יום חמישי, 2 בינואר 2014

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Hamas admits Gaza is not under siege

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 05:00 PM PST

Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades tweeted:




Funny, I published that same photo in 2011.

The only way that Gaza can export strawberries is through Israel. So Hamas, by tweeting how wonderful it is that Gaza can export produce, is admitting that there is no siege on Gaza.

On Sunday, Israel allowed seven truckloads of strawberries and one of cherry tomatoes to go through Kerem Shalom to be exported to Europe.

01/01 Links Pt2: 92 Unis reject BDS, Israel bans European Hamas group inc. fmr. MP Clare Short

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 03:00 PM PST

From Ian:
Israel Outlaws Hamas's European Front Group CEPR; IDF Could Arrest its MP Board Members on Arrival
Citing emergency defense regulations, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon has outlawed The Council for European Palestinian Relations, a Belgian-registered non-profit organization that serves as terror group Hamas's mouthpiece in Europe.
The members of parliament include British Labour MEP Richard Howitt, German representative Alexandra Thein, Swiss MP Geri Müller and British MP Norman Warner, a member of the House of Lords, who was a health minister in Prime Minister Tony Blair's government, and now serves on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Palestine. Former British International Development Secretary Clare Short, who resigned in 2003, when the UK entered the Iraq War, is Chair of CEPR's Board of Trustees, and would also be barred from Israel by the move.
St James's Church's replica of Israel's security wall cost….£30,000
For British Jews the replica wall and Bethlehem Unwrapped are a disaster. I agree with Melanie Phillips when she states that its inevitable effect will be "to incite hatred against Israel and all who support its defence", which means even more vigilance at synagogues, Jewish schools and Jewish events.
Some will benefit though. Ottolenghi and his chef partner Sami Tamimi and Dembina, Zaltzman and Cohen will have had their faces and names plastered all over the gates of the Church which looks out onto one of the busiest roads in London. Not forgetting Justin Butcher, Geof Thompson, Dean Willars and Deborah Burton who all helped to design the replica wall (see below).
In the end the £30,000 cost of the wall could have been donated to help those that St James's Church, Piccadilly, really claims to care for: the people of Bethlehem.
Unwrapped: An ugly Guardian smear
Of course, suggesting that Israel engages in codified segregation by erecting such a fence fails the most obvious tests of logic and common sense, as Palestinian Arabs who live in the West Bank are NOT citizens of Israel and therefore can't possibly be expected to enjoy the same rights and privileges. Suggesting that Israel's barrier represents "segregation" (a word which typically refers to separation or isolation based on race) is as absurd as claiming that United States is practicing 'segregation' on their southern border because Mexican citizens aren't allowed to automatically cross the 'fenced' border into America.
In short, there is no racial component to Israeli checkpoints and security fences.
Finally, it is interesting to note that when you look closely at the Guardian's photo it is cut off around the lower left where two Brits (Sharon and Lesley Klaff) spray painted in red the words "THIS WALL SAVES LIVES".



