Lamenting the Palestinian Lack of Statehood

 

Two world leaders have come out recently lamenting their failure to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Their words, or the way my ears heard and eyes read their statements made me feel they were more lamenting the lack of a Palestinian State and the fact they were unable to diminish Israel greatly, if not completely, in the making of such a state. Of course the two were President Obama and Secretary General Ban ki-Moon. As we have beaten President Obama’s anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic feelings to such an extent as to make a bronze statue to the man, let us instead play with the soon to be ex-Secretary General’s statements and the lack of validity or value in them. Actually one almost has to feel for the man, who had ruled through a decade of opening auditory lamentations against Israel at opening ceremonies for the General Assembly, ten years of “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” and the complete series of Durban World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance which could also have been called the let’s pretend that Israel is the cause of all the world’s problems from hunger to lack of water to the endlessly revolving around the sun going nowhere conferences. Still, the poor man from South Korea is listing the inability to form a Palestinian state as the main failure of his time at the United Nations and not the complete meltdown of the Middle East, the loss of two nations, Syria and Libya, into roiling cauldrons of suffering and death, and the rise of anti-Semitism worldwide to epidemic levels and the beginning stages of destabilization of near the entirety of Europe all accomplished with the inept leadership, or lack thereof, of the United States and most of Europe where liberal progressivism has run unchecked all but succeeding in their aim to end borders and encourage loss of definition of the word nation. Actually, the decline of Europe may be seen as credit to his ability to actually accomplish some great achievement during his decade as Secretary General. Well, we all should vie to feel good about ourselves and see something as an accomplishment even if it may mean the end of civilization as we know and define it.

 

Secretary General Ban ki-Moon stated, “It has strengthened radicals and weakened moderates on both sides. Making matters worse is a dangerous vacuum within the international community as crises elsewhere claim the attention of world leaders.” Imagine the chutzpah of the man stating the obvious that there exist “crises elsewhere claim the attention of world leaders” and finding that a deficiency as it will establish “a dangerous vacuum within the international community” in which Israel skates free from the constant pounding he must feel they deserve for not committing suicide at his behest. Ban ki-Moon’s self-flagellation came on cue at the United Nation’s annual “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People,” held every November 29th which just happens to actually be the day when the partition for the formation of Israel was decided, the even division of the lands between the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea granting the Arabs the choice lands and giving Israel lands consisting of over two-thirds being Negev Desert yet still the Arab League refused the settlement and instead made plans to invade Israel on the very morning of her independence. That day, Israeli Independence Day and the first day of the initial war to annihilate the Jewish State which took two years to fail, though it did manage to wrest the lands of Gaza, Judea and Samaria (Gaza and West Bank by Jordanian naming), was also renamed by the Arabs as Naqba Day, the day they failed to murder the Jewish homelands. The Arabs should thank Israel and the Jews as we have given them two of the Palestinian Arabs biggest holidays, Naqba Day and United Nation’s annual “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.” But let us get into the minutia of these supposed failures.

 

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
Probably Denouncing Israel Once Again as
His Mouth is Moving and He is Behind the
Sign of the Bane of All that is Holy
the United Nations Emblem of Shame

 

Ban ki-Moon and all the Palestinian Arabs and their multitudes of supporters from around the world and loudest on Europe, well, next to the flame fanning by the Palestinian Arabs themselves (especially recently but it finally rained) all could have at any point followed through on their desires to force the issue and bring everything before the World Court for final arbitration and let the best side win. Of course they would never think of holding a factual and legal hearing for reaching a decision knowing that their lies play so much better in the world media and across the many platforms where the world stage is carried out. Demanding the destruction of the Jews is the longest running show on the world’s stage and yet such has never succeeded, but not for lack of trying. The world need understand that Israel is going nowhere as we are here to stay, period, end of discussion. But if you insist, please do take your show before the World Court and plead your case. You can invite Mahmoud Abbas and his cohort of criminals who have made a business of robbing their subjects blind squirrelling away billions of dollars and Euros, the Arab League, leaders from Europe and around the world and give each their hour on the stage to conduct their version of events, promises and that which must be because they wish it and then Israel will simple, silently present her case using actual documents. The first document will be the San Remo Resolution followed by the Treaty of Sèvres and the Treaty of Lausanne all topped off by Article 80 of the United Nations Charter which states that the Mandate System set up by these previous treaties will be enforced and recognized by the United Nations as will all treaties made under the authority of the League of Nations. But we understand that it is far more satisfying deriding the Jewish State day in and day out than it is actually living up to promises and solving the problem that just keeps on giving. How else would the world bodies and leaders dump on Israel if there were no evil designs to accuse the Jews of having committed?

