Israel's Military Versus Netanyahu and Knesset Situation

Nadene Goldfoot                                              

Fareed Zakaria's GPS Sunday morning program opened with a discussion about the Israeli soldier who is in hot water for shooting a Palestinian. Fareed said this has caused Israel's Defense Minister  to be fired and that there is a feud between the Generals (Alufeem)  and Netanyahu.  He was replaced with Avigdor Lieberman causing the lawmakers to be against the appointment.  Moshe Yaalon had resigned, accepted as a good defense minister who had in a year calmed a big uprising.  .Moshe is one who sides with the military.

The decision by Netanyahu comes from dealing with the politics of the moments, the centrists, which brought about choosing a hawk like Lieberman.  The question is, will he continue to uphold their strong moral values?

 What happened was that a 19 year old IDF Sgt Elor Azria, French Moroccan, shot a wounded Palestinian attacker while he was lying down on the ground in Hebron (18 miles south of Jerusalem)  on March 24th of this year.  The soldier has been charged with  violating the rules of engagement without justification.  The terrorist showed no immediate threat for anyone.  He had shot and killed Abdul Sharif, 21.  He was charged with inappropriate military conduct.

 This is where Abraham buried his wife, Sarah.  He bought a plot of ground which included a cave which is where he buried her.  Today a mosque stands over the site.  Hebron was one of the Levitical cities as well as a city of refuge under the Israelites.  The screw-up in finally allowing Jews their Jewish Homeland-20% of the promised land,  made sure that Israel would not get their ancient homeland.  Religious reasons?  Political reasons?

This was just before Passover.  He was allowed to have one night with his family Friday at the start of Passover.

Hebron

Hebron is in Judah, what Westerners call the West Bank,  and is a city with important history to Jews.  It now has become a Palestinian city and has had 7 months of Palestinian violence against Israelis.

 People on the right thought this was unfair to arrest a soldier who shot a terrorist, and thought this was like executing military personnel unfairly.  A video caught the scene.  Minutes earlier, Abdul and another terrorist were stabbing and wounding a soldier.  They were shot by a soldier.  Evidently, while down, the soldier shot Abdul again in the head without good reason as he was down.

The lawyers for the soldier said that he may have thought the terrorist was wearing explosives.  The facts came out that had he already been checked for a suicide belt, but no one in the video shows actions exhibiting any caution towards him.  The far right want the soldier released.

However, who is angry with the soldier?  The Top military brass of Israel.  They have strongly condemned his actions.  This happened during a wave of violence beginning in October which killed 201 Palestinians and 28 Israelis.  Most all of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.  The sentence came on Monday which said it had located and destroyed a tunnel that went from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory, first discovered since the Gaza war in 2014.  The military has a strong code of Jewish ethics and keeps to it.  The tunnel  was built by Hamas terrorists.   32 tunnels had been discovered including 14 that extended into Israel.

This gets to my point today.  There are 2 levels of operation for nations in the world; political and religious venues.  What is each platform?  Have they always been in sinc with each other?  Israel was created as a much needed Jewish state after 2,000 years of it's population being beaten up for being Jewish by the world's religions and politics.  It's important to keep to the values.  Being a democratic state in the midst of none, they must allow the whole gamut of political parties, but the Knesset must stand behind the values of Judaism, which is highly moralistic.  They always have maintained their high moral values, especially when involved in the past wars with the terrorists of Gaza.   I can understand a young soldier in the heat of battle being scared enough to keep shooting, something so easy to do with his finger, but it was wrong to shoot a man when down when he could be taken alive.

Resource:  http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/israel-soldier-who-shot-wounded-palestinian-charged-with-manslaughter
Newsweek
The Guardian 

Kidnappers of Three Teen Aged Israeli Boys Died During Firefight

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                               

The old year of 5774 ended with the death of the kidnappers of Gilad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Frankel. Two were 16 and the other was 19.  One held dual citizenship with the USA.   Their bodies were found on June 30th in a shallow grave in a field near Hebron 18 days after they had been missing.  They had been taken by accepting a ride since they were hitchhiking.  That's something that's very common to do in Israel, usually giving soldiers a ride who hitchhike from post to post. At least the soldiers carry their weapon.
 The boys accepted the ride  from a junction in the Gush Etzion bloc just south of Jerusalem where they had been attending a Yeshiva.   They were going to become rabbis.   IDF's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz told the news reporters that on the day before Erev Rosh Hashanah, September 23rd, the two men they had suspected were killed in a firefight in Hebron  with Israeli troops when they tried to apprehend them.  The Israeli troops had surrounded the house where they had been hiding for more than 3 months.  All that time Israel had a tremendous search going on to find them.

