Pres. Hussein addresses Arab world

Suddenly its okay to mention Obama’s Muslim roots
Jan. 29, 2009

Where’s John McCain to the rescue? During the campaign, McCain chided anyone who used the current president’s middle name. Mention of the H word became taboo and labeled “fear mongering.” But where is that sentiment now?

Obama referred to himself by his full name when being interviewed by Al Arabiye, a Saudi-owned TV network, during an interview -- his first sit-down interview of his presidency. Apparently telling a pan-Arab television network about his Muslim ties is okay, just not the American press.

“I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries,” Obama told Hisham Melhem.

Obama’s father, Barack Sr., was born into a Muslim family – though he became an atheist before arriving in Hawaii, where Obama Jr. was later born. Obama spent four years as a boy in Indonesia – the world’s most populous Muslim country.

Hamas tried to hijack ambulances during Gaza war

Aussie reporter talks to civilians in the Strip
Jan. 29, 2009

Ambulance drivers in Gaza told The Sydney Morning Herald that Hamas was more of a threat than Israeli bullets. Drivers coordinated patient pick up with Israeli troops so they wouldn’t get shot at, but Hamas staged emergencies in order to get whisked out of harm's way.

Mohammed Shriteh, 30, an ambulance driver for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, said Hamas members would lure the ambulances into the heart of a battle to transport fighters to safety.

"After the first week, at night time, there was a call for a house in Jabaliya. I got to the house and there was lots of shooting and explosions all around," he said.

Because of the urgency of the call, Mr Shriteh said there was no time to arrange his movements with the IDF.

"I knew the Israelis were watching me because I could see the red laser beam in the ambulance and on me, on my body," he said.

Getting out of the ambulance and entering the house, he saw there were three Hamas fighters taking cover inside. One half of the building had already been destroyed.

"They were very scared, and very nervous … They dropped their weapons and ordered me to get them out, to put them in the ambulance and take them away. I refused, because if the IDF sees me doing this I am finished, I cannot pick up any more wounded people.

"And then one of the fighters picked up a gun and held it to my head, to force me. I still refused, and then they allowed me to leave."

Mr Shriteh says Hamas made several attempts to hijack the al-Quds Hospital's fleet of ambulances during the war.

"You hear when they are coming. People ring to tell you. So we had to get in all the ambulances and make the illusion of an emergency and only come back when they had gone."

Students at UN schools in Gaza learn war tactics

Instead of sticks and stones, rockets and stones
Jan. 29, 2009

The Associated Press reports from a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) school where a teacher was filmed asking children about their trauma during the war. The teacher told the children that Palestinians have to “wage war against them (Israelis) until they leave their land,” and asked her students, aged about 8, how they should react.

Two children in the class suggested hurling stones or rockets back at Israel. “Okay,” the teacher said, apparently summing up her class’ position. “We throw rockets at them, we throw stones at them,” she said.

The UN said such behavior is “completely unacceptable,” and that the teacher would likely be removed once identified. However, this points to UN’s repeated lack of neutrality in the conflict.

Sheikh Hussein on Al-Arabiye

Jan. 29, 2009

Let's start with something lighthearted, yes enlightening. I hope you have as much fun reading this as I did. Jules Crittenden is my new favorite writer:

Al-Hopiyah, Al-Changiyah!

In the rubble of the United Nations compound, Gaza City, partially blown-up Mortar Pit No. 6:

Farouk: Look, Achmed! Ali, come quick. The new Emir of Amerikiyah, Sheikh Hussein Obama, is being interviewed by al-Arabiyah! Even before he speaks to his own people upon the TV, he speaks to us! He speaks of our righteous Jihad against the filthy Zionists! It is true what they say … is he not charming?

I do think that it is impossible for us to think only in terms of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and not think in terms of what’s happening with Syria or Iran or Lebanon or Afghanistan and Pakistan. These things are interrelated. And what I’ve said, and I think Hillary Clinton has expressed this in her confirmation, is that if we are looking at the region as a whole and communicating a message to the Arab world and the Muslim world, that we are ready to initiate a new partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest, then I think that we can make significant progress.

Achmed: This is very interesting, Farouk. You see, he clearly agrees that the Zionist entity, as the root of all evil and discord within the lands of the Caliphate, must be swept into the sea. “Looking at the region as a whole.” What else can this mean, but that the Crusaders are prepared to submit to the brothers in Iraq and also to the wild ones of the Hindu Kush and Waziristan?

