TIMELINE - 30 NOVEMBER, 1947

One day after the United Nations voted to create a Jewish and an Arab state in Palestine, the Palestine Post reported that six Jews were murdered by Arab terrorists who ambushed Jerusalem bound buses and another was murdered in Jaffa.

On this day sixty years ago, the Arabs of Palestine, with the encouragement and assistance of the neighbouring Arab States, launched a series of attacks on their Jewish neighbours, in an attempt to undo by force the decision taken on the previous day by the United Nations to partition the British Mandate of Palestine into independent Jewish and Arab States, linked in economic union. This campaign of violence culminated in the invasion of the newly declared State of Israel on 15 May, 1948 by the regular armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and contingents from Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

"The invasion of Palestine by the Arab States was the first armed aggression which the world had seen since the end of the war" - Trygve Lie, then United Nations Secretary-General, 'In the Cause of Peace' @ p 174.

An informative read on this subject is Sarah Honig's Forget the 30th of November in the Jerusalem Post

THE HAND OF PEACE

"If there is to be conciliation between Arab and Jew, that task begins with the formal creation of the two independent states in Palestine. It should be the urgent desire and purpose of the Jewish State, which has received the assent of the assembled nations of the world, to bring about that conciliation in practice; and to work towards a fruitful union between itself and its neighbour."

Those words are from the Palestine Post editorial of sixty years ago following United Nations Resolution 181 which ended the British Mandate of Palestine and voted 33 to 13 (10 abstentions) to create a Jewish and an Arab state in its place. [Hat tip: Elder of Ziyon]

Sixty years on and the parties are still striving towards the achievement of peace but there are many who still cannot understand that mutual recognition of each other's rights are paramount. The Palestinian delegation at Annapolis this week still struggled with the concept of living side by side with a Jewish state.

There is much pessimism at the outcome of Annapolis and the Melbourne Age's Ed O'Loughlin is certainly in the gloom and doom camp as witnessed by his "analysis" published in yesterday's Melbourne Age - LEADERS HAVE LITTLE TO HOPE FOR AND MUCH TO FEAR.

What value however, is a person's "analysis" when his ability to analyse is in so much doubt?

"At Aqaba it was agreed that as a first step towards final peace talks Israel would freeze settlement construction in the West Bank and ease its military occupation of the Palestinian territories. The Palestinians would eliminate terrorism and armed resistance.

Neither side honoured even these first, preliminary obligations. The road map was dead by the end of the year. Four years later, Bush is a lame-duck president with abysmally low domestic approval ratings and gravely diminished influence abroad."

What we really have to fear is journalists who put their own spin on history so that it is becomes distorted.

The first distortion is that the Road Map never speaks of "armed resistance" - a term used by the Palestinian terror groups and their supporters to describe their terrorist activities such a suicide bombing and the sending of missiles into Jewish homes, schools and businesses as well as bombing the crossings where humanitarian supplies are sent by the Israelis into Gaza (i.e. the things that O'Loughlin rarely ever writes about).

The first step in the First Phase of the Road Map requires the Palestinian leadership to issue an "unequivocal statement reiterating Israel’s right to exist in peace and security and calling for an immediate end to all acts of violence against Israelis anywhere." Instead, the Palestinian leadership, through Abbas at the behest of Arafat, repudiated this requirement within six weeks of the signing of the agreement. The fact that O'Loughlin reverted to the languague used by the Palestinian terrorists has exposed him for what he is and tells us where his sympathies lie. That alone should have been enough to alert any decent editor to the fact that his "analysis" is coloured by bias against the Israelis and those Palestinians who want peace. His work would be more appropriate for an Australians for Palestine or Friends of Hamas publication.

There's also the little matter of O'Loughlin's disingenuous and misleading reference to the "West Bank" in the first paragraph quoted above. The fourth step in the First Phase of the Road Map really says -"Israel withdraws from Palestinian areas occupied since September 2000, as security progresses, freezes all settlement activity, and dismantles outposts. It takes measures to improve the Palestinian humanitarian situation."

By referring only to the West Bank (and not all of Palestine as the Road Map references) O'Loughlin avoids the fact that Israel in 2005 withdrew from Gaza and four settlements in the West Bank. This disengagement reduced the amount of Palestinians living under "occupation" by about 40%. Despite that, the Israelis have on a daily basis been on the receiving end of Palestinian missile attacks from Hamas dominated Gaza.

The fact remains that any attempt to seek peace, no matter that each of the negotiating parties starts from a position of weakness, should be regarded as a bonus for the Israeli and Palestinian people.

