Netanyahu Quietly Rejects US Clamp on Jerusalem

Hana Levi Julian
A7 News

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has quietly rejected an attempt by the United States to clamp down on Israeli construction within the municipal boundaries of Jerusalem. Netanyahu is not willing to publicly discuss his response to the U.S. criticism, however, nor will he allow anyone else in his government to talk about it. "The office has no reaction to that," David Baker, spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office, told Israel National News on Wednesday. He refused further comment.

Baker's actions clearly confirmed reports by senior sources that Netanyahu had warned government officials against making any statements about the U.S. pressure on Israel to halt construction in parts of Jerusalem that were restored to the capital after the 1967 Six Day War -- this time, the neighborhood of Gilo, built in 1971.

The southeastern neighborhood, one of the capital's largest, has a population of some 33,000 and has just been added to the list for the first time. But the burgeoning northwestern Jerusalem suburb of Ramot, home to at least 40,000 residents, may soon be questioned as well, since it is in the same category.

During a media briefing Tuesday in Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly slammed the decision by the Jerusalem Municipal Planning Committee to approve a plan to build 900 housing units in Gilo.

"At a time when we are working to relaunch negotiations, we believe that these actions make it more difficult for our efforts to succeed," he said. "So we object to this, and we object to other Israeli practices in Jerusalem related to housing, including the continuing pattern of evictions and demolitions of Palestinian homes," he said.

"And -- just to repeat what we've said all along, our position on Jerusalem is clear," Kelly added. "We believe that that -- that Jerusalem is a permanent status issue that must be resolved through negotiations between the two parties."

Kelly confirmed that U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell met Monday in London with a Netanyahu adviser. He parried a question raised by a journalist as to whether Mitchell had requested that Netanyahu halt construction in Gilo and sidestepped another question on whether that request had been rejected. Mitchell, who was expected back in Washington on Wednesday, has no plans to meet with PA officials at present, said Kelly, but did not explain why.

He also noted that the U.S. was discouraging "any kind of unilateral appeal for United Nations Security Council recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. That would fall in that category of unilateral actions."

'Red Line' Drawn at Jerusalem

Prime Minister Netanyahu has been willing to show the "greatest possible restraint" concerning construction in Judea and Samaria, according to a government source. However, he said, Netanyahu firmly drew the line at Jerusalem.

The city's mayor, Nir Barket, has also said bluntly he would not halt construction in any part of the capital, east or west. "Israeli law does not discriminate between Arabs and Jews or between east and west of the city," he said in a statement issued to the media.

"The demand to cease construction just for Jews is illegal, also in the United States and any other enlightened place in the world. It is inconceivable that the U.S. government would demand a construction freeze in the U.S. based on race, religion or sex, and the attempt to demand this from Jerusalem constitutes a double standard that is unacceptable. The Jerusalem municipality will continue to enable construction in every part of the city for Jews and Arabs alike," Barkat vowed.

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin had no compunctions whatsoever about expressing his anger on Tuesday against the U.S. attempt to interfere with internal Israeli policies. Speaking during a meeting with visiting Lithuanian Ambassador Darius Degotis, Rivlin said the new demands were "of the type that are ... pushing us toward a red line that we cannot allow ourselves to cross, and are not legitimate."

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon added his voice to the chorus of Western disapproval of the Jerusalem municipality's actions Tuesday night, according to IDF Army Radio. U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said in a statement that Ban "believes such actions undermine efforts for peace and cast doubt on the viability of the two-state solution." In the statement, she quoted Ban as referring to Gilo as a "settlement" built on territory "conquered from the Palestinians in 1967."

The British Foreign Office also issued a statement saying "The Foreign Secretary has been very clear that a credible deal involves Jerusalem as a shared capital. Expanding settlements on occupied land in east Jerusalem makes that deal much harder, so this decision on Gilo is wrong and we oppose it."

PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat took advantage of the bruhaha to claim there was little point in resuming peace talks when Israel is still building homes in the eastern part of the capital. "We condemn this in the strongest possible terms. It shows that it is meaningless to resume negotiations," he said.

The land on which Gilo was built, as with the suburb of Ramot and other so-called "disputed" parts of Jerusalem, was wrested from Israel by Jordan during the 1948 War. It was occupied solely by the Hashemite Kingdom until 1967, when Israel won it back, restoring Jerusalem to its former unified status as the unidivided capital of Israel and the Jewish People.

Israeli Sderot Residents Suffer Trauma – by Jamie Glazov

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Anav Silverman, the International Correspondent at Sderot Media Center in Sderot, Israel.

FP: Anav Silverman, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Silverman: Thank you for having me here again.

FP: Can you tell us about the PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) trauma that Israeli Sderot residents are still suffering from after 8 years of Gaza rocket fire? Silverman: Yes, although there have been relatively fewer rockets since Operation Cast Lead ended, residents in Sderot and the western Negev are still reeling from the shock and trauma of thousands of Gaza rockets that have exploded in the region. There have been over 250 rockets fired at Sderot and southern Israel since the ceasefire began on January 18, 2009. However each time the Tzeva Adom (Color Red) siren is set off by a rocket–even if it is only once a week—it still sends residents into shock and disrupts any sense of normalcy. We know that Hamas is gearing up for the next rocket escalation. Israeli intelligence sources report that Hamas is working on establishing bigger and more accurate rockets to fire into Israel. At the same time, Sderot families are also preparing for the future rocket attacks–government mandated bomb-shelters can be seen being constructed for homes across the city.

At this time, there is no post yet to the trauma here in Sderot, not when sporadic rockets fired from northern Gaza and Sderot mothers are still taking medication to calm their nerves. Sderot children began the first day of school in September expecting rocket attacks, because that’s how the school year usually opened in previous years. The fear and uncertainty that the Iranian-backed Hamas has instilled into the civilian residents of southern Israel– through the rocket warfare– is a violation of international humanitarian law that continues to this day.

FP: And so the situation we have is that, despite this violence, Gaza’s militants receive hundreds of million of dollars in international aid. Your thoughts?

Silverman: It is a shame and a crime that hundreds of millions of dollars in international aid in large part does not go to the people who need it most in Gaza. There is little monitoring of where the funds are transferred and exactly who in the Gaza Strip benefits from all this global generosity. Hamas, the radical Islamic regime that rules Gaza, spends millions of dollars each year inculcating the next generation of Palestinian children to hate and seek the destruction of Israel, through summer camps, media, and religious indoctrination in schools and mosques. Even more alarming, are the pro-Hamas agencies like UNRWA that are given the international funds to transfer in Gaza. UNRWA has publicly acknowledged in the past that Hamas members may very well make up their staff.

The fact remains that as long as Hamas is in power, the Gaza rocket infrastructure will continue to expand while the Hamas regime finds better and more improved ways to terrorize Israelis with the financial backing of Iran.

FP: And while Hamas murderers get funding, the Sderot Trauma facilities that provide vital therapy services to the Sderot community are on the verge of shutting down due to financial government cutbacks. What exactly does this say about the international community and the U.S. administration?

Silverman: It is a pretty ironic situation that as the Sderot Trauma Facilities are on the verge of closing down, while Gaza receives millions of dollars worth of humanitarian aid from the international community. Sderot residents may soon be left to cope with the trauma of rocket attacks on their own, as trucks laden with humanitarian goods pass through the Israel-Gaza border every day. Where is the humanitarian crisis?

During his 2008 campaign visit to Sderot, President Barack Obama stated that “The first job of any nation state is to protect its citizens. If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that. And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.” Why the US Administration continues to push for a peace agenda between Israel and the Palestinians, when the current Hamas government of Gaza is not a believer of peace with Israel–but a supporter of war–is difficult to fathom here in Sderot.

FP: So tell us your thoughts on this clear hypocrisy that we now see in the international community and the American administration when it comes to its indifference to terror crimes being committed against Israelis.

Silverman: I believe that this hypocrisy is the easier and more comfortable route for those who choose to view the Middle East conflict exclusively as the fault of Israel. There is obviously a much wider context to this conflict that many international leaders and government administrations refuse to acknowledge–the fact that Iran and Syria continue to provide financial and military backing to Islamic radical terror groups like Hamas and Hezbullah is one factor. Even more significant, is the hate-education of Israel and the west that much of the Muslim youth– both in Hamas-run Gaza and much of the Middle East– receive throughout their childhood as well as into adulthood, in schools, summer camps and mosques.

While much of the world remained silent during the nine years of Gaza rockets strikes on the population of 19,000 Israeli civilians living in the city of Sderot and thousands of other Israeli residents living near Gaza-border communities, the three-week Operation Cast Lead generated immediate international response against Israel. Operation Cast Lead, which was carried out to deter and stop Palestinian rocket launchers from targeting up to one million Israelis living in the south, became the opportune moment for Israel’s critics and haters to blast the Jewish state and delegitimize Israel’s democratic right to defend her citizens– in media, protests, campus events and other venues. If one rocket was fired from Mexico into a populated city in California, how would the United States respond?

FP: What can average people who read this interview do if they want to help Sderot residents and come to the aid of Israelis in general?

