Journalistic Amnesia? The Bahrain Conference and the Big Omission - by Sean Durns

...some Arab officials who decided to attend the Bahrain Conference did what the Palestinian leadership has been unable to. As Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa told Israeli journalist Barak Ravid: “Israel is a country in the Middle East. Israel is part of this heritage of this whole region historically. So the Jewish people have a place amongst us.” Al Khalifa was acknowledging the past while looking towards the future. The pundits writing about future Israeli-Palestinian peace endeavors should do the same.

Sean Durns..
Algemeiner..
28 June '19..

Reporters writing about the latest Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative seem to have amnesia. Curiously, the press and pundits pontificating about the Bahrain Conference have largely omitted the history of earlier failed proposals. Perhaps this is because those failures raise uncomfortable truths.

On June 25, the Trump administration presented part of its plan for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. The long-awaited proposal, formally unveiled at a conference in Bahrain, envisions $50 billion in regional investment projects over a period of ten years.

Entitled “From Peace to Prosperity,” the plan seeks to encourage Palestinian economic growth by opening up the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), which is ruled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) — and the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Fatah rival Hamas — to development. The proposal emphasizes regional integration, private sector growth, and improvements to healthcare, infrastructure, and education as means of improving the quality of life for Palestinians.

Both Fatah, the movement that controls the PA, and the terror group Hamas have rejected the plan. In fact, both groups opposed the plan long before its details were announced, as the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) highlighted previously.

PA officials boycotted the Bahrain Conference, although some Palestinian businessmen and officials from several Arab countries did participate. Many in the press, however, chose to focus on the boycotters, while minimizing the participants.

The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy Magazine, and others reported on the PA’s refusal to participate, but failed to note that it was in keeping with a long history of Palestinians rejecting opportunities for peace.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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What exactly Fatah is and why its threats are significant - by Stephen M. Flatow

On June 16, Fatah posted on its official Facebook page a large photo of a masked Palestinian about to throw a rock—that is, about to attempt to stone a Jew to death.

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
27 June '19..

A few days before the Bahrain conference opened, U.S. envoy Jason Greenblatt took to Twitter to issue this cry of alarm: “Fatah is calling for violence against Israelis as an act of protest. Despicable. Fatah seeks violence over the idea of exploring peace & prosperity for the Palestinian people.”

By now, much of the public probably has forgotten what exactly Fatah is and why its threats are significant. It’s worth a reminder.

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Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995. He is the author of “A Father’s Story: My Fight for Justice Against Iranian Terror.”

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Absolutely! Bring on Bahrain! - by Oded Revivi

What threatens the Palestinian leadership is not what threatens the average Palestinian—and that is why the Bahrain workshop is so threatening to the P.A.

Oded Revivi..
JNS.org..
26 June '19..

Albert Einstein is widely credited with saying that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” Yet that is exactly what the professional diplomatic community has demanded regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Not surprisingly then, the past few decades have seen us move further away from a comprehensive resolution to the conflict.

The Trump administration, on the other hand, has made a concerted attempt to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, as demonstrated by those spearheading its diplomatic efforts, who come from the world of business and eschew the more accepted methods of international diplomacy.

Critics ridicule them, saying “this is not some real estate deal.” And while it is much more than a property dispute, this is an amusing critique coming from those who have focused so much on territorial boundaries and borders while ignoring the conflict’s core undercurrents.

As an Israeli mayor governing in these disputed territories, I and my constituents have much to gain from the economic workshop currently taking place in Bahrain. My Palestinian neighbors have even more to gain. And both of us would also be the most direct beneficiaries of a comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Yet, after rejecting multiple offers to create a Palestinian state, Palestinian Authority leaders have made a calculated decision to avoid negotiations altogether. While the merits of that decision can be debated, it should not be used as a pretext to prevent Palestinians from improving their lives, even if they do not know what national passports they will ultimately carry.

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Oded Revivi is the Mayor of Efrat and the Chief International Envoy of the YESHA Council, representing the 450,000 Israelis living throughout Judea and Samaria.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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The Reality? There Won’t Be Peace Until the Palestinians Accept Israel - by Harold Ohayon

The reality of the situation is that this conflict will not end until the Palestinians wake up from their maximalist dreams and realize they will never replace Israel.

Harold Ohayon..
Algemeiner..
25 June '19..

Amnesia and willful ignorance seem to be running amok in today’s political arena, especially when it comes to Israel and the Palestinians — mostly due to the desperation for a peace agreement. And it is in this environment that we were introduced to President Trump’s plan to alleviate the economic hardships facing the Palestinian people.

But the uncomfortable reality of the situation is that the conflict is not about economics. Nor is it about two states. This festering conflict fails to cease because one side absolutely refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of the other.

Even before being presented with the US plan, the Palestinians rejected it outright. They did not know any details, nor did they come to the table with any counter-proposals. They simply rejected it, just as they rejected the peace plans presented by former Israeli leaders Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert.

And they will continue to reject any proposal that will end the conflict — because right now, they do not want it to end.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Like to know the real reason the Palestinians are refusing to attend the Bahrain conference? - by Lt. Col. (Res) Maurice Hirsch

The conference will focus on the economic development of the Palestinians, and not the P.A. In doing so, the plan clearly, albeit not explicitly, reflects the reality that the P.A. and PLO no longer represent all of the Palestinians. The plan also clearly reflects that the Trump administration is questioning what happened to the billions of dollars of international aid that have been pumped into the P.A. over the past two and half decades. This is the worst nightmare of the P.A. and PLO and the real reason they refuse to participate in the conference.

Lt. Col. (Res) Maurice Hirsch..
JNS.org..
24 June '19..

Both the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority are boycotting the U.S.-initiated economic conference that starts tomorrow in Manama, Bahrain. While they would like to believe that their absence undermines the legitimacy and essence of the conference—promoting Palestinian economic development—the truth of the matter is that their absence is probably the only opportunity to achieve results.

At one time the P.A. and PLO were potentially important actors in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Today there is no question that they represent a small and ever shrinking percentage of the Palestinians.

Their participation in the Bahrain conference would contribute nothing of substance. While the world has developed in the past few decades, the P.A. and PLO have stayed the same, rejecting offer after offer to resolve the conflict once and for all.

While trying to create the impression that the P.A. and PLO rejection of the Trump administration’s economic plan is a result of their principled fight for the interests of the Palestinian people, the truth is that their goals are simply to stay in power and promote the elimination of Israel.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Bahrain and John Kerry, Kushner is repeating the same mistake - by Ben-Dror Yemini

It's difficult, very difficult, to wean an entire community off illusions. After all, the "forces of progress" cultivate illusions. It's a lot easier to invite people to a workshop in Bahrain.

Ben-Dror Yemini..
Israel National News..
22 June '19..
Link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/264947

John Kerry, who served as US Secretary of State under former US President Barack Obama, claimed more than once that poverty leads to terror. We'll give the poor economic prosperity, he thought, and the level of terror will drop. If anyone thought that the Trump administration had changed direction - the "deal of the century" proves that nothing has changed.

The economic workshop, to be held this week in Bahrain, is proof. We'll give the "Palestinians" economic prosperity, says Jared Kushner, who leads the Trump administration's peace deal staff, and the level of enmity will drop.

Both Kerry and Kushner, along with many others, should know that this is an illusion. The poor in Africa do not choose terror. There are millions of poor people in Nigeria. They don't choose terror. And among the "Palestinians" as well, those who choose violence are not necessarily poor.

The city of Shechem (Nablus) has enjoyed relative prosperity in recent years, thanks to the buying power of Israeli Arabs. Has it changed anything for Zakaria Zubeidi? After all, in recent years he has enjoyed status and is well-to-do financially. But he went back to terror. Because the brainwashing and incitement are a lot stronger than the options of money and prosperity. All the mass terror attacks in the US were carried out by successful, middle-class Muslim youth. Did any of that prevent them from choosing terror?

The biggest obstacle to achieving peace was and remains the fantasy of a "Palestinian right of return," which are supported by not insignificant portions of academia, the media, and the Israeli and global Left. In this sense, the anti-Israel campaigns are not promoting peace. They are preventing it. In order to advance towards peace, we need to look the "Palestinians" in the eye. They'll act like adults the moment we treat them like adults. Anyone who walks around campuses around the world and turns Israel into a criminal is someone who encourages their fantasies, someone who is funding UNRWA, someone who is cultivates the illusion of return - and someone who is perpetuating the problem.

It's difficult, very difficult, to wean an entire community off illusions. After all, the "forces of progress" cultivate illusions. It's a lot easier to invite people to a workshop in Bahrain. Kerry's mistake was in his theory regarding poverty and terror. Kushner, it's sad to see, is repeating that exact same mistake.

