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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
100,000 Muslims promise to give their lives for Al Aqsa
2021-07-20
[IsraelNationalNews] Muslims arriving at Temple Mount to mark Eid al-Adha chant anti-Israel slogans, promise to 'sacrifice their lives' for Al Aqsa Mosque.

In addition signs were hung near the mosques, expressing support for the Hamas terror organization, with the words, "We are the men of Mohammed Deif," and "The sword of Jerusalem will free the prisoners."

Israel Police has increased its presence on the Temple Mount and in Jerusalem's Old City, due to concerns of violent riots.

Meanwhile, in the western Galilee, Israel Police conducted an operation to locate dangerous toys in Arab towns, confiscating dozens of explosives and firecrackers, some of which were transferred from the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog and Defense Minister Benny Gantz (Blue and White) spoke Monday night with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, wishing him well ahead of the holiday. In a statement, the Defense Ministry said that, "The two spoke in a positive atmosphere and raised the need to promote trust-building measures between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that will help the security and economy of the entire region."
Related:
Al Aqsa Mosque: 2020-04-25 HTS confiscates property of Christian community in Idlib
Al Aqsa Mosque: 2019-06-03 Palestinian worshippers barricade themselves inside Temple Mount after clashing with police when Jews allowed in during Jerusalem Day, which coincides with end of Ramadan
Al Aqsa Mosque: 2019-02-26 Palestinians celebrate victory after Israel capitulates, again, on Temple Mount
Related:
Eid al-Adha: 2021-07-16 Qatar pressing Hamas to accept Israeli restrictions on aid money – report
Eid al-Adha: 2021-07-15 Five ISIS suspects arrested over planned attack on Erbil: security council
Eid al-Adha: 2020-08-31 Professor Gamzu said Monday that COVID-19 morbidity in the Arab sector has quadrupled
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Home Front: Culture Wars
The immoral foreign policy of the "Resistance"
2018-09-10
h/t Gates of Vienna
One of the constant themes of the "Resistance" ‐ most recently restated in the New York Times’ anonymous op-ed Wednesday ‐ is that President Donald Trump is "amoral" because he is interested in cultivating good relations with dictators.

In the words of the anonymous op-ed author: "In public and in private, President Trump shows a preference for autocrats and dictators, such as President Vladimir Putin of Russia and North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and displays little genuine appreciation for the ties that bind us to allied, like-minded nations."

Notably, this is the same line used by the Israeli left and by Israel’s many critics in the West against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s foreign policy.

There are two aspects of this criticism that are worth pointing out.

First, the criticisms are utterly hypocritical.

The same "Resistance" howling about Trump’s desire to forge a détente with Russia based on a shared interest in fighting Islamic terrorists and preventing Iran from becoming the nuclear hegemon of the Middle East once bent over backwards to empower Iran. They gave the ayatollahs a clear path to a nuclear weapon, as well as $150 billion to finance their wars in Syria and Yemen, and their global terror attacks.

The same Never Trump Republicans attacking Trump for his efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula without war happily supported then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Riceas she cut a deal that only empowered Pyonyang.

The Obama administration alumni who now insist that Putin is America’s number-one enemy did everything they could to appease him ‐ in exchange for nothing ‐ for years.

As for Israel, the Israeli Left, and its American and European supporters, they have been attacking Netanyahu relentlessly for fostering close ties with the leaders of Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Rwanda, Kenya, and the Philippines. At the same time, they insist that Israel must cough up its capital city and its heartland to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its terrorist regime.

Just last week, a delegation of leftist lawmakers and political activists made a pilgrimage to Ramallah, where they met with PLO chief and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. They cooed and purred about his great visionary leadership, and insisted forcefully that Israel and the Trump administration must recognize his greatness.

This would be the same Abbas who spends hundreds of millions of donor-transferred dollars every year to pay the salaries of terrorists. This is the same Abbas that continues to reject Israel’s right to exist, who wrote a dissertation arguing that the Holocaust is a Zionist fabrication; who has spent the past fifty years waging a political war to delegitimize Israel’s very existence.

