10 posts tagged “mahmoud abbas”
Here are some Annapolis insights from Joel C. Rosenberg.
JRH 11/28/07
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AFTER ANNAPOLIS: President Bush should visit Israel and speak in Jerusalem
Joel C. Rosenberg
November 28, 2007-11-28
How should we assess the Annapolis conference?
First, the good news:
* President Bush, to his great credit, is doing everything he possibly can to keep another horrible war from breaking out in the epicenter. I don't think in the end he will be successful, but I strongly applaud him for trying. He is following the words of Jesus, "Blessed are the peacemakers." With great difficulty, he brought together senior leaders from almost 50 countries -- including Syria, including the head of the Arab League, and including the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference -- in the hopes of jump-starting a new dialogue for peace. I, for one, am grateful for his efforts.
* The U.S. emerged once again as a global agenda-setter, working hard to build a global alliance of moderate, peaceful, reformer Muslim leaders against the radical Islamic jihadist leaders that Iran is trying to pull together into an alliance against Israel and the West.
* Syria's participation in the Annapolis conference, which infuriated Iran, was particularly welcome. Tensions along the Golan Heights are running high. War clouds between Damascus and Jerusalem are clearly building. The fact that Syria was willing to meet in a diplomatic setting like this is good news. It may not ultimately be enough to prevent a war, but it is still a welcome development.
* The Israelis and the Palestinians are going to begin regular peace talks beginning December 12. This, too, is good -- though Prime Minister Olmert must strongly and firmly insist from the outset that talks absolutely cannot continue if southern Israeli towns like Sderot continue to be hit by rockets and mortars. The shelling must stop immediately. The first provision of the "Road Map to Peace" was Israeli security. Nothing else should be discussed until the border is quiet.
* President Bush did not publicly pressure Olmert to divide Jerusalem, and Olmert did not publicly immediately put Jerusalem on the table. This, too, is good, though I suspect it's only temporary. Still, let's take one day at a time.
Now, the bad news:
* A process is now in place that will, in fact, steadily and dramatically increase international pressure on Israel to give up something tangible (land, sovereignty) for something historically elusive, at best ("recognition" by the Islamic world and, of course, "peace"). If Israel is not careful, she could end up feeling forced to give away the store.
* We know by his previous statements and those of his advisors that Prime Minister Olmert is already disposed to give away nearly all of the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria, commonly known as the West Bank, as well as up to half of Jerusalem. He is going to have plenty of opportunities to thus "respond" to this growing international pressure in the weeks and months ahead. This is a serious concern.
* It is not clear that Mr. Olmert has learned the lessons of Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 or her withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. Rather than Israel receiving "recognition" and "peace" in return for such land giveaways, the radical jihadist group Hamas took over Gaza and is steadily consolidating its power in the West Bank. What's more, Israel was attacked by some 4,000 rockets and missiles from Lebanon in 2006 and by more than 2,500 rockets and mortars from Gaza over the past two years. "Land for peace" worked with Egypt in 1979. Israel did not have to give up land for peace with Jordan in 1994, and that peace treaty has held. Is there evidence that giving up land will bring about true and lasting peace with the Palestinians in 2007 or 2008? Sadly, no.
* The very fact that the Israelis are talking about giving up land and dividing Jerusalem is a sign of blood in the water to her enemies, not a good thing when you're surrounded by sharks. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is already organizing a conference of terrorists as an "alternative" to Annapolis. He and his genocidal cronies will do everything they can to sabotage any prospect for peace, however slim, and then say, "See, we told you so! Now it's time for war." Ahmadinejad sees Olmert and his government as weak, exhausted, and doomed to collapsed. He said as much yesterday after a cabinet meeting in Tehran. "It is impossible that the Zionist regime will survive," Ahmadinejad insisted. "Collapse is in the nature of this regime because it has been created on aggression, lying, oppression and crime." Moreover, Ahmadinejad believes the winds of history are at his back. He believes he is doing Allah's will to obliterate Israel and annihilate Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it. Annapolis will very likely serve as a catalyst to him to get his nuclear weapons program complete, take care of Israel once and for all, to bring about the global carnage and chaos necessary to usher in the coming of the Mahdi.
