Has a 3rd Intifada Started?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

The Islamic Jihad and Hamas have called for the 3rd intifada to begin against Israel.  Riots have broken out in some parts of Judea and Samaria even though the Palestinian Authority there has said that they don't want it to happen.  Six Israelis were injured.  This happened on the 13th anniversary of the 2nd Palestinian Intifada.  The 2nd one, or Al-Aqsa Intifada started in September 2000 and ended in 2005 with 3,000 Palestinians dead and 1,000 Israelis as well as 64 foreigners.  During peace negotiations, this tells us something.  Abbas does not have control over his people.  This is not demonstrating the value of their neighborliness.  It's showing why Netanyahu is so adamant about security.

Riots started up in Hebron, an ancient city of  Judah, on  September 27th. This is the city where Abraham bought a plot of land called the Cave of Machpelah in which to bury his wife, Sarah.  Jews had lived here since then, but in 1929, Arabs massacred almost all the 700 Jews in Hebron , causing survivors to flee.  Some returned in 19331 only to have faced more riots in 1936.  Today a mosque stands on this site.  After the Six Day War of 1967, a number of Jews again settled in Hebron, establishing the Kiryat Arba quarter east of the city.  They had a population of 3,700 in 1988.  Rioting has happened in east Jerusalem

Friday, which is the Muslim holy day and when Shabbat starts for Jews at sundown, an IDF soldier was wounded by a stone that was thrown at him just north of Hebron in the village of Beit Ummar.  He was treated right there by a medical team.  Dozens, meaning more than 24 Palestinians of Hebron were throwing stones and lighting their garbage cans on fire.  The IDF in return shot rubber bullets at the protesters, injuring about 4 Arabs.
                                                                           

                                                                    Ramallah
Other outbursts came from the old Christian village of Ni'lin outside Ramallah, now almost all Muslim, which is 6 miles north of Jerusalem,  where an Israeli was injured and taken to Tel  Hashomer Hospital and treated for minor wounds.  Ramallah is in Judea/Samaria.   Near Ramallah is the Ofer prison where a a demonstration outside was taking place.  Rock throwing and tire burning were part of the demonstration.  Several Palestinian Arabs received some slight injuries during this riot.  Evidently the peace talks have stalled as well. Ramallah is where they meet.  The problem is that paramount in importance to Israel is the settlement about borders and Israel's security which Abbas is avoiding.  This peace initiative started in July.  Now the USA has sent Martin Indyk to lead the meetings and he hopes to get more accomplished.  He should be there now to see why security is so important and see how friendly our neighbors are behaving with this uprising called an intifada.

Two Palestinians were caught carrying fire bombs near Bethlehem, which is almost  all Muslim  today.  They also threw rocks and burned tires, causing the IDF to respond with tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets.

In northern Gaza, there was a demonstration of Hamas governed Palestinians who were marching toward the Israeli border fence, meaning to tear it apart, no doubt.  The IDF managed to disperse them.

The actions of the 1st intifada started on December 6, 1987 with the stabbing of an Israeli in Gaza while shopping.  Rioting then was instigated on December 9, 1987 in the Jabalia refugee camp. A 17 year old threw a molotov cocktail at an IDF soldier and he was shot in return.  This brought on the intifada to Gaza, Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.    It didn't really stop until the 1993 Oslo Accords.  The Madrid Conference of 1991 slowed things down a little.  About 1,000 Palestinians lost their lives during this 6 year demonstration.

A 9 year old girl was shot point blank in the chest on Shabbat by a rifle from  a black masked rioting shooter in Psagot, a Jewish town in Judea/Samaria with a population of 1,623 back in 2008.  No one can be safe in such rioting.  Psagot lies outside Ramallah and seems  cuts off the expansion of the larger city. When Israel won land by the Arab attack in 1967 when resulted in the Arab loss, Israel gave the people of Ramallah Israel identity cards which meant they could travel into Israel and Gaza.  Yet they were the first to rebel in the 1st intifada.

One wonders if this anniversary Intifada was called in reaction to the Muslim Brotherhood being dismantled in Egypt.  They held the same type of doctrine as Hamas.

Abbas had agreed in July to 9 months of discussions about a resolution between Israel and the Arabs' desire to create their own state of Palestine out of part of Israel,  but Hamas threw him out of Gaza and now seems to be trying to take over Abbas's territory.   Even during a peace talk, there is no peace.

