No, he’s not an exception. The quality of life of a Palestinian prisoner, even a murderer, is something out of the movies. Perhaps what makes the situation even more absurd is that they know they will not serve out their sentence because they’ll be freed in the next prisoner exchange.

And those of you who are wondering, Israel has only used capital punishment once within its justice system, so no, that won’t prevent these ridiculous outcomes.

Ilan Sa’adon, who was murdered by this man, Muhammad Sheratehah, is the one on the left.

According to Nasser, the very first demand of the Brotherhood leader was for the hijab to return to Egypt, “for every woman walking in the street to wear a headscarf.”

The audience erupted in laughter at this, then, ludicrous demand; one person hollered “Let him wear it!” eliciting more laughter and applause.

Nasser continued by saying he told the Brotherhood leader that if they enforced the hijab, people would say Egypt had returned to the dark ages (to more laughter), adding that Egyptians should uphold such matters in the privacy of their own homes.

…

Half a century later and none of this is a laughing matter: the hijab, if not the full burqa, is commonplace in Egypt, even as the Muslim Brotherhood—who for decades were banned and imprisoned for trying to return Egypt to an Islamic dark age—are now poised to govern the nation, all under U.S. tutelage.

…

In other words, Sadat’s great mistake—which cost him his life—is that he conferred a degree of legitimacy on the Muslim Brotherhood, thereby allowing them to worm their way into Egyptian society.

Such is the way of time: left unchecked, what was once ludicrous to suggest—for instance, the Brotherhood’s 1953 request “for every woman walking in the street to wear a headscarf”—slowly and gradually becomes part of the culture.

Back in 1948 when Ben Gurion agreed to have the ultra-Orthodox evade military service and the Israeli government gave up control over aspects of civil law to the Rabbinate with its full governmental authority behind this religious body’s rulings, the Orthodox population, modern and ultra, was relatively small. It has since grown enormously and the powers and decisions made back in the late 1940s under entirely different circumstances continue to play out in entirely unintended ways.

That the Orthodox Jewish community has taken advantage of the rights availed to it should surprise no one, it is the nature of politics and communities to seek to maximize their opportunities. However, for too long, these groups have sought to influence the lives of Israelis and Jews who are not affiliated with stringent observance of Jewish law.

What these groups could not do through the Rabbinate to all Israelis and Jews, they did within their own communities with relative impunity. What we’re seeing today, which is increasing demands for people around them as well as within their own Orthodox communities to have women commit to rules that are discriminatory and affect their place in society, is the result of decades in which the Israeli government has turned a blind eye to obvious developments within those communities, including primarily the growing stringency in observance of certain Jewish laws. To remind everybody, it was only a couple of years ago that Israel’s ultra-Orthodox leadership appointed itself as the ultimate group able to decide on a person’s Jewishness by declaring veto power over conversion made not just by Conservative and Reform rabbis, but even by Orthodox, and ultra-Orthodox rabbis, outside of Israel and even inside Israel.

The government did nothing.

It is time to make sure that this slow but definite encroachment on the rights and freedoms of women and those men who are not Orthodox inside Israel is put to a complete halt. Religion has no place in the government and protecting the freedom of religion is not the same as harming the freedom of others who do not subscribe to religious observance and its multiple interpretations.

If you’re a woman living in Israel, take every opportunity you have to take a stand against activities that may harm your freedoms. And run for office or encourage other women and men who understand the danger here to run for office. Then get them elected into the Knesset. This is critical and it has to be started now to have an effect on the next election.

However, based on what the Republicans have done over the past several months, it seems almost certain that Obama will win re-election. There will simply be far too many American who are going to vote against the Republicans just for the principle of showing them.

The Republicans right now are giving Romney, their best bet because he’s a stable moderate with a strong track record in business and politics, the cold shoulder. He simply can’t get the hard-core party members who take the primaries seriously to support him in large numbers. This suggests that he won’t be strongly supported if he receives the nomination. Theoretically, he could be Obama’s most serious challenger, but it looks like the Republicans keep looking for alternatives. A tepid party behind a nominee guarantees a loss in the election. McCain is an example of this.

The Republicans are warming up to Gingrich, but he’s a loose cannon who talks openly of using force against the judiciary if it doesn’t rule according to his views. I doubt he could win the nomination, but if he becomes the candidate, Obama will crush him by playing up his inconsistencies, his infidelities, and his rabid views. He’ll simply scare America into rejecting him.

Right now it looks as if none of the other candidates can pull themselves out of the pack, although Ron Paul may pull an upset. Ron Paul could be dangerous for Obama but I think he’s got enough baggage that Obama will defeat him. I also just don’t see him getting the nomination in the first place. Who is left? Right now, nobody. Perry, Bachman and Santorum are too far to the right or just too stupid, Huntsman is running for VP, not P, and Palin isn’t even bothering.

But that isn’t what’s going to make Obama a second term Prez. What’s going to do it is that the Republicans are bad for the USA.

The Republicans seem so obsessed with destroying Obama’s presidency, much like they tried with Clinton, that they’ve forgotten that their job is to represent their districts and their voters, not only their benefactors. This is why in July they brought the US economy unnecessarily to a halt and damaged the American credit rating over the debt ceiling debate. There was no reason to go there and even if there was, this had to be one of the worst times ever to try. The economy, in shambles, was finally beginning to pick up steam, and over an ideological fight, these jokers put the USA on a cliff and actually pushed it over. Yes, they pulled everyone back at the last minute, but the recklessness of the move made the economy move backward for several months and damaged many businesses which were beginning to see some light.

The Republicans repeated their stupidity this week by refusing to come to a deal that would have extended critical middle class tax breaks, critical medicare and medicaid subsidies and critical unemployment benefits. First they fought this by decrying the Democratic attempt to pay for the extension by taxing the well under-taxed wealthiest of the wealthiest Americans. Forget the 1%, this tax might have hit the 0.1% of Americans. Yet there they were, the Republicans, ready to protect that sliver of the population which doesn’t need protecting or tax relief. Then, the Dems relented on the tax break for the wealthiest but demanded the breaks be maintained, at least for the next two months. The Republicans refused.

According to one NPR report, a Republican congressman was quoted as saying this was a game of high stakes poker. It’s very nice that he can play poker with people’s livelihoods – people who are desperate – and it’s nice that he can play poker with the economy which benefits from the small amount of money these tax breaks and benefits provide. However, he and the rest of the Republicans in Congress can rest quietly knowing that today they sealed their fate as a party in 2012.

They have opened the door wide for the Democrats not only to win back many seats in Congress, but almost certainly the presidency. After all, Obama has been playing it for months that he’s trying to create jobs and the Republicans have been helping him show that they’re the party of obstruction. And they won’t be able to make the claim that they did it because they are fiscally responsible. Any party that does what they did in July and again this past week is not just the enemy of the US economy, but the enemy of every family and every person who is not wealthy – and even some of those folks have been harmed.

Oh, and by the way, unless Europe has a meltdown, the US economy will show growth and some recovery this year which will be reflected in Obama’s voter response in November.

The Jewish community should take heed. This is going to be a Democratic second term and possibly also a very strong showing in the Houses. It is unwise to attack this administration so fervently that if they are re-elected they feel as if they can ignore Jewish support and supporters.

Oh, and the Israeli government should take note. A second-term Obama will feel quite free to let loose on Israel in a way that we all suspect he would have already if it weren’t for his concern about Jewish voters and supporters leaving him in 2012. A second-term President has nothing to lose in his last couple of years and just as Bush thought he could cram everything related to the Arab-Israeli attempts at peace into his last 18 months in office, Obama is likely to experiment with his views. And he’s not an admirer of Israel.

In an attempt to simultaneously vilify Gingrich, Netanyahu and anybody who doesn’t subscribe to his many mistaken ideas about Israel, Friedman just came out with an editorial where he suggests that America functions as Israel’s ATM if it does not act according to its own interests with Israel. That’s not so terrible since you can at least qualify what he’s saying. But then he pulls out this nugget:

I sure hope that Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, understands that the standing ovation he got in Congress this year was not for his politics. That ovation was bought and paid for by the Israel lobby.

I’m so tired of this guy’s ideas and I just can’t believe that the person who wrote a book where he essentially describes Arafat in positive, almost heroic terms and Sharon as essentially a criminal, is where he is today in his career. And that this person, writing for the NY Times, a paper that just had another writer opine that the Muslim Brotherhood is moderate, is using the term “Israel lobby” and then adding that Congress is owned by this so-called lobby.

What a stupid fool.

[Levanon] slammed the conduct of the government and its leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, “who are toughening their stance, and as a result, prompting extremists to do inconceivable things. There is no reason to threaten to evacuate outpost, while a solution can be reached anywhere.

“This is violence and this is violence,” he added. “There is violence against Jews on the part of those young extremists who run wild, and there is the violence of the Israeli government against peaceful and quiet settlers.”

What has the Israeli government done that is “violent?” Well, first and foremost it sends soldiers to protect the settlers. Second, it subsidizes the settlements in all kinds of ways. Third, it takes an enormous amount of international heat because of the settlements. Fourth, it often defends settlement activities in the courts. Fifth, it enables settlement growth through its own legal channels. Sixth, it postpones and postpones the dismantling of outposts that are illegal and against its own planning regulations – even when it really pisses off the American government and the Europeans. Seventh, it handles settlers with velvet gloves when some of them commit crimes. Eighth, very often it turns a blind eye to settler trespasses of the law or just of normal, moral behavior. Ninth, it funnels resources that could be used inside the Green Line to settlements that are outside territory that Israel has offered to keep in peace deals with the Palestinians. Tenth, it keeps many of the rabbis who are the leaders of the settlement movement in jobs on which they live.

It’s true, though. Every once in a while the Israeli government talks really, really tough about dismantling illegal outposts. Sometimes it even does dismantle one or two, even if infrequently. This is what Levanon is calling violence and this is the offense which he uses to explain settler violence.

Who are these hooligans? Bands of mostly young men, extremist modern Orthodox in the Israel kipa sruga mode, who are taking the movement from the center of Israeli discourse to the fringes of lunacy and potential civil war. They are sometimes related, and often neighbors of, many soldiers in the IDF’s combat units. Many believe that some of those soldier do indeed put their ideology ahead of their commitment to Israel’s IDF and Israel’s government. Make no mistake, I believe and I think most believe that if such soldiers exist, they are a small minority, but it is a critical issue about which the the IDF has expressed concern, as have many commentators, including some who aren’t on the left.

To their credit, a number of prominent rabbis spoke out and without Levanon-style equivocation against the behavior of these criminals.

The chief rabbi called on the law authorities to “use a firm hand against the rioters.” According to Metzger, “Damaging IDF property is a horrible defamation of God. Nothing justifies such a violent act, especially when it is directed at the IDF and its soldiers, who sacrifice their lives to protect the people of this country.”

and

Military Chief Rabbi Brigadier-General Rafi Peretz denounced what he defined as “crimes of revenge of any kind.” …[He] added that price tag activities were forbidden by Halacha and that he expected Religious Zionism rabbis to strongly denounce them.

What should the Israeli government do?

It’s in a tough place. It can’t remove its soldiers who protect settlements without endangering the lives of Israeli civilians in those settlements and also enabling the hooligans from attacking Palestinians or committing acts against Palestinian property with intent to incite. The government can’t easily cut funds or financial support either since the infrastructure that has been built is already part of the government’s debt. It may also find it hard to stop supporting growth in the very settlements that it has spent years telling the US government deserve “natural growth.”

So what should it do? It should come down with the full force of the law against these hooligans and even apply some tactics that have been used against Palestinian terrorists. For example, when it’s discovered who injured the brigade commander and his associate, they should be sent to prison for a long time. Then the IDF should destroy their homes and the homes of their leaders. If they’re young and living with parents, destroy the parents’ homes. Block their bank accounts. Living with parents? Block the parents’ bank accounts.

And arrest them without fear or concern; arrest them whenever they even begin to think of protesting. Monitor them as if they are terrorists so that any plans they hatch are doomed. Find their leaders and make examples of them while restricting their ability to communicate with their gangs.

But careful. Nobody should be killed or seriously injured while the government enforces its laws and rules. That would spark a civil war. Do to them what they do to everybody: keep it on low ebb sufficiently that nobody bothers you too much, but make sure you do it often enough and seriously enough that it will make the hooligans strongly reconsider the wisdom of taking their criminal, dangerous, immoral path.

They’re scum.

In what will become, I’m sure, a classic of lyric-writing on par with some of Bob Dylan’s finest, here are some of the lyrics:

Lets drink to the night
That we both changed
Tomorrow we’ll walk the walk
Of shame
We’ll drink to a time you won’t regret
To a night we can’t explain
And I know you’re scared
And I know you’re freakin’
But baby please
Don’t send this to the Beacon

Haha. The Beacon is the student paper (now formerly associated with Yeshiva University) which published the story. If you want to see Mr. Grogger himself sing this, here’s that link.

Ahh, the joys of youth.

For those of you who still remember Last Tango in Paris (witness the greatness of Google image search when one searches for “anonymous sex”)…this is from a Japanese poster for that film. Butter.

.

The following has nothing to do with Orthodox Jews having sex outside of marriage in mid-town hotel rooms. What can I say, it’s a blog and I feel like writing.

I have to say, it’s been a long time since I saw Last Tango and I recently heard Maria Schneider in an interview essentially saying she was taken advantage of in the making of that movie ( I think she was 19 when they shot it). Looking at the filmmakers for Last Tango, it’s an incredible group. Along with Brando, who was still going to provide us with unforgettable roles in Godfather and Apocalypse Now, the film was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, who made The Conformist, 1900 and Once Upon a Time in the West, co-written by Franco Arcalli who also co-wrote 1900 and Once Upon a Time in America, scored by Jazz musician Gato Barbieri (probably better known to those of us who listened to ECM type Jazz) and filmed by the amazing cinematographer Vittorio Storaro who shot Apocalypse Now, Reds and The Sheltering Sky. It was produced by Alberto Grimaldi who also produced The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, 1900, and Pasolini’s Decameron and Canterbury Tales. Yup, now that I think about it, I saw all of those films at a very impressionable age.

This is former Member of Knesset Azmi Bishara denying there is or ever was a Palestinian people. He is referring, by the way, to the same historical information to which Gingrich was referring. In this video, Bishara is openly denying the existence of a Palestinian people, claiming that they are Arabs and part of the larger Arab Umma. He refers to the fact (often cited on Jewlicious) that prior to 1948, the territory known as Palestine was part of the British Mandate and before that it was a sub-province of the Ottoman province, Syria.

Note also that he is no friend of Israel. He fled the country after serious allegations arose that he helped Hizbullah against Israel.

Of course, some smart-aleck might say that there is nothing wrong with pre-pubescent segregation between boys and girls and they’re getting the same education anyway. Fat chance. Rabbi Rabbi Michael Melchior who is also a former Deputy Minister of Education calls this radicalization

“that is being expressed in a wide range of issues alongside the issue of gender separation and the exclusion of the place of the woman.”

In other words, they are starting to exclude women from key roles in society by getting them young, really young. After all, they don’t need the same emphasis on, say, Torah studies, if they can’t become rabbis. They don’t need the same emphasis on subjects that may earn them a living wage if their roles will be those of mothers and homemakers.

This is quite literally a medieval practice. And it is funded by the state of Israel! They are violating Israel’s education rules in the process, by the way, since classes may only be divided if they reach 40 children (40 in a classroom!!! Maybe if they could get some more tax revenues from the two key populations that are having the most children, the Haredim and the Arabs, then they could afford smaller classes?)

Now, don’t think this is being driven by the Haredim. This is religious Zionism in action. The state of Israel should not be involved in any such educational division between boys and girls. It must either outlaw or de-fund it. Now. As soon as possible. Education is always a means of affecting people’s place in society, their income level, their mobility and their freedom in general. There is no place for this sort of segregation in a liberal democracy and certainly not in Israel where one of its recent Nobel laureates is a woman.

What can you do?

First of all, remember to sing and hum whenever and wherever you are in public. Especially around observant men.

Second, run for office or encourage your friends to run for office. Join the main political parties with your friends and have some women run on the Knesset slate. Then vote for the women and get your friends to vote for the women candidates, and your boyfriends and husbands too. After all, do they want their daughters and wives to be excluded from key places in society?

Third, write letters to the Netanyahu government to complain. Promise Kadima and Labor leaders that you will vote for them and their candidates if they run on platforms that put an end to these shameful moves against women such as omitting women from ads, removing them from public singing and separating them on buses.

You are fighting for the very soul of Israel right now. If this continues, you will not want to fight for its soul later, because it will be destroyed. This is a fight that women have to win!

Previous Alerts:
Kol Isha / Woman’s Voice Movement Alert 3

Here is Kol Isha / Women’s Voice Alert Two

Here is Kol Isha / Women’s Voice Alert One and Founding

As the Jerusalem Post tells it, on Tuesday, November 22, 2011,

“The Israel Bar Association [failed]…to select a woman to serve on the Appointments Committee for Rabbinical Judges.”

Previously, there had been one woman on that Committee. Now there are none. You might ask yourselves why a committee that oversees the selection of those who decide the fate of battered women, of wives who cannot gain divorces from their husbands and are considered agunot, and of those who declare which women’s children are mamzerim (“bastards” according to Jewish law, with attendant complications in securing a marriage) shouldn’t have any women on it, or even one woman. Yet that is the reality as of today.

So get this: an organization that supports a state committee that determines the legal status of countless women and their children has been politically hijacked by self-interested Orthodox parties who have ensured that their patriarchal system, run by men, dominates not only their women but all Jewish women in Israel.

Now you must be thinking that there are plenty of sympathetic men who care and who will jump to help Jewish women in Israel. Think again.

International Coalition for Agunah Rights (ICAR)…announced on Monday that in light of the (then-expected) selection of Axelrod and Eisenberg, it had prepared a draft bill for the Knesset to reserve two slots on the committee for women. The law was proposed on Monday by MKs Uri Orbach (Habayit Hayehudi), Tzipi Hotovely (Likud), Einat Wilf (Labor), Orit Zuaretz (Kadima) and Zehava Gal-On (Meretz).

Take a look at those names. One man, 4 women are the sponsors of that law. There are 24 female Knesset members out of 120. I would think that electing a few dozen more would help women in Israel immensely. How do you get there? Easily. Join political parties and vote for their slates. Make it a point to vote for women candidates. Then vote for the party which has the most women running on its slate.

But for now let’s start small. If you’re female, I remind you to sing or hum whenever and wherever you are in a public place with men around you, particularly Orthodox men. Make them feel your presence and your strength. Remember, you are not doing anything wrong, you are not stripping or being immodest, you are not being sexually provocative or in any way offensive. You are merely singing. Let them know that they do not control you. Sing. Sing. Sing.

Here is Kol Isha / Women’s Voice Alert Two

Here is Kol Isha / Women’s Voice Alert One and Founding

Top settler rabbi: Soldiers will sooner choose death than suffer women’s singing

However, in a radio interview on Thursday, Rabbi Levanon criticized a possible ruling that would forbid religious soldiers from leaving events over women’s singing, saying…

“[The IDF] is bringing close the day in which rabbis will have to say to soldiers ‘you have to leave those events even if there’s a firing squad outside, and you’ll be shot to death,” Levanin said.

The Elon Moreh rabbi said he hoped that there will be “some wise people who will thwart this horrible move, and if not we’ll have no other choice,” adding that he would “recommend anyone who asked me against joining the army.”

Do you know why this wacko rabbi is such a sourpuss? It’s because he doesn’t have the joy of women singing in his life. Sadly, he is so joyless that he also appears to be educating a generation of young followers to follow his lead.

Now try to imagine the great joy that he, and his students, will experience if he could hear women singing wherever he goes? I think he’d be delirious with joy. You will change his life! So please help him if you can. If you’re a woman near or at Elon Moreh, his home community, sing away wherever you go. And if you’re not near Elon Moreh, don’t worry, sing away whenever and wherever you see men who look like they might be from Elon Moreh. Do it out of love for your Jewish “family” and do it out of sympathy for these forlorn and joyless cuckoo rabbis who belong with the Taliban or the Iran Supreme Council. Believe me, you will be doing them a world of good and also yourself. After all, he’s trying to shut your mouth.

Why?

Well, I don’t really know why. It’s some warped version of a Jewish custom prohibiting women from participating on par with men in Jewish life. If you look at medieval synagogues, you can see that women sat in the back or upstairs, hidden from the men. If you consider historic Jewish traditions generally, you find that women may not become rabbis, are not supposed to spend their days studying Torah or Talmud, must wear garb that covers their bodies from head to toe (and in some denominations the head part means a wig) and are considered women of valor when their primary efforts are directed at maintaining households.

Now these customs are about the differences between men and women. However, the custom of avoiding kol isha (the voice of a woman) appears to stem from a deep concern that men will focus on the woman’s sexuality instead of whatever it is they should be thinking of at that moment. It used to be that this concern was predominantly the province of ultra-Orthodox men who avoided kol isha in prayers and holy places. In fact, about 5 years ago I wrote a post about how the ultra-Orthodox were attempting to control the very entrance to the Western Wall plaza by separating men and women. You can see it in all its prescient glory right here. Yup, I called it “Is That a Torah in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to See Me.” Really, do read it, it’s a good post and conversation.

In that conversation, one of the key arguments made is that this is a problem that only applies to other Jews. In other words, all the good Modern Orthodox Jews were trying to convince little ol’ secular me that it is the ultra-Orthodox who are meshugana, not the cool, hip and with-it modern Orthodox.

Well, times have changed. These days, it’s the kippot srugot (knitted yarmulkahs – a signature of the modern Orthodox in Israel) crowd who are doing the ostracizing along with the ultra=Orthodox who are well past that and have taken to putting their women and all women on the back of their buses while they sit at the front. I guess these days modern Orthodox men, too, are concerned that should they hear a woman’s voice, impure thoughts might drown their fragile little minds that are so busily focused on important matters such as which car they’d like to own, which video game they’d like to play, which meat they should have with their hummous and which color socks best match their pants.

I could go on and predict how in five years modern Orthodox men will be putting their women at the back of the bus too, but I don’t really want to. I would like to propose a simple solution:

WOMEN EVERYWHERE IN ISRAEL, PLEASE HUM AND SING WHENEVER and WHEREVER YOU ARE OUT IN PUBLIC.

I mean, all the time. Unless, of course, there are no men around in which case there’s no point since there’s nobody around who might get an accidental erection.

That’s right, you only want to sing around people who might get an erection. I am willing to bet that they won’t. Don’t be insulted by this, I don’t mean to suggest that you’re not attractive and sensual, I’m sure you are. However, I believe that most men don’t think of sex when they hear a woman sing and one way to prove this is to sing around them and then sing some more and if you’re tired of singing then purse those luscious red lips of yours and HUM!

Do not rest silent until the ones who can’t control themselves leave the bus, auditorium, line, cinema, restaurant, supermarket or office!

Let them leave. Who needs them?

Sing away O Women of Israel, sing away! Fill the country with song and beauty and do away with the ugliness that is trying to trample you underfoot. I look forward to hearing your lovely voices.

The IDF, for example, has expressed to the political echelon in Israel that they believe Abbas has been undermined by the Shalit exchange and in order to strengthen him and his armed forces which have supposedly been keeping the peace with Israel, it is important to give the Palestinian chairman a prisoner release of his own.

Others, like George Mitchell, are suggesting that Abbas has been weakened by the deal because in order for him to maintain peace and not let Judea and Samaria devolve into violent conflagrations launched by frustrated Palestinians, he must bring home the bacon show some tangible political results and a prisoner release would help reverse Hamas’s strengthened position.

Abbas himself has now gone into “release Fatah prisoners” mode by claiming that Olmert had promised him once that if Shalit is released in an exchange with Hamas, then Fatah would get even better prisoners. People around Olmert have acknowledged the promise.

I say, let the Fatah prisoners rot in jail. Release more Hamas men to finalize the Shalit deal.

The Palestinians apparently like to take what they can and give nothing in return. With Olmert, they were offered a far-reaching peace agreement that was even superior to what Israel had offered at Taba. Abbas walked away, pocketing the map, and never returned to talks. Later, the Palestinians would claim that talks had to begin where they ended with Olmert.

But they’d like to honor Olmert now. Did the PA do anything to help Shalit get released? No. To help find him? No. Did they do anything as a thank you for all the various gestures Israel has provided over the years including the removal of road blocks, opening of trade channels, military support for PA leaders so their predators, Hamas, wouldn’t topple them, a settlement freeze, a Likud leader’s offer of a two state solution and even prisoner releases? No.

