West Bank Facts Differ From Media: Obama Portrayals

By LINDA COHN

This article was written by a friend of mine who just recently returned from Israel from a fact-finding mission of hers. It's full of current truthful information.

The facts on the ground in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) are very different from what our president talks about and very different than what the mainstream media report.

I recently returned from my fifth trip to Israel. This was the second time I visited the so-called settlements in the West Bank. The word settlement is very misleading because it is used to describe established towns built 30 years ago, as well as trailers on hilltops.

The settlement of Tekoa, for example, was built approximately 30 years ago. The children of the host couple I stayed with were born in Tekoa and have lived their whole lives there. There was a big tree out front and hundreds of birds sang every morning and every evening. The husband said that when they came to Tekoa, there was not one tree and not one bird. These are the people who are expected to leave their homes in order to create a Palestinian state.

We visited Hebron—site of the tombs of Abraham, Sarah, Jacob and Leah. Jews are allowed in only 3 percent of Hebron, while Arabs are allowed in 98 percent of the city. Jewish families there are heavily guarded by the Israeli army.

Under the Oslo accords, the West Bank was divided into Areas A, B and C. Areas A are under Palestinian Authority control. They do not allow any Jews there. If racism is a form of violence, the left is certainly quiet about the racism of Muslims who do not allow Jews to live among them.
It is a crime punishable by death in both Palestinian and Jordanian territories for an Arab to sell land to a Jew.

We visited Rachel’s tomb in Bethlehem. There are two walls around Bethlehem, which were depressing to see. The liberal Christians who blame Israel for the walls choose to ignore the fact that barriers and checkpoints are the least lethal method of combating suicide bombers and that there were no walls or checkpoints when Israel administered the territories. Only after the Palestinians took control of Areas A (during Oslo) and did not control terrorist bombers were the walls and checkpoints built. When I lived in Israel from 1978 to 1980, there were no walls, fences, or checkpoints. The roads to the West Bank were wide open, with only a warning sign posted at the side of the road.

Some of us visited Nablus, the site of Joseph’s tomb, although I did not. Nablus is in Area A. The group met at 10 p.m. and went in sometime between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. under cover of darkness. Still, the Palestinians stoned the bus.

One of the provisions of Oslo was that holy sites under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority would be protected and open to all, but that’s not happening. The Palestinians are in violation of every stipulation they signed on to at Oslo. Never mind that our president insists they get a state no matter whether they abide by Oslo, no matter whether they desecrate Jewish holy places, no matter whether they commit murder or advocate ethnic cleansing.

We also visited hilltop settlements consisting of a few trailers and poor people eking a living out of the land. These trailers on hilltops are considered to be a threat to world peace, while rockets from Gaza are not.

We visited the homes of some of the Jews evacuated from Gaza. The government has not fully compensated any of them for their losses. A woman in her 60s who built her home with her husband when she was 27 has to start over. The stories are endless.

We visited Sderot, the Israeli city 1.5 miles from the Gaza border that has been attacked 8,000 times by rockets from Gaza. I was a little apprehensive about being there, but I wanted to support the people who live there. It was quiet the half-day we were there. Surprisingly, this was one of the most inspirational parts of the trip. I saw a yeshiva with a beautiful and very rich looking platform with the Ten Commandments and 450-500 post-high school yeshiva students from all over Israel who came to Sderot to study and give support to the city. I was touched by the courage and dedication of the rabbi who founded the yeshiva.

The other inspirational part of the trip was Yom Yerushalayim day, Jerusalem Reunification Day which was observed May 22 (Iyar 28) this year. There were thousands of children marching with Israeli flags—a beautiful sight.
Israel is a miracle, which I hope will last.

These are the facts on the ground that I witnessed.

Linda Cohn lives in Portland. She is a member of Americans of For a Safe Israel.
 Update 2012:  Linda now lives in New York

Resource: Jewish Review Newspaper: Sept. 1, 2009 issue; page 23

Land For Peace? Now It's Peace For Land

By GARY ACHEATEL AND ELIZA KAUDER

This article is written by a friend of mine and is is so good that I wanted it on my blog as it is full of excellent information.
Nadene Goldfoot
The division in the American Jewish Community concerning Israel’s continued holding of the disputed territories is a curiosity. Remember, Israel acquired these territories only after being attacked in two major wars, Arab refusal to sign a peace treaty and requiring a buffer zone between Israeli civilians and Arab terrorists bent on Israel’s destruction. Prior to Israel’s more recent “wake-up call” with the daily horrors of intifada II and consequences resulting from their unilateral pullback from Gaza, approximately 50 percent of Israelis desperately dreamed they might be able to “trade land and receive peace.”

Many efforts included Israelis and Palestinians working together in summer camps, schools, and businesses—bridges for peace were being built. Four wars and a resurgent battle against terrorism shattered the dream. The vibrant and hopeful Israeli peace movement withered away. Is it ignorance, indifference or wishful thinking that some American Jews continue to believe Israel might get peace if they pull back from the land that is keeping terrorists away from 80 percent of Israel’s civilians?

Had they lived in Israel recently and been the daily targets of rockets and suicide bombers, would their dreams still exist? The Israelis feel betrayed by their Palestinian “peace partners.” It has become clear to all but the most ignorant that radical Arabs who hold sway among the Palestinians consider ALL of Israel as “occupied territory.” The essential question concerning Israel’s right to exist never disappeared and is paramount to finding a solution to the conflict. That fact gets buried in the propaganda.

To correct the record, occupation does not violate international law. Israel’s presence in the territories began in 1967 as a direct result of the aggressive actions of Israel’s neighbors that forced Israel into a war of self-defense. Should France return Alsace-Lorraine to Germany? Should the Czech Republic or Poland be required to return the German territories awarded to them after Germany’s defeat in World War II? Of course not. Those countries evicted most of the original inhabitants or caused them to flee.

Israel, in contrast, has never evicted a single Arab. Israel seeks peace. Israel’s Declaration of Independence expresses it. Israeli concessions for the Egyptian and Jordanian peace accords showed it. Withdrawals from Gaza and southern Lebanon proved it. Efforts by successive Israeli governments to reach a viable two-state settlement with the Palestinians continue to underscore it. Polls consistently demonstrate it. Can Israel’s critics expect her to ignore Hezbollah’s cries to destroy Israel and the Jews, Hamas’s aim of replacing Israel with an Islamic state, Iran’s objective of a world without Israel, Syria’s hospitality to all the leading terrorist groups in the region and the teaching of incitement and contempt to Palestinian children?

In spite of the above, Israel continues to offer negotiations for peace. Palestinians were again offered the chance to negotiate their borders at Camp David and chose war, unleashing the second intifada. Four years of incessant terrorism killed almost 1,000 Israelis and maimed thousands of others. In March 2002, there were nine suicide attacks in Israel killing scores of Israelis.