Resource:  http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/palestinians-hurl-stones-israelis-mark-intifada-anniversary/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=palestinians-hurl-stones-israelis-mark-intifada-anniversary
Jerusalem Post
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramallah
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Abbas-US-envoy-Indyk-discuss-Israeli-Palestinian-peace-talks-in-Ramallah-327909
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/intifada.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Intifada
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.550672
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psagot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramallah
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Intifada

What Palestinians Died in Gaza?

Nadene Goldfoot
April 16, 2001, the first rocket was fired from Gaza into Israel.  

On November 14, after 12 years of having been shelled by Gazan terrorists, Israel warned, begged help from the UN,  and were ignored by the world.  They were forced to retaliate with Operation Pillar of Defense, and as a result killed 178 Palestinians.

Only 169 of the casualties were ever identified.  It was found out that 101 were terrorists, with 71 of these affiliated with Hamas.  17 were affiliated with Islamic Jihad, 6 were members of the Popular Resistance committees, 3 were Fatah terrorists, 2 belonged to the Army of Islam, 1 was a PFLP terrorist and 1 was a Salafist terrorist, which are the most extreme Muslim faction.

 68 people were  civilians.  This amounts to  the fact that 60% were  terrorists   What these terrorists do is place their launching pads for their rockets, mortars and missiles among civilian population in order to have further ammunition against Israel by saying, "See, they hit our civilians."  Civilized countries do not put their civilians in harm's way, regardless.

Even in this the terrorists are still terrorizing Israel by misconscrewing the numbers.  The terrorist groups published a smaller number of actual terrorists and made the civilian number larger just to defame Israel.  Then they had the chutzpa to add the names of those who died in other circumstances to the death list in order to vilify Israel.

Since 2001, the terrorists have fired 12,800 rockets and mortars into Israel.  44 Israeli civilians were killed since 2006 and 1,687 were injured.  In 2006, 9 were killed and 371 injured; in 2007, 10 were killed and 578 injured; in 2008, 15 were killed and 611 injured.   By December 27, 2008, Israel had enough and followed up with Operation Cast Lead.  63% to 75% of the Palestinian casualties were men of combat age.  Total casualties amounted to 1,400 in the 22 days that Israel had to go into Gaza.  . 308 of them were under age 18.   5,000 were wounded.  The terrorists managed to kill 10 IDF and 3 Israeli civilians.

The Palestinian terrorists were unperturbed.   In 2009, 2 were killed and 11 injured; in 2010, 5 were killed and 35 injured; in 2011, 3 were killed and 81 injured.  Then in 2012, 1,822 rockets, mortars and missiles were fired into Israel.

March 9-14, 2012, Israel held Operation Returning Echo where they pinpointed Zohair al-Qaisi, the Secretary General of the Popular Resistance Committees. Along with him, another terrorist companion was killed as well as a nearby civilian.   This led to the Palestinian retaliation with the terrorists shooting 300 plus Grad missiles, Qassam rockets and mortar shells into Israel.  177 of them hit Ashdod, Ashkelon and Beersheba.  23 civilians were injured.  Israel shot down 56 rockets out of 71 attempts.

Israel takes all the steps possible to protect their citizens while the Palestinians put them in harm's way on purpose.  This is why there is a difference in fatalities.  Israel may have suffered less deaths, but have been under attack since 2001 with indiscriminate shelling coming into civilian populations without anyone stepping up to stop it such as the UN.  It happens to be against international law.  This has been war.

I note that the Palestinians have been accepted into the UN under a nonmember observer state while the Palestinians  refuse to recognize Israel as a state.  Is this their reward for shelling Israel and not making peace for the past 12 years?

In Bethlehem, which is in Judah (West Bank and under Fatah rule), thousands of Christian tourists are celebrating the birth of Jesus, and the Muslims are celebrating the UN's recent recognition of an "independent Palestinian state."  Considering how the Christians are being treated in Egypt under their new Muslim Brotherhood politics, it won't be long before things change for the few Christians in Bethlehem.  I don't know why the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, the Palestinian Archbishop who was born in Jordan, mentioned that the road to actual freedom was still long, but....the birth of the state of Palestine.  I have a feeling he is expecting more attacks on Israel, especially for Jerusalem, as it is a telling statement.  For a religious man, he is not hiding his political feelings.

Reference:  http://www.idfblog.com/facts-figures/rocket-attacks-toward-israel/
http://www.dailyalert.org/ Arutz Sheva: 60% of Palestinian Casualties in Recent Gaza Fighting Were Terrorists;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_2012_Gaza%E2%80%93Israel_clashes
http://www.ict.org.il/ResearchPublications/CastLeadCasualties/tabid/325/Default.aspx
http://imeu.net/news/article0021968.shtml
Oregonian newspaper 12/25/12 Front page, In Bethlehem, two reasons to celebrate by Dalia Nammari, AP
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/29/palestinian-un-recognition-vote-passes_n_2213980.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sezF3GN09jA  IDF going into Gaza  by Ariel Siegelman, an IDF, possibly in Operation Cast Lead, uploaded in 2010.
Added 1/7/13 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Whole-truth-about-the-Israeli-Palestinian-conflict/338446719503483

Bethlehem Loses Christians

Nadene Goldfoot
Bethlehem came under Palestinian control on December 22,  1995 as the Oslo Accords had Israel control transferred.  Bethlehem had 45,000 residents and was the 6th West Bank city to come under the PA rule.  The others were Jericho, Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus and Kalkilya.  Right next door to Bethlehem is the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo.  The PA police are to keep order.

A ceremony saw the transfer, but afterwards, crowds pulled down a fence surrounding the police station at Manger square.  Church bells rang and fireworks were lighting up the sky over the square,  jammed with merrymakers, vendors selling kebab and cotton candy and dancing boys in circles to recorded music.  Arafat's picture was in many windows.  Along Manger Street, many Santa Clauses passed out candy to children.  The Muslims were happy about it.

Not on Christmas day was everyone enthused about the change.  1,200 opponents of the Oslo Accords were outside the city limits rallying with the banner saying, "We have come to dispel the darkness," and vowed that Israel would regain control.  Jews were also upset about Rachel's Tomb being under PA control.  Israel's government did not allow this rally, so they moved to the Mar Elias monastery, north.

King David of Israel was from Bethlehem and crowned there as King of Israel.  His ancestors, Ruth and Boaz were married here, so it is a special city to Jews as well.  

 "Bethlehem's chief economic sector is tourism which peaks during the Christmas season when Christian pilgrims throng to the Church of the Nativity.  Bethlehem has over thirty hotels and three hundred handicraft work shops. Rachel's Tomb,  an important Jewish holy site, is located at the northern entrance of Bethlehem."  Jacob's 2nd wife was Rachel, who died in childbirth of Benjamin.  Jewish women like to go to her tomb to pray for children.

The Christian community privately expressed fears of falling under the control of Muslim Palestinians, but were afraid of speaking out publicly.  That was 17 years ago.  Today, the Christian population has dwindled.  In 1948 they were  85% of the population of Bethlehem.  It has now shrunk from 20,000 of 1995 to 7,500.

Bethlehem, which is 5 miles south of Jerusalem,  was a center of terrorism during the 2nd Intifada of 2000 to 2005.  Israel then built a security wall around the city in 2005 to fight terror, which may be one of the factors in driving Christians away.  Then again, Christians most likely have family in the US, Canada, Australia, and South or Central America. Christians have sought education and employment out of the city.  They are also suffering from Islamic extremism due to signs of disturbing anti-Christian feelings among parts of the Muslim population, even though they have had a tradition of coexistence.  The Muslims have intimidated the Christians and practice land theft, discriminate in the public sector in employment, along with abuse and economic hardships.  This all makes the Palestinian Christian leaders feeling insecure, and so place the blame on Israel when they speak on record.

At any rate, they expect to have thousands of tourists to celebrate Christmas.

Reference: http://www.jidaily.com/39949?utm_source=Jewish+Ideas+Daily+Insider&utm_campaign=c3dc301320-Insider&utm_medium=email A Star Sets in the East by Tamara Zieve, Herb Keinon and archives of Jerusalem Post
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlehem
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Bethlehem.html

Threatening Attacks on Israelis and its IDF Soldiers

Nadene Goldfoot

We have 300,000 Israeli Jews living in Judea-Samaria and 200,000 living in East Jerusalem. Yet the future Palestine State wants both places for themselves minus Jews and won't talk about any peace plans. This makes for a very unsettled environment.

A rash of attacks have been happening against the IDF. Saturday night, an Arab was arrested in Gush Elzion, which is south of Bethlehem. He was trying to stab two female IDF soldiers.

Mohammed Daraghmeh tried to stab the IDF soldiers at their Hamra checkpoint northeast of Nablus. He went into the wrong lane purposefully after being warned and was told to stop but didn't. He acted like he was also trying to stab the soldiers there but was found to be holding a bottle. The soldiers reacted quickly and shot and killed the menacer. When a soldier's life if threatened, they don't take it lightly. This action closed the checkpoint.

Five Arabs were arrested for trying to plant rockets in the Teddy Football Stadium in Jerusalem, where soccer is played. Shin Bet caught several men who were plotting to avenge Operation Cast Lead two years ago in Gaza. Mussa Hamada and Basem Omri of East Jerusalem, both Arab Israeli citizens, were the plotters. They were members of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. They had already collected a number of pistols and were scouting out the area looking for the best place to plant the rocket. Shin Bet uncovered much Hamas activity going on in Jerusalem.

English-born Kaye Susan Wilson and her good friend from the states, Christine Logan were hiking in the forest outside of Jerusalem a few weeks ago when they were attacked by two Arab men. They were both tied up and stabbed. Wilson freed herself later only to find her friend dead. The IDF started the search for the killers by checking out a nearby hospital, thinking they may have also been hurt in the attack. So far they haven't been found.

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110102/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestiniansconflictshooting

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Five-Arabs-arrested-for-plotting-rocket-attacks-in-a-stadium/articleshow/7206491.cms

http://www.arrse.co.uk/current-affairs-news-analysis/154763-american-hiker-killed-israel-arab-attack.html

Attack Near Bethlehem

Yesterday, a two year old Israeli child was hit by stones and lightly wounded while in a car traveling in the Judea-Samaria area SW of Bethlehem. They were being stoned by Palestinians. He only needed first aid, luckily. This caused the IDF soldiers to comb the area looking for the assailants.

This is happening in the area comandeered by Abbas, who is trying to continue peace talks with Netanyahu, a major person in Fatah, the old PLO group. Their competitor in Gaza, the Hamas terrorists, are not for this discussion at all and are doing their utmost to cause havoc in the area. To my knowledge, this is the 3rd attack I've heard about in the last few days.

Resource: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3949754,00.html

Tough Talk by Fatah Against Israel at Conference 2009

Nadene Goldfoot

A conference was just held on Tuesday, August 4th by Fatah, the party of Yasser Arafat in Bethlehem in the Judea-Samaria area now called the West Bank. They said this interim after fighting Israel is" just a time out for tactical reasons". This is the weaker group of the two terrorist organizations. They live in the "West Bank" now and are planning the future Palestinian state.

Over 2,000 delegates came from all over the Arab world, but Hamas in Gaza would not let 400 Fatah members go, though some snuck out, as Hamas now has the upper hand. Abbas of Fatah said that they were two parts connected to each other and should not divide each other but called them coup makers. He said they should hold new elections. Abbas lost out in January 2006's elections and Hamas gained Gaza in June 2007.

Jibril Rajoub, former head of the Palestinian 's security force and leading contender to Abbas said that military action against Israel was still on the table though they were involved in the peace process.

Israel did not stop anyone from attending the conference. Israeli Arab and Knesset member Ahmed Tibi was there with other Israelis and wanted the Palestinian state to be free of Jews. Note that he is an Arab living in Israel but what is good for the goose is not good for the gander.

The Israeli Defense Minister isn't very worried about the words spoken at the conference, and is more interested in the peace process and what it will bring.

Not all Israelis agree with this pragmatic sit back and see approach. Israel's Minister of Information said that the statements represent:

A declaration of war against the state of Israel.

1. Fatah refuses to remove the armed struggle from their platform.

2. Fatah columnists write about why Fatah must keep up the armed struggle as part of their bylaws.

3. Fatah refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

4. Fatah TV shows aired this week which said that Haifa, Acre and Jaffa were Palestinian cities.

5. Fatah starts up again on Wednesday morning and is maintaining a lethal threat to the state and people of Israel.

Not only is Israel being threatened mightily by Iran, but also the future Palestinian state. They speak about peace out of one side of their mouth while thumping the war drums with a call of attack. Are we so gullible?

Reference: JTA http://jta.org/news/article-print/2009/08/04/1007021/fatah-congress-focuses-on-split-with-

Israel Resource Review: http://israelbehindthenews.com/bin/content.cgi?ID=3696&q=1 by David Bedein Aug. 4, 2009

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/08/06/1007080/conference-raps-fatah-congress

http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3755693,00.html

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=51890

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090809/wl_nm/us_palestinians_israel_fatah_2

Mortar Shell in Bethlehem's Path

Ashkelon's Industrial Park Hit

Bethlehem lies in the West Bank. A group of Palestinian Christians were going through on their way to Bethlehem for Christmas when a mortar shell landed at Israel's passenger crossing with Gaza. They were just missed.

Ashkelon is one of Portland, Oregon's sister cities. Baltimore, Maryland also is their sister city. It has been of great interest to us. One reason is that it has the only hospital in the area in which both Palestinians and Israelis use.

Abt 100 rockets and mortar shells were fired from Gaza at Israel in the past two days. Though no one was killed, there has been property damage. All the Israelis numbering in the tens of thousands have been told to stay indoors. The children are all panic-stricken here. So the civilians are under a terrible ordeal, nevertheless. It is a miracle that there were no deaths at this rate. Ashkelon's Industrial Park, which lies south of the city, was hit by a long-range-rocket, one probably procured from Iran.

Despite all this, Israel's Defense Ministry planned on opening two cargo crossings Friday. They do not want any humanitarian crisis, but intend to keep up the pressure to stop the incessant attacks.

The Palestinian President Abbas, recognized only in the West Bank, made his first visit to Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank. 500 Jews live there in several neighborhoods. Unlike the USA, he finds this intolerable to have someone living there who are is not a Palestinian Arab. He demanded that the settlers get out. "Hebron is ours, and they have to leave if they want peace," he said. I find this shocking as an American and an Israeli where I had many Palestinians living in my building in Safed, Israel. My apartment was on David Eliazar, right across the street from the junior high where all sorts of children attended. I had several Circassians in my English class. Hebron was originally a Jewish city that underwent a slaughter by Arabs in 1929 when 700 Jews lived there. Hebron lies 18 miles south of Jerusalem. It is an ancient Jewish city full of history for the Jews. It now has 170,000 Palestinians living there.

Israel's Ehud Barak has made an appeal to Gazan citizens to pressure their Hamas terrorist leaders to stop the attacks. By nightfall 3 rockets and 15 mortar shells had exploded in Israel. Evidently the citizens couldn't stop the terrorism, as I explained in yesterday's blog.

Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak had a meeting with Tzipi Livni and is pushing restraint but she has had it. She told him that "enough is enough," "When there's shooting, there's a response. " I'm sure that Egypt would never put up with Israel firing barrages like they have been receiving without retaliation.

Israel has been warning the terrorists and the world that they will have to take responsibility to stop the attacks. This is going to be a difficult task since terrorst launchers are always placed in crowded areas for this very reason. In February, Netanyahu will possibly be elected as Prime Minister again. He is advocating tough action against Palestinian militants. Livni says she feels the same. I'm not sure if Israel can wait for Netanyahu to take over and retaliate. It could happen pretty soon.

The Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon has a lot of rockets stored. Last year two were fired into Israel. Now the Lebanese army officers said their troops discovered 7 Katusha rockets set up with timers ready to fire near the border with Israel. Their troops were dismantling them.

Update: GREAT NEWS. PASTOR HAGEE OF CUFI HAS GIVEN BARZILAI HOSPITAL IN ASHKELON A DONATION OF ONE MILLION TO FORTIFY THE HOSPITAL AGAINST ROCKET ATTACKS!!!!!!!!! Giant thanks to this wonderful organization and for all it does for Israel. PASCA (Portland Ashkelon Sister City Association) will send a letter of appreciation to them in Texas.

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081225/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians_47/print

The Standard Jewish Encyclopedia; Dr. Geoffrey Wigoder,D.Phil,Editor-in-Chief