Trivial Pursuit: Some fun facts about Palestine: Part 2

Here is a brief history of what is conventionally called "Palestine" and hence the derivation of "Palestinian".

The area of the world roughly between Egypt in the South and Turkey in the North is known as the Levant.
The ancient Egyptians referred to the Southern portion of this area, what would become the kingdom of Israel (much larger than todays Israel, encompassing Israel, Jordan, the territories, etc) as, roughly translated Retenu.

Archeologic information on the extent of the Kingdom of Israel is constantly changing. Remains of the Davidian's (King David and his heirs) are found daily in the region. One of the unfortunate things about the entire region is that only Egypt and Israel respect archeologic finds of other cultures. No one knows what has been destroyed, paved over, etc.

In Israel, there are active excavations of what is known as "Ir David" as well as many other pre biblical sites.

As a consequence the full extent of the "Kingdom of Israel" is not known.

The term Palestine is a derivation through several translations of the word "Philistines". The Philistines were a NON SEMITIC PEOPLE"'s (modern Arabs who call themselves Palestinians try to claim biblical origins and relate themselves to the Philistines. The problem for them here is that they are clearly semitic) of Mycenean descent. Usually described as originating from Southern Greece. The Philistines inhabited a smaller area, usually describedas the south western portion of what is now Israel and the gaza strip. The Greeks referred to this as Philistia.

The word Peleshet in the Bible is generally assumed to be referring to this area. i.e the southern coastal region of Israel, in the area of Ashkelon, Ashdod, etc (these are biblical cities as well; referred to in the ancient texts as well as being modern cities).

The Assyrians referred to the area as Palashtu, and by the time of the Assyrian rule, the Philistines had largely been assimilated into the regional population. By approx. 586 BC, they had largely disappeared as a separate people.

Historians such as Thucydides, Pliny, Herodotus, and Josephus all mention a Philistina but refer to various areas, including modern Syria, the coastal regions referred to above, and smaller areas along the coast.

Most historians view that the Hebrews, or Israelites as they are referred to in the Bible, either rose from the indigenous population, or if you accept the Exodus theory came around the 12th or 13th century BCE. By the time of Saul, around 1020 BCE, they were established as the Kingdom of Israel. Saul's son David began to consolidate the empire and established Jerusalem as his capital in approximatley 100BCE. Of course, David's son Solomon built the first temple on what is now known as the Temple mount or Harm el Sheik by the Arabs.

By 930 BCE the kingdom was split into two, the North was known as the Kingdom of Israel and the South as the Kingdom of Judah.

Between 722 and 720 BCE the Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel and dispersed or exiled the ten northern tribes (derived from the 12 sons of Joseph). These became known as the "lost tribes".

In 586 BCE, the Babylonians conquered the Kingdom of Judah and the rest of the Hebrews were sent into exile. Hence the period is known as "The Babylonian exile".

In 538 BCE the area came to be part of the Persian empire and the Jews, or Hebrews were allowed to return to their biblical lands, known as "the land of Israel" by both the Jews and the Persians.

Since the Persians granted them limited autonomy, this is when the second Temple was built.

It was during the Persian period that the Nabateans emerged. They are significant because eventually they moved from this area to the area now known as Jordan and created the incredible city of Petra. The city carved into the rocks that is today one of the wonders of the world (and an amazing place to visit!).

Around 333 BCE, the Persians were conquered by Alexander the Great and the area was under the control of the Macedonians. After Alexanders death, the area fell under the control of the Ptolemaics, the Greeks that ruled Egypt. Cleopatra is the most well known, and the last of, the Ptolemaic rulers of the area.

The Jewish population in Judea was allowed limited autonomy in religion and administration. In the second century BCE fascination in Jerusalem for Greek culture resulted in a movement to break down the separation of Jew and Gentile and some people even tried to disguise the marks of their circumcision. Disputes between the leaders of the reform movement, Jason and Menelaus, eventually led to civil war and the intervention of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Subsequent persecution of the Jews led to the Maccabean Revolt under the leadership of the Hasmoneans (the Maccabees are the people mentioned in the Hanukkah story), and the construction of a native Jewish kingship under the Hasmonean Dynasty . After approximately a century of independence, disputes between the Hasmonean rivals Aristobulus and Hyrcanus led to control of the kingdom by the Roman army of Pompey. The territory then became first a Roman client kingdom under Hyrcanus and then a Roman Province administered by the governor of Syria.

It was at this time the Roman rule was solidified by Herod the Great. He was appointed "King of the Jews" by the Romans in roughly 63 BCE, although he was only half Jewish. He was actually an Edomite.

At the time of the birth of Jesus, the Romans reasserted full control. The Romans Latinized the Greek Palestina to Palatine. This name reemerged as a direct insult to the Jews as it referred to one of their biblical enemies and was a way of further humiliating them.

As a result of the first Roman Jewish war, after the death of Jesus in 66-73 CE, the second temple was destroyed. The only things remaining were the retaining walls and mount that we see today.

After the failure of the Bar Kochba revolt in 135, the emperor Hadrian built a temple to the Roman God Jupiter where the temple once stood.

During Constantine's reign, beginning in 330 CE, Christianity became the official religion of the empire. Constantine's mother identified the spot where she believed Jesus had been crucified and thus the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built. Constantine was also responsible for the construction of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and the Church of the Ascension in Jerusalem.

In 352 another Jewish revolt, largely originating in the Galilee and Tiberias was suppressed.

The Romans continued administration, dividing the area into Palestina I,II and III.

The area probably reached it's ancient peak during this time because of the Roman view, in the words of Justinian (famous for Justinian's code the forefather of modern civil law) that it was the province where our Lord Jesus Christ appeared on Earth.

Roman, or Byzantine control was lost temporarily first during the Persian reascension in 614-628 and then conrol finally lost to the new Muslims in 634. Jerusalem capitulated to the Muslims in 638 CE.

In 638 CE, Caliph (The dispute between Sunni's and Shiites reests on which Caliphate was the rightful heir to Muhammed) Omar Ibn al-Khattab and Safforonius, the Byzantine governor of Jerusalem, signed Al-Uhda al-'Omariyya (The Umariyya Covenant), an agreement that stipulated the rights and obligations of all non-Muslims in Palestine.

Jews were permitted to return to Palestine for the first time since the 500-year ban enacted by the Romans and maintained by Byzantine rulers.

This is significant because of todays claim that there was no Jewish presence. Yet there own ancestors "allowed" the Jews to "return". This clearly implies that they had been there predating the time of Muhammed or the creation of Islam.

In 691 Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock were constructed where both the Jewish Temples (first and second) and the Roman temple of Jupiter had stood.

