Ehud Olmert’s intention to unilaterally surrender about 90 percent of Judea and Samaria to the Arabs appears to have international power brokers concerned that the era of Israeli-Palestinian bilateral negotiations, and perhaps even official relations, is at an end.
From Washington to Brussels to Moscow, Israel is being pressured to look no further than PLO chief Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) in its dying search for a true and viable peace partner, and thus avert unilateral action that would put an end to the “land-for-peace” process. The international community is backed in this regard by those Israeli leftists most responsible for the now-defunct “Oslo Accords,” people like Uri Savir, who wrote in Friday’s Jerusalem Post:
“Our real partner is…the Palestinian people [sic] as embodied by their elected president.”
Now, I certainly do not support Olmert’s planned surrender, but the international community and its leftist Israeli allies are, whether innocently or by design, guilty of some pretty serious oversights in pressing for talks with Abu Mazen as an alternative.
You see, Abu Mazen cannot simply sign an agreement between his office and the State of Israel. Any agreement will have to gain the approval of the elected representatives of the Palestinians Arabs - the Hamas terrorists who now control the entire government outside of the president’s office.
What good would a piece of paper with Abu Mazen’s signature be if the “Palestinian” ministries of the interior, security, media, etc were not implementing its terms?
I’ll tell you how good it would be - about as good as the before-mentioned Oslo Accords, the terms of which were also never implemented by the “Palestinians.” Though that never stopped the world from patting itself on the back over those worthless scraps of paper.
But lets say for the sake of argument that Savir and the West are betting on the right horse, that Abu Mazen is capable of making a deal with Israel that will actually be implemented.
Will it ever be possible to reconcile the positions of the two sides? And if so, will the outcome be one that does not endanger Israel’s future?
Savir clearly thinks so:
“…a peace mandate was [Abu Mazen’s] trump card in the Palestinian presidential elections; he garnered massive support from his fellow Palestinians to negotiate peace with Israel.”
But like his colleagues, this ultra-leftist is only telling part of the story here. Abu Mazen’s “trump card” during last year’s election was “peace” based on unbending demands that Israel divide its holy city and allow the Jewish state to be flooded with millions of so-called Arab “refugees.”
Abu Mazen’s election platform had two facets - words of “peace” to keep the West spellbound, and devotion to the core principles of the PLO’s “Phased Plan” for the destruction of Israel.
There was no facet that should leave any Israeli believing this man’s ultimate goal is not the same as that of his former mentor and colleague, Yasser Arafat.
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5 comments so far ↓
1 Irwin Borchew yitchakzeeb@aol.com // May 14, 2006 at 11:25 am
There will be no two-state solution until the PA concedes no entry of ‘refugees’ into Israel, no division of Jerusalem, and retention by Israel of major ’settlement’ blocs. There will be no concessions by Israel on these points.
2 http://www.slantright.com // May 18, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Sadly the division of Jerusalem seems imminent. Hamas’ refusal to accept the existence of Israel will in all likelyhood lead to a war once a Palestinian State enters sovereign existence. I suspect that was Sharon’s end game before his untimely physical demise.
3 http://www.slantright.com // May 18, 2006 at 4:44 pm
Sadly the division of Jerusalem seems imminent. Hamas’ refusal to accept the existence of Israel will in all likelyhood lead to a war once a Palestinian State enters sovereign existence. I suspect that was Sharon’s end game before his untimely physical demise.
4 FERN SIDMAN // May 31, 2006 at 6:56 pm
KEEPING OUR ENEMIES ALIVE
BY: FERN SIDMAN
It has been recently reported by Arutz Sheva that Israel has decided to arm PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ (Abu Mazen) Presidential Security Force in light of growing reports that he has been targeted for assassination by Islamic opponents. Violent clashes and shooting attacks between Hamas and Fatah-aligned security forces have sharply increased over recent weeks, prompting a Ramallah meeting on Thursday, seeking to reach a truce that would bring an end to the internal fighting and increasing death toll.
While Abbas is powerless to speak on behalf of the PA since losing the winter election to the now-ruling Hamas party. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has agreed to a recommendation from Defense Minister Amir Peretz, permitting the transfer of a limited number of weapons to Abbas’ security personnel. The weapons are intended for the expressed purpose of keeping Abbas alive.
According to Israeli sources, the weapons will be closely monitored and only handed to those troops known to be loyal to Abbas. Opponents to the move have stated that the weapons will be turned against Israel and fired at residents of Sderot and western Negev communities.
Ironically, Olmert has signaled his intent to enter into negotiations with Abu Mazen in the immediate future, but openly commented that Abu Mazen cannot speak on behald of the PA since he is no longer in a position of power. PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah, affiliated with Hamas, has repeatedly stated that he and his colleagues will never recognize Israel’s right to exist, and the existing western-nation economic boycott will not succeed in bringing his administration to its knees. Haniyah stated he will raise the badly needed funds among Arab nations, thereby substituting the missing donor nation funds previously forthcoming from the European Union and the USA.
And while Israel is making attempts to protect Abbas from an assassin’s bullet, Abbas, the so called moderate and peacemaker is busy declaring that Arab terrorists are “heroes” of the Palestinian people. Palestinian Media Watch, an organization that monitors and reports on anti-Israel hatred in the PA media, reveals that Abbas twice this week referred to Arab terrorists servings “tens of life sentences” in Israeli jails as “our heroes.” PMW’s Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook report that the terrorists referred to are “arch-terrorists who have personally killed tens of Israelis and are sentenced to one life sentence for each murder.”
Speaking on PA TV on May 23 about the jailed terrorists’ recent “conciliation plan” between Fatah and Hamas, Mahmoud Abbas expressed his satisfaction with the initiative of those he called “our brothers, our jailed heroes… their initiative proves that these heroes, who are sentenced to tens of life sentences, feel too that the homeland is in danger.”
The PMW concludes that “Abbas rejects terror for tactical reasons only, and not because it is immoral… Abbas has always been careful, in Arabic, not to condemn terror because it is evil or immoral. He has criticized suicide terror only because it hurts the PA cause, as he did after the December 2005 suicide attack that killed five in Netanya.”
It is quite clear that Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) is no friend of Israel. It is also clear that President Bush’s attempts to persuade Olmert to enter into a diplomatic process with Abbas are clearly futile. Despite Bush’s hopes that this move will help Abbas muster enough support to regain control and once again move into a decision making position is unrealistic at best and totally preposterous at worst.
Hamas is clearly in control and they voice the desires and aspirations of it’s constituency. They do not want peace and will not accept a Palestinian state in pre-1967 borders.
And while the state of Israel rushes to protect it’s enemies such as Abbas, it also attempts to expedite the process of evacuating tens of thousands of Jews from their homes in Judea and Samaria in the futile attempt to reach an “unreachable” peace with Hamas. Abbas’ influence in negligible despite his political rhetoric aimed at the Bush administration.
In the last few days we witnessed tens of thousands of Jews in the streets of Jerusalem and it’s old city, in celebration of the 39th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem. In 1967 we witnessed the power of the Almighty G-d of Israel when Israel defeated six Arab armies and the holy city of Jerusalem was once again in Jewish hands. It was General Mota Gur who declared, “the Temple Mount is in our hands.” And yet, we took this great and awesome miracle and threw it away. The leaders of the State of Israel seek to protect the lives of those who would celebrate the eradication of a Jewish presence in Jerusalem. We protect the rights of those who would destroy our holy sites and defile the name of the G-d of Israel.
The leaders of the State of Israel are busying themselves with providing military aid to protect our enemies, while Jerusalem Police Chief Ilan Franco appeared in Supreme Court to defend his decision not to allow the Temple Loyalists to visit the Temple Mount. He said that the site is “extra sensitive,” and that the Moslems would be likely to respond with violence to any perceived Jewish intention to visit the Mount en-masse.
It is now the Arabs that can say that the Temple Mount is in their hands. Who is the conqueror and who is the conquered? Is the holy city of Jerusalem truly liberated and in Jewish hands. Is it truly the undivided capitol of the State of Israel, under sovereignty of a Jewish government?
Despite all the governmental pronouncements of the special and unique quality of Jerusalem for the Jewish people, it is the very same government that is paving a path towards the relinquishing of Jerusalem as it’s capitol. And that is just the first move towards the relinquishing of the entire State of Israel into the hands of its enemies. The same enemies that it seeks to protect. If only the leaders of the State of Israel would make such attempts to preserve Jewish lives and Jewish land.
Woe to a people that has turned it’s back on it’s only savior. Hashem Yisborach, the Almighty G-d of Israel, who in His infinite kindness and compassion allowed us to reunify Jerusalem and preserve it as His holy city. It is only through Jewish pride and Jewish power that we can maintain our very existence in Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. In the next few days, we will (G-d willing) celebrate the Yom Tov of Shavuot. And we will beseech Hashem as we do on all the Shalosh Regalim (three festivals) with the words of the Ya’aleh V’Ya’avo prayer when we ask for “the remembrance of Jerusalem the city of Your Holiness, and the remembrance of Your entire people, the House of Israel, before you for deliverance, for goodness, for grace, for kindness and for compassion.”
May it be the will of the G-d of Israel that he give us the wisdom and strength to protect ourselves and not our enemies.
5 FERN SIDMAN // May 31, 2006 at 6:56 pm
KEEPING OUR ENEMIES ALIVE
BY: FERN SIDMAN
It has been recently reported by Arutz Sheva that Israel has decided to arm PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ (Abu Mazen) Presidential Security Force in light of growing reports that he has been targeted for assassination by Islamic opponents. Violent clashes and shooting attacks between Hamas and Fatah-aligned security forces have sharply increased over recent weeks, prompting a Ramallah meeting on Thursday, seeking to reach a truce that would bring an end to the internal fighting and increasing death toll.
While Abbas is powerless to speak on behalf of the PA since losing the winter election to the now-ruling Hamas party. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has agreed to a recommendation from Defense Minister Amir Peretz, permitting the transfer of a limited number of weapons to Abbas’ security personnel. The weapons are intended for the expressed purpose of keeping Abbas alive.
According to Israeli sources, the weapons will be closely monitored and only handed to those troops known to be loyal to Abbas. Opponents to the move have stated that the weapons will be turned against Israel and fired at residents of Sderot and western Negev communities.
Ironically, Olmert has signaled his intent to enter into negotiations with Abu Mazen in the immediate future, but openly commented that Abu Mazen cannot speak on behald of the PA since he is no longer in a position of power. PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah, affiliated with Hamas, has repeatedly stated that he and his colleagues will never recognize Israel’s right to exist, and the existing western-nation economic boycott will not succeed in bringing his administration to its knees. Haniyah stated he will raise the badly needed funds among Arab nations, thereby substituting the missing donor nation funds previously forthcoming from the European Union and the USA.
And while Israel is making attempts to protect Abbas from an assassin’s bullet, Abbas, the so called moderate and peacemaker is busy declaring that Arab terrorists are “heroes” of the Palestinian people. Palestinian Media Watch, an organization that monitors and reports on anti-Israel hatred in the PA media, reveals that Abbas twice this week referred to Arab terrorists servings “tens of life sentences” in Israeli jails as “our heroes.” PMW’s Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook report that the terrorists referred to are “arch-terrorists who have personally killed tens of Israelis and are sentenced to one life sentence for each murder.”
Speaking on PA TV on May 23 about the jailed terrorists’ recent “conciliation plan” between Fatah and Hamas, Mahmoud Abbas expressed his satisfaction with the initiative of those he called “our brothers, our jailed heroes… their initiative proves that these heroes, who are sentenced to tens of life sentences, feel too that the homeland is in danger.”
The PMW concludes that “Abbas rejects terror for tactical reasons only, and not because it is immoral… Abbas has always been careful, in Arabic, not to condemn terror because it is evil or immoral. He has criticized suicide terror only because it hurts the PA cause, as he did after the December 2005 suicide attack that killed five in Netanya.”
It is quite clear that Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) is no friend of Israel. It is also clear that President Bush’s attempts to persuade Olmert to enter into a diplomatic process with Abbas are clearly futile. Despite Bush’s hopes that this move will help Abbas muster enough support to regain control and once again move into a decision making position is unrealistic at best and totally preposterous at worst.
Hamas is clearly in control and they voice the desires and aspirations of it’s constituency. They do not want peace and will not accept a Palestinian state in pre-1967 borders.
And while the state of Israel rushes to protect it’s enemies such as Abbas, it also attempts to expedite the process of evacuating tens of thousands of Jews from their homes in Judea and Samaria in the futile attempt to reach an “unreachable” peace with Hamas. Abbas’ influence in negligible despite his political rhetoric aimed at the Bush administration.
In the last few days we witnessed tens of thousands of Jews in the streets of Jerusalem and it’s old city, in celebration of the 39th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem. In 1967 we witnessed the power of the Almighty G-d of Israel when Israel defeated six Arab armies and the holy city of Jerusalem was once again in Jewish hands. It was General Mota Gur who declared, “the Temple Mount is in our hands.” And yet, we took this great and awesome miracle and threw it away. The leaders of the State of Israel seek to protect the lives of those who would celebrate the eradication of a Jewish presence in Jerusalem. We protect the rights of those who would destroy our holy sites and defile the name of the G-d of Israel.
The leaders of the State of Israel are busying themselves with providing military aid to protect our enemies, while Jerusalem Police Chief Ilan Franco appeared in Supreme Court to defend his decision not to allow the Temple Loyalists to visit the Temple Mount. He said that the site is “extra sensitive,” and that the Moslems would be likely to respond with violence to any perceived Jewish intention to visit the Mount en-masse.
It is now the Arabs that can say that the Temple Mount is in their hands. Who is the conqueror and who is the conquered? Is the holy city of Jerusalem truly liberated and in Jewish hands. Is it truly the undivided capitol of the State of Israel, under sovereignty of a Jewish government?
Despite all the governmental pronouncements of the special and unique quality of Jerusalem for the Jewish people, it is the very same government that is paving a path towards the relinquishing of Jerusalem as it’s capitol. And that is just the first move towards the relinquishing of the entire State of Israel into the hands of its enemies. The same enemies that it seeks to protect. If only the leaders of the State of Israel would make such attempts to preserve Jewish lives and Jewish land.
Woe to a people that has turned it’s back on it’s only savior. Hashem Yisborach, the Almighty G-d of Israel, who in His infinite kindness and compassion allowed us to reunify Jerusalem and preserve it as His holy city. It is only through Jewish pride and Jewish power that we can maintain our very existence in Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. In the next few days, we will (G-d willing) celebrate the Yom Tov of Shavuot. And we will beseech Hashem as we do on all the Shalosh Regalim (three festivals) with the words of the Ya’aleh V’Ya’avo prayer when we ask for “the remembrance of Jerusalem the city of Your Holiness, and the remembrance of Your entire people, the House of Israel, before you for deliverance, for goodness, for grace, for kindness and for compassion.”
May it be the will of the G-d of Israel that he give us the wisdom and strength to protect ourselves and not our enemies.
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