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Sunday, March 28, 2010

WHY DOES GREAT BRITAIN ESPECIALLY HAMMER ISRAEL WITH FRAUDULENT PROPAGANDISTIC NOMENCLATURE SUCH AS "ILLEGALLY OCCUPIED" AND "ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS"?

FOR A NATION THAT PUBLICLY SPEAKS OF ITSELF AS ISRAEL'S "ALLY", BRITAIN CALLS TO THE JEWISH MIND THE APHORISM, "WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE, WHO NEEDS ENEMIES?" THE SAME CAN BE ESPECIALLY SAID OF EUROPE TODAY AND OF MUCH OF THE WORLD AND CERTAINLY OF HILLARY CLINTON, JOSEPH BIDEN, AND PRESIDENT OBAMA. BUT, WHAT IS IT, THAT MAKES THE VITRIOL OF THE BRITISH SO UNRELENTING, WAR-LIKE, MEGALOMANIACAL, AND PUZZLING?

It was not so long ago historically that Britain occupied what it chose to call "Palestine" after the name "Syria Palestina" given to that part of the world by the Romans during Rome's Middle East occupation. The British extended the term to apply to the territory eastwards of the Jordan River, which territory it referred to as "Transjordan". The British won this territory during WW1 [World War 1] by defeating the Syrians and Turks, who were allied with Germany. The underlying conflict was largely about oil supply for the war and long term oil rights in general in addition to the customary violence pertaining to political spheres of influence.

The British like to see themselves as being on the forefront of the historical fight for freedom, liberation, and liberty. Other nations tend to see them as elitists and imperialists. To be sure, the truth encompasses both aspects. Even the British, with their reputation for coldness and correctness, achieving at times an emotionless mechanical quality coupled with talent for great thespianism (witness Parliament), do actually have feelings and emotions like other people do. One suspects that the great bombing of London by the Germans during the early stages of WW2 (World War 2) may have had more than a little to do with the stereotypical subdued personality of Britain. One suspects as well that such phenomenon as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals, Monty Python, and "Keeping Up Appearances" and "Are You Being Served" are all representative of the once and great Empire that was Britain, struggling to be itself again after the great bombing of London and all that the British suffered during WW2.

Whether as imperialist or as grand patriarch reticent to leave the "children" on their own, the British cannot have felt thrilled to have been targeted by their "Jewish" and "Arab" children for guerilla warfare bent on freedom and independence. However pernicious and inhibiting BRITISH OCCUPATION may have felt to the Jews and the Arabs, the British Patriarchy must have thought and represented their hegemony to be for the regional good and for the good of the Peoples within, however evolutionarily backwards the Brits may have regarded those Peoples to be.

Anyone, who has ever freed a trapped animal, knows that he or she must protect him or her self from the flailing and rage of the animal while it is trapped, and then from the possible venting of that rage on anything or anyone nearby, once that animal has gained it's freedom. Any parent knows that at some point a child has to grow up -- preferably on his or her own and out of the house. The troubles of an occupier are that an occupier rarely has the good instinct of a human freeing an animal, who knows when and how to set that animal free without getting into conflict with it, and an occupier tends to think of that which is occupied as Home of the Occupier. A parent may kick a child out of the house or give the house to the child; but, it is the right of the parent to choose and execute, not the other way around.

So, how dare these backwards, retrograde "Peoples" -- these Jews, these Arabs -- kick the Brits out of their "Home"! And, how dare these "Peoples" have such respective power today, even be they enemies! The Arabs with all their oil, the Jews with their spiritual and military might! How dare they challenge the Enlightenment brought to them and to the World by Great Britain! By Europe! By the USA!

