An Italian judge did the right thing and put the Nazi back under house arrest. Pity the Italian authorities didn’t throw the bastard in jail, where he belongs.

AN Italian magistrate has suspended the work permit of a 93-year-old Nazi war criminal whose first day at work sparked angry protests by Italian Jews, officials said today.

Serving a life sentence under house arrest in Rome, former SS Captain Erich Priebke won permission from a military court to work at his lawyer’s Rome offices. He arrived there yesterday, riding Roman-style on the back of his lawyer’s scooter.

After a day of protests in which demonstrators shouted “Shame!” and “Murderer!”, Judge Isacco Giorgio Giustiniani late yesterday suspended Priebke’s authorisation to work, citing his failure to properly communicate his movements.

Priebke was convicted for the massacre of 335 men and boys at the Ardeatine Caves near Rome during World War Two. He was extradited to Italy in 1995 from Argentina, where he had fled.

I don’t care how old he is. I don’t care what kind of health he’s in. I don’t care how good a prisoner he is. He took part in the murder of over 300 men and boys, and for that, the very least he deserves is to be locked up for what’s left of his life.

One of the things that aggravated me immensely about the constant clamor for the release of Rudolf Hess from Spandau Prison was the way the world overlooked the effects of his deeds when he was a free man. And that is the crux of the matter. When Erich Priebke was a young man, he took part in mass murder, and was a willing accomplice to the Holocaust. For that, you should at the very least rot in prison the rest of your natural life.

Don’t ask me for mercy for 93-year-old Nazis. They gave none to women, children, babies, and old men. We are still finding mass graves from the Holocaust. Let the killers reap what they sowed. Or better still, let them ask their victims for forgiveness.

Sucks that they can’t do that. Guess they should have thought of that before murdering them.

I cannot decide on what should be Tigger’s new name. Sarah and I were chatting, and decided that he’s so huge he’s practically a nation unto himself. “I think he’s a stan,” I said. “Tiggerstan!” We both laughed.

So. Is he the Independent Republic of Tiggerstan?

Or is he the United Republic of Tiggerstan?

Fouad Ajami says, well, everything that I’ve been saying for years about Gaza and the West Bank, as well as what I’m saying about the current Palestinian situation. And he says it on the New York Times op-ed page.

The Palestinian ruin was a long time in coming. No other national movement has had the indulgence granted the Palestinians over the last half-century, and the results can be seen in the bravado and the senseless violence, in the inability of a people to come to terms with their condition and their needs.

The life of a Palestinian is one of squalor and misery, yet his leaders play the international game as though they were powers. An accommodation with Israel is imperative — if only out of economic self-interest and political necessity — but the Palestinians, in a democratic experiment some 18 months ago, tipped power to a Hamas movement whose very charter is pledged to the destruction of the Jewish state and the imposition of Islamist rule.

The political maxim that people get the leaders they deserve must be reckoned too cruel to apply to the Palestinians. Before Hamas, for four decades, the vainglorious Yasir Arafat refused to tell his people the basic truths of their political life. Amid the debacles, he remained eerily joyous; he circled the globe, offering his people the false sense that they could be spared the consequences of terrible decisions.

Then there’s this:

But it was too much to ask of Mr. Arafat to return to his people with a decent and generous compromise, to bid farewell to the legend that the Palestinians could have it all “from the river to the sea.” It was safer for him to stay with the political myths of his people than to settle down for the more difficult work of statehood and political rescue.

For their part, the Arab states have only compounded the Palestinian misery. The Arab cavalry was always on the way, the Arab treasure was always a day away, and there was thus no need for the Palestinians to pay tribute to necessity. In recent years, the choice was starkly posed: it was either statehood or a starring role on Al Jazeera, and the young “boys of the stones” and their leaders opted for the latter.

And this:

It has long been a cherished legend of the Palestinians, and a proud claim, that they would not kill their own, that there would be no fratricide in their world. The cruelty we now see — in both Gaza and the West Bank — bears witness that the Palestinians have run through the consolations that had been there for them in a history of adversity.

It isn’t a pretty choice, that between Hamas and Fatah. Indeed, it was the reign of plunder and arrogance that Fatah imposed during its years of primacy that gave Hamas its power and room for maneuver. We must not overdo the distinction between the “secularism” of Fatah and the Islamism of Hamas. In the cruel streets and refugee camps of the Palestinians, this is really a distinction without a difference.

It is idle to think that Gaza could be written off as a Hamas dominion while Fatah held its own in the towns of the West Bank. The abdication and the anarchy have damaged both Palestinian realms. Nablus in the West Bank is no more amenable to reason than is Gaza; the writ of the pitiless preachers and gunmen is the norm in both places.

And this:

For decades, Arab society granted the Palestinians everything and nothing at the same time. The Arab states built worlds of their own, had their own priorities, dreaded and loathed the Palestinians as outsiders and agitators, but left them to the illusion that Palestine was an all-consuming Arab concern.

