Opium in Afghanistan, HR group sues Yahoo over China, Italy, Spain, Islamism, Turkey, terrorism, Greek fires (+), Israel and Pastorius’ reflections

As I wrote some months ago:

Opium production in Afghanistan has soared to record levels, with an increase on last year of more than a third, the United Nations has said.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime report says the amount of opium produced there has doubled in the last two years. It says Helmand province is now the biggest single drug-producing area in the world, surpassing whole countries such as Colombia. Afghanistan now accounts for more than 93% of the world’s opiates.

Despite billions of dollars of aid and tens of thousands of international troops, the report says 193,000 hectares of opium poppies are being grown in Afghanistan.

[…] The report says growing opium poppies is now closely linked to the insurgency and the instability in the south. And what is to be done? The report recommends more determined efforts to bring that security. It urges the government to get tough on corruption, which it says is driving the drugs trade and it lists poor governance, a weak judiciary and failing eradication programmes for these new frightening record levels.

______________________________________________________

World Organization for Human Rights has sued Yahoo! over its policy in China: Look at Yahoo!’s hypocrisy:

Yahoo is being sued by the World Organization for Human Rights for sharing information about its users with the Chinese government. The information has led to the arrests of writers and dissidents. One journalist cited in the case was tracked down and jailed for 10 years for subversion after Yahoo passed on his e-mail and IP address to officials.

In its 40-page response to the lawsuit, filed with a federal court in San Francisco, Yahoo acknowledged releasing information to the Chinese government. But it argued that there was little connection between the information the firm gave and the ensuing arrests and imprisonment of its users.

[…] But Morton Sklar of the World Organization for Human Rights said the company had failed to meet its ethical responsibilities. “Even if it was lawful in China, that does not take away from Yahoo’s obligation to follow not just Chinese law, but US law and international legal standards as well, when they do business abroad,” he said.

Barely, Yahoo! claims this is a merely political case. 😡

At the same time, Angela Merkel reminds China the West would like to see progress on freedom of the press and Human Rights’ matters (where it has not progressed really):

“The world will be looking at China to a greater extent than it has in past years,” Merkel said. “And people will also be looking at how China presents itself in terms of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.”

Chinese critics of Beijing welcomed Merkel’s remarks.

“Unlike her predecessor Gerhard Schröder, Angela Merkel does not run and hide from this topic,” former university professor and dissident Liu Xiaobo told Deutsche Welle. “She tells it like it is. The pressure she’s put on the Chinese government has already had significant effect.”

Well done, Merkel!

It’s logical, by the way, Merkel’s position. Looks like that the Chinese Government has hacked Merckel’s chancellery and three other Berlin ministries h/t Barcepundit.

Germany’s domestic intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, discovered the hacking operation in May, the magazine reported in its new edition, published Monday.

The Chinese government has vehemently denied the report, with the Chinese Embassy in Berlin describing the accusation of state-controlled hacking as “irresponsible speculation without a shred of evidence.”

But Prime Minister Wen Jiabao assured Merkel that measures would be taken to “rule out hacking attacks.” During a news conference in Beijing on Monday, Merkel didn’t comment on the specific allegation but said it was important that “common rules of the game” were observed in a globalised economy.

Well, there has been reports before about industrial spying on Canada, also vehemently denied by China. And on Australia, where they have targeted exiled dissidents.

So worried about foreign lands and yet China is searching for 8 kgs of “missing” uranium. Take a little more care about things which are really dangerous and stop targeting dissidents and foreign governments… 😡

______________________________________________________

In Italy, a mother pregnant of two daughters, went to a clinic to see the state of both fetuses. In the clinic, she was informed that one of them has Down Syndrome so she asks for the abortion of that fetus. In the operation, the fetuses change places and the healthy one is finished. After that, she asked again for the abortion of the unhealthy one, which was done by injecting a solution of digoxine. This method which causes a cardiac stop, is used only in grown-up fetuses, while in this case, they were in the 30th week of pregnancy. The scandal in Italy is great. For a link in English, click here.

Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano has already condemned the abortion of the twins:

L’Osservatore Romano reported: “Two girls have died, assassinated as a consequence of selective abortion. A radical decision has brought about another abortion, that of the little sister that still had life.” No one “has the right to eliminate another life. No person has the right to take the position of God. Not for any motive.”

But that’s not all. In Spain, as I wrote days before, there is a “problem“: doctors working in public health system are not practising abortions as they think it’s a matter of conscience and have objected. Some leftist MSM -specially world-known as very objective El País– began saying that people had a lot of problems to get themselves an abortion, with statements like: “They told me abortion was a crime“, “Leny and Fátima had succeeded in achieving their right (¿? Really didn’t know that was a right) to have an abortion in private clinics paid with public money” or “I had to go to have it to another Autonomous Community“.

There are three causes for legal abortion in Spain: rape, grave illnesses of the fetus or grave danger for the physical or psychological health of the mother. More than 98% of all the abortion held in Spain use this last cause.

So the Spanish Ombudsman, Enrique Múgica, has begun an investigation about the “great difficulties to have a free-willing interruption of pregnancy practised in the public health system“. He also asks to “adopt the pertinent measures to let the users have the guarantee the attention in the Community of residence and in the main hospitals of the National Health System“. So how are they going to do that? Are they going to hire pro-abortion doctors? Or are they going to make pro-life ones make abortions against their conscience and will? I really have a bad feeling about this…

Meanwhile, the Spanish Schools’ Council has passed a resolution by which the State can educate the children on affective-sexual matters without any consentment from parents ( 😯 ). But at the same time, “it rejected to include Cervantes in the minimum required to pass Literature, the Catholic Kings in History and the inversion of €1000 millions in the infants’ education from o-3 years-old (which was in the PSOE’s electoral program) and to liberalise the prices of the books (as stated in the Law passed in the terms requested in this respect from the Culture’s Ministry)”.

Regarding immigration, Zapatero denies it (hmm…) but French Prime Minister maintains that he is totally repented from the immigrants’ regularization.

Zapatero spoke yesterday about the statements of French PM, François Fillon, about the content of the summit between both of them last July in Madrid, to contradict his ally and ask for an immediate rectification which has not happened and most probably, won’t in the future. Fillon has stated that Zapatero admitted then that the regularization of more than 600.000 immigrants in 2005 was an error of which he repented “bitterly” and that he won’t make more in the future (repentance and modification of behaviour: we’re on the right track! Eehh, no, not quite). The President contradicted yesterday French PM, insisting on all the good things that his policy of open borders have brought and said that France was going to “make things clear because it was all probably a bad interpretation”. Sources near Fillon assured EL MUNDO that «there hasn’t been nor there is going to be any rectification in any way». The more similar to tinging his words, was some statements made by the entourage of the French PM, according to which Fillon understands that Zapatero supported the policy of “papers for all” because “he had no options… because of circumstances” (there is always another option, even if it’s very difficult or harder to follow. And in this case, there is). It is not clear if Zapatero has or hasn’t a communication problem or of interpreters when he has to speak about his analysis and compromises over immigration, as Zaplana (PP, center-right) laughed about yesterday, but it is clear that the President puts at risk again the diplomatic relations between France and Spain, because of the massive regularization which affected all Europe because of its awful “calling” effect.

Look here, I do not know who is responsible for this misunterstanding. But if he is not a total idiot -and I don’t think he is, he is just convinced he is going to save Spain from fascism (¡!), yeah I know…-, he knows he was stupid enough to let a lot of immigrants without any kind of control (not even medical, and there are illnesses which did not existed in Spain, which have appeared afterwards). Border control is not a characteristic of being a fascist, it’s just a consequence of common sense. Does Spain need immigrants? I really don’t know, but it’s possible. But what is certain is that we need some kind of immigrants, not every immigrant in the world. Ergo, select them according to the needs here and their qualifications -if we need truck drivers and the people who come are cookers, they are going to be jobless… with all the dangers that implies-. So, please, stop blaming others for your own bad policies’ results, move your ass and begin working on something more profitable than in denying what it’s clear as clean water: it was a HUGE ERROR.

[A friend of mine told me: With all my heart aching, I have to acknowledge that I trust more Fillon than Zapatero… Ejem].

_____________________________________________________

Christianity’s greatest menace:

Christians around the world suffer daily because of their faith, and it seems the persecution is intensifying.

CBN News looks at the top two offenders– North Korea and Saudi Arabia.

Countries that persecute Christians usually fall into two camps: those with communist governments and those where Islam as the dominant religion.

That is: where there is no freedom, no respect for Human Rights…

_______________________________________________________

Looks like that Chávez has bought both the military and the Majors from… Evo’s paradise:

One of the accomplices of Hugo Chávez, the head of one ghost Ministry of all that Venezuela has nowadays, has stated to Venezuelan press that Hugo Chávez’s regime has given $6 millions to pay Bolivian military. Meanwhile, the sheepy Bolivian President, Evo Morales, has been photograpphed while giving money checks to Bolivian majors who are Venezuelan friends. The shameless says: “Chávez gave me the money to give it away“.

They do not refer to woodcutters. I wonder if this has something to do with it h/t Kate. 😈

But Chávez wants also to infiltrate himself in other weak South-American democracies, like Ecuador or Paraguay. In the latter, the so-called “Yearly operative Planning of the Foreign Relations Ministry of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” (wow, what a name 😯 ), reveals that he wants to give “Bolivarian indoctrination” to Armed Forces, energetic firms, students and peasants; even it speaks of the recruitment of young doctors from rural areas.

_______________________________________________________

USA and Europe: Another terrorist attack inevitable. h/t Extreme Centre: Newsweek interviews Redd, Head of the US National counterterrorism center. An excerpt:

Tell us about the threat that emerged earlier this year.
We’ve got this intelligence threat; we’re pretty certain we know what’s going on. We don’t have all the tactical details about it, [but] in some ways it’s not unlike the U.K. aviation threat last year. So we know there is a threat out there. The question is what do we do about it? And the response was, we stood up an interagency task force under NCTC leadership. So you have all the players you would expect: FBI, CIA, DHS, DIA, DoD, the operators—the military side comes into that—participating in an integrated plan, but integrated in a much more granular and tactical way than we’ve ever done before. This is my 40th year in government service, 36 in uniform and almost four as a civilian. This is revolutionary stuff, and it is affecting the way we do business.

Earlier this summer, there was talk that people were picking up chatter that reminded them of the summer before 9/11. The Germans basically said this is like pre-9/11. They said, “We are very worried.” What do you make of this?
We have very strong indicators that Al Qaeda is planning to attack the West and is likely to [try to] attack, and we are pretty sure about that. We know some of the precursors from—

Attack Europe?
Well, they would like to come West, and they would like to come as far West as they can. What we don’t know is…if it’s going to be Mark Hosenball, and he’s coming in on Flight 727 out of Karachi, he’s stopping in Frankfurt, and he’s coming on through with his European Union passport, and he’s coming into New York, and he’s going to do something. I mean, we don’t have that kind of tactical detail. What we do have, though, is a couple of threads that indicate, you know, some very tactical stuff, and that’s what—you know, that’s what you’re seeing bits and pieces of, and I really can’t go much more into it.

_______________________________________________________

Yesterday I wrote about Abdulah Gül’s being named new Turkish President. Today I read dissapointing news from French PM Sarkozy:

If this essential inquiry on the future of our Union is undertaken by the 27 member nations, France will not oppose the negotiations between the EU and Turkey that are to take place in the months and years to come,” said the French president addressing the 15th Conference of Ambassadors.
These new discussions must, he stressed, “be compatible with the two visions of future relations between Europe and Turkey, i.e., membership in the EU, or as close an association as possible.”

French blogger Tiberge writes commenting this:

It isn’t clear what Nicolas Sarkozy means by a “close association”, but it is clear that he accepts Turkey as much more than a trading partner or a tourist attraction. A close association implies an alliance, with attendant loyalties and military implications.

With Islamist Gül in the Presidency? Uuuuuuuuuuuyyyyyyyyy, Sarko….

_______________________________________________________

More about Greek fires: from NYT:

“Up the hill, workers were preparing the grave for Athanasia Karta-Paraskevopoulou, a 35-year-old teacher, and the four children she shielded as the flames closed in on them: Angeliki, 15; Maria, 12; Anastassia, about 10; and Constantinos, 5. They had been on vacation from Athens”.

Requiescat in Pace. She was brave enough and she died to protect these children, while they were waiting for rescue. Unluckily, it ended in a very sad way.

And it is more worrying as:

The danger had by no means passed. In the village of Grillos, just over a ridge from here on the western peninsula, a couple who own a restaurant watched in tears as flames advanced from three directions while fire trucks spewed water in the flames’ path.

“All we need is one of those,” said one owner, Iannis Drakopoulos, 72, as a Russian plane carrying an industrial-sized water bucket passed. “If he dropped it here, it would all have been fine.”

In Artemida and here in Makistos, the flames were already out, and Monday was instead a day for tallying the damage and preparing to bury the dead.

[…] The descriptions from people who saw it were the same: flames moving at an unimaginable rate and no one apart from the police to help.

[…] The fire reportedly came over a ridge first to Makistos, a village of 60 homes. Antonios Kokkaliaris, 80, a farmer, said he had been reading his newspaper, underlining parts he liked, when he heard the bell in St. John’s church ring. “I went out and I saw the flames before me and people running,” he said. He could not leave, he said, because his wife, Koula, 82, is severely disabled. “I told her, ‘Stay put, we’re going to fight this out.’ I grabbed onto the hose and I started dousing left, right and center.”

The town emptied, with only him, a herdsman and Mr. Dimopoulos with his wine staying behind. Mr. Kokkaliaris managed to douse his home, and two next door, well enough that the fires howled past, leaving his house intact.

But when it was over, he did not feel relief.

“I was disappointed, honestly,” he said, “because not only was there no one to help me, there was no one in sight. ‘Am I just standing here alone? What happened to all my townspeople? What is the purpose of life if I am all alone?’ ”

I can only say: 😯 A brave old man.

But we continue:

The region normally produces 10,000 tons of oil, but nearly all the olive trees are now destroyed, along with countless livelihoods. Charred donkeys and chickens litter ruined farms.

“This village is literally wiped out,” Ms. Bammi said. “It’s not just those who have been killed. Those who are left have no fields to work in, no olive trees. They have nothing to look forward to.”

It is already a tragedy. And if finally it’s proved they did that with mobile phones, well, the punishment for these bastards must be … great.

More from the Astute Bloggers:

DAY 4 of deadly fires: Fires rage in Greece as SEVEN PEOPLE CHARGED WITH ARSON.
They remain nameless. Why? Those depraved savages set a country on fire, the public deserves to know no matter who it is. I have searched all news sources. Any Atlas readers have a clue?

Well, can it be because they can be charged with terrorism? I really don’t know. Seems strange to me too.

(+) If you want to read a magnificent post about the political consequences of the Greek fires, just go over to Cassandra’s blog.

The other usual suspects in the EU are exploiting the crisis to call for more integrated emergency cooperation, in other words: continued deepening of federal structures. Strangely, among the first countries to send fire-fighters and airplanes were Israel and Switzerland; both countries aren’t EU members.

The press from hell continues: “‘The village of Artimeta in the Peloponnese has become known as the ‘crematorium’, says the BBC’s Malcolm Brabant who is in the village near the town of Olympia.” I have serious doubts about this piece of atheist cynicism! Considering the fact that Greece is 96% Orthodox, a Christian denomination prescribing interment, I ‘d be surpised if most Greeks even know what a crematorium is, as the first is still to be build; it’s highly unlikely that local Greeks would describe a much loved village in such terms!

😯

_______________________________________________________

Chaim writes that “More than 5000 Kassam rockets have been fired at Israeli targets from the Gaza Strip which Israel abandoned to the PLO two years ago, the Sharon government brutally throwing thousands of Jews out of their homes“. Very critical of Olmert as ever:

Israel’s government, as any other government, has an obligation to defend its people. As long as Ehud Allmerde and his cohorts are running at the top they are going to do little more than a few symbolic gestures to make it look like they are defending Israelis. Rather, they seem obsessed with appeasement. Obsessed with a policy that invariably has failed miserably time and again. They seem intent on giving everything up to the terrorists, little realizing that the more they give, the less they get and the more is demanded!

Olmert spoke on Tuesday 28th with Mahmoud Abbas to “agree on measures against terrorism“. As I linked yesterday, this policy is not going to bring them any good.

Meanwhile, Israeli leaders are building themselves shelters to protect them in case of attack. Everyday’s tale…

Also, on related news, the Israeli government’s tourism ministry has reached an agreement to cooperate with the Vatican’s new charter-flight service for pilgrimages to the Holy Land, the Ynetnews agency has reported.

______________________________________________________

And now for the thinking post of the day. Pastorius has written it -the scene of Patton is priceless-:

[…] you have to ask yourselves, do you want a world which is ruled by men, or by women?
Hmm???
Obviously, rationality is not arbitrated by force.

Read it all. It’s worth it. (Chauvinist males: this post is not very recommended for you 😈 ).

Read Full Post »

North Korea, Iraq’s PM Maliki vs H. Clinton, Rosa Regás on Chávez, Egypt, Greek fires were a terrorist attack?, Turkey, Afghanistan and "Modestly Yours" blog (+)

There has been 600 people killed or dissapeared in North Korea as a result of the floods. There are also thousands of hurt people.

Iraq’s PM Maliki vs. H. Clinton:

Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin are democrats but they don’t respect democracy. They speak about Iraq as if it were their property”, Malike said in a press conference. He added that both senators “have never lived controversies like the ones we are knowing in Iraq. When they speak, they don’t know what reconciliation means”.

Maliki reacted like that to some statements made by Carl Levin and Hillary Clinton -favourite of his party to the 2008’s presidential career in USA- who asked the Iraqi MPs to choose another person to leader a national unity government, after the extinction of the Iraqi coalition government.

He also critisized Bernard Kouchner, French FM, who visited Iraq some days ago, and whose visit was considered a success at first.

Bernard Kouchner had also advised him to resign. But he has said France is ready to make an apology about this:

Last week Mr Kouchner said the Iraqi government was “not functioning” and was quoted saying he had told the US that there was strong support in Iraq for Mr Maliki to resign and he “has got to be replaced“. 😯

In an interview with RTL radio on Monday, Mr Kouchner said: “I think that he [Mr Maliki] misunderstood, or that I was not clear enough that I was referring to comments I heard from Iraqis I talked to.” [Do you really think he was misunderstood???].

“If the prime minister wants me to apologise for having interfered so directly in Iraqi affairs, I’ll do it willingly,” he said.

Mr Kouchner visited Baghdad last week to promote France’s role in efforts to solve the Iraq crisis and mend relations with Washington damaged by France’s opposition to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

So what do Iraqis think about the intervention? h/t Desde el Exilio.

America should finish what it started.

Spanish National Library’s President, old Rosa Regás, is now a fan of Chávez -well, err, not now, this is something which we have known in Spain for so long-:

Her article is compulsory. Her analysis is a panegyric to Chávez, with numbers very far from reality, which nowadays does not belong to the Venezuelan people as it never happened in the last 50 years, sunk in the most cruel misery, where a citizen dies each half an hour killed by gangs, with a record of being one of the most corrupt places in the world, no.170 these days, according to the Corruption Perception’s index. An expert regime in manouvring to sell lies, while at the same time it’s proclaiming himself the poors’ saviour.

[…] When Rosa Regás tells us “Why against Chávez?” with the conviction that she does it, with a bad tempered arrogance, it looks like, with Zapatero, the Spain of democracy and progress is menaced. I’m convinced that she does not wish this country to be reflected in Venezuela’s mirror.

I should say that depends on who was going to exert power… I really believe some of them, at least, think, that just as Franco was 40 years in power, they have a right (non-written one) to be another 40 years, whatever the means for that. I’m not saying even that all Socialists think that, not even that the majority of them think it, but some of them do -of course, they never say that publicly…-.

At the same moment, two world maps of 1482 have been stolen from the institution she is in charge. 😡 And she has presented her dimission because she “does not feel the new Minister of Culture, César Antonio Molina, trusts her“. 😈 These are good news, indeed…

In Egypt the dictatorship creeps each day to a more frightening stand h/t Desde El Exilio:

On Aug. 8, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights reported that it had confirmed more than 500 cases of police abuse since 1993, including 167 deaths — three of which took place this year — that the group “strongly suspects were the result of torture and mistreatment.” The organization previously found that while Egypt‘s population nearly doubled during the first 25 years of Hosni Mubarak‘s regime, the number of prisons grew more than fourfold and that the number of detainees held for more than one year without charge or indictment grew to more than 20,000.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have corroborated chilling accounts of torture in Egyptian prisons. The independent daily Eldestour recently published two important facts: that the annual budget for internal security was $1.5 billion in 2006, more than the entire national budget for health care, and that the security police forces comprise 1.4 million officers, nearly four times the size of the Egyptian army. “Egypt has become a police state par excellence,” the paper’s editor noted.

For the people who uses bloglines, there is a new beta version for you to try.

More about Iranian Government’s savages, go and see the photos that Stephania has posted.

Al Fatah uses now the Lion King to attack Hamas. And Disney still says nothing about this.

The new cause of anger in Aghanistan: a ball with the Saudi flag. You know, the one with the Islamic declaration of faith?

A demonstration has been held in south- east Afghanistan accusing US troops of insulting Islam after they distributed footballs bearing the name of Allah.

The balls showed the Saudi Arabian flag which features the Koranic declaration of faith.

The US military said the idea had been to give something for Afghan children to enjoy and they did not realise it would cause offence.

Last news from Venezuela: now Chávez wants to move the country’s time zone to “offer a more equitable distribution of sunlight“. The socialism of XXIth century also distributes the sunlight in a more equitable way… This sounds like the Galizian Nationalist Party asking to change the time zone of Galizia as if Spain was the USA and had huge need of several time zones… 😈

A very interesting post: On “racial” profiling:

Islamism, Islamist militancy, and Islamist militant terrorism are very adept at converting people to Islam and to Islamist terrorism. And so not only do we need to worry about the usual suspects, so to speak, but also those who have been converted. Our obliviousness to this is exploited by Islamist terrorists, as can be seen by a number of the people involved in the plot by Britons to attack American and British trans-Atlantic flights from London. One was even a white (that is, British) pregnant woman, someone who would not register on anyone’s counter-terrorism radar.

[…] My suggestion is that while focusing on the usual suspected ethnicities or people of suspected ethnic origins (Arab, especially Saudi, and South Asian, especially Pakistani), we need to watch for suspicious behavior by any and all people. Besides, Islamist terrorism is not the only threat: some people are simply deranged and up to no good. We should, thus, be able to stop not only Islamist terrorist attacks but also attempts by anyone, for any reason, to conduct lethal attacks of any sort. And, who knows, maybe by cracking down on people who show an inordinate interest in information and data regarding our infrastructure, we might be able to help counterintelligence efforts as well. Preventing Iran, Russia, China, or any of the host of our enemies from getting intelligence will help The Republic.

Well, in my case, I do not think this is a problem of ethnicity nor do I consider this an ethnic problem. It’s an IDEOLOGICAL one: it’s based on an ideology that wants to rule the world, using a religion. I’m not going to discuss now if this is the religion in itself or it’s being used, but clearly not all Muslims are terrorists or want to rule the world. The problem, as I have said before, is that if the extremers are supported -as it’s happening in most of the West-, the people who are not, do not feel supported at all, in the end, that’s going to cause a surge in support for extremism in both sides.

And when I say Westerners are supporting several madnesses/extremisms, it’s because it’s true:

Academia’s fixation on cultural sensitivity is changing the debate around female genital mutilation, with a growing number of professors and women’s rights activists becoming hesitant to condemn the practice.

Where feminists rallied against the operation from the pages of Ms. magazine in the 1970s, today’s critics are infinitely more cautious, with most suggesting that the Western world butt out until Muslim African communities are ready to reconsider what they are doing to their daughters.

The shift in attitudes about the practice– which in the worst of cases involves the carving out of a woman’s clitoris and inner labia and can cause lifelong urinary tract infections, sterility and even death — comes at a time when high-profile victims of the operation such as writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali and model Waris Dirie, both Somalis, have launched very public campaigns against the practice.

To know more about this practice, click here. It’s a shame someone cannot or doesn’t comdemn that practice.

A reward is offered in Greece to capture the culprits of the fires which were provoked and which had already killed at least 60 people.

Fire in the countryside and smoke surrounding Athens.

Statue of Victory at Olympia surrounded by smoke.

Map of the fires.

More about the Greek fires by Paolo. Impressive the NASA’s satellite image of the fire he has posted. Last news are that there are two possibilities: the first being it was caused by organised criminality, the second being it was international terrorism to influence in Greek elections, in which the center-right’s margin has been slightly reduced these last weeks. So a prosecutor on Monday ordered an investigation into whether arson attacks could come under Greece’s anti-terrorism and organized crime laws. (CNN).

An update about the fires: From Infidels are Cool, I reach this post from a Greek blogger:

There were at least a couple of instances where the ones trapped called the TV and radio stations, got on the air, said their final goodbyes to their families, and then were burned alive. While the stations were doing their best to send aid, the fact that the emergency reponses are streched so thin made rescue efforts near impossible.

My grandmother’s village was completely burned down. It was one of the worse hit and there is nothing that remains. The local authorities say that it’s completely erased off the map.

[…] There is a video of two men setting one of the fires. That is now fishy since we now know that the fires were started remotely via cell phone bombs.

More here by Pastorius.

How affects Jewish self-criticism to the actual view of International affairs:

I have dealt with the problem of hyper-Jewish self-criticism repeatedly in the past, including issues concerning the Alvin Rosenfeld Controversy. Among other things, I emphasized the role of a kind of “prophetic” criticism that uses high rhetorical excess to “whip” the Jews/Israelis into the right path. When combined with a desire to “please” fellow, non-Jewish progressives by showing how “non-tribal” one is, this produces a lethal combination, documented by Rosenfeld, that makes some Jews willing to confess to anything (racism, apartheid, Nazism, the illegitimacy of the State). They do this not only to urge their fellow Jews to mend their ways, but also to pursue a kind of “therapeutic” dialogue where, if they are sufficiently magnanimous in accepting blame, then maybe their enemies, say, the Palestinians, might also respond by being a bit more self-critical.

Hmm, yes, I understand this very well. And I mean it. Well, the result is just the opposite: whatever the Israelis do in this direction, is not going to grant them anything but even more problems.

Read it all: another great post from Richard Landes.

Private clinics are profiting from abortions in Spain:

In response to the refusal by gynecologists of the public health care system of Andalusia to perform abortions, a considerable number of women are being sent to private clinics that have agreed to collaborate with the Council for Health Care.

I wrote some months ago about a platform whose objective is to send Aznar to the International Criminal Court because of “his support to the illegal Iraqi war”. Another platform, called “Aznar for ICC” is preparing a “hot autumn“, as United Left’s MP from Andalucia’s Autonomous Community Antonio Romero has said. He added:

Neither Aznar, nor Bush nor Tony Blair can go away without punishment after causing an illegal and immoral war, which has produced the death to 700.000 Iraqis, the majority of which were civil, more than 2 million of people in exile, the complete destruction of the country’s infraestructures, of its historical and cultural heritage and the absolute looting of its natural resources, specially, of oil”.

For you to consider the personality of this man: he was condemned some years ago, because in a strike, he beat, insulted and menaced an old man, owner of a little cafeteria, and one of the clients because he did not want to go on strike. He shouted at both: “fascist, son of a bitch, asshole”, after yelling at them “you’re going to shut whether you like it or not, or you’re going to shut por cojones“. You know, a peaceful, respectful and calm guy… But the best is what he said: “I only wanted to defend their rights -whether they liked it or not-, telling him how marvellous it was to close all the shops for Andalucia’s rights“.

Gül has been elected Turkish President. Oh, my!!! 😦 He was elected in the third round as was predicted some weeks ago. The Turkish military has spoken: Secularism is under attack:

“Nefarious plans to ruin Turkey’s secular and democratic nature emerge in different forms everyday,” Buyukanit said in his statement. “The military will, just as it has so far, keep its determination to guard social, democratic and secular Turkey.”

Russian man detained in Afghanistan carrying 500 kilos of explosives and, in a rapture of manliness, wearing a burqa. His two other companions were also wearing a women’s clothes. If they like so much being a woman, why they do not change their sex? Yes, I think that, for these chavinist male … individuals, that would be a good punishment. Imagine Bin Laden … 😈 There was a joke here some years ago: the worst fate for Bin Laden would be to catch him -US SEALs could be employed for that-, transport him to a clinic, change his sex and then set him loose in Saudi Arabia. Je. With an inside camera to see his reaction: “Hey, I’m Bin Laden”.

Gordon Brown will not allow a referendum about the EU Constitution, after he promised to do so. He faces 120 Labour MPs who have rebeled against him, although David considers that Brown will not allow it, “as he knows he can lose it“.

Read also this post by Angel: A planned Ar-abic-themed public school in Brooklyn has prompted polarized reactions. Critics warned Monday that students could be “indoctrinated” with radical Is-lamic beliefs and supporters called such statements “racist”.

Some weeks ago I discovered a very good blog called Modestly Yours, entirely written by women (where I discovered a book I would like to read…, when I have finished reading all I have to read now, but the title is promising: “Girls gone Mild. Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find that it’s not Bad to be Good“). Well, just read about the “Sexy Crazy Cancer” movie:

The film itself actually looks quite interesting. As described on her website, the idea for the documentary came about in 2003 after the “31-year-old actress/photographer…was diagnosed with a rare and incurable cancer. Weeks later she began filming her story. Taking a seemingly tragic situation and turning it into a creative expression, Kris shares her inspirational story of survival with courage, strength, and lots of humor.”

As the author says, I don’t know how the sexy thing fits in there.

There is another very good blog post called: “The War on Vulgarity“. Thank God, someone is saying this loudly. Looks like it’s better to be vulgar and really there is no need. There are people who consider that to be manly (I must be tough), to speak out better the truth (that is, to be more sincere) or just because it sounds much more direct. For me, that is only foul language… 😈

Lastly, after the scandal surrounding Sarkozy about his lack of fitness, look at this cartoon. 😆

Looks like Sarkozy is menacing Iran: Either Iran suspends the uranium enrichment or will be bombed! Well, this is unexpected… Will be continued!

Read Full Post »

Hamas, Gaza and the Muslim Brotherhood’s project

 A month ago I linked to the Project of the Muslim Brotherhood, in which among other things, there is a:

flexible, multi-phased, long-term approach to the “cultural invasion” of the West. Calling for the utilization of various tactics, ranging from immigration, infiltration, surveillance, propaganda, protest, deception, political legitimacy and terrorism, The Project has served for more than two decades as the Muslim Brotherhood “master plan”. As can be seen in a number of examples throughout Europe – including the political recognition of parallel Islamist government organizations in Sweden, the recent “cartoon” jihad in Denmark, the Parisian car-burning intifada last November, and the 7/7 terrorist attacks in London – the plan outlined in The Project has been overwhelmingly successful.

Well, it looks like that this Project is also what has inspired Hamas coup in Gaza last June, and the liberation of BBC journalist Alan Johnston, after showing him in a “bomb vest” video.

Recent events in the Gaza Strip have pushed Hamas into a position of power which has been unprecedented since January 26, 2006 when election results were announced. Those elections saw the terrorist group officially becoming the head of the Palestinian parliament. Hamas evolved as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood [NOTE: remember that Abbas’ franchise, that is, Fatah also was born from the Muslim Brotherhood]. The developments which have taken place since June 15 this year, when Hamas took the Gaza strip by force, have happened in line with the recommendations in a document entitled “The Project”.

The Project was the name given to a 14-page document in Arabic, which was discovered on November 7, 2001, at the Swiss home of Muslim Brotherhood member and terrorist financier Youssef Moustafa Nada of the Al Taqwa Bank. The “Project” document, which was dated December 1, 1982, contains 12 major points, detailing a strategy for conquest of the West. Youssef Nada claimed not to know who wrote the document, though it was widely suspected to be the handiwork of Said Ramadan, son-in-law of Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood.

[…] The release of one journalist [it is speaking about BBC correspondent Alan Johnston], albeit a welcome measure in itself, was seen by some UK politicians to absolve Hamas of more than a decade of bloodshed against Israeli civilians. British MPs, exposed to the BBC’s uncritical coverage, were denying one certain fact – that Mahmoud Abbas, the Fatah leader of the Palestinian authority, had been working to the same end since the time Johnston was captured. The Hamas publicity machine led to other politicians clamoring for the terrorist group to gain political legitimacy. The new Foreign Secretary in Gordon Brown’s cabinet, David Miliband, has offered praise to Hamas for its involvement in the release. In parliament Miliband “fully acknowledged the crucial role” of Hamas in securing Johnston’s freedom, and hinted at the prospect of future negotiations, provided Hamas recognized Israel’s legitimacy.

While politicians praised Hamas in the UK parliament, a similar reaction infected members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

[…] When Shalit was kidnapped by militants, when only 20 years old, both Hamas and the “Army of Islam” claimed responsibility. The “Army of Islam” – the same group that kidnapped Alan Johnston – later claimed that Hamas alone was responsible for detaining the Israeli soldier. Reuters claims Hamas, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Army of Islam worked together to capture Corporal Shalit, whose health is now deteriorating.

So who is the Army of Islam, and were they really acting in defiance of Hamas’ leadership by kidnapping Alan Johnston? The “Army of Islam” has membership connected to a local clan from the Sabra district of Gaza, the Dogmush (Dughmush) family. Its leader is Mumtaz Dogmush. At the end of June, Hamas shot dead a member of the Dogmush clan, and in retaliation nine Hamas students were kidnapped by the Army of Islam. On July 2, the Army of Islam’s spokesman was kidnapped. On July 3, a day before Johnston’s release, Hamas flooded Sabra with gunmen, and the following day Mumtaz Dogmush had talks with Ahmad Jabari, leader of Hamas’ military wing. The nine Hamas students were released, and four Army of Islam hostages were also released by Hamas. Shortly after this, Johnston was freed.

That, at least, is the official version of events. An Islamic cleric had been called by Mumtaz Dogmush, and the cleric told both factions that kidnapping was “un-Islamic”. Behind the official account, there appear to have been deals which have been denied by both Hamas and the Army of Islam. It is alleged by Ma’an news agency that the Army of Islam was paid $5 million as part of the deal, and also they were given the right to keep their weaponry. According to Palestinian sources, it was further agreed by Hamas to give a million Kalashnikov bullets to the Army of Islam, and also a promise that their spokesman would be released.

[…] Hamas is on the brink of gaining political legitimacy with Britain at least, after a wilderness period of more than a year. If Britain can be persuaded to recognize Hamas, then the EU could be expected to follow suit, despite Hamas murdering 2,000 Israeli civilians and enacting a military coup in the Gaza Strip. But this analysis is too simplistic. Hamas has been operating a tighter long-term strategy, and despite the fawning reactions of some politicians, Alan Johnston was a mere pawn in a calculated game-plan. As the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas has acted in concordance with the codes laid out in the 12 “points of departure” described in the 14 page Brotherhood document known as “The Project”. In Part Two, I will describe these strategies in detail.

Hamas, Gaza and the Muslim Brotherhood’s project | Daily Estimate

I am looking forward to the next dispatch…

Also read: War is ensured from Jihadi du jour:

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced on Wednesday that he was working toward holding early parliamentary and presidential elections and said there would be no dialogue with Hamas until the Islamist movement ended its violent “coup” in the Gaza Strip.

If Abbas were to allow things to continue on their present course the split within “Palestine” would continue to widen. By refusing to talk to Hamas and calling for early elections, Abbas is ensuring more murderous attacks. The situation he is in was started centuries ago and has only escalated at an increasing rate over the last 59 years. There is nothing he can do about it.

Even if Abbas calls early elections, it’s unlikely that the vote would also be held in the Gaza Strip. Hamas officials have made it clear that they won’t accept early elections under the current circumstances.

Israel may get a mild reprieve when Hamas declares it’s own state and continues to agitate in the West Bank. The “Palestinian” civil war has started. Abbas versus Mashaal is where we stand now. Who has the power, authority, and resolve to win this conflict? As of now the edge goes to Hamas. They have the finances from Syria and Iran as well as the arms and hatred to go with it.

Well, in fact, the Palestinian Civil War started a lot of time ago…

Read Full Post »

Sunday Post

Well, I have to say that being in the coutryside, I am not going to have much time to post these days. Anyway, I will manage to post something everyday.

Today the most horrible news I have read -I confess I have not read much- comes from Always on Watch blog:

The official reported that on a couple of occasions in Baqubah, al Qaeda invited to lunch families they wanted to convert to their way of thinking. In each instance, the family had a boy, he said, who was about 11 years old. As LT David Wallach interpreted the man’s words, I saw Wallach go blank and silent. He stopped interpreting for a moment. I asked Wallach, “What did he say?” Wallach said that at these luncheons, the families were sat down to eat. And then their boy was brought in with his mouth stuffed. The boy had been baked. Al Qaeda served the boy to his family...

Yes, in case you have not taken care of what this people are doing, Al-Qaeda served baked and stuffed 11-year-old boys to families they wanted to convert into their way of thinking.

Repulsive and beastly. And yet there are people who wants to negotiate with these beasts… What? The taste of the sauce your boy is going to be cooked??? Excuse me if I sound not very moderate, but this is really disgusting.

And by the way, if they choose that way to convince me, I think they would succeed… in convincing exactly to do the contrary they would ask me to.

Also FT published yesterday an article about Al-Qaeda linked to operations from Iran:

Evidence that Iranian territory is being used as a base by al-Qaeda to help in terrorist operations in Iraq and elsewhere is growing, say western officials.

It is not clear how much the al-Qaeda operation, described by one official as a money and communications hub, is being tolerated or encouraged by the Iranian government, they said.

Anyway, Iranian diplomats have visited the Iranian captives in Iraq, accused of belonging to the Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

I also have to point you to a blog post in Pajamas Media which describes the situation in Spain nowadays. Basically, it says that while we are beginning to consider the danger, we are stuck because we do not know what to do. My own experience has taught me that 3 years ago when I talked of these things to people here, they looked at me as if I had lost my mind. Now those same people just tell me they are trully worried. We have to be realistic: the threat is real and is great. And people are not prepared that their comfortable lifes with their home, their cars, their apartment at the beach and their winter holidays skiing are menaced. And yet to discover how to fight and counterrest it at the same time.

No, I really think there are improvements. Where I really do not see much improvements are in the politicians’ ideas. They are afraid of what is coming -or just do not look farther than their noses-. Europe cannot live on past glories: we should and must evolve into the future. And we must do it, without fear but also being realistic. We cannot being stuck on the past, because then we are going to be destroyed as a civilization.

Other news include:

Read Full Post »

As Tony Blair is named envoy to ME, Fatah Dahlah accusses Iran and Qatar over Hamas coup

Tony Blair has today stepped out of office and has been named envoy to Middle East, something that not all people agree with.

Dahlan: Iran, Qatar supported Hamas during Gaza ‘coup’

Jerusalem Post – 1 hour ago
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

“I was not surprised by the coup in the Gaza Strip,” Dahlan said. “I knew about Hamas’s plans and I told different parties about this so we could try to thwart them.”

Asked why the Fatah-controlled security forces were defeated by Hamas, Dahlan said: “The Palestinian security establishment was never prepared for internal fighting. Since the beginning of the intifada in 2000 our security forces faced systematic destruction by Israel. The Israelis destroyed 280 security installations in the past seven years and Hamas continued to destroy security installations before they launched their coup.”

Dahlan pointed out that Hamas militiamen had raided the central prison in Gaza City and freed some murderers. “They claim that they have just liberated the Gaza Strip for the second time [after Israeli disengagement],” he said. “The Hamas men have Fatah blood on their hands. They forgot that Fatah had protected them when they were being chased by Israel.”

Dahlan denied that he had played any role in the Hamas-Fatah clashes that preceded the takeover, saying he had been abroad for nearly two months for surgery. “I was not in charge of security in the Gaza Strip,” he explained. “I was out of the country because I had to undergo surgery. This is not a personal matter because Hamas has been targeting our people and institutions over the past three years.”

Dahlan lashed out at Qatar and Iran, accusing each country of giving Hamas $400 million. He also accused Qatar of turning its Al-Jazeera TV network into an organ for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

“For decades, Iran never paid the Palestinians one dollar,” he said. “But they gave Hamas $400 million that went to Hamas’s bank accounts and not to the Palestinian people. Qatar also gave Hamas another $400 million that were used to slaughter Palestinians.”

Israeli Gaza Attacks Kill 10 Palestinians CBS News
Israeli Attacks Kill 13 in Gaza New York Times
Houston Chronicle – Washington Post – International Herald Tribune – Ha’aretz
all 1,930 news articles »

Anyway, there are signs that Fatah never fought Hamas:

No mainstream news source has reported the clear truth about the Fatah-Hamas ‘war’–there wasn’t any. Fatah never fought. Whether the cause was conspiracy or not, two facts are certain: 1) The enormous resources provided to Fatah to fight Hamas in Gaza were essentially unused and are now in the hands of Hamas to attack Israel. 2) Enormous resources are now being provided to Fatah to fight Hamas in the West Bank.

And then we have the possible knowledge and support by both Iran and Syria of the attack against the UN Spanish peacekeepers…

So what’s really happening here?

Read Full Post »

Hamas posts Israeli soldier tape before summit

 Very bad news:

Hamas militants in Gaza posted an audio tape of a captive Israeli soldier on the Internet on Monday, just hours before their rivals for power among the Palestinians were to hold a summit with Israel.

As Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas flew in to Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Sergeant Gilad Shalit was heard asking for medical treatment and urging Israel to free Palestinian prisoners.

A spokesman for Hamas militants, who routed Abbas’s secular forces in Gaza this month to split the coastal enclave from Abbas’s larger stronghold in the West Bank, said it was up to Israel to make a deal to free Shalit, a 20-year-old conscript. He was seized a year ago to the day by militants who tunneled up to his border post and killed two other soldiers.

Abbas, leader of the long-dominant Fatah faction, and Israel have both sworn to isolate Hamas in the Gaza Strip while pressing on with efforts to set up a Palestinian state. But the release of the anniversary tape showed obstacles to such a settlement with 1.5 million Palestinians, one in three of the new state’s potential citizens, now living under Hamas rule.

“The only beneficiary of these summits is the Zionist enemy,” Mushir al-Masri, a member of the Hamas majority in the now moribund Palestinian parliament told Reuters. “It is surprising that at a time when Abbas has shut the door on talks with Hamas he is running and begging for a meeting with Olmert.”

Shalit, whose only previous contact with the outside world was a handwritten note nine months ago, said: “I regret the lack of interest of the Israeli government and military in my case. “Thousands of Palestinian detainees have mothers and fathers whose sons must be returned to them.”

An aide to Olmert said Shalit’s plight would not become a central issue at the meeting in Egypt. The prime minister said he hoped his summit with Abbas, accompanied by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah, would instead project a new spirit of peace after Hamas’s takeover.

But Olmert cautioned, in a speech in Jerusalem, against expectations of any breakthrough at the four-way meeting.

Hamas posts Israeli soldier tape before summit – Yahoo! News

More in BBC.

Read Full Post »

BBC captive in ‘bomb vest’ video

 Weren’t we told he was going to be released immediately?

The kidnappers of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston have released a new video of him in which he is wearing what he says is an explosives vest. In the tape, Mr Johnston says his captors have said they will detonate the vest if force is used to try to free him. It is the second such video released since Mr Johnston was abducted in Gaza on 12 March.

The BBC renewed its appeal for Mr Johnston’s immediate release. In a statement, the corporation said: “It is very distressing for Alan’s family and colleagues to see him being threatened in this way. “We ask those holding Alan to avoid him being harmed by releasing him immediately. “We are keeping his family fully informed and offering them our continued support.”

