ARABS PROTEST ISRAEL - PA SO CALLED PEACE TALKS-I SAY FORCED ON ISRAEL TALKS

Synagogue Vandalized in Jerusalem

Bnei Akiva counselors horrified to find crude graffiti, mistreated Torah scroll in chapter's synagogue.

By Maayana Miskin-First Publish: 8/23/2013, 11:44 AM-Israelnationalnews

Defaced Torah scroll (illustrative)-Mateh Binyamin Regional Council

Bnei Akiva counselors who arrived at the headquarters of the group’s Shunra branch in the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood in northern Jerusalem on Tuesday morning were horrified to discover that the center, which includes a synagogue, had been badly vandalized.Arutz Sheva spoke to chapter manager Dana Amar, who said the vandalism included “destruction of property and graphic images. Even in our synagogue.”
“They opened the ark [where Torah scrolls are stored – ed.] and took the Torah scroll out of its covering. Apparently they also broke into the supply room and took things out.”The Torah scroll had been flung to the ground.Among the graphic images on the walls was writing in Arabic. Amar said it was not clear who had carried out the attack, but noted that construction workers doing a project in the building above may have had access to the area.The counselors have reported the incident to the heads of Bnei Akiva in Jerusalem, but have not yet filed a complaint with police.The counselors forwarded pictures of the vandalism to Arutz Sheva, but it was decided not to print the pictures due to their highly graphic nature.

Gaza Residents Protest Israeli-PA Peace Talks

Hundreds of people protested against Israeli-PA peace talks, in marches organized by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups.-By Elad Benari, Canada-First Publish: 8/23/2013, 9:08 PM-INN

Gaza protest (archive)-Flash 90

As Israeli and Palestinian Authority negotiators continue the current round of United States-brokered peace talks, residents of Gaza, where Hamas rules, are protesting against the talks.The AFP news agency reported that hundreds of people in Gaza protested on Friday against Israeli-PA peace talks, in marches organized by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups.Marchers set off from mosques across the coastal strip before converging on a square in the middle of Gaza City, with protesters brandishing signs saying "No to negotiations" and slamming Ramallah-based PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's "political failure."Hamas' religious affairs minister Ismail Radwan addressed the group's arch-rival Abbas in a speech during the protests."All the Palestinian factions say you don't have the right to relinquish any piece of our land, or to give up Palestinian rights," he said, according to AFP."Returning to talks is a blow to the jihad and to the sacrifices of our people, the blood of our martyrs and to our prisoners behind bars in Israel," Radwan said.

Shortly after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced a resumption of negotiations, Hamas rejected a return to Israeli-PA peace talks.A spokesman for the Hamas government said at the time that "whoever negotiates on the part of the people who is not chosen by them, represents only himself. The Palestinian people will not accept this."Abbas’s term as PA Chairman officially ended more than four years ago, but he continues in his role despite no one having given him the mandate to do so. The PA parliament which was elected for a four-year term in 2005 has yet to be dissolved, despite the fact that nearly two terms have already passed since its election.Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said earlier this month that the talks were "futile.""We renew our rejection of these futile talks, and consider them purely a means for the occupation (Israel) to look good to the international community," he said.Abbas, who heads Hamas's longtime rival faction Fatah, and his negotiating team "have no legitimacy" to represent the “Palestinian people” in talks, Zahar emphasized.(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)

Hezbollah Condemns Bomb Attacks in Tripoli

"These twin terrorist explosions are part of a criminal plan aiming to plant the seeds of strife," says Hezbollah after Tripoli attacks.-By Elad Benari, Canada-First Publish: 8/23/2013, 8:38 PM-Israelnationalnews

Smoke rises outside al-Taqwa mosque in Tripoli after bomb attack-Reuters

Hezbollah condemned on Friday the explosions in the northern city of Tripoli, saying the attacks seek to divide the region by inciting sectarian clashes."These twin terrorist explosions are part of a criminal plan aiming to plant the seeds of strife between Lebanese and drag them into fighting under the banner of confessionalism and sectarianism,” Hezbollah said in a statement quoted by the Lebanese Daily Star.