The full article was published in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper.

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Where is a war crime not a war crime? In NY Times coverage of Hamas - by Gilead Ini

The paper makes a point of enlightening readers on international law — at least when it comes to Israeli actions

Gilead Ini..
CAMERA..
21 June '19..

A story in today’s New York Times refers to Hamas rocket fire into Israel and its imprisonment of two Israelis. But David Halbfinger, the newspaper’s Jerusalem bureau chief and author of today’s article, avoids telling readers that these are both violations of international law.

Writing about a press conference held by the head of Hamas yesterday, Halbfinger notes that the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, “ignored questions about whether Hamas, in launching rockets at Israel, fires them indiscriminately or intentionally at civilians, and whether it endangers its own civilian population by firing rockets from residential neighborhoods.”

Later, Halbfinger references “Israelis being held by Hamas in hopes of a prisoner swap — two soldiers believed to be dead and two civilians thought to be alive,” and explains that Haniyeh during the press conference “refused to say definitively whether the four are alive, a matter of intense interest in Israel.”

It is disingenuous for the New York Times to treat the question of Hamas’s targeting as if it were unanswered. And it is hypocritical for them to avoid explaining the international law implications of those rocket attacks. Haniyeh is free to “ignored questions” about who is being targeted with his rockets. But Halbfinger is certainly aware that those rockets are both indiscriminate and fired toward civilian centers — and that such rocket fire is a war crime.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Anyone surprised that once again, the PA shows it doesn’t care about having a viable state - by Evelyn Gordon

Even if Palestinian statehood isn’t imminent, economic development now would increase the feasibility of any future state. So why is the Palestinian Authority refusing to go to Bahrain to discuss such development?

Evelyn Gordon..
JNS.org..
20 June '19..

The Palestinians’ refusal to attend a U.S.-sponsored “economic workshop” in Bahrain on June 25-26 has been widely treated as a reasonable response to the unlikelihood that U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan (whose economic section will be unveiled at the workshop) will satisfy their demands. But in fact, it’s merely further proof that the Palestinian leadership doesn’t actually want a state—or at least, not a viable one. Because even if Palestinian statehood isn’t imminent, economic development now would increase the viability of any future state.

This understanding is precisely what guided Israel’s leadership in both the pre-state years and the early years of statehood. The pre-state Jewish community was bitterly at odds with the ruling British over multiple violations of the promises contained in the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the 1920 San Remo Resolution and the 1922 British Mandate for Palestine. These included Britain’s serial diminishments of the territory allotted for a “Jewish national home” and its curtailment of Jewish immigration, notoriously culminating in a total denial of entry to Jews fleeing the Nazis.

Nevertheless, the pre-state leadership still welcomed and cooperated with British efforts to develop the country, knowing that this would benefit the Jewish state once it finally arose (despite Britain’s best efforts to thwart it). And four years after Israel’s establishment, in a far more controversial decision, the government even accepted Holocaust reparations from Germany to obtain money desperately needed for the new state’s development.

The Bahrain conference requires no such morally wrenching compromise from the Palestinian Authority; its declared aim is merely to drum up investment in the Palestinian economy, primarily from Arab states and the private sector. Thus if the P.A. actually wanted to lay the groundwork for a viable state, what it ought to be doing is attending the conference and discussing these proposals. To claim that this would somehow undermine its negotiating positions is fatuous since attendance wouldn’t preclude it from rejecting any proposals that had political strings attached.

(Continue to Full Column)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Question. Could the Trump administration be siding with J Street? - by Stephen M. Flatow

...I am very surprised and deeply concerned at the possibility that the Trump administration could be falling into the old Obama pattern of pressuring Israel to make unilateral concessions in order to appease media pundits and Israel-bashing activists. I hope that Knesset Member Kisch was mistaken. I am anxiously awaiting an unequivocal denial from U.S. officials that they are asking Israel to let the squatters of Khan al-Ahmar continue their theft of Israeli public land.

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
19 June '19..

Has the Trump administration taken J Street’s side in the dispute over an illegal Arab settlement on the outskirts of Jerusalem?

That disturbing question has suddenly entered the ongoing controversy over a piece of Israeli public land near Ma’ale Adumim, a major suburb of Jerusalem. Several dozen Arab families began squatting there some years ago, alongside the highway that goes from Jerusalem to the Jordan Valley. They call their encampment “Khan al-Ahmar.”

The illegal settlers in Khan al-Ahmar don’t own the land. They don’t rent it. They don’t have any construction permits. They simply set up some tents there and waited for sympathetic journalists and Jewish “peace” activists to go to bat for them, which didn’t take long.

The Israeli authorities have more than enough reason to remove the illegal settlers. It’s obviously a security hazard to have an Arab encampment situated adjacent to a heavily traveled Israeli highway. It’s also hazardous to the children of Khan al-Ahmar itself, who reportedly run back and forth across the road at will.

But most of all, there is a vital principle at stake: Should Israel enforce its own laws, or should it bend those laws whenever The Washington Post or the European Union start complaining?

(Continue to Full Column)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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How One Sentence From a NY Times Letter About Birthright Israel Packs In Three Inaccuracies - by Ira Stoll

A Times defender might take the position that it is Asaf, rather than the Times itself, that is to blame for the inaccuracy. But surely the Times has at least some responsibility for the letters it chooses to publish. It receives many more letters than it prints, and it easily could have chosen not to publish this particular letter, or at least to edit it so that it is accurate. If the Times isn’t going to police the letters column at all, there’ll be no end to people sneaking false claims into the newspaper by that method — as seems to have happened here.

Ira Stoll..
Algemeiner..
18 June '19..

A front-page New York Times article earlier this month about Birthright Israel problematically echoed the “Zionism is racism” myth. Now the Times has compounded the error by publishing a letter to the editor that includes a false claim about the program.

The Times-published letter to the editor claims, inaccurately, “Birthright is funded mainly by Donald Trump’s biggest donor, Sheldon Adelson.”

Leave it to The New York Times to manage the extraordinary feat of packing three inaccuracies into a single 11-word sentence, but there it is.

First, the reference to “Sheldon Adelson” omits Dr. Miriam Adelson, Sheldon’s spouse and his partner in philanthropy. Ignoring a woman is often correctly defined as sexism. When The Algemeiner reported last year that Sheldon and Miriam Adelson had announced a $70 million gift to Birthright in honor of Israel’s 70th birthday, bringing their total contributions to Birthright to $410 million, we correctly identified both of them as the donors.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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The Truth? History, for Palestinians, is Little More Than Myths Grounded in Fantasy - by Jerold S. Auerbach

In the beginning of the 20th century and continuing throughout British Mandatory rule, there was little discernible evidence of Palestinian national consciousness.

Jerold S. Auerbach..
JNS.org..
17 June '19..

Rumors circulate of an impending Israeli-Palestinian peace plan to be proposed by the Trump administration. It might, therefore, be appropriate to scrutinize the Palestinian claim—grounded in myth and not history—to national sovereignty.

Jewish sovereignty in their biblical homeland began with the rule of kings David and Solomon in the 10th-century BCE. The kingdom of Israel existed as an independent state until 722 BCE, while the kingdom of Judah maintained its independence until 586 BCE. There was no sign of any people identified, or self-identified, as Palestinians. Despite repeated claims, there is not a shred of evidence—historical, archeological or textual—to connect them with the ancient Canaanites, Philistines or Jebusites, who preceded the return of Jews from Egypt to the homeland of their biblical patriarchs and matriarchs.

Modern conceptions of Palestine began to emerge in mid-19th-century England. Artist David Roberts, following the trail of the ancient Israelites from Egypt to their promised land, filled The Holy Land with romantic depictions of local people, places and ancient Jewish sites. Rev. Alexander Keith authored The Land of Israel, based on his belief in fulfillment of the ancient prophecy that Jews would return to their homeland. In a memorable phrase, often repeated, he wrote that Jews were “a people without a country; even as their own land … is in a great measure … a country without a people.” Palestinians were not mentioned.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Surprise? Fatah calls general strike that will hurt no one but their own people. - by Elder of Ziyon

In Bahrain, Arab nations will try to come up with ways to help Palestinians, while their own leaders are hurting them. Palestinians aren't idiots. They will see this all happening in real time. All we need is video of Fatah thugs beating up people who try to open shops.

Elder of Ziyon..
16 June '19..

Fatah is calling a general strike in the territories on June 25, the day of the economic conference in Manama meant to help the Palestinian Arabs.

Jamal Moheisen, a member of Fatah's central committee, said that all the national forces and the Palestinian people will rally on the 24th before the Bahrain conference on Thursday. On June 25, a comprehensive strike will take place.

