Doc's Talk: YMCA library building in Gaza City blown up

Thursday, February 21, 2008

YMCA library building in Gaza City blown up

Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Another incident in a series of attacks on Western and Christian targets in the Gaza Strip by groups associated with the global jihad and radical Islam. The Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, does not put an end to the phenomenon. Overview

1. On February 15, a gang of gunmen broke into the YMCA library building in Gaza City and blew it up. The building was destroyed, as were the thousands of books inside. This is yet another attack on Christian and Western institutions and personalities, perpetrated probably by the Army of Islam, one of the global jihad groups which thrive in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, avoids taking active measures to prevent further such incidents.

Attack on the YMCA library building

2. In the morning of February 15, fourteen masked gunmen broke into the YMCA library building in Gaza City . According to library director Issa Saba, the gunmen kidnapped the two security guards who were on the scene. They were later released in the Al-Shaja'iyya neighborhood. The gunmen also stole a computer and a car. They then set explosive charges at various locations in the library and detonated them. As a result of the explosion, the library was reduced to rubble and the thousands of books inside were destroyed by fire (Ma'an News Agency, February 15). It should be noted that the library services are used by all the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip.

3. Sources in the Gaza Strip reported that the Army of Islam, headed by Mumtaz Dughmush, was responsible for the attack on the YMCA building. According to those sources, the Army of Islam has decided to wipe out the Christian community in the Gaza Strip, causing embarrassment to the Hamas movement. Hamas security forces detained several Army of Islam operatives, but released them after a short while following a threat the Army of Islam that it would release its operatives by force (Palpress website, February 19; Ana Muslim forum, February 18).

4. Abu Mazen's spokesman condemned the attack against an institution which has served many Palestinians in Gaza City for decades (Wafa News Agency, February 15). Ihad al-Ghussain, the spokesman for the Hamas government Interior Ministry, referred to the incident as a “hideous, inconceivable crime”, saying it was part of the propaganda war waged by Abu Mazen's Palestinian Authority and designed to illustrate the Islamic religious extremism prevailing in the Gaza Strip. In the wake of the incident, the Hamas Interior Ministry increased the security of Christian institutions and even appointed a commission to find those responsible for the attack (Filastin al-Aan, February 18).

Summary and assessment

5. The Gaza Strip is currently home to some 3,500 Christians, most of them Greek Orthodox, who comprise a negligible minority of the 1,500,000 Gaza Strip residents. Even though Christians are a small, non-threatening minority, Christian institutions and personalities, as well as institutions associated with the West and Western culture, are constantly targeted by elements associated with the global jihad and radical Islam. 1 The Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip, avoids taking effective action to put an end to such incidents.

6. The attack on the YMCA library by a group identified with the global jihad is possibly a reaction to the publication of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons in the Danish press (see below). There are several groups operating in the Gaza Strip, associated with the global jihad, which formerly attacked institutions and personalities associated with Christianity and Western culture. For example, during President Bush's visit to the Middle East (January 9-11, 2008), two attacks on the American International School in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza Strip, were perpetrated by an organization calling itself “Army of the Believers, the Al-Qaeda organization in Palestine”. 2 That incident was preceded by the murder of a Palestinian Bible Society employee and attacks on two Internet cafés (April 2007).

7. Those groups in the Gaza Strip associating themselves with radical Islam tend to respond to world events such as the republication of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons in the Danish press. 3 Abu Abir, the spokesman for the Zakaria Dughmush faction of the Popular Resistance Committees, held a press conference in which he released an exceptionally strong statement against Denmark and “the Western infidels”. The announcement calls to deport Danish civilians from Muslim countries, remove Danish embassies, and burn the offices of those newspapers which republished the Prophet Muhammad cartoons: “We call upon Muslims and jihad warriors to hunt down all those pigs that painted the despicable cartoon or took part in its publication, and to slaughter them at the doorstep of Muhammad's tomb… (Moqawama website, February 18).