While O'Loughlin smugly writes about scoreless draws, he manages to forget that he himself has scored so many own goals by his appalling coverage of the news from the region, that the Guinness Book of World Records beckons for him.

TIMELINE - 29 NOVEMBER, 1947

Sixty years ago today the United Nations General Assembly approved Resolution 181 calling for the partition of the British-ruled Palestine Mandate into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The vote was 33 votes in favor, 13 against, 10 abstentions and one absent (see list).

The resolution was accepted by the Jews in Palestine, yet rejected by the Arabs in Palestine and the Arab states. Today, the Jewish state is known as Israel. There is still no Arab state in a formal sense and most Arab and Muslim nations refuse to accept the 60 year old vote of the United Nations to this very day with tragic consequences for all people in the region.

Prof. David Navon who teaches psychology at the University of Haifa has written in Ha'aretz for those who have forgotten what a nation-state is and his message is worth remembering on this day in history.

NEVER MISS AN OPPORTUNITY

The Australian Federal election at the weekend resulted in a landslide victory for the Australian Labor Party with incumbent Prime Minister John Howard not only losing power in Parliament but also losing his seat in the electorate of Bennelong as well. His campaign was not helped by a ridiculous and childish smear campaign conducted in one Sydney electorate in which flyers were distributed falsely linking the ALP with Muslim extremism. The ploy backfired and the story gained prominence in the Australian media.

A similar, childish and tacky attempt to discredit Labor was made by a lunatic fringe group, Australians for Palestine but this time the story gained little prominence in the media other than in The Australian - Mideast tension surfaces at Vic booth.

It seems that the AFP targetted Jewish ALP candidate Mark Dreyfus QC for his past association with the Australia/Israel Jewish Affairs Council with a flyer that made no personal allegations about Dreyfus but described AIJAC "Australia's leading zionist, anti-Palestine lobby group". What these people really mean is that AIJAC openly supports a two State solution for the resolution of the Israel/Palestine conflict as do both major political parties in this country. A vote against Dreyfus and for the Liberal candidate in this electorate would have been a vote for a party that supports the rights of both peoples anyway and therefore this pathetic attempt at grandstanding by Australians for Palestine was nothing if not idiotic.

A close look at recent AFP activities reveals that these people are more in synch with the view that Israel should be dismantled and replaced by a Palestinian State and in this regard they appear as isolated as Hamas, which has a different view of "democracy" to those we hold dear in this country. Back in Palestine, the local version of "democracy" involves hurling political opponents from rooftops and firing on crowds of your political opponents (both Hamas and Fatah are expert at that form of "democratic" exercise. Hamas itself calls not only for the destruction of the Jewish State but it also mandates the killing of Jews so it's not surprising that these AFP characters picked on a Jewish candidate.

The AFP also claims that it wishes to "dispel the myths and disinformation about Palestine in Australia" but their flyers fail to mention the fact that the Palestinians have had numerous opprtunties to make peace with the Jews from 1948 when they joined 5 Arab nations to wage war and drive the Jews into the sea to the meetings at Camp David and Taba in 2000/1 and through the Road Map in 2003. On the very eve of the latest U.S. peace initiative, at Annapolis Maryland, the friends of the AFP were hatching plans to disrupt the peacemaking -Ahead of summit, Hamas threatens to make deadlier Qassam rockets.

The Australians for Palestine are no friends of the democratic process, nor are they even friends of Palestine.

A FICTITIOUS NEWS STORY FROM PALESTINE?

According to this story from the Palestinian Newsagency Ma'an [Masked gunmen abduct Ma'an journalist] a Ma'an journalist was kidnapped at the weekend and held for 12 hours by masked gunmen who "demanded to use his Ma'an password to post a fictitious news story, aimed at stirring up trouble between Ma'an and the Palestinian factions and security services." The article concludes that the agency is "confident that the Palestinian security will arrest the perpetrators and bring them to justice in the interests of press freedom."

Fictitious news stories are bread and butter for the Palestinian thugs who operate in both the West Bank and Gaza and I really doubt that Palestinian security is going to solve this intriguing case any time soon.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT SYRIA

Syria doesn't get that much of a run in our media even though the Syrian regime is responsible for so much unrest and dislocation in neighbouring Lebanon (which on some people's reasoning it still occupies through its proxy Hizbullah) and other neighbouring countries. Here's an insight from our own ABC as to how the thugs who run the country like to operate - Syrian Facebook users blocked.

NOTHING IS REAL

We read a great deal about how it is alleged that the Israelis are damaging the Palestinian economy with their blockade of Gaza but the media seems to downplay positive news such as the recent decision announced by Israel's Agriculture Minister Shalom Simchon to permit farmers in the Gaza Strip to export their entire crop of strawberries and flowers to Europe - Israeli minister says exports will be allowed out of Gaza Strip.

"Israel will allow the opening of the Sufa crossing for the passage of agricultural produce, beginning with strawberries and flowers and then expanding to include other produce, Simchon told Israel Radio."

The problem is that the Martyr Brigades, a Fatah aligned terrorist group has a habit of bombing the crossing and an even bigger problem is that you won't find out about it in the mainstream media. Ed O'Loughlin of the Melbourne Age for instance won't tell you but Ma'an, a Palestinian newsagency will - Martyr Brigades declare Ahmed Abu Rish claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Sufa military at 3 missiles from helicopter Amr 2.

Whether or not you have an affinity for Jewish settlers living on disputed territory in the West Bank, the fact remains that the great majority of them are hard working, law abiding people. Yet they have been demonised in some sectors of the media which remain decidedly shtumm on the subject of Palestinian vandalism on property belonging to Jewish farmers. To discover about that you need to refer to left leaning Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz which has found evidence of arson, sabotage of equipment and destruction of crops by Palestinians - Settlers: Palestinians vandalizing Jewish farmers' property.

Really, the selective coverage of the news at such a vital time in the history of the Middle East sometimes seems a little like that Beatles' song about Strawberry Fields where nothing is real.

CLOUD OVER ANNAPOLIS TALKS

Ed O'Loughlin reports in the Melbourne Age about the doubts that cloud the new Middle East talks slotted for next week at Annapolis. It appears that hopes of success depend largely on a "key meeting in Cairo today, when members of the Arab League will decide whether and how to participate."

It would indeed be tragic for the Palestinians if the quest for peace cannot progress further because of demands for a preconceived result especially in view of the fact that none of the invited participants seem to be willing to discuss core matters such as putting an end to terrorist violence or even to recognise Israel as a Jewish state. In that regard O'Loughlin quaintly uses the term "as an ethnically Jewish state."

This will certainly help readers understand that the Israelis are not talking about a state based solely on the Jewish religion which was at the core of PA negotiator Saeb Erekat's gaffe of last week. We all know that a successful peace deal must be based on mutual recognition by all sides. It seems that the Arab states are still hung up on the issue of Israel being a Jewish state even though there are already 22 ethnically Arab states most of which have Islam as their official religion. Ironically, Israel is the only state in the region whose very foundation is based on the concept of recognition of more than one ethnic group within its makeup.

And for this reason, O'Loughlin has done everyone a service by highlighting what the Arab states and particularly the Palestinians need to understand in order to achieve peace.If the Arabs stay away from Annapolis or if the Palestinians fail to grasp the mettle and seriously approach peace through mutual recognition, I fear another tragedy coming for these sad, unfortunate people.

THEY STILL DON'T GET IT

The Associated Press reports that Jamal al-Dura father of Mohammed, who became a national symbol when he was killed during intense fighting in Gaza on 30 September 2000, was briefly detained at the weekend by Hamas security for allegedly shooting in the air during a family wedding. Al-Dura, described as a "supporter of the moderate Fatah movement", denied the accusations saying "he can't carry guns because of his medical condition." - Hamas security detains father of iconic Palestinian boy.

The report covers the story of Mohammed Dura's death but fails to mention the fact that the videotape of the incident is currently the subject of a French court hearing in which that story is being seriously challenged as part of a premeditated campaign to stir up violence among the Palestinian population at the start of the "second intifada".

One of the few media outlets to cover the story is Scotland's Sunday-Herald. Very few other mainstream new outlets around the world are even touching it despite its significance to our understanding of the violence and death that followed the incident.

This shouldn't be considered unusual these days. The Melbourne Age for example, today carries its second story in recent days sourced from the London Guardian on the forthcoming Annapolis meeting in which Israel's occupation and settlements are mentioned but there's nothing about the obligations of the Palestinians to arrest and disarm terrorists - to essential first phase requirements in the now dormant Road Map to Peace in the Middle East which the PA repudiated before the ink dried on that agreement in 2003.

There's no mention either of the daily firing of quassam rockets by Palestinian terrorists into Israeli homes, schools and other civilian areas. These things have been airbrushed out of existence but they still happen and the media still don't get it!

HUMAN SHIELDS

This is an incredible story from Carlos of Peace with Realism -

Human Shields: Palestinians Exploit Their Own Schoolchildren.


