Bad journalism?

Haaretz wrote:

A new military order aimed at preventing infiltration will come into force this week, enabling the deportation of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank, or their indictment on charges carrying prison terms of up to seven years.

When the order comes into effect, tens of thousands of Palestinians will automatically become criminal offenders liable to be severely punished.

The IDF answers:

1. The new military order was signed 6 months ago.

2. There are no changes to the repatriation system or the authority/means to repatriate illegal residents in Judea and Samaria. The only difference is that now the process includes a judiciary review.

3. The decision to establish a judiciary committee to review the administrative process of repatriation was taken in response to the Israeli High Court of Justice (בג"ץ) decision that there should be judicial oversight.

4. Any illegal resident who stands to be repatriated will be brought before the judicial committee within 8 days of receiving the order, they will have the right to legal council, and will be able to appeal the judicial decision to the high court.

5. When making decisions about whether or not to repatriate an individual, the administrative and the judicial committees consider family ties.

6. Currently there are very few illegal Palestinian residents in Judea and Samaria - over the past several years, as a goodwill gesture to the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli government has approved an amnesty for nearly all of the 32,000 illegal residents whose names were submitted to the population registry by the Palestinian authorities.

7. Since the beginning of 2010, there have only been 5 Gazans who have been repatriated to Gaza.

8. The current system allows Israeli authorities to arrest, detain and deport illegal residents (specifically those who came in on a tourist visa and decided to stay) - these are the same powers that every sovereign nation in the world possess. The establishment of the Judicial Committee to oversee the process is the only change.

But the damage has been done and now the misinformation is being spread (by Haaretz) - as usual - all over the internetz... Journalists, please... give all the info and be sure that what you state is completely true (to your best knowledge).

Remember and respect the Code of Bordeaux!

Shi'a Wakf claims that Ezekiel's shrine is Muslim

In the week that Jews read the Biblical story of Ezekiel's valley of dry bones, there are resurgent fears that the Shi'a Wakf (religious endowment) wishes to turn the shrine of the Jewish Prophet Ezekiel into a mosque.

(Sign the petition!)

Two activists on behalf of the preservation of the shrine, at Kifl south of Baghdad, Mr Maurice Shohet from New York and Professor Shmuel Moreh, an Israeli emeritus professor of Iraqi origin, sent Point of No Return an article published on 2 April in the respected Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat in London and on the Sawt al-'Iraq site (The Voice of Iraq) in Baghdad. The article proves that the Islamic authorities consider that the tomb of the Jewish prophet Ezekiel is an exclusively Muslim shrine.

"That being the case, we find that we have to appeal to international authorities such as UNESCO, the US and European governments to redouble their efforts to save the Jewish character of Ezekiel's tomb," says Professor Moreh.

Religious authorities in Iraq are determined to convert the tomb of the Jewish prophet Ezekiel into a mosque after deleting Hebrew inscriptions, according to Al-Hayat and Sawt al-'Iraq. But a debate is still raging about the ownership of the shrine, and some Iraqis are prepared to stand up for Jewish interests.

The newspaper quotes the official in charge of the Shi'a Waqf (Endowment), Salih al-Haydari, who denies that the shrine belongs to the Jews. He says that the tomb is that of Dhu al-Kifl, a prophet mentioned in the Koran - proof enough that the site belongs to the Muslims. Recent excavations at the site, he claims, prove that it is not a Jewish site, although the findings have not yet been published!

The Shi'a Waqf in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities is currently restoring the shrine. The foundations of the site have always been at risk from flooding and its minaret is in imminent danger of collapse.

However Mrs Mariam Omran, director of the Babylon heritage site, points out that Iraqi Jews used to visit Ezekiel's shrine up until their migration in the mid-20th century. "The removal of Hebrew writings and inscriptions is part of the process of erasing the memory of religious minorities who were the original inhabitants of Iraq and other parts of the Middle East," she says.

Mrs Omran says that the authorities responsible for preserving Iraq's ancient heritage have come under pressure from Islamists to remove Hebrew words and ornamentation, in readiness for the building of a mosque over the tomb of Ezekiel.

The article points out that the tomb was not previously of interest to Muslims until 2003, when the Shi'a Waqf started campaigning for the restoration of the site.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Tourism has denied reports that the character of the shrine is being altered. The tomb is being faithfully restored using original materials and old photographs, he claims.

