From The Wall Street Journal, 20Jun07, by Michael Oren, senior fellow at the Shalem Center [my emphasis added]....
The green flags of Hamas are unfurling over Gaza and the Fatah forces trained and financed by the U.S. have ignominiously fled. Fears are rife that Iranian-backed and Syrian-hosted terror will next achieve dominance over the West Bank and proceed to undermine the pro-Western governments of Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and the Gulf. To avert this catastrophe, the U.S. has joined with the Israelis and the Europeans in resuming the flow of hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid to the PA under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas, and accelerating talks for the establishment of a West Bank Palestinian state.
But the policy ignores every lesson of the abortive peace process to date as well as Fatah's monumental corruption, jihadism and militancy. Indeed, the unbridled corruption of the PA and its Fatah headmen served as a principal cause of Hamas' electoral victory in 2006, as well as its takeover of Gaza.
Though Fatah originally aspired to replace Israel with a secular state, it refashioned itself in the 1990s as an Islamic movement, embracing the lexicon of jihad. Hundreds of mosques were built with public funds, and imams were hired to spread the message of martyrdom and the hatred of Christians and Jews. These themes became the staple of the official PA media, inciting the suicide bombings that began in 2000 and poisoning an entire generation of Palestinian youth.
Fatah has never fulfilled its pledges to crack down on terror. Though Mahmoud Abbas routinely criticizes Palestinian terrorist attacks as "contrary to the Palestinian national interest" - not an affront to morality and international law - he has never disavowed the al-Aqsa Brigades, a Fatah affiliate responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks against Israeli civilians.
In view of its performance over the past 14 years, the Palestinian Authority under Fatah can be counted on to squander most or all of the vast sums now being given to it by the U.S. and the international community. More gunmen will be hired and better weapons procured, but in the absence of a unified command and a leadership worth fighting for, PA soldiers will perform no more credibly than they did in Gaza. Abbas will continue to denounce terror while ignoring the terrorist units within his own organization, while PA imams will persist in preaching their jihadist sermons.
Clearly no progress toward Palestinian statehood can be made before Fatah has reformed itself financially, ideologically and structurally. This process is certain to take many years - longer if economic aid and political support are provided to the PA unconditionally.
The U.S., together with its Quartet partners, can work to establish areas of extensive Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank. Security, however, will be jointly administered by Israel and Jordan. The Jordanian involvement is crucial to convincing Palestinians that the status quo of occupation has ended and they may in the future assume full responsibility for their internal defense. Such an arrangement will benefit Jordan as well, by facilitating its efforts to fight radicalism and stem the flight of Palestinians over its borders.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Hamas Lying in Wait in West Bank
From The Washington Post, by MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, The Associated Press, Tuesday, June 19, 2007.....
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Hamas leaders in the West Bank have been driven underground by a Fatah campaign of kidnappings and arrests, but the Islamic militants warn they'll eventually come out of hiding to try to destabilize the rule of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with car bombings and assassinations.
Hamas is too weak now for a frontal assault on Fatah in the West Bank, but Iranian funding for Hamas, Abbas' political weakness and Fatah infighting could one day change the balance, Fatah leaders, Hamas militants and Israeli analysts say.
Security forces allied with Abbas say they're determined to snuff out Hamas in the West Bank. The president has declared the Hamas militias illegal, and his security chiefs said they wouldn't just go after Hamas' weapons, but also its money. "The only way to deal with Hamas ... is by dismantling every single military cell in the West Bank, and that's what the security apparatus is doing now," said Kamal Abu Rob, a Fatah lawmaker.
The best insurance against a Hamas takeover might come from elsewhere: Israel's relentless pursuit of Hamas has kept the militants on the defensive and the resumption of foreign aid to the West Bank, after a 15-month boycott, could swing public opinion strongly in Abbas' favor.
Hamas leaders are keeping their heads down. In the past week, some 120 Hamas activists have been arrested by security forces or kidnapped by a violent Fatah offshoot. Gunmen have stormed the parliament building in Ramallah, burned offices of Hamas lawmakers in Nablus and warned some government employees with Hamas ties not to return to work. One Hamas member has been killed and another seriously wounded. Several others have been shot in the legs.
Khouloud al-Masri, a Hamas member of the Nablus municipal council, was forced from her office Tuesday. She said Fatah gunmen told her she wouldn't be able to return the next day. Al-Masri said her husband is in hiding and their five children are with grandparents. In response, Hamas has made threats. "They (Fatah leaders) think Hamas is weak in the West Bank, just as they thought Hamas was in Gaza," said Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas hard-liner in Gaza. "The West Bank may surprise the world with what they don't expect, and it's best for them not to fall into this trap."
Hamas' military strength in the West Bank is difficult to assess. Some Israeli analysts say only a few dozen gunmen escaped arrest by Israel. But a top Palestinian security official in Ramallah said Hamas has recruited hundreds who are organized in sleeper cells, outfitted with guns and uniforms, and ready to move. Hamas, which carried out dozens of suicide bombings in Israel in recent years, can also draw on explosives experts and runs secret bomb labs, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the rules of his security service.
A senior Hamas militant leader said the group has recruited about 4,000 gunmen in Nablus and Hebron, and has thousands of weapons. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is wanted by Israel. He said that when the signal comes to act, Hamas would carry out car bombs and try to assassinate Fatah leaders to destabilize the West Bank. On Tuesday, civilian cars were banned from security headquarters in the territory amid concerns about car bombs.
Money might help tilt the balance.
Fatah's former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan alleged that Iran funded Hamas' onslaught on Gaza with some $250 million. "If we are not careful, it (the Iranian-directed campaign) will move to the West Bank," he told Palestine TV. And Hillel Frisch, an Israeli analyst, said Iranian money could buy off Fatah security officers who haven't been fully paid for months. He also noted that militants have moved from one group to the other in the past, and that money could be a strong incentive. With the foreign aid embargo lifted, Abbas expects full Western support for his government. The resumption of aid will allow him to pay his 27,000 security forces in the West Bank and ensure their loyalty.
Palestinians are following the power struggle with trepidation. "I hope that this new government will control security and control the street," said Medhat Hanans, 45, a shopkeeper in Ramallah. "The foreign aid that we will receive will help the government a lot." The Ramallah security chief said he has orders to block money to Hamas, some of which he says is funneled through West Bank businesses. He said Hamas' social institutions, such as welfare organizations, will also to be targeted.
Fatah's greatest weakness _ its petty internal rivalries _ may yet sabotage its stand against Hamas. Behind the scenes, there's angry finger-pointing over the loss of Gaza, but Fatah activists are under orders not to go public. Kadoura Fares, a Fatah leader in Ramallah, said the shock of recent days might finally shake up the movement, which failed to make reforms even after its election defeat to Hamas in 2006. "Fatah activists have now realized the importance of defending their movement and building it, and the necessity of halting the internal battles," he said. "For the first time, you find a kind of harmony in the movement, because it is threatened by Hamas, and our national project (of a state) is threatened too."
___
AP writers Ali Daraghmeh contributed to this report from Nablus, Dalia Nammari from Ramallah and Laurie Copans from Jerusalem.
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Hamas leaders in the West Bank have been driven underground by a Fatah campaign of kidnappings and arrests, but the Islamic militants warn they'll eventually come out of hiding to try to destabilize the rule of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with car bombings and assassinations.
Hamas is too weak now for a frontal assault on Fatah in the West Bank, but Iranian funding for Hamas, Abbas' political weakness and Fatah infighting could one day change the balance, Fatah leaders, Hamas militants and Israeli analysts say.
Security forces allied with Abbas say they're determined to snuff out Hamas in the West Bank. The president has declared the Hamas militias illegal, and his security chiefs said they wouldn't just go after Hamas' weapons, but also its money. "The only way to deal with Hamas ... is by dismantling every single military cell in the West Bank, and that's what the security apparatus is doing now," said Kamal Abu Rob, a Fatah lawmaker.
The best insurance against a Hamas takeover might come from elsewhere: Israel's relentless pursuit of Hamas has kept the militants on the defensive and the resumption of foreign aid to the West Bank, after a 15-month boycott, could swing public opinion strongly in Abbas' favor.
Hamas leaders are keeping their heads down. In the past week, some 120 Hamas activists have been arrested by security forces or kidnapped by a violent Fatah offshoot. Gunmen have stormed the parliament building in Ramallah, burned offices of Hamas lawmakers in Nablus and warned some government employees with Hamas ties not to return to work. One Hamas member has been killed and another seriously wounded. Several others have been shot in the legs.
Khouloud al-Masri, a Hamas member of the Nablus municipal council, was forced from her office Tuesday. She said Fatah gunmen told her she wouldn't be able to return the next day. Al-Masri said her husband is in hiding and their five children are with grandparents. In response, Hamas has made threats. "They (Fatah leaders) think Hamas is weak in the West Bank, just as they thought Hamas was in Gaza," said Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas hard-liner in Gaza. "The West Bank may surprise the world with what they don't expect, and it's best for them not to fall into this trap."
Hamas' military strength in the West Bank is difficult to assess. Some Israeli analysts say only a few dozen gunmen escaped arrest by Israel. But a top Palestinian security official in Ramallah said Hamas has recruited hundreds who are organized in sleeper cells, outfitted with guns and uniforms, and ready to move. Hamas, which carried out dozens of suicide bombings in Israel in recent years, can also draw on explosives experts and runs secret bomb labs, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the rules of his security service.
A senior Hamas militant leader said the group has recruited about 4,000 gunmen in Nablus and Hebron, and has thousands of weapons. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is wanted by Israel. He said that when the signal comes to act, Hamas would carry out car bombs and try to assassinate Fatah leaders to destabilize the West Bank. On Tuesday, civilian cars were banned from security headquarters in the territory amid concerns about car bombs.
Money might help tilt the balance.
Fatah's former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan alleged that Iran funded Hamas' onslaught on Gaza with some $250 million. "If we are not careful, it (the Iranian-directed campaign) will move to the West Bank," he told Palestine TV. And Hillel Frisch, an Israeli analyst, said Iranian money could buy off Fatah security officers who haven't been fully paid for months. He also noted that militants have moved from one group to the other in the past, and that money could be a strong incentive. With the foreign aid embargo lifted, Abbas expects full Western support for his government. The resumption of aid will allow him to pay his 27,000 security forces in the West Bank and ensure their loyalty.
Palestinians are following the power struggle with trepidation. "I hope that this new government will control security and control the street," said Medhat Hanans, 45, a shopkeeper in Ramallah. "The foreign aid that we will receive will help the government a lot." The Ramallah security chief said he has orders to block money to Hamas, some of which he says is funneled through West Bank businesses. He said Hamas' social institutions, such as welfare organizations, will also to be targeted.
Fatah's greatest weakness _ its petty internal rivalries _ may yet sabotage its stand against Hamas. Behind the scenes, there's angry finger-pointing over the loss of Gaza, but Fatah activists are under orders not to go public. Kadoura Fares, a Fatah leader in Ramallah, said the shock of recent days might finally shake up the movement, which failed to make reforms even after its election defeat to Hamas in 2006. "Fatah activists have now realized the importance of defending their movement and building it, and the necessity of halting the internal battles," he said. "For the first time, you find a kind of harmony in the movement, because it is threatened by Hamas, and our national project (of a state) is threatened too."
___
AP writers Ali Daraghmeh contributed to this report from Nablus, Dalia Nammari from Ramallah and Laurie Copans from Jerusalem.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
HOW US "REALIM" ADMINISTRATION TAUGHT IRANTHE WRONG LESSONS
From MERIA, Volume 11, No. 2, Article 5/8 - June 2007 by Nathan Thrall ...
The prospect of peacefully preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons looks bleaker by the day. Iran appears more emboldened than it has in decades, and support for the Bush administration's foreign policy is at an all-time low. As a presidential election year approaches, conservatives are seeking to distance themselves from Bush by eulogizing Reagan. Yet they forget or ignore that the present predicament is in large part Reagan's legacy. This article examines how the Regan administration, through a seemingly endless series of self-deceits and capitulations, nurtured the ambitions of Iran's current leadership, ruined U.S. credibility, and eroded America's power to deter the Islamic Republic. Still, while Democrats may welcome any shifting of blame from the failed Iran policies of Reagan's predecessor [Carter], it is they who have the most to learn from Reagan's mistakes; for Reagan's errors were realist errors, and the influence of realism is now rising most markedly on the left. Carter gave birth to the decades-long U.S. appeasement of Iran; Reagan fostered it.....
Follow the link for the full article.
The prospect of peacefully preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons looks bleaker by the day. Iran appears more emboldened than it has in decades, and support for the Bush administration's foreign policy is at an all-time low. As a presidential election year approaches, conservatives are seeking to distance themselves from Bush by eulogizing Reagan. Yet they forget or ignore that the present predicament is in large part Reagan's legacy. This article examines how the Regan administration, through a seemingly endless series of self-deceits and capitulations, nurtured the ambitions of Iran's current leadership, ruined U.S. credibility, and eroded America's power to deter the Islamic Republic. Still, while Democrats may welcome any shifting of blame from the failed Iran policies of Reagan's predecessor [Carter], it is they who have the most to learn from Reagan's mistakes; for Reagan's errors were realist errors, and the influence of realism is now rising most markedly on the left. Carter gave birth to the decades-long U.S. appeasement of Iran; Reagan fostered it.....
Follow the link for the full article.
"THE FENCE"
Shalom readers. I'm giving us both a break while I travel in Israel etc. However I cannot resist sharing this very moving story (hat-tip to Tamara) from a letter by Rabbi Dr. Gideon M. Goldenholz Temple Sinai of Hollywood 1400 North 46th Ave. Hollywood, FL 33021 [read it all]...
The sky was gloomy that morning as we waited anxiously. All the men, women and children of Piotrkow's Jewish ghetto had been herded into a square. Word had gotten around that we were being moved. My father had only recently died from typhus, which had run rampant through the crowded ghetto. My greatest fear was that our family would be separated.
"Whatever you do," Isidore, my eldest brother, whispered to me, "don't tell them your age. Say you're sixteen". I was tall for a boy of 11, so I could pull it off. That way I might be deemed valuable as a worker. An SS man approached me, boots clicking against the cobblestones. He looked me up and down, then asked my age.
"Sixteen," I said. He directed me to the left, where my three brothers and other healthy young men already stood. My mother was motioned to the right with the other women, children, sick and elderly people. I whispered to Isidore, "Why?" He didn't answer. I ran to Mama's side and said I wanted to stay with her.
"No," she said sternly. "Get away. Don't be a nuisance. Go with your brothers." She had never spoken so harshly before. But I understood. She was protecting me. She loved me so much that, just this once, she pretended not to. It was the last I ever saw of her.
My brothers and I were transported in a cattle car to Germany. We arrived at the Buchenwald concentration camp one night weeks later and were led into a crowded barrack. The next day, we were issued uniforms and identification numbers. "Don't call me Herman anymore." I said to my brothers. "Call me 94983." I was put to work in the camp's crematorium, loading the dead into a hand-cranked elevator. I, too, felt dead. Hardened, I had become a number.
Soon, my brothers and I were sent to Schlieben, one of Buchenwald's sub-camps near Berlin. One morning I thought I heard my mother's voice. "Son, she said softly but clearly, "I am sending you an angel." Then I woke up. Just a dream. A beautiful dream. But in this place there could be no angels. There was only work, hunger and fear.
A couple of days later, I was walking around the camp, around the barracks, near the barbed-wire fence where the guards could not easily see. I was alone. On the other side of the fence, I spotted someone; a young girl with light, almost luminous curls. She was half-hidden behind a birch tree. I glanced around to make sure no one saw me. I called to her softly in German.
"Do you have something eat?" She didn't understand. I inched closer to the fence and repeated my question in Polish. She stepped forward. I was thin and gaunt, with rags wrapped around my feet, but the girl looked unafraid. In her eyes, I saw life. She pulled an apple from her woolen jacket and threw it over the fence. I grabbed the fruit and, as I started to run away, I heard her say faintly, "I'll see you tomorrow."
I returned to the same spot by the fence at the same time every day. She was always there with something for me to eat - a hunk of bread or, better yet, an apple. We didn't dare speak or linger. To be caught would mean death for us both. I didn't know any-thing about her except that she understood Polish and seemed to me to be just a kind farm girl. What was her name? Why was she risking her life for me? Hope was in such short supply, and this girl on the other side of the fence gave me some, as nourishing in its way as the bread and apples.
Nearly seven months later, my brothers and I were crammed into a coal car and shipped to Theresienstadt camp in Czechoslovakia. "Don't return," I told the girl that day. "We're leaving." I turned toward the barracks and didn't look back, didn't even say good-bye to the girl whose name I'd never learned ... the girl with the apples.
We were in Theresienstadt for three months. The war was winding down and Allied forces were closing in, yet my fate seemed sealed. On May 10, 1945, I was scheduled to die in the gas chamber at 10:00 AM. In the quiet of dawn, I tried to prepare myself. So many times death seemed ready to claim me, but somehow I'd survived. Now, it was over. I thought of my parents. At least, I thought, we will be reunited.
At 8 A.M. there was a commotion. I heard shouts, and saw people running every which way through camp. I caught up with my brothers. Russian troops had liberated the camp! The gates swung open. Everyone was running, so I did too.
Amazingly, all of my brothers had survived; I'm not sure how. But I knew that the girl with the apples had been the key to my survival. In a place where evil seemed triumphant, one person's goodness had saved my life, had given me hope in a place where there was none. My mother had promised to send me an angel, and the angel had come.
Eventually I made my way to England where I was sponsored by a Jewish charity, put up in a hostel with other boys who had survived the Holocaust and trained in electronics. Then I came to America, where my brother Sam had already moved.
I served in the U. S. Army during the Korean War, and returned to New York City after two years. By August 1957 I'd opened my own electronics repair shop. I was starting to settle in. One day, my friend Sid who I knew from England called me. "I've got a date.
She's got a Polish friend. Let's double date."
A blind date? Nah, that wasn't for me. But Sid kept pestering me, and a few days later we headed up to the Bronx to pick up his date and her friend, Roma. I had to admit, for a blind date this wasn't so bad. Roma was a nurse at a Bronx hospital. She was kind and smart. Beautiful, too, with swirling brown curls and green, almond-shaped eyes that sparkled with life.
The four of us drove out to Coney Island. Roma was easy to talk to, easy to be with. Turned out she was wary of blind dates too! We were both just doing our friends a favor. We took a stroll on the boardwalk, enjoying the salty Atlantic breeze, and then had dinner by the shore. I couldn't remember having a better time.
We piled back into Sid's car, Roma and I sharing the backseat. As European Jews who had survived the war, we were aware that much had been left unsaid between us. She broached the subject, "Where were you, during the war?" she asked softly. "The camps," I said, the terrible memories still vivid, the irreparable loss. I had tried to forget. But you can never forget.
She nodded. "My family was hiding on a farm in Germany, not far from Berlin," she told me. "My father knew a priest, and he got us Aryan papers." I imagined how she must have suffered too, fear, a constant companion. And yet here we were, both survivors, in a new world.
"There was a camp next to the farm." Roma continued. "I saw a boy there and I would throw him apples every day." What an amazing coincidence that she had helped some other boy. "What did he look like? I asked. He was tall. Skinny. Hungry. I must have seen him every day for six months."
My heart was racing. I couldn't believe it. This couldn't be. "Did he tell you one day not to come back because he was leaving Schlieben?" Roma looked at me in amazement.
"Yes."
"That was me!"
I was ready to burst with joy and awe, flooded with emotions. I couldn't believe it. My angel.
"I'm not letting you go," I said to Roma. And in the back of the car on that blind date, I proposed to her. I didn't want to wait.
"You're crazy!" she said. But she invited me to meet her parents for Shabbat dinner the following week. There was so much I looked forward to learning about Roma, but the most important things I always knew: her steadfastness, her goodness. For many months, in the worst of circumstances, she had come to the fence and given me hope. Now that I'd found her again, I could never let her go. That day, she said yes.
And I kept my word. After nearly 50 years of marriage, two children and three grandchildren, I have never let her go.
Herman Rosenblat Miami Beach, Florida.
This is a true story and you can find out more in this article from OCRegister and also from Newsday.
The sky was gloomy that morning as we waited anxiously. All the men, women and children of Piotrkow's Jewish ghetto had been herded into a square. Word had gotten around that we were being moved. My father had only recently died from typhus, which had run rampant through the crowded ghetto. My greatest fear was that our family would be separated.
"Whatever you do," Isidore, my eldest brother, whispered to me, "don't tell them your age. Say you're sixteen". I was tall for a boy of 11, so I could pull it off. That way I might be deemed valuable as a worker. An SS man approached me, boots clicking against the cobblestones. He looked me up and down, then asked my age.
"Sixteen," I said. He directed me to the left, where my three brothers and other healthy young men already stood. My mother was motioned to the right with the other women, children, sick and elderly people. I whispered to Isidore, "Why?" He didn't answer. I ran to Mama's side and said I wanted to stay with her.
"No," she said sternly. "Get away. Don't be a nuisance. Go with your brothers." She had never spoken so harshly before. But I understood. She was protecting me. She loved me so much that, just this once, she pretended not to. It was the last I ever saw of her.
My brothers and I were transported in a cattle car to Germany. We arrived at the Buchenwald concentration camp one night weeks later and were led into a crowded barrack. The next day, we were issued uniforms and identification numbers. "Don't call me Herman anymore." I said to my brothers. "Call me 94983." I was put to work in the camp's crematorium, loading the dead into a hand-cranked elevator. I, too, felt dead. Hardened, I had become a number.
Soon, my brothers and I were sent to Schlieben, one of Buchenwald's sub-camps near Berlin. One morning I thought I heard my mother's voice. "Son, she said softly but clearly, "I am sending you an angel." Then I woke up. Just a dream. A beautiful dream. But in this place there could be no angels. There was only work, hunger and fear.
A couple of days later, I was walking around the camp, around the barracks, near the barbed-wire fence where the guards could not easily see. I was alone. On the other side of the fence, I spotted someone; a young girl with light, almost luminous curls. She was half-hidden behind a birch tree. I glanced around to make sure no one saw me. I called to her softly in German.
"Do you have something eat?" She didn't understand. I inched closer to the fence and repeated my question in Polish. She stepped forward. I was thin and gaunt, with rags wrapped around my feet, but the girl looked unafraid. In her eyes, I saw life. She pulled an apple from her woolen jacket and threw it over the fence. I grabbed the fruit and, as I started to run away, I heard her say faintly, "I'll see you tomorrow."
I returned to the same spot by the fence at the same time every day. She was always there with something for me to eat - a hunk of bread or, better yet, an apple. We didn't dare speak or linger. To be caught would mean death for us both. I didn't know any-thing about her except that she understood Polish and seemed to me to be just a kind farm girl. What was her name? Why was she risking her life for me? Hope was in such short supply, and this girl on the other side of the fence gave me some, as nourishing in its way as the bread and apples.
Nearly seven months later, my brothers and I were crammed into a coal car and shipped to Theresienstadt camp in Czechoslovakia. "Don't return," I told the girl that day. "We're leaving." I turned toward the barracks and didn't look back, didn't even say good-bye to the girl whose name I'd never learned ... the girl with the apples.
We were in Theresienstadt for three months. The war was winding down and Allied forces were closing in, yet my fate seemed sealed. On May 10, 1945, I was scheduled to die in the gas chamber at 10:00 AM. In the quiet of dawn, I tried to prepare myself. So many times death seemed ready to claim me, but somehow I'd survived. Now, it was over. I thought of my parents. At least, I thought, we will be reunited.
At 8 A.M. there was a commotion. I heard shouts, and saw people running every which way through camp. I caught up with my brothers. Russian troops had liberated the camp! The gates swung open. Everyone was running, so I did too.
Amazingly, all of my brothers had survived; I'm not sure how. But I knew that the girl with the apples had been the key to my survival. In a place where evil seemed triumphant, one person's goodness had saved my life, had given me hope in a place where there was none. My mother had promised to send me an angel, and the angel had come.
Eventually I made my way to England where I was sponsored by a Jewish charity, put up in a hostel with other boys who had survived the Holocaust and trained in electronics. Then I came to America, where my brother Sam had already moved.
I served in the U. S. Army during the Korean War, and returned to New York City after two years. By August 1957 I'd opened my own electronics repair shop. I was starting to settle in. One day, my friend Sid who I knew from England called me. "I've got a date.
She's got a Polish friend. Let's double date."
A blind date? Nah, that wasn't for me. But Sid kept pestering me, and a few days later we headed up to the Bronx to pick up his date and her friend, Roma. I had to admit, for a blind date this wasn't so bad. Roma was a nurse at a Bronx hospital. She was kind and smart. Beautiful, too, with swirling brown curls and green, almond-shaped eyes that sparkled with life.
The four of us drove out to Coney Island. Roma was easy to talk to, easy to be with. Turned out she was wary of blind dates too! We were both just doing our friends a favor. We took a stroll on the boardwalk, enjoying the salty Atlantic breeze, and then had dinner by the shore. I couldn't remember having a better time.
We piled back into Sid's car, Roma and I sharing the backseat. As European Jews who had survived the war, we were aware that much had been left unsaid between us. She broached the subject, "Where were you, during the war?" she asked softly. "The camps," I said, the terrible memories still vivid, the irreparable loss. I had tried to forget. But you can never forget.
She nodded. "My family was hiding on a farm in Germany, not far from Berlin," she told me. "My father knew a priest, and he got us Aryan papers." I imagined how she must have suffered too, fear, a constant companion. And yet here we were, both survivors, in a new world.
"There was a camp next to the farm." Roma continued. "I saw a boy there and I would throw him apples every day." What an amazing coincidence that she had helped some other boy. "What did he look like? I asked. He was tall. Skinny. Hungry. I must have seen him every day for six months."
My heart was racing. I couldn't believe it. This couldn't be. "Did he tell you one day not to come back because he was leaving Schlieben?" Roma looked at me in amazement.
"Yes."
"That was me!"
I was ready to burst with joy and awe, flooded with emotions. I couldn't believe it. My angel.
"I'm not letting you go," I said to Roma. And in the back of the car on that blind date, I proposed to her. I didn't want to wait.
"You're crazy!" she said. But she invited me to meet her parents for Shabbat dinner the following week. There was so much I looked forward to learning about Roma, but the most important things I always knew: her steadfastness, her goodness. For many months, in the worst of circumstances, she had come to the fence and given me hope. Now that I'd found her again, I could never let her go. That day, she said yes.
And I kept my word. After nearly 50 years of marriage, two children and three grandchildren, I have never let her go.
Herman Rosenblat Miami Beach, Florida.
This is a true story and you can find out more in this article from OCRegister and also from Newsday.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Hogwash history
From an opinion piece by Michael Freund, THE JERUSALEM POST, Jun. 12, 2007 ...
...Israel's irresponsible critics are busy turning up the heat. Deploying a potent mix of selective amnesia combined with some good ol' fashioned obfuscation, these "amnesiacs," as I call them, would have us all believe that nothing good ever came from the 1967 Six Day War. Seizing upon this month's 40th anniversary of that heroic triumph, they are trying to rewrite the historical narrative....
Occupation, occupation, occupation - that is all the "amnesiacs" seem capable of talking about. How bad it is, how damaging it has been, and how we must bring it all to an end. What a bunch of hogwash.....The truth of the matter is that the core of the Middle East conflict is not the Israeli "occupation" of territory, but the Palestinian "preoccupation" with destroying the Jewish state. It is that, and that alone, which has fueled this conflict since the start.
As the late Golda Meir once put it, "When Arab statesmen insist that Israel withdraw to the pre-June 1967 lines, one can only ask: if those lines are so sacred to the Arabs, why was the Six Day War launched to destroy them?"
Israel's survival was a miracle, and the Six Day War was a blessing from Heaven. Its outcome made this country safer, stronger and more secure, and we should be celebrating it effusively with each passing year....
...in just about every field imaginable, from economics to immigration to a national sense of purpose, the Six Day War yielded tremendous benefits for the Jewish state.
In the five years following the conflict, Israel's per capita GDP soared by more than 50 percent, exports nearly tripled, unemployment fell and the economy emerged from the painful recession of the mid-1960s. We surged past our neighbors, and Israel now finds itself on a par economically with various European countries.
The 1967 war also sparked a renewed wave of aliya from both East and West, igniting the Soviet Jewry movement and bringing a massive influx of Russian Jews to Israel.
As former refusenik Natan Sharansky wrote in his autobiography, Fear No Evil, "the Six Day War had made an indelible impression on me as it did on most Soviet Jews, for, in addition to fighting for her life, Israel was defending our dignity." This, he said, sparked Russian Jewry to embrace the "basic, eternal truth" that personal freedom "wasn't something you could achieve through assimilation. It was available only by reclaiming your historical roots." As a result, over 1 million Jews from the former Soviet Union have moved to Israel in the past four decades since the war, jump-starting the economy and fueling unprecedented growth in areas such as computer science and biotechnology.
The war inspired many thousands of Western Jews to make aliya too, with the number of North American migrants soaring from just 739 in 1967 to more than 8,000 in 1971. Israel's defeat of its foes also brought a renewed sense of pride to Jews everywhere, as they watched the tiny, vulnerable state emerge triumphant against its enemies.
And for the first time in 1,900 years, thanks to the Six Day War, we were once again able to caress the stones of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and bathe them in our tears, as a free and sovereign people in our own land.
If that's not something to celebrate, then what is?
So to those who continue to carp on incessantly about the "disastrous results of the war" and the need to "end the occupation," all I can say is: Spare us your faulty hindsight. If you really want to end the dispute with our neighbors, then tackle the Palestinian preoccupation with destroying Israel, and peace may just eventually come to pass.
...Israel's irresponsible critics are busy turning up the heat. Deploying a potent mix of selective amnesia combined with some good ol' fashioned obfuscation, these "amnesiacs," as I call them, would have us all believe that nothing good ever came from the 1967 Six Day War. Seizing upon this month's 40th anniversary of that heroic triumph, they are trying to rewrite the historical narrative....
Occupation, occupation, occupation - that is all the "amnesiacs" seem capable of talking about. How bad it is, how damaging it has been, and how we must bring it all to an end. What a bunch of hogwash.....The truth of the matter is that the core of the Middle East conflict is not the Israeli "occupation" of territory, but the Palestinian "preoccupation" with destroying the Jewish state. It is that, and that alone, which has fueled this conflict since the start.
As the late Golda Meir once put it, "When Arab statesmen insist that Israel withdraw to the pre-June 1967 lines, one can only ask: if those lines are so sacred to the Arabs, why was the Six Day War launched to destroy them?"
Israel's survival was a miracle, and the Six Day War was a blessing from Heaven. Its outcome made this country safer, stronger and more secure, and we should be celebrating it effusively with each passing year....
...in just about every field imaginable, from economics to immigration to a national sense of purpose, the Six Day War yielded tremendous benefits for the Jewish state.
In the five years following the conflict, Israel's per capita GDP soared by more than 50 percent, exports nearly tripled, unemployment fell and the economy emerged from the painful recession of the mid-1960s. We surged past our neighbors, and Israel now finds itself on a par economically with various European countries.
The 1967 war also sparked a renewed wave of aliya from both East and West, igniting the Soviet Jewry movement and bringing a massive influx of Russian Jews to Israel.
As former refusenik Natan Sharansky wrote in his autobiography, Fear No Evil, "the Six Day War had made an indelible impression on me as it did on most Soviet Jews, for, in addition to fighting for her life, Israel was defending our dignity." This, he said, sparked Russian Jewry to embrace the "basic, eternal truth" that personal freedom "wasn't something you could achieve through assimilation. It was available only by reclaiming your historical roots." As a result, over 1 million Jews from the former Soviet Union have moved to Israel in the past four decades since the war, jump-starting the economy and fueling unprecedented growth in areas such as computer science and biotechnology.
The war inspired many thousands of Western Jews to make aliya too, with the number of North American migrants soaring from just 739 in 1967 to more than 8,000 in 1971. Israel's defeat of its foes also brought a renewed sense of pride to Jews everywhere, as they watched the tiny, vulnerable state emerge triumphant against its enemies.
And for the first time in 1,900 years, thanks to the Six Day War, we were once again able to caress the stones of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, and bathe them in our tears, as a free and sovereign people in our own land.
If that's not something to celebrate, then what is?
So to those who continue to carp on incessantly about the "disastrous results of the war" and the need to "end the occupation," all I can say is: Spare us your faulty hindsight. If you really want to end the dispute with our neighbors, then tackle the Palestinian preoccupation with destroying Israel, and peace may just eventually come to pass.
Two state "solution"
From an analysis by Khaled Abu Toameh, THE JERUSALEM POST, Jun. 12, 2007 ....
...As of today, the Palestinians can boast that they have two entities - one in the Gaza Strip run by Muslim fundamentalists and another one in the West Bank under the control of secular Fatah leaders.
"The two-state solution has finally worked," a Palestinian journalist in the Gaza Strip commented sarcastically. "Today, all our enemies have good reason to celebrate."
...As of today, the Palestinians can boast that they have two entities - one in the Gaza Strip run by Muslim fundamentalists and another one in the West Bank under the control of secular Fatah leaders.
"The two-state solution has finally worked," a Palestinian journalist in the Gaza Strip commented sarcastically. "Today, all our enemies have good reason to celebrate."
Hamastan...
FromTHE JERUSALEM POST, Jun. 12, 2007, by Khaled Abu Toameh......
... thousands of Hamas militiamen launched a full-scale attack on Fatah figures and institutions in most parts of the Gaza Strip. Hamas fighters captured the headquarters of the Fatah-backed security forces in the northern part of the Strip.
.... this battle...involved hundreds of fighters from both sides... [casualties included] some senior members of Hamas and Fatah....The death toll from two days of fighting reached 37.
The Fatah central committee, meeting in emergency session in Ramallah Tuesday night, decided to suspend participation in the national unity government until the fighting stopped.
"The hospitals are full of bodies," said Ahraf Abu Baker, a nurse at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. "We are running short of blood and we have appealed for donations. We have wounded people arriving every minute."
PA officials here told The Jerusalem Post that the Hamas offensive was the biggest one by the group in the Gaza Strip thus far. "Hamas has declared war on Fatah and the Palestinian Authority," said one official. "The rules of the game have changed and we will have to act in accordance with the new threat." Another PA official expressed deep concern over Hamas's success in taking control of several Palestinian security installations. He revealed that Hamas managed to lay its hands on large amounts of weapons belonging to the Fatah-controlled security forces in many parts of the Gaza Strip. "They have seized thousands of rifles, large amounts of ammunition and dozens of vehicles, including armored jeeps," he said. "This is really bad news for all."
Abbas told Fatah leaders during an emergency meeting in Ramallah that "political and security" leaders of Hamas were determined to take control of the Gaza Strip by force. "Hamas is mistaken if it thinks that it can take control of the Gaza Strip through violent means," he said. "We are witnessing the first signs of a cruel civil war." Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Fatah operative in the West Bank, urged Abbas to dissolve the Palestinian Authority and call early elections.
....Hamas legislator Salah Bardaweel said his movement was determined to win the battle against Fatah. "We have decided to fight to the end," he stressed. "We are determined to eliminate those elements in Fatah that have been killing and torturing our men."
Bardaweel described Fatah as a Lahad Army, referring to the pro-Israel South Lebanon Army under Antoine Lahad. "We have decided to clean the country from these ferocious dogs who have long been serving their Israeli masters," he said. "This is a final decision and we won't backtrack."
Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, dismissed allegations that his movement was trying to stage a coup against Abbas as "lies." "Hamas won the parliamentary elections and formed a legitimate government," he said. "Fatah is the one that is conspiring against the legitimate government with the help of the US, which is providing them with weapons and millions of dollars."
Fatah officials admitted that Hamas was now in control of the entire northern part of the Gaza Strip following a series of attacks on Fatah figures and PA security installations over the past three days. Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, declared the northern Gaza Strip a "closed military zone" and warned PA security personnel against entering the area. Hamas militiamen also stepped up their attacks on the homes of Fatah leaders in different parts of the Gaza Strip...
...."The streets of the Gaza Strip are full of hundreds of gunmen belonging to Fatah and Hamas," said Ayman Abu Sharkh, a lawyer from Gaza City. "People are afraid to leave their homes, because this is a real war and they are killing each other mercilessly. We never imagined that the day would come when we would see Palestinians slaughtering each other in the streets."
... thousands of Hamas militiamen launched a full-scale attack on Fatah figures and institutions in most parts of the Gaza Strip. Hamas fighters captured the headquarters of the Fatah-backed security forces in the northern part of the Strip.
.... this battle...involved hundreds of fighters from both sides... [casualties included] some senior members of Hamas and Fatah....The death toll from two days of fighting reached 37.
The Fatah central committee, meeting in emergency session in Ramallah Tuesday night, decided to suspend participation in the national unity government until the fighting stopped.
"The hospitals are full of bodies," said Ahraf Abu Baker, a nurse at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. "We are running short of blood and we have appealed for donations. We have wounded people arriving every minute."
PA officials here told The Jerusalem Post that the Hamas offensive was the biggest one by the group in the Gaza Strip thus far. "Hamas has declared war on Fatah and the Palestinian Authority," said one official. "The rules of the game have changed and we will have to act in accordance with the new threat." Another PA official expressed deep concern over Hamas's success in taking control of several Palestinian security installations. He revealed that Hamas managed to lay its hands on large amounts of weapons belonging to the Fatah-controlled security forces in many parts of the Gaza Strip. "They have seized thousands of rifles, large amounts of ammunition and dozens of vehicles, including armored jeeps," he said. "This is really bad news for all."
Abbas told Fatah leaders during an emergency meeting in Ramallah that "political and security" leaders of Hamas were determined to take control of the Gaza Strip by force. "Hamas is mistaken if it thinks that it can take control of the Gaza Strip through violent means," he said. "We are witnessing the first signs of a cruel civil war." Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Fatah operative in the West Bank, urged Abbas to dissolve the Palestinian Authority and call early elections.
....Hamas legislator Salah Bardaweel said his movement was determined to win the battle against Fatah. "We have decided to fight to the end," he stressed. "We are determined to eliminate those elements in Fatah that have been killing and torturing our men."
Bardaweel described Fatah as a Lahad Army, referring to the pro-Israel South Lebanon Army under Antoine Lahad. "We have decided to clean the country from these ferocious dogs who have long been serving their Israeli masters," he said. "This is a final decision and we won't backtrack."
Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip, dismissed allegations that his movement was trying to stage a coup against Abbas as "lies." "Hamas won the parliamentary elections and formed a legitimate government," he said. "Fatah is the one that is conspiring against the legitimate government with the help of the US, which is providing them with weapons and millions of dollars."
Fatah officials admitted that Hamas was now in control of the entire northern part of the Gaza Strip following a series of attacks on Fatah figures and PA security installations over the past three days. Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin Kassam, declared the northern Gaza Strip a "closed military zone" and warned PA security personnel against entering the area. Hamas militiamen also stepped up their attacks on the homes of Fatah leaders in different parts of the Gaza Strip...
...."The streets of the Gaza Strip are full of hundreds of gunmen belonging to Fatah and Hamas," said Ayman Abu Sharkh, a lawyer from Gaza City. "People are afraid to leave their homes, because this is a real war and they are killing each other mercilessly. We never imagined that the day would come when we would see Palestinians slaughtering each other in the streets."
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Rejectionism fuels Middle East conflict
From The Australian Financial Review, June 7, 2007 [subscription required to view on-line], by Colin Rubenstein [my emphasis added - SL]....
Israel's stunning six-day military victory against its Arab neighbours 40 years ago is today often recalled primarily as the "root cause" of all subsequent Middle Eastern problems - Israeli "occupation" of Arab lands.
Before the war, however, Israel "occupied" no land, yet Arab rejection of its right to exist, as well any direct negotiation with Jerusalem, was almost total. Jordan had annexed the West Bank and Egypt controlled Gaza but there was virtually no talk of setting up a Palestinian state in either. Even the Palestine Liberation Organisation rejected this idea.
... it was Arab rejectionism, not Israeli policy, that turned Israel's military successes into a long-running "occupation". On June 19, the Israeli cabinet voted unanimously to return all of the Sinai and Golan for peace, and to open negotiations about the West Bank. The Arab League responded with a resolution on September 1, vowing "no peace, no recognition and no negotiation with Israel."
In November, UN Security Council Resolution 242, the famous "land for peace" formula, was adopted and accepted by Israel. Its drafters maintain it was intended to encourage a negotiated peace involving Israeli withdrawals to "secure and recognised boundaries" to be agreed.
Subsequently, Israel returned Sinai, 93 per cent of the land captured in 1967, to Egypt, and has made other withdrawals, on the Golan, along the border with Jordan, and from all of Gaza. It has also offered to return to the international border on the Golan, and to evacuate more than 95 per cent of the West Bank for peace.
However, some of the same social and political forces that caused the 1967 war and prevented peace afterwards are still blocking a two-state resolution. The Arab nationalism for which Israel's existence is an insufferable stain on Arab honour has diminished, but it has been replaced by a growing Islamist movement that argues Israel's existence is an intolerable affront to divine law. Groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, backed and financed by Teheran and Damascus, make peace impossible by threatening Arab leaders and openly planning to use any territory Israel evacuates for ongoing attacks.
As in 1967, it is rejectionism, a fruit of the region's many problems, that is still preventing full Arab-Israel peace.
Israel's stunning six-day military victory against its Arab neighbours 40 years ago is today often recalled primarily as the "root cause" of all subsequent Middle Eastern problems - Israeli "occupation" of Arab lands.
Before the war, however, Israel "occupied" no land, yet Arab rejection of its right to exist, as well any direct negotiation with Jerusalem, was almost total. Jordan had annexed the West Bank and Egypt controlled Gaza but there was virtually no talk of setting up a Palestinian state in either. Even the Palestine Liberation Organisation rejected this idea.
... it was Arab rejectionism, not Israeli policy, that turned Israel's military successes into a long-running "occupation". On June 19, the Israeli cabinet voted unanimously to return all of the Sinai and Golan for peace, and to open negotiations about the West Bank. The Arab League responded with a resolution on September 1, vowing "no peace, no recognition and no negotiation with Israel."
In November, UN Security Council Resolution 242, the famous "land for peace" formula, was adopted and accepted by Israel. Its drafters maintain it was intended to encourage a negotiated peace involving Israeli withdrawals to "secure and recognised boundaries" to be agreed.
Subsequently, Israel returned Sinai, 93 per cent of the land captured in 1967, to Egypt, and has made other withdrawals, on the Golan, along the border with Jordan, and from all of Gaza. It has also offered to return to the international border on the Golan, and to evacuate more than 95 per cent of the West Bank for peace.
However, some of the same social and political forces that caused the 1967 war and prevented peace afterwards are still blocking a two-state resolution. The Arab nationalism for which Israel's existence is an insufferable stain on Arab honour has diminished, but it has been replaced by a growing Islamist movement that argues Israel's existence is an intolerable affront to divine law. Groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, backed and financed by Teheran and Damascus, make peace impossible by threatening Arab leaders and openly planning to use any territory Israel evacuates for ongoing attacks.
As in 1967, it is rejectionism, a fruit of the region's many problems, that is still preventing full Arab-Israel peace.
John Howard: Champion for Israel
From JPost, by Isi Leibler, June 7, 2007 ....
Australian Prime Minister John Howard recently received a standing ovation at a Jewish community event, reflecting the admiration felt throughout the Jewish world for his courageous support for Israel.....
....Howard's friendship toward Jews can be traced back to his days as a young lawyer in a legal firm with Jewish principals. He first visited Israel in 1962 and since then has remained a champion of the Jewish state.
His feelings are best reflected in his own words: "The personal affection I have for the State of Israel, the personal regard I have for the Jewish people of the world, will never be diminished. It is something I hold dearly, something I value as part of my being and as part of what I have tried to do with my life."
....My most fascinating encounter with Howard took place in 2000, when I was already a Jerusalemite and he was visiting Israel in his prime ministerial capacity. This was just prior to the first intifada. He invited me and Leon Kempler, visiting head of the Australian Israel Chamber of Commerce, to accompany him on a visit to Yasser Arafat in Gaza.
I was reluctant to go, having until then prided myself on not having joined the stream of Jewish leaders paying homage to Arafat in the wake of the Oslo Accords. My view was that, irrespective of Israeli relations with Arafat, there was no obligation for Jewish leaders to embrace a man who was undeniably a duplicitous murderer.
I was finally persuaded. But in Gaza I tried to make myself as inconspicuous as possible. Unfortunately, the Australian PLO representative recognized me, and before the end of the meeting I was called forward to meet Arafat who, to my dismay, publicly embraced me and presented me and the prime minister with huge mother-of-pearl jewelry boxes embossed with "Doves of Peace." He declared that he had always wanted to meet me, but I was in no doubt that my name had only been whispered into his ear a few seconds earlier.
After the event, during a brief stopover on our return to Tel Aviv, Howard took me aside and asked me what I thought of Arafat. I responded unhesitatingly: that despite the nice words Arafat had expressed in support of peace, I did not trust a word he uttered. I told him that despite the fact that the majority of Israelis had convinced themselves that they were on an irreversible path to peace, I had a feeling of dread about the future and was convinced he would betray us.
I clearly recollect Howard's response: "I want you to know that should Arafat ever renege on the commitments to peace he conveyed today, I give you a solemn undertaking that if I am still prime minister, the Australian Jewish community and the people of Israel will never have reason to feel that I forsook them."
Howard kept his word. In subsequent years Australia walked a lonely path, courageously supporting Israel at international forums. I have frequently thought about what he told me then, and on repeated occasions I would reiterate my respect to him for never having deviated from his commitment. Indeed, while most of the world turned fiercely against Israel after the intifada, Howard's support for Israel intensified.
As he recently told a Jewish gathering: "Good friends stand together when it is unfashionable to do so."
We can only hope that in the years to come, other statesmen may emerge who will replicate the courageous and principled stance toward us as exemplified by Prime Minister John Howard.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard recently received a standing ovation at a Jewish community event, reflecting the admiration felt throughout the Jewish world for his courageous support for Israel.....
....Howard's friendship toward Jews can be traced back to his days as a young lawyer in a legal firm with Jewish principals. He first visited Israel in 1962 and since then has remained a champion of the Jewish state.
His feelings are best reflected in his own words: "The personal affection I have for the State of Israel, the personal regard I have for the Jewish people of the world, will never be diminished. It is something I hold dearly, something I value as part of my being and as part of what I have tried to do with my life."
....My most fascinating encounter with Howard took place in 2000, when I was already a Jerusalemite and he was visiting Israel in his prime ministerial capacity. This was just prior to the first intifada. He invited me and Leon Kempler, visiting head of the Australian Israel Chamber of Commerce, to accompany him on a visit to Yasser Arafat in Gaza.
I was reluctant to go, having until then prided myself on not having joined the stream of Jewish leaders paying homage to Arafat in the wake of the Oslo Accords. My view was that, irrespective of Israeli relations with Arafat, there was no obligation for Jewish leaders to embrace a man who was undeniably a duplicitous murderer.
I was finally persuaded. But in Gaza I tried to make myself as inconspicuous as possible. Unfortunately, the Australian PLO representative recognized me, and before the end of the meeting I was called forward to meet Arafat who, to my dismay, publicly embraced me and presented me and the prime minister with huge mother-of-pearl jewelry boxes embossed with "Doves of Peace." He declared that he had always wanted to meet me, but I was in no doubt that my name had only been whispered into his ear a few seconds earlier.
After the event, during a brief stopover on our return to Tel Aviv, Howard took me aside and asked me what I thought of Arafat. I responded unhesitatingly: that despite the nice words Arafat had expressed in support of peace, I did not trust a word he uttered. I told him that despite the fact that the majority of Israelis had convinced themselves that they were on an irreversible path to peace, I had a feeling of dread about the future and was convinced he would betray us.
I clearly recollect Howard's response: "I want you to know that should Arafat ever renege on the commitments to peace he conveyed today, I give you a solemn undertaking that if I am still prime minister, the Australian Jewish community and the people of Israel will never have reason to feel that I forsook them."
Howard kept his word. In subsequent years Australia walked a lonely path, courageously supporting Israel at international forums. I have frequently thought about what he told me then, and on repeated occasions I would reiterate my respect to him for never having deviated from his commitment. Indeed, while most of the world turned fiercely against Israel after the intifada, Howard's support for Israel intensified.
As he recently told a Jewish gathering: "Good friends stand together when it is unfashionable to do so."
We can only hope that in the years to come, other statesmen may emerge who will replicate the courageous and principled stance toward us as exemplified by Prime Minister John Howard.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Ahmadinejad: Countdown to Israel's Destruction Has Begun
From Arutz Sheva, 05 June 07 by Ezra HaLevi ...
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday the countdown to Israel’s destruction has begun.
Ahmadinejad said that Hizbullah began the countdown in its war with the IDF last summer. "With Allah’s help, the countdown button to this regime’s [Israel's] destruction has been pushed by the hands of Lebanon and Palestine’s children,” he said in a speech to foreign guests in Tehran in honor of the 18th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s first Supreme Leader. " By Allah's will, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future thanks to the endeavors of Palestinian and Lebanese fighters." ....
Assad Hope For United War
Ahmadinejad spoke with Syrian president Bashar Assad this past week, during which Assad is reported, by Iran’s state-run news agency, to have said that “added coordination between Iran and Syria in confrontation with the Zionist regime and the USA can bear better results in the future.” The Iranian president congratulated Assad on his reelection. Assad ran unopposed and won 97% of the vote....
New Iranian TV Series Outlines Ahmadinejad’s European Israel Idea
Iran’s state-run television has begun airing a docu-drama series outlining Ahmadinejad’s view that the Jews were given Israel due to the Holocaust, and that Europe must create a state of Israel on its own soil instead of on land belonging to the Arabs. The series, "A Zero Degree Turn" is aired weekly at prime time and six out of 22 chapters have aired.The plot focuses on the idea of emigration to Israel being conceived by Nazis, Europeans and non-traditional Jews – featuring a central rabbinic character rejecting a call to move to the Holy Land. "External pressures are trying to settle the Jews and the Muslims together, and it is impossible,” the rabbi in the series says. “The Jewish fate has always been complicated and difficult. The solution is not emigration to Arab countries, where there are Arab citizens." Any mention of Jewish immigration and hassidic sects that made Aliyah (immigrated to Israel) before World War II were omitted.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday the countdown to Israel’s destruction has begun.
Ahmadinejad said that Hizbullah began the countdown in its war with the IDF last summer. "With Allah’s help, the countdown button to this regime’s [Israel's] destruction has been pushed by the hands of Lebanon and Palestine’s children,” he said in a speech to foreign guests in Tehran in honor of the 18th anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s first Supreme Leader. " By Allah's will, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future thanks to the endeavors of Palestinian and Lebanese fighters." ....
Assad Hope For United War
Ahmadinejad spoke with Syrian president Bashar Assad this past week, during which Assad is reported, by Iran’s state-run news agency, to have said that “added coordination between Iran and Syria in confrontation with the Zionist regime and the USA can bear better results in the future.” The Iranian president congratulated Assad on his reelection. Assad ran unopposed and won 97% of the vote....
New Iranian TV Series Outlines Ahmadinejad’s European Israel Idea
Iran’s state-run television has begun airing a docu-drama series outlining Ahmadinejad’s view that the Jews were given Israel due to the Holocaust, and that Europe must create a state of Israel on its own soil instead of on land belonging to the Arabs. The series, "A Zero Degree Turn" is aired weekly at prime time and six out of 22 chapters have aired.The plot focuses on the idea of emigration to Israel being conceived by Nazis, Europeans and non-traditional Jews – featuring a central rabbinic character rejecting a call to move to the Holy Land. "External pressures are trying to settle the Jews and the Muslims together, and it is impossible,” the rabbi in the series says. “The Jewish fate has always been complicated and difficult. The solution is not emigration to Arab countries, where there are Arab citizens." Any mention of Jewish immigration and hassidic sects that made Aliyah (immigrated to Israel) before World War II were omitted.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Anti-Semitism persistent among Arab Christians
From Ynet News, 29/5/07 ....
...Egyptian Copt Patriarch Shinoda III... told an interviewer on Egyptian TV that the Vatican was wrong to apologize for longtime church teachings about Jews as Christ killers.
“It is disturbing, but not surprising that there are still Christian leaders in the Arab world who not only wholeheartedly ascribe to the deicide charge, but who teach it to their congregants as a core tenet of their faith,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director. “It shows the persistence of anti-Semitism among Arab Christian leaders and contributes to the already virulent anti-Semitism that is part of the mainstream in many Arab nations. It also shows the need for education and leadership for tolerance in Middle East not only among Muslims, but Christians as well.”
“What is the Vatican apologizing for?” Patriarch Shinoda III said in his April 8, 2007 appearance on Egypt’s Dream 2 TV. “It has done nothing that warrants an apology. ...” When the interviewer noted that the Catholic Church had apologized for describing Jews as “Christ killers,” Patriarch Shinoda responded, “The New Testament says that they (Jews) are. Is the Vatican against the teachings of the New Testament?”
...Egyptian Copt Patriarch Shinoda III... told an interviewer on Egyptian TV that the Vatican was wrong to apologize for longtime church teachings about Jews as Christ killers.
“It is disturbing, but not surprising that there are still Christian leaders in the Arab world who not only wholeheartedly ascribe to the deicide charge, but who teach it to their congregants as a core tenet of their faith,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director. “It shows the persistence of anti-Semitism among Arab Christian leaders and contributes to the already virulent anti-Semitism that is part of the mainstream in many Arab nations. It also shows the need for education and leadership for tolerance in Middle East not only among Muslims, but Christians as well.”
“What is the Vatican apologizing for?” Patriarch Shinoda III said in his April 8, 2007 appearance on Egypt’s Dream 2 TV. “It has done nothing that warrants an apology. ...” When the interviewer noted that the Catholic Church had apologized for describing Jews as “Christ killers,” Patriarch Shinoda responded, “The New Testament says that they (Jews) are. Is the Vatican against the teachings of the New Testament?”
Time to change course
From Ynet news, 30/5/07, by Moshe Yaalon, former IDF chief of staff ....
'Two-state solution' irrelevant; new thinking needed to resolve conflict
....the Six Day War changed the face of the Middle East. From a historic perspective it can be viewed as marking the beginning of the end of national-secular Arab ideology, which in turn encouraged the emergence of Islamic-Jihadist ideologies....
However, I am of the opinion that more than anything the Six Day War influenced the way Israelis perceived themselves....
On the one hand, Israeli self assurance, which was naturally emboldened by the shining military victory, led to complacency until the outcome of the Yom Kippur War, while on the other hand it led to the willingness for territorial concessions aimed at achieving peace.
...Israelis who sought to reach final-status agreement with the Palestinians through "land for peace" obscured the difference between resolving the conflict with Egypt via Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Those same elements went even further by obscuring the Palestinian demand for all of the Land of Israel rather then territories occupied in 1967 only, and ignored the persistent Palestinian refusal - which has been in place since the birth of Zionism - to partition the nation.
These elements vastly contributed to the erosion of Israel's positions upon recognizing the Palestinian peoples' right for self determination without insisting on mutual Palestinian recognition for the Jewish people and an independent Jewish State.
The self assurance that came in wake of the Six Day War created a sense of being "strong enough to take risks" - which is reminiscent of the time of the Oslo Accords. This self confidence led to the loss of the attitude associated with a society facing constant struggle.
.... recent statements by leaders of the Israeli Arab community expressed their refusal to recognize the State of Israel's right to exist as an independent Jewish State.
Events of the past years, the Palestinian failure to adhere to agreements and obligations within the Oslo framework, the launching of a terror war in September 2000, and the situation in Gaza following disengagement - could have served as opportunities to "reveal the true face" of the Palestinian leadership and its intentions to undermine the irrelevant concept of a "two state solution" within the ancient Land of Israel's western borders.
Grounding the "two-state solution" discourse to a halt among the Israeli public and in the international arena is a prerequisite for encouraging a new direction of thought with regards to the conflict and possible ways of resolving it. The key to moving away from this concept is Israel's clear understanding of the problem, forging internal agreement around this understanding, and a willingness to struggle for it.
The shining victory of the Six Day war has paradoxically turned into the starting point of the "retrenchment and withdrawal battle" over the Zionist narrative we are currently engaged in - until we make an about face.
'Two-state solution' irrelevant; new thinking needed to resolve conflict
....the Six Day War changed the face of the Middle East. From a historic perspective it can be viewed as marking the beginning of the end of national-secular Arab ideology, which in turn encouraged the emergence of Islamic-Jihadist ideologies....
However, I am of the opinion that more than anything the Six Day War influenced the way Israelis perceived themselves....
On the one hand, Israeli self assurance, which was naturally emboldened by the shining military victory, led to complacency until the outcome of the Yom Kippur War, while on the other hand it led to the willingness for territorial concessions aimed at achieving peace.
...Israelis who sought to reach final-status agreement with the Palestinians through "land for peace" obscured the difference between resolving the conflict with Egypt via Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Those same elements went even further by obscuring the Palestinian demand for all of the Land of Israel rather then territories occupied in 1967 only, and ignored the persistent Palestinian refusal - which has been in place since the birth of Zionism - to partition the nation.
These elements vastly contributed to the erosion of Israel's positions upon recognizing the Palestinian peoples' right for self determination without insisting on mutual Palestinian recognition for the Jewish people and an independent Jewish State.
The self assurance that came in wake of the Six Day War created a sense of being "strong enough to take risks" - which is reminiscent of the time of the Oslo Accords. This self confidence led to the loss of the attitude associated with a society facing constant struggle.
.... recent statements by leaders of the Israeli Arab community expressed their refusal to recognize the State of Israel's right to exist as an independent Jewish State.
Events of the past years, the Palestinian failure to adhere to agreements and obligations within the Oslo framework, the launching of a terror war in September 2000, and the situation in Gaza following disengagement - could have served as opportunities to "reveal the true face" of the Palestinian leadership and its intentions to undermine the irrelevant concept of a "two state solution" within the ancient Land of Israel's western borders.
Grounding the "two-state solution" discourse to a halt among the Israeli public and in the international arena is a prerequisite for encouraging a new direction of thought with regards to the conflict and possible ways of resolving it. The key to moving away from this concept is Israel's clear understanding of the problem, forging internal agreement around this understanding, and a willingness to struggle for it.
The shining victory of the Six Day war has paradoxically turned into the starting point of the "retrenchment and withdrawal battle" over the Zionist narrative we are currently engaged in - until we make an about face.
Boycott (again)
From "Lecturers vote for boycott of Israeli universities", The Guardian, Thursday May 31, 2007, by James Meikle, education correspondent ...
....Delegates at the first conference of the new University and College Union in Bournemouth voted by 158 to 99 for "a comprehensive and consistent boycott" of all Israeli academic institutions, as called for by Palestinian trade unions in response to Israel's "40-year occupation" of Palestinian land. The union's leadership must now circulate calls from Palestinians for a boycott of Israeli universities to all branches throughout the country.
Tom Hickey, a Brighton University academic and union executive member ... led the move...
...Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the union, said: "I do not believe a boycott is supported by a majority of [120,000] UCU members, nor do I believe that members see it as a priority for the union."
The boycott was also opposed by the education minister, Bill Rammell. He said: "The UK government fully supports academic freedom and is firmly against any academic boycotts of Israel or Israeli academics. Whilst I appreciate the independence of the UCU, I am very disappointed that the union has decided to pass a motion which encourages its members to consider boycotting Israeli academics and education institutions. I profoundly believe this does nothing to promote the Middle East peace process." ...
...Ofir Frankel, spokesman for the Advisory Board for Academic Freedom, said: "We see it as discriminatory and counterproductive. It will make British academia look a little less serious."
Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the board of Deputies of British Jews, said: "Now is the time to strengthen the kinds of relationships that will bring all sides of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict together and, in this country, create a better understanding of the complex issues through that engagement. We call upon the union's leadership and all members who are rightly outraged by the decision to work towards a reversal of this policy."
From The Conference of Presidents of major Jewish Organisations the central coordinating body representing 50 (USA) national Jewish organizationson "Resolutions are obscene and acts of bigotry,” 30/5/07 ...
New York, May 30, 2007… Conference of Presidents leaders condemned the British University and College Union resolutions passed today that support campaigns to boycott Israeli academic institutions and to provide unconditional financial aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.
Harold Tanner, Chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said, “These obscene resolutions have all the faults that academics normally deplore in their profession: a superficial and flawed understanding of the subject, clear bias, and antagonism to the open exchange of ideas. Their call for unconditional financial support for the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, which continues to terrorize Israeli civilians and calls for Israel’s destruction, demonstrates that the sympathies of the majority of the union’s representatives lie with a terrorist group rather than the victims of terror. They launch this baseless assault on a democracy with true academic freedom and support those who would deny this and other freedoms and rights.”
The UCU resolution calls for “the restoration of all international aid to the PA” without requiring any of the Quartet’s three conditions for international support: an end to violence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of prior agreements.
“The resolution asserts that boycotting Israeli academic institutions is not anti-Semitic, but singling out, demonizing, and delegitimizing the Jewish state, as the resolution does, is by definition just that. No amount of obfuscation will change that.”
“We call on the entire membership of the University and College Union to reverse this reprehensible and unjustifiable act of bigotry and discrimination by their representatives.”
....Delegates at the first conference of the new University and College Union in Bournemouth voted by 158 to 99 for "a comprehensive and consistent boycott" of all Israeli academic institutions, as called for by Palestinian trade unions in response to Israel's "40-year occupation" of Palestinian land. The union's leadership must now circulate calls from Palestinians for a boycott of Israeli universities to all branches throughout the country.
Tom Hickey, a Brighton University academic and union executive member ... led the move...
...Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the union, said: "I do not believe a boycott is supported by a majority of [120,000] UCU members, nor do I believe that members see it as a priority for the union."
The boycott was also opposed by the education minister, Bill Rammell. He said: "The UK government fully supports academic freedom and is firmly against any academic boycotts of Israel or Israeli academics. Whilst I appreciate the independence of the UCU, I am very disappointed that the union has decided to pass a motion which encourages its members to consider boycotting Israeli academics and education institutions. I profoundly believe this does nothing to promote the Middle East peace process." ...
...Ofir Frankel, spokesman for the Advisory Board for Academic Freedom, said: "We see it as discriminatory and counterproductive. It will make British academia look a little less serious."
Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the board of Deputies of British Jews, said: "Now is the time to strengthen the kinds of relationships that will bring all sides of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict together and, in this country, create a better understanding of the complex issues through that engagement. We call upon the union's leadership and all members who are rightly outraged by the decision to work towards a reversal of this policy."
From The Conference of Presidents of major Jewish Organisations the central coordinating body representing 50 (USA) national Jewish organizationson "Resolutions are obscene and acts of bigotry,” 30/5/07 ...
New York, May 30, 2007… Conference of Presidents leaders condemned the British University and College Union resolutions passed today that support campaigns to boycott Israeli academic institutions and to provide unconditional financial aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.
Harold Tanner, Chairman, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said, “These obscene resolutions have all the faults that academics normally deplore in their profession: a superficial and flawed understanding of the subject, clear bias, and antagonism to the open exchange of ideas. Their call for unconditional financial support for the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, which continues to terrorize Israeli civilians and calls for Israel’s destruction, demonstrates that the sympathies of the majority of the union’s representatives lie with a terrorist group rather than the victims of terror. They launch this baseless assault on a democracy with true academic freedom and support those who would deny this and other freedoms and rights.”
The UCU resolution calls for “the restoration of all international aid to the PA” without requiring any of the Quartet’s three conditions for international support: an end to violence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of prior agreements.
“The resolution asserts that boycotting Israeli academic institutions is not anti-Semitic, but singling out, demonizing, and delegitimizing the Jewish state, as the resolution does, is by definition just that. No amount of obfuscation will change that.”
“We call on the entire membership of the University and College Union to reverse this reprehensible and unjustifiable act of bigotry and discrimination by their representatives.”
Israeli environmentalists bolstered by regional conference at Petra
From JTA, 30/5/07, by Brett Kline (thanks Jerry for drawing attention to this good-news story - SL) ...
PETRA, Jordan (JTA) -- Ilana Meallem and Mazen Zoabi left a recent morning meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II smiling. The king had just proposed the formation of a regional science fund, and they were certain they would have access to that fund.The two Israelis, project managers at the Arava Institute, an environmental study and research center in southern Israel, were among a small group of people in their 20s from Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and other Arab countries occupying a visible role at a conference of Nobel laureates in Petra.
... Abdullah, who had opened the gathering with a plea for more regional cooperation outside the realm of politics, saw this group as a good example. "The king told us that we are the core of a new organization for youth exchange in the Middle East, and that there will be funding to organize regular meetings," Meallem said. "Israeli youths are full members in this organization. We have our full place here, and this is fantastic."
...The Arava Institute has about 40 students, including three Palestinians from the West Bank and 10 Jordanians. They all live and study at the kibbutz center on Kibbutz Ketura, about 25 miles north of Eilat. The institute is under construction to house up to 100 students in the near future.The 10-year-old institute has graduated more than 400 students from its yearlong program. It receives extensive funding from the Jewish National Fund and other American Jewish groups. Among the graduates is the son of Jordanian Prime Minister Ma'roof Al-Bakeet.The Israeli students are part of a master's program at Ben-Gurion University in Sde Boker. ...Until now the Jordanians have not sponsored their own students at the Arava Institute, but at the conference Jordanian Education Minister Khaled Toukan seemed open to the idea."....
...Programs at the institute include examining pollution levels in trans-border rivers touching Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, probing air pollution in Jordan and a special two-year project with Morocco to cultivate argan almond trees that until now have grown wild only in southern Morocco.
Meallem, originally from London, and Zoabi, a Technion graduate from an Arab town near Nazareth in the Galilee region, are headed to China for three months. They will bring back technology turning small-scale organic waste into energy for use in Bedouin villages in Israel, and later in Jordan and possibly the West Bank. The technology, known as biogas energy, is not uncommon but apparently has been best developed for small-scale use in China."We don't yet have a partner for this with the Palestinian Authority," Zoabi said.
He and Meallem spent much of the conference networking."Perhaps we could do projects with you and get more Palestinians involved in your institute," Sari Nusseibeh, a leading Arab moderate and the president of Al Quds University outside Jerusalem, told them. "Maybe your generation can go beyond the politics that have dragged us all down."
In the air-conditioned, temporary conference hall not far from the path leading to the spectacular Nabatean ruins that have put Petra on the map, Nusseibeh was busy chatting with Yigal Carmon, the head of the widely read MEMRI: The Middle East Media Research Institute and a counterterrorism adviser in the administration of the late Yitzhak Rabin."These environment projects are great for everyone because it is a win-win situation for all sides," Carmon said. "You see here that Jordanian politicians and various prize laureates and funders are very quick to speak with Ilana and the others because it gives them a sense of doing something good for people in a concrete way. I think we have seen enough sessions on conflict resolution; the answer is more real projects."
[Eli] Wiesel, the conference moderator and winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, said his foundation was ready to put up or raise $10 million for the regional science fund that was proposed by Abdullah. The fund would sponsor projects proposed by groups all over the region."I think the Arab countries are taking scientific cooperation with Israel very seriously," Wiesel said. "His Majesty the King is a true associate in this endeavor with the young people. He knows and I know that some of them will be the leaders of tomorrow."
Kholouel Al Dorghan, who is in her 20s and works in the Bank for Trade and Finance in Amman, said she was excited by the possibility of working in Israel."I met Israelis for the first time in my life here at this conference, and I felt a real buzz in the air here from the young people and the delegates," she said. "I would be happy to do research in the Arava Institute or anywhere in Israel."Still, several young people who had been invited as individuals from other countries in the region preferred to remain anonymous."I would love to work with Israelis," one said, "but my government would not like that at all and would harass me and my family. There must be a way for us to participate as well. I am angry about this, but what can I do?"
PETRA, Jordan (JTA) -- Ilana Meallem and Mazen Zoabi left a recent morning meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II smiling. The king had just proposed the formation of a regional science fund, and they were certain they would have access to that fund.The two Israelis, project managers at the Arava Institute, an environmental study and research center in southern Israel, were among a small group of people in their 20s from Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and other Arab countries occupying a visible role at a conference of Nobel laureates in Petra.
... Abdullah, who had opened the gathering with a plea for more regional cooperation outside the realm of politics, saw this group as a good example. "The king told us that we are the core of a new organization for youth exchange in the Middle East, and that there will be funding to organize regular meetings," Meallem said. "Israeli youths are full members in this organization. We have our full place here, and this is fantastic."
...The Arava Institute has about 40 students, including three Palestinians from the West Bank and 10 Jordanians. They all live and study at the kibbutz center on Kibbutz Ketura, about 25 miles north of Eilat. The institute is under construction to house up to 100 students in the near future.The 10-year-old institute has graduated more than 400 students from its yearlong program. It receives extensive funding from the Jewish National Fund and other American Jewish groups. Among the graduates is the son of Jordanian Prime Minister Ma'roof Al-Bakeet.The Israeli students are part of a master's program at Ben-Gurion University in Sde Boker. ...Until now the Jordanians have not sponsored their own students at the Arava Institute, but at the conference Jordanian Education Minister Khaled Toukan seemed open to the idea."....
...Programs at the institute include examining pollution levels in trans-border rivers touching Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, probing air pollution in Jordan and a special two-year project with Morocco to cultivate argan almond trees that until now have grown wild only in southern Morocco.
Meallem, originally from London, and Zoabi, a Technion graduate from an Arab town near Nazareth in the Galilee region, are headed to China for three months. They will bring back technology turning small-scale organic waste into energy for use in Bedouin villages in Israel, and later in Jordan and possibly the West Bank. The technology, known as biogas energy, is not uncommon but apparently has been best developed for small-scale use in China."We don't yet have a partner for this with the Palestinian Authority," Zoabi said.
He and Meallem spent much of the conference networking."Perhaps we could do projects with you and get more Palestinians involved in your institute," Sari Nusseibeh, a leading Arab moderate and the president of Al Quds University outside Jerusalem, told them. "Maybe your generation can go beyond the politics that have dragged us all down."
In the air-conditioned, temporary conference hall not far from the path leading to the spectacular Nabatean ruins that have put Petra on the map, Nusseibeh was busy chatting with Yigal Carmon, the head of the widely read MEMRI: The Middle East Media Research Institute and a counterterrorism adviser in the administration of the late Yitzhak Rabin."These environment projects are great for everyone because it is a win-win situation for all sides," Carmon said. "You see here that Jordanian politicians and various prize laureates and funders are very quick to speak with Ilana and the others because it gives them a sense of doing something good for people in a concrete way. I think we have seen enough sessions on conflict resolution; the answer is more real projects."
[Eli] Wiesel, the conference moderator and winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, said his foundation was ready to put up or raise $10 million for the regional science fund that was proposed by Abdullah. The fund would sponsor projects proposed by groups all over the region."I think the Arab countries are taking scientific cooperation with Israel very seriously," Wiesel said. "His Majesty the King is a true associate in this endeavor with the young people. He knows and I know that some of them will be the leaders of tomorrow."
Kholouel Al Dorghan, who is in her 20s and works in the Bank for Trade and Finance in Amman, said she was excited by the possibility of working in Israel."I met Israelis for the first time in my life here at this conference, and I felt a real buzz in the air here from the young people and the delegates," she said. "I would be happy to do research in the Arava Institute or anywhere in Israel."Still, several young people who had been invited as individuals from other countries in the region preferred to remain anonymous."I would love to work with Israelis," one said, "but my government would not like that at all and would harass me and my family. There must be a way for us to participate as well. I am angry about this, but what can I do?"
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Jenin comes to Lebanon. So where is the outcry?
From The National Post, Tuesday, May 29, 2007, by Jonathan Kay ....
Last week, the Lebanese army attacked a squalid Palestinian refugee camp that's become infested with Islamist suicide terrorists and guerilla fighters. On May 20, government troops surrounded the camp, with tanks and artillery pieces shelling it at close range. Army snipers gunned down anything that moved. At least 18 civilians were killed, and dozens more injured. Water and electricity were cut off. By week's end, much of the camp had been turned into deserted rubble. Thousands of terrified residents fleeing the camp reported harrowing stories of famished, parched families trapped in their basements.
How did the rest of the world react? The Arab League quickly condemned "the criminal and terrorist acts carried out by the terrorist group known as Fatah al-Islam," and vowed to "give its full support to the efforts of the army and the Lebanese government." EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also condemned Fatah al-Islam, and declared Europe's "support" for Lebanon. And the UN Security Council called the actions of Fatah al-Islam "an unacceptable attack" on Lebanon's sovereignty. As for the Western media, most outlets ignored the story following the first flurry of news reports.
At this point, please indulge me by re-reading the first paragraph of this column -- except this time, substitute the world "Israeli" for "Lebanese" in the first sentence. Let's imagine what the world's reaction would be if the ongoing siege were taking place in Gaza or the West Bank instead of the Nahr al Bared refugee camp on the outskirts of Tripoli, Lebanon.
First of all, a flood of foreign journalists would descend on the camp to document Israel's cruelty and barbarism, and the story would remain front page news to this day. Al-Jazeera would be a 24/7 montage of grieving mothers swearing revenge on the Zionist butchers, and rumours would swirl of mass graves and poison gas. The Arab League, EU and United Nations would condemn Israeli aggression -- as would the editorial board of The New York Times. The Independent would dispatch Robert Fisk to embed with Fatah al-Islam. And the newspaper's cartoonist, Dave Brown, would produce another award-winning rendition of his signature theme: Jews eating Palestinian babies.
Actually, we don't need to speculate: What I have just written is exactly what happened when the Israeli army invaded the Jenin refugee camp to root out terrorists in April, 2002, a battle that was similar in scale to this month's siege at Nahr al Bared. (At Jenin, 52 refugee camp residents were killed -- most of them gunmen, according to Human Rights Watch. At Nahr al Bared, the figure is 45 and climbing.) The main difference between the two sieges is that Israel's army put its troops at far greater risk by invading Jenin with infantry -- whereas the less humane Lebanese army has simply pummelled Nahr al Bared with explosives from a distance. Jews apparently care a lot more about saving Palestinian civilians than do Lebanese soldiers.
For years, we have been told that Palestinian suffering and "humiliation" is at the root of the Middle East conflict, as well as the Western-Muslim clash of civilizations more generally. This is nonsense: The 200,000-plus Palestinian refugees who live in Lebanese camps are treated worse than dogs -- with no access to decent schools or good jobs -- and no one in the Arab world cares a whit. In fact, many Arabs seem to embrace the same blind anti-Palestinian hatred of which Israel is typically accused. When Lebanese armoured personnel carriers rolled through Tripoli on May 20, they got a standing ovation from local residents. "We wish the government would destroy the whole camp and the rest of the camps," one local told The New York Times. "Nothing good comes out of the Palestinians."
Just as Lebanon's stew of eternally warring Sunnis, Shiites, Christians, Hezbollah terrorists and militarized clans serves as a Mediterranean microcosm for the political dysfunction of the Arab world, this month's events capture perfectly the utter cynicism of the Islamic world's trumped up vilification of Israel, and the West as a whole. As with the Muslim- on-Muslim slaughter in Darfur, Iraq, Pakistan, Gaza and a dozen other hot spots, the siege at Nahr al Bared shows that what inflames "the Muslim street" (for lack of a better cliche) isn't Muslim suffering, but the relatively tiny fraction thereof that jihadi propagandists and their Western apologists can lay at the feet of Jews and Christians.
Muslim blood apparently comes cheap -- but only when it's drawn by other Muslims.
Last week, the Lebanese army attacked a squalid Palestinian refugee camp that's become infested with Islamist suicide terrorists and guerilla fighters. On May 20, government troops surrounded the camp, with tanks and artillery pieces shelling it at close range. Army snipers gunned down anything that moved. At least 18 civilians were killed, and dozens more injured. Water and electricity were cut off. By week's end, much of the camp had been turned into deserted rubble. Thousands of terrified residents fleeing the camp reported harrowing stories of famished, parched families trapped in their basements.
How did the rest of the world react? The Arab League quickly condemned "the criminal and terrorist acts carried out by the terrorist group known as Fatah al-Islam," and vowed to "give its full support to the efforts of the army and the Lebanese government." EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana also condemned Fatah al-Islam, and declared Europe's "support" for Lebanon. And the UN Security Council called the actions of Fatah al-Islam "an unacceptable attack" on Lebanon's sovereignty. As for the Western media, most outlets ignored the story following the first flurry of news reports.
At this point, please indulge me by re-reading the first paragraph of this column -- except this time, substitute the world "Israeli" for "Lebanese" in the first sentence. Let's imagine what the world's reaction would be if the ongoing siege were taking place in Gaza or the West Bank instead of the Nahr al Bared refugee camp on the outskirts of Tripoli, Lebanon.
First of all, a flood of foreign journalists would descend on the camp to document Israel's cruelty and barbarism, and the story would remain front page news to this day. Al-Jazeera would be a 24/7 montage of grieving mothers swearing revenge on the Zionist butchers, and rumours would swirl of mass graves and poison gas. The Arab League, EU and United Nations would condemn Israeli aggression -- as would the editorial board of The New York Times. The Independent would dispatch Robert Fisk to embed with Fatah al-Islam. And the newspaper's cartoonist, Dave Brown, would produce another award-winning rendition of his signature theme: Jews eating Palestinian babies.
Actually, we don't need to speculate: What I have just written is exactly what happened when the Israeli army invaded the Jenin refugee camp to root out terrorists in April, 2002, a battle that was similar in scale to this month's siege at Nahr al Bared. (At Jenin, 52 refugee camp residents were killed -- most of them gunmen, according to Human Rights Watch. At Nahr al Bared, the figure is 45 and climbing.) The main difference between the two sieges is that Israel's army put its troops at far greater risk by invading Jenin with infantry -- whereas the less humane Lebanese army has simply pummelled Nahr al Bared with explosives from a distance. Jews apparently care a lot more about saving Palestinian civilians than do Lebanese soldiers.
For years, we have been told that Palestinian suffering and "humiliation" is at the root of the Middle East conflict, as well as the Western-Muslim clash of civilizations more generally. This is nonsense: The 200,000-plus Palestinian refugees who live in Lebanese camps are treated worse than dogs -- with no access to decent schools or good jobs -- and no one in the Arab world cares a whit. In fact, many Arabs seem to embrace the same blind anti-Palestinian hatred of which Israel is typically accused. When Lebanese armoured personnel carriers rolled through Tripoli on May 20, they got a standing ovation from local residents. "We wish the government would destroy the whole camp and the rest of the camps," one local told The New York Times. "Nothing good comes out of the Palestinians."
Just as Lebanon's stew of eternally warring Sunnis, Shiites, Christians, Hezbollah terrorists and militarized clans serves as a Mediterranean microcosm for the political dysfunction of the Arab world, this month's events capture perfectly the utter cynicism of the Islamic world's trumped up vilification of Israel, and the West as a whole. As with the Muslim- on-Muslim slaughter in Darfur, Iraq, Pakistan, Gaza and a dozen other hot spots, the siege at Nahr al Bared shows that what inflames "the Muslim street" (for lack of a better cliche) isn't Muslim suffering, but the relatively tiny fraction thereof that jihadi propagandists and their Western apologists can lay at the feet of Jews and Christians.
Muslim blood apparently comes cheap -- but only when it's drawn by other Muslims.
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