USA's State Department Still Doesn't Understand Meaning of Jewish Recognition

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                 

The number one expectation that Israel needs from the Palestinians is that they recognize Israel as a Jewish state.   The USA's spokeswoman for the State Department, Jen Psaki, told the "Al-Quds" (name for Jerusalem in Arabic) newspaper that the Palestinians don't need to recognize Israel as a Jewish state in the peace agreement if they don't wish to do so!!!

What?  Has Israel now become occupied and run by the USA and they can change the provisions of a peace treaty at their will?  What kind of peace negotiating is this?

Sorry, but this is not going to be met by Netanyahu or the knesset with joy and approval.  This is such an  important point yet the USA doesn't understand what the consequences are legally that can happen if they don't recognize Israel as a Jewish state and yet they are so obvious.  Israel cannot be in a situation where they will be forced to accept millions of Palestinians in Israel.  It's only 8,000 square miles as it is and would be flooded with Palestinians changing the country completely into another Muslim state to be run by Emirs or Kings, whatever, people like the rest of the Muslim states.  Then the Jews would be slaughtered and Israel would be destroyed.
                                     
The reason Israel was created in the very first place was to have a safe place for Jews to live in, free of hatred and Holocausts and people trying to convert them to their religion.  It is to be a haven for our people.  After being set upon for the past 2,000 years by others, the League of Nations saw that it was high time that Jews could be left alone in peace, and this was before the Holocaust.   Stating it is a Jewish State is their only protection from keeping it from being consumed by the Muslims states.  Netanyahu knows why they won't accept Israel as a Jewish state, and it has to do with the Arabs then having the right of return on the table to flood Israel with Arabs.  Why can't the USA state department see one move ahead?

Showing that there is no way that Palestinians are even considering to make peace, like Jordan did, was the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen, who said  "There is not a chance that he and the Palestinian nation will recognize Israel as a Jewish state".  Jordan already took over 80% of the promised Jewish Homeland and has been peaceful with Israel since the War of 1973.  The same goes for Egypt.  Sadat came to Jerusalem and made peace.  Egypt hasn't been trying to take over Israel's land.  Neither Egypt nor Jordan have accepted Israel as a Jewish state, however.  Their behavior so far hasn't called for Israel's needing it.  They made peace.
                                                                       

The concept and goals of a Palestine have been very undemocratic and quite like the Nazis.    They're demanding that Judea and Samaria must be all theirs and that no Jew can live there.  That's calling for the removal of about 400,000 Jews.  They want East Jerusalem, and Jerusalem is and has been since the beginning of recorded time the capital of the Jewish people.  To have a people drooling at the mouth to take over your country including a quarter of your capital  is just not going to happen.  Besides that, they've had many a Freudian slip that they plan on taking over all of Jerusalem.  It goes with the Hamas charter.   Fatah has joined Hamas in the past, only to be divided over who is the leader of both.  The only difference is that Hamas is hitting at Israel directly while Fatah has pulled the wool over the eyes of the world in pretending to want peace.  Sure, peace, like teaching their children with maps showing Palestine and no Israel, teaching songs of hatred for Jews.  They are fighting the battle between Jews and Palestinians with massive brain washing of their own people and this in turn has brain-washed many others as well.

 There has to be space between for security with a people unable to accept Israel on any count.  This is a people who have been attacking Jews since 1948.  There hasn't been much let-up.  Israel is still being attacked by Hamas terrorists and Fatah has had it's attacks as well; human walking bombs into restaurants and schools and such.  Hamas follows the Muslim Brotherhood Charter of destroying all of Israel and killing the Jews.  That's why it is absolutely necessary that they come to the conclusion that if they expect peace, they must accept Israel as being different from them; that they are a Jewish nation, democratic and wanting to enjoy life, and that 6 million of them, Jews, are following the laws of Moses.  Why is this so hard to accept?

Israel can't have a Palestinian state right next to them which will continue to fighting with the goal to destroy Israel.  One thing Israel is not is stupid.

All along, the Fatah Palestinians living in Judea and Samaria have been promoting hatred and denial of Israel in their culture, starting in their schools. They even celebrate the killers of Jews with lots of recognition and praise in city-wide programs.   They have done nothing to show that there will be peace between the two people.  Hamas continues to shell the parts of Israel within their scope of missile distance and vows never to make peace but to destroy Israel.  Abusive people we've got for neighbors.  And the state department thinks Israel can let them get away without recognizing them as a Jewish state?  They've got to be kidding.  Israel is not about to sign away their own land to a people who have been their enemy for the past 67 years.

Resource:  http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/middle-east/israeli-palestinian-relations/american-state-dept.-spokesman-palestinians-need-not-recognize-the-jewish-state-4155

Atheists-Wanna Rethink? Miracles That Have Come Out of Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

Amazing things have happened in Israel.During the War of Independence in 1948, Jews were outnumbered in Safed 10 to 1.  The Jews were also outgunned and out-positioned.  Somehow they were able to route the Arabs which some ascribed to Davidka, a homemade mortar which caused more noise than damage and less accurate than any gun.  Others thought the miracle was the off- season rain that fell during the siege.  The Arabs were sure the Jews had an atom bomb and the rain was the fallout.  Some thought the Arabs saw the rain as a sign from G-d that his hand was against them.

They left expecting to return victorious because their leaders promised this would happen.  Most of them  walked the road of the Wadi Amud and passed the water pumping station built by the British.  They didn't touch it.  Had they blown it up, being victorious would have meant little as the summer was beginning and the populous would have had no water.  They thought they were leaving it for themselves minus the Jews  This pump was still serving the city of 16,000 in 1983.

Safed is in the Galilee close to the Lebanon border.  It's where I lived for 4 plus years teaching English in the junior high on David Elezar Street.

Miracles are listed in the Torah, but I am awed by all the miracles that have happened in our day from Israel.  The very fact of the Six Day War of 1967 (June 5-11, 1967)  is a miracle in itself.  Moshe Feiglin wrote about it yesterday.  He calls this war The War of Miracles.  The reason is that suddenly Israel was attacked by all the Arab nations.  With insurmountable odds, Israel came out of it a winner in Six Days, gaining land they used to own a few thousand years ago.  Jerusalem, the center of our religion, had been divided since 1948.  Part of it still was in Jordan's hands. Israel's Labor Party and the national Religious Party  wasn't even thinking of liberating it at that time.  Moshe Dayan saw no reason.

It was General Avihu Ben Nun, a friend of Moshe Feiglin,  who was a young pilot in 67.  He told him an awesome story.  He, with the IAF were flying low and reached Egypt's airports without being detected which was a miracle in itself.  While they were bombing the Egyptian airfield, a heavy Egyptian bomber about to land surprised him as it came in his sight.  What should he do?  Hit the bomber or stay on target.  He stayed with the mission.  Some other jets chased the bomber but he escaped them.

Much later Ben Nun met a Jordanian who had been the Egyptian air controller at the airport.  As it turned out, Hussein had been told by Israel that if he stayed out of the group action of attacking Israel, all would be well between the two countries and he was going to stay out of it except something strange happened.  When the Israeli pilots were bombing Egypt, The Egyptian President, Gamal Abdel Nasser,  called King Hussein of Jordan  and told him that the Egyptian planes were bombing Tel Aviv and Haifa and asked him if he wanted to lose Jerusalem?  Hussein, checking facts, called the air controller who told him he couldn't see anything and while talking suddenly saw his screen fill up with hundreds of Egyptian planes on their way to Tel Aviv.  He reported this to the king.  What he really saw was Ben Nun and his comrades on their return flight to Israel after destroying the Egyptian air force on the ground.  They now were flying at normal altitude instead of flying low like before.  This phone conversation caused Hussein to enter the war which resulted in the liberation of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

That's not all.  Ben Nun had made the decision to not go after the tempting Egyptian bomber.  Who had been in it?  Only the Egyptian chief of Staff and the entire army command.  That mistake turned out to be the best thing ever.  The pilot had to evade the chasing Israeli jets in so many skillful evasion techniques that it shook the poor Egyptian chief of Staff up and from the plane he ordered his army to evacuate the entire Sinai Peninsula.   The Israeli jets refueled, and then attacked the retreating Egyptian armored forces.  The Egyptians were hastily in retreat mode.

The moral of this story is that Jerusalem was liberated in spite of the Jews and the Arabs.

There are many other examples of miracles. I remember one about an enemy plane overhead and the Israeli gunner 's  gun froze. While he was trying to fix it, another enemy plane ran into the one he had spotted and they both blew up.

 The people of Safed felt a protection for their holy city.  The Lebanese border is only 14 kilometers or 8.6 miles away as a Russian katusha rocket flies.  Terrorists loved to fire them at Safed but usually always fell short and exploded in the wadi.  Once there was a direct hit on an abandoned warehouse and another time one hit the telephone pole.

During the Yom Kippur War from October 6-25, 1973.  a direct hit was on the fuel pumps in the central bus station on the 2nd day of the war.  There was no fire or explosion and the pumps remained workable.  The rocket that entered the air shaft in the only unoccupied apartment building in the block of 10 new buildings caused damage to 2 apartments but no injuries.

What protected the people is thought to be the 7 sons of Hannah of ancient days.  They were killed by the Greeks when the Maccabees started to revolt and are buried with their other on the side of the hill over which the katushas pass.  What they were doing was slowing down the rockets so they fell harmlessly in the wadi.

Dov Silverman told of when he was walking on guard duty on the outskirts of Safed.  His partner was a Hasid (very religious group) of the Breslau sect of Hasidim.  The Hasid pointed at the hill at the left of the Safed cemetery and told him to look at the hill where are buried 10,000 tzaddikim (holy Jews).  The belief is that when the Messiah comes from Meron to Safed, they will all rise and go with him to Jerusalem.
Silverman asked when this would take place.  The Hasid answered that it would happen when his Rabbi moved to Safed and lives opposite Mt. Meron where the famous Rabbi Bar Yokhai and his son were buried.    Building was already in progress to house the Rabbi and his followers in Safed, located opposite Mt. Meron.   Thus they await another miracle.

On Yom Kippur 1973 the people of Safed stood as one.  The Syrians were attacking and had reached within 12 miles of the city.  Elicu Pearl and Silverman had been driving for 3 days Casualties were coming in a steady stream.  They saw some little kids on the side of the road throwing dirt clods under cars on their way to the hospital.  Elicu later told Silverman that they had been keeping the road holes level so the hurt soldiers wouldn't bounce and feel the pain.  Silverman later wrote that on Yom Kippur 1973 the souls of the people of Safed appeared before the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be judged.  They stood as one before G-d, as they stood as one against their enemies.  Both times they proclaimed, "Hear Oh Israel, The Lord Our G-d Is One."

Israel has had to fight for its life after being attacked  in at least 14 different occasions from November 1947 to today; on the defensive for its 65 years.  From 1947 on, the Palestinian Arabs have been offered a state of their own and they have refused each time.  Instead, Israel keeps on getting attacked.  Is it any wonder that Israel is all for the Palestinians to have their own state when they can bring themselves to recognize Israel as the Jewish state and decide to live in peace with her?  Maybe a miracle will happen and they will finally come around to living in  peace with Israel.

Reference:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_war.  .
Legends of Safed by Dov Silverman
The Source by James Michener-chapter about the Miracle of Safed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_Israel
Moshe Feiglin website: May 8, 2013 http://www.jewishisrael.org/eng_contents/articles/73/article7340.html
http://www.jewishisrael.org/
http://www.mflikud.com/

Some Facts About "Occupation"; The Subject That Norway Holds As Reason to Support Terrorists

Nadene Goldfoot
Here are some facts that most people are not aware of in their zeal to discredit Israel as being those "terrible occupiers" of Palestinian Land."

Lets start with the fact that Canaan, or Eretz (land of)  Canaan, as the Jews called it originally, almost 4,000 years ago, was named Israel as it was the Israelites who entered and took it and then later the land was Israel and Judea.  These were Jewish states.  Israel was created first with King Saul in the 11th century BCE, then King David and  King Solomon.  When Solomon died in 920 BCE, the Jews divided up as if they were Republicans and Democrats and created Judea  with the southern half with the remainder of the tribe of Judah which included Jerusalem.  They were the more religious of the two by then.   There was never a country or state called Palestine.  It was the Romans who simply renamed the land as "Palestine, out of nastiness in order to minimize the Jewish association with it, which they then called it Palestine Syria."  After 70 CE it was no-man's land except for the remaining Jews that lived there as well as nomadic Arabs that wandered through on their way to better places.

