The world has such a short memory:

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Egypt’s foreign minister called on Israel Wednesday to follow its withdrawal from Gaza by launching final status negotiations with the Palestinians and halting the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the U.N. General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting that until Israel reaches the goal of a complete withdrawal from Palestinian territories, it also should stop building the West Bank separation barrier and improve the humanitarian situation of Palestinians.

“As we welcome the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and few settlements in the northern part of the West Bank, we also call upon the Israeli government to continue the withdrawal of its troops from all the Palestinian territories,” he said.

Aboul Gheit, who previously served as Egypt’s U.N. ambassador, called on Israel to meet all its commitments under the road map peace plan so Arabs and Israel can reach their common goal - “the establishment of two independent states, Palestinian and Israel, coexisting in peace and security.”

From 1948 to 1967, the Gaza Strip was part of what country? Say it with me now: EGYPT!

Funny how the Egyptians didn’t think Gaza deserved to be part of its own state back then.

“Anything you can do, I can do better/ I can do anything better than you!”

The lyric from Annie Get Your Gun is utterly borne out by the latest study, wherein it is proven that men are slobs.

In a recent telephone survey, 91 percent of the subjects claimed they always washed their hands after using public restrooms. But, when researchers observed people leaving public restrooms, only 83 percent actually did so.

Only 75 percent of men washed their hands compared to 90 percent of women, the observations revealed.

By the way, the worst offenders? Atlanta Braves’ fans. Remember that next time you’re in Atlanta, and wash your hands a little longer. Oh, and use a paper towel to open the bathroom door. Thirty-seven percent of the men (and sixteen percent of the women) who went through that door before you did not wash their hands.

Let the fireworks begin.

Simon Weisenthal was buried in Herzliya, and Jews being Jews, we’re complaining that there was only one Israeli government minister at the funeral.

Simon Wiesenthal was laid to rest in a Herzliya cemetery Friday.

Ambassadors and senior officials from all over the world came to pay their last respects to the Nazi hunter, who died on Tuesday.

However, not a single government minister came to the funeral.

Deputy minister Michael Melchior was the only government representative who bothered to attend

Regardless, Weisenthal won’t have very far to go when the Messiah gets here.

In an article about the palestinians controlling the Rafah border for the first time ever (they never controlled it when it was Egyptian, either), the AP buries this biased account of the death of three “militants:”

Earlier Friday, Israeli forces killed three Palestinian gunmen in a West Bank raid.

Israeli forces went into the village of Ilar near Tulkarem after midnight, and surrounded a building to arrest senior Islamic Jihad militants holed up inside, the military said. Three gunmen fled in two separate directions, and were shot dead after opening fire on Israeli troops who pursued them, the military said.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the Israeli incursion into Tulkarem, and the assassination of three Palestinians,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said.

Despite a cease-fire declared in February that has drastically reduced violence after five years of conflict, Israel continues to target Islamic Jihad cells. Shortly after the truce was declared, Islamic Jihad carried out a suicide bombing attack in Tel Aviv that killed five Israelis.

All the elements are there: The use of the nameless, faceless “Israeli military” as a spokesman for the Israeli side, a named spokesman for the pals. The words “incusion” and “killed” used to illustrate Israeli actions, “gunmen” and “militants” for terrorists. Look at the order in which the “gunmen” were shot dead:

Three gunmen fled in two separate directions, and were shot dead after opening fire on Israeli troops who pursued them, the military said.

First they fled, then they were killed–after opening fire on Israelis. Why not write something like:

Three gunmen fled in two separate directions, fired on Israeli troops who pursued them, and were shot dead, the Israeli spokesman said.

Well, we know why not. Because it would be the truth. Because it would be less damaging to Israel. Because the AP wouldn’t be the AP if it didn’t slam Israel at every opportunity.

And about those “militants”–Ynet says they were planning rocket attacks. On the West Bank.

The mastermind of the Netanya Passover Massacre was sentenced to thirty-five life terms. His wife is unfazed. In fact, his wife is insane.

If you would like a first-hand look at the brainwashing that is the PA, read this article in full.

Ihlas sounds very confident, just as confident as she was during her questioning following the suicide bombing in Passover 2002:

When Abbas was arrested, they arrested me as well. One of the police interrogators asked me how many life sentences I want them to give Abbas, and I said ‘as many as you want, everything is from the hand of Allah, and at the end you will vanish. This is our land, and you have no right over it’.

See if you can spot what’s missing from this AP article about Al-Kidwa’s speech to the UN.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Palestinian Foreign Minister Nasser Al-Kidwa expressed pessimism Thursday about Israel’s intentions in the West Bank following its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, demanding international action to stop expansion of settlements and the construction of a separation wall.

In a tough speech to the U.N. General Assembly, he said action to end these “illegal” and “inhuman” activities was essential “to safeguard the future of the Middle East and maintain the prospects for peace.”

While Al-Kidwa recognized that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza was an important development, he accused Israel of leaving the strip “completely devastated” and called its occupation of Gaza “one of the worst injustices in recent history.”

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has reaped diplomatic rewards for ending the country’s 38-year Gaza occupation. In the past two weeks, Qatar, Pakistan and Indonesia have held high-level public meetings with Israel - a rare event for Muslim countries - and Sharon met Friday with Jordan’s King Abdullah II for their first talks in months.

The Palestinians are prepared to return to negotiations and to start quickly implementing the road map peace plan drafted by the so-called Quartet - the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, Al-Kidwa said.

Go ahead, read it all. I’ll wait.

Give up?

Not a word about ending terrorism, which is part and parcel of the Road Map obligations. Funny how that bit always seems to get overlooked by the mainstream media.

This is a perfect example of the media repeating the palestinian line in full, without any context whatsoever. No, wait. There was some.

In his speech Thursday to the U.N. summit, Sharon said the Palestinians are entitled to their own state and his country has no desire to rule them.

He urged reconciliation and compromise with Palestinians to end their conflict. But he said that after Israel’s Gaza withdrawal, it was up to the Palestinians to “prove their desire for peace” by halting terror and disarming militants.

Al-Kidwa said the Palestinians “will continue to exert efforts to impose law and order” and to build democracy, including holding elections at all levels. “Israel must stop its attempts to interfere in and sabotage these elections,” he said.

In the last three paragraphs, which most people never read. And which all news media know.