Anxious days
The Wall Street Journal almost gets it right. After the recent flap over Jewish settlements north of Jerusalem, concern is growing that the U.S. wants Israel to return to its pre-1967 borders. At their narrowest, those borders give Israel a nine-mile margin between the West Bank and the Mediterranean Sea.Israel cannot conceivably withdraw to anything close to the 1949 armistice lines unless there is a fundamental change in the 'Palestinians' and their commitment to destroy the Jewish state. That is most unlikely given that 44.7% of the 'Palestinians' are under the age of 14 and have already been indoctrinated in Jew hatred, and given that there are hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of descendants of 'Palestinian refugees' whose 'right of return' the 'Palestinians and their Arab patrons are unwilling to give up.
Israel could conceivably withdraw to something close to that border if it had credible assurances that a future Palestinian state would be peaceful, stable and well-governed. But the Palestinian reality today is that it is riven politically and geographically between two camps, one of which (Hamas) is armed by Iran and sworn to Israel’s destruction.
As for Israel’s other neighbors, Syria has further entrenched its alliance with Iran, despite repeated entreaties by the Administration and its allies in Congress; Egypt is entering a period of political transition; and Turkey has gone from being an Israeli ally to an adversary under its Islamist government. None of this can inspire much confidence among Israelis that the time is ripe to withdraw from the West Bank.
Nor will Israel’s fears be assuaged by paper guarantees of its security in some future settlement. In 2006, a senior Bush State Department official gave us similar assurances that the Security Council’s resolution that brought the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah to a close would seal the Lebanese border at least to “heavy weapons” from Syria and Iran. The resolution even provided for a beefed-up international security force to enforce the resolution’s terms. So much for that, and so much for the results of the solicitous visits to Syria in recent years by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry.
As for Iran, yesterday brought reports of a secret memo from Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the White House arguing that the Administration lacks a strategy for coping with Iran’s drive to gain a nuclear weapon. We’re not sure why this memo is secret, since it merely says what has been obvious to the world for months. Everyone in the Middle East has begun to assess how its interests and strategic calculations will change once Iran gets the bomb.
For all the current talk about Israel costing America lives and treasure, the striking fact is that the U.S. has never had to go to war to defend the Jewish state. This is more than can be said for Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Bosnia, Kosovo and the people of Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s because for 62 years Israelis have provided for their own defense, in an alliance with the U.S. that has reflected American values and—in both the Cold War and the war on terror—advanced American interests.
And that's without talking about Jerusalem.
For those who cannot get into the Journal's site, you can find the full editorial here.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:44 PM
3 Comments:
"Israel cannot conceivably withdraw to anything close to the 1949 armistice lines unless there is a fundamental change in the 'Palestinians' and their commitment to destroy the Jewish state. That is most unlikely given that 44.7% of the 'Palestinians' are under the age of 14 and have already been indoctrinated in Jew hatred, and given that there are hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of descendants of 'Palestinian refugees' whose 'right of return' the 'Palestinians and their Arab patrons are unwilling to give up.
And that's without talking about Jerusalem."
So true. So true!
Herein lies the rub:
The other side of truth is lies. It is those lies to which Israel is EXPECTED to abide. No other reason.
Why?
The answer to that is what has made Jews walk the proverbial tight rope (with weapons to our heads)since time immemorial. Think about it. We as Jews have been averting the crowds chasing after us, calling us dirty Jews, (or thinking it anyway) threatening our futures, forever.
We all thought my grandmother was crazy when she predicted this day would come. "Trust no one," she said. She warned that while we saw the worst and lived through it, we had no idea what horror lies ahead. Like fools we trusted.
Simple and painful as it is.
Carl - yup. And in the midst of all this depressing news, the Rabbinate has decreed the benedictions for Yom Haatzmaut tomorrow to be:
Moadim L'simcha l'geula shlema
Translated, Days Of Happiness For A Full Redemption.
Jews should put anxiety aside for now to reflect on the happiness the restoration of national sovereignty in their own homeland has brought to the Jewish people.
Ktivah V'chatima Tova - may all Israel be inscribed in the Book Of Life for the next year!
Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe "Boogie Ya'alon's interview has just appeared in the Jerusalem Post. Its too long to get into but the following excerpts should help to capture the thrust of his thinking:
"Does the US not see in Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s refusal to accept Ehud Olmert’s generous offer in 2008 as a lack of willingness on the Palestinian side to come to an agreement?"
"Apparently not. From the dawn of Zionism there has not been a Palestinian leadership willing to recognize Israel’s right to exist as the national home of the Jewish people. This is the source of the problem, and not what is called the occupied territories since ’67. The opposition to Zionism began before we liberated Judea, Samaria and Gaza; before we established a state."
"In order for there to a proper prognosis, you need a proper diagnosis. We are arguing, and not only with them, but with the Israeli Left, about what is the root of the problem. Part of the issue, which influences the US and European positions, is our internal confusion."
"I also used to think the solution was land for peace, until I became the head of military intelligence, saw things from up close and my thinking underwent an evolution."
"But how do we remain Jewish and democratic? There is a majority who believe we have to separate here."
"First of all, we disengaged politically in Judea and Samaria, and physically from Gaza. The policy of the Netanyahu government is that we don’t want to rule over them. But not ruling over them does not mean we have to withdraw to the 1967 borders, which are indefensible borders; or that we have to divide Jerusalem in order to bring Hamas snipers into Jerusalem."
"The prime minister has said he is ready for two states. Are you?"
"What he said is that we don’t want to rule over them … And as he said at Bar-Ilan University, if at the end of the day they will be willing to recognize the right of a national home for the Jews; that refugees will not return into Israel; that their political entity will be demilitarized and we will get international guarantees for that; and that an agreement would mean an end to the conflict, then you can call it what you want – a state, even an empire."
"We are willing to move forward in Judea and Samaria with the government of Abu Mazen [Abbas] and Salam Fayyad. But for this we don’t have to return to the ’67 borders or divide Jerusalem; we don’t have to place ourselves in danger again."
"There is a general denial – including by Fayyad – of the connection between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel. He gave a lecture at an interfaith conference in New York two years ago about the sanctity of Jerusalem, and he talked about how it was holy for Christianity and Islam. How is it possible to deny the connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem? How?"
There's more - lots more. Read it all
He's right about one thing: Israel's War Of Independence is far from over.
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