How did the IDF know who did it?   They knew Hamas terrorists did the kidnapping.  They went first by family reputation of Hamas members.  Omar Abu Aysha was a 32 year old locksmith.  His brother was also a Hamas member who was killed in November 2005 while trying to thrown an explosive device at Israeli soldiers during a clash in Hebron.  They had also arrested Aysha's father several times for many terrorist activities.  Aysha was seen last at a family get-together just hours before the kidnapping, but left quickly without telling anyone where he was going.

Marwan Kawasme was a 29 year old barber.  His family was known to have ties to Hamas.  The money to buy the car used in the kidnapping and the guns they used was from Hamas through his brother, Mohamad.  Another brother, Hussam, was already in Israeli custody for helping to bury the bodies and hide the 2 men. Marwan had been detained by the PA and Israel in the past for his activities with Hamas.

The Kawasme family had 2 others besides Hussam arrested  during the operation.

Resource:  The Jewish Press, October 3, 2014, page 3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_kidnapping_and_murder_of_Israeli_teenagers

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

More On The 3 Days of Gaza Rockets Into Israel This Week

Nadene Goldfoot
Israel had warned that anymore firing of rockets, etc into Israel would mean a retaliation of Israeli planes into Gaza to stop the source of such firing. This latest attack from Gaza  has  lasted for the past  4 days.  11 rockets and mortars have been fired into Israel.   Hamas terrorists who were doing the shooting say they  were showing solidarity with Maysara Abu Hamdiyeh.  He is the 63 year old prisoner that had a life sentence.  He just died Tuesday of throat cancer in a hospital in Beersheva, Israel at Soroka Hospital after serving 10 years of his sentence.  A late cancer diagnosis found him to be terminal.

Abu was a very dangerous prisoner. He was the organizer of the terror attack at Cafe Cafit in Jerusalem 2002.  He had talked a suicide bomber into doing the action.  This terrorist was considered a general in the Palestinian Security Force.  He was in charge of a counterespionage unit.  He trained Fatah's armed wing, al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade in the 2nd Intifada.  Abu had also delivered weapons and explosives to Hamas cells.

Not so strange is that both Fatah and Hamas claim him, so that shows how connected the two groups really are.  Rioting went on in Hebron against Israel for not taking care of him with the proper treatment.   Israel says that care was provided.   (My 1st cousin died of throat cancer in 1999, and died at home in Oregon.  There were no more treatments that could be done for her. It had spread to the brain.  On the other hand, my son had throat cancer and recovered.  Of all the cancers, this is supposed to have the best % of beating it.  So much depends on the awareness of the patient that there is an unusual problem.)        

Ambassador Proser has gone before the UN to condemn these recent attacks on Israel which break the several months of peace.

Thousands of Palestinians in Judea-Samaria  went out into the streets to demonstrate and joined funeral processions and demonstrations after 2 protesters were killed by Israeli troops. They were killed after throwing fire bombs towards the Israeli troops at a guard post.  These demonstrations were the largest in months and became violent.

US Secretary of State John Kerry is coming to restart peace talks. More retaliation has been threatened by the Hamas-Fatah groups, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Hebron .  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said "the deaths jeopardised "US and international efforts to restart negotiations". He will get out of sitting down and coming to terms this way.  "He also criticised Israel for continuing to use force to suppress what he described at peaceful protests."  I have never heard of a demonstration of thousands of angry people worked up to remain or even start off as "peaceful."  This can be compared to the Watts Riots in California. That lasted for 6 days in Los Angeles, California from August 11 to 17, 1965.  They had 34 deaths out of it with 1,032 injured.  An even larger one happened again in 1992.  

A word about throat cancer.  "Throat cancer symptoms may also come and go. Persistent doesn't always mean constant. For example, you may have a sore throat for a week, then it goes away for a few days, and then returns. Whether your symptoms are constant or erratic, making an appointment to see your doctor is essential to rule out diseases, such as cancer."  Hamdiyeh obviously didn't see his doctor before he was captured or didn't bring it to prison officials soon enough.  Symptoms are the following:

•  persistent cough
• difficulty swallowing
• persistent hoarseness of the voice or having to clear the throat frequently
• sore throat
• lump in the throat
• change in the sound of your voice
• abnormal breathing sounds

  Throat cancer is a type of cancer that develops in the pharynx, larynx, and other structures of the throat. The symptoms of throat cancer vary based on tumor location. Tumors that develop in the pharynx are referred to as pharyngeal cancer and tumors in the larynx are referenced as laryngeal cancer. The term "throat cancer" encompasses several different types of cancer that can affect the throat.

Cancer treatment can involve one or several different treatments. Surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy are standard methods of treatment in many types of cancer.  

Resource: http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Hamas-and-Fatah-both-lay-claim-to-Abu-Hamdiyeh-308599
Oregonian Newspaper 4/5/13, page A5, Palestinians  fill streets, protest against Israelis, AP
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=582415
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22025599
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Riots
http://cancer.about.com/od/typesofcancernz/a/Throat-Cancer-Symptoms.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/02/maisara-abu-hamdiyeh-dead_n_2997532.html
http://blogs.cbn.com/jerusalemdateline/
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-envoy-calls-on-un-to-condemn-gaza-rocket-fire/
http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-envoy-calls-on-un-to-condemn-gaza-rocket-fire/

Hebron: One of 4 Sacred Jewish Cities; Part of "West Bank"

Nadene Goldfoot
Abraham bought a plot of land from the Hittites that is about 18 miles south of Jerusalem.  Land the plot was part of was called Kiriath-Arba then, but shortly was named Hebron, which became a city of Judah.  This piece of land was the Cave of Machpelah  that he needed in which to  bury Sarah.  Today a mosque stands on the site.  Abraham turned out to be the father of all the peoples, mainly Jews and Muslims.  Abraham had entered Hebron after arriving in Canaan after leaving Ur, his family home.

Moses didn't enter the land of Canaan, but Joshua took over for him.  Joshua assigned Hebron to Caleb, and it was deemed a Levitical city for the tribe of Levites, who had been given the job of being teachers and traveling around to all the tribes teaching  without owning any land of their own.  It was also one of the 6 cities of refuge.

King David ruled there for 7 1/2 years before making Jerusalem his capital.  A Jewish community lived there throughout the Byzantine Period under Arab rule.  The modern city stands just east of the historical location.  Jews listed Hebron, Jerusalem, Tiberias and Safed as the 4 sacred Jewish towns.  Jews continued to live in Hebron.  In 1890 there were 1,500 and they had a yeshivot and religious school.  The great Lithuanian yeshivah of Slobadka was transferred there in 1925.

1929 was the year Arabs massacred many of the 700 Jews remaining there. It was also the year of the economic crash in the USA.  The survivors left.  Two years later 39 Jewish families returned.  Again the Arabs rioted in 1936 causing Jews to leave again.  Simultaneously  anti-Semitism was occurring in Germany with WWII starting in September of 1939.  The population in 1967 after the 6 Day War of Israel was 38,310.  Jews returned to Hebron and established the Kiryat Arba quarter east of the city.  In 1988 the population was 3,700.  Today there are 130,000 Arabs living in Hebron along with 530 Jews and 3 Christians.  6,000 Jews live right next to it in Kiryat Arba.

" According to the Oslo accords, the IDF has sole responsibility for the security of the Jewish community of Hebron."  "Under the Hebron Agreement, the city was divided into two areas: H-1, under full Palestinian Authority, and H-2, under full Israeli control. At the outset of the second intifada in 2000, the IDF resumed operations in the H-1 area. In 2003, the IDF began constructing two permanent fortified posts in Arab neighborhoods which overlook Jewish homes in the center of Hebron."

