Kerry's Reviving 2002 Peace Plan-Deplorable

Nadene Goldfoot
 Back to the 1967 lines is all Kerry can come up with .  The long dormant plan of 2002 would be slightly modified by Kerry.  How has not been explained.   This is a plan which Saudi  Arabia introduced and the 22-member Arab League had endorsed.  It goes against everything that spells out security for Israel.  Israel never went for the plan and the Palestinians want nothing changed in it which most likely spells doom for Israel.  According to the Oregonian newspaper, the" basic parameters seem to be gaining traction as a framework for future talks between the Israelis and Palestinians."   This makes my heart sink as I think of watching and listening to Netanyahu explain to Obama just why going back to the 67 lines is unthinkable for Israel today.

 How can Kerry have the audacity to come up with this?  This includes providing Israel with recognition throughout the Arab world  This should be a given. It also asks for the pullout from territory taken in 1967.   If the Arabs can't accept Israel's creation through the UN as a legal state with rights, then they do not plan to follow any of the rules and regulations.  Obviously the explanation that Netanyahu gave on public TV went in and out of the Democratic party's ears without any understanding at all.

Let's look at what was going on in 1967.  The Arabs objectives were solidified after the war at the Khartoum Summit Conference in August 1967.  Arab leaders laid down 4 principles:
1. No peace with Israel
2. No negotiations with Israel
3. No recognition of Israel
4. Insistence on the rights of Palestinian people in their "own country." (which is fallacious).  There never was a country of Palestine.

Their main goal has been directed towards bringing about the withdrawal of Israel to the pre-1967 lines by every means other than negotiations with Israel.  What the Arab States have used since 1967 have not brought them any closer to their objective of forcing upon Israel a decision which is not acceptable to it until today with Kerry approaching with this impossible 11 year old plot that the Arabs like.  This would say, "It's okay to attack Israel as we will lose nothing by it as the world stands behind us."

As former Major-General, then President Chaim Herzog wrote, "Israel's belief that the war had come to an end and that peace would now reign along the borders was soon dispelled.".  It only took 3 weeks after the conclusion of hostilities, the first major incident happened on the Suez Canal.

 The Great Powers have pressured Israel but Israel insists that this should be solved directly between the 2 sides and that an imposed settlement is no solution of it.  #3 Recognition does not guarantee erasing numbers 1,2,and 4, either.  Israel wants and expects  "a just and lasting peace in which everyone can live in security.  Using 242  written on 22 November 1967 calls for the withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the conflict.  So where's the protection for Israel if this comes about?  According to their word, they aim to destroy Israel.  The Arab Governments and their supporters interpret the resolution as requiring a complete Israeli withdrawal.  UN Mediator, Ambassador Jarring, submitted a proposal that Israel should withdraw to "the former international boundary between Egypt and the British Mandated territories of Palestine.  His mission came to a halt in February 1971 with this proposal.

In 1968, Israel's population was 2,841,100, so was a little less in 1967. Iraqi  President Abdur Rahman Aref stated:  "The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified.  This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948.  Our goal is clear:  to wipe Israel off the map."  June 4th was the day Israel faced down Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and Syria.   It faced in 1967 the Arab forces 250,000 troops (nearly half in Sinai), more than 2,000 tanks and 700 aircraft which formed a ring around Israel.  Jordan's Hussein was told that if he stayed out of the fight he would not be attacked unless he initiated hostilities, but he ordered the shelling of West Jerusalem.  Syrian and Iraqi troops attacked Israel's northern frontier.  In a week,  Israel was in a position to march on Cairo, Damascus and Amman.  A cease-fire was invoked on June 10th.

The United States could do nothing.  They couldn't stop Nasser or the other Arab states.  The war began on June 5th and the State Department announced:  "Our position is neutral in thought, word and deed."  To top it off, Johnson imposed an arms embargo on France, who was Israel's arms supplier.  At the same time, the Soviets were supplying massive amounts of arms to the Arabs.  The armies of Kuwait, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Iraq were adding their troops and arms to the Egyptian-Syrian-Jordanian fronts.  When the war ended in 6 days, President Johnson said, "Certainly, troops must be withdrawn; but there must also be recognized rights of national life, progress in solving the refugee problem, freedom of innocent maritime passage, limitation of the arms race and respect for political independence and territorial integrity.  Who supplies the most weapons to Egypt today when it is under the government of the Muslim Brotherhood?  The USA.

Kerry is going along with 242 pretty much which requires Israel's total, unconditional withdrawal from the "occupied" territories", of which Israel isn't occupying Gaza or Judea and Samaria, unless withdrawal means to force Israelis to leave their cities and homes in Judea and Samaria.  I ask Kerry then, why is it that Israel  doesn't ask Arabs to leave Israel?  Why can't Jews stay in Judea and Samaria if they so wish?  What's fair for the goose is fair also for the gander.  Yet Arafat, in accepting 242 and 338, inserted his clarification of his 3 principals;
1. A Palestinian State
2. Self-determination
3. The right of return.

The Likud position at that time, with Benjamin Begin as speaker, said that by giving up the Sinai, they did withdraw from 91% of the territories and thereby fulfilled its obligation under 242.  The question asks if Israel has to give up territory it still holds and Begin thought a compromise was possible.  The position that Israel must withdraw from all the territories is inconsistent with resolution 242.  Since then, Israel withdrew from Gaza in the name of peace all its Israeli occupants much to the shock and awe of Israel since it has become a shooting center upon southern Israel.  Yet all the people who are pushing Israel to withdraw to the 67 lines did nothing about the attacks; no outcry, no complaining in the UN, no meetings or punishments.  The attacks  have been the heaviest since 2005 till today.

Resource:  Oregonian Newspaper page A5, News update:  Mideast peace efforts, by AP.
Myths and Facts, a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Mitchell G. Bard and Joel Himelfarb page 52-70 Six Day War
Facts About Israel, Division of Information, Ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem,  page 46-49

A Softa's View on President Obama's Talk With Netanyahu

Nadene Goldfoot
The impossible suggestion coming from Obama for Israel to go back to the 67 borders and adjust them in 2011 after all the warring going on to me shows a complete negation of reality or feeling.  All I see is a president trying to make points with everyone and failing with all.

One of the things that might be a consideration stopping nations from attacking each other is the fact of losing, and in that I mean losing some of their own land.  This keeps people from coveting others' property; the fact that there are consequences to their actions.

No doubt this has turned Egypt and Jordan around and we have seen a peaceful coexistence in the past 44 years.  The lesson here is not to destroy the bee hive or you anger the bees which puts your own house in danger.

This is tantamount to sending our soldiers out on the battlefield to appease the Right but send them without arms to appease the Left.  What happens would be a slaughter of life.  This is what could happen to Israel.  It would certainly please our Arab enemies who are gleeful about having so many Jews close at hand in order to have one huge pogrom.  This is something they have bragged about.  Asking Israel to back away to indefensible borders is asking them to commit suicide, and they're not about to put themselves in harm's way.  It's chutzpa to ask them to do this sort of thing.

The clothing war wears today has changed.  Most people in the world do not know how to identify it anymore.  I see the Palestinian leaders leading their people against Israel in many ways.  There has been the constant shelling of missles landing haphazardly without direct aim which has put all of southern Israel in a state of complete anxiety, not knowing when this Russian roulette will drop on them.  Now I see Muslims marching in hordes against Israel putting the whole country on alarm and readiness.  Facebook is being used for their organization.  Going to the UN, their friend and protecter in declaration of a state against all negotiations with Israel is another tactic.  Terrorist attacks here and there keep the Israelis on guard and tense.  The whole country has been affected to some degree since its existence, but has honed its ability to think about how to continue existing and why this is important.  Nobody is ready to commit suicide, for depression is not their outcome.  Instead, they thank the Lord that they are there and wind up being one of the happiest people on the face of the earth. A trust in G-d has brought them to this conclusion.   The constant biting attacks from their enemy is not working.  What the Jews have become are warriors ready to save themselves. 

One lives in the present, but the fullfillment of the biblical prophesy of the return of Jews from all the corners of the world, the Ingathering,  strengthens Israelis and others with them.  This return is bigger than a people wanting a state such as the Palestinians are clamoring for.  This is a most monumental time in our history and we know that this is a serious plan being carried out.  It's a time when people have a spotlight on them showing what they are made of and what they believe in.

Ever since King Saul this land that Israel sits upon has been a Jewish land and was lost only by 70AD.  Jews have yearned and needed their land for 2,000 years, whereas the Palestinians, coming from their own native states, made a decision to have it much later than 1948 since they were given the chance and refused it.  Their momentum to take it has not really been reached as they have refused to talk "turkey" with Israel.  That's a drop in the bucket compared to the yearning and killing of Jews in the past and present.  My hope is that sane logic will win out  and Israel will soon be able to live in peace in their own land. 

Reference: http://www.jpost.com/ with articles showing both Hamas and Israelis who are against Obama's suggestion. 
Exerpt from Netanyahu's speech to AIPAC: A peace agreement with the Palestinians must include effective security arrangements on the ground. Israel must prevent a repeat in the West Bank of what happened when it withdrew from Lebanon and Gaza. Israels main security problem with Lebanon is not its border with Lebanon. It is Lebanon's porous border with Syria, through which Iran and Syria smuggle tens of thousands of weapons to Hezbollah.


Israels main security problem with Gaza is not its border with Gaza. It is along Gaza's border with Egypt, under which nearly 1,000 tunnels have been dug to smuggle weapons. Experience has shown that only an Israeli presence on the ground can prevent weapons smuggling. This is why a peace agreement with the Palestinians must include an Israeli presence on the eastern border of a future Palestinian state. As peace with the Palestinians proves its durability over time, we can review security arrangements. We are prepared to take risks for peace, but we will not be reckless with the lives of our people and the life of the one and only Jewish state.