July 18, 2002

The Associated Press's report on yesterday's atrocity includes this paragraph: In more than 21 months of fighting, 1,761 people had been killed on the Palestinian side and 577 on the Israeli side. This sort of boilerplate score-keeping language appears often in war stories from the Israeli front. Presented without any explanation, these numbers are deeply misleading, implying that because three times as many Palestinians as Israelis have died, Israelis are three times as brutal. These numbers "lump combatants in with noncombatants, suicide bombers with innocent civilians, and report Palestinian 'collaborators' murdered by their own compatriots as if they had been killed by Israel," notes the Herzliya, Israel-based International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism, which has conducted an extensive study of casualty figures. Examining figures showing 561 Israelis and 1,499 Palestinians killed as of June 30, the center finds that the number of noncombatants killed by the opposite side is much closer--Israel killed 579 Palestinian noncombatants; the Palestinians killed 433 Israeli noncombatants. And of course even these numbers obscure the Palestinians' practice of deliberately targeting Israeli civilians. The center counts 189 Palestinians who killed by the actions of their own side--"including suicide bombers, 'work accidents,' collaborators, and people killed in intra-Palestinian fighting"--as of June 30. Writing in The American Prowler, Lawrence Henry echoes an April Wall Street Journal editorial in pointing out that the Palestinian Authority and other terror groups frequently murder dissidents, whom they call collaborators. "opinionjournal" 1:04:39 PM

Arab foreign ministers will present President Bush with a detailed plan today for establishing a new Palestinian government, with a written constitution, an elected parliament and a prime minister, that could be recognized as a state as early as January, according to Arab sources. [ Washingtonpost ] 9:23:49 AM

Can a confession at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting be used to convict someone of a crime?. Can a confession at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting be used to convict someone of a crime? That's the very interesting question a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had to grapple with in a ruling issued today. [How Appealing] 8:45:43 AM

Elvis Presley style seasonings are to go on sale in America. The spices will include Jailhouse Rock (BBQ), King Creole (Cajun) and G.I. Blues (All-Purpose). They have been created by Cindy Hazen, who lives in the house Elvis bought just before his music career started to take off. According to Hazen's website, www.elvisstyleseasonings.com, the seasonings are: "Delicious on everything but leather, and maybe strawberry shortcake."  [ Ananova ] 7:18:31 AM

A California software company must stop delivering ads that pop up unauthorized when surfers visit the websites of several prominent media companies, a federal judge has ruled. Janet Collum, an attorney for Gator, said company officials were considering an appeal of the injunction, confident it will win the case at trial. "We believe strongly that the facts and the law are on our side," she said. [ Wired ]   7:10:36 AM

Computer and printer maker Hewlett-Packard has suspended approximately 150 employees in Britain and Ireland and dismissed two for inappropriate use of company e-mail, the company said Wednesday. It would not say in detail what they did wrong, but the move comes as firms are widely cracking down on employees' use of e-mail to distribute pornography and tasteless jokes. The fate of the suspended full-time employees will be determined following a company investigation, a spokeswoman said. HP said approximately 60 permanent employees and 90 contract staff have been suspended.  [ CNET ] 6:59:22 AM