in their never ending quest to destroy Israel, by every possible means at their disposal - military, demographic, political, lawfare, public relations, using useful Leftist idiots - everything.

Can anyone say, with a straight face, that this wouldn't happen?

(h/t Lachlan)

PCHR sort-of admits Hamas uses kids as human shields

Posted: 04 Dec 2012 01:15 PM PST

A nice find by Henrik, from PCHR last February:
At approximately 00:30 (Feb. 19), an IOF [sic] warplane fired a missile at a training site used by Izz Addin al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, in Yafa Street, east of al-Tuffah neighborhood in the east of Gaza City. The bombardment resulted in damages to the neighboring establishments, especially Gaza Martyrs Boys Basic School. The windows of the school crushed and damages were caused to the exhibit, the library and the book store in the school. Around 600 students attend this school which employs 23 teachers. The school which measures 4 donums is located 12 meters to the east of the targeted site.
PCHR admits here (without condemnation, of course) that Hamas placed a military site only 12 meters away from a school! (Or, perhaps, they placed the school meters away from their military site.)

According to YellowPages.ps, there is a hospital across the street from the school, too.

The Mohammed Al Dura Hospital.

Here is an IDF photo of that neighborhood prior to Cast Lead.

Tuesday links

Posted: 04 Dec 2012 11:50 AM PST

From Ian:
An Interview with Asaf Romirowsky on the Palestinian Predicament
"It's become clear we're never going to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict until we first resolve the fake refugee fiasco. I turned to noted ME scholar and director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East Asaf Romirowsky to gain his thoughts on why being a Palestinian is such a badge of honor."

The UN never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity
"In the original vote, 33 UN states supported the partition of Palestine into independent Arab and Jewish states, while 13 states voted against and 10 abstained. Note that almost every country that did not support the creation of a Jewish state next to a Palestinian state today supports the creation of a Palestinian state next to an existing Jewish one."

UN Watch: Hypocrisy at the UN: dictatorships reject "country-specific" resolutions, then adopt 21 country-specific resolutions on Israel
In an astonishing display of hypocrisy even by U.N. standards, numerous country delegates gave impassioned speeches last week objecting to the adoption of resolutions criticizing the murderous regimes of Iran, North Korea and Syria, saying they rejected the practice of singling out specific countries; and then proceeded, only moments later, to vote for a resolution — which most of them also co-sponsored — singling out democratic Israel.

Europe Once Again Shows that Palestinian Violence Pays
"So here's what we've learned from the past week's events: Palestinians should keep shooting rockets at Israel, because Europe will reward them for it by punishing Israel. And Israel should never again make any agreement with the Palestinians, because the Palestinians won't be bound by it at all, whereas Israel will be bound not only by what the deal actually says, but by what the Palestinians and their Europeans allies think it should have said."

Douglas Murray: Did Israeli settlements in the West Bank kill the two-state solution?
"Contrary to the wisdom of the Foreign Office et al, the blockage to peace is not Israeli settlement-building, unhelpful though that undoubtedly is. The bar to peace remains, as it always has been – as it was at Oslo, Camp David and over all the decades before and since – an unwillingness on the part of the Palestinians to accept the existence of the Jewish state and an almost completely ignored Palestinian insistence that the final-status Palestinian state should be completely and wholly free of Jews.

Sanctions Fight Is an Example of Why Bibi Doesn't Trust Barack
The reason Obama and Netanyahu are often at odds over Iran's nuclear program is that Netanyahu sees the gap separating Obama's words and his actions, and he doesn't like it.

IDF Blog: Israel Defense Forces: November 2012
November was a historic month, marked by Operation Pillar of Defense, terror attacks against the Israeli home front, and other events. Here's what the IDF faced this past month.

Israeli Security Foils Road Terror Attacks
Israeli security forces continue to foil Arab road terror attempts, including an attempted axe-murderer and a briefcase bomb under a bridge.

Hamas tells Fatah: Let's fight Israel together By Khaled Abu Toameh
Mahmoud Zahar calls on Fatah to "stop wasting time and effort" on peace process; Palestinian reconciliation efforts stepped up.
"As a goodwill gesture, the Hamas government has allowed 17 Fatah activists who fled the Gaza Strip to Egypt five years ago to return to their homes.
The activists fled during the fighting that erupted between Fatah and Hamas and resulted in the Islamist movement's takeover of the Gaza Strip."

MEMRI: Mahmoud Al-Zahhar against Mahmoud Abbas: Anyone Who Wants to Liberate Palestine Should Pick Up a Gun



PMW: "Hey [Netanyahu], you dog, you invader" - Fatah official Jibril Rajoub on PA TV



Honest Reporting CA: Top 10 Canadian Media Fails of Israel-Hamas War
"In war, the saying goes, the first victim is the truth. The "Eight Day War" between Hamas and Israel saw many falsehoods perpetuated in and by Canada's media. Here are the top 10 media fails from English Canada."

Guardian interrupts 'live blog' on Mid-East uprisings with news that Jews might build homes
"And, below the shocking reports from Jerusalem, in other, far less important news: Lebanon and Syria risk igniting a dangerous military confrontation, and Islamists in Egypt organized a mass rally meant to intimidate the highest court in the country. "

In foiled Jordanian terror plot, officials see hand of resurgent al-Qaeda in Iraq
"The plan was to unleash mayhem across an entire city and "bring Amman to its knees," in the words of one security official. It would start with suicide bombings at two shopping malls, then build momentum as teams of terrorists blew up cars and raked cafes with machine-gun fire."

Police Arrest Two Accomplices in Toulouse Terrorist Attacks
French police arrested two alleged accomplices of gunman Mohamed Merah, who killed rabbi and three Jewish schoolchildren in Toulouse.

Turkish TV Fines 'The Simpsons' for Mocking G-d
Turkish board of television is fining private broadcaster for airing episode of "The Simpsons" showing G-d to be under influence of Devil

Israel Daily Picture: 150 Years Ago in Jerusalem -- Read What the Tourists & Explorers Wrote
William Seward (Lincoln's Secretary of State): The population of Palestine is estimated at only 200,000.... Jerusalem is divided now according to its different classes of population. The Mohammedans are four thousand, and occupy the northeast quarter, including the whole area of the Mosque of Omar. The Jews are eight thousand; and have the southeast quarter....The Armenians number eighteen hundred, and have the southwest quarter and the other Christians, amounting to twenty-two hundred, have the northwest quarter.

Nearly 70 years on, Holocaust survivor reunites with 'Righteous' rescuer
At 85, Polish woman takes her first flight to meet the Jewish 'cousin' her parents hid from the Nazis
"Dudziak lived in Lublin during World War II and asked her family to look after Beiman when Beiman's parents went missing — presumably sent to the nearby Majdanek concentration camp. Although extremely poor, the family hid Beiman in its home and pretended she was a niece until the city was liberated in 1944."
Also, former German FM Joschka Fischer: The New Middle East's New Problems (h/t Missing Peace)

Chas Freeman freaks out over hasbara

Posted: 04 Dec 2012 10:15 AM PST

Even though he is a known anti-Israel nutcase prone towards Jewish conspiracy theories, it is still amusing reading Chas Freeman's recent speech on the evils of Zionists, you know, defending themselves:

Before I get to specifics, let me provide a general description of hasbara and its purposes. Hasbara is usually translated as "explanation." That does not do the concept justice. Hasbara links information warfare to the strategic efforts of the state to bolster the unity of the home front; ensure the support of allies; disrupt efforts to organize hostile coalitions; determine the way issues are defined by the media, the intelligentsia, and social networks; establish the parameters of politically correct discourse; delegitimize both critics and their arguments; and shape the common understanding and interpretation of the results of international negotiations.
This sounds so much more impressive than the inept pro-Israel messaging I see every day!
Hasbara has its roots in earlier concepts of propaganda, agitprop, and censorship. Like them, it is communication calculated to influence cognition and behavior by manipulating perceptions of a cause or position with one-sided arguments, prejudicial substance, and emotional appeals. Unlike its progenitors, however, hasbara does not seek merely to burnish or tarnish national images of concern to it or to supply information favorable to its theses. It also seeks actively to inculcate canons of political correctness in domestic and foreign media and audiences that will promote self-censorship by them. It strives thereby to decrease the willingness of audiences to consider information linked to politically unacceptable viewpoints, individuals, and groups and to inhibit the circulation of adverse information in social networks.
I'm sorry, but doesn't he seem to be describing anti-Israel propaganda campaigns?