So, segway to Palestine. The Brits know that the Arabs want to kick the Jews into the Mediterranean Sea. All the world knows that the Arabs want to kick the Jews into the Mediterranean Sea. The Brits know that there was never a People called "Palestinians" and never a State called "Palestine" and that it is completely a fabrication of British foreign policy to do so -- as does the rest of the world know this. The Brits know that Israel, as a political entity, has an identity going back thousands of years, including more than two-thousand years of foreign occupation. It was Israel that decisively motivated Britain to depart from it's occupation of the Holy Land after the close of WW2. So, revendfully, Britain targets Israel -- with it's BBC propaganda machine most especially -- framing Israel as "illegal occupier".

Use by the BBC of such loaded and biased nomenclature as: "Palestine" to refer to a non-existent state of [militant] Arabs, "settler" to refer to Jews building homes in their homeland [e.g. Jerusalem], "illegal settlers" to refer to Jews building homes in their historical homeland [e.g. Judea-Samaria], "illegal occupation" to refer to the presence of the Israeli military wherever there is disputed territory and wherever in those territories the Israeli military presence is essential for Israeli self-defense and for maintaining peace between the various Arab factions and for maintaining law and order -- all of that responsible Israeli behavior is derided and decried by the British, and one tool for this is the unrelenting use of fraudulent language to bully Israel with propaganda.

In their misguided vindictiveness the British pound and hammer Israel with propaganda, day after day, year after year, conducting their own "propaganda bombing" campaign against Israel analogous to the bombing Britain received from Hitler's Luftwaffe! Is it possible that the British tacitly think in the irrational mode that somehow, were it not for the Jews, that the bombing of London might never have happened? Is it possible, however ironically, that after sixty-years of freedom from the Nazis, that now the British are behaving like freed animals, lashing out at their most vulnerable ally and indirect liberator, Israel?

Indeed the media is replete with the idea that somehow "peace" in Israel between the Jews and the Arabs would be like oil on the troubled waters of other Arab or other Muslim nations at war! There is ugly anti-semitism behind such thinking, not merely the historical record of war and terror from Africa and the Middle East all the way to Asia, East Asia, and Indonesia, and from Arabia into Europe and across the Atlantic to the USA; there is also great strategic stupidity in such thinking.

Media fraud to propagandize against Israel by the British must not go unnoticed and must not be ignored by the British justice system, by the court of world opinion, and by an appropriate world court, even the Hague, if such an appropriate world court exists. This is not only true of Britain, it is also true in the media of Europe as a whole, as in these times Britain and Europe seek to rid themselves of the guilt of their own history by once again using the Jews as Scapegoat, by waging media wars of propaganda and fraud against Israel.

It is legitimate for the media to report activities that occur in "disputed territories;" it is illegitimate to refer to the disputed territories as "illegally occupied" or "illegally settled". It is legitimate to refer to the building of homes for Jews -- if such building is indeed within the confines of the Arab East Jerusalem -- as occurring within Arab East Jerusalem or the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem; it is illegitimate to refer to the Arab Quarter as "illegally occupied East Jerusalem. And so on, when reporting on such disputed territories as Sheba Farms, the Golan, Judea-Samaria [the "West Bank"], and Gaza.

And, there is a real occupation that ought to be addressed immediately by the world. It is the occupation of the soul of Gilad Shalit, 1,372 days captive today by Hamas, Hamas being Arab descendants of Arab allies to the Nazis. Today is DAY 1,372 of captivity for once young Gilad Shalit. Tomorrow is Erev Pesach, the day before Pesach [Passover]. Britain holds the power of persuasion to see to the freeing of Gilad Shalit by Hamas immediately.

Britain, your lands are already infested with crickets of Muslims, your population flows with the living blood of millions of Muslims, your airwaves croak like millions of frogs.... Britain, turn back from your Evil, lest you suffer the full wrath of The Miracle Plagues of The Almighty!

Free Gilad Shalit so that he may celebrate Pesach with his family in his home in Israel! Let Gilad Shalit go!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

BRITAIN, IRELAND, "PEACE" MONGERING, AND ISRAEL: THE OPERA AIN''T OVER TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS.

WHAT DOES THE "PEACE" MONGERING IN NORTHERN IRELAND HAVE TO DO WITH THE "PEACE" MONGERING IN ISRAEL?

A few days ago Martin McGuinness appeared on the Charlie Rose Show. The peace and reconciliation process that former Senator Michel brokered in Ireland continues, and in recent years Protestant Ian Paisley together with Jerry Adams and Martin McGuinness of Shin Fein have "become close friends", says Martin McGuiness, as the three have led the Peace. Charlie Rose asked First Minister Martin McGuinness, whether or not in his opinion a similar peace and reconciliation was possible in Israel between the Israelis and the "Palestinians", and McGuinness responded in the affirmative.

Putting aside a comparison-contrast analysis of the two very different conflicts, there is one great common denominator: British Imperialism and Occupation. We know the historical suffering of the Irish and the Scots at the hands of the British. We know the suffering of the Palestinian Jews and Arabs at the hands of the British (aided and abetted by the French). So it should be clear that the Irish, the Israelis, and the Palestinian Arabs have an historical common enemy: The British.

It has famously been said that, "The opera ain't over until the fat lady sings!" For years now British rhetoric about Israel has been profoundly fraudulent and negative towards Israel, gathering great momentum in the past several years, even achieving a war-like tone in recent months. The British continue to belove the Arabs and to quietly encourage peace in Ireland between the Protestants and the Catholics. This Blog isn't so confident as Martin McGuinness with respect to the "peace" in Northern Ireland, as this Blog is profoundly distrustful of the British. This Blog speculates that the British are using the Irish and the Arabs and perhaps the Persians as well in order to pressure Israel into self-destruction. British propaganda increasingly puts Israel in the awkward position of having to choose between two self-destructive options: surrender Judea-Samaria and incurr the undeniable security risks of doing so, or do-not surrender Judea-Samaria and face world condemnation. Once Israel self-destructs on either "choice" and the British and French regain their former foothold on the MIddle East to "protect" the Jewish survivors, the British will again turn their force against the Arabs and against the Irish. This Blog suggests to Martin McGuinness that the Irish beware the "Fat Lady" that is Great Britain.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

WAQF -- WAQF RADIO, VOICE OF PALESTINIAN ISLAM...

...VOICE OF THE ARAB AND MUSLIM WORLD ALTOGETHER?

(writing of post in progress)

40-YEARS OF MEDIA FRAUD, ESPECIALLY BY THE BBC AND EUROPEAN MEDIA, USING HITLER'S "BIG LIE" PROPAGANDA MODEL, HAVE SHAPED WORLD OPINION TO BELIEVE...

...THAT ISRAEL AS A NATION IS ENGAGED IN THE "ILLEGAL OCCUPATION" OF "PALESTINE" AND IS DEVOTED TO A POLICY OF "ETHNIC CLEANSING" OF "PALESTINIANS".

(writing of post in progress)

IT IS VITAL TO THE WORLD, NOT ONLY TO ISRAEL, THAT JERUSALEM REMAIN UNIFIED AND AN ISRAELI CITY.

IF THE WORLD HAS A STAKE IN POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, THEN IT CANNOT BE DENIED THAT THE RECOGNITION AND PRESERVATION OF JERUSALEM AS AN ENTIRELY ISRAELI CITY IS VITAL.

It is an interesting conundrum at the core of the creation of the United Nations, that the United Nations is body for the meeting of all member nations, and that despite the democratic appearance of the United Nations, not all member nations are required to be nor assumed to be democratic nations. Hence many nations are members of the UN, and yet are not democracies or are democracies in name only. Hence there are nations, such as Russia and China and Iran and Syria, which are UN members and which are not democracies or are democracies in name only.

It is well known that in recent years the UN has become increasingly anti-West as a body and in it's body of decision making.

It is well known that for many decades the UN has been decidedly biased against Israel, passing resolution after resolution without fairness or factual basis against the State of Israel.

It is not so well known, that as a matter of UN Law, Israel is prohibited to serve on the UN Security Council, even as it's enemy nations (e.g. Syria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudia Arabia, Libya, Sudan, etc.) may and do serve on the UN Security Council. Imagine! These nations, famous for human rights abuses, serve on the UN Security Council! Oy, Vey!

When Jerusalem was under Arab hegemony, Jews were denied the right to pray at the Western Wall [commonly called the "Wailing Wall"]. This was also true and remains true, even within Israeli controlled borders, where in Arab "territories" of Israel, the State of Israel bows to local control, even when that means that Jews may not visit Holy Sites. Most famous of these are such places as the Machpellah Cave [Tomb of the Patriarchs] in Hebron, and Joseph's Tomb and Jacob's Well, both adjacent to each other on the outskirts of Nablus. Joseph's Tomb was desecrated by Arab Terrorists during the 2003 Intifada. Jews attempting to visit the Machpellah Cave are always at risk of stoning or riot or worse, and are prohibited from the Machpellah Cave most of the year. The Machpellah Cave is under the administration of the Waqf, which is the Arab religious authority, the same authority that oversees the famous Dome of the Rock Mosque. [The present Israeli Government recently announced that it intends to include the Machpellah Cave and Rachel's Tomb in a national heritage sites protection and rehabilitation plan.]

Under Israeli rule religious freedom is held as a sacred right for all including the Muslims as well as Christians, Bahai, Buddhists, Hindus, etc. This respect is taken to the incomprehensible conclusion that excludes the Waqf from showing all but the most minimal level of respect for Jewish worship at Jewish Holy Sites under Waqf hegemony. At this very moment the Waqf is well under way in it's excavations and construction of an huge Mosque directly below the present Al-Aqsa [Dome of the Rock] Mosque! This has been going on for years with the willing participation of the previous conciliatory Israeli Government, despite the rampant destruction of Israeli archaeological history resulting from the digging out of the rock.

There is a double standard in the world, that somehow it is okay for Arabs to disrespect the inherent religious right of any human being to worship as they choose, and that other religious bodies must disrespect themselves in favor of Muslim religious sensibilities. Israel is the proverbial "canary in the coal mine" in this respect.

It is disgusting enough that in the name of "peace", the Israeli government enforceably supports the Waqf in the denial of religious rights to Jews. One can see that today the Waqf barely allows or protects Jews with respect to visiting Jewish Holy Sites under Waqf administration. It is obvious that tomorrow, if statehood is granted to the Arabs of Judea-Samaria (commonly called the "West Bank"), the consequence will be that Jews will be denied access altogether.

Until recently East Jerusalem and Arab East Jerusalem and The Arab Quarter of Jerusalem were synonymous. Now the media speaks of "Illegal Israeli Occupied East Jerusalem" -- as if it were somehow illegal for a Jew to live there. In the mind of much of the media, the Arab Quarter is already the Capital of "Palestine" -- a political State that does not exist, at least not yet! And according to that same mentality, Jews have no right to live in the Arab Quarter, and the Arabs have the right to deny any such right to Jews, as they do most everywhere else under Arab or Muslim hegemony! Double standard? At least! There is no shortage of Arabs freely living in Jerusalem, who do not live in East Jerusalem. If an Arab chooses not to live in East Jerusalem and to live elsewhere in Jerusalem, it is not against the law. Nor is it against the law for a Jew to live in the Arab Quarter!

The historical behavior of the Arabs and the Waqf makes clear that if Jerusalem and/or Judea-Samaria become a world-sanctioned political hegemony, Jews will altogether be excluded and discriminated against. Whatever may come out on paper in terms of rights of Jews in a new "Palestine", the reality will be that Jews will be excluded and discriminated against. Pogroms against Jews are not unique to the history of Europe. The history of anti-Jewish pogroms by Palestinian Arabs is not a recent phenomenon of alleged Israeli "occupation". No paper agreement with any Arab authority will survive the bigotry or the Waqf or the Arabs themselves.

Europe and Russia are already so heavily populated with Muslims that Europe is often referred to as "Eurabea". Will the European nations divide themselves each in half, as they desire Israel to do, so that we will soon see, e.g. England alongside Saudia-England with capital cities London and London-Riyadh, e.g. France alongside Syria-France with capital cities Paris and Paris-Damascus, e.g. Germany alongside Iraq-Germany with capital cities Berlin and Berlin-Baghdad? Will we soon see Russia do the same, e.g. Russia alongside Iran-Russia with capital cities Moscow and Moscow-Tehran? Will we one day say Wahabi-Washinton, D.C. alongside our nation's Capitol?

Besides the simple fact that today's Eurabeans [not a coffee blend (please forgive the humor)] are in the majority not of Arab Palestinian extraction; it should be obvious, even to Europe, that the policies, history, and demographics of Europe today are as much the direct consequence of The Holocaust, as is Israel's existence as we know it today. Europe itself not only rolled over for Hitler; Europe actively aided and abetted the Nazis, as did Poland and parts of Russia such as the Ukraine, as did the Palestinian Arabs, all having bloody histories of hatred of Jews. So, now Europe and Russia, having largely ethnically cleansed themselves of Jews (even though today there are special protections for the few Jews remaining or returning), now face the Eurabea problem.

Europe and Russia, hammer-locked by increasing Muslim population growth, are caught between the extreme pressures to ethnically cleanse themselves of Muslims, and by their own pathetic politically correct rhetoric about democracy and equality even as they commit suicide! Symbolically resisting the suicide by enacting restraining laws against Muslims, one after another European State has already established new Law: restraining Muslim immigration into Holland, prohibiting the wearing of the "hajaf" [head scarf] by Muslim women in public in France, and prohibiting the construction of minarets on mosques in Switzerland.

One cannot help but think that Europe and Russia blame Israel for their ubiquitous Arab populations, as if somehow these Arabs are all "Palestinians" with a right to return to "Palestine" and that once an hypothetical new State of Palestine comes into being, all these "Palestinians" will happily and speedily leave their respective European and Russian host countries to return "home"!

Russia and Europe are mentally unstable to begin with; and, given their history of the past century and their current demographic dilemmas, Europe and Russia should profoundly re-examine their attitudes and policies towards the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

Russia and Europe will not find their increasing Muslim populations to be either democratic or tolerant of democracy. Russia and Europe inevitably must realize that the demands of democracy will require that they draw a line against Islam -- or die. They will have to limit their Muslim populations, just as Israel will, or enact segregation laws to enable peaceful co-existence. (Such an idea may fly in the face of the American mind in particular, as the word "segregation" has a loaded pejorative content with respect anti-Negro racism in America. There may be some similarities of context; but, in the largest context, America's struggle with racism is a different thing than facing the religious warfare of Islam, which is antithetical to democracy.)

As to the guilt of Russia and Europe for The Pogroms and The Holocaust: there is no theological or ethical axiom, nor democratic value, that demands Europe to seek out Muslims as the "Hand of God" in Punishment. Nor is there any similar democratic value or religious value that demands that democracies must allow anti-democracies to flourish in their midst to the point of the death of democratic hosts.

The sooner Israel formally annexes the disputed territories, and the sooner the world recognizes such annexation by Israel -- including Israel's 1967 annexation of Jerusalem -- the sooner Europe and Russia may grant themselves permission to be functional democracies and deal with their own demographic issues with Muslims -- lest they be guilty of causing their own ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Muslims.

No democratic impulse can support the division of the Arab Quarter from Jerusalem, nor Jerusalem from Israel, just as no democratic impulse can support the creation of another bigoted, anti-democratic, anti-Israeli, Arab State. Any such policy held and put forth against Israel, be it a long-standing policy or a new policy, must needs be oxymoronic in the eyes of Lady Liberty.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

THE INHERENT EGOTISM OF VP BIDEN AND AMERICAN POLICY TOWARDS ISRAEL:

PEOPLE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WAY THEY HANDLE SURPRISES.

People are responsible for their own actions and reactions. This is especially true of public figures, and is crucial to diplomats.

VP Biden's reaction in Israel was personal, when and where it was most important that he react intelligently, thoughtfully, and not personally.

Israel's announcement, that it would proceed with the planning and construction of 1600 new housing units in the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem, could have been responded to very differently.

Imagine, if instead of interpreting the announcement quite publicly as an insult, VP Biden had instead said something like, "No doubt the Arabs aren't happy about this, and this will be one more axe to grind on the negotiating table; nevertheless, I'm here in Israel today on behalf of President Obama to urge re-engagement of peace talks between Israel and the Arabs. That is what I am here to do, that is what I shall proceed to do to the best of my abilities, and I urge Israel, the Arabs, and the media to focus on peace talks. And, speaking of peace talks, the unconditional release of Gilad Shalit might go a long way towards getting those peace talks started."

Instead VP Biden's thoughtless reaction placed the entire US Administration into the role of choir, as President, Secretary of State, et al could do nothing but publicly repeat the same judgement. There is even talk that General Petraeus wants to police "the occupied territories".

It might help mitigate some of the "bull in the china shop" mentality of American policy towards Israel, if the USA would discipline itself to avoid loaded propaganda terms, such as "settlers' or "illegally occupied Arab territory", when speaking about Jews building homes in their homeland, even if that territory is still a matter of legal, political, and military dispute.

Friday, March 12, 2010

ISRAEL ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR 1600 NEW HOUSING UNITS IN EAST JERUSALEM...

...PRESUMABLY FOR JEWS TO LIVE IN.

The timing of this announcement has been questioned due to the visit of American Vice-President Biden. Biden stated that Israel and the USA are friends and that sometimes one friend must tell the other the truth. His words could not be more true, although I doubt he meant it the way I heard it. Surely he meant that in condemning this announcement as an insult due to it's proximity to his attempts to kick-start "peace" talks, he meant that he was condemning Israel as a friend of Israel (there should be a T-shirt sporting a cartoon of Biden: body of an ox, head of Biden, with his hoof in his mouth, captioned "OXYMORON"). Israel spoke the truth to it's American friend, that Jews have the right to live in Israel and build Jewish life there, including in East Jerusalem, which ought never be divided away from Jerusalem, certainly not as Capital nor Latipac* of another Islamic State, may such a State never come into existence!

Of course cynicism dictates the possibility that these housing units may be turned over to the Arabs. If the entire city of Jerusalem remains the united capital of Israel, well -- why not? Just let these Arabs make true peace with Israel!

This Shabbath marks day 1360 of captivity for Gilad Shalit. May he be freed in time for Shabbath!

____________________________________________
*Latipac" -- "Capital" spelled backwards, yo!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

THE BLOOD SPILLED IS ALL TOO REAL; THE WORLD CONVERSATION IS A MISFORTUNATE MYTHOLOGY.

ARAB PALESTINIANS ARE NOT MYTHICAL BEINGS, NEITHER ARE JEWISH PALESTINIANS MYTHICAL BEINGS; WHAT IS CRUEL AND USELESS IS THE HATRED AND PROPAGANDA SPEWED FORTH BY BOTH ARABS AND JEWS, WHO AT VARIOUS TIMES IN HISTORY HAVE EXPERIENCED SHARED OCCUPATION BY FOREIGN POWERS, MOST RECENTLY BY EUROPEAN POWERS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.

The world should express sadness and compassion at all loss of life. At the same time, the world should not be blind to the differences of language and culture behind the Arab-Israeli Conflict, nor to the reality that, if perhaps a third of the Arabs currently living within Israeli controlled boundaries prefer the life and protections of a democratic modern Israel, the other two-thirds are indifferent or hateful of Israel and represent a Fifth Column that Israel cannot tolerate and that the world should not require Israel to tolerate.

The world should carry the ball in seeing to an enforced and well-paid resettlement of that Fifth Column. The sooner the world ceases to worship the "false idol" of the idea of a "State of Palestine", then the sooner the killing can stop and peace be realized.

There is no need to bribe or leverage either side or both sides with money or the withholding of money. There is only need to see the realities of past and modern history, which suggest the solution. Proper boundaries and resettlement of the FIfth Column will make for sounder nations able to sustain investments and to engage in mutually beneficial trade and tourism.

Let us stop using degrading language that clouds conversation and incorrectly defines who is who and what is what. The myth of a State of Palestine does not make the millions of Arab Palestinians mythical beings any more than it makes the millions of Jewish Palestinians mythical beings. Every drop of blood that is spilled is real blood, not mythical blood; only the conversation is mythical, for it does not correspond to reality.

Even as I write this, most of the world is programmed to believe that by definition a Palestinian is not Jewish and that Israeli Arabs are oppressed Palestinians; therefore, most of the world may have to read comments such as mine over and over until it sinks in that the term "Palestinian" applies equally to Arabs and Jews -- including exiled Jews living in the Diaspora for two or more thousand years -- and that a "State of Palestine" would deny Jews a secure homeland and at the same time would deny Arabs entry into their natural homelands.

Similarly, the mythical "West Bank" is a European invention of territorial naming; the proper designations for that territory are Judea and Samaria, part and parcel of historical Israel, the singular tiny national homeland of Jews. For every reason the world must support Israel to be whole again as one undivided State; so, too, the world can support the Arab right to return to the many existing States that are their historical homelands.

PRESIDENT BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA CAN STAND UP AND SET HISTORICAL PRECEDENT WITH THE NAME HIS FATHER GAVE HIM.

FIRST, CORRECT THE LEXICON IN THE CONTEXT OF WHICH THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT IS DISCUSSED; THEN, REALITY MAY HAVE SOME CORRESPONDENCE TO THE TERMS OF DISCUSSION. BOTH JEWS AND ARABS ARE PALESTINIAN. IT IS JUST PLAIN WRONG TO EXCLUDE JEWS FROM THE PALESTINIAN IDENTITY. SIMILARLY IT IS JUST PLAIN WRONG TO DEFINE THE CONFLICT AS AN “ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN” CONFLICT, WHEN IN FACT IT IS AN “ARAB-ISRAELI” CONFLICT.

Once the terms are properly defined, once the distortion of incorrect ‘prescription glasses’ is removed, the reality of the conflict may come into focus. That reality has far greater implications than the world conversation has embraced in the past several decades. Ever since the decisive wars of 1967 and 1973, the world has believed that the scale of the Arab-Israli Conflict no longer ranged outside Israeli controlled borders and that therefore a final peace with the local Arab population could only be a few moments away. The world chose to call the Arabs within Israeli controlled borders “Palestinian”.

“Palestinian” is a term given by the Ancient Roman occupation of the middle east to all the inhabitants of that geography — Israeli, Arab, and everyone else. The British and French and Germans (Modern Romans) applied this Roman lexicon to the middle east, when in modern times they themselves occupied these lands and subjugated these middle eastern Peoples. There never existed a People or a State called “Palestine” except as a subjugated territorial entity of the Romans and the Modern Romans. [Today's Arabs from that geographical area are not identifiable with the "Philistines", although it has been a convenient myth with which the Arabs and Jew-haters propagandize in order to falsely claim an historical claim to Gaza.]

Jews have lived in Israel/Palestine dating back to the times of ancient Egypt. There has been continuous Jewish life in Israel/Palestine throughout history, even during the most decimating occupations by Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, Turks, Modern Romans….

