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.

While Afatrat may try to be the Fonz, he can never be anything other than the Fortz.

Finally, some undisputable evidence that Arafat was indeed gay.

Not to mention, quite an adept multi-tasker.

Is Terrorfat gay?

Who knows. It may just be a rumor, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

And there’s a subtle hint in this photo..

One of the funniest features from my Mad magazine collection was The Shadow Knows. If I recall correctly, it was done by Sergio Aragones, and involved cartoons of people in different situations. In each picture, the people’s shadows were drawn to represent the people’s true colors or feelings. For instance, a man is drawn walking with his wife and looking straight ahead as they pass an attractive woman. His shadow is turning back and ogling the woman.

I say all of this by way of introduction to this AP photo of Yasser Afatrat:

PLO Arab terrorist leader Yasser Afatrat is no one dimensional villain. He has many dimensions.

There’s his courageous side:

(It takes guts to roll your boogers in public)

There’s his cultural side:

“To be or not to be…that is the question.”

There’s his charming side:

“Has anyone ever told you how much you look like my wife Suha?”

There’s his insane side:

“Yes..yes..Mr Shadow ..your wish is my command.”

There’s his melancholy side:

“I hate Mondays.”

There’s his energetic side:

“Quick..someone call 9-11. I think I have a slipped disc.”

There’s his mischievous side:

“I know how I can wake the Indian minister! I’ll just pull my finger and…”

There’s his contemplative side:

“How about this pose, Mr AP photographer?”

And his French side:

“I am committed to the destruction of Israel. You know that sh*tty littlecountry with the loutish Prime Minister.”

There’s his tough side:

“Go ahead. Make my day!”

And then there’s his sensitive side:

“I can’t believe little Judenrhein is dead. He was such a good gerbil, and quite feisty.”

Meet Al (Aqsa) Bundy:

When Yasser Arafat was on his deathbed, his wife Suha read him passages from the Koran and urged him to trounce the prime minister at the time, Ariel Sharon.

“When he lost consciousness for 15 days, the doctors told me to talk to him about things he liked to hear or things he hated to hear,” she told a Saudi women’s weekly ahead of the fifth anniversary this week of the Palestinian leader’s death.

“And so, when I was with him in his room in the intensive care unit, I read him passages from the Koran and prayers.”

Using his nom de guerre, Suha Arafat said in a rare interview: “I would say to him, ‘Get up Abu Amar, don’t you want to see your [daughter] Zahwa? Get up so you can defeat your enemy [Ariel] Sharon.”

Suha was honored to be Yasser Arafat’s second love, after Palestine, she said.

“When I married him, I knew what I was in for,” she said. “I knew that his first love was always Palestine and its capital, Jerusalem. But it was an honor for me to be the second love, after Palestine.”

When Suha first met Yasser, she was frightened, she told the paper.

“At the beginning I was attracted to the leader of the revolution, then to the courage and masculinity and intelligence, and then also to the romance there was in him,” she said.

“I hope he went to paradise.”

Which brings me to…

The Top 5 Things Suha Arafat Did Not Say to A Comatose Yasser Arafat

5. “The young boys send their regards.”

4. “If you wake up, I promise to cut down on my spending.”

3. “I miss your soft skin.”

2. “This must be the longest you have gone without washing.”

1. “How I wish we could play “tiger” again.”

Relations between Israel and the United States are in crisis. This is the conclusion that stems from the difficulty in arranging a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama.

The White House wanted Netanyahu to sweat before being granted an audience with the president, and wanted everyone to see him perspire.

The delays in finding a time to meet, and pushing it to a late hour – after the news programs on Israeli television – make Netanyahu look as if Obama threw him a bone. In such circumstances, it is no longer important what will be said at the meeting, and the extent to which there will be an attempt to present it as an achievement. The prime minister of Israel was humiliated before all.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:52PM: Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was heckled by some schmekels during his address to the 2009 General Assembly of the The Jewish Federations of North America in Washington.

Props to Bibi for remaining composed and coming back with a zinger.

8:08PM: International “activists” have helped palestinians remove part of the security barrier for the second time in a week, making it easier for terrorists to enter Israel.

5:06PM: Syrian Dorktator Bashar Assad has clearly expressed his support for terrorism.

Syrian President Bashar Assad  warned on Monday that if the Golan Heights are not returned peacefully – Syria will turn to resistance. Speaking at an economic forum of the Organization of Islamic Conference in Istanbul, Assad said, “The failure of negotiations towards the full restoration of rights automatically means resistance is the alternative solution.”

According to Assad, “Resisting the occupation is a national duty. It is our legitimate and moral obligation to support it, and it is an honor that we take pride in. This does not contradict the constant desire to achieve a just and inclusive peace on the basis of the restoration of the occupied lands, starting with the occupied Syrian Golan.”

He has also repeated an old blood libel against Israel.

He also slammed Israel for the situation at the Temple Mount  in Jerusalem: “We felt this danger 40 years ago, when the Israelis tried to set fire to the al-Aqsa Mosque.

He is referring to the al-Aqsa Mosque fire in 1969, which was started by an (insane) Australian Christian by the name of Dennis Michael Rohan. In fact, it was Israeli firemen who worked hard to extinguish the fire, while being attacked by Muslim onlookers.

2:04PM: Disturbing quote of the day:

“At the beginning I was attracted to the leader of the revolution, then to the courage and masculinity and intelligence, and then also to the romance there was in him”

- Suha Arafat speaking about her former husband Yasser

5:42AM: Palestinians fired a Qassam into Israel just before midnight.

No injuries, no damage…and no response.

Created here (found thanks to The ShadowLands)

Background here.