From: "Zionist Organization of America" <info@zoa.org>
Date: Dec 6, 2017 5:30 PM
Subject: ZOA's Mort Klein Breitbart Article: Jerusalem Was Never Holy to Muslims
To: "faigerayzel@gmail.com" <faigerayzel@gmail.com>
Cc:
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Wednesday, December 06, 2017
Fwd: ZOA's Mort Klein Breitbart Article: Jerusalem Was Never Holy to Muslims
From: "Zionist Organization of America" <info@zoa.org>
Date: Dec 6, 2017 5:30 PM
Subject: ZOA's Mort Klein Breitbart Article: Jerusalem Was Never Holy to Muslims
To: "faigerayzel@gmail.com" <faigerayzel@gmail.com>
Cc:
Fwd: Statement by President Trump on Jerusalem
From: <imra@imra.org.il>
Date: Dec 6, 2017 3:52 PM
Subject: Statement by President Trump on Jerusalem
To: <imra@imra.org.il>
Cc:
White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 06, 2017
..
Statement by President Trump on Jerusalem
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the
Diplomatic Reception Room
1:07 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. When I came into office, I promised to look at the world's challenges with open eyes and very fresh thinking. We cannot solve our problems by making the same failed assumptions and repeating the same failed strategies of the past. Old challenges demand new approaches.
My announcement today marks the beginning of a new approach to conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
In 1995, Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, urging the federal government to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem and to recognize that that city -- and so importantly -- is Israel's capital. This act passed Congress by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote of the Senate only six months ago.
Yet, for over 20 years, every previous American president has exercised the law's waiver, refusing to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem or to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital city.
Presidents issued these waivers under the belief that delaying the recognition of Jerusalem would advance the cause of peace. Some say they lacked courage, but they made their best judgments based on facts as they understood them at the time. Nevertheless, the record is in. After more than two decades of waivers, we are no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. It would be folly to assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or better result.
Therefore, I have determined that it is time to officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
While previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. Today, I am delivering.
I've judged this course of action to be in the best interests of the United States of America and the pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This is a long-overdue step to advance the peace process and to work towards a lasting agreement.
Israel is a sovereign nation with the right like every other sovereign nation to determine its own capital. Acknowledging this as a fact is a necessary condition for achieving peace.
It was 70 years ago that the United States, under President Truman, recognized the State of Israel. Ever since then, Israel has made its capital in the city of Jerusalem -- the capital the Jewish people established in ancient times. Today, Jerusalem is the seat of the modern Israeli government. It is the home of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, as well as the Israeli Supreme Court. It is the location of the official residence of the Prime Minister and the President. It is the headquarters of many government ministries.
For decades, visiting American presidents, secretaries of state, and military leaders have met their Israeli counterparts in Jerusalem, as I did on my trip to Israel earlier this year.
Jerusalem is not just the heart of three great religions, but it is now also the heart of one of the most successful democracies in the world. Over the past seven decades, the Israeli people have built a country where Jews, Muslims, and Christians, and people of all faiths are free to live and worship according to their conscience and according to their beliefs.
Jerusalem is today, and must remain, a place where Jews pray at the Western Wall, where Christians walk the Stations of the Cross, and where Muslims worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
However, through all of these years, presidents representing the United States have declined to officially recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In fact, we have declined to acknowledge any Israeli capital at all.
But today, we finally acknowledge the obvious: that Jerusalem is Israel's capital. This is nothing more, or less, than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do. It's something that has to be done.
That is why, consistent with the Jerusalem Embassy Act, I am also directing the State Department to begin preparation to move the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This will immediately begin the process of hiring architects, engineers, and planners, so that a new embassy, when completed, will be a magnificent tribute to peace.
In making these announcements, I also want to make one point very clear: This decision is not intended, in any way, to reflect a departure from our strong commitment to facilitate a lasting peace agreement. We want an agreement that is a great deal for the Israelis and a great deal for the Palestinians. We are not taking a position of any final status issues, including the specific boundaries of the Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, or the resolution of contested borders. Those questions are up to the parties involved.
The United States remains deeply committed to helping facilitate a peace agreement that is acceptable to both sides. I intend to do everything in my power to help forge such an agreement. Without question, Jerusalem is one of the most sensitive issues in those talks. The United States would support a two-state solution if agreed to by both sides.
In the meantime, I call on all parties to maintain the status quo at Jerusalem's holy sites, including the Temple Mount, also known as Haram al-Sharif.
Above all, our greatest hope is for peace, the universal yearning in every human soul. With today's action, I reaffirm my administration's longstanding commitment to a future of peace and security for the region.
There will, of course, be disagreement and dissent regarding this announcement. But we are confident that ultimately, as we work through these disagreements, we will arrive at a peace and a place far greater in understanding and cooperation.
This sacred city should call forth the best in humanity, lifting our sights to what it is possible; not pulling us back and down to the old fights that have become so totally predictable. Peace is never beyond the grasp of those willing to reach.
So today, we call for calm, for moderation, and for the voices of tolerance to prevail over the purveyors of hate. Our children should inherit our love, not our conflicts.
