The Ignored Reason There is no Palestinian State Already

Ask any European leader or politician and the odds are you will hear that the reason there is no Palestinian State is due to Israeli refusals to make peace and the Israeli settlements. They will speak of how the Palestinians are thirsting for peace and crave their own State and have made generous offers if only Israel would compromise. They will never mention the refusals over the decades by the Arab League, Yasser Arafat, and Mahmoud Abbas to every offer beginning with the initial offer from the United Nations to found the Palestinian State on the more select and prime farming lands between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea leaving only a thin strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, another along the northwest at the bottom of the Golan Heights and over half of the land being the southern lands of the Negev Dessert. The Zionists accepted this hardly equal or fair division while the Arab League refused to allow this partition as it still allowed the Jews to rule themselves and demanded that all the land be relegated to Arab rule and they would allow the Jews to remain as long as they behaved like good Dhimmis. The United Nations and the world simply left the offer to stand in hopes that the Arab League would accept the plan, but come the middle of May, 1948, Israel declared their nationhood and seven Arab nations’ armies declared a war of annihilation against the Nascent Jewish State of Israel. Miraculously, the small newly found State of Israel managed to survive and even gain lands by pushing the combined Arab armies back taking the western half of Jerusalem within hours of the declared ceasefire taking hold. At this point there was no Israeli presence in the lands of Gaza, Judea, or Samaria with Egypt retaining control of Gaza and Jordan retaining control over Judea and Samaria which they refused to call by their historic names substituting the less descriptive and un-Jewish name of West Bank. Jordan even attempted to annex the lands they called the West Bank and made the Arabs living within Jordanian citizens. This seemed natural as the Arabs living in the area mostly had relatives either in Jordan or in either Syria or Iraq as most had arrived over the past two generations as the economy offered better employment. Jordan’s annexation of the West Bank was not recognized not even by the other Arab nations or the Arab League and was recognized solely by Great Britain and Pakistan in the entire world. Jordan also forced the Jewish residents within their areas of control to leave their property behind and expelled them into Israel. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ben-Gurion offered for the Arabs living within Israel to remain and join in building a future. Despite this invitation many Arabs fled into neighboring Jordan, Egypt or Syria where they eventually ended up placed in camps, denied citizenship largely due to their not joining in the war against Israel; causing them to be seen as less loyal.

During the next decade over three-quarters of a million Jews were stripped of their wealth, lands, businesses and were deported from the majority of the countries of the Arab League with the majority finding a new home and a place to restart their lives in Israel while some went to Europe, the United States and other destinations. The Jews who were ejected from their homes often with only the clothes on their backs or a suitcase or two were welcomed in Israel and were granted citizenship and full rights and today they and their descendants make up approximately half of the Israeli population. This makes the claim by many Palestinian and Arab spokespersons that Israelis should be returned to the lands from whence they came in Europe and the United States ignores that half of the Israelis lived originally in the Arab world. One must wonder if these countries would open their arms and accept the descendants of the Jews they ejected. Somehow I just cannot see that ever happening.

Since 1948 Israel has been attacked by her Arab neighbors a number of times. Resulting from the first conflict where France, Great Britain and Israel declared war of Egypt after Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal and refused to allow European shipping to pass through the canal, Israel took possession of the entire Sinai Peninsula during this conflict but returned every inch of the lands to Egypt as part of the peace treaty that also saw the reopening of the Suez Canal to international shipping. United Nations peacekeepers were also stationed in the Sinai Peninsula to prevent another conflict from erupting. In late May, 1967, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser ordered the peacekeepers removed from the Sinai Peninsula, massed troops on the Israeli southern border, closed the Straights of Tiran and massed Syrian troops on the Israeli northern border threatening to annihilate the Jewish State. The closing of the Straights of Tiran was an internationally recognized casus belli of war. Israel responded to this declaration and defeated both armies driving almost to the outskirts of Damascus and taking the entire Sinai Peninsula once again. Close to the beginning of the war upon hearing of great Arab victories that Egyptian and Syrian radio and television broadcast they were executing against the Israelis, Jordan declared war in the hopes on taking their part in the glorious victory. The Israelis pleaded for Jordan not to enter the conflict warning them that the broadcasts were untrue and were simply propaganda. Jordan did not trust the Israelis believing they were simply frightened of another Arab army entering the war which would definitely contribute to the end of the Jewish state. The results of the Six Day War are well known and by the end of the conflict, in response to the United Nations and World pressures, Israel halted their advances also now having driven the Jordanians back east of the Jordan River liberating occupied Judea and Samaria (one must recall that Jordan illegally occupied the so-called West Bank which was originally believed to be part of Israel). During Yom Kippur of October, 1973 Egypt and Syria once again attacked Israel hoping to reclaim the lands lost in 1967 and destroy the Jewish State. After initial gains the war ended with Israel retaining all of the Sinai Peninsula and having crossed the Suez Canal and approaching Cairo as well as approaching Damascus in Syria. When hostilities ended, Israel agreed to return to the borders which had existed since the 1967 conflict returning lands to both Egypt and Syria lands gained during the closing days of the conflict. Eventually Israel and Egypt made peace (for those who claim Israel must return some of the lands they gained in the 1967 war remember the following) with Israel returning all of the Sinai Peninsula once again, an expanse of land greatly larger than all of Israel. Egypt refused any claim to Gaza which was relented to Israeli sovereignty. Further on in time Jordan and Israel also reached a peace accord in which Jordan surrendered the previously Jordanian occupied lands to Israel liberating the lands and allowing many Jewish families to reclaim their lands and homes they had left when Jordan forcibly removed them in 1948.

Somewhere the world acquiesced to the invention of peoples whom had never existed in all of history and was admitted by even Yasser Arafat they were necessarily invented in order to have a political wedge with which to remove the Jews from Arab sovereign lands, namely Israel. This twist of history beyond recognition of any historic accounts dated previous to 1920 has gained great recognition and a life all its own in Europe as well as throughout the Arab and Muslim lands. Historically, before 1948 the use of the title Palestinian had several different forms, Palestinian Arab was used to define Arabs living within the British Mandate, Palestinian Jews or simple using Palestinian alone was used to refer to the Jews living within the British Mandate. In 1922 the nation of Transjordan, later renamed simply Jordan, was founded with the issue of the Churchill White Paper where Transjordan was granted for rule by the Hashemite family repaying them for their assistance against the Ottomans in World War I and they were to rule over a Palestinian State. This was the British reaction in response to Arab insistence for a country of their own within the British Mandate. The Arab demands implied they should have their country formed over all of the British Mandate but the British still had their obligation stemming from the Balfour Declaration, the Peel Commission, Article 80 of the United Nations Charter and numerous other treaties and agreements to found a Jewish homeland. The White Paper which established the Palestinian Arab State of Transjordan also guaranteed that the lands west of the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea would remain never to be divided and remain as whole and in its entirety as the Jewish Homeland. This accord was also ratified by motions and legislations in the League of Nations, the United States and several European nations. That is the history; the future is far less resolute and will likely be a thorn as intended by Yasser Arafat and those who initiated the demand for another Arab nation in place of the only Jewish nation on Earth. This desire to replace Israel with one or two new Palestinian Arab states, whichever becomes necessary by events to come, is understood as the inevitable aim of the Arab world but is never spoken of as to admit to knowing this would reveal all the duplicities, animosities, hatreds, and lies which are the realities of the negotiations the world calls the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process, originally the Arab-Israeli Peace Process but renamed in order to mask the ultimate aim of the destruction of Israel.

Beyond the Cusp

Rumor Obama Will Demand Timetable for Israeli Withdrawal West Bank Looking Credible

Almost two weeks ago a rumor surfaced claiming that there were reports that President Obama would be demanding that Prime Minister Netanyahu provide a timetable for the withdrawal of every Jewish resident from the area beyond the Green Line in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem including all of the Old City which contains numerous Jewish restored neighborhoods and near countless Jewish Holy Sites and historic synagogues. The release of this information which was attributed to the World Tribune Newspaper was immediately downplayed, squelched and denied by Administration spokespeople. We had let this information drop at the time possibly in the hopes that there really was no validity behind this rumor. Now things are not looking so bright and the credibility of this rumor has gained ground with a news report from the United Nations. Reacting to a team appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council which just presented its conclusions Monday in a report to diplomats in the agency’s Geneva headquarters, there has been a demand in the name of the United Nations demanding that Israel begin to withdraw its citizens from Judea and Samaria. The timing of the release of this report which includes the demand of this cleansing lands of its Jewish residents presumably in preparation to presenting it for the formation of a Palestinian State a mere two days before President Obama makes his historic trip to Israel definitely pumps new life into the previously refuted rumor that demands will be placed on Israeli leaders to provide a detailed schedule for the removal of the Jewish citizens beyond the Green Line. This is an ominous and frightening convergence of semi-aligned circumstances with the United Nations Human Rights Council releasing a report and in the name of the United Nations demanding Israel establish a schedule for the withdrawal of all Israelis, or at least the Jewish Israelis, from Judea and Samaria (West Bank) as well as East Jerusalem including the entirety of the Old City immediately before United States President Obama is scheduled to make his first trip to Israel as President while his newly appointed Secretary of State, John Kerry, has been quoted after being sworn into his new position that he has a plan that could jumpstart the Israel/Palestinian peace process and lead to a rapid and permanent solution. When adding in the reported insider claim that President Obama was to demand the exact same schedule of removal of all Jewish residents beyond the Green Line in Samaria, Judea and most of Jerusalem you have a convergence which is difficult to ignore and frightening in its scope and content.

