| THINK-ISRAEL | |||||
THINK-ISRAEL features essays
and commentaries that provide context for current events in Israel. We
aim to make sense of what's going on.
|
|
We are told that there is a difference between extremist Islam and
peaceloving normal Islam.
Judging by their behavior, Muslims are anti-West, anti-Democracy, anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, anti-Buddhist, and anti-Hindu. Muslims are involved in 21 of the 24 conflicts going on in the world: in Afghanistan, Bandladesh, Bosnia, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, East Timor, India, Indonesia (2 provinces), Kashmir, Kosovo, Kurdistan, Macedonia, the Middle East, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Sudan, Russia-Chechnya, Tajikistan, Thailand and Uganda. |
|
"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a
Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against
the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no
difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese.
Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the
existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests
demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people'
to oppose Zionism.
"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa. While as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan." (PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein, March 31, 1977, interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw.) |
|
"The voice from the burning bush was heard by one man - Moses.
And he acted. He took the Jewish people out of slavery. And out of
slavish imitation of their Egyptians masters.
The blasts from the burning bus in Jerusalem today were heard around the world. But will anyone arise to save the Jewish people from numbly acceding to degrading and futile negotiations with an enemy who wants only to destroy them? Who will stop the Israeli Government from forceably transferring Jews from Biblical Israel, leaving a vacuum the Arabs will fill? Rabbi Hillel said: Where there are no men, be thou a man. If we face the truth of our loss of self-respect and work as one to regain it, we will redeem Israel and ourselves." (Eliezar Edwards, January 29, 2004.) |
| "If Judea, Samaria and Gaza are surrendered than there is no moral justification to hold Tel Aviv. Abraham did not sip coffee in Rabin Square or in Shenken, Tel Aviv. He walked and was buried in the soil of Hebron." (Voice of Judea, March 12, 2004) |
| "Unless we citizens of Bharat(India) know what is Islam, we will never realize the purpose of creation of Pakistan on Indian land. If the citizens remain ignorant they will invite further aggression of Islam in this land. Islam is the mission of spreading Arabic culture by killing original Hindu culture" (Shri Gopal Godse, Feb 2nd 2001) |
|
The Yesha Council compiled, before the recent Likud referendum, a list
of quotes by top defense sources regarding the dangers of a unilateral
withdrawal. Excerpts:
* "Evacuating the settlements will give a tail-wind to terrorism... Everything that the Palestinians see as a crack in our ability to stand strong, distances the end of terrorism." - IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon * "The evacuation is dangerous, and the retreat will give the Palestinians a sense of victory and encouragement for terrorism." - Avi Dichter, head of the Shabak (General Security Service) * "The Sharon plan is understood by the Palestinians as a victory for terrorism... It will [prove] the effectiveness of terrorism in the view of Islamist elements." - IDF Intelligence Wing Head Gen. Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash * "Talk in Israel of the possibility of a unilateral retreat encourages the terrorist organizations to commit more attacks." - Gaza Formation Commander Brig.-Gen. Gadi Shamni In addition, Palestinian Media Watch has compiled these quotes from PA terrorist leaders: * "The recent Israeli statements about a retreat from Gaza are a proof of the success and effectiveness of the terrorism... An escalation of the intifada is [now] being called for." -- A Fatah spokesman quoted in Al Ayam, Feb. 18, 2004 * "The Palestinians have correctly concluded once again that terrorism is that which can attain their objectives..." -- Hani Al-Matzri, head of the PA Information Bureau, on March 8, 2004 * "They [the Israelis] will find themselves after a few years facing a
need to retreat from the West Bank... If the 'Hell' strategy
continues, they will be forced to retreat from Jerusalem, and hell
will rule in the region... A retreat [from Gaza] will have only one
result: The West Bank will burn." -- Al Ayam, Feb. 18, 2004
|
| "There are fewer Arab refugees in the Mideast than foreign workers in Jordan. Jordan could absorb all the refugees." (IMRA, 4/29). |
|
It should be remembered that in 1918, with the fall of the Ottoman
Empire, Britain and France were handed 5,000,000 square miles to divvy
up and 99% was given to the Arabs to create countries that did not
exist previously. 1% was given as a Mandate for the re-establishment
of a state for the Jews on both banks of the Jordan River. In 1921, to
once again appease the Arabs, another three quarters of that 1% was
given to a fictitious state called Trans-Jordan. - Jack Berger, May
31, 2004.
|
| FEATURED STORIES | ||
FICTION VERSUS FACTS
Hampton Stevens gives us an excellent precis of the actual facts
versus the fictions that have been slickly painted over the facts to
obscure reality. The essay serves both to orient us properly and to
exemplify, yet again, that the Arab culture sees nothing wrong in
substituting invention for truth.
DE PROFUNDIS
Yashiko Sagamori makes the simple but profund observation that the
more humans believe they resemble each other, the less do they
understand their cultural differences. Take us and the Muslims.
WHY ISRAEL MATTERS
The author reminds us that wars are "fought first with ideas" and
reminds us of two such ideas: (1) "Traditional American and Western
society is based on the Judeo-Christian ethic;" and
(2) "Islam is infinitely more compatible with totalitarian ideas than
it is with Judeo-Christian ideals, and so the two naturally form an
ideological alliance." To say it another way: "If Israel falls we will
not be far behind her."
"ARAB" MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOU'RE SORRY
Nonie Darwish explains why we can't expect Muslim Arabs to show
remorse for barbaric acts. "Those who admit guilt, even if it is
accidental, are given no mercy and may end up taking all the blame and
being brutally punished." Bush's apologies for Western abuses
are not seen as civilized; they are perceived as weakness.
THE PSYCHOANALYTIC ROOTS OF ISLAMIC TERRORISM
Phyllis Chesler asks, "... from a psychological and anthropological
point of view, what kind of culture produces human bombs, glorifies
mass murderers, and supports humiliation-based revenge?" Given the
prevalence of homosexuality and pedophilia, she suggests, "it is a
culture in which shame and honor play decisive roles and in which the
debasement of women is paramount."
WOMEN'S NON-EXISTENCE IN THE ARAB WORLD
We can read this poignant account of a young girl's encounter with
Arab culture as an instantiation of Phyllis Chesler's analysis. Ariell
Choy writes of her own experience. She concludes,
"In Canada, Sharia law has been secretly passed and infringes on the
rights of Muslim-Canadian women whose civil liberties in a supposedly
free Western country will be walked upon even with the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms."
UNDERSTANDING THE UNIQUE BARBARISM OF PALESTINIAN TERRORISM
Professor Beres has been exploring the unique nature of Palestinian
Arab terrorism for several years. He has observed that unlike other
"freedom fighters," the Palestinian Arab will use violence even where
it is clearly unsuitable for political gain. He demolishes several
myths: that terrorism is not endemic in the Palestinian community; and
that they are forced by their military weakness to excesses.
A CAMPAIGN OF DENIAL TO DISINHERIT THE JEWS
After 1967, Israel foolishly put the Arab Waqf in charge of the Temple
Mount. The Arabs saw this as another occasion in which to practice
identity theft - to try to take over Jewish history as well as Jewish
geography, to be the new lovers of Jerusalem. What is really amazing
is that the Jews haven't put a stop to their predations.
WRONG-HEADED VISION
David Basch points out America and Israel "[b]oth see the Arab as they
imagine him, not as he is." Unfortunately, "[b]oth Israel and the U.S.
are failing to understand the nature of Arab societies, characterized
by a passive majority that is used as a screen behind which
controlling, determined, active minorities attain their purposes."
HOW DO I KNOW?
The notion that without "experience with Islamic life, you are unable
to discuss the meaning of Jihad and Islamic history," is intended to
silence critics. Dr. Suseelan reassures us that "[o]ne can gain
knowledge and insight about Islamic theocracy without believing in
Koranic concepts or practicing Islamic dictates." He uses the concept
of "coherence theory" to explore some Muslim fundamentalist beliefs.
WHY THEY HATE US
The differences between cultures is not in which commits crimes -
members of each may - but how the culture responds. Robert Spencer
thoughtful essay reminds us that "... one civilization will condemn
and punish those who commit such crimes; the other will not." The
disparity is too great for palliatives such as negotiations, peaceful
coexistence, or mutual understanding.
ISLAM VERSUS JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY: SOME OBSERVATIONS
Ariel Natan Pasko puts the values of Islam in context by contrasting
them with the values of the Jews and Christians. The sacrifices of
Abraham and Jesus - at the core of Judaism and Christianity - are
alien to the initialization stories of Islam.
TWENTY-YEAR PLAN FOR USA: ISLAM TARGETS AMERICA
It is commonly believed that at the moment, Islamists are focused on
ridding the Middle East of Jews and other 'foreigners'. The battle for
America is to come later. Dr Anis Shorrosh disagrees. He believes
Islamists have already begun an intensive attack on America. This is
his checklist of what they have already begun to do.
How has Israel reacted? What should she do? These next essays address the what is and the what should be.BLOWIN' HOT AIR... by Gerald A. Honigman
Israel keeps threatening to combat her enemies effectively. But she
doesn't. Gerald Honigman emphasizes she has more to lose from a war of
attrition that do the Arabs, who lose relatively few Arabs during
their suicide-murders and during the minimalist Israel response. And with
a population of 60 Arabs to every 1 Jew, they can afford it. As
Honigman says, "it's time to stop blowin' hot air."
THE NEXT EVACUATION: "HATE THE SETTLERS" CAMPAIGN
Sharon and the Israeli Leftists who favor the 'Gaza Retreat' and its
concomitant 'Expel The Jews' campaign have emphasized that leaving
Gaza will make it easier to defend the rest of Israel (!). Of course,
they plan to also leave Samaria and Judea - and then create the
terrorist state of Palestine. It is not surprising that sane people
find the whole idea of vacating Biblical Israel daft. Emanuel Winston
tells us how Sharon spends his energy - demonizing the Jews who live
and have developed Biblical Israel.
STRAIGHT ANSWERS FOR TOUGH QUESTIONS
Bernard Shapiro discusses the disasterous consequences we
can expect should Israel retreat from Gaza. He predicts what we can
expect from the Palestinian Arabs, from the Egyptians and
from America.
WHY THE STAKES ARE HIGH IN GAZA
Rabbi Melman emphasizes that withdrawal from Gaza will lead to further
withdrawals as a demoralized Israel pursues "a chimera of false hopes.
Each withdrawal pours greater fuel on the problem, leading to ever
escalating conflagration."
THE CASE AGAINST DISENGAGEMENT FROM GAZA AND NORTHERN SAMARIA
In concise fashion, Yoram Ettinger lays out the many reasons Israel
should not leave Gaza. On the contrary, she should work more
aggressively to win the war on terrorism in the territories.
ARMING THE ARAB MUSLIM PALESTINIANS IN GAZA
Emanuel Winston first examines Egypt's role in arming the Arabs in
Gaza and Sharon's role in concealing Mubarak's collaboration with the
terrorists. (Taken together with the American-supplied long-range
sophisticated weaponry in Egypt - see Rand Fishbein, "Denial on the
Nile", http://www.think-israel.org/fishbein.egyptarsenal.html,
November 2003 - this is ominous.) Winston then focusses on Sharon, who
has made himself an internal enemy of Israel.
FACE REALITY OR FACE ANNIHILATION
Beth Goodtree suggests it is more than time that the "policy
makers and shakers" who control the Middle East start facing reality.
George Bush waffles, the European Union ignores that "Europe is under
invasion from the Moslem hordes and seems to think appeasement will
work" and Ariel Sharon "does more about-faces than a military academy
on parade day." The "civilized world in general" has "bought the
line that the enemy is terror. In truth, terror is merely a tactic of
the real enemy, Islamism." Meantimes, the Islamic world continues to
supply us with proof of how much they hate us and want us dead.
Clearly the war on Iraq was better-formulated and carried out than the aftermath, when we tried to bestow democracy on a people, while ignoring their national character. If we are to make a dent in the war on terror, we are going to have to deal with Iran. Perhaps these essays will encourage a serious examination of Iran's history and values before we proceed.
The end of World War I saw the emergence of the Pahlavis; the
predominance of oil; and the playing out of the Shi'ite subversion.
The 1979 revolution produced a Khomeni-defined theocratic regime that
is now the major factor in the Middle East. Lewis Lipkin urges American
policy toward Iran be based on real knowledge of Iran and Iranians.
"...a flexibility in the face of temporary reverses seems the best
hope to turn the key of the Middle East."
IRAN'S A GROWING DANGER IN IRAQ
Richard Chesnoff discusses how Iran's rulers have provided moral
support, training and weapons to various terrorist groups throughout
the Middle East.
IRAN'S NUCLEAR ADVENTURISM: A Review of Sweet's IEEE Article
Lewis Lipkin reviews a recent important article by William Sweet
assessing Iran's nuclear potential.
Anti-Semitism has many faces. Here are two: one worn by an academic; the other, cruder, by ordinary Russians.
TOM PAULIN: Poetaster of Murder
Edward Alexander chronicles the recent free-verse rantings of Tom
Paulin, who openly advocates the killing of Jews in (at a minimum)
Samaria and Judea. His verses may be stupid and ugly but everyone
understands they are anti-Jewish - everyone, that is, but some other
academics, who in supercilious and/or just plain silly fashion put
"free speech" uber alles. While his defenders - Jewish and non-Jewish
- continue to argue about the precise definition of anti-Semitism,
thanks to Paulin's ground-breaking efforts, it becomes ever more
acceptable in academia to openly hate Jews and accuse them of any and
all the ills the world is subject to.
MY FIRST POLITICAL EXPERIENCE
Boris Zubry reminisces about his first encounter at age five with
anti-Semitism. This being real life and not academia, he confronted
hate that was more physical than verbal. And even the words of hate
were crudely phrased. Perhaps that made it easy to understand
immediately how to respond.
Pro-Palestinian propaganda comes in many flavors. Too many groups who claim to promote human rights, peace and justice are nothing but fronts for Palestinian Arab terrorists. And even Arafat is presented as a 'peace-loving' leader of a peace-loving people. A favorite trick is to minimize the number of likely terrorists. And Muslim student in America are busy, busy, busy.
PRO-'PALESTINIAN' EQUALS ANTI-ISRAELI
Many anti-Israel organizations call themselves peace groups and
pretend neutrality. Dafna Yee examined "over 300 websites put up by
groups, organizations and individuals who claimed that all they wanted
was 'peace', 'justice', 'human rights', etc., for the 'Palestinians'.
With only FOUR exceptions, every one of the sites which claimed to be
promoting those ideals on behalf of the 'Palestinians' was flagrantly
anti-Israel."
REVAMPING ARAFAT'S SPEECHES: How His "Terrorize Your Enemy"
Speech Was Reported
On the anniversary of the day Israel became a state, Arafat delivered
a speech encouraging the Arabs to destroy Israel. Magically, before
the words reached the ears of the West, they were transmogrified into
a message of willingness to make peace with Israel. How dey do dat?
270 MILLION SUICIDE BOMBERS
When all else fails, pro-Arab propagandists point out that radicalized
Muslims are a small percent of the Muslim world. Using published data
from polls and demographic statistics, this essay estimates the number
of potential terrorists this small number comes to.
ISLAMISM'S CAMPUS CLUB: THE MUSLIM STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION (MSA)
MSA promotes itself "as a benevolent, non-political entity... its
constitution declares the MSA's mission as serving 'the best interest
of Islam and Muslims in the United States and Canada. ...'" Jonathan
Dowd-Gailey describes some of their recent activities and concludes
that "[t]here is overwhelming evidence that the MSA, far from being a
benign student society, is an overtly political organization seeking
to create a single Muslim voice on U.S. campuses - a voice espousing
Wahhabism, anti-Americanism, and anti-Semitism, agitating aggressively
against U.S."
ALAN DERSHOWITZ MAKES THE CASE FOR ISRAEL
Alan Dershowitz is a deservedly well-respected defender of Israel's
right to exist. And many hold the belief, as does Dershowitz, that
expelling the Jews from Gaza is good policy for Israel. What Salomon
Benzimra does in this essay is to point out the disparity between Mr.
Dershowitz's accurate facts and "the conclusions he draws from his own
observations."
This is where our readers get a chance to write opinions and editorials and share articles they find informative. Why Blog-Ed and not Op-Ed? Because we have retained the typical blog style of a stream of text organized chronologically. Blog-Eds is updated every few days. IMPORTANT UPDATE: A Blog-Ed page now has a quick list of the articles from which you can access any of the articles immediately. Click the "Blog-Eds List" box in the Blue Strip on the top of the Blog-Ed page. May 2004 Blog-Eds READ MORE
=========================================== March-April, 2004
Emanuel Winston points out defects in
Sharon's plan to evacuate Gaza. He explains why nice-sounding advantages to
Israel are unlikely and why negative consequences are almost certain
both for Israel and for America.
I'M MAD AS HELL: Don't Ask Me To Be A Nice Jewish Boy
Bernard Shapiro presents a likely scenario of the disasters that will
be visited upon Israel, should she withdraw (retreat) from Gaza,
Samaria and Judea, leaving a vacancy for the indigenous terrorists and
the swarming hordes of Arabs from neighboring lands and to occupy.
This is a powerful article we should all take to heart. BEWARE OF THE GAZA TRAP
Withdrawing from Gaza is likely to prove a disaster not only for
Israel but it will create problems for America. "President Bush may
find it difficult to explain to a skeptical public why it was
important to destroy the terrorist infrastructure in Afghanistan and
Iraq while at the same time he is permitting it to flourish in Gaza."
Moreover, "President Bush's cooperation in this plan may put him in
jeopardy of violating the very anti-terrorism statutes he is sworn to
uphold. As a consequence, U.S. national security could be
significantly undermined."
THE GENERALS' CONFUSION
"... the entire rationale of moving ahead with Sharon's plan [to
evacuate Gaza] is that Sharon has claimed that the US has given Israel
something in exchange for implementing it. And yet, over the past
week, the US has made quite clear that it will give Israel nothing."
Caroline Glick helps us understand the behavior of Israeli
"generals turned prime ministers." She concludes "... that, in electing
'security hawks' to the prime minister's office, Israel has gotten
neither the security it sought nor the political acumen and diplomatic
savvy it needed."
BREACHES OF FAITH
Why is withdrawal from Gaza, Samaria and Judea the wrong thing to do?
Patricia Berlyn spells it out: it would be a breach of faith with
4,000 years of history and heritage, with all who defended and
redeemed the heritage, with the most fundamental principles of
democracy, and with Israel's staunch friends. To do so will put
Israel's "future in desperate jeopardy, morally as well as
physically."
NEVE DEKALIM, GUSH KATIF, GAZA, ISRAEL
These are the latest entries from the diary of Moshe
Saperstein, who lives in Neve Dekalim, a Jewish community in Gaza, a
town which has bravely withstood the sustained violence of its Arab
neighbors. It is now faced with an almost inconceivable threat - the
Jews of Gaza are to be ethnically cleansed by their own Government, a
Government elected because it promised to get tough with Arab
violence.
OUR HALACHA, OUR HISTORY, OUR SECURITY ARE TIED TO GUSH KATIF, GAZA
Gush Katif is a group of some 20 Jewish farming communities in Gaza.
Now, Ariel Sharon intends to do what no Arab has been able to do:
expel the inhabitants of Gush Katif. The Jews there, who have legally
reclaimed the area from the desolation it has been mired in since the
Middle Ages, are to be transferred out. Rabbi Kovacs makes the case
for keeping Gaza Jewish: (1) biblically and historically, Gaza belongs
to the Jews and (2) controlling Gaza is important to Israel's
security. He asks for your help in keeping Gaza under Israeli control.
I STRIVE TO BE POLITICALLY INCORRECT!
More and more, being politically incorrect means speaking the truth,
not just phrasing the truth in a less kind, less gentle way. More and
more, the politically correct seem determined not to confront simple
facts. Arlene Peck, writing about Arabs such as those in Gaza, says,
"Look into the faces of these barbarians who strive to kill...
anybody, everybody! They have a cause? What is that? Death? We are
dealing with elements of insanity and nobody seems to grasp that
simple fact."
THE MASK SLIPS IN GAZA
Should Israel abandon Gaza, Hugh Fitzgerald points out that the future
caretakers are terrorists - "Hamas or Hezbollah or Al-Aksa Martyr's
Brigade, Arafat or Shukairy..." Whatever the name, they are all
dedicated to Jihad - to forcing infidels to submit to Islam. The
confederacy of dedicated muslim terror groups is not, of course,
confined to Gaza. "... Al Qaeda is only the most prominent and
mediagenic of the many groups intent on destroying Infidels if they
oppose Muslim aims, including the world-wide spread of dar al-Islam:
Laskar Jihad, Jaish-e-Toiba, Abu Sayyaf, Lashkar Jihad, Gemaaa
Islamiyya, Jemaa Islamiah, Jaish-e-Mohammad, and so many others."
ISRAEL'S GAZA GAMBLE
P. David Hornik reminds us of the reassurances that encouraged Israel
to embark on the Oslo disaster. He reminds us that the optimistic
predictions when Israel left Southern Lebanon and the Sinai peninsula
were proven wrong as soon as Arab terrorists filled the space vacated.
Why now does Sharon want to create another vacuum for Arab terrorists
to fill?
ISRAEL'S REAL CHOICE IS EITHER TO FIGHT AND SURVIVE, OR TO CAPITULATE
AND BE DESTROYED
Steven Plaut cuts through the nonsensical explanations of why
Palestinian Arabs behave barbarically and resort to terrorism. The
current violence isn't due to Israeli occupation; on the contrary, it
happened, thanks to Oslo, because the Israeli 'occupation' was
removed. Professor Plaut argues that "[t]he only way to suppress
the carnage is for Israel to re-occupy the West Bank and Gaza in full,
implement open-ended military control there and a long-term program of
Denazification..., and to expel the terrorists and destroy their
infrastructure. Everything else is wishful thinking and
delusion."
Judah Tzoref contrasts 'Palestinian peoplehood', a term that "has
been used only for a few decades as a political instrument in the Arab
strategy to annihilate Israel" with the undeniability of the
historical attachment and "the spiritual bond between the Jews
and the Land of Israel."
ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM: Historical Background And Perspective
In narrative style and from a personal point of view, Hanna Honein
talks about the Jewish and Christian origins of Islam and contrasts
the difference between the Jews building up 'Palestine' and the Arabs
living on pipe dreams and held down by a corrupt leadership. He
emphasizes that the Land of Israel belongs only to the Jews. The Bible
testifies to the Jews' ownership; they are the ones who developed it
and defended it.
ZIONISTS AND THE LAND
Drawing on family stories and letters, Hilda Terry writes about the
early Zionists and their battle with the mosquito in bringing the Land
of Israel back to life. Their coming raised the standard of living of
the ordinary Arab, but that has never been the goal of the Arab
leadership.
OCCUPATION AND GENOCIDE
Pat Gilsan answers the Arab claim that Israel is occupying land
belonging to the 'Palestinian people' and counters with facts that
show that the only genocide has been by the Arabs and perpetrated
against the Jews. The solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict? "The
answer is not to give up land. The answer is to transfer the Arabs."
Khomeini's Iran is a logical Islamic evolution of the Shi'ia mindset
over the last half millenium. Lewis Lipkin chronicles some of the
major players and events that have shaped the xenophobia that
characterizes today's Iran.
INTERNATIONAL LAW REGARDING THE LAND OF ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM
The mindless media have so often repeated the Arab mantra that "Israel
is occupying our land," that most people believe it to be true. And
unfortunately, Israel has done poorly presenting the facts: Israel and
the territories, by international law, belong to the Jews and
not to the Arabs. This essay by Elliott Green can serve as an
excellent reference and as background material.
HOW DID JERUSALEM COME TO BE SO HOLY:
Why and when was the myth of al-Aqsa created?
Mordechai Keder reviews the history of how and why the Muslims
attempted to islamize Jerusalem. It has little to do with religion and
much to do with politics. "Another aim of the Islamization of
Jerusalem was to undermine the legitimacy of the older religions,
Judaism and Christianity, which consider Jerusalem to be a holy city.
Islam is presented as the only legitimate religion, destined to
replace the other two, because they had changed and distorted the Word
of God, each in its turn."
The Arab countries have for too long protested they can't clean house
until their Palestinian brothers (sob, sob) have settled their claims
with Israel - an assertion echoed by their western apologists, such as
Jimmy Carter and Zbigniew Brzezinski. This falsification is certainly
beginning to crumble and may even, as Jonathan Rosenblum asserts, be
dead.
THE RAVAGES OF THE JIHAD-OCCUPIED MIND
Walid Shoebat was born a Muslim in Bethlehem, Israel and was infected
with Israel-hate at an early age. He has found his way to Christian
Zionism. As we read about his life journey, we also learn that even
Christians under Palestinian control are "indoctrinated in jihad
ideology" and that "Michael Sabbah, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem,
taught Islamology and Arab philology for decades. According to
Shoebat, he hews to Islamic jihad dogma as well."
Ariel Pasko makes the important point that the Israeli Left has
finally acknowledged "the 'demographic threat' that Rabbi Meir Kahane
warned about, when he encouraged transferring the Arabs out of
Israel." But the "current separationists... want to 'Transfer'
Jews out of parts of the Land of Israel and 'Transfer' parts of the
Land to Arab control."
