[imra] Daily digest - Volume: 2 Issue: 1420 (11 messages)

imra Sat Jun 17 00:28:32 2006 Volume 2 : Issue 1420

In this issue of the imra daily Digest:

Weekly Commentary: Is it moral to die for human shields?
Three Kassams launched, two land in Israel
Six Qassams launched, five land in Israel
Steinberg: HRW's rush to judgement
-- launches another PR attack against Israel
Israel Radio drops report of
Qassam attacks from 9:00 AM news
Israel Radio drops report of
Qassam attacks from 9:00 AM news
Two Qassams hit Moshav Shuva
- one hits greenhouse
Excerpts: Iran-Syria pact against 'common threats'.
Who makes policy in Arab countries? 16 June 2006
[Speed record?]Weapons Olmert gave to PA already killed Israeli
[Deja vu?]Ramon: Halt rockets, or we will hit Gaza harder
Olmert's plan for Jerusalem[ignores Arab mobility]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Weekly Commentary: Is it moral to die for human shields?

Weekly Commentary: Is it moral to die for human shields?

Aaron Lerner Date: 15 June 2006

"I have always maintained that there has to be proportional use of force,
and governments have to be careful not to take action in areas where
civilians are remotely likely to be put in harm's way"
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan 13 June 2006

Kofi Annan may indeed think it is not nice for the Palestinians to
manufacture, store and launch rockets from within the Palestinian civilian
population, but he rewards such behavior by arguing that Israel must respect
the human shields - even if this means sacrificing Israeli civilian lives.

The Palestinians argue that they have the right to murder the residents of
Sderot as part of their "right to resist the occupation". But Yasser
Arafat's September 9, 1993 letter to Yitzhak Rabin committing on behalf of
the Palestinian People to "a peaceful resolution of the conflict. . .
resolved through negotiations" forfeited whatever "right" to violent
"resistance" the Palestinians could have conceivably had prior to Oslo.

That's not to say that Arafat's letter and the agreements that followed it
stripped the Palestinians of the ability to struggle for their interests. It
just limited them to pursuing them via non-violent means - both on the
domestic and the international front.

In an ideal world Israeli technology would zap the rockets out of the sky,
thus avoiding Annan's criticism. But there simply isn't such equipment
available tonight to protect the residents of Sderot from the next barrage.

By the same token, while Israel has made strides in its ability to identify
and target rocket teams as they deploy to launch, a considerable number of
launches are carried out before the teams can be taken out.

As a result, Israel finds itself constantly having to choose between
exposing Israeli civilians to the risk of being murdered by Palestinian
rockets or taking action against the rocket teams and the infrastructure
supporting the teams where Palestinian "civilians are remotely likely to be
put in harm's way."

Right now Defense Minister Amir Peretz is opting to prefer the safety of
Palestinian human shields over that of his neighbors in Sderot.

This may play well among radical Left circles and the Kofi Annans of the
world but it remains nothing more than a grotesque perversion of morality.

Ironically, when one compares IDF operations in the West Bank, where crack
ground teams are constantly operating in urban areas with most "civilian"
casualties limited to people who actively decided to remain at the scene of
an operation, to the almost exclusively airborne operations Israel carries
out in the evacuated Gaza Strip, one could readily conclude that the best
way to reduce the loss of "innocent" Palestinian lives is for Israel to
retake the Gaza Strip.

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Three Kassams launched, two land in Israel

Three Kassams launched, two land in Israel
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 16, 2006
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150355505196&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Two Kassam rockets launched from the northern Gaza Strip landed in Israel
overnight Thursday.

A third rocket was also launched but landed in the Gaza Strip.

No one was wounded in the attacks.

[IMRA: Israel Radio reported this story as "only three Qassams...."]

