[Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News] 12/24 Link Pt1: Even Amira Hass Is too 'Zionist'; PA attacking PMW repeatedly for "incitement" ~ EoZ

From Ian:

To understand just how extreme a worldview is required to label Hass too “pro-Israel,” some background is in order. Hass is Haaretz’s longtime Palestinian affairs analyst, but she’s unique among the Israeli journalists covering this beat in that she doesn’t live in Israel; she has lived for over two decades among the Palestinians, first in Gaza and then in Ramallah. This isn’t merely out of journalistic dedication; it’s where her avowed sympathies lie.
She states explicitly that she isn’t a Zionist. As she put it in the above mentioned column, during a panel she moderated at last week’s Haaretz conference in New York, “The newspaper’s representatives made it clear that Haaretz is a Zionist publication, that its opposition to the occupation stems from Zionist principles. I found it appropriate to distinguish myself from this stance.”
In this same column, she wrote that overseas Jews who move to Israel “would be choosing to participate in another crime,” a message she said she has delivered at forums ranging from the Haaretz conference to meetings with South African Jews. As she correctly noted, this is the antithesis of Zionism, which “preaches in favor of the immigration of Diaspora Jews to Israel.” In contrast, she appears to favor letting Palestinians immigrate to Israel; at any rate, she devoted several paragraphs to decrying Israel’s refusal to let them to do so.
Moreover, she believes Palestinians have a “right” to kill Israelis; in a now-infamous column in 2013, she wrote, “Throwing stones is the birthright and duty of anyone subject to foreign rule.” That those stones are lethal weapons whose victims are primarily innocent civilians – the list of Israelis killed by Palestinian stone-throwers ranges from infants through toddlers to senior citizens – evidently doesn’t cause her any moral qualms.
So what could Hass possibly have done to enrage those “pro-Palestinian activists” to the point of accusing her of the worst crime in their book – Zionism? In her own words, “The thing that apparently angered them most was that I dared claim that the use of weapons does not advance the Palestinians’ cause today.”

State Dept Unconcerned PA Recruits and Funds Arabs to Murder Israelis

Back to Lee, attempting to nail down for himself and other journalists how to characterize the response of the State Department to the Congressional Letter:
LEE: Okay. So if – tell me if I’m wrong then. The response to this letter is going to be: Thank you very much for your letter. No, we —
MS TRUDEAU: I can’t get ahead of that. What I’ll say is we will —
LEE: Well, what you just said is you think you would oppose —
MS TRUDEAU: What I’ll say is what our position is, which is we believe the PLO is an important partner in advancing the two-state solution.
Perhaps it is relevant that Trudeau does not even mention peace as part of the goal, just the creation of a Palestinian State.
LEE: Right. So – and you also said that you believe that the office – closing the office would be detrimental to your efforts to calm the situation.
MS TRUDEAU: Exactly.
LEE: So you’re opposed to this?
MS TRUDEAU: So we believe that the PLO has a valid place.
LEE: Right.
MS TRUDEAU: We’d like to see that office – and we’d oppose those efforts, yes.
The money line, finally, although still in the subjunctive mode (we would oppose? No, they will and do oppose), Trudeau ‘fesses up and gives permission for all the reporters to say the government opposes the Congressional effort.
LEE: Okay. Thank you.
MS TRUDEAU: That’s great.
That’s it. Lee was able to nail down the official response of the State Department to a Congressional effort to take an “affirmative step” to “calm the situation.” That completely insipid response was based on a characterization of the Congressional letter which completely ignores blatantly terrorist activity by the Palestinian Arab leadership.
It appears, based on this exchange, that the U.S. is not at all serious about promoting peace between Arabs and Israelis. Instead, it is only focused on empowering the Palestinian Arab leadership, no matter that it actively and intensively promotes the murders of Israelis. The sole goal of the State Department with respect to the Arab-Israeli conflict is to create a Palestinian Arab state. The rest is empty window dressing.

PA attacking PMW repeatedly for “incitement”

As Palestinian Media Watch’s reports on the Palestinian Authority are growing in importance internationally, the Palestinian Authority is attacking PMW more frequently, accusing PMW of “incitement” against the PA and Mahmoud Abbas. Three times during the current Palestinian terror, PA officials or official PA media have attacked PMW.
Last week, the head of the press office of the PA Ministry of Information, Nida Younis, attacked PMW, telling official PA TV that PMW facilitates incitement by Israeli officials. She stated that Dore Gold, the Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry uses PMW’s findings for “incitement against the Palestinians and the Palestinian curriculum”:
Head of the Press Office, PA Ministry of Information, Nida Younis: “The Undersecretary of the [PA] Ministry of Information, [Mahmoud Khalifa], who found it necessary to produce a film about the Israeli incitement, especially now, when Dore Gold (Dir.-Gen. of Israel's Foreign Ministry) has intensified, for instance, through the PMW organization, the incitement against the Palestinians and the Palestinian curriculum.” [Official PA TV, Dec. 17, 2015]

PA Ministry of Information attacks PMW: “PMW” facilitates “incitement against Palestinians”

Jerusalem attack victims remembered as ‘joyful,’ ‘hero’

Family and friends mourned two Israelis killed in a Jerusalem terror attack Wednesday, including one mistakenly shot by police and an Argentinian-born rabbi stabbed to death by Palestinian assailants.
Rabbi Reuben Birmajer, a father of seven and member of the faculty at the Aish Hatorah yeshiva, died after being suffering deep stab wounds as he left Jerusalem’s Old City via the Jaffa Gate Wednesday.
Another person stabbed in the attack was hospitalized with serious injuries.
Birmajer, a resident of Jerusalem suburb Kiryat Ye’arim, was buried in a late-night funeral at the Har Hamenuhot cemetery in the capital’s Givat Shaul neighborhood.
He was a man “full of joy and life,” Zvi Klor, director of the Spanish language program at the Old City’s Aish Hatorah yeshiva, told the NRG news site.
Born in Buenos Aires to a secular family, Birmajer, 45, moved to Israel five years ago after becoming religious, Klor said.

VIDEO: Israeli policewoman describes stabbing attacks in Jerusalem

An Israeli policewoman described the first moments of an attack during which two Palestinians went on a stabbing spree along a popular walkway in Jerusalem on Wednesday.
In a video released by Israel Police, the policewoman said she saw people running. Her identity was concealed in the video.
"We saw three people who started running from the direction of Kikar Tzahal to the direction of Jaffa gate. It was a crazy run, you can tell something happened. We ran towards them to see what happened," she said.
"Both of them were on top of him. Two on one. He was still stabbing," she added.

Jerusalem attack victim killed trying to tackle terrorists

New details emerged Thursday morning about the deadly stabbing attack outside of Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem yesterday afternoon.
Jerusalem resident Ofer Ben-Ari succumbed to gunshot wounds incurred during the attack shortly before 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday evening, followed less than an hour later by second stabbing victim Reuven Birmacher.
Asi Aharoni, spokesman for the Jerusalem District Police, told Army Radio on Thursday that Ben-Ari was shot by security forces while trying to stop the terrorists from stabbing Birmacher to death.
"This is a civilian who apparently understood it was an attack and struggled with the terrorists," Aharoni explained.

Jerusalem stabbers served time for terrorism

The two Arab terrorists who stabbed three Israeli civilians outside Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem Wednesday afternoon have been identified as a pair of former convicts, both of whom were arrested for terrorism and imprisoned in the past.
Annan Hamad, 20, and Issa Assaf, 19, both Qalandiya residents, have each served time in Israeli prison for terror-related offenses.
Hamad was imprisoned after approaching a checkpoint with a knife several years ago, apparently specifically to cause security officials to arrest him. During interrogation, he said he was simply "tired of life."
Assaf, meanwhile, was recently released from prison after serving a sentence for unspecified terrorism-related offenses

Assailant killed while trying to stab soldiers with screwdriver

Palestinian man attempting to stab soldiers with a screwdriver was shot and killed near the West Bank city of Hebron Thursday morning, the Israeli military said.
The army said the assailant, “armed with a screwdriver, approached a checkpoint near Hebron and attempted to the stab security forces.”
The soldiers opened fire on the man, killing him, the IDF said.
No Israelis were injured in the incident, the second West Bank stabbing attack in less than an hour.

Two guards injured in stabbing at West Bank industrial zone

A Palestinian stabbed and injured two security guards at an industrial park outside the West Bank settlement of Ariel, police and army officials said Thursday morning.
Guards at the site shot and killed the attacker during the incident, police said.
One victim, 24, was listed in serious condition after suffering several stab wounds to his upper body.
A female guard, also 24, was listed in moderate condition with stab wounds to her upper body, according to police and the Magen David Adom rescue organization.
Both were fully conscious and were rushed to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, the MDA spokesperson said.

One injured in car-ramming in third attack of day

One person was lightly injured Thursday morning in a suspected car-ramming in the West Bank north of Jerusalem, Israeli officials said, the third attack in as many hours Thursday morning.
Magen David Adom paramedics said they were treating the victim for light injuries.
The army said a car tried to hit soldiers and border police at the Adam junction next to the Rama army base. The driver was shot and killed at the scene, an IDF statement said.
Photos from the incident showed a white Hyundai minivan with a man lying down in the driver’s seat.

Palestinian killed, Israeli soldier injured in Qalandiya skirmish

One Palestinian died and one Israeli soldier was injured during an exchange of gunfire in the Qalandiya refugee camp in the West Bank on Thursday.
Soldiers entered the camp, located between Jerusalem and Ramallah, to arrest suspects in a shooting attack. Once inside Qalandiya, the forces were assaulted by a violent mob, the army said.
The soldiers were targeted with guns, hit with an explosive device; Molotov cocktails and rocks were also thrown at them, the IDF said.
“In response to the immediate danger, the force fired toward the gunmen. Hits were confirmed,” an IDF spokeswoman said.
According to Palestinian media, Bilal Omar Za’id, 24, a resident of Qalandiya, was killed in the skirmish, and six others were reportedly wounded.

Shin Bet arrests Nazareth area cousins, 'ISIS operatives who planned attacks in Israel'

The Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency arrested two cousins from the Nazareth area on suspicion of being ISIS operatives who plotted a terror attack in northern Israel.
The men were arrested on November 22, the Shin Bet said on Thursday, in a joint investigation with Israel police's Northern District.
Security forces named the suspects as Muhammad Bader Hassan, 20, a resident of Rina, and Ahmed Sa'adiya, 23, of Umm El-Ghanem.
According to the investigation, the two made a journey to Turkey in May 2015 with the intention of entering Syria and joining ISIS's ranks.
Their journey was preceded by communications between Sa'adiya and ISIS operatives in Syria and Turkey, in which the Israeli Arab volunteer allegedly received directions and assistance in crossing into Syria.

Hamas Terror Cell Nabbed at Soros-Backed Bard College Partner over Bombing Plans

Israel’s Shin Bet security service announced Wednesday it had arrested members of two large Hamas terrorist cells in the West Bank planning mass casualty suicide bombings and other attacks inside Israel.
Most of the suspects in both cells were students at Al Quds University in Abu Dis, which is partnered with Bard College in New York. Abu Dis is a West Bank village near Jerusalem.
The Al-Quds Bard College for Arts and Sciences, located in Abu Dis, is a branch of Al Quds that “represents the first dual-degree program between US and Palestinian institutions of higher education.”
Al-Quds Bard College is also partnered with billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Institute and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The Al Quds board of trustees has included Rashid Khalidi, who taught there for 16 years before he became the Edward Said Professor of Arab studies at Columbia University.
Khalidi, a harsh critic of Israel, was a close personal friend to Barack Obama when the two taught together at the University of Chicago. Khalidi lectured at UC until 2003 while Obama taught law there from 1993 until his election to the Senate in 2004.

What if the Hamas terror cell in Abu Dis had succeeded?

Had this Abu Dis cell succeeded, it could have changed the entire nature of the current conflict. The “lone wolf intifada,” emblemized by the knife, could quickly have become an intifada of guns and suicide bomber belts, like the Second Intifada.
But even though this weapons factory and infrastructure were discovered, the fact is that every passing day moves us closer to Second Intifada-style terrorism. Among the many reasons for this: rising motivation in Hamas to carry out suicide bombings in order to weaken the PA; the lack of any real Israeli threat to the military leadership of Hamas that is seeking to orchestrate West Bank violence from Gaza; and of course, the rising level of despair among young West Bank Palestinians, with no hope of diplomatic progress on the horizon.
All of this means that the possibility of suicide bombings becomes more real day by day, and with it the unraveling of the PA.

UK Shadow Foreign Secretary Calls for Palestinian Leaders to be 'More Vocal in Condemning Violence'

The British shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn has called for Palestinian leaders to be “more vocal in condemning violence”. Mr Benn has just returned from a three-day tour of Israel and the West Bank during which he met officials from the United Nations’ refugee agency, toured East Jerusalem and visited a Bedouin community.
In the West Bank Mr. Benn met Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and his education minister before touring Hebron.
Writing for the Jewish News this week, the Labour Party MP said he returned from only his second international trip in the role “full of thoughts and reflections but I am sad to say that politically my overriding sense was of gloom at the lack of progress” since the Oslo Accords. While every leader he met told him of their commitment to the two-state solution, he warned this could “slip away” unless leaders on both sides act speedily including with a settlement freeze and “vocal condemnation of violence”.

AP, NYT Headlines Cast Palestinian Attackers as Victims, Ignore Dead Israelis

Two Israelis died today after a stabbing attack by Palestinians outside Jerusalem's Old City. The attackers were shot and killed by Israeli police, as was one of the Israeli victims, who was mistakenly hit as police tried to neutralize the attackers. The other Israeli died of multiple stab wounds, and a third was badly injured.
An Associated Press headline about the Palestinian terror attack, though, failed to mention the Israeli victims, neglected to specify Palestinians were the attackers, and instead conveyed to readers that it was Palestinians who were killed in a stabbing attack. "2 Palestinians killed following stabbing attack in Jerusalem," the headline stated. The New York Times website also published the AP story, and ran the same skewed and misleading headline.
CAMERA has contacted both outlets and called for the headlines to be immediately revised so that they accurately depict the attack and the deaths.
Update: Shortly after CAMERA contacted AP and the New York Times, the Associated Press revised its headline. It now reads, "2 Palestinian attackers killed, 2 Israelis die in Jerusalem."

PreOccupiedTerritory: Consultant: Stabbers Should Skip Middle Man, Just Shoot Selves (satire)

An efficiency consultant studying Palestinian societal practices issued a report today examining its policies and suggesting changes, including having those who intend to stab Jews avoid the hassle, mess, and expense of an actual attack that would inevitably get them shot, and simply shoot themselves to achieve the same outcome with much less time and effort.
Organizational consultant Dewitt Myweigh, whom the Palestinian Authority hired to advise them on efficiency four months ago, published the results of his research today, with the study’s chief recommendation involving an effort to minimize waste and redundancy. The 70-page report focuses mainly on the Authority’s use of media to reach youth, which has of late emphasized the benefits and glory of killing Jews by various means. Killings and attempted killings of Jews have occurred almost daily for several months, almost without exception resulting in bystanders or security personnel neutralizing the attacker, usually with a firearm. Myweigh noted the complex planning and logistics necessary to mount those attacks, and pointed out that the same outcome could be achieved more quickly, and by going through much less trouble, by having the would-be attackers simply shoot themselves, or have a friend do it.
“In fully 90% of the attacks since October, the assailants have been neutralized with bullets,” he wrote. “In approximately the same percent of attacks, the assailant has had to deviate substantially from his or her normal routine, incur expenses he or she would not normally incur, and allot significant blocks of time for the attack that could be effectively utilized performing other essential activities. Given the availability of firearms in areas under Palestinian control, it would save an average of sixteen hours, three hundred ten shekels, and untold aggravation per assailant to arrange for him or her to be shot without departing from daily routine.”

Analysis: Kuntar killing boosts Israel's image among anti-Assad forces

Faisal al-Qassem, one of the Arab world’s most popular journalists, authored a post on his Facebook page that generated tens of thousands of likes and shares. Al-Qassem, a Syrian Druse, juxtaposed two images – one of Samir Kuntar and another of a Syrian prisoner who was subject to starvation while in captivity.
“This is how Kuntar left Israeli jail – with a pot belly and a doctorate, and this is how Syrians leave prisons run by the Assad family,” the journalist wrote.
In recent years, as the Syrian civil war has grown progressively more gruesome, al-Qassem has written similar posts and columns for well-known Arab newspapers. He has made comparisons between the so-called “patriotic” yet murderous Arab regimes and the so-called “treacherous” Arab governments that look out for their citizens. At times, he has also noted the relatively merciful manner in which Israel treats the Palestinians and contrasted it with the way in which Arab regimes, chief among them the Assad government, has butchered its subjects.
Al-Qassem’s sentiments are shared by many opponents of the Assad regime in Syria. They are happy about the Kuntar assassination, which foreign media reports attribute to Israel’s handiwork, and they are grateful to Israel since Kuntar was perceived as one of the symbols and leaders of the invasion of Syria by a wave of Hezbollah and Shi’ite militias.

Syrian Legal Expert: Hezbollah to Confer With Tehran, Damascus Before Avenging Death of Kuntar

A Syrian legal expert said that Hezbollah would confer with Tehran and Damascus before retaliating for the assassination of terrorist Samir Kuntar, semi-official Fars News Agency reported on Wednesday.
Niam Aqbeiq told Fars that the manner and timing of the retaliation would be determined following consultations with the Iranian and Syrian regimes.
Accusing Israel of having committed the targeted killing of Kuntar — an official of Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy organization in Lebanon — Aqbeiq said the assassination in Syria on Saturday night constituted a violation of international law, and that Hezbollah was “duty-bound to respond to the Israeli aggression.”
A strike reportedly carried out by the Israel Air Force on a building in the Jarmana suburb of Damascus killed Kuntar and nine others.

Iranian Official: ‘Martyr’ Kuntar to Serve as Role Model for Region’s Muslim Youth

A senior Iranian official said on Wednesday that assassinated Hezbollah terrorist Samir Kuntar would become a role model for the Muslim youth of the Middle East, Iranian pro-regime student newspaper ISNA reported.
Ali Akbar Velayati, chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council’s Center for Strategic Research and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s foreign affairs adviser, made his comments while extending condolences for Kuntar’s killing and “congratulations” for Kuntar’s “martyrdom.”
Velayati said, “The news reached us about the martyrdom of the role model of the liberated Lebanese [prisoners] and it aroused the regret and sadness of millions of Muslims and preachers of freedom around the world.”
He added that Kuntar “endured prison and captivity for a period longer (sic) than 30 years and resisted against the oppression [carried out by Israel], and he will transform into a role model of the Muslim youth in the region.”

European states in talks with IAI to find border security solution

In the shadow of the growing threat from Islamic State, a number of European states are in touch with Elta, a subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries, regarding the acquisition of a new intelligence and border security solution, a senior Elta official told The Jerusalem Post in recent days.
Amnon Sofrin, the homeland security projects manager at Elta, served in the defense establishment for 30 years, most of the time in intelligence roles. He set up and commanded the IDF Combat Intelligence Collection Corps from 2000 to 2003, which today is an integral part of all Ground Forces activities. Before that, he was head of the Intelligence Branch in the Mossad for five years.
Today, Sofrin is in the private sector, working with Elta, and he is in contact with Europeans who are looking for new ways to secure their borders in the face of new and unfamiliar security threats. The system Sofrin proposes is already being installed in Africa.
Sofrin cited the mass migration of refugees from Syria, sparked by the ongoing humanitarian disaster there, as a development that has caught Europe off guard, as well as the mounting threat of Islamic State mass casualty terrorist attacks.
Now, European security agencies are in a race to distinguish between the genuine refugees, who are fleeing danger and death. “They don’t know who is whom,” Sofrin said. “The threat within is also there, in the form of religious radicalization in Europe,” he added.

Palestinian refugee girl who cried after Merkel comments gets German residency permit

A 14-year-old Palestinian girl who burst into tears when Chancellor Angela Merkel told her she might be deported has been granted a residency permit to stay in Germany until October 2017, mass-selling daily Bild reported on Thursday.
Reem Sahwil began to cry during a televised discussion forum in July when Merkel told her that Germany could not admit everyone who wanted to live there.
Merkel stroked Sahwil on the back, drawing mockery online from critics who accused her of looking clumsy and lacking empathy. A video clip of the exchange went viral and started the hashtag #merkelstreichelt (merkelstrokes).
Sahwil has now been granted a residency permit lasting until Oct. 17, 2017, Bild said it had learned from the immigration office in the northern city of Rostock.

David Horovitz: The dance of death

The sight is nauseating, unthinkable. And, it turns out, not entirely new.
On its nightly news Wednesday, Channel 10 broadcast footage of dozens of young, ostensibly Orthodox Israeli Jews dancing at a wedding. Rather than celebrating the union of two young people as they set out to build a life together, this clip shows a frenzied celebration of death: the killings of the Dawabsha family — 18-month-old Ali, and his parents Riham and Saad — who were murdered when assailants firebombed their home in the West Bank village of Duma on July 31.
The Israeli far right has sought to deny the investigating authorities’ contention that the Dawabsha killings were an act of Jewish terrorism. The lawyers for several Jewish suspects in the case have sought to blacken the name of the Shin Bet security agency for allegedly torturing them. Several Knesset members have lent a degree of support to this campaign. Hundreds have demonstrated on the suspects’ behalf.
But the scenes from this wedding last week in Jerusalem tell an awful, unmistakable story. For here, gathered together in wild revelry, are dozens of young Israeli Jews delighting in the deaths of the Dawabsha family.

PM blasts ‘shocking’ tape of wedding-goers feting Duma murders

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday night denounced a “shocking” video clip showing far-right extremists celebrating the killings of the Dawabsha family, joining dozens of other politicians and public figures coming out against the taped incident.
Politicians from both sides of the political aisle strongly condemned the clip, aired by Channel 10, which shows revelers at the Jerusalem celebration waving knives, rifles, pistols and a Molotov cocktail during the wedding.
Amid the festivities, a photo of baby Ali Dawabsha, who was burned to death in the July 31 firebombing in the West Bank village of Duma, is shown being repeatedly stabbed.
“The shocking images broadcast tonight show the true face of a group that constitutes a threat to Israeli society and Israel’s security,” said Netanyahu. “We will not accept people who violate the state’s laws and do not see themselves as bound by them.”

PreOccupiedTerritory: Livni Proposes Negotiations, Concessions To ‘Hilltop Youth’ (satire)

In an interview with Kol Yisrael radio this morning, MK Tzipi Livni said that while it is important to condemn and act against any terrorism coming from the slice of the religious settlement movement known as the hilltop youth, it is just as important for Israel’s security that the hilltop youth be given an economic and diplomatic horizon, so that they see the benefits of a negotiated solution.
“I am under no illusions that we will cause them to love us,” she said. “But they are our partners. Continued violence and suppression cannot be the answer. We need to at least try to resolve our differences at the negotiating table.” Livni led the team of Israelis who negotiated a possible final status with PLO officials during Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s previous term.
Hilltop youth, so called because they disproportionately populate unauthorized settlement outposts along the Judean and Samarian hills, have allegedly been involved in a substantial litany of violent crimes against Palestinians and their property. Usually such incidents involve cutting down olive trees or spraying anti-Arab graffiti, but occasionally they target people, such as in a fatal arson attack in the Palestinian village of Duma over the summer. At a wedding yesterday, a group of such youngsters were filmed dancing with knives and a Molotov cocktail, and stabbing a photo of the toddler killed in that attack. Mainstream Israeli society, including the formal religious Zionist leadership, condemns their behavior and distances itself, while opponents on the left claim the State acts with insufficient force against them for fear of alienating the politically important religious Zionist bloc. Livni stressed the importance of strengthening the moderates among the hilltop youth.

Just say it, you want a Palestinian state free of Jews

Just when one might have thought America was finally focusing on the bloodbath in Syria, Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, used the platform offered by the Haaretz conference in New York to talk again about Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria.
“Continued settlement growth raises questions about Israel’s long-term objectives,” she pronounced. Power, like many others, seems bugged by the “1967 lines,” which as all Israelis should know are nothing more than the 1949 armistice lines concluded with Jordan. These lines delineated the areas occupied by the British-led-and-equipped Arab Legion that attacked Israel on May 15, 1948.
Thus Jordan remained in control of Judea and Samaria. Not only did its army conquer the area, but it was annexed to Jordan. The Jordanians destroyed all Jewish settlements in the area, killed or expelled their inhabitants, blew up the synagogues in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem and denied Jews access to the Western Wall.
Why anyone would want to attach great importance to these lines and insist that Israel, which defended itself against renewed Jordanian aggression in 1967 in violation of the 1949 armistice agreement, is the “conqueror” in the area and that Jews shouldn’t be allowed to settle there was not explained by Power at the Haaretz conference.
Those who oppose Israeli settlements in Judea and Samaria should be honest and admit they’re really saying that the Palestinian state they’d like to see established in Judea and Samaria should be free of Jews, and that Jews who are settled there will need to be cleared out.

'Zionism wins': Knesset approves Settlement Division bill

After several hours of deliberations following months of battling, the Knesset approved Thursday morning a bill to regulate the legal status of the Settlement Division as part of the World Zionist Organization.
Submitted by MK Bezalel Smotrich (Jewish Home), the bill passed its second and third readings by a majority of 53 MKs in favor to 48 opposed. One Knesset member abstained.
The bill will enshrine into law the WZO Settlement Division's role in funding and developing rural Jewish communities in the Golan, Binyamin and Judea Hills, Jordan Valley, Hevron Hills and the Galilee and the Negev, subject, however, to the government's approval.
"The purpose of the bill is anchored in legalizing the longstanding engagement between the Israeli government and the WZO Settlement Division, which for decades has served as the singular body for settlement development in Israel, and the realization of the Zionist mission of the State of Israel," the explanatory notes to the proposal read.

JCPA: “State of Palestine” Passports? Another Violation of the Oslo Accords

Clearly, any issuance of a Palestinian passport outside the agreed framework of the Oslo Accords as detailed above, would be at stark variance with the Palestinian commitments pursuant to the agreements.
Since the Oslo Accords were co-signed and witnessed by the leaders of the United States, the European Union, the Russian Federation, Egypt, and Norway, and endorsed by the United Nations, the issuance of independent passports is in clear and blatant violation of the accords. Passports purporting to be in the name of a non-existent “State of Palestine,” will have no validity and should not be accepted by Israel or by those states and organizations advocating the resumption of negotiations within the framework of the Oslo peace process.

Finally, something Israelis and Palestinians can agree on - their dislike of Obama

Throughout his time in office, US President Barack Obama wanted to see Palestinians and Israelis come together in agreement on a peace deal. Instead, the leader of the free world may be disappointed by the news that the two sides did indeed come together – in their disapproval of his job performance.
According to a new poll by WIN/Gallup International, while Obama is the world leader who is most admired throughout the globe, his favorability rating drops precipitously in Middle Eastern countries including Israel, the Palestinian territories, Iran, Lebanon and Turkey.
The poll indicates that Obama is viewed most favorably in Kosovo, Vietnam, Portugal, Sweden and Colombia.
The poll also shows that Israelis have a slightly higher opinion of Russian President Vladimir Putin than they do of Obama.
One leader admired in Israel is German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was recently named Person of the Year by Time.

Turkish PM: Israel deal only meant 'to help Gaza'

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Tuesday spoke about the rapprochement agreement talks with Israel during a parliamentary group meeting, and said the goal is to "benefit" Palestinian Arabs.
"No one is more sensitive on Gaza, Palestine, than us," he said, according to the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News.
"Our sole goal is to bring solutions to the problems of our Palestinian brothers. This is the main objective behind our talks for the normalization of our relationship with Israel."
"We will not take any steps that would sadden Palestine and Gaza but we won’t hesitate to take every step that would be to their benefits, no matter what they say," Davutoglu said. The report noted how he spoke with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal about the deal over the weekend.

Israeli-Palestinian Settlement Reached, Steve Harvey Announces (satire)

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have reached a final-status agreement, with both sides making significant concessions that will bring the century-long conflict to an amicable end, television host and State Department spokesman Steve Harvey announced Wednesday in a press conference.
“The Palestinians were completely reasonable in giving up the right of return of their refugees, while the Israelis had no problem dividing Jerusalem and giving up control of the Jordan Valley,” Harvey announced. “In the end, even Hamas and [right-wing Israeli Minister] Naftali Bennett were on board.”
The peace agreement wasn’t the only good news announced by Harvey at the press conference. Harvey also revealed that a settlement has been reached to end the war in Syria, with the country uniting behind the rule of the moderate, pro-Western rebels.

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Posted By Ian to Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News at 12/24/2015 12:00:00 PM