Doc's Talk: News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Thursday, July 01, 2010

News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
(June 23-29, 2010)

The UNRWA summer camp after the arson attack. (Felesteen, June 29, 2010). It was the second to be burned. Islamists in the Gaza Strip regard the camps as “corrupting” the younger generation, while Hamas regards them as competing with its own summer camps.
Overview
This past week the western Negev was quiet. Twelve mortar shells were fired at an IDF patrol engaged in routine security activities near the border fence. In response the Israeli Air Force attacked terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip.

Public figures and organizations continue proclaiming their intention to dispatch additional ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip. In recent months announcements were made Lebanon and Iran that ships would be sent. The status of the voyages is unclear because of conflicting reports.

Important Events

The Gaza Strip

Rocket Fire

This past week no rocket hits were identified in the western Negev. However, mortar shells were fired at an IDF force engaged in routine security activities near the border fence. Some of them fell near an Israeli community in the western Negev.

The rocket attacks were the following:

On June 24, 12 mortar shells were fired from the Beit Hanoun region at an IDF force engaged in routine security activities. Six fell in Israeli territory. The force was also attacked with light arms fire. There were no casualties. Two networks, one belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s military wing and the other to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, claimed responsibility for the rocket fire (PIJ and PFLP websites, June 24, 2010).

On June 28 a mortar shell was fired at an IDF armored vehicle. The vehicle was damaged. The military wing of the PFLP claimed responsibility for the attack.

Rockets and Mortar Shells Fired into Israeli Territory 1

Rocket Fire 2010, Monthly Distribution *

*Rocket hits identified in Israeli territory. A similar number misfire and
customarily land inside the Gaza Strip.
**As of June 29, 2010

Israeli Air Force Strikes

In response to the mortar shells, on June 24 the Israeli Air Force struck a site for the manufacture of weapons in the northern Gaza Strip and two tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip used to smuggle weapons (IDF Spokesman, June 28, 2010).

On June 28 the Israeli Air Force struck a terrorist operative firing an anti-tank missile at an IDF force engaged in routine security activities near the border fence (IDF Spokesman, June 28, 2010). The Palestinian media reported one PFLP terrorist was killed and two were critically wounded (PFLP website, Safa News Agency, Hamas’ Paltoday website, June 28, 2010).

Judea and Samaria

Counterterrorism Activities

This past week the Israeli security forces continued their counterterrorism activities, detaining Palestinians suspected of terrorist activities and seizing weapons. There were a number of riots in Beit Jala and Dir Nizam (northwest of Ramallah) near the security fence in Ni’lin. Palestinians continued throwing stones at Israeli vehicles; one Israeli civilian sustained minor injuries.

The main events were the following:

June 29 – Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle west of Bethlehem. There were no casualties but the vehicle was damaged (IDF Spokesman, June 20, 2010).

June 28 – During the detaining of wanted terrorists in Nablus a pipe bomb was thrown at IDF soldiers. The bomb blew up. There were no casualties (IDF Spokesman, June 28, 2010).

June 27 – An IDF force identified a suspicious bag left by Palestinian youths at the Hawara crossing point south of Nablus. It was found to contain three pipe bombs (IDF Spokesman, June 27, 2010).

June 25 – Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle west of Ramallah. An Israeli civilian sustained slight injuries and was evacuated to a hospital for treatment (IDF Spokesman, June 25, 2010).

June 22 – Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle northwest of Ramallah. There were no casualties and no damage was done. Stones were also thrown at an Israeli vehicle southwest of Bethlehem. There were no casualties but the vehicle was damaged (IDF Spokesman, June 22, 2010).

Detention in Nazareth of Terrorist Cell Inspired by Global Jihad2

During May and June the Israel Security Agency and the Israel Police detained a cell of seven young Muslim men, residents of Nazareth who belonged to a nationalist religious group inspired by the radical Islamic ideology of the global jihad. They also tried to join a network working under the aegis of Osama bin Laden.

Three of them are suspected of the November 2009 murder of Yefim Weinstein, a taxi driver from Nazareth Illit (northern Israel):

Ghaleb Ghanim, 21
Haydar Ziyanda, 22
Ahmed Ali Ahmed, 26

Ghaleb Ghanim
Haydar Ziyanda
Ahmed Ali Ahmed

In recent years their religious beliefs were radicalized and the Internet exposed them to the ideology of Osama bin Laden and the global jihad (the process of “jihadization” known from similar events in the United States and other countries). Through the Internet they got the know how to use weapons and explosives.

In November 2009 they decided to kill a Jew to raise their status and become heroes. One of them acquired a gun which the group hid in Nazareth’s Muslim cemetery. They telephoned for a taxi and decided to perpetrate the murder but only if the driver turned out to be Jewish. One of them rode in the taxi and another followed on a motor scooter. The passenger got out of the taxi and shot the driver at close range several times.

After the murder the two decided to join the global jihad and went from Israel to Ethiopia, from where they planned to go to Somalia for military training. After a number of days in Ethiopia they crossed the border into Kenya but were stopped by local security forces. After interrogation they were deported to Israel, where they were detained on arrival.

Developments in the Gaza Strip

UNRWA Summer Camp Burned

On the night of June 28 twenty armed men, masked and wearing uniforms, entered a UNRWA summer camp in the Al-Zuweida area in the central Gaza Strip. They tied up the guards and set fire to the camp. John Ging, UNRWA director in the Gaza Strip, called the event “cowardly and despicable” (TVNZ website, June 28, 2010). He promised the camp would be rebuilt and the UNRWA would continue its summer program for the children of the Gaza Strip. An UNRWA spokesman demanded that the security services of the Hamas de facto administration in the Gaza Strip investigate who was behind the arson.

Spokesmen for the Hamas police and the de facto administration’s ministry of the interior condemned the arson and said that the police had begun investigating and that serious measures would be taken against the perpetrators. They said that groups with “mistaken concepts” which wanted to restore anarchy to the Gaza Strip were behind the event (Hamas’ Palestine-information and Paltoday websites, Filastin al-‘Aan, June 28, 2010).

It was the second time this summer that an UNRWA summer camp was torched. On May 23 a group of 30 armed, masked men broke into the site of an UNRWA summer camp on the shore near Sheikh Ajloun in Gaza City. They set fire to the camp and burned it to the ground. It is not clear who is behind the attacks on the summer camps. Islamic groups in the Gaza Strip, among them Hamas, are severely critical of the UNRWA camps, claiming that they corrupt the youth. In addition, there is competition in the Gaza Strip over the education of the younger generation. The summer camps organized by UNRWA are seen as serious competition for those organized by Hamas, where the campers are indoctrinated with radical Islamic ideology and sometimes undergo semi-military training.

Tension between Egypt and Hamas

Tension became apparent between Egypt and Hamas recently, caused by remarks made by Hamas heads about Egypt’s attempts to negotiate between Hamas and Fatah. Senior Hamas figures stated that Hamas would not sign a reconciliation document and that it did not consider the Egyptian foreign ministry responsible for the Palestinian cause. Hamas, they said, was collaborating mainly with Egyptian general intelligence. In addition, sources within Hamas even called for exchanging the Egyptian mediation (between Hamas and Fatah) for Arab mediation (Al-Ahram, June 28, 2010).

In response the Egyptian media issued statements and articles criticizing Hamas. Some of them called for Egypt to stop mediating in “that minefield” (Al-Ahram, June 28, 2010). Others mentioned the high price Egypt was paying for the sake of the Palestinian people (Al-Ahram, Radio Cairo, June 26, 2010).

The Flotilla to the Gaza Strip

Other Flotillas – Update

More flotillas to the Gaza Strip were being organized accompanied by intensive propaganda, although it is not clear which will actually sail:

The Flotilla from Lebanon

The status of the Lebanese flotilla is currently unclear and the reports contradict one another. According to a report, the ships Nagi al-Ali and Maryam postponed their sailing date to one more suited to the planned Freedom Flotilla 2 (Al-Hayat, June 27 and 28, 2010). According to another, the two ships will set sail together for Cyprus where they will undergo a security check and continue to the Gaza Strip (Al-Diyar, June 25, 2010).

The Julia in the port of Tripoli (NBN TV, June 21, 2010).

Freedom Flotilla 2

The flotilla is being organized by an organization calling itself the “International Committee to Lift the Siege of the Gaza Strip.” Its chairman is the former Lebanese prime minister Salim el-Hoss. Maan Bashur, the economic coordinator of the Lebanese association of popular committees and unions, claimed that the flotilla would set sail in the middle of July and be composed of between 15 and 20 ships, and that it was a fleet of ships from Arab and Islamic countries, Latin American countries and Australia. He also claimed that he had already visited a number of Arab countries, among them Egypt, Jordan and Sudan, to organization the flotilla (Al-Sharq al-Awsat, June 24, 2010).

Nasereddine Chaklal, head of the Guidance and Reform Society in Algeria, claimed that an organization called the Society of Religious Sunni Sages headed by an Egyptian cleric named Safouat Hijazi was preparing to dispatch a ship of clerics from various countries as part of Freedom Flotilla 2 (Al-Akhbar, June 22, 2010). An unknown Lebanese network calling itself “The Permanent Organization for Rescuing Al-Aqsa Mosque and Palestine” said in an announcement that it was dispatching a ship called the Muhammad al-Doura from Greece to the Gaza Strip as part of Freedom Flotilla 2, and that the ship would carry 15 Lebanese clerics (Palestinian Information Center website, June 25, 2010)

A Flotilla from Iran

Announcements from Tehran regarding the Iranian flotilla are contradictory. Mohammad Reza Shibani, deputy foreign minister for Arab affairs denied reports that Iran had changed its mind about dispatching ships and noted that sending aid from Iranian civilian and non-government organizations was “still being planned.” He said the plan would be carried out as part of the international flotilla being organized to the Gaza Strip. He also claimed that the plan to send aid to the Gaza Strip by air was still in force (Iranian radio, June 26, 2010).

In addition, Mahmoud Ahmedi Bighash, a member of the Majlis (the Iranian Parliament) and responsible for organizing a delegation of Iranian Majlis members to the Gaza Strip, said in an announcement that the delegation was expected to reach the Gaza Strip on one of the ships being organized to set sail from Lebanon (ISNA news agency, June 26, 2010). However, the organizers of the Lebanese ship Nagi al-Ali said that no parliamentarians, neither Iranian nor any other, were expected to be on board (Al-Nishra, June 27, 2010).

Other Voyages

Britain

George Galloway, pro-Palestinian former British Member of Parliament, said in an announcement that his organization, Viva Palestina, would organize a “naval convoy” called Lifeline 4. It was expected to leave London in September 2010 and join other convoys from the Persian Gulf and North Africa and to turn into “the largest convoy in modern history” (Hamas’ Palestine-info website, June 28, 2010).

Jordan

Wael al-Saka, chairman of the Lifeline Committee in Jordan, said that on July 12 Lifeline 3 was expected to set out, a convoy of 500 Jordanians (and possibly other nationalities) from Al-Ramatha (in northwest Jordan) (Sama News Agency, June 26, 2010).

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

1 The statistics do not include the mortar shells fired at IDF soldiers patrolling the border fence which fell inside the Gaza Strip.

2 According to information received from the Israel Security Agency.

3 For further information see the May 26, 2010 bulletin, “Educating the younger generation in the Gaza Strip: summer camps organized by UNRWA in “competition” with Hamas, are a target for threats and assaults. Armed men recently torched an UNRWA summer camp. Hamas condemned the event but minimized its importance, advising UNRWA to change its ways” at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/hamas_e106.pdf.

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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