(NEWS) Fannie Buten, Oldest Jewish Person, Dies At 111

"She saw it all. And when your age is 111, that’s a wealth of history.

Fannie Forman Buten, believed to be the oldest Jewish person in the world, died Sept. 24 and was buried two days later at a private graveside service.

Before her death, which was brought on by a stroke, the suburban Philadelphia resident was listed as the 'oldest living' Jewish person 'whose age had been verified,' according to Robert Young of the Gerontology Research Group.

Buten, also the oldest person in Pennsylvania and 37th oldest in the world, was a living history book, said her son-in-law, S. Ty Steinberg. He noted that she witnessed the invention of the telephone, television, flight, automobiles and 'the wonder of cell phones,' as well as lived through two world wars."

(NEWS) Israel Launches First Official Community For Ex-Gazans

"Israel launched its first government-sponsored community for former Gaza Strip settlers five years after their evacuation.

Five families moved Monday into Naveh, one of six communities planned for a regional community to be named Halutza several miles from the borders with Gaza and Egypt. Silvan Shalom, the minister for regional development, laid a cornerstone.

The Jewish National Fund is a partner in the development and is emphasizing 'green' living, with recycled water and solar energy."

(NEWS) UN Body Backs Anti-Israel Flotilla Report

"Human Rights Council agrees to endorse damning report on Israel's lethal raid on Turkish ship.

The United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday agreed to back a report which found 'clear evidence' for legal action against Israel over its attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

The resolution, which was tabled by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, was approved with 30 votes in favor, one against and 15 abstentions."

(NEWS) Army Chief: IDF Has Existential Need For Reserve Forces

"Reservists from battalion involved in Lebanon border skirmish in August gather to remember Col. Harari, who was killed in incident.

'You are the cyclamen between the rocks; the reason to be proud of Israel,' the daughter of Colonel Dov Harari, who was killed in the border skirmish with the Lebanese army two months ago, told her father's subordinates on Wednesday.

Lieutenant Mor Harari was in tears during a ceremony at Defense Minister Ehud Barak's sukkah, at the Kirya Base in Tel Aviv."

(NEWS) Chabad Presents: Sukkah On Bicycle

"Rabbi Uriel Vigler makes history on Upper East Side of Manhattan by allowing Jews to enter sukkah and perform necessary holiday mitzvot on streets of New York.

Chabad emissary Rabbi Uriel Vigler has created the very first Peddi Sukkah – a sukkah on a bicycle, making history on the Upper East Side of Manhattan by allowing Jews to enter a sukkah and perform the necessary mitzvot of the Lulav and Etrog of Sukkot on the streets of New York.

The idea of creating and building a Peddi Sukkah in New York was conceived by a 16 year old Chabad student, Levi Duchman."

(NEWS) South African University Rejects Boycott Of Israel

"University of Johannesburg professors rejected propsal, endorsed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to cut ties with Ben-Gurion University.

University of Johannesburg professors rejected calls to sever ties with an Israeli university Wednesday, but called on Ben-Gurion University to work with its Palestinian counterparts.

The South African university's faculty senate met Wednesday to vote on the proposal, which had been endorsed by anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu, but instead accepted a compromise without a vote. They asked Ben-Gurion University to work with Palestinian universities on research projects, and to start the collaborations within six months if it wants to maintain ties with the University of Johannesburg."

(BLOG) Israel ‘Destroyed’ Gaza Hospital That Never Existed

"Another anti-Israeli campaign, this time charging that the IDF destroyed a Christian hospital in Gaza earlier this year, has gone up in smoke following an investigation by the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA). One question remains: what was supposed to happen with the $1.67 million raised for 'rebuilding' the hospital?

Several months ago a fundraising campaign was conducted in Greece, with a star-studded telethon for the hospitals that Israel allegedly 'destroyed with their bombs' during the Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign from last December through mid-January.

The JTA revealed that the supposed hospital was not on United Nations and Red Crescent Society lists of damaged structures. Officials of non-government groups (NGOs) in Gaza told the American Jewish news network that only one Christian hospital was used during the campaign and that it did not sustain any damage.

