Happy Jerusalem Day!

Here are 10 facts about Jerusalem Here from Back Spin

1. A Jewish majority resided in Jerusalem before the city’s unification.
2. The Arab population under Israeli rule grew more than in any other preceding period.
3. Jordan was defined as the aggressor both in 1948 and in 1967.

An anti-Jihad Conference in Jerusalem

I posted this over at LGF2. Read the comment thread there if you are interested.

Robert Spencer and Atlas Shrugs are there. I wonder why Charles has not posted on this? Read more about this event here. 

Thanks Bweep for reminding me of this. I wonder if they are going to post any good audio of this online.

UPDATE: Thanks arwynkafir. A link of the event itself.

Update: Here is a link to the text of Geert Wilders speech. Thanks to Jeppo. If anyone has any links to the texts, audio, or video of what happened today please post them. I recommend reading the speech despite its length.

It Has started Obama the Jihadi wants Israel to Give up half of Jerusalem

From Gateway Pundit

BREAKING: BARACK OBAMA PLANS ISRAELI WITHDRAWAL TO 1967 BORDERS

Jerusalem- The Wailing Wall
June 7, 1967

(Azure)

Sometime around 10:15 on the morning of June 7, 1967… 
The first reservist paratroopers of Brigade 55 broke through the Lion’s Gate leading into the Old City of Jerusalem and reached the narrow enclave of the Western Wall. Having just fought a fierce two-day battle in the streets of east Jerusalem, they grieved for lost friends, and grieved as well for their own lost innocence in what for many was their first experience of combat. They leaned against the Wall, some in exhaustion, some in prayer. Several wept, instinctively connecting to the Wall’s tradition of mourning the destruction of the Temple and the loss of Jewish sovereignty—precisely at the moment when Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem had been restored.

Several hours later, Yitzhak Yifat, a twenty-four-year-old reservist about to begin medical school, reached the Wall. As part of the brigade’s 66th Battalion, he and his friends had fought in the Six Day War’s toughest battle: Intimate combat against elite Jordanian Legionnaires in the trenches of Ammunition Hill, on the road to Mount Scopus.

“The Photograph: A Search 
For June 1967″
Yossi Klein Halevi
Azure
Summer 2007

But, this will all change when Barack Obama becomes president.
Jerusalem will be split.

Barack Obama will give East Jerusalem away in exchange for “peace.”
The Times Online reported, via LGF:

Barack Obama is to pursue an ambitious peace plan in the Middle East involving the recognition of Israel by the Arab world in exchange for its withdrawal to pre-1967 borders, according to sources close to America’s president-elect. 

Obama intends to throw his support behind a 2002 Saudi peace initiative endorsed by the Arab League and backed by Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister and leader of the ruling Kadima party. 

The proposal gives Israel an effective veto on the return of Arab refugees expelled in 1948 while requiring it to restore the Golan Heights to Syria and allow the Palestinians to establish a state capital in east Jerusalem. 

On a visit to the Middle East last July, the president-elect said privately it would be “crazy” for Israel to refuse a deal that could “give them peace with the Muslim world”, according to a senior Obama adviser.

A while back Benjamin Netanyahu talked about how well these unilateral withdrawalshave worked for Israel in the past:

“The unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon created an Iranian outpost – from which Israel is being attacked – in the North, and the unilateral pullout from Gaza created a second Iranian base in Gaza, ‘Hamastan,’” Netanyahu said. “And now the government is planning a third withdrawal – from Judea and Samaria – that will lead to a third Iranian outpost.”

But, this time it will bring peace.

Barack Obama won 77% of the Jewish vote this year.

UPDATE: Caroline Glick warns Israel of the perils ahead.

B Hussein Obama Jerusalem is not for Sale

After selling out Jerusaelem by promising it to the “Palestinians” as there capitol. Hussein has the audacity to try to defile the holiest place in the world for the jewish people.

It is just sick how many people buy into Obama’s lies. Just yesterday he said he was leading the senate banking committee and making direct action to put sanctions on Iran.  He strait out lied. He is not even a member of the banking committee.

