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44 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE Hamas Boasts of Human Shields Hamas MP Fathi Hammad boasted of using women, children and the elderly as human shields in firefights with Israeli soldiers, in a video which was aired on Al-Aqsa TV on Feb. 29. Following massive rocket bombardments of Jewish cities by Palestinian ter- rorists, Israel launched ground and air assaults on Hamas positions in Gaza. Hamas had been firing long-range Grad rockets at the strategic port city of Ashkelon, home to about 125,000 Israelis. During the fighting, Hamas has been drawing Israeli forces into populated civilian areas, shooting at Israeli fighters from occupied civilian homes while women and children are inside. –MEMRI First-Temple Remains Found The Israel Antiquities Authority recently announced that remains from the First Temple period have been exposed close to the Temple Mount, according to Israel National News. A layer of finds from the latter part of the First Temple period (8th-6th centuries B.C.E.) has been discovered near the Western Wall plaza. The remains of a street from the 2nd century C.E. were uncovered, paved with large heavy limestone that were set atop the First Temple layer, a road which protected artifacts from being plundered. Another artifact found in the salvage excavations is a Hebrew seal made of a semi-precious stone that was inlaid in a ring. The name of the owner of the seal has been preserved, and it reads: “[Belonging] to Netanyahu ben [son of] Yaush.” Though each of the two names are not unfamiliar, no one with that name is known to scholars of the period. A vast amount of pottery vessels was also discovered. An inscription written in ancient Hebrew script is preserved on one of these impressions, reading “[Belonging] to the King of Hevron.” –CM Staff Abbas Proud to Have Taught Terror to World Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that he was “honored” to have fired the first bullet of the Fatah terror organiza- tion in 1965, and to have taught terror tactics around the world, including to such groups as Hizbullah. In an in-depth interview published in the Jordanian daily Al-Dustur, Abbas also said that the PA is “unable” to pursue armed conflict for now, but said that “in the future stages things may be different.” He rejected Israel as a Jewish state, and said that it was the PA’s rejection of Israel’s Jewishness that almost aborted the Annapolis Conference. Abbas said that he won’t demand that Hamas recognize Israel. In fact, as PMW has reported in the past, he said that the only “recognition” of Israel he demands of a Palestinian unity govern- ment is to recognize Israel as its adversary. –Palestinian Media Watch Resolution Recognizes Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries The House Foreign Affairs committee unanimously approved a Congressional Resolution (H.Res.185), which recognizes the plight of hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees displaced from countries in the Middle East, North Africa and the Persian Gulf. The resolution was introduced by Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Rep. Mike Ferguson (R-NJ). “Today, the House Foreign Affairs Committee recognized the suffering and terrible injustices visited upon Jewish refugees in the Middle East,” said Rep. Nadler. “It is simply not right to recognize the rights of Palestinian refugees without recognizing the rights of Jewish refugees, who, in fact, outnumbered their Palestinian counterparts.” According to Congressman Ferguson, “This important resolution urges the international community to treat all refugees in the Middle East, North Africa and the Persian Gulf equally.” Rep. Ros-Lehtinen stated, “…any comprehensive Middle East peace agreement can only be credible and enduring if it does justice for the rights of all refugees in the Middle East.” Following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, the status of Jews in Arab and Muslim countries changed dramatically. When virtually all of Israel’s neighbors declared or supported war on the Jewish state, approximately 850,000 refugees were forc- ibly expelled from their homes. Others became political hos- tages. In virtually all cases, indi- vidual and communal properties were seized and/or confiscated by governments without any compensation provided. The Nadler Resolution urges the President to ensure that when the issue of Middle East refugees is discussed in interna- tional forums, any reference to Palestinian refugees be matched by a similarly explicit reference to Jewish and other refugee populations. –CM Staff the international community Country Refugees Morocco 265,000 Algeria 140,000 Tunisia 105,000 Libya 38,000 Egypt 75,000 Lebanon 6,000 Syria 30,000 Iraq 150,000 Iran 100,000 Afghanistan 5,000 Pakistan 2,000 Yemen 63,000 Ethiopia 23,270 Total 1,002,270