DO NOT CONDEMN THEM: Why the "Palestinian state"
is bad for the Arabs
Boris Shusteff explains why, even with the best of
intentions, a third state in Mandated Palestine will not be viable.
Its culture has blocked the building of necessary infrastructure. The
Palestinian Arab has incorporated a culture of hate into his soul,
which will lead to "the inevitable moral demise of Palestinian society
and the total economic non-viability of this artificial entity." Given
the failure of a 'show them kindness and shower them with material
goodies' in Iraq, it is unlikely America will repeat this experiment
in a Palestinian Arab state. Nor will Israel be obligated. Shusteff's
suggestion: separate them from their soul-destroying leaders and
relocated them in Jordan.
TRANSFER IS NOT A DIRTY WORD
Ben Shapiro reviews measures that have been suggested for
stopping Arab terrorism. He points out that these are half measures
and "..merely postpone our realization that the Arabs dream of
Israel's destruction." He proposes transferring the Arabs out of
Israel as the only effective solution to imbedded Arab violence.
LEVERAGING ARAB FEAR
Arab leaders have have used the pseudo-people, the 'Palestinians', "as
the frontline army in the destruction of the Jewish aboriginal
homeland," but they don't want them disrupting Arab countries. Beth
Goodtree suggest that, '[i]n return for not [precipitously]
disengaging with Arafat's Arabs, and not evacuating Gaza, Israel
should demand that Egypt, Jordan, and the other Arab countries
[slowly] repatriate their former Arab citizens and their
descendents". Else Egypt and Jordan will need to deal with the
consequences.
STATE DEPARTMENT MATH
Gerald Honigman argues that an authentic people like the Kurds, who
live marginally in several Arab countries, clearly deserves its own
country. Instead, the world spends its resources attempting to
establish a homeland for an inauthentic people - the Palestinians.
AN UNTONED-DOWN COMMENTARY ON SUDAN
Kola Boof has written an untoned-down tone poem about the enslavement
and degradation of the black African under Arab Islam rule. She asks:
"how can I support the colorstruck machinations of the Palestinians?"
Professor Bartov writes of resurgent European anti-Semitism and
contrasts the latest manifestation of anti-Semitism with its World War
II predecessor. He notes that Hitlerian anti-Semitism has found "..its
most lethal incarnation in the Muslim world, where it has become a
prevalent subculture, a focus of identity, a rallying cry for the
masses, a tool to divert attention from the real reasons for poverty
and despair, and a cause for militant mobilization and destructive
urges."
MAKING THE CASE FOR JEW HATRED: Martin Jay Explains How Jews Cause
Antisemitism
Professor Alexander examines Martin Jay's recent essay, "Ariel
Sharon and the Rise of the New Anti-Semitism", which blames Jews
for the recent insurgence of Anti-Semitism. Jay, a professor of
history at UCLA, Berkeley, has sympathetic understanding for any and
all practicing anti-semites while he demonizes Jews. Alexander writes
that Jay is "... a representative example of the academic
fellow-traveller in the ongoing campaign to depict Israel as the
devil's own experiment station and make it ideologically vulnerable to
terror."
WHY DO THEY HATE US?
Boris Zubry's account of his experiences working in Saudi Arabia
appeared in the November-December issue of Think-Israel. In this
issue, he writes about when he first came to the United States and
learned from a child not just to cope with anti-Semitism but to try
and understand it.
APPLYING COMMON SENSE TO MADNESS
Dov Kahn does just that - he applies some simple if-then logic to some
current experiences we've had with Islam; and he explores the puzzling
differences in how we treat our 'good friend', Saudi Arabia, and our
real friend, Israel.
Fifth Column is a term from World War II, describing "secret
sympathizers, sleeper cells, or supporters of an enemy that engage in
espionage or sabotage, or simply disinform about the attacker's
intentions." Arnaud de Borchgrave lists recent examples of Islamist
penetration into Western democracies and the lack of support
"moderate" Arab organizations such as CAIR give to supporting
America's fight against terrorism.
A NIGHT OF HAMAS "HEROES"
From the angry way many of that merry band of self-appointed moralists
- the media, UN, EU - reacted to Israel's killing Shekh Ahmad Yassin,
you might think Hamas and Hizbollah only cared about killing Israelis.
So - if the other countries of the world don't stir up the mud, they
will be safe. Joe Kaufman sketches the Hamas connections of American
Muslim organizations that are labeled 'moderate' by focusing on the
recent history of Nihad Awad, currently the executive director of CAIR
(the Council on American Islamic Relations).
HIZBULLAH TV
A problem with ignoring terrorism and hoping it will go away is that
terrorists make house calls. The Hizbullah's TV station has incited
Arabs to despise Jews for years. Now it has come to the United States.
Richard Shulman describes its programming for us.
Marion Dreyfus is teaching at the University in Wuchan, China. Spring
comes to Wuhan and Purim means gifting shaluch manus goodies to
faculty members, even if they don't know what it means. At Passover,
she travels to Beijing, to celebrate, where "the unchanging melodies
and remembered accents of Hebrew liturgy bring me flying back without
a time machine. Or rather, the prayers to me are time
machines."
READERS' BLOG-EDS This is where our readers get a chance to write opinions and editorials and share articles they find informative. Why Blog-Ed and not Op-Ed? Because we have retained the typical blog style of a stream of text organized chronologically. Blog-Eds is updated every few days. IMPORTANT UPDATE: A Blog-Ed page now has a quick list of the articles from which you can access any of the articles immediately. Click the "Blog-Eds List" box in the Blue Strip on the top of the Blog-Ed page. March 2004 Blog-Eds READ MORE
=========================================== January-February, 2004
AL-QAEDA'S INTELLECTUAL LEGACY: New Radical Islamic Thinking
Justifying The Genocide of Infidels
Jonathan Halevi's essay gives the lie to the idea that Islam, as it is
currently practiced, is a peaceful religion. He argues convincingly,
using the writings of influential Muslim clerics and intellectuals as
source material, that Islam's ferocious appetite for killing infidels
- Christians and Jews - singly and en masse is cleric-driven
and mullah-justified.
TARIQ RAMADAN'S TWO-FACED ISLAM: The West Is The
Land Of Conquest
Some people believe that the Americans and Israelis who worry about
Islam's appetite for gobbling up Western civilization are
unnecessarily alarmist. On the other hand, those of us who see Islam
as a danger - we alarmists - may feel that only America and Israel
understand the danger, while Europe is oblivious. Both sides may be
wrong. Sandro Magister analyzes this newest danger to our civilization
by examining the philosophy of Tariq Ramadan, who has his own roadmap
for islamicizing the West.
STOP FEELING GUILTY. FEEL GOOD. WE'RE WINNING
Mr. bin Hookah, foreign correspondent and roving reporter for The
Gaza Gajeera, is back. He explains to his readers why they should
not feel guilty about killing infidels. It is an enterprise of great
importance and it has the whole-hearted approval of Islam's
theologians.
THE PEACETIME WAR
Arab propaganda has cleverly sold the idea that the conflict in the
Middle East is between the Jews and the Palestinians. Dr. Tzoref makes
the case that this notion masks the real problem: it is the Arab
states that work to destroy Jewish Israel. Since Oslo, the major
weapons have been terrorist snipers, homicidal suicide bombers and an
uncontrolled high birthrate. Arab strategists - intellectuals and
clerics - tell us that future plans are to augment these tactics with
increased legal and illegal immigration of Arabs into Israel and the
utilization of friction foci where ever this expanded Arab presence is
thwarted.
THE AGENDA OF ISLAM - A WAR BETWEEN CIVILIZATIONS
Professor Sharon asserts that the war between two civilizations -
"between the civilization based on the Bible and between the
civilization based on the Koran" - started a long time ago.
TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR
There is a strange intertwining between the actions of Muslim
terrorists and the responses of Western leaders. The Arabs continue to
kill Jews, and, more and more, they kill Americans. If Europe
continues to ignore reality, Yashiko Sagamori suggests, soon, they too
will be victims of the ongoing Muslim jihad. Yet American and European
continue to pretend that the Muslim drive toward world domination -
bolstered as it is by a belief system inculcated by their religion -
can be changed by loving kindness and off-target propaganda.
The demoralization of Israel isn't all due to attack by its Arab enemies. These next essays deal with the state of the State of Israel in general, with Ariel Sharon specifically and with the present structure of Israel's government, which contributes to Israel's inability to successfully withstand "friendly" external pressures. A JEW IN GAZA
Under cover of humor, Moshe Saperstein gives us a pithy, accurate and
brilliant analysis of the state of the State of Israel. Indirectly, he
also gives us insight into the character of those remarkable people,
the settlers of Biblical Israel. The residents of his town, Neve
Dekalim in the Gaza Strip, under constant bombardment by the local
Arabs, now face removal from their homes by their own government. He
concludes his trenchant remarks with this comment to someone
contemplating aliyah: "Whatever we have given to Israel, Israel
has given us infinitely more. Israel has given us pride. Israel has
given us self-respect. Israel has given us purpose and meaning far
beyond mere existence. Israel has allowed us to lead extraordinary
rather than ordinary lives."
THE FOLLIES OF SHARON
Arlene Peck summarizes Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spectacular
follies: letting a flock of terrorists out of jail, starting to
ethnically cleanse Jews from their historic lands, OKing the creation
of a terrorist state in Biblical Israel. "Why," she asks
"have their [Israel's] leaders lost the ability to lead? Or, behave as it
seems that they have lost the will to win. Appeasement isn't the
answer. What has recently been done by opening the jailhouse doors
will, I'm afraid, come back to haunt them."
THE ROOT CAUSE
Israel does not have a Constitution. Writing one is commonly treated
as a nice but not very urgent activity. Israel is a democracy, but it
doesn't have direct representation on the local level. This means that
Israeli citizens have few ways to influence a government that
willfully negates what it was elected to do and does what the
electorate voted against. Boris Celser provides compelling reasons why
writing a Constitution and restructuring the government are urgent
requirements for Israel's survival.
So what should Israel do? And what should she not do? WHAT ISRAEL SHOULD DO NOW: A Time For Moral Clarity
Rabbi Jacobson responds "to some of the painful questions people
of goodwill are asking today." His answers are succinct and clear
and explain why basic concepts many accept as true - that there is a
Palestinian people and that Israel is occupying Palestinian land - are
not true. Given the facts, he suggests that "[t]he best way to
bring about genuine peace in the Arab-Israeli war is by Israel putting
an end to any future negotiations on the land. Israel must assume full
security and military control over all of the territories under the
united banner of a single country, Eretz Israel."
ISRAEL'S SECURITY: The Hard-Learned Lessons
Oslo failed. The Palestinian Arabs took to war, calling it a popular
uprising. Yaakov Amidror writes that "[a]ll observers were
stunned by the rapid collapse of the security arrangements that were
at the heart of the Oslo concept." He asks what went wrong and
what lessons Israel must take from the Oslo experience in planning
future defenses.
TIME FOR A CHANGE: A Review of "A Concubine
in the Middle East: American-Israeli Relations"
Ezra Sohar, author of a "Concubine in the Middle East," uses
the metaphor of a relationship where one of the participants "is
not accorded the respectful status of a legitimate wife" to
describe American-Israeli relations. The book, written in 1999, is not
outdated - if anything, recent events underscore his wise words.
WHY WE SUPPORT ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS
When all the arab-promulgated arguments are shot down, the
nuisance-value one remains: "Yeah, so they're not legally or
historically entitled to it, so maybe some of them came in illegally
just yesterday, but if you give the territories to these
'Palestinians' there will be peace." This presupposes that
removing Jewish settlements will reduce friction. Daniel Kaganovich
and Michael Butler argue that removing the source of the
"friction" (Jews) will not make a dent in the ideology that causes it.
It will only encourage its spread."
WHAT WOULD AMERICA DO?
Israel has released a mass of prisoners and eased restrictions that
make it easier for its enemies to wage war. Beth Goodtree points out
that "[t]he result of all these concessions and appeasements has
been more war." She suggests that Israel stop what she's doing
and start emulating the USA: "The United States protects her own
and does whatever it must to keep herself safe."
We continue our examination of how anti-Israel bias is spread in America by the media and the 'peace and humanity' foundations. Several of the essays deal with the sick-making phenomenon of Israel-hate as manifested by Marxist Jews, both here and in Israel, and by far-left Jewish newspapers in Israel. VIOLENCE AND LEFT-WING POLITICS: What's Going On
At UCLA'S Hillel?
The surface event was an angry and inappropriate physical assault on a
pro-Zionist journalist by a left-wing pro-Palestinian director of a
youth group. Its significance for American Jews is that the director
is the leader of Hillel at UCLA, and this was an acting out of his
political passions, which also determine how he runs Hillel - its
activities and events encourage Jewish students to develop an
anti-Israel mindset. It is a chilling reminder of what goes on less
blatantly in too many Jewish groups on too many American campuses:
they are debating societies stressing fair-minded discussions of
different points of view regarding Israel. They offer little
resistance to the pro-Muslim groups preaching anti-Semitism and
actively propagandizing the student body.
THE PRICE OF ARROGANCE
Commenting on the attraction of Jewish Americans such as Ian Lustick
and Tom Friedman to the radical-left Israeli daily Ha'aretz,
Ellen Horowitz explains why "we have to question the motives
behind the Jewish intellectuals in America and elsewhere in the
Diaspora who base their venerated views on what may amount to nothing
more than cheap, yellow journalistic tactics used to sell a bankrupt
political line (and a newspaper)."
IS IT ANTISEMITIC TO CRITICIZE ISRAEL? IS ISRAEL
AN APARTHEID STATE? Part 1.
Israel is commonly described as an apartheid state by her enemies -
many of which actually do practice apartheid. Jared Israel examines a
major "fact" supporting this assertion: Arabs are not
allowed to purchase land in Israel. This is true - as far as it goes.
The author demonstrates that it is lying by omission: a fact is
overextended, while contextual facts are suppressed, encouraging the
audience to come to a false conclusion.
ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT?
Way back when, the New York Times earned a reputation for
accurate reporting of ongoing events. When it comes to Israel,
however, the Times lies by omission, exaggeration, distortion,
context-stripping, underplaying Arab terrorism and just plain lying.
Tom Gross provides us with a restrained but piercing analysis of how
the Times (mal)treats Israel.
FORD FUNDS THE PALESTINIAN LEFT
Lee Kaplan presents us with a detailed summary of how the Ford
Foundation funds non-governmental Palestinian organizations and groups
in Israel that support the Palestinian Arab cause. These are not
social welfare groups; they are political and aggressively
anti-Israel. The Ford Foundation's claim that its mission is to
promote peace and social justice is macabre. Operationally, it funds
unscrupulous groups who use propaganda and the legal system to
undermine the State of Israel and who give direct and indirect aid to
the terrorists who kill Israel's citizens.
FORD HAS A BETTER IDEA: One Nation Under Allah
Several months ago, Edwin Black's series in the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency detailed how the Ford Foundation funded Arab and pro-Arab
groups, some of them with ties to terrorist groups, whose activities
were aimed at demonizing Jews and delegitimizing Israel. Alyssa Lappen
concentrates on another objective Ford indirectly supports when it
funds the Constitutional Rights Foundation: the promotion of
Sharia (Muslim law) in this country and the curtailing of
activities and speech that Muslims regard as blasphemy - even if
this means non-Muslim groups are deprived of their Constitutional
rights. These essays discuss specific historical events: Palestine around time of World War II and the birth of Israel, the Damascus Affair of 1840 and the history of Samaria and Judea. THE UNITED NATIONS AND THE PALESTINIAN REFUGEES
Hilda Terry is a cartoonist, who has 'been there, done that' in
cartoons from the Golden Age of cartoons through the graphics of the
internet. She writes from her experiences, her notes and her
recollections of events in Palestine around World War II. In this
article, she examines why and how the figures for the number of Arab
refugees of 1947 became so bloated.
FROM DAMASCUS TO JENIN
Elliott Green tells the story of the Damascus Affair, when in 1840 the
Jewish community was accused of murdering a monk and his servant for
their blood - it was a widely-held though erroneous belief among
Europeans and Muslims that blood was a necessary ingredient of the
Passover Matsot. The author associates the Damascus Affair with the
latest egregious case of a false accusation, when Arab eye witnesses
swore they'd seen the IDF massacred Arabs in the hundreds (or
thousands) in Jenin. In both cases, it was a vicious lie. In both
cases, there was an obsession to find the bodies. The accusations were
lies, so no evidence could be found. Yet, the conviction that the Jews
had done some terrible deed remained.
JUDENREIN PALESTINE?
Rachel Neuwirth traces the history of Judea and Samaria over the
centuries. She points out that "[t]he Jewish presence there has
been continuous, except for 19 years from 1948 to 1967 when the area
became judenrein" under Jordan's rule. "After the 1967 war,
the Jewish people have simply been returning to the land from which
they were forcibly expelled during the first Arab-Israeli war of
1948-49."
This is another episode of Marion Dreyfus' life teaching at a Chinese university. CHINA DIARY: On Vacation
Marion Dreyfus records her impressions when on vacation from teaching
at Wuchan, China. On holiday in Shanghai, she visits the synagogue
Ohel Moishe, used by the Jews who escaped from Europe to China in
World War II, and Sun Yat-sen's house. Her cousin, 2-Gun Cohen, had
been a Sun Yat-sen bodyguard. In January she has some unusual
experiences: she visits an 800-year old city at the foothills of the
Himalayas and a lamassery; she sees the remarkable clay soldier
statuary from the Chin dynasty and visits the Muslim quarter in Xi'an.
She also has some more typical tourist experiences - trying to get
food she can eat and dealing with having her camera, knapsack and
money stolen.
READERS' BLOG-EDS This is where our readers get a
chance to write opinions and editorials. Why Blog-Ed and not Op-Ed?
Because we have retained the typical blog style of a stream of text
organized chronologically. These are (for the most part)
serious, thoughtful and from the heart. They should be shared with
other readers. Blog-Eds is updated every few days.
=========================================== November-December, 2003 We begin with Saudi Arabia, which funds today's terrorists and builds schools in America, the Middle East and Asia that inculcate extreme Islamic attitudes in the next generation. These articles present some necessary background. THE SAUDIS: The Middle East Mafia
It has been said that Saudi Arabia is the only family-owned business
in the United Nations. The gifted dons of the Saud family shaped the
modern state by melding the desert Bedouin's ruthlessness and guile
with the religious force of Wahhabism, a harsh version of Islam. Lewis
Lipkin chronicles the historical and cultural roots of the Sauds.
THE PRINCE
This is the story of how the Saudi Ambassador, Prince Bandar bin
Sultan, became a Washington operator, chumming it up with the rich and
famous, promoting the interests of Arafat and the Palestinians, and
acting as go-between between Prince Abdullah, who runs the kingdom,
and other heads of state. He is a son of Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz,
second in line to the Crown, and a grandson of Abdul Aziz, who created
present-day Saudi Arabia. He is a long-time family friend of George
Bush senior. The question is, after 9/11, how warmly does President
Bush feel towards him?
LAND OF SINBAD THE SAILOR
Boris Zubry has worked as a mechanical engineer in several countries.
He recorded his experiences living and working in Saudi Arabia in this
essay, which forms a chapter in his book, Miles Of Experience.
MIDDLE ISRAEL: WHAT BURIED ARABIA?
Amotz Asa-El argues that "the root of the Saudi malaise isn't in
its politics, but in its sociology: a high illiteracy rate, an
anti-meritocratic social order, and the impossibility of its foreign
workers - who hold 70% of the jobs - to become citizens. The result is
social stagnation.
THE SAUDI ARABIAN EMBASSY ON ISLAM AND MUSLIMS
The Saudi Embassy has a website explaining Islam and Muslims to
Americans. Steven Stalinsky reports on how several topics are
presented: Jihad and Martyrdom, Teaching Islam's Superiority over
Christianity and Judaism, Rights in Islam of Dhimmis (non-Muslims
under Muslim rule), the Punishment of Non-Believers, the Superiority
of Polygamy in Islam to Western Monogamy, and the Rights of Women.
A TROUBLING INFLUENCE
Ever since 9/11, it has become harder for Saudi Arabia to suppress
information about its subversion of academic departments and U.S.
State Department diplomats, its indoctrination of Arab schoolchildren
and Muslims in the military in anti-Western Wahhabism, its funding of
Middle Eastern terrorists and its outpouring of anti-Semitic hate
literature. Articles on the extent of Saudi's anti-Western activities
continue to surface. Frank Gaffney's essay is unique in tracing the
damage done by a single individual - Grover Norquist - who, in David
Horowitz's words, has been working in the higher levels of
Washington's political circles "... on behalf of the Islamist
Fifth Column."
These article discuss the increase in Egypt's war arsenal and
the deterioration of the Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel.
DENIAL ON THE NILE
This is a reprint of an article Dr. Fishbein wrote soon after 9/11 on
the dangers of Egypt acquiring ever more sophisticated weaponry from
the United States and North Korea, especially when Egypt in its
rhetoric and in its actions was showing increased hostility to the
United States and Israel. It could not, the author wrote, "be
discounted as an adversary in any future regional conflict." In
view of the developments in the past two years (see Dan Eldar's
article below), the article was most prescient.
EGYPT AND ISRAEL: A Reversible Peace
The peace treaty of 1977 between Israel and Egypt was, in Dan Eldar's
words, "between a society of Western political culture and norms
and an Arab-Muslim society with different attitudes regarding the
character of peace, the parameters of truth, and the meaning of
justice." Since then, while claiming to be a peace broker, Egypt
has been "making sure that peace never spreads," encouraging the
intifada, while blaming it all on Israel and spewing out Nazi-quality
anti-Semitic hate literature. As Egypt becomes poorer, less stable and
more radicalized by Islamists, both Israel and America need to
reassess how durable this peace is.
It is often asserted Islam is a religion of
peace. These articles explore the question of just how peaceful a
religion Islam is, the relationship between Islam and terrorism and
some thoughts on avoiding both terrorism and Islam. ISLAM: A RELIGION OF PEACE?
This is an interview Larry Elder conducted with Robert Spencer, about
his new book, "Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens
America and the West." It is possible that President Bush may
actually believe that Islam is a "religion of peace," But
Spencer asserts that what we call "'Islamic extremism' stems from
a straightforward reading of the Koran and interpretative Islamic
texts."
ONLY U.S. STRENGTH CAN DEFEAT ISLAM
Dr. David Gutmann, a clinical psychologist, asserts that
"Terrorist organizations must be smashed, and their sponsoring
nations made to pay the price. If we withdraw in feebleness,
triumphant Islamic terrorism will increase catastrophically."
Arguing from historical experience and the national character of the
Muslims, he show why this is so.
THE GREAT WALL OF ISRAEL
Israel is building a security fence. Among Israel's friends, the focus
is on whether it is or isn't effective in protecting Israelis from
local terrorists. Israel's enemies, fearing it just might be
effective, complain it inconveniences the local Arabs. The author asks
whether something as drastic as the wall is for Israel might save
Europe from "succumbing to Islam" - or is it too late?
The recent flurry over the latest Peace Miracle Pill is almost spent. These articles provide further evidence why trying to negotiate with the Palestinians is futile. The sooner the futility is accepted, the sooner people can start thinking about workable solutions to the conflict. THE TWO BIG MISTAKES THAT KEEP THE CONFLICT GOING
All the diplomatic peace plans proposed by Israel to solve the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict have in common the notions that (1) if
Israel makes sufficient concessions, she will gain peace; and (2)
making concessions will win her brownie points in the world community.
Professor Rubin discusses why this strategy is doomed to failure.
THE SANCTITY OF THE UNSACRED
Speaking of the Arab attitude towards formal agreements, the author
writes, "... the Western concept of the "sanctity of
contractual agreements does not exist in this part of the world,
and... an agreement is always relative and not total, and it changes
according to considerations of security, religion, history, and
military power." In bringing this article to our attention, Aryeh
Zelasko put it this way, "As long as the parties involved maintain
their respective power levels, the agreement is in force. However, as
soon as the balance of power changes, goodbye agreement."
PART OF THE PROBLEM? THIS IS THE PROBLEM
After the Arafat-Barak fiasco, it seemed that Dennis Ross, the US
point man involved, swore he was no longer a peace junky and renounced
Arafat's machinations. But it looks like he's fallen off the wagon -
the Geneva Accord were announced and he smells action all over again.
Mike Hendrix of the Cold Fury website and Stephen Green of VodkaPundit
try to sober him up with cold facts why the peace process can't work.
The history and culture of the Arabs, their religion, their nonchalant
attitude to contractual agreements, the way they teach their children
hate for non-Muslims and their consuming desire to be again top dog
lording it over a chastened Western world suggest that any peace
treaty, no matter how specifically or ambiguously worded, will have
the lasting power of a paper bag in a rainstorm. These essays explore
an alternative: separating the Jews and Arabs by transferring the
Arabs to some part of the vast Arab land area. ON MIDEAST'S MENU
Lou Marano focuses on the Arab strategy to destroy Israel as embedded
in the 10-point program adopted by the Palestinian National Council in
1974. And never repudiated. This means that giving the Palestinian
Arabs a state will inevitably be followed by their renewed demands for
more concessions backed up by renewed acts of terror. He discusses the
Elon plan, which makes Jordan the only legitimate representative
of the Palestinians."
