Hamas & Fatah...Fatah & Hamas...Spot the Difference

Two sides of the same filthy coin.

My response to "Anonymous"

I received the following comment from Anonymous, who responded to my post "Video: Stand up to Ahmadinejad":

Your blog said I might contact you and that if I were nice you would be nice back. I need some counseling.

I am a Jew. My father was a cantor. My brother is a cantor. And I studied, albeit only for a while, for the rabbinate. I was raised a Zionist. I went to many Zionist camps and sang all the joyous Zionist songs. I loved being a Zionist and a Jew.

As I grew up, my family, though they never had much money, always saved and each year sent whatever they could to Israel.

I even thought of "returning" to Israel, emigrating there, and making my home there. On my way back from serving in Vietnam, I traveled to Eretz Yisrael; it was 1968, not long after the 6-Day War...and what I saw in Israel made my heart stop, and then break. I saw the way the Jew treated the Arab: there was an arrogance and a racism.... I didn't want to believe what my eyes saw.

So, I came home and started studying...and I haven't stopped studying this subject since.

Israel exists. There is no turning back. (The U.S. exists; there is no way we can give it back to the natives.) We must figure out the right thing to do now...the just thing to do now...the thing that will bring us all back to justice...and do that now.

But Israel and the U.S. have got to stop terrorizing their "enemies". They have got to start a real peace process. How? It seems to me the right thing to do is apologize. Whatever my feelings are regarding the Holocaust and the ancient longing for the Jews to return to Israel someday, the truth is both the U.S. and Israel stole land from people who lived there. That is a truth which we must all accept, or there will never be peace.

Are there racists on both sides? Of course. Are there people who live and breath only for the destruction of the other? Of course. Do not think that only Arabs are haters and destroyers and racists; that kind of thinking will lead you astray. It led me astray for years!

No sensible person I know of wants to give "a pass" to anything immoral that Hezbollah has done. But I know way too many Jews who want to look the other way when it comes to all the immoral things Israel has done. And that is a SHANDA! Doing immoral things in the name of national security can never be right or just.

I am much more critical of myself, my family, and my friends...as well as my tribe...than I am of others. If others want to kill, that is their business and I will do whatever I can to protect myself...and my people. But when my people want to kill, then I step in and say NO! Not while I have breath left in me.

I was brought up to believe that it is better to suffer a wrong than to commit one. How do you feel about that?

When a Jewish friend of mine recently wrote: "Muslims are committed to the absolute and complete destruction of the State of Israel, and all Jewish people," I had to point out to him that this is racism, pure and simple. It is ignorant and wrong to say it. He said it, I realize, out of fear; but that does not make it right. I know too many beautiful Muslims who make this a lie. Alas, he has bought into the propaganda.

I want your advice, but I fear that by questioning you and what you say, you will do what so many others are doing: calling criticism of Israel "anti-Semitic". Some Arabs hate Jews. Some Jews hate Arabs. Those haters happen to be in power today.

When you say, "The truth is that Arabs have been trying to kill Jews since the 1880s." This is true, sort of.... But why didn't you say "Some Arabs..."? That would have been more accurate and less provocative; i.e, less "racist". When you say, "The truth about the war against the Jews is that it's a symptom of the greater goal of Islamic global imperialism," I say you are right, but the war by some Arabs in power against the Jews is indeed about "Islamic global imperialism". Still there are many Arabs who believe in a separation of church and state; they're not in power today.

Here in the U.S., the neocons are in power. They believe in pax Americana and that bringing "American-style democracy" to the world is a good vision. I don't; it is imperialism neocon-style.
My friend says, "I will never turn my back on the children of Israel, nor it's state!" Good. I tell him that "...now is the time for all good men and women to stop Israel from committing more crimes against humanity, crimes that ultimately will be paid for. If you love Israel and want to protect it, save it from itself. Ask yourself, dear friend, is Israel safer today, after all its actions to protect itself? No. It has waged FIVE WARS against Lebanon, and it has lost almost all of them. Israel is less safe today than it would be if it had shown humility and rachmones to the Palestinians."

So, Smooth Stone, if you have any rachmones for me, what is your advice? Do you ever have these kinds of thoughts and quandaries? What if your son came home from college with such questions? What would you tell him?

Yours, b'Shalom,

Lanny Cotler
Willits, CA

Here is my reply:

Lanny, I don't believe you're Jewish, and I have some solid evidence for that, but even if you were Jewish, I will take your bait. So, on with it:

Please keep the following in mind, because it is very important to understand the key concept here, that all peoples deserve to live peacefully with a succinct quality of life - but - when the quality of one's life determines who gets to live or who gets to die, then the rules change.

In order to have discussions about Palestinians, one must have a discussion about Islam and it is imperative that you learn immediately that the political aspect of Islam makes it less a religion and more of an ideology. Most of all, because unlike the political pan-Arabian nation, the Zionist movement to the land of Israel represents a return, not an invasion. Get that fact straight.

So, if we talk about Islam, then let's look at Palestinianism which is, one could say the mirror image of Zionism, which you mention several times in your comment, which leads me to consider that you might have a seemingly more-than-average knowledge of what Zionism is. Palestinianism is an offshoot of Islam. Palestinianism is the belief that Palestinians are entitled to self-determination. But, Zionism is also self-determination, which leads to the basic question: What is self-determination?

The right to self-determination as outlined in generic international law is often referenced by both sides; the Palestinians insist on a right to self-determination and so does Israel. Israel was restored under the right to self-determination as outlined in the U.N. Charter and that's when on November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly passed resolution 181 recommending division of the land given to Jews under the Mandate. From a political and practical point of view, the 1947 U.N. partition plan served as reason for the legal declaration of a Jewish State. Read more about the history, here.

The claim that the Arabs were being driven out was raised as early as the 1930s. This claim was investigated by the British, and rejected almost completely - and this at a time when British policy in Palestine was clearly moving from a pro-Zionist to a pro-Arab position.

Two official British documents from the year 1937 deal with this claim. One is the report of the Peel Commission (Chapter 9, Par. 61), which relates that during the years 1920-1939, 688 Arab tenant farmers were removed from their land as a result of purchases made by the Jews. Five hundred twenty-six of the Arab farmers remained in some agricultural occupation, and four hundred received alternative plots of land in other locations.

The second document is one of a series of memoranda prepared by the mandatory government and published in London (Colonial No. 133, p. 37). It contains the findings of the 1931 investigation of Lewis French, which totally refute the claim that the Zionist undertaking in Palestine caused the creation of "an entire landless people among the Palestinian Arabs". The memorandum notes that the total number of applications of registration as landless Arabs reached 3,27 1. Of these, the claims of 2,607 were rejected as not belonging to this category, and only 664 heads of families were recognized as having legitimate claims. Approximately half this number - 347 - agreed to accept the government's offer of resettlement. The rest refused, either because they had found employment elsewhere, or because they were unaccustomed to the agricultural methods, such as irrigation, employed in the new locations, or because of other reasons. In his investigation of the hill country, where the Jewish purchases were minimal, French found that out of seventy-one Arab claims of eviction, sixty-eight were rejected (The Esco Foundation for Palestine, Inc., Vol. II, p. 716).

And finally: What was the land ownership situation when the State of Israel was established in 1948? According to the official data published by the outgoing British mandatory administration before the establishment of the State (Survey of Palestine, 1946), only 8.6% of the land was in fact owned by Jews, while over 70% was state land, which had passed from British to Turkish authority and now to Israel, the legal heir of the British mandate. The remaining lands - 33% belonged to Arab landowners, and 16.9% were abandoned by the Arab owners who hastened to obey the call of their leaders "to clear the way for the Arab armies which would annihilate the Jewish State". These landowners did not consider the possibility that the Jewish State would remain.

