Israel and the World with Peace Negotiations

On April 12, 2011, Hillary Clinton said that Obama's administration planned a new push to promote Arab-Israel peace in the coming weeks. 

King Abdulla of Jordan will be hosted by Obama on May 17th at the White House.

On May 20, Netanyahu will talk with President Barack Obama who has been trying to create a peace deal.  Obama feels this must come about now because of the political upheaval in the Arab world.

On May 24th, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak to the U.S. Congress on his Washington visit. He will adddress a meeting of both chambers of Congress.   He is against the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.  Hamas's charter is still reporting that their goal is to destroy Israel.  He feels this union undermines any peace prospects now. 

In September the U.N. may be voting on the creation of a Palestine by the Arabs of Hamas and Fatah.  These Palestinians are pushing for Israel to return to the 1967 borders and to give East Jerusalem to them for a capital. Israel has already given up Gaza and has found that it has only brought the enemy closer as it is now the grounds where all the missiles and mortars have been coming from.  Israel has given up much of their very tiny piece of land already to Egypt, and while Sadat and Mubarek were at the helm, peace was kept.  Today we see the Muslim Brotherhood gaining ground in Egypt.  Their charter is also against Jews and Israel.  (Go to Stand With Us and read it again. I also have it on one of my blogs.)

We know that the Palestinian unity will follow Hamas' creed of destroying Israel.  Going back to the 67 borders and giving up part of Jerusalem will also be like giving the killers ammunition for Israel's own suicide.  Giving into what the Arabs want is not the answer to the world's problems.  That's why Netanyahu has not frozen any building in Judea and Samaria.  A peaceful nation living there is not coming from the Palestinians.  It's like saying, "Sure, it's okay with me if drug dealers move into the house next door.  "  You know there will be more trouble than you can stand if that happens. 

Israel has just celebrated its 63 birthday.  Its continuation is in the balance and a lot depends on the USA's decisions as well as the U.N.  The ultimate decisions about Israel rest with Ha Shem.  May Israel also see its 120th birthday and many more to come. 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110510/pl_nm/us_israel_usa_netanyahu/print
http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/05/10/why-is-glenn-in-israel/

The Pollyanna Approach to Palestinian Unification

Nadene Goldfoot Summary
The new Fatah-Hamas reunification allows Hamas to integrate into Fatah's US-trained security force and become members of the PLO.  This is all we need; further training for a terrorist organization bent on destroying Israel.  Yet a Pollyanna perspective in Israel from a real leftist, a TV personality in Israel feels that this may bring peace closer between Israel and the Palestinians.  To me this can only happen if Fatah influences Hamas, and it's always been the other way around.  They may be infiltrating  immediately, adding more danger to Israel. 

Jimmy Carter praised the reunion as a step forward.  I ask, for whom?  He does not seem to accept the fact that Hamas is a terrorist organization whose charter remains to destroy Israel.  He thinks this melding will bring about Palestinian democracy.  Was he the one who pushed for their elections in the first place that ousted Fatah with Abbas?   He even promises that now we will see a stopping of missiles upon Israel and it will bring peace.  However is that to be, I wonder.  Isn't this pie in the sky?  This is not like the Democrats unifying with the Independents in the good old USA. 

Other Pollyannas think the reconciliation between the two terrorist groups will not last long.  Well, they are pretty volitile. Others are just not getting overly excited about it all.  They even think this won't have any impact on the US aid to the Palestinians.  Abbas certainly feels this way because he has always been  the one who carries out negotiations with Israel and think the money will just keep coming to him. 

Some Pollyannas are panicking and are even angry with Netanyahu for condemning the two for agreeing.  They think it's an opportunity for Israel. and want Israel to be a team player and go along with Obama's administration to empower the USA to help Israel's interests.

Most realists understand that the PLO/PA/Fatah have always favored terror.  Anything they have promised Israel is overturned by their support for terror.  This was seen in 1990 when Arafat wouldn't condemn a sea attack on Ashkelon and Tel Aviv by their own PLF arm of the PLO.   Again in 2000 Arafat refused Barak's offer of peace and Palestinian statehood.  Instead, he joined up with Hamas and terrorized Israel.   People then saw that Arafat was no peacemaker but instead a true terrorist.

The US Congress supports ending the US funding, recognition and support for this enlarged terrorist group.  I congratulate them for their wisdom.  I feel sure that Netanyahu is not going to bend to the pressure of these Pollyanna groups we see even in Israel as this would only empower Obama to demand more concessions to the terrorist government.  Standing firm can cause Netanyahu to be attacked by the Pollyanna supporters of continued concessions, but the majority will be thankful for ending the myth of being at peace with terrorists. 

Resource: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0511/glick050611.php3?printer_friendly by Caroline B. Glick: The PLO's Desperate defenders. 

Sarkosy & Cameron Get It but Ben Ami Hesitant

Nadene Goldfoot
Nicolas Sarkosy, President of France and David Cameron, PM of England  realize that Palestine has to renounce terrorism and recognize Israel.  This was part of the conditions that have to take place before Israel can be expected to enter into peace discussions with them.  They said that Israel can only enter into making peace with those who are not trying to destroy her.  This is how Netanyahu also feels   and is why he went to speak with them. 

Being that Fatah has united with Hamas, the terrorists who will not renounce their goals to destroy Israel, any talks now are pretty impossible.

Ben Ami, leader of J. Street, the new leftist group trying to replace AIPAC, still sees it differently.  He is urging a trial period for the Palestine coalition.  He feels he needs to see a clearer policy from them.  He recommends that Israel test their policy before condemning them.  Whereas, Israel is thinking of cutting all ties now with Fatah which will stop Israel's flow of money into Palestine.  There's no need to supply Abbas with funds that can be used for weapons against Israel.  Hamas has been very direct on what their united Palestine's goal is, and it doesn't include Israel. 

Reference: http://www.jpost.com/
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=219429

Oh Jerusalem, Indivisible

Nadene Goldfoot
Nir Barkat is the Israeli mayor of Jerusalem, a city of 800,000 Jews and Arabs.  He was interviewed about the possibility of Jeruslam being divided.

He explained that in 1967 when Israel was attacked by all the Arab nations including Jordan, Israel won and in doing so obtained East Jerusalem and the Judea Samaria area named the West Bank by Jordan.  It was Jordan's loss and outcome for having attacked their neighbor. 

200,000 Jews live in this post 67 land as well as 300,000 Arabs.  300,000 Jews also live in West Jerusalem.  This makes a half million Jews living in the post 67 Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria;  Not mentioned are the 15,000 Christians who live in Jerusalem, making up 2% of its population as of May 2009 statistics.  Actually, 150,000 Christians live in the state of Israel. If Jerusalem were to be divided, where would they live?  They would most likely suffer the same fate as the Jews, for the Palestinians want their Palestine to be only populated by Muslim Arabs. 

There is no way of dividing Jerusalem between Arabs and Jews, Nir explained.  Arabs have moved into Jewish neighborhoods and Jews are living in Arab neighborhoods.  Now there are no "Jewish neighborhoods." It would be impossible to divide it up. 

It sounds more like our indivisible North America. 

It seems like a moot question now as Hamas and Fatah have joined together and there's no way Hamas will accept Israel, so they have said.  Their joint statement concerning how they feel about Israel and Jerusalem is:
"The common national goal is to establish a Palestinian state, independent with sovereignty on the West Bank and Gaza Strip with Jerusalem as the capital, without settlements, without giving up a single inch of it and with the right of return" of Palestinian refugees, the Hamas leader said." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110504/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_reconciliation

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110504/ap_on_re_mii_ea/ml_israel-dividing_jerusalem/print
http://www.prlog.org/10243328-number-of-christians-living-in-jerusalem-drops-to-only-2-of-the-population-from-20-in-1948.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGFDBmycm8M&feature=player_embedded

What Has Happened to Expelled Jewish Communities from Gaza?

Nadene Goldfoot
Jews have had a connection to Gaza for the last 4,000 years.  Samson brought down the pillars in Gaza.
Jews lived in Gaza City prior to 1929 when the Arabs rioted and killed many Jews. They bought land in Gaza in the 1930's and settled there once again in 1946, but in 1948 when all the Arab nations attacked Israel for having announced their birth, Jews once again were forced to leave.

Jewish communities were moved by Israel from Northern Katif, Gaza in August of 2005 in the name of peace with the Arabs. This move caused 8,600 Israelis to leave their homes.  Most of them were Orthodox Jews.   This has become an attack base for the Arabs.  . 

Israel had to hand over privately owned Jewish property to the illegal terrorist organizations.  This came about because of the prodding of our U.S. government.  The result is that Israel, which is said to be in violation of clause 7 of the Disengagement Legislation, handed over privately held property. 
Lately Israel faced unprecedented escalated Arab missile bombardment on its southern border from these very places which used to house Jews.  . 

If a Palestine is created in Judea and Samaria (West Bank), this will mean that there will be Palestinian missiles on the hills overlooking Kfar Saba, Netanya and the entire coastal plain of Israel. 

Lawmakers in the Knesset are not enacting any more legislation that would cede anymore land for Palestinian use as a sovereign territory since they threaten to use any land under their control to attack and "liberate the rest of Palestine."    This is especially true now that Fatah has united with Hamas. 

The actions of Hamas in Gaza have made Israelis very wary of what could happen to a Palestine in Judea and Samaria. Only recently Gaza was controlled by the PLO  who lost in their election to the Hamas terrorists.  This marriage break looks like it was only a separation and not a divorce.  Now they have made up and are living together again, but have made themselves very unneighborly to Israel by doing so.

http://www.israelbehindthenews.com/bin/content.cgi?ID=3091&q=1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gush_Katif
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/02/gazas_rich_jewish_history.html Victor Sharpe's history of Gaza

Misleading Textbook Used in Portland College

Nadene Goldfoot
After teaching for 22 years in Public Schools in Oregon, I moved to Israel to teach.  From 1980 to the end of 1985 I lived in Israel and taught in the Safed Junior High.  .  Upon returning to Portland I took a class at our Portland State U in Middle East History to renew my certification..  The textbook used was MiddleEast Past & Present by Yahya Armajani and Thomas M. Ricks.   As it turns out, Dr. Yahya Armajani was listed as James Wallace Professor of History, Emeritus at Macalester College, which is in St Paul, Minnesota.  Thomas M. Ricks was listed as hailing from Birzeit University which is in the West Bank, only 4.5 miles N of Ramallah.  It is a Palestinian University and has its own slant about Israel that collides with mine.

On page 367 about Israel being a Zionist State I find that the author shows no understanding at all as to why it was established.  It's as if he were an alien from outer space and came upon its creation without any background information.  He mentions it being established as a refuge for only Jews and says that "non-Jews felt themselves to be out of place."  Then he goes on to say just what the Israeli government did for incoming Jews and wrote conveying just how bitter he was about it. 

I shudder to think of what a lop-sided view so many students taking this course got out of such a class.  Between the lectures I remember and this one book, I wonder if anyone bothered to read other material to get another viewpoint.  I doubt it. 

I remember being very disgusted and writing my essay exam furiously giving the instuctor some facts he may never had heard about; especially if he's the one who picked this textbook.  I did get an A out of the course, so perhaps he did some checking. 

Is this the type of educational material used in my home town that causes so much of the anti-Israel attitude I see popping up in the Oregonian newspaper and online with Oregon Live so often?  Most young college students are not experienced enough in life to realize what is being fed to them and may not even think about finding other material.  It would be easy to just get them converted to one way of thinking.  As I look back on my first years of college, it was the returning GI's who asked the questions in class, not the recent high school grads.  We were too shy and unsure of ourselves.  I write this hoping that anyone reading will check out the books presented in class and be sure that they read all sides of a topic before coming to conclusions. As for this textbook, it just said Berzeit University.  I had to check it out online to find where it was located.  Then I knew for sure why it was written is such a slanted manner.   

Hamas, Fatah Speak About Osama bin Laden's Demise

Nadene Goldfoot
Israel can get to know their neighbors through Hamas and Fatah's remarks about the death of Osama bin Laden. 
There are a few differences between Hamas and Fatah in their philosophies, but they haven't let that stop them from uniting again.

Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of Hamas terrorists in Gaza has denounced the killing of Osama bin Laden.  "He was an Arab holy warrior", he said.  "American policy is based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood."  He can dismiss Hamas's aggressive actions completely and not accept that Arab blood is shed as a result  of their violent blood-letting actions. 

A military wing of Fatah is the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.  They took Osama's death very hard and called his killing a catastrophe.  They called the US Seals a gang of heretics, which shows how little they even know about the English language besides not having any morals similar to the USA.  A heretic is someone who has left a belief.  They disavow a revealed truth.  They are people who dissent from an accepted belief  or doctrine of any kind.  Evidently their belief  coincides with Osama's in that it's okay to kill 3,000 civilians  in the Twin Towers as well as many others.  It's okay to be cowards and kill innocent people.  They're the kind of men who attacked the school in Safed, Israel and killed children.  They kill for no reason other than hatred. 

PLO Ghassan Khatib, spokesman for Abbas's Fatah group, now again under the classification of terrorists as they have united with Hamas, commented that getting rid of bin Laden is good for the cause of peace in the world.  "What counts, he said, is to overcome the violent methods that he created. "

I wonder if Ghassan wouldn't consider Hamas's methods with Israel quite violent. Their methods have always been to attack civilians, and that they must get extra points for hitting school buses.  Then again Fatah has had its violence also with hitting families at night and killing all, including the babies, such as the recent slaughter in Itamar.  He talks a good talk but the actions of his people speak louder than his words do.  If Ghassan's heart is really in the right place, he needs to work on turning around his people from wanting to be like Hamas by getting rid of the textbooks filled with hate in his schools.  His people have to be reeducated.  He's got a lot of things to change. 

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/middle_east/view.bg?articleid=1334976&srvc=rss
http://www.jewishjournal.com/world/article/hamas_slams_killing_of_holy_warrior_osama_bin_laden_20110502/
http://www.freep.com/article/20110502/NEWS07/110502073/0/sports07
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=219040
1:22pm: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110503/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_palestinians_bin_laden
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Aqsa_Martyrs'_Brigades