The intent of the intifada was to demoralize Israel, destroy its economy and thus force it to withdraw and surrender to Palestinian demands. To many Israelis’ and others’ disbelief, Israel took an amazingly bold move for peace. In Gaza in 2005 every Israeli soldier and civilian left, with Israel receiving nothing in return—a unilateral move by Israel to test Palestinian desires for peaceful negotiations. Everything was ready for the Gazans to start a new period of economic development with no blockades.

Instead of Palestinian nation building, however, rockets and tunnels came, and the destruction of greenhouses where flowers and fruit were grown, and could have continued to be grown. After the Intifada and Gaza, the message to Israeli peaceniks was loud and clear, “it isn’t about the territories; it’s about your existence!” What government could be expected to passively render its population vulnerable to slaughter? Would we in the United States sit quietly by as rockets fell on American cities from terrorist sanctuaries outside our borders? Would we allow such carnage to continue with impunity? Can capitulation and surrender ever be the reaction of a sovereign state sworn to protect its populations? For as long as political philosophers have written about the essential obligations of sovereignty, no state responsibility has been as important as the fundamental assurance of protection.

So while we all dream of peace some day, today’s harsh reality woke up many dreamers in Israel to the fact that in the absence of sincere peace partners handing over territory, a gesture of good will intended to elicit good will in return, has instead been seen as a sign of Israeli weakness. And in a region where, in the apt words of former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, “there is no mercy for the weak…and no second opportunity for those who cannot defend themselves.” So the current reality is, “give peace then you get land.”

Gary Acheatel lives in Ashland. He is a an independent financial advisor, and vice president of Advocates for Israel. Eliza Kauder lives in Ashland and is director of sales and financial institutions for Nxgen.

Reference: Jewish Review Newspaper Sept 1, 2009 issue, page 22.

SHALOM : Netanyahu Interview from British Television

from Cousin Nate's friend, Norm Hochfeld

Even those who aren't particularly sympathetic to Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, could get a good measure of satisfaction from this interview with British Television during the retaliation against Hamas' shelling of Israel.

The interviewer asked him: "How come so many more Palestinians have been killed in this conflict than Israelis?" (A nasty question if there ever was one!)
Netanyahu: "Are you sure that you want to start asking in that direction?"
Interviewer: (Falling into the trap) Why not?
Netanyahu: "Because in World War II more Germans were killed than British and Americans combined, but there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the war was caused by Germany's aggression. And in response to the German blitz on London , the British wiped out the entire city of Dresden , burning to death more German civilians than the of people killed in Hiroshima. Moreover, I could remind you that in 1944, when the R.A.F. tried to bomb the Gestapo Headquarters in Copenhagen, some of the bombs missed their target and fell on a Danish children's hospital, killing 83 little children.

Perhaps you have another question?" Apparently, Benjamin Netanyahu gave
an interview and was asked about Israel's occupation of Arab lands.
His response was, "It's our land".
The reporter (CNN or the like) was stunned- read below
"It's our land..." It's important information since we don't get fair and accurate reporting from the media and facts tend to get lost in the jumble of daily events. "Crash Course on the Arab Israeli Conflict." Here are overlooked facts in the current & past Middle East situation. These were compiled by a Christian university professor:

BRIEF FACTS ON THE ISRAELI CONFLICT TODAY

...(It takes just 1.5 minutes to read!)It makes sense and it's not slanted. Jew and non-Jew -- it doesn't matter.

1. Nationhood and Jerusalem. Israel became a nation in 1312 BCE, Two thousand years before the rise of Islam.

2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.

3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 BCE, the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.

4. The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 CE lasted no more than 22 years.

5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit.

6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran.

7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem.. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.

8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.

9. Arab and Jewish Refugees: in 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews .Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.

10. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.

11. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be around 630,000. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is estimated to be the same.

12. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own people's lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the state of New Jersey.

13. The Arab-Israeli Conflict: the Arabs are represented by eight separate nations, not including the Palestinians. There is only one Jewish nation. The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended itself each time and won.

14. The PLO's Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied them.

15. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.

16. The UN Record on Israel and the Arabs: of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel.

17. Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel.

18. The UN was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians.

19. The UN was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.

20. The UN was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid like policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall. These are incredible times. We have to ask what our role should be. What will we tell our grandchildren about what we did when there was a turning point in Jewish destiny, an opportunity to make a difference?

Israel's Unfair Treatment From the United Nations

Nadene Goldfoot

In 1948 when Israel was declared a state, the UN commission of Palestine recommended partition of the land between the Arabs and the Jews. The Jews accepted but the Arabs didn't. They had refused to participate in the 15 nation UN commission of Palestine. Their response was to attack Israel instead of working for a state. The UN was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by Jordanians between 1948 and 1967. They were silent when the Jordanians desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives during the same period. In other words, when anything on Jewish land was destroyed by Arabs up till 1967, the UN did nothing.

175 Security Council resolutions were passed before 1990 regarding Israel and the Arabs. 97 were directed against Israel.

Since 1990 Israel has been constantly bombarded from Gaza and what has the UN done? Was Hamas stopped by the UN? Were they condemmed? No.

This United Nations group has become an arm of the Palestinian terrorists. It's not the group it was designed to be-someone who could judge fairly as I thought it would be when it was first created.

2009-Critique on Generation Islam from Christiane Amanpour-CNN

Tonight's Christiane Amanpour's Presentation on "Generation Islam"

from a Jewish lady's perspective

by Nadene Goldfoot

Christiane's opening words at 7 pm were blaming the Gazan's plight on Israel's birth 60 years ago and this being the cause of their hating America. Then she went on to say that December 27, 2008 was the date of Israel's offensive but blamed both sides. She explained that it lasted 22 days and that only 13 Israelis were killed while 1,300 Palestinians died. Palestinians see America siding with Israel and this makes them mad.

80% of Palestinians are on the dole. They have been receiving UN aid since 1948. There is now nothing in Gaza except destroyed buildings. The visual showed nothing but destruction. She didn't tell the audience that when Israelis left Gaza for the sake of peace they left intact buildings and businesses which the Palestinians tore down the minute they went into the areas.

Young Palestinians are prey for the militia. They blame Israel for the offensive. She didn't bring out that they aren't taking responsibility for their own destruction, and that the offensive wouldn't have happened if they had not shelled Israel for the past four years with thousands of rockets, nor that they were warned of what would happen if Hamas continued to attack Israel.

She then interviewed a very nice Palestinian doctor who worked in an Israeli hospital because in the offensive, his home was hit and 3 of his children were killed. This of course is a doctor who doesn't hate Israelis and listening to him causes viewers to be very sympathetic.

The next shot was interviewing a lady who didn't hate Israelis to start with but now said she'd kill them all if she had the chance. The offensive is causing her to hate. Never mind at all why the offensive happened. Nobody is talking about that to the viewers.

The subject switched to showing the bad effects of the war on the Palestinian children. Militants have become the symbol of power. One third of the children want to be martyrs. Ten children were in a family that they interviewed. The 90 year old grandmother now goes out of the house and sits in the dust. A little girl named Iah wanted peace but now hates Israelis. Her father was killed when Gaza was closed due to the shelling on Israel. His office was hit by a bomb.

The attitude of the people is disappointing to me. What bothers me is their continued denial of why Israel doesn't want to be a sitting duck in a shooting gallery and they find that this duck knows how to shoot back. It's as if they are pouring gasoline on their own house and lighting a match to it and then blaming Israel for the fact that it goes up in flames. It's like the old joke, a young kid kills his parents and then cries to the judge that he's now an orphan. Christiana doesn't bother to question the attitude of these militant Palestinians, like do they understand why this happened?

Children were interviewed who only spoke Arabic but the interpreter spoke as a sophisticated college professor. I would have loved to know the real words spoken. A boy scout was interviewed at a boy scout camp. They were learning to fight Israelis and were being taught self-defense. They want to grow up to defend their country. They were asked why they were so militant and they said that their dreams were of a free independant state. Then teenagers were shown practicing with real guns. She mentions that there is more extremism in Gaza today than there was last year. Was she blaming Israel and the offensive? I think so.

The Gazan children were shown to be dependant on Western volunteers (or working for an organization) who are speaking English. They are there to amuse and teach them. There are 700,000 children in Gaza and they have programs for a third of them. There is a Koran Camp for other children who wish to do that.

Two Palestinian American men were shown fighting for peace in different ways. I believe they were cousins. They were in the "occupied West Bank" which I call Judea and Samaria and they throw in the term "occupied" for political reasons. They are not teaching violence. They were more in tune to Martin Luther King and Gandi's non-violence approach. However, even they, when they spoke, said that Israel uses the excuse of security and that it is an excuse. They don't even realize why Israel had to build a wall and that security is the job of any state. Their attitude made me cringe.

The next shot was in a pre-school classroom with three year olds. They were being taught how to get what they wanted but not fight for it and it wasn't working very well. At least they videotaped a little girl causing a boy to cry and was questioned about what she was just taught to do. She finally said she was sorry and walked away. Muppets were used to teach lessons and Sesame Street has come to Gaza in Arabic. They were being taught diplomacy by a grant from a peace group.

Children were taken to the wall every Friday and chanted things at Israeli soldiers. I call that heckling. One did mention that he was afraid of the soldiers and that they had power. More than half of the population is under 18.

Finally two 21 year old young men were shown at the University in Gaza. One joined Hamas and the other was interested in starting a business. Both were angry young men but were expressing it in different ways. One said that you're being judged. He wanted to defend the honor of his people against attacks on them. (Israel doesn't go around attacking Gazans for sport. This only happens when they are being attacked first, and then they took attacks for four years trying not to retaliate before they were forced to do so.) This little fact was not brought out by any of the Palestinians; only blaming them.

The student who had already joined Hamas said that terrorists were from all walks of people; from scientists to militants. He wanted to be a journalist but would be a terrorist now. The other was already a CEO of his own company. He walked around showing Christiana the destruction and what had been there before. She told him that most people think the university is a hotbed of terrorism. He said that wasn't true. There they study English and human rights. The university is looking for leaders. They are against violence. He wants to be a part of the global community. They concluded with the statement that Al Kadah looks less attractive.

I was happy to see a few interviewees who wanted to be a part of the world and were getting tired of living like they have been. It was marvelous to see in the first part of the program which did a study on Pakistan and Afghanistan that the children were so eager to learn, even by sitting outside with a teacher without any materials except a stick for writing. They were even studying English and realized that to be a part of the modern world this language would be advantagous to learn and was a tool for success.

The only solution to the Palestian problem shown was possibly the fact that a very few young people were interested in getting on with their lives and were not interested in spending their life killing Israelis. I only wish more would adopt that attitude. They didn't seem to be as impressed with learning anything like the other two country's children. They are more focused on the Israelis and Americans that they hate and this is taking precident.

Reference: CNN 6:00pm program

The Truth About Palestinian Refugees

Nadene Goldfoot

1800's -Jews started returning to Eretz Israel and had to drain the land as so much was swampy. They planted eucalyptus trees to soak up the water. Trees are continuallyy being planted. Never has so much been done to such undeveloped impossible land. They've invented scientific ways of farming this impossible land which they now have passed on to other undeveloped countries.

1880-1947 Arabs came into Palestine from surrounding areas such as Greece and neighboring Arab areas seeking work with Jews who were building a country.

1945 End of World War II leaving about 100,000 Jewish refugees.
EXODUS by Leon Uris is a story about getting to Israel. It was also made into a movie. “Exodus” is the story of Kitty Fremont, a Christian nurse, and her love for Ari Ben Canaan, a leader of the Jewish underground set against the background of the struggle for a Jewish homeland in Israel. They meet when he comes aboard a ship filled with refugee Jewish children trying to run a British blockade to reach Palestine in order to organize a hunger strike.

1947 The United Nations partitioned mandated Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. The Arabs rejected this. Israel is now a little smaller than New Jersey. Israel absorbed all Jewish refugees from WWII.

1948 Birth of Israel and immediate War of Independence: 7 Arab states started the war to drive Jews into the sea. They were Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Transjordan (now called Jordan).

200,000 to 570,000 to 630,000 Arabs left Palestine's area so they would not be in the way of the victorious Arab armies in their planned massacre of the Jewish defenders. Many were told by their leaders to leave.

Arab armies lost war; Arabs who fled did not return, also on advice of their leaders but settled in refugee camps. This was INTENTIONAL NOT TO BE ABSORBED OR INTEGRATED INTO ARAB LANDS. The lost war was used as a club against Israel.

They are the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own people's lands.

British counted Arabs and kept the records. If Arabs had only been in Palestine for 2 years they were called "refugees". Most were new immigrants to Israel. Only a few had been their previously with any history, and then most had not owned land but had been more migratory.

Arab countries kicked out 700,000 Jews who came into Palestine-same number of Arabs who left. This number was more than Arabs who left Palestine.

160,000 Arabs stayed in Israel. Many of the successful Palestinian Arabs are the Christians who live in Haifa. They are not terrorists.

1949 Israel's border now left 9 miles between the eastern border and the Mediterranean Sea. The distance from Gresham to Portland's Ladd's Addition is about that. From my house in Gresham to SE 12th and Division is about 12 miles.

1956 The Suez War: Israel again attacked.

1967 Six Day War: Israel won again and gained the Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights, repossessed the provinces of Judea and Samaria (The West Bank) and the eastern part of Jerusalem which had been occupied by the Jordanians 19 years earlier when they invaded Israel in 1948.

1973 Yom Kippur War: Egypt and Jordan, the closest Arab neighbors, begrudgingly accepted Israel's presence, much to the horror of their Arab brothers.

1979 Israel signed a peace treaty with Egypt returning the Sinai Desert to them

1980-1985 I moved to Israel. Two weeks before I moved, a rocket landed behind an apartment building in Safed " Zfat" in the upper Galilee where I was going to live.

1981-1982 Christian Lebanese were in trouble. Israel had good relations with them. Major Hadad, Christian leader, came to Israel for R&R to our hospital. We have agreement to care for his family. Arab income is the highest in Israel compared to the rest of the Arab world.
1982 Lebanon War: Lebanon Muslims had been attacking Northern Israel. Sharon of Israel had allowed Major Hadad's Christian Militia to go into the camps of Muslims and didn't know they meant to slaughter them. Sharon was held responsible. I lived very close to the action in Safed and witnessed our army going up the hill to Safed and how our army was deployed.

Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank and autonomy under the Palestinian authority and has supplied their police and security forces with weapons. Sharon was Prime Minister of Israel but had a stroke, so Olmert took over. His convergence plan means the evacuation of tens of thousands of Jewish settlers from the West Bank and the establishment of new borders between Israel and the Palestinians by the year 2010. Olmert means to relocate isolated West Bank settlements in existing large settlement blocs closer to the pre-1967 border between Israel and the West Bank. 50,000 to 80,000 settlers will be affected in the move. This is to create a separation between Israelis and Palestinians with Israelis to the west of the barrier so that it's easier for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to defend. IF Israel does this alone, we would still need international approval for the new lines it sets on its own. This plan is different from Sharon's "Disengagement" as the scale is much larger.

The evacuation of Gaza of all Jews affected about 9,000 settlers. Olmert had to decide on either full withdrawal as Gaza had or continued presence as in the northern West Bank. A continued military presence in the evacuated area could make it easier to fight terror and to minimize firing of rockets across the border.

A one state solution was decided to be out of the question as the Palestinians would become a majority. We cannot allow a situation such as a terrorist government which rejects Israel like Hamas or a weak Palestinian leader like President Mahmoud Abbas. We need a clear-cut Jewish majority in a smaller Israel. Palestinians and the Arab states all strongly oppose the Convergence plan. They fear they could be marginalized and left facing a fait accompli which serves Israeli rather than their interests. Jordan and Egypt do not want war to come into their territories which might happen. Jordan's King Abdulla complained that the plan could sound the death knell for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Settlers are strongly resisiting. The disengagement plan could cost Israel as high as $18 billion dollars.

2005 Israel gave up Gaza Strip. Terrorists have used it to fire Kassam rockets against Israel.

2006 On May 23, 33 visiting Oregonians were on a ridge overlooking the strip and witnessed an attack. Earlier that day the rockets had hit a school in Sderot, an Israeli town near the Gaza border. The classroom was empty because the children were in another room saying their morning prayers. Other rockets landed outside the town and two people were treated for shock. Israel did not initiate any attacks.

Palestinians are demanding a full right of return of Palestian refugees who have been living in refugee camps from 1948. They practice polygamy and have multiplied many times over. They want full control of East Jerusalem or now, all of Jerusalem.. They want the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. we keep making offers and they keep refusing but then asking for more.
2008 Operation Cast Lead War December 27th Israel attacked Gaza Hamas terrorists after years of being shelled by them. They previously warned them and the world what the results of their constant shelling would lead to. Southern Israel took thousands of rockets, especially the town of Sderot. Far more Palestinians died than Israelis. Again, this is being used against Israel who works at trying to protect it's people, both IDF and civilians. Thousands of Israelis now suffer from PTSD from the constant bombardment. This was inevidable war as the constant shelling had to be stopped by Israel. No American community could take such treatment for so long. One shelling would be sufficient anywhere else.

The Truth About the Land of Israel in Time Frame and the Middle East

by Nadene Goldfoot

The truth about the land of Israel and the Middle East is something people need to know.

1000 BCE: Over 3,300 years ago Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people with Abraham and Sarah settling there.

1020 BCE: (Before the Common Era or BC to many) The kingdom was ruled first by Saul.

1004-965 BCE King David ruled.

965-930 BCE King Solomon ruled. When he died the kingdom was split into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

70 ACE (After the Common Era) or AD (anno domini) and the Romans renamed the area Palestine as they caused the fall of Jerusalem. Jews that were not carried away as slaves or killed remained and called the area Eretz Israel, which we still do. THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN JEWS HERE, THOUGH NOT MANY.

661 -750 AD Arabs "Abbasids", only to be replaced by the "Umayyad Caliphs" invaded Palestine 2,500 years after Jews had been in the land.

The land remained an empty wasteland belonging to nobody. The Arabs had arrived but wandered all over and did not create a state or nation.

969 AD The secessionist Fatimids of Egypt took control of Palestine from the Abbasids.

Continuation of fights between Fatimid, enemies and local Bedouins who wander.

1071 AD Seljuk Turks invaded Palestine, captured Jerusalem and march south to Egypt.

1096 AD Fatimids recaptured Jerusalem.

Crusaders came to Palestine which was divided between Fatimids and Selijuks. Jews aided Arabs.

Arabs later Arabized the country in ethnic and religious sense.

Jewish landowners were displaced by Arab settlers who took over Jewish holy places and excluded Jews entirely.

Demented Caliph Al-Hakim persecuted both Christians and Jews.

600 AD Palestine came under the rule of nomadic Arabs, but it wan't a country. They just let the land erode, and it was exposed to water erosion and destruction.

1517 AD Palestine was taken over by the Ottoman Empire. It remained practically uninhabited, a wasteland made of swamps and desert. Nobody did a thing with it. It was as if it was waiting for Jews to come back and build and create.

1800 AD Jews started returning to Eretz Israel and created Kibbutzes (kibbutseem) because of growning antii-semitism in France and Russia. They legitimately bought land, drained swamps and started settlements. They wanted their homeland back. They worked through several Zionist congresses to achieve this goal They conferred with Arab leaders.

1850's (about) nomadic Arabs came to get jobs from the Jews who were building and could use workers.

1894 AD: Alfred Dreyfus, a young French Jewish captain was accused of selling secret documents to Germany and he hadn't. Theodor Herzl, a newspaper reporter from Vienna, realized he was convicted because of anti-semitism. Herzl started the Zionist movement to earnest to return to Israel.

1700-1918 AD Turkey, which was the Ottoman Empire, had controlled the Middle East for hundred of years, lost it all in World War I. This gave England and France the mandate of caring for it after the war. Britain and Frace then created the new states of Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. The Balfour Declaration of England had created a large piece of land to become the Jewish homeland to fullfill a promise of a homeland for the Jews, but they renigged quickly. The promise was a reward to Chaim Weisman, whose invention of dynamite saved the European nations in the war against Germany. Jews were offered only half of the intended territory and they accepted it. They offered the other half to Arabs for a state for them and they rejected it. They felt perhaps that it belonged to the new state of Syria. Their goal was not statehood.

1918 AD Emir Faisal's father, Hussein had written and called upon the Arab population in Palestine to welcome the Jews as brothers and to cooperate with them for the common good. Much of the land that they bought was owned by Arab landowners who were living in Europe , and they bought it at high prices. Obtaining this land was all done legally.

1920 AD The French deposed Faisal from the Syrian throne.

1921 AD Faisal's brother, Emir Abdullah marched on Damascus.

Britain's Palestine Mandate separated 80% of the mandated land, east of the Jordan River and created Transjordan for King Abdullah.

1922 AD Britain transferred 2/3 of the mandated Palestine to these Hashemite Bedouins who had been driven out of Saudi Arabia by a rival clan. This became Jordan and no Jews are allowed to live inside it, even today. Yet Jordanians come across the bridge to work in Israel.

Today Jordan is made up mostly of people called Palestinians. 70% of Jordan's population is made of Arab Palestinians because of a bloody fight that they had. The king of Jordan is married to a Palestinian woman. Jordan, in reality, is Palestine. They have their state.

Israel Got the Leftovers and Jerusalem Back

1948 AD Israel had 3 slivers of disconnected land along the Mediterranean Sea and the Sinai desert and access to Jerusalem, which was like an island cut off from the slivers and it was surrounded by Arab land and under international control. 60% of our land was the Negev Desert. The original mandated Palestine that we got was only 10% of the original piece. But, we accepted this token from the UN as the State of Israel and we rejoiced!

We had lost Israel and Judea's land through a bloody massacre by the Romans. We regained the land 3,000 later through legal means. We even had the backing of the present-day King of Jordan's grandfather, Hussain! We regained enough land to create a reserve for the remnants of the worst Holocaust the world has ever seen. President Truman backed our statehood, going against his advisors, even though he was not actually fond of Jews. Whatever his reasons, the time was right. We have a land of Israel and we're not about to lose it.

Israel is a state of creativity. They have no oil but are looking for it. Because they are surrounded by enemies who have oil, Israelis have had to use their brains and have given wonderful things to the world. Their scientists have invented all sorts of medical supplies and have made important discoveries that they share with the world. All this has been happening despite some 60 odd years of being attacked and having to go to war. They invented ways of growing food where wasteland existed and have helped out other countries to do the same things. They have been good neighbors to the world, yet much of the world have not helped them in the slightest. I'll rejoice when others see their value in the world after so much anti-semitism and work toward supporting their right to live.

Resource: Notes from my speech about Israel.

Axelrod and Emanuel, Read These Facts About Israel! or How Would You Divide New Jersey? Israel is Smaller!

by Nadene Goldfoot

How many politicians know that Israel is slightly smaller than New Jersey. even with the 1967 gain after a war precipitated by an attack of all Arab countries against it. The population is about 7,026,000 as of a 2006 census. According to the CIA, the population was 6,353,117 including 187,000 Israelis living in the West Bank and 20,000 living in the Golan Heights and 177,000 living in East Jerusalem which would be our Arab citizens.

76.4% are Sabras, or Israeli-born Jews.

22.6% are European/American Jews.

5.9% are African born, probably those from Ethiopia

4.7% are Asian born (Israel took in boat people who had no place to go)

23.6% are non Jewish which would be mostly Arabs, and Christians.

How big an area are the Muslims occupying?

There are 44 Moslem states with 1 billion people in an area 672 times the size of Israel.

Yet Obama and our government are pressing to divide and give part of tiny Israel to an Arab population that has been warring against it since 1948 .

22 of these Moslem states are in the Middle East including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. They refuse to absorb the "Palestinian refugees". They have been keeping them on refugee status as political pawns to put blame on Israel for their situation.

21 Arab states have an area greater than the USA. None are democracies. Only Israel, the only Jewish state in the world, is a democracy in the Middle East.

They are taught by their Koran that they are destined to lead the world and see Israel as mocking their insufficiency of their inability to carry out their heaven-ordained mission. Obama thinks he can sway them to stop attacking Israel and settle down, but he's fighting something much larger than he is. I read where he's even planning on going on Israeli television to tell Israelis why he wants communities to not add on any more buildings; "settlements" are what he calls them.

Yasser Arafat had said,, "We don't want peace, we want victory. Peace for us means Israel's destruction and nothing else. What you call peace is peace for Israel and for the imperialistic America. For us it is shame and injustice. We shall fight onto victory, even for decades, for generations if necessary. " Fatah, the group now living in Judea and and Samaria that many call West Bank, is Yasser Arafat's movement. They haven't changed their outlook, just their tactics which sometimes bubble over the pot.

Many Americans are surprised to learn that Arabs live in Israel and are citizens. They have their political groups and a few have made it into the Knesset. Yet Jews are not allowed in Arab countries today, and the planned "Palestine" is to be free of Jews though it would be sitting right next door to Israel! An exception is Egypt who has signed a peace treaty with Israel.

Israel has absorbed millions of Jewish refugees from the Holocaust, the former Soviet Union and the Ethiopian black Jewish community. Most of the more than 850,000 Sephardic Jews were expelled from their homes in Arab lands where they had lived for generations. They left without any compensation for their property. In fact, it was confiscated.

It all looks pretty dismal to the younger American generation. They seem to lack the fortitude to see the way for Israel to live in peace and some may even contemplate giving up the fight. I see Netanyahu as revitalizing Israelis as he thinks out of the box and is finding ways of getting Arabs to come to terms with an Israel in their midst. What America should do is not meddle but back Israel in its good endeavors for peaceful coexistence. What's right is right and what's wrong is wrong. Who is ever going to see the difference?

Reference: My notes from my speech about Israel.

Does Obama Understand the Arab Mentality Towards Israel?

Nadene Goldfoot

Obama seems to not understand what he has caused the Arabs to surmise and now expect. Our administration is pushing for us to go along with Abbas of the Fatah party of Arabs and accept a Palestinian state next to Israel. This is coming with a lot of strings attached that they again left on their platform as before. They now think that because Obama has taken a new position of pushing Israel like the USA has never pushed before, that he will force Israel to give in to their expectations and needs and the Arabs won't have to do anything in return. In fact, he will favor the Arabs.

We have seventeen (17) Jewish people in the Obama Administration, I am surprised to find. David Axelrod, the Senior Advisor to the President is the most important. Rahm Emanuel is the Chief of Staff. We have Lee Feinstein in as Foreign Policy Advisor. Middle East Policy Advisor is Eric Lynn. I'd like to have a word or two with him! Perhaps this kettle of fish is due to him. He's not giving the advice I'd like to see given. Special Advisor for the Gulf and Southwest Asia to the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is Dennis Ross. Head of the Middle East desk at the National Security Council is Dan Shapiro. I'd like to know their positions and backgrounds in understanding Israel's position and history. What strengths do they bring to advise the President on the Middle East. Being Jewish is not enough. We have Jews of all opinions, many of which are based on nothing but peer pressure and position in society, not on actual facts.

Four decades ago plus a few years at Khartoum's conference, the Arabs rejected peace with Israel. Now in Bethlehem they again did the same thing. The only thing Fatah and Hamas can agree to is their hatred for Israel and their desire to see its destruction. Otherwise they are vying for the position of the top dog, which is now in the hands of Hamas.

They again voted to not recognize Israel as a Jewish state, not to negotiate with Israel at all, and not to end the fighting against Israel. In other words, they'd like to drive Israel into the sea as they pronounced some 61 years ago when they all attacked Israel in 1948 at it's rebirth.

Not only did they come with this declaration for all to see and read and hear, but they have a lot of demands. They want the Israelis to accept the "right of return" of their people, which would overwhelm Israel entirely with more Arabs than can be counted. They want the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israel's jails. Most of them are in for murdering Israelis. Of course they want Israel to freeze all settlement construction and list the Gaza blockade. The end result is that they want Jerusalem in their hands and all Jews out of it along with any building that has taken place there.

Fatah is now talking about joining up with Iran in an alliance. This is the "peaceful" group that Obama is expecting to create a state of Palestine. Iran is also against any peace process and has voiced their threat of destroying Israel, which Israel takes very seriously. In fact, the Palestinian Chief Negotiator, Saeb Erekat met with Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Egypt already. To make matters confusing, Iran has funded Hamas, their terrorist competitor. Iran seems to like their tactics better, I suppose.

In reality, does Israel have any Palestinian group to work with who truly has peaceful coexistence in mind? There is none. The Palestinian people have again lost any chance of living as others do. Even the king of Saudi Arabia and other leaders are not any help. Perhaps it's not in the cards for a Palestinian state to be next door to the only Jewish state in the world. There's always something that stops the process, and it's not Israel. Israel has been too compliant with trying to get along with the Arabs. Our seventeen Jewish Obama administrators had better hold a conference of their own and re-analyze their strategy in trying to force a peace that has now backfired. I wonder if they have a second plan.

Reference: Mitchell Bard Fact Sheet #71: Palestinians Declare Three Noes to Peace http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/talking/71_noes.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/obamajews.html

An Open Letter to Speaking the Truth to the People Commonly Called "Palestinians"

by David White in New Zealand

This letter is so objective written by a vaguely agnostic that I wanted it on my blog for all my friends to read. If you knew nothing about the Israel Palestine situation, you will after reading this. Thank you, David, for understanding the situation so well. I see it this way, too.

Nadene Goldfoot

Greetings to any Palestinian who may be reading this. My name is David White. I am a citizen of New Zealand , a small, Western, nominally Christian country in the South Pacific Ocean . I am not Jewish, or Christian, I guess I'm vaguely agnostic. Writing this letter is a good way for me to discuss the horrible mess in the Middle East , spell out as many relevant points as possible concerning the! state of the Palestinian people, and to see what can be made of them. I don't speak Arabic, so I can only communicate with English-speaking Palestinians. There aren't many here in NZ, though, and I haven't yet met any. I don't know how many will ever see these words, but, here's hoping someone does. I have a post-graduate university education, and I suppose I could be called an intellectual. Unfortunately, many such people have supported abhorrent ideologies such as Nazism, and continue to support Communism, so I refuse to describe myself in this way. I don't want to be considered as another "trendy leftie" academic, as we would say in NZ. So, unlike many university-educated types, I am anti-totalitarian, pro-peace up to a point, pro-democracy, pro-capitalism, (except the capitalists running Enron), and skeptical about the "cult of victim-hood." I'm quite safe here in New Zealand , and no-one I know has been killed by a Palestinian.

My perspective of Palestinians is something like this - you're Arabs (of course), mostly Muslim, but with a Christian minority. Many of you live outside Gaza/West Bank, mostly in Jordan and other Muslim countries, with some groups living in Western countries as well. You feel that you have been wronged by Israel and are fighting to destroy them. As for my perspective on Israel , I see them like this: They are a mainly Jewish, small, free-market democracy with a large Arab minority surrounded by hostile Arab dictatorships. They have an ancestral claim to Israel , their state was created as a refuge from persecution, they have a right to exist, and, having survived a holocaust in Europe, they should not have to sit still and wait for another one in the Middle East .

A DOWN UNDER OVERVIEW Over the last few months, the conflict in the disputed territories of Gaza and the West Bank has turned into a war between the Palestinian people and Israel . I will not apologize for using the term "disputed", as I believe it reflects a rather complicated situation more accurately than "occupied". Your interpretation, as far as I can tell, seems to be something like this: You have no state of your own, and you are fighting a war against those you call "Zionist oppressors" and "colonial imperialists", in order to create a Palestinian state. Accusations of massacre and human rights violations by the Israeli Army are being tossed around like confetti. Your late leader, Yasser Arafat used to brag that he would "martyr" himself rather than "surrender", and that bungling and incompetent organization, the United Nations (again, no apologies for venting personal opinions), is trying to do what it is constitutionally incapable of doing, i.e. "saving future generations from the scourge of war".

The Israelis see things differently, of course. For them, it's a simple battle for survival. They offered you a state, and you attacked them instead. They have occupied Palestinian towns, have fought it out with various armed groups, and desperate attempts are being made by the US , other Arab countries and the UN to break the so-called "cycle of violence".

As a result, the Palestinian situation at the moment generally, can be explained by putting it into New Zealand idiom, put bluntly, the Palestinian people ar! e buggered. Mounted. Stuffed. Rooted (American equivalent=screwed. British equivalent: done over). It's like this: Yasser Arafat had turned down the Israeli offer of a Palestinian homeland in Gaza and the West Bank .. You want, or Arafat claims that you wanted, a Palestine "from the river to the sea;" in other words, "all or nothing". There is one insuperable obstacle to this- Israel . No matter how eloquent your arguments or numerous your martyrs, no matter how many European diplomats are angered by, or UN resolutions are passed against, Israel , the Israelis are not going to pack up and leave. The only way you will get the Palestinian state you want is by destroying Israel . This is what you have been trying to do since 1948, and the curren! t "intifada" launched in 2000 is your latest effort. However, the Israelis are not standing there and letting you kill them. They are fighting back, and if they have to choose between their own survival and yours, guess which choice they'll make. A vast wringing of hands, a great fluttering of Diplomats … that has been the overall response to the disaster you have created for yourselves.

You, the Palestinian Arabs, are obviously hoping for some kind of international intervention to save you. As we in New Zealand would say, "Get Real!". The European Union and the UN have demonstrated on numerous occasions in the past their incompetence and total incapacity to take any sort of firm action without American leadership. Ask your Muslim brothers of Bosnia-Herzegovina, about how effective the EU and the UN were in protecting them without American intervention. In spite of the impression that American dipl! omatic efforts have created, the US will not take sides against Israel , and will eventually abandon its futile attempts at evenhandedness. If they do join forces militarily with Israel in their war against terrorism, your fighters will be snuffed out like candle flames.

As for your "beloved Arab brothers" in the Middle East , they make a great deal of noise about your "liberation struggle", and have sent money and arms, but have not sent a single tank to save you. Their diplomatic proposals are ones that could have been offered at any time, and are aimed at benefiting them, not Palestinians. The Egyptians themselves will not declare war on Israel unless they receive $100 billion to cover their costs. Do you really believe that the rest of your Arab Muslim brothers think you are worth that much? Do you really believe they will put your interests ahead of their own? Although your friends and Arabs in Europe are passing sanctions and burning synagogues in your support, not a single EU warship has sailed to your aid, and not a single NATO aircraft has dropped a single bomb on your "Zionist oppressors".

I have noted that large numbers of people, including university educated intellectuals support the Palestinian cause. Don't be misled by this. No matter how many western intellectuals, news media and international organisations may support the Palestinian struggle, none of this matters because America stands by Israel . THE UNBEARABLE BURDEN OF LIFE How did you get into such a mess? As you yourselves would say and have indeed said on many occasions, it isn't your fault. It's always the "Great Satan" America , and it's "Lesser ! Satan", Israel , that you blame for all your woes. Everything that you do, such as your "martyrdom operations", are described as the products of your "rage" at being "dispossessed of your land", and of your "helplessness" in the face of "Zionist" might.

There are only 300 million Arabs against over 5 million Jews! How unfair! How unjust, that so many can do so little against so few! A number of Western commentators have put Arab failures down to numerous cultural factors, not the least being Islam. Your religious beliefs in martyrdom and jihad, coupled with a total inability to accept any blame for your own predicament, have combined to do you great and lasting damage. Look closely at why Western countries such as Israel have succeeded, and Muslim countries have not. Western countries are free-market democracies. Muslim countries (other than Turkey ) aren't. Surely that should tell yo! u something.

WHY I STAND? As I said, I do not, and I will not, support the Palestinian cause. Why not? I have a number of reasons, and here they are:

1. You have made it clear beyond any shadow of doubt that you intend to destroy Israel and kill or drive out its Jewish population. This is genocide, pure and simple. You justify this by saying that Israel has committed many crimes against your people, and that you seek justice". I say this in response- NOTHING WHATSOEVER is an acceptable justification for genocide. Loss of land, humiliation at being militarily defeated - others have suffered these and moved on to create new nations and opportunities for themselves. Examples abound- the Germans thrown out of East Prussia i! n Europe,1945, the Nationalist Chinese who fled to Taiwan in 1949, to name but two. Germans and Taiwanese have coped with military defeat and the loss of land. They haven't warred with their neighbors, nor have they launched terrorist attacks upon them. Both countries have more wealth than any Arab nation. Why can't Palestinians cope? Are Germans and Chinese better able to deal with adversity than Arabs?

2. You have accused the Israelis of "genocide" against you. Here's a question for you: Israel has atomic bombs and powerful military forces. If they really, truly wanted you all dead, they could easily do it. Why haven't they? If the Israelis went all-out, you would be, as we say in New Zealand , "dog tucker". Why did they spend so much time negotiating with your leaders? Because Israel wants peace and secure borders. You refuse to give them even those. You plan genocide and accuse Israel of the sa! me crime. Prove it!

3. The use of terrorism. Killing people for being Jewish is despicable. Terrorist attacks on innocent civilians are also despicable. (At this point, I'd like to pause and get a question of nomenclature cleared up, regarding those Palestinians who kill themselves and others with explosives strapped to their bodies. You call them "martyrs". Western media sources and academics debate the precise term to use in describing them. Others, including the Israelis, call them terrorists. I have a better, more appropriate term. I prefer to use the word "kamikazes". The original kamikazes appeared in 1944, in the war in the Pacific. They were Japanese Navy and Army pilots, organized into "Special Attack Units" with orders to crash their planes into American warships, in the hope of destroying them "one plane, one ship". Their initial impact was similar to that of the Al-Qaeda attacks o! n New York Twin Towers and the Pentagon-shock and horror. (I noted that many Palestinians appeared on Western TV celebrating the September attacks). Note: The American response, in both cases was not the one hoped for. Once the shock had worn off, the US set out to destroy the kamikazes, and terrible destruction was rained down on Japan , ending only with atomic bombs. You know what is happening right now in Afghanistan to the Al-Qaeda group.

4. Using children as suicide bombers. Anyone who teaches children to kill themselves in suicide attacks is not worth supporting under any circumstances. For you to do this to your children is an abomination. A commentator on a Web magazine said that if the Palestinians laid down their arms, they would get peace and land. If the Israelis laid down their arms they would be killed. You know that is true, even if most of Europe doesn't. Your cause is evil, because it seeks destruction at any price. Genocide is not justice. Sacrificing your own children for the sake of your leader's personal ambitions is wicked. THAT'S WHY I CANNOT SUPPORT YOU.THAT 'S WHY I STAND WITH ISRAEL .

PALESTINIAN PAST AND FUTURE? The Second World War in Europe ended with Hitler's suicide. He was replaced by Admiral Doenitz who quickly made peace with the Allies. Japan 's leader, Emperor Hirohito, decided on surrender rather than see his nation destroyed. If Arafat had chosen surrender, though, will the rest of the Palestinians go along with it? He died. Did the war end? If the answer to both of these questions is No, then the Palestinian people are doomed. Do you really prefer death as a people? Do you fully comprehend what you are doing? If you are indeed aware that the path you have embarked upon leads to destruction, and if you have freely chosen to walk in that &nb! sp;direction, then as a people you are truly beyond hope. Are Palestinians really going to be a "Kamikaze Nation"? Are you really going to give Israel no other option except your destruction? If they must choose, then as Israeli historian Martin Van Creveld said, "better a terrible end than terror without end". Do not think that kamikaze tactics can get you what you want. The Israelis can tell you all about Masada , if you ask them. Remember what happened to the Japanese at places like Okinawa and Iwo Jima . Palestinians deserve better than the current mess you are in now - but before you can be given anything, you must offer a sincere peace, you must stop teaching your children to hate, you must stop believing That "victim-hood" justifies everything and - above all other things - GIVE UP ISRAEL ! Accept that you will never go there again except perhaps as workers or tourists. Accept that Jews are human beings too. Accept the verdict of 1948 and learn to live with it.
Invest in banks, not bombs. Build computer chips, not Kalashnikovs. Teach science and mathematics, not hate. Look to the future, not the past.

Stop blaming Americans and Jews for all your problems, and take responsibility for your own actions. Read those parts in the Quran about living with the "peoples of the Book".

Golda Meir, the former Israeli Prime minister, is quoted as saying there will be peace in the Middle East only when the Arabs love their children more than they hate Israel ". Every time I see pictures of Palestinian children waving guns and wearing dummy explosives, then I can only say she is right. The alternative to peace is not victory But death. Think about it- before it's too late.. From an Infidel to those who submit, and are living in the Holy Land . May God grant you steadfastness in the face of things that cannot be changed, the capacity to cope with those that can be changed, and the wisdom and the ability to tell the difference.

David White, Auckland , New Zealand

Resource:  http://mideasttruth.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9250

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

Jerusalem Post's Geography Lesson by David Harris: New Jersey and Israel-Same Size

Nadene Goldfoot

Almost every responsible political leader today expresses a desire to contribute to peace in the Middle East. Easier said than done. A real effort to promote peace requires an understanding of what motivates the parties to the conflict.I can't say I quite get what makes the Palestinians tick. Like the late statesman Abba Eban, I haven't grasped why Palestinian leaders never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.But I do believe that anyone who genuinely seeks peace, or who aspires to be a friend of the Israeli people, should consider four key factors that inform the Israeli worldview.

Geography

The throwaway line these days is that geography no longer matters in an era of long-range missiles. Not so fast.As the late Sir Isaiah Berlin famously quipped, "The Jews have enjoyed rather too much history and too little geography."Israel is a small country, about the size of New Jersey or Wales, and barely two-thirds the size of Belgium. To put it into context, Egypt is approximately fifty times larger than Israel, Saudi Arabia a hundred times.And there's more. Until its 1967 war for survival, Israel's borders, which were nothing more than the armistice lines from the 1948 War of Independence, were nine miles at their narrowest point, near the country's midsection and most populous area.When President George W. Bush first saw that narrow width from the vantage point of a helicopter, he was reported to have said, "There are some driveways in Texas longer than Israel is wide."Topography matters too. When the towering Golan Heights were in the hands of Syria before the Six-Day War, for example, Jewish villages and farms below were regularly targeted by Syrian shelling. Ask my wife. She was a volunteer in a kibbutz there. With the Golan Heights in Israel's hands, those villages and farms no longer have to rush their children into underground shelters.

My comment is that I found this to be so true as I lived in Haifa and Safed from 1980-1985 and saw how very small Israel truly is. That's why I'm constantly amazed at the willingness of our country to divide it up more and give parts of it away continually. This will never lead to peace, only the destruction of Israel. We started with a piece of land bigger, and it has constantly been chopped apart. We gained land in 1967 but have lost other parts since then for peace which has not come. Has anyone learned a lesson here?

Research: http://cgis.jpost.com/Blogs/harris/

56 Muslim Nations Verses 1 Jewish State

by Nadene Goldfoot

"There are 56 Muslim nations, 21 of them Arab... There exists only 1 tiny Jewish democracy now in danger of being subdivided again by the "Saudi Two State Solution"! Is there no room in the Arab or Muslim world to relocate the Palestinian Arabs just as Palestinian Jews absorbed their own refugees in the `40s? " from UCI.
2012 update:  The 6 states with the largest populations are:  Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Egypt and Iran.  
No. It's not a part of the plan. The plan is like a chess game and the goal of the game is to drive Israel into the sea. Of course the so called Palestinians could have been absorbed by other countries after fleeing Israel when it was attacked in 1948 at the birth of the nation. There were a few Arabs involved then, not like the Arabs who have been sitting in camps for all these years living off money from the U.N. groups and growing into millions.

There never has been a state of Palestine. There were two Jewish states in the past, Judea and Israel. What we have known as Palestine was the land of Israel and Judea renamed by the Romans after their attack upon it in 70AD. They renamed it to get rid of the Jewish attachment of it. There was no government, no leader, no nothing. The land has lain barren for about 2,000 years just being in other's keep but not a country or state. It belonged to the Ottoman Empire in the end who lost it after backing Germany in the WWI. That's when their Empire collapsed. England was given the job of being responsible for the land at that point. There were very few Arabs living in the land. Arabs who owned land there usually lived abroad where the action was. Nothing was developed in "Palestine." There were a lot of swamps and mosquitoes in many areas. Jews did live there, also. Most were very poor for this very reason.

Pogroms were happening in Eastern Europe, reminding Jews that they had once lived in their own land. They bought land from Arab landowners in the hopes of someday moving there. Large groups called Aliyahs started moving back in the late 1800's. They established "kibbutzeem". It wasn't easy. Then Jews started immigrating there from all parts of the world.

By 1948, we had been declared by the U.N. as the state of Israel. We were given land decided upon by our leaders and England that was double the size of today, and it was pared down to a half by 1948 due to Arabs influencing the decision. Now these Arabs whose ancestors once lived in the area of Palestine want to return with all their children and grandchildren and establish another Arab state on land we have claimed. If they were friendly people, eager to get along with us and be cooperative, it wouldn't be so bad but they are a people who want to destroy us and have been attacking us with bombs and missiles in the thousands.

What's shocking to me is that the world is backing them and not the Israelis. I shake my head in disbelief! This will not stop their attacks on Israel. This will only enbold them for wearing down the world to go along with their scheme of driving Israel into the sea as originally stated by them. The world cannot see the forest for the trees in finding another solution for this problem.

Israel is trying to stay the course and show that they will not be eliminated, and that they are strong and are staying, counting on the Arabs to finally concede that that they must get used to the idea of a Jewish state in their midst. It would have helped if the rest of the world backed Israel in this endeavor. That is the ingredient needed to guarantee that Israel should be left alone and not wiped out.

This is not to say that we do not have supporters. There are Christians who support Israel. Unfortunately, it's not our government today as it has been in the past. They have bent to the likes of Europe, who were never great supporters of ours in the first place.

Resource: UCI Unity Coalition for Israel