C'mon, 1, 2, 3, Hurray for the New Middle East - by Ben-Dror Yemini

We wanted a shift in the region and here it is taking shape right before our eyes; yet the detractors, even those on the Israeli side, continue to stamp their feet, demanding we continue down a path that has failed the Palestinians for decades

Photo: Ofir Malka

Ben-Dror Yemini..
Ynet/Opinion..
01 September '20..
Link: https://www.ynetnews.com/article/rJ5Tq5sXP

We often trouble ourselves over trivialities to the extent that we struggle to see the bigger picture.

The Israeli delegation's official visit to the UAE - flying in Saudi Arabian airsace on an El Al plane with the kingdom's permission - is a day of celebration for Israel.

We wanted a new Middle East and here it is taking shape right before our eyes.

We would have been happy if the Palestinians could also have joined us. We would have been happy to see Israeli flags hoisted across Ramallah.

This has yet to happen, but it is also not enough of a reason to lament that the Israeli flag "only" flew over Saudi territory and not on it.

Critics insist that nothing too dramatic has happened since Israel has had clandestine ties with the Gulf states for many years.

I have already visited two Gulf states - Bahrain and Qatar - in the 1990s, and I have even traveled to Yemen, but then the second Intifada erupted, and everything came to a screeching halt.

All overt ties became covert or simply ceased to exist. The enemies of normalization ruled and the perennially stubborn Palestinians dictated policies.

Now everything has changed, and we have told them: "no more."

The proponents of normalization have raised their heads, not because of their love for Israel, but due to their own interests.

This is wonderful. I wish the Palestinian could also join the party and act in their own interests, but they much prefer to act against themselves. It has become second nature to them - and while it hurts us, but it hurts them much more.

As Palestinian leaders continue to rob from their own people. … - by Yoni Michane

Anti-Israel activists may wish to continue to live in an alternate universe, but in doing so, they are simultaneously imposing a double-standard on the Jewish state while perpetuating Palestinian suffering.

Yoni Michane..
JNS.org..
29 April '20..

A former employee of Amnesty International, Hind Khoudary, has been denounced for getting a Gaza peace activist arrested by Hamas authorities. The reason? Journalist Rami Aman, of the Gaza Youth Committee, held a virtual meeting with his Israeli counterparts over Zoom, which has become increasingly popular around the world as a means of maintaining social ties during the coronavirus pandemic.

Organized by Israeli peace activists, the Zoom conference was titled and presented as “Meet Gazan Activists.” The event description detailed the expectations of the conference call: “Finally, an opportunity to speak with Gazans who not only do not hate us but are working tirelessly to open channel of communication between Gazans and Israelis.” Khoudary, who identified herself on social media as an international research consultant for Amnesty International, denounced Aman in a Facebook post, now removed, and tagged three Hamas officials. Aman was arrested on April 9 has not been heard from since then.

Hamas’s Interior Ministry spokesman Eyad al-Bozom explained after the arrest: “Holding any activity or any contact with the Israeli occupation under any cover is a crime punishable by law and is treason to our people and their sacrifices.” Hamas’s brutality is, at least, consistent with its 1988 Charter, which proclaims under, Article 6:

“The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinct Palestinian Movement which owes its loyalty to Allah, derives from Islam its way of life and strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.”

Anti-Israel activists may wish to continue to live in an alternate universe, where Israel’s terrestrial and naval blockades are the culprits for the lack of civil liberties that Palestinians in the Gaza Strip experience. But in doing so, they are simultaneously imposing a double-standard on the Jewish state while perpetuating Palestinian suffering in Gaza.

(Continue to Full Column)

Yoni Michanie, a former paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces, holds a master’s degree in diplomacy and international security from IDC Herzliya. He is an Israel advocate, public speaker, Middle East analyst, and a campus advisor and strategic planner at CAMERA.

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. 

As expected, spitting in the face of cooperation with Israel - by Ruthie Blum

Had Saud and the rest of the delegation been in the area a mere two days earlier, they would have encountered bright-red Arabic graffiti spray-painted on the Kotel HaKatan—a portion of the Western Wall on the Temple Mount—calling for the “slaughter of all Jews.” Thanks to closed-circuit TV footage, the perpetrators, young women from eastern Jerusalem, were apprehended. Sadly, however, the larger culprit—the hate-filled poison these girls imbibed with their mothers’ milk—is not only still at large; it’s purposely and perpetually fostered, as well as heavily funded.

Ruthie Blum..
JNS.org..
23 July '19..

If further proof were needed to illustrate the futility of diplomatic overtures to the Palestinian Authority, Monday’s attack on a pro-Israel Saudi in Jerusalem is a good example.

As part of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s regional strategy to forge ties with formerly hostile Muslim-Arab states, the Israeli Foreign Ministry invited a delegation of six media personalities from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt to see the Jewish state for themselves. Up close and personal.

As a precautionary measure for their safe return home, their identities were not disclosed.

The only exception was Mahmoud Saud, a law student and blogger from Saudi Arabia, who regularly tweets about his unabashed support for Israel in general and the Netanyahu government in particular. This is clearly why Saud not only agreed, but was proud, to be photographed with the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman and Likud Knesset member Avi Dichter.

At a meeting with Dichter at the Knesset on Monday morning, one member of the delegation said, “This visit to Israel is like touring a dreamland. If only we would be able to bring hundreds of people from our countries, so that when they go back they can tell what they saw and felt.”

Indeed.

(Continue to Full Column)

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

.

The latest awful evil Israeli deed: offering low prices and business opportunities to Palestinians - by Elder of Ziyon

Once again, BDS and Palestinian "leaders" are acting to hurt Arab owned businesses and Arab consumers. This shows once again who cares about coexistence and who doesn't.

Elder of Ziyon..
03 February '19..

Al-Monitor has an article about how upset some Palestinians are at the new Atarot Mall, opened up by Rami Levy, meant to attract both Jews and Palestinian Arabs:

A new shopping center in the Atarot Industrial Zone, between Ramallah and Jerusalem, has Palestinians grappling with how to respond to it. Atarot Mall, built by the Israeli supermarket magnate Rami Levy on the western side of the separation wall, is promising high-quality goods at low prices and jobs for Jews, Muslims and Christians. Many, however, see the mall as a threat to Palestinian-owned shops in East Jerusalem and have called for Palestinian merchants and consumers to boycott it.

The shopping center, inaugurated Jan. 11, is part of a chain that also has branches in Israeli settlements on the West Bank and in Jerusalem. What differentiates the Atarot branch is its location on Route 60, the highway that separates the northern and southern parts of the West Bank and is used by Palestinians as well as Israeli settlers. Also of note is that Palestinian merchants from Jerusalem have purchased or rented space in the mall, which will have a reported 50 stores.

The shopping center embodies Levy’s policy of promoting economic coexistence and normalization between Jews and Arabs. He has pursued these policies through Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing, Israel's third largest supermarket chain, which hires Muslim, Christian, and Jewish workers and caters to both the Arab and Jewish communities.

In an article and video posted Nov. 20, 2017, to the website for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Levy said, “In Judea and Samaria we have four branches. … I think that coexistence needs to come from here. To show that it is possible to live together, to work together, and serve each other in a fair and moral way.”

Levy, who invested 200 million shekels ($54 million) in the new shopping center, which took two years to build, told COGAT that 65% of the merchants will be Jews and 35% Palestinians. “We treat everyone here equally,” he said. “Everyone wants to make this center a success.”

So of course...

Various Palestinian parties have called for boycotting the mall. In a Jan. 8 statement, Fatah asserted, “Buying and renting shops or shopping there is a betrayal of the homeland.”

We've seen this before.

(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. 

.

But wait, that doesn’t make sense - by Stephen M. Flatow

If the Palestinian Authority is against terrorism, why do its leader and ruling party keep glorifying, sheltering and paying terrorists?

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
30 January '19..

The Palestinian Authority last week removed a photo from the website of one of its ministries because it showed a meeting of P.A. officials in which bottles of a popular Israeli juice were visible on the table.

For friends of Israel, it was another in a long series of mildly amusing incidents in which P.A. officials have gone to absurd lengths to slight the Jewish state. It was all the more entertaining because it exposed the blatant hypocrisy of P.A. officials who call for boycotts of Israeli products while they are enjoying Israeli products.

It also fits into a narrative that friends of Israel have been repeating for decades, but which the Arabs never accept: If the Palestinian Arabs would just realize that peace is good for them, they could be enjoying delicious Israeli foods, having easier lives thanks to advanced Israeli technology, be exposed to the latest agricultural techniques and so on.

I have a different take on stories about P.A. boycott advocates who violate the boycott. I say: Wait, that doesn’t make any sense. The Oslo accords obligate the P.A. to have friendly relations with Israel. It’s not allowed to promote a boycott of the Jewish state. J Street and The New York Times keep telling us that we can trust the P.A., that it wants peace, that it honors the treaties it signs. So why is the P.A. so blatantly violating the accords it already signed?

(Continue to Full Column)

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

.

Peace with the Palestinians? A Justifiably Missing Israeli Election Issue - by Evelyn Gordon

...Peace can be made with people who want peace. But it can’t be made with people who think that working with Jews to improve the Palestinian economy is a “betrayal of the homeland,” that helping Israelis with a stalled vehicle could justify being fired, or that selling land to Jews is a sin so heinous the sinner can no longer be considered Muslim...As long as this is true, prospects for peace will remain nonexistent, and the peace process will remain at the bottom of Israelis’ order of priorities. There are too many issues where government policy really matters for Israelis to waste their votes on something beyond the government’s power to change.

Evelyn Gordon..
Analysis from Israel..
13 January '19..
Link: http://evelyncgordon.com/peace-the-missing-israeli-election-issue/

Israel’s election campaign has only just begun, but one key issue is already notable by its absence: peace with the Palestinians. To many Americans—especially American Jews, who overwhelmingly consider this the most important issue facing Israel—the fact that almost none of the candidates are talking about the peace process may seem surprising. But several recent incidents help explain why it’s a very low priority for most Israeli voters.

Not so long ago, of course, the peace process was Israel’s top voting issue, almost its only one. But in a poll published last month, self-identified centrists and rightists both ranked the peace process dead last among six suggested issues of concern. Even self-identified leftists ranked it only third, below corruption and closing socioeconomic gaps.

There are many well-known reasons why Israelis have stopped believing peace is possible anytime soon. They range from the failure of every previous round of negotiations, to Palestinians’ refusal to negotiate at all for most of the last decade, to the fact that every bit of land Israel has so far turned over to the Palestinians—both in Gaza and the West Bank—has become a hotbed of anti-Israel terror. Yet the root cause of all the above receives far too little attention overseas: Israel’s ostensible peace partner, the Palestinian Authority, educates its people to an almost pathological hatred of Israel.

I’ve discussed the way this plays out in Palestinian textbooks and the Palestinian media many times. But nothing better illustrates the problem than three incidents over the past two months.

The Continuing Palestinian Threats to Arab Normalization with Israel - by Khaled Abu Toameh

...So, Fatah and Hamas cannot agree to pay their workers, they cannot agree on supplying electricity to the Gaza Strip, and they cannot agree on providing medical supplies to hospitals there. They do agree, however, on inflicting more harm and damage on their people. If they go on like this, the day will come when the Palestinians will discover that their friends and brothers have become their biggest enemies.

Khaled Abu Toameh..
Gatestone Institute..
07 November '18..

For more than 10 years now, Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's ruling Fatah faction have been at war with each other. Attempts by their Arab brothers, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to solve the power struggle between the two rival Palestinian groups have thus far failed and are unlikely to succeed in the foreseeable future. The gap between Hamas and Fatah remains as wide as ever: the two parties despise each other. Fatah wants to return to the Gaza Strip; Hamas says it out loud: no. Fatah wants Hamas to disarm and cede control over the Gaza Strip; Hamas says no.

On one particular issue, however, the two sides lay aside their differences and see eye to eye. When it comes to Israel, one would be hard-pressed to distinguish between Fatah and Hamas.

(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. 

.

Introducing Palestinians' Latest "Apartheid Fatwa" - by Bassam Tawil

...One can only imagine the response of the international community had the Chief Rabbi of Israel issued a decree banning Jews from doing business with Muslims. But in the instance of the Palestinian mufti and his superiors in Ramallah, everything seems to be fine -- once again, the international community turns a blind eye to the Palestinian leaders' apartheid and their terrorizing of their own people.

Bassam Tawil..
Gatestone Institute..
17 July '18..

If anyone wanted further proof that no Palestinian leader would ever be able to recognize Israel's right to exist, it was provided recently in the form of yet another religious decree, or fatwa, issued by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein. It is a fatwa that basically tells Muslims: "We will kill you, punish you in many ways, if we catch you selling land or homes to Jews."

The fatwa makes it clear that no Muslim is entitled to sell his or her land -- or transfer ownership over it -- to "enemies," a reference to Jews. The implications are extremely serious. Anyone who violates this religious opinion or decree will face various forms of punishment, ranging from being boycotted to the death sentence.

The fatwa, which was published by the mufti on July 10, has attracted no attention from the international media or those parties that keep telling us how keen they are about achieving peace between Palestinians and Israel. Human rights organizations around the world do not seem to be bothered at all by such threats against Muslims.

According to the fatwa, it is considered a "betrayal of Allah, His Messenger and Islam" to sell land to the "enemies" or accept compensation for it. The Muslims, it states, are obligated to boycott anyone who violates the ruling, refrain from marrying the "sinners" or doing any business with them. Taking matters to their most extreme, Muslims are prohibited from attending the funeral of -- or even burying in a Muslim cemetery -- anyone who dares to sell land or a house to a Jew.

In his statement, the mufti reminded all Palestinians that the Supreme Fatwa Council in east Jerusalem had already issued a similar decree back in 1996.

(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. 

.

Evidently Miss Iraq in Israel has really upset some Arabs - by Elder of Ziyon

...Please name one of "Palestine's own class of peace advocates." I'd love to know what the author considers to be peace.

Elder of Ziyon..
01 July '18..

From Middle East Monitor:

She seems to have touched a nerve.

Some gems from the article:

While in Israel she vocalised a personal declaration to seek peace, omitting, however, Israel’s routine sabotage of past peace initiatives.

Really? Like which ones? The ones where Israel doesn't get to exist anymore as a Jewish state?

(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. 

.

Presbyterian Church-USA Stands By While Palestinian Human Rights Activist Harassed by Extremist - by Dexter Van Zile

...Eid reports that acts of intimidation like what he endured outside the PCUA’s General Assembly in St. Louis are routine under the rule of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This makes him wonder why the Palestinian elites in both the PA and Hamas are so often supported by the PCUSA in its statements about the Israel-Palestine conflict. “How can it be you are supporting my oppressors?” he asked. “This is what God said?”

Dexter Van Zile..
CAMERA Snapshots..
20 June '18..

Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid was harassed and accused of being a “traitor,” a “spy” and a collaborator after criticizing Palestinian elites at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA currently being held in St. Louis, Missouri.

These accusations, which, in Palestinian society, could be used to justify violence against Eid, were leveled by Palestinian American activist Bassem Masri, who was attending the proceedings at the invitation of the Israel-Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church, a PCUSA institution with a long history of promoting hostility toward Israel and its Jewish supporters in the United States.

Curiously enough, Masri himself videotaped himself harassing Eid and then posted the videos on Twitter. In the videos, which were posted on Twitter on Monday June 18, 2018, Masri can be heard accusing Eid of betraying the Palestinian people. In one video, Masri calls Eid, “a f-----g collaborator,” a “piece of s—t” and a “sympathizer with the Zionists.” In another video, Masri calls Eid gasus — Arabic for spy. “He speaks on behalf of the Jewish lobby,” Masri said.

These accusations could very well incite people to harm Eid, a regular speaker in the United States, upon his return home. (Eid divides his time between East Jerusalem and Jericho.) “People will watch the video where I am called a traitor. This is a clear call to kill me,” Eid said.

Despite the hostility directed at him by Masri, the videos indicate Eid kept his composure during the confrontations. At one point, Eid asks Masri to stop talking to him. Masri refused.

(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. 

.

Every day there is another story that upsets the crowd that wants Israel destroyed in the name of "peace." - by Elder of Ziyon

...These are the sorts of things to be celebrated by anyone who wants peace. The fact that they aren't celebrating means that peace is not really the goal for the "pro-peace" and "pro-justice" movements.

Elder of Ziyon..
19 June '18..

One of the more bizarre contradictions from supposedly pro-Palestinian groups like "Jewish Voice for Peace" and the International Solidarity Movement and others is that while they all pretend to want peace, when something that resembles actual peace occurs, they are either silent (J-Street) or upset (SJP.)

Over the past week there have been visits to Israel from a group of professionals from Morocco and from a major Muslim leader from Indonesia. Having the Muslim world accept Israel as a permanent part of the Middle East and as a nation to be cooperated with is exactly what should be the goal of any group that pretends to want peace.

Obviously, Israel wants to have peaceful and normal relations with the Arab and Muslim world, which is far beyond the "cold peace" it has with Egypt and Jordan but which would include cultural exchanges, Israel offering expertise in medicine and environmental issues, and free visits between Israel and the Muslim world.

Somehow, that is not what the "pro-peace" groups seem to want.

(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. 

.

Normalization, Boycotts and Palestinian "Treason" - by Bassam Tawil

...The Palestinians' anti-normalization campaign against Israel means that Palestinians are not interested in peace with Israel. What they seek is not peace with Israel, but peace without Israel. They want to see Israel gone from the Middle East. They want to see Jews vanish from the region. The Palestinians' problem is not with a settlement or a checkpoint or a fence. They have a problem with the existence of Israel in any borders.

Bassam Tawil..
Gatestone Institute..
30 May '18..

Palestinian leaders have spent the past few months calling for boycotts of Israel and the US. The most recent call came just a few weeks ago, when Palestinian Authority leaders and officials called on all countries to boycott the inauguration ceremony of the US embassy in Jerusalem.

One of the officials who called for boycotting the ceremony was Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, and a top advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas. Majdalani is also famous for his repeated calls in the past few years for boycotting Israel in all fields.

Now, it seems that Majdalani is being forced to taste the same medicine he has been prescribing for Israel and the US. His efforts to promote boycotts of Israel and the US have backfired. Ironically, the boycotter Majdalani is now being boycotted by his own people. This is what happens when all you preach to your people day and night is hatred, incitement and boycotts. Eventually, you yourself become affected by the same messages of hate and brainwashing.

(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. 

.

Lies and more lies. The mask on Abbas's face has fallen once again - by Bassam Tawil

...The nine journalists from Morocco, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen were invited by the Israeli Foreign Ministry. But Abbas's ministry denounced the visit and called for blacklisting and punishing the Arab journalists for promoting "normalization" with Israel. How, exactly, do these condemnations conform with Abbas's other claims that he seeks to resume peace talks with Israel?

Bassam Tawil..
Gatestone Institute..
14 February '18..

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas continues to say one thing to his people, and an entirely different thing to the international community.

To Arab audiences, Abbas describes Israel and the US administration as not far short of Satan incarnate.

When the PA president sends a message to the international community, however, he shows a different face.

Ever since US President Donald Trump's December announcement recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Abbas and his top aides in Ramallah have been consistently signaling to the Palestinians that the peace process with Israel is "over."

The Palestinians have also been assured by Abbas that Israel and the US will pay dearly for the recognition.

Abbas has promised, among other things, to revoke the PLO recognition of Israel, halt security coordination in the West Bank, and abrogate previous agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel, beginning with the Oslo Accords.

Two key decision-making bodies, the Fatah Central Council and the PLO Executive Committee, have recommended in recent weeks that the Palestinian leadership endorse these measures. Notably, Abbas chaired the meetings of the two bodies in Ramallah.

The message emerging from the meetings of the Palestinian leaders in Ramallah is that the Palestinians will not "return" to the negotiating table with Israel and that the US administration is an enemy of all Palestinians.

(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. 

.

Israeli Jews And Palestinian Arabs: So tell me again, Sarah, how will friendship bring peace? by Sheri Oz

...Sarah claims that if Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs just make friends with each other, everything will be fine. I guess she has not been here long enough to know that many of us already have made friends with each other, have been friends for decades. She thinks she knows what is going on and what we need to do differently

Sheri Oz..
Israel Diaries..
25 December '17..

Grassroots organizations and many well-meaning individuals tell us that regular people, Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs, have to dialogue with each other in order to break through the walls of hate and make bridges that can lead to peace. . . that we regular people can do what our own leaders and world leaders cannot do. Through friendship, we can bring peace to the Middle East or at least to our little corner of the Middle East.

There are some who say things like how we just have to spend time with Palestinian Arabs, for example, to have coffee with Arab shop keepers in the Old City of Jerusalem and elsewhere and listen to them and get to know them. Here is the latest public Facebook post of one well-known person who believes this (I quote and relate to the most relevant pieces of this post in the sections below the FB embed):




A brief comment on the final line in this FB embed. Most people who live in this country for more than a few hours to days to weeks know how to use some choice Arabic swear words. I do not think that merits great celebration of her burgeoning language skills — and nobody using those words would be assumed to have Arab friends. That comment seems more a gratuitous celebration of the writer’s penchant for vulgarity and inappropriateness than anything salutary.

(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. 

.

Young Arabs who ignore what Mahmoud Abbas wants them to say - by Elder of Ziyon

...makes one wonder why he feels so threatened by them if he knows that they will have no impact? Perhaps he is much more frightened of the truth than he is of a small group of Israeli (and Palestinian) arabs.

Elder of Ziyon..
16 October'17..

YNet reported:

A small, unlikely “dream team” delegation comprised entirely of minorities in Israel is preparing to embark on a trip to the US and Europe as part of a concerted effort to debunk the campaigns circulating on university campuses slamming Israel’s treatment of different groups in the country.

Hailing from different locations across the country, the participants are vocal in their common belief that Israel affords them equal opportunity.

Expressing their love for and faith in the state, they are determined to disseminate their message and counter the smear campaigns against Israel that have permeated college campuses, often spearheaded by the Boycotts, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

(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. 

.

Having coffee and pastries with a Jew is a punishable offense? - by Liel Leibovitz

...To anyone truly interested in peace, the post should’ve been a cause for celebration: Here are two men, a Jew and a Muslim, putting aside their differences, enjoying each other’s company, and suggesting that there’s hope yet for something like a normal life for Israelis and Palestinians who believe in peace and reconciliation. The Palestinian Authority, however, had other ideas

Liel Leibovitz..
Tabletmag.com..
11 September '17..

Mohamed Jabir is a former member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organization. He used to decorate his home in Hebron with photographs of Osama bin-Laden, and, at one point, considered becoming a suicide bomber. He had a change of heart, realized the evil of violence against innocents, and became a prominent peace activists. Yehuda Glick is an Israeli member of Knesset with the Likud party. He is an active promoter of the right of Jews to pray on the Temple Mount, and is a survivor of an assassination attempt by Jabir’s former terror group. He is also a firm believer in peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews, and when the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha rolled in, Glick traveled to Hebron to pay his friend Jabir a visit.