He added that "these events come to convey the message of the Palestinian people to the occupation and the world and the people in Manama, that this meeting is a disgrace, a betrayal and a stab in the back of our people and a betrayal of the age."

Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt couldn't have scripted anything better.

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Where BDS and Terrorists Converge - by Caroline Glick

...The Palestinian terrorist groups responsible for the ongoing terror campaign against Israel are not the only actors involved in the political war being waged against Israel in the West, and on the ground in Israel. But their involvement in BDS campaigns has worked to legitimize the organizations themselves, their terrorist aggression against Israel and ultimately, their goal of annihilating the Jewish state in the eyes of a large cross section of the hard core, and increasingly influential, hard left in America.

Caroline Glick..
Frontpagemag.com..
14 June '19..

On May 31, the cry went out from Times Square, New York City, to annihilate Israel and extend the terror war against the Jewish state to America.

As they did in Beirut, Berlin, London, Tehran, and Dearborn, Michigan, Israel-haters gathered at Times Square to call for Israel’s dissolution on the day the Iranian regime has determined to be “Al Quds Day,” that is, Jerusalem Day.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) posted a video of the event. In it, a series of speakers called over and over again for Israel’s annihilation, voiced support for terrorists and terrorism and called for the war against Israel to come to New York.



Nate Chase from the World Workers’ Party led the crowd in chanting, “We don’t want not two state! We want ’48!”

That is, we don’t want to partition the land mass west of the Jordan River. We want to annihilate Israel, which was established in 1948.

Chase continued, “Because every inch – from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea – is Palestine!

“Israel does not exist! It has not existed, it doesn’t exist, and it will never exist! There is only Palestine!” he cried.

Rokeya Begun, from a New York-based Palestinian pro-terror group called Within our Lifetime, called out, “Globalize the intifada!”

“From New York to Gaza!”

And Joe Catron from Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner [i.e. terrorist] Solidarity Network, led the crowd chanting, “There is only one solution!”

The crowd responded, “Intifada! Revolution!”

While unsettling, the pro-terror calls going out from Times Square were helpful. They laid bare the fact that terror groups are actively involved in the political campaigns against Israel.

(Continue to Full Article)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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What Would It Really Take to Solve the Gaza Problem - by Victor Rosenthal

It’s doubtful that there would be many votes for this idea in the UN, if it were put to a vote. But there are probably two groups of people that would love it: Israelis, especially those that live in the southern part of the country – and Gazans.

Victor Rosenthal..
Abu Yehuda..
13 June '19..
Link: http://abuyehuda.com/2019/06/what-it-would-take-to-really-solve-the-gaza-problem/

A Hamas-related “military unit” called “Sons of al-Zawari” has been responsible for launching countless incendiary and explosive kites and balloons across the border into Israel for more than a year. Recently they even threatened to fill the condoms they use for balloons (apparently they are made of strong latex, so they are less likely to break prematurely) with a payload of some kind of poisonous or carcinogenic material.

Mohammed al-Zawari, in case you are interested, was a Tunisian engineer who developed drones for Hamas; he was assassinated in 2016, probably by the Mossad.

Although it is not so newsworthy outside of Israel, Arabs from Gaza continue to start fires and try to kill people in southern Israel with these devices. Israel responds in various ways, like reducing the size of the area in the Mediterranean in which Gazans are allowed to fish (really). They have also “attacked” the groups launching the devices with drones – but news reports never say that any of their members are killed, so I presume they fire low-yield weapons near, but not directly at, the terrorists.

The “disturbances” at the border fence wax and wane, but they never stop. Every once in a while someone is shot trying to harm Israeli soldiers on the other side, or planting explosives to create a breach in the fence that would allow a large number of terrorists to cross over and attack local civilians. Israel is building a massive barrier, both above and below the ground, to protect local communities against attacks via tunnels dug under the fence, and from shooting – in a recent case, a man was killed when his car was hit by an anti-tank rocket fired from Gaza. This barrier will cost billions, but will not stop the balloons or kites, nor will it prevent rocket attacks as we experienced this May. Recently, Israeli officials said that Hamas has already replenished its stock of rockets after the recent violence.

In a sense, Hamas is already engaged in chemical and biological warfare against Israel. The border demonstrations often involve burning tires, with the smoke darkening the skies over Israeli communities, some of which are only a few hundred meters from the fence. Even more seriously, for years, raw sewage from Gaza has been dumped in the sea and into streams that flow in southern Israel. Garbage is dumped and burned near the border. The Hamas government has received much assistance from international donors to solve its pollution problems, including the World Bank financing a large treatment plant in northern Gaza, which, due to a lack of electricity and other problems, never became operational.

Of course the population of Gaza suffers far more than that of Israel from the air and water pollution. But Hamas has always allocated available resources primarily to its war effort, following the First Principle of Palestinism,™ which is that it’s always preferable to hurt Jews than to help Arabs (although, to be fair, they have built luxurious residences for their leaders).

Because twenty-one Arab states are not enough, and one Jewish state is one too many - by Eli. E Hertz

Palestinian Nationality is an Entity Defined by its Opposition to Zionism, Not its National Aspirations

Eli. E Hertz..
www.mythsandfacts.org..
13 June '19..

What unites Palestinians has been their opposition to Jewish nationalism and the desire to stamp it out, not aspirations for their own state. Local patriotic feelings are generated only when a non-Islamic entity takes charge – such as Israel did after the 1967 Six-Day War. It dissipates under Arab rule, no matter how distant or despotic.

A Palestinian identity did not exist until an opposing force created it – primarily anti-Zionism. Opposition to a non-Muslim nationalism on what local Arabs, and the entire Arab world, view as their own turf, was the only expression of ‘Palestinian peoplehood.’

The Grand Mufti Hajj Amin al-Husseini, a charismatic religious leader and radical anti-Zionist was the moving force behind opposition to Jewish immigration in the 1920s and 1930s. The two-pronged approach of the “Diplomacy of Rejection” (of Zionism) and the violence the Mufti incited occurred at the same time Lebanon, Syria, Transjordan and Iraq became countries in the post-Ottoman reshuffling of territories established by the British and the French under the League of Nation’s mandate system.

The small educated class among the Arabs of Palestine was more politically aware than the rest of Arab society, with the inklings of a separate national identity. However, for decades, the primary frame of reference for most local Arabs was the clan or tribe, religion and sect, and village of origin. If Arabs in Palestine defined themselves politically, it was as “southern Syrians.”

The countries the British and French created in 1918-1922 were based largely on meridians on the map, as is evident in the borders that delineate the Arab states today. Because these states lack ethnic logic or a sense of community, their opposition to the national aspirations of the Jews has become the fuel that fires Arab nationalism as the ‘glue’ of national identity.

Under the Mandate, local Arabs also refused to establish an ‘Arab Agency’ to develop the Arab sector, parallel to the Jewish Agency that directed development of the Jewish sector.

Why hadn’t Arab representative government been established in Palestine, either in 1948 or during the next 19 years of Arab rule? Because other Arabs co-opted the Palestinian cause as a rallying point that would advance the concept that the territory was up for grabs. “The Arab invasion of Palestine was not a means for achieving an independent Palestine, but rather the result of a lack of consensus on the part of the Arab states regarding such independence,” summed up one historian. Adherents to a separate Palestinian identity were a mute minority on the West Bank and Gaza during the 19 years of Jordanian and Egyptian rule – until Israel took control from the Jordanians and the Egyptians in 1967. Suddenly a separate Palestinian peoplehood appeared and claimed it deserved nationhood – and 21 other Arab states went along with it.

Palestinianism in and of itself lacks any substance of its own. Arab society on the West Bank and Gaza suffers from deep social cleavages created by a host of rivalries based on divergent geographic, historical, sociological and familial allegiances. What glues Palestinians together is a carefully nurtured hatred of Israel and the rejection of Jewish nationhood.

Question. Why Is the Palestinian Authority Opposed to the Upcoming Economic Conference in Bahrain? by Pinchas Inbari

The Bahrain assembly needs to inform the “Palestinian leadership” that the “Arab masses” have other troubles, and they are no longer interested in the Palestinians.

Bahrain skyline (Eduard Marmet/Flickr)

Pinhas Inbari..
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs..
10 June '19..
Link: http://jcpa.org/why-is-the-palestinian-authority-opposed-to-the-upcoming-economic-conference-in-bahrain/

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Labor is currently busy slandering Israel to international labor organizations by accusing it of robbing the rights of Palestinians working within Israel proper. This is outrageous, because they should be thanking Israel for taking security risks by employing citizens of the Palestinian Authority, for whom the failing Palestinian Authority is unable or does not want to. Furthermore, this reveals why the Palestinian Authority is so opposed to the upcoming economic conference to be held in Manama, capital of Bahrain, at the end of June.

The framework of the United Nations organization includes most of the international organizations that have an automatic majority against Israel. By strengthening this context, the PLO gains a compelling solution that could obligate Israel to accept positions that it cannot normally agree upon, such as on the 1967 borders or the refugee question.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman’s recent remarks on Israeli claims in Judea and Samaria only intensified Palestinian concerns regarding the loss of a primary lever for putting pressure on Israel, specifically, the United Nations and the international organizations connected with it.

The conference in Manama is a regional framework that is outside the parameters of the United Nations. Therefore, Palestinian participation in it would be tantamount to an admission that the PLO’s United Nations strategy has failed.

What Is “Palestinian Territory”?

Mainstream media often refer to “Palestinian territory,” yet there is no such legal entity. This land—Judea-Samaria—is disputed and awaits a peace agreement.

FLAME..
Facts&Logic About the Middle East..
June '19..
Link: https://www.factsandlogic.org/ad_170-what-is-palestinian-territory/

The phrase “occupied Palestinian territory,” implies illegal Israeli control over the ancient Jewish heartland. In fact, Israel’s presence in Judea-Samaria (the West Bank) is rooted in Biblical history, population realities, agreements with the Palestinians and international law.


What are the facts?

Israel’s administration of Judea-Samaria, far from being illegal, has a powerful basis. In fact, Israel is in full compliance with international law: It is not occupying others’ land, its settlements are lawful, and Palestinians have no documented legal claim to this territory. Israel’s authority in Judea-Samaria is based on four unassailable grounds: 1) past Jewish presence; 2) current Jewish presence; 3) international mandates; and 4) international conventions. While sovereignty over these territories is disputed, this will ideally be resolved through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

1) Jews have a 3,000-year history in the Biblical homeland. The Bible provides strong documentation of a Jewish presence, including the Jewish Kingdom of David in 1000 BCE. Biblical archeology confirms that Jews have lived in the cities of Hebron, Shiloh, Jericho, Bethlehem and Jerusalem in the heart of Judea-Samaria continuously for some 3,000 years, except during Jordan’s illegal occupation, 1948-1967, when Jews were ethnically cleansed.

2) Jews are the majority population in 60% of Judea-Samaria. Around 600 CE, Arabs invaded and colonized what was then called Palestine. While today Arabs are the majority population in about 40% of Judea-Samaria, Israeli Jews are the majority in some 60% of this territory—the so-called Area C, designated by the Oslo II Accords, These Accords, agreed to by Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1993-95, give Israel full control over administration and security in this region. No Palestinians have been forcibly removed from Area C, and land on which Israelis live there does not violate private Palestinian land rights.

3) Israel has sovereign rights in Judea-Samaria by international law. About 500 years ago—between 1512-1520—the Middle East was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans ruled this huge territory until World War I (1918), when they were defeated by the Allies. Allies Britain and France helped create new Middle East nation-states through a series of “mandates,” which were approved by the League of Nations, pre-cursor of today’s United Nations. In 1922, the Mandate for Palestine gave Jews rights to immigrate, settle and buy land for a national home between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. Land to the east of the Jordan River was ceded to the Arabs and later became Jordan.

Congressional “Partnership Fund for Peace”: Funding NGOs Not Peace - by Lori Lowenthal Marcus

Using international funds to stop Palestinian Arabs from engaging in terrorism is the standard western response to the conflict. One stark difference is that PFfP funds cannot be made available either to the Israeli government or to Hamas, the Palestinian Authority or the PLO. That’s good. But the primary source through which funding will be distributed is non-governmental organizations (NGOs): that’s not so good.

Lori Lowenthal Marcus..
Saracarter.com..
10 June '19..

What a name: “Partnership Fund for Peace.” What a goal: promoting peace in the Middle East. That should sum up legislation introduced in Congress last week. But what a waste, because the Fund, which will be given $250 million of U.S. taxpayer money for its first five years in existence, is nothing more than a retread of past Middle East projects, so many of which are already being funded and not one of which has moved the peace needle one inch forward.

The stated overarching goal of the bill’s sponsors is to “help create the necessary conditions on the ground to support an eventual two-state solution.”

The bill’s sponsors are Democrats Rep. Nita Lowey (NY) and Senators Tim Kaine (VA) and Chris Coons (DE) and Republicans Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (NE) and Senators Cory Gardner (CO) and Lindsey Graham (SC). They claim the Fund is intended to promote economic health for Palestinian Arab companies and entrepreneurs, to improve the quality of life and stimulate the economy of Palestinian Arabs and to “further shared community building, peaceful coexistence, dialogue and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians by financing people-to-people peacebuilding programs.”

Using international funds to stop Palestinian Arabs from engaging in terrorism is the standard western response to the conflict. One stark difference is that PFfP funds cannot be made available either to the Israeli government or to Hamas, the Palestinian Authority or the PLO. That’s good. But the primary source through which funding will be distributed is non-governmental organizations (NGOs): that’s not so good.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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B’Tselem Tales and Truth: The NGO Definitely has a Problem - by Jonathan Slosser

It is like being in the twilight zone to look at B'Tselem's database and compare it to the Izz al-din al-Qassam Brigade website.

Jonathan Slosser..
Israel National News..
07 June '19..

This tale was taken from the B’Tselem Database and the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades website, Izz al-Din being the military wing of Hamas. It involves five “Qassamis” - five al-Qassam Brigades soldiers - and it is the English translation taken from each of their webpages that forms the factual basis for this tale, “Homebound”.

B’Tselem created the name and the ending.

Homebound

There were five Mujahid Qusamis, five Palestinians who had been engaged in battle, in jihad together when they died, five “Qusamis”, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades soldiers who were martyred together in a house by an F16. Their life stories varied slightly but they all had much in common, most significantly, the exact time and place of their deaths.

The cast of characters:

(Continue to Full Article)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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Jerusalem? The Proof is in the Ancient Coins and Seals - by Dov Lipman

The Palestinians can travel the world and spread their lies about the Jews not having a connection to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount all they want. False claims are one thing. Clear archaeological evidence is another. The Jewish people lived in the land of Israel and the stories of the Jewish Temples recorded in the Bible and historical documents now have that archaeological support.

Dov Lipman..
Honest Reporting..
05 June '19..

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has shifted over the last decades from trying to destroy Israel with the help of neighboring Arab armies to the Palestinian leadership and its supporters seeking to delegitimize Israel’s right to exist. A primary focus of this effort has been an attempt to disconnect the Jewish people from having any historical connection to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Convincing the world that the Jewish people have no connection to this disputed area further cements the narrative that Israel is an occupying force in this land, and especially in Jerusalem.

This began with a declaration by Yasser Arafat on October 11, 1996, in which he said, “That is not the Western Wall at all, but a Muslim shrine.” (Ma’ariv, Oct. 11, 1996)

This approach continued on November 22, 1997 when the Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ikrama Sabri, who is the PLO’s senior religious authority for the city and was appointed by Arafat, said: “The Al-Buraq Wall [Western Wall] and its plaza are a Muslim religious property, and the Israeli government’s decisions do not affect it…The Al-Buraq Wall is part of the Al Aqsa Mosque. The Jews have no relation to it.”

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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A Father Speaks Out on the Murder of His Daughter, Malki Roth, and the Refusal of Jordan to Extradite the Beast Ahlam Tamimi

Malki will never be a statistic but an inspiration. And in remembering her, we also realize that she and the savage who engineered her death are not—as several dull journalists said to me at various points in the weeks after the massacre—two sides of the same coin. Quite the opposite: their ways will never be and never were our ways. Sounds simple but surprisingly few public figures—diplomats, politicians, editors, religious leaders—seem to actually understand it.

Varda Meyers Epstein..
Judean Rose/Elder of Ziyon..
05 June '19..

The faces of some terror victims stay in your mind and in your heart, for instance the face of Malki Roth. In part it’s the outrage of the act: that someone could steal away a beautiful young girl with so much promise and talent. But it’s also her smile in the photos, with that soft sweetness, radiating what you’re positive was an inner beauty to match the exterior.

What happened on August 9, 2001, at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, was and remains unspeakable.

But what is truly unbearable is this: Ahlam Tamimi, the woman behind the murder of Malki Roth and so many others, lives free and clear in Jordan. Tamimi was released from an Israeli prison in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange in 2011. Since that time she has married, raised a family, and built a career on her status as a hero for masterminding the murder of Jewish children. Of this she is proud. Of this she brags.

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Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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