Shavit's Distorted Vision vs. Jabotinsky's Clarity

...The Zionist leadership did what was necessary to create the state, and despite what anti-Zionist revisionist historians say, did not engage in mass murder (as Arabs did whenever possible)....And we do not “owe them” a state. In fact, because a Palestinian Arab state in Judea and Samaria is simply incompatible with the continued existence of the Jewish state — a result of military realities and Arab and Muslim intentions — we are obligated to oppose such a state.

Fresnozionsim.org..
28 December '13..

Yesterday Ha’aretz reporter Ari Shavit was interviewed on NPR about his new book. Let me start by saying that Shavit is not a foaming anti-Zionist like his colleagues Gideon Levy, Amira Hass and (formerly) Akiva Eldar. And I have to admit that I haven’t read his book. But the interview reveals a certain mindset that is disturbingly common among the supposedly sane Left in Israel.

For example, Shavit said,

It was part of the Ottoman [Empire] – and the entire region was, like, chaotic and tribal. So one has to remember, they did not conquer a well-established state, but those other people were there. And my great grandfather did not see them. Now, that’s the source of the tragedy, because on the one hand, you have this amazing triumph that is a result of the brilliant insight [of Zionism]. On the other hand, you have this ongoing tragedy of a 100-year war – more than that – that is the result of that basic flaw, that we did not see the Palestinians and the Palestinians would not see us, and…

This isn’t true, at least for those Zionists with decent eyesight. It was clear to Vladimir Jabotinsky as early as 1923, that as much as some of the more tender-minded Zionists believed that it would be possible to share sovereignty over the land with the Arabs, the Arabs would never willingly agree to it. Zionism does not require expulsion or expropriation of the Arabs, he believed, but it does require Jewish sovereignty, a Jewish state, and he was certain that this couldn’t come about through a voluntary agreement.

The collision of Jews and Arabs in the land of Israel was bound to have a winner and a loser, and Jabotinsky was convinced that a Jewish victory was not immoral, any more than an Arab victory — which history has shown us would have been far bloodier — would have been. Zionism was moral because there was no alternative for the Jews, while there were many for Arabs. But that doesn’t mean the Arabs have to be happy about it.

Palestinian Arabs genuinely, overwhelmingly believe in barbarism as a strategy

Nearly two-thirds of the people ruled by the clique of which Abed Rabbo is a leading member are committed to the most extreme forms of lethal terrorist attacks on Israelis. In that light, do we need to speculate about the intended effect when PA insiders like him dismiss so comprehensively the current round of talks between their side and Israel?

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
11 September '13..





A Pew Research Global Attitudes report issued today demonstrates statistically that

Overall support for violence in the name of Islam has declined among Muslim publics during the past decade... In many of the countries surveyed, clear majorities of Muslims oppose violence in the name of Islam. Indeed, about three-quarters or more in Pakistan (89%), Indonesia (81%), Nigeria (78%) and Tunisia (77%), say suicide bombings or other acts of violence that target civilians are never justified.

But there is one demographic where a clear majority of respondents - 62% - told Pew's pollsters that "suicide bombing is often or sometimes justified". That demographic is Palestinian Arab Muslims.

Knowing the murderous intentions of the Palestinian Arab "street" concerning us ordinary Israelis (and keep in mind that Palestinian Arab terror is rarely directed at the Israeli military), it casts a deadly light on the current strategies of the Mahmoud Abbas regime's inner circle.

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Allowing Palestinian Arabs to visit during Ramadan? Oh my!

Elder of Ziyon..
19 July '13..





If anyone has any doubt that hating Israel has nothing to do with any objective reality, check out this story from Ma'an:

Israel has granted thousands of Palestinians permits to enter Israel for the holy month of Ramadan, drawing shoppers away from West Bank markets, a Palestinian official said Thursday.

Palestinian youths were granted permits to enter Israel from Sunday to Thursday, but not on Fridays or Saturdays, even though worshipers seek to pray in Jerusalem on Fridays during the holy month.

West Bank markets have suffered as Palestinians head to Israel to go shopping.

Jamal Jawabreh, secretary-general of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the Palestinian economy was already suffering from a lack of liquidity, while salaries have dropped and the cost of living has increased.

