יום שבת, 30 בנובמבר 2013

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

11/29 Links Pt2: The Two-State Delusion, PA: We Stay in Negotiations only to Release Prisoners

Posted: 29 Nov 2013 01:00 PM PST

From Ian:
The Two-State Delusion
While Israelis consistently poll in support of a Palestinian state, the reasons for abandoning the idea have multiplied over time. Palestinian nationalism with its malignant and rogue features remains committed to destroying Zionism. The Fatah media and school curricula indoctrinate the Palestinian people and youth to disparage Jews as "evil" and Israel as a "cancer." Palestinian military forces train for the possibility of future fighting with Israeli military forces, and Palestinian diplomacy, like the recent failed attempt to get the U.N. to grant it unconditional statehood, remains the stuff of wily bazaar bargaining in a diplomatic war of attrition. It is clear that the Palestinian public has never really accepted the two-state solution as a final end to the conflict. This was given vivid expression in the last interview by the late Faisal Husseini, the prominent PLO leader, who infamously compared the Oslo process to a Trojan horse that would bring about Israel's demise. More recently, Abbas Zaki, Fatah Central Committee member, confessed that "it's not acceptable to say we want to wipe Israel out … It's not [acceptable] policy to say so. Don't say these things to the world. Keep it to yourself." (h/t NormanF)
Hold the phone. Who are you calling a Palestinian?
The word "Palestinian" has always been difficult to define. For a start, there has never been a state called "Palestine", so how can you define Palestinians? There has never been a Palestinian currency, monarch, capital city or defined international border.
In fact, at the end of the Ottoman empire in 1918, Arabs living in the area now covered by Israel and Jordan preferred to be known as Syrian. It was the incoming Jews who were calling themselves "Palestinian", following the name of the area under British mandate control.
In Israel, an Arab village builds mosque with Chechen help
Bankrolled largely by Chechnya and named after its former leader Akhmad Kadyrov, who was slain by Islamist militants in 2004, the glimmering shrine tells of this small Israeli Arab community's historical ties to the restive Russian province.
Abu Ghosh residents say their forbears were Chechens who came five centuries ago to then Ottoman-ruled Palestine. With the advent of modern Zionism, the villagers were quick to forge an alliance with the Jewish state founded in the war of 1948.
Failure of the Two-State Solution: A Reply to Ian Lustick
Blaise Pascal once noted, "The first moral obligation is to think clearly." In his "Two-State Illusion" (New York Times Sunday Review, Sep. 15), Ian Lustick provides proof that Pascal was right. By getting most of his details just wrong enough to inform sloppy thinking, Lustick reaches conclusions that are profoundly immoral. Since Obama's and Kerry's thinking on the issue resembles Lustick's, it should be helpful to see where Lustick goes wrong.
Two "dirty secrets" lie at the root of the failure of the "two-state" solution, one on the Palestinian side and one on the Israeli. People involved with the discussions are aware of them, but because they identify the fundamental flaws with the Oslo "peace process," much of academia and the media go to great lengths not to mention them, and Lustick certainly doesn't.
Salah: Knesset Has No Right to Discuss the Temple Mount
Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of the radical Islamic Movement in Israel, says that the Israeli Knesset has no right to discuss matters pertaining to the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Temple Mount, and that all of its decisions on the matter are null and void.
In an interview published Wednesday in Hamas publication Falastin, Salah said that "we will continue to monitor all of the Israeli plans that have as their goal the city of Al Quds [Jerusalem - ed.] and the Al Aqsa Mosque. The Knesset's intervention in the matters of Al Aqsa is null and void, and anything that stems from something that is null and void, is null and void itself."
Shaath: 'We Will Stay in Negotiations Just to Release Prisoners'
Nabil Shaath, one of the senior officials in the terrorist organization Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), has declared in a Maariv interview Friday that the PA will remain in talks until all of their terrorist "prisoners" are released - despite admitting that talks have tanked.
"We have committed to negotiations for a period of 9 months, and by then we hope to see all 104 of our prisoners released," Shaath claimed. He also noted that if not for the release of the more terrorists, PA negotiators would have left the peace talks entirely - just as they threatened to do earlier this month.
MK Shaked urges Tel Aviv mayor to pull plug on Nakba film festival
Habayit Hayehudi faction chairwoman MK Ayelet Shaked implored Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai on Thursday to cancel an upcoming film festival focusing on the Nakba, the Arabic term meaning "catastrophe" that Palestinians and Israeli Arabs use to describe the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem during Israel's War of Independence.
"I was shocked to discover that Tel Aviv Municipality was helping produce an anti-Zionist film festival at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. A review of the event's line-up clearly shows that the films represented at the festival are of an anti-Zionist nature," said Shaked.
Poll: Majority of Israelis Believe Settlements to be Legal
A strong majority of Israelis believe Jewish settlement in the West Bank to be legal under Israeli law, a new poll shows.
The survey, conducted by New Wave Research on behalf of Regavim, found that 60 percent of Israelis view the settlements to be legal, while only 16 percent consider them to be illegal. 24% were unsure.
'Turkey's ban on Israeli flights could bring down El Al'
Air traffic between Israel and Turkey has soared by over 150 percent since the 2010 Gaza flotilla episode sent bilateral ties hurtling into the abyss. But only Turkey is benefiting from the increase: The total number of Turkish airline flights out of Ben Gurion Airport each week has reached a staggering 112. The total number of Israeli airline flights on the route: zero.