Ali: Be quiet, I am trying to listen, you donkey.

Now, Israel is a strong ally of the United States. They will not stop being a strong ally of the United States. And I will continue to believe that Israel’s security is paramount. But I also believe that there are Israelis who recognize that it is important to achieve peace. They will be willing to make sacrifices if the time is appropriate and if there is serious partnership on the other side.

And so what we want to do is to listen, set aside some of the preconceptions that have existed and have built up over the last several years. And I think if we do that, then there’s a possibility at least of achieving some breakthroughs.

Ali: “Strong ally.” It is the same from the House Negro as from his white masters, just as Sheikh al-Zawahiri has said.

Achmed: No, no, Ali, he said “breakthrough.” What can this mean but uniting Gaza with al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, and sweeping the Jews into the sea at Haifa? Along with their stove-lighting Fatah Shabbat monkeys.

Ali: Stop prattling, this part is important.

AL ARABIYA: … Let me take a broader look at the whole region. You are planning to address the Muslim world in your first 100 days from a Muslim capital. And everybody is speculating about the capital. (Laughter.) If you have anything further, that would be great.

Ali: Ha ha, yes. Which cell of brothers do we activate!?!

How concerned are you – because, let me tell you, honestly, when I see certain things about America – in some parts, I don’t want to exaggerate – there is a demonization of America.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Absolutely.

AL ARABIYA: It’s become like a new religion, and like a new religion it has new converts - like a new religion has its own high priests.

Ali: What is this piece of dried camel dung saying about new religions? This is haram.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Right.

AL ARABIYA:It’s only a religious text.

Achmed: No, Ali. Listen closely, I believe he is cleverly trying to entrap Barack Hussein, who has strayed from the religion of his fathers, in a tangled web of his own words.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Right.

AL ARABIYA: And in the last – since 9/11 and because of Iraq, that alienation is wider between the Americans and - and in generations past, the United States was held high. It was the only Western power with no colonial legacy.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Right.

AL ARABIYA: How concerned are you and – because people sense that you have a different political discourse. And I think, judging by (inaudible) and Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden and all these, you know – a chorus.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Yes, I noticed this. They seem nervous.

AL ARABIYA: They seem very nervous, exactly. Now, tell me why they should be more nervous?

Ali: Yes, good question. Opportunities for dividing the infidels and conquering have never been brighter!

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I think that when you look at the rhetoric that they’ve been using against me before I even took office .

AL ARABIYA: I know, I know.

Farouk: Ha ha, they should call this network “Al-Suckupiyah.”

PRESIDENT OBAMA: …What that tells me is that their ideas are bankrupt. There’s no actions that they’ve taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them.

In my inauguration speech, I spoke about: You will be judged on what you’ve built, not what you’ve destroyed. And what they’ve been doing is destroying things. And over time, I think the Muslim world has recognized that that path is leading no place, except more death and destruction.

Achmed: He speaks of blessed martyrdom!

Now, my job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect. I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries.

AL ARABIYA:The largest one.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: The largest one, Indonesia. And so what I want to communicate is the fact that in all my travels throughout the Muslim world, what I’ve come to understand is that regardless of your faith – and America is a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers – regardless of your faith, people all have certain common hopes and common dreams.

Farouk: It is true what he says! From al-Britainiyah to al-Indonesiyah, all across the Umma, people want to see Amerikiyah humiliated and the Jews pushed into the sea! Ha ha ha.

Ali: You goat! Did you not hear what he said? This is beyond haram!

Farouk: Oh, the multiculturalism. But Ali, the imam says every Friday that Jews, like Christians, must be protected for they are also Children of the Book! The ones that are not filthy Zionists and Crusaders, that is.

Ali: If I were to shake your head right now, Farouk, we would hear the rocks rattling around inside. Forget the Zionists. Of course we would protect them if they would just pay the Dhimmi tax and submit dutifully to the will of the Umma … which they do not! Knock the dust from your ears … this President Hussein has just admitted that the United States is an unprincipled, sinful nation which embraces even unbelievers! Idol-worshippers! Go straight to the Sword, do not pass Go! It is exactly as the Tall Sheikh has said. Al-Amerikiyah is in the grips of Shaitan. As it has been written, to save this nest of Godless contagion, we must destroy it!

Farouk: Wait, Ali. Listen. I think he is preparing to submit.

… my job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives. My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect. But if you look at the track record, as you say, America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there’s no reason why we can’t restore that. And that I think is going to be an important task.

But ultimately, people are going to judge me not by my words but by my actions and my administration’s actions. And I think that what you will see over the next several years is that I’m not going to agree with everything that some Muslim leader may say, or what’s on a television station in the Arab world - but I think that what you’ll see is somebody who is listening, who is respectful, and who is trying to promote the interests not just of the United States, but also ordinary people who right now are suffering from poverty and a lack of opportunity. I want to make sure that I’m speaking to them, as well.

Farouk: You see? In the nuanced language of diplomacy he has just pronounced, “There is only One God and Mohammed is … ”

AL ARABIYA: Tell me, time is running out, any decision on from where you will be visiting the Muslim world?

Ali: Yes, get it out of him!

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, I’m not going to break the news right here.

AL ARABIYA: Afghanistan?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: But maybe next time …

Ali: Well, nice try. You know, I am thinking, Farouk. Maybe there is something to what you say about Hussein Obama submitting his nation of filthy unbelievers of the Greatness of God.

… We’re going to follow through on our commitment for me to address the Muslim world from a Muslim capital. We are going to follow through on many of my commitments to do a more effective job of reaching out, listening, as well as speaking to the Muslim world.

And you’re going to see me following through with dealing with a drawdown of troops in Iraq, so that Iraqis can start taking more responsibility. And finally, I think you’ve already seen a commitment in terms of closing Guantanamo, and making clear that even as we are decisive in going after terrorist organizations that would kill innocent civilians, that we’re going to do so on our terms, and we’re going to do so respecting the rule of law that I think makes America great.

Achmed: Rule of law … did you hear that? He favors Sharia! You know he has ordered the closing of the hated Crusader Gulag of Guantanamo.

Ali: Oh, don’t speak of it! It was so horrible there! They made me fat and flushed my Koran down the toilet! Also, I was compelled to listen to the music of Shaitan very loud. “I love you, you love me!” all day long! It was hell. Only by the blessed and miraculous intervention of Allah was I released from this torture to resume my jihad.

AL ARABIYA: President Bush framed the war on terror conceptually in a way that was very broad, “war on terror,” and used sometimes certain terminology that the many people - Islamic fascism. You’ve always framed it in a different way, specifically against one group called al Qaeda and their collaborators. And is this one way of…

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think that you’re making a very important point. And that is that the language we use matters. And what we need to understand is, is that there are extremist organizations – whether Muslim or any other faith in the past – that will use faith as a justification for violence. We cannot paint with a broad brush a faith as a consequence of the violence that is done in that faith’s name.

And so you will, I think, see our administration be very clear in distinguishing between organizations like al Qaeda – that espouse violence, espouse terror and act on it – and people who may disagree with my administration and certain actions, or may have a particular viewpoint in terms of how their countries should develop. We can have legitimate disagreements but still be respectful. I cannot respect terrorist organizations that would kill innocent civilians and we will hunt them down.

But to the broader Muslim world what we are going to be offering is a hand of friendship.

Ali: Well, if he has been shaking hands with Jews I’m afraid that will be a no-go. But I see what you say, Farouk. From the subtlety of his speech it is clear he is preparing to submit. He says that it is his “language that matters.” Perhaps what he is saying he will use his words. No more of those damned Hellfires. That would be a tremendous relief.

Achmed: Yes, I see it, too. “Violence that is done in that faith’s name.” Clearly he speaks of righteous Jihad that must not be painted with brushes. “We can have legitimate disagreements but still be respectful” … Yes, of course, as long as everyone is up to date on their Dhimmi taxes.

Farouk: Also, he talks of “innocent civilians.” Any fool can tell you that does not include Zionists and unbelievers.

AL ARABIYA: Can I end with a question on Iran and Iraq then quickly?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: It’s up to the team…

AL ARABIYA: Will the United States ever live with a nuclear Iran? And if not, how far are you going in the direction of preventing it?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: You know, I said during the campaign that it is very important for us to make sure that we are using all the tools of U.S. power, including diplomacy, in our relationship with Iran.

Now, the Iranian people are a great people, and Persian civilization is a great civilization. Iran has acted in ways that’s not conducive to peace and prosperity in the region: their threats against Israel; their pursuit of a nuclear weapon which could potentially set off an arms race in the region that would make everybody less safe; their support of terrorist organizations in the past – none of these things have been helpful.

Ali: I must respectfully disagree. The Persians may be vile pigs, but they have been very helpful.

But I do think that it is important for us to be willing to talk to Iran, to express very clearly where our differences are, but where there are potential avenues for progress. And we will, over the next several months, be laying out our general framework and approach. And as I said during my inauguration speech, if countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us.

Ali: There he goes with the unclean hand again … But Farouk, I believe you have interpreted these remarks correctly. Clearly, after this time of great trials we are on the verge of a New Dawn of Ameriki Leadership, in which Crusaders and Jews have recognized the futility of resistance and will capitulate, Godless infidels will be put to the sword, and the Caliphate will be restored! All thanks to the vision of the dhimmi Hussein Obama!

By land or by sea

Hamas finds ways to get the weapons it needs
Jan. 27, 2009

Apparently tunnels aren’t enough. An Iranian freighter believed to be carrying weaponry for Hamas is currently docked in the Red Sea outside the Suez Canal and is being monitored by Israel. Egypt refused to permit it to cross the waterway to the Mediterranean.

The US Navy recently boarded an Iranian vessel that was carrying artillery shells and other weaponry, according to a report received at the Defense Ministry.

Israeli officials are concerned that Iran is trying to supply Hamas with new Grad-model Katyusha rockets and the Fajr missiles, both stronger and longer range than the homemade Kassam rockets.

The London Times reported that the US Navy in the Gulf of Aden has been instructed to track Iranian arms shipments to Gaza. Last week, the article claimed, troops from the USS San Antonio boarded a former Russian cargo vessel that was flying a Cypriot flag and was reportedly carrying weaponry destined for Hamas.

Israeli officials expect Egypt to take similar steps to uncover and destroy the smuggling tunnels on the border. Israel is sharing intelligence and tunnel-detection technology with its neighbor.

Germany is also on standby to deploy to Egypt four border police experts and equipment to detect the smuggling tunnels, according to a senior government in Berlin.

Palestine, a left-wing cause?

Jan. 27, 2009

For many leftists in Western countries, the Palestinian cause is adopted as one of their own. It automatically goes on the left's agenda. The funny thing though is that the left-wing agenda, for the most part, would be punishable by death in Palestine and other Muslim states.

Denis Maceoin, writing in the Jerusalem Post, draws some interesting parallels in his column, Marching for Hamas:

In a bizarre reversal of all their commitment to human rights and the struggle of men and women for independence and self-determination, the European Left has chosen again and again to side with the bullies and to condemn a small nation struggling to survive in a hostile neighborhood. It is all self-contradictory: The Left supports gay rights, yet attacks the only country in the Middle East where gay rights are enshrined in law. Hamas makes death the punishment for being gay, but “we are all Hamas now.” Iran hangs gays, but it is praised as an agent of anti-imperialism, and allowed to get on with its job of stoning women and executing dissidents and members of religious minorities. If UK Premier Gordon Brown swore to wipe France from the face of the earth, he would become a pariah among nations. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatens to do that to Israel and is invited to speak to the UN General Assembly.

Israel guarantees civil liberties to all its citizens, Jew or Arab alike, but it is dubbed “an apartheid state”; Hamas, ever the bully, kills its opponents and denies the rest the most basic rights, but we march on behalf of Hamas. The Left prefers the bully because the bully represents a finger in the face of the establishment? Almost no one on the Left has any understanding of militant Islam. Their politics is a politics of gesture, where wearing a keffiyeh is cool but understanding its symbolism is too much effort even for intellectuals.

Israeli general: Palestinians have never recognized our state

Former chief of staff, Lt.-Gen. Moshe “Bogey” Ya'alon, spoke at the Jerusalem Conference yesterday, noted that no Palestinian leader has ever recognized Israel's right to exist.

“We suffer from inertia in our way of thought. We pretend that there is a Palestinian entity which has recognized Israel. But from the dawn of Zionism there has not been an Arab movement that was willing to recognize Israel as the sovereign state of the Jewish nation. Mahmoud Abbas said it well before Annapolis: ‘Why should Judaism, this religion, have a state?’ But we didn't want to listen. We blur this in the political and public debate.”

“We pretend that the problem began in the Six Day War. But did the Arabs recognize us before the Six Day War? We wanted peace in exchange for territories, but we received terror for territories. And when we exited Gaza unilaterally, we received rockets for territory... After the Disengagement we went to Annapolis anyways. We didn't change the concept. Isn't this confusion?”

“We pretend that the conflict is the Middle East is a territorial one but it is a clash of civilizations. We retreat from Lebanon and we think that this will cancel the Hizballah's reason for existing but the exact opposite happens.”

“We must stop talking about territories for peace, about the division of Jerusalem, and let the Arabs in Judea and Samaria have autonomy. Just by talking about retreats we give jihadist Islam a boost.”

“We need leadership that doesn't say 'we are tired of fighting wars.' The nation is not tired and the army is not tired. If the leadership is tired it should be changed. As for another statement, that the state of Israel is finished if we do not return to the 1967 borders: time works in favor of whoever makes good use of it.”

Hamas' idea of a ceasefire: Bomb Israeli patrol, kill soldier

Jan. 27, 2009

A day after claiming it was seeking a year-long cease-fire, Hamas bombed an Israeli patrol, on the Israeli side of the border, killing one soldier and wounding three.

The powerful bomb was detonated under the soldiers' vehicle and was a flagrant violation of the cease-fire. Previous violations were the now acceptable mortars, many of which were launched at Israel last week, and various shootings at Israeli soldiers as they were on their way out of the Strip last week.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak called the incident "severe" and promised an Israeli response. The army said Hamas fired a rocket into the sea on Sunday to test the range of rockets still in its arsenal.

Bravo l'journalista Italiana

Grazie to reporter Lorenzo Cremonesi for doing a reporter's job: investigating claims
Jan. 22, 2009

A reporter from Italy's Corriere della Sera said no more than 600 people died in Gaza based on tours of hospitals in the Gaza Strip and interviews with families of casualties. He also interviewed many Gazans who accused Hamas of blatantly using them as human shields.

The story is reminiscent of 2002 when Palestinians claimed a "massacre" of 500 hundred Palestinians in a Jenin refugee camp at the hands of Israeli troops. In the end, the death toll was 54, most of them armed men.

The numbers of dead and wounded in Gaza were repeated by the Red Cross and the United Nations based on Hamas claims. Cremonesi said the wounded numbered far lower than 5,000.

"It is sufficient to visit several hospitals [in the Gaza Strip] to understand that the numbers don't add up," he wrote.

The hospital in Rafah showed many empty beds as did the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. In the privately-run Amal Hospital, Cremonesi reported that only five out 150 beds were occupied.

Gazans told the Italian how Hamas gunmen used civilians as human shields. One Gazan recalled civilians in Gaza shouting at Hamas and Islamic Jihad men, "Go away, go away from here! Do you want the Israelis to kill us all? Do you want our children to die under their bombs? Take your guns and missiles with you."

"Traitors, collaborators with Israel, spies of Fatah, cowards! The soldiers of the holy war will punish you. And in any case you will all die, like us. Fighting the Zionist Jews we are all destined for paradise. Do you not wish to die with us?" the religious fanatics of Hamas reportedly responded.

Other Palestinians told Cremonesi that Hamas operatives wore paramedic uniforms and commandeered ambulances. A woman spoke of Hamas using UN buildings as launch pads for rockets. The local population was terrified of Hamas, Cremonesi said.

Thank you Cremonesi for doing what a journalist should do: Find out for yourself rather than merely repeat the claims of both sides.

Peres honors Bush, deifies Obama

Jan. 21, 2009

Israeli President Shimon Peres to outgoing President George W. Bush:

"You have made a historic contribution to the entire world and the Jewish people in particular. Your call for two states for two people living. Had the world acted against Hitler the way you did against Saddam Hussein, the lives of millions would have been spared."

To President Barack H. Obama:

"Today is a great day not only for the United States of America, but for the entire world. Obama was elected by the United States, but as a matter of fact, he was chosen by the whole of humankind.

...I pray here in Jerusalem that Barack Obama will be a great President of the United States. If he will be a great President of the United States, he will serve all humankind, all nations and all persons"

Iran rushing to Hamas' aid

Islamic state promises better missiles this time
Jan. 21, 2009

And what, pray tell, will be coming through those hastily repaired tunnels we are writing about? (Fox News, by the way, had a reporter there with video footage if you can catch it on TV). The Jerusalem Post reports:

Iran has renewed efforts to supply advanced weaponry to Hamas and the IDF is concerned that the terror group will try to smuggle long-range Fajr missiles into the Gaza Strip.

According to the latest intelligence assessments, Iran, which was responsible for writing Hamas's military doctrine, has already launched an internal probe to determine how the plan it had created for Hamas failed to cause more IDF casualties.

Iran also promises combatants as well, if you can believe the government-run news service. More than 70,000 Iranian students have volunteered to carry out suicide bombings against Israel. According to the official IRNA news agency, hardline student leader Esmaeil Ahmadi said the students want to fight Israel in support of Hamas.

US military analysts: Israel won the battle but not the war

Jan. 21, 2009

"Israel did not want to destroy Hamas. I believe you should have," said Lt.-Gen. Thomas McInerney, a 35-year veteran of the US Air Force and a Fox News military analyst.

"Your leadership is too sensitive about world opinion. I know why Israel didn't [drive deeper into Gaza] - you have an election coming up and a new [US] president taking office, but you need to gain the freedom of operation in Gaza that you have in the West Bank."

Tough words from two US military analysts visiting Israel this week. Both said Israel stopped too soon and should've gone deeper into Gaza.

Lt.-Col. Rick Francona, a former US Air Force intelligence officer in several theaters and military analyst for NBC News, said the cease-fire was "just the end of this round, and that seems to be Israeli policy right now. The best Israel can go for is to manage the conflict until Hamas can be made to go away."

Terror war shifts once again to civil war in Gaza

Hamas goes back to targeting fellow Palestinians rather than Israelis
Jan. 21, 2009

Hamas members have executed several Fatah activists who may have collaborated with Israel during Operation Cast Lead and has rounded up hundreds, according to a Hamas official. The Hamas crackdown was ongoing during the fighting, but intensified after the cease-fire went into effect Sunday morning.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas's political wing, told Al-Sharq al-Awsat that his organization had executed several people who they believe helped the Israeli air force bomb key targets.

"We will bring to justice those who were involved in helping Israel mark the location of Interior Minister Said Siam," he said.

Indeed, Israel’s ability to find Hamas weapons caches, hideouts, tunnels and bunkers points to the work of Israeli intelligence services and the information obtained from captured militants and from Fatah officials who escaped, with Israel’s help, from Gaza.

“Israel must win against Hamas for the sake of the civilian population, both in Gaza and in the south of Israel,” said a close aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. “We have not forgotten how Hamas threw Fatah members from the roofs of Gaza to their deaths [around the time of the Palestinian civil war] in 2007.”

“Hamas is the source of evil,” Yousef, a 39-year-old taxi driver in Ramallah, told us. “Since Hamas was elected the devil governs Gaza.”

A Fatah official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that at least 100 of his men had been killed or wounded as a result of the massive Hamas crackdown and some had been brutally tortured.

He said that at least three of the detainees had their eyes gouged out by their interrogators, who accused them of providing Israel with wartime information about the location of Hamas militiamen and officials.

A Fatah activist in Gaza City claimed that as many as 80 members of his faction were either shot in the legs or had their hands broken for allegedly defying Hamas's house-arrest orders.

"What's happening in the Gaza Strip is a new massacre that is being carried out by Hamas against Fatah," he said. "Where were these [Hamas] cowards when the Israeli army was here?"

The activist said that Hamas's security forces had also confiscated cellular phones and computers belonging to thousands of local Fatah members and supporters.

Preparing the way for The One

Jan. 21, 2009

Israeli troops kindly withdrew completely from the Gaza Strip before Tuesday's inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as US president.

No one said, but every speculated, that the decision was linked with Israel's desire to get off to a smooth start with the new US administration. Government spokesman Mark Regev would not confirm the timetable.

If only Israel would prepare the way for the real Messiah as readily. Oy vey.

Hamas not sharing international aid? UPDATE: No patients showing up at medical help tent

In latest incident, armed men seize Jordanian aid in Gaza Strip
Jan. 21, 2009

A Jordanian news service reported that armed men seized a Jordanian aid convoy after entering the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. This is one of many reports that have come out during the past month of Hamas' pilfering of supplies.

