Land Ownership in "Palestine"

‎

It is historical and documented fact that most of those Arab inhabitants (the New Palestinians) of the area that composed the area of the "1922 Mandate For Palestine" -which includes ALL of today's Israel, Judaea and Shomron (aka the West Bank) and Jordan) do not have legal ownership / ‎title to the land they claim is theirs. 

The Turks and later the Mandate Authority attempted ‎to register land ownership -by census - but only those who paid taxes could get ownership (Taboo).

In 1858 the Ottoman Empire introduced The Ottoman Land Code of 1858, requiring land owners to register ownership. The reasons behind the law were twofold. (1) to increase tax revenue, and (2) to exercise greater state control over the area. Peasants, however, saw no need to register claims, for several reasons:

 Land owners were subject to military service in the Ottoman Army

• General opposition to official regulations from the Ottoman Empire
• Evasion of taxes and registration fees to the Ottoman Empire
• The registration process itself was open to manipulation.

Therefore many Arab inhabitants hid or lied to not have to pay taxes and thereby did not admit to ‎ownership.

Land collectively owned by village residents was registered in the name of a single landowner, with merchants and local Ottoman administrators registering large stretches of land in their own name. The result was land that became the legal property of people who may have never lived there, while peasants, even those who had lived on the land for generations, became tenants of absentee owners.

“Many -whole, primarily Moslem -villages were virtual "serfs" or indentured servants ‎to wealthy absentee land owners residing in Beirut or Damascus, and this was well known to us. ‎

"We have found that a large number of stateless Arabs migrated to the Mandatory Areas after the ‎Liberation in 1918 and establishment of the Mandate in search of gainful employment. So in ‎essence they are squatters and as in most civilized countries of the world you cannot stay on land ‎that is not legally yours.” World War I left Palestine, especially the countryside, deeply impoverished. Palestine's fellahin, the country's tenant peasant farmers, who did not hold ownership of their land or homes but were servants of absentee landlords who resided in Beirut and Damascus, comprised over two-thirds of the indigenous Arab population.” Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs, the first British military governor of Jerusalem.‎

Michael Fischbach  a professor of history at Randolph-Macon College, offers a detailed study in his book "Records of Dispossession" and what is the conclusion? That;

 "...though some middle class refugees were able to flee with liquid capital, the majority were small-scale farmers whose worldly fortunes were the land, livestock, and crops they left behind." 

The Ottoman land law classifies land under five kinds or categories. These, with suggested approximate counterparts in English, are as follows:

• Mulk = private or allodial land (held in absolute ownership).
• Miri = feudal or State land, but can also specifically refer to vacant State land, private usufruct State land. A sub-category of the same is mahlul, or what is defined as escheated State land.[8] Most Ottoman registrations of miri (usufruct) titles existing in Palestine are based on a presumed or lost grant.[9]
• Waqf = allodial land in mortmain tenure, being land assured to pious foundations or revenue from land assured to pious foundations; also usufruct State land of which the State revenues are assured to pious foundations.
• Matruka = communal profits-à-prendre land, being land subject to public easements in common, or servitude State land.
• Mewat = dead and undeveloped land.

‎When the British assumed control over the Sanjak of Jerusalem at the end of 1917 under the OETA -Occupied Enemy Territory Administration with the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, they applied the Ottoman laws of the Ottoman Land Code of 1858 to all inhabitants. Much of the agricultural land in Palestine (about one third of the whole territory) was still owned by the same landowners as under Ottoman rule, mostly powerful Arab clans and local Muslim sheikhs. Other lands had been held by foreign Christian organizations (most notably the Greek Orthodox Church), as well as Jewish private and Zionist organizations, and to lesser degree by small minorities of Bahai's, Samaritans and Circassians.

The amount of land owned by Jews was easier to calculate than that owned by Arabs because the Jews requested Land Title-Deeds or “Taboo”. It is difficult to reckon the total amount of land owned by Arabs (Muslim, Christian and Druze) in Mandatory Palestine since most were owned by absentee landlords who had received or claimed ownership from the Ottoman Empire.

It was widely known fact that throughout the pre-1947 "Mandated Areas" that Jewish buyers preferred land free of tenant farmers.These absentee Arab land owners"effendis" would go so far as to actively expel tenant farmers off the plot he wished to sell without paying their "Fellachim\serfs" any compensation beforehand as to make it a more attractive purchase.
Conversely, "The Jews ... have in many cases paid displaced cultivators generous pecuniary compensation ..."

"They [Jews] paid high prices for the land, and in addition they paid to certain of the occupants of those lands a considerable amount of money which they were not legally bound to pay." a quote from the "The Report on Immigration, Land Settlement and Development, commonly referred to as the Hope Simpson Enquiry or the Hope Simpson Report" dated October 1, 1930, but was released on October 21, 1930

"In those instances where as a result of such transactions Arab tenant-farmers were displaced (on one year's notice), compensation in cash or other land was paid, as required by the 1922 Protection of Cultivators Ordinance; the Jewish land-buying associations often paid more than the law required" (Pollack and Boehm, The Keren Kayemeth Le-Israel). Of 688 such tenants between 1920 and 1930, 526 remained in agricultural occupations, some 400 of them finding other land (Palestine Royal Commission Report, 1937, Chapter 9, para. 61).

The 1945 UN estimate shows that Arab ownership of arable land was on average 68% of a district, ranging from 15% ownership in the Beer-Sheba district to 99% ownership in the Ramallah district. This data cannot be fully understood without comparing them to those of neighboring countries: in Iraq, for instance, still in 1951 only 0.3 per cent of registered land (or 50 per cent of the total amount) was categorized as ‘private property’.

The extent of mulk or allodial lands (privately owned property) in the area was limited, and was usually only found in the old cities or in garden areas. Rural land in this category was rare. In nearly all cases (excluding only “Waqf” lands, and communal profits-à-prendre land, or dead and undeveloped land), lands were either mulk or miri tenures.

From the 1920s onwards many Arab peasants left the land in increasingly large numbers into urban environments where they often encountered only poverty and social marginalization. Many were crowded into shanty towns in Jaffa and Haifa where they found succor and encouragement in the teachings of the charismatic preacher Izz ad-Din al-Qassam who worked among the poor in Haifa.

The Ottoman and then the Mandate authorities levied high taxes on farming and agricultural produce and during the 1920s and 1930s this together with a fall in prices, cheap imports, natural disasters and paltry harvests all contributed to the increasing indebtedness of the fellahin. The rents paid by tenant fellah increased sharply, owing to increased population density, increased the number of fellahin evicted. The problem of 'landless' Arabs grew particularly grave after 1931, causing High Commissioner Wauchope to warn that this 'social peril ... would serve as a focus of discontent and might even result in serious disorders." The ongoing disruption of agrarian life in Palestine, which had been continuing since Ottoman times, thus created a large population of landless peasant farmers who subsequently became mobile wage workers who were increasingly marginalized and impoverished; these became willing participants in nationalist rebellion.

"The total area of land in Jewish possession at the end of June 1947, amounted to 1,850,000Dunams, of these 181,100 Dunams had been obtained through concessions from the Palestinian Government, and about 120,000 Dunams had been acquired from Churches, from foreign companies, from the Government otherwise than by concessions, and so-forth. It was estimated that 1,000,000 Dunams and more, or 57 per cent, had been acquired from large Arab landowners, and if to this we add the lands acquired from the Government, Churches, and foreign companies, the percentage will amount to seventy-three. From the “Fellachim” (peasants\serfs) there had been purchased about 500,000 Dunams, or 27 per cent, of the total acquired. The result of Jewish land acquisitions, at least to a considerable part, was that properties which had been in the hands of large and medium owners were converted into holding of small peasants."  A. Granott in The Land System in Palestine (Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1952, p. 278),

When Palestinians claim we "stole lands" I say,”Okay let me see your "Taboo" / the Ottoman Turkish pre-Mandate land license. And you know what? Surprise, surprise they bring out a rusted key. Okay what did the key go to? “My family home!” “Yes, but where are your Land title papers?” In some 70 to 85% of the cases they either do not have one or they are forgeries.

The Israeli lands Authority were passed down ALL the British Mandatory licenses - thanks to the efforts of hundreds of Pre Mandate British bureaucrats who with “Kafkaistic” Austria thoroughness made copious notes of forgeries that abounded under the Mandate.

Many Arab inhabitants during the Ottoman Turkish Empire and Mandate hid or lied to not have to pay taxes and thereby did not admit to ownership. Many -whole, primarily Moslem -villages were virtual "serfs" or indentured servants to wealthy absentee land owners residing in Beirut or Damascus. And even during British Rule there were countess court cases and arguments of "Land Confiscation" by the Mandatory Government. Read more here:

Since much of the collectively owned Jewish land; Kibbutzim and Moshavim, was purchased through the Keren Kayemt Fund from the Turkish Government, or the absentee land lords.  And privately owned lands –like in Hebron, the Jewish Quarters of Safed and Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Rishon L’Zion, Gush Etzion , Zichron Yakov, Gedera, Rosh Pnina, Natanyah, Nahariyah ALL Jewish land purchases from 1865 until know were all Legally purchased with entitlement –“Taboo”  (As also mentioned by Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs)

Regarding the area of Judaea and Shomron (aka the "West Bank) it most be noted that this area  was illegally occupied by the Kingdom of TransJordan (later shortened to the Hashmite kingdom of Jordan) after the 1947 Israeli War of Independence. During his illegal OCCUPATION King Abdullah attempted to illegally annex the area and to acquire the "Good wishes" of the "Arabs of the Mandated Area"(today's Palestinians) from whom he had taken the land he offered to give land ownership to those who resided in the territory. The majority of the wealthy and educated realized a "good thing" when they saw it and grabbed the "Taboo or Land Deeds" while many villagers and peasants ("Fellachim") who were poor and saw no reason for it.

Self-Hatred A Jewish Quandary

The origin of the term "Jewish self-hatred" begins in the mid-nineteenth century feuding between German Orthodox Jews of the Breslau seminary and Reform Jews, secular and atheist. Each side accused the other of betraying Jewish identity, the Orthodox Jews accusing the Reform Jews of identifying more closely with German Protestantism and German nationalism than with Judaism.

Theodor Herzl appears to have introduced the phrase "anti-Semite of Jewish origin" in his 1896 book, Der Judenstaat (The Jews' State), which launched political Nationalistic Zionism and his vision to create a secular and socialist Jewish state in the Ottoman Turkish Empire in the area referred to in the modern Christian context as "Palestine".
Herzl's phrase "anti-Semite of Jewish origin" was referring to "philanthropic Zionists" Jewish "parvenu" who did not support Herzl's political project for a Jewish state.

The majority of Reform Jews of Central Europe came to be "anti-Zionists" mainly because these thoroughly assimilated wealthy Jews desired to remain in their home countries and had no desire to leave. They felt "safe" because they were not living in fear, discomfort and misery from pogroms and acts of violence as the Jews of the "Pale of Settlement" in the Russian Empire were.

Most Jews who wished to escape the anti-Jewish measures instituted in Russia after the assassination of Alexander the Second, on the 13th of March 1881, there existed the question where to emigrate to?

In the first half of the 19th century, no foreigners were allowed to purchase land in Palestine. This was official Ottoman policy until 1856 and in practice until 1867.
However, in 1881 the Ottoman governmental administration (the Sublime Porte) decreed that foreign Jews could immigrate to and settle anywhere within the Ottoman Empire, except in Palestine and from 1882 until their defeat in 1918, the Ottomans continuously restricted Jewish immigration and land purchases in Palestine. 
In 1882, Jews were banned from their Four Holy Cities and in 1891, after briefly allowing some Jewish immigration three years earlier, the Turkish rulers tried to again close the empire to Russian Jews.
In 1892, the Ottoman government decided to prohibit the sale of land in Palestine to Jews, even if they were Ottoman citizens.
Nevertheless, during the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, many successful land purchases were made through organizations such as the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association (PJCA), Palestine Land Development Company and the Jewish National Fund.Jewish acquisition of land in Palestine from the 1880s until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 by Jews. Because of this, nearly 25,000 Jews did manage to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael between 1882 and l903. This was the largest single steady influx of Jews since the Expulsion decree from Spain.

This wave of immigration is usually described as the First Aliyah but in fact it consisted of two main waves: l882-84 and l890-9l.
Many of the immigrants were conspicuously Zionistic and they had come under the influence or auspices of the Bilu and the Chovevei Zion and were workers of the land. The great majority, however were simply refugees from Czarist oppression and where from religious backgrounds that were intent upon spending their years in yeshivot studying and praying. All but five percent of the new immigrants settled in the five major towns of Yerushalim (Jerusalem), Tzfat (Safed), Hebron, Tiberius and Haifa. A few opened stores or workshops. Others subsisted on "Chalukka" or stipends.

The Central European and German Reform Jews felt that the Jewish "mission" had evolved to become universalistic and identified themselves as citizens of their country who happened to practice the Jewish faith.

Most Jews of Western and Central Europe had gained immensely from the largest of Napoleon Bonaparte during the First French Empire in 1806. It was Napoleon who had enacted laws that emancipated European Jews from old laws restricting them to ghettos, as well as the many laws that limited Jews' rights to property, worship, and careers.
Napoleon even convened a council, which he termed with biblical grandeur the Sanhedrin. Two famous Rabbis admired him; Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav and Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Rymanov.

In France, Jews wrote Hebrew prayers to praise Napoleon during services and called him “Helek Tov” in Hebrew or “good portion” (bona-parte), as Ronald Schechter discussed in “Obstinate Hebrews: Representations of Jews in France, 1715-1815.”

In contrast to the Jews of Western and Central Europe, those Jews of the Russian Empire were confined to old backward Orthodox Judaism. They were brutally oppressed and were at the mercy of their non Jewish neighbors who fell upon them at the slightest whim.

So when there was a slight relaxing of restrictions many who came from poor impoverished backgrounds took the opportunity to seek "Enlightenment". These Jews of the "Haschlah" movement of the 19th Century adopted the communal values expressed by Karl Marx and Fredric Engels to build a more Utopian society with Socialistic values. It was these young Zionist Jews who because of their poverty found sustenance in the development of communal farms or Kibbutzim like Kibbutz Degania in Ottoman Turkish Palestine in the beginning of the 20th century.

The Western European Jews, specifically those of the new Germanic Empire were totally confident of their assimilation acceptance into mainstream society that they did not fear the ancient anti-Semitism that lay dormant in the New German Empire.

The Reformed and "Enlightened" Jews of Europe prior to the rise of Hitler and the Holocaust, clung to the false belief that they would eventually be accepted de facto and not only de jure. Many went out of their way to appease their “fellow countrymen” by fully assimilating by converting to Christianity and marrying Christians. They raised their children as Catholics or Lutherans and they served in the  German and Austrian armies  in disproportionate numbers during World War I. Tens of thousands had died in that conflict, laying down their lives for the Kaiser and the Emperor. A large number of Jews rose to officer ranks, especially in the Austrian army. Thousands of Jews, in both armies, were decorated for bravery with the highest honors. Service in the armed forces, during World War I, had been a way for the Jew to gain access to greater acceptance, opportunity and to prove their loyalty to everything Germanic. None of this helped them or their offspring when the Nazis took full control over Germany and enacted the Nuremberg Laws.

In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws created two new "racial" categories: the half-Jew (Jewish Mischling first degree), and the quarter –Jew (Jewish Mischling second degree)."The word Mischling means ‘half-caste, mongrel or hybrid"

 A half-Jew had two Jewish grandparents; a quarter –Jew had one. Since Nazi racial policy declared anyone of the Jewish religion a full Jew regardless of ancestry, most were by definition Christians."

In 1940, Unteroffizier Dieter Bergmann wrote to his Jewish grandmother, Elly Landesberg nee Moackrauer:

"Don’t you realize how much I’m with my whole being rooted in Germany. My life would be very sad without my homeland, without the wonderful German art, without the belief in Germany’s powerful past and the powerful future that awaits Germany. Do you think that I can tear that all out of my heart?...Don’t I also have an obligation to my parents, to my brother who showed his love to our Fatherland by dying a hero’s death on the battlefield….Someday, I want to be a German amongst Germans and no longer a second-class citizen only because my wonderful mother is Jewish."

"Under traditional Jewish law, a child born to a Jewish mother, no matter whom the father may have been, is Jewish…. I am confused…. Who is a Jew? What is a Jew? When are you a Jew? What if you do not want to be a Jew? Can we choose?" William Rabinowitz

It was the reality of vile anti-Semitism in 19th Century Europe that was revealed during the trial of Louis Dreyfus and the vicious outburst of French anti-Jewish hatred that gave birth to Theodore Herzl's  Jewish Nationalistic movement -Zionism.

It was a German Jew named Theodore Lessing, who in his 1930 book entitled Juedischer Selbsthass “Jewish self-hatred”, who coined the term to identify hedonistic assimilated anti-Zionist Jewish academics who had wished to curry favor with their non-Jewish friends.

"A Jew who expresses self-hatred will dislike everything specifically Jewish, for he will see in it that which keeps him away from the majority for which he is longing. He will show dislike for those Jews who are outspokenly so, and will frequently indulge in self-hatred" (Kurt Lewin, Resolving Social Conflicts. p. 164).

Regarding the Phenomenon of Jewish Self-Hatred Albert Einstein is alleged to have once stated; “The reason we Jews survive is that the cowards leave us.”

Prior to the Holocaust many Orthodox Jews of that time objected to any creation of a Jewish state in Palestine before the arrival of the Jewish messiah. Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, a leader of the Satmar Hasidism, continue to oppose Zionism and the State of Israel on religious grounds. In his book book, VaYoel Moshe,an exposition of one Orthodox position on Zionism, based on a literal form of midrash (biblical interpretation)  God and the Jewish people exchanged three oaths at the time of the Jews' exile from ancient Israel:

• That the Jewish people would not rebel against the non-Jews that ruled over them;
• That the Jewish people would not return to Israel (although individual Jews could do so);
• That God would not allow the non-Jewish world to persecute the Jews excessively.

This was the position of mainstream Orthodox Jewry until the Holocaust. However as a result of the "facts on the ground", with the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 as an existing entity many Orthodox Jews, including those identified with the Agudat Israel party, accept the validity of these oaths, but have reached a modus vivendi with the State of Israel.

Today's "ethnical Liberal Jews" of JStreet and Code Pink are American Jewish pro assimilationists and anti-Zionists who accuse Israeli "Zionist Settlers" of being "Occupiers" and followers of an "Apartheid Regime", for promoting the idea of the strong Jew using rhetoric close to that of the Anarchist anti-Semites and their pro-Palestinian Minions.

Alvin H. Rosenfeld took "a hard look at Jewish authors" in his 2006 essay "Progressive Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism". He noted that their statements have now moved on to be well beyond "legitimate criticism of Israel". The New York Times reported that the essay spotlighted the issue of when "legitimate criticism of Israel ends and antisemitic statements begin." Rosenfeld's essay considered the rhetoric that called into question Israel's "right to continued existence" to be anti-Semitic in context and its use in debates about Israel has grown more frequent and more intense in the US and the UK.

On the other-hand "Israelis" and "Right-wing Zionists / Settlers" -  accused their opponents of being "self-haters", for promoting retreat from the Ancestral homelands of Judaea and Shomron as well as the image of the Jew that would perpetuate his inferior position in the modern world.

These "Left-wing Liberals" of today's political spectrum, members of the so called Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Code Pink  are today's version of the Jewish "apostates" whose hatred of Jews and loathing of Judaism is even more fanatical than that of their fellow "Liberal" supporters of the pro-Palestinian movement. They express virulent anti-Zionistic opposition to the existence of the State of Israel as they attempt to marginalize and demonize it in any means possible.
Some of them argue that the Jewish settlement of "Palestine" should be reversed or that Israel should be destroyed by force.
Many of these "Enlightened Liberals" of JStreet argue that Israel as a specifically Jewish state should be replaced by a secular state in which Jews and Arabs live together.
This "Kumbaya" vision of naivete is prominent in Israel among the "Shenkin Street Losers" society in the "Greater Tel Aviv" area, many, descendants of Central European 2nd Aliyah inherited the Stalinistic Communist Style self hating "Non" Zionistic Jew view point of assimilation. These "Left-wing Liberals" of today's political spectrum, inherited the DNA of their parents who were members of the Israeli Communist "Workers" Party (MAPAM) of the 1950's.

This collective Jewish Self-hate and loathing for Israel and Zionism can be seen in such groups as the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) or Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) who constantly organize; pro-Palestinian gatherings, BDS activities, anti-Israel speakers on College campuses, marches or staging anti-Israel public street performances in front of businesses or offices associated with Israel and Jews.

These bamboozled members of the IDS- Israel Dementia Syndrome vent their anger at Israel whose mere existence prevents their total assimilation by making demands that Israel lift the so called ‘siege’ on Gaza, make outspoken accusations alluding to Israel as an "Apartheid Regime", accuse Israel of "Occupation" and "Genocide" while totally refusing to condemn Palestinian terror.
They attempt to enforce their beliefs with lies, distortions of truth and false accusations.They vocalize their drivel at every opportunity by whiny incoherent verbiage and pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel antics, the JVP and CP Women (Witches) in Pink epitomize Jewish self-loathing and hatred.

This is a common occurrence among those self-hating Jews who suffer from  IDS -Israel Dementia Syndrome. These fools continue to share their frustrations with deniers of Israel those Tragedy Tourists of Nacbahland Losers and their world wide web of bamboozled and brainwashed minions.

The Al -Quds Hate Fest

This is yet another example of the failure of the Palestinians to ever reach a State. 

They cannot stop their preaching of violence and destruction. In contrast to the Israeli side with our Liberal left wing we call for nonviolence Peace and reconciliation. And ad nauseum all the world leaders and the UN consistently call on Israel to concede and to give where “Gott Im Himmel” they should demand that the “Palestinians” cease ALL violence and to NOT ONLY negotiate but accept WHAT THERE IS! And NOT what there was in 1948. The Nacbah is over you lost, GET OVER IT!

And as always the bamboozled fools of the world, who blindly never ever stop putting pressure on Israel to concede, notice where the real problem is. The problem is the distortion of truth and the vile blind hatred which has been used by the Palestine Ministry of Propaganda and Nachbah Fantasies to bamboozle the world.

