Israel-PLO agreements contain no prohibition whatsoever on the building or expansion of settlements

This comes from the Israeli Israel Ministry of Foreign Affair. It's a reminder there's nothing illegal about Jews living in the disputed territories and the issue of "illegal settlements" is really an internal, Israeli affair, since they are only illegal in the sense of not being formally authorized by the government.

Whether or not Jews, like Arabs, are building homes in the disputed territories is not a legitimate issue for discussion. Protests by the Palestinian Authority and appeasement of those protests by the American government only sidetract everyone from the core issues, primarily the continued unwillingness of the Palestinian Arabs to accept the reality of Israel.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are legal both under international law and the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. Claims to the contrary are mere attempts to distort the law for political purposes. Yet whatever the status of the settlements, their existence should never be used to justify terrorism.

The Palestinians often claim that settlement activity is illegal and call on Israel to dismantle every settlement. In effect, they are demanding that every Jew leave the West Bank, a form of ethnic cleansing. By contrast, within Israel, Arabs and Jews live side-by-side; indeed, Israeli Arabs, who account for approximately 20% of Israel's population, are citizens of Israel with equal rights.

The Palestinian call to remove all Jewish presence from the disputed territories is not only discriminatory and morally reprehensible; it has no basis either in law or in the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.

The various agreements reached between Israel and the Palestinians since 1993 contain no prohibitions on the building or expansion of settlements. On the contrary, they specifically provide that the issue of settlements is reserved for permanent status negotiations, which are to take place in the concluding stage of the peace talks. The parties expressly agreed that the Palestinian Authority has no jurisdiction or control over settlements or Israelis, pending the conclusion of a permanent status agreement.

It has been charged that the provision contained in the Israel-Palestinian Interim Agreement prohibiting unilateral steps that alter the status of the West Bank implies a ban on settlement activity. This position is disingenuous. The prohibition on unilateral measures was designed to ensure that neither side take steps that would change the legal status of this territory (such as by annexation or a unilateral declaration of statehood), pending the outcome of permanent status talks. The building of homes has no effect on the final permanent status of the area as a whole. Were this prohibition to be applied to building, it would lead to the unreasonable interpretation that neither side is permitted to build houses to accommodate the needs of their respective communities.

As the Israeli claim to these territories is legally valid, it is just as legitimate for Israelis to build their communities as it is for the Palestinians to build theirs. Yet in the spirit of compromise, successive Israeli governments have indicated their willingness to negotiate the issue and have adopted a voluntary freeze on the building of new settlements as a confidence-building measure.

What They Really Want

As If We Didn't Know

This is something posted on the "End Israel Apartheid" web site. It again demonstrates the anti-Israel forces aren't interested in peace but are motivated by a desire to eliminate Israel. The bracketed annotations are not from their web site but have been added for this blog entry.

Israel Apartheid Week 2008

February 3 – 10
60 Years of Nakba: End Israeli Apartheid

[For the Israel-haters, the real source of their passion is the re-establishment of Israel.]

Dear Friends:

We invite you to take part in the global week of activities, Israeli Apartheid Week, to be held on campuses across the world from 3 - 10 February 2008. Israeli Apartheid Week will be taking place for the fourth consecutive year. It will be a week-long series of events held concurrently in Canada, the U.S, U.K, South Africa, and Palestine.

The past few years have seen an explosion of literature and analysis that has placed Israel alongside other settler-colonial states like South Africa, arguing that Israel is in fact an apartheid state, not just a belligerent occupying power.

[Israel, of course, is neither, having been re-established by descendants of people who were there far before the Palestinian Arabs came there. Israel is the only state in the region that gives all its citizens equal rights. The equality it affords its citizens stands in sharp contrast to the Palestinian Authority, for which selling land to Jews is a capital crime.

The Palestinian Authority aspires to something even worse than an apartheid state; it aspires to being a state totally judenrein.

Making false accusations against Israel, indeed, falsely accusing Israel of sins of which the Palestinian Arabs themselves are guilty, is standard operating procedure for the Israel-haters.]

Prominent Palestinians, Israeli anti-Zionists, and South Africans have been at the forefront of these efforts. At the same time, an international divestment campaign has gained momentum in response to a statement issued in July 2005 by over 170 Palestinian grassroots and civil society organizations calling for boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel. Important gains have recently been made in this global campaign.

The aim of Israeli Apartheid Week is to push forward the analysis of Israel as an apartheid state and to bolster support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign in accordance with the demands outlined in the July 2005 Statement: full equality for Arab citizens of Israel, an end to the occupation and colonization of the West Bank and Gaza, and the implementation of the right of return and compensation for Palestinian refugees pursuant to UN resolution 194.

[Israel's Arab citizens already have full legal rights.

There is no "colonization" of the disputed territories and the end to any so-called "occupation" awaits the willingness of the Palestinian Arabs to agree to a division of the disputed territories. Israel cannot determine their disposition by itself.

There is no "right of return" and the compensation for refugees, Jewish and Arab, must be agreed upon as part of a peace agreement, something Israel's Arab enemies continue to refuse.]

Israeli Apartheid Week began with these objectives in Toronto almost 4 years ago. It was a big success that received the attention of media worldwide. Last year, several other university campuses across Canada and the UK joined together and organized a coordinated Israeli Apartheid Week. This year, still more campuses have pledged to participate.

The analysis of apartheid put forward during Israeli Apartheid Week in previous years has played an important role in raising awareness and disseminating information about Zionism, the Palestinian liberation struggle, and its similarities and differences with the indigenous sovereignty struggle in North America and the South African anti-Apartheid movement.

Our events are united by an analysis of Israel as an apartheid state, commitment to the Palestinian right of return, opposition to all forms of racism, and solidarity with oppressed people across the globe. In North America (Turtle Island), we have attempted to highlight the central importance of solidarity with indigenous people of the continent. The simultaneous events across the globe make a powerful statement against Israeli apartheid.

[Their entire project is an exercise in racism.]

The 2008 Israeli Apartheid Week takes place on the 60th Anniversary of Al Nakba; 60 years of ethnic cleansing and exile for Palestinians.

[They don't refer to forty years, but sixty years; it's not anything Israel has done which they oppose, but the fact that Israel exists.]

For the first time IAW will also be occurring at universities in the West Bank. Activities vary from campus to campus, consisting of guest lectures, demonstrations, cultural events and film nights.

We would like to invite your organization to participate in IAW by organizing an event or series of activities for IAW 2008. It can be as little as one lecture or as much as a full week's activities. The events will be listed on the IAW website, endisraeliapartheid.net Please contact us at.. if you would like to be part of these activities, tell us a little bit about your organization and what type of event(s) you might organize between 3 February - 10 February.

Join us in making 2008 a year of resistance to Israeli apartheid.
The refugees will return!

[There are today perhaps a few thousand refugees left from those who left Israel when it was invaded by the surrounding Arab states. The youngest of them are sixty years old and have no recollection of ever living in Israel.

I suspect Israel would readily agree to the immigration any of the remaining refugees, provided they were willing to become loyal citizens of Israel.

The writer, however, is not referring only to refugees, but is referring to descendants of refugees and no state is going to the immigration of millions of hostile strangers.]

Contact: saia@riseup.net.

[I wouldn't bother. This was posted just as a reminder of with whom and what Israel and its supporters have to deal.]

Between the Lines: Palestinian Authority Restores Order to Nablus?

The following contains an article excerpted from Haaretz along with some bracketed comments. It leaves a few obvious questions between the lines.

1. Did the Palestinian Authority really restore order to Nablus?
   
   Shortly after this article appeared, the IDF found terrorists in Nablus manufacturing Kassams. Perhaps the PA merely made a deal with some terrorists to keep their activities out of site.
2. If the PA was able to restore order to Nablus now, why wasn't it able to do it before? What changed? Did its ability to keep order suddenly and miraculously improve? Did it simply decide to use an ability it had all along?
3. If the PA can keep order in Nablus, why can't it keep order elsewhere? Does it have capabilities in Nablus it doesn't possess elsewhere? (In this case, the clear inference is the IDF better stay active everywhere else in Judea and Samaria.) Alternatively, has the PA simply decided it doesn't want to keep order elsewhere in Judea and Samaria. (In that case, the obvious inference is the PA isn't interested in performing the most basic responsibility of any government.)

The bottom line is the Palestinian Authority remains either unwilling or incapable of meeting its most basic obligations.

Either way, there's no reason to expect any agreement that might be reached to be implemented successfully.

PA security forces restore public order in turbulent W. Bank city

By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent

NABLUS - Four young women from the Nablus neighborhood of Rafidiyeh went into a shop Wednesday near the clock square in the center of Nablus. Dressed in the trendiest jeans and blouses, they were looking for fashionable leather bags. Two minutes later they came out empty-handed, disappointed at not finding what they wanted.

Just a few months ago, they said, they did not feel safe enough to walk alone in the street. "We felt like there could be problems any moment," Laila, 20, said. "Today it's different." Her friend, Nahala, 18, says "people have stopped being afraid they're going to get hit by gunmen's bullets." And in fact, nowhere in the city, not even at the entrance to the Kasbah, could armed men be found who were not members of the Palestinian security forces.

Nablus, which until recently was decribed as the "terror capital" and the "capital of chaos," now seems like the most stable and quiet city in the West Bank.

Jamal, owner of a center-city clothing store, says the shake-downs, threats and armed robbery so typical of Nablus have stopped. "In the past, a gunman would ask a business owner for money for 'the intifada.' If he refused, the next day he could find his shop burned. Today, I'm pleased. During Id al-Adha, there was a lot of work and there are no more criminal problems," Jamal said.

The actions of the Palestinian security forces and the new urban reality in Nablus have pulled the rug out from under the claims in Israel about the weakness of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

[See the introductory remarks. Far from pulling the rug out, it merely raises the question, if the article is accurate, about the trustworthiness of Abbas and Fayyad.]

The Palestinian security forces, which have been accused in Israel mainly of carrying out attacks like the one on Friday near Hebron that took the lives of two hikers, have managed to accomplish what until recently was considered mission impossible: bringing law and order to Nablus.

[Again: Either a miracle occurred or the Palestinian Authority had no interest in maintaining law and order and apparently still has no interest in maintaining law and order in the other portions of the disputed territories it administers.]

The market stalls that clogged the streets have been removed by the Palestinian police. The security forces have managed to root out a phenomenon that was common in Nablus - stolen vehicles; Police are seen on almost every street spot-checking vehicle licenses.

Most of the Fatah gunmen have surrendered their weapons to the security forces. Some have even joined them.

[This is extremely convenient, since they are able to keep their weapons handy for future attacks on Israeli civilians.]

On Tuesday, two high-ranking activists wanted by the Shin Bet security services, Sufyan Kandil and Ala Abuda, gave themselves up to the Palestinian Authority and are now in a Palestinian jail.

[They will probably remain in a Palestinian Authority jail until they are fully prepared to carry out another terrorist attack, at which point they will be freed and given sufficient ammunition and other provisions along with any logistical assistance they might need.]

Most important of all for the Israelis is that the PA leaders say they have destroyed the Hamas infrastructure in the city.

[They probably also have a bridge they'd like to sell.]

It is difficult to pinpoint a single reason for the success of the Palestinian security forces in Nablus. Nablus Governor Jamal Mohsein says "every decision we made has been carried out. We united the security forces and ended competition among them. There is no more shooting off guns at weddings and funerals or at any other event. We confiscated 120 firearms from Hamas activists, along with explosives intended for attacks against Israel and the PA. Hamas has no more weapons in Nablus. We appointed new governing committees for all the charitable organizations that had operated under Hamas in the past, and they own numerous properties throughout the city, including hospitals and buildings. But the bottom line is that for this trend to continue, the peace process has to move forward," Mohsein says.

[He's got it backwards. Under the dubious assumption there's some truth in his words, these actions must be taken everywhere in the disputed territories if there is to be a real peace process.]

The PA's decision, particularly that of its prime minister, to focus on security in Nablus, stemmed from the understanding that it is the West Bank's key city. If the security forces can bring order to chaos here, it will send a message to the other cities in the West Bank, to the terror organizations and criminal elements. For this purpose, 350 policemen were brought to the city two months ago in coordination with Israel. Only a few days ago, they left to operate in other West Bank cities.

Nablus intelligence chief Abdullah Kamil says a strategic change is taking place in the region. "We thwarted Hamas' plans, of which we have proof, to take over the PA institutions in the city and make another revolution.

[Perhaps a revealing moment of candor. Apparently, the Palestinian Authority always had the capability but chose not to exercise it as long as the terrorists only targeted Israelis. Once Hamas became perceived as a threat to Fatah, they took action in Nablus.

This doesn't leave much confidence that they're not simply fighting against the terrorists that pose a threat to Fatah, but maintain their traditional support of terrorists which work in tandem with Fatah, including, of course, Fatah's own terrorists.]

