Building Peace Without Obama’s Interference

A look at the other Palestine.  The Palestine of fine hotels and booming economic development that you'll never hear about in the MSM.  The West Bank and Gaza are not the run down hovels depicted in the popular press.  If it were not for the fanatical and implacable desire of the Palestinian leadership to see the utter destruction of Israel, there might be some hope the common man in the street of Gaza and the West Bank could reach an accommodation with Israel.  But until both Hamas and Fatah revise their charters to remove the requirements to destroy Israel, there can be no lasting peace.  The Onus is on the Muslim population of the region to allow a peaceful settlement.

FROM NATIONALREVIEW.COM:

Building Peace Without Obama’s Interference
A promising, independent Palestine is quietly being developed, with Israeli assistance.

By Tom Gross

It is difficult to turn on a TV or radio or pick up a newspaper these days without finding some pundit or other deploring the dismal prospects for Israeli-Palestinian peace or the dreadful living conditions of the Palestinians. Even supposedly neutral news reporters regularly repeat this sad tale. “Very little is changing for the Palestinian people on the ground,” I heard BBC World Service Cairo correspondent Christian Fraser tell listeners three times in a 45-minute period the other evening. 

Nothing could be farther from the truth. I had spent that day in the West Bank’s largest city, Nablus. The city is bursting with energy, life, and signs of prosperity, in a way I have not previously seen in many years of covering the region.

As I sat in the plush office of Ahmad Aweidah, the suave, British-educated banker who heads the Palestinian Securities Exchange, he told me that the Nablus stock market was the second-best-performing in the world so far in 2009, after Shanghai. (Aweidah’s office looks directly across from the palatial residence of Palestinian billionaire Munib al-Masri, the wealthiest man in the West Bank.)

Later I met Bashir al-Shakah, director of Nablus’s gleaming new cinema, where four of the latest Hollywood hits were playing that day. Most movies were sold out, he noted, proudly adding that the venue had already hosted a film festival since it opened in June. 

Wandering around downtown Nablus, the shops and restaurants I saw were full. There were plenty of expensive cars on the streets. Indeed I counted considerably more BMWs and Mercedes than I’ve seen, for example, in downtown Jerusalem or Tel Aviv.

And perhaps most important of all, we had driven from Jerusalem to Nablus without going through any Israeli checkpoints. The government of Benjamin Netanyahu has removed them all since the Israeli security services (with the encouragement and support of Pres. George W. Bush) were allowed, over recent years, to crush the intifada, restore security to the West Bank, and set up the conditions for the economic boom that is now occurring. (There was one border post on the return leg of the journey, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, but the young female guard just waved me and the two Palestinians I was traveling with through.)

The shops and restaurants were also full when I visited Hebron recently, and I was surprised to see villas comparable in size to those on the Cote d’Azur or Bel Air had sprung up on the hills around the city. Life is even better in Ramallah, where it is difficult to get a table in a good restaurant. New apartment buildings, banks, brokerage firms, luxury car dealerships, and health clubs are to be seen. In Qalqilya, another West Bank city that was previously a hotbed of terrorists and bomb-makers, the first-ever strawberry crop is being harvested in time to cash in on the lucrative Christmas markets in Europe. Local Palestinian farmers have been trained by Israeli agriculture experts and Israel supplied them with irrigation equipment and pesticides.

A new Palestinian city, Ruwabi, is to be built soon north of Ramallah. Two weeks ago, the Jewish National Fund, an Israeli charity, helped plant 3,000 tree seedlings for a forested area the Palestinian planners say they would like to develop on the edge of the new city. Israeli experts are also helping the Palestinians plan public parks and other civic amenities.


Outsiders are beginning to take note of the turnaround, too. The official PLO Wafa news agency reported last week that the third quarter of 2009 witnessed near record tourism in the Palestinian Authority, with 135,939 overnight hotel stays in 89 hotels that are now open. Almost half the guests come from the U.S or Europe.

Palestinian economic growth so far this year — a year dominated by economic crisis elsewhere — has been an impressive 7 percent according to the IMF, though Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayad, himself a former World Bank and IMF employee, says it is in fact 11 percent, partly helped along by strong economic performances in neighboring Israel.

In Gaza too, the shops and markets are crammed with food and goods — see, for example, the photos   http://www.paltoday.com/arabic/News-64161.html
from last Friday’s Palestine Today newspaper about the Eid celebrations in Gaza. These are not the pictures you are ever likely to see on the BBC or in Le Monde or the New York Times. No, Gaza is not like a “concentration camp,” nor is the “humanitarian crisis in Gaza is on the scale of Darfur,” as British journalist Lauren Booth (who is also Tony Blair’s sister-in-law) has said.
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Hamas, Fatah Accused of Torture, Murder in Recent Deaths

File this under Rats In A Barrel.

Here's one more indication that Muslim sects cannot long ally with each other before they begin murdering each other. This in-born hatred among Islamic sects need to be exploited to the maximum by our counter intelligence agencies, as it is the greatest weakness of Islam.

FROM ISRAELNATIONALNEWS.COM:

Hamas, Fatah Accused of Torture, Murder in Recent Deaths

by Maayana Miskinif
(IsraelNN.com)

Hamas and its political rival, the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria, were both accused of torture and murder on Monday over the recent deaths of two men. Both died in custody, one in Gaza and the other in Jenin.
According to Hamas, members of the Fatah-led security forces killed Hamas member Abd Al-Haj in a Jenin prison on Sunday. Al-Haj was killed by hanging, two days after being arrested. His body bore signs of torture, members of the Al-Haj family argued.

Al-Haj's relatives accused the PA of arresting Al-Haj for “political reasons.” The accusation was picked up by Hamas legislators in Gaza, who accused the Fatah-led PA of political murder.
"The crime of torturing Mohammed al-Haj to death at the hands of the West Bank security service will have grave consequences and was an attempt to blow up all reconciliation efforts,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum told foreign journalists.
PA officials agree that Al-Haj died in custody, but say he committed suicide.

Hamas Accused of Murder in Khan Yunis
At the same time, a PA-based human rights group has accused Hamas of torturing and killing a 51-year-old Gaza man. Jameel Shakura of Khan Yunis died from injuries sustained in a violent beating that took place in Hamas custody, the group argues.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) says Shakura was called in for questioning by armed Hamas men on January 30. The next day, he was delivered to a local hospital with serious injuries, and subsequently died of his wounds.
Shakura's brother said Jameel reported being beaten while in custody. Hamas legislators who paid the family condolences following the death implied that the group was responsible for the death, he said.

Charges to Affect Talks?
The charges of torture, particularly in the Al-Haj case, are expected to cause difficulties in talks between Fatah and Hamas. The rival groups held dual control over the PA until the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007, and since then have sporadically held talks with the goal of reunification.
Egyptian officials proposed Monday that Fatah and Hamas renew their negotiations at a meeting in Cairo this month.

Financed by the British taxpayer, brutal torturers of the West Bank

Crackdown: Palestinian forces seize a man on the West Bank

File this under rats in a barrel. Mindless violence against fellow Muslims is a hallmark of Islam. While the world focuses on Gaza, the PA in the West bank carry out kidnappings, torture and murder, much as Hamas does in Gaza.

It's not just British money that funds the endless violence by the Palestinians, every Western country must share the blame for perpetuating the abomination known as the Palestinian Authority. Until the West aids Israel in controlling the fanatical Hamas and Fatah, the attack, truce, attack scenario will go on and on.

So much for a "moderate" PA and Fatah.

The only thing that can stop, at least for a while, the endless series of Islamic attacks against Israel is for Israel to so kill so many fanatical Muslims that it will take decades for them to breed more Islamists. Israel must resign itself to occupying the Gaza strip and West Bank for the foreseeable future if there is to be any chance of stability in the region.

Again, Muslim sectarian violence is the West's best ally in the fight against the Global Jihad.

FROM DAILYMAIL.CO.UK:

Financed by the British taxpayer, brutal torturers of the West Bank
By David Rose

Last updated at 11:31 PM on 31st January 2009

The horrific torture of hundreds of people by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank is being funded by British taxpayers.
An investigation by The Mail on Sunday has found that the forces responsible get £20million a year from the UK.

The victims – some left maimed – are rounded up for alleged involvement with the militant Islamic group Hamas, yet many have nothing to do with it.

They are targeted because the Fatah party, which runs the semi-autonomous Palestinian Authority (PA) on the West Bank, is the bitter rival of Hamas, which controls the war-torn Gaza strip.

Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID) gave £76million in all to the PA last year for ‘security sector reform’ and fostering the rule of law.
About £3million goes directly to the PA police. Another £17million pays the salaries of the PA’s array of security organisations – including the Presidential Guard intelligence service and the feared Preventive Security Organisation.
Not only are PA forces carrying out torture, the authority ignores judges’ orders to release political detainees. Last month at least 30 journalists, teachers and students were arrested – as the crackdown on Hamas was praised by a senior Israeli defence official as a necessary ‘iron fist policy’.
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'Hamas torturing Fatah members in Gaza'

Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip.
Photo: AP

Another example of Muslim rats in a barrel killing each other off. Muslims never miss a chance to torture and kill other Muslims over who is the most pure Muslim. So one must conclude that to have the mantle of "pure Islam" requires each sect to annihilate those who hold other views. All in the name of Allah of course. (May this Kuffar use the word Allah?).

Muslim fratricide is the best ally the West has in the fight against Global Jihad.

FROM JPOST.COM:

Jan 19, 2009 20:58 | Updated Jan 20, 2009 11:27
'Hamas torturing Fatah members in Gaza'
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

Hamas militiamen have rounded up hundreds of Fatah activists on suspicion of "collaboration" with Israel during Operation Cast Lead, Fatah members in the Gaza Strip told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.

They said the Hamas crackdown on Fatah intensified after the cease-fire went into effect early Sunday morning.
The Fatah members and eyewitnesses said the detainees were being held in school buildings and hospitals that Hamas had turned into make-shift interrogation centers.
Hamas has also renewed house arrest orders that were issued against thousands of Fatah officials and activists in the Gaza Strip shortly after the military operation started.

A Fatah official in Ramallah told the Post that at least 100 of his men had been killed or wounded as a result of the massive Hamas crackdown. Some had been brutally tortured, he added.
The official said that the perpetrators belonged to Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, and to the movement's Internal Security Force.

According to the official, at least three of the detainees had their eyes put out by their interrogators, who accused them of providing Israel with wartime information about the location of Hamas militiamen and officials.
A number of Hamas leaders and spokesmen have claimed in the past few days that Fatah members in the Gaza Strip had been spying on their movement and passing the information to Israel.
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First suicide bombing in Israel in a year, Gazans celebrate with flowers and candy

Only animals would celebrate murder and mayhem. "Palestinians" celebrate all attacks on the West.
FROM JIHADWATCH.ORG:

February 4, 2008
First suicide bombing in Israel in a year, Gazans celebrate with flowers and candy

Celebrating death. And a group affiliated with peace-loving Fatah, on which Bush and Rice have placed such hope, has claimed responsibility. Abbas denounced the attack, but this is yet another indication that he cannot control his people and cannot enforce any peace agreement.
"First suicide bombing in Israel in year," by Yaniv Zohar for Associated Press (thanks to all who sent this in):
DIMONA, Israel - A suicide bomber blew himself up Monday in the southern town that houses Israel's secretive nuclear reactor, killing an Israeli woman and wounding seven other people, Israeli officials said. Police said they killed a second attacker before he had a chance to detonate his explosives belt.
It was the first suicide attack in Israel in a year, and officials were investigating whether the attackers came in through Egypt after Palestinian militants breached the Gaza-Egypt border last month.
An offshoot of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement claimed responsibility, complicating recently renewed peace efforts. The attackers, they said, came from the West Bank, though the claim could not immediately be verified.
"Gazans hear of attack, hand out sweets," by Ali Waked for Ynet News (thanks to Sr. Soph):
As word of the suicide bombing in Dimona spread Monday, Gaza residents were treated to celebratory wreaths of flowers as well as sweets that were handed to drivers and passers-by.
Gaza motorists receiving the treats and sweets also honked their horns in triumph and celebration.
The "party" was somewhat marred when word spread that Abu Sa'ad, a senior member and spokesman for the Salah al-Din Brigades, the Popular Resistance Committees' military wing, was killed in an IDF attack in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya.
A Hamas member told Ynet that the joy in Gaza is heightened by the fact that these attacks were carried out in spite of the siege on Gaza and the stringent security measures imposed by Israel. “The Palestinian organizations can strike back against Israel in spite of the war waged against them,” he said....
Ynet also has video.

"Dismantled" Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades call for assassination of Palestinian PM Faya

Arab disunity is one of the best things the non Muslim world has going for it. As long as the various factions continue to murder each other, they can't make a unified effort to impose Sharia on the world. It's kinda like rats in a barrel.
FROM JIHADWATCH.ORG:
December 31, 2007
"Dismantled" Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades call for assassination of Palestinian PM Fayad
Some disassembly required. An update on this story.
"Aksa Martyrs Brigades calls for Fayad's assassination," by Khaled Abu Toameh for the Jerusalem Post:
Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, on Sunday called for the murder of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad for "collaboration" with Israel and the US.
This was the first time the group has openly called for Fayad's assassination. In the past, the group distributed leaflets strongly condemning Fayad and calling for his dismissal.
Fayad has been under heavy criticism from some Fatah leaders and activists, who accuse him of denying them public funds and plotting to undermine Fatah's grip on power. Other Fatah leaders have also accused Fayad of seeking to consolidate his power with the hope of replacing Mahmoud Abbas as PA president.
The threat was made in a leaflet distributed by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in the Gaza Strip. Some Fatah officials in Ramallah sought to distance themselves from the threat, claiming that the leaflet had been forged. They even went as far as accusing Hamas of being behind it.
"The command of the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in the Gaza Strip calls on all its elements and striking forces in the West Bank to immediately eliminate the so-called Salaam Fayad," the leaflet said. It claimed that Fayad's Ramallah-based government was working for Israel and the US.
Calling on Abbas to fire the Fayad government, the leaflet criticized Fayad for cutting off the salaries of many Fatah supporters in the Gaza Strip. It also attacked him for allowing the PA security forces in Bethlehem to hand over to Israel three Israelis who had entered the city on Saturday.
"We call on all our members and the policemen in the West Bank not to obey orders from the Fayad government, because it's serving an American agenda and helping Israel eliminate the Aksa Martyrs Brigades," the group continued. It also called to fire PA Interior Minister Abdel Razzak al-Yahya for announcing that the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank had been dismantled.

Deadly clash at Arafat Gaza rally

Ah yes, another example of "Arab unity" in action. I think the enmity between various Muslim factions is a great weakness that needs to be exploited by the West. The West also needs to step back ant take a hands off approach when rifts appear between Muslim sects, and so allow them to weaken each other. Divide and conquer must be employed against the Jihadi.
FROM BBC.CO.UK:
Deadly clash at Arafat Gaza rally
At least six people have been killed in gunfire at a rally organised by Fatah in the Gaza Strip to mark three years since the death of Yasser Arafat.
Security forces from the rival Hamas movement opened fire at crowds, causing people to run for cover, reports say.
It was the biggest rally held by the late president's party since it was ousted from Gaza by Hamas in June after a series of bloody clashes.
The iconic Palestinian leader died in Paris on 11 November 2004.
Since his death Palestinian politics has been riven by splits, the most violent between the secular nationalist Fatah party and the radical Islamist group Hamas.
Taunting
Hundreds of thousands of Fatah supporters, carrying pictures of Arafat and waving yellow Fatah flags had gathered in a large square in the centre of Gaza City.
Hamas security officials said they fired toward protesters who threw stones at security compounds.
Witnesses said the first shots were fired after crowds started accusing Hamas security forces of being a proxy for Shia Muslim-ruled Iran.
About 100 people were reported to have been wounded in the violence.
Hamas has banned opposition rallies since its takeover of Gaza, and its security personnel were out in force at the edge of Monday's massive gathering.
Correspondents say any move to prevent a ceremony commemorating Mr Arafat - whose following still crosses factional divisions - would have been widely unpopular in Gaza.

