It's Almost Supernatural

Still Waiting

The Palestinian propaganda machine at the Media Review Network is still using a fictitious version of the Israeli security barrier map in their frantic attempt to distort reality.

Here is what the current version of the map looks like. This entry details the changes made in the route of the fence since the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that changes were necessary.

I first called for the MRN to update their lying map on November 30.

I am still waiting for a reply.

SA Media Summary 38/02 - 06/03

I present to you the summary of last week's media reporting on Israel and the Middle East. Click "Continue Reading"...

(Hat tip: D)

Media Undermines the Roadmap

Daniel Okrent of the NY Times has opened up more debate on the use of the "T-word" in a recent NY Times editorial.

I find it farcical that so many in the media refuse to call acts of terror in Israel by their name. The phrase "one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" has become institutionalised in the masses on the left.

It is true that a terrorist may be regarded by some as a freedom fighter, but that doesn't absolve him from the terrorist label. If he deliberately targets civilians as a way of pursuing a political objective he then commits an act of terror. His objective is to intimidate and demoralise a civilian population.

Just because the goal may be described as legitimate, it doesn't mean that the means should not be described as terror. There are plenty of Palestinians who think "fighting Israel is legitimate" but who draw the line at the indiscriminate massacre of civilians in pizza parlours, discothèques and busses. They recognize an independent moral limit against slaughtering civilians.

It is interesting to note that the roadmap to a permanent two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict refers to "terror" or "terrorism" 10 times. In fact, the title of phase 1 specifically mentions an end to terror.

Phase I: Ending Terror And Violence, Normalizing Palestinian Life, and Building Palestinian Institutions

How can the media pretend to back the roadmap (in that they generally call for a negotiated solution to the conflict) whilst simultaneously denying the existence of something that the first phase stipulates must end?

The roadmap repeatedly calls for an end to terrorism as a condition for progression to further phases. The media undermines the roadmap by denying that terror exists, making a mockery of all those whose task it is to see that the roadmap gets implemented.

Hallucinations of a London Mayor

Ken Livingstone, the maverick London mayor gripped by an unprecedented degree of irrationality, continues his abusive anti-Israel rhetoric, accusing Israel of organising terror by combating the current intifada. (As opposed to not combating the intifada and allowing it's citizens to be massacred)

Red Ken couldn't see the truth, even if it were dressed in a coat of shimmering wonderment.

Read the latest tirade at JPOST as his invective continues to reveal his own fantasies and hallucinations.

That would include charges that Sharon "continues to organize terror" by combating the current intifada, that Israel is engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians similar to that of the Serbs in Bosnia and that the government is trying to frame Muslims for European anti-Semitism – all of which were outlined in a column published Friday in The Guardian. On Monday, in a written response to questions from the Post about that column, Livingstone not only reiterated those claims but even went a step further, saying that the Israeli government "threatens all of us" by inspiring groups such as al-Qaida to attack the West." ... Last spring, he called US President George W. Bush "the most corrupt American president since [Warren] Harding in the Twenties" and said that he looked forward to Bush's government being overthrown "as much as I looked forward to Saddam Hussein being overthrown." He also drew the ire of many Londoners when he invited Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood who has praised Palestinian suicide bombers, to an international conference in the capital. When opponents detailed Qaradawi's statements regarding homosexuality, female genital mutilation and terrorism, Livingstone staunchly supported the sheikh and dismissed the outcry as a "Zionist smear campaign." Of note in that incident is that much of the information on Qaradawi's radical views came from material translated by the privately funded Middle East Media Research Institute. Livingstone singled out the institute in his Guardian column, insinuating that it was a tool of the Israeli government meant to besmirch Muslims and blame them for the rising tide of violence against Jews throughout Europe.

PA Minister Tied to Hamas

Are the Palestinians serious about the good governance that will help win the trust of Israel? It hardly seems so, when they appoint a Minister with disturbingly strong ties to Hamas: Palestinian Authority Minister of Economy Tied to Hamas?

It turns out the Mazen Sunuqrut, appointed as the Minister of Economy, has close, longstanding ties to Hamas.

But the February 26 suicide bombing in Tel Aviv is clear evidence of the need to isolate, not co-opt, extremist elements like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which are bent on undermining efforts to secure a peaceful, two-state solution. Placing a man described as a “Hamas activist,” someone with a record of laundering funds for the organization, in charge of the Palestinian Ministry of National Economy is a step in the wrong direction.

UPDATE

MediaBackspin comments on the level of control the PA has on governance.

Reporter Greg Myre notes internal Palestinian fighting, a car bomb, the discovery of a weapons lab, another weapons seizure, the Tel Aviv bombing, and the attempted assassination of the PA’s own Interior Minister.

The New Route - Myths Crushed

The Israeli anti-terror barrier was called unlawful by the Internationcal Court of Justice before the trial even began. The sad mockery of justice condemned victims of horrific violence for trying to protect themselves using a non violent measure, knowing full well that the Israeli supreme court were about to rule on the route of the fence. As things turned out, the Supreme Court ruled that changes to the route of the barrier were necessary.

The Washingon Institute for Near East Policy has an excellent review of the new modifications to the route of the Israeli anti-terror barrier: Israel’s Newly Approved Security Fence Route: Geography and Demography.

The modifications, prompted by an Israeli supreme court decision last summer made to avert Palestinian hardship, are characterized by four major adjustments: (1) revised routing in several areas that will bring the fence closer to the Green Line (pre-1967 boundaries); (2) the elimination of all fence routes that create Palestinian enclaves or “double fences” (areas where Palestinians would have been completely encircled by the security fence); (3) the addition—for the first time on any official Israeli map—of fence around the Maale Adumim settlement bloc; and (4) final authorization of fence routing and construction near the Etzion bloc.

Here are some brief details on the new route, although I recommend you read the full document. A precursor...while the cabinet decision explicitly states that the fence route is not a delineation of Israel’s final border, many observers will inevitably view the fence as providing clues to the contours of the West Bank’s final disposition.

How Much of the West Bank Is East of the Fence?
Approximately 5% of the West Bank will be on the Israeli side of the fence. Also approved (in principle only) however, are the routes surrounding the Ariel and Maale Adumim settlement blocs. Taken together, if the fence near both of these blocs is built, the grand total of the approved fence route encompasses only 8 percent of the West Bank.

The Palestinians will now struggle to lie about the mythical 50% annexation of WB territory.

That 8 percent can be compared to the estimated 5 percent that President Bill Clinton regarded as the outcome of final-status negotiations. By contrast, official Palestine Liberation Organization maps, until recently, claimed that Sharon would build fences to encircle the Palestinians from all sides, taking approximately 50 percent of the West Bank and creating “bantustans” that would sharply undermine the idea of a two-state solution. Last week’s cabinet move seems to nullify, once and for all, that possibility.

How Many Israelis Are East of the Fence? How Many Palestinians Are West of the Fence?

74% of the Israeli WB settlers are on the "Israeli" side of the fence.
99.7% of the Palestinians in the WB will be on the "Palestinian" side of the fence.

Implications for the Palestinians

While the Palestinians will express concern about the fence “routes to be completed after further authorization and planning” in the Ariel and Maale Adumim blocs, they will be pleased about changes that should facilitate Palestinian freedom of movement, for example, moving the fence closer to the Green Line so that it incorporates more contiguous Palestinian land.

The new map confirms what Israelis have been saying for some time now, that there will be NO Palestinian ENCLAVES (bantustans); rather contiguous West Bank territory.

Conclusion

There is no perfect solution, but having 99.7% of the Palestinians on the Eastern side, and about 75% of the Israeli settlers on the Western side seems like a pragmatic solution that concentrates on "needs" and not "wants". It seems like the route is moving closer and closer to the Clinton ideas proposed in 2000. The Palestinian claims that the fence would - encircle them creating bantustans similar to apartheid South Africa - have been squashed. The new route torpedoed all claims that the fence will prevent the materialisation of any two state solution.

this amended fence will serve not as a catalyst to impede a two-state solution, but rather to facilitate such an outcome.

You can view a map of the new route here.

The MRN
The hateful SA Palestinian propaganda group, the MRN, have a counterfactual map of the fence, depicting what looks to be an annexation of over 40% of West Bank territory. Given the close focus they have paid to the fence, I'm sure they will update the map with a more accurate version shortly.

Change in Tact

Beyond Images has an excellent summary of the changes in Israeli policy that have been effected since the death of the old terrorist.

These policy changes dispel the myth that Israel does not wish to strengthen the moderate forces in Palestinian society.

Of course, this is all taking place on very thin ice, and one more terrorist attack could move everything back to square one.

With a Capital P

Just a question...where are the sincere and honest opinion editorials from our liberal media championing one of the great causes of the left - capital punishment?

Palestinians to resume executions of prisoners

Go on...join me in this thought exercise. If Israel announced that they were about to execute 15 Palestinian prisoners would the local media have something to say?

As far as I know - and I have scanned most of the SA media - only Pretoria News and the Star bothered to report on this. The report was a massive 4 lines...

Gaza City - The Palestinian Authority is poised to resume executions of prisoners on death row for the first time since August 2002, with 15 due to be carried out by the end of the month. Fifteen prisoners currently on death row would be executed later this month, Palestinian military courts chief Saeb al-Qidwa said yesterday. "We need a radical solution to the current security chaos."

UPDATE at 07/03/2005
Today the Citizen and the Cape Times reported on the story. The thought exercise promoted above still holds...both reports were little longer than three lines.