And Now, It's 'Relocation'

In a section of the Washington Post entitled "Global Opinions", there's an op-ed - 70 years after partition, a two-state solution is still possible - composed by David Makovsky (who I know well).

It's theme: 

It isn't too late for a two-state solution. Bringing the land into focus proves it.

He suggests, or declares, that "partition is still feasible...territorial dimension is solvable" and he has a new website that uses civilian satellite imagery to provide "a better understanding of settler trends" for 

The interplay of geography and demography in the West Bank matters

Basically, he divides the population of revenant residents into various sub-group based of east or west of the security barrier.  He comes up with a figure of

just under 556,000 Israelis living inside, or west, of the security barrier and more than 97,000 living outside of the barrier.

It's not a perfect summing up but he then writes that if

in a two-state solution, there were an agreement between Israelis and Palestinians regarding the relocation of these settlers, the prospect of relocation would become increasingly difficult...Israel needs to align its settlement policy with a two-state approach that enables Israeli-Palestinian compromise...None of this suggests that the barrier would necessarily be the border in a final-status agreement. That border would remain to be negotiated by the parties.

I left there this comment:

The term "relocation" is employed.  As an aside, at least it is not "resettlement" with its historical echoes.I have but one question: do Arabs get relocated, too?Can parts of the Wadi Ara population be relocated?Or is it only Jews?Besides the question, I would suggest that Makovsky's plan would have a better chance to prove itself if it would proceed incrementally.  For example, first, an updated Begin-era autonomy/self-rule plan. Then a federation-with-Jordan plan. These would prove to all that the Arabs desiring an independent state of Palestine indeed have the desire, capability and wherewithal to maintain a state structure and its administration, halt incitement, stop terror, initiate peace programs, begin joint normalization projects, etc. Something has to be done other than creating ideas to undo 20 years of what the Palestinian Authority has wrought.

And then I added this:

Whatever the "solution", let's not forget that there was a Palestine Mandate. In 1922, the two-state solution was done and Jordan, geographically 75% of historic Palestine started off on its road to be an Arab state.The two-state solution was tried in 1937 and the Arabs refused.Again in 1947, and refused.A war by Arabs in 1967 was launched when no "occupation" existed nor were there any "settlements" as Jews had been ethnically cleansed from Judea, Samaria and Gaza (aka, the "West Bank" and Gaza) between 1920-1948.Has Makovsky solved those problems which caused the Arabs to reject the two-state solution previously, which would then facilitate a two-state solution today?

^

The Two Mistakes vis-a-vis "Settlements"

And what does the Editorial Board of the Washington Post have to say about the Jewish residential communities in the area of the Jewish National Home not under Israel's full sovereignty?


This -

Overheated rhetoric on Israeli settlements 

 ...such unilateral action [a flurry of announcements of new construction] by Israel, like the unilateral Palestinian initiative to seek statehood recognition in November from the U.N. General Assembly, serves to complicate the negotiations that are the only realistic route to a Middle East peace. But the reaction is also counterproductive because it reinforces two mistaken but widely held notions: that the settlements are the principal obstacle to a deal and that further construction will make a Palestinian state impossible.
 
...Mr. Netanyahu’s government, like several before it, has limited building almost entirely to areas that both sides expect Israel to annex through territorial swaps in an eventual settlement...Mr. Netanyahu’s [E1] zoning approval is hardly the “almost fatal blow” to a two-state solution that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described.

The exaggerated rhetoric is offensive at a time when the Security Council is refusing to take action to stop the slaughter of tens of thousands of civilians — including many Palestinians — by the Syrian regime. But it is also harmful, because it puts pressure on Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to make a “freeze” on the construction a condition for beginning peace talks...

...If Security Council members are really interested in progress toward Palestinian statehood, they will press Mr. Abbas to stop using settlements as an excuse for intransigence — and cool their own overheated rhetoric.

Of course, had I been on the editorial board, I would have pointed out that:

a.  Jewish communities are not illegal, an approbation that is highly inflammable and an error and that the Jewish people have historic, cultural and religious rights in Judea and Samaria;

b. Pal. Authority rhetoric indicating that the "state of Palestine" would, in essence, be uni-ethnic and, in excluding Jews, would be racist and thereby an apartheid polity;

c. highly-charged existing rhetoric, in the form of PA incitement, is not condemned, leads to terror and subverts the whole sense of why there should be negotiations and negates the idea of peace;

d. the unilateral PA move at the UN was not similarly condemned despite it violating the Oslo Accords as it has been doing since 1993;

e. an extensive Israeli military presence for security is in anyway obligatory for peace and stability;

among other matters.

(k/t=AH)

_____________

UPDATE

And over at Mondoweiss:

Wow, this is unbelievable. The Washington Post editorial page states that the reaction to Israel's plans to build more settlements is overheated, that a two-state solution is alive and well, that settlements outside Jerusalem don't block Palestinian access to a possible capital.

^

News! WashPost Gets A Gaza Story Almost Right

Seems reporter  Karin Brulliard got the story right, almost:-

In Gaza, Hamas rule has not turned out as many expected

The housing stipends, promised by Hamas social workers after much of Umm Mohammed’s neighborhood was demolished in an Israeli military assault three years ago, never came. The water barrels pledged by municipal authorities seemed to go only to Hamas cadres. Electricity is a rarity...the housewife said, the enclave’s Hamas rulers watched from “their chairs” — lingo here for cushy seats of power...“They say they are the resistance against the enemy,” said Umm Mohammed, 26, bouncing a baby on her knee. “Where is the resistance?”


...after five years of Hamas administration...Hamas is fast losing popularity, and recent surveys indicate that it would not win if elections were held in Gaza today...some say Hamas’s path from violent opposition movement to de facto government could be instructive: The Gaza-based rulers, many analysts say, have become more pragmatic and more self-interested — a bit more like common politicians. Whether that means Hamas, an offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, has altered its extremist ideology is far from clear.

[what?!!!]

...Israeli military officials say the movement remains dedicated to Israel’s ruin, as stated in its charter, and is hoarding arms for future offensives. Although some Hamas leaders voice admiration for Turkey’s moderate and democratic Islamism to foreign audiences, others unfurl militant, anti-Israel rhetoric to chanting supporters.


