On Sunday, a much beloved aunt of mine peacefully passed away in her bed in her apartment in Jerusalem.
A Holocaust survivor, she lived well into her nineties, surrounded by her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who lived nearby and visited daily. She was a wonderful person, always laughing and happy, and visiting her was always a highlight of my family's trips to Israel.
She was buried near her late husband and her mother, my grandmother, in the Mount of Olives cemetery.
According to the draft final statement of the Paris "peace" conference, her burial is a violation of international law.
Haaretz obtained a copy of the draft recommendations. It includes this statement: "Looking ahead, the Participants:...reaffirm that they will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations; also reaffirm that they will distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967."
But according to the politicians who want "peace," burying a Jew in a Jewish cemetery is really a violation of the anomalous 19-year "status quo" when Jews were forbidden by a racist Jordanian government to even visit the cemetery. That racist Arab government smashed tens of thousands of headstones, built roads over graves, and even used sacred headstones as latrines in their army barracks.
That is what the world wants to turn the clock back to, although substituting a different racist Arab government for the Jordanians. One that is even worse than the Jordanians are.
Of course, the world would argue, the "peace agreement" would "ensure" full access by everyone to holy places.
Just like the armistice agreement that Jordan signed in 1949 - which was ignored.
Just like Jews can "freely" visit holy places under Palestinian Authority control today - in armored buses, at midnight, protected by an army while under a barrage of rocks. If you want to visit Joseph's Tomb, you have to commit to staying there for six hours overnight, because you can't leave on your own without being stoned to death.
Even today, under Israeli control, sacred burial sites are being desecrated by the Arabs who live nearby, and visitors must take precautions to stay safe. Under Arab rule, the cemetery would again become effectively off-limits to Jews and the world will react with their own "status quo" of silence.
My aunt's burial is, quite literally, a "fact on the ground" that the Paris conference wants to stop. The gravestone that will be placed on her burial spot is an 'illegal Jewish structure" in "Arab East Jerusalem."
All Jewish activities in Jerusalem must be halted, and possibly dismantled, according to this statement and countless other statements by the international community in previous decades.
They are telling Jews that they simply do not have any historic or legal right to Jerusalem.
This same community of nations did nothing to protect Jewish rights to our holy places during the entire long anomalous 19 years of Arab control over Jewish Jerusalem. They'll do nothing to protect Jewish rights today.
The international community expects a murderous death cult to uphold an agreement as the best chance of "peace' even when that entity is violating existing agreements every hour of every day.
The proper response to this Paris coference is derision, not respect. Their words are filled with self-righteous calls to peace - but their actions have shown that "peace" is a code word for the denial of Jewish national rights.
Jews have seen their historic rights ripped apart in the name of "peace" before. Never again.
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Here's the entire text of how the world is trying yet again to institutionalize antisemitism. I'll have more to say about this worthless piece of paper in upcoming posts.
I) Following the Ministerial meeting held in Paris on 3 June 2016, the Participants met in Paris on 15 January 2017 to reaffirm their support for a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution of the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. They reaffirmed that a negotiated solution with two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, is the only way to achieve enduring peace.
They emphasized the importance for the parties to restate their commitment to this solution, to take urgent steps in order to reverse the current negative trends on the ground and to start meaningful direct negotiations.
They reiterated that a negotiated two-state outcome should meet Israeli security needs and the rights of Palestinians to statehood and sovereignty, end the occupation that began in 1967, and resolve all permanent status issues on the basis of United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 1397 (2002), 1515 (2003), 1850 (2008), the Madrid principles (1991) and the Quartet Roadmap (2003). They also underscored the Arab Peace Initiative as a vision for a comprehensive resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict, thus contributing to regional peace and security. They welcomed the adoption of United Nations Security Council resolution 2334 on 23 December 2016, which clearly condemned settlement activity, incitement and violence, and called both sides to take steps to advance the two-state solution on the ground.
They took note of the report of the Quartet of 1 July 2016 and its recommendations for both sides to take concrete steps to preserve the two-state solution and to create the conditions for final status negotiations.
They noted with particular interest United States Secretary of State's remarks on 28 December 2016, in which he stressed that no solution could be imposed and outlined his vision of principles for a final status agreement.
They further emphasized the importance for both sides of complying with international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including accountability.
II) The Participants highlighted the potential for security, stability and prosperity for both parties that could result from a peace agreement. They expressed their readiness to exert necessary efforts toward the achievement of the two-state solution and to contribute substantially to arrangements for ensuring the Sustainability of a negotiated peace agreement, in particular in the areas of economic incentives, the consolidation of Palestinian state capacities, and civil society dialogue. Those could include, inter alia:
- a European special privileged partnership; other economic incentives and increased private sector involvement; support to further efforts by the parties to streamline economic cooperation;
- concrete support to the implementation of the Palestinian Statehood Strategy, including further
meetings between international partners and the Palestinian side to that effect;
- convening Israeli and Palestinian civil society fora, and rekindling the public debate.
They called for these different strands of work to be pursued diligently.
III) Looking ahead, the Participants:
- expect both sides to restate their commitment to the two-state solution, and to disavow official voices on their side that reject this solution;
- call on each side to independently demonstrate, through policies and actions, a genuine commitment to the two-state solution and refrain from unilateral steps that prejudge the outcome of final status negotiations, in order to rebuild trust and create a path back to meaningful direct negotiations, in line with the recommendations of the Quartet report of 1 July 2016;
restate the validity of the Arab Peace Initiative and highlight its potential for stability in the region;
reaffirm that they will not recognize any changes to the 4 June 1967 lines, including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties through negotiations; also reaffirm that they will distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967;
welcome the prospect of closer cooperation between the Quartet and Arab League members to further the objectives of this Declaration and enhance, if necessary, existing mechanisms;
welcome the readiness of interested Participants to review progress and further the set of incentives; their findings could be conveyed to the United Nations for the reporting under OP12 of UNSCR 2334.
France will inform the parties about the international community’s collective support and concrete contribution to the two-State solution contained in this joint declaration.
(h/t Gidon Shaviv)