KERRY, NO “EQUAL OPPORTUNITY” THREATENER, IS EMBARKED ON A FUTILE “PEACE” QUEST– AS PALESTINIANS, RE: JERUSALEM, SHOW, REAL PEACE CANNOT BE BUILT ON FALSEHOODS

Greater Men Have Tried: Paula R. Stern, Times of Israel, Feb. 2, 2014— Open letter to John Kerry: Because of my respect for the United States, I will attempt to afford you the honor you think you so richly deserve.

John Kerry: Not an Equal Opportunity Threatener: David M. Weinberg, Israel Hayom, Feb. 3, 2014 — Over the last 48 hours, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has issued a series of apocalyptic warnings.

The Israel-Palestinian Negotiation and the American Mediation: The Jerusalem Case:

David Bukay, Jerusalem Post, Jan. 1, 2014 — The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, is in Jerusalem again, trying to square the circle of bringing the Israeli Palestinian negotiations to an agreement.

On Topic Links

John Kerry Solutions Inc. Israel Tour, February 2014 (Video): Youtube, Feb. 2, 2014

The 'Kerry Plan': Palestinian Capital in East Jerusalem, Recognition of Jewish state: Jerusalem Post, Jan. 29, 2014   

Jews in Palestine?: Daniel Pipes, Israel Hayom, Feb. 7, 2014

The 10 Plagues of John Kerry: Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu, Jewish Press, Jan. 29, 2014

GREATER MEN HAVE TRIED                                                          

Paula R. Stern

Times of Israel, Feb. 2, 2014

Open letter to John Kerry:

Because of my respect for the United States, I will attempt to afford you the honor you think you so richly deserve. It’s hard to speak to you with anything but anger, hard to feel the need, again, to start from the beginning because you clearly choose to ignore history in your quest for glory. It is a quest destined to fail but its outcome, even, or more accurately especially, in failure, will hurt Israel. Greater men than you have tried to make, to force, peace on the Middle East. I promise you, you will fail too. You will fail because you are not addressing the root cause of the problem. You, like so many before you, take the easy way out. Blame Israel. It is so easy to do, and so stupid.

I could speak to you of history – a history longer and greater than you can imagine. I could speak to you of injustices – yes, our land is filled with the graves of those murdered for the unjust reason that they lived here, or traveled abroad, or ate in the wrong restaurant, or took the wrong bus. I could speak to you of justice – of a population exchange similar to those that have taken place throughout history as nations settle between war and peace. They left their lands to go there, most voluntarily so that their invading brothers would have a clear path as they pushed the Jews into the sea. And our people, who left their homes and possessions in Arab lands, most forced, not voluntarily, and came here.

We fed our brothers, clothed them, gave them homes. And most importantly, we loved them and gave them the most precious of gifts – a future, a present, as integral parts of the land and people of this country. My neighbor, the family across the street – they live in the same houses that I do, drive the same cars, attend the same schools. He is an engineer; he is a judge in the courts. She is a nurse; she is a lawyer. All my neighbors, though their grandparents came here with nothing. And at the same time, across many borders, the Arabs put their “brothers” in refugee camps, all but starved them. They raised them to be embittered – not at those who kept them in squalor, but those they had hoped to defeat. They blame us and you are naive enough to blame us as well?

They chose war, John Kerry, while we chose compromise. And you would blame us for this horrible chain of the decades? They invaded – five Arab nations, in 1949. They attacked. Out of sheer desperation, we won enough of our land to give us a measure of security…it lasted only 7 years, until they attacked again. But oh what we did in those 7 years. We welcomed our refugees from Europe, from Arab lands. We built them tent cities and turned them into real cities. We conquered swamp land and made it habitable and we raised our children to dream that someday there would be peace. We created universities and schools and parks. But the Arabs would have none of it. In 1948, in 1956, again in 1967 and again in 1973 and again and again, almost daily, we fight off their attempts to do in 2014 what they failed to do in 1948. They have not learned and amazingly enough, John Kerry, neither have you.

