The coming Palestinian unity government

August 3rd, 2007

Palestinian reconciliation?

Secret talks aimed at solving internal Palestinian instability are being held between Hamas and Fatah officials, Ma’an reported on Friday.

According to the Palestinian news agency, the aim of the negotiations was to reestablish the Palestinian Authority unity government which crumbled several weeks ago. — Jerusalem Post

It’s impossible to expect that the situation in which there are two Palestinian “governments” can continue forever.

It isn’t likely that Hamas will disappear. Fatah isn’t capable of destroying it, and it won’t go away on its own.

Israel and the US seem wedded to the idea that they have a moderate partner in Fatah, and that the quick signing of a peace agreement with them that will produce some kind of Palestinian state will somehow render Hamas irrelevant.

But no agreement that can be signed can possibly include enough concessions to make this happen. Imagine what Israel would have to give up on the issues of borders, refugees and Jerusalem!

So the more likely scenario is that Israel will be dealing with another Palestinian unity government before too long, whether or not a ‘peace’ treaty has been agreed to.

Hamas, after its conquest of Gaza, has a much stronger position toward Fatah than before, so it’s hard to believe that it won’t end up dominating the government, de facto if not in number of ministers.

So the situation will be that all of the military ‘bolstering’ that the US has done for Fatah will be accessible to Hamas, as will international aid funds (since everyone will have to recognize the unity government).

Further, if a ‘peace’ treaty has been signed with Fatah, Israel will certainly have been forced to make real compromises on the major issues in order to get it. But what will it be worth?

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Rational Thailand and the irrational Mideast

August 3rd, 2007

The increasing frequency of terrorist attacks by Islamists in Thailand gets very little play in the US media. Commentator Barry Rubin describes some of the reasons why the rational, pragmatic Thais have difficulty understanding the Middle Eastern mindset that gives rise to the phenomenon.

Reading the Middle East in Bangkok

By Barry Rubin

Bangkok

A fascinating way to try to improve one’s own understanding of the Middle East is to try to explain the region to people from a totally different culture and history. I’ve done this in several far-flung places around the world but Thailand provides a particularly interesting example of the particularity and–in global terms–bizarre nature of the Middle East.

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Christian Zionism comes to Fresno

August 2nd, 2007

I’ve written about Dr. John Hagee and Christians United for Israel (CUFI) before. There is no question that this man and his organization are tremendously controversial among American Jews today. Jewish objections to CUFI come from those who disagree with their belief that Israel should maintain control over the territories, from those who are bothered by Hagee’s socially conservative positions on other issues, and those who believe that CUFI has an ulterior motive — that they actually wish to exacerbate conflict in the Middle East in order to bring about the second coming (Christian Zionists strongly deny this, saying that it doesn’t make theological sense).

On the other hand, many Jews accept the Christian Zionists’ explanation that they are following biblical injunctions to bless the Jewish People, and that they believe God wants the Jews to possess the Land of Israel — and are very happy to accept their help in the unequal struggle between Israel and her enemies.

In the very near future (September 9), CUFI and a new local organization called the “Judeo-Christian Alliance for Israel” (JCAI) will be holding a “Night to Honor Israel” here in Fresno. The object of the event is to generate interest in helping Israel among the Christian community and to raise funds.

One of the founders of the JCAI is John Somerville, a long-time Christian Zionist. Somerville told me that he expects most of the attendees to be Christians, and that

We will ask them to financially contribute to an as yet un-named project in Israel, which will be solely selected by the Jewish Federation. All the money will go directly to Israel, none of it will go to CUFI or JCAI. Nor will any of it go towards the cost of putting on the event. All of the money that has been spent so far, rent of the amphitheater, insurance, printing, travel and lodging for speakers, lights, sound, etc., came from one individual who went to Israel with me last year.

Somerville listed the goals of JCAI as follows:

  • To encourage meaningful and supportive relationships between Christians and Jews.
  • To educate and equip Christians to identify with Israel, the Jewish people, and the biblical/Hebraic foundations of the Christian faith.
  • To bless Israel and the Jewish people in Israel and worldwide, through practical assistance, volunteer service, and prayer.
  • To communicate Christian perspectives to the attention of US and Israeli leaders.
  • To demonstrate to the US Jewish community through action and information that Christian Zionism is a reflection of God’s love in the heart of Christians for the Jewish people and the Jewish state and not a veiled attempt to convert or subvert their Jewishness or their beliefs.
  • To counter Anti-Semitism and media misinformation while promoting Israel’s God-given right to exist in her God-given land.

Central California is an interesting place, with an extremely diverse population. Among the Armenians, Hispanics, Hmong, Japanese, Mennonites, Sikhs, and many others there is a large group that traces its origins to the dustbowl of the 1930’s. They brought a strong evangelical tradition with them, which took root and flourished and now finds its expression in several massive megachurches and numerous smaller ones. If you can say there is a ‘dominant culture’ here, this is it.

I think the tiny Jewish community — and especially those who strongly support Israel — can’t afford to ignore this phenomenon, which could represent part of a major historic change in the relationship between Christians and Jews.

From my point of view, I welcome it.

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The Protocols of the Elders of Durban

August 1st, 2007

There is an international conspiracy that reaches throughout the world, a conspiracy that is supported by you and me, citizens of the developed nations of world.

This conspiracy involves the UN and the very well-funded network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) associated with the UN. We can call it the “Durban conspiracy”, after the UN-sponsored Durban Conference on Racism of 2001, where NGOs ambushed Israel (and ignored actual racist regimes), passing resolution after resolution accusing her of racism, ethnic cleansing, genocide, state terrorism, colonialism, denial of self-determination, apartheid, crimes against humanity, etc.

