Common Sense Finally Coming to the Israel-Palestinian Stalemate?

© David Burton 2018

     In recent months, the United States, under the leadership of its president, Donald Trump, has led an unprecedented movement throughout the world to reverse the decades-old delegitimization of the State of Israel and to reverse the blind obsession with believing that Palestinian leaders, the Palestinian Authority, Fatah, Hamas and that largest obstacle to an Israeli/Palestinian peace settlement, Mahmoud Abbas, were ever serious about wanting peace with Israel. Several nations are now coming to the realization that if there is ever to be peace between Israel and the “Palestinians”, it will be in spite of and not because of closet terrorists like Abbas. It has taken bold steps, particularly the acknowledgement that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and his decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem by President Trump to start the process. President Trump’s initiative may be the catalyst to finally start bringing common sense to the Israel-Palestinian problem!

New Ideas Put Forth to End the Palestinian-Israel Stalemate

     As part of the recent steps being initiated in the movement toward the achievement of a realistic settlement of the Palestinian/Israel issue, new and somewhat radical suggestions are being put forth to replace the old and failed “two state” solution that has been on the table for the last two decades.

     One idea that makes sense to me, but which is unlikely to be accepted by the nations of the world, requires the international community to take over the West Bank and Gaza and to administer these territories until all support for terrorism and the desire to eliminate Israel have been dissipated – realistically a span of years that would be measured in decades. To start the process, all "Palestinian" proponents of terror and the destuction of Israel would be removed from leadership and power. They would be replaced by true moderates who put the welfare of the "Palestinian" population before all other considerations. In addition, the West Bank and Gaza would receive the economic cooperation of Israel during this span of time in order to develop a viable economy. A precedent for such an arrangement existed in the administration of Germany and Japan, following their defeats in World War II. This proposal is outlined more fully in Ref. 1

     In mid-March of 2018, Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, offered several ideas. Bennett has led the right-wing religious party, The Jewish Home, since 2012 and has served as Israel's Minister of Education since 2015. A number of Bennett suggestions are presented below. (Ref. 2)

     With respect to the West Bank (Judea and Samaria in ancient Israel), Bennett suggested that “Israeli rule and law should apply in Area C where there are over 500,000 Israelis and only about 75,000 Palestinians, and offer those Palestinians full Israeli citizenship. The remainder of the territory – Areas A and B – should be run by the PA and be [completely autonomous apart from] overall security control and control of borders.”

     “The Oslo II Accord divided the West Bank into three administrative divisions: Areas A, B and C. . . Area A is exclusively administered by the Palestinian Authority; Area B is administered by both the Palestinian Authority and Israel; and Area C, which contains the Israeli settlements, is administered by Israel. Areas A and B were chosen in such a way as to just contain Palestinians, by drawing lines around Palestinian population centers at the time the Agreement was signed; all areas surrounding Areas A and B were defined as Area C.
     “Area C forms a contiguous territory, administered via the Judea and Samaria Area administration. . .” (Ref. 3) It should be noted that Areas A and B are either totally or jointly administered by the Palestinian Authority and contains 95% of the total Palestinian population in the West Bank. Area C is where Jewish settlements exist, but where there is only 5% of the Palestinian population. One can then We may justifiably question why the issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank has been made such an obstacle to achieving a peace agreement with the "Palestinians". The answer is clearly that the issue is nothing but a red herring to garner sympathy from anti-Israel countries and an excuse to avoid ever signing a peace treaty with Israel.

     Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin, chairman of Israel’s Zehut Party and a former Likud Knesset Member, has put forth a more extreme proposal that flies in the face of popular rhetoric but which may ultimately prove to be the most practical and realistic solution. According to Feiglin, “It is time for Israel to formally abandon the so-called two-state solution as well as the concept of a Palestinian state and instead push for the complete Israeli annexation of the West Bank and retaking of the Gaza Strip. . .
     “In a wide-ranging interview, . . . Feiglin outlined a three-point plan for Israel to ‘annex the total territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river.’
     “He was referring to Israel asserting full sovereignty over Judea and Samaria – territories commonly called the West Bank – as well as the annexation of the Gaza Strip.
      - - -
     “As for the Palestinians, Feiglin’s plan would grant them three options:
     “Palestinians can remain as permanent residents of Israel ‘and not be afraid’ of PA reprisal. The Palestinians would need to declare that they are loyal to the Jewish state before becoming permanent residents. They will be fully protected by the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli police.
     “Offer Palestinians wishing to leave a generous emigration package that would include the purchase of their homes, money to start a new life, and assistance with expediting the immigration process to new countries.
     “Palestinians willing to serve in the Israeli military, pass Hebrew language and Israeli history proficiency tests and pledge their loyalty would eventually be granted full Israeli citizenship.” (Ref. 4)

Admitting that Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and Abbas Serve their Own Interests and Not that of the Palestinians

     In recent months, the myth that the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership, i.e. Mahmoud Abbas or Hamas, the dictatorial rulers of the Gaza Strip, wanted to reach a peace agreement with Israel has been exposed as one great lie. Many in the world have now come to finally accept the truth that the PA leadership, along with Hamas, has always opposed the acceptance of any realistic peace plan, because the fostering of animosity toward and hatred of Israel keeps the focus of the people’s anger directed at Israel and at any nation perceived as supporting Israel, rather than at the Palestinian leadership itself. This is how tyrannical regimes remain in power in the Middle East – find someone or something to detract the Arab Street from rising up against those tyrants and dictators who are the real sources of the Arab people’s misery. “Opposing a peace initiative because you do not like its content is one thing. Opposing a peace initiative designed to improve the lives of your people is another thing entirely.
     “It is easy to see why Palestinians would be opposed to the US administration’s upcoming plan for peace in the Middle East. The Palestinians do not like what they are hearing about the plan, which has not yet been made public.
     “Palestinian hatred of the US administration and President Donald Trump is so intense that the Palestinians are prepared to prolong the misery of their people.
     “Palestinian leaders care nothing for their people’s ongoing suffering. Give those leaders jobs, money and power, and their people be damned.
     “Once again, the two million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip have fallen victim to their leaders’ greed, carelessness and idiocy.
     “Last week {early March 2018}, we witnessed another example of how Palestinian leaders are prepared to fight for their own interests, at the expense of their people, all in order to remain in power and keep the funds flowing to their secret (and sometimes public) bank accounts.
     “{The} US Middle East envoy . . . , in an op-ed in The Washington Post, announced that the White House would soon host a meeting of ‘key countries and stakeholders to find real solutions to the problems has caused’ in the Gaza Strip.
     “In other words, the US administration is telling us that it cares about the situation in the Gaza Strip and wants to work with other parties to improve the living conditions of the Palestinians, who for the past 10 years have been suffering under the corrupt and ruthless regime of Hamas.
     “The US initiative to help the two million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip should have been welcomed by Palestinians leaders. The administration of President Donald Trump is doing something that no Palestinian or Arab leader has done in recent memory: to convene a special meeting on the Gaza Strip in an effort to solve what many Palestinians are calling the ‘humanitarian and economic crisis’ there.
     “When was the last time the Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, convened such a meeting to discuss the plight and suffering of their people in the Gaza Strip? Not only does Abbas not care about his people in the Gaza Strip, he also bears responsibility for the crisis. In the last year, Abbas and his PA government have been imposing a series of sanctions on the Gaza Strip, further aggravating the crisis and suffering of the people. These sanctions, which are aimed at undermining Abbas’s Hamas rivals, include halting payment to electricity supplied by Israel to the Gaza Strip, cutting salaries of thousands of PA civil servants, suspending social assistance to hundreds of families and forcing thousands of public employees into early retirement.
     “Abbas is hoping that the crisis in the Gaza Strip will drive Palestinians to revolt against Hamas. Abbas still can’t overcome the humiliation he experienced when Hamas expelled his PA and violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Abbas wants revenge for being humiliated at the hands of Hamas. He also wants revenge because he believes that Hamas had plotted to assassinate him while he was still living in the Gaza Strip. A former Hamas official who defected is said to have warned Abbas about the alleged assassination attempt.
     “So Abbas wants to fight Hamas to the last Palestinian in the Gaza Strip. Unsurprisingly, Hamas also appears to be prepared to fight Abbas to the last Palestinian in the Gaza Strip. [Emphasis mine]
     “Hamas, which for the past 10 years has been holding hostage the two million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip (although many of them voted for the Islamic terror movement in the January 2006 Palestinian parliamentary election), is not prepared to make any concessions to Abbas and his PA government to ease the crisis.
     “Hamas is not prepared to dismantle its military wing or relinquish security control over the Gaza Strip. Hamas is not prepared to distance itself from Iran and its Lebanese proxy, Hezbollah. Hamas is not prepared to renounce terrorism and violence nor is it prepared to recognize Israel’s right to exist. Hamas has one course of action, which it follows with full force and energy: to destroy Israel and kill as many Jews as possible.
     “Let’s return to the American initiative to seek ways to alleviate the anguish of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Who were the first to repudiate this humanitarian initiative? Could it be Israel? Nope. Israel was and remains the only country that has been seeking solutions to the crisis in the Gaza Strip. Hint: it was Abbas’s PA and Hamas, each of whom rejected it for its own purposes and interests.
     “While Israel’s top Ministry of Defense official . . . has been holding meetings with United Nations Special Coordinator for Peace in the Middle East . . . to discuss ways of reducing the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza Strip, Abbas and his Hamas rivals continue to launch accusations about each side’s responsibility for the suffering. Abbas blames Hamas for the ‘humanitarian crisis,’ while Hamas says it’s Abbas and his government that are inflicting the suffering because of the sanctions they imposed on the Gaza Strip.
     “Not only are Hamas and Abbas wholly shirking their responsibility to their people, they also are prepared to foil any attempt by outsiders, in this case the US, to work towards ending the crisis in the Gaza Strip. Why would any Palestinian or Arab reject an offer by anyone, even if it were the devil himself, to extend an arm of help to Palestinians in dire need?
     “The answer, again, is twofold: First, Hamas and Abbas are too busy ripping each other to shreds over money and power to take notice of their people’s misery. Second, the two Palestinian parties actively desire a continuation of the crisis: it enables them to rake Israel over the coals at various international forums. The relationship between Abbas and Hamas is bad on an epic scale, but when it comes to incitement against Israel, they are best buddies.
     “The Hamas and PA officials are even spelling this argument out in their rejection of the US initiative to improve the lives of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Not only are Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas wholly shirking their responsibility to their people, they also are prepared to foil any attempt by outsiders, in this case the US, to work towards ending the crisis in the Gaza Strip.
     “Dismissing the initiative, . . . a top Abbas aide in Ramallah, said: ‘The US knows very well that Israel is the main reason behind the Gaza tragedy.’
     “{The Abbas aide} deserves an award for being a professional liar. This is the man representing the president and government that continue to impose severe sanctions on the Gaza Strip and its residents. Yet, it’s more comfortable for Abbas and his cronies to continue blaming Israel and lying to the international community. Unfortunately, we {have been} facing an international community that is often quick to swallow any lie or fabrication coming from the Palestinians. [Emphasis mine]
     “So the PA does not want to resolve the crisis, nor does it want anyone else — like the Americans — to help. The PA doesn’t like Trump or his ideas for peace in the Middle East. But what does that have to do with the 'economic and humanitarian crisis'? Why should this hatred or dislike prompt the PA to reject any attempt by Westerners to help its own people?
     “Consider, for a moment, what Hamas and Islamic Jihad are also saying about the US initiative on the Gaza Strip. The position of the two terror groups is strikingly similar to that of Abbas and his PA; they too want to continue using the crisis to rally the world against Israel. . .
     “These are the same terror groups that have turned the lives of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip into hell. These are the groups that have brought war and death and destruction upon the people of the Gaza Strip by attacking Israel again and again and again. These are the groups that prefer to import weapons rather than food and medicine into the Gaza Strip. These are the groups that are suppressing and killing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip whose only crime is to demand reform and democracy and a better life.
     “Hamas and Islamic Jihad are no different from Abbas when it comes to their hatred of the US. Their hatred runs so deep that they would rather die than accept a remedy from the US. Not to mention the massively useful pawn that suffering Palestinians are in the popular and longstanding game of tarring and feathering Israel for the Palestinian leadership’s own crimes against its people.
     “All these Palestinian parties share a common goal: to see Israel removed from the face of earth. In their eyes, the incitement against Israel falls into the general framework of delegitimizing Israel. They believe that this process serves their goal of eliminating Israel. Meanwhile, babies and other patients in the Gaza Strip continue to die because of lack of medicine.
     “More than half of the Gaza population lives under the poverty line. But, for the Machiavellian Palestinian leadership, the end justifies the means: tens of thousands of Palestinians can and will be sacrificed on the way to killing Jews and destroying Israel.
     “Palestinian leaders don’t care about their own people so why should they care about peace with Jews?
     “The only peace plan the Palestinians would ever accept is one that facilitates their mission of destroying Israel and killing all the Jews living in the region. They will never accept another plan, even if it comes from Prophet Muhammad.” (Ref. 5) Common sense may now be coming to many of the nations in the world. They may now be ready to finally realize or accept the reality of who and what the Palestinian leadership (the PA and Hamas) is – terrorists who will do anything to retain power and destroy Israel - even at the expense of their own people!

