Why Palestinians Cannot Make Peace with Israel

 

by Khaled Abu Toameh  •  October 20, 2021 

• The Palestinian Authority, which is largely funded by American and European taxpayers' money, is imprisoning Palestinians for even trying to engage in real estate deals with Jews.
• The Palestinian public seems generally supportive of the death sentences and extrajudicial killings of suspected "land dealers" and informants. Even Palestinian human rights organizations appear to be extremely careful when they mention such issues.
• As far as Hamas and many Palestinians are concerned, peace with Israel or any form of "collaboration" with the "Zionist enemy" is an act of treason punishable by death.
• Mahmoud Abbas is already facing accusations of being a traitor because of the security coordination between the PA security forces and the Israeli authorities in the West Bank.
• As long as the PA and Hamas punish Palestinians who work with Israel or are willing to sell real estate to Israeli Jews -- frequently by issuing sentences of hard labor or death -- the hope of reviving the "peace process" is, unfortunately, a pitiful waste of time and effort.
• The verdicts passed against the "land dealers" in the West Bank and the suspected "collaborators" in the Gaza Strip show that Palestinians remain as far as ever from accepting Israel, let alone making peace with it.

The verdicts are yet more proof of how Palestinian leaders continue to radicalize their people against Israel -- to the point that no Palestinian who wishes to stay alive would ever claim that he or she seeks to make peace with Israel or recognize all of the land as anything other than totally Palestinian in every way.

Hamas to Israel: $8 million by tomorrow or else

"Do it or else", the latest threats from Gaza

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

Gaza-based terror group Hamas is demanding that Israel fulfill a number of conditions, including transferring some $8 million in aid money, by Tuesday, or face actions that could dismantle the current Israeli government, Palestinian daily Al-Ayan reported.

Hamas is also demanding the full release of Qatari funding for Gaza, an end to the restrictions which prevent Gazans from approaching the border fence with Israel, easier movement for Gazans that wish to travel to Jordan, and family reunification permits for some 19,000 Gazans married to Israeli citizens, which would normalize their status in the Jewish State.

 If Israel does not fulfill these demands, the relative quiet along Israel’s southern border since May 2021’s Operation Guardian of the Walls clash will come to an end, the group threatened.

The warning that Hamas has the power to create a conflict with the potential to upend Israel’s current ruling coalition appears to be a reference to the unstable nature of the government, which is comprised of parties spanning from the left to right ends of the political spectrum.

News agency JDN suggested that Hamas is happy with the Bennett government, which has allowed the entry of building materials into the Strip along with other concessions, and does not actually want the current government to fall.

Iron Dome - Where is the USA Heading?

 An earth-shattering event happened in Congress:

House Democrats removed $1 billion for

Israel’s Iron Dome defense system from an

emergency funding bill and later put it back in a different bill.

‘Settler Violence’ – The Other Side of the Story

 News reports in Hebrew and English, in Israel and abroad, have been reporting on the “vicious Israeli settler violence” against the Palestinian village al-Mufaqara in the South Hebron Hills recently during the Jewish festival of Simchat Torah. Among the wounded was a three-year-old Palestinian boy who was hit by a rock that went through his bedroom window. His is in moderate condition at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

The news reports are typically inconsistent with one another, but what seems to be agreed on by the media is that Jews and Arabs threw rocks at each other, with Israeli settlers from the nearby Jewish communities of Avigayil and Havat Maon having instigated the attack.

While video and photographic evidence accompanies these articles, there is one video that none of them include — showing dozen of Palestinian Arabs moving up the hills toward Havat Maon. A few were launching large rocks using slingshots.

The video is credited to a group of activists, headed by Ari Kaniel.

“There were two parts to the incident on Simchat Torah, the first occurring when a group of residents of Avigayil were on a hike between their outpost and Havat Maon. A large group of Arab men came out from al-Mufaqara, attacking them with rocks and sticks. Instead of scampering away in fear, these unarmed Jews picked up rocks and drove the Arabs back into their village.”

Kaniel claims that the Jews were able to drive them back because the Arabs are not used to Jews defending themselves. The settlers kept up the fighting in the village itself until the IDF came.” he said.

“About an hour after this first incident, a few dozen Arabs amassed in the hills preparing to storm Havat Maon. At the sound of their approach,[Jewish] volunteers went out with their cameras to document it.”

Kaniel said that the IDF arrived quickly at this point, before the Arabs could enter the village. None of the Arabs in the video were arrested despite the fact that their faces are clearly seen, however Jews were arrested for their part in the first incident.

“There is no film of the first incident since, as Orthodox Jews, they did not take cameras out with them on the hike — on holidays and Shabbat they only bring out the cameras when something has already started to happen.”

Given that Israel is still living under conditions of war, with cameras having become a weapon of war, and given that pikuach nefesh (saving lives) is of utmost importance in Judaism, rabbis have given permission to the Jews of Judea and Samaria to use cameras on Shabbat and holidays (otherwise forbidden) in order to provide the IDF with faces of the Arabs attacking them and to counteract accusations spread about a Jewish instigation of hostilities,Yosef Hartuv told United with Israel,.

Similarly, throwing rocks is permitted on holy days only in self-defence.

“The Arab narrative of the events of the day were immediately adopted by the media,” Kaniel said. “Why does nobody ask what made Orthodox Jews throw rocks on a holy day, something that is forbidden unless in self-defence?”

Some interesting Israel-UAE agreements

 Ahead of the first anniversary of the Abraham Accords, here are some of many interesting deals reached to date

1.    1.Israeli search-and-rescue group signs MoU with Emirati counterpart

In a first agreement of its kind, Israel’s ZAKA Search and Rescue organization and organizers of the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid & Development Conference & Exhibition (DIHAD) signed an MoU that supports future collaborations in response to international crises and disasters..

2.    2,  Joint Israel-UAE water research institute is on the way

Earlier this summer, representatives from Israeli air-to-water company Watergen, Tel Aviv University and the Emirati Baynunah company met to sign on the establishment of a joint water research institute in the UAE. 

3.    3.  Israelis and Emiratis to develop Covid stem-cell therapy together

Immediately after the Abraham Accords were announced, the Haifa-based regenerative medicine company Pluristem Therapeutics signed a non-binding MoU with the Abu Dhabi Stem Cells Center to advance cell therapies for diseases including Covid-19.

4.    4.  Dubai chooses blue-and-white drones to secure expo

In what can only be described as a fantastic Middle Eastern twist, Dubai reportedly chose none other than an Israeli drone company to provide security for the World Expo it is to host this fall. Airobotics’ drone-in-a-box solution reportedly will aid local police in securing the international event and shorten emergency response time, as well as reduce the need for traditional security personnel.

5.     5. Emiratis get a share of Israeli natural gas

Israel’s offshore Tamar natural gas field got new owners this year when local drilling giant Delek sold its shares in the site – amounting to 22 percent – to Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Petroleum for $1.1 billion in the biggest commercial deal to take place between the two countries to date.

6.     6. Bahraini, Israeli think tanks collaborate on regional security

The Abba Eban Institute for International Diplomacy at the IDC Herzliya and the Derasat Institute – The Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies signed an MoU this summer to collaborate on the fields of regional security and multilateral relations in the Middle East.

7.    7.  Abu Dhabi’s Dept of Health links up with Sheba Medical Center

This summer, top brass from world-famous Israeli hospital Sheba Medical Center flew to Abu Dhabi, where they signed an MoU allowing for the formation of a cooperation framework focused on research and development in telemedicine and the use of artificial intelligence in medicine, as well as the exchange of knowledge and best medical practices.

8.     8. Jerusalem’s Hadassah Medical Center– soon in Dubai?

Last fall, reports surfaced saying that Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center’sformer director general, Prof. Zeev Rotstein, was in talks with Emirati medical organizations regarding the possible establishment of a branch of the prestigious hospital in Dubai.

‘Economy for Security’ Plan to Stop Hamas Terror in Gaza

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid laid out his detailed plan to defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip through economic and diplomatic means in an address to the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism Conference at Reichman University on Sunday.

“We need to start a large, multiyear process of economy for security,” he said.

Lapid rejected the dichotomy that Israel can either reconquer Gaza or continue to engage in periodic rounds of war against Hamas and other terrorist groups in the coastal enclave that Israel evacuated in 2005.

“Those are two bad options,” he said. “That’s not a reality we can accept.”

Instead, Israel should advance the “economy for security” formulation without negotiating with Hamas, he added. “Israel doesn’t speak to terrorist organizations who want to destroy us,” which puts pressure on the group that controls Gaza.

“We need to tell Gazans at every opportunity: Hamas is leading you to ruin,” Lapid said. “No one will come and invest real money, and no one will try to build an economy in a place from where Hamas fires and that Israel strikes on a regular basis.”

An Israeli plan to improve life in Gaza if Hamas lays down its arms is a way to put pressure on Hamas and end the “absurd situation” in which an antisemitic terrorist organization attacks Israeli civilians and Israel is blamed for it, he said.

That process will take years and will be backed up by the IDF’s might, Lapid said.

 “Our position of strength allows us to initiate instead of sitting and waiting for the next round,” he said.

The foreign minister also vowed that Israel bringing back the soldiers and civilians held in Hamas captivity is part of his plan, which has two stages.

First would come the humanitarian rebuilding of Gaza in exchange for an effort, coordinated with the international community, to stop Hamas’s military build-up.

“The electricity system will be repaired, gas will be connected, a water desalination plant will be built, significant improvements to the healthcare system and a rebuilding of housing and transportation infrastructure will take place,” Lapid said. “In exchange, Hamas will commit to long-term quiet.”

The international community would have to use its influence to ensure that quiet and stop Hamas from arming itself, including preventing smuggling and an oversight mechanism to stop humanitarian funds from getting to the terrorist group that threatens Israeli civilians.

Without that oversight, Israel will not allow funds to be invested in Gaza.

During this stage, Israel would maintain control of electricity and water in Gaza. Only long-term positive results would yield energy independence.

The Palestinian Authority would go back to being responsible for crossings into Gaza, except for Rafah, which is controlled by Egypt. Egyptian support is critical for the process, Lapid said.

More on this at https://tinyurl.com/sbrv3985

The World's Most Moral Army

 Cross posted from Grandma's Army http://agariel33.blogspot.com/ 

 “The only reason Israel goes to war is to defend itself. And it has to defend itself because it is surrounded by countries, and armed groups, that want to destroy it”.

The above was stated by Colonel Richard Kemp, a retired British army officer, who has more experience in war and terrorism than almost anybody. He was Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, and has fought in combat zones around the world, including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Macedonia and Iraq. He was also present throughout the conflict in Gaza in 2014. Among other awards, he was made the Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2006

He stated that, nowhere was the essential morality and decency of the IDF more evident than in the Gaza War. In the first six months of 2014, Hamas (designated as a terror organization by the US State Department) launched hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilians. If ever there was a purely defensive war, that was it. After repeated warnings from Israel to stop, the Israeli Air Force finally conducted precision strikes to halt the rocket fire. They also advanced into Gaza to destroy a network of terror tunnels that Hamas had constructed to attack Israeli communities near the Gaza border.

It is fascinating to read about the tactical and ethical dilemmas faced by the IDF and the surprising solutions it invented, and deployed, to prevent “collateral damage”.

They took unprecedented measures to give Gaza civilians notice of targeted areas. They dropped millions of leaflets, broadcasting radio messages, sending texts and making tens of thousands of phone calls. They even knocked on rooftops with a minor preliminary strike, and then launching the effective second strike only if people evacuated. Never, in the history of warfare, has an army phoned its enemy and told them where they are going to drop their bombs!

Most amazing is the fact that many IDF missions that could have taken out Hamas military capabilities were aborted to prevent civilian casualties, increasing the risk to Israeli citizens and soldiers.

Knowing the extraordinary measures the IDF will take to protect innocent civilians, Hamas deliberately positioned its military assets among the civilian population. They hid weapons in schools and hospitals, placed rocket launchers alongside apartment buildings, then forced those civilians to stay in areas they knew would be attacked. They also instructed their people to report the lie that every Gazan killed was a civilian, even if they were actually fighters. Numerous Internet sites show Palestinians elaborately staging sniper victims and smashed ambulances, among other phony horrors.

In the words of Colonel Richard Kemp: “Firstly, Israel is a decent country with Western values, run on democratic principles. Secondly, Judaism, with its unsurpassed moral standards, remains a major influence on the citizens of Israel. I say this as a non-Jew. Thirdly, Israel is a small country, with a small professional army. To fight a war it depends on its conscripts and its reservists. These are ordinary citizens, from professors to plumbers, called upon to defend their homes. They don’t want to be fighting and they don’t want to harm others.

                                                                    

No army takes such risks in order to protect civilians in the history of warfare as the Israeli army does. I say this as a professional soldier. I say it because it’s true. And people who care about truth should know it”.