BUSH OKAY'S MORE, EASIER MONEY FOR P.A.

Bush waives direct transfer ban for P.A. (JTA)
President Bush waived congressional restrictions to directly transfer $150 million to the Palestinian Authority.

The transfer ordered Friday is part of a package of more than $500 million in Palestinian assistance earmarked for use this year. Most of the money is project based and to be funneled through the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency and nongovernmental organizations.

Such transfers are subject to relatively light congressional oversight. However, Congress in recent years has banned direct transfers of cash because of fears that the money could end up in terrorist hands and because of concerns about P.A. corruption. Much of the pro-Israel community also strongly opposes direct transfers.

The Bush administration says the Palestinian Authority needs the cash to leverage loans at a time that it is confronting extremists and pursuing peace talks with Israel.

A U.S. official told the JTA that the assistance was "critical" and added that it will "help avert a serious and immediate financial crisis for the P.A., ensure its continued operation, and further the United States’ longstanding and bipartisan goal of a just and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians."

CHUTZPAH ALERT

Iran Urges UN to Condemn Israel - Edith M. Lederer
Iran urged the UN Security Council on Wednesday to condemn Israel over Prime Minister Olmert's Jan. 14 warning that all options were on the table when it comes to keeping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Israeli UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman responded: "For a country whose leader describes a member state of the United Nations as a dirty microbe and a savage animal, to complain about others' statements is the height of hypocrisy," noting this was "coming from a country which is the world's major sponsor and exporter of terror." (AP)

Palestinians to report Israeli roadmap violations to US: official
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - The Palestinians will present monthly reports to the US listing any Israeli violations of the international roadmap peace blueprint, prime minister Salam Fayyad said on Wednesday.

The reports will also list measures taken by the Palestinian Authority to comply with the peace plan, he told journalists in Ramallah.

PALI LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL: CONCESSIONS = TREASON

PLC passes law to make any concessions on J’lem illegal. (JPost)
The Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council Thursday passed a law that makes any concessions on Jerusalem illegal. The law, which was approved by first reading, also defines such concessions as a crime of high treason.

Presented by Hamas legislator Ahmed Abu Halbiyeh on behalf of two parliamentary committees - the Judicial Committee and the Committee for Jerusalem Affairs, the law is expected to pass in second and third readings in the coming days.

The PLC session was boycotted by many members of the rival Fatah faction in protest against Hamas’s violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last June. However, many Fatah legislators have made it known that they too support the law, which states that Jerusalem is a Palestinian, Arab and Islamic city and that it is totally forbidden to give up or conduct negotiations about any part of the city.

According to the law, anyone who violates the law would be prosecuted as a traitor.

HITLER: HERO OF THE PALESTINIANS

Hitler – Hero of "Voice of Palestine" contest (PMW)
Winner who guesses "Hitler" - wins 600 Shekel
Hitler's military victories cited in detail;
Holocaust is not a part of Hitler's history

"His golden year was 1940, when his armies invaded Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Holland, and Belgium and defeated France ... By mid 1942, his country controlled the largest land area in Europe… He refused to surrender and continued to fight for two more years, but, his bitter end came in the spring of 1945 when he took his own life…. Who is he?"
[From Voice of Palestine radio contest, Nov. 27, 2007]

Introduction:

This text is just part of the official Palestinian radio Ramadan quiz that was rebroadcast this past week, whose hero was Hitler. The full broadcast presents Hitler heroically, detailing his 2 Medals' of Honor in World War 1, his rise to power, his launching of World War 2 and specifies country after country that he conquered. His victories in 1940 are coined "his golden year", while his defeat and death are coined: "his bitter end."

Not surprisingly, though citing his victories and "bitter" fall in great detail, the Holocaust is not mentioned. This is consistent with Palestinian education in general which erases the Holocaust from history. See recent full PMW report and bulletin on new 12th grade Palestinian history schoolbook, in which many pages are dedicated to the history of World War 2 and even to Nazi racism, but neither Jews nor the Holocaust are mentioned.

