Confused about the Middle East?

Mr Al-Sabah, and thank you for clearing up the confusion.

http://now.msn.com/a-short-guide-to-the-middle-east-letter-to-the-editor-published-in-the-financial-times

Sir, 
Iran is backing Assad. Gulf states are against Assad!


Assad is against Muslim Brotherhood. Muslim Brotherhood and Obama are against General Sisi.


But Gulf states are pro Sisi! Which means they are against Muslim Brotherhood!


Iran is pro Hamas, but Hamas is backing Muslim Brotherhood!


Obama is backing Muslim Brotherhood, yet Hamas is against the US!


Gulf states are pro US. But Turkey is with Gulf states against Assad; yet Turkey is pro Muslim Brotherhood against General Sisi. And General Sisi is being backed by the Gulf states!


Welcome to the Middle East and have a nice day.

"Begin on Saturday, Finish on Sunday"

 Ali Salim  a scholar based in the Middle East.

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3943/begin-saturday-finish-sunday

Americans need to internalize that Western interests are in danger of being attacked and destroyed by both foreign and domestic enemies. If political Islam is not stopped now in the Middle East, it will explode in the West.

The mood in the Middle East is rapidly changing. The elation of the Arab Spring, which led to prosperity and an economic and social upturn in the lives of millions of Arabs, has now deteriorated into a sense that significant dangers are stalking the Arab-Muslim world.

Arabic TV, especially Al-Jazeera, has been broadcasting programs asking if bloodshed is the only mission of Islam, and if jihad [war in the service of Islam] still motivates believers to invade other countries with abandon and indulge in worldwide slaughter.

Given the current situation, the Middle East is obsessed with asking itself: Who is responsible for the Muslims' catastrophe? And what keeps us chained behind, while the rest of the world forges ahead in social, economic and technological progress? Needless to say, the imams do not blame themselves. They claim that to change the situation we need only more and closer study and practice of the Islamic faith.

As always, our Islamic society, constantly at odds with itself, blames everyone for our misfortunes. In the days of the Prophet (S.A.A.S.), we blamed the Jews of Khaybar in the Arabian Peninsula for our ills. Now the imams who head the militant Islamist organizations tell us that the Jews, a tiny people who pose no threat to the might of Islam, are responsible for all our ills and for all our failures.

Islamic radicals, however, hate not only the Jews but also the Christians, who have become, we are told, our sworn enemies. Christianity, like Judaism, is also vilified. The history of our hatred for the Christians began with the Crusades, and over the years the same hated Crusaders became the hated European imperialists and the hated colonialists.

The hatred for the Christian West is founded on a sense of deprivation, of humiliation and inferiority, of being threatened and exploited, all of which cast doubt on the eternal message of Islam as the only up-to-date religion, destined to rule the world and invalidate the other religions. The Islamic sages who interpret the will of Allah say that both Christianity as well as Judaism, while monotheistic, are anachronistic, and while temporarily they can exist -- with the patronage of, and overshadowed by, Islam -- eventually all Christians and Jews will convert to Islam.

Islam's openly-stated desire to control the world is now light-years away from its current wretched plight. The Muslims' low self-image not only makes us self-destructive, but leads to the desire to destroy anyone who succeeds, even if it means destroying ourselves as well. The unique prosperity and power of the Jews in Palestine, compared with the slaughter, poverty and backwardness of their Arab neighbors, create antagonism, jealousy, rage and an increasingly murderous desire for "revenge" among Muslims still under the heady influence of the Arab Spring and incited by the sheikhs of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The imams in the mosques brainwash the masses, claiming that Islam's real enemies are the Christians, "the Crusaders," manipulated by the Jews who control them. Attempting to fool the leaders of the Christian West and weaken Israel, the Islamists sugarcoat the real situation and tell the Christians that all they have to do is solve the Palestinian problem. Once that has happened, the artificial Jewish existence in Palestine will come to an end, the entire Middle East will metamorphose into paradise and blossom, and everyone will live in harmony forever. Unfortunately, many Europeans have swallowed this tale whole. In the meantime, however, when not speaking to the West and telling each other the truth, the Islamists repeat the ancient adage, "We will begin on Saturday and finish on Sunday," that is, first we will get rid of the Jews and then we will get rid of the Christians -- as we are seeing now in Nigeria, Iraq and especially Egypt.

