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

Secretary of State Clinton Claims Israeli Elections not Death of Peace Process

During Secretary of State Clinton’s “global townhall” meeting today where she answered questions from Internet-users and broadcasters around the world she commented on the recent Israeli elections and their possible effects on the Peace Process between Israel and the Palestinians. She stated that, “I actually think this election opens doors, not nails them shut.” The truth is the Israeli elections actually had absolutely no effect on the moribund peace process as the obstructing force is not with the Israeli government. She added a comment recognizing the apparent shift in the Israeli electorate adding that the election results displayed that they wish to pursue a “different path” towards peace. Speaking of the future and setting the mood for incoming Secretary of State John Kerry, who was approved by the United States Senate by a vote of 94 to 3, stating that Kerry, will forcefully seek a solution and added, “So I know President Obama and my successor soon-to-be secretary of state John Kerry will pursue this, will look for every possible opening.” Secretary Clinton also had some comments about Hamas stating, “Hamas is not interested in democracy, it is still largely a military resistance group.” She added that should Hamas turn from violence and adopt a political approach similar to the transition made by the PLO when becoming the Palestinian Authority then “there’s a place for them at the table.” Secretary Clinton the expressed, “It would be my great hope that they would do that.”

All of her statements are exactly what one would expect considering that the Administration of President Obama has taken the position that Israel must make all the sacrifices for peace and the Palestinians simply get to decide when Israel has given enough. Such an approach is a guarantee that there will never be a peace settlement as Israel is not the side refusing all negotiations. Perhaps this is what Senator Kerry was speaking about during his confirmation hearing in the Senate committee holding his hearing when he suggested that he may have new proposals to restart direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Secretary of State designate Kerry went further stating, “We need to try to find a way forward, and I happen to believe that there is a way forward.” He additionally predicted, “But I also believe that if we can’t be successful that the door, or window, or whatever you want to call it, to the possibility of a two-state solution could shut on everybody and that would be disastrous in my judgment.” Perhaps he is planning on actually addressing the actual roadblock that prevents going forward which is Mahmoud Abbas and his near endless list of preconditions which would require Israel to surrender on every single of the final status negotiation points and then even more. Mahmoud Abbas holds no illusions that there is any chance that the Israelis will ever accept his preconditions as preventing any negotiations are the sole purpose of his extravagant demands.

That is the problem that the United States, the United Nations, the European Union along with most of its individual countries, the Russians, and the entire Arab Muslim world in that they all place the entire expectations for peace squarely on the shoulders of the Israelis. While the Israelis are pressured by these forces, the Palestinians are given piles of cash every time they even emit the slightest squeal that they are short of funds. Despite an ever changing list of preconditions trotted out in random order and length by Abbas and other Palestinian leaders whenever a mention of negotiations are brought up, nobody ever thinks of insisting that he drop his ridiculous obstructions and just negotiate. There are a few of his demands which even if they were the sole demand, they would preclude any Israeli agreement. Examples of some are, the Palestinians must be allowed to retain their right to armed struggle against the Israelis until all of Palestine from the river to the sea has been liberated, contrary to the promises of United Nations Resolution 181 where Israel was not required to return to the 1949 Armistice Lines also called the Green Line or the pre 67 war lines but that Israel was to withdraw to strategically secure and defensible borders, Abbas demands Israel withdraw completely to the 1949 Armistice Lines, and there is the oldest demand for the Palestinian ‘Right of Return’ which would bring more than five-million Palestinian Arabs into Israel inside of the 1949 Armistice Lines and grant them immediate citizenship thus allowing them to vote Israel into yet another Arab state and deny it any Jewish recognitions or properties. Any sane and rational individual looking at these and the rest of the preconditions, or as Abbas sometimes refers to them whenever anybody, especially Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu calls for negotiations free of preconditions from either side and settling the differences through the peace process, the preconditions become obligations which Israel is required to meet under all understanding of the international community before the Palestinians can even be approached to meet with the Israelis. With such a barrage of negativity at the ready for every approach, no wonder everybody demands Israel bend and leave Abbas alone, he is too much of a pain in the neck.

All the statements by Secretary Clinton that the Israeli elections did not preclude the continuation of the peace process was accurate as the Israelis are willing and ready to hold peace talks immediately as Prime Minister Netanyahu has expressed repeatedly. What is unfortunate is that virtually nobody is willing to speak the truth that it is the Palestinians who are refusing to meet or address or even consider any offer to bring them to the table to talk. Even despite President Obama’s initial taking of the Palestinian side and demanding that the Israelis impose a building freeze in all of Judea and Samaria and Prime Minister Netanyahu imposing exactly that for ten months, that did not bring Abbas to the table and instead he listed numerous other preconditions as excuses not to talk. Well, Abbas did eventually come to the table and talk when his insistence that the meeting be with President Obama and a horde of photographers and press and it be held at the White House. They had the handshaking, the photo shoot, and then they spoke with the press there to witness the great promise this auspicious occasion proffered, their promise to hold talks as a follow up never materialized as Mahmoud Abbas had scheduling difficulties and then trotted out his preconditions and the rest is, as they say, history.

