Arabs in a village north of Ramallah Wednesday morning accused Jews of setting fire to a local mosque in the pre-dawn hours, causing heavy damage to the first floor.

The village mayor said firefighters saved the rest of the building from serious damage.

There is no evidence that Jews were responsible for the fire, and there was no graffiti, but the mayor said he is sure “settlers” lit the match, as they allegedly did two years ago at another mosque in the village.

He took the opportunity to blame Jews for destroying olive trees.

“Only Jewish settlers would do this,” said the mayor, Faraj al-Naasan.

That is not always true because videos in the past have proven that Arabs often hack away at their own olive trees, usually ones that are too old to produce much fruit, and then blame Jews.

There are a few dozen Jewish hotheads who are capable of making trouble for everyone, Arabs and Jews alike, but in this case, there is a possibility that a short-circuit caused the fire. The Arabs said they had checked the electricity and there were no problems.

I’ve been living in Israel, in Gush Etzion, in Efrat, since the end of August. I’m here because one daughter (YD) is studying in a seminary nearby (much more on that, later), and the other (OD) made Aliyah and is going into the IDF in December.

This is our chance to try a pilot project: can this particular family of upper middle class Jewish American Zionists make it in Israel? Do we have more to contribute being here, or is it important for stalwart Israel supporters to remain in the U.S., constantly correcting the myths created by the mainstream media about Israel, the shtachim, the plight of the Arabs, and all the rest.

And does Israel really need more lawyers? Or English-writing journalists? We’ll see. But for now, here I am.

*************

Arriving at Ben Gurion. Nov. 5, 2014.

My mother came to visit for two weeks. She arrived at Ben Gurion a few days ago. Younger Daughter (YD) and I picked her up. Yes, here I am, driving in Israel. At this point, two months in, I know how to get to the airport without looking at directions. That’s exciting.

The Judean Hills

This morning I showed my mother around the neighborhood. She thinks it is GORGEOUS. As she raved on and on (“you know, everything is flat in Florida, we have none of these gorgeous hills”), I said to her:

ME: You know, mom, this is the “West Bank.”

MOM: It’s so gorgeous…what? What are you talking about?

ME: Here. This house, this neighborhood, this whole area is what the New York Times and the rest of the planet calls the “West Bank.”

MOM: … (looks around with her eyes squinched up)…no. You mean, this is what they say should be given back?

ME: yes, that’s what ‘they’ say. And they’re also wrong about saying “given back,” as if it was intended to go to people who had control over it before.

We take a brief detour through the history of  the last few hundreds years of control of this area, beginning with the Ottoman Empire and then the British Mandate, and then the slicing up of what was promised for the Jewish State so that the different Arab families could be rewarded with their own countries, and then the refusal to accept the final Arab state if it also meant there would be a Jewish state.

And then back to this being the “West Bank.”

MOM: But how can this be the “West Bank?”

ME: You mean, because the people and the houses and the stores look just like they do everywhere else, including in Florida (where mom lives)? Mom, this is what they call a “settlement.” We’re all “settlers” here.

MOM: That’s ridiculous.

ME: It’s because the media only shows pictures of people who look crazed or violent or both. And the descriptions they connect with what they call “settlers” conjure up images of people foaming at the mouth and walking around with machetes for chopping down Arabs’ olive trees.

MOM: But this (she points around the neighborhood) isn’t what anyone thinks of when they think of the West Bank. When I hear those words, I think of makeshift ramshackle houses and people who…well, people who look nothing like the people around here. Really, this looks like the communities in Florida.

ME: Well, you should start telling all your friends. All those Jews who are proudly Jewish, but who think that the “settlements” are a problem.

A bill to apply Israeli law to citizens living in Judea and Samaria was approved by the Ministerial Committee on Legislation today (Sunday, Nov. 9).

But Yesh Atid party chairman Yair Lapid and Hatnua party chairwoman Tzipi Livni – both members of the government cabinet – are opposing its final approval.

The two ministers immediately appealed the vote that approved the legislation, 6 to 4, with two abstentions.

At present, Jews living in Judea and Samaria live under regulations administered by the Israeli military civil administration.

The new law was proposed and sponsored by a host of lawmakers from the Likud, Bayit Yehudi, Yisrael Beytenu and United Torah Judaism factions.

According to Land of Israel Caucus heads Yariv Levin (Likud) and Orit Strook (Bayit Yehudi) the bill does not violate international law nor change the status of the land in Judea and Samaria.

Originally published at PreOccupied Territory

[Editor's Update: We thought it was obvious, but apparently not... this blog post is SATIRE.]

