Israel always faces hypocrisy and a biased rush to judgment

By Dmitry MININ


American diplomacy, which has been enduring one failure after another in the Middle East, is faced with the prospect with yet another large fiasco which threatens to bury the White House's entire Middle East strategy altogether. There are more and more signs that the sluggish process of Palestinian-Israeli reconciliation, which remains for now in the shadows, could be disrupted at any moment and turn into the hot phase of the Third Palestinian Intifada... Having arrogantly pushed aside the «quartet» of mediators, Washington has achieved nothing in the reconciliation arena on its own, which may well result in new ordeals for the Middle East.

Experts believe that in making the peace process in the Middle East his main priority, Secretary of State Kerry has set the stakes so high that «if this effort collapses, it will be a long time before anybody tries again». For example, Elliott Abrams, who was a senior official on President George W. Bush’s National Security Council, has said that he sees no realistic possibility that a final agreement can be reached now. «I just hope there are two State Department teams: one to work on the talks, and the other to start planning for what to do when they fail», he said.

The actions of the «sole mediator» have deliberately doomed the negotiations to failure. The U.S. used a simple trick: it promised both sides that it would satisfy all their «legitimate demands», and presented both Israel and the Palestinians with letters of guarantee. The U.S. promised the Palestinians that it would negotiate on the basis of the 1967 borders, while it promised Israel that the final borders would differ from those of 1967. The Palestinians claim that they received guarantees of the inviolability of the 1967 borders from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and that it was only on this condition that they agreed to resume the peace process. Now the Americans are refuting this information. Netanyahu also denies the existence of such letters of guarantee. 

 

Washington essentially agreed to the demands of the Israeli prime minister not to raise the issue of the 1967 borders and the division of Jerusalem at the negotiations. As Noam Sheizaf wrote in the leading Israeli newspaper Maariv, John Kerry's efforts to show at least some kind of result from his activities in the Middle East have led to the betrayal of the fundamental agreements concluded during the grueling negotiation process (starting with Clinton's program and ending with the «road map»). According to experts, «Netanyahu has still outplayed the Americans (who will pay the price for this Pyrrhic victory is another question). After three years of obstinacy, the Obama administration has given in and agreed to annul all previous deals reached between the parties during the negotiations in Taba and Annapolis».

 

At the moment Netanyahu is worried not so much about Washington's position, but about the independent actions of the official negotiator for Israel, Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni, who was appointed at the insistence of the Americans and takes a softer stance than he does. While Tzipi Livni supports the idea of dividing Jerusalem, Netanyahu is categorically opposed to this. Livni might agree to the partial demolition of Israeli settlements in occupied territories, while the head of the government insists on their preservation. Livni is willing to agree to the deployment of international forces in the Jordan valley, but Netanyahu insists on the presence of Israeli forces. 

 

But the fears of the Israeli prime minister are most likely exaggerated. Livni is required to get approval for the positions she presents from the head of government, and his word is final. Furthermore, Netanyahu's personal representative, Yitzhak Molcho, is taking part in the negotiations and monitoring all Livni's actions.

 

No one in the Palestinian camp is counting on the success of the negotiations either. «We decided to react positively to the endless requests from the U.S. to resume the 'peace process' in order to please the Americans and avoid possible accusations that we are conducting a policy of constant refusal,» admits one of the negotiators from the PLO. The Palestinians realize that in the current situation «Israel will not agree to give back what it seized in the war of 1967, to say nothing of allowing Palestinian refugees to return home». Moreover, they understand that due to prevailing public sentiments, «any Israeli government that agrees to give back the West Bank and retreat to the borders of June 4, 1967 will be committing political suicide». 

 

It is true that as a result of many years of propaganda, the great majority of Israelis are not inclined to support making any compromises with the Palestinians. The results of one survey conducted in the country, in which 4,774 respondents took part, look quite dismal. 70% of those surveyed, for example, feel that there is no sense in signing a peace treaty with the Mahmud Abbas administration. Only 17.5% of respondents hold the opposite opinion. Over 87% believe that it will not be possible to achieve the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and the PNA as a result of the current negotiations. Only 2% believe that such a result is possible. 73% think that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will never end. 14.5% believe that it will end, but no earlier than the year 2030.

 

Survey participants were asked: «What concessions do you believe are acceptable for the sake of reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinian National Administration?» Around 48% chose the categorical answer «None». 1.5% think agreeing to the return of Palestinian refugees is acceptable, 2.4% think the complete evacuation of the Jewish population from the West Bank of the Jordan River is acceptable, 3.1% find retreating to the 1967 borders is acceptable, and less than 7% of those surveyed feel that dividing Jerusalem is acceptable.

 

Such attitudes are fed by the doctrinal arguments of Israeli strategists. In particular, a report was prepared at the BESA (Begin-Sadat) Center for Strategic Research with the characteristic title «Time is on Israel's Side». It argues that Israel's advantage over its regional adversaries in terms of aggregate measures of national power has never been as great as it is now, and that this tendency will continue in the long term. To a great extent this situation was the consequence of the destabilization of countries neighboring Israel after the «Arab Spring». The arguments of the Israeli left camp for a quick settlement of the Palestinian question may be considered insubstantial. There are no real threats to Israel, and accordingly, there is no need to make concessions either. The discord between Arab countries and Iran has grown to the point that their concern about the Palestinian question has been pushed to the background and they are becoming potential allies of Israel. That is why Tel-Aviv is so insistent about the Iranian peril. After 65 years of existence, Israel can be confident that it will overcome all the challenges it faces in the future. «While peace is desirable, it is not a necessary condition for survival,» concludes the author of the report, Efraim Inbar.

 

It is not surprising that some of Israel's suggestions at this stage of the negotiations are of a deliberately unacceptable, not to say mocking, nature. For example, according to information in Maariv, at the negotiations with the Palestinians the Israelis plan to offer their partners a partial deal on the principle of «annexation in exchange for annexation». The essence of the offer is that Israel would annex part of the West Bank of the Jordan in the south (Gush Etzion) in exchange for transferring part of the territory of the West Bank in the north (in the area of Shechem) which is now under Israeli control to the Palestinian Administration. In other words, Israel is offering the Palestinians not its territory, as was provided for at Camp David in 2000 and in Annapolis in 2008, but their own. The chances that the Palestinian side will accept such an offer are few, admits the article's author, Ariel Kachane.

 

The pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat reports that Israel insists on control and the presence of Israeli soldiers in the Jordan River valley, the creation of early warning stations along the river, monitoring of the movement of persons between the West Bank and Jordan and the preservation of military bases on the highest points of the West Bank. The Jordan valley would be part of the future Palestinian state, but it would be transferred to Israel under a long-term lease. The Israelis also continue to insist that the entire border with Jordan be under the control of their army.

 

Naturally, such suggestions are absolutely unacceptable to the Palestinians. At the General Assembly of the UN, Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas clearly stated that an agreement can be reached only on the basis of the 1967 borders. The Palestinians refuse to «enter into a vortex of a new interim agreement that becomes eternalized», said Abbas. «Our objective is to achieve a permanent and comprehensive agreement and a peace treaty between the states of Palestine and Israel that resolves all outstanding issues and answers all questions, which allows us to officially declare an end of conflict and claims». He warned that most likely this will be the last opportunity for Israel and Palestine to settle the conflict.

 

In both camps people are increasingly coming to the conclusion that the prospects of the beginning of a third intifada are becoming inevitable. The Israeli newspaper Gaaretz writes, «If the negotiation process fizzles out altogether in connection with Netanyahu's inability to hold up under pressure within his party, unrest really will begin in the territories which could grow into a new intifada».

 

The country's current government is convinced that it will meet with success in this standoff. However, such self-assurance is most likely unjustified; after all, the challenges for Israel could be of an asymmetrical nature. A new Palestinian uprising would be quite able to further complicate the situation in the entire region and lead to serious economic and diplomatic losses for Tel Aviv. 

 

As Gaaretz warns, Netanyahu is placing his country at risk. The failure of negotiations traditionally serves as a trigger for the beginning of the next wave of violence in the Middle Eastern region. The failure of the current round, the newspaper writes, «will further damage the international status of our state. The world is tired of occupation, and no explanations will relieve us of responsibility anymore».

 

Islam is a terrorist culture, not a religion.  Basil Venitis, venitis@gmail.com, http://themostsearched.blogspot.com @Venitis

Biased UN human rights investigators call on Israel to halt settlement expansion and withdraw all a million Jewish settlers from West Bank!  Israel tells the biased Universal Nudnik (UN) freaks to go to hell.

