Current Bulletin Issue - Volume 18, Bulletin 3, September 2005

   • PDF version available here  

 

P.L.O Lebanon Iraq Saudi Arabia

Turkmenistan Pakistan Indonesia

UNNECESSARY UNCERTAINTY

Due to the quirks of its unpredictable leader, Israel now faces a period of uncertainty. Having deliberately divided his own party by acting contrary to its declared ideology, he will have to be confirmed by its Central Committee to remain its candidate before the next election. He is challenged by no less than three other candidates, at least two of them much more acceptable ideologically to the traditional electorate of the Likud, and his attempts to postpone the Central Committee vote indicate that he is no more certain of its outcome than the rest of us.

An additional cause of concern is that the entire “disengagement from Gaza” idea was motivated by trading if off against American support for retaining at the very least the major Jewish towns and settlement blocs in Judea-Samaria. Indeed, Sharon received written communication from President Bush virtually confirming this. Unfortunately, there have been several US signs and acts creating uncertainty about the Bush administration’s readiness to consider the messages to Sharon as binding. Among these signs are the insistence on a territorial link between the Gaza Strip and Judea-Samaria over which Israel is to have no security control, which might mean not only that pre-1967 Israel would be cut in half by Palestinian territory but also that unlimited quantities of arms could be shipped from the Strip to the terrorists operating in Judea. Washington has also been blowing hot and cold about the settlement of Jews in Judea-Samaria – even about the strategically essential plan to build in the area between Jerusalem and the largest Jewish town in Samaria – Ma’ale Adumim.

The insistence that Palestinian areas should be territorially connected, while Jewish areas need not be is, at best, a threat to Israeli security, while at worst it might indicate Washington’s disinterest in Israel’s survival. It is certainly not the kind of recompense Sharon expected for “disengaging” and bringing the Egyptians from half-way across Sinai into the Gaza Strip

Replacing Sharon at the helm with someone capable of strategic thinking and less likely to be led astray by State Department machinations who can say “No” firmly to the Americans when necessary has become an urgent matter. For those who give without being asked will inevitably be asked to give even more.

AN INTERVIEW WITH YOHANAN RAMATI   

What threat does Islam pose on an international level? How should the West respond to the Islamic threat? Is a 'Palestinian' state within the borders of Israel inevitable? These and other questions were recently posed to Yohanan Ramati, Director of the Jerusalem Institute for Western Defense . Mr. Ramati is an expert on global affairs, including the threat of Islam. This video will provide an eye-opening view of what is happening in the world today. [Taken from the Tzemach television program. 27 min.]

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