Doc's Talk: Incomprehensible Negligence

Monday, October 29, 2007

Incomprehensible Negligence

GS Don Morris, Ph.D.

On any given day in both the Arab Press and most of the Western Press you are told that it is Israel’s occupation of Palestinians’ lands that is the source of the conflict over here. Today I turned to one of the several dozen news sites I read each day and I was not disappointed. Here is such an example of the aforementioned misrepresentation of truth:

“Jean Ziegler, the UN special rapporteur on right to food, castigated the Israeli occupation and described it as the only "colonial regime" which refuses to abide by any international law, calling on the UN to adopt an effective policy forcing Israel to respect human rights and the Geneva Convention.

"The Israeli occupation is a colonial regime and an illegal military occupation from the UN's point of view, it continues to annex more Palestinian lands; and thus the Israeli occupation is the worst in the history of colonialism," Ziegler stated in a TV interview”1

The difficulty is, of course, there is yet another inconvenient truth that is not being told-the root problem of events here in Israel and with her Arab neighbors has nothing to do with “Israel’s supposed illegal occupation”. I would also argue that the nation of Israel has not carried on in a thoughtful nor committed manner a proactive program to justify its positions. The truth is that this is negligence of the first order and Israel has allowed its enemies to do in the media (in the fight for hearts and minds of others) what it never could do in war. They are winning and Israel is losing the public relations battle and in turn policy development is grounded in inaccurate data. The world has been engaged in a massive campaign of revisionist history, fueled by incorrect facts and outright lies. The reasons for its success lay in part at the feet of the Israeli government. I join others who now challenge the decades of misappropriated stories and suggest that today’s wars are fought not only on the battle fields but also in the homes of everyone watching or reading the media reports.

Rachel Neuwirth, wrote a most interesting and enlightening piece addressing the need for establishing the records accurately.2 Currently the media is awash with stories that if left unchallenged will doom the future of Israel and ultimately the Western World as we know it today. In addition, the USA University Campuses have become less than the bastions of inquiry and debate as noted often and most recently by the response on over 100 major campuses to Islamo-fascism week.3

The root cause of our problems over here in Israel must be clarified. The following factual chronicle of events is designed to shift your perception of what heretofore you might have considered the truth. Here are the facts and now we can engage in honest debate rather than rely upon political “talking points”, informational sound bites or contrived revisionist propaganda.

I begin by selecting a point on the Israeli timeline of May 1967. Conditions in the region consisted of the following: Israel did not “occupy’ any of the current sites that Arabs demand in 2007 be free of Israelis. The Golan Heights, Gaza, eastern Jerusalem and the "West Bank" (Judea and Samaria), were all in Arab hands-not even the Arabs dispute this fact today. “All of the bloody wars that had transpired after June 1967 had not yet happened to exacerbate Israeli-Arab relations.”2 This is a critical moment in time-Israel was declared a nation state in May of 1948 and until May of 1967 no occupation existed. Mind you, the Arabs argue that it is the ‘occupation’ that is the root cause of all difficulties.

Look deeper. The Arab League, in 1964, created the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The group’s name itself suggested "liberating" Arab land from the Jews. Well, there were no “occupied” lands needing liberation. We know that their objective was simply masked-they wanted the Jews gone and for Israel to be eradicated.

What evidence do I have? The PLO Covenant of 1965 declared the existence of Israel null and void, along with the PLO's intention to exterminate the Jewish State; they offered nothing of peace under any conditions. How did the USA respond to a UN member nation being threatened for annihilation? The existing USA leadership chose to remain neutral.

Prior to June 1967, the Golan Heights was in the hands and control of Syria. The Syrians treated the Israelis with a daily bombing and shooting spree, killing many and wounding still more. The Israelis, almost all simply doing farming chores, on their own land, ran for cover every day.

What about Gaza? This was under the control of Egypt-actually Egypt had illegally annexed it after Israel gained statehood status. Yet, Arab murderers regularly crossed into southern Israel and murdered Jews. The Egyptians did little to nothing to stop this.

Finally what about Judea and Samaria and eastern Jerusalem? Jordan controlled these and, you guessed it, Arab murderers often crossed from Jordan into Israel to kill Jews. Jerusalem was special. . The Old City, containing Judaism's holiest shrines, was in the hands of Jordan, an American client. Jordan denied access to Jews wanting to pray at Jewish holy sites. Jordan destroyed Jerusalem's synagogues, uprooted Jewish burial sites and used the tombstones for latrine covers.2

Furthermore, there was no US consulate in the Israeli part of Jerusalem, thus showing a one-sided preference for Arab domination of that city. (Even today, the US Consulate in Jerusalem provides all of its services for Arabs and not for Jews. You are starting to get the picture? Again, please understand that Jordan also had illegally annexed Judea and Samaria aka “the West Bank” in 1950. In spite of all this, the US and the entire Western countries stood idly by and watched the destruction. These accurate facts remain unchallenged.

Put all of this together. Israel became a nation state in 1948. From 1948 until 1967 the Arabs controlled all of the so-called present day “occupied areas”. These same Arabs, living on these lands NEVER once asked for the creation of a “Palestinian State.” What did they do? They constantly attacked Israelis living within the borders or Israel proper-the world remained sublime to this for the entire 20 years. These same Arabs during this time frame actively called for Israel’s destruction. Imagine Mexico attacking citizens in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas for 20 years on a daily basis! Then in June of 1967, Arabs from surrounding countries attacked Israel for the sole purpose of eliminating it.

Now, any intelligent, thinking and authentic person would put two and two together. If we only examined the first 20 years of Israel’s state existence, clearly the Arabs upset had NOTHING to do with “occupation”-particularly because it did not exist. The upset was with Jews living in a country called Israel-nothing more or less. Thus, to use the argument that it is the ”occupation” that is the root cause of the “Palestinians’ problems is utter nonsense and not grounded in fact.

The Arabs lost the war in six days. Their defeat caused a change in strategy. They switched their arguments and after another failure in 1973 the Arabs realized they could not defeat the Israelis militarily. They launched a 40- year plan that has focused upon the victimization of the Palestinian people coupled with an attempt to re-write history as well as re-interpret international documents. They created an internal public relations team that has used the old adage: ”repeat a lie often enough and others will think it is true”. It has worked well for them and to the detriment of Israel. International pressures and policies are the end result of this deceitful plan. At this moment, we have a Western community of leaders, media outlets and special interest groups that have fallen prey to all the inaccuracies and we are being backed into the corner.

The Israeli governments from the 1970’s to the present have never truly and authentically taken on the challenge of public relations and getting out the truth. Their actions in this regard confirm my accusation. I have personally met with and spoken at great lengths with high Israeli officials who “off the record” endorse my statement. The results speak for themselves. In the “peace years of Oslo” in the1990’s the government dramatically reduced its PR budgets. During last year’s Lebanon War, the person in charge of PR nary made herself visible to the public to counter the lies being told by Hizzbollah. How many times have I been told, “Well, it doesn’t matter, the whole world hates us Jews (Israelis).” This justifies in their minds that it is not important to have a PR plan comparable to a military plan. This is incomprehensible negligence of the first order.

The desire for exterminating Israel and requisite actions by Israel’s enemies precedes by two decades the concept of illegal occupation as the root cause for all the problems in this area. Clearly, the root cause was and remains the fact that Jews exist in the country of Israel. Of course, the Arabs learned that this did not and would not “play well in Peoria” so they cleverly developed the current “occupation” argument. It does resonate particularly given the quantity and quality of the Arabs’ PR campaign.

History demonstrates that there is more than one way to defeat an enemy-our military is excellent and we are ready for anyone. To remain negligent in this other arena makes no sense at all! There is still time and we need to get busy.

Notes
1. Staff, Ziegler: Israel is the worst colonial regime, The Palestinian Information Center, Oct. 29
2. Rachel Neuwirth, “May 1967 A Forward Looking Retrospective”, http://www.israelnationalnews.com/, Oct. 14, 2007
3. Maureen Dowd, Op-Ed, NY Times, Oct17, 2007, “Rudy Roughs Up the Arabs”.

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk