Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

US Embassy, Consulate Cater to Arabs
Aug 6th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Tzvi Ben Gadalyahu
Categories: Today's Headlines;Anti-Israel

 
The American Consulate in “eastern Jerusalem” serves 600,000 Jews in the “occupied territories” of Judea and Samaria and many parts of Jerusalem, but its website at http://jerusalem.usconsulate.gov is devoted to helping Arabs only. English and Arabic are the two languages used by workers, and its telephone answering system does not offer an option for Hebrew.

The Tel Aviv-based American embassy website also tries to woo Israeli Arabs more than it does Americans or Israeli Jews.

The United States officially regards as “occupied territory” all of Judea and Samaria and all parts of Jerusalem, including the Old City and the Western Wall (Kotel), that were restored to the Jewish State in the Six-Day War in 1967. Consulate officials explained the designation of “occupied” areas is why the site caters only to Arabs.

American policy requires all residents of “eastern Jerusalem,” including French Hill and Gilo as well as those living in Judea and Samaria, to use the Consulate for passports and other services for citizens. Officials told Israel National News that the embassy in Tel Aviv may be used in emergencies, but the consulate’s website shows no signs that it serves Jews at all.

Three news briefs on the current Consulate site tell readers that the United States helped Beit Jalla, adjacent to Bethlehem, to build a new public library, handed out 300 free tickets for Arab children to watch a Disney movie in Shechem and sponsored a summer camp for 450 Arabs in Judea and Samaria and Gaza.

One article features an American grant “to preserve Palestinian cultural heritage” and includes a grant to the Palestinian Association for Cultural Exchange (PACE), to “assist three historic villages in the West Bank – Beitin, Aboud, and Al-Jib – to preserve their cultural heritage and promote tourist destinations, while also raising awareness among residents of the villages about their cultural heritage.”

Obama spies monitoring Jews house-to-house
Aug 6th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Aaron Klein
Categories: Today's Headlines;Anti-Israel

'They try to mingle with us to get more information on what we're doing'

JERUSALEM – The Obama administration has set up an apparatus to closely monitor Jewish construction in Jerusalem and the strategic West Bank to the point of watching Israeli moves house-to-house in certain key neighborhoods, WND has learned.

Obama has called for a complete halt to what he refers to as settlement activity, meaning Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem or the West Bank. Obama's edict extends to natural growth, or accommodating for the housing needs of existing local settler population centers. The demand is an apparent abrogation of a deal Israel struck with the Bush administration to allow natural growth.

For the past few months, Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, has protested to the highest levels of the Israeli government about evidence found of any Jewish housing expansion in those areas, informed Israeli officials said.

The officials, who spoke on condition that their names be withheld, said that last March Mitchell oversaw the establishment of an enhanced apparatus based in the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem that closely monitors the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods, incorporating regular tours of the areas, at times on a daily basis.

Previously, under the Bush administration, the consulate kept a general eye on Jewish Jerusalem and West Bank construction, receiving much of its information from nongovernmental organizations.

"Mitchell's apparatus takes things to a whole new level. They are watching very closely," said an Israeli official.

Jewish leaders in the West Bank said the consulate takes no pains to hide their activities.

"They come out. They tour our communities. They try to interact with our leadership," David Ha'ivri, spokesmen for the Shomron Regional Council in the West Bank, told WND.

"They drive around the towns, check up on what's going on. They try to mingle with us to get more information on what we're up to and what we're doing," he said.

Ha'ivri said the consular officials present themselves as advisers to the U.S. consul-general.

"But we know they are really spies for the Obama administration," he said.

Jerusalem officials affirm the consular staff report to Obama's envoy, Mitchell.

The U.S. the past few weeks has been publicly protesting Israeli actions in Jerusalem on the municipal level, making an international incident out of individual homes. Yesterday, for the second time the past few weeks, the Obama administration summoned Israel's ambassador to Washington to protest Israel asserting its municipal rights in eastern sections of Jerusalem which the Palestinians claim as a future capital.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman summoned Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to Washington, with a message that the Obama administration views the eviction Sunday of two Palestinian families from homes in eastern Jerusalem as "provocative" and "unacceptable."

In the case, Israel last week enforced its own property law in Jerusalem by evicting Arabs from a Jewish housing complex they purportedly had been illegally occupying for almost a century.

Oren reportedly responded today by explaining that the housing complex has been Jewish-owned since before Israel's founding in 1948. Oren explained a court ordered the families' eviction since they had been living there illegally.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week also denounced the evictions, calling them "deeply regrettable" during a joint press conference in Washington with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.

Much of the U.S. and international media the past few days have been reporting on Israel's eviction of Arab families from a house in eastern Jerusalem.

The housing complex is located in the Sheik Jarra neighborhood of eastern Jerusalem. The home was originally Jewish, but its Jewish occupants were chased out during countrywide anti-Jewish Arab riots in 1929. Arabs then squatted on the property, with one family, the Hejazi family, becoming the de facto occupants despite never having purchased the property.

Even though documentation shows the complex is owned by Jews and that Arabs have been squatting on it illegally for almost a century, Jewish groups say they still legally re-purchased the property from the Hejazi family.

Following pressure from the Palestinian Authority, however, the family later denied selling the complex back to the Jews despite documentation and other evidence showing the sale went through.

The PA in April warned Palestinians against selling their homes or properties to Jews, saying those who violate the order would be accused of "high treason" – a charge that carries the death penalty.

Israel's court system twice ruled the property belongs to Jews.

"The eviction in Jerusalem was a result of a ruling by our Supreme Court that had to decide in a dispute between two parties over the legal control of a property," Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, told WND.

Continued Regev: "The Supreme Court ruled for one side and not the other. In all democracies the rulings of the courts must be upheld, and it is incumbent on the executive branch to implement such decisions."

Regev said the Israeli Supreme Court "is renowned internationally for both its independence and its professionalism. There are countless examples of the Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Palestinians in land disputes."

Yesterday marked the second time the past three weeks Israel's ambassador has been summoned by Washington to protest Israeli conduct in eastern Jerusalem. Last month, Oren was summoned by the State Department to demand a Jewish construction project in eastern Jerusalem be immediately halted.

The construction project, financed by Miami Beach philanthropist Irving Moskowitz, is located just yards from Israel's national police headquarters and other government ministries. It is a few blocks from the country's prestigious Hebrew University, underscoring the centrality of the Jewish real estate being condemned by the U.S.

Netanyahu strongly rejected the State Department demand, telling a cabinet meeting Israel's sovereignty over Jerusalem was not a matter up for discussion.

"Imagine what would happen if someone were to suggest Jews could not live in or purchase [property] in certain neighborhoods in London, New York, Paris or Rome," he said just after his ambassador was summoned.

"The international community would certainly raise protest. Likewise, we cannot accept such a ruling on eastern Jerusalem," Netanyahu told ministers.

GOP Whip Cantor: Obama Must Focus on Iran, not ‘Settlements’
Aug 6th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Tzvi Ben Gadalayhu
Categories: Today's Headlines;Peace Process

 
Republican House of Representatives Whip Eric Cantor (Virginia) said Thursday that U.S. President Barack Obama should be focusing on the Iranian threat instead of trying to impose a freeze on building for Jews in eastern Jerusalem.

“I do not know what is driving the focus on settlements, but one of the messages we are delivering is that “priorities should be focused on the existential threat that Iran” poses to Israel as well as to the United States," he said. "Eastern Jerusalem should not take precedence. I do not support engaging with a terrorist regime [Ira, and the U.S. must do all it can to encourage allies around the world to join us to put pressure on Iran” through sanctions.

The GOP whip said he has "concerns about the White House’s raising questions to impose requirements on Israel. I cannot understand how anyone can call on our allies to implement its laws.”

Speaking shortly after a visit to the Jewish community of Alfei Menashe in Samaria, Congressman Cantor added that his meeting with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Wednesday left him with doubts about Arab sincerity in reaching an agreement with Israel.

“I had reservations before, and I do not see any demonstration today” of the PA’s recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. Rep. Cantor said that in an hour-long talk with Fayyad, the PA leader spoke mainly of his own achievements in introducing economic and financial reforms in the Ramallah-based PA.

“He did not answer with too much clarity” when he was asked about recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, the Congressman said. He added that Fayyad simply said that the issue is something that could be put on the negotiating table in the future.

Rep. Cantor, who is leading a 25-man GOP Congressional delegation, also stated that accepting the 2002 Saudi Arabia Peace Plan demand that Israel absorb millions of foreign Arabs claiming ancestry in Israel is “akin to calling for the destruction of Israel.”

Rep. Cantor also is chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare. After Mahmoud Abbas was elected to head the PA following the death of Yasser Arafat, the congressman noted that Abbas's campaign featured an “anti-Israel message [tha routinely pandered to the Palestinian terrorists who attack Israeli civilians…. His political education was one rooted in Arafat’s leadership of violence and terrorism. Mahmoud Abbas’s own words and actions expose an individual who openly consorts with terrorists and those who seek the death of innocent Israeli civilians.”

The Republican Congressmen’s trip is fully sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation, a supporting organization of American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). The same group is sponsoring a visit later this month by 35 Democratic Congress members, headed by House Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Analysis: Arab states 'just say no' to normalization
Aug 6th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost - JONATHAN SPYER
Categories: Today's Headlines;Peace Process

The idea of gestures of 'normalization' from Arab states to Israel is a central component in the US administration's plan for reviving the Mideast peace process.

The notion represents a variant of the Oslo-style approach whereby a series of confidence-building measures will create a climate conducive to the successful conclusion of final-status negotiations. President Barack Obama's approach seeks to expand the circle of confidence-building, so that the Arab states, and not only the Palestinians and Israelis, will be drawn into it.

According to reports, the US is now in the final stages before the announcement of its new, comprehensive peace plan. In the past week, meanwhile, three Arab states appear to have rejected the possibility of gestures of normalization.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal last Friday openly dismissed the idea of "incrementalism" and "confidence-building measures." Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh took a more ambiguous but still critical stance regarding such measures early this week in a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Kuwaiti Emir Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, meanwhile, reiterated his country's support for the Arab peace initiative after a meeting with Obama. By failing to give any hint of a forthcoming gesture to Israel, or to express any support for the idea of normalization in principle, the emir appeared to be adding Kuwait to the list of Arab countries who prefer to politely decline the administration's request for assistance.

So far, the score-card for gestures of normalization from the Arab states to Israel stands at close to zero. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Kuwait are all close allies of the US. Yet none have yet been willing to make a positive gesture in Washington's direction on this issue. What lies behind their refusal?

One explanation for this holds that the administration's pressure on Israel is leading to a hardening of Arab positions. Since Obama demanded a complete freeze on all construction in settlements, it would now be futile to expect Arab gestures of normalization unless Israel first accepts this demand. However, the Arab rejection of incremental measures has not been solely predicated on Israel's refusal of a comprehensive freeze on all construction in West Bank settlements. Rather, the very principle of normalization in the period prior to a final-status accord between Israelis and Palestinians appears to be rejected.

The rejection of this idea derives from two elements. Firstly, the near-universal, though rarely expressed, belief that the current attempt to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is doomed to failure. Secondly, the distinct lack of urgency felt in Arab capitals regarding this issue.

Regarding the first issue, the factors that caused the failure of the peace process in the 1990s have not disappeared. They are waiting to trip up any negotiation should final-status talks begin.

The demand that Palestinian refugees and their descendants be permitted to make their homes in Israel, the demand for exclusive Muslim sovereignty over the holy places in Jerusalem, the refusal to countenance recognition of Israel as a Jewish state - all these remain part of the non-negotiable core position of the Palestinian national movement. Indeed, in so far as the situation on the ground has changed since 2000, it is for the worse.

The split in the Palestinian national movement between nationalist Fatah and Islamist Hamas increasingly has the look of permanency about it. And since militancy against Israel remains the currency of legitimacy in Palestinian politics, the effect of this is to induce the ageing Fatah movement to dress itself up in radical array once again.

This may currently be seen at the Fatah congress in Bethlehem. There is simply no prospect in the foreseeable future of a united Palestinian leadership willing to make the compromises with reality which alone would render a repartition of the country feasible.

For Arab countries aligned with the US, this situation is not so terrible. They suffer no tangible consequence as a result of it. But the Palestinian issue remains the great mobilizing cause for the populations of the Arab states.

Since this is the case, Arab regimes do not consider it in their interests to appear to be making concessions to Israel. On the contrary - given that from the Kuwaiti, or Saudi, or even Jordanian point of view there is no urgent practical need to resolve the conflict, the leaders of these countries have an obvious interest in playing to the gallery of their own publics by striking occasional militant poses.

These poses must not go beyond a certain point, of course. The American protector must not be unduly provoked. But the Obama administration has made abundantly clear that there will be no price to be paid by the Arab states for their refusal to get on the Obama peace wagon.

As a result, these states may happily continue their comfortable stance of verbal support for the Palestinian cause and refusal to undertake any potentially detrimental gesture of rapprochement toward Israel, while continuing to enjoy the benefits of American patronage.

The fact is that, as everyone in the region knows, there is no chance of a final-status accord between Israelis and Palestinians any time soon. And the absence of such an accord is very far from being the most urgent problem facing the region. All sides now await the moment that this knowledge finds its way to the US administration.

Art's Commentary....President Obama rushed into the peace process with great gusto and great optimism. He no doubt thought that he could bring about a quick resolution and he was willing from the start to sacrifice Israel's interests to reach his goal. Mr. Obama is further from peace in the mideast than when he started in January. The fact is that God has a timetable and God has a man (antichrist) to bring about a situation in the mideast that will accomplsh His purposes for Israel and the nations.