Abbas Should Draw a Map Just Like Netanyahu

One of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s now world infamous preconditions is the insistence that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu deliver a map showing what the Israeli leaders foresees as the borders between Israel and Palestine. Abbas claims that until he is able to actually visualize the borders which Netanyahu is suggesting he will be unable to determine whether or not it would be worthwhile for him to meet and restart negotiations. Abbas is using this ploy so he can continue to reject one map after another claiming that Netanyahu is not serious about making peace as the map does not come anywhere near the minimal area which Abbas feels is required for the Palestinian State. By having Prime Minister Netanyahu draw such a map Abbas excuses him from having to make any demands or claims as to what he would accept leaving him to simply reject any map proposed without stating what would be acceptable. So, perhaps in all fairness Prime Minister Netanyahu should offer to exchange maps with Abbas thus having both men draw up their idea of what would make a fair border from which to begin the final border negotiations. Of course Mahmoud Abbas will refuse to exchange maps while continuing to demand that Netanyahu must submit a map to Abbas.

 

There is no doubts as to why Palestinian President Abbas will refuse to present a map of the final borders he envisions as acceptable to the Palestinians for the establishing of a final solution to the question of borders. His reason is simply as such a map already exists and is available for anybody to see. All one need do is look at the maps of Palestine in the Palestinian schoolbooks or the map behind Abbas’s desk in his office and the map of Palestine that they consider their minimal requirements are there for anybody to see. These maps all depict all of Gaza, Judea, Samaria (West Bank) and Israel as the borders for their state of Palestine. That is correct; everything from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea is their envisioned state with no Israel whatsoever. That is the reason that Abbas would reject any request for him to also present a map of his vision for final borders and also why no matter what map Netanyahu might present, as long as it depicted any of the land as belonging to Israel as a Jewish State would be unacceptable to Abbas. Along with offering to present Abbas with a map if and only if Abbas returns the favor and presents his ideal map in a mutual exchange, why not also do similar offers on some of the other preconditions which Mahmoud Abbas is currently hiding behind using them as a means to avoid negotiations.

 

Where Mahmoud Abbas demands that Israel accept the Right of Return for as many as five to six million refugees, Israel could demand that Abbas admit to how many Jews who own lands in Judea and Samaria will be allowed to remain on their lands after a settlement has been reached. It is unlikely that Abbas would surprise the world and admit that the Palestinians intend to dispossess the Jews who are living or own land beyond the Green Line and refuse to allow even a single Jew to remain and become a citizen of the Palestinian State. Once Abbas has made the situation clear that there will be no Jews allowed to remain within Palestine then the Israelis can hardly be condemned for not accepting the refugees, especially all five to six million, within Israel and demanding that they only be allowed to settle in Palestine. In all truth, Israel actually holds the moral high ground on this issue as there are already sizeable Arab sectors within the Israeli population who have full rights and are found throughout Israeli society. There are Arab doctors and nurses working right next to Jewish doctors and nurses in every Israeli hospital, Arab members in the Knesset even to include some who act more for the Palestinians than they do the Israeli Arabs who elected them. There are Arab judges, Police, and soldiers in the IDF, though the Arab Israelis are not required to serve in the IDF as Israeli Jews and Druze are required to serve. You cannot find a single Jews even allowed to reside in Area A of the West Bank or within any of the Arab villages under Palestinian Authority rule.

 

While President Abbas has demanded that Israel issue a building freeze once again in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, perhaps in exchange Abbas will freeze all Palestinian building within East Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley, and Areas B and C of the West Bank in a gesture of equality and fairness. Just as the Israelis would still be entitled to build within the Green line and only cease building in the contested lands, the Palestinian would continue to build in Area C and they would also not build within the contested lands. As for the Abbas demand that Israel agree to utilize the 1967 Lines as a reference for final borders, these are actually the Armistice Lines from 1949 which the Arabs demanded could never be used to denote a border, that the Israelis could demand that Abbas recognize that the original British Mandate was presumably for the establishment of a Jewish State and that all the lands east of the Jordan River were already ceded by the Jews to the Palestinian Arabs when they forfeited those lands for the establishment of Jordan. Should that be too difficult a pill for Abbas to swallow then there is always the compromise position that at the establishment of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 Israel possessed the Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza, Judea and Samaria and as required by Resolution 242 Israel had surrendered territories by returning the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt and the disengagement from Gaza thus Israel is not technically or legally required to surrender any further lands except by mutual agreement and should Israel wish to fully exhaust their rights they could annex all of Judea and Samaria and still have satisfied all legal international requirements. There has to be a point where the truth is stated and a requirement that the actual International legal requirements are made obvious and that Israel has technically met every International requirement proposed by the United Nations and accepted by International bodies.

 

Proposing that for every precondition which Israel is requested to meet to jumpstart the peace process the Palestinians also meet a like precondition would be simply an equalizing and fairness measure. The examples above are simply that, samples, suggestions. It would be up to Israeli leadership to present proposals which they would deem as evenhanded. There are other preconditions such as the releasing of large numbers of Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons, including some of those who have committed the most grievous crimes, is one demand for which I am unable to find anything which would balance such out to pose in return. The other problem with this idea is that I have little doubt that Mahmoud Abbas would not simply keep adding more preconditions to the list while ignoring the Israeli answer of preconditions of their own. Still, by proposing such return preconditions they would add into the discussion a review of what are the demands and positions on each subject the Palestinians hold. Any turning of the tables that potentially reveals the truth of the Palestinians refusal to negotiate works in Israel’s favor. Trying to tell the world that these preconditions are merely excuses not to negotiate is not accepted and will not be accepted unless Israel actually gave in on them and the Palestinians still refused to negotiate. The problem is once Israel surrenders on any point there will be no backtracking away from the conceded point. For example, if Israel commits to a building freeze for a period, say six months, in order to allow for negotiations we all know exactly what would be the response as we already danced this dance. Abbas would simply ask about another set of preconditions such as agreement on the 1967 lines for borders and the acceptance of the Right of Return for all five to six million Palestinian refugees and the prisoner release. Israel would have allowed the building freeze to be established as something that Israel is obliged to commit to in order for negotiations just as it has been pushed ever since it was introduced and forced down Israel’s throat by United States President Obama. We also need to remember that the concept of the building freeze and using the 1967 lines as the starting point for borders were both brilliant ideas introduced and proposed by President Obama, not Mahmoud Abbas. Ever since their introduction they have stuck and Abbas realizes that these two gifts from the American President are in his pocket ad infinitum. As these preconditions will never depart the scene on their own, Israel has to find some tactic to turn them back on the Palestinians and use them to reveal the duplicity behind these demands being used deceptively by the Palestinians. Turnabout is only fair as all’s fair in love and war, and if this is not one it must be the other.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Refuting Myths Against Israel and the Jews Made Simple

There are an unbelievable number of lies, distortions and misconceptions about Israel, the Jews, the Palestinians and the histories of each. First thing that is needed to do is to dispel some of the most common myths. The Jews were given Israel as retribution made because of the Holocaust the biggest lie. The idea of Israel as the Jewish State in modern times began with the first Jews returning to Israel in the 1850s. The Zionist movement was founded by Theodore Herzl as a response to the Trial of Captain Alfred Dreyfus for treason by France which has become known as the Dreyfus Affair. Captain Alfred Dreyfus was wrongly accused and convicted of treason on the flimsiest of evidence, a single scrap from a note, mostly because he was a Jew. The scandal was eventually revealed after Émile Zola wrote his famous article, J’accuse. All of these events took place before 1900 and eventually led to the Balfour Declaration which was written in November 1917. The League of Nations set aside lands for the Jewish State to be founded upon under the Mandate System which established the French and British Mandates; the British Mandate was tasked with the establishment of the Jewish State in July 1922 and became effective following the ratification of the Treaty of Lausanne in September 1923. All of these events were as a response to the end of World War I and were made between the winning nations and signed by representatives of the losing nations with the addition of representatives for the Jewish Zionists and the Arabs independent from the Ottoman Empire, which was dissolved as part of the settlements. Finally, the Faisal–Weizmann Agreement, which recognized and formalized the Balfour Declarations and related treaties and accords, was signed by King Faisal bin Hussein representing the interests of the Arab World and Dr. Chaim Weizmann representing the World Zionist Organization in January 1919. With all of these steps in place the formation of Israel as the Jewish State was set in motion and ratified by every conceivable interest more than a decade before the first stirrings which led to World War II and the Holocaust.

 

Another myth is that the Jews, Zionists and Israel have never made any territorial concessions. On this topic one can almost ask as to where should one begin? Let’s begin by taking things in reverse chronological order. The latest territorial concession Israel made was the complete and total removal of every single Jewish resident and IDF troop and any other Jewish or Israeli citizen or interest from the Gaza Strip turning it all over to the Palestinian Authority. When this was completed in August 2005 there was no Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip as none was deemed necessary while the area was under Palestinian Authority control. After Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip after a revolt in June of 2007, Israel then initiated the blockade in order to prevent Hamas from having the ability to import heavy weapon systems and larger rockets and missiles with which to launch attacks on Israeli civilians living in neighborhoods and towns near the Gaza Strip. When incorporating the Oslo Accords Israel relinquished both security and civilian control over all towns, cities, and lands within Area A and relinquished civilian control with coordinated security responsibilities within Area B in Judea and Samaria which is also called the West Bank in 1993.

 

When Israel and Jordan reached their peace agreement in 1994, Israel offered to return most of the West Bank but Jordan relinquished any claims to these lands leaving them under Israeli possession. Previously, when Israel and Egypt signed their peace accords in 1979, Israel returned all of the Sinai Peninsula after removing more than twenty Israeli settlements which had been constructed south of the Negev Desert in the Sinai while Egypt relinquished any claims to the Gaza Strip. This was a major compromise made by the Israelis as had they retained the Sinai Peninsula, which was an option available as they had won the territory in a defensive war, as it gave them access to one side of the Suez Canal, complete control over the Straits of Tiran, and they surrendered lands which would have quadrupled the size of the State of Israel. United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 Israel was required to retreat from the disputed areas retaining those lands as deemed necessary for the security and defense requirements of the State of Israel in order to secure the peace in the future. Israel had technically met all requirements of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 once they had relinquished their control over the Sinai Peninsula. Just for the record, perhaps it would serve to denote the first lands which the Zionists relinquished and the guarantee they received in return for their sacrifice. After all of the papers, treaties, accords and Mandates had been established, the British were left with one nagging problem, their promise to the Arabs during World War I for their assistance with Lt. Colonel T.E. Lawrence, the Hashemite Family in particular who had lost their positions ruling over Mecca and Medina to the Family Saud. The British approached the Zionists demanding that they relinquish the lands east of the Jordan River for the establishment of a Palestinian Arab State ruled by the Hashemites. In return the Zionists were offered a guarantee that they would retain all lands west of the Jordan River and that these lands would be indivisible in perpetuity. This agreement is known as the Churchill White Papers of 1929, an agreement also ratified in principle by all the victors of World War I. The lands east of the Jordan River are today the nation of Jordan while the indivisible lands which were promised the Zionists west of the Jordan River are currently being divided up with the acquiescence of those same nations. So much for guarantees initiated by the British and backed up by the promises of the signatories to the Versailles Treaty among numerous other agreements, treaties, accords, and Mandate.

 

The last libel we will discuss is the claim that the Jews have no claim to any lands in the Middle East, never resided in or around Jerusalem, the Jewish Temples never existed, the Jews have had no presence in the Middle East for at least 2000 years, and the Jews in Israel are exclusively from Europe. As noted earlier, Jews started returning to Jerusalem and the lands around Jerusalem, especially in Judea and Samaria, since the middle of the Nineteenth Century. Even after the dispersion of the Jewish people by the Romans there has been a remnant of the Jewish people living in and around Jerusalem for the last three-thousand years. Even if one does not care to believe either the New Testament or the Jewish Bible (Old Testament) which both denote the Jewish existence in Jerusalem and surrounding areas including Judea and Samaria, there is corroborative evidence from Egyptian pictographs, Persian hieroglyphs, Greek historical records and manuscripts, Roman manuscripts and historical records, Byzantine records, Crusader histories, Ottoman tax and historical records, British histories, censuses and agreements, and Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) and other writers bibliographies of their travels in the Holy Lands over the past two millennia. For the decades after the founding of the State of Israel there were over three-quarters of a million Jews expelled from across the Arab and Muslim Worlds, many of which ended up residing in Israel as well as some remnants in the United States and Europe. The population of modern Israel is almost of equal parts Ashkenazi and Sephardic. Modern DNA testing has revealed a common maternal root for both the Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews that predates their separation.

 

With the volumes of records from separate sources detailing the presence of Jewish communities in and around Jerusalem and their related histories, those pressing a denial of these facts are simply relying that most people will not do any research on their own and will simply accept their propaganda. With the historical contempt for the Jewish people throughout history, they are very likely correct that people will simply take their lies as facts as they simply reinforce their preconceived prejudices. Everything above can be validated simply by entering the names of the people or agreements into any search engine and follow the links. Some of these links will also tend to mention other histories but the original documents are available online and can be read in their unadulterated form. The body of evidence backs the right of the Jews to reestablish their historic homelands. There are other ancient peoples who also are entitled to their homelands but have been denied such by history and the powers which shaped it. Some examples, but not a complete list by far, are the Kurds who were victims of the European redrawing of the Middle East after World War I and their overriding preoccupation with their Arab allies, and the Tibetan Buddhists who had their country erased by Mainland China (it is non PC to call them Communists anymore) and have been victims of forced relocations and the involuntary immigration of Chinese citizens from all sides of the Chinese peoples. Perhaps the day will come when the indigenous peoples who have, despite the ravages of history and circumstance, kept a higher than normal cohesiveness will be permitted to reestablish their ancient homelands. Just because other such dispossessed peoples have yet to regain such privileges is no reason to prevent the Jewish People from reestablishing their ancient homelands, especially since they possess a guarantee in a treaty, the Churchill White Papers.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

How Does One Tell the President He is Dead Wrong?

