FresnoZionism.org — ציונות פרסנו

‘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.

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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

I’m sometimes asked “why doesn’t Israel simply talk to Hamas?” The short answer is “you can’t compromise on existence”. Here’s a longer one.

Why There’s a Hamas-Israel War
By Barry Rubin

The deliberate murder of eight and the wounding of nine Israeli rabbinical students in Jerusalem only highlights the fact that Hamas is at war with Israel. It is, from Hamas’s view, a war that will never end until Israel is exterminated and its citizens killed or expelled. No other analysis is accurate or can explain what is happening.

First, the fact that it is a war must be understood. The Gaza Strip is technically not a state, yet is functioning as one. The Gaza government of the radical Islamist Hamas has declared war on Israel. The war’s purpose is not to free Gaza from occupation, nor is it a defensive war in response to Israeli attacks.

The goal–openly and daily declared by Hamas in media and speeches, teaching in schools and sermons in mosques–is a long-term campaign to wipe Israel off the map and to kill or expel most of its citizens. There’s a word for this: genocide.

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In the library at Mercaz haRav yeshiva

In Gaza, they celebrated by giving out candy, as they always do when something bad happens to Jews. No surprise.

The BBC reported the events (and NPR rebroadcasted the BBC report), making sure to include a statement that the yeshiva was “…the ideological cradle of the settler movement in the West Bank”, and that its graduates often serve in combat units in the IDF, thus ‘explaining’ the murders. No surprise.

Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack as he condemns “all attacks that target civilians, whether they are Palestinians or Israelis”, although there are no attacks by Israel that ‘target’ Palestinian civilians. No surprise.

The UN security council was blocked from issuing a condemnation by Libya, which wants to also condemn Palestinian deaths in Gaza. Israel’s Ambassador Dan Gillerman said, correctly, “the UN has been infiltrated by terrorists”. No surprise.

The family of the “Israeli Arab” perpetrator (from East Jerusalem, like the Hebrew University bomber) put up flags of Hamas and Hezbollah around their house. No surprise.

And Condoleezza Rice called it “a terrorist attack which aims at foiling the peace efforts”. Also no surprise, and entirely wrong.

The view that there are ‘extremists’ who wish to stop the ‘peace process’ by terrorism who must be prevented from doing so — but not by Israel defending herself, because that would ‘feed the cycle’ — is nonsense.

There is no significant segment of the Palestinian population, and indeed, of the entire Arab world, which believes that there should be a Jewish state in the Mideast. None.

There are various factions whose views on what is the most effective way of destroying Israel differ. And they differ on when and how to use their best weapon, terrorism against civilians. The ‘peace process’ is an American creature in which one faction gets arms and financing which they will use to achieve their goal in their way, unless they are defeated by another faction who will take their resources to advance their (similar) goal.

Israel needs a government which will tell the US to go to hell. If the US feels that it has a better ally in the Mideast, so be it. Israel does not have to permit herself to be used as a sacrifice to solve American problems in Iraq.

Israel needs a government which will simply fight to protect its citizens, not tell them to sit still while their enemies — which the IDF could crush like the vermin that they are — sometimes randomly and sometimes carefully, pick their targets.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Merkaz haRav