Bloodthirsty Liberal

This time Israel has gone too far!

A US-based human rights group criticized [Israel] Monday for stripping the citizenship of nearly 3,000 [Israelis] of Palestinian origin in recent years.

Nearly half the [Jewish state’s] 6 million people are of Palestinian origin and [Israel] fears that if Palestinians become the majority, it will disrupt the delicate demographic balance.

Concerned about increasing numbers of Palestinians in the country, [Israel] in 2004 began revoking citizenship from Palestinians who do not have the […] permits that are necessary to reside in the West Bank.

Human Rights Watch said [Israel] stripped about 2,700 [Israelis] of Palestinian origin of their citizenship between 2004 and 2008 and urged them to restore their full rights. The trend continued last year, the group said in a report released in the [Israeli] capital, [Jerusalem].

The [Israeli] measure rendered the Palestinians “stateless,” depriving them of passports, voting rights, education, travel, health care and jobs, said Christoph Wilcke, HRW researcher on [Israel].

Ha-ha! Gotcha!

It wasn’t Israel who stripped 2,700 Palestinians of their citizenship. But I bet a lot of our less philo-Semitic readers might have fallen for it.

Read it again:

A US-based human rights group criticized Jordan Monday for stripping the citizenship of nearly 3,000 Jordanians of Palestinian origin in recent years.

Nearly half the kingdom’s 6 million people are of Palestinian origin and Jordan fears that if Palestinians become the majority, it will disrupt the delicate demographic balance.

Concerned about increasing numbers of Palestinians in the country, Jordan in 2004 began revoking citizenship from Palestinians who do not have the Israeli permits that are necessary to reside in the West Bank.

Human Rights Watch said Jordan stripped about 2,700 Jordanians of Palestinian origin of their citizenship between 2004 and 2008 and urged them to restore their full rights. The trend continued last year, the group said in a report released in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

The Jordanian measure rendered the Palestinians “stateless,” depriving them of passports, voting rights, education, travel, health care and jobs, said Christoph Wilcke, HRW researcher on Jordan.

Oops!

Sounds like Jordan doesn’t want a Palestinian state: itself.

Arabs may not like living next to Jews in the Middle East, but they are trying to learn the ways of their unwelcome neighbors, the better to get along with them.

This fellow has one observation:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar, a lecturer on Islamic history at the Islamic University of Gaza. The interview aired on Al-Aqsa TV on July 31, 2009.

The claim that those who built Pithom and Raamses were persecuted is a lie. The archaeological finds have proven that they enjoyed rights and privileges, and that they did not suffer any injustice. Therefore, all the talk about persecution is incorrect. These are lies by the Jews, who have become used to not working, to being a burden on others. This has been part of their psychological makeup throughout their long history. They do not like to work. They like to have people working for them, and to receive the services.

…

Therefore, when they were forced to work at Pithom and Raamses, making bricks to build the two cities, they viewed this as persecution. This is not true. This was merely construction work, playing an active role in the society in which they live – a society that has the right to force them to carry out this work.

Lazy and ungrateful—there’s no pleasing some people!

But that’s okay, because they are about to get theirs:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Sheik Himam Sa’id, Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on October 9, 2009.

The truth is that sooner or later, there will inevitably be Jihad, or fighting, between us and the Jews. Postponing the war, trying to throw sand in the eyes, and ignoring what is happening in Palestine… Today, the Jews are spreading. They are at the gates of Amman. Today, the Jews pose a threat to Jordan in its entirety. They pose a threat to Iraq, to Syria, and to the Arabian Peninsula. Therefore, the [Arab] governments have to create a state of popular Jihad everywhere, to establish a strong popular army, to train the youth and prepare them, and to open the gates of Jihad and of volunteering – just like in the 1930’s and 1940’s.

[…]

True, right now, things are calm. But under the calm, there are volcanoes. If these volcanoes erupt, by God, they will blow away all the conspirators, and all the hypocrites, and [the volcanoes] will sweep the Jews out of Palestine for all eternity.

I have a neighbor whose thorny bramble grows over his side of the fence and into my yard. Will that volcano also sweep his conspiratorial and hypocritical shrub out of my property for all eternity. If so, I’d like to borrow it.

Let’s hear from one more, shall we?

Following are excerpts from an interview with Saudi University professor Salman Al-Abdali, which aired on Iqra TV on October 1, 2009.

Explosive belts are legitimate when they are used against colonialist aggressors. Let me reiterate: colonialist aggressors, who cross continents and oceans, in order to invade the lands of the Muslims.

[…]

Someone who blows himself up amidst the enemy is different from someone who blows himself up in a safe place. Blowing oneself up in Tel Aviv is not like blowing oneself up in Riyadh.

Try telling that to Al Qaeda, “professor”. (Not that he couldn’t get tenure at Columbia or Berkeley, based on that comment alone.) What about blowing oneself up in Lahore, Karachi, Kabul, Baghdad, and other Muslim capitals? Is that “legitimate”?

Terrorism is not a tool as much as it is a dangerous contagion, which can turn on its handler as easily as on its target. Think of a hammer that has a mind of its own, and is just as likely to strike your own head as it is to strike the head of the nail.

People say Islamic culture hasn’t contributed anything to the world since the Middle Ages. But random and indiscriminate death and dismemberment is surely worth noting, and surely an Islamic specialty. They seem to think so.

Jordanian national accused of planting bomb in Dallas building

DALLAS (AP) — Federal officials say a 19-year-old Jordanian national has been arrested on charges he plotted to bomb a downtown Dallas skyscraper.

Federal officials say the case has no connection with the major terrorism investigation under way in Colorado and New York or the Thursday arrest of a man facing similar charges in Springfield, Illinois.

A statement from the U.S. attorney’s office in Dallas says Hosam Maher Husein Smadi was arrested Thursday after placing what he thought was a bomb at the 60-story Fountain Place office tower. The decoy device was given to him by an undercover FBI agent.

The FBI has been monitoring the man, who lived in the small north Texas town of Italy.

He’s charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Court documents don’t list a defense attorney.

Thank G-d for the FBI. I wonder how many of these get broken up without making it into the news?

- Aggie

I know many of you swing by here for answers to the imponderables of the world, but there are some things about the Middle East I just don’t get.

[H/T IMRA for all these stories]

Thing No. 1:

Jordanian authorities have started revoking the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians living in Jordan to avoid a situation in which they would be “resettled” permanently in the kingdom, Jordanian and Palestinian officials revealed on Monday.

The new measure has increased tensions between Jordanians and Palestinians, who make up around 70 percent of the kingdom’s population.

Seventy percent? Doesn’t that make it, well, Palestine?

Leave it to the the Palestinians to [bleep] up statehood in a state where they are the overwhelming majority.

Thing No. 2:

Senior Hamas and Fatah officials stated their objections on Sunday to what they said were US suggestions that Palestinians accept a land swap with Israel and give up the right of return.

The officials said that the US is pushing for a final status agreement with Israel that does not include the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, and maintains so-called Israeli settlement blocs in the West Bank.

Senior Fatah official Hatem Abdul Qader, who deals with Jerusalem issues, said “the United States is trying to deceive the Palestinians through these proposals, which they think are creative, but [exist] only in their imaginations.”

That sounds like this administration, all right.

So, it’s not just about the settlements, is it? Unless you think Tel Aviv and Haifa—even the Second Temple!—are “settlements”.

Thing No. 3

On Friday, 15 Lebanese civilians crossed illegally into Israel, shouting and waving Hizbullah flags. IDF troops spotted the group, but did not confront them as they were reportedly unarmed and returned to Lebanon minutes later, without incident.

In a letter submitted by the ambassador to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the president of the United Nations Security Council, Shalev accused a contingent of Indian UNIFIL peacekeepers of having done nothing to prevent the demonstrators from crossing the border and even cooperating with the group.

Why doesn’t the international community just butt out? Pretend the Holy Land is the back seat of the car, and tell the kids to figure it out on their own. If we had done that sixty years ago, the beaches of Gaza Strip would be the Costa del Saul and the West Bank would boast PaloDisney.

Now, this is a two-state solution I can support!

Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese writer Farid Salman, which aired on OTV on May 6, 2009.

Jordan is an invention. Transjordan, which was an emirate, and later became the Hashemite Kingdom, is part of Palestine. Britain created it in order to crown one of the sons of Hussein, from the Arabian Peninsula, over part of Greater Syria – over Palestine. This continues to be the perpetual reason… Without removing it, the Palestinian issue will not be resolved. It’s impossible.

…

Today, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I hear a Jordanian say that he is a Jordanian, and that there are Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan. He has forgotten that he is a Palestinian. What do you mean “Jordanian”? The East Bank is just like the West Bank. The Jordanian king was behind the war in Lebanon. He sent the Palestinians to Lebanon. We must not forget the role that Jordan played in Lebanon.

…

Let me tell you something – when a Palestinian state is established, and Jordan becomes the Palestinian state, along with the West Bank…

Interviewer: That is the solution, in your view?

Farid Salman: Of course. When this happens, we won’t need Israeli approval for the resettlement… Once there is a Palestinian state, it will invite the Palestinians. Jordan can receive 30 million [Palestinians]. In New York alone, there are 20 million people.

Now, there’s a lot of nonsense between the ellipses—and what he calls the West Bank also goes by the names of Judea and Samaria, i.e. Israel—but it’s an acknowledgment of an extant Palestinian state right under our very noses.

Rivers make excellent borders, so as long as Judea and Samaria (fine, the West Bank) are recognized internationally as Israel, I don’t see a problem.

Maybe you think I’m not being serious, but if someone as respected (by some) as Tom Friedman can front a “peace” plan formulated by the Saudis, then why can’t I shill for one articulated by some Lebanese writer? Mine’s a lot closer to reality, and would make everyone happier in the long run.

Let me put it in terms President Obama can understand, so he can plagiarize it, as he has so many other policies: “The status-quo is unacceptable. This conflict, which I inherited from the failed policies of the previous administration…” I’m sure he can take it from there.

This idea has been around for a long time, but he is the highest ranking American that I have ever hear express it

The Three-State Option

By John R. Bolton
Monday, January 5, 2009; Page A11

War in the Gaza Strip demonstrates yet again that the current governance paradigm for the Palestinian people has failed. Terrorists financed and supplied by Iran control Gaza; the Palestinian Authority is broken, probably irretrievably; and economic development is stalled in Gaza and the West Bank. Palestinians are suffering the consequences of regional power struggles played out through them as surrogates.

Israel isn’t a happy place, either. It endures opprobrium from the world’s High-Minded for defending itself from terrorism yet still finds itself subjected to terrorist attacks from Hamas and terrorists based in Syria and Lebanon. Israel’s domestic politics are increasingly muddled, and its way forward obscure.

Neighboring countries also suffer. Egypt has walled off its boundary with Gaza; Lebanon remains under threat of a Hezbollah coup enabled by Iran; Syria slides further under Iranian hegemony; and Jordan is trapped in the general gridlock. Other Arab countries search for solutions, but their attention is increasingly diverted by the growing threat from Iran and the downturn in global oil prices.

Given this landscape, we should ask why we still advocate the “two-state solution,” with Israel and “Palestine” living side by side in peace, as the mantra goes. We are obviously not progressing, and are probably going backward. We continue poring over the Middle East “road map” because that is all we have, faute de mieux, as they say in Foggy Bottom.
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The logic to this position is long past its expiration date. Unfortunately, it is hard to imagine a new approach that the key players would receive enthusiastically. If the way out were obvious, after all, it would already have been suggested. So consider the following, unpopular and difficult to implement though it may be:

Let’s start by recognizing that trying to create a Palestinian Authority from the old PLO has failed and that any two-state solution based on the PA is stillborn. Hamas has killed the idea, and even the Holy Land is good for only one resurrection. Instead, we should look to a “three-state” approach, where Gaza is returned to Egyptian control and the West Bank in some configuration reverts to Jordanian sovereignty. Among many anomalies, today’s conflict lies within the boundaries of three states nominally at peace. Having the two Arab states re-extend their prior political authority is an authentic way to extend the zone of peace and, more important, build on governments that are providing peace and stability in their own countries. “International observers” or the like cannot come close to what is necessary; we need real states with real security forces.

This idea would be decidedly unpopular in Egypt and Jordan, which have long sought to wash their hands of the Palestinian problem. Accordingly, they should not have to reassume this responsibility alone. They should receive financial and political support from the Arab League and the West, as they both have for years from the United States. Israel should accept political and administrative roles by Jordan and Egypt, unless it intends to perform such roles itself (which it manifestly does not).

Egypt no more wants responsibility for dealing with Hamas than Israel does. Cairo fears that Hamas extremism, and its affinity for the Muslim Brotherhood, will increase the risk of extremism in Egypt. Strong ties exist between Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, and extremism in Egypt is growing, so already the real issue is finding the best way to control the threat simultaneously in Egypt and Gaza. Keeping Gaza politically separate from Egypt may be optically satisfying to some, but doing so simply increases threats to Egyptian stability, the loss of which would be catastrophic for the broader region. Just ask the mullahs in Tehran.

Go to the link to finish it up.

By the way, the first time I heard this idea was from former Rabbi and Israeli politician Benny Elon. He was considered fringe back then, but that was the Clinton era when the world was filled with “Hope”. To my ears, this solution reminds me of filling my cheeks with air and then pushing against one side so the the other extends outward. Palestinian terrorism is the problem. It doesn’t really matter where you put it. It will be a problem if Egypt and Jordan are the caretakers and it is a problem without them. I suppose that Egypt has such a brutal police force that the thinking is that they will squash Hamas? Maybe. Or maybe the terror attacks will move into Egypt more than they already have. Does anyone remember Anwar Sadat?

- Aggie