Dead teacher was a Gaza bomb-maker
The UN refugee organisation in Gaza reaffirmed yesterday its "zero tolerance policy" towards political and militant activities by staff after reports that a Palestinian teacher assassinated in an Israeli air attack was a rocket-maker.
Reuters quoted unnamed Palestinian militants and Israeli intelligence sources as saying that Awad al-Qiq, 33, acting headmaster at the UNRWA-run Rafah Boys' Preparatory School was by night secretly a rocket builder for Islamic Jihad.
A handwritten note outside the school posted on the metal gate at the entrance to the school declared that the teacher, killed in an air strike last week, was "the chief leader of the engineering unit", who would now find "paradise".
Christopher Gunness, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency, which employs more than 9,000 local staff in Gaza, said that the agency was regularly instructed not to engage in political or militant activities of any kind. It has summarily sacked employees found to be in breach of the instruction.
Mr Gunness added: "We have a zero-tolerance policy towards politics and militant activities in our schools. Obviously, we ... cannot police people's minds." Family members and a student at the school said they had no idea that the dead man, a physics teacher with eight years' experience teaching at UN schools, was involved in militant activities.
UNRWA also announced that it now had enough fuel to distribute food aid for 20 days to the 700,000 refugees who need it. Earlier, the agency had warned that the shortage of fuel would mean it would have to halt food aid from last night.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Dead teacher was a Gaza bomb-maker
Showing posts with label fatah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fatah. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
DAR AL HARB-ISRAEL: MOSLEMS HATE JEWS & WANT THEM DEAD
The jihad against the Jews
By Bradley Burston
The jihad has a problem with the Jews.
Not just a problem with Israel. Not just the occupation. Not just the policies of the Israeli government, the actions of the Israel Defense Forces, the support by Washington and the West for Israel's embargo against Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Islamists don't care who knows it anymore. They hate the Jews. And, not to put too fine a point on it, they want the Jews dead.
Some of it one has grown to expect. "Today there is no room for he who says that we should only fight the Jews in Palestine," Osama Bin Laden's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said after Israel's incursion into Gaza last month. "Let us strike their interests everywhere, just like they gathered against us from everywhere."
Some of it is becoming better known. In a groundbreaking article in The New York Times this week, Steven Erlanger details, among other elements of Gaza life, the tides of Jew-hate washing over the Strip with the Hamas seal of approval.
There is imam and legislator Sheik Yunus al-Astal, who, citing a Koranic verse indicating that "suffering by fire is the Jews' destiny in this world and the next," concludes that "we are sure that the holocaust is still to come upon the Jews."
There is imam and legislator Marwan M. Abu Ras, chairman of the Palestinian Scholars League and a religious authority who anchors Hamas policies in Koranic sanction, branding Jews "the brothers of apes and pigs."
This dovetails nicely with programming decisions taken by Hezbollah's Al Manar Television, which broadcast a Syrian-produced mini-series that showed a Jew killing a Christian child to obtain blood for baking Passover matza.
And then there is the case of the much anticipated, widely feared new film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, "Fitna." Officials across Europe and throughout the Muslim world have braced for the possibility of violent protests, demonstrations on the model of those sparked by Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, which protesters saw as a grave insult to Islam.
But the initial reaction has been muted, despite, or because of, an emphasis on footage such as Islamic clerics voicing virulent attacks against Jews, urging that Jews be killed and even beheaded, clips of a little girl quoting Allah in the Koran terming Jews "apes and swines," and of demonstrators promising "another Holocaust" and praising Adolf Hitler.
It is worth noting that, in an initial response to the release of the film on the Internet at the end of last week, the attorney representing the umbrella group for Dutch Muslims said that at first glance, "Fitna" does not constitute an insult to their religion.
One has to wonder, why not? Are calls to kill Jews as Jews not considered an insult?
...
Pertinent Links:
1) The jihad against the Jews
By Bradley Burston
The jihad has a problem with the Jews.
Not just a problem with Israel. Not just the occupation. Not just the policies of the Israeli government, the actions of the Israel Defense Forces, the support by Washington and the West for Israel's embargo against Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Islamists don't care who knows it anymore. They hate the Jews. And, not to put too fine a point on it, they want the Jews dead.
Some of it one has grown to expect. "Today there is no room for he who says that we should only fight the Jews in Palestine," Osama Bin Laden's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri said after Israel's incursion into Gaza last month. "Let us strike their interests everywhere, just like they gathered against us from everywhere."
Some of it is becoming better known. In a groundbreaking article in The New York Times this week, Steven Erlanger details, among other elements of Gaza life, the tides of Jew-hate washing over the Strip with the Hamas seal of approval.
There is imam and legislator Sheik Yunus al-Astal, who, citing a Koranic verse indicating that "suffering by fire is the Jews' destiny in this world and the next," concludes that "we are sure that the holocaust is still to come upon the Jews."
There is imam and legislator Marwan M. Abu Ras, chairman of the Palestinian Scholars League and a religious authority who anchors Hamas policies in Koranic sanction, branding Jews "the brothers of apes and pigs."
This dovetails nicely with programming decisions taken by Hezbollah's Al Manar Television, which broadcast a Syrian-produced mini-series that showed a Jew killing a Christian child to obtain blood for baking Passover matza.
And then there is the case of the much anticipated, widely feared new film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, "Fitna." Officials across Europe and throughout the Muslim world have braced for the possibility of violent protests, demonstrations on the model of those sparked by Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, which protesters saw as a grave insult to Islam.
But the initial reaction has been muted, despite, or because of, an emphasis on footage such as Islamic clerics voicing virulent attacks against Jews, urging that Jews be killed and even beheaded, clips of a little girl quoting Allah in the Koran terming Jews "apes and swines," and of demonstrators promising "another Holocaust" and praising Adolf Hitler.
It is worth noting that, in an initial response to the release of the film on the Internet at the end of last week, the attorney representing the umbrella group for Dutch Muslims said that at first glance, "Fitna" does not constitute an insult to their religion.
One has to wonder, why not? Are calls to kill Jews as Jews not considered an insult?
...
Pertinent Links:
1) The jihad against the Jews
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
DAR AL HARB-ISRAEL: NO PEACE TALKS WITHOUT A HUDNA
Abbas Says No Talks Without Gaza Truce
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH Associated Press Writer
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday he would not resume peace talks until Israel reaches a truce in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Abbas suspended U.S.-backed peace talks earlier this week to protest Israel's crackdown in Gaza.
"The negotiations must be started, but after the truce," Abbas said. "Once the truce is achieved, the road will be open for negotiations."
He said Rice told him she would send an envoy to Egypt, which often mediates between Israel and Hamas. "There are real efforts being exerted by Egypt for the truce," Abbas said.
Although Abbas did not mention Hamas by name, his aides said the Islamic group must clearly be part of any deal. Hamas seized control of Gaza from Abbas' forces last year, and he wields little influence in the area.
...
***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***
Palestinians Will Resume Peace Talks
By AMY TEIBEL
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday he will resume peace talks with Israel, backing off a threat to boycott negotiations until Israel reaches a truce with Hamas militants in Gaza.
"The peace process is a strategic choice and we have the intention of resuming the peace process," he said in a statement. He did not say when talks would restart, but visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a U.S. general overseeing implementation of "the road map" peace plan would hold his first joint meeting with Israelis and Palestinians next week.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Abbas Says No Talks Without Gaza Truce
2) Palestinians Will Resume Peace Talks
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH Associated Press Writer
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday he would not resume peace talks until Israel reaches a truce in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Abbas suspended U.S.-backed peace talks earlier this week to protest Israel's crackdown in Gaza.
"The negotiations must be started, but after the truce," Abbas said. "Once the truce is achieved, the road will be open for negotiations."
He said Rice told him she would send an envoy to Egypt, which often mediates between Israel and Hamas. "There are real efforts being exerted by Egypt for the truce," Abbas said.
Although Abbas did not mention Hamas by name, his aides said the Islamic group must clearly be part of any deal. Hamas seized control of Gaza from Abbas' forces last year, and he wields little influence in the area.
...
***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***
Palestinians Will Resume Peace Talks
By AMY TEIBEL
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday he will resume peace talks with Israel, backing off a threat to boycott negotiations until Israel reaches a truce with Hamas militants in Gaza.
"The peace process is a strategic choice and we have the intention of resuming the peace process," he said in a statement. He did not say when talks would restart, but visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a U.S. general overseeing implementation of "the road map" peace plan would hold his first joint meeting with Israelis and Palestinians next week.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Abbas Says No Talks Without Gaza Truce
2) Palestinians Will Resume Peace Talks
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - ISRAEL/PALESTINE: 9 MEMBERS OF HAMAS BITE THE DUST
9 dead as Israel strikes Gaza after suicide bombing
GAZA CITY - Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed nine Hamas militants on Tuesday as the Jewish state went on high alert a day after the first suicide bombing on its soil by Palestinian militants in a year.
An Israeli air raid hit a police station near the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis hours after an early morning incursion by soldiers in the nearby border town of Rafah left two Hamas men dead.
Medics said seven militants from the Islamist movement were killed in the late afternoon air strike and another two were wounded.
‘The men were in afternoon prayers inside the police station when the missile struck,’ said a security official for Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since violently seizing it in June.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) 9 dead as Israel strikes Gaza after suicide bombing
GAZA CITY - Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed nine Hamas militants on Tuesday as the Jewish state went on high alert a day after the first suicide bombing on its soil by Palestinian militants in a year.
An Israeli air raid hit a police station near the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis hours after an early morning incursion by soldiers in the nearby border town of Rafah left two Hamas men dead.
Medics said seven militants from the Islamist movement were killed in the late afternoon air strike and another two were wounded.
‘The men were in afternoon prayers inside the police station when the missile struck,’ said a security official for Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since violently seizing it in June.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) 9 dead as Israel strikes Gaza after suicide bombing
DAR AL HARB - ISRAEL: THE BEST DEFENSE IS A GOOD OFFENSE
The Israeli Lesson
The news about yesterday's suicide bombing in the Israeli town of Dimona is that it's news. In 2002, at the height of the second intifada, 451 Israelis were killed in terrorist attacks, including 14 suicide bombings. By contrast, yesterday's attack, which killed one and injured 11, was the first of its kind in more than a year.
This didn't happen by accident, or because Palestinian radicals have somehow become less hostile to Israel. Responsibility for yesterday's attack was claimed by the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which is affiliated with President Mahmoud Abbas's ostensibly moderate Fatah party. Islamist Hamas remains even more ardently dedicated to Israel's destruction, a point it emphasizes with its rocket barrages at southern Israeli cities close to the Gaza Strip.
Instead, the difference has come because of Israel's increasingly successful antiterrorist efforts. Key to that success has been the construction of its ostensibly "illegal" security fence, its equally "illegal" targeted assassinations of key terrorist leaders, its "disproportional" attacks on terrorist enclaves in Jenin and elsewhere, and other actions that saved innocent lives but which much of the international community deplored.
One of the most common arguments against Israel's actions is that it would feed a "cycle of violence." It's fair to say that what happened is closer to the opposite. As Israel put pressure on terrorist leaders, they were forced to spend their time running for their lives rather than planning the next attack.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) The Israeli Lesson
The news about yesterday's suicide bombing in the Israeli town of Dimona is that it's news. In 2002, at the height of the second intifada, 451 Israelis were killed in terrorist attacks, including 14 suicide bombings. By contrast, yesterday's attack, which killed one and injured 11, was the first of its kind in more than a year.
This didn't happen by accident, or because Palestinian radicals have somehow become less hostile to Israel. Responsibility for yesterday's attack was claimed by the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, which is affiliated with President Mahmoud Abbas's ostensibly moderate Fatah party. Islamist Hamas remains even more ardently dedicated to Israel's destruction, a point it emphasizes with its rocket barrages at southern Israeli cities close to the Gaza Strip.
Instead, the difference has come because of Israel's increasingly successful antiterrorist efforts. Key to that success has been the construction of its ostensibly "illegal" security fence, its equally "illegal" targeted assassinations of key terrorist leaders, its "disproportional" attacks on terrorist enclaves in Jenin and elsewhere, and other actions that saved innocent lives but which much of the international community deplored.
One of the most common arguments against Israel's actions is that it would feed a "cycle of violence." It's fair to say that what happened is closer to the opposite. As Israel put pressure on terrorist leaders, they were forced to spend their time running for their lives rather than planning the next attack.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) The Israeli Lesson
DAR AL HARB - ISRAEL: A SUICIDE (HOMICIDE) BOMBING - ONE SUCCEEDS IN KILLING A SINGLE WOMAN, THE OTHER IS SHOT DEAD
Suicide bomber kills woman in Israeli town
By Yehuda Peretz
DIMONA, Israel (Reuters) - A Palestinian suicide bomber killed a woman in southern Israel on Monday, the first such attack in the Jewish state in a year, but Israeli officials said peace talks would not be derailed.
Police said they prevented a second blast in the shopping centre in the town of Dimona by shooting dead another attacker before he could detonate an explosives belt.
"It was like a war. People were running like crazy. I saw a piece of a human being right there, next to my leg," witness Rosa Enberg told Israel's Channel Two television.
Hamas's armed wing said it was responsible for the Dimona bombing, the first such attack inside Israel claimed by the group since 2004, a Hamas source in the Gaza Strip told Reuters.
The source said the two attackers came from the West Bank city of Hebron, rather than from the Gaza Strip, which the Islamist Hamas group seized in June after routing secular Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The last time Hamas, which opposes Abbas's peace talks with the Jewish state, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing inside Israel was August 2004, when 16 people were killed and 100 wounded in explosions on two buses in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Suicide bomber kills woman in Israeli town
By Yehuda Peretz
DIMONA, Israel (Reuters) - A Palestinian suicide bomber killed a woman in southern Israel on Monday, the first such attack in the Jewish state in a year, but Israeli officials said peace talks would not be derailed.
Police said they prevented a second blast in the shopping centre in the town of Dimona by shooting dead another attacker before he could detonate an explosives belt.
"It was like a war. People were running like crazy. I saw a piece of a human being right there, next to my leg," witness Rosa Enberg told Israel's Channel Two television.
Hamas's armed wing said it was responsible for the Dimona bombing, the first such attack inside Israel claimed by the group since 2004, a Hamas source in the Gaza Strip told Reuters.
The source said the two attackers came from the West Bank city of Hebron, rather than from the Gaza Strip, which the Islamist Hamas group seized in June after routing secular Fatah forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The last time Hamas, which opposes Abbas's peace talks with the Jewish state, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing inside Israel was August 2004, when 16 people were killed and 100 wounded in explosions on two buses in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Suicide bomber kills woman in Israeli town
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A./ISRAEL/PALESTINE: HAMAS CAPTURES 14 YRS OF INTELLIGENCE FILES - - - IN ALL LIKELIHOOD WILL SHARE THEM WITH IRAN & SYRIA
Hamas seized intel files exposing Palestinian Authority ties with U.S., Israel
GAZA CITY — Hamas has captured the intelligence files of the Palestinian Authority, including evidence of significant cooperation with Israel, the United States and Arab countries.
A Palestinian source said Hamas has hauled away files from the two leading security agencies under the control of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas — the Preventive Security Apparatus and General Intelligence, both of which had extensive liaisons with Arab and Western countries.
"If these files are thorough, then Hamas will know just about every secret," the Palestinian security source said. "That means, the requests of foreign nations, funding, meetings, joint operations, you name it."
Egypt, Israel and the United States were regarded as the major liaisons with PSA, founded by Mohammed Dahlan. All three countries significantly aided the agency in intelligence and security cooperation.
"Dahlan's job was to provide warnings of planned attacks or other threats, particularly to the United States, which has the least intelligence assets in the Gaza Strip," the source said. "Egypt and Israel used PSA as well, but not to the same extent."
...
With the capture of GI and PSA headquarters, Hamas is believed to have obtained at least 14 years of intelligence files. The source said Hamas would probably share these files with its chief allies, Iran and Syria.
"I expect some of the material will be released for propaganda purposes to show how Fatah spied and persecuted Palestinians," the source said. "But most of the files will be kept locked away and used for strategic missions."
Pertinent Links:
1) Hamas seized intel files exposing Palestinian Authority ties with U.S., Israel
GAZA CITY — Hamas has captured the intelligence files of the Palestinian Authority, including evidence of significant cooperation with Israel, the United States and Arab countries.
A Palestinian source said Hamas has hauled away files from the two leading security agencies under the control of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas — the Preventive Security Apparatus and General Intelligence, both of which had extensive liaisons with Arab and Western countries.
"If these files are thorough, then Hamas will know just about every secret," the Palestinian security source said. "That means, the requests of foreign nations, funding, meetings, joint operations, you name it."
Egypt, Israel and the United States were regarded as the major liaisons with PSA, founded by Mohammed Dahlan. All three countries significantly aided the agency in intelligence and security cooperation.
"Dahlan's job was to provide warnings of planned attacks or other threats, particularly to the United States, which has the least intelligence assets in the Gaza Strip," the source said. "Egypt and Israel used PSA as well, but not to the same extent."
...
With the capture of GI and PSA headquarters, Hamas is believed to have obtained at least 14 years of intelligence files. The source said Hamas would probably share these files with its chief allies, Iran and Syria.
"I expect some of the material will be released for propaganda purposes to show how Fatah spied and persecuted Palestinians," the source said. "But most of the files will be kept locked away and used for strategic missions."