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3943/begin-saturday-finish-sunday

Plane turns back to get cancer patient - only in Israel

11-year-old was heading to camp in NY when she was removed from El Al flight after losing passport; document found at last minute

http://www.timesofisrael.com/plane-turns-back-to-pick-up-cancer-patient/

By Lazar Berman August 15, 2013, 

An El Al flight heading from Tel Aviv to New York City returned to its gate to pick up an 11-year old cancer patient who had been taken off the plane when she couldn’t find her passport.

Thirty Israeli children battling cancer were headed to Camp Simcha, a summer camp for young patients in Glen Spey, New York. El Al has partnered with Chai Lifeline, which runs the camp, for the past 20 years to bring such children to the US.

According to Rabbi Yaakov Pinsky, director of Chaiyanu, Chai Lifeline’s Israel branch, the children went through a pre-flight medical examination and took their seats. The senior staff member began collecting passports, and after counting, realized one was missing.

It belonged to 11-year old Inbar Chomsky of Rehovot.

“No one could find Inbar’s passport,” Pinsky wrote in The Yeshiva World News. “Our staff looked high and low, in and under every seat and seat pocket. No passport was found. The flight attendants immediately called the ground crew to help them locate the lost passport. The airport was alerted, and they too searched everywhere from the boarding gate to the El Al aircraft.

“Time was passing fast and the flight needed to depart. Still no passport was found. The ground crew entered the plane and searched frantically for Inbar’s passport. After 25 minutes of pulling apart the aircraft, the crew admitted defeat. El Al had no choice but to tell Inbar that she could not fly. El Al sadly called her mother to tell her that Inbar’s passport was lost and that the girl, who had been fighting illness so valiantly, would not be able to fly to Camp Simcha.”

“Everyone was in shock, no one knew what to do,” said Elad Maimon, program coordinator of the Israeli branch of Chaiyanu, according to Haaretz. “Taking a little girl off a flight is unheard of, and especially when that girl is sick and has already endured enough hardship. The airline personnel had tears in their eyes. They approached Inbar in the terminal. They bought her water, cried with her.”

The plane almost reached the runway when the call went out that Inbar’s passport had been found in another child’s backpack. The flight attendants immediately told the pilots, who spent the next 15 minutes calling the control tower, ground crew, and El Al’s offices.

The plane sat for a half hour, as the pilots awaited a decision.

Finally, they turned the plane around, and drove back to the terminal to pick up young Inbar.

“Her dream came true!” wrote Pinsky. ”Those of us on the plane experienced something as well. Instead of the hostility that usually greets a plane delay, there were cheers and tears on that El Al plane, flight 007. Passengers and crew shared Inbar’s happiness and excitement.”

“Planes rarely return to the gate after departing,” said El Al in a statement. “The plane was on its way to the runway, when the passport was found on the plane. After consulting with El Al crew on the plane and El Al staff at the airport the decision was made and the plane returned to pick up Inbar. El Al was honored and proud to help Inbar’s dream to go to the camp in the USA come true. We wish Inbar full recovery and health.”

According to its website, Camp Simcha offers young patients aged 5 – 20 a chance to enjoy a normal camp experience and take their minds off their illness. “They can share their hopes, fears and triumphs with friends, or just forget about illness for a while.”

Avaaz Exclusively Blames Israel - Part 2

Continuing Avaaz's criticism's exclusively of Israel, another document has been issued with more invective, more emotive terminology and no basis of fact or reality. See below:- 

“It was the hottest week of the year. All Fadel Jaber wanted was some water for his family. But Fadel lives in the occupied West Bank,….”

Where does he live? In areas A and B where 96% of all Palestinians live the responsibility for water is in the hands of the PA. They have done nothing to provide the appropriate infrastructure for their citizens. Water is available in accordance with the Oslo agreements - in fact more than was agreed is available.  If he was living in area C, it is likely he is living in an unauthorized place, simply “land grabbing”. Israel has no responsibility to supply infrastructure in this situation. So that leaves us with the 4% of the Palestinians who live in area C. These Palestinians live in recognized areas and have full services provided by Israel

“Where the Israeli government has redirected water pipes to provide swimming pools for Jewish settlers and empty faucets for Palestinians like Fadel.”

No water pipes have been “redirected”. Palestinians have more than enough water supplied annually by Israel over and above the agreed quantities in the last water agreement. The PA problem is that they:-

a) don’t conserve water,

b) the don’t recycle water, (Israel recycles over 75% and is aiming for 90%.

c) have allowed over 300 illegal wells to be dug so there is no obligation to pay water rates and which is destroying their own aquifers and water table  and

d) send all their waste into the rivers ending up in Israel where POLIO has now reared its head again.

“When the Israeli forces dragged Fadel off for taking water, his heartbroken five-year-old son Khaled could be heard screaming “baba, baba!” as his dad was torn away. This is daily life for Palestinians living under the brutal fist of martial law where their land and water has been stolen by settlers”

“…and they have no basic human rights. But after years of violence and hopelessness, a movement is growing in Palestine -- a nonviolent resistance seeking the same thing that all Israelis already have: freedom, dignity and a state of their own.”

NO, land is being grabbed by the Palestinians without any proof of ownership. Those grabbing land have to be removed. The High Court of Justice deals with all claims concerning land, however Israel cannot accept the illegal grabbing of land

Such typical land grab attempts by Palestinians are commonplace, they “claim” ownership, yet have no legal papers to show proof of ownership. The most recent case  of Susito is a case in point. Palestinians claimed they had been on that land “from time immemorial. Yet photographic evidence presented by Regavim, www.regavim.org showed that there had not been a presence there as recently as the year 2000. The PA is using every trick in the book to fool gullible human rights activists. See video on constant illegal Palestinian building on State lands http://tinyurl.com/n53zn8o

“For years, the media has focused on Palestinian militants, and to this day, extremists on both sides are pushing peace further out of reach. But what’s lost in all that vitriol are the loving families like Fadel’s that just want a normal life. Now, those families are stepping forward, leading peaceful marches, organizing sit-ins, and working with Israeli activists to seek justice and freedom. In response, the Israeli military has thrown them in jail, beaten up organisers, and ripped children from their beds.”

Civil disobedience cannot be ignored. Peace can only come about when the Palestinian leadership come to terms with the existence of Israel. However, this seems to be forlorn hope when one hears a number of Palestinian leaders making statements such as

“The Palestinian people will never accept the right of the Jewish people to their own state.  Not for 1000 years”.                                                                                           Abu Mazen, , 12/7/2009

“It is impossible to realize the inspiring idea or the great goal in one stroke....Israel will come to an end....If I say that I want to remove it from existence, this will be great, great,[but] it is hard.  This is not a [stated] policy. You can’t say it to the world.  You can say it to yourself”  Abbas Zaki, Fatah Central Committee member, Al-Jazeera TV, 23/9/2011

“I will never allow a single Israeli to live among us on Palestinian land”. Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah , 28/7/2010, to Egyptian media (ynetnews)

“It Is Okay to Say One Thing in Arabic and Another in English for Western Audiences” Editor-in-Chief Al-Quds Al-Arabi Newspaper Abd Al-Bari Atwan:December 2010

When PA leaders signed agreements with Israel, they knew how to walk  "the right path, which leads to achievement, exactly like the Prophet [Muhammad] did in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah." Al-Habbash's sermon was delivered in the presence of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and was broadcast on official Palestinian Authority TV. (The Hudaybiyyah peace treaty was a 10-year truce that Muhammad, Islam's Prophet, made with the Quraish Tribe of Mecca. However, two years into the truce, Muhammad attacked and conquered Mecca).  PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash July 2013

This occupation has gone on for too long and for too long the resolution of this conflict has been controlled by extremists on both sides. Where are the Palestinian peace movements? Why does every attempt be Palestinians to build bridges shot down by their leadership. Hate indoctrination is endemic throughout the whole of Palestinian society - just look at what is shown on their TV, taught in their schools, spoken about IN ARABIC to the community at large But today, there are a few things most people agree on: first, both the Israelis and the Palestinians should each be entitled to a state; and second, the treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories violates every sense of justice we have, from international law to basic common sense. Even hard-line retired Israeli military leaders say this. 

Avaaz Exclusively Blames Israel - Part 1

The organisation Avaaz is putting out a stream of criticism of Israel using emotive terminology and containing no context to the claims. (We don't really want to support them by clicking on their website, do we?)

A recent outburst contained the following statements:_

a)   “Israeli soldiers are entering Palestinian homes in the middle of the night, snatching children from their beds, blindfolding them and taking them away.”

This is an emotive headline rather like “dog bites man”, used to create negative attitudes  towards actions the IDF necessarily undertakes in order to maintain public order and protect lives. There is no law defining a time for action, this way reaction is minimised.

b)   “These children aren't terrorists or related to any terrorists.”

Interesting observation not backed up by facts. The constant indoctrination of children via TV, summer camps etc create hatred from the earliest ages – just review the latest videos from Palestinian Media Watch http://tinyurl.com/pgrdahs and http://tinyurl.com/kwyyjm9  . It suits the Palestinian Authority’s agenda to use, yes, use children in any action in order to create public sympathies.  

c)   “Their families are participating in an inspiring nonviolent movement, peacefully protesting the segregation of the occupation and seeking the same thing that all Israelis already have: freedom, dignity and a state of their own, but the Israeli military and police are viciously cracking down -- beating and jailing them”.

If the actions are so peaceful, why are there between 120-160 terror attacks every month according to the monthly reports of the Terrorist Information Center

But one brave woman is standing up for them -- Gaby Lasky –(Executive member of “Peace Now”, an organisation working against the democratic rights of the Israeli public)- a diminutive and savvy Israeli lawyer. Gaby is their lifeline -- she is who these nonviolent heroes call when they need help. She and her team answer desperate calls from the West Bank in the middle of night, and spend the day in military court fighting bogus charges against nonviolent leaders. And, against the odds, Gaby wins. – Interesting ! there seems to be no source for this claim. As often happens in such cases a single success is blown up into a great victory. Just as in the case of the "Jenin Massacre" which made headlines but was proven to be untrue.

Gaby told us how this ludicrous, legally sanctioned repression in the West Bank works. Soldiers detain kids, often in the middle of the night, and ask them for information on leaders of the nonviolent movement. The constant use of the term "non viol;ent" belies the facts on the ground. Three Israelis have been killed by stone throwers.  Kids as young as 12 are held for hours without access to their parents, much less attorneys. It can be days before they see a judge. And a child’s coerced testimony is all the army needs to arrest leaders of this nonviolent movement.

d)  “Right now, in towns across the West Bank steadfast groups of citizens come out each week, sometimes daily, in civil disobedience. They march to stolen springs and olive trees, to closed roads and massive militarized walls in peaceful defiance of a crippling occupation. It’s a beautiful, heroic DIY movement and if our community steps up we can give it real help.”

Such typical land grab attempts by Palestinians are commonplace, they “claim” ownership, yet have no legal papers to show proof of ownership. The most recent case  of Susito is a case in point. Palestinians claimed they had been on that land “from time immemorial. Yet photographic evidence presented by Regavim, www.regavim.org showed that there had not been a presence there as recently as the year 2000. The PA is using every trick in the book to fool gullible human rights activists. See video on constant illegal Palestinian building on State lands http://tinyurl.com/n53zn8o

By arresting the leaders of this movement the Israeli army is trying to suffocate a spark of hope that could actually change the the brutal, broken nature of the conflict. Let’s stand with this movement now.

e) The Avaaz community has been unwavering in its support for freedom for the Palestinian people and peace between Israelis and Palestinians

Such peace can only come about when the Palestinian leadership come to terms with the existence of Israel. However, this seems to be forlorn hope when one hears a number of Palestinian leaders making statements such as

“The Palestinian people will never accept the right of the Jewish people to their own state.  Not for 1000 years.                                                                                            Abu Mazen, , 12/7/2009

“It is impossible to realize the inspiring idea or the great goal in one stroke....Israel will come to an end....If I say that I want to remove it from existence, this will be great, great,[but] it is hard.  This is not a [stated] policy. You can’t say it to the world.  You can say it to yourself”  Abbas Zaki, Fatah Central Committee member, Al-Jazeera TV, 23/9/2011

“I will never allow a single Israeli to live among us on Palestinian land”. Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah , 28/7/2010, to Egyptian media (ynetnews)

“It Is Okay to Say One Thing in Arabic and Another in English for Western Audiences” Editor-in-Chief Al-Quds Al-Arabi Newspaper Abd Al-Bari Atwan:December 2010

Honduran Child arrives for Heart Treatment

Save a Child's Heart, Israel welcomes a child from Honduras!

This week John Marcus, a 10 year old boy from Honduras arrived with big brown eyes and amazing smile. Marcus lives in Tegucigalpa, the Capital of Honduras, in a small apartment with his mother and 11 year old brother. His heart disease was discovered during pregnancy and since birth he has had several fainting episodes and periods of rapid heartbeats. John and his mother found out about Save a Child’s Heart through the ambassador of Honduras in Israel who is a friend of the family. 

With John's arrival, the number of countries of children treated by SACH increased to 46!

Since the beginning of 2013 SACH has:    

 Treated over 130 children from 14 different countries

 Trained  25 physicians

 Received  news coverage 60 times

 Enjoyed over 100 volunteers helping out at the SACH Children's home and in the Wolfson Medical Center 

 Hosted more than 3000 students and young professionals in the SACH home

See how many children are currently undergoing treatment in Israel. Note the number of Palestinians http://www.saveachildsheart.org/608-en/ChildrenCurrentlyinIsrael.aspx

New smartphone does medical tests

Introducing LifeWatch V, an Israeli-engineered phone that performs and analyzes a range of self-tests and sends reports to your doctor.
(By Avigayil Kadesh)

The Israeli company LifeWatch Technologies is launching a unique smartphone that not only makes calls but can perform and analyze a whole range of medical tests and send a report of the results to users and their physicians.

CEO Dr. Yacov Geva says the Android-based LifeWatch V will be especially useful to help manage many aspects of a chronic medical condition such as diabetes. Blood glucose test strips can be inserted right into a portal on the phone’s stainless-steel frame and it can send reminders to check glucose levels and take insulin.
The smartphone’s embedded sensors also let you check your blood oxygen saturation level, perform an at-home electrocardiogram (ECG) or measure your blood pressure with an attached sleeve. You can use its pedometer to keep track of your daily footsteps and its thermometer to take your temperature. It helps you figure out your body fat percentage, plan your diet and log your workouts.

LifeWatch V sends all the test data automatically and securely to a remote server in the cloud for analysis by the company’s proprietary algorithms. Results and trend data are quickly shared with the user and, if desired, with a third party via email or text message.

An idea whose time has come

The Rehovot-based company expects to launch European and Israeli sales sometime in May 2013, and in the United States by the end of the year, following expected clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration.
TechFaith Wireless Communication Technology of China will manufacture the smartphones based on the Israeli specs and industrial design. Interface is to be available in Hebrew, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Chinese and Japanese.
“We will sell the device for between $500 and $700, depending on the country and individual carrier agreement,” says Geva.
He conceived of the idea back in the age of Palm Pilots. His original patents for the embedded sensors date back to 1998, and additional development work was done in 2001 and 2006. However, only recently has the technology gotten “friendly” enough to make the product viable.
“The real breakthrough came when Apple changed how a smartphone could be used, so we were able to take our initiative forward and develop the product based on an Android operating system,” says Geva, who adds that LifeWatch came into this project with more than 20 years of experience developing 45 different types of medical sensors.

The company designed LifeWatch V for ease of use, whether the user is six or 86 years old. One of the prime markets will be children with diabetes.

“Parents can follow their children to see if they’re doing daily testing and taking their insulin while they’re at school,” Geva explains. “Let’s say a child has to do a blood glucose test at 9 am. When he does the test, the data is sent automatically to the cloud and the parents can get the results immediately, on any kind of device. If the parent does not see that the test was done, the parent can call to remind the child.”

Mobile healthcare is the watchword

LifeWatch was founded about two decades ago as a subsidiary of LifeWatch AG, a leading Swiss healthcare technology and solutions provider, to develop ambulatory diagnostic testing.

There are 65 employees at its R&D center in Rehovot’s Rabin Science Park, and almost 500 people staff LifeWatch’s three emergency call centers in the United States. The public company offers a range of patient technologies and services, such as home-based heart monitoring and home sleep testing, in addition to wireless monitoring devices for emergency medical personnel.

