Volume 6; Issue 3
You've heard them from Netanyahu, from Barak, from pundits, and from friends and family. Here we take on directly the bogus excuses offered to justify East Jerusalem settlement expansion.
Bogus Excuse #1 - "Everybody knows these areas will always remain part of Israel."
The Truth: There is nothing objective or neutral, or even constant, about what "everybody knows" in East Jerusalem.
In 1993, when the peace process was taking off, the settlement of Ramat Shlomo -- which recently caused such a headache for Vice President Biden -- didn't exist. If in 1993 you had asked what areas "everybody knows" would stay part of Israel under any future agreement, the area that is today Ramat Shlomo -- territorially distinct from any other settlement and contiguous with the Palestinian neighborhood of Shuafat -- would not have been mentioned.
The same can be said of the massive settlement of Har Homa. Here, again, the argument is that "everybody knows" this area will forever be part of Israel. But again, this is an area that at the outset of the peace process was empty land -- devoid of Israelis, belonging mainly to Palestinians, and contiguous entirely with Palestinian areas -- that anybody drawing a logical border would have placed on the Palestinian side.
The real question, then, is what do people mean when they say that "everybody knows?" If they mean that everybody understands what will be Israeli and what will be Palestinian in Jerusalem, this could be good news: it could mean that an agreement is possible, at least on Jerusalem, tomorrow.
But that's not what they mean - because for people using this argument, there is no place in Jerusalem that "everybody knows" will be Palestinian. What they mean is that East Jerusalem can be divided into two categories: areas that "everybody knows" Israel will keep and where it can therefore act with impunity, and areas that Israel hopes it can keep, by dint of changing enough facts on the ground that such areas move into the first category. It is an approach that can be summed up as: "what's mine is mine, and everything else will hopefully be mine, too."
Those who embrace such an approach are acting under the premise that the status of Jerusalem and its borders will be determined by Israeli deeds rather than by negotiations. It is an approach that appears to be being implemented on the ground today in the area surrounding the Old City in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods like Ras al Amud and Jabel Mukabbir. It is also appears to be targeting, for the first time, areas like Shuafat and Beit Hanina. In all these area, Israeli policies - construction, demolitions, displacement, changes in the public domain - appear aimed at transforming them into places that Israel can also claim that "everyone knows," will always be Israel.
Continuing such an approach sends a dangerous message that Israel is not serious about negotiations. Tolerating such an approach will destroy US credibility as a steward of Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.
Bogus Excuse #2 - "Arabs can build and live anywhere in Jerusalem, so Jews must be allowed to build and live anywhere, too."
The Truth: Most of West Jerusalem is off-limits to Palestinian residents of Jerusalem in terms of their ability to purchase property. This is because most of West Jerusalem, like most of Israel, is "State Land" (in all, 93% of land in Israel is "state land"). Under Israeli law, to qualify to purchase property that is "state land" the purchaser must either be a citizen of Israel (Palestinian Jerusalemites are legal residents of the city, not citizens of Israel) or legally entitled to citizenship under the law of return (i.e. Jewish).
This means an Israeli or a Jew from anywhere in the world can purchase such property in West Jerusalem, but not a Palestinian resident of the city. (Technically, by the way, these are actually not purchases but long-term leases.)
With respect to private land in West Jerusalem, there are no legal limitations on purchases by Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. Similarly, there are no legal limitations on Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem renting in West Jerusalem. However, so few Palestinians actually reside in West Jerusalem, either through purchase or rental of property, that experts on the issue could not come up with a single example. The reasons for this are social, cultural, and economic - that is, Palestinians do not have lives that are focused in West Jerusalem. There is also discrimination - that is, there is anecdotal evidence that Israelis prefer not to rent or sell to Palestinians. (This is distinct from Arab citizens of Israel, who by virtue of their citizenship have the right to buy property that is "State Land" and a small number of whom do live in West Jerusalem).
In addition, it should be emphasized that the ban on purchase of property on "State Land" by Palestinian residents of Jerusalem extends to East Jerusalem. Not only are Palestinian Jerusalemites barred from purchasing property in most of West Jerusalem, but they are also barred from purchasing property in the 35% of East Jerusalem that Israel has expropriated as "State Land" since 1967, and on which Israel's East Jerusalem settlements have been built. This means that in more than 1/3 of East Jerusalem, Israelis and Jews from anywhere in the world have a right to buy property, but not Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, including the very residents whose land was expropriated to build these settlements.
A small number of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have rented apartments in some East Jerusalem settlements (principally French Hill, Pisgat Zeev, and Neve Yaacov - all settlements that are so far "east" that they are increasingly less attractive to Israelis). This does not appear to reflect any political agenda to move to these areas, but rather is a byproduct of the severe housing shortage that exists in Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. And it should be noted that these are short-term rentals from their Israeli owners (as opposed to formal leases by the titular land owner, the government of Israel, to Palestinians).
Bogus Excuse #3 - "The planning and approval process is so convoluted that there is no way the government of Israel could keep track of, let alone stop, East Jerusalem settlement plans - even if it wanted to do so."
The Truth: The planning and approval process for East Jerusalem settlements is indeed long and convoluted, but that does not mean it is impenetrable or impossible to oversee.
Indeed, notwithstanding the flow charts that Netanyahu has gleefully shown to officials in Washington, the fact is that outside parties with no access to internal government information have still been able to track and predict - in advance - virtually every plan that has come up, not only since Netanyahu came to office but in the years before that.
The planning/approval process has clear and well-known "bottlenecks" - hurdles through which plans must pass and at which they can be stopped. By monitoring activity in 5 of these "bottlenecks" (the Local Committee and its Licensing Subcommittee; the Jerusalem Municipality and Ministry of Interior websites; and the Regional Committee and its Objections Subcommittee) there should be zero surprises.
While Netanyahu may be justified in arguing that the process is so complex that it calls for legislative reform, it is patently false to use this argument in an effort to absolve himself of responsibility for knowing about planning and construction activities in East Jerusalem. If motivated outside groups can track these by simply monitoring what is on the public record, the government of Israel can certainly be expected to do no less, and indeed should be expected to do far more.
Bogus Excuse #4 - "The land was not being used by anyone until Israel built on it."
The Truth: This argument rests on the idea that it is permissible to confiscate someone else's property - not for public domain but for commercial development - based solely on the argument that the owner doesn't really need it or isn't using it. Given that Netanyahu is fond of asserting that it would be inconceivable that in Washington, DC or New York there would be areas that Jews are not permitted to build, simply because they are Jews, it is worth pointing out that it is likewise inconceivable that in Washington, DC or New York land developers would be permitted to seize someone else's property based on such bizarre logic.
Moreover, this argument rests on the false assumption that Palestinian non-use of property is voluntary. It should be recalled that shortly after the 1967 war, Israel expanded Jerusalem municipal boundaries to include not only Jordanian East Jerusalem but much of its West Bank hinterland. Shortly thereafter, Israel expropriated almost all the open land in East Jerusalem - including the area that is today Ramat Shlomo - placing it off-limits for Palestinian development.
It is thus misleading to imply that East Jerusalem's Palestinians - whose population since 1967 has grown at a much higher rate than Israel's Jewish population - didn't need or weren't interested in developing their land, when the fact is that Israel barred them from ever doing so.
Moreover, it is a fact that there is massive overcrowding in Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. Yet, while the government of Israel has planned and built more than 50,000 units for Israelis in East Jerusalem settlements since 1967, fewer than 600 residential units have been built for Palestinians in East Jerusalem with any kind of government support, the last of which was more than 35 years ago.
Similarly, while the government of Israel has been generous is approving planning and permits for private Jewish construction in East Jerusalem, including in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods, it is well-documented that since 1967 East Jerusalem's Palestinian residents have had a difficult and sometimes impossible time getting permits to build on their own, privately-owned land, and the government of Israel has refused to approve new neighborhood plans that would allow for any systematic expansion.
Bogus Excuse #5 -"East Jerusalem settlements have never bothered Palestinians and don't impact their lives negatively in any way."
The Truth: East Jerusalem settlements are a bone in the throat of Palestinian East Jerusalem. They are built on land that under normal circumstances would have been the natural sites for Palestinian neighborhoods. They cut off access to the West Bank and between Palestinian neighborhoods. The infrastructure to serve them is built at the further expense of Palestinian land and generally designed to suit the needs of the settlers, while infrastructure for East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhoods resembles that of third-world villages.
Bogus Excuse #6 - "Jerusalem settlements are not an obstacle to peace."
The Truth: Jerusalem is the epicenter of the bitter national conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. It is the place where the conflict is at its peak and also the place where the conflict will come to an end. There can be no Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement and no two-state solution without an agreement - agreeable to both sides - on the future status of Jerusalem. Furthermore, any notion that Palestinian aspirations regarding Jerusalem can be satisfied by permitting them to call some outlying area in the West Bank "Jerusalem" and making that the Palestinian capital must be recognized as pure fantasy.
Should current settlement trends in East Jerusalem continue, with the rhetoric being backed up by deeds, the day will come sooner rather than later when the two-state solution will be irrevocably lost. This will be because the demography and geography of Jerusalem have become so Balkanized that no reasonable, viable solution in Jerusalem will be possible. And if there is no solution in Jerusalem, there is no two-state, conflict-ending resolution. In short, we are hanging on by our fingernails to the two-state solution itself. And contrary to those who would argue otherwise, there is no other solution. The loss of the two-state solution does not create alternative solutions.
But that's not all. We are also hanging on with our fingernails to the nature of the conflict. For now it is still a bitter, nasty national-political conflict that is at times fueled by religious extremism. As such, it is manageable and ultimately resolvable by statesmanship and diplomacy. However, what is transpiring in and around the Old City - both in terms of settlements and government-backed plans that are turning the public domain over to extremist, exclusionary settlers and colluding with them in turning the area into an evangelical theme park - threatens to transform this resolvable national-political conflict into an intractable religious conflict. That is what is at stake.
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With regard to your answer to "Bogus Excuse #4" I find it hard to believe that any intelligent American today is unaware of the Supreme Court's Kelo case, holding that private homes may indeed be seized by the government when it believes that the area is being underutilized and will be put to a more lucrative use (as housing for the more affluent) after the taking. Indeed that was the case in Washington DC in the 1954 case of Berman v. Parker.
So before you shoot off your mouths any further on this topic, maybe you should find out what you are talking about.
I would encourage people to learn about the Kelo case, which is not a relevant precedent here.
First, that controversial case dealt with seizure of land for specific development projects that are ostensibly for the public good.
That is not and was never claimed to be the situation in East Jerusalem, where you had the wholesale seizure (by outright expropriation and re-zoning that is the same as expropriation) of almost all empty land in East Jerusalem shortly after 1967. Israel did not "need" the land at that time - there were no specific development plans or special need. What this expropriation accomplished was making the land off-limits to Palestinians -- even if they wanted to develop it and had the resources to do so, they could not -- and creating a bank of land that Israel could develop when it felt like it in the future. Ramat Shlomo is a perfect example of this -- land seized in the early 1970s, and not developed until the mid-1990s. So who was guilty of under-using the area for those two decades?
Moreover, whether you agree with the Kelo ruling or not (and it was an extremely controversial ruling), the crux of that case was the exercise of eminent domain for the benefit of the local community -- not for the benefit of people who the government wanted to implant in the area, with zero connection to or benefits, economic or otherwise, intended or foreseen for the existing population.
Sorry, but Kelo doesn't cut it here.
Dear Ms. Friedman, Kudos to you and Mr. Seidmann! Finally, someone speaks truth to power and takes a moral stance! Brilliant, incisive, conscientious, and professional. EDUCATIVE! Your article regarding "Everybody Knows" ref Israeli policies, rhetoric, impunity and lack of accountability, most of all lack of any credibility within the envisioned peace process, is the kind of article I would give my students to read to understand what responsible journalism is about.
Please keep doing what you are doing: Palestinians do not have access, do not have enough voices in the USA, and are dying by the dozens daily. Remember, each time you write an article like this, you are helping to decrease the number of crimes against Palestinians, to decrease the number of sad and un-necessary deaths, to hold Israel really responsible for its actions, to educate Americans about the issues,and to decrease Israel's chances to annex more land and perpetuate more lies.
God bless you!
Dear Ms. Friedman, dear Mr. Seidmann,
All I want to say is: Thank you.
Please keep doing your important work, in spite of the hostility that you are probably encountering. Please know that there are people 'out there' who deeply appreciate your thorough work and your courage.
E. Weber
re "everybody knows", there's also a seeming "everybody forgets" in your camp: what everybody there forgets is that the controversy over east jerusalem would not have a basis for existence were it not for palestinian aggression against isreal, which israel succeeded in combatting, thereby gaining sovereignty over jerusalem.
also, if in fact part of jerusalem were to become a capital for a newly formed palestinian nation, what is to stop that capital from becoming another hotbed of anti-israel aggression such as occurred when gaza was left to the palestinians?
Palestinian aggression?
Your Alice in Wonderland statement makes me doubt your metal stability brother oppenheimer.
The Palestinians have no airforce, no military, no armed settlers, no USA & AIPAC, but as human beings have the right to a life free of zionist theft, imprisonment, land confiscation, free from the zionist destruction of fruit & olive groves, maiming, targetted assassination and most of all free from exile and murder.
As long as zionism exists there will be resistance because it is unjust, racist and exclusive to one ethnocracy.
Ava Tar,
Please do not attack Zionism until you read the
history of persecution of the Jews (I am a non-Jew).
Rather, it should be a Zionism that realizes the
rights of other ethnic minorities in Jerusalem and
the occupied territories. Your other remarks are
quite accurate.
The basic truth is rather blunt: ethnic cleansing and genocide by those who pretend to be very exceptional: God's Choosen.
The long-term denoument is that civilized Jews must take control or the reaction will be terrible and in keeping with those who have broken the Covenant.