 IDF just had to detain a Palestinian and it made news in the paper.  That was the tip of the iceberg.  A Hamas cell was found to be plotting a center in Hebron as well as kidnapping of Israeli citizens.

Resource:  The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
 http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=561763&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/hebron.html

Continuing Attacks on Israel 2010

Below is a report compiled by David Wilder who is a leader of the Jewish community of Hebron, Israel. (Gini Detry, Isaiah 40)

Terror Summary Translated by David Wilder

One of the questions I frequently hear, is: What's the security situation? As Obama continues to pressure Israel into further concessions, in order to prepare 'direct talks' with our enemy, a.k.a. continued Israeli abandonment of Eretz Yisrael, a decrease in security and more dead Jews, it is important to know exactly: How quiet has it really been?

This is a summary of terror activity in Israel for the first six months of 2010, as prepared by Yeshanews (Hebrew) You judge for yourself.

6 people killed
2 critically wounded
9 moderately wounded
232 lightly wounded in terror attacks and fighting against terrorists
139 rockets fired
At the Gaza border fence 60 shooting attacks, bombs, missiles fired, and attempted infiltrations.
130 Arabs apprehended with knives. 22 admitted intentions to perpetrated a terror attack

Details:
Rocket/Missile attacks:
25 mortars and 48 Kassam missiles shot into Israel
1 killed (foreign worker)
2 people in shock
45 mortars and 19 Kassam missiles fell inside Gaza
2-3 rockets shot at the Gulf of Eilat
1 discovered 70 meters from the Almog beach

Terror at Gaza border fence:
2 soldiers killed
1 injured by sniper fire
1 injured in mine blast
The Israel Air force attacked 8 tunnels, 1 weapons factory, 4 terror bases, 4 munitions storage area, 3 terrorist groups shooting rockets, 12 terrorists killed and one critically injured.
3 terror infiltrations prevented
The marines killed 6 terrorists planning an attack from the sea
18 shooting attacks against soldiers
1 hand grenade thrown
8 Anti-tank missiles shot
12 shooting attacks against workers
1 attack against farmers
3 mines discovered
5 bombs exploded
1 'wagon bomb'

Knives and stabbing attacks:
103 Arabs arrested armed with knives
57 on their bodies
24 in vehicles
22 with other tools
1 killed by stabbing attack - Soldier Ihab Chatib, at the Tapuach junction.
1 lightly wounded in Netanya
1 terrorist killed
1 terror suspect shot and lightly wounded
A knife attack prevented - 2 terrorists killed

Bombs in Judea and Samaria:
38 bombs discovered
4 fake bombs discovered

Rock attacks and Arab violence:
218 injured by rock attacks and Arab violence
132 police and border police, 2 border police officers, lightly injured. 1 lightly-moderately wounded
12 soldiers and one officer wounded
56 civilians lightly wounded, including 3 children, one foreign tourist lightly wounded, 4 moderate and 3 treated for shock
2 civilians injured in auto accident due to rock attack, 1 wounded in accident due to rock barrier in street, 1 civilian by Arab violence in Southern Hebron Hills, 1 youth in Jerusalem, and a handicapped person by Arab violence during a car theft.

Auto attacks:
3 auto attacks-attempts to run people over, 4 people lightly injured

Terror shooting:
One policeman killed, 1 moderately wounded, 3 lightly wounded, 2 civilians and one guard lightly wounded

Killed and wounded in attacks and fights against terror:
3 soldiers killed, 1 killed by 'friendly fire' during terror operation, 1 policeman and one foreign worker killed

Cemetery desecrations:
3 times ancient Jewish cemetery in Hebron desecrated via arson attacks.
23 gravestones destroyed on Mt of Olives
2 other attacks near Nevatim and Shefaram

Israeli Border Police Again Destroy Homes and Synagogue in Unauthorized Area

by Nadene Goldfoot

In 1929 the Jews of Hebron were masssacred by Muslims. Hebron's history goes back to the bible and is very important to us. It lies south of Jerusalem in the Judean hills and is part of Judea of the Judea/Samaria area so-called "West Bank". This is where Abraham and Sarah and their family are buried. Jews continued to live there. In 1968 Kiryat Arba was founded east of Hebron. They built on an abandoned military base in 1970 and by 1971 were able to move in. 7,000 people lived there by 2006 with about 2,700 Israelis living around the area. This building is in the Judean mountains of Judea/Samaria or so called West Bank area. I remember my husband doing his student teaching in a high school in Kiryat Arba. It was not far from Haifa, where we were attending school. Of course, nothing is far from any place in Israel.

Mitzpe Arihai is a town that some of the 2,700 live in outside of Kiryat Arba. It is considered by Israel as an unauthorized outpost, probably due to all the politicizing with the USA about a "two state solution" with the West Bank being the future home of Palestine. Netanyahu has been trying to negotiate with both Abbas and Obama.

Israeli police have destroyed this town in the last year and a half six times already and these zealots just keep building it again. This time Border Police not only destroyed the homes there but also the synagogue. They raided the area at 2:30am. It's a little too reminiscent of pogroms on Jewish villages in Russia.

It is hard to believe that our own police would treat our own Israelis in such a cruel manner, but I guess that they mean to treat both Arabs and Jews equally in matters of the law. There has been a lot of illegal building done by Arabs in Jerusalem, also. I presume they will or have also received such treatment.

No doubt these determined religious people will build immediately again. They are just trying to live where Jews have always lived before in our history. I believe that under Sharon they would have received their building permits, but this is today.

Reference: http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=183836

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiryat_Arba

No Peace with Two States and Why Nadene Goldfoot

Encouraging Israel to accept a two state solution may sound good on paper, but the people we're dealing with have other motives in mind other than peace, which makes it impossible. I've been an on and off advocate for this for some time, as I couldn't see any better solution, but my old friend, David Bedein's son, Noam, has more insight into the situation as he writes in the Jerusalem Post.

He points out that this solution used by Israel's advocates as our justification to approach a peaceful solution is boomeranging. This is being pursued while we are being bombed. 7,000 missiles have been fired at Israel from Gaza over the past 3 years, hardly a neighborly peaceful decision to show their eagerness for peace.

The Iranian weapons Palestinians are using are delivered by Syria and Egypt . Now we see that Hamas is Iran's 3rd subject after Hizbullah in Lebanon. Shockingly, Norway, while knowing these facts, gave $100 million to the PA this past year who uses the money, not for the people, but to finance terrorism against Israel.

On November 26, 2006, before the last cease-fire (6 months of "cease fire" where only 300 missiles were fired at Israel) the PA stated, "We will not stop firing on the Zionist settlement Sderot until the last citizen of Sderot leaves." The PA's map of Palestine replaces Sderot with pre-1948 Najd. Ashkelon is replaced by al-Majdal. Ashdod is replaced by Isdod. Does anyone have delusions of their peaceful intent? The PA is not into a peaceful solution. They are out to "liberate" the rest of Palestine.

There will be no peace in the Middle East even if the Palestinians have their own independent state of the West Bank and Gaza. This will not bring security and the firing on Israel will not stop. Someone had better think up a better idea outside the box, like a miracle. With Hamas, it just won't happen.

In my own mind, I've thought that if G-d wanted it to happen, it would happen. Like a miracle, the Palestinian leader Arafat and now Hamas have refused all chances of creating a state on the land that has been so precious and meaningful to us for all these centuries. Unbelieveably, they have thrown away their chances for a state and happiness in the name of greed and hatred, opting for all the land unlike what we had done. If ever there was a G-d on high, this seemed to prove it. Thank you Ha-Shem. The decision was not in our hands only but in theirs. Again, hatred has been ruling their hearts, and they are out to kill us all, every Jew in the world, as their latest calls for jihad have stated. While the rest of the world would rather keep their heads in the sand and not see the reality of it all, our leaders are making the last stand at the Alamo. It's a life and death situation; to be forever shelled and live in fear, or stand up for our rights while we can. My constant prayer is that the world will wake up to the facts and open up their hearts and minds and back us in our zeal to live in peace.

I am grateful that Fatah's Abbas in the West Bank is behaving as if he wants peace. His soldiers/police have even put down some rioting that I have read about during this Operation Lead. This solution we have had to take would benefit him, one would think, if Hamas were toppled and the Palestinians saw that his people were closer to achieving a peaceful life. However, he's only a shade better in my opinion. He's against any Jew living in Hebron and wants to move the some 800 Jewish people out. The fact that Israel contains 20% Arabs does not faze him. He's not a democratic thinker.

Read my blog about Hebron and its history, please

.

Two-state illusion: The Sderot perspective:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231167265384&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Why Hebron Is So Important to Jews

by Nadene Goldfoot

In the West Bank lies the town of Hebron, where about 500 Jewish settlers live among 160,000 Palestinians today. Just recently Peace Now Israelis of about 200 protesters were there. Even they may not know of the importance of this town to those who chose to live there.

Our ancestor, Abraham, bought a plot of land which had the Cave of Machpelah so that he could bury his wife, Sarah. This came to be called Hebron. Joshua assigned Hebron to Caleb, and it became a levitical city and a city of refuge. King David reigned there for seven and a half years before moving the capital to Jerusalem.

In 1100 CE the crusaders captured the city and expelled the Jews.
By 1260 through 1517 the Mamluks, who were Muslims, expelled the Crusaders from Palestine and made Hebron their capital, and the Jewish settlement was once again restored. Relations with the Muslims were not great. For instance, they decreed that Jews could not enter Me’arat Hamachpelah and could only go up the first seven steps outside. This was strictly enforced until the liberation of Hebron in 1967. Jews had been treated as Dhimmi , a lower caste group of people who were treated badly.

A Jewish community continued in Hebron in the Byzantine Period and under Arab rule. The modern city is situated somewhat to the east of the historical location and was one of the Jews' four sacred towns. The other towns were Jerusalem, Tiberias and Safed where I have lived. By 1890 there were 1,500 people living there who had a yeshivot and other religious schools. The great Lithuanian yeshivah of Slobodka was transferred to Hebron in 1925.

On the 24th of August, 1929, the Arabs massacred sixty-nine of the 700 Jews living in the town and the survivors fled. It was a brutal massacre. Included in the dead were yeshivah students from New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Memphis, Canada and Lithuania as well is Israeli born people. About 35 Jewish families returned in 1931. They were threatened by the Arabs and the British showed their dissatisfaction.

Jews heard on the day before the massacre rumors of anticipated riots, but they believed nothing bad would happen to them. They thought they were friends of the Arabs based on the fact that they had years of friendship and shared experiences. Besides that, the Arab governor of Hebron, Abdullah Kardos, had promised the Jews that they would not be harmed. The members of the yishuv actually thought that the British would protect them, also. The leaders of the Jewish community decided to bring in Jews on the outlying community closer to the city center for protection just to be on the safe side.

At 2:30 that Friday afternoon a young Arab on a bicycle, returning from Jerusalem, called out to his fellow Arabs that Jews were murdering thousands of Arabs in Jerusalem. Other Arabs then followed him in cars and also shouted that Jews were attacking Arabs.. What had been happening was that the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al Husseini, who later would offer help to Hitler, had been preaching strongly against the Jews. The massacre began. Arab mobs with axes, knives and iron bars screamed, "Kill the Jews!"

Then Arab riots occurred again in 1936 which caused all the Jews to leave again.
It’s population in 1967 was 38,310. After the Six-Day War of 1967, a number of Jews again settled in Hebron, establishing the Kiryat Arba quarter east of the city. There were 3,700 people there in 1988.

There have been other attacks on the Jews. One of many was in 1993. A father and son were murdered in a drive-by shooting, the first victims of terror following the signing of the Oslo accords.
The Jews who live in Hebron have a reverence of the Judea-Samaria (West Bank area) and especially the town of Hebron, loving the area for it’s historical significance. Jews were there before the Muslims. They don’t like the way their ancestors were forced out of the area by massacres and intend to stay there, though it has been a dangerous area. They are reclaiming this land and reminding people that it is a part of Israel now. They have a right to live there.

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
The Story of Hebron: by Toby Greenwald (75 years from Tarpat in commemoration of the Hebron Massacre of 1929.

Oregonian Newspaper 6/6/2007 page A9