It was at Durban that the strategy of delegitimizing and discrediting Israel in order to isolate and weaken her was fully articulated. The ultimate goal is to destroy. There’s no other way to understand it.

Now, having long since taken control of the UN, the tentacles of the conspiracy are infiltrating that other bastion of progressive modern civilization, the European Union (EU):

The United Nations has scheduled an “International Conference of Civil Society in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace”, to be held in the European Parliament in Brussels, August 30-31. This misleading [title] not withstanding, this annual conference is held under the auspices of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and the International Coordinating Network for Palestine – frameworks that promote the conflict through NGOs involved in implementing the Durban agenda of demonization. This year, for the first time, the exercise is gaining the legitimacy of sponsorship by the European Parliament, further highlighting the role that the Europe Union plays in supporting the radical NGO campaign. — NGO Monitor

If you still think that there is some possibility that this conference may actually be about peace rather than support for anti-Israel activities, note that topics include

“The situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and civil society response”, “Action by civil society organizations working in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem”, workshops on “Fortieth anniversary of occupation: building on action taken by civil society…”, and “Strengthening campaigns to end occupation, including grassroots campaigns against the wall, rallying around Bil’in”

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Did you know that our UN contains a “Division for Palestinian rights“? Here are a few of the things it does:

  • Organizing the annual commemoration of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People;
  • Preparing studies and publications relating to the question of Palestine and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and promoting their widest possible dissemination, including in cooperation with the Department of Public Information;
  • Maintaining liaison with NGOs which are active on the issue;
  • Maintaining and developing the Web-based United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine (UNISPAL).

UN postage stamp from UNISPALUNISPAL is impressive, by the way, containing audio, multimedia, photographs, etc. There are no pictures of Qassam rockets, but here’s a nice one of a postage stamp.

And I haven’t mentioned the “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967” who is required by his mandate to only see the Palestinian side of any story, or indeed the United Nations Human Rights Council:

By the beginning of 2007, the Council had passed eight resolutions condemning Israel, and none condemning any other country. More resolutions targeting Israel have been proposed for upcoming sessions. Israel, the United States and some human rights groups raised concerns about this revival of a practice of the UN’s discredited former Commission on Human Rights. — Wikipedia

These are some of the official UN agencies that exist only to target Israel. There are also more than a hundred NGOs listed by NGO watch, funded by governments, the UN, the EU, etc. that take the side of the Palestinians. Many of these are hard-core anti-Zionist organizations that exist only to support the anti-Israel cause. These were the perpetrators of the Durban conference.

So the next time someone tells you that there is a well-funded international conspiracy working behind the scenes to control the policies of nations, the contents of media, and even the minds of ordinary people, you will know exactly what he or she is talking about.

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The ADL and the Armenian Genocide

August 1st, 2007

Recently I wrote about attending a lecture by a Holocaust denier at a local church. It was upsetting to listen to the speaker’s repeated statements that yes, a lot of Jews died, it was war after all, but there was no concerted effort on the part of Hitler and the Nazis to wipe out the Jewish people.

The speaker had an answer for everything, and it’s impossible to respond to every ‘fact’ that someone can invent. It takes painstaking research, and by that time they have invented another ‘fact’. So even though historical facts — this happened or it didn’t — are absolutely true or false, there is no absolute proof in history the way there is in mathematics.

But after a while the weight of the evidence, the preponderance of the research, becomes so overwhelming that we can say that we know, beyond a reasonable doubt, that such-and-such did occur. At this point, ‘revisionist’ history stops being constructive, and we need to look for motives behind it other than a disinterested search for truth. This is the way it is with the Holocaust.

And this is the way it is for the Armenian Genocide.

Which brings me to Watertown Massachusetts, where local Armenians are asking the city to remove itself from an ADL program (“No Place for Hate”) because the ADL does not take a position on the Armenian Genocide and lobbied against a congressional resolution calling on the US to recognize it:

[ADL director Abraham] Foxman said he is surprised that he has become a target of Armenians. The ADL, a group founded in 1913 to fight anti-Semitism, has no official position on the Armenian genocide, he said.

“I’m not going to be the arbiter of someone else’s history,” he said in the interview, adding that he does not believe that Congress should either. When asked specifically if what happened to Armenians under the Ottoman Empire was genocide, he replied, “I don’t know.” The ADL only takes positions, he said, on current events, not on something that happened in the past.

Many groups oppose the resolution, including of course the Turkish Republic — although the resolution makes it quite clear that the guilty party was the Ottoman Empire. However, general international recognition of the genocide might make it possible for Armenians to claim compensation from Turkey. Turkey has applied pressure in many directions, including that of the US State Department which is concerned about Turkey’s relations with the Kurds in northern Iraq, and the State of Israel which sees Turkey as its only Muslim ‘ally’ (although in my view it’s a pretty poor ally).

It’s also possible that the ADL was influenced by an implied threat to the Turkish Jewish community.

Nevertheless, Foxman’s position is not supportable:

“You would never ever say that about the genocide in Darfur; you would never ever say that about the Holocaust,” said [Sharistan] Melkonian. “You need to stop genocide anywhere you can, and the only way to stop genocide in the future is to acknowledge that it happened.” — Boston Globe

It is contradictory for the ADL to oppose Holocaust denial vigorously, as it should, while refusing to take a position on another historically documented genocide.

And it doesn’t set a good precedent, either, in a practical sense. Today, pseudo-historical revisionism is being used by Israel’s enemies to claim that Jews dispossessed Palestinian Arabs unfairly from their lands, that Israel engineered the war in 1967 for expansionist motives, etc.

The ADL is wrong about this issue and should change its position.

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