Again, the Four-Fingered Salute

Credit

Four-fingers equals Allah, as written in cursive script Arabic.

 

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The Pulitzer Prize for Non-Journalism

I knew this story sounded familiar - Palestine's Budding Fair Trade Olive Oil Industry - about the Canaan Fair Trade. 

I mentioned it over two years ago.  And in passing briefly earlier this year.

But why is it a sponsored project subject of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

This section is amazing:

Today, Canaan is the largest supplier of fair trade olive oil in the world. 

“The whole idea of bringing the farmers into the modern economy is that it brings international awareness to the struggles that Palestinian farmers [experience],” Abufarha said.

Even in the portion of the West Bank over which the Palestinian Authority (PA) allegedly maintains civil and military control, and where the majority of Canaan’s 49 current cooperatives exist, water management projects proposed by the PA must first, under article 40 of the 1995 Oslo Peace agreement, be approved by Israeli authorities. 

Since few proposed Palestinian water resource systems have received permits from the Israeli authorities, the number of Palestinian wells in the West Bank has declined from 774 in 1967 to 328 in 2005. Many farmers must rely on un-permitted wells to irrigate their crops. Samara, for instance, provides 30 different farming families with water from his un-permitted well. He says every day he fears it will be demolished. 

I would suggest that the entity most responsible for this -  bringing the farmers into the modern economy - is actually Israel.

As for those wells, the subject has been dealt with in depth (sorry for the pun).  Try this (the short version).  The 42-page version.  A news story.  there is more but I doubt the reporter reviewed that.

The above "reporting" is reflective of propaganda, not journalism.

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Soviet Jewry Movement Killed Israel Peace Camp - Dershowitz

EOZ exposes Alan Dershowitz (again):


Instead of asking questions to expose Abbas as the liar and extremist that he is, he was fawned over by these so-called "leaders." Some of their questions are would make anyone cringe:

Alan Dershowitz: If only the people at this table were responsible for making peace I think we would have peace. Virtually everyone here is opposed to Israel’s settlement policy and wishes it would end. …

My question is this – Bill Clinton once said to me in a conversation, the real problems is, dammit Israel is a democracy and the PA is a democracy. Therefore before you make peace both sides have to persuade their constituents. And sometimes good things produce bad results. Let me give you an example. Many of us in this room were very active in bringing a million Soviet Jews to Israel. That was a great thing but it produced an extreme right wing in Israel which made peace more difficult. My question to you is how do you and we together work to persuade the constituencies on both sides that are opposed to the two state solution that it is in their interest to bring about a two state solution. How can we use democracy to help us rather than serve as a barrier to peace?

P.S.  A central figure in the Movement expressed the opinion that this - "Many of us in this room were very active in bringing a million Soviet Jews to Israel" - does not apply, first-hand, to Dershowitz himself.  He wasn't that active at all.

 
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Zounds! Ziv

I left this comment:

if Arabs can't make peace among themselves - and they are of the same religion & culture and speak the same language - why should a peace with Jews be even obtainable or even sustainable? are you rational?

at this op-ed.

By Guy Ziv, an assistant professor of international relations at American University's School of International Service. He also is Founder and Director of the Israel National Security Project (INSP),

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Brayer's Braying

Lynda Burstein Brayer, a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law, is a radical political and legal commentator who practiced human rights law in Palestine/Israel representing Palestinians in their struggles against house demolitions, land theft, and family destruction and in their efforts to obtain travel permits for health, study and family reasons. She lives in Haifa and can be reached at lyndabrayer@yahoo.com

How radical?

This radical:-

“The entire enter­prise of a Jew­ish state in Palestine is built upon an express rejec­tion of interna­tional law.” ~ Brayer

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Obama's Depressing Mindset

From the UN:

Mr. Obama said the United States is also determined to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying "the time is now ripe for the entire international community to get behind the pursuit of peace." But he said all sides must be willing to take risks. He said friends of Israel must recognize that Israel's security depends upon the realization of a Palestinian state. And he said Arab states must recognize that stability can only be achieved through a two-state solution with a secure Israel.

