Mideast Peace Plan: A Dream - by Eli. E Hertz

The Arab world is the problem, and therefore it must be part of the solution. Israel did not start this conflict nor does it perpetrate it, unless one accepts the premise that Jews have no right to be in their ancient homeland and should all go back to Poland and Baghdad. Incitement must end. Hatred can’t be left to fester while pretending to ‘cement a peace.’ Resolution of the Arab refugee problem must be a pillar of any genuine peace process.

Eli E. Hertz..
Mythsandfacts.org..
07 July '19..

When one grasps the duration of the Arab-Israeli conflict and its roots, when one fully faces the depth of animosity towards Israel and the antisemitism that permeates the Arab world from the political, religious and intellectual elites down to the grass roots, the sheer magnitude of the challenge for peacemakers becomes painfully apparent. When one admits the implications of Palestinian society’s behavior – the repetitive pattern of zero-sum rejectionism on the diplomatic front and penchant for terrorism against civilians over the past 90 years and institution of this pattern as Palestinian ‘state policy’ since Oslo, the ‘readiness’ of Arabs for co-existence and the chances of a breakthrough assume their true proportions. The unwillingness to accept Israel as a legitimate non-Muslim political entity is epitomized by the Palestinian’s asymmetrical demands for the Right of Return of all Palestinian refugees to the Jewish state coupled with a demand that the West Bank and Gaza be cleansed of all Jewish neighborhoods.

The Problem is the Arab World, Not Just the Palestinians

True peace cannot be based on a lie: There has never been ‘a cycle of violence’. Resorting to such neutral terminology requires the United States to acquiesce to and perpetuate a gross misrepresentation of reality: Putting Israel and its neighbors on the same footing totally ignores the asymmetry of the history of the conflict and something as fundamental as ‘cause and effect’. The truth is – one side has been the aggressor time-after-time. The Arabs have been the initiators of more than five major wars, political and economic boycotts and unbridled incitement. The Palestinians have launched wave-after-wave of terrorism against Israelis and other Jews and made hate the fuel that directs and runs their society. All this began before there was a State of Israel, before there was an ‘occupation’ and it continues unabated to this day.

In response to these onslaughts, Israel has not demanded reparations for the horrific causalities it has sustained in its fight for survival against repeated Arab aggression; it has only asked that it be allowed to live in peace with recognized and defendable borders and to develop according to its own Jewish ethos. This is hardly an excessive demand. Attempts to cajole the Arabs to seek compromise and failure to put a price on intransigence and intolerable behavior has only perpetuated the conflict; encouraged further bloodshed and hardened Arab demands. It’s time to call a spade a spade and demand some concrete ‘concessions’ from the Arabs, not just Israel.

American leaders need to have the courage to change course – to admit that without reciprocity and responsibility on the part of the entire Arab camp, there can be no genuine peace. It is time to demand that the Arab states own up to their complicity in the conflict and demonstrate in practice that they are dedicated to reconciliation and an end to the conflict. If the Arabs are serious about peace what is needed is deeds, not more words – beginning with an end to state-sponsored incitement and an end to using refugees as a weapon.

A significant victory for Israel in the battle for sovereignty over east Jerusalem - by Yoni Ben Menachem

The “Pilgrimage Road” in east Jerusalem was dedicated on June 30, 2019, with senior representatives of the Trump administration attending. This is a pivotal event in establishing Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem. Israeli policy needs to be unambiguous in this area. A firm stand will show the Palestinian Authority and Jordan that Israel does not intend to relinquish its sovereignty over the Temple Mount and east Jerusalem.

Yoni Ben Menachem..
Jewish Center for Public Affairs..
04 July '19..
Link: http://jcpa.org/an-israeli-victory-on-the-pilgrimage-road-in-jerusalem/

The Pilgrimage tunnel dedication ceremony is a significant victory for Israel in the battle for sovereignty over east Jerusalem. This victory comes after Israel’s bitter loss to the Palestinians during the Gate of Mercy/Shaar HaRachamim/Bab el Rahma crisis when the Palestinians seized control over the Gate of Mercy chamber on the Temple Mount.

The Pilgrimage Road leads from the Silwan Valley of ​​east Jerusalem (the City of David) to the foot of the Temple Mount. Jason Greenblatt, Donald Trump’s Middle East special envoy, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman attended the dedication ceremony. Their participation symbolizes Israel’s sovereignty over east Jerusalem.

The participation of two senior American representatives in a ceremony attended by Israeli ministers underscores Trump’s continued commitment to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. It is now over a year since President Trump declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel. The Trump administration did not back down, in spite of Palestinian protests and the objection of Arab and Islamic countries.

The ceremony took place just a few short hours after the Jerusalem police arrested Fadi al-Hadami, PA minister for Jerusalem affairs. He is suspected of carrying out Palestinian Administration (PA) activity in east Jerusalem. This is a breach of the agreements reached in the Oslo Accords.

Last week, al-Hadami accompanied Chilean President Sebastien Pinera during his tour of the Temple Mount. This was an attempt to present the PA as the sovereign of the Temple Mount while defaming Israel.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry reprimanded the Chilean ambassador to Israel. The President of Chile apologized to President Rivlin. He said that his visit to the Temple Mount was a private visit and that he did not invite the Palestinian representatives, who simply appeared of their own accord.

The Battle for the Center of the Spiritual World

For Palestinians and Jordanians, the participation of senior U.S. officials in the tunnel dedication ceremony is an exceedingly disturbing event.

Mossad head to push comprehensive peace agreement? - by Dr. Aaron Lerner

The Mossad's ultimate goal is insuring the survival of the State of Israel. Regional understanding could most definitely contribute to achieving this goal. But truly pushing for a "comprehensive peace agreement" is more likely to contribute to instability in the region to the detriment of Israel. If that's Yossi Cohen's goal I suggest he joins a political party and leave his organization out of this.

Dr. Aaron Lerner..
IMRA Weekly Commentary..
03 July '19..
Link: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=73533

Mossad head Yossi Cohen told the Herzliya Conference this week that "the Mossad sees a rare opportunity to reach a regional understanding that would lead to a comprehensive peace agreement" and that "It’s the Mossad's role to lead this effort.”

Let's be clear about the situation.

We share a common enemy with many of our Sunni neighbors.

And these neighbors are willing to collaborate with us in facing the challenges created by our common enemy.

Beyond that, rhetoric notwithstanding, our neighbors share other interests with us that are of greater importance or interest than the Palestinian cause is to them.

So this most certainly creates opportunities for both clandestine and open relations and cooperation.

Anti-Israel Politics: Where human rights become acceptable collateral damage - by Evelyn Gordon

Palestinians’ rights matter when targeted by Israel, but not when targeted by the Palestinian Authority. And Israeli rights never matter, except when violated by Israel.

Evelyn Gordon..
JNS.org..
03 July '19..

Three seemingly unrelated incidents occurred last week, yet all share a common denominator: They exemplify the way anti-Israel politics has corrupted the concept of human rights.

Let’s start with best-selling British novelist Richard Zimler’s report that two British cultural organizations recently refused to host him for lectures about his new book, though he has lectured many times on previous books. “They asked me if you were Jewish, and the moment I said you were, they lost all interest,” he quoted his publicist as saying.

It’s not that these groups have anything against Jews per se. They simply feared that hosting a Jew would make them a target for anti-Israel protesters.

Zimler isn’t Israeli, has no relatives or investments in Israel and doesn’t write about Israel. His latest book is set in the Holy Land 2,000 years ago, but its storyline is Christian rather than Jewish (it’s called The Gospel According to Lazarus). So he wouldn’t seem an obvious target, given BDS apologists’ repeated claim that anti-Zionism isn’t anti-Semitic.

Unfortunately, much of the anti-Israel crowd hasn’t gotten that memo.

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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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Good Question. Why are Arab states rejecting the Palestinian cause? - by Ken Cohen

Arab leaders have moved on to deal with their real problems and opportunities today—most of which can be more easily addressed with an Israeli partner.

Ken Cohen..
JNS.org..
02 July '19..

Increasingly, Arab nations in the Middle East are distancing themselves from their Palestinian brothers. The half-century-old solidarity of Arab countries with the Palestinian cause has been diminished recently due to numerous factors.

