End the Charade and Annex Judea Samaria and Jordan Valley

The time has come to make one last stab at a valid and viable peace with the Palestinians. Present Mahmoud Abbas with that map he has demanded of exactly what Israel envisions the borders for their state of Palestine. The map should be based purely on Israeli desires and interests where Israel retains all of Jerusalem, all of the Jerusalem suburbs, all of Area C, the north-south corridor of the Jordan River Valley, all of the Israeli towns and settlements, and the undeveloped and Israeli developed parts of Area B leaving the Palestinians all of Gaza and Area A with some minor additions in which to make their state. It makes no difference whether the map offered is unacceptable as Mahmoud Abbas and the rest of the Palestinian leadership have given ample proof that nothing short of replacing Israel would be acceptable. Once this offer has been rejected, as have been all offers previously attempted, Israel should annex the entirety of Judea, Samaria, Benyamin, the Jordan Valley, and Jerusalem also making sure to stress this annexation includes Hebron, Shechem, Kever Yosef, Kever Rachael, the Cave of the Patriarchs and every single place which has any biblical mention or records. Then the Israeli leadership will need to prepare for the onslaught of indignant and shocked world leaders. Israel’s answer to the ruckus that is sure to follow this declaration should simply state that the Palestinians negated the Oslo Accord Treaty when they went to the United Nations seeking recognition of statehood and thus Israel has taken the resulting steps in accordance with their treaty with Jordan which ended hostilities between the two states.

 

 

 

There will most certainly be those within Israel who will be at least, if not more, incensed by such a move as any anywhere around the world. Let them say what they will and if necessary allow for new elections so the people of Israel can have their vote on this position. It is my belief that Israel would never have and never will see a stronger electoral victory affirming the people’s support for the complete annexation of what in reality are rightfully ours. Such a move would require the repatriation of those Palestinians in the refugee camps on foreign soils as well as the deportation of those who are in the leadership of Fatah, the PLO, Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Islamic Jihad, members of any terrorist group, and others who are known to be opposed to the existence of the state of Israel as the Jewish state. The general
Palestinian population who have not already been granted Israeli citizenship should be allowed to petition for such status and a method of evaluation leading to citizenship once completed will need to be made into law. It should also be made clear that should any member of a family be convicted of terrorism their entire family will be deported if the family is found to have had knowledge of the plans and not reporting such in a timely and effective manner. Such will definitely be viewed as a draconian approach but the scope of the potential terrorism problem Israel faces makes such an approach necessary. The route required for those wishing citizenship should take a number of years not to exceed ten but of a minimum of five years so as to allow a full vetting of the candidates. Should any Palestinians wish to remain in their homes, farms, lands or other abodes, they should be permitted to remain as legal alien residents and be subject to the same laws as any other resident alien. Palestinians who choose to relocate outside of Israel should be granted generous compensation for any lands or properties they would necessarily need to relinquish their ownership. All of the many details can be addressed as they present themselves with the eventuality of a unified Israeli state kept in mind as the end reality.

 

 

 

There will be almost immeasurable blowback from all corners of the Earth. Israel very likely will be ejected from the United Nations which may be a favor more than a punishment. Some will argue that such a move would cause the world to despise Israel. Truth is that much of the world already does despise Israel. Sure Israel would not gain friends from such a move but it would establish most definitively who are Israel’s true friends, assuming there are such. The only true difference between the world’s attitude before the annexation and the world’s attitude after the annexation would be the amount of honesty being represented. Annexing those lands that at a minimum should have been annexed on June 13, 1967, will only serve to clarify and focus Israeli friends from that point forward. Any friends Israel might lose due to acting honestly on Israeli interests were never a trustworthy friend to begin with. An easy measuring stick for determining Israel’s true friends and honest critics would be to compare their view on Israeli annexation of those lands which were the biblical heartland of ancient Israel and lands liberated in a defensive war brought against Israel and their view and comfort level with the Chinese occupation and annexation of Tibet since their conquest of the Tibet in 1951. If they have no problems with the rape of Tibet and they are throwing fits over Israel, simply pay them their due attention, none.

 

 

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Abbas Casting Blame for Dire Economic Difficulties

Here we go once more into the financial doldrums and the Abbas dance of blame the rest of the Palestinian Authority leadership, blame Israel, blame Arab nations for not meeting their promised obligations and blame the world for not supporting the Palestinian cause with sufficient amounts of support, measured in dollars, Euros, precious metals or other forms of monetary equivalents. As has been the case since the fateful election where United States President Bush and his Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice forced the inclusion of Hamas in the imminent elections for the Palestinian Parliament, Abbas has claimed he has been forced to act as a man under siege against the fates of the world. As a quick refresher, Hamas won a clear majority in the Palestinian Parliament which caused Mahmoud Abbas to cancel the upcoming Palestinian Presidential election as he faced losing to the Hamas candidate. Soon after this Hamas executed a takeover of Gaza ejecting all the members of Fatah and splitting the Palestinian government into two separate and independent entities which continue to struggle for preeminence. Since then Mahmoud Abbas has become the equivalent of Palestinian President for life as he has consistently refused to allow new elections for his position. All of the past is now once again foaming to the top and displaying the grotesque underbelly of the Palestinian governance which he represents more than anyone else. So, what are the coming events and how exactly will Mahmoud Abbas once again remain President when all else around him changes.

The initiation of the problem was a familiar one, the Palestinian Authority was out of cash and unable to meet payroll of their enormously over-bloated government which employs over half of the residents under Palestinian rule. The payroll includes both employees in the West Bank and in Gaza. When the Palestinian employees threatened to strike if they did not receive their back pay, Mahmoud Abbas made a pitiable plea to the world to honor their pledges or renew new guarantees of monetary aid to the Palestinian cause and to also save Abbas and his government. Israel gave in to pressures from various fronts and released a large amount of the collected taxes they were withholding from the Palestinians as a response to the Palestinians going around Israel and petitioning the United Nations for statehood which was a break against the agreements in the Oslo Accords which specifically forbids any path outside of direct negotiations. The United States also responded with a half billion dollars which was sent by the Obama Administration circumventing Congress which had frozen all funding for the Palestinian Authority also in response to their petition for statehood at the United Nations. The President was able to authorize the aid bypassing Congress utilizing emergency measures which enabled bypassing Congress. This was still insufficient funds to alleviate the monetary predicament the Palestinian Authority finds themselves in once again. This is the predicament which Mahmoud Abbas is facing which he will once again find some way of casting all of the blame onto others and the first leaves have already started to fall from the government tree and more are sure to follow soon.

The first leaf that fell came as Nabil Qassis quit as Finance Minister responding to refutation to proposed austerity measures he had proposed to address financial situation. Nabil Qassis is a former president of the Bir Zeit University near Ramallah who joined the government in May 2012, who gave notice while President Abbas was out of the territories on March 2 that he was resigning. When members of the Parliament began to protest the financial situation and as a reaction to the resignation of Nabil Qassis, President Abbas responded upon his returning to Ramallah saying, “I am angrier than all of you at the government… but I don’t want to say more than that now. Just wait for three days.” It was further reported by an unnamed government official that, “Abbas informed (Salam) Fayyad that if Nabil Qassis did not return to the finance ministry… Abbas would dismiss his government and form a new one.” So, here we are on the verge of yet once again President Mahmoud Abbas placing all the blame upon everybody but himself and holding another round of elections while refusing to stand for election himself. The Palestinian authority seems to lurch from one catastrophe to the next with the solution always being either the Prime Minister or other high office holders resigning or being forced from office or the Parliament being disbanded and new elections held but one thing remains unchanged, President Mahmoud Abbas remains the sole survivor who never need face the people and receive their support to remain as President of the Palestinian Authority.

This is not the sole situation for which President Mahmoud Abbas appears to be more of a dictatorial President for Life than the rightfully elected leader the Palestinian people. The repeated attempts at managing a reunification of the two sectors of the Palestinian leadership bringing Hamas and Fatah together again in unified governance for the Palestinian Authority and its peoples which has been another example of Abbas intransigence. Every attempt at reunification has appeared to have reached an accord with all of the particulars smoothed out and the only remaining item being a general election for a new Parliament, the choosing of a new Prime Minister, and holding election for the office of President. That final little item, the election for President, has been the tripping point each and every time as Mahmoud Abbas refuses to stand for election. He is convinced that he would not have a prayers chance in…, well; he would have no chance of surviving the election and retaining the office of the President. This has caused the agreements to suddenly collapse and disintegrate as soon as the time comes for picking the date for the elections, especially and precisely the elections for the next President. Mahmoud Abbas is for too enamored with being the President of the Palestinian Authority and consistently refuses to risk being voted out of office. Perhaps his fears are completely founded. Perhaps his fears go beyond that of losing the office and are more about losing something far more dear and important to him; his life. It is his fear of death that I believe drives him to avoid having new elections for the office of President of the Palestinian Authority. The problem is that Mahmoud Abbas’s fear for his life will very likely forestall any progression for Palestinian governance until he finally accepts leaving the Presidency which will likely take the exact same path as his predecessor.

Beyond the Cusp

The Real War Threat Over Israel

Ask almost any of the people who claim to know what is coming next and they will regale you with all the various scenarios of an Israeli attack on the Iranian nuclear sites and the ensuing regional war or other results. All the so-called professional know-it-alls are blinded against anything beyond Israel going rogue and without consulting anybody, including and especially the United States and any others who might possibly be on the receiving end of some of the repercussions and retaliations which Iran would likely pursue. All of their scenarios ignore anything outside of a laser focus on Iran which blinds them to the growing violence already quite advanced in day-to-day events in much of Israel.

They are ignoring the daily carjacking attempts which threaten to result in the death of any Israeli driving past where these gangs operate. They ignore daily assaults on motorists driving near many of the Palestinian neighborhoods on their daily routes where they may have rocks, some of very large size, raining down on their vehicle often resulting in broken glass in addition to sizeable dents. Some of these attacks have proven fatal but are usually dismissed as much as possible by the authorities who are loath to investigate. They miss the Arab attempts, often with the assistance of the Civil Administration, to take possession of land belonging to Jewish residents in Judea and Samaria. They miss attacks on crops and sometimes upon the homes and residents of the Jewish neighborhoods and farms in Judea and Samaria. The attacks and thefts which occur daily within the green line to Jewish farmers in central and northern Israel and the Bedouin attempts to take possession of lands in the Negev regardless of ownership. They ignore all the violence which has been growing at measurable and alarming rates within the areas under Israeli control.

They ignore the slow increase in the median level of rocket and mortar attacks originating in Gaza and lately also from the Sinai Peninsula. They ignore the increasing number of attempts to shoot or otherwise ambush IDF patrols along the Gaza and Lebanon borders. Even the beginning of the use of roadside bombs and IEDs which have been incorporated into the range of attacks against the IDF patrols are now a part of the Gaza attacks against IDF patrols. Then there has been the latest added front which some blame upon the failure of the Egyptian interim military government’s inability or total lack of desire for keeping order in the Sinai. When the lack of any law enforcement is coupled with the removal of any revenues from their usual means of guiding tourists and other related tourism incomes, the Sinai Bedouins have been driven to find alternate income which Hamas and al-Qaeda terrorists were more than happy to provide. Now the previously peaceable Bedouins who avoided any alignment with the violence or with strident Islam have now appeared to become radicalized and are taking full advantage of making a living supplying arms and other goods for the tunnels into Gaza and in assisting Hamas, al-Qaeda and other terrorists in their attacks on Israel and, as was evident last week, even Egyptian personnel. No matter which direction one cares to sample, violence from Islamic fronts has been radically increasing over the last decade with a definitive uptick in the rate of increase in the past couple of years. The rate has escalated even faster in the last six months and is approaching a tipping point which is actually ahead of the Iranian progress towards a nuclear weapon.

It is quite likely that the increased level of antagonism by terror outlets, especially those in Lebanon, Gaza, and the Sinai could very well be in part due to requests from the Iranians to act as a means of keeping Israel tied down protecting the home-front from the terror assaults and thus unable to also make an attack upon the Iranian nuclear facilities. This does not explain the increased violence being wrought inside and beyond the Green Line which are often controlled by the military arms of Fatah under Mahmoud Abbas leadership. Much of this can be directly tied to increased activity which is encouraged and often financed by leftist sources, many of which are from Europe with some even financed by European governments, the same European governments who are in the midst of financial meltdown yet still finding funds to finance attacks upon Jews and Israel. All of these varied fronts come together to form an effective assault upon Israel and are likely to force a response if the increased levels continue for much longer. This too may be part of the overall intent of the forces allied against Israel.

Some might ask for an explanation on why all the discussion and noise emanating from Israel concerning an attack on the Iranian nuclear sites. Well, first we need to identify the sources of much of the noise. Where Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister have made comments, most of which were either denial of any intent to attack Iran or simply stating that Israel is capable and ready to defend herself from any attack or threat, and have held from any commitment from committing to an attack or denying such. This is the obvious tact for any leader to take in order to not divulge any useable information to those oppositional forces. Secrecy itself is also a weapon of any political conflict and even war is, when viewed analytically, a political conflict of the highest order. Much of the rest of the noise about an Israeli unilateral attack on the Iranian nuclear facilities has come from other sources mostly decrying Netanyahu and Barak over their presumed desire to attack Iran, by themselves if necessary. Prime Minister Netanyahu could hold a primetime press conference and definitively declare that Israel has absolutely no intention of attacking Iran before the P5+1 negotiations have played out completely and a coalition of countries is assembled to make such an attack and you would see weeks of conjecture and hypothesizing on how soon and by what means Netanyahu’s announcement implied an imminent Israeli attack. And at the end of that time the liberal leftist press would pummel and castigate the Prime Minister and Defense Minister over having been endlessly making threatening noises about an imminent Iranian attack. The truth be told, the time to become apprehensive over the imminence of an Israeli action against the Iranian nuclear facilities will be when you hear absolutely nothing being discussed and no threats emanating from any front, then one would be wise to become nervous.

The most likely next actions necessitated for an Israel to respond are against the rising threats within their borders by the various terror fronts and leftist agitators. It is our hypothesis that the next Israeli military response to the growing terror threats and violence will be taken once the level of such reaches a level beyond the level which any sane and reasonable observer would be able to determine was acceptable. It will be triggered by a heinous assault or event and only the most virulent anti-Semites and anti-Zionists would be able to criticize the actions. This action will be one of totality and likely followed by Israel dissolving their cooperation with anything related to Oslo, the Roadmap, the Saudi Initiative or any other proposed coexistence with the Palestinians. Israel will very likely follow this action with the deportation of the leadership of the Palestinian Authority as well as any remaining terror commanders and planners and officially annex all of Samaria and Judea. The Israeli government will more than likely offer any Palestinians who wish to voluntarily relocate to another country some form of financial encouragement which will be offered for some limited, but likely generous, period after which anybody caught committing any act of terror will be deported permanently after they serve their time in prison. Once Israel has been pushed to the point that such actions become palatable and they decide they are willing to withstand the slings and arrows which will most assuredly assail them from every government; United Nations agency, department and bureau; NGO; political activist; editorialist; and other potential do-gooder on the planet, then action will be unavoidable. We can be assured that such an action will not be taken without a willingness to withstand any assault and with the assured knowledge that by taking such action their coalition will likely not withstand the coming meteoric storm. But honestly, is it not time that this charade of forming a non-functional country named Palestine simply for the purpose of the eventual destruction of Israel as the Jewish State gone beyond any pretense that it is for any real and true humanitarian principle. Really, if it had ever been honestly about a country for some people known as the “palastinians”, the peace would have been attained and the country formed back in 1948 when the original and most generous offer was proposed and refused in order to go to war to drive the nascent Jewish State into the Sea, and that failed as has every subsequent attempt and will every future attempt. The ruse should be ended once and for ever.

Beyond the Cusp