What is the Basis of the Legal Status of Israel and the Settlements?
[Leaving aside the Divine allocation of the land to
the Jews, it was the determination of the 52 nations of the League of
Nations, based on their historic considerations, that the lands of the
Mandate of Palestine are to be set aside for a homeland for the Jewish
people. The Mandate specifically gives the Jewish people the
continuing right to "unlimited close settlement" of its lands -- the
word "settlement" here is not a dirty word but the very right given
in the Mandate to the activity of building a Jewish homeland.
It is imperative that the rightness of the Jewish cause of building
its homeland be recognized lest Jews come to believe that they are
robbing someone else's national lands -- which is not the case.
Professor Shochetman addresses the misconceptions concerning these
issues as leveled at the time by a radical leftist know nothing. Read
the facts below - David Bedein]
Jimmy Carter, an unwilling Bilaam
[Jimmy Carter qualifies for the role of Bilaam because Bilaam spoke with clear unintetionality, even though Bilaam did have a belief in God.
On the day of the Carter visit, I called Etzion Mayor Shaul Goldstein, in my capacity as the head of Israel Resource News Agency, which often accompanies reporters to Judea and asked Goldstein if there would be a possibility for reporters to ask Carter some questions after the visit.
Goldstein politely explained that the ground rules of the visit were that there would be NO press conf after the visit of Jimmy in his home.
As a result, our agency advised the press that there would only be a photo op after the visit.
Whatever occurred during the visit appearently affected Carter.
Reporters did not expect Carter to say anything.
One cameraman mentioned, however, that as soon as Carter saw the TV cameras, as he left the Goldstein home, that he made a bee line to the TV cameras and initiated his statement that gave a blessing to the Jewish community of Neve Daniel in Gush Etzion, that it should forever be a part of the state of Israel.
Neve Daniel is the highest place in the land of Israel.
During the Gulf War in 1991, we accompanied TV crews to Neve Daniel, to film the Iraqi rockets as they landed in Gush Dan.
From Neve Daniel, where the naked eye can view Gaza, and imagine Goliath approaching...from where you can turn your neck and view the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
Jimmy Carter is a believing Christian. His belief in "middle east peace" stems from that belief. When he stood on high in Neve Daniel, something turned that belief to cause him to praise the people of Judea instead of burying them - David Bedein]
Missing major questions] Analysis: Netanyahu’s demilitarized state
First Palestinian Authority Militray Operation Deemed a Failure
Syrian/Egyptian Military Deployment in Gaza?
Israeli Government Minister Landaui Warns: Demand for Demilitarization Will Fade
PALESTINIAN REACTION TO NETANYAHU POLICY SPEECH: “THERE IS NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT”
The news of the week in Israel’s bustling capital revolves around Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s policy speech at Bar Ilan University on June 14, where Israel formally announced that it would indeed recognize an independent Palestinian state, if it were to be demilitarized and if would recognize Israel as a Jewish state, as proscribed in the “declaration of principles” of the 1993 Oslo accords, which were signed by Israel and the PLO on the White House lawn in September 1993, approved by the Israeli Knesset Parliament, yet never ratified by the PLO.
The Middle Eastern Cold War
A cold war is "the key to understanding the Middle East in the 21st century." So argue Yigal Carmon and three of his colleagues at the Middle East Media and Research Institute (MEMRI) in a recent study, "An Escalating Regional Cold War."They have identified a major confrontation that the media has somehow missed - and which is the more important for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's just having been re-designated as president of Iran.
U.S. officials skeptical on a demilitarized Palestine
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-israel-palestine16-2009jun16,0,3858683.story
Reporting from Washington -- U.S. officials reacted skeptically Monday to an
Israeli proposal that the United States and other world powers guarantee
that a new nation of Palestine remain demilitarized as a condition of its
statehood.