A Petition to the German Government

This open letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and foreign minister Guido Westerwelle has come to my attention. It expresses dismay at Germany's recent UN vote against Israel. The petition has so far garnered 3,500 signatures and they are targeting 10,000. While many of the signatories are just concerned German citizens, it includes some respectable journalists and intellectuals.

If you know any German citizens that wish to maintain their country's modern role as a friend of the Jewish people and the state of Israel, please bring this petition to their attention.

It was translated by a native German speaker and further edited by me:

To: Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle

The Arab world is burning. But the UNSC has nothing better to do than to debate for three hours Israel's settlement policy with the goal of label them as illegal.

You, honorable Ms. Merkel, and you honorable Mr. Westerwelle have promised the world that Germany will not disappoint when it occupies a seat in the UNSC.  But now, you support a resolution that is part of the propaganda war of the Palestinians, instead of prompting the Palestinians to negotiate with their peace partner Israel a mutual agreement in regards to the future borders of the Palestinian state.

This makes it clear that Germany does not measure up to its own expectations with respect to its position as 'Friend of Israel' exactly when it is called upon to back years of lip service with concrete actions. Here, one would expect Germany's equivocal 'No!'.

However, by consenting to the UNSC resolution you support the one sided conviction of the only democracy in the Middle East based on the falsification of history.

Spring Time of the (Arab) Peoples

Anyone who has followed my blog with respect to the recent wave of unrest in the Arab world, must have realized that I tend to liken the current it to a very important hinge-point in European and world history, the popular revolutions of 1848 otherwise knows as 'Spring Time of the Peoples'. In that year, a wave of popular unrest swept most of the continent after a successful revolution toppled the French constitutional monarchy.

Robert Zaretsky, a Texas based history professor, also likes this analogy:

The dead weight of brutal and autocratic rulers; a young and professional middle class deprived not just of liberty, but jobs; a deep and persistent economic crisis; and a revolution in communications that renders traditional borders obsolete and, finally, the bursting of the dam that unleashes a surge of revolution that sweeps across a continent: these conditions describe not only North Africa and the Middle East today, but Europe in 1848. If nations from Tunisia to Bahrain are, in fact, reviving the so-called “springtime of peoples”, the winter of political disenchantment may not be far away.
The backgrounds to the two series of revolutions are eerily similar. The Great Recession of recent memory was a blip compared to the economic depression, known as the “hungry years,” that flattened Europe in the 1840s. Disastrous harvests pushed up grain prices across Europe; city dwellers, spending more on food, bought fewer commodities; industrial and commercial activity slowed to a near standstill.

First Taste of Middle East Instability Reaches Israel

In the last few hours several 'Grad' rockets have hit several towns in the northern Negev. Most notably, Be'er Sheva has been hit for the first time since operation 'Cast Lead' just over two years a go.

I bet western liberals feel very proud of their unconditional support to the 'democratic' revolution taking place in the Middle East. Well, what we will actually be seeing very soon is much more instability, more conflicts. The only thing we will probably not see much off is real democracy in the western sense. That is, a democracy that runs on the principles of individual rights, freedom of expression and mutual coexistence of citizens with varying, often contradictory desires.

Sorry, the 'people's desire to wage holy war on the infidels' does not cut it as a democratic aspiration.

Obama Killing Arab Dictators, Almost Literally

Obama had quite a conversation with the Saudi king about the situation in Egypt earlier today. It seems as though the American leader presented quite a heavy handed approach that was difficult for his Saudi octogenarian counterpart to swallow.

After the conversation, king Abdullah has collapsed with a heart attack, making oil prices jump by as much as a buck per barrel:

Saudi Arabian King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz is alive, a source close to the monarch said on Thursday denying reports of his death.

"The king is presently in Morocco; he is in good health and good spirits. The report on his death is untrue," the source in Morocco said.

Islamtimes.org web portal reported on Thursday that King Abdullah suffered a sudden heart attack after a phone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama, during which they discussed the events in Egypt.

The portal said doctors were unable to save the king and he was pronounced dead, but "his death was not reported due to the sensitive conditions that exist in the region."

Demand Al Jazeera?

Apparently, Al Jazeera wants you to demand it! More specifically, they have been trying really hard to woo you with their Egypt coverage and then demand that your domestic broadcasting networks and authorities will feature their English language international broadcast. So far, they have been heavily promoting this campaign on social networking sites such as Facebook and twitter.

Since I have been following Al Jazeera's live stream closely last week, I think I should weigh in.

First of all, I was very impressed with their coverage. They had a thorough presence everywhere it seems, with constant live feed from Tahrir square, Qasr a Nile, 6th of October Bridge, etc. The studio was professional and kept the discussion alive and engaging. There is no doubt that Al Jazeera is an excellent news network.

That's of course all on the positive side. But there is a different, less benign side to Al Jazeera.

In Search of Apocalypse: a Story of Liberal Hypocrisy and Western Naivete

In the aftermath of the Iraq invasion, many on the left were criticizing Bush and warning others, about the former president's strange religious views and how they affect his policy decisions. It was said that Bush and his 'neocon' friends have a millenarian bend and that they are looking to live out some apocalyptic biblical prophecy. Most notable is president Chirac's claim that Bush said 'Gog Magog is at hand' when the latter tried to convince the former to join his coalition for the war in Iraq (which is coincidentally the location of biblical Babylon, not to mention lots and lots and lots of Oil).

The debate went back and forth. Some claimed that the occasional Bush religious statement was merely a move for his substantial Evangelical support base. The left often tried to dig very hard to find such statements in order to try and label Bush as some sort of a religious whacko. 

Bush's critics wanted to warn us of the possibility of Bush being a religious fanatic, and rightfully so. While I believe that calling Bush a religious fanatic is much of a stretch, in the west, we have come to view religion as a private aspect of life that should not be used for public policy. This is a problem that every country with a substantial conservative religious minority has to grapple with.

Interestingly enough though, the same group of Liberals, who are taking a 'principled' stand on a western politician's religious fanaticism, are proven to be full of hot air. Because when the same conservative elements which the liberals accuse of being overly religious, point to the fact that we should be careful from Islamist movements because they are most certainly religious whackos bent on holy war and the end of days, the 'principled' liberals instinctively go on the defensive to protect the Islamists.

Revolution Until Victory!

Today I stumbled into the Egyptian solidarity demonstration that took place at Dundas Square in downtown Toronto.

The liberty lover that I am, I cannot help but being curious... so I looked around. I honestly wish will for the people of Egypt. I long for a day where Israel, my birthplace, will one day be surrounded by truly liberal Arab democracies. Since events in Tunisia and Egypt started to unfold, I developed a weird sense of optimism that perhaps the Arab World is ready for a shakedown in the right direction. 

I think my observation today has brought me back to the reality of the Middle East, which is quite far removed from the mushy, touchy-feely reality of Canada. 

I think the following encounter illustrates the situation well:

After leaving the protest, I got on the Dundas streetcar and overheard a young woman telling her mother on the phone "Sorry I am running a little late, there was some protest at Dundas Square... it was Egypt or Palestine (?!) I am not quiiiiite sure which one it was". "Egypt", I informed her.

"I don't know... there seemed to be a lot of Palestine stuff over there..." She answered me, still midconversation with whomever is on the other side of the line, she added: "There were lots of strange signs in the protest, 'Mossad did 9/11' was my favourite, I couldn't help it, it cracked me up!"

I think this summarizes the entire screwed up mentality that unfortunately prevails in the Arab world. First of all... why the hell is the 'Palestinian Cause' hijacking everything? Unlike the Palestinians, the Egyptians are a people with a long and proud history of self governance... there are almost 90 million of them, with many issues of their on... many of them are significantly worse than that of Palestinians that ever head to endure the Israeli presence. No wonder the Palestinians are treated like crap by the rest of the Arab world, every time Arabs wish to deal with their own very real social and political issues, it's the Palestine Problem that jumps to the front of the line. It's quite ludicrous.

Second of all, for a group of people that are supposedly fighting for freedom and democracy in their homeland, getting their civic education in perhaps the most tolerant and civil democracy in the world; Canada, much of what appeared on the surface seemed quite far removed from the democracy as Americans, Canadians, Brits, Western Europeans and Israelis see it.

