Foreign relations of Israel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Foreign relations of Israel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "'Israel ranks second only to Russia as a weapons system provider to China and as a conduit for sophisticated military technology, followed by France and Germany.' Israel was ready to sell China the Phalcon, an Israeli airborne early-warning radar system (AWACS), until the United States forced it to cancel the deal.[60][61]"

Golan Heights - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Golan Heights - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Two-thirds of the land was captured and occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. Immediately after the war, Israel was willing to give up the Golan in exchange for peace with Syria; however, Syria refused to negotiate.[10] In the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War Israel agreed to return about 5% of the territory to Syrian civilian control. This part was incorporated into a demilitarised zone that runs along the ceasefire line and extends eastward. This strip is under the military control of UN peace keeping forces. Construction of Israeli settlements began in the remainder of the territory held by Israel which was governed under military administration until Israel annexed the area with the 1981 Golan Heights Law, which extended Israeli law, administration, and jurisdiction throughout the territory.[11] This move was condemned by the United Nations Security Council in UN Resolution 497,[12] which called 'the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect.' Israel, however, asserts its right to retain the area, citing the text of UN Resolution 242, adopted after the Six-Day War, which calls for 'safe and recognised boundaries free from threats or acts of force'."

Golan Heights - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Golan Heights - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The plateau is located at the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon mountains and straddles the borders of Syria and Israel. Elevations range from 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) in the north, to below sea level along the Sea of Galilee and the Yarmuk River in the south. A popular tourist destination attracting three million tourists a year,[4] the Golan has a rich history and features numerous archeological landmarks, scenic streams, mountains and waterfalls. The Golan Heights contribute significantly to the water resources of the region, providing about 15% of Israel's water supply. The region is also the source of a large proportion of Israel's agricultural production.[4]
The earliest evidence of human habitation dates to the Upper Paleolithic period.[5] According to the Bible, an Amorite Kingdom in Bashan was conquered by Israelites during the reign of King Og.[6] The biblical narrative also indicates that the Israelite tribe of Manasseh inhabited the region.[7]"

Avigdor Lieberman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Avigdor Lieberman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Avigdor Lieberman (Hebrew: אביגדור ליברמן‎ (audio) (help·info), born Evet Lvovich Liberman (Russian: Эве́т Льво́вич Ли́берман))[1] is a Soviet-born Israeli politician. He is currently Member of the Knesset, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Israel. He is the founder and leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party, whose electoral base are the immigrants from the former Soviet Union.[2]
A polarizing figure within Israeli politics, Lieberman is quoted as saying, 'I've always been controversial because I offer new ideas. For me to be controversial, I think this is positive.'[3] Lieberman has called to redraw the border between Israel and the West Bank so that Israel would include large Jewish settlement blocs and the Palestinian state would include large Arab-Israeli population centers. He proposed that Israel's citizens should sign a loyalty oath or lose their right to vote."

Walid Muallem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Walid Muallem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Walid al Muallem (Arabic: وليد المعلم‎) (born 13 January 1941) is the current Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates for Syria, and a long-time diplomat for that country.
Contents [hide]
1 Early life, education and career
2 See also
3 References
4 External links
[edit]Early life, education and career

Muallem is a former Ambassador of Syria to the United States and at the time of his appointment as foreign minister was serving as deputy foreign minister. He took office as foreign minister on 11 February 2006 during a cabinet reshuffle in which his predecessor Farouk al-Sharaa became vice-president. He has been very in"

United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Zone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Zone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Border crossings
Members of the UNDOF and UNTSO are usually the only individuals to cross the Israeli-Syrian border through the zone. Since 1988, Israel has allowed Druze pilgrims to cross the border to visit the shrine of Abel in Syria. In the Al Qunaytirah area, a company monitors the main roads leading into the AOS. Several times during the year Israel and Syria permit crossings of Arab citizens under the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross at an unofficial gate in the area. These people are pilgrims and students of the University of Damascus living in Israel or in the occupied territories. In 2005, Syria allowed a few trucks of Druze-grown Golan apples to be imported. The trucks themselves were driven by Kenyan nationals."

World History International: On This Day In History

World History on This Day Part II

World History International: On This Day In History: "* 1910 Cape of Good Hope becomes part of Union of South Africa

* 1910 Union of South Africa declares independence from UK
* 1912 US marines land on Cuba
* 1913 17th amendment (direct election of senators) declared ratified"

* 1915 An LZ-38 Zeppelin makes an air raid on London

* 1916 Battle of Skagerrak: Brit-German sea battle at Jutland (10,000 dead)
* 1916 British battle cruiser Invincible explodes, killing all but 6

1921 Suffy McInnis (1st base) begins an errorless string of 1,700
* 1923 China & USSR exchange diplomats
* 1926 Portuguese president Bernardino Machedo resigns after coup
* 1927 Ford Motor Company produces last "Tin Lizzie" (begins Model A)
* 1927 Tiger 1st baseman Johnny Neun makes an unassisted triple play
* 1928 1st aerial cross of Pacific takes off from Oakland
* 1935 Babe Ruth grounds out in his final at bat
* 1935 Quake kills 50,000 in Quetta Pakistan
* 1937 1st quadruplets to finish college (Baylor University)
* 1937 Bkln Dodgers snap NY Giant Carl Hubbell's 24-game winning streak
* 1937 German battleships bomb Almeria Spain

* 1941 British troops vacate Kreta
* 1941 German occupiers forbids Jews access to beach & swimming pools
* 1942 25th PGA Championship: Sam Snead at Seaview CC Atlantic City NJ
* 1942 Luftwaffe bombs Canterbury

* 1943 "Archie" comic strip 1st broadcast on radio

* 1943 Cards Mort Cooper pitches 1st of back-to-back one-hitters
* 1944 Allied breakthrough in Italy

All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.
Pablo Picasso

Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/p/pablo_picasso.html#ixzz1Nytl66GJ

* 1947 Communists grab power in Hungary
* 1955 Great Britain proclaims emergency crisis due to railroad strike
* 1955 Supreme Court orders school integration "with all deliberate speed"
* 1956 Mickey Mantle HR just misses clearing Yankee Stadium's roof
* 1961 Chuck Berry's amusement park, Berryland in St Louis, opens
* 1961 JFK visits Charles de Gaulle in Paris
* 1961 Judge Irving Kaufman orders Board of Ed of New Rochelle, to integrate
* 1961 Union of South Africa becomes a republic, leaves Commonwealth
* 1962 "Tell It To Groucho" last airs on CBS-TV
* 1964 Charles Schmid kills first Pied Piper victim

As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.
Vincent Van Gogh
* 1969 "Gitarzan" by Ray Stevens peaks at #8
* 1969 John Lennon & Yoko Ono record "Give Peace a Chance"
* 1969 Stevie Wonder releases "My Cherie Amore"

* 1974 Israel & Syria sign an agreement concerning Golan Heights

World History International: On This Day In History

World History Today: May 31, 2011- A compilation of only what matters most: By Stephen C. Sanders Edited By: Aharon Moshe Sanders
How to get two employees for the price of one "unsalaried" entrepreneur.


World History International: On This Day In History: "On This Day in History
Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Events
* 70 Rome captures 1st wall of the city of Jerusalem"
* 1495 Emperor Maximilian, Pope Alexander VI, Milan, King Ferdinand, Isabella & Venice sign anti-French Saint League

* 1621 Sir Francis Bacon thrown into Tower of London for 1 night
* 1665 Jerusalem's rabbi Sjabtai Tswi proclaims himself Messiah
* 1678 Lady Godiva rode naked through Coventry in a protest of taxes

* 1790 US copyright law enacted
* 1836 HMS Beagle anchors in Simons Bay, Cape of Good Hope
* 1837 Astor Hotel opens in NYC, it later becomes the Waldorf-Astoria

* 1859 Phila A's organize to play "town ball" became baseball 20 years later
* 1868 1st Memorial Day parade held in Ironton, Ohio
* 1868 Dr James Moore (UK) wins 1st recorded bicycle race, (2k) velocipede race at Parc fde St Cloud, Paris
* 1870 Congress passes 1st Enforcement Act (rights of blacks)

* 1878 German battleship Grosser Kurfurst sinks, 284 killed
* 1878 US Congress accept decrease in dollar circulation
* 1879 1st electric railway opens at Berlin Trades Exposition
* 1879 Madison Square Garden opens
* 1906 Attack on King Alfonso XIII & Victoria von Battenberg in Madrid
* 1907 Taxis 1st began running in NYC

* 1884 Dr John Harvey Kellogg patents "flaked cereal"

Before the point of no return - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Before the point of no return - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News: "He decided to further refine the ulcer concept after the clerk at the Israeli border crossing at the Allenby Bridge stamped 'entry denied' in the passport of the esteemed Jewish-American professor and sent him back to Jordan because of his criticism of the Israeli occupation. Since then Shaltiel has been documenting on a daily basis, with Sisyphean persistence, all the events that in his view indicate that Israel is sliding rapidly down a slippery slope at the end of which its democratic society will cease to exist."

United Nations Security Council Resolution 338 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United Nations Security Council Resolution 338 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The continued fighting despite the terms called for by the resolution, brought Resolution 339 which resulted in a cease fire.
The resolution states:
The Security Council,
Calls upon all parties to present fighting to cease all firing and terminate all military activity immediately, no later than 12 hours after the moment of the adoption of this decision, in the positions after the moment of the adoption of this decision, in the positions they now occupy; Calls upon all parties concerned to start immediately after the cease-fire the implementation of Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) in all of its parts;"

'Navy prepared to board flotilla ships if they... JPost - Defense

'Navy prepared to board flotilla ships if they... JPost - Defense: "The Israel Navy is prepared to intercept and take control of the ships participating in the new flotilla to the Gaza Strip, a senior Navy officer said Tuesday on the anniversary of the IDF operation to stop the Mavi Marmara that ended in the death of nine Turkish nationals.

'We will order the ship to stop, but if they don't, we are prepared to intercept and board the ship,' a senior officer told reporters.

RELATED:
Gantz tells FADC: We are committed to bring Schalit home
Canadian FM has stern warning for flotilla participant

The flotilla of 15 ships, organized by the Turkish humanitarian organization, IHH - which is outlawed in Israel due to its ties with Hamas, as well as The Free Gaza Movement - is planning to sail to the Gaza Strip in late June."

Editors Note: I believe this can no longer be called a peaceful assault. Or perhaps that is a good term, it pretends to be peaceful in name, however its intent is definitely an assault!

Fisk: Obama, US have lost all cre... JPost - Diplomacy & Politics

Fisk: Obama, US have lost all cre... JPost - Diplomacy & Politics: "Fisk slams recent meetings between Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as 'irrelevant' amid the struggle for democracy taking place in the region.

He refers to Obama's Middle East policy as 'muddled,' criticizing the US president for supporting democracy as long as it does not interfere with US interests. Fisk points specifically to the US supporting autocratic Saudi Arabia and allowing the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad to survive despite a bloody crackdown against protesters.

The British journalist claims that Obama's reluctance to remove Assad from power stems from the fact that 'the Israelis would far prefer the 'stability' of the Syrian dictatorship to continue; better the dark caliphate you know than the hateful Islamists who might emerge from the ruins.'"

Source: By JPOST.COM STAFF
05/31/2011 17:13

Influential British journalist says US president "goes on his knees before Israel"; claims Israel originally supported Hamas as way to hurt Arafat.


Editors Note: I think Abraham Lincoln was right when he said: " You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Abraham Lincoln

Read more:


http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abrahamlin110340.html#ixzz1NyaEhYA3

Unified P.A. sets up fight over U.S. aid - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix

Unified P.A. sets up fight over U.S. aid - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix: "Under the reconciliation agreement, which the rival Palestinian factions signed in Cairo on May 4, they will form an interim Fatah-Hamas government to run the West Bank, which is now controlled by the Palestinian Authority, and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. Parliamentary and presidential elections will take place within a year. P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas has said he will not be a candidate.

Although the Obama administration has expressed its unhappiness with the unity agreement, it is not counting out the prospect of supporting a reconstituted Palestinian Authority in which Hamas plays some role.

Top Congress members from both parties have been more forthright: If Hamas joins the Palestinian government, there will be no more talk of moderates versus terrorists, they said. If that happens, the Palestinians can kiss goodbye their approximately $500 million in annual U.S. aid."

As Netanyahu, Abbas Visit White House: Timeline of Israel’s Peace Efforts during the Obama Administration - The Israel Project

As Netanyahu, Abbas Visit White House: Timeline of Israel’s Peace Efforts during the Obama Administration - The Israel Project: "meline of Israeli efforts for peace and Israeli-Palestinian cooperation

2010


May 28: Israel plans to reopen part of an Israeli highway to Palestinians. Route 443 had previously been restricted to Palestinians after terrorists shot five Israeli motorists on the road in 2002. Israelis still fear attacks, but Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) must grant Palestinians access to part of the highway in the West Bank.[12]

May 26: Israel authorizes construction projects in Gaza in conjunction with the Palestinian Authority, sidelining Hamas. An Israel Defense Ministry official announces the government will deliver water and nine desalination systems to Gaza, and is approving supplies for construction on a hospital, 150 apartment buildings, a municipal sewage system, a flour mill and 60 classrooms at UN schools. All of the projects have the backing of the Palestinian Authority (PA), as part of Israel’s strategy of weakening Iran-backed Hamas and strengthening the PA in Gaza. Israel will also allow 100 Gaza businessmen to travel to the West Bank city of Bethlehem via Israel for a business conference"

The Golan Heights-From Biblical Times to Today. Part I

The Golan Heights-From Biblical Times to Today.- compiled by Aharon Moshe (Stephen) Sanders project began on May 31, 2011 38 years from the Historic Conquest of the Golan Heights by Israel on May 31, 1973.
A compilation from referenced web sources:

HISTORY

In Biblical times, the Golan Heights was referred to as "Bashan;" the word "Golan" apparently derives from the biblical city of "Golan in Bashan," (Deuteronomy 4:43, Joshua 21:27). The area was assigned to the tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 13:29-31). In early First Temple times (953-586 BCE), the area was contested between the northern Jewish kingdom of Israel and the Aramean kingdom based on Damascus. King Ahab of Israel (reigned c. 874-852 BCE) defeated Ben-Hadad I of Damascus near the site of Kibbutz Afik in the southern Golan (I Kings 20:26-30), and the prophet Elisha prophesied that King Jehoash of Israel (reigned c. 801-785 BCE) would defeat Ben-Hadad III of Damascus, also near Kibbutz Afik (11 Kings 13:17). In the late 6th and 5th centuries BCE, the region was settled by returning Jewish exiles from Babylonia (modern Iraq).

In the mid 2nd century BCE, Judah Maccabee and his brothers came to the aid of the local Jewish communities when the latter came under attack from their non-Jewish neighbors (I Maccabees 5). Judah Maccabee's grandnephew, the Hasmonean King Alexander Jannai (reigned 103-76 BCE) later added the Heights to his kingdom. The Greeks referred to the area as "Gaulanitis", a term also adopted by the Romans, which led to the current application of the word "Golan" for the entire area. Gamla became the Golan's chief city and was the area's last Jewish stronghold to resist the Romans during the Great Revolt, falling in the year 67 (see Josephus, The Jewish War, Chap. 13, Penguin edition). Despite the failure of the revolt, Jewish communities on the Heights continued, and even flourished; the remains of no less than 25 synagogues from the period between the revolt and the Islamic conquest in 636 have been excavated. (Several Byzantine monasteries from this period have also been excavated on the Heights.) 

Jewish Virtual Library.org

Golan Heights from WWI WWII and moving into 1967:

Throughout its history, Israel's relations with its northern neighbor, Syria, have been contentious. The early history between the countries was marked by constant attacks on Israeli civilians by Syrian positions on the Golan Heights. Through two wars, in 1967 and 1973, Israel captured and then retained possession of the strategic mountain range. Although the border has been quiet for nearly three decades, relations between the countries remain cold as Syria has yet to formally recognize Israel. Israel has made several attempts to achieve peace over the years, but negotiations consistently failed.

Timeline: Syria

A chronology of key events:
1918 1 October - Arab troops led by Emir Feisal, and supported by British forces, capture Damascus, ending 400 years of Ottoman rule.


Damascus: Syria's capital has a long history
64 BC: Conquered by Romans
635 AD: Conquered by Muslim Arabs
1516: Becomes Ottoman outpost
1919: Becomes capital of Syria

In pictures: Your Damascus
1919 - Emir Feisal backs Arab self-rule at the Versailles peace conference, following the defeat of Germany and the Ottoman Empire in World War I.
1919 June - Elections for a Syrian National Congress are held. The new assembly includes delegates from Palestine.
1920 8 March - The National Congress proclaims Emir Feisal king of Syria "in its natural boundaries" from the Taurus mountains in Turkey to the Sinai desert in Egypt.

French control

1920 June - San Remo conference splits up Feisal's newly-created Arab kingdom by placing Syria-Lebanon under a French mandate, and Palestine under British control.

1920 July - French forces occupy Damascus, forcing Feisal to flee abroad.

1920 August - France proclaims a new state of Greater Lebanon.

1922 - Syria is divided into three autonomous regions by the French, with separate areas for the Alawis on the coast and the Druze in the south.

<blockquote>

Uprising

1925-6 - Nationalist agitation against French rule develops into a national uprising. French forces bombard Damascus.

1928 - Elections held for a constituent assembly, which drafts a constitution for Syria. French High Commissioner rejects the proposals, sparking nationalist protests.

Great Mosque in Damascus, earliest surviving stone mosque

1936 - France agrees to Syrian independence in principle but signs an agreement maintaining French military and economic dominance.

1940 - World War II: Syria comes under the control of the Axis powers after France falls to German forces.

1941 - British and Free French troops occupy Syria. General De Gaulle promises to end the French mandate.

1945 - Protests over the slow pace of French withdrawal.

1946 - Last French troops leave Syria

</blockquote>

History

Ceasefire line

Since the 1949 Armistice Agreements, relations between Israel and Syria have been characterized by periods of hostility; ceasefire talks, sometimes through intermediaries; and disengagement agreements, such as the 1974 Israeli-Syrian disengagement agreement. In 1949, an Israeli-Syrian peace treaty was negotiated with the short-lived Syrian government of Husni al-Za'im.

Prior to the 1967 Six Day War, intermittent hostilities centered on the Demilitarized Zones, water issues and shelling and infiltration from the Golan Heights. Since the war, the focus of negotiations has been "land for peace," in particular a demand that Israel return the Golan Heights to Syria along with Syrian recognition of Israel and establishment of peaceful relations with it, as stipulated in UN Security Council Resolution 242.

History

On 6 October 1973, in a surprise joint attack, Egypt attacked Israeli forces on the Suez Canal and in theSinai while Syria attacked Israeli forces on the Golan Heights. The Israelis stopped the attacks and retook most of the lost ground. Israeli forces then pushed into Syria and Egypt.^[5] Fighting continued until 22 October 1973, when United Nations Security Council Resolution 338 called for a ceasefire. Two days later, Israel and Egypt violated the ceasefire and resumed fighting, resulting inUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 339, which ended the war. The conflict is now known as the Yom Kippur War. The United Nations Emergency Force II moved into place between Israeli and Egyptian armies in the Suez Canal area, stabilizing the situation.

Resolution 339 primarily reaffirmed the terms outlined in Resolution 338 (itself based on Resolution 242). It required the forces of both sides to return to the position they held when the initial ceasefire came into effect, and a request from the United Nations Secretary-General to undertake measures toward the placement of observers to supervise the ceasefire.

Tension remained high on the Israel-Syria front, and from March 1974 the situation became increasingly unstable. The United States undertook a diplomatic initiative, which resulted in the signing of the "Agreement on Disengagement" (S/11302/Add.1, annexes I and II) between Israeli and Syrian forces.

 The Agreement provided for a buffer zone and for two equal areas of limitation of forces and armaments on both sides of the area. It also called for the establishment of a United Nations observer force to supervise its implementation. The Agreement was signed on 31 May 1974 and, on the same day, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 350 to set up the UNDOF and the UNDOF Zone.

 And yet, in the US-brokered Syrian-Israeli talks during the 1990s, Syria demanded that Israeli future withdrawal would be to the "June 4, 1967 Lines", namely west of the former British Mandate border with Syria^[1]. Syria attempted to recover the Golan Heights in the Yom Kippur War, but was unsuccessful, only recovering a small part of it in the 1974 disengagement agreement, while committing to distance its armed forces further eastwards compared with their 1967-1973 positions.

The following is the opinion of the developer of this Blog, Aharon Moshe Sanders:

So that is what happened 38 years ago today, on May 31st 1974.

It seem pretty clear that in order to maintain the tense peace, that the Golan Heights must remain as it is. The people who live in the Mount Hermon area. the Druze are happen to be in this sort of buffer zone of the two nations. 

I personally have traveled into the area and other than seeing a number of men mounted on horses brandishing swords (they were statues) there really does not seem as if there is anything to be concerned about. Sometimes the complexity of something in this case the fragile peace in this area needs to be preserved (and not simplified) in order to maintain peaceful coexistence.    

The condensed history of the Golan Height from Biblical Times until today.- A historical compilation with a very brief comment by the compiler. AhMbDvd.

Judaism 101 - Six Day War - A Glossary of Basic Jewish Terms and Concepts - OU.ORG

Judaism 101 - Six Day War - A Glossary of Basic Jewish Terms and Concepts - OU.ORG: "News from the Middle East during May, 1967 was very frightening.  Gamal Abdul Nasser, President of Egypt, had moved 100,000 troops and 1,000 tanks into the Sinai Peninsula, right on the southern border of Israel.  On May 17, he closed the Tehran Straits, an act of war, effectively cutting Israel off from the Red Sea, and from its access to oil.  The United Nations Emergency Force was evicted by Egypt, and Egyptians and the entire Arab world were delirious with joy at the prospect of driving Israel, G-d Forbid, into the Sea.  I remember the morning of June 5, 1967, when the terrifying sound of gunfire in Jerusalem was carried on radio and television. "

Yom Hazikaron spurs reunion of soldier's friends - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix

Yom Hazikaron spurs reunion of soldier's friends - Jewish News of Greater Phoenix:

May 6, 2011/Iyar 2 5771, Volume 63, No. 35
OPINION - Commentary Close window Print this page
Yom Hazikaron spurs reunion of soldier's friends
SUSAN BOND

"While preparing for last year's Yom Hazikaron ceremony in Scottsdale, community shlicha Sharron Topper-Amitai asked me if I had lost a loved one in Israel's wars. I said, 'Yes, Hillel Sanders, my childhood best friend who died on the Golan Heights in the Yom Kippur War.' Sharron asked if I wanted to honor him at the Yom Hazikaron ceremony, and I immediately agreed. Hillel and I grew up together on Kibbutz Sasa in the Upper Galilee on the Lebanese border. We were among the first group of children in the kibbutz and were bosom buddies.

As I was looking through old photos, I found that I didn't have one of Hillel in uniform. So, I contacted his brother Ran in Israel,"

Source: JewishAz.com

Blog Editors Note: This news item touches "too close to home" for several different reasons.

United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Zone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Zone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) Zone was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 350 on 31 May 1974,[1] to implement Resolution 338 (1973) which called for an immediate ceasefire and implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242.[2]

The photo above was taken of Aharon Moshe (Stephen) Sanders by Dinah Sanders, in the Golan Heights, Summer 2009.
                                 
The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) Zonewas established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 350 on 31 May 1974,^[1] to implement Resolution 338 (1973) which called for an immediate ceasefire and implementation ofUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 242.^[2]

signed between Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights,...to end the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

This was signed by Israel and Syria on  May 31, 1973. 38 Years ago today! 

The resolution was passed on the same day the 'Agreement on Disengagement'[3] was signed between Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, finally establishing a ceasefire to end the 1973 Yom Kippur War."

Editors Note: It is truly hard to imagine that an area as beautiful as the Golan which is lush and green and currently home to many Israeli wineries could seriously be discussed to be turned over to known enemies of the nation of Israel.

On June 9, 1967, Israel moved against Syrian forces on the Golan. By late afternoon, June 10, Israel was in complete control of the plateau. 

Israel's seizure of the strategic heights occurred only after 19 years of provocation from Syria, and after unsuccessful efforts to get the international community to act against the aggressors.

Six years later, in a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the Syrians overran the Golan Heights before being repulsed by Israeli counterattacks. After the war, Syria signed a disengagement agreement that left the Golan in Israel's hands.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/golan_hts.html

Editors Note: Anyone ever visiting Israel would be taken in by the lush beauty of the Golan Heights. While enemies of Israel would simply turn the area into a military camp to eventually wipe away the nation that has been known as Israel fron the earliest preserved records of civilization.  

Lashing Back – Israel’s 1947-1948 Civil War » History Net

Lashing Back – Israel’s 1947-1948 Civil War » History Net: "Israel has fought and won three major wars in its 61-year existence. The best-known today are the Six-day War of 1967 and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The first war it fought as a nation was in 1948, today referred to by Israelis as the 'War of Independence' and by Palestinian Arabs as 'al-Nakba,' the catastrophe.

But perhaps the most important clashes in Israel's relatively brief history took place in the months preceding its declaration of statehood on May 14, 1948, when the Haganah, the predecessor of the Israel Defense Forces—aided in a minor way by the dissident groups, the IZL and the LHI—battled Arab militias in the towns and villages of Palestine and along the roads linking them. At the time, Great Britain, while nominally charged with maintaining order as it disengaged from the Palestinian territory it had ruled since 1917, focused mainly on withdrawing with minimal casualties and with its political prestige in the Middle East intact, and only occasionally intervened in the fighting."

At stake in this civil war was Israel's existence, and in the early months the Arabs appeared to be winning. By the end of March 1948, most of the Haganah's armored car fleet lay in ruins, and Jewish West Jerusalem, with 100,000 residents, was under siege. Had the run of successful Arab convoy ambushes continued, and had Jerusalem gone under, it seems certain that the armies of the Arab states that invaded the country seven weeks later would have aborted the tiny state before its birth.

April 1948, with its back to the wall, the Yishuv (in Hebrew, the Settlement)—as the 630,000-strong Jewish community in Palestine called itself—struck back. In a series of campaigns lasting six weeks, they battled mercilessly with the Palestinian Arab militias and overran dozens of Arab villages and towns. Slowly but surely, the balance of the war began to tip in their favor.

By 1947, waves of immigration had brought about half a million Jews to Palestine's shores. Most came from Eastern Europe, fleeing bouts of anti-Semitic legislation and violence—pogroms—in the czarist empire and the resurgence of anti-Semitism in central Europe, cresting with the Holocaust during World War II. Underlying their desire to return to the Land of Israel was an age-old messianic longing for the ancestral territory and the resurrection of Jewish sovereignty.

Even before this escalation, Jews had little trust in Palestinian Arabs. The Axis powers, Italy and Germany, had politically and economically supported the Palestine Arab revolt in 1936–1939, against both British rule and the burgeoning Zionist enterprise. And the Palestinian national movement's leader, the anti-Jewish Muslim cleric Haj Amin al-Husseini, sat out the war years (1941–1945) in Germany, received a salary from the Third Reich's foreign ministry, and broadcast calls to the Arab world to join in the anti-British jihad.


Source:

Lashing Back - Israel’s 1947-1948 Civil War

By Benny Morris | MHQ |  Published: February 17, 2009 at 11:15 am

The Middle East

The Middle East: "The precarious position of Israel, surrounded by hostile Arab nations, was exacerbated by the disruption of Palestinian refugees displaced by Israeli occupation of the west bank of the Jordan River, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and elsewhere.
By the late 1970s, displaced Palestinians numbered over four million, providing a large mass of dissatisfied people susceptible to terrorist recruitment. This dangerous situation was destined to continue as a source of seemingly irreconcilable conflict. To this day, an endless series of wars, military occupation, and terrorist attacks renders much of the region violently unstable.
Israel has a population of over 7 million people, including nearly 400,000 settlers living in occupied territories in the West Bank and Golan Heights. Approximately 80% are Jews and 16% are Muslims"

Israeli history's definitive rewrite - Eureka Street

Israeli history's definitive rewrite

PHILIP MENDES JANUARY 09, 2009

Morris, Benny; 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War. Yale University Press, 2008. RRP $32.50. ISBN 9780300126969


Israeli history's definitive rewrite - Eureka Street: "Overall, this is a beautifully written and comprehensively researched book.

There are a few minor omissions in the bibliography. For example, Morris does not directly respond to the contentious 'ethnic cleansing' thesis advanced by the anti-Zionist Israeli author Ilan Pappe in his two recent books. Nor does he cite the key works by Israeli historians Moshe Gat and Maurice Roumani on the respective Jewish exoduses from Iraq and Libya.



And surprisingly he makes no reference to local author Chanan Reich's book Australia and Israel in discussing the Australian approach to the 1947 UN vote.
But these caveats aside, this dispassionate and nuanced history is likely to be widely accepted as the definitive account of the 1948 war.
Benny Morris is speaking to a public forum at Monash University in Melbourne this Sunday night, 14 September. Details
LINK:"

Israeli history's definitive rewrite - Eureka Street

Israeli history's definitive rewrite - Eureka Street: "For the Israelis, the key contemporary factor was the still-recent Holocaust and the realistic fear that the Palestinians and/or the Arab States could perpetrate a similar massacre in the Middle East. Although they were successful in the war, they suffered 5700 dead (constituting one per cent of the Jewish population) and over 12,000 seriously wounded.
The Israeli consensus was that the Palestinians became refugees only because of the war they and their Arab allies had initiated, and therefore the blame lay with those who had caused the conflict.
For the Palestinians, the principal and understandable concern was that the creation of a Jewish State would lead to their dispossession and exile. They saw the war as an act of self-defence to protect their national inheritance. But the war resulted in the destruction of their society and the exile of much of their population. They continue to see the events of 1948 as an injustice that requires some form of reparation."

Israeli Will for Peace questioned by Palestinians

Israeli Will for Peace questioned by Palestinians: "ahmoud Abbas stated that the initial choice was negotiations, but if there was no progress before September (when the UN General Assembly will be in session), they would turn to the UN.

Israeli Palestinian Conflict At a Standstill

The Palestinian leader stated Netanyahu offered no new hortative in his speech on Tuesday for renewing talks, at a standstill since September 2010 because of the Israeli policy of building settlements in the West Bank.

He deplored that the speech only served to place more obstacles on the way to peace and was full of errors and distortions, because it ruled out a division of the holy city of Jerusalem."

Begin Breaks Likud Ranks on INR Radio; Rejects PA State - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Begin Breaks Likud Ranks on INR Radio; Rejects PA State - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News: "any second state of any nature, another sovereignty west of the Jordan River, especially when it comprises the PLO or Hamas, would negate or contradict two basic rights of the Jewish people and the citizens of Israel,' Begin told Israel National News Radio's Josh Hasten. during an interview on the Israel Hasbara Hour.

'One is the right of the Jewish people to our homeland, and our right to our homeland does not stop exactly east of the 1949 armistice demarcation lines, also known as the 'Green Line.' It has no historic significance whatsoever. It just marks a balance of military power back then, in 1948 or 1949, between [Israel's] local Arab neighbors and the newborn state of Israel in their attempt to smother the baby state in its cradle."

Begin Breaks Likud Ranks on INR Radio; Rejects PA State - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News

Begin Breaks Likud Ranks on INR Radio; Rejects PA State - Defense/Middle East - Israel News - Israel National News: "rejected the creation of an Arab state west of the Jordan River saying the right of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland was 'obvious' and that such a state would become a 'haven of impunity' for terror. Begin's remarks mark a stark departure from the “two states for two people's” vision endorsed by Israel's current Likud-run government."

WHO | Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

WHO | Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): "The United Nations Millennium Development Goals are eight goals that all 191 UN member states have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015. The United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000 commits world leaders to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women. The MDGs are derived from this Declaration, and all have specific targets and indicators."

Technical information

• MDG 1: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

• MDG 3: promote gender equality and empower women
• MDG 4: reduce child mortality
• MDG 5: improve maternal health
• MDG 6: combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• MDG 7: ensure environmental sustainability
• MDG 8: develop a global partnership for development

Source: World Health Organization

United Nations Millennium Development Goals

United Nations Millennium Development Goals: "'Eradicating extreme poverty continues to be one of the main challenges of our time, and is a major concern of the international community. Ending this scourge will require the combined efforts of all, governments, civil society organizations and the private sector, in the context of a stronger and more effective global partnership for development. The Millennium Development Goals set timebound targets, by which progress in reducing income poverty, hunger, disease, lack of adequate shelter and exclusion — while promoting gender equality, health, education and environmental sustainability — can be measured. They also embody basic human rights — the rights of each person on the planet to health, education, shelter and security. The Goals are ambitious but feasible and, together with the comprehensive United Nations development agenda, set the course for the world’s efforts to alleviate extreme poverty by 2015. '
United Nations Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon"

Egyptian General Defends 'Virginity Checks' on Protesters - Global - The Atlantic Wire

Egyptian General Defends 'Virginity Checks' on Protesters - Global - The Atlantic Wire: "Maj. Amr Imam said 17 women had been arrested but denied allegations of torture or 'virginity tests.' Now, a senior Egyptian general who asked not to be identified admits that 'virginity checks' were performed, and his defense of the practice reveals a disturbingly bleak attitude towards women.

'The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine,' the general said. 'These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and (drugs).'

He then offered the bizarre rationale that the virginity checks were done so that the women would not later claim they had been raped by Egyptian authorities. 'We didn't want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren't virgins in the first place,' the general said. 'None of them were (virgins).' He did not further explain this confounding logic."


Source: (Image & Text)-AtlanticWire.com

The Problem With Gaza is that Jews No Longer LIve There! (101)

The Problem With Gaza is that Jews No Longer LIve There! (101): "Jews had lived in Gaza throughout history. As Gaza was included in the Palestine Mandate for a Jewish national home, the Jews continued to live there. In August 1929, however, the Arabs of Palestine, led by the Supreme Muslim Council, began a nation wide massacre against their Jewish neighbors.

Instead of punishing the perpetrators, the British administration of Palestine, forced the Jews to leave Gaza as well as Hebron [located in Judea]. The Jews weren’t even allowed to go back to their homes in Gaza when the State of Israel was declared in 1948 due to Egypt’s illegal occupation of Gaza (1948-1967).

It wasn’t until after the 1967 Six Day War, that Jews were allowed back home. Since then, the Jews have been accused of occupying ‘Arab land’, when in fact, the Jews who lawfully lived in Gaza, were forced out by the Arabs rioters, and not the other way around."

From Website linked below

http://www.saveisraelnow.com/Gush_Katif__Gaza.html

Reps. Israel & Cole Lead Bipartisan Letter Urging Turkey to Stop Another Flotilla (101)

Reps. Israel & Cole Lead Bipartisan Letter Urging Turkey to Stop Another Flotilla (101): "Reps. Israel & Cole Lead Bipartisan Letter Urging Turkey to Stop Another Flotilla from Departing for the Gaza Strip
Wednesday, 11 May 2011 16:15
Washington, DC – On Wednesday, Reps. Steve Israel (D – NY) and Tom Cole (R – OK) led a bipartisan letter to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urging the Prime Minister to stop another flotilla from departing Turkey for the Gaza Strip. Thirty-six Members of Congress signed the bipartisan letter, which asked the Turkish government to help find constructive alternatives for those wishing to provide aid to Gaza.

See the list of 36 Congressional Reps signed this important letter:

Urging Turkey to Stop Another Flotilla from Departing for the Gaza Strip"

125 People on Facebook Agree! (103)-Gush Katif a Big Mistake

125 People on Facebook Agree! (103): "125 People on Facebook Agree!Delete Topic|Reply to Topic
Displaying all 4 posts.

Aharon Moshe Sanders
It is Hamas that is creating the current need for Humanitarian Aid in Gaza, not Israel. The only thing Israel did wrong in this matter was allowing Gaza to exist!

The disengagement from Gush Katif was a horrible experiment gone wrong! I can think of only one solution, how about you?


about 12 months ago · Delete Post

Bob Kafir Landis
Hamas has only one purpose, to annihilate Jews. What sense does it make to give anything to murderers. NONE!
about 12 months ago · · Report · Delete Post

Aharon Moshe Sanders
Unfortunately the Agenda if the militant fundamental Islamic Jihadists, goes furhter than that. Annihilating the Jews, is just the start of a sinister plan which they believe is ordained from G-d! I saw a movie on this topic last Tish B'Av in Jerusalem.
about 12 months ago · Delete Post

Bob Kafir Landis
If you want a book that will blow your mind buy God's War on Terror by Walid Shoebat. He was a Muslim PLO Terrorist turned Christian."

2011 May « Talesfromthelou's Blog

2011 May « Talesfromthelou's Blog: "Grace González was a hard-working, happy woman who liked to laugh too loudly and dress too brightly. Her enchiladas, she declared, were the best in the barrio. Last month, neighbours watched in silence as her bloodstained body was wheeled out of the front door of the small house she shared with her two daughters on the outskirts of the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa.

Hours earlier, a man had come into her house and tried to rape her 15-year-old daughter, Rosa. When Grace tried to protect her child, he held her down and slit her throat. Almost a month after she buried her mother, Rosa says she doesn’t expect justice. What she does expect is for her mother’s murderer to come back and kill her too.

“I told the police that I knew the man and saw him kill my mother, but since then they have done nothing. There is no investigation. They tell me that he has left Honduras but I don’t believe them,” she says."

Grist - posts by Lester Brown Feed

Grist - posts by Lester Brown Feed: "Latest feed content from Grist - posts by Lester Brown
Water shortages threaten food future in the Middle East

(Fri, 06 May 2011 13:17:24 -0700)
by Lester Brown.
This piece originally appeared in The Guardian.
Long after the political uprisings in the Middle East have subsided, many underlying challenges that are not now in the news will remain. Prominent among these are rapid population growth, spreading water shortages, and ever growing food insecurity.
In some countries, grain production is now falling as aquifers are depleted. After the Arab oil-export embargo of the 1970s, the Saudis realized that since they were heavily dependent on imported grain, they were vulnerable to a grain counter-embargo. Using oil-drilling technology, they tapped into an aquifer far below the desert to produce irrigated wheat. In a matter of years, Saudi Arabia was self-sufficient in wheat, its principal food staple.
But after more than 20 years of wheat self-sufficiency, the Saudis announced in Jan. 2008"

YouTube - TRUTH!.. Obama's personal enemy!

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.: "TRUTH!.. Obama's personal enemy.

HauntingsTelevision 19 hours ago 2
Kol HaKavod R' Richman!  Probably your best rebuttal ever
YisraelOrBust"

Hriday: South Asia Struggles with High Food Prices and Chronic Hunger

Hriday: South Asia Struggles with High Food Prices and Chronic Hunger: "South Asia is home to 26% of the global population. Ensuring that the region’s vast population has sustainable access to food is a vital challenge of this generation.

Representatives from 20 Asian countries, international organizations (as well as the United States, and Japan) are presently attending a two-day FAO conference in Bangkok. One solution identified in combatting the region’s hunger is to create emergency reserves of staple food-grains such as rice. Trade-related solutions have also been proposed. In addition, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation has plans to open a seed bank.

Food security is certainly not a new challenge. Academics and policy-makers have been concerned with issues of food production, distribution, prices and population for centuries.  Today, as the world population is expected to hit 7 billion and 925 million people do not have enough food to eat, food security remains one of the most critical health issues of our day.

At present, malnutrition is a major obstacle to the good health of children in particular. About 50% of all underweight children in the world live in South Asia"

BBC News - Rising food prices increase squeeze on poor - Oxfam

BBC News - Rising food prices increase squeeze on poor - Oxfam: "31 May 2011 Last updated at 06:07 ET Share this pageEmailPrint
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The price of key crops could rise by up to 180%, Oxfam says
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Rising food prices are tightening the squeeze on populations already struggling to buy adequate food, demanding radical reform of the global food system, Oxfam has warned.

By 2030, the average cost of key crops could increase by between 120% and 180%, the charity forecasts.

It is the acceleration of a trend which has already seen food prices double in the last 20 years.

Half of the rise to come will be caused by climate change, Oxfam predicts.

It calls on world leaders to improve regulation of food markets and invest in a global climate fund."