Showing posts with label Golan Heights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Golan Heights. Show all posts

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Annexation By USA and Israel- Necessary Moves

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                                             
The USA has used annexation many times for good reasons.  Texas is as good an example as any.  Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845 and became the 28th state. Until 1836, Texas had been part of Mexico, but in that year a group of settlers from the United States who lived in Mexican Texas declared independence. ... 

The annexation of Texas contributed to the coming of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848).  And who had been the ruler in Mexico at one time?  Wasn't he a Frenchman?  Good Grief! 

 Yes, later In 1862, French Emperor Napoleon III maneuvered to establish a French client state in Mexico, and eventually installed Maximilian of Habsburg, Archduke of Austria, as Emperor of Mexico.

United States territory can include occupied territory, which is a geographic area that claims sovereignty, but is being forcibly subjugated to the authority of the United States of America. United States territory can also include disputed territory, which is a geographic area claimed by the United States of America and one (or more) rival governments.

In the United States, all local governments are considered "creatures of the state" according to Dillon's Rule, which resulted from the work of John Forrest Dillon on the law of municipal corporations. Dillon's Rule implies, among other things, that the boundaries of any jurisdiction falling under state government can be modified by state government action. 

For this reason, examples of municipal annexation are distinct from annexations involving sovereign states.

Under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, United States territory can include areas occupied by and controlled by the United States Armed Forces. When de facto military control is maintained and exercised, occupation (and thus possession) extends to that territory. Military personnel in control of the territory have a responsibility to provide for the basic needs of individuals under their control (which includes food, clothing, shelter, medical attention, law maintenance, and social order). To prevent systematic abuse of puppet governments by the occupation forces, they must enforce laws that were in place in the territory prior to the occupation.

Europe went through many wars.  My grandmother's home town in Lithuania was Lazdijai, sitting on the border with Poland.  After her birth in 1884, it was taken over by Poland.  Was that an annexation or just a take-over?  
                                                                         

Jews were promised a Jewish Homeland by the League of Nations and the United Nations, yet they witnessed the loss of 80% of their promised land being given to a Saudi Prince Abdullah who was a prince without a country to rule, and could be an excellent trader with England.  Israel was left with 20% and then witnessed Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem being given to the Palestinian Arabs at the last minute.  The Jewish Homeland was cut apart again in the oddest of shapes ever!  Some cities only a few miles from Jerusalem are not in the right zone to be a part of the 8,000 sq miles Jews were left with.  It's a crazy situation but the state has just celebrated their 73rd birthday.  

Yet is this move to annex so very different from Israel's position?  Judea and Samaria were divided into sectors A, B, and C with Israel law over B and C, and A was left for the Arabs.  Arabs have been creeping into the large area C and building illegally.  Evidently A has been left which may become the Arab Palestine-an area they claim will be devoid of all Jews.  This position has rule of B and C to come from the IDF, not a municipal force.  That's one of the problems.  

The process of annexation need not be subversive.  Israel probably should have annexed territory that had been part of their ancient history going back 3,000 years and more, when they had the right to do so at the end of the Six Day War when they were attacked by many countries and came out of it as the winner, surprising all!  (A problem existing is that the UN, with influence like Jack Falk, refuse to accept Israel's existence in the first place, so never accept an annexation by Israel such as the Golan Heights, as much needed for defense and which benefited the population very much.)  

Now they have the green light to go ahead with the USA government in agreement of such a move.  Israel has annexed earlier such places as the  without much ado.  Today, after 53 years, those with jealous hearts  are up in arms about it like the UN, EU, etc.  

Those living in these places would rather be Israeli citizens.  Will Israel take the step?  Netanyahu has been promising that he would.  If he does, he will show himself to be a very brave person to buck all the negativity floating around.  
He's got himself in a quandary being he is sitting as one of two Prime Ministers these days, so it isn't dependent on him alone but the whole Knesset situation. 
                                    
Credit...Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images
 In 1980–81 Israel annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights 

As a geopolitical region, the Golan Heights is the area captured from Syria and occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War, territory which has been administered as part of Israel since 1981. This region includes the western two-thirds of the geological Golan Heights and the Israeli-occupied part of Mount Hermon.

Arabs in the Golan had been constantly shelling Israel from above, and the attack in 1967 by the Arab nations turned out that Israel won, and in doing so Israel actually gained territory back that had been given away by the British in their 80% of the Jewish Homeland package to Abdullah.  

 Neither Israel's annexation nor Palestine's claim over East Jerusalem has been internationally recognized. This is no surprise as the UN has been attacking only Israel unjustly and ignoring all other matters and countries, no matter what they have been doing.  (I don't mean to sound like a rotten kid, but this has actually been the situation.  Just read what the USA Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has witnessed.)
                                                                       
East Jerusalem,
not like Portland with trees in all neighborhoods

East Jerusalem is the sector of Jerusalem that was occupied by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel
 
Jerusalem is now a unified city, no longer divided. 
The Jerusalem City Council was established in 1863 during the rule of the Ottoman Empire. From 1948 to 1967 two municipalities operated in the city: an Israeli municipality provided services to the western neighborhoods of the city and a Jordanian municipality to its eastern parts.
By 1840, the Jewish community constituted the largest single religious group in the city. From the 1880s onward, the Jews constituted the majority within the city. However, it was only in 1937, under the British Mandate, that the first Jewish mayor was appointed. Since 1948 every mayor has been Jewish.
Moshe Lion has been the present mayor since 2018.   

The Golan Heights was annexed with the Golan Heights Law.  On March 25, 2019, the United States finally recognized the Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory while the UN reaffirmed that the "..status of Golan has not changed".

While the Israeli public at large, and especially the law's critics, viewed it as an annexation, the law avoids the use of the word. Prime Minister Menachem Begin responded to Amnon Rubinstein's criticism by saying, "You use the word 'annexation.' I do not use it," and noting that similar wording was used in a 1967 law authorizing the government to apply Israeli law to any part of the Land of Israel

Update:  https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/eu-conference-looks-to-boost-opposition-to-israel-s-annexation-of-palestinian-land-1.1027913
The eu is on the wrong side of the issue again--still.
the land belongs to the israeli's period. and the best thing for the palestinians is to let israel have it and tend it and care for it as they have never done anyway and benefit by israel's right claim and right use of that land. 
Shame shame again on the eu for standing directly in the way of real peace-real solutions!
  Andre'


Resource:
https://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2013/01/judea-samaria-areas-b-c-who-lives-there.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Municipal_annexation_in_the_United_States
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/the-early-republic/age-of-jackson/a/annexing-texas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli-occupied_territories
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights_Law
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_territorial_acquisitions

Thursday, February 12, 2015

IRAN in Lebanon Over Sheba'a Farms; General killed by IDF; Hizbullah Offensive?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                

Tension has been very high along Israel's borders with Syria and Lebanon since the reported Israeli air strike on January 18th in Syria's Quneitra region that killed high-level Hizbullah terrorist operatives and a general of the Iranian Revolutionary guards,  Gen. Mohammed Ali Allah Dadi, along with noted Hezbollah operative, Jihad Mughniyeh.  

Netanyahu promised to respond to the Hizbullah attack "with force," and warned Hizbullah to look at Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip last summer as an example.  (The Media Line, Jewish Press Staff resource. )
                                                                         
Tuesday, January 27, 2015,  2 rockets were fired from Syria into the Golan Heights in retaliation for Israel's recent airstrike in the Golan Heights. -  Hizbollah terrorists took responsibility.
                                                                                   
On January 28, 2015 the Israeli army patrol was on the Lebanese border near the  Havot Sheba'a Farms, also Har Dov,  and came under anti-tank fire from Hizbullah operatives in Lebanon.  Israel responded with artillery and air strikes in southern Lebanon. "The land involved  is a small strip of disputed land at the intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border and the Israeli Golan Heights. The territory is about 11 kilometres (7 mi) long and 2.5 kilometres (2 mi) wide. Syria had control by the 1950's.  In 1981, Shebaa Farms was annexed by Israel as part of the Golan Heights, a move not recognized by the international community, but it had come to Israel through the 1967 War against Israel where Israel had won.  All that time, Israel had been bombarded from the Golan Heights.   "Hezbollah claimed that the withdrawal was not complete because Shebaa was on Lebanese - not Syrian - territory.  After studying 81 different maps, the United Nations concluded that there is no evidence of the abandoned farmlands being Lebanese." 
                                                                           
7 wounded IDF solders were tended to and  2 IDF were killed in the attack.  This took place near Mount Dov.
                                                                         
Hizbullah positions were in the town of Al-Majid.  They took responsibility saying that its Quneitra Martyrs Unit targeted the IDF military convoy.