The Department of Antiquities and Heritage has allocated about 250 million dinars for restoration work and maintenance, which began in the summer of 2008. A spokesman claims that the Muslim prophet Dhu al-Kifl is the same person as the Jewish prophet Ezekiel, who was taken prisoner by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 589 BC.

The shrine dates back to the 14th century. The Ottoman period witnessed a struggle for control between Jews and Muslims. Most of the buildings and surrounding shops belong to Jewish families and rent is still being paid to the landlords in Israel and European countries.

Read article (in Arabic)

Please sign petition to save Ezekiel's Shrine

(Copied from Point of no Return)

See also:
* Iraqi intellectuals to inspect state of Ezekiel's tomb
* What about Ezekiel's tomb, Irina Bokova?
* Why digital mapping might save Ezekiel's tomb
* Iraq will 'entrust shrine to international authorities'
* Ezekiel's shrine has suffered 'irreversible damage'
* Save Ezekiel's tomb before it's too late
* Islamic parties plan to de-Judaise Ezekiel's shrine
* A 1910 visit to the tomb of Ezekiel
* Muslims 'planning a mosque' on the tomb of Ezekiel
and many more

A Gaza child "killed by Israel" miraculously comes to life

How propaganda forces disturb news articles. From Elderofziyon (commentary is his):

"From Ma'an, March 30:

A child was shot and killed east of the Yasser Arafat International Airport in Rafah on Tuesday, medics said.

Muawiya Hassanein, director of ambulance and emergency services in Gaza, said Muhammad Zen Ismail Al-Farmawi, 15, was shot dead near the southeasterly border by Israeli forces, while local sources who wished to remain anonymous said the death may have been an internal matter.

Hassanein said ambulances had been unable to retrieve the body because of ongoing clashes in the area, while an Israeli military spokesman said he had no knowledge of the incident.

DPA adds witnesses to those who claimed the boy was killed:

A 15-year-old Palestinian boy was killed Tuesday near the border area between the south-east Gaza Strip and Israel, witnesses and security sources said.

Witnesses said that Mohamed al-Farmawi, 15, of the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah was shot dead by Israeli troops after he approached the fence along the border with Israel, which lies east of the town.

Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein told reporters in Gaza that medical teams and International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) coordinated with the Israeli army to collect the boy's body.

Multiple witnesses and Gaza officials all agree that the boy was killed and even that his body was recovered. You can't do better than that, can you?

Apparently, you can. From Ma'an today:

Palestinian teenager reportedly killed by Israeli forces has returned home alive and well, his family said Friday.

It turns out Al-Farmawi was among 17 Palestinians detained by Egyptian forces shortly after the infiltrated the Egyptian side of Rafah via one of Gaza's numerous underground smuggling tunnels. The detainees, among them 12 minors, were returned to security forces at the border on Friday.

Relatives expressed "overwhelming happiness" that their son was unharmed during the violence, our correspondent reported from Rafah.

Just more evidence that the veracity of Gaza "witnesses" and Hamas officials is approximately zero. Not that this will stop reporters and NGOs and UN fact-finding missions from believing them the next time they lie, and the time after that, and the time after that...."

Amazing LIFE pictures of Israel 1948

I already mentioned before the LIFE archives, which you can access through Google. Today, I came across this weblog which shows (some of?) the collection LIFE has of Israel in 1948.

See:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

See also:

Israel in 1960

And I could not help, but notice the following question relating to the post:
Micky Schwarz 09.20.2009 at 10:00 am

Where are the Jewish refugees from Jerusalem today? Have they ever been recognized as refugees by the UN? And their descendants in second, third and fourth generation, are they recognized as refugees?

which got an excellent reply by Sheila Raviv 09.27.2009 at 3:48 am:

Many families still live in Jerusalem, some even returned to their former homes but are considered “settlers” and occupiers for doing so. Jewish refugees have never been recognised as such by any organisation except after WW2; not the refugees from Arab occupation of Jerusalem nor those who fled persecution from Arab countries and found refuge in Israel. At one time we refused to call them refugees since they were considered as coming home but this apparently back fired since neither their refugee status nor their homecoming were recognised!

