August 2011

The Ultimate "Arab Spring" Quote / Prof.B.Rubin

July 31, 2011
Rania Rifaat is the ultimate secular-oriented, social media-using, Egyptian “Arab Spring” activist. During a recent demonstration in Tahrir Square she complained:

“We, the youth, did the revolution. We didn’t say that it should be Islamic or whatever. And people felt good. They felt relaxed here. And then suddenly these Islamic liars came, and they want us to go back 300 years.”

Good so far, right? Sounds just like Western counterparts. But there’s more. How did she characterize the Islamists?

“They are like the Jews—-they always break their promises.”

Hizbullah's Predicament in Light of Syria's Decline / DR.Shimon Shapira

31 July 2011
Five years after the Second Lebanon War, a war whose results Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah considers a "divine victory," Hizbullah has currently reached one of its lowest points due to the endangered survival of the Assad regime in Syria, as well as the international tribunal that has demanded the extradition of four Hizbullah members suspected of murdering former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

427 Attacks in 57 Countries Against Jews Between 1968 and 2010 / Maureen Shamee

July 30 2011
427 attacks in 57 countries against Jews between 1968 and 2010,
new study shows
France was the country with the highest number of attacks
In 1994, a bomb attack at the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA), a Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, killed 85 and injured more than 300.

LONDON (EJP)---Jews and Israelis have been attacked in a total of 57 countries outside Israel between 1968 and 2010, a new report on anti-Jewish terrorism shows.

Syrian Kurds Hope to Ride Wave of Regional Change / Jonathan Spyer

August 2, 2011
The uprising against the rule of Bashar Assad in Syria is continuing to grow. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are now taking part in the protests. As the month of Ramadan approaches, the forecast is intensified strife.

Still, serious fissures have yet to appear in the regime, and the Assads show every intention of fighting on. This opens up the prospect of a long period of violence ahead.

Netanyahu Ready for Peace Deal on 1967 Lines / Jenifer Lipman

2 August, 2011
Israel's Prime Minister has for the first time offered to accept a Palestinian state based along 1967 lines.

Benjamin Netanyahu's shift in direction comes three months after US president Barack Obama called for the same framework in a speech on the Middle East.

At the time Mr Netanyahu rejected the suggestion but on Monday Israeli television reported that he was no longer held. The report said that Mr Netanyahu would accept a deal whereby Israel would give up some territory in return for the main Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

A Strategy for Israel in the Changed Middle East / Efraim Halevy

2 August 2011
The options for Israel and the Palestinians basically can be boiled down to these: a permanent agreement, an interim agreement, a de facto interim agreement, and a situation of no agreement. The best possible option - a permanent agreement - is not operable at this time and is the least probable.

Middle East Media Sampler #13 / Daniel Goldstein

August 1, 2011
New York Times Op-ed index for July 2011
1) Mideast Countdown – Carol Giacomo – July 10, 2011

Mostly a preview of possible diplomatic activity for the week. There’s a suggestion that the failure for meaningful negotiations is in part due to Israel. I’m going to give this one a pass and call it neutral.

2) Bad Borders, Good Neighbors – Ephriam Sneh – July 10, 2011

I don’t much like the fundamental theme of Sneh’s op-ed – settlements are bad. The demographic threat is overblown. Though it’s wrong it’s hard to argue that this op-ed is anti-Israel.

Israel - US Plans to Revive Peace Talks 'Valueless' / Khaled Abu Toameh

08/03/2011
Palestinian officials say PA determined to proceed with UN statehood recognition bid on pre-1967 lines, despite Israel-US efforts.

Palestinian Authority officials on Tuesday dismissed as “valueless” reports that Israel and the US have been working to develop a new framework to revive the peace process.

The officials said that the PA was determined to proceed with its plan to ask the UN in September to recognize a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 lines, despite the reports about the Israeli-US effort.

RELATED:

Is It Time Israel Ends Oslo? Mudar Zahran

July 29, 2011
Since the Oslo Accords came into effect, each time a breakthrough seems close, the Palestinian Liberation Organization [PLO] leadership, has exhibited a perplexing way of breaching the Accords' conditions and provoking Israel, thereby working against the very agreement that brought the Palestinian Authority into existence.