Washington, October 8 – Aides to US President Barack Obama expressed displeasure today over not being informed of plans to assemble tens of thousands of makeshift residential structures over the last week in Jewish communities in areas both Israel and the Palestinians claim.

The huts mostly consist of wood panels, or of metal frames holding up canvas walls, with reeds or palm leaves as roofing. Satellite images and eyewitness reports alerted the Obama administration of the flurry of new construction activity, all of which appears to be taking place within the boundaries of existing Jewish communities in those contentious areas. The structures are apparently functioning as additional living space, as the inhabitants of those communities have been observed transferring tables, chairs, beds, and even rugs into the booth-like structures.

The administration stopped short of actively rebuking the Netanyahu government over the construction, as the effort has the hallmarks of a grass-roots initiative and not an officially sanctioned building spree of the kind that has infuriated White House officials in the past. In fact, hundreds of thousands of such structures have been hastily built over the last week even within the pre-1967 lines, indicating broad popular support for the initiative. However, Obama aides did communicate the president’s concern over any kind of development on land claimed by Palestinians for a state.

Another factor contributing to the administration’s muted response is the unlikelihood that the structures have been approved by Israeli government authorities. The addition of the booths  - or, in many cases, simply the covering of an existing walled patio or terrace with the reed or leaf roofs – almost certainly constitutes a zoning violation wherever it occurs, and in the White House’s assessment the Israeli authorities are almost certain to inform the residents of their obligation to dismantle the structures.

“We’ve had a few cases of a similar nature even in the US,” said a White House staffer speaking on condition of anonymity. “We’ve had groups of Jews, sometimes entire communities, building these temporary structures that are in clear violation of building codes, zoning designation, and other municipal approvals necessary for the erection of such entities. People complain about it, the town or city gives the owners a couple of weeks’ notice to take down the structure, and they comply. At this point we’re going to assume the same process will play out over in the West Bank, though I imagine they’ll have some difficulty notifying every single homeowner right away.”

“It always seems to happen this time of year, too,” mused the official. “I wonder if there’s some way to predict the phenomenon?”

[Editor's Note: This blog post is SATIRE.]

Mahmoud Abbas roared into the United Nations Friday with an incendiary speech against Israel that re-buried – again – the American-led “peace process,” cast Israel as a war criminal and managed to provoke a hasty and unusually angry American response that smacked his rhetoric as “provocative.”

The Palestinian Authority chairman, who carried out a brilliant world-wide diplomatic campaign against Israel after he took power following Yasser Arafat’s death in 2004, has been hell-bent on self-destruction ever since it was clear to him that he could not hijack the so-called peace process to put an end to Israel as a Jewish state.

His speech, which called Israel “genocidal,” was a statement that the Obama can go fly a kite while he relies solely on the pro-Arab U.N. General Assembly to reach his objective. Abbas’ diplomatic Kamikaze operation somewhat parallels the Arab world’s wars against Israel in 1949 and 1967. They circled the wagons and poised for a victory, but then saw blood in their eyes and banked on total annihilation of the Zionists.

A hint of what was coming at the United Nations began when Abbas entered to the United Nations Wednesday. U.N. personnel, operating under standing operating procedures, prevented Abbas’ security forces from entering through the same doors.

Abbas’ aides did what they know best to do – use violence, which didn’t work.

On Friday, Abbas spoke and everyone waited for the “bomb” that his aides said he would drop. Maybe he would demand that Israel be tried in the international court for war crimes? Maybe he would announce a new peace proposal? Maybe he would pull out a new trick to put Israel in the corner?

The bomb was suicidal.

Peace talks?

“It is impossible, and I repeat – it is impossible – to return to the cycle of negotiations that failed to deal with the substance of the matter and the fundamental question,” Abbas declared. “There is neither credibility nor seriousness in negotiations in which Israel predetermines the results via its settlement activities and the occupation’s brutality…

“During the past two weeks, Palestine and the Arab Group undertook intensive contacts with the various regional groups in the United Nations to prepare for the introduction of a draft resolution to be adopted by the United Nations Security Council on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to push forward the efforts to achieve peace….

“This endeavor aspires to correct the deficiency of the previous efforts to achieve peace by affirming the goal of ending the Israeli occupation and achieving the two-state solution, of the State of Palestine, with east Jerusalem as its capital, over the entire territory occupied in 1967, alongside the State of Israel and reaching a just and agreed upon solution to the plight of the Palestine refugees on the basis of resolution 194, with a specific timeframe for the implementation of these objectives as stipulated in the Arab Peace Initiative.”

Abbas proved he was more bark than bite because he did not even hint of a deadline “or else” for Israel to surrender.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as a peace partner?

“There is no credibility or seriousness” in the Prime Minister’s statements that he wants a “two-state solution.”

Settlers as Jews who could live in peace with the PA if they only would go back to Tel Aviv?

No. Settlers are “racist and armed gangs’ who have “persisted with their crimes against the Palestinian people.”

He said what every person with an IQ over 30 knows – “negotiations” with Israel means that that talks resume based on the “agreed objective” of “ending the Israeli occupation and achieving the independence of the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital on the entire Palestinian Territory occupied in the 1967 war.”

Construction workers southwest of Jerusalem have discovered a huge stalactite cave located near the Tzur Hadassah community, on the western side of Gush Etzion.

The Israel Nature and Parks Authority has not disclosed the exact location because of dangers of entering the area. Officials also want to take step to preserve and map the cave, which rivals the size of the Sorek cave, officially known as the Avshalom Cave, between Ramle and Beit Shemesh, southwest of Jerusalem.

Stalactite caves are formed when limestone rocks are slowly dissolved as rainwater seeps in through crevices of a cave, and the site at Sorek is one of Israel’s most popular natural wonders.

It was discovered in 1968 after an explosion carried out by a quarry.

The Sorek Stalactite Cave is approximately 100 yards long and maintains a temperature of 22 degrees C) all year. The stalactites are in a variety of mineral-based colors and are in endless shapes.

Newspapers around the world Tuesday published a wire service article stating that the Palestinian Authority economy is expected to plunge by 15 percent this year and that economic growth will shrink by 4 percent because of the war in Gaza

The headline of the Associated Press article should have read, “Statistics, Statistic and Damned Lies.”

It is indeed accurate that the World Bank’s senior official in Judea, Gaza and Samaria indeed predicted that the Palestinian Authority’s’ economic growth is dropping sharply, but the whole truth, buried in the bottom of the article, is that the economy in Judea and Samaria actually is growing, albeit at a diminishing rate, just like in Israel.

One popular English-language Israeli news site bought the story, hook, line and sinker, and another also published the news of the “dismal forecast,” noting in a gross understatement that Gaza as the biggest impacted area.

You have to skip down to the 18th paragraph in the 19-paragraph story to discover, “According to the bank’s projections, the West Bank economy is likely to stagnate this year, with about 0.5 percent growth, while the Gaza economy is expected to shrink by 15 percent.”

But what about the statement that the “overall Palestinian economy will shrink by 4 percent this year”? How can that be if the economy in Judea and Samaria will grow.

Quick arithmetic comes up with the obvious answer that the statistics for Gaza, whose rulers brought the recent war on themselves, drag down the total figure that includes Judea and Samaria.

It should also be taken into account that the World Bank is the same grandiose institution that in 2005 promoted the expulsion of Jews from Gaza, euphemistically called the “Disengagement,” and was instrumental in the colossal stupidity of turning over Jewish greenhouses to Gaza farmers so that they could build their own economy in peace and freedom.

Within days, hothouses were torn down and became training grounds for Fatah and Hamas terrorists. Ever since the intifada in the late 1980s and the ensuing Oslo War in 2000, Gaza’s economy went from boom to bust.

But let’s stick with the World Bank and its dismal forecast.

By some unholy coincidence, the World Bank’s Palestinian Authority-based official, Steen Lau Jorgensen, released his report a week before a meeting of donor nations to the Palestinian Authority when the U.N. general Assembly convenes.

Just a coincidence, of course.

And what is the World Bank’s solution to the sagging economy? Get rid of Hamas, which no person with an iota of honesty can deny is totally corrupt and has exploited Gaza Arabs, raped them financially and robbed them of humanitarian aid?

No way.

The solution, according to the World Bank, is the “unity government” in which Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Hamas’s rival Fatah movement, is supposed to work with Gaza technocrats who are under the thumb of Hamas.

And of course Israel it to blame for the sagging economy in Gaza by restricting construction materials into Gaza, the same materials that Hamas used to build tunnels for terror.

Staging a promo for the donors’ conference, Jorgensen said, “It’s not clear that you would have substantial amounts … of new money coming in if there is no unified governance framework,” and Israel’s restrictions on the transfer of materials that can be used for terror mean it would take “18 years” to rebuild destroyed Gaza homes.

Remember the Hamas claims during the war, dutifully and  reported without question by the London Guardian, as noted Tuesday by the Elder of Ziyon blog site, that the Israel Air Force supposedly bombed and destroyed Gaza’s power plant?