The Vicious Babushka

Mumbai Remembers Victims of 2008 Terrorist Attacks

Memorial service in 2009 for Mumbai terror victims

Mumbai on Monday paused to remember India's most wounding terrorist attack, that began this day four years ago. The terrorists had launched war on India for 60 hours, killing 166 and injuring around 300 people even as combined security forces battled them and managed to gun down nine.

Five days ago, on Nov 21, Ajmal Amir Kasab, the sole surviving Pakistani terrorist caught alive, was hanged in a Pune jail. The security has been beefed up all across the city on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks fearing possible terror strikes.

According to the police, there would be heavy security deployment in and around the city. Vital installations, including the airports and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), has reportedly been put under tight vigil and extra security would be deployed there.

Sources said that the security appratus has also been tightened after the Pakistan Taliban said they would attack Indian targets to avenge the 'killing' of Kasab. Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan had said they would mount attacks "in India and anywhere" to avenge the hanging of Kasab.

Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh said the police force is fully prepared to deal with another 26/11-like attack.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday, he said, "Not just today but we are on an alert each and every day to keep the city safe. Since the last few days all our officers have been alerted.We will have nakabandis and combing operations in place for the day."

On Monday morniong, brief commemoration events were held at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, Oberoi Trident, Leopold Cafe and Nariman House, some of Mumbai's most loved landmarks that were targeted by the terrorists who sneaked into Mumbai on the night of Nov 26, 2008 through the Arabian Sea route and landed at Colaba.

The main function to remember the martyrs and victims of the terror strike, which began on Nov 26, 2008, and continued till the afternoon of Nov 29, was held at the Mumbai Police Gymkhana at Chowpatty where a permanent 26/11 memorial has been erected.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/26-11-anniversary-mumbai-pauses-to-remembers-martyrs/1/234759.html

Code Red at the Kotel!

 

Range of Hamas Rockets

Range of rockets fired by Hamas

Rockets have already hit Rishon Lezion and Tel Aviv.

Hamas Rockets Claim 3 Israeli Lives in Kiryat Malachi

Building in Kiryat Malachi where rocket struck

Israeli political consultant Jonny Daniels citing an Israeli source and a Chabad leader in Israel told The Algemeiner that among the victims of this morning’s Gaza rocket attack on the Israeli city of Kiryat Malachi was a 25 year old Chabad “shlucha (female emissary)” to New Dehli, India named Mirah (nee Cohen) Scharf, who was visiting Israel this week for the memorial service of Chabad Mumbai terror victims Gabi and Rivka Holtzberg. The Hebrew anniversary of their brutal murder is today.

According to Chabad website Lubavitch.com, Scharf was pregnant. Sources on Facebook say she was the mother of 3 young children.

A second victim named Ahron Smadga said to be in his late forties was the father of the 8 month old baby girl who was injured.

“He was married for 20 years and couldn’t have children then he had twin boys nine years ago, and 8 months ago his daughter was born and he was walking around with a smile on his face that he had a daughter after all this years,” Daniels told The Algemeiner.

“He was one of the first Chabad soldiers to join the Israeli Army,” he said.

The third victim was 22 year old Yitzchak Amselam. The funeral is planned for later today.

Israeli Chabad websites Shturem and COL, reported that the rocket attack hit the neighborhood of Nachlas Har Chabad and that “the entire community is devastated from the tragedy.”

Read more at Algemeiner.com.

Global Rabbi Meets an American Hero

Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz and Antonio Solorio

Guest post by Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz

Last year on 9/11, I was walking with my brother Yirmi Berkowitz near ground zero where tens of thousands of people came to the site to honor the victims on the tenth anniversary. As we walked thru the massive crowds, I was drawn to a group of wounded vets and in particular Antonio Solorio a US army vet who served in Afghanistan. This was the first seriously wounded US vet I had met. His good cheer and spirit drew me to him as I watched him engage others who came to pay their respects. We began to speak and he shared with me his remarkable story.

