Cloudy with a Chance of Fajr

In stark contrast to Friday’s Tel Aviv Marathon, Monday’s Triple Diamond Surf Competition had a distinct serenity to its competitiveness as the sun shined over the white sands of the world-class surfing venue of Hilton Beach, at a moderate 19 degrees.

The event, otherwise known as ‘The Ultimate Waterman Challenge,’ and, colloquially nicknamed the ‘Iron Man competition,’ brought together Israel’s 16 best surfers in an invitation-only competition comprised of surfing’s three main disciplines: stand up paddle-board, long-board, and short-board. Hosted by the Israeli Surfing Association, the Triple Diamond is in its second year of existence and serves as a unique opportunity to invite the nation’s various surf communities to Tel Aviv.

According to one of the event’s organizers, Arthur Rashkovan, who is often considered the go-to-guy for all things surf and skate in Israel, “Today we had surfers from all over the country, from Ashdod to Haifa. And while we’re more known for short-boarding in Tel Aviv, it was really cool to see everyone competing in all three disciplines out there.”

As hundreds of local surfers, fans and casual observers enjoyed what turned out to be a phenomenal weather day for surfing, the impression was given that surfing has always been a core component of Tel Aviv’s beach scene.

Despite what could be considered a beginner beach in terms of its wave swells, in recent years, the local surf scene has gained some international attention. Israel has become a point of interest for major Western surf-related media outlets, leading Stab Magazine to name Tel Aviv the 6th best city for surfers in the world in 2012, while California-based GrindTV named Israel one of the ‘Five Unlikely Spots You’d Never Think to Surf’ in 2013'.

That much deserved, and some might say needed attention made it possible for events like Monday’s Triple Black Diamond to take place – major sponsors included international surfing heavyweights such as Billabong, Naish & Focus, as well as Corona.

After a tiring day of triathlon-like heats, the 16 surfers were slowly knocked out of the race as only two from each section advanced to the quarters. Familiar names kept cropping up as Omer Bar, Yoni Klein, Dudi Edri, Omri Hazor and Ze’ev David appeared as finalists in each heat. Winning the stand-up paddle-board category was Hazor, who also came second in the long and short board heats. Klein took the ‘Iron Man’ title for short-boarding, as well as for long-boarding. Clearly veteran champions, the men stood laughing as they remained on the podium for every category. Dudi Edri surfed to the top, taking first place with the most points in all three heats.

In a triumphant final moment, Hazor, when he won a box of board wax as his prize, reached into the pot and tossed it out to a group of applauding young surfers. Even with planes flying overhead and old-school hip hop blaring through the speakers, the beach-side event maintained a certain Southern-California-inspired serenity only reserved for the true spirit of surf.

- Ben Decker and Gabriella Weiniger

Track of the Day

Israel's Transportation Ministry said that The bus lines are meant to transport Palestinian workers from the West Bank to central Israel, easing the congestion felt on bus lines used by Jews in the same areas, but several bus drivers explained that Palestinians who choose to travel on the so-called "mixed" lines will be asked to leave them. From an official standpoint, the Palestininan-only buses are considered "general bus lines"; however, the announcement about their existence was only publicized via flyers in Arabic that were distributed in Palestinian villages in the West Bank. 

As expected, human rights groups, as well as anyone else with a working brain, are beginning to raise their arms in shock and disgust (including yours truly), because, as the ministry explain further, "Many complaints expressed concern that the Palestinian passengers may pose a security risk, while other complaints said that the overcrowded buses cause the drivers to skip stations. We have also gotten reports of scuffles between Jews and Arab passengers, as well as between Palestinians and drivers who refused to allow them to board their bus.

Jessica Montell, the director of the B'Tselem rights group, said on Army Radio, "Creating separate bus lines for Israeli Jews and Palestinians is a revolting plan. This is simply racism. Such a plan cannot be justified with claims of security needs or overcrowding."

To make things more vague, the Ministry of Transportation went on to further explain that it is not authorized to prevent any passengers from using public transport services. From a legal perspective, there is technically no way to stop Palestinians from boarding "regular" lines: "We are not allowed to refuse service and we will not order anyone to get off the bus, but from what we were told, starting next week, there will be checks at the checkpoint, and Palestinians will be asked to board their own buses," a driver with Afikim explained. Moreover, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld noted that all Palestinians returning to the West Bank would be searched for stolen property, a routine Israeli precaution; however, he did not know how exactly this practice would affect Palestinian travel on regular buses.

Chaim Levinson explores the situation in a bit more detail in his Haaretz article earlier this week:

Any Palestinian who holds an entrance permit to the State of Israel is allowed by law to use public transportation. Officials at the Samaria and Judea District Police have said there is no change in the operation of the rest of the buses, nor is there any intention to remove Palestinians from other bus lines. But Haaretz has in the past reported incidents when Palestinians were taken off of buses, and witnesses at checkpoints say that such incidents are ongoing.

Ofra Yeshua-Lyth is a member of Machsom Watch, a female advocacy group monitoring West Bank checkpoints. She says that recently, Bus 286 from Tel Aviv to Samaria arrived at a checkpoint filled with Palestinian workers. She filed the following report:

"Police officer Advanced Staff Sergeant Major Shai Zecharia stops the bus at the bus stop. Soldiers order all the Palestinians off the bus. The first thing they do is collect all their identity cards as they get off. One by one, the Palestinians are told to go away from the bus stop and walk to the Azzun Atma checkpoint, which is about 2.5 kilometers away from the Shaar Shomron interchange. All of them responded with restraint and sadness, at most asking why. Here and there they received answers such as, ‘You’re not allowed on Highway 5’ and ‘You’re not allowed on public transportation.’ Advanced Staff Sergeant Major Zecharia gave some vital information to one of the older Palestinians who had arrived there, telling him: You should ride in special vans, not on Israeli buses.”

In keeping my own security analysis and witty sarcasm at bay for objectivity's sake, I will just take a moment to point out, as a follower of the Jolsonian school of Jewish tolerance (remember that one folks?), I'm completely appalled by Israel's lack of foresight on this situation. Segregated buses…I mean c'mon folks, as if the apartheid accusations were not coming on strong enough prior to 2013, I have to ask, how is this  bus system going to help dispel the impression of Israel as an apartheid state?

In addition to the track of the day, I'll leave you with a quote from an Afikim bus driver, "Obviously, everyone will start screaming 'apartheid' and 'racism' now. This really doesn’t feel right, and maybe (the ministry) should find a different solution, but the situation right now is impossible."

Track of the Day

As I have been made aware last week by my uncle, a criminal attorney in New York, these kinds of things happen in jails all over the world all the time, the issue however, is that this happened to a Palestinian in an Israeli jail, so it kind of blows the top off the lid in terms of any potential to discuss this incident in an internationally comparative sense.

That having been said, you can imagine that Jaradat's family, the city of Hebron, and the Palestinian people at large, were not happy to hear about how Arafat was literally tortured to death, and on Monday, thousands of Palestinians gathered in Hebron to offer a smorgasboard of heroic funerary offerings, including a 21-gun salute as tens of men carried his body through the streets.

In addition to the massive funeral procession, on Monday morning, a Grad rocket was fired from Gaza into the outer industrial zone of Ashkelon, and I'm happy to type that no injuries were reported. What's interesting about this rocket in particular, is that it was claimed very quickly by the Al-Aqsa Brigade, the military arm of Fatah, as a direct response to the killing of Arafat Jaradat:

In response to the murder of the Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli prison on Saturday, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade said: "Our belief in the justice of our natural right to resist the Zionist Occupation and as a preliminary response to the assassination of the heroic prisoner Arafat Jaradat, we announce our responsibility for the Grad rocket firing on the city of Ashkelon at six o'clock on the morning on Tuesday.

Interestingly enough, Hamas spokesman Ehab al-Ghussein has denied any involvement in the rocket attack, going as far as to say that a rocket was not fired from Gaza; however, Palestinian newspaper al-Watan confirmed in a report that the rocket was fired from Rafah, near the border in the Gaza Strip. I'm of the belief that Hamas had little to nothing to do with this one - the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade press release made it pretty clear that the rocket was theirs, and that it had a direct correlation to Jaradat's death. HOWEVER, since reconciling in 2011, I am of the belief that there is some degree of collusion between Hamas and Fatah, so it wouldn't be unearthly or totally ridiculous to suggest that Hamas thought it would be a good idea to send a rocket over, but did not want to be the guilty party to ignite the fuse (If I were in Hamas' shoes thats probably what I would have done).

But getting back to the issue at hand...so what does it mean moving forward? For starters, I think we're going to see more of this tit-for-tat type exchange in military activity, where specific actions on either side are directly in causation with specific actions from the other side.  What could be different in 2013 (that is, in contrast to November 2012), is that we could be seeing a more unified and coordinated group of activities via Gaza and the West Bank. What I mean by that, is that I would not be surprised if Hamas and Fatah are working together to organize protests in the West Bank, which in turn leads to Palestinians being detained (and possibly beaten to death), which then gives the rocket launchers in Gaza something to act on. At which point Bibi and his new coalition (is it really that new though?) will likely take a page out of their Pillars of Defense playbook and bomb the hell out of any/all rocket silos/launchers it can find in Gaza (as crackowns in the West Bank continue), then they will go with more of a Jerome Bettis-style ground and pound approach by sending in forces to neutralize the source of the rocket fire (whatever that may be).