Beyond the rank hypocrisy of these critics and their criticism, their "morality" card ignores the key fact that Trump’s policies, like Netanyahu’s policies, are succeeding in making the U.S. and Israel stronger, and making the world safer. In contrast, the "moral" policies of their opponents made the world more threatening and dangerous to the U.S. and to Israel.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Starving Palestinian financial update.
2014-02-13
[Jihad Watch] Terror group Hamas has received more than $2 billion from Iran, while rival Islamic Jihad receives between $100-$150 million annually, according to Ali Nourizadeh, Director of the Center for Iranian Studies, in London, Persian-language Raya News reported.
The easing of international sanctions against Iran will likely assist the Hamas funding effort.
Nourizadeh said Hamas receives the aid through various channels, either in cash, when Hamas leaders visit Tehran, or through Lebanon's Hezbollah, and the $2 billion figure is the total received since Hamas's inception. Islamic Jihad receives its money via Hezbollah or through banks in Beirut or Malta.
An "all of the above" approach to terror funding.
However, Nourizadeh said, Hamas's loyalties lie elsewhere.
I sometimes shop at Target, will this help or hurt ?
"Iran has paid a lot to strengthen its relationship with Hamas to be used as a card but it did not succeed because [Hamas] has good relations with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Arab states and Iran is no longer the main source of funding Hamas, so Iran considers its investment in Hamas to be unsuccessful," Nourizadeh said.
"Investment in Hamas".....strange statement that.
Nourizadeh said Islamic Jihad fighters are trained in Iran and the group's weapons all come from Iran, with Hezbollah playing an important role in the supply line. On the other hand, no more than 500 Hamas fighters were trained by Iran.
500 per week, per month, per year, since the great flood ?
Additionally, according to Nourizadeh, a new rapprochement effort is now underway between the PLO and Iran. Fatah official Jibril Rajoub recently visited the Islamic Republic following a New York meeting between PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Any mention of Jooos drinking all the water, or Paleo food shortages ?
His lips were moving but He said the Palestinian Authority, and, earlier, the PLO, has not received any aid from the Islamic Republic since the regime's rise to power in the 1979 revolution.

The Raya News report was flagged by blogger Elder of Ziyon.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Abbas’ Party to Seek Ties with Iran?
2013-05-02
Senior Fatah member Jabril Rajoub has suggested that Fatah seek closer ties with Iran, according to Iran’s IRNA news agency.

Rajoub made his statements in a meeting with Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon. He expressed hope that with Iran’s help, Arabs would succeed in “freeing our land.”

Also present was Ashraf Dabour, the PA ambassador to Lebanon.

The three spoke about the attempts at reconciliation within the PA. Fatah and the Hamas terrorist movement remain at odds despite repeated attempts to resume joint leadership of the PA, as they did prior to the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007.

Last week PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas announced that he would begin a round of talks with the goal of creating a new united PA government. Abbas called for all PA factions to take part in the talks.

The announcement sparked fresh tension with Hamas, which complained that its leaders had not been informed of Abbas’ plans. Hamas leaders in Gaza argued that the group would not be able to hold elections due to PA activity against Hamas in Judea and Samaria.

Abbas has given a similar explanation regarding his refusal to hold new PA elections for the past several years despite the expiration of his term.

Rajoub previously served as the head of the PA’s Preventative Security Force. As a young man he spent 15 years in prison in Israel for terrorist activity, until he was freed in a hostage exchange.

In late 2012 he called for armed resistance against Israel. However, in February 2013 he told Israeli government radio that the PA will not initiate a new “Intifada” terror war.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Abbas ‘No’ Puts Obama in His Place
2012-11-12
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas threw cold water on President Barack Obama’s election victory, answering the president with a direct “no” after Obama told him his administration is opposed to the PA’s unilateral move for recognition by the United Nations General Assembly.

Abbas’ blunt “no” underscored the new Middle East reality, where the PA chief feels he can snub the United States and bank on international opposition to the State of Israel’s position for defensible borders, said analysts.