Ava Tar,
"The Palestinians have no airforce, no military, no armed settlers, no USA & AIPAC." The intifada taught the world that the Palestinians don't need an airforce, military, etc. to terrorize Israelis. All they needed was a strapped bomb filled with explosives, rat poison, and rusty nails to kill an entire class room of Kindergardeners. They don't have USA or AIPAC, they have the Iran, Syria, Jordan. They have radicals from California and Europe who would prefer supporting a group of extremists who believe killing Jews will get them virgins in heaven rather than a sovereign democracy that has gone out of its way to extend aid and humanitarian support to African and Southeast Asian nations. Israel gave more to Haiti than any other country. The Arabs didn't do a damn thing other than claim that it was the "Jewish apes and pigs" that cause natural disasters.
You choose who to support.
This is a very important summary of the issue of Jerusalem and I will recommend it, but with one reservation: There IS an alternative to the 2-state solution and many Israelis and Palestinians have been advocating for it for years. That is, One Democratic State for all the citizens of Israel and Palestine. The main obstacle to this is Jewish exceptionalism. But whites in
South Africa learned to overcome their White Exceptionalism when all other alternatives were taken away. As DeKlerk said, "We must adapt or die." South Africa still has severe problems, but white people there were not slaughtered en masse as many feared, Most stayed and they love their country and live there along with their black and coloured neighbors.
Israelis and Palestinians need to overcome the
ir fear of the Other and see each other as people who love their land and can live in it peacefully together. When the US stops sending arms and funding to Israel for the Occupation, that will be a giant step towards peace.
April 2,2010
On the positive side, I recommend a UN commision of one UN Commisioner, an Israeli, and an Arab for the religious sites and the Palestinian Capital adjacent to that including the rest of East Jerusalem and beyond in the West Bank.
I don't want anymore of MY tax dollars going to Israel any more. we've been their protective big brother and it is draining. the hold of the land is because the religious history to the big three religions. I understand that but why are we sending more assistance?
Egypt and Israel have a treaty still working. The british and Ireland seems a peace for decades now. If they can bury that hatch, why can't the Israelies?
i feel sorry for the palestinans for what they have to go thur. they have rights or should. can we stop this back and forth stuff now and let us send far less money.
it seems to me that the Israels lean on us to protective themselves but are not furthering anyone else.
If we think of the developments in East Jerusalem as future housing for the Palestinian Diaspora, would that move us along the road to peace?
Dear Ms. Friedman,
Many Thanks for your informative article!! I see so many parallels with Apartheid-era South Africa that it's painfull!
Here in the UK, we have managed to come together with our former enemies, to forge peace and security for our citizens but, and this is the key, IT IS NOT PERFECT - but neither is anywhare else!
Many Thanks again!
whenever I see a new development on raw land in my state (CA), I wonder, are they including a playground, a library, a park with benches and picnic tables for everyone to gather and enjoy? Or is this development only another monument to consumerism? Cities and neighborhoods need to demand balanced developments that cultivate a sense of community rather than pidgeonhole visitors into narrow exchanges of goods for fee.
Likewise, I wonder why, if these settlements are so necessary, there isn't a balanced approach that mandates the building of parallel housing developments for the Palestinians being displaced, including schools, libraries or other positive community resources that would benefit everyone? Such an endeavor to lift all children and treat them as potential leaders and peacemakers would create jobs, transform impoverished communities, infuse a downtrodden population with hope, and erode the us/them mentality and violence that persists in the settlements and beyond.
The current program is obviously a tired recipe for more of the same. I say get the women together to cook up something new. Thanks APN for providing this forum.
Lara Friedman's article described the "Balkanization" of East Jerusalem. Indeed, as time passes the political Balkanization of Israel herself has hardened reducing the possibility of reconciliation between the various factions. Ms. Friedman's article represents realistic window of opportunity for the various factions to communicate in a constructive way. Without the mellowing of the obstinate posturing among Israel's denizens, no serious peace initiatives regarding the Palestinians will occur.
"The real question, then, is what do people mean when they say that "everybody knows?"
Madam,
I have a real question to answer your question?
Do you know the Old Testament ?
Probably not, being a hardline leftist !
Do you know that Shalom Achav is nearly not relevant anymore in Israel since many realised and are concerned by the animosity of your dear muslim president?
It means that you are late, battling a battle that no many support anymore in Israel, nearly irrelevant!
You still can go on, to give yourself some legitimacy.
You live safely in America and from your safe american haven, you judge others with your disgraceful arrogance and irrelevancy.
You are just not worth my time
"Americans for Peace now"
REALLY! WITH WHOM ?
NOBODY MORE THAN ISRAEL WANT PEACE BUT THEY WANT FIRST THEIR RIGHT TO EXIST TO BE RECOGNISED.
IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK ? ANSWER PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!
HOW CAN YOU DEAL WITH PEOPLE WHO DO NOT RECOGNISE YOUR EXISTENCE ? ANSWER PLEASE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JUDEA SAMARIA WAS ANNEXED BY ISRAEL, SO IT BELONGS TO ISRAEL AND WAS ALWAYS A JEWISH LAND.
