Peace Not Possible with Palestinian Authority, but Conflict Resolution Is Possible After PA is Gone

A word prior to the elections two weeks from today in Israel...

You can't expect a peace where everyone sits under his tree when one party is dedicated to jihad. You have to root out the terrorists and then what is left is people.  Just people. And no average person should be subjected to the rule of despots, dictators and or terrorists. It is clear that there is no better government in the Middle East for civil liberties than Israel. Combine that with the idea that a naturalized Palestinian Arab does not have to lose his home, and you have the best possible option for the Palestinian people.  The annexation of all the disputed territories.  Best possible remaining option, we should say, as the theory of a Two State solution has clearly and utterly failed.

Did the USA and UK ask Iraq post Saddam Hussein to give up land for a new Kurdistan? No. Neither should any nation ask Israel to give up its land for a Palestine.  Stop abandoning the Palestinian right to live in a free country, for the free right to form a terrorist state.  One is sensible and kind. One is foolhardy and evil.

Now that the Palestinians have begun unilateral moves hoping to establish sovereignty, it's important to change the way we treat the Palestinian Authority. You are either for Israel or for a Palestinian State. You cannot seriously support both any longer, the illegitimacy of that fallacy is clear.  Its one or the other.  I don't care even if you are a voter in the State of Israel.  You are voting against the Zionist project if you are trying to support a Palestinian State West of the Jordan River.

Stop opposing Zionism, stop supporting a Palestinian State. Start supporting an end to the conflict that will allow the IDF to run security for all peoples West of the River Jordan.

There are those who support the annexation of "Area C" in response to PA's UN bid. If you wish to annex the Jewish settlements to increase the security of the people living there, by all means.  Better to annex something than nothing at all.  Yet if you wish to annex as a reaction to the PA UN move, that path is not necessary, when a fuller mode of conflict resolution is available.  Plus, if in the context of an Oslo term such an annexation is done, it still implies that other areas West of the River Jordan are to remain up for sale to the anti Zionist Palestinian Authority. That is unacceptable.  As long as Israel holds on to the Oslo Accords, and its terminology, peace will be far away.  The Oslo Accords are idolatry, and its terminology the dust of idols.

When the first intifada began, and Israel decided to ignore the abuse of the Oslo Accords, the Oslo Accords were no longer a marriage document, but a bill of enslavement to a millstone of terror, commonly known as the Palestinian Authority.  The reactions not just of terrorists, but many of those who wished to be kind to the cruel with the blood of the innocent.  Two decades of sacrifices for a peace that the PA itself does not want. All these have removed the moral right of anyone to continue to call the Oslo Accords, a peace agreement. 

From the first Intifada, by International Law it can be argued that the Oslo Accords became defunct. Yet government after government after government have told us, we have to strive for a peace that is not peace.  Avoid admission of the truth of the desolation caused by the Oslo Accords, lest that lead to true peace.

Do those who supported the Oslo Accords in the 1990's now weep, "I did not give away the bride, Israel, to be abused forever by her husband, the PA. Why does she not flee from his side?"

We have to annul this relationship with the PA, shatter the idol of the Oslo Accords once and for all, and then return to our first national husband, the G-d of Israel.

Let the next government of Israel announce: "Though the Oslo Accords were well intended, they were violated a thousand ways and made illegitimate and unholy.  We do not accept the legitimacy of continued support of the Palestinian Authority and we oppose any effort to legalize that failed entity. We will continue to seek to live in peace with our Palestinian neighbors.  But if it is to be done, West of the River Jordan, it can only be done beneath the democratic flag of Israel."  May it soon be so, by the grace of G-d.

Temple Mount Authority

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat called for the Knesset to allow for Jews the right to pray on the Temple Mount. Yet there are many Rabbinic authorities that hold a position against allowing anyone to pray on the Temple Mount until the rebuilding of the Temple. The Temple Mount is not Mecca nor Medina, it is the Jewish Holy of Holies. Whether or not Jews are encouraged to worship on the Mount is not as important as whether authority will be restored to the rightful guardians of that Mount, the Rabbis of Israel. 

Of course, Jews have that "right", it's just that the government is preventing them from exercising that right.  Yet it is not without significant Rabbinic support that Jewish prayer is withheld from taking place.  But this  is an internal religious matter for the Rabbis of Israel to decide, not the Israeli government nor any other government, nor the practitioners of any other faith. The Knesset should have the Chief Rabbinate set up an authority of the leading rabbis of the generation to regulate all activity on this most holy of Jewish sacred places.

Whereas the Wakf does not have that right, yet the Israeli government has allowed it to act as if it has a right for the past 45 years. It has encouraged violence and destruction of sacred Jewish artifacts that bespeak of any historic roots of the Chosen People to their own land. This is actually a violation of the Koran itself.  If the policy of a religious institution is in the main political, that means that the Wakf has become a political entity and no longer remains a religious one. To continue the status quo muddies the political waters that the current government in Israel is attempting to project, that of a United Jerusalem under Israeli rule. If you don't have the Temple Mount, then you don't have Jerusalem.

This would end discrimination against the Jews, even though it may not change the status quo much, as egalitarianism runs deep in the Jewish faith. The result would be a fair system where everyone would share similar rules, such as current access to the Western Wall, the same rules for the "stranger and the native" would be established. But the legitimacy of allowing the Wakf to continue it's failed guardianship has ended long ago.

Israel's Biblical Rights to Judea and Samaria and International Recognition

Was there International Recognition of Israel's rights to the land of Israel prior to the Late Modern (secular) period of Political Thought?  If so, that would mean that for some 3900 years, everyone did not question Israel's Rights to its homeland as they do today, and only in the past 150 years, give or take, a new belief sprung up that the will of current leading nations, arrogantly called "world powers", trumps everything in International Law.  To keep this essay more universally acceptable, I will limit it's scope to the span of History within Tanach (Scripture) itself, as the Holy Words of the Tanach are accepted as a matter of faith by half the World's population today. I will only mention more recent history at the essay's conclusion.

In the Book of Ezra, chapter 4, which occurred some 2500 years ago, The leading political power of the World at the time was the Persian-Median Empire. Emperor Artaxerxes converses with the leaders of the adversaries of the Jews in the Holy Land.  Both the leaders of the Arabic lands and the main political leader of the World in that age each refer to the land of Israel as territory that stretched out to the River, the Euphrates.  This border first became fact at the hands of King David under whose leadership Jerusalem also first became capital of the Land of Israel.  This occurred some 500 years before the events in the Book of Ezra.  It is interesting to note that this whole conversation between the leader of the political world and the leaders of the Arabian lands took place after Israel had been exiled, their Temple destroyed, the seat of their government in Jerusalem removed. Yet under the concept of International Recognition, the Land of Israel remained in possession of the Jewish people even at a time with scattered and limited settlement and NO political leadership entity in the Holy Land until the time of Emperor Koresh (Cyrus, the Great) when it was decreed that the Jews had a right to rebuild their Bais HaMikdash, Holy Temple. Even exile of most of the nation and destruction of their political system itself was not recognized as a legally legitimate reason to abate Jewish rights to the Land of Israel.  Perhaps this comes in part from the fact that the Tanach clearly spells out Israel's return to the land in numerous places, including specific references to a return to Jerusalem, as in Tzefanyah (Zephaniah) chapter 3, verses 14- 20, to Samarian Mount Ephraim and also to Zion, as in Yermiyah (Jeremiah) chapter 31 and specifically in reference to return from Babylon in Yeshayah (Isaiah) chapters 13 & 14, and Persia's future aid in Yeshayah chapter 44, all these prophecies occurring prior to the rule of Koresh.

