2. Baker Report Demands Israel Give Away Golan Heights

By Yechiel Spira and Hillel Fendel

Only a number of days after the UN passed a resolution calling Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem illegal, former US Secretary of State James Baker says Israel must leave the Golan Heights.

The comprehensive report, which primarily addresses the situation in Iraq, was prepared by Baker and a former Democratic congressman, Lee Hamilton. It states that if the United States does not take a more leading role in the Mideast Israel-Arab conflict, there is no hope of America achieving its goals in the region.

According to former Israeli UN Ambassador Dr. Dore Gold, the report indicates that American involvement in Iraq will diminish in the coming two years. He called the American demand that Israel retreat from the Golan Heights "worrisome."

Speaking with reporters today, Olmert implied that he would be willing to withdraw from the Golan - but that Syria is not interested in peace. He said that previous Prime Ministers - he mentioned Barak, Netanyahu, and Sharon - were willing to consider such withdrawals, but that the question "is not whether Israel would be willing to withdraw, but what Syria would give in return." Olmert said that negotiations with Syria are currently not on the agenda because of "Syria's undercutting behavior and its support for Hamas."

Asked specifically about the Baker-Hamilton report, Olmert said that Israel objects to any linkage between the Iraqi problem and Israel. Appearing unruffled by the report, Olmert said that he believes that President Bush does not agree with its conclusions.

The Baker-Hamilton report was greeted enthusiastically by leading Palestinian terrorists, who said it proves that "Islamic resistance" works and America can ultimately be defeated. "The report proves that this is the era of Islam and of jihad," Abu Ayman, a senior leader of Islamic Jihad in northern Samaria told Aaron Klein of WorldNetDaily.

"The Americans came to the conclusion that Islam is the new giant of the world and it would be clever to reduce hostilities with this giant," Abu Ayman said. "In the Quran the principle of the rotation is clear and according to this principle the end of the Americans and of all non-believers is getting closer."

The Golan Heights was liberated by Israel in the June 1967 Six Day War and was annexed as an integral part of the State of Israel in the 1980s. It holds great strategic value, in that Israel's presence there precludes Syrian attacks from the highlands overlooking the Sea of Galilee and the Galilee Panhandle.

The Baker-Hamilton report calls for a peace conference mimicking the Madrid model - a regional summit that would be aimed at solving the conflict between Israel, the PA (Palestinian Authority), Syria and Lebanon. In addition to an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan, the report calls upon Israel to recognize the establishment of a Palestinian state.

The report demands that Syria halt its interference in Lebanon’s affairs, as well as cease its pro-terrorist policies on behalf of ongoing Hizbullah anti-Israel operations in southern Lebanon. It calls on Israel to withdraw from the Golan in exchange for a comprehensive peace treaty with Damascus that would enjoy American backing. The authors say that the U.S. would provide security guarantees and an offer of troops in the Golan to help compensate Israel for the loss of the strategically vital area.

The issue of ongoing Iranian efforts to build a nuclear weapon was not the focus of attention in the report. It briefly called on Tehran to comply with the demands of the international community and cease nuclear enrichment efforts.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has opted to avoid commenting in depth on the report. He said today he had not yet read it.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk a-Shara expressed his country’s willingness to enter into peace negotiations with Israel. A-Shara stated Damascus is willing to reach an agreement with Israel with the understanding the Golan Heights must be returned to Syria as part of such an agreement.

Former National Security Advisor Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland stated US President George W. Bush is caught between a rock and a hard place. He explained that while the US government is anxious to bring an end to the Israel-PA conflict, Mr. Bush is not seeking to make any major changes in Washington’s relationship with Israel.

Gen. (ret.) Uzi Dayan, another former national security advisor, stated that the report will have a direct bearing on American strategy, but that there is no need for concern in Israel. He added that what should concern Israelis is the "lack of vision and leadership."

news@Israelnationalnews.com

Knesset Defense Expert: U.S. Stance on Iran is Worrisome
"The claim that Iran is developing nuclear weapons just for defense purposes" - as the candidate for U.S. Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, told the Senate - "is very worrisome," says MK Shteinitz.

1. Knesset Defense Expert: U.S. Stance on Iran is Worrisome
By Hillel Fendel

"The claim that Iran is developing nuclear weapons just for defense purposes" - as the candidate for U.S. Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, told the Senate - "is very worrisome," says MK Shteinitz.

