Doc's Talk: Keep Dreaming: Confidential memo to PA President Abbas

Sunday, January 09, 2011

Keep Dreaming: Confidential memo to PA President Abbas

DAVID BREAKSTONE

Wouldn’t we be better off if we were able to express regret for the ways in which we have acted regrettably?

Dear Mr. President, Whatever you do, don’t let WikiLeaks get hold of this memo. It could do irreparable damage to my reputation as a self-loathing bogus Zionist – not to mention harming your image as a genuine partner in the quest for peace. If you and I are both going to continue playing the important roles we have in resolving the conflict between our two peoples, this document must remain secret. Let me get right to the point. The other day you declared that a peace agreement could be reached within two months. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded by stating his willingness “to immediately sit privately for direct continuous negotiations.”

Others might dismiss such declarations as mere posturing, but not me. I’m determined to get you and Bibi together to make this work, but for that to happen, I need your help in clarifying a few things.

Let’s start with the commendable way in which you’re readying your people to live side-by-side with us in peace. Actually, before we even get to that, let’s start with the very concept. You recently rejected Netanyahu’s insistence that you recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Fair enough. We Jews can’t agree among ourselves as to what that means. Why should we expect you to solve the problem for us? But might I suggest you counter his demand with an alternative formula: recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. Surely you’d have suggested this yourself if you’d thought of the idea, so go ahead and take credit for it – with my blessings.

Now back to preparing your people for accepting us as neighbors. I admire the commitment you undertook several months ago to stop all incitement. So I can only presume when you recently declared the Alashekeen band a national institution that you were unfamiliar with its lyrics promoting jihad, calling for “pulling the trigger” to redeem Jerusalem and glorifying those who have “replaced bracelets with weapons.”

And I’ve no doubt, now that I’ve shared this with you, that you’ll withdraw your commendation, just as I know you must be working to withdraw those obsolete textbooks still in use in your schools that advocate a Judenrein Middle East with maps that leave no room whatsoever for an Israel of any size or within any borders.

Surely you are as troubled as I am by the numerous studies, such as the one published this year by the UK’s Coalition against Hate Education, that reveal the PA is using EU aid to produce “messages of murder and martyrdom [that] appear in children’s television programs, radio and TV broadcasts... and, of course, school textbooks.” All this in addition to the incessant references to our being the offspring of dogs and pigs.

SINCE YOU know as well as I that the bloodshed will cease only when we’ve managed to create a culture of tolerance and nonviolence, I find it perplexing that your papers continue publishing reports commending you for honoring the memory of shahidim (martyrs by your calculations, terrorists by ours).

Among the most prominent you recognized this year are Muhammad Daoud Oudeh, mastermind of the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, and Dalal Mughrabi, responsible for the cold-blooded murder of 37 civilians on our Coastal Road. In an interview in the PA’s official daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida, you defended the praise you bestowed upon her, asking what it was that we expected of you: “That we renounce our history? No, I don’t renounce it.”

Forgive me for being so bold, but wouldn’t we all be better off if we were able to express regret for having acted regrettably? We need not deny our history to take responsibility for it. I fear that if we are not able to do that, we will be condemned to relive it relentlessly.

It’s also troubling to me that in addition to venerating such figures, your media also continue to demonize us. Just a few days ago, Al-Hayat al-Jadida carried a story referring to Israel as a country “whose aim is destruction and ruin of humanity” and “which acts to disseminate the culture of hatred and racism among human beings.” The same piece referred to “the occupied Palestinian Carmel Mountains,” while the inferno raging on their slopes gave a PA TV reporter the opportunity to express his “hope that the... firefighting team... will be able to gain control of the fire... Even if an aggressive foreigner occupies our home and steals it, we don’t wish for the home to burn.” I appreciate the sentiments but am left with a question.

In documents spread before me, I find references to the cities of Ashkelon, Haifa, Jaffa, Tiberias, Ramle and, of course, Jerusalem as being Palestinian. Now the Carmel as well? What, then, do you have in mind as being ours, when we eventually face up to reality and make peace with you on the basis of the two-states-for two-peoples formula? IN 2000, when Yasser Arafat walked away from the farreaching concessions he was offered at Camp David, I finally understood that it was more important for him to be eulogized as the Arab leader who refused to legitimize a Jewish state than to be recognized as the father of a Palestinian one. I know this is not the legacy you aspire to, so let’s figure out how we can get you back to the negotiating table.

My advice: Let go of your insistence on a building freeze in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Indeed, Netanyahu’s refusal to halt construction is at best ill-advised.

But make that his problem, not yours. We abandoned Yamit and uprooted 7,000 Israelis when we withdrew from Sinai. We evicted another 8,000 when we disengaged from Gaza. So what difference is it going to make if there are a few more housing units built on one side or the other of the border that we both know will ultimately separate us? They will be evacuated even before the ink on our peace treaty dries. Try us.

There are more things I want to ask you about, like your “study” proving we have no claim to the Western Wall, but I’ll let that go for the moment, as right now I need your cooperation in exposing the true nature of Hamas, which we both know is the most severe obstacle to peace in our region. I don’t need to tell you that in 2010 alone it arrested 3,120 of your own Fatah loyalists in Gaza, executing some and jailing the rest; or that during this past year alone, more than 200 rockets were fired into Israel proper from territory under its control – a provocation to which we have responded with supreme restraint.

Hamas’s record on human rights and treatment of women alone suffice to label its pretense of being a progressive social force as one of the greatest charades of modern history. And the flotillas it has organized, supposedly for the purpose of facilitating the transfer of humanitarian aid, are a sham. All the supplies on the initial contingent of nine vessels that we intercepted amounted to some 10,000 tons – less than the average weekly quantity of goods moving from Israel into Gaza, which continued to flow at the rate of hundreds of truckloads a week, even at the height of our efforts to put an end to the indiscriminate shelling of the Negev.

Not to mention that we offered then – as we have ever since – to welcome the vessels into our port and transfer any nonmilitary cargo aboard into Gaza ourselves.

An occasional word from you about this and other humanitarian aid would be appreciated. The conference on Israeli medical services for those in PA-controlled areas that was held a month ago is a case in point, highlighting as it did the treatment of 180,000 Palestinians in Israeli hospitals and clinics over the past year.

Please get back to me about all this. If you and Netanyahu are only positioning yourselves so as to be able to blame the other for the collapse of the talks even before they begin, I’m not going to waste any more time in mediating between the two of you. On the other hand, if you can give me some honest answers, and if I can get your purported partner in peace to respond in kind to the confidential memo I’m sending him, perhaps we can keep dreaming.

The writer, vice chairman of the World Zionist Organization and a member of the Jewish Agency Executive, extends his thanks to Adam Margolis for assisting him in researching this column. The opinions expressed herein are his own.

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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