views

essay

letters

Charade

continued from page 5

It’s naive to think the Palestinian Authority has ever recognized Israel.

Recent Great Lakes Region Volunteers
for Israel volunteers asked that their
experiences be shared with the Detroit
Jewish News readers:

I

n the wake of the Trump admin-
istration vowing to move the U.S.
Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to
Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority (P.A.)
leadership is threatening to retract its
recognition of the Jewish state. In truth,
such recognition, seemingly in place 23
years, has been marginal at best.
President Donald Trump hasn’t
decided when to move the embassy to
Jerusalem, the Israeli capital. On Jan.
23, White House press secretary Sean
Spicer told reporters, “We’re at the very
early stages of that decision-making
process.”
President
Mahmoud Abbas
of the Palestinian
Authority, which
governs Palestinian-
controlled areas
of the West Bank
through his Fatah fac-
Robert Sklar
tion, said such a move
Contributing Editor
would doom the
dormant peace pro-
cess despite Trump’s
desire to revive talks. Negotiations
have sought to create a demilitarized
Palestinian state called “Palestine”
alongside the Jewish state, Israel. They
presumably would co-exist, side by side
in peace with safe, secure borders.
Abbas wrote Trump to warn him
about the consequences of an embassy
transfer: “cancelling” recognition of
Israel, “annihilating” the two-state solu-
tion and “negating” legitimacy of the
U.S. to help settle the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. That’s in a Jan. 15 report of Al
Hayat Al Jadida, the official P.A. daily.

OSLO’S FAILURE
As the New York Times reported in 1993,
a deal brokered largely by Norway saw
both sides compromise — a compro-
mise the Palestinians went on to ravage.
Via the Oslo peace accords, Chairman
Yasser Arafat said the Palestine
Liberation Organization, the chief nego-
tiating arm of the Palestinian people,
would recognize Israel’s right “to exist
in peace and security.” The PLO also
renounced “the use of terrorism and
other acts of violence.”
In response, Prime Minister Yitzhak
Rabin said Israel “has decided to rec-
ognize the PLO as the representative of
the Palestinian people.” Israel pledged to
start negotiating with the PLO in pur-
suit of a sustained peace.

UNMASKING DECEPTION
In January, Israel-based Palestinian
Media Watch (PMW), a well-respected
observer of Palestinian news opera-
tions, reminded the world the P.A.’s

President Abbas’ stewardship
already has adopted the
Hamas mantra to destroy
Israel, just not as openly.

Mahmoud Abbas

Oslo-rooted recognition of Israel is
hollow.
In a Jan. 16 dispatch, founder Itamar
Marcus wrote that PMW for 20 years
has been reporting “despite peace
negotiations, agreements and declara-
tions, the Palestinians have never rec-
ognized Israel’s right to exist — in any
borders.
“In speeches, at events and visu-
ally, the P.A., Fatah and their leaders
have continued to present ‘Palestine’
as including all of Israel and have
expressed that the final goal is all Israel
will be in one state: ‘Palestine.’”
That “state” also would include the
West Bank, the Gaza Strip, which the
Islamist terrorist organization Hamas
now rules, and Jerusalem’s Arab-
dominated eastern sector, which the
Palestinians eye as their capital.
Marcus went on to cite a Fatah map
showing all of Israel plus the P.A. areas
as one entity under the Palestinian
flag “symbolizing political sovereignty
over Israel.” He told how P.A. and Fatah
leaders continually refer to Israel as
“occupied Palestine” instead of as an
independent, internationally recog-
nized state.
What’s more, Marcus related how
those leaders have borrowed from
Hamas ideology by embracing a so-
called Islamic prohibition against
Israel’s recognition. P.A. and Fatah reli-
gious leaders (moderate as they may
seem) teach that it violates Islamic law
to recognize Israel because the Jewish
state is on “Islamic land.” Allah wants
the Palestinians not only to liberate the
land, but also to “not give up a single
grain” of it.
To illustrate this way of thinking,
Marcus quoted the P.A.’s Grand Mufti
Sheikh Muhammad Hussein as saying
in December, “All of Palestine is Islamic
land.” Hussein urged Palestinians to
maintain religious strife in hopes of
retaking Israel, seen through his lens
as part of a non-negotiable charitable
endowment under Islamic law.

TEACHING HATE
On the education front, a common
P.A. refrain in textbooks, sermons,
maps, music videos, sports tourna-

ments, newspapers and other public
pronouncements argues all of Israel lies
within “Palestine.’’
“Palestinian non-recognition of Israel
in any borders is one of the fundamen-
tal components of Palestinian Authority
ideology that is repeated incessantly
to the Palestinian population while
P.A. leaders are careful to hide it from
the international community,” Marcus
asserted, with plenty of evidence.
He thus surmised quite convincingly
that Abbas’ threat to “cancel” recogni-
tion of Israel, if mandated “after con-
sultations are held with Arab states,” is
meaningless. Such recognition exists
only in the Oslo proceedings of 1993.
Marcus reminds that a 2014 poll
by the Washington Institute for Near
East Studies found a P.A.-Israel treaty
wouldn’t eliminate the underlying
Palestinian desire to reclaim “his-
toric Palestine” from “the river to the
sea” — from the Jordan River to the
Mediterranean Sea, meaning Israel
as well. The poll found two-thirds of
Palestinians believe a two-state solu-
tion would be part of a “program
of stages” to liberate “all of historic
Palestine” later.
Without question, President Abbas
has little to leverage in threatening to
“cancel” P.A. and Fatah recognition
of Israel. His stewardship already has
adopted the Hamas mantra to destroy
Israel, just not as openly.
It’s understandable if the United
Nations and its anti-Israel cohort
don’t see through Abbas’ masquer-
ade. In turn, it’s crucial the U.S. under
President Trump stand with Israel and
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
against Arab pressure seeking
Palestinian statehood via international
support rather than direct, bilateral
talks with Israel.
As PMW’s Itamar Marcus so suc-
cinctly put it, “The international com-
munity’s failure to realize that the
Palestinian Authority does not recog-
nize Israel and has taught its people
and especially its children to reject
Israel in all borders is one of the great
failures of international diplomacy —
and remains one of the fundamental
impediments to peace.” •

Israel Volunteers

“My time in
Israel with the
Volunteers for Israel
was wonderful. As
a tourist, one views
Israel from the outside
looking in. This pro-
Joseph Holmes
gram lets you experi-
ence Israel from the inside, working with
civilian workers and soldiers on bases
performing needed menial tasks. I have
a passion for Israel and wanted to give
of my time and myself to Israel.”

— Joseph F. Holmes

“For me, supporting Israel and the fight
against terrorism was an easy decision.
Once I arrived in Israel, I was assigned
to my madricha, Tali, who was very
helpful throughout my
time on the base. She
gave us an introduc-
tion to the base and
to life in the IDF. Her
nightly presentations
were very informative
and gave us insight
into Israeli culture and
Matt Yeakey
history and the IDF.
During my time there,
I met some exceptional people whom I
enjoyed working with and respect. The
experience was very meaningful to
me, and I hope to be able to go again.
A heartfelt thank you to our madricha,
VFI, Sar-El and the IDF.”

—Matt Yeakey

Volunteers for Israel-USA (VFI-USA) is
associated with Sar-El, a nonprofit orga-
nization in Israel that administers the
program.
Volunteers typically spend two or
three weeks living and working along-
side Israelis at an army base, Israeli
Defense Forces warehouse or service
base. The program offers a way to con-
tribute to the State of Israel in a very
direct way.
The mission of Volunteers for Israel is
to connect Americans to Israel through
volunteer service and achieve this goal
by partnering with military and civilian
organizations that enable volunteers to
work side-by-side with Israelis.
We promote solidarity and goodwill
among Israelis, Americans and other
friends of Israel. For information, call
Carol Kent at (248) 884-3666 or me, Ed
Kohl, at (248) 420-3729, email
michgan@vfi-usa.org or visit the
VFI-USA website, vfi-usa.org.
We are also available to speak to
groups and individuals about the VFI/
Sar-El program.

Ed Kohl
West Bloomfield

8

February 2 • 2017

jn

