On The Palestinians' Bid For A Terror-State

In a speech filled with lies, hatred for Israel, and a refusal to accept any responsibility whatsoever for the Palestinians' part in the conflict, Abbas on Friday made his bid to the UN for a Palestinian state, without negotiations, and without Palestinian concessions. 

It is interesting to note who is for and who is against the bid. Against includes The Times and J Street, because although obviously both are pro a 2 state solution, J Street explain “we do not believe that, in the current context, it [the bid for statehood without negotiations] will advance peace, enhance security and improve conditions on the ground.” Which sums up why most rational people are against it.

Meanwhile the UK version of J Street (but evidently a lot more stupid naive), the questionably “pro-Israel, pro-peace” group Yachad are for it, because they “believe it represents a historic opportunity to advance and expedite the peace process... to be recognised as a state will require the Palestinian leadership to take on the obligations of behaving like a state.” The Guardian of course, is also for it, as they appear not to want the Palestinians to have to make any concessions at all, whether engaging in land swaps, recognising Israel as the Jewish state, or tearing up their agreement with Hamas - you know, the antisemitic, genocidal terror organisation.

So let’s have a look at just some of the reasons why the Palestinian state Abbas asked for is, to put it lightly, a bad idea.

Robin Shepherd observes that:

“There is one party to this dispute that most emphatically does not support a Palestinian state, if that means long-term acceptance of the State of Israel: the Palestinians themselves… opinion polls have consistently shown that the Palestinians only support the idea of a Palestinian state sitting side by side with Israel as a stepping stone to a future one state solution in which they rule over the Jews (assuming they are ruled over and not slaughtered or “driven into the sea” as they are wont to say)… a comprehensive poll by the Israel Project in November 2010 showed 60 percent of Palestinians agreeing with the proposition that: ‘The real goal should be to start with two states but then move to it all being one Palestinian state’”.

On the day of the bid, a member of the Fatah Central Committee, Abbas Zaki, told Al Jazeera that regarding Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ bid for 2 states, “Abbas understands... everybody knows that the greater goal cannot be accomplished in one go. If Israel withdraws from Jerusalem, evacuates the 650,000 settlers, and dismantles the wall – what will become of Israel? It will come to an end. If we say that we want to wipe Israel out... It's not [acceptable] policy to say so. Don't say these things to the world. Keep it to yourself.” This might seem like a stupid thing to say to an internationally aired news channel, but the truth is the mainstream media either don't make the effort to know, or don't care about the difference between what Palestinian officials say in Arabic and what they say in English.

Palestinians often depict a map of the whole of Israel as representing “Palestine”, whether in newspaper cartoons, or Fatah’s own logo, which was on Abbas' official document to the UN. 

Abbas himself, speaking for the Palestinians, will not recognise Israel as the Jewish state, as he has said numerous time, including on 27^th August to the PLO Central Council: “Present to us something sensible, don’t present to us ‘The Jewish State’, we will never accept it... The Quartet cannot force upon us the character of the state [of Israel], or that we should recognize the nature of the Israeli state”.

And he didn’t change his mind between then and 22^rd September, the day before the bid, when he told 200 representatives of American Arabs of Palestinian descent “we will not recognise the Jewish state...  we will only accept that Palestine be free of settlers and soldiers [i.e. Jews]”.

Which is what the PLO’s ambassador to the US, Maen Areikat, said on 13^th September, that any future Palestinian state it seeks with help from the United Nations and the United States should be free of Jews. He later explained he meant settlers and soldiers (so, still Jews then), but last year he made a similar statement during an interview with Tablet magazine. Asked whether “Any Jew who is inside the borders of Palestine will have to leave”, he responded “absolutely”.

Let’s not forget that Abbas is a Holocaust denier, he denies the Jewish historical connection to Israel, rewrites the history of the conflict, and is responsible for his government’s incitement of hatred and violence towards Israelis and Jews, through Palestinian childrens’ tv programmes, honouring and glorifying terrorists with processions, video tributes, naming streets, schools, town squares and youth groups after them; and rewarding the families ofterrorists with payment. 

About a year ago, the PA Minister of Prisoners’ affairs Issa Karake honoured a Palestinian woman, Latifa Abu Hmeid, with a plaque inscribed with the names of four of her sons who are serving sentences in Israeli prisons, all of them for their involvement in the murder of Israeli civilians in numerous terror attacks. Karake stated: “The Palestinian mother is a central partner in the struggle... It is she who gave birth to the fighters, and she deserves that we bow to her in salute and in honour.”

Two weeks ago, Karake stated that "The recognition of the [Palestinian] state means... that the struggles of the prisoners [i.e. terrorists] are legitimized and legal according to UN Resolutions”.

So it isn’t surprising that last week the Palestinians’ statehood campaign began with Abu Hmeid, the mother honoured for giving birth to murderers, leading the procession to the UN offices in Ramallah, where she handed over a letter to the representative there of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon calling for the UN to recognise a Palestinian state.

Probably the most obvious reason why the statehood bid is a bad idea, yet people still need to be reminded of it, is that Israel left Gaza in 2005, uprooting thousands of Israeli citizens from their homes there. Hamas then took over, throwing out Fatah and firing over 10,000 rockets on Israeli civilians. Israel would need to ensure that the West Bank would be under the control of moderates, and that weapons would not be smuggled in, which would mean that practically every city in Israel would be in range.

Why could Abbas possibly object to negotiations with Netanyahu that would address these problems? And why would people, people who call themselves pro-peace and pro-Israel, support Abbas in this?

Palestinian "Justice"

- A young Palestinian has been jailed for criticising and mocking Islam on his blog and on Facebook groups that he created, claiming to be G-d. The blogger faces a potential life prison sentence, whilst residents of his West Bank town say he should be publicly executed. Somehow I don't think any of this will change his opinions on Islam.

- Meanwhile on Gaza's new "five-star" prison, the director said "We do not practice any torture here. That takes place at the interrogation centre, before people are convicted." Once convicted though, those accused of collaborating with Israel are hanged in the basement. But before that, they can enjoy tv and radio in their rooms, and to visit and be visited by their families.

- In other news, last month the Working Group Against the Trafficking of Women set up a window display in Tel Aviv's Dizengoff mall, where real women posed with price tags attached, under a banner saying "Women for Sale". The aim was obviously to create awareness of the issue, and to gather signatures for their petition, but Iranian media reported it as "Prostitution in Israel", describing it as a "slavery mall". Thankfully the Western mainstream media isn't quite at that stage yet, although there have been instances where it's not very far off.

Terrorism And Bias

In the third shooting attack in Israel in less than a month, a nine-month pregnant Israeli woman was shot at in her car today by Palestinian terrorists. Miraculously only wounded in her leg, the woman was taken to hospital where she had to undergo an emergency caesarian section, with her baby delivered in good condition.

The media continues to report on the situation in the Middle East by ignoring the continuous terrorist attacks and writing about how Israel is the object to peace, such as in today's Oberver editorial, which Chas Newkey-Burden nicely fisks.

Also big news is UNHRC's accusation of Israel committing "war crimes" in it's soldiers defending themselves from almost certain death at the hands of the lynch mob in May's flotilla incident.

Robin Shepherd tackles the BBC's standard bias in it's coverage of the UNHRC report; Just Journalism look at the other media coverage; and Elder of Ziyon exposes the omission and twisting of evidence in the UNHRC's biased report.

Peace-Yearning Palestinians Murder Four Israelis

Four Israeli civilians were shot dead - five including an unborn baby - this evening in a Palestinian terror attack, whilst driving near Hebron. The victims: Kokhava Even-Chaim leaves her husband and eight year old daughter; 24 year old newly-wed Avishai Shindler; and Yitzchak Imas and his nine-month pregnant wife Talya, leave six orphaned children.

A spokesman for the Palestinian group, Popular Resistance Committees, said this was the Palestinian reaction to the US-proposed peace talks:

"They should not have gone for this move without the support of the Palestinian people... Our people still abide by resistance and do no believe in the fictitious talks scheduled to commence tomorrow."

A Hamas spokesman said: "Hamas praises the attack and regards it as a natural response to the crimes of the occupation"; later Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

Israeli MKs say it shows that the Palestinians do not want peace (see statements above) and that we should halt the talks as security for Israeli civilians must be our first priority.

MK Eldad warned:

“Anyone who in recent months has helped build the myth that Abu Mazen [Abbas] is in charge of what is going on in PA controlled areas must open his eyes and put a halt to the continued strengthening of the Palestinian army that is being built with American support. This group could easily take over Hamas' job, and we should not be surprised if and when their weapons are directed against us”.

In the media coverage of the upcoming talks, there has been hardly any focus on Hamas and the Palestinians' opposition to it. Instead, the focus has been on Israel, Netanyahu, and the settlements as the "obstacle to peace." Yet if Israel were to pull out of the talks, you can bet the media would say the attack was just being used as an excuse.

It will be interesting to see what Abbas' reaction is. Unless he condemns the attack in strong terms, and finds a way to convince us that the majority of Palestinians are against the attack and do want peace, then by rights we should not engage in "peace" talks just to make Obama look like he's doing something useful.

I blame Obama, first for pressurising Israel into removing the very checkpoints that were built specifically to prevent this sort of attack, as well as hundreds of others, and then for pressurising Abbas into talks that he and the Palestinians obviously do not want. If Obama were a decent human being, he would apologise for that, and condemn the attack in a satisfactory manner whilst also acknowledging his own part in triggering it, ideally also apologising directly to the family members of the Israelis murdered in the attack.

Obama is either evil, or a fool, so I'm not expecting him to do the right thing.

UPDATE: In response to the attack, Yesha Council officials announced the end of the settlement freeze in the West Bank, stating that "every community in the area will locate an area within it and start construction in it by 6pm Wednesday... "They kill, we build."

That just about sums it up. Whatever people say about the Gaza "siege" and the "occupation", it does not compare to the ruthless and deliberate murder of innocent civilians. If Israel was the terror regime it's portrayed as, the IDF would bomb every last Palestinian in the West Bank to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. Instead there is a hunt underway for the terrorists responsible, whilst Palestinians celebrate in the streets.

The world tells us what to do and promises security in return, but only Israel can guarantee it's own security. So the only option is to build.

UPDATE: Just Journalism and Elder of Ziyon look at the media coverage of the attack, focusing on how the Guardian and New York Times waste no time in blaming the Israelis for existing, and how "settlers" are, as per the status quo, portrayed as the "obstacle to peace", rather than terrorists.

Palestinians celebrate the attack:

Orphaned Israeli girl cries at her parents' funeral

The Imas family, children now orphans:

Their crime? Jewish, Israeli, and living.

Carter: Israel has "had an entire year without terrorism"

In a typically one sided opinion piece in the Guardian, Jimmy Carter writes: 

"Israel has long argued that it cannot negotiate with terrorists, yet has had an entire year without terrorism and still could not negotiate."

You could say, well the media never reports on the acts of terrorism that have occured over the past year in Israel, so Carter must be right, but then, I read the news and I am aware of the terrorism.    For example, there was a would-be suicide bomber who was stopped and disarmed at one of those darned checkpoints.    Just a few days after Carter's piece an Israeli was shot and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist , ironically, but perhaps inevitably, as a resident said, in an area where a security checkpoint had recently been removed.                    Meanwhile another Palestinian was caught at a checkpoint in Hebron in possession of two knives. An Israeli boy was injured by a Molotov cocktail and an Israeli girl was injured by a firebomb, both in the West Bank. Not to mention the continuous rocket attacks on Southern Israel from Gaza. And the Israeli settlers' persecution of the Palestinians continues. Oh, wait a minute. I got that the wrong way round.    What were you saying, Mr. Carter?

Double Checkpoint Humiliation!

A difficult day for Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank just trying to go about their daily business with dignity and freedom. First, IDF soldiers at a checkpoint near Hebron discovered a Palestinian man was carrying four knives, so he was sent for questioning. If that wasn't bad enough, another Palestinian was humiliated when he tried to stab an IDF soldier at a checkpoint near Nablus; the soldier avoided injury, and the Palestinian was turned over to security forces for interrogation. This checkpoint business really is humiliating for the Palestinians, every time they fail in an attempted terrorist attack they must feel so ashamed at getting caught and letting down their people.

Even More Checkpoint Humiliation

This morning, Israeli soldiers once again humiliated a Palestinian at a checkpoint, in Hebron. The Palestinian tried to stab the soldiers so they shot him in the legs. IDF medics then treated the terrorist at the scene, and had him transferred to Shaarei Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem.

More Checkpoint Humiliation

At a checkpoint in Samaria on monday, three Arabs were humiliated and arrested after police discovered weapons in their car. We must get rid of the checkpoints already, otherwise how will terrorists be allowed to move freely through the country without this constant humiliation?!

Checkpoint Humiliation

IDF soldiers humiliated a Palestinian woman today at a checkpoint in Hebron, West Bank. They transferred her for interrogation. Oh, and they took away her weapons, the b******s!

Fatah And Violence

An interesting comment piece on the Guardian site. Yes! Interesting! About Palestinians and NOT anti-Israel! It’s about Palestinians and womens’ rights. Unfortunately, just before I found the piece, which says things might be better if Palestinian women were allowed on the Fatah committee, I came across this article, about women in Gaza getting military training to “resist the occupiers”. Somehow, I doubt that the endorsement of women in the Palestinian governments will bring much more of a diplomatic attitude to things. As it is, Fatah say they “maintain the right of resistance… by all means possible”, and “the call to ‘liquidate the Zionist entity’” remains. Also, they say they “will continue to sacrifice victims [themselves] until Jerusalem will be returned to the Palestinians” – the whole of Jerusalem. Which just reconfirms my doubts of there ever being peace with the Palestinians, because we will never give up Jerusalem. And the peacefulness continues on the side of the Palestinians as two Israeli civilians were shot at in the West Bank yesterday, both only injured lightly.

Would Someone Please Gag Self-Hating-Seth!

I'm all for free speech but not when it's an idiot talking who doesn't make any sense. Seth Freedman (and I'm going to try from now on not to let him get under my skin, but it's hard when he's such a hypocrite), starts his latest moan:

"In many parts of the West Bank, Israel's much-vaunted separation wall is conspicous by it's absence."

He goes on to say that the wall is only 60% completed, that some of it is only flimsy, unguarded fences, and that it is "child's play" (his words) to dodge checkpoints and the fence, and "enter Israel entirely at will without encountering a single soldier or slab of wall", and then, I kid you not, he calls it a "non-existent barrier". So what point is he trying to make? That the wall isn't such a big deal? No. His point is that it isn't the wall that has caused the dramatic decline of close to 100% in suicide bombings. He then says that if anything, the wall would increase the likelihood of violence because of it's "crippling impact on life for the Palestinians". So the fence goes from non-existent to crippling. But wait, there's more! Freedman criticises the settlers who feel unprotected by the wall, as he says there is a strong presence of Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, but that sort of contradicts his earlier claim that terrorists can easily wander round the WB and into Israel without getting caught by the IDF (when in fact on average at least 1 Palestinian is arrested daily at a checkpoint carrying a knife or some other weapon). To conclude, Freedman is an idiot. Ignorant, hypocritical, and therefore no credibility. Perfect for the Guardian, who love him over there. Even when he calls the fence 'non-existent' they'll still agree with him because they know he will somehow make that a bad thing for Israel.

It's Self-Hating-Seth Again!

This time, in his Guardian column, Seth Freedman moans about Israel's 'cynical' cellcom advert, that, he says, "makes light of the West Bank barrier". I personally like the ad, it's fun. As for the fence part, well I'm sure whichever Palestinian on the other side is kicking the ball back and forth is having a good time too. It's sad but true that the situation is that they have to play with a wall between them. Freedman though, compares the ad to the idea of a Palestinian florists' ad showing flowers flying over Gaza like rockets and landing in vases in Israeli homes. There's a difference though. The rockets are aimed to kill Israeli civilians. The wall is not there to kill anyone, just to prevent the deaths of innocent Israelis, in which it has, thank G-d, succeeded. But that doesn't seem to matter to Freedman, only that the advert ignores:

"That the wall is detested by millions of Palestinians, has been ruled wholly illegal by an international court, and has been proved to be a tool for blatant and brazen theft of Palestinian land".

There's no denying that it must be very unpleasant living behind that wall, but, and I truly am sorry to sound so callous here, it's simple really: don't do the crime if you can't do the time. The Palestinians should have thought about the consequences of their actions before they decided to blow up hundreds of Israelis. When you think about it really, they got off quite lightly. It's just a wall. It's an ugly wall, it's a nuisance, it isn't nice. But it isn't killing anybody. So here's the advert.

'IDF troops more polite than PA police'

Strangely enough, that observation came from a Palestinian woman, whose house in the West Bank was raided by Palestinian policemen. "They behaved in a shameful way," she said. "When the Jews come, they ask for permission and cry out before they enter a house." She added that the police acted in a barbaric manner and left behind a lot of damage. The difference might not sound like much but it counts for a lot, just another small example of the morality of the IDF, that gets buried in the hundreds of accusations of war crimes. Here's another, in a letter written by an Israeli soldier to the Gaza Palestinian whose home he stayed in during Cast Lead.

Just Another Day In The West Bank

Two Hamas members and a Palestinian policeman were killed in the West Bank today, by each other. On Monday there was another gunfight between Hamas and Fatah which left 6 dead. There is a hilarious comment written on the Times article of Monday's incident:

"I am 45 years old. For my entire life this same article could have been written daily. Enough is enough. Bibi end it now. End it right now, today, this minute. I am done. Simply done with the wringing of hands and the weeping and wailing of stories."

I'm glad to hear she's done with the hand-wringing, weeping and wailing. It would be best if she's done with reading the news as well, before she starts demanding that Bibi ends swine flu and the recession. This response sums it up:

"What a great comment by Rachel. Not in the slightest bit interested in the information rendered - only in the opportunity to condemn Israel regardless of the connection. Such ignorance and hatred brimming under the surface: you can't wait to let it escape - even if it has no relevance whatsoever."