After 9/11 Antonio bravely answered the call of duty to serve our country and protect our security and quality of life in the US. While serving in Afghanistan, Antonio was responsible for defusing IED bombs that would target locals and American soldiers alike. A roadside bomb blew off his leg and nearly killed him, as he was laying in the triage dying, they presented him with a purple heart that he shouldn't die without the honor and recognition of our country.

Antonio fought back hard and made a long and strong recovery to return to his wife and two daughters in Rancho Cucamonga,California. He told me he was back in school pursuing a degree in computer science.

For a man who had every reason to complain and be angry at life and the world, Antonio was remarkably happy and filled with purpose.

As we spoke about his handicap he removed his prosthetic leg, and asked me to hold it, to make his reality a little more real to me. He then put it back on and we raced each other for a hundred feet and he beat me wearing his prosthetic leg.

As we come to the end of another 9/11, I want to salute and thank every vet and soldier who served and serve to protect us from those who want to destroy our life.

Thank you for your selflessness and bravery, thank you Antonio for making a soldiers sacrifice real to me.

You positive outlook on life helped me understand what I learned from my teacher and Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson of righteous memory. When he met a group of wounded Israeli soldiers, he objected the use of the word "disability" He comforted and encouraged those soldiers who had lost limbs, and told them 'If a person has been deprived of a limb or a faculty, 'this itself indicates that G-d has given them special powers to overcome the limitations this entails, and to surpass the achievements of ordinary people. You are not "disabled" or "handicapped," but special and unique, as you possess potentials that the rest of us do not.

Antonio, you don't need or want our sympathy, but you need our true empathy.
I encourage others to seek out wounded vets, or a vet who is going thru a difficult time to help at least one. They took bullets and bombs to shield us, we need to add at least one to our circle of support.

I hate war, death and evil, and wish every sword was turned into ploughshares... but as long as human conflict needs brave men like Antonio to protect the rest of us from those who venerate death. I stand with and support the vets and those who serve.

Tonight we have an opportunity with the click of a button on Facebook to help the organization that stood with Antonio and his family thru the thick and thin.

Go to Chase community giving and type in 9-11 help America Foundation if they get even 1,000 votes you can help them receive $10,000.

http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charity/view/ein/80-0115715?ref=1b97148697

In honor of Antonio I hope to help http://www.facebook.com/911HAF be in the top 100 charities leader-board by Sep 19.

Thank you for sharing with a friend!
@globalrabbi

Israel Dedicates Memorial to 9/11 Victims in Jerusalem

American Marines and Israeli fighters besides the bronze American flag Memorial ,during 11th anniversary memorial ceremony for the victims of 9/11 attacks in a Memorial monument in Jerusalem Hills on September 11 2012.  (Credit: FLASH90)

View more photos at Vos iz Neias.

Scary Jew Shadow at the Olympics

A Jewish man walk past pictures of some of the eleven Israeli athletes that were killed in the Munich Olympics in 1972, during the London 2012 Olympic Games, London, Britain, 06 August 2012. A ceremony will take place remembering the eleven Israeli athletes who were murdered forty years ago at the Munich Olympic games in 1972. Credit: EPA/VIN

 

Commemorations for 1972 Munich Olympic Israel Team in Spite of Official IOC Refusal

Moment of silence in Trafalger Square

Silences have been held around Britain to mark 40 years since 11 Israeli athletes were murdered during the 1972 Munich Olympics.

More than 20,000 people joined the Zionist Federation organised "Minute for Munich", a virtual silence conducted by individuals wherever they were at 11am, that had been promoted on social media.

A short memorial service at the Israeli Embassy and planned by the ZF was streamed live online from 10.45am, in which the memorial prayer was recited and memorial candles were lit.

Around 200 people marked the Minute for Munich in Trafalgar Square. In front of journalists and television crews from around the world they waved British and Israeli flags before observing the minute's silence.

The event was organised by the British Israel Coalition and other Israel advocacy groups. BIC's Ari Soffer told the crowd: "The British Jewish community is showing its solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Israel.

"We should not allow this tragedy to go un-commemorated. This is a time to show our respect and remember the dead."

During the short service the crowd recited memorial prayers including El male Rachamim and the names of the murdered Israelis. Following the minute of silence kaddish was said, followed by the singing of the British and Israeli national anthems.

A Swedish tourist, Joseph, said he felt it was important to attend: "I escaped from Poland to move to Sweden and it's natural for us, as Jews, to show solidarity with Israel.

"The IOC decision not to hold a silence during the opening ceremony is terrible. It's unbelievably arrogant and ignorant. They have not done it out of antisemitism, but for political reasons.

Read more at The Jewish Chronicle.

Bomb Threat at Comerica Park, 3rd Threat in a Week Against Detroit Landmarks

Comerica Park: The Game Went On.

DETROIT, July 18 (UPI) -- Detroit police and U.S. Homeland Security personnel responded to a bomb threat at Comerica Park Tuesday night and said no suspicious device was found.

The bomb threat -- the second in the Detroit area this week -- was phoned in to 9-1-1 at about 8 p.m. during the game between the Detroit Tigers and the Los Angeles Angels, Sgt. Eren Stephens told The Detroit News. No one was evacuated from the park, and the all-clear was given by 11 p.m., the newspaper said.

A bomb threat shut down the Ambassador Bridge, which spans the border with Canada, from about 7 p.m. Monday to 1 a.m. Tuesday, and a similar threat was received for the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel last week.

"We're following leads, and relative to the most recent incident; I think they're promising leads," Police Chief Ralph Godbee said. "But we're far from saying we're close to closing anything."

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Canadian leaders last month announced an agreement to build a new border crossing. A spokeswoman for Snyder Tuesday cited "homeland security and economic security issues" as factors that show the need for an additional border crossing.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Sports_News/2012/07/18/Bomb-threat-at-Detroits-Comerica-Park/UPI-75091342627830/#ixzz214B8Yree

Bulgaria Bomber Carried Fake Michigan ID

SOFIA, Bulgaria - A brazen daytime bombing that killed eight people and injured dozens on a bus full of Israeli tourists was most likely a suicide attack, Bulgaria's interior minister said Thursday.

The suspect was reported to have been carrying a Michigan state issued license.

After further investigation, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov says that the Michigan license carried by the suspected suicide attacker in the bombing of a bus carrying Israeli tourists was a fake.

Borisov said Thursday "we worked on this with colleagues from the FBI and CIA. They said that there is no such person in their database." He did not release a name.

Borisov says he has asked for the release of a photo of the suspect taken from a security camera from the area before the attack, which gutted the bus at the airport in the Black Sea resort city of Burgas on Wednesday.

Earlier, officials lowered the death toll to seven, including the suspected bomber, after mistakenly reporting that someone had died overnight.

Read more at ClickOnDetroit.com.

Jews and Muslims March Together in Memory of Toulouse Terror Victims

Jewish and Muslim leaders link arms in a silent march to honour the victims of a shooting at the Ozar Hatorah school, where a rabbi and three children were killed in Toulouse March 25, 2012. Grand Rabbi of France Gilles Bernheim (3rd R) is flanked by Hassan Chalghoumi, the imam of the town of Drancy near Paris. Reuters Pictures.

Jewish and Muslim leaders attend a silent march to honour the victims of a shooting at the Ozar Hatorah school, where a rabbi and three children were killed, in Toulouse March 25, 2012. Reuters Pictures.

A white and a black person hold hands as they take part in a march in Paris, on March 25, 2012. This demonstration was called by human rights associations following the recent shooting of seven people by self-proclaimed Islamist Mohamed Merah in Toulouse's area. Abdelkader Merah, the older brother of Mohamed, was presented on March 25, to a Paris judge to face charges. Getty Images.

The mother (C) of French paratrooper Imad Ben Ziaten carries a portrait of her deceased son as she walks next to her husband (L) and French State Secretary to the Defence Ministry Marc Laffineur (R) during their arrival at the airport of Rabat March 24, 2012. The remains of Ziaten, killed March 11 in Toulouse, southwest France, arrived in Rabat late Saturday. Reuters Pictures.

