Today is the day Palestinians commemorate the "Nakba," the "disaster" that brought about the rebirth of Israel. I'm an advocate of a Palestinian state on 100 percent of the West Bank and Gaza (with land swaps, obviously -- the nefarious Obama plan that the majority of Israelis also endorse) and of a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem, but what I won't do is label as a "nakba" a war that saw the 600,000 Jews of Palestine prevent their own slaughter at the hands of invading Arab armies.

The Middle East suffers today from the crucial mistakes made by Arab leaders in the late 1940s. The United Nations, you'll recall, voted to divide Palestine into two equal halves, one for a Jewish state, the other for an Arab state. The Jews accepted the plan; the Arab leadership, thinking its armies were strong enough to annihilate the Jews, invaded, and then proceeded to lose. As a consequence of the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became refugees -- some were expelled by Jewish forces in the course of fighting, some fled, others were encouraged to leave by their leaders. Today, many of the descendants of these refugees are still warehoused in camps with the approval of the Arab states which, one might think, would have paid to resettle these descendants of refugees. Other refugee populations from the  tumultuous period following World War II have all been resettled, obviously.

The disaster, in other words, was the result of a series of mistakes made the leaders of the Arab states in 1948. There is not much recognition of this fact. Instead, those who romanticize the "nakba" argue that the Jews did not have a right to any slice of their historic homeland and that the Arabs were right to try to strangle the Jewish state at birth.

Read more at The Atlantic

After yet another tragic incident in which civilians were slain in the name of extremism, a call to stop the incitements to murder; a call for politicians and leaders to stop condemning on the one hand, and then praising on the other these horrific, unjustifiable acts.  If we really want to stop the terror, we must stop the incitement to murder.

This week, after a young rabbi and three children were shot to death at a Jewish school in France, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas cabled condolences to French president Nicolas Sarkozy. In that brief cable, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, Abbas claimed that he always absolutely opposed any killing of civilians. And yet, just a few weeks ago, Abbas held a meeting in Turkey to honor the Palestinian prisoner, released by Israel as part of the Gilad Shalit deal, who had used the internet to lure an Israeli high school boy to his terrorist murderers last year.

 

This month also marks the first anniversary of the Fogel murders, for which two Palestinian teenagers were convicted of killing a family of five in the West Bank settlement of Itamar. At the time, Abbas condemned this attack, earning an acknowledgment from some American and even some Israeli observers. Nevertheless, on the very same day, the PA officially dedicated a major town square in honor of Dalal al-Mughrabi, a Palestinian woman implicated in the murder of thirty-seven Israeli civilians during a bus hijacking in 1978. And within a few days, official PA television broadcast a new song lauding the "heroism" of the killers at Itamar.

 

In the year since the Itamar massacre, particularly in the past few months, the PA's record about glorifying violence against civilians has generally taken a turn for the worse. The PA youth magazine Zayzafuna, for instance, recently published a girl's dreamy vision of Hitler -- ironically prompting UNESCO to withdraw funding for this publication, even as Palestine was admitted to that organization as a full member. The official mufti of Jerusalem delivered a televised sermon invoking the hadith (quotation attributed to Muhammad) about "the Muslims killing all the Jews" to bring on Judgment Day -- in sharp contrast to earlier PA efforts to scrub Hamas-style rhetoric from mosques under its jurisdiction. And Abbas himself delivered a highly inflammatory address to a conference on Jerusalem held in Doha last month that falsely accused Israel of planning to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque. In each case, the PA response to criticism was not apology or even acknowledgment, but denial or deflection, by pointing to supposed Israeli provocations or transgressions.

As southern Israel was barraged by rockets for a fourth straight day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel was hitting back "strongly and decisively," and its Iron Dome anti-missile defense system was intercepting many of the rockets coming from the Gaza Strip.

"The IDF is continuing to -- strongly and decisively -- attack the terrorists in the Gaza Strip," Netanyahu said Monday at the Knesset. "Whoever intends to harm our citizens, we will strike at him."

Israel has responded to the barrage of missiles with more than 30 attacks on rocket-launching sites and weapons facilities. At least 20 Palestinians, including two civilians, have been killed since the recent violence began. Several dozen Palestinian civilians, including several children, reportedly have been wounded in the strikes.

President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu met at the White House this week.  Both leaders agreed that Israel needs to be able to defend itself, and President Obama again emphasized that the US "has Israel's back."

President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may not have bridged their differences on how to deal with Iran, but each managed to give the other a measure of reassurance.

In his speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Obama held his ground, declining to articulate new American red lines on the Iranian nuclear issue and strongly advising against “loose talk of war.” Yet he earned the praise of the prime minister and the pro-Israel lobby with his acknowledgement that Israel needs to be able to defend itself, and his vow that America has Israel’s back.

