Succah Celebrants Stoned and Attacked

Wednesday evening, 2020,  in the USA was the start of Sukkot, the Feast of the Tabernacles. This holiday lasts for 9 days, ending with a special day of Shmini Atzeret. People are happy and on holiday. It's time to sit in the succah and entertain your friends. Women make all sorts of breads; banana, zucchini, etc to eat in there. I remember how awed I was to see all the succas in Safed, a three sided structure with rugs and blankets making the sides. It was colorful and peaceful from 1981-1985. Everyone made their own succah. This is what was made when Moses left Egypt and took 40 years to get to the Promised Land. We have this unique way of remembering our history. We make and live the story.

Just recently the U.S. administration publicly told Israel to halt constuction in Judea and Samaria AND parts of eastern Jerusalem, which is Israel's capital. The result of this airing was that Palestinians attacked an Israeli guard who was getting gas in Judea/Samaria with stones after cornering him. He in turn fearing for his life shot one of the attackers dead.

A few hours later the Palestinians rioted in eastern Jerusalem, targeting the Temple Mount area and Silwan.

A 35 year old Israeli man was actually stabbed by a rioter near Mt. Scopus and had to go to the hospital while three others were slightly wounded after their car had been overturned by the same rioters.

Israelis are always at the Western Wall praying and today they were hit with stones until the police came to the Temple Mount to stop the rioters.

The attacks were instigated by Fatah militants, the Palestinian party who live in Judea and Samaria, and they were no doubt instigated by their Hamas brothers in Gaza. They're trying to win Jerusalem.

Summing up, 10 Israelis were wounded near the Temple Mount. Peace talks are going on with each participant coming to the table with their needs. Israel wants to be recognized which will make this area peaceful and safe and the Palestinians don't want to do that though they are in the act of talking peace terms. They want all of Judea and Samaria with all Jews gone plus all of Eastern Jerusalem which they will claim to be their capital. Besides this they want all their relatives to be allowed to enter and live there which would overcome Israel. Then we have Hamas who absolutely refuses to be peaceful but wants to kill us all and take over Israel. I don't think this is a very peaceful Succot for Netanyahu.

Updated: 10/6/2025

Resource: Aaron Klein http://www.worldnetdaily.com/

http://www.thejerusalemconnection.us/blog/2010/09/23/jews-pented-with-rocks-at-the-

Annexation By USA and Israel- Necessary Moves

Nadene Goldfoot
                                                                             

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jews were promised a Jewish Homeland by the League of Nations and the United Nations, yet they witnessed the loss of 80% of their promised land being given to a Saudi Prince Abdullah who was a prince without a country to rule, and could be an excellent trader with England.  Israel was left with 20% and then witnessed Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem being given to the Palestinian Arabs at the last minute.  The Jewish Homeland was cut apart again in the oddest of shapes ever!  Some cities only a few miles from Jerusalem are not in the right zone to be a part of the 8,000 sq miles Jews were left with.  It's a crazy situation but the state has just celebrated their 73rd birthday 4 years ago.  Update  to 10/6/25 and it's 77 years old.  We've just come to a decisive moment with Hamas;  peace or war.  

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

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

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

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

Israeli soldiers looking toward Syria from an observation point in the Golan Heights last year. Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967.Credit...Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images

 In 1980–81 Israel annexed East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.  

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

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

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

East Jerusalem,
not like Portland with trees in all neighborhoods
East Jerusalem is the sector of Jerusalem that was occupied by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel

 
Jerusalem is now a unified city, no longer divided. 

The Jerusalem City Council was established in 1863 during the rule of the Ottoman Empire. From 1948 to 1967 two municipalities operated in the city: an Israeli municipality provided services to the western neighborhoods of the city and a Jordanian municipality to its eastern parts.

By 1840, the Jewish community constituted the largest single religious group in the city. From the 1880s onward, the Jews constituted the majority within the city. However, it was only in 1937, under the British Mandate, that the first Jewish mayor was appointed. Since 1948 every mayor has been Jewish.
Moshe Lion has been the present mayor since 2018.   

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

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

Update:  https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/eu-conference-looks-to-boost-opposition-to-israel-s-annexation-of-palestinian-land-1.1027913

The eu is on the wrong side of the issue again--still.

the land belongs to the israeli's period. and the best thing for the palestinians is to let israel have it and tend it and care for it as they have never done anyway and benefit by israel's right claim and right use of that land. 

Shame shame again on the eu for standing directly in the way of real peace-real solutions!

  Andre'

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

Recent Attacks On Israel

Nadene Goldfoot                                            

Three teen-aged Jewish boys, Eyal Yifra 19, Gilad Shaar 16, and Naftali Fraenkel 16,  were kidnapped, bound and shot dead by Hamas.  Their bodies were found half-buried two weeks after they were kidnapped on Thursday, June 12th after school.  Celebrations have been going on with Hamas over the kidnapping and people have been handing out candies in their joy.  Palestinian TV is full of programs of hatred for Israelis and Hamas encourages the continued attacking should come from Fatah also.  Evidently it did with this horrendous killing.  The night before a barrage of rockets rained down on southern Israel from Hamas and continued into the next morning on June 29th and 30th.  The rockets have been continuing.

                                                                     

                                                                                 

At the same time, suddenly a Palestinian teen boy, Mohammed Abu Khdeir of east Jerusalem,  was found dead and of course the Israelis were blamed for this.  His body was found burned and hard to identify.   The line was that it was done in retaliation and riots have been going on in a frenzy against Israelis in Jerusalem.  More likely, the boy was killed by his own family in another of the honor killings in the Palestinian culture because rumor has it that he was a homosexual.  His pictures showed a  very thin-looking boy.  I note that the Palestinians' rioting is accompanied with the exact description in their news of a "celebration by the Israelis over this."  Hamas has congratulated the kidnapping.  Is it not a wonder then that they were the instigators if not the culprits?   I have seen nothing in the Israeli news of this, only the sorrow felt before with all of Israel praying in large groups for their safe return, the family's sorrow and the resolve to remain committed to Israel.  Every time something happens, the Palestinian news always copies for themselves what they have caused in the Israelis.  They try to turn the tide and make-believe that they are the victims instead of the aggressors.  It's been in Judaism since the Exodus of Moses and the Israelites that we are not to be happy when the enemy dies, as they are also children of G-d.  I cannot picture any of our IDF cheering over the death of this boy.  Immediately they would know the complication that would be caused from such an event, too.  No, this is all hear-say to instigate the Palestinians to riot.  

                                                                           

In March  2014 between the 12th and 14th, 60 rockets fell. This was before, during and after Purim.   

Today, June 27, 2014:  A total of 6 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, with the remaining 4 landing in open territory.

Update: 6/28: In center of Gaza were underground rocket launchers, Israel hit them, retaliation from Hamas of 5 to 6  rockets hitting Sderot, causing fire in industrial section.

Update: 6/30  Gaza has fired 15 rockets into Israel last night and this morning.       

Update:   There have been near-daily rocket attacks, followed by Israeli reprisals. 

Update: 6/31  More than a dozen rockets fired from Gaza Strip slammed into Israel early Monday morning , following violent days in the south which have seen a rocket hit an Israeli factory and IDF retaliatory attacks kill at least one.  A factory in Sderot was hit and a man in it injured.  

                                                                       July

July 1

In the late night Gaza terrorists fired a rocket at Israel. The rocket landed in the open field in the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries or damage are reported. In the morning 4 more rockets were fired. One fell in an open area in Sdot Negev. Another caused damage to several vehicles in the Eshkol Regional Council. A third rocket exploded in the area Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. No injuries were reported The fourth rocket caused a fire near a packaging factory in Eshkol. Though it looked like the fire were turned off, it has spread. Firefighting planes and additional squads try to stop the flames. So far no injuries are reported.   In the evening a salvo of mortar shells was launched at the Eshkol Regional Council area. No red alert in advance, but Explosions were heard. Security forces are inspecting the area. No reports of injuries or damages

July 2

Short after midnight two mortar shells exploded in open areas in the Eshkol Regional Council. No damage or injuries are reported. In the afternoon three mortar shells were fired at the same region. All exploded in open fields. No injuries or damage reported. Again four mortar shells were fired in the Eshkol Regional Council. No one was hurt, no damage reported. In the evening code red alarm was heard in the Ashkelon area. One rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome Missile Defense System, one exploded in open field. Red alert siren blared in the Eshkol and Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Councils.   Minutes after 2 rockets landed in open areas around. Five rockets were launched on the Sdot Negev Regional Council, three were launched towards Ofakim. One was shot down by Iron Dome, the others hit open fields. No damages ore injuries were reported. A rocket was fired on Eshkol Regional Council. No damages, no injuries.

July 3

1 hour past midnight the colour red siren is heard in Sderot and Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council.   One rocket exploded in Sderot. None was hurt, but structures got damaged.  "Terrorists in Gaza continue their relentless rocket fire upon Israel on Thursday as a Kassam rocket struck a building in Sderot Thursday morning that is being used as a summer day camp for children. The rocket thankfully did not explode as children were set to arrive minutes before the impact."

Fatah is following Hamas' lead with TV programs calling for the destruction of Israel.  Abbas is saying, Fatah heats up confrontational atmosphere:"Blood demands blood"Jerusalem, declare a revolution!"
Don't expect Abbas will try to cut ties with Hamas now, which is what Netanyahu has asked him to do.  They had united and they seem to be united with Gorilla glue.  