"Palestinians have made a specialty of murdering civilians, yet still wish to portray Israel as a sponsor of terrorism. They have found an effective method: deliberately putting their own civilians, even their children, in mortal danger."

UN HELPS TERROR

"Hamas is ruling by terror and that UNRWA is afraid and will not criticize."

Arlene Kushner tells How the UN Helps Terror (from Front Page Magazine).

SHAM

The Jerusalem Post editorial calls it the "recognition sham".

"Yasser Arafat recognized Israel's right to exist in 1988. He shook hands with Yitzhak Rabin and signed the Oslo Accords in 1993. The PLO later ostensibly amended its covenant, as Bill Clinton visited Gaza, to eliminate calls for Israel's destruction. Most recently, the Palestinians approved the road map, which again was based upon recognition of Israel's right to exist.

"So the Palestinians accept Israel's existence, right? Well, perhaps not. Now, on the eve of Annapolis, we discover that all of these claims of recognition may have been a giant sham."

The editorial refers to the statements of chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and others that the Palestinians will not recognise Israel as a Jewish state.

"The Palestinian refusal to accept Israel as a Jewish state suggests that all their solemn and myriad expressions of Israel's right to exist did not mean anything. They did not mean that the Palestinians accepted the Jews as a people (as Palestinians expect to be accepted), or that Israel is the legitimate expression of the Jewish people's right to self-determination."

The so-called Palestinian "moderates" are therefore "not espousing a two-state solution but a 'Greater Palestine' ideology."

"There is no way for Israelis to understand the refusal to accept Israel as a Jewish state other than as a rejection of the two-state solution and the embrace of the 'strategy of stages,' whereby a Palestinian state is not an end of claims against Israel, but a down-payment toward Israel's destruction."

The "recognition sham" has prompted the Boston Globe's Jeff Jacoby to follow up the question "Is Israel a Jewish State?" with this enquiry -

"If the more than 55 countries that make up the Organization of the Islamic Conference are entitled to recognition as Muslim states, and if the 22 members of the Arab League are universally accepted as Arab states, why should anyone balk at acknowledging Israel as the world's lone Jewish state?"

Jacoby concludes that the "refusal of the Palestinian Authority to acknowledge Israel as a legitimate Jewish state isn't a denial of reality; it is a sign of their determination to change that reality. Like Arab leaders going back a century, they seek not to live in peace with the Jewish state, but in place of the Jewish state. Olmert can show up at Annapolis bearing Palestinian sovereignty on a silver platter, with half of Jerusalem thrown in for good measure. He will not walk away with peace. On the contrary: He will intensify the Arab determination to replace the world's one Jewish state with its 23rd Arab state."

And therein lies the principal sham of the past century of relations between the Jews and the Arabs of the region but it is not the only one. Many others, some of them quite sophisticated and others very simple, have been foisted on the general public by the Palestinians in recent years. Their number has increased exponentially since Arafat (who also shammed his own people by stealing $3 billion from them while he was alive) launched the so-called "second intifada" on Israel in late September 2000.

The most famous of these recent shams has been the Muhammad al-Durrah affair whose final scenes are now perhaps being played out in a French courtroom. Honest Reporting has a full coverage of the events here and here while Melanie Phillips provides a brilliant commentary outlining the consequences of the filming of this incident in Gaza by public television broadcaster France 2’s Palestinian cameraman Talal Abu Rahma and the effects of the commentary by the network’s Jerusalem bureau chief Charles Enderlin, (who was not on the scene but reporting from an office) who attributed the shots that allegedly killed the youngster to Israel.

Enderlin and France2 subsequently sued writer Philippe Karsenty for suggesting their original broadcast was fraudulent and despite the public prosecutor’s recommendation that the lower court rule in Karsenty's favour, the judges argued that his allegations could not be regarded as credible because "no Israeli authority ... have ever accorded the slightest credit" to them. This astonishing conclusion is totally preposterous and Karsteny has rightly appealed the case. According to the Jerusalem Post, the Israelis were silent on the matter because they felt at the time that it was “a losing proposition" to reopen the al-Durrah case, because they would be "accused of blaming the victim." In any event, the deputy commander of the IDF Spokesman's Office has subsequently written to France 2 asking for the unedited footage. Am-Shalom stressed that the IDF had 'ruled out' the notion that al-Dura was killed by Israeli fire.

Yesterday Enderlin and France2 responded to the court's order requiring the film taken by Abu Rahma to be shown. Enderlin produced 18 minutes of film although it was anticipated that 27 minutes would be shown. According to Enderlin the nine "missing" minutes were never filmed although that proposition will no doubt be hotly disputed if these commentaries from Richard Landes (who has previously seen the film) and from The Augean Stables is a guide.

As Melanie Phillips points out, The ‘killing’ of Mohammed al Durah was swallowed uncritically by the western media, despite the manifold unlikeliness and contradictions which were apparent from the start, because it accorded with the murderous prejudice against Israel which is the prism through which the Middle East conflict is habitually refracted." In other words, segments of the media have conspired with the Palestinians to undermine not only its position in the conflict but its very existence.

The shams outlined above stunningly demonstrate how certain myths can be manufactured for use in propaganda against Jews in much the same way that Joseph Goebells took the creation of blood libels to the level of art form in the 1930's and 1940's. They prove that the stumbling block to peace in the Middle East is not Israel's occupation of Palestinian land, nor its treatment of the Palestinians, the checkpoints or the security barrier which serve to protect its citizens from deadly terrorists. Nor is the problem the strength of the so-called Jewish lobby because if that were true then today's newspapers would be full of stories from the Al Dura case in France whereas there is not a single word about it in any of today's daily newspapers available in my city of Melbourne. The key is, as Jacoby states -

"It is to compel the Arab world to abandon its dream of liquidating Israel."

OH BOY

Hamas, which has developed a penchant for throwing their opponents from tall buildings and shooting at crowds of opposition supporters, has decided to soften its image somewhat by forming its own boy band.

The Protectors of the Homeland aren't exactly The Backstreet Boys but they apparently have a fair bit of attitude. Made up of members of Hamas' Gaza police force these protectors are meant to "raise [the public's] spirit through entertainment and encourage the troops" and no doubt, to dabble a bit in jihad for their government's genocidal operations.

Nice!

THE NAKED TRUTH

The ABC's Middle East correspondent David Hardaker recently presented a story on The art of Middle Eastern conspiracy theories in which he covered the resurgent theory in certain circles that "Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died not because he was a naturally ailing 75-year-old, but because he was poisoned"..

Hardaker opened the article with this statement,

"The reporter's job is to get the facts. Sounds simple enough, but try doing that in the Middle East."

What Hardaker is telling us essentially is that when you report things from this particular region then you need to beware of the bullshit factor. He concludes with the opinion that,

"Truth might be stranger than fiction, but in the end, there is one overriding lesson for reporters and for policymakers. Fiction is far more powerful than truth, especially if it is said by someone with power."

Strangely enough, Hardaker himself hasn't learned from his own writing as his recent AM report on Palestinian drug addicts will attest. In it he allowed some damning, unsubstantiated allegations of the nastiest kind to be made without challenge and our ABC aired the blood libel against Jews.

The bullshit factor even operates with Israel's own media as can be seen from this laughable item currently being run on Ha'aretz - Gazans: Palestinians detained by IDF return naked. Here we have allegations made on Israel's Channel 10 by Palestinians residing near the Kissufim crossing in the central Gaza Strip that residents taken away for lengthy questioning by IDF troops are being returned without their clothes. According to the IDF however, "all suspects are returned in their clothes with all their possessions in hand."

The witnesses don't really say that the IDF sends people back naked. They actually mention "paper clothes" that (believe it or not) somehow disappear with into thin air with the wind so Channel 10 cameras, which doesn't provide any footage of the supposedly naked returnees, can't even show us one item of this alleged paper clothing despite the fact that we are told that "dozens of such testimonies from the residents of nearby villages" have been taken.

And so we have another case whereby a reporter has failed dismally in completing the job of getting the facts in the Middle East, which makes the story one that should jump out of the blank pages any day now.

THE UPROAR!

The headline from this Ha'aretz article screams out - "At least six killed after Hamas opens fire on Arafat rally in Gaza". The article tells of how at least six people were killed and 85 wounded in the ensuing violence after "Hamas security forces opened fire Monday during a mass memorial service for the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat". The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has described the attack as a "heinous crime" but ...

Where's the outcry around the world about civilian deaths and massacres?

POSTSCRIPT: The Melbourne Age is carrying this article Eight killed in Gaza clashes attributed to "DPA". The story is a straight line and length account of events without a sign of the Jerusalem bureau chief's touch. In this piece there are no Jewish villains to be seen and Hamas is not portayed as god; to the contrary, readers will be dismayed to learn about that movement's unpopularity among Palestinians -

"A recent poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre (JMCC) in Jerusalem said that if legislative elections were held today in the Palestinian territories, Fatah would gain 40 per cent and Hamas would get 20 per cent."

How did that information get into the story?

MUTUAL RECOGNTION

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat has told the Jerusalem Post that the Palestinians reject Israel's demand that the Palestinians acknowledge it as a Jewish state at the forthcoming Annapolis meeting.

"There is no country in the world where religious and national identities are intertwined," Erekat told Radio Palestine.

This attitude ignores the fact that the Jewish people constitute far more than a religion alone and highlights a fundamental problem in the process of negotiatiating peace between Israel and the Palestinians who have never accepted that the Jews are a people and are entitled to self-determination just as the Palestinians are entitled to self-determination. Without mutual recognition all peace talks are doomed to failure.

Erekat's position also exhibits more than a touch of hypocrisy and dishonesty on his part. We already know from his lies to the BBC in 2002 that thousands, well at least 500, were being massacred in Jenin that he has no qualms about making dishonest remarks to the media while keeping a straight face but Elder of Ziyon points out that the 2003 Constitution of Palestine provides as follows:

"ARTICLE 4

1. Islam is the official religion in Palestine. Respect and sanctity of all other heavenly religions shall be maintained.

2. The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be the main source of legislation.

3. Arabic shall be the official language."

Another day, another lie for Saeb Erekat. Big deal!

The Elder has also discovered (through a translation from the Palestine Press Agency) a statement from Ahmed Abdel Rahman, advisor to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas who has said that "the willingness of the Palestinians for peace does not mean relinquishing one inch of the West Bank and the city of Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip....He reiterated his assertion that Abu Ammar (Yasir Arafat) was killed because of his refusal to waive Jerusalem."

Between Erekat and Rachman there's not much room left for fair and honest dealing and a compromise between the parties at Annapolis. What are they doing there?

ISRAEL BASHERS MASS DEBATE

The Oxford Union has some interesting views on how to conduct balanced debates. Somebody with a really twisted mind over there recently decided that you can have a debate on Israel by arranging to have two speakers whose hatred of the Jewish State is about on par and still expect to be taken seriously. Alan Dershowitz took up the issue and for his trouble was on the receiving end of the usual hatred and venom from those whose understanding of freedom of expression in a democrat society is somewhat warped. He tells his story in I was censored.

PALESTINIANS GET HIGH; JEWS GET BLAMED

This week, the ABC AM programme carried a report on claims by Palestinian drug workers that a major reason for the increase in use by Palestinians is that Israeli authorities are turning a blind eye to the trafficking of drugs. They claim it's part of an effort to destroy the fabric of Palestinian life. Read the transcript here - PALESTINIANS STRUGGLE WITH SURGE IN DRUG USE.

The outrageous claims are made without substantiation. The ABC report gives considerable status to the claims made but provides no facts to support the claims or the contention that Jews are creating addiction in order to steal houses and oppress the Palestinians. The report provides no balance or scope for the Israeli authorities to counter the claims and exhibit a paucity of research on the part of ABC staff that put together this blood libel against Israel and the Jews.

The claims made by the Palestinian interviewees in the programme follow the tradition of outrageous libels against the Jewish State over the past decade such as the Mohammed Dura affair, the faked funeral after the fake "Jenin massacre", the lies of the Gaza Beach shelling and the doctored photography scandals of the Second Lebanon War. Arab propaganda attacks against the Israelis have taken on industry-like dimensions and this week the Melbourne Age announced that Hamas has plans for a Hollywood in the Gaza Strip (amazingly, one of the few stories that the Fairfax media was able to muster up from the region during the week and a rare instance of the Age making mention of another Hamas production - the Mickey Mouse lookalike called Farfour preached Islamic domination to children). The new addition to Pallywood is likely to generate lots of phoney footage for use in bedazzling the gullible types in the western media who love telling noxious fables to revise history and to feed their unquenchable thirst for Jew baiting.

But let us get back to the drug claims aired against Israel on our publicly funded ABC. A complaint made by a medical professional to the ABC cites the following blatant errors from the report: -

"Not so long ago illicit drugs were virtually unheard of in Palestinian life. Now they're freely available." However, this item from Caritas International (which is harshly critical of Israel) quotes 40 year old Talal Abu-Ahmad, a recovered addict who works at the Caritas Counselling Centre in East Jerusalem as follows: -

"When I was a boy, just 13 years old, I used to watch people taking drugs in my neighbourhood. I lived in the Old City, and there were a lot of drugs around. I was the kind of kid that was curious about everything, so I tried hashish."

Here's a reference to a 1997 conference - "PALESTINIAN AND ISRAELI PEOPLE AGAINST SUBSTANCE ABUSE" So much for the spurious claim that drug taking among Palestinians is a recent phenomenon.

"DAVID HARDAKER: Hosni Shahin is in charge of the Palestinian effort to stop the spread of drugs, but the figures are defying him." Shahin's qualifications are not stated and he does not appear to be a recognised academic or representative to the UN on illicit drug use. A search through the National Library of Medicine shows no published studies by this author.

"HOSNI SHAHIN: Some of them try to sell their houses to the Jews in their own city..

DAVID HARDAKER: To get money for drugs?.

HOSNI SHAHIN: To get money for drugs. If he is ready to destroy himself, you think that he is caring to destroy his family, or his brother, or his son?"

The claim is made that "Jews" are intentionally addicting Palestinians to steal their homes (after a nifty leading question from the interviewer) but apart from Shahin's say so, there is not a single fact produced to support the claim and naturally, there is no independent evidence of the sales of property taking place. Incidentally, under Palestinian law, an Arab who sells land to Israelis is punishable by death. The interviewer was either unaware of this law or simply turned his head away from pursuing the sticky little matter of racist Palestinian legislation. A pity because it might have been of interest to some of his listeners.

"DAVID HARDAKER: The drug dealers are nearly always Israelis, sometimes working with Palestinians. The Palestinian drug workers allege that while Israeli border security is generally ferocious, when it comes to drugs it is uncharacteristically lax." But is there any evidence produced that the drug dealers are "nearly always Israelis" or that Israeli border security is relaxed for the drug dealers? Hell no!

"Head of the research, Doctor Luay Shabaneh.

LUAY SHABANEH: There is something has to be worked out with the Israeli side, at the checkpoints and at the border points, to minimise the transfer of the drugs." You would expect someone described as "head of the research" to have published some papers but there's no evidence of this at all - see U.S. NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE AND THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH. Then again Doctor Luay Shabaneh could be head of the propaganda rather than of research

"HOSNI SHAHIN: For all occupations, all over the world, the most dangerous thing for them - the youth people. So the occupation, if he can keeps the youth calming down all the time, the occupation will be, avoid a lot of problems, they will avoid it." The occupation blamed again but not a skerrick of evidence for the proposition. The complaint to the ABC does however, cite the many academic papers jointly published by Israeli and Palestinian researchers and the many credible joint initiatives between Palestinian and Israeli authorities authorities to treat and study these problems including the following:-.

ISRAEL ANTI-DRUG AUTHORITY

UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME

The shoddy research and the eagerness to present one view without allowing the other side to be heard is what one would expect from a partisan Palestinian news outlet or a dedicated Israel basher like Antony Loewenstein's blog but from our own ABC it represents eight cents worth of national shame!

IT'S A UNITED NATIONS SCHOOL!

That elementary school in the Northern Gaza town that Palestinian terrorists have been using as cover for firing missiles at Israeli civilian targets across the border is run by the United Nations!

The school is run by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which oversees aid to Palestinian refugees. The UN is very disturbed about the incident and will open an investigation. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has condemned the terrorists for using the school (presumably, it's OK if these thugs use private homes for their attacks but not a UN school)!

The United Nations might be very disturbed but it still hasn't stirred the interest of journalists like Ed O'Loughlin (featured in the item below).

ED O'LOUGHLIN - RESUME

Here is the resume on Ed O'Loughlin from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia -

Ed O'Loughlin is a journalist for John Fairfax Holdings, an Australian media group. His reporting appears in the Australian newspapers The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

Born in Toronto in 1966, he studied liberal arts at the Trinity College, Dublin. His career began as a freelance journalist in the Belgian Congo in the Democratic Rebublic of the Congo. He began work for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, first in South Africa, based there for eight years covering Africa. Since 2002 he has been based in Jerusalem, covering news events in Israel and the Palestinian territories.His reportage has been found to be biased against Israel by Media Study Group in their paper of November 2003: An Analysis of Compliance with Journalistic Standards in The Age Newspaper's News Stories on the Arab Israeli Conflict http://www.honestreporting.com/a/specialReports.asp?p=4.

The Age profile His reportage has been found to be biased against Israel by Media Study Group in their paper of November 2003: An Analysis of Compliance with Journalistic Standards in The Age Newspaper's News Stories on the Arab Israeli Conflict http://www.honestreporting.com/a/specialReports.asp?p=4." .

NOTE: I have been informed that from time to time, the comment about Media Study Group's findings on O'Loughlin will mysteriously disappear. Thanks to Mr. Adon Emett who keeps replacing it.

WHERE'S MEL GIBSON NOW?

I know this has been around a while but in honour of the Red Sox World Series triumph, here are the American TV hoons asking WHERE'S MEL GIBSON NOW?

JEWS AND POWER

Professor Ruth R. Wisse is the Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University, who recently wrote a book entitled "Jews and Power", asks in this excellent Washington Post Op-Ed "Are American Jews Too Powerful?" Wisse debunks those who, like John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt and former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, accuse modern Jews of having excessive clout and concludes, "in the real world, Jews have too little power and influence."

But you don't want to tell that to the enemies of the Jews including those anti-Semites who go out of their way to convince themselves and others that they really aren't but then proceed to treat Israel and the Jews differently to any other of the world's 200 nations! After all, as Wisse states, "there is nothing quite as fun - or as lucrative - as baiting Jews.”

Sadly, the usual suspects among Jews are sometimes included with the baiters; people like Chomsky, Finklestein, Pappe and our own execrable Loewenstein whose shoddily researched, "My Israel Question" fleetingly attracted some attention here among the chattering classes until even they realised that it was such a total crock.

Wisse has a response for such a phenomenon.

"I understand why some Jews and Israelis try to escape this assault through assimilation or denial, or even by joining their assailants. It's seductive to hope that by accommodating our enemies, we will be allowed to live in peace. But the strategy of accommodation that historically turned Jews into a no-fail target is the course least likely to stop ongoing acts of aggression against them. Indeed, anti-Jewish politics will end only when those who practice it accept the democratic values of religious pluralism and political choice - or are forced to pay a high enough price for flouting them."

PALESTINIAN SHOT AT CHECKPOINT

A Palestinian man was shot by security services at a checkpoint in the West Bank town of Qalqilya recently. The problem with the story is that the security services were Palestinian and the checkpoint was set up by the Palestinians.

Don't even think of stopping the presses for this one!

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN WELL

This is how Palestinian terrorists collectively punish their own people as well as their neighbours - by firing mortars from school buildings at civilian targets across the border in Israel and inviting the inevitable strong response. The video clearly shows the elementary school and the red circle tracking the terrorists as they prepare to fire the mortars. Military officials said Israeli forces withheld fire, fearing civilians would be harmed. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility but Hamas which controls Gaza did nothing to prevent the attacks or arrest the perpetrators even though they were endangering the lives of innocent civilians on both sides. Hamas has vowed to destroy the Jewish state and kill Jews everywhere.

Tragically, the media largely ignores activities such as this but you can bet that some will come out of the woodwork when Israel is forced to take measures to protect its own citizens against these atrocities, measures such as closing border crossings and curtailing supplies of power and water.

And it will only be then that we will hear complaints about the oppression of the poor Palestinians - but never in the context of the behaviour of their own leaders who are involved up their necks in such acts of sheer barbarism and the attackers will continue to be called "militants" or even "freedom fighters" by their apologists in the media.

THE NEWS FROM PALESTINE

As the PA leader and a representative of the Fatah Movement Mahmoud Abbas prepares to sit down with Israeli leaders in Annapolis, Maryland to discuss peace under the auspices of American Secretary of State Condi Rice, the Al-Aqsa brigades announces launch of a campaign to shower the Israeli towns around the Gaza Strip with hundreds of missiles every day as "the Palestinian resistance is fed up with the 'peace lie' and the news about conferences here and there" - Al-AQSA BRIGADES ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF "AUTUMN OF GAZA" MILITARY CAMPAIGN.

The news comes from a Palestinian Newsagency and not from those who organise the Palestinian media campaign in the west and therefore Australians will only find out about it if they read the blank pages.

THE LETHAL ILLUSION

Melanie Phillips writes about the Lethal Illusion in her blog in The Spectator:-

"But the rules of the game Fatah plays with Israel are quite different, and immutable:

• Palestinians cannot stop other Palestinians from attacking Israel. To do so would be betraying the cause, becoming Israel’s lackey. This applies even if the Israelis are bringing in supplies or providing jobs to Palestinians, or if the attack damages Palestinian interests. If the victims are schoolchildren or shoppers or people riding on a bus, of course, is irrelevant in this world view.

• He who is most militant is always right. Extremism equals heroism. This is one reason why Fatah has such a difficult time competing with Hamas. It cannot denounce these rivals for being too hardline and intransigent. Suicide bombers along with those who incite and manage them are role models, not misled individuals, much less evil ones.

• More violence is good and a victory if it inflicts casualties or damage on Israel. Other than ritual denunciations for the foreign media, these are matters for pride, with the implication being that they advance the cause rather than sabotage it.
  

And so on."