20,007 read the articles on this web during July 2011

I started the web site 2 years ago.

Two Views on the Demand for Social Justice in Israel :Article No. One

Article no. One:
Israel's Cottage-Cheese Rebellion
Daniel Doron
August 3, 2011

This spring's Arab revolts were ignited by rapidly rising food prices, but they soon mutated into political rebellions protesting decades of brutal oppression. Similarly, rising food prices in Israel have led to widespread protests this summer—dubbed the "cottage-cheese rebellion"—which could grow into an uprising against a dysfunctional political system and an economic system long controlled by monopolies and cartels.

Two Views on the Demand for Social Justice in Israel:Article No. Two

02 August, 2011
Article No. Two
Emmanuel Navon
Subject: Fw: The Chienlit Revolution
As French students and intellectuals were playing Robespierre and Mao on the
streets of Paris in the Spring of 1968, Charles de Gaulle came out with a
formula that was typical of his linguistic creativity: “La réforme oui, la
chienlit non.” Journalists and commentators had to look up “chienlit” in
the dictionary since nobody ever heard of that word. Chienlit was used in
old French and it means “carnival mask.” What could the General possibly

The UN Indictment of Hizbullah / DR.Jacques Neriah

A UN-backed court issued a long-awaited indictment and arrest warrants for four Lebanese Hizbullah members responsible for the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The Palestinians' Imaginary State / Steven J.Rosen

August 3, 2011
In a few weeks, an overwhelming majority in the United Nations General Assembly will likely vote for collective recognition of a Palestinian state. But which Palestinian state? Of the three Palestinian states the assembly could recognize, two are real and arguably could meet the requirements for statehood. But it is the third, purely imaginary one that the assembly will endorse, one that neither has a functioning government nor meets the requirements of international law.

Land for War / Efraim Karsh & Asaf Romirowsky

August 5, 2011
As September approaches, many are waiting with bated breath to learn if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will deliver on his threat to unilaterally declare an independent Palestinian state and seek recognition of it through the U.N. But in putting the Palestinian demand for statehood to a vote, Abbas will end up subverting the international organization's longstanding solution to the Arab Israeli-conflict—U.N. Security Council Resolution 242—with unpredictable results.

The Palestinian Refugees of 1948 Were not Innocent Peace Loving People / DR.Rivka Shpak Lissak

The Palestinian campaign in the international media tries to portrait the Palestinian refugees as innocent peace loving people who were expelled from their homes by cruel, heartless Israelis in 1947/8.Israel is accused for "ethnic cleansing."

I was born in the so called Palestine under the British Mandate, and I can tell you from my own personal life experience as a child and as a young girl how innocent and peace loving people the Palestinians were.

A. Palestine is the JEWISH HOMELAND

Who Is the New Head of OPEC- An Islamist / prof.B.Rubin

The New Head of OPEC Is….: Energy Independence Anyone?
August 4, 2011
Summary: It’s not every day when I high-ranking official of a revolutionary Islamist group that seeks world revolution, wiping Israel off the map, the widespread use of terrorism, and the destruction of the United States becomes head of the world’s most powerful energy organization on whose suppies America is dependent.

Mixed Response in Iran Middle Eastern Upheavals / Ali Alfoneh

Aug. 5 2011
It is too early to tell whether the revolutions sweeping across the Arab world will prove the long awaited "third wave of democratization" or will merely substitute Islamist totalitarianism for the existing secular, authoritarian regimes. It is clear, however, that no regional regime is immune to their impact, not even the self-proclaimed vanguard of permanent world revolutions, the Islamist regime in Tehran.

Do The Arabs Want Peace? Mudar Zahran

10/17/2010 22:55
Several Mideast countries have gained political prominence because of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Is a peace deal in their interest?
Arab League states have announced their support of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s call for a complete halt of all settlement activity in order to resume negotiations. This decision is not all support for Abbas, as freezing the settlement activities has recently been an Arab states’ demand rather than a Palestinian one.

