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Law and Society
Middle EastBy LadyLight
10 days ago
Have you ever seen such a ruckus raised by everyone over what Israel may have done in Dubai to a known Hamas leader, Mahmoud Al Mabhouh? You'd think that Israel committed a heinous crime, when the crime which was committed was the Hamas leader's himself, that of murdering two Israeli soldiers and forging a connection between Hamas and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
Hamas is classified as a "terrorist organization" by the United States and by Europe, but nobody accused Dubai of hosting this criminal. They only accused Israel of doing what nobody had the courage (or worse, inclination) to do, which is to eliminate him. Israel may have done just that, and for it, has been heaped with vitriolic condemnation from the world at large. And it isn't even certain that Israel's Mossad carried out this hit. According to Caroline Glick,
What the initial European reaction to [Dubai Chief-of-Police] Tamim's allegations shows is that blaming Israel has become Europe's default foreign policy. It apparently never occurred to the Europeans that Israel might not be responsible for the hit. And it certainly never occurred to them that cutting off intelligence ties with Israel will harm them more than Israel.
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Law and Society
Middle EastBy Dr.Aaron.Lerner.IMRA
10 days ago
Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA 8 March 2010
A review of ANNEX IV Protocol on Economic Relations between the Government
of the State of Israel and the P.L.O., representing the Palestinian people
Paris, April 29, 1994 of the Gaza Jericho Agreement finds that the boycott
of goods produced in the "settlements" and a ban on the supply of
Palestinian workers to the settlements constitutes a gross violation of the
agreement by the PA.
#1. " The agricultural produce of both sides will have free and unrestricted
access to each others' markets"
#2. "There will be free movement of industrial goods free of any
restrictions"
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Law and Society
Middle EastBy Dr.Aaron.Lerner.IMRA
11 days ago
Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA:
Will U.S. Vice President Biden join with the leadership of the Palestinian
Authority and honor Dalal Mughrabi, a terrorist who murdered 37 civilians in
1978?
No.
But the "friends of peace" - the "moderate peace partners" Mr. Biden will
meet in Ramallah will,
Question: Where are the comments from American officials - and others -
that it is "inappropriate" for the PA to do this the same week that V.P.
Biden is visiting. That its the "wrong time" and "counterproductive" to
celebrate the murder of civilians the same week that the launching of
proximity talks with Israel are being finalized? |
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Law and Society
Middle EastBy Dr.Aaron.Lerner.IMRA
11 days ago
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 7 March 2010
In response to an item this morning on Keren Neubach’s Israel Radio morning Agenda (Seder Yom) program about Arabs in Jaffa who find themselves moving out of the neighborhood due to gentrification, a listener sent in an SMS saying that the plight of the Arabs in Jaffa is no different than the plight of Jews who find themselves priced out of their neighborhoods.
Neubach read the comment on the air and then said under her breath “it depends how you look at it.”
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Law and Society
Middle EastBy Dr.Aaron.Lerner.IMRA
2 weeks ago
Dr. Aaron Lerner Date: 4 March 2010
Almost every critic of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's decision to
include Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron
in Israel's national heritage project points to Netanyahu's decision to open
the Hasmonean Tunnel and build Har Homa in his previous term as if the
consequences of those moves proves their point.
But the opposite is the case.
Yes, there was a lot of flack on the Har Homa project, with demonstrations
and condemnations galore.
And yes, there was even a short bloody clash over the opening of the
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Law and Society
Middle EastBy Dabar
2 weeks ago
There is a saying that was old in 1894 and seems to have spread through the English speaking world which begins, "sticks and stones shall break my bones, but" chances are you can complete it. The version I am familiar with is "but words shall never hurt me". Another version ends with "but lies shall never hurt me".
But yet there is another saying: "the pen is mightier than the sword". Therefore, logically, one may conclude that "the word is mightier than the sword."
From this it may be gathered that sayings or aphorisms pertaining to the lore of common sense, at least at a superficial level, may contain contradiction. But then after a few hours perusing the section of the university library pertaining to common sense, one realises that 'sense' is possibly cultural and not at all common. Sense might be missing from the mouths of leaders, and indeed even reporters, when they speak on (and in) the Middle East.
For words can indeed be swords. The great king David wrote a song about it.
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