Admiration of Hitler in the Palestinian Authority

It may be surprising to Western observers to see official Palestinian radio presenting Hitler heroically. But it is important to understand that the revulsion of Hitler expected in the West is not true in Palestinian society. Palestinians can be found who are named "Hitler" as a first name: Hitler Salah [Al Hayat Al Jadida (Fatah), Sept. 28, 2005], Hitler Abu-Alrab [Al Hayat Al Jadida (Fatah), Jan. 27, 2005], Hitler Mahmud Abu-Libda [Al Hayat Al Jadida (Fatah), Dec.18, 2000.] Articles have appeared in both Fatah and Hamas newspapers which demonstrate Hitler's admired status.

The following is the full text of the "Voice of Palestine" contest in which guessing Hitler's name will win a prize of 600 Shekel, followed by a selection of past articles from both Fatah and Hamas newspapers that have demonstrate Hitler's admired status.

Voice of Palestine – official Palestinian Authority radio, Nov. 27, 2007

"Dear listeners, welcome to the 20th session of the Ramadan Educational Quiz."
[Guess the unknown person -the correct answer is "Hitler"- editor]
"He was a leader and politician, born in 1889 in Braunau, Austria.
He served in the German army during the First World War, was wounded in service and awarded two Medals of Honor.
He joined a small right-wing party in Munich and became the head of this party without a struggle within two years.
In 1923, he attempted to execute a coup but failed. He was arrested, imprisoned and released after serving a year in prison.
In 1933 he became his country’s Chancellor, and used the state's mechanisms to crush his political opponents.
He earned his popularity by succeeding to lower unemployment rates and to generate an economic recovery in his country. Later he prepared his country for the Second World War.
His golden year was 1940, when his armies invaded Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Holland, and Belgium and defeated France in June 1940.
That year Britain managed to withstand the attacks of his Air Force and he missed the victory over Britain.
His armies conquered Greece and Yugoslavia in 1941.
That year he violated the non-belligerency treaty and attacked Russia. His armies took control of vast Soviet areas.
His armies were defeated in Stalingrad.
He declared war on the United States in 1941. By mid 1942, his country controlled the largest land area in Europe and large parts of North Africa.
The turning point of the war occurred late in 1942, when his forces were defeated in the Battle of Al-Alamein.
He refused to surrender and continued to fight for two more years, but, his bitter end came in the spring of 1945 when he took his own life, and his country surrendered a week later. Who is he?
Answers should be sent to the address: Ramallah … Voice of Palestine, Division of Program [Development], Ramadan [Trivia] Quiz…the first prize is 600 NIS."

PMW Archives:
Admiration of Hitler in the Palestinian Authority newspapers

A Palestinian newspaper chronicled with pride the ways in which different foreign leaders singled out the Palestinians as examples of ideal revolutionaries. The first leader cited for praising the Palestinians was Adolf Hitler:

"Adolf Hitler, while exciting the Germans of the Sudetenland - the Sudetenland is a German province that the Allies had annexed to Czechoslovakia after the First World War - told them in his broadcasts: Look at what the Palestinian revolutionaries are doing to Great Britain!!" [Al-Rissala (Hamas Weekly), May 18, 2006]

This phenomenon of Palestinians being named after Hitler, cited above, was explained in an article in the official Palestinian Authority daily praising the rewriting of history and the doing of "justice" to Hitler:

"Even Adolf Hitler, who after the fall of Nazi Germany turned into a political horror for most of the writers and artists, during the last decades has started to return himself to his part of the picture. There are some in Britain who defended Hitler and tried to do justice for him. There are elderly people, among them Arabs, who still carry the name Hitler since their fathers, who were charmed by him, linked them [their children] with his name." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), April 13, 2000]

One article explained the phenomenon of naming Palestinians after admired foreign leaders - such as Napoleon and the Nazi General Rommel:

"Sometimes parents name their children with foreign names, due to the father's admiration to a foreign personality. This is the source of the names: Rommel [famous Nazi General] and Napoleon." [Al-Ayyam, November 15, 2001 "Woman's Voice" supplement.]

