'Moderate' Abu Bluff accuses Israel of 'judaizing' Jerusalem
Moadim l'Simcha, a happy holiday to all of you. I wanted to remind you that because I am an Israeli in Israel, I am allowed to be on the internet tonight without violating the holiday rules. We have no second seder tonight.
In a speech to an Arab League meeting in Qatar on Tuesday, 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen accused Israel of 'Judaizing' Jerusalem.
“The Israeli occupation is systematically and continuously working
toward Judaizing east Jerusalem,” Abbas told the Arab heads of state.
He
said that Israel was also seeking to change the character of the city
and expel it Palestinian residents and assault Islamic and Christian
holy sites.
Abbas urged the Arabs and Muslims to go to the United
Nations and other international organizations to stop Israel from
pursuing its “destructive scheme.”
Abbas also sought the help of
the Arab and Islamic countries in putting pressure on Israel to release
Palestinian prisoners, whom he described as “brave.”
He claimed that the prisoners were being subjected to “grave violations.”
I don't know how we could possibly more 'Judaize' a city that has been the capital of the Jewish people for more than 3,000 years.
But as it happens, under Israeli control, all of the religions have access to their major holy sites, something that was not the case when the Arab Muslims controlled Jerusalem from 1948-67.
Moreover, given the declining Christian population in the 'Palestinian Authority' since it gained control of certain territory in 1994, the complaint about Christian holy sites is nothing but gall.
And as to Abu Bluff's brave prisonersmurderers....
“We reiterated to Obama our commitment to the two-state solution on the
basis of the 1967 borders and the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002,” Abbas
said. “We also emphasized that halting settlement construction and
releasing Palestinian prisoners were not Palestinian pre-conditions, but
Israeli obligations in accordance with signed agreements and the Road
Map.”
Except that they aren't in any signed agreement, nor were they part of the road map until other conditions were fulfilled.
Looks like there won't be any negotiations after all....
I've seen a lot of comments out there on the net claiming that it's not such a big deal that Obama wants the 'Palestinian state' to be based on the '1967 borders' (really the 1949 armistice lines), because Olmert and Barak both offered that in the past.
Well, it is a big deal. Here's why.
There is certainly something very new in the US endorsement of the 'Palestinian' position that the 'Palestinians' are presumptively entitled to sovereignty over all Mandatory areas captured by the Arab League in its invasion of Israel in 1948 and held by the Arab states until 1967, and therefore Israel has to compensate them one for one for anything it keepsu agreement reached between Israel and the PLO that endorses that position, and there is no previous US endorsement of that position. The Israeli position, which is quite reasonable under the agreed-upon negotiating framework of Resolution 242, is that borders should be “secure and recognized” rather than based upon where the Arabs reached in 1949. The US position used to be that borders had to be agreed upon. No more.
There is a major difference between Israel offering to establish a border on the basis of the 1949 armistice lines and the US claiming that negotiations must be based on that Israeli concession. In fact, one of the major requirements for both Barak and Olmert was that nothing was agreed upon until everything was agreed, i.e., that Israeli concessions regarding the borders could not be pocketed but would only be valid when coupled with various 'Palestinian' concessions that Barak and Olmert (foolishly) expected to receive. If Obama is now endorsing the 1949 armistice lines, he is essentially giving the Palestinians the offered Israeli concessions in exchange for nothing.
But the point for the general audience isn't what Obama endorsed, it's the language he used. No president has ever said the words "antagonism toward Israel" in a policy speech, nor have US presidents spoken of the "'Palestinians' suffering under occupation" by Israel.
What this will sound like to most people is that Obama took a position on one of the key points to be negotiated, meaning that the US has taken a giant step away from acting as a comparatively neutral mediator. There is a big difference between accepting an Israeli negotiating position, and announcing that the US will tolerate only that specific negotiating position.
Bush referred to 'Palestinian suffering' and so did Clinton. But neither of them spoke of the Palestinians suffering "the humiliation of occupation by Israel." Neither Bush nor Clinton targeted Israel as the source of 'Palestinian' suffering or humiliation. Obama explicitly did.
Video: Former Israeli ambassador to Canada on 'Palestinian' incitement
Here's former Foreign Ministry legal adviser and Israeli ambassador to Canada Alan Baker on 'Palestinian' incitement against Israel.
Let's go to the videotape.
Ending 'Palestinian' incitement was supposed to be Phase One of the 'road map.' So why is the World ready to go to Phase Three and give the 'Palestinians' a 'state' when they still haven't fulfilled Phase One? (That was a rhetorical question - I know why).
Fatah Movement Tuesday said that Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu's government's last stances are dancing on children's blood and taking advantage of human values to achieve political goals.
Fatah said in a statement issued by Information and Culture Commission that "the Palestinian authority's stance regarding the peace process will not change."Â
It stressed that "we will not resume negotiations without stopping settlement activities in the West Bank including Jerusalem."Â
Fatah said that "Netanyahu is facing problems with settlers through reckless decisions then seeks a way out in front of the media to achieve extreme political goals."
It pointed out that Netanyahu whom the Israeli authorities ordered to publish bloody photos of children, is using the accident to blackmail president Mahmoud Abbas and pressurize him to resume negotiations, although Netanyahu knows that the killer is not anonymous anymore and for sure he is not a Palestinian.
Fatah added that "President Abbas represents the Palestinian people and their wishes regarding freedom and independence and he will not resume negotiations unless the Israeli government proposes bold decisions like stopping settlement activities and recognizing international references of negotiations."Â
Enough is enough.
It's time for Israel to say that we are returning to the 'road map' and that we will not go back to negotiations until Phase 1 is completed. When Fatah has disbanded all of the terror organizations, including itself, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, the DFLP, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Izedin al-Qassam and all the rest of them, call us. Until then, have a nice life.
As to the claim that the killer is not a 'Palestinian,' are there any Jews hiding out in Awarta?
At a joint news conference on Saturday with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera in Ramallah, 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President Mahmoud AbbasAbu Mazen demanded that his imaginary reichlet of 'Palestine' be allowed to join the United Nations, with borders being the same as the area occupied by Jordan between 1949-67.
“This is one of the September goals and we call on all parties, specifically the Quartet in its next meeting, to do what is necessary to force Israel to stop its aggression and end its occupation of our land,” Abbas said, speaking at a press conference with visiting Chilean President Sebastian Pinera in Ramallah.
The Palestinian Authority president added that peace negotiations have "reached a serious deadlock because of Israel’s land expropriation policy and systematic settlement of Palestinian land in general and Jerusalem in particular in spite of the international consensus that settlements are illegal and that they should not make a de facto situation on the ground.”
Abbas stated that "in spite of all the obstacles," the Palestinian people would continue to support efforts for peace.
Abbas thanked Pinera for recognizing an independent Palestinian state and upgrading the status of the PA's delegation in Santiago.
Pinera responded, stating that "Chile has defended and truly believed in the justice of the Palestinian cause. The Palestinian people should have their viable state and be independent with the right to move freely. They should be able to live in peace with all their neighbors.”
The Chilean president added that he will also discuss the peace process with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who he was scheduled to meet on Sunday.
Chile has the largest community of expatriate 'Palestinians' outside the Arab world.
Of course, there is no 'international consensus' that 'settlements' are 'illegal,' and even if there were one it could not be justifiably implemented ex post facto. Moreover, there were no '1967 borders' - just an armistice line from where the War of Independence ended in 1949. And the 'Palestinian people' are free to leave anytime they can find someone to take them in. But hey - let's not let facts get in the way of Abu Bluff's dreams.
Abu Bluff also rejected Phase II of the 2003 road map on Saturday - saying that he would not agree to a state in 'temporary borders.'
So thanks to the Obama administration's insistence on an Israeli 'settlement freeze' the 'Palestinians' are now on a full blown drive for a 'state' without any negotiations. They have rejected Phase I (dismantling the terror organizations), Phase II (a state in 'temporary borders') and now seek international approval to reject Phase III (a negotiated final settlement) of the 'road map' that was agreed upon in 2003.
At a White House meeting with representatives of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations this week, President Obama once again urged 'soul searching' by Israel and its supporters over efforts to make 'peace' with the 'Palestinians.' But Rick Richman points out that given the epic failure of the Obama administration's efforts, it's not Israel but Obama that ought to be doing the soul searching.
In the past two years, Obama discarded the prior definition of a “settlement freeze” (no new settlements or expansion of borders of existing ones); refused to abide by the 2004 Bush letter on defensible borders and major settlement blocs; decided to put “daylight” between the U.S. and Israel; publicly humiliated the Israeli prime minister; adopted a position on settlement construction more radical than that of the Palestinians themselves; lectured Israel at the UN; lost the confidence of both sides, and … achieved nothing.
The Palestinians are still in no position to implement Phase I [of the road map]; yesterday they rejected Phase II again (concerned that Netanyahu may be preparing to offer it to them); and they are engaged in an end run around Phase III – preferring to work toward international imposition of a state without the need for negotiations. The process obviously requires some serious soul-searching — but by whom?
I think there's another group that needs to do some soul searching here: The group of American Jews that calls itself pro-Israel but doesn't show it also needs to do some soul searching. If - God forbid - Obama is re-elected in 2012, I have little doubt that Israel will be pressed to accept an imposed 'solution' that could endanger the Jewish state's continued existence.
In "A Third Way to Palestine," an article in the new issue of Foreign Affairs, CFR Senior Fellow Robert M. Danin argues that Palestinan nationalism has gone through two stages: armed struggle and negotiations. Now Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has initiated a third, pragmatic stage of Palestinian nationalism by building institutions and counting down to statehood. Danin writes that Fayyad's vision is a promising one, and Israel should help him achieve it.
Unfortunately, you can't read the whole thing without being a subscriber, and I'm not one. But I did submit the following question:
In light of the Palestinians not making a single concession in 17 years on any of the core issues (Jerusalem, borders, security and refugees), in light of the continuing incitement against Israel in the Palestinian Authority-controlled media, and in light of the refusal to confront and dismantle Hamas and the other terror-organizations (including Fatah's own armed wing), why should Israel do anything to facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian state?