Muslim Couple attends a silent march to honour the victims of a shooting at the Ozar Hatorah school, where a rabbi and three children were killed, in Toulouse March 25, 2012. The march was organised by a Jewish umbrella group together with Muslim leaders.
Reuters Pictures.

People from all faiths march on March 25, 2012 in the southwestern city of Toulouse, in the district where three children and one teacher were killed last week by self-proclaimed Islamist Mohamed Merah. Police shot dead Merah as he jumped out of the window of his apartment following a 32-hour siege, after he killed seven people. Getty Images.

Toulouse Terror Victim Named For Mumbai Terror Victim

Gabriel Sandler HY"D named for Gabriel Holtzberg HY"D

Toulouse, France - On what would have been the tenth wedding anniversary of Gavriel and Rivky Holzberg, the Chabad shluchim who were murdered in the Mumbai terror attacks just over three years ago, comes the chilling news that Gavriel Sandler, the three year old boy murdered in Toulouse school shooting on Monday had been named in memory slain shaliach Gavriel Holzberg.

According to reports in Arutz Sheva, Rivky Holzberg’s father, R’ Shimon Rosenberg, said that he relived the horrors of Mumbai after hearing of the brutal murders in France Monday morning.

“This is a difficult day for Jews everywhere,” said R’ Rosenberg.  “I feel the pain of the families of those who were gunned down, the Jews of France and the entire Jewish people.  This act of cold blooded murder took me back to the murder of my children.  I spoke to one of the members of the Sandler family yesterday who told me that their Gavriel had been named in memory of my son in law, which makes me feel as if we are now family.”

Read more at Vos Iz Neias.

Toulouse Terror Assassin May Have Filmed School Shootings

The family of slain Rabbi Yahonatan Sandler and his two sons HY"D

TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - The gunman who shot dead three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school was a cold, cruel killer who filmed his carnage, France's interior minister said, as the country prepared to hold a silent tribute to the victims on Tuesday.

Claude Gueant told reporters video surveillance tapes at the school in Toulouse showed the gunman was recording his shooting spree with a small video camera attached to his neck.

"This adds another element to the profile of the killer. It is someone who is cruel enough to record it," Gueant said at a primary school in the southwestern city.

"This shows a profile of the murderer as someone who is very cold, very determined, with precise gestures, and therefore very cruel," Gueant added.

The school attack, and the killing of three soldiers last week, has stunned France and prompted President Nicolas Sarkozy and other leading candidates to suspend campaigning for next month's presidential election.

More than 200 police officers have joined the hunt for the gunman, who is the prime suspect in the killing of three paratroopers in two separate shootings last week in Toulouse and the nearby town of Montauban, to the north.

Gueant said police were pursuing several leads into the attacks, which shared a number features. In each attack, the gunman arrived on a stolen scooter and used a Colt 45 handgun.

Sarkozy ordered security tightened in Toulouse, with guards posted at religious sites and the terror alert raised to its highest level in Toulouse and the surrounding region.

"We will track down this monster. We will find him, bring him to justice and punish him," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said of the killer on France 2 television.

A child who survived the attack spoke of his feelings of terror as the shots rang out through the school.

"We were getting ready for prayers when the principal stormed in and screamed that there was a shooting. I panicked and fled to the old canteen and heard the shots, but saw nothing," an 11-year old boy who survived the attack told France Info radio.

"I thought he was going to come in any minute and finish us all. Then I waited and waited and then my daddy came to get me," he said.

Police have not named a suspect but are searching the city of around one million for a man they believed could be a trained marksman, as well as the Yamaha scooter he used to flee. The shooter's face was hidden by a motorcycle helmet during the attack.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said on Monday the school killings appeared to be motivated by racism, was due to attend a one minute silent vigil at 1100 a.m. (1000 GMT) in a Paris secondary school. Schools in all of France will observe a minute of silence.

At the entrance to the school, a five-floor brick building in a leafy residential neighborhood, residents and parents left floral tributes and candles in memory of the victims.

