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In this mailing:
by Louis René Beres
• April 27, 2016 at 5:00 am
- "The
establishment of such a [Palestinian] state means the inflow of
combat-ready Palestinian forces into Judea and Samaria ... In time
of war, the frontiers of the Palestinian state will constitute an
excellent staging point for mobile forces to mount attacks on
infrastructure installations vital for Israel's existence..." —
Shimon Peres, Nobel Laureate and Former Prime Minister of Israel, in
1978.
- The Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed in 1964; three years before
there were any "occupied territories." Exactly what, then
was the PLO planning to "liberate"?
- Both Fatah and
Hamas have always considered, and still consider, Israel as simply
part of "Palestine." On their current official maps, all
of Israel is identified as "Occupied Palestine."
- "You
understand that we plan to eliminate the State of Israel, and
establish a purely Palestinian state. ... I have no use for Jews;
they are and remain, Jews." — PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat,
January 30, 1996 (2.5 years after signing the Oslo Peace Accords).
- In view of
these repeatedly intolerant Arab views on Israel's existence,
international law should not expect Palestinian compliance with any
agreements, including those concerning use of armed force -- even if
these agreements were to include explicit U.S. security guarantees
to Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. President
Bill Clinton, and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat at the Oslo Accords signing
ceremony on September 13, 1993. In 1996, Arafat publicly stated: "We
Palestinians will take over everything ... You understand that we plan to
eliminate the State of Israel, and establish a purely Palestinian state.
... I have no use for Jews; they are and remain, Jews." (Image
source: Vince Musi / The White House)
There is no lack of irony in the endless discussions of Israel and a
Palestinian state.
One oddly neglected example is the complete turnaround of former
Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres. Recognized today as perhaps the
proudest Israeli champion of a "Two State Solution" --
sometimes also referred to as a "Road Map to Peace in the Middle
East" -- Peres had originally considered Palestinian sovereignty to
be an intolerable existential threat to Israel. More precisely, in his
book, Tomorrow is Now (1978), Mr. Peres unambiguously warned:
by Ingrid Carlqvist
• April 27, 2016 at 4:00 am
- "This is
not about freedom of speech, this is about insulting people's faith.
I cannot see anything that has to do with freedom of speech
here." — Mehmet Kaplan, on the Mohammed cartoon controversy,
2005.
- Mehmet Kaplan
told Turkish media that the reason young Muslims join ISIS is
"the rampaging Islamophobia in Europe." As a solution to
the problem, he suggested that the Swedish government support
mosques financially, ostensibly to counteract ISIS's recruitment.
Mehmet Kaplan was a minister in Sweden's government
until last week, when he was forced to resign after revelations that he
compared Israel's treatment of Palestinians to that of the German Nazis'
treatment of Jews. (Image source: Wikimedia Commons/Jan Ainali)
In 2014, three Muslims became ministers in the Swedish government.
Clearly the most fervent and committed believer was Mehmet Kaplan, 44,
who took on the role of Minister for Housing and Urban Development.
Kaplan came to Sweden from Turkey, at the age of one. Despite many
claims that he is in fact an Islamist, until now Kaplan has been
untouchable. That is, until it emerged that he said that Israel treats
the Palestinians the same way the Nazis treated the Jews in Germany. At a
hastily summoned press conference on April 18, Prime Minister Stefan
Löfven announced that he had accepted Kaplan's resignation.
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