Jawabreh said Israel was granting Palestinians access on all days except the days of prayer to encourage them to shop in Israel.

He said Israel was trying to counter its own deficit. The Chambers of Commerce has discussed the issue but is unable to stop Israel granting permits, he added.

Preventing PalArabs from entering Israel is a human rights crime. Allowing them to enter Israel is an economic crime.

The hypocrisy doesn't end there.

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We Hate You, So Please Pay Us More

Many Arabs and Muslims hate the U.S. because it stands in the way of fulfilling their dream of destroying Israel. The strong sentiments against Israel and the U.S. are the direct result of decades of indoctrination and incitement.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
22 March '13..

The anti-US protests that erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip before and during President Barack Obama's serve as a reminder that many Palestinians continue to loathe the U.S., primarily because of its support for Israel.

But U.S. support for Israel is not the only reason why such a large number of Palestinians -- as well as Arabs and Muslims -- hate the Americans with such intensity. Palestinians who took to the streets during the week to protest against Obama's visit chanted slogans not only against him personally, but also in denunciation of U.S. policies and actions toward the Arabs and Muslims.

In Ramallah, for instance, hundreds of Muslim fundamentalists chanted slogans condemning the U.S. for "perpetrating massacres and atrocities" against Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. "America is the number one enemy of Islam and Muslims," speakers at the anti-U.S. rally in Ramallah declared.

Palestinian Authority policemen, who are trained and funded by the U.S. and other Western countries, did not intervene even as the extremists also started criticizing the leaders of the Palestinian Authority for agreeing to meet with the "infidel" Obama.

Palestinian demonstrators in Bethlehem, who trampled on Obama's pictures and sprayed Nazi swastikas over them before setting them on fire, also explained that they were protesting not only against U.S. support for Israel, but also Washington's general attitude toward Arabs and Muslims. "The Americans are the enemies of the Arabs and Muslims," shouted a Palestinian activist standing near Manger Square. "The Americans do only what the Jews tell them to do and that is why they are against all Arabs and Muslims."

The strong sentiments against Israel and the U.S. expressed by Palestinians are the direct result of decades of indoctrination and incitement. Like the rest of the Arab and Islamic countries, Palestinians have been told that the U.S. is the "Great Satan" and number one enemy of all Arabs and Muslims.

Gaza Exporting Terrorists to Syria - Where Next?

Now that the jihadis in the Gaza Strip have nothing to do, such as fire rockets at Israel, they have started searching for other places to carry out their terror attacks. They have found no better place than Syria to start sending their men to join some of the radical Islamist organizations fighting against Bashar al-Assad's regime. The US and Western countries would do well to pay serious attention; Syria is not where this trend will stop.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
27 February '13..





The Gaza Strip has begun exporting terrorists to other countries. If the terrorists are not stopped, they will start showing up in European capitals and probably cities in the United States.

In contrast to claims by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas leaderships to the effect that the Palestinians are not taking sides in the conflict, Palestinians are involved in the fighting in Syria.

The Palestinians who are heading to Syria have been told their ultimate mission is to liberate Palestine "from the river to the sea." Once they get rid of Assad, they are told, they will move to their next station -- Jordan. From there, their jihad will take them to Israel, where they and their friends in Jabhat al-Nusra [The Support Front] hope to create a pan-Islamic state ruled by Sharia laws.

According to Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip, in the past few weeks alone, dozens of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip headed to Syria through Turkey to join various radical organizations engaged in the fighting against the army of Bashar al-Assad.

Many of these Palestinians have fallen in love with Jabhat al-Nusra, a group recently designated a terrorist organization by the US and, according to reports in the Arab media, believed to be responsible for some of the massacres against Syrian civilians. The organization consists of hundreds, if not thousands, of Muslim fundamentalists from several Arab and Islamic countries. Its declared goal is to topple the Assad regime and create an Islamic state.

WHY it is dangerous for Israeli citizens to enter an Arab village?

A few days ago, I noticed a sign just to the right as I pass the checkpoint. There is a turn off there - that bypasses the checkpoint into Jerusalem. It warns people, "This road leads to Palestinian village. The entrance for Israeli citizens is dangerous."

Paula R. Stern..
A Soldier's Mother..
20 February '13..

Do you live in a dangerous place?

I don't. I honestly don't. People think I do and sometimes warn me to be careful, but it's really silly. If they only knew...

Years ago, while traveling from a client's office in Netanya back home to Maale Adumim, a colleague wished me a safe trip and warned, "be careful driving home."

I looked at him and remembered that he lived in Tel Aviv and worked there in Netanya. This was back in 2001 - 2002 when things were exploding regularly in Israel, especially in those two cities. I was astounded that he thought to warn me when I felt, if anything, I should be warning him. With a smile, I answered, "I'll be fine as soon as I get out of Netanya."

The next week, a bomb exploded in Netanya and I wasn't smiling anymore as I called to make sure all my friends were safe. But the memory remains - even 10 years later.

A few days ago, I noticed a sign just to the right as I pass the checkpoint. There is a turn off there - that bypasses the checkpoint into Jerusalem.

It warns people, "This road leads to Palestinian village. The entrance for Israeli citizens is dangerous."

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Does the world really care about the Palestinians?

Just two months ago, 138 countries voted in favor of Palestinian statehood at the UN, but they have not adopted a resolution condemning the brutal slaughter of Palestinians by Syria. Imagine if Israel were responsible for what is happening to the Palestinians. The UN would have acted immediately and all the groups mentioned above would be in an uproar.

Dr. Mitchell Bard..
Times of Israel..
19 February '13..

For decades there has been an international drumbeat of concern for the Palestinians, their victimhood, their welfare and their human rights. But how much does the world really care about the Palestinians? We are learning now they don’t care at all as Assad slaughters them in Syria.

Where are the front-page headlines? Where are the UN condemnations? Where is the U.S. State Department? Where are the sponsors of flotillas to bring aid to the refugees? Where are the campus protests? Where are the Christian organizations? Where are the peace groups? Where are the pro-Palestinian organizations?

The answer is they are all silent.

Just two months ago, 138 countries voted in favor of Palestinian statehood at the UN, but they have not adopted a resolution condemning the brutal slaughter of Palestinians by Syria. Imagine if Israel were responsible for what is happening to the Palestinians. The UN would have acted immediately and all the groups mentioned above would be in an uproar.

How do we explain the difference?

The answer lies in a simple but inconvenient truth — no one really cares about the Palestinians – unless Jews are involved.

Rock-Throwing Again, and Again - Where's the Coverage?

SC..
CAMERA Snapshots..
17 January '13..






When you think about throwing rocks, what comes to mind? Lazy summer afternoons skipping stones in a pond?

How about this?

On January 16, an Israeli child was injured when Palestinian Arabs heaved a rock through the windshield of the car he was riding in.

Last month, an Arab teenager hurled a rock through the windshield of a car and nearly killed a baby when it crashed a few inches from the infant. In 2011, Asher Palmer and his infant son Yonatan were killed when their car overturned after being pelted with boulders.

In the pages of The New York Times, Tom Friedman recommended that West Bank Arabs engage in rock-throwing as part of “nonviolent opposition”. Nick Kristof related how Palestinians are taking up “noviolent peaceful resistance” of the type “inspired by the work of Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” though, he reported, they sometimes define “nonviolence to include stone-throwing.”

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Like an alien planet

Frimet/Arnold Roth..
This Ongoing War..
12 January '13..

This post is triggered by a handful of news reports this past week that got us thinking.

Imagine you came down from another planet and learned, for the first time, about a people who claim their national path to autonomy and self-fulfillment requires honoring the murderers who are central to their historical tradition (as a certain neighbourhood politician did recently - we posted about him on Thursday: "11-Jan-13: When pundits or commentators next tell us Israel must relax its anti-terrorism measures, here is what they are hiding or ignoring").

Imagine further that this people credited its strength and resilience from being part of a mighty and united brotherhood of nations (Fayyad: "We plead with our brothers etc"). Imagine, as well, that this nation blames all of its suffering on the efforts of one hated and specific other people.

But you have not just arrived from another planet, and you are visiting this site. So chances are you understand we are referring to the Palestinian Arabs. Good, because now it's time to think about cognitive dissonance.

This is worth pondering because the war of terrorism conducted by the Arabs in our part of the world has been an existential factor for generations, reaching well back into the nineteenth century. Explanations for why it continues well into the twenty-first century are not in short supply. But on the whole we think they baffle more than they clarify.

(Continue)

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Do Palestinian Residents of Jerusalem Want Israeli Citizenship? Yes.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
23 October '12..

The Palestinian Authority says it is worried because of the rise in the number of Palestinians from Jerusalem who are seeking Israeli citizenship.

Hatem Abdel Kader, who is in charge of the "Jerusalem Portfolio" in the ruling Fatah faction in the West Bank, revealed that more than 10,000 Palestinians from Jerusalem have been granted Israeli citizenship. Abdel Kader attributed the growing phenomenon to the failure of the Palestinian Authority and the Arab and Islamic countries to help the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem.

In other words, he is admitting that Israel is doing more for these Palestinians than the Palestinian leadership and the entire Arab and Islamic countries.

According to figures released by the Israeli Ministry of Interior, 3,374 Palestinians obtained Israeli citizenship in the past decade. According to ministry officials, in the past two years, the number of applicants for Israeli citizenship has intensified.

Palestinians living in Jerusalem enjoy the status of permanent residents of Israel. This means that they hold Israeli ID cards but do not have Israeli passports. As permanent residents, they are entitled to all the rights of an Israeli citizen, with the exception of voting in general elections.

Israeli law, however, allows any resident to apply for citizenship.

Yet, in the first two decades since Israel annexed east Jerusalem after 1967, few Palestinians applied for citizenship. At that time, it was considered an act of treason to apply for Israeli citizenship; the PLO openly threatened Palestinians who obtained it.

Bryen - Will the young eat the revolution?

Shoshana Bryen..
The Times of Israel..
11 May '12..

Revolutions, it is often said, eat their young; the Palestinian revolutionary movement, in all its splinters, certainly has swallowed generations of Palestinian children. A poll by the Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD) shows signs, however, that the revolution may be in serious trouble with its own young people, who have been influenced variously by Israel and events in the wider Arab world. Oddly, the US administration just forked over $260 million to prop up the old dictatorship and try to save an increasingly out-of-touch Mahmoud Abbas. President Obama said the money was “important to the security interests of the United States.”

Abbas is the last of the senior, secular, revolutionary cronies Yasser Arafat imported from Tunisia – a Soviet-educated octogenarian in a post-Soviet world. Israelis sometimes agree with him that “après moi, le (Islamic) deluge,” and better a secular dictator than a jihadi one, but a year of Arab revolution shows that even if you like your dictator you can’t keep him forever.

The Revolution has for decades produced new, inventive and bloody ways to hang on to its demands, drain money from Western coffers, subvert Israel and avoid penalty for the multi-generational ruin of its own people. Status quo in a revolutionary society is untenable. Always change the subject, always be the victim, always change the threat and never end the conflict.

Elder - Deceiving Palestinian Arabs for 63 years

Elder of Ziyon..
18 January '12..




From a report from The [American] Consul at Jerusalem (Burdett) to the Secretary of State, marked "Secret," October 29, 1949 (Foreign Relations of the United States, 1949, Volume VI, page 1457:)

Better informed refugees now realize that repatriation in the sense contemplated by the December 11, 1949 [sic] resolution of the General Assembly is out of the question and they no longer think the United Nations will enforce the resolution. However, no one dares to say so openly for the great mass of the refugees has been nourished on this illusion and a frank statement of the extent of the deception might kindle an explosion. It would certainly eliminate the chances of leadership of the person making the first announcement.

Nothing has changed.

Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon, Syria and around the world are still told the lie that they will one day "return" to land they never lived in, and no one has the ability to tell them that they have been fooled for 63 years and to find another solution for their own children and grandchildren.

Which is why they will remain stateless for the next 63 years as well.

(Read full "Deceiving Palestinian Arabs for 63 years")

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Ettinger - Who are the Palestinians?

Yoram Ettinger
Israel Hayom
13 December '11

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=1003

Contrary to political correctness, Palestinian Arabs have not been in the area west of the Jordan River from time immemorial; no Palestinian state ever existed, no Palestinian people was ever robbed of its land and there is no basis for the Palestinian “claim of return.”

Most Palestinian Arabs are descendants of the Muslim migrants who came to the area between 1845 to 1947 from the Sudan, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, as well as from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Morocco, Bosnia, the Caucasus, Turkmenistan, Kurdistan, India, Afghanistan and Balochistan.

Arab migrant workers were imported by the Ottoman Empire and by the British Mandate (which defeated the Ottomans in 1917) for infrastructure projects: The port of Haifa, the Haifa-Qantara, Haifa-Edrei, Haifa-Nablus and Jerusalem-Jaffa railroads, military installations, roads, quarries, reclamation of wetlands, etc. Illegal Arab laborers were also attracted by the relative economic boom in British Mandate Palestine, stimulated by Jewish immigration.

According to a 1937 report by the British Peel Commission (Palestine Betrayed, Prof. Efraim Karsh, Yale University Press, 2010, p. 12), “The increase in the Arab population is most marked in urban areas, affected by Jewish development. A comparison of the census returns in 1922 and 1931 shows that, six years ago, the increase percent in Haifa was 86, in Jaffa 62, in Jerusalem 37, while in purely Arab towns such as Nablus and Hebron it was only 7, and at Gaza there was a decrease of 2 percent.”

Elder - The irony of a "Palestine" tourism video

Elder of Ziyon
24 November '11


Here's how the United Nations Development Programme describes its aims in the Palestinian Arab territories:

UNDP’s assistance to the Palestinian people in all sectors, in both the West Bank and Gaza and in times of emergency and of peace, is aimed towards reducing poverty and rebuilding livelihoods. Since 1978, our Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People has been implementing projects in the occupied Palestinian territory worth over US$600 million, focusing on the areas vital to the Palestinian well-being and socio-economic development, such as water, health and education facilities, social services, infrastructure and rural and agricultural development.

All of these are worthy activities for people who are in desperate need.

Which makes the following video most interesting. Very professionally done, it was released by the PA Ministry of Tourism and it shows a place where you can get anything you want:




There is a bit of a disconnect between how "Palestine" is described in UNDP and other UN literature and how it is presented in this video. From reading the UNDP quote above, for example, you would believe that Palestinian Arabs are poor and in need of a lot of assistance from the outside.

Watching the video, one gets the opposite impression.

(Read full "The irony of a "Palestine" tourism video")

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Fresnozionism - The myth of occupation

It's all because of 'the occupation'!

Fresnozionism.org
16 November '11

http://fresnozionism.org/2011/11/the-myth-of-occupation/

Military occupation can be roughly defined as control over the territory of a state by a hostile army. Occupation can be legal under international law, as long as it can be distinguished from the acquisition of territory by force, which is frowned upon. An example of a legal occupation was the occupation of Japan by the US after WWII.

But the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria is not an occupation in this sense. One might ask, “what state is occupied?” There is no such entity as ‘Palestine’ and never was. The Jewish people have a prima facie right to settle in the territory of the Palestine Mandate which was guaranteed by the League of Nations. The precise eastern border of the State of Israel has never been delineated. It is certainly not the 1949 armistice line (what is often incorrectly called the “pre-1967 border”), by any reasonable interpretation of UNSC resolutions 242 and 338, which called for “secure and recognized boundaries” which would be arrived at by negotiations between the parties in the dispute.

As a corollary, Israeli settlements east of the armistice lines are not, as the anti-Israel media are fond of saying, “illegal under international law.”

It should be clear by now that when Arabs and their supporters talk about “the occupation,” they are referring to the Jewish state, and not just the Jewish presence beyond the Green Line. Describing her experiences “occupying Birthright [see also here],” activist Kiera Feldman wrote recently:

Fresnozionism - Detailed results of Pal-Arab poll even worse than I thought

Fresnozionism.org
21 July '11

http://fresnozionism.org/2011/07/detailed-results-of-pal-arab-poll-even-worse-than-i-thought/

I discussed this recent poll last week, based on a Jerusalem Post report. Today, the complete polling data has been released.

