Pres. Bush's Final Push For A Palestinian State

 

 

 

PA Representative in Lebanon: We Act According to the Phased Plan. Once We Get Jerusalem, We Will Drive Israelis Out of All of Palestine
Abbas Zaki, PA representative in Lebanon, told Lebanon's NBN TV on April 9, 2008: The PLO "has not changed its platform even one iota....When the ideology of Israel collapses, and we take, at least, Jerusalem, the Israeli ideology will collapse in its entirety, and we will begin to progress with our own ideology, Allah willing, and drive them out of all of Palestine." (MEMRI)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, April 14, 2008]

 

 

 

 

 

Palestinian Terrorism Created Need for Roadblocks, Expert Says - Julie Stahl
Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror, the former commander of the Israeli army's National Defense College, said West Bank roadblocks wouldn't exist if the Palestinians hadn't started using terrorism. Because terrorists cannot be distinguished from civilians, the only way to block an infiltration into Israel is by using physical barriers, he said. The point is to capture would-be terrorists long before they approach Israel's borders or have time to amass bomb-making components. In the 1970s, there was not a single roadblock in the West Bank. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians worked freely inside Israel every day without passing any checkpoints, he said. "[The roadblocks] were needed only after Oslo, when the Palestinians became rulers of themselves, [as a] consequence of the way they acted." (CNS News)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, April 1, 2008]

 

 

 

 

 

Abbas' Address to the Arab League in Damascus - Jonathan D. Halevi
Mahmoud Abbas' speech at the Arab League meeting in Damascus on March 29 was no different from those of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, neither in accepting Israel's existence nor in recognition of the historical connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, nor even in a denunciation of terror. (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs-Hebrew)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, March 31, 2008]

 

 

 

 

U.S. AID for Terror - Rachel Ehrenfeld and Alyssa A. Lappen (FrontPageMagazine)
    Since 1994, the CIA armed and trained thousands of Palestinian "security forces," who subsequently joined every Palestinian terrorist organization.
    CIA Palestinian training success is best described by a member of the PA chairman's own security unit - Force 17 - officer Abu Yusef:
    "The operations of the Palestinian resistance would [not] have been so successful and would not have killed more than 1,000 Israelis since 2000, and defeated the Israelis in Gaza without [American military] training," he boasted in August 2007.

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, March 25, 2008]

 

 

PA Security Forces Coordinate with Terrorists in Nablus - Barak Ravid (Ha'aretz-Hebrew)
    Israel recently authorized the deployment of 500 PA police in Nablus. According to a report that reached Defense Minister Barak, these forces are working in coordination with local terrorists.
    The terrorists neutralize the bombs they have prepared when the PA police enter the Casbah, and hook them up again when they leave.

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, March 31, 2008]

 

 

 

 

A Skewed Process - Editorial (Jerusalem Post)

• Israel is reportedly bracing for a "skewed" report from Lt.-Gen. William Fraser on Israeli and Palestinian implementation of their Roadmap obligations. What is likely "skewed," however, is the whole U.S. approach to achieving Arab-Israeli peace. Since the government recently announced it would expand a settlement inside the security barrier near Jerusalem, Israel expects to be criticized in the Fraser report. The problem with this approach is that there is no symmetry between settlements and terrorism, on either the moral or strategic levels. It is a moral travesty that building homes is compared to murdering innocents.

• But even if settlement expansion can be seen as problematic, it makes little sense to treat all settlements equally, as if there were no difference between expanding existing towns that are contiguous with Israel and inside the security barrier, and settlements situated amidst the Palestinian population. A clear distinction should be made over settlements that are entirely consistent with a two-state solution.

• But all this is trivial compared to the macro problem, which is that the U.S. makes no distinction between the respective distances Israel and the Palestinians are from making the two-state approach work. Since the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993, the Israeli public and political system have moved dramatically to a broad consensus that regards a Palestinian state as acceptable, even a necessity. At the same time, the Palestinians have, if anything, become more radicalized since 1993, and have not begun to prepare themselves for a two-state approach, let alone embrace it.

• Almost no Palestinian will accept that the Jewish people have any national or historical rights to a state alongside Palestine. This is what prevents peace. Pretending that Israelis and Palestinians are equally to blame for the lack of peace is not just misleading and unfair, it is actively harmful to the cause of peace, because it lets those who are obstructing peace off the hook.

  [Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, March 14, 2008]

   

 

 

 

Thousands in Gaza Celebrate Jerusalem Terror Attack, Palestinians Distribute Sweets - Ali Waked
Gaza's streets filled with joyous crowds of thousands on Thursday evening following the terror attack at a Jerusalem school in which eight people were killed. In mosques in Gaza City, many residents went to perform the prayers of thanksgiving. Armed men fired in the air in celebration and others passed out sweets to passersby. Hamas issued a statement saying it "blesses the (Jerusalem) operation." (Ynet News)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, March 7, 2008]

 

 

Poll: Palestinians Support Rocket Attacks and Want Peace Talks to End - Ethan Bronner
A new poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research shows that an overwhelming majority of Palestinians - 84% - support the attack this month on a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem that killed eight young men, most of them teenagers. The survey also shows that 64% support the firing of rockets on Israeli towns from Gaza and 75% support the end of peace negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli leaders. The poll also showed that the militant Islamist group Hamas is gaining popularity in the West Bank while its American-backed rival, Fatah, is losing ground. (New York Times)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, March 19, 2008]

