This is nothing new and yes, most of us have seen these before. However, that doesn’t change the fact that it never ceases to amaze me that the world continues to blame every Islamic ill on Israel. Will they ever take responsibility for anything? (rhetorical) I hope and pray that people all over the world will begin to open their eyes to the hypocrisy and hate that oozes through almost every fabric of palestinian life.
They could have hope, instead these children are only taught hate.
(IsraelNN.com) Hamas has embarked on a massive campaign this summer to woo Gazan children away from UNWRA (United Nations Works and Relief Association) summer camps to its own camps. At Hamas summer camps, kids learned to wage war against Israel and were indoctrinated with Islamic ideology.
Hamas has run 700 summer camps throughout Gaza in 2009 at a budget of $2 million, which were attended by 100,000 children. according to a research report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. In contrast, UNRWA ran camps that were attended by between 200,000 to 250,000 kids. Fatah, Islamic Jihad, and other Islamic groups also run Gaza summer camps.
Leading up to the summer, Hamas embarked on a massive advertising campaign which included a designated website designed to encourage parents to send their children to Hamas camps instead of the UNWRA camps.
Hamas council member Younis al-Astel repeatedly lambasted the UNWRA camps for being coeducational, and claimed that campers there used drugs, learned how to dance, and worst of all, were taught about reconciliation between Gaza and Israel.
[...]
Besides learning about Islam and studying the Koran at Hamas summer camps, children also learn to fight in the Jihad against Israel. Children are taught weapons training, hand-to-hand combat, as well as the use of explosive belts for suicide missions.
In one incident in July, children in a Hamas summer camp reenacted the June 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, in which two other Israeli soldiers were killed.
“In the war against Israel, there were more than 100 children trained to attack Israeli forces in Gaza,” a source in Gaza told Middle East Newsline. “Some of them ran away and many of them were killed.”
Children in Hamas summer camps also protested the “Israeli siege” of Gaza, some laying on the ground in rows, faking death from starvation.
Gaza summer camps teach kids to fire rockets
Palestinian children on annual vacation can choose between Hamas or Islamic Jihad summer camps, both of which boast militia-style training, Koran classes, lessons on political prisoners
But our “leaders” are more worried about Israelis building homes in a city they created, than to take issue with Palis militarizing children.
It is not often that I am truly shocked by what is going on in Gaza, and with Hamas. This however has me actually sick to my stomach. How the world can sit idly by and ignore this sort of thing is mind-boggling. The fact that the U.S. is probably paying for it is even worse.
This is not Change I believe in!
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SHEIKH ZAYED CITY, Gaza Strip — Nearly a thousand Palestinians celebrated marriage on Thursday night in a ceremony organised by Hamas in the north of the Gaza Strip.
Hamas dignitaries including Mahmud Zahar, one of the militant group’s top leaders, were on hand to congratulate 450 grooms who took part in the carefully stage-managed event.
“We are saying to the world and to America that you cannot deny us joy and happiness,” Zahar told the men, all of whom were dressed in identical black suits and hailed from the nearby Jabalia refugee camp.
Each groom received a present of 500 dollars from Hamas, which said its workers had also contributed five percent of their monthly salaries to add to the wedding gift.
The 450 brides shared none of the glamour, taking seats among the audience of around 1,000 party guests: most couples had already taken part in religious ceremonies elsewhere, with more marriages planned for the next few days.
“We are presenting this wedding as a gift to our people who stood firm in the face of the siege and the war,” local Hamas strongman Ibrahim Salaf said in a speech.
The Gaza Strip has been under Israeli blockade since the Islamist Hamas movement seized control there in June 2007. In December and January 1,400 Gazans and 13 Israelis were killed in a 22-day war that left much of the territory in ruins.
Notice how the AFP article says nothing about the ages of the girls, ignores what is really taking place at this event, but finds space to stick in a blurb about how “evil” Israel is. What the heck does Israel have to do with this wedding of 450 old perverts to pre-pubescent girls? This sort of thing is unheard of in Israel.
The media, and the liberal establishment behind it, should be ashamed of themselves. They are so blinded by Israel hatred, Islamist sycophancy, multiculturalism and their rudderless leftism that they have completely forgotten the universal principles of decency their liberalism is supposed to stand for. Instead they help Hamas turn the mass rape, and enslavement of over 400 pre-pubescent little girls into into some sort of glorious rebellion against a mythical oppression. This is really sick!
The following video shows the true age of the “brides”.
The UK government has come under rising pressure from MPs to start making contact with Palestinian group Hamas.
A Foreign Affairs Committee report also said it was “regrettable” UK-supplied military items were “almost certainly” used by Israel in the Gaza conflict.
The cross-party group, which monitors foreign policy, called on the EU to make relations with Israel conditional on its peace-making efforts.
Relations with Israel are conditional, but relations with Hamas are not? The goal of Hamas is to wipe out all of Israel. It is no secret.
Hamas was also criticised for its use of rockets on Israeli civilian targets.
Hamas came into criticism for its rocket attacks, but MPs concluded that Israel’s military action in Gaza was “disproportionate”.
Mr Gapes said: “Rocket fire from Gaza by Hamas and other Palestinian groups on civilian targets in Israel is unacceptable.
“It generates the risk of a renewed escalation in violence, and constitutes a central obstacle in the way of Israeli willingness to move forward towards a two-state settlement.”
Oh. I thought it was unacceptable because they were FIRING ON CIVILIAN TARGETS INTENTIONALLY. Silly me.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Gaza movie premiere drew an exclusive crowd with local celebrities posing for jostling photographers — and that’s pretty much where the similarities end between Hollywood and the fledgling film industry of Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
The Islamic militants’ first feature film — an action-packed homage to a top Hamas militant — cost only $200,000 to make and is being shown to segregated audiences of bearded men and veiled women.
“It’s Hamaswood instead of Hollywood,” Fathi Hamad, Gaza’s Hamas interior minister, said after the film’s first showing Friday evening at Gaza City’s Islamic University. “We are trying to make quality art that is Islamic and about the resistance, without provocative (sexual) scenes.”
Hamad doubled as producer, and the screenplay was penned by Mahmoud Zahar, the Gaza strongman seen as one of the architects of the group’s violent takeover of Gaza two years ago.
Despite his fierce reputation, Zahar, a physician, has always had an artistic streak, with three novels and two screenplays to his credit.
Oh, well then.
In the two-hour movie, titled “Emad Akel,” there’s plenty of action. The hero frequently leaps out of cars to open fire on Israeli soldiers, prompting bursts of applause from the audience each time. There’s no romance, however, and the female actors all wear long robes and headscarves.
[...]
Rabin frequently yells at an inept Barak — now Israel’s defense minister — who can’t stop Hamas fighters. Israeli soldiers always seem asleep. Sleazy Israeli handlers try to persuade Palestinians to collaborate by offering them women and alcohol.
Palestinian Media Watch once again proves that the terrorists from Fatah (”Moderate” Mahmood Abbas/Abu Mazen’s Party and the ones the U.S. are building a professional army for, with your tax dollars), openly admit their true intent, and state that any “peace” created will only be a means to their ultimate goal of destroying Israel.
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This discussion on public “Palestinian” T.V. again proves that despite the West’s continuous desires, Fatah is no less committed to Israel’s destruction than Hamas.
Kifah Radaydeh, the deputy head of the Jerusalem chapter of Fatah, says openly that the PA will resume violence and terror against Israel when Fatah is “capable,” and “according to what seems right.” “It has been said that we are negotiating for peace,” she further stated, “but our goal has never been peace. Peace is a means; the goal is Palestine.”
Just like their founder Yassir Arafat, they know to say one thing to the usefull West, and to work for another with their fellow Arab Muslims. Kifah Radaydeh however is not a lone “extremist”, as her statements are part of the overall Fatah policy.
Fatah MP Najat Abu Bakr said in a PA TV interview last year that Fatah’s goal remains the destruction of Israel, but that their political plan is to focus on returning to the 1967 borders. He stated “It doesn’t mean that we don’t want the 1948 borders,” Abu Bakr said, referring to all of Israel,” but rather that “our current political program is to say that we want the 1967 borders.”
Also, just four months ago, senior PA official Mohammed Dahlan stressed that Fatah adamantly refuses to recognize Israel, and that even the Palestinian Authority’s recognition is only for the sake of receiving foreign aid: “…the Fatah movement does not recognize Israel, even today… [such recognition is] required of the government but not of the Fatah, so that this government will be able to offer the necessary assistance, to carry out the necessary reconstruction, to offer assistance to the sick, to bring relief to needy families… This can be dealt with [only] by a government that has relations with the international community, one that is acceptable to the international community, in order that we can work together and benefit from the international community.”
The terrorists of Fatah/PLO have been lying to the West, and getting away with it, for decades. It is never the Arabs whom state that they are going to accept a “two-state” solution, or “peace” as their ultimate goal. This is simply what the West, including our current administration, wants to hear – so they do. Even today the West demands a “settlement freeze” from Israel, stating it is a requirement for “peace” even though the Phakestinians openly state that this won’t make a difference. On these confused beliefs of what the Phakestinians want, and what will bring about a resolution to the Arab-Israel conflict, despite the Arab’s own statements to the contrary, the EU is even calling on the UN to impose “peace” on Israel.
Two militants preparing to fire mortars into Israel were detained Saturday by interior security officials of the Islamic Hamas movement, reported a group to which the militants claim membership.
The statement, from the Saraya al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, announced the arrest of their members Saturday, reporting that the two men had been arrested as they engaged an Israel Defense Forces unit along the border of Israel and the eastern Gaza Strip.
Hamas, which has held de facto control of the Gaza Strip since June 2007, has stopped rocket attacks on Israel, in an unofficial, unannounced and fragile ceasefire with Israel that was reached January 18 at the end of the last Israeli military offensive into Gaza.
GAZA CITY — The Iranian-sponsored Islamic Jihad is down on its luck due to a financial crisis.
Palestinian sources said Jihad has failed to acquire most of its budget from headquarters in Syria. The sources said this has resulted in Jihad’s failure to pay operatives and purchase weapons for attacks on Israel.
“Only aid from Iran continues to come in, and that too is only for bereaved families and charities,” Islamic Jihad deputy secretary-general Ziad Al Nahla said.
Al Nahla said Israel and the Palestinian Authority have confiscated millions of dollars in donations from Arab and Muslim states. In an interview to the Saudi-based daily A-Sharq Al Awsat, Al Nahla said the funds had been transferred to Palestinian and Jordanian banks in the West Bank.
[...]
The funding shortage has not paralyzed Jihad activities in the Gaza Strip. But the sources said Jihad has been forced to curtail missile and rocket strikes on Israel from the Gaza Strip amid the decline in funding.
“We can still guarantee minimum requirements,” Al Nahla said. “The money reaches the Gaza Strip via the tunnels, just like the weapons.”
Iran was said to be the largest donor of Jihad, established in 1987. Several Gulf Cooperation Council states, particularly Qatar, were said to have sent funds to Jihad as well.
The sources said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has proposed a joint command of Hamas and Jihad. They said IRGC envisioned Jihad establishing units in Hamas’s military in the Gaza Strip in an effort to enhance the combat ability of Iran’s proxies.
Jihad leaders have been divided over the IRGC proposal. Critics said Jihad would be eliminated in any merger with Hamas.
The Obama Administration, along with most of the Western world, continues to fool itself into thinking that the Arabs want peace with Israel, and two states living side-by-side. This is despite the fact that the Arabs themselves have never explicitly said so.
Here is Hamas’ most recent example.
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Hamas head Khaled Mashaal gave a speech Thursday evening in response to a policy speech given by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu several days earlier. Mashaal proclaimed that Hamas is ready to cooperate with the international community in order to reach a deal with Israel, but only under conditions it deems favorable.
Specifically, Mashaal rejected every proposal supported by Israel, including Netanyahu’s insistence that the Palestinian Authority recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Hamas will never recognize Israel as a Jewish state, because it hopes to see millions of descendants of Arab residents of pre-state Israel “return” to the area, potentially turning Israel into a majority-Arab state, Mashaal explained.
He rejected Netanyahu’s proposal that the PA form a demilitarized state within Judea, Samaria and Gaza. “A demilitarized state is a miserable state, not a serious entity,” he stated.
Mashaal also insisted that an Arab state in Judea and Samaria be granted Jerusalem as its capital.
While stating his readiness to cooperate, Mashaal compared Israel to Nazi Germany and expressed support for terrorism. “[Israel] failed in its Nazi war on Gaza, just as it failed in Lebanon,” he said. “This was due to the resistance, not to dialogue, which serves only to hide the true face of occupation.”
Mashaal praised United States President Barack Obama for “using new language” with Israel, but called on the U.S. leader to do more. “We’re hoping for real pressure on the Israelis,” he said.
What the Arabs want is not two states living side-by-side in peace, but instead a Phakestinian State created so it can be used to destroy Israel – all according to the PLO Phased Plan.
The Arabs have never wanted “two states”, and have honestly never stated such. “Two states” is simply what the West wants to hear, and thus we pretend that it has been said. Every act by the Arabs regarding Israel (as acknowledged again by Hamas) is in furtherance of their goal to destroy Israel. They want Judea, Samaria and Gaza to chip away at the body of Israel, and they insist on Jerusalem as their capitol because they know it will destroy Israel’s heart and soul. The “demand of so-called Return” is to create a cancer within the Jewish state.
Every Arab act of “peace” is to destroy Israel. It is about time the West (especially the U.S.) woke up to this fact.
The international mainstream media has been working overtime to shift the narrative regarding the Arab-Israel conflict, and place all blame on Israel’s shoulders – despite the reality being the complete opposite. Although many of us have come to accept this from the press, a sharp left turn against Israel has become more apparent, and they are using all the weapons of propaganda in their arsenal.
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Fauxtography
What better place to start than with with Fautography from the AP in Bilin? The Associated Press would have you believe that this man holding a key aloft in one hand, and raising the other in a defiant fist, directly in front of a photographer Bernat Armangue simply “passed out” from tear gas at a Nakba demonstration this week.
For those who do not know, Bilin is home of the West Bank’s longest continuous run of manufactured dissent and grandstanding for the cameras. It is “ground zero” for the ISM, and their ilk to Paliwood riots, and “IDF abuses”.
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Inverting The Facts / Shaping The Discussion
The AP however, didn’t stop there. Much of their, and other’s, media coverage of Netanyahu’s meeting with Obama this week tended to concentrate on Netanyahu’s refusal to formally endorse the creation of a Palestinian state dispite the fact that this is a misnomer regarding his position. In fact, while with President Obama, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke eagerly about renewing negotiations and expressed support for Palestinian autonomy. Despite this, the media’s coverage implied that his position presented an obstacle to peace.
While the media outlets focused on the negative with Netanyahu, the real obstacle to peace – Hamas – continued to be treated completely differently. In an Associated Press article published the day after the meeting, the A.P. provided a platform for Hamas leaders to propagandize to the West and falsely express “moderate” positions, such as a quote from Hamas lawmaker Yehiye Moussa saying, the group is “not demanding to destroy Israel.”
This is despite the fact that, as writer Karen Laub point out, that Hamas is not about to change its ideology – which explicitly precludes any recognition of Israel. Insofar that it is the historically stated position of Hamas that it is their ultimate goal to destroy Israel, an honest reporter would have to conclude that nothing has changed with Hamas. However, Karen Laub streteches reality to note that Hamas has begun “raising the possibility they would someday accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel.”
So while Netanyahu’s call for Palestinian autonomy is treated as insufficient and anti-peace, Hamas’s rhetorical, though not ideological or practical, shift from total rejectionism is presented as a cause for hope.
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Blaming The Victim; Ignoring The Huge Kiffiyah Wearing Elephant
Last, but definatly not least, in this hall of shame is England’s “The Independent” which stands out from the crowd with a glaring omission.
In an article by Donald Macintyre, “Israel goes cold on plan for regional peace deal,” a list of “obstacles to peace” includes issues such as settlements, Palestinian infighting, Iran, Syria and Israel’s own apparent reluctance to publicly endorse a Palestinian state.
Putting aside the relative importance or otherwise of issues such as settlements being primary stumbling blocks, Macintyre conveniently forgets a very real and potentially the greatest obstacle to peace – Palestinian terror and violence.
How can Macintyre omit the thousands of missiles fired from Gaza at Sderot and surrounding Israeli communities for several years (and before the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip)? Indeed, only the day before Macintyre’s piece was published, Sderot endured a Qassam rocket attack on a courtyard adjacent to two private homes. One resident was wounded while several others were treated for shock.
And how can Macintyre forget the brutal campaign of suicide attacks against Israeli buses, cafes and other civilian targets that has claimed the lives of over 1000 Israelis and wounded thousands more since the year 2000? While major attacks have declined recently thanks to Israeli counter measures such as the Security Fence, the incentive for terrorist groups to carry out similar acts of violence has not.
We could also add to the list other potential obstacles to peace, for example, Palestinian intractability on issues such as the right of return, incitement in Palestinian media and the education system that has poisoned Palestinian minds, and the increasing role of Islamic extremism represented by Hamas.
The way that the Pro-Arab propagandists, useful-idiots, and Terror sympathisersr associate home building, with murder is truly disgusting.
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DONT JUST SIT THERE….DO SOMETHING!
Please write to The Independent – letters@independent.co.uk – to remind them that there are many potential obstacles to peace and that some of these that the paper has omitted, are the responsibility of the Palestinian side to overcome.
You can also contact The Associated Press – to remind them of their duty to provide unbiased, truthful reporting on such an important issue.
UCSB College Professor Abuses Authority To Propagandize Against Israel In His Globalization Class
On Martin Luther King Day, January 19, 2009, UC Santa Barbara sociology professor William Robinson e-mailed his Globalization class students an inflammatory anti-Israel article by Judith Stone along with 42 “horrific, parallel” photos of Nazi atrocities and Israel’s purported atrocities in its war against Hamas in December and January. His introductory comments claimed that Martin Luther King would denounce Israel, equated Israel’s military operations in Gaza with Nazi atrocities, asserted that Israel was committing genocide and that the state was “founded on the negation of a people.” (To see Professor Robinson’s e-mail, the article and pictures, click here.)
When one surprised student emailed asking whether this was an assigned reading, Professor Robinson admitted it had nothing to do with the course, but “was just for your interest I should have clarified.”
Two students promptly dropped the class. They later filed grievances, claiming that Professor Robinson had violated the Faculty Code of Conduct: that there should not be “significant intrusion of material unrelated to the course” (II A, 1, b); that faculty members should not use their “positions of power to coerce judgment or conscience of a student” ((II, A, 4); and that faculty should not use “University resources for personal, commercial, political, or religious purposes” (II, C, 3)).
One of many sets of photos Robinson sent his students, is below. Notice how he juxtaposes Jews waiting to be sent to concentration camps, with so-called Palestinians waiting at a border crossing.
After concerned citizens wrote a letter to the Chancellor of UCSB requesting that he investigate whether Professor Robinson violated the Facility Code, Anti-Israel advocates mobilized to come to his defense -created a website, encouraged numerous people to write, call, and otherwise defend these types of violations of UCSB’s code, and stop the investigation. On April 27, a petition created by those defending Professor Robinson’s equating Israel to Nazi Germany, and his propagation of this fallacy to his students, had 1,229 signatures from the U.S. and abroad. Not surprisingly, their letter inverted and distorted the facts of this case. A written refutation of their false claims can be found here.
The enemies of The West are waging a propaganda war against our children and fighting for the hearts and minds of the future decision makers of our Country – Israel is just a wedge. The administration is going to be under immense pressure from those that support using of our colleges to propagandize our children, and thus are fighting the investigation. We must counter their actions, and let the University know that there exists a once silent majority that won’t stand for it, and who support their decision to investigate this abuse of power.
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Remember that the grievances against Professor Robinson are a plea for academic freedom. The Faculty Code of Conduct guidelines that Professor Robinson is charged with violating were intended to protect academic freedom and to prevent the politicization of academia. They prevent professors from using their positions of authority to promote only one extreme view, thereby stifling students’ ability to debate, critically examine hot-button issues, and form their own opinions.
Newspapers all over the world are working overtime to brand new Foreign Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman as a “racist”, “ultra-nationalist”, “right winger” and any other supposedly disparaging term they can dig up. They will tell you nothing about the man other than he is an evil man who dared to suggested that Israelis, including Israeli-Arabs, be required to take an oath of loyalty. What they don’t show you is why he suggested it.
Sadly, it seems that our own Government still just doesn’t get it. Just a few hours after The Jerusalem Post completed the interview below with Lieberman, Hillary Clinton, gave testimony on Capitol Hill that insists that Israel continue the failed policies of the past. Clinton stated that “For Israel to get the kind of strong support it is looking for vis-a-vis Iran, it can’t stay on the sidelines with respect to the Palestinians and the peace efforts. They go hand in hand.”
Israel however has never even hinted that it has any desire to stall peace-making efforts with the so-called Palestinians. When asked about this, Lieberman stated that his government instead, “intends to take the initiative” [on peace efforts].
Hillary Clinton knows this. But what she really means when she says “peace efforts” is that Israel must surrender to the Phakestinians, follow the same failed policies of the last 60 plus years, and continue to surrender their sovereignty and security in return for nothing but empty promises. This however is something that Lieberman, and Netanyahu, (for now it seems) won’t do.
Below are segments from this interview with Avigdor Lieberman. Hear him in his own words.
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Can we start with the issue of two states for two peoples. Wasn’t the international basis for the establishment of Israel that there be a Jewish entity alongside an Arab entity? Is your government now departing from this paradigm or is the principle of two states still the applicable one?
First of all, we must understand why the Palestinian issue is deadlocked, because since 1993 we really made every effort. We had very dovish governments. We can start with Ehud Barak at Camp David, who made a very generous offer to [Yasser] Arafat and he rejected it. As for the Ariel Sharon government, we undertook an insane process called disengagement. We transferred thousands of Jews from the Gaza Strip. We evacuated tens of flowering settlements and we received in return Hamas and Kassam rockets. The last government of Ehud Olmert is the same. From what I saw in the papers, he really made a very very generous offer to Abu Mazen. And the same thing happened: Abu Mazen rejected it.
Were there elements that Olmert offered that were surprising to you?
Of course. I was shocked, as was everybody.
But more than this offer, more important at the end of the day: what was the final result? This was a very dovish government – without Lieberman, without Netanyahu. It was Olmert, Barak and Tzipi Livni. And the result? The Second Lebanon War, the operation in Gaza, severed diplomatic relations with Mauritania and Qatar, our soldier Gilad Schalit still in captivity. And we cannot move forward without understanding why.
I know that all of us know some very popular slogans – land for peace, two-state solutions. It would be very easy to win over public opinion or the mass media by talking in slogans. But this is not election time. We’re not during the campaign. We want to bring real results.
Israel has proved its good intentions, our desire for peace. Since 1978, we gave up territories three times larger than Israel. We invested billions of shekels in the Palestinian Authority. We paid a very heavy price. Thousands of our citizens were killed in terrorist acts. What more can we do?
Without understanding the real reasons for this long-standing conflict, we cannot move forward. That’s my view.
Over the last two weeks I’ve had many conversations with my colleagues
around the world. Just today, I saw the political adviser to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Chinese foreign minister and the Czech prime
minister. And everybody, you know, speaks with you like you’re in a campaign: Occupation, settlements, settlers…
You mean they speak in slogans?
Yes, slogans. Settlements, outposts. And I ask only one thing: What was the situation before 1967, before we established a single settlement. What was before ‘48 and ‘67? Was it peace, was it a heaven here?
It was the same: friction, terrorism, bloodshed. The PLO and Fatah were established before ‘67 and the Arab countries controlled Judea and Samaria and the Gaza Strip for 19 years, from ‘48 to ‘67. Nobody spoke during this time about the Palestinian state. And even before the establishment of the state of Israel, it was the same: friction, tension, terror, riots, pogroms. People try to simplify the situation with these formulas – land for peace, two-state solution. It’s a lot more complicated.
You don’t need to persuade this newspaper not to speak to you in slogans, but nonetheless, is it not the case that for our sake, to keep a Jewish, democratic Israel, we have to find some way to separate from the Palestinians? And doesn’t that mean, in principle at least, statehood? I understand the prime minister’s concerns about what statehood brings with it – giving one the right to arm and to pose a threat. But what then is the ultimate goal here vis-a-vis the Palestinians?
We must clarify our position. The real reason [for the deadlock with the Palestinians] is not occupation, not settlements and not settlers. This conflict is really a very deep conflict. It started like other national conflicts. Today it’s a more religious conflict. Today you have the influence of some non-rational players, like Al-Qaida. What is Hamas and Islamic Jihad? It’s Iran by proxy.
To resolve this conflict, it is not enough to repeat slogans. I don’t see any short way for any comprehensive solutions.
From my point of view, we’re interested in three things. First of all, as Israeli citizens, the most important thing is security. I don’t want to see, every day, every morning, Palestinian missiles striking Sderot.
Second, what is most important for the Palestinians? I think it’s also very clear – the economy. Now I say as a settler, we at Nokdim are the biggest employer in our area. I have met many times with Palestinians from the villages around us, who really strongly do not believe in any political process, in peace processes - not in summits, not in conferences, not in declarations…
…
Is our government going to say to the international community and the Americans in particular, ‘We’re not even going to start trying to make progress with the Palestinians until you stop Iran?
No, no, no, no, no.
That’s the impression that’s sometimes being created.
No, we must start with the Palestinian issues because it’s our interest to resolve this problem. But there should be no illusions. To achieve an agreement, to achieve an end of conflict, with no more bloodshed, no more terror, no more claims – that’s impossible until Iran [is addressed], one of the biggest players in our arena.
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You say you don’t foresee a comprehensive solution in the near future, but we’re already hearing from the new American president that this has been going on for long enough.
Annapolis was the wrong approach. With the Road Map, you can see some logical path: First of all, [for the PA to] dismantle terrorist organizations, collect illegal weapons, establish a justice system and establish normal state institutions. You have three stages in the Road Map, with 48-49 paragraphs. Only the last stage, the last paragraphs, deal with negotiations for the permanent solution. So, [under Annapolis,] to jump straight to the last paragraph and to concede on all of the Palestinian commitments to fight terror – it’s a very strange approach.
Now in our policy review, it’s a new government and we need time. I’m not ready for someone to stand with a stopwatch and say, ‘What’s happening, what’s happening?’ I talked with [President Obama's special envoy George] Mitchell, and he well understood our problems.
The people of Israel made their decision [in the elections] and this is really the right time to examine new ideas, new approaches, new visions. We’re trying to formulate this new approach now.
Although I do not agree completely with everything Liberman says in his interview, I believe that the Netanyahu government is on the right track by trying something different. Despite what the World media wish for you to believe, Liberman is hardly an “extremist”, nor a “ultra-nationalist”. His only sin here is that he questions the prevailing so-called wisdom, of blaming the conflict on Israel not giving enough to the Arabs. The problem however is that the media is wrong, and Liberman is right. The main stumbling block with the Arab-Israeli conflict has been the World’s insistance that we continue the same failed policies. Sadly, from the words of Secretary of State Clinton, it seems that the U.S. still doesn’t get it, and I am afraid that with an Obama Administration we never will. Despite history, they wish to continue the “all for nothing from Israel” policies that have caused the stalemate Israel and the Arabs are in today.
For the sake of everyone involved, I pray for the peace of Israel, and that our leaders finally get it!
Hamas head Khaled Mashaal gave a speech Thursday evening in response to a policy speech given by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu several days earlier. Mashaal proclaimed that Hamas is ready to cooperate with the international community in order to reach a deal with Israel, but only under conditions it deems favorable.
What better place to start than with with Fautography from the AP in Bilin? The 
The AP however, didn’t stop there. Much of their, and other’s, media coverage of Netanyahu’s meeting with Obama this week tended to concentrate on Netanyahu’s refusal to formally endorse the creation of a Palestinian state dispite the fact that this is a misnomer regarding his position. In fact, while with President Obama, Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke eagerly about renewing negotiations and expressed support for Palestinian autonomy. Despite this, the media’s coverage implied that his position presented an obstacle to peace.
