Love of the Land: Rewarding the Palestinian Arab terrorists: is this being done in your name?

Rewarding the Palestinian Arab terrorists: is this being done in your name?

Abdullah Barghouti built and delivered
the guitar-case bomb that
killed our daughter and fourteen
other innocents. He was sentenced
to 67 life terms. The Palestinian leadership
has now determined that he
and his family will receive a monthly
stipend. The symbolism is powerful.
And sickening.

Frimet/Arnold Roth
This Ongoing War
20 May '11


http://thisongoingwar.blogspot.com/2011/05/20-may-11-rewarding-palestinian-arab.html

According to yesterday's Palestinian Media Watch report by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik:

A law published in the official Palestinian Authority Registry last month grants all Palestinians and Israeli Arabs imprisoned in Israel for terror crimes a monthly salary from the PA. Although the EU, U.S. and other donors are not intentionally funding salaries for terrorists, their funding of other PA salaries and the general budget makes money available to pay terrorist salaries. [Source: "PA to Pay Salaries to All Terrorists in Israeli Prisons"]

We checked - the imprisoned terrorists who carried out the bombing of the Sbarro restaurant in central Jerusalem on 9th August 2001, the massacre that cost the life of our daughter Malki, 15, and many other innocents, are included on the payroll [JPost]. (In case you don't know, we honor Malki's memory through the work of the Malki Foundation - please visit www.kerenmalki.org to get a sense of what we do.)

Who funds the PA? Who provides the PA's insiders with the means to channel money at the terrorists and their families? The colossally wealthy Arab oil states? No. Malaysia? No.

"The majority of aid to the Palestinian Authority comes from the United States and European Union. According to figures released by the PA, only 22 percent of the $530,000,000 received since the beginning of 2010 came from Arab donors. The remainder came from Western donors and organizations. The total amount of foreign aid received directly by the PA was $1.4 billion in 2009 and $1.8 billion in 2008. [Source]"

There is a powerful symbolism at work here. The PA is chronically short of funds, and is perpetually requesting handouts. Yet it has sufficient disposable cash to make the decision this week to channel funds to the terrorists sitting in Israeli prisons. Evidently Mahmoud Abbas and his cohorts have a sound understanding of the message they want to convey to their people, and how best to deliver it.

It's humiliating that we, victims of these convicted jihadist terrorists, parents of murdered children, have to raise our voices about this - and evidently we are alone in doing so. Where are the European, American and Australian voices of outrage at what is being done with taxpayer funded aid money, and in their names? Where is the sense of shame on the part of those who sign the aid cheques to the Palestinian Arabs? And where is the fury of those voters in Western, aid-giving countries whose political representatives allow this to go on without so much as a whimper?

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Love of the Land: Rewarding the Palestinian Arab terrorists: is this being done in your name?

Love of the Land: The message in Palestinian condemnation of terror on grounds of efficacy

The message in Palestinian condemnation of terror on grounds of efficacy

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
Weekly Commentary
11 February '10

Compare and contrast:

"A loathsome, criminal act of murder was committed today at a site holy to both Jews and Arabs in Hebron.The Prime Minister and Defense Minister, government ministers and citizens of the State of Israel severely condemn this terrible murder of innocent people, which occurred during Ramadan prayer services."
Statement by Prime Minister Rabin on the Murders in Hebron, 25 February 1994.

'This incident condemned by us, which is incompatible with the Palestinian national interests, and with the efforts of the Palestinian National Authority, as well as with the commitments they have undertaken.. violence that has been proven to cause damage to the higher interests of our people."
Palestinian Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad 10 February 2010

The differences are hardly subtle.

When an Israeli prime minister condemns an attack by a Jew against Palestinians he condemns it because it is in and of itself a "loathsome, criminal act."

When a Palestinian prime minister condemns an attack by a Palestinian against an Israeli, he condemns it because it is "incompatible with the Palestinian national interests."

And this isn't the first time.

In point of fact, official Palestinian condemnations of terror against Israelis consistently condemn it on the basis of its efficacy (does not serve interests) rather than because it is simply wrong.