The results show that the great majority of Palestinian Arabs do not support the idea of a peaceful two-state solution. Some of the numbers that I note are these:

- 52% agree that they “do not accept a two-state solution,” while only 44% said they accepted it

- 56% are “not so certain that Israel will exist 25 years from now as a Jewish state with a Jewish majority

- Only 7% agreed that “Israel has a permanent right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people” while 84% thought that “over time Palestinians must work to get back all the land for a Palestinian state”

- 92% thought that Jerusalem should be the capital of Palestine while only 3% thought it should be shared

These last three points imply that the two-state solution, where it is accepted, is only accepted as a tactical station on the way to the elimination of the Jewish state, part of the implementation of the PLO’s ‘phased plan‘.

Attitudes towards Hamas seem to indicate that Palestinians approve of its approach to the Jews and Israel, although they don’t want to be ruled by it. Most do not reject partnering with an explicitly genocidal, terrorist group:

- 81% support the agreement between Fatah and Hamas

- Of those, 74% would continue to support it even if it resulted in reduction of aid

- 55% of those who support the agreement believe it will make peace between Israel and the Palestinians less likely

But Hamas is not a popular choice to rule ‘Palestine’. When asked who they would vote for if elections were held today, 46% chose Fatah and only 17% Hamas. Nevertheless, the basic ideas of Hamas are popular:

- 73% said they “believed” the quotation from the Quran in the Hamas covenant that “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him… “

- 80%: “For our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave, so much so that it will need all the loyal efforts we can wield, to be followed by further steps and reinforced by successive battalions from the multifarious Arab and Islamic world, until the enemies are defeated and Allah’s victory prevails.”

- 62%: “When our enemies usurp some Islamic lands, Jihad becomes a duty binding on all Muslims. In order to face the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from raising the banner of Jihad. We must spread the spirit of Jihad among the (Islamic) Umma, clash with the enemies and join the ranks of the Jihad fighters.”

Elder - The "Palestinian Spring" has been outsourced

Elder of Ziyon
09 July '11

If there is one word that can describe Palestinian Arabs throughout their brief history, it has to be "pawns."

Rarely have they shown authentic initiative. With some exceptions, they have been manipulated by their so-called leaders and by other Arab leaders. Ironically, each of their successive puppetmasters have invariably claimed that they were doing it out of love.

Their first leader, the infamous mufti of Jerusalem, manipulated them for his own hateful purposes which included his own personal enrichment and his severe Jew-hatred. After that the Arab leaders stepped into his role, each of them promising to defeat the Jews and give them land that they planned to annex themselves anyway. During the 1950s, self-appointed leaders collaborated with Arab leaders to stymie their desire to become naturalized citizens of their host countries, a practice that continues to this day.

While the first intifada had some actual homegrown leadership, the second intifada was a pre-planned disaster meant to pressure Israel and that resulted in thousands of people killed because of Arafat's intransigence in peace negotiations.

This year we have seen real, grassroots revolutions throughout the Arab world, from Tunisia to Yemen. Many pundits and anti-Israel activists have been predicting - or even actively desiring - a similar uprising from Palestinian Arabs against Israel. Gideon Levy in Ha'aretz lamented on behalf of the residents of Jenin in February, saying "This week, Jenin's wonderland was to be found in Egypt. Residents of the refugee camp closely followed events in the land of the Nile, in a mood of melancholy jealousy. Each night they crowded into homes to watch television and see what was going on in Cairo. But no winds of change are blowing in the West Bank. No solidarity demonstration was staged; not a single poster of support was to be seen on the streets."

(Read full "The Palestinian Spring" has been outsourced")

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Elder - When Jewish leaders fall for the Arab "all or nothing" fallacy

Elder of Ziyon
05 July '11

Robert K. Lifton, former president of the American Jewish Congress, wrote an article in the Huffington Post that shows that even committed Zionists can find themselves believing the "all or nothing" fallacy that the Palestinian Arabs try to push.

He describes the fallacy well, without realizing it:

The alliance of aggressive nationalists and religious expansionists is endangering the dream of Zionism as conceived of by Theodore Herzl and shared by millions of Jews. Through their overzealous efforts toward expansion, in which they seek to extend Israel's jurisdiction over the biblical "whole land of Israel" -- the Territories gained in the 1967 Six-Day War -- they are endangering the Zionist foundations of that land.


For many years, I have been concerned that Israel not put at risk its Zionist purpose in an effort to expand its reach into the Territories. During my tenure as President of the American Jewish Congress, starting in 1988, we argued that in view of the demographics of Palestinian and Israeli population growth, among other factors, Israel would not be able to continue as both a Jewish and a democratic state if it attempted to annex the Territories as part of the state of Israel.

And also without realizing it, he describes why it is a fallacy:

It is in the hands of Mr. Netanyahu and his government to take the actions that save Zionism. He has said that he supports a two-state solution. His nationalist and religious coalition will be difficult to carry along to a two-state solution that is within the range of acceptability to the Palestinians.

Here is the crux of the issue. Because of years of the world accepting Palestinian Arab intransigence as a given, the former head of an unabashedly Zionist organization has accepted that a Palestinian Arab state must be within the parameters that the Arabs insist - and Israeli Jews are the ones who must do all the compromising.

Lifton uses the straw man that Thomas Friedman, Jeffrey Goldberg and others use: that the only choice is between Israel annexing the entire West Bank and Israel giving up the entire West Bank (with minor land swaps.) Yet this is not even close to true.

The concept of a Palestinian Arab state is not identical to the demand that Israel withdraw from all the crucial lands needed for defensible borders and to to maintain a Jewish presense in historically and religiously significant areas.

(Read full "When Jewish leaders fall for the Arab "all or nothing" fallacy")

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The Audacity of Reality

Lori Lowenthal Marcus
American Thinker
29 May '11

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/the_audacity_of_reality.html

Despite the avalanche of articles analyzing U.S. President Barack Obama's May 19, 2011 Middle East speech, one irony has not been mentioned. The president laid out a magnificent blueprint for the countries in the region to follow in order to ensure dignity, freedom, and hope for their citizens. But all the president had to do was look reality in the face, and find his vision reflected in Israel. Yet Israel was the only country which the president wants both to shrink, and away from which he told Arabs to turn.

Obama's refusal to credit Israel's freedom as a value for Arabs as well as Jews is symptomatic of an epic error: the insistence on acting on political ideology rather than asking what's really best for the people on the ground. Even just focusing on what's really going to help the Arabs in the Disputed Territories has been submerged in place of the fixation on establishing a Palestinian Arab State. Let's call those afflicted with this mindset the Palestinian Statists.

Earlier this month the grassroots organization Z STREET held a one-day summit in Washington, D.C. where speakers rewound this tape and tried to address the real issue of how to do the most good for all of the people who live in the Middle East. At that conference -- RETHINKING THE END GAME: Improving Lives in the Middle East -- the focus was on whether a Palestinian State would be a positive step not for Israeli Jews, but for Arab Palestinians.

The seven Z STREET speakers -- people who for decades have studied or lived in the Arab and Jewish quarters of that region of the world -- argued, as did President Obama, that peace in the region will be built upon the pillars upon which all of Western Civilization is built: freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, economic dignity, entrepreneurship and independence, and respect for and the assurance of the equality of women and minorities.

But in his speech President Obama took Israel -- which should have been his Exhibit A because it is the sole country in the region that embraces and ensures these freedoms and opportunities for all its citizens -- and demanded that it:

- give over territory that it has governed, with all of these freedoms, for both Arab and Jew, and hand that territory to regimes under which none of these freedoms will be respected for either Jew or Arab;


- attempt to make peace, and share "security arrangements," with regimes that are sworn and publicly committed to immolating their own children (never mind the Jews' children) in a bonfire of war against the Jewish State and to undermining security arrangements with their neighbor Israel.

In his impatience to "press the reset button" on the Middle East "peace process," as if it were a malfunctioning Sony PlayStation, President Obama and all those other Palestinian Statists ignore the real impact of this proposal even on the people they claim they most want to help: the Arab Palestinians.

You see, the Palestinian Statists have the causation reversed. They think that the Arab Palestinians should start a state, which will then create freedom and personal security. What these people ignore is the fact that a Palestinian State will be run, right out of the block, by men who oppose those very freedoms, think their country should be ruled by Sharia -- not as a democracy that guarantees human rights -- and who daily sacrifice their peoples' security in a never-ending war with the Jews.

The hard-headed reality is that the causation works the other way round: start with the freedoms and personal and economic security for the average Tom, Dick, and Muhammad on the street, and let government grow organically out of peaceful communities, composed of free men and women and safe children, oriented towards education and prosperity instead of martyrdom and murder. Another dose of reality: there is only one government anywhere in the Middle East that has ever provided freedom and security to the Arab on the street: that country is called Israel.

The Z STREET speakers provided a raft of cold, clear statistics and examples of the sharp contrast in quality of life for the Arabs.

Abbas demands something for nothing

Fresnozionism.org
17 May '11

http://fresnozionism.org/2011/05/abbas-demands-something-for-nothing/


As we get closer to September and a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood, Mahmoud Abbas has taken the opportunity to explain why he thinks justice requires yet another slice to be taken from the only Jewish state and given to his amalgamation of two vicious terrorist organizations. After Hamas has told us that even total Israeli withdrawal to 1949 lines won’t bring peace, Abbas explains here that this is his position as well.

The Abbas piece is remarkable for its distortions of the historical record, including the heart-wrenching account of how a little boy who would grow up to be Palestinian President was ‘expelled’ from Tzfat (see also here for a version of the article with lies replaced by truth).

One of the biggest lies Abbas tells is that the Palestinian Arabs should have had a state in 1947, but implementation of the UN partition agreement was derailed by the Zionists. He writes,

In November 1947, the General Assembly made its recommendation and answered in the affirmative. Shortly thereafter, Zionist forces expelled Palestinian Arabs to ensure a decisive Jewish majority in the future state of Israel, and Arab armies intervened. War and further expulsions ensued…


Minutes after the State of Israel was established on May 14, 1948, the United States granted it recognition. Our Palestinian state, however, remains a promise unfulfilled.

Abbas does not tell us that both the Palestinian Arab leadership and the rest of the Arab world rejected partition on the grounds that all of Palestine should be under Arab sovereignty. He does not tell us that the Palestinian Arabs have rejected offers of a state no less than six times between 1937 and 2008 (and once in 1919).

So why, if they did not want a state until now, will this time be different? Because this time they think they will be able to gain control over a large, strategic territory without having to commit to recognition of Israel, and without having to give up their claim on the rest of the land, in particular, the right to settle millions of Arab ‘refugees’ in Israel.

Israel would never agree to cede territory in return for a promise of belligerency, and — at least so far — the US has not tried to force it to do so. As a result, negotiations between Israel and the PLO have always failed. Abbas may say that “negotiations remain our first option,” but the PLO has only been prepared to negotiate surrender, not compromise. And no matter what concessions Israel has offered, they have not included giving up its right to exist.

Abbas believes that after the world makes Israel leave the territories, it can make Israel sit still and accept the return of the so-called ‘refugees’ (95% of whom are not refugees in any normal sense), and — probably after a bloody war — become another Arab state:

Palestine’s admission to the United Nations would pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice …


… Once admitted to the United Nations, our state stands ready to negotiate all core issues of the conflict with Israel. A key focus of negotiations will be reaching a just solution for Palestinian refugees based on Resolution 194, which the General Assembly passed in 1948.

The Arab interpretation of resolution 194 is that every descendant of the 600,000 Arabs that fled Israel in 1948 (about 4.5 million claim this status) is entitled to ‘return’ to Israel and take possession of his property, or be compensated. This wasn’t the intent of the resolution, which referred only to actual refugees and required that they be prepared to ‘live in peace’ with Jewish Israelis. And it would also cover the approximately 850,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries, who most likely wouldn’t want to return but would be happy for compensation!

Since 1967 the presumption of the West has been that land will be exchanged for peace, recognition and an end of all claims against Israel. The Abbas plan finally makes explicit what some of us have been saying all along, that the PLO never intended to give up its dream of replacing Israel with an Arab state of ‘Palestine’.

It’s time for the White House to recognize this and firmly oppose the attempt to give the PLO something for nothing.

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