Israel does not need Another Mediator!
(extracts from cnn.com article/opinion)
President Donald Trump on Wednesday vowed to work as a "mediator, an arbitrator or a facilitator" to help broker peace between the Israelis and Palestinians as he welcomed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the White House.
Trump reiterated the need for Israelis and Palestinians to broker a peace through direct negotiations and called on Palestinian leaders to "speak in a unified voice against incitement to violence and hate."
While Trump spoke broadly about his desires for a peace deal and some of the barriers to a deal, Abbas drilled down on the specific complaints and demands of Palestinians. Trump on Wednesday did not address Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which he has asked the Israeli Prime Minister to halt, nor did he address the terrorist group Hamas...
The Palestinian leader expressed his support for a two-state solution to the conflict and the long-held Palestinian desire for a capital in East Jerusalem...(The usual unrealistic demands – if realised, they would only bring destruction of Israel!)
Vice President Mike Pence said Trump is giving "serious consideration" to moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which he pledged to do during the presidential campaign, but did not offer a timeline for that move.
Trump ignored a question shouted by a reporter during his Oval Office meeting about whether he still plans to move the US Embassy.
If Trump is truly committed to "striking a deal," then it is imperative he distance himself from the repeated failures of the past. "Business as usual" will produce only the same results that have led us to the current untenable status quo.
Trump must decide by June 1 whether to sign a six-month waiver forestalling a move. Every US president has signed such a waiver twice a year after a law was passed in 1995 mandating the relocation of the embassy unless the White House certifies doing so would raise national security concerns. (Anything else is just the empty rhetoric and stupidity of ‘business as usual’!)
US President Donald Trump is slated to visit Israel on May 22-23. This will be the president’s first foreign trip since entering the White House with Israel the second stop, sandwiched in between Riyadh and Rome. His visit to Israel falls on the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Israel’s eternal capital city, Jerusalem (May 23 this year due to the various changes in the Hebrew calendar,) a date not believed to be a coincidence.
FOOD for THOUGHT by Steven Shamrak
Fighting anti-Semitism and anti-Israel prejudice in media is a noble task. But no war has been won by defensive action only - Israel/Jews must set a clear national objective and pursue it, disregarding objections and opinions of the enemies and so-called friends!
UNESCO Denies Israeli rights to Jerusalem! The vote, which coincided with Israel’s Independence Day, passed with 22 countries in favor, 23 abstentions, 10 opposed, and the representatives of three countries absent. The resolution indicates rejection of the Jewish state’s sovereignty in any part of Jerusalem. Israel is referred to throughout the document as the “occupying power” in Jerusalem, indicating that it has no legal or historical ties to any part of the city. The resolution also harshly criticizes the government for various construction projects in Jerusalem’s Old City and at holy sites in Hebron, and calls for an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza without mentioning attacks from the Hamas-run Strip.
One day after the UN’s cultural agency, UNESCO, passed a resolution disputing Israel’s claim to Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would cut another $1 million from its payments to the UN, bringing the total cuts since December 2016 to $9 million. From now Israel will pay $2.7m only out of a required $11.7m.
After the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Steering Committee voted to adopt a resolution denying Israel's rights to Jerusalem, Minister Miri Regev (Likud) calling for closure of the UN headquarters in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood and return the land to the state. The resolution also condemns Israel for the military conflicts with the Hamas terrorist organization, which rules Gaza. 22 countries voted in favor of the resolution, compared to 10 which voted against it. 23 countries abstained. (Cowards are unable and unwilling to stand up to Arab countries' pressure! Israel must disallow all UN activities related to the PA controlled areas, including financing the PA - terrorist entity!)
Land Grabbing - UN has no Respect for Israel
An extensive illegal construction and a land grab is being carried out by the UN inside the Armon Hanatziv UNTSO compound. The area was presented to the UN rent-free to oversee the cease-fire with Jordan following the 1967 Six-Day War.
Hamas’ New Charter Recognizes Israel’s Right to Commit Suicide. Hamas has adopted a tiny bit of the thinking of the Yasser Arafat school of salami-style peace and harmony – namely, take what you can from the Jews today, postpone plans to annihilate them until you’re in a better position to do it. According to item 18 in the new charter says that the establishment of ‘Israel’ is entirely illegal. Also: “Hamas believes that no part of the land of Palestine shall be compromised or conceded, irrespective of the causes, the circumstances and the pressures and no matter how long the occupation lasts. Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.” (Many international anti-Semites haled this Hamas Chatter as a progress. Hamas might "soften its language" but the message the same - goal is to eliminate Israel.)
Hezbollah Going Bankrupt while Nasrallah’s Assets Hit $250 million. Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has an estimated private wealth of more than $250 million, according to a report in Welt this week. The founders the terror organization is said to have deposited more than $2 billion in hundreds of personal accounts around the world. (The same set up Arafat had and most of so-called Palestinian leaders do! Who said that crime of terror does not pay?)
'Positive' Israeli Paradox
Israeli Arabs view the country more positively than Jews. While 66% of Arabs see the overall situation as good, just 43.9% of the Jewish population agreed. (Arabs like living in the Jewish state, with all the benefits it provides, but hate Israel and Jews anyway!)
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said “the Arab countries will be ready to give security guarantees to Israel,” if Israel leaves the territories liberated in 1967. Coming from Jordan, the country on the verge of collapse and takeover by ISIS, that’s just a barrel of laughs.
Quote of the Week:
“Senator Rand Paul has said again and again: "Why do we give billions of dollars a year to countries that hate us". Personally, I have never forgotten how on 9/11 the Palestinians were dancing in the streets of Gaza and the West Bank, while burning the US and Israeli flags. I say no to a terrorist state called Palestine!” – a FaceBook posting
by Diana Buttu
This article is written by Arab-Palestinian lawyer for an Arab publication - aljazeera.com – not exactly Israel-friendly!
The Trump-Abbas meeting this week was, for Palestinians, as expected: useless.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas emerged from the meeting with nothing more than lunch and an empty proclamation from US President Donald Trump that he intends to "get this done", referring to Israeli-Palestinian peace. Absent were any concrete statements on how it could get "done", and in their place were vagaries on how Trump could be a "mediator, arbitrator or facilitator" in pursuit of peace.
For his part, Abbas lauded Trump's "courageous" and "capable" leadership, and praised his "great negotiating ability". At the end of their joint news conference, Trump announced that there would be some kind of "process" - in other words, the same failed strategy pursued by three US presidents, spanning six administrations and 24 years.
But for Abbas, this is precisely what he wanted. He has spent his political lifetime pushing for one thing - negotiations - even as this very "process" has damaged Palestinians' dreams for liberation and an end to Israeli supremacy on their land...
Although Trump's presidency has lasted just over 100 days, this period has witnessed the fastest rate of Israel's settlement growth in any US president's first 100 days in office, with more than 10,000 units announced. Trump has repeatedly declared that he intends to move the US embassy to Jerusalem
Palestinians have been disenchanted with Abbas's rule, but owing to his repeated cancellation of elections and long-running rule by presidential decree, they have been unable to cast a ballot for anyone else. Public opinion polls indicate that 64 percent of Palestinians are now calling for his resignation, and the support for his failed strategy of negotiations also rests at 33 percent... (Yes, it was a futile meeting. The 1st of June, the date when another extension of the US law related to the moving the US embassy to Jerusalem is due, will show if President Donald Trump is a man of his word - He does not have to do anything, just needs to forget to sign the useless piece of paper!)
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