Knesset Member Yuval Shteinitz, who chaired the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee until this year, commented with concern this morning on what may be the new U.S. policy on Iran.

Asked during his Senate confirmation hearings if he thought that President Ahmadinejad was "kidding" in his Holocaust denial and calls to destroy Israel, Gates said, "No, I don't think he's kidding. But I think that there are, in fact, higher powers in Iran than the president. And… while they are certainly pressing, in my opinion, for a nuclear capability, I think that they would see it in the first instance as a deterrent. "

Gates also broke with tradition by asserting that Israel has nuclear capabilities. Explaining Iran's need for deterrence, Gates said that Iran is "surrounded by powers with nuclear weapons - Pakistan to their east, the Russians to the north, the Israelis to the west, and us in the Persian Gulf."

In response to another question, Gates said that no one can provide Israel with an assurance that Iran would not attack Israel with a nuclear weapon. He said that he would favor an American attack on Iran only "if critical American interests are threatened" and "as a last resort."

"The claim that Iran is developing nuclear weapons for defense and deterrence purposes is not compatible with Iran's declaration about wiping Israel off the map," Shteinitz said. Making such claims, he said, "is liable to harm the attempts to stop Iran's nuclear program."

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said this week that Iran will complete its nuclear research and development work by March 2007. Iran plans to soon expand its atomic work by installing 3,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges, enabling it to produce at least one warhead a year.

Gates also said at the hearings that he favors open dialogue with Syria and Iran, as called for in the recent Baker-Hamilton report, but said he has no positive expectations regarding Iran. U.S. President Bush has opposed talking with Iran, but is now expected to go along with the idea.

Israeli security elements view Gates's remarks with alarm. Yediot Acharonot defense commentator Alex Fishman says they feel that Iran has won the latest round of arm-twisting against the U.S., that Iran can confidently continue its nuclear program without fear, and that Iran's influence in the region is increasing while that of the U.S. is declining. Hamas, too, feels this way, and has hardened its stance regarding a national unity government with Fatah and the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

An editorial in the English-language daily Jerusalem Post stated that Gates's remarks are These are "shocking responses... for what they reveal about the thinking of the man poised to become the top defense adviser of the president of the United States. Gates's first instinct when asked about Iran's potential nuclear capability is not to explain why he views such a prospect as inimical to US interests, but why it might not be such a dangerous thing. Gates assures us that although Ahmadinejad may be wacko, his Iranian leadership higher-ups have got to be more responsible... [and] if this sunny analysis is wrong and Iran lobs a weapon of mass destruction at Israel? Well, that's a risk that Gates seems willing to take."

news@Israelnationalnews.com

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15820.htm
moving video presentation....
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Video Runtime 15 Minutes
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http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8836962A-A744-4E31-8E05-631858BEAE53.htm
Gaza border briefly reopens

Thousands of Palestinians waited at the Rafah international border crossing as it opened for only the 24th day in six months.

The crossing - which separates Egypt from the Gaza Strip - is the only gateway to the world for residents of Gaza but it was closed by the Israelis in June and is only reopened sporadically.

Not knowing when it will open next adds to the anxiety of those waiting.

The Israeli army watching through closed-circuit cameras decides when and for how long the border opens.

One European observer said: "No one knows when the border will be open next."

Frustration

There were chaotic scenes at the border as frustration quickly turned into anger as many did not make it across.

Up to 1.3 million Palestinians are prevented from travelling for basic needs such as healthcare daily. Many voiced their frustration at the border on Wednesday.
One man waiting at the border told Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh: "My wife if she doesn't go to Egypt within seven days, she will loose her sight."

Another urgent case was that of ten-year-old Adham, who lost both parents and most of his siblings in an Israeli shelling of a Gaza beach in June.
After months of treatment and fifty days of waiting, Adham will finally be able to cross the border and begin another round of painful muscle reconstruction.

'Lives on hold'

The waiting extends to all sectors of Palestinian society.

Students stand behind the border's closed gates, hoping to reach their universities before it is too late.

And while some humanitarian cases make it out of Gaza, others remain waiting while time runs out.

Six-year-old Abdallah has been waiting for a month to get out. He faces certain death if he doesn't change his dialysis line, a procedure that no Gaza hospital can offer him.

"So long as the only gate of Gazans to the world remains for the most part closed, the lives of Palestinians here will remain on hold. For some, their travels can wait. Others will literally have to defy the odds," says Odeh.

