Hamas called off a 16-month-old truce with Israel June 9 after attacks by Israeli forces in Gaza killed 10 Palestinians, including three children playing on a beach. “The Israeli massacres represent a direct opening battle,” Hamas said in a statement. Prime Minister Esmail Haniya, also a Hamas leader, called the deaths a “war crime” and urged Jordan and Egypt to intervene.
That same day, the Hamas-led Palestinian government made a last-minute appeal to President Mahmoud Abbas to abandon a proposed referendum on statehood that would implicitly recognise Israel. Abbas is expected to issue a presidential decree that will call for holding a referendum on the statehood proposal by July 31. (Reuters, June 10)
The escalation came days after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and formally apologized for the incident in which two Egyptians security officers were killed by Israeli soldiers on the border June 2. The two leaders met at Sharm el-Sheikh in the Sinai. (YNet, June 4) Egypt condemned attacks on northern Gaza June 9, saying the excessive use of force by Israel in densely populated areas was against international law. (Reuters, June 9)
See our last posts on Israel/Palestine, Gaza and Egypt.
UNITED IN DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL
UNITED IN DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL
BY: FERN SIDMAN
It has now been almost a year since the government of Israel uprooted and dispersed 10,000 of it’s citizens from their homes in Gush Katif. It has now been almost a year since Jewish homes, synagogues and yeshivas were demolished were in Gush Katif. And as we know, many former Gush Katif residents are now homeless and are struggling with dire poverty.
In the first half of the year 2005, we were told by the Sharon-Olmert government that this evacuation and demolition of Gush Katif would bring about “peace” with the “Palestinians” as they would now be on the trajectory toward independent statehood. We were told that this gesture of territorial compromise would be welcomed by the Arabs and would expedite the “Roadmap to Peace” that the Bush administration touted as the last great hope in the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
As we witness the families of Gush Katif who have suffered severe psycholgical trauma, homelessness and daily destitution, we ask ourselves if this disengagement plan achieved it’s desired results. We ask ourselves whether the relinquishing of G-d given Jewish land to our Arab enemies has brought about the “peace’ that we sacrificed life and limb for.
It was recently reported by Arutz Sheva that Yuval Diskin, head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, also known as the Shin Bet, told a Knesset committee that since the disengagement, “weapons smuggling into Gaza has reached unprecedented proportions.” He also added that, “Arab terrorists have succeeded in smuggling 11 tons of TNT into Gaza”, as well as, ‘smuggling massive quantities of other weapons across the Egypt-Gaza border.”
Among the new weapons at the terrorists’ disposal were 10,000 rifles, 1600 pistols, RPGs, Katyushas, and shoulder-fired Strella missiles which are capable of downing civilian aircraft.
As new weapons and other armaments flow into the PA, Diskin said, groups such as Al Qaeda, which promote World Jihad, have been taking root in PA strongholds in Gaza and Judea and Samaria. In fact, Diskin told the committee, elements of the World Jihad in Sinai were responsible for intensifying the extent of weapons smuggling into Gaza. Egypt, he explained, was likewise ineffective in its efforts to curtail Al Qaeda, which has opened up a number of cells in the Sinai Peninsula. Overall, Diskin said, the Egyptians had a poor record in fighting terrorism.
These facts come as no surprise as Kassam rockets are fired on Jewish settlements on a daily basis from Gaza. These facts come as no surprise as we know that Arab terrorist bases now stand in the same place as the former Jewish settlement of Neve Dekalim in Gush Katif..
Whoever has eyes to see and ears that hear, knows that the “peace” that had been hoped for has never come to fruition and never will. Over the last year, in the aftermath of this painful and agonizing disengagement, the world saw the election of Hamas, as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. We know that this disengagement has only emboldened our enemies. It is also very clear, that our Arab enemies view any form of territorial compromise on the part of Israel as a sign of weakness and guilt and they respond to this gesture towards “peace” with even more contempt and hatred than before.
Subsequent to the disengagement from Gush Katif we watched the Arabs in Gaza and all over Israel celebrate with overwhelming joy and glee as Jews were being forcibly evacuated from their homes. We watched as Arabs burned down Jewish synagogues and other abandoned buildings. We watched ourselves being humiliated by our enemies. And to those who proclaimed that this disengagement would bring about the “peace” that they so desperately want, that they want now, we must let them know that there is no “peace’ and their continued efforts to attain “peace” even in light of the fact that Hamas swears the destruction of Israel, are guilty of working hand in hand with the Arab terrorist enemy.
Yes, it is quite true that their is no significant difference between Peace Now, Hamas and Al Qaeda. They all have one common denominator that binds them together and that is the destruction of the State of Israel. It is true that those who swell the ranks of Peace Now are mainly Jewish leftists and those in Hamas and Al Qaeda are Arabs of Muslim and Christian descent, but other than that fact there are more similarities than differences.
It was recently reported that Peace Now has gone to the Supreme Court of Israel demanding that six outposts in Yesha be immediately evacuated and demolished as the organization claims that the demolition orders are about to expire at the end of the month. As we know, Peace Now has fought a no-holds-barred war against the Jewish presence in Judea, Samaria and Gaza for over 25 years.
The Supreme Court rejected Peace Now’s demand and ruled that the suit is basically irrelevant, as Defense Minister Amir Peretz recently signed a document extending the validity of the demolition orders. The Court essentially accepted the State’s request to be allowed to formulate its policies on the issue according to its own timetable and security considerations.
The six outposts in question are Givat Assaf, Givat HaRoeh, Ramat Gilad, Mitzpeh Yitzhar, Mitzpeh Lachish and Maaleh Rehavam.
We must send a bold and clear message to our enemies from within and without that we know that you are united in your goal to seek the annihilation of the State of Israel. We know that you are both kindred spirits in your quest to vanquish the Jewish presence from the land of Israel. We know that you are both aided in your goal by the morally and spiritually bankrupt leaders of Israel.
We must also let you know, that as long as we have mouths to speak and feet to march with, we will never desist in speaking the truth and we will never desist from opposing your insidious efforts to destroy the Jewish nation. We must make you aware that you can never destroy the Jewish nation, because as we say in our daily prayers, the Almighty G-d of Israel is our “King, Helper, Savior and Shield”. Our faith in G-d will never be diminshed. To quote the words of the sweet singer of Israel, Dovid HaMelech, “I will not fear the myriads of people that have set themsleves around me. Arise, Hashem, deliver me my G-d, for you have smitten all of my enemies, upon the jawbone, the teeth of the wicked, You have broken. To Hashem belongs deliverance, upon Your people is Your blessing.” (Psalms, chapter 3)
May these words penetrate our hearts and minds and may Hashem give us the strength, power and wisdom to defend the Jewish nation against those within and without who seek our destruction.