Here is the perfect example of where to begin dealing with hate.

I just recently read some postings on Facebook regarding Nadia Shoufani a graduate of the American University of Beirut and a former employee at UNRWA, Shoufani is a teacher for Special Education, ESL, Literacy and Science at Dufferin-Peel District School Board. “Ms. Shoufani” is mentioned as a SERT/ESL teacher at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School in Mississauga. Nadia Shoufani is also affiliated with the Palestine Solidarity Movement and Actions4Palestine and is a director at the Arab Canadian Cultural Association.

As a "teacher" listen how in her speech on "Al-Quds Day" how Nadia Shoufani describes a Palestinian woman, Sarah Tarairah who was shot dead while attempting to murder an 18 year old Israeli woman soldier in a stabbing attack:

“Yesterday [July 1, 2016] the Israeli occupation forces shot dead, executed a 27 year old woman, a "pregnant woman", killing her." She goes on to emphasize;"That means killing two, two people, the woman and her baby."

Now doesn't this sound horrific to you? Ask yourselves just "What” would motive a "pregnant" woman to sacrifice her life let alone that of her unborn child?"

Nothing but absolute blind hatred like that being expressed by Nadia Shoufani could influence her to commit such a terrible act!

Nadia Shoufani in her speech failed to mention that the "pregnant" crazed woman with the butcher knife who attempted to stab two young 18 year old Israeli women soldiers - Sarah Tarairah-  was driven by the same deep hatred of Israeli Jews that drove her 17 year old cousin Mohammad Tarairah, to take a knife and brutally butcher the innocent 13 year old Hallel Yafa Ariel in her bedroom as she slept. 

Now I ask you. What could possibly justify the murder of an innocent child sleeping in her bedroom holding her Teddy Bear?

As she so poignantly condemns the death of the "pregnant" stabber. Nadia Shoufani fails to show any humanity whatsoever towards the victim of  Tarairah’s “cousin Mohammad” who was killed by Jewish security forces as he attempted to stab more residents of Kiryat Arba.

The abject hatred that Nadia Shoufani cherishes and espouses is expressed daily in the Palestinian social media. The Jews are being called “Usurpers”,” Colonialists”, “settlers” and we are being accused of stealing water, poisoning wells and committing “Genocide”.

Murder of Jews is glorified and those killed as Martyrs! Oh and suddenly the Al-Aksha Mosque which for nearly 67 years was never mentioned in discussions suddenly has come to be la cause de la guerre of the entire conflict.

 As an educator in Canadian schools does Nadia Shoufani urge others to follow the path of peace and urge an end to death and violence? Absolutely NOT she actually fans the flames of hatred and bias: “I urge you not to be silent. I urge you to speak up, to resist this occupation and support the steadfastness of Palestinians. Support the resistance in any form that is possible. I urge you to support the BDS, the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions against Israel…”

Why as an educator does she not follow the ways of the Israeli "Peace Now" in their approach for a “Peaceful” nonviolent solution?

I ask as an "Educator" where are Nadia Shoufani's calls to the Palestinian Leadership to accept compromises and negotiate an end to this tragic cycle of violence and death called the Palestinian al-Quds Intifada, or the "Knife Intifada"?
Surely as an "Educator" she can see the endless suffering of the "Third Generation" of UNWRA recipients who until today remain classless, homeless, stateless and oppressed by their fellow Arab League brethren in "refugee camps"? How in Gaza these refugees are mere pawns of the Hamas who steal the needed building materials to build tunnels instead off rebuilding destroyed homes and infrastructure?
She speaks of "Martyrdom" yet the leaders of the "People" steal millions from the coffers that are replenished annually by European, American and Canadian Tax Payers. Yet according to the UNWRA page children cannot get the medical treatment they need:

"Years of socioeconomic decline, conflict and closure have left the health sector across the Gaza Strip lacking in adequate physical infrastructure and sufficient medical training opportunities for health staff. Facilities are overstretched, and service is frequently interrupted by power cuts. These challenges further threaten the health of the population, which is already at increasing risk."

Has anyone ever dare ask just "Why"it is that "Palestinians" and "Gazans" do not have proper Hospitals to treat their own people? Oh yes we all hear those claims and see the "Tweets" of Israeli denial of "Medical Treatment.

Yet why is it that there is ABSOLUTELY NO criticism of the Hamas and the Palestinian Authority for NOT building and providing the proper Medical care for their people!
Yet;

• the 60-year-old sister of Hamas senior official Moussa Abu Marzouk had been treated in Israeli hospital for advanced-stage cancer. 
• Ismail Haniyeh’s daughter was hospitalized at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital for “a number of days,” Reuters had reported the treatment followed complications during a standard medical procedure the woman had undergone in Gaza.
• Ismaill Haniyeh’s 68-year-old mother-in-law was treated in Augusta Victoria Hospital, near Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives in June of 2014. And in November 2013, Haniyeh’s one-year-old granddaughter received treatment in Israel for an infection in her digestive tract. She was evacuated to an Israeli hospital in critical condition, but was returned to her family in Gaza after her condition was deemed incurable, an Israeli military spokesman said. The girl later died of her condition.

Ahmed Yousef, a senior Hamas official in Gaza, said at the time that Haniyeh was left with little choice. He said the girl’s case was life-threatening, and used the excuse that Gaza’s borders were virtually sealed by both Israel and Egypt. No where does he put the blame on the Hamas led government for the lack of construction of new advanced hospitals and medical treatment centers with the millions in AID money poured into Gaza. Instead of pouring funds and building materials to save their own populace the Hamas regime uses them to build terror tunnels and produce a stockpile of rockets. according to Ahmed Yousef, "there was no other place to go".

This cycle of violence encouraged by hate filled Facebook postings and the postings of the Palestinian official government media, has claimed the lives of over 155 Palestinians from September 13, 2015 until July 3, 2016. These young hate filled terrorists were killed in 155 stabbing attacks (including 76 attempted attacks), 96 shootings, 45 vehicular (ramming) attacks and one vehicle (bus) bombing.  Not to mention the damage from riots where there have been thousands incidents of Molotov cocktails and stone/rock throwing.

The abject seething hatred of the Arabs in Judaea and Shomron has to be seen and heard to believe. Here is a video from Hebron News YouTube channel, June 30, 2016 of the mother of the 7 year old terrorist Muhammad Taraireh:

 “My son is a hero. He made me proud. My son died as a Martyr defending Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa [Mosque]. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, he [my son] has joined the Martyrs before him, and he is not better than them. Allah willing, all of them will follow this path, all the youth of Palestine. Allah be praised.” 

Nadia Shoufani continued her encouragement of the hate fest by stating: “Palestine will be liberated with your efforts”. “Glory to the martyrs”. “Victory, freedom to the prisoners and liberation for the Palestinians, all Palestinians”.

And of course she concludes her discourse on hatred with that famous line:

“From the river [Jordan River] to the sea [Mediterranean Sea] Palestine will be free.” This chant of course means NO negotiations, NO "Two States" and to erase the Jewish state.

So exactly "Who are the “Palestinian prisoners” that she glorifies?

Most of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails were convicted of involvement in terrorist activities. This group includes among others; suicide bombers who were captured before blowing themselves up or their charges failed to explode, the dispatchers of suicide bombers, whose charges committed atrocities of mass murderers, leaders of terrorist organizations, terrorists who killed civilians and those who attempted or planned to kill civilians.

Now ask yourselves would you want Nadia Shoufani as a teacher in your child’s school using her hate filled agenda to brainwash children to her misguided beliefs?

Ma'alot - A Smart City

Our city of "Ma'alot-Tarshiha is a beautiful joint Jewish and Arab community of 27,000 people in northern Israel, located in the Western Galilee, about 600 meters (1,969 feet) above sea level. What is special about us is that our Municipality has become energy independent by the introduction of energy efficiency measures that have created economic benefits to the city budget.

In an article published online in the Jerusalem Post in 2013, the Municipality of Ma’alot announced to the world that it was instigating a new project, called “Going into the Light,” administered by the Israeli start-up Juganu Systems.

Juganu Systems won a grant from the chief scientist of Israel to install its innovative energy saving JLED luminaries and wireless management control system throughout the city's buildings and streets. In total, over 13,000 new and retrofit luminaries were installed replacing all of the old street lights. 

The implementation of this initial step has placed Ma’alot firmly on the national as well as international map as a future “Smart City”. We have not only reduced our “Carbon Footprint "but we have induced other towns and villages in our area to join us.

Today, Ma’alot is the first Israeli city to have entirely switched to LEDs. Now Ma'alot enjoys brighter lighting while saving about US$90,000 each year in electricity operating costs, as well by saving capital improvement and maintenance costs on all lighting elements.

According to independent testing performed by the IEC (Israel Electrical Corporation), "Ma’alot reduced energy consumption by 75% while delivering even more light throughout the city’s streets and buildings." 

At the time of the instigation of the program it was also announced that some of the money saved via the LED lighting program would be invested into a research team that would be used to analyze city wide data and recommend additional programs to implement and integrate to increase energy efficiency, learn how to better manage waste and to improve the infrastructure and water programs under the auspices of the Park Koren Industrial Management in Ma'alot. These steps are being done to complete the change for a better and “Smarter” Ma’alot as a energy independent city.

Through the success of our “Going into the Light Project” we have led the way for other municipalities to follow our example and install similar energy saving LED light programs. Two nearby communities have consulted with us and used our expertise to refitted their street lights thereby reducing the “Carbon Footprint” overall in our area. Our success and experience in our money saving LED program is gaining not only National recognition but recognition from other cities.

Economical and Energy Independent

In our research, we have seen on the Internet how other cities throughout the world like Ma’alot have gained economical and energy savings through leasing underutilized public spaces for photo-voltaic (PV) Solar Roof systems to produce renewable source of electricity.

In Ma’alot several Municipal buildings, mainly the city's schools and our Community Center, pictured on the left, have been leased to solar companies for solar collection.
Through the installation of the solar energy collection roofs, the municipality has realized economical and energy savings gained from leasing the underutilized public spaces for community solar farms.

We have recently instigated a program to lease underutilized parking areas to Solar Energy companies. This will benefit the community, by not just producing clean energy by harnessing the power of the sun, but the Municipality will gain income derived from the rent.
Additionally, by installing solar canopies over parking areas it will also contribute to the welfare of the residents. The installation of solar collection units over parking areas will provide shaded areas from the sun and protection from inclement winter weather for the residents and their vehicles.
Parking in a covered facility contributes substantially to increased vehicle fuel efficiency, because it saves; having to cool cars in the summer and heating cars in the winter during inclement weather. All of this will energy saving will mark Ma’alot as a “Smart City” and as a major contributor to the reduction of the “Carbon Footprint”.  

We have also taken strides in further reducing our “Carbon Footprint” and increase economic savings and energy reduction to the Municipality by instigating a “cogeneration program” for the reduction in city bio-mass in our waste management.

With a cogeneration furnace, the municipality can improve the efficiency in waste reduction, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, promote economic growth, and maintain a robust energy infrastructure.

With CHP- Combined heat and power system we can reduce the cost of:

•          the Municipality's waste disposal: transportation and landfill fees.
•          the extensive fleet of vehicles: Maintenance and fuel
•          "turnaround" in waste disposal by eliminating bio waste on the premises,
•          Reduce CO2 emissions,
•          the environmental impact of waste on the municipality and the surrounding area.

By using a CHP /Cogeneration system we can produce electricity and heated water –which can be converted to heat in buildings, as well as syngas for further energy needs.

So why should Ma’alot take further steps to become a Smart city?

The term “Smart City” in of itself has become one of the biggest buzzwords around right now as more and more city leaders begin to realize the tremendous advantages in accepting the new technological advantages. A "Smart City" process is dynamic as cities exchange information and learn from one another.We should continue our stride into becoming a smart city because urban challenges are growing steadily and are more complex. 

We can see from worldwide statistics that the world is rapidly urbanizing and Cities face considerable challenges. However, we in Ma’alot-Tarshiha have shown that we can meet these challenges successfully and succeed.

Existing services, infrastructures and amenities are under pressure, due to their age, or simply as a result of growing demand. The existing infrastructures on which cities are so heavily dependent are overburdened.

Our knowledge and experience in Smart City technologies will help us to become more economically efficient as well as much more energy efficient.

As we have seen in several cities throughout the world: Barcelona in Spain, Delft in Holland, Winnipeg, Canada Boston, Massachusetts and Vienna Austria among many others. The definition of what a “Smart City” means is different for every city, depending on that specific city’s priorities and goals. These cities have embraced technological changes and programs to improve the city’s functions which in turn have improved the lives of the residents who actively participate in their city’s development.

It is said that the transforming into a smart city is a marathon, not a sprint. Without a well-structured strategic plan, you can’t prioritize nor make informed decisions nor can you track milestones or measure success.

The Smart City concept has brought the physical as well as the digital together. We have seen how Israel has become a “Start Up” nation as it is becoming more digitized daily.

Israeli accelerators are full of ‘Smart’ solutions which are being devised and developed in - healthcare, water management, energy supply and transport, for example. More and more of these Israeli designed technologies (apps) are becoming part of everyday life, and increasingly we live in an (IOT) Internet of Things network society, where (almost) everything is connected to (almost) everyone.

Clean and Efficient living

A smart city is all about efficiency and maximizing the quality of life, of and for its citizens, by utilizing the most appropriate resources to drive progress. Cities need to be prepared for future developments and city councils can achieve this by sharing civic responsibility with residents, companies and others through IOT apps that allow for the ready exchange of data, ideas as well as provide economical solutions for a brighter future.

Central to the theme of building a smart city is to improve the quality of life by using technology to improve the efficiency of services and meet residents’ needs. We can achieve this by integrating multiple Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions derived from the previously accumulated municipal data which will need to be analyzed for programming purposes.

ICT as in the City of Boston "CityScore" will allow city officials and departmental heads to interact in real time directly with their workforce and to manage city assets better. Through a ICT platform they will be able to monitor what is happening in the city, the city infrastructure and how to enable a better quality of life.

These new “SMART City” applications rely on a modern networking infrastructure platform that enables continuous connections with new classes of intelligent devices for improved decision making. Through the use of sensors integrated with real-time monitoring systems, data is collected from citizens and objects - then processed and analyzed. The information and knowledge gathered are keys to tackling inefficiency.

 Citizen Participation

Smart city "wannabees" need to create a Vision with Citizen Engagement activity like; kitchen table discussions at private homes, online discussion forums and workshops at community centers to communicate and engage citizens in a dialog about city projects.

In other Smart Cities, we have seen how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is used to enhance quality, performance and interactivity of urban services, to reduce costs and resource consumption and to improve contact between citizens and government.

