JTA: The Global News Service of the Jewish People

01/12/10 11:06 AM

Over and over again the world and including Mr Siegman forget that the last nation that occupied Palestine and held the mandate was Britain.
Balfour promised it all to be returned to the Hebrew Nation.
G.B reneged on its promise and gave 80% of it to the Hashemites.
The Partition resolution 181 of the UN went through the window when the Muslim nations refused to sign up to it and went to war.
Look at the map Mr Siegman, look at the covenants and charters of the Muslim brotherhood (Hamas, Hezbollah, Fatah, Islamic Jihad for example) and now give Judea and Samaria (The West Bank) to the power of these people and you are asking Israel to commit suicide.

If we are looking at the humanitarian side then let the surrounding Muslim states absorb these refugees as they should have done in 1950.

01/12/10 11:19 AM

“The Balfour Declaration, made in November 1917 by the British Government...was made a) by a European power, b) about a non-European territory, c) in flat disregard of both the presence and wishes of the native majority resident in that territory...[As Balfour himself wrote in 1919], ‘The contradiction between the letter of the Covenant (the Anglo French Declaration of 1918 promising the Arabs of the former Ottoman colonies that as a reward for supporting the Allies they could have their independence) is even more flagrant in the case of the independent nation of Palestine than in that of the independent nation of Syria. For in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country...The four powers are committed to Zionism and Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long tradition, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desire and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land,’”
~Edward Said, “The Question of Palestine.”

“The world stands on three pillars: The truth, the justice and the peace. And these three are indeed one. When justice is served, truth is served, peace is served.”
~Rabbi Shimon Ben-Gamliel

01/12/10 05:57 PM

The first is the Balfour Declaration of 1917: An official letter from the British Foreign Office headed by Lord Arthur Balfour, the UK’s Foreign Secretary (from December 1916 to October 1919), to Baron Rothschild, who was seen as a representative of the Jewish people. The letter stated that the British government “view[ed] with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

Israel has kept her side of the bargain- with 1.5 million Muslim Israelis and other other denominations.
To surrender Judea and Samaria is suicide- it would leave a 9 kilometre width up to the Med.
And the they would be up against this:-

Here I quote from The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement. (HAMAS)

“Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious. It needs all sincere efforts,
. The Islamic Resistance movement is but one squadron that should be supported… until the enemy is vanquished and Allah victory is realized. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.......”

And this:-
Hezbollah’s charter (pdf format) clearly states:
Our primary assumption in our fight against Israel states that the Zionist entity is aggressive from its inception, and built on lands wrested from their owners, at the expense of the rights of the Muslim people. Therefore our struggle will end only when this entity is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated.

There is no solution to the Palestinian problem except by Jihad.

If that is acceptable to some then to “Heck” with anything else- Israel must do whatever she has to to survive.

01/12/10 07:37 PM

I am certain that use of the term,"apartheid"is not a helpful term to use in discussing the complex questions of the middle east. Although Mr.Seigman’s quotes from various Israeli leaders are accurate,this term only inflames people without enabling a substantive discussion as to why Israel must give up most of the west bank. Additionally,what ever happened to manners? Some of the above writers engage in very unhelpful use of language e.g. calling Mr. Seigman “self hating” is outrageous given his long service to the Jewish community and to Israel. And the term “Quisling” is unforgivable. Michael Portland,OR

01/13/10 11:28 AM

I am not into name calling- However the “masochistic” views of some “born” Jews who constantly run Israel down, some who openly support the “Palestinians” really leaves a bitter taste.
Consider this.
If when the British government gave all that land to the Hashemite ruler Abdullah. Who had no connection to Palestine as they came from the Hijaz (Now Saudi) They also had given the remainder to the Hebrews.

I wonder how many of the 6 million would have been saved. A place to run to without quotas.- Without waiting for some bureaucrat to let you off a ship and send you back to Berlin.

01/15/10 08:57 AM

Henry Siegman may well have distinguished credentials to his name and positions in his career, but many of these have been earned largely by virtue of his stance on Israel. The world who hates the Jews loves to hear sophisticated, urbane Jews trash Israel as it is mere grist for their mills. Siegman is one of the few Jews to have unfettered access to Saudi Arabia and there can be little speculation as to how much money comes his way as a paid lobbyist and apologist for the Saudis. That he never ever condemns or even mildly criticizes Arab nations and despotic regimes – including his patron, the Saudis - in any way but reserves his harshest judgments for Israel, speaks volumes.  The outpouring of venom towards the Jewish State and his singling out of Israel as the evil incarnate in the world, and what clearly appears to be the harboring of a very deep and visceral hatred for Israel, makes one wonder about him as a human being and as a Jew. After all, the term “selbsthass” was coined by a Jewish psychologist to describe this specifically Jewish phenomenon.