3 Yeshiva Teenagers Missing near Hebron: Kidnapping Suspected

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

Remember all the terrorist prisoners that Netanyahu was forced to free from Israeli prisons because Kerry said it was the thing to do to keep Abbas at the peace talk table?  Well, now we have 3 missing teenagers, 2 16 year olds and one 19,  Gilad Michael Ben Bat-Gallim, Eyal ben Iris Teshura, and Yaacov Naftali ben Rachel Devora. Frankel (American-Israeli.)   ( Ben means son of, and bat means daughter of).  One has American citizenship.  The US Ambassador to Israel has been told about it.
                                                                               

                                                      Gush Etzion
                                                                         

         Hebron, ancient city of Judah, 18 miles south of Jerusalem.  Abraham bought land, the Cave of Machpelah here to bury his wife, Sarah, in it.  Today a mosque stands on that site.  It was a Levitical city decided by Joshua and a city of refuge for the Jews.  Much Jewish history is here.  

They are Yeshiva students.  A yeshiva is a religious school.  They were hitch-hiking home from their yeshiva which is in Gush Etzion, to the north of Hebron, a Palestinian city today.  This is not unusual in Israel.  When I lived in Israel (1980-1985) all soldiers hitch-hiked to get where they had to go.  We gave plenty of rides, but to soldiers in IDF uniforms.   The military is conducting a widespread operation to find them.  They're patrolling Hebron today, since they went missing late  Thursday. The fear is that they have been kidnapped like Gilad Shalit was several years ago by terrorists.  House to house searches in neighboring villages is being done as well as having to put up road blocks.

Netanyahu said that he is holding Abbas's PA responsible for the safety of the 3, but their attitude is, why is it their fault?  They deny having anything to do with the abduction.  I have to laugh because no matter what happens in this world, every Arab state is used to blaming Jews or Israel for it.  Suddenly the PA doesn't like the same treatment.  However, Israel has every reason to think they are responsible when they openly have textbooks in schools that teach hatred and when they have citywide celebrations of people who have killed Jews and build statues of them.  There is no secret that they are doing everything they can, TV programs, talks, teaching their people to hate and kill Jews.  The difference between Fatah and Hamas is that Fatah teaches people to be hateful and Hamas is hateful and physically does things like shell Israel.  Besides this, Abbas demanded that criminals be let out of prison, and then he walked out of the talks when that was accomplished.  No?  He isn't responsible?  Ha!

Tzipi Livni is at a conference in London and Kerry spoke to her about it.  Netanyahu told Kerry that Palestinian militants have said that they want to kidnap Israelis to win concessions from the Israeli government.  Didn't the USA just release 5 very dangerous terrorists for one soldier?  One immediately said he was going back into the fight.
                                                                               

Netanyahu said that 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were freed in October 2011 for their one soldier who was held a captive for more than 5 years, Gilad Shalit. He was kidnapped on June 25, 2006. " Shalit was captured near the Kerem Shalom crossing in Israel, and held by Hamas as a hostage at an unknown location in the Gaza Strip.  During those 5 years plus he was held in isolation.  The prisoners released to save him " were collectively responsible for 569 Israeli deaths."  Gilad called his parents as soon as he was freed.  

 In 2013, an Israeli soldier was kidnapped and killed by a Palestinian who had lured him to Judea-Samaria.  The kidnapper wanted to use him to get the release of his brother, held in an Israeli jail.  Sgt Tomer Hazan, 20 years old was lured in Tel Aviv by Nidal Omar, 42, into a Taxi to drive to Judea-Samaria.  His body was found in a water cistern.  Omar had no work permit to be in Israel.  My next door neighbor was Harry (Eli) Hazen.  I hope this was not his son.  In Israel, every time you hear of a death, you take it as one of your own family.  We're a small group, and one mother's anguish is everyone's anguish.

Brigadier-General Motti Almoz has security agencies making a very large intelligence effort to find information about the boys.

Prayer groups for the boys recite chapter 20 of Tehilim on such an occasion, psalm 121.  This is Friday.  At sundown Shabbat starts and lasts until Saturday night when 3 stars come out.  No doubt the police and soldiers will have to continue their search for the 3. Women are urged to light a special candle for them in their prayers.

Who else had kidnapped people in Israel?  Palestinians.Update:  This time it is reported to be ISIS operating in Hebron.

Newest Update:  11:10am http://unitedwithisrael.org/idf-says-kidnapped-israeli-teenagers-are-alive-in-judean-hills/?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=%5BWATCH%5D+Mother+of+Kidnapped+Teen+Speaks+Out%3B+IDF+Says+Boys+Alive+in+Judean+Hills&utm_campaign=20140615_m120936586_%5BWATCH%5D+Mother+of+Kidnapped+Teen+Speaks+Out%3B+IDF+Says+Boys+Alive+in+Judean+Hills&utm_term=IDF+Says+Kidnapped+Israeli+Teenagers+are+Alive+in+Judean+Hills
Car found used in kidnapping, in Judean hills somewhere.

Update from Embassy of Israel: Since 2013, over 64 kidnapping attempts were foiled by the IDF & ISA, most of them directed by Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails.
Update: On Friday, 6/13/14 Reuter’s Jerusalem bureau fielded a call from ’Dawlat al-Islam,’ an ISIS branch operating in Hebron. The caller claimed responsibility for the kidnappings and said the incident was in retaliation for the killing of three of its members, Fox News contributor Lisa Daftari reported on her blog.
Update:  a mobile phone of one the missing boys has been recovered. Also, the car apparently used for the kidnapping was found. In the car authorities recovered personal belongings of the teens. One of the 16 yr olds is an American.  Sick fact is that the Palestinians are celebrating the kidnapping, passing out cakes because of it.  Sick society to do such a thing.  They did the same thing when the Twin Towers fell in New York.  
Resource:  http://www.jewishjournal.com/israel/article/yeshiva_students_missing_suspected_kidnapped_by_terrorists_video
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilad_Shalit
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/world/middleeast/israeli-soldier-is-kidnapped-and-killed.html?_r=0
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/breaking-idf-suspects-3-boys-have-been-kidnapped/2014/06/13/
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/181681
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/06/shameful-hamas-no-honor-here.html

Pope Francis's Three Day Visit to Holy Land-May 24-26th

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                                 

77 year old Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) , born in Buenos Aires,  Argentina,  is scheduled to visit Israel on May 26th, which is an important event.  He is the 4th Pope to visit what Christians call "The Holy Land" of Jordan, Palestinian Territories and Israel and will do so in his 3 day visit which for him starts on Saturday the 24th..  There will be live streaming of the visit.  Many countries that are Catholic majorities will be interested in this, such as the USA, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Poland, Germany and France.  Israel's Tourism Ministry is very interested as they are investing about $2.9 million dollars in marketing for the visit of the Pope. Last month a campaign was on going where people were asked to upload a 15-second video on why they wanted to visit the Holy Land.  Gustavo Aldolfo Franco Picaza from Venezuela won  a free trip to Israel with his winning video.  Hundreds of journalists will cover the Pope's visit.

"He is a visitor of the highest importance", stated Minister Dr. Uzi Landau, Israel's Tourism Minister.  Israel spends a lot of shekels on Christian sites.  Christian tourism brings about 60% of tourists, and this visit should increase that number.  Out of Israel's population of 8,134,100, 2.0% are Christians or 155,100.  "Argentines in Israel are the largest immigrant group from Latin America and one of the fastest growing groups. The vast majority of Argentines in Israel are Jewish Argentines who make Aliyah but there is also an important group of non-Jewish Argentines who choose Israel as their new home. There are about 50,000 Argentines residing in Israel although some estimates put the figure at 70,000.

Most Jewish Argentines are Ashkenazi Jews."

Considering that Christian groups are highly involved in the BDS movement against Israel like the Presbyterians, this is a positive event for Israel, so the thought that the Pope will recognize Palestine and call for an end to occupation is a huge disappointment and stab in Israel's heart after whizzing through in 3 days.

The PA (Palestinian Authority of Abbas) and the Arab Christians probably led by Sabeel are already celebrating Pope Francis's visit to their territory  which starts this coming Sunday as a visit to end "occupation.".  The Pope evidently has already decided on starting his trip with going to Bethlehem, which is held by the PA and is a sign to them of recognition. Whereas Bethlehem used to be populated by all Christians, it is now 2/3 Muslim.   This piece of information comes from Father Jamal Khader of the Latin patriarchate in Jerusalem.  Information of starting in Bethlehem comes form Rabbi Sergio Bergman of Argentina and close friend of the Pope who said that he intends to define himself as the "Che Guevera of the Palestinians" and support their "struggle and rights" during his visit.

He plans on traveling in an open car in Bethlehem and meet with Abbas and hold a "mass" prayer services there instead of in Jerusalem to show support for the PA.  Then he plans on visiting the Dheishe  refugee camp to see them suffering.  Palestinians have been in such camps since 1948, and are the longest people to stay in such camps.  The surrounding Muslim countries do not accept them in any state of being except as refugees in camps.

Christians have been violently persecuted in Bethlehem by the Muslims who have taken over Bethlehem, but the Pope has not said a word about it.  This is turning out to be a highly political visit as the Arabs see it.  The Pope will lunch with Palestinian families who have suffered from the occupation.

The Arabs are delighted that this visit is to Palestinian sites first and see it as a slight to Israel.

Besides visiting PA-controlled areas, the Pope plans to visit Arab-populated neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem.  He will later visit with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the "Vatican-owned Notre Dame complex located between Jewish and Arab neighborhoods.  There the Israelis hope to explain their point of view of political events in the region.  Since the Arabs keep pushing the idea of Israel's "occupation," which they are stressing, Netanyahu will have to address much background and history in about a half hour.  What he wants to address the most is to explain the Iranian threat to Israel.

The question remains about his visiting in Gaza.  After all, Fatah and Hamas are united these days, so does he dare go there?  That's an area not very friendly at all to Christians.  In 2005 it was estimated that there were about 5,000 Christians living in Gaza.

The Greek Orthodox Church is also a main branch of Christianity in Israel and the 2 groups have not always been friendly with each other.  "Francis will meet the patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew, regarded as the “first among equals” in the Orthodox world, and for the first time in the Holy Land the two leaders will preside together over a public prayer. The encounter recalls a famous 1964 meeting between Paul Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople, which led to lifting excommunications born of the feud between Eastern and Western Christianity and that date to 1054.. "

Councilman Aryeh King is not planning on attending an official welcoming of the pope unless he has packed in his suitcase all the treasures of the Jewish people stolen by past popes known to be stored in the Vatican's basement.  That's not going to happen, so he won't be in attendance.

The "Last Supper Hall' is located at the complex of King David's Tomb.  Christian services are held there at the complex once a year.

Christians are disappearing in the Middle East. They've gone from making up 26% of the population to 10% in the Middle East.  "In the rubble of Syrian cities like Aleppo and Damascus, Christians who refused to convert to Islam have been kidnapped, shot and beheaded by Islamist opposition fighters. In Egypt, mobs of Muslim Brotherhood members burn Coptic Christian churches in the same way they once obliterated Jewish synagogues. And in Iraq, terrorists deliberately target Christian worshippers. This past Christmas, 26 people were killed when a bomb ripped through a crowd of worshipers leaving a church in Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood." 

 The only country they are safe  in is Israel.  I imagine that the Pope will attack this only state protecting Christians in deference to the Palestinians who have done quite a number on them already in Bethlehem.  After all, it's a Jewish state, and everyone attacks Israel for their own  imagined reasons.  The sun and stars will move in heaven when someone of importance stands up for Israel.  

Resource:  http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/05/19/israel-tourism-ministry-prepares-to-welcome-pope-francis/
Arutz Sheva:  Pope will recognize Palestine, call to end occupation by Ari Yashar
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2014/05/17/what-stake-when-pope-francis-visits-holy-land/T3bErULMEJVFelIUfeqC0J/story.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Israel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_
Christianshttp://www.danielpipes.org/1050/disappearing-christians-in-the-middle-east
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303630904579417482632439814 Ron Proser on the Middle East War on Christians

The PA's $285 Million Dollar Electric Bill; Reconciliation with Hamas

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                     

 

                                                Arafat, former head of PLO-Now Fatah

The Palestinian Authority wants to create a state out of Judea and Samaria, ancient lands of the Jewish Israel, but they haven't bothered to pay their electric bill to Israel.  They don't have their own electric company.  Their bill is in arrears in the amount equivalent of $285 million dollars.
               

                               Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah or Palestinian Authority

John Kerry has said that Israel risks becoming an apartheid state if they don't talk to terrorists.  He's been pushing Israel who finally resisted back.  Fatah, the new PLO term for a terrorist group who said they were trying to be peaceful, hasn't been.  Their tactics are just different and not overt, but very subtle and harmful. They incite violence.  They teach the children in school to hate Jews and that they own Israel.  They even leave Israel off their maps.   Hamas continued to bombard southern Israel with missiles, mortars and rockets.
The state of Israel is the ideal example of a state that has no apartheid practices.  Though it's only 8,000 sq miles big with 6 million Jews and 1.7 million Arabs, religion is free for all.  Nobody is telling Arabs that they have to take down mosques and that they can't be higher than a synagogue like what happened to Jews in Arab countries.  Arabs are serving in the Knesset and any beautiful girl that meets the expectations can become Miss Israel.   Israel will make sure nothing like that happens.  Kerry was out of line to even say such a thing.  Senator Ted Cruz  was so upset by this unnecessary threat that he's asking Kerry to resign as Secretary of State.                                                                        

                                                                   Hamas terrorist
The USA government has sanctions on 4 terrorist countries and different Terrorist groups.
1. Syria-since December 29, 1979
2. Cuba-since March 1, 1982
3. Iran-since January 19, 1984
4. Sudan-since August 12, 1993

5. Hezbollah from Lebanon-1985
6. Al Qaeda-since 1988
7. Hamas-since October 8, 1997

Hamas and Fatah just announced another reconciliation!  That did it.  Israel is not going to listen to any more talks.  Since Hamas is on the terrorist list and Fatah has connected to them off and on and again right now, Kerry should not be expecting Israel to deal with them when they themselves will not. " Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) are foreign organizations that are designated by the Secretary of State in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended.   FTO designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get out of the terrorism business."  Yet Kerry  agreed with most all the PA's ideas and plans and would not listen to Israel's position  At the same time they have shown how inept they are in running a state by letting such a thing as an electric bill go unpaid to the very people they intend to live next door to in peace?  

What Israel is going to do about the electric bill  is collect the money by using tax money collected on behalf of the PA (yes, they had to do the collecting, too) to offset debts owed by the PA at the end of this month.  Israel will have to take more sanctions against the PA.  They may not give out any more passes allowing officials to travel freely through Israel, Judea and Samaria and Gaza.  

Netanyahu said he will look for other methods towards peace with the Palestinians but will not negotiate with a Hamas backed government.  It is  Iran that backs Hamas and they intend to rub out Israel.  Netanyahu doesn't want to settle for a stalemate, either.  He wants 2 states for 2 peoples solution and will seek it in some other way.  Israel is good at thinking outside  the box, so he may have something in mind already.  

These Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been going on for 9 months and were set to expire Tuesday but never made the deadline.  They were suspended last Thursday after Hamas and Fatah agreed last Wednesday (4/23/14)  to form a unity government within 5 weeks and to hold elections.  Abbas, starting his Presidency on  January 15,  2005  was to be in for 4 years but has never stepped down.  

Resource:  http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-pushes-ahead-with-palestinian-sanctions/
http://www.state.gov/j/ct/list/c14151.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah
http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda

Peace Talks Amounted to Blackmail and Bribery: March 31st Deadline Missed

Nadene Goldfoot                                                           

                                                     Mahmoud Abbas
Abbas, head of the PA Arabs, has to be bribed to sit and talk with Netanyahu and his contingent about peace.  The Arabs have insisted that they will not sit unless 104 Arab criminals, most serving life sentences for murder,  were released from Israeli prisons.  The Israelis have complied, because peace is their goal, by already releasing 78,  but this has brought on much hand-wringing as the criminals were killers, responsible for many horrible crimes.  To release them was almost like a future death  knoll for other Israelis to be facing.  That was asking a lot.  Left to be released of this Arab-preferred group are 26 more.  Most all have served 20 years already.

Alan Dershowitz, an American lawyer, had occasion to advise Obama to at least throw in Pollard's release for the Israelis in order to get Israel to go ahead and finish by freeing the 26 left. " One of the 26 had murdered a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Israel after his family died in the Nazi death camps.

Pollard is an American Jew who is in prison for being a spy for Israel, though Israel didn't hire him.  It was something he had in his own sites to do for Israel, who presumably was a friend of the USA anyway.

John Kerry, US Secretary of State, was just in Israel and spoke with Netanyahu without talking to Abbas.  He's now in Brussels but may speak with him on his way back.

Pollard is eligible to be  released in November 2015 after serving 30 years of a life sentence.  Is is really a balanced trade to use Pollard as a bargaining chip versus 26 killers?  To wave Pollard's freedom in front of Netanyahu to extend the talks ,  that are going nowhere is not worth the act of freeing terrorists.  It only is causing  the Israeli public to be horrified since there is no assurance that once the criminals are freed that the PA will continue to sit since they seem to need a carrot dangling constantly.  Already there is talk of an unofficial building freeze in Judea and Samaria in exchange for Pollard.  We don't know who is talking about it, the PA, Kerry or Israel.  It may be the next carrot to dangle in front of the Arabs to sit still and listen and talk in a conversation about peace, at least.

Senior PA leader Nabil Shaath was heard to say that "due to the prisoners we haven't stopped negotiations. We blackmailed  Israel to release the prisoners." One of the prisoners is Abu-Musa Salam Ali Atia, a Gaza resident and member of Fatah who was convicted of murdering Holocaust survivor Isaac Rotenburg as part of an initiation into a Palestinian terror group.  Rotenburg was working in 1994 when he was attacked by 2 Palestinians laborers with axes.

They are saying that they threatened to have Israel prosecuted at the International Criminal Court.  What they want them prosecuted about doesn't matter.  The UN holds Israel up to much higher standards than any other country in the world.  All they do is berate Israel in their meetings in the Human Rights Council, so they can make up any story and others will buy into it.  The PA already has the membership in the UN they were seeking so have the power to do so.  Nabil Shaath has said now that they are just waiting for the prisoners to be released before they stop the negotiations.  This tells us that the current round of peace talks might have just been a game-a charade with them.

Now in many countries, such murderers that Israel has in their prisons would have been shot in about 3 days after being picked up.  However, Israel doesn't have the death sentence.  So now they have become a bargaining chip.  So much for being moralistic and doing away with a death sentence.  Right now haggling over the release of this last 4th batch is going on since they all missed the Saturday, March 31st deadline set by Kerry.  "Netanyahu said that Israel would not make a deal to free the prisoners "without a clear benefit for Israel in return."  Evidently that's why Kerry is using Pollard as bait.  

"An Israeli official said that the Palestinians also did not live up to their commitments under the framework, including to engage in serious and good faith negotiations."  As I have said before, I do not not believe that the PA has peace as a goal.  They're just going along with the charter that Hamas has, but attacks in their won way against Israel with the same goal to destroy Israel.  They don't want to start from scratch to create a state they can't administer anyway.  It's much easier to take over Israel and use it until it falls apart, such as the land was when Jews returned to it.  

To make matters even more convoluted, the PA is now demanding the release of 14 Israeli Arabs. .  "The Israeli government has so far refused to consider freeing Israeli citizens convicted of terrorist acts."  There is confusing information from a radio report that Israel would free 400 prisoners if they were to remain in Judea-Samaria, but Netanyahu's office is nixing that idea.  Rumors.  Innuendos.  Not facts.  

Israeli citizens that are victims of terror have demonstrated already and are blaming the USA. 

They feel that Kerry has an agenda that is promoting peace in the Middle East and in order to carry it out has somehow pressured or even blackmailed the PM of Israel into releasing terrorists,  said Yossi Zur, spokesperson for the victims as he talked to the Washington Free Beacon.  The US officials have emphasized over and over that they want negotiations without preconditions, but they finally gave in and surrendered to this precondition of releasing terrorists.  One wonders what it would take to release the Boston terrorist who attacked the Boston marathon?  Multiply him by 104 and under what conditions would the USA free them all?  Would there be a solid guarantee that it was worth it attached?  

Update is that Pollard was to be freed if Israel freed 400 more prisoners;  one for 400.  Johanathan was a mentch in that he himself  is not going for it.  He waived his parole hearing to oppose the deal.  "The proposed deal was also sharply criticized by Judea and Samaria's Yesha Council as being a "disgraceful" case of "Arab blackmail and American bribery." 

Resource:  http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/scoreboard-12-hours-2-meetings-for-bibi-kerry-0-for-abbas/2014/04/01/
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/israel/obamas-bribery-and-emotional-blackmail-to-sell-pollard-and-buy-time/2014/04/01/
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=820
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=11142
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Netanyahu-No-deal-to-release-prisoners-without-clear-benefit-for-Israel-346906
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/world/middleeast/netanyahu-agrees-to-free-104-palestinians.html?_r=0
http://freebeacon.com/issues/palestinian-murderers-terrorists-released-ahead-of-peace-talks/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard
Update: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/179154#.Uzr_i6hdU8o

Kerry's Peace Deal with PA and Israel Due in April

Nadene Goldfoot                                                               

For background in laying down talks this week, members of the World Economic Forum met back on May 26th of last year at the Dead Sea in Jordan to discuss getting peace between the Abbas PA group and Israel.  They decided on a $4 billion dollar package for the PA group to stimulate their economy.  The truth that they are not facing is that it will take more than money to stimulate them from being unwilling to make peace.  They need to change their whole attitude towards a Jewish nation among them.   Businessmen from both sides attended this meeting.  King Abdullah of Jordan is all for relaunching the peace negotiations.  Actually, he is in deep trouble of losing his crown if the Arab Spring takes over his country like it did in Syria, so peace is very meaningful for him as well.

 Back in 1967 after the war, Israel did everything in their power to assist and teach the Arabs in their economic pursuits, but they rebelled against it.  The PA's aim was not to be successful but to be a thorn in the side of Israel.  Note that when Israel pulled out of Gaza, they left their businesses that could have been used by the future Hamas terrorists, but they destroyed them.  The business they have been in has been to agitate and cause fear into the southern Israelis, and hopefully, even to kill a few.

Attending this conference this year were representatives from all the countries in the world with at least one person.  It was attended by  the USA with 72 members, UK with 31, China with 10, Canada with 9, Switzerland with 8, Germany and France with 7 each, Mexico with 5.  Kerry gave the opening speech.

Kerry and Barack Obama, President of the USA, are very disappointed in the Jewish complaints over their treatment in the 11 meetings they've had in these peace discussions with the Palestinians.  Israel has been placed in security risks in Kerry's plans and this Israel can't buy into. After a 90 minute meeting of the minds, Netanyahu let Kerry know that he will not uproot the Jews living in the Jordan Valley, which is 62 miles long and goes from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.  Jericho and Jenin are in the Jordan Valley and are Muslim centers today. Sderot, Beer Sheva and Masada are major Jewish cities in the Jordan Valley.  Kibbutz Degania Aleph, the first major kibbutz lies there as well.
                                                                 

                                                               
" The Jordan emerges from an area of stately date groves near the first kibbutz, Degania, flows past "Yardenit" Pilgrim’s Baptismal Site and becomes the peaceful border between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. In fact, you can cross into Jordan at the Sheikh Hussein Bridge, just opposite the city of Beit Shean."  
                 
Evidently Kerry and Obama have a higher optimism level than the Israelis do.  Israel needs the security that they have attained after the 1967 attack of all the Arab nations and realize that in itself was a miracle.  They lost lives they do not wish to repeat again since the Arabs have continuously attacked them since 1948.  It happened in 1956, 1967, 1973, 1981-82, and has been repeatedly happening in-between these major but short wars.  Since 2001, southern Israel has been rained upon with missiles, mortars and rockets.  Their neighbors, Lebanon and Syria in the north have a line-up of rockets aimed at them.  Security in a hostile neighborhood is of the utmost requirement for peace with people who covet your land.  Kerry must remember that all the official hoops required to gain this land was official back in the 1920's with the League of Nations and that Israel had already lost 80% of that promised land to Jordan who became Jordan out of it.  Now, it's a fight to keep this 20% left for the Jewish homeland of Israel.  Everyone knows, except Kerry and Obama, that the aim of the Arabs is to take that 20%.   In that, they must know the truth, but are unwilling to accept it as it goes against their agenda.

Netanyahu and Kerry spoke in private during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.  Later Kerry was to give an important address on the Middle East to this forum.  Earlier Kerry had spoken with Tzipi Livni, Israel's top negotiator.  The PA negotiators will get to go to Washington this week for their private talks with him.  "Some critics of the administration have suggested that Kerry is spending too much time trying to bring the Israelis and Palestinians together and not enough time dealing with more urgent crises."

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/01/24/3437393/kerry-israeli-pm-talk-peace-in.html#storylink=cpy

 Kerry's speech started off attacking President Assad of Syria.  Kerry isn't winning any points since Syria was not acted on by the USA.   Instead, the USA managed to arm the rebels who have been just as bad as Assad's regime in slaughtering people.  About 130,000 have died in this ongoing Civil War.  The Arab Gulf allies of Saudi Arabia and their peers are not happy with the USA and their dealings in the Middle East.  Kerry's defense in this round will be to talk about his commitment to engagement in every region in the world, even though their engagement in Syria was very little and took its time in coming to the point of aiding and abetting certain rebel groups.  He will make the point of being committed to diplomacy, but even that is turning out to be one-sided in matters between Israel and the Arabs being he sides with the Arabs more.  This Civil War has gone on for 3 years now.  Millions have lost their homes and jobs and are either in refugee camps or might be heading there as countries like Egypt are discharging refugees to leave their countries.

Being Kerry has visited the Middle East with the Peace Talk agenda 11 times already, he can say that the USA has not disengaged from this goal.  He has let down much of the world, especially Israel in the Iranian discussions over their nuclear weapons program which is continuing with his guidance where Israel and other wary countries needed to hear that it was not only contained but stopped.  Not much was gained with Iran at all.  Sanctions were lifted that can never be reinstated.  The heavy hand was lifted by Kerry's policy.

Kerry's method of arbitration and discussion as been to push Israel the hardest and the Palestinians a little to accept tough changes in their policies.  Israel is always the one who gives into the hope for peace by giving land in a deal.  The last one was Gaza which turned out to be a disaster.  Hopefully, Tzipi Livni will not forget this in her decisions.  Israel gives and the Arabs take, which  has been the pattern for the past 66 years.  It's time it changes, and to do that would take a whole new charter for the millions of Arab Muslims.  Hamas's charter, with Hamas ruling in Gaza, is exactly like the Muslim Brotherhood's charter, an extreme goal of taking Israel and ruling over everyone with their brand of religion.  Buyer, beware.  Six months down and three more to go.  The end of the peace talks is in April.  How many more meetings will Kerry extend himself in order to reach his goal?  What about Hamas and Gaza, now?  What more does he think he can do with that can of worms?
Update:  from Breaking Israel News:

"The Jordan Valley: Israel’s Security Belt

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is once again in town trying to reach a framework agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. One of the issues of dispute is the fate of the Jordan Valley, which is indispensable for Israel’s national security. The Jordan Valley is the only available defensible border on the eastern front, which is the closest border to Israel’s heartland — the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv-Haifa triangle — which holds 70 percent of its population and 80% of its economic infrastructure."

Reference:  Arutz Sheva, news@israelnationanews.com, Kerry, Netanyahu discuss Peace Talks at Davos by AFP and Arutz Sheva Staff.
http://www.weforum.org/search/google/Kerry%20speech?query=Kerry%20speech&cx=005374784487575532108%3Azwr8u4lxoba&cof=FORID%3A11&sitesearch=
http://www.weforum.org/news/kerry-announces-us4-billion-economic-plan-break-israeli-palestinian-impasse?news=page
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/01/24/3437393/kerry-israeli-pm-talk-peace-in.html
http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-kerry-discuss-peace-talks-at-davos/
https://www.google.com/#q=Israeli+cities%2C+towns+in+Jordan+Valley
http://www.goisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist%20Information/Discover%20Israel/Geographic%20Regions/Pages/The%20Jordan%20Valley.aspx
http://www.mapisrael.info/jordan-valley
Facts About Israel, Division of Information Ministry for Foreign Afairs, Jerusalem
Update: 4:45pm http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/01/10/israel-arabs-prefer-to-remain-israelis-despite-fm-liebermans-call-for-territory-swap-video/
Breaking Israel News Update:
UPDATE:  http://www.jewsnews.co.il/2013/11/06/the-funniest-video-about-israel-you-will-ever-see-give-the-middle-east-to-the-jews/

Releasing Murderers to Sate Arabs At Peace Table

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                        

Who does Israel have in prisons that the Palestinian Authority will not continue talking until they are all released?  "A recent terrorist release saw the government set free several convicted murderers, including terrorists who burned young children alive, and who slaughtered senior citizens with axes.  These are not nice murderers such as you might find in the USA, if you can consider any murderer "nice."  These acts are revolting!  We're dealing with a people who make it a science to be cruel just to get their own way.

Justice Minister, Tzipi Livni, 55,  is in a bind.  She heads Israel's negotiations with the PA.  The PA leaders have repeatedly  threatened that there will be no peace agreement with Israel unless Israel releases "every terrorist" from their prisons, no matter what they have done.

A bill has been brought into the Knesset that would ban the release of terrorists as a good-will gesture to the PA because of the crimes committed by these people.  It is ludicrous to release such criminals who will undoubtedly go out and commit such crimes again until caught.  Livni has been actually working to bury this bill because she thinks it will make life harder for her to appease the PA leaders.  They'll probably just walk out.  So she's been pressuring Netanyahu to join her to stop the bill before it is voted on.  The Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) party was outraged and said that it's more important to keep terrorist murderers in jail that to keep Livni in the government.  What it comes down to for many as they see it is that she can get permits for construction in Judea and Samaria for Jews if terrorists are released.  What's important is to save lives and keep murderers in jail, not building, they said.

Names up for release of course are of mass murderers and arch-terrorists.  There are no nice guys that are terrorists in Israel's jails.

Personally, the deaths I've been reading about in our Oregonian newspaper as violent ones that are occurring in Syria and Lebanon.  Today, the story of Portland nurse Martina Ford met a mother whose baby had been shot to death while she held the child in her arms.  In past days I've read about children shot in Syria just for being on the street, as if someone were target practicing using them as targets.  The deaths are hideous.  It's unimaginable cruelty  that is going on.  Terrorists lead the way in practice and then get to be glorified for doing so.

I know that Israel does not nor ever intended to let such prisoners out of their jails.  They are under pressure by the world to bring about Abbas to the peace table and have gone to such lengths, putting themselves in harm's way.  Our government should be ashamed of themselves for allowing or encouraging this to have ever taken place.   Whatever happened to such decisions as the Geneva Convention?  There should have been an outrage of expecting such a thing to bring about peace when murderers are not of the same mind.

"US Secretary of State John Kerry, who in July nudged Israel and the Palestinian Authority into resuming talks frozen since September 2010, was on Wednesday meeting Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Rome, according to officials, to discuss Iran, Syria and the talks with the Palestinian Authority.  The talks were due to run for seven hours. "

Resource:  Arutz Shevaa news@israelnationalnews.com, Report:  Livni triying to avoid vote on terrorist release by Maayana Miskin
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/173141
Oregonian newspaper 10/25/13 , traveling the globe to give:  a nurse's trip to Lebanon by Richard Read, front page,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzipi_Livni

Incitement Against Israel Heats Up With Peace Talks

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                  

Unbelievable as it is, the Palestinian leader,  Abbas, couldn't be coming to the peace table in good faith.  

This Palestinian Authority Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, recently stated that there would not be a single Israeli Jew living within a future Palestinian state, so he's planning on kicking out all the Jews and having an Apartheid state.  He's been saying this for some time, now.   On the PA TV broadcast was heard that the PA state's boundaries would stretch from Rosh Hanikra to Eilat.  This is stretching from Israel's NW corner to its southern tip.   This goes along with the maps they have made showing Israel's name deleted and replaced with "Palestine."  It is what they teach their children in school.  

Such a thing has never been in past plans during the Oslo conferences.  This is pie in the sky that they are reaching for.  In my experience in the shuks, the seller asks for an outrageous price and the buyer responds with a ridiculous low sum.  The finagling goes on till they reach a happy medium that both can live with.  I don't think this is the case.  It could be that Abbas really expects to get what he demands.  The way everyone fawns over him, no wonder he expects the whole gontzeh megillah.  All the attention he has received just to sit down, finally,  does not lead to a healthy peace discussion!  
                                                                              

I've been saying that they want all of Jerusalem, not just the eastern section, and then they'll want all of Israel, and if I know it, surely the Knesset members also know it.    This comes from reading their Hamas charter that Fatah seems to be in agreement with since it's also in the Muslim Brotherhood charter.  It's too bad that we didn't ask for conditions as a preamble to sitting down this time such as ending the brainwashing of the people to be hateful towards Israel and show what they're doing to end it.  Israel is sitting down before such a thing as their recognition as a state is accepted by the Palestinians, and if it ever was, they have a funny way of showing it.  So much for expectations of  honesty and truthfulness.

Another Palestinian TV broadcast was an anti-Semitic program making violence against Jews in Judea and Samaria legitimate.  They called the Jews living there "violent thieves."  They are talking about land that was a part of the Jewish Homeland decreed by the League of Nations on July 24, 1922  and signed by all the nations of the world as being the future Jewish state. Then they charged Britain with the mandate and they were to see that it was carried out.

 The thieves were Jordanians who grabbed it in 1947 which was against the law.  But then, who upholds the law for the Jews?  Israel was accepted by the UN but attacked by the UM-united Arab Muslim irregulars who attacked first after November 29, 1947 from Syria, Lebanon and  Egypt.  Then about an hour after announcing the creation of the state on May 14, 1948, the regular armies of Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon and a Saudi-Arabian contingent attacked.   That's when Azzam Pasha, head honcho of the Arab League said from Cairo that this would be the war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be talked about like the Mongolian massacres and Crusades.  However, they lost the battle and Israel has survived for 65 years against people with a mindset like this!

 What Israel regained in the battle of 1967 when, like a pack of dogs, all the Muslim neighbors attacked Israel who turned out to be the winner, much to every Muslim country's surprise, was land that was theirs in the first place!   Israel in fact got their own land back in that bad gamble on the Muslim's part.

The end of this nasty programming showed a religious Jew with peyote (side curls) by the ears cut them off.  This was a copy-cat scene of anti-Semitic  Nazi propaganda.  

Broadcasts of incitement  during  Ramadan, which just ended,   was a re-run of  a music video encouraging violence against Israelis.  I ask if this is the type of religious holiday that asks for this type of thing?  They also included the glorification of  murderers of 61 Israeli civilians on their Facebook page of Abbas' Fatah party.   Most civilized countries today just do not do such things.
                                                                          

With so many acts of incitement by the Palestinian leader himself,  Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sent a letter of complaint to US Secretary of State John Kerry Saturday evening.  He told him that peace talks and incitement do not go together.  If they want peace, they should be educating their people to live in peace with Israel.  They have been poisoned against Israel which only encourages continued violence and terror.  

The carrot held out to Israel to be in these peace talks is the threat of diplomatic isolation if they do not reach a peace deal with the Palestinian Authority, Abbas.  This cat came out of the bag when some top US officials met Thursday evening with a few Jewish community leaders asking for their support for the diplomatic talks between Israel and the PA.  So Israel's arm is being twisted by other Jews as well from the USA if they succumb to this threat.  It also sounds like Kerry is saying that the USA won't back Israel if they aren't compliant.    He has to be already siding with Abbas, then.  Israel is under terrific pressure while there is none on the Palestinians.  What a deal!  How else would the USA have the chutzpa to expect Israel to give up murderers of many out of prison; something they most likely would never agree to, themselves?  

The talks are to continue this week by meeting in Jerusalem on Wednesday and Jericho the following week.

Resource:  http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/170759#.UgfwIdKOTqE by Gil Ronen and Ari Soffer
updating: 4:11pm: http://www.jta.org/2013/08/08/news-opinion/united-states/kerry-briefs-jewish-leaders-on-peace-talks
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.540522

What Palestinian Children Are Taught About Israel

Nadene Goldfoot   

Tuesday, March 12, 2013                                                             

It's very hard to think about a Palestinian state next door to Israel when Palestinians are teaching their children that Israel's land belongs to the Palestinians.  They tell their small children that their Palestinian land was "occupied" in 1948 and "will return to them one day."  This was on a children's program on Palestinian Authority TV called "The Best Home,"

School children are taught to deny Israel's right to exist.  An official 12th grade PA schoolbook teaches that the creation of "so called State of Israel was a theft of "Palestine."  In Grade 12, page 69 of "Arabic Language, analysis, Literature and Criticism, Revised Experimental Edition, 2012, is the following.  "Palestine's war of 1948 ended with a catastrophe that is unprecedented in history, when the Zionist gangs stole Palestine and and expelled its people from their cities, their villages, destroyed more than 500 villages and cities, and established the so-called State of Israel."   They call Israel's birth, which to them was their catastrophe,The Nakba.

Then again, the PA claims to the international community that it recognizes Israel's right to exist.  That doesn't go along with what they are privately telling their children and adults.  They say they only consider land under Israeli administration since 1967 "occupied."   Then they turn around and they deny Israel's right to exist within any borders and often refer to all of Israel as an "occupation."  Are they forgetting what they say?

This was from Fatah's PA TV on February 23, 2013.  These are the people Israel is supposed to accept as their neighbor state.  This is the people who refuse to sit down with Israel unless Israel gives in to all their demands first.  How can it happen when the citizens of today and tomorrow do not know what truth is about themselves and their history and only think the worst of Israel?  This is not the way to prepare for any peace program.  It's just the opposite.

While Hamas from Gaza has rained down rockets, mortars and missiles on Israel, Fatah, the pretenders of being the good guys has filled their people with lies.  These people have been gullible since before 1948 in listening to their leadership.

In truth, the Palestinians are not "A People."  They are a collected assortment of Arabs from all over the Middle East who came to "Palestine" looking for jobs as there were none in their home country. Most arrived in the late 1800's following the Russian Jews who had arrived and were building cities.   They thought of themselves as Syrians before anyone told them they were Palestinians.

 When Rome overran the Jews  and carted them off in 70 CE after the Assyrian Empire and the Babylonian Empire had done their share of stealing people, most of the Jews found themselves homeless and had to wander for 2,000 years looking for a way to live.   "Palestine" was never a country, just renamed  land once belonging to the Jewish people of Israel and  Judah which the Jews called Eretz Yisrael.

 This land was occupied by a sundry of different empires, lastly the Ottoman Empire who treated it like an unwanted  garbage dump. It had turned into a field of weeds, swamps and deserts where mosquitoes lived. Once it became something, the field of dreams, hotels and businesses, guess who wanted it.

Finally, after the Holocaust of 1941-1945, Israel was granted a birthing and on May 14, 1948 became a state legally in the United Nations.  The catastrophe for the Jews was that they were denied 80% of the Jewish Homeland they were promised by Britain through the Balfour Declaration of the League of Nations, so they well know what it feels like to lose land.  Through all this time the Arabs have attacked Israel and have told themselves such a folklore of Arabian Nights Tales that even they believe their own lies.

I suppose I can say that after 2,000 years of being used to anti-Semitism, Jews are not going to have a nervous breakdown  at finding that the Arabs cannot accept them, either.  Although it is sad since they consulted with a very high Arab official, Emir Feisal,  in the pre-planning stage of returning home and he was happy to have the Jews return.  The difference is that this is their original home, and like the swallows of Capistrano, Jews know it.  They feel it in their hearts and souls.  Even the abhorrence Europe exhibits towards them today is nothing new.  It's just the same old, same old attitude they've always displayed.  Maybe this is why Israel can go on with everyday routines creating life and inventions that wind up helping others.

It's sad, because none of this history is ever reaching the Palestinians and  so we remain enemies.

Reference:  http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=8638 by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik Palestinian children taught to anticipate end of Israel on PA TV.  

President Obama's Upcoming March Visit to Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
President Obama, in his 2nd term of office, is planning to visit Israel in March.  This will be his first visit as a president.  He plans to talk with the Palestinian Authority, Abbas as well and Jordan's King Abdullah II.   He had visited once when he was a candidate for the presidency in 2008.  On June 4, 2009 as a new president he visited Cairo, Egypt  and made an important speech at Cairo University called "A New Beginning."  That was almost a prophesy.  He chose Egypt, he said because it was the heart of the Arab world.  .

One of the top priorities of Prime Minister Netanyahu in his new term is to resume talks with the PA. The PA has been refusing to talk with Netanyahu unless certain conditions they are demanding are met first.

1. A full construction freeze everywhere east of the 1949 armistice line, including much of Jerusalem.  I believe they have upped the ante here from the last time they left the table.
2. The release of terrorist prisoners.
3. Allow weapons imports.
4. Agree in principle to giving the PA all of Judea and Samaria with possible land swaps for their Palestine.

For a group who fought against Israel in 1967, 1973, 1982 and consistently have been shooting missiles, mortars and rockets into southern Israel since 2001 and having just recently agreed to a cease fire, they certainly are demanding.

 The fact remains that Israel was created legitimately and followed all the legal procedures but that the Palestinians have never accepted them.  They have made it quite plain that they plan to drive Israel into the sea for the past 64+ years.  Israel has in the past given up land for peace which has just whet the Arab's  appetite to take a piece more, and another piece of teeny Israel.  The truth is that they want to create a state 65 years later than when they were first offered land, and that the land Israel was promised has already been chopped up so that it was only created on 20% of their original piece.   What gives the Palestinian Arabs the right to be so persnickety?  They're not the ones who have yearned or needed their own state for the past 2,000 years.

Obama said he is not coming to present any new proposals for peace talks, though these issues are bound to come up.  It is to be John Kerry, the new Secretary of State who will be working on that.  Obama is just coming on a visit being both Netanyahu and Obama are starting their new terms and that this is a Presidential visit, being he didn't come in the past 4 years. Obama  and  Netanyahu  will "try to move past the friction of the last four years now that both have won re-election. The relationship between the two leaders has been edgy for years over issues like Israel’s settlements in Judea and Samaria and ways to stop Iran's Nuclear program, but Obama wants to show support for Israel by visiting.  I see a change in the makeup of the government has something to do with it as well which is why Abbas has wanted to talk with the newly elected Knesset members.  .

Exactly when he is coming and for how long is not known yet. He is to come in the Spring, which starts on March 20th.   Palm Sunday falls on the 24th of March and Passover begins at sundown on the 25th of March which is a Monday.  Good Friday is the 29th. Easter is on March 31st.   The 8th and last day of Passover is on April 2nd.  This is a very busy and important month for both Christians and Jews.

He will visit with Abbas and the King of Jordan and their officials.  The PA has high hopes that this visit will lead to the establishment of Palestine on lands "occupied since 1967."  Since his first term started in January 2009, he has visited 35 different countries, but not Israel.  The USA still does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Resource: Arutz Sheva news@israelnationalnews.com Obama won''t present new peace initiative during Israel trip.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidential_trips_made_by_Barack_Obama
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/world/middleeast/obama-to-visit-israel-in-spring.html?_r=0
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/aug/07/mitt-romney/romney-says-obama-has-not-visited-israel-president/
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/05/opinion/the-truth-about-obama-and-israel.html?_r=0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_New_Beginning

"Palestinian's" Big Strategy to Take Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
If one reads the PLO Charter written up July 1-17, 1968, you will see on article 15 the goal of  the liquidation of the Zionist presence which means the state of Israel.  This calls for the destruction of Israel, not just the end of Zionism.  The PA (Palestinian Authority) is the PLO.  Arafat was a member of Fatah and Abbas is also, and is the incumbent due to Arafat's death.  It's just that the PA's name came about in 1994 as an outgrowth of the Oslo Accords and was to be in charge of the West Bank, and not Gaza.

A West Bank Palestine is only a first step toward their goal of creating a Palestine in place of Israel.  PLO officials have made this clear.  It is known as the "strategy of stages."  

On June 8,  1974, the Palestine National Council met in Cairo  and declared that creating a Palestinian "national authority" on any territory relinquished by Israel would only be "a step on the path" to the total "liberation of Palestinian soil."  This is still held to.The PLO was founded  in 1964 when the West Bank, called this by Jordan who illegally held Judea and Samaria and was under Jordan's Arab rule.  The Palestine the PLO wanted to liberate was Israel within the pre-1967 borders.  The official PLO insignia is a map that includes all of Israel.  So let's get real as to what  their planned outcome happens to be:  the takeover of all of Israel.

In 1988 Kissinger made it clear that the PLO would not be dealt with until they recognize Israel and renounce terrorism.  Arafat then accepted UN's resolution 242 and promised to recognize Israel and that they renounced terrorism.  Arafat backtracked quickly and denied that he recognized Israel in 1988.  He was on Libyan TV on July 19, 1991 and "No, no, no!  We do not recognize Israel.  We said there would be recognition when a Palestinian state is established and it will decide whether to recognize Israel or not."   Then on September 9, 1993 he recognized Israel in peace and security.  It never happened that Israel had peace or security, so the recognition was just words spoken.  It didn't mention recognition of Israel as a "Jewish" state, either, just a state.

Abu Iyad was the #2 man in the PLO and has since died in 1991 but had said that there should be no illusions.  According to their phased plan, they will establish a Palestinian state on any part of Palestine the enemy will retreat from.  It will be a stage in their prolonged struggle for the liberation of Palestine.  He spoke of creating a democratic state on all of its territory, but we know this is not true.  There is to be no Jews living in their Palestine.  That's not democratic.  Israel is already a democratic state that they plan to replace.

So, if a Palestine is established, Hamas-Fatah will still not recognize Israel or its right to exist.  In fact, the PLO charter has become  harsher in taking on the goals of the Muslim Brotherhood as well.  Arafat had made empty promises and received a Nobel Prize  in 1994 for the masquerade of a peaceful person.

The proof of the pudding is that there has been no peace, and no end to terrorism. It was thought for a long time that Fatah wanted peace while Hamas was against it, but both have teamed up today.    Yet Clinton keeps pounding Israel to make peace with the "Palestinians" and work out a 2 state solution.  I haven't noticed her pounding Abbas, the PA leader, or approaching Hamas at all.  Frankly, I think a new charter would lead to a better outlook and needs to come first.  In fact, Arutz Shava had an article about the American Jews calling for Fatah to rewrite their charter on November 20, 2007: The proposed statement details those clauses of the Fatah charter, drafted in 1964 and never repealed, that call for the "demolition" of the State of Israel, as well as "the eradication of the Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence.” Methinks that Kissinger in 1988 had something going after all in his approach.  Instead, Hamas kicked Abbas out of Gaza and Peace was ignored, of course and replaced with all the shelling to come out of Gaza from 2001 till today.

Resource: http://www.netaxs.com/~iris/plochart.htm  PLO Charter
Myths and Facts-a concise record of the Arab Israeli conflict by Michell G. Bard and Joel Himelfarb
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/recogn.html
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3918038.html
http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_plo_israel_exist_1988.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_National_Authority
http://palwatch.org/STORAGE/special%20reports/Comparing_PA_Opinions,Textbooks_with_HamasCharter.pdf
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124315 on Fatah charter