Lessons not yet learned (by some) concerning Gaza - by Jonathan S. Tobin

...The ongoing nightmare along the border with Gaza is just a taste of what would happen if Israel withdrew from the West Bank. Those hoping to revive land-for-peace scenarios need to take this into account as they blithely advise Israelis to ignore the lessons of the withdrawal from Gaza. 

Jonathan S. Tobin..
JNS.org..
21 June '18..

In the view of many Israeli security experts, the results of the 2014 Gaza war were decisive. “Operation Protective Edge”—the counterattack against Hamas terror by the Israel Defense Forces—left the Islamist group in control of Gaza and with its military capabilities still intact. Still, the impact of the devastating Israeli strikes seemed to have taught Hamas a lesson.

But the recent marches of “return” that have created mayhem and casualties, as well as fires being set by kites and incendiary devices flown over the border, seem to have changed all that. With Hamas firing its first extended missile barrages at Israel since 2014, the question is whether the lesson that was thought to have been taught then still applies. Just as important is whether that uncertainty will impact Israel’s willingness to take more risks with regard to the West Bank.

“Protective Edge” was thought to be a game-changer. Whereas previous Israeli efforts in 2008 (“Operation Cast Lead”) and 2012 (“Operation Pillar of Defense”) had only created temporary quiet before Hamas resumed bombarding Israeli villages, towns and cities with rockets, the 2014 war had, in the view of the IDF high command, established deterrence. The terror group seemed to have come to the conclusion that the cost of provoking another all-out Israeli attack was too high. Rather than risk the sort of suffering that another war would bring to Gaza, as well as lose its military arsenal again, Hamas stopped firing missiles into Israel. It also did its best to stop other terror groups, such as Islamic Jihad, from breaking the de facto truce.

That by no means correlated into Hamas starting to beat its spears into plowshares. The billions that poured into Gaza after 2014 were used to rebuild Hamas’s military infrastructure, not the homes of its people. Aid money was also diverted to expanding the network of tunnels that would-be terrorists built under the border that separated Gaza and Israel, with which they had achieved some initial tactical surprise that summer. Before long, Hamas was armed and ready for another round of fire.

(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. 

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Carter's house of mirrors - by Asaf Romirowsky

...At the end of the day, “land-for-peace” really translates into “land-for-talk.” For too many Americans and Europeans talk - not peace - is all that Israel should expect (and possibly deserve), in exchange for territorial concessions.

Asaf Romirowsky..
The Hill..
06 December '16..
Link: http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/309079-jimmy-carters-house-of-mirrors

Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found are a great way to understand the Palestinian narrative and in particular, advocates of the Palestinian cause like former President Jimmy Carter. Carroll uses time and space as the plot device while drawing on chess imagery, mirror themes, opposites and time running backwards. This topsy-turvy world provides the perfect “logic” explain why, according to Carter, in his last days in office President Obama should force the United States through the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state.

Carter’s voice in the political wilderness is mostly heard in pro-Palestinian circles but he is mostly seen as someone who’s built his post-presidency on practicing foreign affairs without an electoral mandate. Of course, all of this speaks directly to the New York Times political and editorial agenda as it relates to Israeli-Palestinian conflict and American politics, especially now during the transition between Obama and Trump.

It is also no coincidence that the Times published Carter on the anniversary of the 69th anniversary of the UN Partition Resolution of 1947 a plan that would have given the Arabs a state, which they chose to reject in favor of waging war on the Jewish state which was in formation. Of course, had the Palestinians and the Arab states simply said yes, then Carter would have nothing to demand from the US or Israel. An honest reading of history would show that at every juncture that involved Arabs and Palestinians recognizing Jewish rights, it was flatly rejected in favor of war. Yet in the house of mirrors where Carter lives only Israel is responsible for Palestinian “misery.”

The Palestinian Problem: A Real Solution

Dr. Martin Sherman
frontpagemag.com
03 August '10

From Israel’s point of view, the “two-state/land for peace” solution to the Palestinian conflict has proven to be a long, drawn out failure that should have been abandoned long ago. It is only because many prominent political figures have foolishly mortgaged their personal and professional prestige in the name of this unworkable position that it manages to remain a live option – to the grave detriment of Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Any dispassionate evaluation of the events of the past two decades invariably leads one to accept the following conclusion: that the Palestinians seem far more focused on annulling Jewish political independence than attaining Palestinian political independence. That is to say, Palestinians are far more committed to the deconstruction of the Jewish State than to construction of a Palestinian one.

However, no matter how convincingly one can show that the Palestinians as a national entity have failed to create their own national destiny, a stark reality remains: there are hundreds of thousands of essentially disenfranchised Palestinian families residing both in Israeli territory and in the wider Arab world.

Addressing this situation requires a comprehensive solution comprised of three constituent elements, all eminently consistent with liberal political doctrine. Two involve eliminating discriminatory practices against the Palestinians as refugees and as residents in Arab countries. The third involves facilitating free choice for individual Palestinians to determine their own future.

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