So what does that mean for everyone out here in the TLV? To be honest - I think whatever is unfolding right now is going to be bigger than November, but not quite sure we can really peg this one as another Intifada. I think that, like November, this skirmish will take on a much more militarily characterized conflict, so yes, it's time yet again, to be superthankful for that good ole' Iron Dome of ours.

Track of the Day

Seriously though, for a regime that boasts about a sizable arsenal of "ICBMs", wouldn't this actually make them look as, if not more primitive than the simian that they sent into orbit? To make matters more interesting, despite news reports that the monkey survived its intergalactic hijra, the images that were posted online say otherwise.

If you take a quick look, despite the significant difference in color filters (maybe we should hook them up with Instagram, despite the sanctions and all), it's not difficult to discern that the two images are not of the same monkey, implying that maybe the original adventurer had an inglorious demise? Not too worry though, according to Mohammad Ebrahimi, one set of pictures showed an archive photo of one of the alternate monkeys that ended up not making the trip.

With all the space monkey business out of the way, I'd like to visit a slightly more serious bit of business...The IRGC unveiled Iran's new F-313 fighter jet on Saturday (yes, this is the same country that struggles NOT to crash half of its commercial flights every year).

Named Qader, or conqueror, the new fighter jet, was designed for the "preservation of peace", which must mean that they are armed with daffodils and pixie dust instead of more conventional weaponry. Seriously though, at first glance it looks like a bad ass flying machine, but after browsing through several military tech blogs, it seems like quite the opposite. Some critics cited that the Qader could only be a mock-up model and lacked critical parts to make it function properly, and some went as far as to call it a remote-controlled airplane.

That having been said, the Iranians have a history of photoshopping missile tests and lying out of their asses, so I wouldn't worry about any of these bad boys flying over the White City any time soon....

(Later this week, we'll take a look at two new Iranian tanks...they are made out of plastic and include state-of-the-art Flinstone motor systems)

Track of the Day

Shortly after midnight on Wednesday January 30th, explosions were heard  and seen in the Damascene suburbs of Fardos (ضاحية الفردوس) and Hameh (الهامة) as the Israeli Air Force bombed the Jamraya Scientific Research Facility. According to SANA, the Assad-regime's main media outlet, the facility was responsible for raising the levels of resistance and self-defense....according to several other sources (including the map below), the site has been listed as a research facility, a special forces training center, and quite simply a walled compound. Anyways, to make things more interesting, the Syrian news outlet takes things a step further, linking the IAF bombing to Turkey and Qatar's efforts to support the anti-Assad rebels in Syria, which is quite a leap of faith...I mean c'mon...is this the same Turkey that Israel has come to love so dearly since the flotilla incident? Sorry to call you out on your bullshit H. Sabbagh (the author of the SANA article) and the rest of the Assad regime, because I know that there's no way that you're actually going to read my blog post, but thats...welll....er.....ok, we'll revisit that accusation a bit later if I'm feeling adventurous. 

Thank you Google gods for the awesome map! As we roll out Cloudy 2.0 (despite a lack of Fajrs in Lebanon, we really do dig our name so we're gonna stick with it), one of our chief missions is to better utilize technology in our efforts to explain what is going on, so here's a Google Map of the IAF strike outside Damascus.

View Claimed Israeli strike on Damascus facility in a larger map

The "scientific research facility" is marked with a red exclamation mark,  Fardos is marked by the yellow balloon; Hameh is marked by the red balloon (although I think its actually more salmon-colored, no?); Qudsaya is marked by the aquamarine balloon, Dummar is marked by the green balloon, and the presidential palace, barely five miles from the facility, is marked in purple. 

At this point, the bulk of news stories have been focused on the bombing of the research facility, but at the same time, there have been claims that the IAF bombings occurred as a means of preventing a convoy of weapons, including SA-17 anti-aircraft missile batteries (thanks Russia :)), from being delivered to Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.

The White House was apparently fully supportive of the attack...We've been very clear that Syria should not further destabilize the region by transferring, for instance, weaponry to Hezbollah, said Ben Rhodes, a deputy US national security advisor. We also, of course, have been very clear beyond that that we're closely monitoring Syria's chemical weapons as well.....

In response, our good buddy Mr. Sabbagh from SANA, went on to write that any reports about attacks on a convoy are completely "baseless", and according to my trusted sources, the existence of a convoy is still relatively unfounded and lacking proper evidence, so for now lets just say that Israel wanted to prevent the Assad regime from having access to some of its errr, umm, how do you say in English? more advanced weapons systems.

One one end, I could see this being a very good idea given Israel's close proximity with the Syrian border; HOWEVER, as an amateur historian, and as a Masters candidate in Middle Eastern Studies, I've gotta take a step back and point out that getting involved in the Syrian civil war is a REALLY REALLY REALLY BAD IDEA.  The last time Israel decided to involve itself in the politics of "Greater Syria" (Syria/Lebanon), i.e. Operation Litani in 1978, it led to the death of over 300 international (mostly American & French) military troops stationed in the region and more importantly, the rise of Hezbollah. Thirtyish years later, with Hezbollah acting as the second most powerful military force in the region (only behind the IDF), I'd hate to think about what the repercussions of Israeli involvement could be in Chapter 2 of the historical time continuum (i.e. the US Embassy having to deal with a suicide bomber for starters....). 

For a few final words on the subject, I offer you some wise words by a role model of mine in the blogosphere, Scott Lucas of Enduring America

For those of you who are actually too lazy to take 5 minutes to watch this video, the main take away points are as follows:

1. "The less important is that the Israelis are not going to alter the course of the Syrian conflict --- that is between the Assad regime and the insurgents, and the President is still on his way out."

2. "The significance of the Israeli attack is its impact on the regional situation beyond Syria, and specifically on Lebanon."

BONUS SECTION

I've just had another cup of coffee and thought this over for a second, and I'd like to further explore SANA's theory about the IAF coordinating efforts with Turkey and Qatar. While I should probably point out that its likely one of those statements that was just thrown out into the digital world without any thought, what if Israel and Turkey were actually coordinating some efforts in Syria via the CIA? Wouldn't that be kinda cool? I mean seriously, this is the same Islamic government run by Erdogan that regularly bashes Israel in the press, the same dudes that sent the Mavi Marmara to its demise off the coast of Gaza, and now you're telling me that they may be working together because of a shared security interest?

This could, if correct, be fantastic news for the region and unfortunate news for all of those Islamophobic right-wingers who love to scream and shout about how everybody in the Muslims world hates Israel. IF, and that is a massive two letter word right there, there was to be some sort of collaborative efforts, even if it is just intelligence sharing vis-a-vis the United States, then that means there is a basis for talks of some sort, which, under the best circumstances, would not be about killing each other! It would be amazing, if, by some miracle, in a post-Assad state, that Turkey and Israel could work together, based on shared security interests, to build a new Syria! (wouldn't that also make a peace agreement between Syria and Israel a tad easier?)

Feel free to bash anything posted above in the comments section, and stay tuned for so much more....

Track of the Day

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, so much is happening in the region right now: Cairo is protesting, Lebanon and Jordan are overflowing with Syrian refugees, Syria's still in a civil war, Iran is testing military planes that probably don't work, and to make matters worse, I think they may have killed a monkey in space! For those reasons, and many more, I feel like I'm going to OD on MENA news right now, so here's the first single from Little Daylight, called, quite appropriately, "Overdose". 

- In the wake of the bus attack, the Shin Bet and Israeli police claim to have arrested members of a Beit Lakia-based 'cell'. (JPost)

- In an effort to quell several rumors (or starting more of our own for that matter), its important to note that the primary suspect is male, which contradicts initial reports that claimed the bomber was female.

- Both the suspect's lawyer, Ihab Galgoly, and the Tel Aviv police have publicly stated that an indictment will be presented on Wednesday. Moreover, it's important to note that Galgoly has not yet been given the opportunity to review the evidence against his client. (JPost)

- According to Shin Bet reports, the accused is suspected of being the one who placed the bomb on the bus, before notifying the head of the cell, who then detonated it by phone. (JPost)

- The suspect, whose name is still being kept out of the news, originally hailed from a village near Ramallah called Beit Lakia; however, according to the Shin Bet, he was able to move within the Green Line to Taibeh after marrying an Arab woman with Israeli citizenship. Because of a law that enables PA residents to attain citizenship to strengthen family unification, he gained Israeli citizenship by marrying said woman (her name has also been kept out of the media). (Israel National News)

- The suspect appeared to be quite young, and smiled to his family before the closed-door hearing began. (JPost)

- The Shin Bet claims that the cell's members identified with Hamas and Islamic Jihad and decided to carry out the bombing as a response to the IDF's Operation Pillar of Defense. (JPost). 

What We Don't Know:

- Who is the man behind the blurred Photoshop edits and who did he work for?

- Initial reports about the bus attack made claims that there were two perpetrators - where is the second suspect? Furthermore - is the man pictured above actually one of the two aforementioned persons or is this a clear case of pomp and stance?

- How legitimate is the Shin Bet claim that the Beit Lakia cell identified' with Hamas and Islamic Jihad? What does it actually mean to identify with an organization? Does it mean that the Beit Lakia 'cell', which has not been identified as anything more than a cell, is linked to a terrorist organization? a political organization? a civil society organization? Oh right, we have no freakin' clue.......