The key to the entire problem lies in that large percentage of state land, most of which was in the Negev - an unsettled area of approximately 12,557,00 dunams, or close to 50% of the entire area (26,320,000) of mandatory Palestine. These lands had never been under Arab ownership, neither during the period of British rule nor even during the preceding Turkish regime. The contention heard time and again from Arab propagandists - that 95% of the territory of Palestine had belonged to the Arabs - is, therefore, entirely without basis in fact.

Now, let's briefly talk about Islam. One of the more important precepts here is that Islam is not the religion of peace President Bush has claimed since 9-11. A majority or substantial minority of Islams do support suicide terrorism. We have the right to criticize his characterization of Islam as the religion of peace. We have the responsibility to point out that societies built on Islamic values are not "just like us", and they do not have the same goals as us. I expect you, if you really are a Vietnam vet, to realize that you cannot take concepts such as democracy, that come out of Judeo-Christian values of equality of all men before their G-d, and simply graft that onto another culture where it has never existed.

[By the way, why did you stop off in Israel on the way home from Vietnam? Weren't you anxious to be back in the US with your family?]

We really need to drop the jingoist support of particular U.S. political parties, Republicans or Democrats, and realize it is all Americans who need to understand and focus on the words of the Koran and the jihadists. As far as I can tell, both parties are blind to the problem.

But, why bother with usual politically correct explanations of why Arabs do what they do. Very simply they burn synagogues, kill Jews and others, kill each other, rip the clitoris from their daughters, kill family members for inappropriate affairs, and make this world a hell hole, because their culture has been a destructive and death oriented culture for the past one thousand years. And, they have been given license by liberals and leftists to act as savages because the mental disease of liberalism thinks it is multicuturally quaint to act out your culture, no matter what it is.

See, you don't have to like the way Israel fights her wars. Have you considered that Israel was attacked by Arab armies five times since Israel became a legitimate and sovereign nation in 1948? Arabs chose war. Arabs suffer the consequences. Nobody likes it. But the enemy knows that they can count on people like you to object, which helps them. But the fact remains that, like it or not, these people want you dead. Useful idiots that some Leftists may be, they will kill you as fast as they will kill me.

Clearly I don't buy the old "small minority of extremists" argument. "Islam is really quite peaceful, honest!". Don't buy it for a minute. In May 2005, following alledged incidents of Koran abuse at Guantanamo Bay publicized in the Leftist media, caused widespread outrage, protests, and anti-American demonstrations in the Muslim world. In Oct 2005, Feb 2005, Muslim jihadists blew up mosques in Iraq and Afghanistan in multiple attacks, destroying hundreds of ancient Korans, not to mention the dozens of innocents that were murdered in the process. The response from CAIR and other alleged 'moderate Muslims'? Not a peep, not even a press conference.

What about the leadership of the Islamic world? Certainly they are voices for moderation and reason. Like this man, the Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyi, Chief Imam of the Holy Mosque in Mecca, the epicenter of Worldwide Islam, approved by and appointed to the position by the Saudi Government. Here's what he had to say in a televised sermon in July 2005:

"Oh Allah, Liberate Our Al-Aqsa Mosque... Punish the Occupying Zionists and Their Supporters Among The Corrupt Infidels... Oh Allah, Scatter and Disperse Them"

Yep, those words sound very 'moderate' and 'peaceful' to me. I'm feeling much better now. Nice to know the man is setting a 'moderate' example for Islam.

With all the terrorists coming from Saudi Arabia nowadays, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia must be a very poor country, because everyone knows that poverty breeds terrorism. I havent heard of any terrorists coming from Honduras lately, however.

School kids murdered in Beslan, stockbrokers in lower Manhattan, tourists in Bali, restaurant goers in Israel. All murdered by Muslims waging violent Jihad, a doctrine no Muslim group has ever disavowed or repudiated.

Courtesy of www.answering-islam.org, here are the top ten reasons why Islam is not the "Religion of Peace". These commandments and events are exhaustively documented in the Koran, Hadith and other authorative Islamic sources:

10. Mohammad nicknames his weapons.

9. Mohammad commands in his Quran that adulterers and adulteresses should receive a hundred lashes.

8. Mohammad in his Quran permits husbands to beat their wives.

7. Mohammad in his Quran commands that the hands of male or female thieves should be cut off.

6. Mohammad assassinated poets and poetesses.

5. Mohammad in his Quran commands death or the cutting off of hands and feet for fighting and corrupting the land.

4. Mohammad aggressively attacked Meccan caravans.

3. Mohammad in his Quran promises sensuous Gardens for martyrs dying in a military holy war.

2. Mohammad unjustly executes around 600 male Jews and enslaves the women and children.

1. Mohammad launches his own Crusades (centuries before the more well-known Christian Crusades took place).

"The world's most inflamed conflict" is a good deal larger than that particular theatre of Hot Jihad, where open warfare is the vehicle of choice, that in which the "Palestinian" Arabs are merely the shock troops, whose own lives, and their quality, are inconsequential, and the real battle is to deny Infidels the possession of any territory once held by Muslims, or for that matter, where Muslims now exist in sufficient number not to deny outright the Infidel possession, but to whittle away at, and weaken the hold of, those Infidels over what they thought was theirs, but not all those now living in their lands agree.

Islamic rules are not native to the West. There is a great deal of brazen chutzpa, contempt and provocation for a person who was graciously granted sanctuary in a foreign country, received all possible assistance and access to all its wealth, to demand that the host accommodates himself to that person’s alien and often distasteful customs. It is an attitude of a conqueror - not of adoptive son. This is what is happening in Europe.

Islam at its core is lethally militaristic and institutionalizes homicide.

Muslims are anti-West, anti-Democracy, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-Buddhist, and anti-Hindu. Muslims are involved in 25 of some 30 conflicts going on in the world: in Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bosnia, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, East Timor, India, Indonesia (2 provinces), Kashmir, Kazakastan, Kosovo, Kurdistan, Macedonia, the Middle East, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Sudan, Russia-Chechnya, Tajikistan, Thailand, Uganda and Uzbekistan.

Doesn't this mean that extremist Islam is the norm and normal Islam is extremely rare?

So, let's be honest. You are a member of the Baby Boomer generation, and mainly because of your need to see yourself as modern, progressive and tolerant, I'd say you enjoy wearing anti-Israel eyeglasses.

I don't understand how you have been able to invest in the pretense that Islam has something more to offer us than just terrorism, rioting, the death of free speech and artistic expression, homophobia, Jew-hatred, female genital mutilation, limb amputation, gang rape, stoning to death for victims of gang rape, hanging underage girls from cranes in public parks etc.

Have you read the PLO Charter and the Hamas Covenant?

Have you read about the waves of violence during the British Mandate period initiated by the Arabs? The riots of September 1937, the result of the Arabs' disappointment with the Peel Commission's recommendations of partition? The riots in April 1936, when Jews were murdered near Tulkarm, in Jaffa and on the outskirts of Tel Aviv because the Arab Higher Committee, established to lead the Palestinian struggle and headed by the Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, demanded a cessation of Jewish immigration, a ban on the sale of land to Jews, and Arab independence in Palestine?

Evidently land was being sold to the Jews as I stated above, or the Mufti wouldn't have been protesting about it.

Now, Lanny, what is your opinion about the 1.5 million Armenians massacred by the Ottoman Turks, or the 6 million Ukrainians slaughtered by Stalin, or the tens of millions of other Soviet citizens killed by Stalin's Soviet Union, or the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis and their helpers throughout Europe, or the 60 million Chinese butchered by Mao, or the 2 million Cambodians murdered by Pol Pot, or the millions killed and enslaved in Sudan, or the Tutsis murdered in Rwanda's genocide, or the millions starved to death and enslaved in North Korea, or the million Tibetans killed by the Chinese, or the million-plus Afghans put to death by Brezhnev's Soviet Union?

Do these issues bother you as much as Israel defending herself against Islamic armies intent on her destruction?

Lanny, if the 1.3 million Israeli Arabs are a model of peaceful coexistence, why are the 250,000 Jews living in Judea, Samaria, and the Golan Heights an obstacle to peace?

If the uprooting of Arab communities within the Green Line constitutes a blatant human rights violation, why is the uprooting of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria viewed as a contribution to peace?

Don't be a hypocrite.

Watch this video The Islamic Mein Kampf, again. Speak out, along with other people of good conscience, to put an end to the brutal terror of the Palestinian Authority complicit in the ethnic cleansing of indigenous Jews from their homeland of Israel.

Jews are entitled to self-determination, to live freely in their homeland. Zionism is just as valid as Palestinianism, even moreso.

There is not, nor has there ever been, a distinct "Palestinian" culture or language. Further, there has never been a Palestinian state governed by Arab Palestinians in history. Nor was there ever a serious Arab-Palestinian national movement, until 1964, which was three years *before* the Arabs of "Palestine" lost the West Bank [Judea and Samaria] and Gaza as a result of attacking Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War (which the Arabs started). Even the original so-called leader of the "Palestinian" people, Yasser Arafat, was Egyptian. In short, the so-called Arab Palestinians are a manufactured people. They are a people with no history and no authenticity whose sole purpose for existence is to destroy the Jewish State.

As a "Zionist" you should have known all this.

I will publish your reply, if you have one.

Jimmy Carter: A compendium

"... I am opposed to an independent Palestinian state, because in my own judgement and in the judgement of many leaders in the Middle East, including Arab leaders, this would be a destabilizing factor in the Middle East and would certainly not serve the United States interests." --(Jimmy Carter at the United Jewish Appeal National Young Leadership Conference, February 25, 1980).

Folks, I"ve had my fill of reading about Jimmy Carter, because I think it's more important for you to read the hate speech that is in the Hamas Covenant and in the Palestinian National Charter, than ruminate how ex-president Carter sold out the Jews with his latest palestinian-propaganda-on-parade. In my opinion, Jimmy Carter and those who think like him, are dangerous because they are liars, but they are not as dangerous as Muslims who blow up Jewish toddlers in strollers. Let's be reasonable.

Nonetheless, Carter's book and the righteous criticism of it, are making the rounds and I have compiled several articles and links below for those of you who are interested in reading more on him. The links include articles from those who challenge him as well as other accounts relative to his mendacity. All links are worth reading; those links with an asterisk preceding them are especially worthwhile:

In 1980 Jimmy Carter declared his opposition to a "Palestinian" state

*Carter aside, Israel deserves total support

Carter defends Mideast book as accurate

*Dershowitz seeks to grill ex-president Carter on Israel book

The Carter trap

NY Times: Dennis Ross: Don't Play With Maps (Carter mispresents maps to hide Arafat's rejection of peace)

Jimmy Carter's Jewish Problem

*Michael B. Oren: A Religious Problem - Jimmy Carter's book: An Israeli view

*Jimmy Carter's own words

Jimmy Carter Interceded on Behalf of Nazi SS Guard

Ex-President for Sale - by Alan Dershowitz

Brandeis University to Allow Rebuttal After Carter Speech

Carter agrees to speak at Brandeis

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Emory Prof. Ken Stein resigned from the Carter Center. This is the note he distributed about it.

This note is to inform you that yesterday, I sent letters to President Jimmy Carter, Emory University President Jim Wagner, and Dr. John Hardman, Executive Director of the Carter Center resigning my position, effectively immediately, as Middle East Fellow of the Carter Center of Emory University. This ends my 23 year association with an institution that in some small way I helped shape and develop.

My joint academic position in Emory College in the History and Political Science Departments, and, as Director of the Emory Institute for the Study of Modern Israel remains unchanged.

Many still believe that I have an active association with the Center and, act as an adviser to President Carter, neither is the case. President Carter has intermittently continued to come to the Arab-Israeli Conflict class I teach in Emory College. He gives undergraduate students a fine first hand recollection of the Begin-Sadat negotiations of the late 1970s.

Since I left the Center physically thirteen years ago, the Middle East program of the Center has waned as has my status as a Carter Center Fellow. For the record, I had nothing to do with the research, preparation, writing, or review of President Carter's recent publication. Any material which he used from the book we did together in 1984, The Blood of Abraham, he used unilaterally. President Carter's book on the Middle East, a title too inflammatory to even print, is not based on unvarnished analyses; it is replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions, and simply invented segments. Aside from the
one-sided nature of the book, meant to provoke, there are recollections cited from meetings where I was the third person in the room, and my notes of those meetings show little similarity to points claimed in the book. Being a former President does not give one a unique privilege to invent information or to unpack it with cuts,
deftly slanted to provide a particular outlook. Having little access to Arabic and Hebrew sources, I believe, clearly handicapped his understanding and analyses of how history has unfolded over the last decade. Falsehoods, if repeated often enough become meta-truths, and they then can become the erroneous baseline for shaping and reinforcing attitudes and for policy-making. The history and interpretation of the Arab-Israeli conflict is already drowning in half-truths, suppositions, and self-serving myths; more are not necessary. In due course, I shall detail these points and reflect on their origins.

The decade I spent at the Carter Center (1983-1993) as the first permanent Executive Director and as the first Fellow were intellectually enriching for Emory as an institution, the general public, the interns who learned with us, and for me professionally. Setting standards for rigorous interchange and careful analyses spilled out to the other programs that shaped the Center's early years. There was mutual respect for all views; we carefully avoided polemics or special pleading. This book does not hold to those standards. My continued association with the Center leaves the impression that I am sanctioning a series of egregious errors and polemical conclusions which appeared in President Carter's book. I can not allow that impression to stand.

Through Emory College, I have continued my professional commitment to inform students and the general public about the history and politics of Israel, the Middle East, and American policies toward the region. I have tried to remain true to a life-time devotion to scholarly excellence based upon unvarnished analyses and intellectual integrity. I hold fast to the notion that academic settings and those in positions of influence must teach and not preach. Through Emory College, in public lectures, and in OPED writings, I have adhered to the strong belief that history must be presented in context, and understood the way it was, not the way we wish it to be.

In closing, let me thank you for your friendship, past and continuing support for ISMI, and to Emory College. Let me also wish you and your loved ones a happy holiday season, and a healthy and productive new year.

As ever,
Ken
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*Criticism of Carter's book (list of blatant lies) makes it into the Congressional Record by Congressman Mark Steven Kirk on the floor of the US House. The following is now a part of the Congressional Record:

Congressman Mark Steven Kirk
Special Order
Peace Not Apartheid: More Fiction than Facts
January 18, 2007

Madame Speaker: In today's Washington Post, former President Jimmy Carter defended his book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." President Carter wrote: "...most critics have not seriously disputed or even mentioned the facts..."

After reading the book, I have become a critic, and today will only correct the facts purported in his book.

Regarding our policy towards Israel, there is little room for mistakes, let alone outright misstatements of fact. For that reason, I want to present to the House eight factual inaccuracies found in President Carter's book.

#1: On page 62, President Carter quotes Yasser Arafat as telling him, "The Palestine Liberation Organization has never advocated the annihilation of Israel." No evidence is provided and the book does not contain one footnote. Fact check: Article 22 of the PLO's Charter stated that "the liberation of Palestine will destroy
the Zionist and imperialist presence." Yasser Arafat supported this charter and lied to President Carter.

#2: On page 57, President Carter writes, "The 1949 armistice demarcation lines became the borders of the new nation of Israel and were accepted by Israel and the United States, and recognized officially by the United Nations." Fact check: The "1949 armistice" lines were never accepted as official borders by Israel, the United States or the United Nations. This error reflects a poor attention
to detail in the book.

#3: On page 127, President Carter writes that there was "a surprising exodus of Christians from the Holy Land." Fact check: Israel is the only Middle East nation where the Christian population has grown in the last half century. Christian communities and other faith communities like Baha'is have dropped in size in many Muslim countries.

#4: On page 152, President Carter writes, "It was later claimed that the Palestinians rejected a 'generous offer' put forward by Prime Minister Barak with Israel only keeping 5 percent of the West Bank. The fact is no such offers were ever made." Fact check: According to President Clinton's lead negotiator, Ambassador Dennis Ross, Prime Minister Barak accepted Clinton's proposal - offering to withdraw from 97% of the West Bank, dismantle isolated settlements and accept a Palestinian state with part of Jerusalem as its capital. Arafat rejected the proposal. A quick call between Presidents Carter and Clinton would have corrected this error.

#5: On page 148, President Carter presents two maps he claims were considered at Camp David. One of them is labeled "Israel's interpretation of Clinton's proposal." Fact check: There were no maps ever created at Camp David. The map President Carter labeled as "Israel's interpretation" is a copy of a map created by Dennis Ross
for his later book, "The Missing Peace." Ambassador Ross' map is a representation of the final offer agreed to by Prime Minister Barak and rejected by Arafat. President Carter violated Ambassador Ross' copyright of this map.

#6: On page 197, President Carter writes, "Confessions extracted through torture are admissible in Israeli courts." Fact check: The Israeli Supreme Court banned the use of torture in interrogations in a decision handed down on September 6, 1999 by Supreme Court President Barak.

#7: On page 188, President Carter writes, "Kadima had been expected to gain 43 seats based on its pledge of a unilateral expansion of the 'great wall.'" Fact check: Israel's Kadima Party ran on Prime Minister Sharon's platform of disengagement - a pledge to dismantle settlements and unilaterally withdraw from territory.

#8: On page 215, President Carter writes that one option for Israel is "withdrawal to the 1967 border as specified in U.N. Resolution 242." Fact check: U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 does not define a border.

Madame Speaker, these errors diminish the credibility of President Carter's book. President Carter is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts.

The errors I present here are only a sampling of those included in the book. Now in the twilight of his career and with many at the Carter Center resigning their posts, President Carter should recall this book and hire competent assistants to ensure his future work does not reflect poor scholarship.
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A place where no Jews can live

In a speech yesterday commemorating the 42nd anniversary of the founding of his Fatah party, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called on Palestinian factions to put an end to weeks of infighting and instead "raise rifles against the Israeli occupation."

"Shooting at your brother is forbidden. Raising rifles against the occupation is our legitimate right, but raising guns against each other is forbidden. We should put our internal fighting aside and raise our rifles only against the Israeli occupation," said Abbas in a speech in Ramallah attended by WND.

The worst of this, folks, is that Abbas' call to arms was not reported by most major media outlets featuring articles on the Palestinian predator's speech.

Fatah was founded in 1964 with Arafat; unless causality has no meaning, the Muslim resistance to Israel was born with no reference to 1967 but, rather, with Israel's birth in 1948 and, indeed, with the return of Jews in the land in the 19th century, keeping in mind that Jews had never left the land entirely in their 5000+ year old history.

The fact remains that Israel has every reason not to trust Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah, nor Abbas; all have vowed the destruction of Israel in their charter documents and when speaking in Arabic although sometimes denying it in English.

There is no law on earth that requires the Jewish people to accept the revision of their history nor their own demise merely because Muslims say we should.

It is outrageous in the extreme that the world would accept a scheme that would permit Arabs to have an ethnically cleansed geographical region where no Jews can live.

What happened in 1967 that caused Israel's borders to change?

This post was moved to SmoothStoneBlog

The Islamic Genocide Plan

Click here to read the words of the following madmen, butchers, deviants, and murderers listed provided by The Editors of FrontPage Magazine, proving that Muslims have long dreamed, plotted, and demonstrated in favor of the annihilation of Israel and all the Jews in the world:

Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, President of Iran,

Abu Maamun, a senior leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin,

The Charter of Hamas (1988),

Hassan Nasrallah, Leader of Hezbollah,

Sheikh Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the top Egyptian cleric of Al­Azhar University,

Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Al Tayyeb, Egyptian Mufti,

Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, president of the International Association of Muslim Scholars (IAMS), and spritual guide for the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Muslim terrorist organization,

Khalid Mashal, member of the Hamas Political Bureau,

Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas Foreign Minister,

Fatah, terrorist faction headed by the late Yasser Arafat,

Sakher Habash, senior Central Committee member of Fatah,

Charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization,

Yasser Arafat,

Zahir Muhse’in, PLO Executive Committee Member,

Excerpts from Palestinian Authority sermons,

Abd-Al Malek Dahamshe, Israeli Arab Knesset Member,

Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas leader,

Yasser Mansour, Hamas political candidate,

Ayman Al-Zawahiri, chief Lieutenant to Osama bin Laden,

Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former President of Iran,

Gen. Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani, a top Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander,

Suleiman Abu Gheith, al Qaeda spokesman,

Al Qaeda, Muslim terrorist organization,

Yahya Raheem Safavi, Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander (July 30, 2006)

Pictures

Do you know these people?

New York







Moscow



Montreal



Sydney







Los Angeles





Chicago







London





Bern



Copenhagen





Berlin



And let's not forget...BEIRUT IN 2000

Palestinian television: Suicide is most glorious death of all

Death by carrying out a suicide operation is one of the most glorious ways to die and is rewarded with eternal paradise and 72 dark-eyed virgins, according to a religious instruction broadcast last week on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' state-run television.

The lesson, delivered by a PA religious cleric, instructed Palestinians to strive for a violent death in which the martyred corpse has "no head, no legs, his body completely burned . . . intestines outside, fingers . . . gone.”

"Oh God, bring us back [to earth] to be killed by the Apache. Bring us back so that the planes will blow us up, that our heads will be cut off from the body,'' proclaimed Sheik Imad Hamato on official PA television run by Abbas' Fatah party.
According to a translation by Palestinian Media Watch Hamato urged Palestinians to die in jihad.

"There is one thing that causes Allah…to elevate his worshipper 100 levels in Paradise, and each level is like the space between heaven and earth. And what is this thing, Allah’s prophet [Muhammad]? It's the Jihad for Allah. Jihad for Allah."

The Palestinian sheikh uses Islamic doctrine to justify suicide terrorism. Citing the Hadith, or Islamic oral tradition, Hamoto compares a friend of Muhammad who was killed accidentally using his own sword to the perpetrator of a suicide bombing.

"[According to the] Hadith: One of the Prophet Muhammad's good friends was preparing a bow and arrow when his own sword struck him and killed him… Is he considered a Shahid or not? Did he commit suicide? It's like the conflict today! One who exploded with a bomb. People talk about whether or not he’s a Shahid."

"They said: 'The man died from his own weapon, and not from the weapon of the enemy.' Answered Prophet Muhammad: 'He died in an attempt to be a holy warrior… And his reward for that was doubled…'"

Homato explains Allah blesses the "first blood" of the suicide bomber, who "sees his place in paradise, is shielded from the great shock and marries 72 dark-eyed maidens."

He says proper suicide bombers understand disfiguring their bodies as a result of an attack is the "most wished for" fate of all.

"A man, when he sees one of his brothers being killed for Allah, those we consider Shahids for Allah, he sees [for example] a person with no head, no legs, his body completely burned. Yes? Intestines outside, fingers are gone, it's a difficult image. The most difficult thing which we fear is what the Shahids wish for most of all."

Homato's speech in which religious status and the reward of 72 virgins is granted to the suicide bomber is commonplace on Palestinian television and among terror organization in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Hamas' official charter uses interpretations of the Quran to justify suicide operations and calls for the murder of Jews to "hasten the day of judgment."

In a recent interview with the senior leadership of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the declared "military wing" of Abbas' Fatah party, overall Brigades leader Ala Senakreh called suicide terrorism "not violence. It is jihad for Allah."

"There is no greater way of leaving this earth than to martyr yourself while killing Jews," Senakreh said. "Allah elevates this martyr in paradise for his special [operation.]"

Know your enemies department: Hamas, A Profile of Terror

At present, when Israel is being pushed from so many directions to negotiate with Hamas, it is important to both view and widely forward the new Concept Wizard presentation, "Hamas, A Profile of Terror," which is linked at:
http://www.conceptwizard.com/info.html
[Link at left hand side of page]

The complete Hamas Charter is at the website of the Avalon Project at Yale Law School and reviewing and forwarding this is also suggested.
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/hamas.htm

Hamas rally in Gaza: Better all die than ever recognize Israel (in any border)

Once again, tens of thousands of Hamas supporters held a rally in Gaza on Friday to denounce the state of Israel and declare that they would never recognize its right to exist. "We ask God to punish the so-called Israel and the allies of Israel and to punish those who recognize Israel and those who called on us to recognize Israel," Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri told the crowd.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've heard it all before.

What kind of culture - what kind of people - what kind of depravity would beseige a terminally backward people that would allow it to take a pitbull-like chokehold on itself and obsesse soley about another people? Why the "Palestinian" culture, of course. If it weren't for the Jews, "palestinians" would never have been invented in the first place. "Palestine" is not a real nation. "Palestine" has always been a manufactured entity. The "palestinians" should be thankful for the Jews that they were borne out of Zionism. What could one realistically expect from ingrates - a people whose national charter is dedicated to the destruction of another nation? Absolutely nothing. Whoever hopes that the "palestinian" peepull could ever climb out of its abysmal depravity is looking down a dried up wishing well. Face it, world. The "Palestinians"don't want a nation, they want an anti-nation.

Palestinianism is a political movement organically associated with international imperialism and antagonistic to all action for liberation and to progressive movements in the world. It is racist and fanatic in its nature, aggressive, expansionist, and colonial in its aims, and fascist in its methods. "Palestine" is the instrument of the Palestinianism movement, and geographical base for world imperialism placed strategically in the midst of the Arab homeland to assist the hopes of the Arab nation to take over the world. "Palestine" is a constant source of threat vis-a-vis peace in the Middle East and the whole world. Since the return of Jews to their indigenous homeland, Palestinianism has attempted to destroy Israel. The "Palestinian" people look for the support of all the regressive warlord forces and urge them all, irrespective of their affiliations and beliefs, to offer the "Palestinian" people all aid and support in their just struggle for the liberation of their homeland and the destruction of the Jewish people.

Don't like what you just read? Well, the joke is on you. I just reprinted almost the entire Article 22 of The Palestinian National Charter and all I did was substitute the words Zionism/Zionist, which preexists in the article, with the words Palestinianism/Palestinian. Definitely a hate-filled legal document, wouldn't you say? Yup, it's a hideous moment when one remembers that the authors of the Palestinian National Charter wrote the document calling for the destruction of another country as part of its own national vision. It's an historically documented depravity.

Dear celebrants

To the arrogant Mohammedans, Arabists and Islamic Nazi fascists who are celebrating "victory" over Israel:

Through it all, there is one victory which you want more than anything and that is to see your manufactured, artificial entity "Palestine" become a real nation with a recognized stock market, coinage, and real borders.

With all of your hubris and Katayushas and genocide bombers as the world witnesses the Arabian Nation's implosion of its once-great culture, you still do not have your fabricated "Palestinian" nation.

And you never will.

Clearly, you are the losers in this game, because Israel still thrives and your fake "Palestine" died in the womb at the hands of mass murderers you yourselves spawned in the name of a barbaric civil code, which you deceitfully call a religion.

So tell me if you don't look stupid celebrating, when it is clearly a penetrating defeat, because once again, the Arabian Nation failed to achieve its goal - as defined in both the Palestinian National Charter and the Hamas Covenant - to eradicate Israel and supplant it with more madmen hell-bent on sacrificing their children to a bloodthirsty man-god.

You may kill most of us, but you will never kill all of us, and like our generations before us who survived the Flood, the Pharoah, the destruction of our two Temples, the Inquisition, the pogroms, the Holocaust, and your previous seven wars of aggression, we will without a doubt withstand Hamas and Hezbollah and your psychotic Mahmoud Admadinjihad, no matter what he has planned for us on August 22, 2006.

Enjoy your "victory", rock worshippers. While you stampede each other in your annual hajj, invade each other's countries, annihilate your children and perpetuate your militia civil wars, the Jews will be worshipping the One and Only True God of Israel who Has kept His Promise - and the most merciful of promises - that He will never forsake us.

It has been prophesied in the unabrogated Torah, "I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You shall become a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you. Through you all the communities of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:2-3). The prophet Isaiah (42:6) states, "I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand and keep you. And I will establish you as a covenant of the people, for a light unto the nations."

Think about this, celebrants: despite our small numbers, the Jewish People seem to occupy a disproportionate place as a focus of world attention. Despite your great numbers, Mohammedans, Arabists and Islamic Nazi fascists are the most despised.

In summary, I say to you, congratulations on bringing more hatred upon yourselves and galvanizing righteous Jewish, Christian, Hindu and Muslim peoples against you. One thing I can say in your defense: at least when it comes to murder-- Mohammedans, Arabists and Islamic Nazi fascists do not discriminate. Here's hoping that your 7th century perception of honor soon evolves to a humanistic and civilized level and that this evolution occurs before you annihilate everything on G-d's green earth because of your hatred of the Jewish people.

The Four Entities of Palestina-Eretz Yisrael

Submitted by reader Karl Huttenbauer, Berlin:

The Palestinian National Covenant was first promulgated in 1964 (when the West Bank was under Hashemite rule) wherein Article 2 "defines Palestine as an indivisible territorial unit within the boundaries it had during the British Mandate 1920 including Trans-Jordan" ( East Bank). In plain words - Jordan is Palestine (first entity)!

Since the removal of Jews from the Gaza Strip this purely Arab [Hamas] (second entity) could be transformed into a seperate, thriving City State (of Singapore or Hong Kong type - an idea bad-mouthed by Khaled Mashal on 'Al-Jazeera'.

On the West Bank (located between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea) exists an established (fourth entity) recognized by all civilized nations as the State of Israel, which includes amongst its citizenry “1.3 million Arabs” who (compared to many sectors of the Jewish population) enjoy a higher standard of living - the envy of Arab kinsmen throughout 'the Region'.

Adjoining it is an autonomous (third Arab entity) the Palestinian Authority witha Legislative Council dominated by Islamists whose program (just like that ofthe PLO Charter) wants 'Jews Raus'.

Summary

The Territory of the British Mandate supports Four Entities for Two Peoples:

Three of which have absolute Arab majority and no Jews. The fourth entity(Israel) has a Jewish (Hebrew) majority with a very large Arab minority harboring elements of irredenta.

Thus the Quartet Mantra of Two States for Two Peoples is a Chimera.

Ethnic cleansing is indeed progressing in Dar al Islam but certainly not of Arabs.

Readers are invited to organise petitions condemning the ongoing slaughter of innocent Jews in the Land of Israel.

The hypocrisy of Arabs and their supporters

When the West Bank and Gaza were "occupied" by Egypt and Jordan, from 1947 thru 1967, the palestinian leadership had no complaint about any "alien occupation " and expressed no desire for self-determination. There was no movement toward a palestinian state when Gaza was under the control of Egypt and the West Bank under Jordan. Jordan didn't give up its territorial claims until 1988 by which time, of course, it had no control over the area. Fatah was founded in 1964 with Arafat; unless causality has no meaning, the resistance to Israel was born with no reference to 1967 but, rather, with Israel's birth in 1948 and, indeed, with the dramatic growth of the Jewish community in the 19th century.

The fact remains that Israel has every reason not to trust either Hamas or the late Arafat or the live Abbas; all have vowed the destruction of Israel in their charter documents and when speaking in Arabic although sometimes denying it in English.

So, what happened in 1967 that caused the borders to change in the first place? Did Israel just decide they wanted more land? Or did Haniyeh's uncles and brothers and grandfathers decide to kill some more Jews in some bloodfest that their allah instituted 1,400 years ago?

There is no law on earth that requires the Jewish people to accept the revision of their history nor their own demise merely because Muslims say we should. It is outrageous in the extreme that the world would accept a scheme that would permit Arabs to have an ethnically cleansed geographical region where no Jews can live.

There will never be peace between Arabs and Jews

Why?

No matter what Hamas says in English, the group cannot talk peace with Israel because that would violate its most fundamental ideology, as expressed in Article 13 of the Hamas charter: “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through jihad (holy war). Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”

Keyword(s): Hamas Charter, Hamas Covenant

Haniyeh is grandstanding

In a special Washington Post article, Palestinian prime minister Haniyeh explains 'we do not want to live on international welfare and American handouts. We want what Americans enjoy – democratic rights, economic sovereignty and justice'. In his article, Haniyeh clarified that a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis can be reached, but only if a number of conditions are filled. First, he said, Israel must recognize the basic disagreement over Palestine. In addition, the problem of the refugee expelled from their lands in 1948 must also be solved. Israel, Haniyeh said, must give back the lands robbed in 1967 and allow the establishment of a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Haniyeh must think that people are idiots. When the West Bank and Gaza were "occupied" by Egypt and Jordan, from 1947 thru 1967, the palestinian leadership had no complaint about any "alien occupation " and expressed no desire for self-determination. There was no movement toward a palestinian state when Gaza was under the control of Egypt and the West Bank under Jordan. Jordan didn't give up its territorial claims until 1988 by which time, of course, it had no control over the area.

Fatah was founded in 1964 with Arafat; unless causality has no meaning, the resistance to Israel was born with no reference to 1967 but, rather, with Israel's birth in 1948 and with the increase of Jews returning to their homeland in the 19th century.

The fact remains that Israel has every reason not to trust either Hamas or the late Arafat or the live Abbas; all have vowed the destruction of Israel in their charter documents and when speaking in Arabic although sometimes denying it in English.

So, what happened in 1967 that caused the borders to change in the first place? Did Israel just decide they wanted more land? Or did Haniyeh's uncles and brothers and grandfathers decide to kill some more Jews in some bloodfest that their allah instituted 1,400 years ago?

There is no law on earth that requires the Jewish people to accept the revision of their history nor their own demise merely because Muslims say we should. It is outrageous in the extreme that the world would accept a scheme that would permit Arabs to have an ethnically cleansed geographical region where no Jews can live.

The Hamas Charter explicitly details Hamas' agenda

From Charter Explicitly Details Hamas' Agenda:

It was summer 1988. The first "intifada," or uprising, had erupted in the winter, leading to the emergence of Hamas. We were sitting in a cramped office in the Islamic University in Gaza City, the nerve center of Hamas. With us were two of the founders of Hamas - Mahmoud Zahar, a physician, and Atef al-Adwan, a professor at the university.

Hamas was a whole new concept for fighting Israel. The PLO, Israel's prototype enemy for decades, paled in comparison. A quick read through the Hamas charter revealed deep hatred for Israel, Jews, and Zionism from an Islamic religious point of view that made the PLO's political hatred look like the mere barking of a junkyard dog.

They explained to me why there must be no Jewish state in the Mideast. The Koran said the whole area is Islamic. Period. Jews (like me) who came from somewhere else must go home.

In kindergartens and schools Hamas set up in Gaza, children were taught to see the world through the blinders of the operative verses of the Koran: Israelis were non-believers and usurpers who must be fought and killed. Jihad was the only way.

The charter is not an old, dusty document written by an idealistic founding generation. Most of the people who wrote it are still around. The charter guides them because it sums up their core beliefs.

But they are patient. The deepest-held beliefs of Hamas dictate Israel's destruction. It's just a matter of timing.

Who is Ehud Olmert?

Excerpted from an article written by Ruth Matar:

Who is the man who is responsible for this carnage [in Amona]?

EHUD OLMERT! He was never elected to be prime minister, and merely heads an interim caretaker government. Olmert amazingly addressed the Arab enemies of Israel as follows: 'We are tired of fighting. We are tired of being courageous. We are tired of winning. We are tired of defeating our enemies.'

However, Olmert has shown in Amona that he is not tired of fighting Jewish settlers, and that he means to defeat them.

Why does Olmert not have the police act on Court-ordered evictions of thousands of Arabs living in illegally constructed housing all over Israel? There are more than 30,444 such illegal buildings in which Arabs are squatting. Why does Olmert apply the law only for the eviction of Jews?

Why does Olmert send the Israeli Police and Army only against Jewish Citizens, instead of against the terrorists of Hamas, Fatah, and Islamic Jihad?

The political radical left leanings of his immediate family may shed some light as to why Olmert is acting in this fashion.

His wife, Aliza, is a Charter Member of 'Women In Black', an organization of Arabs and Jews who support Arab takeover of Israel.

His son Shaul belongs to the extreme left group, 'Yesh G'vul'. He was arrested as a deserter from the Israeli Army. He now lives in New York.

His son Ariel never even served in the Israeli Army. He lives in Paris.

His daughter Donna is a self-professed Lesbian, who is a member of the Machsom Watch. This is a group of women who endanger the lives of Israeli soldiers by deliberately ninterfering in their work to prevent Arab terrorists from entering Israel at various checkpoints.

His daughter Michal is just an ordinary committed "leftist".

About Ehud Olmert, the man himself. In the words of the author Naomi Ragen: "He is a disaster, a sleazy politician with no vision, skating in the direction Mr. Sharon pulled him, without the sense to reevaluate and go back."

Olmert has established another political left-wing dictatorship. He is just as dangerous as Ariel Sharon, but perhaps even more so, since he is totally unable to recognize any red lines whatsoever.

A most interesting piece of information about Olmert's early career: Shmuel Tamir, now deceased, who was Olmert's past patron in the FREE CENTER PARTY, noted in his prolific memoirs that Ehud Olmert offered to throw out his own father, Knesset Member Mordechai Olmert, from that Party. This perhaps, more than all else, attests to the nature of the acting prime minister's morals.

Olmert is the prime example of why the Bible tells us not to put our trust in princes.

Hamas to Keep Weapons, Won't Change Charter

"The Europeans and the Americans are telling Hamas to choose between arms and parliament. We say we will go for arms and parliament and there is no contradiction between the two of them," Ismail Haniya, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, said Wednesday. Gaza Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar said the group "will not change a single word in its covenant" calling for the destruction of Israel, and would continue its path of "resistance," even as it serves in the Palestinian parliament.

Take the land back now!

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is now the new governing party of the "palestinian peepull". This vote exposes the palestinians for the bloodthirsty people that they are. This vote shows their unabashed commitment to religious extremism. This vote shows how they can't be trusted as a peace partner because they voted for Hamas who is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

Remember, on April 27, 2004, in Jerusalem, Hamas used a palestinian human bomb to kill two palestinian alleged "collaborators." It was the Hamas leadership in Gaza which decided on terrorist strikes and issued operational orders for the bus bombings. It was in Gaza that the Hamas military organization trained suicide bombers and assembled explosives. It was the Hamas supporters who celebrated the deaths of Americans on September 11, 2001.

To better understand Hamas, it is instructive to consider the Charter of Hamas:

Peace initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement. For renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion; the nationalism of the Islamic Resistance Movement is part of its faith, the movement educates its members to adhere to its principles and to raise the banner of Allah over their homeland as they fight their Jihad../..../..There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad../..../..In order to face the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from raising the banner of Jihad../..../..We must imprint on the minds of generations of Muslims that the Palestinian problem is a religious one, to be dealt with on this premise../..../.."I swear by that who holds in His Hands the Soul of Muhammad! I indeed wish to go to war for the sake of Allah! I will assault and kill;, assault and kill, assault and kill.

Remember, Hamas repeatedly declares that even if Israel would fully withdraw from the territories they will continue their attacks, since they refute Israel's basic right to exist.

Remember, Mahmoud Zahar said his group is "not going to change a single word" in its covenant calling for Israel's destruction.

Remember, Hamas is listed as a terrorist group by the State Department. President Bush told The Wall Street Journal in an interview Wednesday that the United States will not deal with Hamas until it renounces its position calling for the destruction of Israel. But that will never happen. If Israel had a leader worth his salt he would take this opportunity to take back all of the lands Israel gave up and initiate a preemptive strike, because Hamas is going to attack Israel anyway. If the palestinian people endorsed and voted for Hamas knowing full well that Hamas' goal is to destroy Israel, then TAKE THE LAND BACK NOW.

There is no reason for the palestinian barbarians to get lands that were promised in peace.

ISRAEL, TAKE THE LAND BACK NOW.

Condoleezza Rice/Hamas: Election Dispute - More info

Hamas’ Participation in Palestinian Legislative Elections Violates Oslo Accords and Road Map to Peace

Background and Key Facts

On Sept. 12, Israel ended its presence in the Gaza Strip after evacuating all of its roughly 8,500 Jewish residents. The withdrawal paved the way for the Palestinians to start on a path to a peaceful state alongside Israel. However, recent events show that the terrorist group Hamas is committed to carrying out violent acts against Israelis in Israel proper and inside the West Bank.[1]

On Jan. 25, the Palestinian Authority will hold Parliamentary elections. Although it is a violation of the Oslo Accords,[2] Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will allow Hamas to participate. Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice protested the armed group’s participation in Palestinian elections, stating, “Hamas is a terror organization and it has to be disbanded, both for the sake of peace and security in the Middle East and for the sake of the proper functioning of the Palestinian Authority.”[3]

Negotiations based on the Oslo Accords led to an agreement in 1995 that stated, “The nomination of any candidates, parties or coalitions will be refused, and such nomination or registration will be canceled, if such candidates, parties or coalitions 1) commit or advocate racism, or 2) pursue the implementation of their aims by unlawful non-democratic means.”[4]

Hamas’ existence was the primary reason for the creation of that provision, according to Yossi Beilin, a principal architect of the Oslo Accords. Said Dr. Beilin, “In a world seeking to combat terrorism and still looking for the right way to do it, it would be surprising indeed if Israel, paradoxically, were to acquiesce in the legitimization of terrorist organization under its very nose…”[5]

Since Sept. 2000, Hamas has carried out thousands of terror attacks, killing 425 Israelis and wounding 2,233 others.[6]

During the past 12 years, Hamas has been responsible for sending 113 suicide bombers into Israel.[7] The United States has designated Hamas a terrorist organization.[8]

Additionally, it has been declared a terrorist organization by Australia, the European Union, Canada and Israel and has been condemned by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights as a racist organization.[9]

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Hamas’ participation in the January elections pose a serious threat to Israel if the group isn’t first disarmed and doesn’t renounce its pledge to destroy Israel. Said Mr. Sharon, “This reality contradicts the Road Map and our understandings with the Palestinians.”[10]

The group’s name is the acronym for the Arabic term Islamic Resistance Movement. It is an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and was founded by the late Sheikh Ahmed Yassin in 1987.[11]

Hamas maintains numerous cells throughout the world that conduct illegal fundraising for its Palestinian branch but maintains a strict protocol of targeting Israeli civilians in Israel proper, the West Bank and, before the disengagement, Gaza.[12]

In addition, Hamas:

++ Rejects peaceful solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. According to Hamas, giving up any part of the land it claims as Palestine would be tantamount to renouncing part of Islam. Hamas’ charter states, “[Peace] initiatives, the so-called peaceful solutions, and the international conferences to resolve the Palestinian problem, are all contrary to the beliefs of the Islamic Resistance Movement.”[13]

++ Is bent on Israel’s destruction, as exemplified by proclamations by senior Hamas commander and terrorist mastermind, Mohammed Deif.[14]

++While other groups once branded as terrorist organizations, such as the Palestinian Liberation Organization, later changed their missions to benefit their people and give themselves a place at the international table, Hamas has steadfastly refused to do so. For example, the national charter of the PLO once called for the destruction of the state of Israel. In 1998, however, Palestinian leaders agreed to nullify the offending sections of the charter.[15]

++The Palestinian National Authority, established in 1994 as an interim administrative ruling body of the Palestinian people, has since won recognition from Israel and the rest of the international community. The PLO wasn’t the only group to make such reforms – as part of the Good Friday Agreement (a.k.a. Belfast Agreement) of 1998, the British required the IRA to decommission its paramilitary weaponry before it could participate in domestic politics.[16]

++Maintains a charter that explicitly calls for the annihilation of Israel. Hamas’ leader in Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar, when asked in a Sept. 2005 interview about Hamas’ final goal, said, “If you ask any Palestinian or Muslim, wherever he lives - in America or in Britain or in Indonesia - he would tell you that according to the religious point of view, this land is part of the Arab and Muslim nations. This means that there is no other option but to reunify this land once again.”[17]

++Aims to kill Jews at every opportunity. The late Hamas leader Sheik Ahmed Yassin said, “The purpose of every operation is to kill Jews, for by killing Jews, all the Zionist settlers and their allies will be driven from the area.”[18]

++Is commissioned by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), utilizing their emergency medical vehicles to transport Hamas terrorists. Peter Hansen, the Commissioner General of UNRWA acknowledged this, stating, “There are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll,” but added, “I don’t see that as a crime.”[19]

++Provides financial incentives ranging from $1,300 to $5,300 to those who have been wounded – or to families of those who have been killed – carrying out terror attacks against Israelis.[20]

++In Jan. 2005 boycotted the first ever Palestinian democratic presidential elections.[21] But during subsequent municipal elections, Hamas fared well at the polls, particularly in Gaza. In council elections in Jan. 2005, Hamas gained 77 of 118 seats in Gaza.[22]

++Doesn’t differentiate between Israeli military and civilian targets. In 2003 alone, Hamas conducted more than 150 attacks against Israelis.[23]

++Terrorist assaults included shootings, suicide bombings and standoff mortar-and-rocket attacks. Hamas was responsible for sending a suicide bomber to blow up the well-know American expatriate restaurant, Mike’s Place, situated directly next door to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, signifying its intent to target foreigners in Israel.[24]

++Has, following Israel’s disengagement from Gaza, actively campaigned to become the ruling political body. Thousands of fliers have been printed and distributed at mosques throughout the West Bank and Gaza listing names of Hamas’ political leadership.[25]

++Hamas has openly said that if the PA police attempt to disarm the group, it will resist with force.[26]

++Hamas is attempting to actively compete with, rather than join the Palestinian Authority. A quarterly report published in June 2005 by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights states, “Hamas and others have been taking the law into their own hands and challenging the President’s authority.”[27]

++Openly clashed with Palestinian Authority Police forces on Oct. 2, 2005. In an attempt to disarm Hamas terrorists, Palestinian police came under fire and the Shati police station in Gaza City was burned down. Mohammed Nazel, a senior Hamas official in Damascus, threatened that Hamas would not allow PA police to remove their weapons at any cost, “Even at the price of civil war.”[28]

++Has established a unit for kidnapping Israeli civilians.[29] After kidnapping and killing an Israeli man in late Sept. 2005, Hamas warned, “The operation is just beginning.”[30]

++At times collaborates with other terrorist organizations such as Islamic Jihad and, more recently, al-Qaeda.[31] International funding of about $50 million annually provides for arms purchases, training and monetary rewards.[32] Hamas receives most of its funding and financial assistance from Iran, Syria, Palestinian expatriates around the globe and private donors from Western Europe, the Americas, Canada and the Persian Gulf.[33]

++Isn’t perceived by the Palestinian leadership as a terrorist organization; [34] is supported and maintains ties with certain PA government ministries.[35]

++For example, Hanan Ashrawi, a popular Palestinian figure and former cabinet minister, is quoted as saying, “Hamas is not the enemy, it is part of the political fabric.”[36]

++Refused to accept the outcome of municipal elections held on Sept. 30, 2005. Fatah, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ political party, won in 51 of 104 districts; Hamas succeeded in 13 and accused the Palestinian Election Committee of falsifying results.[37]

* * *

The Israel Project is a new international non-profit organization devoted to educating the press and the public about Israelwhile promoting security, freedom and peace. It was started by three mothers who became concerned that negative images about Israelin the media were endangering the future of children who want to live in a world free of the sorts of anti-Semitism faced by generations before them. The IsraelProject provides journalists, leaders and opinion-makers accurate information about Israel.

Board of Advisors: Senator Evan Bayh (IN), Senator Saxby Chambliss (GA), Senator Norm Coleman (MN), Senator Ben Nelson (NB), Senator Rick Santorum (PA), Senator Arlen Specter (PA), Senator Ron Wyden (OR), Congressman Rob Andrews (NJ), Congresswoman Shelley Berkley (NV), Congressman Tom Davis (VA), Congressman Eliot Engel (NY), Congressman Frank Pallone (NJ), Congressman Jon Porter (NV), Congressman Jim Saxton (NJ), Congressman Brad Sherman (CA), Congressman Joe Wilson (SC), Actor and Director Ron Silver

[1] Herzog, Michael, “A Wind in Hamas’s Sails: Palestinian Militants Gather Post-Disengagement Momentum,” PeaceWatch No. 516, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Sept. 13, 2005

[2] The Israeli Palestinian Interim Agreement http://www.mideastweb.org/intanx2.htm or http://mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00qc0

[3] Benn, Aluf, “Rice: Hamas must disarm before entering Palestinian politics,” Haaretz, Oct. 2, 2005, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/631395.html

[4]The Israeli Palestinian Interim Agreement http://www.mideastweb.org/intanx2.htmor http://mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH00qc0

[5] Beilin, Yossi, “An Israeli View: Recognizing Hamas is irresponsible,” Bitterlemons.org, Sept. 26, 2005, http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/isr2.php

[6] Israel Embassy Briefing, Sept. 23, 2005

[7] Abrams, Max, “A Moment Lost; The chances for Mideastpeace remain elusive as long as Arab rejectionists use terrorism,” Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2004

[8] Country Reports on Terrorism, Chapter 6, Terrorist Groups, Title 22, Section 2656f, April 27, 2005,

[9] U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 66th session, 1683rd meeting, Feb. 28, 2005

[10] Bahur-Nir, Diana, “Sharon: Ball in Palestinian Court,” YnetNews (Yediot Aharonot online edition), Oct. 2, 2005

[11] Sheikh Yassin: Spiritual Figurehead, BBC, March 22, 2004,

[12] Globalsecurity.org, “Military: HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement),”

[13] “Article Thirteen: Peaceful Solutions, [Peace] Initiatives and International Conferences,” Selected Documents Regarding Palestine: Hamas Charter (1988), Palestine Center, http://www.palestinecenter.org/cpap/documents/charter.html

[14] Associated Press, “Hamas bomber calls for Israel’s destruction,” Canadian TV, Aug. 27, 2005, http://www.ctv.ca.servlet/ArticleNews/CTVNews/20050827/

[15] Katz, Lee Michael, “To Israel, charter passages 'advocate violence and terror,’” USA Today, Dec. 14, 1998

[16] “Armed is Dangerous: The IRA Should See That its Time is Past,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Oct. 17, 2002

[17]Berman, Yaniv, “Exclusive Interview with Hamas Leader,” The Media Line, Sept. 22, 2005,

[18] CBC News, “In Depth: Middle East: Sheik Ahmed Yassin,” CBC News Online, March 23, 2004, http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/middleeast/yassin.html

[19] Globalsecurity.org, “Military: HAMAS,” June 7, 2005, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/hamas.htm

[20]“Erased In A Moment: Suicide Bombing Attacks Against Israeli Civilians,” Special report by Human Rights Watch, Nov. 1, 2002

[21]Council on Foreign Relations, “Terrorism Q & A: Hamas, Islamic Jihad (Palestinian Islamists),” http://cfrterrorism.org/groups/hamas

[22]Ibid.

[23] U.S. Department of State, “Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003,”Released by the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, April 29, 2004

[24]Ibid.

[25]Associated Press, “http://www.haartezdaily.com/hasen/spages/631746.html

[29] Haaretz Service and News Agencies, “Abbas to visit Washingtonnext month to discuss peace process,” Haaretz, Sept. 28, 2005 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtVty.jhtml?sw=abbas+to+visit+washington&itemNo=630348

[30]Harel, Amos and Regular, Arnon, “West Bank Hamas plans new attacks in spite of ‘lull’,” Haaretz, Sept. 28, 2005, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/630031.html

[31] Globalsecurity.org, “Military: HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement,” http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/hamas.htm

[32] Globalsecurity.org, “HAMAS funding”

[33]U.S. Navy, “Terrorist group profiles: Hamas,” May 11, 2005, http://library.nps.navy.mil/home/tgp.hamas.htm

[34] Intelligence & Terrorism Information Center, “The Palestinian Authority’s support for Hamas’ suicide terrorism,” Oct. 2004

[35] Levitt, Mathew, “Palestinian Authority Minister of Economy tied to Hamas?” PeaceWatch No. 496, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, March 4, 2005, http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2269

[36] Lerner, Joseph, “Fighting terrorism,” The Jerusalem Post, July 25, 1995, p.6.[37] Associated Press, “Hamas says election results distorted,” Al-Jazeera.net, Oct. 1, 2005

Is it better to be late or should she have stated this months ago

Answering questions at Princeton on Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said: "Hamas is a terrorist group and it has to be disbanded, both for peace and security in the Middle East and for the proper functioning of the Palestinian Authority. After all, it is a roadmap obligation of the Palestinian Authority to disband militias and armed resistance groups. There are periods of time of transition in which one has to give some space to the participants, in this case the Palestinians, to begin to come to a new national compact. But I cannot imagine, in the final analysis, a new national compact that leaves an armed resistance group within the political space. You cannot simultaneously keep an option on politics and an option on violence. There simply isn't a case that I can think of internationally where that's been permitted to happen."

Hamas "stands for the destruction of Israel. Hamas is an organization that asks Palestinian mothers and fathers to give their children up to make themselves suicide bombers. And it is a real detriment and block to further peace in the Middle East. We do, I think, need to give the Palestinians some space to try and reconcile their national politics, but they're going to eventually have to disarm these groups. They can't have it both ways."

Condi, where were you in 1964 when the scourge Yassir Arafat created the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) whose national charter calls for the destruction of Israel in more than half of its 33 articles?