Look back at the details of the charges that PA prosecutors have filed against the few Palestinian terrorists that they jailed (mostly in order to protect them from Israeli justice) and - that's right - they weren't sentenced for murdering Israelis but instead for acting "against Palestinian interests".

This isn't just a technical matter.

It goes to the very heart of the nature of how the Palestinian leadership relates to Israel.

And it should serve as an important warning for policy makers.

If the reason it is wrong to murder Israelis today is that it doesn't serve Palestinian interests and not that it is simply wrong to murder Israelis then what happens if circumstances are such that it does serve Palestinian interests to murder Israelis?

And given that this is the case, what restrictions are necessary for the arming, training, etc. of Palestinian security forces?

Love of the Land: The message in Palestinian condemnation of terror on grounds of efficacy

Love of the Land: Terrorists Step Up Attacks on Israel as Peace Talks Begin

Terrorists Step Up Attacks on Israel as Peace Talks Begin

Meanwhile, Israel Tests New Anti-Rocket System

The Israel Project (TIP)
07 January '10

Posted before Shabbat

Palestinian terrorists have stepped up attacks on Israel just as diplomatic efforts to restart peace talks get underway in the Middle East and the United States. In addition to mortar shells fired at Israel from Gaza today (Jan. 7), 10 bombs likely planted by Iran-backed Hezbollah were found yesterday by UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon, and recently an Israeli man was killed in a shooting attack in the West Bank.[1]

In the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, terrorists who seek to destroy Israel have typically launched attacks during efforts for peace and a two-state solution. The new flurry of peace efforts began on Dec. 29, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Cairo to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss how to resume negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. And Friday (Jan. 8), the Egyptian foreign minister, the Egyptian intelligence chief and Jordan’s foreign minister hope to move the peace process forward when they meet Obama administration officials in Washington.[2]

Recent Terrorist Activity

• The Popular Resistance Committees terrorist group fired at least 10 mortar shells today (Jan. 7) into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip. Three of the shells exploded close to the Kerem Shalom goods crossing, a major conduit for humanitarian aid transferred daily from Israel into Gaza.[3] As a result of the attacks, the Ministry of Defense was forced to close the crossing as dozens of aid trucks waited on the Israeli side to enter Gaza.[4]

(Read full article)

Love of the Land: Terrorists Step Up Attacks on Israel as Peace Talks Begin

Love of the Land: Back to the Future

Back to the Future

Noah Pollack
Contentions/Commentary
06 January '10

A year into the Obama administration, a pattern has been established for public diplomacy with Israel versus the Palestinians. For Israel, the administration airs an ongoing series of petty complaints, most of which relate to housing construction in Obama-disapproved neighborhoods of Jerusalem. Such construction is hurting the peace process, intones Robert Gibbs; it prevents the recommencement of negotiations and is inconsistent with the Road Map, he laments.

Even defensive IDF operations, such as the one last week that eliminated three Fatah murderers, are now reason for public finger-wagging from the administration and requests for “clarification.” This was done on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. There indeed should have been a request for clarification, but it should have been directed at the PA, given the fact that the terrorists in question were on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority’s ruling party, Fatah.

By contrast, the administration has been indifferent to Palestinian terrorism and its official celebration by the PA. I can’t recall a single instance in which the president or a prominent member of his administration criticized the Palestinians for anything. Maybe it’s because the PA has been doing such a commendable job when it comes to incitement and terrorism? Not quite.

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: Back to the Future

Love of the Land: 'Wanted' Palestinian fighter hands self in

'Wanted' Palestinian fighter hands self in

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
04 January '10

(IDF, Good job. They've done their share)

www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=251803

Jenin – Ma'an – An operative affiliated with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's paramilitary wing, handed himself over to Israeli authorities on Sunday evening, Ma'an has learned.

Imad Tayih, 22, from the Al-Far'a Refugee Camp near Tubas, had been "wanted" by Israeli authorities for over a year and a half. During his time as a fugitive, Tayih survived targeted assassination attempts and was injured as a result on several occasions.

On Sunday evening, he gave himself up at the Salim military base in Nablus, according to his cousin Faris, who observed that Tayih had been receiving a high volume of telephone calls from Israeli intelligence threatening to kill him if he did not give himself up.