The admiration for Hitler is consistent with the status of Mein Kampf, which a PA daily cited as a book on the best sellers' list.
[Al Hayat Al Jadida (Fatah), Sept. 2, 1999].

A contributing factor to this admiration may be the history of the Hitler - Arab alliance during World War 2. The Arab leader in British Palestine, the Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, was actively allied with Hitler. The numerous meetings between the Mufti and Hitler are well documented.

Finally, the PA daily published an interview with an elderly Lebanese which described the man's professed friendship with Hitler, as well as his pride in fighting for Hitler: And whereas this is a personal account whose historical accuracy is not important, what is significant is the positive, even proud attitude about his friendship with Hitler, that is being expressed so routinely.

Interview with Sheikh Ali Hussain Abu-Ibrahim, a Palestinian resident of Lebanon who claims he is 116 years old:

"Question: What are the important events in your life that left the biggest impression?
Answer: The first was the Hitler event. I met him in Jerusalem in one of the Turkish Army camps, and the friendship between us was very tight. At the time I was a sergeant while Hitler was a simple private. The relationship between us tightened even more once Turkey entered the war together with Germany. The second event was when I participated [with the Nazi army] in entering France and conquering it. I was in charge of the cannon that shelled Paris, which had an active influence on the fall of the French capital and its conquest without any notable resistance. Hitler congratulated me on this shelling and its consequences… As an artillery officer I took part in many operations against the English and France, until the end of the Second World-War …"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), May 12, 2003.]

Clearly, the name Hitler does not have the stigma in PA society that it has in the West. Indeed, not only the Hamas daily, but the Fatah controlled PA dailies as well, have written in favorable tones about Hitler. To some Palestinians the man and his name are sources of admiration.

PALI POLICE BEHIND TERROR ATTACK

Palestinian police behind last week's terror attack (JPost)
Palestinian policemen were behind the shooting attack last week which killed Ido Zoldan, a 29-year-old father of two from the settlement of Shavei Shomron, the IDF and Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) revealed Sunday night.

Zoldan was killed last Monday night - the day before the Annapolis summit began - when shots were fired at his car as he drove past the Palestinian village of al-Punduk.

The three members of the cell were Palestinian policemen and members of the Palestinian National Security Force, in which Israel and the United States have been investing as part of the international effort to strengthen Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah government.

Defense officials said the weapon used in the attack had not been supplied to the Palestinians by Israel since it did not belong to the official Palestinian security forces. The officials said, however, that the IDF expected the political echelon to rethink its policy of strengthening Abbas in light of the fact that his policemen were involved in terrorism.

The day after the attack, acting on intelligence, IDF soldiers and Shin Bet operatives raided the village of Kfar Kadum, near al-Pundak and arrested Daper Barham and Abdullah Barahm, both 22-year-old Palestinian policemen and Fatah members. The third suspect, Fadi Jama, also a policeman, was in Palestinian Police custody.

During their interrogation, the two confessed their involvement in the attack and handed over the weapon used in the shooting to the Shin Bet. They said they had parked their car on the side of the road and waited for an Israeli car to pass by. Once Zoldan's car appeared, they merged onto the road, passed him, and opened fire. They told their interrogators that they decided to carry out the attack to "scare settlers."

PALI POLICE KILL ANTI-PEACE PROTESTOR

Palestinian killed as police break up West Bank rallies.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) - Palestinian police killed one man in the West Bank on Tuesday as it broke up rallies against a US peace meeting, while Hamas supporters in Gaza rallied in force against the conference.

Palestinian security forces fired into the air and pummelled demonstrators with batons as they dispersed protests throughout the occupied West Bank against the meeting opening in the US city of Annapolis.