Palestinians have complained about products meant to be distributed for free, being sold instead at sometimes three times the price. Again from Der Spiegel:

"A cylinder of natural gas used to cost 45 shekels (more than $10) before Hamas took power," says Uday Sakariya, an unemployed engineer. "Nowadays it costs 120." The price of a liter of diesel has risen by four shekels to 15 shekels, a can of chickpea paste from two shekels to 3.50, he says. "This is no life anymore."

The anger is directed not only against the Israelis, who imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip after the Hamas coup against the rival Fatah movement in 2007, but increasingly against the radical Islamists themselves. "Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt have been sending flour, sugar and milk powder, but the government is not distributing it -- they sell it!"

In the latest incident involving Jordanian aid, the armed men allegedly opened fire at drivers after crossing Kerem Shalom crossing point and forced them to head to their own warehouses.

Israel is also providing medical aid for wounded civilians and terrorists in Gaza. A facility has been set up at the border for the wounded. And civilians are pitching in too. As Operation Cast Lead drew to a close, hundreds of Israelis, including those from rocket-battered communities in the Gaza periphery, mobilized to help suffering civilians on the opposite side of the border with food and clothing collections.

UPDATE: However, no patients are showing up for free treatment at the hands of Israeli doctors.

"I spent the whole day there [Monday] and not one person came to us for help," said one doctor, who preferred to remain anonymous. "The people there are scared, scared of us and scared of Hamas. The clinic is an amazing thing but I can't blame them for not wanting to come to us. It is just very frustrating."

Tunnels: One man's cease-fire is another's rearmament

Jan. 21, 2009

No sooner did a cease-fire come into effect then Hamas went to work preparing for the next round. Der Spiegel reports on how some militants went to work clearing out the tunnels used for weapons smuggling:

It's clean-up time in the southern Gaza Strip. In the Brazil refugee camp, right on the border with Egypt, the operators of the infamous tunnels used to smuggle goods and weapons in from Egypt have come to assess the damage caused by the Israeli bombardment. A woman sits and wails in front of a pile of rubble which once must have been a four or five-story house. Her husband and children carry debris on to the street.

"Sure, there was a tunnel which started in the basement of this house," says Hassan, 28, who is employed as a tunnel digger four houses further on. ...

Before the Israeli offensive in Gaza started, a large proportion of the weapons being smuggled to Hamas came through the 200 to 400 tunnels along the 12-kilometer (7.5-mile) border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. It's true that the Israeli bombardment was massive, one of the tunnel diggers says, but only half the tunnels were destroyed at most.

..."Everything's okay," he gasps and lies down on the ground, breathing heavily. "A lot of sand has got in, it'll take us a while to shovel it all out. But I managed to get across to the other side. Our friends in Egypt send their regards."

Let the games begin.

Benjamin Netanyahu, a frontrunner in Israel's upcoming elections, provided a dour assessment on a job not done:

“The IDF has dealt Hamas some very hard blows on the head, but regrettably the job has not been finished,” he said. "Hamas still controls Gaza and it will continue to smuggle new missiles in through the Philadelphi Route. I believe that in the face of Hamas' terror and its Iranian backing, we must show no weakness and we must show a resolute, iron fist, until the enemy is vanquished.”

Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) head Yuval Diskin confirmed that some tunnels used for weapons smuggling remain intact and that Hamas would be able to rebuild the other tunnels within a few months.

Small tremor felt in central Israel

I'm baaaaaackkk!
Jan. 21, 2009

I'm no sure if it was the "immaculation" (Inauguration of the Immaculate One); Israel's army withdrawing from Gaza and then the mortars that chased them out; me starting to blog again after a long hiatus; or simply, actually just an earthquake, but a small tremor was felt throughout Israel on Wednesday morning.

The Geophysical Institute of Israel said that the epicenter of the 3.7-quake was in the Mediterranean, 25 miles off the Hadera coast.

I guess this small tremor does mark a shift of sorts. For one, there's a new president in the world's most powerful democracy. Secondly, Israel is completely out of Gaza now. Third, the rearmament of Hamas is well underway already.

Oh, and fourth, after a vacation in NY, a death in the family, and then the war in Israel and my job surrounding that war, I've neglected this section of cyber space. But I'm back with some wrap up of the war and what we can expect in the coming season.