Until the world is willing to remove their blindfolds and actually seek the truth, there will be no progress or opportunity of restarting the moribund peace process between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Pressuring Israel to make sacrifices for the sake of peace is a dead issue. Israel made sacrifices simply agreeing to the Oslo Accords. Israel made sacrifices simply agreeing to the building freeze. Israel made sacrifices simply agreeing to the starting point for borders to be the 1949 Armistice Lines as long as land swaps were also made possible. Israel made sacrifices simply agreeing to the disengage unilaterally from the entirety of the Gaza Strip for which they have been under years of rocket assaults launched by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees, al-Qaeda in Gaza and any other terror entities from within highly dense civilian areas in order to avoid Israeli retaliations. Israel has committed to so much in the name of peace over the years including sacrifices made to the Palestinian Arabs before the State of Israel had even been founded by forgiving their claim to all of the British Mandate Lands in order for the British establishing a State for the Palestinian Arabs which is today’s country of Jordan. What most of the world has forgotten is that they all agreed when this reallocation of the Mandate lands east of the Jordan River were taken to form Transjordan that they would guarantee that all the remaining lands west of the Jordan River would be sacred and remain indivisible in perpetuity as the Jewish State. I still wait for any politician to admit and speak up reminding the world of their obligations which stem from the League of Nations and were reconfirmed by the United Nations Charter Article 80 and actually commit to the promises they made. I hope I can live long enough that my patience is some day rewarded.

Beyond the Cusp

The Attitude Quietly Destroying Israel

Over the years many who vie for leadership positions representing Israel before the world and at home have increasingly fallen onto negative trending behaviors. Despite the difference in the rhetoric from the differing positions upon the political field from conservative to liberal, socialist to capitalist, Zionist to post-Zionist, traditional to post-modernist, all end up responding to the challenges of leadership with very similar and consistent manners, persona, reasoning, excuses, explanations and definitions. All of them appear to wilt before the pressures imposed from abroad and at home regardless of their promises that they possess an inner strength which is unassailable which will sustain them in standing in the fights imposed upon Israel by those who wish to see her destroyed. This timidity which has gripped with a special ferocity those who have held the highest of offices has been most evident in their shrinking from defining purposeful borders that include the lands for the necessary depth to provide sufficient defensive strength. This disease has crept and permeated Israeli leadership with a weakness that has led to the point that retaining all of Jerusalem has become called into question.

The examples of this affliction have been evident all the way back to General Dayan’s decision to allow the Muslim Waqf to retain unchallenged, total rule over the Temple Mount instead of placing the holiest piece of ground on all of the Earth under Israeli and Jewish control after the liberation of the Old City and Temple mount parts of Jerusalem during the Six Day War. This act of cowardice was excused as being a token of respect to Arab and Muslim sensitivities when in reality the reason was making a sacrifice to Baal to appease the Arabs and Muslims in hope that by doing such it would soften the effect of their military embarrassment and protect Israel from a prolonged civilian backlash which might otherwise grow throughout the Arabs and Muslims who had come under Israeli rule as a consequence of the war. The hatred has grown and spread throughout much of the youth which guarantees a future of increasing belligerence despite the efforts to bend over backwards to respect and honor Muslim and Arab sensitivities over the years and all much of the Israeli political class offers nothing new and support continuing on the failed paths of the past. Sure some talk a great line, but let us look at the record against the rhetoric.

The political leaders for years spoke of plans to build and settle the lands gained in defense of Israel from threats and attacks by her Arab and Muslim neighbors. These promises continued and without missing a step the leadership of Israel under Prime Minister Menachem Begin forced Jews from their homes in order to assure that every square millimeter of the Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt despite agreeing to accept the poison pill called the Gaza Strip which Egypt unloaded upon Israel to be a permanent injury from which Israel would never find any reprieve. This was Menachem Begin, the most conservative and most ardent Zionist who was the strength of Israel that evicted Jews rather than push for a more favorable peace when presumably negotiating from a perceived advantageous position. What was the reason for this lack of toughness from the man elected due to his fierce forcefulness? The world and particularly the United States were supportive of having the deal include the complete return of all the land to Egypt, well; all the land except that troublesome little bit called Gaza. Why did Menachem Begin not demand that Israel retain a small strip of the northernmost lands of the Sinai Peninsula where Jews had built their futures, their homes, their synagogues, their stores and were making a life for themselves yet he complied with accepting the trouble that is the Gaza Strip? Why did Begin not insist on retaining the small strip of land where Jews were living or demand that Egypt retain the Gaza Strip and be responsible for the problematic population within? Where was the spine we were told was among the strongest of all within Israel?

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin were both considered to have folded to demands made by the PLO and Yasser Arafat which were backed not only by the Soviets but also by European leaders and the United States. It has often been pressured from the Europeans and the United States that have pressured, threatened, cajoled and coaxed numerous Israeli Prime Ministers from Simon Peres to Benyamin Netanyahu and everybody in between into surrendering positions and favors to the Palestinians whether it be the PLO or the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat or Mahmoud Abbas, despite the seemingly obvious difficulties and threats such compromises would produce. Eventually, Israeli leadership is going to have to stand firm against outside pressures, both obvious and those couched in the disguise of internal political committees and organizations such as the leftist, anti-Zionist NGOs which are almost fully financially supported by European governments and nongovernmental forces and individuals. With the financial difficulties threatening to collapse the European Union, it is hopeful that their support will soon come to an end thus collapsing the internal NGOs due to loss of funding.

The United States may also find themselves weakened considerably as their financial situation continues to worsen and will only be further intensified and deepened as social spending continues to grow with the addition of the new federally managed health care recently enacted and currently still being implemented. As these financial woes weaken Europe and the United States, Israel will be forced to seek new allies from among the growing new economically powerful nations such as India, Brazil, China and others as they step forward and economic power shifts. The United States may very well find a solution to their pending cataclysm, but that remains to be seen and there are those who are less than optimistic of their future. The initial steps have been taken by Israel and have shown some progress such as their gaining admission into Mercosur, the trade alliance established by rising South American countries of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Israel has also made inroads to trade with both India and China all while maintaining their trade relations with much of Europe and the United States as well as other Western nations despite the efforts of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movements.

Despite these economic accomplishments, they will all amount to nothing if Israeli leadership does not gain a level of independence and freedom from intimidation by those who while claiming to champion support and fairness for Israel are actually working with a different set of priorities and an adversarial view of their relations with Israel when compared to their other relations in the Middle East and North Africa. For an example of an entity which espouses exactly this relationship concerning Israel one need not look any further than the State Department of the United States. The American State Department has from the outset, even before Israel had even been founded and was still part of the British Mandate, adopted the British outlook which was pro-Arab and did everything in their power to support the Arab interests while setting as many traps and pitfalls in the path of the Jews and especially the Zionists in an attempt to delay, or possibly prevent, the formation of the Jewish State. This was most evident when the vote came before the United Nations in November of 1947 where the British voted against even the patrician plan to form an Arab and a Jewish State simply due to their opposition to any state for the Jews. The United States voted in favor of the establishment by the United Nations in the General Assembly and recognized the Jewish State of Israel the following May by order of President Truman who acted against the advice of the State Department, the Military, most of the members of his Cabinet, and numerous other people and organizations all of whom were extremely vocal in their disagreement with the President’s position. So, in many ways things have not changed in many ways though Israel has gained support over the years especially in the United States Congress and amongst the American public.

Despite the gained favorability Israel has gained in many parts of the world, these are strange times and things are never static. It is possible that Israel and the Jews will find things becoming fraught with danger going forward as populations change and politics turn more corners as it always does. Israel may find that her only friend may be found solely in individuals while governments of the world almost universally turn against Israel for reasons of survival in a world with very different appearances. This trend is easily noticeable simply by looking to Europe and especially evident in the United Nations. In November of 1947 Israel gained approval for independence by a super majority of the General Assembly of the United Nations and just this past September that very same General Assembly gave almost universal approval and recognition of statehood to the PLO alongside of Israel allowing for the boundaries of said State to be determined in some unspecified manner which may not even require the input, let alone approval, of Israel. The enforcement of these unstated boundaries are equally undefined but very well may find many to aid in their establishment by whatever means or force required.

The future for Israel promises to demand much stronger and vigorous leadership than she has displayed for some time. With statements made by some who are currently vying to lead her plainly shows that such leadership is not currently in the offing with but a few rare exceptions. Unfortunately, none of these exceptions have even a prayer’s chance of becoming Prime Minister in the current political landscape in Israel. This has begun to show some possibility for change which may prove to be the needed answer. The world is approaching another period of great upheavals and a changing of the centers of power with uncertain results which are quite impossible to predict at this early stage. These changes will be economic and political with a strong possibility of also changing military supremacies though these changes might be a lagging result. The threat of an exploding proliferation of nuclear weapons will make for a decentralized threat assessment as any nuclear power nation carries a certain level of threat independent of their military strength as nuclear weapons alone carry an enormous threat of power when combined with a credible delivery system. Obviously any nation which develops and builds a substantial base of nuclear weapons will have to be considered a viable threat to the world, and as such, to Israel as well. Strong and definitive leadership with a level of credulity will be essential in the new world that is coming whether we wish it or not. One can only steel oneself for the new world’s threats which will seem to come from every possible direction. Add to this situation the likelihood of nuclear terrorism and you have a world gone mad. Perhaps madness will be the new normal. G0d only knows as the news lately sure seems to back that up.

Beyond the Cusp