True, our case rests on land held 4,000 years ago, but no one has really wanted it or lived there besides Jews who hadn't left and some nomadic Arabs wandering through.  The few Arab landowners lived elsewhere, not in the swamp and desert, and weed-filled barren land it had become from neglect after 70 CE.  Many rulers have held title, but none lived there.  It was only after many  Jews returned in the 1880's CE as pioneers fleeing from pogroms that Arabs tagged along to get jobs from them. If Arabs wanted their own state, which the British assumed that they would, wouldn't they also have accepted their offer in 1948?    No, their goal was just to oust the returned Jews.

By 1948 CE we find Egypt occupying Gaza and Jordan occupying Judea and Samaria, the original Jewish land.  Jews had congregated in Western Palestine and had built Tel Aviv and other cities along the coast.  That's one reason why England gave away 80% of the Jewish Homeland after WWI to Transjordan.  Yes, the Jewish Homeland had included Jordan's site as well.  Take out your Old Testament and read about the land G-d had allotted to Moses and the freed slaves.  It's there in detail.

Palestinian terrorism began before any occupation in 1929 when the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem ordered terrorist attacks against Jewish residents of Hebron.  The Jews had lived there since Abraham bought a cave to bury Sarah.  Hebron, because of that, is a Jewish holy city and has been for generations.  Today it's taken over by the Arabs.

After 1967's war whereupon the Arab countries attacked Israel in the attempt to drive her into the sea and destroy her, Israel, with guts, determination and the will of G-d won, defying all odds.  That's when she inherited Gaza and Judea-Samaria and they became "occupied" by her. Did Israel attack these places to take them to occupy?  Indeed not.  It had enough problems to deal with.  This was almost the straw that broke the camel's  back.  However, it did allow Jews to go to the sacred Western Wall for the first time in Jerusalem since before 1948 to pray, which the soldiers all did.  Now Jerusalem, Israel's capital, is a unified city. It was our capital between 1,000 BCE and 586 BCE and again between 516 BCE to 70 CE.   I must say thanks to Ha Shem (G-d) , who works in wondrous ways.  Had the Arab countries not attacked in 1967, this would not have happened.  "The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel...to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation." So said the King of Jordan.   It was over in 6 days.

Terrorism grew worse after Israel ended its occupation of southern Lebanon and Gaza around 2005.  These unoccupied lands  became launching pads for rockets and missiles and mortars and the Palestinians started kidnapping soldiers.

No matter how kind Israelis reacted to Palestinians and no matter how many good programs they set up to help them attain a normalized life, the Palestinians had a set mind of attack and kill, shown by voting in Hamas, terrorists and ousting Fatah's Abbas-Yasser Arafat's replacement.

Islamic terrorists have sworn to continue terrorism even if Israel were to end its occupation of the Judea-Samaria area , and Israel has about 3/4 of the way already by allowing the PA to govern themselves.  Israel just keeps minimum rights there for their own security.  The sad fact is that Terrorists regard all of Israel as occupied.  They do not recognize the UN decision of their legal statehood of May 14, 1948.  If there were no Israel, terrorism would continue as long as any part of the world is not under Islamic control.  Just check out and see where Shaaria law is to supersede USA law lately.  It's already happening.

Countries have occupied others in the past.  For instance, the Tibetans have never resorted to terrorism against innocent Chinese civilians, though they have never been offered independence, and their occupation has been longer and more brutal than anything experienced by the Palestinians.  From 1911 to 1949 Tibet was an independent country till the Chinese invasion and occupation.  The difference is in the temperament between Tibetans and Palestinians, of course, helped along  by their different religious goals in life.   After WWI England occupied "Palestine" which had been part of the holdings of the Ottoman Empire.  France occupied Syria and Lebanon.  The British were terrible towards the Jews but allowed Arabs into the country illegally.  Britain also occupied India since the 1800's  and other places, but they've never been occupied, themselves.

The United States "occupied" Germany and Japan after WWII.  How would Americans like it if they continued to attack the USA from there or other areas closer.  Israel is in a far more precarious position of having Gaza and Judea-Samaria on the left and right borders of tiny Israel.

Occupation doesn't cause terrorism unless the occupiers are very cruel, and Israel has bent over backwards to help the Palestinians but were "slapped in the face" for doing so.  After all, Israel was occupied by the Romans in the first century and suffered greatly from it.  These Arabs were treated terribly by their Arab occupiers and Israel mistakenly thought they were actually freeing them.

Terrorism causes occupation and the measures taken to bring safety to the citizens.  Israel would have left Gaza and much of Judea and Samaria if not for the fear of terrorism from those areas.  Would Israel have gone into southern Lebanon in 1982 if it had not become a base for terrorism?  No.  Israel had to repeat this again in 2006 to stop rocket attacks and retrieve kidnapped soldiers out of Lebanon.

The international community did nothing to protect Israeli citizens from cross-border rocket attacks, kidnappings and suicide bombers.  If occupation is the only resource for Israel for protection, they may need to do it.  Israel has given land for peace, while the Palestinians have ventured nothing but more attacks.  Israel will not give land again which will be used for terrorism.

Israel left Gaza after a 2 day occupation in July 2006 and what happened?  A rocket from there hit an Israeli kindergarten causing children to go to the hospital.  Israel had left leaflets when they departed warning of dire consequences if rockets were fired again.  Our enemy feels that their deaths are worth the trouble if they can kill Israelis.  They put Arab mothers on pedestals who have given many sons to the cause.   Where we toast a l'chaim to life, they must be praying for death where they will be rewarded.

People who are notorious for not having human rights in their countries are Syria, Zimbabwe, China, Venezuela, Cuba, Cambodia and the former Soviet Union.  They always blame everything on their revolutions.  Islam has allowed extremists to bubble up in their religion such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other groups.  They are oppressors of women, gays, racial minorities, religious dissidents and real human rights advocates.  Saudi women can only ride a motorcycle while covered completely and if accompanied by a male family member in designated areas. This wouldn't be so terrible but their counties can get up to 130 degrees F.   They torture and murder civilians, use human shields in their zeal to attack Israel with propaganda.  That's probably how they conducted their past year's voting in of Hamas once again.  How is it that all these groups come down on Israel and every other country is following suit?  Can they not see the Pied Piper of Hamelin through the haze?  They're following the wrong ideals!  There are Muslim states such as Syria that follow Iran who advocates nuclear proliferation and  environmental destruction.  There are 49 Muslim majority states, so there are others as well.

Jews are extremely  sensitive in calling to attention the bad points about Islam as they have put up with people doing this to them for the past 2,000 years.  But I must point out that the Muslims were on the side of the Nazis in WWII so are also a political group as well as a religious one, even going to Hitler in Germany and were so desirous of seeing Jews destroyed that they are still reading Nazi literature for their recreational time.  It amazes me since they are also Semites, but they see a great distinction.

Yet we have weak-minded professors from Columbia U. that planned to travel to Iran to apologize to Ahmadinejad   for Columbia U.'s president Lee Bollinger who gave a critical introduction of him on September 24, 2008.  .  It's like apologizing to Hitler, and I imagine we have Americans today that would have done just that back in 1939.  Ahmadinejad, who must be the #1 worst person in the world today,  is a bigoted tyrant who has incited genocide and whose government has murdered innocent Jewish children, women and other civilians in Argentina.  It is his country who wants to wipe Israel off the map with an atomic bomb and right after that dump a few on the USA as well for good measure. It is he who is helping Assad's regime in Syria who have killed over 60,000 people already.  This past week alone they killed 6,000 or better.

In our letters to the editor of the Oregonian of March 30th were 2 letters complaining that Israel was now calling the shots to attack Iran's nuclear facilities because Obama promised that he had Israel's back.  They didn't like allowing Israel to call the timing of this should it ever happen.  It is a huge responsibility to protect one's own land from harm.  If irrational Iran  cannot be stopped by all that Obama is doing, there is only one alternative left before being incinerated, folks, and this includes the USA in the wake of all this as well. Israel is not suffering from paranoia as it's not an imagined fear.

 Iran has announced publicly over and over of their sense of purpose in destroying Israel.  You must be a student of Islam to understand that they don't make rash threats.  They first warn, and then they do the deed.  Even some Arabs such as the Saudis are counting on the Israelis to stop Iran for they're in dire danger as well.  It wasn't too long ago that Iran fought Iraq, a Sunni state against a Shi'a state.  Christians have had their Catholic-Protestant battles and the Islamists have this difference that makes them fighting mad. To allow a 4th religion in the area is beyond their comprehension.   Look at what's happened to the Christians in Egypt lately.

Israel isn't occupying Gaza at all.  That's why the Palestinian Arabs have shot at southern Israel citizens. They try to  make sure that weapons do not get to them since they use them all against Israel, though.  Wouldn't you?   So tell me, what's all the to-do about "occupation" being the reason that people have been supplying terrorists with finances to continue with?

Resource: The Case Against Israel's Enemies by Alan Dershowitz page 182-185, Copyright 2008
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/67_War.html
Oregonian newspaper March 30, 2013 letters to the editor.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/01/columbia_university_professors.html
Facts About Israel 1973 published by Division of information,  Ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters -a book all Norwegians should read.
http://www.savetibet.org/resource-center/all-about-tibet/china-tibet-a-brutal-occupation
http://www.san.beck.org/20-1-BritishIndia1800-48.html

Israel's Building in East Jerusalem is Valid

Nadene Goldfoot
Israel is the only known country in all of history to come into existence through legal channels.  First it was through the British who held the mandate over Palestine who had the legal right to reward Israel with land; albeit not the whole section they promised in the first place, but a piece of that promise.  Second, it was legally accepted through the U.N.  Most countries have followed a universal method of conquest without such legalities. 

Israel had to survive and was victorious in the 1947-49 war of genocidal aggression of the "Palestinian" Arabs and their goaders who used them as pawns in their battle of fighting a Jewish state in their Muslim midst. 

It fought another major attack in 1956, and then again in the 1967 war.  Then there was the 68-70 war, the 73 War, the 82 war when I lived in Safed, the 91 War and again in 2006.  Wasn't it the 91 war where all Israeli citizens had to be issued gas masks and seal up a room in their home for safety because of the threat of chemical warfare? 

All these times, the Arab nations and the "Palestinian" Arabs refused Israel's offers of peace negotiations.  This allows Israel the legal right to maintain its sovereignty over its newly won land sections and to develop these in any manner that is not prejudicial to the well-being of the people living on the land.

The Arab "Palestinians" could have had a state in 1937 and again in 1947 and again in 1949 and there would have never been a refugee situation.  If they wanted peace  in 1967 and again in 1973 or 2000 there never would have been a continued Israeli sovereignty over land of Judea-Samaria or Gaza. 

One has to finally realize that the goal of  the Arab nations is to not accept this one and only Jewish state to survive in their ancient homeland.  We have offered the moon, the sun and the stars and they still have not accepted a peace agreement.  They do not want peace. 

Now Israel is going ahead and building apartments in East Jerusalem.  I just saw Hillary Clinton on TV all upset about it.  She says it's not helping the peace process.  I have to laugh out loud (LOL)

Israel offered land for peace for the past 63 years and all she got from it has been death in attacks, and if not death-physical harm, and if not physical harm, mental anguish as well as destruction of land and property.  That's the only reason she was willing to give up land she had legally attained.  If that has not brought about peace after 63 years, she has every right to use it as she had to fight for her life and thereby got it by default.

 It came to her not from an aggessive attack on Arabs but defensive attacks over and over from her neighbors who tried to wipe her out.  Going way back to the League of Nations which gave Britain the job of establishing a Mandatory Palestine to be the homeland of the Jewish people, this shows that in absence of a peace treaty between Jews and Muslims, the land should be called "disputed territories," not occupied territories.  The dispute has not been ended with a peace contract.  Israel's continued holding is legal.

  Therefore, the League of Nations Charter is still international law.  Israel may take necessary measures to maintain security.  The old saying, "use it or lose it" can be applied here.  Israel came to this land not by her choice, but by the circumstance of her  agressive neighbors.  Since 1967 she has held it in abeyance for peace, so without further delay, decided to use it herself being she has a real need.  Tough luck, enemies.  The lesson here is to make peace without delay when offered. 

The cities and towns that have been established by Jewish Israelis in Judea-Samaria and Jerusalem are legal.   Jerusalem is not a divided city.  It is the capital of Israel.  Muslim Arabs may be living in East Jerusalem, and they are not thrown out, but Israelis have the right to be there as well.  After all, it is a democratic country.  By building there Israel is enhancing the area.  Surely Israel's "Marshall Plan", which modernizes roads and water supplies, electricity and sewerage besides bringing in 20th century medical care centers will follow this building need.  Israel wouldn't be building if the need wasn't great.  Anyone following the news should know that there is a huge need for housing. 

Israel withdrew from the  Gaza strip and removed all Israeli cities and towns from the area, along with all 8,500 Jewish people living there.  They also dismantled towns at the northern part of Judea-Samaria.  This was a huge concession Israel took in order to start up the peace process.  They were trying to show the Arabs that Israel was willing to trade land for peace.  Instead, attacks came to southern Israel. 

The differences between Israel and the surrounding Arabs is major.  It's the difference of a democracy in the midst of monarchies, of East and West culture and thought, and of Islam and Judaism.  I'm afraid that Obama and Hillary have been trying to treat the situation like a spat between Canada and the USA.  What it takes to bring about peace is for the nations of the world to see that the USA backs Israel in its endeavor to survive.  Survival should have never even been a part of the picture.  It had the rights to survival being it jumped through all the legal hoops in the first place.  The countries of the world should have acted aghast and reacted together against the  aggressive Arab states.  A member of their UN was being brutally attacked and no one stood up for her.
Update: 10:15 am  1,100 homes are  going to be built in Gilo, a neighborhood in E. Jerusalem.  200,000 Jews live in East Jerusalem as well as about 270,000 Arabs. 

Reference: Big Lies: Demolishing the myths of the propaganda War Against Israel by David Meir-Levi-a publication of the David Horowitz Freedom Center
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Modern+History/Israel+wars/
http://news.yahoo.com/israel-says-newly-approved-homes-not-settlement-142205752.html

Back to 1967 Borders? Good For Who?

Nadene Goldfoot

It has been advised by our young President Obama that Israel consider accepting again the 1967 borders based on winning the Six Day War from June 5, 1967 to June 11, 1967 when Egypt (United Arab Republic), Jordan and Syria attacked Israel and lost.   Israel should then  arbitrate  on the borders from that point with the Palestinians who want to claim their own state adjacent Israel.  Netanyahu was not too happy with this idea as he tried to explain to him. 

Times have changed.  In 1967 Israel had about 2,582,000 Jews.   2011 finds that Israel has a population of 7,695,000 people made up of 5,802,000 Jews, or 75.4% of the state.  Arabs make up 20.4% with 1,573,000.  They are all Israeli citizens.

Outside of Israel in Judea and Samaria,  referred to as the "West Bank,"Arabs are  including East Jerusalem in their figures.  This would be a population of 2,514,845 as of June 2010.  Arabs living in East Jerusalem are 1.5 million. 

There are 350,000 Jews living in Judea and Samaria with 210,000 Jews living in East Jerusalem as well. 

Only 30% of the Palestinians living in Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem were refugees or even descendants of refugees from 1948 when Israel was declared a state.  There are 754,263 people as of June 2008 according to UNRWA statistics.  This "West Bank" area contains 75% Muslims, 17% Jews and 8% Christians and other groups.   Hebron's population is 163,145 and Nablus has 126,132, both being the largest cities in the area.  The smallest cities are Bethlehem with 25,266 and Jericho with 18,346. 

Under Israel's jurisdiction, all places are open to the public to visit.  Under Jordan's occupation, neither Jew nor Christian could visit any holy places at all.  Sites holy to Jew or Christian were treated with great contempt and suffered from destruction. 

Israel came into occupying Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem in 1967 when surrounding Arab countries attacked and in 6 days Israel won.  During this time Jordan had illegally occupied East Jerusalem since the fighting in 1948.

 

On  Israel's 19th birthday of May 14, 1967, Israel's border lines were agreed on in the Armistice Agreements of 1949 with Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.  On June 5, 1967, the Israeli Air Force had to go up against Egypt to resist the invading forces from Jordan and Syria.  Ever since then Israel has been called on to return "with minor insubstantial modification". This is suggesting that such a withdrawal--from Sinai and Gaza districts to the gates of Ashkelon, from Samaria and Judea back to the 10 mile wide coastal strip, and the restoration to Syria of the Golan heights above the Huleh Valley-will bring peace between Israel and the Arab States.  This is implying that in restoring conditions that existed before June 5, 1967 , this could make things better. "  

 Israel did withdraw completely out of Gaza which has only allowed the area to become the staging ground for Arabs to fire rockets into Israel continuously since then.  Only in the past month 350 rockets have been fired into southern Israel, the most recent sending 5 people to Ashkelon's hospital because they couldn't get to shelter within the minute after the alarm.  Israel withdrew from the Sinai to have peace with Egypt which has held up since then with Mubarak, but with him caged at the age of 83,  in extreme ill health and on trial, peace with Egypt is in jeopardy if  the Muslim Brotherhood has any say in the matter.  Syria's population has their own problems in this Arab Spring with their outlandish leader's slaughter of its citizens.  How will they treat the Jewish state when this is how they are treated?  This part of the border must not be changed.  Hamas has either lost control or is just shifting the blame of the recent rocket attacks onto other terrorists from Gaza, not wanting to take the blame while advancing their goals at the UN. 

During Israel's first 25 years real peace has not been experienced.  Neighboring states since its first day have refused to accept its very existence and have forced it to fight in wars.  We cannot forget this history in considering the formation of a Palestine next door.  The War of Independence from 29 November 1947 to signing the Armistice Agreements in 1949 was a rocky beginning.  The Sinai War from 29th  October raged until the 5th of November in 1956.  President Obama would be born in 1961.  The Six Day War from the 5th to the 11 of 1967 when he was just 6 years old led to the War of Attrition lasting from 1968 until cease-fire on 7th and 8th August 1970.  Clashes occurred on the frontier lines.  Arab terrorist organizations, known as fidayun were supported by Arab governments.  They made forays into Israel to terrorize and sabatage.  Arabs were trying to wear Israel down in their determination to accept nothing less than peace with secure borders.  Fighting happened all along the entire cease fire lines, but mainly along the Suez Canal and the Jordan River.  Sporadic terrorist operations went on in the administered areas and inside Israel as well.  The Six Day War of 1967 did not bring the panacea of all time of having a peacerful border. 

Having a border in 1967 did not deter the Arabs from another stab, attacking again on October 6, 1973 on the Jews' most holy day of Yom Kippur.  Again, Egypt and Syria, the adjoining  neighbors,  staged a surprise attack while most of Israel's citizens were in synagogues in a fast.  At least 9 Arab states, including 4 non-Middle Eastern nations, actively aided the Egyptian-Syrian war effort.  Jordan's King Hussein sent forces to Syria.  An Iraqi division was sent to the Golan.  Saudi Arabia and Kuwait committed men to battle.  Libya sent fighters to Egypt.  Qaddafi had given Cairo over $1 billion.  Algeria sent aircraft squadrons of fighters and bombers, an armored brigade and 150 tanks.  About 1,000-2,000 Tunisian soldiers were fighting. Sudan sent 3,500 troops into southern Egypt and Morocco sent 3 brigades to the front lines.  2,500 men were sent to Syria.  Lebanese radar units were used by Syrian forces.  Palestinian terrorists were allowed to shell Israeli settlements from Lebanon.  Palestinians also fought on the Southern Front with the Egyptians and Kuwaitis. 

180 Israeli tanks faced 1,400 Syrian tanks in the Golan Heights.  500 Israeli soldiers were attacked by 80,000 Egyptians.  The war brought Israel deep into Syria and Egypt.  The Soviet Union backed and supplied the Arabs.  Israeli forces were able to cut off and isolate the Egyptian 3rd  Army and were ready to destroy it when the UN finally acted on October 22nd calling for all parties to cease fire.

I cannot understand how the Palestinians can expect to become a state while all the while attacking Israel.  They refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish State and have a charter calling for Israel's destruction. Let's not make it easy for Palestinians to attack Israel by forcing Israel into tighter quarters than it finds itself now.  Defense lines should be the first consideration for Israel, not making Palestine a perfect shape. 

http://israelipalestinian.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000636 population numbers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=201430

Battleground, fact and fantacy in Palestine by Samuel Katz

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142226

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War

Facts about Israel , Division of Information, Ministery for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem