At Annapolis the Israeli government and the ‘Palestinian Authority’ (PLO/Fatah plus Hamas) announced that they would negotiate a two-state solution by the end of 2008. To this end, announces one headline, “ISRAEL FREES PRISONERS TO BOOST ABBAS.” The freed prisoners, the article explains, are almost all members of Al Fatah.[1] Al Fatah is Mahmoud Abbas’s (Abu Mazen’s) organization, and it was created by the former Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al Husseini, a man who during World War two made his home in Nazi-occupied Europe and became a top leader of Adolf Hitler’s Final Solution. In the 1950s Husseini oversaw, directly, the training of Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas by escaped German Nazis who were in Egypt to train Gamal Abdel Nasser's forces.[2]
That’s who the Israeli government means to strengthen.
But that’s not all. At the same time that the Israeli government strengthens the Nazis, it means to weaken the Jews. Israel National News reports that “the IDF is conducting a large scale operation to confiscate weapons from the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, according to Channel 10 TV. The purpose of the operation is described as ‘putting the settlers’ gun permits in order.’” One of the residents, Hillel Reinus of Yitzhar, said: “I have no idea who is giving the order, it seems to be coming from up high, but they’ve decided to take the weapons away from everyone.” The same article explains the reaction of Knesset member Aryeh Eldad:
MK Aryeh Eldad (NU/NRP) wrote a letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak following the report, saying, “Army representatives have recently informed the military security coordinators that they intend to collect most of the weapons which the residents of Judea and Samaria use for self-defense. When a move such as this is made along with the release of hundreds of terrorists, the deployment of Palestinian policemen in Shechem (three of whom were involved in the murder of Ido Zoldan) and the arming of these policemen with weapons, ammunition and armored personnel carriers, this amounts to making the settlers fair game and sending the terror organizations a clear message that they may murder Jews.”
“When all this is done against the backdrop of your announcement that you are joining the ‘expulsion/compensation’ plan, this amounts to blackmail. You are trying to encourage Jews to run away from Judea and Samaria, and in order to prod them along you are taking away their weapons and urging terrorists to attack them,” he wrote.
“With this letter,” Eldad concluded, “I wish to inform you that the settlers of Judea and Samaria will hold you personally responsible for any casualties among the Jews in Judea and Samaria from now on, unless you immediately put an end to the process of collecting the settlers’ weapons.”[3]
The Israeli government seems to be pulling all the stops to assist Mahmoud Abbas. It is almost as if Mahmoud Abbas himself were in control of the Israeli government, isn’t it? And what does Abbas do in return? First: “Just one day after the Annapolis conference at which the PA recognized the State of Israel's right to exist in peace and security, the PA's official television station screened a map that shows a Palestinian state in place of Israel.”[3a] And then,
“The PA legislature has passed the first reading of a law forbidding any concessions in, or even negotiations regarding, Jerusalem.
Ahmed Bahar, a leading Hamas member and the Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Authority parliament, announced Thursday that the body had passed a first reading of a ‘Jerusalem bill.’ The legislation, proposed by Hamas parliament member Ahmed Abu Hilbiya, absolutely bans giving up any part of Jerusalem.
The bill states that Jerusalem, according to its ‘borders recognized during the period of the Islamic Khalifate,’ is ‘Palestinian, Arab, Islamic land.’ It further avers that all of Jerusalem, ‘including its archaeological sites and the sites that are holy to Islam and Christianity, are waqf (dedicated in sanctity) for Palestinian, Arab and Islamic generations.’ This would appear to include not only the Temple Mount, but also the Western Wall, the Jewish Quarter, and the City of David.
The new PA bill also states that it is forbidden to discuss, cede, or negotiate over any part of Jerusalem, or hold a referendum on this matter - and that if such negotiations or votes are held, they are null and void in advance. Anyone who violates the above provisions on behalf of the PA will be considered guilty of treason, the bill states, and will be liable to the relevant punishments.