Only 12 % Moroccan Muslims feel 'close' to Jews

Despite Morocco's long symbiosis with the Jews, the average Moroccan identifies more closely with an Afghan Muslim than a Moroccan Jew. This is one of the findings in Paul Vermeren's new book, Le Maroc de Mohammed Vl: La transition inacheve. Editions la Decouverte) summarised in Information Juive (July/August 2009). Here is a potted translation:

Morocco is something of an exception in the Arab world. It's got the largest Jewish community - 2,500 ( which is not saying much when you consider it once had 260,000 - ed). It attracts 5,000 Israeli-Moroccan visitors every year. The Moroccans are the second biggest community in Israel - after the Russians. In spite of Morocco's passionate support for the Palestinian cause, Morocco has always kept channels open to Israel. The liaison office was closed in 2000 due to the intifada, but in 2003, Mohammed Vl received the Israeli foreign minister.

Morocco knows that it suffered a tremendous loss with the rapid exodus of this hardworking but mostly very poor population. Seventy percent went to Israel, with the remainder moving to France, Canada and the US. The country is proud of its Jewish sons 'done good' abroad, be it an Israeli minister or an artist like the stand-up comic Gad Elmaleh.

The problem for Morocco's Jews has been the constant conflation in Muslim minds of 'Jew' with 'Zionist' and 'Israeli'. This confusion caused a profound unease, and hastened the departure of young Jews. They were off as soon as they had their school-leaving certificate in their pockets. Much blame lies with antisemitic textbooks, but no-one dares turn the clock back.

Several groups have tried to reverse this state of affairs - a handful of Jewish anti-Zionist and Marxist intellectuals (A. Serfaty, E Amrane El Maleh, Sion Assidon, Simon Levy) stayed on in Morocco and have been especially active. Another group of Moroccan-born French interface between the palace, business interests abroad and western allies like France,the US and Israel.

Moroccan intellectuals such as Mohammed Kenbib, Mohammed Hatmi and Jamaa Baida, together with Hebrew language specialists in Arabic studies departments and journalists, try to keep the memory of a shared past alive. Tel Quel (November 2008) published a supplement called 'The Jew within us: at the heart of Moroccan identity'.

But a survey on religious attitudes in 2007 showed the limitations of such an approach: 63 percent of all Moroccans questioned felt closer to a Muslim Afghan than to a Moroccan Jew (12 percent). The exodus of the Jews from towns and villages has given way to an antisemitism largely fed by anti-Israeli feeling. If the younger generation only rediscovered the forgotten Jewish element of their national identity might the dam be shored up - assuming that the state is willing to incorporate it in its school textbooks and syllabi.

Source: Point of No Return

Poet masks Israeli ID to win Arab prize

One name sticks out from the list of winners in the prestigious El Hizjra poetry competition intended for Dutch Arabs, which was announced last week -Tuvit Shlomi, press officer for Holland's largest Zionist group.
(...)
Although the competition is intended for Arabs, it is open to anyone. Past winners include renowned Dutch authors such as Abdelkader Benali, Mohammed Benzakour, and Rashid Novaire.
(...)
She is the daughter of a Jewish-Dutch mother and an Israeli father who immigrated to Holland. Her parents met in Israel after her mother immigrated here. The couple then moved to Holland to study and ended up staying. "Winning the competition is an opportunity for me to show that I'ma rooted in the Middle East just as much as the other applicants. That Israel is for me what Morocco is for them," said Shlomi, who had lived in Israel for a year, frequently visits the country and speaks fluent Hebrew.
(...)
The pseudonym which Shlomi selected was Wallada bint al-Mustaqfi, an opinionated 11th century Arab-Andalucian poetess and proto-feminist who spurned the hijab, kept multiple lovers and embroidered fragments of her poetry onto her clothes. "Her message is something well-worth remembering, especially today," Shlomi said.

Read the whole article

Jewish history in Jerusalem in pictures

Found this terrific old photo of Jews praying at the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) in Jerusalem (dated at 1896) in the LIFE archives.

And searching further I also found these interesting pictures:

"Arabs Sack The Holy City. Terrified young Jewish girl Rachel Levy, 7, fleeing fr. street w. burning bldgs. as the Arabs sack the Holy City after its surrender during Palestinian Civil war." - Israel, May 28, 1948

"Jewish families waiting outside their homes to be evacuated by Arab troops." - Jerusalem, June 1948.

"Rubble lying in the streets after Arab looting of Jewish homes." - Jerusalem, June 1948

You might wonder why they had to leave their homes in (East) Jerusalem in the first place and why their houses got looted and this part of the city sacked and why these pictures are not spread all over the world....
Soooo, for the sake of neutrality, I'll publish them :)

(note the caption stating Palestinain Civil War)