Yesterday was already past time to restart construction in Jerusalem - by Nadav Shragai

If we do not rush to do this now, we will soon discover that the price of wasting this opportunity far outweighs the symbolic political advantage of transferring the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

Nadav Shragai..
Israel Hayom..
31 May '18..
Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/restart-construction-in-jerusalem/

Here is a statistic that should raise a red flag with anyone who wishes to keep Jerusalem united and complete: The percentage of Jews in east Jerusalem has declined in recent years from about 50% to around 40%! Despite the fact that this important statistic is no secret, no one has yet given an opinion about it since it was published by the Jerusalem Institute of Policy Research in its Facts and Trends for 2018 report, which was published several weeks ago.

This has far-reaching significance – the reduced construction for Jews in the eastern part of the city over recent decades has taken its toll. This is not just a general concern about the ratio of Jews to Arabs in Greater Jerusalem, but rather the ratio between Jews and Arabs in the parts of Jerusalem liberated in the 1967 Six-Day War, where the Palestinians strive to make their capital.

This population reduction has been a consistent process and has one principal reason: Israel greatly reduced construction intended for Jews in the eastern part of the city because of pressure exerted by the U.S. during the Bush, Obama and Trump eras. The truth is that the last two neighborhoods Israel established in east Jerusalem were in the 1990s: Har Homa and Ramat Shlomo. Together, both of them number some 35,000 residents. To this day, both of them are subject to development and construction limitations in place due to U.S. pressure. Since Har Homa and Ramat Shlomo, Israel has not founded one new neighborhood in east Jerusalem!

East Jerusalem – if you need to be reminded – is not an isolated settlement or a fringe outpost. Some 40% of the city's Jews, some 215,000 people, live in east Jerusalem. Altogether, the area makes up about 61% of the total population.

Kerry’s V.A.T. on Peace: Murders or Houses

...Of course, the way the narrative of the peace process is structured, Israel should not be surprised at the pay-to-play. And for this situation, the tireless proponents of “peace” bear primary responsibility. If, as the left argues, Israel needs peace more than the Palestinians need it, no wonder the Palestinians will charge Israel heavily for the privilege of giving them a state.

Eugene Kontorovich..
Commentary Magazine..
30 December '13..

The release of unrepentant Jew-killers from Israeli prisons to keep the engine of the peace process running has left many, even those sympathetic with the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, angrily wondering why Prime Minister Netanyahu did not accept a settlement freeze instead. There is a good reason, even for those not generally sympathetic to the Jewish presence: unlike the other concessions, a settlement freeze implicitly concedes Israel’s chief negotiating positions before even sitting down at the table.

The first thing to say is that the position Israel was put in by Secretary of State John Kerry and the Palestinians was fundamentally unjust. Israel is forced to make sacrifices even for the “privilege” of participating in peace negotiations to whose ultimate goal is “painful sacrifices” by Israel. In Israel, politicians talk about paying “the price” for peace. Kerry has put a price on paying the price: a value-added tax on peace.

Moreover, if the occupation were so terrible (or real) one would think Abbas would be in a hurry to get to the bargaining table without any preliminaries. This suggests Abbas is not in such a hurry to get an “end of the occupation” so much as particular tactical wins. Moreover, the fact that a top priority for Abbas is the release of mass murders so they can be feted and remunerated shows that “peace” is not vaguely on the horizon, regardless of whether a Kerry diplomatic achievement is. If Bibi partied down with Jewish terrorist Baruch Goldstein, it would be the end of his career.

Still, why did Bibi take this option, of all the bad ones presented to him? We know he is not a slave of the settlers: he has imposed a construction freeze before, for 10 months, simply to entice Abbas to the table. It did not work, Abbas ran down the clock, and demanded an extension. So that has been tried.

But aren’t houses less important than justice for the murdered? Of course. However, unlike the release of terrorists, a construction freeze is fundamentally related to the substance of the negotiations themselves. That is, of all the proposed “gestures,” the freeze would not only be problematic in itself, but would have Israel start negotiations on its back foot.

Is apartheid the explanation for allowing Arabs to build but forbidding the Jews?

...I am not a gesture. I am a human being who wants to live a normal life, who wants to sit down calmly with an architect and engineer, without being afraid that tomorrow the authorities might order me not to pour cement or wall off a porch. Leave us alone. When an agreement is reached, if an agreement is reached – call us. Until then, let us be. Let us live. You’ve done enough damage.

Karni Eldad..
I24news.tv..
06 August '13..

People get married, they have kids. The kids need space. They grow up and get married. They need a home. They may want to live near their parents, and maybe not. Everywhere in the world they can choose where to live. It’s called “life.”

I live in a prefab home, in a settlement in the Judean Desert. When I first moved in three years ago, my husband and I had a sweet one-year-old baby. We had moved from a wonderful Jerusalem villa to 42 square meters that even Ikea designs couldn’t organize in a way that would enable three people to go a whole day without injuring one another by mistake, not to mention maneuvering around a crib, a baby cot, a pram, a playpen, an activity mat and a high chair.

Now, three years later, my oldest son is four. His baby brother was born nine months ago. Three boys (two children and one childish father) and an hysterical mother need space. Believe me. For the sake of family harmony. So when you say “freeze settlement construction” you’re actually saying that we can’t build a house, right? That we have to remain in 42 square meters and hope for the best, or envy our Arab neighbors on the adjacent hill?

Because the Arabs are building. As much as they want, as much as they can. Upwards, sideways, without interference, without Europe or the US telling them what to do, without Peace Now sending drones to take pictures and rat them out. Why? What is the explanation for allowing Arabs to build but forbidding the Jews? There’s no agreement with the Palestinians, and until now, no matter how much we offered the Arabs, how many gestures we made and good will we showed, how much trust, weapons, power, territory and authority we transferred to them – there is still no peace. Just more and more suffering.

It sounds negligible, like a little pinprick and it’s over – but a freeze on construction is an edict the public cannot withstand. It is not democratic, it’s not humane, it’s very expensive for law abiding citizens and makes their lives miserable. Whether intentionally or not, its rooted in pure and fundamental apartheid: Jews are not allowed to live in certain places, not allowed to build, not allowed to grow, be the reasons what they may.

It's freezing outside. Hanan Ashrawi would like to add a bit more.

Yisrael Medad..
Green-Lined/JPost..
11 January '13..




As if the current cold spell isn't enough, Hanan Ashrawi insists on increased freezing:

PLO Executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi Monday [Dec. 31] said freezing settlement activities and ending the Israeli occupation are essential demands to achieve peace...during a meeting with an American delegation in the PLO headquarters in Ramallah...Ashrwai pointed out that approving the construction of thousands of settlement units and the demolition of and eviction from Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem aim at ethnically cleansing the indigenous people of the land, isolate Jerusalem from its surroundings and divide the West Bank.

I don't know what delegation that was, but she continued with others:

Ashrawi stressed in a meeting in Ramallah with EU representative to the West Bank, Gaza Strip and UNRWA, John Gatt-Rutter, “the importance of the European role in supporting the two-state solution and in bringing about an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine and Israel’s stepped-up illegal settlement campaign before it is too late.”...In addition, Ashrawi told a Canadian delegation representing the National Democratic Party...

Please note if you think her statements were logical and practical:

Hornik - Israel Builds, Obama Administration Squirms

P. David Hornik..
frontpagemag.org..
24 February '12..


This week Israel’s Civil Administration approved a plan to build 500 housing units in the West Bank community of Shiloh. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner complained like clockwork that such building is not “constructive.”

In so doing, he was following a U.S. practice of frequently publicly criticizing its ally Israel. No other U.S. ally gets this treatment; when was the last time you heard Washington publicly take Britain, Germany, or Japan to task? And this in a week when the U.S. is already heavily pressuring Israel both publicly and behind the scenes not to defend itself against a growing existential threat from Iran.

But is Toner right about the Israeli building plans not being “constructive”? In a world where there are mounting crises in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Egypt, severe human rights abuses in America’s trading partner China, and so on, are housing units in Shiloh what Washington should fret about? In fact, these building plans not only pose no problem for the U.S. but are constructive, for several reasons.

Green-Lined - The true illegitimacy

Yisrael Medad
Green-Lined
JPost
27 October '11

http://blogs.jpost.com/content/true-illegitimacy

The JPost reports now, that US Ambassador Dan Shapiro has requested of Israel to temporarily freeze settlement construction in order to promote peace talks with the Palestinians. This request has been denied.

We should recall that earlier the United States had criticized a Likud-sponsored plan to legalize rogue settlement outposts, saying it does not recognize the "legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity", a semantic term that the Obama-led Administration has consistently hammered away at, while confusing, purposefully I can only presume, the public with a closely related other term as here in a State Department statement:

"We oppose any effort to legalize settlement outposts, which is unhelpful to our peace efforts and would contradict Israeli commitments and obligations"

There is nothing illegal in a Jewish presence in the territory international law recognized as the geographical area that was to become the reconstituted Jewish national home, especially as all decisions and agreements between 1915 and 1924, including the Anglo-American Convention and various US Congressional resolutions and Presidential signatures, never mentioned Arabs in connection with this territory. The term was always "non-Jews".

In other words, in addition to the legal opinions of the many, including Rostow, Schwebel, Baum and others such as...Madeline Albright:

Richman - 336 Homes Supposedly Threaten World Peace

Rick Richman
Commentary/Contentions
19 July '11

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/07/19/336-homes-threaten-world-peace/

Two years ago, Israel declared a 10-month construction moratorium (which the PA ignored for nine months), was finally dragged to the negotiating table, and then left a month later, ostensibly because Israel would not extend the moratorium the PA had ignored. Now, with negotiations nowhere in sight, Israel has announced tenders for 336 settlement units — 294 in Beitar Illit (a large community just outside Jerusalem) and 42 in Karnei Shomron (a small one).

If the “peace process” ever produces a peace agreement, Beitar Illit and Karnei Shomron will remain part of Israel. In January, the Washington Institute produced a detailed study, entitled “Imagining the Border,” mapping out a deal in which Israel keeps 80 percent of the settlers while annexing 4.73 percent of the West Bank — including Beitar Illit and Karnei Shomron — creating a contiguous Palestinian state with a 1:1 land swap. Neither Beitar Illit nor Karnei Shomron is an “obstacle to peace” — much less some new houses within them.

The Jerusalem Post reports the PA has responded to the announcement by accusing Israel of destroying the peace process, harming “not only Israeli-Arab peace, but also the entire world peace,” showing why it “prompts us to go to the UN.” Actually, the PA statement shows why its time has come and gone. Having rejected three offers of a state in the past decade, having announced in 2009 it was unwilling to negotiate further, having repeatedly failed multiple tests since, unable to form the rudimentary institutions of a state even after its vaunted two-year plan, unwilling to recognize a Jewish state (much less defensible borders for it), it now issues ludicrous press statements about areas it knows are not going to be part of a Palestinian state.

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.
.

Not Charming, Are They?

Jennifer Rubin
Contentions/Commentary
17 October '10

For those who imagine that the Obama team is finally “getting it” with regard to the Middle East or that it has taken to heart the complaints of Jewish supporters, it will be a surprise when the president and his crack diplomatic crew repeat precisely the same error and employ the identical tactics that have been their modus operandi for nearly two years.

Israel resumes building in its capital, in a “Jewish neighborhood.” (The term is objectionable, of course, because it implies Jews can’t live where they please.) This is not some remote “settlement.” This is the sort of building in Jerusalem that has gone on under multiple prime ministers. But the Obami are frustrated and embarrassed, so they double down, reiterating their insistence that Israel cough up more concessions (a building freeze) while the Palestinians freely announce they won’t be recognizing a “Jewish state.” This report explains:

“We were disappointed by the announcement of new tenders in east Jerusalem yesterday. It is contrary to our efforts to resume direct negotiations between the parties,” said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley to assembled reporters at a weekly briefing.

However, Israel has already announced it won’t be reimposing a settlement freeze, certainly not in Jerusalem. The Obami are mute on whether the walk-out by Abbas is “contrary to [their] efforts” as well.

(Read full post)

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.
.

Let Jews build homes

Op-ed: Razing of ‘unauthorized outposts’ unjust, raises questions about rule of law

Moshe Dann
Israel Opinion/Ynet
29 September '10

Conventional wisdom says that “Israel promised (the US) to destroy all ‘unauthorized outposts,’ and, therefore, must fulfill its obligations.” If the government is looking for an excuse, this is a poor one.

The "promise" made in a letter in April, 2004 from Dov Weissglass, then chief of the Prime Minister's Bureau to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, was submitted "on behalf of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon;" the letter was not signed by Sharon, nor was it affirmed by the cabinet. It was, simply, "diplomatic correspondence."

Moreover, the letter contains conditions. "The Israeli government believes that further steps by it, even if consistent with the Roadmap, cannot be taken absent the emergence of a Palestinian partner committed to peace, democratic reform, and the fight against terror."

Using this letter to justify destruction of Jewish "unauthorized outposts" raises serious questions:

Does Weissglass' letter obligate Israel to carry out its provisions while ignoring its conditions? Does this letter obligate future Israeli governments? Was the letter approved by the cabinet (since it mentions only the PM)? Why didn't Prime Minister Sharon sign it? Other than Weissglass' letter, there is no binding agreement to destroy Jewish "unauthorized outposts," destroy settlements, or prevent Jews from building anywhere in the Land of Israel.

Asked to respond, senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office avoided direct specific answers. "This government is committed to the rule of law, and abiding by the law is paramount to maintaining a civil society." They refused to elaborate.

This begs the questions and shifts the argument to Israeli law and, vaguely, "rule of law."

(Read full article)

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.
.

The Same Mistake

Jennifer Rubin
Contentions/Commentary
28 September '10

Even Richard Cohen has figured out that it is not Bibi’s intransigence but Obama’s incompetence that is at the root of the non-peace-talks impasse.
He writes:

Obama ought to confer with someone who knows the region — and listen to him or her. Trouble is, many experts have told him that his emphasis on settlements was the wrong way to go. As late as last week and the succession of meetings held at the United Nations, it was clear that Netanyahu would not ask his Cabinet to extend the settlement freeze. Yet not only did the White House reject this warning, the president repeated his call for a freeze. “Our position on this issue is well-known,” Obama told the U.N. General Assembly. “We believe that the moratorium should be extended.” Well, it wasn’t. …

The Obama approach to the Israeli-Palestinian problem has been counterproductive. Either the Palestinians have to back down from their — even more importantly, Obama’s — insistence that all settlements be frozen in place or Netanyahu has to back down from his pledge that any moratorium would be temporary. Either Abbas or Netanyahu has to lose credibility and neither man can afford to. They are not mere negotiators; they are heads of government.

Obama, too, has to husband his credibility. He foolishly demanded something Israel could not yet give.

(Read full post)


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. 
.

Clinton Keeps Twisting Bibi’s Arm

Jennifer Rubin
Contentions/Commentary
14 September '10

The drumbeat from the Obami on a settlement moratorium continues. Hillary Clinton is now finger-wagging, continuing to apply public pressure on Israel to extend the settlement freeze. This report explains:

Speaking as she flew to Egypt for a second round of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Clinton said the two sides would get “down to business” and she repeated the U.S. view that Israel should extend its moratorium on new settlement construction in the West Bank.

She also sought to counter widespread pessimism over the first direct peace talks after a 20-month hiatus, given the political divisions in Israel and among the Palestinians.

“For me, this is a simple choice: no negotiations, no security, no state,” Clinton said as she began her journey to the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where the talks will take place on Tuesday.

The logic is impeccable – unless you realize that Israel has been negotiating for 60 years, making offer after offer — and the Palestinians still can’t give up the dream of a one-state solution. I suppose the choice is “simple” for them: terrorism over peace, rejectionism over compromise.

(Read full post)

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.
.

Background: exhaustive listing of unanticipated developments since announcement of freeze

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
14 September '10

Any analysis of the decisions that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu makes in the coming days regarding post September 26th settlement construction must take into account developments since the announcement of the settlement freeze that were not anticipated at the time that Mr. Netanyahu announced the freeze and proclaimed to the world that the freeze would end after 10 months.

In the absence of a significant and substantial list, a decision by Prime Minister Netanyahu to break his promise risks seriously undermining his credibility vis-à-vis the Palestinians, the Arab world and the world in general as well as within Israel itself.

The following is an exhaustive listing of developments that were not anticipated:

<>


========================================

[AL: In light of the many e-mails received advising that the " exhaustive listing of developments that were not anticipated" is missing from the item, please note that that is the point.

"<>" = there were no unanticipated developments.

Absolutely everything that has transpired in the last 10 months could and should have been anticipated at the time that Prime Minister Netanyahu proclaimed to the world that the freeze would end after 10 months.]

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.
.

Obama: Mideast Talks Are Going Well--So Israel Should Make More Concessions

Daled Amos
12 September '10

It seems that President Barack "I am stunned at how cordial and constructive the talks were" Obama is finding the talks to be less constructive than he is saying. That is not exactly surprising, given that Mahmoud "I can’t allow myself to make even one concession" Abbas had to be dragged yelling and screaming to the talks to begin with.

But the Obama's logic is impeccable:

President Obama called Friday for Israel to extend its moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank as a good-will gesture to move peace talks with the Palestinians forward.

During a wide-ranging news conference at the White House, Mr. Obama said that while the politics of extending the moratorium would be difficult for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, given his conservative government coalition, he had nonetheless asked Mr. Netanyahu to extend it when they met recently in Washington.

(Read full post)

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.
.

Lots more facts on the ground coming?

Carl
Israel Matzav
13 September '10

If only this report turns out to be true, maybe we can put a dent in a housing crisis here that leaves young couples living in converted storage rooms (yes, really - most of the apartments built in Jerusalem in the last 20 years have been luxury apartments).

More than 13,000 settlement housing units in the West Bank are ready for construction once the building moratorium ends on September 26th and at least 2,000 are ready for immediate construction, according to a report by Peace Now released on Sunday.

According to the report, 2,066 units in the West Bank have either had construction permits approved or their ground works already laid.

(Read full post)

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.
.

[Stay tuned]Transcript: PM Netanyahu at D.C. Dinner: I didn't come to argue Israels case

Dr. Aaron Lerner
IMRA
04 September '10

It is premature to draw any conclusions regarding what PM Netanyahu is actually setting out to do.

Are we going to witness a repeat of what transpired during his first administration after Wye, when his cabinet was presented with briefings misrepresenting what was going on [the executive summary of the agreement didn't jibe with the actual text - something that one can expect to get away with given that the agreement was in English and more than three sentences long] and his office avoided criticizing the Palestinian leadership [going so far as to even claim that a legally meaningless waive of hands at a photo op in Gaza constituted fulfillment of the Palestinian obligation to revise the PLO charter)?

Are we going to see, for the sake of PR, a series of security measures dropped despite the declared intent of Hamas to carry out attacks? [The ultimate cynicism to be that if Hamas "delivers the goods" and murders Israelis as a result of the easing of security measures that we get even more credit for the "sacrifice for peace"]?

Is Prime Minister Netanyahu going to heed the call of the kibitzers and betray his constituents with the expectation that, lacking a viable alternative, they can't really punish him for the move?

Or is Binyamin Netanyahu like a burlesque fan dancer, working on the assumption that Mahmoud Abbas will indeed stop the music in a few weeks when the building freeze ends? [And what then if Abbas doesn't bolt? Does he have a Plan B, or does the striptease of Israel's interests continue?]

The campaign protesting Netanyahu's possible extension of the freeze has already been launched. And that's fine. It strengthens the Prime Minister's position.

In general there is a feeling in the national camp that the lessons of previous betrayals is that there is little to gain from giving a leader time to play out his plan once it is clear that he has turned on you. [The irony of the charge that the national camp hasn't learned the lesson that you shouldn't bring down governments that betray you is that the lesson should be for betraying politicians].

But, then again, unlike some previous episodes, in this case we have a very definite test coming up in short order: is the freeze extended?

There can be a million and one explanations for the extension.

But the conclusion will always be the same.

If the freeze is extended we have a prime minister who has sacrificed all of his credibility.

And the Palestinians will eat him alive at the negotiating table.

Yes, it is frustrating.

And there already a place for protest campaigns to help show the world that Netanyahu doesn't have carte blanche.

But, at least as it stands today, it makes sense to reserve judgment until September 26.

Remarks by PM Netanyahu Before Working Dinner with President Obama, President Abbas, President Mubarak and King Abdullah Transcription
www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speechbefore010910.htm
01/09/2010

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.
.

Direct Israel-Palestinian Talks: An Important Detail

Barry Rubin
The Rubin Report
24 August '10

(An important detail, maybe, but when Israel will come under intensive pressure to renew the freeze all the more so. Y)

There's an important detail worth noting regarding the renewal of direct talks. According to the U.S. State Department, Israel's extension of the freeze on building within West Bank Jewish settlements and across the pre-1967 borders in Jerusalem is an issue to be discussed at the negotiations. In other words, renewing the freeze is not a precondition.

This is an important U.S. step to Israel's advantage and should be noted as such. Of course, Israel will come under intensive pressure to renew the freeze--otherwise, the U.S. side will argue, the talks will collapse--but can bargain to get something in exchange for doing so. From a mediator's standpoint, though, this is one more likely crisis that could wreck the negotiations.

Israel's question will be: What will the Palestinian Authority give in exchange for a renewed freeze? The Palestinian Authority will respond: absolutely nothing. Most likely, the United States would then have to step in and give Israel some concession or guarantee. The Israeli government will say: OK, and one thing we want is that if in a year the talks go nowhere or if they collapse you will not demand we continue the freeze.

(Read full post)

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.
.

Why Bother?

Jennifer Rubin
Contentions/Commentary
22 August '10

As I observed on Friday, onlookers and officials could barely muster the forced smiles and rote expressions of optimism that normally accompany the “beginning” of (OK, the never-ending, fruitless) direct negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. The New York Times confesses:

There is little confidence — close to none — on either side that the Obama administration’s goal of reaching a comprehensive deal in one year can be met. … Yossi Beilin, for example, who left politics in 2008 after years as a leftist member of Parliament and government minister, said Friday that the Obama administration was wrong to set a one-year goal without consequences.

“I think this is a huge mistake by the U.S. administration,” he said by telephone. “There is not a chance in the world that in a year — or two or three — peace can be achieved. The gap between the sides is too big. Netanyahu did not come to power to divide Jerusalem or find a solution to the Palestinian refugees.

And now even the mainstream media don’t bother to conceal the PA’s game:

[Mahmoud Abbas] was hoping that the Obama administration would impose a solution, which he imagined would push Israel to yield more land and authority to him than the Netanyahu government favored.

That is why the Palestinians wanted only indirect talks brokered by the Americans. But Mr. Abbas failed to obtain what he sought, and the administration pushed him toward direct talks. He has agreed only from a position of weakness, he and others say.

(Read full post)

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.
.

Obama Is No Civil Rights Champion

Caroline Glick
bigpeace.com
17 August '10

President Barack Obama would have us believe that his endorsement of the plan to build a mosque at Ground Zero is a testament to his firm belief in civil rights. In one of the White House’s attempts to temper the furor elicited by his statement Friday night, White House spokesman Bill Burton said that it wasn’t that the President was endorsing the mosque. It was simply a civil rights issue.

In Burton’s words, “It is not his role as President to pass judgment on every local project. But it is his responsibility to stand up for the Constitutional principle of religious freedom and equal treatment for all Americans. What he said last night, and reaffirmed today, is that if a church, a synagogue or a Hindu temple can be built on a site, you simply cannot deny that right to those who want to build a Mosque.”

This position would be defensible if it were genuine. But for the President’s claim that he was moved to endorse the plan to build a mosque at a place where Muslims murdered nearly 3,000 people to be credible, then his devotion to the cause of civil rights would have to be absolute and non-discriminating. That is, for it to be credible, we would want to see evidence of him staking out similarly unpopular positions for other groups.

Take Jews for example.

Many people in Obama’s own political camp take umbrage at the thought of Jews having the civil rights to exercise their property rights in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. They claim that Jews must be prohibited from building and even living in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria just because they are Jewish.

(Read full article)

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.
.

Threat to our democracy

Unwarranted Jewish home demolitions symbolize our failure as a democracy


Moshe Dann
Israel Opinion/Ynet
16 May "10

Six months ago, 11 ministers approved a decision by Prime Minister Netanyahu to halt construction starts in Judea and Samaria for 10 months. The "freeze" applied only to buildings that had not begun.

"…this suspension will not affect the construction already underway. It will not include schools, kindergartens, synagogues and public buildings necessary for the continuation of normal life over the period of the suspension,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Defense Minister Barak apparently interpreted this administrative decision differently, directing the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria to destroy buildings which have permits and were begun before the freeze was announced -- a clear conflict with fundamental civil and humanitarian law, as well as the freeze order itself.

Where Jews can and cannot build in Judea and Samaria is not easily defined, since national as well as local authorities are involved, although final decision-making is the hands of the Israeli military administration. This complicated puzzle played out last week in Ganei Modiin, home to 250 families. Although access to Ganei Modiin is through Hashmonaim, with 540 families, the two communities, under the authority of the Binyamin Council, are distinct.

Hashmonaim (also known unofficially as Ramat Modiim), half of whose residents are English-speaking, is only a few kilometers beyond the Armistice Lines of 1949. Ganei Modiin is part of Modiin Illit (Kyriat Sefer), with over 30,000 residents, among a thriving, bustling group of Jewish communities in the Modiin Valley area, in which 150,000 Jews live - not an isolated, insignificant enclave.

Driving through Hashmonaim, at the end of the road, three giant "buggers" (heavy-duty wreckers) were destroying a large, nearly completed home. Onlookers perched in other half-built homes nearby. The police had already finished destroying one home earlier that morning. The owner of that home, who lives in Ashkelon, heard of the destruction, and raced to the site with papers showing that he had permission to build, but the police and wrecking crew refused to stop.

Small groups of teenage boys from schools in the community were scattered around the site, talking with scores of border policemen and riot police. It was 11 am and the wrecking crews had taken a break. A few kids tried to get into the half-crushed building, and were dragged out. Earlier, the family that owned the building had tried this, but was quickly removed.

(Read full article)

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.
.

Obama’s Humiliation of Israel May Only Be Getting Started

Jonathan Tobin
Contentions/Commentary
26 March '10
Posted before Shabbat

After days of a news blackout about the details of the meeting on Tuesday between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Britain’s Telegraph has broken a story with details about what can only be described as an attempt to humiliate the Israeli.

According to the Telegraph’s account, the meeting began with the president presenting a list of 13 demands to Netanyahu. These included a complete freeze on Jewish building in eastern Jerusalem. When Netanyahu did not immediately accede to this diktat, Obama left him saying he was going to go eat dinner with his wife and daughters. Netanyahu and his party were left to wait for over an hour for Obama’s return. The paper claims that as Obama left, he told the prime minister to consider “the error of his ways.” Yediot Ahronot reported that Obama merely said, “I’m still around. Let me know if there is anything new.” A second brief meeting followed, which apparently consisted of the president restating his demands. As a punishment for Netanyahu’s failure to immediately bend to Obama’s ultimatum, there was no joint statement issued about the meeting and no press coverage of the visit. Friday’s Ma’ariv describes the scene thusly: “There is no humiliation exercise that the Americans did not try on the prime minister and his entourage. Bibi received in the White House the treatment reserved for the president of Equatorial Guinea.”

The Jerusalem Post is reporting that Obama wants an answer to his demands by Saturday so he can then present them to a meeting of the Arab League going on in Libya so that ineffectual body can endorse the so-called proximity talks in which the Palestinian Authority refuses to directly negotiate with Israel.

(Read full post)
.