The Arab World and Shlomo Sand / DR.Shaul Bartal

New Version

Few and far between are the Jewish Israeli researchers whose books and writings achieve great appreciation amongst Arab communities in the Middle East.

A Lebanize Town's Dilema / Prof.B.Rubin

A Lebanese Town’s Dilemma Teaches about Islam, Freedom, and the Future of Europe
August 5, 2011
I’m fascinated by little stories reflecting the big picture.
So consider the south Lebanese town of Hula, about which MEMRI provides a Lebanese television report. Hizballah militants arrived in the village — after hitting other places — to stop the sale of alcohol.

They surrounded the house of Wasef Hussein, the local liquor seller, and demanded he stop. The Lebanese army eventually arrived and got them to leave.

Hussein’s response is interesting:

Who Was Behind the Second Gaza Flotilla? Ehud Rozen

The second flotilla is coordinated by Muhammad Sawalha, a senior UK-based Muslim Brotherhood figure connected to Hamas. Many of the participating organizations can be directly linked with the Union of Good (UoG), a coalition of European charities affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which in 2008 was designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. Treasury for transferring funds to Hamas. The UoG was initiated by Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood on a global scale, shortly after the outbreak of the Second Intifada in 2000.

The Arab Winter / Giulio Meotti

Starting with Egypt, get ready for a static, de-westernized society built along the lines of a seventh century totalitarian state.
In a report published last month, the Institute of International Finance predicted that growth in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, and Tunisia will fall from 4.4 percent in 2010 to -0.5 percent this year.

Polls Prove Strength, Not Weakness , of Islamists in Egypt / Prof.B.Rubin

August 4, 2011
Several recent polls purport to show the Muslim Brotherhood is unpopular in Egypt. An article in the Atlantic is particularly laughable, claiming the Brotherhood is less popular than Richard Nixon when he resigned!

U.S. Ambassador to Israel: Palestinians Know UN Vote Won't Change Reality

10 03.08.11
Dan Shapiro says ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak made an important contribution to peace but now the Egyptian people will determine his fate, and the U.S. will not intervene.
By Haaretz
Tags: US Barack Obama Shimon Peres Benjamin Netanyahu Middle East peace (process) Palestinian reconciliation Palestinian state

Dan Shapiro, the new U.S. Ambassador to Israel, said Wednesday that the Palestinians know approaching the United Nations will not change reality, according to a report by Israel Radio.

My Turkish New Neighbor / DR.Yuval Brandstetter

The social unrest fomented within the middle-class in Israel has put other burning issues on the back burner. Unfortunately, the underlying basis for the socio-economic unrest is still rooted in the fragile national security status. Simply stated, Israel's per-capita military expenditure stands at around 2000 dollars per annum. Or one median monthly salary, or two months worth of mortgage/rent, or three fold that of Sweden. However Sweden is not in the Middle East, though some parts of it are beginning to look like the Middle East.

Questions and Answers on Palestinian Authority Unilateral Independence Bid / Prof.B.Rubin

August 7, 2011
1) What are the chances that the PA achieves a triumph at the UN?

It depends on what you mean by the word “triumph.” Will a Palestinian state that doesn’t even control the Gaza Strip (half the territory it claims), has not kept its diplomatic commitments, and doesn’t seek a peace agreement with Israel get recognition for unilateral independence? No. Because if the proposal passes the General Assembly it will still be vetoed by the United States in the Security Council.

Syria - Is It on the Threshold of a Civil War / Jonathan Spyer

August 5, 2011
The Assad regime’s brutal assault on the town of Hama should serve to dispel any notion that the struggle in Syria is nearing its end, or that the Assad regime has accepted its fate.

The general direction of the revolts in the Arab world now suggests that the region’s worst dictators have an even chance of survival, on condition that they have no qualms about going to war against their own people.

Syrian President Bashar Assad appears to have internalized the lesson.

Turkish - Iranian Rivalry on the Rise / Prof. Daniel Pipes

Aug 7, 2011
Turkey and Iran are two of the largest, most central, advanced, and influential countries of the Middle East; and their governments have a history of rivalry going back to Ottoman-Safavid times and as recent as the 1990s. The past decade, however, has been a time of good relations as both countries experiment with Islamism.

