Doc's Talk: A Week in the Holy Land

Thursday, May 22, 2008

A Week in the Holy Land

Al Kaltman
FrontPageMagazine.com | 5/22/2008

The cemetery at Neve Allon is small, only two rows of graves, so it was easy to find Danny’s. His was one of two graves on which the Israel Defense Force (IDF) emblem had been carved. Since it was the day before Israel’s Memorial Day, the IDF had placed a small bouquet of purple flowers and a memoriam candle on the grave, and had tied a black ribbon to the flagstaff of the small Israeli flag that stood at the foot of the grave. The stone read that Daniel, the son of Harvey and Sandra, was an immigrant from the United States who had died at the age of 19 while doing his duty. Compared to the thousands killed in a single day by the recent cyclone in Myanmar or the earthquake in China, the 22,000 who like Danny died while serving in Israel’s armed forces and the 1,600 civilians who were killed in terrorist attacks over the 60 years since the foundation of the state are small numbers. But unlike a single catastrophe which shocks us so that we immediately send rescue workers and relief supplies to the scene, Israel’s catastrophe is like a slow bleeding wound that never heals, and we fail to notice the unending stream of casualty reports just as the Israelis themselves become inured to constantly living in a state of war that sometimes seems remote and sometimes near at hand.

Two days after visiting the cemetery at Neve Allon, Israel celebrated its independence. Israeli fighter jets spelled out Shalom (Peace) in the sky over Jerusalem, but the prospects for peace are as insubstantial as the smoke with which the word was written. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s President, citing Israel’s failure to drive Hezbollah from southern Lebanon, called Israel “a dead rat.” He greeted Israel’s Independence Day celebration with these words: “Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken. Today the reason for the Zionist regime’s existence is questioned, and the regime is on its way to annihilation.”

Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Olmert’s Office had announced that he and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had made significant progress toward reaching a peace agreement. The Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, responded with a statement denouncing Israel and claiming that no progress whatsoever had been made. Meanwhile, the Egyptian intelligence chief, General Omar Sulieman, announced that he had gotten the twelve armed Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip to agree to a six month truce in exchange for Egypt reopening the Rafah border crossing between Sinai and Gaza, and on condition that Israel cease its military operations in Gaza and the West Bank. Mahmoud Zahar, the head of Hamas in Gaza, claimed that the Israelis had asked the Egyptians to seek a truce, and threatened that Israel would suffer if it did not accept the Egyptian proposal.

Hamas has been hurt by recent Israeli military operations, and it needs a cease fire so that it can rearm and regroup. As Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas, explained, the truce is nothing more than “a tactic in conducting the struggle.” In an effort to get the international community to pressure Israel to accept a cease fire, Hamas has taken steps to increase the suffering of the residents of Gaza. On April 9, Hamas attacked the Nahal Oz terminal which supplies fuel and gasoline to Gaza. In the last week of April, it prevented the delivery of fuel to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and hospitals in Gaza, and on May 4, IDF vehicles carrying food and fuel to Gaza were unable to deliver their loads because they were fired upon. Anyone who believes that Hamas will renounce terrorism and acknowledge Israel’s right to exist is self-delusional.

The week that Israel mourned its war dead and celebrated its independence saw a mélange of events that in many ways capture the complexities of the situation. Shimon Peres, Israel’s President, noted that “loss and agony” is the same for Israelis and Palestinians. Tzipi Livni, the Israeli Foreign Minister, spoke of Israel’s commitment to a two state solution. Alluding to the issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank she said that “tough decisions” would have to made and added that Israel seeks peace and is “ready to sacrifice for it.” Yet earlier that week, the IDF had agreed to the creation of two additional settlements in the West Bank because of the strategic importance of their locations.

Haredim, ultra-orthodox Jews, who believe the creation of Israel is a mistake, attacked and beat a man who walked into their neighborhood of Jerusalem carrying an Israeli flag. In the Knesset, Arab members of parliament (MPs) accused Jewish MPs of being unwanted racist immigrants, and Jewish MPs accused Arab MPs of supporting terrorists. As it had the week before for Israel’s commemoration of the Holocaust, on Memorial Day and Independence Day, the IDF closed the border crossings between Israel and the West Bank stopping thousands of Palestinians from going to their jobs in Israel and preventing pilgrims and tourists from visiting Bethlehem.

Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel from Gaza, and the IDF continued to carry out targeted killings in Gaza and the West Bank. Conscious of criticism by U.S. and Western European media, the IDF reiterated its position that its actions were in keeping with the doctrine of “proportional response.” With a total Jewish population of only 5.5 million, “proportional response” sounds like a recipe for Israel’s self destruction.

A Palestinian court in the West Bank sentenced a man to life imprisonment for helping the IDF identify Palestinians who had carried out attacks on Israelis. Earlier this year, the court had given another man the death sentence for helping the IDF try to prevent Palestinians from killing Israelis.

Israel’s Independence Day is the Palestinian day of catastrophe, Nakba. Near Nazareth, the Israeli authorities permitted a march by hundreds of Israeli Arabs to commemorate Nakba. The march turned into a riot when shouts in praise of Hezbollah, condemnations of Israel and calls to kill Jews inflamed a large number of Arab youth. Two police officers had to be hospitalized and six people were arrested. Unlike the Israelis, the Jordanian authorities banned Nakba commemorations. In March, Jordan had prevented the relatives of Ala Abu Dhaim, the Palestinian who murdered eight students at a Jerusalem yeshiva, from publicly mourning him. The relatives complained that the Israelis had permitted his relatives in Jerusalem to mourn him in public and to fly Hamas and Hezbollah flags when they did.

Perhaps the most striking thing about the week was the way Israelis and Palestinians carried on their daily lives, as if the events of the week were just par for the course, the price one pays for the privilege of living in the Holy Land. Al Kaltman served in the U.S. Air Force as a Chinese linguist. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from George Washington University, and is the author of Cigars, Whiskey and Winning: Leadership Lesson from General Ulysses S. Grant and The Genius of Robert E. Lee.

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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.

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