UPDATE: IDF soldier assaulted by knife wielding Palestinian terrorist near Gush Etzion.
TODAY’S BLOG:
Yesterday, the Palestinians childishly whined to the world that they were on the verge of walking away from the low-level negotiations with Israel taking place in Jordan.
In reality the meetings held so far have had no “negotiations.” The Palestinians have done nothing but demand that Israel stop building homes, schools, and health clinics in Jewish communities in Jerusalem–and accept the pre-1967 lines/border (read 1948-9 armistice lines) as the baseline for a future border.
Israel has refused to accede to either of these ridiculous demands. And as usual Mahmoud Abbas is employing Orwellian terminology to describe the Palestinian refusal to make any new proposals and the Israeli refusal to accede to Palestinian demands.
First to his minions in the PLO yesterday: “Until now, there is nothing new in the dialogue that is going on in Amman.”
Next to the world media yesterday: “If we demarcate the borders, we can return to negotiations, but Israel does not want to do that. The talks have ended without any breakthrough.“
If anyone thinks that Israel will ever return to the 1948-9 armistice lines, that person is delusional. Take a good look at the map below:
You will see that the entire Old City of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, Western Wall, and Jewish Quarter all came under Muslim Jordanian control on May 28, 1948.
And what did the Jordanians do? They ethnically cleansed the Old City refusing to let one Jew live there and destroyed the Jewish Quarter with all of its synagogues and holy places.
Israel repeatedly appealed to the international community and United Nations to stop the expulsion of Jews and the destruction of the Quarter. What did the international community and the United Nations do? Absolutely nothing.
Does anyone really think that Israel will ever permit this to happen again?
THIS DAY IN ISRAELI HISTORY:
On January 26, 1965, in a letter to the U.N. Secretary-General, Jordan said that Israel authorities had committed provocative military acts in the Mount Scopus area in Jerusalem. In view of the dangerous and explosive situation arising from the Israel violations, Jordan requested that immediate inspection of Israel positions in the area should be carried out through a special representative of the Secretary-General.
This was after the Jordanians had destroyed the Jewish Quarter, cleansed it of Jews, and moved Muslim Arabs into abandoned Jewish homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood on Mt. Scopus.
A student from Malawi, who had worked with an Israeli health volunteer in his country battling AIDS, came up to us as we walked down the street in the UC-Davis Picnic Day Parade and wanted to carry the Israeli flag.