The Persian-Median recognition of Jewish rights to Har Habayis (the Temple Mount) is also interesting to consider, despite it's early history. Yehoshua (Joshua) did not conquer the Temple Mount, it was King David who bought it.  Though in the Books of Yehoshua (15:63) and Shoftim (Judges, chapter 1, verse 8) It says that Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) was conquered. But in Shmuel (Samuel) 2, chapter 5 it is revealed that the Jebusite on the Temple Mount were unable to be driven out until the time of King David, so how was it considered "conquered" (for further on this see the commentaries of Rashi and Redak on Yehoshua 15:63)?  Until David moved his capital from Chevron (Hebron) to Yerushalayim, Jerusalem had divided neighborhoods perhaps somewhat reminiscent of the Old City of Jerusalem today. The sections were: 1) the tribe of Yehuda (Judah), 2) the tribe of Binyamin (Benjamin), 3) the Jebusites. (as per the commentary Metzudos David on Yehoshua 15:63). Despite the hundreds of years between Yehoshua and David, the Persian-Median Empire recognized only Jewish ownership to all of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount.

Going further back in history, those borders were first mentioned to Avraham (Abraham) some 4000 years ago as the Divine Will of the Creator (Genesis 15 & repeated to Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses) in Shemos (Exodus 23) and again in Devarim (Deuteronomy 11).  And the fact that it took over 400 years from the time these words were recorded by Moshe until David fulfilled that Heavenly Decree, was also not viewed by normative world political leadership as a legitimate reason to assume any lessening of Jewish Rights to the Holy Land.

But what of the alternate borders mentioned in Bamidbar (Numbers) 34? These, as seen in the context of the books of the Early Prophets, referred to the conquests of Yehoshua, while the promise to Avraham (Genesis 15, Exodus 23 and Deuteronomy 11) referred to the conquests of King David and the territory of King Shlomo (Solomon) which went all the way East to the Great River. Indeed, if one would actually read chapter 34 of Numbers they would see that it referred to when the Israelites "enter the land" (verse 2) and later in that chapter, Yehoshua is mentioned as the main leader who will help the people conquer the land.  Conquering all the way to the Euphrates was a matter of destiny for the Jewish people, but not an urgent command incumbent upon the generation of Yehoshua.  From the Persian-Median perspective, however, it seems that this too was not an impediment upon viewing Israel's rights to include all the land which they had acquired under King David.

The will of world political powers is commonly referred to in International Law as Customary Law, but is not on the level of Fundamental Laws (Jus Cogens) or even treaties between nations. When a treaty between world powers occurs, that is greater than customary law. That is what happened in the Book of Ezra, and that is what happened again in a limited fashion at the San Remo Supreme Council in 1920.  What is very clear, is that all of Judea and Samaria and of course all of Jerusalem is not open to debate. It is Israel's entirely.  Only unclear policy by Western nations can cloud the minds of those trying to bring peace to the Middle East.  But they cannot change the profoundly deep historical reality of International Recognition of Jewish Rights to the Land of Israel from ancient times and until today.

My Lecture at Young Israel of West Rogers Park

This past Sunday I spoke at the Young Israel of West Rogers Park in Chicago.  The topic was "Israel and Iran: Cause for Concern, Reasons to Hope". Here are some key points that were raised:

• We must be sensitive enough to be careful to not say things like "it's 1939 all over again" and other talk of impending doom in the presence of Holocaust Survivors in order to fulfill the commandment of Love your neighbor/fellow. Unless they are actively seeking the news on Iran, we should consider whether they have been traumatized enough before exercising our freedom of speech.

