Doc's Talk: "Moving Past Silence!!"

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

"Moving Past Silence!!"

Arlene Kushner

The issue is Sergei's Courtyard, which is of considerable importance from many aspects.

Sergei's Courtyard is the portion of the Russian Compound in the heart of Jerusalem -- right off Rehov Yaffo -- that is now being transferred to the ownership of the Russian government by the Israeli government. he Russian Compound, which was for many years owned by the USSR, was bought by Israel in 1964. Sergei's Compound was not part of that purchase because it was not owned by the USSR -- it had been owned privately by one Count Sergei. Until just months ago, Sergei's Courtyard was managed by the Israeli Administration for Unclaimed Properties, because the descendants of Count Sergei -- who would have been the inheritors of the property -- could not be located.

Israeli law says that if property remains unclaimed for 15 years, it can be transferred to Israeli ownership, but for a long period of time this was not done. Meanwhile, the government of Russia, expressed a desire to acquire it. This past January, letters were exchanged between Israel and Russia regarding the transfer of ownship of this Courtyard. There was no quid pro quo proposed in the letters: Israel was not demanding anything of Russia, not even a purchase price. The property was to be given as a gift.

In late July, the government went to the court and legally acquired ownership of Sergei's Courtyard. The matter could have stopped there, it was now fully Israeli. But the government had an ulterior motive: This was a step towards transferring it to Russia.

~~~~~~~~~~

On Sunday, Olmert brought the issue before the Cabinet, which approved the transfer.

Olmert is now on his way to Russia. There he will discussing issues of the greatest import: Russia's possible willingness to sell arms to Syria and Russia's lack of cooperation with regard to sanctions

At the same time, Olmert will be symbolically making the gift to the Russian government of the Courtyard -- symbolically, because the deal is already done for all practical purposes.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel, greatly disturbed about what is going on, took two actions:

One, it wrote to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, protesting that Olmert's government, as a transition government with limited powers, should not be permitted to do this. As of this writing, Mazuz has not responded to the Forum.

Two, it registered a brief with the High Court requesting that this be stopped. The Court will hold a hearing after Olmert has already gone to Russia. Legally, according to Forum lawyers, it is possible for the Court to say that the transfer was invalid. But it is considered highly unlikely that this will happen.

~~~~~~~~~~

A note as this goes out: There is some news that the Municipality of Jerusalem is objecting to this action, but where this will lead is unclear.

~~~~~~~~~~

Very often we hear that Israelis are passive and will not respond to any political situation with an outcry. This is the silence that cannot be acceptable any longer. And here is an opportunity to make your voices heard.

This is not a case of crying out to change things (hopefully there will be many times for this), but to protest as loudly as possible a situation that is not acceptable. The offending parties in the government have to hear from the people.

Where there is silence, the message is delivered to the parties in the government that no one is watching and they can get away with whatever they please. NOW is the time to start delivering another message.

No time to be defeated! No time for cynicism or passivity!

~~~~~~~~~~

There are several reasons why this is an unacceptable situation:

* It is a form of appeasement. Olmert has indicated that he hopes this will help convince Russia not to arm Syria and to work towards blocking Iran from going nuclear. This is laughable, and makes a joke of Israel. It weakens us, as appeasment never works.
* It provides a government that is not a friend with a foothold in the heart of our capital. This is totally unacceptable. When the USSR formerly owned the Russian Compound, the KBG was located there.
* It sets a horrendous precendent. Israeli land is Israeli land. We are not the Ottoman Empire, to be divided up between various international parties. Other entities -- in particular the Orthodox Church -- will be demanding land that was formerly theirs. And this is at a particularly sensitive time with regard to the unity of Jerusalem!

With all of this, there is still another reason: The government of Israel doesn't play by the rules. It proceeds as it wishes and manages to get away with it. If nothing else, a transition government is restricted in its ability to act -- it is to behave with restraint, doing only what is necessary to keep the country going and taking no action that will bind its successors to an agreement that need not be made immediately. In this case, as in many others, the Court turns a blind eye, as does the Attorney General.

This is painful to discuss. But it must be discussed. And protested.

~~~~~~~~~~

This appeal is to Israeli citizens (others, keep reading). This is an Israeli issue and must be addressed by each of you. Please contact the persons listed below and register your protest, briefly and clearly -- as citizens.

Then forward this message to everyone else you can think of inside of Israel who might respond. Either copy this and paste into a new e-mail text. Or hit "forward" for this message and clean it up, eliminating all the "forward" information. Where it is appropriate, translate this into Hebrew, or French, or Russian, before sending it on.

Those outside of Israel: Please, following the same technique, send this to everyone you know inside of Israel -- friends, relatives, business acquaintances -- who might respond.

Numbers will make the difference.

~~~~~~~~~~

Keep in mind that faxes are the most effective means of getting your message across, and e-mails are the least effective.

Send to:

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, because she is head of Kadima now and has to get the message from the people loud and clear.

Phone: 02-530-3531 or 02-675-3285 Fax: 02-675-3792 E-mail: zlivni@knesset.gov.il
Aide: 050-620-3010

_________

MK Binyamin Netanyahu, head of Likud, because he is leader of the opposition and he needs to know that people expect him to take a strong stand.

Phone: 03-606-8000 or 02-640-8456 Fax: 02-649-6659 E-Mail: bnetanyahu@knesset.gov.il
Aide: 050-200-2004

_________

Minister of Industry and Trade Eli Yishai, head of the Shas faction, because he always tells us that Shas is concerned about the status of Jerusalem and he needs to know we want him to be serious about this.

Phone:02-666-2252 or 02-6408406/7 Fax: 02-666-2909 E-mail: eyishay@knesset.gov.il
Aide: 050-400-5080
_________

Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz of Kadima, because he is disgruntled now, knowing well how unfair things can be, and just might be ready to hear concerns of the people.

Phone: 02-666-3004 or 02-649-6115 Fax: 02-649-6421 E-mail: shaulm@knesset.gov.il
Aide: 050-623-0294
___________

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who had it within his capacity to stop this and should have stopped it on legal grounds, as the current government is a transitional government with limited powers.

Phone: 02-646-6521/2 Fax: 02-646-7001

Can also be reached via Moshe Cohen, spokesman for the Justice Department.

Phone: 02-646-6487/363 Fax: 02-646-6722 Cell: 050-621-7077

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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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