Correlating Palestinian Aid and Homicides 2000-2007

This is a very interesting analysis. If true, aid to the Palestinians, or any other terroristic group is counterproductive. This verifies my long held belief that any aid to the Palestinians just gave them more money for guns, ammo, explosives and pay for professional terrorists.
Correlating Palestinian Aid and Homicides 2000-2007
FROM CAMERA.ORG:
Questions about Palestinian Aid
Since the inauguration of a Fatah government in the West Bank, and its delinking from the Hamas-led Gaza Strip, Western governments have moved quickly to provide aid to the new leadership. Israel, too, has agreed to turn over withheld tax revenue, release Palestinian prisoners and offer amnesty to wanted militants. The amount of aid promised to the Palestinians in 2007 is on track to exceed any previous year.
Many commentators observing this outpouring of generosity towards the new Fatah-dominated government have expressed the need to proceed cautiously, noting the failure of prior aid to moderate Palestinian behavior, but few have provided specific information to substantiate their concern. In fact, a comparison of annual aid to the Palestinian government with the annual number of Palestinian homicides shows a worrisome correlation.
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Peace loving murderers

Caroline Glick does a analysis of Fatah's deceptions and propaganda to use the MSM for their nefarious ends. She also points out how the leftist Washington Post knowingly parrots Fatah disinformation. Fatah lying is understandable, but an American newspaper aiding and abetting terrorists bent on the destruction of Israel and the US is beyond comprehension.
FROM JEWISHWORLDREVIEW.COM:
Peace loving murderers
By Caroline B. Glick
As the Jerusalem Post's Palestinian affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh reported Monday, over the weekend he and the newspaper fell victim to a Fatah hoax. Saturday, Abu Toameh was "summoned" to Fatah's General Intelligence headquarters in Ramallah where he was given a "scoop" - a graphic videotape of the murder of a 16-year-old girl in July perpetrated as a so-called "honor killing." The Fatah officer in Ramallah supplied Abu Toameh with the phone numbers of two "eye-witnesses" to the episode who would corroborate the story.
It later worked out that the "eye-witnesses" were Fatah militiamen in Gaza. The story was a fabrication. The video was taken in Iraq in April. The purpose of the elaborately crafted tale was clear. Fatah wished to use the Post to project itself as a credible, moderate actor battling the forces of evil and darkness in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Abu Toameh wrote the story and it appeared on The Jerusalem Post's Web site on Saturday night. It was removed when the Post was alerted to the hoax and did not appear in the Sunday paper.
Abu Toameh's forthright admission of his error and his report in Monday's paper of the anatomy of the Fatah ruse is a testament to his own journalistic integrity. But he is not the issue here. The issue here is Fatah and what the hoax tells us about the organization on which the Olmert government and the Bush administration are basing all their plans for a future peace between the Palestinians and the State of Israel.
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The Jihad Way

More on how the Islamic fifth column is working to impose Sharia on America. Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel outline the connections between Esam Omeish, the Muslim American Society (MAS) and its parent, the Muslim Brotherhood.
FROM JEWISHWORLDREVIEW.COM:
The Jihad Way
By Cal Thomas and Bob Beckel
Dr. Esam Omeish resigned as a member of the Virginia Commission on Immigration after his anti-Israel remarks in support of "the jihad way" were posted on YouTube. He told a news conference that jihad has nothing to do with violence, but instead is about inner struggles leading to spiritual triumph. We've heard this before. Such explanations are presented after a terrorist act or a radical is exposed. Radicals also have been known to lie, especially to "infidels."

Omeish claims his remarks were "taken out of context." The context appears clear to anyone familiar with the language of the Middle East. Most rational people understand "the jihad way," especially when it is associated with Israel, as meaning the violent overthrow of Israel (and other democracies) and the destruction of the Jewish people.
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