A day of violence in the West Bank

Kiryat Arba
Shortly before noon on Friday there was a car accident between an Israeli car and a Palestinian youth on Road 60, near Kiryat Arba. In the accident, the Palestinian youth was severely injured. Following the incident, Arabs gathered at the site and began to riot and attack police officers who arrived at the scene. Despite arrests and attempts to quiet the riots, the Arabs continued to exert violence on police officers, who began to shoot rubber bullets on the rioters, until the crowd eventually dispersed. Israeli security forces are concerned that the security situation is highly volatile leading up to Abu Mazen's speech at the UN this evening.


Har Gilo
1:30 p.m.: Dozens of Arabs are presently rioting by the separation fene near Har Gilo. Israel army forces are on the other side of the fence to prevent a breach. No injures have been reported (HNN Hebrew article)

Qalandia  checkpoint (near Ramallah)

2 p.m.: Masked Arabs are throwing rocks at Israeli security forces at the Qalandia security checkpoint.
4 p.m. Hundreds of Arabs demonstrated at Qalandia and threw stones at security forces, who responded with crowd control measures. 

Gilo 
2:10p.m.: Palestinian security forces report that dozens of Palestinian youths are assembling at a checkpoint in Gilo

Shilo
Dozens of Shilo area Jewish residents arrived at Eli Ayin mount to protest the recent evacuation of the settlement by the Israeli army. Simultaneously, nearly 1,000 Arabs from the village of Kutzra are marching towards the area with Palestinian flags, and the local Muazin (Muslim call to prayer) is calling for Arabs to confront the group of Jews. At present Israeli army forces are standing between the two groups, attempting to disperse the Jewish protestors. (HaKol HaYehudi Hebrew article)

Chalchul
A man in his 30's and a baby were killed after their vehicle overturned on Route 60 near Hebron on Friday afternoon. While police are claiming it was a traffic accident, initial reports from residents who arrved at the scene informed the press that a stone was thrown at the vehicle and caused the accident.


This is a summary of events until 4:45 p.m. Israel time. We will pick up again on Saturday night. Shabbat Shalom to all. 

Obama's UN address + live webcast

From Obama's remarks at the UN General Assembly:

The Palestinian people deserve a state of their own, but ... a genuine peace can only be realized between the Israelis and the Palestinians themselves

America's commitment to Israel's security is unshakable, our friendship with Israel is deep and enduring ... Israel is surrounded by neighbors that have waged repeated wars against them. Israel's citizens have been killed by rockets fired on their houses and bombs on their buses 

Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the U.N. If it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now 

You can watch the UN General Assembly debates live here: http://www.un.org/webcast

A guide to the Palestinian statehood bid: for, against, and undecided

The unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state is ultimately the creation of another Gaza or northern Lebanon in the heart of Israel. When Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza and northern Lebanon, the respective territory became not a basis for an entity that could develop healthy economic, political and social relations with Israel, but rather fertile ground for shooting rockets deeper into Israeli territory and infiltrating its borders to commit acts of violence on civilians--official strategic policies advanced by parties that were democratically elected, i.e. supported by the population, in the case of Gaza.

Moreover, as 45 years have passed since the said territory was won by Israel in a war they did not want (keep in mind: Palestinians, along with Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon were enemies of Israel prior to 1967, when Israel had those dreamy pre-67 borders), the West Bank is now home to nearly one million Israelis, who have since built vibrant and extensive infrastructure, cities, schools, transportation systems, community centers and agriculture. In the present security context, the declaration of a Palestinian state outside of the context of a peace agreement with Israel is a declaration of war on a sovereign country.