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Six Qassams launched, five land in Israel

Six Qassams launched, five land in Israel

Dr. Aaron Lerner June 16, 2006

Israel Radio reported on the 7:00 news broadcast that according to
correspondent Nissim Keinan a total of six Qassams were launched from the
Gaza Strip overnight, five of which landed in Israel [this is double the
number reported on the 5:00 AM news]. He also reported that the IDF
thwarted the launching of one Qassam by firing at the launching team.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Steinberg: HRW's rush to judgement
-- launches another PR attack against Israel

Friday, 16 June, 2006

HRW is clearly under pressure to "prove" that its support for the
Palestinian version is correct --- and the subheading "Palestinians Agree to
Independent Inquiry" could have been used in the Jenin "massacre" myth
campaign, and on many other occasions. For HRW and the Palestinians,
"independent" means the UN or another body dominated by anti-Israel
ideologues, where the outcome is never in doubt.

In today's press release, like the previous one, Garlasco and HRW present
the narrow claims that might support their version, while ignoring all of
the contradictory data. The claim that the Israeli government has
attributed this explosion to a mine planted by the Palestinians is also
incorrect -- there is some unofficial speculation, particularly in the
media, but no official statement on the possible cause. And it is
interesting that while Garlasco portrays himself as a military expert, we
know very little about his actual combat experience, if any. What is his
political agenda, and why has he not provided a report on the sources and
manufacture of Palestinian rockets and missiles? For the mass media, the
NGO "halo effect" remains intact, at least for now.

Gerald Steinberg
www.ngo-monitor.org

----- Original Message -----
From: HRW Press
To: HRW Press
Sent: Friday, June 16, 2006 1:26 AM
Subject: Israel: More Evidence on Beach Killings Implicates IDF

For Immediate Release

Israel: More Evidence on Beach Killings Implicates IDF

Palestinians Agree to Independent Inquiry

(Gaza, June 15, 2006) - A digitally dated and time-stamped blood test report
of a victim treated at a Palestinian hospital that admitted wounded from the
June 9 killings on a Gaza beach suggests that the attack took place during
the time period of an Israeli artillery attack, Human Rights Watch said
today. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have denied responsibility for the
killings, saying that although they fired six artillery shells onto the
beach between 4:32 p.m. and 4:51 p.m., the fatal incident must have occurred
after that.

Human Rights Watch first challenged this conclusion, concluding that the IDF
most likely caused the killings, in a press release,
www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/06/13/isrlpa13544.htm , based on an
investigation by its researchers in Gaza.

Human Rights Watch researchers examined the computer-generated record from
the Kamal Adwan hospital, which documents the blood test of a victim from
the beach incident being taken at 5:12 p.m. on June 9. Furthermore,
hand-written hospital records log patients from the incident as having been
admitted starting at 5:05 p.m. If the records are accurate, based on the
time needed to dispatch an ambulance and drive from the hospital to the
beach and back, this suggests that the fatal explosion took place at a time
when the IDF said they was firing artillery rounds. Both sets of records
also directly call into question the account of the IDF that ambulances did
not reach the beach until 5:15 p.m. that day.

Altering the records would require re-setting the computer's clock and
re-writing pages of the hospital's admissions log. Human Rights Watch
researchers said that the pages they saw documented patients un-related to
the beach incident, followed by two pages of victims from the beach. The
first of those were admitted at 5:05 p.m. The researchers saw no evidence
that the times might have been altered.

Israeli military officials have also suggested the explosion, which killed
seven members of the Ghalya family and wounded many others, might have been
caused by a mine. But Human Rights Watch researchers also examined
blood-crusted shrapnel given to them by the father of a 19-year-old male who
suffered abdominal wounds in the beach explosion. They determined that the
shrapnel is a piece of fuse from an artillery shell.

"The likelihood that the Ghalya family was killed by an explosive other than
one of the shells fired by the IDF is remote," said Marc Garlasco, senior
military analyst at Human Rights Watch. "This new evidence highlights the
urgent need for Israel to permit an independent, transparent investigation
into the beach killings."

Human Rights Watch received a fax today from the office of Palestinian
Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas, saying that the president's office,
which is holding much of the shrapnel removed from the blast victims, would
cooperate and share evidence with an independent inquiry team.

