The Presbyterian Church (USA): What Progressive Christianity Looks Like

"They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them....They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals.  They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied.  They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed....They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor..."   2 Peter 2:1, 13-15

Introduction.  It appears that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is positioning itself to become the Progressive Church of America by adopting the entire progressive agenda, hook, line and sinker.  This includes the homosexual agenda, the environmentalist agenda, the Open Society agenda (George Soros), and the acknowledgment that other religions are legitimate pathways to God.  Frankly, PC(USA) appears to be more like the Church of Oprah Winfrey rather than a Church based on the Word of God.

What follows are several of the topics that the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA, addressed this summer.  As a Christian having grown up in the Presbyterian Church, I find the topics and the PC(USA) responses to them alarming.

(1) Boycott of Israeli products from the Occupied Palestinian Territories.  "After three failed attempts to bring divestment back to the table, commissioners to the 220th General Assembly voted with a 71% majority to boycott “all Israeli products coming from the occupied Palestinian Territories....” One of the motions considered by the Assembly was the use of the word "apartheid" to describe the condition of Palestinians at the hands of Israelis....  The Assembly agreed and voted with a 72% majority to reject the motion."  (link)

"He [Bonhoeffer] had become convinced that a church that was not willing to stand up for the Jews in its midst was not the real church of Jesus Christ."  Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Eric Metaxas and Timothy J. Keller) (Bonhoeffer was a Christian pastor during the time of Nazi Germany.)

"I will make you a great nation.  I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.  All the families on earth will be blessed through you." Genesis 12:2-3

(2) "New Arab democracies doing in a few years what it took the U.S. over 200 to do."  They willingly listened to Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University in Beirut, spout hogwash like:

• The United States and Israel need to understand and appreciate the change taking place this year across the Arab world because “you have for the first time nations with popular legitimacy.”  
• He pointed to the birth of the United States, followed almost 100 years later by the Civil War, later still by women’s rights, and now by issues of immigration, gender issues and sexual orientation. “You’re still debating these issues,” Khouri said. “They [the new Arab democracies] are debating these issues in one year.” (link)

We should be skeptical of the quality of the freedoms that result from these new Arab democracies, since they are influenced by the Islamic ideology that requires the implementation of shariah law, and because many of their leaders, like the President of Egypt, are members of the Muslim Brotherhood.  The freedoms of fellow Christians in those nations will most certainly be in jeopardy, as will the lives of the Jewish people in neighboring Israel.

"...you may kill the idol worshippers when you encounter them, punish them, and resist every move they make." --Sura 9:5 of the Quran

"You shall fight them, for GOD will punish them at your hands, humiliate them, grant you victory over them..." --Sura 9:14 of the Quran

"As for those who reject our revelations, and are too arrogant to uphold them, they have incurred Hell, wherein they abide forever.  Who is more evil than those who invent lies about GOD, or reject His revelations?  These will get their share, in accordance with the scripture, then, when our messengers come to terminate their lives..." --Sura 7:36-37 of the Quran

"God is our objective; the Quran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations."--Motto of the Muslim Brotherhood

(3) Rejected the return to the 'fidelity and chastity' language to the ordination standards.  In 2010 PC(USA) removed the language that required pastors to be either chaste or in a faithful marriage between a man and woman.  As a result, homosexuals are now permitted to hold leadership positions in the church. (link)

"Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman.  It is a detestable sin."  --Leviticus 18:22

"Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God?  Don't fool yourselves.  Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people--none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God....  You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is good for you....  But you can't say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality.  They were made for the Lord..."  --1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 12-13

(4) Redefining marriage.  The Assembly rejected the idea of affirming that the definition of marriage is "a civil contract between a woman and a man" and instead called for a two-year study in the matter.  (link)  Two proposals during the General Assembly:

• Change the definition of marriage from between a woman and a man to between two people...The proposal to change the definition of marriage passed 28-24, with commissioners on both sides expressing fear about being unfaithful to God’s call.  (Against All Enemies note: Are you more concerned about obeying God or pleasing Man?)
• Call for a “season of serious study and discernment” about the meaning of Christian marriage. (link)

"But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband."  -- 1 Corinthians 7:2

"As the Scriptures say, "A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one."  This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one."  --Ephesians 5:31-32

(5) Approving multiple actions in regard to immigrants.  PC(USA) may have adopted the ideology of multiculturalism and an Open Society where there are no national borders, and may also be asking its members to ignore current immigration laws.  Frankly, how illegal immigrants are dealt with on a personal level needs to be left up to each parishioner's conscience and not dictated from on high.

• Affirming the scriptural call to provide hospitality to and justice for immigrants, regardless of status
• Continuing to advocate on behalf of comprehensive immigration reform
• Actively advocating for legislation such as the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) that offers hope for young immigrants by providing a pathway to citizenship
• Directing the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness to make immigration reform one of the top policy issues in its work
• Urging the U.S. government to end policies such as Secure Communities, a program of the Department of Homeland Security, because of concern that the program has led to racial profiling, lack of due process and violations of human rights related to the arrest and detention of immigrants
• Encouraging presbyteries to create cross-cultural ministry teams and immigration issues task forces
• Calling on congregations to build relationships with immigrants and refugees and to learn about the gifts they have to offer
• Incorporating stories from churches engaged in ministry with immigrants into times of worship and sharing at next year’s Big Tent event and at the 221st General Assembly (2014) (link to article)

(6) Steering away from the one true path; worship of the planet.  The following "to do" list was recommended by a speaker at a "Voices of Sophia" breakfast.  The points sound very much like New Age philosophies that are fundamentally at odds with the Christian faith.

• the need to create holistic, sacred space
• giving attention to inclusive, expansive language for God
• speaking truth to power about warmongering, sable-rattling, and more
• recognizing the earth as an endangered species
• building coalitions with other faith communities (link to article)

Why are we building coalitions with other faith communities when the Church should be spreading the Good News to them?  This sounds like the legitimization of other faiths as pathways to God.

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."  --John 14:6

(7) Embraced the ideology of environmentalism (socialism).  Remember F.A. Hayek said in "The Road to Serfdom" that "...this is linked directly to the environmentalist agenda to only produce that which we need...using the threat to the environment as the rationale for controlling production..." (p. 84).  PC(USA) fails to understand that by supporting socialist goals such as those established by environmentalists, the end state will be tyranny and a limitation on religious freedoms to ensure the power of the state is unchallenged.  What follows demonstrates some of the discussion about the matter during the General Assembly.

Economic growth “has taken on a God-like identity,” Kovacs said, “and fossil fuels have become the economic temple of global commerce. This is perilous to the well-being of humanity, especially the impoverished.”

The World Christian Student Federation (WCSF), composed of Christian student groups from around the world, has been active in a program of the World Council of Churches called AGAPE, which is promoting “an alternative global development policy that integrates concerns for poverty, wealth and ecology.” Regional gatherings around the world over the last four years culminated last month in a Global Economic Forum on Poverty, Wealth and Ecology. 

“We are addicted to economic models that are the antithesis of God’s justice, which is not a political system or a social gospel but THE gospel―the good news for the hungry is a piece of bread.” (link)

Another speaker, Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, espoused more global socialist policies:

Nelson listed other examples of violence, including the “economic violence in our nation, where two classes are emerging—one rich and the other poor.” Free trade agreements, because they are not about “fair trade,” have contributed to violence and poverty in developing nations. Nations such as Iran and the United States are in a “race to see who can take out the other.” (link)

(8) Retained PC(USA) Property Clause.  This ruling prevents a local congregation from owning their own property, keeping it in the hands of the PC(USA) denomination as a whole.  This is most likely a move to prevent congregations from seceding from PC(USA). (link)

(9) Ruled on social(ist) issues. (link)

• Calling for an end to Poverty Zone Development and a resolution on Workers’ Rights and Income Equality
• Supporting the work of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
• A set of principles and actions called World of Hurt, Word of Life: “Renewing God’s Communion in the Work of Economic Reconstruction”
• A Resolution on Racism, Incarceration and Restoration
• Commending the 2011-2012 Horizons Bible Study and the Accra Confession
• Plans to update the Safe Child Policy in the PC(USA)
• Supporting justice for survivors of sexual abuse
• A Statement on housing and the mortgage crisis
• Appointing two seasons of prayer to seek the will of God in this year’s election
• A Statement of concern about prolonged solitary confinement
• Advocating for trade reform and accountability

Conclusion.

"I believe that the church's main power comes through the influence of chiefly their congregations.  If the Word is not taught properly, then it sets itself up for failure when assailed by challenges to the beliefs of the faith."  Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Eric Metaxas and Timothy J. Keller)

"We reject the false doctrine, as though the Church in human arrogance could place the Word and work of the Lord in the service of any arbitrarily chosen desires, purposes, and plans." Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (Eric Metaxas and Timothy J. Keller)

I have not been to seminary and am therefore not a pastor, but I do possess the capacity to read.  In 1536, William Tyndale sacrificed his life to ensure that the people of Britain had access to an English translation of the Bible.  He did so to prevent the Church of England from possessing the sole ability to interpret the Bible and relate it to the people based on what the Church of England wanted the people to believe.

Some 400 years later we are fortunate to still be able to read the Bible in English, but are being told by churches like PC(USA) that our interpretations are wrong.  Instead, we are being fed interpretations that fit an earthly agenda.  The Presbyterian Church, USA, is clearly becoming of the world, as opposed to being in it.  The leadership of PC(USA) fits the Bible to the world, as opposed to making the world fit to the Bible.

What business does the Church have meddling in all these topics covered during this year's General Assembly?  Should they not be more concerned about ministering to their flocks instead of establishing a social platform?  The behavior of PC(USA) appears more like that of a progressive, secular political party rather than that of a church concerned first and foremost with following Christ.

Bottom line is this: PC(USA) needs to get back to basics--the Word of God--or witness more of the faithful walking away.

(From 2010 to 2011, the total membership of PC(USA) declined by 63,804 members.--article link)

Disclaimer: These opinions are solely my own, and do not reflect the opinions or official positions of any United States Government agency, organization or department.

A Simple Question

By Findalis

Courtesy of DryBones:



Now this is a very simple question. Why are the Palestinians forcing Jews out of their land, in effect creating a Jew-Free State, Judenfrei (Ethnic Cleansing) and the Israelis have to keep their Arab population? And why is the world letting them get away with it?

Could you imagine the uproar if Israel did that to her Muslim population. The world would be condemning Israel until the cows came home.

But the Muslim world is demanding that all Jews be removed from the West Bank and Jerusalem. Yes Jerusalem! Jerusalem was a Jewish city before there ever was a Mecca, before Jesus walked the land, before Muhammad was even born, before the Romans conquered Italy. There has been Jews living in Jerusalem for over 3500 years.

This is unacceptable! If Israel has to resettle Jews out of the West Bank, then all Muslims living in Israel must be resettled into the West Bank.

If Palestine is to be Judenfrei, than Israel should be free of Muslims.

King Abdullah: No Alternative to Two State Solution for Israel

by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

Jordan's King Abdullah has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that under the terms of the Arab peace initiative, there are no alternatives to the two state solution, meaning an official state for Palestinians, side-by-side with Israel. In fact, Abdullah turned the screws a bit harder and said:

[there] is consensus in the international community that there is no alternative to the two-state solution."

King Abdullah

The AP author, Jamal Halaby, says, without quoting anyone:

The Arab peace initiative would offer Israel relations with the 23 Arab League members in exchange for its withdrawal from land it occupied in the 1967 war, a just solution for Palestinian refugees and the establishment of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

Does it get any cheekier than that?

Isn't it simple? Israel gives away it's holiest site, the Temple Mount, and agrees to live side-by-side with Palestinians who have vowed to bring about the destruction of Israel and have so-stated in their Charter.



Inside Tour of Temple Mount, Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque





A Tour of the Temple Mount

Obama Plan to Destroy Israel: Two State Solution

by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

The following offers deep insight into the world's quest for a two state solution agreement between Israel and Palestine. Put your thinking cap on and delve in.


Obama's Plan to Destroy Israel
by Sultan Knish

If there's one thing that the Carter Administration can be given credit for, it's creating the new wave of Islamist terrorism, both Sunni, operating out of Afghanistan, and Shiite, operating out of Iran. The Carter Administration cracked down on Israel and put its "faith" in Muslim terrorists, who then went on to wage war on America, even while Carter was in office.

28 years after Carter was removed from office, we're in reruns again with the Obama Administration, which is not only following the Carter line, but whose plans greatly exceed it. 28 years ago, Wahhabi Sunni and Shiite terrorists were generally an afterthought when compared to the standard USSR backed Marxist terrorist groups, such as the PLO.

Today, thanks in part to the Carter Administration, they control several countries and have designs on several more. From Pakistan to Afghanistan, from Gaza to Lebanon, from the Middle East to Southeast Asia, the threat is very real and bigger than ever particularly as the race by both Sunni and Shiite groups to build and deploy nuclear weapons continues.

Like Carter before him, Obama has chosen to cut backdoor deals with the Mullahs in Iran, offering them power over Iraq and Afghanistan, in exchange for quieting things down enough to let him hang up a Mission Accomplished banner and pull the troops out. "Peace with honor", preferably before the next election. The rape law for Shiites in Afghanistan, the push for a US funded Hamas/Fatah Unity government in the territories and the rising expansion of the Taliban are all fruits of this arrangement.

If Iran is to be our new best friend under this arrangement, Israel is to be our new best enemy.

Obama stacked the deck by deploying Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State in a position that gave her an important title, but absolutely no power to go with it, while stacking the National Security Council and even the Pentagon with oil appointees in the pockets of the Saudis or his own left wing radical friends.

Israel electing a conservative government really put the ball into play, freeing up even more resources for attacking Israel. The strategy runs something like this.

The Obama Administration has broken down the Israel problem into two subsections, Israel itself, and American Jews.

Obama's people have studied the problem and understand where Carter went wrong. Obama does not want to have the same image problems as Carter in the Jewish community. Should that happen, the Beloved Leader and his lapdog press are fully prepared to unleash a Chavez style hate-on targeting American Jews. But that would be inconvenient and messy. Even with the changing face of America, there are significant differences between the average American and European or Venezuelan, and what kind of ugliness they are willing to tolerate. So Obama's people have split their attention in handling the two factors as two different problems.

American Jews - Obama has been clever about putting his Jewish appointees front and center. Like many minorities, some American Jews suffer from self-esteem problems that are soothed when they see a seeming acceptance. Of course what they fail to realize is that exploitation is not acceptance. And that Obama's appointees are creatures of his backers, Nazi collaborators like Soros, who have nothing but contempt for Jews, individually or collectively.

While outwardly courting Jews, Obama's people have also been quietly shoving Jewish organizations and their leaders into a corner. Within the Jewish organizational world there has been a silent but deadly takeover of major Jewish groups by left wing radicals. Former alumni of the far left wing and anti-Israel groups like Breira or Coname in the 70's have been elevated to key positions in such organizations as the UJA Federation. Behind the scenes any Jewish leaders who expressed even doubts about Obama during the primaries were intimidated and silenced.

Much as with conservatives, a list has been drawn up of those figures who can be won over, and those who cannot. The ones who can be won over are described as "moderates", the ones who cannot be won over are described as "extremists".

Meanwhile a bevvy of left wing Jewish In Name Only groups have been organized to play their part. Key among them is the Soros funded J Street, a group created as an anti-Israel lobby meant to eventually replace AIPAC. Meanwhile AIPAC itself has been kept on the ropes with such things as the well timed Harman leak. The message once again is fairly clear, cooperate and keep quiet, or we'll destroy you.

The multi-layered approach to American Jews can then be summed up as follows;

1.) Co-opt existing Jewish organizations and swing them to the left using old school 70's leftists.

2.) Create new "progressive" organizations to appeal to a younger generation of ethnically Jewish youth detached from any actual identity. Have these organizations generate attacks on the Israeli government and pro-Israel Jews, while creating phony polls indicating that most American Jews are behind them and Obama.

3.) Silence and intimidate remaining Jewish organizations and leaders behind the scenes.

The overall idea is to keep a happy face pasted on American Jewry while the knives are out in the dark.

Israel - The basic understanding in the Obama Administration is that Israel Must Go. In the worldview of the more moderate Obama appointees, Israel is a destabilizing factor in the Middle East. To the more left wing Obama advisors, Israel is a Western imperialist colonialist state that must be destroyed in the name of revolutionary justice. To the Islamist mindset, Israel is a Kufir state that has no right to exist in the Dar Al Islam.

While intractably hostile to Israel, the Obama Administration wants to avoid the kind of public confrontations that marked the Carter and Bush Sr administrations. Instead they would much rather model the way that the Clinton Administration waged a quiet war against Israel, removing one government, and forcing extensive concessions to terrorists, all the while keeping a happy face pasted on the whole affair.

On the one hand that means avoiding harsh public attacks on Israel, but keeping the pressure up for Israel to make extensive far reaching one sided concessions, to accept Saudi and Arab League "peace plans", to legitimize Hamas as the new government of the Palestinian Authority, and to insure that Israel does not reply to any rocket or terrorist attacks.

There are two forms of quiet leverage that the United States has on Israel, the first is financial and the second is military.

On the financial side, the goal will be to bring down the Netanyahu government coalition by destabilizing Israel economically. This is the surest and most direct path to bringing down Israel's conservative government and replacing it with a left of center coalition. The Obama Administration has a wide variety of tactics at its disposal for doing so, from the overt, such as targeting Israeli exports and imports, to the covert, that would involve targeting the Shekel. Additionally fundraising in the US could be investigated and groups such as the Jewish National Fund, prevented from raising money in the US. All of these have been in play before at one time or another.

On the military side, Obama's people will make their non-existent efforts to stop Iran's nukes conditional on more concessions to terrorists. Since Israel will never be able to make enough concessions and since Obama is working with Iran, rather than working to stop Iran's nukes, this is a hollow charade.

Furthermore while Israel has already been locked out of the military technology pipeline for anything cutting edge, it still remains dependent on US military equipment for parts and supplies. The decades of US foreign aid have also served to create dependency. Unlike many other countries, including even Sweden, Israel does not have its own jet fighter. Israel's Air Force is heavily dependent on US weapons, parts and equipment. Cutting Israel off, would leave the Israeli military dangerously vulnerable in the case of a war. This is an effective chokehold that has been used before to prevent Israel from attacking Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War, as well as preventing Israel from carrying out a preemptive strike against its enemies before the Yom Kippur War.

The overall Obama policy will be to push Israel to the brink, using financial and military blackmail against the Netanyahu government, while maintaining control over American Jews to prevent any protests or backtalk.

The more Israel will offer, the more the Obama Administration will tighten the screws. No offer will be good enough, and Israel will be blamed for every breakdown in talks and every bit of violence that takes place. The media will portray Israel and particularly Netanyahu as extremist and intransigent. Hamas will be slowly whitewashed in the media, the same way that Arafat's goons were, (assuming that they prove more willing to cooperate in creating a positive media image of themselves than Ahmadinejad is.)

The plan is to destroy Israel, and to do it by pushing Israel to the edge of the cliff and then over the cliff. Israel's enemies will be getting top of the line US military equipment. Israel will not. Israel will be squeezed economically until the Netanyahu government collapses, leaving a weak left wing leader like Livni in charge of Israel, and in charge of acceding to the new Pharaoh's demands.

Meanwhile so-called American Jewish groups will support Obama all the way, some because they were created precisely for that purpose, e.g. J-Street, and others because they have been hijacked, cowed or subverted.

That is the game plan and some of it's coming. The rest is already here.

The Coming Battle between Barry and Bibi

The Coming Battle between Barry and Bibi
J. D. Longstreet
************************

The Obama Administration is preparing the battlefield for the coming battle with the new prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. We warned weeks ago that this battle was just over the horizon and it appears the folks in the White House and the left-wing State Department of the US understand that they now face a man of conviction in Bibi Netanyahu. When pushed, Mr. Netanyahu pushes back. Look for a lot of shoving in the next few weeks and months.

Obama knows he is about to “lock horns” with Netanyahu over Netanyahu’s refusal to support the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. The Obama Administration is frightened by the prospect that Netanyahu may go directly to the US Congress in an attempt to gain support there for his refusal to submit to the Obama “Two State” policy (The State of Israel and the State of Palestine). If Netanyahu can withstand the coming “Obama Storm” it will make Mr. Obama look unable to control a client state of America and will lower his stock worldwide.

Obama says his Two State Policy is a must for his plans for Middle East peace and he intends to press Mr. Netanyahu to standby all the commitments made by the governments preceding that of Mr. Netanyahu’s in Israel. Obama insists that Netanyahu accept the principle of a Palestinian state; plus, Obama insists that Israel freeze settlement activity; as well as evacuate “illegal” outposts; and, to top it off, Israel must provide economic and security assistance to the Palestinian Authority. In other words, Netanyahu is expected to bow down and kiss Obama’s feet in full view of the remainder of the world.

Netanyahu is not about to do that.

The US government has yet to understand that a Palestinian State and “peace in the Middle East” are contradictions. One must be deaf, dumb, and blind not to see this. The so-called Palestinians don’t really want a Palestinian state. No! They want Israel gone… whatever the cost may be.

What does Netanyahu say about all this? He has called U.S. backed peace talks a waste of time while at the same time refusing to commit to the same two state solution that other Israeli leaders have. And, Netanyahu has said this: “Right now, the peace talks are based on only one thing, only on peace talks. It makes no sense at this point to talk about the most contractible issue. It's Jerusalem or bust, or right of return or bust. That has led to failure and is likely to lead to failure again.... We must weave an economic peace alongside a political process. That means that we have to strengthen the moderate parts of the Palestinian economy by handing rapid growth in those area, rapid economic growth that gives a stake for peace for the ordinary Palestinians." He has advocated time and again, an approach based on economic cooperation and joint effort rather than continuous contention over political and diplomatic issues.

Back in January of 2009, Netanyahu said he would continue the policy of the Israeli governments of Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert by expanding settlements in the West Bank, in contravention of the much-touted Road Map, but, he has promised not build new ones.

For the moment, he is holding his cards close to his chest on the issue of a Palestinian state. All the while he is being pounded by the US, the EU, the UN and sundry other countries that don’t get it!

But what about Iran’s vow to wipe Israel off the map? Well, Netanyahu has this to say: "It’s 1938, and Iran is Germany, and Iran is racing to arm itself with atomic bombs.” He said that there is only one difference between Nazi Germany and the Islamic Republic of Iran, namely that the first entered a worldwide conflict and then sought atomic weapons, while the latter is first seeking atomic weapons and, once it has them, will then start a world war.

Iran is making a fatal mistake if they do not believe Israel, under Netanyahu, will not attack their nuclear facilities. Netanyahu is a former Captain in the Saveret Matkal, a sort of “special” Special Forces unit of the IDF. That should speak for itself.

While Bibi is preparing to do whatever it takes to protect his country against annihilation by Iran’s nuclear weapons, the Obama administration is busy drafting some sort of policy which would distinguish between Iran's so-called “right” to have nuclear technology, including uranium enrichment done under international supervision, and the actual building of a nuclear weapon.

The folks in Eastern Europe should be calling Bibi and offering any assistance he needs rather than pounding on him to bow to pressure from the Obama Administration over anything.

When you look at these two men, Obama and Netanyahu, and consider their qualifications and their backgrounds, it is mere child’s play to choose the real leader.

J. D. Longstreet


**************

Conservative+Netanyehu+Obama+Israel+Palestine+Leadership

JBlog Me

A Palestinian State Is A Horrible Idea

A Palestinian State Is A Horrible Idea
By: J. D. Longstreet

If you have been paying attention, at all, you know the US and Israel are on a collision course. Wait a minute! Let me make that a bit clearer. The Obama Administration is on a collision course with Israel, and by Israel I mean the coming Netanyahu Administration there.

The Obama Administration/Regime is supporting a state for Palestine. Netanyahu does not. (My money is on Netanyahu. As a matter of fact, I wish he were qualified to be President of the US and would agree to run in 2012. But, alas, it isn’t going to happen!)

Mrs. Bill Clinton, the US SecState, is going to be pushing Bebe, as hard as she can, toward a two-state deal. Bebe is not going to move. Threats will be made… SOME will be carried out. Money will be cut off. SOME money will be cut off. Our Christian/Islamic (?) President is already pouring billions into to Gaza for Hamas and he will get all persnickety about it. Bebe will not kow tow and kiss his feet. That will rankle Obama.

Look, the creation of a Palestinian state will do nothing to bring stability to the region. In fact, there will be more war, more instability, and more suffering.

A Palestinian state would effectively open up a front that starts ten miles from Tel Aviv and reaches 1,000 miles deep across the Arabian Peninsula to Teheran. That, alone, will be cause for Israel to go on their highest military alert and stay there 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In other words… all the time. The buffer zone Israel counts on to give her time to activate her reserves and get them mobilized will no longer exist. That short period of time, so vital for the defense of Israel, will be gone. Therefore, Israel will have no choice but to adopt what, for all practical purposes, will be a “state of war” as a normal, everyday, lifestyle.

There is a school of thought, in Israel, which says Israel would not be the first target of a Palestinian State military. That distinction, according to this theory, must go to the country of Jordan whose population is 80% Palestinian. This line of thinking has it that the Palestinians will want to complete the coup against the Hashemite Kingdom they began back in 1970. The Palestinian State will certainly want to clear the region of its one remaining moderate, western-oriented Arab state. Once that job is completed and their military enlarged by the “Jordanian/Palestinians,” THEN they can turn their attention to Israel.

How dimwitted is it for the US to put any trust in the government of a state whose children’s textbooks teach “holy war” against Israel?

Mrs. Clinton has been assuring the Middle Eastern states that the Obama Regime is determined to continue the Bush policy of two-states as a solution to the brawl between Israel and the Arab terrorists who insist on calling themselves Palestinians. Again, it is a dumb idea for the US. No matter the president… it is D U M B!

Lets see: Right now we have Syria, Iraq, and Iran giving us pain in the posterior and the Obama Regime is dead set on adding a fourth with a state of Palestine? Again, I ask, how dimwitted is this? But, I forget! We have the “creame de la creame” in DC, the “best and the brightest” of the academicians, many of whom seem to be educated beyond their collective abilities, concocting these schemes from left-wing dreams of “group-hugs” among nations.

So, we must ask ourselves just how prepared are the Arabs (aka Palestinians) for statehood, anyway? Has there been any preparation for oh, say, industrialization? How about their work on developing export markets? Have they given any thought to negotiating trade arrangements with their next-door neighbor, Israel? I think we all know the answer to all the above is… NO. So, it is safe, then, to assume that a state of Palestine would be wracked with poverty which will require billions of dollars in foreign aid from which the chieftains will bleed off their shares and get rich while piling up hordes of cash in numbered bank accounts far from the Middle East.

No, a Palestinian state will only ensure the continuation of war, terrorism, and bloodshed. The one thing we can be sure it will not bring to the Middle East is… peace.

J. D. Longstreet

JBlog Me

*****************



Conservative Palestine+Israel+Jews+Arabs+Americans

Obama Appoints New ME Envoy: Urges Gaza Borders to Open

By Maggie M. Thornton

Photo Courtesy Reuters
President Obama with new Middle East Envoy, George Mitchell

Barack Hussein Obama, only one day after his second-swearing in ceremony, throws Israel under the bus, AND he indicates that Palestine is seeking peace!

Now we must extend a hand of opportunity to those who seek peace, as part of a lasting ceasefire [Obama said during a maiden visit as president to the State Department]

Does anyone believe that Hamas "seeks peace?" We know, and Obama knows, they seek to rearm.

"Hamas has given Israel until Sunday to open the borders,"...and Obama helps things along by "urging" Israel to get the Gaza border open.

A better idea: Let Israel decide when and why they will open the border for their barbarian neighbors. And who is Hamas to be making demands...what position are they in to make demands...why will we let them make demands - they got whipped, for gosh sakes...losers don't call the shots?

And where is the immovable demand that Hamas return Gilad Shalit post haste? Why are we, or any country, putting up with these terrorists? Had Mexican soldiers encroached our borders and grabbed an American, the United States wouldn't stand for it. Hmmmmm, oh yeah, guess we probably would - over and over again. (*See what America's War Department did after a "rancher" was kidnapped in 1915 at the end of this article)

The US and NATO is now charged with ending the weapons flow through Gazan-Egyptian tunnels.

A better idea: Let Israel finish their mission and then we don't need "minders" to make Palestine behave.

NPR says European and Arab leaders met in Egypt this past Sunday, "pledging support for rebuilding Gaza and calling for an end to arms smuggling....But the details of a coordinated multinational effort to block weapons into Gaza have yet to be finalized."

A better idea: Let the "brother" countries tell Palestine: hey - stop it! Ya hear? We're not coming to your defense anymore. This is your last chance. Another rocket into that pesky [insert something Arabic here] heathen land known as Israel, and we'll let them seal you up and shut you up.

I mean honestly, NO ONE in the Middle East wants Palestinians, refugees or not, to settle on their lands.

Why should the world let Hamas dictate ANYTHING, while that same world puts the lives of others "on the line" to guard the borders - just so that Palestinians can continue to smuggle right under their noses, anyway? Do we really think smuggling will stop?

Rebuilding Gaza? Yes, let the EU and Egypt do it. Not a nickel of American funds should flow, but can't you just see Obama funding the project, then sending unemployed Americans there to build the roads and bridges - for pay - from the United States - a kinda-sorta stimulus plan, since his proposed program to do the same here in the U.S. will take years and years to get underway.

Evidently foreign donors are lining up to send their monies to Palestine to rebuild, BUT...some common sense prevails, according to The Financial Times:

...many foreign donors share Israel's concerns that the reconstruction efforts should not be led by Hamas, or enhance the group's legitimacy.

Now here's something interesting. Does Obama say he is concerned about the loss of Palestinian and Israeli lives? - or does Obama say he is concerned about the loss of Palestinian lives?

The London Financial Times quotes Obama saying that he is concerned about the loss of BOTH Palestinian and Israeli lives. Middle East Online, and Muslims Against Sharia says the same - Obama is concerned about the lives of BOTH Palestinians and Israelis.

Al Jazeera quotes Obama saying he is concerned about the loss of life in Gaza. NO MENTION of concern for Israeli's. PressTV, "the first Iranian international news network, broadcasting in English...: has also omitted any concern Obama may have for the loss of life in Israel, same with African Business.

So, we do not know whether President Obama said he is also concerned with the loss of Israeli lives. Our own press isn't talking.

Moving on...

Haaretz, quoting an Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera, tells us what we think we already know:

1) "Hamas civilians have accused Hamas of forcing them to stay in homes from which gunmen shot at Israeli soldiers during the recent hostilities in Gaza."

And are you ready for this:

2) But the Italian paper also quoted a doctor at Gaza city's Shifa Hospital as disputing the number of Palestinians said to have been killed in the campaign.

3) It's possible that the death toll in Gaza was 500 or 600 at the most, mainly youths aged 17 to 23 who were enlisted by Hamas - who sent them to their deaths...

The Gaza doctor was further quoted as saying: "Perhaps it is like Jenin in 2002. At the beginning they spoke about 1,500 dead, and at the end it turned out to be only 54 - of whom 45 were militants."

Shifa is the same hospital where Hamas terrorists holed-up in basement bunkers, with patients still in residence on the upper floors, as Israel advanced on Gaza City. Shifa is the Gaza Strip's main hospital hospital, completely renovated, with new construction, and paid for by Israel.

George Mitchell, new Obama Israeli-Arab Conflict Czar
Attending 2000 Mitchell Commission Meeting

The committee bent over backwards to be fair and objective which had the unfortunate effect of blurring good and evil. From Palestine Facts

For Laughs: Obama's new Israeli-Arab Conflict Czar, former Senator George Mitchell says of Israel and Palestine:

There is no such thing as a conflict that can't be ended," Mr. Mitchell said at the Thursday press conference. "I saw it happen in Northern Ireland.

The point that Senator Mitchell completely misses is that Islam is not at issue in Northern Ireland. Sigh. Mitchell's 2000 Sharm El-Sheikh Fact-Finding Commission (known as the Mitchell Commission) failed.

*****

About the 1915 New York Times archived article on a "rancher" kidnapped by Mexicans and taken across the border?

September 11, 1915, Saturday

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10. -- State and War Department officials were aroused today over the kidnapping of an American citizen by Mexican bandits at Columbus, N.M. A ranchman whose identity has not been disclosed was sized by a band of Mexicans said to be soldiers, carried across the border from Columbus and word sent back that he was being held for a $2,000 ransom.

You can download the pdf at the above link. The pdf says that "there was an intimation that United States forces would not hesitate to cross the border to rescue the kidnapped American if his whereabout could be ascertained. The resolution isn't reported, but wouldn't it be great to have our State and "War" Department get "aroused" about illegal crime against American citizens?

How the Gaza Tunnels into Egypt Work

Photo Credit: AP 8/1/2007

A tunnel underneath Rafah. At the end of October 2007, the Israeli military said 70 tons of explosives have been smuggled into Gaza through the tunnels since the Gaza takeover.

I have wondered about the tunnels underneath Gaza into Egypt. How do they work? How could they work. The Telegraph tells us how it goes down in Gaza's Tunnel City:

...deep beneath the watchtowers and fences of Gaza's 10-mile long border with Egypt, a sprawling warren of hand-dug burrows now supplies everything from food, petrol and designer jeans through to guns, drugs and black market Marlboro cigarettes. Tunnel gangs charge premiums of up to 150 per cent on their cargos, raking in tens of thousands of dollars a week and making the excavation business one of Gaza's few growth industries.

"We bring through laptops, clothes, computers, medicines, mobile phones and even people," said Hisham al Loukh, 23, another tunneller. "There was even a bride from Egypt who came through one recently to get married to a man in Gaza."

The first tunnels underneath Gaza's perimeters were dug years ago, when they were they were primarily to smuggle weapons and explosives for use against Israel. But it is during the blockade of the past year that the tunnellers' hazardous craft has really come to the fore. On some estimates there are now up to 500 passageways across to Egypt, mostly clustered around the town of Rafah, which straddles the border.

The tunnels usually surface in the gardens of villas on the Egyptian side of Rafah, where many residents are either sympathetic to the Palestinian cause or willing to lend their properties in return for a share of the lucrative profits.

Each member of a tunnelling gangs, usually working in day and night shifts of 10 men each, earns around $15 per metre of passageway dug, which counts as a decent wage in an area which currently has 80 per cent unemployment. But as even the briefest of sojourns down into one of the tunnels makes clear, it is a risky living.

Entering one requires perching precariously on a makeshift wooden chairlift, which is then lowered down the 30 foot deep shaft by a winch powered by a sputtering petrol generator. As in the Second World War film classic The Great Escape, the tunnel's walls are propped up with makeshift wooden planks, and equipped with ventilation pumps to freshen the musty, damp air at the bottom. Diggers then use small electric drills to carve a path through the thick clay soil, steering their way by hand-held compass.

The media, today, focuses on Israel's closed-border policy during the last cease fire as the catalyst for the tunnel runs - and the cause of a dire humanitarian crisis. Israel say the borders were closed to turn public opinion in Gaza against Hamas.

The speaker in The Telegraph report is a 22 year old male who says he must tunnel to feed his family. When the tunnels cave in, which he says happens often, he holds his breath, waits and so far has made it to safety, but deaths and injuries are not infrequent.

There are also rumours that Hamas rakes in millions of dollars by imposing an unofficial "tax" on all tunnelled goods, although Dr Ahmed Yousef, a senior advisor in Hamas's foreign ministry, denies such claims.

Israel has insisted that if the terrorism against Israel would stop, Gaza borders would remain open.

Tunnel entrepreneurs are now enjoying such good business, however, that they now have a vested interest in the status quo. In recent months a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel has raised hopes that the economic blockade might be eased, but some in Gaza fear that should that ever look like happening, local tunnel owners will sabotage it by paying militants to fire rockets into Israel again.

"Obama's Campaign Manifesto" - How Gaza Youth See It

Cross-posted by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

A group of young men in Gaza gather before each primary in support of Senator Barack Obama. These well-dressed young men, looking vastly different from the street photos of the poor and depressed we usually see, meet in an internet cafe and make random phone calls to American voters, urging a vote for Obama. They believe he can bring peace to the Middle East.

One question: Who is paying for these phone calls and for the online-time?





Credit: AlJazeeraEnglish and YouTube.com


Technorati Tags: Gaza, Palestine,Palestinians, 2008 Elections, Senator Barack Obama,

Jeremiah Wright - Hamas - CAIR: Is there a Connection?

Cross-posted by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

UPDATE

I came across this piece on CNN Political Ticker, which seems to indicate that the below information is not just a "photoshop."

---------

As I was looking around the web today for confirmation about Wright's statement that his Doctorate is in "the area of Islam," I came across some posts that are linking to jpegs to more of Dr. Jeremiah Wright's church bulletins, showing Dr. Wright's copyright.

I'm passing on the links without comment because of the urgency to understand all that we can about what Barack and Michell Obama believe. There's a lot to digest.

My suggestion is that you begin at BizzyBlog, and follow the links there, although the individual links for each posting are given below.

March 17, 2008
TUCC's Church Bulletins from July 2007

March 19, 2008
Obama: It Looks Like There's More Where Wright Came From

March 20, 2008
WorldNetDaily: Obama Church Published Hamas Terror Manifesto

Church Bulletin Bonus: Omid Safi and the Progressive Muslim Union (PMU)

Pastor's Page: A Fresh View of the Palestinian Struggle


Technorati Tags: Trinity United Christian Church, Senator Barack Obama, Jeremiah Wright, Islam, Muslim, War on Terror, Jihad, CAIR,

Anyone Armed with the Facts Could Have Predicted

By Jim Simpson

An article in today’s Wall Street Journal, Straight Talk on Palestine, states bluntly that the Palestinian government remains committed to terrorism and still refuses to recognize Israel’s right to exist. This only comes as a surprise to the cognoscenti.

