I am willing to meet any Arab leader, even in Riyadh

by Findalis

In an unprecedented speech at Tel Aviv’s Bar-Ilan University, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke those words.

In the same speech he uttered the words: Palestinian State. The first Prime Minister of Israel to do so. But he also laid down quite a few conditions for there to be peace between the 2 peoples:

“I turn to you, our Palestinian neighbors,” he said, let us start negotiations for peace immediately. I say to you – we want to live with you in peace and good neighborly relations. I want our children will dream of a better future and realize it. That we will put our energy into plowshares and pruning scissors, not swords… I do not want war. No one in Israel wants war. Let us join hands and work at peace. There is no end to the flourishing we can bring to our two nations.”

“The simple truth,” he added however, “is that the root of the conflict is the refusal to accept the Jewish people’s right to exist in its historic homeland. Whoever thinks that the enmity to Israel is the result of our occupying Judea and Samaria is confusing cause and effect.” He then enumerated instances of Arab belligerence against the Jews in the Land of Israel before 1967.

The closer we come to a peace the more the Palestinians move away, he said. “Every retreat by us was met with thousands of suicide terror bombings and rockets.”

“We vacated the Gaza Strip to the last centimeter and received a rain of missiles on our communities and our children. Hamas and Hizbullah keep saying that their aim is to free Akko, Beersheva and Haifa. Even the moderate Palestinians, even now, are unwilling to say the simplest thing: Israel is the state of the Jewish People and it will stay that way.”

He added: “In order to achieve peace one needs courage and honesty on both sides – not just the Israeli side. The Palestinian leadership must recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people.”

“The demand to settle Palestinian refugees inside Israel is incompatible with the continued existence of Israel as a Jewish state,” he said. “It is possible to solve this problem outside the borders of Israel. There is wide national agreement about this among us.”

“Judea and Samaria are not a foreign country for us. This is the land of our forefathers. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The right of the Jewish people over our country does not come from the suffering we have been through. Some say if it weren’t for the Holocaust there would be no State if Israel. But I say that if Israel had been established n time there would not have been a Holocaust,” Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s long standing desire for peace. A desire held by all Israelis since the founding of the nation in 1948.

“Peace has always been our objective,” Netanyahu began. “Our prophets always envisioned peace; we bless each other with Shalom; our prayers end in peace.”

The prime minister said that he was willing to meet any Arab leader anywhere.

“I turn to Arab leaders: Let’s make peace, I am ready,” Netahyahu said. “I am willing to go to Damascus; Riyadh, to meet anytime and anywhere.“

Netanyahu also warned of the threat emanating from Iran, saying, “The biggest threat to Israel, and the middle east and all of humanity is the meeting between radical Ismalism and nuclear weaponry.”

Netanyahu called on the Palestinians to “begin peace talks immediately, and with no preconditions.”

The prime minister continued to speak of the heavy toll the ongoing conflict has taken, mentioning his being a bereaved brother.

“I don’t want war. Nobody in Israel wants war,” he said to applause.

“If the advantages of peace are so clear, we must ask – why is peace still far? What is perpetuating the conflict for over 60 years? We must reach the root of the struggle,” Netanyahu ascertained.

“Let me use the most simple words – the root of the struggle is the refusal to recognize the Israel as the Jewish state. The initial Arab refusal was to a Jewish state in any location, before Israeli presence in the West Bank,” continued Netanyahu.

“The closer we get to an agreement with the Palestinians, the further it is rejected. We tried a withdraw with an agreement, without one, a partial withdraw and offered a near-complete withdraw. We uprooted Jewish settlers from their homes, and got a barrage of missiles in return,” he said of the Gaza pullout.

“Sadly, even the Palestinian moderates won’t say the most simple statement – Israel is the Jewish national state, and will remain such.

“To achieve peace, courage and honesty are needed from both sides. The Palestinians must say – ‘enough with this conflict. We recognize Israel’s right to exist, and want to live by their side.’

“A public Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish nation-state is a precondition for regional peace,” Netanyahu said.

Now for the $64,000 question:

Did Netanyahu sell out? NO! He did not call for an freeze on Settlements, Jerusalem was to remain in Israeli hands, nor did he call for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from Judea and Samaria (The West Bank).

What he did call for is very simple:

1. Recognize Israel as a Jewish Nation.
2. No militarized Palestinian Nation.
3. No Law of Return for Palestinians.
4. Jerusalem, the city of David would be always be part of Israel.

The next round goes to the Palestinians, who if history is any indication of their intentions, will reject this out right.

Now what will Obama do?

Obamination: Treachery In Cairo #6

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON A NEW BEGINNING Cairo University Cairo, Egypt. [Block quote format, Ariel font, emphasis added.]
Refutation by a disgusted citizen interspersed in Times New Roman.

Now, we also know that military power alone is not going to solve the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That’s why we plan to invest $1.5 billion each year over the next five years to partner with Pakistanis to build schools and hospitals, roads and businesses, and hundreds of millions to help those who’ve been displaced. That’s why we are providing more than $2.8 billion to help Afghans develop their economy and deliver services that people depend on.

build schools and hospitals

Great. Sink billions in new targets for the Taliban to demolish with their bombs. Keep them busy blowing up local schools and hospitals in Afghanistan, that will keep them away from ours.

Let me also address the issue of Iraq. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world. Although I believe that the Iraqi people are ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, I also believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems whenever possible. (Applause.) Indeed, we can recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said: “I hope that our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be.”

Today, America has a dual responsibility: to help Iraq forge a better future — and to leave Iraq to Iraqis. And I have made it clear to the Iraqi people — (applause) — I have made it clear to the Iraqi people that we pursue no bases, and no claim on their territory or resources. Iraq’s sovereignty is its own. And that’s why I ordered the removal of our combat brigades by next August. That is why we will honor our agreement with Iraq’s democratically elected government to remove combat troops from Iraqi cities by July, and to remove all of our troops from Iraq by 2012. (Applause.) We will help Iraq train its security forces and develop its economy. But we will support a secure and united Iraq as a partner, and never as a patron.