For reasons Jerusalem blames squarely on Ankara, Israeli airlines have been unable to fly to any destination in Turkey since 2007 and are locked out of the market. As first reported by The Times of Israel, Shkedy on October 22 sent a letter to Netanyahu in which he demanded Israel preclude Turkish airlines from flying to Israel as long as Ankara prevents Israeli airlines from competing, or at least halt the expansion of Turkish companies.
Honest Reporting: Oborne Back to Bashing the "Israel Lobby"
Oborne is clearly not the right person to comment on the dangers of the Iranian nuclear program and even less so when this gets mixed in with his obsession with the image of an all-powerful lobby even when this holds no water. Even Oborne himself concluded in his 2009 program that he hadn't found anything even faintly resembling a conspiracy.
Fast forward to 2013 and all Oborne will find is the very legitimate fears of Israel when it comes to the Iranian nuclear threat and the very legitimate right of Israel and its supporters to express those fears to the international community.
Kanye West defends Obama, saying he lacks Jewish connections
Speaking on "The Breakfast Club" morning radio program on New York Hip Hop and R&B station Power 105.1, West said: "Let me tell you something about George Bush and oil money, and Obama and no money. People want to say Obama can't make these moves, or he's not executing. That's because he ain't got those connections. Black people don't have the same level of connections as Jewish people. Black people don't have the same connections as oil people. You know we don't know nobody that got a nice house. You know we don't know nobody with paper like that, that we can go to when we're down."
The incident did not mark the first time that West had made comments which raised eyebrows among Jews. In 2011, he was booed at a concert in England after comparing himself with Adolf Hitler.
FIFA upholds Ukraine sanctions for Nazi salute
FIFA said Wednesday that its appeals committee confirmed Arena Lviv is barred from staging qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup. The stadium hosted three matches at the 2012 European Championship.
Ukraine must also play its first home qualifier on the 2018 program in an empty stadium.
Lone Soldiers celebrate 'Thanksgivukkah' together in capital
According to the IDF, there are presently approximately 5,000 Lone Soldiers, or Diaspora Jews who volunteer to serve in the IDF without having their parents living in the country. While the soldiers are assigned surrogate families, many face challenges acclimating to a starkly different life in Israel.
"I knew this would be challenging," said Adam Ota, 19, a soldier from Japan, who celebrated his first Thanksgiving.
"I miss my family, but we frequently Skype, so I still see them all the time."
Ota, the grandson of Holocaust survivors on his mother's side, said he joined the IDF because he was inspired by his grandfather, who fought in the War of Independence after being liberated from Hungary.
Wounded Soldier Honored at Lighting Ceremony for Jewish Unity
On Thursday, Rabbi Menachem Kutner, Director of the Chabad Terror Victim's Project (CTVP) and former IDF soldier Kfir Levi lit the candles together in a special program by Jewish unity organization Korov Lalev (lit. Close to the Heart).
Rabbi Kutner explained to Arutz Sheva that the soldier, who was badly wounded in Gaza in 2002, demonstrates the modern epitome of light and life in the spirit of the Hanukkah holiday.
IDF Blog: The Miracle of Hannukah Finds New Meaning in the Lives of IDF Soldiers
In honor of the miracle-inspired holiday of Hannukah, we bring you a series of stories from around the IDF – stories of soldiers that, in keeping with the holiday, are truly miraculous. Check back throughout all eight nights of Hannukah for more enlightening stories.
Largest European Menorah Lit in Berlin's Victory Gate
Norbert Lammert, President of the German Bundestag (parliament), spoke at the ceremony, reminding that "recently we marked 75 years since the (Nazi) pogrom 'night of broken glass' (Kristallnacht). In those times Germany left the cultured world for several years, and in those times many people had a good reason to believe that those events indicated the beginning of the complete end of Jewish life in Germany."
Lammert added "today, not for the first time, but for the tenth time, we are celebrating the holiday of Hanukkah here in Berlin...in the most central square of Berlin. It's a great expression of the changes that Berlin has seen since the Nazi regime."
Russia: Publicizing the Miracle of Hanukkah in Moscow
Chabad Rabbi Berel Lazer, fulfilled the commandment to publicize the miracle of Hanukkah in a big way Wednesday night: by lighting a giant hanukkiah outside of Moscow's Red Square in Russia.
Lazer made the blessing over the miracles "in those days and in these times," a traditional Hanukkah blessing over the candles, in front of a symbol of the modern miracle for Soviet Jewry: the downfall of the USSR.
Report: Pope Francis to visit Israel in May
A senior unnamed Israeli source quoted by CNN said that the papal visit has been tentatively set for May 25-26.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to travel to the Vatican next week and meet with Pope Francis. He will extend an official invitation to the pontiff to visit the Holy Land.
Israeli wins jiujitsu world junior championship
Almog competed in the under-87 kg (192 lbs.) category for youth. Before entering the finals, he prevailed against an opponent from Romania in a mere 20 seconds. This was the quickest match of the entire championship, earning him a special trophy.
In the semifinal and final, Bretsch encountered rivals from Turkey and defeated them. Two years ago, Almog won the European championship for his age group.
He says that one of the most significant moments was when they played the Israeli national anthem. "When I heard Hatikvah sung from the podium it was an amazing feeling."
New Movie Shows Brave, Tragic History of Gush Etzion
Kfar Etzion was the decisive battle. Mothers and children had been evacuated to Jerusalem when the defenders realized that the beleagured Hagana could not send forces to defend them. They never saw their fathers and husbands again. After a heroic battle - a day before Israel's independence was declared - the surrendering defenders of Kfar Etzion were killed in cold blood by the Arab forces, despite their raising a white flag. Only 4 survived.
Now residents of the region have created a new memorial for the 21st century: a professionally produced film that portrays the region's history, including the Jewish settlement in the 20th century, and the brutal destruction of that settlement during the war.