Past efforts by states to shape domestic and foreign opinion depended on the production of persuasive information and efforts to deprive audiences of access to contradictory information by interrupting its supply through censorship, jamming, and other techniques directed at reducing its flow. By contrast, hasbara assumes the free flow of information within an open marketplace of opinion. In that context, it seeks to promote selective listening. The purpose is to constrict the demand for information, not its flow. Although hasbara includes efforts to impede access to information through a wide variety of techniques adapted to new information technologies, it focuses on limiting the receptivity of audiences to information.
That is freaking brilliant! By sending out information, hasbara activists are squelching the demand for contrary information! How remarkably insidious!

Of course, it doesn't explain why I would willingly link to his anti-hasbara screed and quote large sections of it. But never mind; it makes me and my pro-Israel cohorts sound so damn brilliant!

In addition to traditional techniques of agitprop, disinformation, and propaganda in conventional media, the Israeli hasbara apparatus made heavy use of more focused channels of communication like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. It inundated audiences with information favorable to its cause and squeezed out information that contradicted its theses.
That is a very impressive achievement, to squeeze out other opinions simply by stating your own. Unless, by stating a Zionist opinion, one demonstrates that the anti-Zionist rhetoric is filled with lies and slander. That might effectively marginalize the liars. Which is, in Freeman's bizarro world, apparently a minor form of censorship. And must be stopped. Um...yeah.

The state of Israel has organized civilian government and military units to exploit this, including creating websites, social media accounts, and messages attributed to false identities. It has learned how to manipulate browser functions, search engine algorithms, and other automated mechanisms that control what information is presented to Internet users. Such manipulation can ensure that certain commentary and information will or will not appear in response to searches. It can assign greater prominence to old material critical of sources or analyses than to new entries favorable to them. It can arrange for searches to find only positive or negative commentary and information on a topic.
Damn, we're good! Using secret Zio-tools, we manipulate Google! We own SEO! We ROCK!
In some countries, like the United States, Israel can rely upon a "fifth column" of activist sympathizers to amplify its messages, to rebut and discredit statements that contradict its arguments, facts, and fabrications, and to impugn the moral standing of those who make such statements.
So people who are pro-Israel are a "fifth column." Hmmm. And those who love the Saudis, and support their culture of misogyny, bigotry and Islamic supremacy - like Chas Freeman - must be patriotic Americans.

Yeah.

As one pertinent example, the Jewish Agency for Israel has sponsored an online "Hasbara Handbook" for students around the world to use as advocates of Israel and its policies.

The "Hasbara Handbook" explains many standard techniques of propaganda and deceptive rhetoric. It rehearses specific arguments and counter-arguments and outlines a program of training for advocacy and rebuttal. It also stresses the importance of labeling or "name-calling" – the linking of a person or idea to a negative symbol.
Just for giggles, I downloaded the 2002 Hasbara Handbook and searched for how it advocated the technique of "name-calling."

Surprise! It doesn't! it talks about how anti-Israel voices use "name calling" and how to counter it!

I wonder, is "fifth column" an example of name-calling?

Egyptian newspapers, TV strike in protest of constitution

Posted: 04 Dec 2012 09:15 AM PST

From Al Ahram:
Twelve Egyptian newspapers and five TV channels announced that they will go on strike for one day to object to both recently issued constitutional declaration and the draft constitution.

The newspapers will not print on Tuesday and the TV channels will go off-air on Wednesday.

The draft constitution, which was passed on 30 November by the Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly and is set to be voted on in a referendum on 15 December, does not include articles against the imprisonment of journalists in cases related to freedom of expression as demanded by journalists.

The Journalists Syndicate's executive council had withdrawn its representatives from the Constituent Assembly in mid-November after its recommendations and suggestions were ignored by the assembly.

Later, the general assembly of the syndicate had threatened on 25 November to stage a strike against the constitutional declaration that president Mohamed Morsi issued on 23 November..

The newspapers that will go on strike on Tuesday include: Al-Masry Al-Youm, Al-Watan, Al-Tahrir, Al-Wafd, Al-Youm 7, Al-Dostour, Al-Shorouk, Al-Sabah, Al-Ahaly, Al-Ahrar, Al-Fagr and Osbooa.

The TV channels that will go on strike on Wednesday, with blank screens broadcasting in place of content, are: ONTV channels, CBC and Modern channels, Al-Hayat Channels and Dream TV channels.

