Fatah Torture Turning PA Into Hamas-Like Police StateFatah used to scoff at Hamas for turning Gaza into a police state. Critics now fear that Fatah is doing the same in Judea and Samaria. |
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1. Fatah Torture Turning PA Into Hamas-Like Police State

An escalated Fatah campaign to stamp out opposition in Judea and Samaria has stoked fears that it is copying the Hamas authority in Gaza and turning the Palestinian Authority (PA) into a police state.
The tactics, including documented torture, also pose an obstacle to peace, according to former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky and Arab human rights activist Bassem Eid. They recently wrote in the Wall Street Journal an article under the title "There Won't Be Peace Without Democracy."
Natan Sharansky and Arab human rights activist Bassem Eid wrote, 'There Won't Be Peace Without Democracy.'
The increasing human rights violations and torture by Fatah as well as Hamas have been ignored by American and western governments that have financed police training for Fatah, the Associated Press pointed out Wednesday. It cited as examples of Fatah violence the recent "mistaken arrest" of a professor, who was beaten so badly that he suffered a concussion, and the use of clubs by PA police to break up anti-government protests.
"The West is supporting one Palestinian faction over the other. It's all about politics, not human rights," Bir Zeit University political scientist George Giacaman told AP. A citizens’ rights activist told the news agency, "We have warned of [the PA] turning into a security regime, and there are indications that we are heading in that direction."
Sharansky and Eid, in their recent Wall Street Journal op-ed article, wrote that "the tragic peace process turned to farce" with deadly Fatah-Hamas clashes in Gaza. They pointed out the irony that it was Israel and not Fatah that worked to rescue a Fatah-aligned clan and then keep them from returning to Gaza, where they would be subject to the whims of Hamas.
The writers pointed out that the proponents of the Oslo Accords in the 1990s argued that a PA democracy, no matter how weak, would enable former PA chairman Yasser Arafat to vanquish Hamas and bring about peace. "In other words, a peace process that undermined Palestinian democracy created a 'peace partner' [Fatah] so hated by its own people that the Israeli Army must now protect them,” Sharansky and Eid wrote.
"Where is the money that was supposedly spent on reforming the judicial system? Where is the international outrage as Palestinian leaders drag their own society further into the abyss?" they asked.
PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has stated that a crackdown on Hamas in Judea and Samaria is necessary to prevent an overthrow similar to last year's military coup in Gaza. Hamas has accused Fatah and Israel of collaborating to work against it.
The United States has spent tens of millions of dollars to build a training camp in Jericho and teach military skills to Fatah militia forces. Its initial training was a dismal failure as the well-armed Hamas militia pulverized Fatah in the militia war leading up to the Hamas takeover in Gaza.
The U.S. has continued to pump money and advisors into training Fatah, which has deployed hundreds of armed policemen in Jenin and Shechem. Israel has complained that they do very little to fight terrorism and that the IDF still has to conduct most of the counterterrorist operations in the areas.
Fatah has reacted by trying to remove all elements of public opposition to its authority, violently breaking up demonstrations, beating photojournalists and shutting down opposition media.
The Canadian National Post concluded, "The appalling fact, only fitfully reported in North America, is that the two major Palestinian factions are committed to an often murderous conflict…. This week, the third anniversary of Israel’s wildly optimistic and ill-advised withdrawal from [Gaza], the situation is much as Steven Erlanger described in the New York Times at the second anniversary last summer: "Rather than a model for a future Palestinian state, Gaza looks like Somalia: broken and ravenous."

2. Secular Court Permits In-Vitro Adultery

The Jerusalem District Court ruled on Tuesday that if a married man wishes to participate in in-vitro fertilization with a woman who is not his wife, his wife need not be informed.
Judge Yehonatan Adiel thus nullified a Health Ministry requirement that the wife be informed of the procedure beforehand and allowed to express her opinion.
The Health Minister has no authority to institute the above requirement, the judge ruled, and it is thus null and void. So reported NFC correspondent Ruthy Avraham.
The ruling was made in the case of a man who is in the process of getting divorced, and whose mistress is having trouble conceiving. When the two applied for in-vitro fertizilation, they were informed of Health Ministry guidelines requiring three conditions for the procedure: Court approval, paternal acknowledgement, and that the wife be enabled to have her say on the matter.
In the case at hand, the husband claimed that informing his wife of his reproductive plans is "liable to complicate the divorce process."
Judge Adiel ruled in favor of the husband. "The fact that a couple requires medical help in order to bring a child into the world," the ruling reads, "does not give the man's wife a substantial right to prevent the fertilization - a right that she does not have in normal circumstances where the fertilization would take place naturally without medical help."
Adultery and the Law
The above argument is predicated on the fact that there is no overt prohibition in civil Israeli law against adultery. A Rabbinic Court pleader confirmed to IsraelNationalNews that though an adulterer may be liable to certain sanctions, the civil law does not relate to adultery - as it does not relate to other ethical prohibitions, such as lying - and as such, adultery cannot be said to be illegal.
The judge agreed that for a man to have two family cells in parallel could hurt the first family economically and in other ways, but "this is not sufficient to give the wife a legal right to prevent ties between her husband and the woman, including child-bearing."
Judge Adiel further explained that the Health Minister has no authority to enact regulations forbidding in-vitro fertilization for "social reasons," but rather only for medical reasons. The Minister's authority in this realm extends only to such procedures subsidized by the government or by public health funds, the judge ruled.

3. Video: Flight of 235 New Immigrants Arrives

Hundreds of new Jewish immigrants to Israel from the US and Canada touched down and were welcomed in a festive ceremony at Ben Gurion International Airport, outside of Tel Aviv. Click on the video player below to watch the ceremony.
[video:123373]Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni welcomed the North Americans making aliyah (immigration to Israel) on the flight. Two hundred and thirty-five new immigrants from North America came on Wednesday's flight. Over 2,000 immigrants will move to the Jewish state over the summer from North American and Great Britain under the auspices of the Nefesh B'Nefesh aliyah organization.
The oldest immigrant today is 96 and the youngest is 5 months old.
Other dignitaries at the welcoming ceremony included: Minister of Immigrant Absorption Eli Aflalo, Director General of the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption Erez Halfon, President of the Jewish National Fund (USA) Stanley Chesley, CEO of the Jewish National Fund (USA) Russell Robinson, and the Co-Founders of Nefesh B’Nefesh aliyah organization Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and Tony Gelbart.

4. Wounded Reporter Returns from Georgia on Third Rescue Flight

A third rescue flight for Israelis and Jews in the combat zones of Georgia landed in Ben Gurion International Airport early Wednesday morning as a fragile ceasefire began to take hold in the volatile region. More than 500 people have stepped on to the tarmac in Israel since the first El Al plane arrived from Tbilisi Tuesday evening, bearing 210 returning Israelis and 30 new Georgian immigrants making a hasty move.
(courtesy of ZAKA)
Among the returning Israelis was wounded journalist Tzadok Yehezkeli, who remains in serious but stable condition after suffering shrapnel wounds in a Russian attack that killed a Dutch journalist.
(courtesy of ZAKA)
Yehezkeli, who was covering the war between Russia and Georgia over Georgia’s breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, was hit by flying shrapnel when an artillery shell hit a convoy of reporters’ cars in the center of the city of Gori. Several other reporters were wounded in the attack.
Two Israeli doctors, Avi Rivkind and Micha Shamir, flew to Georgia to treat and bring Yehezkeli home. He was whisked away by ambulance to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem in Jerusalem as soon as the plane landed.
(courtesy of ZAKA)
Yehezkeli, 52, was covering the war for the Hebrew-language daily newspaper Yedioth Achronot. He is known as a top journalist in Israel and was a winner of the Israeli Press Committee’s Sokolov Prize for investigative journalism in 2002.
Israel to Send Aid to Georgia
Israel is sending humanitarian aid to Georgia as the first part of a broader aid effort to be implemented soon. The shipment, which will be flown by the Georgian national airline, consists of two respirators and seven EKG monitors.
Government officials said in a statement the aid comes as a result of cooperation between the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Archimedes Global- Madanes Group.
Ceasefire Agreement, Take Two
Russia announced Wednesday morning it had agreed to a ceasefire, the second to be announced in two days. The new agreement came following meetings with French President Nicolas Sarkozy of the European Union.
Sarkozy brought the new plan to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in Tbilisi after talks in Moscow and said he would present the agreement to European Union ministers after it is signed by both leaders.
The ceasefire proposal by Russian President Dimitry Medvedev "is a political document. It is an agreement of principles... and I think we have full coincidence of principles," said Saakashvili at a joint news conference with Sarkozy.
One reference to future talks on the status of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, where the conflict started, was removed from the document prior to its approval.
Although the politicians in Moscow and Tbilisi told reporters that a ceasefire had been agreed upon, however, it was not clear whether the agreement had translated into peace at the front.

5. Barak Made Deal with TV for 'Easy Questions'

Labor party chairman Ehud Barak made a deal with a Channel 2 television journalist in 2001 to "promise a headline or two" in return for being asked easy questions, the Hebrew daily Ma'ariv reported Wednesday. The interview was staged several weeks before the 2001 general elections, in which Ariel Sharon trounced Barak in his re-election bid as Prime Minister.
Barak, who now is Defense Minister, has announced he wants to hire journalist Shalom Kital as an advisor. Kital conducted the interview in a program presented by fellow journalist Dan Shilon. Asked about the incident, Shilon told Ma'ariv, "I have already responded to this fake in the past. I have no reason to reply beyond that."
Shilon told Ma'ariv, 'I have already responded to this fake in the past.'
The newspaper stated that Shilon asked difficult questions during the taped interview and that then-Prime Minister Barak angrily walked out in the middle. Kital then called him back and agreed to start the interview all over again, without the bothersome questions.
Kital, in his new position as advisor, will handle communications between Defense Minister Barak and Gaza Belt communities, and issues that include drafting and exempting yeshiva students
Kital commented, "I am putting my experience to work on behalf of activity that will help a worthy man, in an action I view as a calling." He did not mention the alleged interview deal between him and Barak.

6. US College Students Give to and Learn About Negev Towns

The Counterpoint Israel 2008 summer-camp - an educational program for both Israeli development town teenagers and US college students - has ended. The more than 20 American college students who ran it are returning to the U.S. with thoughts of how they can continue to help Israeli society in the future.
Taking place simultaneously in two Negev cities, Yerucham and Dimona, the three-week program was run for some 110 Israeli teenagers who otherwise had little to do. The local municipalities fully supported the camp, and especially the fact that it was run largely in English - improving the teens' chances of high school graduation and college acceptance.
The goal was two-fold, explained one of the head counselors, Deborah Anstandig, of Detroit, Michigan: "To build a summer camp for Israeli teenagers in development towns, and to enrich the college students themselves to better understand the nature of what they were doing."
Why Are We Here?
Asked to elaborate on the second goal, Deborah said, "We had a few days of seminar session both before and after the camp, in which we analyzed what we were doing here. What does it mean to be a privileged Jew who has the ability to give to others? What is the concept of tikkun olam (lit., repairing the world)? Are we engaged in tzedakah (charity) or tzedek (justice)? What exactly is our role here? What is our motivation? Why specifically in Israel, and not with underprivileged children in New York? We also discussed [the Talmudic debate on] the relative merits of one who is obligated vis-a-vis one who volunteers... These and others were important issues for us to explore."
The camp itself, said counselor Sahar Zaghi of Boca Raton, Florida, was designed "simply to establish ties with the youth here and teach English, with no ulterior motives such as bringing them closer to Judaism. We didn't exactly know what that meant at first, but we gradually came to understand the importance of 'just making connections...' We also learned much about the cultural divides that still separate the various groups - the Russian immigrants, and the Sephardim from Morocco, and those from Iran, etc. ... We were happy that the camp gave them a chance, to some extent, to realize what they had in common, such as when we took them on trips, and the like."
One of Sahar's highlights of the summer, she said, came precisely in the connections that she built up with some of the youths:
"There were some kids who we sometimes called the 'art-room terrorists.' It seemed that every day, they would just get wild and mess up the art room. One day, it was my job to clean up the art room, and by mistake I left the door open - and then I saw these two kids walk in. They were two with whom I had been working more closely with than some others, but still... I was quite apprehensive about what would happen, but I tried to take it calmly. They picked up some magic markers, and I quickly said, 'Oh, you want to write your names?' - and that seemed to work; they wrote their names and walked out. But as they left, they suddenly looked back at me, and in their broken English, said, "Help? You want help clean?" - and they proceeded to help me clean up the room. It was very special to see the change that had come over them, with just a little understanding, patience and appreciation."
Counterpoint Israel was designed by Yeshiva University's Center for the Jewish Future (CJF) in order to "empower and build the next generation of Israeli youth by providing them with important life skills." Run by religious college students, half of whom are from Yeshiva University in New York, the intent was to run "creative programming promoting positive self-image and self-esteem... based on Jewish values and identity."
The camp activities included music, arts, dance, sports, fashion and even driving safety classes. Known to the local residents as English-language camps, after the language of instruction, waiting lists of candidates were several months old.
Praise for the First Time
Asked to describe one of her high points of the camp, Deborah said it was when she saw a boy with behavioral problems suddenly discover a talent, receive praise, and truly blossom: "When you see a boy who has trouble sitting through the English-language class without making trouble, and then he starts doodling with his pencil and is 'discovered' to really have great drawing skill - and to see him finally get praised for something and realize that he is worth something - for me, that was truly an experience that made it all worth it."
During their several days of orientation before and after the camp began, the college students toured the Old City of Jerusalem, visited the Retorno facility for youth at risk, and met with various leading personages: Rabbi Daniel Tropper of the Gesher [Bridge] Institute, former refusenik and ex-Israeli government minister Natan Sharansky, representatives of Bema'aglei Tzedek (a youth-driven organization that strives to integrate Jewish values and social justice to effect meaningful change in Israeli society), a rabbi from the Tzohar Rabbis Organization, and more.
Counterpoint and Aliyah
Asked if the program had increased awareness and desire for Aliyah [immigration to Israel], Sahar answered affirmatively, "although for most of us, Aliyah is already on our agenda." Deborah said that the group is waking up early tomorrow morning to greet a Nefesh B'Nefesh flight of new immigrants - including the family of one of the counselors.
Both Deborah and Sahar said they came away with an increased understanding of the problems facing development towns, the issues involved in their formation in the first place, and the need for them to find their place in helping solve these and other problems in Israeli society.
The Yerucham Camp was funded by the Larry and Leonore Zusman Family, while the Dimona Camp's benefactors are the Charles and Lynne Schusterman Family Foundation.
For more information, click here. Read Arutz-7/IsraelNationalNews coverage of the program's opening days here.

