Meet Ayman Odeh and his Joint List Party

The core essence of the various parties making up the Joint List finally is coming to the fore. And the unwillingness of many in the political system to accept its inimical platform and therefore, permit it to become part of Israels governing institutions as an actual coalition partner, as distinct from being simply represented in the Knesset, is not a matter of anti-Arab racism. That too many ignore or refuse top acknowledge the danger is worse.

What it is actually is a matter of understanding that this party, or, more properly, this conglomerate, is a a radical political cooperative venture designed to weaken Israel as a Jewish and Zionist state manipulating the mechanism of democracy.

Let us take MK Ayman Odeh for example. He was born in 1975. In 1998, at age 23, he was elected to the Haifa City Council representing the Hadash Communist Party until 2005. In 2006, he became Secetary-General of Hadash.

In 2015, he was elected to Knesset as head of the Joint List (after failing to gain a seat in previous elections). In October 2015, Odeh gave support to the "unarmed Palestinian struggle" but in regard to the throwing rocks, he said he supported the first intifada.

As detailed by Assaf Gibor and Yishai Friedman,

in 2013, Odeh, then Hadash secretary and not yet a Knesset member, wrote a poignant article against members of the Islamic Movement. Recently, Meyer Ettinger found the full article in Arabic on Odeh's comments and posted it on Twitter. The words that Odeh wrote there are completely opposite to the moderate image that the chairman of the joint list enjoys in most parts of the Israeli media...He was outraged at the violation of Nasrallah, the man who "defeated" Israel twice, he said. Odeh wanted to remind the leaders of the Islamic movement that Nasrallah is "an exemplary example of sacrifice, loyalty and professionalism" and that the man "sacrificed hundreds of martyrs and his son within them." This is the son of Nasrallah who was a Hezbollah fighter and was killed during a 1997 operation of a Walnut unit in southern Lebanon.

More:

Compliments of terrorists can also be found said by Odeh himself, as in a 2013 post, in praise of Sammer Issawi who was sentenced to decades in prison after participating in shootings against Israeli civilians. He was released in the Shalit deal, returned to prison under administrative detention and then launched a prolonged hunger strike and a public fight that eventually led to his release. Odeh has called Issawi "the prisoner of war."

In addition,

On the site of Palestine Today, Odeh was quoted in 2015 as explaining that the particiupation of the Arab parties in the Knesset is another and inseparable way of the Palestinian popular struggle. "Our entry into the Knesset is not recognition of the occupation. It is not different from the popular struggle, but another form of it," Odeh was quoted on the website. "Election participation is the biggest antithesis to the Jewishness of the state."

and

Odeh was further asked if he is not afraid of Arab identity being lost in the very activity of the Israeli political system. "There is no such concern," he replied. "The occupation has not been able to remove Palestinian characterization in recent decades. We seek to stabilize our presence and achieve our rights through the establishment of a special national foundation for the interior Arabs |Arabs of Israel - AG and JP; outer Arabs are the refugees in the Arab World - YM|, to build our own institutions, we want to support the people of the Negev and stop demolition orders threatening thousands of Arab homes ass well as other demands." In general, Odeh is careful to say "Palestinians" and not "Arabs of Israel," a term that he believes legitimizes Israel and hurts the Palestinian cause.

and

In an interview that took place on the ~Faleestan~ broadcast network, Odeh sought to protect Hadash as a party in the Israeli political arena: "We are a framework that includes Arabs and Democratic Jews, whose purpose is to strengthen our power in Arab society, to be a front for Palestinian Arab society and to influence Jewish Israeli society. We hold the rope at both ends. We oppose the Zionist position and the Zionist parties in Israel, and see the impact on Israeli society as a service to our occupied people and to the general Arab society. Our impact is not only on Jews who oppose Zionism but also on the Jews in the Zionist left who believe in the right to establish a Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem and who oppose the right of return. We struggle within the Arab society as well as within the Israel society in order to influence it, both on the issue of peace and in the war against the fascist way that Lieberman is leading, which is part of the general Zionist position."

In a 2018 interview with Hezbollah's Lebanese Al Mayadeen channel, Gibor and Friedman found that

Odeh developed a conspiracy theory that Israel was interested in deporting Israeli Arabs, just as Bashar al-Assad expelled various populations from Syria during the country's war. He got the inspiration for the theory from an article published by Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell in Haaretz. Odeh quoted Sternhell's words that "Israel moved from fascism to the first stage of Nazism." According to the chairman of the Joint List, those words left a huge impression on him and he went to Sternhell's house to go deeper.

"I wanted to make things clear to me," Odeh said, "and he told me in the first phase that the Nazis did not seek to burn Jews but to violate their rights, and sought to encourage voluntary immigration. Only in 1938 did they discuss race theory legally and put it into practice, and then afterwards was World War II against the Jews. Prof. Sternhell said that so-called ethnic discrimination is in the State of Israel, and he talks about the Palestinians who remained in the homeland (ie, Arabs of Israel).

"Ten years ago, it was impossible to think about expelling these civilians from the state. But today, following the racist atmosphere, the loss of legitimacy of Arab citizens and the existence of weapons within Arab cities and villages |the problem of illegal weaponery possessed is enormous - YM|, and in the context of what is happening in Syria and the fact that there are millions of refugees - in this atmosphere, Arab citizens could find themselves in such a dangerous situation (that is, their deportation from Israel)." That is, according to Odeh, Israel headed by Netanyahu promotes a reality in which its Arab citizens may be in the same situation as refugees from Syria.

In that same interview, Odeh attacked the Saudi Arabia Israel policy:

"Not only is Saudi Arabia aligned with Israel, which is an old and well-known thing, the dangerous thing is that it is an ally of Netanyahu and the right-wing in general...Saudi Arabia says the Iranian issue is the most important issue in the region, more important than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Who shares that statement - Avi Gabay from Labor, Yair Lapid of Yesh Atid, or Benjamin Netanyahu, the extreme right leader. Saudi Arabia has a direct alliance with the Israeli right and with Netanyahu. Saudi Arabia is confident that Netanyahu is the one who can incite America against Iran, and influence the cancellation of the agreement with Iran. Therefore, Saudi Arabia has entered into a direct alliance with the Israeli right headed by Netanyahu. Saudi Arabia has actually made an alliance with the enemies of the Palestinian people."

Odeh campaigned aginst the initiative of the Greek Orthodox Father Gabriel Naddaf to promote the recruitment of young members of the Christian community into the IDF, security forces, and national service. Nadaf's actions angered the Arab parties.

They note that

In 2014, Ayman Odeh was interviewed again on the Lebanese Mayadeen website, explaining that Israel is working to divide the Arab public into tribes. He said Israel promoted this policy mainly after the "resolute resistance in 2006", that is, the second Lebanon war in which Israel responded to Hezbollah attacks. He even called the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon "the liberation of southern Lebanon", a terminology common to the Hezbollah people.

Odeh said in an interview that since its inception, the Jewish state has been conducting "attacks and wars against the Arab peoples." He compared Netanyahu with Richard Lion Heart, King of England, who was the patron of a crusade to Israel and fought Saladin. "It must be prevented that where Richard Lion Heart failed in the Crusades, that Netanyahu Hypocritical Heart will succeed today," Odeh said, declaring that "we are at an important and historic juncture." In Odeh eyes, Christian enlistment into the IDF is like enlisting in the Crusader forces.

Odeh continued there and made his position clear

"We are part of the Arab Palestinian people and part of the Arab Palestinian issue. The State of Israel considers itself a Jewish state, the state of the Jews. This state has been conquering Palestinian lands, and has been fighting and waging war against the Arab nations since 1948 unto this day. We cannot accept that we will be part of this Israeli occupation and hostility in the region and against the peoples living there, first and foremost against the Palestinian Arab people living under Israeli occupation.

"There is an attempt to separate groups from our people through military recruitment," Odeh continued. "It comes from three main reasons: one is the classic colonialist stance of segregation and governance. The other is that Israeli officials are trying to turn the issue (Israeli-Palestinian conflict) into a religious issue. After September 11, especially, they wish to tell Europe as well as America and the West, that our problem is with the Muslims and not with the UN rights-based Palestinians. The third reason is that the State of Israel considers itself a Jewish state, and if it recognizes us as a national group, it will recognize that within Israel there are two national groups, and then it will have to transform from a Jewish state to a multinational state. She therefore wants to continue to say that she is a Jewish state, and that the rest are individual tribal groups."

In a 2018 interview, Odeh declared,

"In our view, it is wrong to put Jerusalem into a religious definition. There is international agreement that East Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Palestine. There are resolutions in the UN Council, there are 129 countries that voted against Trump's statement on Jerusalem. Nationally and diplomatically, we are strong. If we move the Jerusalem issue toward religion, Netanyahu will tell Europe and America about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. He can quote Samuel Huntington (author of 'The Clash of Civilizations') and say that he is part of the world's struggle against Muslims. It does not serve us and it is not true. We need to emphasize our national right to Jerusalem, Muslims and Christians. "

Responding to the High Court for Justice directing Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein to hold elections for a new Speaker, Odeh tweeted on March 23:

Anyone have boxes and a van? Asking for a friend. (למישהו יש ארגזי קרטון וטנדר? שואל בשביל חבר)

Edelstein, by the way, is a former Prisoner of Zion who sat years in Soviet prisons.

There is more material on Odeh, translated from the Arabic. Like this from 2016

"Brothers and sisters, as the great [Yasser Arafat] used to say: 'They see it as far off, but we see it as near.' We will be with you at the Eighth Fatah Conference, which will be held in East Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Palestine

There was a well-publicized incident on October 9, 2015, when Ali Salam, the Palestinian mayor of Nazareth, accused the Arab MKs (Members of Knesset or Parliament) of inciting Palestinian violence, saying, "I blame the leaders. What is happening is not appropriate. It is just ruining our future, ruining our coexistence" when MK Ayman Odeh was being interviewed for a TV appearance. Salam interrupted the interview as it was being filmed, and yelled:

"Ayman, go find something to do. You have ruined our city. Enough interviews... You have ruined the city. No Jews came here today. Why are you conducting an interview? You had your protest and ruined the entire world."

As for MK Heba Yazbak who was permitted to be included on the Joint Arab List only after the High Court of Justice rejected a petition to disqualify her, her anti-Zionism can be observed in video clips.

As reported:

In one of the videos, Yazbak can be heard saying, "We want to fight - with all our strength - racism, apartheid and Zionism. We will work with all our strength on our project of 'a state of all its citizens.'"
In the second interview, Yazbak says, "At the same time as we are joining the Knesset in order to achieve civil rights that we can use. We in Balad (Yazbak's faction in the Joint Arab List - ed.) are holding our compass strong - this is a state of all its citizens."
"This plan opposes and fights the country's Zionism and prides itself of divesting the country of its Jewish and Zionist existence, and at the same time preserves our national identity, without sacrificing full citizenship and without sacrificing citizenship."

These persons are the new alliance partners of the Blue-and-White Party.

P.S.   The Arab leadership's main project is to stop the process of Israelization.  

Additional background is in this 2002 article: Voice of Palestine: The New Ideology of Israeli Arabs by Dan Schueftan and especially his summary:

There are, of course, differences in style and emphasis in the way Arab MKs express themselves. But these do not fundamentally alter the overall picture which emerges from a careful consideration of their statements. The essence of their position is an all-out rejection of the basic tenets perceived by the Jewish majority in Israel as underlying the existential interests of the Jewish national collective. There are three components to this rejection, each of which is becoming more pronounced over time: (i) Denial of the political and moral justification for a Jewish state; (ii) open identification with Israel’s most implacable enemies; and (iii) sympathy for, and occasionally even advocacy of, acts of violence and terror against Jewish civilians in Israel.

^ 

Odd Legal Reasoning

I was alerted to this information:

From one of the NGO Amicus briefs filed to the ICC, a bizarre argument:

Prior to the Palestine Mandate, Great Britain administered Palestine as a belligerent occupant.11 Although the San Remo Convention adopted on 24 April 1920 assigned the Mandate for Palestine under the League of Nations to Great Britain, this did not come into force until 29 September 1923.12 Between 24 April 1920 and 29 September 1923, ‘Great Britain had no other title to the exercise of public power in Palestine than  that afforded by its military occupation.’ 

My response:

Does this mean that Jordan, formerly Transjordan, created out of nothing during those same years (Cairo Conference March 1921; Churchill in Jerusalem and his famous walk at the end of that month; the League of Nations July 1922 decision to prohibit Jews settling in Transjordan) has no right to exist?

_____

And other response:

There are three entirely different arguments here.

The first part is the not-crazy argument that the date of the Mandate coming into force is not the date the Mandate was approved by the allied states, nor the date it was actually implemented on the ground (both in 1920), nor the date it was approved by the League of Nations (1922), but only the date of the ratification of the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) , in which Turkey surrendered sovereignty over the territory.

The second part is the same idiotic argument that Palestinian Arabs have been making for decades that upon Palestine becoming a Mandate, it became an independent state, and that state has an ethnic identity of Arab such that Israel cannot claim the rights of that state.

And the third part is where the two arguments are combined in a logically inconsistent non sequitur and the NGO argues that since the Mandate only came into force in 1923 when Turkey yielded sovereignty, and since the Mandate already came into force in 1919, when the League of Nations Covenant was adopted (by virtue of the ratification of  Treaty of Versailles), Palestine has been a state since 1919 because there was a Mandate of Palestine.

The last two arguments can be found in more eloquently stated form (albeit no less illogical) in Henry Cattan’s books from fifty+ years ago.

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Questions on This Reuters Temple Mount Story

First, the entire Reuters article on the closing of the Temple Mount/Haram A-Sharif:

Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque shut as precaution against coronavirus by Muslim clericsAli Sawafta, Ammar Awad

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock will shut their doors until further notice, religious authorities said on Sunday, in a move to protect worshippers at Islam’s third holiest site.

Prayers will still be held on the huge open area around the two shrines and other Muslim prayer sites on the sacred compound known to Muslims worldwide as al-Haram al-Sharif, or The Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as Har ha-Bayit, or Temple Mount.

“The Islamic Waqf department decided to shut down the enclosed prayer places inside the blessed Aqsa Mosque, and until further notice, as a protective measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus,” Sheikh Omar Al-Kiswani, the Director of Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Reuters.

“All prayers will be held in the courtyards of Al-Aqsa mosque and doors will remain open to all worshippers,” he added.

Al-Aqsa Mosque was built in the 8th century and Muslims regard it as next only to Mecca and Medina in importance.

The latest measure follows a series of ever-stricter restrictions imposed by political and religious authorities in the Holy Land to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Israel’s Chief Rabbinate said last week that Jewish worshippers should not come to the Western Wall or pray en masse there. The wall was built by Herod the Great as a restraining wall for the compound housing the Jewish temples of antiquity and is a sacred place of prayer for Jews.

Jerusalem’s Old City is sacred to Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the three great monotheistic faiths. Christians revere it as the place where they believe that Jesus Christ preached, died and was resurrected, and the Holy Land church authorities have changed some worship practices to protect mass celebrants.

The numbers of those praying at Al-Aqsa during Friday prayers have fallen in recent weeks, amid fears over coronavirus, and officials stood by with bottle of hand-wash for those arriving and leaving.

The site’s religious importance makes it an especially sensitive area.

Questions:

1. If there area is huge, why cannot space for Jewish prayer be located?

2. Why is the area sensitive?

What? Where is Israel, WHO?

WHO issues an update report on the Corona Virus.

Geographically discombobulated:

Israel is in Europe.

And in the Eastern Mediterranean is...

^

Petach Tikva 1886 or, Arabs Refuse to Acknowledge the Law

From an academic article (anti-Zionist by the way):

There was a dispute over grazing rights between the peasants of Yahudiyya and the settlers of Petah Tikva, who either did not know or did not care that it was customary in Palestine for herds to graze on fields after they were harvested, regardless of formal ownership. This dispute escalated into an argument over settlers’ access to their fields. The peasants plowed up a road to prevent settlers’ access to their more distant fields. 

On 28 March 1886 asettler rode his horse on the road. Consequently, peasants stole the horse. Settlers retaliated by expropriating ten mules from Yahudiyya. The next day villagers of Yahudiyya attacked Petah Tikva, wounding five settlers, one of whom subsequently died, and seized all the settlers’ livestock. The kaymakam of Jaffa dispatched soldiers who arrested thirty-one peasants.

Mandel, Shafir, and Khalidi agree that the underlying cause of the dispute was ownership and use of the land.

Peasants of Umm Labis and Yahudiyya had lost their lands to two Orthodox Christian moneylenders in Jaffa after defaulting on loans. The moneylenders retained the villagers as tenants. Subsequently, local authorities seized the lands because the villagers failed to pay their taxes. Those lands were then sold to the settlers of Petah Tikva. At first the settlers could not work all the 14,200 dunams they purchased and rented some back to the peasants. But in 1884, after reestablishing Petah Tikva, the settlers occupied more of the land, disre-garding in the process the local norm that someone who prepared land to plant a summer crop thereby acquired the right to plant a (normally more lucrative) winter crop. The peasants belatedly realized that they had not only lost title but also usufruct of the land.

^

Bernie’s Kibbutz – A Research Challenge

As we know, the known extent of Senator Bernie Sanders’ Israel connection was a stay of a few months at Kibbutz Sha’ar HaAmakim in 1963. A report notes he was “a guest”. In other words, he may not have been a volunteer picking apples or pears but there was a specific reach-out, either by him or by the kibbutz or the Mapam Marxist party that supervised the affairs of the kibbutz, a member of Mapam’s Kibbutz Artzi Federation. But that is just a supposition. 

On the other hand, married couples usually did not come together as part of the ethos of going to kibbutz was the less-than-stringent sexual mores practiced at such places.

Perhaps either he or his then wife, Deborah Shiling now Messing, have friends or relatives there? It is claimed his older brother, Larry, was spending some time there. Had either of them been a member of the HaShomer HaTzair Zionist youth movement that commited its member to settle on kibbutz? If, indeed, his brother was there, perhaps he was in HaShaomer HaTzair and Bernie followed.

Sha’ar Ha’Amakim celebrated 25 years of its founder settling on the land and the headline of the article in the Mapam daily, “Al HaMishmar, of May 27, 1958, reviewing its history, read “25 Years to the Settlement”. As noted in The Forward, “The kibbutz founders had a strong admiration for the Communist system in the Soviet Union.”

But the author of that article, Aharon Cohen, adds another mystery to Sanders’ kibbutz stay. His biography includes several interesting aspects. He set up Hakibbutz Ha'artzi's Arab Department. Mapam advocated an undivided and Socialist Palestine and he went around lecturing and publishing articles in favor of good relations with Arabs. 

In 1942, he was responsible for having Mapam joining the League for Jewish Arab Rapprochement and Cooperation. In July 1947, he testified before the UNSCOP as the League’s official spokesperson and its secretary and got into an argument, demanding his right to read out a 20-page document that had already been presented to the committee members. As regards the territorial question of the future state of Palestine, Cohen added that “the relationship between Jews and Arabs and their problem has to be solved in a non-partitioned Palestine.”

Oddly enough, the English-language Wikipedia biography does not contain any reference to Cohen’s jail term. Details are in the Hebrew version.  And a Jake Pickering mentions the incident.

In 1958, he was arrested on suspicion of maintaining contact with a foreign agent, a member of the Soviet consular staff. He was charged with passing information and was sentenced in 1961 to a five-year jail term. He was pardoned and released early in 1963. Many believed he was simply continuing his pre-state idealistic vision, attempting to convince the Soviets that Jews and Arabs could reside peacefully in a bi-national state. Others, that Cohen was a victim of the GSS (then, the Shabak).

Could Sanders have been attracted by the affair? Did he come specifically to gain an impression of Cohen and his vision?

The research continues.

^

Enjoying Each Other's Company in the Land of Israel

Did Jews strive to live in and immigrate to the Land of Israel, throughout all the centuries and despite the loss of political, military and economic independence?

Of course we did.

One new example I found, from the 12th century, in Cathedra, in an article by Oded Zinger:

'I and you will enjoy each other's company 

until God decrees our death in the Land of Israel'

^

Fedayeen - A Reminder

When referring to Arab terror, I always include the activities of the fedyeen who were active beteen 1949-1956.

But I now realize that many, too many of the younger generation really don;t know to what I am referring.

So, here's one example, tajen from the Bnai Brith Messenger of November 30, 1956:

