Focus on Jerusalem

It's a key indicator of where we are, not in the "peace/piece" process, but in the geulah process.

Zechariah 12.2-3, "Behold! I am making Jerusalem a cup of weakness for all the peoples around, and also on Judah, [that he] shall be in the siege against Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass on that day that I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden for all peoples; all who bear it shall be gashed, and all the nations of the earth shall gather about it."

The public has a right to know
By Nadav Shragai

...Operation Cast Lead completely transformed the public agenda, but the absence of Jerusalem from the public discourse just before the election is very disturbing. After all, no one really has any illusions: The day after a new government is formed in Israel, the issue of Jerusalem will come up again. The Palestinians, assisted by U.S. President Barack Obama, who has already pledged to be aggressive on the Middle East, will pressure Israel to make Olmert's legacy and his pledges a reality, and the public has a right to know now how its elected officials will behave.

Will they go the route of former prime minister Menachem Begin, who more than 25 years ago lashed out at the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Samuel Lewis, telling him Israel was not a banana republic and that Israel would make do with bread and margarine if necessary, but would not accept dictates? Or will they act like Livni, who warned the public this week against Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, arguing that his positions would lead to a clash with the United States?

There were many who were unenthusiastic about Begin's rigid stance, but many more appreciated it. The concern Livni raises over Netanyahu may show that the times and public tastes have changed, but it also shows a transformation in the backbone of the country's leadership.

During the era of Ariel Sharon, Olmert and Livni, coordination with the United States became sanctified to absurd levels; sometimes it was not clear whether it was a means or an end. But today as well, even though the approaches of our political leaders are so different from that of Begin, it seems that the Israeli public, with its healthy instinct, understands that coordination and consensus with the United States are not the be-all and end-all. The issue of Jerusalem, it is to be hoped, will illustrate this. But first, the public must know how its leaders intend to act when it comes to this issue.

Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman, the rising star of recent opinion polls, stood only a few months ago in the City of David area of Jerusalem and explained that his idea of exchanges of territory and populations also applies to Jerusalem, and that Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem like Jabal Mukkaber should be among those exchanged. Lieberman does not reveal to the wider public what Jerusalemites already know: Every neighborhood on the seam line has an adjacent or nearly adjacent Arab "outlying neighborhood." Jabal Mukkaber, for example, is a stone's throw and a gunshot away from the homes of Armon Hanatziv. The Qassam rockets fired on Sderot and Ashkelon would seem like child's play compared to what would happen here if such outlying neighborhoods are given up. It is enough to recall the firing from the Arab neighborhood of Beit Jala on the neighboring southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo - which went on for years, multiplying the point of friction and distributing it to hundreds of points along a dividing line dozens of kilometers long - to understand what a bizarre reality, one our politicians tend not to talk about, would be our lot.

But Lieberman is not alone among the dividers. Defense Minister Ehud Barak already gave up half of Jerusalem at Camp David in 2000, and was willing to share sovereignty on the Temple Mount as well. Livni's and Olmert's teams are ready for something similar. Even Netanyahu is not exempt from questions: What, for example, does he plan to do with the legacy left to him by Olmert, Livni and Barak, who have already agreed to divide the city? Does he intend to do what he did in 1996, when he divided Hebron, or is he prepared to pledge now unequivocably that this legacy - agreement in advance to divide Jerusalem, of which Olmert has informed the Obama administration - does not obligate him, and that talks on dividing the city are unacceptable?


US Envoy: Lieberman Met with Arafat Aide, Backed Full Withdrawal by Baruch Gordon

(IsraelNN.com) In a new book, former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk has dropped a potential political bombshell, revealing that Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beitenu party, once held secret talks on territorial concessions to the Palestinian Authority (PA) with one of Yasser Arafat's key advisers.

In addition, Indyk asserts that Lieberman told his PA interlocutor, Muhammad Rachid, that he was prepared to accept the wide-ranging concessions which then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak had offered to Arafat at the 2000 Camp David Summit.

These included the division of Jerusalem, an Israeli withdrawal from over 95 percent of Judea and Samaria, and a dilution of Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site....

Jerusalem: Why Not to Divide

Netanyahu: Obama Will Try to Internationalize Jerusalem Sites

Please note! I do not endorse any candidate in these elections.

500 Years Jerusalem Census

Courtesy TorahOhr.org

"Year of the Ox"

It's Rosh Chodesh Shevat and that means the New Year for the Trees is only two weeks away. Let's hope it does also turn out to be the Year of the Ox for real---the year of Mashiach ben Yosef!! (Yosef is represented by an ox.)

Chodesh tov! Shana tova!!

Mazal Tov!

To Nava & Family on their aliyah.

Bruchim habaim! Hatzlacha raba!

Can't even wait 2 weeks!

Word was that the new US envoy for peace in the Middle East was not likely to pay us a visit until after the elections scheduled for Feb 10th. Apparently, they can't wait that long...

Diplomats: US Mideast envoy expected next week

...Referring to Mitchell's appointment as special Mideast envoy, US President Barack Obama said "We have no time to lose."

It's Official

Jan 22, 2009 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama has named former Senate majority leader George Mitchell as a special envoy in charge of bringing peace to the Middle East.

2002 Interview with Senator Mitchell on The Mitchell Plan

Of related interest:

Obama's new Middle East envoy George Mitchell could put Tony Blair out of a job

Only Day 2

US President Barack Obama said his administration would "aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians."

Sarkozy Very Dangerous to Israel

French President Nicolas Sarkozy speaking of Obama: "We are eager for him to get to work so that with him we can change the world."

Don't forget that it was Nicolas Sarkozy who rushed over here to force a ceasefire with Hamas.

President Sarkozy proposes: “Arabic Is the Language of the Future”

...In his message to the participants at the French National Assembly earlier this month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Arabic the “language of the future, of science and of modernity,” and expressed the hope that “more French people share in the language that expresses great civilizational and spiritual values.”

“We must invest in the Arabic language (because) to teach it symbolizes a moment of exchange, of openness and of tolerance, (and it) brings with it one of the oldest and most prestigious civilizations of the world. It is in France that we have the greatest number of persons of Arabic and Muslim origin. Islam is the second religion of France,” Sarkozy reminded his listeners.

Sarkozy proceeded to list the various “advances in terms of diversity,” the increase in Muslim sections of cemeteries, the training of imams and chaplains and the appointments of ministers of diverse backgrounds.

“France is a friend of Arabic countries. We are not seeking a clash between the East and West,” he affirmed, emphasizing the strong presence of Arab leaders at the founding summit of the Union for the Mediterranean, last July 13. “The Mediterranean is where our common hopes were founded. Our common sea is where the principal challenges come together: durable development, security, education and peace.”