“How long will Arab blood continue to be spilled, only to hear those who admit to miscalculating the scope and scale of Israel’s response?” Mubarak asked in a speech marking Egypt’s national day to honor its police force.

Mubarak’s comment came in reference to remarks reportedly made by Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal, who admitted at the end of the three-week Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip that he did not anticipate the scope of Israel’s operation. Similar sentiments were expressed by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah at the end of the Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006.

Mubarak went on to say that resistance movements must take responsibility over the welfare of their people. “The resistance must take into account victories and losses. It is responsible for the people, who in turn should settle the score [with the resistance] over the gains it has achieved, but also the sacrifices, the pain and the destruction it has caused,” he said.

The split in the Middle East is heating up, with the rival Palestinian factions serving as proxies, as usual:

The Egyptian president also hinted that Hamas and other militant Palestinian factions are serving the Iranian agenda in the region, especially since the fighting in Gaza ended. “They are trying to take advantage of Israeli aggression to force a new reality on the current Palestinian and Arab situation. A new reality that will alter the equation and reorganize the balance in favor of known regional powers and will serve their agenda,” Mubarak said. His comment came in response to Meshal’s recent calls for the establishment of an alternative Palestinian body, to rival Fatah in representing the Palestinian people.

It’s not much of a secret that there’s no love lost between Hamas and Egypt, which supports Fatah in the factional struggle. Mubarak is appealing to the EU and the international community to try and maintain the regional balance of power. But analysts speculate this could be costly for him at home, where the extremist Muslim Brotherhood (from which Hamas is an offshoot) could make political gains in Egypt at Mubarak’s expense. The peace between Israel and Egypt has always been chilly and fragile, and it’s looking shakier than ever.

As for Israel? As long as Palestinian factions gain popular support by being perceived as the toughest against Israel, Israeli citizens will continue to pay the price for this power struggle.

What happens when a terrorist organization decides to enter the political arena? Does it automatically become legitimate?

[ . . . ]

The truth is that terrorists by definition have entered the political arena from the start because terrorism is violence with a political agenda. Without the political context, bombing, kidnapping, and shooting are simply crimes. Terrorism, like war, is politics by other means, an extension of politics when negotiation or discussion break down – or never existed.

The questions also are misleading because we have discovered that the world’s commitment to morality and justice is relative: It varies depending on the players involved. Especially when it comes to the Middle East, the world’s moral clarity gets muddy, the moral compass goes haywire.

[ . . . ]

We cannot be fooled by [Hizbollah] or by Hamas. Terrorists in suits and ties remain cold-blooded killers.

Terrorist organizations have a history of trying to “go legit” while still maintaining their original violent purposes. But Gil Troy’s argument cuts both ways: if a terrorist in a suit and tie is just a terrorist, then how is a democratically-elected terrorist preferable to dictatorship? If a society gets the leadership it deserves, then shouldn’t we let democracy unfold?

That doesn’t mean, of course, that any other government – Israel included – should be forced to deal with them.

What about what’s happening in Egypt, where the first hints of democracy have yielded a corrupt election where there are no clear “good guys”, because the people being prevented from voting and running were associated with the ultra-fanatic Muslim Brotherhood? What is the preferable outcome – a fair and impartial election of terrorists, or an “election” of so-called moderates thanks to rigging and intimidation? As it happened, we had a rigged election of terrorists, so it’s almost the worst of both worlds. But how does that fit in with the theory that we ought to push for democratic reforms in the Middle East?

One thing is for certain: As long the world continues to reward terrorists by giving them legitimacy in political arenas, terrorism will continue to thrive.

The Israeli parliament on Wednesday approved a deal to hand control of a buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border to Egyptian security forces after Israel completes its pullout from the territory.

The agreement, sanctioning the deployment of 750 Egyptian border police on the Egyptian side of the Gaza frontier to replace Israeli troops stationed in the volatile “Philadelphi Corridor,” passed by a vote of 53-28, the Knesset said.

