Haneyya warmly welcomed by Erdogan in Istanbul

[P F Tinmore]

ISTANBUL, (PIC)-- The Palestinian Prime Minister of the Gaza government, Ismail Haneyya, arrived in Istanbul Sunday on the third leg of his tour where he received a warm welcome from the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The vicious onslaught that Jerusalem is being exposed to in terms of Judaization and expulsion of its indigenous population and ways to support Jerusalemites and protect holy places were discussed during the meeting of the two leaders.

The rebuilding of the Gaza Strip was also discussed and Haneyya revealed after the meeting that there was a Turkish comprehensive plan for the development of the Gaza Strip.

Taher al-Nunu, spokesman of the government in Gaza, said on Sunday evening that Erdogan stressed that Hamas was a legitimate liberation movement which was elected by the Palestinian people and the well of the Palestinian people must be respected. Erdogan also stressed that ending the siege on Gaza was one of the three conditions that Turkey put to mend relations with Israel.

Hanryya's tour has so far taken him to Egypt and Sudan before he arrived in Istanbul.

While in Turkey, he is expected to inspect the Mavi Marmara and visit families of the Turkish victims who were killed on board the vessel by the Israeli navy while on their way to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.

Haneyya warmly welcomed by Erdogan in Istanbul

 

[JStone]

Burak Bekdil, Hurryet Daily News [Turkey]: Hamas Are Terrorists

Anyone who is mystified by [Turkish] Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s great quotes, like me, should remember well this one from earlier this year: “Calling [Hamas] terrorists would be disrespectful to the will of the Palestinian people.” I asked, at that time, “Which man of peace, unless from Jihad, would ally with an organization whose charter declares members to be Muslims who ‘fear God and raise the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors?"

I know Messrs. Erdoğan and Davutoğlu are not convinced that Hamas is a terrorist organization even though Hamas’ charter vows to annihilate a legitimate state – Israel. I know they did not link Hamas with terrorism when their darling Khaled Mashaal described the 10,000 rockets Hamas sent to Israeli territory as “modest, homemade rockets,” one of which in 2004 killed 4-year-old Afik Zahavi

I know Messrs. Erdoğan and Davutoğlu simply shrugged off the U.N.-sponsored Goldstone report, which stated: “[Hamas’s activities] constitute a deliberate attack against the civilian population. These actions would constitute war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity ... The rocket and mortar attacks launched by armed Palestinian groups have caused terror.”

Forget all of that. Not even the Hamas statement over the killing of Osama bin Laden tainted Mr. Erdoğan’s love for Hamas: “Hamas condemns the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior, Osama bin Laden” (whose skilful operatives had once bombed Istanbul, killing mostly Muslim Turks). Last year, in this column, I wrote: “When combined into one compact idea, the picture is telling us that ... The Turkish government views as a great friend, an entity [Hamas], which views the boss of Istanbul’s bombers as a holy warrior.” Bizarre? Maybe.

How does Mr. Erdoğan really justify that Hamas is not a terrorist entity but a political party like his own when it trades a foreign soldier for terror convicts?

Hürriyet Daily News | Archive news detail

 

[P F Tinmore]

You never did provide any proof that Hamas is a terrorist organization.

 

[JStone]

US State Department: Terrorist Designation of HAMAS Operative Muhammad Hisham Muhammad Isma'il Abu Ghazala

The State Department has designated Muhammad Hisham Muhammad Isma’il Abu Ghazala under E.O. 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. This action will help stem the flow of finances to Abu Ghazala by prohibiting U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with him and freezing any assets he may have under U.S. jurisdiction.

Designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization since 1997, HAMAS has carried out attacks – such as suicide bombings, rocket launches, improvised explosive device attacks, and shootings – against civilian targets inside Israel

Terrorist Designation of HAMAS Operative Muhammad Hisham Muhammad Isma'il Abu Ghazala

European Union: Council Common Position on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism.

