Mosque Burnings in the West Bank

[n2doc]

Israeli Settler Terrorists Plan more Mosque Burnings
Posted on May 5, 2010 by Juan Cole

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas charged that a fire that damaged a Palestinian mosque in the Israeli-Occupied Palestinian West Bank was set by Israeli terrorists among militant colonists of the territory. Israeli Trade Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer also said he suspected arson.

Hamas, the Muslim fundamentalist party that controls the Gaza Strip, the other territory of the Palestine Authority, said that the terrorist incident demonstrates how unfruitful the negotiations set between Abbas and the Israelis are likely to be.

Haaretz reports that extremist Israeli settlers are planning to set fire in more Palestinian mosques, i.e. planning to engage in further terrorism, as a means of fighting the closure of illegal squatter colonies on the Palestinian West Bank. The Palestinian West Bank is Palestinian territory captured by Israel in 1967. Although in the international law (formulated after WW II to prevent a repetition of the crimes of the Nazis) it is illegal for an occupying Power to import its own citizens into an Occupied territory, the Israeli government has since 1973 been sponsoring large colonies on the West Bank, involving massive theft of Palestinian land and resources, including water.

In addition, vigilante colonists have set up scattered squatter settlements that are considered illegal even in Israeli law. It is those that the government sometimes dismantles, in part because they are amid Palestinian villages and the colonists are difficult to protect.

more

http://www.juancole.com/2010/05/israeli-settler-terrorists-plan-more-mosque-burnings.html

[Eg-ptiangirl]

1. settlers and their supporters

Are very angry and stupid people like all fanatics, the existence of other people in their hallucinations is not an option, I feel bad for them and I hope they will one day wake up and realize living real life is so much better than waiting for Palestinians to be extinct and acting so cruel.

[Shaktimaan]

2. Who wrote this?

I'm not even talking about the content so much as the writing style. It's the kind of writing that makes me immediately suspect. For example... Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas charged that a fire that damaged a Palestinian mosque in the Israeli-Occupied Palestinian West Bank was set by Israeli terrorists among militant colonists of the territory.

Wow! Terrorists? Militant colonists? Sounds serious. But not really like Abbas so much. Let's see what he really said... Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas says the fire was caused by Jewish settlers, and that it could jeopardise Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Ah, that sounds more like him. It's a sign of poor writing when the style is so over the top that it distracts from the actual content, especially when you're talking about something serious, like arson. It's a sign of poor journalism to put over-the-top paraphrasing like that in someone's mouth. Especially if they're a statesman like Abbas.

And while this is a horrible thing and I don't defend their actions at all... "terrorists?" Really? Don't you think that's a bit much? It's not like anyone describes the Palestinian stone and molotov cocktail throwers as terrorists, right? Oh well, let's see what else is going on here...

The Mideast is on tenterhooks. Jordan is terrified that far rightwing Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman will attempt to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians and displace them to Jordan. They also fear that the Jordan river will be dried up by extensive Israeli siphoning. Lebanon is jittery about another attack on Beirut. Iran has pledged to defend Syria if the Israelis attack Damascus, over the alleged transfer to Lebanese Shiite party-militia Hizbullah of SCUD missiles.

Oh my God! That all sounds almost... unbelievable.
(Haha. Jordan is terrified! Lebanon is jittery! Hmm, I wonder how Egypt is feeling lately... I'll bet melancholy.)