JUST LIKE ALSACE LORRAINE WAS ANNEXED BY FRANCE: NOBODY DISPUTES THAT !
THANK YOU "AMERICANS FOR PEACE NOW" FOR BEING SO IRRELEVANT, BLIND IN YOUR ASSESSMENT & A BUNCH OF SNOBS
MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE ENOUGH SENSE TO DEFEND YOUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY OF AMERICA YOU DO NOT DESERVE, FROM THE DISASTROUS DAMAGE DONE BY YOUR PRESIDENT, SO OBVIOUS TO NEARLY EVERYBODY.
THIS OBAMA IS DIVIDING AMERICA AND INSULTING ISRAEL.
HE WILL BRING MISFORTUNE & WAR TO THE WORLD
Lara Friedman, you got it right on the money. I'm a history teacher and I tell the whole truth of what's going on over there to my students.They now know of the war crimes of the Igrun under later elected Israelie PM Begin and of the Stern Gang crimes under another later elected PM Shmire.They know now that the story spread by Israel and it's American supporters of the Palestinians leaving their land voluntarily in 1948 is a lie. They were forced out by the Israelies under their "Plan D". I instill on them that our unquestioned support for Israel in the UN Security Council and the annual 3 billion dollar plus aid that is used to purchase American military arms that are used to kill Palestinians has caused an increasing amount of antagonism towards us within Arab and other Islamic nations. We reap what we sow.
Martine of Australia, you're nuts.
Martine from Down Under, While you're crazy as a loon, I am very pleased that you submitted your comments because they are a perfect example of what racists you Zionists are. The US President is not a Muslim (not that it should matter anymore than when JFK was a Catholic). Obama's father followed Islam. You are obviously of the belief that Obama is half Muslim. There's no such thing. It is thinking like this that demostrates Zionism is racism. THERE ARE NO JEWISH PEOPLE. THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE JEWISH! See the difference? It is a religion not a race. Got it? And don't give me that crap about what is written in the Old Testament either. That was written by an ancient people who wanted to justify their conquest of an area and killing of it's people much the same way, during the Middle Ages, the rulers of Europe declared their authority derived from Divine Right (with some help from a corrupt Cathloic Church).
I am so confused, Miss Friedman and history teacher Bill Sleight ... when was Islam founded? wasn't it about 1300 years ago? Wasn't the Israelite's second Temple in Jerusalem destroyed 600+ years before Mohammed was even born? What is the historical Palestinian claim on Israel/Palestine - and why does it supersede that of the Jews (don't tell me forcible displacement of the Jews is a legitimate answer)... Moreover, who did the Israeli's annex Jerusalem from, in 1967? Wasn't it the Jordanians? I am not sure what claim if any the Palestinians have to Jerusalem either historically, religiously, or politically ... please clarify this for me. Finally, what is your stance on the American Indians within the United States? By your arguments and logic - shouldn't we be giving back total control and ALL are our land to them? What is the difference between these situations? ... Why do you compare Israel to South Africa - when the white's in South Africa had no business or connection to the historically black land - while the Jews have a 4000+ year connection/inheritance/right to Israel? Check your history maps, the land of the Phillistines was in the Gaza area.
Dan, you are confused. You have your time line on Islam and Mohammed correct, but so what? The issue is not about religion. The issue is about international law and Israelie propaganda.
The problem with Jews like yourself (I'm assuming you're Jewish)along with Bible thumping Christians, is that they either can't or refuse to accept that there is no longer a Jewish people. There are only people who are Jewish. It is a religion, not a race.
In 70 AD the Romans put down the Jewish revolt in Palestine and scattered many of the captives throughout the empire. Over time these people mingled with other peoples and the only common factor that remained was Judaism. And even that, like most religions, has evolved into different sects. So much so that even in Israel today there is controversy over who is and who isn't a Jew (example: Reformed Jews)
The historical Palistinian claim to the land and Jerusalem is very basic. They have lived there for more than a thousand years. While they may have been ruled by others most of that time (Ottomen Empire, British, Jordan in the West Bank being the last) they never left. The Israelies claim can only realisticly go back to 1948. Up until that time they were mostly European Jewish immigrants. The Zionist claim of "a land without people for people without a land" is a lie.
The expulsion of the Native Americans from their lands by the US Gov't. over a century ago was immoral, especially when judged by 20th and 21st century thinking. However there is little justifyable comparison to the Israelie occupation/settler enterprise in the West Bank and their expulsion of the Palestinians from their homes since 1967 simply because the Israelies are in violation of accepted international law while the US of the 19th century was not.
The 4th Geneva Convention of 1949, of which the new nation of Israel signed, plainly states that it is illegal for a nation to disperse inhabitants of land they have occupied in warfare and or settle such land with citizens of their own country.
In 1949 Israelies were eager to sign such a document because they were surrounded by hostile Arab nations and it gave them a degree of protection. But after the Six Day War in 1967, the Geneva agreement no longer suites them and it stands in the way of their plan of a Greater Israel so they arroantly choose to ignore it.
Hopefully President Obama will man up to the on coming pressure from AIPAC and their US Congressional lap dogs and stay the course of his goal of bringing a just peace to the Israelie/Palestinian conflict. That's a good thing isn't it, Dave? It is in America's national interest to be seen as a fair component to such negotiations and not to antagonise the other nations of the Mid East more than we have already.
FOR YOU MRS FRIEDMAN
2010 TOP TEN ANTI-ISRAEL
LIES
Israel is under assault!
Here’s what you need to know.
www.wiesenthal.com/toptenlies
SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER: 2010 TOP TEN ANTI-ISRAEL LIES
pa ge 1
Three thousand years before the Holocaust, before there was a Roman
Empire, Israel’s kings and prophets walked the streets of Jerusalem.
The whole world knows that Isaiah did not speak his prophesies from
Portugal, nor Jeremiah his lamentations from France. Revered by its
people, Jerusalem is mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures 600 times
- but not once in the Koran. Throughout its 2,000-year exile there
was continuous Jewish presence in the Holy Land, with the modern
rebirth of Israel beginning in the 1800s. Reclamation of the largely
vacant land by pioneering Zionists blossomed into a Jewish majority
long before the onset of Nazism.
After the Holocaust, nearly 200,000 Shoah survivors found haven in
the Jewish State, created by a two-thirds vote of the UN in 1947. Soon
800,000 Jews fleeing persecution in Arab countries arrived. In ensuing
decades, Israel absorbed a million immigrants from the Soviet Union
and thousands of Ethiopian Jews. Today, far from being a vestige of
European guilt or colonialism, Israel is a diverse, cosmopolitan society,
fulfilling the age-old dream of a people’s journey and ‘Return to Zion’-
their ancient homeland.
Since 1967, Israel has repeatedly conceded, “land for peace.” Following Egyptian President Sadat’s historic 1977 visit to
Jerusalem and the Camp David Peace Accords, Israel withdrew from the vast Sinai Peninsula and has been at peace with
Egypt ever since.
In 1995, Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel but neither the Palestinians nor 21 other Arab states have done so. In 1993,
Israel signed the Oslo Accords ceding administrative control of the West Bank to the Palestinian Authority (formerly the
PLO). The PA never fulfilled its promise to end propaganda attacks and drop the Palestinian National Charter’s call for
Israel’s destruction.
In 2000, Prime Minister Barak offered Yasser Arafat full sovereignty over 97% of the West Bank, a corridor to Gaza, and
a capitol in the Arab section of Jerusalem. Arafat said NO. In 2008, PA President Abbas nixed virtually the same offer from
Prime Minister Olmert. In 2005, Prime Minister Sharon unilaterally withdrew from Gaza. Taken over by terrorist Hamas,
they turned dismantled Jewish communities into launching sites for suicide bombers and 8,000+ rockets into Israel proper. In
2010, Prime Minister Netanyahu renewed offers of unconditional negotiations leading to a Palestinian State, but Palestinians
refused, demanding more unilateral Israeli concessions, including a total freeze
of all Israeli construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
LIE #1
LIE #2
Israel was created by European guilt over the Nazi Holocaust.
Why should Palestinians pay the price?
Had Israel withdrawn to its June 1967 borders, peace would
have come long ago.
Western Wall - Jerusalem
SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER: 2010 TOP TEN ANTI-ISRAEL LIES
pa ge 3
The Palestinians themselves are the only stumbling block to achieving
a Two-State solution. With whom should Israel negotiate? With
President Abbas, who, for four years, has been barred by Hamas
from visiting 1.5 million constituents in Gaza? With his Palestinian
Authority, which continues to glorify terrorists and preaches hate in
its educational system and the media? With Hamas, whose Iranianbacked
leaders deny the Holocaust and use fanatical Jihadist rhetoric
to call for Israel’s destruction?
Today, it is a simple fact that while the State of Israel is prepared to
recognize all Arab States, secular or Muslim, these states adamantly
refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish State and demand “the right
of return” of five million so-called Palestinian “refugees” – a sure
guarantee for Israel’s demise.
Though never acknowledged by Jerusalem, it is generally assumed that Israel
has nuclear weapons. But unlike Pakistan, India, and North Korea, Israel never
conducted nuclear tests. In 1973, when its very survival was imperiled by the
surprise Egyptian-Syrian Yom Kippur attack, many assumed Israel would use
nuclear weapons--but it did not. Contrary to public condemnations, many Arab
leaders privately express relief that Israeli nuclear deterrence exists. While Israel
has never threatened anyone, Tehran’s mullahs daily threaten to “wipe Israel from
the map.” The U.S. and Europe can afford to wait to see what the Iranian regime
does with its nuclear ambitions. But Israel cannot. She is on the front lines and
remembers every day the price the Jewish people paid for not taking Hitler at his
word. Israel is not prepared to sacrifice another six million Jews on the altar of the
world’s indifference.
LIE
#3
LIE
#4
Israel is the main stumbling block to achieving a Two-State solution.
Nuclear Israel not Iran is the greatest threat to peace and stability.
Glorifying Terrorism - Gaza City
Ahmadinejad at UN
SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER: 2010 TOP TEN ANTI-ISRAEL LIES
pa ge 4
On both sides of the Atlantic, church groups, academics and unions are leading deceitful and often anti-Semitic boycott
campaigns demonizing what they call the Jewish “apartheid” State.
The truth is that unlike apartheid South Africa, Israel is a democratic state. Its 20% Arab minority enjoys all the political,
economic and religious rights and freedoms of citizenship, including electing members of their choice to the Knesset
(Parliament). Israeli Arabs and Palestinians have standing before Israel’s Supreme Court. In contrast, no Jew may own
property in Jordan, no Christian or Jew can visit Islam’s holiest sites in Saudi Arabia.
Enemies of Israel, exploit this phony issue.
Jerusalem is holy to three great faiths. Its
diverse population includes a Jewish majority
with Muslim and Christian minorities. Since
1967, for the first time in history, there is full
freedom of religion for all faiths in Jerusalem.
Muslim and Christian religious bodies
administer their own holy sites. Indeed, the
Waqf is allowed to control Jerusalem’s Temple
Mount, even though it rests on Solomon’s
temple and is holy to BOTH Jews and
Muslims.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem’s municipality must
meet the needs of a growing modern city. The
unfortunately-timed announcement during
U.S. Vice President Biden’s visit of 1600 new
apartments in Ramat Shlomo, was not about
Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, but for a long established, heavily populated Jewish neighborhood in Northern
Jerusalem, where 250,000 Jews live (about the same population as Newark, N.J.) -- an area that will never be relinquished
by Israel.
LIE
#5
LIE
#6
Israel is an Apartheid State deserving of International Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions campaigns.
Plans to build 1,600 more homes in East Jerusalem prove Israel is
‘Judaizing’ the Holy City.
Ramat Shlomo, Israel
SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER: 2010 TOP TEN ANTI-ISRAEL LIES
pa ge 5
The charge that Israel endangers U.S. troops in Iraq or the AF-Pak region is an update of the old “stab in the back” lie that
Jews always betray their own friends, and the libel spouted by Henry Ford and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion that “Jews
are the father of all wars.”
U.S. General Petraeus has stated he considers Israel a great strategic asset for the U.S. and that his earlier remarks linking the
safety of U.S. troops in the region to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal (which 2/3 of Israelis want) were taken out of context. A
resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would benefit everyone, including the U.S. But an imposed return to what Abba
Eban called “1967 Auschwitz borders” would endanger Israel’s survival and ultimately be disastrous for American interests and
credibility in the world.
From the Inquisition to the pogroms, to the
6,000,000 Jews murdered by the Nazis, history
proves that Jew-hatred existed on a global scale
before the creation of the State of Israel. In
2010, it would still exist even if Israel had never
been created. For example, one poll indicates
40% of Europeans blame the recent global
economic crisis on “Jews having too much
economic power,” a canard that has nothing to
do with Israel.
The unsettled Palestinian-Israeli dispute
aggravates Muslim-Jewish tensions, but it is
not the root cause. During World War II, the
Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, a notorious Jewhater,
helped the Nazis organize the 13th SS
Division, made up of Muslims. Unfortunately,
in addition to respectful references to Jewish
patriarchs and prophets, the Koran also contains virulent anti-Semitic stereotypes that are widely invoked by Islamist
extremists, including Hezbollah (whose agents blew up the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires in 1994), to justify
murdering Jews worldwide. The disappearance of Israel would only further embolden violent Jew-haters everywhere.
LIE
#7
LIE
#8
Israeli policies endanger U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Israeli policies are the cause of worldwide anti-Semitism.
“Death to Jews!” - Argentina
SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER: 2010 TOP TEN ANTI-ISRAEL LIES
pa ge 6
The Goldstone Report on Israel’s defensive war against Hamas-controlled Gaza, from which 8,000 rockets were fired after
Israel’s unilateral withdrawal in 2005, is a biased product of the UN’s misnamed Human Rights Council. The UNHRC is
obsessed with false anti-Israel resolutions. It refuses to address grievous human rights abuses in Iran, North Korea, Sudan,
Saudi Arabia, Cuba and beyond. Faced with similar attacks, every UN member-state including the U.S. and Canada would
surely have acted more aggressively than the IDF did in Gaza.
Yet, Richard Goldstone, a South African Jewish jurist, signed a document prepared by investigators whose main qualification
was rabid anti-Israel bias. He accepted every anonymous libel against the IDF. But he insisted that hearings in Gaza be
televised, guaranteeing that fearful Palestinians would never testify about Hamas’ use of civilians as human shields and
their hiding of weapons in mosques and hospitals. Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz denounced Goldstone’s Report as a
modern “blood libel” accusing Israeli soldiers of crimes they never committed.
The One-State solution, promoted by academics,
is a non-starter because it would eliminate
the Jewish homeland. However, the current
pressures on Israel are equally dangerous. In
effect, the world is demanding that Israel, the
size of New Jersey, shrink further by accepting
a Three-State solution: a PA state on the West
Bank and a Hamas terrorist state controlling
1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza. All this, as
Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, stockpiles
50,000 rockets, threatening northern and
central Israel’s main population centers.
In 2010, most Middle East experts believe
that the only hope for enduring peace is two
states with defined final borders. But too many
diplomats, pundits, academics and church leaders
ignore the fact that current polls show that while
most Israelis favor a Two-State solution, most
Palestinians continue to oppose it.
LIE
#9
LIE
#10
Israel, not Hamas, is responsible for the “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.
Goldstone was right when he charged that Israel was guilty of war crimes
against civilians.
The only hope for peace is a single, bi-national state, eliminating the
Jewish State of Israel.
Anti-Israel rally - Los Angeles
SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER: 2010 TOP TEN ANTI-ISRAEL LIES
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President Barack Obama
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Vice President Joe Biden
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pa ge 7
Bill Sleight
I have read your comments and it strikes me that you keep repeating "there is no longer a Jewish people. There are only people who are Jewish. It is a religion, not a race" I get the feeling that this is wishful thinking on your part. It is true, the Jewish people have been decimated by Hitler and many others, including, most recently, Arafat's Fatah, Hamas and Hezbollah but contrary to what you want to believe, we are still here. Hitler did not ask people about their religious beliefs. If you had a Jewish heritage you went to the gas chambers orthodox, reformed, or atheist. The vast majority of Israelis are not the slightest bit religious yet they still identify with the Jewish nation and it's history. Your insistence in denying the existence of the Jewish people is clear evidence of your racist views vis-a-vis the Jews. I feel sorry for anyone who has the misfortune of having you for their "teacher".
Allo, Allo, Mrs Friedman !!
The 1600 units in Ramat Shlomo
North Jerusalem, NOT EAST
Mrs Friedman and the moronic ignorance !
Never mind, you will do better next time
Martine's comment is a great opportunity for some remedial education on Jerusalem-related terminology:
The "East" in the term "East Jerusalem" has nothing to do with whether an area is "east" of some other parts of Jerusalem. It refers to whether an area is east of the 1949 Armistice Line (aka the Green Line). So areas of East Jerusalem are located north, south, east, and even west of other parts of Jerusalem. And ALL of them are still referred to as East Jerusalem. Ramat Shlomo is in one of these areas - an area that is east of the Green Line (located to the north of some areas of Jerusalem) and recognized by the entire world as part of East Jerusalem.
So name-calling aside (really, why can't people just disagree without resorting to childish nastiness?) I want to thank Martine for this opportunity to further educate the public (merci beaucoup Martine).
The terminology of this conflict can sometimes be confusing - especially for those who are less interested in the facts and more interested in just shouting down views and information they don't want to hear.
Wonderful Mrs Friedman
1) You've done your homework
2) and you have answered my email.
Differences of opinion always exist but If you advocate a different opinion, maybe you should revise and amend the violence and agressivity (no childish nastiness here!)of your comments such as “oppression” and “occupation”on the part of Israel: These terms you are so freely and lightly using, are part and are helping the vicious propaganda against Israel, they negate the past and present historical reality, only serve to further damage Israel (Apartheid, racist, war crimes….) as well as endangering it and any chance of peace, if any.
Israel has never been responsible for war, they have always defended themselves, they have done more than their share of compromise, repeatedly conceded land for peace, they have offered on many occasions the possibility of a State for the Palestinians, to no avail.
The Palestinians themselves are the problem to achieving peace, they elected Hamas who is calling for Israel’s destruction, Palestinians children are provided with schoolbooks such as “Mein kampf”.
“Americans for peace now” or “Shalom Ahchav” have not much relevance anymore, especially in Israel due to the reality of the situation there.
As for Jerusalem, it will stay undivided (Hashem), like it or not.
This is a real question...why is East Jerusalem, and specifically the mosque built OVER our temple mound, presumed to be Palestinian land even though they took possession long after OUR temple stood there, yet the land we conquered in 1967 in a pre-emptive defensive war is land we have to give back for there to be peace?