Two Views on the Chance for Peace between Israel and the Palestinians

9 Aug 2011
Barry Rubin VS. Aluf Benn:
The Campaign to Panic Israel Into a Bad Strategy
I have a high regard for Aluf Benn, a brilliant guy and one of Israel’s best journalists. He has just become editor of Haaretz, Israel’s left-wing newspaper, but is the most moderate person to hold that post in many years. Benn has written an interesting op-ed piece in the New York Times.

Mubarak's Trail is about the Future of Egypt / Zvi Mazel

08/07/2011
Will the image of an old, ailing man on a stretcher in a cage become the defining event setting Egypt on a new path?

On the first day of Hosni Mubarak’s trial last week, after the whole world had seen the ousted Egyptian president brought on a stretcher and his emaciated face peering through the bars of a huge cage, representatives of all political movements in Egypt enthused about what they called a momentous historic event.

"Another Kind of Israel" / Khaled Abu Toameh

July 22, 2011
As most Arab countries continue to impose severe travel restrictions on Palestinians, Israel authorities announced this week that tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank territories would be granted permits to visit Israel as tourists by the end of 2011.

This could of course have a positive impact on the Palestinian tourists' views toward Israel. For many years, these children have been taught that most Israelis are bloodthirsty murderers whose only goal in life is to get rid of the Palestinians.

Turkey: Two More Steps Toward Islamism / Prof.B.Rubin

August 9, 2011
In Washington DC they are still ridiculing the idea that Turkey’s government is Islamist, is working step by step to transform fundamentally that country’s state and society, or that it is closer to Tehran than to the United States nowadays or more friendly to Hamas and Hizballah than to Israel.

Yet anyone who actually talks to Turks or looks at daily life there—and that includes the U.S. embassy in Ankara—knew better.

Why Do Palestinians Bite the Hand that Feeds Them / Khaled Abu Toameh

July 19, 2011
For the past six decades, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for [UNRWA] has been helping hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and a number of Arab countries, providing them with various services, including jobs.

In recent weeks, UNRWA has come under attack from many Palestinians who fear that the international agency is planning to cut its services to the refugees.

UNRWA has in fact reduced some of its services to refugees – but only due to a $60 million budget deficit.

How Jihad Influenced the Norway Massacre / Raymond Ibrahim

August 8, 2011
In his manifesto, Anders Breivik, the perpetrator of the Norway massacre, in which 80 people were killed and many wounded, mentioned the Crusades and aspects of it as they had been an inspirational factor to him. Predictably, Western elites—especially through the mainstream media—have begun a new round of moral, cultural, and historical relativism, some even conflating the terrorist with former President Bush, who once used the word "crusade."

The Churches Against Israel / Goulio Meotti / Part Two

Part Tw0
Today, most of the divestment campaign against Israel is driven by Christian groups such as the Dutch Interchurch Organization and the Irish Catholic group Troicaré, both funded by the EU. The United Church of Canada, a very popular and mainstream Christian denomination, just voted to boycott six companies (Caterpillar, Motorola, Ahava, Veolia, Elbit Systems and Chapters/Indigo) and South African bishop Desmond Tutu convinced the University of Johannesburg to severe all its links with Israeli fellows.

The Churches Against Israel / Goulio Meotti

Part One
Jul 7th, 2011
A few days ago UK researchers announced that 17 skeletons belonged to Jews were found at the bottom of a medieval well in Norwich, England. The Jews were murdered in a pogrom or had been forced to commit suicide rather than submit to demands for conversion to Christianity.

Terroism Returns to Egypt: Will Sanity about Islamism Arrive in the West? Prof.B.Rubin

August 11, 2011
As I’ve predicted since February, a major consequence of the Egyptian revolution and the rise of radical Islamism there will be a return to the terrorism of the 1990s which destroyed the tourism industry; targeted Christians; murdered moderates and secularists; and killed government officials and bystanders.

