To Israel, with Love
An Open thank you Letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu:
On February 10, 2009 many of us voted for you and other center right parties such as Yisrael Beitanu entrusting you to be strong and wise in protecting our country, our heritage and our families. Your speech on June 14th assured us that we were right in our judgement and that you would not let outside pressures from the United States, the European Union or anyone else cause you to backdown. Thank you for that.
That you chose the Begin-Sadat Center was not only propitious in and of itself but a tribute to these two past adversaries to whom bringing peace and demonstrating that the past can be overcome, meant more than reveling in real or imagined slights. These two men showed true leadership by caring more for the good of their citizenry than their own ideologies or egos.
The three issues you spoke of—the Iranian threat, the economic crisis, and the advancement of peace were most important to all of us as we entered the voting booths, but most important our belief that you would stand strong when outside pressures attempted to steer our nations policies. Whether it is threatening remarks from the European Union against Israel’s policies or the United States demanding the our country “must” act on her wishes we know you will not succumb to policy changes not in Israel’s best interest. Thank you for that.
Although the entire world has agreed that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons, this idea is in grave danger of weakening in the face of Iran’s determination. What Israel must do is clear, how to do it is another question and we all know failure could bring disaster, failure from doing nothing or failure to act unsuccessfully. We know that in your previous military experience as a Sayeret Matkal Commander you have faced situations like this although not as International in consequence and trust you will not blink in this extremely difficult task that must be faced.
How do we make peace with those neighbors still at war with us? Your proposal to work towards a regional peace seems reasonable on paper, the effort it would take is immense and we respect your willingness to take it on. The past attempts at negotiations have failed, for sixteen years we have given away land, uprooted Jews from their homes, released terrorists from jails, provided financial aid and social services and today our security is more precarious than it was in 1970 when I first made Aliyah from the United States. Every previous agreement has failed as not one item of one agreement has been kept by our adversaries who signed off on them. Yet we are constantly urged to make more “painful concessions” to express “goodwill”, without a single “painful concession” being required of the other side. Please, Mr. Netanyahu, no more “painful concessions” without reciprocity. Your conditions for a Palestinian State tell us you agree. We will not give our birthright away without real guarantees.
Regardless of how each of us stands on the issue of a Palestinian state your conditions are unassailable. Please hold them as immovable and all of us will eventually support you even though some may be half hearted.
That you stood up in front of the world and told a truth that has not been told in such a straightforward and forceful manner by any Prime Minister before you is a cause for hopeful joy in our hearts. The world must know and accept the root cause of the lack of peace is not connected to Israel, the Jewish people or our long and tragic history in exile but to the refusal to recognize the right of the Jewish people to a state of their own, in their historic homeland. Your clear statement that Israel is and will remain the sovereign state of the Jewish people was received with a heartfelt thank you from all of us who support you and even many of those who may have voted otherwise.
Israel has been most admired and respected when it has stood up for itself with confidence and assurance. We have spent the last 16 years negotiating away our sovereignty. Offering much, receiving nothing, this may be why so much of the world feels it can command us to behave as they wish, not in our best interests. While few of us want to stand alone and hopefully we will not ever be in that situation, but the Jewish people, within the State of Israel and in exile, have had to do so in the past and we mustn’t give away our birthright for fear of losing the good opinion of others.
The history lesson you gave the world and reminded those who may have forgotten, was most welcome. The cause of violence and adversity against us, of course is unrelated to Settlements, lack of official statehood for the Palestinians, occupation or the other slogans that have been sold to the world by our adversaries, often accepted by Jews as well. Thank you for that.
Your unequivocal commitment to a United Jerusalem was more than welcome. Past history has shown that only under Jewish control does Jerusalem meet its destiny – an open and free city to all religions and all people. King David did not choose it as a Capitol without reason, then it had strategic importance, now it also is the historic home in which we came together as a united people and shall remain that way as long as we have the will to maintain it. Thank you for that.
You expressed so well the truth that Israel is a country whose development has been all but miraculous, if the Arab countries want to work with us in creating a regional peace, there is no reason the Palestinian people cannot grow and prosper with our help. The three commitments have to be made and honored for their situation to change. They must accept Israel and the Jewish State that it is, solve their refugee problem themselves as we did, demilitarize any Palestinian territories, and understand that Jerusalem, while important to other faiths, IS the Capitol of the Jewish people. The question of the settlements is why can Arabs live among Jews, but Jews cannot live among Arabs.
The return of GILAD SHALIT is of highest importance, thank you for remembering and not slighting this most important issue.
Thank you for all you have said. I stand with you in any way that can be useful to the ends your government espouses. Continue to stand strong for us and we will stand by you.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Sloganeering For Peace
SLOGANEERING FOR PEACE; The meeting between President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu has occurred and the President’s much vaunted speech in Cairo has been praised and condemned endlessly, but what have we learned? I have learned that politics and slogans are most compatible bedfellows. Supporting slogans allows one to take a firm stand without dealing with what is behind the slogan. Sell a slogan and one can easily place blame, hold oneself unaccountable for results and not worry about taking the effort necessary to understand what it means. No details necessary. The slogans Israel’s adversaries have succeeded in positioning as magic—the abracadabra that will bring “peace” are: Two State Solution, Settlements, Occupation, Land For Peace and Jerusalem, capitol of Israel and Palestine.
Let’s illuminate the two most commonly argued today, Two State Solution and Settlements. Later we can investigate the others.
TWO STATE SOLUTION
What is the meaning of the word STATE in this context? According to the Encarta College Dictionary a state is “a country or nation with its own sovereign independent government.” In 1993 the European Union set the Copenhagen Political Criteria for new members, “membership criteria require that the candidate country must have achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities.” Couple these definitions with the fact that each time a state has been offered the Palestinians they have responded with increased violence.
Why don’t the Palestinians have a state? The primary reason is they do not really want one. Having a “sovereign state” requires certain institutions and behaviours. Who in the disputed territories will establish a judicial system within which a citizen can receive an independent hearing with equal justice meted to all participants? Will Hamas adjudicate fair justice to a member of Fatah? Will the Palestinian Authority provide unbiased justice to a member of Hamas. This may happen but at present both sides are busy torturing and murdering, not only each other but this form of “justice” also extends to the opponents family members. Declaring a state will do nothing to bring about an independent and fair justice system. Who will build physical infrastructure? Although more aid dollars have poured into these territories, per capita, than any other place on earth does anyone know where this money has gone? Who has built schools, hospitals, a police department to maintain law and order, banks and financial infrastructure that serves the ordinary citizen and not only those with “protekzia” from the political overlords? Elections that are free and fair, a Presidential election to be held in January 2009 has not been held, because the current President knows he will not be re-elected. How legitimate is a state run education system whose textbooks are filled with hate and the pursuit of violence toward its neighbor? How long will it take to build a health care system adequate for its citizens so they don’t have to run to its hated neighbor for this care? What does it mean to have a state? Currently Judea and Samaria have independence in administration of all of its day to day affairs. Anything in the above menu is entirely up to the “Palestinian” population. Why are these responsibilities not being met when there is no interference from Israel?
The only involvement that Israel has in this territory are issues surrounding its own security. When Israel declared its Independence in 1948 most of the infrastructure was in place, informal, unofficial but in place. At that time it would have been perfectly natural for the Arabs (they were not yet Palestinians) to declare an independent state. There is an old expression TANSTAFL, “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”, if you want an independent sovereign state start building it. If you attack your neighbor to take over his territory and you lose, you pay a price for your aggression (this means everyone except the Jews who pay a price for defending themselves). If President Obama really wants to bring about peace and a Palestinian state he must start with a commitment to honesty with the Arab people. Even though Israel does not have oil or other natural resources, a massive land mass or an enormous population to trade with, Israel has held up its end of the alliance with the U.S. and the U.S. must do the same (more on that soon).
Prime Minister Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Leiberman and nearly all of the people of Israel are not opposed to a Palestinian State living side by side in peace with Israel, nearly all are opposed to NOT living in peace. When the Arabs in Judea and Samaria are ready to live in peace with Israel there will be no argument from the Israeli side, no fences, no checkpoints (at least no more than every other country in the world has) and no IDF keeping the area secure. Right now we have a terrorist organization Hamas, running Gaza, (which is officially Judenrein) and Fatah running the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria while fighting with each other daily, until this is solved how can one develop a sovereign state in the midst of civil war? The current government of Israel is committed to helping the Palestinians achieve prosperity and stability, first they must redevelop their educational, economic, political and police structures then we can proceed to a viable future for both peoples. Textbooks teaching hatred from the earliest grades will not help build the trust necessary for any meaningful relationship. Once the Palestinian Authority recognizes Israel as a Jewish state we are on solid ground to move to a bright and hopeful future living side by side in peace.
A model that may be considered might be Cyprus. As the Greeks and the Turks were not able to live together in peace, they separated with the Greeks on one end of the Island and the Turks on the other end, 100%. Cyprus has not declared statehood but is treated like a state and functions as a viable state including a place in the United Nations. Another example is India and Pakistan, partitioned one year before the UN partition of Palestine, even though they have fought 3 wars over the years, no one questions their legitimacy as sovereign states.
As long as the Arab goal is one state from river to sea, Israel will defend itself in whatever way necessary to protect the State of Israel and its people. A state for the Palestinians under the present conditions is impossible. The Palestinians must begin to build a functioning state that is not a threat to Israel. Until then the slogan “two-state solution” is just that, a slogan. President Obama’s push for statehood within two years will be unsuccessful in that it encourages the Palestinian fantasy of erasing the State of Israel from the Middle East. This won’t happen no matter what the European Union or the United States desires. Israel is overly concerned with world opinion, but I have confidence it will not commit suicide to win good opinion, it is in fact not a colony of the U.S. or the EU, but a sovereign state, appreciative of its alliance with America, but remembering that the existential threat is to Israel not to the United States. Your Questions and thoughts appreciated.
SETTLEMENTS
What is a settlement? Settlements are communities of people living together in every country in the world. Jewish communities, for some mysterious reason, may not exist side by side with Arab communities. Arab communities may live side by side in Jewish territory. If you have an answer to that other than Arab racism against Jews please let me know. The argument for freezing settlements voiced by Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton and others in this administration show a lack of understanding of the mindset of the Israeli population. How often do we hear that we must understand the Arab/Palestinian/Muslim mindset, but never must we understand the Jews of Israel? Natanyahu’s mindset has been clearly set out in his speeches and writings. Stopping the growth of Jewish communities means their destruction. If a family grows by having more children, or its children grow up and have children of their own, where will they live? The freeze they are describing would mean no new kindergartens or schools or even additions to existing structures. If they all have to move away, you destroy families, an extremely important part of the culture of Israeli society. Eventually as all of the young leave the community disappears. In what way are the Arabs in Judea and Samaria damaged by having Jews live among them? This is the question not being asked.
Jewish communities (settlements) have been uprooted in the Sinai, in Gaza, and several in the West Bank. Only in the Sinai has peace prevailed with the Egyptian Peace Accord, a proof of Israel’s commitment to peace, none of the other destroyed Jewish Communities has moved the neighboring Arab communities even an inch towards peace, but instead has increased the level of violence and incitement towards Israel massively.
Settlements make up 1.7% of the territory of Judea and Samaria, an area which has a great deal of vacant land that could be developed if the desire was there. Let’s stop talking in slogans. Land for Peace has never worked, the answer is Peace for Peace, when Arabs make visibly real steps toward peace we can begin to build the trust necessary to live together, as many Arab and Jewish communities inside Israel do already.
That “settlements” are somehow an impediment to peace is manufactured sloganeering to sell the notion that Jews, in spite of 3500 years of history, have no place and no sovereign claims in the middle east.
Let’s illuminate the two most commonly argued today, Two State Solution and Settlements. Later we can investigate the others.
TWO STATE SOLUTION
What is the meaning of the word STATE in this context? According to the Encarta College Dictionary a state is “a country or nation with its own sovereign independent government.” In 1993 the European Union set the Copenhagen Political Criteria for new members, “membership criteria require that the candidate country must have achieved stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities.” Couple these definitions with the fact that each time a state has been offered the Palestinians they have responded with increased violence.
Why don’t the Palestinians have a state? The primary reason is they do not really want one. Having a “sovereign state” requires certain institutions and behaviours. Who in the disputed territories will establish a judicial system within which a citizen can receive an independent hearing with equal justice meted to all participants? Will Hamas adjudicate fair justice to a member of Fatah? Will the Palestinian Authority provide unbiased justice to a member of Hamas. This may happen but at present both sides are busy torturing and murdering, not only each other but this form of “justice” also extends to the opponents family members. Declaring a state will do nothing to bring about an independent and fair justice system. Who will build physical infrastructure? Although more aid dollars have poured into these territories, per capita, than any other place on earth does anyone know where this money has gone? Who has built schools, hospitals, a police department to maintain law and order, banks and financial infrastructure that serves the ordinary citizen and not only those with “protekzia” from the political overlords? Elections that are free and fair, a Presidential election to be held in January 2009 has not been held, because the current President knows he will not be re-elected. How legitimate is a state run education system whose textbooks are filled with hate and the pursuit of violence toward its neighbor? How long will it take to build a health care system adequate for its citizens so they don’t have to run to its hated neighbor for this care? What does it mean to have a state? Currently Judea and Samaria have independence in administration of all of its day to day affairs. Anything in the above menu is entirely up to the “Palestinian” population. Why are these responsibilities not being met when there is no interference from Israel?
The only involvement that Israel has in this territory are issues surrounding its own security. When Israel declared its Independence in 1948 most of the infrastructure was in place, informal, unofficial but in place. At that time it would have been perfectly natural for the Arabs (they were not yet Palestinians) to declare an independent state. There is an old expression TANSTAFL, “there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”, if you want an independent sovereign state start building it. If you attack your neighbor to take over his territory and you lose, you pay a price for your aggression (this means everyone except the Jews who pay a price for defending themselves). If President Obama really wants to bring about peace and a Palestinian state he must start with a commitment to honesty with the Arab people. Even though Israel does not have oil or other natural resources, a massive land mass or an enormous population to trade with, Israel has held up its end of the alliance with the U.S. and the U.S. must do the same (more on that soon).
Prime Minister Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Avigdor Leiberman and nearly all of the people of Israel are not opposed to a Palestinian State living side by side in peace with Israel, nearly all are opposed to NOT living in peace. When the Arabs in Judea and Samaria are ready to live in peace with Israel there will be no argument from the Israeli side, no fences, no checkpoints (at least no more than every other country in the world has) and no IDF keeping the area secure. Right now we have a terrorist organization Hamas, running Gaza, (which is officially Judenrein) and Fatah running the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria while fighting with each other daily, until this is solved how can one develop a sovereign state in the midst of civil war? The current government of Israel is committed to helping the Palestinians achieve prosperity and stability, first they must redevelop their educational, economic, political and police structures then we can proceed to a viable future for both peoples. Textbooks teaching hatred from the earliest grades will not help build the trust necessary for any meaningful relationship. Once the Palestinian Authority recognizes Israel as a Jewish state we are on solid ground to move to a bright and hopeful future living side by side in peace.
A model that may be considered might be Cyprus. As the Greeks and the Turks were not able to live together in peace, they separated with the Greeks on one end of the Island and the Turks on the other end, 100%. Cyprus has not declared statehood but is treated like a state and functions as a viable state including a place in the United Nations. Another example is India and Pakistan, partitioned one year before the UN partition of Palestine, even though they have fought 3 wars over the years, no one questions their legitimacy as sovereign states.
As long as the Arab goal is one state from river to sea, Israel will defend itself in whatever way necessary to protect the State of Israel and its people. A state for the Palestinians under the present conditions is impossible. The Palestinians must begin to build a functioning state that is not a threat to Israel. Until then the slogan “two-state solution” is just that, a slogan. President Obama’s push for statehood within two years will be unsuccessful in that it encourages the Palestinian fantasy of erasing the State of Israel from the Middle East. This won’t happen no matter what the European Union or the United States desires. Israel is overly concerned with world opinion, but I have confidence it will not commit suicide to win good opinion, it is in fact not a colony of the U.S. or the EU, but a sovereign state, appreciative of its alliance with America, but remembering that the existential threat is to Israel not to the United States. Your Questions and thoughts appreciated.
SETTLEMENTS
What is a settlement? Settlements are communities of people living together in every country in the world. Jewish communities, for some mysterious reason, may not exist side by side with Arab communities. Arab communities may live side by side in Jewish territory. If you have an answer to that other than Arab racism against Jews please let me know. The argument for freezing settlements voiced by Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton and others in this administration show a lack of understanding of the mindset of the Israeli population. How often do we hear that we must understand the Arab/Palestinian/Muslim mindset, but never must we understand the Jews of Israel? Natanyahu’s mindset has been clearly set out in his speeches and writings. Stopping the growth of Jewish communities means their destruction. If a family grows by having more children, or its children grow up and have children of their own, where will they live? The freeze they are describing would mean no new kindergartens or schools or even additions to existing structures. If they all have to move away, you destroy families, an extremely important part of the culture of Israeli society. Eventually as all of the young leave the community disappears. In what way are the Arabs in Judea and Samaria damaged by having Jews live among them? This is the question not being asked.
Jewish communities (settlements) have been uprooted in the Sinai, in Gaza, and several in the West Bank. Only in the Sinai has peace prevailed with the Egyptian Peace Accord, a proof of Israel’s commitment to peace, none of the other destroyed Jewish Communities has moved the neighboring Arab communities even an inch towards peace, but instead has increased the level of violence and incitement towards Israel massively.
Settlements make up 1.7% of the territory of Judea and Samaria, an area which has a great deal of vacant land that could be developed if the desire was there. Let’s stop talking in slogans. Land for Peace has never worked, the answer is Peace for Peace, when Arabs make visibly real steps toward peace we can begin to build the trust necessary to live together, as many Arab and Jewish communities inside Israel do already.
That “settlements” are somehow an impediment to peace is manufactured sloganeering to sell the notion that Jews, in spite of 3500 years of history, have no place and no sovereign claims in the middle east.
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