6/3/14 Another rocket fell on a home and one fell next to a pre-school in Israel

Resource: http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-hamas-leadership-of-palestine_27.html

http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2014/06/30/israeli-army-14-rockets-fired-at-israel-from-gaza
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4536060,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2014
http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/17561/kassam-rocket-lands-childrens-summer-camp-following-iaf-strike/?utm_source=Breaking+Israel+News&utm_campaign=9e62bc6c10-BIN+Email&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b6d3627f72-9e62bc6c10-83518689

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=11913

http://www.jerusalemonline.com/news/middle-east/israeli-palestinian-relations/the-body-of-the-murdered-palestinian-teenager-will-be-brought-to-rest-6241?utm_source=contactology&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyNewsletter

Why Jerusalem Cannot Be Divided

Nadene Goldfoot

"The area you are accustomed to calling "east Jerusalem," in other words, the area north and south and east of the Green Line that split the city in half during the Jordanian occupation, is home today to some 200,000 Jews comprising 41 percent of all the residents living in this area. Eighty-five percent of the 295,000 Arabs in east Jerusalem were born after 1967 into the reality of a united Jerusalem under Israeli governance, and were never exposed to the reality of a divided city."

"Palestinians living in east Jerusalem  are extremely fearful of Palestinian Authority rule and the division of the city. Tens of thousands of them voted with their feet by crossing the security barrier in north Jerusalem over to the Israeli side, to remain inside the united city. Additional tens of thousands have said in surveys that they will do the same thing if the city is once again divided."

"The health care system in Jerusalem serves both populations, as does Hebrew University, the Roads Authority, public transportation, shopping malls, electricity grids, telephone wires and the sewage system. The neighborhoods themselves are also intertwined. Even the barriers between the different quarters in the Old City are increasingly blurred. Jews live in the Muslim Quarter; Muslims live in the Christian Quarter. In contrast to the period under Jordanian rule, the holy sites are open to everyone. The only such restriction is against Jews — on the Temple Mount."

Mahmoud Abbas b: March 26, 1935, former PLO terrorist who took over from Yassar Arafat, now Chairman of the Palestinian National Authority, has been holding this post since November 11, 2004.  His capital has been Ramallah in Judea-Samaria, but he and Khaled Mashaal of Hamas are pushing for east Jerusalem which they would make Judenrein.  Four days ago Abbas said that he wouldn't allow Israel to build in the E1 area.   Reports in the London Sunday Times from 3 days ago say that Hamas is preparing to oust Abbas from Ramallah and take over even it means another war.  They've had an on and off love affair ever since Hamas kicked him out of Gaza in 2007 in a bloody coup.    

"Nir Barkat is the mayor of Jerusalem.  Barkat also makes the important point that Jewish sovereignty over the city has been its only reliable guarantor of religious openness, access, and equality.   By 2030, the city’s population will expand to one million residents from 800,000 today (33% Muslim, 2% Christian and 65% Jewish). Where does the world suggest we put these extra 200,000 residents?

The expansion of Jerusalem’s residential areas is essential for the natural growth of all segments of our population. It enables Jewish and Arab families alike to grow and remain in the city. The capital of a sovereign nation cannot be expected to freeze growth rather than provide housing to families of all faiths eager to make their lives there.

As for “E-1,” this land has always been considered the natural site for the expansion of contiguous neighborhoods of metropolitan Jerusalem. “E-1” strengthens Jerusalem. It does not impede peace in our region. The international alarm about planned construction is based solely on the misplaced dreams of the Palestinians and their supporters for a divided Jerusalem."

Resource: from: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=3092 "Europe, face reality in Jerusalem" by Nadav Shragai

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/163454
http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=292809
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/12/12/jerusalems-mayor-defends-his-city/ by Seth Mandel
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=2&x_outlet=10&x_article=2358 , explanation of the fallacy of E-1 causing problems of movement

Dangerous East Jerusalem
Nadene Goldfoot
An Israeli army jeep was driving through East Jerusalem today and suddenly hit something, causing it to flip over.  After this happened, young Arabs from Issawiya shot fireworks at it and this set it on fire.  Issawiya is a Palestinian neighborhood on Mt. Scopus near the Hebrew University and a district that sees lots of clashing with the Israeli police. 

I'm wondering if something was put in the road on purpose to cause the accident.  I would suspect so, being these boys were ready and johnny on the spot armed with fireworks.  Luckily, there were no casualties. 

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110422/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestiniansconflictjerusalem 

Disagreeing with Obama Over Israel and It's Makeup

Nadene Goldfoot        from Jonathan Tobins's article, How Pro-Israel is Obama?  Assessing the United Nations Post-Veto Fallout

The UN just had a vote brought up against Israel by the Palestinians which the USA vetoed, thank goodness.  However, there are many points that Obama and Israel supporters do not see eye to eye on. Hillary made mention on ABC News on Sunday that Jewish presence there, referring to Judea and Samaria and East Jerusalem, was "illigitimate" which is not following protocal at all.  It stinks! 

