JIHAD WATCH !!!!

Palestinians: Olmert must be living on another planet

At last, I agree with a Palestinian Authority official on something! I think Olmert is living on another planet also, although I doubt the PA wonk and me have exactly the same idea of why that is. In this story, the PA official takes Olmert to task for daring to suggest that Israelis may stay on what he regards as "occupied lands belonging to the Palestinian people." The only problem is that when one starts inquiring into what these Palestinian spokesmen believe are the particular "occupied lands belonging to the Palestinian people" in question, one finds that they're referring to every bit of Israel, such that only someone who lives on another planet, like Olmert, could possibly believe that this or that concession of land would satisfy them.

"PA: Olmert must be living on a different planet," by Khaled Abu Toameh in the Jerusalem Post (thanks to Sr. Soph):

The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday reacted angrily to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's assertion that Ma'aleh Adumim was an "indivisible" part of Jerusalem and Israel, and warned that continued construction in the settlements and Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem would "sabotage" the peace process.

In an interview with The Jerusalem Post published Monday, Olmert made it clear that he did not envisage a permanent accord along the 1967 lines, adding that his primary responsibility as prime minister lay in ensuring a "separation" from the Palestinians.

"I don't think when people are talking about settlements they are talking about Ma'aleh Adumim," Olmert said.

Asked to comment on Olmert's statements, a top PA official in Ramallah said, "Olmert must be living on another planet. Peace and settlements don't go together. If this is his policy, he can forget about finding a partner on the Palestinian side."

The official stressed that the PA does not distinguish between an illegal settlement outpost and Ma'aleh Adumim or Har Homa.

"These are all illegal settlements that were built on occupied lands belonging to the Palestinian people," he said.

Posted by Robert at 2:32 PM | Comments (2)
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Al-Qaeda claims Algeria bomb attack

Another victory for the glorious mujahedin, the lovers of death. "Algeria: Al-Qaeda claims northern attack," from AKI (thanks to Sr. Soph):

Naciriya, 2 Jan. (AKI) - Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed Wednesday's deadly bomb attack against a police station in the northern town of Niciriya, in Boumerdes province, east of Algiers, Arabic satellite TV network al-Arabiya reported.

A suicide bomber, named as Abdullah, blew himself up in the attack, in which a truck with 500 kilgrammes of TNT explosives, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb said, quoted by al-Arabiya.

The bombing killed at least three people and wounded seven, according to the interior ministry. It provided no further details of the attack.

Posted by Robert at 1:58 PM | Comments (3)
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Spencer: Bhutto Dead, Democrats Clueless

In Human Events today I discuss the reactions to Bhutto's death from Hillary and Obama (links in the original):

Benazir Bhutto has been murdered and the Democrats, stampeding to the microphones to make a statement about her death, have shown themselves as clueless as ever. Quickly after the assassination, a top foreign policy adviser for Barack Obama, Susan Rice, contrasted her boss’s approach with that of Hillary Clinton: “Sen. Clinton’s view,” she asserted, “has been closer to Bush’s, which is to see Musharraf as the linchpin but democracy as something that is desirable, but not necessarily essential to our security interests. Whereas Obama feels that democracy and human rights in the context of Pakistan are essential to our security.”

Hillary’s campaign reacted quickly to show that they could be just as Carteresque as Obama, if not more so. Lee Feinstein, Hillary’s foreign policy adviser, took issue with the claim that his candidate supported Musharraf. He wrote indignantly: “Sen. Obama’s continuing and deliberate efforts to politicize this tragedy by blaming Sen. Clinton for it are unbecoming someone seeking the office of the presidency. Sen. Clinton has opposed the Bush administration’s coddling of President Musharraf and stood steadfastly with the people of Pakistan in their struggle for democracy and against terrorism.”

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Posted by Robert at 8:43 AM | Comments (47)
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“Allah has purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs in return is the garden of Paradise: they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain”

That's Qur'an 9:111 -- a guarantee of Paradise to those who "slay and are slain" for Allah. I discuss it in the latest Blogging the Qur’an installment at Hot Air: Sura 9, “Repentance,” verses 81-129 (links in the original):

Verse 81-89 of Sura 9, “Repentance,” excoriate Muslims who refused to accompany Muhammad on his expedition to Tabuk, where he had hoped to fight the Byzantines in the year 631. Some begged off because of the scorching heat in Arabia, making an expedition particularly trying – leading Allah to taunt them about the heat of hell, for “they hated to strive and fight,” that is, wage jihad (yujahidoo, يُجَاهِدُوا) “with their goods and their persons, in the cause of Allah” (v. 81). Ibn Kathir explains: “if they have any comprehension or understanding, they would have marched with the Messenger of Allah during the heat, so as to save themselves from the Fire of Jahannam [Hell], which is much more severe.”

Even if the Hypocrites were to change their minds and want to join Muhammad on a future expedition, they are forever barred from doing so (v. 83). Muhammad and the Muslims should not even pray for them when they die (v. 84). They will be punished in this world also (v. 85 – a repeat of v. 55). But Muhammad and the Muslims who do “strive and fight [jahadoo, جَاهَدُواْ] with their wealth and their persons” will enter the gardens of Paradise (vv. 88-89).

Continue reading "“Allah has purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs in return is the garden of Paradise: they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain”"

Posted by Robert at 8:33 AM | Comments (20)
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Death jihad: suicide bomber kills 32 at Baghdad funeral

The jihadists who make such effective propaganda use of anything they can portray as an attack on civilians by the Americans or Israels never hesitate to target anyone, anywhere, with no regard for any convention or civilized norm. "Suicide bomb at Baghdad funeral kills 32," by Patrick Quinn for Associated Press (thanks to Jeffrey Imm):

BAGHDAD - A suicide attacker killed at least 32 men gathered in eastern Baghdad Tuesday to mourn the death of a retired Iraqi army officer, a Shiite who was slain last week in a car bombing blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq.

The attack was a reminder of the dangers that persist despite Baghdad's recent decline in violence and of the peril for any mass gathering in a country where the bereaved often find themselves targets.

[...]

In Tuesday's bombing the east Baghdad neighborhood of Zayouna, a mixed Shiite and Sunni district, a man loaded with explosives walked into a funeral tent outside the home of Nabil Hussein Jassim, a retired army officer killed along with another 13 people in a car bombing in downtown Baghdad's Tayaran Square on Friday.

All 32 people killed by the suicide bomber were men, police and ambulance officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release details of the bombing. The attack resembled those carried out by al-Qaida in past years, when men in suicide vests targeted funeral tents or processions. Tents are usually erected outside the homes of those whose died or outside mosques and are usually filled with male friends and relatives of the deceased.

It was the fourth large bombing to target Iraqi civilians or members of the predominantly Sunni tribal movement known as Awakening Councils in the past 10 days. A suicide bomber targeting members of the U.S.-funded movement killed 12 people on Monday in Tarmiyah, just north of Baghdad....