Jewish guerrillas told British: quit Palestine or die

Fighters were led by future Israeli premier

A pamphlet warning Britons to leave the Middle East or face death has come to light in a stash of illicit propaganda.

The document does not hail from Basra or Baghdad, nor was it penned by the Islamists of al-Qaeda or the al-Mahdi Army. It was found in Haifa, about 60 years ago, and it was issued by the underground group led by Menachem Begin – the future Prime Minister of Israel and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The document, which surfaced at an auction house this week, is addressed to “the soldiers of the occupation army” and aimed at British soldiers serving in Palestine, then under the British Mandate, preceding the establishment of Israel in 1948. The print has faded and the paper has discoloured since it was unearthed from a grove of trees in Haifa in the summer of 1947. Yet the language and the concerns remain current.

Bombings and murders by underground groups, such as Begin’s Irgun, hastened the British withdrawal and the United Nations declaration that led to the founding of modern Israel.

Irgun propaganda targeted the British Army’s wavering morale, already dented by the bomb attack on the Mandate’s headquarters – the King David Hotel in Jerusalem – which killed 91 people.

In the document, Irgun tells British troops: “It is unavoidable that many Jewish soldiers and many British soldiers should fall. And it is only fair that these people know at least why they may be killed.”

It adds: “Most of you have been in this country for quite a long time. You have learned what the word ‘terrorist’ means, some of you may even have come into direct contact with them (and heartily desire not to repeat the experience). But what do you know about them? Why does a young man go underground?”

It then draws a parallel with what would have happened if, seven years earlier, Britain had been overrun by Nazi Germany. “Remember 1940. Then it seemed quite possible that your island country would be conquered and subjugated by Hitler hordes . . . what would you have done? Would you have gone underground?” The pamphlet says that the occupation is “illegal and immoral” and “parallel to the mass assassination of a whole people”, in language that echoes that used on a note pinned to the booby-trapped bodies of two British intelligence officers executed by Irgun that same summer.

The pamphlet came from a stash confiscated and burnt by cyptographers from the Royal Signals regiment. Corporal Raymond Smith found them buried in a secluded grove marked by a white Star of David and was ordered to destroy them, but took one as a memento. A collector acquired the document from Corporal Smith, and brought it to Mullock’s auctioneers in Shropshire.

Richard Westwood-Brookes, Mullock’s historical documents specialist, said the pamphlet was a remarkable find, which “ amounted to a manifesto for terrorist action”. He added: “It also raises the question as to who are ‘terrorists’ and who are ‘freedom fighters’. It’s a debate which raged through the troubles of Northern Ireland and continues in the Middle East.”

Begin’s Irgun set aside its differences with Haganah, a rival underground Jewish group led by David Ben Gurion – the first Prime Minister of Israel, who once likened Begin to Adolf Hitler.

Begin forged a political career as a hardliner, but, after becoming Prime Minister, signed the Camp David agreement with Egypt in 1979.

The pamphlet, which is expected to fetch about £500, goes on sale at Mullock’s, in Shropshire, on August 6.

Nablus / Amin Abu Wardeh – Poverty and destruction are ravaging the Old City of Nablus as Israel forces continue to the attacks and closures. More families are living in smaller spaces, with one room becoming common. Bringing food for a family is increasingly difficult.

The Old City has a population of 30,000 and it has been referred to as a “disaster area.” The ancient buildings are frequently destroyed, while the tanks or bulldozers that periodically plow through shake the underground Roman city to the point of further destruction.

The Every Human Has Rights Media Awards

NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE

Israeli forces attack summer camp One-room houses in the stories of struggle and hunger Human rights weekly report on situation in West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip VP European Parliament: Tony Blair is not performing his duty Kuttab to PNN: new pediatric hospital to give boost to level of care Tawjihi results to be announced on Friday Further travel restrictions in and out of West Bank Attacks on Nablus continue: two injuries, eight arrests EU, Greek Parliament, foreign supporters attacked during anti-Wall nonviolent Palestinian demo Taybeh Oktoberfest Boosts Economy Palestinian students light up the streets after passing the Tawjihi Nonviolent resistance alive in western Ramallah: 7 injuries Politics, religion and nationalism was the message at this wedding Bethlehem Branch of Edward Said National Conservatory of Music lays cornerstone Nonviolent resistance continues in western Ramallah, 16 injured Companies involved in settlement building being taken to court Israeli settlers continue attempts to overtake area of Beit Sahour for new settlement Settlers attack town in southern Nablus Israeli settlers use religious visits as reason to control Palestinian land Palestinian sources to PNN: latest crime by Israeli settlers under protection of soldiers Threat to demolish more Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, legal battle underway PCHR commends UNICEF stance against illegal Israeli settlements Official report: Israeli military watched settlers set blaze to Palestinian lands Thanks to the Al Adalah organization and local efforts, UNICEF cuts ties to Leviev East Jerusalem demonstration protests Wall in Beit Hanina Four years after International Court of Justice said no more, the Wall still stands Israeli forces end four day siege on Nil'in The only hope for the people of the village of Beit Hanina The Wall is slowly strangling the economic and social fabric of Al Ram Mock projectile launches at Wall in Tulkarem Fourth Annual International Israeli Apartheid Week is launched Confiscation in Bethlehem: Road 60 closed for four hours while bulldozers destroy Al Khader lands Israeli forces wage arrest campaign in Nablus: take 15 Possible prisoner exchange leaves questions for thousands of families: who will make the list Prisoner released after spending a third of his life in prison; family was separated for 22 years Human rights report indicates barbaric methods used during 243 arrests in June Israeli forces arrest 24 Palestinians from two Nablus families Israelis refuse 75 percent of names presented by Hamas for release from prison Zahalka: torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons is the rule, not the exception 31 years in Israeli prison, Abu Hasira calls for unified position to face Israeli schemes

The notoriously inaccurate DalyTech site broke the ’story’:

The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming.

Shorty afterward deniers sites like the ironically named Junk Science were claiming that the APS “has declared that there is no scientific consensus that humans are causing global warming.” Deniers were dancing in the streets because the dreaded consensus was finally challenged by a credible academic society.

Except it wasn’t being challenged; a non-scientific post on a forum is not a challenge to the scientific consensus. The APS quickly realizing that the misinformation was spreading like a wildfire, and posted this on their main page:

APS Position Remains Unchanged

The American Physical Society reaffirms the following position on climate change, adopted by its governing body, the APS Council, on November 18, 2007:

“Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are changing the atmosphere in ways that affect the Earth’s climate.”

In fact to further highlight the absurdity of the claims made by the deniers the paper in question was prefaced by the following statement:

The following article has not undergone any scientific peer review. Its conclusions are in disagreement with the overwhelming opinion of the world scientific community. The Council of the American Physical Society disagrees with this article’s conclusions.

Unfortunately as has been proved time and time again such ‘nuance’ is completely lost on deniers. And when rational people pointed out that they got the story completely wrong and should issue a correction, sites like Junk Science decided to issue an insult instead.

When the APS, in language appropriately restrained, posted a clarification on its site, drawing reader attention to the consensus statement that still represents the collective view of American physicists, Milloy, rather than apologizing, accused APS President Arthur Bienenstock of cowardice in the face of political controversy, and suggested that the APS is on the verge of a Nazi purge of those who disagree with the majority view (”Nacht der langen Messer,” in M’Lie’s words).

This is denial at its finest. It it any wonder why we don’t take them seriously?

UPDATE: While Monkton’s crackpot theories have been already been thoroughly debunked, Tim Lambert over at the Deltoid blog has done an excellent job of debunking the specific paper in question.

What Monckton is doing is double counting his (dubious) evidence that sensitivity is lower than the IPCC number. If he had two pieces of evidence that sensitivity is half the IPCC number he would multiply them together to claim that sensitivity is one quarter the IPCC number. This is not correct.

Too put it another way, in this case, by making some unrealistic assumptions he came up with a sensitivity estimate 20% less than the IPCC number i.e. 2.4K. Logically he should have stopped there — he has an estimate of sensitivity. Instead he uses this estimate of sensitivity in a chain of reasoning that leads him to conclude that sensitivity is 0.58K.

This is why any papers that doesn’t meet the minimum standard of peer-review isn’t considered part of the scientific debate.

Posted By Cernig

Obama has gained a massive boost for his withdrawal plan with the Iraqi PM citing it approvingly by name - and that's leading various rightwing pundits to claim that Democrats are poaching the success of the Surge (which they're keen to remind folk that Edwards once called "The McCain Doctrine") as, without the Surge, Iraq wouldn't be stable enough for withdrawal talk.

That's a bit revisionist, to say the least. For one thing, it forgets that many Dems called for more troops in Iraq (and a better plan than de-establishing the entire pre-existant Iraqi state) in the first place, but were told no by the Bush administration who stuck to its guns of no "Surge" for four long years. By the time the actual Surge came around, many Dems objected on the basis that the extra troops being sent were too little, too late and would put an intolerable stress on the military's operation in Iraq and elsewhere - especially Afghanistan. We were wrong that there would be no widescale reduction in violence - but we didn't factor in the Awakenings or Sadr's ceasefire. No-one did, and it's quite possible to imagine that without those two additional factors - which weren't part of the original Surge planning but were quickly seized upon and capatalised upon by commanders - the Surge would have been just as much of a failure in a tactical sense as we imagined.

In a strategic sense, though, we were absolutely correct and the Surge was indeed a failure. Reconcilliation has been sidestepped, baulked and stymied at every turn by Maliki's Green Zone elite, especially the Shiite Dawa and ISCI parties. Even now, with news that the main Sunni bloc has managed a return to government after months of being told their ministerial candidates weren't Shiite enough, the only reason for this repproachment is that the Sunni and Shiite Green Zone exiles have found ample reason to form a temporary alliance against upstart political grassroots movements that threaten their exclusive hold on the government's oil-fed coffers.

Provincial elections have become a bone of contention between Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites - with Maliki using the armed forces as his allies' main election campaign tool. T he Sadrist movement is becoming increasingly restless in holding to its ceasefire. Anbar could still go rapidly to hell again as intra -Sunni rivalry threatens to derail both the elections and the handover of security from U.S. forces. Iraq is not a country that can be described as stable, nor is it a place where we can say with any equanimity that the massive violence of 2007 is a phenomenon it has moved past - and there's no indication that situation will improve in the forseeable future. The Surge, therefore, has failed in its strategic goals.

But this doesn't mean we should forget about withdrawal and stay until Iraq is "fixed". It never did. For all his failings, Maliki is now publicly articulating one simple truth - Iraq belongs to the Iraqis. We didn't break it and therefore own it, we simply broke it. Opponents of the long Iraqi occupation have known this all along; that no matter the situation it was primarily the responsibility of Iraqis to sort out as they might, as they wished. The shop owners are now asking us in no uncertain terms to leave their premises and it is incumbent on us, having overstayed our welcome by four years, to do so. The Obama/Maliki Doctrine isn't capitulation and it isn't surrender - it is giving Iraqis their country back.