We found dozens of weapons in their possession and some of the most dangerous explosives intended to thwart the peace process. Our goal was to strike at Hamas militarily and then deal with criminal problems and we have done so. We have disarmed Hamas, we have hit them hard, and today they cannot rehabilitate their infrastructure. Even in Israel, they are surprised at our success."

Kamil pulls out five guns. "All of these were captured in the homes of Hamas men. Most are from Israel, but there is one rifle here that isn't in use even in Israel, an M-23 sniper's rifle. We also stopped attacks by other organizations, with help from abroad," Kamil said.

Throughout the conversation Kamil charged that Israel was trying to hurt the Palestinian security forces. "How do you explain that right on the day we operated in the Balata refugee camp, the Israeli army went in? What is the logic, if not to weaken our ability to operate?"

[This may have to do with the continued involvement of Palestinian Authority security forces in terrorist activity.]

History Is Being Destroyed, Take 2

A few days ago, we posted a PRIMER Comment & Analysis entitled History is Being Destroyed, critiquing a malicious commentary written by Mark Braverman.

As expected, his commentary inspired further malicious and misleading attacks on Israel. The following letter, written by Ellen Cantarow of Medford, Massachusetts, was published in The Day of New London on Friday, January 4.

It is annotated with bracketed comments, but the letter also illustrates the phenomenon of the self-hating Jews. (Of course, the self-hating Jews hate being reminded of their malady.) Both Braverman and the letter-writer claim to be Jewish. In Connecticut, many of the most vicious haters of Israel are self-hating Jews. One wonders what traumatic experiences in their childhoods turned them into haters of their own people, so much so that not only do they ally themselves with people trying to destroy them, but often and without apparent shame lie, distort and misrepresent in order to defame the only country in the world that would welcome them home if what happened in Germany happened in their country of residence.

Israel Not The Beautiful Land That It Once Was

[The writer clearly doesn't think Israel ever was beautiful.]

I appreciated Mark Braverman's op-ed piece. ("Palestine is being destroyed," Dec. 30.) I am also Jewish,

[It seems to be important for self-hating Jews to establish their bona fides to maximize the damage they cause.]

born during World War II, but even when I first traveled to Israel and the West Bank as a reporter in 1979, I became convinced that Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights was immoral and would wreak devastation on both peoples.

[At that time, the PLO wasn't even pretending to be interested in anything other than the destruction of Israel.]

In the 1980s the West Bank was a beautiful, austere Mediterranean landscape where there was occupation, but where Palestinians could travel freely and where almost everyone survived well through agricultural employment or work in Israel.

[None of which was possible when the disputed territories were illegally occupied by Egypt and Jordan. At that time, it wasn't Israel that was restricting travel, but the Arab states which refused to have anything to do with Israel other than send fedayeen across the border to murder innocent civilians.]

It is now an open-air prison scarred by the hideous, massive, separation wall; hundreds of barriers and obstacles, militarized terminals replete with watchtowers, electronic sensors and the most sophisticated weaponry U.S. tax dollars can buy.

[All the barriers and restrictions are a result of three major factors:

1. The first intifada which began in the late 1980s.
2. The corrupt maladministration of the Palestinian Authority, which after it took over administration of the major portions of the disputed territories as part of the failed Oslo Process used the massive amounts of foreign assistance to build up a terrorist infrastructure and line the pockets of Yassir Arafat and his cronies.
3. The terrorist war the Palestinian Arabs launched after rejecting peace in 2000.

The writer blames everything on Israel, but it was the Palestinian Arabs who caused the worsening of their situation.

Gaza, where I haven't traveled for 25 years, is indescribably worse.

[It's worse because it's totally under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Israel completely left years ago. Unfortunately, rather than taking the opportunity to build a civil society, the Palestinian Arabs turned it into Hamastan.]

"My-Israel-right-or-wrong" defenders

[This is another example of haters of Israel falsely labeling either Israel or its supporters with that which Israel's enemies are guilty of.

Israel's supporters generally recognize Israel about as normal a country as possible, given that it's surrounded by enemies who wish to destroy it and at war with enemies who revel not only in murdering innocent civilians but teach their children there is no greater glory than blowing themselves up in the cause of murdering Israeli civilians. Israel has the faults of other normal countries.

In contrast, the Israel-haters are "Israel-is-always-wrong" fanatics who refuse to admit the possibility that sixty years of Arab war against Israel, the refusal to let the descendants of Arab refugees live in normal communities rather than refugee camps and the corruption of their own officials might have something to do with the misery of the Palestinian Arabs.]

do not open themselves to meeting Palestinians in the West Bank - let alone staying in their homes, accepting their hospitality, interviewing them and hearing their stories of excruciating travail.

[The Palestinian Arabs have made it rather dangerous for ordinary Jews to move around the predominately Arab areas of the disputed territories.

There is no question the Palestinian Arabs are in a horrible mess, but it's the height of chutzpah to expect the very people you are trying to destroy to help you out of the mess you created for yourselves.]

One way of doing this is through a trip with Birthright Unplugged, an organization with which this writer is not associated but which she admires. For more information, consult the Internet.

[Birthright Unplugged is indeed an excellent vehicle for honing important skills such as the ability to lie, distort and defame without shame. It certainly won't give anyone a reasonable perspective on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Birthright Unplugged is also an excellent example of what the Arab-Israeli conflict is about. It's a totally negative effort to eliminate Israel, a country which just wants to live in peace with its neighbors.]

Extortion Payout to Arab Mafia!

This was sent in an email from Steven Shamrak, who has a web site at www.shamrak.com. I don't agree with the proposal to transfer the Arabs from Judea, Samaria and Gaza, but I do find it interesting that it's correctly considered extreme but almost everybody accepts doing precisely that to the Jews living in those areas.

Clearly, if the Arabs had any interest in a real peace, there would be no more problem with a few Jews living in their state than there is with far more Arabs living in Israel.

At the opening of the donors' conference in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy emphasised the urgency of creating a Palestinian state by the end of next year, 2008. International donors eagerly pledged $7.4 billion, pretending that it will boost PA economy.

The list of fake friends of the fictitious Palestinian nation is long: United States, pledged $555 million for 2008, though about $400 million has not been approved by Congress; Britain, $500 million; Norway, $420 million; Spain, $360 million; France and Sweden, $300 million each; Germany, $290; Belgium, € 86 million; the new Australian government pledged $39 million, almost doubling the intended pledge; the European Union, €440 million ($650 million) in grants to the Palestinians in 2008.

All of them ignored the enormous level of corruption, which is traditional and common at all levels of PA, which traditionally makes almost 50% of donated funds vanish. They did not care that funds are spent on terror campaigns against Israel. The fact that terrorism and military operations against it conducted by Israel is not a conducive environment for economic development have not made them stop and think what would be the better way to spend this huge amount of money for the betterment of the people they pretend to care about!

Would it be more effective, for peace in the Middle East, if all those funds, combined with UN and other programs, were directed toward re-settlement of the non-Jewish population from Judea, Samaria and Gaza to low populated Sinai, where they would have a vast amount of contiguous land, which they do not have in Israel, to build an independent state or have autonomy under the Egyptian government? But, logic and common sense are not applicable when prejudice against Jews and fear of Arab terror and diminishing supply of oil is in play.

That is why none of the legitimate nations, who are suffering from occupation, are not attracting such strong international attention and generosity. People of Tibet, Western Papua, Kurdistan , Western Sahara , Armenians in Turkey, Basques and others, who have been enduring discrimination and even genocide from their occupiers are still ignored and brushed of by international duplicity.

At the same time, the world is not really interested in true peace in the Middle East. It is only after the terror campaign, which was unleashed by the PLO during 70's and coincided with the oil embargo imposed by the Arab countries, that the United States and Europe had suddenly discovered the 'Palestinian nation'. Recent attacks by Al Qaida in the US , Europe and Bali have brought the horror memories back: plane and boat high-jackings, suicide bombings and execution of Israeli athletes in Munich. Fear combined with traditional anti-Semitism and dependency on Arab oil creates the best condition for the successful fund rasing party!

Egypt Helps Terrorists Return to Gaza

Comments about the excerpts from an Associated Press story are included in brackets.

Palestinian Pilgrims Return to Gaza

By IBRAHIM BARZAK, The Associated Press

RAFAH, Gaza Strip - Egypt allowed more than 2,000 Palestinian pilgrims to enter the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, drawing a fierce rebuke from Israel, which had tried to prevent top members of the militant Hamas from returning home.

Egypt's decision to open its border deepened a crisis in relations with Israel, which has accused Cairo of not doing enough to stop Palestinian smuggling of weapons and contraband into Gaza through tunnels under the border.

[Far from just not doing enough, the Egyptians have been actively helping transport illegal weapons into Gaza.]

Israeli security officials said they expressed their outrage to Egypt, accusing the country of reneging on recent pledges to keep the border sealed.

The Muslim pilgrims left Gaza last month to make a hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. They became trapped in Egypt on Saturday when the Egyptian government - apparently at Israel's request - said they would have to cross through Israel, instead of going directly into Gaza through Rafah.

[They weren't trapped; they just decided they didn't want to go through Israel.]

At least 10 senior Hamas members, including former deputy Parliament speaker Ahmed Bahar, were among the returning pilgrims. Israel was concerned they were carrying large sums of money for Gaza's Hamas rulers, who have been under an Israeli blockade since seizing the territory from their Fatah rivals in June. Israel considers the Islamic militant Hamas, which is committed to its destruction, a terrorist group.

[There is good reason why Israel, and the United States, and all intelligent observers consider Hamas a terrorist group: Hamas is a terrorist group.]

The pilgrims refused to enter Israel and staged violent protests, setting fire to the desert camps where they were held.

The standoff was sensitive for the Egyptian government, which is deeply worried about being seen in the Arab world as worsening Palestinians' hardship in Gaza. Israel has sealed Gaza since the Hamas takeover, deepening economic hardship in an already impoverished area.

[This very article demonstrates Israel has not "sealed" Gaza. While Israel has done what it can to prevent weapons and terrorists from passing between Gaza and Israel, it does not control the border between Gaza and Egypt.]

An Egyptian official said Israel had been informed of Egypt's decision.

But Israeli defense officials said Israel had not approved their return, and that Egypt's decision contradicted understandings reached in a meeting last week between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

[This is not surprising.]

Last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Egypt was doing a "terrible" job policing the border, and Israel sent a videotape to Washington of what it said was Egyptian soldiers allowing Palestinian arms smuggling.

Egypt accused Israel of trying to persuade the U.S. government to cut aid to Egypt. On Monday, Egypt's foreign minister said his government would "retaliate" diplomatically.

[The real pilgrims could have crossed back into Gaza through Israel. The only reason they insisted on going through Egypt's crossing was because Israel would have searched for the illegal weapons they were bringing back in and would have arrested the terrorists, including those who had used the hajj as cover to get additional training in Iran.]

AJC to President Abbas: New Fatah Poster Negates Israel's Existence

Of course, the probability that the alleged "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas" or Fatah will stop inciting Palestinian Arabs is nil.

December 27, 2007 New York The American Jewish Committee has written to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to express concern about a new Fatah poster that employs imagery negating the existence of Israel and enshrining 'armed struggle' as the path to statehood. The poster is planned for release on the 43rd anniversary of the founding of Fatah in January.

The imagery employed in the planned anniversary poster endorses messages directly contrary to your statements at the Annapolis Conference last month, AJC President Richard J. Sideman and Executive Director David A. Harris wrote in their letter to President Abbas.

In the interest of all who are committed to advancing Palestinian-Israeli peace, we strongly urge Fatah to choose imagery in the spirit of peace and coexistence, rather than in the spirit of ongoing combat, to mark its anniversary, the AJC leaders wrote.

The full text of the AJC letter to President Abbas follows:

The Honorable Mahmoud Abbas
President
Palestinian Authority
Ramallah

Dear Mr. President:

We write as longtime supporters of a two-state solution to express our concern about reports that a poster Fatah plans to issue commemorating its 43rd anniversary employs imagery negating the existence of Israel and enshrining armed struggle as the path to statehood.

As pictured in a recent newspaper account, the poster depicts a stylized map of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza fully wrapped in a traditional Palestinian keffiyeh, alongside the silhouette of a semi-automatic rifle and a photograph of the late Yasser Arafat.

It is our view that the imagery employed in the planned anniversary poster endorses messages directly contrary to your statements at the Annapolis Conference last month denying, rather than acknowledging, Israel's existence; and perpetuating and celebrating, rather than abandoning and denouncing, the destructive course of violence.

If the commitments that the Palestinian Authority and the State of Israel made at Annapolis are to have any meaning, it is incumbent on leaders and governing parties to pay particular care to the signals they send their respective constituencies and the signals they send to the constituencies of their negotiating partners. Imagery of negation and violence, we firmly believe, is out of step with the process that you, Prime Minister Olmert and President Bush launched at Annapolis, and can only heighten mistrust at a time when all sides, with significant international support, have pledged to rebuild trust.

In the interest of all who are committed to advancing Palestinian-Israeli peace, we strongly urge Fatah to choose imagery in the spirit of peace and coexistence, rather than in the spirit of ongoing combat, to mark its anniversary.

Respectfully,
Richard J. Sideman, President
David A. Harris, Executive Directo

After the Annapolis Conference: What Really Needs to Happen

The National Interreligious Leadership Initiative For Peace in the Middle East put together what it calls After the Annapolis Conference: What Needs to Happen
Talking Points for Public Advocacy 12/07.

As usual, this document completely ignores the core issue: the continued refusal of the Arabs, including the Palestinian Arabs, to accept the existence within their midst of the non-Arab, non-Muslim, free and democratic state known as Israel.

This is their document, with some bracketed comments added.

Active U.S. Leadership is Essential for Post-Annapolis Progress Toward Peace

From its founding in 2003, the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative (NILI), representing Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders, including heads of twenty-five national organizations, has called for active, fair and firm U.S. leadership for Arab-Israeli-Palestinian peace. After the Annapolis conference, NILI believes consistent, determined leadership by Secretary Rice and President Bush is essential for peace negotiations to succeed. NILI urges public support, including support by Congress, for active U.S. leadership to achieve the following.

[The type of "leadership" called for has generally gummed up the works; negotiations have been more successful when the parties have been left alone.

The single most important step towards accommodation, Sadat's visit to Jerusalem, was a surprise to our government, which was not too happy about it. The treaty between Egypt and Israel would probably have been negotiated much more quickly and led to a less cold peace had Jimmy Carter kept his hands off.

Oslo also started in secret, without our involvement, and might have been a success rather than a disaster had we not gotten involved.]

Urgently Needed Reciprocal Steps by Israel and the Palestinian Authority

Consistent with the Road Map, the U.S. and Quartet should press for reciprocal, simultaneous steps by Israel and the Palestinian Authority to improve conditions on the ground and help restore hope that a peace agreement is possible. Steps should include achieving a comprehensive ceasefire in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza; the Palestinian Authority developing effective coordinated security and increased capacity for governance, blocking illegal arms shipments and disarming militias; and Israel freezing expansion of settlements, withdrawing "illegal outposts," releasing Palestinian prisoners, and easing movement for Palestinians by reducing the number of military check points. Effective public monitoring of international aid and of implementation of these reciprocal steps is essential.

[The steps listed here involve an artificial balance.

The Palestinian Authority is committed under agreements it signed long ago to stop its involvement in terror. Only if the PA adheres to those prior commitments will the security measures forced upon Israel become unnecessary, at which point there will be no need to pressure Israel into easing them.

The other concessions NILI is calling for Israel to make are both immoral and counterproductive.]

Agreement on Principles for Resolving Final Status Issues

On the matter of agreement on principles to guide negotiations to resolve final status issues, including borders, security, settlements, refugees, and Jerusalem, NILI advocates public U.S. support for the benchmark ideas developed by Israelis and Palestinians in official and unofficial negotiations over many years, and reflected in public documents such as the People's Voice initiative and the Geneva Accord Public opinion polls consistently report majority support among Israelis and Palestinians for a peace agreement along these lines.

(For a Summary of the Geneva Accord go to: http://nili-mideastpeace.org/geneva.html.)

[The Arabs and Israelis must decide these issues themselves. All those documents sidestep the real issue, the refusal of the Arabs to accept the existence of Israel. Polls show that a significant minority or even majority, depending on the poll, of Palestinian Arabs would refuse to accept the existence of Israel even if all their demands were met. Emphasis: Even if ALL their demands were met! Those polls do not even bother to ask about whether they'd accept a reasonable compromise!

A United Palestinian Government for Peace

NILI is concerned that the split in Palestinian governance between the West Bank and Gaza is incompatible with a durable peace agreement.

[It certainly is, which makes Annapolis and the document from NILI travesties.]

Acknowledging the sensitivity of this issue for the Administration and for their communities, NILI advocates U.S. support for efforts, probably by others, to help form a new unified Palestinian government capable of representing the West Bank and Gaza, and committed to rejecting violence and negotiating a two-state solution with Israel.

[That will be a difficult task, especially since the Palestinian Arabs democratically voted into power a government opposed to peace regardless of the terms.

It also ignores the reality that the Arabs in Gaza are really a separate group from the Arabs in Judea and Samaria.

However, if progress is to be made towards a two-state solution rather than the more realistic three-state solution, this is an essential first step.]

Progress Toward Comprehensive Arab-Israeli Peace

Appreciating the positive importance of the Saudi-led Arab Peace Initiative

[The Saudis who refused to even shake hands with Israelis at Annapolis.]

and Arab states' participation in the Annapolis conference for encouraging the prospect of comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace, NILI is urging the Administration to help restart Syrian-Israeli and Lebanese-Israeli negotiations for peace. NILI leaders noted that U.S. hosted Israeli-Syrian negotiations in 1995 and 2000 achieved substantial progress on principles and practical ideas for a peace agreement.

[No negotiations are really necessary for a Lebanese-Israeli peace; the Lebanese just have to decide to end the state of war and stop harboring terrorists attacking Israel.

Peace between Syria and Israel is more complicated, since an equitable division of the Golan Heights needs to be negotiated.

If "substantial progress" refers to Israel making concession after concession while Syria remains intransigent, then NILI is correct about substantial progress being made in 1995 and 2000.

Rather than prejudging the division of the Golan, let the residents of the different portions decide they want to be part of Israel or part of Syria.]

What you can do - go to: http://nili-mideastpeace.org/getinvolved.html.

Between the Lines: Rival Palestinian Factions Clash

This Associated Press story appeared in my local newspaper this morning. Either it or a variation likely appeared in most newspapers.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Deadly clashes erupted Monday between rival factions in the Gaza Strip for the first time in more than a month, despite a conciliatory speech toward Hamas by Fatah's leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

At least four Palestinians were killed, and medics said at least 60 were injured.

The sudden spike in Palestinian tensions came just a week before a planned visit to the Mideast by President Bush, who will try to prod Israel and the Palestinians closer to peace. Internal Palestinian violence could make it difficult for Abbas to concentrate on talks with Israel.

This article illustrates a number of truths that should be obvious but apparently aren't obvious to some leaders, including our own Secretary of State.

Obviously, while Abbas might negotiate, he doesn't have the power to make the negotiations meaningful. This once again demonstrates he was booted out of Gaza. He barely controls the area around his "presidential" compound in Ramallah. His "moderate" terrorist group, Fatah, lost the last election to its rival terrorist group, Hamas, which doesn't even pretend to be interested in using the strategy of stages but insists on destroying Israel in one fell swoop.

Yet our American government pretends this is an auspicious opportunity to launch negotiations to bring about peace.

Most likely, this clash will be one more incident which, illogically and counter-productively, will lead our government to pressure Israel to make more concessions to strengthen Abbas. Those concessions, generally involving releasing terrorists and strangling construction of housing for Israelis, invariably lead to more fatal terror attacks and make the Arabs even more intransigent, increasing the already astronomically high probability that any negotiations will fail.

President Bush has occasionally made some intelligent statements about the need for the Palestinian Arabs to get their house in order before they can establish another real state (as opposed to the two de facto, rogue, terrorist states they've established in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, along with the Arab state called Jordan on the East Bank).

Unfortunately, as his administration nears its final stages, he seems to be making the same kind of mistake so many of his predecessors have made and is now mucking up the works.

President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would do well to read Saul Singer's column, "Interesting Times: How to pressure for peace," just published in The Jerusalem Post.

This Wednesday, help our soldiers!

I found this as a message posted on the JewishClubMaoz list, which is hosted by YahooGroups. It was posted by Lee Caplan.

On this Wednesday, 2/1/08, We Remind Ehud Olmert that the Kidnapped Soldiers Have NOT Returned!

Eighteen months have passed, and Udi Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Shalit are still held prisoner by the enemy. Three soldiers who went to defend us, must know that we will not forget them and will fight to get them back.

This Wednesday, we implore everyone to write to the Prime Minister with one message: That he and his government finally do what is necessary to get Udi, Eldad and Gilad back very, very quickly, and at the very least, to IMMEDIATELY act to get some sign of life from the three of them.

Ehud Olmert's fax number: 02-654-6717
Email Address: eulmert@knesset.gov.il
Address: Rehov Kaplan 3, Jerusalem 91919

Please forward this mail to everyone and anyone you know, so that thousands upon thousands of messages will be sent on this day simultaneously, to make our point clear: The citizens of Israel will not stand for governmental indifference; action must be taken! For us it's a few minutes' work - for our soldiers, it may mean their freedom, which they so richly deserve.

To contact the organizer of this initiative Ilan Spector:
Pelephone: 052-471-4025
Email: ilan-ss@nana.co.il.