Arlene Kushner: John Kerry Still Does Not Get The Israel - Palestinian Peace Talks

From Arlene Kushner:
January 5, 2014

Where Are We Going?

The date I have written here is 2014, and I am pleased that I remembered. 

With all honesty, this was the major change that “the new year” represented for me.  But I have no desire to be insensitive: And so, I thank all who wrote to wish me a good new year, and extend the same wishes to all of you.  Mostly, however, I extend these wishes on a personal level: may each of you have health, loving family and friends, satisfying work, secure income.

For the world, I have enormous unease. Certainly no balloons or fireworks.  Only prayers: May Heaven help us.

~~~~~~~~~~

Why Those Who Claim Israel Should Give Up The Jordan Valley Are Wrong

The following by Efraim Inbar is reposted here with permission of the Middle East Forum:

The Jordan Valley: Israel's Security Belt

by Efraim Inbar
Israel Hayom
January 6, 2014

http://www.meforum.org/3711/jordan-valley-israel-security

Efraim Inbar

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is once again in town trying to reach a framework agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. One of the issues of dispute is the fate of the Jordan Valley, which is indispensable for Israel's national security. The Jordan Valley is the only available defensible border on the eastern front, which is the closest border to Israel's heartland -- the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv-Haifa triangle -- which holds 70 percent of its population and 80% of its economic infrastructure.

Many pundits claim that Israel no longer needs the Jordan Valley as a shield against aggression from the east. They argue that the demise of the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq, the weakening of civil-war-torn Syria, and the impressive stability of Jordan in light of the turmoil of the Arab world renders the threat of the eastern front and its proximity to Israel's center a thing of the past. Yet this is a very short-term perspective, motivated by the desire to convince the Israeli public opinion that the Jordan Valley is militarily dispensable. Such a view ignores the immense potential for political upheaval in the Middle East, as recently demonstrated during the Arab Spring. The destabilization of Hashemite Jordan and Saudi Arabia and a radical jihadist Syria are not far-fetched scenarios for the near future. The re-emergence of the eastern front as a security threat could soon follow.

The Signs of Al Qaeda in Benghazi That Are Being Ignored

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Mideast Media Sampler 1/3/14: For Iran, it was A Very Good Year

by David Gerstman, contributing blogger at Legal Insurrection

 The Diplomacy that Enables Tehran

President Rouhani. Credit; Legal Insurrection,  YouTube

When I was almost fifty four, it was a very good year
It was a very good year for kindly faced clerics
Whose Justice Minister was an executioner
And Defense Minister waged an anti-American war
When I was almost fifty four.

Nearly two years ago Jeffrey Goldberg interviewed President Obama about how he would deal with the threat from Iran. Given Goldberg’s support for Israel, the interview was part of an administration campaign to tell Israel and Israel’s supporters in the United States that “we’ve got Israel’s back.”

It’s unsettling now, that Goldberg has declared that For Iran, 2013 Was a Very Good Year.

Mideast Media Sampler 1/2/14: 2014 Ushers In More Sloppy New York Times Reporting On Peace Process

by David Gerstman, contributing blogger at Legal Insurrection

The Perils of Peacemaking

Israel releases Palestinian Terrorists. Credit: Legal Insurrection,
Photo: JewishNewsOne / YouTube

John Kerry is returning to the Middle East to present his peace plan.

Two recent articles show the way the peace process is misrepresented in the media.

Anne Bayefsky: What to Expect From Obama in 2014? Remember the Catastrophes of 2013

For Immediate Release: January 1, 2014

Contact: info@humanrightsvoices.org Follow us on Twitter

What to Expect From Obama in 2014? Remember the Catastrophes of 2013 This article by Anne Bayefsky originally appeared on FOX News. 2013 might be called the year of the shape-shifter. President Obama, the leader of the free world, cozied up to Iran, the leading state sponsor of terrorism. Saudi Arabia poured billions into fighting Islamic terrorists in Lebanon and Egypt. Egypt banned Muslim radicals from government. So what does this confusing scene tell us about 2014? Do our expectations need fixing? For starters, Americans expect their president to be committed to democracy.

Overview of African-American Islam As It Moves from Nation of Islam to Normative Islam

The following by Daniel Pipes is reposted here with permission:

A Century of African-American Islam

by Daniel Pipes
The Washington Times
December 27, 2013
http://www.danielpipes.org/13873/african-american-islam

The year 2013 marks the centenary of the reported founding of the Canaanite Temple in Newark, New Jersey. That was the very earliest form of an indigenous African-American Islam, one completely distinct from normative Islam, the 1,400 -year-old religion from Arabia founded by Muhammad. From this movement came Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, and Louis Farrakhan.

David P. Goldman: The End of Erdogan's Cave of Wonders

The following by David P. Goldman is resposted here with permission of the Middle East Forum:

The End of Erdogan's Cave of Wonders
An I-Told-You-So

by David P. Goldman
PJ Media
December 27, 2013

http://www.meforum.org/3705/end-of-erdogan

David P. Goldman

Turkey is coming apart. The Islamist coalition that crushed the secular military and political establishment—between Tayip Erdogan's ruling AK Party and the Islamist movement around Fethullah Gulen—has cracked. The Gulenists, who predominate in the security forces, have arrested the sons of top government ministers for helping Iran to launder money and circumvent sanctions, and ten members of Erdogan's cabinet have resigned. Turkey's currency is in free fall, and that's just the beginning of the country's troubles: about two-fifths of corporate debt is in foreign currencies, so the cost of servicing it jumps whenever the Turkish lira declines. Turkish stocks have crashed (and were down another 5% in dollar terms in early trading Friday). As the charts below illustrate, so much for Turkey's miracle economy.

Two years ago I predicted a Turkish economic crash.

Arlene Kushner on Demand Israel Relinquish The Jordan Valley

December 28, 2010

The Jordan Valley

Motzei Shabbat (After Shabbat)

From multiple sources I am picking up considerable concern regarding the broad implications -- diplomatic and security -- with regard to any relinquishment by Israel of full control of the Jordan Valley.

Credit: theWe.biz

Apologies that this map says "West Bank" and not, properly, Judea and Samaria.  It is the best I could find in order to clearly illustrate the location of the Jordan Valley -- the lowland that abuts the bank of the Jordan River. 

I wrote the other day about the expectation ("demand") voiced by Kerry that Israel remove all Jewish communities in the Valley.  There might be some IDF forces stationed for a period of time in the Valley, but they would subsequently be replaced by international (US?) forces. An unmitigated disaster.

Daniel Pipes: Islam and Bebop Jazz

The following by Daniel Pipes is reposted here with permission:

Islam and Bebop Jazz

by Daniel Pipes
December 27, 2013
Cross-posted from National Review Online, The Corner

http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2013/12/islam-and-bebop-jazz

The passing of Al-Hajj Dr. Yusef Abdul Lateef, 93, on Dec. 23 in Massachusetts brings to mind the exotic, semi-forgotten influence of Islam on the American music scene in the 1950s, when Islam, and specifically Ahmadiyya Islam, was cool.

Lateef was born William Emanuel Huddleston on Oct. 9, 1920, in Chattanooga and grew up in Detroit, where his father changed the family name to Evans. He began as a saxophonist in 1946, then went on to play the flute, oboe, bassoon, and many other instruments. In a very long and important career, he made music with such renowned figures as Cannonball Adderley, Donald Byrd, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charles Mingus, as well as being a band leader in his own right.

Yusef Abdul Lateef died at 93 on Dec. 23, 2013.