Ted Belman, Israpundit

Two years ago I explained why “Palestine” will never come into existence. Events since then have confirmed my views.

The Bush trip to the Middle East was over before it began. Or putting it another way, Bush is just going through the motions.

In my opinion, it is Time to apply the Mandate.

The two-state solution essentially was formulated in Resolution 181 otherwise known as the Partition Plan.

Almost from the day after the signing of the Palestine Mandate, Great Britain violated the Mandate and restricted Jewish immigration giving rise to the Partition Plan.

It is time to return to the original mandate which favoured:

“the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”.

Today, after reading the address by Pres. Bush, I advised, Stop worrying - The peace process is dead, and proceeded to analyze the speech paragraph by paragraph.

And for those who missed a recent poll, Israelis, by margin of 68:29, are against full withdrawal and division of Jerusalem.

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By Barry Rubin

What should President George W. Bush, currently visiting the Middle East, expect to achieve during his last year in office, even as the American people begin to choose his successor?

The answer could not possibly objectively clearer and subjectively more obscure. The gap between the real Middle East and how it is perceived by all too many people in Washington and in the academic-journalistic elite is far too wide.

Three quick examples are useful to underline this point. First, the Annapolis summit was widely hailed throughout America and the West as a big success, even by Bush’s biggest enemies. (That means, of course, it achieved the main goal, which was not primarily about the Middle East itself.) In the region, however, less than one-fifth of Israelis and Palestinians thought it had done any good. People in the region knew better.

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by Steven Shamrak

At the opening of the Conference of Donors for a Palestinian State in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy emphasized the urgency of creating a Palestinian state by the end of 2008. International donors eagerly pledged $7.4 billion, pretending that it will boost the Palestinian economy.

The list of fake friends of the fictitious Palestinian nation is long: the United States pledged $555 million for 2008, though about $400 million has not been approved by Congress; Britain, $500 million; Norway, $420 million; Spain, $360 million; France and Sweden, $300 million each; Germany, $290; Belgium, €86 million; the new Australian government pledged $39 million, almost doubling the intended pledge; and the European Union, €440 million ($650 million) in grants to the Palestinians in 2008.

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By Barry Rubin

Ring, ring, goes the telephone. And of course I answer it.

The voice on the other end says that he is “Joseph” of Reuters. I get many calls from journalists and wire services but never has someone I don’t know introduced himself by first name only. Since he has an obvious Arabic accent it is quite clear that he thinks I am either so biased as to care what his family name is or so stupid not to guess why he isn’t giving it.

So the effect is to achieve the exact opposite of what he wants. It puts me on my guard.

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by Dr. Steve Carol

As the Olmert government continues its obsession to basically ignore continued Arab rocket attacks on Israeli towns and citizens, to surrender additional territory including Jerusalem, and do the work of previous Arab/Muslim conquerors and uproot Jews from the Land of Israel even before the Arabs achieve victory — news continues to flow in which raises the question again and again, “Is there a bottom to the pit of depravity to which the current Israeli government will sink?”

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by Daniel Pipes*

Lavishing funds on Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority to achieve peace has been a mainstay of Western, including Israeli, policy since Hamas seized Gaza in June. But this open spigot has counterproductive results and urgently must be stopped.

Some background: Paul Morro of the Congressional Research Service reports that, in 2006, the European Union and its member states gave US$815 million to the Palestinian Authority, while the United States sent it $468 million. When other donors are included, the total receipts come to about $1.5 billion.

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By Ted Belman

Post Annapolis, the Palestinian Authority made it crystal clear that it will never recognize Israel as a “Jewish state”. Furthermore, it made it crystal clear that it will not compromise on Jerusalem making it a capital offense to do so. Yet negotiations continue. Either Olmert doesn’t believe the PA or what is more likely, he will still cut a deal where Israel is denied that recognition and will divide Jerusalem according to Arab demands.

Do not think for a moment that these entrenched Arab positions are negotiable. They aren’t and never have been.

Ever since Theodor Herzl wrote The Jewish State in 1896, the Arabs, with one exception, Faisal ibn Hussein, have opposed it.

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By Barry Rubin

A strange malady has apparently descended on part of Israel’s, much of America’s, and most of Europe’s elite. Let’s call it Syriantoxication, the belief that there is a real chance to make peace with Syria and–in its extreme version–that Lebanon should be sacrificed for that goal.

To call this wishful thinking is understatement. Why is this happening?

Few Israelis believe that negotiations with Palestinians will lead anywhere. Those on the right think it’s dangerous, those in the center believe it can be done without harm and for limited benefit, those on the left doubt it will work but wishful thinking compels them to hope even without conviction.

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By Jonathan Spyer

Last week’s demonstrations across the West Bank in protest of the Annapolis conference showcased the entry into the public eye of a new force in Palestinian politics - the pan-Islamic Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation.) The party held a demonstration numbering 2,500 in Hebron, and one of its members was killed in subsequent clashes with Palestinian Authority police. Similar gatherings took place in other West Bank cities. Hizb ut-Tahrir’s slow emergence from eccentric obscurity has been a subject of note among observers of Palestinian affairs in recent years. The anti-Annapolis demonstrations are the latest stage in this process. These events may indicate deeper political currents - both in the West Bank and beyond.

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by Philip Carl Salzman*

Conflicts within the Middle East cannot be separated from its peoples’ culture. Seventh-century Arab tribal culture influenced Islam and its adherents’ attitudes toward non-Muslims. Today, the embodiment of Arab culture and tribalism within Islam impacts everything from family relations, to governance, to conflict. While many diplomats and analysts view the Arab-Israeli dispute and conflicts between Muslim and non-Muslim communities through the prism of political grievance, the roots of such conflicts lie as much in culture and Arab tribalism.

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By Ted Belman, Israpundit

“Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists” Pres Bush said after 9/11. He went on to identify N. Korea, Iran and Iraq, the “axis of evil” and to declare the “war on terror”. The last thing he wanted to do was to identify the enemy. N. Korea was included in the list for fear that someone might think, G-d forbid, that Moslems were the enemy or that Islam was the enemy just as Communists and Communism were during the cold war.

It’s not that he didn’t know who the enemy was. After all, 15 of the 19 highjackers were Saudis who were inspired by Saudi supported Wahabbism. Its not that he viewed the use of terror as the enemy because the US had created al Qaeda to use terror to defeat the Russians in Afghanistan. It is not that this was the first time that the US was attacked by Arabs or Muslims starting with the Islamic revolution in Iran and the hostage taking of US diplomats.

Angelo Codeville, a professor of international relations at Boston University, wondered and wrote a startling article in the Fall of ‘02, Post Mortem to a Phony War. If you missed this article, don’t miss it now. It’s a classic. Read it here.

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By Barry Rubin

Before the Annapolis meeting, some said the operation would save the patient; others that it would kill the patient. In fact, the patient is exactly the same but the doctors had a hell of a big party and congratulated themselves on doing a terrific job.

We’ll end the conflict by December 2008, says President Bush. We want to make peace and get along, say Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). The Western media cheers it as a big success since everyone showed up and said the right words; nobody walked out or hurled insults. It’s enough to make you believe that peace is at hand.

But there’s a huge gap between Western and Middle Eastern reactions to the meeting. While the former celebrates, the latter knows better than to expect anything.

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By Ted Belman

About a month ago, I wrote Annapolis is about wiping Israel off the map. A devotee of Israpundit wrote to say that I went too far in accusing the US of that. Since I believe that accepting the Saudi Peace Plan would place Israel in mortal danger, I advised him that in criminal law, when one proceeds in reckless disregard for the consequences, one is deemed to have intended them. That is not to say that there are not many in the State Department who do in fact want to see the end of Israel.

Recently I advised Why I hate Annapolis and this article was widely distributed. One lawyer wrote to say in effect “Hogwash”. I wrote him back with a few facts and he backed off and said there were two ways to look at things. I agree. The right way and the wrong way, but I am sure he didn’t mean it in that sense.

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By Barry Rubin

I love Annapolis. A charming town that has maintained its historic district quite nicely. Nice little harbor with interesting shops. Then there’s the magnificent statehouse, best-known for George Washington’s famous farewell speech, when he gave up the command of the American army at the end of the revolution rather than making himself dictator, got on his horse, and rode home to be a farmer.

Oh, and then there’s the Annapolis summit conference on the Middle East, an area where most of the regimes are based on army commanders who didn’t resign and rode home but who rather marched into the local equivalent of the statehouse and seized power.

Let’s see if we can glean some interesting points from the massive coverage of this event.

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By Phyllis Chesler

At the recent Annapolis meeting, behind closed doors, up close and personal, the assembled Arab foreign ministers refused to shake hands with Tzipi Livni, Israel’s Foreign Minister. She asked her Arab counterparts, especially her Saudi counterpart, why they did not want to shake hands with her. “I am not plague-ridden” Livni said. According to the Dutch minister, all the Arab ministers backed away from her as if “she were Dracula’s sister”. (These details are contained in both today’s Washington Post and in Guysen International News).

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