Through the ICT program municipal manpower and vehicles can be diverted in real time to those places were their work is needed thereby saving money

A smart city integrates multiple Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solutions in a secure fashion to manage a city’s assets. The management is achieved through the assessment and compilation of previously accumulated data from a city’s assets. This includes all of its corresponding local departments that manage the main branches of municipal services in the fields of:

•         Waste Management Sanitation Department (both sewer and refuse),
•         Water Department,
•         City Streets Maintenance, Education Department -the public library, schools,
•         Health Department - food and restaurant inspection,
•         Emergency Services - fire department, police, ambulance,
•         Transportation
•          Information systems and other community services.

Smart city phone applications are developed with the goal of improving the management of the daily routine of urban necessities while allowing for real time responses to challenges. They also use the resource and involvement of the constituents in making the community better.

A smart city therefore is more prepared to respond to challenges than one with a simple ' transactional ' relationship with its citizens.  Cities need to substantially increase the efficiency in which they operate and use their resources. This can be achieved by the use of the "Smart Media" and its multiple platforms for involvement.

By exposing the archived city information through a policy of "open data" for; citizens, developers and businesses, cities can unleash innovation and efficiency as well as new entrepreneurial opportunities.

Since it isn’t cost-efficient or practical to do everything at once, it has been shown that cities should start with those greatest pain points for citizens, which is also a good way of getting their support and participation in finding the solution. Therefore, it is imperative for municipalities must search for what their constituents need, then implement new technologies to do it.

Surveys have consistently shown that the value of smart cities is how they impact citizens. This is why many cities are crowd-sourcing and floating ideas trough social media to learn on how to prioritize smart city strategy.

Conclusion:

Our goal is to implement "Smart City" solutions, with the objective of speeding up the transition to a low carbon, resource-efficient resilient city.

There are other detriments besides our geographical position and the impact of climate change for the Municipality of Ma’alot to overcome. Regretfully as we have experienced in the past our area is prone to adversity and to strife. These effects could cause an untenable situation that would force us to shift to an essentially sustainable form of urban development. For us it is not just a matter of environmental survival but survival as a whole.

If Americans Really Knew

I recently had an exchange on Facebook with a brainwashed and totally bamboozled "Pro-Palestinian" who snided with a friend regarding a video from Studio SoCal T.V about hate speech on campus at UCLA by Students Supporting Israel founder Liat Menna stating:

"We give Israel 10 million a day of my tax money. And more in trade, we don't have to criticize anyone else to criticize them."

My immediate retort to Darlie was: "You give us $10 million a day" Hmm I will check my bank account but I don't see it?" Regretfully I am not as sophisticated as Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in embezzling funds!

This totally bamboozled "Lover of Palestine" then continued her diatribe by siting the web site run by Alison Weir, a well known anti-Israel anti-Zionist activist. CAMERA, a pro-Israel advocacy group has argued; "That the positions and statements of Weir and If Americans Knew (IAK),  raise serious doubts about the ability of her organization to credibly comment on American media coverage of the Israeli-Arab conflict." Weir also serves as president of The Council for the National Interest ("CNI")  which is yet another questionable anti-Israel and highly anti-AIPAC group.

The Anti-Defamation League has described Weir as; “a prominent voice in the anti-Israel movement.” The Jewish Voice for Peace, a group who are not exactly too keen on Israel, did not accuse Weir of holding anti-Jewish beliefs, but they did accuse her of granting interviews to people it believed held highly anti-Jewish beliefs. The Jewish Voice for Peace, decried some of the websites that have re-posted Alison Weir's writings. Those "highly reliable" web sites of "Cabal" conspiracies of the "Illuminati" aka "Rothschild-Jewish control of the world" psychotic minds wreaking of, dare I use the term, "anti-Semitism" to denote anti-Jewish / Israel "Good Old Boys" of the old time anti-"Semite" (Nazi -KKK- Aryan Race) persuasion. Websites that use all the words, theories and beliefs of that prominent American white nationalist William Luther Pierce III.

These losers who had once been swept in to the corner gutter and nearly forgotten, gleefully jumped out into the lime light at the anti-Holocaust meeting in Tehran. Led by that "KKKnight in shinning armor" former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, David Dukes. These psychotic virulent Jew haters have been embraced by the "Lovers of Palestine" and together they have initiated a Billboard Campaign to discredit Israel and to force the end of US Aid to Israel with Alison Weir's blessing.

This theme of "Stop Aid to Israel" has taken many forms and this latest one is in the forefront of the postings by these sick hate filled psychos of the "Lovers Of Palestine". I countered her claim by referring her to my previous entry on the subject of US AID to Israel.

"Though aid to Israel has detractors as well as supporters, overall U.S. public support for Israel remains strong. According to a February 2015 Gallup poll that measured Americans’ sympathies toward the disputants in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 62% said their sympathies lie with the Israelis and 16% said their sympathies lie with the Palestinians.
 According to a February 2015 Pew Research Center poll, “48% of respondents say that the level of U.S. support for Israel is about right; 29% say the U.S. is not supportive enough of Israel, while 18% say it is too supportive.”
 Neither of these surveys explicitly examined public opinion regarding U.S. aid to Israel." Congressional Research Service, U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel June 10, 2015.

Now in contrast to Foreign Aid to Palestine, it is quite a different story ALL together.

"The President of the Palestinian Authority (PA) Mahmoud Abbas is building a $13 million palace in Ramallah, according to the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR) which published an announcement of the massive construction project.

PA sources told Maan news that the palace was not a personal home for Abbas, but is to be used as a leadership headquarters and a facility to receive guests and world leaders."

Gaza residents still homeless

"Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip receive one of the highest levels of unrecorded aid in the world."
Aid has been offered to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and other Palestinian Non-governmental organizations (PNGOs) by the international community, including International Non-governmental Organizations (INGOs) and the funds are largely unaccounted for.

According to certain analyses, Palestinians are the largest per capita recipients of international development assistance in the world (Lasensky [2004], 211, Lasensky-Grace [2006])."

According to a recent article in Britain’s Sunday Times, the European Court of Auditors (ECA), an EU organ set up in 1975 to audit the EU’s income and spending, who visited Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank, found that Europe had little control over €1.95 billion ($2.64 billion) spent in the West Bank and Gaza between 2008 and 2012, noting “significant shortcomings.” 

They also reported their inability to address “high-level risks” such as “corruption or funds not being used for their intended purpose.”

Also "Transparency International", a Berlin-based watchdog monitoring corporate and political corruption, claimed that the state of paralysis afflicting the Palestinian parliament since 2007 has “given the executive unlimited management over public funds.” Nepotism is also commonplace in the Palestinian public and private sectors, the organization claimed."

"Until his death in November 2004, former PA President Yasser Arafat controlled Palestinian finances and faced widespread criticism for his lack of transparency, corruption, and misuse of foreign aid. Some observers described Arafat’s use of the PA treasury as his “personal cash-box” and allege that almost half of the $7 billion provided to the PA since its creation in the early 1990's may have been diverted by Arafat to political patronage and kickbacks.

Although the extent of Arafat’s misuse of PA money was never fully known, Israeli leaders, Palestinian reformers, and others repeatedly accused Arafat and his inner circle of corruption; "...nevertheless, his total domination of Palestinian political life made him indispensable to those seeking his cooperation in achieving regional peace and many were forced to ignore such charges." David Samuels, “ In a Ruined Country,” Atlantic Monthly, September 2005.

During the past 20 years, the U.S. has invested $4.5 billion in promoting democracy among the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and boosting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
What the naive Americans and Europeans do not know is that most some say as high as 90% of the $4.5 billion the Americans have invested in promoting Palestinian democracy went down the drain or ended up in secret Swiss bank accounts.

Just how many in the world realize that the Palestinians do not have a functioning parliament or a free media under the PA in the West Bank or under Hamas in the Gaza Strip?

