Slow Learners?

Yosef
24 August '10

In the midst of reading "Arafat's War" by Efraim Karsh (2003), I was struck by the following incident and conclusions not learned. Have we moved beyond this? Time will tell.

At a closed meeting with South African Muslim leaders on May 10, 1994, Arafat claimed that the Oslo agreements fell into the same category as the Treaty of Hudaibiya that was signed by the Prophet Muhammad with the people of Mecca in 628, only to be reneged upon a couple of years later when the situation tilted in Muhammed's favor. Unknown to him, his words were recorded by a member of the Jewish community who managed to infiltrate the meeting disguised as a Muslim.

The Israelis were stunned. A week earlier they had signed the Gaza-Jericho Agreement (also known as the Cairo Agreement) on the establishment of a Palestinian Authority in these territories as a preliminary stage in the DOP's implementation, and here was their cosignatory presenting these agreements as a tactical ploy, that could be discarded at the first available opportunity. Rabin angrily demanded that Arafat "re-affirm his commitment to his agreement with us." So did the left-wing minister of the environment, Yossi Sarid, one of the most dovish members of the Israeli government."Arafat has to announce that his grave words at the Johannesburg mosque are null and void,"he said. "He should pronounce his complete adherence to the agreement with Israel and prove this abidance through an open and determined struggle against terrorism. Should he fail to do this, the crisis of confidence will persist and Arafat will be able to choose between being a mayor of Jericho or the ruler of Gaza. In such circumstances, Gaza and Jericho will be the end of the process" (but Gaza and Jericho will remain turned over to Arafat and the PA. Y)

Arafat remained unperturbed.
(Efraim Karsh, Arafat's War, p.60-61)

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From Nataf to J'lem

It's hypocritical that Jewish Sheikh Jarrah protesters retire to homes built on former Arab land.


Seth Frantzman
Terra Incognita/JPost
13 April '10

On January 22 the weekly leftist and Arab protesters in Sheikh Jarrah were joined by a number of Israeli Jewish notables, including former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg and one-time education minister Yossi Sarid.

They were protesting against Jewish settlers moving into Jewish houses whose residents had been forced to flee in 1948, when they ended up on the Jordanian side of the border.

On March 7, Burg explained his feelings in an op-ed, “Once justice dwelled here. Now the settlers do, murderers of the nation’s soul... We shall not be silent when Ahmed and Aysha are sleeping in the street outside their home.” For him the protesters were the “people of integrity.” Jews must “leave Sheikh Jarrah now!”

Another celebrity activist in the struggle in Sheikh Jarrah is Sahar Vardi, daughter of Dr. Amiel Vardi of the Hebrew University. Sahar, who refused to do her army service, claimed in an interview that it is “unconscionable for me to live in my home in the German Colony and study whatever I like” when Arabs are being evicted from homes in east Jerusalem.

In late March another Sheikh Jarrah Jewish activist named Michael Solsberry was arrested at his home in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Ze’ev.

There is a common stream that runs through those who are active against the occupation. Many are from leading families, come from a wealthy background and live in the most expensive neighborhoods. Nothing in itself is wrong with this, except when one considers what they demand of others. While they claim to be at the forefront of human rights, their activism obscures a darker truth. They believe it is acceptable to live where they want without being protested against, but deny that others might live in certain areas they deem to be off limits.

(Read full article)

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