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20 hours ago
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
Israel Matzav: What the 'moderate' 'Palestinians' mean by a 'two-state solution'
What the 'moderate' 'Palestinians' mean by a 'two-state solution'
With President Obama calling for a 'two-state solution' and Prime Minister Netanyahu pointedly refusing to even utter the words in their press conference today, let's look at what the 'moderate' 'Palestinians' mean when they say 'two-state solution.' Would they regard it as permanent? This is Abbas Zaki, the PLO ambassador to Lebanon in an interview on Lebanon's ANB TV on May 7, 2009.
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Israel Matzav: What the 'moderate' 'Palestinians' mean by a 'two-state solution'
Israel Matzav: Saying no to a 'Palestinian state'
Saying no to a 'Palestinian state'
There's a great article by Daniel Doron in Saturday's Forbes.com. I am going to give you a teaser and then you should read the whole thing. Israel Matzav: Saying no to a 'Palestinian state'The most common approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict, held by the well-connected Peace Now camp, holds that the conflict is about nationhood and territory. It blames Israel for the conflict, claiming Israel's reluctance to fully withdraw its settlements from the West Bank (it did from Gaza) denies the Palestinian Arabs a contiguous territory and enough living space to assert their sovereignty
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Israel Matzav: Lebanon: Two 'Israeli spies' escape to Israel
Lebanon: Two 'Israeli spies' escape to Israel
Lebanese officials report that two Lebanese men accused of spying for Israel have escaped into that country via the border near Kibbutz Misgav Am. JPost is reporting that each man was accompanied by two of his children, while Arutz Sheva is reporting that one the men's names and that he is accompanied by his wife and three sons. The two entered Israel Monday morning via a gate near Kibbutz Bar Am, the officials told international media. One of the two was identified as 49-year-old Eli Maroun Hayek, a professor of mathematics. Hayek fled with his wife and three sons.
According to Lebanese media, Lebanon's government has turned to the United Nations with a request that the two escapees be tracked down and returned.Read All at :
Israel Matzav: Lebanon: Two 'Israeli spies' escape to Israel
Israel Matzav: The difference between Bush and Obama 88-31
The difference between Bush and Obama 88-31
American Jews may not believe the truth yet about President Barack Hussein Obama, but according to a Smith poll released in Israel on Monday, Israelis certainly have begun to smell the coffee. Only 31% of Israelis believe that President Obama and his administration are pro-Israel. That contrasts with 88% of Israelis who believe that President Bush and his administration were pro-Israel. Read All at :
Israel Matzav: The difference between Bush and Obama 88-31
BIBI GOES TO WASHINGTON
Bibi Goes to Washington
In a few hours Netanyahu will meet Obama in the White House. Since not a single living person knows what will happen at the meeting, don't expect me to tell you. Nor should you believe anyone else. The two men will meet, they'll talk, and they'll see what happens, even though both come prepared with plans, plan Bs, counter plan Bs, and backup plan Cs.
Helene Cooper, in yesterday's NYT, wrote a commonly-held expectation; let's call it The Silly Expectation. The thesis of this narrative is that Obama will finally put pressure on Israel, real pressure, and this will bring peace. What pressure? First, accept the Two State Solution; second, stop building on the West Bank; third, remember that the Palestinians are people too; fourth, sit back and enjoy Peace and Tranquility for the Rest of History; fifth, applaud the Iranians for dismantling their nulear program. True, Ms. Cooper doesn't quite sat it in such a simplistic way, but that's the thrust. She's representative of pundits and fools the world over.
The problem, of course, is that the previous three Israeli prime minsters all did stages one-two-three, and in response the best they got was bobkes; some of them, such as Ehud Barak, Arik Sharon and Ehud Olmert, got much worse. The fallacy of the Silly Expectation being, of course, that for peace to arrive Israel does indeed need to dismantle lots of settlements, and enable the creation of a Palestinian State in Gaza and the West Bank, but the Palestinians also have to do a thing or two, such as work together; give up on the Right or Return; and officially declare the end of the conflict. Among other requirements: none of which is about to happen, alas.
I didn't vote for Netanyahu, and my feeling is that he won't do at the meeting what he should, namely proclaim, loud and clear: "Two States, Mr. President? But of course! One for the Jews called Israel, with an Arab minority, and one for the Palestinians. Of course, Mr. President! We agree on this fully. Now, if you can figure out a way to get there, we'll award you with a special medal, and enrol you in the Order of Impressive Magicians! But in the meantime, lets talk about Iran; at least that's a subject where something may still possibly be done".
I fear Netanyahu won't do that, unfortunately, but one way or the other I don't see how it will make a difference. According to all reports, both men are intelligent, perhaps even highly intelligent, as well as being surrounded by lots of intelligent and well-informed people; the likelihood either of them thinks peace can be had for the asking seems low.
And Iran? I don't know about that, either, except I think Jeffrey Goldberg's fine op-ed in yesterday's NYT is right in that Netanyahu may really be serious; he may really believe the most important thing he'll do in life is stop the Iranians from acquiring nuclear weapons. Which means Obama, intelligent fellow he is, will have to find a way to stop the Iranians without war, because otherwise Netanyahu will do it with war. You really should read Goldberg's article; it's far more serious than most journalism usually is.
Helene Cooper, in yesterday's NYT, wrote a commonly-held expectation; let's call it The Silly Expectation. The thesis of this narrative is that Obama will finally put pressure on Israel, real pressure, and this will bring peace. What pressure? First, accept the Two State Solution; second, stop building on the West Bank; third, remember that the Palestinians are people too; fourth, sit back and enjoy Peace and Tranquility for the Rest of History; fifth, applaud the Iranians for dismantling their nulear program. True, Ms. Cooper doesn't quite sat it in such a simplistic way, but that's the thrust. She's representative of pundits and fools the world over.