Riot police and other security forces moved in on members of the Hezb al-Tahrir (Islamic Liberation Party) as soon as they left mosques in the cities of Ramallah, Nablus and Hebron aiming to march in demonstrations.

In Hebron, 36-year-old Hisham Baradi died in hospital of a gunshot wound received in the melee. The circumstances surrounding the shooting were not immediately clear. At least 35 other people were wounded.

HERE'S A VIDEO OF PALESTINIANS RALLYING AGAINST PEACE WITH ISRAEL:

OLMERT TO SUPPLY P.A. WITH ARMED VEHICLES

PM agrees to supply of 50 armored vehicles to PA security

Paves way for Russian shipment deal; IDF and Shin Bet oppose move out of concern vehicles might reach Hamas or other violent groups. (JPost)

PA TV SINGS TO ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION

PA TV Sings to Israel's Destruction - Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook (Palestinian Media Watch)
While the PA announces in English its demand for a two-state solution, in Arabic it continues to define all of Israel as "Palestine," and to promise Israel's destruction. A new video clip, broadcast numerous times daily since it first appeared on Fatah-controlled TV last week, passionately promises that every Israeli city will be "liberated," including Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, Beersheba and Tiberias.

SEE ALSO: TV Channel Affiliated with Lebanese Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Beri in Show on Protocols of the Elders of Zion: Jews Use Drug Trafficking to Control World, Subjugate Other Nations (MEMRI)

U.S. DEMANDS ABBAS APPOINT TERRORIST WHO MURDERED AMERICANS AS DEPUTY

Abbas refuses to name Dahlan his deputy (JPost)
The Bush administration is exerting heavy pressure on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to appoint senior Fatah figure Muhammad Dahlan as his deputy, sources in Ramallah said Sunday.

According to the sources, Abbas has rejected the US demand, triggering a crisis with Washington. They said tensions between Abbas and Dahlan had escalated over the past few weeks after the latter criticized the PA president's performance.

Sources close to Abbas told the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masriyoon that Dahlan had been inciting Fatah cadres in the West Bank and Gaza Strip against Abbas.

They said the Egyptian government was now trying to prevent further deterioration. Egyptian mediators, they added, were expected to visit Ramallah soon to discuss ways of resolving the crisis.

Dahlan, a former Fatah security commander in the Gaza Strip, has come under criticism from several of the movement's leaders for failing to prevent the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip last June.

According to the leaders, Dahlan and his followers in the Strip had received millions of dollars and weapons from the US and other countries to undermine Hamas before the takeover - a claim Dahlan has strongly denied.

AS YOU CAN READ HERE, DAHLAN AND HIS COHORTS ARE SUSPECTS IN SEVERAL TERRORIST ATTACKS, INCLUDING ONE AGAINST AN AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC CONVOY.

P.A. CLOSES HAMAS CHARITIES

Tackling Hamas, PA to shut down Islamic charitable organizations (JPost)
In a move aimed at undermining Hamas, the Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah decided Thursday to dismantle all Islamic charitable organizations in the West Bank.

Hamas condemned the decision as a "declaration of war" on the needy and warned that thousands of families would be affected.

In a separate development Thursday, the PA security forces arrested Sheikh Hussam Harb, a senior Hamas leader in the West Bank who was recently released from Israeli prison. Harb was arrested when he went to visit Hamas prisoners who are being held in a PA jail in Nablus.

The charities that are being targeted are known as zakah committees. In Islam, zakah (purify) is a portion of one's wealth that must be given to the poor or to other specified purposes. The payment of zakah is a way of purifying one's wealth and saving oneself from greed and selfishness. PA officials said Hamas has been using the zakah committees as a means of transferring funds to its supporters in the West Bank.

PA ENVISIONS A WORLD WITHOUT ISRAEL

PA Envisions a World Without Israel (LGF)
While Mahmoud Abbas continues making demands, and Condi Rice continues pressuring Israel to accept them, the mask came off again on Palestinian Authority television.


A clip broadcast by Fatah-controlled Palestinian television this week shows a map in which Israel is painted in the colors of the Palestinian flag, symbolizing Israel turned into a Palestinian state.

The description of all the state of Israel as "Palestine" is not coincidental and is part of a formal educational approach throughout the Palestinian Authority. This uniform message of a world without Israel is repeated in school books, children's programs, crossword puzzles, video clips, formal symbols, school and street names, etc. The picture painted for the Palestinian population, both verbally and visually, is of a world without Israel.

PALI SECURITY FORCES KILL 5 YEAR OLD AT CHECKPOINT

PA forces shoot dead two Palestinians, including 5-year-old boy (Haaretz)
Palestinian Authority security forces shot dead two Palestinians on Saturday, including a five-year-old boy, in the West Bank city of Qalqilyah. According to local resident, security forces opened fire after a 22-year-old man refused to stop at a PA roadblock in the city. The 22-year-old man was killed, as was five-year-old Yazid Obid.

IMAGINE THE MEDIA UPROAR IF ISRAEL HAD DONE THIS.

P.A. NEWSPAPER: "ALLAH, KILL AMERICANS"

Palestinians: Allah, Kill Americans by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook (PMW)
The Palestinian Authority (Fatah) daily newspaper’s political cartoon today illustrated a prayer for the killing of Americans. A Muslim is shown kneeling in prayer facing a US B-2 Stealth Bomber. The words of his prayer are encased in missiles aimed at Americans:

"Allah, scatter them!”

“And turn their wives into widows!”

“And turn their children into orphans!”

“And give us victory over them!”

This curse for the death of Americans is a special prayer for Al-Qadr Night (the 27 th day of Ramadan, noted in the corner of the cartoon), when Muslims customarily pray in mosques throughout the night.

This continues the identification by the PA and Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction with those who fight and kill Americans. The most recently published 12 th grade PA schoolbooks, for example, call those who fight American soldiers in Iraq "brave resistance.”

P.A. SEIZES ROCKETS NEAR JERUSALEM

Report: PA Seizes Rockets Near Jerusalem - Ali Waked (Ynet News)
Palestinian security forces on Wednesday uncovered two rockets ready to be launched in the town of Beit Jala near Jerusalem, the Ma'an news agency reported. A large amount of explosives were also discovered. The commander of the Palestinian security forces in Bethlehem said the rockets were a meter-and-a-half long and carried the words "Allah hu akbar."

P.A. CELEBRATES 9/11

Palestinian Authority celebrates 9-11 terror attacks (PMW)
The Palestinian Authority continues a long tradition of celebrating the 2001 World Trade Center terror attacks by publishing cartoons in its official daily that glorify Osama Bin Laden and the attacks, or mock the suffering of the U.S. This year's cartoon shows Bin Laden smiling while making the “V” for victory sign with two fingers in the shape of the burning Twin Towers. The PA daily that published the cartoon, Al Hayat Al Jadida, is owned by the PA and controlled by the office of Mahmoud Abbas. The only text on this cartoon is "Exclusive to Al Hayat Al Jadida," which means it was prepared specifically for the official Palestinian Authority daily.

The Palestinian Authority has a long history of celebrating the 9-11 terror. The world was shocked by televised scenes of Palestinians celebrating the attacks in the streets the day they took place. A December 2005 poll found that "65% of Palestinians support(ed) Al Qaeda actions in the USA and Europe.” (Fafo – Institute for Applied International Studies – Norway. Survey Dec. 22, 2005).

HERE'S ONE OF THE MANY OFFENSIVE CARTOONS AT THE LINK:

E.U. RESUMES DIRECT FINANCIAL AID TO P.A.

EU Resumes Direct Financial Aid to PA (DPA/Ha'aretz)
The EU has resumed direct financial aid to the Palestinian government of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, EU Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner confirmed Saturday.

P.A. POLICE RESCUE IDF OFFICER LOST IN JENIN

PA Police Rescue IDF Officer Lost in Jenin - Efrat Weiss
Palestinian police officers came to the rescue and saved an IDF officer who accidentally entered Jenin on Monday and was attacked by an angry crowd. A senior Central Command officials said that "the officer owes his life to the Palestinian security organizations." The senior Central Command officials defined the incident as "extremely severe." According to them, what happened in Jenin served as proof that the cooperation between Israeli and Palestinian security forces had been reinforced recently. (Ynet News)

THIS IS CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM. COMPARE THIS TO THE TIME 7 YEARS AGO WHEN ISRAELI SOLDIERS MISTAKENLY ENTERED A PALESTINIAN TOWN (RAMALLAH) ... AND WERE LYNCHED IN A PALESTINIAN POLICE STATION.

FATAH P.A. LEGISLATOR SENT TEL AVIV SUICIDE BOMBER

Fatah Legislator Convicted as Accomplice in Tel Aviv Suicide Bombing - Ali Waked
Jamal Tirawi, a Fatah member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was convicted on Wednesday of having been an accomplice in a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv in March 2002 in which an Israeli woman, Rachel Tcherkhi, was killed. According to the indictment, the suicide bomber that blew himself up in a coffee shop in the city made his way to Israel from Tirawi's Nablus home. Tirawi is also accused of recruiting potential suicide bombers. (Ynet News)

Fatah PA legislator sent Tel Aviv "suicide" bomber (JNW)
A member of Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction of the PLO, and a former legislator in the PA parliament, was found guilty Wednesday of sending a "suicide" bomber to Tel Aviv in 2002.

The attacker blew himself up in a coffee shop in the coastal city, killing Rachel Tcherkhi, an Israeli woman.

Jamal Tirawi was convicted of sending the bomber and thus of deliberately murdering Tcherki.

Israeli and western politicians insist that Abbas and Fatah are "moderates" compared to the Hamas and Palestine Islamic Jihad.

But Fatah members have carried out more terrorist attacks and killed and maimed more Jews than any other "Palestinian" group.

And they remain as committed to Israel's eventual and complete annihilation as does Hamas.

PA AMENDS PLATFORM

'Armed resistance' excluded from PA gov't platform for first time (Haaretz)
The Palestinian Authority government published its platform on Friday, which for the first time does not include a reference to armed struggle against Israel. Nonetheless, the government stressed that it is committed to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' call for a "popular struggle against the Israeli occupation."

Israel welcomed on Friday remarks by ministers that Palestinian Prime Miniser Salam Fayad's government program, yet to be presented to parliament, does not feature a commitment to "armed resistance" - unlike those of its Hamas-led predecessors.

The Arabic word muqawma, which literally means resistance and has appeared in all prior PA governments' platform, is generally understood to mean armed struggle. The term "popular struggle" includes, among other things, demonstrations and political activism.

Hamas rejected the plan, and vowed to continue the armed struggle against Israel, the radio said. According to the platform, Fayad's government will seek to establish a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 boundaries with Jerusalem as its capital, as well as a just and agreed solution to the Palestinian refugee problem on the basis of United Nations resolutions.

AID MONEY GOES TO PAY HAMAS LEADER

P.A. pays Haniyeh (JTA)
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was among those whose salaries were paid this month by the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian Authority began paying government salaries for the first time in 15 months, and while 19,000 rank-and-file Hamas members were excluded from the payments, Hamas parliamentarians received their salaries, Israel Radio reported.

The payments were made possible by the end of the Western-led boycott of the Hamas-ruled Palestinian Authority following the dissolution of the Hamas-led government and the appointment of a new Fatah-led government last month.

Haniyeh, the elected P.A. prime minister, was unilaterally dismissed last month by President Mahmoud Abbas following Hamas’ violent takeover of the Gaza Strip. Haniyeh condemned the decision to exclude Hamas-appointed employees from those being paid, saying it violated “the minimal rights of Palestinian citizens.”