Why Palestinian Israeli Conflict Appears Open-Ended

The recent flaring of violence between the terror groups of Gaza, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others, with the seemingly weekly ceasefires almost all of which broken within hours by rockets flying over the Gaza border onto Israeli farms, towns and cities usually to minimal damage is just the latest flare-up in the series of Arab attempts to prevent or destroy the Jewish state which dates back to before the beginning of the last century. The exception recently was the tragic death of Daniel Tregerman, an innocent four year old who had as one of his idols the Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi. Then there was a set of somewhat baffling events in which the Israeli Shin Bet security agency along with an assist from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) where their actions over the previous few days in arresting over ninety Palestinians and uncovering and confiscating a large cache of weapons, explosives, grenades and other tools of war all while uncovering a coup plot by Hamas to topple Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority through a series of terror attacks and performing the actual coup during the ensuing confusion similarly to the coup by Hamas in Gaza over five days of June 2007. People were surprised and even shocked when the different anti-Bashir Assad groups began fighting each other almost more regularly than they did the Syrian military. This should not have been such a surprise as the same differences defined the rift between the nationalist Palestinian Authority and the religious jihadist Hamas and allied groups such as Islamic Jihad. The difference is simply their motivational driving force, secular nationalism which can have religious overtones but religious purity is not demanded or a high priority while the jihadist places adherence to Islam as paramount and as the central driving force it inevitably drives those who lead these jihadist groups to take their Islamic adherence to such extremes that they have earned a special label of Islamist extremists. The jihadist becomes such a purist adherent to Islam that they classify the nationalists as heretics, disbelievers or apostates; all of which are to be punished by the sword. This is the driving force behind Hamas needing to destroy and replace the Palestinian Authority; it is all a matter or religious purity versus the unbelievers or those whose belief does not meet the jihadist standards.

 

Fatah was the originating organization which bridged Mahmoud Abbas, Yasser Arafat and the rest of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) terrorists into recognized, by the United States and Europe, acceptable peace partners for Israel to now be able to find some common ground. This provided the basis for the two state solution and the heart of its theories being the canard of land for peace. After this transformation Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas were no longer defined as terrorists and instead became men who represented the epitome of peace and compromise, or at least that has been the mantra repeated religiously by Western national leaders and the concept shoved down Israeli throats requiring ever more force as time has removed the layers of lies which have clouded the entirety of the Palestinian-Israel peace process, something which has as its origins the Arab-Israeli conflict which was simply rebranded to make Israel no longer the victim of the larger Arab world into the oppressor and occupier against the helpless Palestinian people. The war is still between the Arab world and Israel but the name was changed to dupe willing Western leaders from supporters of Israel, a position which was growing more difficult as Israel proved capable of defending herself, to mediators who could be fair and even-handed or even Palestinian sympathizers with growing animosity towards Israel. This devious plan worked to perfection and the fruits can be viewed around the Western world where anti-Semitism had grown right along with anti-Zionism and anti-Israel hatreds with the same old canards and blood libels being reinvented and given a twenty-first century face and told and accepted around the world. The most repeated accusations revolve around that Jews control the world’s governments making them do their bidding, control the media, control the banks, and steal the blood or organs of non-Jews to give to Jews or to use in the making of Matzos. In numerous Arab and Muslim nations the slanderous hoax perpetrated by the Czars in a publication they had authored and printed called “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” which purports to detail the plan whereby the Jews, all 0. 2% of the globe’s population, will take complete control over the world is only outsold by the Quran and Mein Kampf, which says even more about the Arab world and its preoccupation with eradicating the World’s Jewry.

 

The root source of the problem can be traced to the positions taken by the separate Palestinian groups. Islamic Jihad and Hamas have near identical views and definitions of their goals in fighting Israel and the Jews. Both groups believe in liberating Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea which means destroying all of Israel. The place where these two groups have a degree of difference is when it comes to what to do after destroying Israel and murdering the Jews of Israel. Hamas believes that immediately after murdering all the Jews of Israel they must proceed to murder the remaining Jews worldwide, while Islamic Jihad places that task as a future event to be completed as part of making Islam the sole religion in the world. The Palestinian Authority also believes that all of Israel is occupied Palestine and that Palestine stretches from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea but they believe that initially the Jews could be permitted to live as long as they were under Muslim rule, paid the Jiyza tax and accepted their Dhimmi status and acted sufficiently cowed and subservient. All of the Palestinian leadership aims for a one state solution all the while some will agree to support a two state solution. This is their use of taqiyya which permits a Muslim to lie to an infidel for the cause of advancing Islam, thus agreeing they want a two state solution. Their acceptance of the two state solution is simply a way station on their way to their way to their preferred one state solution and the complete destruction of Israel. The Palestinian Authority, the group which falsely claims to adhere to the general ideas of the two state solution aim to maximize their gains before accepting the final borders and settlement. As they will forever believe they can force more concessions out of the Israelis, especially with the assistance by the anti-Israel Western NGOs and governments. They see such things as the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement as proof that they have the support to push Israel to the cusp of economic ruin with the extensive assistance of the West’s useful idiots and their invaluable assistance. Add a hostile set of politicians who speak loud and proud of their hatred and denunciations of Israel from around the world, Mr. George Galloway who recently declared, “We have declared Bradford an Israel-free zone. We don’t want any Israeli goods. We don’t want any Israeli services. We don’t want any Israeli academics, coming to the university or the college. We don’t even want any Israeli tourists to come to Bradford, if any of them had thought of doing so. We reject this illegal, barbarous, savage state that calls itself Israel. And you have to do the same.”

 

Despite the fact that the Palestinian and Arab representatives will not cease their animosities and violence against Israel, Israelis and Jews particularly; the real reason this conflicts appears destined to remain into the foreseeable future revolves around much of the current Israeli leadership. There is a sizeable segment of the Israeli leadership who willingly believe the platitudes and lies which Mahmoud and others speak in English to the Western mainstream media and who ignore the loud, brash and hateful rhetoric spoken by these very same Palestinian leaders when they speak in Arabic, their native language. It is an apparently virulent condition which has infected the reporting and agendas of many Western nations and national leaders. Despite glaringly contradictory evidence and actions any casual observer would be able to perceive, these useful idiots demand that the two state solution has not been given sufficient effort, sufficient time, sufficient investments, sufficient candy canes and chocolate bunnies. These fools remain blind and tear into an uncontrollable rage whenever anybody dares speak against their beloved negotiations to find the magic sacrifice that Israel must finally make that will seal the deal on that ever elusive two state solution. Their overriding obsession drives them to castigate other Israelis as being those who have destroyed the atmosphere and poisoned the wells which are necessary to nurture the environment such that the perfect two state solution can be grown and tended lovingly bring a period of Messianic tranquility and harmony where the lamb will lie with the lion and their Kalashnikov AK-47s will be ground into fine dinnerware, and their mortars into knitting hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

 

Even these delusional peace-blinded fools are not the final resting place for the blame or for not ending this perpetual cycle of violence, a cycle that at this immediate juncture is the closest it has ever been to being solvable. The most frustrating and simultaneously infuriating item about all of this is that the three people who could bring all these impasses and frustration to a close if only they would open their eyes and see. There are a select few who are calling for the necessary first step to reaching the solution even if their visions may fall a little short of a complete solution, they perceive the new path and at least desire to take a bold new approach. Those at the very top, the ones most essential to break with the past are the one’s listening and fearing the most blinded in their midst while demeaning and attempting to silence the ones who bear the message and the path to peace, real and palpable long term peace. The main culprit, as most have probably ascertained, is Prime Minister Netanyahu who is backed in this misadventure by Minister of Defense Moshe Ya’alon. Both of these politicians have the inbuilt fear which will eventually cower even the strongest of politicians while blunting and softening their initial rough edges, those pronouncements which are often only existant within the young or inexperienced in the political arena, making them docile and fearful of again going boldly beyond the lines drawn by the not so loyal opposition. Additionally is the IDF Chief of Staff General Benny Gantz who commands an IDF which has displayed the greatest unity and spirited enthusiasm to complete their mission and surpass expectations with a willingness to answer any challenge with what is known in military circles as ‘can do’ yet his main driving idea is to end the current mission Defensive Edge before it becomes once again necessary to reenter Gaza and face the potential additional losses such an eventuality would entail. Saving his men’s lives and health have to be one of a commander’s highest concerns and it should be a driving consideration in their every decision, but it also must not become such an obsession that it paralyzes their ability to apply force when appropriate out of a desire to avoid further casualties. The protection of the IDF weighs on each of these Israeli leaders but is hopefully not acting as a paralyzing element; there exist too many other such forces which need no additional help.

 

The final puzzle piece, which makes the inability of the very top of the chain of command to act even more unbelievable, is the unity of the people of Israel. There is a unity beyond that anyone has witnessed since decades ago. The Israelis are fully behind their leadership doing whatever it might take to bring peace and security to the south of Israel and the ever widening areas which have come under the striking range of the Hamas rockets. They have witnessed miracles which have shown even the biggest skeptics that G0d is on their side and with their efforts. The three misses by the Iron Dome battery protecting Tel Aviv had its crew, especially the commanding officer, beside themselves with concern as the rocket’s trajectory according to all the data provided by their equipment placed it delivering its deadly explosive warhead on central Tel Aviv where it could have killed thousands of innocent Israelis, Jews, Arabs, Muslims, Christians, Druze and others. Perhaps the description given by that unit commander best tells of their shock and awe experience. His report, anonymous, as to reveal his name might endanger him or his family, stated, “A missile was fired from Gaza. Iron Dome precisely calculated [its trajectory]. We know where these missiles are going to land down to a radius of 200 meters. This particular missile was going to hit either the Azrieli Towers, the Kirya (Israel’s equivalent of the Pentagon) or a central Tel Aviv railway station. Hundreds could have died. We fired the first [interceptor]. It missed. Second [interceptor]. It missed. This is very rare. I was in shock. At this point we had just four seconds until the missile lands. We had already notified emergency services to converge on the target location and had warned of a mass-casualty incident. Suddenly, Iron Dome (which calculates wind speeds, among other things) shows a major wind coming from the east, a strong wind that…sends the missile into the sea. We were all stunned. I stood up and shouted, ‘There is a God!’ I witnessed this miracle with my own eyes. It was not told or reported to me. I saw the hand of God send that missile into the sea.” What more can be said except finish the job and do that which is right and would benefit the people of Gaza as much as the people of southern Israel, both of which are living under the threat of Hamas violence, the Israelis to rockets, the Gazan people to random murders for the sake of retaining control over the people by violent oppression. Free Gaza and Israel from the brutalities and terrorism of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and those others who would act to continue to persecute both of these peoples.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Will Israel Soon Face New Threats?

Ever since the world decided to grant the Palestinian Authority the lethal weapon of statehood in a United Nations General Assembly vote, we and many others have been waiting to see how it would first be used against Israel. The question was would it be used to go to the International Criminal Court charging numerous Israeli leaders both civilian and military with various crimes ranging from war crimes to crimes against humanity or would the Palestinian Authority first petition anew for full member statehood in the Security Council, this time with the full backing of the Arab League, the Nonaligned Movement and the European Union or would they simply play it safe and attempt to be included in as many ancillary United Nations organizations like they had received prematurely from UNESCO and use these organizations and agencies to slowly build an unstoppable series of decisions awarding them advantages political and on the ground against Israel. Reports on discussions between Mahmoud Abbas, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr and Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi this past weekend gave the world their first glance at the near future in the Arab war against Israel through their surrogates the Palestinians. Here are some of the options that were intimated during these meetings in Ramallah.

Nabil al-Arabi was quoted offering this request, “We hope that the new American administration adopts a policy of conflict resolution rather than conflict management.” He called on US President Barack Obama to be more active and to make a concerted effort towards ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There were also discussions concerning the promised financial safety net which was supposed to be forthcoming from the Arab League though no payments were made or yet scheduled. There was mentioned the intent for other Arab foreign ministers to visit Ramallah in the near future, again with no specifics. Al-Arabi reported that he and Abbas discussed that resultant from the United Nations vote recognizing Palestinian statehood there were “joint Arab political steps that should be taken after Palestine secured non-member state representation at the United Nations, in order to implement Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian land occupied since 1967.” Arabi additionally referenced that the Palestinians would “return to the Security Council with full support from Arab countries and in agreement with European Union nations,” though it was not made clear for what direct purpose such a move would entail. From all direct reports it was left very vague exactly what was decided during the four-hour meeting beyond requesting President Obama to be more active by which one can assume they intend that such activity be in a way of forcing concessions on the Israelis.

This meeting does offer an opportunity to discuss some of the other claims and threats which have come out of Ramallah since the Palestinians received their coveted recognition of statehood, though said recognition did not define borders, capital city, or any other necessity required of any normal state. There was the grandstanding just this past week when while being interviewed on Israeli media Abbas threatened, “If there is no progress even after the election I will take the phone and call Netanyahu. I’ll tell him…Sit in the chair here instead of me, take the keys, and you will be responsible for the Palestinian Authority. Once the new government in Israel is in place, Netanyahu will have to decide — yes or no.” Of course he spent much of the rest of his interview putting forth the Palestinian list of demands that are not demands but obligations that Abbas knows Israel must accomplish if they truly desire peace and wish to negotiate. Abbas once again upon returning to Ramallah reiterated with his customary refusal to recognize Israel as the Jewish State, requiring Israel return to the pre-1967 War borders, surrender East Jerusalem along with the Temple Mount and all of the Old City, giving up on the resistance until all of Palestine is freed from the occupiers and all the Jews have been dealt with or relent on his demand that all Palestinian prisoners be released from Israeli custody. I can rest assured that given more time the rest of the Abbas laundry list of demands would follow which include better armament for Palestinian security forces, open borders for the import of weapons commensurate with statehood, entering treaties with other nations and holding military exercises within the borders of Palestine as the Palestinian government sees necessary. Some people just do not know when to stop and insist on proving they will never be satisfied which is usually when Abbas insists on his final term, the Right of Return to within Israel of five to seven million Muslim refugees and their families on to the n^th generation.

Needless to say, there are a number of friends of Israel who would have absolutely no problem allowing for Mahmoud Abbas to disband the Palestinian Authority and simply hand the keys to Prime Minister Netanyahu and walk off into the sunrise, sunset would have him entering Israel, we would rather he go into Jordan or further. Unfortunately, this is just another cry out to anybody ignorant enough or predisposed to listening to Abbas and get attention in the hope that somewhere in the world somebody will panic and put pressure on Israel to prevent the catastrophe of Abbas actually following through on his threat, though I can hardly see the catastrophe in his leaving for good. I must give Abbas credit as he has improved markedly on his previous threats of resigning, threat made almost countless times with current count at a minimum of nine times or his threat to stop payment of the Palestinian Authority employees if the world does not shower him with money. Actually, this is simply a more advanced version of not meeting the payroll.

Wasn’t Mahmoud Abbas supposed to face an election back sometime in 2009, I remember something about he couldn’t hold elections in the middle of negotiations. Now he is threatening to take drastic measures if negotiations are not restarted immediately. Perhaps Prime Minister Netanyahu should insist that the Palestinian authority hold elections now that Abbas has recognized that negotiations are not being pursued at this time which should allow a perfect reprieve in which elections can be held. Prime Minister Netanyahu could even promise to start negotiations as soon as the newly elected leader of the Palestinians is comfortable in coming to the table with absolutely no preconditions and a relatively open mind. The United Nations should have demanded the much overdue elections to have been held before recognizing this usurper as the leader of a nonmember state, that would have made for a far superior result. Meanwhile, nothing has changed but we can simply wait and see which of those opposing Prime Minister Netanyahu is first to claim that now he has gone and done it, Netanyahu is on the verge of ending the Palestinian occupation of Judea and Samaria with the end of Mahmoud Abbas and his merry band of terrorists.

Events have progressed since the writing of the original article and need to be included due to the serious nature and scope. Today the Fatah Party, the progenitor of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, celebrated their 48th anniversary of the founding by Yasser Arafat with Mahmoud Abbas as his second in command. The celebration was marked by numerous marches throughout Judea and Samaria. There was an extra special touch added to the event in Hevron where the marchers included masked and armed Fatah members firing automatic rifles in the air as seen in this video. This was an area marked by an increase in confrontations the last few weeks, usually in the form of rock and Molotov cocktails being hurled at the city’s Jewish residents. Additionally, the Fatah Party released a new and special logo marking their 48th anniversary which includes a map with the PA flag and a map of Israel that appears to be a depiction of the black and white checkered kefiyah resembling the one always worn by Yasser Arafat, a symbol of the violent intifada, and the slogan the state and victory. These new symbols will very likely lead to the making public the claim that has been often spoken in Arabic while being denied in English that Palestine is all of Israel including Gaza, Judea, Samaria, and the lands inside the Green Line constituting the recognized lands of Israel.

Beyond the Cusp

Syria Sliding Back Towards Chaos and Violence

Welcoming the advanced group of five United Nations unarmed monitors was news of renewed shelling upon the city of Homs with one report claimed they were bombarded at a rate of one shell per minute. By our best estimate, the ceasefire in Syria lasted almost six hours before artillery and tank fire broke the calm and everything started returning to wide ranged fighting. The official Syrian state news agency SANA reported the shelling and other violence were in response to terrorist attacks which ramped up almost immediately after the ceasefire was implemented forcing the government troops to resume their actions in order to protect the Syrian people. Best estimate is that the Syrian military is protecting half the Syrian people from the other half of the Syrian people.

 

The United Nations five peacekeepers were to be backed up by more some time today bringing their numbers up to thirty with plans on adding up to three hundred in total when quiet has been obtained. But there may be a small problem with the United Nations plan beyond the continued violence. Norwegian Major General Robert Mood was the appointed commander of the United Nations peacekeeping force until he boarded a flight leaving from Damascus and apparently headed home with no intention of returning. It is so refreshing when somebody from the United Nations actually shows good sense and clear thinking. We would like to commend Major General Robert Mood on a decision that is likely to prolong his life if not his career. It now falls to Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon to find a new appointment to command the peacekeeping efforts in Syria. We are willing to bet that volunteers with the slightest of experience on their resume would stand a decent chance at landing the position. The big question is not when will the fighting end in Syria, but when and where President Assad receives asylum and a nice villa in a country where he is unlikely to allow his being tried for crimes against humanity. That is something not likely to occur in the immediate future but we are still predicting by the end of May, though some here are starting to have their doubts.

 

We would like to wish Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon the best of luck in his search for a replacement to command the peacekeepers in Syria. Looking back at the year long history of the desperate situation in Syria, we expect that filling this position may be somewhat more difficult than usual. Remembering the two attempts at peacekeeping by the Arab League does not make the United Nation’s efforts look to have a promising future. The initial attempt by the Arab League fell apart before it got started as there were no volunteers to man the force. They got a little further with their second try which actually got exactly to the stage now attained by the United Nations. When a number of the Arab League observers came under fire and had to flee along with the civilians with whom they had been receiving reports and information, the League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby decided to pull the peacekeepers out immediately after a brief discussion with several Arab foreign ministers.

 

On a more personal level, it is hoped that the violence which has continued for over thirteen months and very likely claimed over ten-thousand lives, many of which were innocents, and uncounted injured including women and children, too often young children, and torn any shred of normalcy from the whole of Syria, may those pushing the conflict realize the harm and needless destruction they are causing and find some common ground and shared decency and resolve this conflict before there is nothing left of Syria for the winners to rule. You want to identify the true violence and denial of decent living conditions, it is the continued civil war in Syria, the little mentioned multi-party conflict for control in Libya and the senseless war over the oil fields between the Sudan and the newly established country of South Sudan, formed as a supposed solution to the ceaseless slaughter and warfare which ravaged the area of which Darfur was but one slice of the whole of suffering of that area. These are the current examples of real Arab suffering, of real Arab families being denied the opportunity to live a normal life, the real places scarred by violence which is beyond the imagination of most who read this article. Then there are those whose countries are in turmoil as they cobble together new governance after often brutal violence which brought the end of the rule of dictators and Presidents for life and now their country suffers economic collapse making their lives even more harsh than ever. And this rosy scenario ignores the possibility of the turmoil and strife of the Arab Spring spreading and turning more countries into victims of the eventual Arab Winter which seems to inevitably follow.

 

Beyond the Cusp