Unilateralism is Israel’s only option
By Ted Belman
Last August, PM Salam Fayyad released a Plan to “establish Palestine as an independent, democratic, progressive, and modern Arab state, with full sovereignty over its territory in the West Bank and Gaza, on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.” within two years. Israel took little notice of it.
In early November Haaretz reported it included a secret provision which stipulated a “unilateral declaration of independence”. Then Israel took notice and said ‘If PA Declares State, Israel Will Annex Settlements’.
“If the Palestinians take such a unilateral line, Israel should also consider … passing a law to annex some of the settlements,” Environment Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud) said. [..]
MK Danon says that Israel must not settle for annexing settlement blocs, but must rather annex Judea and Samaria in their entirety, except for Arab cities.
Minister Erdan also said Israel has the option of tightening up travel restrictions for Arabs and stopping the transmission of tax money that the Israeli government currently transfers to the Palestinian Authority – money that is collected by Israel for the PA.
Meanwhile, Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) and Minister Landau have taken action to introduce bills for annexing Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
The PA also threatening to seek the formal endorsement of the UN but the Eu and the US have turned thumbs down on the issue.
Even if the U.N. recognizes a Palestinian state, it would make little difference to the reality. In 1988 the Palestinians also declared independence and many states recognized it, but nothing came of it.
So long as Israel controls the land it controls what happens there.
But Alan Baker, writing in JCPA, says such declaration Undermines the Legal Foundations of Israeli-Palestinian Diplomacy and “could set off a series of reactions – whether legal or political – that might create substantive, structural damage to the peace process.” because the Oslo Interim Agreement provides
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Neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the Permanent Status negotiations.
So far Israel has been adamantly against abrogating the Oslo Accords no matter what the provocation. After 15 years of trying to negotiate a deal, perhaps its time for Israel to do so and the PA unilateral declaration, should it happen, could be just the pretext, if pretext is needed.
Everyone knows that there is no diplomatic solutions. Neither party is willing to make the necessary compromises. That’s why the PA talks about a unilateral declaration and the EU and some in the US talk about an imposed solution. Israel also is contemplating a unilateral solution. What might that be?
According to the remarks above, it would involve annexing parts, if not all Judea and Samaria. No land would have to be conquered. Israel has already annexed Jerusalem and the Golan and could do the same for other settlements such as Ariel and Maaleh Adumin and perhaps the Jordan Valley. At a minimum it would signal that these settlements, like Jerusalem, are non-negotiable.
This would be an incremental approach to gauge the reaction of the international community. It wouldn’t be pretty. The next step would be to annex all of Areas “B” and “C” with its Arab population of about 340,000. Area “A” with its 1.2 million Arabs would be dealt with thereafter assuming that it is not decided to do it all at once.
Mike Wise, published the Jewish One State Plan, hereinafter referred to as the “Plan” a number of years ago. I first endorsed it in 2005 in my article Israel From the Mediterranean to the Jordan and have written much since.
In Caroline Glick’s article, Obama’s failure, Netanyahu’s opportunity she introduces this Plan.
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Israel should strike out on a new course and work toward the integration of Judea and Samaria, including its Palestinian population, into Israeli society. In the first instance, this will require the implementation of Israeli law in the Jordan Valley and the large settlement blocs.
but she doesn’t fully, at least in this article, endorse the Plan. The Plan proposes that Israeli law be extended to all of Judea and Samaria as follows,
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Annexation will provide a clear and well-defined status for West Bank Arabs. At the time of Annexation, the PA will no longer have a reason to exist and it and all terrorist infrastructures will be outlawed and dismantled. The PA and other terrorist organizations will be subject to Israel law and be dealt with in the same manner that all countries deal with internal subversive, treasonous and criminal organizations. Israel would no longer police the West Bank as an “occupation force”. It is important to understand that after Annexation, Israel will have significantly greater flexibility in dealing with issues and problems on the West Bank. Those problems will all be viewed as internal problems of the State of Israel and not problems subject to constant international scrutiny by those who view the West Bank as “occupied” territory.