To suggest that "Israel's security depends upon the realization of a Palestinian state" is to promote so detached-from-reality a mindset that is dangerous not only for Israel but, if applied to America's other challenges, is a depressing future for America and its allies.

The only real threat to Israel from the Arabs resident in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, regions of the former Mandate for Palestine intended to become the reconstituted Jewish National Home, can only come from an "Arab Palestinian state".

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GraphicZionism Wonders About the Two-State Solution

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GraphicZionism Does Batman

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Abbas Tries Fooling NY Jews

JJ Goldberg writes:

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas met with a group of prominent American Jews in New York Monday evening for a dialogue...Abbas, in New York to address the United Nations General Assembly...declared himself committed to a “two-state solution” with Israel and “the state of Palestine” living “side by side in security and peace,” and he insisted that “70% of Palestinians” share that goal.

And what did I just read in June?

 

A majority of Israelis (62 %) supports a two-state solution while 33% oppose it. Among the Palestinians, 53% support and 46% oppose the two-state solution.

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Jews Are "Defiling"

We are now defiling.  And desecrating.

And being sacrilegious.

 Jewish families to defile Aqsa Mosque today

Jewish temple groups declared their intention to organize a sacrilegious visit for Jewish families with their children to the Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday to mark the Hebrew Sukkot occasion, the Aqsa foundation for endowment and heritage said. According to the foundation, about 200 Jewish settlers desecrated the Mosque yesterday and performed Talmudic rituals in its courtyard.

Source


Oh, my. 


P.S.


Jonathan Tobin:-

...however dangerous any idea of endangering the Dome of the Rock or the Al Aqsa Mosque might be to world peace, the Jews are not the problem in Jerusalem. That’s because the dispute in the city isn’t really so much about who controls the Temple Mount but the Muslim effort to deny the Jewish history that is literally under their feet. Were it just a question of sharing sacred space, reasonable compromises that would give full Muslim autonomy over their holy sites while allowing Jewish prayer at the spiritual center of Judaism would be possible since Jewish extremists who want to evict Islam from the place are a tiny minority. Yet as long as the official position of both the Muslim Wakf religious authority, which has been allowed by Israel to govern the place since the 1967 Six-Day War, and the Palestinian Authority is that the Temples never existed and that Jews have no rights to their ancient capital, that will constitute the real obstacle to peace.

UPDATE

Hundreds of students, Jerusalemites and residents of the 1948 territories gathered in the Aqsa mosque since the early morning hours, following Jewish calls to break into the mosque courtyards on Tuesday, on the eve of Sukkot.  Al-Aqsa Foundation said in a statement on Tuesday that the presence of worshipers, students and leaders of the Islamic movement in Al-Aqsa mosque has been thwarting the settlers’ incursions expected for today.  According to eyewitnesses, a large number of settlers gathered this morning at Bab al-Silsila, but were not able to enter the Aqsa mosque.

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With Friends from Abroad

You may have read of the visit here of a group of 25 including EU Parliamentarians, a British Lord, an American Congressman and other outstanding lawmakers and public personalities from South Africa, Canada, South America, Hungary and other countries around the globe.

I was with them for their breakfast session at the Psagot Winery and the Binyamin Visitors' Center above Migron.

There I am at the table with Lord Simon Reading (grandson of Lords Reading & Melchett), Jordanna Macmillan and others from Canada and South Africa while Dany Dayan was addressing the attendees who included the Falics:

Some other photographs:

a) Rabbi Benny Elon addressing the group -

b) Congressman Doug Lamborn -

c)  Mrs. Jana Falic  -

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Arab Female Photographers in Hebron

First on the scene seconds after the IDF soldier killed by a sniper in Hebron were two female Arab photographers:

Source

Haaretz's Harel's Mind A Blur

Amos Harel joins the Haaretz subversion unit in his

Analysis || Murder in the West Bank:

A thin line between terror and crime

The murder of an Israeli soldier in the West Bank can be seen as existing on the seam line between a nationalistic and a criminal act.

Really?

After all, he continues and writes:

The main motive for the murder was, apparently, nationalistic. The Palestinian suspect, Nidal Amar, stated under interrogation that he had kidnapped and killed an Israel Defense Forces soldier, Tomer Hazan, in order to negotiate the release of his jailed brother (in return for the soldier's body). Amar’s brother, Nur al-Adin Amar, is a security prisoner in Israel, affiliated to Fatah. 

But Harel recalls other similar "lurings" and claims

For the most part, however, the attacks were committed when the opportunity presented itself under circumstances involving more ordinary criminal activity: Israelis who went to the West Bank to make contact with criminals (in connection with car thefts, divvying up a haul from house burglaries or dubious deals, among other reasons) and found themselves the target of a terrorist attack.

So, the line is blurred?

Or is Harel's mind a blur?

Okay, he confessed, but give the guy a chance, Harel intimates, writing:

it is also obvious that, from the moment he was apprehended, it was in the interest of the murder suspect to say he was acting out of terrorist motives. Such a statement would enhance his standing on the Palestinian side, in comparison to the case of a common criminal.

And the clincher:

Also, in the long run it would improve his prospects for early release through a possible prisoner exchange for future Israeli captives.

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Spotted at the Temple Mount Lower Entrance (UPDATED)

If you watch this Arutz 7 clip, you can see me waiting to enter and ascend:

About 150 Temple Mount observant Jewish visitors (that is, those who are careful concerning the Halachic restrictions [yes, I went to the mikveh this morning at 5:45] and stringencies) had already entered before my group, we were about 60-70 altogether and there were groups behind us.  They split us into groups 30-50 at most.

I took a picture of one of those Arab news web sites photographers - female.

I'll post my pictures later.

One of us managed to carry a set of the four species in his jacket.  I said a mi sheberach (prayer for one who is ill) for Miriam-Esther bat Shaindel.

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Arab news site: 350 ascend.

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Now the photographs.

First, you remember the post showing the stones thrown?

Well, some of them are still there:

The proof I was up:

Our guide, Dr. Yoel Elitzur:

Ours was a mixed group. women and children, too:

One of the Muslim photographers who perhaps snapped several of these pictures of the more than 400 Jews who ascended today (notice camera in hand) in addition to snapping us:-

The Islamists reported:

 ...the Israeli occupation provides broad protection for Mguethmin [settlers] but gave them more time to break-ins for extra quarter of an hour after 11:00 , which is unprecedented...Al-Aqsa Mosque is a prerogative of the Muslims, and the Muslims alone, and not to the Jews the right of even the grain of one piece of dust of Aqsa... 

and there was an additional 'problem':-

In a related development, said the "Al-Aqsa Foundation" that tens of thousands of religious Jews desecrated today the Wailing Wall - is an integral part of the al-Aqsa mosque - including pronouncing such rites as the "Priestly blessing" on the occasion of "Hebrew holiday" [Sukkot], which lasted for long hours over loudspeakers, their voices reaching to Al-Aqsa inside , and remarkably confused to prayers at al - Aqsa this morning .

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Worth Quoting on Two-State Possibility

“one of the most compelling aspects of the two-state solution is that a solid majority of both Palestinians and Israelis alike have shown, in virtually every poll taken in the past twenty years and more, that they are in favor of peace based on two states.” It’s time to lay this claim to rest. For one thing, it ignores recent polling in which the Israelis have fairly conclusively rejected even the minimalist picture of a Palestinian state. Thus in July 2013 the Peace Index poll found that “the majority of Jewish respondents, to different extents, is not prepared to concede to the Palestinians on any of the four problems that stand at the heart of the conflict,” namely borders, Arab refugees, Jerusalem, and settlement evacuations. The data of the August 2013 poll strengthen the “previous finding that there is currently no sweeping support for the two-state solution and indicate that the Israeli public is not losing sleep over the basic premise of the negotiations that without two states a bi-national reality will emerge.” Close to 77 percent of the Jewish public oppose Israeli recognition in principle of the right of return, with a small number of Palestinian refugees being allowed to return and compensation being offered for others. For another thing, when Palestinians think of two states, they think of a state that will look more or less like Israel, something that virtually no Israeli (or their supporters) wish.

Source

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Temple Mount in the Mainstream Media

It's been a Temple Mount week in the mainstream press.

On September 13, in The Guardian, Giles Fraser published comment.  Sort of in "honor" of Yom Kippur.

Here's his summary of the situation:

The Temple, of course, was destroyed by the Romans in AD70. From then on, Judaism became a religion of books and teachers, rather than one of temples, sacrifices and priests. And though religious Jews pray daily for the restoration of the Temple, they are forbidden onto the Temple Mount in Jerusalem – politically because, since the late 7th century, it has been the site of the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock; theologically because, according to Jewish law, it would be wrong for any Jew to walk over the site of the Holy of Holies without the proper purity preparation and potentially thinking impure thoughts. And no one now knows where its exact location was. So Jewish access to Temple Mount has been strictly forbidden (by religious, not secular, law) for centuries ...

Without being too picayune, that's fair.

What isn't is this:

The orthodox position has long been that the Temple can only be rebuilt and sacrifices resumed when the Jewish messiah returns. There have been a few dissenting voices to this consensus – most notably, Maimonides – but since the foundation of the state of Israel, the idea of Jews returning to Temple Mount prior to the arrival of the messiah has been the obsession of a tiny minority. 

Actually, Maimonides would seem to hold to that position ("In the future, the Messianic king will arise and renew the Davidic dynasty, restoring it to its initial sovereignty. He will build the Temple and gather the dispersed of Israel.") and there are others who consider the rebuilding of the Temple, or the preparation for it, as a precondition, like the Rabbis mentioned below.

Consider this:

The rebuilding of the Temple was a central tenet of religious Zionism from its very beginning. Over 150 years ago Rabbi Tzvi Kalisher, the forefather of religious Zionism, sparked a debate with two of the most important halachic opinions of his time, Rabbi Akiva Eiger and Rabbi Moshe Sofer [the Chatam Sofer], when he suggested purchasing the Temple Mount and renewing animal sacrifices.  Eiger and Sofer did not rule out the idea of renewing animal sacrifices. They merely pointed to a number of technicalities, including the difficulty of purchasing the Temple Mount from Ottoman authorities.

Expanded:

In 1843 R. Kalischer first published his views in two volumes called "Emunah Yesharim” (An Honest Faith) and in 1862 published “Drishat Zion” (The Search for Zion). Using proof texts from the Bible and Talmud R. Kalischer argued that the salvation of the Jews as foretold by the prophets could take place through natural means, by self-help as opposed to waiting for the messiah. Therefore the settlement of Palestine should start immediately and even the revival of sacrifices was permissible in the Holy land. Only when many pious Jews lived in the land would G-D heed their prayers and speed the days of the redemption.

What's the situation today?

...Back in March, the housing and construction minister Uri Ariel, who advocates the rebuilding of the Temple, visited the site as a "tourist". In April, Knesset member Miri Regev emphasised: "I do not understand why a Jew is not allowed to pray in the most sacred place for him – the Temple Mount." Religious services Minister, Naftali Bennett, has announced he will work for legislation guaranteeing Jewish access...

Fraser thinks:

It would be hard to overstate how dangerous an idea this is... a billion Muslims worldwide would go ballistic...

Now, I could be cheeky and ask Fraser: and they are not going ballistic already?  Since 1948, at least?  Or, as Benny Morris has finally concluded, that the Arab opposition was always couched in jihadist terms?

But why cannot Fraser find fault with the Muslims?  A bit of coexistence and sharing, which works well in Hebron, could be installed.  Can't he,  priest-in-charge at St Mary's Newington in south London and the former canon chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, consider that, as a Christian, at least?  Has he no heart?  After all, Jesus had a relationship with the Temple:-

Luke 2 - 41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

A Jewish relationship.


And today, a week later, we have in the New York Times:

Jews Challenge Rules to Claim Heart of Jerusalem

The new Temple Mount reality is that

...now more mainstream Jews are lining up to enter, as a widening group of Israeli politicians and rabbis challenge the longstanding rules constraining Jewish access and conduct. Brides go on their wedding days, synagogue and religious-school groups make regular outings, and many surreptitiously skirt the ban on non-Muslim prayer, like a Russian immigrant who daily recites the morning liturgy in his mind, as he did decades ago in the Soviet Union.

The Muslim reaction?

“We reject these religious visits,” Sheik Ekrima Sa’eed Sabri, who oversees Muslim affairs in Jerusalem, said in an interview. “Our duty is to warn,” he added. “If they want to make peace in this region, they should stay away from Al Aksa.”

and

“Before, it was some settlers from here, some extremists from there; now we start to hear it from the real officials,” said Adnan Husseini, the Palestinian governor of Jerusalem. “When they get inside with this big number, it’s sure that they will make some kind of religious activities and there will be more friction between them and the people inside the mosque.”

Unfortunately, Jodi Rudoren repeats the falsehood that

In 2000, a visit by Ariel Sharon, then Israel’s opposition leader, accompanied by 1,000 police officers, prompted a violent outbreak and, many argue, set off the second intifada.

The story carries this photograph but the caption doesn't mention what he's holding:

She notes

At three recent Parliament hearings, religious lawmakers and cabinet ministers questioned the status quo, in which non-Muslims can enter the site only for a few hours five days a week, and those identified by the police as Jews are separated, escorted by police officers and admonished not to dance, sing, bow down or even move their lips in prayer...activists have stepped up their campaign for access and prayer at the Temple Mount, part of a broader push to cement Jewish control of all of Jerusalem... a senior Israeli official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the government supports “in principle” Jews’ rights to pray there, adding, “we’ve got to do it in a measured way, a sensitive way.”

And she finds the religious scholar who has extreme concessionist views, too, echoing the priest above:

...we’re talking about a movement that wants to change the status quo from its roots,” said Yedidia Z. Stern, a vice president of the Israel Democracy Institute, an Orthodox Jew with liberal leanings who has watched the change with concern. “You’re dealing with the ultimate TNT in our national existence here.”

But, for balance, she quotes Max Freidzon, a Russian immigrant:-

“The situation is the same like it was in the Soviet Union,” said Mr. Freidzon, 46, citing the police escorts, the identification checks, and the ban on religious texts and on a minyan, the 10-person quorum required for public communal prayer. “Step by step, the situation will change. It’s necessary to pray here, and to make here minyan, and to build here temple.”

I understand the Temple Institute had been suggesting to Ms. Ruderon this story for close to 18 months, since she first arrived in Israel.  I first sent her material last September.


Finally, her story is published.


And it, too, contributes to our progress.


____________

I sent this is:

In her report, Jodi Rudoren intimates that activity seeking to permit Jews greater access to and full religious freedom within the Temple Mount is in violation of a "status quo" ("Jews Challenge Rules to Claim Heart of Jerusalem", Sept. 21) and is somehow deleterious despite the 1967 Law for the Protection of Holy Places which guarantees those rights.
In contradistinction, her sympathetic treatment of a parallel issue, that of the Jewish feminists ("Standoff at Western Wall Over Praying by Women", May 10), where a status quo too is being altered, reads much differently. 

--

Yisrael Medad

,

Secretary, The Public Council for the Temple Mount

POB 31603

Jerusalem, 91136

________________________

Comment.

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Who is in Rabbi Susan Silverman's Prayers?

Sarah Silverman's sister is a Reform Rabbi, and a big WOWer.

Sarah, 40, and Susan, 48, are two of four sisters who grew up in the predominantly Christian town of Bedford, N.H., with their parents, a father who ran a discount clothing store and a mother who founded a community theater company.

