May 25,2020: Tales from the annexation

Regarding “Hungary, Austria warn EU against Israel prejudice” (May 21), EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell could easily be mistaken as the Arab League spokesman. He warns Israel that any annexation of “occupied territory” would be contrary to international law and would have serious consequences for EU relations with Israel. He states that any peace process must revolve around a two-state solution, declaring that the EU will not recognize any changes to the 1967 (1949 ceasefire) lines unless agreed to by the Palestinians. He adds that making Jerusalem the future capital of both states is the only way to ensure sustainable peace and stability.

Bravo. The EU foreign policy chief has managed to memorize and parrot the maximalist Palestinian position in English. What they say in Arabic, however, is another story entirely: that armed resistance is the only way to “liberate all of Palestine from the river to the sea.” On at least four separate occasions, the PA has rejected the two-state solution that the EU is promoting as the only way to peace. There is a disconnect in Europe as to the intentions of the Palestinians.

The statements of the EU foreign policy chief are full of untruths. First, by referring to the pre-67 lines, he infers that Israel should hand over the Golan Heights to Syria and give up the right to pray at the Western Wall.

Second, the West Bank is not “occupied territory.” In July 1988, Jordan officially renounced its claim to the West Bank. By definition, “occupied territory” is land taken from another country in war. This is clearly not the case with the West Bank. The area can certainly be labeled “disputed” but it is not “occupied.”

Third, the call for Jerusalem to be the capital of both Israel and Palestine is astounding. No country has ever been called upon to share its capital city with an entity that has as its core policy the destruction of the host country. This is an unworkable idea that goes against all precedent.

Finally the concept that sustainable peace in the Middle East will ensue if the Israel-Palestine problem is resolved is wishful thinking. The conflict between the Shi’ite and Sunni Moslem world, as well as all the current wars in the middle east including wars in Libya, Iraq, Yemen and Syria have nothing to with Israel.

As Borrell is a Spaniard, perhaps it would be best if he followed his own advise and called for a two-state solution for Spain and Catalonia with Madrid as the capital of both states. This is bound to lead to a sustainable peace and stability in the region.

“Israel’s annexation plan” (May 20) makes a political and moral equivalence between the Right’s position regarding Israeli annexation of territory under the Trump Peace Plan that is dependent on past international treaties and the Left’s position that is based on “assertions.” They are hardly equivalent.

The problem with all the many past plans listed is that they depended on Palestinian approval, and the Palestinians would never give their agreement to any plan that admits that Israel has rights and claims in land they claim. This automatically ensures that there will be an endless stalemate.

The difference with the Trump Peace Plan is that it does not require Israel to await Palestinian approval, but allows Israel to exercise its sovereign right as the indigenous nation to act in its own interests. No longer shall Israel’s actions be dependent on what others determine are its interests, but they will be based on its own determinations.

Much of the world has been laboring under a false comprehension as to the true situation in this region (such as that all Middle East conflicts are due to Israel, or that the Palestinians are a peace-loving people). That can hardly be blamed on Israel.

Your editorial (“Israel’s annexation plan”) maintains that the annexation policy must be part of a broad-based security policy .

Surely the policy to annex the Jordan Valley and areas of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria is exactly that – a broad-based security policy. A unique window of opportunity exists backed by the Trump administration and it would be disastrous to waste it.

If Israel based its policies on the threats from our enemies the state would never have been established

In addition to identifying which territories Israel seeks to annex, it might be wise to consider how to go about doing so.

If done all at once, Israel seems to be announcing that it has no interest in any other territories and that those are indeed Palestinian. By doing so, Israel would take the rest of Judea and Samaria off the table and provide a border for a State of Palestine, thus effectively bringing one into existence. And it would then be an occupied country. Any negotiations that might ensue would include discussing which annexed territory Israel would “return” to the Palestinian state.

An alternative is to annex a parcel at a time with the understanding that unless and until the Palestinian leadership negotiates a border, there will be additional annexations at various times in the future. This approach makes the territories not yet annexed the subject of the negotiations, because the process could continue until the negotiations are completed.