In fact, the PA just continued on its merry way with its diplomatic and existential war on Israel. The PA, to remind you all, just walked away from Oslo Accords and its agreements with Israel in order to present a unilateral declaration of statehood at the UN without committing to peace or to end of claims on Israel.

The fact is, the PA has been very effective in this war against Israel and has left Israel bloodied on the battlefield. Heck, the Palestinians are so confident after this victory that they’ve taken on the United States at the UN.

If the prisoner exchange which was partially intended to strengthen Hamas and weaken Abbas has worked as planned – and apparently it has or all these people wouldn’t be trying to save his hide – then why ruin an effective strategy?

It’s simple: let Fatah prisoners go and then you face an ascendant, cocky PA that refuses to negotiate and tries to undermine Israel in every international public forum, not to mention at campuses across the Western world…or; don’t let Fatah prisoners go and watch as Abbas licks his wounds and takes a step back from all the bravado.

As for the fear that the PA will let Fatah loose again and resort to violence, I find that hard to believe. The Palestinians have made more headway, despite their ongoing lies and games, in a few years of wearing expensive suits and playing at diplomacy than they have in a century of attacks on Jews. They won’t risk that. It’s the Hamas long-time terrorists Israel should fear (and it should release lesser criminals to fulfill its obligations, not more murderers).

Let the PA wallow in it for a while. It’s not as if they’re partners for peace anyway.

I'm gonna blow and blow and bloooooooowwwwww your house down!

For five and a half years, while Gilad Shalit was held by Hamas in Gaza, the Iscar metal working tools company offered his family financial support and continued to pay his father’s salary.

Noam Shalit has a senior position in Iscar’s marketing department in the Tefen Industrial Park. Eitan Wertheimer, one of the company owners, continued to pay his salary even when he took leave from work in order to devote his time to the campaign for his son’s release.

Wertheimer even provided the Shalit family with an apartment in Jerusalem, funded the family members’ personal needs, including food, and helped finance the campaigns.

Wertheimer has refrained from discussing his relationship with the Shalit family until now, when their son is finally home. “This is a great moment for the people of Israel, and for the Iscar family, which stood by Shalit the entire period,” he says.

“There’s nothing unusual in what we did. I believe every other employer in Israel would have done the exact same thing.”

In its latest editorial, dated October 19, 2011 and titled Gilad Shalit’s Release, the Times’ editorial staff suggests that Netanyahu’s ability to negotiate with Hamas and come to a deal that requires tough compromise only shows that Netanyahu is capable of doing what the PA wants and he should stop settlement construction in order to move forward on peace talks.

Now that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has compromised with Hamas, we fear that to prove his toughness he will be even less willing to make the necessary compromises to restart negotiations. And we fear that the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and his Fatah faction, who were cut out of the swap altogether, will be further weakened.

Um, dear NY Times, Israel has already agreed to go back to negotiations. They’ve done so a number of times recently including after the Quartet’s announcement of its plan after the Palestinians approached the UN. The PA, Abbas and Fatah said “No.” It wasn’t Israel who refused, but the Palestinians. Did it occur to your editors that perhaps it is because the Palestinians are so convinced that they’re in the driver’s seat right now that they don’t feel they need to pull over and talk? Did it occur to you that by weakening Abbas and the PA Israel may actually be encouraging the recalcitrant party to begin negotiating?

It’s a good thing they were weakened. Let’s hope they keep getting weaker until they’re willing to talk.

Mr. Netanyahu twisted himself in an ideological knot to get this deal. Only five months ago, he wanted to cut off tax remittances to the Palestinian Authority and urged the United States to halt aid because Mr. Abbas tried to forge a unity government with Hamas, which controls Gaza.

Dear NY Times, Mr. Netanyahu did not get into bed with Hamas. He gave them a huge number of prisoners in order to release a prisoner after years in which negotiations had been ongoing. That is not the same as supporting, partnering or jointly governing with a terrorist organization.

The only ideological knot he finds himself tying is the one where no compromise should be made with terrorists. To remind the NY Times, just as he has changed his opinion on this point, they should be encouraged to change their skeptical opinion of how he hasn’t actually changed his views on agreeing to a Palestinian state. Chances are that if he can compromise on the former, he can compromise on the latter. And he has. He has said so openly and yet the Times prefers to blame him for the stalemate instead of the party which has repeatedly refused to make any compromises and come to the negotiating table – the Palestinians. Mr. Abbas.

One has to ask: If Mr. Netanyahu can negotiate with Hamas – which shoots rockets at Israel, refuses to recognize Israel’s existence and, on Tuesday, vowed to take even more hostages – why won’t he negotiate seriously with the Palestinian Authority, which Israel relies on to help keep the peace in the West Bank?

Israel keeps offering to negotiate “seriously” with the PA. They say so over and over.

Mr. Netanyahu’s backers claim that his coalition is so fragile that he can’t make the compromises needed to help revive peace negotiations. But he was strong enough to go against the grief-stricken families of those Israelis killed by the Palestinian prisoners he just freed. “I know that the price is very heavy for you,” he wrote to them. Why can’t he make a similarly impassioned appeal for a settlement freeze for the sake of Israel’s security?

But Mr. Netanyahu DID freeze settlement construction and all but stalled every Israeli construction project in eastern Jerusalem for 10 months. The Palestinians still didn’t come to the table, just at the end to show they could show up. Why would Netanyahu repeat this mistake in order to facilitate a Palestinian charade?

And if he does stall construction again and the Palestinians don’t come to the table again, will the NY Times editorialize about Abbas needing to make compromises or about how Netanyahu needs to do more and compromise on other Palestinian pre-conditions like declaring the ’67 lines Palestinian borders prior to the negotiations about borders even having started? My guess is the Times will blame Netanyahu again. Square peg, meet round hole.

The United States and its partners should keep trying to get negotiations going.

Yes. They should pressure the Palestinians to come to negotiations, Israel has already consented.

Mr. Abbas should see the prisoner swap for what it is – a challenge to his authority and credibility. The best way to bolster his standing is by leading his people in the creation of a Palestinian state, through negotiations.

Correct. Perhaps you should begin to blame him for not having the courage to make tough decisions, for not preparing his people and government for compromise, for refusing to give up anything while seeking to achieve everything, and for being an enemy of the various peace offers Israel has made to him and his predecessor?

As for Mr. Netanyahu, we saw on Tuesday that the problem is not that he can’t compromise and make tough choices. It’s that he won’t. That won’t make Israel safer.

Here’s another take on this: Netanyahu has shown that he can compromise and make tough choices. In other words, he can make peace with the Palestinians on a two-state basis.

Netanyhu won’t, however, and rightly so, cut a stupid deal or enter negotiations with all his leverage lost. Tough choices and compromise, yes. Stupidity and mistakes that could change the profile of the future with no reason to make these compromises, no.

What the NY Times editors have to understand is that the conclusion here is exactly the OPPOSITE of what they suggest. They are acknowledging that Netanyahu does have the ability to make hard choices and to compromise. They are acknowledging that he has now proven that he has the will to do this. So why hold him responsible for the stalled talks? Go and blame the other party who isn’t coming to the table, Abbas and the PA. After all, if there had been any doubt about Netanyahu’s courage and significant change of philosophy, those have been dispelled. It’s the other party that hasn’t shown good faith, any desire to compromise, courage to make hard choices or a semblance of sincerity about achieving a final peace.

But gosh darn it, if the NY Times actually wrote an editorial blaming the Palestinians instead of Israel, the ugly question of whether the Palestinians actually mean it when they say they want peace would have to be answered. The blame would have to be apportioned by the Times’ editors to the party that has been seeking to evade a deal with Israel instead of applying it to Israel – the party that has offered a deal 3 times in the past decade and has expressed willingness to make another offer if they had a partner.

The editors at the Times are scared, however. That’s because underneath it all they must know that if they moved that square peg over to the next hole, the square one, it would fit right in.

UPDATE: A couple of days later, the Palestinians indicate yet again that they’re not ready to come to negotiations. This is after the Quartet demanded the two sides come to the table with maps within three months. Israel accepted.

I wonder whether the NY Times will be blaming Israel and Netanyahu again soon? Actually, I don’t wonder because I’m positive they will.

2nd UPDATE: Israel has now offered a settlement freeze to advance talks. The Palestinians have rejected the offer as incomplete. We now await breathlessly for the NY Times to write an editorial blaming the PA for stalling peace talks.

Not really. Actually, we expect the NY Times to write yet another editorial about how Netanyahu should give up more. After all, the Palestinians truly want compromise and peace and if Israel just gives them whatever their last demand happens to be, surely they will finally come to the table and negotiate in good faith and not walk away when they are offered virtually everything they’ve asked for except the actual destruction of Israel.

There are statistics that suggest that as many as 60% of released Palestinian terrorists have returned to terror activities in the past, so this trade may cost more Israeli lives.

The deal has strengthened Hamas, a staunch enemy of Israel, and has raised the specter of further kidnappings and lopsided trade deals in the future. In fact, it appears that Israel is about to release 80 Egyptian prisoners for a foolish American-Israeli who thought it was a good idea to witness the “Arab Spring” and was taken into custody on a foolish accusation of espionage.

There is the question of timing and wonder at whether Netanyahu acted out of political expediency in order to use the deal to undermine the strength of Fatah and the PA during these days of trying to secure Palestinian statehood at the UN.

The deal ultimately pitted the families of some who lost family or who had been severely injured in terror attacks against the state and even the Shalit family.

In other words, there is a great deal of bitterness and concern blended with the joy of seeing Gilad Shalit hugging his father today.

But make no mistake, while there are extenuating circumstances and challenging implications, that hug was a great moment for Israel.

In thinking about today, I went back to another lopsided trade about two years ago when in an attempt to free Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, Israel released a large number of prisoners including the sadistic Samir Kuntar who murdered a father in front of his four year old daughter and then murdered the daughter as well. The Israelis received two corpses in return, not even living soldiers.

The Israelis didn’t know they were going to receive two bodies; when the coffins were pulled out it was a shocking moment. But even seeing those boxes, it was clear that the deal had been inevitable.

Here’s the Jewlicious essay from then. It discusses the wife, Karnit, and mother, Miki, of Ehud Goldwasser as they spoke at his funeral:

Karnit spoke of Ehud’s love for the “moledet” which translates into “homeland” or “nation of birth.” This love for the moledet was a part of him, she said, and part of his motivation to serve his country, Israel…

The mother, Miki, spoke to the people of Israel and said to them, “zikpu komatchem” which translates into “straighten up” or “raise yourselves up.” You won the [Lebanon] war, she told the nation, so raise yourselves up and be proud. As her son lay there, killed defending the country, she stood resolute, stone-faced and commanding and told the people of Israel to stand tall and be proud of who they are. It is an incredible thing to see and hear precisely because she’s doing it at the moment of her greatest loss. At her own son’s funeral she did this.

And it became so clear, watching these women speak, that the trade – difficult and imbalanced as it was – had to be made. These families sacrificed their loved ones for an idea that a place for the Jewish people was necessary, important, just and good, AND the reality that such a place cannot exist without the commitment of the nation to send its husbands, fathers, sons and brothers off to war. The least the nation could do is sacrifice to bring them back to their families, even dead.

And far more so to bring back one of their sons alive.

Professor Danny Shechtman

In April, 6 months before the Nobel Committee’s announcement about the 2011 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Ha’aretz published an article about Danny Shechtman, who was awarded the prize, describing the scientist and the severe challenges he faced when he first figured out what was unknown at the time, which is that crystals can be ordered with pentagonal symmetry in contradiction with scientific tenets of the preceding 75 years. He was actually kicked out of his research group because this discovery was considered ridiculous. He persisted, however, and was eventually able to convince others. Today, the study of such crystals, quasicrystals, is a field in itself.

I strongly recommend reading this article, which includes the story of his discovery and the road he took to have the scientific community accept it.

Shechtman was born in Tel Aviv in 1941 and, like so many other Israeli scientists, had the opportunity to live and work in the United States. He chose to return to Israel and make his life there, working at the Technion. The Technion is, without question, one of the world’s great science learning institutions precisely because it is able to attract scientists of Shechtman’s caliber. This Nobel should give great pride to Israelis and their scientific community.

Here’s a video of Professor Dan Shechtman.

Either way, what is interesting about the Roadmap is that as you read it, it becomes quite clear that conditions in the Middle East have changed considerably since 2003 when this document was produced. Conditions have changed for Arab states in general, but also for the Palestinians who are now divided into two areas and two governments (neither one of which has held elections recently – a requirement of the Roadmap).

In other words, the Quartet, in order to try to save peace talks and prevent unilateral action, have signed off on an impossible plan. There is no way this Roadmap can be implemented as written, because key elements cannot be addressed. For example, what about Hamas?!

Those elements are critical to ensuring the basis of this plan, which is to assure both sides that they will be safe after a peace agreement is signed and two states are created.

One can only assume the Quartet decided to pass the buck to the Palestinians and Israelis rather than opening up the discussion among themselves again. Maybe they think they (the Quartet members) won’t be able to come to some sort of consensus again and rather than reopen what would become a Pandora’s Box, they prefer to leave things as they are. However, they are placing Israel and even the Palestinians in an extremely challenging situation, one unlikely to be resolved this way. You can’t expect real progress when you base your foundations on a fiction.

A Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The following is a performance-based and goal-driven roadmap, with clear phases, timelines, target dates, and benchmarks aiming at progress through reciprocal steps by the two parties in the political, security, economic, humanitarian, and institution-building fields, under the auspices of the Quartet [the United States, European Union, United Nations, and Russia]. The destination is a final and comprehensive settlement of the Israel-Palestinian conflict by 2005, as presented in President Bush’s speech of 24 June, and welcomed by the EU, Russia and the UN in the 16 July and 17 September Quartet Ministerial statements.

A two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will only be achieved through an end to violence and terrorism, when the Palestinian people have a leadership acting decisively against terror and willing and able to build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty, and through Israel’s readiness to do what is necessary for a democratic Palestinian state to be established, and a clear, unambiguous acceptance by both parties of the goal of a negotiated settlement as described below. The Quartet will assist and facilitate implementation of the plan, starting in Phase I, including direct discussions between the parties as required. The plan establishes a realistic timeline for implementation. However, as a performance-based plan, progress will require and depend upon the good faith efforts of the parties, and their compliance with each of the obligations outlined below. Should the parties perform their obligations rapidly, progress within and through the phases may come sooner than indicated in the plan. Non-compliance with obligations will impede progress.

A settlement, negotiated between the parties, will result in the emergence of an independent, democratic, and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel and its other neighbors. The settlement will resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict, and end the occupation that began in 1967, based on the foundations of the Madrid Conference, the principle of land for peace, UNSCRs 242, 338 and 1397, agreements previously reached by the parties, and the initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah – endorsed by the Beirut Arab League Summit – calling for acceptance of Israel as a neighbor living in peace and security, in the context of a comprehensive settlement. This initiative is a vital element of international efforts to promote a comprehensive peace on all tracks, including the Syrian-Israeli and Lebanese-Israeli tracks.

The Quartet will meet regularly at senior levels to evaluate the parties’ performance on implementation of the plan. In each phase, the parties are expected to perform their obligations in parallel, unless otherwise indicated.

Phase I: Ending Terror And Violence, Normalizing Palestinian Life, and Building Palestinian Institutions — Present to May 2003
In Phase I, the Palestinians immediately undertake an unconditional cessation of violence according to the steps outlined below; such action should be accompanied by supportive measures undertaken by Israel. Palestinians and Israelis resume security cooperation based on the Tenet work plan to end violence, terrorism, and incitement through restructured and effective Palestinian security services. Palestinians undertake comprehensive political reform in preparation for statehood, including drafting a Palestinian constitution, and free, fair and open elections upon the basis of those measures. Israel takes all necessary steps to help normalize Palestinian life. Israel withdraws from Palestinian areas occupied from September 28, 2000 and the two sides restore the status quo that existed at that time, as security performance and cooperation progress. Israel also freezes all settlement activity, consistent with the Mitchell report.

At the outset of Phase I:

*
Palestinian leadership issues unequivocal statement reiterating Israel’s right to exist in peace and security and calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire to end armed activity and all acts of violence against Israelis anywhere. All official Palestinian institutions end incitement against Israel.
*
Israeli leadership issues unequivocal statement affirming its commitment to the two-state vision of an independent, viable, sovereign Palestinian state living in peace and security alongside Israel, as expressed by President Bush, and calling for an immediate end to violence against Palestinians everywhere. All official Israeli institutions end incitement against Palestinians.

Security

*
Palestinians declare an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism and undertake visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt, and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere.
*
Rebuilt and refocused Palestinian Authority security apparatus begins sustained, targeted, and effective operations aimed at confronting all those engaged in terror and dismantlement of terrorist capabilities and infrastructure. This includes commencing confiscation of illegal weapons and consolidation of security authority, free of association with terror and corruption.
*
GOI takes no actions undermining trust, including deportations, attacks on civilians; confiscation and/or demolition of Palestinian homes and property, as a punitive measure or to facilitate Israeli construction; destruction of Palestinian institutions and infrastructure; and other measures specified in the Tenet work plan.
*
Relying on existing mechanisms and on-the-ground resources, Quartet representatives begin informal monitoring and consult with the parties on establishment of a formal monitoring mechanism and its implementation.
*
Implementation, as previously agreed, of U.S. rebuilding, training and resumed security cooperation plan in collaboration with outside oversight board (U.S.-Egypt-Jordan). Quartet support for efforts to achieve a lasting, comprehensive cease-fire.
o
All Palestinian security organizations are consolidated into three services reporting to an empowered Interior Minister.
o
Restructured/retrained Palestinian security forces and IDF counterparts progressively resume security cooperation and other undertakings in implementation of the Tenet work plan, including regular senior-level meetings, with the participation of U.S. security officials.
*
Arab states cut off public and private funding and all other forms of support for groups supporting and engaging in violence and terror.
*
All donors providing budgetary support for the Palestinians channel these funds through the Palestinian Ministry of Finance’s Single Treasury Account.
*
As comprehensive security performance moves forward, IDF withdraws progressively from areas occupied since September 28, 2000 and the two sides restore the status quo that existed prior to September 28, 2000. Palestinian security forces redeploy to areas vacated by IDF.