More than a quarter of a million Israelis live in Judea-Samaria, so called West Bank.  More than 200,000 live in parts of Jerusalem that had been illegally occupied by Jordan before 1967's war.  Obama has fought Israel on building homes in existing Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem which to me and others is ridiculous.  He is trying to do away with the fact that Israel already had said it would do away with remote settlements for a peace accord and those that in the Bush administration were already facts to be respected would remain in Israel's hands.  Obama is messing with Israel's capital, Jerusalem, and its 40 year old Jewish neighborhoods. 

I feel there should have been a time limit as well for the Palestinians to come around and make peace with Israel if they really want and need their own state so badly.  Israelis have waited now for 63 years and they haven't done it yet, no matter what has been offered to them.  That's ENOUGH!  I feel that this fact alone gives Israel the right to go ahead with their life and build in Judea-Samaria, their ancient homeland.  Otherwise, it just sits there as a wasteland, waiting.  When you come right down to it, the Palestinians, who came from many other countries in the first place and who were looking for jobs with  the returned Israelis, do have 46 other Muslim countries that they could live in other than what they claim to want now.  Look at Jordan.  It is home to many so called Palestinians. 

For Obama and Clinton to end this with saying that the Jewish state's position on the issue of settlements was illegitimate and that Israel threatened peace and devastate trust shows that the USA has very little respect for Israel.  To me they are putting their head in the sand and refusing to see just who is threatening peace and cannot be trusted.  Many see that the Israel-USA relationship has lessened a great deal since the Bush administration.  Actually, other presidents have never accepted Israel's position on territory, new towns or borders, but then they are not the ones living there or seeing it through the eyes of the Israelis, either.  They are most likely seeing the situation as it affects them personally.  They make decisions without having studied the personalities involved or knowing the psyche of the Middle Easterners. 

Does the American administration think that giving the Palestinians East Jerusalem and all of Judea and Samaria will cause them to sign a peace treaty and....keep it?  Do they think this will bring Hamas around?  They were given Gaza on a silver plate and they only became more violent and haven't stopped yet.  No.  The Palestinians, unfortunately, are not thinking with American heads.  They want more; the extinction of Israel, and no one has counseled them as to why this is a bad idea.  The American administration only seems to be contributing to the Fatah and Hamas belief that they are right to want the death of Israel. 

I think it is most unwise to even think of having a peace treaty as long as Hamas remains Israel's enemy.  When these former PLO groups, Fatah and Hamas can jointly be acceptable peace-loving people and care for the lives of their children to be long and safely lived, then peace can be  obtained.  Fatah is not ready for peace, not as long as they teach in their schools that there is no Israel on the map, or teach hate for Israelis, I know they are not truly into a peaceful accord.  They seem to have taken just one important step in the right direction, and that is to not fire upon Israel.  Of course, they are allowing the Hamas Gazans to do all of that.  Abbas or others in his party have no  authority over Hamas.  When these two Muslim groups can become peaceful with Israel, we will all celebrate.

Resource: http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0211/tobin022111.php3?printer_friendly

Israel's Capital Is Jerusalem; All of It

Nadene Goldfoot

1967 saw Israel attacked by surrounding countries and winning the war. As a consequence, Israel was able to take all of its beloved Jerusalem back, which means that East Jerusalem fell into Israel's hands. That's the consequence of attacking and trying to kill Israelis and driving them all into the sea. They took their chances and lost. East Jerusalem was being held by Jordan, but they had lost it. Moral of this story is: DON'T ATTACK ISRAEL!

Nothing has ever been signed or said orally that Israel would not continue life or building in all of Jerusalem. The Shepherd Hotel has been declared absentee property and was announced in 2009 that it would be torn down to make way for sites for homes in East Jerusalem. On Sunday the bulldozers did their job, clearing the site for 20 new homes. The title of the hotel went to an Israeli firm who sold it in 1985 to a US Jewish fellow. This business deal was all done according to Israeli law and the government was not involved.

Netanyahu commented that Israel is not stopping Jews from buying real estate. Arab residents of Jerusalem can buy or rent property in all Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem and Jews can buy or rent property in all Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem. It's a democracy.

I think Obama and Clinton have forgotten how this works, because Hilary Clinton, while on a tour of the US Gulf Arab allies in Abu Dhabi, called this transaction a disturbing development and that it undermines peace efforts to achieve the two-state solution. This criticism from Clinton produced the comment from Netanyahu that Jews have a right to live anywhere in Jerusalem.

I say Hockey Pucks to that. I'm sorry to say that my government is backing a group of terrorists who continually shell Israel's cities. When they quit shelling and killing, then Israel might believe that they are interested in a peaceful solution. There's lots of differences here that need to be settled, and Abbas can't face Netanyahu and talk about them. One of these differences is that half of the Palestinians are in Gaza and only want to destroy Israel.

190,000 Israelis live in East Jerusalem and areas next to the Judea/Samaria area which was annexed to Jerusalem's municipality. 250,000 Palestinians also live there. Israel has over a million Palestinian citizens who are also in the government. They have the same standing as the Jewish citizens.

It's terrible that the international community, of which the USA is a part of, does not recognize Israel's claim that Jerusalem is its capital. I think that's deplorable. Jerusalem has always been a Jewish capital, a Jewish center, the holiest of holy cities to Jews. To have allowed Jews to be attacked in so many wars leading up to 67 and just watching and then to reward the Palestinians by giving them East Jerusalem in particular, doesn't make sense at all. What in the world is Jerusalem to them? They only want East Jerusalem as their capital because Jews now have Jerusalem once again. What do nations learn if they can attack and kill and receive no consequences that will teach them to live in peace? Right now they have learned that they can attack Israel and get away with it and receive no comdenation from the international community yet let Israelis live in East Jerusalem-aha! That's the crime in the world. Heaven help us. Lord, do they know what they do?

Resource: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110110/wl_nm/us_palestinians_israel-netanyahu

Confrontation over Israel and "Settlements"

Nadene Goldfoot



Instead of meeting with Israel about peace discussions, Abbas prefered to approach the U.N. Security Council and asked them to debate Israel's building in Jerusalem and most likely Judea and Samaria on Wednesday. At least that was his plan for today.



Obama has already chastised Netanyahu from Indonesia, the world's #1 country with a Muslim majority of 228,582,000 people who have 86.1%Sunni Muslim population, over future building plans in Jerusalem, our sovereign capital. I say this because the Indonesians are probably not feeling very friendly toward Israel. They don't allow Jews in their country. That was the prelude to Hillary Clinton going to Israel on Thursday to warn Netanyahu about the "Jewish settlement building plans" that they consider wrong because she and Obama think it clouds hopes to renew peace talks.



Personally, I think Abbas has made it perfectly clear that he has no intention of entering into any peace talks when he can appeal to the U.N. who most likely will be very sympathetic, as so many of them are from Muslim countries and hate Israel.



The pressure that Netanyahu has had to endure is incredible, but he managed to show his strength with the declaration reminding the world that Jerusalem is our capital and that Israel is a sovereign nation and he never said he would not build in Jerusalem. He also made it clear that Jerusalem is not a settlement.

Netanyahu has even spoken with Henry Kissinger about this. Everyone is hopeful that they will have a productive meeting.



I think it is sickening that our President is not listening to our case but instead is siding with the very people who have been attacking us for so long and who more than just covet our land, religiously just want us to be blown away. Can the world get any weirder?



Reference: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101111/pl_afp/israelpalestinianusdiplomacypeace
http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=194805

Israel's Building Plans for East Jerusalem

by Nadene Goldfoot

The Oregonian had an article today titled, Israel plans new housing units on disputed land. The last time I looked, Jerusalem had not been divided. It does have its neighborhoods, just as Portland has a Chinatown. I know that the Palestinians are plotting to take over East Jerusalem, if not more, as part of their to be Palestine. Why they are holding out in peace talks about it is their decision. They've been doing it ever since Israel was declared a state in 1948, so it's nothing new. They simply can't bring themselves to accept a Jewish state in an ocean of Islam. There's no tolerance in their minds.

In the meantime, life must go on for Israel, so they have decided to build 980 new apartments in the Jewish neighborhood of Har Homa and 320 in the Ramot area. Israel's Interior Ministry says that actual construction could be years away, however. At least someone has recognized the need for more housing coming up and the plan of continuing to keep Jerusalem whole. The newspaper article by Edmund Sanders from the McClatchy Tribune hits the readers on the head with "build an additional 1,300 apartments. "

As to why the statement has come out today has been muddled over by the reporter. Danny Seidemann, a Jerusalem expert and settlement critic must be a man against Jews living in Judea-Samaria as well as East Jerusalem, keeping this free of Jews for the Arab population. He thinks that this is sending a message that self-restraint of Netanyahu's government is over, or that Netanyahu might be reacting to our USA election last week. What the article doesn't tell you is that Danny is a member of Peace Now, and speaks to groups such as Americans for Peace Now. He is an American born lawyer and peace activist who moved to Israel in 1973 right out of college. Danny is now the head of the Israeli NGO Terrestrial Jerusalem. He has chutzpa, I'll give him that. He criticized Elie Wiesel about his stand on Jerusalem. Elie referred to him as the Jerusalem guru. He evidently is also a leader of Ir Shalem, which means "unified City". It's said to be a left wing Zionist organization by the Palestinians who are advocating developing Jerusalem for the benefit of all residents, Jews and Arabs. I ask how he would plan on seeing development for Jews in this Jewish neighborhood without holding onto a hammer and a nail and some building material?

It's too bad that the reporter didn't bother to find someone else to interview regarding the announcement of future building. He sought out one of the most dissident Israelis who is against the idea. Perhaps he should have left his hotel and talked to the Jewish residents of these neighborhoods to see why they needed more housing. Wouldn't that have been more fair and unbiased reporting?

http://peacenow.org/entries/danny_seidemann_responds_to_elie_wiesel_in_foreign_policy
http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/authors.php?auid=2706
Oregonian Newspaper Tuesday, November 9, 2010 page A6.
http://www.theisraelproject.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hsJPK0PIJpH&b=689705&ct=8863317
http://israelbehindthenews.com/bin/content.cgi?ID=4193&q=1

http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/45884734/critiques/new/Jerusalem_is_Not_a_Settlement.asp

East Jerusalem's Jewish History

Nadene Goldfoot

The neighborhood of Gilo as well as other East Jerusalem's neighborhoods was home to Jews that were driven out in 1948 by of all people, the British officered Arab Legion of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. This was at the time that Israel was created as a Jewish state and all the surrounding Arab states attacked her. So it wasn't just Arabs who fled with the promise from their Arab soldiers of returning and living in Jewish homes. These Jews were forced to leave by Jordanian soldiers.

Jordan had illegally occupied East Jerusalem along with Judea and Samaria. This was recognized only by Britain and Pakistan.

Israel gained Jerusalem back in 1967 in the Six Day War.

Victor Sharpe reminds us that in 1918, Rabbi Hertz, Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, had spoken of the 4,000 years of history that bound Jews to Jerusalem calling to mind its history. At this time they were celebrating its liberation from the Ottoman Turks by the British. He spoke of Judah Maccabee who led his warriors against Greek-Syrians to liberate Jerusalem from the heathens.

Now the Palestinian Arabs are trying to take East Jerusalem for their to be state of Palestine. Their latest move is to have renovated 14 schools in the area claiming rights because of this. East Jerusalem is still a part of Jerusalem which is the capital of Israel. Here we have a situation where so much money has had to go into the IDF and security that Israel has had a hard time updating schools. Unlike the USA, they cannot risk spending what they don't have, and then they have this challenge. I say that if Palestinians have so much available cash on hand, perhaps they need to be taxed more to pay for such things.
http://www.ruthfullyyours.com/2010/11/02/victor-sharpe-obamas-blaeful-glance-upon-jerusalem/

Why We Keep On Building

Here is a picture of Ariel, the 4th largest Jewish city in Judea with over 16,000.
It is 25 miles from Tel Aviv.

by Nadene Goldfoot

A half million Israelis live in Judea-Samaria (West Bank) and East Jerusalem. This had been the heartland of Ancient Israel. It was regained after the War of 1967 when Israel was attacked from all sides. The Arabs had thought that surely they would win being Israel was so outnumbered.


By winning, Israel gained back this land. They started to populate it more. At the time, there was no consideration of Palestinians declaring their own state and wanting this piece of land as they had been offered land way back in the beginning in 1948 and had refused it. They were not desperate like Jews were to have their own state. They did not need their own state. Now that they see that they have not wiped out Israel, they are making out that they need the land for their statehood. In reality they just don't want Israel to be there. This is another form of warfare against Israel.


Israel has given in everytime a chance has come up to trade in land for peace. They even had a moratorium on building in Judea-Samaria for 10 months, giving the Palestinians time to recognize and come to terms with Israel, possibly even leading to changing their charter of wiping out Israel. The Palestinians let the time lapse. Now that they see that Israel is not upset by it and has started to build without extending anymore time, the Arabs are pouting, and have given the United States a month in order to get Israel into a discussion about peace terms. Of course the peace terms I can imagine will be all about what the Palestinians are steering towards, the destruction of Israel, where we ask for recognition.


Israel is not as naive anymore. It's in the state of living and developing. Their best soldiers happen to come from the Judea-Samaria area nowdays. 40% of IDF combat officers are religious zionists. That means that they understand the relevance of Judea and Samaria to Israel. This is why losing this area is traumatic.


Israel is not a state that just happened to be settled by Jews because it was just an empty swampy ugly piece of available arid land. It was the spot that our religion centered on in that we were given the land by G-d and were meant to be there. I don't know of any other place on this planet that has such a history. You have to recognize the meaning of Israel to Jews. Evangelical Christians certainly do. Places such as Europe have become unattached to religion lately and seem to have forgotten this history and why Israel means so much to us. After bouncing around from country to country looking for acceptance for 2,000 years, we realized that we needed to be back in our homeland. We could contribute to the world our creations and ideas better that way. Strangely, our land had laid fallow for the whole time we had been gone. No one really wanted it. It had become a mess, but it was our land.


Israel was very fair in giving Abbas time to come around and do the right thing in recognizing the state that he intends to live next door to. Would you want to move into a house that sits next door to your hated enemy? If he wants that house bad enough he's going to have to get along with the neighbor that's already there somehow. Good parental psychology says that you don't keep making threats to your children and then not abide by the rules that you have set. Netanyahu has done the same thing. Now he has every right to keep on building, and the plan right now is in East Jerusalem. Jerusalem, after all, is Israel's capital. If people don't remember, it was the capital of ancient Israel, also. It's more than special to us.


We've been at odds ever since the days of Abraham. It was a disappointment to us then and still is. When the day comes that the Arabs want to be friends, well, that will be the day. I guess, from the looks of this past 63 year history, it just may take the Messiah to bring it about. Something great has to touch their hearts and bring about a change in attitude.



http://www.israelunitycoalition.org/news/?p=5948 from Wall Street Journal by Yossi Klein Halevi Why Israel Won't Abandon the Settlers
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101016/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

Eastern Jerusalem Erupts

Arabs in the Silwan neighborhood of the Eastern part of Jerusalem stoned a security guard while in his vehicle at 4:00am. They cornered him in an ambush, causing him to shoot one of them, a person who had been in uprisings before.

Most likely the cause of the uproar is the peace talks between Abbas and Netanyahu. There has been unrest ever since they started. Hamas still has influence over Fatah's members and may be instigating them.

These rioters should learn not to attack someone armed. They are playing with fire. This time one died. Being up at 4:00am makes me wonder that possibly they were just waiting for someone to come along to stone.

There was more violence at the funeral. People went wild. The Arabs set two cars and a police vehicle on fire. They damaged the windows in a bus. Ten Israelis were injured. Eight Arabs were arrested.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has suggested strongly that East Jerusalem be the capitol for Palestine. Hillary Clinton backs this idea strongly.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100922/wl_afp/israelpalestiniansconflictjerusalem

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100922/pl_afp/israelpalestinianspeaceussaudi

Who Recognizes Israel?

by Nadene Goldfoot

Is it so shocking that Israel's Netanyahu is asking for recognition of Israel in order to have peace? Recognition means acceptance of the state in the neighborhood. It means that it will be respected and not shot at. It means it's a legitimate neighbor and all want peace. It would be in a state such as USA is with its neighbors of Canada and Mexico today. Israelis are tired of putting up with rocket firing morning, noon and night. You can't sign a peace treaty with people who are intending to do you in anyway. Palestinians have to say, "Okay! You're a legitimate state accepted by the U.N. in May of 1948. We concede to that. We'll quit trying to drive you all into the sea. "

Palestinians don't want to recognize Israel because they want the West Bank and East Jerusalem to have no building at all by Israelis there. They want it for themselves. Since Jerusalem is the capitol of Israel, Israel feels it is their city. Jerusalem is THE city as far as Judaism goes. It's in our history, our religion, and our soul. We don't mind having Arabs living in East Jerusalem. We have a million Arabs living in Israel. However, the state of Palestine wants their country to be free of all Jews. They want us out. We have fears that they will try to take over all of Jerusalem, also. After all we've been through, we're not about to let that happen. We remember how our cemeteries were desecrated by the Jordanians. People used them as latrines. King David and his son King Solomon would roll over in their graves if they thought we'd let Jerusalem be given away. Most of our give aways that were in the name of peace have just resulted in being used as landing places for our neighbors to attack us.

The West Bank in history was Judea and Samaria. It's also most important in Jewish history. Again, we don't mind and wouldn't kick out the Arabs living there, but we don't like the idea of uprooting all the Jewish people that live there, either.

The Palestinians are always demanding that we give up land. We had a sufficient chunk of land promised to us in the first place, but had to settle for only a small part of it at the formation of Israel and that was okay with us. Something was better than nothing. Ever since then the Arabs have been chipping away pieces of it. We gained land after the 1967 battle of many Arab countries attacking us. Maybe it was a miracle that we won the war, but we won, and gained back Jerusalem from Jordan. Now, we're not about to let it go just because they're demanding.

They're calling out that building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal by the international community. Well, the international community is not supportive of Israel in any way shape or form, anyway. I feel they're still harboring anti-semitic feelings and have always been against the Jewish people. They certainly haven't condemned Palestinians for attacking Israel civilians with rockets, have they.

The whole affair is so one sided that it makes me dizzy. No wonder a Rabbi in Israel blew up cursing the Palestinian terrorists who are so against Israel. I would have said, may you all lose all your teeth except one, and in that one tooth get a giant toothache. I think that's the curse my grandmother used to use on people she was exasperated with.

Divided Arabs Difficult to Partner With

Fatah is the "former" terrorist group that was under Arafat. They have moved out of Gaza and into the Judea Samaria section. Do they recognize Israel's right to exist? That's hard to say. They have agreed to #242 and #338 which means they renounce terrorism, but it has happened from some of their people. They call Israel's right to exist just ideology. According to international law as they see it, that concept isn't in the legal bounds. The question asked is is it a legal right or moral right to have come into existence or to remain in existence? They finally accepted the fact that Israel came into existence legally on Nov 15, 1988 when they declared a Declaration of Independence. This declaration provides for two states, one Arab and one Jewish. They have refused to say that Israel had a moral right to come into being because this would affirm the Zionist movement. This was viewed by the international community as the case, but no Palestinians in the world believed it then, and their leaders saw to that by promoting attacks to drive Israel into the sea.





