And again: 25-year old murdered near Dolev
A 25-year old who was hiking near Dolev in Samaria on Friday was
murdered by 'Palestinian' terrorists, while another was lightly to moderately wounded (since the picture is of a car with bullet holes, I have to believe that the pair was driving up a dirt road from the trail on which they were hiking - another picture at the same link implies that).
One Israeli was killed Friday afternoon in a shooting in an area close
to the settlement of Dolev in the West Bank. A second was moderately
injured.
The victims were 25-year-olds hiking in the area and
bathing in a local spring. Rescue forces found the two sprawled
beside a car with shooting wounds.
One sustained critical injuries and was evacuated via an IDF rescue
helicopter to the Sheba Hospital at Tel Hashomer for further medical
treatment. He later died of his injuries.
The second youth, who sustained light injuries, was evacuated via ambulance to Sheba for further treatment.
The terrorist fled the scene.
Labels: drive-by killing, Palestinian terrorists, Samaria
Breaking: At least two wounded in drive-by terror attack in Samaria - UPDATED One critically wounded
There's been a drive-by shooting near the village of Dolev in Samaria, which police are describing as a
possible terror attack (Hat Tip:
SD (son # 3 child #6).
Initial reports Friday
afternoon suggested that at least two people were wounded after a
drive-by shooting near the Israeli settlement of Dolev in the West Bank.
More details when available.
UPDATE 4:49 PM
Here are some updates from Twitter:
Labels: drive-by killing, Palestinian terrorism, Samaria
And again: Terror attack in Samaria
There's been a terror attack at the Rechalim junction in Samaria. A 25-year old Israeli was shot by a passing car around sunrise, and has been taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikva in serious condition.
More here.
Labels: Palestinian terrorism, Samaria
IDF bars Jews from Homesh ghost town
The IDF has announced that it will bar the traditional pilgrimage of Jews to the
ghost town of Homesh in northern Samaria (the picture at the top is a view from the town, and yes that's the Hadera power plant and the Mediterranean Sea in the background). The Jews of Homesh were expelled from their homes by Ariel Sharon in 2005 in order to convince the 'Palestinians' that Israel wasn't only willing to sacrifice Gaza on the altar of a 'Palestinian state.' Every year since 2006, Jews have returned to Homesh on Passover to express their desire to return to live in the site.
The army ban comes on the heels of growing tensions between the
military and the religiously devout portion of the Israeli settler
community following the violent clashes in Yitzhar which left a number of Border Policemen injured.
Before
dawn Tuesday, security forces entered the settlement to carry out
demolition orders against homes that were built illegally. During the
operation, settlers attacked police and destroyed an army post.
...
The army’s decision to deny access to Homesh during Passover was met
with criticism by the religious Zionist camp. Orit Struck, a member of
Knesset from the pro-settler Bayit Yehudi faction, said the move
amounted to “collective punishment against a large constituency.”
“I
call on the defense minister to order that the event be permitted to
proceed as planned and to act against lawbreakers with means and norms
that befit a state of law and that do not include collective
punishment,” Struck said.
For those of you who voted for the Jewish Home party, they seem real effective, don't they?
Labels: Gaza expulsion, IDF, Samaria
#BDS_Fail: Winery tells Europe to stick it where the sun don't shine
Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.
The Tura winery, from the Samarian village of Rehelim, says that if Europe wants to boycott their award-winning wines, they will
do without Europe.
The winery has won many prestigious awards, including the “Oscar Award of Wine” in Israel's annual Golden Grapes competition in 2012, and gold medals in the Terravino
Mediterranean International Wine and Spirits Challenge in Jerusalem the
same year. It markets thousands of wines to America, Russia and China.
Next Sunday, Vered Ben-Saadon, who founded the winery in 2003 with
her husband Erez, will fly for another sales trip in the US. Speaking
to Arutz Sheva, Ben-Saadon noted that "for Purim and Passover our sales are at peak, 40% of our sales are in the United States and Canada.
"We go around the stores and restaurants and 'connect' them to our
product," remarked Ben-Saadon. "Our visitors' center in Rehelim is very
active, with people and tourists arriving all the time...over the years
I've kept addresses and made contact. We have many families that invited
us to meetings with communities and explanations on wine."
