Many is the time that I have alluded to this Campaign, and to Israel’s legal rights in Judea, Samaria, and all of Jerusalem.
Today I will move further in explaining the Campaign. This is for your edification, and in the hopes that you will choose to be involved.
Please make sure you get to the end of this special posting.
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The Campaign is chaired by Jeff Daube and myself, working in Jerusalem. We seek an Israeli government that speaks out for Israel’s rights and bases policies upon those rights.
We do not for a minute imagine that this is a simple or easy task. For we are battling over 20 years of Oslo thinking, and a host of misrepresentations and outright lies – promoted by those supporting the Palestinian Arabs and readily accepted by much of the world – regarding Israel’s rights. The pressure on our government is enormous!
What is required is a shift in the paradigm of thinking. And this is a process. Little by little. No magic bullets.
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While the ultimate goal is a shift in the position of the government of Israel, we are working now in the Knesset – doing education on the issues and recruiting members of the Knesset to take a stand.
This is a part of the process, and we are in the second year of this effort. We have had successes, and have held forums in the Knesset. Unfortunately, some of the best people we had on board with us before the election are no longer in the Knesset and it is our task now to reach out to a large number of new members of Knesset. We have very fine professionals working with us to maximize our efforts.
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At the same time that we are doing this work, we are eager to do a modified public campaign – getting the word out and doing education wherever we can. (A full fledged public relations campaign is enormously expensive and beyond our reach at the moment.) Our social media campaign has this goal, as does our PR. We work to place op-eds on the issues, promote interviews and more.
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Most of my readers are outside of Israel – primarily in the US (with some significant individuals also in Canada). And so I want to emphasize here that education on this issue in the US is tremendously important and that outreach must be done to Senators and Congresspersons.
However, we believe that the first impetus must come from within the Israeli government. We see that even Senators and Congresspersons who are with us in principle look to the positions of the Israeli government before taking a stand.
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One last note here: We are not a campaign to promote sovereignty, but to provide the groundwork that will ultimately make that sovereignty possible. We believe that there will be no government of Israel that will seriously talk about annexation until it has been made clear that we have the RIGHT to annex – that international law, history, etc. are on our side. Right now, you will note, the prime minister says he will not consider a “Palestinian state” because of security risks. That is not the same as saying we have legal and historical rights that must be taken into account.
(Even those who would – for whatever reason – still like to see a “two state solution” should welcome promotion of our legal rights – for this would permit going into negotiations from strength, and not from the horrendous position that the land is “theirs” and we must “return” it.)
What we would like to do, down the road, is consider different formulations and plans for how to proceed in the future, once Israel’s rights are more broadly established.
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Now I ask my readers, wherever you are, to:
Inform yourselves on the issues of Israel’s legal rights. To that end, Please! see and bookmark our website: http://israelrights.com/en/
On the site, you will find:
– an outline of our basic legal rights (including the San Remo Resolution I spoke about yesterday) – this is the heart of the matter, the core documentation
– information on our rights to all of Jerusalem
– articles, reports, and videos on the issue
– links to primary documents such as the Balfour Declaration
– a discussion of why promotion of Israel’s rights is important
There is, as well, a great deal more, including a list of the highly respected international lawyers who comprise our Legal Advisory Board.
Please, while you are logged on to the website, sign on as a member of the Campaign. This costs nothing. But it gives us leverage and allows us to provide information updates and promote activist action.
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Take a look at our Facebook page, as well – and “Like” it, please: https://www.facebook.com/legalgrounds
Both the website and the FB page have very recently been upgraded.
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And then, because Jeff and I, with our professionals and volunteers cannot do the job alone, we ask you to join us in a number of respects:
[] Tell others about our work, and ask that they in turn inform themselves and sign on to our Campaign, “Like” our FB.
[] Don’t let people get away with promulgating gross misrepresentations and lies. Refute the lies and misrepresentations wherever you can.
There was never a Palestinian state and Judea and Samaria do not “belong” to the Palestinian Arabs.
There is no “1967 border” – it was only a temporary armistice line.
The 1947 partition plan is not legally binding, as some maintain.
Israel is not an “occupier” according to international law. The reasons why this is so are quite clear.
The “settlements” are not “illegal.”
On and on. These are not “innocent” mistakes – they are calculated lies, which are then absorbed as well by naïve individuals who believe what they have been told.
It’s time to fight back, as extensively as possible.
Beware in particular of the language that promotes misrepresentations. I think the officials of the PA use the term “international law” more than any other. They don’t have to document the law – which most often does not even exist: people tend to automatically defer when they hear that term. Then there are “war crimes,” “illegal settlements,” and (as alluded to above) “the ‘67 border.”
And watch your own language usage. Much of this terminology has been so thoroughly absorbed into mainstream thinking that you are not even aware of it:
It’s:
– “Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria” and not “settlements”
– “Judea and Samaria” and not “West Bank”
– “the temporary ‘67 armistice line” and not “the ‘67 border”
Use:
– letters to the editor
– talkbacks on the Internet
– op-eds
– your own websites and FB pages
– websites and discussion lists for groups with which you participate
State your position briefly, unemotionally, and factually.
Become pro-active! Talk to people.
If you are in the US, monitor the positions of your Senators and Congresspersons and contact them as appropriate (whether to thank them, provide information, or encourage a change in position).
We will be grateful if you decide to become part of the Legal Grounds team, and actively stand up on this issue.
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I am not writing today to raise funds, but rather to inform and recruit activists. But it goes without saying that I do not turn away funds, which are always needed for our operation. (Some of those reading this have already graciously and generously made donations.)
If you are in the US, and might be interested in supporting a very special “out-of-the-box” project for this Campaign, let me know, please.
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The good news I close with today comes from Yaakov Kirschner, who does the “Dry Bones” cartoons. We are enormously grateful to him. For he has not only done a cartoon that addresses the issue of Israel’s legal and historical rights (see immediately below), he has sent it out very widely, with the URL to our website.
And so, Dry Bones: Thank you, thank you!
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© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by Arlene Kushner, functioning as an independent journalist. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
If it is reproduced and emphasis is added, the fact that it has been added must be noted.
2 comments
In listing examples of wrong language, near the end of your posting, Arlene, you say, "It's the temporary '67 armistice lines, not the '67 borders." That should be: It's the temporary '49 armistice lines,…
Moshe, you are indeed correct.
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