     Breaking with the tradition of not daring to offend the leader of the “Palestinians’, President Donald Trump’s special Mideast envoy . . . harshly criticized Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas for his vicious anti-Semitic remarks against {the} US Ambassador to Israel, . . . saying that ‘the time has come for President Abbas to choose between hateful rhetoric’ and peace.’ [Emphasis mine]
     “In a speech . . . , Abbas pre-emptively rejected an expected White House peace proposal, while condemning {the ambassador’s} close ties with Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, describing him as a ‘son of a dog.’
     “Earlier . . . , {the ambassador} condemned the Palestinian leadership for its silence in the wake of two deadly terror attacks – a car-ramming . . . in Samaria and a stabbing . . . in the Old City of Jerusalem – that claimed the lives of three Israelis. . .
     “ 'The time has come for President Abbas to choose between hateful rhetoric and concrete and practical efforts to improve the quality of life of his people and lead them to peace and prosperity,' {Trump’s special Mideast envoy tweeted}.
     “{The envoy} has repeatedly criticized the Palestinians for investing in terrorism and hate, rather than growth and prosperity." (Ref. 6)

     Continuing to demonstrate that the United States would no longer turn a blind eye to Palestinian acts of terror, the U.S. special Mideast envoy excoriated the Palestinian leadership, when he “criticized the Hamas terror group for its latest ‘cowardly acts’ of terrorism against Israel, which he said will ‘ only escalate violence.’
     “{The envoy’s strong condemnation came after} Palestinian terrorists launched a rocket at southern Israel from the Gaza Strip . . .
      - - -
     “ ‘HAMAS hides improvised explosive device to attack Israeli soldiers & is shooting rockets at Israel again! Such cowardly acts will only escalate violence, not build the prosperous society the people of Gaza deserve!’ {the envoy} tweeted.
     “He was also referring to {an} attack, in which an explosive charge placed by Palestinian terrorists wounded four IDF soldiers on the border with Gaza.
     “{The envoy} has repeatedly assailed Hamas in recent weeks for its investment in terrorism, at the expense of Gaza residents.
     “ ‘Imagine what the people of Gaza could do with the $100 million Iran gives Hamas annually that Hamas uses for weapons and tunnels to attack Israel,’ . . .
      - - -
     “Last month, he pointed out in a tweet that ‘a terror tunnel costs roughly $5.9 million to build ($ that belongs to the people of Gaza).’
     “ ‘Gaza needs options besides Hamas and its enablers. Time to stop pouring money into violence and hatred, and to start investing in a real future for Palestinians in Gaza,’ “ (Ref. 7)

     Led by American president Donald Trump and his administration, there is growing evidence that the rational nations of the world are finally admitting that the PA and Hamas leaderships, - especially PA prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas - are obstacle to any hope of peace between Israel and the “Palestinians”. These terrorist leaders are now being bypassed in the attempt to reach an Israeli/Palestinian peace agreement. The American initiative has included the dispatching of representatives to Arab countries – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan to encourage these Arab nations to take part in, if not lead, in the implementation of an honest peace process between Israel and the “Palestinians”.

     Also, coming to their senses are several African and South American countries that had severed relations with Israel. These countries are now moving to renew their ties with Israel. [8]

     At a recent Mideast summit meeting at the White House, there was further evidence that a number of nations were finally admitting the long-hidden truth that the “Palestinian” leadership, whether that of the PA in the so-called West Bank or of Hamas in Gaza, neither wanted peace with Israel nor gave a damn about the “Palestinian” people over whom they wielded despotic and inhumane control.

     “The meeting in the White House last week with Israeli and Arab Gulf state leaders to address what is said to be a looming humanitarian crisis in Gaza – which went forward despite an imperiously-announced Palestinian Authority boycott – was a very big deal.
     “Gaza is now generally accepted as a Palestinian enclave and expected to be a vital part, together with some areas currently nominally controlled by the Palestinian Authority, of any Palestinian state should one ever be agreed upon. For Arab states – including not only the major ones, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan but also Qatar, Bahrain Oman, and the United Arab Emirates – to agree to sit down to discuss its future with Israel in the absence of the Palestinian Authority is a highly significant development. And there were several European nations present as well.
     “. . . The messages seem clear. For one thing, the U.S., the major Arab states, and some European ones are fast moving away from the notion that the PA is part of the solution to the Israeli-Palestinian controversy. [Emphasis mine] {I}ndeed, these nations are now beginning to admit the obvious - the Palestinian Authority and Hamas have consistently been the problem and not part of the solution!
“. . . the meeting came after months of reports of many countries, including Arab ones, salivating to take advantage of Israel’s burgeoning and pioneering technological advances as well its military strength in light of the Iranian threat to the region.
     “And above all, we finally have an American administration willing to tell the Palestinians and the world that Palestinian recalcitrance to negotiating seriously and realistically will no longer be rewarded by U.S. pressure on Israel to make more and more concessions. [Emphasis mine] In this particular instance, Mahmoud Abbas told the United States that because of its decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move its embassy in Israel there, it would not come to the meeting. The U.S. response was pointed: ‘So don’t come. But know that we are not waiting for you.’ ” (Ref. 9)

Following America’s Lead, More Countries are Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital and Will be Moving their Embassies to Jerusalem

     “. . . Despite its threats that doing so would lead to ‘days of rage’ that would spill over to the Arab Street across the Mideast, the U.S. announced its intention to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Israel’s longtime capital. The Arab Street has been largely silent, as have been Arab governments, many of which have been cooperating closely, albeit discreetly, with the Israeli government on common security and economic matters for years.
     “These are not happy times for Palestinian rejectionists. The bitter split between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas shows no sign of healing. The 82-year-old Abbas, now in year 13 of a four-year term, faces widespread calls for his resignation, and his furious denunciations of America and threats to boycott it suggest that he may be imploding. Palestinian-fueled efforts to generate boycotts of Israel are not succeeding; tourism to Israel breaks new records each year, and countries like India and China are focused like lasers on signing deals to secure the benefits of Israeli technologies. (Ref. 10)

     “Just two days after the president of Guatemala made history as the first Central American leader to announce his decision to relocate his nation’s embassy to Jerusalem, Honduras and Panama are following suit.
      - - -
     “Honduras was the other Latin American nation that had the courage to vote against the United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for a wholesale rejection of U.S. President Donald Trump’s historic recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his decision to move the American embassy to the holy city.
     “That makes four. And that's the snowball effect.
     “A growing number of countries have recognized at least part of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. And the number of countries moving their embassies is growing too.” (Ref. 11)

     At the end of 2017, it was reported that some 10 countries, in addition to the U.S., were considering moving their embassies to Jerusalem. As Palestinian intransigence continued to grow, it is expected that even more countries will join the rush to locate their embassies in Israel’s capital.

Foreign Financing of Palestinian Terrorist Activities is Coming to an End

     The signing in Late March 2018 “of a law cutting American funding to the Palestinian Authority unless it stops paying families of Palestinians who murder Israelis marked the latest rude awakening for the Palestinian leadership, which has grown comfortable believing that it can do whatever it wants without facing any consequences. The bipartisan Taylor Force Act, named after an American killed in a terrorist attack in Israel two years ago, was directed at what has been called the Palestinians’ ‘pay-to-slay’ program, rewarding the killers of Israelis by paying thousands of dollars to their families. [Emphasis mine]
     “{The ‘pay-to-slay’ program} is a refinement of a Palestinian policy of naming schools and sports tournaments after those who have ‘succeeded’ in massacring Israelis, thereby paying tribute to those doing the massacring and encouraging other Palestinians to follow suit.
     “Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reacted angrily to the legislation, outraged that the U.S. would interfere with what he regards as his government’s right to support those he calls Palestinian ‘martyrs.’ It is a measure of just how entitled the Palestinians have become that they take it as an obligation on the part of American taxpayers to subsidize killing.” (Ref. 10)

     “The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a pro-Israel lobby body on Capitol Hill, noted that the Taylor Force Act is ‘a major milestone after years of hard work to stop this horrendous practice perpetuated by Palestinian leadership. No longer will America tolerate rewards and incentives for terrorism. It must end once and for all.’ “(Ref. 12)

     Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement that “Passage of the Taylor Force Act will serve as a shot across the bow to President Abbas, as he must be held accountable for the Palestinian Authority’s record of incitement and subsidizing of terror.” (Ref. 13)

     Rather than discontinuing its practice of rewarding terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, Abbas and the PA have chosen to defy the U.S. and the Taylor Force Act, which slashes most US aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) unless it stops paying salaries to terrorist prisoners and their families. In response to enactment of the Taylor Force Act. “the PA announced via its 2018 budget that it will continue to reward terrorists even more directly than in previous years.
     “While the PA previously used subterfuge to funnel payments to imprisoned terrorists and the families of those eliminated while committing their crimes, it now plans to make these payments directly using the PA Commission of Prisoners . . .
     “In 2018, the PA is devoting 44% of anticipated foreign aid to rewarding terror, with close to 7.5% of the PA’s entire operational budget earmarked for salaries to terrorist prisoners, released terrorists, and families of killed or wounded terrorists. In total, the Palestinian government will shell out $355 million to reward terrorism in 2018. [Emphasis mine]
      - - -
     ”Diverging from its recent practice the PA has stopped using an intermediary to pay terror salaries. This means that for the first time since 2014, the PA isn’t even bothering to hide its payment of terror salaries, brazenly including the budget for these salaries as a direct PA budget expense (‘transfer payments’).
     “In 2014, after Palestinian Media Watch {PMW} showed the US Congress, the EU, and many European parliaments that the PA was using donor money to pay salaries to terrorist prisoners, the PA closed its Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs and lied to the international community, saying a new PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs was paying the salaries from non-PA sources. . .
     “PMW then exposed that the PA was actually transferring the money to the Palestinian National Fund (PNF) which then transferred the money to the PLO commission, which paid the terrorists . . . This proved that the salaries for terrorist prisoners were paid with PA money. This brought donor outrage, leading to the Taylor Force Act in the US and measures by other governments. However, now, the PA’s budget for 2018 has revealed that the PA has resumed paying the salaries to terrorists directly to the commission.
     “The PA’s Ministry of Health, which serves the entire Palestinian population, has a budget of 1.787 billion shekels, while the PA uses 1.237 billion shekels to reward terror, benefiting only a fraction of the population.” (Ref. 14)

     The nations of Denmark and Sweden have also decided to stop donating to Palestinian organizations that have been funneling the money to terrorists and their families. [15]

     Britain also has joined those countries discontinuing fianancial support of Palestinian terrorist activities. The British “International Development Secretary . . . suspended aid payments to the Palestinian Authority amid claims taxpayers cash is ending up in the hands of terrorists. . . Earlier this summer furious MPs demanded action after revelations UK aid supposedly paying for civil servants in Gaza was being transferred to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation. . . One Hamas master bomber was alleged to have been given £100,000 by the PLO. . . Other ‘salaries’ is said to have gone to families of suicide bombers and teenagers attacking Israel. . . The decision by the Department for International Development means £25 million in cash is being withheld this year – a third of the total aid sent to Palestine.” (Ref. 16)

     In yet another move to end nations of the world’s subsidizing of Palestinian terrorists and their families, “the Council of Europe for the first time called on the Palestinians to stop incentivizing terrorism . . . for the first time, the Council of Europe called on the PA to stop providing financial support to prisoners convicted of terror acts and to their families. The resolution was adopted . . . with a vast majority.
     “According to PA laws and regulations, every terrorist arrested, tried and imprisoned in Israel receives monthly financial payments. The more Israelis killed and the longer the terrorist is sentenced to prison, the higher the PA payment to the terrorist or their family.” (Ref. 17)

Are There Peace-Loving Palestinians?

     The world is repeatedly told by the experts and various talking heads that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to Live in peace. The same can be said of the majority of “Palestinians”. “Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant.” (Ref. 18)

     During one of my trips to Israel, I was taking a taxi in Jerusalem and got to speaking with the Arab driver who had come to Israel from Gaza. He said to me: “All the Arabs in Gaza want to live in peace.” What he meant was that, many, if not most residents of Gaza were just peace-loving Muslims who wanted nothing more than to ‘live in peace’. The fact is that fanatics rule the West Bank and Gaza – not the majority of “peace loving” Muslims who live there. “The hard quantifiable fact is that the ‘peaceful majority’ is the ‘silent majority’ and it is cowed and extraneous. . . Peace-loving {Palestinians} have been made irrelevant by the fanatics. Peace-loving {Palestinians} have been made irrelevant by their silence. . . {History has repeatedly taught us that} Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chines, Russians, Rwandans, Bosnians, Afghans, Iraqis, . . . Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others, have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.” (Ref. 18) Are the “Peace-loving Palestinians”, the “silent majority”, finally coming to their senses and are they about to make their voices and their will heard? Silence is no longer an option!

Israel’s standing in the International Community is Improving

     President Donald Trump has declared that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and is moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This break with past American policy will hopefully get the cause of peace finally moving forward. While some would say the President’s move was risky, it is the first positive step toward breaking the logjam that has stymied every effort at achieving a settlement of the Israeli- Palestinian impasse. Other nations are, somewhat hesitantly, following the President’s lead.

     There is change in the sea-state of international dealings with the state of Israel. The growing improvement in Israel’s foreign relations are indicated by the following (Ref. 19) : “UN votes are significant indicators of symbolic support for the Palestinian cause or the two-state solution, but no country has changed its economic or diplomatic relationship with Israel in the wake of the latest UN vote, with the exception of Guatemala, which announced that it would follow the United States in moving its embassy to Jerusalem.” [Emphasis mine] . . . “{T}here have been notable examples of Israel’s wider diplomatic outreach in the past two years. At the 2016 General Assembly session, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with fifteen African heads of state and ambassadors. In November 2016, he became the first Israeli prime minister in three decades to travel to East Africa, where he met with the heads of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. Visiting Kenya again in November 2017, Netanyahu was received by President Uhuru Kenyatta at his residence on inauguration day; he was the only Western leader who took part in the festivities and was seated next to Kenyatta during the celebratory meal. He was also the only foreign leader asked to speak at the lunch. Similarly, in September 2017 Netanyahu set another diplomatic precedent, venturing to Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico in the first-ever trip by an Israeli prime minister to South America.” . . . Israel’s trade with Asia’s major powers is growing fast. “One part of this is the arms trade: only Russia tops the Jewish state as China’s largest arms supplier. But the Israel-China relationship is broader: their trade has steadily grown since diplomatic ties between the two countries were established in 1992. China (including Hong Kong) is now second only to the United States as a source of imports to Israel and as a destination for Israeli exports, and the Chinese state-owned Bright Food Group purchased a 56 percent controlling stake in the Israeli dairy conglomerate Tnuva, which controls more than 70 percent of Israel’s dairy market. ‘Hardly a day goes by without another Israel-China initiative being announced, whether it’s a new Israeli tech incubator in China, new investments, joint ventures, trade conferences or delegations’ “ . . . “The story is similar with India. In June 2017, Israel’s Economy Ministry stated that trade between the two countries had increased by 2,000 percent over the last twenty-five years rising from $200 million to about $4 billion.” . . . “Israel’s relations with Arab- and Muslim-majority states are improving as well. On the sidelines of the 2017 General Assembly session, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi held his first meeting with Netanyahu. As one senior analyst at the International Crisis Group stated, 'Egyptian-Israeli relations are today at their highest level in history.' While formal, and often cold, diplomatic relations began in 1979, today the two countries closely cooperate on security issues relating to Gaza and, especially, Sinai, where they work together against the threat from extremist groups.” . . . “No doubt some of this change is due to concerns about Iran that Israel and many Sunni-majority nations, especially in the Gulf, share. In 2015, Israel opened a diplomatic mission in Abu Dhabi . . . and ‘the rapprochement that significant sections of the Israeli military and security establishment have long wanted with the Gulf Cooperation Council has taken root since 2011, as the post–Arab Spring landscape has provided the opportunity to deepen unofficial ties in areas of shared concern.’ . . . On top of all this, Netanyahu visited Muslim-majority Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan in 2016, firsts for an Israeli prime minister.”. . . “Israel’s exports to the European Union continue to rise steadily; total trade between the European Union and Israel expanded from 23.8 billion euros in 2006 to 34.3 billion euros in 2016.” . . . “Mexico has announced an end to its automatic support for anti-Israel resolutions, and India broke ranks with Arab states for the first time in 2017, withholding support for various resolutions condemning Israel. There were some other encouraging signs: In 2006, 60 percent of the country-specific resolutions adopted by the Human Rights Council targeted Israel. That declined to 40 percent after the United States joined the council in 2009 and fell to less than 20 percent in 2016.” . . . “At the bilateral diplomatic and economic level, Israel is gaining ground, even with Muslim-majority countries. . . But the general trend is clear: Israel is forging new diplomatic and economic ties with many countries, improving old ties with others, and expanding its trade and financial partnerships.”

     Israel’s relations with the Arab/Muslim world continues to improve, as the Palestinian/Israeli issue recedes in importance, particularly as the extremist positions of the “Palestinian” leadership are increasingly at variance with those of the leaderships in many parts of the Arab/Muslim world. Israel’s Minister of Energy stated what many had long suspected. "We have partially clandestine ties with many Muslim and Arab countries.” . . In another indication of improving relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, said: “ ‘Hezbollah is a terror organization. There is no peace in Lebanon unless it's disarmed.’ Those words could have come from Israel's leaders, who see Hezbollah -- an Iranian proxy -- as a serious, possibly strategic, threat to Israel.” (Ref. 20)

     In what would have been unthinkable a few years back, Saudi Arabia has declared that Israel has a right to exist. “In an interview . . . in The Atlantic, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said Israelis have a right to their own land.” Also, “in a surprising turn of events, Saudi Arabia permitted Air India, which launched a direct flight to Tel Aviv, to fly over Saudi airspace, ending a decades-long ban on Israeli commercial flights over its territory.” (Ref. 21) Clearly, the times they are a’changin’!

     In breaking with past failed efforts by the international community to impose peace between Israel and the “Palestinians”, President Trump has publicly stated what has long been obvious: “that no solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians can be imposed by others. That has repeatedly been tried before . . . and has failed.” (Ref. 22)

Palestinian Leadership’s Hopes to Destroy Israel are Dying

     The “Palestinian” cause is waning. That cause is a full-fledged Palestinian state that, as it is usually portrayed, will live side-by-side with Israel in peace and security. Such a perception has never been realistic. Simply put, the “Palestinians” don’t want to live side-by-side with Israel in peace – they want to eliminate Israel from the face of the earth. Trump and some others are finally admitting what has been obvious to many of us.

     The fantasy of a road leading to a two-state final peace agreement has held court since the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995. But, “After a quarter-century on this road, there is still no end in sight. The peace process generation in Washington, populated by Bill Clinton, George Bush, Barack Obama and their policymakers, is passing from the scene. . .
      - - -
     “The Palestinian cause has effectively worn out its welcome. For no government in the Middle East or outside of it is the Palestinian right to a state a priority. Egypt (in 1979) and Jordan (in 1994) signed peace treaties with Israel decades ago. Syria is in shambles. Saudi Arabia has secretly cooperated with Israel for years and its new leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is likely to increase rather than decrease that cooperation. . .
     “For the United States, settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict used to be a priority because of Washington’s support of Israel, but also because Arab Sunni countries were a big source of oil. However, America's shale-based energy revolution decreases the Middle East’s importance to America’s vital interests. Even protecting Israel is less important, because Israel is in less danger than it used to be. For Moscow, the Palestinian cause is basically irrelevant.
     “As for the peace process: No, the peace process has not broken down. There simply is no peace process, and has not been for years. Sporadic factitious negotiations are not a peace process.
     “Arguably, over the past few decades the worst enemy of the Palestinian people has been their own leaders. The peace process and the Palestinian cause were always a dead end so long as there was no unified leadership and one of the governing groups -- Hamas in Gaza -- maintained its vow to destroy Israel. Add to that the Middle East’s upheaval since the so-called Arab Spring in 2011, plus the arrival of Islamic State, and the persistence of al Qaeda as well as other Salafi-jihadist groups. In that context it was always unrealistic to expect Israel to agree to a Palestinian state.
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     “The Palestinians need a post-peace-process generation of leaders, people ready to accept geopolitical and historical reality in order to turn their outlook from hopeless to hopeful. The post-Yasir Arafat leadership that has been in place for two decades is finally passing from the scene. Abbas and his cohorts have little legitimacy and have no time left to help Palestinians rather than fight their own losing battle with history and vanity. They failed abysmally to organize themselves to deal with military and political defeat in the least damaging way.” (Ref. 23)

Will Common Sense Prevail?

     President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s ancient and modern capital appears to have finally started thinking and peace-loving people to open their eyes. These people are now proceeding from what has been badly missing in our Orwellian world – reality – toward meaningful steps to address the true facts concerning the Palestinian/Israeli impasse. Genuine peace must be based on reality, not fantasies. Peace between “Palestinians” and Israelis will be accomplished only when “Palestinian” leaders are forced to abandon their genocidal fantasies of wiping the Jewish state off the map. This goal can only be achieved with the elimination of the current “Palestinian” leadership – Abbas, Hamas and other Arab extremists. Will the world show some common sense and join in the effort to finally bring an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? Will the world stop kow-towing to the tyranical Palestinian rulers who have never wanted to achieve peace, but whose only objectives were maintaining their positions of power and of destroying the State of Israel?

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