What would an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement look like? On the eve of Annapolis, we shudder to think.
Dear Friend of FLAME:
On the eve of Condie Rice’Äôs much-ballyhooed Annapolis conference between the U.S., Israel, the Palestinians and other Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and Syria, what can we expect? As you might imagine, we at FLAME believe the chances of achieving any meaningful agreements are slim to none. The greatest stumbling block, of course, will be the question of the so-called "Palestinian right of return"---the demand that hundreds of thousands of relatives of Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to their ancestors’Äô homes in Israel. More than two thirds of Palestinians believe that no peace can occur without this "right of return," while 80 percent of Israeli’Äôs believe that no more Palestinians should be allowed into Israel (already more than 1.5 million Palestinians live in Israel). It’Äôs no wonder this issue is a complete non-starter for Israelis. Allowing a huge influx of Palestinians into Israel would have two deleterious effects: First, it would further dilute the Jewish population majority in Israel, creating a "demographic jihad," and second, it would be tantamount to giving the Palestinians both their own state and huge portions of the state of Israel. This is all beside the point that Arabs who fled Israel in 1948 have mostly died by now, and it is their children and grandchildren on whose behalf this demand is made---a dramatic extension of the term "refugee" that is unprecedented in international politics.
Nonetheless, President Bush and Secretary of State Rice, in the hopes of creating a legacy for their administration, are attempting to push Israel and the Arabs into some type of agreement, the likes of which are difficult to imagine. The greatest political pressure for concessions, of course, will be levied against Israel by its close friend, the United States.
Below we reprint a piece of bitter, but powerful satire from commentator Israel Zwick from CN Publications (cnpublications.net), about how a U.S.-brokered peace could look. While this terrifying fictional news report takes place some nine years in the future, this week’Äôs Middle East "peace" conference in Annapolis could be the precursor of such an outcome.
Regrettably, if we are not watchful, and if Israelis, wearied by decades of struggle, hostility, and the unrelenting pressure of "world opinion"---from the Arabs, from most of the rest of the world, and from the U.S.---should finally decide to succumb and yield, the horrible panorama portrayed in Zwick’Äôs nightmarish tale is not at all impossible.
Sincerely,
Jim Sinkinson
Director, FLAME
| P.S. | We at FLAME are unceasing in our efforts to inform and educate the American public (which is the public that really counts most) about the realities of Israel and the Middle East. We are unflagging in that vitally important work and are grateful for your support. As you know, FLAME publishes hasbarah---clarifying messages---on key issues in dozens of mass media, allowing us to reach more than 5 million homes and offices every month. If you agree that this kind of public relations---I call it "truth-telling"---on Israel’Äôs behalf is critical, I invite you to support us. Remember: FLAME’Äôs powerful ability to influence public opinion comes from individuals like you, one by one. I hope you’Äôll consider giving a donation now, as you’Äôre able---with $500, $250, $100, or even $18? (Remember, your donation to FLAME is tax deductible.) Together we’Äôre keeping the flame alive: Am Yisrael Chai! (Israel Lives!) To donate online, just go to http://www.factsandlogic.org/make_a_donation.html. Thanks for your continued support. One more invitation: If you love Israel and want to support her further, please consider joining us on our upcoming Truth in the Promised Land Mission to Israel for Israel’Äôs 60th Independence Day, May 3-13, 2008.¬Ý Get specifics of this exciting trip at mission details or print out our 6-page brochure.¬Ý Please note that our registration deadline has been extended til December 31, 2007, so there’Äôs still plenty of time to make plans to join us. |
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THE WORLD
PA and Israel Reach Landmark Agreement Palestinians and Israelis Accept 1947
UN Partition Plan, bringing an end to long conflict. Jerusalem to become
capital of new Palestinian state.
by Mahmoud Al-Shakiri
Staff Writer, LA Times, November 30, 2016
WASHINGTON ’Äî President Hillary Clinton announced that the lengthy final-status
negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis have been concluded with
an agreement reached between the two parties. Both Israelis and Palestinians
have agreed to accept most of the recommendations of UN Resolution GA 181
adopted on November 29, 1947 (www.mideastweb.org/unpartition.htm). The primary
difference is that Jerusalem will become the capital of the new state of
Palestine, instead of being an international zone. This brings an end to
one of history’Äôs longest conflicts that has raged for close to a century.
At the conclusion of the signing ceremony, Prime Minister Yossi Beilin of
Israel and Prime Minister Mohammed Dahlan of Palestine hugged and kissed
each other according to Arab custom. Also present at the signing ceremony
was Suha Arafat, widow of Yasir Arafat, the Nobel laureate, who is widely
recognized as the originator of the peace process and advocate of peaceful
coexistence between Jews and Arabs. Also looking on was former Israeli Prime Minister and Nobel laureate, Shimon Peres, who was
flown in from Hadassah Hospital where he is undergoing stem-cell treatment
for Alzheimer’Äôs Disease.
President Clinton gets the credit for brokering the talks, which have been
going on throughout most of her 8-year administration. Shortly after the
signing, many of the 190 members of the UN agreed to recognize the two states
and establish an embassy in the capital of Palestine, which will be renamed
Al-Quds. Pope Yusuf I hailed the accords from his office at the Vatican,
and pledged Vatican assistance to help rebuild the vibrant Arab Christian
communities that existed in the Holy Land prior to the Israeli military occupation
and illegal establishment of Jewish settlements.
The agreement was made possible by the cooperation of European and Arab governments who were willing to accept the Jewish residents that will be relocated from the areas that will revert to Palestinian control. The countries Germany, Poland, Austria, Lithuania, Hungary, Russia, Morocco, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Yemen agreed to take in as many Jews as existed in their respective countries in 1939, at the onset of World War II, which displaced many Jews from their homes.
According to the Institute for Historical Review, (www.ihr.org) the origins of the Arab-Israeli conflict began with the displacement of Jews during World War II and the death of many thousands of Jews by mysterious causes. When Hitler occupied Poland in 1939, he established a number of refugee camps for Polish citizens who were displaced by the war. The new disinfectant, Zyklon B, was introduced in some of these camps to maintain sanitary conditions. It was not known at that time that Ashkenazic Jews had a specific genetic sensitivity to Zyklon B. As a result, many of the Jews in these refugee camps died from severe allergic reactions to Zyklon B. Then when the bodies had to be cremated for hygienic reasons, rumors started to spread among the Jewish population that the Germans were engaged in a program of mass genocide against the Jewish people and the Jews started to panic. In America, these rumors were spread by Peter Bergson, who was really Hillel Kook from Jerusalem, nephew of the first Chief Rabbi of the Palestine Mandate. In Hungary, a young maverick Swedish diplomat named Raoul Wallenberg convinced Hungarian Jews that they were being sent to extermination camps. He wanted to ’Äúsave’Äù them to further his own political ambitions. He was later captured by the Russians and imprisoned for his crimes. The head of the German Disinfection Program, Adolf Eichmann, was living peacefully in Argentina when he was forcibly kidnapped by Israeli agents, tried for ’Äúwar crimes,’Äù and executed.
As a result of the genocide rumors in Europe, the surviving Jews of Europe no longer wanted to live there. Many thousands of them tried to enter Palestine illegally in violation of the British White Paper. These Polish ’Äúillegals’Äù then displaced the indigenous Arab population. Then when the Arab population resisted the Jewish domination in 1948, the heavily financed Jewish Army waged war, captured more land, and established a capital in Jerusalem, which was not recognized by any country.
The status of Jerusalem became the chief stumbling block in the final-status negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. For a long time, the Israeli negotiators refused to relinquish control of Jerusalem, claiming that Jews have strong historical, cultural, and religious connections to the city. The breakthrough came when the prestigious Institute for Palestine Studies (www.palestine-studies.org) produced documents providing compelling evidence that Jerusalem was originally an Arab city named Al-Quds. The documents showed convincingly that there was never a Jewish Temple in the area and that King Solomon was only a fictional character from Jewish mythology. After reviewing the documents carefully, the Israeli negotiators realized that the story of a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was only a malicious fabrication by religious Zionist extremists. They withdrew their demands for Jewish control of Jerusalem and the negotiations proceeded rapidly from then on.
The landmark agreement ends the long, harsh Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (www.pcbs.gov.ps) released a report called ’ÄúImpact of the Israeli Measures on the Economic Conditions of Palestinian Households’Äù which documented the severe economic hardships inflicted on the Palestinians by the Israeli occupation. The hardships became even more severe in August, 2005 when Jewish farmers in the Gaza Strip suddenly abandoned their homes and greenhouses to seek ’Äúgreener pastures’Äù elsewhere. This left many destitute Palestinian workers without any source of income. Attempts by the Palestinians to use the greenhouses were futile because the departing Jews spread a mutant plant virus in the greenhouses that prevented anything from growing there. Attempts to establish tourist and business centers in the Gaza Strip were also unsuccessful because the humiliating Israeli checkpoints discouraged tourists and businessmen from traveling to Gaza. Now with the evacuation of the Israeli military and all illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem, Palestine is destined to become a world-class center for technology, research, tourism, and commerce.
In announcing the landmark agreement, President Clinton recalled the failures of previous agreements at Oslo, Camp
David, and Annapolis. She believes that this agreement will be implemented
because it takes the needs of all parties into consideration. The Palestinian
refugees will finally be able to return to the homes of their great-grandparents
in Israel. Non-Jewish citizens of Israel, which comprise 40% of the population
will finally have their needs addressed. The 4 million destitute Jews remaining
in Israel will have a homeland in secure and recognized boundaries. Clinton
concluded, ’ÄúBecause of this document, my successor, President-elect Ahmed
Jefferson, will be leading our country into a much more peaceful era than
the one that existed when I took office in 2009. This agreement is the
greatest accomplishment of my administration, and the highlight of my long
career in public service.’Äù.
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