When questioned, the Greek television station that broadcast the telethon said it was only responsible for providing the air time and that the government and a trade union were behind the campaign. The union referred the JTA to the government.

The Greek ambassador in Israel in turn referred the JTA to the Greek consulate in Jerusalem.

After the investigation began, a financial newspaper in Greece published a small article that 'a project is being sought in Gaza to be financed by the money' that was raised in the February telethon." (source)

(NEWS) Want A Jewish Lawyer? Advertisement Upsets Other Attorneys

"Boca Raton, FL - When you go to court, do you want a Jewish attorney representing you?

That's what a new Boca Raton business called the Jewish American Bar Association hopes, offering to connect people with legal problems to Jewish lawyers. The business has caught the attention of some attorneys in South Florida who are offended by its advertising and worried people may think it's a concerted effort by Jewish attorneys to play on stereotypes to get clients.



The Jewish American Bar Association first caught the attention of local lawyers this month with an advertisement on a bus bench near the Broward County Courthouse that exclaimed 'Prefer a Jewish lawyer!' and offered the business' phone number.

Social worker Lisa Spitzer said she came up with the idea of the Jewish American Bar Association, incorporating the business last year. She said it acts as a legal referral service for people who are more comfortable having a Jewish attorney.

'If an all-women's medical group posted an ad 'Prefer a woman gynecologist?,' would that be offensive?' said Spitzer, who is not a lawyer.

She acknowledges the group has only three members in South Florida. She said she would allow a non-Jewish attorney to sign up for the referral service 'if his heart was in accordance with our goals and purposes.'

The Jewish American Bar Association's website had a post office box in Boca Raton listed as the address of its main office until the Sun-Sentinel began making inquiries. The website now just says to 'send all inquiries' to the post office box.

Spitzer's business took down the bus bench ad after Fort Lauderdale attorney David Shulman complained about it on his blog.

Shulman said he was taken aback when he first saw the bench ad, calling it 'shockingly stupid.'

'I felt it played on certain stereotypes of Jews,' Shulman said. 'I know a lot of lawyers both Jewish and non-Jewish and some are good and some are bad. I don't think using someone's ethnicity is fair to determine whether they are a good or a bad lawyer.'

Litigator Richard Sachs said he's worried about the message people would take away from the Jewish American Bar Association's advertisements, especially following the recent judicial elections in Broward County. Some of the candidates challenging incumbents were accused of trying to use their Jewish-sounding last names to win over voters.



'It [JABA] implies a Jewish attorney is better than a non-Jewish attorney, and that can't help the legal community at large,' said Sachs, who also is president of the B'nai B'rith Justice Unit of Broward County, a group of about 200 Jewish lawyers and attorneys. Sachs said his comments were on his own behalf.

He also questioned whether Spitzer is misleading people into thinking her business is a national organization of lawyers, rather than a referral service run by a non-attorney.

There don't appear to be any laws that block an organization from calling itself a 'bar association,' according to the Florida Bar, the statewide lawyers' organization.

Spitzer's business has registered as a lawyer referral service with the Florida Bar and the bus bench ad is now being reviewed by the Florida Bar's standing committee on advertising, said Francine Walker, the Florida Bar's spokeswoman.

If the Florida Bar finds any problems with the advertising, the three lawyers registered with the service would be held responsible, Walker said.

Spitzer said attorneys will have to pay annual dues of about $325 to be part of her organization.

'Any time a new concept appears, you have to expect to be whacked,' she said. 'I think this thing has wings and it has a lot of potential.'" (source)

(AGRI) Making The Israel Desert Bloom - Kerem Ramon

English Version


Hebrew Version

(TECH) Carmanah To Acquire Israels LED Power Supplies Company Lightech For $18.5 Million

"Solar LED lighting and power systems provider Carmanah Technologies will acquire Lightech Electronic, a developer of power supplies for LED lighting, for $18.5 million in a cash and stock transaction.

'With this merger, Carmanah makes an expansion into a complementary and synergistic business' said Rob Cruickshank, Chairman of Carmanah. 'Carmanah will be taking advantage of the vast lighting market’s current shift to LED, and applying the joint resources of Carmanah and Lightech to satisfy the urgent market need for LED lighting. In turn, the resulting technology developments at Lightech will ultimately advance the capabilities and applications of Carmanah’s outdoor area illumination product portfolio.'



'This is an important and exciting development for Lightech as it will not only allow Lightech to continue to build on its existing strengths but also provide our global customers with an established technology path to meet their future needs for state-of-the-art solutions,' said David Schreiber, the Chairman and CEO of Lightech.

Lightech designs drivers and transformers for use in LED and Halogen lighting fixtures from research and development facilities located in Lod, Israel and Torrance, California, US. The company manufactures these drivers and transformers through EMS contractors in China and distributes these products worldwide through logistics centers in Hong Kong, California, Canada and the UK.

For fiscal 2009, Lightech’s revenues were $19.5 million, and net loss was $1.2 million. For the first six half of 2010, Lightech’s revenues were $10.6 million and net income was $0.8 million.

Carmanah is a solar LED lighting company specializing in self-contained solar LED lighting systems for marine, aviation, traffic and off-grid lighting applications worldwide. Carmanah is a publicly traded company, with common shares listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol CMH." (source)

(TECH) AOL Acquires Video Syndication Network 5min Media

"Web services company AOL has acquired video syndication network 5min Media. The acquisition allows AOL to significantly expand its consumer offering in video programming and connect consumers with high-quality video. Deal terms were not disclosed.

'Our acquisition of 5min Media is the latest in a number of steps we have taken this year to better position AOL to capture the growing video opportunity on the Web,' said Tim Armstrong, Chairman and CEO of AOL. 'AOL is building a video ecosystem for the next decade. 5min Media is the perfect complement to our powerful video capabilities -- it provides a missing piece in the AOL value chain that completes our end-to-end video offering from content creation through syndication and distribution to the consumer experience and monetization.'

AOL has already begun to integrate 5min Media's video content on its sites through a commercial agreement executed prior to the acquisition. The acquisition of 5min Media will enable AOL to add more video inventory to sites, and to enhance the distribution and monetization of AOL-produced original video content throughout the Web.

5min Media is a video syndication network with more than 20 million unique visitors across its 800 partner sites. The company provides media companies and professional independent video producers with a comprehensive video platform that targeted viewers across 21 different verticals, including Home, Food, Beauty, Fashion, Health, Travel and Pets.

5min was founded in 2006 by Ran Harnevo, Hanan Lashover and Tal Simantov. The company in is headquartered in New York City with offices in Or Yehuda, Israel." (source)

(ENVIRO) Israel To Make Public Buildings More Energy Efficient – At No Cost To The Taxpayer

"The Israeli government has awarded a tender for improving energy efficiency in public buildings by over 30% – without spending a shekel of taxpayer’s money. Under the tender’s Energy Saving Sharing plan, EHS Tech will bear all of the costs of acquiring and installing new lighting systems and other equipment, and the company will receive 70% of the anticipated savings in energy costs during the first seven years.

EHS Tech, which was recently acquired by the Acro Group for NIS 15 million, will install energy-saving systems at the Finance Ministry, Supreme Court and several district courts, and at a youth village in the Negev.

According to a report in the Globes business newspaper: 'The existing lighting systems will be replaced by smart lighting that dims automatically according to the amount of natural light in the buildings and turns itself off if the last one out forgets to turn off the switch.' In addition, advanced climate control components will be installed to improve the energy efficiency of central air-conditioning systems.