 

The favorite statements are the ones where the claim is that the Palestinians only desire the lands gained by Israel resulting from their defending themselves from Jordanian invasion where Israel liberated the lands occupied by Jordan for the nineteen years since the 1948 War to exterminate the Jewish State which should have been the end of any discussion. This is the lie and every last political charlatan tells ad-nauseum to the point that this particular Big Goebbelsian Lie has become accepted fact, but it will never stand up to close scrutiny which is why the plight of the Arab Palestinians will never be taken before an actual tribunal. Mahmoud Abbas has stated repeatedly, as had Yasser Arafat before him, that the Arabs will never recognize Israel as the State for the Jewish People. This is simply his repeating the findings of the Khartoum Resolution which included the “Three No’s”: “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel.” The truth of the intentions of the Palestinian Arab leadership now, past and future can be interpreted from the textbooks with which they train their children for total war against Israel and the Jews and steep them in a continual immersion of hatreds and fill them with lies. But please do not take our word for this and instead take some time at your leisure and read a concise report which includes actual copies of lessons and other important inclusions in these texts named A 25 Page Exec Summary: Jews and the Jewish State in Schoolbooks Used by UNRWA: De-legitimization, Demonization and Indoctrination to War.

 

There is one final set of refutations which need be presented. The first is the numbers of refugees. From 1948 through 1967 the total number of Arabs who became refugees, many simply leaving on their own volition and at the behest of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Amin al-Husseini (Arabic: محمد أمين الحسيني‎‎) who promised them that Israel would be destroyed by the invading armies from at least a half dozen Arab nations within a few days of their 1948 invasion intended as a genocide of the Jews and they would gain a share of all the Jew’s treasures, came out slightly under one-million and the number of Jews becoming refugees thrown from their homelands in Arab and Muslim lands where many of their families had resided for hundreds if not over a thousand years (not including those from Europe after World War II who are a different almost one-million) also totaled just under one-million thus nearly equal (there were approximately seventy-five-thousand to as much as two-hundred-thousand more Jews but about the same numbers resettled in Israel as there were Arabs losing their lands for numerous reasons). The difference is Israel welcomed their brothers and sisters to Israel and settled them and they and their families live productive lives as full citizens of Israel as do the Arabs who either remained or managed after the 1948-9 war returned to their lands within Israel escaping attempts to lock them away as political weapons in refugee camps by their Arab brothers and sisters. Then the Arab League demanded a separate entity to care for the Arab refugees and their own rules which allowed for the refugee status to become a caste label passing from parent to child on from generation to generation forever. Had the Arabs cared as much for their fellow Arabs as much as the Jews did for their fellow Jews there would have been no refugee situation. On the other hand, had the Israelis done as the Arabs had with their fellow Arabs there would likely be just as many Jews as refugees today as there are Palestinian Arab refugees.

 

There are other lies told and accepted around the world. The next biggest is that Israel is carrying out a war of extermination, a genocide against the Palestinian Arabs. How the numbers of Palestinian Arabs went from under one million to approximately five to as high as seven and a half million while being exterminated by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) begs the question of how such could happen. Is the IDF really that incompetent that there are five to ten times as many Palestinian Arabs today as their were in 1948 despite the supposed attempts by Israel to wipe them out. Trust there is absolutely no plan to murder Palestinian Arabs as a whole except to defend Israel and Israelis from assaults by terrorists. There is also the claim that the Arabs have not been permitted to vote in Israeli elections. This is both a falsehood and misdirection. The Arabs who reside in Israel are Israeli citizens and are permitted full rights including the vote and there are Arab Israelis elected to the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament. The Palestinian Arabs have not had an election since 2005 as in Gaza Hamas rules in a dictatorial manner and will not permit elections for fear of losing their hold to Islamic Jihad, Fatah or other forces and in Judea and Samaria Fatah has refused under Mahmoud Abbas to hold elections as they also fear losing power. One has to remember that Mahmoud Abbas is President of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Chairman of the Fatah Party and also the Chairman of the PLO and only permits election in the Fatah Party by the Executives who are all Abbas appointees thus guaranteeing his being renamed as Chairman and refuses to risk his other positions. So, one might ask why the Palestinian Arabs are not voting in Israeli elections. The answer is simply, they are not Israeli citizens but PA citizens residing in a semiautonomous area within Israel having their own form of self-government. Allowing them to vote in Israeli elections would be the same as permitting Canadians vote in the United States elections because they reside in North America too. Further, has the PA desired to actually have a state they were offered 94% of the West Bank, half of Jerusalem and all of Gaza by Ehud Barak in 2001 at the Taba Summit which were the culmination of almost three years of negotiations which finally failed and then a similar offer was proffered by Ehud Olmert in 2007 which was also rebuffed by Abbas et al and thus could have had their state simply by agreeing with these which have been the most generous offers to date. The main reasons that Abbas has refused these offers for a Palestinian Arab state is simply, he also demands that between five and eight million Arab refugees be permitted to take up residence not in their Palestinian state but in Israel with full citizenship and financial assistance in order to make reparations for their refugee status and suffering at the hands of their fellow Arabs. What many people are unaware of is that there is a large Palestinian refugee camp outside Gaza City and another outside Nablus, the PA operational capital city. Both of these camps like the others separate Arabs from Arabs with those outside the barbed wire free citizens while those inside the barbed wire are refugees. In all too many cases there are members of the same family residing on opposite sides of the barbed wire with one part free and the other heavily guarded as they are held by fellow Arabs as a weapon with which to destroy Israel, the real target of every Palestinian Arab policy. Their desire for a state is for the destruction of the Jewish State of Israel and once they have destroyed Israel and genocidally murdered every Jew, then the land will likely be turned back to wildlands such as those visited by Sam Clemens in 1887 before the British began importing Arabs in numbers to prevent a Jewish majority population coming into fruition allowing for the formation of Israel.

 

Division of lands between Israel
and Semiautonomous Arab Zone

 

The final item is how best to solve this situation with the least amount of upheaval and ending the continued and ever more dangerous violence due to terrorism and rockets raining down on Israeli towns, cities, kibbutzim and other civilian areas. The fastest and likely most likely to succeed would be for Israel to annex all of Judea and Samaria setting up a semi-autonomous area where the Arabs who desire independence from Israeli rule would elect their own governance but without an actual state. Those wishing not to live within Israel should be free to find some place they would feel more comfortable and Israel provide for a period fiscal assistance which could be utilized to resettle with an understanding that acceptance of the financial assistance would preclude their ever returning to reside in Israel. Those Arabs residing within the autonomous zone but preferring to become Israeli full citizens would be required to go through a set of courses and prove proficiency with those teachings and need sign a loyalty oath. They should have been known to them that should any member of their family ever aid terrorism in any form they would lose their citizenship permanently and potentially face deportation. Anyone committing or aiding the commission of a terrorist act would subject their family to a hearing where it would be determined how many would face deportation for knowing of the attack and not preventing said attack. Israel would review all materials used in classrooms and schooling and curriculum would be required to have the same standards for subjects as are demanded of all Israeli schools. Israeli history with its Zionist roots and the British manipulations of the situation would be taught as is in other Israeli schools. The same matriculation exams would be given with the same expectations for student accomplishment would be used for graduation and all other uses as in Israeli schools. Those Arabs preferring to reside as a citizen in the semiautonomous zone would vote in Arab elections and forgo voting rights in Israeli elections. All would be granted voting rights for the city within which they reside as well as any community governance. Only Israeli citizens would be permitted the vote in national Israeli elections just as only citizens of the semiautonomous zone would be permitted the vote in their general elections. All residents within the Israeli lands would be held to comply with Israeli laws and would be tried in Israeli courts for any breach of Israeli law. The semiautonomous zone could also set up their own courts for only those citizens of their semiautonomous region. Any legal difference between a citizen of Israel and citizen of the semiautonomous zone will be heard in an Israeli court of law and by the law. Finally, Areas A and B could come under the control of the semiautonomous zone while the bulk of Area C will remain an integral part of Israel (see map above).

 

Beyond the Cusp 

 

Time to End Minhal Ezrachi and COGAT

 

Both Minhal Ezrachi (Civil Administration) and COGAT (Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories) are obsolete, counterproductive, anti-Israeli, anti-Zionist and well beyond their use-by-date. They both were established during the heady and oft wrong-headed days after the Six Day War designed to administrate over the formerly Jordanian occupied lands, illegal under every last line of applicable International Law and solely recognized by Pakistan and Britain, with the potential purpose to permit their ready status to be traded with Jordan in exchange for a peace treaty. Well, Israel has her peace treaty and Jordan renounced their false claims thus the reverting of these lands of Judea and Samaria back to their rightful owner under applicable International Law, Israel. That should have been the end of the story and Israel should have annexed these lands legally registering the residents as resident alien citizens granting them limited political rights within the areas they constitute a majority but barring them from national elections until a means, path and completion of becoming Israeli citizens was accomplished. Those refusing such should have been encouraged to emigrate even to the point of bribery. That, after peace was reached with Jordan would have been the end of the issue.

 

Instead, Minhal Ezrachi, COGAT, the elite ranking officers with the Minister of Defense (or without if need be) plus the Supreme Court backed by a core set of Ministers of the Knesset from both sides of the aisle all support the status-quo. All of these disparate entities have a stake in this game as it extends their control over the lives of the littler people starting with the Israelis residing in Judea and Samaria and continuing through the remainder of the population. There are any numbers of reasons this fiasco which could be resolved and settled once and for all is instead perpetrated indefinitely. Most of the players are fiercely guarding their power to control people and areas plus retaining their well-paid positions as commanders in the IDF and their path to the highest echelons and beyond into politics or a cushy job once they retire from serving in the IDF. These are careerists more than soldiers who claim they know what is best in Judea and Samaria constantly painting the area as fraught with dangers with a wild-west kind of vibe where only the Military keeps things from worsening. They also prevent change and thus progress to a solution. They see their responsibility to extend a situation in such a manner such that the IDF continues to rule the area, specifically the Israeli or, more accurately, the Jewish Israelis always calling for additional soldiers and funding as everything is forever escalating with just the right inclusion of progress which becomes erased and any freedoms further curtailed at every terrorist strike.

 

The Supreme Court simply is chasing that perfect society as they envision Israel. They view Israel quite differently than the average Israeli. The Supreme Court is largely a political dinosaur from the 1950’s Israel as the Supreme Court is largely, along with the position of State Attorney General, a self-replicating monster which perpetuates the socialist utopianism of the original court with extreme leftists all with minimal numbers as exceptions. They would feel at home on the Haaretz Editorial Board. They could best be described as Universalists and post-Zionists. They believe in Israeli democracy over Israel as the Jewish Homeland which they view as too exclusive; and they are multiculturalists as well as ultimate protectors of the human rights for everyone and even more so the determined underclass, in Israel’s case, the Palestinian Arabs. The Supreme Court Justices treasure their acceptance by the elite of Europe, particularly the leading government figures and the elite of the European Union. The Justices crave the approval of these leaders and paragons of human rights, post-modernism, multiculturalism and, of course, internationalism which call for the erasure of borders and above all the acceptance of the other who while having been raised under oppressions existing from their past treatment at the hands of the Western World and whose culture is equal if not superior to the Judeo-Christian, never to mention Jewish culture described and laid out in Torah, and must be not only accepted but treated with respect denied Western Culture. These are open border with state guaranteed wage, a combination long proven to be the views adopted just before the fall of near countless civilizations throughout history.

 

What makes all of this far more theater of the absurd than simple fiasco is for reasons unknown Jordanian law is enforced in Judea and Samaria by the IDF as directed by COGAT and the Minhal Ezrachi backed by the Supreme Court and allowed such insanity by the powers on both sides in the Knesset with a few select exceptions. Observing Jordanian Law is anti-Semitic as selling land to a Jew is punishable by death and simply being a Jew on land under Jordanian law is illegal punishable by deportation to Israel within the Green Line, the apparent intent of numerous NGO’s and much of the Muslim world plus the rest of the planet with few exceptions, or death. By observing Jordanian Law it was thought it would facilitate the return to Jordanian occupation. This was despite knowing that the Jordanian occupation was outright illegal as the border between Jordan and Israel was set as the Jordan River in so many treaties including but not limited to the San Remo Conference, the Treaty of Sèvres, the ,a href=https://beyondthecusp.wordpress.com/treaty-of-lausanne/ target=blank>Treaty of Lausanne amongst others which culminated World War I as well as Article 80 of the United Nations Carter which further codified the Mandate System. These treaties give Israel first right to all of Judea and Samaria as well as voiding any and all of the land grant provisions by which leading members of the Jordanian government and friends of the King were granted deed to great stretches of these lands such that all the lands were gifted in this manner and largely was never developed. These land claims are utilized by NGO’s such but not limited to Peace Now, Yesh Din and Rabbis for Human Rights to sue any and all Israeli building in Judea and Samaria. These demolitions brought on through the Supreme Court by direct filing these NGO’s attack Jewish buildings from a single stand-alone home to entire cities such as Amona, which is currently under threat, as well as other “Jewish settlements” which are considerably larger and more developed (see picture below). Direct filing with the Supreme Court is legal and done in this case so that the liberal, left-leaning Supreme Court Justices can rule without requiring any investigation into the legality or even existence of actual Arab ownership. Evidence is taken as if vetted and verified thus these NGO’s need no tangible proof and an entire city can be ordered erased. When cases are filed to actually claim the land in court, many such cases are resigned from the docket before even a hearing as the claimant has withdrawn knowing the entire claim to be bogus.

 

Larger Jewish Settlement Under Threat of Demolitions

 

Many of these NGO’s including those licensed and claiming to be homegrown pro-Israel groups are part of a post-Zionist, leftist, universalist groups which are all predominantly financed by European, American and other Western and Universalist entities receiving often less than one-third and some next to no funding originating in Israel. Some of the monies come from individuals directly, surreptitiously or through front groups or organizations; more from individual governments who also use other NGO’s to put distance, deniability and insulation between them and the monies; and some is funneled through the long and many tentacles of the United Nations and its various groups which are more money laundering operations than anything else. While almost every nation in this so-called civilized world has laws disallowing NGO’s from obtaining majority funding from outside the nation, some requiring well above half be domestically raised, whenever Israel proposes such a law the Europeans and American leftists, progressives and far right haters of Jews and Israel rise and make a cacophony of cries of complaints, screams of unfairness, yelping that democracy is under attack, squawking that freedom is being curtailed and other hooting and hollering over any-and-everything under the son being squelched and a fascism rising in Israel. All these accusations are made to prevent Israel having the same protections these other nations enjoy. This demanding Israel meet a standard not required of other nations has a name, anti-Semitism. Some claim it is anti-Zionism while others anti-Israel in the occupation, but all three are identical, demanding the Jew, the Jewish State, Israel to be judged by a different set of rules designed for the destruction and dismantling of the national home of the Jews. Yep, that is anti-Semitism.

 

Finally, much of this is the Israeli leadership’s fault. That includes all the leadership; the IDF, the Supreme Court, the media and especially Knesset and political hierarchy. The Knesset and political hierarchy could annex all of Area C with a simple bill with the only thing potentially blocking such a move would be the Supreme Court claiming it had some reason to belay and void the legislation passed by the Knesset. The way beyond that would be change a couple of punctuation and pass the legislation again and again and make it the biggest thing since Jews ate manna in the wilderness and allow the majority to get behind the idea and carry the day. Then Israel could city by city set up local governance for the Arab Palestinians, the former Jordanians, the Arabs holding other than legal Israeli passports; grant them semi-autonomy over the areas where they reside but keep them barred from general elections until they decide and take a path to citizenship. Emigration enticement with assistance in the form of a buyout of property with an added percentage for a clear deed should be Israeli policy including a records check to assure the land was not sold or belonging to another Jordanian/Palestinian Arab or other party. Even in such cases some form of emigration enticement should be in order. Emigrants must be made aware that any unauthorized return within Israeli borders will be dealt with harshly followed by an immediate deportation after prison sentence has been carried out. Israel honestly will by necessity have to annex these lands as soon as Hamas or Islamic State takes over after any remotely free elections. The Palestinian Authority (PA) is mortally wounded and entering its death throes. Abbas is entering the tenth or eleventh year of a five year term. Elections were once again cancelled; the PA had cancelled elections numerous times since their scheduled date of spring of 2009. Law and order is breaking down and radical Islamists are banding together and arming for whoever decides they want the base of operations so close to the heart of Israel. The time to act was actually immediately after the Six Day War with another opportunity immediately after Jordan made peace with Israel. Unfortunately, the Knesset and political hierarchy will continue dragging their feet and claiming that acting is impossible and need wait until the climate changes for the better. We’ve watched the world climate towards and concerning Israel and here have noted climate change and it has been the worst. Time has come to let the dust fly and settle where it will. Waiting has ceased to be the answer. There are six days before the Presidential Election in the United States after which President Barack Hussein Obama will be free to call a special session and pass a binding resolution negating all recognition currently existing for annexation of Judea and Samaria by the Security Council passing a Section Seven Resolution establishing the Palestinian State with the Green Line as its border and the whole of Eastern Jerusalem as its capital. Such a binding resolution would alter International Law possibly forever and would establish and likely add as a full member the new nation of Palestine. This is why action must be decided now and no delay must be permitted. The power to do so lies with the Knesset and the IDF could assist by working to prevent and end their assisting circumventing and neutering Israelis’ rights to settle our land. If we wait, we lose.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Colonial Expansions Resumed

 

The greatest colonial force in the history of humankind is again on the march. This colonial system has expanded reaching beyond the size if not scope of the great European empires of France, Spain, Portugal, England and the rest. This expansionary force has reached beyond the scope of all systems with the exception of Communism and is now ascending as Communism collapses in Europe and Russia. This expansive colonial force is, of course, Islam. Islam is not actually a religion as much as a weaponized political force wrapped in the shroud of an all-consuming religion. Islam is perfectly named and correctly translated to English meaning “Surrender.” That is exactly what Islam requires and Sharia is the force used to demand the complete turning over of one’s existence to Islam. All free will is surrendered. All curiosity is surrendered. All of one’s society and way of life is surrendered. Islam demands that it be granted all power over every act one will be permitted from the moment Islam assumed full influence in an area. Islam empowers the cult of personality placing the most successful Imam as Caliph, and the greatest Imam is that which has conquered the largest number of minds into blind obedience into every interpretation given of the Quran.

 

Inside the Quran is the secret magic of Islam and Sharia. The Quran contains verses placed in order not chronologically, not by importance of highest to lowest or lowest to highest, but from shortest to longest. The Quran is assembled in a manner which lends to its being memorized starting at the earliest of ages. Thus Islamic education takes over the entirety of the education system into which it plants memorized verses. It is then the privilege of the Imam to exemplify and amplify by their teaching those verses which are dominant and those which are of lesser standing. This too lends itself to a means of conquest. Islam can be all things to all peoples simply by expressing certain verses as superceding all other verses. This lends perfectly to the use of Taqiyya which is using deceit to gain advantage and for the sole implementation of Sharia. The implication of Sharia is the ultimate goal of Islam as once Sharia has been imposed on a society, Islam will inevitably become the sole religion and further, only the manner of Islam practiced by the main body will result in the only permitted form of Islam. In the world today that would mean that Sunni Islam is dominant. Even this realization still leads to an eventual conflict between the main proponents of Sunni Islam, Wahhabi Islam or the Muslim Brotherhood Islam.

 

Reading the Quran one will inevitable discover that there are verses which are contradictory where there are a set which preach acceptance and peaceful coexistence and still others which dictate conquest and submitting any native population forcing conversion or death choices and still others which direct exactly how one is to live one’s life. There are the obvious religious teachings such as prayer five times each day, observing Ramadan fasting, giving of alms, making of the Haj to Mecca in one’s lifetime and the acceptance of Allah and Muhammad as Allah’s messenger on Earth as the final revelation. These five laws are called the “Five Pillars of Islam” pictured below. Additionally the Quran teaches what foods are acceptable as Halal and numerous other requirements of Islam. Beyond these basics are the two sets of verses which are obvious in their differences.

 

 

The two obviously contradictory verses within the Quran are the Mecca versus preaching peace, acceptance, pluralism, respect for other religions and even recognizing the Promised Lands as belonging to the Jewish people. Then there are the verses demanding conquest, subjugations and the eventual complete absorption of a society by force if required which were recorded in Medina. An introductory explanation can be found here. Suffice it to say these different and opposing verses are implemented such that Islam slowly builds until reaching a critical point at which it conquers. Islam has attempted to conquer Europe at a minimum twice, once from the west and once from the east.

 

The western offensive was eventually halted in the Battle of Tours where the Frankish forces commanded by Charles Martel who was also known as Martellus (“The Hammer”), who defeated the Muslims of the Umayyad Caliphate advancing out from Spain in October 732. The Battle of Tours was known to Islam as the Battle of the Palace of the Martyrs (Arabic: معركة بلاط الشهداء‎‎, transliterated as ma’arakat Balâṭ ash-Shuhadâ). This turned back the Islamic armies who were later driven from Spain starting with the Spanish reconquest and the imposition of the Inquisition to cleanse the Spanish of any remnants of unbelievers, mostly Muslims and Jews. This was a cleansing by the Church to reestablish their dominance after recovering from Islamic conquest.

 

The conquest from the east was turned back at Vienna in the breaking of the Siege of Vienna on September 11 through 12, 1683. This battle pitched the Ottomans against the Holy Roman Empire and was subsequent to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and its being renamed Istanbul to erase its history in Christianity and Roman, Greek, Persian and even earlier civilizations and empires going back originally in the first known empire of the Hittites. The breaking of the Siege of Vienna was largely accomplished by the addition of the Polish forces to those of the Holy Roman armies and the commander, the King of Poland leading the troops himself, King John III Sobieski. The battle was depicted by an anonymous British artist shown below. This was the high watermark of the Ottoman Empire’s thrusts into Europe. The Ottoman Empire was finally defeated as a result of World War I leading to the Sykes-Picot Treaty, Treaty of Versailles, and the Treaty of Sèvre which codified the San Remo conference and the Mandate System subsequently recognized by the United Nations in Article 80 of the Charter.

 

Siege of Vienna Depicted by an Anonymous British Artist

 

Islam originated in the Arabian Peninsula by the Prophet Muhammad starting around 611 to 625 in Mecca and finally truly established in Medina around 629 establishing it in both cities until his death in 632. This led to the Rashidun Caliphs who ruled and expanded Islam from 632 through 661 and were succeeded by the Umayyad Caliphs ruling from 661 through 750 and expanding Islam further taking it into Spain finally halted by Charles Martel in 732 as noted above. A map depicting these early advances can be seen below. The early expansion would continue to include subsequent conquest of Constantinople and under the Ottomans conquer up to Vienna where they were stopped and repulsed by the Holy Roman Empire aided by the support of the Polish Army and the combined troops commanded by King John III Sobieski of Poland, also as noted above.

 

Islamic Expansion

 

Islam in the Middle East and much of North Africa is currently engaged in a great political upheaval which will likely spell the end of the Sykes-Picot Treaty’s borders and set up of states to be replaced either by tribal boundaries or possibly a unified Islam likely broken into two camps, the Sunni and the Shiite. The Shiites will most definitely be under the control either directly or indirectly by Iran and will include Yemen, western Syria and potentially central Syria, Lebanon and Southern Iraq. The Sunni Islamic camp will include as separate but potentially allied Egypt and Saudi Arabia with each under strong leadership and the partnership always slightly tentative between these two. Saudi Arabia and Egypt may include Turkey though Egypt and Turkey are currently at odds over loyalty or opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood. Jordan will remain a lesser player probably seeking shelter under Egypt or Saudi Arabia if not both. Jordan also has a delicate balance with the Muslim Brotherhood with their allowed a presence but not overtly ruling the country. Then there are the Kurdish forces which have been showing signs of joining the radical jihadi forces but on their terms. This will depend on the Kurdish forces currently engaged by Turkey surviving the Turkish offensive bent on wiping them out as a viable fighting force. This has led to some friction between Turkey and the United States who was serendipitously supplying the Kurds with bombing support and some logistics and planning. The one obvious challenge to all Sunni forces is the Islamic State which has terrorist bands in the Sinai Peninsula and Libya as well as their main body centered in southern Syria and into central Iraq. The Islamic State is currently opposed by all state actors who are refusing to grant the Islamic State leader al-Baghdadi who is a self-proclaimed Caliph and insisting that the Islamic State is the new Caliphate, something which remains to be seen.

 

The advance guard of the Islamist forces are currently infiltrating the Western nations as a part of the “refugee” crisis which has Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia allowing increased immigration with minimal if any checks on any Middle Eastern or North African claiming to be refugees from any of the wars currently embroiling much of the area. These refugees include Syrians, Afghanis, Iraqis, Iranians, Yemenis, Libyans, Algerians and others from as far as the Horn of Africa to Morocco back across to Pakistan. Imbedded within the refugee population are teams of Islamists, both Sunni and Shiite largely from Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Hezballah on the Shiite side and Islamic State, Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda and smaller groups on the Sunni side. All these planted groups plus unknown numbers of Muslims who are being excited by the signs of a resurgent Islam are taking on themselves the mantle of jihad and attacking in what are call “Lone Wolf” attacks. The violence and lawlessness which has come along with the predominantly male fighting age single unaccompanied men has led to some second thoughts across Europe. Sweden is paying undocumented Middle Eastern refugees money to leave and presumably return to their national origins in the Middle East, or at least appear to be heading in that direction. Some Eastern European nations simply refused to allow any refugees to permanently remain within their borders with some places the military at the train stations forcing the refugees to continue on to Germany, France, Britain or anywhere but “here”. Russia has pretty much been bypassed as a nation for the refugees. The biggest scandal has been the entire Islamic world refusal to accommodate resettling any of the millions of refugees. Turkey and Jordan have been stymied by the hordes crossing from Syria and Iraq simply to escape the wars in those nations. Quietly Israel has provided aid to Jordan in the form of additional water and electricity to assist the refugee situation. Whatever additional aid has been provided is uncertain.

 

On another front the Islamic State is serious about their becoming the next Caliphate and is fighting against Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well as throughout the remainder of northern Africa. Further, terror groups including Boko Haram in Nigeria and neighboring nations and some groups formerly tied with al-Qaeda also have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State. The main problems with these forces have been in the Sinai Peninsula and have been aided as possible by Hamas in Gaza. This has made for a strange cooperative effort by Egypt and Israel in sharing intelligence and closing all borders over land and sea by both nations to prevent military and dual use items from being used by Hamas as much as they are capable. Hamas has stolen, re-appropriated if you insist, the building provisions such as bricks and cement and concrete for their tunnel construction to infiltrate into Israel or the Sinai. This has had the strange effect of a world demanding that more building provisions be sent into Gaza despite the known misuse. Apparently building tunnels with humanitarian aid is just fine with much of the world providing those tunnels are used to murder Israelis. So nice to be appreciated in this manner, we bet!

Meanwhile, the numbers and severity of crimes, many of which could be termed as Jihadic or terrorist attack, have been exploding across Europe with concentrations in Germany, France, and the Scandinavian nations, the places which took in the largest share of Muslim refugees or had large Islamic populations to begin with. One systemic problem has been the radicalization of the younger indigenous Muslims by the instigators planted within the refugee populations. By all appearances, what had been considered to be the peaceful Muslims, the good Muslims if you will, only need be aroused and pushed, perhaps threatened to join jihad or else and they appear to respond, at least a percentage. There will be those who will rightfully point out that the problems are caused by a minority, anywhere from negligible (obviously the low estimate) to as high as one in five or even in four but not quite three, or so we hope. Still, twenty percent of three or four million refugees is still well over half a million persons and add in the “Lone Wolves” and you are likely approaching a potential of three-quarters of a million threatening social cohesion which had been low to begin with. Seven-hundred-fifty-thousand jihadists will overwhelm European and western society’s ability to cope with such a threat.

 

These are just the initial wave as the refugees are still pouring into eastern Europe heading northward and westward aiming for Germany, France, Britain, the Scandinavian countries; anywhere that a strong social basket is deployed giving what amounts to a guaranteed wage for all persons reaching and registering with the government no questions asked. The problems in Germany alone appear to be sufficient that Chancellor Angela Merkel appears to be on her way out of office come the next elections no matter what the future holds, as the people are furiously upset with her open borders policies. Should Donald Trump win in the United States, his election will in part be all about closing the borders, all the borders including those currently used by the State Department to import as many Islamic refugees as humanly possible. The most interesting and important item is that very few of the refugees are Christians or Yazidis, people truly under threat just remaining in the Middle East and North Africa. It is as if these refugees are not desirable and the few who manage to arrive in Europe are often murdered in the camps by the other refugees. One would think that the Christians would identify themselves as such to the Europeans and they would be separated out but maybe the European powers that be are not interested in importing devout Christians, Christians who have resisted unknowable hardship that Western Christians have never faced. Western European Christians face a different threat, indifference and a strong societal urge for hedonism. We know from past empires failing that when the public turns as a whole to hedonism as their life’s theme the society will die within two generations at most, often in one generation. Perhaps these two symptoms go together one causing the other. Hedonistic society not reproducing as that would curtail the fun and thus requiring immigrants to replace the children they refuse to have of their own and then they wonder what happened when the new refugee brought morality closes all the doors and brings their fun ride to its undeniable terminal end. Perhaps this is the Requiem for Europe and Christianity in the Western world, or at least in Europe. Requiem for Europe, somebody should write a song with this title, it would be appropriate to salute the death of a society.

 

Beyond the Cusp