Doc's Talk: "For This Too, Never Again!"

Monday, July 27, 2009

"For This Too, Never Again!"

Arlene Kushner

From now through Tisha B'Av, which is Thursday, you can watch, online, the movie "Home Game," sponsored by the Friends of Gush Katif.

If you have not yet seen it, take an hour to watch it, and then share the URL with others. It may bring you to tears, as it did me when I saw it, or may evoke a stoic rage. It is, without a question, painful viewing. But important viewing. This is the story -- provided in the main via video that had been taken by residents -- of the expulsion from Gush Katif of 10,000 Jews in August 2005. It is told within the framework of the basketball tournament that the young people of Gush Katif engaged in every summer, and their decision to play their last game, in Netzer Hazani, as the soldiers were literally at their gate to force people to leave.

http://wejew.com/media/5249/Home_Game_Online_Movie_Launch_For_the_Nine_Days/

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It's important, first, because it is part of our history. A shameful part, as this operation should never have happened.

This is why it is appropriate viewing for the Nine Days of Tisha B'Av: We are taught that we brought the destruction of the Temple -- mourned on Tisha B'Av -- because of causeless hatred and how we mistreated each other. The lesson must not be lost, especially now.

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But beyond history, there are very compelling reasons in the here and now to be in touch with this.

We need, first, to be reminded of the responsibility we bear for the suffering of the Jews expelled from Gush Katif -- some of whom still do not have permanent homes, and many of whom have lost livelihoods and suffered enormous emotional and psychological damage. We are speaking, you must understand, about some of the finest of Israel's citizens, people who were -- and to a large degree still are-- idealistic and passionately Zionist, religiously observant and hard-working.

Netzer Hazani, I am happy to report, has now, finally, re-established itself in a new home. See: http://www.netzerhazani.org/

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Then, a powerful lesson must be drawn from this bitter time: Never again! Never should we pull Jews from homes in the Jewish land. Never again should we relinquish Jewish land.

We are facing the most horrendous of times, as the world rallies against us and challenges our legitimacy and our right to our land.

On a purely pragmatic level: The current government, whatever our discontent with it, should not be weakened from within. For the alternative -- a government coalition headed by Tzipi Livni -- would be a nightmare and our undoing.

It is our task to continually let those in power know that we don't want them to cave, that our backs are stiffened and we expect theirs to be stiffened as well. It is our job to communicate to Prime Minister Netanyahu our on-going expectation that he must stand strong against those who would diminish us and weaken us.

Fax: 02-670-5369 (From the US: 011-972-2-670-5369)

Phone: 03-610-9898 (From the US: 011-972-3-610-9898)

E-mail: pm_eng2@it.pmo.gov.il (underscore after pm)
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Please, see Mordechai Kedar, a lecturer in the Department of Arabic and a research associate at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, on the issue of Israel concessions in Jerusalem.

"...the struggle over settlement in Jerusalem is at heart a struggle over Israeli sovereignty in the city, based on 3,000 years of Jewish history in the holy city, long before Washington was the capital of the United States, Paris the capital of France and Cairo the capital of Egypt. Jerusalem, and particularly the area of the Temple, embodies the hopes and is the focus of the prayers of the Jewish people since it went into exile 1,940 years ago.

"Zionism is based on the idea of returning to Zion, meaning to Jerusalem, not to Beersheva or Haifa or Jaffa. Every year at this time, during the month of Av, we weep for the destruction of Jerusalem...The prophets of Israel prophesied the salvation of Jerusalem and no other city.
"...a concession on Jerusalem or parts of the city constitutes surrender to a baseless Palestinian, Arab and Islamic demand and could endanger both the capital of Israel and the entire Zionist enterprise. Israel must expand and enrich Jewish residence in the historic capital of the Jewish people in order to eliminate once and forever the possibility of partitioning the city.

"...Israel should declare for all to see and hear on road signs, in official documents and in the language used by the Broadcasting Authority that the name of its capital is Yerushalayim, not Urshalim and certainly not al-Quds. The Islamic conquest of this country ended with WWI [when the British defeated the Ottoman
Empire here] and there is no reason to perpetuate the name that desert tribes gave the eternal city of the Jewish people."

Right on!

http://imra.org.il/story.php3?id=44796

Kedar also alludes to something else in passing that I had thought about but not put into writing: There is a sort of poetic justice in Jewish housing [i.e., in Sheikh Jarrah] being built on the property that once belonged to the Mufti of Jerusalem, "Haj Amin al-Husseini, who volunteered to recruit tens of thousands of Muslims for the Nazi extermination machine."

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Thanks to the several people who pointed out to me that I recently referred to George Mitchell as John. (John Mitchell was Nixon's attorney general. As he is deceased, it would be difficult for him to visit Israel now.)

Yes, it's George. He arrived here from Syria yesterday, and the tone was all sweetness and light. Netanyahu, at yesterday's Cabinet meetings, declared:

"...even within the fabric of friendly relations between allies there are points over which there is not full agreement."

I confess readily enough, as I have before, that this tone does not bring comfort to my heart. Rather, I start to wonder what concessions are about to be made by us in order to bring us to a "friendly" relationship with the US. Vigilance is required.

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But Mitchell's tone was also conciliatory. In his first meeting, which was with Defense Minister Barak, he declared that differences with Israel were "discussions among friends," and "not disputes among adversaries." There was no announcement of a resolution on the settlement issue.

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Mitchell chose to focus on the issue of a "comprehensive peace." While still in Syria, he had told reporters: "I told President Assad that President Obama is determined to facilitate a truly comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace." And he implied that bringing Israel and Syria back to negotiations was something that was imminent ("near term"). It is certainly something that the US is pushing.

Netanyahu, in his recent statement on the subject, said we were prepared for a resumption of talks with Syria, without preconditions on either side. You will remember, however, that Assad has been adamant about the need for us to concede the Golan as a pre-condition to negotiations.

At the same time, Netanyahu made it clear that we had no illusions about Syria, explaining that the government:

"...had serious doubts as to whether Syria is really committed to making peace with Israel, because it had forged a close alliance with Iran, it continues to arm Hezbollah, and continues to undermine Lebanon's independence. And Damascus, the capital of Syria, continues to serve as a center for Palestinian terror groups.

"So I think that if Syria wanted to signal its approach to peace, it could obviously take tangible steps to show a different direction."
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After the meeting with Barak, Mitchell took off for Cairo, at the request of Mubarak. This was unexpected, as the Mitchell-Mubarak meeting was scheduled for tomorrow. On the face of it, it seems clear that Mubarak wanted to clarify certain things before Mitchell held further meetings here in Israel.

And here you have it:

When he first arrived here, Mitchell indicated that "I participated in meetings with several Arab leaders, in which we are urging them to take meaningful steps towards normalization as gestures of their own statements that everyone in the region shares the vision of comprehensive peace..."

Today, the tone is different, as Mitchell, returned here, said Arab normalization "will come further down the road in the [peace] process."

Amr Moussa, head of the Arab League, who is Egyptian, has declared, after meeting with Mitchell:

"...the Arabs will not take any step of normalization as a sacrifice for Israel....There will be no Arab steps before Israel stops its policy of settlement building."

Perhaps the meeting with Moussa was Mubarak's real purpose in asking Mitchell to come to Cairo.

It's all more than a bit wearisome.

We face here the core of the problem in what is called the "Arab-Israeli conflict": the inherent Arab hostility to Israel, and refusal to accept her as a full and sovereign partner in the region.

The worst thing, apparently, is to appear "weak" in front of other Arab nations with regard to Israel.

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I quoted Amnon Lord the other day, who said that something positive that has resulted from the recent situation is a rapprochement between Israel and Egypt.

He elaborated, referring to "Egypt and Israel hugging each other tightly in the dark."

"In the dark," says it all. Egypt would deny any embrace of Israel -- clearly IS denying it, as we see with regard to the message delivered to Mitchell. Unless this embrace can happen in the light of the sun, the situation, while perhaps less ominous on some fronts, is far from where it should be.

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Let us. then, turn our attention for a moment to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who was here earlier today and met with Netanyahu, with whom he discussed several defense and security issues -- most notably Iran. The intent was to reassure us -- as Gates said the US and Israel saw "eye-to-eye" on Iran, and that diplomatic engagement with Iran would not be open-ended.

But it was also to get us to cool it, with regard to plans to attack Iran, so that American diplomacy would have an opportunity to bear fruit. Here he had no success. Barak, who met with Mitchell after Netanyahu had, told him that we were taking no options off the table.

"This is our position. We mean it."

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Gates indicated that Obama is still hoping that Iran will come to the negotiating table -- though why he imagines there might be fruitful negotiations with the Iranians totally eludes me -- and is looking for an answer to them regarding their willingness to talk with the US by September, when the UN convenes again.

Hopping over to Amman, Jordan, Gates enlarged upon the US position, saying that if the Iranian response to talks was negative, the next step would be sanctions with a number of punitive measures, possibly to be undertaken simultaneously.

Let's hope so.

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Please see Barry Rubin's latest piece, "Fatah's power structure spells trouble for peace with Israel."

Rubin asks:

"Why are Fatah's leaders so rarely discussed? Because to do so immediately shows there isn't going to be any comprehensive peace agreement in this generation and that the designation of Fatah as 'moderate' rests on a rather broad definition of that word...

"The end of Abbas's career is in sight. There is no conceivable consensus candidate to become head of Fatah, the PA, and/or the PLO. Equally, there's no leadership willing to make any comprehensive peace agreement with Israel. The Palestinian movement's troubles may get much worse.

"How can such huge factors be ignored by those many people and governments in the West acting as if a quick resolution of the conflict is both possible and such a high priority?"

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1248277894938&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

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see my website www.ArlenefromIsrael.info

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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