And finally, just as America can never tolerate violence by extremists, we must never alter or forget our principles. Nine-eleven was an enormous trauma to our country. The fear and anger that it provoked was understandable, but in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our traditions and our ideals. We are taking concrete actions to change course. I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States, and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year. (Applause.)

our principles

Another highly charged, fully loaded shibboleth. Prosecution by torture and cruel & unusual punishments are domestic proscriptions, for good reason, based upon European experience. Our system of justice seeks truth, not revenge. President Obama conflate concepts related to principles of domestic legal justice with national defense. Al-Qaeda & Taliban captured on foreign fields of battle with weapons in their hands are not American citizens charged with speeding or jay walking. They are enemy combatants. There is a vital difference. They have no rights. Their death is as close as we can come to justice.

Water boarding is not torture. It inflicts temporary fear, not permanent injury. It was medically supervised and monitored. It did not involve beating, burning or cutting.

Gitmo is an alternative to a grave. A very expensive alternative. Those imprisoned there have no right to a trial or a lawyer. They have a right to nothing. They should have been reduced to nothing on the battlefield.

So America will defend itself, respectful of the sovereignty of nations and the rule of law. And we will do so in partnership with Muslim communities which are also threatened. The sooner the extremists are isolated and unwelcome in Muslim communities, the sooner we will all be safer.

partnership

One of the President’s favorite shibboleths. Muslims are forbidden to take Kuffar as partners. We have no common interests or objectives. They want to dominate the world; they perceive us as the greatest obstacle to achieving their strategic objective. Islam is our enemy, not our ally.

extremists

Same old Shibboleth. Substitute Muslims for extremists, then the sentence will be exposed as a non-sequitur. The President is denying and diverting our attention from the true identity of the enemy.

The second major source of tension that we need to discuss is the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world.

Palestinians

“Palestinians” is another favorite shibboleth. “Palestine” is a linguistic corruption of an insulting name imposed on Israel by Rome after the suppression of the Bar Kochba rebellion. Same place, same people; different name. What you call “Palestinians” are undifferentiated Arabs, not members of a separate culture. Name their King, capitol, currency and language which separate them from the mill run of Arabs. I won’t hold my breath waiting.

Jordan, West Bank Should Become a Palestinian State

By Findalis

From Memri

Lebanese Writer Farid Salman: Jordan, West Bank Should Become a Palestinian State, Which Will Absorb the Refugees

Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese writer Farid Salman, which aired on OTV on May 6, 2009.

View the clip here.

“Jordan is An Invention… I Don’t Know Whether to Laugh or Cry When I Hear a Jordanian Say That He is Jordanian… He Has Forgotten That He’s Palestinian”

Farid Salman: “Jordan is an invention. Transjordan, which was an emirate, and later became the Hashemite Kingdom, is part of Palestine. Britain created it in order to crown one of the sons of Hussein, from the Arabian Peninsula, over part of Greater Syria – over Palestine. This continues to be the perpetual reason… Without removing it, the Palestinian issue will not be resolved. It’s impossible.”

Interviewer: “Some people in Israel talk about the Jordanian option…”

Farid Salman: “They are right.”

Interviewer: “In the days of Abba Eban…”

Farid Salman: “We missed an opportunity with Abba Eban.”

Interviewer: “This is why the Black September battles of 1969 and 1970 took place, and the crisis was shifted here, to Lebanon. But King Hussein stabilized his throne…”

Farid Salman: “It wasn’t him. The English stabilized the throne. Glubb Pasha did it for his grandfather, and the English continue to do so to this day. The Israelis also [stabilized the Jordanian rule]. The Zionist regime in Israel is against peace. It doesn’t want peace.

“Abba Eban was one of the most important people in Israel, but we did not know how to benefit from him, and eventually the Zionists got rid of him. They sent him to teach in America, thus removing him from the scene. He could see the truth.

“Today, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I hear a Jordanian say that he is a Jordanian, and that there are Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan. He has forgotten that he is a Palestinian. What do you mean ‘Jordanian?’ The East Bank is just like the West Bank. The Jordanian king was behind the war in Lebanon. He sent the Palestinians to Lebanon. We must not forget the role that Jordan played in Lebanon.” […]

The Anti-Zionist “Jewdanians… Have Now Gained Power, Along With Obama”

“With regard to Israel, I am very optimistic. For 40 years, I have been writing about this issue – about Zionism and about the people I call ‘the Jewdanians’ – that group of Jews around the world who are against the Zionist philosophy and state. They have now gained power, along with Obama. They began…”

Interviewer: “With the plan of the first Bush…”

Farid Salman: “In Madrid…”

Interviewer: “Yes.”

Farid Salman: “They are the ones who brought Obama to power. They supported him financially. A few weeks ago, they announced that they were establishing a lobby. Until now, they operated behind the scenes, but now it is out in the open. An existential Israeli crisis has emerged among the Jews themselves – between the Zionists and the non-Zionists. The Zionists in power today – Lieberman and Netanyahu – no peace plan can possibly emerge from them. They will bring about a Jewish crisis in Israel and worldwide, and I believe they will be the losers. If they do not lose, that will be the end of the Zionist regime in Israel.”

“When A Palestinian State Is Established, And Jordan Becomes The Palestinian State, Along With The West Bank… It Will Invite The Palestinians”

Interviewer: “That is the solution, in your view?”

Farid Salman: “Of course. When this happens, we won’t need Israeli approval for the resettlement

Interviewer: “Can the Jewdanians, who support Obama, realize what the solution is, and grant the Palestinians the Right of Return?”

Farid Salman: “We have turned the Right of Return into a casus belli… Let me tell you something – when a Palestinian state is established, and Jordan becomes the Palestinian state, along with the West Bank…”

Interviewer: “That is the solution, in your view?”

Farid Salman: “Of course. When this happens, we won’t need Israeli approval for the resettlement… Once there is a Palestinian state, it will invite the Palestinians. Jordan can receive 30 million [Palestinians]. In New York alone, there are 20 million people.”

Interviewer: “Do you think that we are at the beginning of a process of the collapse of regimes in the region?”

Farid Salman: “Of course.”

Interviewer: “Like dominoes, one will lead to the toppling of the other?”

“There is a Plan to Increase the Number of Sunnis by Resettling the Palestinians in Lebanon”

Farid Salman: “Undoubtedly. There is no other solution for the Middle East. Who invented the story of refugee resettlement in Lebanon? Let’s be clear – the Sunnis. Al-Hariri did, and his sister continues in his path. The Palestinian ambassador in Lebanon is their accomplice.”

Interviewer: “Abbas Zaki?”

Salman: “Him, along with Fuad Siniora. There is a plan to increase the number of Sunnis by resettling the Palestinians in Lebanon. They are the ones talking about resettlement. The day the Palestinian issue is resolved, and they have a state – in Jordan, the West Bank, wherever it may be…”

Interviewer: “Arafat used to say: ‘Give me a state even on the back of a donkey.'”

Farid Salman: “Wherever it may be… Half a million Palestinian in Lebanon will go to their state. End of story. We won’t be needing the approval of Israel or the world. It will be their state, and they will be invited there. End of story.”

For those of you who don’t know your history or who some of the people mentioned are, I’ll explain:

Jordan as a nation never truly existed in ancient history. There is mention of a Kingdom of Petra, the region that is now Jordan has been conquered by the the Persian Empire, the Seleucids, the Romans , and Muslim Arabs. So in ancient times no nation called Jordan ever existed. Nor did it exist until April 11, 1921 when Great Britain decided to reward their “good friend” Emir Abdullah with 78% of the Palestinian Mandate (that was reserved by the League of Nations for a homeland for Jews). Thus Jordan, or as it was called then, Trans-Jordan was born.

It was after the 6-Day War, when Israel finally regained control of the West Bank that Trans-Jordan became simply Jordan.

Thus in fact, Jordan is the true Palestinian nation.

Black September was an attempt by the PLO (headed by Yassir Arafat) to overthrow the government of Jordan and replace it with the PLO. The Jordanian military thwarted the attempted overthrow and assassination of King Hussein, and the Jordanian government kicked out removed the PLO and their supporters from Jordan. They fled to the only nation which would give them sanctuary: Lebanon.

Abba Eban was an Israeli statesman. Born in Cape Town, South Africa on February 2, 1915. a graduate of Queens College, Cambridge, he was Israel’s first ambassador to the United Nations and was elected Vice President of the UN General Assembly in 1952. He is considered one of the fathers of modern Israel, and a giant in diplomatic circles. He set the tone for Israel’s diplomatic efforts for the last 63 years. He died on November 17, 2002.

A bit of history. But the reality is that the 2 State Solution that is being touted by the EU, UN and the US is looking like a pipe(bomb) dream each and every day. The Palestinians do not want it, they want all the land from the river to the sea as the Hamas and PLO charters both specify. And now it is not just the far right who are opposing the 2 State Solution, it is the mainstream Israelis who oppose it too:

Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe (Boogie) Yaalon believes that the time has come for Israel to “free itself from the failed paradigm” of the “two-state solution.” Yaalon spoke Tuesday at a meeting of MKs dedicated to finding an alternative to the creation of a Palestinian Authority-led Arab state.

While the creation of a PA-led state in Judea, Samaria and Gaza is perceived as a necessity both in Israel and worldwide, such a state would not solve the Israel-PA conflict, said Yaalon. In fact, he said, it is doubtful that the possibility of creating such a state exists, due to Arab and Muslim reluctance to take any step that would imply recognition of Israel or compromise on Arab claims to the entire Land of Israel.

Israel’s mistake lies in accepting a-symmetrical talks with the PA, Yaalon said. From the beginning of talks, he explained, Israel has accepted the idea of a Palestinian national movement with the PA as its representative, while the PA has resolutely refused to accept the Jewish national movement of Zionism or the idea of a Jewish homeland in the land of Israel.

Furthermore, while the PA demands that Arabs and Muslims be allowed to live in Israel, Israel accepts that a PA state would not have Jewish citizens, he said. And while Israel gives in on crucial issues such as the status of Jerusalem or the borders of a PA state, the PA refuses to bend in the slightest.

Read the full story here.

No proposal that Netanyahu would bring to the negotiating table will ever satisfy the Palestinians, and no proposal that they bring would be allowed by any Israeli Knesset. Thus the region is at a stalemate, and this time President Obama will not be able to charm Netanyahu or the Israelis into making a deal that would effectively destroy their nation.

The time has come to recognize and remember the true history of the region, and sent the PA, Hamas and the rest of the Palestinians back to the two-thirds of the Palestinian Mandate, back to Jordan, the real state of Palestine!

Do the Palestinians Really Want a State?

By Findalis

I am positive that the average Palestinian man or woman would take any decent agreement giving them their own nation and working in peaceful cooperation with their Israeli neighbors, create a Paradise on Earth. Most Palestinians work or have worked in Israel, many would be friendly with Israelis if they could (the extremists in Gaza and the West Bank kill such people, calling them traitors and collaborators.). There is a deep desire for peace among them.

The Palestinian Authority on the other hand may have no desire for a settlement to the stalemate that has boxed both sides into positions they cannot retreat from.

This is the premise that Robert D. Kaplan puts forward in this month’s Atlantic Monthly.

The statelessness of Palestinian Arabs has been a principal feature of world politics for more than half a century. It is the signature issue of our time. The inability of Israelis and Palestinians to reach an accord of mutual recognition and land-for-peace has helped infect the globe with violence and radicalism—and has long been a bane of American foreign policy. While the problems of the Middle East cannot be substantially blamed on the injustice done to Palestinians, that injustice has nonetheless played a role in weakening America’s position in the region.

Obviously, part of the problem has been Israeli intransigence. Despite seeming to submit to territorial concessions, one Israeli government after another has quietly continued to bolster illegal settlements in the occupied territories.

With Fatah and Hamas facing off against each other, the Palestinians are simply too divided to plausibly meet Israel across the table. And because the Palestinians are unable to cut a deal, a majority of Israelis, as shown by the recent election results, have apparently given up any hope for peace.

But there is a deeper structural and philosophical reason why the Palestinians remain stateless—a reason more profound than the political narrative would indicate. It is best explained by associate Johns Hopkins professor Jakub Grygiel, in his brilliant essay, “The Power of Statelessness: the Withering Appeal of Governing” (Policy Review April/May 2009). In it, Grygiel does not discuss the Palestinians in particular, but rather the attitude of stateless people in general.

Statehood is no longer a goal, he writes. Many stateless groups “do not aspire to have a state,” for they are more capable of achieving their objectives without one. Instead of actively seeking statehood to address their weakness, as Zionist Jews did in an earlier phase of history, groups like the Palestinians now embrace their statelessness as a source of power.

New communication technologies allow people to achieve virtual unity without a state, even as new military technologies give stateless groups a lethal capacity that in former decades could be attained only by states. Grygiel explains that it is now “highly desirable” not to have a state—for a state is a target that can be destroyed or damaged, and hence pressured politically. It was the very quasi-statehood achieved by Hamas in the Gaza Strip that made it easier for Israel to bomb it. A state entails responsibilities that limit a people’s freedom of action. A group like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the author notes, could probably take over the Lebanese state today, but why would it want to? Why would it want responsibility for providing safety and services to all Lebanese? Why would it want to provide the Israelis with so many tempting targets of reprisal? Statelessness offers a level of “impunity” from retaliation.

But the most tempting aspect of statelessness is that it permits a people to savor the pleasures of religious zeal, extremist ideologies, and moral absolutes, without having to make the kinds of messy, mundane compromises that accompany the work of looking after a geographical space.

The closest that Israelis and Palestinians ever came to peace was at the end of the Clinton Administration in 2000, when then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak of the center-left Labor Party offered a slew of concessions to the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat—only to have Arafat reject them. Arafat’s epitaph was that he remained loyal to the cause of his people, that he never compromised, and that he was steadfast to the bitter end. He may have seen that as a more morally and emotionally satisfying conclusion to a life of statelessness than that of making the unenchanting concessions associated with achieving statehood.

Read the full article here.

If this report is right, then President Obama’s effort to ram an agreement down the Israelis throats is doomed to failure. For it will always be in the best interest of the Palestinian leaders to reject any offer to them that doesn’t include all the land from the river to the sea. In other words, unless they get it all and Israel is eliminated, then they will not take any deal.

It is in the best interest of the Palestinian leadership to remain stateless and cry victim every time Israel tries to stop the terror that the Palestinian leadership uses to achieve their ends.
For once a nation has been formed, attacks such as the rockets falling into Israel from Gaza, suicide bombers, or the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers would and is considered an Act of War under International Law. Without the ‘protection‘ of being stateless, the Palestinians would have to face Israel’s wrath without International support.

Another consequence of the creation of a Palestinian state would be the removal of their special refugee status. Although the Saudi Peace Plan insists on a Law of Return, there is no Israeli government (on the left or the right) that will ever agree to such a demand. But for the sake of this article, let us say that the Palestinians do agree to drop this demand (Yassir Arafat refused a Palestinian nation in 2000 by doing this). Finally the Palestinians living in refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank would now be living in cities of their new nation, and the remaining refugees living in camps through out the Arab world could be relocated to the new nation, having gained the status of citizen of Palestine and losing the status of refugee.

For the average Palestinian this would be a boon. But for the leadership, this would be a nightmare. No longer would the world support through massive donations of food and monies the Palestinian people. Any agreement reached by both sides would have to include a date for ending refugee status. And thus funds. Such funds which are often diverted into Swiss bank accounts for the private use of the leadership and not the benefit of the people. This international gravy train would dry up, and the leadership would either have to beg more money from within the Muslim community and the US or EU. Eventually these funds would dry up too.

As things stand now, the PA has no reason to agree to anything except the full release to them of the land that is now Israel. Other than that, there will never be a peaceful solution to this problem. And just like Bill Clinton before him, Barack Obama just might come to realize that the PA and Hamas will never agree to anything that will end their free ride.

Bibi’s Condition!

By Findalis

Israel’s new Prime Minister is one sneaky fellow. Instead of ranting and raving against the US’s insistence on forcing Israel to accept the Saudi Peace Plan Saudi Plan for Israel’s Suicide, he just
made one little concession for the Palestinians to make in order for Israel to accept a 2-State Solution:

Full Recognition of Israel as a Jewish nation. And agreeing to Israel’s right to exist as a nation.

Just one little concession.

I wonder if the Palestinians will conceed this at the earliest date possible (today) or will wait for better conditions.

Either way. Bibi has shown that unlike Olmert, he has a set of balls. And they are made of brass.

European Union and Weapons

by Findalis

From the Sderot Media Center

Weapons smuggling continues into the Gaza Strip

By Sderot Media Center

Over 70 tons of bombmaking supplies have entered Gaza according to Shin Bet head

Hamas is continuing to rearm itself two-and-a-half months after Operation Cast Lead, said Yuval Diskin, head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet). More than 22 tons of explosives, hundreds of mortar shells, dozens of rockets and anti-tank missiles and 45 tons of raw material to manufacture arms, have been smuggled into the Gaza Strip.

Diskin added that Egypt is doing its part prevent the smuggling, but that the smuggling under the Philadelphi Corridor between Egypt and the Gaza Strip continued unabated.

Hamas is concerned about an escalation in its confrontation with Israel, especially in light of the freeze in talks for a prisoner exchange and the failure so far of its reconciliation talks with Fatah, Diskin said.

An additional round of Hamas-Fatah reconciliation talks was expected to be held Tuesday and Wednesday in Cairo, but nothing was expected to come of it, he said.

“The difference between the two sides is great,” Diskin said.

Diskin, in his last briefing to the current government, said there had been a marked decrease in the number of rocket attacks on the western Negev.

“Hamas’s military wing is constantly on watch for fear of an escalation, especially in light of the deadlock reached around the prisoner exchange deal and Hamas-Fatah relations.”

“There is indeed a drop in rockets, only one rocket from a small organization was fired in recent days. There are two reasons for this: Hamas is not interested in an escalation or another confrontation with Israel, and as a result, Hamas is carrying out arrests before attacks,” said Diskin.

Diskin also stated that Hamas was taking measures to stop small organizations from firing rockets and had signed an agreement with Islamic Jihad to prevent rocket fire for the short term.

Nevertheless, Diskin warned that the small terrorist organizations were plotting to kidnap soldiers, and were also planning attacks inside Israel – either via Sinai, or with the aid of terrorist organizations in Judea and Samaria.

Read the full story here.

Red Color

View at YouTube

No child should have to live in fear on a daily basis. Every child should have a chance to grow up in a happy, healthy environment.

But the world is all to ready to allow the Jews of Israel, especially those living in Sderot, to suffer these attacks on a daily basis.

Letter to European Union on behalf of Sderot Residents

Dear EU Ambassador,

The EU is to be commended for the mandate that it has undertaken to help civilians whose lives have been affected by the recent Gaza war. EU member states remain well aware of the suffering and economic challenges that exist on the Palestinian side of the Gaza conflict.

The EU remains the most significant financial donor to the Palestinian civilians affected by the war.

In 2008 alone, the EU provided almost 500 million Euros for the health and welfare services to the Palestinian population in Gaza.Yet on the other side of the Gaza war, EU humanitarian aid workers may not be aware of the devastating toll that the Gaza war has taken on the lives of thousands of Israeli civilians who have endured eight years of daily rocket explosions and siren warnings.

Writing from the perspective of an NGO in Sderot where I have worked and lived for the past 2 years, I have witnessed and written about countless homes destroyed, children maimed, and families torn apart by the impact of these lethal attacks.

This is a reality where bomb shelters, which dot the entire city, are used almost daily. Life in Sderot is measured by 15 seconds–the time one has to race to bomb shelter when the siren goes off to warn of impending rockets. A recent study found that more than 80% of Sderot children suffer from PTSD symptoms-post traumatic stress disorder. The long term psychological damage inflicted by the constant rocket fire on both adults and children alike has not yet been fully comprehended or addressed.

Given the mandate of the EU to help civilians in the Gaza war zone rebuild their lives, the time has come for the EU to help fund agencies in Sderot that seek to strengthen the mental heath and social functionality of ordinary Sderot civilians who need psychological aid in order to continue life under rocket terror. Two appropriate services come to mind:

1) THE SDEROT MENTAL HEALTH CENTER

Although Sderot has no medical center (residents who are wounded by rockets must be transferred to the Barzeli hospital in Ashkelon located 20 min. away) a Sderot Mental Health Center, under the auspices of Barzeli hospital does exist, and is run by Dr. Adrianna Katz. The Mental Health Center has become a vital service for the Sderot community, providing psychological treatment to those suffering from PTSD and those who enter shock after experiencing a rocket explosion. The center has only four full time workers to help provide mental health services to almost 5,000 people in Sderot who have been diagnosed with severe mental health stress that has resulted from the anxiety of life under rocket attacks.

The Sderot Mental Health Center needs immediate financial aid to ad staff and to service such a large community of patients.

2) THE SDEROT COMMUNITY THEATER THERAPY PROGRAM

Providing psychological therapy for Sderot high school students by the avenue of the arts and theater, Sderot Community Theater Therapy reaches out to young people in Sderot to help them express their fears and anxieties of life under rocket fire. The high school students creatively produce dramatic presentations, under the guidance of a theater director and psychologist.

With the understanding that the EU will address the humanitarian needs of all sides of a war zone, it would be a welcome gesture if the EU would help provide funds to the mental health services of Sderot and the Western Negev. Such financial assistance is vital to the restoration of normal life for future generations of southern Israelis.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Respectfully,

Anav Silverman, Sderot Information Correspondent

I fear that Anav Silverman’s words will be falling on deaf ears. For many of us in the US have witnessed these last few years is Europe’s embracing of the Palestinian cause and ignoring the suffering that the Palestians are doing to innocent Israeli children.

You don’t have to be silent though. You can help.

Remember Sderot and the people of Southern Israel in your prayers.
Sign up for Code Red alerts here.
Contact your congressman and Senators, reminding them of the United State’s commitment to Israel.
And if you are able to, donate a few dollars to the Sderot Media Center. Just click on the logo at the top or bottom of this post.

Every child deserves a happy and safe childhood!

What kind of man sneaks into a village and attacks a child with an axe?

by Findalis

The worst scum of the Earth that is!

Yesterday Shlomo Nativ, age 16, was murdered by an axe welding, peace-loving member of the Religion of Peace.

Shlomo Nativ, age 16

Sixteen-year-old Shlomo Nativ was killed and a seven-year-old boy was moderately injured in an attack carried out by a terrorist carrying an axe in the West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin Thursday noon.

According to the police, the terrorist managed to flee the scene. The IDF launched a hunt for the terrorist, set up roadblocks and boosted security throughout the communities in the area.

Palestinian sources reported that IDF forces were surrounding a house in the nearby village of Khirbet Safa where they suspected the attacker may be hiding.

A Magen David Adom rescue team tried to resuscitate the teen, who they said ran into a house after being attacked, but he died of his injuries. Ozer Zilbershlad, a ZAKA rescue service volunteer at the scene told Ynet, “You could see a trail of blood where the deceased ran.”

Read the full story here.

At 16 you haven’t had time to do much in life. He was too young to drive, to young to vote, to young to drink. And being a religious young man, he never even had a girlfriend.

Yet the Palestinians are rejoicing over this great victory. President Obama and the world’s leaders are demanding that Israel surrender its nation to these animals, and the children of Israel are paying the price.

It is time for Israel to take a very hard stand and tell the world NO!

NO Negotiations!
NO 2-State Solution!
NO to Oslo, Annapolis, Saudi or any other so-called peace plan!
NOTHING until the Palestinians give up terror as a tactic!

Mitchell is coming to stay

By Findalis

It seems that special Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, wants to reside in Jerusalem. At least keep an office there.

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, fresh from his first trip to the region this past week, will be headed back at the end of the month.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who might also make a visit sometime in the near future, announced his return trip at an event welcoming him back Tuesday.

Clinton described Mitchell’s efforts as consolidating the cease-fire, and praised Egypt for its role in working on the issue, with an eye toward an eventual settlement.

“We are looking to work with all of the parties to try to help them make progress toward a negotiated agreement that would end the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, create an independent and viable Palestinian state in both the West Bank and Gaza, and provide Israel with the peace and security that it has sought,” Clinton said, also stressing the need to address current humanitarian concerns in Gaza.

For there to be a cease-fire, the PalArabs have to stop firing rockets. Something they have refused to do. Cease-fires are one-sided to them.

Not for the first time since the “ceasefire” with Hamas terrorists went into effect two weeks ago, Western Negev residents awoke at around 7:00 a.m. to the wail of the Color Red alert siren as another attack was launched from the region.

Within seconds, a long-range Grad-type Katyusha rocket slammed into a residential center in the center of Ashkelon, landing between a group of buildings. Ashkelon is the 13th largest city in the country.

One woman was lightly injured in the attack, and three others suffered severe emotional trauma. They were evacuated to Barzilai Medical Center in the city.

According to an eye-witness, “the entire back part of the bus,” referring to a line #5 bus in the city, was damaged by the blast just after setting out from the Central Bus Station. Several cars in the area were also damaged, and windows in nearby buildings were shattered.

Initial reports that classes were cancelled for the morning in the city’s schools were denied by Mayor Shlomo Cohen, who said city officials would meet during the morning to determine further action. He noted that there was a lot of confusion in the city due to the attack. “Although there was certainly an air raid siren to alert people, there was no prior warning [from the home front command] of an impending attack,” he noted.

Monday evening, Gaza terrorists fired a short-range Kassam rocket sounding off the Color Red siren in the Sha’ar HaNegev region and in the Gaza Belt town of Sderot. The missile hit a kibbutz in the Sha’ar HaNegev region, but caused no damage. No one was injured in the attack.

“We didn’t finish the job,” complained a listener bitterly on the local Radio Darom. “We didn’t finish the job because of the elections, and this is the result. Motivation among the troops and the people was very high, we could have done it, but it didn’t get done. And we still have attacks.”

So Mr. Mitchell, when are these rocket attacks going to end? The Israel of 2009 is not the Israel of 2000 that you knew. It is leaner, stronger and more willing to fight for what it believes right.

Dear Senator Mitchell,

We were very happy to see you arrive and wished you a productive visit. A long time has passed since you left us with the report named after you, in May 2001, and we wish to inform you that we sobered up since then. We’ve sobered up greatly.

That report was complied several months after the outbreak of the second Intifada, when buses were exploding on our streets and suicide bombers were detonating themselves in our coffees shops. We were helpless at the time and Ariel Sharon’s new government did not know how to cope with the terror.

You arrived and left us with an orderly heritage and plan for resolving our problems with the Palestinians, who less than a year earlier refused Ehud Barak’s generous offer in Camp David and embark on the murderous Intifada.

Along with your colleagues, you declared that violence will not resolve the region’s problem and that a mechanism must be created to put an end to violence, rebuild trust, and renew the diplomatic talks aimed at bringing up a permanent agreement and peace between the sides. However, you did not find any evidence proving that Arafat and the Palestinian Authority planned or initiated the “uprising.” If you wish, we can provide you plenty of such evidence today.

Oddly, you compared the terrorists and their victims, while demanding the halt of violence on both sides. Back then already we were surprised to discover that you immorally adopted the same attitude to raging Palestinian terror and to Israel’s response, aimed at curbing and averting terrorism

In that report, you also demanded to curb the “natural growth” in the settlements, at the heart of the Land of Israel, as if the settlers’ babies were the terrorists preventing peace.

Your successor, CIA Director George Tenet, detailed the recommendation and wrote that the Palestinians must completely end the violence, detain terrorists, cooperate with Israel in thwarting terror, siege illegal weapons, and prevent arms smuggling. We won’t deal with all the other recommendations here, yet we wish to inform you that none of these Palestinian obligations was met.

Ceasefires blew up in our faces. However, we Israelis learned a lesson.

In the IDF we say that “safety instructions are written in blood.” You should know that this lesson cost us plenty of blood. We listened to you, we tried many ceasefires, and all of them blew up in our faces.

For a long time, too long, we refused to admit the failure of the Oslo process. However, by now almost every child in Israel knows that Oslo failed. We learned the hard way that Fatah and Abbas cannot be trusted and that they cannot be “given guns,” just like the Israeli rightist camp shouted 15 years ago.

The reports prepared by you and by Tenet are premised on the fundamentally flawed assumption that the Palestinians will fight terror, and that Arafat or Abbas’ troops will prevent the launching of Qassam rockets from Tulkarem to Tel Aviv or the mortar attacks from Qalqiliya on Kfar Saba.

Well, you should know that this never really happened. In the few cases where terrorists were detained, they were jailed for a brief period and later released in line with the “revolving door” policy. All those times it was done just to pretend, in order to appease you, the Americans, and only to deceive us, the innocent Israelis who so badly want calm.

We tried in the past the brilliant idea you proposed – “joint patrols” by IDF forces and Palestinian security forces. These patrols ended when Palestinian forces firing at their Israeli “colleagues.”

Our sobering up process continued when our Navy stopped the Karin A arms smuggling ship that was about to transfer tons of explosives and machine guns to Fatah “moderates” in the Palestinian Authority, so that they can defeat the Israeli enemy.

So, George, we first ask you to examine the results of the previous ideas you proposed. Meanwhile, we had no choice, and in operation Defensive Shield the IDF restored our security control in the towns of Judea and Samaria.

Our sobering up process was long and painful. It also included a rain of Qassams and Grad rockets fired at all southern towns in the wake of the Road Map and the disengagement, which led to the recent war in Gaza.

We hope that during your visit here you were reacquainted with reality and with the sobering up process we personally experienced, so that you won’t force us to repeat the mistakes of the past.

And Israel is will willingly restart Operation Cast Lead in order to finish the job, your presence in the nation or not.

It is just too bad that Mitchell and his team have been bought and paid for by the Saudis. Neither he nor his team is impartial, they are will definitely favor the Palestinians and try to force Israel into concessions that it cannot make. But this is Obama’s plan all along. The destruction of the State of Israel. I just pray that Israel elects a leader with the balls to stand up to Mitchell, Clinton and Obama.

Solving the Palestinian Problem

Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and Taube distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.

This is his latest essay from the Jerusalem Post

Israel’s war against Hamas brings up the old quandary: What to do about the Palestinians? Western states, including Israel, need to set goals to figure out their policy toward the West Bank and Gaza.

Let’s first review what we know does not and cannot work:

• Israeli control. Neither side wishes to continue the situation that began in 1967, when the IDF took control of a population that is religiously, culturally, economically and politically different and hostile.
• A Palestinian state. The 1993 Oslo Accords began this process but a toxic brew of anarchy, ideological extremism, anti-Semitism, jihadism and warlordism led to complete Palestinian failure.
• A binational state: Given the two populations’ strong mutual antipathy, the prospect of a combined Israel-Palestine (what Muammar Gaddafi calls “Israstine”) is as absurd as it seems.

Excluding these three prospects leaves only one practical approach, which worked tolerably well in the period 1948-67: Shared Jordanian-Egyptian rule, with Amman ruling the West Bank and Cairo running Gaza.

TO BE sure, this back-to-the-future approach inspires little enthusiasm. Not only was Jordanian-Egyptian rule undistinguished, but resurrecting this arrangement will frustrate Palestinian impulses, be they nationalist or Islamist. Further, Cairo never wanted Gaza and has vehemently rejected its return. Accordingly, one academic analyst dismisses this idea as “an elusive fantasy that can only obscure real and difficult choices.”

It is not. The failures of Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and the “peace process,” has prompted rethinking in Amman and Jerusalem. Indeed, the Christian Science Monitor’s Ilene Prusher found already in 2007 that the idea of a West Bank-Jordan confederation “seems to be gaining traction on both sides of the Jordan River.” The Jordanian government, which enthusiastically annexed the West Bank in 1950 and abandoned its claims only under duress in 1988, shows signs of wanting to return. Dan Diker and Pinhas Inbari documented for Middle East Quarterly in 2006 how the PA’s “failure to assert control and become a politically viable entity has caused Amman to reconsider whether a hands-off strategy toward the West Bank is in its best interests.”

Israeli officialdom has also shown itself open to this idea, occasionally calling for Jordanian troops to enter the West Bank.

Despairing of self-rule, some Palestinians welcome the Jordanian option. An unnamed senior PA official told Diker and Inbari that a form of federation or confederation with Jordan offers “the only reasonable, stable, long-term solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

Hanna Seniora opined that “the current weakened prospects for a two-state solution forces us to revisit the possibility of a confederation with Jordan.” The New York Times’s Hassan Fattah quotes a Palestinian in Jordan: “Everything has been ruined for us – we’ve been fighting for 60 years and nothing is left. It would be better if Jordan ran things in Palestine, if King Abdullah could take control of the West Bank.”

NOR IS this just talk: Diker and Inbari report that back-channel PA-Jordan negotiations in 2003-04 “resulted in an agreement in principle to send 30,000 Badr Force members,” to the West Bank.

And while Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak announced a year ago that “Gaza is not part of Egypt, nor will it ever be,” his is hardly the last word. First, Mubarak notwithstanding, Egyptians overwhelmingly want a strong tie to Gaza; Hamas concurs; and Israeli leaders sometimes agree. So the basis for an overhaul in policy exists.

Secondly, Gaza is arguably more a part of Egypt than of “Palestine.” During most of the Islamic period, it was either controlled by Cairo or part of Egypt administratively. Gazan colloquial Arabic is identical to what Egyptians living in Sinai speak. Economically, Gaza has most connections to Egypt. Hamas itself derives from the Muslim Brethren, an Egyptian organization.

Is it time to think of Gazans as Egyptians?

Thirdly, Jerusalem could out-maneuver Mubarak. Were it to announce a date when it ends the provisioning of all water, electricity, food, medicine and other trade, and accepts enhanced Egyptian security in Gaza, Cairo would have to take responsibility for Gaza. Among other advantages, this would make it accountable for Gazan security, finally putting an end to the thousands of Hamas rocket and mortar assaults.

The Jordan-Egypt option quickens no pulses, but that may be its value. It offers a uniquely sober way to solve the “Palestinian problem.”

The Palestinian people have demonstrated that they cannot govern themselves, no matter how many dollars or euros are donated to them. They have not built an infrastructure, working hospitals or schools, roads or sewers, or any of the necessary improvements on their lands that every government must do to maintain law and order.

Instead they allow thugs and murderers to rule over them, imposing 7th Century codes of law, and causing massive shortages in every item except bigotry and anger.

Since they cannot or will not govern themselves, and Israel is fed up with the whole process, the time has come to force Egypt and Jordan to take these troublesome people back.

The Palestinian Problem is not a Jewish or Israeli one, it is an Arab one. And it is time for the Arabs to finally solve it once and for all!

Solving the Palestinian Problem

Cross posted by Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Daniel Pipes is director of the Middle East Forum and Taube distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.

This is his latest essay from the Jerusalem Post

Israel’s war against Hamas brings up the old quandary: What to do about the Palestinians? Western states, including Israel, need to set goals to figure out their policy toward the West Bank and Gaza.

Let’s first review what we know does not and cannot work:

• Israeli control. Neither side wishes to continue the situation that began in 1967, when the IDF took control of a population that is religiously, culturally, economically and politically different and hostile.
• A Palestinian state. The 1993 Oslo Accords began this process but a toxic brew of anarchy, ideological extremism, anti-Semitism, jihadism and warlordism led to complete Palestinian failure.
• A binational state: Given the two populations’ strong mutual antipathy, the prospect of a combined Israel-Palestine (what Muammar Gaddafi calls “Israstine”) is as absurd as it seems.

Excluding these three prospects leaves only one practical approach, which worked tolerably well in the period 1948-67: Shared Jordanian-Egyptian rule, with Amman ruling the West Bank and Cairo running Gaza.

TO BE sure, this back-to-the-future approach inspires little enthusiasm. Not only was Jordanian-Egyptian rule undistinguished, but resurrecting this arrangement will frustrate Palestinian impulses, be they nationalist or Islamist. Further, Cairo never wanted Gaza and has vehemently rejected its return. Accordingly, one academic analyst dismisses this idea as “an elusive fantasy that can only obscure real and difficult choices.”

It is not. The failures of Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and the “peace process,” has prompted rethinking in Amman and Jerusalem. Indeed, the Christian Science Monitor’s Ilene Prusher found already in 2007 that the idea of a West Bank-Jordan confederation “seems to be gaining traction on both sides of the Jordan River.” The Jordanian government, which enthusiastically annexed the West Bank in 1950 and abandoned its claims only under duress in 1988, shows signs of wanting to return. Dan Diker and Pinhas Inbari documented for Middle East Quarterly in 2006 how the PA’s “failure to assert control and become a politically viable entity has caused Amman to reconsider whether a hands-off strategy toward the West Bank is in its best interests.”

Israeli officialdom has also shown itself open to this idea, occasionally calling for Jordanian troops to enter the West Bank.

Despairing of self-rule, some Palestinians welcome the Jordanian option. An unnamed senior PA official told Diker and Inbari that a form of federation or confederation with Jordan offers “the only reasonable, stable, long-term solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

Hanna Seniora opined that “the current weakened prospects for a two-state solution forces us to revisit the possibility of a confederation with Jordan.” The New York Times’s Hassan Fattah quotes a Palestinian in Jordan: “Everything has been ruined for us – we’ve been fighting for 60 years and nothing is left. It would be better if Jordan ran things in Palestine, if King Abdullah could take control of the West Bank.”

NOR IS this just talk: Diker and Inbari report that back-channel PA-Jordan negotiations in 2003-04 “resulted in an agreement in principle to send 30,000 Badr Force members,” to the West Bank.

And while Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak announced a year ago that “Gaza is not part of Egypt, nor will it ever be,” his is hardly the last word. First, Mubarak notwithstanding, Egyptians overwhelmingly want a strong tie to Gaza; Hamas concurs; and Israeli leaders sometimes agree. So the basis for an overhaul in policy exists.

Secondly, Gaza is arguably more a part of Egypt than of “Palestine.” During most of the Islamic period, it was either controlled by Cairo or part of Egypt administratively. Gazan colloquial Arabic is identical to what Egyptians living in Sinai speak. Economically, Gaza has most connections to Egypt. Hamas itself derives from the Muslim Brethren, an Egyptian organization.

Is it time to think of Gazans as Egyptians?

Thirdly, Jerusalem could out-maneuver Mubarak. Were it to announce a date when it ends the provisioning of all water, electricity, food, medicine and other trade, and accepts enhanced Egyptian security in Gaza, Cairo would have to take responsibility for Gaza. Among other advantages, this would make it accountable for Gazan security, finally putting an end to the thousands of Hamas rocket and mortar assaults.

The Jordan-Egypt option quickens no pulses, but that may be its value. It offers a uniquely sober way to solve the “Palestinian problem.”

The Palestinian people have demonstrated that they cannot govern themselves, no matter how many dollars or euros are donated to them. They have not built an infrastructure, working hospitals or schools, roads or sewers, or any of the necessary improvements on their lands that every government must do to maintain law and order.

Instead they allow thugs and murderers to rule over them, imposing 7th Century codes of law, and causing massive shortages in every item except bigotry and anger.

Since they cannot or will not govern themselves, and Israel is fed up with the whole process, the time has come to force Egypt and Jordan to take these troublesome people back.

The Palestinian Problem is not a Jewish or Israeli one, it is an Arab one. And it is time for the Arabs to finally solve it once and for all!