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

 

Hamas Destroys Roman Temple for New Training Base

Hamas is in the process of constructing a training facility in order to train more youth to attack Israelis, civilians or military as Hamas sees no difference. The location of this new base will require the destruction of an ancient Anthedon Harbor which includes the ruins of a Roman temple and archaeological remains from the Persian, Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras. Thus far almost all of the world mainstream press has been silent including much of the Israeli press much to their disgrace. The one news outlet Aretz Sheva has given it coverage as well as much of the new media. The seeming regularity with which terror groups destroy archeological sites is very disturbing. We need to remember things such as the Buddha Statues of Bamiyan which were intentionally destroyed in a malicious act of hatred by the Taliban in early 2001 simply due to their not being of Islamic origins. The real irony is the United Nations agency tasked with the care of such historical relics is UNESCO, the same agency which was the first to allow membership to be bestowed on the Palestinian Authority which was utilized as further certification that they represent a recognized nation among nations of the world.

There have also been sermons given by Egyptian Imams calling for the destruction of the un-Islamic relics of false gods in Egypt with references to the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid as well as the rest of the Pyramids bordering the Nile River. This is simply a continuation of historical records which document Islamic transforming religious buildings, temples, and cathedrals into Mosques and the destruction of other historical sites, ruins, mausoleums and other historical landmarks simply due to their lack of ties to Islam. Another modern such disregard for historical sites of great importance occurred recently when a new dam floods lands which include numerous Persian sites including the burial vaults of Cyrus the Great along with some sites which date back up to seven thousand years. The world should make all efforts necessary to preserve these important historical sites from senseless destruction simply because they are from a history independent from Islam. How much has to be lost permanently of our collective history before anything is even said and maybe possibly acted upon? Are our heritage sites and other treasures really so worthless that their destructions are not even newsworthy? A civilized world would preserve its historical sites, as few as actually survive to modernity, and take whatever measures required collectively assuring their futures.

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