Fausta's blog

Very few people understand Lebanon as well as Michael Totten, who loves the country. Here's his article in Commentary:
Lebanon’s Third Civil War

The first war was a short one. Sunni Arab Nationalists in thrall to Egyptian dictator Gamal Abdel Nasser wanted to attach Lebanon to the United Arab Republic – a brief union of Egypt and Syria. An even larger bloc of Maronite Christians resisted. A nation cannot hold itself together when a large percentage of its population – roughly a third – wish to be annexed by foreign powers.

The second war was a long one. This time, Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian Liberation Organization formed a state-within-a-state in West Beirut and South Lebanon and used it as a launching pad for terrorist attacks against Israel. Again, Lebanon’s Christians resisted, as did Lebanon’s Shias. The second civil war was actually a series of wars that were merely triggered by that first fatal schism.

The third civil war resembles both the first and the second. With Iranian money and weapons, Hezbollah has built its own state-within-a-state in South Lebanon and South Beirut which is used as a base to wage war against Israel. Hezbollah also wishes to violently yank Lebanon from its current pro-Western alignment into the Syrian-Iranian axis. Roughly one-fourth of the population supports this agenda. No country on earth can withstand that kind of geopolitical tectonic pressure. For more than a year members of Hezbollah have tried unsuccessfully to topple the elected government with a minimal use of force, but their patience is at an end and they have turned to war.

Michael concludes,

There may be lulls in the violence, but there will be no real peace in Lebanon until Hezbollah is disarmed or destroyed.

Hezbollah is not going to disarm.

Yid With Lid thanks France for Hezbollah's takeover of Lebanon.

We talked about Lebanon in last Friday's podcast - and we're not optimistic.



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Labels: Israel, Lebanon, Michael Totten, Middle East.

Sununu for Veep?

Via Maria, Obama’s biggest general election liability: His bitter half

On the stump, she warmed up (or rather, berated) supporters by complaining about how her husband is an underdog even after he keeps winning primary and caucus after primary and caucus. With a scowl etched on her face, she bellyached that "the bar is constantly changing for this man." Call the waambulance, stat.

Reminds me of Teresa's shifting bar.

Embedding with the enemy

But in fact my religious beliefs are entirely separate from my political beliefs: the only connection is that I'm willing to buck the trend in both arenas.

Two posts on Israel at 60:
Via the Astute Bloggers, Israel at 60: The Hope,
After 60 Years, The 'Lamp Unto The Nations' Flourishes

Two suspicious Seattle ferry riders were "just businessmen"

Vote for Mamacita.

Japan has no kids

From the Terror Finance Blog-A PDF of the Comprehensive Survey of U.S. Efforts Against Threat Financing-MUST READ

Franco had better things to do with his time.

"The threat of a new ice age must now stand alongside nuclear war as a likely source of wholesale death and misery for mankind"

Platypus genetic code unravelled, which reminds me of Ogden Nash

I like the duck-billed platypus
Because it is anomalous.
I like the way it raises its family
Partly birdly, partly mammaly.
I like its independent attitude.
Let no one call it a duck-billed platitude.

Cross-posted at PoliGazette


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Labels: Barack Obama, France, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Republicans, Spain

Blame Israel, read later,
Fuel crisis threatens UN Gaza aid. The Beeb declares,

Israeli sanctions imposed in an attempt to force the Palestinian group Hamas to stop rocket fire have caused shortages

Having made that assertion, the Beeb then mentions the Hamas-generated strike by the Gaza oil distributors as "Israel says":

But Israel says Hamas is deliberately preventing fuel from being distributed.

It says there are a million litres of fuel at a border terminal which Gaza fuel distributors, with the backing of Hamas, have refused to collect in protest at the Israeli restrictions.

It's not until paragraph #15 that you read

The fuel shortages have been compounded since 7 April by a strike by Gaza's fuel distributors and petrol station owners, who have been refusing to pick up about 1 million litres that Israel has pumped into the Nahal Oz fuel terminal, saying the quantity is insufficient.

Not that that had anything to do with shortages...



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Labels: BBC, Hamas, Hillary Clinton, Israel

Joe Noory has posted The Missing France 2 Rushes on YouTube.

