Here we have, as if they were needed, more reasons why negotiating with the PA is impossible:
The Hamas-dominated Palestinian Legislative Council has passed a law (first reading) saying that any concession in negotiations on Jerusalem is illegal. It states that Jerusalem is a Palestinian, Arab and Islamic city and that it is totally forbidden to give up or conduct negotiations about any part of the city.
As they don’t have Jerusalem and never did , I am particularly fascinated by the phrase about "giving up" any part of the city. Anyone who violates this prohibition would be prosecuted as a traitor. Some Fatah legislators boycotted this meeting, but others expressed agreement. Our "negotiating partners."
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Ironically, tonight there was a Jerusalem Chanukah concert sponsored by One Jerusalem and the Knesset Coalition for Jerusalem. The theme, of course, was keeping Jerusalem united. There were speakers from across the political spectrum, from National Union to Labor, all in favor of keeping Jerusalem united. Keynote speaker Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud) said: "…the people of Israel have already spilt an ocean of tears and blood, and it did not sacrifice its sons in biblical times or in modern times so that this government could surrender Jerusalem. We will not let that happen."
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See Rabbi Berel Wein’s commentary on Jerusalem.
Says Rabbi Wein: "There has never been a Jewish power in our history that contemplated willingly ceding Jerusalem or any part of it to others, especially to sworn enemies who denigrate our faith and question our right to exist."
"The Talmud asks: ‘Why are the hot spring baths of Tiberias not located in Jerusalem? Why are the great and tasty fruits of the Ginossar area not grown in Jerusalem?’
"The Talmud responds: ‘So that no one should ascend to Jerusalem for the sweet fruits or for the hot baths. Rather, one ascends to Jerusalem for the sake of Jerusalem itself.’"
As one also honored to live in Jerusalem, I will vouch for that.
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Olmert has now announced that the first negotiation meetings will deal only with procedural and logistic issues and that core issues will probably not be discussed until January.
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The PA, responding to that hint about a possible major operation into Gaza that I reported on last night, has now said that if there is such an action, there will be no peace talks. This, of course, explains the delay. In a sense the PA has its back to the wall; they would be labelled traitors by Hamas if they supported an Israeli action. But their inability to support it does not mean we cannot and should not proceed. We have been backed into a situation that is more than ridiculous: to pursue "peace" we’re supposed to allow a terrorist army to be strengthened and our people to be bombarded with rockets.
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I’ve predicted privately, and I’m hardly alone , that there would be something akin to a civil war if Olmert sent the army to move out the 120,000 residents of Judea & Samaria. They will not go quietly as the people of Gush Katif did.
We have some evidence of the spirit that is being aroused now by the doings of Annapolis with the establishment of SOS Israel, which is planning to erect a new, autonomous Jewish state in Judea & Samaria if Israel pulls out. Towards that end, the group hopes to set up a state-to-be, complete with a legal organization that unites the settlements, a flag and an anthem. This initiative, which is just being announced, would only be activated in the worst case scenario of an Israeli pullout. But, as Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe wrote, "Are we just going to stand aside like lambs to the slaughter while the malicious government destroys the lives of tens of thousands of Israeli families, as we did to our brothers in Gush Katif? Are we going to surrender to the ‘axis of evil’ in Jerusalem and help it turn 120 thousand Jews into refugees in their own land, hundreds of thriving communities into mere rubble?"
This stands as warning and begins to put the lie to notions of Israeli passivity in the face of impending disaster.
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https://41k.82b.myftpupload.com/current-postings/2007/12/6/december-6-2007-stumbling-blocks.html