Ever since the "boycott trend" has started making waves, Ben-Saadon
notes her winery made a strategic decision. Their coping method: to
ignore Europe.
"I don't deal with it, I invest with those who want us. I produce
annually 26,000 bottles and I don't have enough for the whole world,"
Ben-Saadon noted. "If Europe isn't interested there are enough
Americans, Chinese and Russians crying out for good wines from Israel."
But according to another Samaria-based winery, there is one other place where Samarian wines are boycotted: Tel Aviv.
Yaakov Berg, CEO of Samaria-based Psagot Winery, revealed that the international boycott began in Tel Aviv.
"70% of our wines are sold in countries worldwide, and are in
prestigious restaurants in Manhattan, but not here in Tel Aviv," noted
Berg, warning the Tel Aviv boycotters that their discrimination against
their brothers will turn on them as the world increasingly follows the
trend against all of Israel.
We should just give the 'Palestinians'
Sheikh Munis if they leave us alone in Samaria.
Labels: BDS, Psagot winery, Samaria, wine
Bennett misses the point
Naftali Bennett made a nice sound byte by cynically suggesting that we
replace the IDF with an early warning system for the entire country.
In a Facebook posting Thursday, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett
questioned the wisdom of relying on technology to ensure Israel's
defense, as supporters of an Israeli withdrawal from the Jordan Valley
are suggesting. With cameras, electronic alarms, and other gadgets
“protecting” Israelis, asked Bennett cynically, “who needs the IDF”?
...
If those defenses will work in the Jordan Valley, how about in the
rest of the country, Bennett asked facetiously. “They want us to trade
in the IDF for 'smart' defense systems in the Jordan Valley.
“Here is another idea: Let's first install these systems on the Gaza
border, and see how effective these systems are in halting the ongoing
barrage of rocket attacks on southern Israel that we have experienced
since we gave up Gaza to the Palestinians. It would be like a pilot
program for the Jordan Valley surrender,” Bennett said.
And if it works in Gaza, would Bennett suggest that we withdraw from the Jordan Valley, which is topographically different?
The point is that the Jordan Valley is a stalking horse for what's really most problematic: Turning the high ground in Samaria over to the 'Palestinians.' That would be dangerous the day it God forbid happens. Turning over the Jordan Valley would be relatively less dangerous so long as Abdullah of Jordan remains in power. But Netanyahu is afraid to say that we can't turn over the populated areas of Samaria, so he's hiding behind the thinly populated Jordan Valley.
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Jordan Valley, Jordanian King Abdullah, Middle East peace process, Naftali Bennett, Palestinians, Samaria
Surprise (not): Former Generals say we can do without the Jordan Valley
In an earlier post, I told you that I believe that what Israel really needs for its security is the
mountainous areas of Samaria and not the Jordan Valley. A group of
former IDF Generals has now confirmed that. Well, sort of confirmed that.
The retired
generals, all members of the Council for Peace and Security, cast doubt on the
claim that the Jordan Valley is today an essential strategic
asset.
Maj.-Gen. (res.) Shlomo Brom, former director of the Strategic
Planning Division of the General Staff and a senior researcher at the Institute
for National Security Studies, called for “leaving the slogans behind” and a
purely strategic discussion of the consequence of leaving the Jordan
Valley.
Classic military threats from the east, characterized by an
invasion of organized Arab armies, vanished by the early 1980s, he argued, and
in recent years, “the reality has changed completely.”
Iraq as a military
power has disintegrated, and it will take “many years” before it can reappear on
the military map.
The threat of an Iraqi task force moving through Jordan
to attack Israel is nonexistent.
“There are no Iranian army divisions
threatening us. Iran does not have the ability to project ground-based military
power,” Brom said.
“It bought some Russian tanks, but most of its
investment is in surface to surface missiles, its navy, and its nuclear
program,” he added.
The Gulf Arab states are in a form of partnership
with Israel, and Jordan itself has an interest in maintaining a strategic
partnership with Israel that goes beyond the peace treaty, Brom said. Syria may
have thought of using Jordan as a staging ground to strike at Israel in the
past, but this threat is gone, too.
