The other weapon: A Jewish settler rebuilds the illegal Maoz Esther outpost near the Jewish settlement of Kokhav Hashahar, northeast of the West Bank city of Ramallah, immediately after it was demolished by Israeli forces. It's a game settlers and Israeli authorities play, mostly for the cameras, with one certain outcome: settlements continue to grow. ( Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
They've positioned themselves.
President Obama, who'll be laying out his plan for Mideast peace in a speech in Cairo Thursday, wants a freeze on Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. No exceptions, no lawyerly definitions of what is and isn't a settlement, no sophistry. In Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's words, "the President was very clear when Prime Minister Netanyahu was here. He wants to see a stop to settlements – not some settlements, not outposts, not natural growth exceptions." (I've been harsh about Clinton's performance at the State Department to date. For once, she did not disappoint, though a day later she spoke in softer language.)
(Getty Images)
So of course there'll be settlement activity. There has been. There will continue to be. Israel's pledge to freeze settlement activity in one way or another is an old trick, a ritual that shadows its empty promises at every turn of the peace process. It promised to freeze settlement activity after the Oslo peace accords in 1993. Settlement populations have virtually tripled since, from around 125,000 back then to 300,000 today, not counting Arab East Jerusalem, where some 200,000 Israelis have moved in.
Settlement pledges are door mats for Israeli leaders to wipe their feet on, on their way to approving new settlement expansions.
"According to the newly disclosed data," The Times reports just this week, "about 58,800 housing units have been built with government approval in the West Bank settlements over the past 40 years. An additional 46,500 have already obtained Defense Ministry approval within the existing master plans, awaiting nothing more than a government decision to build."
At the current growth rate, those 46,500 units would be built before 2030. It's not only the Kashgars who are suffering a "silent demographic genocide," to use Colin Thubron's phrase.
What Netanyahu calls "natural growth" is what Palestinians call expropriation by the same old means.
In the Netanyahu view, the 120 existing settlements (and most of the "outposts," or illegal settlements, which Netanyahu will never dismantle on his watch) must be allowed to "grow." But the principle of legitimate natural growth in settlements isn't just absurd because the settlements are illegal to begin with. It's absurd on its face as a demographic argument even if the settlements were legitimate. A subdivision platted for so many houses won't have to grow and add yet more houses just because some babies are born in some of those houses. He equates a newborn in those settlements with the justification for a new house. Ergo, expansion as "natural growth." It's one of those exquisitely Israeli inventions that apply in proportion to its potential to expropriate, and in inverse proportion to what an urban planner constricted by laws and regulations would consider just.
But none of this is about justice. None of it is about logic, or "natural growth" or whatever euphemism Netanyahu and settler extremists revel in wrapping, like nooses, around Palestinian claims. It's about running out the clock on the mere feasibility of reaching a solution on settlements. In the Sinai after the Camp David agreement with Egypt it was relatively simple to remove a few thousand settlers. Same story in Gaza. But in the West Bank? Impossible. So the question is: if settlers are immovable, why not make Israel's claim on the West Bank immutable? That's the game.
Obama wants to end the game. He has big ideas, big ideals, but he doesn't appear to have the greatest backbone this side of Mr. Universe. At least not so far. After standing his ground with Netanyahu at the White House and talking tough on settlements since, he's backtracked somewhat. As The Times had it, "On the eve of a visit to the Middle East and Europe, President Obama on Tuesday played down a dispute with Israel over his demand for a suspension of further Jewish settlement in the West Bank but reiterated his call for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians that Israel’s hawkish leaders have not accepted."
Raise expectations. Then lower them. Netanyahu's government barely has a coalition to stand on. Obama has as close to a mandate as any president has had on this Palestinian-Israeli issue since, I venture to say, Dwight Eisenhower. And what does he do? Play cloak-and-Kissinger: he gives the appearance of talking tough to Israel, all the while reverting to an Israel-first policy that, as he himself said a few days ago, is neither in America's interest nor in Israel's long-term interest.
The great Amos Elon isn't yet in it but already turning before reaching his grave. (The Israeli writer died on Monday.) "The vast settlement project after 1967, aside from being grossly unjust, has been self-defeating and politically ruinous," he wrote in 2002. "The settlement project has not provided more security but less. It may yet, I tremble at the thought, lead to results far more terrible than those we are now witnessing."
If only voices like Elon's were those Obama was filling his head with. Unfortunately, he may be disproportionately worried about other voices--loud, even loud-mouthed, but, like most loud-mouths, rarely wise.
And all this before touching down in Cairo.
See Also:
- Israeli Settlements in the West Bank - Numbers, Statistics and Law (Updated)
- West Bank Settlements, Israeli Lies, American Rice-Throwing
- How Obama Can Resolve the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
- Obama and the Middle East: A Guide
- Obama and Israel: Analysis of Barack Obama's AIPAC Speech
- Netanyahu's Aipac Speech: What he Didn't Say
- AIPAC - The American Israel Public Affairs Committee
- United Nations Resolution 446 (1979) on Israeli West Bank Settlements: Text and Context
- Israel's Security Fence and Separation Barrier
- Israel to pump $250m into settlements
Comments
What if this Jew were a Presbyterian? Then would it be a crime if he built himself a house? Is there anywhere on Earth that Christians are not allowed to live? How about Moslems? Are there Moslem-free zones, even though Moslems have murdered thousands of innocent people all over the world in the last decade alone? What does it mean to try to create a Jew-free zone anywhere, let alone in the Jews’ historic, not to mention Biblical, homeland?
I’ll tell you what it means: It’s not the “settlements,” Stupid, it’s the antisemitism. It’s as old as the hills.
Abraham, if I build a house on land that isn’t mine anywhere in the world, whether I’m Presbyterian, Shinto or purple-haired, I’m breaking the law. Anywhere except, of course, if I’m in the West Bank, I’m an Israeli settler and I can swivel the muzzle of an Israeli tank in Palestinians’ faces. I don’t know what your question about Moslems has to do with expropriation, although your concluding statement did need a set up: When all else fails, wave the anti-Semitism banner.
My dear Pierre,
Most of the land constituting the “west bank” is not privatly owned. Prior to 1967 it was occupied by Jordan, who despite entreaties by the Israeli government,joined with Egypt and Syria in attacking Israel with the trumpeted intention of driving the Jews into the sea. When the area was under Jordainian control it was ethnically cleansed of Jews who had lived there for centuries and the death penalty was instituted for anyone who sold land to a Jew. Israel since reconquering this area it has recognized and defended the property rights of non-Jews in the area, but most of the land was not privately owned and was classified by the Jordanian government as state lands. Israel has permitted Jews, in some cases to build communities and live in these areas from which they were expelled prior to 1948. I don’t see how expelling the Jews again is in any way just. Why do you support this ethnic cleansing?
My dearer Ezra,
That’s a fabulous way, your use of “ethnic cleansing,” of not only turning the table on the Palestinians’ plight in the West Bank but spinning it so fast as to dizzy the unsuspecting reader–which is, I imagine, your point.
Of course Jordan occupied the West Bank before. So did Britain before that. So did the Ottomans before Britain. So did Jurassic critters way back when. It’s as if Palestinians were all Ralph Ellison characters, never real, never visible, never on the land. Palestinian history has never existed, so how could Palestinian claims to the land be real? That, too, is your point.
Jordan declared its occupied lands “state land” when it lorded over the West Bank, thus conveniently granting Israel the legal backdoor to expropriate all those “non-private” lands for itself once Israel invaded and occupied the place (illegally, one might add, according to the United Nations), a trick it plays to this day very effectively every time there’s a dispute there: Israel’s favorite method is to show that any land it wants was once used by the Jordanians, or was “state land,” thus nullifying Palestinian claims. It’s expropriation by loopholes.
B’Tselem sums it up rather well, shearing off the bull from the facts:
This process began in 1979 and is based on a manipulative implementation of the Ottoman Lands Law of 1858, which applied in the area at the time of occupation. Other methods employed by Israel to take control of land include seizure for military needs, declaration of land as “abandoned assets,” and the expropriation of land for public needs. Each of these is based on a different legal foundation. In addition, Israel has assisted private citizens purchasing land on the “free market.”
The process employed in taking control of land breaches the basic principles of due procedure and natural justice. In many cases, Palestinian residents were unaware that their land was registered in the name of the state, and by the time they discovered this fact, it was too late to appeal. The burden of proof always rests with the Palestinian claiming ownership of the land. Even if he meets this burden, the land may still be registered in the name of the state on the grounds that it was transferred to the settlement “in good faith.”
Occupying powers have mirrored each other in order to deny Palestinian rights, never asking how on earth 300,000 Israelis, all but a few dozen of them imports, could somehow have more rights to a land than its indigenous inhabitants, some of them admittedly “transferred” there by the original ethnic cleansing (as Ilan Pappe so aptly described it) of Palestinians off of a few hundred villages in what is today Israel.
I admire your rhetorical guile Ezra. I admire a fairer assessment of history and people’s rights a bit more.
My misguided friend Pierre,
Not rhetorical guile but simple facts. In all your wordy response I found no answer to the question I posed. How can you support the ethnic cleansing of Jews? Do you also support the ethnic cleansing of Christians that is going on in PA controlled areas? As you probably know, most Jewish settlement on the west bank is on previosly unnocupied territory or property that was expropriated from Jews when they were expelled in 1948. Why don’t you support a state in the west bank where everyone’s rights are respected? How can you support ethnic cleansing, no matter who is being expelled? Is that what you call “natural justice”?
My right honorable Ezra, I’m nothing if not for “a state in the west bank where everyone’s rights are respected.” I detailed my idea of a solution here.
Well Pierre,
After reading the article you referred me to I understand why you didn’t answer the question. You do support ethnic cleansing when the Jews (Christians?) are the ones being cleansed. Is this not racial/religous discrimination? Maybe Abraham was right.
Ezra, your rhetorical cleansing is fascinating. Of course I answered your question. But you never posed it in the spirit of honest discussion. So you can’t possibly hear the answer, especially one that doesn’t fit in ideological assumptions that, as I’ve said repeatedly, deny Palestinians’ right to exist.
For that’s what’s the issue in the end: Israel is big on claiming Palestinians deny it the right to exit. While Palestinians may rhetorically deny Israel’s right to exist (which is all they can do, considering Israel’s immutability), Israelis effectively, systematically, ruthlessly deny Palestinians’ right to exist every day. Your assumptions about the West Bank, a mirror of the Israeli military occupation’s brutality and contempt toward anything Palestinian there, make the point.
P.S.
Your reference to the establishment of a Jewish State as the “original sin” of the mideast is unfortunate and unfounded. I was assuming you knew a little more history. I suggest you familiarize yourself with the Sykes-Picot agreement. Or the agreement between The mufti of Jerusalem and Adolph Hitler (before the founding of the State of Israel)to spread Nazi ideology throughout the Islamic world and to rid the mideast of Jews once they were exterminated in Europe. If you think that is less “sinful” than establishing a homeland for the Jews, I question the accuracy of your moral compass.
Pierre,
It seems you have stopped talking to me and degenerated into bombastic slogans about Palestinians being denied the right to exist. I made no assumtions about the west band, I stated facts. Just to be clear. I deny no ones right to exist, or to live in their homes, towns and villages. It is you who are suggesting expelling Jews from their homes, as you hesitated to say here, but stated clearly in the article you refered me to.
The Palestinian lands, which included and preceded all of present day Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, were overwhelmingly Arab, as reported by the United Nations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionist_and_Palestinian_Arab_attitudes_before_1948#Introduction)
European Jews long plotted to take over Palestinian lands and to colonize and create Israel, and mobilized by Theodor Herzl’s Zionist movement in the 1880s. The Zionist movement was and is an extremely racist (anti-Arab and anti-Gentile), Jewish nationalistic effort to buy some and seize more and more Palestinian land from the Ottoman oppressors, then to circle the Jewish wagons and claim everything inside the clusters of settlements/outposts. From the 1880s to the 1940s, Jews immigrated to Palestine in massive numbers, seeking to overwhelm the Palestinian Arab (Muslim and Christian) populations and to stake increasing claims on Palestinian land by building Jewish-only, armed settlements (the same we see increasingly in the West Bank). Of course, Arabs saw themselves being surrounded by these Jewish militant outposts, which not only increased in number, but also in size. You can see the massive invasion of Jews and the resulting change in demographics (1880s to 1940s) in Palestine here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionist_and_Palestinian_Arab_attitudes_before_1948#Introduction
By 1948, the demographic shift due to illegal Jewish immigration, which the British tried to stop, can be seen here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Mandate_of_Palestine#Demographics.2C_1920
A Jewish terrorist group (Lehi) assassinated the British Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord Moyne, in Cairo on 6 November 1944. The assassination is said by some to have turned British Prime Minister Winston Churchill against the Zionist cause. The ban by the British on Jewish immigration to Palestine continued until Israel was created, carved out of Palestinian/Arab lands.
The racist ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Jewish terrorist groups, such as Irgun and Lehi, and the Palestinian exodus from their own lands are fairly well documented (with sources) here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Palestinian_exodus
and here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Palestinian_people
and here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_committed_during_the_1948_Arab-Israeli_war
Ezra, you’re dishonest, and disappointing: I thought you were above distorting the words of someone you’re having a live, public conversation with.
I have never, ever referred to “the establishment of a Jewish State as the ‘original sin’ of the mideast.” Nor would I. Nor would I ever question or even qualify Israel’s right to exist. I used the phrase “original sin” in reference to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. For context, and for my readers’ sake, not yours (as I still have respect for my readers), and since the record must be absolutely clear, here’s the full paragraph where the phrase appears:
“The Palestinian-Israeli conflict isn’t the greatest foreign-policy challenge facing the Obama administration. Pakistan is. But resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for good should be a foreign-policy priority. It is the founding conflict — the original sin — of all other Middle East conflicts. Barack Obama has the same historic opportunity that every president since Harry Truman has had, and has, with few exceptions, failed to grasp.”
Worse than implying anti-Semitism, Ezra, you’re manufacturing the impression of bigotry and slapping it on me, which is in my book no less base than a form of libel and a disgusting tactic.
You’re welcome to discuss issues all you like. You’re never welcome here to so grossly distort what I write (and, obviously, what others write as well). You’ve lost my respect. You’ve also lost my interest in honestly discussing matters with you, as you’ve shown your colors: distortion is your mode. It colors every comment you’ve made here. I’ve given you a disproportionate amount of attention and benefits of the doubt, thinking we might be on to something. But I don’t have time for this sort of thing, and I certainly won’t take the time to correct you or your libels next time you post them. Should you choose to do so, I’ll simply delete them. You’ve been warned, fairly and openly.
Abbas has stated that Jews would be allowed to live in the West Bank if they agree to be subject to Palestinian laws and taxes. The problem is the settlers don’t want that deal (I know – 35 of them are my close relatives). Can you imagine how long a Palestinian policeman or tax collector would live walking into Kiryat Arba, Bat Ayin or a few dozen other settlements?
The only reason the West Bank would be free of Jews is that it is their choice. Just remember that the first West Bank settlments started in the fall of 1967 specifically under the Allon Plan to break up the West Bank into pockets of Palestinian autonomy rather than a real state. The process has continued under that plan for the last 42 years. Read Gorenberg’s meticulously researched book, “The Accidental Empire”.
Ezra – you delude yourself that most of the west bank settlements are located where Jews lived prior to 1948. But given that some settlments are located on previous Jewish land (notably Kfar Etzion) I understand the motivation and agree with the return. How about doing the same for those arabs kicked out of Jaffa? As far as countries that don’t allow Jews to move into, there are several. BUT how many arabs are allowed to move to Israel?
Sorry Pierre,
I did not quote you accuratly, but it seems to me substantially the same. The Jewish presence is the problem. If we just remove the Jews, The Problem will be solved. Is that not your “solution” for the problems in the west bank? What am I distorting? Your writing would be improved by toning down the injured self-righteous-rhetoric. I haven’t attacked you, I have asked questions (largely unanswered) about the facts and reasoning you have put in marketplace.
Jdeldell: You misquoted me. I said that most Jewish settlement is on land that was previously unoccupied OR on property that was stolen from Jews when they were expelled prior to 1948.
Christopher, You ARE an anti-semite. Repent your hatred!
Ezra – Would you agree to let settlements live on under Palestinian soverneignty? Would you agree that the placement of the settlments has been carefully mapped out to make a viable Palestinian state impossible?
There is a bunch of empty state land in Israel. Can the Palestinians go and claim it like Israel does in the West Bank?
Ezra,
I don’t think it’s substantially the same. My reference to original sin imputed both sides for the conflict they’ve been engaged in, not for either side’s right to exist. As for the West Bank: I’m not being evasive. My solution is the same as it was for Sinai and Gaza: settlers must leave if Palestinians are to have a legitimate, contiguous state. If some settlers don;t leave, fine by me as long as every square inch of land they keep to themselves in the West Bank is compensated by an equal amount of land for Palestinians in Israel proper. Nothing cagey or complicated about that. Nor is it “ethnic cleansing” anymore than settlers being removed from Sinai and Gaza was. Really Ezra, who is using self-righteous, inflamatory language here? Anyway, I have Obama in bin Laden’s homeland to cover, so I can’t keep this going until Palestinian kingdom come (which could be a while). I appreciate the climb-down from distortions. You and jdledell can now pick it up from here. Please, keep it civil. I apply William O/ Douglas rules of freewheeling, but even then, there is a limit.
Pierre,
Thanks for the response. I think the expulsion of Jews from Sinai was unfortunate. Even more so from the Jewish villages in Gaza ( Built on unnocupied land and land from which Jews were expelled in 1948) was unjust and unfortunate. But at least it was done by the Jews themselves. This is not the same as you and the rest of the world demanding that the Jews be removed. It’s like demanding that all Americans be removed from Texas or expelling all Tamil Hindus from Bhuddist Sri Lanka. Unjust. If there were a State of Palestine where Jews were not permitted to live, would you support Israel’s expulsion of the palestinians in its territory? I wouldn’t.
Jdledell,
1)Yes. I have no problem with Jews living under Palestinian (or American or Russian or Hindu sovereignty) As long as their civil, religious, property and human rights are respected. Do you really think that is possible? First I would like to see an end to mass demonstrations in Arab areas calling for “Death to the Jews!” and a repeal of the death penalty for selling land to Jews.
2) There has been some strategic thinking behind some of communities establihed (or reestablished) by the Israeli government, But the overriding consideration has been trying to guarantee Israel’s security in the face of the obvious and undeniable hostility Israel is surrounded by.
3)Palestinians are claiming and occupying land all over Israel, from the Galilee to the Negev including Jerusalem. Do you support that? As long as the West Bank is disputed, what is the justification for allowing unauthorized settlement and building activity for Arabs, while denying it to Jews.
There is nothing racist with identifying the Zionist aims of Herzl’s movement to seize Palestinian lands–these are factual and well-documented. I have provided multiple links, each of which has extensive bibliographical information for deeper, scholarly research. But it is amusing that, in the face of substantial evidence that Zionism is indeed racist, one disingenuous sophist chooses to simply throw labels around, calling those who disagree with him “racists”. And, by the way, Semites include both Jews AND Arabs. I am not anti-Arab, nor am I anti-Jew, per se. But I am very much an anti-Zionist, because Zionism is a form of tribalism, which is a type of racism. Tribalism defends even the wrongs of its members against those outside the tribe.
The claims that Zionists (Jews created the “Zionist” label to self-identify as seeking a Jewish-only state, carved out of Palestinian lands) make on Palestinian lands are self-referential. This means that Jewish claims are “defined”/”justified” by Jewish Israeli laws written by Jews, and are not based on the facts of pre-existing claims/ownership of the land by Palestinian Arabs. Jews have no ethical claim on these Palestinian Arab lands, including modern day Israel. The creation of Israel comes at the cost of lands taken Arabs, to put it directly. Creation of a Jewish nation is by definition racist, because it not only implies, but explicitly states the promotion of Jews over non-Jews in that nation-state.
Ezra – Go to Kiryat Arba where my niece lives. There you will hear death to the arabs every day. At shul you will hear not only death to the arabs but the use of such descriptions as vermin etc. In fact you can see and hear those same cries in many west bank settlements. Hatred of the “other” goes to both sides.
I don’t have time to continue this debate but you should get off your “poor Israel they are so nice and good but no one cares” meme. Both sides have done wrong so knock off the lilly white and pure Israel garbage. I was in Israel for this last election cycle and what you hear Israeli politicians tell the people in Hebrew about the government’s plans is not the same as you read in US papers. You should have attended some of Yisrael Beiteinu rallies if you wanted your hair set on fire.
“Chrisopher” If you’re going to use a fake name at least learn how to spell it. I’m not anti-you, per se, but I am very much anti your knee jerk anti-semitism (and you know what the word means, as did Wilhelm Marr the German Jew-hater who invented the word in 1879). Just for the record, Japan, China, many European countries, Indian reservations etc. show preferential treatment for their majority ethnic groups. Quite reasonable, as these countries are their HOMELAND in this uncertain and dangerous world.
Dear Pierre,
Don’t you have a response for this racist support of your thesis?
jdledell, Without predjudice to your neice,
I agree that there is no lack of objectionable behavior in any direction one may look.I have not been talking about the behavior of particular Israelis, but about the general rights of Jews,as individuals and as a nation, no matter what side of the Green line they may live on.
Ezra,
Your pro-Zionist rants are not supported by fact or scholarly, independent research. Indeed, your unwillingness to admit any specific wrongs by Israeli Jews when challenged by jdledell and Pierre (who has made fair efforts to engage you in civil dialogue) shows how radical, ultra-nationalistic and dishonest your mindset and trolling are.
You’ve thrown around the “anti-semitic” label, which is not only a misnomer, but also a red herring, to distract from the paper-thin logic of your sophistry. You haven’t addressed the factual information I’ve provided in previous posts (with links to bibliographical sources), because there is neither substance nor coherent logic to your arguments.
Your statement about China and “many European countries” further displays your shocking ignorance of ethnic diversity and history in these countries. And I suppose you’re also too blind to see parallels between the oppression of ethnic Tibetans by the Chinese government and army and the oppression of ethnic Arabs by the Jews.
Again, I am not anti-Jew (or “anti-Semitic”). But I am very anti-Zionist, which is a racist form of ethnic cleansing and bigotry for those who remained within now Israel. The bigotry displayed by Jews against Arabs in Israel is akin to the terrible effect of the Jim Crow laws here in the U.S. The ethnic cleansing and bigotry is only moderated by the need to appease the international community. In fact, Nobel Peace Prize winners Jimmy Carter and Nelson Mandela courageously described the situation for Palestinian Arabs as apartheid–see President Carter’s “Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid”. I also commend Jews, such as author Avraham Burg, who wrote “The Holocaust Is Over; We Must Rise From its Ashes”, who rightly challenges the Nazi-victimization-entitles-Jews-to-everything mentality. I also appreciate the honesty of btselem.org for showing the daily indignities, discrimination, harassment and attacks by Jews on Arabs. There are Jews who refute what you spew, Ezra. Unfortunately, they appear to be in the minority (or perhaps they are the silent majority of worldwide Jews?).
Shall I point out any typos you’ve made? Stop the silly snipes, which make you look childish and immature.
Are you unaware of any discrimination, harassment, attacks of the 500,000,000 Arab Moslems occupying half of Asia and Much of Africa on the 5,000,000 Israeli Jews occupying a sliver of territory 200 miles long and less than 50 miles wide? I think you’ve confused David and Goliath. The Germans also convinced themselves that what was wrong with the world was that they were being victimized by the Jews. I am not suggesting that the behavior of individual Jews, or of the Israeli government is above reproach, or that some arabs have not suffered injustice in Israel, but look who is casting stones here. It it you are looking at the Jewish-Arab conflict in a one-sided, distorted and prejudicial way. Why do you deny the unjust acts commited against the Jews? At least Obama and the Europeans acknowedge a “cycle of violence”. Your “anti-zionism” faults one side only:the Jewish side. I call that anti-Jewish prejudice,i.e.anti-semitism.
Of all the ethnically based countries in the world, why is it ONLY the Jewish Homeland that is attacked by you as “racist by defininition” and whose very existance is illegitimate, irrespective of its behavior? Denying Jews the rights granted to other ethnic groups? What would you call it?
Another amusing diversion from Zionist injustices committed in the Middle East. Do two wrongs make a right? First, do not link what the Nazis did to the Jews of Europe to the Israel–the Palestinians are not responsible for Nazi actions. BTW, notice I didn’t blame “Germans”, but rather more specifically “Nazis”.
The invasion of Jewish Zionists in Palestine and the establishment of military camps (settlements and outposts) throughout Arab lands, resulting in antagonism and hostility and theft from Arabs by Jews (Zionists), resulted in a strong reaction by Muslims around the Middle East. Let’s keep our order of events straight (cause: Zionist invasions and ethnic cleansing; effect: anti-Jewish reaction, including expulsion of Jews).
Indeed, the Goliath in the Middle East has been Israel. Monetary support was provided by Jews all over the world to buy weapons for the Zionists carving up Palestinian lands. And since 1948, the U.S. has sent over $75 Billion in aid (mostly weapons) to support and arm the Zionists–currently, it’s about $3 Billion per year (mostly weapons). The Palestinians, fragmented by the Ottoman Empire, were poorly organized and poorly armed (as were their supporting neighbors).
Oh, and with regard to “prejudice” (meaning pre-judgement without researching the facts), I’ve already provided plenty of historical evidence–again, in all of your diatribes, you’ve provided none. I was once an ardent supporter of Israel, sympathetic to the “underdog”, the false comparison to David and Goliath, until I learned about the aims of the Zionist movement, beginning its execution in the 1880s, and who the real David and the real Goliath were. If one considers human rights to be universal, applying **even to** Palestinians, one must acknowledge the Zionist denial of human rights to Palestinians.
But you offer no specific defense for the rights of Palestinians to their land (what is now Israel). So, it appears that you would be the racist, and amusingly “anti-Semitic”, given how you so blatantly oppose the rights of these Semitic Arabs.
I think any who read your comments see no proof or evidence or sincerity. Only a blindly ultra-nationalistic and tribal (racist) advocacy, based on religious zealotry. It’s obvious to see that you were ready to “drink the punch” a long time ago. So, it’s fair to now ignore your empty rhetoric.
Prior to 1946 all the land and housing used by Jews returning to their homeland were bought and paid for. It was neither stolen nor taken by violence. Do you deny Jews the right to purchase land or a house? It was only after Israel was attacked by 5 Arab countries that people were displaced by this ill-conceived and unnecessary war.
There have been 100′s of million refugees in the last 70 years. 95% of these refugees have been resettled in their countries of refuge, whether in India, Pakistan, Cypress, Germany or Japan. Why have only the refugees who fled palestine remained in deplorable conditions, like an open sore? Why have they not been resettled and given civil rights in the countries they fled to? The majority of Jews in Israel are refugees from ARAB countries who chased them out after having lived there for centuries. These Jewish refugees (roughly equal to the number of Palistinian Arab refugees) were resettled and given civil rights in the Jewish Homeland. They now live normal, productive lives. Why were the Arab refugees not given the same opportunity in the Arab countries they fled to? How can you blame that on the Jews?
It is you who is proposing a furthur injustice: in order to repair the historical injustices suffered by the Palestinian refugees you would expell the Jews who have taken refuge in Israel. Didn’t you say two wrongs don’t make a right? Or does that principle not apply to the Jews in your way of thinking?
I find it really stupid for two grow country fighting for ‘west bank’ year after year, decade after decade. Isreal should know better, and they should leave peacefully, especially if they claim this is God land, well then why keep killing God’s children and innocent’s people?
Looks like Barack Obama has figured out that one of the main obstacles to mideast peace are the illegal Jewish settlements.The West Bank and Gaza Ghetto are Occupied Territories according to international law,The Geneva Convention,countless UN resolutions Israel has continuously ignored.
It is important to note that these Illegal settlements are exclusively Jewish,built on stolen private land,and are connected by roads that are also exclusive.The IDF supports the whole ROTTEN system and is let loose on the Non Jewish captive Palestinian populace corralled in Israel designed walled reservations.The Aim is to make the lives of these Non Jews so insufferable as to drive them off their lands and bring in Jewish Israelis.
Now if you build an Apartheid society not too many would argue it’s not wrong,but the Israeli model is Funded buy things like tax free Israel Bonds and other slippery financial instruments with origins MOSTLY in these United States.
Furthermore,Israel receives over $10 million a day in US DOLLARS that we know of.Unique in the annals of US foreign aid:US “CASH” is deposited in the Israeli treasury at the beginning of each year,and the US taxpayer pays the interest on that Borrowed money.Israel invests in turn that New money and collects interest.How sweet ‘Tis.
According to the Christian Science Monitor,the cost of Israel to the American TAXpayer has been over $1.3 TRILLION since 1973
End the Unjust Arab Occupation of Jewish Land
NO PALESTINIAN STATE – No land concessions R7.
Imagine that the various people who settled in the United States for the past 300 years decided one day that they one to parcel the United States into an independent State just for them, would the American public go for it. The Answer is absolutely NO.
The situation in Israel today is no different. The Arabs there are not Palestinians, there is no such Arab nation as Palestine or Palestinian people.
Europeans countries today are consisting of numerous people from other countries. Would the Europeans people cede part of their country to set up another State in their midst. The answer is absolutely NO.
Archeological excavations and historical data is the best proof Israel belongs to the Jewish Nation and non-other.
All the Arabs in Israel and surrounding areas are from the various Arab nations, such as Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and other Arab nations.
Transfer all Arabs from Israel to Jewish Land and Homes confiscated by Arab Countries.
Prominent PLO Arab says there are no ‘Palestinians’ and no “Palestine”
PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein admitted in a March 31, 1977 interview with a Dutch newspaper Trouw.
“The Palestinian people do 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. ”
The Qur’an 17:104 – states the land belongs to the Jewish people
If the historic documents, comments written by eyewitnesses and declarations by the most authoritative Arab scholars are still not enough, let us quote the most important source for Muslim Arabs:
“And thereafter we [Allah] said to the Children of Israel: ‘Dwell securely in the Promised Land. And when the last warning will come to pass, we will gather you together in a mingled crowd’.”.
017.104
YUSUFALI: And We said thereafter to the Children of Israel, “Dwell securely in the land (of promise)”: but when the second of the warnings came to pass, We gathered you together in a mingled crowd.
PICKTHAL: And We said unto the Children of Israel after him: Dwell in the land; but when the promise of the Hereafter cometh to pass We shall bring you as a crowd gathered out of various nations.
SHAKIR: And We said to the Israelites after him: Dwell in the land: and when the promise of the next life shall come to pass, we will bring you both together in judgment.
- Qur’an 17:104 -
Any sincere Muslim must recognize the Land they call “Palestine” as the Jewish Homeland, according to the book considered by Muslims to be the most sacred word and Allah’s ultimate revelation.
Any building of housing in The Greater Israel is the right and duty of the Israeli government. There is no such a thing as occupied territory. It is the land of Israel for over 4,000 years.
Sequence of historical events, agreements and a non-broken series of treaties and resolutions, as laid out by the San Remo Resolution, the League of Nations and the United Nations, gives the Jewish People title to the city of Jerusalem and the rest of Israel totaling approximately 45,000 square miles, as mandated by the League of Nations in July of 1922. The process began at San Remo, Italy, when the four Principal Allied Powers of World War I – Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan – agreed to create a Jewish national home in what is now the Land of Israel. (You might as well break apart Syria which was mandated at the same time).
YJ Draiman.
PS
20 Years of Research Reveals Jerusalem Belongs to Jews
(IsraelNN.com) Jacques Gauthier, a non-Jewish Canadian lawyer who spent 20 years researching the legal status of Jerusalem, has concluded: “Jerusalem belongs to the Jews, by international law.”.
Gauthier has written a doctoral dissertation on the topic of Jerusalem and its legal history, based on international treaties and resolutions of the past 90 years. The dissertation runs some 1,300 pages, with 3,000 footnotes. Gauthier had to present his thesis to a world-famous Jewish historian and two leading international lawyers – the Jewish one of whom has represented the Palestinian Authority on numerous occasions.
Gauthier’s main point, as summarized by Israpundit editor Ted Belman, is that a non-broken series of treaties and resolutions, as laid out by the San Remo Resolution, the League of Nations and the United Nations, gives the Jewish People title to the city of Jerusalem. The process began at San Remo, Italy, when the four Principal Allied Powers of World War I – Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan – agreed to create a Jewish national home in what is now the Land of Israel.
We must unleash the wrath of G-D against the enemies of Israel and those collaborating with the enemy.
End the Unjust Arab Occupation of Jewish Land
Crash Course on the Arab Israeli Conflict – part 1
Here are overlooked facts in the current Middle East situation; these were compiled by a Christian university professor. It makes sense and it’s not slanted. Jew and non-Jew –it doesn’t matter. Thank You.
1. Nationhood and Jerusalem. Israel became a nation in 1312 B.C.E., two thousand years before the rise of Islam.
2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C.E., the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.
4. The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 C.E. lasted no more than 22 years.
5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit.
6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran.
7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.
8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.
9. Arab and Jewish Refugees: In 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.
10. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.
11. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be around 630,000. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is estimated to be the same.
Crash Course on the Arab Israeli Conflict – Part 2
12. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee-group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples’ lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the state of New Jersey.
13. The Arab – Israeli Conflict: The Arabs are represented by eight separate nations, not including the Palestinians.
There is only one Jewish nation.
The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost.
Israel defended itself each time and won.
14. The P.L.O.’s Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied them.
15. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.
16. The U.N. Record on Israel and the Arabs: of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel.
17. Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel.
18. The U.N was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians.
19. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
20. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
The Qur’an 17:104 – states the land belongs to the Jewish people