One of the main factors has been the conduct of the Palestinian Authority and PLO. Add the recklessness and terrorist intransigence of the Hamas regime in Gaza, plus the realities of global economics and politics, and most Arab countries have decided that the creation of a Palestinian state can be back-burnered.

Another factor is the passing of pan-Arabism, a political and trans-national force in the twentieth century, advocated by bygone leaders such as Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Its passing has been helped along by the so-called Arab Spring, which forced Middle East regimes, from Tunisia to Iraq, to focus on national self-preservation.

Above all, however, is the quest of non-Arab, non-Sunni Iran to extend its brutal sphere of influence into the heart of the Arab world, which has necessitated a re-evaluation of Arab national priorities. Resolving the Palestinian issue is irrelevant to addressing this threat. In fact, because Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza (as well as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria) are in Iran’s pocket, any Palestinian progress at Israel’s expense would boost Iran’s penetration of the Middle East.

(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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No, a sledgehammer blow didn’t ‘Judaize’ Jerusalem or kill the peace process - by Jonathan S. Tobin

The real problem is the Palestinian denial of Jewish history, not the presence of America’s ambassador at the unveiling of a biblical archaeological site.

Jonathan S. Tobin..
JNS.org..
01 July '19..

The critics are right about U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman’s presence at the ceremonial opening of Jerusalem’s “Pilgrimage Road” being unprecedented. None of his predecessors would have been caught dead at a Jewish site on the wrong side of the “Green Line.” Up until last year, the United States had stubbornly refused to recognize that any part of the ancient capital of the Jews belonged to the Jewish state.

But even if we concede that the participation of Friedman and U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt was a departure from past policies—and that the ambassador’s swinging of a sledgehammer to break down the symbolic wall that completed the opening of the biblical route provided a metaphor for the critics of the Trump administration—that doesn’t mean it was wrong or a mistake.

If we have to use the imagery of the Americans smashing anything, it was not—as critics of President Donald Trump and Friedman contend—a symbol of their destruction of the already dead-in-the-water peace process. Rather it was yet another reaffirmation of the administration’s correct determination to emphasize the absurdity of the Palestinians’ willingness to go on denying Jewish history.

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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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Anyone Surprised? With Their Repeated Rejections, Palestinians Risk Total Irrelevance - by Aaron Kliegman

By refusing to improve their society or compromise on any peace initiative with Israel, the Palestinians are risking total irrelevance. The Arabs, the media, many Western elites—traditional allies of, or voices sympathetic to the Palestinians are more indifferent about the Palestinian plight than ever before. Observing rejection after rejection is draining, eventually numbing one to the whole situation. The true victims are the Palestinian children, whose parents and leaders—not the Israelis—have created for them a future of hate, despair, and hopelessness. And much of the world has become too apathetic to care. The Palestinians have no one to blame but themselves.

Aaron Kliegman..
Washington Beacon..
29 June '19..

Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman, shocked Jewish leaders at a closed-door meeting in New York last year. "In the last several decades, the Palestinian leadership has missed one opportunity after the other and rejected all the peace proposals it was given," said bin Salman, according to press reports. "It is about time the Palestinians take the proposals and agree to come to the negotiations table or shut up and stop complaining." The future king even said that the Palestinian issue was not a top priority for the Saudis, adding that Saudi Arabia "has much more urgent and important issues to deal with" in the Middle East.

Less than two years earlier, in the same city, then-President Barack Obama devoted just one sentence of his last speech before the United Nations General Assembly to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One sentence was still more than the year before, when, for the first time since becoming president, Obama did not even mention the conflict during his annual speech at the United Nations. Compare that with Obama's first three speeches before the General Assembly—in 2009, 2010, and 2011—in which he focused 10 percent, 23 percent, and 18 percent of his lengthy remarks, respectively, on the peace process. The drop-off is striking.

The cases of bin Salman and Obama represent the growing indifference of two pro-Palestinian groups—the Arab leadership and the Western, liberal elite—to the Palestinians being stateless and underdeveloped. The two cases also serve as microcosms of a larger trend: the world growing increasingly apathetic about the Palestinian plight, with traditionally sympathetic voices less interested in trying to help—save for the radicals of the Western progressive movement, who have an irrational hatred of Israel, and perhaps some Arab populations. One reason for this trend is the surge in chaos across the Middle East unrelated to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A belligerent Iran on the march, the Islamic State wreaking havoc, the war in Syria showing the depths of humanity's cruelty—how much attention can political leaders give to the Palestinians with such priorities in the Middle East? But the other reason, which is hard for pro-Palestinians voices to acknowledge, is the stubbornness, the rejectionism, the Jew-hatred, and anti-Semitism of the Palestinians themselves.

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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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Journalistic Amnesia? The Bahrain Conference and the Big Omission - by Sean Durns

...some Arab officials who decided to attend the Bahrain Conference did what the Palestinian leadership has been unable to. As Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa told Israeli journalist Barak Ravid: “Israel is a country in the Middle East. Israel is part of this heritage of this whole region historically. So the Jewish people have a place amongst us.” Al Khalifa was acknowledging the past while looking towards the future. The pundits writing about future Israeli-Palestinian peace endeavors should do the same.

Sean Durns..
Algemeiner..
28 June '19..

Reporters writing about the latest Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative seem to have amnesia. Curiously, the press and pundits pontificating about the Bahrain Conference have largely omitted the history of earlier failed proposals. Perhaps this is because those failures raise uncomfortable truths.

On June 25, the Trump administration presented part of its plan for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. The long-awaited proposal, formally unveiled at a conference in Bahrain, envisions $50 billion in regional investment projects over a period of ten years.

Entitled “From Peace to Prosperity,” the plan seeks to encourage Palestinian economic growth by opening up the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), which is ruled by the Palestinian Authority (PA) — and the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Fatah rival Hamas — to development. The proposal emphasizes regional integration, private sector growth, and improvements to healthcare, infrastructure, and education as means of improving the quality of life for Palestinians.

Both Fatah, the movement that controls the PA, and the terror group Hamas have rejected the plan. In fact, both groups opposed the plan long before its details were announced, as the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) highlighted previously.

PA officials boycotted the Bahrain Conference, although some Palestinian businessmen and officials from several Arab countries did participate. Many in the press, however, chose to focus on the boycotters, while minimizing the participants.

The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy Magazine, and others reported on the PA’s refusal to participate, but failed to note that it was in keeping with a long history of Palestinians rejecting opportunities for peace.

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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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What exactly Fatah is and why its threats are significant - by Stephen M. Flatow

On June 16, Fatah posted on its official Facebook page a large photo of a masked Palestinian about to throw a rock—that is, about to attempt to stone a Jew to death.

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
27 June '19..

A few days before the Bahrain conference opened, U.S. envoy Jason Greenblatt took to Twitter to issue this cry of alarm: “Fatah is calling for violence against Israelis as an act of protest. Despicable. Fatah seeks violence over the idea of exploring peace & prosperity for the Palestinian people.”

By now, much of the public probably has forgotten what exactly Fatah is and why its threats are significant. It’s worth a reminder.

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Stephen M. Flatow, an attorney in New Jersey, is the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995. He is the author of “A Father’s Story: My Fight for Justice Against Iranian Terror.”

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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Absolutely! Bring on Bahrain! - by Oded Revivi

What threatens the Palestinian leadership is not what threatens the average Palestinian—and that is why the Bahrain workshop is so threatening to the P.A.

Oded Revivi..
JNS.org..
26 June '19..

Albert Einstein is widely credited with saying that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” Yet that is exactly what the professional diplomatic community has demanded regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Not surprisingly then, the past few decades have seen us move further away from a comprehensive resolution to the conflict.

The Trump administration, on the other hand, has made a concerted attempt to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, as demonstrated by those spearheading its diplomatic efforts, who come from the world of business and eschew the more accepted methods of international diplomacy.

Critics ridicule them, saying “this is not some real estate deal.” And while it is much more than a property dispute, this is an amusing critique coming from those who have focused so much on territorial boundaries and borders while ignoring the conflict’s core undercurrents.

As an Israeli mayor governing in these disputed territories, I and my constituents have much to gain from the economic workshop currently taking place in Bahrain. My Palestinian neighbors have even more to gain. And both of us would also be the most direct beneficiaries of a comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Yet, after rejecting multiple offers to create a Palestinian state, Palestinian Authority leaders have made a calculated decision to avoid negotiations altogether. While the merits of that decision can be debated, it should not be used as a pretext to prevent Palestinians from improving their lives, even if they do not know what national passports they will ultimately carry.

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Oded Revivi is the Mayor of Efrat and the Chief International Envoy of the YESHA Council, representing the 450,000 Israelis living throughout Judea and Samaria.

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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The Reality? There Won’t Be Peace Until the Palestinians Accept Israel - by Harold Ohayon

The reality of the situation is that this conflict will not end until the Palestinians wake up from their maximalist dreams and realize they will never replace Israel.

Harold Ohayon..
Algemeiner..
25 June '19..

Amnesia and willful ignorance seem to be running amok in today’s political arena, especially when it comes to Israel and the Palestinians — mostly due to the desperation for a peace agreement. And it is in this environment that we were introduced to President Trump’s plan to alleviate the economic hardships facing the Palestinian people.

But the uncomfortable reality of the situation is that the conflict is not about economics. Nor is it about two states. This festering conflict fails to cease because one side absolutely refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of the other.

Even before being presented with the US plan, the Palestinians rejected it outright. They did not know any details, nor did they come to the table with any counter-proposals. They simply rejected it, just as they rejected the peace plans presented by former Israeli leaders Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert.

And they will continue to reject any proposal that will end the conflict — because right now, they do not want it to end.

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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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Like to know the real reason the Palestinians are refusing to attend the Bahrain conference? - by Lt. Col. (Res) Maurice Hirsch

The conference will focus on the economic development of the Palestinians, and not the P.A. In doing so, the plan clearly, albeit not explicitly, reflects the reality that the P.A. and PLO no longer represent all of the Palestinians. The plan also clearly reflects that the Trump administration is questioning what happened to the billions of dollars of international aid that have been pumped into the P.A. over the past two and half decades. This is the worst nightmare of the P.A. and PLO and the real reason they refuse to participate in the conference.

Lt. Col. (Res) Maurice Hirsch..
JNS.org..
24 June '19..

Both the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority are boycotting the U.S.-initiated economic conference that starts tomorrow in Manama, Bahrain. While they would like to believe that their absence undermines the legitimacy and essence of the conference—promoting Palestinian economic development—the truth of the matter is that their absence is probably the only opportunity to achieve results.

At one time the P.A. and PLO were potentially important actors in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Today there is no question that they represent a small and ever shrinking percentage of the Palestinians.

Their participation in the Bahrain conference would contribute nothing of substance. While the world has developed in the past few decades, the P.A. and PLO have stayed the same, rejecting offer after offer to resolve the conflict once and for all.

While trying to create the impression that the P.A. and PLO rejection of the Trump administration’s economic plan is a result of their principled fight for the interests of the Palestinian people, the truth is that their goals are simply to stay in power and promote the elimination of Israel.

(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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Bahrain and John Kerry, Kushner is repeating the same mistake - by Ben-Dror Yemini

It's difficult, very difficult, to wean an entire community off illusions. After all, the "forces of progress" cultivate illusions. It's a lot easier to invite people to a workshop in Bahrain.

Ben-Dror Yemini..
Israel National News..
22 June '19..
Link: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/264947

John Kerry, who served as US Secretary of State under former US President Barack Obama, claimed more than once that poverty leads to terror. We'll give the poor economic prosperity, he thought, and the level of terror will drop. If anyone thought that the Trump administration had changed direction - the "deal of the century" proves that nothing has changed.

The economic workshop, to be held this week in Bahrain, is proof. We'll give the "Palestinians" economic prosperity, says Jared Kushner, who leads the Trump administration's peace deal staff, and the level of enmity will drop.

Both Kerry and Kushner, along with many others, should know that this is an illusion. The poor in Africa do not choose terror. There are millions of poor people in Nigeria. They don't choose terror. And among the "Palestinians" as well, those who choose violence are not necessarily poor.

