The Last Exile

The only people who would probably be surprised by this Ynet News report is probably the Obama Administration and the Euroweiners who have invested (literally) so much in the bona fides of Mahmoud Abbas. If I were to summarize the Palestinian position it would be thus -the so-called Palestinian moderates are afraid they will lose to the ‘radicals’ so they want the election post-poned. Ynet News.

The Fatah movement is considering filing an appeal with the Elections Committee and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in an effort to postpone the local elections in the Palestinian Authority due to internal disagreement and division within the faction. The Palestinians consider next month’s elections crucial, as they symbolize another important step on the way to building the institutions of the Palestinian state, as President Salam Fayyad described them.

Fatah hasn’t been able to reach an agreement over the candidates for many of the municipalities and councils, and in many places a list of senior Fatah officials is expected to run against the movement’s official list. The Palestinian Central Committee has failed in their efforts to reconcile the camps, and some fear Fatah’s image might significantly be jeopardized over the internal rift.

The Fatah has also failed to ward off pressures mounted by the large local clans. The clans, who have witnessed their influence decline both on the national and governmental levels, consequently held on to the local authorities with all their power. “The clans in Hebron have made it clear that they are not interested in factional elections, but rather in the division of the council according to a clan hierarchy,” a Fatah source told Ynet.
“People in the clans told us: ‘Fatah, Hamas, we don’t care about any of these. We want our own people regardless of their party affiliation,” the source said, adding, “No one so far has had the courage to confront the clans, and according to estimations the elections in Hebron will be clan-based and not according to party distribution.”

Another matter that is pushing the Fatah to postpone elections is the fear that Hamas supporters will back Fatah opponents, despite Hamas’ official announcement that it will boycott the elections.  ”We are concerned that in many places, especially where Fatah is weak and divided, the Hamas will tell its supporters to vote for our opponents, which will ensure Fatah’s defeat in the elections,” said the source.

The peace process is officially dead in spite of any indirect or even direct negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians. If Abbas cannot even garnish enough support for his party membership within local councils then there simply is no viable Palestinian leader who can step up to the plate and negotiate on the behalf of the Palestinian people with the Israeli state. Nor will there be a viable Palestinian leader as long as the Americans and Europeans continue to place all their bets on a man who lacks support among his own base.

I have no idea if this report is true, in fact, Palestinian officials from the security branch have issued denials but its just too funny not to post. Ynet News

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday discovered to his astonishment that he was without a bodyguard and even his drivers were absent. He was therefore compelled to drive his granddaughter, who wasn’t feeling well, to the Red Crescent clinic by himself, according to the al-Arabiya television network. As a result, 250 members of the presidential guard were arrested.

The security detail could have been moonlighting as inspectors looting inspecting stores looking for Israeli produced goods. My next best guest would be to suggest they were either moonlighting for Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

Despite the semi-rosie spin Ha’aretz poses with suggestions that Fayyad’s popularity is growing significantly the truth remains he’s not Fatah or PLO. If he becomes too much of a threat to either Fatah or the PLO I doubt he will be allowed to remain and suspect he only owes his life as long as he can get the Americans to open their pockets – deeply. Ha’aretz:

The long-simmering tense relations between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are flaring up again after Abbas struck down a plan by Fayyad to declare Palestinian statehood unilaterally in summer 2011.

In an interview with Channel 2 on Monday, Abbas said that a Palestinian declaration of statehood – a scenario that provokes great concern in Israel – is not on the agenda.

Abbas and Fayyad, longtime political rivals, have maintained a reasonable working relationship. Both men are careful not to criticize one another or contradict the other’s statements in public.
However, sources in Ramallah said yesterday that their relations hit a rough patch following Fayyad’s interview with Haaretz earlier this month in which he hinted that the PA would unilaterally declare a state in August 2011 if peace talks with Israel fail.

Abbas and his aides were miffed at what they perceive as Fayyad’s attempt to circumvent his authority and dictate an agenda to the president and the other institutions of the Palestine Liberation Organization. As prime minister, Fayyad is no more than the head of a government that is subject to the authority of the president.

Daniel Pipes:

“The stupidest program the U.S. government has ever undertaken” – last year that’s what I called American efforts to improve the Palestinian Authority (PA) military force. Slightly hyperbolic, yes, but the description fits because those efforts enhance the fighting power of enemies of the United States and its Israeli ally.

Go read the ‘why’ and just so all you Canadians don’t get too smug – the current Canadian government is just as butt stupid for expanding and continuing to fund Operation Proteus which is the Canadian Forces helping to train the Palestinian Authority ’security forces’ along side US General Dayton’s group.

h/tip: Sassywire.

And no it has nothing to do with any Israeli action besides the fact that Israelis exist. Ha’aretz is reporting that the Palestinian Authority is seeking to ‘ban’ Palestinians from working for Israelis in the disputed territories:

The Palestinian Authority is moving to prevent Palestinian workers from taking jobs in settlements, as officials Ramallah repeatedly declare their refusal to resume direct negotiations until all Israeli construction in the West Bank is halted.

Palestinians vehemently oppose the settlements Israel has built on land they want for a future state. But with unemployment high in the West Bank, thousands of Palestinians work in settlements. Palestinians have been key to building homes for settlers and also work in factories. Economics Minister Hassan Abu Libda says he is drafting a law that will ban Palestinians from taking such jobs, which he expects to take effect this month.

More or less this would see a complete collapse of the Palestinian economy except Palestinian legislators have built in a ‘caveat’.

The Palestinian Authority will try to find alternatives for those currently working in settlements, but they will not be forced to leave, Abu Libda said. Palestinians working in settlements in the future would be breaking the law, Libda said, but would not discuss penalties.

So current ‘jobs’ are okay but not future ones and a ‘ban’ on labour also extends to ‘Israeli’ (code for Jewish) goods as well.

The legislation also bans the sale of West Bank settlement products in
Palestinian shops, he said. He estimated the estimate of annual sales of
settlement goods to Palestinian businesses at between $200 million to $500 million .

In recent months, Palestinian security forces have begun intercepting shipments of settlement goods to West Bank markets, he said, but would not say how much merchandise has been confiscated. The Palestinian Authority announced earlier this year that it would deposit $150,000 every month into a new fund whose goal is to remove all products made in West Bank settlements from the Palestinian market. The PA Economics Ministry spearheaded the creation of the fund, which it said aims to “cleanse the Palestinian market of products from the settlements and encourage local products.”

All of which is the Palestinian right to do whatever – although it does start pushing the concept of ‘peaceful co-existence’ into the realm of existential fantasy. Imagine the hoopla if Israel decided to draft legislation banning all forms of ‘Palestinian labour or products’ – Under five seconds would be my guessitmate for all the usual progressives screaming ‘racist’ and denouncing Israel but turnabout is fair play.

There was rioting at the Temple Mound in Jerusalem today and by all accounts it was the most violent seen for some time. Over 60 Palestinians were injured as well as over 20 Israeli police officers and an unknown number of Israelis. Ynet News:

The Jerusalem Police view Friday’s clashes in Jerusalem’s Old City, which left 20 policemen and 60 Palestinians injured, as extremely severe. Police sources told Ynet on Friday evening that “the police will judge the rioters severely and take a firm hand against any attempt to cause disturbances at the Temple Mount complex. According to the police sources, the Palestinian youths took advantage of the decision not to restrict the age of the worshippers so as not to harm the freedom of worship.

Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestinian Authority was quick to come out with a statement which is probably the most revealing statement the PA has issued for some time – and I quote the YNet Translation:

The Palestinian Authority, on the other hand, pointed a finger at Israel. According to a special statement released by the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, “Today’s events were aimed at damaging the chances of resuming the peace process and Israel is crossing all the red lines – after the Arab League’s monitoring committee recommended that the negotiations between the sides be resumed.”

The statement also said that Abbas, who was being updated on the events in Jerusalem, had called on the American administration to “stop the adventure which may ignite a religious war in the region” and demanded that the international community “take responsibility and stop the Israeli recklessness, which may have serious implications on the entire region and on peace and security in the entire world.”

While it is all while and good for the PA to point fingers and blame Israel for today’s riot in reality there is very little Israel could have done to prevent today’s riot on the Temple Mound other than issued orders for religious Jews praying at the HaKotel to lay down and accept being stoned to death by Palestinian youths throwing boulders above the Western Wall. Ynet News

Police forces on Friday raided the Temple Mount to stop youths hurling stones at passersby at the Western Wall after their weekly prayers. Dozens of police officers and worshippers were injured.

The Palestinian Authority once again seeks to blame and demonize Israeli authorities for acting to protect the lives of praying Jews from a blood thirsty mob of Palestinian ‘youths’ but I really do have to wonder who laid up the rocks for the youths to throw and suggested the optics were good to go Jew hunting? All of which makes me suspect that today’s events aimed at damaging the chances of forcing the Palestinian Authority to resume the peace process.

According to this Toronto Star article the Canadian Military is running into staffing issues.

OTTAWA–The military has put up to a dozen international missions on the chopping block as it struggles with a massive personnel shortage, the Toronto Star has learned.

From a five-soldier team training the Kosovo Security Force to the single officer monitoring the 1974 ceasefire in Cyprus, to the 30 personnel deployed on peacekeeping operations in Sudan, all is up for review as Canada juggles the demands of Afghanistan, the Olympics, and the G8 and G20 meetings of world leaders this summer.

“Political will exists to accept downsizing or deactivation of missions whose effects are no longer required, are not meeting their intent, or who can no longer be conducted owing to force generation pressures,” according to an internal report last year laying out the criteria for continuing or cutting the international deployments.

The personnel pinch was first identified by Gen. Rick Hillier, then chief of defence staff, in May 2008. He warned that the Canadian Forces would need to “continuously and ruthlessly rationalize our operational demands.”

So I have a suggestion to help ease the personnel crunch; immediately end Operation Proteus. By this time most of you are probably scratching your heads wondering what the hell Operation Proteus is. I know I was. I never even knew the Canadian Armed Forces had any kind of join venture on the go with the Palestinians until I read the most ridiculous and overall butt-ignorant editorial penned for the St. Catherine’s’ Standard. However, the editorial did allude to a Canadian operational mission with the Palestinian security forces and before I wrote the whole thing off as stuff and non-sense; I thought I should do a little digging.

Operation Proteus is probably the least publicly flaunted operation the Canadian Armed Forces are involved with. Of course, it would probably hurt the current Conservative government’s “Jew-cred” if the Conservatives started to openly tout Operations Proteus rather than doing it on the sly QT. Nothing like using the Canadian army to train the Palestinian security forces to become better trained terrorists police officers. So don’t expect to see this on Sandy Crux’s list of the Harper’s Governments Accomplishments.

Simply put; Operation Proteus is the Canadian military’s contribution for training the Palestinian Security Forces – yes, we are training these guys who with frightening regularity often go postal and run amuck killing Israelis.

I bet you thought only the Americans and Euroweenies were the only ones dumb enough to train (ahem) security forces of the Palestinian thug-a-crats and sundry thieves who run riot through the billions given to the Palestinian Authority.

Yes, this is the same Palestinian Authority who first set in motion the infamous ‘jobs-for-guns’ program to al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade members to ‘lay down their guns’ for jobs in the Palestinian security forces.

Heaven knows, without the Palestinian Security Forces propping up one of the most innately corrupt gang of thugs and thieves the Palestinians have ever seen – what chance will any Palestinian know what it is like to enjoy justice without having to bride police, the judge or jury?

Furthermore, I would love to know what exactly is the Canadian military’s vetting process to ensure they are not training known terrorists? Although, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn the Canadian Armed Forces defers all Palestinian candidate decisions to the Palestinian Security Forces’ leadership.

So now the next time Palestinian Police decide to lynch a couple of directionally challenged Israeli reservists – or when a Palestinian security force personnel goes postal or even when a Palestinian military courts carries out the legal execution for the capital crime of selling land to a Jew; we call all sit back in safe and smug in Canada knowing how our government and army did its part. But for me, I am just sick about it.

I cannot decide if this is an example of pure and simple – spite or malice. You decide. Arutz Sheva:

IsraelNN.com) Palestinian Authority police chose to destroy hundreds of stolen Israeli vehicles last week rather than return them to their owners after discovering the cars in the town of Jama’een. The town, located south of the PA-controlled Samaria city of Shechem, has apparently served as the headquarters of a major car theft ring, where nearly 500 stolen Israeli vehicles were found last week.

PA police arrested three fugitives at the site, in addition to dismantling a 155-mm explosive shell, according to a report published Saturday by the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news agency. No one was injured and the thieves did not attempt to damage the security forces’ vehicles or equipment.

At least 941 stolen Israeli vehicles have been impounded – and destroyed – by PA police forces since January 1, 2010. None have been returned to their owners in Israel.

In a follow-up to this mornings post on corruption within the Palestinian Authority, an arrest warrant has now been issued for Fahmi Shabaneh. Jerusalem Post

The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant against former top PA anti-corruption official Fahmi Shabaneh, ironically, on charges of corruption and undermining the PA.

It comes a day after Shabaneh issued an ultimatum to PA President Mahmoud Abbas to remove the corrupt officials in the Palestinian leader’s office within two weeks or he will expose more cases of corruption that “would seriously embarrass the PA and even harm its relations with Arab and Muslim countries as well as donors.”

Wednesday’s arrest warrant was signed by the PA prosecutor general, who also accused Shabaneh of involvement in selling land to Jews. However, Shabaneh is a resident of Jerusalem, where the PA does not have the power to make arrests. 

You make think Shabaneh is safe as long as he does not leave East Jerusalem but he does risk being kidnapped by Fatah officials and kidnapping is not out of the realm of a Palestinian security officials job description.

If Shabaneh is turned over to the Palestinian Authority he faces an automatic death sentence if convicted by a PA military court for ’selling land to Jews’. This racist law is considered a capital criminal offence of the highest order within the Palestinian Authority. Nor would Shabaneh be the first to suffer that fate. Shabaneh has only one faint hope – if enough people in the international community take up his cause the Palestinian Authority might be persuaded it is within their best interests not to try him on trumped up charges. So who is up for the challenge?

The upper echelon of the Palestinian Authority got caught and called to account for treating the public coffers of the Palestinian people like their own personal slush fund. So who is to blame for the sad sorry state of corruption with the PA? The Jerusalem Post carries the official response.

Former top Palestinian Authority anti-corruption official Fahmi Shabaneh issued an ultimatum to PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday to remove the corrupt officials in the Palestinian leader’s office within two weeks or he will expose more cases of corruption that “would seriously embarrass the PA and even harm its relations with Arab and Muslim countries as well as donors.”

According to Shabaneh, the material he will expose is far more severe than what had been published so far. In response, the PA published a statement on Wednesday morning saying that Shabaneh’s allegations were part of an Israeli conspiracy aimed at undermining Abbas because of his refusal to return to the negotiation table unconditionally.

Shabaneh, at least sounds like a realist;

“Had it not been for the presence of the Israeli authorities in the West Bank, Hamas would have done what they did in the Gaza Strip,” Shabaneh told the Post. “It’s hard to find people in the West Bank who support the Palestinian Authority. People are fed up with the financial corruption and mismanagement of the Palestinian Authority.”

“I have bought my cemetery plot,” says Shabaneh

The Jerusalem Post also carries an in-depth interview with Sabaneh which is worth the few minutes it takes to read but mark my words in a few years some earnest Israeli university student will write a thesis attempting to prove the Israeli occupation is the result of widespread and systematic corruption within the Palestinian Authority. 

(Reuters Photo)While I can understand Sabaneh’s prediction that at some point in the future Hamas will overthrow Fatah from power and control in the West Bank; its really no solution. Any Hamas’ leader who lives in a refugee camp but has granite countertops in his kitchen is not who I would bank on of being a fiscally responsible guardian of the public trust or coffers.