For further information, please contact:

In Jerusalem, Lucy Mair: +972-548-167-775

In Gaza, Marc Garlasco: +972-548-067-027 (mobile)

In Gaza, Bonnie Docherty: +972-548-067-027 (mobile)

In New York, Sarah Leah Whitson: +1-212-216-1230

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Israel Radio drops report of
Qassam attacks from 9:00 AM news

Israel Radio drops report of Qassam attacks from 9:00 AM news

Dr. Aaron Lerner June 16, 2006

Israel Radio's 9:00 AM news bulletin declined to mention the Qassam attacks
that hit Israel over the course of the evening and early morning.

Israel Radio reported on the 7:00 news broadcast that according to
correspondent Nissim Keinan a total of six Qassams were launched from the
Gaza Strip overnight, five of which landed in Israel [this is double the
number reported on the 5:00 AM news]. He also reported that the IDF
thwarted the launching of one Qassam by firing at the launching team.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Israel Radio drops report of
Qassam attacks from 9:00 AM news

Two Qassams hit Moshav Shuva - one hits greenhouse
Dr. Aaron Lerner June 16, 2006

Israel Radio reported on the 10:30 newsbreak that two Qassam rockets slammed
into Moshav Shuva, one of which hit a greenhouse. The item declined to
mention that this brings the Qassam total for the day so far to 8.

An interview with DM Peretz appears in the Friday papers and on YNET. The
interview took place during the temporary halt in Qassaam attacks that
Peretz attributed to his strong warning to the Palestinians that Israel
would act if the attacks continued. Since then the attacks have resumed but
DM Peretz has apparently turned his focus towards removing Israeli outposts
in the West Bank rather than delivering on his warning to the Palestinians.

Israel Radio's 9:00 AM news bulletin declined to mention the Qassam attacks
that hit Israel over the course of the evening and early morning.

Israel Radio reported on the 7:00 news broadcast that according to
correspondent Nissim Keinan a total of six Qassams were launched from the
Gaza Strip overnight, five of which landed in Israel [this is double the
number reported on the 5:00 AM news]. He also reported that the IDF
thwarted the launching of one Qassam by firing at the launching team.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Two Qassams hit Moshav Shuva
- one hits greenhouse

Two Qassams hit Moshav Shuva - one hits greenhouse
Dr. Aaron Lerner June 16, 2006

Israel Radio reported on the 10:30 newsbreak that two Qassam rockets slammed
into Moshav Shuva, one of which hit a greenhouse. The item declined to
mention that this brings the Qassam total for the day so far to 8.

An interview with DM Peretz appears in the Friday papers and on YNET. The
interview took place during the temporary halt in Qassaam attacks that
Peretz attributed to his strong warning to the Palestinians that Israel
would act if the attacks continued. Since then the attacks have resumed but
DM Peretz has apparently turned his focus towards removing Israeli outposts
in the West Bank rather than delivering on his warning to the Palestinians.

Israel Radio's 9:00 AM news bulletin declined to mention the Qassam attacks
that hit Israel over the course of the evening and early morning.

Israel Radio reported on the 7:00 news broadcast that according to
correspondent Nissim Keinan a total of six Qassams were launched from the
Gaza Strip overnight, five of which landed in Israel [this is double the
number reported on the 5:00 AM news]. He also reported that the IDF
thwarted the launching of one Qassam by firing at the launching team.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Excerpts: Iran-Syria pact against 'common threats'.
Who makes policy in Arab countries? 16 June 2006

Excerpts: Iran-Syria pact against 'common threats'.Who makes policy in Arab
countries? 16 June 2006

+++THE DAILY STAR (Lebanon) 16 June '06:"Iran and Syria sign pact against
'common threats' "
Iran and Syria sign pact against 'common threats' ". Farhad Pouladi, AFP &
AP

HEADING:"Military accord names Israel and United States"
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"Iran and Syria ... agreement for military cooperation against 'common
threats' ...by Israel and the United States"

