Justice and Rights

Contrast this story:

In the Islamic world, there is a broad consensus, both popular and scholarly, that apostates deserve to be killed. A rich theological and intellectual tradition, stretching as far back as Muhammad and his companions, supports this position. ... [A]postasy is punishable by death in Afghanistan, Comoros, Iran, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Yemen.

with this story:

Malaysian Muslim converts in the northern state of Perlis will now be allowed to retain their family names, instead of changing it to "Abdullah" following a state religious edict,

[...]

He said it was unfair for the converts and their families. "This should not be the case because they are actually being denied justice and their rights," [state mufti] Mohamad Asri said, according to Bernama [news agency].

So "Justice" and "Rights" according to Islam is: convert to Islam and you can keep your family name. Convert from Islam to something else, lose your life.

Nice Try, America

In case the world's only superpower underestimates the mental prowess of Iran's leadership, this is a reminder to America of what she is up against:

An Iranian official on Sunday lashed out at the Hollywood movie "300" for insulting the Persian civilization, local Fars News Agency reported.

Nonsense. Why would anyone feel the need to insult such a fine, upstanding, historically peace-loving people like the Iranians?

Javad Shamqadri, an art advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,...

He has an art advisor? A true renaissance man, that Ahmadinejad is.

...accused the new movie of being "part of a comprehensive U.S. psychological war aimed at Iranian culture", said the report.

Iran's uncontrollable Pavlovian response to all their woes: the "conspiracy". After all, everyone knows that Hollywood dutifully waits for its orders from George W. Bush and his psychological war-mongering neo-con gang to bring the world under America's hegemony.

Shamqadri was quoted as saying "following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Hollywood and cultural authorities [?] in the U.S. initiated studies to figure out how to attack Iranian culture,"

True. I actually audited that class when I was in college: "Post-Islamic Revolution Persian Culture Discreditation 101".

The movie's effort wound [?] be fruitless, because "values in Iranian culture and the Islamic Revolution are too strongly seated to be damaged by such plans", said the Iranin [sp] official.

It'll take more than a movie to make that resilient Iranian culture come crashing down, in case you were wondering.

Shamqadri, who is also a filmmaker, said that production of more domestic and artistic films which portray Iranian achievements is a proper response to movies like "300".

That's right, Bushitler. Prepare to be taught an artistic cinematographic lesson that will make you think twice next time you try you insult Iranian pieties! Think otherwise, and you got another thing comin'!

News Roundup for March 12

Difficulty in Investigating

A man who was stopped from looking at terrorist Web sites by the owners of an Internet cafe blew himself up with explosives hidden on his body, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said Monday.

How original.

Authorities, uncertain about the circumstances of the blast in a Casablanca slum, were holding off labeling it a suicide bombing, Achour said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

I'm sorry, but if this isn't a suicide bombing, then nothing is.

----------
Fired for Competency

The Palestinian ministry of interior has called for the dismissal of Palestinian attorney general Muhammad Al-Mughanni over his declarations against the interior minister, Sa'id Siyam. ...He called for the attorney general's dismissal, accusing him of being "impartial and indecent."

When it comes to Palestinain Islamic law, pre-determined outcomes are a required.

----------
Math, Palestinian Style

Title:

ZOF arrested 37 Palestinians between them 18 students

First sentence:

The Zionist forces arrested on Monday at morning seventy three Palestinian [sp] in different areas in the West Bank claiming that they are wanted.

Tricky, those numbers.

----------
The Eternal Victims. Again.

[Presidential-hopeful Senator Barack] Obama told the Muscatine-area party activists that he supports relaxing restrictions on aid to the Palestinian people. He said they have suffered the most as a result of stalled peace efforts with Israel.

"Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people,"

Too bad the "suffering" is self-inflicted.

Common Humanity

An artist makes an attempt to get people in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict see the good in each other.

Reaching for peace, a French artist this week hung the same huge portraits of Israelis and Palestinians making silly faces across the cities of the two warring peoples.

The artist, known simply as JR, hoped his oversized portraits - hung in public squares and on both sides of Israel's controversial West Bank separation barrier - would send a message of coexistence, understanding and humanity.

He shot the photographs over 15 days in December after deciding that ordinary Israelis and Palestinians were being lost in the media's blinkered coverage of militants and soldiers.

[...]

"We realized these two peoples look the same, they eat the same, they drive crazy the same, but both sides think something about the other that is basically wrong," he told journalists. "So we decided to put them face to face."

The reactions to the same pictures are very different. First the Israelis:

"When you have Israeli and Palestinian faces like that the spirit is about peace, not war."

"[T]hey're funny to look at."

"The photos are very beautiful,"

"They let people see that all of these kinds of people can live together."

Now the Palestinians:

"We don't want to see Israelis' faces."

"We don't want to remember them."

"I feel like the Jews are laughing at us. The Jews are always laughing at us."

"With these pictures the wall has gone from ugly to uglier."

"Why didn't they put pictures of Haifa Wehbi," ...referring to the pretty Lebanese pop-music starlet, "instead of Israelis with crooked teeth."

The Palestinian goodwill just warms the heart, doesn't it?

Forever Young

As noted previously, Palestinians are eternally young when it comes to portraying themselves as the victim.

In Jerusalem today, a Palestinian male was arrested and later died in custody. Hamas claims the Israeli police beat the child's head until he died.

The Occupation forces hit a Palestinian child at his head till he was died [sp] in Salah El-Deen street in the occupied land of Al-Quds. Witnessess [sp] reported that the boy was beaten in the head many times by the occupation forces.

The equally-reliable Palestinian Information Center (PIC) sheds a little more light.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, (PIC)-- Israeli policemen on Saturday killed a Palestinian young man after cruelly beating him in occupied Jerusalem, local sources said.

They identified the youth as Wael Karawi, 32 [!], who was beaten to death this afternoon at the hands of Israeli policemen who focused their beatings on his head and other sensitive areas of his body.

The child/youth is 32 years old. It seems that you're only as young as you feel. Now the beatings were done not just on the head, but also other places on his body. The Israeli news portal Ynet offers a different version.

Wa'al Qaraawi from West Jerusalem who was arrested for transporting an illegal resident, died in police custody. His family accused the police of beating him to death, while police reported that the man, after stating he felt unwell, collapsed and died.

Qaraawi was detained after being discovered transporting a Jordanian woman in Israel without a permit. According to police, "He was told to drive to the police station on Salah al-Din Street. When he arrived, there he felt ill.

Quite different stories. What evidence is there?

The uncle of the deceased, Jamal Qaraawi, said that the family heard from local residents that four police officers hit him in his chest with their guns. Another Palestinian witness, however, said that Qaraawi had not been beaten.

The only eyewitness said there was no beating. The claims of beatings (which were only in the chest, and not the head at all) appear to be uncorroborated rumors. But what about the body of the deceased?

The emergency doctor who arrived at the scene said that there were no signs of violence on his body.

It is hard to know what actually is the truth based on these conflicting reports. Given the credibility of these reporting agencies based on their accuracy, history of factual claims and accuracy (like the "youthfulness" of the deceased), and inherent report bias one can get a relatively clear picture of what probably or probably didn't happened. But, as with everything, it is better to wait until the facts come out after something is actually known, instead of reporting rumor as a matter of fact.

Martyrs for "Leverage"

Attention all you Palestinian martyr-wanna-bees out there: Your "sacrifice" is not for the "liberation of your Palestinian land". Rather, it is all for political leverage.

The head of the political department of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Farouq Al-Qaddoumi, has stressed the need to continue the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation. Al-Qaddoumi said, "Any government without resistance will not be able to strengthen its 'cards' in the negotiations".

Kill yourself so some crooked politician can barter more effectively. Sounds like a plan. A bad plan, but you are free to squander your life as you wish.

