And if he is to be believed (which is always in doubt), we can thank the EU foreign policy chief for this.

The Palestinian Authority is mobilizing international support for declaring statehood, chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Saturday.

“The idea is clear and understandable,” Erekat told the Palestinian daily newspaper Al-Ayyam. “Now we mobilize.”

Palestinians will bring the issue to a vote before the United Nations Security Council, which would declare a Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 border with Israel, he explained. He called the initiative a response to Israel’s policies, which would send a clear message that “settlements and other unilateral actions are null and void and do not establish rights or territory.”

Erekat said he had discussed the idea more than once with the Americans and Europeans, while President Mahmoud Abbas raised the proposal with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Russian officials, who reacted positively. Abbas will seek support from Latin America by the end of the week, Erekat added, and continue to lobby Europe.

The concept was first proposed by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, he said. “Contacts with the Europeans have been ongoing as well as with Russia and the UN. All Arab countries support the idea and will choose the right time to bring up the issue with the UN Security Council after they consult the other international powers, including Europe and even America.”

In response, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a warning.

“There is no substitute for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and any unilateral path will only unravel the framework of agreements between us and will only bring unilateral steps from Israel’s side,”

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:50PM: Rare picture of Arafat’s spawn with her equally attractive mother (hat tip: Jewish Chronicle)

10:28PM: To those who want to boycott Israeli and Jewish products:

10:18PM: Interesting CNN story on Arabs fighting for Israel.

5:02PM: Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has confirmed that the PA asked Israel to help crush Hamas, and accused them of playing an “ugly and double game.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Monday accused the Palestinian Authority of playing an “ugly and double game,” by seeking Israel’s support in crushing Hamas while submitting simultaneous complaints to the international community.

“During Operation Cast Lead, the Palestinian Authority pressured us to crush Hamas,” Lieberman told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. “Then, a month later, they submitted a complaint against us to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.”

Even before the Goldstone Commission published its damning report about Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, said Lieberman, “there were a thousand complaints against Israel at the ICC, a large number of them encouraged by the PA.

3:52PM: Former US President Bill Clinton has stormed the Temple Mount, and in response, Arabs have rioted said “Oh.”

Former US President Bill Clinton visited the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock on Sunday, sources said.

The visit surprised officials, however, as neither media nor the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Endowments were informed in advance.

“It seems it was a special visit,” said Jerusalem endowments director Azzam Al-Khatib.

Israeli forces suddenly imposed a number of strict security measures, and then half an hour later, Clinton entered from the Moroccan Gate, Al-Khatib added.

The US Consulate opted not to inform officials of the visit ahead of time as they usually do, he said.

A spokeswoman for the consulate told Ma’an that Clinton’s visit to Jerusalem was personal and thus not coordinated with the Americans.

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that Clinton visited the Western Wall, as well. Clinton prayed and placed a note at the Jewish holy site, according to these reports.

Clinton was in the region attending the Saban Forum, a conference on US-Israel relations.

Now compare this response to that of the Arabs when Jewish people go up to visit the Temple Mount, even when the visit is announced up front. The Jewish “extremists” or “settlers” are said to be “desecrating” and “storming” Al Aqsa mosque, and the Arabs have used the visits as a pretext to start violent riots and even the second “intifada.”

3:00PM: Heh (hat tip: Ian).

1:28PM: Ma’an reports on a “surprising” statistic.

An estimated 200 million children aged under five in the developing world suffer from stunted growth due to maternal and childhood undernutrition, according to a new UNICEF report.

“Stunting is associated with developmental problems and is often impossible to correct. A child who is stunted is likely to experience a lifetime of poor health and underachievement,” a UNICEF statement on 11 November said.

In the Middle East, the occupied Palestinian territories have a stunting prevalence of 10 percent, a surprisingly better result than other, far wealthier neighbors, which have the following scores:

Egypt – 29
Iraq – 26
Jordan – 12
Kuwait – 24
Lebanon – 11
Oman – 13
Saudi Arabia – 20
Syria – 28
UAE – 17
Yemen – 58

Well, surprising to those who believe that palestinians are starving to death, as pro-palestinians and the media would have us believe.

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The PA has been waging a diplomatic campaign against Israel for the past two weeks over what it terms “provocations” on the Temple Mount

According to reports that have reached Israel about Fayyad’s meeting with the ambassadors, the PA prime minister described last Sunday’s clashes as “an assault by extremist religious settlers on the Temple Mount compound” and said it was “a provocation planned in advance that was aimed at sabotaging the peace process and derailing [U.S.] President [Barack] Obama’s peace initiative.”

Warning that the situation on the mount was flammable and could swiftly deteriorate, he added, “I remind you that this is where the Al-Aqsa Intifada began, after [Ariel] Sharon’s visit” to the mount in September 2000. “The Palestinians’ popular response stems from the Israeli aggression, and we are liable to lose control over events.”

Sounds like a threat to me.

Of course, if there is another “intifada”, just know that it won’t be a spontaneous outpouring of emotion, but something very deliberate and planned.

Meanwhile, even the Left wing Ha’aretz knows where the blame for this recent violence lies.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:50PM: Israeli television has shown pictures proving the Islamic movement had prepared for the riots, hiding rocks inside Al-Aqsa Mosque, contrary to Arab claims that Israel started the confrontation by denying Arabs entry to the Temple Mount.

As the Jerusalem Post reported:

Earlier Monday, Jerusalem police explained their decision to allow only worshipers over the age of 50 into the Temple Mount, revealing that wheelbarrows filled with rocks had been discovered throughout the Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday.

Palestinians had filled the wheelbarrows with stones and bricks in preparation for riots in the Old City, police assessed.

The discovery of the wheelbarrows, in addition to intelligence information and the call on Palestinians to “come and defend” Al-Aqsa, led the police to restrict entrance to the Temple Mount.

It’s 2000 all over again.

10:32PM: The PA continues to show its true colors, urging its people to “confront” Israel and imploring the world to stop us from worshiping our religion in Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Authority on Monday evening condemned Jerusalem’s decision to restrict entrance to the Aqsa Mosque compound, calling on Palestinians to confront Israel in light of the “Israeli aggression.”

“We call on the Palestinian public to confront Israel and its plans, that are intended to prevent the Palestinian people from fulfilling their aspirations of establishing a Palestinian state in the occupied territories,” read a statement issued by the government of PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad in Ramallah.

The PA government publicly decried “Israel’s attempts to conduct Jewish prayer services in the Aqsa compound” and urged the world “to force Israel to halt is efforts to Jewify the city.”

Earlier Monday, Jerusalem police explained their decision to allow only worshipers over the age of 50 into the Temple Mount, revealing that wheelbarrows filled with rocks had been discovered throughout the Aqsa Mosque compound on Sunday.

There is no chance of peace with a people who deny our thousands-year connection to the land of Israel and the holy city of Jerusalem, and will resort to violence at the drop of a hat.

3:50PM:

Palestinian women take part in a protest in Gaza City calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails October 5, 2009. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA POLITICS CONFLICT)

Palestinian women take part in a protest in Gaza City calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails October 5, 2009. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem (GAZA POLITICS CONFLICT)

I’m thinking of conducting my own protest….calling for the release of palestinians from really bad photograph poses.

10:25AM: The latest Richard Goldstone interview with CNN.

Pay special attention to the following:

• Goldstone stating “We didn’t look at whether Hamas is entitled to use military force to gain independence for the palestinian people. We looked at what methods Hamas used,” (1:06) the implication being his acceptance of the notion that Hamas’ aim is solely to gain independence for the palestinians, rather than being its stated aim to rid the land of the Jews.
• Goldstone’s claiming a lack of time did not allow his team to find that Hamas did, in fact, operate out of civilian areas  (1:20), despite the ease of accessing such evidence on YouTube.
• Goldstone stating definitively that the infrastructure to Gaza had no military justification, mentioning specifically the bulldozing of agricultural land (2:30). I am no military expert, but I can imagine military purposes such as establishing a buffer zone. Goldstone does not even entertain this prospect, and states his views as fact.
• Goldstone repeating the laughable idea that both sides (i.e. including Hamas) can now use the report as a roadmap for investigating themselves (5:55)

7:20AM: Our peace partners, the Jordanians, are doing the best to calm the situation on the Temple Mount.

By adopting the palestinian narrative of events, of course.

Jerusalem is a “red line” to Jordan, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said here on Sunday.

“UNSC permanent members are urged to act immediately and shoulder their responsibilities, so as to halt Israeli unending violations,” Judeh told reporters, adding that Israel must be pressured in order to actually commit to achieving peace and re-launching negotiations.

“Dangerous violations, such as allowing Jewish extremists to barge into courts of Al-Aqsa Mosque, as well as continuing excavations in Muslim holy places, destroying houses and displacing the Arab population in a bid to alter the demographic landscape in East Jerusalem are all condemned and rejected,” Judeh stressed.

Earlier today, Judeh, in a meeting with EU Middle East representative Marc Otte, warned against the Israeli escalation and violations in occupied East Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa mosque.

In a related development, the Jordanian foreign ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador in Amman and handed him an objection note over unremitting violations on Muslim and Christian holy places in East Jerusalem.

“All Israeli procedures are illegal, as they signify a breach to Israel’s commitments in its capacity as an occupying force in the West Bank,” a ministry statement said.

Such procedures, the statement carried on to say, represented a major obstacle before efforts to launch serious negotiations that would result in achieving the two-state solution, and eventually, inclusive peace.

Meanwhile, Israel is not-so enjoying the incoming Qassams.

An electric train is moving north at 100kph and a wind is blowing to the west at 10kph. Which way does the smoke blow?

The answer is electric trains don’t have smoke, but that’s not the point. Meet the Hamas version of this riddle:

“A truck is moving at a rate of 15 meters per second, at a distance of 200 meters, from left to right. How will you succeed in hitting this truck?”

This question is part of a new Hamas e-learning course for the self-respecting, would-be jihad fighter.

The Islamist Hamas terrorist organization has initiated an online course in explosives, military weapons and tactics for would-be jihad fighters. Aimed at the population of the Palestinian Authority, the course is called “Get Ready” and is designed to prepare the population for war with Israel.

First exposed outside Palestinian Authority and jihadist circles on Monday by Israel’s Channel 10 TV, the sophisticated course includes highly detailed practical and theoretical lessons, as well as sample videos of jihadist attacks. All manner of weapons are described, analyzed and their proper use explained by masked Hamas instructors.

Students also learn about such things as the manufacture and detonation of explosives, the functioning of rocket launchers, weak points on IDF tanks, and the physics of firing at a moving vehicle. Lessons cover possible scenarios such as an IDF ground incursion into Hamas-controlled Gaza or an airborne Israeli commando assault.

Each instructive section concludes with test questions. For example, a fatigues-wearing Hamas teacher asks, “A truck is moving at a rate of 15 meters per second, at a distance of 200 meters, from left to right. How will you succeed in hitting this truck?”

In its report, the Channel 10 correspondent speculated that the instruction was not only intended to teach Hamas members to more effectively fight Israel, but also to prepare them for confrontation with the rival PA terrorist movement, Fatah. Such a confrontation has already occurred periodically in recent years, but Hamas hopes that an armed clash with PA Chairman’s Fatah forces in Judea and Samaria would end with the Islamists in control of the entire PA.

In an Israellycool exclusive, I have found some more of the courses’ test questions:

• “A man is found hanged in a room. He is still hanging from a rope attached to a hook in the ceiling. Beneath him is a puddle of water. No other furniture in the room. All windows and doors locked from the inside. Wouldn’t it have saved time to just behead him?”
• “There are three apples, you take away 2. Which hand should be cut off?”
• “Every day the man saw his dog ran into the woods. However, he noticed that the dog never ran more than halfway into the woods. Why is this man allowed to have a dog?”

“There will be no peace without the release of all Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.”

- Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Funny, because I don’t recall the release of all palestinian prisoners ever being mentioned in any of the so-called peace agreements signed by Israel and the PA. In fact, it has always been clear that certain categories of prisoners would not be released.

Furthermore, Abbas is essentially demanding the release of terrorists and murderers. Yet another disturbing fact that should make you question his peace partner credentials.

If you haven’t already.