Decades ago, Israeli governments started promising that the city of Maale Adumim could build on land that was to be known as Mevasseret Adumim.Perhaps you may recognize it as E1, another name written on a map that does nothing to give a real picture of what is there...and what is not. 

The real picture is the one you see here - of barren mountains that no one ever settled. This is not an Arab village that was destroyed, but the natural growth of a beautiful city that makes the desert bloom. There on the right, you can see the edge of Maale Adumim as it exists today; and there on the left, the barren hilltop of Mevasseret Adumim.  

Mevasseret Adumim, like all of Maaleh Adumim, was uninhabited before Israelis started coming to build, plant and develop it. Peace Now once claimed that 60% was owned by Palestinians - nonsense! 

They eventually backed down to 0.05% and even there they lack proof for that number.  Palestinians once went to the Jordanians to claim the land - the Jordanian courts denied their claim, confirming that the area was state-owned land captured from the Ottoman Empire, mandated by the British, held by the Jordanians, and then conquered and settled by Israel. It is one physical hilltop over from Jerusalem – the only one between the capital of Israel and its suburb, Maale Adumim. Today, Maale Adumim is a sprawling city of close to 45,000 people, perched on several hilltops overlooking Jerusalem to the west and the Dead Sea to the east.   It has several large commercial centers including a three story mall, several post offices, many schools for all ages, large recreation areas, a city library, an emergency medical center, ambulance and fire fighting squads that respond not only to the cities needs, but to emergencies that happen for miles all around. According to successive Israeli governments, the borders of Maale Adumim include not only the built-on areas, but several surrounding hills. 

This is true of many cities in Israel and is how Israeli cities are designed. First the borders of the municipality are drawn; then they begin developing each area.  One has only to travel next to the city of Modiin, for example, to see that the city is in a constant state of growth. So much so, that its residents joke that the city bird is the “crane” for all the massive building cranes that hover over the city. 

Like Modiin, Maale Adumim has long been a gathering point for people who want to live near the great city of Jerusalem but welcome the more rural, suburban atmosphere. In fact, the borders of Maale Adumim actually touch the edges of Jerusalem itself – and herein lies the controversy.  On the last remaining hilltop between Maale Adumim, Arabs have decided to feel threatened. After thirty years of building, this last hilltop represents the end for them and so they virulently condemn it and threaten violence. In their eyes, building of this one last hill will remove their chances of destroying Maale Adumim itself. Successive American governments have admitted that Maale Adumim will never be evacuated, cannot in any practical way be obliterated, nor should it. Even President Obama admits that adjustments such as including Maale Adumim, must be made for any long term peace agreement to be successful.  

 And again, we have reached the crux of the matter because what almost every Israeli knows, though not all are willing to admit it – the Palestinian leadership is not interested in a long-term peace agreement. At most, they want hudna – a 10 year cease-fire that their religion allows them to break at any point if it is made with a non-Muslim entity (such as Israel).    

Generations have been born on this land. What might have been had the Palestinians accepted the Partition Plan in 1947 or not instigated war after war is irrelevant. The simple fact is that no Israeli government will ever agree to remove close to 50,000 citizens spread over many kilometers from homes and neighborhoods that have grown and prospered for almost 4 decades. There were no houses, no Arab villages on the hills of Maale Adumim before it was built, nor will there ever be in the future. A few days ago, frustrated by the lack of progress and the ongoing broken promises of many governments, some people from Maale Adumim decided to begin building the neighborhood of Mevasseret Adumim on E1 with their own hands. More symbolic than real, this was a message to the Israeli government that it was time to move forward. 

The plans for this neighborhood were submitted and approved long ago – a guest house, hundreds of apartments, affordable housing for young couples. Instead, only a police station and some roads have been built there. You can agree or disagree with the unilateral action, though unilateral actions such as the withdrawal from Gaza, the recent opening of the Rafiah border by the Egyptians and the promised declaration of a Palestinian state in September seem to be much more controversial than a dozen teenagers erecting some tents in the middle of an area long since declared as a Jewish neighborhood. What is more interesting and telling, however, is the reaction of the American government and more the actions of the US Consulate in Jerusalem. American officials arrived to review what the teenagers had built. 

