Update on Annapolis Summit
Bush pushes Arabs to reach out to Israel
“Arab states also have a vital role to play,” said Bush at the conference, which will be followed by White House meetings on Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“Arab states should also reach out to Israel, work toward the normalization of relations and demonstrate in both word and deed that they believe that Israel and its people have a permanent home in the Middle East,” Bush said.
Bush at Annapolis: Two Democratic States Living Side by Side
We meet to lay the foundation for the establishment of a new nation — a democratic Palestinian state that will live side by side with Israel in peace and security. We meet to help bring an end to the violence that has been the true enemy of the aspirations of both the Israelis and Palestinians.
Hamas slams Annapolis, vows to keep fighting Israel
GAZA (Reuters) - Vowing to go on fighting the “Zionist enemy,” Hamas called Mahmoud Abbas the worst leader in Palestinian history on Monday and said he had no right to make concessions to Israel at the Annapolis peace conference.
Speaking at an “anti-Annapolis” conference in Gaza, leaders of the Islamist group which seized the enclave from Abbas’s forces in June said the president did not represent the Palestinian people and vowed never to recognize Israel.
Saudis: No Normalization Until Israel “Meets All the Conditions”
Normalisation will come only after peace negotiations are completed, but at the same time Riyadh’s attendance alongside more than a dozen Arab countries “will show the Israeli side that we are ready for normalisation if (Israel) meets all the conditions” conducive to peace, he said.
Syria backs revival of peace talks with Israel
Syria came out of the international meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, Tuesday backing the revival of peace negotiations with Israel that stalled in 2000.
Annapolis And The Core Issues
Real peace between Israel and the Palestinians can only come only after the Palestinians abandon their dream of Israel’s destruction and reconcile themselves to Israel’s identity as a Jewish state.
Jerusalem…
No place on Earth cuts to the soul of the Jewish people as deeply as Jerusalem. Ancient “Zion” - conquered by King David 3,000 years ago and the site of the two holy Temples – continues to serve as the emotional and spiritual home for the Jewish people.
Not surprisingly, questions regarding the status of Jerusalem are among the most contentious “core” issues dividing Palestinians and Israelis. The Palestinians want the eastern half of the city—where many holy sites are located—as the capital of their future state.
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See here for a commentary on the Annapolis Summit by Joel C. Rosenberg. He speaks about the ‘good news‘ and the ‘bad news‘. Be sure and understand what part Hamas has to play in this! Iranian backed/Hamas wants the same thing as Iran, and now with the peace process looking more positive, the Iranian President Ahmadinejad would not be too happy with this outcome. We all know he wants the Mahdi to come and he believes that war with the Israeli’s will do it … He believes he is doing Allah’s will to obliterate Israel and annihilate Judeo-Christian civilization as we know it. Annapolis will very likely serve as a catalyst to him to get his nuclear weapons program complete, take care of Israel once and for all, to bring about the global carnage and chaos necessary to usher in the coming of the Mahdi.
There is also a potential problem with Russian President Putin … Russia has announced that it is going to host a post-Annapolis summit soon. President Vladimir Putin can’t stand the notion that President Bush has emerged in recent years as the game-changer in the Middle East. Putin wants that role for himself. The difference is Bush wants to support the Reformers, while Putin is siding with the Radicals. We must watch carefully to see how Putin reacts to Annapolis and what new initiatives he might try to put on the table. One possibility: “a Middle East nuclear weapons-free zone” that would seek to turn the world’s attention away from Iran and put the spotlight on disarming Israel.
Because of this summit Hamas has called called Mahmoud Abbas the worst leader in Palestinian history on Monday and said he had no right to make concessions to Israel at the Annapolis peace conference. And now we may start to see trouble rise in the West Bank/biblical Judea Samaria. Abbas’ government is not a strong one and Hamas recognizes this, this could be advantageous for them as well as for Iran. Gaza is already in the hands of Hamas (Muslims have been persecuted if they resisted this terrorist group in Gaza) and we may see Hamas take control of the West Bank/biblical Judea Samaria in much the same way.
Rosenberg also mentions that America should publicly recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and should move their embassy there immediately. I for one cannot see that happening because of my post yesterday, which documents the UN Resolution 181. This Resolution does not recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but considers it an international city that should not be divided. Therefore Jerusalem should be a unified international city according to the UN non government body. How this can be overcome, I am not sure. I think Israel has every right to nominate which city should be their capital. I have heard it said that Israel is the only state in the world that has, according to the UN, no right to name their capital… I may be wrong, perhaps you the reader may know more about that? If this is the case then this city really is a burdensome stone for the world!
Another thing that I have come across is found at ‘Palestinian Media Watch‘ and it was only one day after the summit meeting that … An information clip produced by the Palestinian Authority Central Bureau of Statistics and rebroadcast today on Abbas-controlled Palestinian television, shows a map in which Israel is painted in the colors of the Palestinian flag, symbolizing Israel turned into a Palestinian state.
The description of all of the state of Israel as “Palestine” is not coincidental, and is part of a formal, systematic educational approach throughout the Palestinian Authority. This uniform message of a world without Israel is repeated in school books, children’s programs, crossword puzzles, video clips, formal symbols, school and street names, etc.
No surprises there really.
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