Israel Update for May 2011

In response to the serious border violations, the Israeli diplomatic delegation stationed at United Nations headquarters in New York filed a formal complaint with the Security Council against both the Syrian and Lebanese governments-the latter now controlled by a puppet prime minister beholding to Hizbullah, Syria and Iran. The complaint noted that the attempted cross-border infiltrations violated international law and various UN resolutions which ended both the 1973 conflict and the 2006 Hizbullah rocket assault on northern Israel.

Among other clashes that took place on May 15th were large street protests in the town of Jaffa in south Tel Aviv and in various parts of Jerusalem. Palestinian rioters hurled firebombs at the back side of Hadassah University Hospital located on Mount Scopus in north Jerusalem. Rocks and other objects were tossed at Israeli security forces in the village of Isawiyah. Other clashes took place in various Palestinian cities and towns, especially in Kalandia not far from Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah, and near the Gush Etzion block of Jewish communities south of Jerusalem. Israeli forces used tear gas and other methods to break up those demonstrations that threatened IDF positions. Dozens of Palestinians were injured in the melee, along with several Israeli soldiers and border policemen. An unknown number of protestors were arrested. Fortunately Israeli forces had been reinforced earlier in the weekend in anticipation of clashes.

Rioting had actually broken out one day before in Jerusalem after a young Palestinian man was killed outside an Israeli civilian enclave on May 13 in the Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Silwan, adjacent to the sacred Temple Mount. The area has been the scene of several violent clashes over the past year. The dead man's funeral the following day turned into a mass demonstration as thousands of Muslims gathered for his emotional internment.

In all, officials said at least 17 people were killed and hundreds wounded in the various confrontations along the northern borders with Syria and Lebanon, along the security fence near the Gaza Strip (where officials said a terrorist was shot dead while attempting to plant a bomb) and in Jerusalem and surrounding areas. In Tel Aviv, an Israeli civilian was killed and some 15 people were injured when an Arab truck driver rammed his vehicle into pedestrians walking along a major street in the city. Although police initially suspected the incident was an accident, it later became clear that the driver had acted on calls from various Arab sources to attack Israelis on the anniversary of the country's modern birth 63 years ago.

Israeli leaders were distressed to hear PA leader Mahmoud Abbas praise the dead Arab demonstrators as "shahids" (martyrs in Arabic) for the Palestinian cause. He vowed that "their precious blood will not be wasted," adding that it was "spilt for the sake of our national freedom." Hamas leaders termed the day's widespread violence as "the beginning of the end of the occupation of Palestine," which in their minds means the total destruction of Israel.

Brothers In Arms

After months of protracted negotiations guided by Egyptian government officials, a "unity pact" between the PLO-dominated Palestinian Authority and the rival Hamas movement was signed in Cairo on May 4th. The pact brings the radical anti-peace Islamic movement, which won the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections but was later tossed out of the government, back into the PA. The potential fragility of the "reconciliation accord," as it was called by both sides, was already demonstrated during the Cairo ceremony. A dispute arose over exactly where Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal would sit, with Hamas officials demanding he be positioned on the main podium next to PA President Abbas and Arab League Secretary General Abu Mousa, who is running for president of Egypt. In the end, Mashaal was allowed to give a speech from the podium, but not to sit on it.

Although full details of the pact were not released, media reports said it included a Hamas pledge to halt all rocket firings into Israel from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. An "interim unity government" was established later in the month to prepare for new Palestinian presidential and legislative elections expected to be held around this time next year. PA and Hamas leaders pledged to release all political prisoners belonging to the other side. The PA vowed to continue security cooperation with Israel under American auspices, but Hamas will not be required to recognize Israel or participate in any future peace negotiations with it. This part of the deal was later confirmed by Nabil Shaath, a veteran member of the PLO Fatah central committee, who told reporters it was "not necessary" for Hamas to recognize Israel's existence since "Russia and many other" members of the so-called "peace quartet" (Russia, the US, the EU and the UN) "agree with us that the old rules for including Hamas in a PA government were not logical, and are no longer workable."

Prime Minister Netanyahu wasted no time in denouncing the inclusion of Hamas in the PA cabinet. He said Israel could not enter peace negotiations with the PA as long as Hamas sits in the Palestinian government since the group refuses to recognize Israel's right to a permanent existence in the centre of the Middle East. He repeated his 2010 bombshell proclamation that his nationalistic Likud party was ready to "cede parts of our homeland" to a future Palestinian state as long as this was done as part of a negotiated accord that finally ended the long and bitter Arab-Israel conflict. However he also noted that such an outcome cannot ever become reality as long as Hamas is back on board the Palestinian government train.

Obama's Speech Draws Sharp Response

The veteran Israeli leader reiterated his position about the 1967 border in reaction to President Barack Obama's May 19th speech in which the American leader denounced the Palestinian Authority's declared intention to unilaterally proclaim statehood at the United Nations next September. Speaking in his usual articulate English after meeting with President Obama at the White House on May 20th, Netanyahu also noted that just as American leaders felt they were fully justified in killing Al Qaida founder Osama Bin Laden after branding his nefarious group a terrorist organization, so Hamas was accurately labeled a terrorist group. Therefore Israel's allies cannot expect the constantly threatened country to deal with Hamas at all, even if the group is merely a junior partner in a Fatah-led PA government.

As for beginning any future peace negotiations with a pledge to abandon a large portion of Israel's biblical heartland, Netanyahu made clear that all of his current government partners agree with him that such an offer cannot be made. The Israeli leader noted how tiny his country had been inside the pre-1967 borders (which were actually just ceasefire lines created at the end of the 1948-49 War of Independence, not legal borders that were recognized as such), saying the de facto borders were "not defendable." The Premier spoke in particular of Israel's so-called "narrow hips" near the coastal city of Netanya, noting that the Israeli territory located there was merely eight miles across before 1967. He added that this reality was especially dangerous given the fact that in those years the coastal plane was the only land bridge connecting the northern Galilee region and the port city of Haifa with the densely populated centre and the desert south. President Obama later told an AIPAC conference held in the American capital city that he was not against mutual land swaps between Israel and the PA as part of any final accord as long as both parties fully agreed upon them.

Although Netanyahu focused most of his public White House comments on the important 1967 border issue (to the obvious unease of the American President who nearly grimaced as some of the remarks were delivered to reporters), he did take time to applaud Obama's call for the Palestinians to refrain from making a unilateral statehood proclamation next September. He said he was also pleased with the President's expressed disgust over the brutal suppression taking place in Syria, and with Iran's rogue nuclear development programme. Defense Minister Ehud Barak later told Israel's Channel Two news that Obama's speech was actually quite positive in tone overall, although he also reiterated his party's opposition to abandoning all Jewish communities located in Judea and Samaria.

Political pundits said that PM Netanyahu was probably giving a preview of his Washington Congressional speech when he addressed the Israeli Knesset just a few days before traveling to the United States. He said that while Israel was ready to make major concessions to achieve a final peace accord with the PA, the Palestinians were not ready to enter true negotiations. He chided the Israeli people for blaming themselves for the lack of such a treaty, adding that the conflict is not really about the 1967 borders, "but about 1948 when the state of Israel was established." He added that the ultimate reason there is no lasting peace is that "the Palestinians don't have a leadership that is ready to recognize Israel as a Jewish state." He also repeated earlier statements that Israel can never negotiate with Hamas, a fanatical group with a charter that formally calls for Israel's ultimate destruction.

As dramatic developments continue to unfold with lightening-like speed in the volatile Middle East, national leaders everywhere might do well to ponder a word of warning about the disputed lands that many are currently fiddling with-a word delivered by Israel's Maker in ancient days via the prophet Zechariah: The Lord will possess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem. Be silent all flesh before the Lord for He is aroused from His holy habitation (Zech 2:12-13).