 

 

 

 

 

Showdown on Palestinian Funding? - Joel Mowbray
In an interview with the Jordanian newspaper Al-Dastur last week, Abbas spoke with pride of violence he had waged in his past, suggested that terrorism could start anew in the future, and essentially backed away from repeated statements that he "recognizes" Israel's right to exist. A top congressional appropriator, Foreign Operations Chairwoman Nita Lowey, said flatly, "Abbas' recent statements cast doubt on his willingness to take the steps necessary for peace with Israel."  (Washington Times)
[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, March 10, 2008]

 

 

 

 

Israel's War on Terror in the West Bank - Tim McGirk (TIME)
    Just because fewer Palestinian terrorists are slipping into Israel from the West Bank doesn't mean that they have stopped trying.
    Says an officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF): "Our people sleep comfortably in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv because the IDF is putting in a huge effort, day and night, in the West Bank to prevent terror."
    Last year more than 6,650 suspected Palestinian militants were rounded up, among them, claim Israeli intelligence officers, 279 potential suicide bombers.
    IDF troops, in effect, prop up Mahmoud Abbas. Without the presence of Israeli troops, his advisers concede, the West Bank would soon fall to Hamas militants, just as Gaza did last June.
    Israel's domestic intelligence service, Shin Bet, claims that in 2007 it foiled 29 suicide attacks.

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, March 10, 2008]

 

 

 

 

Annapolis - Road to Nowhere - Zalman Shoval
In an unimplementable "shelf agreement," Israel will be seen to have committed itself to certain far-reaching steps that it has not implemented. On the one hand, this will be seen as the starting point for any future negotiations, and on the other hand, it will invite increasing pressure on Israel, with the added element of ongoing terror.
    When Israel originally accepted the Roadmap, it was stipulated that there would be no negotiations on the permanent status of the West Bank and Gaza (Phases 2 and 3) until the Palestinians first fulfill their security commitments in accordance with Phase 1. If those pre-conditions for negotiations from 2003 have already melted away four years later, then why shouldn't Annapolis pre-conditions for implementation of the "shelf agreement" melt away four years from now? The writer served as Israel's ambassador to the Washington (1990-93, 1998-2000). (Institute for Contemporary Affairs/Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, February 13, 2008]

 

 

PA Glorifies Dimona Terrorists - Yadid Berman (Jerusalem Post)
    The terrorists who perpetrated Monday's suicide bombing in Dimona were glorified in three newspapers controlled by the PA, including the official Al-Hayat al-Jadida, controlled by Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Media Watch reported Wednesday.
    "The perpetrators of the operation died as shahids (glorious martyrs)," Al-Hayat al-Jadida reported on Feb. 5.
    The Palestinian dailies Al-Iyam and Al-Quds also defined the bombers as shahids.
    Also described as shahids in the Palestinian media were two Palestinians who attempted to murder Israelis in Kfar Etzion's Makor Haim High School several weeks ago.

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, February 7, 2008]

 

 

 

 

Palestinian Media Continue Incitement Against Israel in Contravention of Roadmap (Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center)
    In the months that preceded the Annapolis meeting, the Palestinian media carried larger amounts of anti-Israel incitement than usual, which continued and even increased afterwards.
    Often woven into it were anti-Semitic symbols and images.
    Even the PA media, controlled by Abbas and Fatah, were methodical in their vicious anti-Israeli incitement.

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, January 23, 2008]

 

 

 

 

Needed: A Strategy for Ending the Jihad Against Zion - Marty Peretz
How many times have I heard this refrain? "This president is the best friend Israel has ever had." Hundreds of times. About Ronald Reagan. About Bill Clinton. And now about George Bush. I suppose, it is true in a certain abstract sense about each of them. They probably also understood that the prime impediment to a peace between the Israelis and those who now call themselves Palestinians (this nomenclature is relatively new to the Arabs of Palestine) is fanatic resistance to the non-negotiable reality of a Jewish state in the Holy Land. America is the only country with the power to induce Israel to make perilous concessions and, therefore, it is the only country whose government Arabs - both in Palestine and in the surrounding countries - are motivated to influence.
    Yet there are some realities that neither the American president nor the best laid plans of other mice and men can influence or affect. You can force this bloc of settlements to close down and draw the border here rather than there and even color code Jerusalem to allow the Arabs to control the Temple Mount (which would be a terrible affront to Jewish history that the Muslims want especially to affront) and to hand sovereignty over Palestinian neighborhoods in the city to the Palestinians and contrive some cynical and unprecedented formula for allowing some "refugees" (they are almost all dead actually) to "return" and creating a fund for compensation of zillions of dollars (to which Israel should not contribute because it has absorbed since 1948 a larger number of true Jewish refugees from the Islamic world) - yet not even all of this would end the jihad against Zion.
    The fact is that the great impediment to peace with Israel is the fanatic obstinacy of the Palestinians. Does anyone have a strategy for negotiating with that? (New Republic)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, January 11, 2008]

 

 

 

 

Involvement of PA Security Forces in Murder of Israelis to be Raised During Bush Visit - Herb Keinon
The involvement of Palestinian security forces in the murder of Israelis in terrorist attacks will be raised when Prime Minister Olmert meets President Bush next week, according to Israeli diplomatic officials. PA security forces were responsible for Friday's murder in the Hebron Hills of off-duty soldiers David Rubin and Ahikam Amihai, and for the murder in November of Ido Zoldan near Kedumim. "There are rogue, extremist elements inside the Fatah machine and the Palestinian security apparatus who have been responsible for not one or two, but a series of attacks," said Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev. "If this [diplomatic] process is going to succeed, the Palestinians must put their security house in order," Regev said. Bush is scheduled to arrive next Wednesday afternoon, and leave on Friday. (Jerusalem Post)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, January 3, 2008]

 

 

 

Poll of Saudis: Don't Like Jews and Christians, Want Israel Destroyed and Saudis to Have Nuclear Weapons - Tom Gross (National Review)
    A telephone survey conducted in Saudi Arabia in Arabic for Terror Free Tomorrow found:
    Opinion of Jews: Favorable 6%, Unfavorable 89%; Opinion of Christians: Favorable 39%, Unfavorable 54%.
    51% agreed that "I oppose any peace treaty recognizing Israel, and I favor all Arabs continuing to fight until there is no Israel in the Middle East"
    30% agreed that "I would favor a peace treaty recognizing the State of Israel, if an independent Palestinian state is established."
    Should Saudi Arabia develop nuclear weapons? Favor 52%, Oppose 31%.

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, December 25, 2007]

 

 

 

 

"Everyone Knows What a Peace Deal Looks Like" - Evelyn Gordon
One of the most widespread misconceptions about Israeli-Palestinian talks is that "everyone knows what a deal looks like." As the New York Times put it in an editorial last month, "The broad outlines of a deal...have been apparent since President Clinton's 2000 push." Yet according to a summary of the Taba talks prepared by negotiator Gilad Sher after they collapsed, the Palestinians objected to Israel keeping the settlement blocs - one of Israel's main reasons for wanting territorial exchanges - and generally insisted that any swaps total no more than 2.3% of the West Bank, well short of the 6 to 8% needed for the blocs. They refused to let Israel keep Latrun, which dominates the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway. And they insisted that the "safe passage" connecting Gaza and the West Bank be under Palestinian sovereignty, thereby effectively severing Israel in two.
    On the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Judaism's holiest site, the Palestinians insisted that the mount be entirely theirs, with Israel having no rights whatsoever. The Palestinians also demanded recognition of the "right" of all refugees and their descendants to relocate to Israel. The Palestinians adamantly refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish nation-state. In short, not only is there no agreement on what a deal looks like, there is no agreement even on the fundamental premise that must underlie any deal - namely, the establishment of two states for two peoples. (Jerusalem Post)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, December 21, 2007]

 

 

 

 

 

There'll Be No Peace in Our Time - Greg Sheridan
Even in the West Bank, the real power of the Palestinian Authority is very limited. Several West Bank cities are ruled by warlords, not the Authority. Indeed, Palestinian leaders cannot travel safely in all their own cities and are not ready to take over security in most of their cities from Israeli security forces. In truth, the PA does not have functioning state institutions. Two years ago, Israel did pull out of Gaza - and the result was that Hamas took over. Every day now, terrorists fire rockets - aimed at civilians - from Gaza into Israel. Eventually, one of these rockets will kill a large number of Israeli civilians and there will be a huge Israeli military response inside Gaza.
    The Annapolis process requires the fulfillment of the conditions of the Roadmap, the very first of which is that the Palestinians stamp out terrorism and stop attacks on Israeli civilians. There is no sign the PA can do this, or even that it really wants to. Its educational materials are full of hatred against Israel and incitement to terrorism. And that is the fundamental problem. Neither the Palestinian leadership, nor most of the surrounding Arab states, have really come to grips with Israel's right to exist at peace behind secure borders. Until that happens, no agreement is likely to work on the ground.

The writer is foreign editor of The Australian. (Sunday Telegraph-Australia)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, December 19, 2007]

 

 

 

International Aid to PA No Guarantee for Boosting Moderates - Khaled Abu Toameh
Since its establishment in 1994, the PA has received nearly $6.5 billion in international aid. The assumption was that economic prosperity would weaken radicals and boost the moderates among the Palestinians. But hundreds of millions of dollars went into secret bank accounts or to build villas for senior PA officials. The international community that was pouring money on the PA did not seem to care about the stories of financial corruption and embezzlement. Nor did the donors pay attention to the fact that Arafat was inciting his people not only against Israel, but also against the same "infidels" who were signing his checks.
    While the billions of dollars promised at the Paris conference on Monday are likely to improve the living conditions of the Palestinians and strengthen their economy, there is no guarantee that the financial aid would have a moderating effect on many of them. This money is mainly designed to keep Fatah in power and prevent Hamas from taking over the West Bank. Unless the PA changes its rhetoric and starts promoting real peace and coexistence with Israel, the millions of dollars are not going to create a new generation of moderate Palestinians. The only way to undermine Hamas is not by channeling billions of dollars to the PA leadership, but by offering the Palestinians a better alternative to the Islamist movement. (Jerusalem Post)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, December 18, 2007]

 

 

 

 

Israel Delays Transfer of Armored Personnel Carriers to Abbas (AP/Ha'aretz)
    Israel has delayed a planned transfer of 25 armored personnel carriers from Russia to the Palestinian Authority, planned for this week, because the Palestinians want to have them mounted with machine guns, security officials said Monday.
    Housing Minister Zeev Boim said Israel feared that the equipment and weapons could fall into Hamas' hands.
    "We do need to strengthen Abbas' security forces," Boim said. "But it's way too early for them to have APCs with mounts for heavy weapons."