7. Wanted: More International Conferences in Israel

The Ministry of Tourism hopes to double the number of international conferences taking place in Israel in 2009. 83 such conferences have taken place or will be held in Israel during 2008, involving 18,000 participants.
The year 2008 is shaping up as a record-breaking year for Israeli tourism, with nearly 1.3 million tourist visitors having entered in the first half of the year - up 34% from the same period last year.
An average international conference in Israel lasts between 3-4 days, with an additional 4-5 days of touring and leisure. The average tourist visiting Israel spends $900 during his stay, including visits to tourist sites and attractions, travel, restaurants, shopping, etc. It is therefore no wonder that Israel is working to increase its already impressive conference numbers.
Following the Palestinian Authority's Oslo War against Israel that began in 2000, the number of conferences in Israel - and tourism in general - dropped significantly. However, these numbers have steadily increased over the past few years.
Tourism Ministry Director-General Sha'ul Tzemach says his ministry's efforts are bearing fruit: "The desire of conference organizers and participants to use Israel for large international conferences is a sign of the positive change in Israel's image and attraction as a tourist destination."
Conferences and exhibitions scheduled to take place in Israel this year cover varied topics such as medicine, agriculture, religion, science and technology. Most of the conferences take place in Eilat, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Five Universities, Five Projects
In other Tourism Ministry news, five universities in Israel have been chosen to carry out five important research projects that will help advance tourism to Israel. The topics to be researched are the following:
- Family vacations as a lever to help develop regional tourism in the periphery;
- The building of an economic statistical model based on surveys of incoming tourists;
- Formulating a policy for the protection of tourism consumers;
- Testing the economic potential of establishing a spiritual-religious center in the Galilee;
- Planning for tourists and balancing between the desired and the available.
The projects, planned to last one year each, will be researched in Haifa University, Ariel University Center, Ben Gurion University, Tel Aviv-Jaffa Academic College, and the Technion. The sum of 125,000 shekels (roughly $36,000) has been designated for each project.
The Ministry of Tourism has also announced a program to promote bicycle riding as a central component of its tourism package. Based on this healthy, nature-based activity, Israel hopes to sell itself as an international tourism destination in the international bike-riding field. The government has budgeted 100 million shekels over the next five years to help the program get off the ground.

8. MK: 'Checkpoint Watch' Group Is Security Danger

They are called Machsom Watch [Machsom means checkpoint in Hebrew] and they claim to protect the rights of the Arabs at IDF security checkpoints in Judea and Samaria. The checkpoints were created to prevent suicide bombers from crossing into Israel. MK Aryeh Eldad (NU/NRP) says they are "a pure security risk" and is asking for an urgent meeting with Defense Minister Ehud Barak to convince him to stop the group's activity.
[video:123372]
Can't see player? Click here for report on Checkpoint Watch
According to Rika Mostov, who volunteers in a pro-Israel women's group, the Machsom Watch women incite the Arab population. "They badmouth the soldiers," she says. "They call them Nazis." She recounts the story of a soldier who was murdered by an Arab assailant who slashed his neck at the Kalandia checkpoint. "While this soldier was dying a woman from this Machsom Watch organization came and said that he deserves to die because he shouldn't be here," she said.
According to Eldad, the Machsom Watch women speak to Arabs who were detained for further investigation and then report their names to the Machsom Watch headquarters. "That report," he says "might go back to Nablus or Jenin." If the terrorists' commanders find out in real time that their men have been arrested, they could run and hide, he explains.
The senior IDF officers are afraid of negative media exposure which could affect their promotion, Eldad says, and the Machsom Watch women know this. That is why the officers often do not back their soldiers in the confrontations with Machsom Watch, he says.
Machsom Watch is backed by the New Israel Fund, which receives much of its cash from American Jews.

9. Enthusiastic Response to Gush Katif Museum

The Jerusalem cultural landscape has been enhanced with a new addition: The Gush Katif Museum.
In its first day of operation, it drew 500 visitors - well beyond expectations. Surprisingly, most of them were not former Gush Katif residents, but virtually of all them were religious. "Many tourists, Americans, Jerusalemites and residents of Yesha [Judea and Samaria] arrived," said a pleased Miriam Gottlieb, curator and director of the fledgling museum, "but we want to spread out to other sectors as well."
[video:123374]
The museum, located not far from the Machaneh Yehuda open market in downtown Jerusalem, seeks to eternalize the memory of Gush Katif. "The Yamit region towns [in northern Sinai, which were destroyed in 1982 in accordance with the peace treaty with Egypt] have been forgotten," Miriam said. "Who even remembers the names of the towns there? We don't want the same to happen with Gush Katif. Gush Katif will be in the heart of Israeli society."
"We know that publicity is now our main thing," Miriam added. "Yesterday we had a feature on Channel Two, [Jerusalem mayoral candidate] Nir Barkat's people have called us to arrange a visit, and there is interest. We're very optimistic."
The museum features vidoes, photos, artwork and information on many aspects of Gush Katif, including its rich Jewish history going back 3,000 years, the return of Jewish life in the 1970s and its growth into a block of thriving communities, its worldwide agricultural economy, its rich educational and Torah networks, and more.
"We Want to Strengthen"
"Some visitors thought that we should be a bit more militant," Miriam said. "They felt that we should display the numbers of unemployed, all the government's broken promises, and the like. We do have an impressive room with some stark photos of the actual expulsion, but in general our goal is not to weaken, but rather to strengthen. We are not blurring over the difficult reality we face, but we want to give a positive sense of what life in Gush Katif was like."
The museum, on Shaarei Tzedek St. between Jaffa Rd. and Agripas St., is open from 1 to 8 PM on weekdays, and from 9-1 on Friday mornings. Admission is free. The phone number:

10. Paris T-Shirts Sport Nazi Signs

The writing on a T-shirt that was on sale in Paris last weekend reads "Juden Eintritt in die parkanlagen verboten" and "Zydome wstep do parku wzbroniony," which mean "No Entry to the Park for Jews" in German and Polish, respectively. The texts reproduce those on anti-Jewish banners that were put up in the Lodz ghetto in 1940.
The shirt was found and bought for 18 euros in Belleville, in Paris's 19th district, by the French National Bureau of Vigilance against anti-Semitism (BNVCA), a group monitoring anti-Semitic incidents in France.
Ninety-five percent of the 200,000 Jews who were held in the Lodz ghetto in central Poland were later killed in concentration camps.
The texts reproduce those on anti-Jewish banners that were put up in the Lodz ghetto in 1940.
An AFP reporter found five of the grey, sleeveless woolen tops, labeled with the brand "Introfancy IF," on sale early Tuesday, but when he returned shortly afterwards they had been withdrawn.
The sales assistant said they had just been bought by a single customer. She added that she did not know the meaning of the inscriptions.
Sammy Ghozlan, head of the National Bureau of BNVCA said he had filed a formal complaint with the Paris police.
Lithuania condemns graffiti
In Lithuania, President Valdas Adamkus on Monday condemned a Nazi graffiti attack on a Jewish community centre in the Baltic state's capital, Vilnius, calling it an affront to the entire country.
"Contempt targeted at the nation which suffered from genocide is not casual hooliganism. It is a destructive and sordid act against Lithuania as a whole, not only Lithuania's Jewish community," Adamkus said in a statement.
Increased anti-Semitism and Holocaust revisionism in Lithuania prompted the Yad VaShem Holocaust Memorial Center to protest to Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas Sunday.
"The public outcry has yet to yield a fair and reasonable Lithuanian response," Yad VaShem chairman Avner Shalev wrote the prime minister.

11. Three 9,000-Year-Old Skulls Found in Galilee

Archaeologists have discovered three 9,000-year-old skulls at the Yiftah'el dig in the Lower Galilee, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday. Experts said the placement of the skulls confirms the worship of ancestors from during that time, practiced by displaying skulls inside houses.
The skulls were apparently placed on benches in a house where they would inspire the younger generation to continue in the ways of their forefathers. A similar custom was also identified in Syria, Turkey and Jordan.
The skulls are 8,000-9,000 years old and were buried in a pit adjacent to an excavated large public building. They were discovered during excavations for a new highway interchange at the Movil Junction, a major intersection.
"The skulls were found plastered – that is to say sculpted – which is a phenomenon that is identified with the New Stone Age," said site director Dr. Hamoudi Khalaily. "The practice included the reconstruction of all of the facial features of the deceased by means of sculpting the skull with a variety of materials such as plaster that was specifically intended for this. On the skulls that were found in the excavation the nose was entirely reconstructed."
The pit where the skulls were found showed depressions that probably were used for graves underneath floors.
Dr. Khalaily explained, "Some time thereafter, the residents would dig up the grave, retrieve the skull from the rest of the skeleton and recover the grave. Later they would then mold the skull in the image of the deceased and keep it inside the house. This custom is known in the scientific literature as 'ancestor worship.'"
The three molded skulls that were found at Yiftah’el join 15 other similar skulls that have been found to date.
Some Torah authorities explain that findings which are dated before the Jewish date of creation are remnants from worlds which G-d created and destroyed before this world.