Although Glick wants to integrate all of Judea and Samaria, she only wants to extend Israeli law to the “Jordan Valley and the Settlement Blocks”.
The Plan further provides,
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It is essential that the process and strategy of offering Israeli citizenship to West Bank Arabs must be very carefully planned, including its timing, demographic, geographic, historical and social factors. Citizenship will include all the benefits currently available to the citizens of Israel including: health care, education, welfare, economic incentives, employment, social safety nets, voting rights and others. The responsibilities of citizenship will include a public oath of loyalty to the State of Israel. The procedures and the details of the citizenship offer will be determined as an internal matter by the State of Israel. Each country determines its own citizenship rules and there are many models ranging from extremes like Switzerland where citizenship is often not granted for several generations, and the extremely restrictive standards set by Islamic States to the more liberal standards applied by other countries. Since the process will be phased in over time, the possibility to adjust the procedures appropriately will be available as circumstances require.
The reason Glick excludes Area “A” is because of the 1.2 million Arabs living there. She and most Israelis don’t want to extend Israeli citizenship to them no matter on what terms. The Plan doesn’t see this as a problem that can’t be dealt with.
There are about 200,000 Arabs in Jerusalem who have been given blue cards which entitled them to work and vote in municipal elections. Some suggest that such cards, rather than citizenship, should ultimately be given to the Arabs in the annexed territories .
Jerusalem Summit, a Christian/Jewish think tank, in 2005 published Prof Martin Sherman’s article, Redefining the Palestinian Problem which proposed an humanitarian solution rather than a political one. This proposal involves resettling the refugees elsewhere and offering compensation to Arabs living in Judea and Samaria to leave. Nothing unusual about that.
Apparently, Denmark to pay immigrants $20,000 to go home if they “can’t or won’t” assimilate
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Denmark is boosting cash incentives to entice immigrants to return to their homelands if they ‘can’t or won’t’ assimilate into society.
The offer now on the table is close to £12,000 for every person who takes up the offer to leave.
Critics of the measure say it sends the wrong message to foreigners but the centre-right government in Copenhagen is forging ahead with the plan.
The financial carrot is ten times more than that previously offered under a scheme which as been law since 1997.
Sarkozy has also floated such a plan. So why can’t Israel do likewise.
Paul Eidelberg is totally against relying on Netanyahu’s “economic peace” which Glick supports. He says they “succumb to the wishful thinking of crypto-Marxists and capitalists who think there is an economic solution to human conflict, including religious conflicts.”
One consequence of bettering their economic lot would be that Arabs would immigrate to this area rather than emigrate from it. The reverse of what we want. But that is not what he is concerned with. He wants to deal with reality and not fantasy. Therefore the problem must be solved in a different way.
One suggestion that he makes in The Eidelberg Plan is for Israel to become more Jewish. He believes that this would cause Arab Israeli emigration. But aside from not saying what to do with Judea and Samaria, he agrees that “Palestine” won’t come into existence because neither side will make the necessary compromises.
Currently PM Netanyahu, supported by Barak and Peres, is banging the peace drum for all he is worth. He is begging for negotiations to begin and hinting he will be generous but has not yet backed away from his demands of recognition, an undivided Jerusalem and demilitarization. The Obama administration has supported him in accepting that negotiations should be without pre-conditions. The PA wants to have negotiations begin where Olmert left off and to have an end result of the creation of Palestine with ‘67 borders.
I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Netanyahu is not about to give away the farm.
What negotiator starts negotiations by showing how much he wants them. The reverse is always the case. Therefore, I believe that Netanyahu is talking the talk knowing he won’t have to walk the walk. Many in the know, that I have talked with, agree.
Today, the focus of the Middle East players is Iran. The creation of Palestine is of little concern.
Assuming no diplomatic solution will be forthcoming for the creation of Palestine, Israel will begin to make moves, probably after Iran is dealt with, to incorporate Judea and Samaria unilaterally. The key questions in so doing will involve whether to extend Israel law to Areas “B” and “C” only or to all of Judea and Samaria and whether to give blue cards or Citizenship based on significant requirements.
The peace process has brought death and destruction and not brought us closer to peace. Time for new approach.
Thomas Friedman, writing in the New York Times a week ago, agrees.
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“It is time for a radically new approach. And I mean radical. I mean something no U.S. administration has ever dared to do: Take down our “Peace-Processing-Is-Us” sign and just go home.”
This would enable Israel to do its thing as suggested above.
ADDENDUM
The JCPA released a study entitled International Recognition of a Unilaterally Declared Palestinian State
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International law has traditionally required that four separate criteria be satisfied before the recognition of an entity as an independent sovereign state can be considered:
1. The entity must exercise effective and independent governmental control.
2. The entity must possess a defined territory over which it exercises such control.
3. The entity must have the capacity to freely engage in foreign relations.
4. There must be effective and independent governmental control over a permanent population.
Only if the Palestinian entity satisfies the traditional criteria for statehood by exercising independent and sovereign governmental control (including the capacity to freely engage in foreign relations) over a permanent population in a defined territory over which it has possession, can its recognition as a sovereign state be considered.
It concludes that “should the Palestinian Authority unilaterally declare a state, under present circumstances, it would not meet these legal criteria, and hence should not be recognized.” That doesn’t mean it won’t be.
MK Ariel to Abbas: Make My Day, Declare Statehood
by Gil Ronen
Email from Martin Sherman
email
email from Joel Bainerman
Israel should have annexed Gaza and the West Bank (and Sinai) after the 1967 war. When Egypt attacked Israel in 1973, Israel should have made it clear that Egypt would never get the land back and furthermore, if Egypt ever tried anything like that again, Cairo and the Aswan Dam would be blown up (just for a start). That is the only thing aggressors understand.
i agree with bill #5
THE LAND OF ISRAEL FOR THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL
ANNEX YESHA NOW
Levinson<blockquote.Israel should have annexed Gaza and the West Bank (and Sinai) after the 1967 war. When Egypt attacked Israel in 1973, Israel should have made it clear that Egypt would never get the land back and furthermore, if Egypt ever tried anything like that again, Cairo and the Aswan Dam would be blown up (just for a start). That is the only thing aggressors understand.
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I am old enough to remember Israel’s wars of 48, 67, 73. The media at that that time was solidly behind little Israel being attacked by massed Arab national troops. The media then was no less liberal/left than the ia now. What was different what was different then wast Israel was perceived as courageous underdogs, pitted against bullying foreign invaders. Now the situation has been radically reversed. World opinion now sees Israel as the bully and Palestinians as victims. And that image cannot be easily erased. If you think world opinion is not important, think again.Since the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and escalating since Gaza is that Israel’s reputation and global position has been steadily eroding, by small increments. No dramatic changes but there is a demonization that enforces Israel status. Over time that can have devastating effects.
Bill the kind of final coup de gras, knockout blow that you keep dreaming about is illusory.America and the
the world opinion. It never happened in the past, it will not happen in the future,. Israel’s military victories brings some short term gains but along with enduring long term political defeats.
There was a popular catchy song written some 25 years ago.
Those were the days my friend
We’d thought they’d never end
We’d sing and dance
Forever and a day
We’d live the life we’d choose
We’d fight and never lose
And sure to have our way
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Those days of fighting and never losing are long gone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fblikM3DJHw
Jerry Honigman writes
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Salomon writes
(VIDEO) Palin: Jewish Settlements In Israel Should Expand
http://www.thejidf.org/2009/11/video-palin-jewish-settlements-in.html
I love it.
And I would love to see the reaction of lefties when the see and hear it.
This whole situation is baffling. I am not a student of Israel having said that I am not crazy about that map. Good grief, before long the Palestinians will spread like cancer and begin to devour the Israelis.
Why should Israel appease the world by accepting the migration of Palestinians to establish a state with it’s capital in Jerusalem?
Israel will begin to look like Europe with the Muslims taking over little by little.
As I see it Israel at all cost has to maintain sovereignty over all the land they occupy including all of Jerusalem.
Just maybe they can be bought and move.
Think about it, the Palestinians don’t have true leadership. The so called leadership is split with the gangsters really in control and we all know they cannot be trusted.
Any agreement wouldn’t be worth the paper it is written on.
Israel should continue to build and extend their communities until the radicals have no choice but leave.
None of the Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Hezbollah Lebanon will not interfere for fear of the IDF retaliation.
It’s hard to understand why this tiny nation is subject to so much interference from outside governments and radical Islam.
Could it be like Sara Palin, hated by liberal left because they fear her, especially because she represents what is good., likewise the Jews are hated by radical, liberal left because they are feared for the good they represent.?
But then again, what do I know?
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Seems like the Obama Administration (I don’t call it the US), the European Union, Russia, and the UN are all “really upset and angry” about Israel’s building in Gilo.
Israel must really be doing it right!
Start expanding.
If they decide to impose serious sanctions on Israel (but not Iran), Israel should, for a start, withhold access to the new cancer treatment by Prof. Malka Cohen-Armon (and publicize this), discussed in the latest edition of the Canadian Jewish News. Just a small step…
Yahtzee!
Memo to all those liberal female elitists who so despise Palin:
She is more beautiful than you are.
She is more intelligent than you are.
And she is much more moral…unlike you, she did not prioritize her career by aborting her baby.
You hate her because she is better than you.
That means you, Maureen.
And you, Camille.
And especially you, Janeane.
Isolating Area A is unworkable by annexing only areas B and C. From the map provided, Area A is made up of 8 densely populated Palestinian cities/areas. Isolating and disconnecting them from each other would be akin to ghettoizing Palestinians within the larger Israeli annexed areas.
Not only the optics are bad, the logistics are not logical.
Huckabee slams Obama in pro settlement Israel visit?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6PRgjNVFWg&feature=related
He ain’t pretty, looks terrible in short pants but is the Best we got in America!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLHWSKRyeJM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c76Zo7rj-UA&feature=related
Mike Huckabee-Fox News- Israel Pt.1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8UEYSogs3I&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c76Zo7rj-UA&NR=1
You’re right Bill.
That’s why I leave open the possibility of annexing it all if we can’t cut an autonomy deal. These are words only. Essentially they would have municipal autonomy in Israel.
Under such a deal their heavily populated area of Jerusalem could be included.
Also from Glick:
Netanyahu needs to man up.
Repeat after me, Bibi: “I will never pay blackmail to meet with a putz.”
In fact, I might be willing to pay a rather hefty sum for the privilege of not meeting Obama, who publicly embraces genocidal Palestinian fascists while lavishing democratically elected allies with gratuitous contempt.
BB is our ultimate coward: from the mundane backtracking over implementation of VAT tax on fruits and vegetables, to backing off from disagreeing with Barak over hilltop settlements, then folding over his plan to divide attorney generals job between Chief state prosecutor, then backing off the water tax and lastly to Lieberman’s threats over proposed reduction in immigrants budget.
Peres and Barak scheming to give alway more than Olmert agreed to and BB is silent on the sidelines.
Report today is he has agreed to all of Hamas demands for Shalits release. Marwan Barghouti is pegged to be released.
Internationally everybody is craping all over him thus craping all over Israel and he goes along in silence. Has nixed
all building except those he has no authority to stop including Jerusalem.
Gilo is beyond his jurisdiction to stop. So he takes credit for building. He is a sham and a shit and very dangerous to Israel and everything we are supposed to stand for.
BB needs more than a spine he needs a pair of steelies.
You are right on Ayn.
I posted the comment on Carolne’s website.
It’s Annexation Time
By Michael Freund
The Jerusalem Post, November 19, 2009
Why stop at the settlement limits? What about room to expand?
If the argument to be advanced is that Israel should annex the settlement land on the basis that it is Jewish/Israel land to begin with, the same argument is equally valid for all of J & S.
This of course brings us back to the question, what is Israel to do about Area A?
If Israel were to take the step of unilaterally annexing the settlements and adjacent land, it may as well go all the way and annex Areas, A. B. and C. That unilateral action will not be recognized by anyone, however it sure will send the world scurrying to find another peace paradigm if Israel hangs tough behind her decision.
Regardless of what Israel actually does, she needs to commit major resources to her public relations department in order to advance the Israel narrative and assertion of Israel rights, concede nothing in that advocacy to the Palestinians as regards their narrative and claimed rights and do all that can be done to strip the Palestinians and the Arabs of any credibility as regards the positions they assert.
One of the other small points such new public relations department should be hammering away at is that Obama’s support for the Palestinian demand for a Jew free Palestininan territory and state while demanding Israel recongize the groundless Palestinian claimed “right of return” puts Obama on the side of the racist Palestinians who are consumed with hate for Israel and Jews.
Already we have seen in America that Obama’s anti-racist rhetoric is belied by some of his actions, which have resulted in increasing racial tensions and more darkly marking racial divisions in America.
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He is an amateur mohel.
If you see him walking towards you with pruning shears, run like hell.
No longer amateur, It’s all scientific today, we use computerized robots with a very precise electronic knife. The technology is sound,it was developed in Bangladesh, by the main Guru there; but somehow we can’t find victims, I mean volunteers. I think I will advertise using that tried and true formula “Try it, you’ll like it” or “Even Obama recommends it!” CHANGE IS GOOD ISN’T IT?
Ayn, thanks for the warning, especially since I was passed over for this ritual when I was quite young.
I think my mother got worried when she heard the local Rabbi say ” It won’t be long now”
You never know, Uncle may even bring his Mexican/Palestinian gardner to do the job.
Mexican/Palestinian gardener is no more! He was my first human volunteer…( Well Not Quite a Volunteer). No great loss though he had 18 kids and 150 grandchildren so he had fulfilled his biblical obligations already. There are plenty more to replace him ( AS A GARDENER, AS A GARDENER)!!
First they downsize the Hanukkah Party.
Then they downsize Israel:
The White House’s forthcoming state dinner with the Prime Minister of India is expected to be larger than those of President Barack Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush. But another upcoming White House event will be smaller than in years past: The White House’s annual Hanukkah party.
The guest list is expected to be shrunk by more than half, according to the Jerusalem Post. “Though several Jewish leaders expressed understanding for the economic and other reasons behind the cut, they acknowledged that it would likely help feed feelings in some quarters of the American Jewish community that the White House is giving them the cold shoulder.”
The move comes on the heels of Obama’s cancellation of an appearance before the General Assembly of North American Jewish Federations last week.
The White House’s decision is likely a response to tough economic times and a desire to keep the holiday festivities reasonable.
A White House official told the Post that Obama “looks forward to celebrating Hanukkah at the White House and having many members of the Jewish American community at that event.”
http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0911/w_h_shrinks_hanukkah_party.html
Just as well, since Obama’s first choice to give the toast was reportedly Louis Farrakahn.
Ayn this community organizing acorn Muslim is distancing himself from Jewish leaders. Why? His Muslim heart dictates and worst of all and I mean worst, those two buddies of his, Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod are no doubt in favor of this.
Tell me please, how is it that the American Jewish leaders don’t see this, especially his treatment of Israel?
All the Jewish obama-democratic strategist (over 90% are Jewish)are they deaf and dumb? They treat him like a messiah.
There must be a supreme Rabbi out there to scold them, if not I am sending Yamit with the shears.
All kidding aside, I have a hard time trying to understand and justify their actions. The Jewish neighbors I knew growing up talked about solidarity.
They see it.
Draw your own conclusions.
I am so happy. I just get giddy every time Obama urinates on the kapos and they revel in the refreshing mist.
I love this line: “Though several Jewish leaders expressed understanding for the economic and other reasons behind the cut, they acknowledged that it would likely help feed feelings in some quarters of the American Jewish community that the White House is giving them the cold shoulder.”
What’s to understand? He is cutting funding for the Jewish party while increasing funding for the other parties. As mysteries go, this one is pretty easily solved.
Obama and I have finally achieved common cause. Neither one of us wants to celebrate Hanukkah with a room full of self-hating Jews.
Good article Ted. No need to have written it though, since Feiglin has been saying the same thing for years!
BB should be replaced by Feiglin ASAP.
In Hebrew we are more blunt: We call it being pissed on on calling it rain.
This is what is meant by spreading the wealth? Those Lemmings I am sure won’t mind and insofar as Chanukah is concerned Most think it is Christmas by another name.
I love it when a good plan comes together: Go Hussein!!
What goes around comes around?
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TO TED BELMAN – Thank you so much for veering the discussion toward a solution.
I don’t agree with some of the ideas proposed, but the main thing is that many Israelis who believed in the Roadmap to Nowhere are now seriously considering better options.
Israel has to look out for itself – an obvious concept – but rather absent from the minds of those who lead you.
Dear Ted – the task of extricating Israel from the trap laid by people who do not have the best interests of Israel at heart will falls on the shoulders of regular citizens like you. The government won’t help you. And worse, it’s undermining the integrity of the land by freezing construction and pushing for “talks” with Syria and the PA – talks that are geared to nothing except the loss of Jewish land in exchange for a worthless piece of paper. Such a deal would be the prelude to non-ending terror and war against Israel.
This morning I listened to an interview on NPR. The reporter asked a question that clearly implied that as long as the USA has such close relationship with Israel, it will fail to build trust among the Muslim world.
“State Department Office Reaches Out to Muslims”
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120602661
The idea is not new, of course. It’s pervasive in US government and media. And considering world demographics and the decline of the US as a world power, it seems irreversible.
Hardly anyone questions the idea of throwing Israel under the bus in order to ingratiate the US with countries with apalling human rights records.
And this surrender of ethical principles works not only in the US relationship with Muslim countries, but with China as well. Gone are the days when human rights for Chinese and Tibetans mattered. Money talks.
All this paints an ominous picture for Israel. Instead of tossing pieces of Jewish land to the crocodiles, it’s imperative to safeguard every inch of territory.
Israel needs a long term plan. It has to prepare itself for a future when it will belong to a very tiny and powerless minority of nations. The world will be overrun with Muslim tyrants and other ruthless dictators (China, Russia), while former democracies accelerate their slide into dhimmitude.
Unilateral Solutions – I would be more inclined to choose a clean-cut solution instead of quibbling over area this and area that. Annex everything.
According to the still legal League of Nations Mandate Agreement, there is no distinction between those areas. It’s Israel, pure and simple.
The only issue that should be discussed is the status of Arabs living there. Citizenship should not be automatic, not even for babies. Each adult should apply for residency first, and then be granted citizenship under strict conditions, after ten years of legal residency and a clean criminal record.
Maybe this is the right time to consider the idea of an Israeli federation, with some autonomy not only for Arab clusters in Yesha, but for some religious communities that want to live under strict or less strict Jewish law, and who don’t want expressions of extreme secularism in their midst. A Swiss Confederation model. Just an idea…
So why did the Islamic world uniformly side with the Nazis? There was no Israel. What was the Muslim excuse for opposing America during WW II?
The Arabs expelled hundreds of thousands of Jews and confiscated their land. Real estate approximately the size of, oh let’s say, Judea and Samaria would be just compensation.
Aline: Unilateral Solutions – I would be more inclined to choose a clean-cut solution instead of quibbling over area this and area that. Annex everything.
According to the still legal League of Nations Mandate Agreement, there is no distinction between those areas. It’s Israel, pure and simple.
The only issue that should be discussed is the status of Arabs living there. Citizenship should not be automatic, not even for babies. Each adult should apply for residency first, and then be granted citizenship under strict conditions, after ten years of legal residency and a clean criminal record.
Maybe this is the right time to consider the idea of an Israeli federation, with some autonomy not only for Arab clusters in Yesha, but for some religious communities that want to live under strict or less strict Jewish law, and who don’t want expressions of extreme secularism in their midst. A Swiss Confederation model. Just an idea…Unilateral Solutions – I would be more inclined to choose a clean-cut solution instead of quibbling over area this and area that. Annex everything.
According to the still legal League of Nations Mandate Agreement, there is no distinction between those areas. It’s Israel, pure and simpleThe only issue that should be discussed is the status of Arabs living there. Citizenship should not be automatic, not even for babies. Each adult should apply for residency first, and then be granted citizenship under strict conditions, after ten years of legal residency and a clean criminal record
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This might come as a great revelation to you. Sad to say you are not empowered to make any decisions on behalf of Israel or any power other than yourself. You may decide on what makeup to chose or clothing to wear, double latte or tea, and that is about it. The ultimate power to decide are in the hands of politicians residing in Washington, Paris, London, and Brussels, with additional influence from Beijing and Delhi.
Stupid Jews don’t even know what they are celebrating. The real Hanukah was oh so different, so different!
The Jewish equivalent of Christmas is inconvenient for the politically correct Jewish establishment. The merry festival happens to glorify a 23 year civil war.
Judea was a protectorate both before and after the Maccabean Revolt. The Jews were content with the occupation and revolted only when the Greeks outlawed Judaism. The Jews did not achieve independence—the only changes were religious.
Fundamentalists exterminated progressive Jews who sought to relax outdated Sabbath and kosher-food requirements. The Greek king wanted to turn those odd Jews into good members of the Hellenic commonwealth. He offered them plenty of economic benefits in return for abandoning their bizarre religious habits.
The Jews fought and won. Modern Jews have sided with the Greek king and choose the convenience of assimilation.
Mattathias started the war by killing a Jewish traitor. What was his sin? He made a sacrifice according to Greek customs. How many atheist Jews today would care?
Possibly the most famous account of the Book of Maccabees is of the Jewish mother who urged her seven sons to reject the Greeks’ demand to transgress the law. On refusal, each was tortured to death before his mother’s eyes; her execution followed.
An old man was ordered to eat pork and refused. His reasonable Jewish friends offered him beef, so he wouldn’t actually violate the commandment, but would only seem to. He refused, lest the youth follow his example and eat pork. He was executed. Of the Jews who celebrate Hanukah today, who among them rejects pork in restaurants, let alone in the face of execution? They betray the hero’s memory.
A photo of a Jewish family celebrating Hanukah would make a perfect illustration for an encyclopedia article on ignorance and hypocrisy. So who gives a damn if There is a big or small Hanukkah dinner in the WH, as Hannukah, the real Hannukah won’t be celebrated in any event.
The Paradox is that the very reason for the Jewish revolt is the very lifestyle of American assimilated Jews. If there is any holiday that is more “unJewish” in the sense of our modern beliefs and practices – I do not know of it.
A Jewish :prayer for Hussein Obama: Tehillim – Psalms – Chapter 109:8
May his days be few, and may someone else take his office of dignity.
I am sure some holy Jew or Jews will emulate good Jews like Yigal Amir and Baruch (Ha Gever) Goldstein and insure the will of the countries you name mute. A few good Jews can direct the course of our history.