From where I sit, this is the news
of the day.
Back in January Prime
Minister Netanyahu appointed a committee -- consisting of former
Israeli Supreme Court justice Edmund Levy, former deputy president of the Tel
Aviv District Court Tchia Shapira, and former Foreign Ministry legal
adviser and expert in international law Alan Baker -- to examine the status of
Israeli building in Judea and Samaria.
What the committee concluded was
that the decades-long presence of Israel in Judea and Samaria was sui
generis -- that is, a unique situation. That presence does not
constitute an "occupation," and, based on historical and legal evidence, is
not illegal. From the perspective of international law, Israel has
the right to build in Judea and Samaria.
~~~~~~~~~~
The recommendations, which
were predicated upon these conclusions, addressed adjustments in Israeli
policies and practices in Judea and Samaria.
As matters stand, Israeli
citizens find themselves at a severe disadvantage with regard to land ownership
in Judea and Samaria:
At present, law-abiding,
tax-paying Israeli citizens who bought their homes in Judea and Samaria in good
faith and with the assistance of multiple government agencies can be summarily
told that they are without rights to their homes because a signature was missing
from their papers.
What is more, if ownership of the
land on which their homes are located is challenged by local Arabs, they can be
forces to abandon those homes, which will be demolished, before a
court has examined the evidence and ruled on who actually owns the
land.
These and a host of
similar situations are outrages that cannot be permitted to
continue.
The Levy recommendations clearly address these situations.
~~~~~~~~~~
What happened, however, is that the prime minister
buried the report instead of adopting its conclusions and
recommendations.
He sent it to his
Ministerial Committee on Settlements for review, and that is where it
sat. There is no question but that there were
political implications to these delays. People on the left --
including many Jews in the US -- were saying that the world wouldn't like
this position and it would cause problems for us in other contexts.
Well, I have had it up to
the top of my head with what the world might or might not like about our
positions. As have many others. It's time we stood up for our
rights.
~~~~~~~~~~
PM Netanyahu has been
pressured to accept the report by the right flank of Likud --
including, notably by Minister Yuli Edelstein -- and by others in
nationalist parties. Now it has been leaked that he intends to submit
the report or part of it (not clear what "part") to the Cabinet for
acceptance. While there has been no official statement from the prime
minister's office, my assumption is that he has calculated that this is the
right time, politically, to do this.
Already, Defense
Minister Barak and other politicians to the left are close to having
strokes over this report. The hysteria is breathtaking.
For example, Meretz chair MK Zahav Gal-On accused Netanyahu of
"serving the interests of the extreme right wing and of settlers in order to
establish apartheid" and maintained that adopting the Levy report would
result in "international sanctions." What nonsense, and how pathetic, to
employ the libelous language of our enemies.
~~~~~~~~~~
It falls to all of us
who DO support the principles of the Levy Report to be certain that the
prime minister knows how we feel:
[] He must be thanked
for his current position
[] Urged to adopt ALL
of the report
[] And encouraged to stay
strong in the face of the left wing opposition.
Please! without
delay, write to PM Netanyahu. Keep your message short. Avoid history
lessons and speeches. Ask him to stand for the rights of Israel by adopting
the Levy Report. Tell him you are with him.
E-mail: Memshala@pmo.gov.il and also pm_eng2@it.pmo.gov.il (underscore after pm) use
both addresses.
Fax: 02-670-5369 (From the
US: 011-972-2-670-5369)
~~~~~~~~~~
I know how easy it is, no
matter your intentions, to put this task aside and then forget. This is
important. Act before you can forget.
If you are an Israeli citizen
who votes, let him know this.
Share this with as many others
as you can, and most especially with Israeli citizens.
~~~~~~~~~~
MK Danny Danon (Likud), who
has spent time in the States promoting the Levy Report, says that several
Congresspersons have gone on record as supporting it.
~~~~~~~~~~
For the record:
While I in no way whatsoever
endorse the establishment of a Palestinian state, it's important to make clear
that the Levy Report conclusions do not preclude the possibility of such a
state. This fallacious argument will be used by those on the left as a
reason to defeat the Levy Report. The Levy Report recognizes Jewish rights
in the land. It does not recommend establishment of sovereignty over that
land. Adopting the Report does NOT mean establishing sovereignty over
Judea and Samaria.
One reason the declaration of
Jewish rights in Judea and Samaria is critically import is because the
Palestinian Arabs and all who support them, starting with President Obama,
maintain that the Palestinian state must be established on the '67
line. This position presupposes that Jews have no rights beyond that line
(which was an armistice line, even though it is referred to as a
"border"). The Levy Report makes clear, based on both historical and legal
evidence, that this is not the case.
Certainly accepting the
conclusions of the Report requires no legislation. It is simply a matter
of stating, "We have rights." As I understand it, many, if not all, of the
recommendations can also be instituted without legislation. We're looking
at policies, not law, in many instances. No law would be necessary, for
example, for the government to decide that homes in which Jews live in
Judea and Samaria would no longer be demolished before a court decision on
ownership was made.
~~~~~~~~~~
There are two significant
articles on the Levy Report that I recommend here.
One -- "Reinvigorating the
Discussion of Israel's Rights in the West Bank" -- is by Professor of Law
Avi Bell:
The second -- "A Chance to
Regain Lost Diplomatic Ground" -- is by commentator Evelyn Gordon:
As you read this material, it
becomes clear that the position of the Levy Report is quite modest, not radical
at all. It's simply that the governments of recent years have slipped from
earlier positions.
~~~~~~~~~~
About the presidential debate
that took place last night, I have very little to say. It doesn't merit a great
deal of analysis and is being seen by many as something of a draw.
There is only one dramatic
moment I want to refer to here. President Obama was asked why the US
did not respond to the request for reinforcements made by
security personnel in Benghazi, a request made some two months before the
attack on the ambassador.
The president didn't answer
that question. No good answer exists. What he did was go off on a tangent
intended to refute the charge that has been leveled against his government, that
it spent a lot of time saying the cause of the attack was an anti-Muslim
film. Declared Obama, in the Rose Garden the day after the attack, he
called it terrorism.
At this point, Romney leaped
up and said, What? What do I hear? You spent two weeks denying it was
terrorism.
~~~~~~~~~~
Well, only one of these two
individuals can be correct here, and it wasn't difficult to learn
who it was.
I located a video of the
statement made by the president in the Rose Garden on September 12.
He begins by speaking of
"Americans killed in an attack." Not a terrorist
attack.
Then he "condemns this
outrageous and shocking attack." Not a terrorist
attack.
He followed this with, "Since our founding, the United States
has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate
the religious beliefs of others. But there is absolutely no justification to
this type of senseless violence." Senseless violence, not
terror. And here we have the introduction of the theme that he maintained
thereafter: that a film that "denigrated the religious beliefs of
others" was behind the attack.
Not terror.
Then, after noting that the day
previous was the infamous 9/11, and referring to those who made the
ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan, only then did he say, "No acts
of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation..." The context
was broad, he was not referring directly to the Benghazi
attack.
Barack Obama is a phony, it would
seem. But that's not exactly news.
~~~~~~~~~
One additional note: the debate
moderator, Candy Crowley,
intervened (inappropriately and incorrectly!), indicating that Obama did call it terrorism
-- but then saying that Romney was also correct, that Obama had for two weeks
blamed it on the anti-Muslim film. Let's hear it for an well-informed and
unbiased moderator.
~~~~~~~~~~
I heartily recommend a piece by Bret Stephens
in the Wall Street Journal, "To the Wavering
Voter."
It debunks all sorts of erroneous accusations
leveled at Romney, designed to scare people from voting for
him.
~~~~~~~~~~
Just
briefly:
Rockets and missiles continue to
be launched at Israel's south. Most recently, a barrage of some seven
rockets was directed at Sderot, with one landing near a kindergarten. The
Air Force then responded with an attack on what is being described as a center
of terror activity in northern Gaza.
~~~~~~~~~~
According to a Lebanese newspaper,
Al-Jumhuriya, yesterday, the drone that Hezbollah sent into Israeli
airspace was not manufactured in Iran as had been reported. It was
manufactured in Germany and then purchased by Iran. This information
raises several possible questions -- including, when and under what
circumstances Germany was selling such equipment to Iran; and what
this says about Iran capabilities.
~~~~~~~~~~
Egypt's new ambassador to Israel has
come in peace.
The letter of credence from Egyptian
president Morsi that he presented to President Peres,
read:
"Great and good friend, being desirous
of maintaining and strengthening the cordial relations which so happily exist
between our two countries, I have selected Mr. Atef Mohamed Salem Sayed El Ahl
to be our ambassador extraordinary and
plenipotentiary."
El Ahl noted to Peres that Egypt wants
to retain the peace treaty.
~~~~~~~~~~
In a meeting with EU officials here
yesterday, PM Netanyahu said:
“Israel will consider a military
operation if it feels there is a fear that chemical weapons will leak to
terrorist groups like Hezbollah."
I would most certainly hope so.
That prospect is most worrisome
~~~~~~~~~~.
©
Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner,
functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be
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