Why Isn't the World More Thankful to Israel?
This is only a sampling of Israel's many humanitarian missions over the years. There have been more including sending a team to Cameroon in 1986 after a poison cloud emerged from a lake killing hundreds of villagers and a group of medical professionals to Central America in the aftermath of the devastating Hurricane Mitch. I could also mention that while the world fiddles around with Syria, over 100 Syrians have temporarily escaped the ravages of war there and gotten treatment in Israel. In recent weeks two Syrian babies were born in Israel too.

Chanukah video post #3: "Jew Direction - "Chanukah Makes You Jewtiful" ✡D

Posted: 29 Nov 2013 12:00 PM PST

Gotta try to keep up with what the kids are listening to nowadays...

"Zionist goal is to kill all the Muslims"

Posted: 29 Nov 2013 10:30 AM PST

From World Bulletin:

Zionists are responsible for all the bloodshed in the Islamic world and Turkey's role is critical to resolve the problems in the region, head of the the International Compound for Proximity of Islamic Sects Ayatollah Sheikh Mohsen Araki, told press members in Istanbul on Thursday.

"Acting together of all the Muslims in the world is a duty of our religion. When the Zionist state had entered into our region for the first time, their goal was not only to slaughter Palestinians, but also to kill all the Muslims and destroy all the moral and material sources of them," Araki told.

He continued by giving examples, "Zionist enemies make every kind of plans to create hostility among us. There are their hands in every war, in every bloodshed. They are again responsible for what has happened in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. They are behind the plots laid in Egypt. We see the same thing in Libya and Bahrain. They want us to conflict and wage war all the time. They don't want us to resolve our problems by ourselves."
Araki is the head of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought.

11/29 Links Pt1: Bibi vows to banish the ‘darkness’ of Iranian nukes, Kerry Legitimizes Arab Terror

Posted: 29 Nov 2013 09:00 AM PST

From Ian:
Bayit Yehudi's Ben-Dahan: Kerry giving legitimacy to terror, not a worthy mediator
Bayit Yehudi deputy minister Eli Ben-Dahan lashed out at US Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday night, saying that he had given legitimacy to terror and was not worthy to serve as mediator to Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
The deputy religious services minister made the comments at the consecration of a new synagogue in the West Bank settlement of Etz Efraim. His remarks followed a suspected terror attack in Jerusalem on Thursday evening in which a two-year-old girl was wounded when her family's vehicle was pelted with stones.
"Earlier a girl in Jerusalem was hurt by stones from a terrorist," Channel 2 quoted Ben-Dahan as saying. "John Kerry, who warns us of an intifada does not understand the Middle East and he is not worthy to be a mediator when he goes back to his country. His words give legitimacy to this terrorism."
Baby Seriously Injured in Muslim Rock Ambush
A two-year-old baby was seriously injured Thursday when Muslim terrorists hurled rocks at the car she was in, at the entrance to the Armon Hanatziv neighborhood in southern Jerusalem.
A Magen David Adom (MDA) team gave the baby initial medical care and took her to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital. She suffered a serious head injury.
PM Vows to Catch 'Criminals' Who Injured Baby
"I am always moved by being here, in the place where Jewish history was formed, to large extent. This is the Zion that we dreamt of returning to, and this is Zion that we have returned to. Since then, we have been busy building our land and our state, and we are always under challenge."
"The first thing that I'd like to do this evening is to send wishes of speedy and full recovery to the small baby girl who was wounded by criminals here in Jerusalem," he said. "We will find these criminals and we will bring them to justice. We will safeguard our city."
"I think that you must have noticed in the last few days that our security forces are focusing on finding the perpetrators of evil. They succeed in this, and they will succeed in this case, too."
Four arrested in Jerusalem stoning attack that injured toddler
The suspects, Arab men aged 15 to 20, were brought for a remand extension before the Jerusalem District Court Friday morning, police said. The court extended their remand until Monday.
The four, residents of the Arab neighborhood of Sur Baher, are suspected of hurling rocks at the vehicle in which two-year-old Avigail Ben Zion was traveling with her parents in Armon Hanatziv, a predominantly Jewish Jerusalem neighborhood just over the Green Line.
'I Hoped Adelle Would Be the Last' Injured Infant
Adva Bitton, mother of the infant Adelle who was nearly killed in March by a rock thrown at the family's car near Ariel in Shomron, said the similar rock attack in Jerusalem Thursday night brought her right back to the day of the attack.
Islamic Jihad Leader Calls for Rebellion Against PA
The Islamic Jihad terrorist group has called on "the Palestinian people" to rebel against the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria, and urged them not to respond to summons for questioning by PA police as an act of defiance.
The Iranian-backed Islamist group has harshly criticized the PA and its security forces over a series of "political arrests", as the PA - which is dominated by Mahmoud Abbas' secular Fatah party - has sought to consolidate its control over Judea and Samaria by rounding up members of rival factions.
UN Distributes Fuel to Gaza in Midst of Crisis
Robert Serry, UN Middle East special coordinator, said Thursday that fuel "purchased by UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency) and distributed by the UN" is coming in through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel.
Serry added that while the amount "doesn't resolve the fuel crisis in Gaza, ...it does provide a safety net, we hope, for the coming two to three months for those critical installations here."
Al-Aqsa TV Filler Tallies Terror Attacks by Hamas
In a 2-minute TV filler broadcast by Al-Aqsa TV, Hamas dramatizes various types of attacks, giving a tally: 38 stabbings, 487 shootings, and so on.

Iran
Netanyahu vows to banish 'darkness' of Iran nuclear program
Speaking at the Western Wall for a Hanukkah candle-lighting ceremony, Netanyahu compared Iran's nuclear program to a darkness that would be forced out by Israel, referencing a popular children's song for the holiday.
"We came to drive out the darkness, and the largest darkness that threatens the world today is a nuclear Iran," he said. "We are bound to do all we can to prevent this darkness. If possible we will do this diplomatically, if not we will act as 'a light unto the nations'."
'Washington Post': White House omitting facts about Iran nuclear deal
In other words, according to the Post's Editorial Board, "the United States and its partners have already agreed that Iranian enrichment activity will continue indefinitely. In contrast, a long-standing US demand that an underground enrichment facility be closed is not mentioned."
According to the editorial, the most troubling aspect of the Geneva interim deal is that it provides for a "sunset clause" in the comprehensive agreement, meaning even the long-term deal would not be finite, and Iran could return to uranium enrichment and plutonium production at some point in the future after sanctions have been removed.
You know it's a bad deal when...
You know the accord reached in Geneva last weekend between the P5+1 and Iran is a bad deal when the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, proclaims that the accord does not recognize Iran's "right to enrich" uranium, and five minutes later the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, says it does.
Woe to us that Zarif speaks with more credibility than Kerry. Officials in Washington have now confirmed the Iranian interpretation by commenting on the record that it is "not realistic" to expect, even in a further accord, that Iran will agree to zero enrichment.
Dem to Obama: Don't fix Iran's airplanes
A senior Democrat is lashing out at a provision of the nuclear deal with Iran that could make it easier for the country to repair its aging fleet of civilian aircraft.
A little-noticed provision of the deal paves the way for U.S. companies such as Boeing and General Electric to inspect and repair Iran's American-made planes inside Iran. But Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs panel and a hawk on Iran, says the planes could be used to promote terrorism and support Syria's Bashar Assad.
Iranian FM: Tehran won't attend nuclear talks if 'Zionist regime' present
A report by the country's official news agency IRNA quoted Mohammad Javad Zarif as saying that Islamic Republic "would not attend a meeting in which the Quds [Jerusalem] occupying regime participates."
"We consider the Zionist regime as the biggest danger to the region and the world," Zarif told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), according to IRNA.
Amidror: Iran Deal a 'Failure, Not a Triumph, of Diplomacy'
In a New York Times Op-Ed, Yaakov Amidror, the former head of the Israeli National Security Council, slammed the outcome of the Geneva deal with Iran, as "a failure, not a triumph, of diplomacy."
Entitled, "A Most Dangerous Deal: The Iran Agreement Does Not Address the Nuclear Threat," Amidror wrote, "The agreement represents a failure, not a triumph, of diplomacy. With North Korea, too, there were talks and ceremonies and agreements — but then there was the bomb. This is not an outcome Israel could accept with Iran."
North Korea 'Restarting Its Reactor'
IAEA chief Yukiya Amano told the agency's 35-member board Thursday that North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex appears to have re-started its reactor. But the agency says without access to the site, IAEA inspectors cannot draw a definite conclusion.
North Korea destroyed the cooling tower at Yongbyon in 2008 as a confidence-building measure in talks with South Korea, China, the United States, Japan, and Russia.
But in September, a U.S. research institute said satellite imagery of the site showed activity that could mean North Korea is reviving the reactor.
How sloppy US diplomacy is empowering Iran
Dr. Michal Yaari, an expert on Saudi Arabian foreign policy from the Open University and Bar Ilan University, said that Riyadh's greatest concern is that the US will to ignore Saudi Arabian interests and focus on Iran. "Outwardly, they have been relatively cordial. They did not attack the Geneva agreement outright, they only hinted at their objections," he said. "But beneath the surface, Riyadh understands that Washington may choose to proceed in a way that conflicts with Saudi Arabian interests, causing a crisis.
Iran, she clarified, "is their greatest enemy. On the religious front, there's the hostility between the Sunnis and the Shiites. On the ethnic front, there's the Arab-Persian conflict. From a security perspective, since Iraq disintegrated, no power has been able to stand in the way of Iranian hegemony in the Persian Gulf. And politically, there are the Iranian attempts to weaken the monarchies in the region. They see an Iranian threat everywhere they turn. So while Tehran may not have the upper hand in all of the conflicts in the region, it certainly is not losing its battles."
UK PM Cameron to Britain's Jews: 'I Share Your Skepticism Over the Iran Deal'
UK Prime Minister David Cameron told Britain's Jewish community at a Chanukah reception, "I share your skepticism over the Iran deal."
"An enemy of Israel's is an enemy of mine… but in my judgement this is the right step to take," Cameron said, after lighting Chanukah candles with the UK Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak at a reception held at 10 Downing Street, the UK's Jewish News reported on Thursday.
"I know there will be great skepticism, I know there will be great worry," the prime minister said. "All I will say to you tonight is that I share your skepticism, I share your worry. I don't have any starry-eyed view about what this Iranian regime offers. We only got to where we are because of the very tough sanctions."
BBC WS fails to disclose Iranian regime connections of 'expert panel' member
So there we have it: undiluted Iranian regime propaganda broadcast to tens of millions of listeners around the world by the 'reputable' BBC World Service in the guise of an "expert" opinion, and with complete abandonment of the editorial obligation to make the connections of that "expert" known to audiences.
'Israel spied on embassies in Lebanon,' says Hezbollah MP
A Hezbollah member of the Lebanese parliament on Thursday accused Israel of tracking the movements of UNIFIL members and international ambassadors in the country, allegedly using a chain of surveillance positions along its border with Lebanon.
At a special meeting hosted by the parliament's media and telecommunications committee, and which was attended by the ambassadors of 27 countries and UNIFIL representatives, the head of the committee MP Hassan Fadlallah said Thursday that "[an] attack on a sovereign country in this way goes beyond international resolutions and conventions, as it includes an assault on freedoms and privacies [sic]," according to Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV.
Report: Hezbollah Policing Lebanon Streets
Hezbollah operatives have set up checkpoints to inspect every car entering the Dahieh district controlled by the armed political organization. Since the double bombing of the Iranian embassy on November 19 that killed 25 people, Hezbollah has been wary of further attacks on Iranian institutions in Beirut. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Abdullah Azzam brigades, a Lebanon-based Al-Qaeda affiliate.
"Young people are walking around with radios, checking every car that wants to enter the Dahieh quarter, and there are whole streets closed to traffic due to security concerns," Lebanese sources were quoted as saying by Asharq Al-Awsat.
Saudi Cleric: Women Driving Ban Protects Against Evil
Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, in a speech delivered Wednesday in the western city of Medina, said the issue of giving women the right to drive should not be "one of society's major concerns."
The kingdom's most senior cleric called for "the matter to be considered from the perspective of protecting society from evil" which, according to him, included letting women drive.

Video of Al Qaeda public execution in Syria - of other rebels

Posted: 29 Nov 2013 08:00 AM PST

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, this video shows an Al Qaeda group in front of a large crowd in Alatareb in the northern Idlib province.

The Islamist group, which apparently is from Iraq, executed the leader of a rival, apparently moderate Syrian opposition faction along with six of his men.

The crowd is very happy.

The execution begins at about 1:38.

WaPo notices the many shortcomings of the Iran nuclear agreement (update)

Posted: 29 Nov 2013 06:30 AM PST

This is a rather good summary of the problems with the Iranian nuclear deal. The best part, however, is that since it is in the Washington Post, it cannot be ignored by the White House.

THE FACT sheet distributed by the Obama administration about the nuclear agreement with Iran is notable for its omissions. The 2,000-word document, like President Obama's televised statement Saturday night about the deal, stresses Iran's pledge to cap its enrichment of uranium, delay the completion of a plutonium-producing reactor and accept additional inspections — measures that will guard against an attempt to produce a bomb while negotiations continue.

What the White House didn't report is that the text of the accord makes several major concessions to Tehran on the terms of a planned second-stage agreement. Though White House officials and Secretary of State John F. Kerry repeatedly said that Iran's assertion of a "right to enrich" uranium would not be recognized in an interim deal, the text says the "comprehensive solution" will "involve a mutually defined enrichment program with mutually agreed parameters." In other words, the United States and its partners have already agreed that Iranian enrichment activity will continue indefinitely. In contrast, a long-standing U.S. demand that an underground enrichment facility be closed is not mentioned.

Mr. Obama and other U.S. officials have spoken about a six-month time frame for completing negotiations, but the agreement says the six-month arrangement can be renewed "by mutual consent" and that "the parties aim to conclude negotiating and commence implementing [in] no more than one year." It also states that "there would be additional steps in between the initial measures and the final step," including "addressing the U.N. Security Council resolutions." Those resolutions order Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, but the agreement does not say whether those demands will be enforced.

The most troubling part of the document provides for what amounts to a sunset clause in the comprehensive agreement. It says the final deal will "have a specified long-term duration to be agreed upon," and that once that time period is complete, "the Iranian nuclear program will be treated in the same manner as that of any non-nuclear weapon state party" to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Iran thus could look forward to a time when there would be no sanctions and no special restrictions on its nuclear capacity; it could install an unlimited number of centrifuges and produce plutonium without violating any international accord.

Administration officials say they regard Iran's agreement to the words "long-term" in the sunset clause as a significant concession. In theory, this might mean 15 to 20 years. Iran, however, has proposed a far shorter period; we are told it was three to five years. Whatever the final compromise, it would be dangerous to allow this Iranian regime to have an unrestricted nuclear program at any time — and it surely would be unacceptable to Israel and Iran's Arab neighbors. The United States should retain the ability to block the expiration of controls with its veto in the U.N. Security Council.

The interim arrangement, as we have said, is worthy because it checks Iran's progress toward a bomb and is far preferable to the military action that otherwise might have been necessary. But the agreement leaves the United States and its partners at a disadvantage in negotiating the comprehensive settlement. The concessions made to Iran will have to be balanced by a major rollback of Iran's nuclear infrastructure — with no automatic expiration date.
Meanwhile, Iran is acting as if their international isolation is history. AFP reports:
Iran and the United States are to establish a joint chamber of commerce within a month, with direct flights also planned, an Iranian official said Wednesday in a newspaper report.

"Iran-U.S. chamber of commerce will be launched in less than one month," Abolfazl Hejazi, a member of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, told the English-language Iran Daily.

In the wake of a historic accord on Sunday between Tehran and major powers on Iran's controversial nuclear program, Hejazi also said his country was ready to start direct flights to the United States.

After the 1979 revolution in Iran, Washington severed diplomatic relations with Tehran following the seizure of its embassy in Tehran, during which Islamist students held 52 U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days.

According to Hejazi, the project which he said had already been registered in the United States would allow the two countries to work towards restoring ties.

Hejazi also said the government has authorized the private sector to launch joint activities and that Iran was ready to establish direct flights to the United States.
Actually, a US-Iran Chamber of Commerce had already been announced, as a private American businessman launched it in early November, in cooperation with the Iranian mullahs:
Mr. Manafzadeh says the idea for the chamber was hatched during a September meeting in New York City with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani and his chief of staff, Mohammad Nahavandian, who were visiting for the United Nations General Assembly.

"During our meeting," Mr. Manafzadeh says, "I proposed to Mr. Nahavandian that under his auspices I should register such an organization, in my office, at my expense, to work together with the Iranian-American business network to . . . advance trading with Iran." Before becoming Mr. Rouhani's chief of staff, Mr. Nahavandian served as president of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines, based in Tehran.

Mr. Manafzadeh's company website shows a photo of him embracing Mr. Rouhani and "presenting a very special copy of the Holy Quran to Mr. Rouhani which was brought from the city of Mecca."

UPDATE: See also Times of Israel.

Morocco party pushing bill to outlaw "normalization" with Israel

Posted: 29 Nov 2013 05:00 AM PST

From Bladi.net:
Any Moroccans who would visit Israel could receive a sentence ranging from two to five years in prison and a fine ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 euros, according to a proposed bill criminalizing the normalization of relations with Israel.

The bill created a strong controversy in Parliament, dividing the political elite and Moroccan organizations defending human rights. Some believe that this "bill is unconstitutional and influenced by Nazi tendencies ".

Others argue that this text is a clear violation of international covenants and treaties on human rights, denouncing a bill "sterile", which would undermine the image of Morocco that supports pluralism. "

The originally proposed text, by the Moroccan Observatory Against Normalization with Israel, is supported by five political groups, including the Justice and Development Party (PJD), currently in power.

The bill condemns all forms of normalization with the Jewish state ,whether economic, political, artistic, or cultural.
A report earlier this month said that Morocco bought over $51 million worth of goods from Israel in the first ten months of this year, much more than last year. Morocco also exported some $4.2 million of goods to Israel in the same time period, a slight decline over the same period in 2012.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

UNRWA lies (and accidentally tells the truth) to the New York Times

Posted: 29 Nov 2013 03:20 AM PST

From NYT:

There is one picture of Palestinian children studying around a small table by the dim light of gas lamps in the Beach Camp in Gaza, and another of children peeking over a sandy dune, with rows of small, uniform shacks of a desolate refugee camp in the background. In a third, a family walks across the Allenby Bridge, the father carrying two bulging suitcases, a young son clutching a white ball, heading east over the Jordan River.

These are a few of the black and white images, many of them powerful and haunting, that will eventually constitute a digital archive compiled by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the first part of which was unveiled Thursday at a gallery in the Old City here. Together, they capture the Palestinian refugee experience from the 1948 war onward, giving form to a seminal chapter in Palestinian history, identity and collective memory.
And how much context is given for these haunting photographs?

I couldn't find the specific photo of the family crossing the Allenby Bridge mentioned (update) but I found this one with its caption:


Homeless? Were their homes destroyed? Did Israel drive them out? The answer in the vast majority of cases is "no" and "no." Most arabs fled the West Bank because they didn't want to be under Jewish rule, not because Israel forced them out. This was a voluntary exodus, evidenced by the fact that tens of thousands ended up returning and that most of them stayed. These people are not "refugees" by any reasonable definition, even UNRWA's.

But this photo exhibition is not designed to tell the truth or give any context. It is designed to pull the heartstrings and - explicitly or implicitly - to blame Israel for the continuing refusal of Arab nations to take care of their Palestinian Arab population.

UNRWA's quotes in the article do reveal something, though:
"This is an important piece of work," Filippo Grandi, the agency's commissioner-general, told reporters at the opening in the Old City. "It is a contribution to building a national heritage for the Palestinians."

"Everyone has a right to understand, to study and feel a part of their history," [UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness] said. "Are we supposed to engage in denial of the events of 1948? The refugee experience is an essential part of Palestinian identity."
It is actually the formative part of Palestinian identity - meaning that UNRWA officials know very well that there was no Palestinian Arab national identity before 1948!

Indeed, UNRWA is what has pushed this artificial nationhood, which is now enshrined as fact - helping UNRWA stay in business.

If the Arab world had been pressured to integrate the 1948 refugees as every other nation has integrated refugees over the centuries, there would be no national identity for Palestinian Arabs today. It is an artificial construct that was created deliberately by Arab leader decisions to discriminate against Palestinians - a discrimination that exists today and is almost completely ignored by the world. UNRWA is part of this shocking coverup of the facts, not a force to fix them.
Christopher Gunness, an agency spokesman, said its mandate was to help the refugees and to advocate for their rights until all sides to the conflict negotiated a just and durable solution.

"What is perpetuating the refugee problem," he said, "is the failure of the political parties to resolve it."

Mr. Gunness added that the Palestinian refugees would have the same rights and status under any United Nations agency.
This has been a consistent lie that Gunness has given to gullible reporters for years. Here's proof that it is a lie: the UNHCR, which is responsible for all non-Palestinian refugees worldwide, has an entire group dedicated to resettling refugees in other countries. UNRWA doesn't. UNHCR has specific criteria for deciding how refugees can lose their status as refugees (for example, becoming citizens of a state.) UNRWA doesn't.

UNRWA perpetuates a bizarre situation where Palestinian Arabs living under Palestinian Arab governments in the West Bank and Gaza are still considered refugees! UNRWA perpetuates a situation where they are still living in camps even though there is no sane reason for a single refugee camp in the West Bank, Gaza or (for the most part) Jordan.

I've given many other reasons why UNRWA should be abolished in the past - like its tacit support of terrorism and  jihad. But the NYT isn't going to mention them.
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