8. Appendix: an editorial from Al-Quds al-Arabi, a daily newspaper published in London . The article strongly criticizes the attack on the YMCA library in Gaza City , claiming that Hamas knows who is responsible for the “despicable crime” and calling upon Hamas to expose the attackers and bring them to justice.

Appendix

Main points of an editorial published in Al-Quds al-Arabi, a London-based newspaper in Arabic, which calls upon Hamas to reveal the identities of the attackers of the YMCA library and bring them to justice (February 17)

1. The author starts with the condemnation published by the Hamas movement of the “criminal acts” against the YMCA library in Gaza City on Friday, February 15, perpetrated by supposedly unknown groups. The author adds that while the condemnation is nice, it is not enough, since Hamas is directly responsible for the security of the Gaza Strip and all its citizens, regardless of their political or religious views, and it must expose the organization behind the attack and bring its members to justice.

2. The author claims that the crimes perpetrated by those groups contradict the values of Islam, according to which the people of the book and their religion must be honored and all necessary measures must be taken to protect them. According to the author, the perpetrators of the crime sought to create a rift, presenting a negative image of Islam and Muslims.

3. The author points out that the motive behind the attack on the YMCA library was probably the mass demonstrations in the Gaza Strip against the negative cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, recently republished by Danish newspapers to provoke Muslims. He criticizes the Palestinian mood behind the attack, wondering how the Palestinians can protest against those who hurt Islam and its symbols when part of the Palestinian people dares to speak in favor of blowing up a Christian center, which for the past fifty years has been spreading culture and knowledge to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, the vast majority of them Muslims.

4. According to the author, the attack on the YMCA library is irrelevant, mostly because it contains little to none Christian books. Instead, the books held in the library contain the fundamentals of Arab and Muslim tradition, always serving as a basis for those who hold nationalist and Arab views. Those figures are known for promoting and spreading the spirit of tolerance, seeking to stand firmly and victoriously against the American and Israeli aggression.

5. The author claims that the agenda of “those attackers and criminals” cannot be Arab or Islamic. Instead, he says it serves the interests of Israel at a critical time in which Palestinians must deepen their national unity and show greater solidarity in facing the oppressive siege laid on them and the continuing chain of killings which targets their children and wives as well as their leaders.

6. According to the author, the operative force of Hamas is well aware of the identities of those responsible for the “hideous crime”. He adds that just as the operative wing and its commanders exposed the activity of the previous security apparatuses at special press conferences, they must prove their decency to the world and expose documents and information on that criminal front, which hides behind an Islamic façade and attacks those Christian institutions. Those attacks are usually perpetrated, “as we have observed, in a manner which repeats itself, getting uglier each time.”

7. To summarize, the author states that those who committed the attacks must be held accountable and that their criminal activity must be curbed, seeing as they are dangerous to the Palestinian people. He claims that the kidnappers of British journalist Allan Johnston stabbed the Palestinian people in the back by terrorizing Western media and preventing them from entering the Gaza Strip due to fear. Thus, they provided Israel with a justification for its recent crimes, such as cutting off power and supply of medications.

1 Global jihad groups have been prospering in the Gaza Strip ever since Hamas seized power in June 2007. For an up-to-date state of affairs, see our Information Bulletin: “A group called “Army of the Nation, Jerusalem ” is yet another global jihad offshoot in the Gaza Strip. Since the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, there has been an increase in the propaganda and terrorist activities carried out by radical Islamic groups associated with Al-Qaeda and the global jihad” (February 11, 2007).

2 See our Information Bulletin: “The “Army of the Believers—the Al-Qaeda Organization in Palestine ” has claimed responsibility for two attacks on the American International School in Gaza during President Bush's visit to the Middle East . Other sites in the Gaza Strip associated with the US and Western culture have had to face similar problems” (January 14, 2008).

3 Recently, newspapers in Denmark have once again published the Prophet Muhammad cartoon which caused a stir across the Muslim world some two years ago. The cartoon was republished after three people were arrested in Denmark on charges of conspiring to murder the creator of the cartoon.

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk