Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Israeli police prevent summer campers from defiling Temple Mount

Yesterday I reported - probably exclusively - that the Waqf was setting up a summer camp on the holy ground of the Temple Mount, as they have for several years, where Muslim kids would learn arts and crafts and play sports.

Today, Palestine Today writes that Israeli police barred campers and counselors as well as others from entering the compound, setting up barricades at the entrances.

I don't know if this will become a new policy. The reports before the holiday of Shavuot where it looked like the police would allow Jews exclusive access for parts of the holiday apparently never happened. And without a consistent policy these moves are almost worthless, as they appear arbitrary rather than principled. Without consistency the Muslim leaders just conclude that they need to make more noise and threats and riots in order to sway Israeli authorities to bend to their will.

In what is almost certainly an example of projection, the report claimed that the police hurled "insults and abuse and threats of beatings and detention."

Orryia Kohen noted in the comments:

I work at the Western Wall, and just recently learned that people aren't allowed to bring into the area guitars (or any other musical instruments). People coming to attend a military swearing-in ceremony weren't even allowed to bring helium balloons, because it is deemed disrespectful. I think a summer camp would be kicked out of the area in five minutes.

Hamas and Fatah "unity" troubles increase

YNet reports:

Palestinian forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas have clashed with Hamas supporters late on on Monday despite a unity deal between the two rivals, witnesses said.

The confrontation was the latest sign reconciliation efforts are in trouble.

Police broke up a Hamas rally in the West Bank late on Monday. Hassan Yousef, a Hamas leader, said officers stopped a convoy of 30 cars, seized Hamas banners and beat him and other protesters as well as journalists.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, Hamas has kept the banks closed for the seventh consecutive day not allowing any workers to receive their salaries - or even the families of terrorists from receiving their "salaries." Hamas is closing the banks because Abbas refuses to pay the 50,000 or so Hamas workers who took over the jobs of Fatah workers who were forced out in the Hamas Gaza coup. (The Fatah workers continued to draw salaries for years even when they weren't working.)

Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said yesterday that his movement should repudiate the reconciliation agreement. In regards to the bank crisis in Gaza, he asked how the new "unity" government could pay the absent Fatah workers and stop paying the Hamas workers who are actually working.

Short film to scare Arab Israelis away from joining the IDF

Apparently, Palestinian Arabs are very nervous about giving their own people freedom of choice.

As we've mentioned many times, Arab leaders are against any Palestinian Arabs voluntarily choosing to become citizens of any country - Arab or non-Arab.They want them to remain stateless, because if they decide to improve their lives, they will no longer be pawns in the power games of Palestinian politics.

Here's a new example. Israel has stated that it wants to recruit, on a voluntary basis, Arabs who do not have to serve.

In Israel, army service is important for getting jobs later in life, both because of the practical experience that many soldiers get but also because of the informal networking that inevitably follows army service. Besides that, some Israeli Arabs feel loyalty to their country and they actually want to serve.

This is causing panic among the Palestinian Arab elites who fear that their little empires will be destroyed without an artificially created unity, enforced by their own policies that keep their people miserable and take away freedom of choice for their people, freedom to work together with Israeli Jews to build a better Middle East.

This new video, ironically, claims that Israel is doing the brainwashing by allowing Arabs the freedom to choose whether to serve in the IDF or not. That freedom is anathema to Palestinians: (turn on closed-captioning)

So who is guilty of brainwashing?

Look how Electronic Intifada characterizes this piece of agitprop:

A new dark, psychological short film by Nadim Hamed produced by Eyad Barghouti in cooperation with the Palestinian civil society groups 7amleh and Baladna makes a bold statement against Israel’s latest attempts to enlist Palestinian citizens of Israel in the occupation army.

Project X features Samer Bisharat (star of Oscar-nominated Omar) as a youth who is brainwashed into serving in the army. But instead of gaining the privileges promised by a Palestinian collaborator, the young man realizes only devastating psychological and social costs as a result of his choice to serve.