The Syrian Uprising: Implications for Israel / Prof.Eyal Zisser

9 August 2011
In Syria, the story is the emergence of social groups from the periphery and their struggle to gain access to power and take over the center. The emergence of the Baath party and the Assad dynasty in the 1960s involved a coalition of peripheral forces led by the Alawites, but many others joined who came from the periphery. Now, because of socioeconomic reasons, the periphery has turned against the regime.

This is What Democracy Looks Like? Prof.B.Rubin

This Is What Democracy Looks Like?: Hating America and Rejecting Peace with Israel Portrayed as Virtuous
10 Aug 2011
It’s fascinating to see not only the Middle East going backward but Western analysts and officials cheering on a return to even more war and terrorism. A good example is “In Tumult, New Hope for Palestinian Cause” by Anthony Shadid and David D. Kirkpatrick in the New York Times.

Let’s take one paragraph and see what it tells us:

Spring Comes, but not for Iraq's Kurds / Aymenn Jawad Al - Tamimi

August 12, 2011
Amid widespread protests during this so-called "Arab Spring," one place that has received relatively little media coverage is Iraqi Kurdistan. How does the response of the Kurdish authorities to discontent there, a region long held up by foreign observers as a freer political exception in Iraq, compare with that of other governments in the Middle East?

Are Palestinians Preparing for Another Intifada? Khaled Abu Toameh

August 12, 2011
It is still not clear if the Palestinian Authority leadership will proceed with its plan to ask the UN in September to recognize a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 lines.

But what is clear is that the Palestinian Authority leaders have recently been talking about the need to escalate "popular protests" against Israel.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who says he is opposed to an armed struggle mainly because it would be counterproductive and inefficient, has repeatedly voiced his full support for a "popular intifada" in the West Bank.

Archibishop Tutu 's War on Israel / Giulio Meotti

No friend of Israel – Archbishop
Tutu.Archbishop Tutu leads vile, racist campaign against Israel and Jewish people
08.11.11
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, whose role in the fight against South African apartheid in the 1980s gained him the Nobel Peace Prize and global fame, is among the world’s most respected figures.

Texts, Lies and Videotape:Answer to Prof.Benni Morris / Prof.Efraim Karsh

Introduction
There is an on-going debate between 2 historians - Prof. Benni Morris and Prof. Efraim Karsh - on the Palestinian Refugees Issue. 3 articles were published on this web site by the 2 professors:July 10,July 17 and 24.Enclosed a link to Prof.Benny Morris article from Aug 3.
http://nationalinterest.org:80/commentary/libel-lies-genocide-5703

Letter to the Editor :Prof.Efraim Karsh Response to Prof. Benni Morris, The National Interest
August 10, 2011

Benny Morris: "The 1948 War Was An Islamic War"

Benny Morris: "The 1948 War Was an Islamic Holy War"
Amira Lamm interviews Benny Morris.

A Blast from the Past: The Upcoming Durban 3 Conference (September 2011 ) / Alan Baker

15 August 2011
The 2001 Durban World Conference against Racism was abused by Muslim, Arab and other states and anti-Israel non-governmental organizations to single out Israel in what became an anti-Semitic and anti-Israel hate-fest, permanently tainting the name of the Durban conference. As such, the conference failed to deal with the genuine problems of racism.
The damage caused by the singling-out of Israel at the Durban conference laid the groundwork for a concerted campaign in the international community to delegitimize the State of Israel.

Muslim Persecution of Christians in July / Raymond Ibrahim

August 12, 2011
Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is endemic, on its way to reaching epidemic proportions, I begin with this article a new series called "This Month in Muslim Persecution of Christians," wherein some—by no means all—of the foulest instances of persecution that surface each month will be collated and assessed.

The purpose of this series is two-fold:

1) Intrinsically, to document that which the MSM does not: Muslim persecution of Christians.

A Guide to the Galaxy of Islamic Anti - Semitism / Ayman J. Al - Tamimi

August 15, 2011
It is a truism that anti-Semitism is an extremely prevalent phenomenon in the Muslim world today, but what precisely is the origin of this anti-Jewish prejudice? Is it simply a modern import from Europe, or a continuation from orthodox Islamic theology and Muslim history?