Doc's Talk: Negotiations were rigged from the start

Sunday, May 04, 2014

Negotiations were rigged from the start – UPDATED

<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596300>

By Ted Belman

The mask is off. The US officials sympathize with Abbas and blame
Israel’s settlement construction as the cause of the failure of the
talks. They warn that Palestine will rise ‘whether through violence
or via int’l organizations’ which is another way of saying that
the US won’t veto the recognition of Palestine in the SC and will
recognize them as a state contrary to the requirements of the
Montevideo Conventions.

We knew the game was rigged the moment Obama agreed with the Arab
position that the borders were to be based on the ’67 lines plus
swaps. Although Netanyahu made his position very clear on security,
the Obama administration gave it only lip service and wanted Israel to
have a time frame not exceeding 5 years on Israel’s remaining
presence in “Palestine”. This wasn’t remotely what Israel wanted
or needed and Yaalon made that amply clear.

(Read more…)
<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596300#more-63596300>

US officials: Even if Israel doesn’t like it, Palestinians will get
state <http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596294>

Had Obama not supported ’67 lines plus swaps, Israel would not now
be painted as the bad guy. Ted Belman

In anonymous briefing to top columnist, members of Kerry’s team slam
Netanyahu, empathize with Abbas, warn Palestine will rise ‘whether
through violence or via int’l organizations’

BY TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF
<http://www.israpundit.com/%C2%A0http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-officials-even-if-israel-doesnt-like-it-palestinians-will-get-state/#ixzz30fZl0BkG
>

American officials directly involved in the failed Israeli-Palestinian
peace process over the last nine months gave a leading Israeli
columnist a withering assessment of Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu’s handling of the negotiations, indicated that Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has completely given up on the
prospect of a negotiated solution, and warned Israel that the
Palestinians will achieve statehood come what may — either via
international organizations or through violence.

Speaking on condition of anonymity to Nahum Barnea, a prominent
columnist from Israel’s best-selling daily Yedioth Aharonoth, the
officials highlighted Netanyahu’s ongoing settlement construction as
the issue “largely to blame” for the failure of Secretary of State
John Kerry’s July 2013-April 2014 effort to broker a permanent peace
accord.(Read more…)
<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596294#more-63596294>

Rand Paul Not Entirely Wrong on Aid to the Palestinians
<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596292>

By Jonathan Tobin, COMMENTARY
<http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2014/05/02/was-rand-paul-wrong-on-aid-to-the-palestinians-not-entirely/>

After explaining Israel’s position:

Quoting the insightful Elliot Abrams
<http://blogs.cfr.org/abrams/2014/05/01/aid-to-the-palestinians-why-rand-paul-is-wrong/>
, Jennifer Rubin explains that pulling the plug on all U.S. aid to the
Palestinians is not something the Netanyahu government wants. Some of
the money goes to help fund the PA security forces that cooperate
extensively with the Israelis. Without these funds the PA could
collapse and leave the Israelis with the messy job of having to
administer the territories as well as depriving them of the assistance
that the Palestinians provide in keeping a lid on terror in the West
Bank.

Thus, while the Israelis have been denouncing the PA in the last week
since Abbas announced the deal with Hamas that put a formal end to the
peace talks sponsored by Secretary of State John Kerry, they actually
don’t want anyone in Washington to act on those complaints, at least
with regard to the money that the U.S. funnels to the PA.

(Read more…)
<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596292#more-63596292>

UNRWA: Blurring the Lines between Humanitarianism and Politics
<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596290>

By *Dr. Rephael Ben-Ari, JCPA*
<http://jcpa.org/unrwa_blurring_the_lines/>

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in
the Near East (UNRWA) has become one of the largest UN programs, with
over 30,000 personnel operating in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West
Bank, and the Gaza Strip. It remains the only UN agency whose area of
operation is not global but regional,and which deals with a single
group of people; it is also unique in that it directly provides
government-like public services to its beneficiaries.

Undoubtedly, since its inception nearly sixty-five years ago, UNRWA
has accomplished significant major achievements, providing relief and
humanitarian aid in one of the most complex geopolitical arenas, under
the challenging conditions of political uncertainty and physical
insecurity. Nevertheless, within the last few decades, the vast,
quasi-state machinery into which the Agency has evolved has attracted
considerable criticism. Some of UNRWA’s long-standing policies have
made it susceptible to political manipulation, in particular by
extremist groups. It is evident that the Agency has become deeply
involved in Middle-Eastern politics, in a way that might overshadow
its significant accomplishments.

(Read more…)
<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596290#more-63596290>

In Defense of “Racist” Bundy (I omitted a major part of the
article til now) <http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596263>

By Alex Markovsky

The following is an excerpt of a New York Times report of Nevada
rancher Cliven Bundy’s views on the state of the black community and
other social issues.

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” Mr.
Bundy said. He recalled driving past a public-housing project in North
Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was
usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always
at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t
have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do.
They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.”

“And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what
do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children; they put
their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick
cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves,
picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they
better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more
freedom. They got less freedom.”(Read more…)
<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596263#more-63596263>

With demise of talks, attention turns to shaky coalition
<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596282>

By Yossi Verter, HAARETZ

The reality, though, is apparently more complex. Very important
officials in Jerusalem this week received authoritative reports from
the United States about anger being aimed at Netanyahu. He pushed
Abbas into a corner, senior figures in Washington were saying. He did
not agree to present a plan and insisted on starting from zero. He
demanded that the Palestinian president commit himself to recognizing
Israel as a Jewish state, a demand that has not been made of any other
Arab leader with whom Israel has held talks. The premier displayed no
flexibility on the core issues of Jerusalem and refugees. He wanted a
process for its own sake.

(Read more…)
<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596282#more-63596282>

Learning the lessons of the past
<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596276>

By BINYAMIN NETANYAHU, JPOST
<http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/Learning-the-lessons-of-the-past-351144>

Prime Minister’s memorable Holocaust Remembrance Day speech.

<http://www.israpundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Netanyahu-at-YV.jpg>
The last time I visited Yad Vashem I accompanied the Prime Minister of
Canada Stephen Harper, a great friend of Israel and the Jewish people.

We went through the exhibition rooms which present heartbreaking
documentation of the destruction of European Jewry.

Today in my office, I met Fela, an 82 year old Holocaust survivor. It
was important for her to tell me on this day of her memories as a
child of seven who was forced to leave her two year old sister. Those
memories are always with her.

She told me, “I don’t remember what happened yesterday or the day
before that, but as is the way of memories at my age, I remember the
sad, tearful eyes of my two year old sister whom I left behind to
die”.

(Read more…)
<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596276#more-63596276>

The pernicious effect of Soviet propaganda.
<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596269>

By Ted Belman

The Goldberg File is written by Jonah Golberg and published by the
NRO. I have extracted a certain segment of this week’s issue dealing
with the pernicious effect of Soviet propaganda. Arafat and Abbas were
schooled in Soviet methodology which they put to good use in their
efforts to establish a new reality in their war against Israel. To
Israel’s chagrin, they have been successful beyond their wildest
dreams.

Lots of people have noted that Vladimir Putin is using the KGB
playbook in his effort to carve up Ukraine. That involves not only
lying, but manipulating events in such a way so as to make it easier
for others to believe the lies. Anne Applebaum describes the
techniques very well
<http://news.nationalreview.com/?Fpcp.iyTq3kHalt5961D2AQgpxi4xAr0F&http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2014/04/vladimir_putin_s_new_war_in_ukraine_the_kremlin_is_reinventing_how_russia.html>
. Lots of people have discussed how Russia Today
<http://news.nationalreview.com/?VFIp.iyTZVHHalb5P64D2AQFsx5sOalYV&http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/how-the-truth-is-made-at-russia-today>
is a pigpen for Russian propagandists providing a useful slop trough
for modern-day useful idiots.

But what hasn’t been discussed is what all of this talk about “KGB
tactics” suggests about the past, and our understanding of it.
Anyone roughly my age or older (“Ah yes, you are the measure of
man!” — The Couch) probably remembers how the Soviets and their
defenders used to bend and manipulate logic, facts, and truth to make
it seem like there was a plausible case that the Soviet Union had the
better economic and social model. But what is less well-remembered
among older folks and completely unknown to most younger folks is the
damage done by the Soviets to our understanding of the world.

(Read more…)
<http://www.israpundit.com/archives/63596269#more-63596269>

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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