Time For The Vicar To Hang His Head in Shame?
One of the many condemnations of the church's behaviour (in collusion with Interpal and other Israel-demonising bodies) comes in the form of an Open Letter from a distinguished British scholar, Professor Denis MacEoin, editor of the Middle East Quarterly, proving his doughty pro-Israel credentials yet again:
"….Throughout the Middle East, Christians are dwindling rapidly in numbers, mainly because extremist Islamic groups drive them out. Israel is the only country in the region where Christian numbers have been growing steadily since 1948. It goes without saying that Israel is the only country across the Islamic world where Jews can live safely, after almost a million were killed or driven out of Arab lands in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Those few Jews who live in Iran live on a knife-edge.
St. James Church – Full contact list
This list of email addresses was kindly submitted by reader 'John' in the UK. I am posting it all because I am sure there are many people out there who would like to write.You can address it to Lucy Winkett and put everyone else in the CC box with a comma between addresses.
CAMERA Prompts Washington Post Correction on Israel's Christians
CAMERA's Washington office has prompted correction of a Dec. 14 "On Faith" article by Sally Quinn which erroneously referred to "the gradual disappearance of the Christian community in Israel and Palestine."
HuffPo: Academic Israeli Boycott: Perspectives From Two Generations in Higher Education
Irrespective of political views, as a scholar, an educator and university president, I am a member of the community of academicians committed to advancing intercultural communication as well as identifying strategies, attitudes, beliefs and values that bridge human differences, rather than creating further division. That some of my fellow academics (such as the American Studies Association, the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association and Association for Asian American Studies) have chosen to take a stand against the very intellectual exchange that we are committed to by definition as academics, I find hard to understand. It is contradictory to our scholarly code of conduct.
Postscript to Harriet Sherwood's ASA boycott story: Major BDS FAIL!
In his CiF Watch guest post on Dec 15, Jon (from the blog DivestThis!) argued that the ASA was setting itself up for failure, and that if the vote was to pass, "it will be a vote of an organization that has discredited itself, even before the rest of the academy marginalizes them still further by pointing out that…an academic boycott is the opposite of academic freedom".
Then, following the vote, an interesting thing occurred: A remarkably large segment of American academia indeed took steps to marginalize the ASA and stand up for the principles of academic freedom threatened by the boycott resolution.
92 universities reject academic boycott of Israel
More than 90 American universities have released statements rejecting the American Studies Association's (ASA) decision to boycott Israeli academic institutions so far, and several have cut ties with the organization in protest.
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations expressed appreciation to university presidents and chancellors who "stood up against this discriminatory and unjustified measure and rejected the ASA boycott of Israel."
Guess What: 2013 Was a Great Pro-Israel Year on US Campuses!
For years those engaged on the pro-Israel side of the battle for hearts and minds of American college students have watched in horror as anti-Israel forces – whether they call themselves "pro-Israel" or not – metastasized on campuses.
The Israel-demonization events, the infiltration by Israel vilifiers into what were formerly at least moderately pro-Israel institutions, and the disruptions of Israeli or pro-Israel events, were met almost always with either complicity or a hands-off response from the academic administrations, faculty, and often eventhe organized Jewish leadership on campuses.
Things were so bad that Arab Israeli journalist Khaled abu Toameh famously wrote that on his speaking tours of U.S. campuses, he found more sympathy for Hamas than he does in Ramallah.
JPost Editorial: Quenelle salute
It was no coincidence that Dieudonne's transformation took place precisely at a time when anti-Jewish and anti-Israel sentiment was becoming more popular in Europe. Pierre-Andre Taguieff, a French specialist on racism, told The New Yorker that Dieudonne "has quite a keen intuition for the movements of public opinion and he immediately sought to instrumentalize this creeping anti-Antisemitism in public opinion by bringing it into his sketches, as a popular provocation, as a means of connecting with people on a visceral level."
The popularity of the quenelle salute is a reflection of the popularity of Dieudonne. And his popularity is in turn a testament to the increasing acceptability of anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist sentiments in France and elsewhere in Europe. And this, to put it mildly, is a worrying trend.
France probes anti-Semitic gesture at Toulouse Jewish school
Toulouse prosecutor Michel Valet told AFP that he opened the inquiry on December 13, the "same day" he was informed about the photo by a staff member of the school. Leaders of the local Jewish community said the photo first appeared several weeks before.
In the photo, a young man wearing black sunglasses and a white T-shirt with the likeness of Yasser Arafat is making a gesture known as the quenelle, seen by many as reminiscent of the Nazi salute.
Israel's tech successes 2013: The rest of the story
Without question, 2013 was a banner year for Israeli technology. According to a report released this week by PwC Israel, Israeli high-tech exits in 2013 were worth $7.6 billion, the best year since 2006. The biggest deals of the year, of course were those involving Waze (bought by Google for close to a billion dollars), Trusteer (bought by IBM for a similar amount), and the Wix IPO (the biggest Israeli IPO yet).
According to the report, Israeli successes went far beyond computer/Internet tech; collectively, the most successful Israeli exits were in the area of life sciences, where M&A/IPO activity amounted to $2.5 billion, and involved many more companies than the tech/Internet/mobile sector did.
Israeli apps winning awards for innovation, creativity
Israel is very successful when it comes to start-ups - even more so, in creating mobile phone apps, which in today's iPhone and Android-obsessed society are very much in demand.
Many Israeli-created apps are becoming household names and are routinely winning awards for their innovation and creativity.
Channel NewsAsia takes a look at some of these Israeli apps and why the country is getting the nickname, the 'app start-up nation'.
Govt clears proposal for buying 15 UAVs from Israel
Boosting surveillance capabilities of the army along the borders with China and Pakistan, the government has cleared the procurement of around 15 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Israel at a cost of around Rs 1,200 crore.
A proposal to procure these Heron UAVs was approved by the Cabinet committee on security headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at its recent meeting, sources told PTI here.
Israeli partnership bears fruit for Indian growers
With a population of 1.2 billion, a limited water supply and difficult growing conditions, India's agricultural journey to self-reliance has been a difficult one. While the country has made headway in feeding its people, more work needs to be done to educate and train farmers about diversification and sophisticated growing techniques to raise yields. At www.freshfruitportal.com, we take a look at an agreement reached between India and Israel to open centers of excellence for fruit and vegetable production, which could go a long way in propelling the country toward a new level of horticultural productivity.
Israeli Settler Doctor Provides Free Care to Ailing Palestinians
On a day when snow still covers the Judean hills, a Jewish doctor from Efrat drives into the neighboring Palestinian village of Wadi Nis. He is greeted by the local Palestinian villagers with smiles and warm hellos. "There's the doctor," says one Palestinian woman to another as Dr. Yitzchak Glick lowers his car window to say hello.
To the people of Wadi Nis and six other Palestinian villages in the Gush Etzion region, the kippah-wearing Dr. Glick is a familiar and welcome face. The U.S.-born doctor, who made aliyah with his parents in 1974, makes personal house calls every week, providing medical treatment to ailing Palestinians free of charge.
Israeli ultra-Orthodox leader to receive UK honor
Queen Elizabeth II of England will award one of the UK's highest civilian honors to Isaac Schapira, an ultra-Orthodox Israeli citizen.
Schapira, the son of the late United Torah Judaism party leader Rabbi Abraham Yosef Schapira, will be given the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire award for "strengthening the ties between the UK and the Haredi community," the British embassy said in a press release Tuesday.
Dublin Jewish museum to expand despite opposition
The Irish Jewish Museum requested permission to demolish five houses, including an old synagogue, the Irish Independent reported Monday.
Local residents had expressed concern about traffic congestion in the area as the museum's visitor numbers are projected to increase five-fold to 50,000 a year.
Holocaust survivor meets her liberator after 68 years
It's been almost 70 years, but Marsha Kreuzman still remembers the moment she laid outside the steps of a Nazi crematorium wishing she could die.
Kreuzman had already lost her mother, father and brother to the Holocaust, and death seemed inevitable, she said.
But then an American soldier picked up her 68-pound body and whisked her to safety.
First Definitive Proof of Ancient Blue Dye 'Tekhelet' Discovered in Israel
The first definitive proof of production of the ancient blue dye "tekhelet" in Israel was revealed during an Israel Antiquities Authority presentation at a Jerusalem conference.
Derived from shellfish, tekhelet is mentioned in the Torah as the dye used in the clothing of the High Priest in the Jerusalem Temple, as well as being mixed in with white in the fringes of the tzitzit garment. But the origins of tekhelet were lost after the Roman exile, and most tzitzit fringes today are colored exclusively white. Over the past century, experts—including the late Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Herzog—have attempted to rediscover the origins of the dye, tracing it to the hillazon snail.
Decoded: Jerusalem's oldest Hebrew engraving refers to lousy wine
The carving was discovered on a clay jug in the Ophel area, near the southern wall of the Temple Mount, by a Hebrew University archaeological team headed by Dr. Eilat Mazar. It is considered the most ancient Hebrew engraving to emerge from the archaeological digs in Jerusalem to date.
However, the meaning of the cryptic inscription eluded researchers until Professor Gershon Galil of the University of Haifa interpreted it as a classification of a type of wine stored in the jug. He published his findings in the journal "New Studies on Jerusalem."

OT: Sometimes the sky looks Photoshopped

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 01:30 PM PST


Just happened to take this shot this morning.

Hey, it's New Year's, I need a break sometimes!

Gas pipeline in Egypt blown up again. Must be because of the settlements.

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 11:30 AM PST

From Al Arabiya:

Gunmen blow up a gas pipeline that feeds an industrial area in Egypt's desert Sinai Peninsula on Tuesday, Al Arabiya News Channel reported.

Official sources said the explosion caused no casualties, AFP reported.

They have escalated attacks on soldiers and policemen following the military's overthrow of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi in July.

The group spearheading the attacks, Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, is inspired by al-Qaeda and has claimed bombings targeting police in mainland Egypt.
They used to blow up the pipeline to Israel (and Jordan); now they are blowing up ones used in Egypt itself.

There is only one explanation.

It's the Mossad.

Or maybe it is because Egypt is not at war with Israel.

Whatever it is, it is a problem that will be solved by an Israeli peace agreement with the PLO. We know that because there is more Western effort, time and money in fixing that problem than in solving the problems of Egypt, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Kuwait and Jordan combined.


01/01 Links Pt1: P.A. Czech Amb. Killed in blast. Hamas test long range rocket, Putin: annihilate terrorists

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 10:00 AM PST

From Ian:
David Weinberg: Rejecting false linkage
The Palestinians also make a link between their issue and the Iranian issue. Specifically, they learned from the American diplomatic collapse in Geneva to give Washington no concessions in terms of territory, refugees or border controls. After all, the Palestinians see that Iran's persistence in retaining all its nuclear properties pays off. Washington acquiesced in the easing of sanctions against Iran without Teheran really giving up any significant hard assets.
Abbas learns from this to hang tough and wait for Washington to shunt Israel's concerns aside, just as Obama did on the Iranian issue in Geneva.
In the present situation, Netanyahu has, quite bluntly, even less reason to trust the Obama administration than he did before. Netanyahu should now be saying to Obama: If you're not going to protect Israel and the region from the Iranians, expect less cooperation from me on other files. You screwed Israel over Bushehr, so don't expect me to give you Yitzhar. America is not the only party that can play linkage politics.
Analysis: Ya'alon reveals why he rejected US security proposals
"When I'm told about the security answer in Judea and Samaria, and when they talk about satellites, drones and technologies, I say, 'guys, you're wrong.' The principal problem is education. If in Nablus and Jenin they continue to educate the young generation as it is being educated today, to idolize terrorism and jihad, and that the Jewish people have no right to this land, if this is how they're educated, than technology stops nothing," he said. "If the education does not change, we'll have the same pressure from the inside. And then there will be a Hamastan in Judea and Samaria, like in Gaza. It'll hurt us, it'll hurt Jordan and it'll hurt other interests in the area."
The "guys" Ya'alon is referring to appear to be Kerry and his aides, and the defense minister's message is unequivocal. No amount of drones or satellites can replace boots on the ground – of both IDF battalions and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) – when it comes to containing Palestinian terrorism.
Israel reportedly offering land and its 300,000 residents to Palestinians
Israel has raised the idea of transferring parts of the territory in "the triangle" southeast of Haifa — along with the hundreds of thousands of Israeli-Arab citizens who live there — to a future Palestinian state in return for annexing West Bank territory including settlement blocs, Maariv reported on Wednesday.
The idea is not central to the formal talks being brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is due back in Israel on Thursday pushing a "framework" peace agreement. But it has been discussed "at the highest levels" between Israel and the US, the report said.



JCPA: Hamas: Abbas Does Not Represent the Palestinians in Negotiations
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is returning to the Middle East in an effort to promote a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and, as a first step, to press the two parties to sign a framework agreement by April, which will be the basis for another year of negotiations on a comprehensive peace treaty. The framework agreement is supposed to deal with all core issues including security arrangements, the status of Jerusalem, and refugees.
American policy regarding the peace process is based on the premise that it is possible to reach an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians represented by the PLO-Palestinian Authority (PA) under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). However, the PA does not represent all of the components of the Palestinian people, nor does it have a mandate to make decisions on the core political issues in the name of the Palestinian people. (h/t Bob Knot)
Abbas threatens to rally UN against settlement 'cancer'
"We will not remain patient as the settlement cancer spreads, especially in Jerusalem, and we will use our right as a UN observer state by taking political, diplomatic and legal action to stop it," Abbas said during a speech in honor of the forty-ninth anniversary of the founding of the Fatah party, according to AFP.
PA: 'Netanyahu Promised to Free Israeli Arab Terrorists'
Palestinian Authority (PA) official Kadura Fares, chairman of the Prisoners' Affairs Union, claimed Tuesday that Israel obligated itself to release all the terrorists jailed before the Oslo Accords, including those with Israeli citizenship, as "gestures" to the peace talks.
Poll: Most Israelis, Palestinians support 2-state solution
The study, conducted jointly by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah, found that 63 percent of Israelis and 53% of Palestinians support the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, the university said in a statement Tuesday.
Israeli Minister Bennett: Handing Over Jordan Valley to PA Would be Suicidal
Israeli Economy Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday stood firm by the cabinet's symbolic vote to annex the Jordan River Valley.
In a Facebook entry entitled "My Jordan Valley," Bennett, leader of the Jewish Home party, showed an old photo (from his "hair days") hiking with his wife through Sartaba, while listing the names of the 27 communal farms and other ventures created by Jews living in the region west of the Jordan river.
'Fake' Poll Evidence of 'Psychological War' Over Jordan Valley
Left-wing organizations are waging a psychological war on Israelis living in the Jordan Valley, activist Danny Dayan, the former head of the Yesha (Judea and Samaria) Council, has accused.
Dayan revealed a recent incident in which one organization tried to rally support based on a poll showing that most Israelis living in the Jordan Valley want to leave – a poll which, he says, turned out to have been a complete fabrication.
US increases financial aid to Palestinians, links it to progress in peace talks
The American aid will be increased from $426 million in 2013 to $440 million in 2014, said Maen Rashid Areikat, the head of the PLO delegation in Washington DC.
Despite the increase, the 2014 US aid is significantly lower than previous years. In 2011, the US provided the PA $545 million in aid money, and $495 in 2012.
Member of US Congress calls to cut off aid to PA
Palestinian Media Watch's reports on the PA's payments of salaries to terrorists continue to reverberate in parliaments and US Congress. Last month, Dutch Parliament in an overwhelming majority vote called on their government to demand the PA stop salary payments to terrorist prisoners. (See text below).
Now US Congressman Jim Gerlach has written to Sec. of State John Kerry asking the that US stop foreign aid to the PA because it pays salaries and stipends to "compensate convicted terrorists and/or their families."
Second Murderer Convicted in Palmer Killings
The military court in Judea and Samaria on Tuesday convicted Ali Saada, of the Hevron area, in the murder of Asher Palmer, 25, and his baby son Yonatan, in September of 2011.
Saada's conviction joins that of another participant in the murders, Wael al-Arjeh, who was sentenced to two life sentences and 58 additional years in jail last July.
Rock strikes Habima vehicle on Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road
A vehicle carrying Habima Theater performers came under a barrage of rocks thrown by Arabs on Tuesday night as it traveled on Route 443 that links Jerusalem with Tel Aviv. No one was injured in the incident.
The vehicle was returning to Tel Aviv after a performance of the play "Something Good" in Jerusalem.
Hebrew University women learn to fend off Arabs making sexual advances
To combat increasingly brazen cases of sexual harassment against female Hebrew University students by young Arabs living near their French Hill dormitories, two student organizations are collaborating to offer self-defense and empowerment courses.
The initiative, spearheaded by the university-affiliated Yerushalmiot (Women of Jerusalem) and Hitorerut (Awakening on Campus), was created following a series complaints by Arab and Jewish female students of unwanted and crude advances by young Palestinian men.
Palestinian ambassador in Prague killed in blast
The Palestinian ambassador in the Czech Republic, Jamal al-Jamal, died Wednesday afternoon of wounds that he sustained several hours earlier in a mysterious explosion that rocked his Prague apartment.
Prague rescue service spokeswoman Jirina Ernestova said a 52-year-old woman was also taken to the hospital after suffering from shock.
Palestinians in Gaza said to test long-range rocket
Over the past few years, the Hamas terror organization, which rules the Gaza Strip, has produced its own 200 mm. caliber M-75 missiles, which have a range of about 80 kilometers (50 miles), putting much of Israel's heartland, including Tel Aviv, in their range.
New Info on Syria Chemical Attacks 'Shows Dangers Facing Israel'
A Sunday New York Times article shows why Israel must never cede control of Judea and Samaria, according to Arutz Sheva analyst Mark Langfan.
The report cites a newly-published analysis by Theodore Postol, an MIT professor, and Richard Lloyd, a Telsa scientist, which concluded that the rockets used in Syrian chemical attacks on civilians in August were likely "propelled by motors taken from a common family of 122-millimeter conventional artillery rockets known as the BM-21." The BM-21s are Russian rockets commonly known by their newer name "Grad," or by their earlier nick-names, "Katyusha."
Syria Misses First Deadline To Remove Chemical Weapons
The international effort to destroy Syria's chemical weapons missed an end-of-year deadline to remove key components from the country Tuesday, and it's unclear when the date will be met.
Norwegian and Danish ships were supposed to carry the most toxic chemicals out of Syria by Dec. 31, but instead pulled back to Cyprus as they waited for the material to be delivered to the Syrian port city of Latakia, AFP reports. The international coalition first acknowledged the possibility of a delay on Saturday, saying the civil war, bad weather and logistics had slowed the delivery of the chemical agents. A spokesperson for the Norwegian frigate told AFP the vessel had not been given a date to return to Syria.
Top Iranian Military Figure Boasts About Destroying Israel, After Former Presidential Adviser Says Obama Forced to Take Nuke Deal to Avoid Annihilation of Israel
"The enemy knows that the entire expanse of the Zionist regime (of Israel) is covered by the military net of the Islamic Republic, and a military action against Iran amounts to utter insanity," Deputy Chief of Staff of Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri said on Monday.
He added, "For years, our commanders have kept their fingers on the trigger, and they have been given the permission and authority [to attack enemies]. This is not a bluff and propaganda."
Jazayeri said that "the enemy is aware that the Islamic Republic has the power to destroy US and Israeli illegitimate interests in the region and can deliver them serious and crippling blows."
Egyptian Astrologer Warns: In 2014, Saturn Enters Sagittarius, Making Jews Stronger

Egypt seizes Brotherhood, Islamist leaders' assets
Egypt's interim government has ordered the assets of more than 500 Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist leaders seized – including those of the country's ousted president — as part of an ever-tightening crackdown on the group, senior judicial and security officials said Tuesday.
Lebanon Arrests Head of Al-Qaeda Affiliated Group
Lebanese army intelligence arrested Majed bin Muhammad al-Majed, leader of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades terror group, the Ya Libnan website reported on Tuesday.
According to the report, Majed resided in a camp for people who are registered as "Palestinian refugees" for a few years before leaving for Syria a month ago where he pledged allegiance to the leader of the jihadist Al-Nusra Front rebel group.
Majed is wanted by the U.S. on terrorism charges, according to Ya Libnan.
After Volgograd bombings, Putin vows to annihilate terrorists
President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday vowed to annihilate all terrorists in Russia, talking tough after two suicide bomb attacks in the southern city of Volgograd that killed at least 34 people and raised security fears ahead of the Winter Olympics.
The uncompromising remarks were made in a televised New Year address, and were Putin's first public comments since the two attacks were carried out less than 24 hours apart, first on a railway station on Sunday and then on a trolleybus on Monday.

Creating engines that run on water - Israel vs. PalArabs

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

From Technion:



Prof. Alon Gany, Dr. Valery Rosenband and their PhD student Shani Elitzur of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, present model electric boat and car as technology demonstrators for in-situ hydrogen production from aluminum and water. The reaction is based on an original activation process, and electricity generation on-board via PEM fuel cell. Filmed at the Fine Rocket Propulsion Center at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Technion.

The technology is based on a patented novel method developed at the Fine Rocket Propulsion Center for aluminum activation to react spontaneously with water. It enables compact, safe, and efficient hydrogen storage which can be used on demand.

The combination of this hydrogen production and storage technique with a PEM fuel cell can yield "green", non polluting electric energy with specific energy (energy per unit mass) greater by 10-15 fold than common lithium-ion batteries used today.