"Iran is ready to sign a non-aggression pact with regional countries"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EXCERPTS:
TEHRAN: Defense ministers from close allies Iran and Syria on 15 June
signed an agreement for military cooperation against what they called the
"common threats" presented by Israel and the United States.
...consolidating their defense efforts and strengthening support for one
another.
... Syrian side has purchased some Iranian military equipment.... formation
of a joint Supreme Defense Commission ... .. .Washington has included Syria
in its "axis of evil" that also comprises Iran and North Korea, citing these
nations as "supporters of terrorism." ..., Turkmani dismissed the
possibility of hosting an Iranian military base on Syrian soil. ...The
Iranian defense minister said: "US threats are a kind of psychological
operation. It is not new. With unity among the region's nations, these
threats will not prevail." ..."We will continue both research and
development and production of missiles as part of our current trend of
activities," (Iranian defense minister) ... .
Although the two refused to give specifics about the agreement for military
cooperation, Najjar said Iran "considers Syria's security its own security,
and we consider our defense capabilities to be those of Syria." ..."Iran is
ready to sign a non-aggression pact with regional countries," Najjar said.
Iran's Shahab-3 missiles have a range of 2,000 kilometers, capable of
hitting Israel and US bases in the region. Israel and the United States have
jointly developed the Arrow anti-ballistic missile system, which could
intercept Iran's Shahab-3 missiles. ...

+++JORDAN TIMES 16-17 June '06 "Rule by militias, a chronic Arab problem" by
Rhami G. Khouri
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"common habit of tying to dictate political policy through the use of
gunmen on the streets"
"What do we know ... about the political sentiments of the Fateh and Hamas
gunmen ... noble concept ... Or power and sharing the material spoils of
incumbancy?"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EXCERPTS:
The events in Palestine Monday highlighted dramatically the reasons why
representatives from a dozen research centres in the Arab world, Europe and
the United States gathered in Amman this week to explore the issue of
reforming Arab armed forces and security agencies.
Hamas gunmen Monday fired rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank rockets at
the Gaza headquarters of the Fateh-dominated Preventive Security Forces; in
return, Fateh gunmen...burned the Palestinian parliament and Cabinet
buildings in Ramallah. This spectacle of military forces taking to the
street, shooting people and burning public offices they believe to be
controlled by their rivals brings that society closer to the point where
armed gangs and party militias effectively take over the political process.
...: Who holds power and makes policy in Arab countries, elected civilian
authorities or gunmen on the street?...armed groups, private armies,
neighbourhood gangs and party militias seem to be a growth industry
throughout the Middle East. . . ..security sector reform is imperative if
other reforms - economic, political, social - are to have a chance of
succeeding in Arab lands. . . .In Palestine today, we also see the common
habit of trying to dictate political policy through the use of gunmen on the
streets.
. . .....security is a legitimate and crucial task, and it is best
performed by professional agencies working closely with elected civilian
bodies, according to laws enforced by an independent judiciary.... Any goal
that is seen to emanate from Western capitals, no matter how good or
appropriate (e.g., democracy, human rights, free press), is likely to
generate stiff resistance in Arab societies .....
... What do we know... about the political sentiments of the Fateh and Hamas
gunmen burning public buildings in Ramallah and Gaza? Are they fighting for
a noble concept of an independent Palestine living in democracy, freedom and
peace? Or are they more interested in holding on to power and sharing the
material spoils of incumbency?

Sue Lerner - Associate - IMRA

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: [Speed record?]Weapons Olmert gave to PA already killed Israeli

'Israel's weapons used against Jews'

Terrorist says that rifles transferred last week by Israel to Abbas for
security have been employed in shooting attacks against Israelis

Weapons transferred last week by Israel to Force 17, the presidential guard
units of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, will be utilized for
attacks against Jews, a senior member of Force 17 told WorldNetDaily in an
exclusive interview today.

16 June 2006
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3263652,00.html

The militant, Abu Yousuf, hinted the weapons already were used in two
shooting attacks the past few days that killed one Israeli civilian and
wounded another.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced earlier this week he had approved a
shipment of weapons and ammunition, which reportedly include over 370
assault rifles and were destined for Force 17. The shipment reportedly
originated in Jordan and needed Israel's approval for transport.

Olmert said the shipment was meant to bolster security forces loyal to Abbas
amid an increasingly violent power struggle between the PA chairman's Fatah
party and Hamas, which won recent Palestinian parliamentary elections.

"I did this because we are running out of time and we need to help Abu
Mazen," Olmert told reporters Tuesday.

The weapons reportedly were escorted by Israel to Ramallah and to the Gaza
border where they were received by Force 17 members.

Weapons 'won't be used against brothers'

Abu Yousuf said the weapons will be fired at Israelis. "These weapons will
not be used in an internal war but against Israelis," he said. "Force 17 is
proud that we were the first to lead the Palestinian people during tough
times such as resistance operations (against the Israeli army during
large-scale operations in northern Samaria in 2002). We will also be the
first to lead the Palestinians in the current struggle against Israeli
occupation."

Several Force 17 members, including Yousuf, also are members of the Al Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades, a terror group linked to Abbas' Fatah party responsible
for scores of suicide bombings and shooting attacks.

Yousuf himself previously participated in anti-Israel terrorism, including
recent shootings, attacks last month against Israeli forces operating in
Ramallah and a shooting attack in northern Samaria in December 2000 that
killed Benyamin Kahane, leader of the ultranationalist Kahane Chai
organization.

After the Kahane murder, Yousuf was extended refuge by Yasser Arafat to live
in the late PLO leader's Ramallah compound, widely known as the Muqata.
Yousuf still lives in the compound.

Abbas earlier this week appointed Mahmoud Damra to head Force 17. Damra, who
is on Israel's most wanted list of terrorists, was offered shelter in
Arafat's compound in Ramallah in 2002 after Israel accused him of
masterminding a string of terrorist attacks.

Israeli security officials say that since September 2000, Damra has led a
terror cell based in Ramallah that has carried out deadly attacks, including
shootings at Israeli vehicles, attacks against Jewish communities in Judea
and Samaria and the planting of roadside bombs.

Yousuf told WorldNetDaily Israel transferred the weapons to his Force 17
unit "for its own political purposes. We are not concerned with the reasons.
The weapons will not be used against our brothers, only (against) Israelis."

Rifles already employed for terror

Sources close to the Al Aqsa Brigades told WND assault rifles transferred by
Israel to Force 17 already were used in two separate anti-Israel shooting
attacks in recent days. One attack killed a 35-year-old Israeli Arab on a
major West Bank highway on the outskirts of Jerusalem this past Sunday.
Israeli security officials say the shooters likely mistook the victim for a
Jew. The second attack, which occurred Tuesday on the same highway, lightly
wounded an Israeli.

Yousuf refused to confirm whether Israeli weapons were used in the recent
spate of highway shootings, but he hinted the information was accurate. He
told WND members of Al Aqsa Brigades live with him in the Muqata and that
"resistance tools" are shared regularly.

Reproduced with permission from WorldNetDaily

(06.16.06, 10:37)

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: [Deja vu?]Ramon: Halt rockets, or we will hit Gaza harder

Ramon: Halt rockets, or we will hit Gaza harder
By Haaretz Service 16 June 2006
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/727844.html

Israel will ratchet up its military reaction to Palestinian rocket fire from
the Gaza Strip unless the Palestinians work to halt the attacks, Justice
Minister Haim Ramon said Friday.

"If the residents of the Gaza Strip don't act and don't understand that the
biggest threat to their security is the Qassam fire, then we will have to
intensify our response and take steps that we have not yet taken," he told
Israel Radio. He did not specify which steps were being considered.

MK Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party,
called on the Israel Defense Forces on Friday to announce that it will
target Hamas leaders' homes in response to Qassam rocket fire from the Gaza
Strip, Israel Radio reported.

