David Singer: Palestine – France, Farce and Folly

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer, who writes:

France embarked on a journey to nowhere when it hosted 28 delegations in Paris for a ministerial meeting on 3 June marking the first phase of its initiative aimed at promoting peace in the Middle East. Amid the pomp and ceremony, photo opportunities and handshakes, the final communique revealed:

1. Support was reaffirmed for a just, lasting and comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The conflict actually requiring resolution is the Jewish-Arab conflict going back to 1917 – well before Israel’s creation in 1948 – which still sees 20 Arab States today denying the Jews the legal rights vested in them by the Mandate for Palestine to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in its ancient biblical and historical homeland.

Only Jordan and Egypt have recognised and signed peace treaties with Israel.

The “Palestinians” were regarded as part of the “existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine” by the League of Nations in 1922 and not recognized as a people by the United Nations in the 1947 Partition Plan.

The 1964 PLO Covenant is their birth certificate. PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s claim on 6 June that the “Palestinians” had a 5000 years old history is farcical.

 Paris remained blinded.

 2. A negotiated two-state solution was reaffirmed as the only way to achieve an enduring peace, with two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.

That “two-state solution” – first proposed in 1947  – was available at any time between 1948 and 1967, was again offered in 2000/1 and 2008 but was always rejected by the Arabs.

Flogging that dead horse is a waste of time.

The “two-state solution” envisioned by the League of Nations in 1922 and the Peel Commission in 1937 provides the best opportunity for peacefully resolving Jewish and Arab territorial claims in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Gaza.

Guess the delegates were too busy quaffing champagne and tasting canapes to focus on other solutions than the artificially contrived, totally failed and utterly discredited 1947-2016 “two-state” solution.

3. Rebuilding trust and creating the conditions for fully ending the Israeli occupation that began in 1967 and resolving all permanent status issues through direct negotiations based on resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), and also recalling relevant United Nations Security

Council resolutions and highlighting the importance of the implementation of the Arab Peace Initiative.

“Fully ending” the 1967 occupation means kicking 65,0000 Jews out of their homes. What were they thinking – and drinking?

Israel agreed to negotiate with the PLO under the 2003 Bush Roadmap only on the basis of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.

Introducing new negotiating parameters now is incredibly fanciful.

4. Possible ways in which the international community could help advance the prospects for peace, including by providing meaningful incentives to the parties to make peace.

Direct negotiations between Israel, Jordan and Egypt would fit these objectives.

5. The participants highlighted the key role of the Quartet.

The Quartet lost its key role in July 2015 when:

 (i) The Quartet’s representative Tony Blair stood down with no replacement

 (ii) Blair’s office—the Office of the Quartet Representative (OQR) - was renamed the Office of the Quartet (OQ) and its stated mandate was expressed:

“to support the Palestinian people on economic development, rule of law and improved movement and access for goods and people, as they build the institutions and economy of a viable and peaceful state in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”

Jews became persona non grata overnight as the Quartet’s previously independent non- partisan role was superseded.

 France’s follow-up international conference being organised before the end of the year promises further farce and continuing folly.

David Singer: Palestine – France Embarks On Flight Of Fancy

Chag Pesach Sameach to all Jewish readers.

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

The announcement by French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault that France will host a meeting of ministers from 20 countries in Paris on May 30 to try and relaunch the Israel-Palestinian peace process seems to be yet another flight of fancy that is destined to end up where the Oslo Accords and the Bush Roadmap presently find themselves after decades of fruitless negotiations.

Who those 20 countries are that will attend such a meeting will make fascinating reading.

The other 173 member States of the United Nations should be miffed at not being invited to enjoy the sights, sounds, food and wine of Paris as it seeks to put behind it:

1.    The devastating Islamic terrorist attack on 13 November last that claimed the lives of 130 people and wounded 352 others.

2.    The assault on a police station on 7 January last by a jihadist wearing a fake explosive belt attacking police officers with a meat cleaver while shouting "Allahu Akbar". He was shot dead and one policeman was injured. The ISIS flag and a clearly written claim in Arabic, were found on the attacker.

Ayrault said the conference aimed to prepare an international summit in the second half of 2016 which would include the Israeli and Palestinian leaders – acknowledging that:

“The two sides are further apart than ever”

He then proceeded to issue this mantra that has almost become commonplace in trying to end the Jewish-Arab conflict: 

“There is no other solution to the conflict than establishing two states, one Israeli and the other Palestinian, living side by side in peace and safety with Jerusalem as a shared capital.”

Really?

The French Foreign Minister needs to understand there are other solutions -– one involving the allocation of sovereignty of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) between Jordan and Israel – the two successor States to the Mandate for Palestine – who have since 1946 and 1948 respectively enjoyed sovereignty in 95 per cent of the territory once called “Palestine”.

Ayrault has reportedly said the discussions would be based on the 2002 Saudi peace initiative — approved by the Arab League but not Israel.

That decision in itself will guarantee the failure of the French initiative.

There is no mood in Israel to commit national suicide – which the Arab peace initiative unashamedly seeks. 

Ayrault adopts an air of typical Gallic condescension as he intones:

“We have to explain to the Israelis that settlement activity is a dangerous process and that it puts their own security in danger.”

Maybe the newly-appointed Foreign Minister should look at the rapidly expanding Islamic settlement activity taking place in France and address that threat to France’s security before he seeks to interfere in Israel’s affairs.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who brokered a previous round of Israel-Palestinian peace talks that collapsed in April 2014 gave the French proposal a guarded welcome when he visited Paris in March:

“Not any one country or one person can resolve this. This is going to require the global community, it will require international support”

Kerry is right but at the same time he is wrong.

What Kerry and President Obama continue to fail to acknowledge are the firm written commitments made to Israel by former President George Bush on 14 April 2004 – overwhelmingly endorsed by the Congress.

Were Obama and Kerry prepared to rally the global community to get behind the Bush-Congress commitments and take Abbas dragging and screaming to the negotiating table – maybe some movement towards a resolution of the conflict could eventuate.

Pushing the 2002 Arab Initiative whilst ignoring the 2004 Bush-Congress Initiative is destined to become an exercise in futility and certain failure.

A French Oleh Slams France's Consulate General in Jerusalem

French oleh Jean Vercors, no stranger to regular readers of this blog, writes:

The French consulate in Jerusalem, located in the Israeli capital not in the territories occupied by Arab settlers, has launched a campaign to provide scholarships for Palestinian students only, not to Jews.

Take a look at the poster: it is written in French, Arabic but not in Hebrew. Especially not in Hebrew, this may offend diplomatic relations with dictatorships of the Gulf, and disturb the "social peace" in France.

Israeli citizens cannot apply for scholarships; they are available only to Palestinians.

 Yes, it sounds like a measure of apartheid, and the initiative is discriminatory. Applications must be submitted before 29 February 2016 as mentioned on the consulate's website.

 The campaign was launched with the French Institute of Jerusalem, Nablus, the Franco-German Center of Ramallah, the French Alliance of Bethlehem.

The consulate has a long reputation that hardly serves the Palestinian cause, and to have been exposed and does not bother the consulate or deter it from continuing its morally questionable activities. 

France very often interfere in Israeli internal affairs via the AFD (l’Agence Francaise de Development), which wants to divide Jerusalem.

Khaled

In October 2013, the consulate was promoting Leila Khaled, the "famous terrorist" who became a Palestinian novelist posing with keffiyeh and AK47 via the French Institute Chateaubriand in Jerusalem.

France has always actively supported UNRWA, whose buildings are used as rocket launchers fired at Israeli civilians and where among their staff are Hamas militants.

 France, champion of human rights, said nothing, did not denounce the use of children by Palestinian terrorist groups.Those who attack innocent Israeli civilians with a knife - in the back are between 11 and 15 years.

These are flagrant violations of the Geneva Conventions committed by terrorist groups against children in armed conflict.

 But as we must not show that Palestinian misbehave, moralistic and human rightist ideologues more defenders let these children suffer and die.

France pays millions of euros to French NGOs, Israeli far-left and Palestinian, that are anti-Israeli. The funding is made possible by the AFD and the Consulat General de France in Jerusalem

 No official media will only show you the sumptuous properties in Ramallah or Gaza beachfront , luxury  4x4 BMWs and Mercedes, that the Palestinian leadership acquires with this money.

Reproduction authorized with the following: © Jean Vercors Dreuz.info .

David Singer: France Signals Surrender to PLO and Muslim Pressure

Courtesy: Jean Vercors

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

France's extraordinary decision to try and resurrect the dead two-state solution smacks of:

 1. Abject surrender to PLO demands for unilateral recognition of a Palestinian State outside the parameters defined by Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, the Oslo Accords and the Bush Roadmap.

2. A desperate attempt to appease France's 4.7 million Muslims as they protest against the continuing state of emergency declared after the series of co-ordinated attacks by Islamic State in Paris last November that saw 130 people murdered and 368 wounded.

France made its intentions clear in the following statement released on 30 January by Foreign Affairs Minister Laurent Fabius:

"France will engage in the coming weeks in the preparation of an international conference bringing together the parties and their main partners, American, European, Arab, notably to preserve and make happen the two-state solution"

Mr Fabius issued this veiled threat on France 24:

“If this attempt to achieve a negotiated solution reaches a dead end, we will take responsibility and recognize the Palestinian state”

Respected commentator Aaron David Miller has already delivered his verdict on the proposed International conference in a scathing tweet:

"Another bone headed French play.Convene a peace conference doomed to fail; then recognize a faux Palestinian state"

In its Spring 2015 Global Attitudes Survey the Pew Research Centre found that 76 per cent of France's population had favourable views of France's Muslim population whilst 24 per cent had unfavourable views.

France no doubt hopes that calling this pro-Arab international conference will stem any growth in the anti-Muslim view in the next Pew Survey. Given the violent ongoing Muslim demonstrations such hope is doomed.

France's Muslim population far exceeds that of the 475,000 Jewish population, whose number has been dramatically declining following 851 antisemitic incidents recorded in 2014 and 806 attacks in 2015.

Jews leaving France for Israel have also doubled and then doubled again since 2010 - reaching 8,000 last year - up from 1,900 in 2011. Such is the Jewish exodus that French Prime Minister Manuel Valls was recently forced to acknowledge that French Jewry is in crisis and that France must work with:
“all its might to protect Jews”

France's planned international conference and threatened recognition of a Palestinian State will have the opposite effect - ensuring an ever increasing number of French Jews will be fleeing to safer havens.

Any unilateral French declaration recognising Palestinian Statehood will only exacerbate the continuation of the 100 years old Jewish-Arab conflict - not contribute to its resolution.

Such a declaration could represent a complete turnaround in France's stated foreign policy:

"France considers that the conflict can only be resolved by the creation of an independent, viable and democratic Palestinian State living in peace and security alongside Israel."

Given the current authoritarian and undemocratic division of rule between two organisations pledged to wipe Israel off the map - the PLO in Areas "A" and "B" in Judea and Samaria and Hamas in Gaza - France needs to ensure that any State of Palestine it recognises is indisputably democratic.

France is being politically naive to believe the failed negotiations conducted over 23 years between Israel and the PLO can be revived.

An international conference aimed at jumpstarting negotiations to resolve sovereignty in Judea and Samaria between Israel and Jordan - not Israel and the PLO - would have made far more sense.

However, the only winners from France's proposed conference will be the airlines, the 5-star hotels, 3-hat Michelin restaurants, vignerons and limousine car companies catering to the needs of the delegations flying in for a talkfest that will go nowhere.

Hopefully Islamic State will not spoil the politicians' party.

"France ... Will Do Everything For Peace & For The Safety Of Israel"

France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has won his country praise and affection among Israelis for his part in scuppering John Kerry's proposed deal with Iran in the nick of time.

The feel good factor has extended to French President François Hollande's official visit to Israel, with Netanyahu telling him:

"All of Israel is following your arrival with feelings of love and honest friendship. We respect your stance that a nuclear weapon in Iranian hands poses a danger not only to Israel but to the whole world."

As reported here by Moran Azulay, President Hollande, visiting the Israeli legislature, heard Netanyahu declare:

"In this House I said a few times that I accept the solution of two states for two people, within the frame of real peace, and the resolution of the conflict… Not every member of the Knesset ... agrees with these statements but on one matter most of us are united – for the peace to be real it must be two-way.

You cannot ask Jews to recognize a Palestinian national state without demanding Palestinians recognize a national state for the Jewish People.

 I call Abu Mazen from here: Let's break the freeze, come to the Knesset, I'll come to Ramallah. Come to this stage and recognize the historical truth – the Jews have a connection of close to 4,000 years to the land of Israel.

 The Jews have the right to self-determination,  and in a true peace Palestinian demands of Israel will end ..."

 President Hollande pledged that

"I will always remain a friend of Israel ....

France will not .... concede, and it will do everything for peace and for the safety of Israel.  As long as we are not entirely sure that Iran gave up on a nuclear weapons – we will keep our stance"

 He went on:

".... I come to say in Israel, in the name of France: The friendship between us is firm, more than the passing leaders who come and go, and even more than ups and downs of international life.... [Iran] is a country which itself is the product of a long and magnificent history. We have nothing against the Iranian people, it deserves civil nuclear energy, but we cannot accept that they will have a nuclear weapon because it poses a threat to Israel and other countries in the region and we all know that well: It is a danger to the world....

 I say here in a clear manner that we will continue with the sanctions as long as we are not certain that there is an unequivocal concession by Iran of its nuclear military program."

There is more here
 Hat tip:  Jean Vercors
And here

France's Jerusalem Consulate Big-Notes A Terrorist

In 1961 the then French President General de Gaulle received the then Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion warmly in Paris.  According to the Jewish Telegraphical Agency (JTA), the two men

'were reported by official sources to have reached “complete understanding on all subjects” during 70 minutes of conversations today.

It was understood that the two leaders had reviewed Franco-Israel relations as well as France’s attitude to Middle East problems which may come up at the next General Assembly, opening in September, at which the problem of the Arab refugees will be reviewed again....

The French President said Israel is France’s “friend and ally” and assured Israel of “our solidarity. ” He made this statement in a toast to Israel during the luncheon at Elysee Palace.... Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel’s Foreign Minister, and Shimon Peres, Deputy Defense Minister, were among those invited to the event.

“In the world in which we live, it is useful that men of goodwill should meet to find common ground,” Gen. de Gaulle declared. “This is what has happened to us once again. This is true in all respects and particularly in those matters which concern Israel, whose worth and grandeur we all know. We also know of Israel’s difficulties and preoccupations, ” the French leader added. “We want to assure you of our solidarity and friendship. We greet Israel, our friend and ally.” ....'

Reported the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) on 30 November 1967:

'President Charles de Gaulle’s attack on Israel and his animadversions against the Jewish people in the course of his press conference last Monday continued today to generate a furor here.

Grand Rabbi of France Jacob Kaplan charged today that President de Gaulle has given “the highest possible sanction” to a possible wave of anti-Semitic discrimination by the bitter attack he leveled against Israel and the Jewish people in the course of his press conference last Monday. Rabbi Kaplan made his charge following two days of consultation among the leaders of France’s major Jewish organizations.

In order to shore up his denunciation of Israel as an aggressor, the General attributed to the Jewish people a secular inclination to domination, Dr. Kaplan said. “Does Gen. de Gaulle not run the risk of taking a dangerous lead and of giving the highest possible sanction to a campaign of discrimination? In the face of Israel’s trials in her fight for survival and security, French Judaism declares its solidarity with (Israel) and supports (Israel’s) efforts in favor of a fair and lasting peace.”

Gen. de Gaulle had said in his press conference that the Jews were “at all times an elite people, sure of itself and dominating.” He used the French word “dominateur” which, according to the leading French-English dictionary is defined as “domineering, overbearing.” (The official translation of the statement, distributed in New York by the French Embassy press service, also used the word “dominating.”

Many prominent Frenchmen, including members of Gen. de Gaulle’s party, took issue with him today and demonstrated their sympathy for Israel and for the Jewish community.

Former Prime Minister Guy Mollet, who served under Gen. de Gaulle as a Cabinet minister, called a press conference today in the name of his Democratic and Socialist Federation to denounce de Gaulle’s policies in the Middle East and his attack on Israel. M. Mollet charged that de Gaulle “smelled the oil of the Middle East” and that interested him, “but not the future of peace in the area nor the fate of a martyr-nation.”....'

In contrast to 1956, when Mollet's government had cooperated with Israel's (and Britain's) in the Suez Affair, France's relations with Israel were decidedly sour, and those of us who remember the 1960s and 1970s will recall the essentially Arabist stance of the Quai d'Orsay.

Alas. It would seem that the then-pervasive Arabist stance lives on in sections of France's Corps Diplomatique.


In an article in French here entitled "Le Consulat de France à Jérusalem met à l’honneur une Moujahidin palestinienne" Jean Vercors, who by now is no stranger to regular readers of my blog, relates a disturbing example.  Thanks to Jean, there is also an English version of his article, which I reproduce below without further comment: 

French Consulate in Jerusalem celebrates culture ... of Palestinian terror.

 Jean Vercors

 Here's what you can read on the website of the French consulate in Jerusalem :

July 2013, "On the occasion of the recent publication of Leila Khaled’s book, an icon of Palestinian liberation, the author Sarah Irving and researcher Diana Butto, we will draw a portrait of this extraordinary woman ."  [Juillet 2013, "A l’occasion de la récente parution du livre Leila Khaled, une icône de la libération palestinienne, l’auteur Sarah Irving et la chercheuse Diana Butto, nous dessineront le portrait de cette femme hors du commun."

Patrick Girard, Director of the IFJ : French Institute of Jerusalem Chateaubriand gives us the opportunity to show us the journey of this heroic resistant named Leila Khaled.

But who is that Palestinian Arab woman?

Leila Khaled (Arabic: ليلى خالد‎, Arabic pronunciation: [ˈlajla ˈxaːled]; born April 9, 1944) is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and a convicted airline hijacker who was later released in a prisoner exchange for civilian hostages kidnapped by her fellow PFLP members.

She is currently a member of the Palestinian National Council. She has been called the "poster girl of Palestinian militancy."

Khaled came to public attention for her role in a 1969 hijacking and one of four simultaneous hijackings the following year as part of the Black September timeline.

For the Palestinian Arabs, the BDS movement, the Communists and the Greens, she is considered a heroine (precisely because she killed Israeli civilians)

Leila Khaled became known in 1969 by becoming the first woman to hijack a plane and the following year by diverting another.

At age 15 , she joined the Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM ) by Georges Habash founder and former Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) classified terrorist by many countries.

Leila Khaled is one of the most notorious terrorists of the early Palestinian Arab terrorism.

On August 29, 1969, Khaled was part of a team that hijacked TWA Flight 840 on its way from Rome to Athens, diverting the Boeing 707 to Damascus.

This was, however, denied by Khaled and others. After this hijacking, and after a now famous picture of her  holding an AK-47 rifle and wearing a kaffiyeh was widely published, she underwent six plastic surgeries on her nose and chin to conceal her identity and allow her to take part in a future hijacking, and because she did not want to wear the face of an icon.

On September 6, 1970, Khaled attempted the hijack of El Al Flight 219 from Amsterdam to New York City as part of the Dawson's Field hijackings, a series of almost simultaneous hijackings carried out by the PFLP.

In December 2012, during a visit in Gaza she attended a glamorous red carpet event sponsored by Hamas.

In January 2013 , she told a Turkish newspaper "We support the Syrian army"

And now the French consulate in Jerusalem considering Leila Khaled  a woman noted for courage and daring action, is promoting this infamous terrorist (now novelist ) holding an AK-47 rifle and wearing a kaffiyeh  via the French Institute of Jerusalem, Cheateaubriand.

          Incroyable mais vrai !
         
         Jean Vercors

BTW : France is the country with the largest number of cultural centers in the West Bank and Gaza. (Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron, Gaza, the French alliance of Bethlehem, the cultural association of trade Hebron France)

(Sources: http://www.consulfrance-jerusalem.org/Juillet-a-l-Institut-Francais-de
Centre Culturel Français Chateaubriand, Directeur & Attaché Culturel : M Patrick Girard. Téléphone : 02 628 24 51 / Télécopie : 02 628 43 24. Courriel : ccfjeru@consulfrance-jerusalem.org
http://www.palpress.co.uk/arabic/?Action=Details&ID=68628
http://www.ccfjerusalem-chateaubriand.org/IMG/pdf/ContactsCCFs2009.pdf)