Israellycool

Archive for the ‘Middle East/Middle East Conflict/Palestinians’ Category

As Israel’s 60th anniversary passes, and the news media goes out of its way to contrast the past sixty years from the Israeli and Palestinian Arab perspectives, one question not being asked is: where is the ideological core of Palestinian Arab nationhood?

From following articles by Palestinian Arabs in the West decrying Israeli “crimes” and pretending to yearn for their land, one is struck by a simple fact: most if not all of them live, quite comfortably, outside “Palestine.” From universities in the US and the UK they rail about “justice” and the suffering of their people - but none of them seem to want to actually move to “Palestine.”

It’s not like it is so hard. Even if Israel limits immigration, there is no shortage of ways to get in from Jordan. Tens of thousands of opportunistic Jordanians did exactly that during the early Oslo years as it appeared that the economy in the West Bank was poised to leapfrog Jordan’s.

It is instructive to compare the early ideological Zionists, many of whom of whom risked their lives for a very uncertain future in Palestine (even before Herzl), and today’s “settlers” who do the same, with today’s ideological Palestinian Arab nationalists who are quite happy to pontificate from afar.

The lives of the early Zionists were no more secure in Palestine than in the West. It was far from clear that they would be able to build a homeland successfully. Yet they sacrificed themselves for an idea that they believed strongly in.

Similarly, there are hundreds of thousands of Jews - today’s pioneers - who choose to live across the Green Line. They build schools, clinics, farms, against the wishes of not only the Arab world but most of the West and sometimes even their own government. Yet they choose to stay, and more choose to move there. Even if you disagree with them you must admit that they have a strong ideological core that makes them want to move there.

But where are the Palestinian Arabs who grew up in the West? They stay in the West. The ideology of “return” is great to talk about, but not so important to live.

Palestinian Arabs have hijacked the terminology of the Jews (”Diaspora,” for example) but they have always suffered from a black hole at the center of their ideology: their most passionate nationalists were either terrorists or lived outside Palestine altogether, with no desire to build the land.

Of course they applaud and encourage the miserable Palestinian Arabs who live in the Middle East to have lots of children so the next generation will be even more miserable. They are in the forefront of screaming “Zionism=Nazi” in left-wing rags. But they simply do not put their money where their mouths are.

Because they really don’t care nearly as much about a Palestinian Arab state as they do about the destruction of a Jewish state.

Forget Ambiguous Explosion, Mysterious Explosion and Vague Blast. Here’s the latest in palestinian work accident euphemisms.

The militant group Hamas said early Sunday morning that one of its members had been killed in an explosion along Gaza’s fence with Israel.

The Islamic group’s military wing said a man was killed, and another injured, during a holy mission. Such language is used when explosives meant for an attack on Israel explode prematurely.

The dead Hamas man was named as Osama al-Aftal.

The Israel Defense Forces issued a statement clarifying troops were not operating in the area at the time of the explosion early Sunday.

Call me religious, but here’s hoping to many more “holy missions.”

Meanwhile, despite the fact you’d think palestinian news agencies would be beaming with pride about such missions, blaming Israel seems to be an even holier mission, as evidenced by this Ma’an News account of the same incident.

Undercover Israeli forces killed a Palestinian fighter in the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning, witnesses and medical sources said.

The dead body of 23-year-old Usama Al-Astal, a fighter with Hamas’ armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, was taken to a hospital in the city of Khan Younis.

Eyewitnesses told Ma’an’s reporter that Al-Astal was on lookout duty east of the town of Al-Qarara, when he noticed Israeli special forces entering the area. He immediately hurled a grenade towards the Israelis, who fired back, killing him and wounding three other fighters.

Update: Elder points out that the Hamas website uses an even better euphemism.

As Al Aqsa Intifada against the occupation assault on the Gaza Strip continues, Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades has its best men to be in the playground of death to defend their people from any attack by the enemy.

I bet you didn’t know that Pepsi Cola was a tool of the International Zionist Conspiracy.

Actually, neither did I until Hamas MP Salem Salamah told us so.

Salem Salamah: There are companies established by the colonialists and occupiers - large companies with branches all over the world, like Pepsi, Pepsi Cola. This is a well-known company. Pepsi is an acronym. P-E-P-S-I - Pay Every Pence to Save Israel. Pay every pence - pence is one hundredth of a dollar – to save Israel. Pay every pence to save Israel. Shouldn’t the Muslims have a fund, a company, or a large project to save the Al-Aqsa Mosque?

I guess no-one told him about some of the other famous soft drink brands:

FANTA - F*ck ANTisemitic Arabs

SPRITE - Spend Pennies to Realize Israel’s Technical Edge

Last week we reported on an Islamic Jihad rocket-maker who was also a UNRWA employee.

Now, Reuters has an “exclusive”:

By day, Awad al-Qiq was a respected science teacher and headmaster at a United Nations school in the Gaza Strip. By night, Palestinian militants say, he built rockets for Islamic Jihad.

The Israeli air strike that killed the 33-year-old last week also laid bare his apparent double life and embarrassed a U.N. agency which has long had to rebuff Israeli accusations that it has aided and abetted guerrillas fighting the Jewish state.

In interviews with Reuters, students and colleagues, as well as U.N. officials, denied any knowledge of Qiq’s work with explosives. And his family denied he had any militant links at all, despite a profusion of Islamic Jihad posters at his home.

But militant leaders allied to the enclave’s ruling Hamas group hailed him as a martyr who led Islamic Jihad’s “engineering unit” — its bomb makers. They fired a salvo of improvised rockets into Israel in response to his death.

Qiq’s body was wrapped in an Islamic Jihad flag at his funeral, pictorial posters in his honour still bedeck his family home this week, and a handwritten notice posted on the metal gate at the entrance to the school declared that Qiq, “the chief leader of the engineering unit”, would now find “paradise”.

That poster was removed soon after Reuters visited the Rafah Prep Boys School, run by the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees. Staff there said on Monday that UNRWA officials had told them not to discuss Qiq’s activities.

Spokesman Christopher Gunness said UNRWA, which spelled its teacher’s surname al-Geeg, was looking into the matter.

It is amazing that the UNRWA cannot confirm whether a person was an employee five days after the fact. (My email to them asking for confirmation has not been answered.) And it is obvious that this poster at the school was there for a number of days until reporters started asking questions.

Here is where Reuters shows how it takes Palestinian Arab lies at face value:

While many in Gaza are open about political allegiances, the threat of the kind of Israeli action that cost him his life on April 30 meant Qiq’s double role was kept very secret indeed.

Surrounded by Islamic Jihad mourning posters at the family home, his sister Naima insisted: “He’s only a teacher and head of the school. School was his life. He had no time to work with Islamic Jihad.” Other family members nodded in agreement.

At the school, a 17-year-old who gave his name as Shadi read a poster for his former teacher and said simply: “Nobody knew.”

How many 33-year old teachers would decorate their houses with heroic Islamic Jihad posters? His family knows what to say to the press, and they are ever-mindful of the UNRWA pension.

From BBC:

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stressed that pledges made at the Paris conference were for the Palestinian people, not the US.

“Clearly when you make a pledge you ought to fulfil it,” she said after the talks.

US officials say that of $717m promised by Arab League members, only $153m of Arab pledges have been delivered, all from three countries: Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Algeria.

Ms Rice was careful not to pinpoint individual Arab states for criticism.

It should be noted that Arab pledges only accounted for about 10% of the total pledges made at the donor conference, despite huge windfall oil profits and non-stop rhetoric about how important the Palestinian issue is to them.

Press reports of the conference show that Kuwait pledged $300 million at the time and has evidently not delivered a penny. Saudi Arabia pledged $500 million and the UAE $300 million, all over three years. I could find no reports of any pledges from Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen or other Arab countries.

Which goes to show that Arab nations care less about their Palestinian brethren than the West does.

Who said Arabs don’t have a sense of humor?

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas underwent an unannounced heart test at a Jordanian hospital on Thursday, adding new uncertainty to already troubled peace talks.

Aides to Abbas, 73, said he was doing well after a catheterization procedure they described as successful, and that he was expected to leave Jordan Hospital later in the day. Abbas is due to return to the West Bank on Friday, they said, adding that they expect him to return to work immediately after his arrival.

—-

Palestinian officials initially said Abbas underwent an angioplasty, a treatment to help open blocked arteries. But later, they said the procedure was only a catheterization to check for blockage. The Arabic word “castara” is used to describe both procedures.

One castaration coming up.

And speaking of a sense of humor..

Saeb Erekat, a top aide to Abbas, said he spoke to the Palestinian leader from the West Bank on Thursday afternoon. “He’s doing very very well. He’s in very high spirits. He even joked to me,” Erekat said.

Wow. That is impressive.

It would seem that the UN does not just employ people who are either friendly with terrorists or sh*t-scared of them. They also employ the terrorists themselves.

One person was killed and three were wounded Wednesday in an Israeli airstrike targeting a metal shop in Rafah, according to Palestinian security and medical sources.

Israel Defense Forces confirmed the airstrike.

The person killed was the deputy commander of the Islamic Jihad military wing, according to the Palestinian sources, who said he also served as a school headmaster at a United Nations Relief and Works Agency school.

What’s the bet they’re using PA textbooks at that school?

And what’s UNRWA’s response to this?

UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunnes said he could not immediately confirm that the person was employed by the United Nations, and added that staff members who bring politics into U.N. institutions are fired immediately for violating staff rules.

Because we all know the politics is the problem here, and not the fact he was a freakin’ terrorist.

The Jerusalem Post reports on the latest Hamas threats against Israel, if Israel dares not accept their Egypt’s truce initiative.

Israel may have 200 nuclear warheads, but Hamas has 200,000 people who want to blow themselves up inside Israel, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said Tuesday.

No doubt Zahar is not counting himself in that figure of 200,000. After all, I doubt he would blow himself up, given he won’t even bring himself to undergo a simply procedure to have that ugly wart removed.

Besides, those suitcases stuffed with millions dollars in cash don’t just move themselves.

Zahar, who was speaking to supporters at the Islamic University in Gaza City, said Israel would pay a heavy price if it rejected the Egyptian initiative for truce with the Palestinians.

“If Israel says no, it will pay a heavy price,” he said. “We are a besieged people and we will have to use all our tools to defend ourselves against Israel.”

Zahar said he expected Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman to brief Israeli leaders next week on Cairo’s efforts to achieve a truce.

He said that once Israel accepted the Egyptian initiative, all the border crossings into the Gaza Strip would be reopened. “The issue of the truce initiative will be determined finally next week,” he added. “I believe Israel will accept the initiative, although it will try to drag its feet on some issues.”

The Hamas leader pointed out that his movement had accepted a cease-fire with Israel in 2005. “Hamas benefited from that truce and no one can deny this,” he said. “Even those who opposed the previous truce have admitted that it was useful.”

In other words, a combination of “accept our truce or else” with an admission that such truces benefit the terrorists. Our leadership would have to be pretty stupid to go along with that.

Here’s hoping they don’t anyway.

It has been a few hours since Israel determined that the Gaza blast that killed most of a family was the result of a secondary explosion from targeted terrorists outside the house carrying munitions.

AP’s Ibrahim Barzak is now reporting Israel’s side of the story, but very skeptically:

In a statement, the military said explosives carried by the militants were detonated by an Israeli airstrike, and the blast from the explosives hit the house, not a tank shell, “and uninvolved civilians were hit.” Palestinians said the militants were at least 400 yards from the house and none of the fighters were killed near the structure.

But the most detailed Gaza based account of the events, from PCHR which blames Israel for the explosion, show that this last sentence is a lie:

At approximately 8:15, an IOF plane fired a rocket at a group of resistance members near Abdallah Azzam Mosque, southwest of Izbit Abd Rabbou, approximately 1000 meters away from the main area of the incursion. The rocket fell 10 meters away from the house of Ahmad Eid Hassan Abu Me’tiq, seriously injuring a resistance member. Less than a minute later two rockets were fired at the same area and landed at the door of the same house, killing another resistance member: Ibrahim Salem Suliman Hajouj (20). Shrapnel from the rockets destroyed the house door and spread inside the house. Meyasar Metliq Abu Me’tiq (40) and her 6 children were eating breakfast only 2 meters away from the door. The shrapnel killed four of the children immediately. The mother was seriously injured; and the other two children were moderately injured. The mother later died of her wounds. In addition, 10 bystanders were injured, some of them sustaining moderate to serious injuries.

The AP cannot do basic fact-checks to show that their Palestinian Arab sources are, simply, liars, and by quoting them credulously they make it appear that the evidence supports the Palestinian Arab story and not the Israeli version. They are doing a better job than the thousand-odd “news” stories that don’t even acknowledge Israel’s claims, but they still fail basic journalism principles.

Meanwhile, I cannot find any pictures of the house to see whether it looks like some shrapnel went through the door or if a major blast occurred right outside.

From commenter Mesow (from Gaza):

Well, I’m not Gazan, but I live here, and I think, being Christian, that Hamas is so close-minded, hateful and showing how strong it is by killing civilians either Israelis or Palestinians, dont think Hamas killed Israelis only, but everyone in its way, and uses little kids (3-15 years old) as shields, being poor, the kids accept to risk their lives and lunch a rocket for just 10-20 shekels! Also, Hamas does NOT show the world what Palestinians really want, they want a country and a peace with Israel, cuz along with Israel, we would live hapily, but Hamas’s authority, rank and forces will be erased, which is not wanted by Hamas people, they want their ranks and money!

The palestinian WAFA news agency reports on a new palestinian invention.

A Palestinian female youth from Hebron city town of Bany Neim managed in developing a machine for Spraying of pesticides and fertilizers to work by the sun energy.

The machine is electronically controlled. The girl is to be the first Palestinian who could do such an invention. She seeks to have a patent for the invention allover Palestinian and the whole world.

Why don’t I find it hard to believe that she is the “first Palestinian who could do such an invention”?

But I guess I should be grateful that a palestinian is using pesticides and fertilizers for something other than bombs.

The irony is she has a better chance of winning a Nobel prize if she was involved in terrorism.

I mentioned on Wednesday in my blog that the UNRWA in the West Bank went on a planned 3 day strike - stopping food distribution and other services - in response to attacks and threats on UNRWA personnel by Palestinian Arabs.

And these events were not mentioned, as far as I could tell, on the UN or UNRWA websites (although their concurrent suspension activities in Gaza in response to fuel shortages were mentioned.)

Why does the supposedly neutral UNRWA go out of its way to mention anything that can be blamed on Israel and downplay things that Palestinian Arabs do to them?

I emailed the UNRWA three times - first to their public information office, then to their West Bank PR office, and finally to Christopher Gunness, who is also one of the UNRWA’s press liaisons:

Dear Mr. Gunness:

I read in Palestine Today Wednesday morning that UNRWA is closing its offices in the West Bank in protest from being forced to close earlier this month by protesters. I could not, however, find any press release from UNRWA concerning this, nor about the protests earlier this month reported in PNN.

Can you please comment on what is happening and any background information you might have? I originally sent the email to the main public information office 24 hours ago, and then to the West Bank PIO last night, but received no response.

Thank you,

Elder of Ziyon

Here is Gunness’ response in its entirety:

HI there,

There had been problems but these have now been avoided for the time being.

Chris

That’s it. Nothing specific, no confirmation of what I had mentioned, no pointers to any press releases I might have missed - nada.

To the UNRWA, violent attacks by the people they are meant to help are embarrassing events that should never be mentioned to the public because the UNRWA is emotionally invested in making sure that the Palestinian Arabs appear purely as victims and never - never - as being partially responsible for their own problems.

Their website contains megabytes of information about the 1948 “nakba” but to find out the real source of their problems nowadays one must decipher doublespeak that is buried deep within. For example:

With more than 9,000 people crammed into an area 650 meters by 200 meters, Neirab camp near Aleppo has a population density that sadly rivals Gaza. Most of the population lives in small one-room shelters. Depending on the time of day, these tiny rooms may serve as living rooms, salons or bedrooms.

Um Hashem, Neirab resident, outlines in gestures how six people can sleep in twelve square metres: four people lay sideways across the room. Meanwhile, Um Hashem lies lengthways, clutching her two-month-old son.

It has been close quarters in Neirab camp since the first Palestine refugees fled their homeland to Syria in 1948, where they were put up in abandoned WWII barracks. Originally, each barrack in the former British and French military base housed sixteen families. With successive generations the camp population increased, however the size of the camp has stayed the same. To address overcrowding, an infrastructural overhaul has become necessary.

In Phase I of the Neirab Rehabilitation Project, UNRWA built new shelters for Neirab refugees in the nearby camp of Ein el Tal, which does not suffer from the same overcrowding. This phase is drawing to a close with 300 families relocating to new shelters. Their decampment will provide additional space for the refugees still residing in Neirab.

Volker Schimmel, UNRWA Project Officer for the Neirab Rehabilitation Project, insists that although the living conditions of Palestine refugees in Neirab must be improved considerably, the project is not calling into question their right of return. “We want to allow Palestinians to live in dignity,” he states. “Choosing not to live in misery does not mean that they will forfeit their right of return.”

In English, this last paragraph means that any UNRWA attempts to build better housing for Palestinian Arabs in camps has been roadblocked for 60 years by “Arab leaders” who think that happier Palestinian Arabs may lead some of them to not want to destroy Israel quite as much, which reduces their usefulness considerably. The UNRWA doesn’t even try to pressure Arab governments to allow PalArabs to become citizens any more - they abandoned that decades ago, unlike the UNHCR, which is actually dedicated to reducing the number of refugees under its care.

The UNRWA might have its private frustrations with the Palestinian Arab leaders who fight tooth and nail against the welfare of real-life Palestinian Arabs, but it will only publicly blame Israel.