Faris explained that whenever his cousin would receive such a call, it was swiftly followed by attempts to ambush or abduct Tayih, adding that he had survived two assassination attempts and was injured nine times, recently including a critical gunshot wound to the spine. Unable to receive medical assistance and no longer able to bear the pain, Tayih handed himself in.

An Israeli military spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Love of the Land: 'Wanted' Palestinian fighter hands self in

Love of the Land: Road to nowhere

Road to nowhere

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner
Opinion/JPost
04 January '10

Last week's High Court ruling opening part of Route 443 to Palestinian traffic has set off a firestorm of criticism in Israeli political circles. In a 38-page decision, the court ruled that by keeping Palestinians off the road, which winds through post-1967 lands on the northwest approach to Jerusalem, the army unfairly discriminated against local Palestinians who should be allowed to use it, fostering among them a "sense of inequality and even associations of improper motives."

The court ordered the army to find "another solution" that would avoid the "sense of discrimination" that the closure entails. While the ruling may at first sound both reasonable and fair, it is in practicality neither and will result in the deaths of additional Israelis.

FIRST, THE history. The IDF's security concerns are far from theoretical. Beginning with the second intifada in 2000, Palestinian terrorists found in 443 an easy target for shootings and other deadly attacks. In just eight months, from December 2000 to August 2001, six Israelis were murdered, and many more wounded, on that very road. The villagers who would use the road today are those who knowingly harbored these terrorists and provided them with an easy escape route. This is why the road was closed to Palestinian traffic in the first place.

Although the Palestinians have failed to mount deadly attacks on 443 since the road was closed to them in 2002, it is not for lack of trying. In the last few years, the IDF has recorded hundreds of violent attacks, from throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails to shootings, along Route 443. Just last month, the army defused a massive roadside bomb along the road. Even with the closure, 443 remains one of the most vulnerable highways to terror.

Second, the road itself. Route 443 is no side street. It is one of the two major arteries connecting Jerusalem with the rest of the country. For many of the more than 100,000 residents living along the stretch from Modi'in to the northern neighborhoods of Jerusalem, it is the only way to get to and from work each day. Although a small part of the road goes through post-1967 territory, the people who use the road are not "settlers," but ordinary Israelis, Arabs and Jews, living their lives.

(Read full article)

The writer is the director of Shurat Hadin - Israel Law Center.

Love of the Land: Road to nowhere

Love of the Land: The correct choice is clear

The correct choice is clear

FresnoZionism
22 December 09

I think it’s certain that Israel will agree to something like Hamas’ conditions for the release of Gilad Shalit:

After the nocturnal inner cabinet meeting ended overnight Monday, reports began emerging that the seven-member forum had reached its decision. Israel Radio cited an unnamed senior Israeli official as confirming one such report.

Former Fatah-Tanzim leader and terrorist Marwan Barghouti, who is serving multiple life sentences after being convicted in fatal attacks against Israelis, would be allowed to return to his West Bank home, a Palestinian close to the negotiations said. Hamas agreed that several other hard-core convicts would be deported, he said…

After more than four hours of talks, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office released a statement early Tuesday morning [today] saying only that instructions were given to the negotiating team about “the continuation of efforts to bring Gilad Schalit home safe and sound.” There was no word of a decision, further meetings or steps. The decision to continue negotiations came in lieu of any final decision by the government to agree unequivocally to Hamas’s demands.

The inner cabinet met into the night Monday in what was described by insiders as a final marathon discussion on the prisoner-swap deal that would end Schalit’s Gaza captivity.

According to sources close to the deliberations, the proposal to release some 950 Hamas gunmen and activists, some of whom have been convicted of fatal terrorist attacks, for the 23-year-old soldier was expected to gain approval by the forum, after which it would be presented to the full 30-member cabinet. — Jerusalem Post

Israel — and it really is the whole country — is facing a “Sophie’s choice“.