At the same time, Brom said, the IDF
has been at the forefront of a revolution allowing it to observe and strike
targets at a distance like never before.
He stressed the rapidly changing
nature of firepower and maneuvering, the introduction of long-range, standoff
weapons available to a range of platforms, and intelligence capabilities that
allow Israel to observe developing threats in real time; meaning that a future
threat can be dealt with differently.
“This changes the way of thinking,”
Brom said.
Asked about the threat of Jordan becoming a failed state, allowing
hostile military or terrorist forces to transit through it towards Israel, Brom
said that in such a scenario, the whole of Jordan would become a
battlefield.
Developing threats should be struck well before they reach
the Jordan Valley, he added. “It [the Valley] is today an artificial strategic
asset,” he said.
“My impression is that even [Prime Minister Binyamin]
Netanyahu and [Defense Minister Moshe] Ya’alon understand this.”
What about the Philadelphi corridor scenario of weapons smuggling? Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.
The
second type of threat inherent in leaving the Jordan Valley centers on the
possibility that it will turn into a second Philadelphi Corridor, like that on
the border between Gaza and Sinai, under which countless weapons have been
smuggled into the Strip. Not only weapons might cross the Jordan Valley, but
also “information and terrorists as well,” Brom warned.
This can be
answered through the introduction of a third party, a reliable military force
like NATO, to staff border passages, and to respond to intrusions along the
border in between the passages. As for the border areas between passages, Brom
envisaged a gradual process, in which Israel would first control the border,
then international forces, and finally, after years, Palestinian forces would
control their own border, after Israel becomes convinced that they are capable
and willing to do so.
“In the first years, Israel must be there to see
what is happening. If things works out, it can relinquish control to a
third party,” he added.
“If you look at who staffs border passages, who
is there? Police and customs, not military. Customs finds smuggled
goods,” Brom said. A reliable third party wouldn’t endanger itself or fight, and
Israel can monitor events through surveillance, he added. “This has to be done
correctly. If entities like NATO take part, it will underline the international
commitment to border security.”
Just like EUBAM maintained security in the Philadelphi corridor and
ran away as soon as Hamas arrived. International forces are mostly useless in this region. If anything, they're a hindrance because they become human shields.
The Council for Peace and Security is a Leftist organization with an agenda. They're at least partly right about the Jordan Valley but aren't even being asked about maintaining the high ground of Samaria - which is much more important.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: EUBAM Rafah, Gaza, Hamas, Jordan Valley, Judea and Samaria, NATO, Philadelphi corridor, Samaria
'Palestinians' abduct Jewish civilians, tie and beat them
A mob of 'Palestinian' villagers
abducted, tied and beat a group of Jewish civilians in Samaria a short time ago, claiming that the Jews had thrown stones at 'Palestinian' farmers.
Dozens of Jewish men were abducted and beaten in a mob attack in the
Binyamin region on Tuesday afternoon. The men were set upon by an Arab
mob, chased down, tied up and beaten senseless.
One of the men told Arutz Sheva about the vicious attack. The men
were attacked as they were walking from the Jewish village of Esh Kodesh
to the nearby Givat Hayovel.
Suddenly, they were set upon by an Arab mob, he said. “They blocked
us in with trucks. The Arabs started hurling rocks at the Jewish group.”
The Jews were forced to hide nearby, he continued. “We called the
army, because we felt our lives were in danger. The Arabs gathered us
into one place, tied our hands and legs, and beat us cruelly,” he said.
The beatings were so severe that he passed out, he said.
The army arrived, and convinced local Arab leaders to order the
Jewish men released. The victim who spoke to Arutz Sheva said that IDF
officers seemed to blame the victims.
He recalled that one officer told him, “You came to do a ‘price tag’
and now you’re going to get it.” Jews living in Judea and Samaria have
widely been blamed for “price tag” attacks - nationalistically-motivated
vandalism targeting Arab-owned property - despite evidence that most
perpetrators of such vandalism are not from the region.
They look like kids to me.
Reuters (via JPost)
adds:
The Israelis, who appeared to be aged between 15 and 30, were
detained in an uninhabited house on the outskirts of the Palestinian
village of Qusra after what Palestinians said was a settler assault on
local farmers.
"I was tending my fields when a group of around 30
settlers came down the hill and attacked us with stones," Palestinian
farmer Mahmoud Tubasi told Reuters.
"We chased them and they fled
to a house under construction. They were cornered there and some of the
people here beat them - they had attacked us on our own land."
A
Reuters witness said the villagers beat 15 Israeli settlers with their
fists and sticks, causing some to bleed from the head and mouth.
And they weren't exactly 'released' either.
The Palestinians later released the group, whom they said came from a
nearby Jewish settlement, to Israeli soldiers, after forcing them them
pass one-by-one though a gauntlet of residents who rained blows on them.
And finally, the 'Palestinian' version of events:
Palestinian villagers from three Nablus area villages Tuesday confronted Israeli settlers who entered their fields to uproot and destroy olive trees, according to a local official.
Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlements in the north of the West Bank, told WAFA that settlers, protected by soldiers, proceeded to uproot newly-planted olive trees in the villages of Qaryout, Jalout and Qusra when villagers rushed to their fields to stop the settlers.
He said confrontations broke out between them and soldiers fired tear gas canisters towards the Palestinian residents. No injuries were reported.
At one point, villagers were able to hold more than a dozen settlers in the fields in spite of the Israeli army protection to the settlers.
Amazing how WAFA (from whom that summary came - I got it by email) changes the story, isn't it?
If you're a revenant, please think carefully about going outside your village without weapons. Better safe than sorry.
Labels: olive trees, Palestinian lies, Palestinian terrorism, revenants, Samaria
The greatest one minute ad to visit Israel ever made
This was sent to me under the title "the greatest one minute ad to visit Israel ever made," but really it ought to be called "the greatest one minute ad to visit the Binyamin (Samaria) region" ever made.
Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip:
Mrs. Carl).
Labels: Israeli tourism, Samaria
Abu Bluff compares terror attack on 9-year old girl to 'Palestinian' rioters being shot
In a meeting with nine Leftist Israeli MK's, '
moderate' '
Palestinian' President
Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen mentioned the
terror attack on a 9-year old girl in Psagot on Saturday night, but
would not condemn it.
“Two days ago a girl was shot or stabbed. That is
not the topic of discussion for today. Four Palestinians were killed in
Kalandiya, too,” Abbas stated.
“We should all condemn murder and
bloodshed of innocents.”
Sounds just like Arafat, doesn't he? But that's not all there is to this story.
Only nine Labor MKs and Hatnua’s David Tsur of
the Knesset Caucus to End the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict – led by MK Hilik Bar
(Labor) and sponsored by pro-peace NGO One Voice – traveled to Ramallah to meet
Abbas in a conference room featuring a large portrait of Yasser Arafat and a
mural of the Temple Mount.
Several Palestinian officials, including PLO
executive committee secretary Yasser Abed Rabbo and Palestinian Committee for
Interaction with Israeli Society chairman Muhammad Madani, attended the
event.
The PA did not return the caucus’s gesture and hang an Israeli
flag in the Mukata even though a Palestinian flag was hung in the Knesset when
officials visited in July. At the time, Madani said that it would be “logical”
to hang an Israeli flag in the Mukata for the MKs’ visit.
Abbas thanked the MKs for visiting,
saying that meeting Israeli and Jewish leaders helps spread a message of
peace.
Keep your barf bag handy and
read the whole thing.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Israeli Knesset, Israeli Left, Middle East peace process, Mukhata, Palestinian terrorism, Samaria, Yasser Arafat
MK's urge halt to negotiations, terrorist releases
In light of
Saturday night's terror attack on the Jewish village of Psagot, a number of Knesset members are calling for 'negotiations' with the 'Palestinians' and the release of terrorists from Israeli prisons to be
suspended.
Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon on Saturday urged Israeli peace
negotiators to rethink current talks with their Palestinian
counterparts, following the shooting of an Israeli child in the West
Bank.
He insisted that the Saturday shooting of a nine-year-old
girl in the settlement of Psagot proves "those who support terrorism"
can not be trusted partners in peace.
He then vowed to catch the
alleged Palestinian shooter, saying "If a person shoots a nine-year-old
girl, their blood is on their own head."
