FresnoZionism.org — ציונות פרסנו

From YNet:

Recent developments on the Arab-Israeli front include the following: A massacre at a Jerusalem Jewish seminary perpetrated by an east Jerusalem resident, a near lynch of municipal parking inspectors, a call for martyrdom at a mass rally in Umm al Fahm, and repeated warnings issued by the Shin Bet director indicating that Israeli Arabs are increasingly involved in terror activities….

According to Dr. Dan Shiftan of the University Of Haifa School Of Political Science, “we are witnessing an ongoing process of radicalization in Arab society…. the stone throwing incidents we have witnessed as of late are no coincidence, and are a direct product of this radicalization, which legitimizes violence in retaliation for perceived Jewish atrocities.”

The majority of the Arab public, notes Shiftan, chooses to endorse leaders that explicitly call for the annihilation of the State of Israel. “Arabs have such an extreme, incendiary leadership today because these are the very views that get Arab leaders elected. Arab leaders that are elected these days must espouse radical views not only calling for the destruction of Israel, but also supporting all of Israel’s enemies worldwide…Any Jew-murdering terrorist is immediately embraced by the current Arab leadership.”

From the Arab point of view, the problem is discrimination against Israeli Arabs and incitement against them by right-wing politicians:

Dr. Khaled Abu-Asba, a professor for the sociology of education at the university of Haifa has also, like Shiftan, studied Israel’s Arab population extensively for many years. Like Shiftan, he blames radicalism and incitement for the utter breach of trust between Jews and Israeli Arabs, but believes that the incitement in question stems form Israeli rightist[s].

“There is an onslaught of abuse these days,” says Abu-Asba. “People blame Arab leaders for instigating violence, but when a Jewish MK says ‘we’ll throw you out’ or ‘we’ll take care of you all’ no one says a word. Is this not incitement? Are there Arab MKs making similar statements?”

Abu-Asba further notes that “as Israeli Arabs we are Israeli citizens, but also members of the Palestinian people with political views befitting such….as Israeli Arabs we are hurt most by the current violence as we are caught right in the middle of the fray.”

There is no doubt that discrimination against Israeli Arabs exists. On the other hand, perceived differences in allocation of public funds, etc. are also due to different standards of governance in Jewish and Arab localities (which are run according to traditional patronage systems).

But discrimination and allocation of resources are problems that can be dealt with. The intractable part is ‘political views’ among the Arabs that there should not be a Jewish state, and the support of ‘leaders’ who call for the murder of Jews and the destruction of the state.

Unfortunately, this point of view is prevalent among the opinion leaders and intellectuals among the Israeli Arabs (see my post “Israeli Arab intellectuals are irresponsible“).

Israelis, Jewish and Arab, need to ask themselves seriously “what will be the future”? In particular, those Arabs who are advocating civil war — because that is what they are in fact advocating — should understand that they will probably lose such a war and bring upon themselves a nakba (catastrophe) greater than that of 1948.

Although it seems unthinkable to them, peace and cooperation would be far more beneficial.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Israeli Arabs

If this is true, it’s not good:

The report quoted a “senior Palestinian source” as saying that if the 30-day [trial] period proves successful, Israel will assent to the Egyptian calm initiative, including the cessation of ground and air attacks in the Gaza Strip and refraining from retaliating for the terror attack at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva last week.

There can’t be peace between Israel and Hamas. Hamas exists for the destruction of Israel. If Hamas is allowed to continue existing, it will continue trying to destroy Israel. Israel should keep up the pressure until Hamas is gone.

The timing of the proposal is par for the course; Hamas often offers a cease-fire immediately after a particularly horrible outrage like the Merkaz haRav massacre.

Another London-based pan-Arab daily, Al Hayat, quoted an Egyptian source as saying that the specific Israeli conditions for the 30-days test period included a complete halt of rocket attacks against Israel and on construction of smuggling tunnels along the Gaza-Egypt border.

According to the source, [Defense Ministry official Amos] Gilad emphasized that Israel agreed to the calm on the condition that it would not be used by Palestinians for rearmament.

They would never do that, would they?

On Monday, both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak emphatically denied there was any kind of negotiating process with Hamas, and insisted that the IDF “retained its freedom of action” in the Strip. — Jerusalem Post

Imagine my relief. Keep in mind that the ‘negotiating process’ is with Egypt, not directly with Hamas.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Hamas

‘Nationalism’ is the phenomenon of a national or ethnic community desiring self-determination — to live in a state where they are the rulers.

Zionism is certainly a form of nationalism, in which the Jews, finding it impossible to live as second or third-class citizens under regimes either antisemitic themselves or tolerant of antisemitism, sought self-determination. The Jews were happy to accept the 1947 UN partition of what was left of the original Palestine Mandate, because they wanted a state.

The Palestinian Arabs — and the rest of the Arab world — have opposed every partition, from the minimal Peel Commission proposal of 1937, the UN partion of 1947, and the Clinton-Barak offer of 2000. Their ‘nationalism’ is not a desire for self-determination, but exists almost entirely as opposition to the Jewish state on ‘their’ land. Here is Mahmoud al-Zahar of Hamas:

“Palestine means Palestine in its entirety – from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River, from Ras Al-Naqura to Rafah. We cannot give up a single inch of it. Therefore, we will not recognize the Israeli enemy’s [right] to a single inch. — MEMRI

This is not about making a Palestinian state, it’s about negating the Jewish state.

Palestinian actions on the Israel withdrawal from Gaza make this attitude clear. For the first time, Palestinian Arabs had complete control of the Gaza strip. An American (Jewish) donor donated money to buy the greenhouses of the expelled Jewish settlers so that they could be given to the residents intact. Large amounts of money were made available by the EU and others to jump-start the economy in the region.

The response was to destroy everything left standing, to fire mortars at the crossing points between Gaza and Israel, to fire rockets at Sderot and surrounding communities, to use scarce resources to smuggle weapons and explosives from Egypt, to dig tunnels under the border with Israel to kill and kidnap Israeli soldiers, to make it impossible for Gazans to work in Israel or to develop the local economy, to do their best to provoke Israel — in short, to create chaos and make war.

This is not the behavior of a people that desires a state of their own. It is simply an expression of hatred and the wish to destroy, so that they can take what is not theirs.

Well, this is Hamas, after all. What about the ‘moderate’ Palestinians as exemplified by Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas?

Abbas claims that he wants a state alongside Israel, not instead of it as Hamas does. But he insists on the ‘right of return’ to Israel for almost five million descendants of 1948 refugees, something that would end it. He resolutely refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. He does absolutely nothing to suppress Hamas terrorism in the areas he controls, or even the gunmen of Fatah’s own al-Aqsa brigades. And last but not least, he continues to permit the hateful antisemitic incitement against Israel and Jews from every educational, media, and religious organ of the Palestinian Authority that he leads.

Raed Salah is an Arab citizen of Israel who leads the northern branch of the ‘Islamic Movement’. He is the former mayor of the large town of Umm el-Fahm. You could call him a religious nationalist. Here is what he says about Jerusalem:

[Salah] went on to deny any Israeli or Jewish historical claim to the city, denying that there ever existed a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount.

“The claims of the Jews are big lies and they have no right to any speck of dust here,” he said.

And in case there is any doubt of where he is coming from,

During his sermon in Jerusalem’s Wadi Joz neighborhood on February 16 of last year, Salah urged supporters to start a third intifada in order to “save al-Aksa Mosque, free Jerusalem and end the occupation.”

Salah’s speech also attacked Jews, saying, “They want to build their temple at a time when our blood is on their clothes, on their doorsteps, in their food and in their drinks. Our blood has passed from one ‘general terrorist’ to another ‘general terrorist.'”

He also said, “We are not those who ate bread dipped in children’s blood.” — Jerusalem Post

This is the true face of Palestinian ideology, which is not really a form of nationalism but rather an irredentist cult, characterized by a propensity to murder, whose imagery and metaphors are those of blood and death.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Palestinian nationalism

This seems pretty obvious to me, but somehow the government of the US — as well as our leading Presidential candidates — seem to miss it. Wake up, and pay attention to how they are fooling us!

If They Don’t Fool You They Can’t Defeat You
By Barry Rubin

Radical forces in the Middle East have rewritten the international rulebook in a way designed so “they can’t lose.” That is, there’s no easy response to their behavior and strategies.

What’s even more worrisome is the widespread failure in the West even to realize this is happening. Hamas and Hezbollah fire from among civilians and use civilian homes for military purposes; Syria or Iran deploy disinformation, radical regimes pretend moderation, and there are plenty of suckers to take the bait.

Extremism makes many believe that kind words and concessions can transform them; intransigence produces a response that if they won’t give up we must do so.

Here are some new rules in which “we” represents such disparate forces as Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraqi insurgents, al-Qaeda, Syria, the Taliban, and others including radical Arab nationalists. These forces are not all alike or allied but do often follow a parallel set of rules quite different from how international affairs have generally been conducted.

(more…)

One Arab country which did condemn the murders in Jerusalem was Jordan. And that’s not all they did:

The relatives [of Ala Abu Dhaim, the murderer], who live near Amman, tried Friday to erect a large tent to receive mourners, but were ordered by Jordanian security officers to dismantle it immediately…

They were also instructed to remove Hamas and Hizbullah flags that were hanging on rooftops and electricity poles…

“We were hoping that people would come to congratulate us on the martyrdom of my nephew,” [Abu Dhaim’s uncle] said. “This is a heroic operation that must be celebrated by everyone here”…

“The Jordanian authorities’ decision is unjustified and doesn’t make sense. My nephew carried out a heroic operation against an extremist Zionist college that calls for killing Palestinians.” — Jerusalem Post

A little window into the Arab mind. Needless to say, the Merkaz haRav yeshiva does not call for killing Palestinians, although Hamas makes the murder of Jews part of its platform. But here is the kicker:

Another family member living in Jordan said it was ironic that the Jordanians had banned the public mourning while Israel was allowing Abu Dhaib’s family in Jerusalem to receive mourners and hoist Hizbullah and Hamas flags.

Ironic indeed.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Merkaz haRav, Jordan, Abu Dhaim