PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY READY FOR TALKS BUT KEEPS UP “ISRAEL POISONED ARAFAT” LIBEL!
by Eli Stutz courtesy of Palestinian Media Watch

As the PA gears up for talks with Israel, a Palestinian Media Watch report reveals that it continues to promote the libel that Israel poisoned Yasser Arafat, in an attempt to establish him as a national martyr and create an environment of hate. PMW says the libel includes charges that the United States encouraged Israel to poison Arafat.

PMW Director Itamar Marcus told Israel National News, “We hear children in Palestinian-controlled regions referring to this libel regularly. It appears everywhere, and the idea is to make Arafat into a martyr. All this hate material is not just isolated name calling. It’s being built into a basic part of Palestinian identity. It is being blended together into a comprehensive attempt at delegitimizing Israel.”

Marcus had insights into the nature of the libel itself. “We believe that poisoning specifically was chosen as the charge because in the Hadith (writings on Mohammed), Mohammed is said to have been killed by poisoning, and we think that there is an attempt to raise Arafat to that tremendous status level of Mohammed,” he said.

The PLO claims Arafat was killed with the “approval and help of the United States.” Palestinian Media Watch has for years documented this recurring libel, which is spread by PA and Fatah leaders, academics and clerics. It is even disseminated through cultural events and media messages for children.

The following accusation that Israel killed Arafat, written by a Fatah member of the PLO’s Palestinian National Council, appeared this week in the official PA daily newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, as translated by PMW:

Khaled Mismar, member of the PLO’s Palestinian National Council:
“In 2003 Israel, with the support of the new American Administration of President Bush, laid oppressive siege to our late symbol, Yasser Arafat, until they got him with poison, since they weren’t able to kill him using their tanks, which besieged his home in Ramallah. The details of the story are known to everyone, young and old, among our Palestinian people and throughout the world.”
(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 10, 2010)

Nashat Al-Aqatsh, a lecturer at Bir-Zeit University, said in July while discussing the peace process:
“In the past Israel claimed no Palestinian partner existed, and they (Israel) killed the late Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat.”
[PA TV (Fatah), July 27, 2010]

Earlier this summer, in a dramatic performance at a PLO cultural festival, two young Palestinian boys lamented Arafat’s death, and compared his death at the hands of the Jews to the death of Jesus:
Boy 1 (addressing Arafat): “Father, Father the Elder (Arafat). Why did it happen this way? Why did it happen this way? Death chose you, and you did not complete the path.”

Boy 2: “Do not ask why it happened this way. Yesterday they crucified Jesus; today they poisoned the Father, the Elder (Arafat).”

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The facts are that Arafat did NOT die of poison but of “AIDS.” To associate this ungodly, immoral, murderous terrorist with our blessed Lord Yeshua is the height of blasphemy and attack upon Christians everywhere!)

PA GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS VIOLENCE AGAINST ISRAELI CITIZENS!
by Chana Ya’ar (Arutz Sheva News)

The Palestinian Authority is continuing to express its support for violence against Israeli citizens in Arabic-language media, despite English-language propaganda insisting the PA wants peace. The interview, broadcast August 6 on PA TV (Fatah), was translated by the media watchdog Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).

Senior Fatah Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub, a leading PA government official, reiterated the faction’s support for “armed struggle” in the interview. “At the sixth Fatah Conference, we affirmed the struggle in all its forms, including resistance and the armed struggle… We agreed on it unanimously, about both the movement’s aims and its principles, including the resistance and the armed struggle,” he said.

“The armed struggle, as we see it, is not an aim; it is not a hike or a pleasure cruise. Armed resistance has circumstances, considerations, and factors – whether national, regional or international. It must cause pain to the Occupation; it must be connected to a political platform,” Rajoub explained.

Former PA Prime Minister Ahmad Qureia (Abu Ala), who currently serves as the PA’s chief negotiator, said in an interview published one day earlier in the London-based Arabic daily newspaper Al Sharq Al-Awsat that “all options are open,” including armed resistance.

“Negotiators, political activity, popular activity, and armed resistance… we must continue with it,” Qureia said, adding that all of the options were viable. “And if resistance gives me benefit without costing me, yes,” that option is also a good one, he said.

Both men echoed sentiments expressed earlier in the summer by Nabil Shaath, a member of the PA Parliament, a Fatah “Commissioner of Foreign Relations” and a member of the Fatah Central Committee.

In two separate interviews with Arabic-language media in June (Al-Dustur daily newspaper in Jordan, and Al-Hayat Al-Jadida in the PA), Shaath underscored the PA’s commitment to violence against Israel.

“The Palestinian people have the right to defend itself, and it has the right to act in the way of the armed struggle. We have acted in this way for 100 years,” he said in the interview with Al-Hayat Al-Jadida. “Fatah led the armed struggle for 23 years, and Hamas adopted it for 15 years. We are proud of all of our Shahids (martyrs) and it is our right to return to the armed conflict whenever we view that as being in our people’s interest.”

CENTRAL ISRAEL OIL DISCOVERY: 1.5 BILLION BARRELS!
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu (Arutz Sheva News)

Estimates of the amount of oil in the Rosh HaAyin discovery have risen to 1.5 billion barrels, and there is more oil off-shore, but it is not yet known how much of the “black gold” can be extracted for commercial use.

The new estimate, along with the gas and oil finds off the Mediterranean Coast, raise the likelihood that Israel will be self-sufficient for energy for the next three decades and even become an exporter of gas. The amount of oil at Rosh HaAyin represents a tiny percentage of Israel’s oil consumption, but development is continuing in the area as well as in the Dead Sea.

Economists have noted that the discoveries will have a huge impact on society, creating more jobs and strengthening the shekel against world currencies.

Investors in the project at Rosh HaAyin, located on the edge of Samaria and several miles east of Tel Aviv, have been waiting anxiously for months for news about the amounts oil underground at the Megged 5 oil well. The full engineering report will not be available until mid-September, but the company has decided to adopt the recommendation in the initial report.

Oil samples were found as having high quality with very little sulfur, and the amount of water in the samples was less than 10 percent.

It added, “A reasonable estimate of the amount of oil…is 1.525 billion barrels of oil” but warned that the final estimates may be lower, with a chance that they could even be higher. The report does not include estimate of other sections in the field.

Previous reports estimated that daily production could reach 382 barrels a day. The latest company statement said it will not be known before next month the new estimated production rate, but it should reach at least 450 barrels a day.

ISRAEL, GREECE DRAW CLOSER, BIBI VISITS ATHENS!
by Maayana Miskin (Arutz Sheva News)

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu traveled to Greece today, making him the first sitting Israeli Prime Minister to visit the country. His trip follows Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou’s visit to Israel in July.

In July, Netanyahu said Israel and Greece would undergo “a major upgrade in relations” that would include closer ties in finance, tourism and technology.

During this latest meeting, Netanyahu and Papandreou will the possibility of forging defense ties, officials said.

Israel’s tighter ties with Greece come on the heels of a crisis in Israeli ties with Turkey, which has been increasingly critical of Israeli policy under the Erdogan administration. In late May several members of the pro-terror Turkish group IHH were killed in a shootout with Israeli soldiers as they attempted to break through the naval blockade on Gaza. The incident led Ankara to recall its Ambassador.

Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev said the Prime Minister’s visit reflected a “new dynamism in Israel-Greek relations.”

Many have attributed the “new dynamism” to the breakdown of ties with Turkey, saying that Israel is seeking new Mediterranean allies. Greece, which has historically had a hostile relationship with Turkey, apparently also sees an advantage in drawing a traditional Turkish ally closer.

Former Foreign Ministry Director Alon Liel gave a more simple explanation for Netanyahu’s trip. Speaking to Bloomberg.com, Liel said, “Israel is not so popular these days, so if you’re invited to go visit a full member of the European Union like Greece, why not?”

ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN TALKS LIKELY TO REMAIN STALLED OVER PRECONDITIONS!
(Israel Today News)

Just a day after headlines declared that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas was ready to succumb to American pressure and return to the negotiation table with Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned both the Palestinians and international community against setting preconditions.

Israeli government officials told The Jerusalem Post that Netanyahu remains firm in his opposition to preconditions that will prejudge the outcome of final status peace talks.

Netanyahu is believed to have tacit American support for his position, as Washington has been pressing Abbas to stop setting obstacles in the way of resuming direct negotiations.

However, the Middle East Quartet, of which the US is a part, is expected to release a statement in the coming days calling for certain preconditions to be met - in particular an indefinite extension of the Jewish settlement freeze, and a recognition that Jerusalem should be divided - before talks can start.

Naturally, the Palestinians are going with the Quartet version of how events should play out, and are in turn pressing the Obama Administration to get on board with the rest of the international community in that regard if it wants to see a resumption of negotiations.

Israel’s self-imposed 10-month settlement freeze is scheduled to expire on September 26.

US: $60 BILLION WEAPONS SALE TO SAUDIS WON’T CHANGE BALANCE!
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu (Arutz Sheva News)

Saudi Arabia’s shopping list for American-made weapons has swelled to $60 billion, double the amount estimated for the previously announced purchase of 84 F-15 warplanes.

The oil kingdom now is interested in 132 attack helicopters worth another $30 billion, but the Obama Administration insists, “The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not affect the basic military balance in the region.”

A long-standing American policy has been to maintain a military advantage to Israel, which has been under attack from Arab neighbors in six major wars and prolonged battles since the War of Independence in 1948.

The United States has accepted Israel’s request and declined to sell to Saudi Arabia warplanes equipped with advanced radar systems. But the addition of the attack helicopters has raised the question of the military balance in the Middle East nevertheless: The proposed sale of the choppers includes approximately 70 UH-60 Black Hawk attack helicopters and as many as 60 Longbow Apache attack helicopters.

The American military-industrial complex, a phrase coined by General Dwight D. Eisenhower when he completed his two-term presidency in 1960, will be kept busy with the proposed sales at a time when the American economy faces a possible “double-dip recession.”

The sale of $40 billion in military weapons to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Arab countries, considered by the United States to be allies, was proposed in the Bush administration.

Israel has succeeded in preventing the inclusion of certain advanced systems that military experts said could endanger the Jewish State if they were used against it. The proposed sales to Saudi Arabia might have been the trigger that prompted Defense Minister Ehud Barak Sunday to announce that Israel will buy the new American-made F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which would help maintain military superiority. The F-35 is far superior to the F-15, according to American defense officials. Years ago, Israel asked the U.S. not to sell F-15s to Saudi Arabia.

As far back as four weeks ago, Israel was reported to be on the verge of announcing the purchase of the F-35s, but no decision has been made, at least not publicly.

The background to the sales is Iran, whose threat to become a nuclear power and dominate the Middle East has made it a common enemy of Saudi Arabia, Israel, and although more distant, the United States.

“To preserve the American-backed regional order, Arab nations expect us to stop the Iranians, a security arrangement that has been clear since the Carter Administration,” columnist Lee Smith wrote in the current edition of Newsweek magazine. “What’s new is that if we don’t step up, the Arabs’ unlikeliest ally, Israel, may have to do it.”

BRIGITTE GABRIEL’S SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE INTELLIGENT SUMMIT IN WASHINGTON, DC!

We gather here today to share information and knowledge. Intelligence is not merely cold hard data about numerical strength or armament or disposition of military forces. The most important element of intelligence has to be understanding the mindset and intention of the enemy. The West has been wallowing in a state of ignorance and denial for thirty years as Muslim extremists perpetrated evil against innocent victims in the name of Allah.

I was ten years old when my home exploded around me, burying me under the rubble and leaving me to drink my blood to survive, as the perpetrators shouted, ‘Allah Akbar!’ My only crime was that I was a Christian living in a Christian town. At 10 years old, I learned the meaning of the word ‘infidel.’

I had a crash course in survival. Not in the Girl Scouts, but in a bomb shelter where I lived for seven years in pitch darkness, freezing cold, drinking stale water and eating grass to live. At the age of 13, I dressed in my burial clothes going to bed at night, waiting to be slaughtered. By the age of 20, I had buried most of my friends–killed by Muslims. We were not Americans living in New York or Britons in London. We were Arab Christians living in Lebanon.

As a victim of Islamic terror, I was amazed when I saw Americans waking up on September 12, 2001, and asking themselves ‘Why do they hate us?’ The psychoanalyst experts were coming up with all sort of excuses as to what did we do to offend the Muslim World. But if America and the West were paying attention to the Middle East they would not have had to ask the question. Simply put, they hate us because we are defined in their eyes by one simple word: ‘infidels.’

Under the banner of Islam ‘la, ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad - rasoulu Allah,’ (None is god except Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah) they murdered Jewish children in Israel, massacred Christians in Lebanon, killed Copts in Egypt, Assyrians in Syria, Hindus in India, and expelled almost 900,000 Jews from Muslim lands. We Middle Eastern “infidels” paid the price then. Now “infidels” worldwide are paying the price for indifference and shortsightedness.

Tolerating evil is a crime. Appeasing murderers doesn’t buy protection. It earns one disrespect and loathing in the enemy’s eyes. Yet apathy is the weapon by which the West is committing suicide. Political correctness forms the shackles around our ankles, by which Islamist’s are leading us to our demise.

America and the West are doomed to failure in this war unless they stand up and identify the real enemy: Islam. You hear about Cahaba and Salafi Islam as the only extreme form of Islam. All the other Muslims, supposedly, are wonderful moderates. Closer to the truth are the pictures of the irrational eruption of violence in reaction to the cartoons of Mohammed printed by a Danish newspaper. From burning embassies, to calls to butcher those who mock Islam, to warnings that the West be prepared for another holocaust, those pictures have given us a glimpse into the real face of the enemy. News pictures and video of these events represent a canvas of hate decorated by different nationalities who share one common ideology of hate, bigotry and intolerance derived from one source: authentic Islam. An Islam that is awakening from centuries of slumber to re-ignite its wrath against the infidel and dominate the world. An Islam which has declared ‘Intifada’ on the West.

America and the West can no longer afford to lay in their lazy state of overweight ignorance. The consequences of this mental disease are starting to attack the body, and if they don’t take the necessary steps now to control it, death will be knocking soon. If you want to understand the nature of the enemy we face, visualize a tapestry of snakes. They slither and they hiss, and they would eat each other alive, but they will unite in a hideous mass to achieve their common goal of imposing Islam on the world.

This is the ugly face of the enemy we are fighting. We are fighting a powerful ideology that is capable of altering basic human instincts. An ideology that can turn a mother into a launching pad of death. A perfect example is a recently elected Hamas official in the Palestinian Territories who raves in heavenly joy about sending her three sons to death and offering the ones who are still alive for the cause. It is an ideology that is capable of offering highly educated individuals such as doctors and lawyers far more joy in attaining death than any respect and stature life in society is ever capable of giving them.

The United States has been a prime target for radical Islamic hatred and terror. Every Friday, mosques in the Middle East ring with shrill prayers and monotonous chants calling death, destruction and damnation down on America and its people. The radical Islamist deeds have been as vile as their words. Since the Iran hostage crisis, more than three thousand Americans have died in a terror campaign almost unprecedented in its calculated cruelty along with thousands of other citizens worldwide. Even the Nazis did not turn their own children into human bombs, and then rejoice at their deaths as well the deaths of their victims. This intentional, indiscriminate and wholesale murder of innocent American citizens is justified and glorified in the name of Islam.

America cannot effectively defend itself in this war unless and until the American people understand the nature of the enemy that we face. Even after 9/11 there are those who say that we must engage our terrorist enemies, that we must address their grievances. Their grievance is our freedom of religion. Their grievance is our freedom of speech. Their grievance is our democratic process where the rule of law comes from the voices of many not that of just one prophet. It is the respect we instill in our children towards all religions. It is the equality we grant each other as human beings sharing a planet and striving to make the world a better place for all humanity. Their grievance is the kindness and respect a man shows a woman, the justice we practice as equals under the law, and the mercy we grant our enemy. Their grievance cannot be answered by an apology for who or what we are.

Our mediocre attitude of not confronting Islamic forces of bigotry and hatred wherever they raised their ugly head in the last 30 years, has empowered and strengthened our enemy to launch a full scale attack on the very freedoms we cherish in their effort to impose their values and way of life on our civilization.

If we don’t wake up and challenge our Muslim community to take action against the terrorists within it, if we don’t believe in ourselves as Americans and in the standards we should hold every patriotic American to, we are going to pay a price for our delusion. For the sake of our children and our country, we must wake up and take action. In the face of a torrent of hateful invective and terrorist murder, America’s learning curve since the Iran hostage crisis is so shallow that it is almost flat. The longer we lay supine, the more difficult it will be to stand erect.

This is all coming true. A non-patriot pro-Muslim is President of this great country. How can this happen?? APATHY, that’s how!!!

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Brigitte Gabriel is an expert on the Middle East conflict and lectures nationally and internationally on the subject. She’s the former news anchor of World News for Middle East television and the founder of AmericanCongressforTruth.com)

PA VIOLENCE CONTINUES; DIRECT TALKS REPORTED TO BE NEAR!
by Maayana Miskin (Arutz Sheva News)

Palestinian Authority Arab terrorist groups have stepped up their attacks in Judea and Samaria as pressure over Israel-PA negotiations increases and rumors swirl regarding an impending move to direct talks.

Two IDF soldiers and a civilian woman were wounded in rock-throwing attacks in the past week. In other such attacks, vehicles were damaged but the passengers escaped injury. In one such case, a driver escaped unscathed despite being targeted by a barrage of Molotov cocktails; the vehicle was damaged.

PA officials recently admitted that Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is under intense pressure to agree to direct negotiations with Israel. Abbas has demanded that Israel freeze construction east of the 1949 armistice line and agree to use the line as the base for negotiations on the borders of a PA state. Only when Israel concedes will the PA begin talks, he says.

This week, two reports appeared to suggest that Israel is under pressure to agree to Abbas’s demands. On Friday, the London-based Arabic daily Al-Hayyat reported that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has agreed to give Abbas 90% of Judea and Samaria for the establishment of a PA state, and to forcibly expel the roughly 50,000 Jews living in the area.

Netanyahu’s office has denied the report. Netanyahu also reportedly told US envoy George Mitchell on Wednesday that he cannot accept the PA’s latest demand - namely, that direct talks be renewed on the basis of a Quartet declaration that the Palestinian State be based on the pre-1967 borders. The Prime Minister reportedly said that the talks should simply begin without any pre-conditions.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Abbas may agree to direct talks if Netanyahu agrees to a PA state with borders based on the 1949 armistice line – an agreement that would leave the PA with all of Judea and Samaria and much of Jerusalem, including the Old City and other historically Jewish neighborhoods such as Shiloach (Silwan) and Shimon Hatzaddik.

The Reuters report was based on a letter written by European Union representative Catherine Ashton. Ashton allegedly said that Abbas would agree to direct talks next week if Israel gives in to his demand, and called on the international Quartet to provide Abbas with support.