Another Lie from Obama: Obama Throws Jerusalem Under the Bus

It looks like Obama is making another false promise. I found this on LGF

Obama Throws Jerusalem Under the Bus

Barack Obama’s flip-flops are getting closer together; now he’s “clarifying” points he made just a day ago: Obama clarifies united J’lem comment.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama did not rule out Palestinian sovereignty over parts of Jerusalem when he called for Israel’s capital to remain “undivided,” his campaign told The Jerusalem Post Thursday.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama addresses AIPAC Policy Conference 2008, Wednesday.

“Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided,” Obama declared Wednesday, to rousing applause from the 7,000-plus attendees at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference.

But a campaign adviser clarified Thursday that Obama believes “Jerusalem is a final status issue, which means it has to be negotiated between the two parties” as part of “an agreement that they both can live with.”

 

Israel Matzav has even more on this with video 

Check out the following links if you missed them
 

CHANGE– Obama Plays Pretend At AIPAC Today OBAMA still hates Jews and Israel

OBAMA WRONG ON ISRAEL, RIGHT FOR JIHAD

Barack Obamas about-face on the Palestinian cause

50 lies of Obama: Here is a list of 50 lies of Obama The List is still growing Do what we can to prevent this fraud from stealing the white house

Obama Describes Israel As a Constant Sore That Infects

Obama Linked To Arab Marxist Terrorist Group

Happy 40th Birthday Israel- Yes I Mean 40

I don’t this Israel is Israel without Hebron and Jerusalem. Read this great article I found on Yid with a Lid.

Happy 40th Birthday Israel- Yes I Mean 40: “
The battle for Israel’s birth began 60 years ago next month, but the modern state of Israel wasn’t born 60 years ago in 1948. The state created in 1948 had no Hebron and no Jerusalem, these two cities represent Judaism’s heart and soul. Hebron is the birthplace of the Jewish Homeland where Abraham first bought land. Jerusalem is were we made a home for God, it has been the center of Jewish expression for almost three millennia. As soon as Israel had gotten its hand on Hebron and Jerusalem 40 years ago, it has been trying to give them away. The story below is about the brave families who made their way to Hebron in 1968 to celebrate that first Hebron Passover since the 1929 massacre by the Arab population drove the Jewish Population away:

Forty Years in the Desert David Wilder
April 15, 2008 

In a few nights we will participate in one of Judaism’s most ancient ceremonies, and certainly one of the year’s most treasured events. We sit around a table and conduct a Seder – the annual recitation of the story of Israel’s redemption from Egypt.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook, Israel’s first Chief Rabbi, writes that that exodus had a two-fold purpose. On the one hand, it was a goal in and of itself, that being liberation from Egyptian bondage. However, he teaches that the exodus was also a means to an end, that end being the reception of the Torah at Mount Sinai, and eventually, observance of that Torah in Eretz Yisrael. The exodus as a stand-alone event was momentous, but its real significance came to pass only years and decades later.

We are currently marking the sixtieth anniversary of Israeli independence. The Jewish people have made tremendous leaps and bounds over the past six decades. Who could have expected, in May of 1948, the power and prestige a Jewish state would command at the beginning of the twenty-first century. This is especially notable considering the fact that the Jewish people, coming out of a 2,000 year old exile, had to virtually recreate its national being from scratch, having been totally removed from exercises in sovereignty for two millennium. On top of this we can never forget that Israel was reborn from within the ashes of Auschwitz. Jews have prayed, day in and day out for thousands of years for not only a return to Zion, but also for Techiat HaMetim, the revival of the dead. Israeli independence is no less than revival of the dead. For this, we rejoice and give thanks to the L-rd for have granted us this most magnanimous gift of national life.

That’s the up side. The down side is all too well known. From the very beginning there was a concerted effort made to oppress the foundations of Jewish being. The founding fathers, or most of them, were not great fans of observant Judaism. The kidnapping and forced resettling of over 1,000 Yemenite children is perhaps the quintessential example of attempts to eradicate Judaism from the Jews. Yet Ben Gurion was known to have answered, in reply to a question about Jewish legitimacy to settle in Eretz Yisrael, that the source of Jewish rights to the Land is the Bible.

The relationship between Israel’s leadership and our Land has been overtly problematic. Eretz Yisrael was almost viewed as a ‘card’ to be dealt at the proper time. This was explicitly felt both prior to and following the 1967 Six Day war, when Israeli leaders attempted to refrain from liberating Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, and following their liberation, expressed a desire to abandon them at the first possible opportunity. So it was that Israeli paratroopers, having captured the Old City of Jerusalem and Judaism’s most sacred site, Temple Mount and the Kotel (The Western Wall) were told to prepare to leave only a short time after the victory.