Egyptian trained Fcdayeen commandos formerly based in the Gaza strip have escaped to Jordan, where they have now joined other Fedayeen groups in greatly increased raids against Israel. Correspondents in Washington, D. C. have quoted "Arab sources in Washington" during the past few days as being "delighted" at hews of these raids, and promising "more raids tonight and more tomorrow " Since Nov. 2, when this increased activity started from Jordan and Syria, up to Nov. 13, reports have been received of 30 separate hostile' actions against Israel'. A list of these attacks follows: November 21. Egyptian-trained Fedayeen operating from Jordan active in Negev. attacking vehicles and sabotaging water installations.1. Fedayeen squad attacks civilian bus traveling on Wadi Ara road near frontier with Jordan.3. Border patrol vehicle on way! to investigate bus attack blown up by landmine.4. Fedayeen group blows up railroad track near Givat Brenner.5. Telephone lines cut near Yavne. November 4. 6. Fedayeen commandos captured in Lachish area. near Jordan border, while making their way from Egypt to Jordan.7. Fedayeen commando captured on Jerusalem-Ramie railroad track November 6. 8. Explosions along railroad track near Eyal. close to Joidan border.9. Bridge demolished by explosives on Kfar Giladi-Metulla road, near Syrian border. Tracks of three men led across border. November 7. 10. Irrigation pipes blown up near Hagoshrim, in Northern Hule valley.11. Truck from Maoz. Haim settlement fired on. one passenger wounded.12. Hand grenades thrown at truck passing Sha'ar Hagai. on Jerusalem road.13. Water pipeline to Jerusalem blown up near Sha'ar Hagai.14. Fedayeen attempt' to blow up bridge on Ein-Shemer-Menashe road.15. Vehicle carrying guards on way to bridge is hit by rifle and automatic fire.16. Fedayeen shoot, throw hand grenades at vehicle near Nachshon: near Latrun demilitarized zone.17. Civilian resident of Lydda attacked by Arab commando outside town.18. Three empty houses blown up at Beit Arif. near Lydda. 19. Fedayeen commando . shot and killed by security patrol near Amiziah. in Lachish area. November 9. 20. Fedayeen commandos try to blow up houses in Alkosh village. November 10. 21. Fedayeen demolish a synagogue in Goren village.22. House demolished by explosives near Beersheba. Tracks of eight men followed to Jordan border.23. Water well blown up in Beit Safrar. near Jerusalem.24. Four soldiers injured when vehicle in which they were riding was blown up by landmine near Ramie.25. Water installations blown up at Shafat village, near Tiiat Tzvi. November 11. 26. Train derailed by mine on Tel Aviv-Beersheba railroad. November 12. 27. Tractor blown up by landmine near Gonen, north of Hule Valley.28. One killed and three injured, of party of demolition experts investigating tractor incident. By landmines sown in area west of Gonen.29. House demolished near Menara. near Lebanese border. November 13.30. Bus blown up by mine south of Menara.

Need I remind you that Israel "occupied" Judea, Samaria amd Gaza only in 1967 and had built no "settlements" up until then in those areas?

^ 

Even Seen the Hebrew Letter Samekh from the 12th Century BCE?

Coming out of a team of archaeologists led by Professor Yosef Garfinkel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology and Professor Michael Hasel at Southern Adventist University in Tennessee, we now have a view of extensive ruins of a Bronze Age-era Canaanite temple dating to the 12th century BCE uncovered in National Park Tel Lachish. (Their academic article is here; I am working from the press release).

The layout of the temple is similar to other Canaanite temples in northern Israel, among them Shchem/Nablus, Megiddo and Hazor.  The front of the compound is marked by two columns and two towers leading to a large hall.  The inner sanctum has four supporting columns and several unhewn “standing stones”.

Credit: D. Rosenberg

In addition to archaeological remains, a trove of artifacts including, bronze cauldrons, 

Credit: T. Rogovski

Hathor-inspired jewellery, 

Credit: T. Rogovski

daggers and axe-heads adorned with bird images, scarabs, and a gold-plated bottle inscribed with the name Ramses II.

Credit: C. Amit/IAA

Of particular interest was a pottery sherd engraved with ancient Canaanite script.  There, the letter “samek” appears, marked by an elongated vertical line crossed by three perpendicular shorter lines.  

Credit: T. Rogovski

This makes it the oldest known example of the letter and a unique specimen for the study of ancient alphabets. 

We can only hope more will be revealed of the Biblical narrative as it comes out of the ground.

^

Music of Palestine

A song copyrighted January 1945, Palestine

and catalogued here.

and another Dixieland jazz song, "Leena from Palestina".

Some of the lyrics:

In the Bronx of New York City
Lived a girl, she's not so pretty
Lena is her name.
Such a clever girl is Lena
How she played her concertina
Really, it's a shame.
She's such a good musician
She got a swell position
To go across the sea to entertain.
And so they shipped poor Lena
Way out to Palesteena
From what they tell me, she don't look the same.
They say that Lena is the Queen o' Palesteena
Just because she plays the concertina.
She only knows one song,
She plays it all day long
Sometimes she plays it wrong,
But still they love it

^

How Many Jews Reside in Post-67 Jerusalem?

I have posted about this before but as a figure of 325,000 has been published, I think a review of the most up-to-date figures should be reviewed.

From the Jerusalem Institute Yearbook for 2019, with 2017 figures (Jewish growth rate is 1.5% annually).

Their over all figure is 215,900.

Their breakdown by neighborhoods:

I can't come up with more than 225,000 Jews, even rounding off upwards.

I think a detailed explanation is required to justify a difference of some 100,000 Jews.

And don't get me wrong. I hope I am proven wrong.


^

Then and Now, A Concise Perspective: Baker vs. Trump

Then, Statement by Secretary of State James Baker to AIPAC, May 22, 1989

It is therefore high time for serious political dialogue between Israeli officials and Palestinians in the territories to bring about a common understanding on these and other issues. Peace and the peace process must be built from the ground up. Palestinians have it within their power to help define the shape of this initiative and to help define its essential elements. They shouldn't shy from a dialogue with Israel that can transform the current environment and determine the ground rules for getting to, for conducting, and, indeed, for moving beyond elections.

We should not hide from ourselves the difficulties that face even these steps here at the very beginning. For many Israelis it will not be easy to enter a negotiating process whose successful outcome will in all probability involve territorial withdrawal and the emergence of a new political reality. For Palestinians, such an outcome will mean an end to the illusion of control over all of Palestine, and it will mean full recognition of Israel as a neighbour and partner in trade and in human contact.

Let the Arab world take concrete steps towards accommodation with Israel, not in place of the peace process, but as a catalyst for it.

And so we would say, "End the economic boycott. Stop the challenges to Israel's standing in international organizations. Repudiate the odious line that 'Zionism is racism."'

For Israel, now is the time to lay aside, once and for all, the unrealistic vision of a Greater Israel. Israeli interests in the West Bank and Gaza, security and otherwise, can be accommodated in a settlement based on Resolution 242. Forswear annexation; stop settlement activity; allow schools to reopen; reach out to the Palestinians as neighbours who deserve political rights .

For Palestinians, now is the time to speak with one voice for peace. Renounce the 'policy of phases' in all languages, not just those addressed to the West. Practise constructive diplomacy, not attempts to distort international organizations, such as the World Health Organization. Amend the covenant. Translate the dialogue of violence in the intifada into a dialogue of politics and diplomacy. Violence will not work. Reach out to Israelis and convince them of your peaceful intentions. You have the most to gain from doing so, and no one else can or will do it for you. Finally, understand that no one is going to deliver Israel for you.

Today, Remarks by President Donald Trump, the White House, January 28, 2020

My vision presents a “win-win” opportunity for both sides, a realistic two-state solution that resolves the risk of Palestinian statehood to Israel’s security...This is the first time Israel has authorized the release of a conceptual map, illustrating the territorial compromises it’s willing to make for the cause of peace.  And they’ve gone a long way.   This is an unprecedented and highly significant development...We will form a joint committee with Israel to convert the conceptual map into a more detailed and calibrated rendering so that recognition can be immediately achieved.  

We will also work to create a contiguous territory within the future Palestinian State for when the conditions for statehood are met, including the firm rejection of terrorism.  (Applause.)

Under this vision, Jerusalem will remain Israel’s undivided –- very important — undivided capital.  But that’s no big deal, because I’ve already done that for you, right?  (Laughter.)  We’ve already done that, but that’s okay.  It’s going to remain that way.

And the United States will recognize Israeli sovereignty over the territory that my vision provides to be part of the State of Israel.  Very important. 

And, crucially, the proposed transition to a two-state solution will present no incremental security risk to the State of Israel whatsoever.

We will not allow a return to the days of bloodshed, bus bombings, nightclub attacks, and relentless terror.  It won’t be allowed.  Peace requires compromise, but we will never ask Israel to compromise its security.  Can’t do that.

As everyone knows, I have done a lot for Israel: moving the United States Embassy to Jerusalem; recognizing — (applause) –- recognizing the Golan Heights — (applause) — and, frankly, perhaps most importantly, getting out of the terrible Iran nuclear deal.  (Applause.) Therefore, it is only reasonable that I have to do a lot for the Palestinians, or it just wouldn’t be fair.  Now, don’t clap for that, okay?  But it’s true.  It wouldn’t be fair.  I want this deal to be a great deal for the Palestinians.  It has to be.

Today’s agreement is a historic opportunity for the Palestinians to finally achieve an independent state of their very own.  After 70 years of little progress, this could be the last opportunity they will ever have — and “last” for a lot of reasons...

This map will more than double the Palestinian territory and provide a Palestinian capital in eastern Jerusalem where America will proudly open an embassy.  (Applause.)  No Palestinians or Israelis will be uprooted from their homes.  (Applause.)

Israel will work closely with a wonderful person, a wonderful man — the King of Jordan — to ensure that the status quo of the Temple Mount is preserved and strong measures are taken to ensure that all Muslims who wish to visit peacefully and pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque will be able to do so...

Our vision will end the cycle of Palestinian dependency upon charity and foreign aid.  They will be doing phenomenally all by themselves.  They are a very, very capable people.  (Applause.)  And we will help by empowering the Palestinians to thrive on their own.  Palestinians will be able to seize the new future with dignity, self-sufficiency, and national pride.

To ensure a successful Palestinian state, we are asking the Palestinians to meet the challenges of peaceful co-existence.  (Applause.)  This includes adopting basic laws enshrining human rights; protecting against financial and political corruption; stopping the malign activities of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other enemies of peace; ending the incitement of hatred against Israel — so important; and permanently halting the financial compensation to terrorists.  (Applause.)

Perhaps most importantly, my vision gives the Palestinians the time needed to rise up and meet the challenges of statehood.  I sent a letter today to President Abbas.  I explained to him that the territory allocated for his new state will remain open and undeveloped for a period of four years...President Abbas, I want you to know that if you choose the path to peace, America and many other countries will — we will be there.  We will be there to help you in so many different ways.  And we will be there every step of the way.  We will be there to help...In truth, Jerusalem is liberated.  (Applause.)  Jerusalem is a safe, open, democratic city that welcomes people of all faiths and all places.

It is time for the Muslim world to fix the mistake it made in 1948 when it chose to attack, instead of recognize, the new State of Israel.  It’s time.  (Applause.)

...But America cannot care more about peace than the stakeholders in the region.  There are many Muslims who never visited Al Aqsa, and many Christians and Jews who never visited the holy sites in the West Bank described so vividly in the Bible.  My vision will change that.  Our majestic biblical heritage will be able to live, breathe, and flourish in modern times.

All humanity should be able to enjoy the glories of the Holy Land.  This part of the world is forever connected to the human soul and the human spirit.  These ancient lands should not be symbols of conflict but eternal symbols of peace.

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For the Record: Jared Kushner - "They've Screwed Up"

Excerpted from his CNN interview with Christiane Amanpour

"...And so the question then comes down to the Palestinian leadership. Right? They've been saying that they're victims for a long time.

They're doing fine. There's been a lot of corruption, a lot of mismanaged funds. You know, a lot of the leadership is great. They're rich, their friends are rich, their families are rich. But the Palestinian people have been stuck in this cycle.

So the question for the international world is, are we going to continue to tolerate this. But what we've now put together for them is a real offer on the table. You talk about the borders -- right now under this plan that we've proposed, they can double the size of the land that they have available. They can have $50 billion of investment, which will lead to over a million Palestinian good-paying jobs. It could double the size of their GDP.

So again, what I've been fighting against is an illogical construct created by people who had no interest in solving a problem. And what we've tried to do is attack that by putting out a very detailed, logical solution...

...you're going to see more and more pressure put on Palestinian leadership to do it.

What we've -- look, right now, what's Palestinian leadership? You're talking about them like they're great diplomats. What are they calling for? They're calling for a day of rage. Who do you know that runs a state that when they don't get what they want they call for a day of rage? That's not how people who are capable of running a state work.


So again, the Palestinian leadership have to ask themselves a question, do they want to have a state, do they want to have a better life. If they do, we have created a framework for them to have it and we're going to treat them in a very respectful manner. If they don't, then they're going to screw up another opportunity like they've screwed up every opportunity that they've ever had in their existence. 

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