That's what we need... a democracy at the hands of group of vehemently antisemitic 9/11 truthers? Is this going to bring peace, liberty and stability to the Middle East? Is this what's going to turn Egyptians into free and proud people, ready to face their modern problems?

I don't think so...

Frankly I think that a much longer period of transition is needed... Currently the best non Islamist opposition group in Egypt is quite radically antisemitic and anti-American. The best real opposition group is a radical Islamist group that believes in creating something analogous to the Taliban in Egypt as the ideal state for the country.

With the best of intentions, the current revolution in Egypt is likely to lead into a Taliban style Muslim Brotherhood theocracy, if let run its full course.

No Thank You!

-QP

Mudar Zahran: Anti-Semitism: The New Necessity for Arab Regimes

Mudar Zahran is a Palestinian/Jordinian who currently resides in the UK. As a political dissident he faces great risks if he chooses to go back to Jordan.

I have communicated with him several times in the last few months and I am convinced that this man is operating out of the best of intentions in the world. He wants to see his people (Palestinians) no longer treated as second class citizens in their own homeland. He is an advocate of the school that Jordan is Palestine and it should exist aside Israel peacefully as the homeland of the Palestinians.

You can always count on Mr. Zahran to provide a sobering perspective on the Middle East. In his most recent article, he addresses the absurd cycle of antisemitism which I discussed in a previous post.

I think his opinions should be more widely heard and I wish more people like him will replace the current stock of decision makers in the Arab world.

by Mudar Zahran:

For more than sixty years of conflict, the carefully government-channeled hatred revolved around Zionism and Israel, rather than around Judaism and Jews.

Since 2008, however, the Jordanian printed media has been launching a fierce attack on almost everything Jewish.

Why would the supposedly-moderate Jordan adopt a strong anti-Semitic agenda?

The answer to this question is simple; Jordan's oppressed Palestinian majority has been seeking more civil rights in the last few years. Therefore, the Jordanian government has to distract them by igniting anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Arab regimes apparently needed a new method to direct their own people's anger towards someone else. The US and Europe were, of course, out of the question, and the communist "infidel" states were no longer in existence. Again, Arab regimes were stuck with Israel as "the source of all evil" with no way for regimes to revive that notion: their people have become fed up after decades of propaganda. The Arab regimes' "Plan B" was to ignite an even larger religious zeal by constantly reminding their people that the Israelis are "a part of a larger Jewish scheme of controlling the world."

Today, the message has dramatically changed; media language and definitions have been surgically altered by many Arab governments. The term "Zionist" has turned into "Jews," and, for the more moderate Arab media, "Peace talks" into "Jewish opposition to peace…or world peace."

The growing trend of anti-Semitism on Arab TV shows has been vigorously picking up momentum the last few years. Anti-Semitic-themed shows have become common on many of the 300-plus Arab satellite networks, including TV Channels and media outlets owned by theoretically pro-Western Arab governments are no exception -- crossing the line from anti-Semitism to open support for terrorism.

Examples for this are countless. In January 2010, the Jordanian state television aired an interview with former Prime Minister Faisal Al-Fayez, in which he threatened Israel with "six million Jordanian suicide bombers." Al-Fayez was a Jordanian senator at the time and has recently been appointed Speaker of the House of the Jordanian Parliament.

Also, Jordanian state and privately owned televised media have been launching a massive campaign against Israel being a Jewish state -- thus making a shameless leap from anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism.

In Jordan, the government-controlled mainstream media has been promoting anti-Americanism as much as anti-Semitic propaganda. In the Jordanian media, terms like "American imperialism," "the evil American conspiracy," "The U.S. marines occupational anti-Arab ideology," and "the American-Jewish alliance to destroy the ArabUmmah [Nation]," are everyday slogans – many by writers on the government's payroll.

At the same time, anti-Semitism not only serves dictators in the Arab world to keep their oppressed people under control, it also helps them convince their Western allies that there is a serious trend of fundamentalism exhibited through anti-Semitism -- and anti-Americanism as well.

All contribute to making Western governments feel the need to support oppressive Arab regimes -- or else "face an anti-American and anti-Western public."

The Arab regimes' new-found propaganda innovation -- of deploying anti-Semitism -- also serves an old purpose: creating an enemy for their people to hate, blame, curse, protest against, and occasionally fight against -- while the Arab ruling classes can enjoy all the spoils and remain in power.