• I currently view Syria as a greater immediate military threat (to Israel) than Iran, not because it is stronger, but more desperate. This, even though Iran is clearly the greater threat to the West overall.  The previous leader of the relatively "peaceful" Jordan who eventually made peace with Israel, killed thousands of his own people in his time. When the previous King of Jordan (Hussein) was dying of cancer, he dreamt wistfully of dying a martyr's death for peace as Rabin did. How much more so is the butcher of Damascus willing to go down in a blaze of glory. (Further, as we saw with Iraq in 1991, when in trouble, Arabic tyrants like to attack Israel. This is exactly what some of the leadership in Iran have promised to do if they are attacked by countries other than Israel.) And if Israel defends itself, would Iran use that as an excuse to "defend" Syria?
  
• Egypt is likely on the way to becoming a renewed threat to Israel. (Must be Egyptian gratitude at USA foreign aid, generated from taxpayer dollars, and in appreciation for the Israeli gift of oil fields in the Sinai, for peace. See? Land for Peace works... to support terror, that is.)

• Some Rabbis including Shas party spiritual mentor Rav Ovadia Yosef believe that there is still hope for a resolution without full scale war.

Take Back Gaza!

International Law and common sense call for Israel to replace the caretaker government in Gaza with one that is not murderous.  I would argue for an Israeli governor to replace Hamas, rather than trying to find a Palestinian alternative to Hamas.  Certainly Fatah is not an option for reliability against terror nor stability against another coup. But one thing is clear, now that a major population center like Beersheva is under continual attack, the Knesset's moral obligation to act is clear.

The story of Sderot is hard to believe.  A border town attacked with thousands and thousands of rockets, and insufficiently defended by its own government.  But Beersheba is no mere border town, and with the expanded range of rocket attacks, to be able to hit that historic population center of the South of Israel, the next expansion of Gaza's rockets' range would place Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport in range, G-d forbid.

Regional concerns of how enemies may try to use the retaking of Gaza against Israel at the U.N. are mute arguments.  If your major cities are being attacked, diplomatic score keeping must take a back seat.  Concerns of escalating matters to a war level is illogical.  There already is war, the only question is how to stop it.  In addition, the war pattern is Islamic Jihad Vs  innocent civilians, with reprisals by the IDF against the terrorists. It's time to consider allowing combatants to battle each other and leave the weary citizens of the South alone.

Stop mere tit-for-tat strikes that make bad press, and limited security enhancements.  Retake Gaza entirely and then as with the Golan, take pause before you consider giving it back to anyone.

May it be the Will of G-d that such reasoning appear more sensible to the memshalah/government than the current status quo.

Tell the Quartet: The Oslo Accords are Over

The Quartet of nations have given Israel and the Palestinian Authority two months from the time that they renew talks (which began two weeks ago) to report on agreed borders. Rather than continue with wistful dreams of everybody sharing the land as two separate countries, Israel needs to face the reality that the Palestinian Authority is a failed enterprise in governorship whose allegiance to terror trumps any indicated leanings toward democratization.  Israel must re-accept responsibility of it's legal possession of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, and begin to form new policy from there.

According to the Knesset's website, the Oslo Accords:

"main concern was on Israeli withdrawal from the territories of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, in order to allow the establishment of a Palestinian Authority for self-government for an interim period until permanent arrangements would be established."

Well Israel has certainly tried that.

In six weeks from today, does anyone believe that Israel will be in a position to demarcate permanent borders with the Hamas loving Palestinian Authority? There are too many daggers up their sleeves to expect that any time soon.  In the exact opposite extreme of what the Oslo architects expected and intended, the more that the Palestinian Authority is given, the more bloodthirsty and terror loving it becomes.

If Israel's government arrogantly agrees to borders with the Palestinian Authority despite the known impending terror that such an act would strengthen, then they would be abandoning their responsibility to the well being of their own people.

If Israel's government cruelly abandons helpless Arab refugees to a fledgling terrorist government, they should not feel morally superior that they benefited the Palestinian People, even if that is what that people and the U.N seem to be asking for.  It is not mercy to feed the urge of someone addicted to poison. Nor is there moral justification if someone told you to administer the poison.  Neither is it peace to give territory with the intention that at least we can use full scale war against them if they keep attacking us.

Israel must know that under International Law, Israel is NOT required to heed the whims of the Quartet that would lead to such travesties of justice and certain violence. 

Israel's current policy of attempting to honor the ghostlike remnants of the Oslo Accords is the very cause of the U.N. continuing to badger Israel over settlements.  You are guilty in their eyes only because you listened to them, which means you admitted that they were right.

Israel must respectfully and patiently reeducate the Quartet as to the true intention of International Law, and clarify misunderstandings that have arisen over U.N. Resolution 242 since the implementation of the Oslo Accords.

Respectfully and patiently reeducate, without raising a voice in anger.  Though perhaps tough words are justified for a people waiting almost 2000 years to be treated fairly, it is best to not seem like extremists.  Nor to flatter the wicked, Heaven forbid.  Rather be respectful and patient as per the way of diplomacy as first taught by King Solomon in first verse of the fifteenth chapter of the book of Proverbs: "A gentle answer removes wrath, but an infuriating word raises anger."

Remind the Quartet of the goal and the means to the establishment of true and lasting peace.  May it soon be so, by the grace of God. 

No Hope for a Negotiated Settlement with Fatah

I was aggravated when somebody suggested that Hamas showed an act of moderation when they demanded that 1027 criminals be released before granting Gilad Schalit his inalienable rights of life and liberty. Hamas abused the system openly.  But Fatah is, in a sense, even worse.  At least you know where you stand with Hamas. Fatah is in a constant game of subterfuge when they speak and only admit the truth when they believe the press is not listening.

Abbas tipped his hand as a terrorist in diplomatic clothing, as brilliantly pointed out by the Prime Minister.   In his recent speech at the U.N., Bibi said,
   "President Abbas just stood here, and he said that the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the settlements. Well, that's odd. Our conflict has been raging for -- was raging for nearly half a century before there was a single Israeli settlement in the West Bank. So if what President Abbas is saying was true, then the -- I guess that the settlements he's talking about are Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jaffa, Be'er Sheva.  Maybe that's what he meant the other day when he said that Israel has been occupying Palestinian land for 63 years. He didn't say from 1967; he said from 1948. I hope somebody will bother to ask him this question because it illustrates a simple truth: The core of the conflict is not the settlements.  The settlements are a result of the conflict."

Former President Bill Clinton said that there has been no one more ready to speak peace than Abbas among the Palestinian Arabs. Which illustrates my point that if this foot dragging, obfuscating Abbas who flees from sincerity in negotiations is the very best of the leaders of the Palestinian Arabs, then there is no hope for a negotiated settlement with the Palestinian Arab people.  Unilateral Israeli actions are the only option that remain.  I have advocated that the next action should be naturalizing the non terrorists among the Palestinian Arabs, while bringing the terrorists to justice.

PM Netanyahu's only error was to say that there will not be peace if  he cannot sit down and negotiate with Abbas.  That is not true.  There actually cannot be peace so as long as Israel continues to believe that negotiations with terrorists can lead to peace.

The main role that Abbas now serves is to be the one who slanders his Israeli benefactors before the world stage. How does that advance peace?  How does that increase security? 

Israel has legitimate claims to all of the land that the Palestinians reside on and those claims would have to be forsaken by Israel for the Palestinians to gain a legal claim to the land.  Without facing that truth, there can be no justice.  Remember that for a case of questionable rights, the PLO has claimed an absolute right of blood vengeance against those who disagree with them. 

The onus has been on the Palestinian Authority to prove it can live among civilized nations. Not merely corruptly run an economy, nor insincerely manipulate the world press.  Perhaps that is enough for some of their less than righteous third world friends at the U.N., but that is not what civilized nations do.  God has allowed history itself to ask of the leaders of the Palestinian Arabs of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, could they, in the course of 18 years of negotiations, stop killing people for even one year? ...They have failed that test.

Because peace depends on truth and justice, Abbas will never find it.  And President Clinton said that Abbas is the best that the Palestinian Authority has to offer.  So that even if you were to hold elections today, there is no reasonable expectation that there will be anything but a worsening of the possibility for a negotiated settlement.  This is why PM Netanyahu seeks international pressure on Abbas to be flexible.  What other hope is there?  But this is not the cure to the disease, this is that very thing which sustains the malady. 

Every day that Israel tries to negotiate rather than dismantle the terrorist infrastructures, they are putting their own citizens in jeopardy; on a daily basis.  For what?  And if Abbas is the best and the best is not sincere about a negotiated settlement, then what does that mean?!

Unfortunately this brings us to one conclusion...

So long as the Palestinian Authority exists.  Peace will not.

Legislation to Avoid Future Long Term Captives

How ironic that the radicalization of the Egyptian government led to an act of chesed/kindness as negotiators, that aided in the safe return of Gilad Schalit, albeit for sinister intent. Egypt, without the moderate Mubarak, desires to strengthen Hamas over Fatah, and they got their way with the release of key Hamas operatives from Israeli jail cells. Another victory for radicals was also scored when Hamas won a PR victory at America's expense.  They placed an onus on the Obama Administration to explain the delayed release of the physically ill Jonathan Pollard or appear more cruel than Hamas was to Schalit.  Hamas perhaps hope to seem more reasonable and diplomatic than the USA, even though the USA is the pinnacle of Western Civilization, and Hamas is merely a terrorist organization. It may deflate the wind in Hamas' sails if Pollard were to be released soon, so if for no other reason, perhaps it's time to expedite Pollard's release to improve America's foreign standing.

* * * * *

Before Gilad's release, I began to write an appeal to members of the Israeli government to not transfer the 1027 terrorists to Hamas for Gilad Schalit's safe release, but I reconsidered and did not publish it. As the Talmud says,  In the same way that it is a Mitzvah to say something that will be listened to, it is also a Mitzvah not to say something that will not be listened to. (Yevamos 65b) The time was not right for a reminder of how bad it is to refuel Hamas. But as the great relief of Gilad being home sinks in, the great danger the government risked will sink in as well.  When emotions no longer rule policy, lawmakers will face the need to do something to avoid this from ever happening again. At that point, I could present my philosophic position of national security before nobility without seeming callous to the plight of Gilad Schalit, nor to the emotional sensibilities of those who prayed for him, and I was one of them.

Repeat after me, "it is wrong to release unrepentant murders out onto the streets for any reason."  You want to get someone from the clutches of a group of terrorists? King David attacked kidnappers (I Samuel 30), he did not negotiate with them. Have a SWAT team ready to go behind enemy lines, if necessary. Then declare a shoot on sight order against all terrorists in the targeted zone/neighborhood while also offering freedom from death and even amnesty of any form of prosecution of those suspects who protect the hostage. This will allow a reasonable chance that the hostage would survive such a paramilitary operation.

But how to avoid needing such emergency measures?

I suggest two simultaneous pieces of legislation. Instituting a death penalty for terror attacks, and passing a law forbidding future prisoner exchanges involving terrorists could be the preventative measures that Israel needs. 

If the Knesset only passes a death penalty against future acts of terrorism, it would not change the fact that Israel has over 5000 Palestinians in her jails, prodding Palestinians to attempt another kidnapping, God forbid. 

If the Knesset only passes a prohibition on prisoner exchanges, in the face of the disproportionate nature of the current capitulation to terror (albeit for the noblest of reasons), Palestinians could assume that such a law prohibiting exchanges could be repealed in the face of a new peak in national emotions. 

Only by passing both measures at the same time, could a mere change of law help prevent future kidnappings of Israelis.  For then it would be clear that a new day had dawned in the State of Israel. May it soon be so, by the grace of God.

Gilad Schalit is FREE!

Baruch HaShem/Thank God, that Gilad is back home at last, and it is sure a relief to have him safe again. For the sake of the national psyche, it is good to zone out from all the politics of the matter and enjoy the formerly endangered lost soldier's redemptive return home to safety.

 

This festival of Sukkos/Sukkot/Tabernacles is called "yom simchasaynu / day of our joy", so let us allow it to be so and let's consider the implications of this trade with Hamas on another day. Today would have been his 1941st day in armed captivity, but HaShem/God had other plans.

 

 

No Cities of Refuge for Terror

The Knesset must no longer consider any peace plan that prevents the IDF from protecting Israeli citizens. If one hopes that the terrorist leaders of the Palestinian Arabs will change their spots anytime soon, then he or she are on a path towards disappointment. The sooner the Palestinian Authority is not merely rebuked, but disbanded entirely, the sooner true peace will have a chance to flourish in the Middle East.

Likud members of parliament have been discussing giving slightly less land than Labor or Kadima would, but apparently they have indicated that they still plan to give out strategically valuable land the moment Abbas would sign a "peace" deal.  But the Knesset must no longer beg the Palestinian leadership to come to their senses and return to the negotiation table.  They must not stand outside the U.N. waiting for a defeated, demoralized Abbas to now make nice and pretty please take more concessions from us.

I join with the members of the Israeli Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria movement in calling for a change of intended policy by any and all members of the Knesset who are willing and able to speak these simple truths. I ask, further, that Gaza be taken back as well from the hands of the terroristic Hamas and restored as a peaceful land that people of all races and creeds are welcome to settle in.

Gaza today is a depot for missiles. A point of aerial attack against the civilians of Southern Israel. It is a perpetual threat for soldier abductions, with one such abductee being held hostage even today. Today is Gilad Shalit's 1883rd day (over five years) under armed captivity. With Fatah's marriage to Hamas, it does not take a prophet nor a military expert to predict that this is where Judea and Samaria are headed, God forbid, if the Palestinian Authority is granted the freedom that Israel gave to Gaza, God forbid. Such freedom is anarchy and is not protected under International Law. You don't have to be a rabbi or a priest to know that such anarchy is against God's will as well.

Let the members of Knesset speak the bold truth. The hope for political autonomy for the Palestinian Arab people West of the Jordan River has been slain by Palestinian Authority terror. Let the land and all peoples upon her rest from terror and share economic prosperity. Naturalize the Palestinian Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza who forsake terror, in a gradual way that does not destroy the Israeli economy, infrastructure, nor political balance. Let all peoples unite under the democratic flag of the state of Israel.

May it soon be so, by the grace of God.

The Flaw with Fatah

If you believe that Fatah is a suitable partner for peace, then it makes sense what the Knesset is currently trying to do. Plead with Fatah to negotiate and pressure them to not go unilateral at the United Nations. If you believe that Fatah is just in a mood and are behaving naughty, yet they can return from their current ways of trying to join Hamas into the Palestinian Authority, then current foreign policy may be justifiable. If you believe that sooner or later Fatah will come to their senses and be reasoned with, then the debate between PM Netanyahu and President Obama becomes understandable.

Problem: What if Fatah is irredeemably passive toward terror?

This is important. Unless Fatah is trustworthy, then everything we are hearing from every government in the world that discusses this is currently a misdirection.  A discussion of the wrong topic entirely, not a true path to peace.

If you believe that Fatah is not a true partner in peace, has not been a true partner in peace for a long time, and or that Fatah never was a true partner for peace, then you are frustrated with the political theater at play and are perhaps ready to consider an alternative, such as the Everyone Wins Peace Plan. The Everyone Wins Peace Plan calls for the removal of the Palestinian Authority from the peace process and the gradual naturalization of all West Bank and Gaza Arabs who eternally foreswear terrorism.

If the moderate Fatah are not even potential partners for peace at some distant date in the future due to systemic corruption beyond hope of repair, then the question would no longer be 'How much to give to the Palestinian Authority?' Indeed, what can possibly be given to the Palestinian Authority with the dismal content and record of their leadership? Not even Gaza alone can be given to the Palestinian Authority.

The question we face is, is the embrace of Hamas only a current policy of Fatah, or revelation of their true character?

Liberty for the Palestinian Arab can only come once they abandon, and are enabled to abandon, the failed leadership that abandoned them long ago.  For with the establishment of a faulty electoral system that allows votes for terror to count, a false veneer of legitimacy has been given to the Palestinian Authority when they are in fact rebels against their benefactors' investments and violators of their constituencies' trust and the main cause for strife in the Holy Land today.

Fatah-Hamas Unity

All of the efforts at peacemaking throughout the past 18 years have been turned into farcical theater by Abbas' unholy deal with Hamas. By walking away from the negotiation table, and tossing a grenade at it, the chaotic Hamas long ago abandoned their hopes of a legal claim to the Gaza Strip. By allowing a Hamas-Fatah unity government, with Hamas even this week pledging never to negotiate, the PA has essentially not only forsaken the path to peace, they have made counterfeit their claim to the West Bank and Gaza. 

Israeli President Shimon Peres said yesterday that the Palestinian Authority Made a “Fatal Mistake” when it made a unity deal between Fatah and Hamas. Fatah would be allowed to negotiate while Hamas would be sanctioned to simultaneously perform terror. 

Peres continued, “The United Nations does not have neither the moral permission, nor the legitimate justification to accept a terroristic group.”

“Unite for peace, don't make comprise (with Hamas). Don't make a division that legitimizes destruction...”

Even though Peres just last week said : "We don't need more peace plans, we need to implement peace,"

But we see now, that continuing to base peacemaking upon the ashes of Peres' Oslo Accords, is the foundation of the current crisis.

Israeli leaders such as National Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau and MK Danny Danon are in favor of partial annexations of areas in the West Bank. I do like Danon's idea to officially repeal the Oslo Accords that Hamas spits on, but mere partial annexation? Area C is an Oslo Accord relic, not a border to carve Judea and Samaria by.

The Right has to understand that half measures could fuel the fire, when the fire needs to be put out entirely. Stop piling sandbags at a time you need to wage a full counterstrike. Full annexation of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Israel can no longer think about forcing the creation of a Palestinian State and merely going about their business within the Green Line. There may remain only three stark choices before the State of Israel.

• Israel could accept the status quo or a variant of it, which would entail eternal enmity with Gaza until an eventual war settles things.
• Israel could toss out all the West Bank and Gaza Arabs and potentially provoke a war. OR,
• Israel could filter out terrorists through an even handed bureaucratic process and naturalize the rest of the West Bank and Gaza residents in a manner that does not overwhelm the economy or infrastructure or political balance within the State of Israel (i.e. the Everyone Wins peace plan). This is the best hope for peace. The best option that remains.

You may say, OK, I agree in principle with everything that you have to say about the Everyone Wins peace plan, but how to legally annex the West Bank and Gaza under the current political situation after Gaza was already given away?

Under International Law, Jordan and Egypt performed acts of Cession from The West Bank and Gaza, with the intent to give it to people of a non state entity within the rule of the State of Israel. Effectively, this means that the territory belongs to the State of Israel unless given by Israel through treaty to a fully fledged State. Otherwise the default Succession and ownership falls to Israel. This is because Cession can only occur with a fully fledged state and the only full state left involved, since Jordan and Egypt renounced their claims, is the State of Israel. Israel thus has the legal right to annex Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip in their entirety.

Now what will Israel do?

Perhaps they should implement the Everyone Wins peace plan as soon as possible? May it soon be so, by the grace of God.