Israel Watch: Annexation Threats - Jim Fletcher -
The international community's propaganda machines are working overtime, as growing criticism of Israel's intention to annex parts of Judea and Samara looms.
Benjamin Netanyahu has announced plans for Israel to annex all the Israeli communities established there since the 1967 war.
According to a report in the Times of Israel:
"According to the U.S. administration, Israel would be annexing around 30 percent of the West Bank. However, based on the maps presented by Netanyahu and the administration, experts estimate it would actually be 20 percent. This is in addition to the 'exchange of territories and populations' that appear in the plan in the Negev and Galilee area known as The Triangle."
In conjunction with the Trump Peace Plan, the annexation is supposed to take place in July. At some distant point in the future, a very limited Palestinian state would be established. People on both sides of this divide know it wouldn't be viable, but there is something else at play here, too.
Although he is the weakest presidential candidate in my lifetime, Joe Biden announced this week that if he wins the White House, he will reverse all of Trump's Israel policies. This is no surprise. In fact, when the day comes that the "anti-Trump" resides in the White House, we will see a backlash and hatred of Israel never before seen.
The usual suspects in Europe, including the much-weakened European Union, are threatening Israel over annexation. They vow to step-up boycott activities.
Writing this week for the Jewish News Service, Melanie Phillips addressed this: "The E.U. has been mulling over punitive measures against Israel if it goes ahead with what its Western critics call "annexation of the occupied territories of the West Bank."
She then identified the individual countries:
"A number of member states, headed by France along with Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Belgium and Luxembourg, are calling for a hard line.
"This is a serious misreading of international law. Israel is not 'occupying' these territories. In law, occupation can only occur if the land belongs to a sovereign power, which was never the case here..."
Isn't that interesting? There in black and white is the crux of the matter, yet when one uses this argument, it is rejected out-of-hand by leftists. In effect, they are denying reality.
And that's what makes this era so difficult to live through. Israel is vilified by the likes of Iran and Turkey, who are also working to (even on social media!) actively undermine the U.S. by supporting the anarchists rioting across the country in the wake of the George Floyd killing. That's what leftists do, they work together to undermine and destroy people they perceive to be their enemies.
Remember, you can never appease leftist enemies by concessions. They demand more. And if you do unilaterally support your own interests, as Israel is doing, they will become even more unhinged.
There is a reprieve of sorts going on now with regard to Israel and her support from the U.S. But post-Trump, whenever that is, will see the attempted rollbacks of all Israel's gains.
Secret Deal Results in Saudi Arabia Challenging Turkey for Control of Temple Mount - By Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz - www.breakingisraelnews.com
"All the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed peoples who live in the desert;" Jeremiah 25:24 (The Israel Bible�)
An article in the Hebrew-language Israel Hayom on Sunday reported on secret negotiations that have been held between Israel and Saudi Arabia since December that would result in including Saudi clerics in the Waqf council that oversees the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The Waqf has managed the Temple Mount since the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem in 1187, with the latest version instituted by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan after its conquest of the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the 1948 war. Accordingly, the King of Jordan currently supplies all of the funding needed to operate the waqf, which is in effect the civil administration for the holy site. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem is in charge of Islamic religious affairs at the site. The Palestinian Authority has parallel organizations claiming an interest in these same matters which Israel does not officially recognize.
Israel Hayom cited top Saudi diplomats who remained anonymous as saying that senior diplomats and security officials from Israel, Saudi, and the United States were in dialogue concerning the implementation of President Trump's Middle East Peace Plan. According to the report, Jordan objected to the proposal but in the wake of recent Turkish interference in East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, the Jordanian government now supports having Saudi clerics as part of the Waqf council.
This seems to be a total reversal of the Jordanian Temple Mount policy. In February 2019, the Jordanian government, which controls the Waqf, enlarged its council from 11 to 18 members last week including Palestinian clerics or the first time. At the time, the move triggered a wave of Muslim violence on the Temple Mount. It was reported at the time that the move was an attempt by the Hashemite Kingdom that rules Jordan to ally with the Palestinian Authority in an attempt to prevent the Saudis from replacing them as custodians of the Jerusalem holy sites considered important to Islam. Rather than create an alliance, the restructuring of the Waqf council to include Palestinian clerics led to greater conflict as the PA tried to put Abbas loyalists in place, a move the Hashemite rulers of Jordan strongly opposed. The PA loyalists were also closely allied with Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who funded their organizations to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.
As Turkey's influence over the Palestinian Waqf members increased, the Hashemite Kingdom let it be known to Israel and the US that they would be open to including Saudi Arabia in the custodianship of the Temple Mount as long as it is not to the detriment of their special status as custodians of the Jerusalem holy sites. The Jordanian government also required that the Saudi government will provide several million dollars to Islamic institutions in east Jerusalem and the Temple Mount as a means of putting diplomatic pressure to remove the Turkish influence operating under the protection of the PA.
Dr. Mordechai Kedar , a senior lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University, explained the complex background and interests.
"You have to understand that the Sunni world today is sharply divided between pro-state organizations and movements which are by definition a rebellious, anti-establishment form of Islam," Dr. Kedar explained to Breaking Israel News. "The pro-state Muslims are headed and funded by Saudi Arabia and the anti-establishment Muslims, which include the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and Hezbollah, are headed ideologically by Erdogan and sponsored by Qatar. This is a giant struggle between two kinds of Islam: revolutionary Islam and state Islam."
Unfortunately, Turkey is now a factor in internal Israeli politics.
"Turkey infiltrated Jerusalem in a very big way, pouring millions of dollars into recruiting Palestinians and setting up his form of Muslim institutions," Dr. Kedar said. "This includes close ties between Erdogan and the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement which was banned by the Israeli government in November 2015 due to close ties with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood."
"The Palestinian Authority is, unfortunately, allying with Turkey for the money since they don't want to lose power and relinquish power to Hamas," Dr. Kedar noted. "Jordan is willing to ally with Saudi Arabia because of its economic difficulties."
"Israel wants to ally with Saudi Arabia because it is a pro-establishment form of Islam. You can talk with them. They are reasonable. It does not go against the interests of Israel. Since Israel and Saudi Arabia have shared interests, it is preferable that they have a say in the custodianship of the Temple Mount and a stronger influence on the Palestinians."
"It is important to have the status connected with holy sites but when faced with the existential threat posed by Turkey, Jordan will choose to ally with Saudi Arabia."
If that means a war to roll-back annexation, that's what our enemies will launch.
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