25-Feb-13: Whipping up the flames a little more, and riding the tiger

From the BBC website

In a rare resort to large-scale pomp and ceremony, the PA leadership is seeking to squeeze every drop of rage and fury out of the death in custody of a prisoner who, as far as the available medical evidence suggests, may have died of heart attack.

This is from the BBC's report: "Palestinian detainee Arafat Jaradat's funeral held")

The funeral of a Palestinian who died in Israeli custody on Saturday, fuelling riots, is taking place near the West Bank city of Hebron. Palestinians say Arafat Jaradat, 30, died from torture, while Israel says a post-mortem was inconclusive and that investigations into his death continue. There were clashes across the West Bank on Sunday, while prisoners refused food in protest at Mr Jaradat's death. It follows days of violence amid protest over Palestinian detainees. Mr Jaradat, from the West Bank village of Saeer, was arrested last week for throwing a rock which injured an Israeli citizen, Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet said. The father-of-two died six days later at Meggido prison, from what the Israel Prison Service (IPS) said appeared to be a heart attack. Palestinian officials, however, said an autopsy, carried out by Israeli morticians, showed he had suffered two broken ribs and had bruising. "[Arafat Jaradat] faced harsh torture, leading to his immediate, direct death. Israel is fully responsible for his killing,'' Palestinian minister of prisoner affairs Issa Karake said. Israel's health ministry said the injuries were likely the result of attempts to resuscitate Mr Jaradat, and that the cause of his death had not been determined by the post-mortem [more]

Do morticians (funeral undertakers) actually carry out autopsies in the towns where the BBC's reporters come from?

The BBC is kind enough to let us see how Mahmoud Abbas' circle are working hard to make the most of the moment as "spontaneous" riots and rock-throwing attacks at Israeli passers-by grow more numerous and more violent...

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said Israel's treatment of prisoners and violence by Jewish settlers were to blame for the upsurge in anger.

25,000 are attending the Jaradat funeral as we write this. How many of the speeches will be devoted to calling for a moment of introspection on the part of those present before they plunge into another round of miserable, self-destructive conflict with their neighbours?

The overall goal is not that hard to divine. The prominent Israeli commentator Dan Margalit who writes for the Hebrew edition of Israel Hayom is quoted here saying that PA President Mahmoud Abbas wants to generate unrest ahead of Barack H. Obama’s visit to the area next month.

Abbas chose to ride on the back of a tiger, and is likely to lose control of his conduct. There are members of the PA who are interested in renewing the violence and they back Hamas supporters in the West Bank...

As the popular saying goes, the thing about riding a tiger is figuring out how to get off without being mauled. Assuming, that is, you want to get off at all.

By the way, we're waiting to see if anyone in the media picks up on the other member of the Jaradat clan who was in the news a few months ago. We wrote about her here: "19-Oct-12: Lawyers and killing children - there is a connection and it's much larger than you might guess".