There is far more support among the Jordanian Palestinians to have Jordan become a Palestinian state than the NYT admits, Mudar Zahran is keeping me informed. The king is not about to give all Palestinians a full vote because they would take over. He and the MB and Hamas and the Bedouins are against this. Ted Belman By STEPHEN FARRELL, NYT KARAK, Jordan — Beneath a statue of a glowering Saladin, the medieval Islamic warrior, a crowd unfurled banners and began chanting protests against the country’s leadership in its palaces and government offices far below the precipices of this ancient fortress town. Jordan’s Hashemite monarch, King Abdullah II, who turned 50 last month, has had to become accustomed to such scenes as he celebrates the 13th anniversary of his rule. “We want social justice,” the crowd chanted after Friday Prayers on Jan. 27, reading from a handwritten list of political, economic and social grievances. “Real elections,” they shouted. “I’m a citizen,... Click here to view the embedded video. Into the Fray: As the 2012 elections approach, the Republican Party owes America and its allies a persuasive paradigm. From the derogatory tone of a recent tirade from the “paper of record,” one might get the impression that the foreign policy endeavor of the current Democratic administration was reaping staggering success. By Mudar Zahran, STONEGATE INSTITUTE Sept 2011 On Monday afternoon, the Palestinians destroyed officially whatever was left of the concept of a peace process with Israel. As Foreign Policy Commissioner Catherine Ashton’s spokesman put it, “The EU has consistently called for intra-Palestinian... By Yoel Meltzer, AMERICAN THINKER SEPT 2011 Will AIPAC and Bibi get their war? by MJ Rosenberg, Foreign Policy Matters These are strange times for those of us who follow the debate about a possible war with Iran. It is clear that the Israeli government and its neoconservative camp followers here in the United States are increasing pressure on President Obama to either attack Iran or let Israel do it (in which case we would be forced to join in). But the idea of another war in the Middle East is so outlandish that it seems inconceivable it could actually occur. At a meeting of over 40 diplomats and ambassadors held at Bar Ilan University last week, devoted to a discussion of “UNRWA, Refugees and the Peace Process,” three panelists, all supporters of the Two-State Solution focused on the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) as a major obstacle to any resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. National water company predicts that increase desalination will create substantial surplus of water within eight years Israel may face a happy predicament within a decade – a water surplus. Mekorot, the national water company, said Wednesday that the increased desalination of seawater will eventually enable Israel to rehabilitate all of its fresh water reservoirs. Currently, Israel is missing 2B cubic meters of water, but Mekorot’s data suggests that by 2013, 75% of Israeli households would be using desalinated water. Israel has six desalination facilities, which produce 600 million cubic meters of water a... At the Herzlia Conference I spoke with one of the speakers who was with Brookings Doha based in Doha. He told me that he was one of the people who drafted the Roadmap for the State43 Department. I told him that you probably drafted the Saudi Plan for them also. He asked me why we didn’t talk to Hamas. I said that we have nothing to offer them. Not the answer he was expecting. He then pushed the Saudi Plan for our acceptance. I said nothing doing, we want all the land and we are entitled to it. He quoted international law as recited in R242 as prohibiting us from acquiring land by force. I said that was never the law because you can acquire land in a defensive war. He didn’t challenge me on that. A day or two ago there was a news item reporting that Qatar was promoting Wahabbism in Europe. This guy was probably behind the US embrace of the MB. He kept saying how they were moderating. Pure State Department BS. Ted Belman Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal...
Demonstrations Whisper of an Arab Spring in Jordan
U Penn’s Amy Kaplan teaches how to promote hatred of Israel
Foreign policy for Republicans, and others: Part I
A Plan B for Jordan
The Peace Process is over. Finally
Turmoil in Jordan over WikiLeaks cables
MJ Rosenberg smears AIPAC and Bibi
Without Changing UNRWA, There Can Be No Peace
‘Israel to have water surplus within decade’
Report: Mashaal temporarily moves Hamas HQ to Qatar
Saturday, 11 February 2012
by Bill Levinson
Thanks to Lori Lowenthal Marcus for the tip. U Penn students really need to ask where their tuition money is going; nobody is going to hire them for passing Kaplan’s course (or those of the pro-BDS professors to whom she is talking) outside of Hamas, Fatah, Hezbollah, or a similar organization.
For a while, we were concerned that the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination were not saying much about national security and foreign affairs. Now that a few have started, maybe they were better off before. Certainly, the Republican hopefuls have put to rest any lingering notion that their party is the one to trust with the nation’s security… the candidates offer largely bad analysis and worse solutions, nothing that suggests real understanding or new ideas… American voters deserve thoughtful answers. They’re not getting them.
Republicans and Foreign Policy – New York Times editorial
...
The King of Jordan, Abdullah II, delivered a speech on September 11, in which he mentioned the Jordanian civil war of 1970 for the first time ever: “There are not any issues we are too embarrassed to discuss, even if there is someone who wants to discuss the incidents of 1970, this is a part of history; let us think of the future and not the past.”
Commenting on the fear of Jordan’s Bedouin minority — who make up the king’s military and are the protected class — that Jordan might become the Palestinian majority’s homeland — a plan dubbed “the alternative homeland” by the local media — the king said: “I would like to assure everyone that Jordan will not be an alternative country to anyone. Is it even logical that Jordan will become an alternative to anyone while we sit there and do nothing? We have an army and we are willing to fight for our country and for the...
It is a testament to the weakened state of the US in the region that in his hour of distress, Abbas opted to turn to Hamas.
When PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas signed a deal with Hamas terror-master Khaled Mashaal in Doha, Qatar, the notion that there is a significant segment of Palestinian society that is not committed to the destruction of Israel was finally and truly sunk.
But before the ink on the agreement had a chance to dry, the peace processors were already spewing bromides whose sole purpose was to deny this inarguable conclusion. Both the Obama administration and the EU claimed that the agreement is an internal Palestinian issue. The EU actually welcomed the deal.
The recent disclosure by WikiLeaks of cables sent by the American Embassy in Amman back in 2008 has created a storm in Jordan. The King has accused the Americans of meddling in domestic affairs by trying to force an unsolicited change in his kingdom whereby the Palestinians relinquish the “right of return” in exchange for being fully incorporated into Jordanian society. This perceived affront caused supporters of the King to stage an unprecedented protest against America at its embassy in Amman. This in turn was followed by calls for a “million-man protest” at the Israeli Embassy in Amman, despite Israel having no connection to the cables.
Upon review of the cables, called The Right of Return: What it Means in Jordan, the reaction of the King seems out of proportion. After all, the cables merely reflect the known positions of the various parties that make up the Jordanian mosaic and how the unresolved issue of...
A LOOK INSIDE WASHINGTON BY A DEVOUT JEWISH LEFTIST.
Still, the conventional wisdom holds that it can, because this is an election year and the assumption is that no one will say no to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
War enthusiasm will rise to a fever pitch by March, when AIPAC holds its annual policy conference. Netanyahu will, if the past is any indication, bring...
Without changing UNRWA, MK Einat Wilf (Azmaut) warned, the two-state solution and the peace process was in danger. Wilf unveiled a plan to restructure the controversial UN organization which has been caring for Arab Palestinian refugees and their descendants exclusively for over 60 years.
Wilf announced “a scoop,” that she will propose Knesset action to urge ending support for UNRWA and shifting the billion-dollar organization from its support for the “Palestinian right of return” to specific projects that met needs, “schools, hospitals and welfare,” encouraged integration and worked towards resettlement.
The heads of Mekorot briefed the Knesset’s Economics Committee on the situation of Israel’s water market, in a meeting marking the company’s 75th anniversary.
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Ted Belman
Jerusalem, Israel
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