The Rabbi who said:

The way I look at it is this: the worst Jew is no better or worse than anybody else, and the best Jew is no better than anybody else. But as a people we’ve done pretty good. I was born Jewish, and I want to be part of this people who really make a contribution to the world above and beyond their numbers. There’s something good, something that propels us forward and makes us think about the world and not just ourselves.”

Could it be she, the Rabbi, wants to save her sister, the comedienne?

The one who wore a cross?

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Numbered Out

This is a real itinerary, for an upcoming visit, note the "balance" (green for the Pals & pro-Pals and blue for the Israel and pro-Israel)-

Rabbi Dr. Donniel Hartman, President Shalom Hartman Institute and Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, President Al Quds University.
Meet with a Palestinian official - Dr. Saeb Erekat or Nabil Sha’ath
Lunch in Nabi Saleh
Tour with settlers organized by Yesha Council
Visit Silwan and the City of David
Meet with Judy Balint,
Meet with Rabbi Arik Asherman; Rabbis for Human Rights
Meet with Other Voice for a tour of Sderot
Meet with Noam Bedein, Sderot Media Center
Visit the unrecognized villages in Be’er Sheva
Have lunch with the Bedouin community
Shabbat Dinner in Jerusalem with special guests
Meet with Sam Bahour; Palestinian Businessman
Meet with Hanan Ashrawi; Palestinian legislator and spokesperson
Meet with the Parents Circle; an organization of bereaved Palestinians and Israelis
Workshop in Neve Shalom/Wahat al Salam; Oasis of Peace
Visit the Israeli Knesset; meetings with MKs
Meet with mayor of Jerusalem; Nir Barkat
Meet with an Israeli IDF spokesperson
Group discussion with Daniel Roth, Director, Pardes Center for Conflict Resolution
Group Dinner with guest speaker, Daniel Shapiro; U.S. Ambassador to Israel
Visit the Nativity Church, Bethlehem Municipality, and meet with the mayor of Bethlehem; Vera Baboun
Visit Wi’am; Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center, Director; Zougby Zougby
Visit Aida Refugee Camp and meet with refugees
Visit/Tour Hebron and meet with the mayor; Khaled al Osseili
Lunch in a Palestinian home
Visit Eretz Shalom, Rabbi Froman’s organization, and learn about their new projects
Visit Tent of Nations, a Palestinian farm dedicated to peace
Homestays in Bethlehem
Visit E1/East Jerusalem
Meet with Gershon Baskin, IPCRI
Lunch and meeting with Dr. Mohammad Dajani, Al Wasatia, or Dr. Mustafa Abu Swai
Meet with Dore Gold, Director, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
Meet with journalists; David Horovitz, Amira Hass, and Nasar Al Laham
Farewell dinner in Ramallah.

We're numbered out.

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Temple Mount Should Be A Peaceful Site

Why should there be violence on the Temple Mount?

Angry words?

Pushing and shouting?

Rock throwing?  Shoe tossing?

Molotov cocktails?

Shouldn't the holy site be an inspiration for coexistence, for cooperation, for spirituality, for respect to the Divinity?

It should.

But then there was this:

Angry Muslim worshipers on Tuesday expelled a senior Fatah official from the Temple Mount compound.  The official, Azzam Ahmed, was accompanying a Jordanian delegation on a tour of the compound when worshipers began hurling abuse at him...worshipers called on Ahmed to leave the area...A Fatah activist in the city told The Jerusalem Post...“Had he told us that he was coming, we would have provided him with security and prevented the embarrassing incident,” the activist said. He and other Fatah representatives accused Hamas supporters of being behind the expulsion of Ahmed.

Another eyewitness said that the protesters surrounded the Fatah and Jordanian officials and began chanting slogans against the Palestinian Authority leadership and the Egyptian army.

In a video posted on the Internet, the protesters are heard shouting at Ahmed, “Get out of here!” and “Don’t throw shoes at him because he doesn’t even deserve them.”

What was I thinking?


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Doubts on Obama's Syria Policy

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A GraphicZionism comment:

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