...Hamas...no longer looks the same to many Gazans. It secured once-lawless streets, as promised. But hopes of Islam-guided fairness and an end to the graft that had tainted the tenure of the secular Fatah party have turned to widespread griping about Hamas corruption and patronage...Members of the Hamas elite are widely thought to have enriched themselves through investment in the dusty labyrinth of smuggling tunnels beneath the border with Egypt and taxes on the imported goods. That money has been channeled into flashy cars and Hamas-owned businesses that only stalwarts get a stake in, critics say.


Street-level umbrage has risen in recent months alongside tax increases and a crippling power crisis that...began after Egypt stopped providing subsidized fuel for vehicles and...the crisis has been prolonged by Hamas’s refusal to import pricier fuel through an Israeli-controlled crossing...“Many aspects of the siege are imposed by Hamas,” said the manager, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fears of losing his job.


...Alcohol and belly dancing have been banned. But efforts to require schoolgirls to wear veils, prohibit women from smoking water pipes or prevent “un-Islamic” behavior on the strip’s breezy beaches largely failed amid criticism from the public...Authoritarianism has come more in the form of quashed dissent and arrests of perceived political opponents...“We became like a police state,” said Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. “They became scared of any rally or demonstration.”


Hamas, eager to preserve its rule, has also become wary of provoking a new Israeli offensive in Gaza, costing it credibility...Hamas itself has mostly adhered to an unofficial cease-fire since the 2008-2009 Israeli offensive...Hamas has essentially abandoned longtime patron Syria...Taher al-Nunu, a spokesman for the movement, said Hamas leaders restrained fighters last month because they thought Israel was trying to provoke them to learn about their weapons arsenal, not because they have abandoned armed tactics.


“We are not working by remote control like Israel wants,” he said.

[what?!!!]

But only those who “pray in a Hamas mosque” get work...said, adding that the movement’s leaders look as though they have gotten comfortable with their mini-state and have forgotten about fighting for Palestinian independence.

So, is Hamas a remote-controlled Israeli creation? Is Gaza a great place to live? Who is at fault for the economic disaster, the corruption, the incompetence?

Who is seeking a conflict?

^

Maybe Not Shot but Dead Nevertheless

Jordan’s King Abdullah II spoke with The WashPost’s Lally Weymouth and she asked him

Do you and other leaders in this area believe you cannot rely on the U.S.?

I think everybody is wary of dealing with the West. . . . Looking at how quickly people turned their backs on Mubarak, I would say that most people are going to try and go their own way. I think there is going to be less coordination with the West and therefore a chance of more misunderstandings. Egypt is trying to develop its own way of moving forward.

And Jordan?

Two things make Jordan stand out. One is that we reached out to everybody and got a national dialogue committee. The other thing that made a major impact is that we have had demonstrations for the past 11 months but . . . nobody has been killed. It was a decision taken [from] Day One that we disarmed all our police. In other countries . . . their solution was to pull out their guns and shoot.

Nobody?

Well, according to CNN:

Demonstrations turned violent in Amman, Jordan, Friday as government loyalists clashed with protesters who are pushing for reforms.

Dozens were injured as the two sides converged in a hail of rocks and swinging sticks, according to protest organizers and the government. The country's General Security Directorate said at least 62 citizens and 58 security force members, including two senior officers, were injured

One man died of a heart attack Friday, officials said. His cause of death is disputed by some protesters who claim he was beaten.

Lucky he wasn't shot.

No, not the old man.

Abdullah II.

You wouldn't want to be caught lying with, er, to Lally.

^

NYTimes vs. Washington Post

Thanks to DG:-

Yesterday in response to continue rocket and mortar fire the IDF responded striking at positions where terrorists had been. Which newspaper reported the following essential information?


Relatives and neighbors were unusually open about the fact that the Israeli mortar attack was an attempt to hit militants firing rockets from the nearby grove.

“We heard the sound of four mortars being fired by militants from a grove just beyond our house,” said Hassan, the older brother of Mohammed Harrara. “A few minutes later, the Israeli shells landed in the area.”

It was in Fares Akram's report in the New York Times.

By the way the Times headlined the report with "Israeli Attack on Gaza Militants Kills 4 Civilians," which is more accurate than the Washington Post's Palestinian civilians and 4 militants killed by Israeli fire in Gaza.

^

Jennifer Rubin, WashPost's "Right Turn" Blogger, Visits the Binyamin Region

I had a hand in arranging this tour for Jennifer Rubin and here are portions of her Part I post about her trip to the Binyamin region last week:

Traveling in the West Bank (Part 1)


By Jennifer Rubin

...As readers of Right Turn know, I was recently in Israel. I spent a day in the West Bank. What I saw surprised me...when one leaves Jerusalem, crosses the Green Line -- a cement wall and a checkpoint (not unlike the set-up for an agent at a U.S. border) -- and travels up and down the highways of Samaria (the portion of the West Bank extending north), you realize how little non-Israelis know about the Jews who live in territory that is the focal point of so much international attention.

...On a Wednesday afternoon Naftali Bennett met me in Jerusalem. He drove up in an unassuming, white compact car. He was dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt and wore a small knitted kippah not unlike conservative and modern Orthodox Jews in the United States. His parents made aliyah from the U.S., so his English is impeccable...
...The West Bank is a mountain range. On one side is the Jordan Valley, and on the other the heart of modern Israel. (Ben Gurion Airport is a few miles from the foot of the hills of the West Bank.) What strikes you are the vast open spaces -- hill after hill of barren land. There is no shortage of living space...The region of Binyamin, named for one of the 12 tribes of Israel, includes Shiloh, the city Joshua conquered immediately after Jericho. Excavations are underway, and already a massive amount of broken pottery, the leftovers from the ritual meals after animal sacrifice and the bones of animals (kosher only) have been found. In the modern era, Binyamin was deserted until the mid-19th century when early Zionists repopulated the area. Bennett explained that this is why settlers and many other Jews and Christians (in Israel and elsewhere) think of this area as "the heart of Israel."

...Five or ten minutes after we crossed the Green Line we stopped at a new, very large grocery store, a place where Jews and Palestinians shop together [my wife now works at the clothing shop next-door]. Palestinians are under an edict by the PA to boycott Israel goods, but the PA cannot enforce the boycott at the consumer level. Jews and Palestinians buy everything from fruit to Cocoa Puffs. What is most striking is how utterly ordinary is this place, in the middle of territory about which the entire world argues. A Palestinian father pushed two small children in a shopping cart; men with kippot filled the shelves.

We continued to the Psagot winery (about twenty minutes from Jerusalem), a stylish facility that could be in the Sonoma or Napa Valley in the U.S. There is a visitor center with a film explaining the history of the region. Its viewpoint is entirely absent from international media coverage. Only about 15 people operate the winery that produces 10,000 cases a year, some for export and some for Israeli consumers. A state of the art bottling line washes, fills, corks and labels the bottles. Each year volunteers from the states come for five weeks at a time to help out, living in a garage-like annex.

...We drove a short distance up the hill to Yuri's home. It is beautifully furnished but not lavish. We passed through the annex that looks like a camp dorm and climbed up a small hill. In a small cave we saw the remains of a wine operation 2500 years old, from the time of the Second Temple. In another cave are the remains of an ancient olive press. It was another reminder that while a modern country, Israel is also a giant archaeological site. Yuri, in a real sense, is one link in the Jewish historical narrative; his forefathers were cast around the world by Herod in 70 CE and now he has returned to pick up the same profession, in the same spot as those ancient Jews. During the Second Intifada Yuri's commanded three tanks a few hundred yards below the caves. We stood outside his home, a few miles from Jerusalem. As with so much else in Israel, security, religion and history are intertwined.

 

UPDATE

Second part here.
^

Credibility

Joel Greenberg, who is very anti-Jewish presence beyond the Green Line, of Jerusalem Post, Chicago Tribune and NYTimes infame [that my new word instead of infamy], is now at the Washington Post.

Here is the first few paragraphs of his today's report:

IN NUR SHAMS REFUGEE CAMP, WEST BANK

Moving quietly through the alleys of this ramshackle neighborhood, the Israeli soldiers forced their way into Iyad Abu Shilbaya's home in the early morning hours under cover of darkness.

A Hamas operative who had been detained repeatedly by the Palestinian Authority and imprisoned for two years by Israel, Abu Shilbaya was one of more than a dozen people whose homes were raided during a sweep of arrests in the Nur Shams camp outside the town of Tulkarm on Friday.

But Abu Shilbaya was not arrested. In an encounter in his bedroom, the details of which remain murky, he was fatally shot at close range, prompting vows of revenge by Hamas and condemnation from the Palestinian Authority, which said the killing "undermines the credibility" of recently renewed negotiations with Israel.

You got that, right?

Here:

the killing "undermines the credibility" of recently renewed negotiations with Israel

Excuse me, Joel, but Hamas is a terror group which doesn't negotiate and in fact, is trying to get Abbas out of the talks whether by killing Jews or undermining the Palestinian Authority. They are not at all interested in negotiations, no matter what happens.

So, what is this BS about "credibility"? They have none to begin with.

Why are you, indirectly, lending them credibility?

This is journalism?

You mention some of this later but it could have been worked into that paragraph so as to be relevant information


P.S.

This, "Cherry soldiers", is silly.

We have a unit called Duvdevan, which translates as "cherry", but to write as you did completely misleads the reader. At least it should have been "soldiers of the 'Cherry' unit" or simply the "elite Duvdevan (Cherry) unit".


- - -

Washington Post Is Hostile to Zionism

As the American Thinker beat me, I'll note:

Even before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began his long-awaited June 14 policy speech on Mideast peace, [Howard Schneider of the Foreign Service (he's a diplomat?) of] the Washington Post rushed out to warn readers that it wouldn't pass the paper's kosher test. "Netanyahu's Speech to Inject Zionist Perspective," the headline blared.

Simply frightening to the Washington Post that an Israeli leader would go so far as to tilt a major foreign-policy address in a Zionist direction.

What next? An American president injecting Americanism in his speeches? What is the world coming to?

...Only when an Israeli leader chooses a venue that epitomizes the historic essence of the Jewish state does the Post raise a red flag.

Talk about a double standard!

But Schneider's text read:

Advisers to Netanyahu and Israeli political analysts say the speech will be a
response to President Obama's address to Muslims this month at Cairo University.
Netanyahu, they say, wants to inject a Zionist "narrative" into a discussion
that he believes was tilted in Obama's speech toward the Arab version of events.

So, actually, he was just quoting, I trust, others about that "Zionist injection". Rennert of The American Thinker need not have gone that overboard, methinks.

Like to let Howard what you think? Go here.

So, is Zionism is a dirty word?

Amateur? Israel - Or Daoud Kuttab and The Washington Post?

I know Daoud Kuttab well. Really. We, in the past, have debated publicly before various forums and commented on various op-ed pieces we have published. He's a nice guy but also a nice Arab propagandist who has trouble with the truth-all-the-the-truth-all-the-time concept. His brother, Jonathan, wherever he is now, was much better at it, if you must know. His family fled from Musrrawa neighborhood when the Arabs began losing their war against Israel in 1948.



He is a visiting professor at Princeton University and director of the Institute of Modern Media at Al-Quds University and founder of the Arab world's first internet radio station AmmanNet.

He wrote in today's WashPost:

In its efforts to stop amateur rockets from nagging the residents of some of its southern cities, Israel appears to have given new life to the fledging Islamic movement in Palestine.

Amateur?

Do amateurs kill?

Do amateur rockets reach north of Ashdod? (here; here; and here)

And who cares if the rockets are amateur or not for the intention of Hamas and its backers is quite professional (see their media)? They damage and they injure and they kill and they psychologically scar Jewish kids.

And Daoud continues in his amateurish vein:

For different reasons, Hamas and Israel both gave up on the cease-fire, preferring instead to climb over corpses to reach their political goals.

Ah, it was a "mutual" giving up?

Daoub, do you take us for idiots? Or do we take you...naw, I won't go there.

Shame on the WashPost.

Can anybody get them to print me?

WashPost Really Dumb

More Rockets From Gaza is the Washington Post's editorial.

To sum up: Israel must protect its citizens -- but can it do so by military action?

You mean the answer to that is not "yes" and also: "how else?"?

Here are some extracts:

AFTER SIX months of relative calm...

[relative? what does that mean in Washington, D.C>?]

During the summer and fall, the rocket fire from Gaza diminished but never entirely stopped.

[ah, so that's "relative".]

...Israel is in the midst of a heated election campaign, and its two leading candidates are taking a predictably hawkish tack...

[and they should be cooing?]

...Israeli officials rightly point out that no country should have to tolerate missile attacks on its cities; such attacks justify a military response.