The problem, of course, is that the previous three Israeli prime minsters all did stages one-two-three, and in response the best they got was bobkes; some of them, such as Ehud Barak, Arik Sharon and Ehud Olmert, got much worse. The fallacy of the Silly Expectation being, of course, that for peace to arrive Israel does indeed need to dismantle lots of settlements, and enable the creation of a Palestinian State in Gaza and the West Bank, but the Palestinians also have to do a thing or two, such as work together; give up on the Right or Return; and officially declare the end of the conflict. Among other requirements: none of which is about to happen, alas.
I didn't vote for Netanyahu, and my feeling is that he won't do at the meeting what he should, namely proclaim, loud and clear: "Two States, Mr. President? But of course! One for the Jews called Israel, with an Arab minority, and one for the Palestinians. Of course, Mr. President! We agree on this fully. Now, if you can figure out a way to get there, we'll award you with a special medal, and enrol you in the Order of Impressive Magicians! But in the meantime, lets talk about Iran; at least that's a subject where something may still possibly be done".
I fear Netanyahu won't do that, unfortunately, but one way or the other I don't see how it will make a difference. According to all reports, both men are intelligent, perhaps even highly intelligent, as well as being surrounded by lots of intelligent and well-informed people; the likelihood either of them thinks peace can be had for the asking seems low.
And Iran? I don't know about that, either, except I think Jeffrey Goldberg's fine op-ed in yesterday's NYT is right in that Netanyahu may really be serious; he may really believe the most important thing he'll do in life is stop the Iranians from acquiring nuclear weapons. Which means Obama, intelligent fellow he is, will have to find a way to stop the Iranians without war, because otherwise Netanyahu will do it with war. You really should read Goldberg's article; it's far more serious than most journalism usually is.
Taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)
BEATING TERRORISTS BY VIOLENCE
Beating Terrorists by Violence
The Sri Lanken army has defeated the LTTE, the Tamil terrorist/rebel army. It took 25 years, and the final stage was characterized by rather indiscriminate violence against whoever was in the theatre of operation, citizens and fighters all.
All the while, the Rajapaksa administration managed to amass better weapons,
corral political support to quash the Tamil Tigers, crush dissent, and dismiss
any international criticism of human rights as pro-rebel propaganda.
So much for the accepted wisdom that popular freedom movements can't be defeated, that terrorism can be defeated only by addressing its underlying root causes, and that wars and strife will end only when grievances are redressed. Nonesense. Admittedly, this set of beliefs is extraordinarily compelling, has long since acquired the status of meta-dogma, and residual skeptics are treated as unenlightened barbarians who must be banished from polite society and certainly removed from all levers of power. The High Priests of politically correct discourse and thought, however, are exactly as fallible and wrongheaded as most of their predecessors these past 5,000 years or so; sooner or later reality intrudes to the extent that new dogmas are elevated.
I don't know enough about Sri Lanka to evaluate the moral aspects of this development. All I’m saying is that sometimes power works, and violence can achieve its goals.
Taken from:Yaacov Lozowick's Ruminations (http://yaacovlozowick.blogspot.com/)
French priest interviews Hitler's willing executioners in Ukraine - Haaretz - Israel News
French priest interviews Hitler's willing executioners in Ukraine | |
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| By Cnaan Liphshiz | |
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Tags: jewish world, Holocaust  | |
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French priest interviews Hitler's willing executioners in Ukraine - Haaretz - Israel News
U.S. Jews seek clues to Obama Israel policy in Netanyahu visit - Haaretz - Israel News
U.S. Jews seek clues to Obama Israel policy in Netanyahu visit
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| By Natasha Mozgovaya | |
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| Tags: AIPAC, benjamin netanyahu | |
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U.S. Jews seek clues to Obama Israel policy in Netanyahu visit - Haaretz - Israel News
My Jewish Learning: Yerushalmi Kugel
My Jewish Learning: Yerushalmi Kugel: "Yerushalmi Kugel
The sweet and peppery flavor of Jerusalem Kugel."
The sweet and peppery flavor of Jerusalem Kugel."
Chesler Chronicles » The Blood Libels at National Geographic Magazine: The Planet-Friendly Purveyer of Anti-Christian, Anti-American, and Anti-Israeli Biases.
The Blood Libels at National Geographic Magazine: The Planet-Friendly Purveyer of Anti-Christian, Anti-American, and Anti-Israeli Biases.
Menacing anti-Israel demonstrations in the street, rabid anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations, obsessive anti-Israel boycott resolutions among western academics, relentless anti-Israel headlines in the world media are “politics as usual,” involving the young and the fanatic. Most civilians barely notice it. They are worried about employment, health insurance, college tuition for their children—or about celebrities, whose decadent rise and fall distracts them from their own more ordinary miseries.
What worries me more are the movies and plays that subtly and inexorably shift the civilian point of view, movies which glamorize Arab tyrants and terrorists and demonize Israeli soldiers, “settlers” and politicians. Gradually, almost imperceptibly, ordinary people have come to believe that the Muslim world is peaceful, friendly, safe; that its “rough edges” are due to it’s having formerly been oppressed by Europe; that Islamist terrorism has probably been caused by the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan; that much of this is Israel’s fault—or rather, that much of this may now be solved if only America sacrifices Israel for the sake of world peace, including its own survival.
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Chesler Chronicles » The Blood Libels at National Geographic Magazine: The Planet-Friendly Purveyer of Anti-Christian, Anti-American, and Anti-Israeli Biases.
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