The PA legislature will convene ‘soon,’ Bahar said, to pass the law’s second reading, after which it will be passed on to PA chairman and Fatah chief Mahmoud Abbas for his signature.”[4]
What is the real meaning of this? In my opinion, it is a piece of theater. By laying claim to all of Jerusalem -- a city that has been majority Jewish since the mid-19th c., before the Zionist movement even began -- the Palestinian Authority can be represented by the international media as making a great concession when it agrees, later, to just East Jerusalem as its capital. Any Israeli resistance to divide Jerusalem will be represented as ‘intransigence.’ This pressure will give Ehud Olmert the political cover he needs to divide Jerusalem, something he has signaled already that he means to do: the above article explains that as far back as July 1980, “the Knesset approved the Jerusalem Law, determining that ‘complete and united Jerusalem is Israel’s capital.’ However, current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said last week that ‘the Government of Israel has a sovereign right to negotiate anything on behalf of Israel.’” Like a true Orwellian character, Olmert will negotiate against the wishes of most Israelis but “on behalf of Israel.” The PA ‘concession’ on Jerusalem, naturally, will be compensated with the evacuation of the Jews living in Judea and Samaria, and the ceding of these territories to PLO/Fatah and Hamas.
The behavior of the Israeli government is putting other in danger, too, besides the Jews. Christians in Israel should also be asking themselves what Muslim rule will mean for them. Above we see that Muslims would like to have control of all archaeological sites, including Jewish and Christian holy places. The town of Bethlehem, believed to be the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth, is a microcosm of what lies in store for Christians as PLO/Fatah acquires more and more power. Writing in her 2003 book The Israelis, Donna Rosenthal explained that,
“Since assuming control in 1995, Arafat changed Bethlehem’s demography by expanding municipal boundaries to include three refugee camps and encouraging thousands of Muslims to move in. In 1948, on mosque served the greater Bethlehem area; today there are more than ninety. Since Israel gave Arafat control over Bethlehem in 1995, hundreds of Arab Christian families have left town. The majority of Bethlehem’s Christians were engaged in the tourist industry; since the second intifada destroyed tourism, most closed their shops, hotels, and restaurants. Many of those who haven’t fled plan to. In 1990, Bethlehem was 60 percent Christian; today it is less than 20 percent.”[5]
Nazareth is Israel’s largest Christian city. Here is a Nazareth scene from Donna Rosenthal’s 2003 book:
“A cashier in a sweets shop on Casanova street grows tense as he watches hundreds of bearded men stream into a green canvas tent-mosque next to the Basilica. Another fiery sermon by the young imam Sheik Nazim Abu Salim, who holds a degree in biochemistry from Ben-Gurion University [useful for making bombs], blasts from the loudspeakers: ‘Anyone who does doesn’t get on the Islam train is done for. Anyone who wants to be certain in his life and also after his death must convert to Islam. In the end, Islam will be the only religion left in the world.’ ‘The ‘bearded ones’ are in charge and they are pushing us out,’ the cashier mutters gloomily. ‘If Jesus were to come back, he’d be shocked. Sometimes I am afraid to wear my cross.’”[6]
Arab Christians, predictably, are torn between the Arab identity, which inclines them towards solidarity with Arab Muslims, and the Christian non-Muslim identity, which puts them in the same category with Jews from the Muslim point of view: they must be forcibly converted, enslaved, or killed.[6a] Arab Christians do not get a pass from Muslims because they are Arab. Donna Rosenthal writes:
“According to an IDF spokesperson, a slightly increasing number of Israeli Arab Christians over age eighteen are either volunteering for the IDF or performing national service in schools and hospitals in their communities. In 2001, a young sergeant from Tur'an, a tranquil Galilee village where Jesus is said to have turned wine into water, became the first Christian soldier in the Israeli army to be killed in the intifadam shot in the head by a Palestinian sniper in Gaza. He and a number of other Arab Christians from this village enlisted after nearly one hundred men linked with radical clerics burst into a church during Good Friday Mass in 1997 ‘Tur'an must be 100 percent Muslim.’ Christian-Muslim clashes continued for days. A Christian art student was stabbed to death. Rioters fire-bombed Christian homes. ‘The Muslims call us traitors now,’ said a soldier, a pastor's son, who keeps his army rifle close by during leave; the family kitchen was pockmarked with bulltets. More and more, young Christians are unwilling to turn the other cheek. ‘We are not going to live in fear anymore. I think we realized that our future was more important than all the words of nationalism. You know the Muslims don't think of us as part of that nationalism, except when they need us. That's the truth. They talk about all this stuff against Israel and against occupation and collaboration. But they only care about fellow Muslims. We used to eat from the same plate, but now this village is torn apart. We [as Christians] have to do what is right for us now.’”[6b]
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