In fact, way back in the 1970s, when we knew the PLO were merely monstrous terrorists, a plan was hatched by their Soviet sponsors to deliberately deceive the West into believing that then PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and his merry band of murderers had moderated.

It’s a pretty amazing story. This counterintelligence deception is discussed in great length in a book, Red Horizons, by Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa. Gen. Pacepa was Romania’s intelligence chief under the regime of Nicolae Ceausescu and was the highest ranking Soviet block intelligence officer ever to defect to the West. You can get some of the threads by reading an interview with the author here.

He also has a lot to say about Saddam’s ephemeral Weapons of Mass Destruction. Read about that here. The cliff notes version: all Soviet-sponsored states have an emergency plan for removing or destroying their WMD if Western powers get too close to discovering them, and the Soviets helped Saddam get rid of his before the US showed up. This article makes a fascinating read regarding the entire subject. Read it if you have the time.

But I digress. Back to the PLO and Palestine. There are explicit, straight-forward reasons why the Palestinians do not now, never have and never will, settle for merely getting their own state. Some of the reasons for this may surprise you. I wrote an article shortly after Yasser Arafat died, which discussed the man, the history of the PLO and why it is an absolutely incontrovertible fact that the destruction of Israel always has been and always will be the Palestinians’ only true goal. Titled, “Who Was Yasser Arafat?” you can see it here.

This article will arm you with the facts regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and allow you to make easy predictions about what is to come. It is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the true nature of that conflict. It will also broaden your understanding of the entire Middle East problem. As the Arabs keep telling us, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is the epicenter. But few can really articulate why, when it directly affects such a small number of them. This article may suggest some answers.

Reading the few articles referenced above reveals to any open-minded person that the facts are out there, available for all to see, and provide pretty straight-forward, if not immediately apparent reasons for some of the chaos we face today. The rest can be similarly explained.

Yet we remain dangerously alone in the dark. It is a testimonial to the depths of duplicity some members of our political and media classes have gone to hide the truth, that these plain, simple facts are not common knowledge. Through ignorance in some cases, but I believe malevolent intent in many more, these people really do not want us to know the truth. I call them traitors and their numbers in Congress, the media and elsewhere are significant and growing. We are tottering at the brink. Time to raise the alarm bells.

Businessman and freelance writer Jim Simpson is a former White House staff economist and budget analyst (1987-1993). His writings have been published in the Washington Times, FrontPage Magazine, DefenseWatch, Soldier of Fortune and others. You may read more of his articles on his blog, Truth and Consequences.

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, The Virtuous Republic, http://morewhat.com/wordpress/?p=1179, Perri Nelson's Website, The Random Yak, Big Dog's Weblog, Shadowscope, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, Rightlinx, third world county, stikNstein... has no mercy, stikNstein... has no mercy, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Renaissance Blogger, Dumb Ox Daily News, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Permalink:
http://faultlineusa.blogspot.com/2007/03/anyone-armed-with-facts-could-have.html

Trackback URL
http://haloscan.com/tb/txwise/5391392266851605515

Technorati tags: israel, hamas, hezbollah, terrorism, islam, fatah, palestine, palestinians,
palestinian authority, terrorism, islam, news, politics, middle east, nuclear

Update: Arabs Inside Israel Seek Peace

Originally posted by Maggie's Notebook

Israel’s worldview is even more daunting these days. Syria is bolstering its borders and the obvious conclusion is that Syria may have plans for attacking Israel. Israel is attempting to calm its Nation, but cannot afford to view Syria’s action in any light other than “threatening”. Here’s some of the dialog going around:

The Syrian armed forces are being strengthened in an unprecedented way in recent memory with the help of generous funding from Iran and its troops appear to be moving closer to the border with Israel.

Israeli military officials dismissed a report of a build-up of Syrian forces on the border. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, spoke to ease Israeli tensions Sunday after the French press agency reported that Syria had positioned hundreds of medium-range rockets on its side of the Golan Heights.

Syria is also close to concluding a deal with Russia to procure thousands of advanced anti-tank missiles, of the sort Hezbollah used to such lethal effect against Israeli armour last year, Haaretz reported.

The recent Fatah-Hamas Mecca Accord, designed to achieve a Palestinian unity government, is just as puzzling as all past attempts to gain statehood for Palestine. The Accord allows all threats Chartered and Constitutional to Israel to stand. Where does Israel’s optimistic public persona come from?

Israel Official Expects Peace To Prevail

Hamas has not accepted the international community's three conditions for doing business with it _ recognizing Israel, renouncing violence and accepting past peace deals. As a result, a painful aid boycott remains in place, and a final peace deal seems a long way off, despite renewed Israeli-Palestinian contact, including a summit on Sunday between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

As Arabs inside Israel seek a better way of life, this report: Children of the Palestinian Intifada: The Lost Generation is the reality in Palestine. Palestinian leaders are responsible for the plight of their children. The hopelessness and raw despair profiled in this article is painful to anyone with an ounce of compassion. Palestine cannot blame this on Israel or any other country. Abbas, Haniya – give your children peace and hope. Change your Charters. Help the free world help you.

Arabs Inside Israel Seek Peace

Arabs living inside Israel are seeking change. According to a new report commissioned by the Committee of Arab Mayors in Israel, Arabs are “moving towards a new era of self-recognition…”.

The report, known as The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel states its purpose as “…answering the question, "who are we and what do we want for our society?"

This is a question all Palestinians must ask. Everyday life for the average Palestinian will remain desperate until they deal with their leadership. For some background on this very question, I recently posted Who and What are Palestinians? It is a bulleted, easy-read on the early history of Palestine, Arabs and Israel.

“The Future Vision” report can be seen as a fairly naked appeal from the Arabs residing inside Israel, to the people of Israel, to “treat us as equals.” Compared to the Jew-related “Arab-speak” we have become all too familiar with, this document seems restrained even as it accuses Israel of “exploiting democracy in the service of its Jewishness…”. The “Vision” asserts a firm foundation for the indigenous rights of Arabs to Israel and calls for “…an independent Palestinian State, based on UN resolutions. Have you read those Resolutions lately? Resolution 242 is dated November 22, 1967 and there's an undated follow-up, Resolution 338. I think it's fair to say these Resolutions are not resolving anything.

Reports from the Nazareth bureau of the Los Angeles Times latimes.com shows conflicting reactions from Israelis; some see a growing militant minority, some fear a state within a state, most see a threat to Jewish identity, and those who have advocated for better conditions for Arab residents “feel disheartened.” More from latimes.com:

"Shawki Khatib, head of the 64-member Arab mayors group, said the manifesto was not an ultimatum but an effort to catalog Jewish discrimination against Arabs and provoke debate over how Israel's two largest communities should live together."

And more:

“The Future Vision” document (also referred to as a "manifesto" by latimes.com), seeks conditions of peace and prosperity with Israelis. Palestinian leaders will never allow it".

I see other conflicts: Hamas, Fatah, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, and then there’s the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. An independent Palestinian State just isn’t on the agenda for any of these factions, unless it includes every square inch of an Israel without Jews.

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) points to the absurdities surrounding any Palestinian leadership’s acceptance of Israel as a neighbor. In the following excerpts from ZOA, referring to the Baker Hamilton Report (also known as Iraq Study Group) regarding Israel and Palestine, I have eliminated referenced page numbers for easier reading. The text of the cited PLO, Fatah and Hamas "Articles" are included after the ZOA material. Here’s the quotes as well as the ZOA’s response:

“Baker Report: Arab-Israeli peace efforts should include "Support for a Palestinian national unity government" of Fatah and Hamas
Fact: The Baker Report calls for negotiations with "Palestinians (those who accept Israel's right to exist)" yet both Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah and Hamas, in their respective Charters, call for Israel's destruction ( see Fatah: Article 12; Hamas, Article 15) and the use of terrorism (Fatah: Article 19; Hamas: Article 7). Hamas also calls for the murder of Jews (Article 7). In October 2006, Mahmoud Abbas admitted that in his view neither Fatah nor Hamas need recognize Israel.”

And the second point from ZOA:

“Baker Report: Seeks "A Syrian commitment to help obtain from Hamas an acknowledgment of Israel's right to exist".

Fact: This recommendation exemplifies the absurdity and lack of rationality that permeates the Report. Hamas is dedicated in its Charter to the destruction of Israel (Article 15) and the murder of Jews (Article 7). Why would Hamas heed the Syrian regime to change its raison d'etre when Syria itself not does recognize Israel's existence, hosts several Palestinian terrorist groups and rejected Israel's offer of all of the Golan Heights in negotiations in 2000? The Report is characterized by an unwillingness to acknowledge the actual nature and goals of the Syrian regime.

Follows the text of the specific Articles referred to above: (“Hamas” Articles are taken from “The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas):

Fatah Constitution Article 12: "Complete liberation of Palestine and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence."

Fatah Constitution Article 19:
Armed struggle is a strategy and not a tactic, and the Palestinian Arab People's armed revolution is a decisive factor in the liberation fight and in uprooting the Zionist existence, and this struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated.

Hamas Charter Article 7: Follows just a portion of Article 7, which according to the Hamas Charter, quotes The Prophet Allah:

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).

Hamas Charter Article 15: Follows just a portion of Article 15:

The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised. To do this requires the diffusion of Islamic consciousness among the masses, both on the regional, Arab and Islamic levels. It is necessary to instill the spirit of Jihad in the heart of the nation so that they would confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters.

(Two paragraphs deleted here)

"The bond of one day for the sake of Allah is better than the world and whatever there is on it. The place of one's whip in Paradise is far better than the world and whatever there is on it. A worshipper's going and coming in the service of Allah is better than the world and whatever there is on it." (As related by al-Bukhari, Moslem, al-Tarmdhi and Ibn Maja).

"I swear by the holder of Mohammed's soul that I would like to invade and be killed for the sake of Allah, then invade and be killed, and then invade again and be killed." (As related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).

Then just to back-up the fervor of the Palestinians for their mission, there’s this from The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Charter:

Iris.org - The PLO Charter Article 15: The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national (qawmi) duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine. Absolute responsibility for this falls upon the Arab nation - peoples and governments - with the Arab people of Palestine in the vanguard. Accordingly, the Arab nation must mobilize all its military, human, moral, and spiritual capabilities to participate actively with the Palestinian people in the liberation of Palestine. It must, particularly in the phase of the armed Palestinian revolution, offer and furnish the Palestinian people with all possible help, and material and human support, and make available to them the means and opportunities that will enable them to continue to carry out their leading role in the armed revolution, until they liberate their homeland.

Regarding the above PLO Charter Article 15, iris.org says this:

“The text is the English version published officially by the PLO, unabridged and unedited.

Note, however, that the PLO's translation sometimes deviates from the original Arabic so as to be more palatable to Western readers. For example, in Article 15, the Arabic is translated as "the elimination of Zionism," whereas the correct translation is "the liquidation of the Zionist presence." "The Zionist presence" is a common Arabic euphemism for the State of Israel, so this clause in fact calls for the destruction of Israel, not just the end of Zionism.”

A portion of Article 9 of the Charter states that:

“Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine. Thus it is the overall strategy, not merely a tactical phase. The Palestinian Arab people assert their absolute determination and firm resolution to continue their armed struggle and to work for an armed popular revolution for the liberation of their country and their return to it….”

So, while quoting the Zionist Organization of America may appear a biased source, the text of Palestinian Charters, Covenants and Constitutions puts it all into perspective.

"The main message is that we do not accept our situation as second-class citizens," Khatib said. "We want to change that situation, and we prefer to change it through dialogue."

The same article points out how the Arabs residing inside Israel feel “…alienated by the Star of David on Israel’s flag…”. Have we ever heard of the offense Israel must feel at the hostile flags surrounding their tiny nation? Has dialogue with Palestine ever been other than deception?

As Arabs in Israel seek “self-recognition," are Israelis expected to ignore the Hamas support from the very Arabs sharing their land? Is Israel to believe that these same Arab residents would not take the land and expel them, or worse, if given any opportunity? Latimes.com reports that nearly half of the Arabs living inside Israel live below the poverty line. Is Israel expected to provide better homes, lands, services and education than Palestine provides to Palestinians? Are Arabs in Israel poorer than the Arabs in Palestine? I don’t know the answer, but I’m doubting they could be poorer – perhaps “as” poor, but probably not “poorer”.

Whatever the intentions of the Arabs led by Mr. Khatib, the PLO, Hamas and Fatah will never allow conciliatory measures on behalf of Israel, unless it leads to the complete surrender of Israel to Palestine.

Technorati Tags:Israel Palestine Arab Future Vision
PLO Hamas Fatah Los Angeles Times Zionist Organization of America PLO Charter ZOA
UN Resolution 242 Baker Hamilton Report Iraq Study Group