The artistically potent short takes up one of the most pressing issues facing the nearly 1.7 million Palestinian citizens of Israel who face daily systematic discrimination from education to employment and severe restrictions on land ownership.

You see? In the haters' logic, by trying to eliminate discrimination, Israel is causing discrimination!

Who really wants equal rights for Arabs in Israel? Clearly, not the people who made this film. Clearly, not the self-proclaimed arbiters of what a "good" Palestinian must do at Electronic Intifada.

06/09 Links Pt2: Red Cross Betrays Its Role - What HaAretz Refused to Print; Code Pink's BDS Fail

From Ian:

The ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] Betrays Its Role — What HaAretz Refused to Print

I think that Art 49:1 sufficiently defines the meaning of transfer for the purpose of the whole article. The authors of Geneva 4 most likely did not think it necessary to repeat the adjective “forcible” in the subsequent paragraphs of Article 49. Moreover, trying to claim a non-forcible form of transfer is seeking to force a definition.
Moreover, since Article 49 and indeed all of Geneva Convention 4 are concerned to protect those upon whom forbidden actions would be practiced, then the people upon whom transfer and deportation are practiced are the ones to whom Article 49 extends its protection, the transferees and deportees. This does not include the pre-war residents of the occupied territory who are protected in various ways by other parts of Geneva Convention 4.
The ICRC changed its interpretation of Geneva 4:49:6 after the Six Day War in order to fit in with the mood of international anti-Israel hatred. This is pointed out in the letter below sent by me to HaAretz but not published. The unpublished letter below applies just as well to Anton Camen’s recent op ed in the Jerusalem Post as it does to Jakob Kellenberger’s piece in HaAretz in 2002:

The Horror of Holocaust Denial

Over the last few weeks, the Holocaust has appeared surprisingly often in the news. In most cases, the reason has been the surprising degree of ignorance or denial that so many people have about this cataclysmic event. The most disheartening reports have addressed the role of educators in spreading misinformation. Worse, they have illustrated that Holocaust denial is not just an ordinary form of ignorance but rather a modern cloak for the return of old-fashioned anti-Semitism.
The Anti-Defamation League’s much-heralded ADL Global 100 survey showed that 35% of adults worldwide have never heard of the Holocaust. Of those who have heard of it, 21% think it was a myth or exaggeration. One may quibble about the ADL survey’s methodology, but this study presents the best available evidence that we have about global attitudes. This revelation has been accompanied by three disturbing recent stories over the last few weeks.

Holocaust denier’s invitation to concentration camp memorial nixed after media exposé

German journalist Christoph Hörstel, a zealous supporter of Iran’s regime and Hezbollah and an alleged denier of the Holocaust, was invited to an event at the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp to commemorate the July 20, 1944, attempt to assassinate Hitler by German officers.
German author Tilman Tarach reported on Friday about the slated event on the website of the Berlin-based Jungle World weekly, causing organizers of the Sachsenhausen memorial to cancel Hörstel’s appearance the same day.
The planned participation of Hörstel showed that Germany’s remembrance culture had “gone to the dogs,” Tarach said. Organizers turned victims into perpetrators with the “planned event of a Holocaust- denier or relativist,” he wrote.

Al Azhar University condemns a rabbi

On Monday, Rabbi Yehuda Glick went to the Temple Mount. His presence reportedly caused a near riot.

According to the Al Aqsa Foundation, he and 13 "settlers" actually went up to the Dome of the Rock, which seems highly unlikely (we've seen Moshe Feiglin do this but the vast majority of religious Jews would not go there because of its extreme sanctity.)

His presence caused the Muslims there to supposedly force him and the other Jews out of the complex. They claim he was insulting them (which, in their minds, he probably was - by standing there.)

The Al Aqsa Foundation issued a press release criticizing Glick, and this got picked up by Al Azhar University - the most prestigious Sunni institute of Koran study. Al Azhar issued its own statement:

Al-Azhar strongly denounced here today Jewish Rabbi Yehuda Glick's breaking into Al-Aqsa Mosque through the Mughrabi Gate and ascension to the perimeter of the dish of the Dome of the Rock, accompanied by a group of Jewish settlers and guarded by special units of the Israeli police.

Al-Azhar's Sharif warned in a statement of the severe consequences of the recurrence of such aggressive acts that contribute to the breach of security and peace in occupied Palestine and hamper efforts dedicated to a just peace.

The statement called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League and the international community to take a firm stand against these provocative practices and prevent their recurrence in the future.

This is the first tme I've seen Al Azhar join this particular bandwagon of antisemitic hysteria.

Beitunia Pallywood again: The injury of Mohammed Azza/Azi/Aziz (update)

The HRW report I mentioned earlier today does shed light on something: the time of the shooting of the injured youth Mohammed Azza.

HRW says:

Israeli forces shot and wounded Azza in the chest at around 12:20 p.m., about 15 meters from where Nawareh and Salameh were later fatally shot, Azza’s father and a witness told Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch has not seen any video footage of Azza at the time he was shot. Azza stated he was not throwing rocks at that time.

...According to the reports, Azza suffered a gunshot injury to the left anterior chest wall and the left lung.

We have video from Camera 2 of Azza apparently being shot:

Starting from 12:20:00 on the security cam (37:20 of the video) you can see Azza moving towards the lower right side of the view, right next to a burning tire. He is hurling lots of stones, breaking some into smaller pieces on the ground.

Now that we have established how truthful Azza is in his testimony, we can go on.

At 12:20:42 on the CCTV time we see Azza suddenly crouch and turn - again, completely inconsistent with being shot in the chest with live fire, but possibly consistent with being hit with a rubber bullet. Two Arab girls in the lower right of the screen barely flinch at the sound, and continue to walk into the apparent line of fire, unconcerned.

Azza staggers back north, where he is quickly aided by a few people who help bring him to an ambulance.

There are photos of, supposedly, Azza with what appears to be a lot of blood. (I am not sure at what point he loses his light colored top/scarf.)

At least one photo appears to have been retouched, though. Here is the first one from the photographer's Facebook page:

Here's the version from Palestine News Network:

That is very bright blood, especially on dark clothing.

In the video, no blood is apparent on the street after the shooting. Still, this photo of him being carried to the ambulance seems to show blood on the carrier's jeans.

HRW's account is wildly different from the "eyewitnesses" that they love to quote. Mohammed told The Guardian that he was shot in the back, not the chest.

Fakher Zayed in the same Guardian video says that he witnessed three youths get shot: first one in the chest, the second in the back, and the third in an unspecified area, a half hour after the second. Since Nawareh was facing south and Salameh was facing north, and Azi was according to the video and HRW hit 85 minutes before Nawareh, none of what Zayed says squares with the facts (unless there was a mystery fourth incident.)

Azza's account of the events to The National is also utterly inconsistent with his statements elsewhere and with the video:

“The protest wasn’t so big when we got there [at about 10.30am], there were only around 70 boys and four soldiers who were shooting rubber bullets and tear gas. When we went to the front, everyone was moving fast and throwing rocks. I was looking directly at a soldier under the vine tree and I wasn’t moving,” Mohammed recalls, sitting next to his father in their detached home.

“Then I heard the sound of the rifle. I thought it was a rubber bullet but then I felt something burning inside me. I started running with some of the other guys and they told me that I had been shot in my back. Some people picked me up and carried me to the ambulance.”

So he was looking directly at the soldier who shot him and he was shot in the back? He started running with them even though no one is seen on the video?

None of this bothers Human Rights Watch. HRW says that Azza suffered wounds "to the chest" but then later says that "Mohammed Azza, 15, told Human Rights Watch that Israeli forces shot him in the back earlier during the protests." So HRW, trying to square the accounts, instead of showing skepticism over Azza's words compared to the medical report, seems to be claiming that Azza was shot twice!

The accounts are absurdly inconsistent, and they do not jive with the video at the moment that HRW says the event occurred, but HRW just shrugs and insists Israel shot him with live fire in the chest, causing him to...crouch down and run under his own power.

Here is the supposedly critically wounded Azza, smiling for the camera in a photo posted on the day after the incident:

And here is is five days later:

I have no idea what really happened at 12:20 PM on May 15. I do know that Azza is lying, big time, about what he was doing at the time, as are all the other "eyewitnesses" and his family. Based on his reaction and the reaction of the passersby, I think it is highly unlikely that he was hit by a live bullet.

More importantly, Human Rights Watch also has no idea what really happened - but that doesn't stop them from pushing their own theories as if they are fact.

(h/t Bob Knot)

UPDATE: I wrote this based on HRW's time of 12:20 for the incident. But DCI is claiming that they have a CAM 3 view of the incident that happened around 13:00. (Conveniently, we don't have CAM 1 footage at 13:00, it starts at 13:04, and that's the highest quality camera.)

Someone is wrong.

06/09 Links Pt1: G-d Bless Australia!; Will the West Fund Hamas?; Iran’s Neighbors Introduce Draft

From Ian:

Michael Lumish: G-d Bless Australia!

Of course, neither the EU, nor the Obama administration, could have gotten away with the ridiculous notion that Jews building housing for themselves on Jewish land is some crime against humanity, were it not for progressive-left diaspora Jews who assured them that they were correct to focus their ire on those other Jews over there, the bad ones – like our friends Yosef and Melody – who live where neither Barack Obama, nor Mahmoud Abbas, want them to live.
If western-left diaspora Jews blame their fellow Jews for the attacks against those Jews, then how could we possibly expect anything less from non-Jewish western leaders? If we will not stand up for ourselves, why in this world would we expect them to stand up for us?
The fact of the matter is that diaspora Jewry made a highly consequential error when it agreed with Mahmoud Abbas that Jews should not be allowed to build housing for themselves in Judea. Obama and the Europeans could not make a stink about Jews building homes were it not for the fact that western Jews went along with it. Certainly it would have been far more difficult for someone like Obama to object to Jews who build housing for themselves if his Jewish friends and advisers had not gone along and if the diaspora Jewish community had not done so.
We have no one to blame but ourselves, but in the meanwhile we still have some friends in the world.
Thank you, Australia.

Greg Sheridan: Resisting a destructive tide of prejudicial terminology

WHEN Attorney-General George Brandis told Senate estimates the Australian government would not under any circumstances refer to East Jerusalem as occupied East Jerusalem, he was not changing government policy.
He certainly was not changing Coalition government policy. He was changing policy as it evolved when Bob Carr was foreign minister, but this was not longstanding Australian foreign policy.
The Abbott government, on election, reverted back to the longstanding Australian government practice of seeking neutral language to describe territory in East Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank which are disputed between Israel and the Palestinians.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in several statements and interviews had made it clear that the government did not regard all Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal. Most importantly, she also did not state that the settlements were legal either.
The truth is they concern disputed territory, the status of which will have to be resolved in negotiations. This is what the relevant UN resolutions provide for, although UN resolutions themselves are not by their nature binding international law of and in themselves.
Brandis was right in international law. More importantly, he demonstrated significant political courage on a vexed and extremely complex issue.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Will the West Fund Hamas?

One thing is certain: both Hamas and Fatah hope to use the unity government as a ploy to attract financial aid from the international community, particularly Western donors. The unity government, which is backed by Fatah and Hamas (designated a terrorist organization by the U.S.), actually serves as a front for receiving funds from the international community for both parties .
Abbas, however, has realized that Western donors are not going to fund a government that pays salaries to thousands of Hamas employees, including members of the movement's armed wing, Ezaddin al-Kassam.
Meanwhile, the PA and Hamas have turned to some Arab countries for help. According to Palestinian sources, the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, has promised to pay the salaries of the Hamas employees for May. But it is not clear whether the emir will continue to channel funds to the unity government in the coming months.
This, of course, does not bode well for the future of the reconciliation deal between Hamas and Fatah. All that is left for the two parties to do now is to try to persuade the Western donors to increase their financial aid to the unity government in order to solve the crisis over the wages of the Hamas employees.
It remains to be seen whether American and European taxpayers will agree to pay salaries to thousands of Hamas civil servants and militiamen in the Gaza Strip, who have not renounced their intent to commit acts of terrorism or destroy Israel.

Water sports! Arts and crafts! Muslim summer camp on Temple Mount

For the third year in a row, Muslim leaders are setting up a summer camp on Judaism's holiest site.

The camp launched yesterday, with some 400 boys and girls ages 6-13 attending for 17 days.

Activities include "sports, artistic, religious and Quranic sessions" as well as "water sports."

Children will also fan out to teach Muslim visitors the "truth" about the stolen Jewish holy spot and those who talk to the most people will win prizes.

During Ramadan the children will also learn about recycling. Because, after all, they are very progressive.

Fake video of Jew hit by taxi goes viral in Arab media

This video has reportedly been viewed over 1.5 million times after it was posted to the Al Quds newspaper website:

Fortunately, the video is fake. It was created by Israeli Yossi Shahar six months ago using Adobe After Effects and he posted it as an example of how to use the program. (And the effect is very impressive.)

Apparently Arabs are quite gleeful at the idea of a Jew being brutally hit by a taxi. Of course, they claimed that this was a "settler" in their version.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

HRW lies about Beitunia

In a move that surprises no one, Human Rights Watch has released a report on the Beitunia shootings that uncritically reports every anti-Israel claim and ignores everything that is self-contradictory:

Video footage, photographs, witness statements, and medical records indicate that two 17-year-old boys whom Israeli forces shot and killed on May 15, 2014 posed no imminent threat to the forces at the time. The boys, who had been participating in a demonstration in the West Bank, were apparently shot with live ammunition, Human Rights Watch said.

Video footage clearly shows Israeli soldiers firing in the direction of the boys, Nadim Nawareh and Mohammed Salameh, and the boys falling to the ground. Medical records indicate that the two boys, as well as 15-year-old, Mohammed Azza, whom Israeli forces also shot and seriously wounded, suffered wounds to the chest caused by live ammunition. Nawareh and Salameh were shot right through the chest. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch they heard the sound of live ammunition being fired, quite distinct from the sound of rubber bullet fire, at the time the three boys were shot.

“The willful killing of civilians by Israeli security forces as part of the occupation is a war crime,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director. “Israel has a responsibility to prosecute the forces who targeted these teens, and also those responsible for assigning the use of live ammunition to police a demonstration.”

The Israeli military stated that it is investigating the killings but that its forces “did not use live fire,” only rubber bullets and teargas. However, rubber bullets are specifically designed not to penetrate bodies. It is highly unlikely that, at a range of at least 60 meters, rubber bullets would have caused the injuries that killed Nawareh and Salameh and wounded Azza. Nawareh’s family retrieved what may be the live bullet that killed him.

Offenses committed by Israeli security forces as part of the occupation, such as deliberate attacks on civilians, would be subject to prosecution under international humanitarian law as war crimes. Israeli forces have repeatedly shot Palestinians who posed no imminent threat with live ammunition during similar protests, including at an April 4 demonstration in the same location, and the Israeli military has a poor record of bringing soldiers to justice for such acts, Human Rights Watch said.

The boys were shot in three separate incidents but in virtually the same location in the town of Beitunia, where Palestinians had earlier held a demonstration to commemorate “Naqba Day,” which marks the expulsion of Palestinians from present-day Israel from 1947 to 1949. After the demonstration, there was a violent confrontation during which Israeli forces fired rubber bullets, live ammunition, and tear gas at Palestinians who threw rocks at the forces.

A photojournalist taking pictures at the time, Samer Nazzal, told Human Rights Watch that Israeli forces shot rubber bullets at a group of Palestinians who gathered to carry Nawareh away. Human Rights Watch viewed a series of Nazzal’s high-shutter-speed photographs taken immediately after Nawareh was shot that show a projectile, apparently a rubber bullet, coming from the direction of the Israeli forces. It struck the head of a Palestinian medic, who was wearing a bright orange vest and was part of the group carrying Nawareh.

The Israeli rights group B’Tselem reported that Israeli occupation forces also shot and wounded a 23-year-old man in the arm that day with live ammunition.

...Witness statements, medical reports, security camera videos, news media videos and photographs by journalists, which Human Rights Watch viewed, indicate that Israeli forces fired live ammunition.

As we have shown conclusively, at least Nadeem Nawarah's fall to the ground was accompanied by what was undoubtedly the firing of a rubber bullet.

Nazzal and the other "eyewitnesses" are lying.

Nazzal, 28, a photographer and journalist for Raya news, told Human Rights Watch that he arrived at the scene at around 1:30 p.m., after the clashes had started. He later heard Israeli forces fire both rubber bullets and live ammunition. Witnesses at demonstrations, as well as Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights monitors, have repeatedly confirmed that the sound of live fire is easily distinguished from the sound of the type of rubber bullets used by the Israeli Defense Forces. Nazzal said:

There were seven or eight soldiers on foot in an elevated area, behind a concrete wall and fence, about 60 meters away. There were also a lot of [military vehicles] about 200 meters away from us. There were dozens of protesters, most of them doing nothing but watching, and about 20 others were throwing rocks. Two or three of them would run forward and throw rocks at a time, but because the soldiers were in an elevated place and shielded, none of the rocks seemed to actually hit them. They were shooting tear gas and rubber bullets constantly, and once in a while we would hear live ammunition.

I started taking photos of the clashes as soon as I got there. Nadim [Nawareh] decided to cross the street. At that time he wasn’t throwing rocks; he was just crossing the street. As soon as he was in the middle of the street he was shot straight in the chest. I saw it. I was just 15 meters away from him. I heard the bullet, and he dropped to the ground and didn’t move.

Zayed, the store owner, and Abbas Mamoni, another journalist, corroborated Nazzal’s account.

Nazzal took a rapid series of photographs that show a projectile flying toward the group evacuating Nawareh, and apparently striking the head of a man wearing a medic’s fluorescent vest. The man stumbles and holds his head in subsequent images.

This photograph, if accurate, exactly corresponds with the second gunshot sound in the CNN video, a sound identical to the first one that corresponds to Nawarah's fall. If the sound of a rubber bullet is so easily distinguishable from that of live fire - and it is - then the two shots were of the same type and Nawara was not hit by live fire.

HRW pretends to look at the inconsistencies but dismisses them with what can only be described as a wild conspiracy theory: (There are links in HRW's report that do not go anywhere, and there are no links to the description of the rifle.)

Some commentators and news reports have incorrectly stated that the CNN footage could not show Israeli forces shooting live ammunition because the assault rifles seen in the footage have attachments that are used to fire rubber bullets. However, the Israeli military has used at least one type of assault-rifle attachment, produced by Israel Military Industries, that allows forces to fire rubber bullets, but also to fire live ammunition without removing the attachment. A brochure states that the 22-centimeter-long “launcher” can be “attached to any rifle with NATO flash suppressor” and allows “immediate 5.56-mm lethal firing capability without removing adapter.”

Human Rights Watch could not determine whether the gunshot in the video fired a live round or a rubber bullet, or to rule out the possibility that Nawareh might have been killed by another gunshot that the video did not record.

The gunshot in the CNN video was accompanied by the appearance of a paper wad (you need to go frame by frame to see it) that accompanies many but not all rubber bullet firings, but do not correspond with live fire. In addition, the sound of a live fire round even from such a rifle would sound different, as HRW emphasizes. So HRW prefers a conspiracy theory involving several layers of IDF command over the clear evidence from the CNN video and photographs that HRW relies upon.

HRW's presentation of the facts here simply do not jive with the reality of the videos and the photos. The organization casts no doubt on the supposed bullet that Nawara's family has shown to the media that could not possibly have passed through a human body as an expert showed. And it is credulous regarding "eyewitnesses" who are known to lie.

But HRW isn't interested in discovering the truth - it is interested in damning Israel.

(h/t Gidon)

Of course, Abbas politicizes Vatican speech

There was a huge contrast between the speech that Shimon Peres gave at the Vatican on Sunday and the one given by Mahmoud Abbas.

Peres' speech had very little to say about specific Jewish claims to the Holy Land and almost everything he stated was a universal message of peace.

Mahmoud Abbas, on the other hand, filled his speech with code-words that are meant to exclude Jews from controlling their holy sites and to subtly blame and pressure Israel. And this was all after the Vatican said that this was specifically meant to be a non-political event.

Here are the major parts of Peres' statements, where he emphasizes peace and equality:

Your Holiness Pope Francis, Your Excellency President Mahmoud Abbas … I have come from the Holy City of Jerusalem to thank you for your exceptional invitation. The Holy City of Jerusalem is the beating heart of the Jewish People. In Hebrew, our ancient language, the word Jerusalem and the word for peace share the same root. And indeed peace is the vision of Jerusalem.

As it is said in the Book of Psalms:

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure.
May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.”
For the sake of my family and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.”
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your prosperity.

Two peoples – Israelis and Palestinians – still are aching for peace. The tears of mothers over their children are still etched in our hearts. We must put an end to the cries, to the violence, to the conflict. We all need peace. Peace between equals.

On this moving occasion, brimming with hope and full of faith, let us all raise with you, Your Holiness, a call for peace between religions, between nations, between communities, and between fellow men and women. Let true peace become our legacy soon and swiftly.

Our Book of Books commands upon us the way of peace, demands of us to toil for its realization.

It is said in the book of Proverbs: “Her ways are ways of grace, and all her paths are peace.”

So too must our ways be. Ways of grace and peace. It is not by chance that Rabbi Akiva captured the essence of our Torah in one sentence: “Love your neighbor like thyself.” We are all equal before the Lord. We are all part of the human family. For without peace, we are not complete, and we have yet to achieve the mission of humanity.

Peace does not come easy. We must toil with all our strengths to reach it. To reach it soon. Even if it requires sacrifice or compromise.

The Book of Psalms tells us: “Whoever loves life and desires to see many good days, keep your tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it.”

This is to say, we are commanded to pursue after peace. All year. Every day. We greet each other with this blessing. Shalom. Salam. We must be worthy of the deep and demanding meaning of this blessing. Even when peace seems distant, we must pursue it to bring it closer.

And if we pursue peace with perseverance, with faith, we will reach it.

And it will endure through us, through all of us, of all faiths, of all nations, as it is written: “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”

The soul is elated upon the reading of these verses of eternal vision. And we can – together and now, Israelis and Palestinians – convert our noble vision to a reality of welfare and prosperity. It is within our power to bring peace to our children. This is our duty, the holy mission of parents.

I was young, now I am old. I experienced war, I tasted peace. Never will I forget the bereaved families, parents and children, who paid the cost of war. And all my life I shall never stop to act for peace for the generations to come. Let's all of us join hands and make it happen.

Let me end with a prayer: He who makes peace in the heavens shall make peace upon us and upon all of Israel, and upon the entire world, and let us say Amen.

Peres talks about the people who have been hurt in the Middle East wars, and he tells them to do a very Christian thing - to move forward and work towards peace as the ultimate goal, a peace between equals, not being shackled by the pain of the past. He doesn't demand "justice" for those who are bereaved, for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their land and their people.

Abbas' speech was the polar opposite.

Mahmoud Abbas sprinkles his calls for peace with "justice" - a keyword that often means the destruction of Israel, since its very existence is perceived as unjust. To Arabs, the word "justice" is akin to revenge, to getting everything they demand - since they are the only arbiters of what is considered "just."

Abbas also subtly calls for Jews to be treated as dhimmis by their Muslim leaders in Jerusalem:

...Oh God, we ever praise you for making Jerusalem our gate to heaven. As said in the Holy Quran, “Glory to Him who made His servant travel by night from the sacred place of worship to the furthest place of worship, whose surroundings We have blessed.” You made pilgrimage and prayer in it as the best acts the faithful can make in your praise, and made your truthful promise in your say: “Let them enter the Masjid as they did for the first time.” God Almighty has spoken the truth.

O, Lord of Heaven and Earth, accept my prayer for the realization of truth, peace and justice in my country Palestine, the region, and the globe as a whole.

I beseech You, O Lord, on behalf of my people, the people of Palestine – Moslems, Christians and Samaritans – who are craving for a just peace, dignified living, and liberty, I beseech you, Oh Lord, to make prosperous and promising the future of our people, and freedom in our sovereign and independent state; Grant, O Lord, our region and its people security, safety and stability. Save our blessed city Jerusalem; the first Kiblah, the second Holy Mosque, the third of the two Holy Mosques, and the city of blessings and peace with all that surround it.

...Accordingly, we ask You, O Lord, for peace in the Holy Land, Palestine, and Jerusalem together with its people. We call on you to make Palestine and Jerusalem in particular a secure land for all the believers, and a place for prayer and worship for the followers of the three monotheistic religions Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and for all those wishing to visit it as it is stated in the Holy Quran.

O Lord, You are the peace and peace emanates from You. O God of Glory and Majesty grant us security and safety, and alleviate the suffering of my people in hometown and Diaspora.

O Lord, bring comprehensive and just peace to our country and region so that our people and the peoples of the Middle East and the whole world would enjoy the fruit of peace, stability and coexistence.

We want peace for us and for our neighbors. We seek prosperity and peace of mind for ourselves and for others alike. O Lord, answer our prayers and make successful our endeavors for you are most just, most merciful, Lord of the Worlds.

Here is the difference between the Arab side and the Israeli side. Even in the most pacific setting possible, in front of the Pope, while Israelis describe how much they yearn for true peace, the Arab idea of "peace" has strings attached - and those strings are meant to weaken and ultimately destroy Israel in the name of "justice."

Former Hamas spokesperson says Abbas is "tricking the Americans"

From Palestinian Media Watch:

Former Hamas government spokesman Ihab al-Ghussein announced today that in private meetings with Hamas, Mahmoud Abbas insists that he is lying in his public statements in order to "trick the Americans":

"When I go out [publicly] and say that the [PA] government is my [Abbas] government and it recognizes 'Israel' and so on, fine -these words are meant to trick the Americans."

Al-Ghussein, who was Hamas government spokesman until the advent of the new unity government with Fatah, posted these words about Abbas's duplicity on his Facebook page.

At the end of the post he laughs at those Palestinians who trust Abbas and the reconciliation.

The following is the post describing Abbas' "tricking the Americans":

"You know what Mahmoud Abbas says behind closed doors?? He says: 'Guys, let me [continue] saying what I say to the media. Those words are meant for the Americans and the occupation (i.e., Israel), not for you [Hamas]. What's important is what we agree on among ourselves. In other words, when I go out [publicly] and say that the government is my [Abbas] government and it recognizes 'Israel' and so on, fine - these words are meant to trick the Americans. But we agree that the government has nothing to do with politics (i.e., foreign relations). The same thing happened in 2006,' he [Abbas] said: 'Don't harp on everything I tell the media, forget about the statements in the media.'
Come on [Abbas]!
The problem really isn't with him [Abbas], the problem is with whoever believes him. Ha, Ha, Ha! (I really do want real reconciliation, meaning partnership and achieving unity, but not reconciliation as Abbas means it)."

[Ihab al-Ghussein's Facebook page, June 8, 2014]