ISRAEL TODAY: Palestinian in Damascus: 'I Want Israeli Citizenship'

Palestinian in Damascus: 'I Want Israeli Citizenship'
Monday, January 20, 2014 | Israel Today Staff



Refugee camp resident in Damascus living under 'suffocating siege' says Mahmoud Abbas and the Arab world to blame for starvation.

Two thousand Palestinians have been killed in Syria's ongoing civil war, a drop in the bucket compared to the 120,000 estimated overall deaths. But many of those Palestinian casualties are the result of starvation, and many are children.

Syrian government forces defending the capital of Damascus have taken to imposing a "suffocating siege" on outlying neighborhoods that are under rebel control.



In many cases, the residents of those neighborhoods are wholly unable to obtain basic food and medical supplies. The situation has become so bad that Muslim clerics have ruled that it is permissible for locals to eat cats, dogs, donkeys and other animal carcasses to survive.

One of the neighborhoods suffering under the siege is the Palestinian "refugee camp" of Yarmuk, which before the war was home to some 400,000 people.

Yarmuk has now been under siege for months, and at least 50 local residents, including children, have died of starvation.

A video that made its way out of Yarmuk and was posted to YouTube (see below) shows how difficult the situation has become. One of the residents even tells the camera that he wants to become an Israeli citizen, because Israel actually cares for its own.

The man explains that if even one Israeli child was found in Yarmuk, a solution to the neighborhood's problems would have been found long ago. He goes on to accuse Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and the rest of the Arab Muslim nations of having abandoned the Palestinians living in Syria.

Watch here: Video from Damascus, Syria

Earlier this month, Abbas addressed the situation in Yarmuk during a meeting in Ramallah. However, he refused to mention the Syrian regime, let alone condemn the policy of "suffocating siege" that it imposes on rebel-held neighborhoods. Instead, Abbas placed the blame on the rebels themselves for having taken up positions in neighborhoods like Yarmuk, and on foreign powers for funding the rebels.

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Remarkable Pictures of Extinct Jewish Communities, Part 3 - Israel's History - a Picture a Day (Beta)

Remarkable Pictures of Extinct Jewish Communities, Part 3 The pictures from the University of California - Riverside Archives Posted: 13 Jan 2014 Original caption: "Jew Tailor in his Booth on a Street in Old Cairo" (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR  ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)  We present Part 3 of a series of vintage pictures on the Jews of the Middle East.  Like the communities in previous features -- Baghdad, Mosul, and Constantinople (Istanbul) -- the Jews of Cairo, Alexandria, and Damascus are on the verge of extinction.  Some of the pictures presented here show both the poverty and the wealth of the various Jewish communities. Egypt Cairo:  In 1948, the Cairo Jewish community numbered an estimated 55,000. Pogroms and imprisonment caused almost all of the Jews of Egypt to emigrate. Zaoud-el Mara (Jewish Quarters) Alexandria,  Egypt.  A Library of Congress photo dates this picture from 1898. Alexandria:  According to a Jerusalem Post article from 2008, Alexandria "is said to have boasted a community of tens of thousands of Jews of both Ashkenazi and Mizrahi descent, but some were expelled as French or British citizens during the Suez Canal crisis of 1956. Others were expelled and/or imprisoned for up to three years during the Six Day War. Some, too, left on their own accord, feeling that there was a brighter future for them as Jews in countries like Israel, America and Australia." There are believed to be around 40 Jews living in Egypt today. Syria - Damascus  "Beautiful shaded court of a Jewish Home in Damascus, Syria." Look at the details of the picture. (Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography at UCR  ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)  The Damascus Jewish community numbered an estimated 15,000-17,000 in 1918.  Riots, government discrimination, and imprisonment caused almost all of Syrian Jewry to flee. Today, perhaps a few dozen Jews live in Syria, but the savage civil war has also engulfed old Jewish neighborhoods and ancient synagogues. At the start of the 20th century, several wealthy Jewish families lived in Damascus, and photographs of their homes are presented here. Enlarging the photos disclosed  several interesting details.  The matron of the home?  Children of the home?   Grand Mosque and Damascus from the Jewish  Quarters, Syria. Three women on a balcony  overlooking city.  Credit: Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum  of Photography at UCR ARTSblock, University  of California, Riverside)    Court of a Wealthy Jew’s Home in Old  Damascus, Syria. See also here. Keystone-Mast Collection, California Museum of Photography  at UCR ARTSblock, University of California, Riverside)  Click on pictures to enlarge.  Click on the caption to view the original photo. Subscribe to www.israeldailypicture.com to receive features by email.   Enter your address in the box in the right sidebar.

Al-Qaeda Vows to Slaughter Christians

Editor's note: We knew this was coming. They said it all along, and we are foolish not to believe them. It is NOT a religion of peace. Steve Martin

Al-Qaeda Vows to Slaughter Christians After US 'Liberates' Syria

Thursday, September 12, 2013 |  Raymond Ibrahim, Israel Today  

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Christians

While U.S. leaders continue pushing for war against the Syrian government, “Al-Qaeda-linked rebels,” reports AP, “launched an assault on a regime-held Christian mountain village in the densely populated west of Syria and new clashes erupted near the capital, Damascus... In the attack on the village of Maaloula, rebels commandeered a mountaintop hotel and nearby caves and shelled the community below, said a nun, speaking by phone from a convent in the village. She spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.”

Arabic news agency Al Hadath gives more information concerning this latest terror attack on Syria’s Christians, specifically how the al-Qaeda linked rebels “terrorized the Christians, threatening to be avenged on them after the triumph of the revolution.”

Thus al-Qaeda terrorists eagerly await US assistance against the Syrian government, so they can subjugate if not slaughter Syria’s Christians, secularists, and non-Muslims — even as the Obama administration tries to justify war on Syria by absurdly evoking the “human rights” of Syrians on the one hand, and lying about al-Qaeda’s presence in Syria on the other.

A short video of the assault on the Christian village has been posted to the Internet and can be seen below:

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