“More than 300,000 new patients every year in the US are being monitored through LifeWatch,” Geva says.
American owners of the medical smartphone will be able to have the test results sent directly to one of those emergency call centers, and Israeli users will have one of their own soon, says Geva.

Already looking to the future, he reveals that the next-generation LifeWatch smartphone will have additional sensors incorporated for even more functionality. But the soon-to-launch model already represents a historic first in mobile healthcare. And if its built-in capabilities do not meet an individual user’s specific needs, Geva says it’s possible to download any other appropriate apps to the device.

Palestinians Conquer Tel Aviv

The following story was printed in the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv and translated. Clearly no one in the international media would publish such a story so it is left to those using social media tools to get it out to the wide world

By Assaf Gabor and Avi Ashkenazi

The Etzel Museum, near the Charles Clore beach in Tel Aviv, assembles many pieces of history related to the Arab Israeli conflict, including the conquest of Jaffa. The band of Palestinian youth who had arrived yesterday to the beach in Tel Aviv and sat on the Museum’s stairs had no idea.”  This is the first time in my life that I’m in Tel Aviv”, says Ligal Atchi, 24, who came to town with a few friends from Ramallah for a fun day. “I’ve always dreamt about Tel Aviv’s beach, which I have seen in pictures and on the map. When I arrived here this morning, I was dazzled by the beauty of the city”. 

Atchi works in an aluminum factory near Beit Horon. Two weeks ago, he applied for a tourism entry visa at the Civil Administration, on the occasion of Ramadan.  He is one of a million Palestinians who were – and will be – granted entry visas to Israel as tourists, on the occasion of the Month of Ramadan. Thousands of them have already filled yesterday the beaches of the First Hebrew City.

Lifeguards on the beach have been advised of the guests who are about to flood the beach in the coming weeks. They are heard through the loudspeakers on the Charles Clore beach, shouting in Arabic at the bathers who have strayed away from the safety delineation. “They are undisciplined – says one lifeguard – some of them are very excited about bathing in the sea for the first time, but they don’t know the rules and the dangers of the sea”. 

“For me it’s like being abroad”, admits Mohamed Adana, a 20 year old student from the Ramallah District who cannot hide his enthusiasm about visiting the Holy Land. “I want to go to Paris   and Berlin, but the word is that Tel Aviv falls short of no European city. It’s my first time here. We only   strolled on the beach this time around, but next time I’d like to tour Jaffa as well”. 

 ”Good for both sides”

According to data provided by COGAT (Coordinator of the Government’s Activities in the Territories) 100,000 Palestinians have been granted entry visas so far, and they are visiting their families on the western side of the Green Line or going to pray in the Al Aqsa Mosque. It is expected that, However, the greatest bulk of visitors is expected on Eid el-Fitr, at the end of Ramadan, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are due to flock to the beaches and clubs of Tel Aviv, to make merry and spend money over here rather than in Palestinian cities.

“The procedure is simple”, explains Yusuf from Nablus: “You apply to the Palestinian DCO (District Coordination Office) which passes it on to the Israeli side, where it is usually approved. The whole thing takes 24 hours, sometimes less, depending on how long you want to stay in Israel. We see this as something positive. Palestinians who usually identify Israelis as soldiers or settlers enter Israel and get acquainted with other aspects of the Jews.

It opens their mind and changes the thinking on both sides. Why is that? Because the Jews also meet for the first time Palestinians from the West Bank, and find out that they are basically people who quite resemble them”.

“Come Eid el-Fitr, you won’t recognize your beaches”, promises Rabi’a, 19, from Nablus. “I believe about half a million Palestinians will come to the beaches of Tel Aviv and Jaffa, and they will “conquer” the town’s pubs and clubs. We’re going to have a lot of fun”,   he adds and laughs.

But Karim from Ramallah, an older man, has already used the entry permit for other purposes. “I don’t intend to use my visa to go to the sea side or for entertainment”, he explains. “”I am a working man. So far I’ve been with my family to Jerusalem, and I went to pray in Al Aqsa. It was really a cool and quicker at the border crossing. It gives a good feeling when both the Jewish side and the Palestinian side try to make it easier for us on Ramadan.” 

Yusuf from Nablus believes it is in Israel’s best interest to let in as many Palestinian tourists as possible. “I estimate the revenues at approximately one billion Shekels, flowing into Israel from the PA through these visitors. Just as Israelis travel to Europe and spend a lot of money there, so many Palestinians see their visit in Israel as their annual vacation. A Palestinian family traveling through Israel, going to the beach, drinks colas and buys popsicles and food for the children, can spend in two-three days a thousand Shekels and even more. I don’t understand Israel. It should have opened these crossings throughout the year for Palestinians who don’t make problems. Beyond financial revenues, it’s also about a sense of coexistence, reconciliation and openness between the two peoples”. 

“Inch Allah, I’ll come again tomorrow”

But some actually frown upon the easy spending of Palestinian tourists in Israel. “I own a restaurant and I am amazed that my   shop remains empty during Ramadan”, says a disappointed Karim, whose restaurant stands near Arafat Square in the heart of Ramallah. “If at the end of the holiday season I only have 8000 Shekels left for me, then it’s a really bad situation. In this period I am supposed to cover my all-year losses, but you can see Ramallah and other Palestinian cities suddenly emptying up. While I stare at the shawarmeh spinning around in my restaurant, they spend their money in Israel instead of strengthening the local market.  Many of them prefer to  buy in the malls of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem things that they could get for half the price here in Ramallah, but they get a feeling of freedom and of being almost abroad, so they have this urge to shop”.

And then there’s Mahmoud, a resident of Hebron whose is denied entry. He is one of the few who were not issued permits to visit Israel. “It’s really irritating”, he admits, “I did some foolish stuff back when I was a kid, and now they won’t let me in. All my friends are going to town in Jaffa and Tel Aviv, and I’ll have to settle for the things they’ll bring me from over there”.

Mahmoud will find solace in local festivities, for lack of an alternative: “On the other hand, who needs Tel Aviv? We’ve got cafes that stay open until the wee hours of the night, clubs where you can smoke the narguile and play billiard, and even dances. You can have fun anywhere.”

Most of the Palestinian tourists who have experienced an Israeli vacation are already planning their next break – another fun day at the beaches of Tel Aviv or at the markets of Jaffa. “What I saw today, man, that was some experience”, says Mariub Ashi, 25, who lives in a small village between Ramallah and Jerusalem, shortly after coming out of the water. “I loved everything here – the food, the sea, the air, even the beautiful girls roaming the beach. Inch Allah, I’ll come again tomorrow, but tonight I need to return to my village by 10 PM, because that’s what it says on my Israeli visa”.

Polio Virus and Contamination of Israel's Aquifers

by Mark Langfan - Arutz Sheva Wednesday, 31 July 2013

For article read http://tinyurl.com/oczx5hs

The polio virus has been found in Israel's water. Its source is not hard to find. The Health Ministry has decided to innoculate 200,000 Israeli children living in the south of the country. This is just the beginning.

Israel gave up Gaza, and the Hamas genocidally rocketed pre-1967 Israel-Sderot and Ashkelon.  Israel gave up the civil administration of the Palestinian Authority; the Palestinians Arabs responded with the Intifada.

Today, there is a more insidious attack at play. On 3 June 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported:

“In Israel, wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) was isolated from sewage samples collected on 9 April 2013 in Rahat, southern Israel.  . . .  Genetic sequencing and epidemiological investigations are ongoing to determine its origin. Preliminary analyses indicate the strain is not related to the virus currently affecting the Horn of Africa.”

Wikipedia states that:

“The serotype PV1 [the type found in Israel] is the most commonly encountered form, and the one most closely associated with paralysis.”

Medical News Today explains:

“What causes polio? Polio is caused by the poliovirus, a highly contagious virus specific to humans.  The virus usually enters the environment in the feces of someone who is infected.  In areas with poor sanitation, the virus easily spreads through the fecal-oral route, via contaminated water or food.  In addition, direct contact with a person infected with the virus can cause polio.”

On 3 July 2013, Israel's newspaper Haaretz reported:

"Almost 90 percent of sewage from Palestinian towns in the West Bank flows into the environment untreated, contaminating the groundwater and 162 kilometers of streams,“ according to a report prepared by the Israel Parks and Nature Authority.

"The report, prepared for the Environmental Protection Ministry and the Civil Administration in the West Bank, is based on water samples taken from various locales in 2012.  It found that some 50 million cubic meters of sewage flow into the environment from Palestinian towns every year.  Only 5 million cubic meters go to treatment plants, some of which are substandard.  This affects Israel as well as the West Bank, since the polluted streams flow into Israel.. .

Israel has tried to cope with the problem by building treatment plants near the Green Line separating Israel from the West Bank and treating the contaminated water once it enters Israel.  But the facility built to treat the Hebron Stream − the most polluted of all − can’t handle the volume of waste it receives.  Contaminated water reaches nearby communities, emitting a stench and attracting mosquitoes."

On 11 July 2013, Arutz Sheva reported:

"Traces of the poliomyelitis (Polio) virus are continuing to appear in sewage treatment facilities in southern and central Israel according to the (Israeli) Health Ministry."  The central areas where the virus has been detected include the Lev Hasharon (Tulkaran-Tel Aviv) area, Modi'in (Green Line), Ramle (Green Line), Tel Aviv, Ashdod (south of Tel Aviv).  The southern areas are Rahat, Be'er Sheva.

None of this Palestinian contamination of Israel should come as a surprise because in February 2012, the State of Israel Water Authority, in a report entitled "The Water Issue Between Israel and the Palestinians," (see http://mfa.gov.il/MFA_Graphics/MFA%20Gallery/Powerpoint/Water-IsraelPA.pps) stated:

“The Palestinians constantly breach the [Olso Water] agreement, as shown in the following:

1.    The Palestinians do not treat their sewage which flows freely in the [West Bank] streams and into [pre-1967] Israel, contaminating the [pre-1967 Israel] environment and the [pre-1967 Israel coastal] aquifer en route.

2.    The Palestinians are not developing any new water source, either through sewage treatment, or desalination (also in contradiction of the [Olso] Water Agreement, M.L.).”

The key topographic/geologic fact is that what is termed the 'West Bank' is the mountains of Judea and Samaria. And any Palestinian untreated sewage water introduced into the  aquifers of the Western salient of the mountains of Judea and Samaria gravitationally migrates underground westward into the aquifers of pre-1967 Israel.  Geologically, there is no functional impermeable dividing line between the political pre- and post- 1967 Israel.  Hence, it is impossible to stop Palestinian Authority untreated sewage water from  contaminating pre-1967 Israel.

All the contaminated polio clusters in central Israel are in line with the general westward flow of the contaminated sewage water from the PA.  This makes it very probable that the polio now being discovered in these areas and in southern Israel is from the northern and southern lobes of the area.  And the ceding of Israeli civilian jurisdiction over  Palestinian Authority sewage is a direct result of the Oslo Accords.

Is the Palestinian Authority purposefully and knowingly contaminating Israel's aquifers with sewage?  Israel has begged the Palestinian Arabs for years to install sewage treatment plants at no cost to them and with funds from abroad.  But the Palestinian Authority has refused to build anything except one small sewage treatment plant.  Given that Palestinian Arab sewage is gravitationally bound to migrate westward into the pre-1967 Israel coastal plain, Palestinians (and Israelis!) could easily have predicted the biological diseases that this untreated sewage water would cause to pre-1967 Israel: Polio, for one.

Israel could define this as a possible instance of what the Geneva Convention terms Genocidal War Crimes. Israel and its civilians are being attacked with a form of biological warfare.

The Israeli cabinet debates destroying future Iranian genocidal nuclear warfare a thousand miles away.  Somehow the same Israeli cabinet is impotent to stop current Palestinian Authority  bio-warfare only 3 kilometers away.  In fact, Israel may yet reward the Palestinian Authority's  bio-warfare with more land!  .

Can anyone imagine the cries of “Zionist Biogenocide” against Israel if it were to contaminate the Palestinian Authority aquifers the way the Palestinian Arabs are doing to Israeli aquifers? .”

The Iranians see Israel's total impotence and appeasement of the Palestinian bio-warfare, and calculate that Israel will be just as impotent and appeasing when they gain their long sought-after nuclear weapon capacity.