Yet, this is not easy: Arab regimes are now dealing with more informed citizens. In this age of the Internet and open space, Arab citizens have access to all information they need; it is simply not possible anymore that they will believe everything their governments tell them about "the Zionist entity," which has been a scapegoat for all failures, and -- as every criticism or peaceful opposition is immediately ruled a "Zionist plot" -- a justification to oppress Arab people,

Nonetheless, a rise in anti-Semitism, in its crude, early 20^th century form, has been piercingly witnessed in the Arab media. Aside from the Hezbollah-owned and controlled al-Manar TV, the Arab media in general used to be anti-Israel and anti-Zionist, yet not particularly anti–Semitic.

It is not a secret that the Arab media is fiercely controlled by Arab governments. Despite claims of self-observed commitment to freedom of the media, several international journalism freedom bodies report that Arab countries not only systematically oppress freedom of speech but also micro-monitor most media sources -- supporting the argument that anti-Semitism in the Arab media is carefully supported and blessed by several Arab regimes.

In a recent report, the New York-based Anti-Defamation League reported several Jordanian newspapers, including those owned by the Jordanian state, as anti-Semitic. At the same time, Reporters Sans Frontières' recent report notes that Jordan's government executes a heavy censorship of the media

This time, however, the Arab regimes' rescue came from a least expected source: Osama Ben Laden.

On the second day after the US launched its attack on the Taliban of Afghanistan, after the 9-11 attacks, Ben Laden made a televised oath before millions of Arabs that "America and whoever lives there shall never see safety or security until we live it as a fact in Palestine."

Ben Laden had never mentioned "Palestine" in any of his speeches before that day. He belongs, moreover, to an ultra-orthodox school of Islamism, which views the Palestinians' fight against Israel as a fight for land, instead of for God -- and therefore not Jihad.

Ben Laden's statement was very well-thought-out and highly effective: it reached out to the hearts of those Muslims and Arabs sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, and at the same time expanded his Jihad into attacking "Jews and their supporters" everywhere. He thus issued to himself an ideologically sympathetic license to hit anywhere he sees fit.

Since then, several al-Qaeda terror attacks gained dual-legitimization: from those hating the West, as well from as those hating Jews -- and even from some non-Islamic Arab groups, such as the Marxist and socialist Arab activists. This has been true whether of attacks on Israelis in Kenya, or plots to bomb synagogues in Chicago. The result has been tremendous media success for Ben Laden, who is now, to many Arabs, including many non-Islamists, "a savior of Palestine," and "a fighter against the evil Jews" -- and not a crazy bearded man.

This same concept has been expanded and executed shrewdly by several Arab governments. Jordan has been getting away with it for too long, and so have many Gulf States, who own most of Arab media networks.

Today, anti-Semitism is as necessary to several Arab regimes' survival as their brutal police forces and merciless security agencies known as "Mukhabrat."

Arab regimes playing this game do not realize that this time, their trick might cause them to disappear: political Islamism has picked up the message of anti-Semitism, which opens doors to all extremist possibilities and might cost these Arab dictators their rule if their oppressed public makes the transition from "hatred of Jews" to "love of Islamism and fundamentalism."

Meanwhile, the civilized world would do well to realize that its alliances with some oppressive Arab regimes should be re-examined and re-considered. The current regimes are not pro-Western, and obviously maintain a marriage of convince to the West; such an affair has proved very fragile, most recently in Tunisia.

Obviously, Arab regimes' recklessness and oppressiveness might end up destabilizing the entire Middle East region, only this time they are playing the very alarming game of "anti-Semitism."

Great Interview with Noted Scholar Fouad Ajami

An excellent interview with Fouad Ajami:

The recent uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen represent an “avalanche on the autocracies of the Arab world,'' according to renowned Middle East expert and Johns Hopkins University Professor . Fouad Ajami. 

“I think now the Arabs are expressing this incredible moment of liberty,” said Prof. Ajami, in  an interview with the Jerusalem Post's Mordechai Twersky and broadcast Jan. 27 on JPost.com.

What particularly caught my intention was him likening the current wave of exuberance in the Arab world to the great revolution of 1848 much as I did in an earlier post.