Pertinent Links:
1) Hamas seized intel files exposing Palestinian Authority ties with U.S., Israel
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - ISRAEL: WE WANT THE CENTRAL ROLE WHEN IT COMES TO CONTROLLING THE GAZA/EGYPT BORDER...SO SAYS HAMAS
Hamas demands say over Gaza border ahead of talks
Hamas on Wednesday demanded a central role in controlling the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt in an open challenge to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of crisis talks in Cairo.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Hamas demands say over Gaza border ahead of talks
Hamas on Wednesday demanded a central role in controlling the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt in an open challenge to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of crisis talks in Cairo.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Hamas demands say over Gaza border ahead of talks
Monday, January 28, 2008
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - ISRAEL/EGYPT/PALESTINE: DON'T THE EGYPTIANS WANT THEIR MOSLEM BROTHERS FROM GAZA?!? LOLOL
Palestinians clash over control of border
James Hider in Jerusalem and David Charter in Davos
The Palestinian Government of Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday that it had reached a deal with Egypt to take control of the Gaza border, which Hamas militants breached with blowtorches and explosives last week, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to cross.
Within hours Hamas officials denied that any such agreement side-lining the Islamists had been sealed with Cairo, which is struggling to contain the chaos that erupted on its border last week.
The contradictory reports came amid a flurry of high-level talks – including a meeting between Mr Abbas and Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister – to discuss the destruction of the huge, Israeli-built wall on the border of Gaza with Egypt. Hamas smashed the barrier after Israel tightened its blockade on the tiny Mediterranean territory in response to Hamas rocket attacks.
Riyadh al-Maliki, the Palestinian Foreign Minister, said after talks with the Egyptian authorities that they had decided that security forces from the Fatah-led Government of the West Bank would be deployed on the breached border. “If [Hamas] don’t accept it they will be held responsible for the protracted closure of the border crossings,” he said. His administration is engaged in peace talks with Israel after being forced out of Gaza by Hamas fighters last summer.
...
and
Face-saving deal sought to close Gaza border
Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv and Reham Abd Al-Karim, Gaza
THOUSANDS of Palestinians flooded into Egypt from Gaza for a fourth successive day yesterday as frantic negotiations began to find ways of sealing the border.
Gazans, many of them crossing in cars for the first time, continued to stock up on food, cooking gas, petrol and cigarettes after shortages caused by an Israeli blockade.
The blockade was designed to punish Hamas, the militant Islamic group that controls Gaza, for failing to curb rocket attacks on Israel.
In a meeting due to take place today, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and leader of the mainstream faction Fatah, is expected to ask Ehud Olmert, Israel’s prime minister, to hand control of Gaza’s border crossings to his Palestinian National Authority.
This would provide a face-saving route for Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president, whose troops have failed to reseal the border. He has shied away from using force, even though his foreign minister admitted yesterday that nearly 40 security personnel had been injured, including two critically, in incidents over the past few days.
...
and
Egypt battles to turn the tide as Hamas knocks new hole in wall
James Hider in Gaza City
Under siege and facing an increasingly restive population chafing at food and fuel shortages caused by an Israeli blockade, Hamas pulled off a brilliant propaganda move this week when it brought down the hated wall on the Egyptian border.
“Hamas should all move to Madison Avenue and ply their trade there,” said Arieh Mekel, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, grudgingly comparing the Islamists to the cream of New York’s PR industry. Other Israeli officials said that with the toppling of the wall Gaza had become Cairo’s headache. The move would finally complete Israel’s disengagement from what it has branded a “hostile entity”.
Egypt was struggling to reseal the border yesterday, turning water cannon on thousands of Palestinians crossing the frontier to buy supplies. When they fired in the air at stone-throwing youths, they got a taste of Gazan fury — armed Hamas fighters rushed in and the police retreated. To reinforce the point that they were in charge, Hamas brought in a bulldozer and ploughed another hole in the broken wall. “Until we have normal crossings we’ll not allow them to close the passages,” said one of the militants.
Hamas had arrived at this point through a dramatic sequence of events — many of which the Israelis, and even some Gazans, suspect were engineered by Hamas itself. The Islamists had stepped up the barrage of Qassam rockets on the Israeli town of Sderot after an Israeli raid that killed 20 Palestinians. In response Israel cut off supplies to Gaza through its border crossings, with vast areas plunged into darkness when it switched off electricity.
...
and
Bulldozer thwarts Egyptians at Gaza border
David Byers, Philippe Naughton, and agencies in Rafah
Palestinians used a bulldozer to smash through the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt today, destroying part of a barbed-wire fence hastily put up by the Egyptian army to reseal the breached frontier
In the latest twist in the days-old standoff, thousands of Palestinian onlookers gathered by the Rafah crossing at 1300GMT - the deadline at which the Egyptian Army said it would reseal the border - and cheered as militants were seen to repeatedly ram the fence.
Egyptian troops, who had tried to seal off the territory after militants blew up its border wall on Tuesday night, were seen trying to push them back using electric batons as a fresh hole was created in the fence and dozens of Palestinians were seen to spill over the border.
The breach came after a morning of running battles between Palestinian militants, civilians and Egyptian border troops today, which started with Egyptian forces turning water cannon on Palestinians trying to force their way across.
...
and
Israel moves to dump Gaza problem on Egypt
James Hider in Rafah
Israel said that it wanted to wash its hands completely of the Gaza Strip yesterday, as the flow of hundreds of thousands of impoverished Palestinians across the breached border with Egypt showed no sign of letting up.
Israel also advised its citizens to avoid visiting popular tourist destinations in the Sinai desert, which abuts Gaza. It said that it had received specific threats that Palestinian militants now operating in Egypt were planning to abduct Israelis.
...
and
Hamas 'spent months cutting through Gaza wall in secret operation'
James Hider at the Rafah border crossing
As tens of thousands of Palestinians clambered back and forth between the Gaza strip and Egypt today, details emerged of the audacious operation that brought down a hated border wall and handed the Islamist group Hamas what might be its greatest propaganda coup.
Hamas, which took control of the coastal territory last June after a stand-off with Fatah, has denied that its men set off the explosions that brought down as much as two-thirds of the 12-km wall in the early hours.
But a Hamas border guard interviewed by The Times at the border admitted that the Islamist group was responsible and had been involved for months in slicing through the heavy metal wall using oxy-acetylene cutting torches.
That meant that when the explosive charges were set off in 17 different locations between midnight and 1am the 40ft wall came tumbling down, leaving it lying like a broken concertina down the middle of no-man's land as an estimated 350,000 Gazans flooded into Egypt.
...
and
The great escape – or perhaps it is just a gigantic shopping spree
James Hider in Rafah
It may have been the biggest shopping spree in history. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, running out of the bare necessities, swarmed out of Gaza into Egypt yesterday to buy everything they could lay their hands on after Hamas militants blew up a huge metal border wall.
They returned herding goats, sheep, heifers and camels, riding on donkey carts laden with sacks of cement, or festooned with cans of petrol strapped to their bodies, after militants brought Israel’s siege of the coastal territory to a halt, dismantling the 40ft-high (12m) barrier like a broken concertina.
Old women lugged heavy cans of olive oil and children stumbled under the weight of packs of powdered milk, passing even more of the besieged masses still rushing through the gaping breaches to stock up on the basics.
“This is a key victory for Hamas,” crowed Abu Ayman, a grey-bearded Gaza farmer, as he and his son wrestled two calves across the border. He had just paid $1,000 (£500) for the livestock on the Egyptian side of the border. “Before, we couldn’t even find coffins to bury our dead,” he said as people swarmed around him in both directions.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Palestinians clash over control of border
2) Face-saving deal sought to close Gaza border
3) Egypt battles to turn the tide as Hamas knocks new hole in wall
4) Bulldozer thwarts Egyptians at Gaza border
5) Israel moves to dump Gaza problem on Egypt
6) Hamas 'spent months cutting through Gaza wall in secret operation'
7) The great escape – or perhaps it is just a gigantic shopping spree
James Hider in Jerusalem and David Charter in Davos
The Palestinian Government of Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday that it had reached a deal with Egypt to take control of the Gaza border, which Hamas militants breached with blowtorches and explosives last week, allowing hundreds of thousands of people to cross.
Within hours Hamas officials denied that any such agreement side-lining the Islamists had been sealed with Cairo, which is struggling to contain the chaos that erupted on its border last week.
The contradictory reports came amid a flurry of high-level talks – including a meeting between Mr Abbas and Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister – to discuss the destruction of the huge, Israeli-built wall on the border of Gaza with Egypt. Hamas smashed the barrier after Israel tightened its blockade on the tiny Mediterranean territory in response to Hamas rocket attacks.
Riyadh al-Maliki, the Palestinian Foreign Minister, said after talks with the Egyptian authorities that they had decided that security forces from the Fatah-led Government of the West Bank would be deployed on the breached border. “If [Hamas] don’t accept it they will be held responsible for the protracted closure of the border crossings,” he said. His administration is engaged in peace talks with Israel after being forced out of Gaza by Hamas fighters last summer.
...
and
Face-saving deal sought to close Gaza border
Uzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv and Reham Abd Al-Karim, Gaza
THOUSANDS of Palestinians flooded into Egypt from Gaza for a fourth successive day yesterday as frantic negotiations began to find ways of sealing the border.
Gazans, many of them crossing in cars for the first time, continued to stock up on food, cooking gas, petrol and cigarettes after shortages caused by an Israeli blockade.
The blockade was designed to punish Hamas, the militant Islamic group that controls Gaza, for failing to curb rocket attacks on Israel.
In a meeting due to take place today, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president and leader of the mainstream faction Fatah, is expected to ask Ehud Olmert, Israel’s prime minister, to hand control of Gaza’s border crossings to his Palestinian National Authority.
This would provide a face-saving route for Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president, whose troops have failed to reseal the border. He has shied away from using force, even though his foreign minister admitted yesterday that nearly 40 security personnel had been injured, including two critically, in incidents over the past few days.
...
and
Egypt battles to turn the tide as Hamas knocks new hole in wall
James Hider in Gaza City
Under siege and facing an increasingly restive population chafing at food and fuel shortages caused by an Israeli blockade, Hamas pulled off a brilliant propaganda move this week when it brought down the hated wall on the Egyptian border.
“Hamas should all move to Madison Avenue and ply their trade there,” said Arieh Mekel, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, grudgingly comparing the Islamists to the cream of New York’s PR industry. Other Israeli officials said that with the toppling of the wall Gaza had become Cairo’s headache. The move would finally complete Israel’s disengagement from what it has branded a “hostile entity”.
Egypt was struggling to reseal the border yesterday, turning water cannon on thousands of Palestinians crossing the frontier to buy supplies. When they fired in the air at stone-throwing youths, they got a taste of Gazan fury — armed Hamas fighters rushed in and the police retreated. To reinforce the point that they were in charge, Hamas brought in a bulldozer and ploughed another hole in the broken wall. “Until we have normal crossings we’ll not allow them to close the passages,” said one of the militants.
Hamas had arrived at this point through a dramatic sequence of events — many of which the Israelis, and even some Gazans, suspect were engineered by Hamas itself. The Islamists had stepped up the barrage of Qassam rockets on the Israeli town of Sderot after an Israeli raid that killed 20 Palestinians. In response Israel cut off supplies to Gaza through its border crossings, with vast areas plunged into darkness when it switched off electricity.
...
and
Bulldozer thwarts Egyptians at Gaza border
David Byers, Philippe Naughton, and agencies in Rafah
Palestinians used a bulldozer to smash through the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt today, destroying part of a barbed-wire fence hastily put up by the Egyptian army to reseal the breached frontier
In the latest twist in the days-old standoff, thousands of Palestinian onlookers gathered by the Rafah crossing at 1300GMT - the deadline at which the Egyptian Army said it would reseal the border - and cheered as militants were seen to repeatedly ram the fence.
Egyptian troops, who had tried to seal off the territory after militants blew up its border wall on Tuesday night, were seen trying to push them back using electric batons as a fresh hole was created in the fence and dozens of Palestinians were seen to spill over the border.
The breach came after a morning of running battles between Palestinian militants, civilians and Egyptian border troops today, which started with Egyptian forces turning water cannon on Palestinians trying to force their way across.
...
and
Israel moves to dump Gaza problem on Egypt
James Hider in Rafah
Israel said that it wanted to wash its hands completely of the Gaza Strip yesterday, as the flow of hundreds of thousands of impoverished Palestinians across the breached border with Egypt showed no sign of letting up.
Israel also advised its citizens to avoid visiting popular tourist destinations in the Sinai desert, which abuts Gaza. It said that it had received specific threats that Palestinian militants now operating in Egypt were planning to abduct Israelis.
...
and
Hamas 'spent months cutting through Gaza wall in secret operation'
James Hider at the Rafah border crossing
As tens of thousands of Palestinians clambered back and forth between the Gaza strip and Egypt today, details emerged of the audacious operation that brought down a hated border wall and handed the Islamist group Hamas what might be its greatest propaganda coup.
Hamas, which took control of the coastal territory last June after a stand-off with Fatah, has denied that its men set off the explosions that brought down as much as two-thirds of the 12-km wall in the early hours.
But a Hamas border guard interviewed by The Times at the border admitted that the Islamist group was responsible and had been involved for months in slicing through the heavy metal wall using oxy-acetylene cutting torches.
That meant that when the explosive charges were set off in 17 different locations between midnight and 1am the 40ft wall came tumbling down, leaving it lying like a broken concertina down the middle of no-man's land as an estimated 350,000 Gazans flooded into Egypt.
...
and
The great escape – or perhaps it is just a gigantic shopping spree
James Hider in Rafah
It may have been the biggest shopping spree in history. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, running out of the bare necessities, swarmed out of Gaza into Egypt yesterday to buy everything they could lay their hands on after Hamas militants blew up a huge metal border wall.
They returned herding goats, sheep, heifers and camels, riding on donkey carts laden with sacks of cement, or festooned with cans of petrol strapped to their bodies, after militants brought Israel’s siege of the coastal territory to a halt, dismantling the 40ft-high (12m) barrier like a broken concertina.
Old women lugged heavy cans of olive oil and children stumbled under the weight of packs of powdered milk, passing even more of the besieged masses still rushing through the gaping breaches to stock up on the basics.
“This is a key victory for Hamas,” crowed Abu Ayman, a grey-bearded Gaza farmer, as he and his son wrestled two calves across the border. He had just paid $1,000 (£500) for the livestock on the Egyptian side of the border. “Before, we couldn’t even find coffins to bury our dead,” he said as people swarmed around him in both directions.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Palestinians clash over control of border
2) Face-saving deal sought to close Gaza border
3) Egypt battles to turn the tide as Hamas knocks new hole in wall
4) Bulldozer thwarts Egyptians at Gaza border
5) Israel moves to dump Gaza problem on Egypt
6) Hamas 'spent months cutting through Gaza wall in secret operation'
7) The great escape – or perhaps it is just a gigantic shopping spree
Thursday, August 09, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - ISRAEL/HOLY LAND/U.S.A.: CAN DHIMMITUDE BE THE EXPLANATION FOR THE STUPIDITY OF THE WEST?!?
On June 29th, 2007 I made the following statements in my post concerning the Hamas takeover of Gaza:
Today I read, in an article titled Abbas's Double Game at FrontPageMag.com, the following:
Abbas’s Double Game
By P. David Hornik
The cracks are already showing in yet another blind Western attempt to impose Western notions of order on the Arab Middle East. On Monday the alternative-media scoop site Debkafile had PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas “in secret talks with Hamas ahead of Abbas’ Jericho meeting with Olmert Monday—and behind his back.”
The scoop went on to say that
By Wednesday the same tidings, more or less, had graduated to the lead story of the mainstream Jerusalem Post, with the headline “Fatah, Hamas said to be moving toward reconciliation” topping a report by Arab-affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh. “Fatah and Hamas officials,” he wrote,
...
What is wrong with the West?!?
Could this be nothing more than an elaborate ruse?!?
Both Fatah & Hamas were in need of money and fresh weapons, what better way to gain all of that if one of them stages a coup and the other plays the victim to the hilt...
The West, being absolutely ignorant throw their weight behind the victim, etc. While in time, that victim either reconciles with the aggressor or falls victim to the aggressor...
The aggressor gains everything and the victim comes out smelling like a rose...
This Fatah v Hamas thing stinks, stinks to high heaven...
I think the West is being played for fools and it is easy to do when it comes to the islamic jihad...
Today I read, in an article titled Abbas's Double Game at FrontPageMag.com, the following:
Abbas’s Double Game
By P. David Hornik
The cracks are already showing in yet another blind Western attempt to impose Western notions of order on the Arab Middle East. On Monday the alternative-media scoop site Debkafile had PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas “in secret talks with Hamas ahead of Abbas’ Jericho meeting with Olmert Monday—and behind his back.”
The scoop went on to say that
Mahmoud Abbas’ close adviser, Jibril Rajoub, is holding secret talks with the Gazan Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad.The article further refers to the “dim view of [this] process” in Israeli defense circles including Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and notes that a key intelligence official told the relevant Knesset committee on Sunday that “the West Bank was the next Fatah-Hamas arena of conflict…and Fatah has no chance of standing up to Hamas there, any more than it did in Gaza. Abbas’ forces are completely dependent on the Israeli army to keep Hamas in check.”
Broad influential circles in Fatah. . .criticize as shortsighted and destined to be short-lived Abbas’ policy of separating the West Bank from Gaza and boycotting Hamas.
This falling away of support for Abbas in his own movement throws further in doubt the US-Israeli strategy of putting all their Palestinian apples in his West Bank basket, as manifested in American dollars and Israeli concessions on security.
By Wednesday the same tidings, more or less, had graduated to the lead story of the mainstream Jerusalem Post, with the headline “Fatah, Hamas said to be moving toward reconciliation” topping a report by Arab-affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh. “Fatah and Hamas officials,” he wrote,
said Tuesday they are conducting secret talks in a bid to patch up their differences following Hamas’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip.
The revelation came less than 24 hours after Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told Prime Minister Ehud Olmert during their meeting in Jericho he had no plans to talk to Hamas….
Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday he was prepared to step down to pave the way for the resumption of the Hamas-Fatah talks…. [He] told Palestinian journalists he was convinced it was only a matter of time before the two parties returned to the negotiating table.
...
What is wrong with the West?!?
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - ISRAEL/HOLY LAND/RUSSIA: NEO-SOVIETS ARE DOWNGRADING THEIR TIES TO HAMAS
Russia downgrades ties with Palestinian Hamas
By Oleg Shchedrov
MOSCOW, July 31 (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday it had downgraded its ties with the Hamas Islamist group, in a show of support for visiting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas is locked in a feud with the Hamas group for control of the Palestinian territories. Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip last month and Abbas responded by dismissing a Hamas-led government.
Russia established high-level contacts with Hamas after it won Palestinian elections last year, even though Western powers shunned the militant group because of its refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence.
"Recently, we have somewhat downgraded the level of contacts with Hamas. Now we are pursuing a pragmatic goal of trying to influence them directly and indirectly to resume national unity," First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov told reporters after Putin and Abbas met in the Kremlin.
Asked if there would be any high-level meetings with Hamas in the near future, Denisov said: "No such meetings are being planned."
Earlier, Putin endorsed Abbas as legitimate leader of the Palestinian people and backed his efforts to end the rift with Hamas.
"I want to assure you that we will support you as legitimate leader of the Palestinian people. I am sure you will do everything to restore unity," Putin told Palestinian President Abbas at the start of talks in the Kremlin.
Russia is a member of the Middle East Quartet along with the United States, the United Nations and the European Union.
Abbas urged Putin to send more aid to help ease hardship in the Palestinian territories. Western countries cut direct aid to the Palestinian government after Hamas came to power last year, but aid has resumed since Abbas fired the group.
"Despite the coup in Gaza, we feel responsibility for the life of the people and call on friendly states to supply humanitarian aid to our people, in order not to worsen the humanitarian situation," he said.
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia downgrades ties with Palestinian Hamas
By Oleg Shchedrov
MOSCOW, July 31 (Reuters) - Russia said on Tuesday it had downgraded its ties with the Hamas Islamist group, in a show of support for visiting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas is locked in a feud with the Hamas group for control of the Palestinian territories. Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip last month and Abbas responded by dismissing a Hamas-led government.
Russia established high-level contacts with Hamas after it won Palestinian elections last year, even though Western powers shunned the militant group because of its refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence.
"Recently, we have somewhat downgraded the level of contacts with Hamas. Now we are pursuing a pragmatic goal of trying to influence them directly and indirectly to resume national unity," First Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Denisov told reporters after Putin and Abbas met in the Kremlin.
Asked if there would be any high-level meetings with Hamas in the near future, Denisov said: "No such meetings are being planned."
Earlier, Putin endorsed Abbas as legitimate leader of the Palestinian people and backed his efforts to end the rift with Hamas.
"I want to assure you that we will support you as legitimate leader of the Palestinian people. I am sure you will do everything to restore unity," Putin told Palestinian President Abbas at the start of talks in the Kremlin.
Russia is a member of the Middle East Quartet along with the United States, the United Nations and the European Union.
Abbas urged Putin to send more aid to help ease hardship in the Palestinian territories. Western countries cut direct aid to the Palestinian government after Hamas came to power last year, but aid has resumed since Abbas fired the group.
"Despite the coup in Gaza, we feel responsibility for the life of the people and call on friendly states to supply humanitarian aid to our people, in order not to worsen the humanitarian situation," he said.
Pertinent Links:
1) Russia downgrades ties with Palestinian Hamas
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - ISRAEL/HOLY LAND: GAZAPALOOZA
Gazapalooza Summer '07
Posted by Andrew Lee Butters
Ever since Hamas kicked the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority out of Gaza in June, Fatah -- with American encouragement -- has been hitting the airways with tales of Hamas ruthlessness, extremism and totalitarianism in the Strip. So Hamas hit back with a field trip for the foreign press designed to show the world what life in Gaza under Hamas is really like. And if yesterday's events were any guide, lemme tell ya, it's a lark!
...
The new security in Gaza partly explains why there were so many journalists on this tour. After the kidnapping of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, Gaza was a no-go area for us. Now Alan is free and a banner hangs in front of the main press building in Gaza city: "No more threat to our foreign visitors and guests -- Hamas." There is a new sheriff in Gaza.
Pertinent Links:
1) Gazapalooza Summer '07
Posted by Andrew Lee Butters
Ever since Hamas kicked the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority out of Gaza in June, Fatah -- with American encouragement -- has been hitting the airways with tales of Hamas ruthlessness, extremism and totalitarianism in the Strip. So Hamas hit back with a field trip for the foreign press designed to show the world what life in Gaza under Hamas is really like. And if yesterday's events were any guide, lemme tell ya, it's a lark!
...
The new security in Gaza partly explains why there were so many journalists on this tour. After the kidnapping of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, Gaza was a no-go area for us. Now Alan is free and a banner hangs in front of the main press building in Gaza city: "No more threat to our foreign visitors and guests -- Hamas." There is a new sheriff in Gaza.
Pertinent Links:
1) Gazapalooza Summer '07
Monday, July 30, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - ISRAEL/HOLY LAND: FATAH & ITS 'TOLERANT ISLAM'
Fatah touts tolerant Islam
Abbas government platform pledge seen as indirect swipe at Hamas in aftermath of Gaza takeover
by Wafa Amr
JERUSALEM–A new Palestinian government platform drawn up by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad pledges, in an indirect swipe at the Islamist group Hamas, to prevent the use of violence in the name of Islam.
An official English-language translation, released yesterday, of the policy document said Fayyad's administration would build a clear-cut strategy to "enhance the status of Islam as a religion of tolerance."
At the same time, the platform said, the government would prevent "the use of Islam to justify killings, exclusion of others and destruction."
The phrasing was clearly aimed at the Hamas Islamists who took control of Gaza last month in fighting with President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction.
The group has accused Abbas, based in the West Bank where Fatah holds sway, of carrying out a coup by setting up the new government without Hamas, which won an election 18 months ago.
Palestinian officials on Friday confirmed that the new platform omits the phrase "armed struggle" and "resistance" against Israeli occupation. Hamas has rebuffed international demands to recognize Israel and renounce violence, but a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has welcomed the new language.
Fayyad, a U.S.-educated economist who enjoys international respect for fighting corruption and implementing reforms, presented the platform to Abbas on Thursday.
The revision of terminology that had appeared in the platforms of the previous two Hamas-led governments coincides with a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at resuming long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
Since dismissing the Hamas government after its violent takeover of Gaza on June 14, Abbas has called for peaceful resistance to occupation and has strongly condemned the firing of rockets into Israel.
In the platform, Fayyad reiterated that his government would "fully abide by bilateral and multilateral agreements signed by the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian National Authority, including those signed with Israel."
Meanwhile, Fayyad ruled out any dialogue with Hamas so long as it maintains its takeover of Gaza.
"Our demands are known: power and the institutions in Gaza were taken over by force and violence," he said during a visit to Amman where he meet his Jordanian counterpart Maaruf Bakhit. "The abnormal situation must stop before we can talk of a possible dialogue."
Pertinent Links:
1) Fatah touts tolerant Islam
Abbas government platform pledge seen as indirect swipe at Hamas in aftermath of Gaza takeover
by Wafa Amr
JERUSALEM–A new Palestinian government platform drawn up by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad pledges, in an indirect swipe at the Islamist group Hamas, to prevent the use of violence in the name of Islam.
An official English-language translation, released yesterday, of the policy document said Fayyad's administration would build a clear-cut strategy to "enhance the status of Islam as a religion of tolerance."
At the same time, the platform said, the government would prevent "the use of Islam to justify killings, exclusion of others and destruction."
The phrasing was clearly aimed at the Hamas Islamists who took control of Gaza last month in fighting with President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction.
The group has accused Abbas, based in the West Bank where Fatah holds sway, of carrying out a coup by setting up the new government without Hamas, which won an election 18 months ago.
Palestinian officials on Friday confirmed that the new platform omits the phrase "armed struggle" and "resistance" against Israeli occupation. Hamas has rebuffed international demands to recognize Israel and renounce violence, but a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has welcomed the new language.
Fayyad, a U.S.-educated economist who enjoys international respect for fighting corruption and implementing reforms, presented the platform to Abbas on Thursday.
The revision of terminology that had appeared in the platforms of the previous two Hamas-led governments coincides with a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at resuming long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.
Since dismissing the Hamas government after its violent takeover of Gaza on June 14, Abbas has called for peaceful resistance to occupation and has strongly condemned the firing of rockets into Israel.
In the platform, Fayyad reiterated that his government would "fully abide by bilateral and multilateral agreements signed by the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian National Authority, including those signed with Israel."
Meanwhile, Fayyad ruled out any dialogue with Hamas so long as it maintains its takeover of Gaza.
"Our demands are known: power and the institutions in Gaza were taken over by force and violence," he said during a visit to Amman where he meet his Jordanian counterpart Maaruf Bakhit. "The abnormal situation must stop before we can talk of a possible dialogue."
Pertinent Links:
1) Fatah touts tolerant Islam
Sunday, July 29, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - ISRAEL/HOLY LAND: FATAH/HAMAS/EGYPT & ISRAEL
Fatah says members being arrested by Hamas in Gaza
GAZA, July 29 (Reuters) - A senior official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement accused Hamas on Sunday of a sweeping campaign to detain members of the group in the Gaza Strip.
"They have been searching for Fatah men," said the official, Ibrahim Abu An-Naja, alleging Hamas has been carrying out nightly raids on homes since defeating Fatah forces in the territory in a brief civil war last month.
He told a news conference that because the raids were still going on, he could not give an exact figure for the number of men he said were detained by Hamas.
"It is an attempt to eliminate (Fatah) -- but how can a 50-year-old movement like Fatah be eliminated," Abu An-Najah said.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Abu An-Naja's comments were "full of false accusations and lies".
He said Fatah complaints of an arrest campaign were aimed at covering up its own detention of Hamas members in the West Bank, where Abbas's movement holds sway.
Abu Zuhri said hundreds of Hamas men were "in the jails of the Palestinian security services in the West Bank", including one of its leading figures in the territory, Ahmed Doula.
Doula, he said, was rearrested on Thursday, shortly after he was released from a detention centre run by Abbas's presidential guards.
Abu Zuhri said those arrested by Hamas in Gaza were "collaborators (with Israel), drug dealers and violators of public order".
[and]
Hamas left behind as Palestinians in Egypt head home
by Mohammed Yusri
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AFP) - Around 100 of the thousands of Palestinians stranded in Egypt crossed into Israel on their way to Gaza on Sunday, but many left behind said they were barred for their political beliefs.
Egypt and Israel on Saturday agreed that 627 of the 6,000 stranded Palestinians, who have been living in increasingly dire conditions, would be allowed back to the Gaza Strip, with 100 crossing on Sunday and 527 on Monday.
Palestinians had been asked to register in Cairo for a seat on the convoy and the first 627 names on the register were selected to leave, a security source said.
But many said they were not allowed to register because they were supporters of the Islamist Hamas.
"I went to the Palestinian embassy in Cairo to register my name, but they refused because I belong to Hamas," one man told AFP, declining to give his name.
Others said that the process was made easier for supporters of president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, while Hamas members were not even being allowed to register.
The 100 were taken by bus to the Al-Oja/Nizana cargo crossing south of the Rafah border terminal between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, which has been closed since Hamas's violent takeover of the territory in mid-June.
From there they will be taken through Israel to the Erez terminal in the northern Gaza Strip.
Some 6,000 Palestinians are estimated to be living in and around Rafah, often lacking food, medical care and basic amenities, since the border terminal closed more than 45 days ago. More than 10 people have since died there.
A security source told AFP that Israel and Egypt were negotiating to arrange for the remaining registered Palestinians to go home.
Some, like Amal Jamil who is stranded in El-Arish, say they could not afford the trip to Cairo. Jamil said she has not been able to register.
There was no indication as to what would happen to those who have not registered.
The Rafah terminal -- Gaza's only door to the outside world that bypasses Israel -- has been shut since deadly Palestinian infighting saw Hamas seize the Gaza Strip on June 15.
When open, Rafah is operated in close cooperation by Egypt, European Union monitors, Israel and the Palestinians, and can be closed if any one party refuses to participate.
Hamas, which does not recognise Israel, has objected to the Jewish state being able to control who is allowed to travel from Egypt into Gaza.
Pertinent Links:
1) Fatah says members being arrested by Hamas in Gaza
2) Hamas left behind as Palestinians in Egypt head home
GAZA, July 29 (Reuters) - A senior official in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement accused Hamas on Sunday of a sweeping campaign to detain members of the group in the Gaza Strip.
"They have been searching for Fatah men," said the official, Ibrahim Abu An-Naja, alleging Hamas has been carrying out nightly raids on homes since defeating Fatah forces in the territory in a brief civil war last month.
He told a news conference that because the raids were still going on, he could not give an exact figure for the number of men he said were detained by Hamas.
"It is an attempt to eliminate (Fatah) -- but how can a 50-year-old movement like Fatah be eliminated," Abu An-Najah said.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Abu An-Naja's comments were "full of false accusations and lies".
He said Fatah complaints of an arrest campaign were aimed at covering up its own detention of Hamas members in the West Bank, where Abbas's movement holds sway.
Abu Zuhri said hundreds of Hamas men were "in the jails of the Palestinian security services in the West Bank", including one of its leading figures in the territory, Ahmed Doula.
Doula, he said, was rearrested on Thursday, shortly after he was released from a detention centre run by Abbas's presidential guards.
Abu Zuhri said those arrested by Hamas in Gaza were "collaborators (with Israel), drug dealers and violators of public order".
[and]
Hamas left behind as Palestinians in Egypt head home
by Mohammed Yusri
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AFP) - Around 100 of the thousands of Palestinians stranded in Egypt crossed into Israel on their way to Gaza on Sunday, but many left behind said they were barred for their political beliefs.
Egypt and Israel on Saturday agreed that 627 of the 6,000 stranded Palestinians, who have been living in increasingly dire conditions, would be allowed back to the Gaza Strip, with 100 crossing on Sunday and 527 on Monday.
Palestinians had been asked to register in Cairo for a seat on the convoy and the first 627 names on the register were selected to leave, a security source said.
But many said they were not allowed to register because they were supporters of the Islamist Hamas.
"I went to the Palestinian embassy in Cairo to register my name, but they refused because I belong to Hamas," one man told AFP, declining to give his name.
Others said that the process was made easier for supporters of president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, while Hamas members were not even being allowed to register.
The 100 were taken by bus to the Al-Oja/Nizana cargo crossing south of the Rafah border terminal between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, which has been closed since Hamas's violent takeover of the territory in mid-June.
From there they will be taken through Israel to the Erez terminal in the northern Gaza Strip.
Some 6,000 Palestinians are estimated to be living in and around Rafah, often lacking food, medical care and basic amenities, since the border terminal closed more than 45 days ago. More than 10 people have since died there.
A security source told AFP that Israel and Egypt were negotiating to arrange for the remaining registered Palestinians to go home.
Some, like Amal Jamil who is stranded in El-Arish, say they could not afford the trip to Cairo. Jamil said she has not been able to register.
There was no indication as to what would happen to those who have not registered.
The Rafah terminal -- Gaza's only door to the outside world that bypasses Israel -- has been shut since deadly Palestinian infighting saw Hamas seize the Gaza Strip on June 15.
When open, Rafah is operated in close cooperation by Egypt, European Union monitors, Israel and the Palestinians, and can be closed if any one party refuses to participate.
Hamas, which does not recognise Israel, has objected to the Jewish state being able to control who is allowed to travel from Egypt into Gaza.
Pertinent Links:
1) Fatah says members being arrested by Hamas in Gaza
2) Hamas left behind as Palestinians in Egypt head home
Thursday, July 26, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - ISRAEL/HOLY LAND: ISRAEL APPROVES ARMS FOR FATAH IN ORDER TO FIGHT HAMAS
Israel approves arms for Palestinian troops to fight Hamas
MOSCOW, July 26 (RIA Novosti) - Some 1,000 M-16 rifles have been transferred from Jordan to Palestinian security forces in the West Bank to avert a possible Hamas attack, the Haaretz daily said Thursday.
The Israeli paper said the authorized transfer was the largest in recent years, and is aimed at bolstering troops loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, preventing any possible attempt by Hamas of challenging Fatah rule on the West Bank.
The paper said the weapons were delivered three weeks ago after Israel approved the move, and the transfer was kept under wraps by both sides, to try and avert compromising Abbas' standing.
Although several thousand rifles were delivered to Fatah forces in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank earlier this year, most of them were seized by Hamas' following their takeover of the region.
Honestly, is there a reasonable explanation for this idiocy?!?
Pertinent Links:
1) Israel approves arms for Palestinian troops to fight Hamas
MOSCOW, July 26 (RIA Novosti) - Some 1,000 M-16 rifles have been transferred from Jordan to Palestinian security forces in the West Bank to avert a possible Hamas attack, the Haaretz daily said Thursday.
The Israeli paper said the authorized transfer was the largest in recent years, and is aimed at bolstering troops loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, preventing any possible attempt by Hamas of challenging Fatah rule on the West Bank.
The paper said the weapons were delivered three weeks ago after Israel approved the move, and the transfer was kept under wraps by both sides, to try and avert compromising Abbas' standing.
Although several thousand rifles were delivered to Fatah forces in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank earlier this year, most of them were seized by Hamas' following their takeover of the region.
Honestly, is there a reasonable explanation for this idiocy?!?
Pertinent Links:
1) Israel approves arms for Palestinian troops to fight Hamas
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - ISRAEL/HOLY LAND: INTERNATIONAL & REGIONAL POWERS ARE TO BLAME FOR THE FIGHT BETWEEN HAMAS & FATAH
Int'l, regional powers blamed for igniting Hamas-Fatah disputes
RAMALLAH, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Former Palestinian minister of information Mustafa al-Barghouti Thursday accused international and regional powers of igniting the ongoing internal Palestinian conflict.
"In spite of all the crucial circumstances, the rival movements (of Fatah and Hamas) managed to form a national unity government, however, the immense external pressures tensed the situation and infighting renewed," said al-Barghouti.
Asked if he means that Iran and the United States are combating on the Palestinian territories, al-Barghouti said "several countries are using the Palestinian people to achieve their political interest" but he didn't name them.
"External interference into the internal Palestinian affairs was the main reason for the collapse of the national unity government," he said, urging other countries to stop the intervention immediately.
He warned, "the continuation of disputes would for sure lead to the collapse of the entire authority."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Int'l, regional powers blamed for igniting Hamas-Fatah disputes
RAMALLAH, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Former Palestinian minister of information Mustafa al-Barghouti Thursday accused international and regional powers of igniting the ongoing internal Palestinian conflict.
"In spite of all the crucial circumstances, the rival movements (of Fatah and Hamas) managed to form a national unity government, however, the immense external pressures tensed the situation and infighting renewed," said al-Barghouti.
Asked if he means that Iran and the United States are combating on the Palestinian territories, al-Barghouti said "several countries are using the Palestinian people to achieve their political interest" but he didn't name them.
"External interference into the internal Palestinian affairs was the main reason for the collapse of the national unity government," he said, urging other countries to stop the intervention immediately.
He warned, "the continuation of disputes would for sure lead to the collapse of the entire authority."
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Int'l, regional powers blamed for igniting Hamas-Fatah disputes
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A.: JIMMY CARTER OFFERS TO MEDIATE BETWEEN HAMAS & FATAH
Jimmy Carter Offers to Mediate Between Hamas, Fatah
By Julie Stahl
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - As Washington continues a policy of isolating the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, former President Jimmy Carter reportedly has offered to mediate between Hamas and rival Palestinian faction, Fatah.
The Palestinian News Agency Ma'an reported that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh met with Scott Custer, West Bank director of the Carter Center, in Haniyeh's Gaza Strip office. Custer told Haniyeh that Carter, a Democrat, was willing to mediate between the factions. Haniyeh okayed Carter's offer, the report said.
(The Carter Center announced in May that it is "reinvigorating its presence in the Palestinian Territories in support of peace for Israel, justice for the Palestinians, and the emergence of a viable, democratic Palestinian state."
The newly opened field office in the West Bank city of Ramallah was established "to closely monitor political developments on the ground, publish periodic reports on critical issues of democratic development in the territories, and work with local partners on human rights and democracy activities.")
Carter headed the international observer mission that validated last year's Palestinian elections, which brought Hamas to power. He was also an observer in the first round of Palestinian elections in 1996 and again in the 2005 elections.
The former president's 2006 book, "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid," created an uproar in the American Jewish and pro-Israel community, which charged that it was not only pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli -- but inaccurate.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Jimmy Carter Offers to Mediate Between Hamas, Fatah
By Julie Stahl
Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - As Washington continues a policy of isolating the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, former President Jimmy Carter reportedly has offered to mediate between Hamas and rival Palestinian faction, Fatah.
The Palestinian News Agency Ma'an reported that Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh met with Scott Custer, West Bank director of the Carter Center, in Haniyeh's Gaza Strip office. Custer told Haniyeh that Carter, a Democrat, was willing to mediate between the factions. Haniyeh okayed Carter's offer, the report said.
(The Carter Center announced in May that it is "reinvigorating its presence in the Palestinian Territories in support of peace for Israel, justice for the Palestinians, and the emergence of a viable, democratic Palestinian state."
The newly opened field office in the West Bank city of Ramallah was established "to closely monitor political developments on the ground, publish periodic reports on critical issues of democratic development in the territories, and work with local partners on human rights and democracy activities.")
Carter headed the international observer mission that validated last year's Palestinian elections, which brought Hamas to power. He was also an observer in the first round of Palestinian elections in 1996 and again in the 2005 elections.
The former president's 2006 book, "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid," created an uproar in the American Jewish and pro-Israel community, which charged that it was not only pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli -- but inaccurate.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Jimmy Carter Offers to Mediate Between Hamas, Fatah
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - HOLY LAND: ARRESTS OF FATAH'S TOP OFFICIALS MAY BE FORTHCOMING
Gaza: Arrest of Strip's ex Fatah chief sought
Ramallah, 25 July (AKI) - In what appears to be a growing rift within the Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, one leader has demanded the arrest of the group's former top official in the Gaza Strip, Muhammad Dahlan (photo), a newspaper reported Wednesday.
Jibril Rujub, a former PA security aide and leader of an internal Fatah faction has said Dahlan should be held responsible for Fatah's rout at the hands of Hamas in Gaza, and should be arrested, the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi, said.
Rujub's request is backed by other top Fatah leaders including Ahmad Halas, the faction's secretary in Gaza, the report said.
Matters are likely to come to a head next week when Rujub is expected to request that Fatah resume peace talks with Hamas and that those responsible for the violence between the two factions in Gaza be punished.
Some of those fingered along with Dahlan are the director of internal security Rashid Abu Shubak and the deputy chief of the PA's intelligence services, Tawfiq al-Tairawi.
Pertinent Links:
1) Gaza: Arrest of Strip's ex Fatah chief sought
Ramallah, 25 July (AKI) - In what appears to be a growing rift within the Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction, one leader has demanded the arrest of the group's former top official in the Gaza Strip, Muhammad Dahlan (photo), a newspaper reported Wednesday.
Jibril Rujub, a former PA security aide and leader of an internal Fatah faction has said Dahlan should be held responsible for Fatah's rout at the hands of Hamas in Gaza, and should be arrested, the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi, said.
Rujub's request is backed by other top Fatah leaders including Ahmad Halas, the faction's secretary in Gaza, the report said.
Matters are likely to come to a head next week when Rujub is expected to request that Fatah resume peace talks with Hamas and that those responsible for the violence between the two factions in Gaza be punished.
Some of those fingered along with Dahlan are the director of internal security Rashid Abu Shubak and the deputy chief of the PA's intelligence services, Tawfiq al-Tairawi.
Pertinent Links:
1) Gaza: Arrest of Strip's ex Fatah chief sought
Friday, July 20, 2007
DAR AL HARB - ISRAEL: INSANITY IS ON THE MARCH - - - ISRAEL RELEASES 250 INDIVIDUALS THAT SHALL WAGE JIHAD ON THEM
Israel releases 250 Palestinian prisoners
By staff and agencies
Israel has released 256 Palestinian prisoners to try to bolster moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his power struggle with the Islamic militant group Hamas.
Mr Abbas feted the released prisoners as "heroes of freedom" at celebrations marking their return to the West Bank.
Large-scale releases of prisoners, viewed as heroes by Palestinians in the struggle for statehood, are seen as an effective way for Israel to back Mr Abbas in his confrontation with the Islamic militants who took the Gaza Strip by force last month.
Hamas, shunned by Israel and Western powers for refusing to renounce violence, routed Fatah forces a month ago, prompting Mr Abbas to dismiss the unity government it led and install a new administration in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Most of those freed today were from Mr Abbas' Fatah movement, with the most prominent being 61-year-old Abdel Rahim Malouh, deputy head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO).
Released prisoner Iyad Milhem, 30, said: "All the suffering, all the pain is gone.
"But we still hope for the release of all the other prisoners."
Israeli and Palestinian officials said they hoped the release marked a new chapter in relations, following seven years of bloody fighting.
Today's release began shortly after daybreak when the shackled prisoners left the Ketziot prison camp in southern Israel and boarded buses with darkened windows that took them to the West Bank.
At an Israeli military checkpoint in the West Bank, the prisoners got off the buses, some kissing the ground, and boarded Palestinian buses that took them to the West Bank.
Israel holds about 9,200 Palestinian prisoners, most of whom were arrested during the past seven years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Almost every Palestinian family has had a member in Israeli jails at some point.
However, Israel refuses to free inmates serving time for wounding or killing Israelis, in part for fear of a public outcry. None of the prisoners being freed Friday was directly involved in attacks on Israelis, according to Israeli officials.
Earlier this week, families of victims of Palestinian attacks tried to stop the release with a Supreme Court appeal, but the court backed the government.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Israel releases 250 Palestinian prisoners
By staff and agencies
Israel has released 256 Palestinian prisoners to try to bolster moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in his power struggle with the Islamic militant group Hamas.
Mr Abbas feted the released prisoners as "heroes of freedom" at celebrations marking their return to the West Bank.
Large-scale releases of prisoners, viewed as heroes by Palestinians in the struggle for statehood, are seen as an effective way for Israel to back Mr Abbas in his confrontation with the Islamic militants who took the Gaza Strip by force last month.
Hamas, shunned by Israel and Western powers for refusing to renounce violence, routed Fatah forces a month ago, prompting Mr Abbas to dismiss the unity government it led and install a new administration in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Most of those freed today were from Mr Abbas' Fatah movement, with the most prominent being 61-year-old Abdel Rahim Malouh, deputy head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLO).
Released prisoner Iyad Milhem, 30, said: "All the suffering, all the pain is gone.
"But we still hope for the release of all the other prisoners."
Israeli and Palestinian officials said they hoped the release marked a new chapter in relations, following seven years of bloody fighting.
Today's release began shortly after daybreak when the shackled prisoners left the Ketziot prison camp in southern Israel and boarded buses with darkened windows that took them to the West Bank.
At an Israeli military checkpoint in the West Bank, the prisoners got off the buses, some kissing the ground, and boarded Palestinian buses that took them to the West Bank.
Israel holds about 9,200 Palestinian prisoners, most of whom were arrested during the past seven years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting. Almost every Palestinian family has had a member in Israeli jails at some point.
However, Israel refuses to free inmates serving time for wounding or killing Israelis, in part for fear of a public outcry. None of the prisoners being freed Friday was directly involved in attacks on Israelis, according to Israeli officials.
Earlier this week, families of victims of Palestinian attacks tried to stop the release with a Supreme Court appeal, but the court backed the government.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Israel releases 250 Palestinian prisoners
Thursday, July 19, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - ISRAEL/HOLY LAND: ABBAS, THE FALSE MESSIAH
Anatomy of Abbas Infatuation: Beware of False Messiahs
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
Reading the newspapers and listening to radio news gives me a feeling of deja vu. Israel is (again) negotiating with Mahmoud Abbas to free Palestinian prisoners, just as we did with Yasser Arafat - because we must "strengthen the moderate Palestinian leadership" against the more radical Hamas.
We are turning over tax money to Abbas to help the Palestinians on the West Bank economically, just as we did with Arafat - because, we are informed, we must "strengthen the moderate Palestinian leadership" against the more radical Hamas.
And we are being urged by the US State Department to ease up on the various West Bank checkpoint restrictions to make daily life more liveable for the Palestinians just as we did with Arafat - because, we are advised, we must strengthen the moderate secular leadership against the more fanatically religious Hamas.
But we were tragically disappointed by Arafat. His Oslo package turned out to be a Trojan Horse, and what we got in exchange for land concessions was not peace, but more terror.
And even when former prime minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinian chieftain 96-97% of the West Bank and a land swap for the remaining 3-4%, he declared unequivocally (in Arabic) that his intention was not to go back to the pre '67 lines, but rather to the pre- '48 situation - before there was a State of Israel. Indeed, his response to the much-too-generous offer was the second intifada, in which the very Kalashnikov rifles with which Israel supplied him to supposedly fight Hamas were used against our civilians and our children.
IS MAHMOUD ABBAS truly a moderate, sincerely interested in making peace - or is he merely a clean-shaven, tie-sporting version of Arafat?
Well, he certainly had no difficulty joining a Hamas government which refused to recognize Israel, until they overthrew the sparse and craven Fatah forces in Gaza last month. He has never declared unequivocal acceptance of the Jewish state in Arabic, and he has never admitted that the Holocaust actually took place - after having written a doctorate attempting to prove that it did not.
And most importantly, Palestinian schoolbooks and radio, television and print media are still spewing out hateful caricatures and wretched rhetoric reviling Jews (and Zionists) and praising suicide bombers - all under Abbas's "moderate" regime.
I remember once calling my wife from a London hotel room, telling her I felt deathly ill after having eaten a portion of fish which didn't taste "right" in one of the restaurants.
"How much of the fish did you eat?" she asked. "About half the portion," I replied.
"Well," was her wise response, "the first bite was the restaurant's fault, but the second bite was your fault!"
HOW OBTUSE can we be? How can we account for making further concessions before having any tangible proof that Abbas is different, that he does in fact recognize our right to exist in the Middle East, that he will not countenance anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist text books and media hype?
When I attempt to understand the psyche of our government's actions, only one explanation comes to mind: Israel has fallen prey to belief in a false messiah named "Peace Process."
...
To become more familiar with Abu Mazen, a.k.a. Mahmoud Abbas, please review the following:
Abu Mazen: A Political Profile by Yael Yehoshua
Pertinent Links:
1) Anatomy of Abbas Infatuation: Beware of False Messiahs
by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin
Reading the newspapers and listening to radio news gives me a feeling of deja vu. Israel is (again) negotiating with Mahmoud Abbas to free Palestinian prisoners, just as we did with Yasser Arafat - because we must "strengthen the moderate Palestinian leadership" against the more radical Hamas.
We are turning over tax money to Abbas to help the Palestinians on the West Bank economically, just as we did with Arafat - because, we are informed, we must "strengthen the moderate Palestinian leadership" against the more radical Hamas.
And we are being urged by the US State Department to ease up on the various West Bank checkpoint restrictions to make daily life more liveable for the Palestinians just as we did with Arafat - because, we are advised, we must strengthen the moderate secular leadership against the more fanatically religious Hamas.
But we were tragically disappointed by Arafat. His Oslo package turned out to be a Trojan Horse, and what we got in exchange for land concessions was not peace, but more terror.
And even when former prime minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinian chieftain 96-97% of the West Bank and a land swap for the remaining 3-4%, he declared unequivocally (in Arabic) that his intention was not to go back to the pre '67 lines, but rather to the pre- '48 situation - before there was a State of Israel. Indeed, his response to the much-too-generous offer was the second intifada, in which the very Kalashnikov rifles with which Israel supplied him to supposedly fight Hamas were used against our civilians and our children.
IS MAHMOUD ABBAS truly a moderate, sincerely interested in making peace - or is he merely a clean-shaven, tie-sporting version of Arafat?
Well, he certainly had no difficulty joining a Hamas government which refused to recognize Israel, until they overthrew the sparse and craven Fatah forces in Gaza last month. He has never declared unequivocal acceptance of the Jewish state in Arabic, and he has never admitted that the Holocaust actually took place - after having written a doctorate attempting to prove that it did not.
And most importantly, Palestinian schoolbooks and radio, television and print media are still spewing out hateful caricatures and wretched rhetoric reviling Jews (and Zionists) and praising suicide bombers - all under Abbas's "moderate" regime.
I remember once calling my wife from a London hotel room, telling her I felt deathly ill after having eaten a portion of fish which didn't taste "right" in one of the restaurants.
"How much of the fish did you eat?" she asked. "About half the portion," I replied.
"Well," was her wise response, "the first bite was the restaurant's fault, but the second bite was your fault!"
HOW OBTUSE can we be? How can we account for making further concessions before having any tangible proof that Abbas is different, that he does in fact recognize our right to exist in the Middle East, that he will not countenance anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist text books and media hype?
When I attempt to understand the psyche of our government's actions, only one explanation comes to mind: Israel has fallen prey to belief in a false messiah named "Peace Process."
...
To become more familiar with Abu Mazen, a.k.a. Mahmoud Abbas, please review the following:
Abu Mazen: A Political Profile by Yael Yehoshua
Pertinent Links:
1) Anatomy of Abbas Infatuation: Beware of False Messiahs
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