The vast majority of Arabs are Muslims, not Christians, and if at street level most people are not motivated by militancy, there are two powerful minorities that are married to militancy. These are the Jihadists, who wage their terrorist utopian Holy Wars; and then there are the Governments of the many Islamic nation-states, who rule by terror and by diversion of attention away from their own repressions by scapegoating Jews and the West; too often they find common cause with the Jihadists.

Israel has no peace with the Arab population within Israeli controlled borders because the Arab Governments don’t want peace with Israel and to this day refuse to make peace with Israel, the well-paid semi-exceptions being Egypt and Jordan. When the world at large understands that the Arab-Israeli Conflict is like a giant iceberg, and that the localized violence that is visible in Israel is visible in the same way that the tip of an iceberg is visible, perhaps then the world can become constructive in the seeking of real solutions. Denial just means ’shipwreck after shipwreck’ and a steady rise in ‘maintenance and insurance costs’.
If President Obama has the courage to stand up to reality, and not just be team leader in a never ending Washington game of “Capture The Flag”, he may make the most of the name his father gave him, declare himself to be the first American Muslim to be President of the USA, and establish a worldwide Muslim precedent demanding worldwide recognition of the State of Israel inclusive of Judea-Samaria (commonly referred to as the “West Bank”); he should suggest the creation of a world fund to support the voluntary emigration and resettlement from Israel of all willing Arab residents living within Israeli controlled borders, who cannot stomach the idea of living in a Jewish State, to the nations of their choice.

More than 1500 years of Muslim expansion in the world has created no shortage of possible destination homes for the Arabs today living within Israeli controlled borders; by nation of origin they may be identified in fact as mostly Egyptian, Saudi, Jordanian, Syrian, Lebanese, Iraqi, Iranian, and Turkish.

All should remember not only the decimations of Hitler; Hitler had many allies including the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and a Muslim world that raped, murdered, and exiled Jews all the way from Afghanistan to Africa and from Russia to Iran. Israel remembers, and yet despite this history 20% of Israel’s voting citizens today are Arabs…. At what point must Israel’s idealism gove way to Israel’s survival needs as a tiny ‘island’ Jewish State in a vast ’sea’ of Muslim States?

President Barak Hussein Obama can make a profound difference and set positive democratic precedents in the solution of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Israel is already a democracy with two-million Arab citizens. This reality can be preserved and can be a precedent towards liberalization of Arab States to become inclusive and tolerant of non-Muslims. Anything less is a profoundly anti-Israeli, anti-democratic double standard that the world must reject on principle.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

PURIM, PESACH, PEACE -- AND 1347 CAPTIVE DAYS FOR GILAD SHALIT, STILL COUNTING ....

SO TODAY THE UNITED NATIONS IS ABUZZ, that the United Arab Emirates Summit is encouraging resumed "Peace Talks" between Israel and the Palestinian Authority -- at the behest of George Michel, former American Senator (of Arab-American extraction) and international negotiator, famous for the present relative peace in Ireland [that he worked out during the Clinton presidential administration]. So the Arabs have tossed President Barak Hussein Obama either a fig leaf or a Trojan Horse.

A four-month window has been set for these talks to take place and yield results. Meanwhile Hamas and Fatah have still not come together even on terms for a "reasonable and speedy" release of Gilad Shalit. In four months will we see real movement toward peace or more preparation for another hot summer Intifada?

It is said that Purim, which was celebrated this past weekend, is a Jewish holiday pregnant with hidden miracles. Purim celebrates survival in the face of imminent annihilation dating to the captivity of Israel in Persia. In that sense it is related to Pesach, which is only a few weeks away now, when Israel "re-enacts" it's creation as a nation, remembering the many miracles composing the larger miracle of escape from Egypt more than three-thousand odd years ago.

Gilad Shalit's captivity is symbolic of Israel's history of captivity and struggles for freedom.

As of today Gilad Shalit has been held captive for 1347 days! For one man, such captivity for one day is like a year....

May Gilad Shalit's release be granted unilaterally and unconditionally by his captors before Pesach!