[gee, thanks there]

But Israel would be better positioned to defeat Hamas politically and diplomatically if it allowed the full resumption of food, medicine and fuel deliveries to Gaza and made clear its willingness to end other restrictions on civilian trade in exchange for a full cessation of rocket attacks and other hostilities. If Hamas is to be toppled, it will have to be through a political process led by Palestinians.

[now, isn't that dumb and dumber? they will never do that. they never did that. what will come in is better armaments. why doesn't the Washington Post help us out with Iran and hezbollah who are helping to instigate and train and arm the Hamas?]

==============================

UPDATE

Four Qassams slam into Negev, ending brief respite

==============================

SECOND UPDATE (Weds. morning, Israel Time)

Rocket barrage pounds Negev, burdening efforts to renew truce with Gaza

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip bombarded the western Negev with over a dozen Qassam rockets and mortar shells on Wednesday, burdening diplomatic efforts to revive a truce that expired over the weekend.

At least 21 Qassam rockets and eight mortar shells were fired at southern Israel by mid-morning, with the location of 10 pinpointed. One of the mortars struck a direct hit on a house in Kibbutz Sha'ar Hanegev, causing extensive damage.

Most of the Qassams and shells were fired overnight, while three rockets hit Netivot and another two Grad-type missiles exploded in a public area of Ashkelon after sunrise.

====================================

THIRD UPDATE (Weds. Afternoon)

Rescue services on highest alert as nearly 60 rockets pound Negev

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip bombarded the western Negev with dozens of Qassam rockets and mortar shells on Wednesday, burdening diplomatic efforts to revive a truce that expired over the weekend.

The Magen David Adom rescue service declared its highest level of alert by late morning, after nearly 60 Qassam rockets and mortar shells were fired at southern Israel. Some 40 of these were launched between 9 A.M. and 1 P.M.

I'm Quoted in The Washington Post

In a Linda Gradstein piece:-

Even some veteran settler leaders are concerned about increasing radicalism. Yisrael Medad, a settler spokesman, said young settlers are angry with settlement leaders for not doing enough to stop the Gaza withdrawal. Many settlers, he said, are suspicious that the government is planning a much larger withdrawal from the West Bank, and they are determined to prevent that.

"There are radical elements who are reacting less responsibly than we would like to see them do," he said. "There are a few hotheads running off and doing things of a criminal and violent nature, and we are trying to deal with it educationally."

Source


Not bad for an almost 30 minute interview.

Rest assured, I said a lot more.

And I do not use the term "settlers". It's either "residents" or "revenants".

CAMERA Combats WashPost Anti-settlement Story

Washington Post on Settlements: Obsessive Compulsive Coverage

In "Mutual Dismay Over Jewish Settlements; Israeli Premier Seeks To Balance Growth" (May 20), The Washington Post leads its World news section with a long article, accompanied by a large chart and larger, top-of-the-page color photograph, on Israel's continued construction of new Jewish neighborhoods and communities in the disputed West Bank (Judea and Samaria). Errors of commission, omission and editorial judgment render Jerusalem Bureau Chief Griff Witte's dispatch more promotional writing than reporting.

Major flaws

1. The Post quotes "Hagit Ofran, settlement expert for the Israeli advocacy group Peace Now," that "the [Ma'ale Adumim expansion] development would 'isolate East Jerusalem and cut the northern West Bank from the southern West Bank.'"

In this context, Peace Now is not an "advocacy group" but an anti-settlement organization. Peace Now once made international headlines with a report charging that 86.4 percent of Ma'ale Adumim was built on private Arab land; the correct figure was less than 1 percent (0.54 percent). Quoting the group without opposing, informed sources is misleading.

The allegation that Ma'ale Adumim expansion would isolate eastern Jerusalem and cut the West Bank in half, a staple of Palestinian Arab propaganda -- and Post coverage -- was exposed long before "Mutual Dismay Over Jewish Settlements." CAMERA rebutted these claims when reported, for example, by former Post Jerusalem Bureau Chief John Ward Anderson in "Israel Hems In a Sacred City; Encircling of Jerusalem" (Feb. 12, 2004) and a repetitious sequel "Israelis Act to Encircle East Jerusalem," (Feb. 7, 2005). West Bank Arabs can reach eastern Jerusalem through Arab neighborhoods including Abu Dis, Ezariya, Hizma and Anata; gates permit legitimate passage where the security barrier separates the city from the territories.

As for north-south West Bank "contiguity," an unbroken area 15 to 21 kilometers (9 to 12 miles) wide remains east of Ma'ale Adumim, with three routes open to Palestinian travelers and a fourth possible. This is the same "contiguity" as pre-1967 Israel just north of Tel Aviv.

2. The Post's description of Ma'ale Adumim as "a settlement due east of Jerusalem" is misleading. Ma'ale Adumim is four miles from downtown Jerusalem, closer to the Knesset than suburban Bethesda, Md. is to the U.S. Capitol.

3. The Post declares, without attribution, that "the Palestinian nation, when and if it is created, will include the West Bank and Gaza, with Palestinians hoping to secure East Jerusalem as their capital."

The West Bank and Gaza Strip remain disputed territories, the unallocated five percent (Jordan comprising 77.5 percent, pre-’67 Israel 17.5 percent) of the original British Mandate for Palestine. According to U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, the 1993 Oslo accords and related agreements, and the 2003 international "road map," their final status will be determined in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Some of this territory -- see President George W. Bush's 2004 letter to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon -- may well be retained by Israel. The Post pre-judges the outcome of future events. Recall also that the Palestinian leadership rejected similar proposals at the 2000 Camp David and 2001 Taba talks.

4. The Post writes that "to the Palestinians, the expansion of settlements represents proof that Israel is not serious about wanting a deal."

There's no mention at all about Palestinian behavior - including the thousands of rockets and scores of other terrorist attacks launched from the Gaza Strip (after Israel razed two dozen settlements and evacuated nearly 9,000 settlers in 2005) that prove to Israelis that the Palestinian Arabs "are not serious about wanting a deal.”

Reinforcing this one-sided coverage, the accompanying chart notes, among other things, that in 2007 "the Quartet called on both parties to make progress on their Phase One Raodmap obligations, including an Israeli freeze on settlements." Glaringly omitted is the Palestinians' phase one "road map" obligation to eliminate terrorist attacks on Israel and the terrorist organizations (one of which, Hamas, controls the Gaza Strip).

5. The Post alleges that "at stake is the future of land that has been in dispute since 1967, when Israeli forces conquered Arab territory - and soon thereafter began to settle it."

The territory is not Arab, though approximately two million Palestinian Arabs live in the West Bank. It's legal status and sovereignty over it has been in dispute since the British Mandate ended in 1948. Jordan then illegally occupied it, though Jewish rights to "close settlement on the land," recognized by the original League of Nations' mandate to Britain and later adopted by the United Nations, have never lapsed. Here The Post again commits Middle East revisionism.

Minor positives

Witte cites relevant Israeli government and settler sources. An instance of accurate language - acknowledging that the "land has been in dispute" - is an important exception to The Post's over-riding bias. The settlers are not dehumanized, though the undefined label "ultra-Orthodox" appears four times. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's political balancing act is noted.

But none of this offsets the article's major flaws.

One Out Of 22 Ain't Bad, Is It? Yes, It Is

Here's David Wilder's letter protesting factual innacuracies and misinterpetations in a Washington Post article on Hebron. It is followed by the one correction, out of 22, the WashPost included on its site as well as the original WashPost story.

From David Wilder, the spokeperson of the Hebron Jewish community:

To the Editors
Caroline Little
Chief Executive Officer and Publisher
Jim Brady
Executive Editor
The Washington Post

Re: In Divided Hebron, a Shared Despair
by Scott Wilson, Thursday, July 26, 2007 [see below]

Dear Sirs,

Considering the Post's reputation, I was quite surprised by the number of factual errors in the above article, not to mention the immense bias portrayed in the feature.

1. "Within Hebron, the separation is enforced not only by Israeli barriers but also by military checkpoints and curfews…"There has not been a curfew in Hebron in years.
2. "Securing the small Jewish minority has a potent impact on the lives of the city's 150,000 Arabs,"
Exactly 10 years ago Hebron was divided into two zones. In an official agreement with Arafat, Israel transferred over 80% of Hebron to The Palestinian Authority. There is no proof of the number of Arabs who live in Hebron, but for the sake of argument, should there really be 150,000, ten years ago at least 130,000 came under the sole control of the P.A. Presently, the number of Arabs in P.A. controlled Hebron would be in the vicinity of 90%. Where then does Israel's presence in less than 10% of the city have a 'potent impact on the lives of the city's 150,000 Arabs?'
3. "In recent months, the Israeli army has helped the Hebron settlers expand eastward to a hilltop home near the settlement of Kiryat Arba…"
The Hebron Jewish community purchased a 35,000 square foot building for over $700,000. The Israeli military had nothing to do with the purchase and did not 'help the Hebron settlers expand.' They fulfill their function by offering the necessary protection at the site, as the military does throughout Israel. There are no restrictions on Arabs living in the vicinity of the building.
4. "There is no future for Arabs and Jews together in Hebron," said Noam Federman, 37, a settler from Beit Hadassah"
Noam Federman never lived in Beit Hadassah. He and his family have lived in Kiryat Arba for the past year and a half. His statements do not represent anyone or anything except his own personal views.
5. "… Behind him trailed a small group of men and boys, who at Shuyukhi's instruction were attempting to defy the enforced division of their city that has virtually emptied its most important historic, religious and commercial areas of Palestinians."
a) According to the Hebron accords, the entire city is supposed to be open to both Jews/Israelis and Arabs. However, Jews are forbidden from entering the "Arab/Palestinian" side of the city, whereas Arabs are permitted to enter the Israeli-controlled side of the city.
b) As above, virtually all of the commercial areas of Arab Hebron are located within the area controlled by the P.A. This is not cut off from the Arabs. In addition, no Arabs have been forced to leave their homes, or move out of the Israeli-controlled side of the city.
6. "The post bars Palestinians from entering Shuhada Street, a once-thriving commercial strip closed by the Israeli military more than a decade ago to protect the two Jewish settlements and a yeshiva along its route. The U.S. Agency for International Development spent $2 million in 1997 to renovate the street as part of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement to reopen it for Palestinians. But Israel has since refused to do so."
a) The area closed off to Arab traffic is approximately two blocks long. Alternate routes have been provided. This, in comparison to 80% of the city, closed off to Jews.
b) It is not true that Israel refused to open the street. It was open to vehicular and foot traffic following completion of the construction by US AID. However, the Israel Defense Forces demanded it be closed following the outbreak of the second intifada in October, 2000, when Hebron Arabs began shooting at Jews from the surrounding hills, hills which had been transferred to the Palestinian Authority as part of the Hebron Accords.
7. "…there are 100 Israeli-constructed fences, gates, concrete barriers and military checkpoints within the roughly one-square-mile historic center."
These fences and barriers have been constructed to prevent infiltration of terrorists and to prevent easy escape routes for terrorists following perpetration of terror attacks.
8. "… The area included the Jewish Quarter until 1929, when Arabs killed more than 60 Jews living there. The survivors fled."
In 1929, 67 Jews were raped, tortured and killed by their next door neighbors. Seventy were wounded. The survivors did not flee. They were expelled by the British. A group returned in 1931 and remained until 1936 when again they were expelled due to Arab inciting.
9. "Hemmed in and harassed, the Palestinians are fleeing today. Nearly half the homes in and around the Israeli-controlled Old City of Hebron have been vacated, the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem recently reported."
a) Who is hemmed in and harassed? Arab terrorists shot at Jews for two years, killing and wounding. Dozens of Israelis have been killed in and around Hebron since the signing of the Oslo Accords.
b) B'Tselem is a radical left wing organization, whose facts and statistics are very much in question.
10. "The Ibrahimi Mosque is ours, not theirs."
The 'Ibrahimi Mosque' – otherwise known as "Ma'arat HaMachpela," the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, is the second holiest site to Jews in the world. The site was off-limits to Jews and Christians for 700 years – from 1267-1967. This despite its sanctity to Jews, and despite the fact that the building above the caves was built by Herod some 2,000 years ago, six hundred years prior to Muhammad's birth. Since Israel's return to Hebron in 1967 the site has been accessible to all people of all faiths. However, Moslems refuse to accept freedom of worship, claim that it's a mosque and declare that should they ever again control the site, it will be off-limits to anyone not Moslem. (The site, nor the city of Hebron is mentioned anywhere in the Koran.)
11. "The 50-yard walkway took months to complete because each night the bricks were uprooted. It opened this year."
The walkway has been used by Arabs for years. A sidewalk was paved last year.
12. " During the three-month period ending Jan. 31, the observer group received 35 complaints of settler violence and harassment, ranging from beatings to throwing debris. Over the next three months, 71 cases were reported. "The pattern you see is that you have settlement and then violence around it," Lignell said. "And you see this project inching forward.""
a) TIPH – Temporary International Presence in Hebron – is supposed to be an observer force. What is the legitimacy of "received complaints?" Such 'complaints' may, or may not be true. An 'observer force' is supposed to do just that – observe – and not base conclusions around 'complaints received' which have no proof backing them up.
TIPH is an extremely anti-Semitic organization, made up primarily of Scandinavian human rights workers, who know virtually nothing about the Jewish history and tradition of Hebron, and who are notorious for one-sided 'observations.'
b) According to recent reports issued by the IDF and the police there has been a tremendous decrease of violence by Israelis in Hebron over the past year, with very few cases being brought to the attention of the police.
13. "Palestinian patrons, who have watched anxiously as the settlement project recently swelled beyond the city center under the protection of Israel's military, whose strategic goals frequently coincide with the settlers'."
a) Foreign governments, primarily Germany, France and Spain, have invested huge amounts of money in various parts of Hebron, including the Casba. Why is it legitimate for Arabs to renovate property, yet when Jews do such it is deemed illegitimate? Why can Arabs build, buy and sell, while the same activity by Jews is considered negative?
b) The IDF does not and never has been involved with 'strategic planning' with civilians in Hebron. The military is under the direct rule of the Defense Department, i.e. the Defense Minister, the Prime Minister and the Israeli government. There are times when our aims coincide but also many times when they clash.
14. "The town is divided, it is deserted, and in many ways like a prison for us," said Khaled Osaily,"
As written earlier, 80% of Hebron is under total PA control. The entire city was open until beginning of the second intifada, during which time a homicide bomber exploded and killed a couple from nearby Kiryat Arba.
15. "David Wilder, originally from New Jersey, is the spokesman for the Hebron settlers. He largely dismissed public relations until Goldstein opened fire."
This is totally inaccurate. I began working for the Hebron Jewish Community in an administrative capacity in May of 1994 and did not begin work as a spokesman for about 2 years following that, with the advent of the Hebron Accords. My employment had nothing to do with Baruch Goldstein.
16. "Wilder, who like many settlers here wears a pistol on his hip,…"
This is true. We are licensed to carry a weapon for reasons of self-defense. I have never needed to use it, thank G-d. I know people who are alive today because they had a weapon.
17. (He) does not agree with what he calls the Israeli military's "concept of using walls as a means of security, of building barriers and saying, 'Now you are safe.'
"The problem here is not so much that people can't make a living; it's a political one," Wilder said. "The Arabs want a presence here. If they have it, they own it, de facto. And if not, they don't."
These two paragraphs are total non-sequiturs, making no sense in the context of the article. It is clear that they were inserted: 1) to include a Hebron representative in the article, and 2) to make me look foolish and unintelligent.
18. " On a hilltop less than a mile's trip along streets secured by Israeli soldiers sits a four-story house, which a group of settlers occupied the evening of March 19."
This building was not 'occupied,' rather it was purchased for over $700,000. Why, when an Israeli purchases property he is an 'occupier' but when an Arab buys property and moves in, his is a legal resident?
19. " the military government in the occupied territories, contends that the settlers did not arrange for the permits Israelis need to buy and move into property in the West Bank."
1) Why does the Washington Post use language 'the occupied territories' as opposed to Judea and Samaria, or the West Bank?
2) The permits were requested and denied for political reasons, not for any legal reason. The entire transaction will be proven to be legal and legitimate.
20. "…and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, the caves beneath the Ibrahimi Mosque."
Why is the site called the "Ibrahami Mosque?" Why isn't it written that there are also a number of synagogues in the building, which again, was not built by Herod as a mosque?
21. "We don't know the people who come and go from there," said Jabari, 22, a bespectacled middle school chemistry teacher. "We try to stay inside now as much as possible."
Arabs in the neighborhood continue to walk the streets freely. They are not restricted in any way, and no incidents initiated by Jews have been reported in the area since Hebron residents moved in.
22. "One tried to snatch a soldier's gun, Israeli military officials said, and the officer opened fire."
The article concludes with such a sorrowful scene. However, would it have ended the same way had the Arab been able to take the soldier's gun and open fire on the Israelis at the scene? When you play with fire, you get burned.
This article does not attempt, in any way, to portray an accurate portrait of life in Hebron. It clearly portrays the Arabs as the oppressed and the Jews as the oppressors; the Arabs as the victims and the Jews as the culprits.
Within the article on the Washington Post web site are three featured videos: One with the Arab mayor of Hebron, one calling for expulsion of Jews from Hebron, and one featuring an extreme left-wing Israeli. Why aren't their three videos featuring Hebron Jewish residents?
A graphic map of Hebron – "Detailed map of Hebron and area surrounding shows locations of checkpoints, roadblocks and settlements.," is totally inaccurate, making it look as if almost all of Hebron is under Israeli rule. This is misleading and false, being that an overwhelming majority of Hebron is under the rule of the P.A.
It is unfortunate that the Washington Post should see fit to print Wilson's shabby, one-sided, biased piece of yellow journalism.

Sincerely,
David Wilder
Spokesman
The Jewish Community of Hebron

========================

One out of 22 ain't bad:-

The WashPost now has this at their site:

Correction to This Article

A July 26 Page One article about the tension between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron incorrectly said settler spokesman David Wilder largely dismissed public relations until a 1994 shooting. It was the Hebron settlers generally who did not embrace public relations until that event; Wilder did not become spokesman until two years later.

In Divided Hebron, a Shared Despair
Palestinians and Jewish Settlers in West Bank City Struggle for Existence

By Scott Wilson
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, July 26, 2007; A01

HEBRON, West Bank -- The barrier Israel is constructing in the largely rural West Bank is effectively separating Arab from Jew along much of its 456-mile length. But the broader project of disentangling the two peoples in the absence of a peace agreement is failing in urban areas such as Hebron, where the most radical elements of Islamic and Jewish nationalism are gaining strength.

Within Hebron, the separation is enforced not only by Israeli barriers but also by military checkpoints and curfews intended to protect the roughly 700 Jewish settlers living within the city's most historic and religiously important areas. Securing the small Jewish minority has a potent impact on the lives of the city's 150,000 Arabs, who voted last year to fill all nine of the district's parliamentary seats with candidates from the armed Islamic movement Hamas.