Unfortunately, Fatah is only about half of Palestinians. We have the Hamas and other terrorists in Gaza who refuse to recognize us or not stop attacking. They themselves are a divided people. So making peace with Fatah is just one part of a predicament. It's hardly a deal. Why doesn't the Arab League pressure them to go along with Abbas? Will this ever happen? Without this piece, there is no peace for Israel. They are continuing their attacks.






Just around the bend lie more Arab countries. Now Syria and Libya are pressuring the Palestinians to not talk with Israel about peace but to resume armed fighting. The Palestinians in Gaza are following this order and just fired two rockets and clashes in Khan Yunis in southern Israel. Two Israeli soldiers were killed and one is fighting for his life.





At the same time the Arab League says it is backing the land for peace initiative with Israel. Here we go, being expected to give up more land, and this now is land from East Jerusalem for peace. Palestinians want this piece to be their capital of their future state. They want all this before they even sit down to talk, which is not in the cards right now.





Abbas's aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh dismissed the pressure from Gadhafi of Libya and Abbas of Syria. Yet he said that if Syria and Libya declare war on Israel the Palestinians would follow. So what will happen with such neighbors sitting virtually in Israel's laps if they take part of Jerusalem is that the enemy would be that much closer. There is no possibility of neighborliness.





Abbas has already stated that there will be no peace deal with Israel until we move out of east Jerusalem. We also live there, but they want this to be Judenrein, free of Jews. It doesn't matter to them or the world that we have over one million Arabs living in Israel as citizens. I can see why Netanyahu told Obama right off that we would continue to build on our own land.





I lived in Binyon 13, or building 13 in Safed and had Arabs living in our building. This won't happen in the future Palestine. Yet Obama has pressured Netanyahu to go along with this nightmare of a demand of stopping all building on what is our very own land full of Jews.





We moved lock, stock and barrel out of Gaza which only brought us the nightmare of eight years of hellish rockets raining on southern Israel. Before that we moved Israelis in the act of land for peace which got us nothing. We move and Palestinians attack us in better and closer positions. This expectation of Obama would earn him more cudos with the Arabs and points with Americans, but wouldn't get us anything but destruction. I think we're too smart for this. It's time the Palestinians did something that would benefit us. Give us guarantees up the gazoozoo by recognition and promise of peace with a time period to show they mean it. The biggest thing we need is a non-violent neighbor to give us peace.




http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100328/ap_on_re_af/af_libya_arab_summit/print
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/International/2010/03/27/Israelis-Palestinians-clash-in-Gaza/UPI-88371269712846/
http://israelipalestinian.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000393

http://www.jewishpolicycenter.org/788interview-why-hamas-and-fatah-fight

Palestinians Rioting Again In Jerusalem

Palestinians were rioting just before Biden arrived because Israel announced it was fixing historic sites. Palestinians have contributed to the destruction of many a Jewish site over the years, and all need fixing now and then. Palestinians are doing things like dedicating their sites to terrorists who killed lots of Israelis which is also very hurtful to us. We haven't rioted over this, just shake our heads in disgust. It's not a neighborly thing to do at all, but fixing everyone's sites is. Yet they riot. I can't comprehend this behavior.

Now they're rioting in Jerusalem again, incited and empowered by Biden and then Hillary Clinton's chastisements of Netanyahu allowing the announcement of 1,600 apartment units in the allowed Eastern part of Jerusalem. It doesn't take much to give them an excuse to cause trouble. They're rioting more now than they would have with just the announcement, I fear.

I lived in Israel from 1980-1985 and can well believe that Netanyahu didn't know that his interior ministry would make an announcement about the upcoming planned building when it happened, but I think it was a good thing that happened instead of a bad thing. I feel that Biden was steamrolling facts pertaining to things on the table to be discussed in the planned peace talks. This sure brought things out in the open; facts Biden wasn't aware of? Or was he?

Actually, Mitchell was the one to conduct peace talks, and now he's not coming. He's been very one sided anyway, giving special nice treatment to the Palestinians, I feel. I'd like to know what the Irish think of his handling of their situation. Are both sides happy? I think having an Irish group to talk peace with would be much easier at this point. They may have hated each other but they did have a lot in common, even their religion up to a point. They didn't know what hate was like until they know the hate the Palestinians have manifested against Jews. Where else do you find textbooks in grade school with such hate as what the Palestinians have printed? The lies that have been told are believed even more as they are continually told. The Irish didn't have another country encouraging one side to wipe the other into the sea, or supply and threaten to kill them with atomic weapons, either. It's an impossible situation that is quite different from the Irish one. Each situation is unique. Mitchell should know that.