Former prime minister of Israel
Yitzhak Shamir passed away yesterday at the age of 96.
Credit:
Tributes.com
A feisty man of few words who held
on to his fiercely
nationalist, Zionist convictions, he was noted for his integrity, his
humility and his courage.
"So I asked Shamir:
"How did you stand up to the
pressure of the Reagan Plan of 1982 which demanded Israeli withdrawal to the
1967 lines, with only cosmetic changes?
"His answer: 'We Said
No.'
"And how did you respond to the
Schultz plan of 1987?
"His answer: 'We Said
No.'
"And to the pressures from James
Baker in 1991?
"His answer: 'We Said
No.'
"And then, after a few more
answers in this regard, he... said, very simply, that 'When we said no, they
understood no'"
I salute the memory of this man in
a time when our leaders have forgotten how to say no. There will be a
state funeral for him tomorrow (after the arrival of relatives from
abroad).
You can read more about Shamir's
life here:
~~~~~~~~~~
Will the real Binyamin Netanyahu
stand up?
At the Cabinet meeting this
morning, the prime minister briefly eulogized Shamir. Invoking Shamir's
statement that, "The Arabs are the same Arabs and the
sea is the same sea" -- which meant that the Arabs don't change any more
than the sea does -- he went on to say that today, "there are certainly many
more people who understand that this man saw and understood fundamental
truths."
~~~~~~~~~~
Late last week, word had come out
-- first from PA sources and then from Israeli news sources -- that Israeli Vice
Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz would be meeting PA President Mahmoud Abbas
today. PA negotiator Saeb Erekat, at the time of the announcement, was
very quick to clarify that this meeting did not constitute resumption of
negotiations.
Well, there will be no meeting
today; it is said to have been "postponed indefinitely." Rumors
in certain quarters had it that Netanyahu intervened. But it is exceedingly likely that the
cancellation came from Abbas.
The PA's Maan news agency cited a
Fatah official as saying the meeting was called off in part because
of "public disapproval of the meeting under the current
circumstances. [Abbas] respects the views of the public that has expressed its opposition..."
The "public disapproval" had to be
pretty strong to have affected Abbas's decision. And here is where it gets
interesting:
Mofaz had intended to tell Abbas
that the chances for successful negotiations were better now that he and
his Kadima party were part of the government. In other words,
Abbas can trust him to move ahead as Netanyahu would not.
But what seems to be the
case is that Mofaz is a great deal less trusted than Netanyahu on the Palestinian Arab
street. Mofaz is a military man. Most significantly, he was IDF
Chief of Staff during the "Second Intifada," during which he responded with
tough tactics: keeping Arafat isolated, doing house demolitions, and waging
strong military offensives against terrorists in the course of the highly
effective Operation Defensive Shield.
Hundreds of people had posted
Facebook messages opposed to Abbas meeting with the man who had caused so many
Palestinian Arab deaths. According to reports cited by
Israelnationalnews, "A protest was held outside of Abbas' office on Friday
by activists who said that they had urged the PA's attorney general to arrest
Mofaz for 'war crimes.'"
~~~~~~~~~~
Ah, the ironies of life.
This is not turning out the way Mofaz, who has morphed from a military man into
a peacenik of sorts, had envisioned it. Seems he's not going to be the
savior of the "peace process" after all. And this was a prime motive of his for joining
the coalition in the first place.
~~~~~~~~~~
One report I picked up said that
members of Mofaz's camp had accused Netanyahu of pressuring Abbas to cancel the
meeting. This is a rather convoluted scenario that has been soundly
rejected by Netanyahu's people. This is one sign, among many, of the
growing ill will between Mofaz and Netanyahu.
As Aaron Lerner of IMRA puts it:
"The spin attempted by people associated with Mofaz to claim that Netanyahu was
somehow associated with the cancellation of the meeting is a bad sign for the
future role of Mofaz in the coalition." For all the photo ops of the two
men smiling that we saw when Kadima joined the coalition, it is best to remember
that Netanyahu, as smooth a politician as exists, soundly calls the
shots.
~~~~~~~~~~
The major bone of contention
between the two has to do with a replacement for the Tal Law, which granted
military exemptions to ultra-Orthodox (haredim) studying in yeshivas and which
has been shot down by the court as unconstitutional. A committee -- the
Plesner Committee -- has been tasked with drafting new legislation on this
issue. Mofaz is supporting a version of the law that would include
personal legal sanctions again haredim who don't serve. Netanyahu, seeking
to avoid "a social flare up," wants the clause on sanctions dropped.
The committee has said it will not
submit recommendations for a new law without the approval of the prime minister
-- because otherwise the sanctions would be "unenforceable."
Mofaz is furious. According to his
associates, cited in YNet, he has said Kadima won't stay in the government
"at any cost."
"We joined this government for
very specific reasons, with [the replacement for] the Tal Law prime among
them," they said. "If the prime minister fails to go with us on this issue – he
won't go with us on other issues as well."
And why is it, pray tell, that
they assumed that Netanyahu would be on board with everything they
support?
~~~~~~~~~~
A meeting between Netanyahu and
Mofaz on Friday on this issue did not go well. They were scheduled to meet
again today. The committee is supposed to submit its recommendations by
the end of the week.
~~~~~~~~~~
The entire issue of who serves,
who is drafted, is exceedingly hot within Israeli society. Among the
proposals floating now is one that would require that only a percentage of
haredim be drafted, with the rest doing non-military national
service.
(Then there is the issue of
whether Israeli Arabs should also be required to serve the nation -- either in the military or via
national service; currently there is no such requirement although they
definitely can volunteer. Netanyahu has come out in favor of
this.)
~~~~~~~~~~
Haaretz -- certainly the
most leftist of Israeli papers -- today is running an interview
with Brig. Gen. (res.) Yehuda Duvdevani, the founder of Nahal
Haredi, a battalion for the ultra-Orthodox to serve (yes, some do
now). He provides a perspective that is important:
"It would be a disaster for the
Jewish people for the Haredim to go back into their holes because we aren't
giving them opportunities to move forward. We must not create
antagonism.
"I told the committee: At
least remember not to look at this with hate in your eyes. 'You are going to do
mediation and you have start from a place of discussion and mutual respect, not
criticism and the media.' It all fell on deaf ears..
"I've been in this for 14
years. The Haredi world has opened up in the past three or four years, and we
must not close that door due to misunderstanding or harsh rhetoric."
When General Duvdevani talks about
opening up of the haredi world, he is referring, almost certainly, to the
fact that the economic situation has shifted so that more ultra-Orthodox men are
leaving the yeshivas (where they receive what are essentially stipends to study)
and going out into the work world. This has an enormous effect on their
outlook over time and their sense of being part of the larger society.
~~~~~~~~~~
There are those whose sons are on
the front line risking their lives for the nation who deeply, and very
understandably, resent the haredim exemptions from serving. Some
young haredi men avoid draft by staying hidden in the yeshivas; some do not
identify as part of the larger body politic. But others in the yeshivas
truly believe that their study of holy texts and their prayers protect the
soldiers and that they are also serving the country. This is an
enormously contentious issue that can split the country.
A change is over-due, but, in my
opinion, that change must be a process and not a strong-arm procedure,
which is pretty much what Mofaz is opting for. Remember, the status quo
has been in place since the founding of the State.
(A note of clarification: we are
speaking here of ultra-Orthodox, not the national religious, who do serve with
tremendous pride and courage.)
Stay tuned...
~~~~~~~~~~
The Palestinian Authority is up to
its old tricks, with regard to the UN.
Last October, UNESCO voted to
accept "Palestine" as a full member, even though it is not a UN member. A
blatantly political move if ever there was one. But as a member of
UNESCO, "Palestine" has full rights within its various bodies, such as the World
Heritage Committee.
And so, the PA submitted the
Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem for recognition as a World Heritage site
listed under "Palestine."
Credit:
travelpod
In a secret ballot of the
Committee on Friday in St. Petersburg, Russia, the PA proposal was
accepted. The Church is now a World Heritage site in "Palestine."
This was a first, which sent the leaders of the PA into a state of
jubilation.
"This gives hope and confidence to
our people in the inevitable victory of our just cause," exulted PA Prime
Minster Salam Fayyad.
Garbage.
~~~~~~~~~~
The vote is ludicrous on several
counts -- even aside from the fact that there is no "Palestine."
As a statement from Netanyahu's
office noted, "The world needs to remember that the Church of the Nativity,
which is sacred to Christianity, has been desecrated in the past by Palestinian
terrorists."
For more on this, see: http://old.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-cohen042402.asp
More broadly, securing a Christian
site in Bethlehem as "Palestinian" is a travesty on all that is reasonable
-- for the Muslims of the PA have driven the Christians out of
Bethlehem. See: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/bethlehem_exodus_jH6iVNuarsPLBceXPzHO6I
What makes this decision even more
blatantly political is the fact that both the technical advisory body and
the secretariat of the World Heritage Committee had advised the Committee,
before its vote, that the PA's application did not meet necessary
criteria.
In order to meet a cut-off date
for registration, the PA had filed under an "emergency procedure,"
claiming that the site was in "danger" because of Israel's occupation of
the area and required urgent repairs. But the technical advisory body said
there was no emergency; what I'm reading is that the Church's roof
leaks.
The fact that the reports to the
World Heritage Committee were straight had brought a modicum of encouragement
that the Committee itself might reject the PA proposal. But it wasn't to
be.
~~~~~~~~~~
According to Israeli Foreign
Ministry spokesman Yigal Plamor, two members of the World Heritage
Committee -- Cambodia and Thailand -- abstained, while Algeria, France,
India, Iraq, Malaysia, Mali, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, South
Africa and the UAE voted for, and Ethiopia, Japan, Switzerland, Estonia,
Colombia and Germany voted again.
~~~~~~~~~~
Yesterday, in the wake of the
cancellation of the meeting between Mofaz and Abbas, the PLO announced that
its Executive Committee had voted to issue a call for an emergency meeting of
the Security Council on the subject of "settlement" activity in Judea
and Samaria on land that the Palestinians seek for a state; they are seeking a
resolution demanding that building be stopped.
A PA statement from Ramallah
said:
"The rise in settlement activities
in Jerusalem, the expropriation of land and the displacement of residents from
their homes are proof of a dangerous Israeli government plan to undermine the
two-states solution."
~~~~~~~~~~
Would President Obama, as he faces
the election, dare not veto such a move in the Security Council?
~~~~~~~~~~
©
Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner,
functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be
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