The two men sat on the couch, enjoyed some fruit and sweet pastries and the company of Jabir’s sweet children. Later that day, Glick posted a few photos of the afternoon on his Facebook account. “Inshallah,” he wrote, “may we all live here in peace. Happy holiday.”

To anyone truly interested in peace, the post should’ve been a cause for celebration.

(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. 

.

Palestinians' War on Art Takes Bigotry to a Whole Different Level - by Bassam Tawil

...Palestinians regularly derail political meetings aimed at peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but this campaign, aimed at allowing both Israelis and Palestinians to express their love for Jerusalem, takes bigotry to a whole different level. If Palestinian and Israeli artists coming together in a festival is being labeled a crime and treacherous act by the Palestinian street and leadership, what is the hope that any Palestinian leader will ever be able to sign a peace agreement with Israel?

Bassam Tawil..
Gatestone Institute..
11 September '17..

Palestinian strong-arm tactics are at it again.

The latest victims are Palestinian artists who are bearing the brunt of a campaign of intimidation to force them to boycott a summer arts festival in Jerusalem under the pretext that the event promotes "normalization" with Israel. The artists have been warned that anyone who participates in the Mekudeshet Festival as part of the Jerusalem Season of Culture will be expelled from the General Union of Palestinian Artists.

The festival, which is taking place in Jerusalem between August 23 and September 15, tries to "take an alternative and more open look at reality" in the city, according to the Mekudeshet Festival website.

"We try to replace fixed, pre-determined ideas with a less judgmental and multifaceted approach to the exact same reality. We try to elevate our gaze, to dissolve boundaries, to generate empathy, and to open our hearts and minds. We try to remember, always, that Jerusalem conquers us, liberates us, and enables us to unite around a common love for the city."

The festival is purely a cultural and artistic event for those who wish to express their love for Jerusalem. The organizers, who do not belong to any political party, are not seeking to make any statement regarding the status of Jerusalem:

(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. 

.

A Palestinian Arab, Isolated And Afraid, Yearns For Normalization With Israel - by Sheri Oz

...As long as there are world powers propping up the PA — as long as Israel, herself, continues to prop up the PA — in the misguided belief that the leadership will be willing to sign a peace treaty with Israel, Habib and those who think like him will continue to be isolated from one another as Jew-hatred remains the only publicly acceptable attitude. No grassroots pro-peace organizations will be able to sprout on Palestinian Arab initiative. And Jews and Arabs will be prevented from establishing the normalization that is the only sane way to proceed were it safe to do so.

Sheri Oz..
Israel Diaries..
17 May '17..

Leaders have legacies; the rest of us have lives. And normalization is a death sentence for some.

Trump may be making his opening gambit for a Nobel Prize. Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is making sure his legacy will include bamboozling the Western World with lies about educating kids toward peace while paying salaries to terrorists according to the number of Jews they killed, and growing super-rich on the backs of his own impoverished people. Our own Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may make his legacy as the shrewdest politician who talks out of both sides of his mouth while smoking a Cuban cigar and drinking pink champagne and having had a brother who was a hero.

Legacies are for the history books. The rest of us live lives that are counted only by the number of seconds we breath the air around us and the stories told by those who remember us after we are gone — each of us is like a drop of water hovering over the vast ocean of humanity, distinct only until the moment we touch the surface of the sea. But while we are that drop of hovering water, we want to live meaningful and satisfying lives, however we may define that. For most of us, it probably includes loving and being loved, and raising healthy children who get to do the same. Our leaders are supposed to provide the substrate upon which we can do that.

(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. 

.

Abbas's "Culture of Peace" - by Bassam Tawil

...Under Abbas, anti-Israel incitement and indoctrination is a business that has expanded exponentially. It has, in fact, grown to the point that a new generation has been raised on the glorification of jihadists, a generation impatient to draw yet more Jewish blood. If this is Abbas's "culture of peace," what, one wonders, would he consider a culture of war?

Bassam Tawil..
Gatestone Institute..
08 May '17..

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas may soon be known for his sense of humor. Like many Palestinians, Abbas believes that Westerners will swallow his lies wholesale. Abbas, for instance, ended his May 3 meeting with US President Donald Trump with the following whopper: "We are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace."

Abbas did not provide further details about the "culture of peace" upon which Palestinian children are being raised. Nor did anyone bother to ask Abbas or any member of his entourage to provide examples of the "culture of peace" in Palestinian society. Yet major Western media outlets were quick to publish Abbas's unmistakable lie.

Apparently, like his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, Abbas is convinced that Palestinians can fool "all of the people, all of the time" about their true goals and intentions. Arafat lied to Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton when he told them that he and the Palestinian Authority were promoting peace and coexistence with Israel. Under Arafat, anti-Israel incitement in the Palestinian media, schools and mosques intensified until Palestinians waged the Second Intifada in September 2000. This intifada was the result of seven years of vicious incitement and indoctrination that came after the inception of the PA. In a truly ironic turn of events, the Oslo Accords, signed between Israel and the PLO in 1993, gave the Palestinians media outlets, including television and radio stations, which were then used to amplify hatred against Israel and Jews on a daily basis.

(Continue to Full Post)

Bassam Tawil is a scholar based in the Middle East.

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. 

.

Eddie Izzard, Palestinian Discrimination and Who Will Have the Last Laugh - by Dr. Michael Curtis

...This is the time for a real “red line,” one dividing those who offer genuine criticism of Israel policy and suggestions to change them, and those who urge delegitimizing and extermination of the State of Israel, denying the right of the Jewish People to self-determination, and propounding antisemitism. As a result of his experience Eddie Izzard can help draw that line. The comedian will have the last laugh.

Dr. Michael Curtis..
American Thinker..
02 April '17..
Link: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/04/eddie_izzard_the_comedian_confronts_palestinian_discrimination.html


A saying attributed to the great boxer, the Brown Bomber Joe Louis, about to fight Billy Conn in June 1941, is “You can run but you can’t hide.” Conn did not hide and did well until he was knocked out in the 13th round. In March 2017, British comedian, actor, and writer, Eddie Izzard did not hide, nor was he knocked out, but he withdrew from running “for freedom” in a marathon run because of opposition to him on the part of the organizers, the Palestinian Campaign for the Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel, and Artists for Palestine UK (APUK), part of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement against Israel.

Eddie Izzard is an unusual figure, born in Aden, then a British colony and now part of Yemen, to British parents, well known for his stand-up comedy routine with stream of consciousness delivery, and rambling monologues, his outspokenness, and a private life that includes cross-dressing and ambivalent sexuality. His comedy routine is popular, but as a result of it he was accused of a heinous offense.

On March 30, 2017, Izzard had entertained an audience at the Shlomo Group Arena in Tel Aviv. Because of this gig, the Palestinian officials in control of the marathon that was held the next day, though not the official Palestinian Authority, said he could not run in the marathon. They refused to accept Izzard’s explanation that he was “trying to be balanced by doing something in Israel and then in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

Izzard is no stranger to political issues. He is a prominent supporter and heavy contributor to the British Labour Party, and may run for Mayor of London. He campaigned against Brexit and for the UK to stay in the European Union. He can be regarded as one of Britain’s prominent do-gooders. Among other things he is an Ambassador of UNICEF (UN Children’s Fund), travelling to various places like Djibouti to meet and comfort child refugees, to Iraq to report on Syrian children refugee crisis, and to Kenya. He provided help for Amnesty International in dealing with the breast cancer issue in Burma. He has donated money to various organizations: one is for the U.K. veterans of World War II on whose behalf he travelled to Norway in June 2009 for a memorial event; another is Sport Relief, a charity event bringing together sport and entertainment.

It is ironic that Izzard was stopped, and perhaps thought it best to stop, running in the Palestinian marathon. He is in fact well known for his performances in a number of marathons. In 2016, he ran 27 marathons in tribute to Nelson Mandela’s 27 years in prison during the South African apartheid regime. In 2009, he had run 43 marathons in 51 days for Sport Relief.