Religion, Nationalism, and Terror

Minister Ayalon calls on PM to invite Hamas to regional summit - Haaretz, October 24, 2007

Minister Ami Ayalon has called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to break Israel’s boycott of Hamas and invite representatives of the group to participate in the regional peace conference scheduled for later this year in Annapolis, Maryland, Army Radio reported Wednesday.

The invitation would be contingent on Hamas’ acceptance of the Palestinian Authority’s stance at the summit, Ayalon told Army Radio.

“I say we need to invite Hamas to Annapolis, if from the beginning, they are prepared to receive any joint document signed by Abu Mazen [PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas] and Ehud Olmert.”

“A call like this from Israel could bring the beginning of Hamas’ disintegration because of the internal conflict which will occur,” he added.

B’Tselem - 19 Oct. 07: Hebron: The Israeli Settlement in the a-Ras Neighborhood

On 19 March 2007, a new settlement was established, in the heart of the a-Ras Palestinian neighborhood. In the months that have passed since then, despite the decision of the Defense Minister at the time to evacuate the settlement, the settlement has grown. Recently, the settlement was connected to the electricity grid, and construction and renovation work is taking place at the site.

Since the settlement has been established, the harm to the Palestinian residents has increased and they have suffered further infringement of their human rights. Palestinians suffer both from the settlers and from Israeli security forces who have been assigned protect the settlement.

Researchers from B’Tselem and the Association for Civil Rights found that establishment of the settlement and the failure to evacuate it, have led, for example, to the following:

* Extensive abuse and violence by settlers in the new settlement, carried out in front of the eyes of members of the security forces;
* Abuse and violence by security forces posted on or near the new settlement;
* Increased prohibitions on movement enforced by Israeli security forces.

Failure to enforce the law on violent settlers

During the course of the first six months of the new settlement, B’Tselem and ACRI documented scores of cases in which settlers attacked Palestinians in the area. The attacks include beatings, blocking of passage, destruction of property, throwing of stones and eggs, hurling of refuse, glass bottles, and bottles full of urine, urinating from the settlement structure onto the street, spitting, threats, and curses.

Some assassination plot - Haaretz, October 23, 2007

The Israeli opinion of the PA security services is fueled by images rather than reality. The details of this reality are precisely what caused the Palestinians to dismiss the dramatic Israeli report: After all, any two people can declare themselves a cell in one of the many groups of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, and the Shin Bet can declare any three Fatah members “a terrorist cell” and enhance the imaginary danger they represent. Young Palestinians, most of them Fatah supporters, joined the security services mainly for the salaries they offer in a period of chronic unemployment. Their military training and their skills are accordingly inferior.

The true motives behind the adoption of the title “Al-Aqsa Martyrs” are related to jobs, honor and power more than to an ability to act against the occupation. The arrogance comes at the expense of seriousness. And none of the Palestinian echelons, from the two governments to the “cells,” excels in its planning ability, a necessary condition for any “assassination plot” as for any struggle against foreign rule.

The Palestinian spokesmen were confused not because Israel “caught them in the act.” They were confused because again Israel provided an overly strident reminder of its true expectations of the PA: that it serve as an assistant prison guard, a subcontractor of the Israeli occupation. Since its establishment, the PA has oscillated between the two extremes: placating Israel and the United States, on the one hand, and convincing its people that it is leading them to the end of the occupation, on the other. At one point it arrests and conceals, at another it releases and conceals. Abu Mazen sometimes condemns Israel, sometimes calls Israelis “our neighbors.” On the basis of these imaginary neighborly relations, he invited Olmert for a return visit in “his state” (Jericho, for this purpose).

The Blotter: U.S.: Al Qaeda Using Iraqi Government Vehicles, Ambulances,

October 22, 2007

Citing evidence that insurgents and al Qaeda terrorists are using Iraqi government vehicles and ambulances to carry out missions, Gen. David Petraeus has ordered a new system of checkpoints for almost all Iraqi official convoys and motorcades.

The only exceptions, according to an unclassified version of Gen. Petraeus’ order, obtained by the Blotter on ABCNews.com, are “Tier 1″ motorcades, such as that of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

U.S. officials in Washington confirmed the order and say it has been in effect since early October.