Thursday, March 13, 2014
Efraim Karsh: The Palestinians' Real Enemies
Had Israel lost the war, its territory would have been divided among the invading Arab forces. The name Palestine would have vanished into the dustbin of history. By surviving the pan-Arab assault, Israel has paradoxically saved the Palestinian national movement from complete oblivion.CAMERA: Where's the Coverage? "Jews Have Not Taken Anything by Force"
Manipulating the Palestinian Cause Having helped drive the Palestinians to national ruin, the Arab states continued to manipulate the Palestinian national cause to their own ends. Neither Egypt nor Jordan allowed Palestinian self-determination in the parts of Palestine they occupied during the 1948 war. Upon occupying the biblical lands of Judea and Samaria, Abdullah moved to erase all traces of corporate Palestinian Arab identity.
On April 4, 1950, the territory was formally annexed to Jordan to be subsequently known as the "West Bank" of the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan. Its residents became Jordanian citizens, and they were increasingly integrated into the kingdom's economic, political, and social structures. And while Egypt showed no desire to annex the occupied Gaza Strip, this did not imply support of Palestinian nationalism or of any sort of collective political awareness among the Palestinians. The refugees were kept under oppressive military rule, were denied Egyptian citizenship, and were subjected to severe restrictions on travel. "The Palestinians are useful to the Arab states as they are," President Gamal Abdel Nasser candidly responded to an enquiring Western reporter. "We will always see that they do not become too powerful. Can you imagine yet another nation on the shores of the eastern Mediterranean!" Had these territories not come under Israel's control during the June 1967 war, their populations would have lost whatever vestiges of Palestinian identity they retained since 1948. For the second time in two decades, Israel unwittingly salvaged the Palestinian national cause.
In 1936, a national leader wrote a letter. This is an excerpt:The Palestinian narrative: The missing link in the ‘peace process’…The situation of the Jews in Palestine being the strongest and most concrete proof of the importance of the religious problem among the Muslim Arabs toward anyone who does not belong to Islam. Those good Jews, who have brought to the Muslim Arabs civilization and peace, and have spread wealth and prosperity to the land of Palestine, have not hurt anyone and have not taken anything by force, and nevertheless the Muslims have declared holy war against them and have not hesitated to slaughter their children and their women despite the fact that England is in Palestine and France is in Syria. Therefore a black future awaits the Jews and the other minorities if the Mandate is cancelled and Muslim Syria is unified with Muslim Palestine. This union is the ultimate goal of the Muslim Arabs…Who wrote this?
Suleiman Assad, the grandfather of Syria’s dictator Bashir al Assad, father of the previous dictator Hafez al Assad.
It is essential to understand how Palestinian Arabs think and what they believe. The Palestinian Arab national identity is almost exclusively defined by negating the Israeli narrative, including Israel’s legitimate right to exist as a Jewish state, with precious few positive Palestinian nationalistic qualities.
Palestinian Arabs mark their historical time by memorializing what others perpetrated upon them. The quintessential narrative marked in time is the “Nakba,” the catastrophe of the creation of the State of Israel.
Delegitimizing Jewish historical connections to the land extends from mosques to school textbooks, from the PA press to the PA leadership.
They view the Jewish historical narrative as at best exaggerated, but more likely fabricated.
Jeffrey Goldberg, Jackson Diehl and Obama’s Targeting of Israel
Abbas has said that he would never recognize Israel as a Jewish state, a recognition that Obama has himself acknowledged is necessary for any meaningful peace. Abbas has said he will not give up the so-called “right of return” of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to Israel, a formula for the dissolution of the Jewish state. He has denied any Jewish connection to the land and insisted the Jews are mere colonial interlopers whose state is illegitimate. He has praised murderers of Israeli civilians as heroes who should be emulated and has overseen the naming of schools, sports teams, and other public entities in their honor. He has presided over an education system that teaches all of “Palestine” – meaning the West Bank, Gaza and Israel – properly belongs to the Palestinians and that Palestinian children must dedicate themselves to liberating it from the Jews and eradicating the Jewish state.What lies behind PA refusal to recognize Jewish state?
Yet when Obama declared, “I believe that President Abbas is sincere about his willingness to recognize Israel and its right to exist,” and offered other comments in the same vein, Goldberg mustered no question invoking the counter-evidence. On the contrary, he essentially endorsed the president’s ludicrous assessment and only raised the question of whether Abbas could deliver, despite his good intentions: “Abu Mazen [Abbas] – all these things you say are true, but he is also the leader of a weak, corrupt and divided Palestinian entity… Do you think he can deliver more than a framework agreement?” (h/t Bob Knot)
Peter Beinart, one of Israel's most hateful critics in the radical Jewish Left in the US, admitted recently that "every Palestinian I know considers political Zionism itself a racist ideology built upon ethnic cleansing. In that sense, when Jewish hawks say Palestinians oppose not only Israeli control over Hebron, but Israeli control over Tel Aviv, they’re absolutely right."Knesset passes first Basic Law in 22 years: Referendum on land concessions
Even if this bitter truth interests the majority of the Israeli Left like yesterday's news, the more realistic public in Israel realizes that behind the Palestinian insistence lies an organized ideology of refusing to accept Israel, even in the 1948 borders, and to the same extent – a hidden intention to flood it with refugees. Therefore, binding the Palestinians in a public and contractual recognition of Israel as a Jewish state is a minimum, elementary and justified demand.
The referendum law, which passed in the previous Knesset and is now a Basic Law, requires a referendum on any treaty that entails giving up land to which Israeli law applies, including the Golan Heights and east Jerusalem but not the West Bank.'If talks not extended, there may not be another prisoner release'
However, if more than 80 MKs support the treaty, it can be ratified without a referendum, and if fewer than 61 MKs back the treaty, it will be rejected without the nation voting on it.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressed unequivocal support for the law.
"If [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] does not agree to extend negotiations with Israel for an additional year, it's possible that the fourth round of prisoner releases will not be carried out," Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Peri (Yesh Atid) told Israel Hayom, in a special interview to be published in full on Friday.Gaza Missiles: Palestinian State in Practice
"If a crisis in the talks emerges and the Americans and Israelis reach the conclusion at the end of nine months that an extension is unanticipated, it will mean the talks have failed," he said. "Then, it is certainly possible that there won't be any more prisoner releases."
Even more to the point, the theoretical arguments about a Palestinian state tend to ignore the fact that one currently exists in all but name in Gaza. There, a Hamas government continues its tyrannical Islamist rule over more than a million people with no interference from Israel other than the imposition of a loose blockade on the strip (food, medicine, and other essential items enter it daily from Israel). But as today’s barrage of missile fire aimed at southern Israel from Gaza shows, this Palestinian state presents a clear and present danger to both the Jewish state and regional stability. While no casualties resulted from the 50 rockets fired from Gaza, the incident not only terrorized southern Israel. It also demonstrated the inherent danger that an irredentist Palestinian state where armed terrorists are free to plan mayhem poses to Israel’s security. While peace activists claim all problems will be solved by Israeli territorial withdrawals, the example of Gaza, where every single settlement, soldier, and individual Jew was pulled out in 2005, continues to operate as a powerful argument against repeating the experiment in the West Bank as much of the world insists Israel must do.Southern Israel Residents Describe Trauma and Fear of Day Under Rocket Fire
Residents of southern Israel described their trauma and fear on Wednesday when at least 60 rockets were fired into their neighborhoods from the Gaza Strip, Israel’s Walla reported.Islamic Jihad tries to drag Hamas, and Israel, into escalation
“We ran like crazy to reinforced rooms at the supermarket – and then we heard some booms, one after another,” said Meira, a high school teacher from Sha’ar HaNegev who was shopping at the time of the onslaught. “It brought me back to times of constant firing in Operation Pillar of Defense [2012]. I was hit in 2007 by a Qassam that fell at school… Even if I want to stay calm, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder responds to this situation… It is impossible not to worry.”
For Islamic Jihad, the rockets fired Wednesday were an excellent means to embarrass Hamas, in order to prove that it sets the agenda in Gaza, while Hamas has neglected jihad and resistance in favor of power.Islamic Jihad in Hebrew - 'Get out of our country'
Islamic Jihad had immediately recognized the public unrest across the territories following the killing this week of five Palestinians (the Gaza trio, as well as two in the West Bank — a Jordanian-Palestinian judge at the Allenby Bridge crossing, and a teen who was shot while throwing stones). The organization, apparently backed by Iran, wishes to establish itself as the new face of the resistance. Statements it issued hours after the rocket onslaught indicate that it is now focused on fashioning itself as the Palestinians’ new protectors.
In a Youtube video posted on Wednesday night after a barrage of more than 40 rockets from Gaza fell in Israel, a member of the Islamic Jihad threatened the IDF against invading Gaza.Islamic Jihad announces ceasefire with Israel
"Al-Quds Brigades is ready for your invasion and if you come there will be no other option than for you to die or become prisoners," the anonymous jihadist, laden in head-to-toe black, read from a piece of paper.
"You wont ever have security in 'our' country. Don't sacrifice your life for your leaders. We are inviting you to get out of our country and search for a new country," he added.
The Islamic Jihad movement said on Thursday that a truce had gone into effect to halt a spiraling confrontation with Israel. ”An Egyptian-brokered truce went into effect at 2:00 pm,” Islamic Jihad spokesman Daud Shihab told AFP.In Gaza, a host of bad options for Israel
There was no immediate confirmation from Israel, and an Israeli official said he was “not familiar” with any ceasefire arrangement.
Islamic Jihad’s announcement came shortly after the IDF said it had launched another airstrike on Gaza in response to several rockets fired from the Strip earlier in the day toward the coastal cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod.
There is no martial solution to the situation in Gaza. The army could, albeit with a small but painful price in blood, effectively topple the Hamas government in a matter of hours and seize control of the Gaza Strip in a matter of days. But then what? As Maj. Gen. (res) Avi Mizrachi said on Army Radio on Thursday morning, “Who would we give the keys to?” Who would rule? And does anarchy serve Israel’s interests more than aPM to Cameron: Israel waiting to hear Abbas condemnation of rocket fire
Professor Uzi Rabi, the director of Tel Aviv University’s Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, perceives Gaza as a microcosm of the Middle East – a place where central control is dwindling and small terror squads have the ability to dictate the outbreak of war.
Netanyahu, who was visiting the pharmaceutical giant Teva's headquarters in Jerusalem with his British counterpart, said that at a time when Teva's plant in Ashdod was manufacturing medicine that is transferred to the Gaza Strip, "they are firing rockets from there on innocent Israelis."Abbas Blames Israel for Gaza Escalation
"You are going to visit President Abbas shortly," Netanyahu said to Cameron. "He has not condemned the firing of rockets on our citizens. How can you not condemn the firing of rockets on innocent civilians. He did, however, condemn Israel for responding and shooting three terrorists who fired mortars at us. That he did condemn."
Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday blamed Israel for the latest escalation in Gaza.Cameron: Rocket attacks 'barbaric'
In a statement issued by his spokesman and quoted by Reuters, Abbas urged to put an end to what he called "Israeli military escalation in the Gaza Strip."
The statement did not condemn the Islamic Jihad and the other Gaza-based terrorists that have been firing rockets at southern Israel for years. The Islamic Jihad earlier on Wednesday fired a barrage of 60 rockets at southern Israel.
Cameron noted that this most recent spate of rocket fire was an important reminder of the security threats confronting Israel. Declaring his complete condemnation of the attacks, Cameron added that they were completely indiscriminate, “which demonstrates how barbaric they are.”US Condemns 'Reprehensible' Rocket Attacks
"The United States condemns in the strongest terms today's rocket attacks into Israel by terrorists from the Gaza Strip," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement. "It is reprehensible that dozens of rockets have been fired today alone. There is no justification for such attacks."Video Shows How Terrorists Fired From Civilian Areas
"We call for these terrorist attacks to cease immediately. Israel, like any nation, has a right to defend itself," Psaki added.
The footage, which was posted on a Hamas-linked Facebook page, shows the challenges often faced by the Israeli military in responding to such attacks whilst avoiding civilian casualties.Palestinians Upset IDF Gaza Action Caused No Civilian Casualties (satire)
It illustrates what Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, have often referred to as a "double war-crime": the firing of rockets against Israeli civilians, whilst using the Palestinian Arab civilian population in Gaza as cover, and in the hope that any Israeli response will draw condemnation for striking a civilian area.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders made similar statements. “We are not interested in escalation if we will be unable to showcase our injured and decry the Zionist monster’s immoral behavior,” said Hamas spokesman Ziad Abu Ramzi.Rockets Evidently Desperate To Escape Gaza Strip (satire)
“The Islamic Resistance cannot accept a Zionist attack that does not result in multiple women and children killed or bloodily injured,” echoed cell commander Ahmad Jbaili. He said his organization would redouble its efforts to engineer the deaths of Palestinian civilians, a feat that their own technology cannot accomplish as efficiently as they desire. “The Zionist blockade is unfortunately effective,” he noted, referring to Israeli efforts to cut off arms smuggling to militant groups.
In Israel, military planners were discussing nefarious ways of continuing to deprive their opponents of dead children.
An unknown number of rockets have failed to launch properly; analysts put the figure at anywhere from 30 to 80 percent. Those that fail are condemned to remain within the confines of the Gaza Strip in perpetuity, but the attempt to leave by air is the only available avenue out.Israel slams Ashton’s silence over Iranian arms smuggling
Last week Israel’s navy rescued a shipment of Syrian-manufactured missiles being sent by Iran to the Gaza Strip via Sudan. The hundreds of missiles and other armaments were taken to Israel’s southern port of Eilat, where Israeli officials arranged for foreign military attaches and dignitaries to meet the missiles and to discuss the tens of thousands of others desperate to escape the regimes of Iran, Syria, Hamas, and Hezbollah.
Although Netanyahu did not mention her name in Eilat, from earlier statements it has become clear that his criticism was meant for EU commissioner Catherine Ashton who was in Iran on the same day Netanyahu made his statements. Ashton who is always the first to criticize Israel over building in settlements and Jerusalem, kept mum on the latest Iranian attempt to smuggle weapons to Gaza.IRGC Deputy Commander: We Are Ready for to Annihilate Israel in the Future
During the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said he would like to ask Ashton “if she asked her Iranian hosts about this shipment of weapons for terrorist organizations”. Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz was even blunter in his criticism of Ashton. He told reporters that he would have expected the EU commissioner to either cancel or postpone her first trip to Iran since 2008.
He said that ‘the Iranian government was caught here in the very grave act of smuggling heavy missiles to terrorist organizations in Gaza, while abrogating all the UN resolutions that clamp an arms embargo to and from Iran’. He said that in this situation Ashton should have refrained from going to talk to the Iranians.
Jordanian parliament threatens to topple government if it doesn’t expel Israeli ambassador
The Jordanian House of Representatives has issued an ultimatum: comply with demands to punish Israel over the killing of Raed Za’eiter at the Allenby Bridge by Tuesday or else it will vote to topple the government.PMW: Song on PA TV: "With the rifle we will impose our new life"
The lower house of parliament demanded on Wednesday that Jordan expel Israel’s ambassador; withdraw Jordan’s envoy in Israel; and release former army soldier Ahmed Daqamseh, who murdered seven Israeli schoolgirls in 1997 at the Island of Peace (Naharayim) on the border.
Members of parliament also called for the release of all Jordanians and Palestinians in Israeli jails as well as bringing Za’eiter’s killers to the International Criminal Court. In addition, they called for Jordanian- Palestinian control of the Palestinian side of the Jordan River border crossing.
If the demands are not met by Tuesday, there will be a vote of no-confidence in the government in Amman, according to the threats.
PA TV celebration of released murderer's wedding VIDEO
PA minister sings song: "Palestine" includes Haifa, Safed, Tiberias, and other Israeli cities VIDEO
UN experts say Libyan arms fueling conflicts
Since civil war ousted longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, the experts said “Libya has become a primary source of illicit weapons.”
In a report to the UN Security Council obtained Wednesday, the panel of experts said it is investigating the alleged transfer of weapons to 14 countries in violation of a UN arms embargo.
The experts said they have documented the transfer of Libyan shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to terrorist groups in Mali and Tunisia, and to others in Chad, Lebanon and “potentially” the Central African Republic.
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