While Obama stressed diplomacy as a continued option in public and private comments, Netanyahu indicated in the two leaders’ private meeting that he believes sanctions have been exhausted. Yet even if the prime minister does not share the president’s patience, he also told Obama that there is not yet any Israeli decision to attack Iran, according to Israeli press reports.

An Israeli diplomat's wife in New Delhi was injured by a car bomb, and a second bomb was disabled in a staff member's car at the Israeli embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Monday's attacks came the day after the fourth anniversary of the assassination of the operational chief of Hezbollah, Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed Feb. 12, 2008 in Damascus by a car bomb. Hezbollah blames his killing on Israel. Israeli embassies and other missions had been on high alert in advance of the anniversary.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran was behind the attacks.

Read more at JTA

Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Iran on Sunday, warning the Palestinian movement leader against any potential compromise with Israel, according to AFP.

Referencing the recent reconciliation agreement between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, Khamenei said that Haniyeh must "always be wary of infiltration by compromisers in a resistance organization, which will gradually weaken it." Haniyeh arrived in Iran on Friday for a three-day visit.

The agreement, reached between Fatah and Hamas under the auspices of Qatar, calls for Abbas to serve as an interim prime minister of a Palestinian unity government made up of independent figures. It has stirred controversy, both within the domestic Palestinian arena and in the international community.

Read more at Jerusalem Post

Prime Minister Netanyahu addresses a special session of Knesset before International Holocaust Rememberance Day, stating that the world still has lessons to learn about preventing genocide, and enabling dictatorships to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

"Seventy years have passed since the Holocaust, and many around the world still remain silent in the face of Iran's threats to wipe Israel off the map, and many stay silent despite Hezbollah's call for the destruction of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday during a special Knesset session ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which will be marked this week.

"International Holocaust Remembrance Day is the day on which the world needs to stand behind the words 'no more.' It's not a slogan, but has a deep meaning," he said. "It is the day on which the world must unite to make certain weapons of mass destruction do not fall into the hands of dark regimes, headed by the ayatollahs' regime in Iran."

Netanyahu added: "Have we learned the lessons of the Holocaust? Are we treating these threats of destruction seriously? Or perhaps, like many generations before us we do not want to see the scope of the danger that is facing us. The Iranian regime is openly calling for the destruction of Israel, but many around the world remain silent. We mustn't bury our head in the sand. The Iranian regime is planning the annihilation of Israel and is working towards Israel's destruction – its agents (Hezbollah) fired over 12,000 missiles towards Israel's cities. They are not concealing their intent to kill as many (Israelis) as possible.

Read more at Ynet News

Israel's Ambassador to the UN Ron Prossor called on the UN to take further actions to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon at a recent meeting of the UN Security Council.

Iran is the single greatest threat to the world and the United Nations needs to take action against it immediately, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor told the Security Council in New York on Tuesday.

“Never has it been so clear Iran is seeking to build a nuclear weapon,” said Prosor speaking at a regular meeting debating the “situation in the Middle East and the Palestinians question.”

“Now is the time to act. Tomorrow is too late. The stakes are too high. The price of inaction is too great,” he said.

Read more at Jerusalem Post

A recent poll shows that despite popular claims, younger Jews do support Israel.

Today, it has become popular to malign young Jews and to suggest that they are turning away from Israel. We hear that they have been turned off to Israel by policies of the Israeli government and have become increasingly supportive of the Palestinians. Those of us who work with students know this is rubbish and now a new poll provides evidence that young Jews feel close to Israel, have little sympathy for the Palestinians, are hawkish on peace issues, and don’t believe public criticism of the government advocated by Jews on the far left is helpful.

The nationwide poll of 400 Jewish college students sponsored by the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise and The Israel Project found:

·    90% agree that Israel is the spiritual center of the Jewish people.
·    83% said caring about Israel is an important part of being Jewish.
·    73% said American and Israeli Jews share a common destiny.
·    89% have warm/favorable feelings toward Israel.
·    78% sympathize with Israel vis-a-vis the Palestinians.
·    84% think America should support Israel.

To further drive a stake in the idea that young Jews feel less connected to Israel than their elders, we can compare our results to the findings of the American Jewish Committee’s latest national poll. The AJC found that 68% of American Jews feel close to Israel and 31% said they feel very close. In the AICE/TIP survey, 66% of college students said they feel close to Israel and 26% answered very close.

Read more at Jerusalem Post

For the first time in 16 months, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met in Amman Jordan this week, and have agreed to meet again next week.

Israel and Palestinian negotiators meeting in Amman on Tuesday for the first direct talks in 16 months agreed to continue talking, with another round scheduled in Jordan next week, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, who hosted the talks, said at a press conference after the meeting that the Palestinian delegation submitted proposals on border and security issues to Israel, and that the Israeli team took the proposals and said it would respond and present its ideas in a future meeting. One principle that Israel is expected to put forward is the need for an Israeli security presence along the Jordan River in any agreement.

The talks, which where characterized as having taken place in a “positive” atmosphere, were divided into two parts and lasted a total of three hours.

The first part was a meeting that included Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s envoy Yitzhak Molcho, PA negotiator Saeb Erekat, Judeh, Quartet envoy Tony Blair and a representative from each of the Quartet’s members – the US, EU, Russia and the UN.

Read more at Jerusalem Post

According to one high-level Hamas official, anyone who thinks Hamas has become more moderate is mistaken.

Hamas is joining the PLO not as a result of a change in its ideology but because it wants the PLO to stick to its original platform – liberating Palestine and achieving the “right of return” for Palestinian refugees, Hamas leaders explained over the weekend.

The Hamas leaders’ clarifications came in response to claims that Hamas’s decision to join the PLO was a sign the Islamist movement was moving toward moderation and would abandon its radical ideology.

Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other radical Palestinian groups agreed on Thursday to join a provisional leadership of the PLO that would look into ways of “activating and reconstructing” the Fatah-dominated organization.

Read more at Jerusalem Post

The recent decision for Hamas to join the umbrella of the PLO and join forces with Fatah in a unity government has been hailed as a step forward in the peace process.  But is it really?

Hamas's decision to join the PLO is seen by some Western analysts and governments as a sign that the Islamist movement is headed toward "moderation" and "pragmatism."

But in 2012, if the agreement with Abbas is implemented, Hamas will take control over the PLO.

Hamas is joining the PLO not because it has changed, but out of a desire to make the Fatah-dominated organization stick to its true mission: the liberation of Palestine from Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea -- in other words, all the land that is currently Israel -- and to achieve the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees to their original villages and homes inside Israel.

Read more at Hudson New York

Recent headlines made it look as if Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was scolding Israel, and only Israel, for the lack of progress in the Peace Talks.  What he said and what was reported are not the same, says the AJC.

Al Jazeera (Reuters): “Panetta: Israel must 'get to the damn table'”
New York Times: “Defense Chief Says Israel Must Mend Arab Ties"
Fox News: “Panetta Scolds Israel on Peace Talks”

Sometimes media can make a public event into a Rorschach test, reporting what they are predisposed to want us to see. Coverage of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s speech to the Saban Forum is an example. The transcript simply does not bear out the headlines.

Panetta declared publicly that Israel’s security, based on its relationship with the United States, is a core component of stability in the region: “…that bond is the fundamental key to stability and hope in the Middle East, and it is a bond that must never be broken.” He spelled out the three principles of America’s regional policy: “First, our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security. Second, our broader commitment to regional stability. And third, our determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.” Panetta illustrated these principles by referring to the Administration’s actions. He cited “unprecedented levels of defense cooperation with Israel to back up our unshakable commitment to Israel’s security.” AJC’s sources in the Israeli defense establishment confirm this without reservation, noting the announcement in the same speech of the largest-ever joint U.S.-Israel military exercises.

Contrary to the impression created by some reports, Secretary Panetta did not single out Israel for lack of progress in the peace process. After moderator Kenneth Pollack asked whether Israel should withdraw its troops from the West Bank, Panetta urged both the Palestinians and the Israelis to “get to the damn table.” On the matter of Israel’s relations with Turkey, he suggested that both Turkey and Israel “need to do more to put their relationship back on the right track.”

Read more at AJC

Hamas and Fatah are working on a unity government, with its headquarters in Gaza.

Fatah and Hamas have agreed that the next Palestinian government will be located in the Gaza Strip, and hence the next head of the Palestinian government will be from Gaza, an adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Saturday.

Ahmed Yousef summarized the political program of all Palestinian factions which he said is the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with its capital in Jerusalem.

Yousef added that Hamas would support Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' efforts to receive full membership for Palestine at United Nations institutions.

Read more at Haaretz

Gaza militants have renewed rocket attacks on southern Israel in recent weeks, killing one Israeli this weekend and leading to school closings across the region.

Southern sector on high alert once more as Gaza-fired projectiles land near Beersheba, outskirts of Ashkelon, Sderot. Iron Dome system intercepts one Grad rocket; major cities in south suspend schools.

The fragile ceasefire with Gaza's militant groups was breached on Monday, as several rockets were fired at Israel following a relatively calm morning.

The Iron Dome defense system intercepted at least one Grad rocket fired at Beersheba. Shortly afterwards, a rocket was fired at the city of Sderot. Residents of the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council reported hearing an explosion within the council's limit.

No injuries or damages were reported and security forces are canvassing the area for the projectiles.

Read more at Ynet