The Palestinian Authority lives outside the laws of politics, nature and economics as it and Hamas occupy a split territory with two feuding governments -- both dictatorships with all the arbitrariness and lack of accountability implied within. Their multiple armed fractions on occasion fight each other and often times murder Israelis. They have an educational system that teaches children to stab and murder. They teach their children, and the bamboozled of the world, that the Jews are usurpers of their land as they spread they denial of the historical connection of the Jews to the land, They venerate and wax on a civic culture that venerates suicide bombers and the mothers who seem to revel in their children's bloody demise; and an economy that produces nothing of export value.

And, of course, when was the last time Palestinians actually had presidential or parliamentary elections?

I ask; "Have any of the detractors of US Aid to Israel every carried out any REAL audit or an accounting of the money invested in projects in various Palestinian sectors?"

Palestinian economic analysts estimate that the PA has received a total of $25 billion in financial aid from the U.S. and other countries during the past two decades.

Leaked documents, such as that signed by Majdi al-Khaldi an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, asked Bahrain's foreign minister for $4 million to fund a private neighborhood complex for Palestinian diplomats in Ramallah.

Another document by Nazmi Muhanna, general director of the Palestinian Crossing and Borders Authority, requested the government pay for his daughter's schooling.

There was also receipt for $50,000 given to Yaser Abbas, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' son, who bought several apartments in a complex in a prestigious area of Ramallah.

One does not have to be an expert on Palestinian affairs to see that the billions of dollars have neither created democracy for the Palestinians nor boosted the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Tariq Dana in his article Corruption in Palestine: A Self-Enforcing System, states:

 "Corruption in Palestinian Authority (PA) institutions should not be perceived as merely a matter of administrative and financial wrongdoing committed by irresponsible individuals whose behavior is driven by greed and personal interests. The scandals that Palestinians hotly debate from time to time – such as embezzlement of public funds, misappropriation of resources, and nepotism – are an outcome of longstanding corruption embedded in the underlying power structure that governs the Palestinian political system and that were rooted in the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) prior to the Oslo process.""... much of Palestinian society is based on tribal/clan/family social relations, the PA has sought to accommodate large families in order to ensure their loyalty. When the PA established its Ministry of Local Government, it included a special department concerned with tribal/clan affairs. The Ministry recognizes mukhtars (head of tribes/clans) and authorizes them to speak on behalf of their families. Whereas tribalism had been marginalized by the rise of the national movement, during the 1990s the PA appointed some representatives of prominent families to ministerial posts based on tribal considerations. These ministries subsequently were largely staffed with the ministers’ relatives and friends. After the state-building reforms of recent years, there was less employment based on family considerations. Instead, however, some ministers have surrounded themselves with cronies."

Since the creation of the Palestinian Authority, which was born out of the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO, it has never been a democratic regime. On the contrary; what the Palestinians got from the start was a mini-dictatorship run by Yasser Arafat and his PLO and Fatah cronies. It was a corrupt regime, was directly funded and armed by the U.S., Europe and several other countries.

Mohammed Rashid who served as Arafat's financial advisor and was given a free hand to handle hundreds of millions of dollars that were poured on the Palestinian Authority and the PLO by US, EU and Arab donors embezzled millions. Rashid is now considered one of the wealthiest Palestinians anywhere and the Palestinian Authority officials have estimated his fortune at more than half a billion dollars. Rashid left the Palestinian territories almost immediately after his boss, Arafat, died in late 2004 and the Palestinian Authority did absolutely nothing to bring him to trial or return at least some of the missing funds.
It was not until Rashid appeared on a Saudi-owned TV station and threatened to expose corruption scandals in the Palestinian Authority leadership that they finally woke up and remembered that Rashid was suspected of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars of Foreign Aid. The Anti-Corruption Commission of the PA in Ramallah announced that it issued an arrest warrant against the former Arafat adviser and asked Interpol for help in bringing him to trial.

Rashid, was not "just" a junior official in the Palestinian Authority, he was a trusted insider, someone who was very close to Arafat and probably the only official who knows where hundreds of millions of dollars ended up.
The Palestinian Authority's decision to issue an arrest warrant against him does not seem to worry Rashid, who this week demanded a probe into Abbas's personal fortune, which he estimated at more than $100 million.

Abbas and the Palestinian Authority on the other-hand are accusing Rashid with stealing hundreds of millions of dollars, while Rashid in return is accusing President Abbas of embezzling "a paltry" $100 million. Meanwhile this "tit for tat' exchange is happening at a time when international donors are continuing to channel more funds every month to the Palestinian Authority, often without holding its leaders accountable or demanding to know how the money is being spent.

Due to Rashid's testimony in the Televised interview Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip were unable to view the website Donia al-Watan as The Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah blocked access through the PA-controlled telecom company  because of the site’s reporting on the widespread corruption among the entourage of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas issued the order to block the site without any due process, legal notice or opportunity for defense, a report published on the site stated. “We are surprised at these violations emanating from the president of the PA who appears to have forgotten that he was one of the biggest critics of the policies of the late Abu Ammar [Yasser Arafat]. The late former leader of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat never signed off on such orders and did not shut down publications," said the website’s editor Abdallah al-Issa.

Al-Issa in a telephone interview from Gaza City with the Pro-Palestinian web site "Electronic Intifada" that his website had published dozens of stories about corruption since it was founded in 2003. When Arafat was in office, the site would receive complaints, he said, but no such action had ever been taken against them. Al-Issa criticized Arafat for failing to stem corruption, “but at least we could write about it.”

In an article entitled “The Ramallah Banana Republic,” al-Issa severely criticized the Abbas-led Authority for acting illegally in blocking his site, and called for solidarity from local and foreign journalists and international human rights organizations to pressure Abbas to reverse the decision to censor the website.

Since its 1994 founding under the Oslo Accords, the PA’s credibility has been hit by allegations of rampant corruption. In early 2006, the PA Attorney-General Ahmad al-Meghanni – the same official who ordered the censorship of Donia al-Watan – publicly reported that he was investigating no fewer than 52 cases of official corruption. These totaled hundreds of millions of dollars and involved numerous senior officials of the PA and affiliated companies.

Earlier this year, Rawhi Fattouh, a close ally of Abbas and former speaker of the Palestinian legislative council was caught smuggling thousands of cell phones into the Israeli-occupied West Bank from Jordan. However, none of these cases have ever resulted in convictions or the return of stolen public funds and foreign aid money to the Palestinian people.

A Palestinian opinion poll conducted in July 2012 found that 71 percent of respondents believed that corruption existed in PA institutions under the control of President Mahmoud Abbas. Some 57% of respondents said the same of Hamas-controlled institutions in the Gaza Strip. 

I ask; "So if the Palestinians themselves believe there is wide spread corruption then why is nothing being done?"

All of this shows clearly that the worlds blind "investments" in Palestinian democracy and peace with Israel has been a complete failure because of the refusal of the international community to hold Arafat, Abbas and Haniyeh accountable. It is the abject corruption within the Palestinian Leadership that a majority of Palestinians were are being driven into the open arms of Hamas.

The Palestinian people in Gaza, in Judea and Shomron as well as in refugee camps have not seen any improvement in their living conditions because of this corruption. That is why they turned to Hamas, which promised them change, reform and an end to financial corruption and that is why we see this in the recent student elections at Bir Zeit University.

So unless Western donors demand that the PA use their money to bring democracy to its people and prepare them for peace, the prospects of reviving any peace process will remain zero.

Dayenu: The legendary story of the Jewish tribe of the “Mispuacha.”

Facebook asks me once more; “What's on my mind?”  The legendary story of the Jewish tribe of the “Mispuacha.”

Last night, the Passover Seder night the wife and I and three of our children were invited to the Seder meal in the home of our third son Natanel married to a wonderful young woman –Soli bat Marzianu of Jewish Sephardic Spanish Moroccan heritage, with their children, my grandchildren.

As I was sitting in the home of my son and his wife with my grandchildren, who were all born in the land of our ancestors, I contemplated the story from the Haggada of our journey to become;” emancipation from slavery,”  to wander for 40 years in the Sinai to be cleansed and reborn as proud Jews in our God given and “Promised Land”. I realized that our own family “tribal” history mirrors the story of our peoples exile and rebirth in our homeland, which is the true theme of Zionism.

As I sat waiting for the Seder meal to begin in their plain stark “no frills” apartment of the strict Orthodox Jews I could not miss noticing a painting of three Rabbis on the wall.

I looked at my son Natanel, the host of the Seder and I could not help seeing the image of my paternal grandfather Elisha ben Natanel and his father Natanel Ben Moshe HaLevi – known as Sanna also sitting as in the painting alongside him.

In my mind, I was thinking that this painting of the three Rabbis had inspired the thought of the story our people, our “Mispuacha” if you will “Our Tribe”.

As my family took turns reading from the Haggada I realized that my wife and I were the ones who were born in our long exile from these lands forced out by powers stronger then us. Just as in the lines of the famous poem “The Jewish Cemetery” at Newport by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.:

” What persecution, merciless and blind, Drove o'er the sea - that desert desolate-

    These Ishmaels and Hagars of mankind?”

My wife and I are the generation of those whose parents had arrived in America had wandered in the “Diaspora,’ our “Expulsion” from the time of the Roman destruction of the last Jewish Kingdom in Eretz Yisrael until its recent rebirth, just as the generation that wandered in the desert.

In our long journey in exile from our “Homeland” we as a people have experienced all the measures that evil can manifest: enslavement, immense torture, abuse, isolation, imprisonment and death by all the cruelest means. Yet somehow our ancestors have managed to stubbornly cling and hold onto their faith in the one God of Israel as even in their dying breaths they called out “Shemah Yisrael”.

As Ryan Bellerose had so astutely stated we Jews – Israelis are; “a tribal indigenous people who have ancient beliefs that predate any other extant “religion”.”

So just as in the retelling of the three millennium old story of the exile and enslavement of our “Mispucha” in Egypt. People of today who viciously attack and condemn Israel should take heed and note that it took the terrible, horrifying and immense cruelty of the Holocaust, like that of the “Ten Plagues” described in our Passover Haggada, to pry open the empathy of the world to allow the remnants of our shattered people to return home.

And just like in the story of the Exodus told in the Haggada, the Arabs like Pharaoh “Hardened” their hearts against the people of Israel. They forced the British to renege on their promise and issue the cruel “White Paper” of 1939 that slammed shut the door of the Jewish promised Homeland so there would be no place of refugee for the Jews of Europe.

That their leader, the Grand Mufti, even wrote letters to the Nazis begging them to murder more Jews and to not make any deal that would allow the Jews a route to escape death by.

The world has forgotten that when World War II ended, the Arabs hardened their hearts even more. That those displaced Jews who did survive and wished to leave the European graveyards could not do so. They, the Arabs, did not heed the lesson of those who oppress and deny he who sits in Judgment and loves our people.

So when the Partition Plan was passed and Ben Gurion read out the Declaration of Independence, the Arab League, like the Armies of Pharaoh, massed against us and attacked us threatening to annihilate us and to throw the remnants to the sea.

Exodus 15:9 

“The enemy said: 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.'”

Exodus Chapter 14:

“ 23  And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

26 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Stretch out thy hand over the sea that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.

'27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 

28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, even all the host of Pharaoh that went in after them into the sea; there remained not so much as one of them.”

Therefore “The Lord” did favor once more upon “Israel” and sent the plague of the  “Nacba” on the modern “sons of Pharaoh” the Arabs of the “Mandated Areas” the “Pleshtim,” for they did not heed up unto the Lord God of Israel

Exodus 32: 13

He said, “… all of this land which I have spoken of will I give to your descendants and they shall inherit it forever.”

In the story of the Exodus we are also told just as I read now on Facebook, hear on TV and echoed in the quotations of Bernie Sanders and his minions. There are Jews in America who deny our land our home and wish to appease their neighbors over their people. Just like those who jeered and question the LORD and Moses.
Exodus Chapter 14:

“10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were sore afraid; and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
11 And they said unto Moses: 'Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to bring us forth out of Egypt?
12 Is not this the word that we spoke unto thee in Egypt, saying: Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.'

Exodus 16:3 

"and the children of Israel said unto them: 'Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.'

When I awoke this morning and as I read through the postings I saw once more the beautiful and inspiring words of a Native “American” Facebook Friend Ryan Bellerose upon his visit with Jewish friends for a Seder.

Once more Ryan’s words of wisdom, encouragement and enlightenment to his Jewish and Israeli friends are truly beyond the title of a “Righteous Gentile.” He truly is much more than that. His words have spoken to me like the “Great Spirit” of his people truly speaks out to him.

Ryan is correct when he states that through the ages the Jewish people have known dark times, periods of intense hatred persecution, brutality and death.

To paraphrase Ryan; “Our indigenous Jewish tradition of the Passover Seder demonstrates clearly all of the things that indigenous people hold dear, our ties to our ancestors, our pull to our ancestral homelands and our history.”

So I would like to quote here his latest wisdom and comment regarding our “Festival of Freedom”;

“You notice I am saying our, because all indigenous people hold these things in common. I think every indigenous person who cares about indigenous things should try to attend a Passover Seder. Honestly I think everyone should.
My people do not have a Seder, we are still in our "Diaspora" but I always find it strengthening to be around my Jewish family during holidays, seeing them being Jews, doing Jewish things is heartening to me, after all if they still do this stuff for three thousand years later, how hard is it for me to stay traditional when we are barely into year 150?
I watched as they didn’t even remotely follow the script, as they laughed and argued over minutiae, I saw them living up to their name as we argued about random passages. I told my friends that if I was actually gonna be Jewish I would probably be a Karaite lol (for those of you who get the joke, for those who don’t meh) I said I am the kind of person who will read something myself and figure it out.
I love this holiday, basically, they remember one of the most horrific times for their people but more importantly they celebrate their escape and they thank the creator profusely.
They have a prayer they say that I find incredibly strengthening its called the Dayenu, they say several things and then say " it would have been enough after each thing, it shows a humility and a gratitude that is rarely seen today in the modern world.....
Dayenu. it would have been enough.
I think I have a few things to add to it
If you had only ever shown me that there is hope
Dayenu
If you had only given me friends when I felt like nobody cared
Dayenu
If you had only put people in my life who keep me going
Dayenu
If you had only ever shown me that there is strength in being proud of my self and my people
Dayenu
If you had only given me strength of will to fight and the wisdom to listen
Dayenu
So when someone asks me why I do this stuff even when its a pain in my ass, even when I get death threats from people who hate Jews or stern emails from Jews that are upset with me about whatever they get upset about, I think from now on I am just gonna answer
Dayenu."

I would like to add:

It would be enough if Mark would not be such a Schmuck and not block the Jews,

Dayenu!

To not see such death and anti-Jewish hate as on the mass media of late,

Dayenu!

So to one and all of my friends on Facebook and especially Ryan I say, Hag Samach