Now the Palestinians should know better. The center of Arab politics has shifted from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, a great political windfall has come to the lands of the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula, vast new wealth due to the recent rises in oil prices, while misery overwhelms the Palestinians. No Arabs wait for Palestine anymore; they have left the Palestinians to the ruin of their own history.

Read it all. Then wait for the angry letters from Times readers who will tell Ajami how utterly wrong he is not to blame Israel for the state of the Palestinians today, what with forty years of occupation. I shall be happy to follow this up and quote them.

Ooh, this one’s gotta hurt: The German Christian son of a decorated Nazi tank commander, after years of reading about the war, the Holocaust, and Judaism, converted to Judaism.

After Palestinian terrorists killed 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, a teacher told Wollschlaeger’s class that the Israelis “brought it upon themselves. . . . Some people believe that they are special and too powerful and, in my opinion, they are.”

Wollschlaeger, then 14, thought that was an odd response to a slaughter, and he didn’t understand when some people said, “Not again.”

He knew the Nazis had put Jews in concentration camps and that some had been murdered. “But [I] had no idea about the industrialized and sophisticated killing machine designed to systematically exterminate an entire ethnic group.”

He began reading everything he could find on Jews and Israel. His parents noticed. ”Why are you so preoccupied about their suffering?” his mother, Elizabeth, asked him. “Jews were not the only ones who died in the war. Have you forgotten what I told you about our suffering? We lost everything and had to start all over.”

Later on in life, he wanted to convert.

In medical school, he sought to talk to a rabbi about converting. The small Jewish community remaining was suspicious of his motives. ”Please understand that I cannot encourage you to convert,” the rabbi told him. ”Actually, I should discourage you, because Judaism does not proselytize.” Still, the rabbi offered to help him learn.

He studied for 10 years.

Finally, as he was finishing med school, Wollschlaeger convinced Jewish teachers of his sincerity. He was ready for conversion. Because so few religious leaders were left in Germany, he had to travel to Switzerland for a mohel to perform his circumcision and to France for the immersion in the ritual bath or Mikveh.

After passing his medical exams, he celebrated with his classmates. Then, while somewhat inebriated, he went to find his parents, who were having dinner at a restaurant. He told them about his conversion and his conclusion that to lead a full Jewish life he needed to move to Israel, because there were so few Jews left in Germany.

”I am losing my only son,” his father said bitterly.

Don’t look at it as losing a son. Look at it as payback from above.

The father died six months later.

Interesting story, with an interesting side-note: The doctor wondered if, due to something his mother asked him, he may have had Jewish ancestry. Either way, welcome to the tribe, Doc.

Some members of Fatah have decided to join the other side.

Meanwhile, a group of Fatah members have broken away from the movement’s main body to form a Gaza-based splinter organization aligned to Hamas, its new leader said on Monday.

Khaled Abu Hilal, a Fatah member known for his close relations with Hamas, said he and “thousands” of other Fatah members decided to form a rival group, called Fatah al-Yasser, with its own military wing, the Higher Military Committee.

Many Fatah members blamed their defeat on their leadership, who they said were weak and unprepared.

Although President Abbas has appointed a representative in the strip, Ibrahim Abu Naja, he is not considered charismatic or powerful enough to revive the group’s failed fortunes.

I can’t find news of this anywhere else but the AP story. I don’t doubt its reliability, but I wonder how many Fatah members are actually going to join this group. They always lie about how many thugs they have. And honestly, you really can’t tell when they’re working with each othe and when they’re not half the time, so this could just be a non-news story treated as news.

Meantime, Fatah has cut off all contact with Hamas.

“The Fatah Central Committee decided today not to conduct any kind of contact, dialogue or meetings with Hamas unless it ends its military coup in Gaza and restores the situation to normal,” al-Ahmed said. “Fatah will have no relationship with Hamas on any level.”

Buried deeply within this AP story about Gazans trying to flee to Israel at the Erez crossing is this information:

In related news, Hamas have deployed gunmen along the 8-mile border road separating Egypt from Gaza, and at the Rafah border crossing, to keep people from fleeing into Egypt. Palestinians who tried to leave Gaza via Rafah were turned back at gunpoint.

So. Think the world is going to get on Hamas the way they’re getting on Israel for refusing to let Gazans into Israel?

I’m thinking not. Because here is the lede to the article quoted above:

Hundreds of terrified Gazans fleeing Hamas rule were trapped at a main crossing with Israel on Tuesday, hoping to gain permission to pass through Israeli territory to sanctuary in the West Bank.

Fearing death or persecution, Gazans began flocking to the Erez passage after Hamas militants wrested control of the coastal strip from Fatah security forces late last week. Israel, which has no interest in letting masses of Gazans pass through its territory and possibly destabilize the quieter West Bank, has refused to let most of them in, saying their lives were not in danger.

By Tuesday, about 600 people were holed up in the long, concrete tunnel that leads to the Israeli side of the crossing. Around 100 people belonged to Fatah security forces, but the rest were civilians, seeking a better life in the West Bank.

You see? It’s all about Israel refusing to let Gazans in, nothing about Hamas refusing to let Gazans out. And in the first three paragraphs of the story, nothing about Hamas attacking its own people, trying to scare them out of Erez. Not until paragraph five do you get that news. Remember, three paragraphs is about the most you’ll find in most “World” and “International” news sections of your daily paper. And know that the AP knows this intimately, since they are the premier supplier of international news to American newspapers. Paragraph five:

On Monday, gunmen allied with Hamas disguised themselves as fleeing civilians and hurled hand grenades at Israeli soldiers and Palestinians at Erez, killing a relative of a slain Fatah warlord, and injuring 15 other Palestinians.

And paragraph six, which has even more import to the story:

In a move to maintain order, Israeli tanks and armored vehicles rolled up to the Palestinian side of Erez on Tuesday, chasing away cars parked next to the tunnel, including vehicles belonging to journalists.

The Israeli soldiers are protecting the refugees from the Hamas terrorists who shot them yesterday. Wow. Those Israelis really suck, don’t they? Inconveniencing journalists just so they can stop Hamas from killing more Palestinians.

Because journalists being near the scene is so much more important than protecting civilians. [Insert eye roll here.]

Over the weekend, representatives of the Religion of Peace and Tolerance™ attacked a church and Christian school in Gaza, desecrating the church and its religious items.

The appeal came following a series of attacks on a Christian school and church in Gaza City over the past few days.

Father Manuel Musalam, leader of the small Latin community in the Gaza Strip, said masked gunmen torched and looted the Rosary Sisters School and the Latin Church.

“The masked gunmen used rocket-propelled grenades to storm the main entrances of the school and church,” he said. “Then they destroyed almost everything inside, including the Cross, the Holy Book, computers and other equipment.”

Musalam expressed outrage over the burning of copies of the Bible, noting that the gunmen destroyed all the Crosses inside the church and school. “Those who did these awful things have no respect for Christian-Muslim relations,” he said.

The World Council of Churches, which is going to organize a worldwide protest of the “occupation,” has issued no statement in support of their fellow Christians in Gaza and, in fact, will not be visiting Gaza at all during its mission to look into the situation in Israel and the territories. Instead, they’re condemning Israel. As always.

A Geneva-based church body said Monday it would launch a global initiative to have churches worldwide rally for an end to Israel’s “occupation” of Arab lands seized in the Six Day War.

The World Council of Churches said in a statement that it designated Jordan as a venue for its initiative, which would enlist support from ecclesiastical institutions worldwide.

Nope, you won’t find anything on the WCC site about the church desecrations, but you will find this:

After listening to the Middle Eastern experience, churches from other regions will share lessons learned during deeply rooted conflicts in their countries, including South Africa, Sudan, Colombia and Sri Lanka. The emphasis will be on the churches’ role in peace-making and in sustaining peace when conflicts end.

The meeting will conclude with the launch of an international, inter-church advocacy initiative, the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum. The forum will enable churches around the world to cooperate more closely in advocacy for peace with justice in the Middle East, coordinating existing church advocacy work and promoting new joint efforts for peace. The initiative was approved by the WCC central committee in September last year. Two preparatory meeting have been held.

Holding the conference in Jordan allows a global church initiative with a Middle East focus to begin in close contact with the churches of the region.

The meeting takes place during a month when churches and related organizations around the world have been marking 40 years of Israeli occupation in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights.

Way to go, WCC! Way to miss the forest for the trees.

This looks like a hit to me:

Palestinian gunmen turned their weapons away from each other and towards Israel Monday evening, hurling grenades and opening fire towards IDF soldiers manning the Erez Crossing.

The troops responded with fire. At least one Palestinian was killed - a senior member of Fatah, and a number more were wounded. Palestinian sources said all the casualties were hurt by Palestinian gunfire.

None of the Israeli soldiers were hurt in the incident.

Palestinians identified the casualty as Jihad al-Madhoun, a Fatah activist wanted by Hamas who was apparently specifically targeted.

At first glance, it seems like the Palestinians were trying to make a break through the crossing. But then the article details this:

An initial investigation of the incident found that the Palestinian gunmen reached the crossing from the Palestinian side and open fire towards the crowds gathered there.

The fire endangered the IDF troops at the crossing, and so they responded by opening fire in return.

Funny how the dead man just happens to be high up on a Hamas hit list, isn’t it?

It was a hit. Hamas is so ballsy right now, they hit Fatah in front of the IDF, while trying to make it look like the IDF caused the casualties.

Ha’aretz has more:

Palestinian sources said a gunman on a bicycle came close to the area where the civilians were waiting and threw a grenade and fired several bursts at the people.

[...] Masked Hamas gunmen have erected a roadblock outside the terminal to keep waves of people from rushing to the border, and to look for Fatah officials trying to escape.

On several occasions, gunmen, some from Hamas and others from warring clans, have run into the tunnel, which leads to the border terminal, and fired at those waiting, only to be driven off by Israeli fire and tear gas, witnesses said.

Yep. A hit. They knew he was there. And Hamas has proven they don’t give a damn about civilian casualties, particularly since all the Palestinians in the tunnel are Fatah-affiliated.

Charming people. Let’s give them a state.