It is truly remarkable that the so called "Iraq study group" report in 160
pages and thousands of words fails to mention human rights and International
law (the words only appear in describing the background of three of the
study authors such as "Mr. Jordan practiced general, corporate, legislative,
and international law in Washington, D.C." and "Mr. Hamilton’s distinguished
service in government has been honored through numerous awards in public
service and human rights as well as honorary degrees".) Thus, like the
Israel-lobby-authored Bush-pedaled "road map to peace" (2218 words, lacking
the four words "Human rights" and "International law") it is destined to be
relegated to the dustbin of history and will not help bring justice nor
peace in the Middle East. As far as the requirement that the US promote
talks between Israel and "Palestinians (those who acknowledge Israel's right
to exist)" that is simply a non-starter since Israel does not recognize the
right of Palestine to exist and has never defined its borders so recognizing
its right to exist under such unfair, broad and vague terms means nullifying
Palestinian rights in their lands. Further, in International law there is no
such thing as right of states to exist (no state has a right to exist in
legal terms, they simply exist; no one for example ever demanded that Mexico
recognize the right of the US to exist or that India recognize the right of
Pakistan to exist or vice versa).

Anyway, it seems that as in all human history, we must still rely on grass
root efforts to effect social change (in America that is how Women got the
right to vote, how civil rights laws came about, how we ended the war on
Vietnam, how we ended support for Apartheid South Africa, and how we will
end support for Apartheid Israel and US military adventure in Iraq). I have
been to five states in the past month and spoke at dozens of events and
anyone cannot help but notice the tremendous hunger for change, for
information, and for action among people of various backgrounds. I spoke at
Juniata College and Bard College to very interested and packed audience.
Let me tell you though about one most inspiring event in my home state of
Connecticut (CT is also proud to have organized in the past few weeks a bus
to see the Rachel Corrie play in New York, demonstrating against the visit
by war criminal Shimon Peres, to hosting four talks by Anna Baltzer, to a
statewide peace conference planning etc). The event I do want to expand on
is the Second Tree of Life Conference at Old Lyme Congregational Church that
focused on the plight of Bethlehem as an example of a Palestinian city under
occupation and siege.

The event held at the first Congregational Church of Old Lyme
(http://www.fccol.org/) was attended by nearly 200 people. Speakers
included Yehuda Shaul, the founder of Breaking the Silence (Israeli
soldiers speaking of atrocities they were ordered to undertake), Benjamin
Beit Hallahmi (Israeli professor of psychology at Haifa University and
author of Original Sins a book on the Zionism's crimes and distortions),
representatives of Bethlehem University (which is an extraordinary model of
hope in the troubled Holy Land, being a place where Christians and Muslims
live and study together, http://www.bethlehem.edu), Anna Baltzer (see
http://www.annainthemiddleeast.com/ ), and Dr. Mark Braverman (The
Fellowship of Reconciliation).

Attendees learned in this conference simple facts like these:
- Bethlehem University was closed by a military order for three years during
the late 1980s
- Bethlehem University student body diversity shrank as Israel instated
hundreds of checkpoints and walls that separate Palestinian areas from other
Palestinian areas.
- Hundreds of students were held over the past few years as political
prisoners (20% held without charges in "administrative detentions")
- Israeli soldiers were ordered to use Grenade machine guns on civilian
neighborhoods
- The apartheid wall/segregation barrier resulted in loss of over 10% of
Bethlehem area.
- The apartheid wall/segregation barrier separates Palestinian families from
each other and from their jobs, hospitals, schools, churches and mosques.
- There is a new Jewish only settlement/colony built in Bethlehem at
Rachel's tomb area (a holy site for Muslims that includes a large Islamic
cemetery that is now off limits to its owners and relatives of those buried
there)

As I witnessed in my last visit to Bethlehem in July, the situation has
deteriorated rapidly from the time six years ago when I wrote and published
the article below on Christmas in Bethlehem. I urge you all to take the
opportunity of Christmas to write about the Holy Land today and how
apartheid is being implemented in the land of the birth of Jesus, the prince
of peace (for resources get on the web, at least see
http://www.openbethlehem.org/ and http://www.stopthewall.org). Letters to
the editor (150-200 words) or op-eds can be submitted to your local or
national newspapers but also send them to TV and radio stations and ask that
they interview native people from these areas. Some
media contacts can be found here:
http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/contact/media.asp or using this link
http://capwiz.com/adc/dbq/media

I urge you also to attend conferences and travel to Palestine to bear
witness and learn first hand. A group that does both kinds of activities is
Sabeel (see their upcoming conferences and trips as well as a list of other
groups sending delegations at
http://www.fosna.org/conferences_and_trips/index.html )

"A season of Mayhem" (title inserted by editor, not my original title)
Published in the Boston Globe January 4, 2001
http://qumsiyeh.org/aseasonofmayhem/

Beit Sahur (where I was born) and Beit Jala (where St. Nicholas was believed
to have been born) are suburbs of Bethlehem. The Palestinians there, both
Christian and Muslim, have not seen "peace on earth" or "good will" this
Christmas and Ramadan season, but only more blood and mayhem. Recent "peace
overtures" by President Clinton do not offer a reasonable framework for a
just solution.

My mother's side of the family is Lutheran, and my father's side is Greek
Orthodox. My hometown was an idyllic place, a place were Christians and
Muslims lived and worked side by side for centuries. The main town mosque
and church are still in the same block both in Bethlehem and Beit Sahur.
Bethlehem, Beit Jala, and Beit Sahur have been relentlessly bombed by
Israeli occupation forces, and hundreds of families had to desert their
homes. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B'Tselem (Israeli Human
Rights Organization), and the World Council of Churches have called this
"excessive use of force" and "collective punishment" (banned by
International law).

My parents tell me they feel lucky since the level of atrocities is still
small compared to those faced by other places such as Ramallah, Gaza, Rafah,
and Husan. A siege on all towns is also in effect, and the United Nations
has warned of potential starvation. In some places (e.g. Hebron) curfews are
in effect for weeks with no school, no work, and no supplies.

In these times of crisis and renewal, I reflected on the Palestine of Jesus'
day. Like today, the picture in the Holy Land was less than idyllic 2,000
years ago. The similarities are astonishing: a brutal military occupation
supported both by resources extracted from the natives and by funding and
weaponry from the west, rulers using collective punishment against the
inhabitants, grinding poverty of the natives, wealthy overlords using self
proclaimed divine authority to do what they please, soldiers killing
children, selfish collaborators, parents grieving over the loss of their
children, attacks on houses of worship, and an organized public relations
campaign to justify the atrocities.

Differences exist. Gunship helicopters and tanks are used today to bomb
neighborhoods and kill individuals in lieu of Roman crucifixion or feeding
them to the lions. And instead of public pronouncements by scribes, we have
sophisticated media tools used to show that two undercover soldiers killed
by a mob are more precious than the deaths of 150 Palestinian children and
injuries to thousands. Blaming the victims for their own killing, the
current occupier has produced a new logic. Instead of chariots, spears, and
swords, the occupier has 400 nuclear weapons and a modern US-equipped army.

I also reflect on what Jesus recommended to his followers. Better yet, he
set the example for them when he went into the temple grounds, turned the
tables of the money-changers, and chastized those who have turned the house
of the Lord to suit their own personal benefit.

Americans today know very little about what is happening to their
co-religionists in the Holy Land other than the distorted snippets seen on
TV. Sure, the Catholic bishops issued a statement denouncing the excessive
use of force by the Israeli Army, as did the World Council of Churches. They
did this on the heels of similar reports from six human rights
organizations.

But are words enough while the killing and oppression continue? Are words
enough when our own US government gives money to Israel to continue its
policies? Policies that include land confiscation, home demolitions, and
construction of colonies and settlements? Policies that have resulted in a
huge refugee problem? Cynically, Clinton proposes solutions that will set a
precedent in implementing a forced peace without return of refugees to their
homes. No Palestinian, Israeli, or American leader can sign away human
rights, including the rights of refugees.

Words are not enough for a small group of Christians and Jews working in the
occupied territories. A group called the Christian Peacemaker Teams
sometimes put themselves in front of Israeli bulldozers to prevent the
demolishing of Palestinian homes. This Christmas the group was in Beit Jala
and Hebron. A group of Jews called the Israel Committee Against Home
Demolitions is also working hard to protect Palestinians from the brutal
Israeli policies.

For these initiatives to succeed, the US government should stop blaming the
victims and join with the over 150 other governments calling for justice and
implementing international law. We all would do well to remind our
government that our tax dollars are better spent here at home rather than
supporting Israeli apartheid policies.

Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://qumsiyeh.org