The city of Shechem (Nablus) has enjoyed relative prosperity in recent years, thanks to the buying power of Israeli Arabs. Has it changed anything for Zakaria Zubeidi? After all, in recent years he has enjoyed status and is well-to-do financially. But he went back to terror. Because the brainwashing and incitement are a lot stronger than the options of money and prosperity. All the mass terror attacks in the US were carried out by successful, middle-class Muslim youth. Did any of that prevent them from choosing terror?

The biggest obstacle to achieving peace was and remains the fantasy of a "Palestinian right of return," which are supported by not insignificant portions of academia, the media, and the Israeli and global Left. In this sense, the anti-Israel campaigns are not promoting peace. They are preventing it. In order to advance towards peace, we need to look the "Palestinians" in the eye. They'll act like adults the moment we treat them like adults. Anyone who walks around campuses around the world and turns Israel into a criminal is someone who encourages their fantasies, someone who is funding UNRWA, someone who is cultivates the illusion of return - and someone who is perpetuating the problem.

It's difficult, very difficult, to wean an entire community off illusions. After all, the "forces of progress" cultivate illusions. It's a lot easier to invite people to a workshop in Bahrain. Kerry's mistake was in his theory regarding poverty and terror. Kushner, it's sad to see, is repeating that exact same mistake.

The full article was published in the Yediot Ahronot newspaper.

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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Where is a war crime not a war crime? In NY Times coverage of Hamas - by Gilead Ini

The paper makes a point of enlightening readers on international law — at least when it comes to Israeli actions

Gilead Ini..
CAMERA..
21 June '19..

A story in today’s New York Times refers to Hamas rocket fire into Israel and its imprisonment of two Israelis. But David Halbfinger, the newspaper’s Jerusalem bureau chief and author of today’s article, avoids telling readers that these are both violations of international law.

Writing about a press conference held by the head of Hamas yesterday, Halbfinger notes that the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, “ignored questions about whether Hamas, in launching rockets at Israel, fires them indiscriminately or intentionally at civilians, and whether it endangers its own civilian population by firing rockets from residential neighborhoods.”

Later, Halbfinger references “Israelis being held by Hamas in hopes of a prisoner swap — two soldiers believed to be dead and two civilians thought to be alive,” and explains that Haniyeh during the press conference “refused to say definitively whether the four are alive, a matter of intense interest in Israel.”

It is disingenuous for the New York Times to treat the question of Hamas’s targeting as if it were unanswered. And it is hypocritical for them to avoid explaining the international law implications of those rocket attacks. Haniyeh is free to “ignored questions” about who is being targeted with his rockets. But Halbfinger is certainly aware that those rockets are both indiscriminate and fired toward civilian centers — and that such rocket fire is a war crime.

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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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Anyone surprised that once again, the PA shows it doesn’t care about having a viable state - by Evelyn Gordon

Even if Palestinian statehood isn’t imminent, economic development now would increase the feasibility of any future state. So why is the Palestinian Authority refusing to go to Bahrain to discuss such development?

Evelyn Gordon..
JNS.org..
20 June '19..

The Palestinians’ refusal to attend a U.S.-sponsored “economic workshop” in Bahrain on June 25-26 has been widely treated as a reasonable response to the unlikelihood that U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan (whose economic section will be unveiled at the workshop) will satisfy their demands. But in fact, it’s merely further proof that the Palestinian leadership doesn’t actually want a state—or at least, not a viable one. Because even if Palestinian statehood isn’t imminent, economic development now would increase the viability of any future state.

This understanding is precisely what guided Israel’s leadership in both the pre-state years and the early years of statehood. The pre-state Jewish community was bitterly at odds with the ruling British over multiple violations of the promises contained in the 1917 Balfour Declaration, the 1920 San Remo Resolution and the 1922 British Mandate for Palestine. These included Britain’s serial diminishments of the territory allotted for a “Jewish national home” and its curtailment of Jewish immigration, notoriously culminating in a total denial of entry to Jews fleeing the Nazis.

Nevertheless, the pre-state leadership still welcomed and cooperated with British efforts to develop the country, knowing that this would benefit the Jewish state once it finally arose (despite Britain’s best efforts to thwart it). And four years after Israel’s establishment, in a far more controversial decision, the government even accepted Holocaust reparations from Germany to obtain money desperately needed for the new state’s development.

The Bahrain conference requires no such morally wrenching compromise from the Palestinian Authority; its declared aim is merely to drum up investment in the Palestinian economy, primarily from Arab states and the private sector. Thus if the P.A. actually wanted to lay the groundwork for a viable state, what it ought to be doing is attending the conference and discussing these proposals. To claim that this would somehow undermine its negotiating positions is fatuous since attendance wouldn’t preclude it from rejecting any proposals that had political strings attached.

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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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Question. Could the Trump administration be siding with J Street? - by Stephen M. Flatow

...I am very surprised and deeply concerned at the possibility that the Trump administration could be falling into the old Obama pattern of pressuring Israel to make unilateral concessions in order to appease media pundits and Israel-bashing activists. I hope that Knesset Member Kisch was mistaken. I am anxiously awaiting an unequivocal denial from U.S. officials that they are asking Israel to let the squatters of Khan al-Ahmar continue their theft of Israeli public land.

Stephen M. Flatow..
JNS.org..
19 June '19..

Has the Trump administration taken J Street’s side in the dispute over an illegal Arab settlement on the outskirts of Jerusalem?

That disturbing question has suddenly entered the ongoing controversy over a piece of Israeli public land near Ma’ale Adumim, a major suburb of Jerusalem. Several dozen Arab families began squatting there some years ago, alongside the highway that goes from Jerusalem to the Jordan Valley. They call their encampment “Khan al-Ahmar.”

The illegal settlers in Khan al-Ahmar don’t own the land. They don’t rent it. They don’t have any construction permits. They simply set up some tents there and waited for sympathetic journalists and Jewish “peace” activists to go to bat for them, which didn’t take long.

The Israeli authorities have more than enough reason to remove the illegal settlers. It’s obviously a security hazard to have an Arab encampment situated adjacent to a heavily traveled Israeli highway. It’s also hazardous to the children of Khan al-Ahmar itself, who reportedly run back and forth across the road at will.

But most of all, there is a vital principle at stake: Should Israel enforce its own laws, or should it bend those laws whenever The Washington Post or the European Union start complaining?

(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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How One Sentence From a NY Times Letter About Birthright Israel Packs In Three Inaccuracies - by Ira Stoll

A Times defender might take the position that it is Asaf, rather than the Times itself, that is to blame for the inaccuracy. But surely the Times has at least some responsibility for the letters it chooses to publish. It receives many more letters than it prints, and it easily could have chosen not to publish this particular letter, or at least to edit it so that it is accurate. If the Times isn’t going to police the letters column at all, there’ll be no end to people sneaking false claims into the newspaper by that method — as seems to have happened here.

Ira Stoll..
Algemeiner..
18 June '19..

A front-page New York Times article earlier this month about Birthright Israel problematically echoed the “Zionism is racism” myth. Now the Times has compounded the error by publishing a letter to the editor that includes a false claim about the program.

The Times-published letter to the editor claims, inaccurately, “Birthright is funded mainly by Donald Trump’s biggest donor, Sheldon Adelson.”

Leave it to The New York Times to manage the extraordinary feat of packing three inaccuracies into a single 11-word sentence, but there it is.

First, the reference to “Sheldon Adelson” omits Dr. Miriam Adelson, Sheldon’s spouse and his partner in philanthropy. Ignoring a woman is often correctly defined as sexism. When The Algemeiner reported last year that Sheldon and Miriam Adelson had announced a $70 million gift to Birthright in honor of Israel’s 70th birthday, bringing their total contributions to Birthright to $410 million, we correctly identified both of them as the donors.

(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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The Truth? History, for Palestinians, is Little More Than Myths Grounded in Fantasy - by Jerold S. Auerbach

In the beginning of the 20th century and continuing throughout British Mandatory rule, there was little discernible evidence of Palestinian national consciousness.

Jerold S. Auerbach..
JNS.org..
17 June '19..

