An Important New Development InThe MidEast Peace Process.

 

President Trump and Jared Kushner have actually made some progress towards achieving a Mideast peace agreement between Israel and the PLO. The progress mainly consists of shifting the entire context around. I still ultimately doubt it will be successful as long as The PLO/Fatah and Hamas are involved, but just doing that much is significant achievement..and it may just actually yield some results.

If you’ve been following the latest developments in the Mideast peace process, you know that Jared Kushner just met again yesterday with the Palestinian Authority’s leader Mahmoud Abbas. Unlike their last meeting, when Kushner insisted that the PA had to give up inciting and financing terrorist attacks on Israel, this one didn’t end in a shouting match between them.

Abbas and the other PA functionaries made polite noises this time.

“We highly appreciate President Trump’s efforts to strike a historical peace deal, a statement he repeated more than one time during our meetings in Washington, Riyadh and Bethlehem,” Abbas said at the start of his meeting with Kushner, according to the PA’s official Wafa news agency.

“We know that this delegation is working for peace, and we are working with it to achieve what President Trump has called a peace deal. We know that things are difficult and complicated, but there is nothing impossible with good efforts,” he added.

Well, except for this. The Palestinians, as they wish to be called are very frustrated by one thing.

When it comes to the peace process, they’re used to being catered to, and being offered what they demand while giving little or nothing in return as concessions. They’re also used to it being a fait accompli, an established fact that there is going to be a two state solution that gives them all or most of Judea and Samaria with their capitol in Jerusalem.

The Trump administration has backed away from guaranteeing that no matter what, an important shift in the context.

“We have clearly emphasized to the Americans the importance of having a public statement that has a commitment to the two-state solution,” Ashraf Khatib, a spokesman for the negotiation affairs department of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told the Washington Post on Friday. “There hasn’t been any.”

Nor will there be for now, as State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert explained earlier this week. The always unworkable two state solution has been sidelined for now and won’t be automatically put back on the table without significant concessions by the PLO. Or as Ms. Nauert politely put it, “Committing to a two-state solution would “bias” the outcome of a peace agreement between Israel and the PA.”

“We want to work toward a peace that both sides can agree to and that both sides find sustainable. We believe that both parties should be able to find a workable solution that works for both of them.”
“We are not going to state what the outcome has to be. It has to be workable to both sides. And I think, really, that’s the best view as to not really bias one side over the other, to make sure that they can work through it. It’s been many, many decades, as you well know, that the parties have not been able to come to any kind of good agreement and sustainable solution to this. So we leave it up to them to be able to work that through.”

Or to put it more bluntly, President Trump isn’t going to make Israel ‘negotiate’ with a loaded gun to its head and a preconceived outcome.

For perhaps the first time in the history of the Mideast peace process, the PLO is being told that if they want a state, they’re going to have to convince the Israelis to go along with it. That’s going to mean significant concessions. And even then, it might not mean statehood. it might just end up being an autonomous enclave.

This is a major change. Obstruction and stonewalling by Abbas and company is not going to work any longer. They will have to deal to get what they want.

At a time when the only Arab leader who seems to have any time for ‘Palestine’ is Jordan’s King Abdullah and most of the Sunni states are far more concerned with putting together a coalition against Iran that will of necessity include Israel, Mahmoud Abbas and ‘Palestine’ aren’t even attracting rhetoric, let alone cash. The Arab states have slashed the aid they were giving the PA by 50%, and bi-partisan legislation is already moving forward in the US to severely limit aid to the PA because of their financing of terrorism.

Will being squeezed and marginalized give the Palestinians an incentive to actually bargain in good faith for once and come up with a reasonable proposal for Israel to mull over? I’d say no, but I’d be happy to be pleasantly surprised.

As President trump once said, the biggest asset in making a deal is the willingness to walk away. Applied to the Mideast peace process, it just might work.

The Blood Of Zion Cries Out

 

Early this morning, four Jews at morning prayers were murdered in a synagogue in Jerusalem after two Palestinian broke in and assaulted the worshipers with gunfire and meat cleavers.

Many others were wounded and four are in critical condition.

The terrorist attack took place in Har Hof a predominantly Orthodox neighborhood at the at the Kehilat Yaakov synagogue on Agasi Street.

The Murder victims were identified as Rabbi Moshe Twersky, the head of the Torat Moshe yeshiva, 59; 40-year-old  Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky; 50-year-old Rabbi Kalman Levine; and 68-year-old Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg(HY"D). Rabbi Kupinsky, Rabbi Levine and Rabbi Twersky were all American citizens, while Rabbi Goldberg was a British subject. A Druze policeman, 30-year-old Master Sergeant Zidan Sif subsequently died of his wounds as well, and all Israel will mourn and honor him.

The killers stormed the synagogue at 7 AM local time. There was no warning and no way for the victims to defend themselves.The rabbis were murdered during the sacred prayer of Shimoneh Esrei, with siddurim (prayer books) in their hands and their tefillum on.

Eye witness Ya'akov Amos said: 'The terrorist moved to within a metre of me then started shooting. One, two, three, bang, bang, bang. I immediately hit the ground and tried to protect myself with a prayer stand. He kept screaming 'Allah hu'Akbar'.

 

There was blood everywhere, so much that one of the medical workers slipped in it and broke his leg.

The international reaction was interesting. Even U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry seemed shocked, with his voice quavering. He even used the "T" word and called for an end to incitement against Jews.

Phillip Hammond, Britain's Foreign Secretary contented himself with a bloodless statement that 'both sides' should seek to 'reduce tension.' President Obama, of course, said much the same thing. Somehow, I doubt they would have merely talked about both sides reducing tension if four imams had been murdered by a Jew and Qu'rans profaned in this way.

Israel's economics minister Naftali Bennett was interviewed by the BBC today, and provides us with another indication of exactly how sick and depraved Britain has become when it comes to Israel and the Jews.



(just a hint - when Bennett mentions Abu Mazen, he is using Mahmoud Abbas's nom de guerre, the terrorist name he used as Arafat's second-in-command.)

Notice how the interviewer doesn't even address the issue of Abbas inciting terrorism, but pulls the case of an Arab bus driver who died yesterday, as though that made the savage murder of four Jews at prayer legitimate. That Arab driver, by the way, had a full investigation and an autopsy done on him and there is no doubt he committed suicide. Unlike the Palestinian Authority, Israel jails murderers no matter who they are.

I really felt like saying 'Kol Hakavod' when Bennett held up a picture of one of the victims, which the interviewer hastily told him to put down lest he upset the gentle sensibilities of her viewers. I think it is absolutely essential to do just that - to let the British public see what their government is funding and supporting. And I hope it upsets them to the point of utter shame.

At the end of the interview, Bennett says that Britain is going to have to make a choice of whether they support the Free World or not. As I'm sure Bennett knows, the British Government has already made that choice.Which is why, perhaps, they feel compelled to put up with soldiers being beheaded in broad daylight and no go areas for police and non-Muslims in London and other large British cities.



The murderers were both killed in a shootout with police at the scene. They were Ghassan and Oday Abu Jamal from the Jabal Mukaber neighborhood in east Jerusalem. Needless to say, they were acclaimed as heroes and martyrs by all the factions of the Arabs whom call themselves Palestinians.







 "We responded with shouts of joy when we received the news about their deaths," Ala'a Abu Jamal said of his cousins Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal to Yedioth Aharonoth. "People here distributed candies to guests who visited us, and there was joy for the martyrs."

In a message published on its official new website Al-Resalah, Hamas said the attack was “a quality development in fighting the occupation. We highly value the heroism of its operatives.” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri praised the attack on Qatari news channel Al-Jazeera as “heroic,” calling for more attacks of the same kind.

 Hamas MP Mushir Al-Masri happily wrote on Twitter that “Jerusalem has nothing but men who love martyrdom. The heroes of the knife are in Jerusalem. The heroes of the run-over [car attacks] are in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem men take revenge.”

And he posted this on his Facebook page:

The Arab killer is asking 'Where are they hiding?" Needless to say, in spite of what this cartoon shows none of the worshipers were armed.

And Fatah? Mahmoud Abbas, AKA Abu Mazen issued a 'condemnation' that wasn't one. In a statement (in English, not Arabic)it said that “The Palestinian presidency" condemns violence "from whatever source" and "demands an end to the invasions of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the provocations of the Settlers."

In other words, 'So sorry, but unless you surrender Jerusalem to us expect more of the same.'

This is the same Mahmoud Abbas who accused Jews of “contaminating” Al-Aqsa Mosque last week, who just a few days ago was telling his people, in Arabic, to 'defend Jerusalem' by any means necessary. This is the same Mahmoud Abbas who said nothing when Fatah published cartoons and Facebook posts encouraging terrorist attacks on Jews and “days of rage” to defend the 'threatened' Al-Aqsa.

Tawfik Tirawi, former chief of the Palestinian General Security in the West Bank and a member of Fatah’s Central Committee made it even plainer, and in Arabic. Today he told a radio station in Hebron that the attack was “nothing but a reaction to the recent crimes of the occupation and the settlers in occupied Jerusalem and across the nation. The threats of the occupation against our people and the Palestinian leadership, represented by the president, will only increase our efforts in safeguarding our rights.”

His remarks were reprinted on Fatah's official Facebook page.

I should make something clear here. This is not the fault of Abbas, or Hamas, or any of the Arabs who identify themselves as Palestinians.

It is the fault of the Israeli government.

A significant number of the Palestinians are simply acting as they have always acted since the 1920's, and these tendencies were unleashed even further once Arafat and the PLO were allowed in to take over after Oslo.



Israeli governments since Oslo have always allowed themselves to be pressured to ignore these instances of sheer horror...to release  convicted murderers, to make concessions to the terrorist entities on Israel's borders, and most of all to avoid  finishing them off entirely when their violence and bloodshed mandated a response. This has been especially true since Barack Obama, who styles himself as the Palestinian's very own community organizer entered the White House.

Is it any wonder that this sort of thing continues to happen? Is it really so puzzling that after allowing Hamas to continue in Gaza and maintaining any kind of relationship with Abbas and the PLO once they allied themselves openly with Hamas that they would resort back to Arafat's tactics?

Yasser Arafat himself outlined for his followers what this war was really about. On Jordanian TV, right after signing the Oslo Accords he was criticized for signing a peace agreement with the Jews. He responded by reminding his audience of the Peace of Hubidiyeh, a treaty Mohammed made with the Quraysh tribe that he violated as soon as he was strong enough to massacre them, a story every Muslim knows. And then he outlined exactly what this war was about, saying that "either the Jews will push us into the sea or we will push them into the sea."

Arafat, the leaders of Hamas and numerous members of Fatah have sung the same songs for years. Is it their fault that Israeli governments for years have refused to take them seriously?



It is time they did.

The violence in Jerusalem can be curtailed, not by more security patrols and not by putting guards in front of every synagogue and public building but by teaching the Arabs whom call themselves Palestinians that there are real world consequences for their actions.

As you may have noticed, no matter how much innocent Jewish blood is spilled, it is always Israel who is advised to 'reduce tensions' and 'avoid provocation.'  It is always Israel who is castigated for building homes for its people, in spite of over an estimated 40,000 illegal Arab-built structures in East Jerusalem, and an entire city  being constructed from scratch with EU and US Aid money that encroaches on Israeli communities in Area C of Judea.

This is the first time I have ever heard John Kerry mention the constant hatred being spewed by the mosques, media and schools in both Gaza and in the PLO occupied areas of Judea and Samaria as something counterproductive to any real peace. And even his condemnation of this horror as well as the other ones from the UN and EU that will no doubt be voiced are maddeningly hollow..because they still fund and support this evil.

As Naftali Bennett said, they are going to have to choose sides, and that particularly applies to the United States.But Israel has some choices to make as well.

Are they going to settle for the status quo and a war of attrition that favors Israel's enemies? Or are they are they going to do what's necessary to end it and win the right to live peacefully?

I've always favored Israel simply delineating its own borders and annexing that land,along with a transfer of populations to the respective sides of those borders. But at the very least Israel should answer every terrorist attack with the outright annexation of more land in Judea and Samaria, showing the Arabs whom call themselves Palestinians that they are there to stay, and that attacks on Israel cost them dearly. Build on the land, and call the EU's bluff. In the unlikely event that they follow through on their threats to indulge in sanctions,they have a lot more to lose than Israel does right now economically.

When there are violent riots, as there were in Jabal Mukaber today, simply arrest the perpetrators,take away their Israeli ID cards and expel them to Gaza or to Area A for Abbas to deal with.Aside from providing real world consequences, it will also separate those Arabs who like the good life in Israel and are willing to live in peace (and there are more of them them you think) from those whom want to poison the well with violence.

Make the disarmament of Hamas an iron clad condition for any further reconstruction aid, especially since Hamas is already diverting money and materials to remaking its terrorist infrastructure. Both the EU and Secretary of State Kerry have given lip service to the importance of disarming Hamas for peace. Hold them to it.

If the Muslim Waqf that is in charge of the al-Aqsa Mosque continues to incite riots and stone throwing on the Temple Mount and refuses to allow Jews to enjoy it peacefully, simply explain to them that the next time it happens the police will respond in force, the Waqf's control of al-Aqsa and the Mount will be ended, the members of the Waqf expelled from Israel and the mosque shut down.

And allow Israelis to sue the PLO and Hamas in Israelis courts for damages to property and person, taking the judgments out of the tax monies Israel collects for the PLO.

These are the sort of steps that are ultimately going to defeat the Third Intifada. It's long past time to treat Hamas/Fatah like the hostile entity it is. And if it becomes necessary to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, so be it.

I am tired of seeing headlines like I saw today, tired of seeing the Arabs whom identify themselves as Palestinians celebrating each new atrocity, tired of seeing world leaders being complicit with this evil.

And I am especially tired of Israel accepting this hypocrisy. I am sick to death of it. It is one thing to be the Jew among nations, but something else entirely to live on your knees and internalize it.

Selah.

Israel Hayhom Columnist Ruthie Blum Nails The Real Problem With The 'Two State Solution'

Exactly. Until the Arabs whom identify themselves as Palestinians accept that Israel is here to stay and give up their dreams of destroying it, a two state solution is not only farcical and impossible but dangerous.

No Honor Among Thieves - Fatah Accuses Hamas of Stealing Millions in Gaza Aid

In a further sign that the Hamas/Fatah entity are having their problems getting along, Fatah today accused Hamas of stealing over $700 million in aid money '“over the blood of the children of Palestine,” Israel’s NRG News reported.

Fatah spokesmouth Ahmed Assaf claimed that, during Operation Protective Edge, the Hamas’ leadership in Gaza took the money and stashed it away. And this time the money didn't come from western taxpayers for once:

“They raised funds from the Arab world in the name of the martyrs in Gaza, and on behalf of women, children and elders, and they talked about rebuilding the Gaza Strip and Israel destroyed mosques,” Assaf said in an interview with Arab media.

The Fatah spokesman insisted that Hamas’ leadership must “return the money they stole from the families of the dead and wounded refugee families whose homes were destroyed by the war,” and warned against the Islamist group “taking advantage of the circumstances of the war of destruction…”

The Arab states are notorious for making huge financial pledges to 'Palestine' and then not following through, so the fact that Hamas actually got cash in hand surprises me. But the accusation doesn't, because while Hamas is popular in the Arab occupied areas of Judea and Samaria under Abbas, they're not so popular right now with the home town crowd in Gaza, some of whom have taken some pretty horrendous risks to leave Hamas's little Islamo-reichlet.

Fatah, who has stolen far more than Hamas are merely playing politics here and posing as the 'good mafiosos' to gain some political capital. They know Hamas isn't going to return the moolah, at least not all of it.

 

As ousted Fatah official Muhammad Dahlan admitted, Abbas personally stole at least $1.3 billion from the Palestine Investment Fund, money Yasser Arafat skimmed off humanitarian aid and 'taxes' paid to Fatah from 'Palestinian' businessmen as a price for being allowed to operate. Abbas' sons Yasser and Tareq have similarly benefited, as have a number of other well connected Fatah cronies. Sufa Arafat still lives in her chic apartment in the best part of Paris on her 'allowance' from the PA of $100,000 per month.

 Arafat's own accountant, Fuad Shubaki sung like a bird and revealed the details behind how Arafat and his fellow thugs in Fatah skimmed aid money and stole millions.One method was the old mafia trick of no-show jobs. Gullible western donors paid the salaries of PLO government employees for years who simply didn't exist.One audit revealed over 30,000 of them on the PLO payroll.

The 'Palestinian' leadership even had its greasy fingers on things like valuable medicines donated to the Palestinians by groups like OxFam, the International Red Cross, the EU and the UN (and of course, the American taxpayer).




For years, senior Fatah officials controlling the aid distribution made a bundle by systematically stealing the medicines and replacing them with worthless placebo pills, and then taking the real medicines to warehouses in Ramallah and Shechem(Nablus) for sale at premium prices on the black market.

'Palestine', you see, is the most successful con game in history.

The $700 million Hamas sticky fingered will be used as one of the bargaining chips in the next mob style sit down between Hamas and Fatah, with Fatah working on negotiating a cut for themselves.

Breaking: Israel Uncovers Hamas Plot to Overthrow Palestinian Authority in West Bank

 

By the Tower staff writers

Hamas was plotting to start a third intifada and overthrow the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank according to information just cleared for public release by the Shin Bet and the IDF.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

The end goal was to destabilize the Palestinian territories and use the instability to carry out a military coup, overthrowing the government of PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Hamas infrastructure relied on support from cells in neighboring Jordan, and on couriers who delivered terrorist finances, totaling at least two million shekels, which were used to purchase weapons and homes that were used as hideouts, according to the investigation.

The Shin Bet said that the investigation began in May during which time Israel has arrested over 90 suspects and is planning to indict 70 of them. The center of the investigation is Riad Nasser who was appointed by Turkey based Hamas operative, Saleh al-Arouri to lead the effort.

The plot was spread across 46 Palestinian cities and villages and was centered in Ramallah.

"This infrastructure stretched from Jenin in the north to Hebron in the south. It is one the biggest we've seen in Judea and Samaria since Hamas's formation in 1987," a senior Shin Bet source, responsible for securing the Jerusalem district, told reporters on Monday. "They planned to carry out a coup and topple the Palestinian Authority," he added.

Ynet has more details:

Palestinian engineering and chemistry students were recruited for the operation. One of the most notable detainees holds a doctorate in computer science – he was recruited in Malaysia and trained in encryption and cyber-attacks.

"The discovery of the infrastructure attests to the great danger posed by Hamas' headquarters abroad given its strategic plan to collapse the Palestinian Authority," said the Shin Bet.

At the end of May, the Shin Bet arrested Mahmoud Toameh a leading financier of Hamas' operations. At the time of his arrest Toameh explained to authorities how Hamas "funds its activities, especially in the absence of funding from Iran." Toameh admitted that Hamas used "real estate deals as a means of transferring money from abroad."

 

Discovery of this plot confirms fears that Hamas, in agreeing to a unity government with Fatah, was seeking to emulate the "Hezbollah model" in the West Bank as Ha'aretz reported in May, "A Hamas source has said the model being planned for the new Palestinian unity government is that of Hezbollah in Lebanon, in which the organization is a government party that has shed responsibility for routine matters but maintains an independent military."

Reposted courtesy of The Tower

Hamas Violates Ceasefire - Again

Hamas fired rockets from northern Gaza into Israel 2 hours before the cease fire was supposed to end. One rocket struck open territory in the Sha'ar Hanegev area and exploded without causing injuries or damage. Another was launched at the Ashkelon area.

This will be the seventh cease fire Hamas has violated.

A Hamas spokesperson, Sami Abu Zuhri said Hamas "denies there was any rocket fire at the occupation this evening".

Since the rockets didn't appear by magic, either Hamas is lying or they don't have complete control over their forces. If either is true, there's no sense in Israel making any kind of deal with them at this point.

The Hamas/Fatah delegation was supposed to give a press conference at 9:30 p.m. to reply to the Egyptian proposal to extend the truce by another 72 hours. That press conference has now been postponed.

Hamas sources are reporting that instead, the Palestinian delegation is preparing to leave Cairo. The Israelis left earlier in the evening.

Hamas is insisting that all its demands be met in order for any long term cease fire to be put in place. They want the Egyptian/Israeli blockade lifted, an airport and seaport to be constructed, the Egyptians replaced as mediators with someone more Hamas friendly, the crossings between Egypt,Israel and Gaza opened with the Palestinian Authority in control and a number of Hamas terrorists released from Israeli jails. They are offering no concessions in return.

Neither Egypt or Israel is prepared to fully open the borders and allow Hamas to simply rebuild its terrorist structure and re-arm.

 

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said on Hamas’ Aqsa TV station that “The sacrifices of our people don’t allow for compromises on the rights and demands of the Palestinians.”
He expressed support for the Palestinian team in Cairo and urged its members not to “succumb to blackmail.”

Israel has reacted to the breach of the ceasefire by moving more troops into position.

 

Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyau received a call from President Barack Obama today, reportedly pressuring him to make a deal with Hamas that would end the fighting, even if it was just an extension of the short term truce. That phone call was made before Hamas broke the ceasefire.

There was an announcement by Egypt before the rockets were fired that the two sides had agreed to extend the ceasefire for another 72 hours,apparently what President Obama was pushing for.  We'll see how things go.

A Holdup In Gaza Negotiations - Hamas and PA Refuse To Return Dead Soldier's Bodies

Lt. Hadar Goldin and Sgt. Oron Shaul were killed in action during attempts to kidnap them, and their remains were taken into the tunnels by Hamas.

The Israelis have requested that their remains be returned as part of any long term ceasefire...but Hamas and The Palestinian Authority have refused to do so, and will not discuss the issue.

The talks are at a dead end. Israel made several concessions as far as easing the passage of Gaza residents, goods and money in and out of Gaza. But Hamas and the PA are insisting on an airport and seaport, the replacement of Egypt as a mediator and the release of a number of convicted terrorists in Israeli hands...without giving up anything, not even the bodies of two dead Israeli soldiers.

 

Believe it or not, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu reportedly tried today to "soften" his coalition partners to concessions, including that of Israel paying the salaries of Hamas officials in Gaza.

Reportedly Economics Minister Bennett and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman are adamant against making "terrorism pay," and Liberman specifically mentioned the return of the bodies of Goldin and Shaul as essential before the end of Operation Protective Edge.

"It's unthinkable that all Hamas members, including 20,000 of the terrorists in Hamas's military wing, will receive their salaries in an orderly fashion, through the Palestinian Authority or any other way, while the bodies of IDF soldiers still have not received a proper burial in Israel," remarked Liberman.

There's likely a very good reason Hamas and the PA are refusing to return the bodies. They were almost certainly mutilated and desecrated, something Israel has seen before.


The Israeli delegation left Cairo and headed by to Israel last night for consultations but there is simply too much daylight between the Israeli and Palestinian positions, and Hamas and the PA are divided about letting Mahmoud Abbas take control again. The cease fire ends at midnight Thursday night local time. It will almost certainly end before then, with a barrage of Hamas rockets fired at Israeli civilians...probably sometime today.

 

The Israeli people and the IDF are both sick and tired of half measures, this on again, off again nonsense. They want Hamas dealt with once and for all. Netanyahu has to know that the Israeli public's patience has run out, and his popularity continues to drop the longer he hesitates.They will not tolerate a return to the status quo, where Hamas has the option on whether to attack Israel or not...and each time, with better weaponry.

There are actually indications from my sources that this message may have finally gotten through, and that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon are preparing to do a lot more than merely destroying the tunnels they can find and mounting limited air strikes when Hamas attacks again. From what I gather, this time they're preparing to target the Hamas leadership. And that means hitting Shifa Hospital in central Gaza City, where the rats are hiding.

The quicker this finishes, the better.

More Proof That Hamas And Abbas's Fatah Are On The Same Page - Exterminate Israel!

 

While there are still some who call Mahmoud Abbas a moderate and think of him as Israel's 'peace partner' they're deluding themselves. Abbas and Hamas leader Khalid Mesha'al are on the same page. Here's one more proof, if it was needed.After all, the two are now part of the same Hamas/Fatah entity!

 

Iranian official news agency Fars is reporting on the remarks of Palestinian Authority Envoy to Iran Salah al-Zawawi, who told reporters today that “Israel’s annihilation has begun and the new generation in Iran will certainly witness our victory over Israel.

”The U.S. and the Western countries have created a fake regime in Palestine to get rid of it and have supplied it with the most advanced weapons and are seeking to create an Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates,” Zawawi said.

Remember, this is one of Abbas's hand picked diplomats, not some loose cannon representing himself.

Yesterday, Hamas Envoy to Tehran Khaled Al-Qadoumi told a conference on Gaza that, “The only mechanism for liberating Palestine is resistance and we have no option other than supporting the resistance,” according to Fars, which also cited him as saying “that Hamas will not talk to those who are willing to make compromise and have negotiations with Israel.”

He reiterated that Hamas will not talk to those who are willing to make compromise and have negotiations with Israel. By that, I assume he means actual peace negotiations rather than self-serving horse manure designed to get concessions so Hamas can rebuild for the next round of fighting.

Al-Qadoumi also made reference to the help the Iranians have been giving them with heavy weapons, saying, "We hope to be able to make our missiles more advanced with the help of the knowledgeable Iranians."

Iran has already supplied Hamas with Fajr-5 missiles and Ababil drones for use against Israel.

 

Two sides of the same coin. And not a dime's worth of difference. That ought to be something to think about for those who like the idea of giving Abbas and Fatah control of entry into Gaza. That would simply be a green light to Iran toi start the missile shipments.

 

Yet Another 'Humanitarian Ceasefire' Announced

 

John Kerry and UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon have announced yet another humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza to start at 8 am on Friday morning, for 72 hours.

"We urge all parties to act with restraint until this humanitarian ceasefire begins, and to fully abide by their commitments during the ceasefire," Kerry and Ban said. "This ceasefire is critical to giving innocent civilians a much-needed reprieve from violence.

"Israeli and Palestinian delegations will immediately be going to Cairo for negotiations with the Government of Egypt, at the invitation of Egypt, aimed at reaching a durable ceasefire. The parties will be able to raise all issues of concern in these negotiations."

As al-Reuters reported, Hamas has signed on. "Acknowledging a call by the United Nations and in consideration of the situation of our people, resistance factions agreed to a 72-hour humanitarian and mutual calm that begins at 8 a.m (0500 GMT) on Friday as long as the other side abides by it," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri was quoted as saying.

Hamas was forced to capitulate on something they had remained adamant about up to now, their insistence on Israeli troops being removed from Gaza and the lifting of the Israeli/Egyptian blockade. Neither of those is going to happen. Apparently Hamas, which has lost a great deal of its terrorist infrastructure and hundreds of fighters is hurting much more than they would have us believe.Hamas may actually honor this cease fire, at least until they regroup.

 

While Kerry and Ban Ki-Moon are touting this as the beginnings of negotiations on a more "durable truce", I wouldn't bet on it. Israel has said in no uncertain terms that it will continue to destroy the Hamas tunnels, regardless of any deal that might be reached, and Israel  is still insisting on Gaza being demilitarized.

Those demands are pretty much set in stone, and don't expect the Israelis to rely on the 'international community' to do the job without Israeli oversight. As I pointed out earlier, Israel has learned by experience how trustworthy entities like the UN are when it comes to disarming terrorist groups.

 

The Palestinian Authority's role here is very illuminating in destroying the fiction that Fatah and Hamas aren't working hand in glove together.

Fatah had orchestrated violent riots in Judea and Samaria as well as in Israel in support for Hamas and was also the head of the snake in pursuing lawfare and the diplomatic war against Israel. Abbas and Fatah were backing Hamas's ceasefire demands before they would show up in Cairo, to which the Egyptians responded 'fine, don't bother coming.'

Fatah, while they are still supporting Hamas's demands publicly managed to get Hamas to agree to put those demands aside right now in order to get negotiations started in Cairo.

The Palestinian delegation that's going to Cairo will include members of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and will reportedly be headed by Mahmoud Abbas.

What Abbas is hoping for here is to once again have the Palestinian Authority control Gaza, or at least the crossings on the Egyptian side so that they can thwart the blockade.

Kerry and Ban also are reportedly enlisting Hamas supporters Qatar and Turkey as intermediaries...so let's just say I'm skeptical of anything more than another humanitarian ceasefire coming out of this.It strikes me more as Kerry and the Obama Team pulling out all the stops to rescue Hamas.

Hamas will never cease trying to destroy Israel or give up its tunnels and its missiles voluntarily. And Israel can't afford to let them keep them.

Major Fatah Terrorist Attack On Jerusalem Averted

Tawfiq Tirawi is the Palestinian Authority's Intelligence Chief and a Fatah Central Committee member. On July 24th. He was on Lebanese TV taking about Fatah attacks on Israel and saying there was going to be 'a big explosion.' Per PMW:

“These are small explosions, which happen occasionally, but the big explosion is coming. The big explosion is coming. After the big explosion, no one will know where it will lead and what its results will be…It is legal to use all means – to shoot, throw stones, to hold a demonstration and a sit-down strike. All these means will be possible and permissible for our people, and let no one say that weapons are forbidden in the West Bank.”

Today, A car loaded with gas canisters and a large explosive charge was stopped by the border police on its way to Jerusalem at the Beitar Ilit checkpoint 6 miles southeast of the capital. Its Palestinian driver approached the checkpoint at a faster than normal speed which tipped off the border police.

When he was ordered to stop, he tried to keep on driving, but one heroic border policeman, Officer Yeshuron Tzoran, jumped inside the vehicle, attempted to shut the engine off himself and finally got the driver to stop by pulling his weapon on him and threatening to shoot him.

The man was arrested and handed over to the Shin Bet General Security Service for questioning. Inside his car officers found pipe bombs, gas canisters, explosives, and detonators, according to a statement put out by the IDF after the incident. The officer who arrested the man said the back seats of the car had been removed and the entire area was full of gas canisters rigged with electric wires.

The incident caused massive gridlock as police shut down traffic in both directions from the junction in order to send in sappers to handle the explosives.

At the moment it's unclear where the man was taking the explosives, though one working assumption is that they were meant to be used for a terror attack in Jerusalem.

The officer who stopped the suspected bomber, Inspector Yeshuron Tzoran, described how he and the other officers in his region have been instructed to be on high alert during the IDF operation in Gaza due to the assessment that terror groups will try to carry out an attack in Israel. Therefore they set up the temporary checkpoint and began stopping cars. On Sunday afternoon Tzoran said he "couldn't feel better, we feel that we saved many lives in Israel and this is our duty."

 

It's excellent that the driver was taken alive. He was obviously delivering this car bomb and the explosives to someone. The Shin Bet will find out whom they are, believe me.

But if you look at the juxtaposition of Tawfiq Tirawi's boast on Lebanese television and this event, it's obvious they're connected. This is the Third Intifada and Fatah is an active participant.

The Third Intifada - PA Orchestrates Massive Riots To Support Hamas

 
As Hamas' forces are decimated in Gaza, Mahmoud Abbas and the PA put together massive, violent riots against Israel in an effort to support their Hamas allies.

The festivities started near the Kalandia checkpoint, located in Judea between Jerusalem and Ramallah. An estimated 10,000 Arabs whom identify themselves as Palestinians rioted near the checkpoint, throwing rocks, firebombs and fireworks at Israeli security forces, and setting tires ablaze. Police also had to put up with gunfire, for which credit was claimed by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, Fatah terrorists on Mahmoud Abbas' payroll. No Israeli police were reported killed although a number were injured. Two of the rioters were killed, and a large number arrested.

 

 
Riots were also reported in the East Jerusalem areas of Shuafat, Abu Tor and East Talpiot.Arabs allowed on to the Temple Mount to attend services at the al-Aksa Mosque also rioted,throwing rocks, bottles and fireworks at police and down on passersby. Ten of them were arrested,and the Israelis may very well simply elect to close the mosque for the duration of Ramadan, eliminating the celebration of Laylat Al-Qadr (Night of Destiny) which commemorates the day Mohammed claimed to have received the Qu'ran.

 

Hamas, of course, thought this was an absolutely wonderful development and urged the entire PA to 'join in the struggle.'

As I explained before, what's going on here is the Third Intifada, using a strategy created by Mahmoud Abbas in conjunction with Hamas.While Hamas shoots rockets and engages what amounts to war against Israel (and hopefully picks up a few photogenic bleeders to use as propaganda) Abbas and Fatah will engage in lawfare and gin up massive riots, a few selective terrorist attacks, and civil disorder in the Arab occupied parts of Judea and Samaria as well as in Israel itself.

 

Want more proof Abbas and Fatah had this planned in advance?  Only two days ago, Abbas and other members of the Fatah Old Guard, who all have Jordanian citizenship and passports sent their families en masse from Ramallah to Jordan.

Don't be at all surprised if Abbas and  Fatah create an 'incident' enabling him to bring the Palestinian security forces, including those shiny new U.S. equipped and trained combat brigades into the fight 'to protect the Palestinian people.'

The idea won't be to militarily defeat the IDF, but to kill as many Jews as possible and create enough international outrage while doing it to try and get the 'international community', especially President Obama to try to enforce a 'Palestine' on th epre-1967 borders including a divided Jerusalem and a massive ethnic cleansing of Jews in Judea and Samaria.

For all the Israeli efforts to make those Israelis whom identify themselves as Palestinians feel full citizens of Israel, for all the attempts as co-existence and political correctness, the fact remains that a significant number of these Palestinians not only have no appreciation for those efforts or of Israel itself and the freedoms they enjoy there.They hang on to the dream of pushing al-Yahudi into the sea and simply want their neighbors dead.

The sooner Israel decides to initiate a divorce on its own terms, with a boundaries of its own choosing, the better. Oslo died a long time ago and  there is no living with rattlesnakes in the house.

Israel's New Challenge: Defeating The Third Intifada

Israel once again finds itself fighting in Gaza.

The reason's fairly simple. The lust for Jewish blood among a substantial number of the Arabs who identify themselves as Palestinians is simply their strongest impulse, their raison d'être. There is no peace, because one side simply wants the other dead.

There is not a single Israeli civilian or soldier in Gaza today, not since Israel removed the 8,000 Jewish residents who had lived there over 30 years from their homes and gave it to the Arabs who call themselves Palestinians as a sacrifice 'for peace.'

The Palestinians could have built whatever kind of society they wanted in Gaza. But even before Hamas took over, Gaza's main export to Israel was terrorism. Israel, with Egypt's assistance, maintained a blockade on Gaza to curtail the import of heavy weapons, usually emanating from Iran that saved Israeli lives, but cost Israel deeply when it came to the 'international community', who always seem to have special rules when it comes to Israel defending itself. The carnage emanating from Gaza has slowed at times, but literally thousands of rockets, mortar shells and terrorist strikes have emanated from Gaza, and they've never ended. Israelis became used to running for shelter, especially in the south:

 

This latest onslaught saw over 100 rockets in 24 hours rained down on Israel, and with Hamas rejecting offers from Israel of 'quiet for quiet', that's where we stand now. The Israelis have carried out a number of decisive strikes and have called up 42,000 reserves, while Hamas has launched missiles at central Israel, at Jerusalem, and at Tel Aviv, a step they had to know was going to provoke an Israeli ground response.

So what's the story behind the story? Why is Hamas going for broke now, and what does it mean? Whether Israel realizes it or not, they are facing the Third Intifada, although how it unfolds is still developing. Of course, it doesn't look like previous intifadas because circumstances and tactics have changed. But the end goal is the same. And the chief strategist isn't Hamas, but Mahmoud Abbas.


 


Hamas has been isolated by Israel and the new Egyptian government of al-Sisi, who has declared Hamas' parent movement the Muslim Brotherhood an illegal terrorist organization. Weapons coming in from Iran have slowed considerably, and money is tight. A sign of this was the attempt by Hamas ally Robert Serry, the supposedly neutral UN Mideast envoy to illegally funnel $20 million to Hamas in Gaza from Qatar.

The current Hamas and Fatah unity government agreement came about, mostly on Abbas' terms, because of Hamas' sharply reduced fortunes, while Abbas has the UN, the Obama Administration and the EU funding and backing him, even with Hamas now on his team. According to my sources, part of the negotiations also involved joint efforts towards the goal both Hamas and Fatah agree on, the destruction of Israel.

 

The Israelis, already outraged at the unity agreement and the West's apparent willingness to fund a murderous terrorist group like Hamas were further energized by the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens by Hamas operatives, whose mutilated bodies were found shoved into a hole near Hebron. In response, the Israelis began to obliterate the Hamas infrastructure in Judea and Samaria.

But then, the subsequent murder of Arab teen Mohammed Abu Kheidr by what appear to be a trio of Jewish football hooligans suddenly presented Hamas and Fatah with a golden opportunity. It was used as a signal to launch what had already been planned. Vast riots, violence and destruction took place throughout Israel egged on by Fatah while Hamas stepped up its rocket and mortar attacks.

Hamas also had plans to join Fatah in the ground attack on Israel itself. They had a huge tunnel dug from Rafah under Israel's border fence for a massive planned assault on Israeli communities in the south, and tried an amphibious attack on Israel's coast. Both attacks were repulsed with heavy losses. Meanwhile, Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system and the IDF’s air strikes on Hamas' infrastructure were even more effective than Hamas had planned on and that Israel had hoped.

 

Israel's 'peace partner' Mahmoud Abbas has also been doing his part. Fatah has several hundred militiamen in Gaza, including members of the Palestinian Authority security forces who have their salaries paid by Western governments. They have eagerly joined in firing rockets at Israel's civilians. Abbas has done nothing to stop them.

Abbas has several huge assets his old boss Yasser Arafat could only have dreamed about, and they're key to understanding what's being planned. First and foremost, in Barack Hussein Obama, Abbas has a president in the White House who loathes Israel and who sees himself as Palestine's community organizer.

Second, even though Mahmoud Abbas was Arafat's right hand man when it came to terrorism, he was always more of a back room strategist and facilitator. Abbas was content to be the man behind Arafat, leaving the spotlight to the ranting old coward. Because he stayed in the background, he can now be presented as 'moderate Abbas', Israel's so-called peace partner and gifted with millions in aid money and concessions. Even the theft of much of that money by Abbas and the Fatah old guard, the partnership with the genocidal Hamas and the corrupt and anti-democratic rule of Fatah have not been allowed to get in the way of this narrative

And finally, the seeming separation of Hamas and Fatah is a major advantage. Not only can Mahmoud Abbas present himself as a 'moderate' alternative compared to Hamas. Abbas can talk vitriol and hatred towards Israel in Arabic ( or have his surrogates do it) to gin up the crowds while presenting himself as a peace maker to President Obama and the EU. With Hamas now officially part of his team and Abbas controlling the purse strings, his ability to mouth pleasantries about peace while orchestrating violence and war against Israel at the same time is enhanced in a way Arafat's never really was.

During this Third Intifada, Abbas has never once seen fit to condemn the Fatah-driven Arab violence in Israel or the Hamas rocket attacks, or to call for calm. With Hamas now losing the war it started, Abbas has opened up his second front:



He contacted UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and got him to issue a statement demanding that Israel exercise 'maximum restraint':

 "I firmly condemn the multiple rocket attacks launched from Gaza on Israel. Such attacks are unacceptable and must stop." 

"I also urged (Israeli) Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu to exercise maximum restraint and to respect international obligations to protect civilians. I condemn the rising number of civilian lives lost in Gaza," he said. 

Maximum restraint, against an enemy firing missiles at its civilian population, an enemy who attempted to cause thousands of civilian casualties by targeting Dimona, where Israel's nuclear plant reportedly is?

And you'll notice Ban Ki-moon isn't condemning Hamas for using civilians as human shields, not that Hamas would care anyway, By the way, that's a major violation of the Geneva Convention that the Hamas-Fatah unity government is now a signatory to and promised to abide by. Ban himself took their application.

 


Ban convened a special meeting of the Security Council , but of course, the Palestinian violation of the Geneva Accords wasn't a topic of conversation. Instead, the talk is all about a ceasefire that leaves Hamas and its weaponry in place. Even President Obama suddenly called Israeli PM Netanyahu after weeks of silence, offering to mediate a truce to protect Hamas.

Abbas even had the gall to accuse Israel of 'genocide' against the Palestinian people

“It’s genocide — the killing of entire families is genocide by Israel against our Palestinian people,” he told the meeting of Palestinian leadership at his Ramallah bureau. “What’s happening now is a war against the Palestinian people as a whole and not against the factions.”

“Shall we recall Auschwitz?” he added.

Those words are almost comical in their hypocrisy to anyone who knows anything about Mahmoud Abbas' long history as a Holocaust denier.

Genocide? Imagine what the death toll would be if the IDF wasn’t dropping warning leaflets in advance and doing their best to avoid civilian deaths in an environment where Hamas is hiding behind those civilians in order to do their best to kill Israeli ones.


Ironically, it’s Abbas who has applied for 'Palestine' join the International Criminal Court (ICC) where he plans to charge Israel with war crimes in a sympathetic EU environment.

That's the strategy Abbas and his Hamas partners are going to use in the Third Intifada to attack Israel ..terrorist strikes, sabotage and Arab riots in Israel, continued rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza, and increasing diplomatic and legal assaults via the 'International community'.

Here's how Israel can defeat it.

First of all, a ground assault and the defeat of Hamas is a necessity. It won't be pretty, it will not be without cost and it will require Israel to take steps that the usual suspects won't like. But there really is no choice.

Israel doesn't have the luxury of leaving Hamas in place with a secure base to attack her from. This time, the rocket fire penetrated much further north than expected into central Israel. The attempted attack on Dimona, the suspected site of Israel's nuclear facility was nothing less than a real attempt at genocide by Hamas, which fortunately failed. And now that Hamas has demonstrated it can attack the populated areas of Israel, can Israel afford to roll the dice that they'll get lucky again when the next outbreak of attacks by Hamas occurs in a year or so?

Hamas simply cannot be allowed to hang on to its weaponry. The only conditions under which Israel should even consider a ceasefire is demilitarization, with Israel in charge of making sure it's carried out, and an insistence by Israel of the non-recognition of the Hamas-Fatah unity government by the UN, EU and the other western powers. Since that’s unlikely, the next step is to destroy Hamas militarily, and that will take boots on the ground. For all of Israel's attempts to minimize civilian causalities, they are going to occur in fighting an enemy who uses civilians as human shields. Nevertheless, it should be done as quickly as possible, and Hamas' leaders either killed or arrested, tried and imprisoned.

Since Hamas is embedded in Gaza City with a large civilian population, the quickest and easiest way to defeat Hamas is not to send tanks and ground forces into the streets of the city itself, but to drop leaflets giving Hamas 24 hours to surrender and then cut off the water, electricity, food shipments and communications lines to the city while continuing pinpoint air strikes and using loud speakers to demand that Hamas allow the civilians to evacuate. The lack of water in particular will force Hamas to come out to fight on Israel's choice of terrain, not theirs. And Hamas will be defeated and decimated.

At that point, Mahmoud Abbas will likely demand that Gaza be turned over to him. That demand should be refused outright. Instead, Gaza should be annexed by Israel, and at least half to two thirds of its population either transferred to Area A, the part of Judea and Samaria under Arab occupation and ruled by Abbas. Or perhaps some of them could be sent to Egyptian jurisdiction for a suitable quid pro quo by Israel. Gaza, over time can be repopulated with Jews, who will make it the Singapore it always had the potential to be. Repatriation of foreign nationals to their country of origin is not against the Fourth Geneva Convention per se, especially since the UN, to all intents and purposes is treating Palestine like a state. But if necessary, Israel should resign from the Convention, since no one they are likely to be fighting with in the future honors it anyway.

Israel needs to take some advice from an unlikely source, President Obama's White House Mideast chief, Phillip Gordon. This piece of work was speaking at a conference put on by the far Leftist paper Ha'aretz in Tel Aviv Wednesday, and blamed Israel (of course!) for not being serious about peace while rockets were actually hitting the city:

“How will Israel remain democratic and Jewish if it attempts to govern the millions of Palestinian Arabs who live in the West Bank? How will it have peace if it’s unwilling to delineate a border, end the occupation and allow for Palestinian sovereignty, security and dignity?

As an ironic side note, the conference itself had to be moved because of the rocket attacks by Israel's 'peace partners.'

Still, as stupid, bigoted and offensive as Green is, he's actually on to something.Israel does need to delineate a border and allow the Palestinians sovereignty.The only problem is allowing Palestine's unelected dictator Mahmoud Abbas any part in it. The Israelis are constantly told in tones that suggest a used car salesman desperate to close a sale that this is the most moderate Palestinian leader Israel is ever likely to get. If that's true, than the real problem is that Israel actually has no peace partner. It might occur to Green and his ilk that this is the reason why years of negotiations have failed, not Israel's intransigence. Abbas is no Anwar Sadat.

Delineating a border and Palestinian sovereignty are excellent ideas, but it will need to be done by Israel.Once Hamas is militarily defeated, Israel can mark out its borders in Judea and Samaria, annex those areas and relocate any Jews living outside them to Israel, while repatriating any Arab non-citizens living in the Israeli areas to the new borders of Palestine, perhaps with some financial compensation. That’s certainly more than the Arabs gave the almost one million Jews they ethnically cleansed from their countries after 1948.

The ironic thing is that while Abbas will now have the contiguous, Jew free reichlet he wanted, something will become apparent quite quickly.The only real chance for Palestinian sovereignty was always close relations with Israel. 'Palestine' under Arafat and Abbas has always been a corrupt kleptocracy and an international welfare case. All of Palestine's useful infrastructure, the schools, the hospitals, Bir Zeit University, even the zoos were all built by Israel.Fatah has never been able to govern and 'Palestine' will almost certainly collapse anyway in short order unless it gets funding from the EU, the Saudis or Qatar, and they all have other places to spend their money.

At that point of collapse, a new generation of Palestinian leaders may very well be a position to change things, although I have my doubts. In the meantime, 'Palestine' is unfortunately going to have to be treated not as a neighbor but as a hostile entity to be closely watched, and told in no uncertain terms that any aggression, lawfare or otherwise will lead to serious consequences. That’s how a hostile divorce works. They brought this on themselves.

The usual suspects from the international community will certainly squawk, but all one has to do is look at their behavior over the past few years to realize that anything Israel does to protect itself is going to get an adverse reaction. For all their condemnations of Palestinian violence directed against Israel, they were still prepared to support and finance a government containing Hamas as a partner, an organization all of them admit is a terrorist group. They are doing it as I write these words.

But between the EU's financial crisis and the difficulties with Syria, Iran and Iraq, the international community has its hands full. They will voice the usual, expected sentiments, but the fact that there is actually a Palestinian state in part of Area A will mitigate much of it as some time goes by. They have other,much more serious concerns and are will move on after a few weeks.

It is Israel's responsibility alone to defend its people and ensure their national rights, especially given the genocidal enemies they face. Anyone who quibbles at this should remember all of the supposedly iron clad guarantees Israel was given when it retreated from Gaza by United States, the EU and UN, all whom pledged that Gaza would never be allowed to become a security threat to Israel. In the end, none of those guarantees were worth the paper they were written on, and the same thing is true about any proposed security guarantees on Judea and Samaria today.

Many in Israel have an unvoiced, guilty realization as the rockets fall on Israel. They know now that Oslo was a huge mistake, and that ripping 8,000 Jews from their homes in Gaza was not the panacea they thought it was, but an immoral, hateful act that led to the war Israel finds itself in today. I take no pleasure in saying this, but everything those of us predicted who opposed the 'disengagement' has come to pass, and it has left Israel with a choice - to rule Gaza or to suffer repeated carnage from those whom inhabit it now who want every Jew is Israel dead.

That is the truth of the matter, and Israel will have to face up to it if they wish to live in peace.

BREAKING!! Israel Names The Kidnappers

 

Israel has named two of the kidnappers responsible for abducting teenagers Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach.

They are Hamas operatives Marwan Kawasmeh (29) and Amar Abu-Eisha (33), and both were  freed as part of the Shalit deal.Both have been arrested numerous times.

 

The Shin Bet was originally able to pinpoint them because they have been keeping tabs on the terrorists released in the Shalit deal. They were the only ones unaccounted for

Both had told their employers ahead of time that they wouldn’t be at work for a few days. And both have been missing from their homes in Hebron’s Hares neighborhood ever since the kidnapping took place on the night of June 12. According to one of my sources, there is clear evidence linking these two to the kidnappings, and the Israeli authorities were aware of their involvement for some time.

One possible scenario I'm hearing is that the three  teens were lured into helping push a 'broken' car  by a single Arab driver who had accomplices lying in wait down the road. That would answer a lot of questions if that's how it went down.

I'm guessing it probably came from the burnt abandoned car that was left behind. It was probably set afire in an attempt to destroy any DNA or other evidence, but apparently the attempt failed.

I obviously was not told this in so many words, but if they're revealing their identities it's likely the IDF knows where the boys are being held, have them boxed in  and are trying to get the kidnappers to surrender them alive , perhaps to the Palestinian Authority.I would not be surprised at all if that was being discussed in Ramallah, and as a matter of fact, Israeli PM Netanyahu publicly called on Abbas, Israel's 'peace partner' to prove his bonifides by ditching Hamas and the unity agreement:

 

“A short time after the kidnapping, I said that those who perpetrated this activity were terrorists of Hamas,” Netanyahu said at an Israeli Air Force graduation ceremony. “And indeed today the security services of Israel have published the names of two of the perpetrators of this heinous crime.”

The prime minister went on to call on Abbas — who, during a recent meeting in Saudi Arabia with foreign ministers from the Muslim world, spoke out against the kidnapping – to bring the reconciliation process with Hamas to a full halt.

“I now expected President Abbas, who said important things in Saudi Arabia, to stand by those words and to break his pact with the Hamas terrorist organization that kidnaps children and calls for the destruction of Israel,” Netanyahu said.

Abbas can't afford to do that politically because of the popularity of Hamas and because they're the ones he plans to turn over 'Palestine' to once the west has legitimized them and it's time for him and the Fatah Old Guard to use their Jordanian passports and take the money they've stolen over the years from their own people to a comfortable retirement elsewhere. But what Netanyahu said needed saying, if only to point out to the West their hypocrisy in funding a terrorist, genocidal organization like Hamas while they kidnapping Israeli children and lobbing missiles at Israel's civilians from Gaza.

Even the Arabs who identify themselves as Palestinians in Gaza and in the areas of Judea and Samaria occupied by the Palestinian Authority apparently understand this contradiction, even if the EU and the Obama Administration turn a blind eye.

In a new poll conducted throughout the Palestinian territories, reportedly conducted by a leading Palestinian pollster commissioned by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy last week, 60 percent of those polled, including 55 percent in West Bank and 68 percent in Gaza, reject permanent acceptance of Israel's existence.

Two-thirds of those polled are in favor of continued “resistance” against Israel. And those who say they support a two-state solution see it a s a strategic device to "take all of Palestine later.”

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy is not exactly a pro-Israel organization either. It was founded by none other than the poisonous Martin Indyk, the Obama State Department’s special envoy during the last attempt by Secretary of State John Kerry to broker peace talks.

In any event, the kidnapping seems to be proceeding towards a climax. Stay tuned and pray as hard as you can for the safe rescue of those three boys.

The Obama Administration Formally Recognizes The New Fatah-Hamas Government

 

Well, that didn't take long. The Obama Administration has now given official recognition and a White House invite to a terrorist entity :

A senior Palestinian Authority official reportedly announced that the US has invited the new Palestinian unity government's prime minister, Rami Hamdallah, to an official visit in Washington.

According to a report by Maariv on Friday, a Palestinian official stated that the invitation is a declaration of American recognition for the unity government. The report cited the official as saying, "The visit will take place in June, during which Hamdallah will meet with American president and visit the US Congress."

"The US administration has renounced its previous disapproval of the national unity government and will now support the new government," claimed the head of the Fatah reconciliation team, Azam al-Ahmad.

Washington has previously announced that it expects any Palestinian government to refrain from violence as well as recognize Israel and agreements.

 

Does that mean that the next time a missile from Gaza hits Israel, the White House will withdraw recognition? We know it doesn't. Nor does it mean that U.S. aid, military and otherwise to Hamas and Fatah is going to cease, no matter what Congress says.

President Obama actually signaled his approval of the Hamas - Fatah merger a month ago.This just makes it official.

What this president has essentially done is to choose sides in the conflict, and to break existing U.S. law regarding material support for terrorism while doing it.

And Israel? PM Netanyahu admitted today that he had imposed what Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon called a 'silent freeze' on all construction in Judea and Samaria in response to major pressure from the Obama Administration:

Netanyahu, who met Thursday night with mayors from 20 West Bank settlements, said the United States recently demanded that the Civil Administration not only refrain from issuing tenders for construction, but also freeze the activity of its planning committee altogether and not approve new projects that would later require tenders.[...]

"I don’t know of a formal policy to limit building. But when you look, de facto, what’s happening on the ground, yes, you feel there is a silent freeze in terms of planning and in terms of government construction,” Danon (Likud) said. “And that’s something that bothers me.”

"This “freeze” is being enforced everywhere — within and outside the so-called settlement blocs", he said. “If you don’t allow any planning, it will stop. You will have no [housing] units for youngsters in Ariel, in Maaleh Adumim. This is happening already.”

Danon said he wasn’t sure why the government would agree to quietly freeze settlement expansion, suggesting that pressure from the United States might be behind it. “Building in Judea and Samaria is a major issue among the Americans,” he said, using the Biblical names for the West Bank. “A lot of pressure is being put on us.”

Here's the thing about blackmail...once you give in to it,it never ends. And it's also true that anything like this someone threatens you with is something they're probably going to do to you anyway eventually,out of sheer hatred.

That's exactly what's going on here.

 

President Obama's goal was always to destroy the relationship between America and Israel before he leaves office, and he's made a fair degree of progress.It's a major part of his agenda, and no amount of groveling by Israel is going to change that.

It's time Israel said no, publicly.

One State Jew State Two States Hey! A Real Solution For The Arab -Israeli Conflict

Jewish Home Party leader and Israeli economic minister Naftali Bennett has excited some ire over a recent editorial he published in the Wall Street Journal

In short, his proposal, which he calls the 'Stability Plan' contains these main elements:

1) Complete self-government for Palestinians living in Area A and B, with Israel getting rid of all checkpoints and the dismantling of Israel's security barrier.

2)Encouragement by Israel to get multinational corporations to invest in Palestinian areas by offering economic incentives such as insurance guarantees and tax breaks, as well as streamlining the export process for Palestinian manufacturers. Bennett calls for Israel, known as the "Startup Nation," to build a "Startup Region."

3) The part of Judea and Samaria known as Area C, where the overwhelming majority of the Population are Israeli Jews would be annexed by Israel, with the Arabs living in Area C to be given full citizenship.

Essentially, Bennett's 'Stability Plan' is a mixture of Israeli PM Netanyahu's often stated ideas on jump starting the Palestinian economy combined with a restatement of Caroline Glick's 'One State solution', with which I have my own reservations.

Taken at face value, Bennett's proposal isn't entirely wacky, merely very unrealistic. Oddly enough, he tells us why in the beginning part of the article, which deals with the merger of Fatah and the genocidal Hamas:

Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to Israel's destruction. The group has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and missile attacks. That is the organization's very mission: The Hamas charter calls for perpetual jihad against the Jewish State while forever rejecting peace negotiations or compromise. Israel will not negotiate with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas.

Not just against Israel, by the way, but Jews world wide. And Hamas is already strategizing about creating a new front for launching terrorist attacks against Israel from the much closer platform of the Arab occupied areas of Judea and Samaria. Not, perhaps, a good time to be talking about tearing down Israel's highly successful security barrier!

Bennett also ignores that the Palestinian Authority has already pretty much rejected any idea of creating a 'start-up' region and real any economic cooperation. The PA already does its best to prevent Palestinian shops from carrying Israeli-produced goods and frequently confiscates them.

And if, as Bennett says, an Israeli government isn't going to negotiate with a Palestinian government that includes Hamas ( assuming Hamas would ever negotiate anything with a country who's existence it soesn't recognize), how exactly are all of these deals on trade and investment supposed to be worked out? Not to mention the illogic of strengthening the economy of someone who's an avowed enemy.

Another huge problem with both Glick (and Bennett's) scenario is the idea that Israel will swallow a poison pill consisting of Arabs living in Area C, a majority of whom have been radicalized and indoctrinated for two generations that violent terrorism is a great thing and killing Jews is a holy act. Making these people full citizens merely creates a larger,more indigestible Umm al-Fahm.

The very term 'Stability Plan' denotes the idea that rather then solving this impasse, it will just be allowed to continue. The Hamas/Fatah government isn't going to allow that to happen, and neither will the EU, the UN and quite possibly the Obama Administration.

One thing Bennett gets entirely right is the fact that the current status quo In Judea and Samaria is unsustainable. The Arabs whom identify themselves as Palestinians don't want an actual two state solution, and thanks to the Oslo Accords and the Wye Agreement, the areas under Arab sovereignty and Jewish sovereignty are so tangled and confused as to make any solution along those lines entirely unworkable.

 

A real solution is fairly simple, in my view. And it's based upon realizing that this is not about creating any kind of 'partnership' between Israel and people sworn to its destruction, but a divorce.

The Palestinian Authority has already declared that it's no longer bound by Oslo or the Road Map, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad never were. So there is certainly no reason for israel to be bound by agreements that are essentially no longer in force.

Some maps were meant to be redrawn.

I have seen the same solution to all this for almost fifteen years now. Israel needs to unilaterally delineate its borders, annex those areas and move any Jews on the Arab side to the Israeli side and move any Arab non-citizens to the Palestinian side, including almost a quarter million Arabs whom identify themselves as Palestinians in the Jerusalem area alone. The new map would be redrawn with the idea of contiguous borders, with outlying Arab cantons like Qalkilya, Bethlehem,  and parts of Tulkarem, Jenin,  Hebron and Tubas being annexed to the  Israeli area for the sake on that contiguity which  would almost certainly also consist of Area C and the Jordan Valley.

The Israeli government should make clear to whomever ruled 'Palestine' that while Israel was prepared for peaceful relations, any terrorism or violent attacks on Israeli territory would not only result  in disproportionate retaliation but the annexation by Israel of more Arab territory.

Any agreements between Israel and the new Arab state would be determined from scratch. No more free electricity, water or other amenities unless new agreements were made.

The advantages to this are self-evident. Because  the Clinton Administration and the Rabin government allowed Arafat to take over the Arab areas of Gaza, Judea  and Samaria, 'Palestine' was and is never going to be a democratic state living in peace next to Israel for a long time, if ever. The fact that the Palestinians would never accept it is moot, because they don't accept Israel period. But they would have the Jew free reichlet Abbas and Hamas have always wanted to determine their own destiny, and Israel's possession of the Jordan Valley and control of the airspace would eliminate most of the shipments of heavy weapons and insure a mostly demilitarized 'Palestine'.

Such a solution would also likely minimize the diplomatic feedback. Oh, it would certainly occur (after all, in much of the EU and UN anything short of a successful jihad against Israel is going to provoke that) but by and large the world is tired of Palestine, and the EU in particular have much more pressing problems to deal with.H having a 'Palestine' to point to point to would eventually make a lot of the international reaction fade away.after a short period of intense reaction to the level of say, Jammu and Kashmir.

This, by the way, is the way is how every single refugee crisis in history has been successfully solved, and exactly why the refugee crisis resulting from the 1948 attack against Israel has not been. As desirable as a one state solution might seem, I think that all things considered, this works a lot better.

Crossposted at Jews Down Under