Palestinian Institution-Building

*
Immediate action on credible process to produce draft constitution for Palestinian statehood. As rapidly as possible, constitutional committee circulates draft Palestinian constitution, based on strong parliamentary democracy and cabinet with empowered prime minister, for public comment/debate. Constitutional committee proposes draft document for submission after elections for approval by appropriate Palestinian institutions.
*
Appointment of interim prime minister or cabinet with empowered executive authority/decision-making body.
*
GOI fully facilitates travel of Palestinian officials for PLC and Cabinet sessions, internationally supervised security retraining, electoral and other reform activity, and other supportive measures related to the reform efforts.
*
Continued appointment of Palestinian ministers empowered to undertake fundamental reform. Completion of further steps to achieve genuine separation of powers, including any necessary Palestinian legal reforms for this purpose.
*
Establishment of independent Palestinian election commission. PLC reviews and revises election law.
*
Palestinian performance on judicial, administrative, and economic benchmarks, as established by the International Task Force on Palestinian Reform.
*
As early as possible, and based upon the above measures and in the context of open debate and transparent candidate selection/electoral campaign based on a free, multi-party process, Palestinians hold free, open, and fair elections.
*
GOI facilitates Task Force election assistance, registration of voters, movement of candidates and voting officials. Support for NGOs involved in the election process.
*
GOI reopens Palestinian Chamber of Commerce and other closed Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem based on a commitment that these institutions operate strictly in accordance with prior agreements between the parties.

Humanitarian Response

*
Israel takes measures to improve the humanitarian situation. Israel and Palestinians implement in full all recommendations of the Bertini report to improve humanitarian conditions, lifting curfews and easing restrictions on movement of persons and goods, and allowing full, safe, and unfettered access of international and humanitarian personnel.
*
AHLC reviews the humanitarian situation and prospects for economic development in the West Bank and Gaza and launches a major donor assistance effort, including to the reform effort.
*
GOI and PA continue revenue clearance process and transfer of funds, including arrears, in accordance with agreed, transparent monitoring mechanism.

Civil Society

*
Continued donor support, including increased funding through PVOs/NGOs, for people to people programs, private sector development and civil society initiatives.

Settlements

*
GOI immediately dismantles settlement outposts erected since March 2001.
*
Consistent with the Mitchell Report, GOI freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements).

Phase II: Transition — June 2003-December 2003
In the second phase, efforts are focused on the option of creating an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders and attributes of sovereignty, based on the new constitution, as a way station to a permanent status settlement. As has been noted, this goal can be achieved when the Palestinian people have a leadership acting decisively against terror, willing and able to build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty. With such a leadership, reformed civil institutions and security structures, the Palestinians will have the active support of the Quartet and the broader international community in establishing an independent, viable, state.

Progress into Phase II will be based upon the consensus judgment of the Quartet of whether conditions are appropriate to proceed, taking into account performance of both parties. Furthering and sustaining efforts to normalize Palestinian lives and build Palestinian institutions, Phase II starts after Palestinian elections and ends with possible creation of an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders in 2003. Its primary goals are continued comprehensive security performance and effective security cooperation, continued normalization of Palestinian life and institution-building, further building on and sustaining of the goals outlined in Phase I, ratification of a democratic Palestinian constitution, formal establishment of office of prime minister, consolidation of political reform, and the creation of a Palestinian state with provisional borders.

* International Conference: Convened by the Quartet, in consultation with the parties, immediately after the successful conclusion of Palestinian elections, to support Palestinian economic recovery and launch a process, leading to establishment of an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders.
o Such a meeting would be inclusive, based on the goal of a comprehensive Middle East peace (including between Israel and Syria, and Israel and Lebanon), and based on the principles described in the preamble to this document.
o Arab states restore pre-intifada links to Israel (trade offices, etc.).
o Revival of multilateral engagement on issues including regional water resources, environment, economic development, refugees, and arms control issues.
*
New constitution for democratic, independent Palestinian state is finalized and approved by appropriate Palestinian institutions. Further elections, if required, should follow approval of the new constitution.
*
Empowered reform cabinet with office of prime minister formally established, consistent with draft constitution.
*
Continued comprehensive security performance, including effective security cooperation on the bases laid out in Phase I.
*
Creation of an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders through a process of Israeli-Palestinian engagement, launched by the international conference. As part of this process, implementation of prior agreements, to enhance maximum territorial contiguity, including further action on settlements in conjunction with establishment of a Palestinian state with provisional borders.
*
Enhanced international role in monitoring transition, with the active, sustained, and operational support of the Quartet.
*
Quartet members promote international recognition of Palestinian state, including possible UN membership.

Phase III: Permanent Status Agreement and End of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict — 2004 – 2005
Progress into Phase III, based on consensus judgment of Quartet, and taking into account actions of both parties and Quartet monitoring. Phase III objectives are consolidation of reform and stabilization of Palestinian institutions, sustained, effective Palestinian security performance, and Israeli-Palestinian negotiations aimed at a permanent status agreement in 2005.

*
Second International Conference: Convened by Quartet, in consultation with the parties, at beginning of 2004 to endorse agreement reached on an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders and formally to launch a process with the active, sustained, and operational support of the Quartet, leading to a final, permanent status resolution in 2005, including on borders, Jerusalem, refugees, settlements; and, to support progress toward a comprehensive Middle East settlement between Israel and Lebanon and Israel and Syria, to be achieved as soon as possible.
*
Continued comprehensive, effective progress on the reform agenda laid out by the Task Force in preparation for final status agreement.
*
Continued sustained and effective security performance, and sustained, effective security cooperation on the bases laid out in Phase I.
*
International efforts to facilitate reform and stabilize Palestinian institutions and the Palestinian economy, in preparation for final status agreement.
*
Parties reach final and comprehensive permanent status agreement that ends the Israel-Palestinian conflict in 2005, through a settlement negotiated between the parties based on UNSCR 242, 338, and 1397, that ends the occupation that began in 1967, and includes an agreed, just, fair, and realistic solution to the refugee issue, and a negotiated resolution on the status of Jerusalem that takes into account the political and religious concerns of both sides, and protects the religious interests of Jews, Christians, and Muslims worldwide, and fulfills the vision of two states, Israel and sovereign, independent, democratic and viable Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security.
*
Arab state acceptance of full normal relations with Israel and security for all the states of the region in the context of a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace.