De erfenis van Arafat

Arafat liet op veel fronten een erfenis na: hij gaf de Palestijnen een eigen stem en een gezicht en verschafte ze een waarnemerszetel bij de VN en (beperkte) autonomie in de door Israël bezette gebieden, maar het gezicht was er één van geweld en corruptie, en de stem sprak vaak met een dubbele tong.

 

Zijn uniformen leveren nu een paar honderd sjekel op, maar interessanter is de correspondentie en archieven van hem die nog op verschillende plaatsen rusten. In tegenstelling tot de Israëlische (en de meeste Westerse) archieven, blijven Palestijnse en Arabische archieven voor onbepaalde tijd gesloten. Wie weet wat voor controversiële en comprimerende feiten er in verborgen liggen?

 

 

Wouter (archiefmedewerker)

_______________________________________________

 

Jerusalem Post, Aug. 16, 2007 0:41
Stolen Arafat uniform sold for NIS 200
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1186557458267&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

A military outfit belonging to former Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has been sold in the open market in Gaza City for NIS 200, Fatah officials in Ramallah said Wednesday.

The uniform was stolen from Arafat's residence immediately after Hamas took full control over the Gaza Strip two months ago. Hundreds of Palestinians, including Hamas activists, looted the house in Gaza City and stole most of its contents.

A Fatah spokesman said the looters also stole Arafat's Nobel Peace Prize Award and most of his personal belongings. Hamas denied that its men were involved in the looting, saying it was making efforts to restore the stolen items.

"We have learned that one of Arafat's military uniforms has been sold by Hamas activists for NIS 200," said a Fatah official. "They sold the uniform on the streets of Gaza City. This is outrageous and degrading." He accused Hamas of looting the homes of several Fatah leaders over the past two months. They include Nabil Shaath, Muhammed Dahlan and Intisar al-Wazir [Um Jihad].

The London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper revealed Wednesday that some Palestinians were also trying to lay their hands on Arafat's private archive in his former headquarters in Tunisia. The paper said that Tunisian authorities and PLO security officers have been stationed outside the headquarters to foil any attempt to infiltrate the compound.

Senior Palestinian officials said Arafat's headquarters in Tunisia contain "treasures" of information, including his correspondence with world leaders over a period of 40 years.

After Arafat's death in 2004, the Tunisian government closed down the offices and declared them the "property of the entire Palestinian people."

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas tried several times since then to lay his hands on the archive's documents, but was turned down by the Tunisian government, the officials said. The PLO officials also named Ramzi Khoury, a former Arafat aide, as one of those who have been trying to gain access to the headquarters.

De driehoeksverhouding tussen Abbas, Hamas en Israël

President Abbas tegen de pers afgelopen donderdag:

 

"The split that happened [between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip] as a result of Hamas's coup is temporary and will be removed," Abbas said. "The Palestinian people are opposed to this separation because we want a united and independent Palestinian state."

Abbas said he would continue to work toward reuniting the Palestinians. "We will also continue to support our people in the Gaza Strip, because this is our responsibility," he said.

 

Dit wordt ondersteund door de vrijlating van 9 Hamas leden op de Westelijke Jordaanoever door Fatah.

 

Abbas vertelde Olmert vorige week iets heel anders:

 

Israeli officials quoted Abbas as telling Olmert at their meeting that he would not conduct a dialogue with Hamas, despite pressure from a number of Arab countries to do so.

 

Tegen wie zou hij liegen?

 

Deze positie, waarin twee machtige partijen om zijn hand vragen, is zo slecht nog niet. Laat beiden maar bieden. Deze beiden worden overigens niet zozeer gedreven door liefde voor Abbas, alswel door haat voor die andere gegadigde.  

 

 

Ratna
_____________________________________________

Thursday, August 16, 2007

The Jerusalem Post
Abbas to Hamas: 'Return to nat'l unity'
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH AND HERB KEINON
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1186557459184&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Following conciliatory signals from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to Hamas, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office warned Wednesday night that any Fatah-Hamas unification would lead to a breakdown in the diplomatic process with the reconstituted PA.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting in Ramallah with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, Abbas - for the first time since Hamas's takeover of Gaza in June - seemed to soften his stance toward the Islamist movement, calling on it to "return to national unity." Abbas's remarks were interpreted by Palestinians as an appeal to Hamas to resume talks with his Fatah faction.

Hamas immediately welcomed Abbas's statements and invited him to talk to the movement's leaders in the Gaza Strip.

"The split that happened [between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip] as a result of Hamas's coup is temporary and will be removed," Abbas said. "The Palestinian people are opposed to this separation because we want a united and independent Palestinian state."

Abbas said he would continue to work toward reuniting the Palestinians. "We will also continue to support our people in the Gaza Strip, because this is our responsibility," he said.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said in a statement that any Fatah-Hamas unification would lead to a breakdown of the diplomatic process, and that the PA chairman was "well aware" of this position.

Olmert, according to his office, told Abbas as much at their meeting last week in Jericho, and government officials have said that the progress Israel had made with the PA over the last two months would end if Hamas once again joined the government.

Israeli officials quoted Abbas as telling Olmert at their meeting that he would not conduct a dialogue with Hamas, despite pressure from a number of Arab countries to do so.

In another sign of rapprochement between Hamas and Fatah, the Fatah-controlled PA security forces in Bethlehem released nine Hamas members on Wednesday who were arrested last month on suspicion of trying to establish an armed Hamas group in the West Bank.

Farid al-Atrash, a lawyer representing the Hamas detainees, said a PA court ordered their release, and that the court's decision was endorsed by PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad.

A Hamas spokesman in Gaza City welcomed Abbas's remarks as "positive" and expressed hope that the PA chairman would visit the Gaza Strip for talks with Hamas leaders on ways of resolving the crisis.

Abbas's conciliatory remarks come amid reports that Fatah and Hamas are holding secret talks.

Sources close to Hamas said several Arab and Islamic countries were involved in mediation efforts. The sources said the Hamas leadership in Syria was conducting secret negotiations with some senior Fatah leaders over ways of ending the dispute before Ramadan, which begins in mid-September.

Meanwhile, Abbas, at the press conference with Aso, thanked Japan for providing the Palestinians with $20 million in financial aid.

The Japanese minister announced that his government was planning to give half of the sum directly to the PA and the other half as humanitarian aid.

Following the meeting in Ramallah, Aso went to Jericho for a meeting with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, PA negotiator Saeb Erekat and Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdelelah al-Khatib to discuss a proposed joint economic project.

At the meeting, heavy on symbolism but short on substance, the leaders agreed to hold a meeting of experts in October to push the project forward.

The Japanese-initiated plan is to set up an agro-industrial park in the Jordan Valley, with goods and products from that park to be transported to a Jordanian distribution center for shipment to the rest of the Arab world.

During the meeting at the city's Intercontinental Hotel, Livni said the park would contribute to the development of an "independent and viable Palestinian economy." She said that this project could open a potentially huge market for the PA in the Arab world.

Erekat, meanwhile, told reporters after the meeting: "This is not a substitute for a meaningful peace process between the two parties that will lead to a two-state solution."

Poolse Europarlementariërs boycotten VN conferentie tegen Israël

Toegegeven, ik vond de opmerkingen van de Poolse vertegenwoordigers bij de laatste EU conferentie ook niet echt gelukkig. Men beweerde recht te hebben op meer zetels in het EP omdat er zoveel Polen zijn omgekomen tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Op hoeveel zetels in het EP hebben de Joden recht volgens deze theorie?!

 

Maar men maakt het nu wel weer een beetje goed, door de antizionistische conferentie georganiseerd door het 'Comité voor het Uitoefenen van de Onvervreemdbare Rechten van het Palestijnse Volk' zo duidelijk af te keuren. Deze conferentie is niet gericht op een rechtvaardige vrede, maar op ontkenning van het onvervreemdbare recht op zelfbeschikking van de Joden.

 

Ratna 

________________________________________________________

 

Http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3438591,00.html
Polish MEPs boycott UN conference

'We can call this conference anti-Israeli,' Polish MEP says
Yaakov Lappin

Published: 08.16.07

A conference of UN NGOs (non-governmental organizations) on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to be hosted at the European Parliament this month, will be boycotted by Polish Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from across the political spectrum, who say that the conference is biased against Israel.

The meeting, set to take place at the European Parliament on August 30 - 31, has been organized by the UN's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People."

Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, has written to the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, asking him to cancel the European Parliament's decision to host the conference, while the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor organization said the upcoming conference as a rehash of the 2001 UN Durban conference on racism, which saw unprecedented levels of anti-Zionist rhetoric, and calls for Israel's destruction.

"I will not take part in this conference. I saw the materials prepared by the organizers," Bronis³aw Geremek, a Polish MEP, was quoted by Polish website, Europa21 as saying.

"Although there is no official statement that Israel must be pushed down to the sea there, the choice of subjects and the attitude towards the problems shows that it will be a biased, conflict generating conference. Actually we can call it anti-Israeli," he said.

'Israelis can count on Poles'

"There is not the first such initiative. (The) Pro-Palestinian lobby is very active here. If in fact, the conference will become propagandist, Israelis can count on Poles," Boguslaw Sonik, another Polish MEP, said.

Konrad Szymanski, a third MEP, said: "Israel's objections are fully justified. (The) UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People is a platform for activity of various extremists. According to the most of them Israel should disappear."

"I am astonished that European Parliament allowed such activity to be placed in its building. If there is any activity against the conference, i.e. a petition signed by MEPs, I will be very glad to support it," Szymanski added.

Israël vraagt EU om geen onderdak te bieden aan VN panel over Palestijnse rechten

Het in 1975 opgerichte VN "Comité voor het Uitoefenen van de Onvervreemdbare Rechten van het Palestijnse Volk" (CEIRPP) keert zich tegen het onvervreemdbare recht op zelfbeschikking van het Joodse volk, doordat het de 'bezetting van 1948' wil beëindigen (de oprichting van Israël) en Zionisme als vorm van racisme bestempelt.

Het maakte onder meer naam door haar bijdrage in de organisatie van het NGO forum op de Durban conferentie tegen racisme in 2001, die op een blamage uitliep voor de VN, de deelnemende NGO's en de strijd tegen racisme en antisemitisme.

 

Wouter

_________________________________________________________________

Israel asks EU not to host UN panel on Palestinians' rights

Israeli envoy to European Union sends letter to parliament president requesting he prevent panel to be held by UN's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People

Associated Press
Published: 08.13.07, 17:35 / Israel News
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3437121,00.html

Israel has asked the European Parliament not to provide space this month for a two-day UN panel meeting on the rights of Palestinians, saying the UN group co-hosting it has an anti-Israel record.

Ran Curiel, the Israeli envoy to the European Union, wrote a letter last week to EU parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering asking him to prevent the planned August 30-31 conference from taking place at the EU assembly's building in Brussels, Israeli officials said.

Israel views the committee as a legacy of the 1975 UN General Assembly resolution - revoked in 1991 - that equated Zionism with racism.

Curiel called the parliament's decision to allow the conference "lamentable" and said the assembly had rejected a similar request for a meeting by the UN panel a few years ago because the committee has called for boycotts and sanctions against Israel.

EU parliament officials were not immediately available for comment.

The committee, chaired by Senegal, has 22 members and 26 observers.
Cyprus and Malta are the only members who are also EU member states, according to the UN website.

Hatikva gezongen in Bergen Belsen

De Hatikva is het volkslied van Israël.

 

____________________________________

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Hatikva in Bergen Belsen

http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2007/08/hatikva-in-bergan-belsen.html

 

This little item below, that appears on a few Web logs such as here, was apparently written in April of 2007. But it deserves a much wider audience. Please do listen to the recording of the BBC from the good old days of 1945, and the recording of Hatiqva ( http://genealogy.org.il/BergenBelsenHatikva.mp3 ) made in the liberated Bergen - Belsen concentration camp.

 

It is a simple reply to Ahmadinejad, to Norman Finkelstein and to their friends. It is a reply to anyone who denies the Holocaust, and to anyone who denies the meaning of the Holocaust for Zionism and the Jewish people. For those people, the Jewish state that did not yet exist, represented hope that the Jewish people would literally rise from the ashes.

 

For those who forgot what Zionism is really about, this is a reminder.  

 

Ami Isseroff

 

Scott Simon of NPR reports on a rare recording of "Hatikva" from almost 62 years ago. If this doesn't give you goosebumps I don't know what will.

It was recorded by a British reporter on April 20, 1945 in Bergen-Belsen when the British army liberated the few thousand survivors in the concentration camp, half of which were Jewish, most of them at the extremes of their strength. It was recently discovered and apparently was loaned to NPR by the Smithsonian Institute.

The British priest organized prayers for Kabbalat Shabbat for the Jews. It was the first time after six years of war and after more than 10 years of persecution. With a lot of effort the Jews organized themselves and, knowing they were recorded, sang "Hatikva".

As you can hear they sang the original version as it was written by Naftali Imber. Picturing them in the midst of the concentration camp singing after all they had been through renders this a very moving scenario.

 

Courtesy of Sandy Disler

 

Posted here as well. 
                                                            

History

The title of the national anthem, HATIKVA, means "The Hope." It was written by Naftali Herz Imber (1856-1909), who moved to Palestine in 1882 from Galicia. The melody was arranged by Samuel Cohen, an immigrant from Moldavia, from a musical theme in Smetana's "Moldau" that is partly based on a Scandinavian folk song.

Hatikva expresses the hope of the Jewish people, that they would someday return to the land of their forefathers as prophesied in the Hebrew Bible. The Jewish people were exiled from Israel in 70 C.E. by the Roman army led by Titus who destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem. During the two thousand years of exile, the Jewish people said special daily prayers for return to Israel while facing the East in the direction of Jerusalem. They celebrated the holidays according to Hebrew seasons and calendar. Zion is synonymous with Israel and Jerusalem.

Weduwe Arafat uit Tunesië geschopt

Een bijzondere vrouw......
_______________________________________

Jerusalem Post Aug. 14, 2007
Suha Arafat kicked out of Tunisia
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1186557435026&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Suha Arafat, the widow of former Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat, has been stripped of her Tunisian citizenship and was asked to leave Tunisia together with her 12-year-old daughter, Zahwa, Palestinian sources in Ramallah said on Monday.

The sources told The Jerusalem Post that Suha was now staying in Malta with her brother, Jubran Tawil, who serves as Palestinian Authority ambassador there.

"The Tunisians have kicked her out," the sources said. "Apparently they were unhappy with her conduct."

Other sources claimed that Suha, who is said to have inherited hundreds of millions of dollars from her husband, was expelled following a business dispute with some of her Tunisian partners.

The London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi said Tunisian President Zine El-Abidin Ben-Ali issued a presidential decree last week revoking Suha's citizenship. The paper did not mention the reason why her citizenship was revoked.

A Tunisian newspaper, Al-Raed, said the decree, which carried the number 1976, stated: "The Tunisian citizenship granted to Suha Daoud Tawil, who was born in Jerusalem on July 17, 1963, is to be revoked."

The newspaper said the decision meant that Suha would also be deprived of her "moral and material rights" in the country. It's not clear at this stage if Suha's bank accounts had also been frozen.

Suha moved to Tunis shortly after her husband's death in November 2004. Before that, she and her daughter had been living in Paris for nearly a decade.

Suha is believed to have struck a deal with Arafat's successors according to which she will receive about $22 million a year.

In 2006 she was granted Tunisian citizenship and a villa.

Unconfirmed reports said she recently married businessman Bilhassan Tarabulsi, the brother of the Tunisian president's wife. Suha, however, denied the reports.

Tunisian journalist Tawfik al-Ayyashi revealed that Suha had been involved in a number of economic projects in the country.

Suha and her daughter are now living in an undisclosed location in the northern part of the island.

Other family members may have joined Suha and Zahwa in Malta, immigration sources told the Web site www.maltastar.com.

According to some reports, Suha's mother, Raymonda, a prominent journalist and writer, has also arrived in Malta.

Suha was raised as a Catholic in Ramallah and Nablus and studied at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Suha met Yasser Arafat when she was on assignment in Jordan for a French newspaper. She was immediately appointed as a public relations adviser to the PLO and later as an economic consultant to her husband.

The two married secretly in 1990 at Arafat's house in Tunisia and kept the wedding secret for 15 months.

Suha drew sharp criticism from many Palestinians when she tried to prevent senior PA officials, including PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, from visiting her husband while he was being treated in a military hospital in Paris.

In a screaming telephone interview with the pan-Arabic satellite television channel Al-Jazeera, Suha accused Abbas and then-PA prime minister Ahmed Qurei of conspiring to take her husband's place.

"Let it be known to the honest Palestinian people that a bunch of those who want to inherit are coming to Paris," she said in her appeal in Arabic.

"You have to realize the size of the conspiracy. I tell you they are trying to bury Abu Ammar alive," she said, using Arafat's nom de guerre.
"He is all right and he is going home."

Israël en PA tekenen akkoord over rol internationale waarnemers in Hebron

Een klein stapje in de goede richting. Hopelijk wordt dit gevolgd door een voortvarende aanpak van geweld door extremistische kolonisten in Hebron en elders door Israël, en van terroristische groeperingen door de Palestijnse Autoriteit.

 

__________________________________________

Haaretz, Aug. 14, 2007
Israel, PA sign agreement on role of int'l observers in Hebron

By Barak Ravid, Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents

Israel and the Palestinian Authority on Monday afternoon signed an agreement in Jerusalem that redefines the mandate of international observers in Hebron.

The agreement represents the first deal signed between Israel and the PA since their renewal of civilian and security relations this July, and is the first official agreement on the role of the observers in Hebron since the beginning of the second Intifada in September 2000.

The Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), which has operated in the West Bank city for 10 years, includes members from Turkey, Italy, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, and Denmark, and focuses mainly on relations between Israeli settlers and Palestinian residents of the city.

Israel returns Area B law and order to PA

The Palestinian police recently resumed its law-enforcement activities in Area B of the West Bank, where the Israel Defense Forces is responsible for security. The renewed police patrols, whose focus is on countering criminal activity and ensuring law and order, are being carried out in coordination with Israeli security elements.

According to the Oslo Accords, Israel has security control of territory in Area B, which includes many villages and towns in the West Bank, but the Palestinians are responsible for civilian law-enforcement activities.

In Area A of the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority was granted - also in the Oslo agreements - full security control, both in terms of military and police activities. However, since Operation Defensive Shield in April 2002, Israel has assumed security control over Area A, on a nearly continuous basis.

Nevertheless, in the last four years the IDF has frequently allowed Palestinian policemen to carry weapons and do their work to ensure law and order in Area A. Only in cases when IDF forces entered the West Bank cities have the Palestinian police returned to their headquarters to avoid any possibility of confrontation with the army.

Hamas woordvoerder: "doel van het verzet is om deze entiteit van het aardoppervlak te vegen"

De geschiedenis en de huidige situatie volgens Hamas vertegenwoordiger Osama Hamdan. Dit interview was op 6 augustus te zien op Al-Kawthar TV. Vreemd dat zulke interviews niet op onze TV zenders te zien zijn..... 

 

Hamas vertegenwoordiger Osama Hamdan:

"First of all, let me clarify something very important. What is the ruling regarding those who live in Palestine, in the so-called Israel, and who are aggressors and plunderers of the land? The way we see it, they all came to Palestine from abroad, whether before the declaration of the Zionist entity or after it. If you were to conduct statistics within the Zionist entity, you would find that all these people have their origins in other countries – they came from Europe, Eastern Europe, from America, South America, or other places."

 

Hij kan het zo zien, dat maakt het niet waar. In Jeruzalem hebben altijd Joden gewoond, behalve vlak nadat ze er door de kruisvaarders uit waren verdreven. In Hebron bestond een eeuwenoude Joodse gemeenschap, die in 1929 en daarop volgende jaren door de Palestijnen is verdreven. De huidige fanatieke kolonisten zijn overigens geen familie.

 

Interviewer: "In other words, there were no Palestinian Jews?"
Osama Hamdan: "No, there were no Palestinian Jews. When the British Mandate began in 1917, there was only one settlement on Palestinian land, which included several dozen Jews, who were living there in violation of the law at the time. I would like to mention that under the Ottoman state – regardless of the many reservations we have about it – there was a law that prohibited the Jews from staying in Palestine for over a month.

 

Alle Joden in Palestina werden Palestijnen of Palestijnse Joden genoemd. Joden mochten in Palestina leven onder de Ottomanen, zoals zij al eeuwen deden, maar immigratie werd inderdaad tegengewerkt evenals landaankopen.

"Their passports and personal documents were taken away from them, and they were given an Ottoman permit at the border, which allowed them to stay for a month on Palestinian land. The only group that can be called Jewish was the one in Nablus. They still live there to this day. The Palestinians regard them as part of the makeup of Palestinian society, and they number no more than several hundred. As for those who immigrated from various countries – they are not Jews.

 

Hij bedoelt waarschijnlijk de Samaritanen, die zichzelf niet als Joden beschouwen. Overigens stammen veel Arabische Palestijnen af van bekeerde Joden.

 

"Anyone who comes to live in a war zone is a combatant, regardless of whether he wears a uniform. That's one thing. Secondly, neither Hamas nor the Palestinian resistance force intentionally killed civilians. You mentioned the buses. What's an easier target – a bus, which is protected by various security measures, or a school [or] a theater, or a stadium, for example? These civilian targets – in which the killing of women and children is intentional – were not targeted by "Why were buses targeted? Because they are the means of transport used by the soldiers as well. The Zionist soldiers, who go from their homes to their bases and back, use public transportation, because it is free or almost free. In my opinion, the occupation soldiers also have a security motive in using public transport: They shield themselves behind the so-called 'civilians' within the Zionist entity.

"Therefore, the way I see it, they need to stop using public transportation, or else society should prevent them from using it, because it is the soldiers who are targeted. Just to prove it, in the dozens of operations that were carried out, the Zionists never announced, for example, that 20 children were killed, or that 50 women were killed. On the contrary, if you were to examine who was killed in martyrdom operations that targeted buses, you would find that 70% were occupation soldiers, and they may even have been in uniform at the time of the operation."

 

En wat te denken van de discotheken, restaurants, falafelbars etc.? Zeker ook allemaal omdat er soldaten waren? Volgens het oorlogsrecht is alleen sprake van een militair doelwit als soldaten in functie zijn, en niet op weg naar huis of tijdens hun verlof. Volgens dezelfde theorie mag Israël alle plaatsen bombarderen waarvan ook maar een vermoeden bestaat dat Hamas leden zich er bevinden. Als Hamas het hele gebied als een grote warzone bestempelt, waarin alles een legitiem doelwit is, dan kunnen ze natuurlijk niet klagen als ze zelf worden aangevallen.   

"We are making the preparations for a confrontation. This is not because we need to be prepared for an Israeli act of aggression – after all, aggression is intrinsic to this entity – but because the final goal of the resistance is to wipe this entity off the face of the Earth. This goal necessitates the development of the capabilities of the resistance, until this entity is wiped out."

 

Het bestaan van Israël is een daad van agressie volgens Hamdan. En Hamas zal strijden tot zij van de kaart is geveegd. Duidelijker kan niet. "So sorry we exist." 

Interviewer: "Do you think that Mahmoud Abbas, who has found himself in the crisis of the confrontation with Hamas, plays the role of a policeman, who is thwarting the Intifada, the resistance, and the jihad against the Zionist occupation in the Palestinian lands?"

Osama Hamdan: "He plays a role that is even worse than that. Mahmoud Abbas is doing this out of ideological conviction. He has been calling for a settlement ever since 1973. It was Mahmoud Abbas who created the Oslo Accords, and who was brought in by the Americans to serve as prime minister in order to confront Arafat. In my opinion, he plays this role willingly and out of conviction, which is worse than if he were doing it out of commitment to the occupation."

 

Ik denk dat dit teveel eer is voor Abbas, en hij was niet de architect van de Oslo Akkoorden. Zonder de aanslagen van de Hamas en andere groeperingen was er nu geen muur en checkpoints, en was Abbas wellicht de eerste president van de Onafhankelijke Staat Palestina. Uiteraard is sterven voor Allah veel nobeler dan de moeizame weg van de vrede, het compromis en het opbouwen van een eigen staat.    

 

Ratna

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Special Dispatch-Hamas/Jihad & Terrorism Studies Project
August 16, 2007
No. 1682

Hamas Representative in Lebanon Osama Hamdan Justifies Suicide Bombings in Buses: Israeli Soldiers Ride Those Buses

To view this Special Dispatch in HTML, visit:
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD168207.

The following are excerpts from an interview with Hamas representative in Lebanon Osama Hamdan, which aired on Al-Kawthar TV on August 6, 2007.

To view a webpage devoted to Hamas, please visit:
http://memritv.org/subject/en/95.htm.

To view this clip visit: http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1527.htm.

"The Occupation Soldiers Also Have a Security Motive in Using Public Transport: They Shield Themselves Behind 'Civilians' Within the Zionist Entity"

Interviewer: "Islamic law has forbidden aggression during jihad – by forbidding the killing of women, children, the elderly, clerics who devote themselves to the worship of God, and other noncombatant civilians who do not serve in the enemy's army. Do you consider all the Jews in Palestine to be combatants who have plundered the land? We've witnessed martyrdom operations that targeted buses and restaurants."

Osama Hamdan: "First of all, let me clarify something very important. What is the ruling regarding those who live in Palestine, in the so-called Israel, and who are aggressors and plunderers of the land? The way we see it, they all came to Palestine from abroad, whether before the declaration of the Zionist entity or after it. If you were to conduct statistics within the Zionist entity, you would find that all these people have their origins in other countries – they came from Europe, Eastern Europe, from America, South America, or other places."

Interviewer: "In other words, there were no Palestinian Jews?"

Osama Hamdan: "No, there were no Palestinian Jews. When the British Mandate began in 1917, there was only one settlement on Palestinian land, which included several dozen Jews, who were living there in violation of the law at the time. I would like to mention that under the Ottoman state – regardless of the many reservations we have about it – there was a law that prohibited the Jews from staying in Palestine for over a month.

"Their passports and personal documents were taken away from them, and they were given an Ottoman permit at the border, which allowed them to stay for a month on Palestinian land. The only group that can be called Jewish was the one in Nablus. They still live there to this day. The Palestinians regard them as part of the makeup of Palestinian society, and they number no more than several hundred. As for those who immigrated from various countries – they are not Jews.

"Anyone who comes to live in a war zone is a combatant, regardless of whether he wears a uniform. That's one thing. Secondly, neither Hamas nor the Palestinian resistance force intentionally killed civilians. You mentioned the buses. What's an easier target – a bus, which is protected by various security measures, or a school [or] a theater, or a stadium, for example? These civilian targets – in which the killing of women and children is intentional – were not targeted by the resistance.

"Why were buses targeted? Because they are the means of transport used by the soldiers as well. The Zionist soldiers, who go from their homes to their bases and back, use public transportation, because it is free or almost free. In my opinion, the occupation soldiers also have a security motive in using public transport: They shield themselves behind the so-called 'civilians' within the Zionist entity.

"Therefore, the way I see it, they need to stop using public transportation, or else society should prevent them from using it, because it is the soldiers who are targeted. Just to prove it, in the dozens of operations that were carried out, the Zionists never announced, for example, that 20 children were killed, or that 50 women were killed. On the contrary, if you were to examine who was killed in martyrdom operations that targeted buses, you would find that 70% were occupation soldiers, and they may even have been in uniform at the time of the operation." [...]


"The Final Goal of the Resistance is to Wipe This Entity Off the Face of the Earth"

"We are making the preparations for a confrontation. This is not because we need to be prepared for an Israeli act of aggression – after all, aggression is intrinsic to this entity – but because the final goal of the resistance is to wipe this entity off the face of the Earth. This goal necessitates the development of the capabilities of the resistance, until this entity is wiped out."

Interviewer: "Do you think that Mahmoud Abbas, who has found himself in the crisis of the confrontation with Hamas, plays the role of a policeman, who is thwarting the Intifada, the resistance, and the jihad against the Zionist occupation in the Palestinian lands?"

Osama Hamdan: "He plays a role that is even worse than that. Mahmoud Abbas is doing this out of ideological conviction. He has been calling for a settlement ever since 1973. It was Mahmoud Abbas who created the Oslo Accords, and who was brought in by the Americans to serve as prime minister in order to confront Arafat. In my opinion, he plays this role willingly and out of conviction, which is worse than if he were doing it out of commitment to the occupation."

*********************
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent, non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle East.

Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background information, are available on request.

MEMRI holds copyrights on all translations. Materials may only be used with proper attribution.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
P.O. Box 27837, Washington, DC 20038-7837
Search previous MEMRI publications at http://www.memri.org

200 doden in Irak door 4 zelfmoordaanslagen

Steeds weer blijkt het nog erger te kunnen in Irak. Het noorden, tot nu toe relatief rustig, is getroffen door de ergste aanslag sinds meer dan een half jaar.

____________________________________________

4 suicide bombings kill 200 in Iraq
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070815/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 36 minutes ago

BAGHDAD - Rescuers dug through the muddy wreckage of collapsed clay houses in northwest Iraq on Wednesday, uncovering victims of four suicide bombings that Iraqi officials said killed at least 200 people in one of the worst attacks of the war.

The victims were members of a small Kurdish sect — the Yazidis — sometimes attacked by Muslim extremists who consider them infidels.

Four suicide truck bombers struck nearly simultaneously on Tuesday, killing more people than any other concerted attack since Nov. 23, when 215 people were killed by mortar fire and five car bombs in Baghdad's Shiite Muslim enclave of Sadr City.

It was most vicious attack yet against the Yazidis, an ancient religious community in the region. Some 300 people were wounded in the blasts, said Dakhil Qassim, the mayor of the nearby town of Sinjar.

Qassim said the four trucks approached the town of Qahataniya, 75 miles west of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, from dirt roads and all exploded within minutes of each other. He said the casualty tolls were expected to rise.

"We are still digging with our hands and shovels because we can't use cranes because many of the houses were built of clay," Qassim said. "We are expecting to reach the final death toll tomorrow or day after tomorrow as we are getting only pieces of bodies."

The bombings came as extremists staged other bold attacks on Tuesday: leveling a key bridge outside Baghdad and abducting five officials from an Oil Ministry compound in the capital in a raid using gunmen dressed as security officers. Nine U.S. soldiers also were reported killed, including five in a helicopter crash.

The carnage dealt a serious blow to U.S. efforts to pacify the country with just weeks to go before the top U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker are to deliver a pivotal report to the U.S. Congress amid a fierce debate over whether to begin withdrawing American troops from Iraq.

U.S. officials believe extremists are attempting to regroup across northern Iraq after being driven from strongholds in and around Baghdad, and commanders have warned they expected Sunni insurgents to step up attacks in a bid to upstage the report.

The Yazidis comprise a primarily Kurdish religious sect with ancient roots, that worships an angel figure considered to be the devil by some Muslims and Christians. Yazidis, who don't believe in hell or evil, deny that.

The Islamic State in Iraq, an al-Qaida front group, distributed leaflets a week ago warning residents near the scene of Tuesday's bombings that an attack was imminent because Yazidis are "anti-Islamic."

The sect has been under fire since some members stoned a Yazidi teenager to death in April. She had converted to Islam and fled her family with a Muslim boyfriend, and police said 18-year-old Duaa Khalil Aswad was killed by relatives who disapproved of the match.

A grainy video showing gruesome scenes of the woman's killing was later posted on Iraqi Web sites. Its authenticity could not be independently verified, but recent attacks on Yazidis have been blamed on al-Qaida-linked Sunni insurgents seeking revenge.

A curfew was in place Wednesday across towns west of Mosul, and U.S. and Iraqi forces were conducting house-to-house searches in response to the bombings, according to Iraqi police and Army officers who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns. Twenty suspects were arrested, they said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military heralded success in Day Two of a nationwide offensive against Sunni insurgents with links to al-Qaida and Shiite militiamen. Ten thousand U.S. troops and 6,000 Iraqi soldiers were involved in air and ground assaults across Diyala and Salahuddin provinces, both north of Baghdad.

More than 300 artillery rounds, rockets and bombs were dropped in the Diyala River valley late Monday and early Tuesday, the U.S. military said in a statement. Three suspected al-Qaida gunmen were killed and eight were taken prisoner, the military said. American troops also discovered several roadside bombs rigged to explode, as well as a booby-trapped house, it said.

In the Iraqi capital, U.S. special forces and Iraqi soldiers detained three suspected al-Qaida in Iraq leaders and four Shiite militia suspects in separate raids Tuesday, the military said. Another Shiite extremist accused of attacking U.S. forces was captured the same day in Najaf, a Shiite holy city 100 miles south of Baghdad, it said in a statement.

Thousands of followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr took to the streets in Najaf in a peaceful protest against the detention. Demonstrators shouted anti-American slogans and called for an end to what they called random raids and rights violations targeting the movement.

The U.S. military issued another statement Wednesday putting the death toll in the Yazidi bombings at 60. But the Iraqi estimate was based on body counts from local hospitals and morgues to which U.S. officials had no access so the total was believed to be higher.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement Wednesday blaming the bombings on "terrorism powers who seek to fuel sectarian strife and damage our people's national unity."

"These crimes will not prevent us from standing up to challenges and moving ahead with the political process to impose law and bring criminals and outlaws to justice," the statement said.

At least one of the trucks in Tuesday's bombings was an explosives-laden fuel tanker, police said. Shops were set ablaze and apartment buildings were reported crumbled by the powerful explosions.

"My friend and I were thrown high in the air. I still don't know what happened to him," said Khadir Shamu, a 30-year-old Yazidi who was injured in Tal Azir, the scene of two blasts.

Witnesses said U.S. helicopters swooped in to evacuate wounded to hospitals in Dahuk, a Kurdish city near the Turkish border about 60 miles north of Qahataniya. Civilian cars and ambulances also rushed injured to hospitals in Dahuk, police said.

"I gave blood. I saw many maimed people with no legs or hands," said Ghassan Salim, a 40-year-old Yazidi teacher who went to a hospital to donate blood. "Many of the wounded were left in the hospital garage or in the streets because the hospital is small."

In other violence Wednesday, a suicide car bomber killed two people and wounded seven south of Baghdad, according to Iraqi police. And a parked car bomb targeted a police patrol in southern Mosul, killing a civilian and injuring ten others, police and army officers said.

Verschillende religies, verschillende fanatici

Zijn de fanatici en religieuze fundamentalisten van alle religies even erg? Staan in de Bijbel net zo agressieve dingen als in de Koran, is de ChristenUnie net zo onverdraagzaam als de AEL? Is Geert Wilders net zo erg als de mensen die Jami in elkaar hebben geslagen?

Nee. Mensen in elkaar slaan is erger dan alleen maar walgelijke dingen roepen, en de agressieve passages uit de Bijbel worden niet gebruikt om geweld tegen niet-christenen mee te rechtvaardigen. Terwijl de AEL in België werd aangeklaagd wegens aanzetten tot haat en geweld, en Abu Jahjah het doden van Amerikaanse soldaten en Israëlische burgers goedpraatte, is de ChristenUnie wars van alle vormen van geweld.

De ideeën mogen overeenkomsten bevatten, zoals de overtuiging dat jouw geloof het enig ware is en anderen waarschijnlijk in de Hel zullen belanden, rare ideeën over het ontstaan van de wereld en goede en minder goede ge- en verboden die strict nageleefd dienen te worden, de middelen die men als gerechtvaardigd beschouwd om het Woord/het ware geloof te verkondigen, verschillen aanzienlijk.

Voor de ChristenUnie hebben de wetten van dit land, wat de Bijbel er ook van moge zeggen, toch het laatste woord. Hier is enige rekkelijkheid en creativiteit voor nodig, maar het is zeer goed mogelijk. Daarom meen ik ook dat de islam op zichzelf prima is te verenigen met democratie. Men mist echter vooralsnog de wil en creativiteit om de Koran zo te interpreteren dat deze niet meer met 21e eeuwse democratische samenlevingen in conflict is.

Hieronder bovenstaande vragen beantwoord vanuit Israëlisch perspectief.

 

Ratna
________________________________________________

Avram Burg: always interesting, not always right

A Chinese curse: "May you lead an interesting life." Avram Burg is always interesting, because he makes sure to be interesting. Let's face it, unless you make noisy and atrocious statements, you cannot attract much publicity for matters related to Judaism, Zionism, etc. B*O*R*I*N*G.

Therefore Burg tries not to bore us. Avram Burg is the P.T. Barnum of Jewish affairs, or he is trying to be. If he is not comparing Zionists to Nazis, he is comparing Ahmed Yassin to orthodox rabbis. In Time to attack he calls for war against fanatics essentially. "Death to all fanatics," quoth Burg, in particular orthodox fanatics of all different religions. He is willing to take a gratuitous swipe at evangelical Christians (or his idea of evangelical beliefs) as well as orthodox Jewish fanatcs. The essence of his argument:

There is no theological difference between certain rabbis from Hebron, the former Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and the evangelical preacher hoping for Armageddon at the site of our Megiddo. Those who say that "God's law is first" are no different from one another, whether they wear a rabbi's skullcap, Hezbollah's turban or the cloak of a North American spiritual leader. They are all engaged in a cruel battle against me. They are the enemies of freedom and democracy, and are hostile to liberty, equality and the status of women.

It is remarkably like what I wrote in Soldiers who refuse orders. But Burg is also wrong. There are two or three differences between Ahmed Yassin and the hypothetical evangelical preacher hoping for Armageddon:

1- Ahmed Yassin was willing to use, and did use, violent methods to secure his goals. Thus far, only one or two deranged people tried to use violent methods to bring about the Christian Armageddon.

2- Yassin wanted to kill me. People like John Hagee want to defend me. From my subjective point of view, that is a very different goal.

2- Like many orthodox Jews, Burg has a stereotyped view of Christian supporters of Israel. He thinks, apparently, that all evangelicals are supporters of Israel, and he thinks that all people who believe in Armageddon want to bring it on actively by committing violent acts. These are all misconceptions about Christian Zionism.

Burg starts out to answer the same question that I answered in Soldiers who refuse orders:

The latest equation bridges between draft-dodgers and the soldiers who refuse to evacuate homes in Hebron. On the face of it, we have draft-dodgers - the left-wing bleeding hearts from greater Tel Aviv - and evacuation refuseniks - nationalistic and idealistic, but "a little" too extreme, too patriotic and too religious. And we are in the middle: We live outside Tel Aviv, but not in Hebron; we want peace but are not prepared to pay the Arabs the price. Instead of being flooded with concern over the fanatics and rabbis who have penetrated the fabric of Israeli statehood like cancerous cells, we have created an equation. We were furious for two days, we condemned them - and we went on our merry way. Everything is balanced, thank God.

But Burg has a different answer. He gives a free, blanket pass to all draft evaders, it seems, but a blanket condemnation of all right wing protest:

After the waves of demagoguery, spin and media opportunism have passed, it will become clear that this equation is extremely dangerous, because it releases us from dealing with this country's unruly elements. The more we ignore the cancer of rabbinical nationalism, the closer and more concrete the mortal danger is. The real equation is between the refuseniks of Hebron and their foundation in Torah - and Hamas, Hezbollah, Christian fundamentalists and their fanatic brethren.

And after that, he never mentions the leftist refuseniks again. I agree that protest that is not anchored in democracy is dangerous. But  protest that aims to destroy the state is equally dangerous, even if it claims to be "democratic." The Bilin protestors and the refuseniks (those who refuse to be drafted) are not against this or that policy of the Israeli government. They are against Israel as a state of the Jewish people. They are against the Zionist idea. They don't get a free pass under the rubric of "democratic protest." They should not pass Go. They don't collect $200 either.

On the other hand, the equally dangerous rabbis and refuseniks of the right do not get a free pass either. And neither do the anti-Zionist Haredi draft evaders. They should not pass "Go." But somehow, they manage to collect a great deal more than $200 from our tax money to finance activities that are subversive to democracy and to Zionism, and undermine the state as surely as the anti-Zionists of the left. Nobody should get a free pass just because we like their stand on a particular issue. That includes Burg and his immoral use of pensions and drivers granted him as ex-head of the Jewish Agency.

Ami Isseroff

________________________________________________
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors. Originally posted at http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2007/08/avram-burg-always-interesting-not.html. Please do link to these articles, quote from them and forward them by email to friends with this notice. Other uses require written permission of the author. Distributed by ZNN. Subscribe by e-mail to znn-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

VN website gekraakt door hackers

De website van de VN, een zeer Zionistisch instituut, is zondag gekraakt door anti-Israël hackers. Op een pagina waar de speeches van secretaris-generaal Ban-Ki Moon worden weergegeven was zondagochtend te lezen:

 

"Hey Ysrail and Usa dont [sic] kill children and other people Peace for ever No war."

 

Het is de hackers blijkbaar ontgaan dat de VN geen oorlogen voert en kinderen doodt, maar hooguit te weinig optreedt tegen schurkenstaten die dit wel doen, zoals Soedan, Noord-Korea of Myanmar, landen die veroordelingen ontlopen omdat de VN te druk bezig is met het veroordelen van Israël, en de islamitische landen hun mensenrechtenschendingen niet zo'n probleem vinden. Hun oproep tot vrede kunnen de hackers beter richten aan een van voornoemde landen of aan terroristische organisaties (sorry, verzetsbewegingen), die het doden van kinderen van ongelovigen een heilige taak vinden van iedere toegewijde moslim.

 

Ratna

_____________________________

 

From Times Online
August 13, 2007
UN website targeted by hackers
Jonathan Richards
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article2250127.ece

The UN was today reviewing the security procedures on its website after a group of hackers posted anti-Israeli messages on the personal page of the Secretary-General.

A page usually given over the speeches of Ban Ki Moon was yesterday displaying messages which read: "Hey Ysrail and Usa dont [sic] kill children and other people Peace for ever No war."

The messages, apparently written by a group of hackers who go by the name CyberProtest, were posted in the early hours of Sunday, but had been removed by 9:15am East Coast time, a UN spokesman said.

"We are very concerned that this happened and we are investigating," the spokesman said. "We will make security changes to prevent this from happening again."

The messages were prefaced by the words "Hacked By Keremy 125 M0sted And Gsy That Is CyberProtest', a reference to a group of hackers - one of whom is Turkish - who have previously been associated with attacks on high-profile websites.

Today a website run by one of the group, M0sted, had links to a number of other CyberProtest attacks, including on the sites of the car-makers Toyota and Nissan, and Harvard University.

'M0sted' said that CyberProtest's objective was to spread the message "that the powerful have no right to oppress the powerless."

The website of another CyberProtest member, 'Eno7', who described him or herself as an 'IT security expert', said that the group has been founded in response to the Israeli military offensive against Lebanon last year.

"The chief architects of this protest are myself, Eno7 from Turkey, and the byond hackers team from Chile. We expanded our efforts as nine other countries joined us afterwards," it said.

Cyber Protest did not intend to disrupt the operation of its victims' websites, "only to give a message against war," Eno7 said.

Security experts said today that the attack was most likely conducted using SQL injection, where a hacker exploits a vulnerability in a site that allows it to be altered at the same time that pages are being requested.

"It needn't be a part of the site that allows visitors to interact with it - like a comments page," Steve Moyle, founder and chief technology officer of Secerno, a security firm, said. "Even in a 'read only' section, a hacker can issue a command that forces the database to issue information, and they find that vulnerability, an attacker can gain full control of the site."

Among the other sites to have allegedly been hacked by Cyber Protest are those of Nestle, the University of California, and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Today the Secretary-General's page had been restored to show extracts of speeches on climate change as well as on the adoption of a hybrid peace-keeping force in Darfur.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Ontvangen via:

MewBkd · MidEast Web News Service Analysis

Subscribe - mail to mewbkd-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Sigarettengeld voor Palestijnse gevangenen

De Palestijnse Autoriteit, zwaar gefinancierd door de EU, keert geld uit aan Palestijnse gevangenen in Israël. De gevangenen, die voor zaken vastzitten uiteenlopend van stenengooien tot het beramen van aanslagen waarbij tientallen Israëlische burgers zijn omgekomen, worden in de gevangenis voorzien van eten en drinken. De PA meent echter dat hun helden daarnaast recht hebben op extra zakgeld en sigaretten. 

 

Onder humanitaire hulp voor de Palestijnen of het opbouwen van instituties versta ik iets anders. Wordt het misschien tijd dat de politiek hier eens vragen over gaat stellen?  

 

Ratna

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ajrami: 2-month's salary to be paid to prisoners
Date: 12 / 08 / 2007  Time:  13:14
www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=24688

Bethlehem - Ma'an - The minister of prisoners' affairs, Ashraf Ajrami, said
on Sunday that two-month's allowance for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli
jails will be paid on Monday.

Ajrami issued a press statement announcing that the money will be paid by
the ministry of finance. He added that cigarettes for Palestinian prisoners
will be distributed to Israeli jails and a batch has already arrived at the
Negev desert prison.

The Palestinian Authority pays a stipend to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli
jails to cover the costs of food and basic necessities.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ontvangen via:

MewNews · MidEast Web News Service

Subscribe - mail to mew-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Hezbollah koopt land voor aanval op Israël

Onderstaand bericht mag eigenlijk nauwelijks verbazen, na de vele berichten over ongehinderde wapensmokkel van Syrië naar Libanon en de voorbereidingen van Hezbollah op een nieuwe oorlog. Wat deste meer verbaast is het feit dat niemand hier van wakker schijnt te liggen en niemand deze schendingen van VN resolutie 1701, vorig jaar na de Tweede Libanon Oorlog aangenomen, serieus aan de orde stelt. 

_____________________________________________________

Hizbollah buys frontier land to attack Israel
By Charles Levinson in Chbail, Lebanon, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 12:35am BST 12/08/2007
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/12/wmid112.xml

Hizbollah is buying up large tracts of land owned by Christians and other non-Shias in southern Lebanon as the militant group rebuilds its defences in preparation for a new war with Israel, The Sunday Telegraph has been told.

Hizbollah is buying land beyond the reach of the UN

The land grab is thought to be driven by the Iranian-backed guerrillas' efforts to rearm themselves and fortify the strategically important ravines north of the Litani River, just north of the front line in last year's 34-day conflict with its Jewish neighbour.

Here, Hizbollah has been free to press forward without harassment from the 13,000 United Nations peacekeepers and 20,000 Lebanese army troops who were deployed south of the Litani as part of the ceasefire agreement that ended the conflict.

Just south of the Litani, the UN is conducting hundreds of patrols each day in a bid to keep Hizbollah weapons out of the area, but the peacekeepers' mandate ends at the river.

The Lebanese army, meanwhile, is about 50 per cent Shia and seems to be turning a blind eye to Hizbollah activities north of the river.

In these rugged gorges, the group appears to be readying for round two with Israel, and many fear it is not far off after the inconclusive end to last year's war and reports of -Hizbollah rearming.

The area's forested wadis, or valleys, make ideal terrain for Hizbollah's brand of guerrilla warfare and, just 10 miles from the border, are within rocket range of Israeli cities.

The Shia encroachment into a mixed area of Christians, Shias and Druze Muslims threatens to disrupt Lebanon's delicate sectarian balance, which is already teetering after three years of political tumult.

"Christians and Druze are selling land and moving out, while the Shia are moving in. There is an extraordinary demo-graphic shift taking place," said Edmund Rizk, a Christian MP for the area until 1992.

On a scenic, sparsely populated ridge, the farming village of Chbail was once Christian. Today, the land belongs to a wealthy Shia businessman with alleged ties to Hizbollah. Its new residents are recent Shia transplants from the Hizbollah-controlled south.