Already on Monday, Al-Wafd newspaper, Al-Youm 7 newspaper, Al-Watan newspaper, Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper and Tahrir newspaper shared the same headline "No to dictatorship" with an illustration showing a prisoner made of newspaper sitting in a dark cell.
The draft constitution itself has verbiage supporting freedom of the press, but it is fuzzy because there is always the caveat that the press must adhere to community standards, which could mean anything.

But before you think that these liberal, secular voices are necessarily the "good guys," here is a poster at one of their anti-Morsi rallies (screen shot from here):


Because even among enlightened, secular Egyptians, there is no worse insult than "Jew" or "Zionist."

(Mohamed ElBaradei lost all his credibility in Egypt by telling a German interviewer that many of the Islamists  are Holocaust-deniers; now he is being derided as "Mr. Holocaust.")

(h/t PTWatch)

A reminder of the PLO's real goal

Posted: 04 Dec 2012 07:30 AM PST

Shhhh...don't tell anyone:



Fatah leader Abbas Zaki speaks on Al Jazeera about "the great goal," referring to the goal of destroying Israel.
"The agreement is based on the borders of June 4. While the agreement is on the borders of June 4, the President [Mahmoud Abbas] understands, we understand, and everyone knows that it is impossible to realize the inspiring idea, or the great goal in one stroke. If Israel withdraws from Jerusalem, if Israel uproots the settlements, 650,000 settlers, if Israel removes the (security) fence - what will be with Israel? Israel will come to an end. If I say that I want to remove it from existence, this will be great, great, [but] it is hard. This is not a [stated] policy. You can't say it to the world. You can say it to yourself."
[Al-Jazeera, Sept. 23, 2011]

There are a lot of people today who are so - very - upset over the idea of Jews building houses in their own capital, saying that it dooms the two-state solution. (It doesn't.)

I don't recall a peep from any of them when this was broadcast to millions of Arabs last year on the most popular Arabic news network.

I also don't recall that great statesman Abbas denying (or reprimanding) Zaki's words.

(h/t O)

Hamas plans to rebuild Gaza's airport, seaport

Posted: 04 Dec 2012 05:28 AM PST

Palestine Times reports that Hamas plans to repair and activate the Gaza airport, with help from Egypt.

Deputy prime minister Ziad Zaza said that Hamas seeks to open and activate the Gaza International Airport, saying "The government has received Egyptian promises to provide facilities for large Rafah [material transfers] in the coming days, as well as demands by the Egyptian mediator for the reinstatement of Gaza International Airport, and the Gaza seaport."

Zaza claims that the terms of the truce allows unlimited imports of construction materials to Gaza, not just the materials needed for specific NGO projects that Israel had been approving. The construction materials will be imported from Egypt using a planned improved Rafah crossing.

The airport was owned and managed by the PA.

While Israel's legal right to a naval blockade of Gaza is pretty ironclad, I am not sure what avenues Israel can use to stop airplanes flying from Gaza over Egyptian airspace. (Besides bombing the runways.)



Sorry, BDSers. No more grocery shopping for you.

Posted: 04 Dec 2012 02:15 AM PST

From Times of Israel:

The past week has seen one of this year's biggest buyouts of an Israeli company by a large multinational: NCR, which makes checkout systems for retail, automated teller machines, and cash dispensers and the like, bought Israel-based Retalix, a provider of retail software and services, in a deal valued at about $650 million.

Starting slowly in Israel, where its retail point-of-sale (POS) software manages cash registers in nearly every Israeli supermarket and fast-food outlet, Retalix has slowly expanded and exported its offerings. In 2011, Retalix was ranked among the top four software vendors for grocery retailers and among the top 10 large software vendors to retailers by retail industry publications.

When stores used regular cash registers, they were able to tally totals, make change, and keep track of the income and expenses. The revolution led by Retalix, more than any other company, enables retailers to use the information that comes out of a POS system in so many different ways. For example, retailers can use the information gathered at the POS with a wide range of business intelligence tools — which products are hot, who's buying what at which times of day, what promotions are having the biggest sales effect.

By linking sales data to a credit or loyalty card, retailers can implement programs that reward shoppers for buying and keep them coming back. And the POS information on what products were sold makes it easier for retailers to keep track of inventory, payments, and expenses. And all of the data is stored securely in the cloud, enabling administrators or management at other outlets of the chain to easily access it for their needs. According to industry analysts, Retalix is a world leader in deploying these software solutions. And NCR, primarily a hardware company, will now be able to offer some of the most advanced POS systems in the world.

(h/t Ishai)
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