Obama, are you listening?

Real problem is Palestinian desire to destroy Israel, not home construction

Dan Calic
YNET News

Mr. President:


It seems you believe the central obstacle to moving the “peace” process forward is Israel’s construction of homes in east Jerusalem. If you will allow me I should like to respectfully suggest some matters you may wish to focus your attention on instead. For example, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested that Israel be accepted as a Jewish State, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas responded by saying “I do not accept it.”


Keep in mind, Mr. President, that only 76% of Israel’s population is Jewish. 20% of the country’s 7.5 million people are Arabs who enjoy all the benefits of citizenship. Conversely, not a single Arab country is even 1% Jewish. The Arab Middle East consists of 22 countries covering five million square miles with a combined population exceeding 325 million, more than 90% of whom are Muslim. Israel has just over 5.5 million Jews and is roughly the size of the state of New Jersey (which ranks 47th out of 50 US states in size.)


Yet, as the only country on earth where Jews are the majority, if it desires to maintain this, it gets labeled as “racist.”


Mr. Abbas has demanded the right of return for all “Palestinian refugees,” saying “I won’t give up the demand.” Fulfillment of this would eliminate the Jewish majority in Israel, turning the only country on earth Jews have as their home into an Arab-dominated state. Jews would be relegated to minority status in what used to be their own country.


With an Arab majority anti-Jewish laws would likely be passed. Jews would no longer have their own military, security or police to protect them from a hostile Arab majority. They would be denied access to holy sites such as the Western Wall. Other holy sites would most likely be desecrated as they were before Israel secured east Jerusalem in the Six-Day War. They would have to seek safe haven beyond the borders of what used to be their homeland, creating yet another tragic Diaspora.


Mr. Abbas has been defined by you and many others as a “moderate” compared to the more radical Hamas leadership. You, like many others, seem to believe the appropriate course of action to resolve the conflict is land for peace in the form of a “two-state solution.” In this scenario Israel must make “bold sacrifices” by giving away its biblical heartland in order to obtain “peace.”


Mr. President, are you aware that two previous Israeli prime ministers offered the Arabs at least 95% of the land they demand, including land swaps and dividing Jerusalem? In light of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s offer of 60% of Judea/Samaria, the previous ones appear rather incredible. Yet both of these extraordinary offers were rejected.


Has it occurred to you why they were rejected? The reason is in writing for you and anyone to read for themselves - Article 12 of the “moderate” Abbas’ Fatah Party charter states their goal of “Complete liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence.” Article 19 states: “….this struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated.”


In plain English this means they reject Israel’s right to exist – period - no matter what the borders are. It is to be replaced with an Arab-dominated state of Palestine, thus eliminating the only sovereign homeland for the Jewish people altogether.


Do these sound like the goals of a “moderate?”



Recently, Vice President Biden suggested Israel was “undermining the trust we need right now….” referring to the announcement of construction of homes in east Jerusalem while Biden was there. Yet you and Biden are silent when Mahmoud Abbas routinely attends events with the Palestinian flag covering not just Judea and Samaria but the entire country of Israel. Nor do you condemn him for naming a square in Ramallah after a terrorist who murdered 37 Israeli civilians in 1978.


A just released poll indicates a majority of Americans disapprove of your attitude toward Israel. Moreover, 75% of US congressmen recently took the unprecedented measure of signing a letter asking you to treat Israel more fairly. Are you listening, Mr. President? If so with all due respect, where is your sense of fairness?



In summary, it would appear the fulfillment of the aforementioned points, which individually and collectively amount to the destruction of Israel, are a far greater obstacle to peace than the construction of homes in east Jerusalem.


If you are interested in discussing these matters in greater detail, maybe we could arrange for a “beer summit” if your schedule permits. I look forward to hearing from you at your convenience. If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to bring a bottle of Mogen David wine for us to share.



Sincerely,



Dan Calic