Mr. Abbas Goes to Paris

Mahmoud Abbas is reportedly heading to Paris in order to meet with United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as new elected French President Francois Hollande as well as a possibility of meeting with European Union Foreign Affairs Chief Catherine Ashton, and the British, German and Norwegian foreign ministers. Along with a group of representatives of several Arab Countries, this virtual cornucopia of diplomatic officials will be in Paris for a “Friends of Syria” meeting in hopes of bridging differences between Arab and Western positions over the Syrian Civil War. Mahmoud Abbas will be in Paris seeking assistance in placing pressure on Israel to surrender to as many of his plethora of unilateral demands as preconditions before he will deign sit and pretend to negotiate before, as was the precedent set by Yasser Arafat, stalking briskly from the negotiations claiming loudly and vehemently he will not continue to be insulted. Of course, should he not achieve gaining the full accommodation of pressuring Israeli compliance with his every demand, then he will still demand for every single precondition his imaginations can fancy accumulating them as each second passes. Saeb Erekat has stated that Mr. Abbas will stress the importance of releasing Palestinian Authority murderer, terror master, bomb maker, and violent jihadist all of whom have the blood of innocent Israeli civilians upon their hands who serve sentences, even those serving numerous life sentences, jailed in Israeli prisons. Maybe a quick look at a short list of some of the preconditions which Mr. Abbas seeks to have the entire world assist him in shoving down Israel’s throat should be up next.

The likely best known one was the one first introduced early in President Obama’s Presidency when President Obama stated that Israel should freeze all building of any sort anywhere in Judea, Samaria or East Jerusalem in order to entice the return of Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinians to the negotiations. This has never been previously mentioned or even dreamed of in anybody’s wildest imaginations and once stated there was no way in which Mahmoud Abbas or any other member of the Palestinian Authority could hold a position less favorable to the cause of the Palestinians than the President of the United States had shown to be. Under increasing pressures, Prime Minister Netanyahu relented and met the demand placed upon him by President Obama and announced a complete building freeze on Judea and Samaria (aka West Bank) but not East Jerusalem maintaining that Jerusalem will remain the undivided Capital City of Israel. The building freeze was not set to be open ended as was initially implied by President Obama in his speech but was set for ten months as a preliminary time frame to observe what developed. What developed was absolutely nothing anywhere near as was claimed would result should Israel simply comply with this one small stipulation. Instead, for almost nine full months all that was heard from both Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, and Saeb Erekat, lead negotiator for the Palestinian authority, were a series of additional preconditions and some extremely inventive definitions of the idea of preconditions. The additional preconditions were defined as anything except a demand, simply obligations the Palestinian Authority expected from Israel, steps Israel would need to take to convince the world of their sincerity, investments in the peace process, or steps that are obviously in the interest of the Israelis if they desire peace among other even more twisted definitions depending on which news source you used.

Some of the lesser preconditions can be grouped together for your ease of reading and so your patience is not tested are; pulling all IDF units out of the West Bank leaving the Jewish residents under Palestinian authority protection, permitting the Palestinian authority to import weapons and weapon systems in order to upgrade their capabilities, the repeated demand for prisoner releases of varying numbers or sometimes particular prisoners such as Mustafa and Marwan Barghouti who are both terror masters, and always the final deal-breaker of Right of Return for as many as five and a half million Palestinian refugees. Add to this the continuing claim by both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas that despite Israel removing every civilian and IDF troop from Gaza that it is still occupied territory. These are in addition to the Palestinian Authority government constant honoring terrorists and terror masters by naming streets, parks, children’s camps, soccer tournaments, public buildings, schools, and numerous other places with great fanfare and publicity. This is also despite the glorification of martyrdom in schools, on television, in film, and in public celebrations. Add to all of this the fact that the Palestinian Authority has yet to modify their Charter by removing its clause demanding the total and complete destruction of the Jewish State or lived up to the vast majority of other obligations and agreements. And the last item is the Palestinian efforts to achieve recognized statehood through whatever route which can be utilized unilaterally such as acceptance into the United Nations, incorporation into United Nations organizations such as UNESCO, thus avoiding negotiations with Israel as stipulated in the Oslo Accords. The Palestinian Authority, like the PLO before it, and Mahmoud Abbas, like Yasser Arafat before him, have attempted to utilize any deceit, prevarication, avoidance, or any available means to avoid negotiations as there has never been and never will be an honest desire by the Palestinian to make peace as that would require, at least temporarily, recognizing Israeli existence.

What the world needs to understand is that the conflict currently going under the name of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict is simply a rebranding of the original Arab-Israeli Conflict which began all the way back near the beginning of the last century. It has had many violence filled events such as the riots in Hevron and Jerusalem in 1922, 1929, 1933, 1936, and 1939. Then there was the first Arab Israeli War which is usually referred to as Israel’s War for Independence in 1948 and 1949. There was the Six Day war in 1967 followed by its second staging in 1973. There has been the terror war from the early 1920’s which continues today which too has had some special events. Other than the numerous riots mentioned earlier there was also the founding of the PLO in 1964, three full years before the War of 1967 and any presumably occupied territories, numerous kidnappings, attacks across the northern border by Hezballah, and the near countless rockets launched from Gaza and recently out of the northern Sinai Peninsula. The rebranding of the Arab Israeli Conflict into the Palestinian Israeli Conflict was implemented as the former made Israel to appear to be the weaker side of the conflict and the new moniker placed the Arab cause as the little David fighting the massive Israel Goliath. Do not believe anything has changed. This change came about when the Arab countries, realizing they likely could not defeat Israel in a straight up military versus military war decided to change tactics and try to wear Israel down and eventually either gain the necessary weapons or military strength and abilities to once again try the frontal military conflict route.

Then there is one last item which needs to be understood before any real solution can be implemented. It has never been and will never be for the foreseeable future the Arab, Muslim, Palestinian or whatever name is placed to struggle against Israel idea to settle for anything less than the complete subjugation of the Israeli Jews or the complete annihilation of every Jew in Israel (or, as Hamas has in their Charter, the world). Should by some major mishap the Palestinian find themselves in a position where they have to accept and sign a peace with Israel and establish Palestine, this will not be the end of the conflict. There have been numerous times that both Arab and Muslim leaders as well as Palestinian leaders and spokespeople have stated plainly that even should they attain a state in all of the land lost in the 1967 War, that is just the first stage towards the elimination of the Zionist State. This is almost always said in Arabic or Farsi but on a few rare occasions somebody has slipped and plainly said in English the truth that the only solution acceptable is a Final Solution. All the efforts to establish a Palestinian State are fruitless endeavors which will bear no fruit and will only change the starting point of the eventual next Middle East War when it is thought Israel has been brought low enough for her defeat. That is so very unfortunately the real truth of which everybody prefers to deny and pretend that all these efforts will truly end the drive to undo the founding of the Jewish State. It is simply appallingly amazing that in so much of the world there are calls for removing the Jews from within countries as happened in numerous Muslim countries between 1948 and 1953 yet in many of these same countries they also call for the destruction, or secretly work towards the destruction of Israel, of the only Jewish State. That begs an obvious question, if the Jews should be sent packing from countries where they are a minority and the only Jewish country should be wiped out, then where do these haters pretend that the Jews should live. And yes, that was a rhetorical question put forth simply to provoke thought. One can always hope to point out insanity so that it can be rectified and a real and truthful discussion free of pretenses may take place. Now that is something that would be so very welcome.

Beyond the Cusp

Why Everyone Insists Israel Sacrifice for Peace

One significant element which has remained a constant in all facets of the drive to reach peace; either the general recognition and peace between the Arab nations with Israel, or the more specific recognition and peace between the Palestinians and Israel, is that the links in this chain are forged upon Israeli concessions and rarely if ever Arab or Palestinian concessions. This has become such an accepted norm that nobody even bothers to mention this in the discussions and discourse, let alone actually question why this is so. Well, perhaps it is time to take a slightly deeper inspection of this phenomenon along with a few other misconceptions.

The first item which most people are unaware is that the Oslo Accords signed on September 13, 1993, by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was an agreement between the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) and the nation of Israel, there was no Palestinian Authority yet established. All subsequent negotiations, agreements and other interactions were to be held between the PLO and Israel, not the Palestinian Authority and Israel. These Oslo Accords spelled out a five year period in which the two sides were to negotiate the “permanent status issues” leading to Palestinian autonomy. These parts of the negotiations were to begin no later than the third year of the negotiations. The Oslo Accords were to lead to a final agreement by the end of the five year period and held no powers past that five year period. If one were to be technical, the Oslo Accords are really on life support being extended through the two sides and the rest of the world choosing to continue as if the Oslo Accords were open ended and were to continue indefinitely until they attained their intended mission. Truth be told, the Oslo Accords died and were no longer applicable as of September 14, 1998, meaning they have been dead for over a decade. This necessitated the Oslo II agreement was signed in 1995 which divided the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) into areas A, B and C and divided up the civilian and security responsibility of each.

The main points of the Oslo Accords are defined in a Declaration of Principles (DoP). These were to govern the process by which power and responsibilities were to be transferred in stages by Israel to the Palestinians via the PLO as the negotiations reached certain agreements though the DoP does not set any preconditions or prejudgments upon the final arrangements concerning  Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, security arrangements and borders. Such determinations are even forbidden from being included within any interim arrangements which may be set on the path to the final agreement. It is also stipulated in the DoP that Israel retains all responsibility for all foreign interactions, security, defense of borders and Israel’s position on Jerusalem was to remain unchanged as the ancient and eternal capital of the Jewish people. Israel retained the responsible for security along the international borders and the crossing points into Egypt and Jordan. Many of these points came under assault with intent to modify them and force Israeli concessions and relenting on the rights which had been reserved by the Oslo Accords exclusively to the Israeli side.

Obviously, the Oslo Accords have run their course over three times their intended length and have somehow generated the Palestinian Authority which has, for all intended purposes, replaced the PLO in the negotiations with Israel. Another item from the original Oslo Accords was the insistence that the PLO submit to the Palestinian National Council for formal approval the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian Covenant which deny Israel’s right to exist. In return, Rabin gave a letter to Arafat confirming Israeli recognition of the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and authorized the beginning of negotiations with the PLO within the Middle East peace process. To this day the PLO Charter has yet to be amended and retains the denial of Israel’s right to exist. There have been show votes stating intent to follow up with a committee to rewrite these sections of the Palestinian Charter made when the Palestinian National Council had observers witnessing their procedures but no committee was ever formed nor were any changes ever proposed, let alone made.

Since the beginning of the Oslo Accords there have been almost countless times where the negotiations have broken down, most often when a final solution seemed so close a moderator could almost taste it. This scenario became a theme which was repeated at Camp David, in Taba, in Paris and in such plans as Oslo Accords I, Oslo Accords II, the Hebron Protocol, Wye River Memorandum, Camp David 2000 Summit, the Roadmap to Peace, and numerous less famous intermediate meetings, intents and related futile measures. One of the recurring reasons for each failure was Yasser Arafat making additional demands during the final negotiation which he was fully aware would never be agreed to by the Israeli negotiators. Often the demand made was for the repatriation of over four million Palestinian Arab refugees within Israel proper and not the Palestinian areas, the division of Jerusalem to be used by both countries as their capital, full ceding of the Temple Mount, Old City and the areas including the Kotel (Western Wall and plaza) to Palestinian control, release of all prisoners held by Israel including terrorists convicted of murder, or some combination of these and other thrown in simply because he could. When the Israelis predictably balked at the sudden demands at the eleventh hour, Yasser Arafat would denounce the Israelis as intransigent and would walk out in obvious state of agitation. This is what leads to the near constant series of demands being placed upon the Israelis and not the Palestinian side.

The obvious surface reason that the vast majority of the demands have been placed at the feet of the Israelis has been that the majority of demands have been made by the Palestinians. The Israeli demands have remained fairly consistent and included the peace treaty signify the end of all claims and violence; borders which allow Israel to be defendable; full settlement of refuges within the new Palestine with a possibility for a very limited number within Israel; universal access for all religions to holy sites; and more recently Israel has added Palestinian State must be demilitarized and recognize Israel as the Jewish State. Meanwhile, the Palestinian negotiators have steadily incorporated their wildest extreme dream positions on permanent status issues as their preconditions upon which they demand Israel meet before the two sides enter into negotiations. This has even gone beyond anything ever sought by the Palestinians, even when speaking to their own people with the one exception being the eradication of Israel and the Jews living within, an ideal solution often spoken about in Arabic while never breached when speaking in English, but have shifted even further after President Obama pressed Israel for further concessions beyond anything ever previously demanded. The main pair which President Obama first spoke and have now mysteriously become standard demands by the Palestinian leadership are a total building freeze on all lands beyond the Green Line or contested by Israel and the Palestinians and acceptance of the 1949 Armistice Lines (also referred to as the 1967 Lines or the Green Line) as the starting borders with negotiated exchanges of land for land in setting final borders, after all, the Palestinians could not demand anything less severe than the demands made by the President of the United States.

The powers of individual European governments, the European Union, the United Nations, the United States, numerous Arab and Muslim countries, and anybody else adding their two-cents worth have almost universally placed the onus of making concessions in order to restart the Palestinian-Israeli final status negotiations on the Israelis. Such demands have included combinations of removal of roadblocks, removal of checkpoints, building freeze in the West Bank, remitting control of more lands over to the Palestinian governance, releasing terrorists and prisoners early, and anything which could be qualified as confidence building measures. The reason these demands are virtually always aimed towards the Israelis has a logical and easily explained reasoning, the Palestinians have never met even the initial requirements which they had promised to execute when they signed the original Oslo Accords. The most obvious of these has been the removal of the call for the eradication of all of Israel and building their Palestinian dream state on all the lands from the (Jordan) River to the (Mediterranean) Sea. On the other hand, Israel has made numerous concessions over the years including but not limited to a ten month building freeze in Judea and Samaria, removal of numerous roadblocks and/or checkpoints, release of prisoners, turning lands over to complete Palestinian control such as almost all of Hevron, and even the complete evacuation of every Jewish resident and IDF troop from the Gaza Strip turning it over to the Palestinians along with following this with continued humanitarian aid of food and medical supplies, fuel, and other critical aid in order to avoid hardships upon the Palestinian people of Gaza. Israel has proven that they are willing to be flexible and bending to extremes in order to facilitate peace. The Palestinians have made it evidently clear they are unwilling to make even the slightest concession and have declared, in Arabic of course, that even should they ever reach and sign a peace agreement with the Israelis, they still will reserve their “right” to continued violence and terrorism until they have liberated all of Palestine from the River to the Sea. The Palestinians consider current negotiations which have been held over the last ten to fifteen years as simply having been negotiations intended to defeat the Zionists in stages. The Palestinians are willing to accept a state along the 1967 Lines, followed by another state which incorporates the Negev under the Bedouins, and an additional Arab state in the Galilee Valley on and on until Israel has been erased, even Tel Aviv then unifying all of these states under the Palestine flag. The entire world is fully aware of all of this and realizes Israel honestly and truly desires a lasting, permanent, and real peace while the Palestinians will only accept the replacement of the Zionist state with a Palestinian Arab Muslim state. The Palestinian leadership has expressed their intent to form a true Islamic state with Sharia Law and all that implies. The many different entities which have made demands of Israel to facilitate and aid the Palestinians in acquiring the initial requirements for stage one and after this has been accomplished they will also be likely to support each step on the way to erasing Israel with as much vigor as they currently spend on Israel. And these wonderful people who wish only to pursue “Peace” will work diligently to eradicate the side willing to make concessions as to try and force the Palestinian side to make any concession has proven too difficult, and if there is anything these vultures for peace desire is the easy path, and all the better if the path leaves these vultures a dead body to peck apart and feed upon in the end.

Beyond the Cusp

What Could Happen if the Supreme Court Strikes Down the Health Care Law?

For argument’s case we will assume that the Supreme Court will strike down the individual mandate specifically and then quoting the lack of a severability clause in the Affordable Care Act, rule that the entirety of the Law has to be voided and thrown out. So, the entire two-thousand-plus pages of the Affordable Care Act would be unconstitutional and voided by the ruling. This would include the employer mandate, the disallowing insurance companies using preexisting-conditions as a consideration when considering granting insurance, and every other item even those items which were placed in the law having nothing to do with healthcare but were inserted simply to get these items approved surreptitiously and without serious debate. Will such a verdict be the death knell of the government injecting themselves even further into controlling healthcare in the United States? What will the future hold and will the health insurance companies now need to undo those items they had adjusted in order to begin to comply with the Affordable Care Act? What will be the effect of the uncertainty caused by this strike down of the government’s attempt to set in motion laws and regulations which would eventually lead to their complete usurpation of the healthcare industry in the United States?

My greatest fear is that the Supreme Court striking down the entirety of the Affordable Care Act will simply be the first volley in a war for the heart and soul of the future of health care in the United States. Any actions which have already been implemented by the government and as many adaptations the insurance companies have taken will be attempted to be cemented in place. We can expect Cass Sunstein to implement new regulations to shore up and make these changes and adaptations permanent fixtures going forward with healthcare in the United States. People who have chosen this as their fight to save individual rights and restrain the government from acquiring more influence and power over society and individual citizens’ lives will need to stay motivated and ever watchful to root out and prevent the passing of the mechanisms of the Affordable Care Act as individual regulations included in other pieces of legislation attempting to pass them stealthily. We can expect there to be a series over months of Executive Orders coming out of the White House which will be utilized as a single step-by-step implementation of the individual rules, regulations, and requirements which can be implemented individually as stand-alone regulations directly from the White House without even needing the Congress to vote or consider them. We can fully expect a coordinated effort to implement the entirety of the Affordable Care Act singular item after singular item which will later be woven together forming the completed legislation or a close facsimile thereof.

We have seen such actions in the past by those who wish to transform our country from its republic formulation of governance under which it was established into just another Nanny State top down dictated society controlled centrally with government imposed restrictions on individual liberties choking off our freedoms one small step after another. The one thing I have learned while watching the changes that have taken place during my lifetime and studying how the changes were rooted in actions from the past two centuries is that those who wish to control and regulate every small piece of our lives seldom are forced to step back and when such small wins have occurred, they are always followed by the use of incrementalism to accomplish the same ends one iota after another for as long as it takes. I have often marveled at their dedication to duty shown by those who favor government oversight and influence over all of society and life choices as they never take no for an answer and will settle for small baby steps when their sweeping legislative attempts are refuted or struck down. If those who are opposed to such a takeover of our lives and society by the busybodies of government honestly wish to hold their ground and prevent these usurpations, they will need to gather themselves and stand dedicated and unified in constant diligence guarding against the guaranteed onslaught by incrementalism. This is going to be the battle which will be fought and the sides have been defined. The end result will be totally dependent upon which side can remain relentless, dedicated, focused and determined going forward into the distant future as neither those wishing to regulate, tax, or subsidize every action, thought, possession and individual themselves will never stop proposing their nefarious schemes so those who will rally as the protectors of liberties and freedoms will need to be ready to make an even stronger effort to stir the people to their side and protect those rights spoken so elegantly of in the Declaration of Independence if those rights are to be continued to be enjoyed by our children and their children after that onto the last generations. As we were warned by Wendell Phillips, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty!” Lest we not forget for as we were warned by Ronald Reagan, “Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.” We must be patriots of vigilance such that we never need long for the taste of freedom and liberty we have lost.

Beyond the Cusp