Arlene Kushner on The Importance Of Mevaseret Adumim (E1) And Attempt By Arab Squatters To Claim It As Their Own

From Arlene Kushner
January 13, 2013

A Tough World

And getting tougher...

After putative PA president Abbas went to the UN late last year to seek recognition as a state, PM Netanyahu made several announcements, including the fact that planning for building would be advanced in the area between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem known as E1 [Mevaseret Adumim in Hebrew. DA].

This caused a furor among the Arabs and their supporters because, went the claim, building in E1 would prevent a contiguous Palestinian state from being established.

This is simply not the case, and I want to review the situation once again before proceeding.

Arlene Kushner on Third Annual Conference: Application of Israeli Sovereignty Over Judea and Samaria

Arlene Kusnher:
January 3, 2013

Conference on Sovereignty

This past Tuesday, here in Jerusalem, the Women in Green -- joined now by some other groups -- sponsored their third annual conference: Application of Israeli Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.

The turnout was incredible. Not only did it exceed numbers for the previous two conferences by a good deal, planners had to move the venue because registration was so robust. And even in that larger venue the hall was packed. This provides strong evidence for what I have been saying -- that the Israeli populace is moving right, and is, indeed, weary with notions of a "two-state solution."

What I would like to do here is provide an overview and then touch on highlights.

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Arlene Kushner On Israel's Rights As Defined By Conclusions Of The Levy Reports

From Arlene Kushner:

August 1 3, 2012

The Levy Conclusions

Whatever else is going on in this unsettled and fairly insane world of ours, it's important for us to not lose sight of the need to stand up for Israel's rights.  In fact, given the state of the world, it's more important than ever that we do so, and recent events right here in Israel provide us with a clear basis for declaring those rights.

What I'm referring to are the legal conclusions of the Levy Committee:

Avi Bell On How The Levy Report Reinvigorates the Discussion of Israel’s Rights in the West Bank

It is true that like many legal controversies, the questions addressed by the Levy Commission are capable of being analyzed in a number of ways. The Levy Commission’s conclusions are logical applications of reasonable understandings of the rules in an area where no authoritative resolution of the dispute has yet been rendered.
Avi Bell

With the Levy Report on Israel's rights and sovereignty in the West Bank, an issue that has been addressed at best passively and defensively has stepped into the limelight as something that Israel can  boldly talk about.

Israel has real rights and claims upon the Yehudah and Shomron (also known as the West Bank after Jordan's illegal annexation), rights that are directly based on international law that has been ignored and denied both by the those who are knowledgeable about international law and by those who pretend to.

Avi Bell, professor in the Rackman Faculty of Law at Bar-Ilan University and the University of San Diego School of Law has written The Levy Report: Reinvigorating the Discussion of Israel’s Rights in the West Bank:

The 90th Anniversary Of The Palestine Mandate And The Rights It Grants To Jews In The Land

On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the Palestine Mandate, Eli E. Hertz, President of MythsAndFacts.org writes that the Mandate for Palestine Still Matters 90 Years Later.

As opposed to the Balfour Declaration, where British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour expressed Great Britain’s view with favor for "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people," The Mandate for Palestine is a legally binding agreement granting Jews the right to settle anywhere in that land--from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. It is a agreement that is binding in accordance with international law.

Even today.

Arlene Kushner: Why Republicans Must Take the Lead on Israel

The following by Arlene Kushner is reposted with permission

Why Republicans Must Take the Lead on Israel

by Arlene Kushner
FrontPageMag.com

There is a truism – “You can’t be more Catholic than the pope” – that is rather scrupulously adhered to in political circles.

With regard to Israel, this bit of political wisdom suggests that it is inappropriate for U.S. politicians, whatever their predilections or convictions, to move to the right of the Israeli government on issues of Israel’s claim to Judea and Samaria (aka the West Bank).

However remote the possibility of negotiations between the PLO and Israel – however clear the evidence that the Arabs don’t want a negotiated settlement, but want the Jews gone, the notion of a “two-state solution” continues to be the politically correct mantra in the U.S.

As long as that “solution” remains the official position of the Israeli government, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu persists in his calls for PA president Abbas to come to the table without pre-conditions, Republican members of Congress are reluctant to advance positions to the right of what he is saying. Republican policy-makers are waiting for the Israeli government to make the first move.

It is time for Republican decision-makers to move beyond this conventional wisdom. For, in fact, a vast historical opportunity awaits them if they are bold enough to seize it.

No, According To International Law, The West Bank Is Not Occupied

Dore Gold, Israel’s former ambassador to the UN, and president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. writes about The Levy Report and the 'occupation' narrative.

Today, the claim that Yehudah and Shomron (known as the West Bank after Jordan's illegal annexation in 1948), is occupied and that Israel are the occupiers is the perpetuation of a myth:

Arlene Kushner On Progress In Establishing Jewish Rights To Land In Israel

From Arlene Kushner:

July 19, 2012

The Balance

Today I'm going to start with the good stuff I never wrote about yesterday, because I was too heavy-hearted about the terror attack. What we must keep in mind -- why my sharing that good stuff is important -- is that in spite of the obscenities and the horrors, we are also making progress in some very positive ways.

Those who are devoted to Jewish rights in the Land saw this as a significant victory this week:

The Judea and Samaria Council for Higher Education voted on Tuesday that Ariel University Center be accorded full accredited status as a university. It will be the first institute of higher learning to be accorded this status beyond the Green Line.

Arlene Kushner On Conference on the Application of Israeli Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria

From Arlene Kushner

July 15, 2012

The Land is Ours

On Thursday, I attended the Second Annual Conference on the Application of Israeli Sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, held in Hevron, at the visitors' center near the Machpela and sponsored by the Women in Green (with organization done by Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar).  Several hundred people were in attendance; with perhaps miniscule exceptions of which I was unaware, they were all firm believers in the need for, and the rightness of, that sovereignty from the river the sea.

What seems to me the single most important impact of a conference such as this one is that it brings together those who passionately care about this issue, providing not only information, but a huge morale boost and an opportunity to network.  It's really great to be at a conference at which no one says, "Wait, what about the Palestinians' right to their state?"  Because everyone gets it.

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Rather than go speaker by speaker (there were many speakers), I would like to summarize the main thrust of the speakers and touch briefly upon some points made.

The Middle East Media Sampler 7/10/2012: Israel Not Occupying West Bank: Reactions

From DG:

Occupied in thought


Note the first paragraph of Validate Settlements, Israeli Panel Suggests by Isabel Kershner of the New York Times:

Flouting international opinion, an Israeli government-appointed commission of jurists said Monday that Israel’s presence in the West Bank was not occupation and recommended that the state grant approval for scores of unauthorized Jewish settlement outposts there. 

Arlene Kushner On Israel's Sovereignty Over The West Bank In International Law

From Arlene Kushner:

July 5, 2012:

What Really Counts

I could go on at length about the game playing that passes for political dialogue with regard to a replacement for the Tal Law.  I could track the events from hour to hour and explain each party's position.  But I'm not going to do that.  Suffice it to say that the coalition has not yet fallen apart as I write (and that right now Netanyahu may be on the edge of caving to Mofaz's threats).  There's a lot of juggling going on; in due course we'll see what's what.

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What I would like to focus on today are the findings of a committee headed by retired High Court Justice Edmond Levy.  The committee had been charged by Prime Minister Netanyahu with examining the legal status of "outposts" -- small communities in Judea and Samaria that are not fully authorized.

The findings are stunning and constitute a major victory for all who believe in the right of Jews to settle the land (emphasis added):