Entry to the village is forbidden to outsiders - not by the Lebanese army that technically holds sway here, but by the chabab, the plain-clothed, bearded youths who act as look-outs in Hizbollah territory.

"The village is closed for security reasons," said a youth who had recently moved from a Hizbollah-controlled area near the regional capital, Tyre.

Like many neighbouring hamlets, Chbail has steadily decayed ever since civil war broke out in 1975. Fleeing first Palestinian guerrillas, then invading Israeli soldiers, and finally Hizbollah, villagers steadily migrated to seek better lives in Beirut or overseas.

While The Sunday Telegraph was at Chbail's outskirts, a rust-coloured Volvo station wagon rolled in, piled high with wooden building beams. A dozen or so other young men with dirt-caked fingernails came and went freely. On the wadis' western edge, a metal sign strung across an unmarked dirt track erased any doubt about what, or rather who, now lies beyond.

"Entry forbidden. Hizbollah area," the sign read in Arabic. The closure was manned by a pair of teenage gunmen in olive green fatigues, armed with walkie-talkies and AK47s.

The buy-up of land in Chbail and half a dozen Druze and Christian villages is said to be the work of a wealthy Shia businessman, Ali Tajeddine, who made his fortune trading diamonds in Sierra Leone before returning to Lebanon and starting a successful construction company.

Squat and bearded, Mr Tajeddine keeps a Hizbollah charity box in the waiting room of his Tyre office. He is believed to be a major player in Hizbollah's massive reconstruction programme called Jihad al Bina, or the Building Jihad.

During an interview, Mr Tajeddine fidgeted nervously as he denied any connection with Hizbollah. He said his projects at Chbail represent just a fraction of the dozens of developments he is building throughout Lebanon.

But his distinctive arc of land-buys around Hizbollah's new stronghold has triggered alarm among the district's Christian and Druze leaders, who say he is using Iranian funds to buy land from destitute villagers at up to four times the going rate. Druze sheikhs have responded by forbidding the sale of land to Shias and wealthy Christians have been asked to buy property in the area to stem the Shia tide.

In Chbail and two neighbouring Christian villages, Mr Tajeddine has already bought 200-300 acres of land, according to the mayor, Kamil Fares. "There are new people coming," he said. "Shias have moved into apartments belonging to Ali Tajeddine. But we're poor. What can we do?"

In the Druze village of Al Sreiri, the mayor, Hafed Kiwane, told a similar story. "We have nothing here, so it was good to see money coming into the area, but now we fear there are suspicious motives," he said.

Among the Hizbollah settlements is the fledgling village of Ahmediyya, where a billboard in Hebrew warns Israeli invaders: "Do not enter!"

Dozens of housing units have been built here in the past year. A supermarket is open for business, and 10 Shia families have moved in so far. Among them is project foreman Mohammad Atwa, 51. As two men photographed The Sunday Telegraph's car, he said: "The rockets of the resistance showed us there was someone to defend us."

Critics fear that Ahmediyya will further stretch the Shia reach to the north-east, as part of a grand scheme to create a strip of Shia-controlled land connecting the south to Hizbollah's other power centre in Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley.

"It is part of Hizbollah's plan to create a state within a state," said Walid Jumblatt, a Druze leader. He also pointed to the four-lane road being built to connect the Hizbollah stronghold of Nabatieh in the south to the western Bekaa.

Banners openly proclaim the source of the road's funding: "510km of new roads paid for by the Iranian Organization for Sharing in the Building of Lebanon". 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ontvangen via:

MewNews · MidEast Web News Service

Subscribe - mail to mew-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Hamas verbiedt demonstraties zonder vergunning

Recht en orde in de Gazastrook

Hamas heeft demonstraties waarvoor geen toestemming is gegeven verboden. Een demonstratie door de oppositie werd verstoord door de Executive Force, en journalisten die erbij waren werden geslagen, gearresteerd, en hun spullen in beslag genomen.

_________________________________________________

Hamas' Executive Force outlaws demonstrations, weddings and celebrations without permission
Date: 13 / 08 / 2007  Time:  10:05
www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=24694

Gaza - Ma'an - Hamas' Executive Force on Monday banned any form of demonstration in Gaza unless its organisers obtain permission.

Spokesperson of the EF, Saber Khalifeh, issued a statement announcing that "for the sake of the general benefit and to secure the rule of law, it is totally forbidden to demonstrate without getting permission from the Executive Force."

He added, "This decision is part of the security plan that the Executive Force has put together in order to preserve the rule of law."

Opposition rally

The Palestinian factions called a rally on Monday in protest against EF actions in the Gaza Strip.

Eyewitnesses at the rally of Palestinian factions said the Executive Force banned journalists from covering the events.

A journalist who attempted to film the demonstration on his mobile phone was arrested.

Palestine TV reported that the leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) headed the rally.

Witnesses said there was a heightened political tension in the Gaza Strip as each side attempted to denounce the other and blame each other for the loss of security.

Palestinian politicians in Ramallah, in the central West Bank, accused Hamas of oppression, the denial of civil freedoms and imposing their sovereignty by force.

In a celebration honouring the Executive Force, Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahhar, said "the situation in the Gaza Strip is much improved than before, and Hamas' tolerance of the criminal acts of [President] Abbas' militias will not last long."

A spokesperson of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) condemned the EF ruling against public demonstrations and other political activity in the Gaza Strip, he called the decision "illegal" and "a violation of public freedoms".

100s take part

Demonstrators said that the EF attempted to block the arrival of buses carrying protestors to the rally in Unknown Soldier Square in Gaza City.

Members of the EF confiscated Palestinian and factional flags.

Despite the obstacles, hundreds of Palestinians participated in the rally.

Fatah leader in the Gaza Strip, Kareem Mreish, said "the peaceful rally was only meant to reflect the demonstrators' opinions.

"The EF confiscated the camera of Abu Dhabi TV's Muhammad Sawalha, after beating him. They also took the equipment of Ramatan news agency staff, in addition to mobile phones which were being used as cameras.

"They fired gunshots into the air to disperse demonstrators."

Member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine - Central Committee, Talal Abu Zharifa, said "the DFLP participated in the rally to express their rejection of the divisions in the Palestinian arena."

Abu Zharifa said "the PLO has its own history and will not allow the EF to impose conditions on it."

Weddings and functions

The ministry of interior in the deposed Palestinian government said on Monday that Palestinian citizens of the Gaza Strip must obtain permission before holding a wedding party or public festival in open squares.

The ministry stipulated that permission must be received 48 hours before such an event commences.

The ministry claimed that such measures are intended to guarantees public security.

Shooting into the air or the use of fireworks is also banned during such celebrations, by the interior ministry, who also stated that citizens are forbidden from closing off main streets to celebrate.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ontvangen via:

MewNews · MidEast Web News Service

Subscribe - mail to mew-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Nahr Al Bared: ontsnapte extremisten dreigen met aanvallen in Libanon

De westerse media hebben hun interesse grotendeels verloren, maar de gevechten in en rond het Palestijnse vluchtelingenkamp Nahr Al Bared gaan nog altijd door. Inmiddels zijn meer dan 200 mensen, waarvan 136 soldaten, hierbij omgekomen. Op 2 augustus vuurde Fatah al Islam raketten af op de grootste electriciteitscentrale van Libanon waardoor grote delen van het land nog steeds zonder stroom zitten.

The army on Sunday continued bombarding the camp with intermittent artillery fire, targeting underground Fatah al-Islam positions. The Fatah al-Islam militants still control an area of about 1,500 square meters inside the camp.

Ondertussen gaat het leger door met het bombarderen van het kamp, een soort stad waar normalieter zo'n 30.000 mensen wonen, die nu grotendeels zijn gevlucht. Het leger eist de onvoorwaardelijke overgave van Fatah al Islam, en heeft een aanbod tot overgave aan de League of Palestinian Clerics, een groep die als bemiddelaar optreedt, afgewezen.

Was het Libanese leger het Israëlische leger, had de IDF een compleet vluchtelingenkamp naar de Filistijnen gebombardeerd en onvoorwaardelijke overgave van haar vijanden geëist, dan was er uiteraard volop aandacht voor geweest. Inter-Arabische gevechten en problemen, hoe erg ze ook zijn, zijn veelal oninteressant voor de Westerse media.

Ratna
__________________________________________________________

Escaped militants 'threaten' attacks in Lebanon
Audio tape claims group of fighters from nahr al-bared will launch terror campaign in country
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=84494
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Monday, August 13, 2007


The leader of a Syrian Islamist group claimed in an audio tape aired on Sunday that a group of Fatah al-Islam militants had escaped from the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in North Lebanon, and he hinted they would be launching attacks inside Lebanon soon. Abu Jandal al-Dimashqi, the self-declared leader of Tawhid and Jihad in Syria, also mourned the death of Abu Hureira, the deputy leader of Fatah al-Islam, which has been battling the Lebanese Army in the camp and in Tripoli since May 20.

The government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora announced last week that police in Tripoli, about 12 kilometers from the Nahr al-Bared camp, had killed Abu Hureira, a Lebanese whose real name was Shehab al-Qaddour.

"The martyrdom of our brother Abu Hureira has fanned the flames," said Dimashqi in an audio tape posted on an Islamic Web site. "Let the government of traitor Siniora know some of Fatah al-Islam's heroes have left the camp and are now among you. Wait for a black day."

The authenticity of the audio tape could not be verified, but it was posted on a Web site commonly used by Islamic militants.

Dimashqi criticized residents of Abu Hureira's Northern village of Mishmish for refusing to bury him in the town's cemetery since he fought against the army. Three of the 136 soldiers who have been killed fighting Fatah al-Islam were from Mishmish.

A senior army officer said the military took the statement "seriously" and was analyzing it. But the officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the army "does not operate according to statements posted on the Internet, but rather on military plans."

In further developments, the Lebanese Army on Sunday rejected a conditional offer of surrender by the remaining Fatah al-Islam militants.

"The Islamists' spokesman Shahine Shahine made known an offer to give themselves up to the League of Palestinian Clerics, but this was rejected by the military," said Mohammad al-Hajj, a spokesman for the clerics trying to broker an end to the deadly fighting in the camp.

The army is demanding that the remaining Fatah al-Islam militants surrender unconditionally, hand over their weapons and disband Fatah al-Islam, Hajj added.

A military spokesman confirmed Hajj's comments.

"Fatah al-Islam is in no position to set conditions," he said.

"They have no other option but to surrender to the army and be brought to justice.

"However, we are ready to guarantee that their families be able to leave the camp in a peaceful manner. Let them suggest a mechanism for this, and it will be immediately implemented," the spokesman added.

No more than an estimated 60 civilians of the camp's official population of 31,000 remain inside Nahr al-Bared, and these people are thought to be the wives and children of the Islamist fighters.

Also on Sunday, the National News Agency announced that Lebanese troops discovered a tunnel in Nahr al-Bared with furnished rooms "that appear to have been residences for Fatah al-Islam officials." It reported that troops had captured weapons and ammunition as well.

The army on Sunday continued bombarding the camp with intermittent artillery fire, targeting underground Fatah al-Islam positions. The Fatah al-Islam militants still control an area of about 1,500 square meters inside the camp

Two rockets launched from inside the Nahr al-Bared camp Sunday morning hit the Akkar plain 4 kilometers away from the camp, although no casualties or damage were reported.

Rockets fired from the camp on August 2 hit the Deir Ammar power plant, one of the most important in Lebanon. It is still out of action, which has meant power cuts across the country.

A Gazelle - the light attack helicopter recently purchased from France - flew over the camp Sunday without opening fire, after the helicopter gunships had launched strikes on Islamist positions on Thursday and Friday.

Over 200 people - among them 136 soldiers - have been killed since the fighting began 12 weeks ago. The toll does not include the bodies of militants that still have to be retrieved from inside the camp.

 

------------------------------------------------

Ontvangen via:

MewNews · MidEast Web News Service

Subscribe - mail to mew-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Arabisch-Israëlische organisatie eist veranwoordelijkheid op voor schietpartij in Jeruzalem

De verantwoordelijkheid voor het schietincident waar we laatst over berichtten is opgeëist door een onbekende Arabisch-Israëlische organisatie, de "Galilee Freedom Brigades". Het is niet de eerste keer dat het Palestijnse Ma'an nieuws een bericht van hen ontvangt, en de Brigades beweren dat dit niet hun eerste actie is. Men ontkent banden met Fatah, Islamitische Jihad en het Volksfront voor de Bevrijding van Palestina, maar niet met Hamas.

__________________________________ 

Last update - 11:26 13/08/2007   

Israeli Arab organization claims responsibility for J'lem shooting

By Yoav Stern and Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/892851.html

An unknown Israeli Arab organization "Galilee freedom brigades" claimed responsibility on Sunday for the shooting that took place in the Old City of Jerusalem Friday in which Ahmed Khatib, an Israeli Arab from Kfar Manda in the Galilee, grabbed a security guard's weapon, shot him, and was later killed in the ensuing shoot-out which left ten people wounded.

The Palestinian news agency Ma'an published a message received from Israeli Arab which said that the shooting was planned to avenge "the assassination of Shahid Mohammad Khatib from Kfar Manda on April 18th, 2004."

On that date, Border Police shot and killed Khatib in a shoot-out at Beit Rimon Junction in the Galilee after Khatib and a second Israeli Arab had opened fire at them.

In the message claiming responsibility a mistake was made. Mohammad Khatib was not from Kfar Manda but rather Kfar Kana. His partner in the shoot-out, however, was a resident of Kfar Manda.

Nasser al-Laham, editor in chief of the Ma'an news agency, told Haaretz on Sunday that this is the third time that he has received a message from the organization from inside Israel.

In the message, the organization said that this was not their first action. They also denied any ties to Palestinian organizations such as the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Islamic Jihad or Fatah. They did not deny any ties to Hamas.

On Sunday, a film of the shoot-out, which took place in the Old City's crowded pedestrian walkway, was released. In the film, Khatib can be clearly seen following the security guards through the Old City's narrow streets. Close to a grocery store, he reached one of the guards, pulled the guard's pistol out of its holster and ran. The guards chased him, and at some point one of them grabbed him and was shot. Khatib continued to run away, and a gun battle ensued between him and the other guard, who in the end mortally wounded him. Khatib is then seen on the ground, as the final scenes of the shooting were not shown in the released film.

Arab MK and Deputy Knesset Speaker Ahmed Tibi criticized the fact that the ending, in which Khatib is killed, was taken out. "In light of the accounts made that the guards 'confirmed the kill', the end of the film must be shown. The fact that it was not shown raises questions."
 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ontvangen via:

MewNews · MidEast Web News Service

Subscribe - mail to mew-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Iran en Noord-Korea breiden relaties uit

Soort zoekt soort....

________________________________

 

Iran, North Korea to expand mutual relations
Tehran, Aug 9, IRNA - Iran news agency
www2.irna.com/en/news/view/line-17/0708093467190825.htm

Visiting North Korean Foreign Trade Minister Rim Kyo'ng conferred on Thursday with First Vice-President Parviz Davoudi on expansion of mutual relations and on major global developments.

According to the Public Relations Department and Press Bureau of the Presidential Office, at the meeting Davoudi said volume of trade exchange between the two countries could play a key role in promoting bilateral ties.

Commerce, trade, industry, technological know-how, scientific activities and implementation of joint projects are among suitable grounds for broadening mutual ties, he said.

The oppressed nations would someday get rid of tyrannical powers, he said, adding that the Iranian nation and its government by adopting logical stands and through resistance have brought the global arrogance to its knees.

The North Korean minister, for his part, highlighted Iran's development and success in various fields under leadership of its leader and its president and said North Korea is determined to consolidate ties with Iran.

There are ample untapped grounds for expansion of mutual ties and North Korea is to take advantage of Iran's valuable experiences and achievements in various sectors, he said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ontvangen via:

MewNews · MidEast Web News Service

Subscribe - mail to mew-subscribe@yahoogroups.com