Dr. Richard Landes and Nidra Poller have reported on the al Dura case.

For now, here are the rushes








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Labels: AlDura, France, Israel, Middle East, No-Pasaran

This BBC video (which bears the Hamas TV logo) has Richard Landes's reader asking several questions:

Two young men (and one bicycle) lie in the road. The young men show some traces of blood, the form of which resembles that produced by a knife wound. No sign of a shell crater or other damage is visible. In the distance is seen a collection of cars, one of which is claimed to belong to a cameraman killed by the the same shell. The footage continues by getting closer to this car. No obvious damage, fire or smoke is visible. A new camera angle then shows a vehicle marked with TV insignia in flames with heavy billows of smoke surrounding it and spreading prominently into the air. The camera of the camerman is displayed amid scenes of grief.

My puzzlement is:

- whether the injuries displayed on the young men are compatible with a tank shell
- whether a tank shell could have hit both the youngsters and a car 100 meters away
- why the car is not on fire in one image and is very prominently in flames in the other

Gates of Vienna points out that the BBC report itself

The events are drawn entirely from Palestinian accounts, presented from the Palestinian point of view, and transmit uncritically all the conclusions and value judgments of the Palestinian stringers who supply the material.

In contrast, anything that would reflect badly on the Palestinians is invariably preceded by the phrase "Israel says". Palestinian accounts are reported as fact, while Israeli versions are alleged, and obviously meant to be questioned.

"Indiscriminate shelling"?

Or staged?



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Labels: BBC, Israel

Hamas leaders travel to Egypt to meet with Carter

Hamas leaders Mahmoud al-Zahar and Saeed Seyam entered Egypt via the Rafah border crossing along with four other Hamas officials and headed by road to Cairo, witnesses said. They were escorted at the border by Egyptian security men.
...
Hamas, which took control of the Gaza Strip by force in June from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, has rejected Western demands to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept existing Israeli-Palestinian interim peace deals

This essentially answers Roger Kimball's question, Should Jimmy Carter be trusted with a passport?

Via Beth

Congressman Joe Knollenberg has introduced a bill to prohibit federal funding of the Carter Center (h/t Judith):

The bill, the Coordinated American Response to Extreme Radicals Act (CARTER Act), would prohibit any taxpayer dollars from being directed to the Carter Center. The Center has received at least $19 million in federal taxpayer funds since 2001.

Clifford May, who I met at last week's conference, asks,

The Hamas Charter asserts that "initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to [Hamas’] principles....There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad." And by Jihad, Hamas does not mean an internal struggle for personal improvement.

Not only do Hamas members oppose a "two-state solution," they believe that nation-states are un-Islamic. Instead, an Islamic caliphate is to be re-established, an empire that is to expand until the Dar al-Islam, the world ruled by righteous Muslims, consumes the Dar al-Harb, the world in which infidels and apostates currently hold sway. "Rome will be conquered, just like Constantinople was, as was prophesized by our prophet Muhammad," Hamas member and Palestinian parliamentarian Yunis al-Asal pledged this month on a Hamas television program.

May is not inventing this; you can read the Hamas charter right here.

May continues,

Does Carter sincerely think he can convince Meshaal to reject such ideas and embrace the Carter Center's kumbaya mission of "waging peace and building hope"? Does he really believe he can change Mashaal's mind, much less open his heart?

I don't believe he does.

Underreported, but true: Hamas Endorses Obama

On Sunday, Aaron Klein and John Batchelor interviewed Ahmed Yousef, chief political adviser to the Prime Minister of Hamas, on WABC radio. The interview produced a scoop which, for some reason, has not been widely publicized: Hamas has endorsed Barack Obama for President. Yousef said, "We like Mr. Obama and we hope he will win the election."

Expect a rerun of the disastrous Carter presidency if Obama gets the job.

UPDATE
Jimmy Carter: a fool on a fool's errand, at the Lebanon Daily Star, via Siggy.


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Labels: Barack Obama, Election2008, Hamas, Israel, Jimmy Carter

UPDATED
Gateway Pundit has the video of Carter explaining why he wants to meet with Hamas:

In the video, Carter explains (emphasis added),

"It's very important that at least someone meet with the Hamas leaders to express their views, to ascertain what flexibility they have, to try to induce them to stop all attacks against innocent civilians in Israel, and to cooperate with Fatah as a group that unites the Palestinians"

Let's remind Carter that Fatah is yet another terrorist sponsor through its al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.

As Gateway Pundit points out, this mission to Hamas is such a hairbrained scheme that even Jimmy's fellow elders are staying away.

My friend Gay Patriot is initiating a request for a Resolution of Censure against former President Jimmy Carter. (Also at Instapundit). It's about time someone did.

Prior posts on Carter here.

UPDATE
The Dimwitted Dodo Awards
Can anybody spell "Logan Act"?

Oh, well, just when you think Jimmy can't stoop any lower, it isn't for his lack of trying: Carter wanted to meet Islamic Jihad, too.



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Labels: Hamas, Israel, Jimmy Carter, Middle East, terrorism

One of the great flaws in American foreign policy is that second-term presidents start looking to their "legacy" and of course want to be The one who make permanent peace in the Middle East possible.

The Bush administration is now in full "paving the legacy" mode: US says Mid-East peace on track

What does "on track" mean? It means more concessions from Israel, of course.

(h/t the Baron) MIDEAST: RICE WRINGS CONCESSIONS FOR WEST BANK FROM ISRAEL

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, MARCH 31 - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, during her third Middle East trip for the past months, received from Israel a list of measures which will be introduced in the immediate future to ease the living conditions in the West Bank.

The 35-page dossier includes the construction of thousands of new homes in Ramallah; the removal of "some 50" roadblocks along the roads in the West Bank and of a military checkpoint; the strengthening of the operative capacities of the police of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and several thousand new entrance permits in Israel for Palestinian workers.

"We've been told that this is going to start and, hopefully even be completed in a relatively short period of time. I am expecting it to happen very, very soon," Rice said. Saturday, Rice met in Jerusalem Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Yesterday, she met Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad for the first time together with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, then had talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the leader of the rightist opposition Benyamin Netanyahu (Likud). Rice also visited Amman for a meeting with PNA President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). Today she will meet Olmert again.

In a move, which Barak defined as "calculated risk", Israel has also decided to remove from the streets in the West Bank some 50 roadblocks (of the over 459 counted by the Israeli human rights organisation Betselem) and a military checkpoint (of a total 99) south of Jericho from where Palestinians will be able to reach the northern coast of the Dead Sea, a famous tourist destination, so far forbidden.

Say good-bye to the resorts.

Israel will allow the construction north of Ramallah of between 5,000 and 8,000 homes for Palestinians, a measure announced a year ago and affirmed now.

Israel has also agreed to grant 5,000 work permits to Palestinians, to add to the previously issued 18,500 permits.

The functioning of the PNA police will be strengthened: the Palestinian police will be allowed to dislocate 700 agents in Jenin, while 25 Russian armoured vehicles will enter service in Nablus.(ANSAmed).

I have said in the past that there is no "cycle of violence" because Israel will be bombed no matter what.

Why do I believe this?
Because I've been watching the puppet shows.

UPDATE, Tuesday 1 April
What if Condoleezza Rice came to Jerusalem, and nobody cared?, via Judith.



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Labels: Condoleezza Rice, Israel, Middle East

BBC admits inaccuracies in coverage

The BBC has apologized for significant errors in two recent news reports on Israel.

The first one had to do with the Beeb showing up at the wrong house

In a news item on March 7, following the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva attack, the BBC showed a bulldozer demolishing a house, while correspondent Nick Miles told viewers: "Hours after the attack, Israeli bulldozers destroyed his family home. Later, mourners set up Hamas and Islamic Jihad banners nearby."

The house, however, was not demolished; the BBC was embarrassed when news reports from other broadcasters showed the east Jerusalem home intact and the family commemorating their son's actions.
...
The fabrication was exposed by Boston-based media monitor CAMERA, which revealed that the images used by the BBC were similar to photos taken by the Palestinian news agency Maan from the demolition of the house belonging to Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Shehadeh in Bethlehem on March 7.

Sorry, wrong address.