 

Bibi Netanyahu lectures the international community over its criticism of settlement expansion on occupied territory. Netanyahu brings a resonance in Israel, where the song "The whole world is against us" is a hit. Netanyahu vows to continue building settlements in Jerusalem, defying stupid international criticism. Netanyahu declares the Western Wall is not occupied territory, and he does not care what the Universal Nudnik (UN) has to say about it. Netanyahu points out all Israeli citizens live in the Jewish state, and the capital of the Jewish state, for three millennia, has been Jerusalem.

 

In 2012, the UN General Assembly awarded Palestine non-member observer state status. With this move, the Palestinians simply tore to pieces all the agreements with Israel. Netanyahu had warned that Israel would not react by sitting with its arms folded. Netanyahu has repeatedly accused corrupt Mahmoud Abbas of obstructing peace talks. Abbas has refused to negotiate unless Netanyahu and his government adhere to certain stupid preconditions, among which is a settlement freeze.

 

Israel has not cooperated with the probe set up by the Human Rights Council to examine the impact of settlements in the territory, including East Jerusalem. Israel says the forum has an inherent bias against it and defends its settlement policy by citing historical and Biblical links to the West Bank.

 

Israel's foreign ministry swiftly rejects the biased UN reports as counterproductive and unfortunate. The only way to resolve all pending issues between Israel and the Palestinians, including the settlements issue, is through direct negotiations without preconditions. Counterproductive measures, such as reports, will only hamper efforts to find a sustainable solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

 

About three hundred settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, have been established since 1967 and they hold a million settlers. UN asserts the settlements impede Palestinian access to water and farmland. UN laments the settlements are leading to a creeping annexation that prevents the establishment of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state and undermines the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

 

Israel follows nuclear opacity, a great deterrent against its malevolent neighbors. Erdogan threatens Israel again. Ankara's condemnation of the only longstanding democracy in the Middle East is always swift and unequivocal. The Arab League always engages in a frenzy of denunciation, even before all the facts are established. Israel is the UN's favorite whipping boy. In the past four years, three quarters of the resolutions passed by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) condemned Israel. Israel always faces hypocrisy and a biased rush to judgment.

 

Israel is a bastion of freedom and Graecoroman culture, an economic miracle, and a leader in science and technology. Israel is the only free country in a region dominated by Arab monarchies, theocracies and dictatorships. It is only the citizens of Israel, Arabs and Jews alike, who enjoy the right to express their views, to criticize their government, to form political parties, to publish private newspapers, to hold free elections.

 

When Islamists deny the most basic freedoms to their own people, it is obscene  for them to start claiming that Israel is violating the Palestinians' rights. All Muslims who are genuinely concerned with human rights should, as their very first action, seek to oust their own despotic rulers and adopt the type of freesociety that characterizes Israel.

 

Land-for-peace is a repugnant formula for Israel's self-immolation. The right of a civilized nation to self-defense against its barbarous enemies is a moral absolute. It should not be surrendered in a vain attempt to appease the initiators of war. It is a moral perversion to demand that Israel give back the very land it captured in the process of defending itself against wars launched by the Arab aggressors.

 

Netanyahu notes the days when bulldozers uprooted Jews are behind us, not in front of us.  A million Jews live in more than 100 settlements built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since Israel occupied the area in 1967.  Netanyahu has long championed settlements, but has also said he would be prepared to make painful concessions to non-settled parts of West Bank.

 

Netanyahu has not uprooted any settlements, he has expanded them. Nobody has any lessons to give Netanyahu about love for the Land of Israel or commitment to Zionism and the settlements. Tenders and approvals for construction in East Jerusalem have reached record levels under Netanyahu's government.  Isolated settlements accounted for nearly 40% of all new constructions, nearly double that of previous years.

 

When Israel ended its occupation of Gaza, it did not impose a blockade. Indeed it left behind agricultural facilities in the hope that the newly liberated Gaza Strip would become a peaceful and productive area. Instead, Hamas seized control over Gaza and engaged in acts of warfare against Israel. These acts of warfare featured 10,000 rockets directed at Israeli civilians. This was not only an act of warfare, it was a war crime.

 

Israel responded to the rockets by declaring a blockade, the purpose of which was to assure that no rockets, or other material that could be used for making war against Israeli civilians, was permitted into Gaza. Israel allowed humanitarian aid through its checkpoints. There was never a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, merely a shortage of certain goods that would end if the rocket attacks ended.

 

Palestinian behavior was captured so well by Abba Eban's phrase that the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.  There is a tendency by the international community to encourage the very behavior that has caused the Palestinians such heartache.

 

What is particularly ironic about this, whether it manifested itself in diplomatic resolutions at the UN, media coverage, or boycotts, is that all of this has taken place under the rubric of helping the Palestinians. If the Palestinian leadership has been the worst enemy of the Palestinian people, the international community and international media, in the name of helping the Palestinians, are not far behind.

 

Persecution has driven the Jews nearly to extinction. So many murdered, so many forcibly converted to Christianity and Islam, so many choosing the dubious path of assimilation as a defense against hatred and isolation. The Jews of today are a remnant of a remnant. It wasn’t merely the German Holocaust, but a history of holocausts, that brought the Jewish people to such an infinitesimal position.

 

The Spanish Inquisition was not motivated by religious feeling, but by racial hatred. Conversion wasn’t enough to save the Jews. The Spaniards hated the idea of Jewish blood mixing with their own. The Inquisition presaged the Holocaust. Physical acts of antisemitism are always preceded by years of hate-filled rhetoric meant to desensitize the world to the coming slaughter.

 

Benjamin Netanyahu is the only Israeli politician today who could deliver the majority of Israel’s Jewish population to a painful compromise with the Palestinians. He is also one of the few whose endorsement of a deal between Tehran and Washington  would allay the concerns of even more hawkish Israelis. The average Israeli trusts that Netanyahu would not sell out their interests for a Nobel Peace Prize. 

 

I will never forget the disgusting pictures of Palestinians celebrating on 9/11.  That was enough to enhance my support for Israel. Israel is a beacon of freedom in an unfree region, a beacon of life in a place of darkness. If Israel falls, the West falls. Mothers in the West can sleep safely because Israeli mothers at night worry about their sons in the army. Their fight is our fight. We should support it. Israel is, indeed, a vital outpost of Graecoroman civilization. That is why Islam conditions the faithful to hate the Jewish state and to view its destruction as an imperative. It is our duty to stand with Israel.

 

Squandering the taxpayers' hard-earned money, UN-funded Palestinian NGOs brainwash kids for martyrdom! The Burj Luq-Luq Community Center and Society performs puppet shows for children in East Jerusalem, telling kids to put down the cigarette and pick up a machine gun to fight the Jewish enemy! 

 

The kids learn that while smoking cigarettes is bad, the smoking barrel of a gun is good! The puppets scream Jerusalem doesn't need men who hold cigarettes. It needs men who hold machine guns! The puppets then break into songs, glorifying martyrdom: Jerusalem, we are coming, Jerusalem, the time of death has arrived. Jerusalem, we will not surrender to the enemies or be humiliated!  The UN-funded Palestinian children's magazine Zayzafouna published an article written by a teenage girl who recounts a dream about Adolf Hitler, who told her
he killed Jews because they spread destruction all over the world!

 

Palestinian students are brainwashed with false conspiracy theories.  Most people believe the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, a classic in paranoid racist literature. Taken by the gullible as the confidential minutes of a Jewish conclave convened in the last years of the nineteenth century, this hoax has been heralded by antisemites as proof that Jews are plotting to take over the world. Since its contrivance around the turn of the century by the Czarist secret police has taken root in bigoted frightened minds around the world.

 

The Protocols spells out the alleged secret plans of Jewish leaders seeking to attain world domination. It represents the most notorious political hoax of the last two centuries.  Although thoroughly discredited, the document is still being used to stir up antisemitic hatred. The world-control myth was actually lifted from a 19th century French political satire in which the alleged plotters weren’t even Jewish!

 

Antisemite is anyone who senses a pervasive, worldwide Jewish conspiracy or who holds the Jews responsible for all bad things that transpire among nations. Anyone who denies Israel's right to exist, demonizes it or is prepared to accept its annihilation. Anyone who makes plump comparisons with Nazis to condemn Israeli policies.