FresnoZionism.org — ציונות פרסנו

By Vic Rosenthal

Syria’s suddenly getting a lot of play from the West:

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) – After an undeclared two-year boycott, U.S. and European officials are talking to Syria again, signaling a possible easing of its international isolation.

Syria had its first high-level contacts with the U.S. in two years at a weekend conference in Baghdad on possible ways to stabilize Iraq. A high-ranking U.S. diplomat visited Damascus on Tuesday, followed Wednesday by the European Union’s foreign policy chief. — (Guardian, UK)

In Damascus with Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem, Javier Solana of the EU said:

With the President (Bachar al Assad) we have also talked about the peace process in the region. We understand it in a comprehensive manner. We would would like to work as much as possible to see your country Syria recuperating the territories occupied in 1967″.

“I would like to repeat, we look at the peace process in that way,” he added. — (European Jewish Press, Brussels)

I’m not sure why the EU is suddenly interested in Syria. Perhaps they think it will be possible to move Syria away from Iran and keep her from further mischief in Lebanon. This would please Saudi Arabia, the major energy supplier to the EU. The US, of course, sees Syrian cooperation as vital to a clean exit from Iraq.

From an Israeli point of view, these developments are highly worrisome.

(more…)

The Palestinians have finally agreed on a platform for the PA unity government. Here is how a Hamas website describes it (I’ve added some translations in case the original is unclear):

Our Sources reported that the new platform states that, “The government confirms that the resistance is a legitimate right for the Palestinian people.”

Terrorism against Israel will continue…

It goes onto say that, “halting resistance depends on ending the occupation and achieving freedom and the right of return and independence.”

until there is no more Israel…

The new government also recognizes that “the key to security and stability in the region is in the ending of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, recognition of the right to Palestinian self-determination.”

and nobody else will have peace, either, until Israel is gone.

Thus, the statement confirmed , “the government will work with the international community to end the occupation, and to return the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”

Work with us, “international community”, give us big gobs of money so we can destroy Israel.

The government “holds fast to the rights of Palestinian refugees, and the right of return of Palestinian refugees to their land and belongings.”

Just to make sure you understand that ‘occupation’ refers to the one that started in 1948.

Most Israeli reaction was understandably negative. However, if there are any remaining doubts that the Left lives in another galaxy, they can be dispelled now:

Meretz Chairman MK Yossi Beilin…was optimistic.

“The new unity government, based on the Saudi initiative, is a welcome invitation to embark once again upon the peace process. Hopefully, they will be able to create a secure and solid partner for Israel,” he said.

Fellow Meretz MK Ran Cohen also reacted positively to the prospect of the unity government, urging Israel to “immediately begin talks with the new Palestinian government to try and come to a mutual cease-fire agreement. — (Jerusalem Post, my emphasis)

The coming ‘peace process’ may be as violent as the previous one, but at least this time our ‘partners’ are making their intentions crystal-clear.

Technorati Tags: Israel, Hamas, PA, Palestinians

By Vic Rosenthal

Writing in the LA Times, Saree Makdisi, a professor of English at UCLA, finds the requirement that the Palestinians recognize Israel’s right to exist to be either meaningless or “cynical and manipulative”. His arguments are not very good, they are not at all original (compare to John V. Whitback), and I’ll respond to them. But afterwards it’s important to see what underlies them, because this will help us understand why the conflict is not likely to be solved easily.

(more…)

By Naomi Leitner

Naomi Leitner is an attorney in Israel.

This is a personal view of life at Israel’s narrowest point. I live some 8 miles from the Mediterranean Sea. This sounds lovely and picturesque. My son and his friends sometimes walk to the beach with a picnic lunch. It is no big deal for a teenager to walk 8 miles with a backpack. But it does make me shudder to think how quickly enemy soldiers could transverse Israel at its narrow waistline. And of course, the enemy is very near.

(more…)