This Is Actually A West Bank War

Posted on December 29, 2023 by First.One.Through

Two polls about the sentiments of Palestinian Arabs from Gaza butchering of people inside of Israel showed the same curious result, that Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank were much more in favor of the massacre than those from Gaza. the Arab World For Research and Development showed support for the October 7 in the West Bank being 83% compared to 64% in Gaza. West Bank Arabs similarly had greater support for Hamas at 87.7% compared to Gazans at 59.6%. The quarterly poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) of December 2023 showed much the same, where “support for Hamas has more than tripled in the West Bank compared to three months ago”, with 82% of Arabs in the West Bank and just 57% of Gazans saying that October 7 was the “correct” action.

*Figure 1: Comparison of West Bank and Gaza Arabs about supporting October 7 Massacre and the Commitment to destroy Israel to gain all of historical Palestine*

The question is what are the reasons for West Bank Arabs being so much more supportive of the massacre than Gazans.

Brunt of response. Many commentators have said that they believe that Gazans are facing the repercussions of the attack while West Bank Arabs have not seen their neighborhoods leveled. The poll numbers possibly support such notion with 87% of West Bank Arabs and 44% of Gazans thinking Israel will lose the war. Gazans likely feel they have already lost.

I would like to offer some other potential reasons.

Gaining self-determination. Gazans got autonomy and self-determination in 2005 when Israel left the Gaza Strip for Palestinian Arabs to rule themselves. West Bank Arabs yearn for that same self-determination that Gazans already have so are even more committed to the fight.

Killing Israeli Jews

West Bank Arabs have shown a dramatic preference for violence which began to spike after the May 2021 attacks, which gained further momentum in polls starting in December 2022.

*Figure 2: Sentiment of West Bank Arabs about Israeli Jews and opposition to coexistence*

Killing Jewish Civilians Inside Israel. In March 2021, 17.8% of West Bank Arabs supported “armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel.” That figure jumped to 33% after the May 2021 attacks and stayed roughly at that level until September 2022. It spiked again in December 2022 to 46% and has stayed at that level, with a peak of 57% in March 2023.

Supporting “Intifada”. Along with the increased desire to kill Israeli Jewish civilians is the rising preference in the West Bank for an “Intifada”, the misnomer which means terrorism and war. In March 2021, 29% of West Bank Arabs supported an Intifada which jumped to 51% in the June 2021 poll. Support softened through September 2022 to 38%, but spiked again in December 2022 to 51%, peaking at 54% in December 2023.

Ending The Palestinian Authority

While Gazans have been ruled by Hamas, West Bank Arabs have been ruled by the Palestinian Authority. They have long felt that the PA is corrupt but that sentiment has gained momentum.

*Figure 3: Sentiment of West Bank Arabs about Palestinian Authority and feeling safe*

Palestinian Authority is a “Burden” and Abbas Should Resign. West Bank Arabs have long complained about their leadership. PA President Mahmoud Abbas was elected in 2005 to a four-year term and remains in power fifteen years later, refusing to hold elections.

In December 2020, 50% of West Bank Arabs thought the PA was a burden on Palestinians and 61% thought Abbas should resign. After the May 2021 Hamas-Israel fight, 55% thought the PA a burden with 70% thinking Abbas should resign. In March 2023, the numbers jumped again to 66% and 76%, respectively. Those figures continued to rise into the October 7 massacre.

Dissolve the Palestinian Authority. Not surprisingly based on the sentiments above, West Bank Arabs grew increasingly of the view that the PA should be dissolved, from 34% in March 2021 to 49% in March 2023.

West Banker Arabs Feel Less Safe. Some of this attitude can be tied to feeling safe. In March 2021, 64% of West Bank Arabs felt safe. That dropped to 46% from December 2022 to June 2023, as the Israeli Defense Forces conducted raids into West Bank towns to foil terrorist plots by several new groups such as the Lion’s Den and Jenin Brigades, terrorist groups unique to the West Bank.

West Bank War

While Hamas rules Gaza and was able to launch this war having built deep infrastructure in the land since 2006 with hundreds of miles of tunnels throughout the Strip, the war is actually ABOUT the West Bank and Israel proper.

Gazans know that Hamas isn’t great having lived under their harsh and corrupt rule since 2007 when it threw out the Palestinian Authority. West Bank Arabs only know the PA and welcome a change of regime but most importantly, a change of situation. They want the Jewish settlers gone, ideally from all of Israel, and from the West Bank at a minimum.

Hamas successfully got rid of Jews and Israel in Gaza, and West Bank Arabs want this “war of liberation” to do the same in the West Bank and Israel. Figure 2 shows that 40% of West Bank Arabs opposed a “two state solution” in December 2020 which grew to a significant majority of 71% by March 2023. Figure 1 highlights West Bank Arabs now have a 74% commitment to “retaking” all of “historical Palestine” compared to 66% of Gazans.

Hamas called this war the “al Aqsa Flood,” referencing Islam’s holy mosque in Jerusalem, far from Gaza. Palestinian Arabs believe that stopping Jews from visiting the Jewish Temple Mount is the main reason for the war – followed vey closely be retaking all of “historical Palestine.”

*Figure 4: Poll of all Palestinians about the reason for October 7 massacre has majority focused on Jerusalem – stopping Jewish visitation and ending the Jewish State*

The fighters from Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and others were particularly brutal in raping and mutilating women and babies, killing the elderly and burning families alive. And they recorded it, ensuring that Israel would respond to the attack with full force to bring a full war. And it’s a war which Palestinian Arabs – especially those in the West Bank – want to see to liberate themselves from Israel and the PA.

*Figure 5: Poll of all Palestinians about the end goal for the war is about the destruction of Israel*

The war is taking place in Gaza but it is not about Hamas or Gaza. This fight is being conducted with the support of all Palestinians by the Palestinian army to liberate Jerusalem. To some, that means the West Bank, to others it means Israel, and for yet others, it’s all of “historical Palestine” which encompasses a “Palestinian State from the River to the Sea.”

Palestinian Poll About October 7 Massacre

An Inconvenient Truth: Palestinian Polls

Palestinian Chutzpah: Asking For Recognition As State After October 7 Massacre

Israel May Have Stopped A Bigger Massacre From The West Bank

Gazans Have Always Wanted To Kill Jews Inside Of Israel

HAMAS Is Palestinian. The Popular Palestinian Political-Terrorist Party

Palestinian Arabs Are Fighting For All of Israel, Not A New State In West Bank and Gaza

Palestinians View Jews Like The French Viewed Nazis

“Deformity in Palestinian Culture” Is A Permanent Feature

The Three “Two-State Solution”s

Posted on December 27, 2023 by First.One.Through

There is a fantastic idea that has been floated around the Middle East for many decades: two states for two peoples, one Jewish and the other Arab. Even though the notion continues to be bantered in political circles, few details are understood about what that plan means.

The pro-Palestinian camp talks about “THE” two state solution, meaning the Arab Peace Initiative proposed in 2002. The United States and other governments talk about “A” two state solution, which could mean a wide variety of negotiated outcomes. The United Nations has a third alternative, which is the most toxic and has directly led to permanent hostilities between Israel and its neighbors.

“THE” 2 State Solution: Arab Peace Initiative

There are three primary matters which stand between Israel and the Palestinian Authority: land/borders; capital city; and the future of Palestinian refugees.

Land: The API calls for Israel to withdraw from ALL territories taken in its defensive war of June 1967. This would include Gaza, the West Bank, the Sinai, Golan Heights, and areas of southern Lebanon still under dispute. Israel has already withdrawn from some of those lands including Sinai, Gaza and many areas of the West Bank. The API seeks the remainder.

Capital: The API calls for East Jerusalem to be the capital of a new Palestine. An early draft of the API called for “al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital,” seemingly softening the stance to something Israel could accept.

Refugees: The API states that Palestinian Arabs outside of Israel will seemingly not move to the Jewish State. The final language of “Assures the rejection of all forms of Palestinian patriation which conflict with the special circumstances of the Arab host countries,” may only be in reference to UNRWA Palestinians in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan whom the API thinks should not have to settle them. The API language was in sharp contrast to an earlier version which stated “To accept to find an agreed, just solution to the problem of Palestinian refugees in conformity with Resolution 194,” which would have given Palestinians wishing to live in peace with Israel the option of either moving there or getting compensation.

“A” Two State Solution

The United States and Israel see the end of the conflict differently. Through the Madrid Conference and Oslo Accords, as well as other efforts made by the Obama Administration in 2014 and the Trump Administration’s “Deal of the Century,” the three major matters had different contours.

Land: Israel believes that it has already given back some of the territory it took in June 1967. It returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt and handed Gaza and major population centers in the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority. UN Resolution 242 (1967) called for “withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict” which does not call for ALL territory to be abandoned.

The United States agrees. The Obama Administration tried to broker a series of land swaps which would have essentially given Palestinians a state on the same amount of land but in different locations than came about from the 1949 Armistice Lines (49AL). The Trump Administration started with the same concept that the 49AL were arbitrary and not conducive to long-term peace and that Israel has already complied with the land provision of Res. 242. Team Trump did not try to match a certain number of square kilometers with history, and instead sought to create borders which accounted for current reality on the ground and a dynamic to forge an enduring peace.

Capital: Israel annexed the section of Jerusalem that was divided for nineteen years between 1949 and 1967, and further extended the municipal boundaries. It considers the city its eternal capital, but has offered sections of the city to be part of a Palestinian State as part of the peace efforts, with American prodding.

Refugees: Israel has offered some limited number of Palestinian Arabs to move to Israel. The figures have ranged from 10,000 to 100,000 over time under different plans. The US position has long been that Palestinian Arabs should move to the new Arab State, as the basic principle of two states for two people.

The United Nations’ Two State Solution

The UN’s plan is the most aggressively pro-Palestinian of the three.

The UN agrees with the API regarding a new Palestinian State on all of the land in Gaza and the West Bank being part of Palestine, as well as East Jerusalem being the capital of the country. However, it continues to insist on the full “right of return” for six million “Palestine Refugees” who are registered with UNRWA in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

The UN’s promise to Palestine Refugees has caused them to be frustrated by the failure to move to neighborhoods where grandparents used to live. It has led them to build terrorist tunnels to penetrate the land which the UN promises to them, rather than build an economy. It has kept them in a restive state for generations, not accepting the existence of the “Zionist entity” which they believe will soon cease to exist according to recent polls.

The United Nations’ adoption of Palestinians as their perennial wards has harmed peace in the region. It has a position on refugees which it knows Israel cannot accept, deliberately putting the Jewish State as the obstacle to peace rather than a counterparty with whom to find a solution. Permanently putting Israel on the defensive with one-sided resolutions makes Israel unwilling to seriously consider the UN on any matter.

It is destructive to any peace process for the United Nations to call for a “two-state solution” without clearly articulating that there is no “right of return” to Israel. The death toll in the region will certainly rise while Palestinian Arabs believe their future is in Israeli homes.

The Israeli Peace Process versus the Palestinian Divorce Proceedings

The Left-Wing’s Two State Solution: 1.5 States for Arabs, 0.5 for Jews

Palestinian Arabs Do Not Want Negotiations or a Two State Solution

“Two States For Two People” And An Arab “Right Of Return” Are Mutually Exclusive

Palestinian Chutzpah: Asking For Recognition As State After October 7 Massacre

Posted on November 25, 2023 by First.One.Through

While people are still trying to identify the incinerated and butchered Israeli bodies from the grisly Palestinian Arab October 7 terrorist attack, the Palestinian Authority thought it an appropriate time to ask the United Kingdom to recognize Palestine as a country.

On November 24, 2023, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the PA headquarters in Ramallah. Abbas lectured the visiting British diplomat, as though Palestinian Arabs had not recently conducted the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.

*British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the presidential headquarters in Ramallah, November 24, 2023*

As reported by WAFA, the Palestinian official news agency, after lecturing Cameron about Israel’s actions, Abbas “urged the British Foreign Secretary to recognize the State of Palestine and help it gain full membership in the United Nations.”

Not wanting the message to slip through the cracks, PA Prime Mohammed Shtayyeh followed, and similarly “called on the British Foreign Secretary to support the Palestinian bid for full membership in the United Nations.”

The ruling Palestinian Authority is very unpopular and viewed as deeply corrupt by Palestinian Arabs. Abbas’s four-year term as president expired in 2009 and he has refused to conduct elections as he knows that he will be trounced by Hamas.

As it currently stands, the political-terrorist party Hamas controls Gaza and controls 58% of the Palestinian parliament. After Hamas’s heinous October 7 massacre, the group’s popularity has skyrocketed, with 75% of Palestinians supporting the attack, and a similar percentage looking to destroy Israel and replace it with an Arab state.

As Palestinian Arabs demonstrate to the world that they are capable and desirous of slaughtering Jews and launching a war on the only Jewish State, they are asking the western world for its blessings, to recognize the State of Palestine and usher it into the United Nations.

And rather than storm out the door, Britain announced it would send £30 million additional aid funding to Gaza.

Palestinians have a demonic but selfish motivation for slaughtering Israelis as they invade the first world country next door but what is motivating the United Kingdom to support such barbarity?

ACTION ITEM

Contact David Cameron “The Palestinian Arabs have shown that they support the butchering of Jews and desire to destroy the Jewish State. The British government must make clear that it firmly rejects the so-called “right of return” of Palestinian Arabs into Israel, and that any future settlement of the conflict will require a demilitarized Arab state to which the descendant of refugees and internally-displaced people may settle. Further, until Hamas is removed from power, there will be no aid sent to the Palestinian Authority.”

The Scale And Barbarity Of The Hamas Massacre

Palestinian Authority “Martyrs Fund” May Soon Fund Killing Jews in the US and UK

Excerpt of Hamas Charter to Share with Your Elected Officials

“Two States For Two People” And An Arab “Right Of Return” Are Mutually Exclusive

United Kingdom’s Home Grown Terrorism, Abroad

Lessons for Israel From Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine

Gazans Have Always Wanted To Kill Jews Inside Of Israel

My Terrorism

Palestinian Authority Tries To Fan Flame Of Global Intifada While War Rages In Gaza

Posted on October 25, 2023 by First.One.Through

Wafa, the Palestinian Authority’s official state-run news agency, has once again tried to incite 1.8 billion Muslims to fight Jews and the Jewish State.

On October 25, 2023, as the 2023 Gaza War raged, Wafa wrote “Israeli settlers storm Jerusalem’s Aqsa Mosque,” another lie in its long history of lies to incite a jihad.

The Temple Mount has regular visiting hours and Jews have always used it to visit their holiest site. That angers Jordanian and Palestinian Arabs that Jews claim to have rights to the location which Arabs falsely assert is a purely Islamic holy place.

The Wafa article was horrific from its headline to its last sentence:

“JERUSALEM, Wednesday, October 25, 2023 (WAFA) – Dozens of Israeli settlers Wednesday morning stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem, under protection from Israeli occupation police, according to local sources.

Witnesses said scores of settlers entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque in separate groups, where they conducted provocative tours through the courtyards of the mosque, received explanations about the alleged “Jewish Temple,” and performed Talmudic rituals near the Dome of the Rock.

This latest incident adds to the ongoing tensions surrounding Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third most revered site in Islam. The entry of settlers into the compound, backed by Israeli security forces, is often met with condemnation from Palestinian officials and religious authorities.

The Islamic Waqf, the Jordan-run authority in charge of the holy site, has repeatedly called for international intervention to prevent these incursions, which are seen as a direct challenge to the status quo of the holy site and an affront to the sentiments of Muslims worldwide.

Since 2003, the Israeli occupation authorities have been allowing Israeli Jewish settlers into the compound almost on a daily basis, with the exclusion of Friday, the Muslim day of rest and worship.

Israel captured East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa Mosque is located, during the Six-Day War in 1967 in a move never recognized by the international community.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is subjected to almost daily incursions by Israeli settlers, except on Saturday and Sunday, which are done under the heavy guard of the Israeli police in an attempt to divide the mosque spatially and temporally between Muslims and Jews.“

Jews visit their holiest location during regular visiting hours and need protection of police to keep Muslims at the site from attacking them. Jews go because it is the location of two Jewish Temples and the physical center of Judaism. The fact that Muslims get upset does not make it a “provocation” but goes to the antisemitism of those Muslims.

The Palestinian Authority is attempting to get 1.8 billion Muslims riled up against Jews at this most dangerous time. It must be condemned clearly and quickly and forced to stop promoting lies and incitement.

ACTION ITEM

Email White House “Get the Palestinian Authority to stop claiming that Jews are desecrating the Al Aqsa Mosque in an attempt to incite 1.8 billion Muslims around the world to attack Jews.

The Dangerous ‘Settlers Storming Al Aqsa’ Fiction

Visitor Rights on the Temple Mount

On Defenses: Provocative and Legal / Unprovocative and Illegal

Palestinian Authority Continues To Incite Violence Against Jews On Temple Mount

The United States Is “Morally, Historically, and Politically Wrong” About Jewish Prayer on Temple Mount

Time for Jordan To Live Up To Its Peace Treaty With Israel And Support Jewish Prayer On The Temple Mount

Letter To Rep. Bowman About Palestinians’ Lack of Support For Two States

Posted on July 18, 2023 by First.One.Through

Rep. Jamaal Bowman,

You decided to boycott liberal Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s speech to a joint session of congress, and tweeted about the need for a “true two-state solution” in the Middle East:

“A true two-state solution is the pathway towards peace and security for all in the region. It’s way past time that we stop using a two state solution as a talking point and actually get it done.“

You ignore the fact that Palestinians do not want a two state solution, do not support the Palestinian Authority, want to wage a violent jihad against Israel, and support terrorist groups. According to the latest June 2023 poll by the Palestinian Center of Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR):

Only 28% of Palestinians support a two state solution; opposition stands at 70%
53% support a return to an armed intifada
71% support the establishment of new armed groups such as Lion’s Den and Jenin Brigades
58% believe that armed groups will spread to the rest of the West Bank
86% say the Palestinian Authority (PA) does not have the right to arrest members of these armed groups
63% say the PA is a burden on the Palestinian people
Satisfaction with President Abbas stands at 17% and 80% want him to resign
In theoretical elections between Fatah’s President Abbas and the political-terrorist group Hamas’s Ismail Haniyeh, Haniyeh wins 56% to Abbas 33%
57% of Palestinian support armed attacks against Jewish civilians inside Israel
66% of Palestinians believe Israel will cease to exist in the next 25 years, and 51% believe that Arabs will be able to recover the entire land

That is the current reality.

Three of the ten Palestinian Arab terrorists recently killed in Jenin were under 18 years old and members of terrorist groups, a heinous war crime of indoctrinating and drafting children for terror. That is the dreadful reality.

The President of the PA wrote his doctoral thesis on Holocaust denial, and openly rewards terrorists with money. An astounding 58% of the current Palestinian parliament is from Hamas, a United States designated foreign terrorist organization. That’s the frightening reality.

PA President Abbas’s four-year term ran out in January 2009. He has no support from Palestinians. He doesn’t even control Gaza. There is no counterparty for Israel to negotiate with who can deliver on peace and stand up a new country. That’s the plain reality.

The majority of Palestinians are planning for, and looking forward to, the destruction of Israel. They are not interested in coexistence, peace talks or negotiations. That is the raw reality.

Punishing Israel for Arab extremism is blinding oneself to the unvarnished reality of Palestinian sentiments, and inviting jihadi violence on an enormous scale. Boycotting Israel and its leadership feeds the genocidal aspirations of radical Islamists and destroys the possibility of an enduring peace.

Disappointingly,

A realist

Excerpt of Hamas Charter to Share with Your Elected Officials

No One Mentions Actual Palestinians’ Sentiments

The Reasons Behind The Spike In Palestinian Terrorism

Praising and Defending Terrorism Against Jews

Coexistence Runs Through UAE, Anti-Semitism Through UN

Hamas Condemns The “Judaization” of Israel

Gaza, The Terrorist Enclave

Two Views Of Justice, One American, Another Palestinian

Posted on August 2, 2022 by First.One.Through

US President Joe Biden announced on July 31 that he had ordered the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, a mastermind of several terrorist attacks against the United States. In his comments about the targeted assassination of one of the leaders of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Biden said “Justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more.”

Biden added that “We make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.” However, it is unclear whether al-Zawahiri posed any current threat to the United States. Biden administration officials made no attempt to relay any planned attacks and did not offer whether there was any attempt to arrest al-Zawahiri instead of killing him.

The justice was seemingly solely based on al-Zawahiri’s past actions killing thousands of innocent lives.

Biden’s view of justice served to terrorists is in sharp contrast to the Palestinian Authority that same day.

To mark the twentieth anniversary of Palestinian Arabs blowing up a cafeteria at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, murdering nine and injuring over 80, the Palestinian Authority raised the salaries of four terrorists by 14.29%.

As reported by Palestinian Media Watch, “Four of the members of the terrorist cell that carried out the attack – Wael Qassem, Wassim Abbasi, Alla Aldin Abbasi and Muhammed Odeh – were arrested shortly after [the bombing], in August 2002. Having now spent 20 years in prison, this month, the PA will give each of the terrorists a 14.29% rise in their basic salary, from 7,000 ($2,251) to 8,000 shekels/month ($2,572). Since the terrorists were residents of Jerusalem, the PA pays them an additional supplement of 300 shekels/month ($96). To date, the PA has paid each of the these four terrorists a sum of 1,034,500 shekels ($332,637). Four of the other terrorists convicted for their part in the attack on the university and other attacks include Muhammad Arman, Walid Anjas, Abdallah Barghouti and Ibrahim Hamed. Each of these terrorists is similarly receiving a monthly salary from the PA.

“To date, the PA rewarded the terrorists responsible for the bombing 8,022,600 shekels ($2,579,614).”

PA President Mahmoud Abbas defended these payment before the United Nations in September when he said “Why should we have to clarify and justify providing assistance to families of prisoners and martyrs, who are the victims of the occupation and its oppressive policies? We cannot abandon our people and we will continue striving to free all our prisoners.“

*US President Joe Biden and PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, July 2022. The leaders have very different views of how to deal with terrorists. (photo: Reuters)*

The murder of innocent civilians is reprehensible. While it is unfortunate that the offending terrorists are killed instead of tried and imprisoned, it is often necessary. Justice requires as much.

The stain of inhumanity is not confined to the terrorists but permeates those who support, encourage and incentivize them. The Palestinian Authority has shown its moral code in its twisted definition of justice as rewarding terrorists.

In the United States, justice for terrorists and their victims means punishing terrorists. For Palestinian Arabs, justice requires cash compensation for the murderers and falsely labeling the slain victims as foreign invaders.

Biden To Push Coexistence Agenda To Palestinian Arabs Not Interested

“I’ll Take Terrorism for Millions of U.S. Dollars, Alex”

The Humiliation of Palestinian Terrorists Standing in Line to Receive Martyr Payments

Existing While Jewish

Does Biden Support A Palestinian Army And Jewish Prayer On The Temple Mount

Posted on March 27, 2022 by First.One.Through

Palestinian Arabs have seemingly been successful at getting the Biden Administration to demand “equality” between the Israelis and Palestinians. It is unclear what that means.

In May 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden said “I believe the Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live safely and securely and to enjoy equal measures of freedom, prosperity and democracy.” A few days later, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken tweeted something similar “I underscored America’s ironclad commitment to Israel’s security, and we discussed the importance of promoting peace, security, and dignity for all.” For those who make a living parsing words of politicians who rehearse their sound bites, there was a bit to review.

Biden’s comments were focused on the people (Palestinians and Israelis) while Blinken focused on security for a country (Israel) and then rights for everyone (Palestinians and Israelis). Biden sought “equal measures” regarding “freedom, prosperity and democracy” while Blinken highlighted “peace, security and dignity for all” after giving preference to Israeli security. Biden’s “safely and securely” and “freedom and democracy” were likely meant to be used interchangeably with Blinken’s “peace, security”, but it is doubtful that Biden’s focus on “prosperity” was meant to equate to Blinken’s “dignity.”

Months later, Blinken leaned into “dignity” when he met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in February 2022 when he said “Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve to live with equal measures of security, freedom, prosperity and crucially, dignity.” He introduced Biden’s focus on prosperity but sought to underscore his belief that dignity is crucial for both people.

In March 2022, when Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israel and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr came to the region, he “reiterated the Biden Administration’s philosophy that Israelis and Palestinians alike deserve to live safely and securely and enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, and prosperity.” Amr continued the administration’s emphasis on prosperity as a key goal but declined to mention “dignity.”

The various statements beg the question of what equal measures regarding freedom, security, prosperity and dignity, and whether each are just as important.

Freedom. One interpretation might mean the Palestinians should have freedom of movement for people and goods in and out of the terrorist enclave of Gaza. Is the U.S. pushing to end the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt immediately, or only in context of a resolution to the conflict? Would such stand exist if the terrorist group of Hamas continues to rule the area?

Freedom could mean the right of self-determination. While one might belief based on the media that Palestinian Arabs have none, in reality, all Gazans have self-determination and the vast majority of Arabs in the West Bank (those living in Areas A and B) similarly have self-determination.

Security. Does the Biden Administration want the Palestinians to have an army like Israel? Since the Oslo Accords in the mid-1990s began a pathway towards Palestinian self-determination, Israelis held firm that any future Palestinian state could not have a standing army in the narrow strip of land abutting Israel. Is the Biden campaign pressuring Israel to change that position?

Prosperity. The United States gives Israel billions of dollars each year and has had a difficult time sending monies to the Palestinian Authority directly (it funnels monies to them indirectly via the United Nations) because the PA refuses to stop rewarding terrorism with “martyr payments” to terrorist families. Is Biden signaling that he will push congress to get rid of the laws which prohibit the promotion of Palestinian Arab terrorism and start sending the PA the same amount of money as the government invests in Israel?

Dignity. Israeli Jews lack the basic human rights to pray at their holiest location of the Jewish Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Will the Biden Administration push to overturn the current status quo in exchange for Palestinians having a military?

The action plans may be underway.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides tweeted on March 16, 2022 about his excitement that more monies were flowing to Palestinians: “Pleased to see lots for Palestinians in the budget just signed by @POTUS Biden: $144 million increase (now $219 million) for Economic Support Funds, $40 million for security forces training in the WBank, and $50 million for 2nd year of the Nita Lowey MEPPA Fund,” a strange comment for the ambassador TO ISRAEL to comment on aid elsewhere.

Blinken is in Israel now and will talk about the Russia-Ukraine war, the refugees crisis and its impact on the region, Iran’s nuclear program and its threat towards the world, the emerging peace between Israel and various Arab countries stemming from the Abraham Accords, and the Palestinian Arab- Israel conflict. The administration’s pivot towards the Palestinians can be seen at 11:50 in the video, when Blinken said that he will meet with “Palestinians in East Jerusalem who are a critical part of the city’s vibrant and diverse civil society and underscore our work with Palestinian non-governmental government organizations.” Is Blinken saying that East Jerusalem is Palestinian and that “equality” further extends to splitting Israel’s capital?

The United States is pushing the notion of equality between Israel and the Palestinian Authority as an end-goal of negotiations. Will advocating for Jewish rights on the Temple Mount and a Palestinian army kill the peace process before it begins?

The Parameters of Palestinian Dignity

Israel: Security in a Small Country

The United States Should NOT be a Neutral Mediator in the Arab-Israel Conflict

Considering a Failed Palestinian State

The Israeli Peace Process versus the Palestinian Divorce Proceedings

Consulate Offices in Ramallah

Posted on November 10, 2021 by First.One.Through

The Biden Administration has decided to pick a fight with Israel over opening an official consulate for the Palestinian Authority in Israel’s capital city of Jerusalem. The logical place to open the office is in Ramallah near the government offices of the Palestinian Authority, like many other countries.

Here is a sampling of some countries with consulate offices in Ramallah:

*View of Ramallah from the Malta Consulate*

The Israeli government voiced its strong objections to Biden’s decision to open an office in Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minster Naftali Bennett said “My position, which has been presented to the Americans by myself and by Foreign Minister Lapid, is that there is no place for an American consulate that serves the Palestinians in Jerusalem.“

In the past, there was a consulate which serviced Palestinian Arabs since 1967 at 18 Agron Street in the area Palestinians call “West Jerusalem,” in a building that the US has used since the Ottoman Empire ruled the area. It proved impractical and dangerous, as the armed guards which escorted American diplomats from the building in Israel to the offices of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, had to hand off security at the perimeter of Area A. US President Trump shut the Palestinian consulate and moved the services into the embassy to Israel.

If the United States wants to separate the facilities serving Israelis and Palestinian Arabs, it makes the most sense to open the consulate in Ramallah. Alternative locations can be cities in Area A under the control of the Palestinian Authority. The question is how much the Biden Administration wants to anger Israel, please Palestinians and put American diplomats in danger.

possible Location of consulate for palestinians	commentary
Ramallah	Most practical, as seat of PA government. Many countries have consulates there
Jericho	Part of Area A, controlled by the Palestinian Authority
Bethlehem	Part of Area A, and also part of what was envisioned as “corpus separatum” along with Jerusalem in the UN 1947 Partition Plan
eastern Jerusalem	Annexed by Israel, would anger Israel and please PA as actively challenging Israel’s annexation
18 Agron Street, western Jerusalem	Desired location as past location of consulate, but most controversial and impractical

Possible locations of US consulate to Palestinian Authority ranked from least to most controversial and dangerous

The UN Has No Interest in Mid-East Peace, Just a Palestinian State

Posted on October 24, 2021 by First.One.Through

The United Nations, as an institution, was designed to be an impartial party which would bring peace and order to a chaotic world.

If only.

The opening lines of the UN Charter note the “equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small,” and Article 2 specifically called out the “principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.” Equality seemed a cornerstone of the principles of the organization.

But the United Nations has continued to prefer a particular non-member OVER AND ABOVE an existing member. Specifically, the Palestinian Authority over the State of Israel.

The head of the United Nations, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, appointed a Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, by all accounts a good idea to keep the volatile region from spinning out of control and to serve as an impartial envoy to bring the PA and Israel together to forge an enduring peace.

But Guterres did not pick someone to act as a neutral party. He appointed Tor Wennesland, who has a history of working and supporting the Palestinians and other Muslim Arabs in the region. He served as:

Norway’s chairman of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee for Palestine
Norway’s Representative to the Palestinian Authority from 2007 to 2011
Norwegian Ambassador to Egypt and Libya from 2012 to 2015

Even worse and more telling, Guterres also asked Wennesland to act as his Personal Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. This person was not selected to bring the warring parties together but to act on behalf of only one party – the PA – a non-member of the United Nations.

The appointment should have been roundly rejected by Israel as an affront to the peace process and by the entire membership body of the United Nations, as the leader of the organization promoted the agenda of a non-member state over those of a member.

The systemic anti-Israel bias in the United Nations is found in every corner, from the dozens of member states that refuse to recognize the Jewish State, to the Secretary General himself, who by now has become deeply stained in that toxic sea of anti-Semitism.

Naked Trades in the Middle East

Posted on September 14, 2020 by First.One.Through

The template for forging peace between Israelis and Arabs for the last many years was based on the notion of trading one item for another. The idea was for Israel to give land to Arabs and would get peace or normalization in return. The formula worked in the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt and to a lesser extent in the 1994 treaty between Israel and Jordan. During the period of the Oslo Accords, the same idea was advanced between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

After signing of the Oslo II Accords in September 1995, the Palestinian Authority received several towns and cities from Israel. This was the first time that local Palestinian Arabs got to rule themselves in their history. It was orchestrated as a test to see if the PA could build a functional government and establish controls to enable and enforce a peace agreement with Israel. The five year period ending September 2000 was designed to test the thesis and then hand considerable more territory to the PA.

The Oslo effort proved a complete failure.

The five year period between 1995 and 2000 was marked by intense violence and terrorism. It was capped when Yasser Arafat launched the Second Intifada in September 2000 when the negotiations did not yield 100% of his stated demands. Years of bloodshed began to slow to a trickle when Israel constructed a security barrier separating many of the towns in the “West Bank” from which the Palestinian terrorists emerged.

As the violence ebbed, Israel sought to implement a long-term solution, even without a peace partner. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon opted to unilaterally withdraw all Israeli troops and civilians from Gaza in 2005, with the assurances from U.S. President George Bush in 2004 that Israel’s borders would not follow the 1949 Armistice Lines and account for current realities. Israel took the action and asked for nothing from the Palestinians.

This first naked trade in the Arab-Israeli conflict was a failure. Within two years of withdrawing from Gaza, the terrorist group Hamas seized control and used the area as a launching pad for terrorism against Israel including three full wars in 2008, 2012 and 2014.

Israel pulled civilians from their homes in Gaza in 2005. It asked for nothing from the Palestinians in return.

It took many years for another one-way trade to take place.

In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States officially recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and would relocated its embassy to the city. While the U.S. Congress had approved such measure in 1995, every president deferred such recognition and move, hoping to couple such actions with something for the Palestinians. However, in light of the acting-President of the PA’s refusal to engage with the U.S. administration, Trump moved forward with the one-party deal.

The politicians and pundits who worked the region for years derided the move. Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said the move was “ill-advised” and former Secretary of State John Kerry said that Trump wouldn’t survive a year in office. Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights said that the move would fuel the “narrative of extremists who want to paint the Western world in terms of a religious war.”

Those predictions proved incorrect. There was no outbreak of violence throughout the Muslim world in reaction to the announcement or the relocation of the embassy. The naked trade rectified a historic wrong and did not lead to mayhem. It led to additional positive actions like Guatemala, Serbia and Kosovo recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The success of the 2017 Trump action has enabled the quick adoption of additional one-way trades: the 2020 normalization of relationships of both the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain with the Jewish State, to be signed in Washington, D.C. on September 15.

Palestinians were apoplectic that fellow Arab countries would recognize Israel before a peace agreement with the PA was signed. While the Palestinians were angered by the Israeli peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, each Arab country at least got tangible benefits from their respective agreements. Such treaties were therefore viewed as not only understandable, but clever. Egypt and Jordan essentially gave away nothing – just a “hudna,” a ceasefire which could be over-turned at any time – while they obtained real immediate benefits. Palestinians were therefore able to convince themselves that they were still a priority for the broader Arab nation.

But these naked trades by the UAE and Bahrain have laid that lie bare. The two gulf emirates are receiving nothing in the near-term but the prospects of gaining access to Israeli and American technology and military capabilities. The trade was for a long-term situational benefit, much like Israel had assumed leaving Gaza in 2005 would yield.

It would appear that we have entered a new stage of diplomacy in the Middle East which is not based on near-term raw cost-benefit analyses but rather on long-term situational positioning. Goodbye land-for-peace. Hello aspirations for the future.

Let’s all hope that this evolution to naked trades will produce an enduring peace for the region.

First One Through

Israel Analysis. We primaried Bowman!

Tag Archives: Palestinian Authority

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Does Biden Support A Palestinian Army And Jewish Prayer On The Temple Mount

Israel: Security in a Small Country

Consulate Offices in Ramallah

The UN Has No Interest in Mid-East Peace, Just a Palestinian State

Naked Trades in the Middle East

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