the Arab world is BURNing I tell ya... can someone pass the weanies and marshmallows?

UPDATE: 8 months later? Still lots of arab world violence, There still is no democracy we'd recognize.

UPDATE: Now everyone KNOWS that more "arab/islamic" nations are breaking down.. Libya, Yemen and Bahrain all new to the party!

The real good news? The true face of these so called democratic peoples is showing,,

From the fire and brimstone moslem brotherhood to the robber gangs roaming the streets of cairo, but let's not forget the libyians, using anti-aircraft ammo on civilians... NICE TOUCH...

With any luck at all?

This fire will spread and light the entire middle east ablaze..

Let's hope for some serious bonfires soon...

------------------------

Ah... It's an interesting week...

through out the islamic / arab world violence reigns supreme...

from the suburbs of PARIS to Teheran, Cairo to Amman (notice nothing being said on the lame stream media) the arabs are on the move..

There are reports that Egypt, the world's largest arab nation, will stop all exports of hi-tech exports... Oh yeah.. there are NONE...

ElBaradi, the ex-nuclear inspector of the UN, the incompetent fool that watched Iran's nuke cycle grow, now proclaims he wants to take over egypt.. He's been arrested! I hope they torture the asshole...

What's that old saying? the enemy of my enemy is my friend?

Well none of the egyptians, whether islamists or fascists are my friends...

I can only hope that the riots that are breaking out thru-out the arab world spread to all islamic centers across the globe..

From londonstan to palistan may they all embrace the the violence that is inherent in their culture.

I just bought a bag of marshmallows and I shall watch and laugh....

Interesting week...

Lebanon taken over by Hezbollah (Iran)

Egypt has 100,000 protesters against the 80 year old Dictator

Egypt's heir apparent fled to England...

Palestinian "leaders" exposed by arab news services to have agreed to allow Israel to KEEP Jewish settlements in Jerusalem, land swap and a "token" family reunification of refugees.... This comes as a surprise to to Palestinian people, who now want to hang their leaders. Which also raises the interesting question.. Why do non-palestinians demand more in peace talks FROM Israel than the Palestinians do themselves????

Russia has an Islamic love moment and the leaders in Russia are not saying anything about a "cycle of violence", rather they are talk ugly, painful revenge...

Jordan covers up it's own rebellion...

Iran still murderering it's own people...

Pakistani leader murdered by his body guard, the murderer cheered by Islamic leaders and Pakistani governmental officials...

more later

Russia gets a suicide bomber, Russia Supports Palestine, Palestinians murder Christians in Egypt...

(Reuters) - At least 31 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Monday in a suicide bombing at Russia's biggest airport, Russian news agencies reported.

Russia's ruble-dominated stock market MICEX fell by nearly two percent following the blast, which ripped through the baggage claim area at Moscow's Domodedovo airport at 1332 GMT.

Smoke wafted out of the baggage claim area and people were seen running out of the emergency exits at the airport, local media reported.

Initial casualty figures were contradictory with ITAR-TASS saying about 20 people had been killed. A spokeswoman for prosecutors put the number of casualties at about 20.

Moscow suffered its worst attack in six years in March 2010 when two female suicide bombers from Russia's volatile Dagestan region set off explosives in the metro, killing 40 people.

The Kremlin is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency in the mainly Muslim North Caucasus, and rebels have repeatedly vowed they will take their battle to the Russian heartland.

---------


Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday Moscow had recognized an independent Palestinian state in 1988 and was not changing that position adopted by the former Soviet Union.

But on his first visit to the West Bank as Russian head of state, Medvedev stopped short of making a ringing declaration of recognition of Palestinian statehood by the Russian Federation that he represents.

At a news conference with Medvedev in Jericho, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said: "We remember that Russia was one of the first states in the world to recognize the state of Palestine in 1988."

Medvedev responded, saying: "Russia made its choice a long time ago ...we supported and will support the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to an independent state with its capital in east Jerusalem."

The Soviet Union recognized a Palestinian state in 1988, after it was declared by the late Yasser Arafat in a move that won broad support in the Communist bloc and Third World but had little real impact on diplomatic and political realities.

----------

THE Egyptian government says it has "proof" that an al-Qa'ida-linked Palestinian group was behind a bombing outside a Coptic Christian church.

The New Year's Eve bombing killed 25 worshippers and exacerbated sectarian tensions across Egypt.

Interior Minister Habib Adly blamed the attack on the Army of Islam, an extremist organisation based in the Gaza Strip. The naming of foreigners as the culprit may help Egyptian authorities ease escalating tensions between Muslims and Copts, who make up about 10 per cent of the population.

Mr Adly indicated, however, that the Army of Islam had recruited Egyptians in planning the bombing in Alexandria.

Cairo has long accused militants in Gaza -- backed by al-Qa'ida or other radical groups -- of using the Palestinian territory to plot attacks across the border to upset Egypt's tourism industry and inflame religious mistrust.



Now the FUNNY thing????

Later in his life, Abbas entered graduate studies at the Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, where he earned a Candidate of Sciences degree[9] (the Soviet equivalent of a PhD). The theme of his PhD dissertation was "The Other Side: The secret relations between Nazism and the leadership of the Zionist movement". His supervising Professor was KGB officer Yevgeny Primakov.

LOL...

The arab world? the islamic world and the Russians?


DESERVE EACH OTHER..

Jews have no RIGHTS?

Ah, it's a great sunny morning this January...

Across the globe the powers at be are creating a new "legal" opinion...

Jews shall have no rights to purchase or build in Jerusalem. It will be considered ILLEGAL.


This puts me in an odd position.

Would it be wrong to say "Blacks, Arabs and/or Moslems shall have no rights to purchase or build in Boston. It will be considered ILLEGAL."?

So the world wants to make it a crime for a Jew to own land, buy land or build in Jerusalem....

Thank you President Obama for the moral courage you have shown /off sarc.

You cant blame our "president", after all he was honest about his opinion about Israel sort of...

Except when he was lying...

But if you excuse his lies when he was running for office and go back to his historic friends and family?

You will see a group of Israel hating, Zionist hating folks on the left.

From radical palestinians, to commies...

Yep I said it..

Commies..

Not the neo-commies that sit on talk shows, drinking starbucks and making several million a year, but the get in your face roit starting violence BLACK PANTHER, Weatherman, Sirhansirhan loving, radical Moaist, Stalin loving COMMIES.

America?

You got what you voted for.

Now watch how he throws Israel under the bus and lies while doing so..

The rest of the world?

Screw em anyway..

England? forgetaboutit...

Paris? forgetaboutit...

Canada? forgetaboutit...

Brazil, Argentina & Venezuela? Forgetaboutit..

The world has lost it's mind..

5,4 million dead in the Congo and not a word..

A Jew tears down (15 years after purchasing) a hotel that was built by THE NAZI SUPPORTING MUFTI OF JERUSALEM, and somehow the world is now voting on the legality of all Jewish construction in Jerusalem.

Can I politely say to the world?

FUCK YOU.

Great News, THE ARAB WORLD IS GETTING MORALITY!

In a HISTORIC turn of events, Arabs are KILLING themselves in political protest and not attempting to murder others. This amazing development is a great sign that there is a soul within the islamic world and that there might be a chance that these Gandi-like arabs are starting a new trend in morality. The ending of murder others. It happened in Tunisia last week and Egypt. Let's all hope Islam as a culture embrace this trend and end the murder of Coptics, Jews, Druze and even each other in the normal way to express themselves in difference.

3 Egyptians light themselves on fire in protest - 1 dies
By ASSOCIATED PRESS AND JPOST.COM STAFF
01/18/2011 18:03

Possibly inspired by events in Tunisia, cases of self-immolation as an expression of discontent with government seen in several Arab states.

Security officials on Tuesday said a 25-year-old unemployed man has died in hospital a day after he set himself on fire on the roof of his home in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria.

The officials said Ahmed Hashem el-Sayed, possibly inspired by events in Tunisia, has been unemployed for a year and suffered from depression. He died in hospital Tuesday. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media, had no more details.

In Cairo, two Egyptian men, also inspired by events in Tunisia, attempted to set themselves on fire Tuesday in downtown Cairo, just a day after another man burned himself in front of parliament.


All three men who attempted self-immolation in Cairo have survived.

Reuters reported similar attempts have been made in Algeria and Mauritania where, as in Tunisia, the population has expressed frustration with high proces, unemployment and authoritarian rule.

News of the Tunisian uprising has dominated the Egyptian media over the past few days, with opposition and independent newspapers lauding the fall of President Zine El Abedine Ben Ali and drawing parallels between his toppled regime and that of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled for nearly 30 years.

