Yourish.com

The Washington Post’s Griff Witte, takes a device from Reuters and focuses on two men who, like Israel, were born in 1948. One is Israeli and one is Palestinian. In Born at the dawn of a new state

Witte is careful to emphasize the success of the Israeli with the haplessness of the Palestinian. But I guess it comes to the final two paragraphs:

With Nablus under Israeli military siege, Zaharan rarely leaves the city, and he has not been inside Israel since 1980. But if he had the chance, he knows exactly what he would say to any of his former Jewish neighbors about the past 60 years.”I would say to him, ‘Your life hasn’t changed in the way my life has. You’ve made it. You’ve succeeded,’ ” he said. “And I would want him to say back to me, ‘I recognize your rights.’ “

As if Israel hasn’t recognized his rights. Maybe not to return to Jaffa from where his family fled as it waited for the mighty Arab armies to destroy the nascent Jewish state so it could return. But certainly Israel has made greater efforts to create a Palestinian state than any other country in the world, only to find its efforts dismissed as not enough.

In the end there will be no Palestinian state unless the Palestinians choose to create a functioning government and society.

Update: The article contains the words “checkpoints” and “siege” but not “terror.”

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

A few days ago Media Backspin asked What is Israel’s Greatest Accomplishment?

I was in grade school when the 6 Day War was fought. I remember seeing a film strip soon after. It was quite impressive. Though, as a 6 year old I don’t think I comprehended the miraculous nature of the victory.

I was a teenager at the time of the Entebbe rescue. That was very exciting. I was fascinated by the level of planning that went into the raid and how it was executed nearly flawlessly.

I was spending a year studying in Israel when I heard that Israel destroyed a reactor in Iraq. I thought I’d been misinformed. Israel had been running raids over Lebanon, surely Israel hit a target in Lebanon. But no, it was Baghdad. I only recently raid a full account of that raid. Again it was an amazing, no, miraculous operation. It made the Gulf War in 1991 and the subsequent Iraq War in 2003 possible. Despite the criticisms directed at Israel, the destruction of the Iraqi reactor is an event that has changed history dramatically, including the eventual defeat of a brutal tyrant.

And of course going to a site like Israel 21c, I see how Israel leads the world in many areas of technology. If I go to the MASHAV website, I can see how Israel lends a hand to other countries (with little or no credit.)

As exciting as all these were, the action that makes me most proud has been the rescue of Ethiopia’s Jews, Beta Israel. Operations Moses and Solomon overall rescued about 35,000 Ethiopian Jews and brought them to Israel. I’m not going to pretend that everything’s been perfect since then. The assimilation of the Ethiopians hasn’t always been smooth. However it’s the ultimate example of why Israel exists.

Jews were in danger. People don’t remember but at the time of Operation Moses Ethiopia was one of the most brutal regimes in the world. The government of Haile Mariam Mengistu forced relocations of the country’s population creating a famine that killed millions. The thousands saved by Israel, might well have died. Instead Israel rescued them, giving them a second chance.

Over the past 20 years, the center of the Jewish world has shifted slowly towards Israel, where the largest population of Jews in the world now resides. We are witnessing “kibbutz golyos” – the ingathering exiles – in our time. It may not be dramatic, but it is happening.

Attacks on Israel’s legitimacy, are attacks on the Jewish people. Similarly doubts raised about the Jewish connection to the land, reject the notion and history of the Jewish nation.

In bringing the Jews of Ethiopia to Israel, Israel showed its commitment to a threatened Jewish community. Israel didn’t just show that it’s the Jewish state, but also why the Jewish state is necessary.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Birthday greetings from Hillel Halkin:

Were I prophetically to know that Israel would perish within the next 20 or 30 or 50 years, as many of its bon ton critics are now prognosticating, it would not make the slightest difference to me in terms of my own decisions. I would still feel happy that I chose to live here; would go on living here; would want my children to live here; would want them to raise my grandchildren here — until the last possible moment. Isn’t that the way we want to live our own personal lives, too: Until the last possible moment?

Happy — and proud. Because for all its shortcomings and mistakes, Israel is and will always be one of the most glorious historical adventures in the history of mankind. A 3,000-year-old people, the victim of the greatest act of mass murder ever committed on this planet, has the indomitable will to reconstitute itself in its ancient homeland, to revive its ancient language, to assert its right to live, to create new life, to nourish it and maintain it in defiance of all odds — there’s never been anything else like it before and never will be again.