-QP

Democracy in the Middle East: a Double Edged Sword

In order to follow events in the Middle East, one must have a great stomach for irony...

One of the more disturbing developments around the recent uprisings in the Arab world, Egypt in particular, is the somewhat frequent regurgitation that Israel supports/pampers/operate Arab dictators and their apparatus of oppression.

The great irony is that Arab dictators establish Israel Bashing an virulent antisemitism as their raison  d'etre. Conspiracy theories blaming the 'Zionists' for every imaginable malady of living in a poor oppressive state are constantly pandered by official state media.

Meanwhile the hypocrite dictators are more than happy to collaborate with Israel behind closed doors. After all, Israel is a fairly wealthy country, with great trade connections, which is good for business. Israel is happy because finally they are getting some positive response from neighboring countries, so they play a long with Arab dictatorial regimes. Let's be honest for a minute, it's not that there are any perfectly democratic/liberal regimes for Israel to deal with, so hey! we take what we get.

Now that Egypt is under crisis, I have heard the claim that Israel desperately prefers Mubarak to stick around rather than see a democratic, consensual government form. This is not the case. Interestingly enough it's a popular rallying cry!

Israel would love to see democratic neighbours. Really, it would. But unfortunately, we have seen multitude of popular revolts against relatively mild autocrats that resulted in a brutal theocratic dictatorship being established. This article from JPost highlights the Israeli fear:

While no analysts here predict any immediate ramifications for Israel’s national security, some said mass protest movements that begin as pro-democracy uprisings could easily be hijacked by Islamists.

“We need to understand that we are living on a volcano,” said Maj.- Gen. (res.) Ya’acov Amidror, former head of the IDF’s Research and Assessment Directorate.

“Conditions can change from today until tomorrow. We must ask ourselves, what is the worst case scenario,” he said. “We are on thick ice, but even that melts eventually."

“Advice we have heard from certain countries inWestern Europe [suggesting that the uprisings could lead to a wave of democratic revolutions] should not be followed,” he said. “There’s no immediate fear of any security escalation. The main question is: In the long term, will we be ready for all scenarios?” Maj.-Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland, a former national security adviser, and a senior research fellow at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), said, “There’s a reasonable chance that if a revolution takes place in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood would rise to power. That would be bad not just for Israel but for all democracies.”

While one would hope for a true bloodless democratic revolution to take place in Egypt, one has to be a realist. Israel merely operates under the notion of "better the devil we know".

-QP

Changing Focus in the Middle East

What should one take from what's going on in the Arab world?

The Arab world is in stasis. The Tunisian strongman has been deposed, Egypt is on the brink, Algeria is simmering, so is Yemen and Jordan. Syria is also weary of an attempt at Islamic revolt. The Palestinians, ever divided, are exchanging journalistic fire with Qatar over the recent document leak in Al-Jazeera. And of course, Hizballah's coup in Lebanon.

Quite the few days we are having over there, no?

The most interesting new development at least from my perspective as an Israeli is that for the first time to my knowledge, there is an all encompassing crisis in the Middle East and Israel is not at the centre of it all.Of course the theme of the 'Palestine Papers' is the peace negotiations from the Palestinian perspective, but it's almost secondary to the message conveyed.

The stasis in the Arab world is a result of a deep divide between the people (that is to say, the emerging middle class) and their small clique of rulers who have been regarding the country as their own 'Hawillah'. While the mechanisms of state power in Israel are far from perfect, they are light-years ahead of what's going on with our next door neighbours.

Despite my worries, despite the uncertainties, I cannot help but hope that Israel's Arab neighbours succeed in establishing consensual governments based on true democratic values. And I will wish the people on the street all the luck in the world!

With that being said, I am also a bit of a cynic... I do not recall many revolution that persisted free of blood. There was the American revolution, the Glorious Revolution, and that's almost it I believe. There is nothing to suggest that  an Arab world revolution will not be bloody, will give rise to nationalism of the ugliest kind and instability.

But then I am also an optimist :)

-QP

Tunisian Wind Reaches Egypt

The wave of popular protests intensified in Egypt today (CNN):

By early Tuesday morning, more than 90,000 people throughout the country had pledged to participate in the event in a Facebook group called "We Are All Khaled Said," named after an Alexandria activist who was allegedly beaten to death by police.

The Facebook group demands raising the minimum wage, sacking the interior minister, creating two-term presidential term limits and scrapping existing emergency laws that the group says "resulted in police control" over the people and the nation.

To highlight the role of police corruption, organizers tapped January 25 -- Police Day and a national holiday -- to hold protests.

Amnesty International released a statement Monday "urging the Egyptian authorities not to crack down" on the planned nationwide demonstration.

The banned Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest organized opposition to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's regime, had stated it would not have an official presence at Tuesday's protests, but some of its members "have reportedly been summoned and threatened with arrest and detention" if they attend and protest, Amnesty International said.

It was not clear whether opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei would attend the planned demonstrations. However, he posted statements supporting the effort on his Twitter account.

He also issued a video statement released Monday on YouTube addressing policemen.

"I sympathize with you because sometimes you are asked to do things that you do not want to do," ElBaradei said.

"One day, I hope that you will regain your role as the protectors of the people; rather than protectors of ... fraud elections. I am sure that every one of you deep inside is looking forward to the day that his role will again be with the people and a part of them, rather than against them." he added.

Public sentiment against state security forces has grown recently with alleged videos of police brutality shown on the Internet. A recent report from Human Rights Watch said the problem is "epidemic" and "in most cases, officials torture detainees to obtain information and coerce confessions, occasionally leading to death in custody."

Some other human rights groups, such as the Arabic Network for Human Rights, have drawn a comparison between Egypt and Tunisia under Ben Ali, in terms of the level of government corruption and police brutality.

Adly, the Egyptian interior minister, dismissed any such comparisons, calling it "propaganda" that had been dismissed by politicians as "intellectual immaturity."

But one woman, identified only as Nahla, who plans to attend the Tuesday protests, disagrees. She wrote in an online post, "I hope the [Tunisia-style] revolution will be taught in history. And that Egyptians will learn in school later about the January 25th revolution."

Of course mass protests over living conditions, food prices, wages and corruption were not uncommon during the economic crisis of '08. This time however, the people are using the recent events in Tunisia as a strong back wind. If the Egyptian regime can maintain its composure and use a heavy hand, it will survive. If it caves, it will probably falter. 

That is not to say of course, that I am in favour of increased brutality to secure regime survival. 

-QP

(h/t War News Updates)

Tunisian Wind is Sweeping Across the Sahara

For better or for worse, it looks as though the events that transpired in the last couple of weeks are having quite an impact on the rest of the Arab world. Of course the outcome from country to country will be quite different. Tunisia, despite of its autocratic regime, is quite moderate. Its aversion from radical Islam reflects a much more pragmatic nature towards the dominant religion people of the Maghrab region have.

Of course, the perception that the people can come out to the street and scare the regime into submission is being noticed. As I stated in a previous post, all sorts of radicals, revolutionaries or just plane folks who want more, are going to come crawling out of their holes and make a stand.

Jordanians are staging 'bread' protests. This does not seem to reflect any major aversion of the people with their royals, but rather an attempt to gain some minor victories with it, such as reduced food prices or increased subsidies. The fact that the protesters are carrying loaves of bread as props seems a little cynical to me.

Meanwhile, the world's favourite 'victims' are attempting to stage solidarity protests. Of course the Palestinian Authority has blocked such attempts. The PA is routinely ranked as one of the most corrupt administrative bodies in the world. If a Palestinian state were to be declared tomorrow, it will surely be one of the most corrupt in the world. That's why, I see no intention on the side of the PA to declare independence and demand the IDF removed from the West Bank. If that were to happen, the events of Tunis will look like kids' show in comparison.

The most recent country to experience public displays of discontent is Yemen. It seems as though all Arab regimes are on the defensive, playing nice and trying to bribe their population with a bit of cash. My impression is that in the Middle East, those temporary minor victories will trigger more pressure from the population.

This however, does not at all mean that the Arab world is facing a wave of democratic revolutions. I believe the true long term implication of these events will only be well understood within decade. Just as the outcome of the popular revolutions of 1848 in Europe started becoming apparent after the first world war, I think the true outcome of the current wave of demonstrations will be felt only in the next generation.

-QP

Palestinian Apartheid Week, Anyone?

While all the MSM has been closely monitoring a letter signed by a few Israeli rabbis, a letter that has no statutory standing whatsoever, the Palestinians are arresting and interrogating people for the suspicion of selling property to Jews:

Palestinian Authority security officials have detained a meat dealer on suspicion of selling land to Jews, Palestinian media outlets reported Friday. 

According to the report, the wealthy individual in question is a well-known figure and owns large swaths of land in the Bethlehem area. According to suspicions, he sold some land to Jews some 15 years ago.

The land in question was later used for building homes in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood.

The PA reportedly detained and interrogated the man Thursday. During hi interrogation he claimed that all the land belonged to his father, who was the one who sold it to Jews.

The suspect was released Friday afternoon.

About a week ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the issue of land sales to Jews while slamming Palestinian complaints about Israel's east Jerusalem construction. The PM stressed that while his government allows both Jews and Arabs to engage in construction in the east of the capital without discrimination, the PA harshly punishes Arabs who sell land to Jews.

Speaking to foreign correspondents, Netanyahu noted that only 10 minutes away from the briefing there is a regime in place that sentences people who sell land to Jews to death. "How many of you reported this?" the prime minister asked the journalists during the briefing. (SOURCE: Ynet)

Yes, the Palestinian Authority has the death penalty for whoever dares to sell his property to Jews (not Israelis, not Zionists, Jews!).

It's amazing that the world demands that Israel will recognize and cede territory to a state that would practically enact Nuremberg laws.

-QP

The Tunisia Precedent

Major change can come from the places you least expect. Tunisia is one of the wealthier (non-oil producing) Arab countries, relatively liberal/secular constitution and no recent history of major conflict/civil strife.  It is also one of few Arab countries where Israelis could travel to as tourists, despite of lack of formal relations between the countries.

The context of the recent events is as follows: Tunisia has been ruled by strongman president Zine el Abidine bin Ali for the past 23 years. Prior to his ascent to power he was a protege of sorts to former president Habib Bourguiba, the former stepping into the latter's shoes. Between the two, Tunisia has been ruled by the same autocratic regime for some 54 years.  

Like in many autocratic regimes, an unwritten agreement between the people and the government has existed. The government was required to sustain a relatively happy and prosperous middle class. In exchange for stability and growth, the middle class agreed to give up on certain freedoms and liberties and turn a blind eye to the ruling elite's vast nepotism and corruption.

Recently, like much of the world, Tunisia has been facing an economic crisis. Economic slowdown, rising food prices and decline in European tourism has shattered the old unwritten clause. Meanwhile, bin Ali has been reelected to a 5th term in office with a whopping 89% of the vote in 'Free and Democratic Elections' (long after his self imposed 3 term limit has surpassed ). 

The country's youth, who are facing high unemployment and are unhappy about their future prospects, decided that all bets are off and decided to take to the streets. After about two weeks of turmoil, president bin Ali has declared that an emergency election will take place within 6 months. The protesters, who have become disillusioned with the country's sham democracy were emboldened to press on the advantage. After his attempted compromise fell threw, bin Ali fled to Saudi Arabia by way of Malta, after France has refused to grant him asylum.

Meanwhile, the speaker of the parliament has been sworn in as interim president and the military is in control of the situation.

Much speculation is filling the web on whether real change has come to Tunisia and how this event will impact the rest of the Arab world. Abu Toameh reports that revolutionaries longing for regime change are salivating all over this. In the west it has been already dubbed as the 'Jasmine Revolution' or the first 'WikiLeaks Revolution'. Of course we all remember how all the 'Colour Revolutions' panned out, don't we?

Barry Rubin predicts that Tunisia is heading towards restoring the old balance between the ruling elite and the middle class rather than real democratic reform as the bin Ali's regime has been pretty succesful at keeping the media and organized opposition under his thumb, there is no real alternative. 

Regardless of whether these events can 'spread' to other countries, I am sure many Arab rules took notice. A long time autocratic ruler had to flee the country over what has allegedly started due to the suicide of the owner of an unlicensed vegetable stand after his scuffle with the authorities.

Can real, democratic change come from the Arab street? I haven't seen a precedent that suggests so. Somehow, I don't think that this is it.