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I’lam (pronounced E’e’lam): Media Center for Arab Palestinians in Israel is a non-profit, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO number 5803556001 based in Nazareth, Israel. Its aim is to promote civic equality within the public domain and to advocate for the benefit of Arab media interlocutors and Arab institutions. I’lam’s stated mission is “promoting media rights and empowerment”.” At the same time, I’lam focuses much of its efforts towards the de-legitimization of Israel as a Jewish state and its defamation abroad.
UNRWA in Gaza and Terrorist Organizations A Cooperative Relationship
The UNRWA teachers’ union in the Gaza Strip has close to 7,000 members, the civil service sector has about 2,000 and the general UNRWA workers number about 1,500. Elections are held once every three years to elect 27 representatives and candidates from the PLO, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine all contend for seats. With the exception of the PLO, all the organizations have been designated as terrorist entities by the United States and the European Union.
UNRWA in Gaza and Terrorist Organizations A Cooperative Relationship
Israeli Swat Team Kills Wanted Hamas Murderer
Bringing an end to a manhunt that lasted more than 14 years, Israeli commandos killed senior Hamas terror leader Abed Majid Dudin in the southern Hebron hills on Thursday.
He planned at least two multiple suicide bombings in Jerusalem and outside Tel Aviv in 1995.
Five Israelis were murdered, and another 32 were killed in the bombing of Bus No. 20 in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan on July 24, 1995.
Another five Israelis were murdered, and another 107 were injured in the bombing of Bus No. 26 in front of Rene Cassin High School in Jerusalem’s Ramat Eshkol neighborhood on Aug. 21, 1995.
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In each of these bombing attacks, the perpetrator of these killings blew himself up together with his victims.
Dudin, 45, recruited the two bombers who perpetrated these attacks.
Shortly after the attacks, Palestinian Authority (PA) security officials arrested Dudin at the Israeli government’s insistence, and the Israelis formally asked for his extradition after his capture.
In order to block the extradition, the PA tried Dudin and sentenced him to 12 years imprisonment. However, he never went to prison and continued working unhindered as a Hamas operative.
Dudin returned to prison under the framework of the 1998 Wye Memorandum, which was signed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and PA President Yasser Arafat. He was imprisoned in Hebron, but was released in 2001 in the early stages of the al-Aqsa intifada, which was coordinated by the Fatah and the Hamas, working under the direction of the PA security forces.
Dudin had been on Israel’s most wanted list ever since and served, until his death, as the commander of Hamas’ military wing in the southern Hebron hills area.
The Israeli security forces tried capturing Dudin on a number of occasions following his release from Palestinian prison. The Israel Police’s SWAT team reached Dudin in his hideout in the village Dura in the southern Hebron hills, killing him following an exchange of gunfire.
Hamas has accused the PA of assisting Israel locating Dudin and has threatened to carry out revenge attacks. The PA denies that it assisted Israel in locating and killing Dudin.
David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com
Sderot trauma facilities in danger of closing due to budget cuts
Imagine that you are 18-years-old. You have just completed high school and in a few months you will enter the army. In the meantime, you spend your time going out with friends and working to save some money– like any other typical teenager in Israel.
One afternoon, you come home exhausted from work and collapse into bed for a nap. Suddenly, in the middle of your nap you find yourself waking up to the sound of your window exploding above your bed. Shards of glass lie everywhere. It takes you a moment to realize that a rocket has slammed a few feet away from your home.
Welcome to a moment in the life of Ilan Dahan, a Sderot 18-year-old who slept through the Color Red siren– only to wake up to a Gaza rocket exploding in his backyard last Tuesday evening, May 19.
“It’s a miracle that all I got was this scratch,” Ilan says, dazedly pointing to a red mark on his back, where a piece of glass cut through.
Ilan’s family stands around in shock. His mother Shula looks at her son tearfully. “I never expected this to happen to us during the ceasefire,” she says.
The back of the Dahan’s home is covered in debris and glass, while rocket shrapnel marks the walls and ceiling of the home. An evening breeze blows through the windowless windows. Ilan’s father, Avi, stands by his son. “I was terrified that something had happened to him,” Avi says in a quiet voice.
Now imagine that after such a rocket attack, the kind of therapy needed to get shock victims back on track, is no longer available. Due to significant budget cuts, trauma therapy facilities in Sderot, which have played a valuable role in rehabilitating residents of the rocket-torn community, are now in danger of closing down.
Those who will be affected most by this recent development are Sderot‘s children, as the Sderot Trauma Center, which caters mostly to Sderot children and teenagers – ages 17 and below – is on its way out.
Fifty percent of the center’s funding comes from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, or Keren LeYedidut. The organization can no longer provide the funds to keep the center going.
The trauma center treats 620 trauma patients, of whom 80% are children, says Daliah Yosef, the trauma center’s director.
“I’ve already handed out dismissal letters to the staff at the center,” Yosef told Sderot Media Center last Thursday, May 21 two days after the rocket attack.
The other 50% of the trauma center‘s funding is provided by the Israeli Government Ministries of Health, Revenue, and Seniors – not nearly enough to keep the center open.
“The harshest part of this reality is that hundreds of Sderot children will be left with no place to go for treatment,” says Yosef.
Ilan is fortunate that he is 18 and can therefore receive treatment at the Sderot Mental Health Center, which ministers to adult victims from ages 18 and up. However, Sderot’s Mental Health Center’s director, Dr. Adrianna Katz, says that although her center is in no danger of closing, she does not have enough staff to deal with over 6,000 trauma victim files –which continue to grow every day. In fact, since the recent rocket attack on Sderot, over 60 people from the residential neighborhood where the rocket landed, have sought treatment at the Sderot Mental Health Center.
In addition to Yosef’s Trauma Center, the Sderot Shock Treatment Center which operates under the trauma center, is also in danger of shutting down.
Photo: Anav Silverman
The Shock Treatment Center opened three years ago, alongside the trauma center, to provide immediate treatment to shock victims after rocket attacks. Before then, Sderot residents had to be transported 20 minutes away to Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital or to Be’er Sheva’s Soroka Hospital.
“When the Shock Treatment Center opened in Sderot, it made treatment for Sderot residents much more efficient and easier, as they received help on the spot” said Dr. Katz, who also heads the shock center. “Sderot residents feel more at home being treated at the center.”
“Going back to the original way–transporting Sderot trauma victims by ambulance to hospitals outside the area is absolutely ridiculous,” Dr. Katz told Sderot Media Center. “The cost of transporting patients is more expensive and many times there are not enough ambulances to transport all victims, especially during episodes when there are a series of rocket attacks on the city.”
Indeed in the recent rocket attack, the Sderot Shock Treatment Center treated all eight victims of shock including a woman injured by rocket shrapnel.
Sderot’s trauma facilities remain a vital part of the Sderot community, which for eight years has been under Gaza rocket attack. As the city’s residents continue to live under the range of Qassam fire, it is the therapy and care that Dr. Katz and Dalia Yosef provide which helps residents return to a semblance of normal life.
In the meantime, Ilan Dahan continues to hope that someday he can wake up to a rocket-free sky.
Hezbollah Irked By Hariri Connection
Der Spiegel’s revelation of Hezbollah’s alleged involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri remains in the media spotlight.
Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has accused Israel of being behind the supposedly false report, but the journalist who wrote the report is standing behind it.
“Every single word is the truth,” said Erich Follath, the journalist who authored the report.
The article was published, probably not coincidently, just two weeks before the Lebanese parliamentary elections, which a Shiite-Christian bloc under Mr. Nasrallah’s leadership is now participating in. The high echelons in the movement fear an attempt to connect them to the assassination could affect the voter’s choice.
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Mr. Hariri, who was killed in a major explosion on Feb. 14, 2005, was popular among many sectors in the population, not just among Sunnis.
“This is an exceedingly dangerous article,” admitted Mr. Nasrallah in a speech aired earlier this week. “We regard it as an Israeli accusation.”
He added that the event that set off the Lebanese Civil War in April 1975 was no less severe.
The report in the German magazine detailed the role played by Hezbollah intelligence operatives in the operation and essentially exonerated the prime suspect to date – the Syrian leadership.
Mr. Follath says he based his report on documents from the U.N. tribunal established to investigate the Hariri assassination. He insists the documents are authentic and that he double-checked every fact before publishing his report.
“I am pleased with Hassan Nasrallah’s assault against me,” he told the newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. “Today I am more confident than ever about the article.”
Israel fears Mr. Nasrallah’s bloc will strengthen and score a significant hold over Lebanon. As a result, Israel has expressed its concern over Vice President Joe Biden’s statement the U.S. government plans to give the Lebanese military equipment, including tanks and warplanes.
Media outlets in Lebanon have reported the equipment will be transferred regardless of the election’s outcome in order to strengthen the Lebanese military against hostile forces.
Senior officials in the security establishment said in recent days: “Every weapon making its way to Lebanon will make its way to Hezbollah when the time has come.”
Another Israeli security source said: “Hezbollah is the dominant military force. The American declaration is testimony of its lack of understanding of the events in Lebanon.”
David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com
US Crisis Looming With The Saudis?
The United States has become concerned over what officials describe as a chill in its relations with Saudi Arabia.
The Middle East Newline has confirmed the Saudi regime has been dismayed by President Barack Obama’s decision to seek a reconciliation with Iran, and Saudi leaders have sent a series of warnings saying this would directly harm U.S. allies in the Gulf.
“The Saudis are beginning to back away from us and consider other strategic alliances,” an official said.
President Barack Obama plans to visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday during his three-day trip to Egypt, Germany and France. Officials said the president added Riyadh to his itinerary amid warnings that Saudi leaders were becoming increasingly frustrated with the U.S. policy of reconciliation with Iran.
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The Saudi royal family was not comforted by Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ visit earlier this month, officials said. They said Mr. Gates, despite his promises of additional U.S. weapons and training, was treated coolly by King Abdullah and his aides.
“The president believes it’s an important opportunity to discuss important business, like Middle East peace, but it’s not born out of anything specific,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
Mr. Gibbs said the president would discuss U.S. policy toward Iran during his visit to Riyadh and particularly its nuclear program. The spokesman said the president would also seek Saudi support for U.S. efforts to establish a Palestinian state in the West Bank.
The surprise Saudi visit stemmed from the cancellation of a summit between Egypt and the United States later this month.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, citing the death of his grandson, decided to cancel his trip to Washington in coordination with Saudi King Abdullah.
“There are a few Arab states who are very anxious over our policy toward Iran and have dismissed U.S. promises to compensate by additional weapons and an accelerated Israeli-Palestinian peace process,” the official said.
President Obama was apparently persuaded to visit Riyadh before his scheduled address to the Muslim world in Cairo on Thursday, in order to personally assure King Abdullah said Saudi interests would not be harmed by a U.S. reconciliation with Tehran. Saudi influence in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), as well as the kingdom’s role as the world’s leading supplier of crude oil and weapons importer, would remain stable.
Saudi Oil Industry Again Target Of Al-Qaida Terrorists
Al-Qaida appears to have renewed its campaign against Saudi Arabia’s energy industry.
Al-Qaida has resumed its campaign of tracking and striking Westerners in the Saudi kingdom. They said the focus once again appears to be the Western expatriate community in and around the Eastern Province, which contains the bulk of the Saudi crude oil reserves.
On Tuesday, al-Qaida was believed to have attacked a bus full of Western workers in Jubail. Three British nationals came under gunfire in the nighttime ambush.
“None of the passengers was harmed,” Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said.
Maj. Gen. al-Turki said the attackers targeted a bus that contained five foreigners in the industrial region of Jubail. He said the bus contained three British passengers, a Pakistani, a Saudi and a Syrian.
This marked the first attack on foreigners in Saudi Arabia since 2007, when three French expatriates were shot dead during a desert trip. Al-Qaida was also said to have been responsible for the killings.
David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com
Hezbollah Victory Will Give Israel Sway
Should Hezbollah prevail in Lebanon’s upcoming parliamentary elections next month, it could place Lebanon in Israel’s crosshairs.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel TV a Hezbollah election victory would render the terror group more vulnerable than in the past to the Israel Defense Force (IDF) because Israel would have freer rein in the event of a conflagration.
If the Iranian-financed terror organization were to become significantly stronger and were to hold a majority in the Lebanese government, Israeli security sources say Israel would directly retaliate against Lebanon in the event of a war along its northern border.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said if Hezbollah were to win the Lebanese parliamentary elections: “[T]hat would be a troubling development, and our deployment will be in kind.”
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Israel Defense Minister Barak also remarked on that issue, saying: “At present, Hezbollah already holds a third of the ministerial posts in the Lebanese cabinet. If Hezbollah receives a bigger chunk in the upcoming elections, that will expose it more than it was in the past to the IDF’s might, and will allow us freedom of action that we didn’t fully have in July 2006, during the Second Lebanon War.”
The Strategic Affairs Minister said he did not see any chance an independent Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank, or in the Gaza Strip, would be able to maintain an independent economy or be able to maintain its internal security.
Mr. Yaalon referred to the experience gained from Israel’s total withdrawal from Gaza in August 2005, which occurred two months after former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon removed him as IDF chief.
“It could be presumed with certainty that any territory that Israel would evacuate in Judea and Samaria would immediately turn into a second Hamastan,” Mr. Yaalon said.
Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai told the seminar attendees Israel should stop trying to seek favor in the eyes of the world and work to get them to see the truth.
“The Palestinians are not even willing to recognize the state of the Jewish people, because they want to eliminate the Jewish people,” Mr. Yishai said.
Former Israel National Security Council director Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland said, commenting on the seminar, that an independent Palestinian state would not be an ideal solution for the Palestinians.
“Many senior Palestinian figures would support the idea of establishing a Palestinian confederation under Jordanian rule. They realize that a Palestinian state would be controlled by Hamas and would prefer to be under Jordanian rule,” Maj. Gen. (res.) Eilan said.
Following the seminar, some members of Israel’s Knesset suggested turning Jordan into a Palestinian state, which Israeli President Shimon Peres called “ridiculous,” even though he is not supposed to express himself politically in his non-partisan position.
After Mr. Peres’ comment, Jordan’s ambassador to Israel filed an official complaint against the government of Israel for allowing a member of Israel’s Knesset to suggest replacing the Jordanian kingdom with a Palestinian state.
David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com
Netanyahu Puts Off Visit To Europe
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to put off his scheduled trip next week to France and Italy.
This was to be his first trip to those countries since his election as prime minister. One assessment is that the reason for the cancellation is the European anger over Mr. Netanyahu’s policies and the statements he made at a ceremony marking Jerusalem Day. At the ceremony, Mr. Netanyahu said that Jerusalem was Israel’s capital and would never be divided. Officials in the Prime Minister’s Bureau rejected that assessment outright.
Prime Minister Netanyahu was slated to meet next week with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. All of the facets of those two planned meetings had already been worked out and all of the technical difficulties had been surmounted. But last night, Mr. Netanyahu informed his French and Italian hosts that he was going to have to put off his planned visit.
Political sources said they believed the reason for the cancellation was the sensitive political situation in light of Mr. Netanyahu’s refusal to declare his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
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And for the statements he made at a Jerusalem Day ceremony that “an undivided Jerusalem would remain the eternal capital of Israel.”
David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com
Arafat Protege Abbas To Meet With Obama Today
Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, the protégé of the late Yasser Arafat, will arrive in Washington, D.C., today to meet with the president of the United States.
There are 10 issues at hand that would challenge the credibility of Mr. Abbas as a peace negotiator:
- Mr. Abbas’ continued incitement in the Arabic language, as expressed in his school books, media outlets and public statements that emanate from the Palestinian Authority (PA), which operates under his firm control.
- Mr. Abbas’ refusal to renounce his own Holocaust Denial Ph.D., which also contends that the Nazis and Zionists worked together during WWII.
- Mr. Abbas’ election platform from 2005 that calls for the total right of return to villages from before 1948.
- Mr. Abbas’ celebrations of murder attacks against Jews.
- Mr. Abbas’ refusal to implore the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) or the PA to ratify the Oslo Accords or cancel the PLO covenant.
- Current weapons/security sharing arrangements between the PA and Hamas.
- Disappearance of Arafat’s billions, some of which have wound up in the coffers of Mr. Abbas.
- Mr. Abbas’ endorsement of the Hezbollah war, summer 2006.
- The Nakba campaign endorsed by Mr. Abbas, which calls on Palestinians to reclaim areas lost in 1948 – by force if necessary.
- Mr. Abbas’ continued confinement of Palestinian Arab refugees and their descendants to the indignity of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) refugee camps, under the specious premise of the “right of return” to villages that no longer exist.
David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com