I repeat the message I delivered at the historic and extraordinary summit in Saudi Arabia earlier this year: The Middle East is a region rich with culture, spirit, and history. Its people are brilliant, proud, and diverse, vibrant and strong. But the incredible future awaiting this region is held at bay by bloodshed, ignorance, and terror.
Vice President Pence will travel to the region in the coming days to reaffirm our commitment to work with partners throughout the Middle East to defeat radicalism that threatens the hopes and dreams of future generations.
It is time for the many who desire peace to expel the extremists from their midst. It is time for all civilized nations, and people, to respond to disagreement with reasoned debate –- not violence.
And it is time for young and moderate voices all across the Middle East to claim for themselves a bright and beautiful future.
So today, let us rededicate ourselves to a path of mutual understanding and respect. Let us rethink old assumptions and open our hearts and minds to possible and possibilities. And finally, I ask the leaders of the region -- political and religious; Israeli and Palestinian; Jewish and Christian and Muslim -- to join us in the noble quest for lasting peace.
Thank you. God bless you. God bless Israel. God bless the Palestinians. And God bless the United States. Thank you very much. Thank you.
(The proclamation is signed.)
END
1:19 P.M. EST ______________________________
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Fwd: From Arlene Kushner in Israel: Mazel Tov! On Trump's Announcement to move the Embassy to Jerusalem
From: "Arlene from Israel" <arlene@arlenefromisrael.info>
Date: Dec 6, 2017 3:33 PM
Subject: From Israel: Mazel Tov!
To: <faigerayzel@gmail.com>
Cc:
From Israel: Mazel Tov!
1zoom
This will not be news to my readers!
President Donald Trump, in a speech delivered from the White House, has announced that the United States, in accordance with the 1995 Embassy Act (about which more below) now recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He has instructed the State Department to begin arrangements for establishing the US Embassy in Jerusalem.
Business Insider
For us in Israel, and our friends elsewhere, there has never been doubt about the fact that Jerusalem, united, is our eternal capital.
But how lovely, and how important, to see the beginning of international recognition on this score.
Israel is a sovereign nation, declared the president, and as such has the right to establish its capital.
I do not believe that there is another instance internationally in which nations have refused to establish their diplomatic missions to a country in the city that the country declares to be its capital.
But now a significant turn-around.
~~~~~~~~~~
King David made Jerusalem the capital of his united kingdom over 3,000 years ago; it is there that his son Solomon built the Temple.
From that day until this day, Jerusalem has never been the capital of any other nation.
Jerusalem Municipality
Jerusalem was part of the Mandate for Palestine, which allocated the land for a Jewish homeland within international law.
~~~~~~~~~~
There are those today who refer to the fact that UNGA Resolution 181 of 1947, which proposed a federation of two states in Palestine, allocated Jerusalem the status of a corpus separatum to be administered as an international city by the UN.
But that resolution is totally null and void today as the Arab world rejected it. What is more, it was only a recommendation and carried no weight in international law. Additionally, it should be noted that the UN never attended to its responsibilities with regard to Jerusalem, as spelled out in the resolution.
~~~~~~~~~~
With the founding of modern Israel, and the War of Independence, Jordan took the eastern part of Jerusalem, occupying it illegally in an offensive action. This area, which includes the Temple Mount, is at the very heart of Jewish heritage. Yet he not only rendered it Judenrein, he destroyed synagogues and pillaged Jewish tombstones.
This 19-year period of Jordanian occupation is the only time in 3,000 years that the city was divided. In point of fact there is no "East Jerusalem," there is only Jerusalem.
Yet to this day, the Arabs have the gall to claim that eastern Jerusalem is "Arab." Although, when they speak of "East Jerusalem" what they actually mean is everything past the Green Line (the 1949 armistice line). This includes Gilo, which is in the south west of Jerusalem, and Ramat Shlomo (not on the map below), which is to the north.
Credit: Elder of Ziyon
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel reunited the city in 1967, with the Six Day War. In 1980, the Knesset passed "Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel." It states that:
"The complete and united Jerusalem is the capital of Israel; Jerusalem is the seat of the President, the Knesset, the Government, and the Supreme Court."
It also mandates protection of Holy Places against desecration, and freedom of access to religious places sacred to various religious groups.
~~~~~~~~~~
Today, there are numerous Jewish neighborhoods in "eastern" Jerusalem, beyond the Green Line: Gilo, French Hill, Ramot, Ramat Eshkol, Pisgat Zeev, Har Homa, etc.
The Jewish quarter of the Old City has been magnificently restored.
Wikimedia
~~~~~~~~~~
The entire question of international diplomatic relations with Israel, and establishment of embassies in Israel, has been fraught with difficulties because of Arab hostility and subsequent Palestinian Arab claims to Jerusalem.
In the early days after Israel's founding (which saw the diplomatic recognition of 23 nations), there were 16 foreign embassies located in Jerusalem. These nations did not, however, recognize this as conferring official recognition of Jerusalem as being part of Israel.
The United States was one of those nations that chose not to place its diplomatic mission in Jerusalem. In fact, in 1949, President Truman clearly stated that "the United States cannot support any arrangement which would purport to authorize the establishment of Israeli…sovereignty over parts of the Jerusalem area."
Wikimedia
~~~~~~~~~~
Over the years, as additional nations conferred diplomatic recognition upon Israel, they chose to maintain embassies elsewhere in the country – or simply to not establish embassies in Israel at all.
In 1973, three nations removed diplomatic headquarters from Jerusalem: Ivory Coast, Zaire and Kenya, all of which subsequently severed relations with Israel following a meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Algiers. All three restored relations in the 80s, establishing embassies in Tel Aviv.
In 1980, with the passing of "Basic Law: Jerusalem," the other 13 embassies were moved out of Jerusalem. Costa Rica and El Salvador re-established their embassies in Jerusalem again in 1984, but all had left by 2006.
Today, Israel has diplomatic relations with 159 of the 193 member states of the UN as well as with the Holy See (the Vatican) and the European Union. Of these nations, 86 maintain embassies in the Tel Aviv area.
The US, Belgium, France, Italy, Greece, Spain Sweden, Turkey, the Holy See and the United Kingdom also maintain consulates in Jerusalem. It is a diplomatic anomaly (call it fancy footwork) that these nations do not consider the consulates to be diplomatic missions to Israel, but rather to Jerusalem (which is not considered part of Israel). Some—primary among them the US—consider these consulates to also be diplomatic missions to the Palestinian Authority.
~~~~~~~~~~
With all of this, it should be noted: The fact that foreign embassies are located outside of Jerusalem does not mean the nations boycott Jerusalem. They present their credentials to the president of Israel, at his residence in Jerusalem. They meet with officials in offices in Jerusalem, and attend sessions of the Knesset in Jerusalem.
Credit; Algemeiner
De facto, it is clear to all that Jerusalem is Israel's capital.
~~~~~~~~~~
As to the move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem:
While US administrations have tread carefully with regard to recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, the sense of Congress has been quite different.
In 1995, Congress passed the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which declared that "Jerusalem should be recognized as the capital of the State of Israel" and that "the United States Embassy in Israel should be established in Jerusalem no later than May 31, 1999."
To ensure that this happened, a penalty clause was inserted: It required that as of the fiscal year 1999, when the embassy was to have been established in Jerusalem, the funding allocated to the State Department for the upkeep and building of all U.S. embassies, consulates and other overseas State Department offices would be cut in half unless and until the United States opened an embassy there.
~~~~~~~~~~
President Clinton, however, who was thoroughly immersed in the Oslo process, was adamantly opposed to this measure. His concern was that a "premature focus on Jerusalem" could "undermine negotiations and complicate the chances for peace." (Sound familiar, now, 22 years later?)
Credit: wired
Maintaining that the law was unconstitutional —because "the Constitution vests the President with the exclusive authority to conduct the Nation's diplomatic relations with other States" and that "Congress cannot trammel the President's constitutional authority to conduct the Nation's foreign affairs and to recognize foreign governments by directing the relocation of an embassy"—he threatened to veto the law.
To circumvent this threat, Congress then added a Waiver clause to the law: Essentially, it allows the president to suspend for a period of six months the limitations set forth in the law with regard to fiscal penalties, if he determines and notifies the Congress in advance that "such suspension is necessary to protect the national security interests of the United States."
Needless to say, the issue of "national security" is broadly interpreted.
~~~~~~~~~~
The revised Jerusalem Embassy Act then passed with a large majority – although I believe Clinton declined to sign it.
And this, then, is where we have stood until now. The Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations have all utilized this Waiver to prevent establishment of the embassy in Jerusalem.
So did Trump, in his first year in office.
~~~~~~~~~~
Today the president explained that this move is long overdue. It's time for people to open their eyes and try a fresh approach, instead of drawing on the same failed strategies.
People believed that delaying on recognizing Jerusalem as Israeli's capital would advance the peace process, but in 20 years this has not been the case. Repeating the same formula would not yield results. Rather, recognizing Jerusalem as Israeli is a necessary condition for achieving peace.
The president said this now, and many commentators and politicians are saying exactly the same thing: As long as the Palestinian Arabs delude themselves into imagining they can have Jerusalem, they will not deal realistically.
Jerusalem is the heart of one of the most successful democracies in the world, declared Trump. To acknowledge it as Israeli's capital is simply to recognize reality. It is the right thing to do.
~~~~~~~~~~
The president said other things, as well, regarding his continued hope for peace. But I want to leave that for my next posting.
Here, I simply wish to express my admiration for his courage and his clear-sighted perspective. He did this in the face of Arab threats and intimidation, and he was not deterred.
We will have to wait for the dust to settle, metaphorically speaking. We will encounter some violence here in Jerusalem, for certain. How much remains to be seen. In the end, as I had indicated earlier, I believe matters will settle down.
In fact, it is my expectation that in time, the president having forged a new path, others will follow.
~~~~~~~~~~
© Arlene Kushner. This material is produced by independent journalist Arlene Kushner. Permission is granted for it to be reproduced only with proper attribution.
©2017 Arlene from Israel | arlene@arlenefromisrael.info
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