The bodies of three of the victims, who had dual French and Israeli nationality, were expected to be sent to Israel but no details were available about the timing.

Read more at Reuters.

Palestinian TV Broadcasts Show Praising Baby Killers

 

Palestinian television aired an interview with the relatives of the Fogel family murderers earlier this month, praising the two cousins convicted with the brutal attack as "heroes."

The broadcast was aired as part of a weekly show on the Palestinian state-run station called "For You," which focuses on Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in Israel.

The show featured the aunt and mother of Hakim Awad, who along with his cousin Amjad was convicted of brutally stabbing to death five Fogel family members in an attack on their home in the West Bank settlement of Itamar on the night of March 11, 2011.

Hakim Awad's mother sent her regards to her son, proudly describing him as the perpetrator of the Itamar attack and that he was sentenced to 5 consecutive life sentences.

Awad's aunt then proceeded to describe her nephew as a "hero and a legend."

Read more at Haaretz.

NJ Synagogue Bombing Escalated from Hate Crime to Attempted Murder

 

RUTHERFORD, NJ (CBSNewYork) – Authorities are investigating a firebombing of a northern New Jersey home attached to a synagogue as attempted murder and bias-related arson.

The fire was reported around 4:30 a.m. Wednesday at Congregation Beth El in Rutherford.

Police say someone through explosive devices through the window.

“Incendiary devices were used to attempt to start of a fire in the upstairs portion of the structure which is a residence,” Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli told 1010 WINS’ Steve Sandberg.

Rabbi Nosson Schuman, who lives in the home with his wife and five children, said he saw a flash of fire outside his bedroom window before his bedspread caught fire.

“The fire in the bedroom, I had to go put it out. My quilt was on fire. I had to put it out,” he told WCBS 880′s Sean Adams. “Got the kids out and realized that this must have been a continuation of the hate crimes that have been occurring throughout the area.”

Schuman said damage to his home and congregation were minimal. Rutherford Police Capt. Hal Ciser said no one was injured.

Authorities say multiple devices were tossed at the home, including Molotov cocktails and rigged aerosol cans. All appeared as if they were being aimed at the second floor of the house.

Officials say whoever did this was targeting Schuman.

“At this point it’s not just a hate crime and a bias crime. It’s now an attempted murder,” said Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli.

It comes just one day before a meeting between representatives of more than 80 synagogues, law enforcement and some Jewish day schools to discuss several incidents targeting Jewish temples in Bergen County.

There was a suspicious fire and two anti-Semitic graffiti incidents in the past few weeks.

The crimes have shaken the community, but Rabbi Neal Borovitz with the Jewish Federation of northern New Jersey says the police are doing all they can.

“Right after the first attack in Maywood, the chief of police in River Edge where my synagogue is located called me to remind me ‘Rabbi, I know you guys turn your lights off to save energy. I want you to keep them on all night,’” he told WCBS 880 reporter Marla Diamond. “We have to be more vigilant without being paranoid.”

Read more at CBS News.

Goldstone: Israel and the Apartheid Slander

There will be a mass burning of Goldstone scarves in Gaza.

By Richard J. Goldstone

THE Palestinian Authority’s request for full United Nations membership has put hope for any two-state solution under increasing pressure. The need for reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians has never been greater. So it is important to separate legitimate criticism of Israel from assaults that aim to isolate, demonize and delegitimize it.

One particularly pernicious and enduring canard that is surfacing again is that Israel pursues “apartheid” policies. In Cape Town starting on Saturday, a London-based nongovernmental organization called the Russell Tribunal on Palestine will hold a “hearing” on whether Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid. It is not a “tribunal.” The “evidence” is going to be one-sided and the members of the “jury” are critics whose harsh views of Israel are well known.

While “apartheid” can have broader meaning, its use is meant to evoke the situation in pre-1994 South Africa. It is an unfair and inaccurate slander against Israel, calculated to retard rather than advance peace negotiations.

