Foreign
occupation in the Land of Israel? It conjures up visions of the
Maccabean Revolt against the Syrian Greeks, the Jewish Uprising
against the Romans, and the modern Hebrew Rebellion against the
British. Historically, Jews don’t take kindly to foreign occupiers
in their homeland.
Since
1994, I’ve been complaining about TIPH, the Temporary International
Presence in Hebron, that anti-Israel/pro-Palestinian foreign occupier
watchdog group, patrolling in Israel.
Temporary?
Almost twenty five years is not temporary.
Enough
is enough! It’s time for the Israeli government to kick them out of
the City of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And, let’s not forget, that
Hebron was also David’s capital city, for almost seven years,
before Jerusalem. Hebron is the second holiest city in Judaism, after
Jerusalem.
But,
the threat of invasion from foreign troops or “observers,”
continues...
Just
recently, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has spoken
about sending
armed UN
peacekeepers as one of
four proposals, for safeguarding so-called
Palestinians, that live
under “Israeli occupation” in Gaza. First,
let me remind you, that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
He
also offered an
alternative, “armed
forces from a group of like-minded states operating under a United
Nations mandate,” (from the 47 Muslim-majority states in the
Organization
of Islamic Cooperation, for example?). It
sounds a lot like a plan for an Islamic
invasion of the Land of Israel, under UN/international legitimacy.
Gaza,
or better, Hamastan, is occupied not
by Israel,
but an
Islamic terrorist organization
called Hamas. A
parasitic group, that has fed off the misery of the Gazans since
2007.
In response to UNSG Guterres proposal, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said, that “the only protection the Palestinian people need is from their own leadership. The Palestinian Authority incites its people to attack Jews, and the terrorist organization Hamas uses the Gazan public as hostages and risks the lives of residents for terror,” explained Danon. “Instead of suggesting ways to protect the Palestinian people from Israel, the UN should instead hold the Palestinian leadership accountable for continually endangering its own people.”
Hamas,
is a
group that for over
fifteen years, has indiscriminately
launched
rockets, mortars, and
missiles, into civilian
Israeli cities, towns
and villages.
And
more recently,
has
flown flammable kites
and exploding
balloons, wantonly
burning crops and starting out-of-control wildfires in
Israel.
Israel
has the
absolute right
to Jewish self-defense.
If someone doesn’t
like it, too bad!
We
saw what happened, during the Holocaust, when Jews couldn’t defend
themselves. That will never be allowed to happen again. No
foreign occupier, be they so-called
Palestinians, remnants
of the Arab Imperialist Wars of the 7th
century, or 20th
century Arab colonial settlers in the Land of Israel, can take that
right away.
So
too,
no UN
Occupation Troops, “peacekeepers,” or TIPH
“observers,” from Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and
Turkey, should be allowed in the Land of Israel.
Think about it for a moment, Norway, the country that brought Israel, the Oslo fiasco, euphemistically called the “peace process.” Switzerland, international banking center and beneficiary from Holocaust-era dormant Jewish bank accounts. And, Islamist Turkey, well what can be said about Islamist Turkey, rival to Iran for leadership in the region, and vociferously anti-Israel. These countries “observers” patrol, Hebron, the City of the Patriarchs?
In
July, during
a tour organized by the
radical left-wing organization, Breaking the Silence, TIPH
personnel visited the
Jewish neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, in violation of the TIPH
mandate. While
there,
a
Swiss TIPH
legal counsel was
filmed hitting
a young Jewish boy. Afterwards,
Switzerland’s ambassador to Israel, Jean-Daniel Ruch, sent
an “apology” to the Jewish community of Hebron. But, his letter
started off by blaming the settlers, “Though this was no doubt
preceded by some provocation on the side of the settlers...” he
wrote.
Highhanded abuse from the foreign overlords...
Some days later, MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli, Chairwoman of the Jewish Home Knesset faction, called on PM Netanyahu to remove TIPH from Israel, after another video was released. In the video, two TIPH “observers” can be seen, one puncturing the tires of a Jewish resident’s car in Hebron, while the second stands guard. The same Swiss “observer” who hit the child was involved.
Moalem-Refaeli
said, “This is not the first time that their [TIPH] people have
been documented working against the people of the Jewish community in
Hebron, and who knows what other injustices were not recorded?
Instead of serving as a factor that is supposed to calm the area,
they are doing the opposite.” She called the extension of the
group’s presence “absurd” and “pointless.”
In
fact, TIPH was never meant to be neutral, but
pro-Palestinian, read
it’s mandate:
1.
“to promote by their presence a
feeling of security to the Palestinians of Hebron;
2.
to help promote stability and an
appropriate environment conducive to the enhancement of the
well-being of the Palestinians of Hebron and their economic
development;
3.
to observe the enhancement of peace and
prosperity among Palestinians;
4.
to assist in the promotion and execution of
projects initiated by the donor countries;
5.
to encourage economic development and
growth in Hebron;
6.
to provide reports as set out in paragraph
7 [of the Agreement on the Temporary international Presence in the
City of Hebron]; and
7.
to
coordinate its activities with the Israeli and Palestinian
authorities.”
Even Karin Aggestam,
who served with TIPH in the year 2000, admitted in her groundbreaking
analysis, published in the Cambridge
Review of International Affairs (2001),
that
TIPH is not expected to be neutral. Since
its mandate is to monitor the welfare of the Palestinian residents of
Hebron in recognition of “the existing asymmetry between Israelis
and Palestinians. Israeli authorities and particularly Israeli
settlers, who have never accepted TIPH’s presence, have frequently
accused TIPH of having a Palestinian bias. The Palestinian civilian
population often feel frustrated at TIPH’s practice of observing
rather than actively intervening.”
Well, now we know with video evidence, that, that last statement is patently false, TIPH does actively intervene for the Arabs, as Jewish residents of Hebron have been complaining about for years.
The
TIPH mandate was originally
set-up under a left-wing Rabin government,
it’s renewed
every three months by agreement of the State of Israel, and first
with the PLO,
then later the
Palestinian Authority.
But why would a right-wing Netanyahu-led government continue to extend their mandate?
It could easily be dissolved. It’s about time, enough is enough.
First
came TIPH, they were called “observers,” and who protested? Then
came armed UN troops, and they were called “peacekeepers.” Again
silence. Finally,
a Muslim-led internationally sanctioned expeditionary force came
to invade the Land of Israel…
Time
to fight back, before it’s too late. Say
no to foreign occupation in the Land of Israel!
Ariel
Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master's
Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy &
Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous
news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His
latest articles can also be read on his archive: The
Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.
(c)
2018/5778
Pasko