TacticalMiddleEast

«THE TEMPLE WAS never in the Holy City [Jerusalem], and was absolutely never on the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque».

This is a statement of Mahmoud Al-Habbash, PA Minister of Agriculture and Welfare. It has been recorded on Palestinian TV, (PA TV, April 16, 2009).

«The Jewish connection to Palestine is a myth»

«They [the Jews] base themselves on myths and invoke the Jewish religion and Jewish faith, despite the fact that the truly religious Jews truly believe – and they have stated this on more than one occasion».

Dr. Marwan Abu-Khalaf, director of the Archaeological Institute at Al-Quds University. He made this statement on (PA TV, Feb. 27, 2009).

«Jerusalem is not a Jewish city». «The archaeological treasures in Jerusalem emphasize the depth of the city’s heritage and history; they emphasize its Arabness and refute the Israeli claims that it is a Jewish city… It is known that perhaps under every stone and in every corner, on every street and at every turn in Jerusalem there are relics. These relics say, «We are Arab, we are Muslim, we are Christian».

Dr. Marwan Abu-Khalaf, director of the Archaeological Institute at Al-Quds University. (PA TV, Feb. 27, 2009).

Source: Palestinian Media Watch:

My comment: There is no end of the anti-Jewish lies and propaganda on the Palestinian TV. There is no longer any difference between the rhetoric of Hamas and Fatah.

The Global infifada is on.

Radical Islam is working in tandem with United Nations, The Pope of Rome and World Council of Churches (WCC). There have agreed to work together until East Jerusalem is back on Islamic hands.

Radical Islam wants to see Israel face a tragic end. There shall be no Jewish homeland and nation in the Middle East.

Open your eyes. Stand up for Israel and the Jewish people.

(Contributed by News that matters)

THE GOVERNMENT AND settler organizations are working to surround the Old City of Jerusalem with nine national parks, pathways and sites. This will upgrade tourist facilities in the capital of the Jewish state. The plan was assigned to the Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA).

In a report presented to former prime minister Ehud Olmert on September 11 last year, the JDA described the purpose of the project as «to create a sequence of parks surrounding the Old City» all in the aspiration «to strengthen Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel».

If the program is implemented the public is granted, for the first time, a comprehensive view of how the government and settlers, working as one body. They will be creating a «biblical» territorial reign which connects Armon Hanatziv and Silwan in the south, Ras al-Amud and the Mount of Olives in the east, and Sheikh Jarra in the north, by connecting all of the land east of E-1.».

Source: Haaretz

My comment:

I feel this is another sign that the Jewish nation wants to make Jerusalem a praise to all the nations, making it a better holiday destination for people of all faiths. The leftist newspaper Haaretz is seeing a «conspiration» is this plan, trying to portray the government of Israel as colonialists. I regret this kind of attitude within Israel.

(Contributed by News that matters)

Recent UN report accuses Israel of failing to provide adequate construction conditions for East Jerusalem’s Arab residents, effectively “push”ing them to the only viable option: illegal construction.

The crisis is due to the failure of Israel to provide Palestinian residents with adequate planning, together with the expropriation of about one third of annexed East Jerusalem lands for the construction of settlements, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says in its latest report regarding the situation in the occupied Palestinian territory.

While about 190,000 Israel settlers currently live in East Jerusalem, Palestinians face significant obstacles to building and are confronted with a serious housing shortage, according to the report, entitled “The Planning Crisis in East Jerusalem: Understanding the Phenomenon of ‘Illegal’ Construction.”

Excessive delays, high fees and the uncertainty associated with the application process push many Palestinians to build without permits. According to OCHA’s conservative estimate, as many as 60,000 Palestinians in East Jerusalem are now exposed to the risk of house demolition.

OCHA (Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) then goes on to label Israel’s control of East Jerusalem as ‘occupation’ (despite the fact that UN failed to take control of Jerusalem in 1948, as it was supposed to):

Areas allowed for Jewish construction in and around Jerusalem - according to the UN - marked green, while areas prohibited to Jewish construction marked with red

For reasons unknown to us, UN report fails to note that Jerusalem municipal authorities fail to grant adequate permissions to all residents of Jerusalem – yes, including the Jews – with some waiting as long as three years or more to receive construction permits.

Another option – the only viable option for Jews – is to move to more rural areas, with construction costs lower than those of the city. In recent years, Jerusalem sees decline in its population, with younger generations leaving the city for less expensive zones. In past several years, Jerusalem municipality focused on building high-end apartments, particularly aimed at wealthy foreign nationals, who typically purchase such houses for seasonal dwelling. These buildings usually stand unoccupied for larger part of the year.

While uncomfortable, many Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem could move to countryside. This option is a tough one to take for most, as it would mean passing through West Bank check points daily (just as Jewish settlers in West Bank do). Yet, you cannot have it both ways here. Either you wait on permits, move outside the city or get your house destroyed. Israeli Jews face same issues – it’s just that the UN usually never underscores them.

Jerusalem's Malha mall

It had to happen to someone, I’m just sorry it was me: You might already know that my primary job is PC technician. In addition, I am constantly working on this blog, thus overall I carry a lot of equipment in my car.

Last night, I drove to Jerusalem’s Malha mall, a large (by Israeli standards) shopping mall in prestigious Malha neighborhood. I parked on an empty small and went in to look for a keyboard, which would not pain my wrists every single time I blog.

Someone probably blesses me and thanks God I did that, as when I returned, I discovered I’ve been robbed, with all possessions gone. Portable PC, PDA/GPS, iPod, camera, cell phone (work one, I had my personal phone on my), Bluetooth earpiece. Wok equipment was gone as well: hard drives, DVD burners, keyboard, mice, power supplies, CDs, USB sticks, and even screwdrivers – all war gone. The radio was obviously gone as well.

Eventually, I made it to the Moria police station, whose officers have Malha under their jurisdictions. The policemen were actually nice, and the people from CSI unit actually did a good job of finding fingerprints on car’s doors, as well as taking my own prints. They even assured me there’s a chance to get the bad guys.

I am definitely going through the five stages of dealing with grief right now (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance).

Judaism often forbids hate and often promotes love towards your neighbor. I am not religious man, thus I do not know if I am allowed to hate or not. But with all honesty I can say that I wish many bad things to happen to those people. I also hope they would get their testicles removed in worst way possible. Soon.

April 7th terrorist's vehicle, inspected by bomb squad

Three Border Police soldiers were lightly hurt when 20-years-old Azmi Awisat drove into BP formation guarding the area where a house of first bulldozer attacker was partially demolished. The man was then immediately shot by soldiers’ company commander:

Twenty year-old Iyyad Azmi Awisat, of the village of Jabel Mukaber, left Sur Baher in a white Seat vehicle and approached the Border Guard officers stationed at the checkpoint at the entrance to the village at high speed.

Awisat managed to hit three officers, causing light injuries to their legs, before being shot by their company commander.

…

“Suddenly we saw a vehicle driving towards us quickly and run over three officers. I realized immediately that it was a terror attack,” he recounted. “I cocked my M16 and fired a number of bullets at the terrorist.”

Al Jazeera, of course, provides us with an informative headline for the event: Israeli police kill Palestinian.

Obviously, the Israeli Arabs cry “they treat us like dogs”, probably thinking a terror attack is not a big deal when directed at Jews:

Zuhir Hamdan, the mukhtar of Sur Baher, called the killing of the terrorist “cold-blooded murder.”

On the attack itself, Hamdan commented, “It’s a lie. They treat us like dogs.” The mukhtar explained, “Up until now, I have controlled the village. From today, I no longer will. The response will come in the form of disturbances of the peace.”

For that matter, Israeli Arabs claimed all such attacks – including bulldozer attacks – are ‘traffic accidents’. You can view the video of the last bulldozer attack here. Watch closely, as the driver ‘accidentally’ rams into police car, then changes driving direction to ram it from the other side and the push it into a bus. What an ‘accident’!

In the meanwhile, Palestinians stoned a vehicle in West Bank near the Rachelim settlement, with the driver sustaining moderate injuries:

The stone shattered the car’s windshield and hit the driver’s head. The driver lost control of the car and rammed into the guardrail.

“The driver was bleeding from the head. We treated him at the scene and then rushed him to the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva for further treatment,” Magen David Adom paramedic Miki Nemesh said.

Current events – particularly starting with the Bat Ayin terror attack, where a 13-years-old boy was murdered – show worrying trends that could mean either: a) terror organizations, including Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah have decided to renew attacks due to the hard line taken by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government; or b) terror organizations have decided to pressure Netanyahu’s government into appeasement, by creating a sense of urgency and terror among Jewish population. We are only left to hope those tactics will not work.

"Apartheid. Apartheid, I say!"

While Israel’s dispersing of PA-sponsored ‘Arab culture day’ today seems like a disaster, PR-wise, the reason behind the block of events seems obvious as soon as you read this quote by PA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas:

“Jerusalem and its residents are at the top of our priorities. The occupation will be banished forever from Jerusalem and our lands. The Apartheid will be removed, and so will the racist separation barrier,” Abbas said.

According to Internal Security minister Avi Dichter, the reason for blocking the events is violation of interim agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which specifically says PA not allowed to sponsor or organize events inside Israel.

By the way, the ‘new word’ I was referring to was the ‘apartheid’ word. While not news in Palestinian repertoire, it is rarely heard from Abbas himself, who prefers referring to ‘occupation’ instead.

While to an outsider blocking cultural event seems barbaric, it is important to understand that the event clearly had as much political meaning as it had cultural. The fact that Hamas blocked the events in Gaza, clearly underscored the fact that PA organized the events in order to boost support for the Palestinian cause – and for Abbas’ cause in particular.

Abbas also added:

“We ask the world – how much longer will the destruction and killing and slaughtering continue? Do our people not deserve to live in peace and prosperity? Do they not deserve independence? Every new Israeli government must show its commitment to the peace process by honoring the principles of the two-state solution as the foundation for the peace process,” said Abbas.

To remind my readers: there is no slaughter or killing of Palestinians in the West Bank. In fact, WB residents live in relative peace for quite a while now, since the overall cessation of attacks by Palestinian terrorists (and successful prevention measures taken by Israeli security forces). The situation in Gaza, of course, is very different, though.

Abbas says nothing about Palestinians’ failure to comply with single resolution or agreement since 1994 Oslo peace accords, instead preferring to blame his political opponents – Israel and Hamas in failures of former Fatah chairman Yasser Arafat and his own.

Police officer protects civilian at the Western Wall compound from stone-throwing Palestinian crowds at the top of the Wall

Israel plans to build a new police station at the Western Wall compound. Well, it is not exactly new – it has been standing there for decades, but was destroyed few years back due to the fact that that the building was in an un-repairable condition. Now, however, Israel has found the funds to rebuild the structure – plan, which already has opposition:

Activists affiliated with the Islamic Movement in Israel are denouncing plans to build a police station in the Western Wall plaza, describing it as an attack on the nearby Aksa Mosque.

Now, look at this picture. Can you see many people there? That is where Israel plans to build the police station; it will be located at the backside of the compound, i.e. the by the left border of the picture. Can you see the golden dome at the background? That is the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Can you see there is a significant distance between the two? Besides, there is no way to reach the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound straight from the Western Wall compound (which you see on the picture) – you will have to walk the walkway you can see at the very right side of the picture.

I believe there is a particular reason for radical Muslim movements in Israel to oppose the rebuilding of the police station. Some of you may remember that in 2000, during the beginning of Al-Aqsa intifada, Palestinians used to throw stones from the higher-located mosque compound, to the lower-located Western Wall compound, hitting civilians and police officers trying to protect them. Constant presence of additional police forces (in addition to those already located at the entrances to the Al-Aqsa Mosque area) could hinder their efforts to kill several Jews from high up.

It should be noted that crime rate at the Western Wall is relatively high now, although we are talking about petty criminals. Pickpockets are common, and additional police personnel are required in order to stop attempts of robbery.

ICAHD's Jeff Halper

The European Union is really unhappy with Israel’s “illegal annexation” of parts of Jerusalem. Recent EU report says Jerusalem municipality is destroying houses of Palestinians by the dozens and builds more housing for the Jews – a clear annexation attempt by Israeli government. EU also uses  NGOs for their purposes, one of them is Israel Committee Against House Demolitions, a group of loony-toons protesting the demolition of Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem. The E. Jerusalem Arabs say they simply have no other option but to build illegally, as the municipality rarely gives permits.

Now, to be fair, there is a serious problem within Jerusalem ruling office. You can easily wait for a permit for months or even years. Most Israelis, however, choose to do the legal thing – and leave the city, which now suffers loss of young workforce.

EU’s report also says:

The EU report said that “long-standing Israeli plans for Jerusalem, now being implemented at an accelerated rate, are undermining prospects for a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem and a sustainable two- state solution.”

I’d say terrorist attacks undermine the prospects for a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, but the Europeans have kindly forgotten that part.