I know all too well the cruelty of South Africa’s abhorrent apartheid system, under which human beings characterized as black had no rights to vote, hold political office, use “white” toilets or beaches, marry whites, live in whites-only areas or even be there without a “pass.” Blacks critically injured in car accidents were left to bleed to death if there was no “black” ambulance to rush them to a “black” hospital. “White” hospitals were prohibited from saving their lives.

In assessing the accusation that Israel pursues apartheid policies, which are by definition primarily about race or ethnicity, it is important first to distinguish between the situations in Israel, where Arabs are citizens, and in West Bank areas that remain under Israeli control in the absence of a peace agreement.

In Israel, there is no apartheid. Nothing there comes close to the definition of apartheid under the 1998 Rome Statute: “Inhumane acts ... committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.” Israeli Arabs — 20 percent of Israel’s population — vote, have political parties and representatives in the Knesset and occupy positions of acclaim, including on its Supreme Court. Arab patients lie alongside Jewish patients in Israeli hospitals, receiving identical treatment.

To be sure, there is more de facto separation between Jewish and Arab populations than Israelis should accept. Much of it is chosen by the communities themselves. Some results from discrimination. But it is not apartheid, which consciously enshrines separation as an ideal. In Israel, equal rights are the law, the aspiration and the ideal; inequities are often successfully challenged in court.

The situation in the West Bank is more complex. But here too there is no intent to maintain “an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group.” This is a critical distinction, even if Israel acts oppressively toward Palestinians there. South Africa’s enforced racial separation was intended to permanently benefit the white minority, to the detriment of other races. By contrast, Israel has agreed in concept to the existence of a Palestinian state in Gaza and almost all of the West Bank, and is calling for the Palestinians to negotiate the parameters.

But until there is a two-state peace, or at least as long as Israel’s citizens remain under threat of attacks from the West Bank and Gaza, Israel will see roadblocks and similar measures as necessary for self-defense, even as Palestinians feel oppressed. As things stand, attacks from one side are met by counterattacks from the other. And the deep disputes, claims and counterclaims are only hardened when the offensive analogy of “apartheid” is invoked.

Read more at New York Times.

Hamas Official: "Gilad Shalit Was Treated Well MOST of the Time"

Gilad's abductors weren't violent for majority of his captivity, Hamas official Salah Alarori says in interview with Israel Radio: "Captive soldier took strength from Israeli value for human life."

Gilad Schalit's captors talked with him and even laughed with him, senior Hamas official in Damascus Salah Alarori said Wednesday morning in an interview with Israel Radio.

"Schalit's captors treated him well for the majority of his captivity and were not violent toward him," asserted Alarori, who was a member of the negotiating team for the Schalit deal on behalf of Hamas.

"But Gilad also endured difficult moments when he missed his family," he added.

The Hamas official told Israel Radio that the IDF soldier was held in Gaza for the duration of his captivity.

He further noted that the soldier took his strength from the value that Israeli society places on human life. Alarori stated that, as an enemy, he would prefer for Israeli society to drop this value.

Alarori said that the moment in which Hamas decided to sign the agreement for Schalit's release was an extremely difficult one because it meant that some important prisoners would remain in jail.

Schalit returned to Israeli last week after more than five years in captivity under Hamas control.

Read more at Jerusalem Post.

Abbas Demands Terrorist Prisoner Release Just For Resuming Negotiations

Abbas tells Time Magazine that Olmert promised Israel would release prisoners to PA if deal went through for release of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

The Palestinian Authority is set to demand that the Quartet pressure Israel to release prisoners in fulfillment of a pledge made by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, senior Palestinian sources told Haaretz on Monday.

Among the prisoners The PA wants released are Marwan Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat. The former is a member of the Fatah leadership, while Saadat is Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Abbas told Time Magazine a few days ago that, in 2008, Olmert promised him that Israel would release prisoners to the PA if a deal went through for the release of Gilad Shalit.

Olmert confirmed to Time that he had made the pledge.

Now the PA wants to present the demand ahead of a possible renewal of negotiations with Israel.

