What Was On Storrs' Mind On the Temple Mount

Colonel Sir Ronald Storrs watching men of the 1st Egyptian Infantry Battalion ascending the steps leading to the Mosque of Omar on 12 April 1918. Storrs was Military Governor of Jerusalem from 1917-1920 and District Commissioner of Jerusalem from 1920-1926.

Here he is

Imperial War Museum Archives

And from his memoirs:

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Why Is President Peres Playing at Diplomacy?

I received this notice from President Shimon Peres' office:

Jerusalem, 23 May 2013

President Peres held a diplomatic meeting this evening with US Secretary of State John Kerry

President Shimon Peres, this afternoon (Thursday, 23 May 2013), held a diplomatic working meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the threat of a nuclear Iran and the strategic relations between Israel and the US. At the start of the meeting the two delivered joint statements to the press and then held a private meeting in the President's study... President Peres addressed Kerry's attempts to restart the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians as well his efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria...

Why is Peres involved in diplomacy?

Why is he not being called to order? 

He did this a few days ago, too.

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They, Too, Targeted a Gaza Mosque?

Remember the bewailing of Israel targeting of mosques during the last two Gaza campaigns against Hamas terror?

This picture of the IWM

is captioned:

November 1917 The Third Battle of Gaza:
The ruined interior of the Mosque in Gaza. The mosque was partially demolished by British gunfire after it had been established that it was being used as a dump for munitions.

Some thiongs never change.

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What Separates the Men From the Women

In the UK's Daily Mail account of the Belz wedding, a paper which usually portrays the ups ... and downs of fashion, what people are wearing and aren't wearing, this caught my eye as, well, typical for such a paper:

All the male guests dressed in black and wore traditional shtreimel hats for the occasion, which traditionally separates the men from the women.

From Ascot to the beaches of Majorca, it's the hat.

Now we know.


(hat tip: BO)
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Another Terrain Cycling Video Clip

The around the Shiloh Bloc route:

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Pictures From the Qanta Ahmed Lecture

The event with Qanta Ahmed was interesting, even riveting.

Pictures:

Photo credits:
Top two - YMedad
Bottom three: RH

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Lolita and Her Jew

Here, on The Secret History of Vladimir Nabokov by Andrea Pitzer :

...this book forces one to consider several fascinating quandaries presented by Lolita...

The first of these is: Is Humbert Humbert Jewish? The word “Jew” and its cognates never occur in Lolita, but it is almost said on a number of occasions. Several characters assume Humbert is Jewish. John Farlow, at the end of Chapter 18, Part I, complains of the fact that Ramsdale has too many Italian tradespeople, adding, “but on the other hand we are still spared—,” at which his wife Jean, suspecting that Humbert is Jewish and not wanting him to be offended, tactfully interrupts her blundering spouse. (In the Russian translation that Nabokov made of the book, John clearly begins to say the word “kikes.”)

A classmate of Lolita’s, Irving Flashman—originally Fleischman?—is pitied by Humbert for reasons initially obscure, but explained by Nabokov to the book’s annotator, Alfred Appel Jr.: “Poor Irving, he is the only Jew among all those Gentiles. Humbert identifies with the persecuted.” Humbert, and Nabokov, have much grim fun with the anti-Semitic policy of the hotel the Enchanted Hunters, whose notepaper declares, NEAR CHURCHES and NO DOGS, code for “Gentiles only”: perhaps, Humbert muses, the “silky cocker spaniel” Lolita had petted on their visit to the hotel had been “a baptized one.” And when Humbert’s name on a postcard requesting a room at the hotel is misread as the Jewish-sounding Professor Hamburg, he receives a “prompt expression of regret in reply. They were full up.”

...Pitzer—and here she stakes her claim to an original reading of the book—argues that what Nabokov is actually doing in Lolita is deliberately drawing on all manner of anti-Semitic propaganda, from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to Nazi caricatures of the Jewish “type,” to create in Humbert Humbert the anti-Semitic cliché of legend, rather as, say, Chaucer draws on medieval misogynist writings to create in the figure of the Wife of Bath the archetypal shrew of his male audience’s nightmares. Humbert combines

revolutionary politics, an easy income, cosmopolitan intellectualism, sexual perversion, and a truly monstrous sin—in Nabokov’s rendering, not blasphemy against Christ but the relentless, ongoing molestation of a child.

Here, then, is another reason for forgiving him: he is “a war refugee fleeing Europe,” a victim “broken by history,” a member of a persecuted race into whose dreams explicit images from the death camps erupt—“the brown wigs of tragic old women who had just been gassed.”

...Nabokov had trouble enough getting the book published as it was; to have made Humbert explicitly Jewish as details of the Holocaust were filtering into the public domain, even if he’d wanted to, might well have put it decisively beyond the pale. And so fiendishly self-serving and skillful is Humbert’s storytelling that it’s surely not impossible that, in his surreptitious way, he is subliminally playing the Jewish card, so to speak, without actually being entitled to it, a rhetorical move dramatically made by Sylvia Plath in “Daddy” a few years later: “Chuffing me off like a Jew./A Jew to Dachau, Auschwitz, Belsen./I began to talk like a Jew./I think I may well be a Jew.”

Certainly Jewishness lurks in the hinterland of the novel, and anti-Semitism in a number of its nooks and crannies...Pitzer’s excavation of this particular strata of the book’s references is both illuminating and unsettling. The Jewish aura, to put it no more strongly than that, that occasionally cloaks Humbert is yet another instance of his sinister ability to infiltrate and contaminate the literatures, languages, and cultures that he appropriates.

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The Zohar and the Colors of "Palestine"

From the Zohar, I, 15A, describing the primordial phase of the initiation of creation:

בריש (נ"א, בראשית בחכמתא דמלכא גליף וכו') הורמנותא דמלכא גליף גלופי (נ"א, גליפו) בטהירו עלאה בוצינא דקרדינותא ונפיק גו סתים דסתימו מרישא (נ"א, מרזא) דאין סוף קוטרא (פי' עשן) בגולמא נעיץ בעזקא לא חוור ולא אוכם לא סומק ולא ירוק ולאו גוון כלל

"BREISHITH." "In the beginning" when the Divine being, the King, decided to initiate the manifestation of his will (to create the world), a hard spark made an engraving on the supernal light and this spark emmanted from the most concealed of places, the Ein-Sof, taking a formless shape, and then was inserted into a circle that was neither white, nor black, nor green, nor red nor of any shade...

(Translation based on here).

White, Black, Green, Red?

Those colors sound familiar?

Here:

White, Black, Green, Red - not part of creation.

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Did Shimon Peres Really Say That?

To understand this:

Read this.

More:

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Keep Your Head Right About the Conflict

.

More in the Graphic Zionism series.

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Help Israel Maintain Its Strategic Assets

Another in my "Graphic Zionism" series:

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Mother Rachel Is Hot

The Matriarch Rachel in Bethlehem, that is:

Over the past three months, some 200 firebombs and 80 explosive devices have been thrown at worshippers and Israeli soldiers at Rachel's Tomb on the outskirts of Bethlehem in the West Bank.  The figures were provided by senior Israel Defense Forces and Border Police officers on Monday during a meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The committee gathered to discuss the security threats facing worshippers at the tomb.

Committee Chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman instructed the army to examine options to assure the safety of the worshippers and present the plans to the committee in one month.

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Shlomi the Schlemiel

Here is Shlomi Eldar on the A-Durrah report:

I am not arguing that there was no need to investigate the killing of the 12-year-old boy who became a symbol of the second intifada. The problem is the timing. It should not be done now, 13 years later. The narrative has already been etched into the Palestinian national consciousness, and nothing can change that, not even the conclusions of an official Israeli investigative committee. And it certainly does not help that its conclusions are based on meager findings derived from a video shot by the France 2 TV network.

Such an intelligent, cogent and thoughtful piece of insight.


Nahman Shai:

 

Now the international media, including France 2, will need to revisit its conduct. It will need to ask whether it examined and presented the story according to professional standards and whether it provided suitable room for questions and doubts. And, if it accepts the Israeli narrative, will it be prepared to admit its mistake? This is how wars over public perception are fought.

Yaakov Ahimeir:

The report, however, needs to spark deep introspection: Why has it taken 13 years to compile? Why has so much time passed since that image was broadcast across the globe until the inquiry commission's conclusions were finally released?  

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AB Yehoshua Goes Liberationist Ideology

The Guardian's Harriet Sherwood called this "elegant".

Me?

Reconstructionist narrative with twisted liberationist theology, I'd say.

It's AB Yehoshua's latest:


Defining Zionism: The belief that Israel belongs to the entire Jewish people


Some excerpts and my comments:-

[Zionism's] definition...[is a] simple concept [but] has turned into one of the most confused and complicated notions of identity, and its overuse has made it impossible to agree on what it means.

...So it’s about time that we try to define the word “Zionist” realistically. First of all, we must remember that from a historical perspective, the concept emerged only at the end of the 19th century. It’s meaningless to try and describe Yehuda Halevi as a Zionist, or any other Jew who immigrated to the Holy Land in centuries past. 

Really?  That's like writing "it's meaningless to call AB Yehoshua a Zionist".  What hubris!

...concepts only have significance from the time when they emerged in a specific historical context, and tossing them around freely as labels for anything we choose is a clearly anachronistic act.

Not true.  Murder and rape are the same today as yesteryear.

He continues to quibble in extreme obfuscation:

...my grandfather’s grandfather, for example, who came to the Land of Israel from Thessaloniki in the mid-19th century, cannot be considered a Zionist. He came to settle in the Land of Israel, not to establish a state here...Not only were these Jews [including Hassidim] not interested in establishing a Jewish state, but they include some who saw − and still see − the State of Israel as an abomination and a desecration of God’s name.

Yikes!

Here's Maimonides:

Laws of Kings 11:1:

In the future, the Messianic king will arise and renew the Davidic dynasty, restoring it to its initial sovereignty. He will build the Temple and gather the dispersed of Israel.

That's a state in modern terminology.


And he defies any ability of the Jewish people to conceive of their physical homeland or to apply modern requirements of security:

Nor is there any connection between the size of the country and Zionism. If the Arabs had accepted the partition plan in 1947, the State of Israel within the partition borders would have been just as Zionist as it is within different borders.

Size is not important he insists:

If the State of Israel had conquered and annexed the east bank of the Jordan and repealed the Law of Return, it would have ceased being Zionist even though it would be three or four times the size. The state was Zionist when it controlled the Gaza Strip, and it was just as Zionist after it withdrew from it. Many countries have seen changes in the size of their sovereign territory, but their core identities remained intact.

Of course, it works the other way - if we have too little territory, we have no state, no economy, no security and so, given the Arab hostility, since 1920, which does not predicate their terror on any borders or expanse of land, are you an anti-Zionist if you insist Jews must yield and surrender and compromise despite all the animosity?

Does he require the proposed "Palestinian state" to include Jewish citizens just as he fights for Arab rights in Israel when he writes this?

Moreover, it’s almost certain that there will be a similar law [as the Right of Return] in the Palestinian state that I hope will be established, speedily and in our days. It would behoove that state to legislate a law of return that would enable every exiled Palestinian to return to the Palestinian state and obtain asylum and citizenship. But neither the Israeli Law of Return, nor a similar law in the future Palestinian state, contradict general immigration laws that set specific entry criteria, as is customary in every country of the world.

And here come the liberationist ideology:

Liberating the concept of Zionism from all the appendages and addenda that have adhered to it would not only clarify the ideological and political arguments we have among ourselves, and thus prevent these disputes from being mythologized, but it would also force critics abroad to clarify and focus their positions.

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Sweep Those Lands Swaps Away

Dani Dayan has an op-ed in today's Haaretz.


Take land swaps off the table


The lead-in:

The territorial exchanges Israel once offered the Palestinians in return for peace were never obligatory and are no longer practical.

Extracts:

A few words uttered in English by an Arab prime minister excited – perhaps even electrified – the few who still believe the conflict in the Middle East can be resolved with the establishment of a Palestinian state west of the Jordan River..."comparable and mutual agreed minor swaps of the land." 

...The Palestinian Liberation Organization’s position on the issue known as “territorial exchanges” has been that the Palestinian state must encompass 6,205 square kilometers. The Qatari statement on this principle, which includes six conditional words and a thirteen-word sentence, may come close to the Palestinian position, but stops some distance from it. So what’s the great accomplishment here...

At any rate, there is an important lesson for us to learn from the Qatari proposal: Any Israeli concession quickly becomes a fait accompli for the Arabs, which Israel is expected to honor indefinitely.
 
...I can only imagine what Rabin's sarcastic response would have been if someone had told him Israel had to “compensate” the Palestinians for the Western Wall Plaza and the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

...If it is not too late to do so, this is a good opportunity for Israel to take the concept of “territorial exchange” off the table. The repeated attempts to destroy Israel will be reflected in the permanent borders, if any are ever agreed on. The war of annihilation the Arabs began against the nascent State of Israel in 1947 forever wiped out the borders of the UN Partition Plan for Palestine, and the repeated attempts to destroy Israel in 1967 forever wiped out the Green Line, or Israel's borders prior to that year. The demand for territorial compensation for a failed attempt to destroy Israel is absurd and immoral.

It is also impractical. Since the Six Day War, Judea and Samaria have been filled with thriving Jewish communities that constitute an irreversible fact...

And I add what I just previously posted.

Swaps are a non-starter with the Pals.

^

With Thanks to Arrested Development

.

and another:

Here:

Dr. Fishman: Excuse me, are you the Bluths?

Lucille: ...How's my son?

Dr. Fishman: He's going to be all right.

Oscar: Oh, thank God.

Lindsay: Finally, some good news from this guy.

Dr. Fishman: That's a great attitude. I gotta tell you, if I was given this news, I don't know if I would take it this well.

Lucille: But... you said he was alright.

Dr. Fishman: Yes. He's lost his left hand, so he's going to be all right.

^

Meet a Pal. Professor

I learned from here that

Prof. Mustafa Kabaha [Kabha], Department of History and Philosophy at the Quds Open University [his Ph.D., Aranne School of History, Tel-Aviv University and that 'Quds Open University' is just the Israeli Open University], said that the Israeli occupation seeks to blur and thieve the Palestinian identity and history...Israeli authorities started renaming the Palestinian towns, cities and streets in order to impose the Israeli ideological, religious, and national control over the Palestinian territories in an attempt to falsify the land’s history...Kabaha revealed that there is an Israeli committee specifically charged with Judaizing and changing the Palestinian Arab names.

P.S.  I have his book -  The Role of the Press and Journalistic Discourse in the Arab Palestinian National Struggle, 1929-1939 - on my shelf, actually.

About that committee - no revelation required.  It is well known.

But as to who is a-thieving, and stealing and expropriating historical identity, first of all, "Palestinianism" is a model of disinventivity nationalism.  Not only do they invent their own narrative but they disinvent Jewish history.

The Tomb of Rachel. Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs. The Temple Mount. Jerusalem Denial.  The whole UNESCO campaign.  All, and the entire Land of Israel, have been the subject of incessant Islamic reinvention.

My home town - Shiloh - became Seilun and the Pal. Minister for Archaeology denies its past.

With "intellectuals" and "academics" as he, they aren't going anywhere fast.

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You Can Turn Around and Go Back Home, Sec'y Kerry

He has spoken:

Sheikh Dr. Ikrima Sabri, head of the Supreme Islamic Council and the Al Aqsa Mosque preacher, issued a Fatwa prohibiting Land Swaps with the occupation which was recently accepted by the PA and the Arab league.

Palestine is the land of gathering (mahshar) and the Resurrection (Manshar) therefore it is not for sale nor for compromise, he said.  The Palestinian land, he continued, is a purely Islamic endowment, and no one is entitled to compromise or swap an inch of it.

Imagine, instead of getting p*ssed off at us Israelis, why don't you slam about the Pals.?

A late night phone-call rant to Abbas?

Asking Haaretz why they didn't alert you?

Requesting Peace Now to review Pal. Authority like they do Israel?


_________________

Found the Arabic source:

 وأضاف في خطبة الجمعة اليوم في المسجد الأقصى "إن فلسطين هي أرض الإسراء والمعراج وأرض المحشر والمنشر ، وبالتالي فإنها غير قابلة للبيع أو المتاجرة أو المفاوضات أو المساومات"

وتابع "أرض فلسطين هي وقف إسلامي ومباركة و لا يوجد مسلم في جميع أنحاء المعمورة يملك الحق في التنازل عن أية ذرة تراب من أرض فلسطين والموافقة على مشروع الوطن البديل أو تبادل الأراضي"، معتبرا انه " فشلت كافة الطروحات والحلول للوطن البديل أو تبادل الأراضي لأن فلسطين أرض مقدسة ولا مجال للتنازل عنها"

He said in his Friday sermon today in the Al-Aqsa Mosque "Palestine is the land of Isra and Miraj place of gathering and Manshar, and therefore they are not for sale, trade, or negotiations or haggling"

"The land of Palestine is Islamic waqf, and blessed, and there is no Muslim in all parts of the world has the right to waive any corn dust from the land of Palestine and to approve the draft alternative homeland or exchange of land," adding that he "failed all proposals and solutions to the homeland alternative or exchange of land because Palestine is holy ground with no room to give them "

 

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Is Israel Expecting Too Much From the Obama?

.

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Here Come the Rough Riders

An amazing video of the inauguration of the Shiloh Bloc terrain bicycle (or, tout terrain or mountain cycling or rough riding) route last week.

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Being Jewish Is The Problem

Did you know that

In Saudi Arabia, the public practice of any religion other than Islam is prohibited, and the government enforced restrictions on religious freedom. The government reportedly deported foreigners for worshipping privately…In Iran, the arrest and harassment of members of religious minorities, including Sunni Muslims, increased significantly. There continued to be reports that the government imprisoned, harassed, intimidated, and discriminated against people because of their religious beliefs.

That’s from the today-released US Religious Freedom report.

Also in there is this:

The 1967 Protection of Holy Sites Law protects the holy sites of all religious groups…A government policy since 1967, repeatedly upheld by the Supreme Court and routinely enforced by the police, who cite security concerns, denies non-Muslim worship and prayer at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif. While the government ensures limited access to the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif to everyone regardless of religious belief, only Muslims are allowed to pray at the site, although their access is occasionally restricted due to security concerns. The Israel National Police regulates traffic in and out of the compound and removes non-Muslim visitors if they appear to be praying.

The Jordanian-controlled Jerusalem Islamic Waqf that manages the site generally restricts non-Muslims from entering the Dome of the Rock shrine and Al-Aqsa Mosque, a practice it started in the year 2000. The Waqf does not allow non-Muslim religious symbols to be worn on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif.

As I just blogged, UNESCO's delegation has been rebuffed, at present.

While this sounds encouraging, last week almost 100 schoolchildren could not enter the Temple Mount compound not because they were going to pray but because their visit was a learning tour to become acquainted with the Shavuot Festival Temple Service.

Members of Knesset virtually have to sneak up to the Mount and one is a target for discrimination.  The Knesset’s Interior Committee, headed by Miri Regev, after being forced to cancel a fact-finding tour,  discussed the issue of freedom of religion on the Temple Mount and was supplied with misleading information when told by a Foreign Ministry lawyer that Jordan possesses “international authority” to administer the site.  

Freida Yuval, deputy head of the Jordan desk in the Foreign Ministry, went on to say that allowing Jews free worship on the Mount would “awaken the entire world,” and bring about another intifada.  She did admit that 30 MFA staffers visited the Mount that week – unidentified – and managed to enter with no problems. 

Of course, that is the problem: you cannot be in any way Jewish there.

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UNESCO Denied

Two weeks ago, I expressed reservations over Israel's government's decision to agree to having UNESCO involved in Jerusalem and specifically the Temple Mount.

And now:

On Monday 20th May, Hebrew-language sources reported that Israel decided to cancel a planned visit by a delegation from UNESCO, the United Nation's cultural organization, to the occupied Jerusalem.  Sources from the Israel's Foreign Ministry said that the decision came on claim that the Palestinians had "politicized" the delegation, who is planned to come to Jerusalem to inspect the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation in occupied Jerusalem and on its holy sites.

From Palestine News Network

The Arab-language version:

the Israeli occupation forces today prevented a delegation from "UNESCO" of the United Nations from entering the occupied city of Jerusalem to prove changes in the sightseeing of ancient Palestine, which is incumbent on the international community to work to ensure the protection of Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.The UNESCO has sent a delegation to visit the city of Jerusalem to make sure there'll be no change Islamic landmarks in the city, and claimed that the Israeli occupation forces prevented the delegation came under the pretext that the Palestinian side contradicted promise not to "politicize" the visit and gave her a picture as if they form an international investigation committee.The center of the "protection" of human rights, that the actions of the occupation forces to prevent the mission from visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque as an attempt to hide their activities Judaization of the holy city, and this constitutes an obstacle important and essential against the requirements of justice advocated by human rights principles and norms of international law relevant.

Are we saved?

Haaretz thinks so:

 

Israel nixes UNESCO Jerusalem visit, alleging Palestinians tried to make it political

Foreign Ministry rescinded its offer to let a team from the UN cultural agency inspect historical sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, saying the Palestinians violated a prior agreement that the visit be apolitical.

JPost confirms:

Israel nixes UNESCO J'lem delegation at last minute 

Israel on Monday called off a planned visit by a delegation from UNESCO, the United Nation’s cultural organization, to inspect preservation work in Jerusalem’s Old City, saying that the Palestinians had "politicized" the delegation.

"The delegation as a delegation has been postponed," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

"The Palestinians violated all the agreements we had with UNESCO: that this was to be a purely professional, not a political visit," he said.  The official said the Palestinians asked to introduce a "slew" of political elements into the visit, with PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki characterizing it as a fact-finding commission to investigate Israeli steps in Jerusalem.

The spokesman said that contrary to an agreement brokered in April at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, the PA was now insisting on taking the delegation to the Temple Mount, and meeting with Palestinian political  personalities, not just "engineers, architects and professional people".

"We have said this was unacceptable" the spokesman said. "Hopefully the delegation is postponed, and not cancelled."

...The Foreign Ministry was to host the delegation, a ministry official said, since Israel is “the responsible party for maintaining and preserving” the site.

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From the Graphic Zionism Series

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Obama Against Anat Kam

If US President Barack Obama, the darling of progressives, said:

press freedoms must be balanced against the protection of U.S. personnel overseas

regarding the recent press scandal, what was the big deal here in Israel over Anat Kam and her semi-espionage actions with Haaretz's Uri Blau?

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Low-Intensity Conflict Security Report #78

Low-Intensity Conflict Security Report #78


These reports are translated and publicized by Yehudit Tayar for Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron with the clearance and confirmation of the IDF.  Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron is a voluntary emergency medical organization with over 500 volunteer doctors, paramedics, medics who are on call 24/7 and work along with the IDF, 669 IAF Airborn Rescue, the security officers and personal throughout Yesha and the Jordan Valley, and with MDA.