Palestinian "International Women's Day": Different

Here's another example on the contribution of good Muslim women to Palestinian society, courtesy of Hamas, entitled "International Woman's Day is different in Palestine" (boy, that's for sure).

Um Nidal bid her son Mohmmad [sp] farewell before his famous operation, and waited for his return as a martyr. She did not expect him to return alive. But she waited to hear news of victory and martyrdom. He infiltrated into a military academy and killed more than ten soldiers before his martyrdom.

How does one kill soldiers "before his martyrdom"? I digress.

Um-Nidal’s tears upon hearing the news were of happiness not sadness.

Her tears were "not sadness", just in case you were wondering. Get the very next paragraph entitled "Advocate of Morality and Ethics" (always a twisted definition of terms).

More important than the role in armed resistance is women’s role in spreading Islamic teaching and principles inside the Palestinian society. Women are very active in teaching the Holy Quran and Islamic conduct in various life issues. Women as mothers who carry the burden of caring for children have been able to educate future mothers on how to lead their lives, and how to raise their children.

Which, of course, includes teaching them Holy Quran's "Islamic values" how to hate, murder, and suicide.

As the title of the article says, "International Woman's Day is different in Palestine". Very different.

Celebrate International Women's Day, The Islamic Way

Will it never end?

SINGAPORE - Three Muslim mothers who persuaded their daughters to have sex with their father wept in a Singapore court when the rape victims pleaded for leniency for the women, news reports said on Thursday.

The three “wives” are charged with abetting the 46-year-old businessman and religious teacher in committing incest between December 2003 and June 2005.

Why in the world would the mothers help their husband rape their daughters? Maybe it is their religious duty.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugene Lee said the husband told his multiple wives and scores of children that according to the Quran, a father “owned” his children and this extended to having sex with his daughters, the report said.

There are your "women's rights", according to Islam. Thankfully, Singapore is not an Islamic state and the courts do not condone perversion, sanctioned by the Koran or not.

The father is serving a 32-year jail sentence with 24 strokes of the cane for raping his young daughters.

At least it is better than nothing.

So much for International Women's Day.

They Can Dish It Out...

The Palestinian Information Center (PIC) reports on a warning issued by the Israeli government to its citizens about the danger of abduction if they are in certain Islamic countries. Notice the language used:

The Israeli occupation government has urged Israeli settlers in three Arab countries to immediately leave them and return to the Hebrew state for mounting fears they might be kidnapped.

The so-called “anti-terrorism” bureau in the Israeli premier’s office issued an urgent “security warning” to Israeli settlers visiting Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco to quickly depart from those countries citing “specified warnings” on their safety.

Imagine if any news source characterized the Palestinians in similar fashion. For example, the above excerpt reworded accordingly:

The Palestinian terrorist government has urged Palestinian terror supporters in three Western countries to immediately leave them and return to the Islamic state for mounting fears they might be kidnapped.

The so-called “pro-terrorism” bureau in the Palestinian premier’s office issued an urgent “security warning” to Palestinian terror enablers visiting Europe, Australia, and the USA to quickly depart from those countries citing “specified warnings” on their safety.

Talk about outrage and hurt feelings, we'd probably see suicide attacks galore to regain lost "honor" for such provocative language used by a news outlet.

Lost In Translation

Palestinian news agencies are not very professional, to say the least. Here is a news item reported by two different Palestinian outlets, quoting PA Information minister Dr. Yousef Rizqa/Rezka.

First Ma'an news:

the siege in itself is not immoral and undemocratic.

Now the Palestinian Information Center:

“The blockade per se was an unethical and undemocratic measure,"

Great job, guys!

Palestinian Women Want "Their Rights"

Progressive Palestinians protest under the guise of "Women's Rights".

Commemorating International Women's Day, hundreds of Palestinian citizens, mostly women, organized a mass rally at Huwwara checkpoint on Wednesday, flying the banner 'no to checkpoints'.

According to this report, it sounds like checkpoints are random and oppressive.

The protestors chanted anti-checkpoint slogans and raised posters saying, among other things, 'Women rise above the level of checkpoints', and 'together against checkpoints'. They also shouted pro-Palestinian female maxims.

Women have rights, too. Especially Islamic women.

The statement read: "The entire population stretching from Rafah to Jenin are being subjected to the most brutal blockade, checkpoints and incursions and are deprived of the simplest right of access to hospitals."

Why would anyone keep poor women from unrestricted access to the human right of health care?

The statement added that "hundreds of Palestinians were either killed or injured at these checkpoints, including women and children who were denied passage through the checkpoints to go to hospitals. This is an evident breach of human rights."

Why the restrictions? Here's but one example why.

Wafa Samir Ibraim Bas, a 21 year-old Palestinian woman from Jabalya, left her Gaza home with a permission pass to visit Soroka Hospital in Beersheba for a medical check-up. Attached to her clothing, her pants, was more than 22 pounds of explosives.

It was the perfect opportunity. A young woman. An entry permit into Israel for medical treatment. By her own admission and the admission of her handlers, it was assumed that Bas would only be cursorily surveyed at the Erez Crossing. It was assumed that Bas would easily reach her intended target and murder as many people - doctors, nurses, patients, visitors - as 22 pounds of explosives could handle.

Wafa Samir Ibraim Bas had a morning appointment in the Burn Unit of the hospital that had saved her life [!] several months ago. In December of 2004 Bas was badly injured and burned by a gas balloon explosion in her home. Israeli hospitals do not practice a policy of discrimination. All patients are treated alike. Some patients send thank-you notes. This one decided to detonate a bomb.

She was trying to kill the very people that saved her life and are working to make it better. Unfortunately this is all too typical.

So what about International Women's Day? Is Israel unjustly oppressing women?

Since the year 2000, 8 Palestinian women have perpetrated suicide attacks killing 39 Israelis. The Israeli army and Security Forces have uncovered 45 acts of terror initiated by women. In the past year over 59 women have attempted attacks against Israelis.

One of those attempts took place on Monday [by Ms Bas].
[...]
Luckily, they were wrong, they miscalculated. The intended female suicide bomber was detected. The explosive device was safely detonated by sappers. No one was injured.

Even Ms Bas' own mother was disappointed she did not succeed in killing herself and the doctors who saved her life.

Should an entire population have to be subject to so-called "collective punishment" as checkpoints? When the alternative is suicide terror, and since the Palestinians spend their energy complaining about restrictions and encouraging terrorists like Ms Bas (instead of opposing them), then how can they expect otherwise?

(Ms Bas' explosive belt being detonated)

State of Extreme Disgruntlement

Don't look now, but Palestinian prisoners are not happy as "State of extreme disgruntlement engulfs Palestinian prisoners".

The [PA prisoners’ affairs] ministry, in a statement it issued on Wednesday and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC, affirmed that the IOF [Israeli army] troops were “arbitrarily arresting tens of Palestinian citizens for rejecting the occupation..."

That is, taking part in terrorism.

"...with the aim to weaken their spirit of resistance”.

Or, in other words, enforcing the idea to terrorists that involvement in terrorism has a price.

The statement cited IOF storming of the PA general intelligence and military intelligence headquarters...

Oxymorons both.

...in Ramallah city earlier Wednesday and the subsequent arrest of tens of its cadres, marking the operation as “cowardly”.

"Cowardly", as opposed to "brave" Palestinian civilian-aimed suicide terrorists operations.

PA prisoners’ affairs minister in the caretaker government Wasfi Kabaha claims robbery on the high seas.

“This is an above-board and plain Israeli piracy against the Palestinian people”,

No, it is against the terrorists, unless, of course, the minister is making the assertion that the Palestinian people and terrorists are one in the same. Clarification is needed.

He, furthermore, unveiled that a state of extreme anger was prevailing among Palestinian captives in Israeli jails due to the “inhuman and humiliating treatment at the hands of Israeli jailors”.

One thing is for sure, Israel at least makes the attempt since the jails are open for external scrutiny. At least the prisoners in Israeli jails won't face Palestinian "justice" in the middle of a crowded street on the wrong end of the vigilante gun. Like they say, "If you can't do the time, don't do the crime".

In this context, Kabaha urged the international community to immediately mobilize to force the Hebrew state halt those unsanctioned practices.

Yes, halt Israel so the "resistance" can continue unopposed. We know it must be frustrating for a terrorist to not be free to kill Israeli civilians at will.

And now for something completely related, the same article continues.

In a related matter, the Israeli military court in Ofer detention camp adjourned the trial of Palestinian lawmakers Dr. Ibrahim Abu Salem, and Mahmoud Abu Juhaisha of Hamas Movement to the 27th of this month.

The two MPs refused to recognize legality of the court being a court of an occupation force, insisting they were democratically elected Palestinian lawmakers and, thus, protected under international laws and conventions by their immunity.

Hypocritical moral equivalence at its finest:
1) They want recognition and legitimacy, but refuse to give it.
2) The legality of Israeli court has more credibility than the non-state election of unofficial Palestine.
3) If occupation delegitimizes the court, then so too the Palestinian elections and those elected.
4) An elected terrorist is still a terrorist and international law doesn't protect genocidal organizations (see "Article Seven: The Universality of Hamas" of the Hamas covenant, but read the whole thing for the full picture). Just ask the elected German government at the Nuremburg trials if international law was helpful for them.

Don't think so.

The Right To Be Raped

As we saw before, the Syrian grand Mufti of the Republic Sheikh Ahmad Bader Eddin Hasson is doing more PR work. Speaking with the Russian Mufti, it's all about him.

Sheikh Hasson discussed with the Mufti of the Russian Federations ... means of developing bilateral relations and clergymens role in building good individual [?] and convey the best image of him through its students.

Well, not ALL about him because he has bravely announced the "truth" of Islam regarding women.

[The Mufti] underlined yesterday the importance of disseminating the culture of peace and love among people, stressing that Islam gives woman rights more than those given by law.

This is true: Islam gives women the right to be beaten by their husbands. You won't find that in any infidel's secular law.

[T]he Mufti noted the equal rights given by God to all people regardless of their colour and religion.

Too bad that his words contradict nearly 1,400 years of bloody and oppressive Islamic history. In fact, let's see how Islamic society is treating its women at this very moment.

A Saudi woman who was kidnapped at knifepoint, gang-raped and then beaten by her brother was sentenced to 90 lashes - for a meeting a man who was not a relative,

Gang raped and now sentenced to be beaten. Nice.

“G” [the rape victim] said one of the judges told she was lucky not to have been given jail time. “I was shocked at the verdict. I couldn't believe my ears,” said the woman, who has appealed against her sentence.

The Religion of Compassion.

The woman also told the paper she tried to commit suicide because of her ordeal and was beaten by her younger brother because the rape had brought shame on their family.

The fact that she endured the trauma of being raped is apparently completely irrelevant. I guess she should be glad she wasn't "honor" killed, though unfortunately that is still a very real possibility for her.

Fuziyah al-Ouni, described as an activist by the paper, said she was outraged by the case. “By sentencing her to 90 lashes they are sending a message that she is guilty. No rape victim is guilty,” she said.

Oh yes they are, if you are a woman living under Sharia law it is all your fault.

There are severe legal restrictions on women in Saudi Arabia, including a strict dress code required outside the home and a ban on driving.

But, as the Mufti himself said, "Islam gives woman rights more than those given by law."

Rights...right.

An Aggressive "Mea Culpa"

Egypt is mad at Israel. Again. This time because of an Israeli documentary on an alleged massacre of Egyptian soldiers in the 1967 Six Day war with Israel.

...the foreign ministry is finalising a political and legal action against Israel.

[...]

The parliament members called for the distribution of a petition to the international Supreme Court of Justice and criminal courts, in order to sue the Israeli leaders involved in the slaughter of the Egyptian captives.

The wheels of justice are in full motion. All penalties are being called for.

Parliament members also called for the dismissal of the Israeli ambassador to Egypt and to summons the Egyptian ambassador to Israel.

In other words, the government is calling for the peace deal between Israel and Egypt to end over this alleged crime, even though the peace agreement was made nearly 12 years after the war.

...the foreign ministry have started to act following Israeli TV publishing a documentary, which showed the massacre of the Egyptian soldiers.

[...]

Israeli leaders confessing to the assassination of 250 Egyptian soldiers while Egypt was withdrawing from the Sinai Peninsular [sp] in 1967.

One minor detail: no leader has confessed all of this is alleged, so far. Nothing has been proven yet. The leader of the alleged massacre, Benyamin Ben-Eliezer, "confesses".

Ben-Eliezer, a former brigadier-general, told an Egyptian newspaper on Saturday that the accusations were inaccurate. Those killed, he said, were not Egyptian POWs, but rather Palestinian fedayun (suicide troops paid and trained by Egyptian intelligence) who were killed in battle.

Who knows? According to the Egyptians, a documentary on Israeli prime-time television is enough proof for them to scrap peace with Israel. If guilty of a massacre, then something must be done on some level. It must be emphasized that nothing here has been proven yet, either way.

Chief of the foreign relations committee, Dr Mustafa Al-Faqi, said that Israeli crimes cannot be forgotten just because time has lapsed since the event.

If that's the case, how about the Egyptian crimes toward the Hebrew slaves over 3000 years ago? Former (Israeli political party) Meretz leader Yossi Sarid put things in perspective.

"The killing of Egyptian captives in the Six Day War was a war crime … but the problem in the region is that war crimes are numerous."

That's for sure. If this lawsuit goes forward, then imagine the counter suits to follow. Remember that justice is a 2-way street, especially in this part of the world.

As usual, Israel's admission of possible wrongdoing is never without a conspiracy or two waiting in the wings. Chief of the foreign relations committee, Dr. Mustafa Al-Faqi, perceptively sees the Zionists' plot where your average dope sees none.

He [Al-Faqi] also said that the Israelis showed the documentary in an attempt to terrify Arab people and armies.

Admission of past sins = "attempt to terrify". If only Israel were this clever...


UPDATE - Already the Egyptians are swiftly taking action.

Egypt's deputy foreign minister for legal affairs, Abdel Aziz Seif al-Nasr, said Egypt had summoned Israeli ambassador Shalom Cohen to demand an explanation for the contents of the documentary, aired on Israel's Channel One television last week.

Egypt also asked its ambassador in Tel Aviv to obtain a copy of the film from the Israeli government, he said.

That was quick. I'm glad to see Egypt is keeping a level head about this.

"That dog of an Israeli ambassador must leave Egypt," said Mahmoud Salim, a lawmaker from President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party.

You can just feel the love.

UPDATE 2 - Another Egyptian lawmaker, Salaam Al-Ruqi’i from the Sinai, weighs in.

The only way this can be eased is through a declaration of a state of war.

The Religion of Peace(TM).

News Roundup for February 24

All is not well in Palestinian paradise. The civil war's civil truce is hanging by a thread.

...a Palestinian, who belonged to Hamas movement, was shot dead by gunmen from a rival clan amid a family feud...

...the killing triggered a clash in which a member of the rival clan, who was a Fatah supporter, was killed.

Both families said the fighting was an internal dispute and was not motivated by political rivalries.

Oh really? Hamas claims otherwise.

...Some odd persons don't want the calm to continue in our cities.

...by those [Fatah] traitors, who don't like to the promises to be committed.

They are making a list and checking it twice.

This is the second crime during Mecca agreement after killing Muhmmad Abu Kharesh from Al-Qassam Brigades near Dahalan's [Fatah strongman] house in the Gaza Strip.

The accusations are flying. Stay tuned.

UPDATE - Reports have the dead at 5 and wounded at 15. Lovely how those Palestinian truces work.


----------


The Palestinian peace movement is taking one on the chin. As the Ma'an news agency headline describes: Israeli army uses excessive force against peaceful demonstrators marking two years of Bil'in's struggle against the wall

Some 400 demonstrators marked two years of non-violent struggle...

The protesters are frequently confronted by new forms of weapons under trial by the Israeli forces.

Introducing: the Blue Water Cannon! That blue water has got to be radioactive, or something.

Needless to say, the carnage left no protestor untouched.

Around 20 people were injured today, including an elderly Palestinian man targeted by the Israeli water cannon,

See above.

...which knocked the frail gentleman from his feet, raised stones around him and left him in a crumpled heap on the uneven ground.

That's a wordsmith-y way of saying the old man got sprayed. Sorry I can't find a picture - it must have been too graphically horrible for anyone to photograph.


----------


Hamas' leadership can claim victory where no one else can find one. Headline: Haneyya: USA position not in agreement with world stand

The world is against America and with Hamas. Sounds like prime conspiracy material.

[Haneyya] has underlined that the American administration's negative position vis-à-vis the Palestinian unity government was not in harmony with the world welcoming stand.

I think he means "the world welcoming stance". Adding insult to injury, Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal also announced that European aid was to resume for them. And he even accused Israel of issuing an Islamic ruling that the Europeans can't accept.

Meshaal said: "Neither Arabs nor Muslims are concerned by the Israeli fatwa and I think that the international community, for whom Israel has become a burden, will not pay attention either."

Well, according to the European Union themselves, the "welcoming stand" is dependent on certain expectations.

European Union's chief diplomat Javier Solana...."We cannot boycott what does not exist, the government still has not been formed," Solana said, but he stressed that the new administration would have to comply with the three Quartet principles. Solana cautioned that a Palestinian unity government would either be "part of a solution or ... be part of the problem."

Yes, "welcome" if Hamas does what they have explicitly refused to do.

But she [German Chancellor Merkel] returned to the conditions imposed by the Quartet, that any new government must give up violence, recognize Israel and accept existing agreements reached with Israel. The [Palestinian] power-sharing deal skirts those issues, and Hamas still refuses to recognize Israel.

If that's not enough, even the "unity government" partner, President Abbas, is also against Hamas on this.

Abbas was referring to the three principles drafted by the Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators - the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

"We did not change our position, we did not change our principles," ... Abbas said that his Fatah party remained "committed to the principles of a two-state-solution, renouncing violence and terror and reiterating our commitment to agreements signed."

Never mind that Abbas made no such effort to do so when he took power after Arafat's death and before Hamas' election last year.

Regardless, Hamas' world wide "welcome" is still in the dock.


----------


And finally, the King of Pop might switch cults. Headline: Michael Jackson 'Could Convert to Islam,' Brother Says

Jermaine Jackson, who converted to Islam in 1989, said he thought it was "most probable" that his eccentric brother, known for hits including "Thriller" and "Bad," would follow his lead by converting to the faith.

"When I came back from Mecca, I got him a lot of books and he asked me lots of things about my religion and I told him that it's peaceful and beautiful,"

Yes, so peaceful


and so beautiful.


A little advice, Michael: Islam has ways of dealing with its own when it comes to minors and, uh, "touching", usually via separating parts of your body from the other. So, unless the "touching" is restricted to little girls, I'd steer clear of the Religion of Peace if I were you.

Choosing Misery

The pressure is on.

The international aid agency Oxfam has urged the Quartet to end its boycott of the Palestinian Authority and pressurize Israel into releasing the Palestinians' confiscated tax monies.

Why? Because the situation in the West Bank and Gaza is dire.

-conditions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories were close to melt-down"
-Palestinian poverty levels rapidly increasing and basic services such as health and education crumbling
-creating a social crisis that is hitting families in the Occupied Territories
-recent internal conflicts in the occupied Palestinian territories have been greatly exacerbated by the inability of the PA to deliver essential services
-poverty has shot up. Two thirds of Palestinians now live in poverty, a rise of 30 per cent last year
-The number of families unable to get enough food has risen by 14 per cent
-More than half of all Palestinians are now are 'food insecure', unable to meet their families' daily requirements without assistance
-The health system is disintegrating
-Public servants, such as doctors, nurses, teachers and police officers, are worst hit. They haven't had a regular income since February 2006
-Their poverty rate has risen from 35 per cent in 2005 to 71 per cent

According to Oxfam, it's all because of blinding blinkers.

"The Quartet needs to take off its blinkers and see the damage its policies are having on ordinary Palestinian families."

In other words, international aid should be given to terrorist-supporters with no strings attached. The West has the moral obligation and duty to give money to the Palestinians because it is their right to receive it.

Using international aid as a battering ram to force through political change is not only immoral but also counter-productive.

Listening to Oxfam, one would conclude that the West is just sadistic and loves to watch people suffer. The truth is that the Quartet is absolutely dying to give money to the Palestinians if they will only do three simple, peace-helping things to receive the charity:

[R]ecognize the state of Israel's right to exist, renounce violence and adopt the previously signed peace agreements between Israel and the PA.

That's it. No more, no less. And as bad as the situation sounds, one would think that the Palestinians would do whatever it will take to improve their lot, even something as simple as what the Quartet asks. But, apparently it is a price too high for them and they flatly refuse.

They are free to make their own choices. As the saying goes, "You make your bed, you lie in it".

Math Obviously Isn't Their Strong Suit

Hamas' three-month long ceasefire with Israel is now officially ending, or as they put it, in the "dead stage".

Abu Obayda , the spokesman of Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed today that the declared ceasefire with the occupation forces is now in its dead stage and it will surely end under the continuous aggression in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

If the ceasefire is in the "dead stage", it makes those who possess a brain wonder what a "living" ceasefire is because the term seems to have the opposite meaning for them (from late December):

Since ceasefire began a month ago, Palestinian gunmen launched more Qassams than months when there was no calm.

So now that this "ceasefire" is in its death throes, Hamas will predictably increase attacks upon Israel. But is that such a good idea for the Palestinians, in general? According to their own tally, the Palestinians suffer four to five times the rate of deaths, six to seven times the number of wounded, and ten to eleven thousand times more captives than Israel incurs.

And since Israel's population is nearly double the Palestinian population, it seems like their move for more "resistance" is not a very bright one. But, then again, Palestinians have never been known for being very bright.

If Mama Ain't Happy, Ain't Nobody Happy

From Down Under, convicted terrorist Saleh Jamal accepted the jury's verdict that he shot and injured a man almost 10 years ago very calmly. His mother, not so much.

Thanking her son's lawyers outside court, Mrs Jamal left the building where The Daily Telegraph attempted to capture her emotion.

With her family under intense scrutiny from authorities, it was all too much for Mrs Jamal.

Clearly distressed at the attention, she retaliated by throwing her handbag at photographer John Grainger, which struck him on the head and face causing him to bleed.

More of the Same

Here we go again.

Palestinian police sources have revealed that a man from the village of Talfit, south-east of Nablus, has killed his 14 month old daughter, stabbing her to death... The man stabbed the 14-month child in the chest and the back, before throwing the body in the municipal dump area in the south of the village... The man also attacked his pregnant wife, in an attempt to forcibly abort her pregnancy and kill their unborn child...

Drumroll, please:

...the investigation is looking into "honour killing" motivations for his crime.

In the alternate universe of the Islamic mind, killing a baby is an act of "honor".

Be assured that this man will get the lightest of sentences if found guilty.

We Always Knew They Acted Like Kids

Palestinians take every opportunity to make Israel look bad, even if it means pushing the limits of childhood.

An Israeli special unit kidnapped Monday a sixty-year-old boy in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, WAFA reporter said.

I'm sure Monday's parents are worried sick about him.