Terror in Judea and Samaria

Last week, Shoval, a combat photographer for the IDF travelling in Samaria reports

“I saw my life flash before my eyes, and felt the terrible fear of dying.

I was traveling on a road in Samaria. A bus full of children returning from school came down the opposite lane. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I saw a firebomb fly directly at the bus. I blinked and saw in my mind one of those horrifying images of an exploded bus you see in the newspaper, only this time it was right there in front of me.

When I opened my eyes, I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t know if it was luck or something else, but the firebomb missed the bus, flying right over it.

One split second later, that sigh of calm turned into one of the most fearful moments of my life. The bomb was now heading towards me! I can’t explain how that felt in words – those few milliseconds felt like an eternity. I managed to step on the accelerator of my vehicle and the bomb landed in a bush a few meters away from me.

I sped up and drove to a military position at a nearby crossing, and alerted the soldiers to what had happened. They quickly returned with their commanding officer to the scene of the crime to catch the terrorist. We heard on the radio that another IDF force had already arrived there.

The saddest part of this attack is that this truly non-trivial event has become a dangerous routine. Israeli civilians in Judea and Samaria suffer from attacks like this daily, attacks which the media deem insignificant. After living through this experience today, I feel the importance of being there, as a soldier, even more strongly.”

Terrorists have committed dozens and dozens of firebomb attacks this year across Judea and Samaria. When a terrorist throws a firebomb, he immediately puts lives at risk. Unfortunately, Shoval’s story is just one of many. Share this testimony and show the world the true face of the constant terror attacks that go unreported in Judea and Samaria.

Avaaz Exclusively Blames Israel - Part 2

Continuing Avaaz's criticism's exclusively of Israel, another document has been issued with more invective, more emotive terminology and no basis of fact or reality. See below:- 

“It was the hottest week of the year. All Fadel Jaber wanted was some water for his family. But Fadel lives in the occupied West Bank,….”

Where does he live? In areas A and B where 96% of all Palestinians live the responsibility for water is in the hands of the PA. They have done nothing to provide the appropriate infrastructure for their citizens. Water is available in accordance with the Oslo agreements - in fact more than was agreed is available.  If he was living in area C, it is likely he is living in an unauthorized place, simply “land grabbing”. Israel has no responsibility to supply infrastructure in this situation. So that leaves us with the 4% of the Palestinians who live in area C. These Palestinians live in recognized areas and have full services provided by Israel

“Where the Israeli government has redirected water pipes to provide swimming pools for Jewish settlers and empty faucets for Palestinians like Fadel.”

No water pipes have been “redirected”. Palestinians have more than enough water supplied annually by Israel over and above the agreed quantities in the last water agreement. The PA problem is that they:-

a) don’t conserve water,

b) the don’t recycle water, (Israel recycles over 75% and is aiming for 90%.

c) have allowed over 300 illegal wells to be dug so there is no obligation to pay water rates and which is destroying their own aquifers and water table  and

d) send all their waste into the rivers ending up in Israel where POLIO has now reared its head again.

“When the Israeli forces dragged Fadel off for taking water, his heartbroken five-year-old son Khaled could be heard screaming “baba, baba!” as his dad was torn away. This is daily life for Palestinians living under the brutal fist of martial law where their land and water has been stolen by settlers”

“…and they have no basic human rights. But after years of violence and hopelessness, a movement is growing in Palestine -- a nonviolent resistance seeking the same thing that all Israelis already have: freedom, dignity and a state of their own.”

NO, land is being grabbed by the Palestinians without any proof of ownership. Those grabbing land have to be removed. The High Court of Justice deals with all claims concerning land, however Israel cannot accept the illegal grabbing of land

Such typical land grab attempts by Palestinians are commonplace, they “claim” ownership, yet have no legal papers to show proof of ownership. The most recent case  of Susito is a case in point. Palestinians claimed they had been on that land “from time immemorial. Yet photographic evidence presented by Regavim, www.regavim.org showed that there had not been a presence there as recently as the year 2000. The PA is using every trick in the book to fool gullible human rights activists. See video on constant illegal Palestinian building on State lands http://tinyurl.com/n53zn8o

“For years, the media has focused on Palestinian militants, and to this day, extremists on both sides are pushing peace further out of reach. But what’s lost in all that vitriol are the loving families like Fadel’s that just want a normal life. Now, those families are stepping forward, leading peaceful marches, organizing sit-ins, and working with Israeli activists to seek justice and freedom. In response, the Israeli military has thrown them in jail, beaten up organisers, and ripped children from their beds.”

Civil disobedience cannot be ignored. Peace can only come about when the Palestinian leadership come to terms with the existence of Israel. However, this seems to be forlorn hope when one hears a number of Palestinian leaders making statements such as

“The Palestinian people will never accept the right of the Jewish people to their own state.  Not for 1000 years”.                                                                                           Abu Mazen, , 12/7/2009

“It is impossible to realize the inspiring idea or the great goal in one stroke....Israel will come to an end....If I say that I want to remove it from existence, this will be great, great,[but] it is hard.  This is not a [stated] policy. You can’t say it to the world.  You can say it to yourself”  Abbas Zaki, Fatah Central Committee member, Al-Jazeera TV, 23/9/2011

“I will never allow a single Israeli to live among us on Palestinian land”. Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah , 28/7/2010, to Egyptian media (ynetnews)

“It Is Okay to Say One Thing in Arabic and Another in English for Western Audiences” Editor-in-Chief Al-Quds Al-Arabi Newspaper Abd Al-Bari Atwan:December 2010

When PA leaders signed agreements with Israel, they knew how to walk  "the right path, which leads to achievement, exactly like the Prophet [Muhammad] did in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah." Al-Habbash's sermon was delivered in the presence of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and was broadcast on official Palestinian Authority TV. (The Hudaybiyyah peace treaty was a 10-year truce that Muhammad, Islam's Prophet, made with the Quraish Tribe of Mecca. However, two years into the truce, Muhammad attacked and conquered Mecca).  PA Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash July 2013

This occupation has gone on for too long and for too long the resolution of this conflict has been controlled by extremists on both sides. Where are the Palestinian peace movements? Why does every attempt be Palestinians to build bridges shot down by their leadership. Hate indoctrination is endemic throughout the whole of Palestinian society - just look at what is shown on their TV, taught in their schools, spoken about IN ARABIC to the community at large But today, there are a few things most people agree on: first, both the Israelis and the Palestinians should each be entitled to a state; and second, the treatment of the Palestinians in the occupied territories violates every sense of justice we have, from international law to basic common sense. Even hard-line retired Israeli military leaders say this. 

Time for the EU understand International Law

The infamous statement by the Delegation of the European Union to the State of Israel this week says that “the guidelines are also in conformity with the EU's longstanding position that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law and with the non-recognition by the EU of Israel's sovereignty over the occupied territories, irrespective of their legal status under domestic Israeli law.”

“At the moment Israeli entities enjoy financial support and cooperation with the EU and these guidelines are designed to ensure that this remains the case. At the same time concern has been expressed in Europe that Israeli entities in the occupied territories could benefit from EU support.”

“The purpose of these guidelines is to make a distinction between the State of Israel and the occupied territories when it comes to EU support”.

The full text can be read at:-

http://www.eccpalestine.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/COM-Notice-guidelines-on-IL-and-EU-funding-instruments-compact.pdf 

Deception and Double Standards at its Worst

If using the words “illegal occupation” is acceptable to the EU for its action against Israel, then why has it never taken action against Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus?

Apart from the absurdities in this policy over Jerusalem, the extent of the EU’s connection with reality can be gauged from the fact that

          a)  it includes the Gaza Strip in its list of territories occupied by Israel since 1967 without any reference to the fact that it is now 8 years since it ended that occupation, and

          b)  it suggests that Israel should abandon the Golan Heights, thereby plunging the people living there (mainly Druze) into a vicious 2-year-old civil war that has killed over 100,000.  

In other words, the EU has decided on the outcome of any future “negotiations”, should they take place and provided the Palestinians with a perfect case for not entering into negotiations as long as the EU is applying their “unilateral decisions”. 

The EU is reinforcing the Judenrein policies of the Palestinians. Whatever borders are drawn up after a peace settlement, why is the assumption made that Jews may not live anywhere they choose?

Anti Israel NGO’s Protected

Within the guidelines, it is further stated that “the new guidelines will not apply to human rights organizations operating in the territories, the Golan Heights or East Jerusalem (like B’Tselem), or to NGOs that work toward promoting peace and operate in the territories, such as the “Geneva Initiative” or “Peace Now.”

NGO Monitor's president, Prof. Gerald Steinberg, pointed out, "The new EU guidelines are evidence of the influence of political NGOs - some funded by the EU - on the EU's policies. On occasion we have seen the EU rely solely on political NGOs' reports without checking their veracity. The practical results," Prof. Steinberg continued, "are worrisome and reflect a faulty and one-sided agenda."

The NGO Monitor report issued last year, EU Documents Repeat False NGO Claims, showed the direct connections between the NGOs secretly funded by the EU and EU policy recommendations based on their distorted and one-sided reports. Many of the falsehoods focused on Jerusalem and "Area C" in the West Bank, precisely the issues dealt with in the EU's new guidelines. 

What is Defined as Illegal?

It would appear that the EU totally discounts existing international legal agreements and prefers to interpret clauses in these agreements to suit its own agenda.

      a)   The San Remo Treaty of 1920, in which the victors of the First

           World  War parcelled out the remnants of the defeated Ottoman

           Empire, created a geographical area called Palestine along both sides

           of the Jordan River. It is still valid today.

b)   Article 6 of the Palestine Mandate signed by the League of Nations in 1922 stipulated ‘close Jewish settlement’ on the land west of the Jordan River. The river served as the boundary because that year the UK created a new Arab country, today known as Jordan, by unilaterally bestowing the land east of the river onto the Hashemite dynasty and thus giving some three quarters of Palestine away. 

c)   The 1945 UN Charter, Chapter XII, Article 80 explicitly says than nothing within it shall ‘alter in any manner the rights whatsoever of any states or any peoples or the terms of existing international instruments to which Members of the United Nations may respectively be parties’.

d)   the claim that the Israeli settlements breach Article 49 of the Geneva Convention does not apply to the settlements. Written in the shadow of the deportation of European Jews to their deaths in Nazi Europe, it prohibits 

‘individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or that of any other country, occupied or not…The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.’ 

But none of the Israelis living beyond the Green Line have been transferred or deported, forcibly or not; they all chose voluntarily to live there. (The only force ever used against these residents was in fact when Israel forcibly transferred them from Gaza into Israel in 2005.) 

e)   The Geneva Convention applies to actions carried out on the territory of a ‘High Contracting Party’ with a sovereign claim to that territory. But the areas in question over the ‘Green Line’ never belonged to any sovereign power. 

I hope these points can be distributed widely, the world is totally ignorant of what is international law and what is myth to suit an agenda.