Glick: "Enter at your own risk"

Welcome to Palestine -Caroline Glick

In the world of international diplomacy few issues receive more wall-to-wall support than the notion that it is essential to establish a Palestinian state. Leaders worldwide are so busy speaking of how essential it is...that none of them seems to have noticed that it already exists. This state was officially founded in the summer of 2005, when Israel removed its military forces and civilian population from the Gaza Strip and so established the first wholly independent Palestinian state in history.

And it is a nightmare.

The Palestinians, who receive more aid per capita than any people on earth, are needy not because they lack funds. They are poor because they prefer poverty, violence and war to prosperity, peace and moderation. So it is that 57 percent of Palestinians support terror attacks against Israel.

The hordes of political leaders mindlessly squawking about "visions" and "two-state solutions" should know: This is Palestine. Enter at your own risk.
[The Jerusalem Post]

New UN Head: refreshing

UN Secretary-General Condemns Suicide Bombing in Israel

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemns in the strongest possible terms today's suicide bombing at a bakery in Eilat, Israel, which killed three people and wounded another.

Such acts of terrorism are a violation of international humanitarian law and can never be justified. The Secretary-General is also alarmed at announcements that further attacks against Israeli civilians are being planned.

He calls for swift action by Palestinian security forces to bring to justice those responsible and prevent further attacks.
(United Nations)

Eerie VideoBite

Today's terror attack in Eilat was captured on a video security camera in an adjacent restaurant. In this surreal 40 second clip, you will see the suicide bomber dressed in red crossing in front of the store and then the explosion [next door] breaking thru the wall...click on the link below and activate the video there:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3358568,00.html
[Note: this brief clip is not gory]

Bruce

Recovering from Oslo

End the delusion -Efraim Inbar

All current plans fail to address the main problem - Palestinian chaos.

Nurturing the national hopes of the dysfunctional Palestinian national movement will bring only further suffering to the Palestinians and their neighbors.

[T]he quest for peace and stability requires stopping the Palestinian experiment as soon as possible. Since Israel has no appetite for ruling unruly Palestinians, it is for Jordan and Egypt, both Arab, to contain the Palestinian national movement and rule over the Palestinians.

With PA fortunes at a low point, Israel should use its diplomatic resources to further weaken and delegitimize the hostile entity, rather than paying lip service to the two-state paradigm - a losing proposition.

[T]he Palestinian experiment started at Oslo has failed.
[Jerusalem Post]

Paranoid delusions

The Balloons released Saturday which floated over the border

Balloons Released in Israeli Promotion Sow Panic in South Lebanon
- Yoav Stern
An Israeli promotional campaign involving balloons caused panic among Lebanese civilians Saturday when the wind carried them over the border into southern Lebanon. Lebanon's official news agency claimed that they were "poisoned balloons" dispersed by IDF aircraft. In Nabatiyeh, five people suffering from nausea and dizziness were brought into hospital after they touched the "suspicious green balloons."
(Ha'aretz)

See also a German news agency jumping on the delusioinal bandwagon
(Deutsche Presse-Agentur)

No longer hyperbole, professor sounds alarm

Muslims 'about to take over Europe'
-David Machlis & Tovah Lazaroff

Prof. Bernard Lewis, the world-renowned Middle Eastern and Islamic scholar, said...Islam could soon be the dominant force in Europe which, in the name of political correctness, has abdicated the battle for cultural and religious control.

The Muslims "seem to be about to take over Europe," Lewis said at a special briefing. Asked what this meant for the continent's Jews, he responded, "The outlook for the Jewish communities of Europe is dim."

Soon, he warned, the only pertinent question regarding Europe's future would be, "Will it be an Islamized Europe or Europeanized Islam?"
[Jerusalem Post]

For an example of this trend see:
Marked Rise in Attacks on Jews in Europe in 2006 (Ha'aretz)

UPDATE:
Religiosity Growing Among Young British Muslims - Michael Holden
Research by the Policy Exchange think-tank in London released Monday found that 37% of 16-24-year-old British Muslims would prefer to live under Islamic sharia law than under British law.
74% of young Muslims said they preferred women to wear a veil or hijab.
13% of those aged 16-24 also agreed with the statement that they "admire organizations like al-Qaeda that are prepared to fight the West."
(Reuters)

One Year Later

Hamas Riding High One Year After Election - Khaled Abu Toameh

One year after their victory in the PA parliamentary election, Hamas leaders on Thursday had every reason to be satisfied.

Political and financial sanctions imposed by the international community have failed to bring down the Hamas-led government. Efforts by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party to undermine the government of Ismail Haniyeh have also been unsuccessful. Predictions that Hamas' popularity would drop have proven to be wrong.
(Jerusalem Post)

CartoonBites Carter

CLICK CARTOON FOR A LARGER VIEW

The above cartoon of former President Jimmy Carter appears in the Brandeis University student newspaper. Brandeis hosted Carter recently.

Our former president refused to participate in a debate there with Alan Dershowitz, who instead spoke at a separate campus event.
Bruce

Dead End

Gen. Yaalon: Occupation Is Not Root of Conflict - Yaakov Lappin

"The fact that Israel was attacked last summer from two areas it left, strengthens the sense of a dead end, and proves that the root of the conflict is not the occupation of territories," Yaalon said.

"Withdrawal will not solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or solve the jihadi threat....The basis of our belief, that the other side wants two states, is false."
(Ynet News)

VideoBite: SNL

Saturday Night Live defends "24"
See the very brief clip at
http://hotair.com/archives/2007/01/21/video-snl-on-islamophobia-redux/

Child Sexual Abuse Legal

The silent screams of women and girls -Lily Mazahery

Iran's new Islamic-guided government has established a system [of] "sigheh" or "temporary marriages," by which a mullah arranges a "legal union" between a man and a girl (some as young as nine years old) for a fee.

The so-called marriage can last anywhere from one hour to 99 years. Under this system, men are free to enter into as many temporary marriages as they so desire, without having any legal obligation or responsibility toward the children that they "marry," only to use as sexual objects and slaves.
(Jerusalem Post)

VideoBite: The Battle for Islam

The War Within: The Debate
"This is not an ideology, it's a mental illness."
[CNN]

Note: This is a must see minute and a half videobite...you will be pleased you did
Bruce

Redefining Victory

Winged Victory of Samothrace
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Can a Conventional Army Vanquish a Terrorist Insurgency?
- Maj.-Gen. Yaakov Amidror

Total victory is not the sole model of victory which history recognizes. It is necessary to adopt an alternative concept of victory, which should be called "minimal victory"...

This "minimal victory," in which terror is contained and checked before it strikes, becomes more significant if, due to the terror organizations' prolonged lack of success, they reduce the number of terror attempts.

Such an achievement is possible, for example, when the terror bodies are too busy protecting their own lives instead of planning terror and carrying it out.
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

Road Map Evaluated

Is the road map still relevant? -Daniel Pipes

[The plan's] most fundamental [fault] was its assumption that if only the Palestinians were given just a tad more of this or that, they would finally recognize the benefits of harmonious co-existence with a Jewish state of Israel. Not to have learned by now that Palestinians have larger and more aggressive ambitions than to live side-by-side with Israel implies living in a state of denial.

[T]here is no need for a new plan. The Bush administration should drop its overly-ambitious notions of "solving the Arab-Israeli conflict."

As Irving Kristol memorably observed, "Whom the gods would destroy, they first tempt to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict."
[Jerusalem Post]
[Cartoon: John Pritchett]

Where there's smoke, there's fire

Jury Sees Tape from London Bomb Attempt Showing Suspect on Subway Trying to Set Off Device - Kevin Sullivan and Karla Adam

The security video showed a London subway car crowded with midday riders, a man with a backpack among them. Suddenly, a large puff of dust shot out of his pack.
The dust was from a bomb hidden in his backpack. Its detonator fired but the shrapnel-laced main charge failed to explode.
(Washington Post)

"Lethal Naivete"

The End of Deterrence - S. Enders Wimbush

Iran's leadership has spoken of its willingness - in their words - to "martyr" the entire Iranian nation as a way to accelerate an inevitable, apocalyptic collision between Islam and the West that will result in Islam's final worldwide triumph.

Many European strategists speak of "managing" a nuclear Iran. This is a lethal naivete. We have no idea how to deter ideological actors.
(Weekly Standard)

Peace prospects

Clifford May

A Time for Middle East Peace? - Clifford D. May

[G]iven the current Palestinian leadership and the support it receives from Tehran, the chance of resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict is as low as it's ever been. Why those who style themselves as foreign-policy "realists" claim otherwise is a mystery.