 

There is little doubt as to how Prime Minister Netanyahu should respond to such a request, or do we call it what it will become, a demand. He must simply refuse to consider any such plan and refuse to give the withdrawal even the dignity of discussion. This may be exactly what is expected since there has been a change in the schedule for President Obama on his trip visiting Israeli leaders, Palestinians leaders and then the King of Jordan. Originally President Obama was to meet upon his arrival with Prime Minister Netanyahu then later meet with Palestinian President Abbas and towards the end of his trip meet with the Jordanian King. Within the last forty-eight hours President Obama has scheduled two additional meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to take place after his meeting with Palestinian President Abbas. If I were pressed to venture a guess why these additional two meetings were added to the President’s itinerary, I have an inkling that President Obama will make a promise to President Abbas that providing Abbas sign an agreement to end incitement, recognize Israel’s right to exist and agree to be open to the idea of forgoing the ‘Right of Return’ to inside Israel and to accept the refugees to resettle in the Palestinian state then President Obama will promise to force Prime Minister Netanyahu to remove all of the Jewish residents on any lands beyond the pre 1967 War lines and surrender every inch of these lands to the establishment of the Palestinian state. The two extra meetings are scheduled so that at the first meeting President Obama can take a charm offensive to persuade Netanyahu into accepting the peace being offered and the second meeting to make Netanyahu an offer he would be wise in not refusing or else no stopping Iran from reaching nuclear weapons capability and even a threat of shooting down any Israeli attempt to strike the Iranian nuclear sites, an end to all United States aid both military and all other aid, even possibly the threat of a complete arms embargo including spare parts for aircraft and all munitions and who knows what else. The two additional meetings and the demands by the United Nations Human Rights Council there are not all that many implications such a combinations of events could foreshadow other than the final power-play forcing a peace upon both the Palestinian and the Israelis even if it kills both parties.

 

There will be some who will put forth the claim that President Obama will be unable to convince President Abbas to make peace, and I would have been one of them except for the introduction of the United Nations calling for the schedule just in time for the American President’s trip. It is possible that President Abbas might fold and accept making the promises as he has done similarly in the past only to renege when everything came to the crucial point where the only thing necessary was the signing of an agreement at which point Abbas, just as Arafat had done, walked away refusing to sign and spitting out new and more extreme demands. If, as I fear may be the case, President Obama has organized across the board support for this one last gasp push where everything and anything will be used to force an agreement, then here is what President Obama might be about to do in order to force a peace on both parties. He can face President Abbas with the threat that not only will the United States aid to the PLO, Fatah and Palestinian Authority be cut off but so will all aid from the European Union and its member states as well as the end of numerous NGOs support. Then it may be possible to get Abbas to sign intents or even an actual preliminary peace agreement using the threat of a complete financial collapse of the Palestinians against a promise that President Obama can guarantee that Israel will be made to return every square millimeter of the so-called Occupied Lands for the formation of the Palestinian State. President Obama can then return to meet Prime Minister Netanyahu to apply honey first and the fire and brimstone should honey fail in attaining the desired results. The only part of this that will matter is whether or not Obama can force a concession from Netanyahu that Israel will present a schedule for the removal of all Jews from beyond the Green Line that the World will implement all measures necessary to hold Israel to their obligation even should the Palestinians renege on their promises. We have seen this consequence almost countless times previously where Israel is held to commit to her promises while the Palestinians are never held accountable to their promises. This time Israel will be forced into an untenable position which will leave her with virtually undefendable borders totally lacking any strategic depth which is in complete violation of United Nations Resolution 242. Things may be about to go from bad to worse, possibly worst, making for a very uncertain near future.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Time Has Come for Israel to Change the Discussion

The time has come for Israel to make a declaration which will alter for all time the debate over the formation of any Palestinian state. Quoting the rights provided the Zionists, and thusly Israel, to make claim under the promises contained in the Churchill White Papers, the Balfour Declaration, the League of Nations dispositions under the Mandate system, and confirmed by Article 80 of the United Nations Charter, Israel is exercising their rightful claim to all the lands west of the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Israelis willing to make a one-time offer of a concession releasing their proper claim to Area A and negotiate final borders which will come to exist within points in Area B. This offer will be open for six months from the date of this offer after which Israel, should the Palestinian leadership refuse to negotiate, will also annex all of Area B and leave Area A to be utilized for a Palestinian State along with the Gaza Strip to be formed at the Palestinian convenience. Whatever the borders are defined on said date six months from today will denote the defined borders for the State of Israel and will be defended as such. Any Palestinian living within these areas annexed into the state of Israel will be allowed to apply and after completing the required steps be allowed to become citizens with full rights as Israelis.

I realize that there will be an immediate outcry from the rest of the world and Israel very well might face sanctions imposed by some nations. Does any Israeli honestly believe in their hearts that such will not eventually become the reality at some point when the majority of the world’s countries call for replacing Israel with a Palestinian state? Mahmoud Abbas, the world’s imposed on Israel as a partner for peace, has made it clear that he and the Palestinian leadership, be it Hamas, Fatah, the PLO, the Palestinian Authority or whomever, will never surrender their right to use force to liberate all of Palestine from north to south and from the river to the sea, every square millimeter without surrendering a single square inch. There is no amount of land short of all the lands which will satisfy the Palestinians and those who support them in their pogrom to remove the Jewish existence within their holy Muslim lands. We have seen where the world stands when the United Nations overwhelmingly granted the Palestinians their coveted statehood. The near unanimity with which the world voted to remove Israel from possessing any position in the debate over Palestinian statehood should be heeded as the threat that it truly was. That was the shot across the bow warning Israel that the world is fully willing to give away all of Israel if that is what the Palestinian demand with future claims. The only path which will allow Israel to continue going forward to remain a nation among the nations is if Israel takes the initiative and defines unilaterally these are our borders and all who would cross these borders or attempt to take our lands will be met with the full determination of the state of Israel defending its rightful borders. Once Israel has made such a proclamation, then the world can begin to adjust and accept that reality as long as Israel makes their claim from a position of unity and honest determination standing strong and united.

It may come to pass that it will be necessary to limit those NGOs which are predominantly reliant on foreign funding from operating freely in the immediate aftermath of such a declaration. There is one easy way that this can legally be performed even in a democracy with freedom of speech. The Knesset would need to pass legislation directing the Supreme Court to forbid the funding to enter Israel from any country which imposed any form of boycott, divestment or sanction or other deleterious reaction to Israel’s legal application of promises given them by the world bodies in good faith and completely backed by the Geneva Accords rules of annexation of lands gained during a defensive war. As the Sage Rabbi Hillel famously stated, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And, if not now, when?”

Israel waiting for the world to realize the genocidal intentions of the Palestinian leadership and the Muslim world’s use of the Palestinians as the method by which they will be allowed to eradicate Israel is a foolish and perilous game that leads to only one end, the end of Israel and the Jewish People. The world will not intervene as all too many in the world support this very aim and enthusiastically cheer for its fruition. The sooner that Israel and Israelis realize and grasp the truth that our friends are few and far between, at least as far as friends who would be willing to stand with Israel and defend her from those intending evil and destruction, then the sooner Israel will enable their defense by placing a line in the sand and determinedly stating here is where we stop and will refuse to back from these lines. The sooner that Israel declares the borders, beyond which they will refuse to shrink, the larger the land of Israel will be. And until Israel declares such borders, she will remain vulnerable and will continue to be pushed into smaller and smaller land until there is none. After the Six Day War in June of 1967 the world would have accepted Israel retaining the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, Judea, Samaria, and the Sinai Peninsula as they all recognized that Israel was defending herself from overt aggressions by all her neighboring countries and beyond. When Israel annexed all of Jerusalem there was no outcry and it was not controversial. Now Israel is being demanded to return to the pre-war borders surrendering half of Jerusalem including every single holy site within the Old City, the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. What will tomorrow bring? Are Israelis and their leaders willing to continue to talk and surrender to demands from those who cannot be mollified? What will the reaction be when the United Nations decides that Israel must return to the original planned divisions proffered on November 29, 1947? That will be the next claim by the Muslims and their steel glove perched on Israeli borders, the Palestinians. And the world will cheer and proclaim that it is only fair that this be granted. Israel cannot wait or rely on the world’s kindness as the world has no kindness for Israel and the hatreds are only growing. Make the stand now as waiting means death and the end of our dreams.

Beyond the Cusp