“[This] in turn serve pernicious international designs to divide the region and drown in blood and fire,” the terror group said.Hezbollah condemned the deadly attack and said it was “a continuation of a project that seeks to drag Lebanon into chaos and fulfill the goals of the Zionist enemy and those backing it.”“We voice solidarity with our brothers and people of Tripoli in these tragic times when innocent blood is being spilled with no reason,” the group said.It also called on local figures to be wise and refrain from responding to what Hezbollah described as “rumors and accusations that seek to destroy this country and its people.” Meanwhile, the death toll from the powerful car bombs which exploded outside two Sunni mosques has gone up to 42, the highest toll in an attack since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, according to the AFP news agency.Earlier, the Lebanese Red Cross earlier said there were also at least 500 wounded, with director Georges Kettaneh adding that many of those hurt had serious burns and head wounds.Both blasts hit at the hour of weekly Muslim prayers, in a city where Sunni supporters of Syria's rebels engage in frequent, often deadly, clashes with Alawites, who back the Assad regime.The first bomb struck in the city centre at the Al-Salam mosque as worshippers were still inside. The second explosion struck outside Al-Taqwa mosque near the port.The attacks in Tripoli come a week after a bombing in the Beirut bastion of Hezbollah, a close ally of Bashar Al-Assad, which killed 20 people.That attack was claimed by a previously-unknown Sunni Islamist group, who threatened more attacks in revenge for Hezbollah participation in the killing of Sunnis in Syria.The attacks also come one day after a leading supporter of Hezbollah was assassinated in Tripoli.

The man, Hassan Al-Mouri, Al-Mouri was gunned down by "masked men on motorbikes," along with a security official and a bystander.(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)

UK: Assad behind chemical weapons attack

Chances that Syrian opposition is responsible for massacre near Damascus are ‘vanishingly small,’ says Foreign Secretary Hague

By AP August 23, 2013, 7:42 pm 0-The Times of Israel

LONDON — Foreign Secretary William Hague says Britain believes the regime of Syria’s President Bashar Assad carried out a chemical weapons attack near Damascus that killed scores of people.Hague said Friday the only “plausible explanation for casualties so intense in such a small area” was a chemical attack.

In a statement on TV, he said chances the Syrian opposition was behind the attack were “vanishingly small. We do believe this is a chemical attack by the Assad regime on a large scale.”Hague said UN chemical weapons inspectors must be given immediate access to the site.Hague did not echo a French statement that force could be used if the attack is proven to be the work of the regime. But he said “we don’t rule out any option for the future.”

Egypt protests fizzle with Brotherhood in disarray

‘Friday of Martyrs’ fails to draw large crowds, as military blocks major streets and barricades Tahrir Square

August 23, 2013, 8:27 pm 0-The Times of Israel

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s military turned out in force as thousands calling for the ousted president’s reinstatement held scattered protests across Cairo, but the Muslim Brotherhood failed to bring out huge numbers in a sign that an intense crackdown has dealt a serious blow to the 85-year-old group’s support base.In a day dubbed the “Friday of Martyrs,” Islamists in groups of hundreds, chanted against the military and held up posters of deposed leader Mohammed Morsi on side streets and outside neighborhood mosques. At least one person was killed in clashes in the Delta city of Tanta, but there was no major fighting.

Thousands marched through the streets of Cairo’s Nasr City district, some chanting: “We are willing to sacrifice our lives” and “We promise the martyrs that we will end military rule,” in reference to the several hundred people that died in clashes with Egypt’s military during raids on street camps this month. One man held aloft a picture of Morsi with the words, “the legitimate president.”But large rallies taking over main streets and squares failed to materialize as armored vehicles and soldiers were deployed outside mosques and other strategic areas. The military also closed off main streets, some flyovers and barricaded Tahrir Square and other plazas in a show of force aimed at preventing the pro-Morsi camp from gathering en masse.Armored vehicles surrounded the presidential palace and blocked the Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque, where Morsi supporters had held a sit-in for weeks that was violently dispersed on Aug. 14, resulting in the deaths of hundreds.The low turnout signaled the Muslim Brotherhood was having difficultie putting on a large show of dissent after an exceptionally violent week and the arrests of nearly all of the group’s senior leaders, including its spiritual guide Mohammed Badie. Another 80 Brotherhood members, including senior leaders and spokesmen, were taken into custody on Thursday, ahead of the planned rallies.Authorities also have imposed a strictly enforced dusk to dawn curfew over the past week in Cairo and other provinces, emptying streets by nightfall.It was difficult for the media to even find a Brotherhood official for comment.The protests that did occur paled in comparison to last week’s demonstrations when the capital descended into chaos as tens of thousands of Morsi supporters went out in defiance of the military’s newly introduced emergency measures. Last Friday, vigilantes at neighborhood checkpoints battled Morsi supporters across the capital in unprecedented clashes between residents that left 82 people dead — 72 civilians and 10 policemen.

One pro-Morsi protester, 47-year-old Mohamed Ahmed, insisted the movement against what the Brotherhood calls an “illegitimate” coup would continue.“Everybody knows there could be a bloodbath. But as long as we are fighting for our rights, with God’s will, we will win,” he said as he joined protesters gathering outside a mosque following prayers in Giza, a satellite city of Cairo and home to the famous Pyramids.“There were many arrests lately among the Brotherhood ranks. The army and the police are killing people so they can impose their will and their power. But they will fail because after the revolution people are not afraid anymore,” he added.Few clashes broke out between the demonstrators and locals who largely pelted each with rocks. Police fired tear gas to stop rival camps from clashing knives and birdshot in the Delta city of Tanta. One pro-Morsi supporter was killed and 26 were injured in the fighting, a local medical official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

On the other side of the political divide, demonstrations against the release of deposed leader Hosni Mubarak, who was placed under house arrest in a military hospital in southern Cairo, also drew low numbers. Dozens of anti-Morsi and anti-Mubarak protesters held a rally outside Cairo’s high court amid tight security.Mubarak is still facing trial on charges of complicity in the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the 2011 uprising against him. But his release was viewed by many who rebelled against him as a setback in their campaign to hold him accountable for years of abuse and corruption.But in a sign of the country’s deep division, one group that had spearheaded the 2011 revolution against the autocrat called off its rally against Mubarak’s release. The April 6 group said it wanted to avoid being joined by pro-Morsi supporters “who may take advantage of (our) mobilization for their own interests.”Morsi was ousted after millions took to the streets to call for him to step down, accusing him of trying to monopolize power, letting his Muslim Brotherhood take over state institutions and ignoring calls for real reform. His defenders counter that he was up against pro-Mubarak officials who conspired to block him, and that the military leadership sought to undermine Egypt’s progress toward democracy.Since Morsi’s ouster, hundreds of Egyptians have been killed in the worst bout of violence since 2011.Despite the standoff, the military-backed interim government pushed ahead with its road map for a post-Morsi political transition. A first draft of an amended version of the now-suspended constitution was finalized and published in local media, the first step toward changing the Islamist-backed charter that fueled opposition to Morsi.The Brotherhood’s political party said on its Facebook page that the Friday rallies were against the coup and were seeking to “recapture” the spirit of the 18-day uprising that ousted Mubarak in 2011. But the numbers remained in the hundreds and thousands by nightfall.Many protesters raised yellow stickers showing an open palm with four raised fingers, which has become a symbol for the main sit-in that was disbanded violently near the Rabaah al-Adawiya mosque. In northern Cairo, demonstrators raised a banner that read: “Mubarak and his aides acquitted while the Egyptian people are hanged.”Somaya Mahfouz, a member of the Brotherhood political party who took part in a protest in Giza, shouted at passing cars: “Mubarak is coming back to rule us again.”Angrily she said: “What is happening now has nothing to do with the Brotherhood. It is a war against Islam.”