The technology may be applied, for instance, for marine and automotive propulsion, for emergency electric generators, for power supply in remote communication posts, and for civilian and military outdoors operations, providing convenient, safe, clean, and quiet operation.
But if you think that is impressive, how about a Palestinian Arab who claims to have created an engine that runs purely on water?

Mahmoud Abbas met personally with inventor Atef Abdel Rahman Shkoukani who received a Palestinian patent for his car that runs only on water.

Al Jazeera says that Atef worked on his invention for two years in his father's auto repair garage.

This was one of 22 patents registered by the PA in 2013. (Israel had nearly 2600 in 2012.)

Details on this revolutionary, patented invention are sketchy. Here is the illustration of how it works from Al Jazeera:


Impressive, isn't it?

A few years ago another Palestinian Arab inventor claimed to have created a car that runs on only air, but for some reason it does not seem to have made it to market yet.

Gaza is doing fine, says Islamic Jihad newspaper

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 06:00 AM PST

Palestine Today, an organ of Islamic Jihad, has an article today saying that Gaza is not at all like the image of  "destruction and siege" that the world believes.

Far from the image of war, destruction and siege in the Gaza Strip, Gazans during the year 2013 restored many aspects of normal life after years of blockade.

"The return of building and construction in the first half of the year, and the entry of modern cars, luxury goods, and the emergence of artists in the international arena in the areas of singing and painting, in addition to the Arab reader who is the best in the Arab world in the recitation of the Koran, as well as the continuation of weddings and other happy occasions. are some of the aspects of the Gaza Strip in 2013," said the article.

It goes on to say that many building projects were started, roads were paved, Gazans won recognition for their singing, art and Koran recitation talents, and there are concerts and weddings daily in the sector.


Roger Cohen shows his ignorance yet again

Posted: 01 Jan 2014 03:28 AM PST

Once again, Roger Cohen blames Israel and Israel alone for his fearless prediction that current negotiations will fail:

But I am going to make one prediction for 2014. It is that, for all John Kerry's efforts, this will be another year in which peace is not reached in the Middle East. ...

Plenty of bad things have happened between Israelis and Palestinians of late. There has been a steady uptick in violence. Israel's freeing of 26 long-serving Palestinian prisoners was naturally greeted with joy in Ramallah, and by a wave of Israeli government tweets condemning the celebration of terrorists. Along with the release came word that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government will likely announce plans for 1,400 new housing units in the West Bank, just as Kerry arrives for his 10th peace-seeking visit. This has infuriated Palestinians. So, too, has an Israeli ministerial committee vote advancing legislation to annex settlements in the Jordan Valley. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said the vote "finishes all that is called the peace process." Such contemptuous characterization of a negotiation from a leading protagonist is ill-advised and bodes ill.

Then there is the rebounding Israel-is-a-Jewish-state bugbear: Netanyahu wants Palestinians to recognize his nation as such. He has recently called it "the real key to peace." His argument is that this is the touchstone by which to judge whether Palestinians will accept "the Jewish state in any border" — whether, in other words, the Palestinian leadership would accept territorial compromise or is still set on reversal of 1948 and mass return to Haifa.

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, says no; this "nyet" will endure. For Palestinians, such a form of recognition would amount to explicit acquiescence to second-class citizenship for the 1.6 million Arabs in Israel; undermine the rights of millions of Palestinian refugees; upend a national narrative of mass expulsion from land that was theirs; and demand of them something not demanded from Egypt or Jordan in peace agreements, nor of the Palestine Liberation Organization when, in 1993, Yasir Arafat wrote to Yitzhak Rabin that it "recognizes the right of Israel to live in peace and security."

This issue is a waste of time, a complicating diversion when none is needed.

...Of course, any two-state peace agreement will have to be final and irreversible; it must ensure there are no further Palestinian claims on a secure Israel. It may well require some form of words saying the two states are the homelands of their respective peoples, a formula used by the Geneva Initiative. But that is for another day.

If Israel looks like a Jewish state and acts like a Jewish state, that is good enough for me — as long as it gets out of the corrosive business of occupation.
Cohen doesn't understand the basics of Israel's insistence that it be recognized as a Jewish state.

First of all, it is not Netanyahu who first came up with this formula - it was the liberal dream negotiating team of Livni and Olmert. As the Palestine Papers showed, the Palestinian Arabs refuse to, on principle even admit the existence of a Jewish people!

During the 2007 negotiations, Livni, rather passionately, argued about why such a formula is essential:

TL (Livni): I just want to say something. ...Our idea is to refer to two states for two peoples. Or two nation states, Palestine and Israel living side by side in peace and security with each state constituting the homeland for its people and the fulfillment of their national aspirations and self determination...

AH (Akram Haniyeh): This refers to the Israeli people?

TL: [Visibly angered.] I think that we can use another session – about what it means to be a Jew and that it is more than just a religion. But if you want to take us back to 1947 -- it won't help. Each state constituting the homeland for its people and the fulfillment of their national aspirations and self determination in their own territory. Israel the state of the Jewish people -- and I would like to emphasize the meaning of "its people" is the Jewish people -- with Jerusalem the united and undivided capital of Israel and of the Jewish people for 3007 years... [The Palestinian team protests.] You asked for it. [AA: We said East Jerusalem!] …and Palestine for the Palestinian people. We did not want to say that there is a "Palestinian people" but we've accepted your right to self determination.

AA (Abu Alaa) : Why is it different?

TL: I didn't ask for something that relates to my own self. I didn't ask for recognizing something that is the internal decision of Israel. Israel can do so, it is a sovereign state. [We want you to recognize it.] The whole idea of the conflict is … the entire point is the establishment of the Jewish state. And yet we still have a conflict between us. We used to think it is because the Jews and the Arabs… but now the Palestinians… we used to say that we have no right to define the Palestinian people as a people. They can define it themselves. In 1947 it was between Jews and Arabs, and then [at that point the purpose] from the Israeli side to [was] say that the Palestinians are Arabs and not [Palestinians – it was an excuse not to create a Palestinian state. We''ve passed that point in time and I''m not going to raise it. The whole conflict between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is not the idea of creating a democratic state that is viable etc. It is to divide it into two.] For each state to create its own problem. Then we can ask ourselves is it viable, what is the nature of the two states. In order to end the conflict we have to say that this is the basis. I know that your problem is saying this is problematic because of the refugees. During the final status negotiations we will have an answer to the refugees. You know my position. Even having a Jewish state -- it doesn't say anything about your demands. …. Without it, why should we create a Palestinian state?

...There is something that is shorter. I can read something with different wording:
That the ultimate goal is constituting the homeland for the Jewish people and the Palestinian people respectively, and the fulfillment of their national aspirations and self determination in their own territory.
Linvi answers Cohen's objections. Cohen ignores this completely, and in all probability is not even aware of it, since his grasp of the Middle East is paper-thin.

Similarly, Cohen glosses over the Palestinian Arab demands of "return" as if that is not really a serious issue. In fact, the "Jewish state" formula is meant to eliminate this bogus "right" to destroy Israel demographically.

I suggest that Cohen read the Palestinian Basic Law of 2003, which describes "return" as the biggest issue: 

The birth of the Palestinian National Authority in the national homeland of Palestine, the land of their forefathers, comes within the context of continuous and vigorous struggle, during which the Palestinian people witnessed thousands of their precious children sacrificed as martyrs, injured persons and prisoners of war, all in order to achieve their people's clear national rights, the foremost of which are the right of return, the right to self-determination and the right to establish an independent Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as a capital, under the leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole, legitimate representative of the Arab Palestinian people wherever they exist.
Abbas repeats this practically every day.

Similarly, given that Cohen seems sympathetic to Palestinian arguments against Israel as a Jewish state, he must be unaware that the same Basic Law defines "Palestine" as an Arab state - and Islam is the official religion:
Palestine is part of the larger Arab world, and the Palestinian people are part of the Arab nation. Arab unity is an objective that the Palestinian people shall work to achieve.

...Islam is the official religion in Palestine. Respect for the sanctity of all other divine religions shall be maintained.

The principles of Islamic Shari'a shall be a principal source of legislation.
Then again, I shouldn't blame Cohen for his superficial understanding of the issues and his ignorance of the basic texts and words of the Palestinian Arabs. After all, he only gets his news from The New York Times.

See also My Right Word.
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