Recognizing Israel's Right to Exist

nakba woman jug 1948 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The last few articles written on this blog were devoted to the feasibility of ending the occupation as well as a possible scenario that could occur if Israel would end the occupation and withdraw from territories occupied in the Six Day June 1967 War. It is really a vicious circle and we always seem to return to the same problem. The problem of the inability of the Arab States to recognize Israel's right to exist is an engraved mantra going back over 100 years. It is NOT the occupation since the Six Day June War of 1967. As mentioned in previous articles, wars were fought prior to the Six Day War. History has illustrated this. The occupation is a result of a Israel's strike against Egypt as Egypt had closed the Tiran Straits to Israel's shipping after ordering the UN to remove its UNICEF from there.  Jordan and Syria joined Egypt in an attempt to destroy Israel. Israel could not afford to lose this war. Had Israel lost, it would cease to exist.

If we go back before the establishment of Israel in 1948, we notice that the Arabs were consistent in a rejectionist attitude towards the establishment of a Jewish state in their midst. When Israel was established on 14 May 1948, the Arabs referred to it as Al Naqba - the Catastrophe, and since then wars were fought against Israel in an attempt to destroy the Jewish State.

The history of the Arab-Israeli conflict reveals 24 major junctures when compromise was offered since the 1920s, dating from pre-state, League of Nations Mandate to the present time. Plan after plan, including patently pro-Arab proposals, were put on the table. Since the 1993 Oslo Accords, 15 agreements and memorandums have been signed. 

If we examine the history of this conflict, it is not difficult to realize that the conflict did not begin with the occupation of 1967 but many years before Israel's establishment. The emphasis on the occupation being the cause of the conflict is simply because of political interests and the desire to delegitimize Israel. This does not mean that the "occupation" is justified if it allows Jewish settlements. After all, it is disputed territory. Establishing settlements simply weakens Israel's case in that it turns Israel into an occupying and colonizing power on the ground, ruling a people that are hostile.

Today with the uncompromising attitude of Hamas, the duplicity of the PA, and the radical changes in the Arab environment around Israel, including Daesh (ISIS) and various other Islamist terror groups, creates great instability. This is not conducive to solving the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Peace negotiations between the two sides are moribund. 

It is obvious, despite the very bleak situation that a solution to this conflict lies in negotiations between the warring parties. Hamas has closed the doors to that and the PA has no authority to jump start negotiations without Hamas support, which will just not happen under the present environment.

Maybe there is another way of facilitating the initiation of negotiations. A hint of this could perhaps come from the Joint List in the Knesset. They are in an ideal position to be mediators or facilitators. These Knesset members speak Arabic and Hebrew fluently. They support the Two-State Solution, interact with Israelis and understand the Palestinian position. They also do have Palestinian support in the West Bank. This mediation position that they could take stands a greater chance of success towards solving the conflict than if a third country, ignorant of the Palestinian and Israeli psyche, would ever have. Giving the Joint List more responsibility in peace negotiations has never been tried and perhaps there is a possibility that they can really play a positive role. 

The Joint List is composed of an alliance of Balad, Hadash, Ta'al and the United Arab List (the southern branch of the Islamic Movement). Balad is the most radical partner in this list. Three MK's from this list, Hanin Zoabi, Jamal Zahalka and Basel Ghattas, visited the parents of the terrorists, who stabbed and killed innocent Israelis, to sympathies with them and stood in silence as a mark of respect for these "shuhada (martyrs)". The excuse was to negotiate the return of their corpses for burial in the territories. When interviewed over TV Arutz 2, Jamal Zahalka, said that he viewed the stabbings and killings of innocent people whether Jewish or Palestinian as "Victims of the Occupation". (This interview is in Hebrew) He did express his disapproval of murdering innocent people for what it is worth. One may argue as to what the occupation is - whether it is the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 as appears in the Hamas Charter or the territories occupied in June 1967 War. The Joint List does support the Two-State Solution, so it does recognize Israel's right to exist. 

The avoidance by the Palestinian Leadership of critical issues over many years of dead-end negotiations is because they cannot come to terms with Israel's existence. It is perhaps on these issues that the Joint List has the potential of being a facilitator in future peace negotiations. The issues are so crucial for both Israelis and Palestinians and lack of vision for new ideas on both sides do not give much promise on making peace. The Joint List option could be a new direction that may produce positive results as they are not viewed as enemies of the Palestinian people in the PA-Hamas controlled areas. The Joint List, even though they are regarded with suspicion and the action of the three MK's mentioned was not productive, created further animosity as a really bad tactic that was unnecessary and achieved nothing. After the hype of this unfortunate meeting will blow over and the possibility of Joint List participation in bridging the wide gaps between the two sides can be given more serious consideration.

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• Is it Feasible to End the Occupation?
• BBC News promotes 'one-state' stepping stone and political messaging

Is it Feasible to End the Occupation?

The main differences between the 1947 partition proposal and 1949 armistice lines are highlighted in light red and magenta (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Over the years the mantra of “ending the cruel occupation” has become a slogan in order to arrive at a peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. It is as if the hostility of Palestinians towards Israel really began after the Six Day June 1967 War when Israel occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Sinai Peninsula, including Gaza, and the Golan Heights. It is as if prior to the Six Day War, there was never any hostility and the occupation since June 1967 is the main obstacle to peace between Israel and the Palestinians because of “Israel – the Zionist entity aggressor”. If the occupation is ended and the territories are returned to the Palestinians as part of a peace agreement and forms the basis of an independent Palestinian State, there is a view that peace will be achieved between the Israelis and Palestinians. This is wishful, false thinking.

There seems to be selective lapses of memory in adopting this viewpoint. It is as if Palestinian pundits and their allies have conveniently shelved the definition of the word “occupation”, which really means the establishment of Israel in 1948 on Palestinian Lands. The “occupation” resulting from the June War of 1967 is just a further irritation of conquering more territory. The wars that Israel fought prior to the Six Day June War of 1967 were wars of defense as hostile Arab armies wished to destroy Israel.

 Israel has been involved in a number of wars and large-scale military operations, prior to the June 1967 War which is listed below:

·         Israeli war of independence (November 1947 - July 1949) - Started as 6 months of civil war between Jewish and Arab militias at the end of the British Mandate of Palestine and turned into a regular war after the declaration of independence of Israel and the intervention of several Arab armies. In its conclusion, a set of agreements were signed between Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, called the 1949 Armistice Agreements, which established the armistice lines between Israel and its neighbors, also known as the Green Line.

·         Reprisal operations (1950s - 1960s) - Military operations carried out by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1950s and 1960s. These actions were in response to constant fedayeen incursions during which Arab guerillas infiltrated from Syria, Egypt, and Jordan into Israel to carry out attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers. The policy of the reprisal operations was exceptional due to Israel's declared aim of getting a high 'blood cost' among the enemy side which was believed to be necessary in order to deter them from committing future attacks.

·         Suez Crisis (October 1956) - A military attack on Egypt by Britain, France, and Israel, beginning on 29 October 1956, with the intention to occupy the Sinai Peninsula and to take over the Suez Canal. The attack followed Egypt's decision of 26 July 1956 to nationalize the Suez Canal after the withdrawal of an offer by Britain and the United States to fund the building of the Aswan Dam. Although the Israeli invasion of the Sinai was successful, the US and USSR forced it to retreat. Even so, Israel managed to re-open the Straits of Tiran and pacified its southern border.

This illustrates that historically at least; there was no occupation apart from The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which was a proposal developed by the United Nations that recommended a partition with Economic Union of Mandatory Palestine to follow the termination of the British Mandate. On 29 November 1947, the U.N.General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending the adoption and implementation of the Plan as Resolution 181. The United Nations General Assembly voted 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions and 1 absent, in favour of the modified Partition Plan. This was the basis of the establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948. Israel became a member of the UN and was recognised internationally. It was never recognised by the Arab states and war was declared against Israel to annihilate the fledgling state upon its establishment.

• After the 1967 Six Day War, there was never any desire of the Arab States to negotiate a peace agreement with Israel even though they had lost territory to Israel. Heads of state from eight Arab countries attended a summit conference in Khartoum, Sudan held from August 29 to September 1, 1967. The meeting formulated the Arab consensus that formed the basis of the policies of most Arab states participating in the conflict with Israel until the Yom Kippur War of 1973. The resolution adopted September 1, 1967 called for the continued struggle against Israel, the creation of a fund to assist the economics of Egypt and Jordan, the lifting of an Arab oil boycott against the West and a new agreement to end the war in Yemen.
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• The best remembered action at Khartoum, however, was the adoption of the dictum of “Three NOs” with respect to Israel:
•                            NO peace with Israel
•                            NO recognition of Israel   
•                            NO negotiations with Israel

With this resolution, the Arab states slammed the door on any progress towards peace with Israel and ultimately led to the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

The stridency of the Khartoum resolution, however, masked important changes that the June 1967 Six Day War caused in inter-Arab politics. At Khartoum, Nasser was promised badly needed economic assistance in exchange for his pledge to stop destabilising the region and end his propaganda attacks against the Persian Gulf monarchies. This meant that Egypt, along with the other Arab states, would focus on consolidating power at home and on pressing economic problems rather than on revolutionary schemes to unify the Arabs. After 1967 Arab regimes increasingly viewed Israel and the Palestinian Arab problem not as the key to revolutionary change of the Arab state system, but in terms of how they affected their domestic political stability.

From this we can see that all doors were closed to any form of negotiations for a peace agreement with Israel and an end to hostilities. The territories that were occupied in June 1967 should never have been colonised with Jewish settlements but rather kept as a bargaining chip for an eventual peace agreement. This was a grave error on Israel’s part. It could have remained under Israeli military control until a peace agreement was reached and the territories returned subsequently.

Hamas "Mercy" 

Even if there would never have been Israeli settlements established in territory occupied since the Six Day War, it would not have made any difference to the Palestine Leadership attitude towards Israel and undoubtedly hostilities would have continued. The occupation since 1967 is just an added factor that goes against Israel.

Today the situation for an end to the conflict has deteriorated even further rendering the Two-State Solution out of the realm of a reality.

Lone wolf Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israelis by stabbings and ramming cars into innocent Israelis have received the blessings of Hamas and the PA. The latter has been dragged into supporting this form of terror committed largely by Palestinian teenagers and young adults.

Unfortunately, the Palestinians have become more radical and there is even a movement amongst a considerable number of them supporting Daesh (ISIS). The conflict is becoming not only a question of land but also religion. Hamas is the dominant factor and the key to solving the conflict. The PA under Mahmoud Abbas is ineffectual and weak as well as being artificially propped up by the US and even Israel. He also tends to speak with a forked tongue depending on whether he is addressing his Arab audience or the West. Both Hamas and the PA leadership are very wealthy and corrupt. An end to the occupation as well as hostilities against Israel threatens the personal wealth of the Palestinian leaders. Apart from that, the occupation in the eyes of Hamas is the existence of Israel since 1948 according to the Hamas Charter and not just territory occupied in 1967. 

This being so Israel cannot negotiate its own destruction as a pre-condition for a peace agreement as appears to be the case today. On Israel's side there will never be a partner to negotiate Israel's destruction by ending the occupation in the widest sense of the term, according to Hamas. They will not accept anything else. It is time that Palestinian pundits accept this unfortunate fact. Hamas is not a human rights friendly organisation nor does it care for the Palestinian People. Most of the Hamas leadership is sitting on the fleshpots of wealth in Qatar. While the occupation (or Israel’s existence) continues they will prosper and they are aware of that. It is a profitable mantra to gain world support by bashing Israel and using naive human rights activists of various NGOs as their kingpins for their personal enrichment.

Right Wing Attacks on Democracy in Israel

Over the years, Israel has been condemned unjustifiably in the UN and by the EU for violations of Palestinian rights. There are so many anti-Israel resolutions passed in the UN as well as the time allocated discussing Israel’s human rights infringements in the occupied territories. I have written many articles on this in my blog. There is no doubt that those, who support anti-Israel resolutions in the UN, have their own political agendas that are not human rights- oriented. The human rights infringements, cruel murders; torture in the name of so-called Islam is hardly an issue in this impotent world body. IS (Daesh) and the various terrorist movements responsible for the heinous acts of terror all over the world for spreading their cause of establishing an Islamist Caliphate, is not even discussed in this “prestigious”, impotent world body called the UN.

Having said that, we must also be introspective, examining ourselves in Israel and cease justifying attacks on those who think differently to the paranoid right wing extremists within our midst. The siege mentality is affecting many Israelis, who are now moving towards the right and extreme right. Israel is now “blessed” with the most right wing coalition in its history as a knee-jerk reaction.

Of course, the various Palestinian terrorist groups, the head of which is Hamas, followed by Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Brigades with their uncompromising attitude of not recognizing Israel’s right to exist, have closed the door to any form of negotiations for peace and a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. This uncompromising attitude by the Palestinians has been prevalent for many years.

Even under the Rabin Government there was no real progress towards peace. There is no denying that Hamas, which is the deciding factor on peace negotiations, and not President Mahmoud Abbas, who is weak and has no power base or Palestinian support. How can Israel conduct any form of negotiations with any Palestinian representative that does not recognize Israel’s right to exist? That is such a basic condition for any negotiations.

Israel’s strength is its democracy. At the same time, even in the tense situation that Israel finds itself, we must ensure that human rights abuse does not occur. Israel faces individual terrorist attacks almost every day. Lone Palestinian terrorists infiltrate into Israel armed with knives and cars. Stabbing of innocent Israelis or car ramming them is considered an honor and is encouraged by Hamas. Those Palestinian terrorists who commit these violent acts must be dealt with by the full arm of the law, even if it means killing them when caught stabbing innocent people.

Despite all these horrifying and tragic terror attacks that we as Israelis face every day and none of us is guaranteed immunity from these attacks. We must ensure that vigilante, extremist right wing groups do not take the law into their own hands and go on the rampage by killing innocent Palestinian citizens in revenge or carrying out acts of vandalism.  It is unacceptable!

We have to maintain our moral standards and find ways to prevent human rights abuse and violence against innocent Palestinian People committed by overzealous individuals in the security forces, whether they are soldiers or policemen. This has nothing to do with politics. It has plenty to do with human decency, irrespective of one’s political views. It is in this sphere that it is necessary that there are watchdogs that ensure that there are no incidents of human rights abuse of innocent people in the course of IDF and Police duty.

The NGOs such as Breaking the Silence, B'tzelem, New Israel Fund and Peace Now are active in this area. Their activities should be encouraged and not condemned. They do have a positive role to play. There is nothing treacherous or treasonable in what they do in ensuring that the IDF remains “the most moral army in the world”. There may be disagreements in their research methods of maintaining transparency, but this must always be open for inspection of validity and accountability.

Their findings are published and the right wing maintains that groups, such as BDS, the EU and countries hostile to Israel, use their findings to bash Israel. It is unfortunate that this does occur. These human rights Israeli NGOs are on record condemning BDS. Their published findings are on the web and open for all interested parties to read. We cannot choose those who read them and there will be those who will use these find

Meet Lehava, the Israeli Fascists Mounting a Vicious Crusade
 to Keep their Women Away from Arabs

ings to bash Israel. This does not make these NGOs treasonable if they publish the truth. They do not harm Israel’s security and they do have the support of many army and former combatants, who had played their part in defending Israel from its enemies in war. This includes former officers and Mossad heads. These people have played a greater part in defending Israel than Price Tag, Im Tirtzu and Lehava, who are stoking the flames of fascism against those who do not hold their world view. Im Tirtzu is a right wing organization that does have the support of Bayit Hayehudi (the party of Naftali Bennett and Ayelet Shaked in the Government coalition).

Im Tirzu activists demonstrate during a rally
 marking the Nakba anniversary at the Tel Aviv University

The task of ensuring that innocent Palestinians are not abused by the IDF is a difficult challenge and the battle for maintaining Israel’s vibrant democracy goes hand in hand. The accusations of the right wing against the moderate left in Israel by accusing them of treason is not constructive and threatens Israel’s democracy.

An end to the occupation can only occur if there is a desire to end it on both sides. Non-recognition of Israel’s right to exist is a non-starter for any form of negotiations, irrespective of whichever government is in power.

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Palestinians' Anti-Peace Campaign

Palestinians' Anti-Peace Campaign Prior to attending this meeting I wrote an article about the unfortunate demise of the Two-State Solution. What happened at this meeting is gaining support among Palestinians and is aiding the right wing Netanyahu Coalition, by strengthening Netanyahu's claim that there will be no Palestinian State. If this is what occurs at Peace Meetings sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, we are going to have a disaster as Hamas gives support to these activities. It will also strengthen the hawkish Netanyahu Government, which was sworn in with the majority of one vote (61 for and 59 against).

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Palestinian State - Figment of Imagination?

Map showing the West Bank and Gaza Strip in relation to central Israel (situation of 2007) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The idea of a two-state solution has been doing the rounds for many years to achieve a peace settlement between Israelis and Palestinians. Most countries in the world including the US, EU have expressed support for a two-state solution. A solution to the Israeli Occupation since the Six Day War of June 1967 has been discussed in international forums for many years, including negotiations with the Palestinians. There has been no progress towards a two-state solution.

While we all want a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, there is no sign that this is going to happen any time soon. The reasons are numerous and complicated. It is not because PM Netanyahu said that under his watch, there will be no establishment of Palestinian State. There is no situation on the ground that is conducive to negotiations.

In order to even arrive at negotiations, there must be a desire on both sides to reach a settlement. The Palestinian Authority under

Mahmoud Abbas and his chief professional negotiator for peace, Dr. Saeb Erakat represent nobody but themselves. According to the latest polls, Hamas support in the West Bank is on the increase and support for the PLO- oriented PA (Palestinian Authority) is on the wane. Even if a peace agreement between Israel and the PA is reached, Abbas will never sign because Hamas will never accept it. Hamas will only accept a "Peace Treaty" that delegitimizes Israel's right to exist. Israel’s establishment of settlements in the occupied West Bank is not an issue. As far as Hamas is concerned, Israel is occupied territory since 1948 and this is their mantra that is well outlined in the Hamas Charter which has not changed. The PA has had no general elections since 2006. It has no democratic institutions and no accountability to its people. Transparency in government is non-existent. They know that Hamas is breathing down their necks waiting to take over the West Bank if elections would take place. The result for Israel would be disastrous!  The PA and Hamas have signed an agreement even though it is shaky.

There is total instability in the Middle East with warring factions ranging from ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra, the genocide of the Yazidis and Christians. Hezbollah, who are allies of Hamas, Salifis and many other Islamist terror groups are engaged in partisan terrorist activity. With all due respects, how on earth can one see a fertile ground for a two-state solution? One must also bear in mind that all these groups have an insatiable, pathological hate for Israel. These terrorist nationalist groups are hell bent on Israel's destruction. The UN is impotent and many of its members spend time on bashing Israel on "human rights abuse" concerning the Palestinians. The chaos in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon is hardly an issue. Iran and Turkey are also involved. The former is supporting Hezbollah and Syria’s butcher, Bashar el Assad, while the latter sits on the fence. The occupation and building settlements are opposed by many of us, however, we realize that the alternative is worse. If Israel relinquishes the occupied territories, it will be filled by Hamas and the West Bank will deteriorate into a second Gaza and Hamas terror, tunnel digging for the infiltration of Hamas terrorists into Israel will increase. This will be the alternative to the occupation. It is a reality and not an ideology. Ideology against the occupation and the reality of a barbaric scenario without the occupation is obvious. This is the choice we really have. Sorry for this pessimism! If only this was not the case. The biggest enemy of the Palestinian Leadership (Hamas and the PA) is the strong belief in their fantasy world of glory.  They create a reality based on their fantasies. In this attempt, they have much in common with ISIS and their terrorist ilk, despite their constant denials.

The earthquake disaster in Nepal has overshadowed most news items in Israel. Israel has bent over backwards to send IDF rescue teams to save as many Nepalese victims as possible. Field hospitals have been established and many lives have been saved. Rescue teams have arrived from all over the world, each doing what they can to alleviate the suffering and working round the clock.

There are groups of journalists in Israel of the likes of Gideon Levy who feel that Israel should be rehabilitating Gaza and not be putting in such effort to save lives in Nepal. He is wrong for many reasons (some of which will be outlined later in this article) and there are many double-standard, self-styled human rights activists who feel the same way.

The Gaza War - Operation Protective Edge - broke out in July 2014 and lasted 50 days. Of course, the Palestinians in Gaza underwent traumatic suffering no matter how one views it. Large densely populated areas in Gaza were destroyed, leaving many people homeless. This was not the result of a natural disaster but Israel's military reaction to Hamas aggression, which Gideon Levy and his colleagues of like mind, ignore. The attempts at firing missiles into Israel by Hamas terrorist militants as well as digging tunnels to carry out murderous acts of terror created a situation whereby the IDF was forced to act in order to defend Israel's citizens. Hamas was warned but they took no heed. The result for the Palestinian population was tragic. It was grist for the mill of human rights activists sympathetic to the Hamas-oriented Palestinian cause and all that it entails.

The Hamas use of innocent Palestinians as human shields is well documented with Hamas rockets being fired from UNRWA property and from civilian areas added to the tragic death rate of many innocent Palestinians. One must also note that the Hamas leadership was hidden in shelters underground and not a squeak was heard from them while Palestinian human shields surrounded their “hidey holes” and took a battering. The "brave-fearless-in-rhetoric" Khaled Mashaal sitting on the gold pots in Qatar, Ismail Haniyeh as well as many other Hamas leaders in an underground shelter were conspicuous by their absence. They came out of their holes when a cease-fire was declared to sprout their rhetoric of bravado and fantasy victory.

Nepal is not Gaza and the latter's leadership is hostile to Israel. They would not have allowed the IDF to go on a lifesaving mission to help those Palestinians caught up in the tragedy. This would be against their interests of portraying Palestinian suffering at the hands of the “cruel occupier - Israel”! There were cases where Palestinians did arrive in Israeli hospitals for medical treatment. How can one expect Israel to rehabilitate Gaza when Hamas was responsible for the tragedy as well as declaring war on Israel and not a natural disaster? Hamas was the cause of Palestinian suffering and destruction! The "peace loving" NGOs and their journalistic ilk avoided publishing the truth. Truth in Hamas eyes is based on fantasy in most cases as well as dishonest reporting.

After Operation Protective Shield, a ceasefire was declared and the destruction to Gaza was horrendous and the toll in death and destruction in Gaza was high. The blame for this must be laid at the doorstep of Hamas, who acted irresponsibility, crippled by their fantasies of victory, glory and irreconcilable hate for Israel that goaded them on to create a disaster for the Palestinians.

Today acts of terror against Israel still occur. Individual Palestinians go on the rampage periodically ramming their vehicles into innocent bystanders or stabbing people in the streets. These terrorists are imbued with an irreconcilable hatred for Jews and carry out individual terrorist acts.

The reality as portrayed in this article is not conducive to a Two State solution. It is a sad truth. It will remain a figment of the imagination to those, who are naive and ignorant to the reality on the ground in a sea of enemies surrounding Israel and the chaos in the Middle East of today.

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