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1. Israel Remembers the Holy Temple and the Holocaust on Tevet 10
by Maayana Miskin
Friday is the tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tevet, a fast day on
which Jews remember the siege of Jerusalem that preceded the destruction
of the First Temple and the Babylonian exile. The siege is described in
the Bible in the Book of Kings.
The day is also the time at which mourning prayers are said for
Holocaust victims whose date of death is not known. Many religious Jews
mourn the Holocaust on the 10th of Tevet rather than on the date chosen
by the Israeli government in the Hebrew month of Nissan.
The tenth of Tevet is observed as a fast from morning until nightfall.
It is the only day-long fast day that can fall on a Friday.
Another event that is mourned on the 10th of Tevet is the day on which
King Ptolemy of Egypt forced Jewish scholars to translate the Hebrew
Bible into Greek. Their translation was used by those who sought to
assimilate Jews into Greek culture, and later formed the basis of the
Christian Bible, which for many centuries was used to promote
persecution of Jews.
Yet another is the death of Ezra the Scribe, who led Jews back to
Israel from their exile in Babylon and directed the construction of the
Second Temple.
2. 109 MKs Sign Pleading Letter to US on Behalf of Pollard
by Hillel Fendel
Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin has sent a letter from the Knesset to U.S.
President Barack Obama, Congress, and the U.S. Attorney General,
pleading for the release of Jonathan Pollard.
The letter was signed by a leader in every party except for those known
as Arab parties, representing a total of 109 out of the 120 Knesset
Members.
In dispatching the letter, Rivlin stated that it represents the opinion
of the overwhelming majority of the Israeli public in supporting
Pollard’s urgent release. “As Speaker of the Knesset,” he wrote in an
introductory note, “I see it as my obligation to bring this letter to
your attention.”
The MKs’ missive notes that Pollard has languished in American prison
for over 25 years, and that “it’s been some time that American officials
have been raising their voices
in favor of his release, in light of the lack of proportion between the
crime and its punishment… Not a few Congressmen have already joined the
call for a commutation of Pollard’s sentence.”
Previous letters of support signed by a similar number of Knesset
Members have been left behind in the past by at least two prime
ministers – Ariel Sharon and the incumbent, Binyamin Netanyahu – when they flew to Washington, D.C. to meet with the sitting American president.
Event at Knesset
A unique event will be held at the Knesset this Monday at which
Netanyahu will be pressured to issue a formal Israeli request for
Pollard's release - and at which Netanyahu himself will speak. Former
U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Lawrence Korb, who has come out publicly
in favor of Pollard's release, will also address the assembly, as will a
series of other public figures.
The Letter States
The latest letter to Obama and Congress states that the “State of
Israel has taken full responsibility for Pollard’s actions, and has
apologized for them... We feel that we must make you aware that many
citizens of Israel sense that he is being discriminated against, in
comparison with other spies caught in the U.S. This casts a shadow over
the strong friendship between our two countries, and the American public
wants with all its might to change this.”
The MKs also mentioned Pollard’s deteriorating health.
“There is no question that 25 years is more than enough in meting out
justice to him, and the time has come to release him immediately,” the
Knesset Members write. “Please, respond to this request affirmatively.
End Pollard’s punishment and let him return to his wife… and live out
his remaining days as a free person, after he has most definitely paid
his debt to American society.”
The nine party leaders or representatives who signed were: Dalia Itzik
(Kadima), Ze’ev Elkin (Likud), Robert Ilatuv (Israel Our Home), Shalom
Simchon (Labor), Avraham Michaeli (Shas), Menachem Moses (United Torah
Judaism), Yaakov Katz (National Union), Zevulun Orlev (Jewish Home), and
Ilan Gil’on (Meretz).
3. Bethlehem Mayor's Christmas Wish: Sanctions on Israel
by Maayana Miskin
Bethlehem Mayor Victor Batarseh lashed out at Israel this week at a
tree-lighting ceremony in honor of the Christmas holiday. He accused
Israel of cutting Bethlehem off from “its twin city Jerusalem” and
called for international sanctions.
“Trade sanctions, sports sanctions, educational sanctions, cultural
sanctions. Sanctions are the only way,” he said. Batarseh added that it
would be “a waste of time” to negotiate with Israel.
He also accused Israel of profiting off tourism to Bethlehem. While
tourists visit Bethlehem during the day, most return to Jerusalem to
spend the night.
He slammed Israel for building a security wall between Bethlehem and
Jerusalem. The wall was built after several years in which PA terrorists
frequently infiltrated Jerusalem from the Bethlehem region to carry out
suicide bombings and other attacks.
Batarseh's criticism followed one of Bethlehem's best years for tourism.
A record 1.4 million tourists visited the city in 2010, and another
90,000 are expected to arrive during the Christmas holidays.
Israel has worked to boost tourism to Bethlehem by coordinating with
the PA to ease travel. Among other things, the Tourism Ministry has
arranged for free shuttle transport between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In
addition, Israeli and PA tourism officials have cooperated on promoting
tourism to the city.
The increase in tourism has been a major boost to the Bethlehem
economy. Tourist shops and restaurant owners report increased profits,
hotels are filled to capacity, and new hotels are planned.
Ironically, while Christian tourism to Bethlehem and Jerusalem is on
the rise, the Christian population of both cities continues to drop. The
Christian population of Jerusalem has dropped from 20% to just 2%
between 1946 and 2009, while in Bethlehem the Christian population has
fallen to an estimated 15% from 60% over the course of 20 years. Experts
have blamed the drop in the Christian population in large part on Muslim harassment, which is encouraged by the PA and PA laws based in Sharia Islamic law.
4. Erekat Pulls Wool Over 'Guardian' Readers' Eyes
by Gil Ronen
Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat penned an opinion piece
for the British Guardian last Friday in which he defended the PA's
insistence on the "Right of Return" - the demand that Israel allow into
its borders Arabs who fled Israel in 1948, as well as their
descendants, numbered in the millions.. However, Erekat did some
rewriting of history in the process.
Erekat opened his article by mentioning Count Folke Bernadotte, the
first UN mediator to the Arab-Israeli conflict, who stated: "It would be
an offense against the principles of elemental justice if these
innocent [Arab] victims of the conflict were denied the right to return
to their homes, while Jewish immigrants flow into Palestine."
Israel's recognition of the Arabs' "refugee rights," Erekat argued,
"will lead to a lasting peace – the kind of peace envisaged by Lord
Bernadotte and hoped for by Palestinians and Israelis alike."
What Erekat failed to note was that the Arab world bluntly rejected
Bernadotte's plan for peace between Jews and Arabs and opted for war
against the nascent state of Israel instead. As Syrian officer Muhammad
Nimr al-Khatib said at the time, “Most of these mediators are spies for
the Jews anyway.”
Bernadotte was appointed mediator by the UN General Assembly on May 20,
1948, and on June 11, succeeded in arranging a 30-day cease-fire. After
visiting Cairo, Beirut, Amman and Tel Aviv, he proposed that the UN
partition plan for the Land of Israel be scrapped, and proposed instead a
plan to unite Arabs and Jews in one state consisting of a very small
Jewish entity on the coast and in the Galilee, and an enlarged
Transjordan. Jerusalem would be under Arab sovereignty, as would the
entire Negev.
The Arabs refused to accept even this plan, however, and the Jews rejected the plan after the Arabs did.
Bernadotte noted in his journal that the "Palestinian" Arabs had little desire for independence.
The Palestinian Arabs had at present no will of their own. Neither
have they ever developed any specifically Palestinian nationalism. The
demand for a separate Arab state in Palestine is consequently relatively
weak. It would seem as though in existing circumstances most of the
Palestinian Arabs would be quite content to be incorporated in
Transjordan.
Bernadotte was later assassinated by Jewish nationalists from the Lechi
group - hated by the British, who named them the "Stern Gang" after
their founding leader, Avraham 'Yair' Stern, who was killed by the
British occupying forces.
Erekat is presumably aware of British sensitivities and probably chose
Bernadotte for a reason. However, as noted - it was the Arab side that
was first to reject Bernadotte's generous plan. The Arabs then launched a
genocidal war against Israel - and lost it. The result included many
more refugees, whom the Arabs now wish to put back into Israeli
territory, along with their descendants.
5. Arabs Vandalize Joshua’s Tomb
by Elad Benari & Yoni Kempinski
More than a thousand Jewish worshippers from all over Israel who went
up on Thursday to Joshua’s Tomb in the Samaria village of Timnat Heres
were shocked to find that Arabs had vandalized the area with Arabic
graffiti.
This was not the first time that Arabs have vandalized the compound,
but this time was particularly difficult, as entire walls in the
compound were covered with the graffiti. The worshippers were also
surprised to discover that this year, unlike in previous years, dozens
of local Arabs gathered at the graveside and firmly demanded that the
security forces who were present stop the dancing of some youths who
broke into song and dance. The officers approached the youths and asked
that they refrain from dancing and singing, but they refused and
continued to dance for several minutes.
Gershon Mesika, head of the Shomron (Samaria) Regional Authority who
was unable to hide his shock at the graffiti, said: “Only barbarians can
do such terrible things. People who are able to deface a holy place so
badly do not deserve to be called civilized. If this was Jews
desecrating a Muslim shrine, the whole world would speak out against
it.”
The mass prayer at Joshua’s Tomb took place in honor of Asara B’Tevet,
the fast of the tenth day of the Jewish month of Tevet, which occurs
today. The worshippers prayed at Joshua’s Tomb as well as at the
gravesites of his father Nun and of Calev ben Yefuneh which are nearby.
The thousands of worshippers included men and women of all ages and all
walks of life: secular, traditional, religious, Hareidi, and even
tourists who came to Israel especially for the occasion. Also taking
part were heads of yeshivas and rabbis from all parts of Israel.
The event was organized by the Shomron Regional Authority, the Shechem
Echad organization, and the Shomron Religious Council. The worshippers
were secured by soldiers belonging to the Ephraim Brigade.
The tradition of visiting the graves of the righteous has been
maintained since the days of the Bible, where it is written that Joshua
was buried in Timnat Heres, to the present day. Once in a while the IDF
allows Israeli citizens to enter Joshua’s Tomb for prayer purposes.
Yehuda Libman of Shechem Echad, thanked the IDF and Israeli Police for
their assistance and for providing security, and explained the reason
that the mass worship takes place on the tenth of Tevet: “The Tenth of
Tevet is the general day of Kaddish, a day on which we pray for all
those souls whose dates of death are unknown. This day is also a special
day on which we visit the grave of Calev.”
Mesika added that it is “heartwarming to see secular, religious and
Hareidi Jews going up to Joshua’s Tomb and connecting with the person
who was Israel’s first Chief of Staff. During these days of pressure
both within Israel and without, we are strengthened by Joshua, who had
the courage to stand up and declare in front of the twelve spies: 'we
will go up and inherit the land because we can.’ We all hope that the
government will also maintain the legacy of Joshua. We are strong, we
just need the leadership not to break.”
6. After Over 5 Years, Nisanit Expellees Get a Home
by Maayana Miskin
The first family expelled from Nisanit, in Gush Katif, has moved into
their new home in the Galilee. Another 24 families from Nisanit and
Dugit are still waiting.
The 25 families were forced out of their homes during the 2005
“Disengagement.” They chose to move together to Bustan HaGalil, north of
Akko, in order to maintain their community. At the time, government
officials promised that they would be able to build new homes in the
north within a year.
Instead, they have waited for more than five years for new homes.
A celebration was held as the Deiboch family entered its new home this
week. The head of the Asher Regional Council, Yehuda Shenhov, was in
attendance, as was Bentzi Lieberman, head of Tnufa, which is tasked with
resettling the thousands of Israelis left homeless by the
Disengagement.
Several other families expect their new homes to be complete within the month.
Four years ago Danny Deiboch, father of the Deiboch family, spoke to
Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language news service about the difficulties his
family had faced since being forced out of Gaza. The Deibochs moved to
Bustan HaGalil shortly after the Disengagement in order to spare their
children the need to relocate twice, once from Gaza and again after the
completion of their new home.
Upon arrival they rented a house, which they later discovered had
serious infrastructure problems. They were forced to invest money to
prevent the home from collapse. Danny, who was forced to seek out a new
career path at the age of 47, was unable to find work for a lengthy
period of time; at the same time, the family had to continue payments on
the mortgage for their home in Nisanit that had been demolished.
“We would have been willing to suffer all this if the government had
kept its promise to get us settled quickly,” he said at the time. “But a
year has gone by and nothing has changed, everything just gets worse.”
7. Plans to Save Nof Zion - into High Gear
by Hillel Fendel
Spirited attempts are being made to prevent the Jewish neighborhood of Nof Zion in Jerusalem from falling into Arab hands.
The Digal Company that built the project, which was slated to be a
religious-Zionist neighborhood, has fallen upon hard times, failing to
pay its debt of nearly 60 million shekels to bond holders. The latter
were made an offer of approximately 50% by a religious-Zionist real
estate group known as Be’emunah (With Faith), but this was topped by an
offer of approximately 60% - in cash – made by a Palestinian Authority
Arab with American citizenship.
The potential Arab buyer is represented by Attorney Dov Weissglass, a
former friend and advisor to ex-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during the
Disengagement period.
Phases II and III in Danger, Thus Endangering Phase I
The first phase of the project was completed long ago, and much has
been written about the 90 families' satisfaction with their new
neighbors, neighborhood, and surroundings. However, they are more than
apprehensive that if the project falls into Arab hands, the 180 planned
units of Stages II and III of the project will not only not be built,
but that their own homes will become an unsafe and unviable Jewish
enclave surrounded by Arab homes.
Thus, they threaten to take Bank Leumi – the guarantor of the project –
and Digal to court for backing down on their much-touted plans to
ensure that the project is for the national-religious public. Digal’s
troubles can be solved by selling to Be’emunah, they say, and add that
while selling to an Arab buyer would increase Digal’s profits, it turns
the project into the opposite of what Digal promised the residents. The
residents are represented by Attorney Moti Mintzer.
Yisrael Ze’ira, founder of both the Rosh Yehudi outreach organization
and Be’emunah, says that his group is seeking to raise 48 million
shekels with which to purchase the 15 dunams (nearly 4 acres) on which
Stages II and III are to be built. “We are short just a few million,” he
told Israel National News. “Those who wish to help can visit our website.”
The minimum investment is 320,000 shekels (roughly $89,000) - the
price, including Value Added Tax, of land for one unit. Those who invest
are promised a discount in purchasing the actual apartment.
Another approach, led by Jerusalem lands reclaimer Aryeh King, is to
find buyers for a total of 25% of the bonds, thus preventing the
necessary majority of 76% from voting to sell the bonds to Weissglass’
Arab client. The bondholders are to convene for the vote in two weeks’
time. Though some feel this attempt could easily be challenged in court,
it could buy time for the Be’emunah group to raise the necessary funds
to buy the project.
King’s Jerusalem projects are featured here.
Both King and Ze’ira emphasize that the importance of their efforts
cannot be overstated, both for the future of Nof Zion and for Jerusalem
in its entirety.
8. Fayyad: PA Won't Declare State Unilaterally
by Gil Ronen
The Palestinian Authority is not interested in another unilateral
declaration of statehood, the PA's "Prime Minister" Salam Fayyad told
Channel 2 in an interview aired Wednesday night.
"We want a state of Palestine, not a unilateral declaration of
statehood," Fayyad said. He explained that he did not see how a
unilateral declaration would help the PA's cause. Such a declaration "is
not and will not be a part of our thinking," he added.
PA spokesmen have often threatened that they would unilaterally declare
a state in 2011 if negotiations with Israel failed to yield the results
they want. However, Fayyad's statement seems to indicate that the
threats were empty ones.
Arab foreign ministers spoke out Wednesday against any talks between
Israel and the PA, be they direct or indirect, unless the US endorses
Israel's 1949 borders - the "Auschwitz Borders," as they were called by
Israel's first UN ambassador, Labor's Abba Eban - as the baseline for
negotiations.
Associated Press reported that the Arab diplomats, who attended an Arab
League summit in Cairo, are not advocating a unilateral declaration of a
PA state either.
"The negotiation track between the Palestinians and Israelis is futile.
There is no return to talks. Any resumption is conditioned on a serious
offer that ensures the end to the Arab-Israeli conflict based on the
peace process references," a final statement from the Arab ministers
said.
The ministers blamed Washington for failing to force Israel to stop
building on land that was occupied by Jordan in the years 1948-1967.
This failure they said, "demands that the American administration
declares clearly the two states' borders be based on the [pre-]1967
borders."
Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani said in his
opening statement that the Arabs "can't provide support for the return
to talks, whether direct or indirect, under these circumstances." He
acknowledged, however, that the Arabs had no alternative to negotiations
either.
A unilateral declaration of a PA state would be tantamount to a
declaration of war against Israel - a war that the Arab states and the
PA are apparently not interested in at this point.
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