* Russia has announced that it is going to host a post-Annapolis summit soon. President Vladimir Putin can't stand the notion that President Bush has emerged in recent years as the game-changer in the Middle East. Putin wants that role for himself. The difference is Bush wants to support the Reformers, while Putin is siding with the Radicals. We must watch carefully to see how Putin reacts to Annapolis and what new initiatives he might try to put on the table. One possibility: "a Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone" that would seek to turn the world's attention away from Iran and put the spotlight on disarming Israel.
Where do we go from here?
* Let me start by saying I believe the Israeli public sincerely wants peace with the Palestinians. They sincerely want the Palestinian people to run their own affairs, govern their own lives, raise their children in peace and safety, and have a growing economy that can bless and benefit everyone in the region. I wholeheartedly share this desire.
* That said, we must be clear: Hamas does not want peace with Israel. Hamas wants what Iran wants: the annihilation of Israel. And Hamas is calling the shots in the West Bank and Gaza. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (aka, Abu Mazen) is a weak figurehead right now. His Fatah/PLO organization is withering beneath him. It may not be long before it completely collapses and Hamas takes full control in the West Bank as it has in Gaza. Should Israel really be negotiating with terrorists? Should we really risk putting the Christian holy sites of Jerusalem under the control of radical Islamic jihadists. Look what's happening to Christians in Gaza. They are being attacked, harassed, persecuted and even martyred. Muslims who don't subscribe to the full Hamas agenda have been slaughtered on the streets of Gaza. Journalists are being kidnapped there. Under no circumstances should such a fanatical group of people be allowed to control the West Bank or any piece of Jerusalem. It is insane to think otherwise.
* President Bush should, therefore, take an historic trip to Israel soon and address the Israeli Knesset (parliament) in Jerusalem. He should make clear to the Islamic world that the U.S. stands with Israel and that we will do nothing to compromise her safety or security.
* The President and Congress should also make it clear that the U.S. considers Jerusalem the eternal, undivided capital of the Jewish State of Israel. We should move our Embassy there immediately. This would send a clear and powerful message to Israel's enemies that Jerusalem is not a Thanksgiving turkey to be carved up, slice by slice.
* We should recruit more people to sign Natan Sharansky's online petition to protect Jerusalem and keep it unified. See below to visit www.onejerusalem.org.
* Evangelical Christians must obey Psalm 122:6 to "pray for the peace of Jerusalem." Such prayers are needed as much as ever. The Joshua Fund is seeking to mobilize 100,000 partners around the globe to pray knowledgeably and consistently for peace in the region and to get our Flash Traffic geopolitical updates. We've gone from 3,000 to 39,000 such partners in the last year. If you know someone who would like to sign up for Flash Traffic, please email this to them and encourage them to get onboard.
* We also need to mobilize evangelical Christians to provide even more humanitarian relief supplies to poor and needy Israelis, Palestinians, and Lebanese, and to preposition more supplies in the region ahead of coming wars. This year, we've sent nearly $2 million worth of relief supplies into the region to care for needy Jews and Arabs, but so much more needs to be done. That's what The Joshua Fund's "Operation Epicenter" is all about. Find out more and consider getting involved at www.joshuafund.net.
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HEADLINES TO TRACK:
* Thomas Friedman, NYT: Oasis or Mirage?
* Bush, Olmert to have private meeting today on Iran
* Russia to host next Mideast peace conference
* Reuters: Bush pushes Arabs to reach out to Israel ("Don't watch the peace train go by.")
* Reuters: Hamas slams Annapolis, vows to keep fighting Israel
* Israeli Troops Essential in West Bank: IDF Leaders
As many of know there are scheduled negotiations to take place in Annapolis, Maryland between Israel, the Fatah version of the Palestine Authority (PA) with the Bush Administration participating as moderating negotiator.
The pre-negotiations appear to be panning out as in the past: The terrorists want all the concessions and absolutely refuse respect of Jewish Israel culture.
Olmert on the other hand appears to be ready to toss in everything including the kitchen sink under the delusion the Palestine Authority terrorists will peacefully coexist next to Israel.
Hello! The simplest hurdle that must be overcome is the recognition of the existence of Sovereign Jewish State known as Israel.
PA terrorist negotiator Saeb Erekat proclaims Palestinian Islamofascists (secular and religious) will never recognize the existence of a Jewish State.
If the President Abbas of the PA (and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization – PLO) cannot recognize the Jewish State of Israel, why waste the time of negotiations to establish a sovereign Palestinian State?
Erekat explains the reason for this: “There is no country in the world where religious and national identities are intertwined”.
Does Erekat think the West is stupid? (Don’t answer that, of course he does.)
Every Middle Eastern Nation except Turkey intertwines Mohammedanism as the national and political identity of their citizens. If Mohammedan nations in the Middle East would deny this intertwining there would be massive rights against the respective Mohammedan nations. If Middle Eastern nations are practicing even a portion of Sharia Law then religious and national identities are one.
The PA negotiations are just a continuation of a half-century Mohammedan Arab-Palestinian lies to try to wear down the Jewish citizens in the only nation in the world they do not have to face persecution because of their Jewish race and faith (not all Jews are religious, indeed Israel is officially a secular Jewish State in which at least half the nation are Slanted Left thinkers).
And yet Olmert continues the march to Annapolis. If Olmert gives up the Jewish heritage of Jerusalem, the Temple Mount and various places revered as burial or historical Jewish event location AND accepting the PA’s demand of NOT recognizing Israel as Jewish State, then Olmert will be like Korah rebelling against Moses that ended in the perishing of Korah’s followers. Olmert’s path threatens the existence of Israel.
Peace at any cost could be the peace that leads to death.
Even as the Bush Administration and Prime Minister Olmert explore a point of concession to establish another Arab nation which will be called Palestine, the official television network of the Palestinian Authority (i.e. operated by Fatah terrorists) shows a map on their network on October 11, 2007 of Israel as the sovereign nation of Palestine.
What is the concession? Actually the concession is numerous and dangerous for Israel’s existence: the giving up of what Israelis call portions of Judea and Samaria and the West calls the West Bank. The heinous concession on the table for discussion is dividing Jerusalem between Israel and the emerging repugnant State of Palestine.
How is this coming about? The Bush Administration is twisting the Israeli government arm to establish a “Palestine” on Arab terms and Olmert is acquiescing to the arm twist at Jewish expense.
Palestine Authority (PA) President (also Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman) Mahmoud Abbas controls the content station PATV. Somebody explain to me how that makes Abbas a trustworthy partner in negotiation to keep any bargains he submits? It is extremely apparent that Abbas is following in Yasser Arafat’s footsteps of telling the West and Israel anything they want to hear and telling the Arabs called Palestinians that the destruction of Jewish Israel is imminent.
I submit that the creation of a Palestinian State will lead to a blood bath of either Jews or Mohammedan Arabs. How can I say this? I can say so because once the Arabs of the Palestinian Authority under the direction of the umbrella terrorist network known as the PLO becomes a sovereign Palestine, that horrific nation of State thuggery will have the tools to negotiate with rogue nations and arms dealing nations (Russia and China) for a military designed to invade the rest of Israel.
Someone will win and it won’t be pretty. Not only that, due to the current investment of America in the Middle East due to the War on Terror, America will participate in that Israeli/Palestinian war. And if America participates then certainly Iran will follow the Palestinians with Russia joining closely on Iran's heals. I say Russia because the Old Bear has warned off Western nations from attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities. If Iran and Syria partner to support a Palestine, America will attack Iran’s military capabilities – including the nuclear facilities. Russia will have to do something or face international disgrace (again) in talking big but not yielding clout.
A sovereign Palestinian State will lead to this scenario.
It would be better for the Arab nations surrounding Israel to admit their mistake in creating a group of Arab refugees and matriculate those Arabs into their nations. The biggest candidate for the matriculation is Jordan since its existence was intended for the Arabs while a sliver of land was to be reserved for Israel. This was a League of Nations Mandate given to the British then a United Nations Mandate before third world dictators and Arab nationalists backed by oil infected the World Body with corruption.
Just as the British shafted the Jewish people just after WWI to appease the aid that was given by Arabs to defeat the Ottoman Turks, there is the appearance the American government is preparing a raw deal for Israel for global considerations of oil and the need for Middle Eastern allies in the War on Terror. Thus once again Israel is being placed in a position to negotiate away their land acquired by victory during numerous attacks by Arabs to exterminate Israel and Jews. This includes the holiest site to all Judaism and the most significant site to Christendom – Jerusalem.
There have long been rumors that Prime Minister Olmert of Israel was willing to give up half of Jerusalem as part of the package to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (aka Abu Mazen). Incidentally Abbas is as much a thug terrorist as any terrorist organization connected to the Arab movement to form a sovereign Palestinian nation.
Abbas took over the mantle of Yasser Arafat as Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) which is a loose confederation of terrorists that has inflicted murderous terror on Israel. Egypt and the Arab League formed the PLO in 1964 to create a mythological people of Arabs termed Palestinians.
You see the irony is in 1948 the United Nations (prior to becoming sympathetic to Islamist Arabs and anti-Israel) divided the British Palestinian Mandate into to two nations: Israel and Transjordan. Obviously the Jews were to be sovereign in Israel and the Arabs to be sovereign in Transjordan under the hegemony of the Bedouin Hashemite Kingdom. The U.N. even gave a largely favorable amount of land to the Arabs while limiting the size of Israel to a nearly thin slice of indefensible land.
Mohammedan Arabs could not tolerate that Jews were becoming sovereign in what they considered Dar al-Islam land (i.e. land controlled by Islam as opposed to Dar al-Harb, land controlled by the infidel).
Thus Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Transjordan and a few other minor players all surrounding Israel attacked in 1948 just after Israeli Independence. Arabs living within the borders of Israel fled prior to the invasion expecting a Mohammedan victory to return them to their homes as well as fearing Israeli reprisals on life and property while their Arab brethren were attacking.
Why am I providing a minor (and admittedly slanted) history lesson? The reason is the point there were no Palestinians in 1948. Specifically there were citizens of Israel (primarily Jews) and citizens of Transjordan (primarily Arab Mohammedan Transjordanian citizens).
After Israel spanked Egypt, Syria, the future Jordan and the Arab bit players in 1948; the Mohammedans egos were bruised. Thus instead of incorporating the Arabs into the various invading lands – Jordan in particular – it was decided by the invaders to make a group of Arabs stateless people with the appellation of Palestinian refugee to create a perpetual chaotic wedge to habitually attack Israel with the intent of destroying the Israeli nation.
From 1948 through the current day, Mohammedans have taught hatred of Jewish people and later Christians in Dar al-Islam to Mohammedan Arab children until a generation of ingrained hate exists in the Middle Eastern Mohammedan mind.
Invasions and threats of extermination have been the goal of Middle Eastern Mohammedan nations ever since 1948. Every time a Mohammedan war was executed against Israel, the Mohammedans have been spanked even though they had superior numbers. (Now tell that is not a God thing!)
One of those invasions in 1967 became a godsend for the Jews of Israel. Again Egypt, Syria and Jordan attacked Israel to exterminate the nation. This time a Six Day miracle occurred. Not only were the three invaders spanked but in six days Israel occupied Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Syria’s Golan Heights and the territory retained by Jordan after the first 1948 invasion now called the West Bank by the world and Judea and Samaria by the Israelis. Part of that West Bank acquisition is land that Jews (and Christians) have considered the land of the Jews by heritage. This included East Jerusalem, Bethlehem and burial sites of Jewish Patriarchs.
The most important of which was the unification of Jerusalem (the City of David) under Israeli control. AND the most important fact about the unification of Jerusalem is that the Holiest of site to all Judaism came under Israeli possession – the Temple Mount.
The great mystery to me was the Israeli government’s decision to allow the Jordanian linked Mohammedan Waqf to control the Temple Mount where two Mohammedan Mosques are located – the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Yes I realize Mohammedans consider those two Mosques to be the third holiest site to them. Let us think about that one; Third: meaning one, two, and three. That means the Mohammedans control number one and two – Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia. Mecca and Medina are actual place the pseudo-prophet Mohammed resided. Mohammed had never been to Jerusalem physically. Mohammed’s successors developed a myth from the Quran (in which Jerusalem is not named) that Mohammed took off from a Mosque in Jerusalem on winged horse to heaven and back. The problem historically is that there was no Mosque in Jerusalem that was controlled by the Byzantine Empire in Mohammed’s lifetime. Thus it is impossible for Jerusalem to be the location of the Quranic “furthermost Mosque.” To accept Jerusalem as the furthermost Mosque would prove the Quran is a lie. I seriously doubt any Mohammedan would accept that.
The greatest error in my estimation is that Israel did not take physical control of the Temple Mount graciously allowing the Mohammedan Mosques to operate for the religion of peace. I mean it is not like the Mohammedans are to stop attacking Israel to eradicate a Jewish existence in the Middle East.
Now we have come to the point in which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is preparing to transfer the 1967 miracle back to Mohammedan control, including half of Jerusalem which includes the Temple Mount.
In American terms that is like becoming a Benedict Arnold. In Christian terms that is like becoming a Judas Iscariot. In Jewish terms it is like becoming Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
Olmert is selling out his race, his faith and his nation. Whether it is to the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians or to Jordan it is treasonous and could lead to the demise of Israel as Mohammedans have stealthily armed themselves with weapons and technology from America.
Other links of interest related to the Olmert sell out from Arutz Sheva 7 (Israel National News):
Jordan Replaces P.A. in MK Elon's Peace Plan
US Presidential Candidate Endorses Elon's "Israeli Initiative"
Rabbi Elyashiv Joins Battle For Jerusalem
The Christian Right’s and religious Judaic Zionist’s greatest fear is about to happen according to Arab media outlets and Slanted Left Israeli Dr. Guy Bechor: Olmert is dividing Jerusalem between Israel and the pseudo-nationality known Palestinian-Arab.
I hold little trust in Arab media reporting; however this Bechor individual is purported to be a respected Leftist in Israel.
You know something is bad when a Leftist highly criticizes the division of Jerusalem in the name of peace. This trade for peace has proven dubious in the past in that it leads to further violence with the goal of the destruction of Israel. Personally I trust this paradigm has not changed.
If indeed the future of Jerusalem has been imprinted in writing as Bechor indicates, then Olmert may go down in history as Israel’s version of the American Benedict Arnold – a sell out traitor to the future of his nation and people.
In the Palestinian Civil War there are of course two main opponents: Fatah and Hamas.
Fatah’s beginnings were secular, Stalinist yet honoring Mohammedanism.
Hamas’ roots are totally religious in nature with an ideological connection through the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt (global in nature) and the Wahhabi Sunni Mohammedan school of thought centered in Saudi Arabia.
Both are Islamist yet Hamas should represent the religious nature of Mohammedanism claiming to follow the Quran and Sharia Law: which are central to the Wahhabi Theo/political death cult.
Let us read what the presumed religion of peace (Hamas) has acted on in the name of Allah.
I have found a kind of scholarly version of the Mecca Accord. I provide it as an alternative to the DEBKAfile analysis I posted on February 11 at SlantRight.com. I still agree with DEBKAfile assessment that Saudi Arabia is re-asserting influence over the Palestinians via money and a mutual affinity of the Sunni Sect. The Saudis were beginning to view Shi’ite Iran as usurping Saudi preeminence.
The MEMRI analysis I am posting does not mention Iran specifically as does the DEBKAfile; however MEMRI does imply that the Saudis created Hamas as a counter to Iran client terrorist group Hezbollah.
I encourage all to take the time to read the MEMRI analysis. You will come away understanding that the Mecca Accord and the Saudi government will continue to remain hostile to the existence of a Jewish nation known as Israel.
Once you have that understanding, keep it in mind when you read praise from the Mainstream Media (MSM) and beaming congratulations on the efficacy of diplomacy over guns and military might. The Mecca Accord is merely a Mohammedan duplicitous move to end Israel’s existence.
JRH
Mahmoud Abbas is President of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Abbas is also Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). His further credentials are as leader of the Fatah terrorists which part of the PLO umbrella. Abbas is hailed as a moderate that can engage diplomatically with the West. Abbas is merely more deceptive than Hamas or Hezbollah. He is just like his predecessor Arafat, Abbas tells the West one thing and preaches hatred of Israel to his fellow Arabs. Abbas must approve school curriculum in the Palestine Authority areas. Check out the maps that the PA hands out to students HERE.
Bill Mehlman ponders as to why the West considers Abbas a so-called moderate Palestinian-Arab.
JRH
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Peace is no Textbook Exercise
Bill Mehlman
Zion Net
Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas (a.ka.Abu Mazen) has been touted up and down theWest -- not least notably in Israel – as the world’s gift to Palestinian “moderation.” This, as opposed to those “really bad guys” in Hamas and Hezbollah. Coveniently overlooked is his record as a certified Holocaust belittler (he grudgingly concedes it happened but claims the results were grossly inflated), bagman for the murderers of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Munich and Arafat loyalist par excellence.
Also conveniently overlooked is the fact that Abbas, as head of the PA, also controls the Palestinian school system, including the curriculum, the textbooks, the visuals and whatever else is fed into the heads of a million or so Palestinian Arab children every semester. If Abbas has traded in his Arafatian stripes for polkadots, as his promoters claim, the surest place to look for supporting evidence would be the Palestinian classroom. David Bedein, who doubles as editor of Jerusalem-based Israel Resource News Agency and correspondent for the Evening Bulletin in Philadelphia, recently took just such a look. His conclusions are not comforting. “…The new school books that…Mahmoud Abbas has now introduced in the Palestinian Authority school system -- run independently of Hamas --” Bedein reported to the Bulletin, “represent a curriculum that prepares a new generation of Palestinians to destroy Israel.”
Referring to a recent study of those Abbas-approved PA school texts commissioned by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (www.intelligence.org.il) in Herzliya, an outfit solidly on the left-liberal side of the Israeli political spectrum, Bedein has elucidated the following among the “pearls of wisdom” being showered on Palestinian children in their new textbooks:
*Israel does not exist on the maps of the world included in the PA texts. Israeli territory -- all of it – is stamped PALESTINE.
*Haifa is identified as a “Palestinian seaport” (Vol. 2, p.7, “Our Beautiful Language,” 5th grade textbook p.86).
*Galilee, Nazareth and Bet She’an become “regions in Palestine” on p.7 of “Home Economy,” 10th grade textbook, pp.36-37.
*Textual references to Israel are confined to its “occupation of lands” in 1948 and 1967.
*Zionism is portrayed as an enemy ideology: “The Palestinian people,” students are informed, “are under an oppressive siege, limiting their movement and way of life.”
*An “extremist Zionist” is accused on page 12 of “History of the New Modern World,” a 10th grade textbook ( p. 106) of setting fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969 (totally ignoring the fact that a mentally unstable Australian tourist confessed to the crime).
*The forged anti-Semitic tract “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”