– Palestinians shoot pregnant Jewish woman– Arabs riot in Jerusalem
– US to Palestinians: Hold your tongues if you want a state
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Hundreds of Christians from a dozen nations joined together with 3,000 Israelis on Sunday evening in the small Samarian Jewish community of Revava to mark the end of the self-imposed Jewish building freeze in the so-called West Bank.
The Christians were in Israel to participate in the annual International Christian Zionist Center (ICZC) Feast of Tabernacles celebration. The theme of this year’s feast was Genesis 22:17, where God promises Abraham that his “seed shall possess the gates of their enemies.”
ICZC Director Jan Willem van der Hoeven thought it fitting that his group demonstrate their belief in that passage by physically standing with the people of Israel as they reversed that fateful decision to suspend Jewish building in Judea and Samaria in accordance with US and Arab demands.
“We as Gentiles tell you, be strong and of courage to possess the land,” van der Hoeven stated in the central Samaria town of Ariel, just prior to the rally in nearby Revava.
In Revava, the Christians with their bright banners and national flags were swarmed by the Israeli and international media before mingling in amongst the thousands of faithful Israelis from around the country who had come to strengthen the Jews of Judea and Samaria.
The Israelis seemed surprised, though very grateful, to see these foreigners in this isolated place and for this occasion. Most greeted the Christians warmly and many applauded loudly as the flags of various nations were marched in.
Likud MK and deputy minister for development in the Negev and Galilee, Ayoub Kara, who is an Israeli Druze, addressed the crowd in a fiery Zionist speech before turning to the Christians and saying:
“I say to all the non-Jews who are here, I too am not a Jew, but in spirit I am most Jewish, I am most Zionist, and so are you! Good for you that you are here to support Israel.”
Rising Likud star MK Danny Danon, who organized the rally, also took time during his speech to directly address the Christians (in English), saying:
“We salute you. We know that you love Israel unconditionally.”
Danon asked the foreigners to take the message back to their countries that Israel respects them, but insists that its own democracy and historical rights must also be respected. He then apologized to the Jews of Judea and Samaria that they had been treated like “second class citizens” when they were told they could no longer build homes, schools or synagogues.
On Monday morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stuck to his promise to allow the building freeze to expire on time, despite heavy American pressure to extend it. However, building permits are expected to be issued much more sparingly so as not to rock the diplomatic boat too much.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has been saying every day for the past month that if any Jewish building resumes in the areas he claims for a future state, then the current US-brokered peace negotiations will be over. Washington has been pressing Netanyahu hard to not let that happen, and both US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have hinted in no uncertain terms that if the peace talks break down, Netanyahu will be blamed.
Danon sought to remind Netanyahu that similar threats were made more than 15 years ago by former US President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. They insisted that if Jewish “settlement activity” continued after the signing of the so-called “Oslo Accords,” it would cause an international crisis for which Israel would be blamed.
But, Danon noted, Israel went on building, and Washington and the nations made some noise, but there was no crisis, there was no regional war.
Van der Hoeven and the ICZC are urging the Israelis to at the very least return to a situation where Judea and Samaria are actually disputed territories. By implementing building freezes and signaling constantly that Judea and Samaria are, as the Arabs claim, occupied, Israel can only blame itself when the world refuses to accept that these are ancient Jewish lands, said van der Hoeven.
The ICZC’s short term solution is for Israel to insist, constantly and adamantly, that Judea and Samaria are Jewish lands, and if there needs to be a Jewish building freeze while the issue is hashed out, then the Arabs must also stop building.
Jewish man arrested for praying on Temple Mount
Jerusalem police on Sunday arrested a Jewish man who was suspected by Islamic authorities of saying a quiet prayer atop the Temple Mount, Judaism’s most holy site.
Other Israelis who were in the same group as the arrested man told Israel National News that they were accompanied by several police officers and Islamic monitors as they toured the compound, which is currently occupied by four mosques.
Near the end of the tour, one of the participants stood quietly to the side, a little ways away from the rest of the group. An Islamic official suspected the Jewish man was saying a quiet prayer, so rushed toward him demanding he stop. The Muslim called over Israeli police officers, who removed the Jewish man from the scene and took him for questioning.
The leader of the group, David Ha’ivri, executive director of the Samaria Liaison Office, noted that prior to entering the Temple Mount, the Jewish visitors were told by an Israeli officer the following:
“Do not pray. Do not tear a garment. Do not prostrate yourself. It is forbidden to take any action that the Muslims may see as a religious act.”
Unbelievably, this blatant violation of religious freedom is being ignored by the international community, as are Israeli cries that the policy is evidence that a Palestinian state will not be a place where people of all faiths can worship freely.
But the Temple Mount policy is far more egregious than the average restriction on religious freedom. The Temple Mount is without question the holiest site on earth to every Jew. And yet, they are not allowed to say even a silent prayer while visiting the site.
Palestinians shoot pregnant Jewish woman Palestinian Arab terrorists on Sunday shot and wounded a Jewish couple traveling on a highway in southern Judea. The female victim, Netta Zucker, was nine months pregnant at the time of the attack.
Zucker and her husband were rushed to Soroka Hospital in the nearby Negev town of Beersheva, where doctors performed an emergency Cesaerean section to remove the baby. Netta was then treated for her moderate gunshot wounds.
By Monday morning, Sharon and Netta Zucker were resting in stable condition with their new baby boy.
“This is not how I planned on bringing a child into the world,” an exhausted Sharon Zucker told reporters following the ordeal.
Israel security forces have been unable to apprehend the perpetrators of the attack, who managed to escape into Palestinian Authority-controlled areas.
Arabs riot in Jerusalem Arab mobs attacked police and Jewish civilians in and around Jerusalem’s Old City throughout the weekend causing a number of injuries and widespread damage.
The attacks started on Friday, when Israeli security officials fearing an outburst of violence from atop the Temple Mount restricted entry for weekly prayers to Muslims over the age of 50.
During the violence, at least 12 Israelis were wounded by stones and home-made firebombs. Many of the victims were Jewish worshippers who had been praying at the Western Wall when Muslims hurled stones down from the Temple Mount above.
The attacks also spread to the adjacent Arab-dominated neighborhood of Silwan (the City of David), where a number of sukkot (or booths) were set ablaze by Arab rioters. Local residents said they felt under siege.
US to Palestinians: Hold your tongues if you want a state The Obama Administration is urging senior Palestinian officials to keep their views about Israel and its leaders to themselves for the time being if they want the current negotiations to bear fruit and result in the establishment of a Palestinian state.
So said Palestinian officials who spoke to Israel’s Ynet news portal on Tuesday.
The Palestinians said the Americans cited as an example a recent interview given by Mohammed Dahlan during which the senior aide to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas characterized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a “liar” and said the peace talks had little chance with someone like him at Israel’s helm.
The White House was also reportedly frustrated by constant leaks by Palestinian officials regarding details of the negotiations, with added commentary that the Palestinians don’t like the way things are going.
The American reaction to this phenomenon highlights one of the primary deficiencies of the current peace process. Washington has for the past decade-and-a-half been focused on concluding a final status Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, regardless of whether or not an atmosphere conducive to peaceful coexistence actually exists.
That the Palestinian leadership and the majority of the public fed by its statements still view Israel and the Jews as an enemy to be hated and ultimately defeated is not seen by the US as being in any way detrimental to the prospects of a lasting peace.
EIther that, or the US administration doesn’t actually care about peace, but is rather more interested in a diplomatic achievement for itself.
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