Soccer Dad

Neighborhood ghoul-ly

Reuters reports that the PA plans to name neighborhoods in Gaza that have been evacuated by Israel after such luminaries as Yasser Arafat, not to mention the many:

"It is impossible to keep the names that had been symbols of the occupation," Palestinian Land Authority chief Freih Abu Meddain told reporters in Gaza on Thursday. "I believe the places will carry the names of martyrs or historical figures."

It was not clear whether any of the 25 Jewish enclaves evacuated this week would be renamed for suicide bombers, whom many Palestinians see as nationalist heroes but Israel and most of the international community brand as terrorists.

Palestinians use the term "martyr" for anyone who has died in an attack on Israelis or been killed by Israeli forces during the nearly five-year-old Palestinian uprising.
...
Palestinian sources said plans for changing the settlements' Hebrew names to Arabic ones were at an early stage but that proposals to honour Arafat and Yassin were under consideration.

Arafat, longtime leader and symbol of the Palestinian nationalist cause, died last November at a Paris hospital.

Yassin, the wheelchair-bound spiritual leader of Hamas, the Islamist group behind dozens of suicide bombings against Israelis, was killed in an Israeli air strike last year. Hamas, now observing a truce, remains sworn to Israel's destruction.

So, you ask, what's the big deal and who's this Freih Abu Medein anyway? Well he was the Palestinian Minister of Justice (and I use that term loosely) who declared that any Palestinian who sold land to Jews should be killed:

Last month, Palestinian Justice Minister Freih Abu Medein urged the death penalty for those who illegally sold land to Israel. There was precedent under Jordanian law which allows someone who sells land to an enemy to be killed.

The Palestinian National Council is considering several proposals to legally prohibit the land sales.

And indeed a number of Palestinian had been killed about that time (in 1997). It's been reported that Tawfiq Tirawi (another fellow still mentioned in the news)was behind these killings. From the Congressional record:

From questioning Palestinian security officials detained in Israel, Israeli security forces have obtained testimony linking the Palestinian Authority to the murders. One testimony points to specific involvement of Tawfik Tirawi, the head of security in Ramallah. According to questioning of the detainees, orders to security forces to act came in part from Abu-Meddien.

Nice stuff. And in case you think that this Nuremberg type law was the work of a single nut case and a few helpers, well it wasn't. In 1998 the Palestinian Legislative Council passed a law declaring that land sales to Jews constituted "high treason." Here's a description:

The PA passed legislation in 1998 making Israeli ownership of Palestinian real estate a "harm to national security" that constitutes a "crime of high treason" punishable by death. 33 The murders of five Palestinian land dealers who sold property to Israelis indicated that the Palestinian Authority was not simply using rhetoric.

(The actual law used to be available on the web. I've read someplace that it was passed but not ratified. Still it makes little difference, even if it wasn't passed, it was practiced. And even if it wasn't practiced how offensive is such a law that prohibits one from selling land to someone of another religion?)
And remember this guy, Medein, the law's foremost promoter is still a big honcho in the "reformed" Palestinian government.
Technorati Tags: Palestinians, Israel.
Crossposted on Israpundit and Soccer Dad.

Posted by SoccerDad at September 7, 2005 6:09 AM | TrackBack