Israel has already warned Hamas that it would attack the group's leaders
unless the rocket fire was halted, and Palestinian sources told Haaretz that
as a result, Hamas instructed its operatives Monday night to stop firing
Qassams at Israel. However, Hamas later denied the Haaretz report.

Lieberman held a faction meeting Friday in the Negev town of Sderot, which
has been a frequent target of rocket fire. He said the next Knesset plenum
session should also be held in Sderot.

A Qassam rocket hit a moshav in the western Negev on Friday, causing some
damage, Israel Radio reported. Palestinians fired six other Qassams at
Israel on Thursday night and Friday. There were no injuries.

Sderot residents, meanwhile, are holding a hunger strike in the town, near
Defense Minister Amir Peretz's home.

Protesters said the IDF needs to do more to prevent the Palestinians from
firing rockets at Israel.

But Ramon said the IDF was already attacking Qassam-launching cells in the
Gaza Strip.

"Everyone who fires Qassams today knows that he is betting his life and that
at the end of the day he will pay the full price," he said.

------------------------------

From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Olmert's plan for Jerusalem[ignores Arab mobility]

Column One: Olmert's plan for Jerusalem
Caroline Glick, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 15, 2006
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1150355504853&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

During his tour this week of European capitals, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
announced that in addition to Judea and Samaria, he plans to transfer a
number of neighborhoods in Jerusalem to Hamas. In his words, "Not all the
Arab neighborhoods will be part of the city in the future."
Olmert claims that taking these Arab neighborhoods out of Jerusalem's
municipal boundaries will strengthen the city. From a security perspective
this makes no sense since transferring Tzur Baher, Jebl Mukaber and Isawiya
to the Hamas-Fatah-Islamic Jihad-al-Qaida-Hizbullah-led Palestinian
Authority will place all the remaining neighborhoods in the city within
enemy rocket, mortar and even rifle range.

Olmert apparently thinks that partitioning the city will secure the Jewish
majority of the city. Yet, taking these neighborhoods out of the city will
actually endanger that majority.

Over the past few months, a team of American and Israeli researchers
conducted a demographic study of Jerusalem and its environs. Last year the
same researchers - Bennett Zimmerman, Roberta Seid, Michael Weiss and Yoram
Ettinger - conducted the first independent study of the Palestinian
population data published by the PA's Central Bureau of Statistics in 1997.
Their study exposed that the PA had inflated the number of Palestinians in
Judea, Samaria and Gaza by some 1.5 million or 50 percent. Olmert and his
colleagues in Kadima and the Labor Party have justified their plan to
surrender Judea and Samaria to Hamas on the basis of these inflated numbers
which falsely project that by 2015 there will be more Arabs than Jews
between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

The team's research methods and their findings were reviewed by the leading
American demographer Nicholas Eberstadt from the American Enterprise
Institute in Washington, DC. At the Herzliya Conference in January,
Eberstadt praised the team's research methods and stated that their
conclusions were "not only plausible but quite persuasive."

Their study showed that today Jews comprise 59 percent of the overall
population of the areas that include sovereign Israel, Judea and Samaria and
Gaza and 67 percent of the population of Judea, Samaria and sovereign
Israel. Far from becoming the minority by 2015, the group's projections show
that in 2025, Jews will comprise between 56-71 percent of the overall
population of Judea, Samaria and sovereign Israel. In other words, the team
showed that there is no demographic threat to Israel's Jewish majority.

The team began examining the demographic situation in Jerusalem and its
environs after Olmert first expressed his plan to partition the city as part
of his unilateral retreat policy. The team noted at the outset that Olmert's
claim - that by placing Arab neighborhoods outside the municipal boundaries
he would be reducing the Arab population of the capital by tens of
thousands - ignores the fact that Arabs can move. As legal residents of
Jerusalem these Arabs are under no obligation to remain in the neighborhoods
slotted for transfer to Hamas.

Indeed, since the government's intention to partition the city was made
clear by the route of the security fence, thousands of Arabs with Jerusalem
ID cards who had previously lived in Judea and in neighborhoods set to be
placed outside the city's boundaries started converging on the city.
Residents of Pisgat Ze'ev and Neveh Ya'acov relate that Arabs are moving
into their neighborhoods in droves. This is also the case in the city's Arab
neighborhoods not set for transfer to Hamas such as Beit Tzafafa, Wadi Joz
and Abu Tor. Rather than reduce the number of Arabs in the city, Olmert's
plan is just crowding the city's population into shrunken boundaries. At the
same time, by giving up all the reserve open lands around the city, he is
blocking all chance of municipal growth.
As Zimmerman and his team members note, in Jerusalem's current municipal
boundaries, 487,000 Jews make up 68% of the population and 231,000 Arabs
make up 32%. Fertility rates of the two populations are nearly identical,
with a Jewish fertility rate of 3.8 and an Arab fertility rate of 4.1 per
woman.

The team checked what would happen if, rather than partitioning the city,
Israel were to expand the boundaries of the city. They found that if Israel
were to extend the borders of the capital to include the Adumim bloc, the
Etzion bloc, the Adam bloc, the Givon bloc, Mevasseret Zion and its
satellite neighborhoods, the Tekoa area, Abu Dis and Bir Naballah and
incorporate all these communities' Jewish and Arab residents into the city,
Jerusalem's demographic balance would remain the same. The enlarged city
would have 704,000 or 68% Jewish residents and 335,000 or 32% Arab
residents.

The enlarged capital would have plenty of land reserves on which to build
new housing for both its Jewish and Arab residents. Retaining Israeli
control over the areas around Jerusalem's current boundaries would also
protect Bethlehem's status as a Christian city while Olmert's plan, which
places these areas under terrorist control, guarantees that Jesus's birth
city will become a Muslim majority city with all the religious and political
consequences that such a religious transformation would involve for the
Christian world. The study shows that the number of Arabs that would be
incorporated into the city if it were to expand its borders is smaller than
the number of Arabs incorporated into the city with its unification in 1967.
And it goes without saying that an enlarged Jerusalem would be safer than a
partitioned city with its removed sections under terrorist control.
In light of the study's findings, and given the deterioration of Israel's
national security situation in the wake of its retreat from Gaza last summer
and the recent reports of al-Qaida cells operating in Jerusalem, it is
impossible to avoid the conclusion that in configuring his retreat and
partition plan for the country's capital city, Olmert did not consider its
devastating repercussions on Jerusalem itself.
SO IF Olmert's planned retreat harms Jerusalem, what purpose does it serve?
The sole goal that Olmert's partition plan advances is that of attempting to
appease racist, anti-Jewish radical Islamic forces that claim that Jews have
no rights in Jerusalem. Indeed, at its core, Olmert's plan internalizes this
jihadist view by completely ignoring the security, municipal and demographic
concerns of the city's Jews and non-jihadist Arabs.

This Israeli internalization of the jihadist view of Jews in Jerusalem also
pervades the government's treatment of Jewish land purchases in eastern
Jerusalem. Last week Ha'aretz reported that a month ago the State's
Attorney, Eran Shendar, asked Police Inspector Yohanan Danino to undertake a
covert investigation of Ateret Cohanim - a non-profit organization that
works to bypass the Palestinian Authority's policy of defining land sales to
Jews as a capital offense for which dozens of Arabs have been murdered since
1994.

Shendar's instructions came after an Arab Jerusalemite named Muhammad
Marageh, who in the past worked for Ateret Cohanim, offered to attempt to
criminally implicate the organization in exchange for receiving state's
witness protection and, perhaps, money from the state. The Ha'aretz report
makes clear that Israel's chief prosecutor is so convinced that there is
something wrong with willing Arab sellers selling land to willing Jewish
buyers that apparently, without being presented with any evidence of
wrongdoing, he ordered the police to begin a secret criminal investigation
of the Jews.

This anti-Jewish view is similarly manifested in the police's indifference
to the fates of Arab land sellers. On April 12, the eve of Passover,
Jerusalem resident Muhammad Abu Al Hawa was tortured and murdered in Jericho
for the "crime" of selling a building in Abu Tor to Jews. The week before
his murder Israel's Channel 10 led prime time news broadcasts, on two
consecutive nights, with hysterical reports about the land sale. The reports
were precipitated by a court order for the police to evict illegal squatters
from the building to enable the legal owners to take possession of their
property - an eviction which Channel 10 filmed.

As I reported at the time, sources in Abu Tor stated that after the Channel
10 expose, it was only a question of time before Hawa was murdered. Those
sources also said that far from protecting Hawa, the police were suspected
of tipping off Channel 10's reporter on the scheduled eviction. This week,
the spokesman for the police's Samaria and Judea District responsible for
investigating Hawa's murder did not respond to repeated requests for
information on the status of the investigation.

THE GOVERNMENT'S treatment of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate similarly
exposes its internalization of the anti-Semitic view that Jews have no
rights in eastern Jerusalem. Today there are two Patriarchs of the Greek
Orthodox Church: the legal Patriarch Irineos and the illegal de facto
Patriarch Theophilos. Last summer Ma'ariv reported that Irineos leased two
hotels near the Old City's Jaffa Gate to Jews. The story caused an uproar in
the Church, the PA and among Israeli Arabs. In its wake, Irineos was
illegally ejected from his position and his life has been under constant
threat.

The Church, together with Jordan's King Abdullah and PA Chairman Mahmoud
Abbas, selected Theophilos to replace him. Ahead of his appointment,
Theophilos promised Abdullah that he would operate in accordance with
Jordanian rather than Israeli law, meaning that he would uphold the
Jordanian legal prohibition of conducting land deals with Jews. Attorneys
and others involved in this issue claim that Theophilis also pledged to
Abbas that he would cancel the lease agreement for the hotels at the Jaffa
Gate.

In an interview with Al Quds newspaper on May 18, Theophilos said that he
was unable today to fulfill his pledges because the Israeli government has
yet to approve his appointment.

To force Israel's hand, Theophilos filed a petition with the Supreme Court
demanding that the government approve his appointment. The Supreme Court is
scheduled to hear the petition on July 19. The Jews involved in the Jaffa
Gate lease agreement and in other land agreements with the Greek Orthodox
Church, which owns vast landholdings in Jerusalem and throughout the
country, are deeply concerned about the government's likely response to the
petition. The government did nothing when Irineos was sacked although it is
legally bound to protect him and his position. Indeed, Israel has allowed
Theophilos to act as the de facto Patriarch.

The government's acceptance of the jihadist view that denies all Jewish
rights to Jerusalem is nowhere more evident than on the Temple Mount, which
since 1995 Israel has abandoned to the control of the PA's Mufti Ikrameh
Sabri. Sabri preaches the "rights" of Arabs to eradicate the Jews whom he
refers to as "pigs and monkeys." And with the backing of the Israeli
government, he ensures that the police enforces his ban on Jewish and
Christian worship on the Temple Mount.

Moreover, under the impotent eye of the government, for the past decade
Sabri has overseen the commission of one of the most heinous archaeological
crimes in human history. While denying the Judeo-Christian sanctity of the
site, since the mid-1990s the Islamic Wakf on the Temple Mount has been
systematically destroying Jewish and Christian relics hidden inside the
mountain that date back to the time of Solomon's Temple, in an attempt to
erase the historical record. Sabri and his colleagues further exploit their
control of the Temple Mount to incite Muslims to attack Jews for imagined
crimes relating to the so-called "Judaization" of Jerusalem.

In answer to reporters' queries, this week Olmert repeatedly stated that he
would never give up the Temple Mount. But his statements are meaningless.
You cannot give up what you already surrendered. No, Olmert is not giving up
the Temple Mount. Olmert is giving up all of Jerusalem.

------------------------------

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End of [imra] Daily digest - Volume: 2 Issue: 1420 (11 messages)
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