Terrorist Groups: Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad

The extraordinary European Council of 21 September 2001 defined terrorism as one of the main challenges facing the world and identified the fight against terrorism as one of the European Union’s (EU) priority objectives. The purpose of this common position is to apply further measures to combat terrorism, in addition to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001). Specifically, it establishes a list of individuals, groups and entities involved in terrorism whose funds and other financial assets are to be frozen as part of the fight against the financing of terrorism.

"Persons, groups and entities involved in terrorist acts" means individuals, groups and entities on whom there is accurate information proving that they have committed, are attempting to commit or are facilitating the commission of terrorist acts.

"Terrorist acts" are defined as intentional acts that may seriously damage a country or an international organisation by intimidating a population, exerting undue compulsion of various types or by destabilising or destroying its fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures. The list of terrorist acts includes:

attacks on a person’s life or physical integrity;
kidnapping or hostage-taking;
causing extensive destruction to a public or private facility, including information systems;
seizure of means of public transport, such as aircrafts and ships;
manufacture, possession, acquisition, transport or use of weapons, explosives, or nuclear, biological or chemical weapons;
release of dangerous substances or causing fires, explosions or floods;
interfering with or disrupting the supply of water, power or any other fundamental natural resource;
directing or participating in the activities of a terrorist group, including by funding its activities or supplying material resources.

Merely threatening to commit any of these criminal acts is also to be treated as a terrorist offence.

The common position also defines "terrorist groups" as structured groups of persons, acting in concert to commit terrorist acts, regardless of their composition or the level of development of their structure.

Freezing funds: list of terrorists and terrorist groups

 

[P F Tinmore]

"Terrorist acts" are defined as intentional acts that may seriously damage a country or an international organisation...

Does an occupation fall into either one of those categories?

 

[JStone]

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Writer Charles Krauthammer...

Israel is the very embodiment of Jewish continuity: It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago. You dig the soil and you find pottery from Davidic times, coins from Bar Kokhba, and 2,000-year-old scrolls written in a script remarkably like the one that today advertises ice cream at the corner candy store.

Winston Churchill, Nobel Prize Laureate For Historical Literature...

It is manifestly right that the Jews should have a national centre and a National Home...And where else could that be but in this land of Palestine, with which for more than 3,000 years they have been intimately and profoundly associated?

Eminent Historian Andrew Roberts...

Jerusalem is the site of the Temple of Solomon and Herod. The stones of a palace erected by King David himself are even now being unearthed just outside the walls of Jerusalem. Everything that makes a nation state legitimate – bloodshed, soil tilled, two millennia of continuous residence, international agreements – argues for Israel’s right to exist

Tel Dan Stele Verifying King David Dynasty 3000 years ago
The Tel Dan Stela and the Kings of Aram and Israel

Jewish Bar Kokhba Coins Minted 2000 Years Ago...
Bar Kochba Revolt coinage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Judaea Capta Coins Minted By Romans against Jews 2000 years ago
Judaea Capta coinage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jewish Dead Sea Scrolls 2000 years old.
Dead Sea Scrolls - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Yale University Press: The Archaeology of Ancient Israel

In this lavishly illustrated book some of Israel's foremost archaeologists present a thorough, up-to-date, and readily accessible survey of early life in the land of the Bible, from the Neolithic era (eighth millennium B.C.E.) to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. It will be a delightful and informative resource for anyone who has ever wanted to know more about the religious, scientific, or historical background of the region.
The Archaeology of Ancient Israel - Ben-Tor, Amnon; Greenberg, R. - Yale University Press

PBS Nova...

In the banks of the Nile in southern Egypt in 1896, British archaeologisit Flinders Petrie unearthed one of the most important discoveries in biblical archaeology known as the Merneptah Stele. Merneptah's stele announces the entrance on the world stage of a People named Israel.

The Merneptah Stele is powerful evidence that a People called the Israelites are living in Canaan over 3000 years ago

Dr. Donald Redford, Egyptologist and archaeologist: The Merneptah Stele is priceless evidence for the presence of an ethnical group called Israel in Canaan.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvg2EZAEw5c]1/13 The Bible's Buried Secrets (NOVA PBS) - YouTube[/ame]