Once again Douglas Bloomberg latches on to Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu (“Annexation and Netanyahu’s legacy,” May 21), glossing over the fact that Netanyahu was not routed by the voters and that Blue and White leader Benny Gantz’s policies are not too far away from Netanyahu’s. This means that Bloomfield should instead be upset with the Israeli public.

Everyone threatens that the so-called two-state solution is dead, but I don’t recall any overwhelming groundswell to move ahead. The writer’s other nemesis, US President Donald Trump, is slowly bringing the world to see the situation in its true light, and is defanging the terrorist adversary.

Netanyahu is talking about annexing around 30% of the West Bank, or around 50% of Area C. Bloomfield is disingenuous in quoting population numbers of over 400,000 Jews in the West Bank and 2.7 million Palestinians, with the implied threat of a massive imbalance in numbers. The plan makers will include only a small numbers of Palestinians in the annexed area, in a similar manner as the Israeli Supreme Court in the careful routing of the separation fence. Then Bloomfield brings in the old canard that the Palestinians will defeat us “in the bedroom” due to their higher birth rates, and that the very few who might be brought into Israeli state due to annexation (not the 2.7 million he threatens us with above) will give an Arab majority to the state. In actual fact, the current birth rate in the West Bank is now 3.2 per woman, barely higher than the Israeli Jewish and the Israeli Arab rate of 3.12. Certainly not enough to swamp us, as it was in earlier decades, and based on taking over all the West Bank population.

On Monday May 18, Amiram Ben-Uliel was convicted of the July 31, 2015 firebombing murder of three members of the Dawabshe family in Duma.

“Duma residents fear reprisal after Ben-Uliel found guilty” (May 20), reports a series of reactions by residents of Duma that included a very true and troubling statement. Nasr and Nidal Dawabshe asked why it took five years to convict Ben-Uliel. A serious question indeed. There is no excuse for the criminal justice system to drag its feet and cause psychological suffering to the defendants and victims.

As noted, the firebombing took place July 31, 2015. On that very day, then-defense minister Moshe Ya’alon boldly declared that the defense establishment knew the identities of the perpetrators. Yet Ben-Uliel was not arrested by the Shabak until December 1, 2015. He was interrogated by standard means for 17 days, by “extraordinary means” until December 22, and had his final interrogation on Dec 27, 2015. No new evidence was subsequently collected. While the defendant rotted in solitary awaiting trial, the chance to appeal, and then post-sentence decisions regarding conditions, the system fiddled.

The pretrial “mini-trial” verdict was finally handed down 2.5 years later, on June 19, 2018, and the final verdict only now, after a further two years. In the Jewish legal system inui ha-din (literally affliction of justice, but used to refer to a delay in judgement) is viewed as harshly as a perversion of justice and distortion of Torah (Avot 5:8).

In the US, the sixth amendment guarantees a “speedy trial.” In Israel, the Dawabshes have noted, Palestinians receive speedy trials while Jewish defendants are left to languish for years on end.

As I read Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion’s comments regarding organized prayer services at the Kotel (“Lion: Non-Orthodox can’t pray together at Kotel,” May 22), I couldn’t help but remember words of wisdom I heard many years regarding the age-old question “Who is a Jew?”

Simply put, the best answer to that question is “Anyone who the Nazis felt were suitable to be put to death.” Mayor Lion: A Jew is a Jew is a Jew! Period.

Regarding “US pushing Israel to cut ties with China in sensitive areas,” (May 20), it is illuminating to note the extent to which China has made inroads into Israel. A partial list of such inroads that Israel has permitted so far includes these projects, purchases, mergers and agreements: The Gilon Tunnel, the Carmel Tunnel, the Red Line of the Tel Aviv light rail, the supply of rail cars for the Red Line, the new Ashdod Port, the Alon Tavor power plant, the operation of Haifa Port, the sale of Tnuva, and the merger of Makhteshim Agan with ChemChina.

In the pipeline: the construction of a desalination plant by the Hong Kong-based Hutchison Water International, and the building of rail links to Eilat. The Chinese giant, Alibaba has invested in the Israeli company, Visualead, a code technology specialist. Baidu, China’s largest search engine, has put funds into Pixellot, an Israeli video capture start-up, and Carmel Ventures, an Israeli venture capital firm.

The Chinese firms, Huawei, Legend, Xiaomi and Qihoo 360 have set up R&D centers in Israel. Hong Kong-based Horizons Ventures led a $10.8 million investment in Windward, an Israeli maritime data and analytics company. MarInt, Windward’s satellite system is used by many security and intelligence agencies. The Delek Group has announced it will sell a 52% controlling stake in its company to the Chinese conglomerate Fosun International, which will also buy Ahava cosmetics. A Chinese consortium has purchased Playtika, an Israeli gaming company. Chinese electronics giant Midea Group has acquired control of Petah Tikva-based Servotronix, an automation solutions developer.

Research and academic cooperation agreements between Israeli and Chinese universities provide further opportunities for the Chinese to spy on Israel. Such agreements have been made between the Technion, the Hebrew University, the Weizmann Institute, and Bar-llan, Ben-Gurion, Tel Aviv and Haifa universities, and the Chinese universities, Tsinghua, Peking, Nanjing, Renmin, Shandong, China Agricultural, and Northwest A&F.

The US, Israel’s strongest supporter, has encouraged Israel to scale down ties with China. By creating this widespread penetration of Israel’s infrastructure, commerce and industry by China, Israel endangers its relations with the US and opens itself to Chinese spying and intellectual property theft. How do those responsible for bringing about this situation about justify their actions?

Regarding “Hundreds of international artists call for end to Gaza blockade” (May 19), it does not take much for some prominent people to loudly declare their positions on issues they know nothing about. Such is the case with the 250 artists and writers from around the world that posted a letter on line calling on Israel to end its blockade of Gaza.

Israel is said to be the cause of Gaza’s devastated healthcare system and lack of essential resources, which are a mortal threat to Gaza’s two million inhabitants. The letter calls for the international community to impose a military embargo on Israel until it fully complies with its obligations under international law.

It takes but minimal research to realize there is no blockade or siege of Gaza by Israel. There is inspection of materials entering Gaza to prevent armaments from reaching Hamas, the terrorists ruling Gaza. Although Hamas fires thousands of rockets into Israeli and spends millions on arms and attack tunnels to murder and kidnap Israelis, Israel allows hundreds of trucks with food, medical supplies and other consumer goods to enter Gaza every day. Israel is also providing Gaza healthcare workers with COVID-19 testing kits and protective equipment.

It is true the condition of Gaza’s healthcare system puts its population at risk, but the fault is not Israel’s. It is because Hamas directs all resources to attack Israel and does little for the health and well-being of its people.

Regarding the recent articles about allowing a TV channel to preach Christian doctrine into Jewish homes, I made aliyah 25 years ago, after my husband, children and I had an Orthodox conversion to Judaism. We came to Israel because we wanted our children and future generations to be in the Jewish state, the land that Hashem promised to Jews to live, surrounded by the values and truths of the Torah.

I had a very active Christian lifestyle in my early years and I am well versed in the Christian faith. A pillar of their doctrine is that in order to achieve an afterlife in heaven you have to believe in Jesus. This runs absolutely counter to the teachings of the Torah, which expects of non-Jews only to keep the seven Noahide laws to receive a portion of the world to come.

To legally allow an anti-Jewish faith to preach falsehoods and inaccuracies to vulnerable Jews (including to children) is an outrage and can damage the Jewishness of the State of Israel and all that it stands for – including to be a homeland for all Jews without having to suffer incessant propaganda from other religions.

To live in peace and security from attack – either physically, or in this case spiritually – against the “People of the Book” and God’s chosen people, I would urge that this license not be issued. Any attack on the pillars of Judaism should be strongly resisted.

Petah Tikva