Israelis are in uproar over what The Jerusalem Post called in its editorial headline Thursday “The recognition sham” - the Palestinian Arab’s “sudden” adopting of a position whereby they refuse to recognize Israel as a JEWISH state.
After listing some of the numerous occasions when “Palestinians” claimed to have accepted Israel’s right to exist - Arafat in 1988 and 1993; the PLO in 1998 and the PA in 2003, the paper says:
“So the Palestinians accept Israel’s existence, right? Well, perhaps not. Now, on the eve of Annapolis, we discover that all of these claims of recognition may have been a giant sham.”
It describes what happened this week:
On Monday, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said, “The problem of the content of the document [setting out joint principles for peacemaking post-Annapolis] has not been resolved… One of the more pressing problems is the Zionist regime’s insistence on being recognized as a Jewish state. We will not agree to recognize Israel as a Jewish state,” Erekat said. “There is no country in the world where religious and national identities are intertwined.”
On Tuesday, another prominent Palestinian negotiator, Yasser Abed Rabbo, said, “It is only a Zionist party that deals with Israel as a Jewish state, and we did not request to be a member of the international Zionism movement.”
[On Wednesday] Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad joined in these statements. And Erekat chimed in again on Al-Arabiya TV: “Israel can define itself however it sees fit; and if it wishes to call itself a Jewish state, so be it. But the Palestinians will never acknowledge Israel’s Jewish identity.”
For The Jerusalem Post “all this is mind-boggling. … The Palestinian refusal to accept Israel as a Jewish state suggests that all their solemn and myriad expressions of Israel’s right to exist did not mean anything.”
Wakey, wakey!
To this (once more right-wing, but in recent years increasingly left-leaning English-language) Israeli newspaper - and so, we can assume, to a good number of Israelis - the whole thing, then, is a “sham.”
“Scam” would describe it better, for according to the Oxford English Dictionary, “sham” is something pretended; scam, is a “trick or swindle, a fraud.”
Maybe call it a “shcam” - a pretense intended to trick Israel into falling into the Arab trap.
And how easily, almost willingly, Israel fell.
Of course, on this occasion, the PLO/PA did not raise this issue of its refusal to recognize a JEWISH Israel until after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had made it quite clear that the Bush administration has tied what’s left of its reputation to this deal; that Annapolis has to happen; that “failure” as Rice put it to the General Assembly of the United Jewish Communities in Nashville Tuesday, “is simply not an option.”
Just like their brother store keepers in Jerusalem’s Arab souk, the PLO/PA leaders are masters at bartering. They can gauge within a hair’s breadth at what point the prey has taken the bait; then they yank the line. Their gamble this time is that Bush and Rice have simply staked too much on achieving ANYTHING at Annapolis to pull out at this late date, no matter what price the PA now demands.
It only helps the “Palestinians” that Syria has reportedly agreed to attend, and that Rice made it her business earlier this week to impress on the Israelis her expectation of even more concessions from them in order to secure some sort of success at the conference.
Perhaps what’s really “mind boggling,” is that the Post’s editorial staff, and anyone else who has been watching the way this whole “peace process” has unfolded since Madrid and Oslo, was actually taken aback by this shrewd “Palestinian” move.
The PLO/PA has been playing this semantic game for a long time. And if Israelis truly were deaf to it, then all they had to do was tune into the Palestinian Arabs in their midst, the so-called Israeli Arabs who enjoy full representation in Israel’s parliament.
On February 28 2006, in a by-no-means-unusual speech, Arab Knesset Member Ahemd Tibi stated bold as brass: “I certainly oppose Zionism and the Jewish character of the State. … [A] state can’t be equal and democratic and prefer one ethnic group over another. Despite the fact that I’m aware of the presence of Basic Laws defining the country as a Jewish state, this does not take away from the logical contradiction between the two definitions of Jewish and democratic in our opinion, and our opinion is also shared by a wide echelon of a group of intellectuals and Israeli left-wingers.”
Tibi continued: “We [Israeli Arabs] won’t accept a coercion of Zionism, which we oppose as we oppose the foreign and defense policies of the government, and the validity of the occupation. A million Arabs in the country oppose the occupation, oppose Zionism, and oppose the liberation of land which is a Zionist value. You can’t force these things on us and our public. … [O]ur platform talks about equality of rights for the Arab public as a national minority in the context of a legal battle to change the country into a state of all of its nations.”
So much for this dyed-in-the-wool traitor to the country he enjoys all his benefits from.
More significantly, more seriously, JEWISH leaders have advocated this re-formulating of Israel so that it no longer need be a Jewish state.
As Professor Paul Eidelberg noted in an opinion piece published on Israel National News (November 15, 2007), Israeli President Shimon Peres “has long advocated the transformation of this country from a Jewish state into ‘a state of its citizens.”
Eidelberg “replays” an interview Peres gave the far-left paper Ha’aretz after Benjamin Netanyahu trounced him in the May 1996 prime ministerial election:
Interviewer: What happened in this election?
Peres: “We lost.”
Interviewer: Who is we?
Peres: “We, that is the Israelis.”
Interviewer: And who won?
Peres: “All those who do not have an Israeli mentality.”
Interviewer: And who are they?
Peres: “Call it the Jews.”
Yes, Israeli Arabs, Israeli leftists, the PLO/PA and others who hate Jews have long been working to change Israel from a Jewish state into a state of its citizens.
And yet, Israelis are all agog at this “new development?”
It’s not a development, it’s a God-given opportunity to get out of this mess.
Addressing her Nashville audience Tuesday, Rice said she believes “that most Palestinians and most Arab states are ready to end the conflict [and] that most Israelis are ready to leave most of the …nearly all of the West Bank, just as they were ready to leave Gaza for the sake of peace.”
Her Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, has said concerning Israel’s quest to find peace with the Palestinian Arabs that she “whole-heartedly believe[s] that this is not a zero sum game.”
All this is clearly optimism packaged for public consumption. It is very likely, in fact, that even before the PLO unleashed its latest salvo of deception, neither woman had much if any hope left for a successful Annapolis event.
The hour is late, but it is not too late: Let Livni and Rice pull the carpet out from under Abbas, Erekat and Co. Let these two diplomats demonstrate that they are realists, and that they are no longer prepared to play by the Arab rules, to be seduced by “Palestinian” wheeling and dealing.
Let them cancel the conference, saving themselves and their governments from the fiasco that it is set to become, and depriving the Arab side from the excuse its failure will give them to unleash another intifada - the Annapolis War.
All the blame for the failure to convene the conference can - quite accurately - be laid yet again at the door of the Arabs who have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
Let the “Palestinians” hold accountable those they have chosen to lead them to statehood.
If, as “Condi†says she “believes†most of the Palestinians and most Arab states are ready to end the conflict, let’s see them mean business.
SHCAM - a new, and extremely appropriate, word! Once again, Stan, you are spot-on. The world cannot claim ignorance. And if the world can’t, then its leaders have lost any excuse to stand unaware of what continues to unfold.
“Condi” please tell your president to cancel this appointment so the Palestinians and the Arab states can show the world they mean business. And let them mean business by the truth, especially as the truth is unfolding in France this week. NO MORE DECEPTION! NO MORE FABRICATIONS!
We propose the summit be rescheduled to a new site - like Birkenau.
only thing good about this kind of stupid is it pushes us closer to the day God silences all this moronic small talk
Shcam- a word that applies to the name “Palestinians”. A word that should have been in our dictionaries back in 1948. This shows me that peace and statehood is not on the minds of Arab leadership. If it were their desire then this bogus consession would not be in the deal. God’s will be done. Payday is someday.
i have a favorite story of a Dad who’s children wanted to see a movie that had some filth in it. The Dad asked that he be given a day to respond. The next day he made a wonderful batch of brownies for his kids and when they sat down to eat them he said ” I have prepared these with great care, all the ingredients are in the right measure and cooked to perfection. I also included a bit of dog doo. So eat up my beloved children.” No matter what is offered, what is said, these men have doo doo in their hearts and will never be what the world would love them to be. Resonable, normal, considerate human beings. Sorry bout that
Stan, you have laid out all the facts. No one can be deceived….they can choose to turn their heads and try to believe a lie….but they can not be deceived.
You have covered all the bases. It is a fair and honest assessment of the entire situation. If President Bush and “Condi” do not cancel this “summit” I believe SWIFT Judgment will fall on them and on America.
Millions are praying…..Our prayers do not go unnoticed by the Most High God. Today was a fast today…..much warfare…..We cannot give the enemies of Israel any high ground…..We will keep praying and fasting, believing God for His Divine Intervention.
Beloved Israel, You are not alone…..You have many friends who love you, who will and are Standing in the Gap for You. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord. He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.” HE IS A 24/7 God….He loves You above all others.
Israel, you are His Pride and Joy. You are not alone. He will NEVER leave You not forsake You. Do what King David did…..Seek God’s face…..that special place of intimacy…..that “secret place” where evil cannot enter and destroy.
If you have never sought that special place of intimacy…..do it now. He is longing to fellowship with you….He wants to reveal Himself in a greater and deeper way. He is waiting for you.
For an American president who “vowed to birth the state of Palestine” alongside Israel, I don’t believe he or his poodle Condi have been deceived by the Arabs. The are part and parcel of this scham and deception of the Jewish people.God only knows where this is going, but it will be to His glory. He will not forget His people, the decendants of Jacob. His land is His land, not the Arabs’ land. He will let the deceivers operate until He is ready to confound them and their evil plans. I will never doubt the Almighty and trust Him fully as He is in control of all.
Stan: this article was so good I placed it with a link to your website on my blog. Thanks for continuing to expose light to darkness that seems to overtake so many reasonable and G-d fearing men (and women). If only they were as respectful and fearful of G-d as they are men…
If they do go through with this Annapolis Summit… I truly believe the fate of America will be sealed. Judgement will come, and it won’t take long. Maybe Yellowstone will finally erupt. It has tripled in activity within the last three years. Coincidence? I think not.
You’re right, Jim…One great thing coming out of all of this mess is that God is near the door! His eyes are watching intensively! His ears are hearing intentively! Our Creator will soon return and His Orders shall be done. May peace be upon all of us. May we all have strength and recover rapidly from the vicious blows soon to be felt, prior to the return of our King. May all of us on earth find peace and love and God.
Blessings to you again, Stan! Another fine article! Well spoken and thought. And it is precise, accurate to the point.
No comment, Stan has said it all.
Jesus says in Isaiah 46″13 “I will place salvation in Zion for “Israel my Glory”,
Glory is defined as great beauty and splendor : magnificence. Israel will one day be this in Jersualem (Zion).
He has chosen the seed of Abraheam to be His Glory, and one day this will be accomplished. Israel at this need to be seeking God in their personal secret and special place of prayer, it is their only comfort at this time. I agree with the comment about America being in for destruction if President Bush and Condi Rice go thru with helping Gods land to be parted, It very well could be that Yellowstones Volcano will be erupting, I heard it said there would be 3 feet of volcano ash spread over the entire land of North America.!!!! I believe it is now Gods set time to favour Israel Isaiah 102:13. I am so thankful that even by writing this I can join you and others in taking pleasure in the “Stones and Dust “of Israel!!!!!!!!!
IF PRESIDENT BUSH WOULD PUT A PIECE OF TAPE ON RICE’S MOUTH AND HIS AS WELL AND JUST LISTEN TO THE ARABS CLOSELY THEY WILL SEE THAT THEY ARE A BUNCH OF KIDS IN ADULT BODIES TRYING TO TELL EVERYONE THEY ARE THE GOOD GUYS AND THEY WANT THE WHOLE COUNTRY OF ISRAEL OR THEY WILL TAKE THEIR DOLLS AND GO HOME. WELL PRESIDENT BUSH AND MS RICE SEND THEM HOME WITH A A PACKAGE OF CANDY AND THEIR DOLLS. BETTER YET TAKE A LONG WALK ON A SHORT PIER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree with Jeannette. I believe that both Bush and Condi are favoring the Palestinians. God’s judgment will be on those that force Israel to give up the land.
God gave the land to the Jews for an everlasting possession, never to be divided.
Excellent article Stan.
Very true about the Jerusalem Post.
They have been drifting towards the anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, anti-religious Left
for a few years now.
you know Stan, I can’t respect you nor your views nor your website because I’ve submitted 2 well written posts to your site and you’ve chosen to delete both of them! I’m a Jew and I can no longer respect the likes of so-called Christian Zionists as yourself! You only respect your own viewpoint and only chose to post the opinions of others that narrowly fit into your perfect world! I’m very very very sad and disappointed if you consider yourself a champion of the Jewish people while at the same time, not being respectful to the very people (Jews-such as myself) that you supposedly “cherish”. As Jesus would say, you’re a hypocrite!
Let me just leave you with this thought: You’ve become an Israeli citizen and as such, Israel is a democracy and there is a free press. I read many on-line editions of Israeli newspapers and even these editors allow viewpoints to be published from even the most loathsome anti-Semitic minds! I’ve been in agreement with your opinion on the most part and yet in the context of the most well known Israeli newspapers, you’ve chosen to delete my posts? How does this mesh with wanting the right to live in the only Jewish state in the world, within the most ethical nation in the world (rules of war, press, treating Israeli Arabs, etc.) and in this context you’ve chosen to now twice block the viewpoint (of a Jew)? I’m sorry Stan but you’ve lost all credibility with me!!!!
Lord have mercy upon the US. Someone please tell Mr. Bush and Ms Rice that Scripture says “The Lord will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel”