Two Palestinian States? Oy!

Nadene Goldfoot
It looks like Khaled Mashaal of Hamas and Mahmoud Abba of Fatah, both Palestinian terrorist leaders, fight each other as much as they both do with Israel.  They've had an on and off love affair with each other, but right now it must be divorce time as Jordan and Qatar's leaders are pushing  for Mashaal to be chair over a future PLO  while Abbas still has his sights set on this role of being their next president or prime minister.  Abbas is the present PA chairman.

They can't come to any agreements, but the governments of the world  expect Netanyahu to pull out miracles and get both in agreement with him.  It's almost hilarious.

Hamas is in Gaza on the west side of Israel and Judea-Samaria is in what they call the West Bank, which is on the eastern side of Israel but west of the Jordan River.  Hamas has their charter which is almost the same as the Muslim Brotherhood in which they both have the goal of destroying Israel.  The Palestinians still are sniping at Israeli citizens when they can, which was today when a Palestinian from Judea stabbed a 17 year old Jewish teenager for nationalistic reasons at Tapuah Junction, he said.  .

Ten years ago Mashaal and other Hamas leaders were expelled from Jordan and lost their citizenship there for acts unbecoming a citizen, so King Abdullah certainly doesn't want them back, but instead has been restoring relations by allowing visits.  This is because of the Hamas promise of refraining from meddling in the King's internal affairs.

Now the King of Jordan has been living peacefully since 1972's war with Israel in which Arabs lost.    He's saying that he thinks Hamas is ready to soften their position and live peacefully next to Israel!  They're becoming a little more realistic.  Yahya Moussa al-Ebadsh of Hamas  had a come-back with a statement on their website saying that their relationship with Israel would not change.  "The only relationship with this enemy is the resistance,"  he vowed.

Religion should be used as a prescription for getting along peacefully with one's neighbors, but Hamas is using their religion as a dictum for war and death.  How can John Kerry ever deal with people in this state of belief?  I think it would take the highly evolved  James T. Kirk and  Spock from the USS Enterprise to deal with such characters.  They do not compute in my mind at all.

Resource:  http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=301391&rz=n_20Jan13 by Khaled Abu Toameh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_(film)
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=301402&rz=n_20Jan13

Violations Affecting Israel

Nadene Goldfoot
War is like a football or basketball game.  There are actually rules and regulations today on what's allowed.

Where did Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committee and other resistance groups shoot from in Gaza?  They shot from their own densely populated areas into the civilian population centers in Israel.

Did they make any statements about what their aim was in doing this?  Yes, they stated clearly that harming Israeli civilians was their aim.

What they did was in direct violation to international law in the laws of War.  It's only taken the Human Rights Watch (HRW) about 12 years to make such a statement.  It was particularly noted during the recent "Pillar of Defense" attack of November 14-21, 2012,  in which the Palestinians are now taking so much credit and bragging rights for succeeding.

According to the laws of war summary, the Palestinians had placed their own population in grave risk by doing so which is an act that is condemned.

"Under International Humanitarian Law or the laws of war, civilians and civilian structures may not be subject to deliberate attacks or attacks that do not discriminate between civilians and military targets. Anyone who commits serious laws-of-war violations intentionally or recklessly is responsible for war crimes." (HRW)

Israel has been calling out for help about this ever since 2001 or earlier, but nothing has ever been said as condemnations of. the terrorists actions against Israel.   Now it's coming out that there is a prohibition of reprisal attacks against civilians regardless of attacks from the other side.  That's what's been happening between Gaza and Israel.  Israel has gone in to hit with precision the rocket launchers and their soldiers/terrorists manning them and then Gaza shoots rockets, missiles and mortars into a civilian population.

Israel was also in the wrong by attacking media facilities resulting in journalists being in harm's way according to HRW.  This was called a violation as they didn't say specifically that they were military targets and command centers for the terrorists; thus were not legitimate military targets.  They were in fact military facilities placed in these places that Israel knew of.  They  just didn't announce is early enough, though they did warn journalists and others to leave areas where military action was happening.  However, according to HRW, this was not a proven fact and that even though the TV and radio were cheering on the Palestinians, it was not a legitimate reason to attack them.

HRW is a Human Rights Watch and  is a nonprofit, non-governmental human rights organization started in 1978.   They will go to the UN to campaign for their decisions.  Their 280 staff members are country experts, lawyers, journalists, and academics of diverse backgrounds and nationalities.  Human Rights Watch is an independent, nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds, directly or indirectly.

Professor Gerald Steinberg, who received his doctorate at Cornell University in 1981, now at Bar Ilan University in Israel,   is an expert on international relations, law, and is a prolific writer.  One paper he wrote on February 26 of this year is about the Human Rights Watch's lost credibility.  He feels they have a consistent credibility gap between their universal moral objectives and the reality of its Middle East political agenda--including obsessive focus on Israel and their cooperation with dictatorships.  He's disappointed in that they haven't yet condemned the use of genocidal threats by the Iranian regime.

Perhaps Professor Steinberg's paper accelerated this HRW report to come out now.  I'm not sure.  If Steinberg watches and reports about HRW and HRW watches and reports on the ills of the world, it's all more than the UN is capable of doing.

 Resource:http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/12/24/gaza-palestinian-rockets-unlawfully-targeted-israeli-civilians
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/12/20/israelgaza-unlawful-israeli-attacks-palestinian-media
 http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=297107&rz=n_24dec12
http://faculty.biu.ac.il/~steing/index.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_M._Steinberg
Added 1/2/2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FWrQ7RXvWc&sns=em Testimony of how Israel put themselves in harm's way in order to protect civilians, (The Israeli army has backed the rights of civilians in a combat zone)
Update: 1/28/13 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_war#Red_Cross.2C_Red_Crescent_and_the_white_flag

2006: Second Lebanon War in Israel

Ahmadinejad's Visit to Lebanon

by Nadene Goldfoot

We've had several wars with Lebanon over the years. 1978 saw one war. We moved to Israel in 1980. I hadn't realized that there had been a war with Lebanon when we moved to Safed, which is quite close to the border with Lebanon. I was in Safed during the war in June 1982. "June 15, 1982: We were naturally happy that the PLO have been run out and had been worried about the arms and weapons that were coming in from them right across our border. It's time something was done about it. The U.N. and others were not doing anything about it. We never dreamt they would do as much as they did. Everyone is very upset about the casualties on both sides, but Lebanon seems to be very happy, and Major Hadad, the Christian Lebanese leader in Lebanon is very happy. In fact, all of Christian Lebanon is happy. We are glued to the radio for the short reports we get in English, and I read every word in the Jerusalem Post." Lebanon's minority were Christians, and the Christians and Muslims did not get along. Major Hadad and his militia patrolled our border and helped to protect Israel because the PLO had taken over southern Lebanon in the 70's. This 2nd war lasted 3 months when we actually went into Beiruit. By 1985 we had established a buffer zone between Lebanon and Israel.

In 1996 we had to go in Lebanon again in our Operation Grapes of Wrath, which lasted 16 days in order to end the shelling in Northern Israel by Hezbollah. Kiryat Shemona was constantly underfire, just as it was in 1982. That was one of my favorite towns, as they had the Hamishbeer, a wonderful department store which reminded me of Meier & Franks here in Portland. We had many American Jews living there, and they have been under attack so much, I don't know how they endure. Ceasefire was on 27 April, 1996.

Ahmadinejad has now visited Lebanon, buoying up their hatred for Israel. Iran is hoping to shake off memories of their 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Now they've been helping out Lebanon with water and electricity, so they are standing in the winner's circle. Ahmadinejad's disparaging remarks have been, "The world should understand that the Zionists will go. Palestine will be liberated." The crowd roared in approval.

He visited towns affected by Israel-Lebanon wars. Qana is a southern Lebanon town where more than 150 were killed by our bombs during 1996 and 2006 wars. Ahmadinejad was attributed with helping Lebanon "win the war."

The 2006 war was a 34 day war with Hezbollah. It started on 12 July 2006 and ceasefire by the UN was declared on 14 August 2006. On the 8 September Israel lifted their naval blockade. Hezbollah started it by firing rockets on our border towns. Then they fired anti-tank missiles on our Israeli Humvees patroling the border. They killed 3 soldiers and kidnapped 2 who could have been either dead or alive. We tried a rescue but 5 were killed in the attempt. Lastly we struck Lebanon with air attacks, hitting their airport which was the place they got imported weapons. A ground invasion was the end result. Hezbollah shot hundreds more rockets into northern Israel, where I used to live. They reached Haifa. They hit one of our warships with a drone. Lebanon took the biggest hit. They lost about 1,300. A million Lebanese were displaced as well as 300,00 to 500,000 Israelis. Israelis were able to return finally to their homes, but Lebanese couldn't due to our using cluster bomblets.

Why did Lebanon start attacking Israel in the first place? Do they not realize that we will retaliate? "For a trans-border Arab-Israeli war, this conflict was different than most. Israel at first responded lightly in the ground war, apparently relying on the air and artillery campaign to inflict most of the damage. Hezbollah responded with wave after wave of rockets and missiles supplied largely by Syria and Iran over the past several years."

Oregonian Newspaper 10/15/10 Iran's president speaks in Lebanon page A8
Letters From Israel by Nadene Goldfoot page 194.

http://www.historyguy.com/israel-lebanon_war_2006.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Lebanon_war

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Lebanon_War

Why Certain Goods Are Banned From Gaza 2010

Why Certain Goods Are Banned From Gaza

by Nadene Goldfoot

Some question has been raised as to why Israel has banned nutmeg, sage, caramom, cumin , coriander and ginger from Gaza. Though Benjamin Netanyahu failed to call me, Nahama, who sits safely in Oregon for advice, I believe I know why; or at least can give you the reason why I would do so.

There happens to be a war going on. Israel, which is I'm told anywhere from 1/10 to 1/3 the size of Oregon, has the Gaza Strip sitting on its border occupied with Hamas terrorists who have sworn to eradicate both the country and the people. They are not about to make peace. They have demonstrated this by attacking Israel for the past three years by shooting missiles and kassam rockets into it to the point where Israel had to conduct Operation Cast Lead, which is when they went into Gaza in force with its army in trying to stop the attacks.

Even now, though the operation was halted, the missiles keep on coming in. So there's no mistaking their resolve to hate Israel. They have managed to get supplies in through many ways, by ship, and by having tunnels where they get their weapons.

So Israel can't go in and wipe them out or they're condemned at every attempt of self preservation and protection. What else can they do? Earlier, they told terrorists that the result of their terrorism would be to have their homes demolished. Comdemnation flew in from all the do-gooders. What now? I believe they decided to keep basic supplies and necessities going into Gaza as they are a humanitarian people, but to keep certain goodies out. The reason for this is to make the population realize that if they would sign a peace pact with Israel they could again have those goodies.

Thus spices were kept out because they are so important in Arabic cooking. I see that chocolate and potato chips are on the list as well as toys. I'm not sure if this list is correct, but it's what's floating around on the internet. If this is the case it is to bring pressure from the children onto the parents to make peace with Israel. This would be a change from the brain-washing they receive in their schools and family of learning how evil and horrible Jews are and deserve to be killed.

Remember, Israelis are suffering from this Russian roulette life of wondering if they're going to be hit and when at any moment. This is not making them a relaxed people. They're tense! Going without spices and potato chips isn't half that bad. The way to a man's heart is supposed to be through his stomach. I hope they start thinking of the time before Hamas when they had these things to eat and do the right thing by making peace.

I can imagine how Russia or China would handle a situation like this if they had a neighbor constantly shooting at them. I bet they wouldn't be half as nice.

6/9/10 Another thought-the kidnapped soldier, Gilad, has not been released by Hamas. This is also a possibility for another reason of holding back certain items. Release Gilad and we'll release certain products. Nothing else has worked or induced Hamas to free him.

Resource: http://bocktherobber.com/2010/06/items-israel-prohibits-gaza

6/7/2010 I have another thought as to why certain items are banned. It could be that these things such as spices are too similar to powders used to make explosives, and too hard for dogs to deal with, ruining their noses in finding contraband. Also, other items can be where bombs have been found in. I know that I saw a police exhibit in Safed showing all the items that bombs had been hidden in.

6/9/10 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100609/ap_on_re_mi_ea/gaza_blockade easing up of certain items but not cement
http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/mideastdispatches/archives/001127.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

Lies From Palestinan Media Sympathizers: White Phosphorus Usage

Nadene Goldfoot

The Palestinian Hamas representatives are so good at relating false facts that are so contrary to reality of their purpose or history. Today a Palestinian professor from Bethlehem University was on KBOO, a Portland radio station, and was debating in some fashion a representative of our Portland Community who is supportive of Israel, Bob Horenstein. I heard such a distortion of history that it was appalling to me from this professor. I might add that Bob was not given any time for rebuttal of facts. Under these conditions, he did a terrific job.

In the same fashion, the Palestinians are bantering about another false claim. They are saying that Israel is using phosphorus in it's fight against Gaza terrorists. In truth, Hamas themselves have been using white phosphorus as a weapon against Israeli civilians during this conflict. On Tuesday, a mortar shell fired from Gaza into Israel contained white phosphorus.

A regional council's security chief said, "the potential danger of using such a rocket is enormous. It is far more dangerous than other Qassam rockets and mortal shells. This is an escalation in the type of explosives the Palestinians use on civilians. We challenge Human Rights Watch to condemn this attack in the same way it has falsely condemned Israel.

I won't wait for the international media such as organizations like Human Rights Watch who is always condemning Israel. Then media such as The Guardian, Times of London, Christian Science Monitor and CNN just repeat HRW's claims without really checking into the claims because they are into their "humanitarian focus" and condemn or even report this development against Israel. They seem to be in cahoots with the Palestinians and report biased information all the time.

Surprisingly, the International Red Cross is corroborating Israel's claims, and has stated that it had no evidence to suggest that white phosphorus is being used improperly or illegally by Israel. Israel does use it to create smoke or illuminate a target. It's not being used in any other way. This is a legitimate use under international law. It is not being used to burn down buildings or consciously put civilians at risk. The spokesman for the Red Cross was Peter Herby and he was telling the Associated Press. Thankfully, one person has the guts to be honest about what Israel is doing.

Reference: Honest Reporting UK Media "War Crimes" Phosphorus Charges Rebuked action@honestreporting.co.uk www.honestreporting.com