The creation of Israel did not involve the destruction of a Palestinian state, there having been no such state. Via Washington Post :

* In the intifada that began in 2000, Palestinian terrorism killed more than 1,000 Israelis. As a portion of U.S. population, that would be 42,000, approaching the toll of America’s eight years in Vietnam. During the onslaught, Israeli parents sending two children to school would put them on separate buses to decrease the chance that neither would return for dinner. Surely most Americans can imagine, even if their tone-deaf leaders cannot, how grating it is when those leaders lecture Israel on the need to take “risks for peace.”

* There was a time when taking risks for peace meant swapping “land for peace” – Israel sacrificing something tangible and irrecoverable, strategic depth, in exchange for something intangible and perishable, promises of diplomatic normality.

* Before the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel within the borders established by the 1949 armistice was in one place just nine miles wide, a fact that moved George W. Bush to say: In Texas we have driveways that long. Israel exchanged a lot of land to achieve a chilly peace with Egypt, yielding the Sinai, which is almost three times larger than Israel and was 89% of the land captured in the process of repelling the 1967 aggression.

* Israelis are famously fractious, but the intifada produced among them a consensus that the most any government of theirs could offer without forfeiting domestic support is less than any Palestinian interlocutor would demand. Furthermore, the intifada was part of a pattern. As in 1936 and 1947, talk about partition prompted Arab violence.

* The creation of Israel did not involve the destruction of a Palestinian state, there having been no such state. In the 62 years since Israel was founded on one-sixth of 1% of the land of what is carelessly and inaccurately called “the Arab world,” Israelis have never known an hour of real peace. Patronizing American lectures on the reality of risks and the desirableness of peace, which once were merely fatuous, are now obscene.

Via Daily Beast:

Al-Qaeda is warning its supporters and sympathizers to prepare for a new war which will pit Israel against Iran.

Al-Qaeda’s franchise in Yemen, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), issued an audio message this month by its second-in-command, Saeed al-Shehri, who tells jihadists that he expects the Iranian Shia regime to try to take advantage of an Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities by seizing the holy cities of Mecca and Medina after blaming Saudi Arabia for helping Israel attack.

Shehri was held in Guantanamo for six years before being sent back to his native Saudi Arabia and then fleeing to Yemen to help set up AQAP.

AQAP demonstrated that it can reach beyond Yemen to carry out its plans when it dispatched the suicide bomber who tried to blow up Northwest Flight 253 last Christmas.

Via PMO:

In the wake of recent attacks on Israel from Lebanon in the north and Gaza and Sinai in the south, Prime Minister Netanyahu issued the following statement Wednesday:

* For years many in the international community have remained silent when rockets have been fired at Israeli civilians, and when unprovoked attacks have been launched against our soldiers.

* Expressions of outrage have largely been reserved for Israel’s response to those attacks.

* Firing missiles on civilians is a war crime, and unprovoked attacks on soldiers are blatant acts of aggression.

* Israel expects the international community to condemn such attacks in the strongest possible terms.

* All those in the international community committed to peace should support Israel’s right to defend itself against those who attack the innocent and seek to destroy peace.

Via Guardian-UK:

72% of Jews in Britain agree that Israel’s action in Gaza in 2009 was “a legitimate act of self-defense,” according to a study by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.

77% favor a “two-state solution,” which would see the creation of a Palestinian state, as the “only way” to make peace in the Middle East.

The survey found that British Jews strongly identify with and support Israel, with 9 out of 10 having visited the country.

Via The National-Abu Dhabi:

In the recent tension in southern Lebanon between villagers and the UN force UNIFIL, Hizbullah saw an opportunity to send a warning to the international peacekeepers that their freedom to maneuver was limited. Initially, the Lebanese army and government failed to back up the UN. After the angry response of states contributing soldiers to UNIFIL, Lebanon backtracked, vowing to continue cooperating with the UN. However, the incidents confirmed that Hizbullah has substantial control over the Lebanese army, particularly the army’s intelligence services. Hizbullah’s freedom to act both politically and militarily is essential to its role as an extension of Iran on the Israeli border. At a broader level, the quarrel with UNIFIL may also be seen as an Iranian reply to the recent passage of Security Council sanctions against Tehran.

Via NY Times:

The Turkish IHH charity that led the Gaza flotilla has extensive connections with Turkey’s political elite, and the group’s efforts to challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza received support at the top levels of the governing party, Turkish diplomats and government officials said. The IHH has come under attack in Israel and the West for offering financial support to groups accused of terrorism. But in Turkey the group has helped Prime Minister Erdogan shore up support from conservative Muslims ahead of critical elections next year and improve Turkey’s standing and influence in the Arab world.

The charity’s mission, political analysts said, has advanced Erdogan’s aim of shifting Turkey’s focus to the Muslim East. The government “could have stopped the ship if it wanted to, but the mission to Gaza served both the IHH and the government by making both heroes at home and in the Arab world,” said Ercan Citlioglu, a terrorism expert at Bahcesehir University in Istanbul. Many of the 21 people listed on the charity’s board have or had close links to the ruling Justice and Development Party. Those ties partly reflect the common agenda of the party and the charity.

Via JTA:

Like the people and governments of Israel, the pro-Israel community in the U.S. has long sought a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through direct negotiations between the parties that would lead to a lasting peace agreement and Israel’s acceptance by all its neighbors. The Israeli people dream of peace, and their governments have worked and sacrificed for it.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his vision for peace – for two states – last June in a landmark speech at Bar-Ilan University, saying he supported the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside the Jewish State of Israel. Netanyahu declared a 10-month moratorium on all Israeli construction in the West Bank – a concession that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called “unprecedented” in advance of negotiations.

Israel also has taken significant steps to ensure that life improves for Palestinians in the West Bank, such as dismantling hundreds of West Bank roadblocks and checkpoints, which have helped produce double-digit economic growth at a time of global recession.

While the current Israeli government has proven its desire for peace, the leader of the Palestinian Authority refuses to meet or even speak on the phone with his Israeli counterpart, despite American demands that he do so. Abbas has said that his strategy is not to make concessions in negotiations but to encourage the U.S. and the international community to pressure Israel for unilateral concessions.

In recent months, the PA has intensified its efforts to delegitimize Israel in the international arena and increased the incitement against Israel. The PA media carries outrageous programs portraying Israel and Jews in the most negative ways.

As American friends of Israel we must continue to remind our leaders about how badly Israel wants peace – and how tragically the PA has only increased its demands and pulled away from the negotiating table. Don’t blame Israel for the lack of progress.

I don’t recall Madrid’s gay organizations condemning any Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens in their cafes, buses, kindergartens, or synagogues, do you? Via GuardianUK:

A delegation of gay residents of Tel Aviv has been banned from joining a gay pride march in Madrid because authorities in the Israeli city have not condemned the recent attack on the Gaza flotilla.”After what has happened, and as human rights campaigners, it seemed barbaric to us to have them taking part,” explained Antonio Poveda, of Spain’s Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transexuals and Bisexuals. “We don’t just defend out own little patch.”

Israel was acting lawfully in imposing and enforcing its blockade against Hamas, and by the way, it is Hamas – who the Palestinian Arabs elected – who are the ones intercepting  the humanitarian funds and soft goods contributed by Jew-hating American leftists and Europeans so that they can exchange them to purchase weapons, kassam rockets, mortar shells, plastics, and bullets to kill Jews with.  If Palestinian Arabs are having difficulty getting food and equipment, it’s their own fault.  The other fact is that there is NO occupation of Gaza anymore.  Israel demolished those communities years ago and pulled each and every Israeli citizen out and redeployed all their forces outside the recognized boundries of Gaza territory.  What there is now is an economic blockade. Economic blockades happen in times of armed conflict and are NOT against international law. Jew-haters have been believing the hype too long: those who live in Gaza are no longer occupied and Israel has the right to defend herself and protect her citizens.  How great it would be if we had a President in the White House that cared about protecting America’s borders with the same passion that Israel cares about protecting hers.  Via NewsRealBlog:

Israel’s blockade against Hamas, which Egypt was also instituting at its border, is perfectly legal under international law according to the law of blockade which was derived from customary international law, codified in the 1909 Declaration of London and updated in 1994 in a legally recognized document called the “San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea.” As required by this international law, Israel declared the blockade, notified it to all belligerents and neutral states, and blockaded only the area under enemy control. Hamas rules Gaza and is engaged in armed hostilities with Israel, which it has vowed to destroy.

Under international law, Israel can forcibly board a ship headed for the belligerent area controlled by its enemy to search for arms even if the ship’s passengers and cargo were all true peace-loving humanitarians. In this case, the so-called humanitarian flotilla included a number of non-humanitarian Islamic jihadists, some of whom were armed and ready for a fight.  Muslim Brotherhood, for example, was represented in the flotilla.  This terrorist sponsoring organization is not known for its peace loving humanitarians.

©2002 IDF Spokesman Weapons seized on the Karine A (Jan 4)

A ship carrying weapons intended for the Palestinian Authority was captured in the Red Sea by Israel’s Navy and Air Force. The boat’s cargo included 50 tons of advanced weaponry including Katyusha rockets, rifles, mortar shells, mines and a variety of anti-tank missiles. Senior figures in the Palestinian Authority were involved in the smuggling.

Communicated by the IDF Spokesman:

On January 3rd, the Israeli Navy seized control over the Karine A ship that was sailing in international waters on its way to the Suez Canal.

The shipment included both 122 mm. and 107 mm. Katyusha rockets, which have ranges of 20 and 8 kilometers respectively. It also contained 80 mm. and 120 mm. mortar shells, various types of anti-tank missiles, anti-tank mines, sniper rifles, Kalashnikov rifles and ammunition. From Gaza, the 122 mm. Katyushas could have threatened Ashkelon and other coastal cities; while from the West Bank, Ben-Gurion International Airport and several major Israeli cities would have been within their range. The shipment also included rubber boats and diving equipment, which would have facilitated seaborne attacks from Gaza against coastal cities.

Preliminary investigation of the crew members has revealed so far that the commanding officer of the ship is Colonel Omar Akawi. The ship was purchased by the Palestinian Authority, loaded with weapons by the Iranians and the Hizbullah, manned by Palestinian Authority personnel, with the aim of transfering the weapons it carried to the Palestinian Naval Police near the Gaza beaches.

Since October 2000, Adel Mughrabi, a major buyer in the Palestinian weapons purchasing system (with the assistance of the Palestinian Naval Police Commander Juma’a Ghali and his executive Fathi Ghazem), has been in contact with the Iranians and Hizbullah regarding a vast weapons smuggling operation for the use of the Palestinian Authority. This operation included the testing and purchase of ships, forming a sailing crew and appointing a commander for the team, as well as making arrangements as to how the weapons would be stored, loaded onto the vessels, and its journey until delivery to the Palestinian Authority.

Preliminary investigation of the team members arrested revealed that the Karine A ship was purchased by Adel Mughrabi in Lebanon, sailed to Sudan where it was loaded with regular cargo. The crew was then switched with the team members and in November 2001 sailed to Hodeida port in Yemen.

In December 2001 the ship sailed according to detailed instructions from Adel Mughrabi to the beaches of Iran near Qeshm Island. There a ferry approached it, most likely arriving from Iran, from which the weapons stored in 80 large wooden crates were transferred and loaded onto the ship. These weapons were stored in special waterproof containers produced only in Iran, which are floatable and are set with a special configurable system that determines how deep they are submerged, were prepared by Hizbullah personnel for smuggling to the Palestinian Authority. Included in the ferry team which transferred the weapons crates to the ship was also a Lebanese trainer, a Hizbullah operative who trained a diver from the ship’s crew in configuring the floatation devices in Lebanon. The trainer was present for yet another refreshing training session prior to the sailing.

After completing the loading process of the weapons onto the ship, the ship had to divert to Hodeida port in Yemen due to technical problems. After crossing the canal, the ship was supposed to meet with three smaller ships that were purchased in advance and to unload the weapons onto them. According to the plan, the smaller ships were to leave the weapons near El Arish in Gaza, where the weapons were to be taken by the commander of the Palestinian Naval Police Juma’a Ghali and his executive Fathi Ghazem.

Weapons Seized on the Karine-A Ship
Statement by IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz regarding interception of ship Karine A – Jan 4, 2002
Reaction of FM Peres to seizing of the Karine A – Jan 4, 2002
Address by PM Sharon following the seizing of the ship Karine A – Jan 6, 2002
DM Ben-Eliezer: PA invests in terrorism, not welfare of Palestinian people – Jan 6, 2002
DM Ben-Eliezer to Solana and Moratinos: Karine A managed and funded by Palestinian Authority in cooperation with Iran – Jan 7, 2002

Seized Weapons Ship Linked to Palestinian Authority -
U.S. State Department, Jan 10, 2002
U.S. Seeks Explanation from Arafat about Arms Smuggling – U.S. State Department, Jan 11, 2002

Prison interview with Palestinian ship captain smuggling 50 tons of weapons (Fox News) – Jan 7, 2002
Selected Photos