Peaceful Co-existence

Last updated: August 14, 2007

December 17, 2006

The Jerusalem Post
Dec. 17, 2006

Police, in cooperation with the Shin Bet, arrested a 17-year-old Israeli Arab on suspicion of planning to carry out a suicide attack on Nazareth Illit's "Plaza" hotel, it was released for publication on Sunday.

. . .

An investigation of the affair revealed that the accused, a former resident of the Palestinian territories currently living with his mother in Nazareth, was supposed to receive a bomb belt from Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades operatives; however, the Amakim sub-district CIU and security forces arrested him two days before the transaction was to take place.

During his interrogation, the youth said he had originally lived with his father in the northern Samaria village of Daan, but he claimed that whenever he would visit the territories, Islamic Jihad and Hamas operatives would deride him for cooperating with Israel.

Endeavoring to prove the opposite (!!! NB), the boy agreed to carry out a suicide attack on the Nazareth hotel.

Police and the IDF have foiled dozens of terror attacks in the last several months.

Source

PS

Good. At least they are still trying to prove something. I hate to think about the day when they start blowing themselves up just for fun.


Mar 23, 2007

Some Relief . . . At Last
Avigdor Lieberman has found some relief in the opening clause of 'The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel' published by the National Committee of Israeli Arabs:

We, the Palestinian Arabs who live in Israel, natives of this land and citizens of this country… found ourselves within the borders of the Jewish state, detached from the rest of our Palestinian nation and the Arab world, were coerced to carry an Israeli citizenship and turned into a minority within our historic homeland.

On his blog in 'My Truth: Straight from the horse's mouth' Lieberman is writing:

I am, to some extent, relieved that the truth is finally out there, straight from the horse's mouth, and this document is not the sole example.

The document indeed provides abundantly for relief of any Israeli, left or right:

There are two fundamental facts that should be taken into account when developing the legal status of the Palestinian-Arabs in Israel:

1. The Palestinian-Arabs being the original owners of the land…
2. Their being a living and inseparable part of the Arab-Palestinian nation

Apart from the 'Future Vision' Lieberman was also relieved by the findings of a recent poll that established that 76 percent of Israeli Arabs equate Zionism with racism. The poll carried out by a sociologist from the Haifa University brings even more relief when examined in details.

Asked about the war with Hizbullah guerrillas in Lebanon last summer, nearly half of the Israeli Arabs polled - 48 percent - said they believed that Hizbullah's rocket attacks on northern Israel during that war were justified, even though numerous Arabs were killed and wounded in those attacks.

89 percent of the Arab respondents considered IDF's bombing of Lebanon as a war crime though.

Half of Israeli Arab respondents said Hizbullah's capture of IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev in a cross-border raid was justified. (This is not so bad by the way. I would expect more. NB)

Yet the most intriguing findings of the poll were that 28 percent of Israeli Arabs do not believe that the Holocaust happened at all, while among high school and college graduates the figure reached even 33 percent. It goes without saying that the poll did not include questions such as: "Do you think that the official number of the Holocaust victims has been exaggerated?", or: "Do you think that the Holocaust was an act of self defense on the part of the German nation against the Jewish global domination conspiracy?"

That the Holocaust denial is practiced more widely by the more educated among Israeli Arabs may surprise some people, but these findings actually fit well in the general impression that it's the spread of literacy, education and mass media that is fueling the massive slide of the world of Islam into political extremism and religious fanaticism.

In a press release accompanying the poll's publication, Smoocha expressed surprise at the results.

"One would have expected more pro-Israeli results among Israeli Arabs due to the uniqueness of the most recent war: a war with no involvement of the Palestinians, a war in which the lives and belongings of Israelis were endangered, a war against an Islamic fundamentalist group that most of them don't support," Smoocha said.

Of course, the surprise is entirely misplaced. The Future Vision itself states that Israeli Arabs see themselves as part of the Arab world and so, whether the Palestinians are involved or not, they feel more affinity with the Lebanese than with the Israelis. The idea that most Israeli Arabs don't support Hezbollah seems to be preposterous. Many Israeli Arabs clearly sympathize with resistance movements and many of them were more than enthusiastic about Hezbollah's divine victory. As to the endangered lives and belongings of Israelis, if Smoocha means Israeli Jews, then the Israeli Arabs plainly don't care for them as much as they care for the Lebanese. If Smoocha means Israeli Arabs, then anybody, who watched the father of the two boys killed by Katyushas on Al-Jazeera, could get the idea. It's the same talk we are used to hear from Palestinian suicide bombers and their relatives.

It may be unreasonable to expect that much from somebody who is held to be a prominent Israeli sociologist. Unlike prominent sociologists, ordinary Israelis are starting to get the idea as 68 percent of them acknowledged fearing the possibility of civil unrest among Israeli Arabs. 63 percent said they avoid entering Arab towns and cities. No reason is given, but both findings combined may indicate that many Israelis avoid Arab places for safety reasons, which means that not only the demographic bomb is ticking but the Israelis have already started losing control over parts of the country.

Israeli Arabs seem to have their own worries:

The poll also found that Israeli Arabs had fears about their future in Israel: 62 percent worry that Israel could transfer their communities to the jurisdiction of a future Palestinian state (Just when Lieberman was thinking about 'reattaching you back to the rest of the Palestinian nation and the Arab world'. NB) . . . Sixty percent said they are concerned about a possible mass expulsion. (Come on, guys. We are not that bad . . . yet. NB)

In short, the last war left Israelis and Israeli Arabs as far apart from each other as they have always been. Or maybe even more.

The Jerusalem Post ends on an optimistic note:

But more than two thirds (of Israeli Arabs) said they would be content to live in the Jewish state, if it existed alongside a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Source

Some like Smoocha may see this as a light in the end of the tunnel. Yet those, who are not prominent sociologists, will probably persist with their skepticism. Many Israeli Arabs have it very clear that none of the Arab countries around, sure not the Palestinian Authority, can offer them in terms of civil rights and prosperity even a fraction of what they have in Israel. Despite the huge gap between them and the rest of the country, Israel has advanced so much over the last years, that even being a failure in this country is a lot. Yet the practical realism of many Israeli Arabs does not conflict with their perception of themselves as a discriminated minority that culturally and ethnically belongs to the world across the border.

But there may be one more reason why some Israeli Arabs may be willing to contend themselves with living in a Jewish state. Since a few months ago the author of this blog has spotted the demographic issue being increasingly brought forward in peace roundtables and political debates between Israeli and Arab bloggers. The demography is mentioned by no other than Arabs themselves. It appears that in some quarters of the Arab world there is a growing perception of the demographic factor as an ultimate weapon that will eventually determine the outcome of the Israeli Arab conflict. Where the Arab weapons failed, the Arab vagina is now expected to bring the long awaited victory.

Probably Smoocha could have produced an even more fascinating study by polling the Arab participants on what they think about the future of the Jewish state in this regard. But then this poll has already produced more than enough relief.


August 13, 2007

The Jerusalem Post
Aug. 13, 2007

The Galilee Liberation Group, an Israeli-Arab terror organization, took responsibility on Monday for Friday's shooting attack in Jerusalem's Old City, claiming it was meant to avenge the 2004 death of the group's leader.

. . .

"This isn't the first act of its kind," the group's spokesman said. "The act comes as revenge for the assassination of shahid [martyr] Muhammad Khatib, who was also a resident of Kafr Manda, on April 18, 2004."

Muhammad Khatib, who was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of IDF soldier Cpl. Oleg Shaikhet, was shot and killed by IDF troops in an operation that same year.

On Sunday, police released video footage of the Old City shooting, following controversy over whether the guard who shot Khatib had "confirmed the kill" by continuing to shoot the attacker after he was already down.

Source

August 14, 2007

Roman Kalik said...

I keep fairly up to date with the news via my mobile, mostly by reading Ynet articles now that the Jerusalem Post decided that they're not giving Orange access to their mobile website anymore (no idea why).

After reading the following articles at the time (I'm including their English versions, so for all I know some of the bits I remember from the Hebrew ones could be missing), I had a complete and utter feeling of disgust.

Jerusalem: Security guard kills shooter

First we have Tibi, diverting the matter to a possible kill-confirmation (and quite frankly, when facing a man intent on dying, kill-confirmations become a must. Mercy is for those who want to live, and won't try to kill you in their last breath), rather than denouncing the event in itself. Israeli-Arab public image becomes worse, worse even than it would have been simply due to this terror attack.

Then we have a bystander, Abu Shamshia, who starts throwing paranoia into it. Nevermind the fact that the security guard was risking his own life, and that had he started shooting around carelessly he might have hit a bystander or two himself. Basic training: Wait for a goddamn clear shot. Nevermind where you are. And yes, it would have ended quicker in a mall. Malls don't have twisting alleys.

Then we have this: J'lem shooter: Israeli Arab from Galilee

More conspiracy crap. I can understand friends and family refusing to believe that Khatib was a terrorist, but why would the security guards murder him? Just for the thrill of it? Nevermind that the security guard who had his gun snatched was himself the first to be shot...

Now we have the video, and the prestige-garnering terrorist groups:

Surveillance video of J'lem shooting

Israeli Arab group claims responsibility for J'lem shooting

In the Hebrew article, I remember it saying that the claim of the "Free People of Galilee" wasn't taken seriously by the police and security forces. For all we know, the group doesn't exist anymore beyond this claim of responsibility. This doesn't change the fact that this is a homegrown terrorist, though.

Regardless, the video is clear enough. Or should have been clear enough. Apparently... it wasn't.

Shooter's father says video fabricated

The father seems to have totally fallen off his rocker. I don't judge grieving people, but from his words it seems someone has been talking with him extensively about the matter. Planting ideas, if you will. It could even be our friendly Ra'ad Salah, who by the way gave a wonderful speech at the funeral. It was really a pleasure to read it, he managed to turn the tables completely around with a few simple words. All a conspiracy... all a conspiracy... An attack on us... A message from the Evil Zionists... Keep repeating that, folks.

And the funeral seemed big. Big enough to send a very clear message, one of doublethink. Saying "We believe this is all a conspiracy, and we support the attack, too."

And then... we reach what could have been the bright spot. Only it wasn't.

Kfar Manda residents: Don't defame all of us

After reading the article, all I saw was people who believed the conspiracy rubbish, but tried to make it sound in a good way so as to salvage their livelihood.

Yeah, sure, just a thousand people at the funeral, doesn't signify a thing. Nothing at all.

No matter how big the family was, a thousand people is still a huge funeral.


Nizo, I think Israeli Arabs would do best if they don't give out interviews, or let reporters record them. They have this... gift, of making a bad situation so much worse.

Individuals did comment on the Hebrew articles saying that they denounce the attack, that this guy doesn't represent them... The thing is, those who *do* represent them in public sing a very different tune. It's either a negative one or a silent one.

Now, me lives in a democracy, so me expects protests to signify public opinion if and when the public reps speak otherwise than the public thinks. This did not happen.

Conclusion: This shit's fucked-up.

August 14, 2007 4:12 PM