Israel’s diplomatic reaction to recent charges that its water policy is racist exposes a preference for passivity over preemption.
The politics of water in the Middle East By Courtesy
Water reveals a new apartheid in the Middle East. The 450,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank use as much or more water than some 2.3 million Palestinians… even if only a few dare to use the word, all indications are that the Middle East is the scene of a new apartheid…. And in this situation, water is a particular element of conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. – Excerpt from the French parliamentary report on “The Geopolitics of Water”
My most recent columns have been devoted to analyzing Israel’s public diplomacy, the reasons for its manifest ineptitude, and the mechanisms that produce this abysmal performance.
Last week, by coincidence, an illustrative example, underscoring precisely what I have been trying to convey, broke into the headlines. (Read more…)
The borders presented by Molcho are similar to the route of the separation fence, which was constructed in such a way that most of the major ‘settlement blocs’ remained on the western side of the fence. This includes Gush Etzion, Ma’aleh Adumim, Beitar Illit, Kiryat Sefer and Alfei Menashe. Israel insists that Ariel also be included as part of Israeli territory in a permanent status agreement with the PA.
In the past the PA has consistently rejected having the border be determined based the separation fence.
When Kadima was negotiating borders, it started out by demanding these borders and experienced great resistance to Israel retaining Ariel and Maaleh Adumin. As I recall if Israel agreed to give up these settlements, about 125,000 Jews would have to be transferred. But if these towns were included then 50,000 would have to be removed. These numbers are rough numbers.
The 45 kilometer-wide Strait of Hormuz is the most important waterway for the movement of oil to Western markets and the Far East: Roughly 17 million barrels per day are moved through the Strait of Hormuz, or 20 percent of the oil traded worldwide. Yet on Dec. 28, 2011, the commander of the Iranian Navy, Admiral Habibolah Sayyari, declared that closing the Strait of Hormuz would be easier “than drinking a glass of water.” Iran wanted to intimidate the West, showing that it had options to respond to new sanctions against the Iranian oil industry that were being considered by the EU, and that had been signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama.
Just the rumor that Iran was considering such a move could shoot up the price of oil, which in fact rose by 4% within days of Sayyari’s threat. Given the weakness of the European economies at present, Tehran was hoping that it had real leverage that it could employ against the West. (Read more…)
Nothing stopped Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas prime minister in Gaza, from making Ahmadinejad-style declarations that Israel’s days are numbered and calling for the establishment of an Arab Jihad army for Palestine’s liberation. Yet behind the pretentious slogans lies a grim reality for Hamas that can no longer be hidden.
First, Hamas’ alliance with Iran has come to an end. This pact was unnatural to begin with, given that we saw a Sunni organization endorsing a non-Arab Shiite state. Yet when Hamas refused Iran’s orders to support the fading Bashar Assad, Tehran shut its door to the group. What’s worse, the flow of money used by Hamas to pay some 50,000 officials and troops in Gaza has ended.
So where will Hamas get money? This is why the organization is engaged in bitter disputes with the Palestinian Authority and Arab League over funds supposedly owed to the group. (Read more…)
Abu Mazen’s September 23, 2011 UN speech and the Palestinian Authority’s education system reaffirm the fact that Jewish settlements within pre-1967 Israel – and not in Judea and Samaria (J&S) – are the root cause of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In his UN speech, Abu Mazen highlighted the “63 years old occupation” since 1948; this message is reinforced throughout his K-12 education system. He heralded the PLO – which was established three years before the 1967 War and before the establishment of contemporary Jewish settlement in J&S – as his supreme authority. Abu Mazen denies the existence of Jewish roots between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. (Read more…)
The Republican candidate was prompted by a question posed by a Palestinian-American at a Florida debate; opponent Gingrich said in same debate he would move U.S. embassy to Jerusalem as president.
By Natasha Mozgovaya Tags: Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich US elections Barack Obama
Governor Mitt Romney said on Thursday that the Palestinians are not interested in a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, rather that they are interested in the elimination of the State of Israel. (Read more…)
WASHINGTON — Building tensions between the United States and Egypt flashed into the open Thursday when Cairo confirmed that it had barred at least a half-dozen Americans from leaving the country and the Obama administration threatened explicitly to withhold its annual aid to the Egyptian military.
Hillary Rodham Clinton is required to certify that Egypt is taking steps toward democracy before aid can be released.
The travel ban came to light on Thursday after the International Republican Institute, an American-backed democracy-building group, disclosed that the Egyptian authorities had stopped its Egypt director, Sam LaHood, at the Cairo airport on Saturday before he could board a flight to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. (Read more…)
By Reza Kahlili, The Washington Times, October 27, 2011
The pressure the United States and the West is bringing to bear on Iran to keep it from acquiring nuclear weapons is all for naught. Not only does the Islamic Republic already have nuclear weapons from the old Soviet Union, but it has enough enriched uranium for more. What’s worse, it has a delivery system.
The West for nearly a decade has worried about Iran’s uranium enhancement, believing Iran is working on a nuclear bomb, though the government maintains its uranium is only for peaceful purposes.
When Iran began its nuclear program in the mid-1980s, I was working as a spy for the CIA within the Revolutionary Guards. The Guards‘ intelligence at that time had learned of Saddam Hussein’s attempt to buy a nuclear bomb for Iraq. Guard commanders concluded that they needed a nuclear bomb because if Saddam were to get his own, he would use it against Iran. At that time, the two countries were at war.
Commander Ali Shamkhani traveled to Pakistan, offering billions of dollars for a bomb, but ended up with a blueprint and centrifuges instead. The first centrifuge was transferred to Iran on Khomeini’s personal plane. (Read more…)
Last week Palestinian Media Watch revealed that the Mufti Muhammad Hussein, top cleric of the Palestinian Authority, had approvingly quoted a hadith calling for the genocide of Jews. Hussein, who was appointed to his post by PA president Mahmoud Abbas, did so at a ceremony marking the 47th anniversary of the Fatah movement. The moderator at the ceremony chimed in that “Our war with the descendants of the apes and pigs [i.e., Jews] is a war of religion and faith.” As for Mufti Hussein, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu ordered Israel’s attorney-general to investigate him for incitement.
Palestinian Media Watch now reports that the mufti’s words have drawn international condemnation. This, actually, doesn’t amount to much—far less than, for instance, the typical round of condemnations when Israel announces plans to build homes in parts of Jerusalem that the enlightened world thinks should be Judenrein. (Read more…)
It is a disgrace that the US government has held direct talks with the Muslim Brotherhood, and an outrage that that America is accelerating aid payments to Egypt to support a government dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and other pro-terrorist, anti-American extremists. The Brotherhood won 47% of seats in Egypt’s parliament, and along with other extreme Islamist parties controls about three-quarters of the total. Reuters reports:
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 25 (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama plans to accelerate the pace of American aid to Egypt, a top State Department official said on Wednesday, as the most populous Arab nation reaches a critical stage in its uncertain transition away from autocratic rule. (Read more…)
Roger Cohen’s January 16th column in The New York Times, “Don’t Do It, Bibi” is only the latest in the Obama election campaign’s efforts to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to take a serious risk at Israel’s being nuked by a nuclear Iran rather than cause any ripples in President Obama campaign for re-election to a second term.
Mr. Cohen begins his rant by quoting the purported advice of an unnamed American ambassador in Europe declaring Mr. Netanyahu to be an ingrate for all that the Obama administration has done for Israel, and strongly suggests the Israeli Prime Minister should “above all stay out of our election-year politics.” (Read more…)
The collapse of Israeli-Palestinian agreements from the 1993 Oslo Accords until today stems from the fact that both Israeli and US leaders ignore the real root of the conflict. The heart of the conflict is the denial of the existence – and not the size – of any non-Muslim entity on land that, in the eyes of Muslims, is Waqf – an inalienable religious land endowment.
On Jan. 9, 2012, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, a close associate of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, stated that all of Israel has been Waqf since 637 C.E. and will be forever. The statement was made at the annual rally of Fatah, which Abbas heads. It was broadcast on the official Mahmoud Abbas television station, and called for the killing of Jews to hasten the Islamic Resurrection. (Read more…)
Irshad Manji is a Canadian lesbian Muslim. Lucky for her she is not also Jewish. I met her 10 years ago when she started leading a movement to reform Islam. She came before everyone else you know of. And she is still at it. She is very intelligent and very likable and very articulate. I wish her well. Ted Blman
Fellow lovers of moral courage:Slowed down by a health scare last summer, I’ve resumed the Allah, Liberty & Love tour — and what a reception… (Read more…)
The radio superhero, The Shadow, had the power to “cloud men’s minds.” But nothing clouds men’s minds like anything that has to do with Jews or Israel. This year’s variation on that theme is the idea that Israel is about to attack Iran. Such a claim repeatedly appears in the media. Some have criticized Israel for attacking Iran and turning the Middle East into a cauldron of turmoil (not as if the region needs any help in that department) despite the fact that it hasn’t happened.
On the surface, of course, there is apparent evidence for such a thesis. Israel has talked about attacking Iran and, objectively, one can make a case for such an operation. Yet any serious consideration of this scenario—based on actual research and real analysis rather than what the uninformed assemble in their own heads—is this: It isn’t going to happen. (Read more…)
Starting with two specific stories–one distorted, one ignored–that show how media bias against Israel works, I deduce three rules that govern contemporary media coverage on all issues.
It is truly astonishing how, it often seems, Western media coverage must blame Israel for everything that “goes wrong” in the Middle East, including murderous hostility to Israel.
Sentences often seem carefully formulated to push this claim and exclude any possibility of balance, much less accuracy. And no matter what the subject, it seems, this message must be snuck in.
Consider these two paragraphs in a Washington Post story about the Egyptian government’s cancellation of a Jewish pilgrimage to a site in Egypt: (Read more…)
85% Israeli Jews say Jewish holidays important; over 50% support instituting civil marriage.
By YONI DAYAN
Israeli Jews are becoming more religious, according to a study published Thursday by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) in conjunction with AVI CHAI. The survey, entitled “A Portrait of Israeli Jews: Beliefs, Observance, and Values of Israeli Jews,” examined levels of religiosity of Israeli Jews in comparison with levels in the 1990s.
Based on its prequel studies undertaken in 1991 and 1990, the report stated that there was a marked decline in attachment to Jewish tradition and religion prior to the turn of the century, probably as a result of mass immigration of Jews from the former Soviet Union. The reversal of the trend, from 1999 to 2009, reflects either that the Slavic immigrants have been integrated into secular Israeli society or that that the orthodox and ultra-orthodox (haredi) communities are increasing in democratic weight. (Read more…)
Last week, on Jan. 19, U.S. President Barack Obama released a video called “America and Israel: An Unbreakable Bond.”
The seven-minute clip is an amalgamation of sound bites from the president’s own speeches, interspersed with statements made by different prominent Israeli leaders, among them Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Its apparent purpose is to refute claims on the part of the Republicans that the Obama administration is anti-Israel. Its true goal is to keep the president’s campaign afloat with Jewish cash.
To achieve this objective, the video features the voices of President Shimon Peres, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren, and Netanyahu himself waxing poetic about Obama. (Read more…)
Our G-d is a jealous god, as He repeats many times in his book. I intend not to denigrate his mercy. Don’t argue with me – argue with Moses, who wrote Exodus 20:5. And he is a god of punishment. You wanta debate me? Don’t waste your time. Read Isaiah 13:11. “I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity.” It is clear our G-d, contrary to Christianity, is a g-d who is passionate about justice, but dispenses mercy in carefully measured doses. And when I consider the many quotes announcing his celestial disciple – how else can mankind be civilized – I think of the real world from Sodom and Gomorrah to the 40′s of our generation when we fought the evil threat of Naziism. Like Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, “there’s nothing new under the sun”. (Read more…)
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