South Capitol Street

Inside the "Abu Eid Refugee Camp," 15 km from Tel Aviv (photo by Guy Botebia)

On December 13, 17-year-old Hamza Abu Eid was taken out of class and summoned to the principal’s office. “The Israelis are destroying your house right now,” the principal told him. “It is best that you remain here. The last thing we want is for you to have a confrontation with a police officer.”

But Abu Eid rushed to his family’s house, hoping to salvage whatever belongings he could. When he arrived, bulldozers from the Israeli Lands Authority had destroyed virtually everything — all seven homes belonging to the Abu Eid family were reduced to rubble. A black masked officer from the Israeli yassam (the anti-riot police) prevented Hamza from entering to attempt to save his belongings. Three refrigerators and a TV set were among the appliances that Hamza’s family lost in the demolitions.

In the end, 74 people were left homeless, including 54 children, forced to sleep under the open sky during the coldest period of the year. No government social workers arrived with assistance, nor did the state offer any temporary aid. The families gathered whatever belongings they could, pitched tents like so many Palestinian refugees have done in the past, and placed a sign over their land plot that read, “Abu Eid Refugee Camp.”

Over 70 members of the Abu Eid family sleep in tents next their destroyed homes

Although the area now looks like the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza after Operation Cast Lead, it is located only 15 kilometers from Tel Aviv in the Abu Toq neighborhood of Lod. All of Lod’s Palestinian residents are citizens of Israel, however, they are treated by the state like foreigners, or worse, as a threat to the survival of Zionism.

For years, the Abu Eid family applied for permits to allow them to renovate their homes to accommodate their growing family. But the state zoned their neighborhood as agricultural land and refused their requests (for obvious reasons, applications for renovation and building permits are almost always denied to the Arabs inside Israel). Finally, the state ordered them to seek residency elsewhere because their homes were slated for demolition.

Directly beside the Abu Eid refugee camp, building has begun on a yeshiva that will be directed by an Orthodox rabbi from the United States named Yaakov Saban. And plans have been authorized to build a road directly through center of the neighborhood. Pressure of Palestinian Israelis of Lod to leave is intensifying as a result of the far-right takeover of the city’s municipality.

Widespread corruption led to the collapse of the elected municipality, enabling the Israeli Ministry of Interior to install an emergency government consisting of hand picked military officials. Because the ministry is controlled by Eli Yishai, the leader of the extreme right Shas Party (Yishai was singled out in the Goldstone Report for saying “we should bombard thousands of houses in Gaza”), the new municipality has taken the form of an openly racist cabal. “They are poor in culture, poor in behavior. No ambition,” the mayor of Ramle, a neighboring city, said of the Palestinians of Lod.

Riyadh Abu Eid stands by the rubble of his home

While as many as 30 demolition orders hover over the residents of Lod, and 42,000 such orders have been issued across Israel against Arab residents, Yishai has declared his intention to settle thousands of Orthodox Jews in the city. At the same time, Arabs in Lod claim they are forbidden from living in a giant new public housing complex built in the heart of the city.

I arrived at the Abu Eid refugee camp on January 25. At the end of Lod’s Helen Keller Boulevard, men sit around open fires sipping tea, while small children clamber in an out of tents erected beside piles of rubble, debris and shattered home appliances. A middle aged man named Riyah Abu Eid met me at the entrance and took me into the makeshift camp.

“This place was here before 1948,” he said. “They destroyed it because they said we had no permit. But we can’t get permits because we are ‘48 Arabs. We asked many times and were denied every time. They say we are terrorists. But look around, this is the real terror. Throwing children into the street on the coldest day of the year — that is terror.”

According to Riyadh Abu Eid, many children from camp are unable to attend school because they are unable to concentrate. A nine year old girl who was especially traumatized has refused to leave her bed for days. Riyadh does not try to conceal his desperation. “We do not feel safe here,” he said. “We want to ask the United Nations and Obama for international protection from a fascist government that has proven capable of massacring the unarmed.” He added, “The days of 1948 have come again.”

The destruction leveled against the Palestinians of Lod highlights a growing trend in Israel’s treatment of its Palestinian citizens. Increasingly, the state is replicating the brutal methods it applies in the West Bank against Palestinians across the so-called Green Line. “For years I’ve been trying to say, ‘Don’t think the Occupation will stop at the Green Line,’” Amiel Vardi, a Jewish Israeli activist who accompanied me to Lod, told me. “Now we see it’s not stopping. They’re using the same methods with the settlements, with the courts, and with the Shabak [Shin Bet] on both sides of the Green Line. Go to the Abu Eid camp or to Al Arakib and there’s absolutely no difference from what I see in the Hebron hills.”

In the unrecognized Palestinian-Israel village of Dahmash, located next to Lod, the family of Ali and Farida Sha’aban defended their home for two years from demolition. When I met them last July, the couple was camped in front, awaiting the bulldozer that could come at any time. “If there is a democracy in Israel, then why are we forbidden from living here?” Ali said to me. “You are from the USA?” he asked me. “Well, we are the Native Americans in this place.” Building plans by the Lod municipality will effectively close off all or most of the entrances to Dahmash; already a wall separates the village from a Jewish housing development next door.

Demonstrators marched to the Lod police station demanding the release of Farida and Ali Sha'aban

On January 22, the Lod police violently arrested Ali, Farida, and five members of their family, accusing them of harboring illegal workers. Their detention in the city jail was unknown until Monday, when they were finally allowed to see a lawyer. A judge extended their imprisonment until Thursday on the grounds of secret evidence the Sha’aban family’s lawyer was not allowed to view — a tactic familiar to Israel’s military courts in the West Bank. Video allegedly showing the police kicking the Sha’aban’s while shouting, “Go to Gaza!” was shown during the court hearing.

Activists placed stickers on police cars mocking Israel's claim to be "Jewish and democratic." They read, "Yahudit V'Gezanit," or "Jewish and racist."

Last night, a group of Jewish Israeli demonstrators, including many from the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity movement, joined the Abu Eid family and Palestinian activists from Lod, including members of the renowned rap trio Dam (”I broke the law? No the law broke me,” is a lyric from their song “Born Here”), in a protest march to the Lod police station to demand the Sha’aban family’s release. The demonstration consolidated Lod as a new node in the growing solidarity movement inside Israel. On Friday, the Abu Eid’s will participate in the weekly Sheikh Jarrah demo, which was joined last week by residents of Al Arakib, and has been frequently attended by Farida and Ali from Dahmash.

Back in the Abu Eid camp, I spoke to Hamza Abu Eid, the 17 year old high school student, about what his life has been like since his home was destroyed. “I get distracted when I’m in class now,” he told me. “Sometimes when I think about the aggressive way the police treated the women — one of them kicked my brother’s pregnant wife — I get so angry I can’t focus.”

Hamza said his family plans to buy trailers to live in until the state delivers them “a solution.” He said, “For now, we have no solution. I expect that I will stay in this life and it will keep going on. The government has done nothing for me but destroy my house. As a citizen, I have no rights.”

He added, “I see a future full of darkness.”

Despite being homeless and traumatized, Hamza said he is excelling in school. He told me had just received 92 out of 100 on a chemistry exam, and that he has near-perfect marks in biology. When he finishes high school, Hamza plans to pursue a career in economics or medicine.

“I know there is a hope,” he said. “I just don’t know what it is.”

Max Blumenthal

Jeff Gates

Timing is everything when waging war “by way of deception,” the motto that has long guided Israeli war-planners. Whenever Israel’s geopolitical goals are threatened, chaos is assured. In national security terminology, the January 24^th bombing at Moscow’s busiest airport was “out of theater repositioning.”

Moscow airport

First among Tel Aviv’s priorities is their need to maintain traction for the latest geopolitical narrative: a “global war on terrorism” against “Islamo-fascism.” The fact that America’s two latest wars serve Israeli goals remains largely unmentioned in Western media.

Six days prior to the Moscow bombing, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev traveled to the West Bank to endorse a Palestinian state with its capital East Jerusalem. He pointedly noted “this was the first visit of a Russian president to Palestine not united with a visit to another country” (Israel).

Then he joined a fast-lengthening list of nations confirming that, to date, 109 of 192 United Nations member countries support a resolution recognizing Palestinian statehood.

Though the U.S. reliably vetoes Security Council resolutions at Israel’s request, sentiments are shifting as a global public awakens to the costs of the U.S.-Israeli relationship.

Numerous Latin American nations recently extended recognition to Palestine. Ireland just announced an upgrade in its relationship to embassy status.

Russian President Medvedev and Palestinian President Abbas

Out-of-Theatre Repositioning

When waging war from the shadows, Zionist war-planners concentrate their efforts on key variables. Thus the fear in Tel Aviv that emerging events are loosening control of the Israel lobby over U.S. foreign policy.

To sustain a global “war on terrorism,” instability must be sustained. Anyone familiar with the Israeli use of strategic duplicity found it unsurprising when multiple crises emerged “unexpectedly” in North Africa.

Unrest in Tunisia triggered a change in government followed by unrest in Mauritania, Algeria, Yemen and Egypt. During a recent Arab League meeting, Secretary-General Amr Mousa cautioned that the contagion could spread.

If so, look for the price of energy to soar, further weakening leaders in the debt-ridden West where restive populations already face fewer services, higher taxes­—and more debt.

Misdirection also plays a role in such well-timed crises. Tel Aviv just released a report justifying Israel’s deadly boarding of a Turkish vessel last May in international waters carrying aid to Gaza. Yet a post-mortem found 30 Israeli bullets in the bodies of nine dead activists, including one shot four times in the head.

Akin to the 911 Commission Report that obscured the anti-Zionist motivation for that mass murder, news of this Israeli attack was obscured by reports of a bombing in Moscow and a leak that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas secretly agreed to cede Palestinian land to Israel.

Unrest in Tunisia

That well-timed leak weakened the Palestinian president while the bombing weakened the Russian president when this well-timed crisis forced his cancellation of a keynote address to world leaders at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Multiple Motives

When deploying deceit to wage war, Zionists catalyze mental impressions meant to link events in the public’s mind. Thus the critical role of timing when advancing a thematic narrative such as The Clash of Civilizations.

These latest events heightened tensions worldwide as both fear and the requisite loathing were reinforced by yet another series of well-timed crises. When faced with the threat that its Islamo-fascist storyline is losing traction, what else can Zionists do?

Confronted with the possibility that the West may withdraw support for its six-decade occupation of Palestine, what is Tel Aviv to do? Facing the prospect of global censure for its murder of Turkish activists, how can Israel divert attention?

Tel Aviv is backed into a corner. Overwhelming evidence confirms that Zionists generated the false intelligence that induced the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Though the Israel lobby retains its control over U.S. lawmakers, the American public is fast realizing how many crises originate with those who consider themselves above the law.

To Betray, First Befriend

What are Americans to do when faced with a devious enemy—posing as an ally—whose operatives consider themselves Chosen by a God of their own choosing? With mainstream media dominated by those complicit in this duplicity, how can this choke hold be released?

As a duped electorate slowly awakens to how they were deceived—and by whom—how do Americans make amends for the damage done by their Israeli-compliant lawmakers?

Those determined to defeat this ‘enemy within’ must first make this treason transparent. As the common source of this corruption becomes apparent, accountability can commence.

Americans do not yet grasp that we have long been the target of ongoing capital crimes. Zionists know that our continued ignorance is the key to their continued impunity. With knowledge comes the power to prosecute those complicit. Therein lies the challenge.

Aware of the future that awaits them, Zionists are becoming desperate and even more dangerous. An escalation of violence is assured until the full force of international law is turned on those who have long flaunted the law in pursuit of their extremist agenda.

_________________

Jeff Gates is author of Guilt By Association – How Deception and Self-Deceit Took America to War. See www.criminalstate.com

Intifada Palestine

Fatah’s anger at Qatar for allowing (or encouraging) Al Jazeera to release the “Palestine Papers” is increasing.

Their latest charge is that Qatar was behind Israel’s capture of the Karine A weapons ship in 2002.

The Karine A, it will be recalled, was a ship that was purchased by the Palestinian Authority and loaded with weapons they bought from Iran. The cargo included such peaceful, moderate items as Katyusha rockets, anti-tank missiles, anti-tank mines and pure explosives, with a total value of some $ 15 million. People involved in the shipment were sprinkled through all levels of the Palestinian Authority hierarchy, from Yasir Arafat down to the Palestinian Naval Police.

Fatah leader and member of its Revolutionary Council, Bassam Zakarneh,  told a press conference that Qatar had tipped Israel off about the ship – and this paved the way for the “assassination” of Arafat!

Interestingly, Arafat had denied having anything to do with the Karine A, and Zakarneh’s statement seems to confirm that the PA really was behind it and that Arafat was lying.

And while the world is misinterpreting the “Palestine Papers” as to how moderate and flexible the PA is, it is worth remembering that the Karine A episode happened after substantive “peace” negotiations with Israel and proved that the PA’s desire for peace was nonexistent.

Elder of Ziyon

The following post is by IsraeliGirl and is reposted here with permission

Flotilla Probe: Israel acted in accordance with international law in raid

The inquiry committee appointed by Israel to investigate the events that occured on May 31st on the Mavi Marmara has released its report.

Headed by Honorable Supreme Court Justice Emeritus Jacob Turkel and and including jurists and world-renowned experts as well as international observers, the committee determined unequivocally that Israel acted in accordance to international law imposing and enforcing a blockade in international waters. The events that folded that day were a result of direct attack on IDF soldiers, an attack that took them by surprise.

This conclusion is based on testimonies of 27 witnesses in person and 12 witnesses in camera.The testimony was supported by a great deal of material that was submitted for the committee’s perusal. Among the witnesses there were also human rights organizations and two Israeli citizens who participated in the flotilla.

The committee focused on examining the circumstances and the legality of the Israeli soldiers’ seizure of the Mavi Marmara and the other vessels. Major General (Res.) Giora Eiland conducted an in-depth operational IDF investigation. The Eiland report and all its appendices were submitted to the committee, after which the committee instructed the IDF to conduct additional investigations for the purpose of filling in some details. A professional military team was made available to the committee to enable it to conduct a more in-depth operational investigation. The team did so in full coordination with the committee, under the guidance of staff acting on the committee’s behalf. In the course of these intensified investigations, testimony was taken from 39 soldiers and other IDF personnel who were directly involved in the events. Afterwards, additional written testimony was taken from another 23 soldiers and 23 other soldiers were questioned again.

Here are the main findings of the report:

• The marine blockade was imposed due to security needs and meets the requirements of international law. Israel is upholding its international humanitarian obligations in the situation of a naval blockade on Gaza, as evident by the fact that vessels are allowed to pass into Ashdod Port to unload humanitarian equipment.
• The policy towards the Gaza Strip complies with international and humanitarian law – Israel does not prevent the entry of supplies essential to the civilian population, and provides as much humanitarian and medical assistance as is necessary according to the rules of international law. Israel cooperates with the Palestinian Authority and the international community in these realms.
• The takeover of the Marmara was done in accordance with international law – According to international law, if it may be determined that a vessel is intentionally trying to breach a blockade, it is permitted to overtake it wherever it is located, even in international waters. The possibility of stopping vessels, especially large ones, at high sea is extremely limited. Therefore, lowering soldiers from helicopters was an appropriate tactic that suits international law, and is consistent with the experience of other navies.
• The instructions for opening fire were not to shoot except in the case of a real and immediate threat to life. The soldiers took action only after they were violently attacked by the ship’s passengers. The IDF did not anticipate that the flotilla participants would not be innocent civilians but rather direct participants in hostilities. The soldiers were violently attacked with shots, knives, clubs, hammers, blows and more. Nine soldiers were injured during the attack, including from live bullets, and others from stabbings. Three soldiers were seized and dragged to the ship’s hold.
• Conduct of the passengers – there were 2 groups on the Mavi Marmara – peace activists, who boarded the ship in Antalya following a security inspection, and a “hard core” of 40 IHH activists who boarded in Istanbul without any security inspection and behaved as a separate group. They were joined by 60 other activists who participated in the violent events. When the ship’s captain ordered the passengers to return to their places below deck, the IHH activists remained on deck, put on life jackets and armed themselves with axes, chains, knives, hammers, etc.
• The committee was convinced that the IHH activists used live weapons. Their intention was to breach the marine blockade and thereby provide Hamas with an advantage in its armed struggle against the State of Israel.
• Handling of the passengers – After the takeover was completed, the stage of treating the wounded began. Eighteen doctors, six paramedics, and 70 combat medics and one senior physician were involved in this event. Some of the wounded resisted the administration of medical treatment but none died of their wounds after medical treatment commenced. The passangers were treated according to international law at all times. 

Despite the attempt by various parties to accuse Israel of war crimes, the findings prove that Israel stated the truth and acted in accordance with the law. Gaza is open to the entry of all types of goods and products. Any organization wishing to transfer products to Gaza can do so through the existing border crossings. There is no need for additional flotillas, which in fact comprise a provocation and have no connection to humanitarian aid.

Technorati Tag: Turkel Commission and Gaza Flotilla and Mavi Marmara.

Daled Amos

If you’re out to do a hatchet job, this will be your modus operandi.
American Thinker Blog

If you’re out to do a hatchet job, this will be your modus operandi.
American Thinker Blog

If you’re out to do a hatchet job, this will be your modus operandi.
American Thinker Blog

First came Wikileaks which destroyed the meme that Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians is the prime irritant in the Arab world.

Now the other shoe has dropped. Al Jazeera’s startling revelations yesterday on Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations clearly show that neither Israeli settlements nor Jerusalem are “obstacles to peace.” For the most part, the Palestinian Authority (PA) was willing to give Israel both. That in turn has the Palestinians and their fellow travelers on the liberal-left at each others’ throats, scurrying to cover up to save their ideological butts.

The Wall Street Journal has a clear, straightforward story. And Robin Shepherd has the frenzied reaction from the Guardian newspaper and other pathological Israel bashers in Britain.

Prediction: This story isn’t going away so fast. It’ll take some time before all the parties involved finish applying their spin. A red-faced Abbas is already denying it. So between he and Al Jazeera, which one of the liars do you think lied?

Big Peace

The divergence between how the Guardian is spinning the Palestine Papers release and how the actual leaders of the Palestinian Arabs are reacting teaches us volumes.

So while the Guardian decries supposed Palestinian Arab weakness in recognizing what every sane person does, that Israel will never give up the major Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem…

Palestinian concessions roll on. The Israeli settlements around East Jerusalem? Sold, two years ago…

..the Palestinian Arabs are decrying the idea that they would even consider compromise. Erekat:

In the past few hours, a number of reports have surfaced regarding our positions in our negotiations with Israel, many of which have misrepresented our positions, taking statements and facts out of context.

Other allegations circulated in the media have been patently false. But any accurate representation of our positions will show that we have consistently stood by our people’s basic rights and international legal principles.

Indeed, our position has been the same for the past 19 years of negotiations: We seek to establish a sovereign and independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and to reach a just solution to the refugee issue based on their international legal rights, including those set out in UNGA 194.

Even though many ideas have been discussed by the two sides as part of the normal negotiations process, including some we could never agree to, we have consistently said any proposed agreement would have to gain popular support through a national referendum.

No agreement will be signed without the approval of the Palestinian people.

And Mahmoud Abbas is even saying that any hint of flexibility in the leaked documents actually reflect Israeli positions, not PalArab positions!

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that leaked Palestinian negotiation documents deliberately confuse the positions of either side, according to Reuters.

“There was an intentional mix-up. I have seen them [Al-Jazeera] present things as Palestinian but in fact they were Israeli… This is therefore intentional,” Abbas said in Cairo.

PLO executive committee member Yasser Abed Rabbo, who was in the negotiations, echoes his pride at Palestinian Arab intransigence:

We did not agree to any proposal regarding east Jerusalem. The only position to which we adhere is Abbas’ position that east Jerusalem, according to the 67 borders, belongs to us.

So we are left with two possibilities. Either the Palestinian Arabs were the flexible parties and Israel the intransigent ones, which means that Abbas, Abed Rabbo and Erekat are lying now, or Israel was always the more flexible party and the Guardian is lying now.

We also see from the Guardian’s screed that the newspaper is not interested in a real peace, but in forcing Israel to make all the concessions and rewarding the Palestinian Arabs for their decades of terror and refusal to accept Israel as a reality.

Of course, while some details about what Tzipi Livni offered might raise an eyebrow or two, everything Israel has said about the negotiations has been very consistent through the years, and consistent with what the leaks say. The Israeli leadership has repeated the mantra often enough: “We will have to make painful compromises for peace.”

Those words about compromise were never uttered by any Palestinian Arab leader or negotiator, because the entire idea of compromise is foreign to them. Especially when they have cheerleaders like the Guardian ready to support their intransigence (and insult the very idea of compromise.) Behind closed doors, perhaps, they float an idea or two, but they can rest assured that their people who they themselves have indoctrinated to hate will reject any plans they pretended to accept to make the US happy.

Israel’s position towards compromise has been vindicated. The Abbas regime’s intransigence has been verified. And the only side that has nothing to hide is Israel.

Not that the Guardian would ever admit that.

Elder of Ziyon

By IsraeliGirl

The inquiry committee appointed by Israel to investigate the events that occured on May 31st on the Mavi Marmara has released its report.

Headed by Honorable Supreme Court Justice Emeritus Jacob Turkel and and including jurists and world-renowned experts as well as international observers, the committee determined unequivocally that Israel acted in accordance to international law imposing and enforcing a blockade in international waters. The events that folded that day were a result of direct attack on IDF soldiers, an attack that took them by surprise.

This conclusion is based on testimonies of 27 witnesses in person and 12 witnesses in camera.The testimony was supported by a great deal of material that was submitted for the committee’s perusal. Among the witnesses there were also human rights organizations and two Israeli citizens who participated in the flotilla.

The committee focused on examining the circumstances and the legality of the Israeli soldiers’ seizure of the Mavi Marmara and the other vessels. Major General (Res.) Giora Eiland conducted an in-depth operational IDF investigation. The Eiland report and all its appendices were submitted to the committee, after which the committee instructed the IDF to conduct additional investigations for the purpose of filling in some details. A professional military team was made available to the committee to enable it to conduct a more in-depth operational investigation. The team did so in full coordination with the committee, under the guidance of staff acting on the committee’s behalf. In the course of these intensified investigations, testimony was taken from 39 soldiers and other IDF personnel who were directly involved in the events. Afterwards, additional written testimony was taken from another 23 soldiers and 23 other soldiers were questioned again.

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YID With LID

By IsraeliGirl

The inquiry committee appointed by Israel to investigate the events that occured on May 31st on the Mavi Marmara has released its report.

Headed by Honorable Supreme Court Justice Emeritus Jacob Turkel and and including jurists and world-renowned experts as well as international observers, the committee determined unequivocally that Israel acted in accordance to international law imposing and enforcing a blockade in international waters. The events that folded that day were a result of direct attack on IDF soldiers, an attack that took them by surprise.

This conclusion is based on testimonies of 27 witnesses in person and 12 witnesses in camera.The testimony was supported by a great deal of material that was submitted for the committee’s perusal. Among the witnesses there were also human rights organizations and two Israeli citizens who participated in the flotilla.

The committee focused on examining the circumstances and the legality of the Israeli soldiers’ seizure of the Mavi Marmara and the other vessels. Major General (Res.) Giora Eiland conducted an in-depth operational IDF investigation. The Eiland report and all its appendices were submitted to the committee, after which the committee instructed the IDF to conduct additional investigations for the purpose of filling in some details. A professional military team was made available to the committee to enable it to conduct a more in-depth operational investigation. The team did so in full coordination with the committee, under the guidance of staff acting on the committee’s behalf. In the course of these intensified investigations, testimony was taken from 39 soldiers and other IDF personnel who were directly involved in the events. Afterwards, additional written testimony was taken from another 23 soldiers and 23 other soldiers were questioned again.

Please email me at [email protected] to be put onto my mailing list.
Feel free to reproduce any article but please link back to http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com

YID With LID

By IsraeliGirl

The inquiry committee appointed by Israel to investigate the events that occured on May 31st on the Mavi Marmara has released its report.

Headed by Honorable Supreme Court Justice Emeritus Jacob Turkel and and including jurists and world-renowned experts as well as international observers, the committee determined unequivocally that Israel acted in accordance to international law imposing and enforcing a blockade in international waters. The events that folded that day were a result of direct attack on IDF soldiers, an attack that took them by surprise.

This conclusion is based on testimonies of 27 witnesses in person and 12 witnesses in camera.The testimony was supported by a great deal of material that was submitted for the committee’s perusal. Among the witnesses there were also human rights organizations and two Israeli citizens who participated in the flotilla.

The committee focused on examining the circumstances and the legality of the Israeli soldiers’ seizure of the Mavi Marmara and the other vessels. Major General (Res.) Giora Eiland conducted an in-depth operational IDF investigation. The Eiland report and all its appendices were submitted to the committee, after which the committee instructed the IDF to conduct additional investigations for the purpose of filling in some details. A professional military team was made available to the committee to enable it to conduct a more in-depth operational investigation. The team did so in full coordination with the committee, under the guidance of staff acting on the committee’s behalf. In the course of these intensified investigations, testimony was taken from 39 soldiers and other IDF personnel who were directly involved in the events. Afterwards, additional written testimony was taken from another 23 soldiers and 23 other soldiers were questioned again.

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Feel free to reproduce any article but please link back to http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com

YID With LID

Today’s New York Times (where else?) sports the nifty little map above, courtesy of David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Pravda-on-the-Hudson identifies Mr. Makovsky as ‘a mild-mannered analyst at a pro-Israel think tank’.

What he was attempting to do here was to show how a new Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza could be created using the pre-1967 boundaries of Israel as a starting point while keeping the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria largely within Israel…or as the Times puts it, reconciling ‘the Palestinian demand for sovereignty over the West Bank with the Israeli demand for control over a majority of the settlers.’

“In my view, it is definitely possible to deal with each other’s core demands,” Makovsky said. “There are land swaps that would offset whatever settlements Israel would retain. The impossible is attainable.”

Isn’t it pretty?

The Time’s editorial comments, by the way, point out a key reason this is pure fantasy.

To begin with, it’s not the Israelis who are demanding ‘control’ over the ‘settlers’, it’s the ‘Palestinians’ who are demanding that their new reichlet be 100% Jew-free. And therein lies the problem with the pretty map above.

The little fingers of land containing major Jewish communities like Ariel and Ofrat are isolated sitting ducks for terrorist attacks and in the event of hostilities, could easily be cut off and the inhabitants massacred. Does anyone seriously think that the ‘moderate’ Fatah mafia who can’t even abide the idea of a single Jew living among them could be trusted to honor an agreement like this? Not only that, but anyone who knows the topography of the area knows that these borders would sacrifice the high ground to the ‘Palestinians’..ideal sites for rocket attacks that could not only devastate the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria but Israel’s densely populated central plain.

It gets even more ridiculous. Part of the land swaps Makovsky envisions involve areas adjacent to Gaza,now under Hamas rule. How are these going to be connected to a ‘Palestinian’ reichlet in Judea and Samaria? And how long would they survive a Hamas takeover?

For that matter, the same question could be asked about the new ‘Palestinians’ state itself. The unelected Abbas and Selim Fayyad regime are far from popular, and Hamas has considerable support in Jordan and in the Palestinian occupied areas of Judea and Samaria. The main thing keeping Hamas at bay there right now is the IDF’s security apparatus. Once the IDF moves out, the shiny new Fatah army the US spent millions equipping and training under General Keith Dayton is on it’s own.

That army didn’t even last a day in Gaza, and likely would last about as long in Judea and Samaria once Hamas attacks the Fatah enclave there. What does Israel do then?

Needless to say,neither the Israelis or the ‘Palestinians’would entertain anything like what’s presented above for a moment – the Israelis because it would be suicidal and the ‘Palestinians’ because accepting something like this would involve them negotiating their demands and making concessions, which they adamantly refuse to do.

What the Times, David Makovsky and those who think like them don’t understand is that the main obstacle to settling the Arab-Israeli conflict isn’t ‘settlements’, borders or Jerusalem. It’s the inability of Arabs to live next to Jews in conditions of peace and equality in the areas the Arabs control.

Solve that problem, and the rest of them fall into place. Ignore it and absolutely nothing changes.

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J O S H U A P U N D I T

An Egyptian newspaper has uncovered the original, handwritten order by Saddam Hussein to shoot Scud missiles at Israel, and the article is getting a bit of play in Arab newspapers and message board forums – often with great praise.

Fatah forums are praising Saddam as well, one person wishing that Saddam’s Iraq had a direct border with Israel back then.

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Mercy-giving.

To Staff Brigadier General Hazim Abd ar-Razzaq,

Peace be upon you [as-Salam ‘alaykum!],

Go ahead with God’s blessings and strike targets inside the criminal Zionist entity with the heaviest possible fire, making sure to be careful about the possibility that you might be spotted. And carry out the strikes with the usual conventional warheads on the missiles. Let the launching continue until further notice.

Saddam Hussein,

[Signature]

17 January 1991

Elder of Ziyon

Anti Semitism is on the rise fueled by growing anti Israel rhetoric. Just a few weeks ago, a former European Commissioner and a prominent Dutch politician, Frits Bolkestein, called on orthodox Jews to leave Holland because of “the anti-Semitism among Dutchmen of Moroccan descent, whose numbers keep growing”. Reading this statement propelled me to learn more about the state of Anti Semitism in Europe and its connection to the efforts to de legitimize Israel’s right to exist. I asked Professor Dina Porat, the founder and former head of the institute for the study of contemporary Anti Semitism and Racism in Tel Aviv University, for an interview to explore the connection between Anti Israel rhetoric, Radical Islamic propaganda and anti Semitism.

Giyus.org: What is the current state of Anti Semitism in the world?

Professor Porat: Anti Semitism is mostly evident in central and western Europe as well as the USA and Canada. We’ve been measuring and documenting Anti Semitism incidents since 1989. As can be seen in the graph below, it is evident that anti Semitism is generally on the rise. However, each year is different. 2009 was the worst year since monitoring began, in terms of both major anti Semitic violence and the hostile atmosphere generated worldwide by the mass demonstrations and verbal and visual expressions against Israel and the Jews. On the other hand, in 2008 and 2007 we saw a decline in the number of anti Semitic incidents. While there is no complete data for 2010, there seem to be fewer incidents than in 2009.

Giyus.org: There is a strong feeling in Israel and the Jewish world that anti Israel rhetoric led by Israel’s opponents legitimizes Anti Semitism – can you support that claim?

Professor Porat: In the last few years, anti Semitism has been hiding behind anti Zionism. The calls and actions to de legitimize Israel’s right to exist and to frame Israel as the devil which tortures the poor innocent Palestinians hide in many cases anti-Semitic feelings and expressions.

Giyus.org: Those that oppose Israel claim they are just voicing legitimate criticism about Israel’s action. Is this really the case?

Professor Porat: There is a clear definition of criticism. When you sound an opinion regarding a certain event, at a certain time and place, you are being critical. For example, someone can say – “I don’t think Israel was acting within its rights when sending its navy to board the Mavi Marmara in international waters. Israel should have waited until the boat reached its own waters”. This is expressing criticism of a specific Israeli action. You can agree with the statement or not, but this is a relevant criticism.  The claims made by those de legitimizing Israel are not relevant criticism, but pure anti Zionism.

Giyus.org: When is the line crossed and criticism of Israel becomes anti Zionism?

Professor Porat: When one says something like “the Israel’s army, the evil army of the occupation, attacked the Mavi Marmara Flotilla with full intent to kill the people on board”, that’s not criticism. That’s a pre-meditated opinion; in this case an anti Zionist one. When one involves certain characteristics which are constant and are not tied to a certain event, one moves away from being critical and starts voicing a subjective opinion.

Giyus.org: Israel’s opponents often claim that they are against Israel and not the Jewish people.  What do you think?

Professor Porat: Anti Israeli literature originates from multiple sides of the political map – left-wing radicals from UK academic institutes, right wing extremists, and Islamic propagandists.  Typical literature and statements from these last two groups tend to consider the Jewish state and the Jewish people as one entity. The main difference between anti Israel rhetoric from Islamic propaganda and the BDS movement is the use of religious anti Jewish elements. While Islamic propaganda makes rich use of Christian traditional anti-Semitic elements, left-wing radicals, such as the BDS movement, remain in the academic field and their statements seem more factual than emotional.

Giyus.org: Let’s talk about proportionality – do you think that criticism against Israel is proportional to Israel’s place in the world?

Professor Porat: There is a complete lack of proportionality when dealing with Israel.  If someone would have visited planet Earth from outer space he would get the impression that Israel, that tiny piece of land on earth, is the root cause of all problems in our world. Let’s take a look at the UN, with its 192 member countries.  Try to put these countries on a scale according to human rights violations:  At the top, you would find countries like Sweden, Netherlands and Belgium. At the bottom, you will find countries like Iran, Saudia Arabia and Lybia. Israel, even taking into account the West Bank and Gaza,  will still be in a good place on the scale of human rights violations. And yet, when you look into the UN’s resolutions in its various committees, you get the sense that Israel is the worst offender of all member states.

The UN is making as if a purely political statement but the lack of proportionality makes it impossible to treat these political resolutions with respect.

No one is denying that Israel has its faults – Israel did bomb Gaza in operation Cast Lead causing civilian deaths. Yet look at Iraq, in the course of action there, the US is responsible for countless civilian casualties and yet no one talks about it, and there are China and Tibet, Russia and Chechenya, and so on. But when an Israeli soldier mistreats a Palestinian – it’s all over the news.

Giyus.org: Why does this lack of proportionality exist when dealing with Israel?

Professor Porat: After pondering about this question for many years, I can think of two main reasons for this disproportional treatment.  The first one is that Israel is a democracy and as such it is expected to adhere to certain standards which Iran and Lybia are not. But this is hardly the main reason. The main reason for this lack of proportionality  is the fact that Israel is a Jewish state.

Let’s look at the democracy angle. Israeli Arabs and their equal rights are the true face of democracy in action.  For example, compare Israel’s equal treatment of its Arabs citizens with the way Gypsies are treated by many European countries. Hungary and Romania are known for their violent treatment of Gypsies. In France, President Sarkozy issued an immediate warrant and expelled thousands of Gypsies across the border, although they are EU citizens. There were no world outcry, nor boycott or divestment initiatives.

Being a democracy, from which exemplary behavior is always required, isn’t the main reason for the disproportional treatment of Israel. This leaves us with only one explanation – the fact that Israel is a Jewish state. Since 1948 about 80% of Israeli citizens are Jewish and the rest are Israeli Arabs and other minorities. The Jewish identity is what makes Israel unique and a target to a disproportional, subjective voicing of opinions. In other words, anti Zionism is combined with anti Semitism.

Giyus.org:  How did anti Semitism became anti Zionism?

Professor Porat: The perception of the Jews was created through the course of two thousand years. It was initially created by the church and in the modern age was impacted by economic factors in the modern era. In the 18^th century, Jewish emancipation, the process in which Jewish people in Europe were recognized as equal citizens and granted citizenship, raised fears that Jews are about to take over Europe. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion emerged a few dozens of years after the emancipation began. While they were faked, they reflected the fear from Jewish takeover.

In 1948, Israel as a Jewish state was added into the picture. I believe, that even after 62 years, many people still did not yet come to terms with the fact that the Jewish people have established a state of their own. For so many years the Jews were a weak minority in various countries. They are not supposed to be strong and powerful and to have a state of their own – it goes against many layers of Jews as perceived by many non-Jewish people.

This is not a logical equation; these are strong emotions that there is something not right about the Jews having a state of their own. These emotions are part of what feeds the current efforts to de legitimize Israel.

Giyus.org: How are these emotions against Israel as a Jewish state expressed?

Professor Porat: These strong emotions against Israel as a Jewish state are expressed through chants in protests and countless caricatures.  Young people are looking for a symbol. Let’s look at Israel’s image – the main claim against Israel is the fact that Israel is an occupying force, controlling millions of Palestinians. Israel was originally founded as a safe haven for Holocaust surviving Jews. Nowadays, world opinion claims Israel has played the “victim” card for too long while actually becoming an occupier evil force. We are seeing a reversal effect in which the victim is becoming the abuser. The Jews, the main victims of the Nazis, have turned into the “Nazis” and the Palestinians are now the victims.

There is also a religious angle. In Christianity, redemption is achieved through suffering. But the Jews cannot bring the redemption. Thus the Jews cannot remain the “victims” and that role must be passed on to the Palestinians.  Once the reversal is complete, and one views Israel as a Nazi country, then questioning its right to exist is the next logical step.  After all, the Nazis have no rights for a state.

Islamic propaganda knowingly makes use of Christian religious  and traditional symbols to attribute to Israel’s image as a Nazi state and turn the Palestinians into the ultimate victims, those whose suffering  may bring redemption to this world.

Here are some examples:

• These caricatures appeared during the swine flu epidemic

• This caricature which appeared in a Danish newspaper is a clear example of the reversal impact we’ve explained. Even though the caricature does not represent the Israeli soldiers as Nazis soldiers, it clearly reminds the famous photograph of children and women submitting themselves to the Nazis in the Warsaw ghetto and raising their hands.

Giyus.org: Who falls for such anti Semitic lies in liberal Europe?

Professor Porat: Europe is still going through the process of establishing its European identity. While you can cross the border between France and Germany as if there was no border at all, there is still lack of a unified identity. This is specifically hard on the  European youth which are looking for a meaning. You see these youths in protests, wearing a Kafia (Arab head cover), holding posters equating the Jewish Star of David to the Nazi Swastika. They have no idea about who lives in the Middle East. If you show them a map depicting the tiny size of Israel they do not believe you. They are convinced that Palestine was a state populated by Arabs and then the Jews arrived after the Holocaust and drove them away. I once showed students in the US a map of the Middle East and they just didn’t believe me – one student stood up and said “this is not a real map”. Because when you see the facts, you understand this whole vision of Israel is wrong.

The growing Muslim population is also a factor. These second-generation Muslims living in Europe are a prime ground for anti Zionism to manifest. These protests are mainly carried out by second-generation Muslims as well as local European youth looking for a symbol.

Giyus.org: And who is behind these anti Zionist / anti Semitic protests?

Professor Porat: Radical Islamic elements are the main power behind the campaign to undermine Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. They run a very smooth operation, waiting to pound on Israel at every opportunity. Whenever Israel makes a military move against Hamas or Hezbollah, protests emerge within hours. They are constantly building their infrastructure, ready to make a move whenever they can. It is not a reaction to what Israel actually does; the posters are ready ahead of time and are lifted within a matter of hours.

Giyus.org: How are Jews in Europe impacted by this growing anti Israel trend?

Professor Porat: When there are military operations like Cast Lead against Hamas, or the second Lebanon war, we definitely see an increase in hate crimes against Jews. When things calm down, we see a return to the regular upward trend.  Religious Jews with their traditional clothes are those that suffer the most from the anti Israel trend. These are the Jews that the Dutch politician referred to, saying he cannot guarantee their safety.

With 22 Million Muslims in Europe there are clearly neighborhoods that are not safe for Jews. This is the reality and we need to deal with it. Israel needs to work with other minorities as well as with moderate Muslims to combat the anti Israeli trend as well as other discrimination against minorities and groups.

Big Peace