I was at the bank this AM when the report came on the radio about the Islamikaze from Bethlehem bombing a bus in Kiryat Menachem, which is a blue-collar neighborhood in the southern part of town. A lot of schoolkids were on the bus. Current word is 11 dead. (report).

Palestinian myth-making Before a crowd of 10s of thousands of worshippers, Jerusalem mufti Ikrima Sabri told a made-up story about the IDF forcing Muslims at a checkpoint to violate their Ramadan fast. (report).

Meanwhile, Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu-Ragheb is appearing to take seriously a story that is often repeated in the Arab world - that Israel is planning a massive expulsion of Palestinians into Jordan (report).

My opinion is that these stories are actually a kind of reflection of what the Arabs would be doing to us if the tables were turned.

The Olof Palme Memorial Fund for International Understanding and Common Security (of Sweden) has awarded its annual prize to Hanan Ashrawi (report). Apparently Ashrawi's habit of telling baldfaced lies to the international media doesn't disturb the foundation, who are presumably see her as a Palestinian moderate despite her rejection of Israel's existence as a Jewish state.

In 1995, the Palme award was givento the Israeli group Peace Now together with Fatah Youth. Fatah now launches a lot of bombing and shooting attacks at Israeli civilians. I wonder what Fatah Youth is up to these days....

According to this article, some elements of Arab leadership (notably Sari Nusseibeh and Hosni Mubarak) are trying to encourage expressions of moderation by Palestinians in the belief that this can help Mitzna and the Israeli left in the upcoming election (this would be true if Palestinian moderates had any credibility remaining with the Israeli public).

But, relying on a twisted logic that the sympathetic article doesn't really succeed in understanding, most Palestinians actually prefer a right-wing Israeli gov't. For them, when an Israeli government declares its goal to be suppressing attacks on its civilians, each terror attack is a victory and source of national pride.

Ynet says that a passenger on an El Al flight from Istanbul to Tel Aviv tried to stab a flight attendant, but was overpowered by security personnel. An El Al spokesman says it was likely a hijack attempt (Hebrew report).

I'm still too busy/preoccupied to blog much.