UmpaUmpa's house of LOL :-P: Feb 9, 2007

Friday, February 9, 2007

Muslims convert to christianity

Muslims converts face ostracism in France
Muslims are converting to Christianity in their thousands in France but face exclusion from their families and even death threats.

Most Muslims hide their conversion and Protestant ministers do their utmost to protect new converts. It is estimated that every year in the world some six million Muslims convert to Christianity.

The Muezzin call to prayer. But here in France it is no longer reaching all Muslim ears.

Around 15,000 Muslims each year are converting to Christianity - around 10,000 to Catholicism and 5,000 to Protestantism.

It is often a difficult and painful choice - one that can leave them excluded from their Muslim families and friends.

Pastor Schluster knows what a real taboo conversion is in the Arab world. His job is to support converts by meeting them to reassure them and help them face the isolation from their families.

Pastor Antoine Schluster, official representative of Protestant Federation for New Convert Immigrants, said "True, a conversion is not easy for the Muslims whether they are practising or not. Simply because Islam influences their daily life. And therefore they immediately have a sense of betrayal."

Comedian Siad Oujibou used to pray five times a day but found his questions about death and his desire for a God closer to him than Allah moved him to convert. He is now a Christian pastor.

But he has faced many reprisals and humiliations from his family and was even under a sentence of death.

Said Oujibou, Protestant Pastor, comedian and convert, said "We are under this law if we change our faith. In certain countries would be condemned to death because we have converted. But I haven't changed my religion. I don't believe in religion, I believe in God. And God and religion are two very different things."

Many Muslims in France hide their conversion but the trend is continuing. World wide around six million Muslims a year convert to Christianity.

Bureau Report
Source

FAITH UNDER FIRE
Descendant of Muhammad converts to Christianity
But faces threat to life if forced to return to Turkey
Posted: February 7, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Wolfgang Polzer
© 2007 ASSIST News Service

A Turk who claims to be a descendant of Islam's prophet Muhammad has converted to Christianity while living in Germany.

But Sedar Dedeoglu, of Luedenscheid, now faces a threat to his life if he's forced to return to Turkey, and is seeking help from German authorities.

Dedeoglu, who is involved in Christian outreach programs among Muslims, has been receiving death threats from Muslims unwilling to accept his conversion. His relatives also regard the apostasy as shameful.

If Dedeoglu is returned to his native country, he very likely would be killed, his lawyer says.

(Story continues below)

Despite this threat, the German Federal Migration Office and several courts of justice have rejected asylum applications by the Dedeoglu family. They claim Christians are free to practice their religion in Turkey.

To avoid deportation, Dedeoglu, his wife Husniye and their daughter Isil now hope at least to be tolerated in Germany as a "case of hardship." According to their attorney, Oswald Seitter, it is impossible to overlook the extraordinary danger the Dedeoglu family is facing.

For Muslims, he said, it is undeniable Dedeoglu descends from Muhammad's daughter Fatima and her husband Ali. In Dedeoglu's hometown, Elazig, in eastern Turkey they used to be revered as a holy family. According to Seitter, the apostasy of a family member is regarded as an insult of the prophet himself.

Dedeoglu's case has become so widely known in Turkey that his life is in real and imminent danger, the lawyer said.

"We should rejoice that a such a person has become a Christian, and we should avoid any actions which could put his life in additional danger," Seitter told an evangelical news agency.

Seitter is an evangelical Christian and used to be the speaker of the synod of the Protestant Church in Wuerttemberg.

Dedeoglu came to Germany in 1997 and asked for asylum because of political persecution of the Kurdish minority in Turkey. Four years later, he and his family converted to the Christian faith. They are members of an Evangelical Brethren church.
Source

Preventive Baruch Goldstein

On Hamas-Identified Website: Palestinian Preventive Security Forces Called "Preventive Goldstein," Report on Kidnapping of Teens to Demand Release of Israeli Soldier Gilad Shalit

The website www.palestine.info, which is identified with Hamas, has published an edition called Sawt Al-Nas (Voice of the People). One of the articles, on the January 26 shooting of worshippers at the Al-Daya mosque in Gaza by Palestinian Preventive Security Forces personnel, termed the killers "Preventive Goldstein." Similarly, it was reported that "Fatah commando forces" had kidnapped a group of Palestinian teens and demanded the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, claiming that the kidnapping was harming the interests of the Palestinian people.

Source: Sawt Al-Nas, January 28, 2007

Source

SEVENTY-TWO VIRGINS

by STEVE MARTIN
Issue of 2007-01-29
Posted 2007-01-22

Virgin No. 1: Yuck.
Virgin No. 2: Ick.
Virgin No. 3: Ew.
Virgin No. 4: Ow.
Virgin No. 5: Do you like cats? I have fourteen!
Virgin No. 6: I'm Becky. I'll be legal in two years.
Virgin No. 7: Here, I'll just pull down your zipper. Oh, sorry!
Virgin No. 8: Can we cuddle first?
Virgin No. 9: It was a garlic-and-onion pizza. Why?
Virgin No. 10: . . . so I see Heath, and he goes, "Like, what are you doing here?," and I go, "I'm hangin' out," so he goes, "Like, what?" . . .
Virgin No. 11: First you're going to have to show me an up-to-date health certificate.
Virgin No. 12: Hurry! My parents are due home!
Virgin No. 13: Do you want the regular or the special?
Virgin No. 14: I'm eighty-four. So what?
Virgin No. 15: Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!
Virgin No. 16: Even I know that's tiny.
Virgin No. 17: "Do it"? Meaning what?
Virgin No. 18: I'm saving myself for Jesus.
Virgin No. 19: Somewhere on my body I have hidden a buffalo nickel.
Virgin No. 20: Don't touch my hair!
Virgin No. 21: I hope you're not going to sleep with me and then go sleep with seventy-one others.
Virgin No. 22: Do you mind if we listen to Mannheim Steamroller?
Virgin No. 23: Are you O.K. with the dog on the bed?
Virgin No. 24: Would you mind saying, "Could I see you in my office, Miss Witherspoon?"?
Virgin No. 25: Ride me! Ride me, Lucky Buck!
Virgin No. 26: You like your vanilla hot?
Virgin No. 27: Does Ookums like Snookums?
Virgin No. 28: It's so romantic here, dead.
Virgin No. 29: Well, I'm a virgin, but my hand isn't.
Virgin No. 30: You are in?
Virgin No. 31: Hi, cowboy. I just rode down from Brokeback Mountain.
Virgin No. 32: I'm a virgin because I'm so ugly.
Virgin No. 33: You like-ee?
Virgin No. 34: I'll betcha you can't get an erection. Go on, impress me. C'mon, show me. Show me, big shot.
Virgin No. 35: By the way, here in Heaven "virgin" has a slightly different meaning. It means "chatty."
Virgin No. 36: Sure, I like you, but as a friend.
Virgin No. 37: No kissing. I save that for my boyfriend.
Virgin No. 38: I'm Zania, from the planet Xeron. My vagina is on my foot.
Virgin No. 39: It's a lesion, and, no, I don't know what kind.
Virgin No. 40: I'm Jewish. Why do you ask?
Virgin No. 41: Hi, I'm Becky. Oh, whoops—you again.
Virgin No. 42: I just love camping! Camping is so great! Can we go camping sometime?
Virgin No. 43: In the spirit of full disclosure, I'm a single mom.
Virgin No. 44: You like my breasts? They were my graduation gift.
Virgin No. 45: When you're done, you should really check out how cool this ceiling is.
Virgin No. 46: I'm almost there. Just another couple of hours.
Virgin No. 47: Get your own beer, you nitwit.
Virgin No. 48: No, you've got it wrong. We're in the Paradise Casino.
Virgin No. 49: I really enjoyed that. Thank you very much. Gee, it's late.
Virgin No. 50: You make me feel like a real woman. And after this is over I'm going to find one.
Virgin No. 51: What do you mean, "move a little"?
Virgin No. 52: Not now, I'm on my BlackBerry.
Virgin No. 53: I love it when you put on your pants and leave.
Virgin No. 54: We've been together twenty-four hours now, and, you know, sometimes it's O.K. to say something mildly humorous.
Virgin No. 55: That was terrible. I should have listened to the other virgins.
Virgin No. 56: I think I found it. Is that it? Oh. Is this it? Oh, this must be it. No?
Virgin No. 57: It must be hot in here, because I know it's not me.
Virgin No. 58: Those are my testicles.
Virgin No. 59: Did you know that "virgin" is an anagram of Irving?
Virgin No. 60: First "Spamalot," then sex.
Virgin No. 61: Great! I was hoping for circumcised.
Virgin No. 62: Was that it?
Virgin No. 63: Dang. George Clooney was being reckless on a motorcycle, but instead I got you.
Virgin No. 64: Tonight, I become a woman. But until then you can call me Bob.
Virgin No. 65: They're called "adult diapers." Why?
Virgin No. 66: We could do it here for free, or on a stage in Düsseldorf for money.
Virgin No. 67: I'm just Virgin No. 67 to you, right?
Virgin No. 68: Pee-yoo. Are you wearing Aramis?
Virgin No. 69: Condom, please.
Virgin No. 70: My name is Mother Teresa.
Virgin No. 71: I'm not very good at this, but let's start with the Reverse Lotus Blossom.
Virgin No. 72: It was paradise, until you showed up.

Source

Demographic Boogieman

Demographic Misrepresentation

Examine No Evil, Know No Evil, Report No Evil,

Yoram Ettinger, “Nekuda”, 1.2007

The American-Israel Demographic Research Group revealed that Israel’s demographic, media and political establishments have embraced the 1997 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) census and projections - as the Gospel - without scrutiny.

They were unaware that the PCBS numbers have been refuted annually by the documentation of births, deaths, migration and eligible voters, as carried out by the Palestinian Ministries of Health and Education, by the Palestinian Election Commission, by Israel’s Border Police, by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS) and by Jordan’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

Israel’s demographic establishment was oblivious of the fact that PCBS data were projections – and not documented numbers – based on a 1997 census. If the establishment was cognizant of these facts, but did not report to the public and to policy-makers, then it was not mistaken, but rather misleading.

The demographic establishment did not question the addition of some 650,000 Palestinians (30%!) as a result of the 1997 census. If the establishment would base its projections on the ICBS (2.1 million Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza in January, 1997), it would be mathematically impossible to reach – as the establishment does - 3.5 million or 4 million in 2006. It would have required a population growth rate twice as high as the four fastest growing populations in the world, Afghanistan, Somalia, Eritrea and Niger. Israel’s “Demographers of Doom” did not raise an eyebrow when the PCBS contended a 170% population growth in 14 years, from 1.5 million in 1990 to 3.8 million in Judea, Samaria and Gaza in 2004. They were either ignorant of the massive immigration assumption – 50,000 annually into Judea, Samaria and Gaza beginning 2001 - or recklessly accepted it at face value, in spite of the eruption of Intifadah II at the end of 2000, which precluded any potential immigration. They did not examine, and therefore did not know and did not report.

RECKLESS USE OF PALESTINIAN NUMBERS

The American-Israel Demographic Research Group (AIDRG), whose groundbreaking study was published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, has uncovered a number of significant flaws in the PCBS numbers, which were unnoticed and therefore not reported by Israel’s demographic establishment. AIDRG has shed light on the reckless use of such flawed information by Israel’s demographic, media and political establishments, which has gravely impacted the national state of (fatalistic) mind and morale as well as critical policy decisions. For example:

1. PCBS data are perceived, by Israel, as real numbers, while in fact they are mere projections, which have been refuted annually. The projections have been made on the basis of a 1997 census, which has been accepted – by the Israeli and global establishments - at face value without examination.

2. 325,000 overseas Palestinians were included the 1997 census, as documented by Hassan Abu-Libdeh, then head of the PCBS (Feb. 26, 1998) and by the PCBS website. The inclusion of these overseas residents departs from globally acceptable demographic standards, which include only de-facto residents and those who are away for less than a year. Thus, Israel does not count some 700,000 Israelis, who reside in North America. The number of overseas residents, which are unduly counted by the PCBS is increasing by the day, since overseas Palestinians who are counted, as if they were de-facto residents, give birth to overseas babies who are counted as well.

3. Over 200,000 Jerusalem Arabs – within Israel controlled boundaries – are doubly-counted as Israeli Arabs (by the ICBS) and as West Bank Arabs (by the PCBS). Independent demographers, international bureau of statistics, the UN, the State Department and other organizations, add the PCBS and ICBS figures, in order to find out the number of Arabs between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, hence the double-count. Such an error grows exponentially with each additional birth.

4. 113,000 Persons should be deleted due to a discrepancy between the number of eligible voters (18 and older) in the PA as projected by the PCBS and documented by the PA Election Commission during the January 2005 election.

5. Over 300,000 babies who were projected to be born (according to PCBS projections, which were misperceived as actual births), but were never born (according to Palestinian Ministry of Health documentation) should be removed from the total. The Ministry of Health has documented babies down to the level of village midwives, with no incentive to under-document. Each birth entails monetary compensation from the PA and sometimes from UNRAW and other entities.

6. Over 350,000 should be deducted as a result of non-realized projected-immigration (50,000 annually since 2001) and realized non-projected-emigration since 1997 (when census was conducted and projections made). The scope of average annual emigration has been over 10,000 since 1950, some 12,000 in 2004, 16,000 in 2005 and a higher estimate for 2006 (due to Hamas’ ascension to power). Since 2000 most of the emigrants are Moslems.

7. 105,000 should be removed from the total due to the 105,000 Palestinians, who married Israeli Arabs, received Israeli ID cards (since 1997), and are therefore double-counted as Israeli Arabs (by the ICBS) and West Bank Arabs (by the PCBS).

A ROBUST LONG-TERM JEWISH MAJORITY

While the PCBS projected 4 million Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza in 2006, the documented number is 2.6 million (1.5 million in Judea & Samaria and 1.1 million in Gaza), when one deletes (from the PCBS projection) overseas Palestinians who are included, the double-count of Jerusalem Arabs and of naturalized Palestinians, the babies who were projected to be born but have never been born (40,000 annually since 2000), the projected-immigrants who never arrived and the non-projected-emigrants who left, and the eligible voters who have been projected to exist but have never existed.

In contrast to Israel’s “Prophets of Demographic Doom”, the American-Israel Demographic Research Group (www.aidrg.com) documents a robust long-term Jewish majority of 67% west of the Jordan River without Gaza and 60% with Gaza since the 1960s. The Jewish majority in the 1960s was relatively soft, due to the 1967 initiation of unprecedented increase in Palestinian population growth: A poor agrarian society interacted with Israel’s advanced medicine, job market and education system, which dramatically reduced Palestinian infant mortality and extended life expectancy, and substantially decreased the number of emigrants seeking jobs and higher education abroad. Today’s Jewish majority is relatively solid as a result of a sustained decline in Palestinian population growth rate, mostly due to emigration. In addition, the Palestinian Ministry of Health documents an all time high family planning, a hike in divorce rate and in the median marriage-age, expanded education system and career mentality (among women), and a rapid transformation from a rural to (mostly poor) urban society. The systematic decline in total fertility rate (number of children per woman) in recent years has been characteristic of Moslem, Arab and other Third World societies. For instance, Iran declined in 25 years from 10 to 1.98 children per woman and Egypt and Jordan followed suit with 2.5 and 3 children respectively. In fact, the UN Population Division had to reassess its 2050 global population projection from 12 billion to 9 billion.

THE FAILURE OF THE “PROPHETS OF DEMOGRAPHIC DOOM”

Since Israel’s establishment in 1948, Israel’s demographic establishment has tended to under-project Jewish fertility, over-project Arab fertility, ignore the scope of Arab emigration, minimize the potential of Jewish Aliya (immigration), and overlook the difference in Jewish-Arab demographic attitudes in response to irregular events. To illustrate, an outcome of the recent economic prosperity has been a higher Jewish fertility (unlike Western societies) and a lower Arab fertility (just like other westernized Third World societies).

Thus, the initial dramatic error by Israel’s demographic establishment – relying on PCBS data without examination – has been compounded by the application of projections made in 2000 by Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS), which have been refuted annually by ICBS own documented statistics. Jewish total fertility rate has been annually above ICBS’ highest scenario, and the decline in Arab total fertility rate has been 20 year faster than projected!

The “Prophets of Demographic Doom” have also ignored the non-normative features of Jewish demography, the non-linear tenets of Jewish and regional demographics, and the large number of unpredictable developments in and without the region, which have impacted the Jewish-Arab demographic balance between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. Hence, the rise in price of oil in the 1970s accelerated Palestinian emigration, its decline in the 1980s slowed down emigration, the 1991 expulsion of 300,000 Palestinians from Kuwait produced a brief rare net immigration, improved economy among Palestinians in the Mideast and Central America induces further emigration, the rise of Hamas triggers further emigration, the demise of the USSR facilitated a major Aliya (immigration) to Israel as has the rise of anti-Semitism in France, Argentina and Russia, the vast expansion of modern-orthodox Jewish/Zionist education system has upgraded the potential of Aliya from the US, etc.

The “Prophets of Demographic Doom” have been serial blunderers. In March 1898, Shimon Dubnov, a leading Jewish historian-demographer harnessed demographic fatalism, in order to deter Herzl, who launched the campaign to establish the Jewish State. Dubnov projected that by 2000 there will be, at most, 500,000 Jews west of the Jordan River, about the size of the Jewish community in Kiev. However, in 2000 there were 5 million Jews west of the Jordan River! In 1940, Professor Bacchi, a world renowned statistician-demographer, the founder of the ICBS, and the godfather of Israel’s current “Demographers of Doom”, projected that by 1970 there will be 1 million Jews and 4 million Arabs. But, in 1970 there were 2.6 million Jews and 1.4 million Arabs west of the Jordan River. In 1948, Prof. Bacchi attempted to persuade Ben Gurion to postpone declaration of independence until Jewish demography (600,000) improves, lest there be a Jewish minority in 1967 within the mini-1947 borders. But, in 1967 there was a 14% Arab minority within the expanded-1949 borders! In 1967, the demographic establishment pressured Prime Minister Eshkol to retreat from Judea & Samaria and Gaza, in order to avoid an Arab majority west of the Jordan River by 1987. But, in 1987 there was a 62.4% Jewish majority, compared with a 63.35% majority in 1967, during the peak of Arab population growth rate. In 1949, Prof. Bacchi contended that there would be no Aliya to the poor, conflict-ridden Jewish State. But, about 1 million Olim (immigrants) arrived. In 1972, he projected an insignificant Aliya from the USSR, but 140,000 arrived.

Professor Sergio DellaPergola, a senior member of Israel’s demographic establishment, has followed in the footsteps of his mentor, Prof. Bacchi. In the mid-1980s, he stated that there would be no substantial Aliya from the USSR for economic, cultural, technological and security reasons. He estimated the number of Soviet Jews at 50% of their documented number. But, one million Jews arrived from the USSR! Today, Prof. DellaPergola employs refuted-PCBS 1997 projections as a basis for his own projections, as documented by his most comprehensive essay in the “American Jewish Yearbook, 2003”, published by the American Jewish Committee. If Prof. DellaPergola would have employed ICBS data (2.1 million in Judea & Samaria and Gaza in 1997), as a basis for his numbers, he would not have been able – mathematically – to reach 3.4 million in 2004, as claimed by his presentations. Moreover, he applies ICBS projections, from 2000, to his PCBS-driven numbers, in spite of the fact that the ICBS projections have been crashed against the rocks of reality since their publication in 2000. In contrast to AIDRG’s data-driven approach, Professor DellaPergola has employed assumptions/projections-driven approach.

Professor Arnon Sofer, another “Prophet of Doom”, stated in closed-door April 2004 lecture, at Israel’s military academy, that 2.8 million Palestinians resided in Judea & Samaria and Gaza. However, that number catapulted to 3.8 million, in October 2004, in a booklet he published at Haifa University (“Israel and Demography 2000-2004 in view of Disengagement”), which aimed at promoting “Disengagement.” In a January 21, 2005 closed-door document, which he submitted to the Knesset Government Reforms (Bikoret Hamedina) Committee, Prof. Sofer reverted to 2.8 million. However, during a May 18, 2005 public debate at Haifa University he resorted to 3 million and 3.4 million, and in Ynet OpEds, published on January 24, 2006 (lobbying for further retreat from Judea & Samaria) and on September 14, 2006 Professor Sofer contended 3.7 million and 4 million respectively.

THE DEMOGRAPHIC MOMENTUM IS JEWISH

In contrast to the “Prophecies of Demographic Doom”, which have instilled faintheartedness into Israel’s public, political, media and academic state of mind, the demographic momentum is Jewish!

According to ICBS data, the annual number of Arab births within the “Green Line” has stagnated during 1995-2006 around 38,000, while the annual number of Jewish births rose by 35% from 80,400 in 1995 to around 109,000 in 2006. The proportion of Jewish births has increased from 69% (of total birth within the “Green Line”) in 1995 to 75% in 2006. For the first time, total fertility rate of Jewish and Arab women, in Jerusalem, have converged at 3.9 children per woman, with the Arab fertility trending downward and Jewish rate creeping upward. The Arab-Jewish fertility gap shrunk from 6 children during the 1960s to 1 child in 2006! In fact, Jewish fertility rate in Israel is the highest in the industrialized world, while the decline in Arab fertility rate has been 20 year faster than projected by the ICBS. Due to the substantial Arab emigration from Judea & Samaria, the Jewish population growth rate has been higher – since 1997 - than the Arab growth rate in Judea & Samaria (2.1%:1.8% during 1997-2004). The Jewish demographic momentum is bolstered when one adds the migration factor (Aliya less Jewish emigration plus Jewish returnees), which is about 15,000 since 2001. The “Prophets of Demographic Doom” have overlooked the Jewish demographic momentum, and have employed the irrelevant fertility rates of “yesterday”, as a basis for projecting “tomorrow’s” rates.

Israel’s “Prophets of Demographic Doom” have insisted that time has been working against Jewish demography, and that Jews are doomed to become a minority between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. They have convinced Israel’s political establishment, and many of Israel’s friends abroad, that the demographic threat is lethal and more significant than historical and security considerations, in determining the future of Judea & Samaria.

Paradoxically, Zionist leaders rejected demographic fatalism when the Jews constituted a mere 8% minority (Herzl – 1900) and a 33% minority (Ben Gurion – 1947). However, the current Israeli political establishment has succumbed to Demographobia in 2006, when Jews constitute a long-term solid 40 year 67% majority without Gaza and 60% with Gaza, west of the Jordan River. They have ignored the fact that demographic reality has refuted demographic fatalism!

Demographic reality has vindicated early Zionist leaders, who persisted in their drive to establish a Jewish State, in defiance of awesome security, financial, political and demographic odds. Now, when Jewish majority has reached a critical demographic mass – bolstered by unprecedented military, financial and technological capabilities – there is no justification for Demographobia. Certainly, there is no reason to sacrifice historical, geographic, topographic and security assets on the altar of grossly-flawed demographic assumptions. A national security policy, which is based on flawed assumptions, is doomed to be flawed, jeopardizing the survival of the Jewish State.

THE BOTTOM LINE

INDEPENDENT of the American-Israel Demographic Research Group’s study (www.aidrg.com):

1. Critical Israeli policy decisions have been based on the assumption that Jews are doomed to become a minority west of the Jordan River. But, what if demographic fatalism has been based on dramatically erroneous data?! What if such wrong data has been embraced by Israel’s demographic, media and political establishments without examination?!

2. The conventionally accepted number of Arabs in Judea & Samaria is inflated by 70% (1.5MN and not 2.5MN), and the number of Arabs in Judea & Samaria and Gaza is inflated by over 50% (2.7MN and not 4MN).

3. A solid long-term Jewish majority of 67% without Gaza and 60% with Gaza has prevailed between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean since the 1960s, compared with a Jewish minority of 33% in 1947 and 8% in 1900.

4. The Jewish majority benefits from a demographic momentum, as evidenced by the 35% rise in the number of annual Jewish births since 1995, while the number of annual Arab births has stagnated during the same period.

5. Since 1997, Jewish population growth rate has been higher than Judea & Samaria Arabs’, especially due to the substantial level of Arab emigration – over 10,000 annual average since 1950 - while annual Jewish Aliya (immigration) has persisted since 1882.

6. The Jewish State endures a demographic problem, but it is far from lethal; there is no demographic machete over its throat.

7. The contention that Israel must retreat from Jewish Geography (Judea & Samaria), in order to secure Jewish Demography (Geography-for-Demography) is inconsistent with facts on the ground.

8. A retreat from Jewish Geography (Judea & Samaria) would deny Israel control over migration, which has been the key element determining the demographic balance between Jews and Arabs. It would facilitate a massive Arab immigration into Judea & Samaria, and from there – due to economic pressures – into the “Green Line”, which would wreck Jewish Demography.

9. A relief of the non-lethal Demographic burden – via a retreat from parts/all of Judea & Samaria – would intensify the (conventional and terrorist) Security burden, which could be lethal. It would also exacerbate the irrigation burden, since 40% of Israel’s water supply originates in Judea & Samaria.

10. Demography is tenuous and manageable, through government policies and regional and global developments. In contrast, the geography and topography of the Judea & Samaria mountain ridges – the “Golan Heights” of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the coastal sliver along the Mediterranean – are fixed and not amenable to any alterations.