Then there was the made-up-of-whole-fabric item:

In a second incident, in a news item entitled "Israel jets strike northern Gaza" on March 14 on their News Web site, the BBC reported that Israel was deliberately targeting civilians in an operation targeting Kassam rocket launch sites in Gaza, and claiming that the United Nations secretary-general had described it as an attack on civilians.

"The Israeli air force said it was targeting a rocket firing team... UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned Israel's attacks on Palestinian civilians, calling them inappropriate and disproportionate," the report said.

The second item was erroneous because
a. it didn't describe as "attacks on civilians" the Palestinian rocket attacks
b. Ban Ki-moon's statement was made two weeks before that particular attack
c. Ban Ki-moon's statement didn't describe Israel's operations on Gaza as 'attacks on civilians,
d. Ban Ki-moon's statement did describe Palestinian rocket attacks as 'acts of terrorism.'

Why does the apology qualify as a flying pig moment? Because The BBC has spent thousands of pounds of licence payers' money trying to block the release of a report which is believed to be highly critical of its Middle East coverage. (h/t Israel Matzav)

One question for the Beeb: Why this pattern of fabrication?

In Friday's podcast we talked about Second Draft, Yaacov Ben Moshe and Richard Landes's new project

This website is devoted to exploring some of the problems and issues that plague modern journalism. In this age of globalization, the media has unprecedented influence on the way we see the world. And yet, whether out of misplaced good intentions, unconscious agendas and predispositions, or unwarranted faith in false information, they can get the story dramatically wrong. Therefore, we want to revisit and critique journalism's "first draft of history", and hopefully produce a more accurate second one.

Now, more than ever, we need to hold journalists accountable: as you can read in the Jerusalem Post article, it was a member of the Manchester Jewish community who detected the lie.
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Labels: BBC, Israel, terrorism

Together 4 Israel
Watch now.

Labels: Israel

Via Ace, listen for yourself:


As Ace said,

But you can count on Obama to support Israel. This is merely his "Crazy Uncle Jerry" who supports the Palestinian terrorists over Israel. It's got nothing at all, nothing I tell you, to do with Obama.

After all, those were not statements [Obama] personally heard him preach while [he] sat in the pews of Trinity Church.

I'm sure it'll all come together in his upcoming speech on race today.

While he's at it, Obama May Want to Rethink His New Black Panther Webpage.

UPDATE
The audacity of hypocrisy

Obama will do one of two things. He will either repudiate Reverend Wright and the Trinity United Church or he will seek to ‘redefine’ his relationship with Wright and the church.

It is unlikely that Obama will repudiate Wright or the church. He has already coming to the defense of Trinity United Church and his own long time association with Jeremiah Wright, whom he claims as a spiritual mentor.

That leaves Obama with the unenviable task of trying to rewrite history. It is even more astonishing that the attempt to redefine, reinvent and whitewash a bigot is being made by a credible candidate for the office of the President of the United States of America.

UPDATE
Obama promises to be a friend of Israel



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Labels: Barack Obama, Barak Obama, Democrats, Election2008, Israel, politics

Shrinkrapped

What happens to a people when the world's press maintains a constant barrage of anti-personal missives and anti-Semitism becomes increasingly mainstream and unobjectionable?

And what happens to a people when they feel like the world just wants them to disappear and go away and has no concern for the lives of Jewish men, women, and children?

Is there a threshold beyond which the entire population surrenders to despair?

I am very fearful for Israel. It is still a democracy. Yet where are the people? Why are they not marching through the streets of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv in the hundreds of thousands, demanding their government do something to stop the reign of terror that they have been told repeatedly is their inevitable lot?

Why are the Israelis not enraged with their own government's fecklessness?

Breath of the Beast expands,

Israel is still a democracy but the government of the moment is self-destructive to the point of suicide. If the people do not shake off the deadly effects of compromise and insist on a new civilian leader to replace Olmert and jolt Israel out of her paralysis, the confined and frustrated military might at some point elect to save the country on their own authority- A latter day Saul or David may arise. I pray that this is not necessary. It is not a good prospect but it is preferable to annihilation. It is not too late- YET.

Siggy replies

While the current political images from Israel are bleak, it bears remembering that far greater forces than the dysfunctional Palestinians have tried to eliminate the Jews. History has shown that while Jews may show up to the fight late and at times ill prepared, in the end they will prevail. They will fight not only for themselves, but they will fight for their legacy. Every year at the Passover feast, Jews are asked to celebrate the seder meal 'As if they themselves were brought forth from slavery to freedom.' The same is true as they memorialize the destruction of the Temple- for each new generation, the loss is fresh and new.

In today's podcast Siggy discussed the subject of the Palestinian war against Israel. You can listen to it here.

UPDATE
Hamas Admits to Using Women & Children As Human Shields



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Labels: Israel, podcasts, ShrinkWrapped, Sigmund Carl and Alfred

Eight killed in terrorist attack at Jerusalem yeshiva: Nine students hurt, three in serious condition

Eight people were killed and nine others were wounded Thursday evening when terrorists infiltrated the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood in Jerusalem, police said.

A single terrorist infiltrated the yeshiva, possibly armed with an explosive belt, and began firing in every direction. He was shot and killed, police said.

Israeli Cool is updating frequently as news come in. Allison Kaplan Sommer writes,

The terrorist couldn't have chosen a better target in terms of symbolic value if his purpose was to hit at the heart of Judaism. The Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, where eight young men were shot to death on Thursday night is one of the most prestigious centers of religious Jewish learning in the most Jewish city in the Jewish state.

While people in Gaza celebrate and Hamas officials in Gaza welcomed the attack, it won't be long before someone brings up the fallacy of "disproportionate response".



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Labels: Hamas, Israel, terrorism

This morning's top news:

Egypt says Israel using excessive force in Gaza

"Israel is using excessive force against the Palestinians in Gaza; this must stop," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Tuesday.

"Israel is bombarding civilians without distinction," he said during a joint press conference in Cairo with his American counterpart Condoleezza Rice, who is expected to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem on Wednesday.

While Secretary of State Rice asserted Israel's right to defend itself, stated that Hamas was to blame for the escalation in Gaza and demanded that they end their rocket attacks on Israel, she did't demand a ceasefire, and then issued the usual platitudes about humanitarian situation,

adding that Israel must make every effort so as not to harm the civilian population there.

It's a shame that Sec. Rice hasn't figured out yet that Hamas and Hezbollah have been firing their rockets from civilian residences.

All of these calls on Israel to cease its "excessive force" and its "disproportionate response" against Hamas, Hezbollah, or whichever other enemy boils down to one thing: a call to genocide. Siggy explains,

While the UN and much of Europe wring their hands at the heavy Israeli response to rocket fire by the Palestinians into Israel, there is talk of 'disproportionate response.'

There is no such thing as a 'disproportionate response' to calls for genocide. All conflicts end with 'disproportionate response.'

The Israelis are entitled to defend themselves from those who openly or not so openly call for their annihilation.

Peace among nations is arrived at when the cost of war becomes overwhelming.

Racism, bigotry and hate are overcome when the cost of racism, bigotry and hate becomes too great for society to bear.

As long as nations and peoples perceive the cost of war as acceptable, then we will have war.

When the cost of slaughtering Jews as 'business as usual' becomes to high for the Palestinians to bear, they will respond appropriately.

The rest, as they say, is academic.



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Labels: Israel, Middle East, terrorism

Turner Classic Movies is playing Exodus, and as I write this post Barak Ben Canaan (played by L. J. Cobb) is imploring the Arabs to remain in their homes and work together.

The British mandate ended on May 14, 1948, the state of Israel was proclaimed on the same day, and the following day five Arab states - Egypt, TransJordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq - invaded Israel.

Fast-forward sixty years later, and what have we got?

Arab Ideological Doctrine Syndrome: A Crippling Plague (h/t Larwyn)

If the central issue is pride, not material benefit, and if battling the West and Israel are the prime directives, whether this policy leads to defeat, bankruptcy, tyranny, and general disaster is irrelevant. And despite the existence of courageous dissenters from this doctrine, it still rules the Arab world, something every Arab but few in the West understands. This is why peace, moderation, and pragmatism still cannot win there.

Indeed, PA president Mahmoud Abbas is saying he's opposed to an armed struggle against Israel - for the time being - "because we cannot succeed in it" (h/t Gringo)

but maybe in the future things will be different," he said.

Somebody ought to tell King Abdullah when he's in town talking about how "moderates" are ready to "negotiate".

In the meantime, the UN is criticizing Israel for defending itself, with a mild chiding to the Palestinians for attacking Israel.

Peace process? Only if the Hamas thinks it'll wipe Israel off the face of the Earth.

UPDATE
Attacks Widen: Netivot, Psagot and Jerusalem Under Fire (hat tip Pamela, via Larwyn)
Thinly-veiled fiction at Siggy's.
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For more insanities, Pat has the Carnival
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This week's WSJ 5-best books, on composers' lives, selected by James Penrose


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This week's shoes:




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Labels: books, Carnival of the Insanities, Israel, Middle East, shoes

King Abdullah II, the reigning monarch of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan just concluded a fifteen-minute speech at Princeton University, at the invitation of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. The speech started a few minutes after twelve noon and had been announced as,

King Abdullah will address the future of Arab-American relations in the context of the Middle East's current challenges, particularly how to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which Jordan views as the most significant issue facing the region.

The main theme was, "Time is running out", a phrase he repeated several times during this brief speech.

King Abdullah stated that 2008 is a critical year for the solution of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, and that "we need the USA completely involved to ensure a final agreement by end of 2008."

He wants America's strong authority to act switfly, as the only time there has been peace in the Middle East has been when America took a strong leadership role: "If we fail to resolve the core problem of the region it'll become significantly harder for the countries of the region to work with America, and [those countries] will move further away from common principles of mutual respect and partnership."

He specifically asked for a homeland for the Palestinians, and believes that it'll bring security and new acceptance for Israel in region, and create a new partnership berween USA and the Arab/Muslin people.

He did take three questions:
Q. Why now?
KA: Because for the 1st time moderates have gained some ground in ME, and there is a process in place now. If that process falls apart, radicals may gain ground.

Q: Will there be greater Joradnian involvement?
KA: Whatever Israel and Jordan talk, they won't be able to solve status issues by themselves: that's when international community and the US will need to help with the obstacles.
There will be panArab involvement - the future of Israel is bigger than a 2 state solution. We're offering complete acceptance of Israel in the whole region up to and including Indonesia, that third of the world that still has no acceptance of Israel.

Q. How do you envision this Palestinian solution with Hamas in control?
Most Israelis & Pales want it. The future of the region are the 70% of the people who are under age 35 & want a future. The difficulty is the politicians who mess it up. It's going to be the Israeli & Palestinian people saying we want peace.

Reported by Fausta Wertz directly from Princeton NJ. Copyright 2008

UPDATE, Saturday March 1
King of Jordan: U.S. must step up in Middle East



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Labels: Israel, Jordan, Middle East

Via Jose and Maria,

Labels: Israel

Assud the Jew-eating rabbit:


Bring on the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch

More at Snapped Shot



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Labels: Hamas, Israel

As I posted earlier, last week three undersea cables were cut in three consecutive days.

Now I find at Belmont Club that it's five cables.

Albawaba:

A total of five cables being operated by two submarine cable operators have been damaged with a fault in each. These are SeaMeWe-4 (South East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe-4) near Penang, Malaysia, the FLAG Europe-Asia near Alexandria, FLAG near the Dubai coast, FALCON near Bandar Abbas in Iran and SeaMeWe-4, also near Alexandria.

Of course, as Wretchard points out, the Jews are being blamed because they weren't affected. The real reason they weren't affected is that Israel uses a different cable since other Middle East countries refused to share theirs.

Never mind that undersea cable damage is an everyday thing.

In other cable news, Obi's Sister says that this would make a great geek wedding cake design



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Labels: internet, Israel, Middle East

Cannabis bigger cancer risk than cigarettes: study

Smoking a joint is equivalent to 20 cigarettes in terms of lung cancer risk, scientists in New Zealand have found, as they warned of an "epidemic" of lung cancers linked to cannabis.
...
In an article published in the European Respiratory Journal, the scientists said cannabis could be expected to harm the airways more than tobacco as its smoke contained twice the level of carcinogens, such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, compared with tobacco cigarettes.

The method of smoking also increases the risk, since joints are typically smoked without a proper filter and almost to the very tip, which increases the amount of smoke inhaled. The cannabis smoker inhales more deeply and for longer, facilitating the deposition of carcinogens in the airways.

Bill Clinton will certainly be relieved to hear it, considering how he didn't inhale

Doug Ross remembers When cigarette ads were legal.
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Brazilian Neocon sent this video he took of the snow in Jerusalem:

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Does New York City want to become the 51st state? A Secession Plan Is Floated for New York City.
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Bruce Kessler and The Anchoress take A trip down memory lane.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Israel Guest of Honor in Turin Bookfair Offends Whining Arabs...


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Labels: Brazil, drugs, Israel, New York, politics

A friend sent this link from Solomonia,
Darkness at Noon -- MSM Plays Along with Hamas Photo Staging
The Gazans have to hold their meetings by candlelight... because they had the curtains drawn

The Spanish Marxists aren't wasting any time, and are saying "The Zionist Israeli government treats the Gaza residents as the Nazis treated the Warsaw Ghetto Jews" while the Gazans drive on, and not just with their agenda.
(h/t Gates of Vienna)



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Labels: Israel, media

At the London Times, Exclusive: Hamas 'spent months cutting through Gaza wall in secret operation'

a Hamas border guard interviewed by The Times at the border today admitted that the Islamist group was responsible and had been involved for months in slicing through the heavy metal wall using oxy-acetylene cutting torches.

That meant that when the explosive charges were set off in 17 different locations after midnight last night the 40ft wall came tumbling down, leaving it lying like a broken concertina down the middle of no-man's land as an estimated 350,000 Gazans flooded into Egypt.
...
Asked whether he had reported it to the government, he replied: "It was the government that was doing this. Who would I report it to?"

The people who got through went shopping,

Thousands of people were herding back cows, sheep and even camels from Egypt into the Gaza strip. Others brought back motorbikes while many women lugged back cans of olive oil and men could be seen weighed down with jerry-cans full of fuel.
...
Some staggered back into Gaza carrying televisions, and others sported brand-new mobile phones. In Gaza City, prices of cigarettes - which had skyrocketed during the total blockade of the past week - fell by 70 per cent in a few hours.

Flopping Aces has the history of the wall.

The BBC plays the world's smallest violin: Egypt 'won't force Gazans back'

Egypt has said it will not use force to send back Palestinians who crossed from the Gaza Strip in large numbers after parts of the border were breached.
Foreign ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said the border would be closed again when all the Palestinians had returned.

Tens of thousands have surged in to buy food and other supplies made scarce by an Israeli blockade - aimed at stopping rocket attacks from Gaza.

An Israeli blockade - but the wall is/was at the Gaza-Egypt border. Would the Beeb think of asking the Arab countries in the region why do they prevent their fellow Arabs from moving freely across borders?

Israeli Cool:

It looks like yesterday’s clashes between Gazan women and Egyptian border guards were staged specifically for the purpose of doing this pre-planned operation in such a way that Egypt would be unwilling to interfere.

And it seems probable that everything we've seen over the past few days - Hamas closing bakeries, shutting the fuel plant, perhaps even the rocket barrages themselves last week - were all meant to play to world opinion, create a fake "crisis", all ultimately to force Egypt to open Rafah, something that Hamas has been trying to do for months.

Would it ever occur to the Beeb and others - never mind to the Gazans, too - that perhaps living in peace with their neighbors, Israel and Egypt, could be a solution to their shortages and needs?

Indeed, ShrinkWrapped sees possibilities,

The possibilities are intriguing. Gaza can now integrate its economy with Egypt and start to build structures. If Tom Barnett, et al, are correct this will inevitably moderate their behavior. If, as is more likely (consider the Scorpion and the Frog), Hamas provokes a larger war with Israel, Gaza citizens will have an exit and can become real refugees, not the faux refugees they have been since 1948. In such a circumstance, the strictures that have been imposed on Israel by the human shields that Hamas has wielded so effectively, will loosen with results that have the potential to surprise many and change the dynamics of the confrontation in unforeseeable ways.

This could well be the start of very significant shifts in the Israeli-Palestinian dynamics; time will tell.

Let's hope.


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