Israel: From Monarchy to Democracy Through Zionism

Today's Israelis protecting their homeland.

Anti-Semitism created today's Israel  

Nadene Goldfoot
Israel came about 2,000 years after Jews were forced to leave their land that had been theirs for over 3,000 years.  They had experienced all these years of yearning to return because they had been treated so badly in host countries.  They had been turned off by the results of formal emancipation in Central and Western Europe which never did put an end to anti-Semitism.  They were tired of being discriminated against and putting up with social ostracism, such as the Dryfus case in France pointed out.  They had suffered from oppression and pogroms in Eastern Europe along with suffering from extreme poverty because of it.

They had to face the fact that Jews needed to follow a path of their own self-determination such as Greeks, Italians and Poles were then doing.  Zionism was the national liberation movement of the Jewish people.  Since the world had been anti-Semitic since at least 70 CE, they found they were alone in their cause.  Since their inception 65 years ago, they have managed to hold onto their value system to have a real democratic state for all its citizens, something they never had experienced in the world they were flung into.

Charles Kupchan, American professor, feels that Egypt was pushed into having a Democracy too fast and wasn't ready for it. He is a professor of international relations at Georgetown and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.  He wrote in the New York Times that American policy should push for Egypt to be governed responsibly – not necessarily democratically – and that rapid transition to self-governance was ill-advised.  Their history and people are completely different from Israel.  Egypt with its 91 million are about 90% Sunni Muslim and Islam is their state religion.  

Israel, on the other hand, named a Jewish state on May 14, 1948,  made up of equal amounts of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews, as well as Muslims,  Christians, Baha's and  Druze,  had a 2,000 year experience of being exposed to Western politics through the Ashkenazi exposure which includes Democratic values.  How did Israel come to be Democratic?  Look at their history and how it developed.

Actually, it was Zionism who first introduced the idea of the perfect state.  In 1897 Theodor Herzl (May 2, 1860-July 3, 1904) organized the first Zionist Congress and founded the world Zionist Organization which talked about creating a Jewish state.  Zion is the synonym for Jerusalem and the land.  He was a Hungarian reporter and an idealist-turned writer  who had written "Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State) in 1895 and got it published in February 1896 and later the Utopian novel, "Altneuland (The Old New Land) in 1902.  What he created in his mind was better than a Democracy.  It was Utopia.  This was the groundwork for Israel as he is looked upon as the founder of Israel.  .

Israel's past governments must have led up to the creation of a man like Herzl-founder of Zionism 

Saul, was the first king of Israel who lived in the 11th century BCE.  He was the son of Kish of the tribe of Benjamin.  It was the people who had begged to have a king like the other nations had, so the prophet Samuel selected Saul.  He was a good choice who organized a trained army since they had been facing a military threat from the Philistines and Ammonites.  Internally, he did away with witches that people still  believed in which was against the Mosaic Law handed down from Moses (1391 BCE to 1271 BCE.  .  Evidently Saul and Samuel didn't get along, and Samuel had the power to appoint David as his successor.  Saul had accomplished the groundwork for national unity which was effective in establishing a strong and independent Israelite monarchy.

King David c 1000 BCE to 960 BCE of   the tribe of Judah, was an armor-bearer of King Saul, Israel's first king,.  This youngest son of Jesse,  and grandson of Ruth and Boaz, born in Bethlehem,  showed he had military prowess at the age of 25 when he fought against the Philistines.  He happened to have settled in Hebron and declared himself king of Judah before Judah had even parted from Israel in the next generation. He had taken what was to be Jerusalem and made it his capital when king.  The Psalms are said to be written by him.  Still and all, this was a monarchy, something quite new for the Jewish people 3,000 years ago.  David was sometimes known to rule by his passions, like with his love, Bathsheba.  The Bible lists his virtues and his vices.  Eventually he straightened out his conduct and became the Jewish religious symbol and a messianic hope has been attached to his descendants.