"We must put an end to hypocrisy of the Palestinian leadership," Danon added.
Meanwhile,
Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely said "The rise in
terrorist attacks requires Israel to stop negotiations".
"This is a
result of the Palestinian Authority's system of incitement and
two-faced policy. On the one hand, they say they want peace, and on the
other hand they incite against Israel."
According to Hotovely, "nothing has changed since Arafat; there was no partner and there is no partner for peace."
Knesset
Finance Committee chairman Nissan Slomiansky (Bayit Yehudi) called the
terrorist attack "further proof that continuing negotiations with the
Palestinian Authority from a position of weakness brings more terror."
Slomiansky
called for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe
Ya'alon to form am aggressive policy to stop terror, and wished the
injured girl a speedy recovery.MK Yoni Shetboun (Bayit Yehudi) called
for a military operation "to bring back Israel's deterrence" after
recent terror attacks.
There are two problems here. One is that none of the critics is a minister, and the ministers who are opposed (if any) are afraid to speak up because they are afraid that Netanyahu will fire them
like Ariel Sharon did to ministers who opposed the Gaza expulsion. Second, if these MK's were serious, they would start absenting themselves from no confidence votes and make Netanyahu scramble for votes.
Someone please remind me again how many MK's from the 'Right' are in this government.....
Labels: Ariel Sharon, Binyamin Netanyahu, Gaza expulsion, Middle East peace process, negotiations without preconditions, Palestinian terrorism, Samaria, unilateral concessions
And again: Terrorist shoots 9-year old girl in Psagot
A 'Palestinian' terrorist infiltrated the security fence of the Jewish town of Psagot on Saturday evening, and
shot and seriously wounded a 9-year old girl.
"We're attempting to establish whether this was a sniper or a terrorist who entered Psagot," a senior army source said.
The girl was evacuated from the scene in serious condition but conscious, to Shaare Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem.
West Bank police said the girl had been playing in the yard of her house when she was hit by a shot to the upper body.
The
spokesman for Psagot, David Tzviel, said that they know for a fact that
the shooter infiltrated the settlement, and that the girl was not shot
by a sniper. He said he based this on the testimony of the girl, who
told rescue personnel that she saw the man who shot her enter her yard,
come up onto the balcony and shoot her.
He added that the settlement is still on lock-down, and that residents have not been told they can leave their houses yet.
Tzviel
said that an emergency siren was sounded in the settlement to alert
residents of the danger, and that at the moment IDF troops and the
settlement emergency response team are still searching for the shooter.
Magen
David Adom spokesman Zaki Heller said the girl was shot in the upper
chest, adding that paramedics from the Jerusalem district received a
report at 9:23 p.m. of an injured minor.
Shlomo Petrobar, who
heads MDA's Jerusalem District, lives in Psagot and arrived together
with an ambulance at the scene of the shooting.
Petrobar said he
realized his neighbor had been shot, and scrambled out of his home with
medial equipment, finding the girl in her living room with a gunshot
wound in her chest.
"I sat her down and began providing her with
medical attention. She was fully conscience and I could communicate with
her. Within a short period of time a Magen David Adom ambulance crew
arrived and evacuated her," Petrobar said.
A second paramedic on
the scene, Yoni Hacohen, said the girl was frightened and in pain. "She
spoke to us on the way the whole time. She was a real hero and we told
her so," he said.
Israel Radio's midnight news reported that the girl's condition has been upgraded to 'light-to-moderate' and that she remains fully conscious.
The next group of 'Palestinian' terrorists is scheduled to be released from Israeli prisons in the coming days.
Labels: Palestinian terrorism, Samaria
'Palestinians' to be allowed to take over Homesh
The government of Israel has decided to
give the 'Palestinians' control of Homesh, a Jewish town in Samaria whose Jews were expelled by the Sharon government in 2005.
The attorney general of Judea and Samaria (Shomron) announced, last week, that the Samarian Jewish community of Homesh, uprooted by Israel in the Disengagement of 2005, will be removed from the list of Israeli communities in the area and the entry of Palestinian Authority residents into the area will now be legal. The announcement was made in response to a petition from residents of the southern Samarian Arab village of Burka, assisted by the leftist group Yesh Din.
Entry by Israelis will continue to be prohibited although there has been an unofficial presence there at times. In May, the state announced cancellation of the order holding the land on which Homesh was built, although the ban on PA residents was still in effect until last week's announcement.
The picture at the top of this post is the view from Homesh looking west toward the Mediterranean Sea. The three smoke stacks at top center are Israel Electric Company's Hadera power plant, Israel's largest power plant, which
produces 23% of Israel's electricity. Do you think a missile could hit that plant?
What could go wrong?
More about the picture
here.
Labels: Samaria
Samaria and the Sudentenland
Shortly after 9/11, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon managed to infuriate US President George W. Bush (who would take a little longer to emerge from his father's shell and become pro-Israel for a while) with a speech that
compared Israel to 1938 Czechoslovakia.
"The enlightened democracies of Europe decided then to sacrifice Czechoslovakia in favor of a convenient temporary solution" to the demands of Germany's Adolf Hitler, Sharon said. "We will be unable to accept that. Israel will not be Czechoslovakia. Israel will fight terrorism."
"Do not try to appease the Arabs at our expense," Sharon said.
Bush, as noted, was not pleased.
"The prime minister's comments are unacceptable," [then White House spokesman Ari] Fleischer said. "Israel has no stronger friend and ally in the world than the United States. President Bush is an especially close friend of Israel."
He added: "The United States has been working for months to press the parties to end the violence and return to a political dialogue. The United States will continue to press both Israel and the Palestinians to move forward."
Earlier [that] week, an unidentified administration official leaked to the news media that Bush's security team was working on a plan for a Palestinian state and that it would keep pushing its own proposals.
In the meantime, under prodding by [then-] Secretary of State Colin Powell, Israel and the Palestinian Authority resumed security talks without waiting for a period free of terrorist attacks, as demanded by Sharon.
Fleischer responded, "The United States is not doing anything to try to appease the Arabs at Israel's expense."
The Bush administration has tried to get Arab countries to support its counterterrorism campaign against the al-Qaida terrorist network in Afghanistan.
If this all sounds familiar, it should. But there are other parallels between Israel and Czechoslovakia, aside from the World's desire to sacrifice a small, vibrant democracy in order to maintain 'World Peace.' One important parallel is between Czechoslovakia's Sudentenland and Israel's Samarian mountains. Another is the parallel between the IDF and Czechoslovakia's army.
Giulio Meotti explains.
On September 29, 1938, the Czechoslovak state was truncated and deprived of defensible borders by the “Munich agreement.” Six months later, abandoned by its allies England and France, and bullied by Adolf Hitler, Czechoslovakia lay down and died. Like Israel today, the Czechs were accused of “intransigence” and of being “disturbers of the peace.” They were so disheartened that in the end they chose not to fight, but to surrender. “Peace” meant capitulation.
Czechoslovakia’s situation in 1938 is in fact similar to Israel’s in 2012. Like Israel’s IDF, the Czechs had one of the strongest armies in Europe. Like Israel, Czechoslovakia was a very young and vibrant state. Like Israel, Czechoslovakia was the only liberal democracy in Eastern Europe. And like the Obama administration’s pressing Israel to give up its settlements to the Arabs, the Nazis demanded the annexation of the Sudeten Land, settled by three million Germans. And the Sudeten mountains, like Israel’s “occupied territories,” were the only position from which the Bohemian plain, and the capital Prague, was defensible.
Like Hitler’s demand of “land for peace,” in the name of “peace” Obama is pressing Israel to give up Judea and Samaria, the final line of defense before the Coastal Plain against a hostile Iranian proxy state seated high on the hills only 12 miles from Tel Aviv and just three miles from Israel’s only international airport. That’s why Israel’s legendary diplomat Abba Eban called the borders established following the 1967 Six-Day War “Auschwitz borders.” And does anyone remember how Lord Trenchard got up in the British parliament after Munich and declared that the Czechs didn’t need the Sudeten territories for security? “The best security border,” Trenchard said, “is peace.” Sound familiar?
Read the whole thing.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Labels: 1930's, Ariel Sharon, Barack Hussein Obama, George W. Bush, Neville Chamberlain, Samaria
'Palestinians' seethe over Europe hosting 'settlement' leader
The 'Palestinians' are
seething at the European Union for hosting Gershon Mesika, the head of the Samaria regional council.
Mesika two weeks spoke to the EU Foreign Affairs Commission of the Parliament in an unprecedented visit to the Brussels-based EU parliament. It was the first time a leader of Judea and Samaria spoke at an official parliamentary meeting, and it clearly infuriated the Palestinian Authority, which is heavily dependent on EU financing.
An official letter to European Union members from the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the PA stated that "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Palestinian National Authority condemns the invitation of Gershon Mesika, Chairman of the Shomron Settlement Board in occupied Palestinian territory, as a guest of honor to address the EU Parliament.
"To give a floor to this terrorist at the EU Parliament is an unprecedented deed and comes in stark contradiction to the traditional position of the European Union and its institutions towards the Palestinian people, especially those related to settlement construction.
Terrorist? Name me one person whose death was caused by Mesika. There are none.
Mesika, of the Shomron Liaison Office, is a widely-known advocate for a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria by hosting journalists and foreign organizations and arranging for speeches to groups and political bodies outside the “captive audience” of nationalist groups.
Clearly worried about his success, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added in its letter that it “hopes that this unprecedented invitation will not represent a new approach in dealing with the Palestine Question."
Mesika responded to the letter by stating, "If the Palestinian Authority is under pressure, it's a sign that we're on the right path. We'll continue to build up the Land of Israel, and together with the construction we'll go on with our public relations blitz both in Israel and outside of it."
Anything that makes the 'Palestinians' seethe is good news, but aside from that, getting Israel's voice heard in the European Union is a great accomplishment.
Labels: European Union, Gershon Mesika, Samaria
Countering another blood libel
On Thursday, a 'Palestinian' who attacked an Israeli was shot dead near the Jewish community of Yitzhar. The 'Palestinian' was from a nearby Arab settlement known as Arak Burin. Here's the
original story.
Arab media, which reported on the incident throughout the day on Thursday, claimed that the Arab had been shot for no reason by a Jewish resident of Yitzhar. The Palestinian Authority-based Ma’an News Agency claimed that residents of Yitzhar had marched into Arak Burin and opened fire at its residents, killing the 19-year-old, who was identified as Ady Maher Qadous.
The report relied on statements by Ghassan Daghlus, a PA official who is in charge of monitoring activities by Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria. Ma’an also cited “medical sources” who said that Qadous was hit by numerous bullets to the chest and was taken to a hospital in Nablus (Shechem) for treatment, where he died shortly after arrival.
The website of the PA newspaper Al-Quds quoted Qadous’ cousin, who claimed that while he and his cousin were working on property which belongs to them, four Jews approached from a nearby hill when suddenly one of them shot Qadous.
However, a preliminary investigation by Samaria-Judea police found that the Arab was shot after a Jewish man who was walking on a pathway near Yitzhar was attacked by a group of Arabs who threw rocks at him. When one of the attackers approached the Jew with a rock in his hand, he opened fire in self-defense.
Those who responded to the findings by the police largely blamed leftist groups for inciting against Jews and helping to spread the false reports.
One reason the truth came out about this incident was that it was caught on video (think in how many other cases that were not on video, Jews have been falsely accused).
Let's go to the videotape (sorry about the title of the video - it's not the IDF's).
This particular Jew was lucky the entire incident was caught on camera. Many others who defended themselves have not been so lucky.
I wonder if the mainstream media outlets will show this video.
Labels: blood libel, Palestinian attack, Samaria, self-defense
Who wants peace?
This afternoon, we had someone whom the media would term a 'militant settler' in our house. He's in his early 30's (we've known him since he was a teenager), and lives in one of the Samarian towns that's outside the 'security fence.' He reads this blog regularly.
After I gave him a 5-minute summary of Palileaks, which he had not yet been following, he came out with a quote that surprised me, and he gave me permission to share it with you.
He said, "[A] lot of my neighbors might disagree with me, but if I really believed that leaving my home in x would bring peace, I'd do it in a minute. But it wouldn't bring peace. It would bring rockets on the airport and on Tel Aviv. Southern Lebanon and Gaza prove that. Most Israelis today seem to understand that."
Indeed, they do.
Labels: Gaza, Palileaks, Politics, Samaria, Southern Lebanon, unilateral withdrawal, World Politics
35 European MP's of the Right visit Samaria
35 European MP's from Right-wing parties visited Samaria on Monday.
Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip:
David H).
The parliamentarians were apparently
impressed.
The delegation of senior European parliamentarians toured Samaria's Jewish communities Monday as guests of the Samaria Liaison Office, which said the group was “unprecedented” in its political importance. The parliamentarians learned from up close about the strategic value of the region and visited sites of historic and biblical significance.
The delegation included 35 senior European parliamentarians from Austria, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Britain and Sweden, including some who are believed likely to one day head their countries. Germany, Austria and Italy, under extreme right-wing parties, were at the heart of the Axis that fought a genocidal war against the Jewish nation and a war of conquest against the Allied Powers in the 1930's and 40's.
A spokesman for the Shomron (Samaria) local authority explained that most of the visitors were from what is known as the “New Right” in Europe. These are parties that support Israel, renounce anti-Semitism and see the Islamic takeover of Europe as a clear danger, the Samaria spokesman said. Most of the touring parliamentarians were Christians, while some were Jews. The visitors agreed that Judea and Samaria constitute Jewish land.
The group included Heinz-Christian Strache, head of the German Freedom Party, who is seen as a likely candidate to become the next chancellor of Austria; Filip Dewinter of Belgium's Vlaams Belang party; MP Frank Creyelman, who heads the Belgian Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee; René Stadtkewitz, Chairman of Germany's Freedom Party; and Claus Pandi, editor-in-chief of Krone Zeitung, the biggest newspaper in Austria. The visit coincides with that of Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders in Israel.
The parliamentarians visited secular and religious communities including Barkan, Elon Moreh and Har Bracha, in order to get a better understanding of Jewish residents' motivation for living in the contested biblical land.
If the European Right starts siding with us, that would be wonderful. By the way, that's
David H talking at the end of the video.
Labels: European Parliament, Filip Dewinter, Geert Wilders, Samaria
The Zionist answer to Obama
Earlier, I reported that Prime Minister Netanyahu had surprisingly
pushed back against Obama administration objections to Jewish construction in Jerusalem. It turns out that he did even more: The government announced on Tuesday that it will build between
800 and 1,000 new homes in Ariel.
The plan for a new neighborhood in the western part of Ariel has been all but completed after years of litigation. Only the approval of the local planning and building committee is needed for the work to begin. The municipality supports the initiative.
The construction in Ariel has been the center of controversy between Israel and the United States. While Israel sees Ariel as part of a large settlement bloc, the United States sees it as a panhandle sticking into the West Bank, intended to prevent Palestinian territorial contiguity.
Last month Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman met with Netanyahu in Tel Aviv to discuss resuming construction in the city. "You don't know what efforts I'm making to keep Ariel," Netanyahu reportedly told him. "The whole world is against Ariel."
The area earmarked for Ariel's new neighborhood is next to the Palestinian town Salfit. The compound is divided in two - state-owned land and land privately owned by businessman Avraham Shamai. Shamai sold the land a few years ago, but the buyers did not keep up their end of the agreement and the land reverted back to Shamai after prolonged litigation.
Since this is privately owned land, the developer may put up fences and forge paths in preparation for construction with the approval of the municipal planning committee; he does not need the Defense Ministry's approval. Once the committee approves the plan, the construction may begin.
Nachman told the city council last month that "they approved a development contract. It's a very big thing."
He also spoke about building in other parts of Ariel. "We've resumed construction in the industrial area in Ariel west," Nachman said. "Plants that were frozen are being built now .... In the Moriah neighborhood we've begun construction. There are 100 homes there by [construction company] Netzarim and 195 others by another company; together that's 295."
Referring to the construction approval, Ariel council member Yaakov Emanuel told Haaretz that "the city is thriving. This means Ariel will stay part of Israel."
This is good news, of course. But I'm still waiting to hear of approvals for Jewish construction in places that aren't part of the 'settlement blocs.' Then we'll know that the game is over.
Labels: Ariel, Barack Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Samaria, settlement freeze
