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Two news items:

1) A six-year-old girl from the Arab village of Isawiya was evacuated to Hadassah-University Hospital in Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, after she was accidentally shot in the head during wedding celebrations on Thursday night. — Jerusalem Post

2) Palestinians threw rocks at an Israel car driving south of Bethelem on Thursday evening. — Jerusalem Post

Item 2 occurred a short distance from item 1. Just another day of Israelis trying to behave humanely in the midst of conflict, along with Palestinian business as usual.

Technorati Tags: Israel

This is not an isolated incident:

Tel Aviv district Court on Thursday convicted Ashraf Keisi, a 28-year-old Israeli Arab from Baka al-Gharbiya of five counts of murder and dozens of attempted murders for his part in a suicide attack at a Tel Aviv club, the “Stage”, in February 2005, which killed five people and injured fifty more…

“There is no dispute over the fact that he drove the terrorist and even assisted in choosing the site,” the judges wrote in the ruling. “Not only did he not thwart the attack, as he easily could have done, but he associated with [terrorists]…and had a significant part in the attack.” — Jerusalem Post

I spoke to a former member of the Israel Police’s Yamam counter-terrorism unit. During the early part of the second intifada, there was a flood of suicide bombings and attempts. Most of the bombers were intercepted before reaching their targets, but of course some got through, causing much death and destruction.

In more than a few cases, the bomber was taken to his final destination by an Israeli Arab citizen, with Israeli license plates on his vehicle (cars registered in the territories have distinctive plates which might arouse suspicion).

The growing radicalization of the Israeli Arab population is as dangerous to Israel as the Iranian nuclear program, although not as exciting. The solution does not lie either in appeasement of their demands, which will never be enough to satisfy them, or in expelling them, which would be both immoral and impossible.

In my opinion the only solution is for Israel to thoroughly defeat her external enemies — Hamas, Hezbollah, and perhaps Syria and Iran — so that there will not be external sources for subversion and financing of internal rebellion.

Israel also needs to be careful to ensure that law abiding Arab citizens of Israel have their civil rights protected and are treated fairly. This does not include meeting demands for what I’ve called ‘national aspirations’, which are entirely different from civil rights.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Israeli Arabs, terrorism

Here goes, the UN is planning to stick it to Israel yet again:

The Sheba Farms, a small tract of land in the north of Israel, is Lebanese territory, according to an expert UN cartographer, Israel Radio reported Wednesday, quoting an unnamed official in Jerusalem.

An official UN statement on the issue was yet to be published…

Israel was against any decisive UN statements regarding the area, fearing that a public admission that the territory was Lebanese would effectively render Israel’s 2000 pullout from Lebanon incomplete and give Hizbullah justification to re-ignite a military confrontation with Israel. — Jerusalem Post

Who gives a rat’s posterior about this tiny (10 sq. miles) militarily unimportant piece of ground on the border between the Golan and Lebanon?

Nobody, really, except the residents. Like the Palestinian refugees, it’s a club to beat Israel with. The area was generally considered Syrian, and Israel conquered it along with the rest of the Golan in 1967.

In 2000, Israel withdrew from South Lebanon. In order to ensure that nobody could claim that Israel was occupying Lebanese territory, she asked the UN to demarcate the border between Israel and Lebanon (the so-called ‘Blue line’) and to certify that Israel had withdrawn completely from Lebanese territory. This they did.

Hezbollah, however, has always claimed as a pretext for cross-border raids, missile attacks, etc. that the Sheba farms area was actually part of Lebanon, and that their terrorism was actually ‘legitimate resistance’ against an illegal occupation.

Now the UN may be planning to reverse itself and side with Hezbollah.

I can’t think of one positive thing the UN has done regarding Israel since 1947. Can you?

Technorati Tags: Israel, Sheba Farms, Lebanon, Syria, UN

The LA Times has published a false, tendentious, and hateful article by Moussa Abu-Marzouk of Hamas on its op-ed page.

Writing from Damascus, Abu Marzouk lies about history, lies about Israel’s actions, and lies about her intentions. He compares the Hamas charter’s poisonous antisemitism to the US constitution’s counting slaves as partial persons — but Hamas has passed no 14th amendment.

Abu Marzouk believes that murder of Israeli civilians inside the 1967 borders constitutes ‘resistance to occupation’. There can be no peace between Israel and the Palestinians in Marzouk’s view, unless Israel vanishes:

One of Hamas’s founding principals is that it does not recognize Israel. We [participated in] the elections and the people voted for us based on this platform. Therefore, the question of recognizing Israel is definitely not on the table unless it withdraws from ALL the Palestinian lands, not only to the 1967 borders. –Moussa Abu Marzouk, tr. by MEMRI

Abu Marzouk’s speech is hate speech. It is incitement to murder. Nevertheless, a newspaper in the US can legally print almost anything.

However, we don’t have to read that newspaper, on paper or on the Internet. We don’t have to link to articles on that newspaper’s website. And we don’t have to buy advertising in it.

I call on everyone who is opposed to murder and terrorism to say NO to the Hamas mouthpiece, the Los Angeles Times.

Update [11 July 0810 PDT]: Email the LA Times and tell them that they are giving a platform to murderers.

Update [11 July 0927 PDT]: Read HonestReporting’s response to Marzouk’s lies here.

Technorati Tags: LA Times, Abu Marzouk, Abu Marzook, Hamas

Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel here, either.

A federal policy that bans Canadians from listing Jerusalem, Israel, as their birthplace on their passports does not violate the Charter of Rights, the Federal Court of Appeal said Tuesday.

The ruling came in the context of a three-judge panel decision that the Canadian government was not required to allow 19-year-old Eliyahu Veffer, the son of a Toronto rabbi, to amend his passport to indicate that his birthplace, Jerusalem, was part of Israel.

The Canadian National Post reported that the decision upheld a 2006 court ruling that Canada’s passport policy was neither discriminatory nor a violation of religious freedom, despite the fact that Israel was the only exception to a practice of letting passport applicants list their birth country of choice when dealing with cities in disputed territories.

The federal government, citing the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians over the control of Jerusalem, insisted that immigrants who were born there are issued passports without any reference to a country. — Jerusalem Post (my emphasis)

The fact that only the eastern part of the city is outside the 1967 borders of Israel is ignored.

They also apparently do not admit that the annexation of Jerusalem, which included an offer of full citizenship to all residents and which took place after a war the Arabs started and lost, was legitimate.

Perhaps they are using the Hamas definition of occupied territory, which includes Tel Aviv? In this case, no Canadian should have ‘Israel’ listed as their birthplace.

Since the Parti Québécois disputes the proposition that Montreal, for example, is part of Canada, should passports list “Montreal, Canada”?

Technorati Tags: Israel, Canada

Little seems to have changed in 30 years. Certainly not the US State Department, which still advises the President every year that ‘national security’ would be damaged if the US embassy were moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Today’s Dry Bones Blog features a cartoon from 1977, which is more to the point than ever today:

The Western acquiescence to the Arab view that Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel continues to be an affront to Israel’s sovereignty. The Knesset has been meeting in West Jerusalem since the building was constructed in 1950.

The Arabs should be grateful for the fact that they are permitted to live in Jerusalem at all and that the Muslim holy places there still exist and are under Muslim control. When Jordan conquered East Jerusalem in 1948, all Jews living there were driven out or killed, synagogues were destroyed or converted to stables, and Jewish gravestones were used as paving material.

The Arab and Muslim attitude seems to be that they are not required to behave according to post-7th century standards, but that everyone else must be exquisitely sensitive to their feelings. And the response in the West seems to be to appease them.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Arabs, Jerusalem

While PM Olmert prepares for a visit from Condoleeza Rice — who will certainly be wanting to talk about new ways of ’strengthening Abbas’ — Hamas has been strengthening itself in Gaza:

Hamas’ military industry is giving serial production numbers to the roadside charges and Qassam rockets it manufactures, a senior intelligence officer in the Southern Command told Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi during his visit to the rocket-battered town of Sderot on Monday.

According to the officer, intelligence sources believe that a real ‘Hamas army’ exists in the Gaza Strip and includes between 7,000 and 10,000 soldiers, who are being armed continuously with weapons smuggled through the Philadelphi route…

In spite of the smuggling of weapons from Egypt to Gaza, the most worrying thing as far as the IDF and the Shin Bet are concerned, is the fact that representatives of the organization acquire knowledge outside the Strip, mainly in Tehran.

The return of the “students” to Gaza and the passing of knowledge to many others constitutes a key threat which cannot be fully addressed even through a wide-scale ground operation in the Strip. — YNet

Meanwhile, Rice will be talking to Israeli PM Olmert and Palestinian President Abbas, in the words of US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack,

…to try to move the process forward, move the Israeli-Palestinian track forward — a number of different levels, to talk on a very practical level day to day, how can each side try to make the lives of their respective populations a bit better. And on both sides, we know what that entails, so — and also to try to talk a little bit about the political horizon and the fact that it is important to work at both levels. So it’s also a trip that was intended to support Prime Minister Olmert’s statements about wanting to build a foundation for discussions about a future Palestinian state. It’s also a trip that’s designed to support President Abbas.

Translation: Israel will be told to free prisoners, continue transferring funds, remove roadblocks and checkpoints from the West Bank, etc. Abbas will be asked to say that he is opposed to terrorism. Then everyone will say how wonderful it will be when Palestine is established with Abbas as President, all the while ignoring the monster in the basement.

McCormack continues and does say a number of negative things about Hamas. But then he adds,

Now, it’s our view that President Abbas is the President for all the Palestinian people that Prime Minister Fayyad is the Prime Minister for all the Palestinian people. But ultimately, they’re going to need to reconcile those differences.

What could he possibly mean? Is he suggesting that some day Hamas will just give up, and go away? Will it accept a Palestinian government for “all the people” run by Abbas? I don’t think they machine-gunned and deculmenated* all of those Fatah people in order to fade away. Or is he suggesting that Fatah and Hamas must ultimately join together in some kind of unity government?

Since the latter is apparently the position of the Saudi regime, it would not surprise me at all to learn that the US State Department feels the same way.

Interestingly, an Arab League delegation may or may not be coming to Jerusalem this week, and it may or may not represent the Arab league, but in any event the intent is to push the Arab League Peace Initiative again. It’s likely that this will be conditioned on unity among Palestinian factions. The “international community” will be hard put to object, since it is all in the interest of peace.

Of course, if the Palestinians decide to kiss and make up, or at least pretend to work together, all of the aid and weapons that have been given to Abbas to “strengthen” him will also be in the hands of Hamas; and Hamas members will come in out of the cold as part of the new Palestinian regime.

* Deculmenate - v., to throw off of a roof (after the model of defenestrate).

Technorati Tags: Israel, Abbas, Hamas, Condoleeza Rice, Arab League

I’ve written several times about the possibility of war between Israel and Syria (see “Syria prepares — for what?“, “Peace between Israel and Syria?“). Recently there have been more threatening noises from Syria, regarding the Golan Heights. Here is one interpretation:

Is Syria serious, or is Syria trying to pull a grand bluff? The Syrians probably are not too interested in getting back the Golan Heights, which they could get if they offered real peace in direct negotiations - up to the international borders. The goal of Syria seems to be to bluff the Israelis and Americans into agreeing to American mediated negotiations, giving Syria “legitimacy” and immunity for its meddling in Lebanon and Iraq as a “peace partner,” and to trade an edifying fiction of peace negotiations with Israel in return for getting away with the murder of Rafiq Hariri. — Ami Isseroff, ZioNation (entire article recommended)

There is no question that one of Syria’s primary goals is to reassert influence over Lebanon and to avoid having the murders of Hariri and other anti-Syrian figures pinned on them.

And as Barry Rubin pointed out, an actual peace treaty with Israel is not a price that Syria wants to pay for the Golan; Assad needs the conflict with Israel for internal reasons:

It is commonplace to say that Syria wants back the Golan Heights. But one need merely ask the simple question: what happens if Syria gets it back? If Syria’s regime made peace with Israel it has no excuse for having a big military, a dictatorship, and a terrible economy. The day after the deal the Syrian people will start demanding change. The regime knows that. — Interview with Barry Rubin by Michael J. Totten

But there is also no question that Assad wants the Golan. Nor is there any doubt that the true Great Satan of the Middle East, Ahmadinejad’s Iran, wants the Golan in Syrian hands, for its strategic value in any conflict on Israel’s northern border.

As if it’s not difficult enough, it’s not sufficient to try to determine Syria’s intentions in this case — one must also look at Syria’s major patron, Iran. And Iranian intentions towards Israel, as expressed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are anything but benign. On June 3 of this year, the Iranian news agency Mehr quoted him as saying,

“The arrogant superpowers and the Zionist regime invested all their efforts during the 33-day war, but after 60 years, their pride has been trampled and the countdown to the destruction of this regime has been started by Hizbullah fighters”…

Ahmadinejad added that “with the help of all the Lebanese and Palestinian fighters, we will witness the destruction of this regime in the near future… Anyone who works for God and believes in the power of the people will prevail.” — YNet

Although the threat posed by a nuclear Iran often overshadows more conventional ones, it seems to me that the Iranian plan is to eliminate Israel by means of a conventional conflict prosecuted by its clients Hezbollah, Syria, and Hamas. The Syrian medium and long-range missile arsenal, which includes chemical and possibly biological weapons is certainly dangerous, if it is sufficiently hardened (or hidden) to prevent Israel from destroying it in a preemptive strike.

There is one more element in the equation, which can’t be ignored. That is the major arms supplier and patron of patrons, Russia. Russia and the US seem to by vying for control of the region (shades of 1967!) and a US-aligned and nuclear Israel is the main obstacle in its way. So Russia may encourage Iranian and Syrian ambitions.

Israel’s formidable retaliatory capability should be a deterrent to Syria, at least at this point. And it’s not clear if Iran’s conventionally-armed missile arsenal is a serious threat today.

My opinion is that Iran is not pushing for the final confrontation in the very near future. Ahmadinejad has learned from previous Israeli/Arab conflicts, and will not jump too soon. The strategy seems to be to weaken Israel and push back her borders in a piecemeal fashion until they believe that success is guaranteed.

Therefore, what I expect is continued pressure from the Palestinians in the south, Hezbollah along the Lebanese border, and Syria on the Golan. Since it is highly unlikely that Assad will be willing to conclude an actual peace agreement with Israel, I interpret the current threat as a real threat of limited war — at least, a war that one hopes will stay limited.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Syria, Iran

Israel is coming closer to releasing Fatah prisoners:

The cabinet approved on Sunday the proposed release of 250 Fatah security prisoners, but the actual list of names is being revised and will be brought to the ministers for approval at a later date, possibly in a week’s time.

The prisoners are expected to be members of Fatah who “did not have blood on their hands,” i.e. prisoners who had not personally participated in lethal terrorist attacks…

Following the vote, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said that in the last 13 years, releasing Palestinian prisoners had never translated to a gesture from the Palestinian Authority that would reduce terror activity, Israel Radio reported. — Jerusalem Post

Indeed, we might add that previous releases often resulted in increased terrorism, as the newly freed prisoners went back to ‘work’.

Meir Indor, who heads a terror victims’ association, is trying to prevent the prisoner release from happening.

In the last five years, 179 Israelis have been murdered by terrorists who were previously in prison, said Indor. Many of the former prisoners were freed as a result of politically motivated deals.

“Once you give them a second chance, they prove that they can do it better,” Indor said… CNS News

This action is distinct from the prisoner release demanded by Hamas in return for kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, and is being done to “strengthen the Abbas government” in the West Bank.

