Palestinians Up To Their Usual Tricks

Since this is a Friday, it means that the Palestinians are up to their usual nonsense. They're busy claiming that the popular uprising that Fatah has been calling for - another intifada - isn't going to be a violent one. That's what they're saying in English, but what are they telling their minions in the mosques and in Arabic? Not the same thing.

They're trying to backtrack from what they were calling a popular uprising given that the phrasing is the usual call for violence - in past intifadas and they've been drumming that line for months now.

The Palestinians are also absolutely lying about the conditions in the West Bank - claiming that it thwarts a violent response given that Palestinians maintain civil administrative control over most of the West Bank and all of Gaza. That they can't kill more Israelis is the result of Israel taking sufficient steps to minimize the violence. And for that, the Palestinians are bitter.

Meanwhile, the Brits are fretting over Israel's forceful response to renewed kassam attacks, ignoring that Israel has every right to go after the terrorists.

And as for an item that better belongs in the April Fool's catalog, Sen. John Kerry says that Syria is committed to peace. If Syria were committed to Mideast peace, they'd stop sending weapons to Hizbullah and acting as both a proxy for Iran and pushing their own agenda in Lebanon.

Syria has supported Hizbullah for years, and Hamas terrorists make their home in Damascus. If Syria were serious about peace, they'd send the terrorists packing and quit their relationship with Iran, but we know that they're not going to do so because it isn't in Bashar Assad's interest to do so. He'd much rather continue funding the Islamic terror groups since it keeps them busy focusing on Israel than on his own incompetent and flailing regime. This is the way of the totalitarian failed regimes throughout the Middle East. They export the extremists and terror threats to focus them on Israel, rather than on the failures that are the multitude of Muslim majority countries throughout the region.

Palestinians Threatening War Over Israel's Decision To Protect Holy Sites

Islamic Jihad has joined with Hamas and Fatah in warning of terror attacks against Israel following Israel's decision to include the Cave of Machpellah among Israel's natural heritage sites. Islamic Jihad wants to go to war with Israel over this
.

The decision to declare the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb national heritage sites ahead of their renovation may lead the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to another boiling point: Abu Ahmed, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad's military wing, threatened Tuesday to launch attacks within Israel.

"If the Israelis continue to damage our mosques and holy places, we will respond within the Zionist territory," the al-Quds Brigades spokesman told Ynet. Israel's ministers, however, insist that the government will not renege on its decision.

Abu Ahmed admitted that the reinforced security coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority was preventing the Palestinian groups from operating inside Israel, but estimated that "in the coming months, or to be more exact – in the next six months, the rules of the games are expected to change and the attacks will not only be against the settlers in the West Bank, but also within the entity, as we are aware of the fact that the soft underbelly and the biggest pain are when the attacks take place deep inside the enemy's territory.

"As far as we are concerned, the annexation of the mosques to the heritage sites is another move of aggression and a move aimed at completing the Judaization of the holy sites – and all the organizations are required to respond."

Mind you that these mosques were built over Jewish holy sites that predated the Muslim presence. Yet, now Palestinians want to excise the Jewish presence and any attempts to preserve Jewish claims.

Think about it. These terrorists want to start a war with Israel because Israel wants to protect a Jewish heritage site.

Moreover, the Palestinians admit that Israel's security measures have thwarted the terrorists' attempts to engage in jihad against Israel - to murder Israelis.

This is Israel's partner in peace? Seriously?

Journalistic Malpractice From the First Word

The AP engaged in a stunning piece of journalistic malpractice today in the course of reporting on a situation in Jerusalem. The headline screams that Israeli police storm Jerusalem's holiest shrine.

Really? Which would that be? The Kotel/Western Wall, which is the holiest spot on the planet to Jews? The Church of the Holy Sepulchur, holy to Christians? Or the Dome of the Rock or al Aqsa Mosque holy to Muslims built atop and adjacent to the Western Wall?

Well, it turns out that the police went into the al Aqsa Mosque because Palestinian thugs were busy throwing stones from the vicinity of the mosque.

The report makes no mention that those who were rioting were Muslim, only that Palestinians were involved.

And the police never actually stormed the mosque.

They have no plans to do so - as the report actually indicates.

I am reprinted this crap in full so that there's a record of the malpractice and overt lies.

By RAWHI RAZIM, Associated Press Writer Rawhi Razim, Associated Press Writer – 25 mins ago

JERUSALEM – Israeli forces stormed Jerusalem's holiest shrine Sunday, firing stun grenades to disperse hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinian protesters in a fresh eruption of violence at the most volatile spot in the country.

A wall of Israeli riot police behind plexiglass shields closed in on the crowd, sending many protesters — overwhelmingly young men — running for cover into the black-domed Al-Aqsa mosque. The mosque is one part of the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

After several rounds of clashes, dozens of protesters were still holed up inside the mosque at midafternoon, occasionally opening shuttered doors to throw objects at police. The Israeli forces did not enter the building and police said they had no plans to do so. There were no serious injuries.

Israel's national police chief, David Cohen, accused a small group of Muslim extremists of trying to foment violence — echoing a charge made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two weeks ago.

"The police will act with a strong hand against anyone who disrupts order on the Temple Mount and against those incite to riot," Cohen said.

Religious and nationalist sentiment connected with the site have made it a flashpoint for violence in the past. A visit in 2000 by Ariel Sharon, then an Israeli opposition leader, helped ignite deadly clashes that escalated into violence that engulfed Israel and the Palestinian territories for several years.

The clashes were the most intense in the past month of unrest around the compound. Frictions in recent weeks have stemmed largely from rumors among Palestinians about Israeli plans to allows Jews to pray at the site or to dig under the compound and harm the Muslim buildings there. Israel has carried out numerous archaeological digs in nearby areas, but there has been no evidence to support the Palestinian claims.

In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority condemned the Israeli police action.

"Jerusalem is a red line that Israel should not cross," said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas.

Muslim leaders had urged their followers to gather at the compound early Sunday in response to what they said was a planned "Jewish conquest."

Israeli police said the protesters hurled a fire bomb and poured oil on the ground to make the forces slip. Around midday, small groups of youths were seen darting in and out of nearby alleyways in Jerusalem's Old City, throwing stones and bottles at police, who responded with more stun grenades. Many protesters masked their faces with black-and-white checkered keffiyeh headdresses.

Three police officers were lightly wounded and 15 protesters were detained. The Palestinian president's adviser on Jerusalem affairs, was arrested for alleged incitement, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. At least two Palestinians were lightly wounded.

The disputing claims to the hilltop compound in Jerusalem's Old City lie at the heart of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It is revered as the holiest site in Judaism, home to the biblical Temples.

It also is the third-holiest site in Islam, after the Saudi cities of Mecca and Medina, and believed to be the place where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. At the center of the compound is the famous golden cap of the Dome of the Rock.

The site has been under Israeli control since 1967, but it is administered by a Muslim religious body known as the Waqf. The compound is opened for several hours a day to allow tourists and Jews to visit, though only Muslims are allowed to pray there.

The Palestinians seek to make east Jerusalem — including the holy compound — the capital of a future independent state, while Netanyahu says he will never share control of the holy city.

The Gaza Strip's rival rulers, the Islamic militant group Hamas, called on Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims to rise up against Israel. "The real battle begins again," spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

So, what do we have here if we want to count the mistakes?
1) Palestinian thugs were busy engaging in riots, throwing rocks and firebombs.
2) Israeli police came to the vicinity of the Temple Mount to break up the rioters and never entered the mosque or Dome of the Rock.
3) Israeli police did not storm a shrine holy to Muslims. That directly contradicts the headline.
4) Israeli authorities have repeatedly prevented Jews from visiting the Temple Mount, which is holy to all Jews, for fears that a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount would cause rioting by Palestinians.
5) Palestinians, Islamists and Arab revisionists repeatedly try to disavow Jewish claims to historical ties to the Temple Mount, attempting to write out 3,000+ years of Jewish ties to Jerusalem in the process.
6) No where in the report do we read that Palestinian leaders condemn the attacks by Palestinians on Israelis or the use of violence. Instead, we read of the Palestinian leadership support for the rioters. That's a partner in peace?

This report, full of lies and omissions is propaganda that aids and abets Palestinian terrorism and efforts to initiate another intifada.

In fact, the Jerusalem Post reports that among those arrested by police were senior Fatah imams exhorting the thugs to violence who had been previously banned from Jerusalem for previously calling for Muslims to engage in violence against Israel.

And what precipitated this latest violence in Jerusalem? Well, it was a video showing Palestinian kids preparing for the violence:

Police said that the disturbances began when officers were accompanying a group of tourists up to the mount, and several Muslim youngsters were caught on video camera preparing to cause trouble, including gathering rocks to throw and pouring oil onto the ground to hinder the access of security forces and the visitors.

Following the discovery, police reinforcements stormed the mount and were pelted with stones and a fire bomb by the young rioters. The forces dispersed the riots using stun grenades, among other means at their disposal, and a tense calm was briefly restored to the area.

Security forces stormed the mount for the second time when Arab youths began hurling rocks just as police officers were talking to the Waqf in a bid to convince some 100 Muslim youths involved in the earlier violence to come out of the Aksa Mosque where they had holed themselves up. Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said that the officers had promised not to arrest them if they descended from the mount.

Forces didn't enter the mosque, but throughout the day, protesters inside occasionally opened the shuttered doors to throw various objects, such as chairs, at security forces. At one point, protesters shot water and a fire extinguisher toward the door.