"There was a long telephone conversation between president Mahmud Abbas and Barack Obama," the Palestinian leader's spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP. "Obama expressed the opposition of the United States to the decision to go to the UN General Assembly."

Abbas, who immediately launched a diplomatic war against Israel after taking over for Yasser Arafat following is death, turned Israel into the villain.

“Abbas cited the reasons and motives for the Palestinian decision to seek non-member statehood as continued Israeli settlement activity and Israeli aggression against citizens and property," Abu Rudeina said.

The White House later issued a conciliatory statement, stating that the president "reiterated the United States' opposition to unilateral efforts at the United Nations" in the call to Abbas and "reaffirmed his commitment to Middle East peace and his strong support for direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians with the objective of two states living side by side in peace and security.”

Abbas has stated that winning Non-Member Observer status from the United Nations, based on the PA’s own territorial and political demands, will pave the wavy for “negotiations,” meaning Israel’s acceptance of his terms.

Abbas’ “no” reflects a clear and single-minded path he has carefully paved since he took over from Arafat, wearing a suit and tie inside of donning Arafat’s kefiyah and pistol, and slowing whittling away at previously accepted commitments through semantics or political twists and turns.

He has publicly condemned terror when talking to English-speaking leaders while officiating at PA ceremonies praising suicide bombers.

Having gained Obama’s support that the term “illegal settlements” means all places in Judea, Samaria and areas of Jerusalem where Jews ive and which are claimed by the Palestinian Authority, he has been able to argue logically that if that is the case, Israel has no right to build in those areas and therefore must commit to a withdrawal before sitting down for direct talks.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
No Recognition of Israel? No Entry
2012-08-05
Israel is getting tough with Arab countries that do not recognize Israel and bars them from crossing Jordan to Ramallah.

The Foreign Minister explained that diplomats from Cuba, Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh are not being allowed to attend a mini-Non-Aligned Movement conference in the Palestinian Authority headquarters because their governments do not have diplomatic ties with Israel.

A delegation from Algeria was to be barred, but the country told its officials to return home before Israel could bar therm.

The conference was to be held to back PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas; renewed attempt to win recognition from the United Nations, this time as an observer state, but the PA said it will cancel the meeting because of Israel’s action.

Other countries that were to attend include those who have ties with Israel, such as Egypt, Jordan, India, Colombia and South Africa.
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Home Front: WoT
Obama Aide Says US Promotes Arab Spring Rebellions
2012-05-07
The Obama administration "nurtures" Arab Spring rebellions, which have been promoted as democratic but so far have yielded anarchy, according to U.S. deputy national security advisor Denis McDonough.

He said the American administration views the rebellions in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen as positive for democracy, arguing that "a more democratic region will ultimately be more stable for us and our friends." McDonough estimated that a similar rebellion in Iran will be to the advantage of the United States.

The American experiment with direct involvement in promoting democracy in the Palestinian Authority resulted in a shock for then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when the Hamas terrorist organization won the first, and until now the only, PA legislative elections. Hamas' strong base in Gaza gave it the catalyst to oust the rival Fatah faction, headed by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, from Gaza two years after the elections.

The Obama administration also openly backed the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last year and now is faced with a democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood, which fathered Hamas.

Since the Brotherhood's victory and its attempt to win the presidency, the movement has been openly anti-American and anti-Israel, imprisoning Americans and threatening to change if not cancel the 1979 peace agreement with Israel.
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Africa North
Egyptian FM: Hamas 'True Partner' for Peace
2011-05-19
Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabeel Arabi told Italian newspaper La Republica on Wednesday he had brokered the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal in the hopes of creating "a true partner" for peace.

"With this united Palestinian [government] Israel can negotiate for real, can carry through the implementation of UN Resolution 181 of 1947 which called for an Israeli and a Palestinian state," Arabi said in the interview.

During the interview Arabi dismissed concerns that Hamas, being a terrorist organization, would actually hurt the peace process. "Even George Washington was considered a terrorist, Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, as well," he said.

Arabi, scheduled to become secretary-general of the Arab League in July, said Hamas would agree to negotiate with Israel, despite the fact that some of the organization's members called for violence against the Jewish State.

Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar said Wednesday he rejected peace talks with Israel and that Hamas would not allow Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to pursue them. Last week al-Zahar said any peace agreement with Israel would be a prelude to war.

"Egypt is ready to organize negotiations together with the United States and do what Clinton, Bush and Obama have asked, to create an Israeli and a Palestinian State," Arabi said.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Abbas-Mitchell Plan To Use NATO Troops To Protect Palestine State
2010-07-16
The Palestinian Authority has requested that NATO send troops to secure any new Palestinian state in the West Bank.
What, the mighty Uruguayans aren't available?
Officials said PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has relayed a proposal for the stationing of NATO troops along the borders of any Palestinian state in the West Bank. They said the proposal was drafted in cooperation with U.S. envoy George Mitchell, assigned to accelerate efforts to win Israeli agreement for the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2012.
Not. One. American. Soldier.
"The deployment of NATO forces is meant to overcome Israel's security objections to a Palestinian state," an official said.
I suggest British troops. They have a sterling reputation with both sides ...
Officials said Abbas submitted the plan to Mitchell in July amid indirect talks between Israel and the PA. They said the United States has been pressing the PA to move to direct negotiations with Israel based on a plan for a Palestinian state over the next two years.

Mohammed Dahlan, a key aide of Abbas and member of the Fatah Central Committee, said the PA plan called for the deployment of NATO troops between the West Bank and neighboring Jordan. He said NATO forces would also be stationed in other areas of the West Bank deemed as lacking sufficient security.

In a briefing on July 13, Dahlan said the PA plan also called for a Palestinian state in the entire West Bank with the option of land swaps with Israel. He said the plan has also been submitted to Israel, which has not yet responded.

"Mitchell is expected ask the PA to go to direct negotiations with a package that would overcome obstacles to a full agreement," Dahlan said.

At this point, Dahlan said, Fatah would not agree to direct talks with Israel unless it submitted to PA demands on the borders of a Palestinian state and the freezing of Jewish construction in the West Bank and most of Jerusalem. He said Israel must accept the principle of a Palestinian state in the entire West Bank as well as eastern Jerusalem.
Oh well, so much for this whole idea ...
Officials said Israel has insisted on its right to patrol the air space over any Palestinian state as well as the pursuit of insurgents who conduct attacks from the West Bank. They said Israel has also expressed reservations to the establishment of a separate Fatah-controlled state in the West Bank while Hamas controls the Gaza Strip.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Abbas to Arabs: We'd Support a War Against Israel
2010-07-08
A reminder of what Israel is up against.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told Arab leaders that the PA is ready to wage war on Israel if the rest of the Arab world does, according to the PA daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida as translated by Palestinian Media Watch.
Funny, he didn't say it in English ...
"If you want war, and if all of you will fight Israel, we are in favor. But the Palestinians will not fight alone because they don't have the ability to do it," Abbas quoted himself as having said at the March Arab League Summit in Libya.
"The evil Juice keep kicking our asses! We need some help!"
Arab cities in Judea and Samaria were "completely destroyed" in the Israeli counterterrorism operations that took place during the Oslo War (Second Intifada), Abbas told Arab League members. "We will not agree that it will be destroyed again," he said.
It might not matter what you agree to ...
Abbas quoted his own statements to the Arab League while in a meeting with the PA's ambassador to Jordan. The statements were used in explanation of his opposition to the approach taken by Hamas. Hamas pushes for "resistance" - a buzz word used by Arabs to refer to terrorism -- and refusal to negotiate with Israel.

"What we hear from everyone is that the basis is negotiations. At a time that the entire world agrees about this... We are unable to confront Israel militarily," Abbas told the PA envoy.
Surely the Paleo hard boyz who leap through hoops of fire could give an accounting of themselves ...
Abbas, who is serving his fifth term as head of the PA after unilaterally extending his term in office,
Don't let Hugo know that ...
has made several statements in recent years that have raised concerns as to his true intentions. In 2008, as Israel and the PA engaged in peace talks, Abbas told a Jordanian paper that he opposed terrorism "at present" but that "things may change."
His true intentions have always been clear -- death to the Juice and the destruction of Israel. He'd never have gotten to the leadership of the PA without that as a basic qualification. That he hasn't picked up a rifle and ran charging at the wall separating the West Bank from Israel only shows that he has a modicum of sense and a keen survival instinct. And, of course, a flair for hoodwinking gullible Westerners ...
In March 2010, the PA held a ceremony naming a main square in Ramallah for a terrorist who led a cell that murdered 37 Israelis. In June, a broadcast on official PA television referred to Jews as "our enemies" and to the entire state of Israel as "Palestine."

Earlier this week, Abbas eulogized terrorist Abu Daoud, the mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, calling him "one of the leading figures in Fatah."

Israel has officially referred to Abbas a "moderate" leader, as opposed to the leadership of Hamas, whose charter calls clearly for destroying Israel.
A moderate Paleo wants the destruction of Israel in two steps, rather than in one ...
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Caribbean-Latin America
Cuba, Paleos Sign Agreements
2009-09-29
Two economic, military and moral juggernauts combine forces ...
(IsraelNN.com) Cuba and the Palestinian Authority (PA) signed cooperation agreements in education, sport and culture during PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's first official visit to Cuba which started on Saturday RIA Novosti reported. Abbas' visit will end Sunday.

Cuban Communist Party member Jorge Risquet pledged Cuba's continuing support to Abbas, saying he hopes "the Arab people will win and a fully sovereign Palestinian [Authority] state will be established in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with its capital in East Jerusalem." Former Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat visited Cuba five times and maintained ties with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli PM's ''final offer'' to Palestinians revealed
2009-03-27
(Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert proposed to return 93 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians and to handle the Jerusalem question under an international framework as his "final offer," local news service Ynet reported Thursday.

Olmert made the promises to Palestinian National Authority (PNA)Chairman Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting in September, said the report, quoting senior officials as saying that the pledges marked Olmert's "final offer to end the conflict."

"There was one point when I put things on the table and offered Abbas something that had never been offered and dealt with the crux of the problem, with the most sensitive issues that touch the most exposed nerves and historical obstacles," Olmert was quoted as telling a political conference held near Tel Aviv on Thursday.

In the offer, Israel would return 93 percent of the West Bank and evict over 60,000 settlers, while retaining large settlements in the Palestinian territories, according to the report, which added that the deal would also see the Jewish state cede control over some peripheral neighborhoods and refugee camps on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

As for the sovereignty of Jerusalem, which is regarded by Israel as its permanent and inalienable capital, and the east part of which is termed by Palestinians as the capital of their future state, Olmert proposed to tackle it under an international framework, revealed the report.

The plan was also presented to the United States, an influential player in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, and Olmert's office said that the staunch ally of Israel supported it, added the report.

"I told him (Abbas) 'let's sign.' It was half a year ago and I'm still waiting," said Olmert on Thursday, who is set to be replaced by hawkish Benjamin Netanyahu as early as next week.

Olmert and Abbas resumed the long-stalled peace talks at a U.S.-hosted international conference in Annapolis on Nov. 27, 2007, and pledged to reach a comprehensive peace deal in 2008.

Yet the ambitious goal proved to be out of reach as both sides were largely paralyzed, respectively by an internal feud between Abbas' Fatah in the West Bank and the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip and by a political turmoil that forced scandal-enveloped Olmert to leave office and Israel to hold a general election.

Now that Netanyahu is set to present a new Israeli government dominated by right wingers, who traditionally hold hardline stances toward the peace process with the Palestinians, the peace prospect of the two neighbors seems increasingly blurry.

Although the premier-designate has recently repeated his readiness to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Netanyahu stopped short of committing himself to the two-state solution, which both the United States and the PNA are backing.

Meanwhile, his argument that Israel should first help develop the Palestinian economy before the two sides settle the core issues has also run into closed doors, triggering Palestinian criticism that he intends to obscure political issues with economic topics.
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