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, December 30, 2007]

 

 

Jerusalem's Jewish Roots Must Be Acknowledged - Nathan J. Diament
Jerusalem is hardly a real estate issue. It is at the heart of the Israel-Arab impasse, for it relates fundamentally to history, theology and national identity. Jerusalem is at the heart of religious identity for Jews - we pray each day toward Jerusalem and for its welfare, we regularly read the biblical accounts of our forefathers that take place in the city's environs, and we conclude our holiest days with the prayer that next year we will celebrate in Jerusalem. Historically, King David made Jerusalem his capital 3,000 years ago, and since then Jerusalem has been the national capital of the Jewish people; only brute force has kept them out.
    From 1948-1967, when the Old City and eastern parts of Jerusalem fell under Jordanian rule, Jews were barred entry to the Old City, denied worship at the Western Wall at the foot of the Temple Mount, and denied access to the ancient cemeteries on the Mount of Olives and Mount Zion. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel recaptured and unified the entire city and opened the holy sites of all faiths to all people. The writer is director of public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. (Baltimore Sun)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, November 30, 2007]

 

 

 

 

Olmert: Arabs Should Open Consular Offices in Israel Following Annapolis Meeting - Barak Ravid
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday that he expects Arab states to open consular offices in Israel following the Annapolis summit. Olmert told Ban that "every Arab or Muslim state which participates in the Annapolis summit should demonstrate its support of the process in this way." (Ha'aretz)

 

General Security Services Head Diskin and Military Intelligence Chief Yadlin: Timetable for Permanent Status Agreement with Palestinians Endangers Israel - Itamar Eichner and Itzik Saban
The head of the General Security Services (Shabak), Yuval Diskin, and the head of Israeli Military Intelligence, Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin, warned the political echelon that the timetable which the Americans seek to dictate to Israel and the Palestinians - to reach a permanent status agreement in a year - endangers Israel. In the course of the security cabinet meeting, the two officials warned that Abbas is weak and is not yet ready to implement a peace agreement with Israel; his operational capabilities approach zero. (Yediot Ahronot-Hebrew, 26Nov07)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Nov 27, 2007]

 

 

 

 

Appointment in Annapolis - Editorial,  Washington Post
The Annapolis meeting may yet serve the modest purpose of providing an international blessing for the first formal Mideast peace process in seven years. But events of the past few weeks have tested Ms. Rice's notion that conditions in the region now favor the two-state settlement that President Bush has endorsed. In practice, the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams have bogged down in the decades-old disputes that have blocked every previous peace process, such as sovereignty over Jerusalem and whether Palestinian refugees will be allowed to settle in Israel.
    The response of the "mainstream" Arab governments that Ms. Rice hoped to marshal has been disappointing. Saudi Arabia, which claims the Palestinian cause is a top priority, has persistently declined to support the new U.S. effort, either through substantial support for Mr. Abbas' government or overtures to Israel. Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal announced his attendance at Annapolis only on Friday - and then only after making clear that he would not speak or shake hands with Israeli attendees. The breakthrough that Ms. Rice thought was possible still looks remote.

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Nov 26, 2007]

 

 

 

The Historical Fact of Israel - David Warren
The Palestinian side has declared that, while Arafat "recognized" the "State of Israel" as part of the "Oslo accords" in September 1993, neither he then, nor they today, recognize it as a "Jewish state." Israel is there, by the fact of history. And it is also there as the only reliably free, democratic, pro-Western state in a dark region where the most open societies (Jordan, Egypt) are arbitrarily ruled by moderate tyrants, and the worst are unspeakable. There are today more than five million Jews living in Israel, who have no citizenship anywhere else. The overwhelming majority were born there. This is what I mean by an historical fact.
    There may well be as many Palestinians scattered through the region under subsidy from the UN, who claim the "right of return" to what is now Israeli territory, but who were not born there. It should be remembered, constantly, that they descend from Palestinian ancestors who were one half of a population exchange that happened in the 1940s. And that an approximately equal number of Jews were uprooted from their homes throughout the Arab world - under pressure of both the state and the mob - many of whom found refuge in Israel. The Palestinians are ill served by the failure of Ms. Rice and all other diplomatic authorities in the West to remind them of the facts, plainly. (Ottawa Citizen)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Nov 23, 2007]

 

 

 

The Perils of Engagement - Jeff Robbins (Wall Street Journal)

• If history is any guide, next week's meeting in Annapolis will yield unsatisfactory results, Israel will be blamed for failing to make the requisite concessions, and the Bush administration will be criticized for its "failure to engage." The problem is that all too often, those who blame the U.S. for failing to deliver Mideast peace are some of the world's most culpable enablers of Mideast violence - and those who are themselves actually responsible for erecting the fundamental roadblocks to a resolution of the conflict.

• It was the Arab bloc, including the Palestinian leadership, that decided to reject the UN's 1947 partition of Palestine into two states, Arab and Jewish, living side by side. Instead it invaded the nascent Jewish state rather than coexist with it, spawning the conflict that has so burdened the world for the last 60 years.