TRANSFER MEANS PEACE
Mr Shusteff emphasizes that in the near future, even if it is
stigmatized as ethnic cleansing, we will have population transfer. The
question is: will it be the Jews who are transferred out of Biblical
Israel, including a part of Jerusalem, or will it be the Arabs who are
moved back to Arab countries. He points out that Jordan is already a
Palestinian state, some twenty times larger than Samaria, Judea and
Gaza, and the majority of its citizens consider themselves
Palestinians.
A JEWISH ROAD
Ruth King makes the case for Israeli annexation of Samaria, Judea and
Gaza. "It is time," she says, "for Israel to face
reality. No concessions will make the United Nations ... accept them
nor will it placate the Arabs and their Muslim sympathizer Peace will
come only through determination and strength and unity and the total
destruction and disarming of the Palestinian Authority."
Freedom of speech is becoming increasingly selective, both in
America and in Israel. In both cases, it is becoming politically
correct to denigrate Israel and attribute the worst motives and
behavior to her, but criticism of Arab behavior is considered inpolite
at best and telling lies at worst.
THE BROWNSHIRTS OF OUR TIME
Phyllis Chesler, long identified with the Woman's Movement, recounts
her pain when she was confronted by members of the movement with
ingrained Jew-hate. These Brownshirts see "Palestine" as a
"symbol for every downtrodden group of color 'resisting' the
racist-imperialist American and Zionist Empires." They can't be
reached by facts on the actual treatment of women in Arab society or
by an appeal to their own anti-racist principles. Anti-Semitism is
becoming politically correct among those who define political
correctness.
EXPULSION, NOT TRANSFER
Tamar Rush of Herzliya has observed, "Passing out hundreds of copies
of the wiretap transcripts of our Prime Minister's private
conversations is perceived as 'harmless fun' - but
writing a half-satirical letter to a website could get you some
serious time in the klinker." Gil Ronin wrote just that sort of
letter to Arutz-7, and MK Gal-On has been demanding his arrest on
charges of 'incitement' ever since."
This is Ronen's letter, translated into English. Read it, and decide
if Gil Ronin deserves to be jailed for his views - especially when
more and more Israelis are debating how, not whether, to
transfer the seditious and violence-prone Arabs out of Israel.
INCREASINGLY SELECTIVE DEMOCRACY
Gil Ronen's article in Arutz-7 (see above) was deemed a violation of
the law against incitement and an investigation was launched against
the managers of the Arutz-7 website. Steve Plaut uses actual examples
to highlight how Israeli Leftists are twisting the Law to punish
pro-Israel free speech, while allowing any and all pro-Arab speeches,
including some that really are seditious and an incitement to riot.
The right of Jews to a Jewish homeland is again under attack.
These articles present historical information that refute the
arguments of the Arabs and their allies. Dr. Shifftan reminds us that
if Israelis weren't afraid of an Arab voting majority, they'd give
more weight to the reasons for keeping Biblical Israel.
THE JEWISH RIGHT TO THE LAND OF ISRAEL
Alex Rose writes of the time of the Balfour Declaration, when the
resolve of the lEnglish to create a Jewish state was strongly asserted
by influential members of the British Cabinet. He examines the Arab
case against the creation of the Jewish State, showing that their
arguments were and are invalid. Jews have claims to their land
biblically, by their unbroken ties to the land historically, and by
their reclamation of the
AN ANSWER TO THE NEW ANTI-ZIONISTS: The Rights Of The Jewish People To
A Sovereign State In Their Historic Homeland
"Jewish nationhood preceded the emergence of most modern
nation-states by thousands of years" - well before the first
Arab came into the region - and, as the authors point out, in modern
times, "[t]he links of the Jewish people to their historic land
were well-known and accepted..." Yet, of all the 190 States that
are members of the U.N. - many of whom lack "national
identity" or are monolithic in religion or culture or have
governments that govern inadequately or repressively, only Israel's
legitimacy is questioned.
IF THE ARABS DON'T SERVE IN THE ARMY, THEY
SHOULDN'T VOTE
The major practical reason for giving away Biblical Israel is
demographic: if Israel is to remain a Jewish state, it needs to retain
a Jewish voting majority. Dr. Shifftan proposes another solution.
Those communities that don't serve in the army will not be allowed to
vote in national elections. This would apply to Israeli Arabs and the
Arabs in the terrorities, because Arabs do not serve in the army.
We continue our examination of how anti-Israel bias is spread
in America by the media and through other gateways of the public's
access to information. COMMEMORATING KRISTALLNACHT AT THE SEATTLE TIMES
On the day we remember Kristallnacht, the Seattle Times
reprinted a Avraham Burg piece, which included this gem: " They
[suicide terrorists] spill their own blood in our restaurants in order
to ruin our appetites because they have children and parents at home
who are hungry and humiliated." Burg was a proponent of the
original Oslo Agreement and is now involved in the Geneva Accord.
Stefan Sharkansky rebuts two recent Times pieces on Israel: one
by Burg, the other by a Times columnist on the Geneva Accord.
IDENTIFYING ISLAMISTS ON CAMPUS
The author points out one silver lining to the storm of anti-Jewish
activities by Islamists on campus: the FBI and CIA can more easily
track these radical Muslim students. He also examines the responses of
college administrators to anti-Jewish activities on campus and lists
organizations that monitor anti-Semitic activities.
PLO HASBARA: A VERY PROFESSIONAL PIECE OF WORK
This is an extremely informative article about the slick techniques of
PLO propaganda and their paid publicists who manipulate the foreign
media. She discusses some of their networking, training and funding
resources as well as their excellent Washington lobbyist, Edward
Abington, who earns his keep whitewashing Arafat. While the PLO lies
about Israel by attributing to them untrue misdeeds, the Israeli
Ministry of Foreign Service lies about the PLO by playing down their
false propaganda and ignoring their atrocities.
These next two articles were written by Jews who
live in exotic places. Moshe Saperstein lives in Gaza near Israel's
'Peaceful Peace Partners' and Marion D.S. Dreyfus teaches at the
University in Wuchan, China and does a radio talk show. MOSHE AMONG THE MORTARS
In this letter, Moshe talks of uneventful happenings: being shelled by
Arab mortars, traveling to Jerusalem to do errands and rescuing an
injured bird.
FRIENDS AND STUDENTS
It's winter and the pressing problem in Wuchan is keeping warm. Marion
lectures, does a radio show and fends off the Administration. This
takes up much too much time, leavng little time to travel and see the
countryside.
READERS' BLOG-EDS This is where our readers get a
chance to write opinions and editorials. Why Blog-Ed and not Op-Ed?
Because we have retained the typical blog style of a stream of text
organized chronologically. These are (for the most part)
serious, thoughtful and from the heart. They should be shared with
other readers. Blog-Eds is updated every few days.
=========================================== September-October, 2003 The latest reincarnation of the Peace Process died August 19th as surely as did the passengers on Egged bus #2. Both the Road Map and the people were blown up by the Arabs. This first group of essays suggest that the way we have pursued peace for the last 36 years must fail because we have made the wrong assumptions and have ignored important facts. WHY THE PEACE PROCESS CAN'T WORK AND SHOULD BE
ABANDONNED
In simple language that even a politician should understand, Robert
Locke demolishes the notion that there can be a negotiated peace
process when the two sides have incompatible objectives. As the author
says, "The Palestinians want to drive the Israelis into the sea,
and the Israelis want to not be driven into the sea."
THERE IS ONLY A MILITARY SOLUTION
The major reason Israel can't negotiate with the Arabs in that they
want to destroy Israel, not reason with her or negotiate with her.
Ariel Pasko reinforces that conclusion with an impressive set of
statistics that indicate the Palestinian Arabs feel strongly that:
"The rights and needs of the Palestinian people cannot be taken
care of as long as the State of Israel exists." He concludes that
the only way to peace is by military means. TWELVE BAD ARGUMENTS FOR A STATE OF PALESTINE
Patricia Berlyn critically examines the current reasonable-sounding
arguments that are put forth by the well-meaning and not so
well-meaning as reasons to establish a PLO state for the Palestinian
Arabs. And she reminds us how quickly the U.S. went from a position of
not negotiating with the PLO - which was and is and will be a
terrorist organization committed to destroying Israel - to its current
promotion of such a state.
INDIA AND PAKISTAN - A Cautionary Tale for Israel
and Palestine
In a clear and logical fashion, Jeffrey Weiss lays out a powerful and
detailed case against creating a Palestinian Arab state, using the
history of the partition of India and Pakistan as example.
He points out that "Oslo's advocates argue that two states are
needed for there to be peace and self-determination for Arab
and Jew alike...[yet] the Palestinian Authority has demanded
the right of Palestinians to 'return' to live in Israel."
ALL IS NOT LOST
We present this article on September 11th. America resolved to fight a
war on terror on September 11, 2001. Frank Gaffney says wisely that
"...terror is a technique, an instrument of warfare...And, to be
effective, military and other responses to that threat have to be
aimed not at the technique but at those who employ it to advance their
political or other goals...In the War on Terror, our principal foes
are Islamists and those who assist their murderous, jihadist
agenda."
WHERE ARE THE MODERATE ARABS?
Michael Anbar demonstrates that the theological and cultural
differences between "moderate muslims" and
"fundamentalist muslims" are on a par with the differences
between "Arab militants" and "Arab terrorists."
There are none.
VIEWING ISLAM CLEAR. VIEWING ISLAM MUDDY
Emanual A. Winston cuts through the propaganda that portrays Islam as
a kind and gentle religion. Perhaps it is. But it fosters terrorism
and terrorism is a world-wide threat. Much of the world has responded
by playing 'let's pretend.' THE "RIGHT OF RETURN" DEBATE REVISITED
The Arabs continue to pursue their goal of destroying Israel. They
have pursuaded many that all they want is a state for the Palestinian
Arabs. But they have also demanded the return to Israel of the Arab
refugees, whose numbers have remarkably multiplied some 700 to 1000
percent (depending on whose numbers you use) in 55 years. This huge
size made it hard to sell the "right of return" until a
recent poll seemed to show that only a few refugees would insist on
returning. Max Abrahms shows that these results are downright
misleading.
HOLOCAUST IN PROGRESS
In the wake of the August 19th bus bombing in Jerusalem, Yashiko
Sagamori's lucid essay points out that "[w]hat the world
euphemistically dubbed a peace process is actually a Holocaust in
progress." The author notes that "Bush...promised to never
negotiate with terrorists. Unfortunately, he failed to specify which
terrorists he was not going to negotiate with, what exactly he was not
going to negotiate with them, and how often."
These next essays talk about reform in Israel. Israel has been thrown off track by Arab terrorism and its own inhibited response to this ongoing terrorism. It needs to (re)establish its unique identity. JEWISH NATIONAL STRATEGY
Professor Eidelberg reviews the components necessary for a Jewish
state. The strategy for achieving a Jewish state must start with a
"...[p]ublic affirmation that a Jewish State must be based on
Jewish principles and values." and the corollary "...that
the primary source of Jewish principles and values is the Torah."
THE G.O.D. MANDATE
Beth Goodtree usually writes political commentary and humorous
articles. She is just as effective when she writes seriously about the
fundamental need for Israel to set forth a written declaration of its
own identity and goals.
TO CREATE A JEWISH STATE OF ISRAEL
Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) is a movement inside the Likud
Party that is working to create a strong Jewish identity in Israel. It
has protested Oslo and held street demonstrations against attempts to
uproot settlements. At the same time, it is formulating an ideology
based on authentic biblical and historic Judaism for the governance of
the Jewish state.
HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?
In her refreshingly candid style, Arlene Peck asks when will the
Israelis accept that they are at war? When will they take charge of
their own destiny and start dealing intelligently with the
Muslim-Arab-Palestinian terrorists whose goal is to destroy the
Jewish state.
THE UN AND THE ASSAULT ON ISRAEL'S LEGITIMACY:
Implications Of The Roadmap
Anne Bayefsky writes, "Human rights may be the most highly-rated
political currency in modern times. This is exactly why the criminal
state or political actor has sought to appropriate it. The United
Nations, as the pre-eminent guardian of human rights, has been the
staging ground for this subversion. The body erected upon the
rejection of anti-Semitism now perversely serves as a major
international vehicle for anti-Semitism." Clearly, Israel needs
to assert its sovereign rights; it must take "concrete steps to
protect" itself.
ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN ISRAEL'S
UNIVERSITIES DURING THE OSLO DECADE: 1993-2003
Professor Zaritsky talks about the one-sided freedom of academic
expression fostered in Israeli universities during the Oslo decade.
Views critical of the Oslo Accords and the Peace Process were subtly
and not so subtly discouraged. This essay would be just a nice
reminiscence, except for one problem: these peace-process academic
Marxists continue to control academic departments and continue to
promote a failed policy that continues to bring extreme harm to
Israel.
VIEW FROM THE ASYLUM
So what is life like right now in Israel, now that Oslo is dead, but
lots of the politicians don't seem to know it? In this essay that is
likely to become a classic, Elyakim HaEtzni draws a stark analogy to
the madness seen in a closed ward of an insane asylum. He concludes,
"I know of only one way to restore national sanity: to take to
the streets and raise a public outcry, until the Closed Ward
Government falls."
We need to reexamine the entire question of how to achieve peace in the Middle East. These next articles discuss Population Exchange - transferring the Palestinian Arabs out of Israel, an exchange that began when the Jews were forced out of Arab countries in the 1940s. Population Exchange is a plan that has a better chance at promoting peace in the Middle East than the Road Map, because it is based on reality, not fantasy. PARTITION VERSUS POPULATION EXCHANGE
Richard Shulman examines Chaim Kaufmann's study on Population
Exchange, which developed rules predicting when partition will
work and when population exchange is necessary. He points out some
mistakes in Kaufmann's arguments for partitioning Israel, because
"[Kaufmann] did not understand enough about the Arab-Israel
conflict to apply his own theory properly."
TRANSFER: A MORAL DISCOURSE
Using Ruth Gavison's essay on the Jewish right to statehood as
springboard, Boris Shusteff demolishes the notion that, from the point
of view of universal human rights, transferring the Arabs out of
Israel - including Yesha - would be an immoral act. There is also the
practical problem that Arab activity over the years has focussed on
demolishing Israel, not "establishing institutions of Arab
government."
THE THIRD RAIL OF MIDDLE EAST POLICY
Ruth King makes clear that no peace that depends on Arab goodwill
has a chance to succeed. We need to consider a more practical
solution: transferring Palestinian Arabs to the current Palestinian state,
Jordan.
These next essays are on Middle East terrorist groups. The first two discuss Hizballah, an international terrorist network with direct linkages to other terrorist organizations and to terrorist activities globally. Using Hamas as example, the third essay makes clear than "[f]rom the standpoint of international law, one man's terrorist can never be another man's freedom-fighter." HIZBALLAH'S WEST BANK FOOTHOLD
There is a direct linkage of Hizballah and the Palestinian Arabs in
Samaria, Judea and in Gaza. Matthew Levitt discusses how, beginning in
2000 with Iran's use of "the social-welfare hook to recruit
Palestinians into Hizballah," Palestinian Arabs were trained in
Lebanon and then sent back. The author writes, "Among the
activities Hizballah's Palestinian squads have conducted are arms
smuggling, recruitment, attempted suicide bombings, sniper and
roadside shooting attacks, preoperational surveillance of Israeli
communities and army bases, and planned kidnapping of Israelis."
HIZBOLLAH INTERNATIONAL
Lewis Lipkin focusses on the extent of Hizbollah activity outside the
Middle East. They are alive and well in Europe, South America and in
the United States.
ON HAMAS "FREEDOM FIGHTERS":
The View From International Law
Professor Louis Rene Beres points out that "even if Hamas claims
of an Israeli 'occupation' were correct rather than concocted, their
corresponding claim of entitlement to oppose Israel 'by any means
necessary' would remain unsupportable." He educates us on the
"precise standards that must be applied in judgment of all
insurgent resorts to violence," and defines just cause and
just means.
We continue our examination of how anti-Israel bias is spread in America by the media and through other gateways of the public's access to information. FRIEDMAN'S UNREALITY PRINCIPLE
David Sobel takes on Thomas Friedman and suggests Friedman is a
has-been, recycling tired shallow observations and flipflopping from
one viewpoint to another, again and again. Using a Friedman's article
called "Reality Principle" as subject matter, he critiques
Friedman's outdated opinions and contrary-to-fact statements about the
Arab-Israeli conflict.
SUCKERED BY THE ARABS: Are Jewish and Christian Pro-Israel Groups
Being Suckered By The Arabs?
Lee Kaplan writes about Saudi-financed activities in America that are
detrimental to us and to Israel. He reasons that activist Zionist
groups are "wasting our time in our own country constantly
putting out forest fires instead of going after the arsonist."
RUTGERS' SUKKOT HATEFEST
Is Jew-Hate becoming a part of Political Correctness? Is a Fest
designed to encourage the killing of Jews and the dismemberment of
Israel a manifestation of free speech? The New Jersey Solidarity group
seems to think so. Until very recently, Rutgers went along with hosting
them on campus. At the last moment, the event was cancelled.
THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, The P.A.'s Pal
Most people would say their public libraries are apolitical and desire
only to educate the public by encouraging the purchase of books of
varying points of view, providing they are not hate literature and
providing they have their facts straight. So isn't it surprising to
find that the American Library Association (ALA) - the oldest and
largest and probably the most influential society of librarians in the
world - apparently considers it has a duty to bash Israel and support
the 'Palestinian' cause. N. Leonard Tolkan, the author of this
article, is a veteran librarian who, for obvious reasons, chooses to
remain anonymous. An unusual and fascinating way to spend the High Holidays. CHINA DIARY: Settling Down In Wuchan.
L'Shana Tova From Beijing.
Marion D. S. Dreyfus is a freelance journalist, a film critic and an
intrepid traveler. I met her on a bullet-proof bus on an Americans
For A Safe Israel (AFSI) trip to Samaria, Judea and Gaza. When she
announced she was off to China and asked what Think-Israel was
interested in, I had a long list for her to investigate: (1) Chinese
Jews - is there a Jewish community? Are there converts? Are there any
left over from the WW2 escape from Europe? Are there any from an older
immigration?; (2) Businessmen from Israel and Canada that do business
in Shanghai - do they influence the Chinese in any way to be
pro-Israel? I have heard there's at least one kosher restaurant;
(3) China's Islam problem - are they handling it by being politically
correct? Or what; (4) Does Israel have any PR or hasbara in China?
And finally, our newest feature: the Blog-Ed page. READERS' BLOG-EDS This is where our readers get a
chance to write opinions and editorials. Why Blog-Ed and not Op-Ed?
Because we have retained the typical blog style of a stream of text
organized chronologically. These are (for the most part)
serious, thoughtful and from the heart. They should be shared with
other readers. Blog-Eds is updated every few days.
=========================================== July-August, 2003 This first group of essays center around a regional peace plan articulated by Israeli Minister Binyamin (Benny) Elon. THE RIGHT ROAD TO PEACE: A Regional Solution To
The Arab-Israeli Conflict
Israeli Cabinet Minister Binyamin Elon proposes a regional peace plan:
give the Arabs on the West Bank full citizenship in Jordan, resettle
the Arab refugees in Arab countries and annex the West Bank and Gaza
to Israel. This would make for two stable and viable Palestinian
States, one Arab, one Jewish, in what was Mandated Palestine. His plan
takes into account critical factors the Road Map ignores: a role for the
Arab countries that neighbor Israel, the solution to the Arab refugee
problem, Israel's security, a natural border and Israel's historic and
biblical claim to the Land.
SHARON'S ACCIDENTAL TOURIST
This is a copy of an interview with Minister Elon conducted by
Caroline Glick. It adds details to the Elon plan, which is described
in "The Right Road to Peace" (see above).
ARE THE SETTLEMENTS LEGAL?
Eugene V. Rostow wrote two articles on the Jewish settlements for the
New Republic during the presidency of George H.W. Bush. The
first was written a few months before Saddam Hussain of Iraq invaded
Kuwait and precipitated the first Gulf War. Bush excluded Israel from
fighting during the War and then, after the USA had forced Iraq to
withdraw from Kuwait, he pressured the then Prime Minister, Yitzhak
Shamir, to attend the Madrid Conference, a Middle East peace
initiative that led to Oslo 1. The second article was published just
days before the Madrid Conference. Mr. Rostow helped draft the UN Security
Council Resolution #242, which called on Israel and the Arab States
(not the Palestinians) to make peace, and allows Israel to administer
the territories until there is a just and lasting peace.
ISRAELI HASBARA: A Nation Working Against Itself
Much of the fault-finding with Israeli Hasbara
(education/PR/persuasion) suggests it just hasn't come up with the
right way to reach the public. Dr Shifftan suggests it isn't even
trying.
ONLY THE ARABS CAN MAKE PEACE
Reviewing modern Arab history in the Middle East, Alex Rose argues
that " [t]he time has come for the Arab World to invest their
resources in democracy and freedom instead of financing an
international 'kill the infidel' culture." This will mean
acknowledging that the same politics that gave them such an enormous
chunk of the Ottoman Empire gave the Jews a right to Israel, Samaria,
Judea and Gaza.
DON'T CONDEMN ISRAEL TO INDIA'S FATE
In a letter to the Jerusalem Post, June 22, 2003, Larry Hall pointed
out that "Israel and India have many things in common - broken
British promises, convenient isolation by greedy nations, disparate
populations living in progressive societies. And all the while, Islam
besets them, sets its populations to suffer in the hope that it might
destroy them." Professor Nalapat discusses this from the Indian
perspective.
Hudna is an Arabic concept. It is a very temporary suspension of violence, usually during an all-out war. It is not a cease-fire. As Yuval Zaliouf reminds us, "Normally, a Hudnah would be declared between the warring parties. However, the Palestinian terror organizations agreed to a Hudnah not with Israel, but as a flimsy internal arrangement between them and Abu Mazen. The survival of this Hudnah depends entirely on the success of a blackmail scheme aimed at forcing Israel to release Palestinian prisoners outside the frame of the already agreed Road Map." How well is the Road Map working in this period of Hudna? A TYPICAL DAY IN SHARON'S ISRAEL
This is a snapshot of the events in a typical day in an
Israel under Sharon's guidance: the Palestinian Arabs have been
enboldened to ask for more and more Israeli concessions while doing
nothing to eliminate terrorism; Sharon denies he is releasing
terrorists, but of course he is; the Israeli Security Services have
found someone they can bully: the father of Shalhavet Pas, the
10-month old child who was assassinated by an Arab sniper; and Arab
bombings and sniping continue.
PALESTINIAN WORDS SINCE AQABA: More Telling Than Deeds
Speaking in English, abu Mazen has promised to act vigorously against
incitement to violence and hatred. But
educating the Palestinian Arab children in Jew-hatred hasn't ceased.
Not for a moment.
PRISONER RELEASE: VEERING OFF THE ROADMAP
The Palestinian Arabs were supposed to perform the very first task on the Road
Map: an immediate and complete cessation of violence. Instead, they
have pulled the old one-two. First they declared 'prisoner release' the
primary and immediate issue. Then they threatened to
cancel Hudna, if the prisoners aren't released. And they have done
nothing about stopping Arab terrorism.
HAMAS AND THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY ARE ONE: An
Open Letter To President Bush Alyssa Lappen
writes that, despite the PR show, Hamas and the Palestine Authority
have worked together for many years towards the same goal: the destruction
of Israel. Nothing has changed.
OUR FEARLESS LEADERS Mr bin Hookah is foreign correspondent and roving reporter
for the Gaza Gajeera. This is his assessment of how the
Palestinian leaders are doing in the latest round of
diplomacy and negotiations.
A CULTURE WEDDED TO WAR
In this essay, Emanuel A. Winston analyzes the national character of
Muslim Arabs. He makes clear why appealing to their reason or bribing
them with Israeli concessions will have the same effect as
stopping a sand storm by waving a wet noodle at it.
BASEBALL, HOT DOGS, APPLE PIE AND HUDNA
Ellen Horowitz talks about the flaws in the the national character of
the Americans, the Arabs and the Israelis that allowed the Road Map and
Hudna.
These next essays deal with history: the resurgence of Anti-Semitism in France and the ongoing anti-Semitism of Israel's neighbors. FRENCH ANTISEMITISM: From the Middle Ages to the
Dreyfus Affair
This essay traces some major sources of French anti-Semitism,
from the teachings of the Catholic Church and the decrees of the
Monarchy on the Right to the Humanists and the Enlightenment
philosophes on the Left. Of particular interest is the
development of the Blood Libel, which has become a staple of Arab
anti-Semitism.
JEWS AND ANTI-JEWS Ruth Wisse puts
the Arab war against the Jews in the broader context of some major
reasons for habitual anti-Semitism: deflecting anger from a ruler's
ineptitude and poor governance and as an excuse for a ruler to shackle
his country.
A TALE OF TWO NAKBAS Arabs consider the rebirth of Israel the major if not the
only catastrophe - a nakba - to have happened in the recent
history of the Middle East. This ignores the catastrophies inflicted by the
Arabs on the non-Arab populations ever since the Arabs came into the
Middle East, including the nabka of the Jews, who had to flee
from Arab countries when Israel was reborn.
THE REAL PALESTINIAN REFUGEES
The success of the Zionist enterprise ignores that Jews never left the
Holy Land throughout the centuries. This essay points out that in
recent history Arab savagery made refugees of the indigenous Jewish
population in Palestine between 1920 and 1949.
Anti-Israel propaganda is spread all over the media. Here are two examples: one from a newspaper, the other from TV. AN EXPERIMENT IN PREDICTING THE LOS ANGELES TIMES'
SPIN Michael Levy has made himself the
subject of an ongoing experiment. Can he predict how the Los Angeles
Times (LAT) will slant a story on the Arab/Israeli conflict? He
started with 9 rules, on which he bases his predictions. These are his
rules with some of his commentary. Read his site,
http://lat-early.blogspot.com, for the latest results. Better still,
apply the rules yourself to the Washington Post or the New York Times
or Ha'aretz. UNHOLY, INDEED
Anti-Israel propaganda pops up in the oddest places.
Ask people to name TV shows hostile to Israel and NPR, Nightline and Peter
Jennings are obvious choices. But with just a single episode, The
Agency, a CBS drama, put itself in the running.
And finally, we introduce a new feature to Think-Israel: the Blog-Ed page. READERS' BLOG-EDS This is where our readers get a
chance to write opinions and editorials. Why Blog-Ed and not Op-Ed?
Because we have retained the typical blog style of a stream of text
organized chronologically. These are (for the most part)
serious, thoughtful and from the heart. They should be shared with
other readers. Blog-Eds is updated every few days.
=========================================== May-June, 2003 ANATOMY OF AN ILLUSION: THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN
TWO-STATE SOLUTION
This is a masterful presentation of the history of attempts at
creating a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinian Arabs.
Mr. Rozenman makes clear why such a solution can't work.
A ROADMAP TO PEACE: WITH WHOM?
The Road Map makes the wrong assumption that peace between the
Palestinian Arabs and Israel can bring peace to the Middle East. But
as Michael Anbar points out, the Palestinian Arabs are only "a
minute part of a large nation, which [has been] in a continual state
of war with the Jewish nation from the day Israel was
established." Palestinian Arabs are not politically independent.
They train in Lebanon; their military supplies come in from Egypt.
"As long as Arab Islamism maintains its grip on the Middle
East," Israel has no peace partner.
ROADMAP TO HELL
Mr. Haetzni has written elsewhere that the Road Map is even
worse that the Oslo Accords. Unlike Oslo, the Road Map (1) mandates a
Palestinian State; (2) restricts settlement development; and (3)
encourages foreign interference with Israeli sovereignty. In this
article, he examines the Road Map stipulations on issues important to
Israel.
BY WHAT RIGHT, MR. PRESIDENT?
The implementation of the Road Map is just beginning and already it
has encouraged a marked increase in deadly bombings by Hamas and the
other Arab terrorist groups. This open letter to President Bush is
indicative of the disappointment in Israel in President Bush, who has
made a 180 degree turn from his intelligent assessment of what was
required for Middle East peace just a year ago.
THE CONFLICT AS SEEN BY ORDINARY PEOPLE
So many of the media experts have started talking up Oslo 2 as the way
to peace, as if we've had no experience with Oslo 1. So many ordinary
people are analyzing the Road Map and pointing out its defects. This
is a sampling of the concerns they raise by Letters and Comments and
emails to eachother.
How did we get from the clarity of the analysis of Middle East issues in June 2002 to a retread of unsuccessful plans in June 2003? The next few articles provide some analyses. MISREADING THE MAP During the
period between when the Road Map was announced and when it was
presented as unchangeable, the Israeli Government underplayed the Road Map's
unsavory demands. As Herb Keinon writes, "...the country was
presented with one picture of Washington's position, and woke up to
another." He examines some of the elements in the Government's
disasterous miscalculations. JUST THE FACTS
Caroline B. Glick's recent article "Washington's Betrayal"
in the Jerusalem Post is a cogent summary of how the Bush
Administration made the creation of a Palestinian State its main goal
in the Middle East, without the Arabs having to renounce their goal of
destroying the Jewish State. This article focusses on one of the
reasons the Bush Administration could do so with so little backlash:
the current mindset and conventional wisdom in the world, which is fed
by a lazy and pro-Arab media and a bunch of politicians and diplomats
who don't want to be confused by the facts.
PEACE IN OUR TIME?
After 9/11, America went after Arab terrorists militarily. Why is it
now regressing to 'peace processes' and diplomatic negotiations? David
Vance explains how the concept of conflict resolution dominates
political thinking to the detriment of a real solution to the
Arab-Israeli conflict.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON
Mr Atlas talks about some probable reasons why George W. Bush let his
vision become fogged in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
AMERICA LEADS THE WAY Mz Cheesman is a straightforward tell-it-as-I-see-it letter
writer, who proposes a way for President Bush to provide a good
example on how to implement his current view of what will bring peace to the
Middle East.
LETTING THE UNITED NATIONS STEER
The article deals with the future role of the UN, which will monitor
Israel and redefine Arab terrorism (out of existence). As Anne
Bayefsky writes, "For all those at the United Nations fretting
over the loss of a terrorist state in Iraq, a Palestinian replacement
is shortly at hand. Israeli self-defense will soon mean violating
international borders. It is not surprising that Arab states are happy
to tell Mr. Bush they are all for the road map. What is surprising is
that the president is, too."
DOES THE INTERNATIONAL NEWS MEDIA OVERLOOK ISRAEL'S LEGAL RIGHTS IN
THE PALESTINIAN-ISRAELI CONFLICT?
This is a meticulous examination of how the media, by using sloppy
language, intentionally or unintentionally further Arab land claims.
The media promote the wrong idea that the Arabs have international law
on their side, even though, as an example, the drafters of Resolution
242 did not plan on an Arab state, except Jordan, west of the Jordan
River. As Dan Diker writes, "The emotionally charged Palestinian
liberation story is, for many reporters, more compelling than the dry,
factual context of history, especially existing international laws and
resolutions that support Israel's narrative."
To extricate ourselves from the swamp the Bush Administration has now endorsed requires a very necessary change: reorganizing the State Department so that it works for America. The next three articles discuss the details. THE NEXT CHALLENGE FOR BUSH
The State Department was "ineffective and incoherent" at the
U.N. in the days before we went into Iraq. Newt Gingrich urges the
President to reorganize the State Department because "America
cannot lead the world with a broken instrument of diplomacy." He
points out that after our military victory, "...the State
Department is back at work pursuing policies that will clearly throw
away all the fruits of hard-won victory."
WINNING THE WAR, LOSING THE PEACE
Tony Blankley contributes insightful glosses to Newt Gingrich's call
for re-forming the State Department. He highlights some of the major
points; this is is all to the good. He concludes that, "[i]t will
be a brawl, but one the country desperately needs. Winning the wars
and losing the peace has got to stop."
MIDEAST ROAD TRAP
Frank Gaffney focusses on one of the reasons the State Department
needs to be transformed: the State Department has nullified President
Bush's policy statements of June 2002 on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The Arabs are excused from making real reforms in their leadership.
The Quartet - "a State Department invention" - will be able
to dictate terms to Israel. And stopping terrorism dead is no longer
the first order of business.
And finally, some history, past and future. SOME ORAL HISTORY
Everyone knows how Arab terrorists hide themselves and their bombs and
guns among groups of woman and children. This talks about how the Arabs
used woman and children as suicide bombers during World War II.
SOMEDAY WE'LL KNOW
The Road Map is so bizarre and inappropriate a solution to
the conflict between the Arabs and the Jews that many people didn't
take it seriously until it burst out, full-grown. This article asks
some of the questions whose answers await analyses by future historians.
=========================================== Road Map Issue, April 2003
All the articles in this special Edition are about the road map, the latest
threat to Israel's sovereignty and security.
The latest international threat to Israel's sovereignty and security
comes from the road map issued by the Quartet. It is Oslo all over
again, but more virulent - instead of negotiations, it would impose
dangerous restrictions on Israel. The UN, the EU and Russia didn't
fight Iraq. Apparently, Israel is more their size.
HELP CONGRESS PROTECT ISRAEL FROM THE ROADMAP
At the moment, the most effective rebuttal of the Quartet
plan is coming from Congress. Bipartisan letters supporting Israel are
circulating in both the House and the Senate. Here is some practical
information on contacting your congressman and senators to let them
know you reject the Quartet's plan and appreciate their support of Israel.
OBFUSCATION OF TRUTH: Reading Mitchell's Report
On February 7, 2003, President Bush and Prime Minister Sharon
had a heart to heart in the Oval Office. Afterwards, Bush said,
"...we had a good discussion about how best to work
together to get the Mitchell process started, to get into Tenet and
then in Mitchell." For those of us who have forgotten, this is an
excellent article on the Mitchell Plan, a flawed, pro-Arab document,
filled with inaccuracies.
KEVORKIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
Mr. Wilder lays out the major points of the road map as they were
known in February. The emphasis is on the impact on Israel, its
settlement communities and eastern Jerusalem. Mr. Wilder lives in
Hebron, the second holiest city in Israel and home of the Tomb of the
Patriarchs.
DANGERS OF THE ROADMAP
Mr Zaliouk points out that the Road Map talks of disbanding the
settlements as a precondition. For the first time, the word
"occupation" is used. This is language that has serious
consequences for Israel's borders.
COMMENTS ON THE ROAD MAP
Mr Shulman comments on the role of the CIA, the peace process in
general, Arabs calling Jews nazis, and road map amendments.
REJECT THE ROAD MAP
Mr. Belman makes clear why the road map is an unmitigated disaster for
Israel and wonders why we are rushing into it. This is a companion
piece to Mr. Belman's "A Unifying Theory: Palestine for
Iraq" and "Perfecting the Unifying Theory ", which can
be read on the IsraPundit website.
ROAD MAP, ROAD KILL
Mr. Tobin projects a frightening but - based on previous experience -
realistic forecast of where the Quartet's "diplomatic strong-arm
tactics" will lead.
THE DANGER, ISRAEL, IS TO THE WEST
Mr. Goodenough points out weaknesses in Prime Minister Sharon's
response to the Road Map. He writes of Prime Minister Blair's push
to "remove the ancient land of Israel from Jewish control."
THE SWASTIKA AT THE END OF THE ROAD MAP
This is the letter Arial Sharon should send to President Bush, rejecting the
Road Map in toto, because it would put a genocidal nazi-like state in
the middle of Israel.
A MAP TO NATIONAL DISASTER
Mr Landau, a Minister in the Israeli Government, cogently
lays out objections to the roadmap: the Palestinian Arabs do not have
to relinquish terror as a precondition or educate their children for
peace. Israel, on the other hand, will need to freeze settlements,
divide Jerusalem, and have an international supervisory body exerting
sovereignity over implementation of the plan. Aside from jeopardizing
Israel's security, it will teach the Arab world that terror pays.
AFTER IRAQ: A PALESTINIAN STATE AND REGIONAL NUCLEAR WAR
Professor Beres postulates some plausible scenarios, given a Middle
East with Iraq unable to acquire nuclear weapons but an Arab state of
Palestine, which would serve as a launching-point for unconventional
terrorism by the different terrorist groups in the area.
"President Bush should now
consider carefully that an exchange of Iraq for 'Palestine' would be
foolishly shortsighted and very dangerous."
=========================================== March-April 2003
ISLAM AND VIOLENT TRENDS
This is a direct, incisive essay on the violence practiced by so much
of Islam. It contrasts the actuality with the pretense that Islam is a
peaceful religion. As the author says: "avoiding reality doesn't
change reality."
THE LOSS OF EAST PALESTINE: British Perfidy,
Jewish
Infirmity of Purpose and Arab Intransigence. Part II.
Part I (see below) dealt with events leading to the Balfour
Declaration. Part II deals with the continued efforts of the British
to meet their conflicting commitments, retain control of both the Arab
and Jewish populace, and maintain their Middle Eastern empire. This
essay chronicles the early years when the nibbling away at what was
slated to become Israel had already begun: Israel was reduced in size
from all of Palestine to a vaguely defined area in the Western part of
the Mandate.
MY GRANDFATHER INVENTED IRAQ: And He Has Lessons
for Us Today
The article above, The Loss of East Palestine, made plain the
circumstances at the time of World War I that would lead to the
drastic redrawing of the map of the Middle East. We all know that
Israel was created. Fewer people realize that many of the Arab
countries were also created after England took over what had belonged
to the Ottoman Empire. Churchill's grandson focusses on Iraq and
Jordan and draws parallels to what currently confronts us.
AN AMERICAN DIES IN GAZA
A few days ago, an American girl, Rachel Corrie, a pro-Arab activist,
was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza. Unlike the response to the
daily attacks by Arabs on Israeli civilians, this aroused world-wide
outrage. She may yet become the second Mohammad al-Dura. For several
reasons.
ON MUSIC, FOOD AND FAMILY VISITS
Moshe Saperstein lives with his wife Rachel in Neve Dekalim
in the Gaza Strip. He is an essayist, and a member of the Jerusalem
Diarist group, which is doing a great job capturing the immediacy of
living in Israel today. This essay, written during a spell of cold
fierce weather in Israel, is about aesthetics - or his lack of
appreciation thereof. We read of a musicale at Gush Katif,
a cantorial performance at the synagogue and how much he prefers his
food served unadorned. Moshe bravely faces going to the dentist and
having the family visit.
HISTORY AND CHRISTIANITY
This is a brief history of the changing attitudes of Christians
towards Jews. Mr. Griffin differentiates between Christian sects that
have no particular injunctions to recognize Israel's importance to
Christianity and those that do. Among the latter, he separates those
whose support is only theologically based from those who, in addition,
have a genuine love of Israel.
PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST: A Pragmatic Road
Map from Truth to Peace
This is a thoughtful essay about the Road Map, the latest version of
the Oslo Peace Plan. It makes an important point: peace must be
constructed on a base of facts and truth. Diplomatic 'constructive
ambivalence' is doomed to fail. This paper lays out the facts that
need to be factored into any plan that will bring peace to the Middle
East.
THE ARABS IN THE HOLY LAND - NATIVES OR ALIENS?
Using information from various sources, many of them Arab, this essay
makes clear that the Palestinians are not native to Palestine. They
are not an ancient people. They are not a people.
HOW TO INVITE CONTEMPT AND
ENCOURAGE TERRORISM
The Director of the Jerusalem Institute for Western Defense points out
that the Muslim mindset despises weakness. Concessions by non-Muslims
are considered a sign of weakness. Consequently, concessions by the
West and Israel are doomed to fail.
=========================================== January-February 2003 THE LOSS OF EAST PALESTINE: British Perfidy,
Jewish Infirmity of Purpose and Arab Intransigence. Part I.
The current problems in defining the boundaries of the
Jewish state began in the critical years before World War I, when the
map of the entire Middle East was about to be redrawn. The Arabs were
encouraged to ask for everything, the Jews asked for very little, and
the British screwed them both. WHY DON'T THE ISRAELIS GET MAD?
Why aren't the Israelis reacting violently to the inadequate response
of their Government to Arab terrorism? Why are they not demanding that
the Government do more to end the slaughter? Different answers have
been offered by different people. Whatever the reason, the people's
passivity has consequences for the future of Israel.
ASSISTED SUICIDE, ISRAELI ACADEMIC STYLE
In The Unenviable Fate of Israeli Academic Leftists
(July-August, see below) I described the efforts of some Israeli
leftist academics to aid the Arabs, even to the point of petitioning
that Israeli scientists and academics be shunned by the world's
academic institutions. I speculated that the more their efforts were
successful, the worse it would be for them personally. The tale of
Oren Yiftachel, a geographer at Tel Aviv University, shows this has
already begun to happen.
WHO ARE THE PALESTINIANS?
All the Arab states, much of Europe and many in America, including
President Bush, act as if a Palestinian State is inevitable. But the
future leaders of such a State, the Palestine Authority and its fellow
terrorists, have turned the Oslo Peace into the Oslo War, and continue
to proclaim that destroying Israel is their real goal. So maybe we
ought to rethink the idea of a separate and sovereign state for the
Palestinians. Christian Action For Israel has compiled a
remarkable page of articles devoted to examining the idea of a
Palestinian state (http://christianactionforisrael.org/palstate.html).
Last November, they featured an essay by Yashiko Sagamori, who asks
the right questions about the obscure birth of the Palestinian people.
SHARON, SPEAK TO US
This is a companion piece to the previous article, which
suggested a serious examination of the origin of the Palestinian
people. This letter lists some questions that need serious and
detailed discussion before Israel can agree to the creation of a State
for these people.
WHERE DO WANNABE TERRORISTS BELONG,
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Have you ever considered how hard it is to assign a would-be terrorist
who blows himself up prematurely to the right group to ensure accurate
statistics. How should he be counted? What about his lost wages? These
are some of the considerations.
ON TANGERINES, ARAB CRUELTY AND GAS
MASKS
Moshe Saperstein lives with his wife Rachel in Neve Dekalim
in the Gaza Strip. He is an essayist, and a member of the Jerusalem
Diarist group, which is doing a great job capturing the immediacy of
living in Israel today. This week he discovers he has tangerines
growing in his garden, ruminates on gratuitous Arab cruelty, is
disheartened by the killing of the yeshiva students in Otniel,
upgrades his gas mask and thinks about election time scandals.
MAINTAINING FAMILY HONOR
Mr bin Hookah, foreign correspondent and roving reporter for
The Gaza Gejeera is back. He explains to his readers how
important honor killings are in maintaining family honor.
=========================================== November-December 2002 THE SETTLEMENTS REVISITED
A few weeks ago, Americans For A Safe Israel (AFSI) conducted a tour
of settlements in Samaria, Judea, Gaza and East Jerusalem. We spoke to
the settlers; we saw what they have accomplished. They have character,
fortitude, self-respect, civility and dedication to Israel. They are
worthy successors to the earlier Zionist settlers in Israel.
A TALE OF TWO REALITIES
Caroline Glick writes about the evacuation of Gilad Pass within the
larger context of Israeli politics and the Oslo War. In a brilliant
analysis, she contrasts the reality of the Israeli Left, which regards
the Israeli Right and the settlers as the enemies of peace and the
reality of the Israeli Right, which understands that Israel is
fighting for its survival as the Arabs continue to wage war.
EVERYDAY LIFE IN ISRAEL
Moshe Saperstein writes with humor and warmth of his everyday life in
Neve Dekalim in the Gaza Strip. This week, he goes to two weddings,
visits his grandchildren, listens to shelling while watching a
thunderstorm in the night, spends the Shabbat of Chaye Sarah at
Hebron, hears of another terror murder and lives through a couple more
attacks by neighboring Arabs. Just an ordinary week.
THE WEST BANK/GAZA SETTLEMENTS: The Fake Issue of the Current Middle
East Crisis
Sarah Bedein asks whether ceding the Jewish settlements in Samaria,
Judea and Gaza would really satisfy the demands of the Palestinian
Arabs. What about their right of return to the 531 villages inside the
Green Line that they lost in 1948?
THE RISE AND FALL OF THE THEORY THAT JEWS ARE
DESCENDENTS OF THE KHAZARS
In The 13th Tribe, Arthur Koestler asserted that Ashkenazic
Jews are not of the seed of Jacob; they are the descendants of the
Khazars, a semi-nomadic tribe that lived in the Caucasian Mountains
and converted to Judaism in the 8th century C.E. Modern genetics
proves him wrong.
DYING FOR REVENGE: Controlling Allies In Wartime
Suppose a local paramilitary group loosely associated with
an outside country engaged in warfare in the region. Suppose this
local group independently carries out an act of vengeance against its
ancient enemy? Examples are: (1) the killing of captive al-Qaeda
members by the USA-backed Northern Alliance in Afghanistan; and (2)
the killing of Muslim Lebanese in the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps
by Christian Lebanese, who were allied with Israel. Is the major
partner responsible?
=========================================== September-October 2002 THE CASE FOR POPULATION EXCHANGE
Population exchange is not a new idea. Sometimes a complete
separation is the only way that two groups unable to live together can
get on with their lives. It might be time to complete the separation
of the Jews and the Arabs. The Jews were evacuated from Arab countries
when Israel was born. Maybe it's time to do the second half of the
transfer: move the Palestinian Arabs to Arab countries.
ARAB INTRIGUE KEEPS PALESTINIAN ISSUE ALIVE
This is an incisive essay on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict in a way that helps the Palestinian Arabs without destroying
Israel. This solution would also be helpful to the United States in
that it would cut out an argument the Arab states use to prevent the
invasion of Iraq.
AT THE BIRTH OF A MYTH
It isn't often that one gets to see and hear an Arab myth in the making.
This might be one. Time will tell if it will grow and get hair on its
chest. Or maybe not.
A FRAUDULENT HISTORY OF PALESTINE
This is an examination of a history text disseminated on many Arab
websites and some neutral sites that provide historical documents on
the Middle East. It is said to have been produced by a group of Jewish
scholars, an anonymous group that calls itself Jews for Justice in
the Middle East. We think it's a fraud.
IT'S BEEN A GOOD YEAR
Mr bin Hookah is foreign correspondent and roving reporter for the
Gaza Gajeera. He looks back on the year since September 11, 2001.
EVERYDAY LIFE IN ISRAEL
A new immigrant from North America celebrates Sukkot at Kibbutz
Sde Eliyahu in Israel. Sukkot should be a time of happiness. This
Sukkot is a time of sadness: her roommate was friends with a boy
recently killed by an Arab terrorist. Miriam Edelman writes of her
conflicted feelings as her group celebrates Sukkot and redefines
happiness.
=========================================== July-August 2002 ISRAEL CAN'T PROTECT THEM EVERY TIME
This is a thoughtful examination of Israel's killing of Salah
Shehadeh, founder of Izzadine el-Qassam, the Hamas terrorist army.
DO WE NEED A THIRD PALESTINIAN STATE?
For decades, it was the American and Israeli position that a
Palestinian State was a deterrent to peace in the region. When they
were hosted in Jordan and Lebanon, the Palestinians had shown
themselves to be unrepentant trouble makers. After Oslo, a Palestinian
State on the West Bank was automatically accepted. In the wake of the
second intifada, the issue is again being reexamined. We present some
major nodes on the spectrum of ideas about creating a Palestinian
State.
SHOOTOUT AT THE LOS ANGELES AIRPORT:
The Effrontery of the Jews.
Mr bin Hookah is foreign correspondent and roving reporter for the
Gaza Gajeera. This is his report on the recent incident at the
Los Angeles airport.
THE STEPFORD ARAB SPOKESMEN
Remember the book, The Stepford Wives? The wives were robots
that replaced humans. Spooky.
TWO ACADEMICS AND A RABBI
When virulent denunciations of Israel come from a Jew, it's called Jewish self-hatred. We aren't convinced all such manifestations come from the same source and motivation. Today, we bring you sketches of two Academics and a Rabbi, all of whom are prominent Haters of Israel: Steven Rose, Noam Chomsky and Rabbi Michael Lerner. Blogs, short for Web Logs, are websites that contain
personal, informal musings and thoughts about almost any subject under
the sun. We borrowed material from several of these sites.
THE UNENVIABLE FATE OF ISRAELI ACADEMIC LEFTISTS
Several international scientific and scholarly groups are
attempting to deprive Israeli academics of the company and
intellectual stimulation of their international colleagues. There's a
small group of Israeli academics that is actively helping them.
EVERYDAY LIFE IN ISRAEL
In the midst of the turmoil, a group of North American immigrants
has just arrived in Israel. They come with a love of Israel and, as
citizens of the USA and Canada, a repetoire of skills on what to
expect in a democracy and how to make their voices heard. This account
comes from Ezra Halevy, who made aliya all of a month or so ago. If
this is any indication, these newbies are definitely going to make a
difference.
FUTURE ISSUES Future Issues depend on you. Please write and suggest an essay or article or comment or letter you'd like to write up for Think-Israel. Focus on integrating data that are out there. Focus on bringing a new way of looking at what's out there. Think of this site as a blog site for all of you who love Israel and think she hasn't exactly put her best foot forward, image-wise.
Submit Letters, Comments and Articles.
|
| DID YOU KNOW? |
|
TERROR STATISTICS
from
29 September 2000 through 26 August 2003
841 Israelis killed = 46,255 Americans* * Based on a 55 to 1 ratio of population between the United States and Israel. To quote from Michael Freund, 15,000 AND COUNTING, Jerusalem Post, November 19, 2002: ...Israel recently set a new world record. It is unclear when precisely it occurred, or what the exact circumstances were. But at some point earlier this month, Israel became the first country to endure its 15,000th terrorist attack in just over a two-year period. |
| INFORMATION AND NEWS SOURCES ON ISRAEL AND THE MIDDLE EAST |
| Some of these websites will provide you with daily news and analyses about Israel. Others will provide you with accurate background information so you can be an effective advocate for Israel and counteract ongoing Arab fantasies, exaggerations and plain outright lies. |
|
If you want us to let you know when a new issue is out, send us an email.
| Home | Featured Stories | Readers' Blog-Eds | Background Information | News On The Web |