Silverman: One way to truly help change the Sderot situation is to get the voices of Sderot residents–their experiences and stories living under fundamental Islamists’ rocket terror– out to the rest of the world. Sderot Media Center is the only social media-advocacy organization in Sderot that advocates on behalf of Sderot residents both in Israeli and international media and political forums across the world, from Capitol Hill to the United Nations in Geneva.

Sderot Media Center launched the Sderot Community Treatment Theater one a year ago to provide drama therapy sessions to traumatized Sderot high school school girls. The treatment theater has now launched Children of Qassam Avenue, a theaterical production based on the real-life rocket stories of the Sderot high school girls, who have performed the play before audiences in Jerusalem and Sderot. The eventual plan is to bring the production to the Israeli Knesset and to Europe, the United States, and Canada.

To do this and continue with the operation of the theatre project, Sderot Media Center needs help and support. Anyone who is interested in helping us out, contact the media center at this e-mail: sderotinfo@gmail.com. Also, Sderot Media Center’s US Tax Deductible Account is: JNF, Albert S. Golbert, 601 W 5th St800, Los Angeles, CA, 90071-2094, *Earmarked: Sderot Media Center Project.

Thank you Jamie.

FP: Thank you for joining us Anav Silverman, we wish you the best.

Collaborators in the War Against the Jews: Sara Ro

Sara Roy, who holds a non-tenured “research” position at Harvard’s Center for Middle East Studies (CMES), claims to be a “political economist,” although she apparently has no training in economics or political science. She also claims to be an expert in Middle East Studies, but has no degree in that either. Her PhD is in Education. Roy claims to be an expert on the political economy of the Gaza Strip, but her real expertise is in anti-Israel leftist political propaganda. She worked on her doctoral dissertation in education part of the time while living for a while in the Gaza Strip, and got paid as a a research assistant by the West Bank Data Base Project, a propaganda project directed by anti-Israel radical Israeli non-academic leftists.

Roy’s Middle East studies publications are by and large propaganda diatribes, and many appear in non-academic anti-Israel propaganda magazines, some of which appear in openly anti-Semitic web magazines, at least one having intimate ties to the PLO. Phyllis Chessler calls her one of “the most savage critics—of America and Israel.” Roy is a prolific writer of newspaper op-eds and spends much of her time giving “expert” lectures about the Arab-Israel conflict.

Sara Roy was born Jewish, and she uses this circumstance as a lever to better support Israel’s enemies. She refers frequently to something she calls a “Jewish ethical perspective” whenever bashing Israel and cites her “Jewish roots” when promoting the Hamas on anti-Semitic web sites such as the Neo-Stalinist Counterpunch.

Roy is, in fact, arguably the leading apologist for Hamas in American academia today. She is the inventor of an imaginary “New Hamas,” a fictional group that seeks peace and social wellbeing for Palestinians, unlike the real Hamas, which seeks to carry out a second Holocaust of Jews. Roy has been described as “the ringmaster of Harvard’s bash Israel circus.” According to Middle East scholar Martin Kramer:

‘Her current project is the whitewashing of Hamas, but she’s best known for invidious comparisons she drew in April 2002 between the Israeli occupation and the Holocaust. (She thinks being the child of Holocaust survivors gives her a license.) “There is no let-up,” Roy moans about the criticisms of Middle Eastern studies. She’s right about that. Permanent contention: get used to it.’

Roy is so goofy that she was invited to give the Edward Said Lecture at the Australian University of Adelaide in 2008. The entire lecture was devoted, with frequent invocations of “Edward,” to showing how the only lesson from eons of Jewish suffering is that everyone must support the Palestinian war against Israel.

While enjoying unrestricted exposure in the media, she simultaneously claims that she is being censored by the Right Wing Conspiracy. A case in point is the locally famous case of a book review which was rejected by Tufts University’s Fletcher Forum of World Affairs. In this essay she tried to trash Matthew Levitt’s Hamas: Politics, Charity and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad (2006) because it said mean things about the terror group. When the journal refused to run the piece, she pouted that this constituted a “blatant…case of censorship.” She has denounced Campus-Watch as well for its exposure of extremist propaganda in Middle East studies. In her words, “What all this boils down to is an attempt to silence criticism of US policy, and put an end to disagreement with the neo-conservative agenda. It is not diversity that is being sought but conformity.”

When Roy gets bored with Harvard, she goes on anti-Israel speaking walkabouts. Her message is always the same: The Palestinians are innocent victims of Israel’s brutal oppression. Hezb’Allah and Hamas terrorism is an entirely understable response to Israeli evil. Israel gobbles up “Arab land” out of imperialist obsession. . Every use of force by Israel is a brutal provocation; every act of terror by Arabs is a protest against occupation.

Writing recently in the Harvard student newspaper, Roy opined: “Gaza is an example of a society that has been deliberately reduced to a state of abject destitution, its once productive population transformed into one of aid-dependent paupers. This context is undeniably one of mass suffering, created largely by Israel but with the active complicity of the international community, especially the U.S. and European Union, and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.” Got that? Even the Palestininan opponents of Hamas and the EU are collaborators with Israel in its unspeakable crimes. (Roy was subsequently taken apart for her bias by a Harvard student writing in the paper.)

Roy is the author of two books: The Gaza Strip: The Political Economy of De-development (1995), and The Economics of Middle East Peace: A Reassessment (1999). To call her viewpoint one dimension is to praise it unjustly. Her repetitious theme is that there is nothing at all wrong with Palestinian society that cannot be blamed directly on the Jews. Destroying the Palestinian economy is why Israel constructed its security fence, for instance; this decision had nothing at all to do with countless terrorist atrocities against Jews carried out by Palestinians.

Her work in recent years at Harvard has been devoted to prettifying Hamas and other Islamofascist movements among Palestinians, and to try to prove how moderate they are. In her “study” of Hamas, she displays complete ignorance as to the background of Hamas and its roots in the Islamofascist “Muslim Brotherhood” movement. She paints it as a pastoral little social welfare group. She has published at least one anti-Israel article together with someone from a notorious Hamas front group, the so-called Gaza Community Mental Health Program.

Writing in the al-Jazeera newspaper – with its intimate links to al-Qaeda – in 2003, Roy insisted that the only way to stop Hamas terrorism was to first end Israel’s “occupation.” But the following year Israel totally ended its occupation of Gaza. The direct consequence was the bloody campaign of Hamas rocket and other terror attacks from Gaza against Israeli civilians inside Israel’s pre-1967 borders. This terror campaign directly lead to the “Cast Lead” military operation by Israel last year. Roy has never apologized nor repudiated her earlier false prophecy. To the contrary, the behavior of Hamas since Israel’s Gaza withdrawal has simply persuaded her all the more that Israeli “occupation” is the exclusive cause of all Middle East violence, even when it does not exist.

Roy is a nominal board member of Marc Ellis’ radically anti Israel Center for Jewish Studies at Baylor University. She sits on the boards of other anti-Israel organizations. Like Norman Finkelstein, Roy uses the fact that her own parents were Holocaust survivors to grant her own hatred of Israel and work against it legitimacy. As one example, she published the following in the “Journal of Palestine Studies,” a propaganda magazine controlled by the PLO: “[I]t was perhaps inevitable [because of her parents’ experiences] that I would follow a path that would lead me to the Arab-Israeli issue.” She then draws parallels between Nazi treatment of Jews and Israeli soldiers’ treatment of Palestinians which, in her opinion, “were absolutely equivalent in principle, intent, and impact: to humiliate and dehumanize.” [Like Ellis, she argues obsessively that the only real lesson of value to be learned from the Holocaust of European Jews during World War II is that Israel has no right to exist.

Hamas and Its Long-Range Rockets: Military and Political Implications

Jeffrey White
November 17, 2009

This is the second of a two-part series examining recent military developments involving Hizballah and Hamas. PolicyWatch #1600 examined the implications of the recent intercept by the Israeli navy of a large Iranian arms cargo intended for Hizballah.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recently monitored the launch of a 60-km-range artillery rocket from Gaza into the Mediterranean Sea. Israeli military intelligence has assessed that the rocket was launched by Hamas and originated in Iran. A rocket with such a range, when fired from Gaza, can reach the southern outskirts of Tel Aviv as well as targets across much of southern Israel. This recent launch occurs amid Hamas's efforts to build a serious long-range rocket force centering on weapons with a 40- to 60-km range. Such a plan creates military instability for the Israelis and strengthens Hamas politically in its struggle with Fatah. Weapons capability of this level could also be a potential spoiler in any Palestinian negotiations with Israel.

Hamas Builds a Long-Range Rocket Force
While the specific type of rocket tested was not identified, according to Israeli sources it was probably five meters long with a 45-kg warhead. The weapon's range could be increased by reducing the size of the warhead, so 60 km is not necessarily the maximum. In fact, according to Amos Yadlin, IDF director of military intelligence, Hamas now has "dozens" of rockets with a 60-km range.

New Capabilities
Long-range rockets provide Hamas with an array of capabilities that pose problems for the IDF and the Israeli government. With Hamas's ability to strike deeper into Israel comes an increased burden on civil defenses, a higher likelihood that civilian life will be disrupted in larger swaths of the country, and possible further complications for military operations. During the IDF's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza earlier this year, Hamas attempted to target military facilities, including airfields, military camps, and weapons storage facilities, albeit with little success. A rocket with a 60-km range and a 45-kg warhead potentially has greater destructive ability than the 40-km rockets with smaller warheads used by Hamas in the past. This is the case especially against facilities that have not been substantially hardened.

Associated Issues
The true significance of Hamas's long-range rocket force depends on a number of factors. To begin with, the number of rockets possessed by Hamas will influence its ability to maintain rocket firings during combat and to inflict damage. These types of weapons are inherently inaccurate, and it is necessary to fire many to ensure that even large targets are hit. In addition, large numbers of falling rockets have a greater impact both politically and psychologically than smaller numbers. Warhead size and type are important as well. The warheads carried on the 60-km rockets may be improved conventional munitions with greater terminal effects (blast or fragmentation), such as Hizballah used in the 2006 Lebanon war.

While the new weapons provide new opportunities for Hamas, they also pose a challenge. To fully exploit the potential of these weapons, Hamas needs to create an intelligence apparatus that allows for fire to be adjusted and damage assessed. At present, Hamas probably lacks much capability in this area, but the group could obtain limited information from news reports and observers on the ground. The longer-range missiles also have a larger "signature" in terms of storage facilities and firing units; additionally, they are more conspicuous when moving. These factors place them at higher risk of discovery and destruction by Israeli forces.

Hamas will have to develop a concept of operation for employment of the new long-range rockets, as well as determine who controls and operates them. In this process, Hamas leaders will need to consider carefully how Israel might react to attacks both on main population centers and that threaten to disrupt Israeli military operations.

IDF Response
The IDF will need to address the problem of Hamas's long-range rockets, much as it addressed Hizballah's long-range rockets in 2006. As shown by its efforts during the 2006 war and Operation Cast Lead, Israel has both a strong understanding of the threat and substantial capability to deal with it. Furthermore, Gaza offers a different military environment from southern Lebanon, in many ways less challenging for the IDF. Gaza's land mass is much smaller than that of southern Lebanon and therefore easier to cover with intelligence and strike assets. In addition, Hamas's new weapons require larger launchers -- in turn requiring larger crews -- which would likely have a short operational life, based on Israeli Air Force response times in the 2006 war and Operation Cast Lead. Given the potential threat, Israeli intelligence services will likely place a high priority on locating storage depots and launchers for long-range rockets, as well as their crews and commanders. Once identified, all components of the long-range rocket system will be targeted by Israeli air and ground forces, as occurred during Cast Lead.

Israel's capability for dealing with the rocket threat is improving. By the middle of next year, Israel will probably be ready to deploy the Iron Dome antirocket system, which will be capable of destroying at least some incoming rockets. Enhanced civil defense measures include the rocket attack warning system, provision of hardened shelters, and coordination of medical and other emergency services. Collectively, these defensive measures reduce but do not eliminate the threat from Hamas rockets.

Implications
As a result of Hamas's development of a long-range rocket force, future military conflicts with Israel will almost certainly be more intense, cover a broader geographic area, and produce more destruction in both Israel and Gaza as the IDF acts to destroy the rockets. Hamas's new rocket capabilities must also be seen in the context of Hizballah's acquisition of rockets with a 300-km range. In a possible two-front war, this means that most of Israel, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, would be within the range of Hamas or Hizballah rockets.

Through its growing rocket capabilities, Hamas is weakening the measure of deterrence established by Israel through Operation Cast Lead. And while Hamas has been careful since Cast Lead to avoid actions that would lead to renewed hostilities, its growing military capabilities may generate internal pressure to use its rockets or undertake other destabilizing actions. In December 2008, Hamas miscalculated gravely with respect to Israeli intentions and its own capabilities, sparking an intense conflict. There is no guarantee this will not happen again.

The creation of a long-range rocket force reinforces Hamas politically by enhancing its image as a "resistance" movement and its role as a spoiler and competitor to Fatah. Expanded military capacity also lends greater weight to the organization's hard-line "military wing."

From Israel's standpoint, the potential political effects of threats to large population centers will likely make the government more willing to deal decisively with a revamped threat from Hamas. This would probably mean a comprehensive air and ground offensive throughout Gaza -- one that would far exceed the scope of Cast Lead.

Conclusion
The punishment dealt by the IDF during Operation Cast Lead has translated into a measure of deterrence against Hamas. Maintaining such a level of deterrence will require occasional military action in Gaza and transmission of appropriate warnings. A steady improvement in active and passive defenses will help as well. Nevertheless, deterrence will likely fail at some point, and should this occur, Israel will probably act sooner and more intensively against Hamas.

As with Iranian arms shipments to Hizballah, the international community could do more to impede arms shipments to Hamas. Gaza is more isolated than Lebanon, and Hamas is much more vulnerable to antismuggling measures than Hizballah. Egypt has already increased its efforts to police its border with Gaza, but additional measures are needed to disrupt the smuggling system within Egypt and to stop Iranian arms shipments at sea.

Jeffrey White is a defense fellow at The Washington Institute, specializing in the military and security affairs of the Levant, Iraq, and Iran. He is the author of the recent Institute Policy Focus Hamas in Combat: The Military Performance of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement.

http://sn102w.snt102.mail.live.com/default.aspx?n=420308049&wa=wsignin1.0

Israel is the only country that...

By the late Israeli humorist Efraim Kishon:

Israel is a country surrounded on all sides by enemies, but the people's headaches are caused by the neighbors upstairs.

Israel is a country where the same drivers who cuss you and flip you the bird will immediately pull over and offer you all forms of help if you look like you need it.

Israel is the only country in the world with bus drivers and taxi drivers who read Spinoza and Maimonides. Israel is the only country in the world where no one cares what the rules say when an important goal can be achieved by bending them.

Israel is the only country in the world where reservists are bossed around and commanded by officers, male and female, younger than their own children.

Israel is the only country in the world where "small talk" consists of loud, angry debate over politics and religion.

Israel is the only country in the world where the coffee is already so good that Starbucks went bankrupt trying to break into the local market.

Israel is one of the few places in the world where the sun sets into the Mediterranean Sea.

Israel is the only country in the world whose soldiers eat three sets of salads a day, none of which contain any lettuce (which is not really a food), and where olives ARE a food and even a main course in a meal, rather than something one tosses into a martini.

Israel is the only country in the world where one is unlikely to dig a cellar without hitting ancient archaeological artifacts.

Israel is the only country in the world where the leading writers in the country take buses.

Israel is the only country in the world where the graffiti is in Hebrew.

Israel is the only country in the world where the "black folks" walking around all wear yarmulkes.

Israel is the only country in the world that has a National Book Week, during which almost everyone attends a book fair and buys books.

Israel is the only country in the world where the ultra-Orthodox Jews beat up the police and not the other way around.

Israel is the only country in the world where inviting someone "out for a drink" means drinking cola, coffee or tea.

Israel is the only country in the world where bank robbers kiss the mezuzah as they leave with their loot.

Israel is one of the few countries in the world that truly likes and admires the United States .

Israel is the only country in the world that introduces applications of high-tech gadgets and devices, such as printers in banks that print out your statement on demand, years ahead of the United States and decades ahead of Europe .

Israel is the only country in the world where everyone on a flight gets to know one another before the plane lands. In many cases, they also get to know the pilot and all about his health or marital problems.

Israel is the only country in the world where no one has a foreign accent because everyone has a foreign accent.

Israel is the only country in the world where people cuss using dirty words in Russian or Arabic because Hebrew has never developed them.

Israel is the only country in the world where patients visiting physicians end up giving the doctor advice.

Israel is the only country in the world where everyone strikes up conversations while waiting in lines.

Israel is the only country in the world where people call an attaché case a "James Bond" and the "@" sign is called a "strudel".

Israel is the only country in the world where there is the most mysterious and mystical calm ambience in the streets on Yom Kippur, which cannot be explained unless you have experienced it.

Sunsets in Jerusalem are gorgeous every evening.

Israel is the only country in the world where people read English, write Hebrew and joke in Yiddish.



Comment: As an American living here now for roughly 10 years this is"spot on".

Gaza smuggling at pre-Cast Lead volume

Nov. 17, 2009
Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST

Smuggling into the Gaza Strip from Egypt beneath the Philadelphi Corridor has returned to the busy levels that prevailed before Operation Cast Lead last winter, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Estimates of how many tunnels are now functioning range from several hundred to 1,000, although the most authoritative figures indicate that between 350 and 500 are currently operating. The IDF claimed to have destroyed about 300 tunnels during Cast Lead.

Israel has long asserted that the Egyptians could put an end to the entire smuggling industry within 24 hours if they wanted to, using military obstructions along the length of the Philadelphi Corridor.

But it does not want to - in part because the trade is an integral part of the economy in Sinai, and in part because it is not only arms that are being smuggled into Gaza, the Post has learned. Vital supplies are being brought in as well, and Egypt is unwilling to sever that link so long as Israel maintains its blockade on the Strip.

The concern in Egypt is that a crackdown on Hamas's smuggling industry would produce anti-government demonstrations in Cairo that could undermine President Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Israel had noted a marked reduction in the smuggling into Gaza after Cast Lead, but over the past few months, and especially the last few weeks, it has reverted to its former scale.

Fully laden trucks pull up alongside the entrances to the tunnels, often just meters from where Egyptian soldiers are deployed. But the Egyptians do nothing to thwart the smuggling, the Post has learned.

The US, which has provided technical assistance to Egypt in thwarting the smugglers, has been engaged in a dialogue with Cairo over the issue, without much success. It has also been working toward providing aid to local Egyptians so that they need not rely on smuggling for their livelihoods.

An indication of the continued traffic came in October, when Hamas test-fired an Iranian-made rocket with a range of 60 km. According to defense officials, Hamas likely has long-range rockets capable of reaching Tel Aviv.

Many in the Israeli security establishment anticipate that sooner or later, Israel will have to mount another military offensive against Hamas in Gaza. On Friday, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said, "If we will need to, we will operate again in the Gaza Strip to stop the rocket fire."

Israel's stated aim in Cast Lead was to put a halt to rocket fire across the border, deal a major blow to Hamas's terror infrastructure and create conditions under which it would not be able to rearm.

Although the Hamas regime has been depicted as being on the point of collapse toward the end of Cast Lead, the then-government of prime minister Ehud Olmert chose not to continue the operation, in good part because of the concern that Israel would be left in military control of the immensely hostile Strip and would find itself unable to extricate itself for years.

Meanwhile, Israel has been hearing suggestions from traditionally supportive American politicians that it consider lifting the blockade - to reduce Gazans' dependence on the Hamas-controlled tunneling and smuggling industries, and as a gesture to bolster Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

There is still widespread concern in both Israeli and American government circles over Abbas's declared intention not to seek reelection, even though the scheduled January 24 PA elections have now been postponed.

Echoing calls from the US administration, many senior coalition figures and members of the security establishment are urging the government to quickly consider a range of measures that might bolster Abbas and weaken Hamas - including alleviating the Gaza blockade and transferring greater responsibility in the West Bank to PA security forces, the Post has learned.

The performance of the PA forces is said to be far better than at any time in the past 15 years.

It is also recognized that a deal to free kidnapped IDF soldier St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit, which could involve the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners, would further bolster Hamas and weaken Abbas. Hence the need for steps to strengthen Abbas and his Prime Minister Salaam Fayad.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1258027307182&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

Obama’s Rose-Colored Glasses

by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown

President Obama needs to throw his “Muslims can do no evil” rose-colored glasses off and see the real world. After listening to remarks by Barack Hussein Obama in Fort Hood, Texas, we were struck by how unemotional he is to tragedy. That is, Obama appears to be genuinely mourning the victims of the brutal jihad-inspired massacre that left 13 dead; but even now, he refuses to understand the gravity of the events and underlying reasons that led to this terrorist attack on America’s valiant soldiers To Obama, terrorism and Islamist jihad are words stricken from his presidential lexicon. Without these words, you cannot adequately understand these brutal events on America’s homeland. Jihad flows from very specific Islamic teachings. This attack was a premeditated act of unspeakable terrorism, including the ritual pre-jihad (pre-attack) cleansing routine caught in part on convenience store cameras. Politically correct denial of Islam’s role in this bloodletting is foolish and dangerous. And Obama and his administration will not be able to protect us against further similar acts if they continually refuse to admit reality.

What is the evidence to substantiate our claims?

The FBI knew that Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had communicated with a radical, extremist imam nearly a year before the attack. Yet, they wrongly determined the Army officer was no threat. Why was he categorized as no threat? What official or officials cleared him? For what reason did they clear him?

We have learned from Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, that the Obama administration knew months ago that Hasan and the radical Yemeni imam “had exchanged 10 to 20 e-mails.”

The imam influencing the Muslim shooter is Anwar al-Awlaki. He was released from a jail in Yemen last year. Al-Awlaki writes an anti-American blog that repeatedly denounces the war on terror. He presided at the mosque in Falls Church, Va., that Hasan attended, a center known for radical Islamic teaching.

When will these radical mosques on American soil be shut down? We expect radical pro-jihad teaching and Islamic-fascism in the Middle East, but we don’t need to accept it in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. We all enjoy freedom of religion, but not the freedom to incite others to violence, which is exactly what is happening in some American mosques.

The news that FBI Director Robert Mueller ordered “an internal investigation into whether the agency mishandled an ‘assessment’ of Hasan” is not enough. This investigation shouldn’t be handled internally. We need an independent investigation to assess why the Obama administration’s intelligence was so inadequate. No cover-ups to protect themselves this time. They’re paid to protect American citizens, not themselves.

Why was no FBI agent still tracking Islamic extremist Hasan’s activities and Web site postings?

Another scary thought. What other targets of investigations have been ruled nonthreats by these same officials who misjudged Hasan?

The Army is under intense pressure from liberals to become politically correct proponents of Islam and other so-called downtrodden minorities. Servicing pet causes of the Washington elite is not, nor has it ever been, the proper role of the military. They are a fighting machine with the very specific job of killing enemies. It is imperative that Americans be better informed about how the Obama administration is changing the military and allowing it to be infiltrated by Islamists.

A number of complaints were made to commanding Army officers about Hasan. What officer in the Army ignored those complaints and cleared Hasan for duty? Since Hasan is a psychiatrist, what was he saying to American soldiers when he counseled them?

According to The Washington Post, Hasan “warned a roomful of senior Army physicians a year and a half ago that to avoid ‘adverse events,’ the military should allow Muslim soldiers to be released as conscientious objectors instead of fighting in wars against other Muslims. As a senior-year psychiatric resident at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Maj. Nidal M. Hasan was supposed to make a presentation on a medical topic of his choosing as a culminating exercise of the residency program. Instead, in late June 2007, he stood before his supervisors and about 25 other mental health staff members and lectured on Islam, suicide bombers and threats the military could encounter from Muslims conflicted about fighting in the Muslim countries of Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Clearly, the Army cannot say they didn’t know his views. The innocent souls murdered at Fort Hood will only rest in peace when the politically correct thought police who protected Hasan are court-martialed by the Army — and Obama trashes his rose-colored glasses while he is president.

‘Skip Florida Condos, Buy Homes in Israel,” US Jews Say

Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu a7 News

Fifty American Jews on a unique visit to Israeli areas claimed by the Palestinian Authority are advising investors to skip over buying condominiums in Florida and to put their money in “our historical homeland.” “Our objective is to send a clear message to Washington and to U.S. President Barack Obama that Jews will continue to live in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria,” New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind said on the first leg of a four-day visit to those areas on Sunday.

Dov Hikind “Instead of investing in properties in Florida, we must consider buying homes in our historical homeland," he said. "We will show the Obama administration that Israel and Jews in the Diaspora will never accept [out orders where to live or where to build in our homeland. American Jews have an important obligation...to buy houses in these areas to secure their security and growth.”

President Obama has been trying to pressure Israel into enforcing a building freeze for Jews, as demanded by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The Netanyahu government has unofficially honored a partial freeze by not approving new projects.

However, thousands of previously approved units are being built in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. In addition, work also has begun on the infrastructure and the first stage of 800 new homes in areas within legal borders of towns where public tenders for construction are not necessary.

The America delegation is to visit the city of Ariel on Monday as well as the Jewish communities near Shechem in the center of Samaria.

On Tuesday, they are scheduled to visit the Gilad Farm outpost, Amona, where the government three years ago carried out a brutal expulsion with mounted police officers on horseback trampling young girls and boys, and Shdema, an area near Bethlehem which nationalist activists have prevented the government from handing over to PA Arabs.

The delegation will wind up its tour on Wednesday with a ceremony to lay a cornerstone at the Nof Etzion Jewish community in eastern Jerusalem.

Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council Chairman Gershon Mesika, who will welcome the visitors on Monday, said that he “hopes that their buying homes is only the first step towards their making aliyah [immigrating to Israe.

David Ha'ivri director of the Shomron Liaison Office noted, "Our office is fully prepared to follow through with all aspects of building and managing these properties for foreign investors and supporters. The homes built and owned by Jews who currently live in the Diaspora will be rented out to young families who are now on waiting lists to join our communities because of lack of available homes. We are currently working on a project with the Jewish community in Australia and expect to sell several before the end of the year."

"Palestinians" to ask UN to recognize "state"

Jihad Watch

The objective here is not so much to get a state, although certainly a Palestinian state would serve as a useful base for their continuing jihad against Israel. (It would also be an international welfare state existing off jizya from the West.) The objective is to gain another resolution from the OIC-dominated UN that would portray Israel as an outlaw state, in violation of international law and consensus. "Palestinians to ask UN to recognise state," by Nasser Abu Bakr for AFP, November 16 (thanks to Sr. Soph):

The Palestinians said Sunday they plan to ask for UN recognition of their independence, amid mounting frustration over the stalled peace process as Israel warned against any unilateral moves.

"We have reached a decision... to go to the UN Security Council to ask for recognition of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital and with June 1967 borders," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP.

He was referring to the West Bank, Gaza Strip and mostly Arab east Jerusalem that Israel captured during the 1967 Six Day War.

"We're going to seek support from EU countries and Russia and other countries" for the measure, he said.

Erakat's comments came amid growing frustration among the Palestinians with so-far ineffective US efforts to relaunch peace negotiations with Israel that were suspended during the Gaza Strip war at the turn of the year....

Rahm Emanuel, “Source of Pride?” I don’t think so

Thunder and Lightning
By Marc Prowisor

Thunder and Lightning, or in Hebrew – Rahm and Barack, can either bring rains of blessing or a damaging storm. Rahm Emanuel spoke to the General Assembly of Jewish leaders regarding Israel and US involvement in achieving peace between Israel and the Arab occupants of Judea and Samaria. He spoke of his family’s connection to Israel, President Obama’s dedication to peace in the region and how what started in 1967, must end.

What exactly started in 1967? Israel was victorious over the Jordanian Army after we were attacked, and ended the JORDANIAN occupation of the region. This is what started back in 1967. Jewish communities were reborn from the ashes. Once again, Jews were allowed to live in places they were once evicted from, and places where they were massacred. What started? Mr. Emanuel? Jews returned to their biblical heartland, you know this as you were brought up with a religious education. The Chief of Staff spoke of how his Father took the name “Emanuel” in honor of his Uncle who died fighting for Israel, will he show the same courage when the Arabs once again deny the existence of a “Jewish” state?

I could not help but notice the lack of heart Mr. Emanuel had while speaking, his lack of conviction, his detachment from the truth and real situation on the ground in Israel. How easy it is to speak to an assembly full of “yes men” - whose lives are not endangered by the political duels going own. Mr. Emanuel mentioned how the “Two State Solution” enjoys bi-partisan support among US Jewry. I ask myself, whose sons and daughters are serving in the armed forces of Israel and putting themselves on the front lines, defending a people and country with their lives.

Rahm, mentioned not to let “settlements” stand in the way of peace, who is he to decide what is good for Israel, who will clean up the mess he makes, definitely not his sons. Yes, he is the President’s Chief of Staff, a very powerful politician and possibly the mastermind of the current US strategy to endear itself to the Arabs and Muslims of the world. If he believes that the dismantling of the Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria will solve the Israeli-Arab problem, then he probably feels that Major Nidal Malik Hasan is a common criminal and not a terrorist.

It hurts to hear the cheers of the audience as Rahm mentions the issue of “ending” the communities of Judea and Samaria. Most of those at this convention have never been out to any of these places and regard the populous as extremist lunatics. How unfortunate that they don’t even realize who these people really are and how their “Heroes” in the IDF are made up of these people, that these places are theirs also. Such is ignorance. I challenge them to come out here to visit and see what is really going on and meet the people of Judea and Samaria, but to come out with an open mind, sans the poison that they are being fed by the opponents of a strong Jewish nation.

I also extend this invitation to Mr. Emanuel to come out and meet us, not through the eyes of the government, but through your heart and mind. Maybe for your son’s Bar Mitzvah, after he reads the Torah at the Kotel (in the capital of Israel today)? Take him also to Hevron to see where his forefathers are buried, then to Shilo which served as the first capital of Israel, home to the Mishkan (Tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant) for 3690 years!

You spoke of how important your history is to you. Here is a chance to show your family and supporters that you mean what you say. Mr. Emanuel, you are a source of pride to the American Jewish Community with your patriotism, your dedication and your loyalty. I would like to bless you that you also become a source of pride to all of your people, all over the world using the same characteristics.

(I don’t know where Mr. Prowisor obtained his information for this last paragraph. It is certainly not the evaluation of the American Jews that I know. Of course, Prowisor can bless anyone he wants – even Emanuel’s boss) Jsk

marc@friendsofyesha.com

Gaza disengagement not 'expulsion'

Nov. 16, 2009
Dan Izenberg , THE JERUSALEM POST

The Headquarters for the Salvation of the Nation and the Land cannot use the words "expulsion" or "destruction" to describe 2005's unilateral withdrawal from Gush Katif in paid advertisements on Israel Radio and the Second Authority for Television and Radio's Radio Kol Chai, the High Court of Justice has ruled. The court said the words violated the rules and regulations regarding paid ads of both broadcasting authorities.

"We are talking about a loaded expression on a controversial subject," wrote presiding Justice Elyakim Rubinstein. "The petitioners themselves do not deny this. Therefore the subject falls within the prohibition included in the rules governing both broadcasting authorities."

Israel Radio and the Second Authority rejected an ad submitted by the right-wing petitioner that began, "As we mark three years since the destruction and expulsion from Gush Katif..."

According to another ad, "On the fast of Tisha Be'av and the days around it, we light a memorial candle to mark the expulsion from Gush Katif."

Attorney Aviad Visuli, who represented the petitioner, argued that there was nothing wrong with describing what happened in Gush Katif as an expulsion.

"We are talking about the forced transfer of the residents of Gush Katif by 60,000 soldiers, policemen and others, despite the opposition of more than 95 percent of the residents. According to both international law and the dictionary, the only word that can describe this forced move is 'expulsion,' as opposed to 'uprooting' or 'evacuation,'" he said.

Visuli also argued that logically, if the word "expulsion" had political connotations, so must the word "evacuation."

But Rubinstein insisted that both the rules governing both broadcasting authorities, and previous High Court rulings, made it clear that the authorities were correct in rejecting the paid ads. According to Article 5 of the rules for paid ads and announcements on Israel Radio, "political propaganda or a broadcast regarding a matter that is politically ideologically controversial among the public..." is defined as prohibited advertisement.

The Second Authority rule is similarly worded.

Rubinstein pointed out that in a similar case brought before the High Court, the majority opinion had been that the restrictions on freedom of expression applied by both authorities to paid ads regarding controversial political matters did not violate the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom and were therefore constitutional.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1258027297920&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

Fayad: PA 'getting ready for statehood'

Nov. 15, 2009
AP and jpost.com staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad on Sunday told members of the Saban Forum in Ramallah he has begun a two-year development plan meant to lay the groundwork for an independent Palestinian state.

His government's goal is "getting ready for statehood," Fayad said, while the Palestine Liberation Organization would decide when to declare independence. Fayad explained he was working to strengthen the Palestinian Authority's institutions and root out corruption so that the PA will get more support should it decide to unilaterally declare independence, Israel Radio reported.

US Senator Joseph Lieberman, who is in Israel for the Saban Forum, a parley devoted to the Middle East and sponsored by Israeli-born American billionaire Haim Saban, told Fayad that the PA would become a more likely partner for Israel in negotiations if its institutions were more robust.

"I know some people are concerned that this is unilateral," Lieberman said, referring to the development plan. "But it seems to me that it is unilateral in a healthy sense of self-development."

While Israeli officials criticized PA negotiator Saeb Erekat's Saturday announcement that the PA may unilaterally ask the UN to recognize a Palestinian state in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, Erekat reiterated his intention to implement such a plan.

"Now is our defining moment. We went into this peace process in order to achieve a two-state solution," Erekat said. "The endgame is to tell the Israelis that now the international community has recognized the two-state solution on the '67 borders."

Erekat declined to say when the Palestinians would make their appeal to the UN, signaling that the threat may be aimed in large part at putting pressure on Israel.

The Palestinians already declared independence unilaterally on November 15, 1988. The declaration was recognized by dozens of countries, but never implemented on the ground.

Also on Sunday, West Bank officials announced plans to extend the term of PA President Mahmoud Abbas after a recommendation to postpone presidential elections indefinitely.
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1258027294555&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

PM: We would accept France as a mediator in talks with Syria

Nov. 15, 2009
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

In a first response to Syria's announcement that it was prepared to resume indirect negotiations with Israel mediated by Turkey, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Israel would be willing to accept France as a mediator in peace negotiations with Syria. "If France would want to serve as a mediator, we would be willing," Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinet meeting.

Netanyahu's statement came after Syrian President Bashar Assad on Friday called for talks to resume with Turkey as a mediator.

The prime minister, however, said Jerusalem did not believe Ankara was objective enough to mediate the talks.

"Israel is prepared to hold negotiations without precondition with the Syrians. I prefer direct talks, but if [they are] with a mediator then it must be fair. The Turkish prime minister [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] has not strengthened his image as an objective, fair mediator," said Netanyahu.

Turkey mediated four rounds of indirect talks with Israel under former prime minister Ehud Olmert. Those efforts were halted when the IDF began Operation Cast Lead at the end of December and were never resumed.

But the Turkish-Israeli relationship has recently become strained, leading to speculation that France could mediate any new talks.

In an interview recorded on Friday afternoon and broadcast on France 2 television on Friday evening, Assad said France could play an important role in getting talks started.

France "should support the role of the Turkish mediator and persuade Israel to return to the negotiating table with the Turkish mediator," he said.

French-Turkish relations however, have also deteriorated, because French President Nicolas Sarkozy is a firm and vocal opponent of EU membership for Turkey. It is not clear whether Paris could have much influence with Ankara.

Tovah Lazaroff and AP contributed to this report
This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1258027294857&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

Think Tank: “U.S. Aids Terror Group At War With Israel”

Samuel Sokol
5 Towns Jewish Times

PA forces in Ramallah.

A new report released by the Center for Near East Policy Research, a Jerusalem based think-tank, discusses the possible connection between American military aid and Palestinian terrorism. The report, “Implications of U.S. Military Training of Palestinian Security Forces,” was authored by center chairman David Bedein and deals with the Office of the U.S. Security Coordinator (USSC), run by Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton.

http://www.israelbehindthenews.com/library/pdfs/Assessment_of_US_Military_Aid_to_Fatah_US.pdf


Established in 2005, the USSC manages a multinational team of advisors, whose role is to restructure the PA security forces and train personnel. American tax dollars pay for advanced military and constabulary training for the Palestinian security forces at bases in Jericho in Israel and Giftlik in Jordan. The cost of training an entire battalion of National Security Forces (NSF) troops in Jordan is $11 million.

Since 2008 approximately 2,100 troops, enough to make four battalions, have been trained by Americans in Jordan. The American government utilizes advisors from the DynCorp International Corporation for training Palestinian forces. Soldiers enrolled in American training programs are vetted for terrorist links by the Palestinian Authority, American intelligence and the Israel General Security Services (Shabak). However, there is evidence that many people in the Palestinian security apparatus are also members of banned terror groups.

The report elaborates. “Salam Fayyad, PA prime minister, reached an agreement with the forces of Al-Aqsa Brigades…not to arrest them as long as they maintained a low profile. Al-Aqsa people are sheltered and receive salaries from Fayyad. When PA security troops were deployed in Nablus, Al-Aqsa people who had not been trained in Jordan and were not vetted received command positions. This included one individual who had engaged in extortion.”

Some members of the Israeli political and military establishment have expressed their support for General Dayton and his program, citing a decline in terror in Judea and Samaria. In contrast, Bedein writes that the willingness to work with Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades indicates that the Palestinian Authority is not, in principal, opposed to the use of violence. Operations mounted by PA forces are most often aimed at destroying Fatah rival Hamas, rather than in reducing terrorism.

Bedein told the Five Towns Jewish Times, “The reduction of terrorism from Judea and Samaria is because of the success of Operation Defensive Shield, launched in April 2002, which placed IDF troops in strategic positions to patrol and surround every possible Arab terror stronghold, so as to prevent terror attacks.”

“Ever wonder why the shelling stopped from Beit Jalla on Gilo in Jerusalem? For only one reason: Simply put, the IDF took back Beit Jalla, quietly and without fanfare.”

Fatah recently has been attempting to reconcile with Hamas, creating the possibility of American trained forces being merged into joint units with Hamas fighters.

There is also a risk of American trained forces turning on Israel. As Abbas stated, he “reserve[s] the right to resistance” if negotiations do not turn out the way he likes. This occurred during the second intifada when Yasser Arafat had failed to gain his demands by negotiations. During that period, American training was also used against Israeli civilian targets...

In the report, Bedein commented that human rights have not improved in the Palestinian Authority since the inception of the program. “Palestinian and other human rights organizations report brutality, torture, and arbitrary arrest by those PA security forces trained by both the United States and European Union.”

General Dayton looks on his Palestinian charges with pride. During a military ceremony, he announced to Palestinian forces that he “couldn’t be more proud of the fact that you stepped up to be the founders of a Palestinian state.”

However, the nature of that state remains to be seen. A new plan for Palestinian statehood, written by PM Fayyad, discusses restoring unity with Gaza [Hamas] and of implementing Sharia law.

The report quotes a “prominent Palestinian journalist” as saying that the association between the Americans and Fatah could give Hamas a boost in the polls in the next election. This would certainly prove detrimental to efforts to create a demilitarized Palestinian state as envisioned by Benjamin Netanyahu. Moreover, every officer in the Palestinian forces is required to swear an oath of allegiance to Fatah. This had led to “elite PA forces trained in Jordan [being] unwilling to stop Fatah militia operations, including extortion and abductions.”

Israeli Maj. Gen. (Res.) Ya’akov Amidror commented regarding the Palestinian security forces’ efforts to reduce terror. “There is a huge difference in the Palestinian view between law enforcement, which is seen as legitimate, and anti-terrorism, which is not seen as legitimate…The U.S. confuses the two.”

In the report, Dr. Mordechai Kedar of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University is quoted as saying that American trained forces cannot be expected to fight against terror when members of their own clans participate in terror organizations. “…When (not if) there will be domestic problems in the PA/Palestinian State these people will be loyal primarily to their clan [Arabic: hamula] rather than to the state, since they will never shoot their brothers or cousins… you can surely say that their loyalty will be according to the context of the event in which their participation will be required.”

Dr. Kedar spoke with the Five Towns Jewish Times regarding the USSC and its role in the peace process. “On one side, it [the USSC] is good because it strengthens those sectors that might work with Israel, especially the security forces. But on the other side, no one can guarantee that these weapons which the Americans are giving those Palestinians will not be turned against Israel,” Kedar stated.

When asked about the unwillingness of American trained forces to act against the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Kedar responded by saying that the PA forces “can become very easily a terror group against Israel…with all respect to Dayton and his efforts, this is a mine which is being implanted in this area...I’m pretty sure that they will be the front power against Israel when the day comes.” Asked if he believed that American training will be used in a war scenario against Israel, Kedar responded in the affirmative.

Bedein’s research indicates that current aid to the Palestinian security forces is in direct contravention of American law. Congress, in making appropriations for Palestinian training, instituted a caveat, “None of the funds appropriated by this act may be provided to support a Palestinian state unless the Secretary of State determines and certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that…the elected governing entity of a new Palestinian state…is taking appropriate measures to counter terrorism and terrorist financing in the West Bank and Gaza, including the dismantling of terrorist infrastructures…”

Continued Palestinian Authority support for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades means that it would be impossible for the Secretary of State to honestly certify that this provision has been met. According to a 2005 Congressional Research Service report, “Congress wants to ensure that U.S. assistance is used for legitimate humanitarian projects and that no U.S. aid is diverted for military or terrorist use against Israel.”

Bedein recently traveled to Washington to present his report’s findings. He spoke with staffers of 25 key members of the U.S. Senate and House and presented copies of his report to make them aware that, in his words, “U.S. military aid to Fatah may backfire.”

Despite being cleared for terrorist ties, some recipients of American training are former leaders of banned terror groups that have received amnesty from Israel as a gesture to build up Mahmoud Abbas...

Saying goodbye to mom

Cool welcome to Bibi may hint of upcoming US withdrawal from Mideast mess

Asaf Gefen
YNET News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was received in Washington this week with the honors reserved for an especially embarrassing relative. The kind of relative you were forced to meet – after all, he’s part of the family and mom really asked you to do it – but you made sure to meet him in a place nobody knows, so no one will see you. The White House has not seen such secretive visit since the summit meetings between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. Obama, on his part, spared no effort in making clear that he would have preferred a face-to-face meeting with suspected murderer Damian Carlik, who killed a family of six south of Tel Aviv, than with Israel’s prime minister.


However, it seems that something bigger is going on around here. As hinted this week by journalist Thomas Friedman, the Americans are closer than ever to reaching the understanding that they would sleep well at night even without the Mideastern food poisoning, and that they have better things to do in life than playing the role of babysitter for us and the Palestinians (two children that no amount of Ritalin is enough for.)


One can understand them, and also our own abandonment anxiety. The departure of the Americans, which would come on top of our already unsteady international status, would reinforce our position as a global pariah that any civilized person would better stay away from and push us even deeper into our own bunker. Not to mention the economic implications of the affair gone awry with our American sugar daddy.


Taking responsibility for our actions

And as to the migraine known as “the peace process” around here, detachment from the responsible adult in America may constitute a fresh change. After years where we got used to an international nanny that changed our diaper every time things got too smelly, the time has come for us and our lovely neighbors to take responsibility for our actions.


For how many more years can we expect others to resolve our problems for us? Until what age will we continue to go on dates accompanied by our parents?


In-depth thinking about the reality of a Middle East without a foreign mediator that will force solutions upon us, and the emergence of a space where we and our Arab neighbors manage things on our own and address the difficulties and disputes our way, raises a specter of opportunities and possible scenarios – all of which can be summed up with two words: Mommy, help!


However, this time around, as opposed to the past, even if we call for mom, she won’t be coming.

State Department uses Islamist Anti-American Propaganda to Criticize Turkish Army Kicking Out Islamists

RubinReports
Barry Rubin

I’ve already written about how former President Bill Clinton, in line with the Obama Administration’s thinking, acted as an apologist and even booster of Turkey’s Islamist regime. Now the State Department is doing it. Indeed, this is a fascinating little example of how thoroughly Islamists bamboozle the West.

The State Department issued its annual religious freedom report. If you look at the section on Turkey, you will see that a main—perhaps the main—source is Mazlum-Der, which is the Association of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed People. What could be better than human rights and helping oppressed people? Unfortunately, Mazlum-Der is a front for the Islamist government in Turkey and the main oppressed people it’s concerned about are Hamas, Hizballah, and others of that ilk.

In fact, this group is headed by an Islamist member of parliament for the Adiyaman district who comes from the ruling party, Faruk Unsal, who has been personally involved in repressing those criticizing the regime through trumped-up treason charges! [To hide Unsal's identity, his name appears only on the Turkish, not the English language site, and neither tell you about his political role.]

As for the group, to give an example, on May 1 it organized a rally in Diyarbakir with Kurdish Hizballah calling for the regime to uninvite Israel to joint militry maneuvers. Clearly, the government had already decided to do so and assigned its front groups to show "popular support" for that step.
So the State Department, by using a radical group as a source, falls into the Islamist trap in several ways:

--Religious Muslims in Turkey are portrayed as victims of the military and judiciary. These are, in fact, the only two institutions that the AK hasn’t infiltrated and largely taken over yet. So Islamists use the State Department to discredit the army and courts to make it easier to complete their seizure of the state apparatus.

--There is no mention whatsoever of the real oppression going on, which is of secularists who are being forced out of jobs, not given government contracts, sent to jail, sued by the government, or even facing violence.

--While the report does discuss the situation of non-Muslims in Turkey, it leaves out the virulent antisemitism that the regime has been promoting. In addition, it doesn’t mention the fact that the government refuses to legalize the prayer houses of the Alevis, who constitute 10 to 20 percent of the population.

What is particularly amazing is that the U.S. government accepts the word of an Islamist, anti-American group which of course wants as many radical Islamists as possible in the army to fulfill its own goals. Such soldiers, of course, could commit acts of terrorism (against Americans, too), pass information onto Iran, serve as regime spies against pro-democratic forces, and ensure that the military never blocks the regime’s attempt to become a dictatorship.

The report's wording has to be seen to be believed:

“Officers and noncommissioned officers were dismissed periodically for ignoring repeated warnings from superior officers and for maintaining ties to what the military considered Islamic fundamentalist organizations…."

So could the United States be accused of human rights' violations if it had dismissed a certain army major rather than waiting until he murdered 13 people and murdered a score of others?

"Some members of the military, judiciary, and other branches of the bureaucracy continued to wage campaigns against what they label as Islamic fundamentalism. These groups view religious fundamentalism as a threat to the secular state.

"Reports by Mazlum-Der, the media, and others indicated that the military periodically dismissed religiously observant Muslims from military service. Such dismissals were based on behavior that military officials believed identified these individuals as Islamic fundamentalists, which officials believed could indicate disloyalty to the secular state.”

Islamic fundamentalists in the army are a threat to the secular state? Where could they possibly have gotten that idea?

Note, too, the contradiction. The army says it warns people first and then dismisses them only if they refuse to break connections to radical groups. But Islamists claim these soldiers are being persecuted because they are "religiously observant Muslims." This is nonsense.

But, remember, this is what the U.S. army would have been charged with if it had taken action against an officer who applauded the murder of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, then claimed he was being discriminated against simply because he was a Muslim.

And this is a violation of religious freedom? Remember that an “Islamic fundamentalist” is someone who holds a political ideology advocating Turkey becoming an Islamist dictatorship. What next? The State Department criticizes Egypt or Jordan for kicking “Islamic fundamentalists” out of their armies?

Well, at least the U.S. government is consistent since--judging from the evidence coming out after the Ft. Hood murders--it doesn't remove Jihadists from its own military.

Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunit

Caroline Glick , THE JERUSALEM POST

Once again, US President Barack Obama has demonstrated his intention of "putting light" between America and Israel. His hostility toward Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during the latter's visit to Washington this week was breathtaking. It isn't every day that you can see an American president leaving the prime minister of an allied government twisting in the wind for weeks before deciding to grant him an audience at the White House.

It isn't every day that a visiting leader from a strategically vital US ally is brought into the White House in an unmarked van in the middle of the night rather than greeted like a friend at the front door; is forbidden to have his picture taken with the president; is forced to leave the White House alone, through a side exit; and is ordered to keep the contents of his meeting with the president secret.

Ahead of Obama's meeting with Netanyahu, The Wall Street Journal reported that Obama was effectively attempting to blackmail the Israeli premier by conditioning the meeting on Netanyahu's willingness to make tangible concessions to the Palestinians during his speech before the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America.

Although the report was denied by the Obama administration, if it was true, such a move by the White House would be without precedent in the history of US relations with Israel. And if untrue, the very fact that the story rings true is indicative of the wretched state of US relations with Israel since Obama entered office.

Obama's hostility was evident as well during his meeting with 50 Jewish leaders at the White House this week. In an obvious bid to split American Jewry away from Israel, Obama refused to discuss Israel or Iran with the concerned American Jewish leaders. As far as Obama was concerned, all they deserved from him was a primer on the brilliance of his economic policies and the worthiness of his plan to socialize the American healthcare industry. His foreign policy is none of their business.

Obama's meeting with American Jewish leaders was supposed to be a consolation prize for American Jews after Obama canceled his first public address to American Jews since taking office. The White House claimed that he canceled the speech because his visit to the Fort Hood memorial service made it impossible for him to attend. But then the conference was a three-day affair. The organizers would probably have been happy to reschedule.

Instead, as Iran races to the nuclear finish line, America's Jewish leaders were forced to sit through White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel's kitschy Borscht Belt schmooze about his bar mitzva.

The ironic thing about Obama's nastiness toward Netanyahu and his arrogant treatment of the American Jewish community is that while it has made him the first US president to have no credibility among Israelis and has caused a 14 percent drop in his support among American Jews, it has failed utterly to earn him the trust of the Muslim world.

Today the Fatah movement is in disarray. Last week its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, announced his intention to retire and has placed the blame for his decision on the Obama administration as well as on Israel. Key Palestinian spokesmen like Saeb Erekat have declared the death of the peace process and called for the renewal of the jihad against Israel.

As for the larger Muslim world, a report this week in The New York Times stated that the US's key Arab allies, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have been perilously weakened since Obama took office. Their diminished influence has been accompanied by the rapid rise of Iran and Syria. Both of these rogue states have been on the receiving end of continuous wooing by Obama administration officials who seem ready to do just about anything to appease them.

In the meantime, Iran's Hizbullah proxy in Lebanon has again managed to regain control over Lebanon's government, despite its defeat in June's parliamentary election. Making full use of the fact that it fields the most powerful army in the country and owing as well to the US's decision to abandon the pro-Western March 14 movement in favor of an approach that makes no distinction between America's friends and foes in Lebanon, Hizbullah strong-armed its way back to the driver's seat in the new Lebanese government.

AS FOR Hizbullah's Iranian bosses, far from convincing them to moderate their policies, the Obama administration's efforts to appease the ayatollahs have emboldened Iran's theocratic leaders to adopt ever-more radical positions against the US. As senior US officials try to make light of the fact that in the past week Iran has thrice rejected their latest offer to have the US, Russia and France enrich uranium for them, the Iranians announced that they will try three hapless American hikers for espionage. The three young Americans were abducted by Iranian security forces along the Iran-Iraq border in Kurdistan four months ago.

The fact that Obama's policies have all failed so spectacularly presents a unique opportunity for Israel to move its policies in a bold new direction. Many commentators and policy-makers have claimed that it falls on Israel to help Obama succeed where he has failed. In their view, Israel must go out of its way to establish a Palestinian state during Obama's term of office or accept the blame for any renewal of the Palestinian terror war against it. Such voices - most strongly represented this week by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman - have tried to blame the failure of Obama's attempt to reinstate negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on Israel's alleged intransigence.

In response to these allegations, this week Netanyahu expressed profound and urgent interest in holding negotiations with Abbas. This move was ill-advised. Although it is true that by proclaiming his devotion to the so-called peace process, Netanyahu was able to deflect some of the White House's attacks against him, the short-term advantage it brought him this week in Washington is eclipsed by the long-term damage such an approach causes the country. In the long-run, Israel is harmed when its leaders promote the fiction that it is possible to reach an accord with the Palestinians that will bring about the formal and peaceful establishment of a Palestinian state.

As Netanyahu prepared to fly off to Washington, Abbas made clear that he will not make any concessions to Israel for peace. Together with his fellow Fatah members, Abbas made clear that like Hamas, Fatah does not recognize Israel's right to exist, does not support peaceful coexistence with Israel, and shares Hamas's dedication to continued war against Israel.

For their part, pro-Palestinian lobbyists Robert Malley and Hussein Agha are now arguing that the two-state solution has failed and that the time has come for a one-state solution in which Israel ceases to exist as a Jewish state by accepting the Palestinians as full citizens in one binational state.

The Israeli Left, as well as the State Department and several European governments, has now embraced the unelected Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayad's plan to unilaterally declare Palestinian independence in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Jerusalem in two years. The aim of the Fayad plan is to coerce Israel into abandoning all the lands it took control over during the Six Day War, by implicitly threatening to deploy international forces throughout "Palestine" that will be charged with "protecting" the new Palestinian state from the IDF.

BOTH THE Fayad-plan supporters and the one-state solution crowd believe that their plans can indirectly advance the so-called peace process. In their view, frightened of both a unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence and of a binational state, Netanyahu will abandon his demand for a demilitarized Palestinian state and for defensible borders for Israel and voluntarily withdraw the IDF and the 250,000 Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria to within the 1949 armistice lines. But the fact is that there is no reason for Netanyahu to fear their plans. Indeed it is high time for Israel to call their bluffs.

The shocking truth is that the demographic threat is an empty threat. The demographic doomsday scenarios for Israel are all based on falsified Palestinian census data from 1997 that inflated the number of Palestinians in Israel, Judea, Samaria and Gaza by 50%. As the independent American-Israel Demographic Research Group demonstrated in early 2005, Israel has no reason to be concerned that by maintaining its control over Judea and Samaria, it will become a majority Arab state. Today, the combined population of Israel and Judea and Samaria leaves Jews with a two-thirds majority. With Jewish immigration and fertility rates rising, negative Arab immigration rates, and decreasing Arab fertility rates, the long-term projections for Israel's demographic viability are all positive.

As Netanyahu knows, there is consensus support among Israelis for his plan to ensure that the country retains defensible borders in perpetuity. This involves establishing permanent Israeli control over the Jordan Valley and the large Jewish population blocs in Judea and Samaria. In light of the well-recognized failure of the two-state solution, Hamas's takeover of Gaza and the disintegration of Fatah accompanied by the shattering of the myth of Fatah moderation, Israel should strike out on a new course and work toward the integration of Judea and Samaria, including its Palestinian population, into Israeli society. In the first instance, this will require the implementation of Israeli law in the Jordan Valley and the large settlement blocs.

Replacing the military government in these areas with Israel's more liberal legal code will also advance Netanyahu's economic peace plan, which envisions expanding the Palestinian economy in Judea and Samaria by among other things reintegrating it into Israel's booming economy. This plan would reward political moderation while marginalizing terrorists in Palestinian society. In so doing, it will advance the cause of peaceful coexistence over the long-term far better than the failed two-state solution. Far from engendering peace, the two-state paradigm empowered the most corrupt and violent actors in Palestinian society, at the expense of its most productive and moderate citizens.

Obama's disgraceful treatment of Israel and, for that matter, his atrocious treatment of the majority of America's allies in the Middle East and throughout the world, has strengthened the hands of America's worst enemies and made the world a much more dangerous place. But his obvious failures provide Israel with an opportunity to take control of events and change the situation for the betterment of Israel and the Palestinians alike.

Applying Israeli law to the Jordan Valley and the major Israeli population blocs in Judea and Samaria will probably not win Netanyahu many friends in the Obama White House. But if we learned anything from Obama's insulting treatment of Netanyahu and American Jews this week, we learned that regardless of what Israel does, the Obama administration has no interest in being his friend.

caroline@carolineglick.com

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This article can also be read at http://www.jpost.com /servlet/Satellite?cid=1258027277862&pagename=JPArticle%2FShowFull

PA: Israel to focus on Syria

Source says Palestinians believe Israel deciding to focus efforts on renewing talks with Damascus, are concerned that Netanyahu may use talks to blame PA for failed negotiations, threaten to unilaterally declare Palestinian state

Ynet reporters

Despite Israel's denial that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a secret message of reconciliation to Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Palestinian Authority is convinced that something has changed in the Israeli approach, and that Jerusalem is now planning to focus its efforts on renewing talks with Damascus. A PA source told Ynet that the Palestinians received guarantees from two Arab states, and information from European sources that Israel has reached understandings with the American government according to which efforts will be focused on reviving the Israeli-Syrian track in the near future.


The source said this does seem like another Israeli attempt to maneuver between the various channels, but more like a strategic decision on Israel's part to focus on Syria.


"We understand that this time the Israelis are determined to make the most of talks in the Syrian track, after they noticed that the Palestinian leadership is not willing to discuss any options of a temporary Palestinian state," the source said.



According to the source, at least on the outside, it seems the PA is not troubled by Israeli contact with its northern neighbor: "It's not the talks that are troubling, but the fact that Netanyahu will sell them to the International community, and wave it in the face of those who demand he renew talks with us."



A Fatah source told Ynet that Israel's turn in the direction of Syria, if it turns out to be significant, and the fact that the Americans are failing to pressure Israel into a settlement freeze, "will lead us to reconsider the entire perception of the political process and the character of the PA and its essence. At this point, as nice as it may sound, there will be no steering of the masses towards a popular uprising, but there will be progress in the construction of an international relations that do not depend on the peace process, and which will be aimed at garnering maximum support of our moves, such as the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state."

"No Closer"

Arlene Kushner

.to understanding what is going on. Not happy about what I'm seeing. But also certain that what I'm seeing is not the whole story, and that until we know that story judgment is impossible.
From Washington, PM Netanyahu flew to Paris, where he met with President Sarkozy. News reports today have it that Netanyahu delivered a message to Syrian president Bashar Assad that he would be willing to resume negotiations with Syria at any time and any place, without preconditions. Assad is supposed to be in Paris to meet with Sarkozy today and presumably will get this message.

Huh? you may be asking. What?

Assad is the one who has been putting out feelers regarding seeking "peace" in recent days, but has explained that achieving peace doesn't come only via negotiations, it also involves "resistance."

Syria was the destination point for the horrendous collection of weapons confiscated on the arms ship Francop. Just as Syria has fostered the smuggling of weapons across its border to Hezbollah in Lebanon, in violations of the embargo on arms to Hezbollah. And Assad has declared how solid is his nation's relationship with Iran.

Does Netanyahu really see it as constructive to have peace negotiations with Syria now? Does he think there may be the opportunity to reach an honest agreement that is beneficial to us?

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I may be one of the last hold-outs on the right. It's possible that Netanyahu has flipped. It's possible he has sold out. (I know I'm likely to hear from people who tell me it's obvious he has.) But I'm going to say what I said the other day: I don't know. I am nervous as hell, but will not yet judge because my information is insufficient.

I remain ever mindful of the broader context -- including the need for support with regard to Iran -- that must be factored into the equation. It's a big step from selling Israel out to playing a game in order to position Israel better at a very threatening time. That game is dangerous, but Netanyahu may be proceeding with appropriate intent. May. We have not yet heard about anything that he has actually conceded or caved on. No concessions he has made. It's all worried speculation. And a lot of secrecy.

Consider this: Assad's unequivocal demand is to have the Golan Heights returned to Syria. Matter of national pride and all that. He always says there will be no peace with Israel without that.

Netanyahu knows this very well. He knows that this is a pre-condition that Assad insists upon, whether formally or not. Yet he says he is willing to enter negotiations with Syria if there are no pre-conditions. Does he expect at the get-go that his offer will be rejected by Assad? Is he planning a "pretend" negotiation that will lead nowhere?

Or...is he prepared to relinquish the Golan under the "right" circumstances?

According to the newspaper al-Arabiya , Netanyahu said in Paris that he would relinquish the Golan in return for peace. The prime minister's office absolutely denies this.

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The Golan is legally part of Israel proper, governed under Israeli civil law. That makes its status different legally from that of Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu cannot simply sign away the Golan -- the process would be stringent.

I will not review here in detail all of the many reasons why we should never, ever give up the Golan. But if this issue becomes serious, you can bet I'll come back to it.

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Let us, for the moment, return to our other headache, the Palestinians:

A senior official in Fatah announced today that the PA Central Elections Committee is going to recommend that the elections (for president and the legislature), scheduled for January 24, be postponed because it would not be possible for Palestinians in Gaza to vote.

Gee, what a surprise.

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Understand please that Abbas has not resigned. He simply declared with great drama that he was weary and would not run in the next elections. So... if the elections are postponed until who-knows-when, for the interim he is still PA president.

And factor this in, as well: According to the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat in London (as cited in IMRA), the Fatah Central Committee has declared itself firmly in favor of Abbas as the candidate for the presidency. (Abbas has been pumping for this sort of endorsement.)

What is more, according to this paper, in the event that Abbas does decide not to run when the election is finally held, there is no support within the Central Committee for the candidacy of Marwan Barghouti, who is a member of the Central Committee now, but serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison. (The assumption is made, repeatedly, that he'll get out in the course of a trade, and thus be able to function politically within the PA.)

This is interesting, as Barghouti is frequently touted as a possible successor to Abbas and the man best able to make things happen. There are even left-wing Israelis who have -- ludicrously -- pumped for this.

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Lastly we have this: According to the Palestinian news agency Maan, Hamas leader Dr Aziz Ad-Dweik has announced that by the end of this month Hamas will sign the reconciliation agreement brokered by Egypt. Egypt has penciled into the margins of the agreement some reservations voiced by Hamas -- what, specifically, was not explained, but we know that attending to Hamas reservations can only lead to greater radicalism. At any rate, Hamas now feels its concerns have been attended to.

Declared Dweik, "By the end of the month you'll hear what will delight your hearts."

The PA already signed the Egyptian proposal, but will have to sign, or initial, the new, adjusted agreement. No problem is anticipated on this score (but who knows). The signing would signal the beginning of the process of establishing a unity coalition.

Then there would be a whole new drama to attend to, with a different dynamic in place.

There are all sorts of heavy implications, regarding the "peace process," establishment of a state, and the training by the US of PA security forces (a big concern). I will visit each of these issues as the situation unfolds.

I am particularly interested in seeing how those supporting a Palestinian state will respond to a Fatah-Hamas coalition (should it evolve), and what sorts of pretzels they'll turn themselves into as they seek to justify it. I hope that the Hamas reservations are sufficiently blatant in their radical perspective so that it will be impossible to claim that Hamas has "moderated."

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Thank Heaven for Shabbat, especially after this upside-down week. Next posting will be early next week.

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see my website www.ArlenefromIsrael.info