I’m grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to be part of it. I would have felt envious had I been anywhere else.

The IDF is an army that thinks. The Iranians go with what worked in the past. Like I keep telling you: The IDF is going to be fighting the next war, while Hamas and Hezbullah are fighting the last one. From an interview with Ehud Barak:

So how do we deal with the military buildup in Gaza?

“We’ve already been inside Gaza, and while we were there Qassams were fired and the armament was ongoing. We might have to go back into Gaza – we have to be ready for that. We’re not thrilled about it, but if and when we decide to do it, the operation won’t resemble the Second Lebanon War.

“Israel is the strongest nation in the Middle East, but we have to apply our strength wisely. War is no picnic. Wars should be prevented and if you can’t prevent them you have to put them off. If war is forced on us, we have to be able to win it quickly, unequivocally, on enemy soil and without any damage to the home front.”

That sounds like harsh criticism of the last war.

“It is. And if you ask me what we’ve been doing since the last war, the answer is we have learned quite a few lessons during the war… we’re pushing a perennial program headed by the chief of staff and a new chain of command was named of officers who understand post-war realities.

“But the real answer is in training. Training, training and more training in a scope I can’t ever recall before. We are short NIS 2 billion (approx $581.81 million) every year and we intend to fight to get them back.”

And should war break out, is the military ready?

“We are more ready than ever before, even if we have to face a combined front. Then again the other side has discovered that our home front is vulnerable – which takes us back to my original premise – wars should be prevented.”

Syria, Hamas, and Hezbullah have built up their store of Iranian rockets and missiles, and are aiming them at Israeli cities and towns. Hamas:

An Israeli study says that Hamas, the militant group that now controls Gaza, is engaged in the broadest and most significant military buildup in its history with help from Syria and Iran, restructuring itself more hierarchically and using more and more powerful weapons, especially longer-range rockets against Israel’s southern communities.

The study, by an independent research group with close ties to the Israeli military establishment, says that while the buildup will take some years to complete, it is in an intensive phase that has already led to better infiltration into Israel and a rise in the breadth and precision of rocket fire.

Hezbullah:

Almost two years after its war with Israel, Hezbollah has rearmed and is stronger than before the conflict, according to Israeli and Western officials and the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim group itself.

But assessments diverge on the source of Hezbollah’s arms. Western and Israeli officials accuse Iran and Syria of smuggling thousands of short-range rockets as well as missiles that can strike deep into Israel and other weaponry into Lebanon in violation of a U.N. arms embargo. Smuggling routes have included a rail line through Turkey, the officials say.

All this has been going on right under the noses of UNIFIL. All of it. UNIFIL constantly denies that Hezbullah is doing anything under their noses, and yet, the arms buildup occurs.

Barak again:

“When we left Lebanon in 2000, they had 6,000, maybe 7,000 rockets, but we had six quiet years. When the war broke out in 2006, they had 14,000 rockets, some ranging to Hadera. Now they have 40,000 rockets that can reach your house, here (the Defense Ministry’s Tel Aviv HQ) and Dimona; so we have to stop thinking that freeing Barghouti and striking Hamas will result in a truce. We have to focus on the things we can change and help any positive factor in the area.”

And finally, words for Israel’s 60th birthday:

“I say again – Israel in the strongest nation in the Middle East, surely within 1000 miles… there is no power out there that could destroy the State of Israel, but that doesn’t meet we can stop being vigilant.”

This week’s Shire Network News is out. The feature interview is with Barry Rubin of The GLORIA Center. My piece is on Israel’s 60th birthday, and is available on my site as well.

One aspect of Israeli negotiations with the Palestinians that’s constant is that whatever Israel offers will be dismissed as an insult or some other epithet.

Now that negotiations are coming down to nitty-gritty details like borders, the cries start anew. The Jerusalem Post reports:

“Today, it’s clear to us that Israel has no intention of withdrawing from all the territories that were occupied in 1967,” said one official.”If the Israelis and Americans think that they will ever find a Palestinian leader who would accept less than the 1967 borders, they are living under an illusion.”

Another top PA official said that maps presented by the Israeli government to the Palestinians in the past few weeks showed that Israel is planning to retain control over nearly half of the West Bank and large parts of eastern Jerusalem.

The Israeli maps, he said, “turn the Palestinian communities in the West Bank into cantons surrounded by Israeli military bases and large settlement blocs.”

The official added: “We have made it clear to both the Israelis and Americans that they should throw away these maps. No Palestinian will ever agree to the presence of settlements or Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. This is in violation of [US President George W.] Bush’s vision of two states living next to each other in peace.”

First of all, even George W. Bush’s vision of two states doesn’t specify the boundaries. If the boundaries are unacceptable to them and the Palestinians refuse to make peace, then they’re the ones who are are refusing to abide by the president’s vision. Maybe they think they have a good reason for doing so, but they’d still be the ones preventing an agreement.

Then there’s this:

“The Israeli government is not serious about the peace talks,” said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior PLO official closely associated with Abbas. “We don’t believe that we can reach an agreement [with Israel] before the end of this year.”Abed Rabbo accused Israel of “deceiving” the Palestinians by continuing to build settlements while talking about the need to reach a peace deal.

“Israel does not want to change its policy,” he added. “Israel wants to continue settlement expansion and the construction of the separation wall.”

These statements are clearly designed to elicit Amerian pressure on Israel. By mentioning “the end of the year” – President Bush’s goal – Abed Rabbo is effectively asking the Americans to get Israel to agree to the Palestinian demands rather than attempting to compromise.

The Spine observes that in Belfast, it’s the separation wall that is widely credited with keeping the peace. (He also points out that the “cantons” charge is false.) But in the Middle East the “wall” becomes one more brickbat to toss Israel’s way. Israel Matzav contrasts the (strategic) pessimism of the Palestinians with the expressed optimism of the Israelis.

(via memeorandum)

Of course the real problem might be that Israel wants to hold on to anything.

“The PLO is the sole legitimate representative [of the Palestinian people], and it has not changed its platform even one iota. In light of the weakness of the Arab nation and the lack of values, and in light of the American control over the world, the PLO proceeds through phases, without changing its strategy. Let me tell you, when the ideology of Israel collapses, and we take, at least, Jerusalem, the Israeli ideology will collapse in its entirety, and we will begin to progress with our own ideology, Allah willing, and drive them out of all of Palestine.”

(h/t Daled Amos)

But maybe Israel should at least fight for the life of Imad Sa’ad. I don’t know that he really helped Israel, but that’s what he’s been convicted of. For all I know he looked at someone wrong and got denounced.

However, if Palestinians are executed for helping Israel fight terror, while terrorists are lionized the peace process is a sham. (Another deadly activity for Palestinians is selling land to Jews. Getting killed for real estate transactions is hardly conducive to coexistence.)

Still this is a point Israel ought to pursue. After all the PA considers terrorists worthy of release, Israel should, at least, demand freedom for someone who’s been convicted of helping not harming.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

In War of the rockets, Jackson Diehl writes:

For months now, Israel has been mired in an unwinnable war against Hamas and allied militias in Gaza, who fire missiles at civilians in Israel and then hide among their own women and children, ensuring that retaliatory fire will produce innocent victims for the Middle East’s innumerable satellite television networks. A growing number of the militiamen have been to Iran for training, and some of the missiles they launch are Iranian-made. Their objective is obvious: to exhaust Israelis with an endless war of attrition while making it impossible for Israel’s government to reach a political settlement with the more moderate Palestinian administration in the West Bank.

First of all, when Diehl writes “unwinnable” he means “unwinnable using current tactics.” There are those who disagree that it’s unwinnable.

Senior IDF officers serving in Gaza are frustrated over what they describe as the army’s lack of resolve and limited action against terror emanating from the Strip.“This week I returned from another standby shift at the combat helicopter base where I do my reserve duty,” lit.-Col. N told Ynet. “Again we did nothing, despite a Qassam and mortar barrage fired by terrorists at the entire sector.”

N says that he feels obligated to warn that the IDF is not doing enough to counter terrorism from Gaza.

“The Gaza Strip is a narrow area, almost entirely closed off, the terrorist forces are relatively small and their weapons – although they are improving every day as a result of our lack of action – still don’t constitute a significant threat to our forces.

(h/t Meryl)

Also Hamas’s objective isn’t to prevent a peace agreement, it’s objective is to kill as many Israelis as it can.

I don’t think that Hamas opposes a peace agreement with Israel as it will undoubtedly give it more power than it already has. Hamas knows that Israel is anxious to conclude a deal with Abbas, regardless of the rockets. It persists because it knows that Israeli responses generally mean that Israel must defend itself usually to the scorn of the world. So Hamas not only get to kill Israelis, destroy their homes but gets a bonus too.

Given that the explosion in Gaza has now been shown to be the result of a secondary explosion not an Israeli missile, Diehl should have acknowledged as much at the start of his article.

In both these assertions, Diehl is imposing his own views onto events.

Elder of Ziyon outlined the evidence. Yaacov Lozowick wrote about why it’s important. (The NYT deserves credit for reporting this result too.)

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

In Honoring Survival, and Gifts to a Nation Isabel Kershner writes about a new exhibit at Yad Vashem devoted to the Holocaust survivors who escaped to Israel.

The gray walls of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial here, have long documented the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis against Europe’s Jews. Now, an oddly vibrant exhibition at the memorial is telling a less known story of the renaissance of the survivors in Israel and the extraordinary role they played in shaping the character of the new state.“My Homeland: Holocaust Survivors in Israel” opened in late April, in time for the 60th anniversary this week of Israel’s founding. Instead of gas chambers and ghettoes, it showcases designer beachwear and boldly colored posters that promoted potent Israeli symbols like the airline El Al.

Though she reports (without documentation)

Of 250,000 survivors in Israel today, 80,000 or more are said to be living on or near the poverty line.

Overall

… experts say the suffering of those left behind in their old age does not negate their immigration success story.“The story of the Holocaust can be told from many different angles,” said Hanna Yablonka, a historical consultant to the exhibition. “To me, one of the most important aspects is the question of where you take such a huge disaster. You can turn to revenge, or to building.”

This was a particularly apt story:

“We came with nothing, without money, with nowhere to live,” Mrs. Gottlieb recalled, after viewing a movie about herself in a corner of the exhibition an hour before the official opening. “The first two or three years were very, very hard,” she said.Petite and manicured, in a black pantsuit and sensible leather shoes, Mrs. Gottlieb recounted in still-halting Hebrew how she and her husband opened a raincoat factory like the one they had left behind in Europe. But for months “we saw no rain, only sunshine,” she said. So they founded Gottex, a swimwear company that quickly grew to become a leading Israeli brand abroad.

Mrs. Gottlieb, the company’s chief designer, would sometimes tell of an ugly memory from the past, said a grandson, Danny Shir, 37, like when she hid herself and her children in a pit behind the house of their gentile host after seeing a Nazi with a pistol outside.

Another remarkable aspect of the story is that of the estimated 500,000 survivors who made it to Israel, half are still alive.

I guess it would be snide to observe that the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors are not also called Holocaust survivors.

In related news, Smooth Stone observes that Yad Vashem has put many of its photographic library online.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Israel has released some audio of the Entebbe raid. Ynet provides the audio and a transcript.

The missing passenger was Dora Bloch who had been taken to the hospital. After the rescue she was killed.

(h/t Jack’s Shack)

Crossposted on Soccer Dad.

Update by Meryl: Dora Bloch was murdered on the orders of Idi Amin, dictator of Uganda, after the successful raid that rescued most of the other the hostages.

Now confidential cabinet papers released under the Freedom of Information Act show that the British High Commission in Kampala received a report from a Ugandan civilian that Mrs Bloch had been shot and her body dumped in the boot of a car which had Ugandan intelligence services number plates.

The same informant said that the body of a white woman had been found in a sugar plantation 19 miles from the capital. A further intelligence report says the face had been badly burnt, making identification difficult, but that the legs looked “bad” and that could have been the leg ulcers from which doctors confirmed she was suffering. The policeman guarding Mrs Bloch was also murdered, said the report.

[…] A confidential Foreign Office memo written by James Hennessy, the British High Commissioner to Uganda, says: “She had been seen by a consultant at Mulago Hospital last Sunday long after the Israeli commandos had come and gone. Since then she had been not seen anywhere. Our information was that she had been dragged from her bed at hospital screaming. Though she had been living in Israel, she was a British national and our responsibility. The Prime Minister has decided that I should come out and inquire into her disappearance and then report to him. The parliament, the whole British people, were concerned about her fate. She appeared to be an innocent victim of the Israeli raid.”

A second confidential Foreign Office briefing report sent to No 10 says the most likely scenario was that Mrs Bloch was killed by Ugandan soldiers “bitter and dangerous following their disgrace at Israeli hands”. About 50 Ugandan soldiers were killed by the Israelis during the raid. The report adds: “They may have seized on the only available Jew on whom to extract their revenge.”

Dora Bloch was a 74-year-old grandmother, whose only “crime” was being Jewish. Idi Amin lived peacefully in exile in Saudi Arabia, protected by the Wahabbi oil ticks from the justice he so richly deserved, for the next 24 years.