Israeli President Peres was in Aqaba, Jordan giving a speech to the WEF (World Economic Forum) over the weekend. When the Israeli president along with the Israeli media entered the hall the Jordanian contingency walked out and refused until the Israelis had been removed claiming they were unwelcome in their home. This was in line with the semi-official boycott of all Israelis and Israeli-related events by professional groups in Jordan. With intervention by WEF officials who provided sufficient flattery and praise, the Jordanian contingent returned probably with a feeling of great accomplishment. Whatever makes one happy, I guess.

 

There had been a fair amount of consternation in Israel over the rumors and reports revolving around what President Peres had told interviewers about his intended speech (Transcript of planned speech can be seen at the end of article). His stated content relayed by the President in his various interviews inferred he would proclaim Israeli readiness to take serious measures for peace. President Peres explained in one interview that his planned statement to Abbas would be, “You are my partner and I am your partner. Let’s promote peace. I know that you know that there aren’t many differences between us. I know that you know that the differences that exist can be bridged.” Peres also reported that he plans to tell the attendees referring to the Saudi Plan with the agreed alterations reported to have been approved by the Arab League. “Israel wants peace. There is an overwhelming majority here that favors a diplomatic solution of ‘two states for two peoples’ on the 1967 lines, with mutually agreed and equitable changes to the border.”

 

These statements would be laid out before 800 representatives from 60 countries at the WEF confab, of which 430 will come from Middle Eastern countries. Among those attending, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah, and United States Secretary of State John Kerry are worthy of special note as every syllable spoken by President Peres will be taken very seriously by each of them and may come back to injure Israel though that is definitely not the President’s intentions. What is unfortunate is that every day that President Peres awakens, for him it is September 14, 1993, and the Oslo Accords signing ceremony happened just yesterday and hopes of peace being imminent abound throughout the land. President Peres honestly cannot help but believe in the imminence of peace as his entire career, his entire life, revolves around reaching a peace with the Palestinians and is unable to divorce himself from the monster he, along with Ehud Barak, created, the Oslo Accords. This eternal driving impetus has forced President Peres to take the job of President of Israel beyond its normal ceremonial role and utilized the position to political ends of finally reaching the elusive peace that has eluded him for all these years. All of this must be weighed and the balance found with the rest of the body of lifetime achievements all for his love of Eretz Yisroel for she has been the one driving love of his life. It is that love that has so captured his mind in that singular focus of effort towards peace at any cost and that is what has become a dangerous force that has backfired so completely. The wrong turn the peace process took is not the fault of President Peres, Ehud Barak, Yitzhak Rabin, or any of the Israeli Prime Ministers who have gone to monumental lengths trying to make peace, but the fault resides with the deceits and deceptions of Yasser Arafat and his second in command, Mahmoud Abbas, who utilized the Oslo Accords and the entire peace process as a weapon in a war to eradicate Israel by whatever means necessary. That President Peres became enslaved into making a peace no matter the costs is not something to be denounced and does not place him as a target for blame but rather he is to be accepted for the goodness in his heart. Keeping this in mind, Israeli leadership will also need to rescue Israel from being harmed by those who actually intend to damage Israel by using President Peres’s words spoken out of an honest and overwhelming desire to find at long last a peace for his first love, Israel.

 

There will be many who will warn of the great harm presumably caused by President Peres and his words spoken in Jordan. There will be those who will convict him of politicizing the Presidency. Some may even denunciate President Peres as being an enemy out to destroy Israel placing her people in great peril. May those who may choose this path please consider all of what President Peres has accomplished for Israel, consider that Simon Peres has held virtually every critical position in the Israeli government and always with honor and honesty, and remember that President Peres began his life helping to form, build and establish Israel and has dedicated his life and every ounce of his efforts all for and in the service of Israel. Let he who has a record near as distinguished be the first to speak, but that would leave almost everybody silent, wouldn’t it. For those who care, read his actual speech below and you decide whether or not President Peres deserves praise or condemnation.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Transcript of Israeli President Peres’s speech at the

 World Economic Forum in Aqaba, Jordan.

 

Thank you, Your Majesty, for graciously hosting us under your roof.

Your Majesty, thank you for inspiring the Middle East with responsibility and hope.

Ladies and Gentleman,

History is made of biographies of men and women who failed to forecast the future. We were born in the age of agriculture, and reborn in the age of science.

This new age changed our agenda and our lives. Depending on land divided people. Borders were marked and armies were built to defend them. The yields of the land hung on the travail of farmers, and the grace of heaven that blessed us with rain or punished us with drought.

The yields were limited.

Science is borderless, and its achievements are limitless. Armies cannot control science. Police cannot arrest innovation. Globality and isolation do not go together. Modern agriculture is cultivated with computers, rather than with ploughs. Sciences enables us to make three drops of water from one drop.

Israel’s shortage of soil and rain has created an agriculture based on hi-tech. Israel is sharing its experience with many other countries and is willing to share it with its neighbors as well. Israel is moved by developments, not just by events.

Looking at the developments in the Middle East today, it is blessed with a young generation, one of the youngest in the world. 99 million of its inhabitants are already online. The young generation uses modern tools to enter the new age.

Friends, the Arab Spring voiced by so many youngsters may become an opportunity for jobs and progress. The age of science calls for economic cooperation, educational exchanges, and scientific collaboration. It provides equal opportunities for young and old, and equal rights for women.

Despite the many hurdles on the way to peace, we must never lose sight of the positive developments in our region. Egypt and Israel made peace. Jordan and Israel made peace. These agreements stand the test of time.

We extend our hand in peace to all countries in the Middle East.

There is no country, no religion, which we consider as enemies. The only enemies are the enemies of peace. The Iranian people are not our enemies. It is the Iranian regime’s policy which is a threat to us all.

Our region, and the whole world, cannot accept this brutal regime’s hegemonic ambitions. And the international community cannot tolerate brutal threatening weapons as a norm for the rest of the world.

Friends, we and our Palestinian neighbors must return to negotiations as soon as possible and bring peace. President Abbas, you are our partner and we are yours. You share our hopes and efforts for peace, and we share yours. We can and should make the breakthrough. We should not permit the hurdles to overcome us. History will judge us not by the process of negotiations, but by its outcome. The today obstacles will pale in the light of peace.

The “Arab Peace Initiative” is a meaningful change and a strategic opportunity. It replaces the strategies of war with the wisdom of peace.

We must depart from the skepticism that claims that war is inevitable.

War is not inevitable. Peace is inevitable.

We appreciate the presence of the American Secretary of State John Kerry at this gathering. Secretary Kerry brings with him an impressive momentum and desire to contribute to the completion of the peace process. It will be matched with an imaginative economic plan. President Obama, while visiting our region, offered a new opening for the peace prospect. Dear John, I know that all sides can count on your determination.

The peace process already has a beginning. We have agreed on a common ground to complete it. A two state solution. A Jewish state — Israel — and an Arab state — Palestine. Living side by side in peace, dignity and freedom.

Friends, we Israelis and Palestinians are aware that peace is first and foremost for us and depends upon us. I know from experience how difficult these decisions are to make, on both sides. But this is the time.

Our leaders must say yes to a future of peace.

Our leaders must overcome the difficulties and the dangers, and lead their peoples to a better tomorrow. What holds back the renewal of the peace negotiations are some gaps in the bridge between the beginning and the conclusion. Knowing very well the nature of the missing link, I am convinced that this gap can be bridged.

Ladies and Gentlemen, there is still an open wound on the map and this is the terrible bloodshed in Syria. Secretary Kerry is currently trying to bring an end to this tragedy. Israel is not intervening in the Syrian crisis. We support the Secretary’s efforts to bring an end to the violence. We are silent, but not indifferent. There is a need to lower the flames.

Ladies and Gentleman, the potential in our region is remarkable. The attempts to release this potential are worthy and needed. We welcome the efforts of “Breaking the Impasse” initiative.

The fact that hundreds of business leaders from both sides are joining hands to promote the two-state solution and to emphasize the urgency in reaching that solution is an important development. These people can attest to how valuable peace is for economic prospective. Peace should be made between people, not just between governments.

Friends, I am here to express the hope and desire of the Israeli people to bring an end to the conflict and a beginning to a peaceful new age. I hope that this forum will voice a timely call against skepticism. I pray that it will allow for tomorrow’s horizon to shine bright. A horizon that will illuminate the fruits of freedom, science and progress.

Let us cast away the divides and suspicions of the past as a future of harmony awaits. We are still writing the biography of the unknown future.

My friends, it must be a future of peace.

Thank you.