Abbas has stated for some time that he is prepared to move to direct talks if Israel gives in to his demand for control over all areas that were under Jordanian control between 1949 and 1967.

RAMADAN is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is considered to be the month of fasting. Muslims are to refrain from eating, drinking, and sexual activity from dawn until sunset. Muslims believe that fasting teaches them about patience, humility, and spirituality.

Muslims are encouraged to pray more than usual during this month and to ask forgiveness from Allah (the name of their god) for past sins and to purify themselves through self-restraint and good works.

Muslims believe that the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the prophet Muhammad at Ramadan, and all Muslims are encouraged to read through the entire Quran during this month.

A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE: We believe that only the true God, the LORD GOD of Israel and His Messiah, our blessed LORD YESHUA, can forgive the sins of any person. Yeshua (Jesus) died for our sins - paid for them with His own blood, and we are saved from sin, death, and hell, by believing that He is the Son of God, the Savior of the world, and the only One Who can save us! Yeshua arose from the dead on the third day after His death, and ascended into heaven and will soon return for those who believe in Him. John 14:6 quotes Him when He said: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” Acts 4:12 teaches that there is no salvation in any other Person or Name!
Bible-believing Christians have a great desire and passion to present the true gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the Muslims of this world.

IRAN WARNS AGAINST ISRAELI INVASION OF LEBANON!
(Arutz Sheva News)

Iran warns that if Israel were to invade Lebanon, it would be counter-attacked by several countries in the region. Iran’s Fars News Agency reported that Ramin Mehman-Parast, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, issued the warning yesterday, saying that while it’s unlikely that Israel will invade Lebanon, the “Zionist regime would be slapped hard in the face by the regional states if it dares to attack Lebanon again.”

“What the Zionist regime (Israel) should understand well… is that an aggression against any country in the region or against any Muslim nation in the region will cause the strong reaction of all the regional countries,” said Mehman-Parast, when asked about how Iran would react were Israel to attack Lebanon. “Given the regional countries’ preparedness and vigilance, they won’t allow the Zionist regime and its supporters to make a move in this regard.”

The possibility of further clashes between Israel and Lebanon was heightened last week, after Lebanese snipers shot and killed an Israeli officer along the northern border and wounded a second officer, during routine IDF tree-clearing work on the Israeli side of the border. Israeli soldiers returned fire, killing three Lebanese soldiers and a journalist who had been invited to observe the pre-planned Lebanese army ambush.

But the Arabic and Muslim media has been quick to blame Israel for the incident, reversing the chronology of the events and suggesting that the assault was due to an Israeli incursion. The Fars News Agency recalled the events as follows: “…Israeli forces launched several rockets targeting a Lebanese army position on the country’s southern border, killing at least three Lebanese soldiers. One Israeli officer was also killed in the resulting firefights, while several other Lebanese and Israeli soldiers were injured. According to a Lebanese army spokesman, the violence broke out after Israeli soldiers entered Lebanon, attempting to uproot a tree on the Lebanese side of the border.”

The Lebanese Daily Star reported that Lebanese Foreign Minister Ali Shami applauded Iran’s support of Lebanon against “Israeli aggression.” Ali Shami, who was in Tehran over the weekend, said Lebanon was grateful for the “material and moral support of Iran against the Zionist regime.”

Shami met with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili. The Star reported that Jalili said, “The Lebanese Army, which has the backing of the people and the resistance, will not let the Zionist regime cut even one tree in Lebanon.”

Iraninan President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Shami that a united Arab front against Israel symbolized by a tripartite summit in Beirut has “foiled plots of the enemy Zionist regime. Their presence represented solidarity and unity in the entire region and promoted the nation’s front against the Zionist regime and its sponsors.”

According to Shami, Lebanon is planning to complain to the the UN Security Council and General Assembly about alleged Israeli spying in Lebanon. “The report is now ready,” he said.