For that matter, in light of the fact that this week was the second anniversary of the expiration of Abu Mazen's term in office, how does he have any legitimacy to sign ANY agreement on any terms?
You should all submit your own questions, so he spends more time answering our questions than theirs (Foreign Affairs is a pretty prominent academic journal).
It was tough writing 'Palestinian' without scare quotes.
So I'll post a little bit while I try to drink enough coffee to get rid of the headache....
I try to be careful to refer to the June 4, 1967 borders as the "1949 armistice lines." For those who didn't understand why, you're about to find out (Hat Tip: Israel Project).
•The Palestinian leadership is fixated on attempting to press foreign governments and the UN to recognize a unilaterally declared Palestinian state within the "1967 borders." Indeed, this campaign appeared to have some initial successes in December 2010 when both Argentina and Brazil decided to recognize a Palestinian state within what they described as the "1967 borders."
•But such borders do not exist and have no basis in history, law, or fact. The only line that ever existed was the 1949 armistice demarcation line, based on the ceasefire lines of the Israeli and Arab armies pending agreement on permanent peace. The 1949 armistice agreements specifically stated that such lines have no political or legal significance and do not prejudice future negotiations on boundaries.
•UN Security Council Resolution 242 of 1967 acknowledged the need for negotiation of secure and recognized boundaries. Prominent jurists and UN delegates, including from Brazil and Jordan, acknowledged that the previous lines cannot be considered as international boundaries.
•The series of agreements between the PLO and Israel (1993-1999) reaffirm the intention and commitment of the parties to negotiate permanent borders. During all phases of negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians, there was never any determination as to a border based on the 1967 lines.
•The PLO leadership solemnly undertook that all issues of permanent status would be resolved only through negotiations between the parties. The 2003 "Road Map" further reiterated the need for negotiations on final borders.
When Prime Minister Ariel Sharon accepted the road map in 2003, which is the official and only acceptance of the road map by the government of Israel, he did so subject to 14 reservations, one of which was that things in the road map were supposed to happen sequentially. Until the 'Palestinians' fulfilled their obligations under Phase 1 - ending incitement and disbanding the terror groups - we were not to move to Phase 2. The Bush administration gutted the sequencing by insisting that we go straight to the final phase of the road map at Annapolis in 2007, and the Obama administration (together with the EU) gutted the requirement that the 'Palestinians' fulfill any requirements at all, Israel has never formally consented to those steps, so our acceptance of the road map remains Sharon's.
David Hornik reports just how far away the 'Palestinians' are from the requirement that they end incitement against Israel.
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has published an overview of anti-Israeli incitement in the Palestinian Authority during July and August of this year. That was the time of the Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks, the result of intensive U.S. diplomacy spearheaded by Middle East envoy George Mitchell.
Those proximity talks led to the crowning glory: the direct talks of September, which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ended almost as soon as they had begun by demanding that Netanyahu extend Israel’s settlement freeze — something Abbas knew he wouldn’t do.
With the talks now in suspension and a change having swept Washington, speculation is rife as to whether, and how much, the administration will keep pushing for the “process” to continue.
No one who reads PMW’s report, however, can rationally believe that the PA is ripe for peace or that U.S. efforts to promote this entity to statehood are efforts well spent.
Since June of last year Netanyahu has been airing the demand that the Palestinian side recognize Israel as a Jewish state. But as far as the official PA is concerned, Israel’s nature is not in question: it doesn’t exist at all.
As PMW notes, on June 4, 2008, then-candidate Obama told the AIPAC conference: “I will never compromise when it comes to Israel’s security. … Not when there are maps across the Middle East that don’t even acknowledge Israel’s existence.”
And yet, as PMW points out — displaying many examples — “all the official PA maps in offices, websites, schoolbooks, and those appearing on official PA TV since the start of the proximity talks continue the policy of defining all of Israel as ‘Palestine.’”
That policy is also expressed verbally by referring to Israel in official PA TV shows, its official newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, and so on solely with such epithets as “the occupied homeland,” the “Palestinian interior,” and the like. And this refers to Israel within the 1967 borders, the part that’s supposed to be one of the “two states living side by side in peace and security.”
This goes hand in hand with a systematic, total denial of Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the land of Israel, laced by constant incendiary claims that Israel plans to seize and even destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
Blatant demonization of Israelis and Jews is also an ongoing feature of PA media and sermons, to the point that the supposed distinction between “radical” Hamas, the rulers of Gaza, and the supposedly “moderate” Fatah, the rulers of the PA, emerges as meaningless.
Statements from Al-Hayat Al-Jadida include “[The Israelis] are the new Nazis upon the earth” and “Palestine has been torn in the hands of the Zionists, and the Jews have crucified it and caused blood to flow from its body.” The paper also makes allegations that Israel is “spreading drugs among the [Palestinian] young people.”
In July, after Israel had expelled four Hamas officials from Jerusalem, it was claimed this was a “prelude to the forced expulsion of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, whose aim is to change the geographical and demographic situation in the holy city.” The speaker of those words, quoted in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, was Abbas.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