In the days leading up to Abbas' formal application for UN membership at the UN this Friday, Israeli and Palestinian officials are busy tallying up pledges by countries to vote for and against the bid. The potential upcoming and critical votes on the matter, and the expected outcomes, are as follows:

UN Security council vote

On Friday, September 23, Mahmoud Abbas will submit the membership application to the UN Secretary General after his address to the General Assembly. Still, the UN Security Council vote on the bid may be delayed for several weeks. If a vote should happen, the bid would require a majority of 9 out of 15 votes in favor in order to pass. As it stands, out of the 15 members of the UN so-called Security Council, six or seven have pledged to support the Palestinian bid. Palestinian foreign minister Raid Malki said that officials are now busy trying to convince two or three more members in favor of accepting Palestine as a member state.

Permanent members: The UN security council is composed of five permanent members: China, France, Russia, Britain and the US. Britain and France have thus far not announced an official position, although have said that Palestinians should approach the EU rather than the UN. China and Russia are likely to support the bid. 

Non-permanent members: In addition to the five permanent members, the General Assembly periodically elects ten non-permanent members, who take part in the council for two-year terms. The current non-permanent members and their position on the bid are as follows:

In favor (6): Brazil, India, Lebanon, South Africa (China, Russia)

Against (2): Germany (US)

Will abstain (1): Colombia 

Undecided (6=have not yet made an official announcement, as of 9/20): Portugal, Bosnia, Nigeria, Gabon (Britain, France)

[Note: as a result of Palestinian pressure, YNet reports that Gabon and Nigeria are set to endorse the bid, although no formal announcement has been made]

In other words, the fate of Israel could lie in the hands of a West African nation most people never new existed, with a population of 1.5 million.

General Assembly vote

If Gabon and Nigeria indeed endorse the bid, and if Palestinians (h"v) enlist the support of either Portugal, Nigeria or Bosnia (this article says Portugal is likely to endorse), amounting to a majority in the Security Council, then the US will most likely be forced to use its veto power to kill the motion.

However, this still leaves the Palestinians with the option of going to the General Assembly, by invoking Resolution 377, which states that if the Security Council fails to exercise its responsibility for the "maintenance of international peace and security," the General Assembly can in effect bypass the Security Council decision. Legal experts have emphasized that the wording of the resolution does not have the backing of international law, but Israeli officials are not taking chances.

Should the Palestinians go to the General Assembly after facing a US veto, they would require two-thirds of 193 votes in order for the membership bid to pass.

Some are warning that the Palestinians may bypass the Security Council entirely and head straight for the General Assembly, should their chances there be better. 

Indonesia

This is where countries like Indonesia come into the picture. And specifically, efforts by countries like Indonesia to not only back the bid, but lobby other countries to support it.

On Tuesday, after a meeting with Kazakhstani and Portugese officials, Indonesia's foreign minister announced that the country is actively seeking opportunities to ensure Palestine's bid for UN membership.

Also on Tuesday, Indonesian officials upgraded the status of the Mount Tambora volcano to Level 3, after volcano activity increased, raising the risk of the emission of toxic gas to neighboring villages, and forcing evacuations of these areas.

The Mount Tambora volcano was responsible for the largest and deadliest volcanic eruption in history, in April 1815, in which nearly 100,000 people were killed.

In April, Tambora showed signs of awakening. In August, it made headlins for spewing thick white smoke into the sky.

Throughout the month of September, earthquake activity has increased.

New Video! Earthquakes, Elenin and the Land of Israel

My first YouTube video:



Please like this video and comment on Youtube if you feel so inclined (so far there are far too many anti-Israel comments)!

6.9 India earthquake, Elenin and the Palestinian UN state bid

A shallow 6.9 earthquake hit Sikkim, India at 6:10p.m. local time on Sunday evening, killing at least 16 people, toppling buildings, and sending tremors as far as New Delhi, Bangladesh and Nepal. The quake precipitated massive landslides throughout the Himalayan state, cutting off thousands living in remote areas.

For those following the relationship between Elenin and recent increased earthquake activity throughout the globe: Elenin is now between the orbs of Mercury and Venus, on its way to align with the Earth, Sun and Mercury on Venus' orb around the Jewish New Year on September 27th. Elenin is currently 0.542 astronomical units from the Earth (the sun is 1 AU from the Earth; during the Japan earthquake, Elenin was 6 AUs from Earth).

Now, guess who announced their support of Palestinian state bid at the UN on Friday?

India will support a Palestinian bid for membership of the United Nations at a meeting of the General Assembly scheduled for later this month, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said on Friday...Mr. Mathai told journalists that India “will support the resolution on Palestine seeking membership of the United Nations” and that India was among the first countries to accord the state of Palestine diplomatic recognition when it was proclaimed in November 1988 (The Hindu, Sept. 17, 2011).

Earthquakes, Elenin and Eretz Yisrael are all in God's hands. 

The silver lining of Palestinian statehood?

In an interview with Foreign Policy magazine, Israel's ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren said that the establishment of a Palestinian state (h"v) could alter the status of all existing agreements between the Palestinian Authority, the U.S. and Israel. According to Oren, Israel has agreements with the P.A., not with the 'government of Palestine'. Agreements that could be "put at risk" include treaties on security cooperation, economic and even water-sharing. "The Palestinians risk all that has been achieved if they go forward with this...and that would be a great tragedy," Oren said.

China will support unilateral Palestinian sate bid

China has joined the list of countries who support a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state in September.

According to Israel's foreign ministry, 130-140 states are expected to vote in favor of a unilateral Palestinian state--independence without formal peace agreement with Israel. Only five countries have promised Israel that they will vote against the Palestinian bid: the U.S., Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. Other nations with otherwise "warm" relations are expected to be absent or abstain rather than vote against. Whether the EU's 27 countries with vote in favor, abstain or oppose remains in question.

Palestinians will bring their bid to the UN Security Council on September 20th, but the General Assembly vote, needed to pass with a two thirds majority should the US veto the motion, will take place only in October.

8 injured in Tel Aviv terror attck

On late Sunday night a 20-year-old Nablus resident stabbed a Tel Aviv cab driver, stole his cab, and drove it towards the HaOman 17 nightclub where one thousand high schoolers were celebrating the end of the summer. The man subsequently stepped out of the car, yelled Allah Akbar, and began stabbing people. Luckily, nearly all the teenagers were inside the club at the time of the attack, preventing what could have been a far worse outcome. The man was abruptly tackled to the ground outside the club by Border Police officers, but not before stabbing and injuring eight border police officers and security guards. Police are now trying to figure out how the terrorist knew about the youth party at the nightclub in the first place. 


Aviv Kriyaf, one of the injured security guards, told YNet the following: "I have no doubt that he tried to reach the teenagers. I am scared to think about what could have happened had he succeeded (h"v). There were thousands of children there who by miracle were unharmed." 

The Hurricane of Peace

Many are pointing to the irony of the name of the hurricane that stands to threaten over 65 million people this weekend--Irene is derived from the name the Greeks gave to their goddess of peace. The End Times Forecaster points out that the threat of Irene follows pressure by the U.S. on Israel to agree for the first time that a Palestinian state should follow '67 borders earlier this month. Just as the U.S. is guiding Israel down a path of destruction in the guise of 'peace', so it faces an ironically-named whirlwind of destruction, right through its major metropolitan areas.

Moreover, while the world is conspiring to vote in favor of a unilateral Palestinian state on Israeli land on September 20th, Israel's historical ally, the United States, has stood silent. And as Israel continues to be barraged by rocket fire after a triple terrorist attack in the South last week, the U.S. and other Western countries sufficed to call for restraint in the region, rather than differentiate between perpetrator and victim.

The last major hurricane to inflict historical damage on the U.S. was Katrina, which took place almost exactly six years ago, in late August 2005. One week before Katrina hit, Israel evacuated nearly 10,000 people from their homes on the West coast of Israel to clear space for what would become a terror launching pad for Hamas, a move which was made in a large part as a result of U.S. pressure on Israel. A week after Katrina, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Levin blamed Katrina on U.S. pressure on Israel to concede to Palestinian demands.

Edom can do teshuva, but so long as it guides the apple of Hashem's eye down a road of destruction, it shares the same fate--yet without the promise of eternal, unconditional protection.

Thailand: Between Palestinian statehood and terror

On Monday, PLO member Nabil Shaath announced that Thailand will support the recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN on September 20th, following meetings with officials from the Thai foreign ministry in Bangkok.

On Thursday, two people were shot dead and 10 were wounded in a series of attacks by Muslim rebels in a southern Thailand province on the border of Malaysia.

According to BBC, as of August 12th, 122 countries are expected to vote in favor of Palestinian statehood in mid-September. Even if the US vetos the motion, it can still pass with a majority of two-thirds in the general assembly, which would require 128 votes in favor, or 134 if all countries are present.

By sea and by air

Israeli police are preparing for the possibility that hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists will arrive on flights to Israel from across Europe later today, after Greece refused to let the Gaza-bound flotilla depart from its port. Police currently have information that a flight from Germany with 150 pro-Palestinian activists is scheduled to arrive this evening, followed by 130 activists on flights in the afternoon tomorrow. 

Foreign airlines have been asked to present their lists of passengers to Israel before takeoff, and suspicious persons will be detained at Ben Gurion and be put back on planes to their own country. If several activists are clustered on one plane, police will ask the plane to land on an outer runway and will proceed to question all passengers. Many police monitoring airport order will be undercover, so as not to allow activists to lure police into using force, as in last year's Marmara incident.

Police expect to extend security measures for several weeks. A Palestinian activist told Haaretz:

We are receiving European, South American and sometimes Japanese activists all the time - sometimes via the Allenby Bridge and sometimes from the airport - to work on a variety of projects for the community. Some take an active part in the struggle against the fence and against the settlements. This is something people want to make a big deal about because of the number of people coming.

In recent weeks, Israel's borders have been threatened, first by ground, when Syrian activists attempted to break a border fence in the North of Israel, then by sea, with new plans to sail ships into Israel's regional waters, and now by air, attempting to manipulate Israel's openness to the world and take commercial flights into the country to cause disorder. What other country feels threatened by groups of international activists--from supposedly friendly countries, who do not require visas--arriving at its airports, deceiving its personnel and infiltrating its society?

If these were peaceful activists, Israel would have no problem letting them in, as it has let in thousands of activists from around the world for years. Yet make no mistake; the current infiltration of activists is Marmara 2, where peaceful activists use their guise of non-violence to approach as close as possible to the shore, only to lash out, knowing no boundary to their misdirected rage. When a plane of 150 foreign activists aimed at your destruction arrive at the border of your country, however civilized and friendly their home country might be, no sovereign nation should have any second thoughts: the free entry and exit of persons in and out of a country is for the sake of travel, study, business, and pleasure--opening up the Holy Land for all who crave to experience its uniqueness, not for those whose gaze is fixed on its destruction by any legal or illegal means necessary.

May the borders of Israel be strengthened from within. 

כי חזק בריחי שעריך ברך בניך בקרבך

השם גבולך שלום, חלב חטים ישביעך

He has strengthened the bars of your gates, and blessed your children within you 
He has set peace at your borders, and feeds you the best of wheat 

Pressure mounts on Obama to ditch the illusion of 1967 stability

According to The Hill, Democratic senators are likely to support a new resolution which would show broad, bipartisan consensus within Congress that the 1967 Israeli-Palestinian borders are not only "indefensible", but also contrary to U.S. national security interests.

Senators Joe Lieberman (Conn., Independent), and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are behind the current resolution. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) voiced support, claiming there is “total agreement” in Congress that “the ’67 lines will not work." Other rebukes of Obama's reckless Israel policy include speeches delivered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) speech at AIPAC on Monday and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (Md.) at the AIPAC conference on Sunday and Monday. Both offered harsh criticism of Obama's hubris of determining borders of a sovereign nation on a podium rather than on the negotiation table.

On the absurdity of transferring populations and redrawing borders as a mechanism for solving problems of national security, George Berkin at NJ Voices makes the following analogy:

How’s this prescription for solving our conflict (illegal immigrants and drugs) with Mexico: Renegotiate the border, starting with where the line stood in 1844 (i.e. before we acquired a large chunk of territory in the Mexican War).

Or here’s a suggestion for resolving problems between Washington and Paris: renegotiate the western U.S. border based on geographic lines in effect in 1802, before the Louisiana Purchase.

While we’re at it, let’s return to the geography of July 1861, just after the Confederate states declared their independence but before the Civil War set things back to right.

Hey, why not? Overturning established borders to return to a previous line of demarcation sounds like a good idea, especially for those unhappy with the status quo.

...The U.S. would never agree to go back to previous borders, no matter how much other parties might promise that doing so would bring peace to the Southwest or improve relations with France or South Carolina.

But the analogy breaks down for other reasons – instructive reasons as we think about how the Palestinians are determined to destroy Israel.

First, none of the examples at the beginning of this post asks the U.S. to surrender part of Washington, D.C., the political (and emotional) seat of our government. But the “pre-1967” borders that President Obama wants Israel to return to would require the Jewish state to hand over part of Jerusalem, the political, emotional and spiritual heart of Israel.

Second, Americans would certainly feel bad about handing over part of the Southwest to Mexico. But no one can credibly claim that doing so would make it nearly impossible to defend what remained of our nation.

Not so were Israel to give up the territories it won – in a defensive war – against its assembled enemies nearly a half-century ago. Some commentators have pointed to Israel’s success in defending itself in 1967 as “proof” that Israel could repeat that military success, if worse came to worse. But having succeeded once before, under remarkable circumstances, is not a solid security strategy.

Third, none of my examples of territorial “givebacks” would be a first step to an ultimate goal of destroying the United States. Again, we would regret losing Texas and part of California, but the U.S. would remain standing. Mexico accepts the U.S.’s right to exist.

...It seems clear that demanding that negotiations start from Israel’s pre-1967 borders will not bring peace. Instead, Palestinian leaders, flush with a “pre-1967” victory, would establish a Palestinian state, and then make their next demand. They would demand a return to the area’s pre-1948 borders – that is, a return to the days before Israel became a new nation.

Fayyad suffers heart attack in US

May 12, 2011: Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad declares Palestinians have created all conditions for establishing a Palestinian state.

“The mission has been accomplished."

"We presented our plan in August 2009 to enable setting up a state in September 2011. But already on April 13, at the donor states’ meeting in Brussels, the UN, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund stated that we crossed the statehood line. Our vision had become a reality."

“I imagine myself celebrating our Independence Day in Jerusalem, in the east of the city, in the heart of the Old City."

Palestinian independence day, in the heart of the Old City?

Ten days later...

May 22, 2011 (Lag Ba'Omer): Palestinian PM suffers heart attack

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad suffered a heart attack while visiting the U.S. and is recovering at a Texas hospital, a spokesman said Monday.

...Fayyad has developed close ties with Western leaders, who would like him to stay on as prime minister. The Palestinians receive hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid every year, and Fayyad has won praise for his efforts to build a Palestinian state from the ground up.

A Palestinian state side-by-side Israel is a mirage in the desert. Israel was not under control of the territory in question in 1967, and yet it was nonetheless drawn into a war. A Palestinian state - and all the more so a unilaterally declared one -- is an existential threat to Israel. David Frum from CNN writes today:

It's not just the geography. It's the topography.

When you look at maps of the Middle East, you see at once that pre-1967 Israel was very narrow -- just nine miles across. The Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport stretches wider than that.

But what you do not so easily see is that pre-1967 Israel was low as well as narrow. Israel emerged from the 1948-49 Arab invasions holding the coastal plain along the Mediterranean. The invaders grabbed and held the highlands between the plain and the Jordan River Valley.

Those highlands rise almost 3,000 feet above the coastal plain. Whoever controls them can shower missiles and rockets upon Israel's cities and factories -- with much greater accuracy and lethality and much less vulnerability to retaliation from ground forces than a rocket fired from level ground.

Israel experienced such a barrage in the three years leading up to the 2008 Gaza war. Thousands of rockets were fired from Gaza into southwestern Israel. Southwestern Israel is relatively lightly settled, so most of the rockets exploded without killing anyone. Even so, Israel suffered 16 killed and dozens wounded by rocket fire between 2005 and 2008. Had those rockets been fired into central Tel Aviv -- or against the runways of Ben Gurion Airport -- they would have inflicted horrific human and economic damage.

Holding the highlands matters for external as well as internal security. The West Bank boundary with Jordan extends for almost 100 kilometers (more than 60 miles). Yet in all that length, Israeli military experts assess that there only three routes across which an armed force can travel. Whoever holds those controls land access to Israel from the east.

Syrians infiltrate Ramat HaGolan border

Thousands of Syrians broke through the fence along the border and infiltrated into Israel on Sunday as part of a day of declared hatred against Israel across the Arab world. Channel 2 reported four Syrians were killed after the IDF opened fire to prevent a mass invasion. According to Arab media reports, the number of Syrians killed in border clashes has risen to ten.

The IDF has reported rioting in the Druze village of Majdal Shams by infiltrators on the Israeli side of the border. The injured also received medical care in Israeli hospitals. Later Sunday the group of Syrian infiltrators are reported to have left the village returned to Syria.

IDF sources cite that Syria normally guards its border with Israel with great care, and that today's infiltration is a deliberate attempt by the Assad regime to divert attention from the suppression of protests in other parts of Syria.

Lebanon

In a separate shooting incident, five people were killed near Maroun a-Ras across the Lebanese border, where Hezbollah supporters tried to approach the border fence with Israel. Some or all of the deaths are from Lebanese army fire shot after the crowd proceeded to storm the border.

In response to the situation along the northern border, Israeli police mobilized special units to the North, and Northern police heads are meeting with IDF officials to evaluate the situation.The U.N. has called for calm along the Lebanese border.

UPDATE (18:22):  Lebanese security forces are now reporting that 10 people have been killed and over 100 have been injured in border clashes.

Israel

During the day 36 Palestinians were arrested for acts of violence around Jerusalem. On Sunday evening unrest persisted only in Kalandia, where since the morning thousands of Palestinians took to the streets and threw rocks on Israeli police in what was meant to be a peaceful protest. Israeli police responded with rubber bullets only. See here for pictures of Palestinians using an ambulance as a guise for a vehicle from which to throw rocks.

During the day, one Israeli was killed in a terror attack perpetrated by an Israeli Arab truck driver in Tel Aviv. Four Israeli police officers were wounded in incidents around Jerusalem, and thirteen police officers and soldiers were wounded along the Syrian and Lebanese borders.

All nations surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I shall cut them off

They encircled me like bees; they were extinguished like a thorn fire; 
  in the name of the Lord I shall cut them off 

They encircled me, yea they surrounded me; in the name of the Lord I shall cut them off

You pushed me to fall, but the Lord helped me 

The might and the cutting power of God was my salvation 

A voice of singing praises and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; 
  the right hand of the Lord deals valiantly. 

The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord deals valiantly. 

I shall not die but I shall live and tell the deeds of God. 

- Psalm 118
  

Terror truck attack in Tel Aviv

On Sunday morning, an Israeli Arab truck driver went on a killing rampage, driving head-on into traffic on a busy street in Tel Aviv, crashing into a bus, a number of cars, motorcycles and pedestrians in what police believe is a terror attack. One person was killed and 31 people were injured in the attack, which occurred at 9:35, towards the end of rush hour on Bar Lev St. near the Mesubim junction. According to reports, the driver attempted to drive into a gate of a school, but miraculously no children were in the yard at that time.

In 2008, a Palestinian tractor driver drove his bulldozer into a passenger bus on Jaffa St., killing three people and injuring dozens. In the 2008 incident, the killer was an Arab resident of East Jerusalem. In today's attack, the suspect arrested is from Kfar Kassem, an city next to Tel Aviv whose residents are citizens of Israel, enjoying full political, economic and social rights.

Yet what conclusion is to be drawn from such events? Arab residents of Israel benefit from Israel's open society, earning truck licenses in Israeli training programs and working for Israeli companies and making a livelihood from Israel's open economy...until one day, they decide to drive their bulldozer into a busy Israeli street, taking revenge at the very society that provided them with opportunities?

The illusion of 'Arab Israelis' or 'Palestinian residents of Jerusalem' living peacefully side-by-side with Jews has died long ago along with the victims of such attacks. Arab residents of Israel are our enemies' messengers in the system, awaiting the day when they can use the rights Israeli society provides them to strike at us from within. It is high time the police view on these populations as just as dangerous--as evidenced by this bloody attack--as our declared enemies beyond our borders.

Meanwhile, the northern border between Israel and Lebanon was declared a closed military zone Sunday, as thousands of Lebanese supporters of Hezbollah are expected gather en masse at the border with Israel. The terror attack in Tel Aviv and Hezbollah activity along the border are part of a proclaimed day of hatred against Israel, widely publicized on social networking sites across the Arab world.

UPDATE (Sunday 13:21): Syrian army just began shelling a northern Lebanon town, killing one, as hundreds of Syrian flee to Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Lebanese army and UNIFIL are preventing Hezbollah supporters from approaching the Israeli border
.

Egyptian mother, Palestinian father? You're Egyptian!

Egyptian Interior Minister Mansour al-Issawi announced last week that Egypt will grant citizenship to children of Egyptian women married to Palestinian men. Previously, the Egyptian nationality law permitting Egyptian mothers to pass on Egyptian citizenship featured an amendment to exclude Palestinians. In 1957, the Arab League pressured Arab states to withhold citizenship from Palestinians, supposedly to protect their national identity.  

According to Tasir Khaled, head of the Palestinian Authority's expatriate department, Egypt is home to 100,000 Palestinians, many of whom moved prior to the 1948 war. Many in Egypt hail the decision as an end to discrimination against persons of Palestinian descent in Egypt, while others see it as a victory for women's rights. Under the previous law, children of Palestinian women married to Egyptian men were granted Egyptian citizenship.

Post-Mubarak Egypt boosts Hamas, in Fatah guise

Let's take a step back: Eleven weeks ago, Mubarak was thrown out of office. Now, Egypt is brokering an agreement between the extremist branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and its American-funded brother, Fatah. Why now?

Egypt has been trying for over a year to settle differences between Hamas and Fatah. While a split Palestinian leadership has advantages for some, it was not viewed positively by the Mubarak regime. Mubarak, a moderate, did not need an unhindered offshoot of its own banned internal opposition, Hamas, at its doorstep. The Mubarak regime sought a deal between Hamas and Fatah that would essentially bring Hamas under Fatah's control.

Now, take Mubarak and pro-American forces out of the government, as transpired in and around Tahrir Square in February. In the black hole which is the Egyptian political sphere, the Muslim Brotherhood is the only well-organized group to lead, whether it's made official or not. Several weeks ago, it was reported that the Brotherhood is likely to capture half, if not more, of the seats in the parliament in upcoming elections.

The Muslim Brotherhood is Hamas. Hamas is the offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood in Gaza. In other words, now that Muslim Brotherhood a la Egypt is in power, there is no more pressure on Hamas to cede concessions in a deal with Fatah. And it's not as if Fatah could care less. Fatah is no more peace-loving than Hamas; it simply chose international funding as opposed to violent struggle, but the goals and values are the same. Fatah has no hard feelings towards reconciling with Hamas--as long as the West thinks the deal leans benefits them.

In other words, with Mubarak out of the picture and the Muslim Brotherhood on the rise, Egypt can now serve as an international ally for Hamas, and Fatah has no problem joining in on the party--as long as the disguise keeps dollars and euros flowing in through the back door.

Fatah and Hamas may have overcome some of their differences, but not all: At the unity agreement signing ceremony in Cairo on Wednesday, a dispute broke out over whether Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal should sit along with Abbas on the podium, or below among other delegates.

The (alleged) text of the unity agreement has been made available by the Ramallah-based NGO Palestine Monitor.

Footage of a surreptituous Kever Yosef pilgrimage

Yediot Aharonot journalist Akiva Novick traveled with Ben Yosef Livnat z"l to Kever Yosef, four days before he was killed by terrorists masked as policeman on a subsequent trip on the second night of Pesach. In the video below, Novick documented the drive to the grave in the middle of the night, which included driving at a speed of 230 km/hour to evade Israeli army vehicles restricting access to the area which is currently under Palestinian "control". Later in the video, the journalist and a group of Breslov Chasidim dash from their cars into the grave of Yosef Hatzaddik (Joseph, of the book of Genesis) to dance and pray on his grave on the eve of Erev Pesach.

The incident at Kever Yosef is a tragic event for all of the Jewish people. Note that the victim has a special connection to Yosef, rooted in his name, Ben Yosef. The significance of Joseph to the holiday of Passover is also noteworthy. When the Jewish people stood before the Red Sea, chased by the Egyptians, the sea split only after witnessing the awesome vision of two arks - the ark of the Torah, and the ark of the bones of Joseph.

Leads on the Itamar murder

Israel National News reports that the IDF and Shin Bet are close to a breakthrough in the investigation of the terror attack on Itamar:

According to a report on Channel 2 News on Monday, security forces believe that the murderers indeed came from the nearby Arab village of Awarta. The report said that during the past week, fingerprints and DNA samples were collected from the village’s residents, including women.

Please daven for Daniel Aryeh ben Tamar, 16, victim of the schoolbus attack

Update: Baruch Dayan Emes, Daniel Viflic

Video in Hebrew in which the family of Daniel Viflic asks for the entire Jewish people to pray for him (via מקום מוריה): 

Sixteen-year-old Daniel Viflic was critically injured by a missile which terrorists shot at his schoolbus in Southern Israel yesterday. His parents are now by his hospital bed davenning that a miracle will happen. 

Daniel's father told B'Chadrei Hareidim that Daniel was on the way to visit his grandmother in the Negev (thanks to Mashiach is Coming for the link to the Hebrew news site's interview with Daniel's parents). Daniel is a yeshiva student at Yeshivat Heichal HaTorah, and the only child of a family of olim from the United States that lives in Beit Shemesh. 

The head of his Yeshiva, Rabbi Ephraim Havruni, said about Daniel (translated): "I have no words to describe Daniel's personality. He is a very special student, who excels both in his learning and in the unique sensitivity of his soul. Special and one-of-a-kind." The rabbi also shared that he has a hevruta with Daniel in the afternoon, and that every time he is astounded by the boy's character again and again. 

Daniel's parents ask the entire Jewish people to pray for the recovery of Daniel Aryeh ben Tamar. 

Update:  A special prayer session for the healing of the victims of the latest terror attacks will take place on Monday, April 11th at 7pm at the Kotel. Prayers will be made for the healing of Odelia Nechama bas Michal and Shilo ben Ofra who were injured in the Jerusalem bombing, and for Daniel Aryeh ben Tamar. (Arutz Sheva)

Update: An emergency fund has been established for the Viflic Family.