Rumors circulate of an impending Israeli-Palestinian peace plan to be proposed by the Trump administration. It might, therefore, be appropriate to scrutinize the Palestinian claim—grounded in myth and not history—to national sovereignty.

Jewish sovereignty in their biblical homeland began with the rule of kings David and Solomon in the 10th-century BCE. The kingdom of Israel existed as an independent state until 722 BCE, while the kingdom of Judah maintained its independence until 586 BCE. There was no sign of any people identified, or self-identified, as Palestinians. Despite repeated claims, there is not a shred of evidence—historical, archeological or textual—to connect them with the ancient Canaanites, Philistines or Jebusites, who preceded the return of Jews from Egypt to the homeland of their biblical patriarchs and matriarchs.

Modern conceptions of Palestine began to emerge in mid-19th-century England. Artist David Roberts, following the trail of the ancient Israelites from Egypt to their promised land, filled The Holy Land with romantic depictions of local people, places and ancient Jewish sites. Rev. Alexander Keith authored The Land of Israel, based on his belief in fulfillment of the ancient prophecy that Jews would return to their homeland. In a memorable phrase, often repeated, he wrote that Jews were “a people without a country; even as their own land … is in a great measure … a country without a people.” Palestinians were not mentioned.

(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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Surprise? Fatah calls general strike that will hurt no one but their own people. - by Elder of Ziyon

In Bahrain, Arab nations will try to come up with ways to help Palestinians, while their own leaders are hurting them. Palestinians aren't idiots. They will see this all happening in real time. All we need is video of Fatah thugs beating up people who try to open shops.

Elder of Ziyon..
16 June '19..

Fatah is calling a general strike in the territories on June 25, the day of the economic conference in Manama meant to help the Palestinian Arabs.

Jamal Moheisen, a member of Fatah's central committee, said that all the national forces and the Palestinian people will rally on the 24th before the Bahrain conference on Thursday. On June 25, a comprehensive strike will take place.

He added that "these events come to convey the message of the Palestinian people to the occupation and the world and the people in Manama, that this meeting is a disgrace, a betrayal and a stab in the back of our people and a betrayal of the age."

Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt couldn't have scripted anything better.

(Continue to Full Post)

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

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Where BDS and Terrorists Converge - by Caroline Glick

...The Palestinian terrorist groups responsible for the ongoing terror campaign against Israel are not the only actors involved in the political war being waged against Israel in the West, and on the ground in Israel. But their involvement in BDS campaigns has worked to legitimize the organizations themselves, their terrorist aggression against Israel and ultimately, their goal of annihilating the Jewish state in the eyes of a large cross section of the hard core, and increasingly influential, hard left in America.

Caroline Glick..
Frontpagemag.com..
14 June '19..

On May 31, the cry went out from Times Square, New York City, to annihilate Israel and extend the terror war against the Jewish state to America.

As they did in Beirut, Berlin, London, Tehran, and Dearborn, Michigan, Israel-haters gathered at Times Square to call for Israel’s dissolution on the day the Iranian regime has determined to be “Al Quds Day,” that is, Jerusalem Day.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) posted a video of the event. In it, a series of speakers called over and over again for Israel’s annihilation, voiced support for terrorists and terrorism and called for the war against Israel to come to New York.



Nate Chase from the World Workers’ Party led the crowd in chanting, “We don’t want not two state! We want ’48!”

That is, we don’t want to partition the land mass west of the Jordan River. We want to annihilate Israel, which was established in 1948.

Chase continued, “Because every inch – from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea – is Palestine!

“Israel does not exist! It has not existed, it doesn’t exist, and it will never exist! There is only Palestine!” he cried.

Rokeya Begun, from a New York-based Palestinian pro-terror group called Within our Lifetime, called out, “Globalize the intifada!”

“From New York to Gaza!”

And Joe Catron from Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner [i.e. terrorist] Solidarity Network, led the crowd chanting, “There is only one solution!”

The crowd responded, “Intifada! Revolution!”

While unsettling, the pro-terror calls going out from Times Square were helpful. They laid bare the fact that terror groups are actively involved in the political campaigns against Israel.

(Continue to Full Article)

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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