January 20, 2003

The music industry’s levy on CD-Rs and other digital media in Canada (aka The Great Canadian Digital Media Rip-off ) makes Slashdot. 10:29:51 PM

Hassan Tahsin, a writer for Arab News has apparently forgotten to take his anti-paranoia pills. On the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt he writes: Egypt viewed the peace treaty as a civilized way of ending military confrontation and for the return of Egyptian land occupied by Israel without the need for any more bloodshed. On the other hand, Israel views the treaty as an effective means of marginalizing Egypt’s role in the Arab-Israeli conflict. The treaty also gives Israel the right to impose a geographical siege of Egypt by influencing the political systems of the African countries especially those that lie in the Great Lakes area. This would eventually enable Israel to control the sources of the Nile River and to pressure Egypt into delivering water from the Nile to Israel through the Suez Canal. Okay. Let's back way slowly from this nut. 10:10:48 PM

UN Human Rights Commission: No Rights Required The UN Human Rights Commission has elected a Libyan diplomat as its president for this year, therefore becoming irrelevant. The Globe and Mail reports that in a secret ballot, 33 countries voted for Libyan ambassador Najat Al-Hajjaji, three opposed her election while 17 abstained. Canada had previously announced that it would vote against the Libyan nomination along with the United States. European countries wimped by abstaining. 10:09:23 PM

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the Europeans: In a sarcastic aside, Mr Sharon said: "I feel an envy and jealousy that the Europeans and all those other countries have time to deal with our problems. I hope the time will come when things are peaceful enough here for me to dedicate time to helping the Europeans with their problems 12:30:44 AM

CBC: A quick look at bias The CBC’s Sunday News show examined the question of whether it and other media organisations are biased in regards to the Middle East conflict. It presented a poll that surprising showed that most people thought it was not biased or was biased in favour of Israel. That’s odd, if the CBC was biased in favour of Israel it wouldn’t present the following terms in its glossary at its page in the Middle East. Hamas The name given to a militant Islamic Palestinian organization in the occupied territories. The name is an acronym for Harakat-al-muqawima Al-islamiyya. In English it means Islamic Resistance Movement. Hamas was founded following the 1987 Palestinian uprising known as the Intefadeh. The long-term goal of Hamas is to establish an Islamic state of Palestine. The CBC does not mention that the Islamic State of Palestine would include all of Israel, after Israel is destroyed. Golan Heights The Golan Heights is a hilly area in southwestern Syria overlooking the Sea of Galilee and the River Jordan. In 1948 Israel established settlements in a disputed section of land near their border with Syria. Syria began firing on the settlements from the Golan Heights. In the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel. Since then Israel has claimed legal and political authority in the area. Syria rejects this claim. In 1948 Syria invaded Israel from the Golan Heights, and why are towns in Israel settlements? Six-Day-War The 1967 war involving Israel on one side and Egypt, Syria, and Jordan on the other. The entire war lasted only 132 hours and 30 minutes. It ended with Israeli forces seizing East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, and the Gaza Strip and Sinai peninsula from Egypt. (As part of the Oslo Agreement in 1979, Israel returned Sinai to Egypt.) Other than the mistake of referring the 1978 Camp David Accords as the Oslo Agreement this statement does not provide any context, it does not mention that Israel attacked only after its port of Eliat as blocked by Egypt, which is an internationally recognized cause for war. Temple Mount The Israeli name for the site where it is believed the first and second Jewish temples stood. Jews believe that when the Messiah arrives, redemption will take place on top of the Mount. Arabs refer to the same area as Haram al-Sharif. It is a sacred area for them because they believe the Prophet Mohammed ascended into heaven from the site. Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque are built there. The Temple Mount is located in the old city in East Jerusalem. Christians also believe that the Jewish Temple was at the Temple Mount and a little investigation of Islamic documents shows the same thing. Also why not include dates? The First Temple was built 1500 years before the al-Asqa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock. Other examples are Jim Reed’s, news anchor for Newsworld International history of the Middle East that basically blames Israel for everything wrong. The feature includes the following statement: On that visit [in 1969], I met Yasser Arafat and convinced him to give his first television interview. Arafat was a leader without a state, without a plan and without much support in the region apart from other Palestinian refugees. Moreover, as an exile he was unable to provide any leadership structure for Palestinians under Israeli military occupation. His naive belief at the time was that one day there would be a democratic state in Palestine where Jews and Arabs could live together in peace. He underestimated Israeli determination and overestimated the chances for peace. Moreover, his supporters made extremist statements that undermined any possibility of communication between the two sides. It would have been a state were Arabs and a few Jews would live together after the rest of the Jews were driven out. From the PLO charter: Article 17. The Partitioning of Palestine in 1947 and the establishment of Israel are illegal and false regardless of the loss of time, because they were contrary to the wish of the Palestine people and its natural right to its homeland, and in violation of the basic principles embodied in the charter of the United Nations, foremost among which is the right to self-determination. Article 18. The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate system and all that has been based upon them are considered fraud. The claims of historic and spiritual ties, ties between Jews and Palestine are not in agreement with the facts of history or with the true basis of sound statehood. Judaism because it is a divine religion is not a nationality with independent existence. Furthermore the Jews are not one people with an independent personality because they are citizens of the countries to which they belong. Article 19. Zionism is a colonialist movement in its inception, aggressive and expansionist in its goals, racist and segregationist in its configurations and fascist in its means and aims. Israel in its capacity as the spearhead of this destructive movement and the pillar for colonialism is a permanent source of tension and turmoil in the Middle East in particular and to the international community in general. Because of this the People of Palestine are worthy of the support and sustenance of the community of nations. Article 20. The causes of peace and security and the needs of right and justice demand from all nations, in order to safeguard true relationships among peoples, and to maintain the loyalty of citizens to their homeland, to consider Zionism an illegal movement and to outlaw its presence and activities. Doesn’t look too peaceful.   12:18:16 AM