US daily major: Withdrawal from Gaza resulted in more terrorism

Israel’s Disengagement from Gaza: “It was a big mistake.”

Pain and agony. Many Jews who were forced out of Jewish properties in Gaza still suffer.

This is the conclusion in the US Newspaper Los Angeles Times (LAT). The retrospect view comes five years after Israel forced all Jews to leave their properties in Gaza.

The editorial in LAT Entitled “Lessons and Legacies of Israel’s Gaza Withdrawal”. It was published on August 8th by Edmund Sanders.

The article lists a series of conclusions that can be drawn from the abrupt, unilateral pullout from Gush Katif in Gaza orchestrated by then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the summer of 2005.

gush_katif-hothouses — An overview of Gush Katif before is was reduced to rubble.

Just five months later, Sharon suffered massive hemorrhaging and entered the comatose state from which he has not awoken.

Among the key lessons and legacies listed by the LA Times are these:

Although disengagement enjoyed broad support at the time, almost no one calls it a success today… It helped put Hamas in power… Security for Israelis didn’t improve – and even worsened… It contributed to increased isolation for Israel internationally… It raised doubts as to whether the Palestinians are actually ready for statehood… Though the actual expulsion went more easily than expected, it made Israelis more cynical about the chances for future land-for-peace deals.

In this last connection, the Times article does not note the ongoing difficulties in resettling the 9,000 expelled Jewish citizens. It states:

“Gaza was a key test of whether an Israeli government would pay the political price needed to remove 9,000 settlers. Dire predictions that such moves would tear the nation apart turned out to be exaggerated.”

art_tt_storm_121506 — Israeli police removes the Torah scrols from the synagogues in Gush Katif.

This, however, is an under-estimate of the terrific damage domestic damaged that was caused, both in terms of solidarity felt by a significant political sector with the government and the suffering caused to the uprooted settlers themselves.

In addition, Sanders does not note that a government commission assigned to investigate its handling of the expelled citizens found that the government had utterly failed in this regard.

In any event, “only 35 percent [of Israelis] envision evacuations [in some/all Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria],” Sanders concludes, compared with 58 percent in 2005.

Supportive wind for terrorism

Sanders confirms that the anti-Disengagement camp’s warning that the withdrawal would provide a supportive back-wind for terrorism came true.

israeliburninghouse_wideweb__430x293 — Some Jewish settlers set their house on fire,robbed for all their belongings.

“Hamas got to crow that its policy of armed resistance and attacks on Israeli civilians had led to the withdrawal,” he writes.

“Immediately after the pullout, 84 percent of Palestinians viewed the disengagement as a ‘victory’ for armed resistance”…

First published: August 13th, 2010.

Source: IsraelNationalNews.com.

Written by Ivar

June 1, 2012 0

UN Human Right Council abuses human rights

“When the UN use modern blood-libel, it is just another nail in the coffin of the council’s credibility”.

Danny5 — Deputy Foreign minister of Israel Danny Ayalon condemn United Nations.

These are the words of Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel, Danny Ayalon. He strongly condemn the recently released UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on the Gaza ‘aid flotilla”.

The report ostensibly investigating the events that surrounded the interception of the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara in May.

“The UNHRC has two sole functions: To defend serial human-rights abusing nations from reproach, and to revile and attack Israel”, explains Ayalon.

Only 20 of the 47 nations on the UNHRC are considered “free” by Freedom House, an independent NGO which monitors human rights and political freedoms.This means the majority do not allow basic freedoms for their own people, let alone concern themselves with global human rights.

The UNHRC has condemned Israel 33 times out of its 40 country-specific condemnations, while the UNHRC expresses only “deep concern” over Sudan and praises its cooperation.

In addition, the UNHRC adopted a unique decision to discuss human rights violations committed by Israel in all of the council’s meetings.

Source: Jerusalem Post.

My comment:

Please read this article about what took place on board the Gaza “aid ship” Mavi Marmara.

You can also watch this BBC documentary:

September 29, 2010 0

New year with trouble ahed for Israel

Today the Israelis will mark Rosh Ha’Shana.What to expect in the year ahead.

Zionism — Israeli soldiers planting the Israeli flag on the Mount of Olives, supposed to become a "Jew free Zone" and Arab Palestinian capital.

Rosh Ha’Shana is the beginning of a new year according to the Jewish Lunar calender. This coming year is bound to be a difficult one for Israel for a number of reasons.

Views from

Aaron in Jerusalem:

1) US President Barak Obama has promised that all US troops will be out of Iraq by the end of September 2011. There are varying opinions about this decision, but as far as Israel is concerned the major worry is that as soon as US troops are out of Iraq their place will be taken by Iranian troops.

Many of us can see a scenario where Iranian missile launchers are parked in the Western Iraqi desert, within easy range of Tel Aviv. This will complete an Iranian surrounding of Israel if you count the Hamas missiles in Gaza, Syrian missiles and the Hizbullah missiles in South Lebanon.

2) It is highly likely that before the next Rosh Ha’Shana, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will be dead. He’s 82 years old and his health is widely rumored to be failing.

You couldn’t call him an enthusiastic friend of Israel. But he as since took over the leadership of Egypt after Anwar Sadat was assassinated by the Moslem Brotherhood organization in 1981, Mubarak has honored the peace treaty Sadat signed with Menachim Begin at Camp David in 1979. He has also been a consistent ally of the US.

There is no clear heir to his position, which makes many of us nervous that whoever comes after him could be a lot worse.The best case scenario is that the next President of Egypt would be General Omar Suleiman, the chief of Egypt’s intelligence services. Once again, he’s not much of a friend of Israel, but he’s a strong leader who will keep Egypt together and keep the situation stable, more or less. The problem is, he’s already 74, so even if he becomes the next leader of Egypt it will only be a temporary respite.

The worst case scenario is that Murabak’s son Gamal will be the next president. Gamal Mubarak is only 47, and rumor has it he’s not a very strong personality and would be easily dominated and manipulated by the Moslem Brotherhood, which has been transformed into a regular political party with seats in the Egyptian parliament, much like Hizbullah has in Lebanon.

3) The Pentagon estimates that Iran will have the ability to test a nuclear weapon in a year or less. This is not the first time we’ve heard this, but according to a recent article in The Atlantic there is a high probability that this time it’s for real and the Israelis know it. This is something that needs a lot of prayer because if Israel sees no choice, they will launch attacks against Iran’s nuclear program, and that could set this entire region on fire.

The best thing for everyone is if the Iranian government falls because of internal problems and is replaced by a government that is not as eager for confrontation with Israel and the West.

4) Finally, the recently launched talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are scheduled to provide a deal in approximately a years time. As has been noted elsewhere, these talks are not about peace, but about finding a way to force Israel to retreat from the West Bank (known in the Bible as Judea and Samaria) so that a Palestinian State can be formed on that land.

Needless to say, this situation needs a lot of prayer because the talks will almost certainly fail. But there are ways they can fail that will get a lot of people killed (there have already been casualties of this latest round of “peace talks’) and ways they can fail that will get fewer people killed.
We need to hope and pray for a soft crash, with a low number of casualties and a minimum of permanent damage.

The politicians are doing this for their own reasons, knowing it’s dangerous and unlikely to be successful, and us ordinary people are the ones who are going to get hurt. Please don’t stop praying about all these issues. Stay strong, stay committed, and keep checking the group page for updates and news.

God bless you all!

This is a couple of links you can use for your studies.   First in the possibility of a nuclear Iran.

The other is about the prospects of the present “peace talks”

September 8, 2010 0

MK Eldad: Netanyahu will stop building in Jerusalem

The Prime Minister will continue the building freeze, and will continue with no building in Jerusalem.

Israeli legislator Eldad and ultra-nationalist activist, Marzel, stand in Umm el-Fahem — MK Arieh Eldad is considered a rightwinger, that let Natanyahu face his own promises.

This is a statement by rightwing Member of Knesset Aryeh Eldad. He think that Netanyahu will face and accept the demand to continue the building freeze. He will continue with no building in Jerusalem, which he has done from the first moment he was elected as Prime Minister.

“He did not build a single house in Jerusalem since elected, he did not hire a single contractor to build in Jerusalem, and he is doing nothing in Judea and Samaria either”. explain Eldad.

Why are you so sure that Netanyahu won’t stand strong?

MK Eldad:

“There are early signs for the collapse of Netanyahu. He has agreed to give land for the very acceptance of the Palestinians to sit with him. The ticket price he paid for direct talks was his agreement to build the road to a new Palestinian city called Roabi, near Ramallah”.

And he continues:

These are early signs that Netanyahu is very, very weak Once he said “no” to a Palestinian state, now he says “yes” to a Palestinian state. Once he said Jews can always build, now he says Jews cannot build. Once he said Israel will hold onto the Jordan valley, now he says he will accept an international body there. This is a total collapse, explains Eldad.

Source: Israeli National News.

August 24, 2010 0