11. Enhancing demography requires effective government policies. Securing demography necessitates the safeguarding of geography.

Source

Enough of their BS...

Palestine Mission at UN Sends Letter to UNSC on Israel's Judaization of East Jerusalem

NEW YORK, February 7, 2007 (WAFA) - Chargé d'affaires of the Palestine Permanent Observer to the United Nations, Muin Shreim, said Wednesday Israel has stepped up its illegal actions, especially in Occupied East Jerusalem, aiming to intensify expansionist policy for the colonization and Judaization of Arab Jerusalem, with the support of fanatic Jewish settler groups.

In a letter to H.E. Mr. Peter Burian President of the UN Security Council, Mr. Shreim said Israel, the occupying Power, is continuing its campaign to Judaize the city of Jerusalem and create a new demographic composition in the occupied city.

"Such actions demonstrate clearly the intransigence of the Israeli Government and its persistence in defying the will of the international community and in violating international law and United Nations resolutions," reds the letter.

In this context, the letter read on, it is imperative for the international community to take measures in order to confront these Israeli policies and actions, to ensure respect for international law and to prevent further escalation of the situation in the region.

Hereinafter is the full text of the letter:

Excellency,

In follow-up to our letter dated 24 January 2007, Israel, the occupying Power, has stepped up its illegal actions, especially in Occupied East Jerusalem, which aim to intensify expansionist policy for the colonization and Judaization of Arab Jerusalem, with the support of fanatic Jewish settler groups.

Israel, the occupying Power, is continuing its campaign to Judaize the city of Jerusalem and create a new demographic composition in the occupied city. Such actions demonstrate clearly the intransigence of the Israeli Government and its persistence in defying the will of the international community and in violating international law and United Nations resolutions. In this context, it is imperative for the international community to take measures in order to confront these Israeli policies and actions, to ensure respect for international law and to prevent further escalation of the situation in the region.

In line with this unchecked intransigence, Israeli occupying authorities have gone ahead with the condemnable plan to step up its aggression against Islamic Waqf sites in Occupied East Jerusalem. Most notably, Israeli occupying authorities have begun demolishing a historic road connecting Bab Al-Maghariba with the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in addition to two rooms adjacent to the Western Wall, thus exposing the Holy Compound and making it more vulnerable yet to future acts of aggression. Additionally, Israeli occupying authorities continue to carry out excavation works below the Holy Al-Aqsa Compound, undermining its foundations and threatening with its collapse.

There are also concerning reports that Israel, the occupying Power, plans to construct a tourist site below the Holy Al-Aqsa Compound, further raising fears about serious threats facing the Holy Compound. Additionally, Israeli occupying authorities have banned Palestinians below the age of 45 from entering the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in grave contravention of their basic right to access their holy sites and clear violation of Israel's obligations, as an occupying Power, to ensure and protect that right.

H.E. Mr. Peter Burian
President of the Security Council
The United Nations
New York

These provocative actions are not the first of their kind. Since 1968, the Security Council has adopted 16 resolutions regarding the city of Jerusalem, and repeatedly declared that all measures and arrangements taken by Israel, the occupying Power, including the legislative and administrative ones, which aim at changing the legal status, demographic composition and character of the city, are null and void and without any legal validity whatsoever. Furthermore, the Security Council has repeatedly reaffirmed the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 to all the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, including East Jerusalem.

Obviously, the drive by Israel, the occupying Power, to Judaize Jerusalem and to illegally change the status, demographic composition, and character of the Holy City is intensifying amid the inability of the Security Council to stop the Israeli violation of international law and relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.

The Security Council, as the body responsible for maintaining international peace and security, has the responsibility to take immediate action in order to reverse the Israeli decision, bring an end to the Israeli violations and guarantee respect for the Council's resolutions and for international law.

It must be absolutely clear that Israel, as an occupying Power, has responsibilities in accordance with international law that it must respect with regards to safeguarding holy sites in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, as well as ensuring and respecting Palestinians' rights to access their holy sites. Respecting these rights is not a luxury Israel can choose to bestow on the Palestinian people it occupies. Instead, it is an obligation that Israel must be compelled to respect.

I should be grateful if you would arrange to have the text of the present letter made available for the members of the Security Council for their urgent consideration.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Muin Shreim
Chargé d'affaires, a.i.

A.D (12:20 P) (10:20 GMT)