Does the reader recall the Dead Sea Scrolls? They are a collection of 972 texts written on parchments of deerskin or papyrus, which were found between 1947 and 1956 in 11 caves, west of the Dead Sea. The scrolls were written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, and have shown that the events recorded in what has been translated so far contradict the accounts, or myths, of the Torah, to the extent that the process of translating them ground to a halt at a later time. I was reminded of the scrolls as I read that 70 texts written on small parchments were found where the borders of Syria, Jordan and Palestine meet near the Sea of Galilee. They date back to the early Christian era, and were probably written during the life of Jesus Christ. I consulted Dr. Walid Khalidi's Book “Lest We Forget” about the cities, towns and regions of Palestine. I tried to find the places where the manuscripts were found, and I indeed found some, but not all. I was afraid to be wrong because this topic needs an expert archaeologist, not a journalist, and so I stopped. Today, I will limit myself to making a quick observation on this topic, which is that while Christian and Muslim antiquities in Palestine are known and existent, there are no similar Jewish antiquities as such, there. When the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, they were found to contradict the accounts of the Torah. I thus argue that their history is faked and that it is promoted by thieves. I continue with other news: - Around this time every year, I receive an invitation to attend a media conference in Kazakhstan, but I decline it because I do not know anyone in the country, and have no idea about who the participants are. A few days ago, I was reading about the ongoing dispute between President Nursultan Nazarbayev and his ex son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev, who came to the United States. Both men hired lobbying companies, and involved the White House and Congress in their quarrel. Perhaps I would not have read the news story to the end were it not for that conference that I do not attend. I was surprised after this to find that there is an Arab angle to this issue. Aliyev had hired a small lobbying group co-managed by Tanya Rahall, the sister of Congressman Nick Rahall, who is a Democrat from West Virginia. He is also a friend of Representative Darrell Issa, a Republican from California, and both Rahall and he are of Lebanese extraction. The company is currently defending a relative of Aliyev called DaVinci Hourani; an oil company owned by Hourani had been seized in Kazakhstan. Hourani is also an Arab name, and the name of the mayor of Marjayoun, a friend of mine, is Amal Hourani. Until further notice, the only beneficiary of the dispute between the President and his former son in law are the U.S. lobbying groups. - I stay with the U.S. The Central Intelligence Agency published documents dating back to 1917 and 1918, including some of the secrets of the profession. They can all be read on the Freedom of Information Act website. I found six documents, the funniest of which was a ‘recipe' for making invisible ink, followed by another that teaches the U.S. Postal Service Inspectors how to detect letters written in invisible, or secret ink. I also read about a chemical preparation for opening letters without tearing them, with the only caveat being that the spy must not inhale the preparation's fumes. All these documents are now at the disposal of any potential spy. - The Jordanian writer Ihsan al-Faqih responded caustically to a Kuwaiti journalist who wrote a racist article about Jordan's accession to the GCC, followed by Dr. Mohammed Mesfer who cast the final blow in a similar article. The tradition in journalism, as I learned it and practiced it in London, is that it is the right of the writer to criticize a person or persons as this is an opinion. However, it is not allowed to criticize an entire people because that would be racism forbidden by law. For this reason, I criticize the “Likudniks” as sharply as possible, but not the Jews. When I criticized 36 tribal figures and their statement, I purposely praised the tribes because criticizing personalities is an opinion and a right to the person who does it, while criticizing an entire people is punishable by law. This is in fact an important issue in the profession which underscores the difference between a true professional and an incompetent journalist. [email protected]