[I]t is only when al-Qaeda, the Iranian mullahs, and other militant Islamists are seen as having failed, that Palestinians will choose leaders who seek peace...
(National Review)

VideoBite: stunning words

Dearest Readers,

This 3 minute clip of Iraqi MP Iyad Jamal Al-Din appeared on Al-Jazeera TV recently. It is not a voice heard often enough, even in our media.
Use the link below:
http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/video_480x360.asp?ai=214&ar=1351wmv&ak=null

Your Soundbiter,
Bruce

86 million buys: Arab rejectionism

Palestinian Opposes Provisional State -AP

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Secretary of State Condolezza Rice that he opposes the establishment of a provisional Palestinian state within temporary borders.
[New York Times]


US seeks 86 million dollars in military aid to Palestinians
Bush has asked Congress to authorize 86 million dollars in military aid to boost security forces loyal to moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
[The News-International]

Abbas' true colors

Abbas: Aim guns against Israel

Appealing to Palestinians to avoid civil war, Abbas said: “We are all one people regardless of differences of opinion. My top priority is to preserve national unity...rifles should be directed against the occupation.”
Defending his call to use weapons against Israel, he added: “We have a legitimate right to direct our guns against Israeli occupation."
[Jerusalem Post]

Except for Sderot...

Death Toll of Israeli Civilians Killed by Palestinians Hits Six-Year Low
-Dion Nissenbaum
Palestinian militants killed 23 Israelis and foreign visitors in 2006, down from a high of 289 in 2002 and 43 deaths in 2005. Only two Palestinian suicide bombers managed to sneak into Israel for attacks that killed 11 people and wounded 30 others in 2006. The figures highlight Israel's success in insulating most of its citizens from the conflict with the Palestinians. (McClatchy)

Nuclear vulnerability

Pre-empting Iran -Elliot Chodoff

Israel cannot expect to survive a successful nuclear attack. With a population of seven million concentrated largely along the coast in a few major metropolitan areas, Israel is simply too compact...

The loss of two major cities would spell the elimination of Israel.

Israel cannot afford to rely on the threat of retaliation to deter an Iranian nuclear attack. The possibility that Iran's leaders will calculate that Iran can survive an Israeli retaliatory strike, jeopardizes the survival of Israel.
[Mideast: On Target]

Consensus on Iran...finally

Democrats: Nuclear Iran unacceptable -Hilary L. Krieger

Iran with nuclear weapons is unacceptable, new House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told The Jerusalem Post hours after entering the party leadership position.

The Maryland Democrat said the view is shared by his party, rejecting assertions that the Democrats would be weaker than the Republicans on Iran.
He also said that the use of force against Teheran remained an option.
[Jerusalem Post]

Former Jerusalem Mayor, Teddy Kollek, of blessed memory

Living in Jerusalem with Wisdom - Teddy Kollek
[I]t is precisely the honesty and the cool-headed logic of responsible action - democratic norms and tolerance in all dealings with the Arab population - that will strengthen our historical rights to the city and its status as Israel's capital.
(Jerusalem Post)

Looking into the barrel

Survey: Lebanon War Damaged Israel's Deterring Image - Hanan Greenberg

[O]ne serious consequence of the Lebanon war was that Arab states now doubt Israel's strength, and may take future offensive steps that would have been unthinkable six months ago.
(Ynet News)

Not happening

A Sovereign Palestine? - Paul Sheehan

The level of conflict between the Palestinian parties simmers just below the level of civil war, even as the spoils keep shrinking. Stripped of all emotion and prejudice, right and wrong, one reality becomes clear: there is no chance of a sovereign, autonomous Palestinian state. Not within our lifetimes.
(Sydney Morning Herald-Australia)

Palestinians mourn

Palestinians Mourn Saddam's Execution - Dalia Nammari

Saddam Hussein was mourned by Palestinians Saturday as a generous patron who remained one of their staunchest allies. Palestinians in Bethlehem opened a "house of condolence," where dozens of people gathered to mourn the executed dictator.

At a parade in his honor in Gaza, Palestinians displayed a poster with his image next to that of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. During the first Gulf War in 1991, Saddam attacked Israel with Scud missiles as Palestinians chanted: "Beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv."
(AP/Washington Post)
[Photo: Reuters, 1988]