At the Knesset on Monday, MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al ) said that Israel should not be surprised if the two current conditions the Palestinians have set for restarting talks - a halt to construction in the settlements and recognition of the 1967 borders as a basis for negotiations - become three, the third being the prisoner release.

The PA's chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said on Monday that during meetings between Olmert and Abbas in Jerusalem in September 2008, as well as a few months later, Olmert pledged to release Palestinian prisoners if a prisoner swap for Shalit was concluded.

Erekat said a specific number of prisoners was not mentioned, nor were specific criteria, but that Olmert had agreed at the time that the number and criteria would be the same as those for prisoners released in exchange for Shalit, "and even better."

Erekat said this was not to be a condition for restarting negotiations, "just as the freezing of construction in the settlements is not a condition." Rather, it was a matter of fulfilling obligations, he said.

According to Israeli sources, Olmert had pledged to release 550 prisoners to Abbas so that a deal with Hamas would not increase its strength at the expense of the PA. However, the deal for Shalit includes 1,027 prisoners according to understandings with Hamas, and does not include gestures to Abbas by Israel.

The PA demand centers mainly on the release of some 170 longtime prisoners, who have been in Israeli jails since before the Oslo Accords.

Some members of the inner cabinet are said to support the Palestinian demand, but senior cabinet ministers have said over the past few days that the government does not intend to make any gestures to Abbas in light of his bid for statehood in the United Nations.

Read more at Haaretz.

does not include gestures to Abbas by Israel.

What gestures has Abbas ever made to Israel, except for the middle finger?

Palestinians Celebrate the Return of Murderers Exchanged for Gilad Shalit

A freed Palestinian prisoner sits near a swimming pool at Al-Mashtal hotel, where he and other former prisoners are currently staying, in the Gaza Strip October 19, 2011. Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and hundreds of Palestinians crossed Israel's borders in opposite directions on Tuesday as a thousand-for-one prisoner exchange brought joy to families but did little to ease decades of conflict. Reuters.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Tens of thousands of flag-waving Palestinians celebrated the homecoming Tuesday of hundreds of prisoners exchanged for an Israeli soldier, with the crowd and a freed Hamas leader exhorting militants to seize more soldiers for future swaps.

Hamas, which had negotiated the release, turned the celebration into a show of strength for the Islamic militant movement, which had seized Gaza from its moderate rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in 2007.

The joyous crowd crammed into a grassy lot, where a huge stage was set up, decorated with a mural depicting the 2006 capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit at an army base near the Gaza border. The prisoners — more than 300 out of 477 freed Tuesday were sent to Gaza — sat in rows of chairs on the stage.

Many in the crowd described long years of waiting to see their loved ones.

"I will kiss his head when he returns," said Huriya Awadallah, 75, of her 45-year-old brother who had spent 20 years in prison for killing an Israeli. "I am like his mother. I raised him," said the woman who pinned a photograph of her brother, Eid Musleh, to her dress.

Several thousand Palestinian prisoners remain in Israeli jails, convicted of offenses ranging from masterminding deadly attacks to throwing stones [But it seems almost all of the prisoners who are specifically mentioned are convicted murderers, not "stone throwing youths"--VB]. Many Palestinians see them as fighters for independence. The swap has reinforced a widespread conviction that Israel will release prisoners serving life sentences in only exchange for abducted soldiers — a view repeated by many at Tuesday's rally.

"The people want a new Gilad!" the crowd chanted, suggesting the abduction of Israeli soldiers would mean freedom for thousands more Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.

Yehiye Sinwar, a founder of Hamas' military wing, told the crowd that Palestinian militant groups must win freedom for the remaining prisoners by "all necessary means."

Sinwar, among those freed Tuesday, had been sentenced to life for his role in the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers in the 1980s. He stopped short of calling for new abductions in his speech, but did so in interviews earlier in the day.

In the West Bank, Abbas addressed a crowd of several thousand, including released prisoners and their relatives. In an attempt at unity, he shared a stage with three Hamas leaders in the West Bank. At one point, the four men raised clasped hands in triumph.

Abbas is likely to suffer politically as a result of the swap, the most significant exchange for the Palestinians in nearly three decades. In years of negotiations with Israel, most of the prisoners released to Abbas were those with little time left on their sentences.

In contrast, most of the 477 prisoners freed Tuesday had been serving life terms for killing Israelis, and their release violated a long-standing Israeli pledge not to free those with "blood on their hands."

Of that group, 43 convicted of some of the bloodiest attacks against Israelis were sent to Egypt for eventual deportation to Qatar, Turkey and Syria. In the Egyptian capital of Cairo, they were greeted by Hamas' supreme leader, Khaled Mashaal.

Mashaal portrayed the swap as an unequivocal victory for Hamas, saying that "Israel was forced to pay the price." He said hiding Schalit for more than five years in tiny Gaza was a "miracle and honor to the nation."

As part of the swap, Israel has agreed to free another 550 Palestinians in two months.

In his speech, Abbas praised the released prisoners as "freedom fighters" and "holy warriors," unusual language for the Palestinian leader who until a few months ago had hitched his political future to peace negotiations with Israel.

Those efforts have broken down because the gaps between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were too wide. On Tuesday, Abbas told senior PLO officials in Ramallah he is considering holding presidential and legislative elections in January or February and would discuss the possibility when he meets with Mashaal, participants at the gathering said.

No date has been set, but Hamas and PLO officials said the meeting could take place in coming days.

In Cairo, Mashaal said the swap created a good atmosphere for Palestinian reconciliation talks and that he has spoken to Abbas about forging a joined strategy.

In both Gaza and the West Bank, joy marked the day.

In Gaza City, Azhar Abu Jawad, 30, celebrated the return of a brother who was sentenced to life for killing an Israeli in 1992. She said she last saw him eight years ago, before Israel banned visits by Gazans. "My happiness is indescribable," she said. "We'll get him a bride and everything. I just spoke to him. He's so happy. This is a reminder God doesn't forget anyone."

Among those arriving in Gaza were prisoners who grew up in the West Bank but were being expelled to Gaza. Israel's security chiefs have said they wanted to keep prisoners still deemed dangerous away from the West Bank, which has relatively open borders with Israel. Gaza is tightly sealed by an Israeli border fence.

Sobhia Jundiya of the West Bank town of Bethlehem traveled to Egypt with her husband to catch a brief glimpse of their 28-year-old son, Ibrahim, who was being released after 10 years. He had been sentenced to multiple life terms for an attack that killed 12 and wounded 50.

Read more at Associated Press.

Fat Baby Killer: Kidnapping is the Path of Resistance!

Samir Kuntar, exchanged in 2008 for 2 dead soldiers and a drug dealer.

Lebanese terrorist released three years ago in exchange for bodies of Goldwasser, Regev says 'resistance is the only way to free prisoners'

The Shalit deal proves that resistance and resistance alone is the only way to free prisoners, Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar said Wednesday. Kuntar was released in 2008 together with four Hezbollah men in exchange for the bodies of abducted soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

Kuntar called on Palestinian organizations to kidnap more soldiers in order to bring about the release of the remaining prisoners held in Israel.

In an interview with Hezbollah's Al-Nour TV station, Kuntar said: "From the first day Shalit was kidnapped, the enemy wasted its resources on obtaining a piece of information on his whereabouts. It was always confident it would get to him. This was the attitude for five years until the last moment of the prisoner exchange. But it failed miserably in a 360 square meter area which the enemy knows through and through."

Kuntar also stressed the historic importance of the deal and explained that Israel went back on its terms of the Oslo Accords – refusal to free prisoners from Israel and east Jerusalem. During the interview, Palestinian prisoners who were released as part of the deal and knew Kuntar from prison went on the air.

Kuntar was the commander of a four-man cell which took Danny Haran and his four-year-old daughter Einat hostage in Naharia in 1979. The second daughter Yael was strangled to death in her mother's arms as they were hiding in the attic. When he realized he could not escape, Kuntar murdered the father and daughter.

Read more at YNet.