This city, set among prolific vineyards, was among the first destinations for Jewish settlers following the 1967 Middle East war, when the Israeli military occupied the West Bank. Fired by a four-millennia-old religious claim to Hebron, the settler enterprise here is among the most ideologically determined in the territories. Its expansionist goals clash with Palestinian secular and Islamic armed movements, whose own nationalist passions helped turn Hebron into one of the most violent venues of the Palestinian uprisings.

In recent months, the Israeli army has helped the Hebron settlers expand eastward to a hilltop home near the settlement of Kiryat Arba, a large step in their plan to connect the two areas. An international observer mission here, established after 1996 accords that left part of the city under Israeli military control and placed the other under the Palestinian Authority, reports sharply rising violence between Israeli settlers and Palestinians.

"There is no future for Arabs and Jews together in Hebron," said Noam Federman, 37, a settler from Beit Hadassah in the Israeli-controlled city center here. "And Hebron has always been a Jewish city."

Jamal Maraga's Palestinian fabrics shop sits along an alley in Hebron's casbah, lit by shafts of sunlight that filter through bricks, bottles and trash suspended in fencing laced over the walkway. The Jewish settlement of Avraham Avinu is housed in a multistory building that towers overhead.

International observers here say the settlers regularly toss debris and dirty water into the Arab market below, now largely shuttered in a city where unemployment stands at 60 percent. Asked whether Arabs and Jews can share Hebron, Maraga, his hair and beard a gray fuzz, looked up at the chain-link canopy.

"Impossible," he said.

Proximity and Violence

Just before noon on a recent day, Azmi Shuyukhi, the graying leader of the Palestinian Popular Committees, a civil-resistance organization, approached an Israeli military checkpoint. Behind him trailed a small group of men and boys, who at Shuyukhi's instruction were attempting to defy the enforced division of their city that has virtually emptied its most important historic, religious and commercial areas of Palestinians.

The post bars Palestinians from entering Shuhada Street, a once-thriving commercial strip closed by the Israeli military more than a decade ago to protect the two Jewish settlements and a yeshiva along its route. The U.S. Agency for International Development spent $2 million in 1997 to renovate the street as part of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement to reopen it for Palestinians. But Israel has since refused to do so.

The order to close the road was one of several that began the separation process here in 1994 after an Israeli from Kiryat Arba, Baruch Goldstein, killed 29 Palestinians praying in the Ibrahimi Mosque just past the end of Shuhada Street. The site is sacred to Muslims and Jews, who believe Abraham, Isaac and other biblical figures are buried in grottos beneath it.

According to the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, the unarmed observer mission, there are 100 Israeli-constructed fences, gates, concrete barriers and military checkpoints within the roughly one-square-mile historic center. The area included the Jewish Quarter until 1929, when Arabs killed more than 60 Jews living there. The survivors fled.

Hemmed in and harassed, the Palestinians are fleeing today. Nearly half the homes in and around the Israeli-controlled Old City of Hebron have been vacated, the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem recently reported. The group also said that more than three-quarters of the Palestinian shops and restaurants in the casbah and adjacent commercial districts have been shuttered, many by military order.

Shuyukhi's band had failed to make it past the checkpoint for 15 consecutive weeks. But this day, the soldiers waved them into the Israeli-controlled area. After several moments of bewilderment, Shuyukhi started down the empty street -- shops closed, no cars, men and boys with Palestinian flags following behind.

As they approached Beit Hadassah, a Jewish settlement of about 30 families, army jeeps roared up. Soldiers in helmets and body armor, joined by a few Israeli police officers, ordered Shuyukhi's group to lower the Palestinian national flag they carried and turn back.

"We will not take it down," Shuyukhi shouted. "The Ibrahimi Mosque is ours, not theirs."

Suddenly, an older settler rushed from the entrance of Beit Hadassah, clutching a walkie-talkie in one hand.

"Grab the flag, grab the flag," he shouted in American-accented Hebrew.

A policeman blocked him. But the man spun from his grip and, like a determined running back, plowed toward the Palestinians.

"Go take care of the Arabs, the criminals," he shouted at the police, who led him struggling away.

Mats Lignell, a former Swedish soldier with the observer mission in Hebron, watched the scene before heading to a raised path across Shuhada Street, which his mission financed so Palestinian students could reach their Cordoba School without passing near Beit Hadassah.

The 50-yard walkway took months to complete because each night the bricks were uprooted. It opened this year.

During the three-month period ending Jan. 31, the observer group received 35 complaints of settler violence and harassment, ranging from beatings to throwing debris. Over the next three months, 71 cases were reported.

"The pattern you see is that you have settlement and then violence around it," Lignell said. "And you see this project inching forward."

A Chain of Settlements

On a recent morning, a dozen toddlers zipped around Avraham Avinu's shady courtyard, where in 2001 a Palestinian sniper's bullet killed 10-month-old Shalhevet Pas. A nearby market, once the main Palestinian clearinghouse for vegetables, has been named for her by the settlers who control it.

The Jewish settlement is separated -- by a wall, razor wire and a worldview -- from Hebron's casbah and its Palestinian patrons, who have watched anxiously as the settlement project recently swelled beyond the city center under the protection of Israel's military, whose strategic goals frequently coincide with the settlers'.

"The town is divided, it is deserted, and in many ways like a prison for us," said Khaled Osaily, Hebron's appointed mayor from the secular Fatah movement. Most of the more than 1,800 closed Palestinian businesses in the Old City area shut down since the second Palestinian uprising began in the fall of 2000.

David Wilder, originally from New Jersey, is the spokesman for the Hebron settlers. He largely dismissed public relations until Goldstein opened fire. The government of Yitzhak Rabin considered evacuating the settlers but instead imposed the military curfews and closures on the Palestinians.

Wilder, who like many settlers here wears a pistol on his hip, does not agree with what he calls the Israeli military's "concept of using walls as a means of security, of building barriers and saying, 'Now you are safe.'

"The problem here is not so much that people can't make a living; it's a political one," Wilder said. "The Arabs want a presence here. If they have it, they own it, de facto. And if not, they don't."

On a hilltop less than a mile's trip along streets secured by Israeli soldiers sits a four-story house, which a group of settlers occupied the evening of March 19. Lignell and his observer team arrived less than an hour later. By then, dozens of soldiers had surrounded the home to protect its new residents.

Kiryat Arba, a settlement of about 7,000 people, sits just across a narrow valley. Wilder, 53, said the property represents a key link in the chain the settlers are trying to establish between the urban settlements of Hebron and Kiryat Arba. His daughter's family is one of 15 moving into the house.

Wilder said the settlers bought the home for $700,000, some of it donated by American supporters. But Israel's Civil Administration, the military government in the occupied territories, contends that the settlers did not arrange for the permits Israelis need to buy and move into property in the West Bank.

"These people think they can do what they want and then we will have to adopt their decision," said Shlomo Dror, spokesman for Israel's Coordinator of Activities in the Territories. "This is not the case."

As a military court considers their appeal, the settlers are renovating the building. New plaster walls partition off a series of family apartments, their doors still sawed-out holes covered by hanging blankets. Soldiers wander the airy halls.

The house overlooks the main roads leading from Kiryat Arba to the downtown settlements and the Tomb of the Patriarchs, the caves beneath the Ibrahimi Mosque. The army used to set up a temporary post at the house on the Jewish Sabbath. Now, having set up a more permanent rooftop position, the army supports the settlers' right to stay.

"This building will show us whether there is a right for a Jew to buy a house in Hebron," said Baruch Marzel, a Hebron settler who has established a 70-student yeshiva in the home. "Or will Hebron be the only place in the world a Jew is not allowed to do so?"

'After All That . . .'

Mohammed al-Jabari looks out from his home, across a courtyard of grapevines and olive trees, to the army post on the roof of the settlers' new acquisition. On this day, he is waiting for a funeral, vivid evidence that separating Jews and Arabs here does not guarantee security for either.

"We don't know the people who come and go from there," said Jabari, 22, a bespectacled middle school chemistry teacher. "We try to stay inside now as much as possible."

A few hours later, in the adjacent cemetery, dozens of men gathered beneath cypresses and pines to escape the sun. Yehiya al-Jabari, a 67-year-old shepherd from Hebron and a distant relative of the teacher's, would soon be buried.

About 1 a.m. that day, Israeli soldiers had entered Yehiya al-Jabari's home looking for his 18-year-old son, Saleh. Seeing the soldiers come in, the men and women of the family accosted them. One tried to snatch a soldier's gun, Israeli military officials said, and the officer opened fire.

One shot struck Jabari's wife, Fatmeh, in the neck. The next hit Yehiya, who also dropped to the floor. An Israeli medic administered CPR to Fatmeh, reviving her, but Yehiya died in his living room.

"After all that, they said, 'Where's Saleh?' " recalled Sami al-Jabari, Yehiya's brother, who witnessed the scene.

Men and boys bore Yehiya's wooden stretcher up the hill, pausing to allow mourners to kiss his face. Some held Hamas flags, and the angry chants celebrating martyrdom carried down to the soldiers at the settlers' new home. Then, after tipping the body into the dry ground, the men wandered back down the hill into the divided city.

Would Israel's Interfering Nudniks Learn

Israel, as we know, has a problem with it's left-wingers who, together with help from abroad, interfere with government policy (while denouncing Jews from abroad who support such policies as buying land & property in the Land of Israel [like Irwin Moskowitz] or Israelis [the famous "gang of three" of Barak infamy] who inform American congressmen & women what the real story is).

America also has similar problems. Nancy Pelosi, for example.

Read how the liberal Washington Post takes her down a few notches. If only we had the Haaretz daily doing the same instead of actively supporting these destructive moves, including those of its own 'in-house' Akiva Eldar, for one:-

Pratfall in Damascus
Nancy Pelosi's foolish shuttle diplomacy

HOUSE SPEAKER Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered an excellent demonstration yesterday of why members of Congress should not attempt to supplant the secretary of state when traveling abroad. After a meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Ms. Pelosi announced that she had delivered a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that "Israel was ready to engage in peace talks" with Syria. What's more, she added, Mr. Assad was ready to "resume the peace process" as well. Having announced this seeming diplomatic breakthrough, Ms. Pelosi suggested that her Kissingerian shuttle diplomacy was just getting started. "We expressed our interest in using our good offices in promoting peace between Israel and Syria," she said.

Only one problem: The Israeli prime minister entrusted Ms. Pelosi with no such message. "What was communicated to the U.S. House Speaker does not contain any change in the policies of Israel," said a statement quickly issued by the prime minister's office. In fact, Mr. Olmert told Ms. Pelosi that "a number of Senate and House members who recently visited Damascus received the impression that despite the declarations of Bashar Assad, there is no change in the position of his country regarding a possible peace process with Israel." In other words, Ms. Pelosi not only misrepresented Israel's position but was virtually alone in failing to discern that Mr. Assad's words were mere propaganda.

Ms. Pelosi was criticized by President Bush for visiting Damascus at a time when the administration -- rightly or wrongly -- has frozen high-level contacts with Syria. Mr. Bush said that thanks to the speaker's freelancing Mr. Assad was getting mixed messages from the United States. Ms. Pelosi responded by pointing out that Republican congressmen had visited Syria without drawing presidential censure. That's true enough -- but those other congressmen didn't try to introduce a new U.S. diplomatic initiative in the Middle East. "We came in friendship, hope, and determined that the road to Damascus is a road to peace," Ms. Pelosi grandly declared.

Never mind that that statement is ludicrous: As any diplomat with knowledge of the region could have told Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Assad is a corrupt thug whose overriding priority at the moment is not peace with Israel but heading off U.N. charges that he orchestrated the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. The really striking development here is the attempt by a Democratic congressional leader to substitute her own foreign policy for that of a sitting Republican president. Two weeks ago Ms. Pelosi rammed legislation through the House of Representatives that would strip Mr. Bush of his authority as commander in chief to manage troop movements in Iraq. Now she is attempting to introduce a new Middle East policy that directly conflicts with that of the president. We have found much to criticize in Mr. Bush's military strategy and regional diplomacy. But Ms. Pelosi's attempt to establish a shadow presidency is not only counterproductive, it is foolish.

And here's the take of Fred Barnes over at Weekly Standard:-

SOMETHING GETS INTO political leaders when they take over Congress. It makes them think they can run Washington and the government from Capitol Hill. So they overreach, but it never works. Republicans tried it in 1995 and were slapped down by President Clinton in the fight over the budget and a government shutdown. Now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is operating as if she rules much more than just the House of Representatives. This includes having her own foreign policy, a sure recipe for trouble.

Read more here.