Various Arabic tribes ruled under the Crusaders came from Europe and reestablished what was known as "Latin Christian" rule from 1099 to 1187. During this period, Jews, Orthodox Christians and Muslims were slaughtered or enslaved.

In 118y Saladin won the Battle of Hittin reestablishing Muslim dominance. He later retook Jerusalem. However, an agreement was reached which allowed Crusader control of Jerusalem to remain. This was renegotiated by King Frederick II and remained until 1270.

The area was alternately ruled by the Mamluks and then the Ottomans.

Critically, the Ottomans, the Muslim rulers who gained the greatest ascendancy of all the various Muslim empires ended the use of the name Palestine!!!

The Ottoman empire remained from 1516 until the start of WWI, in 1917. The Ottomans sided with the Germans.

n European usage up to World War I, "Palestine" was used informally for a region that extended in the north-south direction typically from Raphia (south-east of Gaza) to the Litani River (now in Lebanon). The western boundary was the sea, and the eastern boundary was the poorly-defined place where the Syrian desert began. In various European sources, the eastern boundary was placed anywhere from the Jordan River to slightly east of Amman. The Negev Desert was not included.

Under the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, it was envisioned that most of Palestine, when freed from Ottoman control, would become an international zone not under direct French or British colonial control.

Shortly thereafter, British foreign minister Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which laid plans for a Jewish homeland to be established in Palestine eventually.

The British-led Egyptian Expeditionary Force, commanded by Edmund Allenby, captured Jerusalem on December 9th, 1917 and occupied the whole of the Levant following the defeat of Turkish forces in Palestine at the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918 and the capitulation of Turkey on October 31st.

Use of the term "Palestine" returned under what was Brtish rule. English, Hebrew and Arabic were declared the official language.

In modern day Israel, this remains, highway signs, etc are in all three languages.

Palestine was the official name in English and Arabic, Palestina (Eretz Yisrael - the land of Israel) in Hebrew.

In the interest of brevity (hah!!) I won't describe the machinations of creating the exact boundaries of the mandate between Britain, France and the US post WWI, but it was finalized in 1923.

What is important here is that during this time Transjordan (later The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) was exempted from the Mandate under the assumption that Palestine would be the Jewish homeland and Jordan the Arab.

As in earlier times, Jewish immigration had been increasin during Ottoman rule, and continued during the Mandate period. Jews became the majority residents of the area in the 1800's.

After WWII, the cost of maintaining a 100,000 man force in the area, as well as Jewish and Arab terrorism led the British to formally renounce the mandate in early 1947.

The significance of this period is quite simple.

ALL residents of this area were colloquially referred to as Palestinians. At no time was there even a discussion of a "Palestinian people" and any mention of such referred to ALL indigenous people's of the region. Jews, Orthodox Christians, Druse (non Muslim Arabs), Bedouins, Muslims, etc.

The rest, as they say, is history.

In 1948, the Jewish homeland was declared by the UN. The Arabs (still no Palestinians) were also given a homeland, what is now, essentially modern day western Jordan, East Jerusalem and portions of the Negev.

The Jews declared their homeland "The State of Israel" and took as their symbol the Star of David in memory of their first King and the biblical menorah, the symbol of the Temple.

The entire Arab world immediately declared war and the fighting that we know of today, began.

The PLO was formed in Cairo in 1964 (yes, Yassir Arafat, the second leader, was born there, not in some mythic Palestine. A fact he tried hard to obscure). It was created as part of the Fatah party, which still exists in a unity government today with Hamas, an offshoot of the Egyptian terror organization the Muslim Brotherhood, also father of Al Qaeda.

Note the formation date. Not after the 1967 war which the Arab former residents of Palestine claim now is the key.

In the Famed Khartoum conference of September 1967, after the Israeli victory in the 6 day war, all Arab states came together and declared the famous 3 NOs:

No Peace with Israel
No Recognition of Israel
No Negotiations with Israel.

At no time has this declaration ever been officially renounced by any Arab states with the exception of Egypt and Jordan.

The Real Agenda of Palestinian Solidarity Groups

Journalist Tom Gross in his recent mailing points out the following:

"There are dozens of "Palestinian Solidarity Campaigns" in Britain. Yet with more than 150 Palestinians killed in "internal violence" in Gaza since the beginning of the year, and over 50 others killed in the past week alone in "clashes" at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian Refugee camp in
Lebanon, there has been complete silence from these pro-Palestinian groups.

As the popular blog Harry's Place notes:

* The International Solidarity Movement,
* The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign,
* The Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign,
* The Exeter Palestinian Solidarity Campaign,
* The York Palestinian Solidarity Campaign,
* The Brighton Palestinian Solidarity Campaign,
* The Stop the War Coalition,
* George Galloway's "Respect" political party,

and many other pro-Palestinian groups "have nothing to say about these deaths at all."

In fact, if you were to go to the web pages of all the various Pro Palestinian groups, and even more shockingly, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the only UN agency in the world devoted to one group, you would see no mention of what is going on now between Fatah and Hamas, and the Palestinians and Lebanese.

All these groups tirelessly protest Palestinian deaths (including those of terrorists) if Israel is to blame.

One can only conclude that these so-called Palestinian Solidarity Campaigns are in fact merely groups that wish to single out Israel for attack. Given the fact that Israel's human rights record is far better than dozens of other states throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world, it is hard not to reach the conclusion that anti-Semitism, rather than concern about Palestinian civilians, is a strong motivating factor for these groups."

All the news that fits, we print.

The latest war of radical Islam vs. the West is occurring in Southern Lebanon. It wasn't enough that Iran created, armed and trained Hezbollah to infiltrate like a Trojan Horse, Lebanese society.

Now, there is a new threat, in the Palestinian towns is a new group, Fatah al-Islam lodged in a Palestinian town. About a week ago they began attacking Lebanese army bases. The Lebanese, responded not like the Israeli's last summer to Hezbollah, but with indiscriminate and widespread bombing.

What was a city of approximately 30,000 is now about 5,000. Estimates of the number of dead range between 75-100.

Meanwhile in Gaza, there has been violent clashes between Fatah and Hamas soldiers. There is total anarchy as it seems leaders of either group is unable to control their own.

Over 150 have been killed as the territory that Israel left for the Palestinians to govern themselves only worsens.

At the same time, Hamas rockets continue to rain down on poor Sderot just over the border in Israel. Before the recent uprising between the 2 Palestinian factions, Sderot was receiving one missile attack a day for the last several years. (Imagine saying that about any city in the world!).

But Hamas, in a disgusting attempt to draw attention from their own crimes upped the ante, lobbing several HUNDRED missiles into this town with a large Ethiopian and Russian immigrant population.

Well, guess what, at least according the New York Times, they succeeded.

Have you seen pictures of the refugees in Nahr al-Bered? No.

Pictures of the Lebanese tanks shelling the city? No.

Pictures of Hamas and Fatah gunman killing themselves or innocent civilians? No.

Finally have you seen even 1 single photo, or story about the horrors in Sderot? No, of course not.

So what has the NY Times, the gray lady as it is known, shown on it's front page several times this week?

Well, the Israelis finally decided they needed to surgically strike Hamas headquarters. So they sent a missile to that building in Southern Gaza and launched a missile strike on a car loaded with Qassams. This is what the Times showed.

The Israel lobby? Somehow, they must not be able to control the Times. How else to explain this bizarre weighting of "All the News that's Fit to Print"? Why not cover the so called Palestinians killing themselves and other Arabs? (or the Lebanese killing more indiscriminately than Israel ever has)

I will leave you to decide.

This is the way Government should work!

For those of you lucky enough to live in NY, you may have heard this story, but to the rest of the country and world, here is what someone who is committed and not tied to special interests (yes it helps to be a self made billionaire) can effect change.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg (kudos also to city councilman David Yasskey who convinced Bloomberg to make it a 5 year rather than 10 year change) announced yesterday that NY's entire taxi fleet, that is 13,000 medallion cabs to those outside NYC, will have to meet stringent mileage and emissions standards within the next 5 years.

This is all part of Bloomberg's PlaNYC that he recently announced to cut the city's green house gas emissions by 30% by 2030.

Again, 5 years, not twenty, or the next century as the federal government is talking about.

The requirements can currently ONLY BE MET BY HYBRID VEHICLES.

A quick lesson for those who don't know. Only certain vehicles are currently permitted to be medallion (officially licensed and monitored by the cities Taxi and Limousine Commission) taxicabs.

Principal among these is the Ford Crown Victoria which currently gets 10-15 miles a gallon. These make up 90% of the current fleet.

By October 2008, the requirement will be 25mpg. This will escalate 20%/year. i.e. 2009, 30mpg, etc.

To kick things off, Yahoo donated 5 Ford Escape Hybrids to the city.

This is what is known as a win/win situation.

With 13,000 vehicles operating essentially 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week, these vehicles are the equivalent of 32,000 private vehicles as estimated by various environmental groups.

In addition to the energy savings, it will remove the equivalent of 215,000 TONS of CO2 emissions a year from NY's air.

What may also be unknown to many is that the vehicles are owned, generally, by the fleet operators. However, the individual drivers are responsible for purchasing their own fuel.

So, it also has the net effect of allowing drivers to earn more. Obviously, if they go from 10mpg to 30, they will be saving a huge amount of money each year, estimated at approximately $10,000 or $20-50 a shift.

This whole plan is doable because the current regulations in NY require the cabs to be changed every 5 years anyway, so there is really no additional costs to the fleet owners.

There is the higher expense of hybrids, vs conventional cars. Wouldn't it be nice if the Federal Government could find a way to extend the current tax credits on hybrid vehicles!!

Finally, for the consumers, for anyone who has heard a hybrid, you know it is quieter than a conventional engine so... less noise!!!

Of course, imagine the lesson to the rest of the world that NYC, the intellectual and financial capital of the world, is fully hybrid!!

"Our Worst Ex- President"

I was not going to do anymore posts about Jimmy Carter, a man I once admired, not as President, but as an ex- President.

At the time of his stinging defeat, as much as I despised Ronald Reagan, and still do, I thought the country was right on.

Now, I have always been somewhat of a liberal gadfly on domestic issues, so my emotions tend to lean toward the left wing of the democratic party in regard to those.

However, my intellect takes over on foreign policy and economics, and I am constantly amazed at the wrongheadedness of the Democrats (Until Clinton's economic efforts, particularly with regard to long term interest rates).

Anyway, Carter's initial work with Habitat for Humanity impressed me no end.

Then, one day, he showed up with Daniel Ortega (for those to young to remember, the head of the Sandanista's who was responsible for truly horrendous crimes against humanity).

This was just the start of his cozying up to dictators.

If there is a demand for it, I will outline those relationships here, but the article that I will refer you to does so pretty effectively.

So, why did I decide to post another article about him?

Well, in US history, there is one unwritten rule that has always held fast. Ex Presidents really do not criticize sitting Presidents.

Note Bill Clinton and George Bush working all over the world together at the behest of Bush Jr.

Think about some of the potential conflicts that could have developed over the years. Teddy Roosevelt and his feeling of betrayal by his former protege William Howard Taft. Both of them toward Woodrow Wilson. Nixon toward Carter and his statements about the pardon. Eisenhower toward Truman (you have to know the stories of Truman in WW! as a corporal in the infantry to understand this one and the animus that was there).

Anyway, Carter has recently been shooting his mouth off in a way that I consider to be treasonous. Now, I am not a right wing fanatic, and I do not use that term loosely. But this is a man with a unique ability to harm the interests of this country. Even more than I think he already has.

Before I get wound up. Here is a link to an article in commentary magazine. It is rather lengthy, 6 pages, and far from as critical as I would have been (for example I believe he lets Carter off far too easily on both the Iranian hostage taking and the North Korean Nuclear agreement) but is a pretty fair assessment.

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.aip?id=10824

Trivial Pursuit: Some fun facts about Palestine: Part 1

For those that have been following my rantings (or the ravings of a lunatic if you wish!!) you know that I have been slowly leading to this point. Sometimes there is just too much news going on, but one of the overriding points I have been trying to make is the fiction of the "Palestinian" national aspirations. As currently used, there simply is no Palestinians based on the definition that most of you would give. There will be more on the etymology of the word itself and who exactly are Palestinians in the next part of this series.

What follows however is something very interesting. As you may or may not have seen, I have earlier posted the entire charters of Hamas, the current terrorist organization that holds power in what is known as the "Palestinian Authority" (PA for short); and of Fatah, the original party of the PLO.

What follows below is the document that currently rules the entire area. THe charter of the so called Palestine of Palestinians themselves. It is this document that currently resides with the UN as the governing document.

Now, Arafat, in letters to Yitzhak Rabin, and Bill Clinton, claimed that the references to the destruction of Israel were no longer valid. However, this never happened.

Here is the interesting point, though. IN THEIR OWN CHARTER, THEY CLAIM THAT JEWISH RESIDENTS OF THE MANDATE OF PALESTINE, ARE IN FACT, PALESTINIANS.

Interestingly, in the sections below that, they call for the destruction of the Zionist entity and various fun deaths for Jews generally.

Note also right in the first section the geographic boundaries of "Palestine". No mention of Israel, and the entire state of Israel is "Palestine". This is followed immediately by exclusion of Palestinian Jews (and Druse, Bedouins, Samaritans, etc) from being citizens of Palestine. By saying Palestinian Arabs, they are both acknowledging the existence of all of the above as Palestinians, and excluding them.

Here it is in its' entirety:

[COLOR red]THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL CHARTER:

Resolutions of the Palestine National Council
July 1-17, 1968

Article 1: Palestine is the homeland of the Arab Palestinian people; it is an indivisible part of the Arab homeland, and the Palestinian people are an integral part of the Arab nation.

Article 2: Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit.

Article 3:The Palestinian Arab people possess the legal right to their homeland and have the right to determine their destiny after achieving the liberation of their country in accordance with their wishes and entirely of their own accord and will.

Article 4:The Palestinian identity is a genuine, essential, and inherent characteristic; it is transmitted from parents to children. The Zionist occupation and the dispersal of the Palestinian Arab people, through the disasters which befell them, do not make them lose their Palestinian identity and their membership in the Palestinian community, nor do they negate them.

Article 5:The Palestinians are those Arab nationals who, until 1947, normally resided in Palestine regardless of whether they were evicted from it or have stayed there. Anyone born, after that date, of a Palestinian father - whether inside Palestine or outside it - is also a Palestinian.

Article 6:The Jews who had normally resided in Palestine until the beginning of the Zionist invasion will be considered Palestinians.

Article 7:That there is a Palestinian community and that it has material, spiritual, and historical connection with Palestine are indisputable facts. It is a national duty to bring up individual Palestinians in an Arab revolutionary manner. All means of information and education must be adopted in order to acquaint the Palestinian with his country in the most profound manner, both spiritual and material, that is possible. He must be prepared for the armed struggle and ready to sacrifice his wealth and his life in order to win back his homeland and bring about its liberation.

Article 8: The phase in their history, through which the Palestinian people are now living, is that of national (watani) struggle for the liberation of Palestine. Thus the conflicts among the Palestinian national forces are secondary, and should be ended for the sake of the basic conflict that exists between the forces of Zionism and of imperialism on the one hand, and the Palestinian Arab people on the other. On this basis the Palestinian masses, regardless of whether they are residing in the national homeland or in diaspora (mahajir) constitute - both their organizations and the individuals - one national front working for the retrieval of Palestine and its liberation through armed struggle.

Article 9: Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine. This it is the overall strategy, not merely a tactical phase. The Palestinian Arab people assert their absolute determination and firm resolution to continue their armed struggle and to work for an armed popular revolution for the liberation of their country and their return to it . They also assert their right to normal life in Palestine and to exercise their right to self-determination and sovereignty over it.

Article 10: Commando action constitutes the nucleus of the Palestinian popular liberation war. This requires its escalation, comprehensiveness, and the mobilization of all the Palestinian popular and educational efforts and their organization and involvement in the armed Palestinian revolution. It also requires the achieving of unity for the national (watani) struggle among the different groupings of the Palestinian people, and between the Palestinian people and the Arab masses, so as to secure the continuation of the revolution, its escalation, and victory.

Article 11:The Palestinians will have three mottos: national (wataniyya) unity, national (qawmiyya) mobilization, and liberation.

Article 12:The Palestinian people believe in Arab unity. In order to contribute their share toward the attainment of that objective, however, they must, at the present stage of their struggle, safeguard their Palestinian identity and develop their consciousness of that identity, and oppose any plan that may dissolve or impair it.

Article 13:Arab unity and the liberation of Palestine are two complementary objectives, the attainment of either of which facilitates the attainment of the other. Thus, Arab unity leads to the liberation of Palestine, the liberation of Palestine leads to Arab unity; and work toward the realization of one objective proceeds side by side with work toward the realization of the other.

Article 14:The destiny of the Arab nation, and indeed Arab existence itself, depend upon the destiny of the Palestine cause. From this interdependence springs the Arab nation's pursuit of, and striving for, the liberation of Palestine. The people of Palestine play the role of the vanguard in the realization of this sacred (qawmi) goal.

Article 15: The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national (qawmi) duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine. Absolute responsibility for this falls upon the Arab nation - peoples and governments - with the Arab people of Palestine in the vanguard. Accordingly, the Arab nation must mobilize all its military, human, moral, and spiritual capabilities to participate actively with the Palestinian people in the liberation of Palestine. It must, particularly in the phase of the armed Palestinian revolution, offer and furnish the Palestinian people with all possible help, and material and human support, and make available to them the means and opportunities that will enable them to continue to carry out their leading role in the armed revolution, until they liberate their homeland.

Article 16:The liberation of Palestine, from a spiritual point of view, will provide the Holy Land with an atmosphere of safety and tranquility, which in turn will safeguard the country's religious sanctuaries and guarantee freedom of worship and of visit to all, without discrimination of race, color, language, or religion. Accordingly, the people of Palestine look to all spiritual forces in the world for support.

Article 17:The liberation of Palestine, from a human point of view, will restore to the Palestinian individual his dignity, pride, and freedom. Accordingly the Palestinian Arab people look forward to the support of all those who believe in the dignity of man and his freedom in the world.

Article 18:The liberation of Palestine, from an international point of view, is a defensive action necessitated by the demands of self-defense. Accordingly the Palestinian people, desirous as they are of the friendship of all people, look to freedom-loving, and peace-loving states for support in order to restore their legitimate rights in Palestine, to re-establish peace and security in the country, and to enable its people to exercise national sovereignty and freedom.

Article 19: The partition of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of the state of Israel are entirely illegal, regardless of the passage of time, because they were contrary to the will of the Palestinian people and to their natural right in their homeland, and inconsistent with the principles embodied in the Charter of the United Nations, particularly the right to self-determination.

Article 20: The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate for Palestine, and everything that has been based upon them, are deemed null and void. Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history and the true conception of what constitutes statehood. Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own; they are citizens of the states to which they belong.

Article 21: The Arab Palestinian people, expressing themselves by the armed Palestinian revolution, reject all solutions which are substitutes for the total liberation of Palestine and reject all proposals aiming at the liquidation of the Palestinian problem, or its internationalization.

Article 22: Zionism is a political movement organically associated with international imperialism and antagonistic to all action for liberation and to progressive movements in the world. It is racist and fanatic in its nature, aggressive, expansionist, and colonial in its aims, and fascist in its methods. Israel is the instrument of the Zionist movement, and geographical base for world imperialism placed strategically in the midst of the Arab homeland to combat the hopes of the Arab nation for liberation, unity, and progress. Israel is a constant source of threat vis-a-vis peace in the Middle East and the whole world. Since the liberation of Palestine will destroy the Zionist and imperialist presence and will contribute to the establishment of peace in the Middle East, the Palestinian people look for the support of all the progressive and peaceful forces and urge them all, irrespective of their affiliations and beliefs, to offer the Palestinian people all aid and support in their just struggle for the liberation of their homeland.

Article 23: The demand of security and peace, as well as the demand of right and justice, require all states to consider Zionism an illegitimate movement, to outlaw its existence, and to ban its operations, in order that friendly relations among peoples may be preserved, and the loyalty of citizens to their respective homelands safeguarded.

Article 24:The Palestinian people believe in the principles of justice, freedom, sovereignty, self-determination, human dignity, and in the right of all peoples to exercise them.

Article 25:For the realization of the goals of this Charter and its principles, the Palestine Liberation Organization will perform its role in the liberation of Palestine in accordance with the Constitution of this Organization.

Article 26:The Palestine Liberation Organization, representative of the Palestinian revolutionary forces, is responsible for the Palestinian Arab people's movement in its struggle - to retrieve its homeland, liberate and return to it and exercise the right to self-determination in it - in all military, political, and financial fields and also for whatever may be required by the Palestine case on the inter-Arab and international levels.

Article 27:The Palestine Liberation Organization shall cooperate with all Arab states, each according to its potentialities; and will adopt a neutral policy among them in the light of the requirements of the war of liberation; and on this basis it shall not interfere in the internal affairs of any Arab state.

Article 28:The Palestinian Arab people assert the genuineness and independence of their national (wataniyya) revolution and reject all forms of intervention, trusteeship, and subordination.

Article 29:The Palestinian people possess the fundamental and genuine legal right to liberate and retrieve their homeland. The Palestinian people determine their attitude toward all states and forces on the basis of the stands they adopt vis-a-vis to the Palestinian revolution to fulfill the aims of the Palestinian people.

Article 30:Fighters and carriers of arms in the war of liberation are the nucleus of the popular army which will be the protective force for the gains of the Palestinian Arab people.

Article 31:The Organization shall have a flag, an oath of allegiance, and an anthem. All this shall be decided upon in accordance with a special regulation.

Article 32:Regulations, which shall be known as the Constitution of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, shall be annexed to this Charter. It will lay down the manner in which the Organization, and its organs and institutions, shall be constituted; the respective competence of each; and the requirements of its obligation under the Charter.

Article 33:This Charter shall not be amended save by [vote of] a majority of two-thirds of the total membership of the National Congress of the Palestine Liberation Organization [taken] at a special session convened for that purpose.[/COLOR]

* English rendition as published in Basic Political Documents of the Armed Palestinian Resistance Movement; Leila S. Kadi (ed.), Palestine Research Centre, Beirut, December 1969, pp.137-141.

Sderot, and the horrors of being an unrecognized victim

Sderot is a small town of about 20,000 citizens located in the southern portion of Israels population belt, just north of the Negev desert.

It lies roughly one kilometer from Nahal Oz, a town in the Gaza Strip.

To try and paint the picture, what separates these two towns is a four lane highway and the usual roadway detritus, shoulders and some dirt on either side. Nahal Oz is slight hidden from Sderot by some low ( perhaps 25 feet) hills.

For those NY, it is perhaps the distance from Central Part West to 5th Avenue but instead of Central Park separating them, it is open ground.

I have attached an aerial photo from Google Earth here. The superimposed line is .9 miles long. It extends from the nearest power tower in Sderot to the first large apartment complex in Nahal.

In the last two days, Sderot has been hit by 30 Qassam rockets from Nahal and elsewhere in the Gaza strip.

That is shocking to say the least. But just as important. Since the start of the second intifada, it has been every day by rockets.

In the barrage of the last two days, a kindergarten was specifically targeted.

Luckily for the residents of Sderot, until recently, the Qassams had poor targeting systems.

However, that is changing.

Imagine living in small town, knowing that every day, somewhere, at some point during your day, a rocket would land somewhere close.

Incredibly, the Defense Minister of Israel, Amir Peretz, lives in Sderot.

Imagine if the US Secretary of Defense was getting bombed every day in Washington.

What type of restraint do you think the US would show towards the shooters.

The increase in the last day was a perverse attempt by Hamas to draw the Israeli's back into Gaza militarily. Their goal was to rally all the citizens against Israel in order to distract them from the current fighting between Hamas and Fatah.

The quagmire that Israel faces is simple. Do you go in, guns blazing and once again clear out Gaza, thereby both earning, yet again, the condemnation of the world, with all the commensurate false stories about civilian deaths, barbarism, etc. as well as suffering additional casualties.

Or, do you let the fighting go on, with the increase shelling of one of your towns.

Of course, the whole issue might be moot if the Egyptian authorities that patrol the Philadelphia corridor on the Sinai side of the Gaza strip as agreed to in the Israeli with drawl agreement, actually stopped the rockets from coming in.

Al Nachba -- The disaster

May 15th, 1948 - a day that brings two very different names from Israelis and Arabs.

To Israelis, it is the day the UN partition plan, passed the previous November took effect.

To the Arabs (no, not the Palestinians, whoever they are, but to all Arabs) it is "the disaster".

In the 60 years since, there have been literally thousands of books, millions of articles, endless debate about this issue.

As with many such discussions, the original, and essential questions have been lost in the noise.

Why would the Arabs declare this a disaster?

Let's look at the facts.

There is no debate among any real historian about the presence of Jew in what the Romans first called Palestina.

Even more, recent discoveries verifying the location of King David's city, what is called Ir David in Hebrew is readily tour-able for those wishing to go (an amazing exhibit) to see the original city of Jerusalem before the construction by David's son, Solomon, of what is now the symbol of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount.

So, at the least, the presence of Jews dates to roughly 3000 years ago.

Of course, anybody who believes in the Christian historicity would believe that at least since some time before the time of Jesus, Jews were there.

Mohamed, creator of the Muslim religion, lived in the 7th century AD. More than 600 years after Christ, and thousands after the Exodus and certainly of King David.

After the Bar Kochba revolt, the Romans finally expelled Jews from Palestina, and the "tribes" fled and the Kingdom of Israel was dispersed. However, Jews remained in the area. All over what is now the Arab world, and in today's Israel.

Finally, in the 1800's Jews were once again the majority in Jerusalem itself.

So, the concept of Israel's Jewish population being a result of WWII post settlement is a myth.

When the British made the commitment to withdraw from the Mandate of Palestine (which of course meant that Jews, Arabs, Druse, Christians, and Bedouins were ALL "Palestinians" the UN agreed to partition the area between an Arab state and a Jewish state. It was also at this time the TransJordan became "The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan".

The war began immediately and I won't go into details of it that most of you have some basic understanding of. All the surrounding Arab states attacked the new Israel.

Significantly however, is the now forgotten concept of two states, Israel (which named itself) and the unnamed Arab state.

So, what is the forgotten question? Well, what are the so called Palestinians arguing for? Forget suicide bombers, alleged occupation, and all the other noise. An independent state.

And the state they are fighting for now is significantly smaller than the state that the UN AND ISRAEL, yes ISRAEL agreed to, but that the ARABS rejected.

So, really, what is the disaster?

I would posit, that the true disaster was then, and is now, the abject refusal of the Arabs to accept the existence of Israel and live in coexistence.

What you should ask yourself is this. Why would they reject this proposal, and considering all that they have written, spoken, and demonstrated by their actions, is it really a separate independent state they want, or is it the same thing they wanted in 1948? To drive the Jews into the sea.

If you go into the Arab world, in fact, you will see everywhere the phrase "From the River to the Sea". This simply means that the territory that is now Israel, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea will be Arab. No Israel, no two states.

So, what is the disaster? I would put to you that incredible mistake that the Arabs made by refusing to accept the UN partition plan.

If they had, the so called Palestinians would now be celebrating their 60th Independence day, as Israel has.

Would they ever admit this? Of course not, again, why? Because that is not their goal. There are no real true national aspirations. The ultimate goal is simply the elimination of the Jews from the area.

Israel and Hamas ..... Together again?

Those of you who have read my posts in the past know that one of my bugga boos are the Orwellian nature of the language used in the dispute between Israel and the Sunni Arabs that now call themselves Palestinians.

Terms like Palestinian, The West Bank, Occupied Territories, Land for Peace, etc. have taken on a life of their own that belie their actual meaning or lack thereof. (For those wondering what I mean, ask yourself what you think of when you hear the term bank of a river. Or West bank of a river. Do you think of a few feet from the edge of the water? A few yard? Well, in this case we're talking about a distance from the Jordan River - yes that is the bank referred to - that encompasses at places, almost 2/3 of the width of modern day Israel. Is that a bank?)

In the last two days, since Hamas murderers assassinated several Fatah security guards at the Karni crossing into Israel there has been a growing sense of impending civil war in Gaza, the base of support for Hamas.

Israel, as many know, has refused to recognize or talk with Hamas, an organization which apparently has as its' sole purpose the destruction of Israel (you can read the Hamas and Fatah charters on my blog).

So, the point of my title?

Well, interestingly, today, Fatah legislator Jamal Abu Rub said Hamas and the IDF were responsible.

"The time has come for our people to realize that there is a huge conspiracy by mercenaries to destroy the Palestinian Authority," he said. "The security situation in the Gaza Strip is intolerable. We can't remain idle in the face of the atrocities committed by Hamas and Israel."

That's right. Israel and Hamas are now in cahoots to destroy the PA. Unbelievable.

In the Arab world, Israel is responsible for a bad orange crop in Florida, poor coffee in Columbia and even the loss of the truffles in France!!

Incredibly, in addition to the above absurdity, several members of Fatah and the Palestinian Legislative Council has actually called for Palestinians to take to the streets to protest this violence. Of course, they conveniently overlook the shooting and rocket fire currently going on. Hamas today fired rockets on the Fatah headquarters. I guess you reap what you sow. If you allow these lunatics to arm themselves with rockets to fire at Israel, you never know when they might turn them on you.

Of course, at the same time the daily firing of rockets into southern Israel has intensified (Oh yes, despite the claim of a "truce" of "hudna" rockets have been followed every day, without exception, into Sderot in southern Israel, across the highway from Gaza). The hopes are that the IDF will move in to stop it, thus allowing a complete conflagration to take place allowing Hamas to overrun Fatah.

Interesting what happens when you teach the culture of death isn't it?

Be afraid... be very afraid

Springtime in Islamberg

Radical Muslim paramilitary compound flourishes in upper New York State

Islamberg also has a website with photos: http://www.islamberg.org/

By Paul L. Williams Ph.D., (author of THE DAY OF ISLAM)
With the able assistance of Douglas Hagmann, Bill Krayer and Michael Travis

Friday, May 11, 2007 http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/paul-williams051107.htm

Situated within a dense forest at the foothills of the Catskill Mountains on the outskirts of Hancock, New York, Islamberg is not an ideal place for a summer vacation unless, of course, you are an exponent of the Jihad or a fan of Osama bin Laden.

The 70 acre complex is surrounded with "No trespassing" signs; the rocky terrain is infested with rattlesnakes; and the woods are home to black bears, coyotes, wolves, and a few bobcats.

The entrance to the community is at the bottom of a very steep hill that is difficult to navigate even on a bright sunny day in May. The road, dubbed Muslim Lane, is unpaved and marred by deep crevices that have been created by torrential downpours. On a wintry day, few, save those with all terrain vehicles, could venture forth from the remote encampment.

A sentry post has been established at the base of the hill.

The sentry, at the time of this visit, is an African American dressed in Islamic garb - - a skull cap, a prayer shawl, and a loose fitting shalwat kameez. He instructs us to turn around and leave. "Our community is not open to visitors," he says.

Behind the sentry and across a small stream stand dozens of inhabitants of the compound - - the men wearing skull caps and loose fitting tunics, the women in full burqa. They appear ready to deal with any unauthorized intruders.

The hillside is blighted by rusty trailers that appear to be without power or running water and a number of outhouses. The scent of raw sewage is in the air.

The place is even off limits to the local undertaker who says that he has delivered bodies to the complex but has never been granted entrance. "They come and take the bodies from my hearse. They won't allow me to get past the sentry post. They say that they want to prepare the bodies for burial. But I never get the bodies back. I don't know what's going on there but I don't think it's legal."

On the other side of the hill where few dare to go is a tiny village replete with a make-shift learning center (dubbed the "International Quranic Open University" ) ; a trailer converted into a Laundromat; a small, green community center; a small and rather squalid grocery store; a newly constructed majid; over forty clapboard homes; and scores of additional trailers.

It is home to hundreds - - all in Islamic attire, and all African-Americans. Most drive late model SUVs with license plates from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The locals say that some work as tollbooth operators for the New York State Thruway, while others are employed at a credit card processing center that maintains confidential financial records.

While buzzing with activity during the week, the place becomes a virtual hive on weekends. The guest includes arrivals from the inner cities of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania and, occasionally, white-robed dignitaries in Ray-Bans from the Middle East.

Venturing into the complex last summer, Douglas Hagmann, an intrepid investigator and director of the Northeast Intelligence Service, came upon a military training area at the eastern perimeter of the property. The area was equipped with ropes hanging from tall trees, wooden fences for scaling, a make-shift obstacle course, and a firing range. Hagmann said that the range appeared to have been in regular use.

Islamberg is not as benign as a Buddhist monastery or a Carmelite convent. Nearly every weekend, neighbors hear sounds of gunfire. Some, including a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, have heard the bang of small explosives. None of the neighbors wished to be identified for fear of "retaliation." "We don't even dare to slow down when we drive by," one resident said. "They own the mountain and they know it and there is nothing we can do about it but move, and we can't even do that. Who wants to buy a property near that?"

Islamberg's Grocery Store

The complex serves to scare the bejeesus out of the local residents. "If you go there, you better wear body armor," a customer at the Circle E Diner in Hancock said. "They have armed guards and if they shoot you, nobody will find your body."

At Cousins, a watering hole in nearby Deposit, a barfly, who didn't wish to be identified, said: "The place is dangerous. You can hear gunfire up there. I can't understand why the FBI won't shut it down."

Islamberg is a branch of Muslims of the Americas Inc., a tax-exempt organization formed in 1980 by Pakistani cleric Sheikh Mubarak Ali Gilani, who refers to himself as "the sixth Sultan Ul Faqr," Gilani, has been directly linked by court documents to Jamaat ul-Fuqra or "community of the impoverished," an organization that seeks to "purify" Islam through violence.

Though primarily based in Lahore, Pakistan, Jamaat ul-Fuqra has operational headquarters in New York and openly recruits through various social service organizations in the U.S., including the prison system. Members live in hamaats or compounds, such as Islamberg, where they agree to abide by the laws of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, which are considered to be above local, state and federal authority. Additional hamaats have been established in Hyattsville, Maryland; Red House, Virginia; Falls Church, Virginia; Macon, Georgia; York, South Carolina; Dover, Tennessee; Buena Vista, Colorado; Talihina, Oklahoma; Tulane Country, California; Commerce, California; and Onalaska, Washington. Others are being built, including an expansive facility in Sherman, Pennsylvania.

Before becoming a citizen of Islamberg or any of the other Fuqra compounds, the recruits - - primarily inner city black men who became converts in prison - - are compelled to sign an oath that reads: "I shall always hear and obey, and whenever given the command, I shall readily fight for Allah's sake."

In the past, thousands of members of the U.S. branches of Jamaat ul-Fuqra traveled to Pakistan for paramilitary training, but encampments, such as Islamberg, are now capable of providing book-camp training so raw recruits are no longer required to travel abroad amidst the increased scrutiny of post 9/11.

Over the years, numerous members of Jamaat ul-Fuqra have been convicted in US courts of such crimes as conspiracy to commit murder, firebombing, gun smuggling, and workers' compensation fraud. Others remain leading suspects in criminal cases throughout the country, including ten unsolved assassinations and seventeen fire-bombings between 1979 and 1990.

The criminal charges against the group and the criminal convictions are not things of the past. In 2001, a resident of a California compound was charged with first-degree murder in the shooting of a sheriff's deputy; another was charged with gun-smuggling' and twenty-four members of the Red House community were convicted of firearms violations.

By 2004 federal investigators uncovered evidence that linked both the DC "sniper killer" John Allen Muhammed and "Shoe Bomber" Richard Reid to the group and reports surfaced that Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was captured and beheaded in the process of attempting to obtain an interview with Sheikh Gilani in Pakistan.

Even though Jamaat ul-Fuqra has been involved in terror attacks and sundry criminal activities, recruited thousands of members from federal and state penal systems, and appears to be operating paramilitary facilities for militant Muslims, it remains to be placed on the official US Terror Watch List. On the contrary, it continues to operate, flourish, and expand as a legitimate nonprofit, tax-deductible charity.

Kudos to ..... gulp.... News Corp.

Don't know how many of you caught it this week, and not mentioning politics or media conglomerates in any way, but Rupert Murdoch, chairmen of NewsCorp announced earlier this week that the company would operate carbon neutral, effective immediately.

Whatever you think of Murdoch, and he does illicit very significant feelings on both sides, he is to be applauded for this effort.

NewsCorp has tens thousands of employees all over the globe, from Murdoch's home of Australia, through to the United States and everywhere in between. From 20th Century Fox movies, to the various Fox TV networks (including cable and broadcast, National Geographic, etc); The NY Post, Times of London; Sky networks international, Harper Collins books, etc.

In the announcement they outlined very specific efforts and what became apparent was just how easy it would be for most businesses to at least attempt something similar.

Some of the efforts involved basic items, such as raising thermostats, requiring employees to turn off computers and lights upon leaving, eliminating all non fluorescents, increased recycling efforts, etc.

So, again, despite his polemical stance to some, he is to be congratulated for being a corporate leader in this effort.

While I am at it, a note should be made about Governor Schwarzenegger's efforts in California. He is turning into the Teddy Roosevelt of our day. How many of you knew that incandescent light bulbs will be illegal in California by 2010? And that they have committed the state to cut energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 1/3?

I wonder if Al Gore can bring himself to thank either of these well known Republicans?(snicker)!

The truth is Out there.... sometimes it's just hidden between the lines.

What follows is an interesting story that appeared on the BBC website this Monday.

It seems to be a favorable story about Arab Jews. i.e. Jews that were residents of the various Arab countries before 1948.

So, what is the truth that the BBC has gone to such extraordinary lengths to hide?

There was no "mass migration" as they put it, unless you consider violent pogroms, the taking of Jewish homes, property, etc. and the banning of Judaism in all of these countries as a "mass migration".

That's right, on May 15th of 1948, or really starting the previous November with the UN declaration of a Jewish Palestine and Arab Palestine, Jes throughout the Arab world were thrown out forcibly, or driven out by violence rivaled only by the famous "Kristalnacht" in prewar Germany.

This is one of the little know lies of the current "Palestinian" question. Why were the Arabs that VOLUNTARILY (yes voluntarily, the new Israel did not remove them and as you know, Arabs to this day have full citizenship in Israel, Arabic is an official language of Israel, they serve in Knesset, the army, etc.) left Israel declared refugees - and every generation hence, in the face of international law, called refugees, but the Jews that were removed from Arab lands not called such?

I wonder. Remember, it is still ILLEGAL to be Jewish throughout the Arab world.

What would happen if Israel declared Islam and Christianity illegal as the Arab countries have done (do you remember the recent case of a man sentenced to death for his conversion to Christianity?).

The shame of it is that there is a lot of truth to the article. Most of the Arab Jews in Israel have tried to maintain their culture, diet, practices, etc. and long to see their homes, even as they consider Israel their home.

So, the article from the BBC website on Monday:


Israelis from Iraq remember Babylon
By Lipika Pelham
Jerusalem

"During the Shia festival of Muharram we would take part in the procession and along with our Arab friends, beat our chests to remember the epic battle of Karbala," said Yakov Reuveni, remembering his youth in 1940s Iraq.

Yakov Reuveni
Yakov Reuveni remembers an easy and happy Iraqi childhood
"My best friend was the son of the mayor of Ammara. After school we would go out to the date palm grove with the freshly caught fish from the river Hidekel, which we would barbeque in the fields over an open fire."

The river Hidekel runs through his home province, Ammara, 380km (236 miles) south-east of Baghdad.

Among his most cherished memories, says Yakov, is the after-school stroll along the riverbank with his Arab friend.

He grew up in a moderately well-to-do Jewish home with his parents, four siblings and grandparents.

His father had a clothing store in the heart of Ammara's central market.

Nostalgia

It was an easy, happy life. Jews shared almost all aspects of life with their Arab neighbours, reminisces Yakov.

He was 17 years old in 1951, when his family emigrated to Jerusalem.

For the Jews of Middle Eastern origins, like their European co-religionists, coming to Israel was the culmination of a religious journey - it was the fulfilment of the centuries-old dream to live in the so-called Promised Land.


I still think in Arabic, still I can't string together all my thoughts in Hebrew. You have to understand, my mother tongue is Arabic


Yakov Reuveni
But many who came over to Israel as part of the mass migration that followed the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, look back with nostalgia and fondness for the life that they had left behind.

Israel has a vibrant Iraqi Jewish community who arrived throughout the 1950s. Many Iraqi Jews settled in the area known as Mahane Yehuda in the heart of west Jerusalem.

It is a famous market with alleyways lined with grocery shops: rows after rows of shops laden with colourful fruit and vegetables, fresh fish, dried fruit, sweets, different kinds of bread, cheese, traditional salted fish.

These stores are still mostly owned by the descendants of the Iraqi and Kurdish Jewish immigrants.

Fish feast

"The most memorable taste was the fish called maskuf, from the river Hidekel," says Yakov.

"After the Sabbath, we would wander off to the fields and have a feast with fish cooked on the spit, Iraqi pita and arak."

After maskuf and arak, a strong aniseed flavoured local alcoholic drink, the boys would go to Ammara's club to watch belly dancing.


Most of us still feel connected to the country where we or our ancestors came from. Our parents and our grandparents still remember many things from their Iraqi past and they bring them to us, with food, music, language
Eli Mizrakhi
Yakov recalls, with vivid, powerful details, the life that he had once led, a life that was changed overnight by the political realities of the time.

"We used to eat with them, sleep with them, go to school with them, the Arabs and the Jews went to the same high school.

"We never thought of who was Jewish and who was Arab, until 1947. It all suddenly changed. The people that you knew as good people turned into bad people for you and you became bad for them. It was very sad."

Thinking in Arabic

In the heart of the Mahane Yehuda market is Cafe Mizrakhi, which specialises in certain traditional delicacies from Iraq. The word Mizrakhi means Oriental Jews.

Food stall at Mahane Yehuda market
Food is central to lingering nostalgia among Jews originally from Iraq
It is owned by Eli Mizrakhi, whose family came from northern Iraq, or what is now known as Iraqi Kurdistan.

"Most of us still feel connected to the country where we or our ancestors came from. Our parents and our grandparents still remember many things from their Iraqi past and they bring them to us, with food, music, language."

Both Eli and Yakov agree that despite having gone through the process of assimilation into Israel, they keep alive many aspects of their previous lives, in particular, Iraqi food and speaking Arabic.

"We used to eat kubbeh and bamia, or okra. The kubbeh, made with minced lamb, was the national food for the Jews all over Iraq. Thursday was the day of khitchri - it's a dish cooked with rice and lentils.

"I still think in Arabic, still I can't string together all my thoughts in Hebrew. You have to understand, my mother tongue is Arabic," says Yakov.

Now living in a small cottage with his wife in south Jerusalem, Yakov keeps himself busy recreating sweet pickled orange from his youth, while longing to someday return to Babylon.

You won't hear this in the American Media

This past Sunday, the UN supported elementary school in the Gaza strip was holding a sports day for children.

What a wonderful opportunity for these kids, who lead a poverty stricken, awful life (mainly b/c the money that is supposed to go to them is used to buy bombs, guns, etc and line the pockets of every politician from the local council to their national leaders).

So what happens? Muslim fundamentalists come in shooting and bombing. Thankfully the UN force rebuffed them and caught them before killing any children. However seven individuals were killed.

In fact, in the last year 154 Palestinians (I hate that made up word) were killed by other Palestinians including 10 children.

You won't ever hear this in the American media because it flies in the face of the liberal support of the supposed suppressed minority.

What was the crime these schoolchildren committed?
They had the temerity to play sports AT ALL for the girls, and worse, the games were COED. Shocking, death to the infidels!!

The state of the Republican party today.

In tonight's Republican presidential debate the following occurred:

The field split on another issue, with Brownback, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo raising their hands when moderator Chris Matthews asked who did not believe in evolution.

Still no comment necessary

A quote from a recent article in the Hamas newspaper
Al Risalah.

"We find more than once condemnation and denunciation to the resistance operations and bombings[suicide attacks], carried out by Hamas and the Palestinian resistance branches. There is no other choice but to use restraint regarding the condemnation, the attaching of the label of terror [to "resistance"], and the assembling of conferences [for] condemnation [of the attacks]. [This] so that everyone will know, that we did this only because our lord commanded so, "I did it not of my own accord" [*] and so that people will know that the extermination of Jews is good for the inhabitants of the worlds on a land, to which Allah gave his blessing for the sake of the inhabitants of the worlds."
[Al-Risalah, April 23, 2007]

What is particularly frightening here is how this resembles a passage from Mein Kampf where Hitler also says that the extermination of the Jews is a divine ordination.

"In this case the only salvation remaining was war. If the Jew with the help of his Marxist creed is victorious over the peoples of this world, then his crown will be the funeral wreath of humanity. Thus I believe today that I am
acting according to the will of the almighty creator: when I defend myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."

*Thanks to Naomi Regan