Yamit, Oslo, Hebron, Gush Katif and the northern Shomron all speak for themselves. Other words are superfluous.

Where does this leave us, after sixty years?

In my humble opinion, the state of Israel isn’t really sixty years old. Yes, if we count from 1948, to 2008, the result is sixty. But in reality, we couldn’t really call ourselves a full-fledged sovereign entity while our heart was still in captivity. That heart being Jerusalem and Hebron. They go hand-in-hand, together. David began in Hebron for seven and a half years before moving up to Jerusalem. Hebron was lost in 1929; Jerusalem in 1948. Jerusalem was liberated on the 28th of Iyar and Hebron the following day. Hebron was chopped into two parts in January, 1997. Ehud Barak offered Arafat 90% of Jerusalem only a few years ago. The fates of these two eternal, holy cities are inextricably combined and cannot be separated.

Following the Six Day war former Jerusalem residents, expelled during the 1948 War of Independence were repatriated. Moshe Dayan, then Minister of Defense, refused to speak to former Hebron Jewish homeowners who had lost their property to Arab marauders following the 1929 riots and massacre, and subsequent final expulsion in the spring of 1936. Only in 1968, exactly forty years ago this Friday, did Jews return to the first Jewish city in Israel.

As with many such stories, from close-up they seem almost ordinary. In reality, not only a physical reality, but also a metaphysical truth, such events are earthshaking, or perhaps better put, ‘heaven-shaking. ‘ The return of a small group of Jews, that 1968 Passover in Hebron, with the guidance of Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda HaKohen Kook, with the participation of Rabbis Waldman, Druckman and Levinger, was the forerunner of a massive awakening, a returning to the heart of our land throughout Judea and Samaria. But this awakening too was not only a corporeal return to the land; rather, it was, primarily, a spiritual arousing, the voice of the Jewish people bursting through the ages, an almost primal expression of the faith buried so deep inside the souls of the Jewish people, who for centuries had cried out ‘next year in Jerusalem,’ whereby ‘Jerusalem’ was the keyword representing all our land, Eretz Yisrael. Without Jerusalem, without Shechem, without Hebron, we were as a body without a soul, a golem, whose bodily movements were predefined, perhaps classified as ‘natural.’ But the spirit, the inner essence, the heart, the soul, was missing. Only with the liberation of Jerusalem and Hebron and with them the rest of Judea and Samaria could we really and truly say, ‘we are back home – we have returned.’

That Passover, forty years ago, was the breaking of the ice – the trailblazer, the results of which are the authentic rebirth, physically and spiritually, of the Jewish people. As Jews began returning to their physical roots, so too did they commence the return to their spiritual roots; the numbers of Jews who have ‘returned,’ who have come back to observant Judaism in the past 40 years is beyond numbers. And that homecoming, as such, began with, and was initiated by our return to our land, our return to our heart – to Jerusalem and Hebron. The group of Jews who initiated and participated in that ‘Seder’ in Hebron in 1968 might not have known it then, and maybe some of them are still unaware of it today, but they were the sparks that set the fire of the return of the Jewish people to themselves after two thousand years.

Just as the exodus from Egypt had a double goal; one immediate and the other long-term, so too did our statehood in 1948 have a double agenda; one immediate – announcing before all the world, we, the Jewish people have not died out, we have escaped the bondage of galut, of exile, you have not been able to extinguish us; and also long-term – to bring the people back to all their land, to all their land and to all their heart and soul, physically and spiritually.

So as we celebrate sixty years and forty years, we can conclude that really, only now, are we beginning. The Jewish people spent forty years in the desert before entering the Land, forty years fraught with problem and crises. Now, we too have finished forty years, also filled with unimaginable predicaments. And just as then, when we came into the land the problems didn’t come to a swift end, we too, today, may still face unbearable situations. But those aren’t the key. The key is, we are home, we are in Israel, we have returned to Hebron and to Jerusalem, we have rediscovered ourselves, we have been granted the Divine gift of life, we are here to stay.

Happy Passover, Happy 60, Happy 40!

Please email me at yidwithlid@aol.com to be put onto my mailing list.
Feel free to reproduce any article but please link back to http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com

“

(Via YID With LID.)</

The Western Wall has been deemed too controversial for US President Bush to visit. Instead he will climb Masada, with PM Olmert as his guide

Reading this article’s title brought shivers down my spine. It seems as if Bush and Olmert are trying to bring the jewish people to the massacres of the past (Masada), instead of a thriving future at the western Wall the future site of the 3rd temple. In every generation they rise up against us. The jihadis are not the only ones that are trying to kill the jewish people in my opinion, Olmert and the US government policy is a bigger threat. They are a wolf wearing sheep’s clothing. They pretend they want to help the Jewish people and by pass our defenses until they are close enough to kill.

Report: Western Wall Too ‘Controversial’ For Bush Visit: “The Western Wall has been deemed too controversial for US President Bush to visit. Instead he will climb Masada, with PM Olmert as his guide.”

Haaretz reported that Bush’s aids were leaning toward the Masada fortress. The site was where Jews held out against the Roman army, but were eventually beaten and committed suicide rather than face the humiliation and torture of captivity. Haaretz mentioned the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron, the Golan Heights and the Western Wall, explicitly, as places deemed too controversial for Bush to visit.

The Western Wall, also called the Kotel (“wall” in Hebrew) or Wailing Wall, is the western retaining wall of the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site. The mount itself is occupied by two Muslim structures and Jewish worship there is severely restricted. The Western Wall is highly symbolic as it has been the focal point of Jewish worship in the most recent return to Zion. It was approachable via a small alleyway prior to the War of Independence, was off-limits to Jews under Jordanian rule following the 1949 armistice and was liberated in the 1967 Six Day War. Among the most famous photos in Israel’s history is that of IDF paratroopers looking up at the wall with awe following their participation in the battle for the Old City. Shortly after the victory, Israel bulldozed the area around the wall, creating a huge prayer plaza.

Muslims have recently been staking a claim not only to the Temple Mount, but to the Western Wall as well. They call it Al-Burak and say the religion’s founder, Mohammad, tied his horse there during a midnight journey that took him to “the farthest mosque” – which they say is a reference to the Jerusalem mosque later given that name.

The Bushes also want to witness the Biblical prophecy of the ingathering of the exiles first-hand. White House staffers report that the Bushes are looking to meet with recent olim (Jewish immigrants to Israel) during the visit.

Bush will not be visiting Palestinian Authority-controlled areas or meeting with PA officials during his visit to Israel, but will hold a meeting with Fatah chief and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Egypt afterward.

Media analyst Dr. Aaron Lerner of Israel Media Research and Analysis says that the phenomenon of Bush steering clear of the Western Wall does not bode well and belies statements by Israeli officials’ claiming an improved relationship with the US due to Israel’s willingness to make repeated concessions to Fatah. “Things are so screwed up that while the Pope can visit the Western Wall in what was clearly the “Israeli” portion of his visit, President Bush can’t make the same photo op as part of his historic trip marking Israel’s 60th anniversary,” Lerner opined. “And now an example of the incredible lack of thinking on the part of whoever is working on this trip: instead of visiting places associated with Israel’s rebirth or ancient life – the idea is a photo op at a place remembered in history for the group of Jews who committed suicide rather than fall captive to the Romans.”

Dr. Lerner concluded, with tongue-in-cheek: “Then again. How appropriate. PM Olmert, who critics warn is following a suicidal path with the Palestinians, will visit Masada with Bush.”

O Jerusalem! America drafts plan to cut in 2

Israel should not give up any of Jerusalem to terrorist. Olmert is trying to sell Israel’s soul for the illusion of peace. He must be stopped.

O Jerusalem! America drafts plan to cut in 2: “Aaron Klein
WorldNetDaily

JERUSALEM – The United States, which has been mediating negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority here, has proposed a plan to divide Jerusalem, WND has learned.

The plan, divided into separate phases, among other things calls for Israel eventually to forfeit parts of the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site.

According to the first stage of the U.S. plan, which was obtained by WND, Israel would give the PA some municipal and security sovereignty over key Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem.

The PA would be allowed to open some official institutions in Jerusalem, could elect a mayor for the Palestinian side of the city and would deploy police forces to maintain law and order. The initial stage also calls for the PA to operate Jerusalem municipal institutions, such as offices to oversee trash collection and maintenance of roads.

After five years, if both sides keep their certain commitments called for in a larger principal agreement, according to the U.S. plan the PA would be given full sovereignty over the eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods and also over sections of the Temple Mount. The plan doesn’t specify which parts of the Temple Mount would be forfeited to the Palestinians.

After the five year period, the PA could deploy official security forces in Jerusalem separate from a police force and could also open major governmental institutions, such as a president’s office, and offices for the finance and foreign ministries.

The U.S. plan leaves Israel and the PA to negotiate which Jerusalem neighborhoods would become Palestinian. According to diplomatic sources familiar with the plan, while specific neighborhoods were not officially listed, American officials recommended sections of Jerusalem’s Old City as well as certain largely Arab Jerusalem neighborhoods such as Jabal mukabar, Beit Hanina, Shoafat, Abu Dis and Abu Tur become part of the Palestinian side.

As WND reported previously, many of the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, including all of Shoafat, a large Arab section, were constructed illegally on property owned by the Jewish National Fund, a Jewish nonprofit that purchases property using Jewish donors funds for the stated purpose of Jewish settlement.

According to diplomatic sources, the plan is being discussed by Israel and the PA but has not yet been accepted.

The sources said the plan was delivered earlier this month by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her trip to the region to push Israeli-Palestinian negotiations started at last November’s U.S.-backed Annapolis summit, which aimed to create a Palestinian state before the end of the year.

Since Annapolis, negotiating teams including Israeli Foreign Minister Tzippy Livni and chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia have been meeting weekly while Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and PA President Mahmoud Abbas have been meeting biweekly.

The U.S. is ‘very deeply involved’ in all aspects of the negotiations, according to a top diplomatic source.

To demonstrate the level of U.S. involvement, the source pointed to recent U.S. supervision of Israeli commitments to dismantle about 50 West Bank anti-terror roadblocks and to bulldoze what are called illegal outposts, or West Bank Jewish communities constructed without government permits.

‘The U.S. oversaw the removal of each and every roadblock, making sure the roadblocks were actually removed,’ said the source.

‘Also, even though Israel prepared a report of all illegal outposts and handed it to the Americans, U.S. officials have been doing their own very specific independent investigating to find each and every illegal outpost and then oversee their dismantlement,’ the source said.

Olmert’s government has hinted a number of times it will divide Jerusalem.

In December, Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon said the country ‘must’ give up sections of Jerusalem for a future Palestinian state, even conceding the Palestinians can rename Jerusalem ‘to whatever they want.’

‘We must come today and say, friends, the Jewish neighborhoods, including Har Homa, will remain under Israeli sovereignty, and the Arab neighborhoods will be the Palestinian capital, which they will call Jerusalem or whatever they want,’ said Ramon during an interview.

Positions held by Ramon, a ranking member of Olmert’s Kadima party, are largely considered to be reflective of Israeli government policy.

Olmert himself recently questioned whether it was ‘really necessary’ to retain Arab-majority eastern sections of Jerusalem.

Israel recaptured eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount – Judaism’s holiest site – during the 1967 Six Day War. The Palestinians have claimed eastern Jerusalem as a future capital; the area has large Arab neighborhoods, a significant Jewish population and sites holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

About 231,000 Arabs live in Jerusalem, mostly in eastern neighborhoods, and many reside in illegally constructed complexes. The city has an estimated total population of 724,000.”

(Via avideditor’s shared items in Google Reader.)</

Olmert: Time for a change in personnel

Olmert is a traitor to the Jewish people and the state of Israel. I think he should step down now. Anyone that is not stepping out of his coalition is spitting on the Torah and has blood on their hands, Shas I am looking at you. It is just sick what Olmert is doing to the State of Israel. Some people blame Rice but I blame Olmert. After hearing this story yesterday I find that Rice is just a pawn and Olmert is the true problem for Israel. He said someone asked Bush something like: Do you think the American President that causes policies to devide Jeruslem will be blessed or cursed? Bush said cursed and he is doing all he can to make sure Olmert doesn’t do that. I hope the Jerusalem post story bellow is wrong and Olmert loses his coalition or loses his ability to be the PM this week.

Politics: Time for a change in personnel: “Gil Hoffman
THE JERUSALEM POST
The Knesset’s winter session marched in like a lion and out like a lamb.

It began in October, amid speculation about whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would survive the impending release of the 629-page Winograd Report. It ended Wednesday, with a 117-second Olmert speech in which he thumbed his nose at the people who six months earlier were sure that they would oust him.

Now Olmert has six weeks free of any annoying no-confidence votes, sordid speeches and pesky parliamentary perfidy. But he is not free of politics. This week proved that even when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice comes to town to talk peace, and Syrian President Bashar Assad drafts reserves to hint at war, the lead headlines in the Hebrew press and the general public discourse will still focus on whether there will be war or peace in internal Israeli politics.

Current and former defense ministers Ehud Barak and Amir Peretz dueled in Labor. Shlomo Benizri became the seventh MK convicted in Shas. Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter unleashed a fierce attack on the government’s diplomatic policies in Kadima. And everyone speculated about how long Olmert would be able to hold onto power in the face of last Friday’s Dahaf Institute poll, which found that 59 percent of Israelis considered him a failure, and which ranked him tied with Barak for last in the ratings of Israel’s best prime ministers.

The latest spin that emerged this week was that Olmert would initiate an election as early as next month, when US President George W. Bush comes to town to celebrate Israel’s 60th birthday. Rice reportedly told an Israeli leader on Sunday that she wanted the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams to reach a deal by then on a declaration of principles that Bush could announce during his visit.

Politicians speculated this week that Olmert could take that declaration and immediately initiate an election as soon as possible; during the campaign, he would use the deal as his diplomatic platform to try to win another four years in power.

Senior politicians in all three of the largest parties spoke this week about a ‘May surprise’ as a realistic scenario. The thinking behind such a move would be for Olmert to try to catch his rivals in Likud and Labor when they are down.

The only problems with this thinking are that it makes no political sense for an unpopular prime minister like Olmert to unnecessarily risk ending his political career; that no planning has been done by Olmert or his associates behind the scenes to prepare for such a move; and that Israel never holds elections in the summer.

The following are five more likely scenarios about when the next election will be held, their probability, and what circumstances could bring make them a reality:

• November 2008

Likud faction chairman Gideon Sa’ar has been pushing for months to hold the next general election on November 4, which coincidentally is the date of the American election, and not coincidentally is when Israelis will go to the polls to elect their mayors.

Combining the elections would save the country lots of money and could potentially strengthen the larger parties by encouraging a higher turnout. But it could also create headaches, because the party funding for the two kinds of races is handled differently, and because 17-year-olds are allowed to vote for mayors.

This scenario could come about if Barak decides he needs to initiate an election soon to save his credibility, or if Shas decides to repent by toppling the government over negotiations on Jerusalem that its leaders should know full-well are in fact taking place.

Probability: Low

• February/March 2009

Barak told his associates this week that he does not see himself taking any steps to leave the coalition until after the municipal elections, because government funds give the party an advantage. Shas also needs more time to finagle more funds for its pet causes and ensure that mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s son becomes chief rabbi of Jerusalem.

November 4 is of course not only the date when people will go to the polls in Detroit, Dimona, Deganya and Denver. It is also D-day for the talks with the Palestinians that were initiated in Annapolis.

Olmert will do everything possible to reach a final-status agreement with the Palestinians by that deadline, to ensure his legacy and to give a parting gift to his close friend, US President George W. Bush.

He could then initiate an election 90 days later to run on that deal and try to win support from the entire center-left of the political map.

Probability: Very High

• May 2009

Same scenario as the last one, except that this time, Shas leaves the government when the Annapolis plan is unveiled, and Olmert manages to hang on for a while with a minority coalition, thanks to votes from Meretz and Arab MKs.

Holding on for another couple of months would allow the state budget to pass, and would accomplish an important goal for Olmert: He would last longer as prime minister than his rival, opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu.

Olmert has already passed Barak and Moshe Sharet in longevity. If he passes Netanyahu, he could try to make the case that he was not among Israel’s worst prime ministers.

Probability: Medium

• Fall 2009

No one in Israeli politics is seriously talking about
this possibility, in part because they cannot think so far in advance, and because they doubt that any government could last so long without an upheaval.

But this is the Middle East, where instability is a fact of life. Wars break out that have the power of persuading even Israelis to put politics aside for a while. This could delay an election that looked like it would have been in the spring to the fall.

Probability: Low

• November 2010

This is the actual date set by law for the next election. Olmert says all the time that this is when the next election will be held.

But it is doubtful that even Olmert believes that. Election dates in Israel haven’t been a sign of when an election will be held for decades.

It would take a miracle for Olmert, who hit a nadir of three percent in the polls after the Second Lebanon War, to finish out his term. And though miracles may happen in Jerusalem, they won’t for Olmert.

Probability: Extremely Low”

(Via avideditor’s shared items in Google Reader.)</

Evangelist Hagee pledges $6 million to Israel

I wish more christians in the US acted like Hegee. The jihadis will destroy Europe and then America if Israel falls.

Evangelist Hagee pledges $6 million to Israel: “Rally held by group founded by controversial American Christian leader backs Israeli sovereignty over entire unified capital while donating millions to public causes. ‘Turning part or all of Jerusalem over to the Palestinians would be tantamount to turning it over to the Taliban,’ Hagee says”

American Evangelist John Hagee on Sunday announced donations of $6 million to a number of Israeli causes and declared that Israel must remain in control of all of Jerusalem.

Hagee, who has been in the news lately for his endorsement of US Presidential candidate John McCain and his criticism of the Catholic Church, brought hundreds of backers on a solidarity trip to Israel.

Hagee’s group, Christians United for Israel, held a colorful rally at Jerusalem’s convention center. The mostly American audience waved Israeli flags and cheered as Hagee joined keynote speaker Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of Israel’s hardline opposition Likud party, to insist Jerusalem remain united and under Jewish control.

”Turning part or all of Jerusalem over to the Palestinians would be tantamount to turning it over to the Taliban,” Hagee said. Palestinians claim the eastern part of the city, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, as the capital of their future state.

Among the 16 causes Hagee supported with the contributions he announced were divided the Magen David Adom emergency service and a conference center in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Ariel.
The fate of Jewish settlements like Ariel is one of the issues at the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Support of evangelicals for Israel’s maintaining control of all of the West Bank endears them to Israeli hardliners but troubles more dovish activists.

”If they’re giving money to mainstream causes it’s hard to object,” said political analyst Yossi Alpher, who edits an Israeli-Arab online newsletter.

But he added, ”When they give money to extreme right-wing causes and when they direct their political support there, they are damaging the peace process.”

Hagee’s statements about Catholicism caused McCain to distance himself last month. The San Antonio pastor suggested that Catholic anti-Semitism shaped German Nazi ruler Adolf Hitler, among other comments.

World > Countries and Territories > Israel

World > Countries and Territories > Israel: “

 

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/israel/index.html

From: Anne Lieberman
Date: Sunday, April 06, 2008 8:36 AM
To: WebEditor@NYTimes.com
Subject: World > Countries and Territories > Israel

Since Israel is the only predominantly Jewish country in the entire world, it seems odd to me that you would top your Israel index page with a picture of a mosque.

Are you TRYING to be offensive? Or are you simply unconscious?

Anne Lieberman

Things may be getting a little better at the Times since Ethan Bronner has replaced Steven Erlanger as Jerusalem bureau chief; see for example Bronner’s front page article about Sderot.

But still … so much damage has already been done and there’s no taking it back. I will go to my grave remembering the front page of the Travel Section, Easter Sunday 2006:

 

 

 

 

“

(Via avideditor’s shared items in Google Reader.)</

J’lem Arabs fear Israeli retaliation. They should. I hope Israel retaliates soon

Israel should retaliate. I have been holding my tongue for too long. Israel should revoke the Israeli ID for all muslims no longer living in Israel. Innocent unarmed children who where studying torah where massacred by muslim thugs using back door access into Israel. Innocent people will die as long as the Israeli government gives free healthcare and education to people that want to destroy Israel. Israel should take away theses benefits revoke the IDs and move the jihad’s out of Jerusalem. Any one that hires a a muslim has blood on there hands. They are supporting these jihadis. If Israel doesn’t have enough back bone to follow the torah an kill the people that want to kill them first, it should at least close its borders and give murders no ability to kill innocent Jews. I am insulted that the Jerusalem post so liberal and complaining of “collective punishment.” Israel needs to punish the society that created the murders not just the murders themselves. 

Many Arabs in Jerusalem expressed fear over the weekend that Israel would retaliate for last Thursday’s shooting attack at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva by denying them privileges they are entitled to as holders of Israeli ID cards.Meanwhile, the family of Ala Abu Dhaim, the 25-year-old resident of Jebl Mukaber who carried out the shooting spree, reacted with mixed feelings to the involvement of their son in the attack. Some of them hailed him as a “hero” and “martyr,” while others expressed fear that the attack would give Israel an excuse to impose strict measures against Arab residents of the city.”This attack has caused huge damage to the Arabs in Jerusalem,” said Hisham Shkirat, a resident of the neighborhood. “I’m very worried when I hear some people in Israel talk about expelling Arabs from the city in response to the attack.”As residents of Jerusalem, the 220,000 Arabs living in and outside the city are entitled to the same privileges as Israeli citizens, with the exception of voting for the Knesset.Since they hold blue Israeli ID cards, the Arabs in the city enjoy freedom of movement and are entitled to social, economic, health and education services provided by the state.Unlike Palestinians living in the West Bank, the Jerusalem Arabs are also entitled to drive cars with yellow Israeli license plates.”I hope Israel does not resort to collective punishment following this attack,” said school teacher Majdi Shweiki, who lives in Silwan. “I believe that the majority of the Arabs in Jerusalem would prefer to continue living under Israeli rule.”Shweiki said he was nevertheless concerned that some Israelis would exploit the attack to demand a tough policy against the city’s Arab residents.”In every society you have a minority of people who act against the interests of their people,” he said. “But we must bear in mind that most of the Arabs here are peaceful.”Shweiki said young people such as Abu Dhaim were obviously affected by the scenes of dead children and women in the Gaza Strip during the IDF operation in the Gaza Strip last week.”The Arab TV stations, specifically Al-Jazeera, broadcast many pictures from the Gaza Strip that had a negative impact on many people,” he said. “I’m sure Abu Dhaim was also affected by the things he watched on TV.”An Arab lawyer living in the Bet Hanina neighborhood did not rule out the possibility that Israel would revoke the Israeli ID card from many Arab residents in response to the attack.He warned that such a move would have “serious repercussions” and could drive more people into the open arms of the radicals.”Revoking the ID card is tantamount to deportation from the city,” he said. “Once you lose your status as a resident of Jerusalem, you would not be permitted to enter the city or any part of Israel.”The lawyer said that an Arab who lost his status as a resident of Jerusalem would also be denied payments from the National Insurance Institute, free health care and education.”These are severe measures that could backfire,” he cautioned. “When you deny people their rights, they will resort to violence.”In Jebl Mukaber, relatives of Abu Dhaim said they were surprised to hear that he had carried out the attack.”Ala was a quiet man,” said his cousin, Omar Abu Dhaim. “He was engaged and was supposed to get married this summer. We had no idea that he was planning something like this.”He also denied reports that Abu Dhaim belonged to Hamas or any other group. However, some residents said Abu Dhaim was known for his support for both Hamas and Islamic Jihad. “He was a very religious person,” said one neighbor. “But we didn’t expect him to carry out such a big attack.”On Friday, the police released Abu Dhaim’s father, Hisham, and one of his uncles. The two were arrested shortly after the attack. The father used to work as an engineer for the Jerusalem Municipality.Abu Dhaim’s fiancée remained in custody over the weekend, as did a number of his relatives and friends.One of Abu Dhaim’s cousins, who asked not to be identified, said he was proud of Abu Dhaim, whom he described as a shahid (martyr). “We have nothing to apologize for,” he said. “Ala did what he did because of the Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This was a heroic operation that was carried out against radical Jews, some of them members of the Israeli security forces.”The Fatah-controlled media has also praised Abu Dhaim as a martyr, describing the attack as a heroic operation. Fatah’s armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, issued a statement in support of the attack.One of the mukhtars (elders) of Jebl Mukaber, who also asked not to be identified, said he was worried by the fact that many residents of his village viewed the attack as an heroic act.He said he and other village leaders phoned Israeli friends over the weekend to condemn the attack and ask that Israel refrain from taking retaliatory measures against the whole village.”Most of the young men here work in Israel,” the mukhtar said. “Some of them have already been told not to return to work and this is very worrying. We hope that Israelis will refrain from collective punishment.”