Egypt has posted impressive economic growth rates over the past few years, in part fueled by a host of ambitious reforms. But the growth has failed to filter down to many of the estimated 80 million Egyptians.

Nearly half of all Egyptians live under or just below the poverty line set by the U.N. at $2 a day. Mubarak and his ruling National Democratic Party have been pledging to ensure that the fruits of economic reforms benefit more Egyptians.

Self-immolation as a method of protest is uncommon in Egypt, although women in rural and poor urban areas have been known to set themselves on fire to protest violent husbands, abusive parents or an unwanted suitor.

Coal, China and interesting growth...

Coal use in China's electricity sector increases from 27.7 quadrillion Btu in 2007 to 72.2 quadrillion Btu in 2035, at an average rate of 3.5 percent per year (Figure 64). In comparison, coal consumption in the U.S. electric power sector grows by 0.4 percent annually, from 20.8 quadrillion Btu in 2007 to 23.1 quadrillion Btu in 2035. At the end of 2007, China had an estimated 496 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity in operation. To meet the demand for electricity that accompanies its rapid economic growth, an additional 736 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity (net of retirements) is expected to be brought on line in China by 2035, requiring large financial investments in new coal-fired power plants and associated electricity transmission and distribution systems. In the near term, the IEO2010 projections show a substantial amount of new coal plant builds, with 138 gigawatts of capacity additions between 2007 and 2010. Notwithstanding the substantial growth in coal-fired generating capacity and generation projected for China in the IEO2010 Reference case, coal's share of the country's total generation declines from 80 percent in 2007 to 74 percent in 2035, as generation from nuclear and renewables grows at an even more rapid pace than generation from coal.

Nearly one-half (49 percent) of China's coal use in 2007 was in the non-electricity sectors, primarily in the industrial sector and notably for the production of steel and pig iron. In the IEO2010 Reference case, coal consumption in those sectors increases by 13.1 quadrillion Btu (48 percent) from 2007 to 2035. Within the industrial sector, the single largest use of coal is for the production of coke, which in turn is used primarily to produce pig iron. In 2007, Chinese coke plants consumed 459 million tons18 of coal, representing, on a tonnage basis, about 17 percent of the total amount of coal consumed in all sectors in China during 2007 [5]. China was the world's leading producer of both steel and pig iron in 2007, accounting for 36 percent of global raw steel output and 50 percent of world pig iron production [6].

Coal remains the leading source of energy for China's industrial sector in the Reference case, although its share of industrial energy consumption declines over the projection period, with electricity and other energy sources making up an increasing share of the total. Electricity's share of total industrial energy use rises from 19 percent in 2007 to 32 percent in 2035, while coal's share drops from 60 percent to 47 percent. However, with coal-fired power plants satisfying approximately three-fourths of China's total power generation requirements throughout the period from 2007 to 2035, the increase in electricity demand in the industrial sector can be viewed indirectly as an increase in the demand for coal.

This is to good not to steal...

EXERCISE FOR PEOPLE OVER 50

1. Begin by standing on a comfortable surface, where you have plenty of room at each side.

2. With a 5-lb potato bag in each hand, extend your arms straight out from your sides and hold them
there as long as you can. Try to reach a full minute, and then relax.

3. Each day you'll find that you can hold this position for just a bit longer. After a couple of weeks, move up to 10-lb potato bags.


4.Then try 50-lb potato bags and then eventually try to potato bag in each hand and hold your arms straight for more than a full minute. (I'm at this level.)

.
.
.
.

After you feel confident at that level, put a potato in each bag.



hat tip/allen

OPEC, the modern day Islamic Pirates of the World show their stuff..

Iran Officially Assumes OPEC's Presidency
TEHRAN (FNA)- Rotating Presidency of the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC) was officially handed to Iran for the first time since the victory of the Islamic Revolution.




Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mir-Kazzemi had been elected as the head of the Organization in the oil cartel's 157th Regular Ministerial Conference in Vienna, Austria, in October.

Later, Iran's OPEC Governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi told FNA that Iran would officially assume presidency on January 1, 2011.

The development will enable Iran to host an OPEC meeting since any country holding the organization's rotating presidency can invite oil ministers of the member states to meet there once.

Iran has already announced that it intends to work out deeper coordination and cooperation among the member states in order for the oil cartel to have orchestrated and leading positions in determining market prices through better supply-and-demand formulas.

OPEC is a permanent intergovernmental organization of 12 oil-exporting developing nations that also include Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

OPEC coordinates and unifies the petroleum policies of its member countries.

OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings among the oil ministers of its member countries.
\



Now understand, OPEC is ok with 100 dollars a barrel as it's "benchmark".

Already riots in 3rd world are breaking out due to spiking food costs...

ENERGY prices are set by a group despots.

Iran now LEADS this group...

Need I say more?

Time to destroy OIL as a energy of value.

Natural Gas, Solar, OIL DRILLED OUTSIDE OF OPEC nations should be given total priority.

The complete bankruptcy of all OPEC nations is a must.

Want world PEACE? Make the OPEC bloodsuckers EARN a living..

All products sold to OPEC nations should have a 2000% tariff

Iran and Hezbollah, 2 roids in the ass of the world

Hezbollah reaches for more power in Lebanon

BEIRUT - A day after toppling the Lebanese government, the Shiite Hezbollah movement and its allies were working to gain enough support in parliament to control the selection of Lebanon's next prime minister, Lebanese officials said.

The ability to play that role would make the militant group - already the strongest armed power in Lebanon - the nation's most important political player as well. That would trigger alarm in Washington, which has backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri as a counterweight to Hezbollah and its supporters, Iran and Syria.



Interesting note...

Hezbollah has killed hundreds, blown up buildings, tv stations and such and not a peep out of the world...

They have rearmed to the tune of 50,000 rockets, more than all but TEN armies in the world..

They have kidnapped, tortured and dismembered Jews, Christians and yes other moslems.

They have used suicide bombers, attacked civilians in several nations and not a peep out of the lame stream media...

They operate in EVERY STATE in the USA

and not a peep out of anyone...

Hezbollah? Iran? ROID's in the ass of the world...

Rolling the ARABS OUT OF AFRICA, The Occupation of Southern Sudan is ENDING

Darfur focus makes south Sudan secession more likely
By Opheera McDoom - ANALYSIS
KHARTOUM | Mon Jan 15, 2007 9:48am EST
(Reuters) - Secession by southern Sudan has grown increasingly likely, in part because conflict in the country's Darfur region has distracted attention from the task of helping the south recover from decades of war.
The international community got a wake-up call as tensions between the north-south peace partners ruined celebrations last week marking the second anniversary last week of the peace deal which ended Africa's longest civil war.

"With everyone concentrating on Darfur, the (north-south deal) seems to be drifting off the international community's radar screen," said Patty Swahn, a regional director for the U.S.-based International Rescue Committee.

"The slow progress in implementing the agreement is extremely worrying; if there isn't active support for the peace process, there is a real risk of renewed fighting," she added in a joint press statement from five international aid agencies.

The north-south deal ended a civil war which claimed 2 million lives and drove more than 4 million people from their homes. It created a semi-autonomous southern authority, a national coalition government, separate north and south armies and enshrined wealth sharing and democratic transformation.

By 2011 the south can choose in a referendum whether or not to secede, a move analysts said was most likely now.

Instead of celebrating peace on January 9, south Sudan president Salva Kiir attacked his northern partners, the National Congress Party (NCP), listing violations of the 2005 deal. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir made a defensive response.

Kiir said the northern army's support of proxy militia in the south was alarming and berated a lack of transparency in Sudan's oil industry and a stalemate on demarcating the north-south border to show where the oil fields lie.

Bashir said Kiir's party, the former rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), was also to blame through delays on its part. He criticised the southern government for failing to set up basic institutions such as customs and immigration.

DARFUR TOPS AGENDA

The southern owner of the Khartoum Monitor newspaper, Alfred Taban, said that Bashir's response showed he was not serious about peace. "The performance of president Bashir shows clearly that he is no longer the President of Sudan: he is the president of north Sudan," Taban wrote in an editorial this week.

"My advice to Salva is to start the formation of a new nation called south Sudan."

Sudan expert Dave Mozersky from the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank said that the northern ruling party was driving southerners into the separatist camp.

"Separation seems increasingly likely given the total lack of effort or investment from the NCP in making unity attractive to southerners," he said.

Mozersky said the international community and the United Nations had forgotten the south, instead focusing entirely on the separate four-year-old Darfur conflict in Sudan's west.

"The U.N. should be more proactive and vocal about violations ... committed by the parties," he said. "But the U.N. has been relatively silent on the matter, focusing instead almost entirely on Darfur."

Rape, pillage and murder has killed an estimated 200,000 and driven around 2.5 million from their homes in four years of violence in Darfur called genocide by Washington. Khartoum denies genocide.

The ICG last year heavily criticised the top U.N. envoy on Sudan, Jan Pronk, who was appointed primarily to monitor north-south implementation. It said he had spent only a fraction of his time in south Sudan or working on southern issues.

"Darfur is terrible and rightly remains at the top of the international agenda. However, Darfur should not come at the expense of (north-south relations) in terms of international engagement and focus," Mozersky said.

The open hostilities between Bashir and Kiir served as a reminder that the north-south deal was very fragile. The aid agencies said the international community must help show southern Sudanese the benefits of peace to encourage conflict resolution in Darfur.

"After more than 20 years of war, people need to feel the 'dividends' of peace in order to firmly break the cycle of conflict," the joint statement said.

"Promoting post-conflict recovery and development is vital to stabilizing the volatile situation across the country."

Saudis Boycott Israeli goods, Gets 4x the CANCER RATE, Allah is punishing them for denying Israel

Saudi cancer cases 4 times world rate: Contaminated imported goods to blame

By GALAL FAKKAR | ARAB NEWS
Published: Jan 12, 2011 00:40 Updated: Jan 12, 2011 00:40

JEDDAH: The rate of cancer cases in Saudi Arabia is four times as much as international levels due to contaminated imported goods, according to the chairman of the Saudi Consumer Protection Society (SCPS) on Tuesday.

“Cancer cases are on the rise and 35 percent of the population have liver diseases because companies and individuals importing foodstuffs do not reveal the possible harm their products may cause,” Dr. Nasser Al-Tuwaim said.

He warned that some products imported from China could contain cancerous materials.

“The Chinese commercial attaché told me that the Saudi traders ask only for cheap prices and are not concerned about the quality or safety of the goods they import from China,” he said.

Al-Tuwaim said the society would launch a campaign against commercial fraud, including a boycott of goods that are fake or sold at exaggerated profits. “During the campaign, fraudulent companies and individual traders will be named and shamed,” he added.

Al-Tuwaim also said the society would launch a special website for this purpose and will open the door for volunteers to work for it under its motto: “We are all eyes and watchmen.” He said through the website, the society would issue monthly statements about the results of its investigations and asked consumers to contact the society via its toll free hotline.

“The society has started taking steps to uncover traders who fix prices and tamper with products by publishing information on our website,” he said.

Al-Tuwaim accused some Saudi merchants of causing deaths and serious diseases by importing shoddy car parts or goods that do not fulfill health regulations.

“We have information that such cheating has extended to include imports of Australian sheep and car spare parts, which are replaced by some dealers who fit counterfeit parts and sell the original ones,” he said. Al-Tuwaim said the society has established a data and studies center to document its findings and said they have teams cooperating with them to supply them with details of clandestine commercial transactions and prices.

According to him, more than 3,000 people have died and more than 10,000 others injured after being sold fake tires and other counterfeit car parts.

He said the society would conduct inspection visits and convey their findings to the government in order to apply sanctions against traders who cheat consumers.

Al-Tuwaim said the center has started to collate the prices of Australian sheep and found out that they were sold in Saudi Arabia at very high prices.

“The price per head of Australian sheep is between $40 to $50 in Malaysia and Indonesia and about $70 in some neighboring Arab Gulf countries, while it is $200 in the Kingdom,” he said.

The NEXT Pogrom?

I think the war against the Jews is about to turn a page. Not turn a page forward mind you, but turn a page backwards.

Back to the good old days of pogroms.

But where you might query?

Witness the specific target against Jewish innocents in Antwerp, Amsterdam, Paris and New York.

Couple that with the Palestinian, Islamic Nations & NGO (Non-governmental organizations) efforts in boycott, delegitimization, UN and World Court activities Lawfare

I think we will see more rioting against Jews across Europe and Iran.

I think you will see "anti-Israel" rallies grow more and more violent, these rallies will come from London, Holland, Belgium, Pakistan and Paris.

It will become NOT NEWS WORTHY that Jew is attacked, murdered, kidnapped, tortured and will NOT BE A HEADLINE ANYWHERE..

Dont believe me?

Do YOU KNOW WHO Ilan Halimi is???

Read that link people....

Say it CAN"T happen here?

Wake up....

More later..

The Idea that Jews buy land disturbs Hillary Clinton

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Abu Dhabi on a tour of U.S. Gulf Arab allies, said: "This disturbing development undermines peace efforts to achieve the two-state solution. In particular, this move contradicts the logic of a reasonable and necessary agreement between the parties on the status of Jerusalem."

What is amazing is that the land purchase was completely legal and was completed YEARS ago.

Welcome to Alice in Wonderland

Nazi Loving Islamic Mufti's Hotel being torn down...

And the Moslems cry foul....

The Shepherd Hotel, built (but not completed) by the Nazi loving Mufti of Jerusalem (may his soul rot in hell forever)....

A little background..

The demolition of the Shepherd Hotel, located in east Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, started at dawn on Sunday after a drawn-out battle over construction rights that drew international condemnation from US President Barack Obama and other leaders around the world over the past few years.

The hotel, which was built in the 1930s by the former mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Amin Al Huseini, was bought in 1985 by right-wing millionaire Irving Moskovitz, who has bankrolled other controversial Jewish housing projects in Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Moskovitz, partnering with the Ateret Cohanim organization, plans to turn the complex into 20 apartments for religious Jewish families.

Now let's get this straight, a JEW BOUGHT the property and is going to BUILD homes on it!!!

It's a crime I tell you!!! A Crime!!!!

The building received a construction permit from the municipality six months ago, the last stamp of approval needed before actual construction began.

Construction has been delayed during the past six months over a dispute with the son of Faisal Al-Husseini, a former leader of Jerusalem, who claimed that the family owned part of the parking lot that will serve as an entrance to the future complex. They lost the court case about a month ago, allowing Moskovitz to start demolition of the structure.

Sunday’s demolition was only for the right half of the building. Because of the historical value of the structure, the façade of the left part will stay standing. The first bulldozers arrived on the scene around 5:00 AM, by noon the left half of the four-story building was a pile of rubble.

Poetic Justice..

“It’s magnificent, this is beautiful,” said Ateret Cohanim spokesman Danny Luria, watching the dust rise from the bulldozers and passing out pamphlets highlighting Hajj Al Husseini’s connection to the Nazis and the death of thousands of Jews from pogroms that he encouraged. “Call it poetic justice, call it historic justice, this is something special… the symbolism of destruction of the house of a Nazi is rather unique.”

The history of the Shepherd Hotel

The square, ugly building with a sweeping view of Hebrew University and the Mount of Olives ridge has a complicated history involving many countries and incarnations. Hajj Amin al Husseini, who had many ties with the Nazis and Hitler, started construction on the building in the mid-1930s, though he never lived in it. When he left Jerusalem in 1937, he rented the partially-finished building to George Antionios, who finished the construction and rented it for ten years. In 1948, the house became a Jordanian army outpost until Israel took control of the property in 1967 under the Absentee Property Law. From 1967 to 1982, it was owned by two separate Arab Christian families, the Faruwaji and the Marum family, who were considered protected tenants and ran the property as a hotel. After the Marum family went bankrupt in the early 80s, the land was sold by the state custodian to Irving Moskovitz, a California businessman who provides the financial backing for other Jewish buildings in Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem.

Neighborhood activists in Sheikh Jarrah claim that the deal that transferred the ownership to Moskovitz was a shady business transaction done with a Swiss tourism business acting as a front for Ateret Cohanim. “If there was some problem with the ownership, it would have been clarified in court well before the actual construction permit, but we’re already so far past that,” said Ateret Cohanim spokesman Daniel Luria.

Starting in 1985, the Israeli border police used the hotel as an east Jerusalem headquarters for 15 years, until a new headquarters was built in the early 2000s less than half a kilometer away. In 2006, Moskovitz submitted a plan for the hotel for over 100 apartment units. The plans were later scaled down to 20 units to avoid a lengthy approval process. Ateret Cohanim said a possible names for the new complex are “Nahmanedes Courtyard,” or the Rambam neighborhood, though the project has yet to engage a contractor.

Now the interesting point??? The Arabs say it was a shady deal, because they did not KNOW a Jew was buying the land...

Must be tough for Arabs to see Jews BUY land anywhere in the Middle East...