Arafat's Yahrzeit at the Muqata...

Arafat's Yahrzeit at the Muqata Compound in Ramallah this past Sunday...

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May his neshama have a "yerida"

On Sunday, representatives of Neturei Karta participated in the annual memorial service in Ramallah marking the day of the passing of PLO Chairman Yassir Arafat. They stood out in the crowd in their black clothes, each wearing identification tags over a background of a Palestinian flag.

During his speech at the gathering, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas restated his intention of petitioning the United Nation’s general assembly this month to grant the Palestinian Authority the status of an observer state. (Crown Heights Info)

And in honor of the yahrtzeit...the Palestinian Authority is having Arafat's corpse exhumed.

Did someone say I'm being exhumed?!?

"Today they started removing concrete and stones from Arafat's mausoleum and the work will last for almost 15 days," the source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"There are several phases," he said, referring to the operation to open the tomb ahead of a visit by French, Swiss and Russian experts to test forensically Arafat's remains over suspicions he was poisoned with the radioactive substance polonium.

"It starts with the removal of stone and concrete and cutting the iron (framework) until they reach the soil that covers the body, which will not be removed until the arrival of the French prosecutors, Swiss experts and Russian investigators," the source said.

On Monday, Arafat's mausoleum, which is located at the Muqataa presidential headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah was screened from public view with blue tarpaulins ahead of the operation to open the grave.

Work to actually begin taking samples is expected to begin at the end of the month after the French and Swiss delegations arrive on November 26, officials have said.

"Because of Arafat's position and his status, no one will be allowed, under any circumstances, to photograph his body while the samples are taken," the source told AFP.

Arafat died in a military hospital near Paris on November 11, 2004 and with French experts unable to say what had killed him.

Many Palestinians are convinced he was poisoned by Israel. Daily Telegraph

The Muqata is the only blog to have received a photo of the exhumed corpse of yasser Arafat....

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Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

IDF Press Conference on Death of Abu Rahma

10 PM - Exclusive Update:

Senior IDF military sources briefed an exclusive group of bloggers this evening on the events surrounding this past Friday's Bilin demonstration and the "alleged tear gassing to death" of a Palestinian woman, Jawaher Abu Rahma.

IDF: We have reason to believe that the death 2 days ago was because of another reason than what the Palestinians are claiming (tear gas inhalation).

Facts: Abu Rahma's documented lab work is dated on Friday at 2:45 PM.
Her admission time to the ER in the same Ramallah hospital was 3:20 PM.

Hospital Lab work is usually done after you arrive at the hospital, not before you arrive.

There is no hospital ER admission report, no ER summary report, and no hospital records of this woman.

The official PA Ramallah Hospital's death certificate for Abu Rahma states as the cause of death as follows (this is word for word):

Cause of death “Inhaling gas of an Israeli solider according to the family”

That is the entire medical basis for the family's allegations.

We know this woman visited the same hospital 10 days ago and many other times in the past month. When we looked at the medication she was taking – it was for cancer.

We have never heard of anyone dying from inhaling tear gas (5 years of experience with this particular tear gas). There were hundreds of other rioters in the same open air location, in broad daylight and yet she was the only one "allegedly" affected by the gas.

Palestinians claim she has been participating in the riots for the past 5 years as her brother is the head leader of the weekly Bil'in riots.

However, there are no photos of this woman participating at this riot or ANY riot over the past 5 years, and these riots occur on a weekly basis and are heavily photographed and documented.

We always see photos of rioters – yet this time, no photos appeared of this woman.

We believe there are many unsolved questions – and our assumptions are:

1. Abu Rahma wasn't event at the riot
2. Abu Rahma died at her home
3. Abu Rahma was chronically ill

Additionally, the IDF buys this tear gas/riot-dispersal method from companies abroad, and this is the same non-lethal tear gas used by riot control forces around the Western world.

More details to be updated here in a few minutes (10:00 PM)

Update; 10:04 PM

IDF has heard about the honor killing theory, that Abu Rahma was stabbed to death for being pregnant as a family "honor killing", however they cannot confirm this and the direction they currently are progressing is more in towards death from a chronic illness.

Israel's High Court ruled that the IDF must change the path of the security fence to go outside of Bil'in, thereby agreeing to the Palestinian claims. The new fence is under construction and should be completed within a few months. The IDF will remove the older fence once the new one is complete -- therefore the current riots are completely propaganda.

Abu Rahma's brother was the primary leader of the riots – therefore we would expect his sister to be by his side – but there’s no documentation of her being at any of the riots over the past 5 years, or at this one in particular.

Lastly, the reports to the press and IDF from the Palestinians is that 1 person was lightly wounded in the riot, and released from the Ramallah hospital to their home, an hour after admittance. The reports were changed later that two people in total were lightly wounded and released after an hour.

--Jameel


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