This deal has been in place for about a month, and you can bet that the Islamic Jihad and Hamas have been busily recruiting, threatening or bribing Egyptian officials in preparation for the opening of the floodgates.

At least 83 people were killed and 200 injured when car bombs ripped through shopping and hotel areas in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday in the worst attack in Egypt since 1981.

Shaken European tourists spoke of mass panic and hysteria as people fled the carnage in the early hours, with bodies strewn across the roads, people screaming and sirens wailing.

The regional governor said two car bombs and possibly a suitcase bomb had rocked the resort, popular with divers and European holidaymakers, as well as diplomats who have convened world summits. Egypt has called it “the city of peace.”

One blast tore the front off the Ghazala Gardens Hotel in Naama Bay, the site of most of the resort’s luxury hotels. People were feared trapped in the rubble of the lobby.

A car broke into the hotel compound and exploded in front of the building, South Sinai Governor Mustafa Afifi said.

There are reports of “claims of responsibility” from an Al-Quaeda linked group. The stated motive/excuse was “retaliation for crimes against Muslims”.

This is truly sickening. But what I really can’t help but wonder is how long it will take for someone to blame even this on the U.S. and Israel, somehow.

It looks like there might not be an election after all, as the Conservatives’ polling numbers slip and Harper looks increasingly like a vengeful opportunist each day. The Conservatives are going to have to come up with a better argument than “we’re not the Liberals” if they want a turn in power. In the meantime, Martin’s gamble seems to be paying off, and his shaky government might get its life support extended a little longer.

More idiocy on parade as the annual workers’ event of May Day results in “clashes with police”. That’s the media’s non-judgmental way of saying that a bunch of idiots smashed things and then reacted violently to police who tried to get them under control. Oh yeah, and they really really don’t like Jean Charest. Just in case we didn’t know that already.

North Korea’s getting bolder as the Dear Leader of Death Camps slowly realizes that the rest of the world can’t or won’t do anything to stop them. Canada won’t sign onto the US’s missile defense plan, but Japan certainly sees the value in it.

Violence is on the rise again in Egypt, as suicide attacks on tourists by Islamist terrorists sent a chill through the region. This pretty much rules out any hope that last month’s attacks at Taba were isolated incidents. One thing we can pretty much count on: if Egypt’s tourism industry suffers, they’ll find a way to blame Israel somehow.

And last but certainly not least, Passover is over and I’m back to eating real food again. It’s great to have a meal that doesn’t taste like cardboard!

Two car bombs exploded at the entrance to the Hilton Taba Hotel and a suicide bomber blew up at the hotel’s beach front, an area designated for children maritime activities.

According to Israel Police estimations the cars contained no less than 100 Kg of explosives. One of the cars’ engine was found in the ruined lobby of the hotel.

Almost simultaneously, a combined bomb and shooting attack took place in two restaurants usually frequented by Israelis in Ras Al-Satan. Two Israelis were killed in this attack.

Hours later, details are still emerging, because the Egyptian authorities are being somewhat less than forthcoming.

The sad thing is, there is likely a large portion of the Egyptian population that doesn’t care how many of their own compatriots were killed, but instead is rejoicing that at least some Israelis are among the dead. IsraelInsider reports big celebrations in Gaza (via LGF).

Some Israeli bloggers, like Allison and Imshin expressed a bit of surprise that so many Israelis had ignored persistent warnings not to travel to the Egyptian side of Sinai. But these warnings had been going on for so long without incident, probably most people felt that it was at least as safe as going to a crowded Tel Aviv café, if not more so. After all, Israel has a peace treaty with Egypt. Why shouldn’t Israelis head there on holiday?

Well, now we know why. Oddly enough, when I was in Israel in July, a group of people I was travelling with tried to persuade me to go with them to Eilat for a couple of days, and to head to Egypt for a day or so. I had alternate plans so I didn’t go with them, but even then, despite everyone telling me it was perfectly safe – and even despite my Canadian passport and citizenship – the idea made me uneasy. I can’t explain it. Maybe it’s the sense that if something were to go wrong (as it can anywhere), I’d sooner be in a country with a friendly government as opposed to one with a hostile one. (And despite the frosty peace between Israel and Egypt, I don’t think anyone can call the Egyptian government – whose state-sponsored television spews antisemitism on a daily basis – friendly).

Yes, it can happen anywhere. And it’s horrible that so many people are dead, of all nationalities. But this attack was designed to single out Israelis. Unfortunately, it succeeded all too well.

Israeli officials have ruled out political any negotiations and have vowed that troops will remain in Gaza City’s Zeitun neighborhood and until the remains of six Givati soldiers are recovered.

“They will stay there as long as necessary to bring back the bodies for burial here in Israel,” Gideon Meir, deputy director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry told the Washington Post, calling it “part of the whole Jewish tradition” to preserve and protect a body for interment.

Despite the Israeli position, an agreement has been reached between Egyptian officials and Palestinians holding body parts of six IDF soldiers killed in Tuesday’s explosion of an armored personnel carrier in the Zeitun neighborhood in Gaza, according to Palestinian sources quoted by Army Radio Wednesday afternoon.

The same Egyptian officials who, presumably, have a peace treaty with Israel. Real nice.

The international community is putting a lot of pressure on the PA to return the bodies of the soldiers. But Palestinian Authority instructions to do the same are nonsense. Meryl thinks that Arafat is missing a golden PR opportunity. I disagree. I think Arafat calculated long ago that the value of the PR he’ll get from the Arab world for bodies of dead Jewish soldiers far outweighs the PR he’ll get in the Western press for, well, anything.

Arab League:Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League, said he hoped the veto doesn’t mean the United States supports Israeli policies “which are opposed by the whole world.”

Egypt:“The pretext saying that the draft resolution was unbalanced is baseless,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said Wednesday. Maher echoed concern Israel might see the vote as a license to go after Arafat. He said that if nations don’t pressure Israel to desist from its “provocative and aggressive” policies, it would show the international community’s “powerlessness.”

Syria: Syria’s UN Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad expressed regret at the veto, calling it “extremely regrettable” and warning that it “will antagonize the feeling of Arabs in the region.

The Palestinians:“Clearly this is not a neutral position,” Ziad Abu Amr, a member of the outgoing Palestinian Cabinet, said. Senior Arafat adviser Nabil Abu Rdeneh told reporters the veto could jeopardize the U.S-backed “road map” for Mideast peace. The vote “is a real encouragement for the Israelis to continue their escalation,” he said. Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian UN observer, said the United States lost its credibility as an honest broker and warned that “serious consequences may follow.”

(It seems that “honest broker” has been translated as someone who condemns both sides of a dispute equally, regardless of who is at fault. That’s like a parent being criticized for grounding only one child and not both, when the grounded kid crashed the car and the non-grounded one brought home straight As.)

Jordan: In Jordan, the opposition Muslim Brotherhood said it was not surprised at the U.S. veto because “the Zionist lobby … controls the American policy in the Middle East.”

Oh, and I suppose we should include France: France said it regretted that the UN resolution on Israel didn’t pass. The resolution “had a balanced message that we believed could bring a consensus,” Cecile Pozzo di Borgo, the French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said in Paris.

Balanced??? I think Israel is making a political blunder by threatening to expel Arafat, but that doesn’t make the proposed UN resolution any more balanced:

The rejected draft resolution would have demanded “that Israel, the occupying power, desist from any act of deportation and to cease any threat to the safety of the elected president of the Palestinian Authority.”

It would have condemned Israel’s targeted assassinations of militant leaders and Palestinian suicide bombings, “all of which caused enormous suffering and many innocent victims.” It would also have called for a cessation of “all acts of terrorism, provocation, incitement and destruction.”

In other words, yet another UN condemnation of Israel without any mention of Palestinian terror. Sure, France, that looks balanced all right.

The UN seems to believe that a simple “majority rule” decides the difference between right and wrong. If the Arab nations and the Europeans gang up on Israel, then it must be okay, because they’re outvoting the US. More votes, more right? Only in a morally bankrupt world where right and wrong no longer exist. Unfortunately, this is increasingly the world where we live.

Dr. Nabil Hilmi, a dean at the University of Al-Zaqaziq, said Egyptian expatriates in Switzerland are mounting a massive lawsuit against “all Jews around the world” that seeks compensation for “tons” of gold they claim was stolen during the Jews’ exodus out of the country.

Hilmi described the suit in an interview with the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi.

“Since the Jews make various demands of the Arabs and the world, and claim rights that they base on historical and religious sources, a group of Egyptians in Switzerland has opened the case of the so-called ‘great exodus of the Jews from Pharaonic Egypt.’ At that time, they stole from the Pharaonic Egyptians gold, jewelry, cooking utensils, silver ornaments, clothing, and more, leaving Egypt in the middle of the night with all this wealth, which today is priceless,” Hilmi told the paper, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

[ . . . ]

Hilmi estimates the nominal value of the 300 tons of gold purportedly stolen 5,758 years ago would be astronomically large. He figures the value doubled every 20 years and conservatively tacks on 5 percent interest.

Okay, never mind that the ancient Egyptians aren’t the same people as the modern ones . . . or that the bible isn’t exaclty admissable evidence in a modern court of law. But what I really want to know is, can the Jews counter-sue Egypt for 210 (or 400, depending on the interpretation) years of slavery?

In regard to your Nov. 8 article “Egyptian drama series promotes hatred: Israel”: Egyptian media policy ensures Egypt’s equal respect for all religions and beliefs. It also does not allow for any dramatic work or program to contain innuendos aimed at religious institutions.

The drama series in question, “Knight without a Horse,” does not contain, in its dramatization nor its discourse, what could be taken as a “call for anti-Semitism.”

Egyptian media policy respects the right to freedom of expression, that being a human right. Denying individuals this right would not be synonymous with the democratic principles that Egyptian society follows and that allows this society to respect the cultural practices of others as well as their religious and sacred beliefs.

Stirring up an allegation of “anti-Semitism” at this time of crisis is an old tactic, and since the allegations have not been proved truthful, we think there is a hidden agenda.

In regards to the allegations that “anti-Semitism” is growing within Egyptian society, there is a big difference between anger toward Israeli politics and “anti-Semitism.”

This drama series, like all others, has passed through a rigorous censorship governmental committee prior to receiving approval for broadcasting. This committee ensures that any material that might be thought to contain religious innuendos be removed.

It appears that certain Zionist circles have created this propaganda to divert attention away from the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and its daily consequences on the Palestinian people’s freedom and right to practice their religious rituals and to earn a living.

Fatma Abdalla

Director of the press office, Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Ottawa

I could comment, but he does such a nice job of exposing his ignorance with his own words, I hardly feel it necessary! I mean, aside from the usual and expected Zionist conspiracy theory and allegations of a “hidden agenda”, he manages to defend free speech and “rigorous” governmental censorship in the same letter. And “Egypt’s equal respect for all religions and beliefs”? Those being Muslim, Muslim . . . and Muslim, right? Certainly he can’t mean Jewish!

For a closer look at what’s really being said in Egypt these days, I direct your attention towards an editorial in the Egyptian government paper Al-Akbar (translated by those nice folks over at MEMRI) – one of many articles that praises the recent Jerusalem bus bombing that claimed 11 lives.

“This operation in which eleven Israeli terrorists were killed and dozens were wounded stems from a number of reasons, the first of which is that this operation is a consequence of a brave ambush prepared by Palestinian martyrs … in Hebron which … because of the state of madness that over took the ruling Israeli gang led by Ariel Sharon, who seeks to spill more Palestinian blood, especially the blood of children, women, the elderly, and the brave people of resistance.”

“In essence, everybody knows that the resistance is the only way for liberation, and there is no alternative. This weapon, the weapon of legitimate force, is the only weapon that Israel fears. Only the resistance can smash the Israeli arrogance and idiocy of its leaders.”

Egypt, remember, is supposedly at PEACE with Israel. It sure brings a whole new meaning to the expression, “with friends like these, who needs enemies?”