Under the terms of the tender, the government will retain 100% of the equipment and energy savings after sharing these savings (70/30) during the first seven years." (source)

(ENVIRO) Tinkering With Nature: World’s Largest Lagoon Planned For The Red Sea

"In Egypt there will be more artificial fun for rich men and women while the poor can’t even trust that their tap water is safe, that their waste will be disposed of safely, or that they will be able to cook their dinner if the power cuts out. While everyone should be able to enjoy a nice dip in the sea, there is folly in tinkering with nature. Especially when we’re talking about the Red Sea, which has already suffered devastating losses to its coral reef as a result of development, tourism, oil spills, and other human activity.

Biochemist with a dream

A biochemist, Chilean Fernando Fischmann had a dream. He wanted to build a resort in Chile, but the water was too cold to attract watersport enthusiasts, so he built the world’s largest 'pool.' Called the San Alfonso del Mar’s lagoon, it covers eight hectares, is one-kilometer in length, and contains 250,000 cubic meters of water. It made the Guinness World Records.



Crystal Lagoon’s press materials claim that because these pools/lagoons, which suck out sea water and have a pulse system and low energy filtration system to keep the stagnant water from growing turbid, use 100 times less chemicals than standard pools, they are ecologically friendly.

Perhaps compelled by the success experienced in Chile, Mr. Fischmann’s dream expanded. At Cityscape Global in Dubai, which will take place from October 4 to October 7, he will unveil numerous projects planned for Egypt, including the new largest lagoon in the world planned for Sharm El Sheikh on the Red Sea coast. Crystal Lagoons intends to build a total of 100 hectares of artificial lagoons in Egypt’s desert.

The dream expands to Egypt

Very little is disclosed about how the technology works or what is pumped back into the sea, nor has the company published any kind of environmental assessment reports on its website.

'The project is the result of our association with Golden Pyramids Plaza, owned by the Sharbatly family. We have also sealed strategic alliances for a number of other tourism developments including the Amer Group’s Soma Bay, in Hurghada, a US$1.2 billion investment that will be operational in 2012,' Fischmann told the real estate channel.



'In all of these projects Crystal Lagoons provides something that until now was neither technically nor economically possible — the construction and low cost maintenance of monumental masses of water in a crystalline state that allows a beach life environment and top level aquatic sports within a city,' explained Fischmann.

According to the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), 'physical alteration and destruction of habitats, by such activities as urbanization, coastal development (for example, dredge and fill operations and coastal mining and quarrying,) are considered the major environmental threat in several countries of the [Middle East] region – Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt.'

It has been reported that areas such as Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh have been developed and exploited beyond their ecological and social carrying capacities and are already showing signs of environmental degradation. Evidence of reef degradation due to tourism and other activities is clear even in areas such as the Ras Mohammad National Park in Egypt.

Specifically mentioned are two areas upon which Mr. Fischmann has pinned his sights, both Hurghada and Sharm el Sheikh. Unfortunately, Egypt has a policy that favors tourism above all else, and has been slow to instill strong environmental laws to protect these places that will eventually collapse under the weight of too much expansion." (source)

(SCI) Israeli Researchers Discover Coral Reefs Deep In The Mediterranean

"The scene of bickering between Israel and Lebanon over gas fields, and potentially harboring a giant garbage patch, the Mediterranean Sea, stunned researchers have found, has a coral reef that spans several kilometers 700 meters below the surface of the sea. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, energy-hungry countries like Egypt are eager to exploit the sea’s oil reserves. Will scientists be able to use this new discovery as collateral against destructive fossil-fuel exploration?

Nautilus plows the deep sea

Two weeks ago Green Prophet wrote about the Nautilus’ departure from the Port of Haifa; it was the first such deep-sea expedition planned off Tel Aviv’s coast and was headed by the Haifa University’s Director of Leon Charney School of Marine Sciences, Professor Zvi Ben Avraham.



Owned by the famed explorer who discovered the Titanic in 1985, the Nautilus is equipped with state of the art equipment specifically for deep sea exploration and photography.

To their astonishment, roughly 30-40km from Tel Aviv, the researchers discovered the coral colonies.

'It was like finding Ein Gedi in the middle of the desert,' Dr. Yitzhak Makovsky, who headed the project’s control center, told the Jerusalem Post.

'We never expected to find coral reefs of such proportions there. We didn’t expect it or even dream of it,' he added.

There’s more to explore

Just over two weeks long, the survey was just one of what Dr. Makovsky believes should be several more in order to do a more thorough investigation. Also, he told the paper that as is the case with other coral reef ecosystems, this area should immediately be named a Natural Undersea Preserve.

'The Nautilus crew also discovered two shipwrecks, apparently modern fishing boats several dozens of years old, that lie on the seabed. Fish and lobsters found living in and on them were photographed hundreds of meters under the surface of the water in their natural surroundings,' according to JPost.

They also took images of the chimera monstrosa, which until 400 million years ago was a member of the shark family. A 10cm long lobster was also photographed.

More information should become available over the next few weeks as scientists sort through their findings and release images of this exciting, but vulnerable new frontier." (source)

(BIZ) Israels 'BrightSource' Prepares For NASDAQ IPO

"The American economy may be in the gutter, but it could be that big crash has set the world up for a new paradigm: investing in and building responsibly managed companies that have the earth in mind – not their CEO’s and VP’s big bonuses. Maybe it’s time to take your cash out from under the mattress: preparing for a US public offering is the Israeli-founded solar energy company BrightSource. The company is to build the largest ever solar-powered steam turbine generator in the world, in California. It hasn’t been without its struggles: environmentalists showed how the original build site for the solar panels interfered with coyote land; recently the company also made plans to relocate a native tortoise.

Now it looks like it’s full steam ahead for BrightSource. The Israeli business newspaper Globes reports that BrightSource has just raised an additional $30 million, bringing its investment total to $300 million.



According to Globes, BrightSource just raised this month $10 million from the Russian government venture capital fund, an international venture capital fund and two unnamed private strategic investors. While founded only 4 years ago, BrightSource Energy is the parent company of BrightSource Industries (Israel) Ltd. (formerly Luz II – years in the business), and was set up to promote activities in the US.

And now the public will be able to invest in the company: the Wall Street Journal reported that BrightSource had hired the services of investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Although it’s not clear when the public offering will be made. Maybe 2011, depending if they can raise another $200 million or so before then, the CEO said.

BrightSource is developing more than 4GW of solar power projects in Southwestern states – enough to power 1.4 million homes. BrightSource now has more than 2.6 gigawatts of power under contract, including the two largest solar power agreements ever – 1,300 megawatts with Southern California Edison and 1,310 megawatts with Pacific Gas & Electric Company. The company’s Solar Energy Development Center in Israel’s Negev Desert is demonstrating BrightSource’s Luz Power Tower (LPT) 550 technology and producing the world’s highest temperature and pressure solar thermal steam.

Previous investors of BrightSource include Alstom S.A., Black River, BP Alternative, California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), VantagePoint Venture Partners, Morgan Stanley, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Chevron VC Fund, Google and StatoilHydro." (source)

(BLOG) Israeli Air Force Fighter Pilots Dodge Migrating Storks

"Droves of migrating birds strike a remarkable sight as they swirl above head in flocks of some 5,000 birds at a time over the Judean Desert. There are about seven hundred million birds flying over Israel twice every year during migration season, 600,000 of them white storks, explains Noam Attias.

Attias, a birdwatcher for the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, is perched atop a rocky hilltop overlooking the Jordan River Valley. She is also a former air force air traffic controller.



A pilot’s nightmare

'When you see a pack of storks, even if it is small, or very, very big you see this mass of birds which are going up. Pelicans will do it in a very nice order. Storks will do it in all kinds of directions as they go up. And when they get to the top of this thermal that’s when they begin to glide. That is when they are in a really nice order and I can count them really easily and I can count them 10, 20, 30, 40 and so on,' says Attias.

On the edge of the Judean Desert, looking down on the sleepy town of Jericho, everything appears quite tranquil. But these are dangerous skies for Israeli fighter jets. The bird watcher’s delight is a pilot’s nightmare. Since the mid-1970’s, migrating buzzards, storks, pelicans and eagles have done more damage to Israeli fighter jets than all the Arab air forces combined.

This is due to Israel’s unique geographical and political predicament. It’s a tiny country with little air space, where one of the world’s biggest air forces flies right through what happens to be the main corridor for storks, pelicans and other birds of prey migrating from Europe and Asia to Africa and back every spring and fall. This 'bottleneck' has fighter jets competing with birds over this very confined area.

Bird spotters, like Attias, monitor the flocks and relay the information to the air force. A special unit collects this information from her and others, adding it to their radar images to map out the areas jets should avoid.

Flock of intelligence

Earlier in the day, Attias said she saw two F-16 fighter jets zooming by in the valley below her and immediately radioed to the air force that flocks were in the area. This was unusual since the air force has altered its training to avoid colliding with the birds.

'It is very hard for the pilot to see a bird coming. It’s a very small thing. The plane is flying really, really fast and as it comes into a bird the impact of the hit with the bird will be a lot of times bigger than it really is because of the velocity and it will crash,' Attias says. 'It is one of the things that frighten our pilots the most. More than any other big enemy, this small thing, even a very small bird can be a disaster for our pilots.'



Incredibly, it wasn’t until the early 1980’s that the Israeli air force recognized that they could do something about reducing jet-bird hits. Lt.-Col. (ret.) Danny Grossman was the safety specialist put in charge of the endeavor in 1982.

'When I took over there were 100 to 120 bird strikes a year, including some incredible accidents and crashes,' Grossman tells The Media Line. 'Until then, a bird strike was viewed as an act of nature which there was nothing to do about it except get to a synagogue and pray.'

Grossman says the air force approached the bird issue as if it were a tactical problem similar to getting around enemy surface-to-air missiles and developed a doctrine to avoid them.

Strikes fell out of the sky

'If an aircraft is going 500 knots, or 800 miles-per-hour, then you are talking about a force of several tons,' Grossman says.

'We started gathering intelligence. We gave the birdwatchers a motorized glider and they helped us map out the migration routes,' Grossman says. 'We were shocked to find out that the birds flew the same air corridors, at specific altitudes and on very specific days every year.'

A plan was devised to alter training schedules to avoid the bird flocks. It took about two years to kick in and the results were dramatic.

'The number of collisions didn’t just drop. It fell out of the sky!' Grossman says.

The air force reported a 76 percent reduction in bird strikes, which is estimated to have saved over half a billion dollars between 1984 and 2001.

Today there are about 20 hits a year, a statistic that has held steady for the past 16 years. There are still cracked wings, destroyed engines and worse. But it’s been over a dozen years since the last aircraft crashed due to a bird hit.

The air force realized that it could neither ignore nor compete with nature and each fall and spring it gives the enormous flocks plenty of room.

'Sometimes you find yourself standing for more than an hour and counting storks. They don’t stop coming. I’m jealous. I am jealous of their ability to fly, ability to glide,' Attias says." (source)

(ARTS) Y-Love Speaks Out About Jewish Hip-Hop

What makes music Kosher? Y-Love represents a reality of Jewish music that is all about the content and not to be judged by its genre: Kosher Hip-Hop.

With a mission statement that reads 'using hip-hop to elevate, not to tranquilize,' this spiritual, rapping guru exhudes the brighter side of the hip-hop music scene. Based in Brooklyn, NY with an undeniable love for Israel, Y-Love (Yitz Jordan) is front and center in a trending hip-hop revolution. Y-Love's unique style reveals his inner-neshama (soul), a spicy interest in ancient languages, and his passion for Jewish scripture - all of which are accounts and reflections of his strong Jewish identity and life-choice to convert to Hasidism.

(VIDEO) Tel Aviv History: Urban Planning 1920s

In a mini-series about the various aspects of Tel Aviv's history, Leadel.NET brings you these enlightening shorts about this international city.

(BLOG) Ha'aretz, Margaret Atwood, Fabricate Allegation Of Child Deaths

"Celebrated poet and fiction writer Margaret Atwood, the recipient of the Dan David Prize at Tel Aviv University last May, should stick to the world of fiction. In a Sept. 17 piece in Ha'aretz entitled 'Suffering of Palestinian children is something both sides can agree on,' Atwood cites a 2009 report by Save the Children U.K. called 'Life on the Edge,' claiming that document finds that 'the rate of malnutrition of the children in Area C [of the West Bank, under full Israeli control] is higher than even that in Gaza, and many kids are not only developmentally stunted, but are dying from related illnesses.' But the 70-page document says nothing about child malnutrition or mortality, either caused by illnesses related to malnutrition, developmental stunting, or otherwise. This is pure invention on the part of Ms. Atwood, whose piece appeared in the Yom Kippur issue of the Israeli publication.

This gross falsehood serves as the test case in Ms. Atwood's challenge to what she calls the 'entrenched' view of Israelis, and falsely epitomizes what she sees as Israel's responsibility for the conflict. In her words: 'If you break it, you own it. Israel owns this problem, and Israel should fix it. Or does Israel really want an international campaign in which every doughnut shop in North America features a collection box, a sad-eyed child holding a dead sibling, and a stack of outrage-generating leaflets? Write your congressman: Tie aid to Israel to action on Area C child malnutrition and deaths? Give at church, save an Area C baby? Or how about: On the Day of Atonement, when considering wrongs to other human beings for which you bear some responsibility, start with the children of Area C?'"

(BLOG) Why Abbas Wants To Kill Palestinians Who Do Businesss With Jews

"By Khaled Abu Toameh: A Palestinian Authority court in the West Bank has just reaffirmed the death penalty for Palestinians convicted of selling lands to Jews.

The ruling is based on a Palestinian Authority law that prohibits Palestinians from engaging in such land deals.



The timing of the new-old ruling is of particular significance: it coincides with the launch of US-sponsored direct talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. The Palestinian leadership is apparently trying to depict itself as the trusted guardian and defender of Arab lands.

The court ruling also proves that, contrary to claims by some circles in Washington and European capitals, the Palestinian Authority is continuing to send messages that radicalize Palestinians and promote hatred and violence.

If anything, the court verdict is seen by many Palestinians as a green light to kill 'traitors' who do business with Jews.

The Palestinian law also also calls for imposing the death sentence on any Palestinian found guilty of 'collaboration' with Israel.

Over the past few decades, hundreds, if not thousands, of Palestinians have been killed on suspicion of selling lands to Jews and 'collaboration' with Israel.

Only a few of the victims, after they had been put on trial, were executed by Palestinian authorities.

Most were abducted and liquidated, often brutally, in extra-judicial killings carried out by Palestinian security officers, armed gangs and Fatah and Hamas militiamen.



When it signed the Oslo 'peace' Accords, the PLO promised not to pursue suspected 'collaborators' and 'land dealers.' Of course, the Palestinian leadership did not keep its promise.

Shortly after Palestinian security forces were deployed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, many suspected informants and people accused of selling lands to Jews were killed or thrown into jail.

Those who had large clans and a lot of money were lucky. They used their family connections and wealth to influence Palestinian security and civilian officials to let them go.

A famous Arab land dealer from Jerusalem revealed last week that he had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to senior Palestinian officials to avoid being arrested or murdered. He further disclosed that senior officials in the Palestinian Authority had also been involved in land sales to Jews.

The Palestinian Authority leaders in Ramallah need to watch their words and actions very carefully lest they fall victim to their own incitement.

Mahmoud Abbas has already been accused by many Palestinians and Arabs of 'selling out' to the Jews because of his willingness to recognize Israel's right to exist on any part of Palestinians.

Moreover, Abbas has been accused of 'collaboration' with Israel and the US because of his readiness to talk about peace, and about ties with the IDF and CIA.

This means that Abbas, or anyone who follows in his footsteps, could one day be convicted in a Palestinian court under the same laws they created." (source)