Unite for Middle East Peace

Within this terrible situation with Israel, Hamas, and the Gaza Strip, it seems that much of the story has not been told. Is the fighting regarding land (territory) or over the rights of the people?

"18 November 2008 – The top United Nations human rights official called today for an immediate end to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, which she said contravened international law and had deprived those living there of their most basic human rights for months.

“By function of this blockade, 1.5 million Palestinian men, women and children have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months,” said Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. “This is in direct contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law. It must end now,” she said.

Ms. Pillay welcomed the decision by Israel to allow a limited number of trucks to enter Gaza on 17 November, but recalled its obligation to refrain from all measures that contravene international law." -- UN News Centre

Blockades of any type that interfere with any basic human needs are unacceptable. Humans are not pons in a chess game. They need food, water, powdered milk for their babies. Those who are attempting to give their families the basics, not involving themselves in the politics of this situation other than attempting to have a roof over their heads, clothing for their families, sanitary conditions and other basics, should not be the ploys in this political and religious showdown. This, no matter the Oslo Accords agreed upon by both "governments" involved in this tug-o-war.



Can the government officials see that more negotiations are necessary and that talks regarding the situation may lead to some standards for lasting peace?

"...Many have made that error, assuming wrongly that the task is merely one of negotiating a compromise between tough opponents who nevertheless are bound by a mutual interest in peace and the prosperity it might be expected to ensure.

But this conflict defies such easy appeals to reason. Its path is littered with the abandoned remnants of once-hopeful plans and promises that are now largely forgotten.
All parties claim to want peace, and perhaps they do. But we must use the term cautiously." -- The Middle East Peace Processs At A Crossroads

So then, why must the United States be so deeply involved in this and every other world conflict. The answer is that "there is no one else to take our place, no one else who will even try. Only we possess the requisite power and resources, only we can engage all sides, only we can aspire to the trust of all...For it is a very American thing to believe that all problems have solutions.

But we cannot make peace by ourselves, however fervent our determination. That
responsibility lies in the hands of those in the region who are fated to live together forever, and they share that responsibility equally"



The current President of Israel, Shimon Peres, was the person who produced the Oslo Accords. He won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize together with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat for the peace talks he participated in which produced those accords. He left the Labor Party and joined the Kadima party in 2005 to support Ariel Sharon.

In November of 2005, the Kadima party released main points of its national agenda. Here they are.

"-The Israeli nation has a national and historic right to the whole of Israel. However, in order to maintain a Jewish majority, part of the Land of Israel must be given up to maintain a Jewish and democratic state.

-Israel shall remain a Jewish state and homeland. Jewish majority in Israel will be preserved by territorial concessions to Palestinians.

-Jerusalem and large settlement blocks in the West Bank will be kept under Israeli control.

-The Israeli national agenda to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and achieve two states for two nations will be the road map. It will be carried out in stages: dismantling terror organizations, collecting firearms, implementing security reforms in the Palestinian Authority, and preventing incitement. At the end of the process, a demilitarized Palestinian state devoid of terror will be established.

-Israel's political system will be modified to ensure stability. One possibility to achieve this goal would be to hold primary, regional and personal elections to the Knesset and the Prime Minister's office.

-Kadima would not rule out a future coalition partnership with any Israeli political party or person.

-promoting equality for minorities

-negative income tax and national pension

-increasing social security benefits and national health insurance

-civil marriage

-reform of police" -- Wikipedia - Kadima

The Kadima party has good intentions, however, since there are so many varying parties in the Israeli government, with hugely varying agendas, it is impossible to smoothly implement the peace that is sought.

Involved in the mix is Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel and the Leader of the Opposition. He may be one of the driving forces behind the issues now being faced in Gaza. "He was Finance Minister of Israel until 9 August 2005, having resigned in protest at the Gaza Disengagement Plan advocated by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon."

What is the Gaza Disengagement Plan? It "was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon...to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the northern West Bank...Israel later decided to leave the border area, which is now controlled by Egypt and the Palestinians, through the PNA. Israel will continue to control Gaza's coastline and airspace and reserves the right to undertake military operations when necessary." [italics added]

A key factor in this plan is that "Israel will continue to provide Gaza with water, communication, electricity, and sewage networks", which evidently is somewhat lacking, based on the U.N. information.

When Netanyahoo resigned, he said that the Israeli government was not taking into account the expected upsurge in terrorism. "I am convinced today that the disengagement will eventually aggravate terrorism instead of reducing it."

What was the U.S. position? President George W. Bush said:

"I strongly support [Prime Minister Sharon's] courageous initiative to disengage from Gaza and part of the West Bank. The Prime Minister is willing to coordinate the implementation of the disengagement plan with the Palestinians. I urge the Palestinian leadership to accept his offer. By working together, Israelis and Palestinians can lay the groundwork for a peaceful transition."

"Essentially, a Palestinian demand that Israel withdraw to the 1949 [Armistice] lines would become "the position of the United States"."

Palestinian Arabs rejected the plan because it does not require the complete withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which would prevent a Palestinian state for years to come.

Sure enough, Hamas was elected as the Palestinian government. The fighting began again, those who voluntarily left the Gaza Strip have not been duly compensated, and terrorist activity is a consistent threat.

Where is the solution? Unfortunately there is no solution, other than the ceasing of the terrorism and fighting. This is a people who need united leaders who are willing to work together to provide the necessities to the people they govern and show compassion to people on all sides of this conflict. Territories are intermingled and will likely continue to be that way. The only resolution to this conflict is a united front by the leaders who are placing the orders to the military and the citizens.

God Bless America!

Sources:

Wikipedia.com
avalon.law.yale.edu
www.un.org

Waste of Bailout Money. Chrysler Pays Approx. $600K of Our Money to Say Thank You.

"Chrysler Faces Criticism for Full-Page 'Thank You' Ads
Taxpayers and conservative groups are questioning why Chrysler spent the money to take out a series of full-page newspaper ads thanking Americans for the auto industry bailout."

"Chrysler is facing a backlash from taxpayers and conservative groups after the ailing auto company took out a series of full-page newspaper ads last week to thank Americans for "investing" in the company through the government's $17.4 billion auto industry bailout plan.


Critics say the company, which is expected to receive about $4 billion of that bailout money in the near term, should not be spending its already limited resources on pricey advertisements." -- Source: Fox News

Hamas, Fatah, Israel, and the United Nations.

By now, I am sure you are aware of the conflict between Israel and Hamas. But, do you know who Hamas is, other than "the bad guy" in this conflict?

The name "Hamas" is an acronym for the "Islamic Resistance Movement". That says a lot on its own, however, let's look further into Hamas.

Hamas "is a Palestinian Sunni paramilitary organization and political party which holds a majority of seats in the elected legislative council of the Palestinian National Authority." Hamas was created in 1987 and has become popular in Palestinian society by establishing services such as hospitals, libraries, and others throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. "Hamas' charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip". Note: source -- Wikipedia

The issues in the Palestinian government run deep and have a seemingly unending timeline. More recently, "The Palestinian National Authority was formed in 1994, pursuant to the Oslo Accords between the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the government of Israel, as a 5-year interim body during which final status negotiations between the two parties were to take place but never did. According to the Accords, the Palestinian Authority was designated to have control over both security-related and civilian issues in Palestinian urban areas (referred to


as "Area A"), and only civilian control over Palestinian rural areas ("Area B"). The remainder of the territories, including Israeli settlements, the Jordan Valley region, and bypass roads between Palestinian communities, were to remain under exclusive Israeli control ("Area C"). East Jerusalem was excluded from the Accords." So, what needs to happen here, in addition to many other things, is that the negotiations need to be mandated and oversight by the United Nations must be in place as a peace making middle-man. Additionally, the Israeli settlements should currently remain theirs, according to the Oslo Accords. "The Oslo Accords, officially called the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements or Declaration of Principles (DOP) was a milestone in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was the first direct, face-to-face agreement between Israel and political representatives of Palestinians. It was the first time that some Palestinian factions publicly acknowledged Israel's right to exist."

On an international basis, the U.N. should use their power to intervene and uphold this agreement (the Oslo Accords), inclusive of the violence from Hamas and Hamas' power as a result of their victory in parliamentary elections. This is not a U.S. fight, although we are in need of standing up for our allies, which include Israel. However, this is a disturbance that the U.N. needs to pursue as an international peace keeping mission.

"The PA maintains an official uniformed armed service which various sources estimate to include anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000 recruits employing some armored cars, and a limited number carry automatic weapons. Officially termed a "police force", it violates the Oslo Accords which limit the force to 30,000 recruits."

Fatah is also a major political player in the Palastinian government. President Mahmoud Abbas a major player in the Fatah party. In the mid-1950's Abbas "became heavily involved in underground Palestinian politics, joining a number of exiled Palestinians in Qatar, where he was Director of Personnel in the emirate's Civil Service. While there, he recruited a number of people who would become key figures in the Palestine Liberation Organization, and was one of the founding members of Fatah in 1957. Yasser Arafat was among other key members...He (Abbas) is credited with initiating secretive contacts with left-wing and pacifist Jewish groups during the 1970s and 80s, and is considered by many to be a major architect of the 1993 Oslo peace accords (evidenced in part by the fact that he travelled with Arafat to the White House to sign the accords)."

The Palestinian terrorist organization called "Black September", responsible for the Munich massacre was assumed to be an operational cover for Arafat's Fatah group. "Abbas came into conflict with Palestinian militant groups, notably Islamic Jihad and Hamas; his pragmatic policies were opposed to their hard-line approach. However, he made it perfectly clear that he was forced to abandon, for the moment, the use of arms against Israeli civilians inside the green line due to its ineffectiveness; the Abbas doctrine allowed for selective terrorism."

"On December 16, 2006 Abbas called for new legislative elections, to bring an end to the parliamentary stalemate between Fatah and Hamas in forming a national unity government.

On March 17, 2007 a Palestinian unity government was formed incorporating members of both Hamas and Fatah, with Ismail Haniyeh as Prime Minister and independent politicians taking many key portfolios."

"... Ismail Haniyeh the Hamas prime minister has continued to operate in Gaza, and be recognized as by a large number of Palestinians as the legitimate caretaker prime minister. Anis al-Qasem, the Palestinian constitutional lawyer who drafted the Basic Law, is among those who publicly declared Abbas' appointment of Fayyad to be illegal."

You can infer from these statements that there is a power struggle that continues in the Palastinian government that does not have a simple answer. When there are two opposing terrorist-type groups, which is the lesser evil? When you have a choice between Hamas and Fatah groups, who do you want in charge? A message to the United Nations...it's pass time to intervene.