- Why hasn't the suspect's lawyer been allowed to review the evidence against his client? I'm no legal expert, in fact I'm quite far from one; however, this point seems to be a bit troubling for those of us who advocate for free and just judicial systems.

- On a more systematic level, and this is more of a question for any of our readers who may know the answer (because I sure as shit do not) - where is the distinction to be made between the activities of the Shin Bet and the Israeli police in this investigation? I have been operating under the general assumption that the Shin Bet supersedes the authority of the Israeli police, particularly when it comes to national security, yet I continue to read articles that handcuff together the two institutions in their investigation about the November 21 bus bombing.

Track of the Day

As the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported, the officer who shot the boy said that she fired only after the boy attacked another officer and pulled out a toy gun that looked real. A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, Captain Barak Raz, posted an image on Twitter of what he said was the toy gun in the boy’s possession on Twitter.

The dead boy’s uncle told Agence France-Presse, “The plastic gun story isn’t true and it is all fabrication,” adding that Muhammad was stopped by the officers on his way to a bakery to pick up a cake for his 17th birthday party. A photograph said to show Muhammad hours before he was shot and killed, grinning during a birthday celebration at school, circulated online after his death.

According to a report on the Israeli news blog +972, the dead boy’s family said that “none of those who knew Muhammad had ever seen” the toy gun in his possession. The blogger added that while the two versions of events do not match, “Luckily, the checkpoints in Hebron are monitored by Israeli security cameras, and I am sure that if her story is true, the I.D.F. will release the video, showing a 17-year-old teen taking out a toy gun and holding it to the head of a soldier.”

The young female officer who fired the fatal shots, described in Israeli media reports as a 19-year-old, told The Jerusalem Post, “I know I did the right thing. This is what they taught us, to fire at the terrorist in order to neutralize them, fake gun or not.”

The Israeli security forces in Hebron are there in large numbers to protect several hundred Jewish settlers who moved to the city of nearly 200,000 Palestinians after it was occupied by Israel’s military in 1967. The shooting took place near the boy’s home and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a site revered by Jews and Muslims as the traditional burial place of the founding fathers of both religions.

(As a personal side note, having spent some time in Hebron in 2007, the Jewish community there disgusted me in their openness to condone racism and violence against Arabs - it is the only place in Israel where I've seen Jews throwing stones at Palestinian women and children)

The Foreign Press Association in Israel said in a statement describing the incident that it “condemns in the strongest terms the assault by Israeli soldiers of two of our members in Hebron.” The statement continued:

Yousri Al Jamal and Ma’amoun Wazwaz, both highly experienced cameramen who work for Reuters, were stopped while driving to the scene of a shooting incident in the heart of the city. Their car was clearly marked ‘TV’ and they were both wearing blue flak jackets with ‘Press’ emblazoned on the front. The soldiers forced them to leave the vehicle at gunpoint, punching them and hitting them with the butts of their guns. The two men were not allowed to show their ID and were made to strip and kneel in the street with their hands behind their head. One of the soldiers then dropped a tear-gas canister in front of the men and the IDF patrol ran away. More tear gas was fired as Jamal and Wazwaz tried to escape the scene. Wazwaz was overwhelmed by the fumes and needed hospital treatment.

The group also welcomed Israel’s promise to investigate the incident, but added that it is still waiting to hear the results of the Israeli military’s investigation into an attack on a journalist in another part of the West Bank four months ago.

There is no greater first step then women and men from here to simply go visit. Every emerging market rising in tech start-ups have central "ecosystem builders" who love to have people not just in some dog and pony show, but to have serious conversations about finding mutually beneficial ways to connect. 500 Start-ups' Dave McClure and others have recently been to the Middle East and have a very different view of the ground for doing so.

Similarly, pushing for and making easy start-ups from emerging markets coming here -- plotting in advance to bring delegations of even hundreds of young starts ups to the great gatherings in the Valley, NYC and others -- is profound. It takes time and work (for the young people to get visas, find money to cover trips etc.; to coordinate connections/meetings in person). This is already happening adhoc, young entrepreneurs I meet have been coming here regularly, but I mean LARGE groups in multiple shots.

Because what is essential to appreciate is that the caliber of technology, tech saavy, daily use of tech, tech knowledge and entrepreneurial hunger is often as good (and often better) than what we are used to, but inconsistently distributed. In some countries that can mean too regular power/internet outages; in many it means very bright students trained more in hardware/big company "tech" rather than start-ups and light, agile development; in others it means inexperience in scaling businesses; and still others there are deserts of capital between early-early (which are increasingly findable) and late-late (which has been there for years) -- so once one needs $2-$5 mm, choices are very few in many of these markets especially in the Middle East. But, we will always be surprised based on our bias how much is fully understood and in motion. I had a conversation with a kid on term sheet best practices where he knew a ton of stuff I didn't -- all found off of Google. So the desire, sophisitication, selt-taught aspect of these markets are profound. Understanding this is a key step to understanding great potential connections to mutual benefit.