Mr Johnston’s father, Graham, said: “My family and I are obviously most concerned and distressed at this latest development. “Our thoughts, of course, are with Alan in his present predicament. We earnestly request his abductors to release Alan, unharmed in any way.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | BBC captive in ‘bomb vest’ video

Hope that he will be released without harm. But seeing the photo is enough to see that he is in a rather bad situation…

More from AP-Yahoo!:

Johnston appeared wearing a white and blue belt around his torso with black shoulder straps over a dark red sweater in the undated video filmed against a black background. The 45-year-old Briton looked tired, but unharmed.

“I do appeal to the Hamas movement and the British government not to resort to tactics of force in an effort to end this. I would ask the BBC and anyone in Britain who wishes me well to support me in that appeal,” he said in the one minute video.

Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of the Hamas-led government sacked by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, said earlier on Sunday his group has not used force to free Johnston at the request of the British government, fearing he might be killed or injured in the process.

Johnston said negotiations to seek his release were thwarted by what his captors told him was a plan by Britain and Hamas to use force to secure his release.

“Captors tell me that very promising negotiations were ruined when the Hamas movement and the British government decided to press for a military solution to this kidnapping.”

“The answer is to return to negotiations, which I am told are very close to reaching a deal… They (captors) say they are willing to turn the hideout into what they described as a ‘death zone’ if there was an attempt to free me by force,” he added.

On June 17 a spokesman of the Army of Islam said negotiations had been underway for the release of the Scotsman, but said Johnston would be killed if the group was trapped. Wearing a black face mask he insisted in a video that at least part of the group’s demands be met.

The captors want Britain to free Muslim prisoners, particularly Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, in exchange for the reporter’s release.

Hein??? Abu Qutada en Wikipedia (ES):

“Name: Omar Mahmud Othman, born in Jordan in 1961. Terrorist linked to Al Qaeda.

Considered the high responsible of Al Qaeda in Europe. He is accused of using his fatwas to call for the murder of different people, specially in Argelia. He is also linked allegedlly to Salafist Group to the Preaching and Combat -now, Al Qaeda in Maghreb more here– and to the Armed Islamic Group.

He has links with Sept.11 terrorist attacks because his videos and preachings were found at the Hamburg‘s appartment of the suicide pilot Mohamed Atta. He can have also relations with the authors of the March 11th bombings in Madrid considering his connections with Jamal Zougam, Srerhane Ben Abdelmajid and Imad Eddin Barakat.”

Well, even if the false proofs and the huge mess the process of the March 11th bombings is -we don’t know even what kind of explosive was used-, just in case, this is not the kind of guy I want to see set loose in the streets. The question is: is he maintaining his incitement to murder preaching activity now, or not?

Read Full Post »

Hamastan update

 Is this the first stage to obtain Western aid?

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Palestinian government dismissed by President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, called for renewed talks on Saturday between the factions, Haniyeh’s office said.

Abbas has ruled out any dialogue with Hamas Islamists, whom he accused of trying to assassinate him and of launching a coup in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has denied Abbas’s allegations and accused him of participating in a U.S.-led plot against its democratically-elected government.

“The way out of the current situation is launching a Palestinian dialogue without pre-conditions,” Haniyeh told the Yemeni president by phone.

Haniyeh said these talks should be held “on the basis of no loser and no winner, and on the basis of no harm to anyone, and on the basis of a national unity government,” according to Haniyeh’s office. [tell that to the dead ].

The United States and Israel wants to isolate Hamas economically, diplomatically and militarily in the Gaza Strip, where the Islamist group seized control just over a week ago.

Haniyeh calls for talks with Abbas’s Fatah faction | Top News | Reuters.com

You can also read the interview with Hamas founder, Mahmoud Zahar: “We will try to form an Islamic society“. Read it all. it’s very important. An excerpt:

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has called this a good moment to push forward with the peace process. Will Gaza and Hamas definitely stay out of any such talks?

Zahar: What kind of peace process is it? There will only be lots of chit-chat. Meanwhile the occupation will continue, and the Israelis will remain here to destroy our lives.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: In the West there is a fear that the Gaza Strip may become a playground for international terrorism. Is this danger real?

Zahar: Our people can’t distinguish between resistance and terrorism. We’re fighting for the liberation of our land from an occupation. When people in Europe had to fight the Nazis, they were honored, later, as freedom fighters. No one would have called Charles de Gaulle a terrorist.

Marvellous isn’t it? This people (Haniya, after Hamas ousted Al-Fatah from power, left) call the Israelis, Nazis.

Read also: Terrorists get guns and money – Israel gets the left hand of fellowship

Meanwhile:

Israel is planning to offer goodwill gestures to Palestinian moderates in the West Bank after the fall of the Gaza Strip to the Islamic militant group Hamas. As Robert Berger reports from VOA’s Jerusalem bureau, the steps will be presented at a four-way Middle East summit next week.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert plans to bring a package of confidence building measures to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas when they hold a summit meeting in Egypt on Monday. Mr. Olmert says Israel wants to strengthen the moderate Abbas government in the West Bank after Hamas seized control of Gaza last week.

“I prefer to see not only the dangers but also the chances, not only the difficulties and there are difficulties, but also how these events can open up new roads for better cooperation and better understanding with many of the Palestinians that live outside of Gaza,” he said.

With the moderate Abbas?  It would be more accurate to say he wants to strenghen the government of Abbas, who is the leader of one of the branches of Muslim Brotherhood, about whose project for Islamic domination I wrote here.

And from Teheran Times:

U.S. and Israeli leaders pledged to support the emergency Palestinian cabinet in the West Bank, as Hamas accused the West of playing politics with aid after the Islamist group ousted its rivals from Gaza.

Well, this is the same reasoning Jimmy Carter made some days ago.

Israelis are skeptical of peace talks with Hamas.

Don’t know why…

UPDATE:

Egypt helped Hamas takeover.

Visit the Fatah’s torture chambers.h/t Barcepundit. The piles of blood of the floor surrounded by flies, lets us see what was going on there. There is no knowledge about who or when was killed there. Or by whom.

Now, show us also the Hamas’ torture chambers.

UPDATE 2: Hamas menaces [link in Spanish] Abbas to take over West Bank (Cisjordania) also. Mahmoud Zahar in another interview to Turkish newspaper Zaman, has said that “his moverment has no intention of stablishing an Islamic state in Gaza” [See the Der Spiegel interview linked in this post before, to see that he said that “as they do not have now a Government, they are going to build an Islamic society“]. He also asked for Turkey’s mediation in the affair:

“Turkey can help the Palestines nowadays, who had been pushed into a corner by the restrictions on gas, the embargoes and the poverty. Turkey can mediate between the groups in Palestine and prevent the unjust international embargoes against this land”.

We can see the result of the “restrictions on gas, embargoes and poverty” has had in Gaza here…

UDPATE 3: Also read Women Honor Thyself about the transfer of 4 million euros to Palestinian Authority.

UDPATE 4: From esperimento:

C’è da aspettarsi che per mezzo secolo gli arabi si uccideranno a vicenda per vendicarsi di quanto è avvenuto”. Questa frase non è di oggi, anche se molti in Palestina la condividerebbero, ma è stata pronunciata nel 1938 da Raghib Nashashibi, autorevole leader della fazione palestinese moderata Partito della difesa nazionale, antenato diretto di quello di Abu Mazen.

That is: Raghib Nashashibi the leader of the moderate Palestinian faction back in 1938, stated, “We may expect now that for fifty years the Arabs will kill one another to avenge what happened during the disturbances.”

Esperimento continues:

The Zionist movement, accepted not only the principle, but the concrete proposal, totally unfavourable and unfeasible, of a minuscule Israel and that the it would be formed of two different piece of lands, separated between them, with no communication, and surrounded by Arab states.

There was later a terrible revolt,

the first Palestinian civil war, much more ferocious and bloody than what we have seen this week, that went on for 3 years, between 1936 and 1939, alongside with violent actions of Anti-Zionist and Anti-British nature (Palestine was back then under British rule), in a very similar context to the one we are living now (except for the obvious differences of time.

Also read La Pulce di Voltaire, writing about the Islamization in Hamastan:

The situation in Gaza has completely changed, according to Abu Saqer, «the Islamic movement has to know everything which is taught in the Christian schools and in the contect of missionary activity… The internet bars, the swimming-pools and the bars should be closed». The attack is particularly hard when confronting against the American Evangelical Missions. In Gaza there are approx. 2000 Christians. In the last months, an Internet bar and a Christian Library has been exploded. The Hamas Chief Mahmud al-Zahar – a probable FM- has accused West because of its idea of liberty which produces “phenomenons as the homosexuality, the unemployment and the AIDS“. Al-Zahar has also remembered the words of the Prince Charles of England, who has appointed Islam and the model of education for children.

Prince Charles, hmm, how rare that an Islamist quotes him…

Read Full Post »

Israeli planes, tanks hit Gaza

And we continue with the great crisis of Hamastan and the fleeing of refugees from Gaza to Israel: Israeli planes, tanks hit Gaza – Yahoo! News

EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip – Israel fired missiles and sent tanks on a foray into Gaza on Wednesday, killing four Palestinians in the deadliest military action since Hamas militants took control of the coastal strip.

At the same time, Israel allowed in a few sick and wounded Palestinians of the hundreds of people who fled the violence — with many holed up for days at a fetid border passage with Gaza.

At the same time, Israel allowed in a few sick and wounded Palestinians who had been holed up for days at a fetid border passage with Gaza.

A teenager with leukemia and four other Palestinians in need of medical care went through the tunnel at the Erez crossing in Israel, the military said. Israeli officials also authorized entry of all foreigners living in Gaza.

Mahmoud Abbas, the moderate Palestinian president, harshly criticized Hamas for its takeover of Gaza last week, referring to members of the group as “murderous terrorists.” He accused Hamas of trying to assassinate him when he planned a visit to Gaza a month ago, digging a tunnel under a road where his car was to pass and trying to fill it with more than 550 pounds of explosives. Hamas denied the allegation.

Despite the turmoil, Abbas said peace talks with Israel should resume and appealed for international help in convening a peace conference.

A U.N. agency, meanwhile, warned of general food shortages in Gaza within weeks if the main cargo crossing with Israel wasn’t reopened.

Israeli aircraft fired missiles at two rocket launchers in northern Gaza, in the first aerial attack on the strip since Hamas vanquished Abbas’ rival Fatah. No injuries were reported in the strike, which came in retaliation for militant rocket fire on Israel.

Israeli tanks, meanwhile, rolled about 600 yards inside southern Gaza before dawn, and four militants were killed in a gunbattle, Palestinian hospital officials said.

Hamas and the allied Popular Resistance Committees said gunmen fired on undercover troops, prompting the army to send six tanks, two armored personnel carriers and a bulldozer to the area.

The army said the entrance of the troops had been planned, was not a broad operation, and was meant to counter militant activity, including arms smuggling.

In the West Bank, two Palestinian militants were killed in a predawn shootout with Israeli troops on an arrest raid on a house near Jenin, residents said. One was a local commander from the Islamic Jihad militant group and the other a local commander from a violent offshoot of Fatah.

The army said armed men opened fire from the house on troops, who shot back, killing two militants.

Mahmoud Zahar, the man widely believed to be leading Gaza’s new Hamas rulers, said his group was open to a cease-fire with Israel if the army halts its activities there and in the West Bank. He said Hamas was capable of halting the frequent rocket attacks out of Gaza.

“But nobody will be the protector of the Israeli border,” he told The Associated Press.

In an attempt to consolidate power, the West Bank-based government installed by Abbas on Sunday annulled all decisions made by the previous Hamas government, Information Minister Riyad al-Malki said.

All citizens will be required to change their travel documents to papers issued in the West Bank — in effect invalidating documents previously issued in Gaza, al-Malki said. And security personnel will be deployed in force in the West Bank to restore law and order, he added.

About 200 Gazans, petrified by the chaos in the Hamas-controlled coastal strip, have been camped out for six days in a tunnel reeking of trash, urine and sweat on the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing, pleading with Israeli authorities to grant them safe passage to the West Bank.

On Wednesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed officials to let in “humanitarian cases” at the crossing, the ministry said. No numbers were specified.

Saeb Erekat, a confidant of Abbas, said Israel had agreed to transfer 55 people to Israeli hospitals. Military spokesman Shlomo Dror would not confirm that number.

Military officials, who have said militants might try to squeeze through the passage, say not everyone in the tunnel is in danger. Israel, which has sophisticated weapons screening equipment in place at Erez, is only letting through the staff of international organizations and people with special permission.

Israel’s Supreme Court began hearing a petition by a human rights group demanding that Israel also offer immediate medical treatment to 26 critically ill Palestinians hospitalized in Gaza.

Ran Yaron, a doctor with the group, said the lives of 15 of the patients represented in the petition — including a teenager with lupus and a child suffering from cancer — were in jeopardy because treatment was not available in Gaza.

The court said it would rule on the petition Monday.

Military liaison official Shadi Yassin said Hamas’ takeover of Gaza deprived Israel of its main contact on humanitarian issues — Fatah-allied Palestinian police.

“Now, we don’t have this contact, and are trying in every way to obtain information from the Red Cross about sick people whose transfer to Israel must be coordinated,” he said.

Can’t you see that looks like the culprit is Israel? My goodness!

But USA TODAY’s title is worse: Abbas calls Hamas “murderous” as Israel attacks. So Israel is the one who should be called murderous, isn’t it?

More from CNN:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday denounced Hamas
leaders as “traitors,” blaming them for planning their “bloody coup” in
Gaza while participating in a unity government.

He called on Hamas to apologize for the fighting in Gaza and to hand government offices to the new Palestinian leaders.

“We reject a monopoly of power by one group or faction,” Abbas said.

Abbas,
who heads the rival Fatah movement, addressed the Palestine Liberation
Organization — which he chairs — in Ramallah, West Bank, at a time
when he is seeking support for the government he installed under
emergency orders following Hamas’ takeover of Gaza last week.

He
called on the international community to “commit to an international
peace conference by which Israeli and Palestinian negotiation will take
place.”

“We are a nation that can rise above the wounds,” he said.

From Christian Science Monitor:

The creation of separate Palestinian micro-states last week left two of America’s closest Arab allies – Jordan and Egypt, which share borders with the West Bank and Gaza respectively – groping for a new policy toward a conflict that has spilled over their borders and contributes to their own instability.

These two secular and authoritarian states have far more in common with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah, which now controls the West Bank, than with the Islamist Hamas that won last week’s war for control of Gaza. When Hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006 that were deemed free and fair, it set alarm bells ringing in Cairo and Amman; they worried their local Islamists would be bolstered by Hamas’s success.

But that doesn’t mean Egypt or Jordan will quickly join the US and Israel in openly supporting Mr. Abbas.

The US and Israel are rewarding Abbas – far friendlier to Israel than Hamas – in the West Bank by lifting a crippling economic embargo, while maintaining the sanctions on the much poorer Gaza Strip. Their hope is that Hamas’s public support will evaporate under the weight of need, and Abbas’s stature will grow as his people experience relatively more prosperity.

“Our hope is that President Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad – who’s a good fellow – will be strengthened to the point where they can lead the Palestinians in a different direction,” President George Bush said after an Oval Office meeting Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

While that’s an outcome that the Egyptian and Jordanian governments hope for, given their hostility toward Hamas, it’s not one they feel they can back publicly, analysts say.

“Recent events have seen Arab publics turn on Hamas a bit, but that won’t necessarily hold,” says Nabil Gheishan, a columnist at Arab al-Yom, an independent Jordanian daily newspaper. “If this embargo of Gaza goes ahead, and people see massive suffering there while conditions improve in the West Bank, that will shift the public mood and take the pressure off Hamas.”

He says publicly backing such an approach could easily see the governments of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah branded as participating with Israeli and US-inflicted suffering on the Palestinians in Gaza.

Gaza from Egypt: Abdel Razaq Abdel Hamid, an Egpytian farmer, watched Tuesday as Palestinian youths scurried through a hole blasted in the steel-plate border wall. Jill Carroll

WorldNetDaily: Hamas: We’ll obtain emergency U.S. aid more here.

The Hamas terror group will obtain emergency aid the U.S. announced it will provide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah organization, a top Hamas military leader told WND today.

“Like the American weapons in Gaza we told you will come to Hamas, also the weapons and aid the Americans are giving to Abu Mazen (Abbas) as part of their conspiracy against us in the West Bank will find its way to the Palestinian resistance and Hamas,” said Abu Abdullah, a senior operational member in Gaza of Hamas’ Izzedine al-Qassam Martyrs Brigades, Hamas’ so-called “military wing.”

Abu Abdullah would not say whether Hamas was planning a coup in the West Bank similar to the complete takeover last week of all Fatah positions and U.S.-backed security compounds in the Gaza Strip, but he told WND he “hopes” the U.S. provides large quantities of weaponry to Fatah in the West Bank so Hamas can obtain them.

Marvellous…

Powered by ScribeFire.

Read Full Post »

Dhimmi Carter on Hamas

Carter blasts US policy on Palestinians (AP)

AP – Former President Jimmy Carter accused the U.S., Israel and the European Union on Tuesday of seeking to divide the Palestinian people by reopening aid to President Mahmoud Abbas’ new government in the West Bank while denying the same to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who was addressing a human rights conference in Ireland, also said the Bush administration’s refusal to accept Hamas‘ 2006 election victory was “criminal.”

Carter said Hamas, besides winning a fair and democratic mandate that should have entitled it to lead the Palestinian government, had proven itself to be far more organized in its political and military showdowns with Abbas’ moderate Fatah movement. 😦

Hamas fighters routed Fatah in their violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last week. The split prompted Abbas to dissolve the power-sharing government with his rivals in Hamas and set up a Fatah-led administration to govern the West Bank.

Of course, he would like much better to finance Hamas, wouldn’t you, Dhimmi Carter? Why doesn’t he critisize also EU, which has had the same treatment of the situation?

technorati tags:James_Carter, Hamas, Palestina, USA, Bush, EU, Al-Fatah

Read Full Post »

Sharia Law in Hamastan (UPDATED)

I wrote some days ago about the possibility of Hamas imposing Sharia Law and how it was feared both by Israelis and Palestinians. Well, it is happening just now:

WorldNetDaily: Christians warned: Accept Islamic law

Christians can continue living safely in the Gaza Strip only if they accept Islamic law, including a ban on alcohol and on women roaming publicly without proper head coverings, an Islamist militant leader in Gaza told WND in an exclusive interview.

The militant leader said Christians in Gaza who engage in “missionary activity” will be “dealt with harshly.”

The threats come two days after a church and Christian school in Gaza was attacked following the seizure of power in the territory by the Hamas terror group.

“I expect our Christian neighbors to understand the new Hamas rule means real changes. They must be ready for Islamic rule if they want to live in peace in Gaza,” said Sheik Abu Saqer, leader of Jihadia Salafiya, an Islamic outreach movement that recently announced the opening of a “military wing” to enforce Muslim law in Gaza.

Jihadia Salafiya is suspected of attacking a United Nations school in Gaza last month, after the school allowed boys and girls to participate in the same sporting event. One person was killed in that attack.

“The situation has now changed 180 degrees in Gaza,” said Abu Saqer, speaking from Gaza yesterday.

“Jihadia Salafiya and other Islamic movements will ensure Christian schools and institutions show publicly what they are teaching to be sure they are not carrying out missionary activity. No more alcohol on the streets. All women, including non-Muslims, need to understand they must be covered at all times while in public,” Abu Asqer told WND.

“Also the activities of Internet cafes, pool halls and bars must be stopped,” he said. “If it goes on, we’ll attack these things very harshly.”

Abu Saqer accused the leadership of the Gaza Christian community of “proselytizing and trying to convert Muslims with funding from American evangelicals.”

Read all…

Anyway, West offers cash and talks to keep Abbas in charge as partner for peace-News-World-Middle East-TimesOnline

America and the European Union moved swiftly to shore up Palestinian moderates yesterday, releasing millions of dollars for the new Government based in the West Bank.

Washington and Brussels announced the lifting of economic sanctions after Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, sacked all members of Hamas, the militant Islamic group, which staged last week’s bloody takeover of the Gaza Strip. In a telephone call yesterday President Bush told Mr Abbas that the US would support “Palestinian moderates”.

Later Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, reaffirmed America’s commitment to the “two-state solution” for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, first promised by Mr Bush five years ago. Palestinians faced a choice, she said, between pursuing more violence or peace and a better life.

The US has recognised Mr Abbas and his new Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, as the legitimate leaders of the West Bank and Gaza. Dr Rice promised yesterday that this meant the US would resume normal “government-to-government contacts”.

And from Infidel Bloggers Alliance: Stupid request of the day:

B’Tselem demands that perpetrators of war crimes in Gaza be tried and warns against revenge attacks in the West Bank
The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem today calls on the Palestinian leadership of Hamas in the Gaza Strip to investigate all war crimes that may have been committed during the clashes in the Gaza Strip, and to bring all suspects to criminal trial.

This happens as Abbas’ aide Yasser Abed accused Iran of being responsible of fomenting the Hamas seizure in Gaza. h/t Desde el Exilio.

UPDATE: GayandRight: Christians under attach in Gaza… Who is going to defend this people??

Father Manuel Musalam, leader of the small Latin community in the Gaza Strip, said masked gunmen torched and looted the Rosary Sisters School and the Latin Church.

“The masked gunmen used rocket-propelled grenades to storm the main entrances of the school and church,” he said. “Then they destroyed almost everything inside, including the Cross, the Holy
Book, computers and other equipment.”

Musalam expressed outrage over the burning of copies of the Bible, noting that the gunmen destroyed all the Crosses inside the church and school. “Those who did these awful things have no respect for Christian-Muslim relations,” he said.

When are going to be the next outraged Christian riots when we will burn Hamas flag? 😦 This is despicable…

UPDATE 2: Israel plans funding clampdown on Hamas-ruled Gaza | Top News | Reuters.com

(Reuters) – Israel plans to tighten a financial clampdown on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that would choke off all but humanitarian and basic supplies, senior Israeli and Western officials said on Tuesday.
While opening the funding taps to the Western-backed emergency government set up by President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank,
Israel and the United States want to isolate Hamas financially, diplomatically and militarily in the Gaza Strip, which the Islamist group seized by force last week.
To that end, two senior Israeli officials said the plan was to bar Palestinian tax funds transferred to Abbas from reaching Gaza to run Hamas-led agencies and pay workers.
“Gaza is a terrorist-controlled entity now,” said one of the Israeli officials, who is working with U.S. officials to isolate Hamas. “No financial assistance can go to any entity or person with connections to the Hamas-run administration in Gaza.”

The humanitarian crisis is going to be outstanding. After last year 14.000 Palestinians flee, now Gazans stream to crossing with Israel – Yahoo! News

Hundreds of terrified Gazans fleeing Hamas rule were trapped at a main crossing with Israel on Tuesday, hoping to gain permission to pass through Israeli territory to sanctuary in the West Bank.

Fearing death or persecution, Gazans began flocking to the Erez passage after Hamas militants wrested control of the coastal strip from Fatah security forces late last week. Israel, which has no interest in letting masses of Gazans pass through its territory and possibly destabilize the quieter West Bank, has refused to let most of them in, saying their lives were not in danger.
By Tuesday, about 600 people were holed up in the long, concrete tunnel that leads to the Israeli side of the crossing. Around 100 people belonged to Fatah security forces, but the rest were civilians, seeking a better life in the West Bank.
Women, children and young men sat between two high concrete walls about 10 yards apart, looking tired and sweaty. Suitcases and trash were strewn on the ground. Some families sat on mats, others on bare concrete. A breeze barely stirred between the walls, and the tunnel, which has no toilets, reeked of urine and sweat.
On Monday, gunmen allied with Hamas disguised themselves as fleeing civilians and hurled hand grenades at Israeli soldiers and Palestinians at Erez, killing a relative of a slain Fatah warlord, and injuring 15 other Palestinians.

UPDATE 3: More about Palestinians fleeing from Israel: My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

Palestinians run as they try to cross to the Israel side at the Erez Crossing, in the northern Gaza Strip, Saturday, June 16, 2007. Dozens of Palestinians converged on the Erez crossing with Israel on Saturday, trying to leave the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ takeover. At the same time, hundreds of people looted police positions on the Palestinian side of Erez, and at one point Israeli troops fired in the air to keep the crowd at bay. The looters walked off with furniture and scrap metal. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

UPDATE 4: Also read Jules Crittenden’s “Enemy of my Enemy” h/t Abdul in Freedom’s Zone. Abdul writes:

Conveniently, the word Fatah (or Fath) was a specific label Muslims ascribed to the bloody and barbaric expansion of Islam by the sword over its first hundred years (Hmmmm – there’s aclue here somewhere as to their intentions). As an organization, Fatah is one of many borne out of the Muslim Brotherhood. Fatah logo contains two crossed assault rifles superimposed on the land of Israel covered in Islamic green. Qur’anic slogans on the graphic depiction of Fatah’s mission encourages jihad. These days, Fatah conducts its terrorist missions under the name al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. As one writer phrases it, if Fatah was Nazism, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades would be the SS. For those who have lived in a cave since WW-II, this is not something that denotes love and kindness, and tolerance of Jews and infidels that don’t follow the radical line.

UPDATE 5: Don’t laugh: Catholic World News : Gaza convent sacked; Hamas condemns action

Gaza, Jun. 19, 2007 (CWNews.com) – On June 14, a school administered by the Sisters of the Holy Rosary was demolished in the Gaza Strip. In the chapel adjoining the sisters’ convent, the crucifix and a statue of Christ were broken and prayer books burned.

Father Manuel Mussallam, the only Catholic priest currently living in Gaza, denounced the sacking of the school and convent, describing it to AsiaNews as a “barbaric act.” The incident occurred during the course of fighting between two Palestinian factions: al Fatah and Hamas.

Although the school and convent are located near a police station, a spokesman for Hamas– which now controls the Gaza Strip– said that the group was not responsible for the violence against the Catholic nuns. Salah Bardawil said: “The Christians are our brothers in Gaza and everywhere, and we will protect their holy places and school, as we do our Islamic schools.”

We will protect every Christian in the earth the moment they submit. In the meantime, we will ransack their places… to remind them who is in charge…

Technorati Tags: Palestine, Hamas, religious freedom, religious persecution, Christian persecution, Islamism, Christians in Muslim countries, Abbas, EU, USA, Al-Fatah.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Read Full Post »

EU to resume Direct Aid to Palestine (UPDATED)

Uff, it’s too early, isn’t it? But, of course, do they need an excuse?

EU to Resume Direct Aid – Wall Street Journal

Telegraph.co.uk

EU to Resume Direct Aid

Wall Street Journal – 21 minutes ago

AP LUXEMBOURG — The European Union said Monday it will resume direct aid to the new Palestinian government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and it urged Israel to restore the transfer of tax revenue to his West Bank administration.

Israel is already giving aid to Hamas’ Gaza, and USA has promised to do so, IF Palestinian Government parts away from Hamas…

Weep for Gaza Los Angeles Times

EU resumes aid to Palestinian Government Times Online

The European Union is to resume direct financial aid to the Palestinian Authority for the first time in 18 months in a bid to prop up the new government in the West Bank.

Javier Solana, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, said today that the move would send a message of support to the embattled President, Mahmoud Abbas, of the secular Fatah party, who sacked Hamas after the Islamists’ military takeover of the Gaza Strip.

Mr Abbas dismissed the fundamentalists’ leader Ismail Haniya as Prime Minister and appointed Salam Fayad, a political moderate, to the post at the end of last week. Hamas, however, has denounced his decision as a “coup” and announced that it would not recognise the administration.

The West has boycotted the Palestinian Government since Hamas was elected to power in January last year. The Islamists have rejected calls to recognise neighbouring Israel’s right to exist, renounce terrorism, and acknowledge previously signed interim peace agreements.

Mr Solana announced the intention to end the boycott as he spoke to reporters before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

“There will be a direct relationship, economically also with the Government,” he said. “There will be a part of the money that will be direct.”

The EU foreign policy chief added that the bloc had confidence in Mr Fayyad, the US-trained economist and former Palestinian Finance Minister, to handle the funds.

“No doubt, part of it will go through the account that, when he was Minister of Finance, he had established and he will have kept as Prime Minister, so it will be a direct relationship with the Government,” Mr Solana said.

Despite refusing to have any dealings with Hamas, Mr Solana confirmed that the EU would also try to find a way to provide humanitarian aid to increasingly impoverished 1.4 million residents of the Gaza Strip, who have been largely cut off from the outside world since the Islamists seized power in a volley of gun battles which killed more than 100 mostly Fatah-affiliated fighters last week.

Marvellous…

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Key powers back Abbas government

Key powers back Abbas government

Key international powers have publicly backed the new Palestinian Authority government, offering aid and support to an administration without Hamas.

US President Bush phoned Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas pledging to work with his new government, aides said.

The EU said it would “immediately” normalise ties with the government and also resume direct aid, while Israel said the new cabinet was a “partner”.

Mr Abbas sacked the previous government after Hamas seized control of Gaza.

In a separate development on Monday, one Palestinian was killed and several injured after Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers exchanges of fire at the Erez crossing, the Israeli rescue service and Palestinian medics said.

The crossing is the main point for people travelling between Israel and Gaza.

‘Genuine partner’

In a 15-minute phone call with Mr Bush, Mr Abbas told the US president that the time was now right to push for new peace talks.

The US Consul-General in Jerusalem, Jacob Walles, met the new Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Monday to explain how the US could offer practical support to the new administration.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is to meet Mr Bush in Washington on Tuesday, said he considered the new Palestinian government a “genuine partner”.

And speaking at an EU meeting in Luxembourg, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni confirmed that up to $800m (£400m) of frozen tax revenues held by Israel would now be transferred to the Palestinian Authority.

“We are willing to work with those who support the two-state solution -those who understand and accept the right of Israel to exist,” she said.

technorati tags:Israel, Hamastan, Palestine, terrorism, Hamas, Al-Fatah, European_Union

Read Full Post »

Palestinian Civil War Watch (III): Hamastan is born

The Palestinian Civil War in the Gaza Strip has ended with Hamas defeating Fatah, its long time rival. The fighting over the past six days resulted in over 110 reported deaths, and these are the numbers that can be confirmed. The highly motivated Hamas fighters immediately seized upon the victory to declare its Islamic State, with all the trappings of a strict interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law.
By the few first hand accounts available from inside the Gaza Strip, the situation has degenerated into a cross of Lord of the Flies and Escape from New York. In less than a week’s fighting, Hamas ran roughshod over the numerically superior, long established and better armed Fatah security forces. Hamas attacked and killed women and children for merely being affiliated with Fatah. Captured Fatah officers were frog marched through the streets in various states of undress, and beat and executed their rivals. Fatah fighters were thrown from roofs of buildings. Executions of Fatah members are said to be ongoing, although Hamas offered an amnesty.
Hamas is now engaged in an orgy of looting. “An AFP correspondent witnessed dozens of Palestinians taking everything they could carry from Dahlan’s villa — furniture, plant pots and even the kitchen sink, complete with the plumbing fixtures… masked gunmen rode on the back of armoured vehicles taken from Abbas’s presidential guard… Windows, doors, toilets, furniture, taps, even the light bulbs were gone.”

The Road to Hamastan (The Fourth Rail)

Go on reading: it’s a very good summary of what’s going on in Gaza.

Because of the international support for Abbas, which has grown in the last days, Newswine consider that the Hamas victory can be a pyrric one. But we should not forget both Syria and Iran who are the main contributors to Hizbollah in Lebanon and to Hamas in Palestine.

The possibility of implementing Sharia Law is one of the first worrying of both the International Community -specially Israel– and of some Palestinians who are not very keen about the posibility.

The Arab league has called for an end of violence, assuring they want “to serve to the Palestinian cause and not to one faction“. But its call sounds as hypocritical as Haniyah’s words, who has denied giving a coup d’état, considering that “we are not against legitimacy because we ARE the legitimacy“.

Last news are that USA has promised to end the embargo to the Palestinian Government if it breaks with Hamas. And that this morning Fatah gunmen have stormed the Palestinian Parliament: they have tried to to seize the Palestinian Legislative Council’s second deputy speaker, Hassan Khuraishah, but staff intervened.

UPDATE: Hamas bids for total control: h/t Committees of Correspondence. [read the whole post].

“They’re firing at us, firing RPGs, firing mortars. We’re not Jews,” the brother of Jamal Abu Jediyan, a Fatah commander, pleaded during a live telephone conversation with a Palestinian radio station.

[En español]

technorati tags:Hamastan, Hamas, Al-Fatah, terrorism, Israel

Read Full Post »

Palestinian Civil War Watch (II) Be careful what you wish for

Continuing with the Palestinian Civil War Watch, we have now that the NYT has written that some Palestinians are considering that “the only thing that prevents the chaos and turmoil in Gaza from spreading to the West Bank is the presence of the Israeli occupation“.

I have found it there: you should read all the post at Lamplighter: Palestinians What Anyone But Palestinians To Govern

Recently, a few Palestinian columnists have broken a political taboo by referring to the Israeli occupation as perhaps preferable to the current chaos.For example, Majed Azzam wrote in the Hamas-affiliated weekly Al Risala in Gaza that Palestinians “should have the courage to acknowledge the truth,” that the only thing that “prevents the chaos and turmoil in Gaza from spreading to the West Bank is the presence of the Israeli occupation.”

Another Palestinian writer, Bassem al-Nabris, a poet from Khan Yunis, in the Gaza Strip, wrote in the Arabic electronic newspaper Elaph that if there was a referendum in the Gaza Strip on the question of whether people would like the Israeli occupation to return, “half the population would vote ‘yes.’ But in practice,” he continued, “I believe that the number of those in favor is at least 70 percent, if not more.”

“If the occupation returns,” Mr. Nabris added, “at least there will be no civil war, and the occupier will have a moral and legal obligation to provide the occupied people with employment and food, which they now lack.”

Whatever the Palestinian FM says about the struggle “being a result of pressures imposed from outside forces“.UPDATE 1: Hamas: “the era of Islamic rule has arrived”: Hamas supporters have executed people in the streets as last Fatah stronghold falls. More at Gateway Pundit. Hmm, marvellous… 😦

Now we can wonder what these peaceful militants-resistants-insurgents would do with Israelis…

Hamas militants take a vehicle and weapons from the headquarters of the security forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas after blowing them up in the southern Gaza strip June 13, 2007. Hamas Islamist fighters appeared in command of much of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday after battering forces loyal to Western-backed Abbas. (REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

UPDATE 2: More photos from the Jerusalem Post:

Hamas gunmen take positions outside the preventive security headquarters housing Fatah loyalist security forces in Gaza City, Thursday, June 14, 2007.
Photo: AP

A Palestinian woman holds a sign during a demonstration calling for the end of internal fighting between Fatah and Hamas.
Photo: AP

Jaafer Ashtiyeh/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Fatah gunmen covering their escape after they kidnapped seven employees from a Hamas-run TV station in Nablus, in the West Bank, on Wednesday.

UPDATE 3: Hamas Seizes Broad Control in Gaza Strip – New York Times

Mr. Abbas faces the collapse of Fatah power in Gaza and a putative Palestinian state divided into a West Bank run by Fatah and a Gaza run by Hamas. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel warned of “regional consequences” if Gaza fell under the complete control of Hamas, an Islamist movement that does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Hamas control of Gaza would limit Israel’s ability to negotiate with Mr. Abbas, as Washington wants.

Hamas spokesmen said the movement had no political goal except to defend itself from a group within Fatah collaborating with Israel and the United States. They said they wanted to bring the security forces under the control of the unity government, in which Fatah agreed to play a part until the current fighting.Some Israeli security officials say Israel wants to see the West Bank isolated from Gaza, even more so with Hamas in control there. One official suggested that Hamas’s show of strength in Gaza would make it more likely that the Israeli military would intervene there this summer to cut back Hamas’s military power. The Israeli security services say Hamas, which is able to smuggle weapons and explosives from Egypt, is developing a sophisticated army on the model of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

The Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, said Israel did not see “the implosion of the Palestinian Authority in anyone’s interest.” In Gaza, he added, “the clear strength that Hamas is demonstrating on the ground is a problem for us, and a challenge.”

“It’s a problem for the Palestinians, too,” Mr. Regev said. “Our whole policy is to work with moderate pragmatic Palestinians who believe in peace, and Hamas hegemony in Gaza is not good for Israel, for the Palestinians or for peace.”

[Sorry, I have had to publish it again, because I had some problems with it…]

UPDATE 4: More about the Hamas’ new Islamist state: Gaza lurches towards Islamist mini-state-News-World-Middle East-TimesOnline

”This is a victory for Islam and I hope we will build our Islamic state,” said Abu Qatada, a masked 22-year-old Hamas fighter, standing outside the smouldering ruin of the Fatah security base. “We must now complete the job,” he said.
In a symbolic moment, a large crowd of Gaza civilians demonstrating for an end to the internecine fighting came under fire from unidentified attackers who killed at least two marchers.
Political leaders of Fatah were also being hunted, and several hundred members of a Fatah-affiliated clan gave themselves up to Hamas militiamen after a deadly ambush. Fifty Fatah policemen crossed the border with Egypt and gave up their weapons to Egyptian troops after their positions came under Hamas rocket attacks.
“The situation is very, very bad,” Maher Mekhdad, a high-ranking Fatah official in Gaza, told The Times by mobile phone after his well-defended house was overrun by Hamas gunmen. “Hamas is going for total control of all the Gaza Strip. They want to push us into oblivion.”

Last forces of Al Fatah flee from Faza by sea.

The number of Al Fatah’s member who have flown from Gaza is about 300, because the main part of the security services personnel have already flown from Gaza and they are apparently going on fishing boats to the North, to take refuge in Israel, or to the South, to Egypt.
At the same time, Al Fatah’s sources this Thursday afternoon, that Islamist terrorists have murdered the “number one wanted” of this movement, Samih Al Madún,
32-years-old, in the Gaza’s Rimal quarter.

This is getting more worrying each time.

UPDATE 5:  Hamas plans to execute Fatah leaders.
Abbas sacks Hamas-led government:

Aides to Mr Abbas said he dismissed the Palestinian Prime Minister, Ismail Haniya of Hamas, and was preparing to appoint an independent as prime minister.

A little late…

UPDATE 6:

Iran and Syria are the real winners of the Hamas-Fatah war.

Hamas: we can prove Fatah links to CIA. Well, let’s see the documents.

Technorati Tags: Palestinian Civil War, Al-Fatah, Hamas, israel

Read Full Post »

Palestinian civil War Watch

Well, it’s not rare, considering what it’s happening…

Mahmud Hams/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The charred home of Jamal Abu al-Jediyan in northern Gaza. Mr. Jediyan, part of the Fatah leadership, was killed Monday by Hamas fighters.

that the Palestinians flee from their houses: from Jihad Watch: Fatwa forbids PA Muslims to emigrate

Alarmed by the growing number of Palestinians who are emigrating from the Palestinian territories, the Palestinian Authority’s mufti has issued a fatwa [religious decree] forbidding Muslims to leave.

Sources in the PA Foreign Ministry told The Jerusalem Post that some 10,000 Palestinians have filed requests to emigrate from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the year. They said the requests had been approved.

[…] The sources said most of the applicants were young men seeking work abroad. They said the majority of them wanted to move to the US, EU and Canada.

Abid Katib/Getty Images (left).Hamas fighters in Nusairat, in the Gaza Strip, defended a national security headquarters they had seized from Fatah Tuesday.

NYT writes:

That agreement to govern jointly, negotiated under Saudi auspices, put Fatah ministers into a Hamas-led government in an effort to secure renewed international aid and recognition and to stop what was already serious fighting between the two factions.

But the new government has failed to achieve either goal, and it appeared to many in Gaza that the gunmen were not listening to their political leaders. Mr. Abbas is under increasing pressure to abandon the unity government he championed and to try once again to order new elections, which Hamas has said it will oppose by any means.

Hmm, of course not…

14 Palestinians have also been killed in the Gaza Strip.

Mahmud Hams / AFP-Getty Images (right)
Fighting on the streets of Gaza, June 13, 2007.

From Newsweek:

June 13, 2007 – As gun battles continue to roil the Gaza Strip this week, militants from Hamas are tightening their grip on power. The Islamists have already taken over several hospitals and a number of key Fatah security installations. In the meantime, more than 50 Gazans have been killed, dozens more wounded. Militiamen executed rivals by throwing them off the roofs of high-rises, and masked gunmen set up checkpoints throughout the territory. Even some aid workers are finding themselves caught in the cross-fire. Two Palestinian employees of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were shot to death on Wednesday, and the agency announced that it would temporarily suspend most of its Gaza operations. (UNRWA distributes food and offers health services to Gaza’s 1 million refugees; some essential aid will continue.)

And then there is an interview to the UNRWA delegate (UNRWA is responsible for the refugee camps both in Lebanon and Palestine). And of course, who should show restraint:

Q: How do you judge Israel’s response to all this?

A: We just hope that everybody shows restraint. This is first and foremost the responsibility of the Palestinians. Israel has legitimate security concerns, but they have to find solutions without adding to or compounding the problem here. Israel, in our view, can significantly contribute to stability by finding a solution to the issues at the border crossings which allow the borders to function. In economic collapse, there’s fertile ground for extremism. Peace is a dividend of economic wellbeing.

So, it’s not rare that Palestinians blame Israel for the clashes: This is not civil war, it’s a prison riot.:

The conflict started as a power struggle between Hamas and Fatah – with Fatah being under immense pressure from the United States and Israel to strip Hamas of its power. But Palestinians also know that now the fighting has gotten out of hand. Neither Hamas nor Fatah has much success maintaining any ceasefire as frustrated youths, born in the Gaza pressure-cooker with no future prospects and no hope in sight, take over the streets. My cousin described it best: “This is not a civil war. It is a prison riot.”

At the same time h/t Jihadi du Jour:

Because of the worsening security situation and infighting in Gaza, “Hamas fires its rockets to kill Israeli women and children, while cynically trying to provoke Israel’s reaction and…thereby blame the common enemy of the Palestinian people, which – as Palestinians are brainwashed from childhood to believe – is Israel.

Time says this is a blow for US policy. I really think this is teaching what the real nature of Hamas is.

What has really happened is that Hamas has seized armored personnel carriers. h/t New Media Journal.

Last developments:

At least 200 gunmen of the Fatah-allied Bakr clan surrendered to Hamas in Gaza City, clan elders and witnesses said

An explosion wrecked the Khan Younis headquarters of the Fatah-linked Preventive Security force, killing five people

There were clashes in Gaza City near a local
Fatah commander’s home and in high rise buildings for control of sniper
posts. Six militants were reported killed

Hamas gunmen gained control of Gaza’s main north-south road

And Hamas said it had taken control of the border in the south between Gaza and Egypt.

Palestinians carry a wounded man during clashes between security members and militants from the Hamas Islamist movement in Gaza City, 13 June 2007. MAXPPP / LANDOV

EU has condemned Gaza Strip violence, while thousands of Palestinian security officers loyal to Fatah are under Hamas siege at their last bastion.

The Gaza doctors, in the middle of the struggle. More here.

But has this terrible struggle ended terrorism? No, Le Monde reports that a pregnant woman, mother to 8 children, and her cousin, mother to 4 children, have been detained before committing suicide and killing in Israel. They had been recruited by the Palestinian Jihad. Klovs: “I do not believe that nobody condemns Palestinian Authority for using humanitarian permissions for entering Israel“.

Remember the attack on an Israeli key border crossing on Saturday? As you know they used a car disguised as if it were from a TV. Well, journalists have condemned the attack because “the new tactic would make their jobs significantly more dangerous” h/t O Insurgente. 😀 Well, then, we will see if that makes them give more accurate picture of what it’s happening.

Related news:
Shimon Peres has been named President of Israel.
Bargouti: if only Israel would meet us half the way”.
Human Rights Watch denounces “war crimes” committed between Al Fatah and Hamas.

Also blogging about this: Gateway Pundit, SC&A, Klovs (in Spanish).

Technorati Tags: Israel, Gaza, Hamas, Al Fatah, Palestine, Palestinian Civil War, terrorism, violence

Powered by ScribeFire.

Read Full Post »