"This is the Day of the Shahids ... The Sky is Pregnant With Rage, It is Time for a Downpour" (video)

In Melbourne, "the world's most liveable city" (so it's claimed), Palestinian flags fly from poles in the downtown area as well as being held by members of the large crowd marking "Palestinian National Day" on 15 November.

An eloquent image on a t-shirt in the crowd:

Is this what they mean by "Free Palestine" and comparable phrases, chalked by attendees, including quite young kids rigged out in keffiyehs, on a board provided for supportive messages and slogans?

In her speech, which amid whoops of delight heaped extravagant praise on BDS, poet and playwright Samah Sabawi, whose play City by the Sea  was accepted for inclusion in the Victorian Certificate of Education curriculum earlier this year (a development broken by li'l ol' Daphne here long before the press and Jewish communal big boys woke up to the fact), appeared to strike a martial note or two:

... [T]his flag we raise is not meant to represent Armani suits and Ramallah mansions.

It is not meant for powerless ministries and cowardly leaders who have reduced the ceiling of our aspirations to breadcrumbs and begging bowls....  

This here is our flag, the people’s flag,

This is the flag that wraps the countless coffins after the bombs fall,

This is the flag that dries the tears of mothers in hospital corridors,

This is the flag of the shahids, of the refugees, of the prisoners and the besieged....

The clouds have gathered over Palestine for so long,

The sky is pregnant with rage;

It is time for a downpour,

For there are not enough days left in the calendar for all the commemorations

Not enough minutes of silence for all our martyrs ....

That makes this earlier much-hyped but evidently not well attended event in Adelaide look positively child's play:

 Which indeed it seems to have been:

Gone Missing: Sizer's Books

Over at Harry's Place, John Bevan has written several posts about Stephen Sizer.  His latest concerns Sizer's British publisher IVP's "encouraging" recent decision to withdraw his titles from their lists. 

The American publisher has not yet done so, and, suggests Bevan in the course of his must-read piece, "If you’re based in the US, why not contact them?"

Observes Bevan, inter alia, and with the relevant links:

'...though it may seem churlish, questions can surely be asked about IVP’s initial role in editing Sizer’s books, particularly Christian Zionism: Roadmap to Armageddon? (2004). How was it that they missed the following things?

- On pp. 21-22 of Christian Zionism: Roadmap to Armageddon? Rev Sizer approvingly cites the late Dale Crowley, who was strongly linked to Holocaust denial and the American far right. Rev Sizer refers to him simply as a “religious broadcaster” and omits any reference to his unsavoury connections.

- On p. 234, Rev Sizer claims that, in the 1930s, various Zionist leaders collaborated with the Nazis. This is similar to Ken Livingstone’s notorious claim that Hitler was “supporting Zionism” in 1932 – a statement for which Ken Livingstone remains suspended from the Labour Party. Interestingly, both Ken Livingstone and Rev Sizer rely on the same “source”, Lenni Brenner. The claim and the source are demolished here (briefly) and here (at greater length).

- Footnote 170 on p. 251 insinuates that Israel was complicit in 9/11.

- Rev Sizer has an unfortunate tendency to misrepresent other Christian writers, notably Zhava Glaser and Walter Riggans.

 Whilst some of those things might not be immediately obvious to those unfamiliar with the American far-right or the nature of contemporary anti-Zionism/antisemitism, they can be uncovered with just a little research. On the other hand, the misrepresentations of Zhava Glaser and Walter Riggans should have been easy to spot...'

Hat tip: Ian

Has Sizer's Bishop Been a Party Pooper?

At the time I'm writing the news hasn't caught up with the Vicar of Virginia Water's Christ Church site, but the launch of his brand new Peacemaker Mediators charity advertised for 3 December has been cancelled.

In what seems a low key fashion, a new date for this event has been announced, and as in the case of the old one, anybody who wants to go must RSVP.

The betting is that the Bishop of Guildford read the Riot Act to our old chum, telling him that he can't go ahead with this venture until after his retirement on Easter Sunday.

Quite right too.

And (hat tip: Ian) Sizer's books have met a snag: see John Bevan's post here

David Singer: Palestine – Brexit 1922 Key To Trump Resolving Arab-Jewish Conflict

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

He writes:

President-elect Donald Trump has lost no time in stressing his desire to end the Arab-Jewish conflict which has seen many proposals in the last 100 years fall by the wayside as a result of unrelenting Arab rejection to any Jewish State in former Palestine.

The first such proposal came in 1922 when Great Britain went back on its promise made to the Jewish people in 1920 at both the San Remo Conference and the Treaty of Sevres - by restricting the reconstitution of the Jewish National Home in only 22 per cent of the territory of Palestine covered by the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine ("Brexit 1922").

The Jews reluctantly accepted this proposal but the Arabs were not prepared to accept self-determination in only 78 per cent of Palestine – today called Jordan. They wanted the remaining 22 per cent – today called Israel, Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) Jerusalem and Gaza – and have maintained this position until today.

Proposals to end the conflict recommended by:

* the 1937 Peel Commission,

* the 1947 United Nations Partition Resolution,

* the 1993 Oslo Accords,

* the 2002 Bush Roadmap and

* Israeli offers in 2000/1 and 2008

have been consigned to the dustbin of history.

For President-elect Trump, resolving this conflict becomes the ultimate deal maker's challenge to accomplish.

Trump lost no time in making his intentions very clear – just three days after his stunning presidential victory:

"As a deal maker, I’d like to do… the deal that can’t be made. And do it for humanity’s sake.”

To understand how Trump might pull off this deal one need look no further than the views of John Bolton – a controversial front runner with Rudy Giuliani to be Trump's Secretary of State.

In an op-ed piece in the Washington Times on 16 April 2014 Bolton presciently wrote:

"Instead of pursuing the misguided notion of “two states,” U.S. policymakers should instead ask what other solutions are possible that would provide Palestinians with personal dignity and security, economic growth and the prospect of living under a responsible, responsive government.

Concededly, there is no perfect alternative, but the most attractive prospect is to attach the disparate Palestinian communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to their neighboring contiguous Arab states, Jordan and Egypt, respectively. We might call this a “three-state solution.”

After the late 1940s collapse of the League of Nations’ Middle East mandates, Jordan successfully governed the West Bank until the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Today, Israel, Jordan and Palestinians should draw new West Bank boundaries embodying Security Council Resolution 242’s “land for peace” formula.

Jordan could, with relative ease, resume sovereignty over those portions of the West Bank not incorporated into Israel"

Jordan – part of the problem – must undoubtedly become part of the solution.

Bolton, however, conceded:

"Gaza is a harder problem, but incorporating it into Egypt is clearly a better solution than allowing it to remain the headquarters for Hamas and other terrorist groups."

An easier solution could see Gaza connected to the West Bank by an overhead expressway or underground road containing adequate security safeguards.

Trump possesses the firepower to broker a successful deal by:

* offering continued - and perhaps increased - funding to Egypt and Jordan and

* providing guarantees to defend Egypt and Jordan's territorial integrity against Islamic State and others who might seek to intimidate and undermine their sovereignty.

Trump can indeed drain the swamp of Arab hatred and rejectionism and succeed where so many others have failed.

Brexit 2016 was the precursor to Trump's presidential triumph.

Brexit 1922 can serve as the foundation for Trump to pull off the deal of the century.

Added by Daphne: Soon-to-be Vice-President Pence's  stirring pro-Israel speech, on behalf he himself and Donald Trump, during the presidential campaign:

"The Roth[s]childs Won The US Election": British Greens politician

Anti-Israel Welsh Greens leader Pippa Bartolotti, another British leftist manifesting the antisemitism that's now rife and respectable on that side of politics:

Meanwhile, Senator Tom Cotton on how Trump can dump the Iran deal:

Melanie Phillips on Trump's Triumph (video)

 Melanie Phillips, calling Trump's triumph "a kind of populist revolution," inter alia defends him from perceptions of antisemitism and racism, likening the present outrage on the part of the left to the smears of "xenophobia" and "racism" that dogged pro-Brexit voters determined to preserve their culture and restrict illegal immigration.  Historian Simon Schama takes issue ... but Melanie reminds him of the terrible antisemitism on the part of leftists that has exploded under "respectable" non-controversial administrations ...

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSEnq40AX0I)

David Singer: Trump Must Confirm Bush-Congress Commitments To Israel

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

He writes: 
 

Donald Trump's stunning presidential victory – coupled with the Republican Party retaining control of the Congress – presents Trump with the opportunity to restore America's tarnished reputation and integrity by affirming he will honour the commitments made to Israel by President Bush in his letter dated 14 April 2004  – overwhelmingly endorsed by the then Congress by 502 votes to 12.


Those Bush-Congress commitments were seriously undermined by President Obama and his two Secretaries of State – Hillary Clinton and John Kerry – just one of many American disastrous policy failures in the Middle East during Obama's term of office.


The Bush-Congress Commitments were crucial to:

* Israel's unilateral, unconditional and complete disengagement from Gaza in 2005 and

* Israel's agreement to resume negotiations with the Palestinian Authority as publicly declared by Israel's then prime minister Ehud Olmert at the international conference called by President Bush in Annapolis in 2007.

 "In the course of the negotiations, we will use previous agreements as a point of departure. U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, the road map, and the letter of President Bush to the prime minister of Israel dated April 14, 2004."

Israel has expressed concern that President Obama and current Secretary of State John Kerry might be planning to further undercut the following Bush Commitment at the United Nations or in the international arena during the period leading up to Trump and the new Congress being installed into power on 20 January 2017.

Israel has

"... the United States remains committed to my vision and to its implementation as described in the roadmap. The United States will do its utmost to prevent any attempt by anyone to impose any other plan"

Obama and Kerry have not leapt to defend Israel's refusal to take part in an international conference currently being planned by France in December – designed to depart from the clear negotiating guidelines laid down in the Bush Roadmap and Bush's 2004 letter – as subsequently clarified at the Annapolis Conference.

Obama has remained mum on using America's power of veto at the the UN Security Council to resist any efforts to depart from the terms of the Bush Roadmap or substitute some different negotiating process outside the Roadmap and the Bush-Congress endorsed commitments.

President-elect Trump made his views clearly known on America upholding commitments to its allies during the election campaign:

"... your friends need to know that you will stick by the agreements that you have with them. You’ve made that agreement, you have to stand by it and the world will be a better place.”

 Senator Marco Rubio, who unsuccessfully challenged Trump for Republican Party presidential nominee but who has now been reelected to the Senate for a further term by a large majority, pledged during that campaign:

"I will revive the common-sense understandings reached in the 2004 Bush-Sharon
letter and build on them to help ensure Israel has defensible borders"

Trump has been withering in his criticism of Obama's conduct towards Israel:

"Israel, our great friend and the one true democracy in the Middle East has been snubbed and criticized by an administration that lacks moral clarity."

Moral clarity demands that Trump immediately inform Obama that no action should be undertaken by Obama between now and January that would in any way depart from or undermine the commitments made by former President George Bush and the Congress to Israel in 2004.


Trump also needs to unequivocally state that his Administration intends to fully uphold those Bush-Congress commitments.


Draining the swamp and making America great again will be given a huge impetus if Trump makes these policy declarations without obfuscation or delay.