We in the west have to check our bias by engaging and thinking differently. As an example, we tend to think of "innovation" as the next shiny new thing -- but going to these other countries one must really think about how people use familiar tools to solve problems and opportunities for the first time and in new ways in their markets. From these 'innovations" some will only scale locally or regionally -- though something like, say, M-Pesa the Kenyan text payment systems should scale not only through Africa but anywhere in the world there is limited access to banking and great mobile penetration. At the same time, we in the west too often engage in these regions thinking "larger market cap -- gotta be there" and/or "cheap labor -- gotta outsource there." We think less about a) what we can learn/co-author together; b) that their "innovation" could push them and us to "leapfrog" into new areas because of their unique experiences, locations and cultures and c) the ease of selling/transporting goods to most corners of the world have never been easier.

I have been floored by the rise of eCommerce in the Middle East. For years people said country by country regs make the movement of goods very hard and costly; that a very low tradition of paying with credit cards compounds this. Well, shipping/logistics companies like Aramex (Fed Ex of MENA) are taking on the former, and dozens of start-ups there like CashU and the recently opened Pay Pal are handling the latter! Think of both the shared innovation and mutual market opening that could be found in the growing eCommerce ecosystems?

This is a long way of saying our engagement is a very powerful thing -- not only as nascent ecosystems benefit from experience/mentorship/investment, but because they have fresh ideas to teach US! And we are in the early days where the movement of virtual and physical goods; social connections and crowd solutions will be all but seemless in near any corner of the globe.

If you or anyone you know and admire become more seriously interested, I am pleased to be a resource. Especialy in MENA (including Turkey) folks are looking for serious connections of mutual interest -- based on mutual respect and co-authorship.

With a renewed interest in the Palestinian cause, the Iranian regime wanted to break up the PLO piece by piece and create a new coalition of Palestinian groups, assigning Mughniyeh, Hezbollah's liasion to the upper echelons of Khameini's government.  His success as the commander of the IJO (shadow front organization for Hezbollah) in the 1980’s in Beirut as well as his public role within Hezbollah’s Special Security Apparatus (extra-territorial terror operations) created a following of Palestinian supporters within Lebanon. 

In 1990, Ayatollah Khameini formed the Palestine Committee, a group of radical Palestinian groups to be trained together as one unit.  The Palestine Committee comprised of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Palestine Struggle Front, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Abu Nidal Organization.  While not part of the Palestine Committee, Khameini knew that the only way Iran could gain supporters in Gaza was to forge a relationship with Hamas, yet the opportunity did not occur for almost two years. 

Towards the end of the First Intifada in 1992, Israel expelled 415 members of Hamas’ leadership who were escorted north to the Lebanese border.  With full knowledge of their expulsion, Hezbollah and IRGC commanders waited across the border with shelter, clothing, and food for the group whom they hoped to forge a close relationship.  By 1993, IRGC and Hezbollah operatives provided Hamas with monthly stipends, housing in its South Beirut suburbs as well as training in the Bekaa Valley. [1]

A few months later, Israel expelled approximately 400 Hamas and PIJ members from the West Bank and Gaza.  They too were given refuge by Hezbollah at a camp located in Marj al-Zuhur, where they were supervised by Commander Askari of the IRGC’s Quds Force in bomb construction.  The number one trainee to hail from the Marj al-Zuhur camp was Hamas bomb-maker Yihya Arash, who killed over 100 Israeli civilians in a string of bombings in the mid 1990’s in Israel. [2]

During peace talks between Syria and Israel in the mid-1990’s, Iran’s leadership circle grew increasingly concerned over a potential peace agreement with the Assad regime.  Iran, who needed Syria as its bridge into the Middle East, instructed Mughniyeh along with other Hezbollah commanders responsible for the training of Palestinian terror groups to increase attacks.  According to retired CIA agent Robert Baer, Mughniyeh began training both PIJ and Hamas as his Iranian bosses transitioned him out of the operational playing field. [3]

In April of 1996, Hussein Mikdad, a Lebanese Shiite from Beirut who entered Israel under a forged British passport as Andrew Newman, accidentally detonated a bomb that he had assembled in his East Jerusalem hotel room.  After his life was saved by Israeli doctors at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, Shin Bet officers placed two Lebanese Jews at his bedside to speak to him in the Beiruti dialect of Arabic.  Thinking he was back in Beirut, Mikdad began asking for his Hezbollah handlers until the Shin Bet officers entered the room and began interrogations.  Mikdad soon revealed that he had been trained by IRGC and Hezbollah operatives in surveillance and bomb making in the Bekaa Valley and received his forged British passport from the Iranian Embassy in Beirut.  After months of training, he had been instructed by Mughniyeh to enter Israel and smuggle a bomb onto an El-Al flight, with the plan of detonating it minutes after take-off.  After the failure of Mikdad’s attack, Mughniyeh asked his handlers in Iran for permission to launch a major attack prior to Israel’s elections in May 1996, but the Iranian leadership declined. [4]