• We are also not responsible for the Arab world's choice not to create a Palestinian Arab state in East Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank from 1948 to 1967, when it easily could have done so - before there were any Jewish settlements there to serve as the public object of Arab grievance.

• Nor can the U.S. government under President Clinton be criticized for failing to pursue Yasser Arafat with sufficient solicitude between 1993 and late 2000. The Clinton administration was, after all, the most ardent of suitors of the Palestinian leader - only to be forced to watch Arafat reject an independent Palestinian state in all of Gaza and virtually all of the West Bank.

• It was the Palestinian leadership, not the U.S., that decided in the fall of 2000 that, rather than accept an independent Palestinian state, its wiser course was to launch a four-year bombing campaign against Israel's civilian population. The result was not merely over 1,100 Israeli civilians killed, but several thousand Palestinians dead, as well as a shattered Palestinian economy and the decision by Israel to begin construction of a security barrier in July 2002.

• When Israel withdrew from all of Gaza in 2005, the Arab world had the opportunity for a fresh start there - to create a measure of hope for a population whose suffering long predated any Israeli presence. Instead, the Hamas-dominated Palestinian leadership opted to begin and then intensify an aggressive missile-launching campaign against Israeli civilian centers.

• Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries, whose treasuries overflow with petrodollars, are in a position to invest heavily in Gaza, create economic opportunities for its destitute population, and dilute the toxin-filled atmosphere there. They have not done so. The Egyptians are in a position to act decisively to stop the flow of rockets, bombs and other arms from Egypt into Gaza, where they are used to attack Israeli civilians. They have not done so.

  The writer was a U.S. Delegate to the UN Human Rights Commission during the Clinton administration.

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Nov 21, 2007]

 

 

The Annapolis Fiasco - Brett Stevens
"Annapolis" was conceived earlier this year by the Bush administration as a landmark conference that would revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and lead to a final settlement by January 2009. Today, the operative theory is that Israel's neighbors, fearful of Iran's growing regional clout, have a newfound interest in putting the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to rest. Few Israelis take seriously the view that the creation of a Palestinian state offers a solution to their concerns about Iran. On the contrary, they fear that such a state would become yet another finger of the Islamic Revolution, just as Hizbullahstan is to their north in Lebanon, and Hamastan is to their south in Gaza. Among the principles sharply in dispute is whether Israel is a Jewish state. One would have thought the question of Israel's Jewishness was settled 60 years ago by a UN partition plan that speaks of a "Jewish state" some 30 times. (Wall Street Journal)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Nov 20, 2007]

 

 

 

Israeli Confidence-Building Measures Toward the Palestinians
Israel has recently taken practical steps to assist the Palestinian government of Mahmoud Abbas. Approximately $250 million in withheld PA tax and customs revenue has already been transferred to the PA, with the remaining $250 million to be transferred by the end of the year. 25 roadblocks and checkpoints were removed in the West Bank. About 170 wanted Fatah terrorists were offered amnesty in exchange for renunciation of terrorism and surrendering of weapons. About 350 prisoners were released on 20 July and 1 October, with a third release now being contemplated. Israel recently consented to the transfer of supplies and equipment to the PA Security Forces, above and beyond that called for in the Israel-Palestinian agreements. (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

 

Palestinians Harden Refusal to Accept a "Jewish State"
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reiterated on Wednesday that there could be no substantive peace negotiations without explicit Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat told Al-Arabiya Wednesday that "the Palestinians will never acknowledge Israel's Jewish identity." PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad was also quoted by Israel Radio as rejecting Olmert's demand. (Jerusalem Post)

 

Is Israel a Jewish State? - Jeff Jacoby
Israeli Prime Minister Olmert announced that he expects the Palestinian Authority to finally acknowledge Israel's existence as a Jewish state. If the more than 55 countries that make up the Organization of the Islamic Conference are entitled to recognition as Muslim states, and if the 22 members of the Arab League are universally accepted as Arab states, why should anyone balk at acknowledging Israel as the world's lone Jewish state? There are many countries in which national identity and religion are linked. Argentinian law mandates government support for the Roman Catholic faith. Queen Elizabeth II is the supreme governor of the Church of England. In the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, the constitution proclaims Buddhism the nation's "spiritual heritage." "The prevailing religion in Greece," declares Section II of the Greek Constitution, "is that of the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ."
    In no region of the world do countries so routinely link their national character to a specific religion as in the Muslim Middle East. The flag of Saudi Arabia features the Islamic declaration of faith; on the Iranian flag, the Islamic phrase "Allahu Akbar" (God is great") appears 22 times. In the Palestinian Authority's Basic Law, Article 4 provides that "Islam is the official religion in Palestine." The refusal of the Palestinian Authority to acknowledge Israel as a legitimate Jewish state isn't a denial of reality; it is a sign of their determination to change that reality. Like Arab leaders going back a century, they seek not to live in peace with the Jewish state, but in place of the Jewish state. (Boston Globe)

 

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Nov 15, 2007]

 

 

 

 

The Missing Arab Psychological Shift - Editorial
For years, the notion of creating a Palestinian state was rejected by most Israelis and even by the U.S. government. The U.S. and Israeli positions have changed beyond recognition in this respect, and this sea change in Israel has permeated the public and transformed our politics. By contrast, no Arab or Palestinian leader has uttered the words "Jewish state." Defending the notion of Jewish national rights in any part of "Palestine" is still taboo. It is on creating this "psychological shift" on the Palestinian/Arab side that international diplomacy must explicitly focus, rather than continuing to pretend that it has already happened. Such an Arab shift would directly dismantle the obstacle at the heart of the conflict. (Jerusalem Post)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Nov 8, 2007]

 

 

Defining Down the Roadmap - Rick Richman
PA officials said they plan to deploy 500 security forces in Nablus, the largest city in the West Bank, in an effort to end the anarchy there. U.S. security coordinator Gen. Keith Dayton was quoted as saying, "This is where the Palestinian state will get its first real test." Actually, this will be the fourth "real test" for the PA security forces. They have already had at least three such tests in the past two years, and flunked them all. In September 2005, after Israel withdrew from Gaza, the PA security forces stood by as the former Israeli synagogues, which could have been used as schools, were burned and as Israeli greenhouses, which could have provided jobs, were looted. Security at the Gaza-Egyptian border collapsed within three days.
    Over the succeeding two years, the PA forces proved unable to prevent massive smuggling of weapons and terrorists across the border from Egypt, or stop the daily firing of rockets into Israel from Gaza, or prevent tunneling under the border and the kidnapping and killing of Israeli soldiers. Finally, in June 2007, the PA forces were routed from Gaza by Hamas forces they outnumbered.
    Secretary of State Rice is seeking to convene a conference to negotiate a Palestinian state "as soon as possible," even though the PA has been unable to enforce basic civic order, much less meet its Phase I Roadmap obligation to engage in "sustained, targeted, and effective operations" to dismantle terrorist capabilities and infrastructure. Gen. Dayton's "test" for the PA reflects the continuing process of defining down the conditions for a Palestinian state, consistent with Secretary Rice's waiver of Palestinian compliance with Phase I and II obligations as a precondition to Phase III final status negotiations. (New York Sun)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Nov 2, 2007]

 

 

PA TV Sings to Israel's Destruction - Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook (Palestinian Media Watch)
    While the PA announces in English its demand for a two-state solution, in Arabic it continues to define all of Israel as "Palestine," and to promise Israel's destruction.
    A new video clip, broadcast numerous times daily since it first appeared on Fatah-controlled TV last week, passionately promises that every Israeli city will be "liberated," including Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, Beersheba and Tiberias.

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Oct 30, 2007]

 

 

Rules of the Game, Palestinian-Style - Barry Rubin (Jerusalem Post)

• Several Fatah security force officers assigned to protect Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as he went to meet with PA head Mahmoud Abbas, at the end of June, planned to assassinate him instead. There is a supposedly moderate leadership running the PA and Fatah, and this kind of thing is still happening.

• The would-be assassins were Fatah - not Hamas, and they were quickly released by PA authorities before outside pressure forced their re-arrest. The PA has never really punished anyone for murdering or trying to kill an Israeli or for attacking Israel.

• The rules of Palestinian politics are fatal to the hope of getting a Palestinian state, of the Palestinian polity becoming more moderate, of ending terrorism, or stopping even officially sponsored PA incitement. The rules are:
   

  1. Palestinians cannot stop other Palestinians from attacking Israel. To do so would be betraying the cause, becoming Israel's lackey.

  2. He who is most militant is always right. Extremism equals heroism. This is one reason why Fatah has such a difficult time competing with Hamas.

  3. More violence is good and a "victory" if it inflicts casualties or damage on Israel.

  4. No Israeli government can do anything good. Olmert is no better than anyone else even as he offers to accept a Palestinian state.

  5. Since Palestinians are the perpetual victim they are entitled to everything they want and never need to give anything in exchange for Israeli concessions.

  6. Wiping Israel off the map is morally correct.

  7. It is more important to be steadfast and patient with a terrible status quo than to make big gains by ending the conflict forever.

• These are some of the reasons why the Palestinian side cannot - and will not - reach for peace or keep existing commitments very well. Even if a handful of top Palestinians want to reach agreement with Israel, they cannot - and dare not - violate these commandments.

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Oct 31, 2007]

 

 

 

What Will Happen after Bush? - Itamar Rabinovich
A letter signed by eight famous individuals including Zbigniew Brzezinski, Lee Hamilton, Brent Scowcroft, and Thomas Pickering holds that the Annapolis conference must deal with "the substance of a permanent peace" and that it should adopt the outlines of a permanent status agreement. If Israelis and Palestinians do not manage to reach such an agreement, the Middle East Quartet will have to propose a formulation of its own for an agreement based on the partition into two states on the basis of the June 4, 1967 lines.
    The importance of this letter must be sought in the effort to shape the American agenda on "the day after" the presidential elections. The day after the elections will see an increase in the efforts to convince the new president that there is no better way to shake off Bush's legacy than by bringing about a far-reaching change in U.S. Middle East policy.
    Another context is the continuing erosion of Israel's standing in the U.S. This does not manifest itself in public opinion polls and in votes in Congress, but rather in the loss of the "moral horizon," the change that has occurred in the standing of Israel, which used to be regarded as an attractive and just state. A clear expression of this is the recent reception of Jimmy Carter's book and of the book written by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt about the Israeli lobby. These books are making waves and their authors are appearing throughout the U.S. The "letter of the eight" is another link in this chain. The author is a former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. (1993-96). (Ha'aretz)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Oct 29, 2007]

 

 

Jerusalem Arabs Wary of Talk of Future PA Rule - Joshua Mitnick
Many Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are less than eager for an end to Israeli rule. Some 250,000 people could find themselves under Palestinian rule if the idea of ceding parts of Jerusalem to a new Palestinian state goes forward. "If they put a border here, we'll move to Haifa and Tel Aviv. You'll have 50,000 people who live here leaving East Jerusalem in minutes," said Jamil Sanduqa, head of the popular committee that governs the Shuafat neighborhood. Many of the city's Palestinian residents openly worry about being cut off from jobs, unemployment insurance and medical care. (Washington Times)

 

 

 

Security of Jerusalem Holy Sites Threatened - Mike Seid
    Dr. Ikrema Sabri, former mufti of Jerusalem, says, "Islam said the city was to be under the authority of Muslims because it is a Muslim city." Despite this week's findings of First Temple remains on the Mount by the Muslim Wakf, Sabri argues, "There was never a Jewish temple on Al-Aksa and there is no proof that there was ever a temple." Similarly, Sabri maintains that the Western Wall "is not part of the Jewish temple, it is just the Western Wall of the mosque," he says. "There is not a single stone with any relation at all to the history of the Hebrews." Islamic leaders were not always so certain. The Supreme Muslim Council in 1930 wrote that the Temple Mount's "sanctity dates from earliest times. Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute."  (Jerusalem Post)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Oct 26, 2007]

 

 

Let's Not Make a Deal - Barry Rubin
The West is more concerned over the suffering of Arabs than the Arabs' own governments or leaders. The West is desperate to get the Palestinians a state, while both Hamas and Fatah want only an independent country on their own terms. Hamas wants total victory and Israel's eradication; most of Fatah merely wants an agreement to move that dream closer to reality.

    Why is this? Because they: think they are winning; fail to comprehend the concept of compromise; embrace a culture of patience in which steadfastness wins versus what they perceive to be a Western culture of instant gratification; use militancy as a demagogic substitute for peace or prosperity; understand that he who says no gains bargaining leverage; hold such extreme goals that they cannot be satisfied by any conceivable deal with Israel, America, or the West.

    The West assumes that the Palestinian leadership will be grateful if it is given a state, when it wants to be given all of Israel; that Iran merely need feel secure from U.S. power, when it wants to throw America out of the region; that the Iraqi insurgents want more of a voice for the Sunni minority, when they want to chop the head off the Shi'ite majority; or that Syria just wants the Golan Heights when it desires Lebanon enslaved and Israel destroyed. Or that the Muslim Brotherhood wants a reformed democratic state when it prays for an Islamist theocracy. There are very good reasons why Western efforts at engagement are never followed by marriage, and why endless confidence-building measures, peace plans, aid packages, and summit conferences keep failing. (Jerusalem Post)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Oct 13, 2007]

 

 

 

Abbas Aide: Western Wall Is Ours (JTA)
    Adnan Husseini, an adviser to Mahmoud Abbas, said Thursday that Palestinian demands for Israel to cede eastern Jerusalem under any peace accord also include the Western Wall.
    "This is part of Islamic heritage that cannot be given up, and it must be under Muslim control," Husseini told Israel's NRG Web site, adding that all of Jerusalem's Old City should be part of a future Palestinian state.
    The Western Wall is a last vestige of the Second Temple, which was razed by the Romans in 70 CE.
    Husseini's statements appeared to contradict several past land-for-peace proposals that had called for Israel to retain control of the Western Wall and Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem's Old City.

 

 

Major Diplomatic Assets Such as Road Map and Bush's Letter Must Be Defended - Dov Weisglass (Ynet News)

• The Road Map conditioned a final-status agreement with the Palestinians on, among other things, the reorganization of the PA in a way that would prevent terror as much as possible.

• President Bush's letter to Prime Minister Sharon set out, among other things, the American administration's position on two issues pertaining to a final-status agreement: There will be no withdrawal to the 1967 borders and large Jewish settlement blocs will remain in Israeli hands; and there will be no return of refugees to Israel.

• The Road Map - and the inherent principle of ending terror as a condition for engaging in diplomatic talks - is a diplomatic document accepted by all nations, and was validated by a Security Council resolution. It was also approved with a binding decision by the Israeli government.

• The president's letter to the prime minister is an integral part of the disengagement plan, which was approved by a government resolution. In the U.S., the president's letter was approved by a vast majority in Congress.

• These are important diplomatic assets. The Palestinian argument widely voiced ahead of the upcoming international conference completely ignores this.

  The writer was former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's bureau chief and senior adviser.

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Oct 12, 2007]

 

 

 

 

 

Rice's Road Map - Rick Richman
Over the last year, Secretary of State Rice has transformed U.S. policy from (a) support for a Palestinian state conditioned on compliance with Phase I and II of the Roadmap, to (b) support for Phase III final status negotiations to establish a Palestinian state "as soon as possible," even though the Palestinians have not complied with either Phase I or II. Under the Roadmap, final status negotiations were to occur only after a sustained and effective effort by the PA to dismantle terrorist capabilities and infrastructure - Phase I. The PA has yet to dismantle a single terrorist organization, or arrest a terrorist leader, in the four years since the Palestinians accepted the Roadmap. In the same period, Israel dismantled 25 settlements, withdrew from Gaza, and released hundreds of prisoners. (New York Sun)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Oct 11, 2007]

 

 

 

Removing the Time Cap - Hillel Halkin
Summits, as is well known in the diplomatic trade, should never be counted on to negotiate anything. Indeed the only good reason for summits, as the diplomats also know, is to provide gala occasions for celebrating what negotiations have already concluded. Negotiating and deadlines do not go well together. When two sides negotiate under time pressure, time itself inevitably becomes a weapon in the hands of one, if not both, and is used to bludgeon the other into submission. The Palestinians are telling Israel that they are not coming to the conference at all unless agreement has been reached on the core issues "in principle," if not in precise detail. And if Israel doesn't agree, concede, or accept? Then, say the Palestinians, we're not coming to the Annapolis party - and George and Condi aren't going to like that one bit. The Palestinians also demand that Israel must agree in advance to set a six-month time limit on how long negotiations will take. And if negotiations take longer? Presumably, we then can have the pleasure of another intifada. (New York Sun)
    See also Annapolis Conference a Failure Foretold - Yossi Alpher
I have supported a negotiated two-state solution for the past 20 years. Why, then, do I remain skeptical - nay, fearful - regarding the outcome of the American-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian conference to be held in Annapolis? Everything points to a failure foretold. The Palestinian leadership under Mahmoud Abbas lacks the authority to enforce its writ. It has lost Gaza and only manages to control the West Bank thanks to Israeli military backing. It is in no position to make constructive concessions on the major issues of territory, refugees and Jerusalem, let alone deliver on them in terms of public support. It is not significantly reforming its corrupt and inept institutions - the definitive step that must precede progress toward peace.
    Better to postpone Annapolis and concentrate first on building Palestinian security and governmental institutions and rebuilding confidence between Israelis and Palestinians. That's what the Quartet appointed Tony Blair to do. (bitterlemons.org)

[Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Oct 9, 2007]

 

 

 

Is the Israel-Palestine Conflict about the Size of Israel, or About Its Existence? - Bernard Lewis (Wall Street Journal, 26Nov07)

• PLO and other Palestinian spokesmen have, from time to time, given formal indications of recognition of Israel in their diplomatic discourse in foreign languages. But that's not the message delivered at home in Arabic, in everything from primary school textbooks to political speeches and religious sermons. Here the terms used in Arabic denote, not the end of hostilities, but an armistice or truce, until such time that the war against Israel can be resumed with better prospects for success. Without genuine acceptance of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, as the more than 20 members of the Arab League exist as Arab states, or the much larger number of members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference exist as Islamic states, peace cannot be negotiated.

• A good example of how this problem affects negotiation is the much-discussed refugee question. During the fighting in 1947-1948, about three-fourths of a million Arabs fled or were driven (both are true in different places) from Israel and found refuge in the neighboring Arab countries. In the same period and after, a slightly greater number of Jews fled or were driven from Arab countries, first from the Arab-controlled part of mandatory Palestine (where not a single Jew was permitted to remain), then from the Arab countries where they and their ancestors had lived for centuries, or in some places for millennia. Most Jewish refugees found their way to Israel.

• What happened was thus, in effect, an exchange of populations not unlike that which took place in the Indian subcontinent in the previous year, when British India was split into India and Pakistan. Millions of refugees fled or were driven both ways - Hindus and others from Pakistan to India, Muslims from India to Pakistan. Another example was Eastern Europe at the end of World War II, when the Soviets annexed a large piece of eastern Poland and compensated the Poles with a slice of eastern Germany. This too led to a massive refugee movement - Poles fled or were driven from the Soviet Union into Poland, Germans fled or were driven from Poland into Germany.

• The government of Jordan granted Palestinian Arabs a form of citizenship, but kept them in refugee camps. In the other Arab countries, they were and remained stateless aliens without rights or opportunities, maintained by UN funding. Paradoxically, if a Palestinian fled to Britain or America, he was eligible for naturalization after five years, and his locally-born children were citizens by birth. If he went to Syria, Lebanon or Iraq, he and his descendants remained stateless, now entering the fourth or fifth generation.

• The reason for this has been stated by various Arab spokesmen. It is the need to preserve the Palestinians as a separate entity until the time when they will return and reclaim the whole of Palestine; that is to say, all of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and Israel. The demand for the "return" of the refugees, in other words, means the destruction of Israel. This is highly unlikely to be approved by any Israeli government.

• Which brings us back to the Annapolis summit. If the issue is not the size of Israel, but its existence, negotiations are foredoomed. And in light of the past record, it is clear that is and will remain the issue, until the Arab leadership either achieves or renounces its purpose - to destroy Israel. Both seem equally unlikely for the time being.

  The writer, professor emeritus at Princeton, is the author, most recently, of From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East (Oxford University Press, 2004).

  [Courtesy -- Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Daily Alert, Nov 26, 2007]

 

The New Anti-Semitism
By Denis MacShane
Tuesday, September 4, 2007; A17, Washington Post

Hatred of Jews has reached new heights in Europe and many points south and east of the old continent. Last year I chaired a blue-ribbon committee of British parliamentarians, including former ministers and a party leader, that examined the problem of anti-Semitism in Britain. None of us are Jewish or active in the unending debates on the Israeli-Palestinia