We, the volunteers of Hatzalah Yehudah and Shomron go out to rescue anyone who needs our emergency medical assistance; including civilians, military and Arabs also those within the PA territories. (with IDF presence) To us a life is precious and we go out at risk leaving home and family or stopping on the road to rescue anyone in need.



The week of May 6 – May 13, 2013

13 Israeli citizens injured from violent attacks during the week.

5 civilians injured from rocks in Bet Umar, 1 civilian injured very seriously and 1 moderately injured from blows of clubs by Arab rioters

IDF solider injured in his leg at the Post Junction at Atzira A-Kablia, an officer of the tracking unit was injured in his forehead from a marble that was thrown at him, Border Policeman was injured at B'alin possible fracture in his arm, policeman injured moderately in his face from rocks thrown at the Mt. of Olives, 2 policemen were injured by various objects thrown on them by rioting Arabs at the Temple Mount.

2 explosive devices thrown at Kever Rachel, pipe bomb thrown from passing vehicle near the entrance of Ma'aleh Adumim, a similar device was thrown on the security fence of Neve Zuf.

At least 16 Molotov Cocktail attacks were reported to our command center: 6 thrown on IDF patrol at El Arub and 1 on Israeli vehicle, 2 thrown towards the IDF base at Atarot, 1 thrown at vehicle passing Luben A-Shrakia, 2 thrown at Policeman's check-post, 1 at the IDF  post at Bet Umar, 2 thrown at car and bus at Bet Anun, 2 more that were found ready to be thrown.

3 Arab terrorists were caught near Bet Fa'jar, 1 Arab armed with a hunting rifle was caught near Duma, 3 Arabs suspected of being terrorists were caught with a hunting rifle near Itamar

Dozens of rock attacks towards civilian cars in which many women and children drive and towards military vehicles: Gush ETzion-Hevron Highway at El Arub and Bet Umar, Hevron near the spring, Halhul, Crosss Judean Highway and Chrusa triangle in the Southern Hevron Hills, Tekoa Har Homa Road, Arab Tekoa, Luben A-Shrakia, Postman's Junction, Highway 55, Highway 446, Highway 443.



May 13- 20, 2013

Injured from terror attacks during the past week:

7 IDF soldiers were injured, also 2 civilians and 7 policeman and Border Patrolmen: 1 IDF officer injured from a marble thrown at him and another officer injured from rocks at El Arub, 4 IDF soldiers by miracle were only moderately injured when a Molotov cocktail caused their jeep to overturn at Meshulash Horsa, 1 IDF  soldier injured at Bet Umar from rocks.

Israeli bus driver injured moderately near Petzael in the Jordan Valley from rocks, 1 civilian injured moderately when attacked by Arabs on the way to the Kotel (Western Wall), 3 policeman injured moderately from rock attacks by Damascus Gate, Jerusalem, 1 Border policeman moderately in his leg from rocks at Betunia, 3 Border policemen near  Silwad.

2 improvised grenades thrown at Kever Rachel, pipe bomb discovered and safely detonated at the northern entrance to Efrat.

Molotov cocktail attacks: 4 at IDF post at El Arub, 5 caught when 5 Arab terrorists were ready to throw them at Hawara, 2 towards Israeli vehicle near Naa'lin, 1 at Kiryat Netafim, 2 at IDF force at Horsa

2 rocket attacks near the Hermon in the north of Israel

Partial report of rock attacks on innocent Israeli travelers and IDF during the past week in the following places:

El Fuar, Bet Anun, Sussia-Maon Highway in the Southern Hevron Hills, Horsa Triangle, Policeman's check-post, and other areas in Hevron, Halhul, Spring Turnoff, Bet Umar, El Arub, Efrat northen Junction, El Hadar, Husan Bypass Road, Arab Tekoa, Kever Rachel, Adam-Hizma, Luben Ashrakia, near Ophra, Dir Abu MIshal, Betunia, Je'alzon, Calandia, Kocahv Yaakov, Misra El Kablia, in the almond  grove of Yitzhar, Hawara, Mevo Dotan, Punda, Jordan Valley Road near Petzael.

Your US Tax Dollars Are Funding BDS

Over the years, I have posted several blogs critical of the policy of the American Consulate-General in Jerusalem in supporting, exclusively Arab-oriented activities such as student grants, workshops, sports, artistic, cultural, musical programs, exhibitions, and much more.

A synopsis:

These are discriminatory policies pushed by the American Consulate-General in Jerusalem.  A rather disturbing pattern of behavior has emerged that would point to a need for Congressional review and oversight procedures.
 

Except for matters of passports, visas and birth registration, all other activities, whether social, educational, scientific, cultural or even relating to sports and the arts, are so restricted that no Jewish American citizen, and for sure no Israeli Jew, who lives in the area supervised by the Consulate, can benefit from or take part in.  They are intended for Arabs solely.  They include workshops, shows, exhibitions and student grants, among others.

Jews resident in the area of Judea and Samaria face a policy of exclusion.  That, I suggest, would seem to be unconstitutional and illegal.  And most probably illegitimate.  In the same geographical area under the Consulate’s jurisdiction there exist two separate and not equal populations.  A look at the Consulate’s web site will confirm my claims.

And now, this:

Due Diligence and Accountability? The Negative Impact of U.S. Government Funding for Mideast Political NGOs

NGO Monitor May 20, 2013

Executive Summary 

Introduction

National Endowment for Democracy

United States Agency for International Development

Middle East Partnership Initiative

United States Institute of Peace

Appendices

Executive Summary

This NGO Monitor report relates to U.S. government funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that operate in Israel and the Palestinian Authority, specifically to groups whose activities contribute to the political campaigns designed to demonize and delegitimize Israel.

Our detailed analysis shows that, in many cases, these NGO activities directly contradict U.S. government support for peace efforts and for promoting Palestinian democracy. Grants are awarded without due diligence, there is no requirement for independent evaluations prior to grant renewals, and there are pronounced inconsistencies between stated objectives and the implementation of funded projects.

Recommendations include publication of clear guidelines and criteria whose violation would eliminate an NGO from consideration, and the independent and systematic monitoring of the activities of the NGO grantees (replacing reliance on claims made by the NGOs themselves). 
Key Findings

1. NGO Monitor has analyzed U.S. government funding for NGOs claiming to promote peace and human rights in the context of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The report documents artificially narrow and misleading criteria in assessing grant proposals, resulting in funding for NGO applicants whose activities sharply contradict program objectives and policies, as well as reliance on evaluations from the NGOs themselves, rather than independent analysis.

2. The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) funds political advocacy NGOs that promote BDS (boycotts, divestment, and sanctions[1]) campaigns targeting Israel, and contributed to the discredited Goldstone Report (2009) on the Gaza war and other forms of demonization.  This activity is entirely inconsistent with U.S. policy. NED-funded groups include Al-Dameer, Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, Holy Land Trust, MIFTAH, Palestinian NGO Network, Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (Palestinian).

3. NED funded MIFTAH ($178,740; 2007-2012), a Palestinian NGO centrally involved in anti-Israel campaigns and antisemitism, including repetition of the infamous blood libel and allegations of “the slaughter of Palestinian children,” “massacre,” “cultural genocide,” “war crimes,” and “apartheid.” NED officials acknowledged that in evaluating MIFTAH’s proposal involving youth leadership they did not consider the NGO’s wider activities. In providing renewals for six years, NED reported relying on MIFTAH’s own evaluations, without any independent examination.

4. USAID funds a number of Israeli political advocacy NGOs, including Parents Circle Family Forum, Keshev, H.L. Education (Geneva Initiative), and Windows – Channels for Communication. The presentations and political activities of Parents Circle Family Forum ($1.61 million from USAID, plus $120,000 from USIP, 2010–2013) often promote a one-sided narrative of the conflict. The activities of this NGO are the subject of intense controversy and criticism in Israel, particularly from other bereaved parents who do not share the political views. (Appendix 10-11).

5. Windows’ “Youth Media Program,” ($750,000 from USAID, 2010–2013) is described as “a tool for Israeli and Palestinian participants to learn about each other and to communicate with each other about the conflict.” However, this program has become a platform for incitement and promotion of conflict, including comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany. The degree of supervision exercised over the use of funds is unclear.

6. Officials from Sikkuy, funded by USAID, have published opinion articles that include allegations of racial discrimination and have contributed to efforts to portray Israeli Arabs as an indigenous minority subject to discrimination, as part of a wider political process seeking to delegitimize the recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

7. A number of NGOs have received U.S. government funds in multiple years and from multiple funding frameworks. The evidence suggests that officials involved in administering the funding do not have the information necessary to assess the overall activities and agendas of the NGO grantees, or to verify claims in the NGO submissions and reports.

8. USAID funds a number of Israeli political advocacy NGOs that are directly involved in central domestic political debates, raising questions about interference in the Israeli democratic processes.

In a recent letter I had published in the Jerusalem Post which included this:

Most recently, the Consulate is promoting The Women2Women International Leadership Program, a 10-day summer exchange program.  A condition of student eligibility is that "nominees must be Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, the West Bank, or Gaza Strip".  This wording neatly excludes Jews, whether they live in Ramat Eshkol, Rechavia or Shiloh.  Is that an American democracy value?

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Another Pal. Pallywood Prevarication

Last Tuesday, I caught out our neighbors prevaricating about a supposed fire we set that destroyed Arab trees and crops.

It was all a lie.

And now they are doing it again, or at least, trying to do so.

Don't believe them.

They've published this:

UPDATED WITH VIDEO: 
13 year-old boy shot at by settlers, tortured by soldiers, denied medical attention

19th May 2013 | International Solidarity Movement, Team Nablus | Qaryut, Occupied Palestine

UPDATED: The 13-year-old Qaryut boy attacked by settlers on 16 May completed an operation on his lower leg and foot on Friday and has since been released to recover at home. He also provided a full account of his attack and the time he spent in an Israeli jeep untreated and tortured for information he neither had nor could speak of due to the pain from his untreated injury.

The boy said he was alone on his land near the illegal settlement of Eli when he was attacked. His friend was coming to join him when settlers began shooting at the boy. He ran, but fell from a big drop in the land, being on the mountainside. Settlers pursued him but he dragged himself on his stomach by some bushes. He was in great pain but kept quiet, afraid of settlers or soldiers finding him and continuing to attack him. After some time, his phone rang when his sister and friend called him. The soldiers then found and descended on him, threatening him with their guns while he lay, unable to move, on the ground.

Below is video [shot by B. Qaryoute] of the boy’s harassment when the Israeli soldiers found him; the video is taken in the village area down the mountain from the nearest illegal Eli settlement houses, in view of the land where the boy was attacked. He said that the soldiers and settlement security official (DCI) threatened to kill him.

No one from the village could come to the boy’s aid for risk of being shot at by the soldiers. Local Red Crescent representatives said that a man from the municipality was with the soldiers and was told that the boy would be treated in an Israeli ambulance and possibly taken to an Israeli hospital. However, as the Red Crescent, the boy’s family, solidarity activists and nearby villagers waited, watching the soldiers on top of the mountain for two to three hours, the boy was untreated and tortured by Israeli army officials for information. “They said I was trying to set fire to the land by the settlement; they said I was with three others and had a lighter and a firebomb,” the boy said. “They would twist my leg every ten minutes or so when I would not give them names [of those with whom he was accused of conspiring].” The boy said he was also beat for information.

The boy’s interrogators also told him they had pictures him, evidence against him, and that a soldier had seen him. “Why don’t you ask the soldier, then?” the boy said. Reportedly the response to this question was, “No, I want to ask you.”

Finally, the local Red Crescent brought an ambulance to the entrance of the illegal settlement where they were given the boy, untreated. The boy’s grandfather said that his grandson’s flesh near his ankle was open, his leg wobbly, and black flesh showed from the boy’s yet untreated injury. The Red Crescent immediately took the boy to the nearest hospital in Nablus: Rafedia hospital 30-45 minutes away. 
When solidarity activists saw the boy, his entire right leg was wrapped in a cast. Later he described that he was sitting on his land which is close to an illegal Israeli settlement bordering Qaryut and famous for attacks such as olive tree torching. Settlers shot at him and he ran from the shots. When he fell, the settlers beat him and were going to kill him, but soldiers arrived and told the settlers could not. Afterwards, the soldiers also shouted at the boy with guns pointed at him.
The boy may undergo surgery for his broken bones.
Just two days before this attack, Qaryut faced an olive tree torching attack from another nearby illegal Israeli settlement and the village has a history of well-documented settler attacks on its land.  In addition, Israeli military have closed a Qaryut road to Nablus and Ramallah for Palestinian use as the road is not far from illegal Israeli settlements on Qaryut land. Currently, 15 mostly young Qaryut men have been arrested for activism in peaceful demonstrations against the key road’s closure.

The simple truth is that that boy and his friend attempted to infiltrate the HaYovel neighborhood of Eli.

The alert system caused soldiers to begin scouting the area, which is not far from Qaryut.  Seeing that they were about to be discovered, they two fled.  One managed to escape while the other fell while descending the terraced hillside and severely fractured his leg.

He lay there for at least 20 minutes, undiscovered.

Once he was spotted, the first concern was that he had a bomb on his body and you can observe them approaching him with extreme caution.  His injury was not immediately apparent until the soldiers drew close.

They did not torture him. 

They did call an ambulance which, after a complicated extraction off the slope, transferred him to a Red Crescent ambulance with due haste.

All the rest is lies, fabrications.

Again,, the Pals. or the ISMers, perhaps, engaged in a Pallywood production.

Worse, as I suspect, they sent the kids off of a mission so they could film perhaps a real death and thus create a martyr.

These people are dangerous - dangerous to Arab children.

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