The most well known connection between Iran and Hamas pertains to Hassan Salamah, a Hamas commander who masterminded a string of suicide bus bombings in the spring of 1996.  In statements to Israeli officials and in an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Salamah explained that after undergoing ideological indoctrination training in Sudan, he was flown to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard base near Tehran where he trained intensively for three months before returning to Gaza and carrying out attacks against Israel.   From a tactical point of view, Iran helped set up training camps in Gaza hoping to recreate the Jihad al-Bina system that they established in Lebanon.  The Jihad al-Bina system provided Iran with an opportunity to infiltrate the civil affairs infrastructure and create another province where every major Iranian ministry could maintain a branch office. [5]

So with some info on the beginnings of the Iran-Hamas-PIJ relationship, I hope that the following image makes a bit more sense.....keep scrolling for the track of the day + endnotes.....

Track of the Day

Endnotes

[1] Baer, Robert. The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower [DEVIL WE KNOW]. New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2008 (p 171-173).

[2] Bergman, Ronen(Author). The Secret War with Iran: The 30-Year Clandestine Struggle Against the World's Most Dangerous Terrorist Power [SECRET WAR W/IRAN]. New York City: Free Press, 2008 (p 248-249).

[3] Baer, Robert. The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower [DEVIL WE KNOW]. New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2008 (p 84-85).

[4] Goldberg, "In the Party of God,"; Bergman, The Secret War with Iran, 248-249.

Since receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback on TouchIS, Iris recently launched a new product, a room of senses so-to-speak, which is being implemented as a new form of therapy for special-needs and disabled children in and around the West Bank.

     The “room” is a space with different interactive technological activities designed to stimulate the senses, as part of a broader treatment for autism, speech difficulties, and mental and motor disabilities, as well as nervousness and tension. The technology includes an lit, interactive floor system, that encourages users to dance, along with an interactive sound system, a fiber optics light system, bubble pipes, a balloon pool, and an image projector, all of which ask users to trace and move images. 

Thus far, it's been a success in medical centers in Jenin and Nablus, in part thanks to support from NGOs and civil society, including MAP (Medical Aid for Palestinians). As they train under the supervision of specialized doctors, patients have shown development. “We've seen improvement in speech ability, motor skills, color identification and concentration," says Iris co-founder Mohammad An-Naneesh. Now, these “rooms” are being set up in rehabilitation centers across Palestine.

The initial idea for the "room of senses" struck engineering students Ayman Al-Arandi and Ahmad El-Rabi when they designed their senior year engineering project at the An-Najah National University. Their initial invention, the Touch Interactive Surface (TouchIS), was the first element of the room. Once they decided to build it, they brought Mohammad An-Naneesh on board as a co-founder.

Today, Iris extends far beyond the "touch room"; it now builds customized touch interfaces at competitive rates, starting at US $10,000, depending on the content and specifications.

With an increasing demand for new touch screen solutions, from advertisements and presentations to education and entertainment, it's a sector on the rise; the company is already serving clients in Palestine, Britain and Egypt.

Over the past three years, Iris has provided this technology for several projects in the region, including outfitting an information center in Bethlehem with state-of-the-art interactive presentation touch screens. Another is on the way in Jenin. The hope is that their screens will help boost tourism by providing visitors with access to the largest audiovisual database in the Jenin area.

Across Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey and France, Iris has demonstrated its technology at different events and conferences, continuing to boost the profile of technology in Palestine, forging a path as a local pioneer as it keeps up with the latest international techniques, building on a talented team, and adopting a vision based on modern solutions at competitive rates.

I'm still catching up on all of the speeches/details/etc about the gathering in Gaza City today (and don't worry, I know we promised you a full breakdown of the fiesta at the UN last week, it's coming, it's coming....), so without further a do, here's a news breakdown!

- Feted in Gaza, Hamas Leader Hits out at Israel (Reuters)

- Hamas Leader Calls for Palestinian Unity at Rally (AFP)

- Hamas Leaders Praise Resistance, Unity at Gaza Rally (Ma'an)

- Hamas Marks 25th Anniversary with Mass Rally in Gaza (Voice of America)

- Hamas' Meshaal Vows to 'Continue Resistance' (Al-Jazeera)

- Hundreds of Thousands Mark Hamas' 25th Anniversary in Gaza Rally (Haaretz)

- Khaled Meshaal Rallies Gazans on Hamas Anniversary (BBC) 

- Khaled Meshaal to Lead Hamas Celebration Rally in Gaza (The Guardian)

Track of the Day

Today's musical accompaniment is a Hamas-produced song that came out in 2007 - I first heard it while living in Jerusalem as a college student (shout out to Benjy Braun on the find), and what's interesting about this one is that the lyrics are actually in Hebrew!

For those in the music entertainment community, it's not difficult to understand why Stevie and his management team at CAA would chose not to comment on the decision, and it's almost painful to read some of diatribes coming out of the Diaspora. According to JTA (which boasts that it is 'the global news service for Jews'): 

Wonder's representatives will claim that he did not know the nature of the group, the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, and that he believes such a performance would be incongruent with his status as a U.N. "Messenger of Peace," according to a source who has read email exchanges between Wonder's representatives and organizers of the event.

I really hope that this is not a view shared by more Diaspora Jews, because it's idiotic and neglectful of the exact things that are happening in Israel. The article goes on to mention a petition on change.org, which recalls Stevie Wonder's involvement in the South African anti-apartheid movement (we are NOT trying to make this connection), and a second petition was launched by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation asking Mr. Wonder to continue your legacy of speaking out for the oppressed. Please be a 'full-time lover' of justice by standing on the right side of history and canceling your performance for the Israeli army.

I will point out right here that Stevie Wonder has performed under the auspices of the State of Israel once prior, performing at a 1998 gala which honored Israel's 50th anniversary as a country, but I'm pretty sure that this image would instantly nullify any desire to continue to develop said relationship.....

     As a lifelong listener and fan of Stevie Wonder, I have absolutely zero beef with his decision to pull out of the December 6th event, and I don't think it has anything to do with Palestinians....so instead of getting more worked up about this, because I can't stand to read off any more Jewish complaints about Stevie Wonder (he is undoubtedly one of my top 10 favorite musicians of all time), here are two Stevie jams from my secret stash of remixes that I often mix into DJ sets......

When Arafat died at a military hospital in Paris in 2004, a lot of questions were left unanswered. His medical records released in 2005 by the New York Times concluded that he died of a stroke, dispelling rumors of AIDS and cancer, but doctors couldn't pin down the underlying infection.

What began as a 2 week "flu", quickly intensified by the poor handling of a pre-existing blood disorder (according to the New York Times, his doctors in Ramallah "did not seem to realize that he suffered from...D.I.C., which was never controlled and led to his death") resulting in a flight off the compound to the Percy Army Teaching Hospital just outside of Paris. At Percy Hospital, he was treated for low platelet count, but on November 3 he slipped into a coma, was transferred to intensive care, and died soon after. 

During the year that passed between Arafat's death, and the accompanying release of his medical records, speculation built over the cause of his death. Many Palestinians, including Arafat's personal doctor, Ashraf Al-Kurdi, claimed that he had been poisoned. Toxicology reports done at Percy hospital yielded no positive results, concluding that he did not die by poisoning (or at least not the poisons they tested for). An autopsy may have been helpful/logical, but Arafat's wife Suha, for some apparent reason, refused. 

This past July, with an 8-years-delayed change of heart, and with the help of Al Jazeera, Suha had her late husband's effects (clothing, toothbrush, even the kaffiyeh) tested in Swiss laboratories, which revealed unusually high levels of Polonium-210. The Institut de Radiophysique in Switzerland stated that items provided were "variously stained with Arafat's blood, sweat, saliva, and urine," giving them testable samples, and reason to believe there was a high level of Polonium inside his body when he died. 

In a video interview with Al Jazeera on July 4, Suha Arafat called for an international investigation on the matter, requesting that her husband's remains be exhumed for further testing, calling his death an "assassination", and requesting the issue of a special fatwa to have his body dug up. She also claimed she was never aware of an autopsy option, and that no doctors ever suggested she have an autopsy performed.

Despite the interviewer's clear skepticism on the outcome of Suha's request, here were are. Yesterday, Tuesday November 27, Arafat's remains were indeed exhumed and samples were taken to be analyzed independently by French, Swiss, and Russian scientists. Results will take at least three months to come back, and even then, will anyone be satisfied? Doubtful. A Polonium trace won't provide a name or a country, and a negative test wouldn't do anything to dispel rumors already eight years in the making. So is it even worth it? Suha and Al-Jazeera think yes. 

The area around Arafat's tomb was roped off for two weeks as they carefully removed layers of stone. The entire process was shielded off by blue tarps, and a Palestinian doctor was the one given the honor of taking the samples, handing them off to the French, Swiss, and Russian forensic teams waiting in tow. 

When asked about the state of the body, the minister of health curtly replied, "exactly in the state you would expect to find in a body that has been buried for eight years" - yuck.

Good thing they had those tarps up...right?