Another American president rescues the Palestinians - by Stephen M. Flatow

...it took the administration about two days to surrender to the pressure—and it only took that long because Thanksgiving got in the way. Suddenly the administration trotted out a new “interpretation”—actually, a misrepresentation—of the law. The PLO-PA can keep its office so long as the activities conducted there are “related to achieving a lasting, comprehensive peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.” What a joke. The PLO-PA considers everything it does to be a contribution to peace. That includes promoting boycotts and sanctions against Israel, comparing Israel to the Nazis, and inciting the Palestinian Arab public to murder Jews and glorify terrorists.

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
27 November '17..

The most prominent Jewish leader in America did not mince words when it came to the question of whether the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) should have an office in Washington, D.C. In a telegram to the president, he wrote, “Our country must not permit the killers of Jewish children and the assassins of American diplomats to open an office in Washington, D.C.”

But I’m not talking about last week’s news. I’m talking about 1976. The chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations was Rabbi Alexander Schindler. The president was Gerald Ford. And what Schindler wrote about the PLO in 1976 is just as true today as it was back then.

Schindler was no hawk. In the years to follow, he would criticize the Israeli government on various issues. But he understood that Palestinian terrorists should not have an office in our nation’s capital. It saddens to me that when the issue came up again last week, so few in the American Jewish community spoke out against the PLO office.

(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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Benson - PLO Envoy: Canaanites Were Occupiers Too

Pesach Benson..
Honest Reporting/Backspin..
28 December '11..

If Newt Gingrich’s comments about Palestinian identity weren’t explosive enough, a PLO diplomat makes a counter-argument that’s an absolute bombshell.

Maen Rashid Areikat, the PLO’s chief representative in the US, says the Palestinians pre-dated the Canaanites in a Washington Post op-ed:

We lived under the rule of a plethora of empires: the Canaanites, Egyptians, Philistines, Israelites, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, Mongols, Ottomans and, finally, the British.

Airekat’s claim doesn’t hold water if he’s basing his argument on the bible. Everyone knows the story of Noah and the flood; numerous ancient civilizations independently attest to a world-wide deluge as well. And Canaan — Noah’s grandson – moved to the Holy Land after being cursed for his role in debasing Noah.

That means Canaan moved into an empty Holy Land. I’m not aware of any scholarly research suggesting that anyone lived in the region before the Canaanites. I’ve heard Palestinian claims of Canaanite descent, but never that they pre-date the Canaanites. That’s a stretch.

I suppose Airekat’s original Palestinians living in Canaan ”from time immemorial” were really good swimmers.

Link: http://honestreporting.com/plo-envoy-canaanites-were-occupiers-too/


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Great News! The Palestinians Have Improved Relations With--The US

Daled Amos
20 January '11

Don't take my word for it.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley himself explained the US had given permission to the PLO mission to fly the 'Palestinian' flag--despite no change in status:

given the improvement in the relations between the United States and Palestinians.

Of course it's nice to know that the Palestinians have improved relations with somebody, but what in the world does that mean?

(Read full "Great News! The Palestinians Have Improved Relations With--The US")


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Abbas Stiffs Obama on Direct Talks … Again

Jonathan Tobin
Contentions/Commentary
28 July '10

Just days after the Obama administration threw a lollipop to the Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, they are once again showing the Americans who’s the boss in the Middle East peace negotiations. Last week, the United States upgraded the diplomatic status of the PA’s American mission. From now on, the PA’s Washington office will have the status of a “general delegation” — the same it enjoys in the European Union. This is still a step below a full-fledged embassy, a status reserved for sovereign nations. But it does give the PA’s representatives full diplomatic immunity, a not-insignificant factor when you’re the envoy of a coalition of terrorist groups, such as the one that makes up Fatah, the dominant force within the PA. The move was made with the tacit approval of Israel and is intended to give Abbas a shot in the arm as he continues to struggle for legitimacy in the face of growing challenges from the rival Hamas faction, which has possession of Gaza.

But this move, like so many similar measures that have been put into effect over the years to boost the shaky credibility of the Palestinian Authority, is not enough to get Abbas to agree to the one thing President Obama wants from him: direct peace talks with Israel.

(Read full post)

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Rapid Unraveling in the Middle East

JINSA
Report #: 1,010
27 July '10

1) The PLO flag is flying in Washington. The administration downplayed the change - it is a "delegation" office not an Embassy. The change implies "no enhancement in diplomatic status," and does not provide "any diplomatic privileges or immunities," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley. It is about the same as the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) that represents 27 million democratic Taiwanese. That is, by its nature, an enhancement for a terrorist organization.

White House spokesman Thomas Vietor added, "This decision reflects our confidence that through direct negotiations, we can help achieve a two-state solution with an independent and viable Palestine living side by side with Israel. We should begin preparing for that outcome now, as we continue to work with the Palestinian people on behalf of a better future."

The best way to give the Palestinians a better future would be to liberate 1.2 million of them from Hamas in Gaza. Hamas is NOT a member of the PLO - the flag of which is flying in Washington - and it ousted Fatah from Gaza in a bloody and ongoing civil war. This appears to be why we are building Fatah an army. The State Department is busy executing its two-state vision while the Palestinians are busy executing one another.

(Read full report)

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About that PLO flag in Washington

Elder of Ziyon
26 July '10

Over the past few days, we have found out that the White House has decided to give the PLO mission in Washington a symbolic upgrade of status:

The Obama administration will allow the PLO office in Washington to fly the Palestinian flag and assume the title of "delegation."

The change in status comes with no enhancement in diplomatic status, U.S. officials said.

The new privileges for the Palestine Liberation Organization office do not mean the representation has "any diplomatic privileges or immunities," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said last Friday.

"At the request of the PLO representative, which we have granted given the improvement in the relations between the United States and Palestinians, they have requested permission to fly the Palestinian flag," he said. "And they have requested permission to call themselves the General Delegation of the PLO, which is a name that conforms to how they describe their missions in Europe, Canada, and several Latin American countries."

Crowley said the steps have symbolic value and reflect improved relations between the United States and Palestinians, but they have no meaning under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

A White House spokesman suggested the changes would help spur the Palestinians toward direct peace talks with Israel, a key demand of the Israeli and U.S. governments.

Why does the PLO have a mission in Washington, and not the pseudo-democratic Palestinian Authority?

The answer to that question is terrifically important.

(Read full post)

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The new, improved Obama

Caroline Glick
carolineglick.com
26 July '10

You have to hand it to US President Barack Obama. He is relentless. Just when you thought he was shifting gears - easing up on Israel and turning his attention to Iran's nuclear weapons program - he pulls out a zinger.

His recent courtship of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu led some Israelis and supporters of Israel in the US to believe the administration had seen the light. After 18 months, we were told Obama finally realized that contrary to what he had thought, Palestinian statehood is not the most urgent issue in the Middle East, Iran's nuclear weapons program is.

In the past week alone, two prominent commentators - Aluf Benn from Haaretz and Ehud Ya'ari from Channel 2 both wrote articles claiming that Obama's Middle East policy has undergone a transformation. As Benn put it, "President Barack Obama's campaign of wooing Israel reflects a fundamental about-face in US policy in the Middle East."

And in Ya'ari's words in an article in the Australian, "The foreign policy team of US President Barack Obama is undertaking a reassessment of its policy all over the Middle East, including Israel."

Both claimed the administration has resolved to cooperate with Israel as an ally rather than attack it as an obstacle to peace, and that Washington has recognized that Iran must be prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The basic notion informing both of these nearly identical articles is that the Obama administration's foreign policy is fundamentally pragmatic rather than ideologically motivated. Both Ya'ari and Benn, like many of their fellow commentators on the Left, argue that Obama's decision to invite Netanyahu to Washington and treat him like an ally rather than an enemy is proof that when stripped to its essentials, his foreign policy is pragmatic.

After a year and half in office, Obama recognized that his previous view of the Middle East was wrong. And as a pragmatist, he has embarked on a new course.

Yet before the ink on their proclamations had a chance to dry, Obama demonstrated that their enthusiasm was misplaced. Late last week the administration decided - apropos of nothing - to upgrade the diplomatic status of the PLO mission in Washington.

From now on, the PLO will be allowed to fly its flag like a regular embassy.

(Read full article)

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