Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The New Palestinian Prime Minister

by Elliott Abrams 
February 7, 2012
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (L-R) talk before an agreement signing ceremony in Doha February 6, 2012. The leaders of rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed a deal in Qatar on Monday to form a unity government of independent technocrats for the West Bank and Gaza, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Courtesy REUTERS/Stringer)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal (L-R) talk before an agreement signing ceremony in Doha February 6, 2012. The leaders of rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas signed a deal in Qatar on Monday to form a unity government of independent technocrats for the West Bank and Gaza, headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. (Courtesy REUTERS/Stringer)
Once upon a time, progress toward Israeli-Palestinian peace was thought to require reform of Palestinian political institutions.  Creation of the post of Palestinian Authority (PA) prime minister, separate from that of PA president, was viewed as a milestone. On March 14, 2003, President Bush marked creation of the prime minister post in a press conference:
the Palestinian Authority has created the new position of Prime Minister. Israeli and Palestinian leaders and other governments in the region now have a chance to move forward with determination and with good faith. To be a credible and responsible partner, the new Palestinian Prime Minister must hold a position of real authority. We expect that such a Palestinian Prime Minister will be confirmed soon. Immediately upon confirmation, the road map for peace will be given to the Palestinians and the Israelis…
This week Hamas and Fatah negotiated some sort of “unity” or “reconciliation” agreement, and the PA/Fatah negotiator was none other than the prime minister of whom Bush was speaking 9 years ago: Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas became president of the PA after the death of Arafat, and is now in the 7th year of his 4 year term. Times have changed, as my CFR colleague Rob Danin has noted:
In an innovation that apparently violates the Palestinian Basic Law, the two sides agreed that Mahmoud Abbas would serve as both president and prime minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Recall, the PA’s prime minister position was established in 2003 and Abbas was appointed to that post to reduce the absolute powers of the presidency, then in Yassir Arafat’s hands. Ironically, it is now Abbas as president who is seeking to claim back what he once tried to take away.
Nicely put. And Rob is right: Article 45 of the Basic Law says “The President of the National Authority shall appoint the Prime Minister and authorize the latter to constitute his government.  The President shall have the right to dismiss the Prime Minister or to accept his resignation and to request him to convene the Council of Ministers.”
But of course, Abbas will not hold absolute power in his hands, for when it comes to Gaza he will have no power at all. It is rumored that under the deal there will be a deputy prime minister for the West Bank and one for Gaza, so in essence Hamas will still rule Gaza while Fatah rules the West Bank. Why then go through the contortions of this “reconciliation” agreement? For one thing the Amir of Qatar brought Abbas and the Hamas leader Khaled Meshal to Doha, and the Amir has many means of persuasion, particularly for folks whose bank accounts are thin. For another, no Palestinian leader likes to be cast as “against reconciliation,” so it is usually easier to go along. And anyway, just as the previous “reconciliation” efforts failed, this one can be allowed to fail as well if it becomes troublesome for the participants.
But there is a price to pay for these theatrics, for no one can seriously expect Israel to negotiate peace with a combined Fatah-Hamas team when Hamas is dedicated to Israel’s destruction. It is not the PA but the PLO that formally negotiates with Israel, and one of the most damaging aspects of the “reconciliation” agreement is that Hamas is supposed to join the PLO. Once it does, all but the most ardent peace-processors will have to admit the negotiations track is truly frozen. Yes, perhaps Hamas will magically take that occasion to abandon its previous hatred of Jews and Israel, abandon terrorism, and declare itself ready for peace with Israel. If so, let’s all go back to Camp David or Annapolis for another round.  If not, if Hamas is admitted into the PA government and the PLO as the terrorist group it is today, let’s acknowledge that the Palestinian leadership has turned away from any genuine effort to negotiate peace.
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Bee's Notes:
Oops!  The ink isn't dry and here we go again!  Posted on The Jerusalem Post:

Palestinians slam selection of Abbas as PM in unity deal

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH02/07/2012 20:56
"This is a scandal not only because it violates the [Palestinian] Basic Law, but also because it turns Abbas into an autocrat with absolute powers," senior Fatah official says of unity deal with Hamas.
Abbas, Qatar's al-Thani, and Mashaal
By Reuters
Palestinians across the political spectrum Tuesday criticized the Qatari-sponsored Hamas-Fatah reconciliation agreementaccording to which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would also serve as prime minister of an interim unity government.    continue reading....
and, this latest "unity" between terrorists has appeared to cause some embarrassment in the White House - because the King of Golfers has suddenly lost his tongue!

US: ‘No Comment’ on Palestinian Unity Agreement

Obama administration failed to comment on Fatah, Hamas reconciliation agreement; "internal matter for Palestinians."
By Rachel Hirshfeld
First Publish: 2/7/2012, 7:15 PM

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
Israel news photo: Flash 90
The Obama administration refused to comment on the reconciliation agreement signed between Fatah and Hamas in Qatar on Monday.
Prime Minister Netanyahu condemned the agreement, calling it “a moral blow to peace and a great victory for terrorism.”
The American administration, however, refused to comment on thisdevelopment, as US State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland stated, “As we’ve said many times, questions of Palestinian reconciliation are an internal matter for Palestinians,” but asserted that “both of these parties ought to stay committed to this [peace] process.”  continue reading ...

An "internal matter between the Palestinians" ....
Hey, Obama, do you have any idea how pathetic you sound?!  No wonder you are known in the Middle East as "weak" .  Here's a guy who can't pass a mirror without asking it "who's the fairest of them all?" and insists on boring Americans with daily tidbits on national TV ... and that's all he can say, as Hamas terrorists join up with Fatah!  

Americans really need to clean out the trash bins in Washington DC come November - it is already stinking to high heaven.





Komen's Experience With Planned Parenthood Should Be A Lesson To Other Organizations


The 10 Most Diabolical Teachings in Human History

ISLAM WATCH
Sunday, 05 February 2012 13:58 Jake Neuman



Following are the 10 most evil teachings in history that surprisingly are divine teachings of Islamic God Allah. Obviously, Islam’s Allah was not the God, Whom the pre-Islamic Arabs used to worship as their God, but was the alter-ego of Muhammad.
Every word of the Quran was Muhammad’s own, which he put on the tongue of his imaginary friend Allah.  Islam is out and out fraudulent. (For detailed explanation of each teaching go to http://www.islamreform.net/new-page-145.htm )
Most evil teaching # 1: Islam’s paradise of evil, demented, depraved sexual perversity
Verse 9:111 – Muslim’s passport to paradise
“Lo! Allah hath bought from the believers their lives and their wealth because the Garden will be theirs: they shall fight in the way of Allah and shall slay and be slain. It is a promise which is binding on Him in the Torah and the Gospel and the Qur'an. Who fulfilleth His covenant better than Allah? Rejoice then in your bargain that ye have made, for that is the supreme triumph.”
Islam teaches that if Muslims slay or are slain (kill or are killed) in the service of God, i.e. Jihad, they are guaranteed accession to Allah’s paradise of depraved sexual perversity. Islam’s Paradise is filled with whorish virgins possessing voluptuous breasts and lustrous eyes. Muslims, blessed with an access to Paradise, will have 72 such virgins to engage in incessant copulation. Furthermore, a Muslim’s surest way of getting a passport to Paradise, says Allah, is to get slain while trying to kill the kafirs. The Quran is no more a holy book than Playboy, Penthouse, and Hustler are holy books. Indeed, the Quran is worse in that it incites unrestrained murder of infidels.
Most evil teaching # 2: Kill the infidels wherever you find them
Quran 9:5 (the infamous verse of the sword inciting mass murder):
“Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.”
Verse 9:5 teaches Muslims to commit mass-murder. The kafirs must either convert to Islam, who would keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate (zakat), or be murdered. Command for unconditional slaying of humans, God’s own creations, by other humans – when presented as a sacred teaching of the almighty Creator – becomes a most evil teaching.
It is needless to say that such teachings never came from the God, if there is one.
Most evil teaching # 3: Extortion
Verse 9:29:
“Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.”
Here, Allah the Islamic God commands Muslims to attack and kill the so-called 'people of the book’ (i.e. Jews and Christians), until they are defeated and submitted to the supremacy of Islam and, in willing humiliation, pay jizya (submission) tax to Muslims. Like verse 9:5, 9:29 is a call to mass murder and extermination. Only Hitler had openly instructed his followers to exterminate the Jews so completely. When such a teaching is presented as a teaching of the Creator of the Universe, it becomes extremely evil.
Most evil teaching # 4: Verse 5:33 – verse of barbaric cruelty
In order to portray Islam as a wonderful religion, Muslim taqqiyah tacticians, including President Obama, will always quote the verse 5:32, which says, “We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind.
This verse, as ridiculous as it is, says Allah, was decreed upon the Children of Israel, not Muslims. The verse that applies to Muslims is the next one – verse 5:33, a verse of barbaric cruelty – which these deceptive apologists of Islam would never quote. Verse 5:33 says:
“The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom;”
Teachings as contained in this verse – “they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land” – are cruel and barbaric in nature. When those teachings are presented as God’s, it becomes extremely evil, no better than those Hitler had committed.
Most evil teaching # 5: Verse 65.4 -- Allah’s teaching of pedophilia
Quran 65:4 says:
And those of your women as have passed the age of monthly courses, for them the 'Iddah (prescribed divorce period), if you have doubts (about their periods), is three months, and for those who have no courses [(i.e. they are still immature) their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is three months likewise, except in case of death]. And for those who are pregnant (whether they are divorced or their husbands are dead), their 'Iddah (prescribed period) is until they deliver (their burdens) (give birth) and whosoever fears Allah and keeps his duty to Him, He will make his matter easy for him.”
The most important duty of any species is the care and protection of its young. The prime duty of mankind is to raise children in a safe and caring environment, so they can progress into responsible adults. There is no worse crime than the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. But verse 65:4 clearly approves marriages and sexual copulation with pre-pubescent little girls, who haven’t started menstruating yet. And Muhammad  at the age of 50 duly complied with this sanction of Allah by marrying his niece Aisha, only 6 years old.
This is an extremely evil teaching. Allah is a pedophile monster.
Most evil teaching # 6: Verse 33:50 – sanctioning unrestrained slavery and rape for Muhammad by his Allah
Verse 33.50 says:
“O Prophet! surely We have made lawful to you your wives whom you have given their dowries, and those [slaves] whom your right hand possesses out of those whom Allah has given to you as prisoners of war, and the daughters of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts, and the daughters of your maternal uncles and the daughters of your maternal aunts who fled with you; and a believing woman if she gave herself to the Prophet, if the Prophet desired to marry her – specially for you, not for the (rest of) believers; We know what We have ordained for them concerning their wives and those whom their right hands possess in order that no blame may attach to you; and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful”.
The term "possessions of the right hand" mean slaves. It is expressly stated that Muhammad's slaves, which he attained as a share of the captives in raiding infidels communities, were actually given to him by Allah Himself. And Allah also makes raping them halal for Muhammad (and his Muslim followers).
The verse also gives a special privilege to Muhammad to marry as many wives as he desires, beyond the restriction of four wives for ordinary Muslims.
When God’s teachings encourage a people to wage wars to capture the women for raping as well as encourages His holy prophet to engage in unrestrained marriage for sexual gratification, there can’t be a teaching as evil as this in such matters.
Most evil teaching # 7: Quran’s Sanction of Wife Beating
Quran 4:34:
"Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great."
A Muslim woman is the property of her husband. A Muslim husband has the legal right and religious obligation to beat a wife if she disobeys him, is disloyal to him or simply does not please him. The concept of wife abuse does not exist in Islam. There is no concept of martial rape. A Muslim woman cannot refuse sex with her husband. According to Islamic law, a husband may strike his wife for any one of the following four reasons:
  1. She does not attempt to make herself beautiful for him (i.e. "let's herself go")
  2. She refuses to meet his sexual demands
  3. She leaves the house without his permission or a "legitimate reason"
  4. She neglects her religious duties
Any of these are also sufficient grounds for divorce. These are evil affronts to the idea of equality and dignity of women – very evil teachings, indeed.
Most evil teaching # 8: Allah takes a shares of plundered booty
Quran 8:41
“And know that out of all the booty that ye may acquire (in war), a fifth share is assigned to Allah, - and to the Messenger, and to near relatives, orphans, the needy, and the wayfarer, - if ye do believe in Allah and in the revelation We sent down to Our servant on the Day of Testing, - the Day of the meeting of the two forces. For Allah hath power over all things.”
This verse was revealed about how the booty captured in wars – such as after attacking and mass-slaughtering the Jews of Banu Quraiza – would be distributed. And most horribly the Islamic Allah Himself claims a share of the booty along with His prophet. God is the Creator of everything in the Universe. When that God encourages some people to attack and mass-murder others, so He Himself can take a share from the wealth captured from those murder people – no evil can get higher than this.
Most evil teaching # 9: Verse 24:2 – Allah is a barbarian
Adultery and fornication must be punished by flogging with a hundred stripes
Quran 24:2 says:
“The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication, -- flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by God, if ye believe in God and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment.”
This verse says that Muslims must not have mercy on people, who commit adultery or fornication, and punish them brutally with 100 lashes in public. However, since other verses in the Quran specifically allow men to have sex slaves, the horrible crime of serial rape against a non-Muslim woman is not considered adultery or fornication and would not be punished as the woman would be considered God-given concubine.
What kind of person could flog a woman 100 times for having sex with the man she loves? On the other hand, Islamic God, evil as He is, allows men to force sex upon their unwilling wives (verse 4:34). Undoubtedly the God of Islam is out and out barbaric to sanction evil teachings such as these.
Most evil teaching # 10: Teachings of torture, enslavement, beheading cruelty, eye-for-eye …..
There are 3,990 teachings of the Quran that are all evil. Only a few listed below under # 10 evil teachings.
TORTURE
Quran 22:19-22: “fight and slay the Pagans, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem” “for them (the unbelievers) garments of fire shall be cut and there shall be poured over their heads boiling water whereby whatever is in their bowels and skin shall be dissolved and they will be punished with hooked iron rods
SLAVERY
Quran 2.178: “O you who believe! retaliation is prescribed for you in the matter of the slain, the free for the free, and the slave for the slave, and the female for the female, but if any remission is made to any one by his (aggrieved) brother, then prosecution (for the bloodwit) should be made according to usage, and payment should be made to him in a good manner; this is an alleviation from your Lord and a mercy; so whoever exceeds the limit after this he shall have a painful chastisement.
You kill one of my slaves, females or free man and I’ll kill one of your slaves, females or free man.
BARBARIC CRUELTY
Quran 5:38: “Cut off the hands of thieves, whether they are male or female, as punishment for what they have done-a deterrent from God: God is almighty and wise.” 39 “But if anyone repents after his wrongdoing and makes amends, God will accept his repentance: God is most forgiving and merciful.
EYE FOR EYE
Quran 5:45: “And We prescribed for them therein: The life for the life, and the eye for the eye, and the nose for the nose, and the ear for the ear, and the tooth for the tooth, and for wounds retaliation.   But whoso forgoeth it (in the way of charity) it shall be expiation for him. Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed such as wrong-doers.
BEHEADING
Quran 8.12: “Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): "I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them."
There are 75 teachings of beheading in Quran.
SLAUGHTERING
Quran-8:67: “It is not for any prophet to have captives until he hath made slaughter in the land. Ye desire the lure of this world and Allah desireth (for you) the Hereafter, and Allah is Mighty, Wise.” (Allah insisting Prophet to kill all the prisoners, and should not keep any surrendered prisoners alive until He (Prophet) occupied entire Arabia.)
The Quran is a mine of most evil teachings human history has ever seen. Islam is out and out Evil in the Name of God.
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Jake Neuman is the author of Islam and Sharia Law Are Treason: Jihad Is Treason (free download).  His book ISLAM -- EVIL IN THE NAME OF GOD™ was banned in Malaysia.
Bee's Note:
See: 

Questioning the Koran - posted on Front Page Magazine

The Qur’an, the book of the black stone worshipers - posted on NEWS THAT MATTERS
Islam's Latest Contributions to Peace - posted on Religion of Peace