They took pictures, lied about who they were, though they were stupid enough to arrive in vehicles registered to the US Consulate and did nothing to hide their true identities. A short time later, Israeli security forces arrived to destroy the temporary structures they had built. This is not unexpected and is yet another step in the “game” played by those who wish to make a statement and those who wish to stop them. More sinister, however, is the American visit to the area. 

Why did they come there? Why were they taking pictures? Why did they lie about who they were? What business is this lone mountain to these American officals? For the American government, there are questions to be answered – what legal right did they have to visit that location? One wonders how the American government would feel if Israelis started visiting controversial sites in the US in the middle of a sensitive situation? Doesn’t this amount to spying on an ally and trying to influence its internal affairs? 

Whose land is it, anyway? For the Israeli government, they should be calling in the US Ambassador to Israel and demanding an explanation. That it fails to do this, suggests the visit was in some way approved, or at very least influential in getting the police to come and disrupt what had been done. One cannot call the police visit so shortly after the American visit a coincidence. Surely , the Israeli government has not outsourced the job of inspecting our land to the Americans, has it? Does the American Consulate now have the right to dictate how the Israeli government treats its citizens and when it chooses to handle internal matters? For all Israelis, this is a wake-up call. Big Brother Obama is watching and wants us to know it. It is the Obama government’s way of putting pressure on all of us, trying to make us believe that which we know is not true. 

The future of this land does not rest in Washington’s hands, nor those of the American Consulate. No matter how much they demand it, peace cannot be granted by the threats and blackmail of a line drawn in the sand. What were the Americans doing there? 

Why did they come and feel comfortable enough to make their presence obvious? Why did they take pictures? What have they done with them? Why did they feel it necessary to claim they were the police? Those are questions the Netanyahu government must answer. This is an outrage that every Israeli should feel. We are a sovereign nation, not a puppet of Washington. 

Those Americans had no business trespassing on land allocated to Maale Adumim in an attempt to influence how and when our government would react. The message to the Americans must be clear: it is NOT your place, not your land, not your plan that will bring peace because the dancing partner you have chosen for us is busy dancing with Hamas. 

The message must be made clear to the Netanyahu government: if you are not strong enough to answer the Americans and handle their pressure, you have no business leading this land. 

Whose land is it anyway? Every day, as the community in Maale Adumim grows and supports those who stay on E1, we answer that question loudly and clearly.   

That is a message we have all been expecting for almost 10 years. In some ways, his future was signed on September 11, 2001, every bit as much as the people he murdered. I got the message on my phone, as I do many messages, and wondered, as I often do, if the information was accurate. I see on various sites that this has been reported elsewhere and so I will tell you the three thoughts, the three truths that came to mind as I read the message.

One thought the world will probably not notice; the second, they will learn with great sadness; and the third, the world will never admit.

The first is that while Americans and most people the world over will sigh with relief, there will be no dancing in the streets. No one will hand out candies and there will be no great celebrations. Americans understand, as we do, that those who were murdered 10 years ago in the World Trade Center, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon do not return. Evil has been eliminated, but the good and the righteous cannot return.

The second great truth is that for each one Osama bin Laden that dies, five more will come to replace him. Perhaps ten, perhaps more. This is another truth the world will know, though now it is too painful to believe. There is a culture of suicide bombers, of hatred, martyrdom, and death. These are the world of Hassan Nassralah, not me. He admits that his people love death and he believes that he will defeat the Jews, and in his mind the west as well because we...and you...love life. We love our children, we love our freedom. He sees this as our greatest weakness, never understanding it is truly our strength and all that we are.

But others, like bin Laden, like Nassralah, like Saddam Hussein, like Gaddafi and Bashar Assad...others will rise up and continue. It is a matter of culture, this great divide, a matter of belief and yes, religion.

And the third great truth is that what begins in Israel, too often comes to the world. This was true of the suicide bombers that began with buses in Jerusalem, malls in Tel Aviv, and innocents all over our country, and led to 9/11, Madrid, Bali, London. And this is true of the nuclear threat we face from Iran today.

Osama bin Laden is dead. No the world is not a better place today, but perhaps for a short time, we can hope that his death has granted life to what would have been his future victims.

Above all truths is that above all of us, there is a God who watches over, who determines the paths of all of us, our futures and those that we love. He controls all and He will determine all.

Today, a great evil has been removed. For that, we can be grateful. We will not celebrate death - it is not our way but we can sigh in relief...until those that will come to replace him begin their work. And in the future, those truths will again come to that final of truths because, as a young Holocaust victim wrote in her diary long ago, good will triumph over evil. Anne Frank went to her death still believing in the essential good of mankind.

Today, while much of the world discusses Osama bin Laden, Israel will stand for two minutes of silence and remember another great evil and his victims.

May God bless the memories of those who were murdered by this man, this evil, this culture of death. May the families find comfort that now Osama bin Laden will meet his True Judge and true justice for all the days of eternity, he will pay for each precious life he stole, each family he devastated.

May God bless the memories of those who were murdered in the Holocaust by Adolf Hitler and those evil ones who served him and his culture of hatred and death. May the families of those who survived find comfort that as Osama bin Laden now begins his eternal suffering, Adolf Hitler and countless others remain in the hell they deserve.

In 2003, Palestinians attacked and destroyed the Tomb of Joseph in Nablus (Shechem). In their rampage, they murdered an Israeli soldier. The destruction was a violation on so many fronts. It was a violation of the dead, of Joseph, son of Yaakov, our forefather, son of Abraham. It was a violation of a promise made by the Palestinian Authority to Israel, when Israel withdrew from the area after a promise to protect the religious site.

It was a violation of an agreement which placed the grave under our jurisdiction - and still we surrendered it rather than risk the very violence that resulted. For years, the tomb lay in ruins, Jews forced to sneak into the area with army escort a few times a year in order to pay tribute. 

Early this morning, several young men tried to go there to pray - Palestinians (currently it looks like Palestinian police) opened fire on the unarmed worshipers and murdered one - a 24-year-old father of four. How old are his babies that will now grow up without a father? How will a young wife cope? None of that is of interest to those who murdered Yosef Ben-Livnat this sunny morning in Israel. Yosef - Joseph. Could the message of today's murder be any more clear? Rachel cries today - for her Yosef who was buried long ago...and for the Yosef that will be buried today

In 2003, when I saw the violence, when I realized we had allowed an IDF soldier to bleed to death rather than storm our way in to save him, I wrote an article called "Rachel is Crying." 

At this moment, Arabs are again rioting in Nablus - attempting to get to the newly refurbished Tomb of Joseph to again burn it and destroy it. Today I know, Rachel is crying still.

There is an understanding in Jewish tradition that a grave should not be left in danger. Bodies have been exhumed and relocated to protect the grave. Joseph's grave is in danger - if we do not have the courage and the strength to protect his resting place; if our government lacks the nerve, it is time to go in and remove the grave. I said this in 2003 and I repeat it now. I am not in favor of surrender but a young man was killed today, babies left fatherless because our army is crippled by a government that allows rioting mobs and enemy security forces to be victorious in our land.

Defend Joseph's tomb, Bibi Netanyahu - so that all Jews have free access to it; or move him to rest beside his mother. Listen to Rachel's tears as she cries for her son, all her sons.

Over our peaceful Shabbat - when Israelis shut down for the weekend and pull into their families and communities, we were hit by over 50 mortar and rocket attacks. On Thursday, a Palestinian "fighter" - what anyone else should call a terrorist - picked up an advanced anti-tank RPG with special abilities to track and destroy. Elie knows this weapon, "it doesn't miss what it is aimed at," he said. 

What it was aimed at - was a school bus. By the grace of God, almost all the children on the bus had just gotten off minutes before the attack. Daniel Aryeh, son of Tamar, was still on the bus and is now fighting for his life. Daniel Aryeh is only 16-years-old. He went to visit his grandmother, decided to have some fun with a family friend who is the bus driver and ride along.

France is being "even-handed" - they are urging both sides to calm down, to stop fighting. When did we start? We have responded to the attacks. Doesn't it make sense, up until now, to understand that you only have to tell Hamas to stop the rocket attacks? If they stop, we have nothing to respond to...but no, Obama and France, the United Nations and others, want to be balanced and so they spout nonsense about cycles of violence. This feeds Hamas, encourages them.

From a crowded neighborhood, Hamas fires rockets while their leaders crouch in bunkers like the cowards they are. From cemeteries that should be sacred ground, they launch their missiles of hatred and Israel is urged to show restraint.

No country in the world would allow itself, day after endless day, to be struck by 50 rockets. No country except Israel is expected to allow a 3-month old baby to be slaughtered with her parents and young brothers. 

In each attack, there are miracles - in Itamar, another family made plans to go away and three other young couples who would have stayed in the house of the family changed their plans and were saved when the terrorists first broke into that house to murder innocents. The massacre in Itamar, as horrible as it was, had that element of a miracle in it.

A bomb was left by a busy bus station. A man saw the object, thought it looked suspicious, and called it in, even as he moved people away. One woman was killed; but still, a miracle because it could easily have been so much worse.

A terrorist shot an anti-tank missile at a bus - not an armored one, not one containing soldiers, but children. One boy is fighting for his life and yet here too, a miracle. Just moments before, the bus had been full of children.

We live on miracles, here in Israel - David Ben Gurion once said to be a realist in Israel, you must believe in miracles. They happen almost daily here and still, it is not fair for us to live by depending on these miracles. We should not have to withstand 50 rockets in a single day.

And we won't. Within days, if this continues, Israel will act. Hamas knows this and so plays the game of firing dozens of rockets, and then asking for a ceasefire. Hamas knows this and so their sorry leaders hide in bunkers, leaving their women and children to protect them. 

The world will likely condemn us - France and Obama, Ban of the United Nations, and others. I do not care. I even laugh a bit at being the fortune-teller. It is so obvious that this is what will happen - again.

The only question is whether our own leadership will have the nerve to do what must be done, to withstand international pressure and the sobbing pleas of the poor Palestinians who protect the rocket launchers with their lives and those of their children.

Maybe this time, as the army moves in, they will carry the picture of little Hadass Fogel with them, of Daniel Aryeh ben Tamar, who needs our prayers. Maybe this time, we will have the courage to ask, "why do you expect more of us than you yourselves would suffer?"

No, this time, if we move into Gaza - it must be to obliterate all that is Hamas...and all that stands in front of them. We can pray that this time, Hamas leaders will protect their people, but they won't. This time, we can hope that they will not fire from civilian areas, but they will.

This time, let no mosque be safe - if it shelters weapons used against our children. This time, even a hospital must be considered a target, if Hamas allows terrorists to fire from within.

If the UN doesn't like what is to come, they have had days and days in which to stop it; to demand that Hamas stop. Obama, France, the UN - all are responsible because the one great truth here is that Israel cannot stop the rockets, but we can, and we will, respond to them.

And we must do this with as little mercy as was shown by the terrorist who slit a three-month-old infant's throat, who stabbed a three-year-old child in the heart, who aimed and shot at a school bus.

This time...Israel must not do what is expected...but what these other nations would do. If that means attacking every launch site, every building used against us, let it be.

When I was little, my sister went to my father and told him that I'd hit her. He punished me. I didn't think it was fair and I told him that she had hit me. He went back to her and asked her if that was true. My sister's response was, "Yes, but she hit me back!"

I remembered that ridiculous, child's response tonight as I heard that Hamas was threatening to retaliate for today's misguided tank shell. What we know is that Hamas has been firing dozens of rockets and mortars at Israel for the last few days. Rumor has it, this is a command of Iran to help divert attention back to Gaza and away from them, the recent ship filled with armaments we intercepted, and perhaps an element of taking away the attention Libya is getting.

Today, Israel fired back into Gaza towards a rocket launcher. It seems the tank shell missed the target (or perhaps hit the target without realizing there were also civilians nearby). There is no argument that this was fired in response to Hamas' targeting Israeli citizens today and in recent days.

But in a classic move to spread their propaganda, Hamas is now threatening to "retaliate." And somewhere in this insanity must be the simple response - you can't retaliate first!

If you fire rockets and missiles - this is called terrorism and this is called attacking. If Israel responds and targets the rocket launchers as we have been doing - THIS is called a response. It isn't called retaliation because within the concept of retaliation there seems to be an element of revenge, of getting back.

We aren't trying to get back at Gaza or Hamas. We are trying to stop the endless, daily rocket fire.

No, Hamas, just no. You cannot call this retaliation - but you can call it by its most obvious terminology - aggression, violent, acts of war, targeting civilians, and most of all - terrorism.