FresnoZionism.org — ציונות פרסנו

By Vic Rosenthal

“If you were to read the Palestinian newspapers these days you’d be appalled by the sinister headlines: killings, kidnappings, arsons, shootings, revenge attacks and Kassam launchings. Then you read calls for a “national unity government” – as though Palestinians were already living in two different countries, one in Gaza (under Hamas) and the other in the West Bank (under Fatah).

The people’s sense of defeat is caused by our leaders’ ineptitude; the violence is fed by poverty, oppression and deprivation.” — Bassam Eid in the Jerusalem Post

Palestinian civil society today is an oxymoron. This is obviously bad for them, but it’s also bad for Israel, since it is not possible to acheive peace, or even a cease-fire, when there’s no stability and no control on criminal behavior.

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JERUSALEM, Jan. 19 — Israel transferred $100 million in tax revenues to the office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as part of a plan to bolster him and keep money out of the hands of the Hamas government, officials said today…

…Israel also has removed some West Bank roadblocks, but Palestinians say they still face many obstacles when they seek to travel. — NY Times

In other news:

(IsraelNN.com) Two Qassam rockets struck Israel on Tuesday. One of the rockets struck the western Negev, while the other hit south of Ashkelon.

Also Tuesday, Arab terrorists fired on IDF troops near the security fence along the Gaza border, and in Jenin, an explosives device was set off near troops, who also came under fire. There were no injuries in all of the incidents.

An IDF reserve soldier was lightly injured Tuesday when a burning tire exploded near the village of Qibya, northwest of Ramallah. Arabs placed ammunition in the tire and then set it ablaze near the separation fence.

The Israeli right wing has been cast as extremist, irresponsible, made up of religious fanatics and terrorists no better than their Arab counterparts. Of course this is not even close to true, despite highly publicized exceptions such as Baruch Goldstein and Yigal Amir.

Since 1993, Israel has tried to negotiate with the Palestinians to exchange the occupied territories for a peace agreement (and for actual peace). This hasn’t worked and today Israel finds herself at war with the rejectionist Hamas.

Much of the elite in Israel’s government, academy, legal system, media, and even the army are wedded to this point of view. But what if they are wrong?

Since the inauguration of the 1993 Oslo peace process, Israel’s national debate has largely ignored the only question that should be guiding it: How are we to advance Israel’s national interests? Rather, since 1993, our national debate has been anchored around the question of how best to establish a Palestinian state. This question, rooted in the false Arab narrative which consciously rejects the morality of the Zionist revolution, has brought us to a position where the IDF is cognitively barred from rationally approaching Israel’s security challenges. — Caroline Glick in the Jerusalem Post.

It is absolutely essential that anyone concerned about the future of the state of Israel read this article and take the argument it presents seriously. Name-calling is not a rational or acceptable response.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday she expected the “Quartet” of the EU, Russia, the UN and the US to meet the week of January 29 in Washington to discuss Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. — Jerusalem Post

Three entities whose behavior indicates that they would like to see Israel gone, plus a somewhat conflicted US, meet to decide what Israel must give up to the Palestinians who display their deserving status by continuing to fire rockets, shoot Israelis, and try to infiltrate suicide bombers.

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