His son, Solomon, (961 BCE to 920 BCE) became King and was known for his wisdom.  He was able to build the Temple, a duty given to him but not to his father who was a warrior.  Solomon was a peaceful king, He was friendly enough with Hiram of Tyre who sent him architects and builders to work on his Temple.  The cedars used came from Lebanon, also.  So I am assuming that there was peace and economic cooperation between the 2 countries.

Solomon was relying on his father's achievements of political pacts.  His empire reached from Egypt to the Euphrates River and was the most energetic in the entire region.  They developed a culture including arts of historiography, parables, and elegant writings.  Several biblical works such was Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, and Psalm  72 were written by Solomon.  He wasn't a modern 2013 ruler, though.  He needed more laborers so introduced forced labor into his nation because he needed workers for his extensive building program  and had impoverished the country.  This was a bad move.

Several groups of different people in the empire, the Edomites and Arameans began to revolt and even inside Israel were malcontented citizens.  Therefore, when Solomon died, Israel faced the ceding of Judah and internal division. Jeroboam (933-912 BCE) led the revolt against Rehoboam of Judah and the last king of Israel, the northern kingdom,  was Hoshea (730-721).  Judah's kings in this southern kingdom were  from Rehoboam (933-917 BCE) led to Zedekiah (597-586 BCE).  Though many nations came through the land, none stayed long.  Finally Jerusalem was done in by the Romans in 70 CE, and Jews have had to live in many lands facing hatred since then.

One of the leading politicians during Israel's fight to survive till its birth was Abba Eban, born 1915 as Aubrey Solomon in Capetown, South Africa and educated in England.  He worked in the political department of the Jewish Agency from 1946 and was a member of the Jewish Agency delegation to the UN in 1947-48.  He represented Israel at the UN in 1948-1959.  He was elected as a Mapai delegate to the Knesset in 1959 and was appointed minister without portfolio.  Then he became minister of education and culture in 1960, Deputy Prime Minister from 1963 to 1966 and foreign minister from 1966 to 1974.  He wrote "My People, a History of the Jews."

Jews had settled in South Africa in the early 19th century so were among the first to emigrate to Israel.  There was a large Jewish community  in  Johannesburg.  They had enjoyed political equality in Cape Colony and Natal.  Many Jews had immigrated there after WWI from Lithuania.  (Lithuanians had emigrated to Safed in the 1500's and had built large Yeshivot there).  Then restrictions were put on Jewish immigration during the 30's,  though there were some German Jews who made it there after 1939, which was a miracle.  When I made aliyah in 1980, I found many of the English speakers in Israel were South Africans.  The English Department was headed by Jews from South Africa.  They brought with them ideas of English Democracy.

Today, Israel happens to be a parliamentary democracy.  Supreme authority rests with the Knesset, an Assembly.  This is a unicameral legislative body (single legislative chamber)  of 120 members.  The Knesset is elected for 4 years.  The people may decide on new elections before the end of the term if need be.  Electors choose between national lists of candidates, seats being allocated in proportion to the number of votes obtained by each list.

The President of the State of Israel is elected by the Knesset for a period of 5 years. and may be re-elected for one more term.  His duties are to prerogative of pardon and of commuting sentences.  He accepts the accreditation of foreign ambassadors and ministers, appoints Israel's ambassadors and ministers, judges and the State comptroller.  He signs all laws except those concerning the presidential powers.  The Transition Law, 1949, describes the powers of the President.

If a new Government is to be formed, the President consults with the representatives of the parties and then calls on a member of the Knesset to undertake the task.

In June 1950, the Knesset decided not to enact a formal Constitution but to adopt basic laws which shall eventually be in a constitution.  These laws written were passed in 1958, 1960, 1964 and 1968.  There was a Basic Law of Human Right before the Knesset by 1973 and supplementary laws on the working of courts drafted then.

Hertzl never became President or Prime Minister of Israel because he died early on, but he was the battery all charged up for its creation and had laid out the plans for its creation and development.  Though Israel isn't following the exact precept of Hertzl's Utopia, they are adhering to its basic tenants which are complemented by democracy.  All the leaders have been impressed by the United States of American Democratic values and history as well.  I'm afraid that Hertzl was a little naive at the time, not knowing how Arabs would react to his ideas, though they were as lofty and worthy of calling his ideas the creation of  a Paradise.

Many children are given the task in their social studies classes of creating a Utopia on some outer space planet.  We may all have lofty ideas, but it is when our plans do not gel and we have to live and altar our plans that taxes and brings out the best in us.  Do we fling off moral values or somehow weave them into the plan?  That is the task that Israel has been presented with, and though difficult, are facing reality and are doing their darndest to do their very best job.  They  are still striving to be the light for the nations.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_New_Land
 http://www.blog.standforisrael.org/articles/democracy-in-egypt-can-wait
facts about Israel from division of Information, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Herzl

How Democracy Is Not Created Easily in Middle East-Or From Pharaoh to President in One Easy Step

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

Can you make a silk purse out of a sow's ear?  Hardly.  You can only make a pigskin purse. Perhaps democratic principals come to people slowly.   Democracy came to the USA out of rare circumstances that have only been replicated by Israel in the Middle East, and is very hard to come by in Iraq or Egypt.  Egypt had been ruled by pharaohs for thousands of years.  A pharaoh is a permanent title of the king of Egypt in ancient times.  It meant "Great House." and originally referred to the royal palace, somewhat like we Americans refer to the "White House."

It took at least a 1,000 years for Englishmen to want something better than English law.  A group of religious zealots went to Holland out of their frustration with the Episcopalian state religion in England but became frustrated there as they watched their children speak Dutch instead of their language, English, which they wanted to perpetuate.  They didn't want their religious goals to be lost by their children, so braved the idea of sailing to a new world, much as we would think of taking a spaceship destined for some just found planet with oxygen.  Luckily, further ships brought to America's shores some very intelligent men who were able to write up a "Mayflower Compact", named for their first ship, that set the standards for their budding democracy.  Look at all the steps we've gone through to arrive where we are today in our politics of ruling over a vast territory made up of 50 states which has 3.79 million square miles with about 315 million people. Out of the population are about 6 million Jews or 3% of the population.  We went from 1620 to 1776 with our constitution which continues to be embellished.

Suddenly,  our marvelous country, which is the 3rd largest in the world,  made up of all the ethnic people of this planet expects Egypt to suddenly follow suit and have a democratic way of ruling in their first encounter with democracy with Mohammed  Morsi, head of the Muslim Brotherhood.  He didn't have the heart for it.

The USA is the first country on earth to give Jews a chance of survival.  After living here since the beginnings of the budding USA, Jews have been able to meld  USA democracy with the Torah's expectations of Democracy for Israel.  Israel is a miniature USA made up of Jews from all over the world as well as including other religions in its fold with equal rights while still being a Jewish country.  The USA is a Christian country established by Christians.  It follows customs of Sunday being a day of rest and all the national Christian holidays meaning they are days of vacation for students and federal workers.  Egyptians tried it for a year and that was enough with the man they had elected.  They were losing their rights with him.

 Egyptians are facing about 6,000 years at least of a strong type of a one-dictator  leadership, from Pharaohs to Shah rulers of the Ottoman Empire to being under British rule.  President Anwar Sadat (1918-1981) was their last most reasonable ruler as President from 1970 to 1981, but even he saw that he was under the thumb of the Arab League when Egypt was banned from its membership because of his November 1977 trip to Jerusalem and made peace with Israel. This was even followed up with the Camp David Accords which shattered the fragile unity of the Arabs.

 However, Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 before he was assassinated by Muslim Brotherhood, a group of Islamic fundamentalists, in the midst of the October War celebration  in 1981 while reviewing a military parade in Cairo.  Vice-President Husni Mubarak, who took over, kept the peace, even though he was a tough dictator with his people.  In due time he himself had been elected as President of Egypt.  He punished Sadat's murderers, the Muslim Brotherhood after a noisy public trial and released Sadat's political prisoners and invited them to the presidential palace for discussions.  He continued Sadat's Open Door policy and stressed the need for greater productions.  He continued relations with Israel and presided over Egypt's repossession of the last section of the Sinai.

Mubarak wasn't enlightened like Sadat was, but  tried to cultivate the friendship of the Soviet Union and the Arab states.  Egypt got back into the Arab fold when the Israel-Lebanon war occurred in 1982 which Egypt had protested about and recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv.   Getting back into the Arab world, evidently  wasn't good enough to solve Egypt's problems more  than Sadat or Nasser had done.  Whereas Sadat had outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Morsi was the head of, suddenly we find him "democratically voted in" and in power, and with this power turned the tables and had Mubarak up for charges and jailed.

Islamists feel that Sadat should never have signed a separate peace treaty with Israel.  From their viewpoint, Sadat was a practicing Muslim and should have known the close connection of Islam with Arabism and the emotional attachment of all Muslims to "Jerusalem", if not to Palestine.  This is how the Arab world sees it today.  This is where Morsi was in his thinking.  Only the money coming in from the USA probably kept him from attacking Israel with promised American jet fighters on the way to become a part of Egypt's arsenal.
                                                                           

                                              Muslim Brotherhood Party Fighters
After a year of the Muslim Brotherhood's main man, Morsi, Egypt has had it and the Military took over on July 3rd, a little better than a week ago.   Our White House and Turkey are pushing for the "democratic steps" of waiting and voting in another and not taking over with a coup or even a soft coup, as the military calls it.  The USA cannot legally give money to a country that has had a coup.

 It's like a school who has a first year teacher hired on a trial basis.  If he or she receives a lot of bad reports from the principal, she is not re-hired.  However, Egypt and other countries have the ruling of a country that is stuck with a lemon for 4 years and then they can have another to rule the country.  Egypt found the Muslim Brotherhood to be intolerable and decided they couldn't wait for 4 years.  They had made a mistake and are bound to do the job over again.  Which makes me wonder about the validity of the democratic election in the first place.  How was it that they did not know of the dangers of a Muslim Brotherhood rule?  They had gone from a very secular state to Sharia Law with the Brotherhood.  It was too much.

Former UN ambassador John Bolton just wrote an article in which he lamented the downfall  of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who he said "understood his country better than the Western know-it-alls."  To have pushed for democracy in Egypt during this Arab Spring was stretching a country who was peaceful with its neighbor, Israel.  Uncorking the Muslim Brotherhood out of  the genie bottle was their error.  To make matters worse,  by backing  this group, whose charter calls for the destruction of Jews and Israel and the taking over of the United States is absolutely shocking.

Morsi (b: August 8, 1951) was the chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party which was founded in 2011 during Egypt's Revolution by the Muslim Brotherhood.  On the 24th of June 2012, he became Egypt's first "democratically elected" but 5th president of Egypt.  Supposedly he had 51.7% of the votes against Shafik's 48.3% in the election.  Shafik was the prime minister  of the Mubarak government.  It was "after Morsi temporarily granted himself unlimited powers to "protect" the nation in late November 2012' people began to immediately protest.  The whole idea of a democracy is to get away from a one-man rule and clever Morsi just brought it on to himself.

Now that the Muslim Brotherhood has lost face by being ousted, their followers are taking it out on the Christians who live in Egypt. " The attacks have hit across the country, in the northern Sinai Peninsula, in a resort town on the Mediterranean coast, in Port Said along the Suez Canal and in isolated villages in upper Egypt.  A new wave of violence has been unleashed.  The Brotherhood blames them for having supported the calls to overthrow Morsi.  Brotherhood members have shot dead a priest in the street and have painted black X's on Christian shops to mark them for arson.  Angry mobs have attacked churches and seized Christians in their homes.  4 Christians were slaughtered with knives and machetes in one village last week after the Military coup.

The 2011 revolution alarmed many Christians that overthrew Mubarak.  Coptic Christians are a small minority of the country and did not foresee what could happen to them. Egypt is made up of about 80,000,000 people of which 90% are Sunni Muslims.  Islam is a state religion.   Most all Jews have moved next door to Israel.

The scuttlebutt now is that Morsi escaped from prison during the 2011 revolution with help from Hamas.  I wouldn't be surprised being they both share the same charter in dealing about Israel and Jews.  Egypt's prosecutors are now investigating these allegations.  Chief prosecutor Hesham Barakat has testimonies from a court in Ismailia who are looking into the jailbreak by Mohammed Morsi and 30 other Muslim Brotherhood leaders.  If this proves to be true, legally it can lead to showing proof of foreign intervention on Egyptian soil that leads to treason charges.  Morsi is now kept  in an unknown place, and no charges have been filed as yet.  Hamas is denying the allegation of January 29, 2011 jailbreak at the Wadi-el-Natrun prison NW of Cairo.

What our USA is finding fault with now is of the Egyptian military and interim government's arrests of Morsi's supporters.  The continued detentions are inconsistent with pledges of inclusivity made by authorities and may affect  future monies from the USA.  Ongoing arrests of the Muslim Brotherhood members are troubling to democracies.  The neighbor most affected and seriously watching is Israel.

Resource: http://israel-nadene.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-is-hamas-anyway-hamas-charter.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Morsi
Oregonian newspaper, 7/12/13, Egypt or elsewhere, "neocon" label pasted willy-nilly by Washington Post, and on same page, Morsi-Hamas allegations get official probe.
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Textbook: Middle East, past & Present by Yahya Armajani and Thomas M. Ricks, 2nd Edition by Prentice-Hall, Inc. of N.J. 

Hamas Latest Secret Elections and Their Backers

Nadene Goldfoot
The players are the same as the past 4 years; Obama, Netanyahu and Mashaal.  Nothing has changed.  Khaled Meshal, age 56, has been the leader of Hamas since 1996.  He had vowed in December that he would continue violence against Israel.  So right now we're just in a lull.

After a year of secrecy and internal elections, which is definitely not the way of the Democratic process, the Islamic militant terrorist group, Hamas, re-elected longtime leader Khaled Mashaal. This was confirmed by 2 Hamas officials recently, but not through an announcement from Hamas officially.  They're just so secretive about this.    A vote had continued on late Monday night.  The voting was spread over several countries including Egypt.  Mashaal had moved from Damascus to Qatar, now their primary funder.  Qatar is also the same country backing Arabic studies at Lincoln High School in Portland, which is only one of several throughout the United States where they are promoting Arabic.  There are many outposts of American universities such as Carnegie Mellon in Qatar as well.  Hillary Clinton has visited there.

Also continuing in the works is Ismail Haniyeh, around age 50,  as Mashaal's deputy, also known as the Prime Minister.  He has been a leading contender.  "Haniyeh has always favored violence over diplomacy, and said the Hamas' wins in the municipal elections in 2005 were proof that the majority of Palestinians support terrorism against Israel.  He  has expressed his wish to form a national unity government with former ruling party  Fatah of Judea-Samaria in order to more effectively run the new government.  Being in this position now, he changed his words to speak of "resistance."  His resistance has been in the form of mortars, missiles and rockets, evidently.

Turkey, who Netanyahu was finally forced to give the apology to following Obama's visit  for his navy's following orders of searching all incoming ships for weapons headed for Gaza, gave $300 million dollars to Hamas.  They also have been supporters of terrorism against Israel.  Obviously that's why they made the big bru-hah over their ship, the Mari Marmara on May 31, 2010 when they resisted the search by Israeli sailors. They made a big deal so that they could point their finger and criticize  Israel when it should have been the other way around.  Their goal of embarrassing Israel caused them to lose some lives on that ship in the act of the Israelis saving theirs.   There were 6 ships at the same time that Israel had to check out, and they didn't resist.  No problems came about with them.

Resource: http://defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/hamas-leadership-selection-an-initial-assessment/
Oregonian newspaper 4/2/13, page A6, Hamas leader Mashaal wins re-election
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_flotilla_raid
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Haniyeh.html

Let Us Not Lose Sight Of: Israel: Leaders in Science, University Graduates

Aish.com has come up with some great facts about Israel's accomplishments these past 64 years.
"Innovation:
 Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 per 10,000 in the U.S. More, it has the highest ratio of university degrees to its population, the highest per capita ratio of scientific publications and patents filed, and proportionally the largest number of startup companies in the world. Israelis among other things:

*designed the most impenetrable flight security, and advise the U.S. re: airborne security threats.

*developed the first fully no-radiation, diagnostic instrumentation for breast cancer treatment.

And: *The cell phone, Windows NT software, voice mail technology, AOL’s instant messenger program, and the Pentium MMX Chip were designed in Israel." 

This is just the tip of the iceberg in inventions that help people worldwide.  

Here's the unusual fact.

"Israel accounts for less than 1/1000th of the world's population, and is the 150^th smallest country, yet is a world leader in many areas.

Humanism, Politics, and Culture. Israel is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East where Muslims, Christians, and Jews may vote in free and fair representative parliamentary elections. It also has the highest average living standards in the Middle East. Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined."

It's the only successful state in the area and thus the object of ridicule and hatred by the surrounding neighbors.  I've seen this happen even in classrooms.  The nerd or student actually studying gets teased and beaten up by the bullies.  It's pretty disgusting how success is often viewed.  

Resource: http://www.aish.com/j/f/WouldJew_Believe_Israel_Edition.html

Differences Between 21 Arab Nations and 1 Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
By 1300 BCE, 2,000 years before Islam was created by Mohammed, Israel became a Jewish nation. 
"Israel is the very embodiment of Jewish continuity: It is the only nation on earth that inhabits the same land, bears the same name, speaks the same language, and worships the same God that it did 3,000 years ago. You dig the soil and you find pottery from Davidic times, coins from Bar Kokhba, and 2,000-year-old scrolls written in a script remarkably like the one that today advertises ice cream at the corner candy store."
Palestinian Arabs have been actively trying to delete any evidence of Jews ever living in the land as they have been at war with Israel from Gaza and possibly again now from Judea and Samaria. 

Arab countries are mostly monarchies though 7 are  Republics, 2 are Military Regimes, Libya was a dictatorship, and then there are the emirates.  What Iraq will be is questionable.    Israel is the only Democracy. 
Twenty-one separate countries make up the Arab world in the Middle East.  Let's look at one:

Qatar                        11,437 square km and  769,152 population    $15.10 billion GDP

Israel                          20,770 square km and 5,938.09 population:    $18,000 billion GDP

21 Arab Countries
Total                        13,486,861 square km and 292,400,267 population  $1,195.49 billion GDP

Many of the 21 nations have an abundance of oil that they use for their revenue.  Israel has had none, but are beginning to find deposits. 

Both believe in one G-d, but that G-d seems to give different messages along with the similar ones, causing Muslims following Qatar's religious leader, Qaradawai and others like him to want to drive Israel into the sea.  Israel just wants to live and let live.  Moses was the leader of Jews around 1300 BCE while Mohammad was the creator of Islam. around 630 CE.  Both came from Abraham but from different mothers.  Israel has over 1 million Arabs living as citizens in their population, but the Arab countries do not have Jews today in their population.  When there were Jews living in their country before 1948, they were 2nd class citizens only.  The future state of Palestine is to have no Jews at all, even though many Jews are living in Judea and Samaria right now.  This is one of the problems between Israel and the PA.   
As for Jerusalem, "In the Jewish Bible, Jerusalem is mentioned over 669 times and Zion (which usually means Jerusalem, sometimes the Land of Israel) 154 times, or 823 times. The Christian Bible mentions Jerusalem 154 times and Zion 7 times. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran. Jerusalem is also not mentioned in the Palestinian Covenant. "  Jerusalem is central to Judaism, and not important at all in Islam.  The only main reference they have to it is that Mohammed rose to the heavens while on his white horse in Jerusalem, but is not in the Koran.  The most wonderful thing that happened out of the terrible 1967 Six Day War was that Israel was then in a postion to liberate East Jerusalem from Jordan and unite the city once again. 

During 1940's through 1950's nearly ALL the Jews had to flee from Arab countries to avoid persecution and pogroms. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab countries is estimated to be a million. This number is greater than the number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948, estimated as 343,000 (see Peters' book cited below).  Arabs who left at the advice of their leaders are still living in camps supported through the UN and are the longest living group of displaced people in the world doing this.  Jews, who were considered dhminnis (2nd class citizens) living in Arab countries  moved to Israel and found housing and work.  None are in any camps.  It turned out to be a wonderful way to unite Ashkenazie and Sephardi and Mizrachi Jews as they intermarried. 

Resource: http://www.science.co.il/arab-israeli-conflict.asp
  Charles Krauhammer in 1998's quote.

Muslim Brotherhood May Gain 25% of Seats in Egypt

Nadene Goldfoot
The Muslim Brotherhood, which started in the late 1920's, may have been banned by Mubarak but has been running the educational, health and social programs in Egypt, giving them an in politically in Egypt. Besides that, it has been said that they are the strongest and most organized group. They just ousted 5 young members who were too progressive.

The US response is to recognize this group. Hillary Clinton said that "It is in the interests of the US to engage with all parties that are peaceful, and committed to nonviolence, that intend to compete for the parliament and the presidency." They say they renounced violence 60 years ago. The fact that Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood is not under consideration. The Muslim Brotherhood's own leaders say they are a moderate Islamic movement. This is a political party with a stand on limiting the rights of women, which is something that has been a part of this Muslim society, but more in the past. I am judging by the many Egyptian movies I was able to watch from Israel in 1980-1985, not having traveled there. They have an estimated 600,000 members. The Obama administration feels they should not turn against the Muslim Brotherhood because it is Islamist. Because this group has such Islamic ideals, they do oppose the Egypt-Israel peace settlement.

Their charter displays their goal of wiping out Israel, so I wouldn't call that peaceful group. They are open about advocating violent jihad against America and Israel. A "moderate" leader once wanted to ban kissing in public. An offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, Islamic Jihad, carried out the assassination of President Anwar al Sadat.  It was Sadat who had legalized the Muslim Brotherhood for the first time in two decades.  Sadat had made peace with Israel.  How is it that our government is not acknowledging these facts?

Secular groups have formed with the younger generation. Islam Lotfy, a lawyer, was one of the 5 dismissed from the Muslim Brotherhood who has formed his own party belatedly, the Egyptian Current. It will be more tolerant and youth-driven. . Abdel Monem Aboul Fotouh is another one who defyed the wishes of the M. B. by running for president. Lotfy said the M.B is against the concept of revolution. They want to change society from within. Since this concept didn't arrive at change, Lotfy is now for revolution.

Parliamentary elections are in September. The Muslim Brotherhood plans on gaining 25 % of the seats.Two things worry me: this Islamic political party and younger revolutionary parties. What changes do they need to bring about? Egypt is the 5th largest Muslim majority country with 77,100,000 people of which 90% are Sunni Muslims. It is a state religion and they have a semi-presidential republic. This is where both the prime minister and president both have an active role in the administration of the state.

Their GDP is only 5,491, so they are a rather poor country. Do they also wish to do away with the peace treaty with Israel? What is it that revolution is necessary to achieve? Most all the Muslims in the Middle East are engaged in an "Arab Spring" right now of revolution. Netanyahu has commented that Democracy in Arab countries would be the best thing for Israel.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0711/muslim_brotherhood_purge.php3
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2011/02/cause-to-fear-muslim-brotherhood-in.html
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/02/egypt-muslim-brotherhood-leader-who-wants-to-ban-kissing-released-from-prison-added-to-panel-working.html
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/03/133455504/post-mubarak-muslim-brotherhood-could-play-role
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Muslim_majority_countries
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Semi_presidential_republic_means
http://freedomslighthouse.net/2011/02/02/muslim-brotherhood-okd-by-obama-has-ties-to-sadat-assassination-al-qaeda-no-2-ayman-al-zawahiri/

Answering Discouraging Newspaper Letter to Editor Concerning Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
Today's Letter to the Editor in the Oregonian had a very discouraging letter from a writer in Beaverton that I tried to answer in 150 words, but felt I could not address his accusations properly, so I will try to answer them better in my blog. My short answer will probably not even by published.

He wrote that our government and Israel have agreed to continue taking more Palestinian land for another year while punishing or killing any Palestinian who resists.

Perhaps he does not realize that on November 29, 1947, the United Nations ended the British Protectorate of "Palestine" and created a partition which the Arabs turned down. When Israel was created by the United Nations in May 1948, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Trans-Jordan and Iraq attacked Israel. Ever since then Israel has offered land for peace which the Arabs have continually turned down. Their intentions have not been honorable. They want to destroy Israel, not live next door to her.

By attacking Israel and losing in 1967, Israel found itself in charge of much more land than in 1948. Actually, in the original documents, Israel was to have a much larger piece of land, but a great deal was taken in the offer of a partition that wasn't accepted by the Arabs. In a sense, they gained back what was originally promised to them. However, this land came into Israel's hands fairly. When a country attacks and loses, they lose the land they were gambling on. Thus Mexico lost Texas. This is a part of international law.

Israel is not continuing to take "Palestinian land". Israel pulled out of Gaza completely, and this was for peace. What has happened is that it is now a hotbed of terrorists who have not stopped shooting rockets into Israel. I'd say that was a bad move. The "West Bank" which is actually Judea and Samaria, originally Jewish land, has been designated to become "Palestine'. Olmert has said a million times that he will honor his promise, but first expects the Palestinians to stop their terrorism and stop attacking Israel. This was agreed to in the Oslo agreements and we are still waiting to see a stopping of attacks.

Israel is not taking Palestinian land and killing people who resist, but the Palestinians still allow terrorism and the attacking of Israel. If they want a Palestinian state, they first have to stop terrorism and reeducate their students to stop hating Israel by using better textbooks.

He stated that the USA should withhold further military aid and funding from Israel until it agrees to recognize Palestine on the pre-1967 borders. Israel has been the only democratic state in the Middle East, and shares its military expertise with the USA. He's asking the country that won the wars to give in to 1967 borders as if Israel were the loser. Since when does a country have to give in to the bullies? I'm afraid Olmert has even extended much of this on the condition of peace, which isn't being offered. Palestinians have not wanted to accept or recognize Israel. Why should we give back land to a people who want to do us in? We're not that stupid.

The writer also added that Israel should stop its illegal occupation and vacate all settlements. Bush even used the term "occupation" in Israel today, and Olmert had to let that one roll by. I guess we should stop our illegal occupation of Texas and vacate the Alamo. Israel is not occupying any land illegally. Attack and lose ground. That's what has happened with the Arabs in Israel. A crime needs punishment. It was a crime to attack Israel. The punishment is the loss of land they never wanted in the first place. They only want it now because Israel has done something with it. The commandment, thou shalt not covet, includes wanting Israeli land, and they have have been highly coveting.

The man in Beaverton ends his letter by stating that all settlements are an illegal aggression against Palestine. Israel feels that the land rightly belongs to them and they can build as they wish and need. Palestine is not an entity yet, and may never be until they wise up and stop their aggressions against Israel. No country in its right mind wants to have a state bent on the destruction of itself.

Interestingly, a new poll found that 62% of Palestinians (Israeli Arabs) who are living in Israel say they would prefer to live in Israel rather than a Palestinian state. They know that, despite problems in Israel, Israel is still a democratic state that offers them freedom of speech, assembly, religion, and the press and respects human rights in general and women's rights and gay rights in particular. All these rights would be denied under Palestinian rule.

Reference: Oregonian Letters to the Editor 1/11/08
Mitchell Bard Myth #284. Palestinians prefer to live in a Palestinian state.
Prelude to a Palestinian Bloodbath by Alan Caruba