Doc's Talk: News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

This week terrorist events focused on the attempted attack on a convoy of Israeli diplomats in Jordan, employing an IED detonated along their route. There were no casualties. No organization claimed responsibility for the attack. In the Gaza Strip, Hamas continues its policy of restraint and enforces it on the other terrorist organizations. The de facto Hamas administration is preparing to present the High Office for Human Rights in the Gaza Strip with a report of its “investigation,” as requested by the Goldstone Report. It is another move in Hamas’ campaign to use the Goldstone Report to make political capital at the expense of the Palestinian Authority. In the meantime, a serious argument erupted between important Sunni cleric Yusuf al-Qardawi, a source of religious authority for Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority, after Qardawi said that anyone who voted against bringing the Goldstone Report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva should be stoned.

Important Events

Gaza Strip

Rocket and mortar shell fire

This past week three rocket hits were identified in open areas in the western Negev. One mortar shell hit was also identified. In addition, a number of rockets and mortar shells were fired and landed in the Gaza Strip. There were no casualties and no damage was done.

Rocket and mortar shell fired into Israeli territory 1

Rocket and mortar shell fire into Israeli territory

Hamas’ Policy of Rocket Fire Restraint

Hamas continues to prevent attempts to launch rockets and mortar shells and to prevent a deterioration of the situation on the ground. According to reports, there has been intensive action in a number of fields:

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The Hamas security forces have conducted extensive searches in the northern Gaza Strip (a favorite spot for launching rockets) and seized weapons (Fatah forum, January 17, 2010).
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Senior Hamas figures met with the terrorist organizations to reach an agreement regarding rocket fire in the Gaza Strip. According to reports, the meetings did not bear fruit (Al-Ayam, January 14, 2010).
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A Palestinian source who asked to remain anonymous reported that the interior ministry of the de facto Hamas administration secretly warned the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the other terrorist organizations not to launch rockets into Israeli territory. According to the source, the warning was “threatening” because the Gaza Strip could not stand another battle with Israel (Awan website, January 14, 2010).
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The interior ministry of the de facto Hamas administration ordered that anyone who launched a rocket into Israeli territory would be tried and subject to a fine (Fatah forum, January 17, 2010).

Statements Made by Senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad
Figure regarding the Rocket Firing Policy

Ziyad Nakhaleh, deputy secretary general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was interviewed by the Syrian newspaper Al-Watan. He claimed that there would soon be another war in the Gaza Strip because the peace process between Israel and the Palestinian Authority had stalled and because of American policy. He said that Israel would start a war to break the back of the “resistance” [i.e., the terrorist organizations] in the Gaza Strip because it was an obstacle to “the arrangements which will be made at the expense of the Palestinian people.”

Ziyad Nakhaleh said that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad had not decided to renew broad activities or rocket fire against Israel, but on the other hand no decision had been made about a formal cease fire. He said the situation would continue until circumstances had been created which would make it possible to respond [to actions taken by Israel]. He said that the organization was not interested in a formal lull agreement or in ending rocket fire because it would not give up the right to “resist.” He also denied that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad had recently fired rockets (Al-Watan, January 13, 2010).

Al-Alam TV, November 16, 2009
Ziyad Nakhaleh, Deputy General Secretary of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad
(Al-Alam TV, November 16, 2009).

Judea and Samaria

Counterterrorism activities

The Israeli security forces continued their counterterrorism activities this past week, detaining Palestinian suspected of terrorist activities. Rocks and Molotov cocktails were thrown at Israeli vehicles. Four Israelis were wounded, including a baby girl.

Among the incidents were the following:

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January 18 – Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle west of Ramallah. An Israeli civilian sustained slight injuries and was evacuated for medical treatment (IDF Spokesman, January 18, 2010).
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January 17 – A Molotov cocktail was thrown at an Israeli vehicle south of Nablus. There were no casualties and no damage was done (IDF Spokesman, January 17, 2010).
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January 16 – A Molotov cocktail and stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle east of Qalqiliya. There were no casualties but the vehicle was damaged (IDF Spokesman, January 16, 2010).
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January 16 – Five pipe charges were found among the tools of two Palestinians who crossed into Israeli territory at the Beqa’ot checkpoint east of Nablus.
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January 15 – Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle west of Qalqiliya. An Israeli civilian was seriously injured and evacuated to a hospital (IDF Spokesman, January 15, 2010).
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January 14 – Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle near Ramallah. An Israeli civilian woman was injured. Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle southeast of Hebron. A baby girl riding in the vehicle was injured. Stones were thrown at an Israeli vehicle west of Ramallah near Ariel. There were no casualties but the vehicle was damaged (IDF Spokesman, January 14, 2010).
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January 13 – Stones were thrown at Israeli buses near the Jewish settlement in Hebron and south of Bethlehem. There were no casualties but the buses were damaged (IDF Spokesman, January 13, 2010).

Attempted Attack on Israeli Diplomats in Jordan

On the afternoon of January 14 a bomb was detonated in an attack on a secured convoy of diplomats from the Israeli embassy in Jordan on its way from Amman to Israel. There were no casualties. The explosion occurred near the Dead Sea about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) from the Allenby Bridge. No claim of responsibility for the attempt was made.

“A Jordanian security source” said that the bomb was improvised, not standard. Investigators collected samples from the scene to determine what the bomb was made of (Al-Arab Al-Yawm, January 15, 2010). Nabil al-Sharif, Jordanian minister of communications and information, said that Jordan would not agree to any attacks on its security or sovereignty. He also denied reports that an Israeli team was investigating the incident along with the Jordanians, emphasizing that the investigation was being conducted exclusively by the Jordanian security forces (Al-Ghad, January 16, 2010).
Developments in the Gaza Strip

The Crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip

This past week the crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip were open, allowing for the passage of about 600 trucks.

A New Assistance Convoy Organized by a Hamas Activist in Britain

Muhammad Kazem Sawalha, deputy chairman of a British organization known as the Global Committee to Break the Siege of the Gaza Strip, reported via a website affiliated with Hezbollah that a new aid convoy would leave for the Gaza Strip at the end of March 2010. He said its six or seven ships would set sail at the same time from Turkey, Greece and Cyprus and head directly for the port of Gaza. He said that “this time we want a direct confrontation with the Zionist enemy” (Al-Intiqad website, January 17, 2010).

At the end of the 1990s Muhammad Kazem Sawalha was a coordinator for Hamas’ propaganda office in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Today he lives in Britain where he was granted political asylum (Felesteen, December 24, 2009). He is the president of the British Muslim Initiative, a group whose professed aim is to fight racism and Islamophobia in Britain.

Muhammad Kazem Sawalha
Muhammad Kazem Sawalha
The Political Struggle

Hamas’ Answer to the Goldstone Report

Diaa al-Madhoun, chairman of the Central Committee for Documentation and Bringing Suits against Israeli War Criminals (Al-Tawthiq2), said the Hamas administration welcomed the Goldstone Report and accepted it in its entirety, and would therefore implement its recommendations. He said the committee he headed would issue a detailed memorandum in which the government [i.e., the de facto Hamas administration] would present the information requested regarding human rights violations and the investigation it had undertaken. He added that the committee would also issue information about the steps taken to implement the Report’s recommendations. The report, he said, would be sent to the office of the High Commission for Human Rights in the Gaza Strip during the following week (Safa News Agency website, January 18, 2010).

The Goldstone Report was welcomed by Hamas because as far as Hamas was concerned, it accused Israel of “war crimes” and relieved Hamas of responsibility for rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and for using Gazan civilians as human shields. In the meantime, Hamas has been using the Report as a tool for an international campaign to smear Israel and brings Israelis to trial as a way to make political capital both internally and externally, at the expense of the Palestinian Authority.

Statements Made by Mahmoud Abbas

On January 16, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas spoke before a convention of the Palestinian Legislative Council, where he reiterated his policies toward Israel. His main points were the following (Wafa News Agency, January 17, 2010):

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Praise for the “resistance” at Bil’in and Na’alin: “I salute the brothers who went to Bil’in, Na’alin and other villages to say no to the fence and to the settlements, and to emphasize that we will not agree to the destruction of any buildings or the expulsion of the residents of Jerusalem.”
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Denial of a new armed intifada: “The resistance [at Bil’in and Na’alin] is our right. We are against military activity. Now I am against military activity. I am against an armed intifada.”
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Criticism of the United States, which did not pressure Israel to completely freeze the building in the settlements and Jerusalem. He added that the Palestinians rejected that position outright, and they “will not return to negotiations if Israel maintains its position and if America does not convince Israel of [our] position.”
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Assurance that there were contacts between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, but emphasizing that those contacts did not amount to political negotiations: Mahmoud Abbas rejected accusations that Israel complained to the Palestinian Authority about incitement and attacked senior figures, including the prime minister, saying that he was more extreme than Arafat: “Well, Abu Amar [Arafat] was not an extremist, and neither am I.”
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Assurance that the Palestinian Authority was taking steps against those who sold land [to Israelis] and stood firm in its decision to erect a square in honor of Dalal al-Magribi [the female Palestinian terrorist who participated in the 1978 lethal attack on a bus on the Israel’s coastal road].
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Regarding the criticism leveled at the PLO and the calls that the Palestinian leadership “stop the series of concessions,” Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinians not only “did not make any concessions,” but that “quite the opposite, the other side [i.e., Israel] is the one who has made [concessions] for a year, two years, three years.”

Palestinian Authority Activity in Jerusalem

Ahmed al-Rueidi, head of the unit for Jerusalem affairs in the Palestinian presidential office, reviewed the activities of the Palestinian Authority in view of what he called Israel’s “conspiracies.” That activity included, he said, efforts in four areas:

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Politically, making contact with the consuls of foreign countries active in the Palestinian Authority and organizing visits to observe Israeli activity.
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Support for “popular activity” in Jerusalem, such as organizing marches and demonstrations.
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Legally, monitoring legal issues and making an effort to support the neighborhoods in danger of being destroyed.
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With regard to the media, presenting Israel’s activity to international public opinion and to the press.

Al-Rueidi complained of the lack of sufficient Arab and Islamic activity in Jerusalem, without which, he said, the efforts of the Palestinians would be useless (Hamas’ Paltoday website, January 13, 2010).
The Internal Palestinian Dialogue

The Goldstone Report Causes Tension between the Palestinian Authority
and Islamic Cleric Yusuf al-Qardawi

Tension recently erupted between the Palestinian Authority and important Sunni cleric Sheikh Dr. Yusuf al-Qardawi3 after he spoke against Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas:

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On January 7, 2010, the IslamOnline website, which supports Qardawi, reported that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas demanded a retraction from Sheikh Qardawi of his fatwa asserting that Mahmoud Abbas should be stoned to death in Mecca for his responsibility in delaying the vote on the Goldstone Report. Al-Qardawi denied that he had issued such a fatwa , but confirmed that during a sermon he had said that if the charges [of supporting a cancellation of the vote on the Goldstone Report] against anyone in the Palestinian Authority proved true, that person should be stoned to death in Mecca as punishment for treason (IslamOnline website, January 7, 2010).
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Mahmoud al-Habash, minister of endowments and religious affairs in the Palestinian Authority, said that his office had instructed all the preachers in the mosques in the Palestinian Authority to make personal attacks on al-Qardawi. He also called on al-Qardawi to apologize publicly for his statements on the same stage from which he had attacked Mahmoud Abbas a number of weeks ago (Al-Quds Al-Arabi, January 18, 2010).

A Hamas website reported that several preachers in mosques in villages around Jerusalem controlled by the ministry of endowments had refused to carry out the ministry’s order and were detained for interrogation by the Palestinian security forces (Hamas’ Palestine-Info website, January 18, 2010). Elsewhere it was reported that on January 16 a number of Palestinians refused to say the Friday prayers in ministry of endowment-controlled mosques in Ramallah, Al-Bireh and Hebron because of the Palestinian Authority’s criticism of al-Qardawi (Al-Quds Al-Arabi, January 18, 2010).

The Struggle between al-Qardawi and Mahmoud Abbas.
Wafa News Agency, January 15, 2010
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas at the Friday prayers at the Yasser Arafat mosque in Ramallah (Wafa News Agency, January 15, 2010).

Photo: Qardawi.net
Sheikh Dr. Yusuf al-Qardawi, important Sunni cleric has used the Goldstone Report to smear the Palestinian Authority (Photo: Qardawi.net).

1 The statistics do not include the mortar shells fired at IDF soldiers patrolling the border fence which fell inside the Gaza Strip.

2 For further information see the December 17, 2009 bulletin “A Hamas ‘ministry of justice’ committee called Al-Tawthiq (Documentation) claims to be behind the arrest warrant issued in Britain for former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. It is part of the Hamas campaign to pursue Israelis in Europe in the name of the victims of Operation Cast Lead “ at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/hamas_e091.pdf.

3 Sheikh Dr. Yusuf al-Qardawi, an influential Sunni Muslim cleric, is today the religious authority for many Sunni Muslims in the Middle East and beyond. He is also one of Hamas’ sources of authority, for example, with everything concerning permission to carry out suicide bombing attacks. For further information see the March 19, 2009 bulletin “Anti-Semitism on Arab media:The popular Qatari TV channel Al-Jazeera is still used as a venue for blatant anti-Semitism. The reputable cleric Sheikh Yussuf al-Qardawi presents the conflict with Israel as a campaign between Islam and the Jews and says that Jews should be killed, citing a well-known Islamic tradition” at http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/pdf/as_e002.pdf

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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