We have built and evacuated whole communities; we have withdrawn from land in exchange for nothing but the hope that we could appease the “unappeasable.” We have flown around the world to help others – from earthquakes, tsunamis, devastating storms, famine and more. We have allowed the Arabs – yes, allowed them, to fire tens of thousands of missiles at our cities and we know they have more than 170,000 more rockets and missiles ready to try again. At any time and with no notice whatsoever, we have the power to flatten Gaza into the world’s largest, flattest parking lot. And each time they attack, we think of it and know we can’t do it, won’t do it. And you would blame us for the failure to make peace? When we attempt to stop them, to push back their military capabilities, just a bit, we aim for the rocket launchers, the arsenals, the training camps while they aim for our cities – Beersheva, Shderot, Ashkelon, Netivot, Ashdod. And you would threaten us for the ongoing state of war?

There cannot be peace until you recognize your enemy. There cannot be successful negotiations if you fail to understand those you would bring to the table. You fail on both counts. After hearing that you threatened Israel unless the peace talks succeed, I can only conclude that your ignorance is even greater than I thought. I knew, years ago, that you had no clue what the Arab world is thinking, feeling, dreaming of. Now I know the same is true about Israel – you don’t understand us any better than you understand the Arabs and that amazes me. Unlike the Arab world, Israel is an open society – read our newspapers, speak to the people on the street. No one will stop you and we won’t escort you with secret police to control your experience. Pick any town, city, village, settlement and you will hear the same thing. Pick any street, any person and ask them what they dream of, what they want for their children. We do not dream of glorious death and martyrdom for our sons. We dream that they will never have to even serve in the army.

I have friends who agonized over their sons going into the army. I could understand my agony, as I grew up in the United States where all my friends promised they would run away from the US before they would ever be drafted. I knew nothing of army and war and guns. But my friends here in Israel? They had served in the army; why did they suffer so when their sons were drafted. “We served so that they wouldn’t have to,” I’ve been told over and over again. They never believed, 20+ years later that their sons and daughters would have to sacrifice three years of their lives, that we’d still be at war. You won’t hear that in the Arab world. Oh, they’ll tell you that they dream of peace because they know that is what you want to hear, but in Arabic, they will talk of a time when there will be no Jews in the entire Middle East, never mind no Jews in the Palestine they envision. Their religious leaders will whip them up to the glory of Allah and jihad. But still you would expect us to make peace with them?

Theirs is a culture built on a dream – a dream that they will own the world…my corner, John Kerry, and even yours. Theirs is a society that believes in a heaven earned by causing the deaths of others and so when their sons blow themselves up and kill those Jews, they celebrate. And yes, they celebrated on 9/11 when they killed your people just as they celebrated when we released their terrorists and killers in yet another attempt to appease them…and you. If you don’t understand their ability to celebrate, I will confess that neither do I. I have seen the mothers hugging their sons in a video, made the night before they killed themselves…and the innocent men, women, and children, of their enemies who happened to be on that bus, in that mall, or asleep in their homes. It doesn’t matter to them if they kill a soldier, a man with a gun, a pregnant woman, or a helpless child. The more, the better, in their twisted interpretation of what their God wants. You don’t understand this and I can see where it is hard, given your western mentality. But not understanding it doesn’t give you the right to ignore it.

You won’t fail in your goal of ramming peace down our throats because of this, however. You will fail because, amazingly enough, you don’t even understand Israel. We are the easiest to get, the easiest, honestly. All you have to do is listen and see – but even that is beyond you. Listen to our national anthem – it does not speak of war. It is called, “The Hope” and speaks of a dream of 2,000 years to be a free people. We value that – the ability to protect ourselves, to be free in the land of our forefathers. Even the most right wing among us would be willing to compromise for a real peace, a peace where our children and grandchildren could live without the fears we deal with daily. We do not interfere in how they raise their children; we are stupid enough to even fund some of their text books – all in our own misguided belief that we can make peace with those who do not yet want it.

You threaten us with economic sanctions, with international isolation. This is your latest blunder, and it is a big one. Israel is laughing at you this morning. Economic sanctions? They gassed us, beat us, bombed us, burned us. They haunted us, hunted us, hated us through the centuries across many lands and through this land in the last several decades. They burned the synagogue where my grandmother was hiding; they gassed my great grandmother to death. International isolation? They put us in ghettos, they exploded our buses and shot our babies in the head. They lynched my neighbor, attacked the buses on which my friends travel. They shot my daughter’s teacher (and his infant son) and ambushed and killed a colleague of mine. We are fighting for our lives, John Kerry – no less today than we were in 1948. The ONLY difference is that through the greed and stupidity of the Arab nations, we are stronger than we ever were, not weaker. You will fail, John Kerry, because you are fool enough to think you can come here, wave your American flag, look at your watch and tell us you’d like to finish these peace negotiations by 5:00 p.m. because you have a date at the opera or a baseball game to go to.

For a long time now, the Arabs have fooled you. They’ll speak to you of peace over the coffee they serve you and then when you leave the room, they slap each other on the backs and laugh – another successful day at making the US look stupid. Now, this time, we will have that in common with the Arabs; we are laughing at you too. Naftali Bennet has tried to explain it to you, “There has not yet been a nation that has given up its land due to economic threats, and nor will we. Only security will bring economic stability, not a terrorist state near Ben-Gurion Airport.” Greater men have failed, John Kerry – and I promise you, until you know Israel and until you understand the Arabs, you don’t have a prayer of succeeding. Go watch the Superbowl, at least then, maybe you’ll have done something worthwhile.

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JOHN KERRY: NOT AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY THREATENER

David M. Weinberg                

Israel Hayom, Feb. 3, 2014

Over the last 48 hours, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has issued a series of apocalyptic warnings. While trying to sound like an analyst and a friend, he has, in effect, threatened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with boycott and isolation and even (Palestinian) violence if Israel doesn't facilitate the continuation of Kerry's peace process by acceding to Kerry's terms. In so doing, Kerry is setting up a situation of self-fulfilling prophecy, and backhandedly legitimizing the horror scenarios if and when the "peace process" breaks downs.

"Today's status quo," he warned Netanyahu, "absolutely to a certainty, I promise you 100 percent, cannot be maintained. It is not sustainable. It is illusionary. You see for Israel there is an increasing delegitimization campaign that has been building up. People are very sensitive to it, there is talk of boycott and other kinds of things. Are we all going to be better with all of that?" Now, Palestinian media is reporting that Kerry told Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas that he would "meet the same fate as Yasser Arafat" if he turned down Washington's proposals for peace with Israel. Abbas is said to be furious, interpreting Kerry's remarks as a veiled death threat! Jamal Muhaissen, a senior Fatah official in the West Bank, is now counter-threatening Kerry with a suit before the International Criminal Court for threatening the life of the Palestinian president. What Kerry probably meant, if he truly made this remark, is that Abbas would lose American support and funding, and find himself isolated from the world, if he fails to advance towards peace — as happened to Arafat after the Second Intifada. In any case, I doubt that this story out of Ramallah is true. It's probably a smoke-screen meant to desensitize world opinion about Kerry strong-arming Israel (and only Israel).

Needless to say, the warnings that Kerry has directed at the two sides are not equal. He is not an equal opportunity threatener. Israel has borne the brunt of Kerry's behind the scenes pressures, and his public exhortations and admonitions. The American secretary of state has repeatedly returned to the "oy-vey-Israel-is-going-to-be-boycotted" theme, and more than once threatened our economic prosperity. He used his now-infamous television interview two months ago (given jointly to Israeli and Palestinian TV) to hector Israel, not the PA.  By contrast, Kerry has never once publicly warned the PA leadership that this is their last chance for a Palestinian state. He has never publicly warned Abbas that the Palestinian Authority would forfeit its international largesse and 'economic prosperity' if he (Abbas) doesn't "demonstrate moderate leadership" by accepting Kerry's proposals.

Kerry has warned Netanyahu that this diplomatic process is Israel's last chance to save its Jewish and democratic character. Kerry has never once publicly warned Abbas that this process is the last Palestinian chance to gain recognized statehood. Getting real tough with the Palestinians just isn't politically correct, you see, and it is anyway so much more fun to beat up publicly on Netanyahu. The only rational response to Kerry's attempts at intimidation is sangfroid. With composure and self-assurance, Israel needs to say to Kerry: "Yes, we truly desire peace and appreciate your indefatigable attempts to bridge the gaps between us and the Palestinians. But Israel will manage even if no grand deal with the Palestinians is currently achievable — as lamentably, we knew from the beginning and feared would be the case. Israel's international standing is not going to 'crumble' if it gets censured by you, Mr. Secretary. Israel will hold together and prosper even if it doesn't accept Abbas' demand for sovereignty in Jerusalem or your demand, Mr. Secretary, that Israel rely on American satellites and cameras to hold the Jordan Valley line. So don't threaten us, Mr. Kerry. You may want a deal now — this deal on your terms — more than Israel does. We're truly sorry and disappointed that you are prepared to slap down dictated contours of peace and say: accept this or suffer the consequences — even though you promised that you weren't going to impose anything. But Israel takes the long view. Our demands for historical rights, recognition and security in the Land of Israel are solid and sustainable for the long term. And we will wait out our adversaries, and weather American impatience, until conditions and partners for peace improve, thank you very much."

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THE ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATION AND THE                            

AMERICAN MEDIATION: THE JERUSALEM CASE                              

David Bukay                                                                   

Jerusalem Post, Jan. 1, 2014

The US Secretary of State, John Kerry, is in Jerusalem again, trying to square the circle of bringing the Israeli Palestinian negotiations to an agreement. A few weeks ago, Mr. Obama reiterated his signature on the order to postpone the moving the US embassy from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem. These acts show again how the US gets the Middle East wrong with eyes wide open. Perhaps with the stubbornness of good will but surely with naiveté approach and stupid policy, the US does not comprehend the real issues concerning the Israeli-Palestinian dilemma.

Now John Kerry tries again with the clumsiness of an elephant in a porcelain shop to bring the parties to conclude an agreement, while the issues raised for the “solution” are not the real issues. The US continues to see the subject matter with its wrong mistaken mirror image, as if the “occupation” of the 1967 territories, and the Palestinian refugee issue of 1948, and the Issue of Jerusalem as the capital of the newborn Palestinian state, are the main obstacles to conclude the peace agreement. The US continues to stumble as if she has the formula that brings the parties not only to the negotiation table, not only to a peace agreement, but to peace relations between Israel and the Palestinians. Moreover, the US continues to believe that by reaching this end, most of the issues in the Middle East are solved, and harmony and tranquility reigns over the region.

Well, the US should learn the lessons of its past failures which are implanted all over the Middle East. The first lesson is to internalize Albert Einstein’s eloquence: “if you give me a problem to solve in an hour, I would spend 55 minutes to understand the essence and characteristics of the problem, and only 5 minutes to solve it.” It is crucially important that the US follow these lines: first to understand the issues and only then to try to bring solutions. In a short: from the Palestinians’ perspective, the issue was never the 1967 “occupation” but the 1948 “occupation.” It is not living in peace with Israel but live in peace without Israel. it is not solving the refugees issue, but how to flood Israel with millions of Palestinians as and bring its demise. It is not “two states solution, one Jewish one Palestinian,” but “two state solution, one Palestinian and one non-Jewish state” that resembles the 1970’s Palestinian idea of a “secular democratic state in Palestine,“ in which Muslims, Christians and Jews live together in an Arab state. All these and many more ideas are all intended to the same objective: demolishing the State of Israel as a Jewish Zionist state and establishing a Palestinian state “from the sea to the desert” (including Jordan).

The US must understand who the negotiators, the Israeli partners from the Palestinian side are. Abu Mazan is one of the more extreme leaders among the Palestinians, no less, perhaps more than Arafat himself. Though he dresses Western suits and sometimes talks gently (unlike Arafat in the military uniform), and though he pretends to be weak and needs protégé among wolves around him, this is indeed a mask, a silver ribbon cloak that hides a fanatic harsh anti-Semite and Holocaust denier person. Just read his Ph.D. from the University of Patrice Lumumba in Moscow, published in Arabic in 1982 (“The Other Face: the Secret Negotiations of the Zionist Movement and the Nazis”). Two themes were highlighted: there was no Holocaust in Europe, and the Zionist Movement in what he calls Palestine collaborated with the Nazis to butcher the Jews of Europe in order that the Zionist Movement gets the compassion and the legitimization to establish a Zionist state on the Palestinian land.

On many occasions, including in English, Abu Mazen has clearly declared he does not recognize the state of Israel as a Jewish Zionist state in any borders. This is something everyone must recall. Never in history of diplomacy, had one side come to the negotiation table with the declaration that he does not recognize the rights of the other side. Never in history of diplomacy, had one side clearly declared that his aim is to eliminate the other side, and the negotiation table is only a means, a façade to facilitate the achievement of the target. This is in the spirit of the PLO National Council decision from the 1970’s of the Phased Doctrine. The irony of this situation that it the dubious side, the one without proven rights, the scoundrel newcomer wants it all and acts with all means to dispossess and impoverish the side with proven historical and religious rights. Abu Mazen leads this atrocious hideous and outrageous policy.

If this is not enough, the US should read the book of Denis Ross, who was its representative in Camp David II, who was the man in Arafat’s camp that again and again convinced him to reject all Israeli Prime Minister, Barak’s proposals. The US must learn the lesson of the Israeli Prime Minister, Olmert, with his licentious outrageous proposals, and still Abu Mazen refused to consider. Abu Mazen is not the man of compromise, and he cannot deliver the goods. He cannot, and does not want to bring the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to an end. The only end that is still acceptable among the Palestinians is “peace of the entire Palestine;” no less. Everything is temporary and changeable according to the situation and circumstances. The heinous Oslo accords, remembered as a dreadful disgrace forever, are the example: you sign peace and you make a war of terror. All the ceremonies so important and sanctified in Western political culture are just an empty thing in the Arab-Islamic political culture; a useless symbol in the wondering sands of the Arab deserts…

Still, the question is, does the US understand what the ingredients that can bring a comprised solution in the Israeli-Palestinian issues are? Let’s take the Jerusalem issue. Here is the example in which the Palestinians have nothing, but absolutely nothing there, from any historical, political, cultural, religious and other perspectives. Yet, outrageously and in much obscene impudence the Palestinians totally deny Israel’s 3500 years of historical, political, cultural, and religious rights. Therefore, Kerry and the US Administration must learn: Not only the Palestinians have no record and any traces in Jerusalem, the Islamic is dubious and baseless. First and foremost, Jerusalem is not mentioned, not in the Qur’an, not in the Hadith, and not in the Syrah. That is, there is no mentioning of Jerusalem in the entire Shari`ah. Moreover, Jerusalem was not an important city during the entire Islamic history, compared to Damascus, Cairo, and Istanbul. Jerusalem was much less important than Andalusia, and other regions…                                                                              

[To Read the Full Article, With Footnotes, Click the Following Link –ed.]      

John Kerry Solutions Inc. Israel Tour, February 2014 (Video): Youtube, Feb. 2, 2014

The 'Kerry Plan': Palestinian Capital in East Jerusalem, Recognition of Jewish state: Jerusalem Post, Jan. 29, 2014 — The "Kerry Plan" is likely to be unveiled soon, Thomas Friedman of The New York Times wrote on Tuesday in a column titled "Why Kerry is Scary."   

Jews in Palestine?: Daniel Pipes, Israel Hayom, Feb. 7, 2014—A brouhaha erupted recently in Israel over a completely theoretical question: Could Israelis now living in the West Bank be allowed to live under Palestinian rule?

The 10 Plagues of John Kerry: Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu, Jewish Press, Jan. 29, 2014 —U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has struck Israel with a host 10 plagues since he reincarnated the dead and deadly peace process last July.