(Read full post)

Love of the Land: The correct choice is clear

Love of the Land: PMW Special Report on Palestinian kidnap-for-hostage tactic

PMW Special Report on Palestinian kidnap-for-hostage tactic

Itamar Marcus, Nan Jacques Zilberdik and Barbara Crook
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW)
21 December 09

This PMW Special Report includes 50 Palestinian statements concerning the Palestinian kidnapping-for-hostage policy. The statements cover the period since the release of 1000 terrorists by Israel in exchange for a kidnapped Israeli in 2004, until the current negotiations for the release of Gilad Shalit in December 2009. These Palestinian statements document that the Palestinian motivation and justification today for continued kidnappings is the direct result of the earlier prisoner releases.

Israel's release of prisoners in exchange for hostages is not seen by Palestinian society as merely the last stage of one kidnapping, but as the first stage of the next kidnapping.

Executive Summary:

Background:
More than 10,000 Palestinians are currently in Israeli prisons for terrorism of various degrees. The Palestinian Authority demands that Israel release them all, including murderers of civilians and masterminds of suicide terror who are serving multiple life sentences. Israel argues that they have been imprisoned following proper judicial process and must complete their sentences.

PMW Findings:
Due to Israel's willingness to release Palestinian terrorists from jail in exchange for freeing kidnapped and imprisoned Israeli hostages, Palestinians have concluded that kidnapping-for-hostage is a valid strategy to achieve the release of additional Palestinian terrorists. This report documents that these opinions are found across the political spectrum and among the Palestinian leadership, both Fatah and Hamas.

(Read full bulletin)

Love of the Land: PMW Special Report on Palestinian kidnap-for-hostage tactic

Love of the Land: Off the Wall

Off the Wall

Honest Reporting/Backspin
11 November 09

Is there really a moral equivalence between the Berlin Wall and Israel's security fence? Steve Bell of The Guardian certainly thinks so:

Unfortunately, he's not the only one. HonestReporting Canada already addressed similar spin at the CBC. And Jordan's Queen Rania writes at the Huffington Post:

Today, we celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall; next year, we will celebrate the end of Apartheid in South Africa. These two events taught us that when barriers are removed - whether physical barriers, legal barriers, or the walls people build in their hearts - the ground is laid for progress, peace, and development for both sides. The people of my region yearn as well for justice and reconciliation.

What better way to honour these anniversaries than to tear down another wall?

But Eldad Beck explains why Bell, the CBC and the queen's comparisons are, uh, off the wall:

Apart from certain visual similarities, there is no connection between the Berlin Wall and the security fence.

The Berlin Wall separated members of the same nation who aspired, to some extent or another, to reunite in a joint political framework.Meanwhile, the security fence marks, to some extent or another, a future border between two nations that do not wish to coexist in one state, but rather, to split their shared land into two separate states.

It is surprising that precisely those who for a long time fought for the Palestinian right for their own state now demand to dismantle the security fence. After all, this fence pushed the Palestinians closer to geographical and political division that would constitute a basis for a separate political entity.

Charges regarding the “apartheid fence” reveal the true motives of the Palestinians and their supporters, who are uninterested in dividing the country and co-existing alongside Israel; rather, they are interested in taking over the entire land.

Let's face it, as a protection from terror, the wall works, but don't take my word for it. Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Shalah gets it.

Beck refers to another barrier, which only the Arab world can tear down:

There is another wall in the Middle East which objectors to the security fence refuse to see, not to mention fight against, even though it is this wall that perpetuates the conflict between Jews and Arabs: The wall of boycotts and isolation imposed by most of the Muslim world against Israel since its establishment . . . .

As long as this wall exists, the sides would not be able to get to know each other and it would be impossible to counter the bias that fans the flames of this conflict. The “Middle Eastern Wall” had been established much before the security fence and it bears absolute responsibility for the security fence’s existence.

I wonder if it means anything to Bell, the CBC and Queen Rania that November 9 isn'ta German national holiday -- the Times of London, to its credit, notes that this it's also the anniversary of Kristallnacht.

Love of the Land: Off the Wall

Love of the Land: Fundamentally Freund: Obama Forgives the Unforgivable

Fundamentally Freund: Obama Forgives the Unforgivable

Michael Freund
JPost Column
21 October 09

This past week marked the sixth anniversary of one of the most brazen anti-American terror attacks to have occurred in the Middle East in the 21st century, yet hardly anyone in Washington seems to have noticed. As a result, this horrific event, which took the lives of three brave Americans, has been all but forgotten, leaving the cause of justice unfulfilled.

On October 15, 2003, Palestinian terrorists assaulted an official US diplomatic convoy in Gaza, which was on its way to interview young Palestinian students hoping to study at American universities.

As the vehicles bearing diplomatic license plates passed near Beit Hanun, a roadside bomb went off, killing John Branchizio, 37, of Texas; Mark Parsons, 31, of New Jersey; and John Marin Linde, 30, of Missouri, all of whom were providing security.

At the time, Gaza was still under the control of the Palestinian Authority, but virtually nothing was done to hunt down the perpetrators, even though a senior Palestinian intelligence official later admitted that he knew who was behind the attack.

And there was little doubt that this was a premeditated act of murder. The visit had been coordinated in advance with Palestinian officials, and the US vehicles were traveling on a road that was closed to Israeli traffic, so this was not a case of "mistaken identity" on the part of the terrorists.

Moreover, the device used in the blast was remote-controlled, and it was activated only once the American "targets" were identified and in range. And prior to the attack, the Palestinian media was filled with anti-American incitement which seemed deliberately designed to stir up hatred and even violence against the US.

Astonishingly, however, the Bush administration showed little public interest in pursuing a thorough investigation or even pressing the Palestinians to punish the killers. Naturally, the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat and later Mahmoud Abbas was only too happy to oblige by dropping the matter entirely.

BUT THIS is a matter that cannot, and must not, be dropped. Branchizio, Parsons and Linde were among more than 50 American citizens who have been murdered by Palestinian terrorists since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993.

Under both the Clinton and Bush administrations, US aid and support continued to flow into Palestinian coffers even though they did not shy away from taking the lives of American citizens nor hesitate to laugh off requests to arrest their killers. By all indications, President Barack Obama seems equally inclined to forgive the unforgivable.

On October 15, exactly six years to the day since the Beit Hanun attack, his national security adviser, Gen. James R. Jones, chose to attend a dinner hosted by an outfit called the American Task Force for Palestine. Instead of utilizing the opportunity to issue a clarion call to bring Palestinian killers of Americans to justice, Jones preferred to emphasize just how much his boss wants to reward the Palestinians with a state.

"President Obama's dedication to achieve these goals," he declared, "is unshaken, is committed, and we will be relentless in our pursuit of achieving them."

With all that energy and determination at his disposal, it's a shame that Obama isn't equally as "relentless" in trying to achieve a modicum of justice for the dozens of American families whose loved ones were taken from them by Palestinian terror.

One would think that an issue of this magnitude would cry out for resolution. But political considerations, and a fear of offending Palestinian sensibilities, apparently take precedence in the calculus of the Beltway.

Take, for example, the Rewards for Justice Web site run by the US State Department, the goal of which is "to bring international terrorists to justice." Located at www.rewardsforjustice.net, it lists a series of terror attacks against Americans dating back to the early 1980s.

Incredibly, in the section devoted to the 2003 attack in Gaza, the site does not identify those who carried out the bombing as Palestinian. Instead, it obliquely refers to them as "those responsible for this attack," as if their identity is something of a mystery.

But that, of course, is far from being the case. Last December, during the conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, one of the ringleaders of the 2003 attack was reportedly killed by the IDF. His name was Muhammad al-Dusaqi, and he was a leader of the Palestinian Popular Resistance Committee.

Presumably, with just a little bit of simple intelligence work, it would not be too difficult to figure out who his accomplices were, or even to go out on a limb and deduce that they too were Palestinian terrorists.

Of course, now that Gaza is under Hamas control, it makes it that much harder to track down the Palestinian killers of Americans located in the area. But that doesn't excuse or justify the lack of effort on Obama's part.

Washington has plenty of leverage with the Palestinian leadership, and it is time that some of that influence be brought to bear so that killers of Americans can no longer roam free.

It was the American writer H.L. Mencken who once noted that "if you want peace, work for justice." Quite simply, the two must go hand in hand.

Love of the Land: Fundamentally Freund: Obama Forgives the Unforgivable