Friday, February 12, 2010
He knew he was going to have trouble. See: 'I have bought my cemetery plot' and Sex, Palestinians and Videotape. I suppose it's a step forward that all Abbas has done is issue a warrant for his arrest...for now. This is what you get when you try to clean things up in a maffia-statelet: PA issues arrest warrant for Shabaneh
The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday accused former intelligence official Fahmi Shabaneh of "collaboration" with Israel and issued a warrant for his arrest.
Shabaneh, who was in charge of the anti-corruption unit in the Palestinian General Intelligence Service, was forced to quit his job after revealing dozens of cases of financial, administrative and sexual corruption among PA President Mahmoud Abbas's inner circle.
In an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post two weeks ago, Shabaneh, 49, who lives in Jerusalem, accused Abbas of failing to act against senior PA and Fatah officials allegedly involved in the theft of public funds and in sex scandals.
Shabaneh showed the Post video footage of Rafik Husseini, the director of Abbas's bureau, lying naked in the bedroom of a Christian woman from Jerusalem who had sought work with the PA.
Shabaneh also presented the Post with hundreds of documents he had collected during his work implicating many of Abbas's close aides in embezzlement, land theft and fraud.
Shabaneh's revelations to the Post were the first of their kind by a senior Palestinian official who was in charge of investigating corruption in the PA.
Shabaneh said that he decided to talk to the Post after Palestinian, Arab and foreign media organizations refused to interview him out of fear of being "punished" by the PA.
"We don't have a free media in the Arab world," Shabaneh explained on Wednesday. "Al-Jazeera and other Arab media outlets told me that they are afraid to publish anything that angers the Palestinian Authority."
Shabaneh said that even some foreign journalists based in the country had refused to publish his statements, citing various pretexts, including fear of retribution by the PA.
"Some of the foreign journalists don't want to hear negative things about Fatah and Abbas," he said. "That's why they didn't want to cooperate with me and why I decided to go to the Post."...[More.]
They don't have a free press, we don't have a free press when dealing with them.
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Ah - this is a shame.
Now, today in NYT, Roger Cohen writes a piece about Israel, the 2-state solution and so forth, which is fine, but which doesn't take into account some of these problems within the PA and doesn't even mention that "ROR" issue, let alone some of the other issues that just can't be solved badda bing badda boom because there isn't any regional cooperation, for example with land donations to the Palestinians and/or offers of citizenship:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/opinion/12iht-edcohen.html?th&emc=th
Ugg. What a boob.
Timely for me to mention this little item, emailed to me by reader Allan Grant, of Roger Cohen joining up with Rashid Khalidi to argue the affirmative to the question THE US SHOULD STEP BACK FROM ITS SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL.
Maybe your stomach is stronger than mine and can watch it.
I dunno. Maybe we should strike up a Special Relationship with Hamas?
This would, no doubt, Solve All the Problems In The Middle East Which Would Cause The World To Be A Peaceful, Progressive And Enlightened Planet, Where Everybody Could Paint Themselves Blue And Protest Against Evil Jooz Who Would In Any Case Be Extinct By Then.
@#&*+!%
Good post on Roger Cohen's NYT column (and debate) at JTA: http://blogs.jta.org/telegraph/article/2010/02/12/1010607/the-other-side-of-the-story
You know what. Reading Cohen's article in toto it seemed very reasonable.
However, when you isolate some of the comments, as in the JTA piece, you see the hyperbole.
For example:
snip
The U.S. objective is a two-state peace. But day by day, square meter by square meter, the physical space for the second state, Palestine, is disappearing. Can the Gaza sardine can and fractured labyrinth of the West Bank now be seen as anything but a grotesque caricature of a putative state? America has allowed this self-defeating process to advance to near irreversibility.
snip
In addition to not mentioning the Intifada, etc, and the violence from Gaza, this raises the issue of cooperation with other Arab states but also the problem of heriditary refugee status, without offering any suggestions.
For example, if it's true that Gaza is a "sardine can" and I believe that's probably accurate given the population growth there, why isn't there a safety valve on the Egyptian side?
People simply aren't thinking long range about these issues or about the roles played by Arab League states and the UN in contributing to the situation.
I think folks are sort of hoping if a two-state solution emerges, the problems of too many people in too small a space will just disappear when in fact the situation is likely to get worse especially if people "return" from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, etc. if indeed they want to.
Plus, who sees the population boom slowing down? Does anybody see a viable economy being developed?
Maybe, given Egypt's population boom and poverty and its obvious unwillingness to accept citizens of Palestinian descent, perhaps Egypt should, along with Israel, contribute some land to make Gaza larger?
These ideas don't seem to be discussed very often if at all; the entire burden is on Israel regardless of its tiny size and ridiculous shape.
As to the settlements, the JTA piece states that the land involved is some 5% of the total West Bank which doesn't really constitute "disappearing" it.
Also Jewish connections to Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem aren't mentioned at all.
Nobody respects Jewish thinking or feeling on these issues.
If you do you are automatically A Rabid Zionist, A Wild-Eyed Likudnik or A Religious Fanatic.
Hello?
Nobody respects Jewish thinking or feeling on these issues. --- Sophia
Nobody respects Euro Christian thinking or feeling on these issues...
You will eventually have to concede the point, Sophia.
Euro Christians and Jews are being attacked by the same forces and in the same manner. And anyone who speaks up for these groups is immediately...A Rabid Zionist, A Wild-Eyed Likudnik or A Religious Fanatic....or a White Supremacist, A Far Right Wingnut or an Evangelical Fundamentalist Christian.
I'm not convinced that 'too many people in too small a space' is really a problem on its own, given the existence of ultra-densely-populated Hong Kong and Singapore.
Ron, that may be so in Hong Kong and Singapore but the economic base is entirely different and also, ecologically there is really no comparison.
It could be possible to create a Hong Kong or Singapore but first, besides the will to do this, plus REAL peace - there would have to be a lot more water.
That's theoretically possible, maybe with pipelines from regions with snow - assuming they'd be willing to share that is - right now there's a drought in Iraq due to dams in Turkey.
Global climate change is increasing desertization and snowfall in mountainous areas could easily decline, leading to worse problems.
Maybe it would be possible dig really deep wells, assuming there is water down there? Even so, long term, supplies might not be indefinite.
Desalinization on a massive level is another option - of course, people would have to agree not to bomb the desalinization plants.
Etc.
Finally though there is the issue of the extant environment.
This is rather unique and ought to be considered in any equation - as it is, animals including migratory birds, antelope and others - sand cats - leopards - the many desert dwellers in the Negev - not to mention people with a semi-nomadic way of life who require a lot of space - are becoming endangered species.
The Dead Sea is rapidly diminishing also, as more and more people tap into the water table and its resources are exploited. Projects to pipe water from the Red Sea might or might not work to save the Dead Sea but adding millions more people to the region will surely stress the situation even further.
And, forests and agriculture would definitely be impacted as well.
This is particularly true of the Palestinian farmers with their ancient olive groves, and the shepherds. Sheep and goats require a lot of pastureland.
And, space given over now to the forests including those planted by Israel would come under pressure and maybe we'd wind up seeing those forests cut down (total irony and an environmental disaster imo).