A UN peacekeeper from Spain was also killed in the heavy exchange of fire after the incident happened.

"Some Israeli officials believe a deadly anti-tank rocket attack on IDF forces last Wednesday, January 28th  on the Lebanon border by Hezbollah was originally intended to be the opening salvo of a far-larger Iranian-backed operation against Israel in February and March, and was not “merely” a revenge attack for the Israeli air strike."

"All parties are strongly urged to continue to abide by their obligations under Security Council resolution 1701," Kaag said of the resolution that put an end to the 2006 summer war between Lebanon and Israel. 

Resource:  The Jewish Press, January 30, 2015 page 3; Two Israeli Soldiers Killed Along Lebanese Border
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Jan-28/285581-blasts-reported-along-the-israeli-lebanese-border-israeli-media.ashx
http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/02/02/senior-iranian-defense-official-vows-to-settle-score-with-israel-over-general-killed-in-idf-strike/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shebaa_farms


Monday, December 02, 2013

Golan Heights Hit by Mortar Shell


Nadene Goldfoot                                              
The Druze village of Majdal Shams, lying in the southern foothills of Mt Hermon  in the northern Golan Heights,  was hit by a mortar shell.  It seems to have come from the fighting in Syria and was launched from the Syrian side of Mount Hermon.  It's under Israeli civil law and has been a part of Israel since 1967.  It had been a part of Syria before this and was the place of attacks on Israel.  Druze had settled here in the early 1700's.

The Golan Heights' altitude is 9,232' on Mt. Hermon in the north and goes down to 1,300' along the plateau of the Heights.  The reason it is so important to Israel is that the enemy was above them and could easily pick them off.  Now they have had it since 1967 and are much safer for it.  Mt. Hermon is so high that people ski there in the wintertime.  By comparison to Mt. Hood in Portland , Oregon's area, that mountain is 11,235' high and is a popular ski resort.

No one was injured nor was there any damage from this mortar.

Resource:  http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/syrian-mortar-hits-majdal-shams/2013/12/02/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hood#Elevation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majdal_Shams

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/syrian-mortar-hits-majdal-shams/2013/12/02/

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Golan Heights Hit By Mortar Shell

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                   

First it was Wednesday mornings hit from Gaza by 3 rockets.  Now at 12:30am Wednesday evening a mortar shell flew into the Golan Heights by the Syrian army.

 It appears they are trying to provoke Israel into making an attack as their government because they also had fired at an Israeli jeep by deliberately aiming at it.  This was no stray hit.  There was nothing else to hit aiming in that direction.

UN Ambassador Ron Proser wrote a letter of complaint to the UN Security Council about it, but most likely nothing will happen.  They never seem to act on messages from Israel; only about Israel.

Resource:  http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/169118#.UcJX6eeOTqF

Friday, June 07, 2013

Syrian Encroachment in Golan Heights

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

The Golan Heights, Israel has a border crossing along the Israeli-controlled land.  The Syrian rebels overran the border position near the abandoned town of Quneitra early yesterday and held their positions for several hours before the Syrian government troops retook it.  Its importance is that the peacekeepers receive most of their supplies through this position from Israel.  The fighting is also spilling over into Turkey and Lebanon as well.  It's only 1/2 mile away from Israel.

This actual fight caused the 377 international peacekeepers of Austria's contingent who maintain a 40 year old truce to decide to withdraw.  This has caused Israel to feel that they can soon be dragged into the Syrian civil war.  It is thought that the Russians will replace them.

From Israel one can see the Syrian tanks and armored vehicles right across the border.  They can hear the lage explosions all day and see thick smoke and flames rise.  Like back in the days of the American Civil War, tourists in Israel went to the Golan to look across the frontier and watch the fighting along with the TV stations.  Israeli IDF along the border were on high alert.

Night came and things calmed down.  Danny Danon, deputy defense minister of Israel said that they remained on high alert and are watching what is going on in Syria.  They are ready to protect Israel. "The Israeli military did not confirm the crossing was overrun by Syrian rebels, but said the area had been declared a "closed military zone" and was off-limits to journalists because of fighting nearby." Yahoo News

"Also Thursday, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri tapped into the deepening Sunni-Shiite rift stemming from the conflict, calling on Sunnis everywhere to devote their lives, money and expertise to the overthrow the regime, set up Islamic rule in Syria and prevent a U.S.-allied government from taking over after Assad, whose regime is dominated by the Alawite sect, an offshoot group of Shiite Islam." Yahoo News

The Islamic militants have joined the rebels in trying to oust Bashar Assad.  The fear is that they will turn their guns on Israel if this despotic Assad is toppled.  The Syrian government could not guarantee support of the UN, Defense Minister Gerhard Klug said, explaining why they were withddrawing their troops from the station they were to protect.  They were a major contingent of peacekeepers.

There is more danger on the horizen.  Qaradawi, the terrible Muslim leader wanting to have all Jews killed, is entering the fracas.  Al-Qaradhawi Calls On Sunnis To Join Syrian Jihad: "How Can 100 Million Shi'ites Defeat 1.7 Billion [Sunni Muslims]?"
Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, the head of IUMS, also joined the attack on Hizbullah and called for jihad against it. In his Friday sermon on May 31, 2013, he called on young Muslims from around the world to travel to the Syrian city of Al-Qusayr in order to fight Hizbullah there, and said that it was illogical to abandon the Muslims (i.e., Sunni Muslims) in Syria while thousands were coming there to fight against them, referring to Hizbullah. Al-Qaradhawi added: "Anyone who can fight, should fight. I swear that if I could [fight] I would do so without hesitation." He even called the 'Alawites "bigger infidels than the Jews." Memri

Resource: Oregonian newspaper 6/7/13 Syrian rebel offensive jolts Israel by Sebastian Scheiner and Josef Federman, AP
http://rt.com/news/golan-heights-russia-peacekeepers-368/
http://news.yahoo.com/austria-withdrawing-un-troops-golan-heights-161203350.html
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/7219.htm

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Golan Heights Gets Hit With Second Rocket and 3 More

Nadene Goldfoot
Three months ago the Israelis living in the Golan were hit with a mortar accidentally from Syria due to their Civil War.

They were just hit again by a 100 mm shell from the battle Syria is involved in which landed in this Golan town.  People can hear the shelling in Syria from here, but recently they say it had been quiet.  The silence was broken by the whistling of incoming fire.  Luckily it didn't explode.

Update: 3/2/13 Three more mortars exploded in the Golan Saturday afternoon.  They all seem to be strays from the fighting below in Syria.  No one was injured.

Resource: http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/news.php?Itemid=9318

Sunday, November 04, 2012

Three Lost Syrian Tanks Who Are in Israel's Golan Heights

Nadene Goldfoot
Are they really off track?  Three Syrian tanks entered the Golan Heights, home to 18,000 Jews, and  belonging to Israel on Saturday.  It's a demilitarized zone.  The distance from the Golan to Haifa is only 60 miles!  The violence in Syria seems to be spilling into Israel now.  These tanks haven't left yet.  They have been attacking Syrian rebels.  The is the first incursion in the past 40 years.

Of course Israel has complained to the UN about it.  Israelis have reported hearing the shouting of  "Allahu Akbar!"  The UN response is low-key saying it didn't see the Syrian armor as an immediate threat.  So for them it's okay for an enemy to park 60 miles from a major Israeli city and make war on its people from Israel and of course they won't turn an then attack Israelis.

However, Israel is not stupid.  The IDF is ready to defend Israel.  The area is very small consisting of 250,000 acres , but surely these tanks know where they arrived.  The Golan Heights was a part of the 1967 War that Israel won against huge odds of the many Muslim countries against tiny Israel. The word "Heights" tells you of the terrain.  It is from 400 to 1700 feet high and overlooks the Huleh Valley.   The Golan Heights is important to Israel for their security measures.  Otherwise an enemy can bombard Israel from on high. The Arabs would bombard kibbutzim along the upper Jordan Valley. " In a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the Syrians overran the Golan Heights before being repulsed by Israeli counterattacks.  After the war, Syria signed a disengagement agreement that left the Golan in Israel's hands".  Many Israelis live there today.  There is one major city and 32 towns.   In 1985 the population, include the Druze was 22,500.

 Our history goes way back with the Golan Heights.  It had come into Moses's hands when King Og ruled the  Amorites of Bashan. Og, referred to as a giant,  was killed by the Israelites at Edrei   The kings of Israel had to fight the Aramaeans from Damascus here.  Golan had been a city of refuge for the Jews.  It was a capital in 2nd Temple times and had a Jewish settlement until the 5th Century CE.

In the meantime, Islamic Syrian militants made an assault on a Syrian airbase in the north.  They were trying to disrupt strikes by Syrian warplanes and helicopters.  These government planes hit targets in the Damascus suburbs and killed at least 10 and wounded dozens.  So if that's where the rebels were, why are the tanks in the Golan Heights?

The Golan Heights would be big enough for 400 settlers in Oregon who would have bought 640 acre plots that had been offered to them for $1 per acre in the Homestead Act of 1862 with one farmer being shorted. Then again, since most couldn't afford this, 320 acre plots were sold off.

Resource:  http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?ID=290414&R=R1
Oregonian newspaper 11/3/12 page  A2 Developments in the Middle East:  Syria
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Og
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/golan_hts.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/golanstats.html
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/homestead-act/

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Golan Heights-Wine-Rockets From Lebanon

by Nadene Goldfoot
Lebanon has been shooting rockets into the Golan from Lebanon. The Golan Heights landed in Israel's hands since the Six-Day War of 1967. It is in the northeast corner of Israel, a sub-region of the Galilee.

There grow the vineyards about 4,000 feet above sea level from the Sea of Galilee towards Mount Hermon, where Israelis can ski.

Grapes, called the fruit of the vine, were listed as one of the seven blessed species of fruit in the land of Israel. Jews have been making wine in Israel since biblical times. In Roman times, wine from Israel was exported to Rome. By the 7th Century ACE, the Islamic Arabs wiped out the wine industy by pulling out the vines to close down the wineries as they did not drink wine. The Christian Crusaders that came from 1100 to 1300ACE revived winemaking, but Arabs returned, Jews were scattered and winemaking stopped.

A rabbi in Jerusalem in 1848 started a winery but it was short lived. By 1870 a Jewish agricultural college studied about wines and growing grapes. Finally in the late 1800's Baron Edmond James de Rothschild founded the modern Israeli wine industry.

There are six regions where the grapes are grown. Considering that Israel is about the size of New Jersey, you can see that everything is very close.

1. The Northern Galilee
2. Judean Hills around Jerusalem
3. Shimshon-between Judean Hills and Coast
4. Negev desert
5. Sharon plain just south of Haifa
6. Golan Heights.

Israel has been busy producing kosher wines that are mostly sweet that are exported to Jewish communities. However, the wine industry is growing. In the late 1960's the Carmel Winery, #5, made a dry table wine. By 1990, wineries like the Golan Heights Winery were winning awards at international wine competitions. By 2000 there were 70 wineries in Israel and by 2005 there were 140.

Now less that 15% of Israeli wine is for religious purposes. Some wineries are not even producing a separate Kosher line. The Golan Heights Winery and two other large producers account for more than 80% of the domestic market with the United States being the largest export receiver. Israel has been willing to adopt new technology and has a large export market. The culture in America is into wines with up-scale restaurants and love international wines. Israel has been exporting over $22 million worth of wine each year.

If you thought you were drinking the same wine grown in the bible days, you would be mistaken. Because of Muslim rule there are no more indigenous grape varieties. The wine industry uses French grape varieties imported in the late 19th century like Cabernet Sauvignon, chardonnay, Merlot and Sauvignon blanc. Also gaining in popularity are their Cabernet Franc, Gewurztraminer, Muscat Canelli, Riesling and Syrah. They also hae Emerald Riesling, Muscat of Alexandria and the crossing Argaman. The Golan Heights Winery is famous for its Yarden wines. Their label of GAMLA is very good. The Muscat of Alexandria comes the closest to the indigenous varieties of long ago.

Israel announced in 2008 that they would create a 150 acre wine park on the slopes between Zichron Ya'akov and Binyamina to promote tourism in the area and wine tourism in Israel in general.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_wine
http://winetastingguy.com/?p=68&cpage+1#comment-2777

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Golan Heights Wines Assailed by Katyusha Rockets

by Nadene Goldfoot
I'm interested in Israel wines, which come from the Golan Heights that lies very close to the border of Lebanon.

Right now Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel from Lebanon.

Yesterday they fired a Katyusha rocket into Israel and the UN Interim forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) discovered 4 more rockets close to the launch site, 3 of which were already in the launching position. Yesterday's katusha was the 9th launched since 2006.

Hezbollah is being armed by Iran. They fund and train people. They're arming the terrorists with anti-tank missiles, rocket-propelled grenades, artillery rockets and other weapons besides giving them about $200 million annually. they train operatives as well as about 3,000 terrorists in the Iranian military camps.

By a quirk, a Hezbollah operative's home was the place where an explosion occurred this month.

The terrorists are building a military infrastructure in the midst of their civilian population south of the Litani River. They openly are threatening the UNIFIL and interfering with their mandate. They violate all sorts of rules. It's a clear violation of the United Nations Security Council resolution 1701. Southern Lebanon is occupied by terrorism. The UN is disregarding this, it appears as they are too busy attacking Israel.

While we've been concentrating on the Gaza eruptions, Lebanon has been building bunkers, building weapons caches and holding paramilitary exercises south of the Litani River. They have stockpiled more than 40,000 artillery rockets.

Israel is trying to maintain a normal life and develop a wine industry in this area. Lebanon can only think of destruction.
They don't drink such things as wine.

Resource: The Israel Project: Hezbollah fires rocket into Israel: Iran-backed militants continue to arm in defiance of UN resolution .

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Warring Over the Sheba Farms
Israel offered to have a peace talk with Lebanon, but they refused the offer today. That means there is no truce. First they want Israel to withdraw from the Sheba Farms. This area of land is 5.5 miles long and 1.5 wide and is on the border between Lebanon and the Golan Heights. It has an elevation on it from 825' to 4,940' which overlooks both Israel and Lebanon. Israel won the 1967 war when surrounding Arab countries attacked her, thus gaining land, including the Sheba Farms. Before 1967 it contained 14 farms divided among about 200 people.
There has been a dispute about who the land belonged to before 1967. The French held the mandate in this area and did not clarify a border between Lebanon and Syria. Israel always thought the land belonged to Syria, and they were attackers. In fact, Syria's shelling northern Israel helped to bring about the '67 war.
Besides wanting the farm, the Lebanese Hezbollah want Lebanese prisoners and maps of landmines and cluster bombs used in previous wars. They want all this before a peace discussion. Whatever is left to discuss and negotiate? Bagels and Coffee?
During this time Turkey is mediating negotiations for Israel with Syria.
The Sheba Farms according one source is 8 square miles. Camera said it was 10 sq. miles. Aloha, Oregon is 7.37 sq miles. Grants Pass, Oregon is 7.58 sq. miles. Oregon City, Oregon is 8.14 sq. miles. Altamont, Oregon which lies in Klamath County is 8 sq. miles and has the altitude of 4133', similar to the Sheba Farms. So giving back this farm is the same as giving up a city in Oregon.
Israel has been shelled by Lebanon for the past 6 years. The United Nations has done nothing to condemn Lebanon's Hezbollah for this. Israel had withdrawn in 2000 from Lebanon.
Reference: Wikopedia: Shebaa Farms

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Hezbollah to Strike Israel Soon

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                    

Hezbollah To Strike Israel Soon
Hezbollah which is in Lebanon, Syria and Iran, are preparing for a major attack on Israel. They say it's a "foregone conclusion and all that remains is training for it". When Sayed Hasan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief that commands of all Hezbollah terrorists gives the word, they will attack. They prepare at various training camps in the Middle East. A fighter that remains unnamed said that Hezbollah is a mix of religion, honor, dignity and discipline that is his life.
This comes at a time when Olmert made an offer to Syria of trading the Golan Heights for a peace pact. It doesn't look like that will see fruition. That would just put these terrorists in closer range.
The Observer Newspaper in Britain commented that their intelligence services noticed a major increase in fighters and a concern regarding this military buildup.

Reference: United Press International (Lebanon) "Hezbollah fighter vows attack on Israel"

Friday, April 25, 2008

Giving Up Golan Heights For Peace ?

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

Giving Up Golan Heights For Peace
Let it not be said that Israel hasn't given up land for peace. It has in the past and is willing to do it again. Surprisingly, Israel's Olmert has offered Syria the Golan Heights in exchange for peace. He has asked that Syria cuts it ties with terrorist groups of Palestinians in Damascus. Israel had received the Golan Heights after the 1967 Six Day War where Syria was one of many Arab countries attacking Israel.

The problem is that the Golan Heights is now home to 20,000 Israelis. It is a beautiful area. Even the rabbis are against the offer and say it goes against Halacha. Army officials are saying that the topography is less important now than it was in 1967. Fighting has changed. What they might be worried about is guerilla warfare.

Reference: Jerusalem Post