The Real Occupation

if there is anyone who should be considered an "occupier" in the territories, it is Mahmoud Abbas and his illegitimate regime.
It is time for Israel and its supporters to finally muster up the courage to acknowledge the cold, hard truth - the West Bank and Gaza are "occupied territories."

These areas are administered by a cruel and heartless regime, one that has no mercy on its perceived foes, targeting them with derision, humiliation, and even military force.

Little concern is shown for the lives of the innocent, as ruthless measures are employed with the aim of driving the residents from their homes, making them so miserable that they will have no choice but to leave.

This occupation is a menace to the entire region, destabilizing it and undermining any chances for a lasting peace between Arabs and Jews. There is no choice but to bring about an end to this colonialist enterprise, and to dismantle the occupation once for and all.

Or, put more simply: Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority have got to go.

For, if there is anyone who should be considered an "occupier" in the territories, it is Abbas and his illegitimate regime.

Over the past 14 years, the Palestinian Authority has transformed large swaths of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza into hothouses for terrorism and violence. It has targeted Jews living in these areas, seeking to compel them to leave by shooting at them, firing mortar rounds at their communities, detonating explosive devices as their cars pass by and invading their homes.

The PA has set new standards of corruption, misusing foreign donor money for unsavory purposes, and cultivating a culture of death and suicide among their own people. They have thwarted all efforts to end the century-old Arab- Israeli conflict, preferring instead to resort to the rifle.

Under the PA's rule, the Palestinian-occupied territories have become an irritant to the entire Middle East, threatening to plunge it into another round of bloodshed and violence.

BUT THERE is a far deeper, and more compelling reason, why the PA should be considered an "occupying power": It has taken control of land that does not belong to it.

Regardless of what the United Nations or even George W. Bush might say, Judea, Samaria, and Gaza are the patrimony of the Jewish people. History, quite simply, is on our side.

Hundreds of years before the advent of Islam, the territories were home to vibrant Jewish communities. David, king of Israel, was born and raised in Bethlehem, while the prophet Amos foretold the future in the hills near Tekoa, southeast of Jerusalem.

Ancient synagogues and burial sites dot the landscape, all serving as physical testimony to the Jewish presence in these areas. Politicians may lie, but 2000-year old stones do not.

Visit Shilo, capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, in Samaria. Take a look at the ruins of King Herod's palace at Herodion, in Judea. Stop by the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, and you will see with your own eyes that these areas were Jewish long before the sword of Islam was ever unsheathed.

To suggest that Israel has no right to this land, or that it has taken someone else's territory, is simply an affront to truth and to history. If you do not accept the Bible as proof, then look to the archaeologists, who will gladly point out the evidence to you.

Even after the Second Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the people of Israel sent into exile, Jews continued to live in these areas, albeit in smaller numbers. Hebron was home to a continuous Jewish presence up until 1929. Only once their neighbors massacred them were they forced to flee.

Gaza - yes, Gaza - also has a long and rich Jewish history. The Hasmonean king, Yochanan, brother of Judah the Maccabee, took Gaza in 145 BCE, and his brother Shimon sent Jews to settle there. In the fourth century of the common era, Gaza served as the primary port of commerce for the Jews of the Holy Land.

Nearly 40 years ago, on the outskirts of Gaza City near the sea, Egyptian archaeologists discovered a mosaic floor from an ancient synagogue. According to the inscription, it had been built in the sixth century, or 1400 years before the establishment of the PLO.

These are hard facts. They cannot be denied or argued away. When Jews now seek again to live in these areas, then, they are doing so not as foreign occupiers, but as indigenous residents returning home. They are merely continuing in the paths of their ancestors, walking where they walked so very long ago.

So to all those who say "End the Occupation" - I couldn't agree with you more. Let us remove Mahmoud Abbas and his regime, and return the land to the Jewish people, its original owners, once and for all.

An Appeal of Faith to US President Bush: Bomb Iran

Please, Mr. President: Don't walk out of the White House in January 2009 without having stopped Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Don't leave the fate of Israel and the West hanging in the balance
US President George W. Bush is arriving in Israel today for a three-day visit - and the timing could not be more crucial. The clock is ticking, and Iran is moving inexorably towards building the Bomb.
 
In the article below, I appeal to the President - from one man of faith to another - to take military action against the Ayatollahs in order to stop their atomic pursuits.

For if Tehran is allowed to start producing nuclear weapons, they will spread nuclear terror far and wide, placing the future of Israel - and all of Western civilization - in doubt.
 

Mr. President, the world's fate is in your hands

by Michael Freund

Dear President Bush,

Welcome to Israel. It has been 10 years since your last visit, and your return to the Holy Land could not have come at a more critical time.

There is a storm gathering in the region, one that threatens to engulf not only Israel, but the United States too. Freedom and democracy, liberty and tolerance, everything we hold dear is now in jeopardy, as the Tyrant of Teheran continues to march forward down the road toward Armageddon.

The clock is ticking, yet no one wishes to hear. The countdown to a nuclear Iran has begun, and with each passing day the nightmare scenario draws closer to becoming a reality.

Mr. President, I am gripped by a sense of fear. I fear for the future of Israel and the entire Jewish people, as the would-be Hitler of Persia readies to do battle against us with the most horrific of weapons. I fear for the future of the West, because few seem to appreciate the enormity of the danger that is looming just over the horizon.

And I fear for the future of the world, because if Iran's fundamentalists get their hands on a nuclear weapon, it will only be a matter of time before they share their new arsenal with their terrorist allies abroad.

Hence, Mr. President, I am writing to you because I am convinced that you do understand the gravity of the situation, and I pray in my heart that you will not let it stand.

I appeal to you now, not as a newspaper columnist nor as a political analyst, but as one man of faith to another: Please bomb Iran and dismantle its nuclear weapons program, before it is too late.

I KNOW you believe, as I do, that it is the Lord God of Hosts Who guides the destiny of men and of nations. And I know you believe, just as I do, that He has raised you up and placed you in a position of power precisely at this decisive moment, in order to serve as His faithful instrument in this world.

The God of history has chosen you, Mr. President, just as He did Winston Churchill, and He has entrusted you with a sacred mandate: to save the world from the designs of a madman.

Less than 1,000 miles to the east of us, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is building an Iranian Auschwitz. Instead of firing up gas chambers, he is installing centrifuges. And in place of Zyklon-B gas, his agent of choice will be uranium. The threat to the existence of the Jewish people, and that of the entire Western world, is no less dire than it was six decades ago in Europe.

If the ayatollahs are allowed to start producing nuclear weapons, they will spread nuclear terror far and wide, placing the future of Western civilization in doubt. Indeed, the Persian executioner has already made it abundantly clear that he plans to wipe Israel and its millions of Jews off the map. And he has also made it equally manifest that the West's turn is next.

The answer to this challenge lies not in the halls of the United Nations nor in the capitals of Europe. And we cannot rely on Russia or China to do what is right for the sake of humanity.

Here in Israel, our own leaders are weak. They have lost their way, and they are no longer anchored in faith. As we saw two years ago in the Lebanon war, they stumble about as though walking in darkness, seemingly oblivious to the danger that stalks us all.

THERE IS only one person now, Mr. President, with the ability to stop this terrifying scenario from coming to pass, and I believe that person is you. The mighty arm of the United States, stretched out in faith and in force, can stop the menace of a nuclear-armed Iran from becoming a reality.

Mr. Bush, I think of you often, and when I do, I am guided in faith to the sixth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Bible. When Israel's existence was threatened by the Midianites, God called upon Gideon, son of Joash, to step forward and take command, and to wage war against the aggressors. But Gideon remained uncertain of what to do, wondering whether God had forsaken His people and if war was truly the right course. To this the Lord responded clearly and unequivocally: "Go with this, your strength, and you will save Israel… for have I not sent thee?"

Mr. President, that message is as compelling today as it was then, and I believe it is clearly directed to you too.

The decision you face is not an easy one, and I do not mean to suggest otherwise. But in the case of Iran, there can be no room for retreat, or for shrinking from the task at hand. The stakes are simply too great.

SURE, THE critics will try to tear you down, just as they have been doing since the day you were elected. They will heap scorn on you, call you a warmonger, and worse, and denigrate you and your family for many, many years to come.

But please don't allow them to deter you or to drive you to despair. You know as well as I do that the only verdict that counts, the only one that truly matters, is the one that is penned in Heaven, by He who calls out to us each and every day and declares: "I am the Lord, and there is none else" (Isaiah chap. 45).

Mr. President, in 12 months' time you will leave office. In the greater scheme of things, I am convinced that your legacy will depend largely on the decisions you make in the coming few months regarding Iran.

I urge you, I plead with you: Don't walk out of the White House in January 2009 without having stopped Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Don't leave the fate of Israel and the West hanging in the balance.

Of course, regardless of what you decide, God will save His people Israel. Deliverance comes from Him, and Him alone. But each of us must do our part to help bring it about.

You have been entrusted from Above with a special opportunity, with a distinctive role to play. It is a tremendous responsibility that the Creator has placed upon your shoulders, but it is also a sacred mandate.

I DO NOT envy the dilemma that you face. But you have been put in a unique position to bless Israel, and through it, all of humanity, by removing the nuclear sword from the hand of the Persian executioner.

I, along with many others, will be praying for you, and I hope that you take this message to heart.

Be strong and of good courage. And may the spirit of the Lord be upon you.

God bless.

--- from the January 9 Jerusalem Post

A Major Escalation in Gaza

The government's policy of impotence has now emboldened the Palestinians to go a step further as they begin to use longer-range Katyushas in addition to the Qassam rockets that have become their trademark.
Palestinian terrorists in Gaza did today precisely what everyone knew they would eventually do - take their rocket attacks against the Jewish state to another level.

This morning, they launched a 122mm Grad-type Katyusha rocket from Gaza which hit the northern outskirts of the Israeli city of Ashkelon. This is the farthest north yet that Palestinian projectiles fired from Gaza have hit, and it clearly shows that all of Ashkelon is now within range.

Thankfully, no one was killed or injured in the attack, but that does not take away from the seriousness of this development. For over two years, Israel has done virtually nothing to stop Palestinian rocket attacks emanating from Gaza, even though they have made life impossible for thousands of Israelis living in Sderot and the Negev.

The government's policy of impotence has now emboldened the Palestinians to go a step further as they begin to use longer-range Katyushas in addition to the Qassam rockets that have become their trademark.

This incident can not and must not be ignored. A government's primary responsibility is to ensure the safety and security of its citizens - everything else is secondary. It is time for Israel to move back into Gaza with full force in order to uproot the terrorist infrastructure once and for all.

Failure to do so will only give the Palestinians more time to prepare the next act of escalation.