Although it will provide an increment of additional manpower for Fatah to confront Hamas if it comes to that, a mini-civil war between Hamas and Fatah such as happened in Gaza is highly unlikely. Indeed, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have already suggested that a Fatah/Hamas rapprochement is the way to go. And even some Fatah members seem to echo this:

Riad Maliki, the information minister in Abbas’s new government, said he expected the 250 prisoners to be former military men from pro-Fatah security forces. “If it were in our hands to chose … we would have chosen a group that more fairly represented the body of Palestinian prisoners, from all political groups,” Maliki said. — Jerusalem Post

So what, exactly, does Israel get out of this gesture, besides additional terrorists running around? Does it “strengthen Abbas” by increasing popular support for him? Hardly — Hamas simply paints this as collaboration with Israel:

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said a release of Fatah prisoners signaled that Abbas is collaborating with Israel. “He should have refused any release unless it includes all Palestinian prisoners,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Olmert suggested that the release would improve the chances that Gilad Shalit, held by Hamas in Gaza, would be released. It seems to me that it might even have the opposite effect, given that Hamas would not wish for Abbas to get credit for having any part in Shalit’s release.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Fatah, Hamas, prisoner release

Just a few posts ago, I speculated on the price paid for kidnapped BBC reporter Alan Johnston:

Johnston, a BBC journalist quite friendly to the Palestinian cause, was held for almost four months in what apparently started as a ransom scheme — the BBC having very deep pockets. If the BBC did pay for his release, they are of course not saying.

Well, here you go:

Sources close to Jaysh Al-Islam have revealed that the organization received $5 million and a million Kalashnikov rifle bullets in a deal for the release of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston.

According to Palestinian sources, Jaysh Al-Islam commander Mumtaz Daghmoush received a guarantee from Hamas that he would not stand trial for crimes he was suspected of carrying out, and that Hamas would release Jaysh Al-Islam’s spokesman, whom it was holding. Further, Hamas and Jaysh Al-Islam agreed not to reveal which operations they had carried out jointly…

Source: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Palestinian Authority, July 6, 2007 — MEMRI

And here I thought that the release was entirely a result of Hamas’ courageous decision to confront the kidnappers and force Johnston’s release!

Speculations that the release of Johnston is an indication that Hamas is also ready to release kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit may have been premature.

They will stretch this out as long as possible in order to get more than their pound of flesh from a foolishly compliant Israel.

Technorati Tags: Johnston, Hamas

Almost speechless again:

Former Shin Bet (Israeli Security Agency) chief and the prime minister appointee for dealings regarding kidnapped soldiers and other captives, Ofer Dekel, met ten days ago with Samir Kuntar, a Lebanese serving a life sentence for killing the Haran family from Naharia 30 years ago, Israel Radio quoted a report by the Palestnian daily Al Ayam, Saturday.

Reportedly, Kuntar told Dekel there was real progress on the topic of releasing Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, the two reservists kidnapped on Lebanon-Israel border…

Dekel met several Palestinian prisoners but insisted on meeting Kuntar, considered one of the senior Lebanese prisoners held in Israel. — Jerusalem Post

Kuntar is guilty of one of the most hideous crimes in the hideous history of Arab terrorism against Israel. He is non-repentant, not that it should matter. If it were possible to kill someone five times it would be less than Kuntar deserves.

If this report is correct — and considering the source it may well not be — something is more than backwards here.

First of all, where is the proof that Goldwasser and Regev are alive? Shouldn’t this be first, before discussions about prisoner exchanges?

And, as I’ve said before, why doesn’t Israel apply the death penalty to such as Kuntar?

What does Dekel expect to learn from talking to him?

Why not offer Hezbollah Nasrallah’s life in exchange for Goldwasser and Regev?

Technorati Tags: Israel, Hezbollah, Kuntar, Goldwasser, Regev, Dekel

The Hamas prisoner swap seems to be drawing closer:

An envoy negotiating the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit has met twice in recent weeks with senior Hamas members in an Israeli jail, reporting progress on a prisoner swap deal, according to a lawyer close to the talks.

The envoy, Ofer Dekel, met 10 days ago with five members of the Hamas military wing at Hadarim Prison near Netanya…

Dekel told the Hamas inmates that progress has been made on a deal to win the release of Cpl. Schalit, who was captured by Hamas-allied terrorists in June 2006 and is being held in Gaza, the lawyer said. In exchange, Hamas seeks the release of several hundred prisoners, but Israel has balked at meeting the demands.

Dekel told the five Hamas prisoners - all of whom are serving life sentences - that some in the group would be able to go home soon, but that others would be sent into exile if a deal goes through, the lawyer said. — Jerusalem Post

Hamas has consistently asked for more than Israel can reasonably grant. The fact that the prisoners mentioned are said to be serving life sentences implies that they have probably been convicted of murder. Moussa Abu Marzouk, Hamas spokesman has said that are 350 prisoners that they want released and they have given Israel a list.

This is a horrible situation for the Israeli government to be in, and of course a worse situation for Gilad Schalit’s family and friends. Let’s look at Israel’s options.

The first option is to meet the demands. What would be the consequences of doing so? The good news is that Schalit would be free.

In addition, 350 of Hamas’ most dangerous operatives would also be free and able to participate in attacks against Israel (I don’t know where ‘exiled’ terrorists would be sent, but the precedent set in 1992 when Sheik Yassin and 400-odd Hamas members were deported to Lebanon is not encouraging).

One of the operations that the former prisoners would doubtless engage in is the kidnapping of more Israelis, followed by more demands. Why not? It’s a proven effective technique.

Hamas would announce another victory of their brave fighters against the Zionist enemy. This would be a big boost for recruitment, along with the knowledge that anyone who is captured by Israel would only have to sit in jail until the next kidnapping/prisoner exchange event.

No, this Hamas victory would not be the end of Israel. It would be just a small surrender. Some think that Israel can absorb small surrenders. Yariv Oppenheimer of Peace Now says

The release of Palestinian prisoners with blood on their hands is not an easy step, and will only be executed in order to promote an Israeli interest, such as the release of kidnapped IDF soldiers [in contrast to right-wing demands to release Jews imprisoned for terrorism against Arabs, which he feels should not be granted].

Looking at the big picture, this particular small surrender would be one in a series of small and not-so-small surrenders by Israel to her enemies, Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran. Take, for example the withdrawal from Gaza, the failure to prosecute the war in Lebanon to a satisfactory conclusion and acquiescence to Hezbollah’s rearmament, the de facto acceptance of the bombardment of Sderot, the decision to stop construction activities near the Mughrabi Gate, the cooperation with the US in arming Fatah, the coming release of 250 Fatah prisoners, etc.

None of these little surrenders will mean the end of Israel in itself, but every one makes her a little weaker, and her enemies stronger. This is a process that can’t continue forever. It will end, after a thousand little surrenders, with a regional war that Israel will no longer be capable of winning.

There is another option, which is to try to free Schalit by ultimatum and by force. By refusing to use the power in its hands, Israel is accepting the rules of the asymmetrical war being waged on it by Hamas, Hezbollah, and ultimately Iran. This process has to be preempted.

My suggestion is that Israel present Hamas with a serious ultimatum to release Schalit or be faced with an all-out assault which will include the killing of its leaders and the destruction of its fighting forces. The goal of this operation would be simple: to kill as many Hamas members as possible.

At the same time, Israel should use every means possible, including its police hostage-rescue unit, Yamam, which may be the best unit of its kind in the world, to rescue him.

The main downside of this approach is that Hamas may kill Schalit before he can be rescued. There is also the danger of triggering a wider conflict, perhaps involving Hezbollah, and Israel will need to take the necessary steps to deter such a response beforehand.

Yes, it’s risky and almost certainly promises conflict in the near future. But the other approach, while it might stave off an immediate struggle, guarantees disaster in the long run.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Schalit, Hamas