A new wind in the air for a new year

I am not a fervent believer in man-made miracles. But I do believe in the proverb that “a leopard does not change its spots.”

Now there is a new wind blowing in the air and it is coming, from all people, from the President of the Palestine Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, a.k.a. Abu Mazen.

Suddenly he is retreating from his decades old demands regarding the return of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war !! He has stated that he does not want “to drown Israel with a flood of Palestinian refugees”. He admits that doing so would destroy the Jewish majority in Israel. He also no longer speaks of a one-state solution with equality for all.

President Abbas now proposes a two-state solution and, glory be to God, he wants a demilitarized state of Palestine. No army. Only police forces. He wants American troops to oversee the new borders of Israel and Palestine. And, heavens to Betsy, he is certain that Israel and a demilitarized Palestine can live side by side in peace !!!    Why the sudden metamorphosis?

(I wonder if he had his fingers crossed when he made those startling remarks).

What could have prompted the drastic sudden change in a sworn enemy of the Jewish Zionist State?

We Israelis are the tigers but Abbas has now become a leopard… one that cannot change its spots.

His remarks made, prior to the annual UN gathering in New York, have a sinister plot behind them. He is a man not to be trusted nor believed. How can he possibly abandon the dream of his people for the past 70 years?

If the refugees can never return, what plans have been made to compensate them for loss of homes and properties? And if the refugees refuse compensation and demand only a return to their former homes, what plan does Abbas have in mind? On that issue he is silent.

From an Israeli point of view, I don’t believe that foreign troops would be allowed to patrol and supervise the security of our borders. We ourselves…and ONLY ourselves… have that capability. We have been doing it for 70 years.

A separate and unsupervised Palestinian state would be a severe danger to Israel. A very dangerous threat. Iran can (and will) send its military forces into Palestine and from there they can face us directly. We do not need a confrontation with Iran.

So far, I have not read any comments from leaders of Arab nations in regard to Abbas’ remarks. If they accept his plan, does it mean that Arab States, like Egypt and Jordan, will now sign treaties of peace with us?

As I began, I do not believe in man-made miracles. I put my trust only in the Tzur Yisrael, the Rock of Israel, who has been our steadfast savior for the past four thousand years.

I am sitting at the edge of my seat anxiously awaiting President Abbas’ remarks at the opening of the forthcoming UN session. If he repeats to them what he has stated to us, he may receive a standing ovation. Better yet…possibly a Nobel Prize for peace. (chas v’cholila).

But knowing only too well and understanding clearly our sour relations with the Arabs over centuries and having found them untrustworthy, I prefer the statement written on American currency.. “In God We Trust”.

A new wind is blowing on our side of the Mediterranean. What does it mean for us in the approaching New Year?

Will it be a gentle but steady breeze or will it be a hurricane or tornado? We must hope for the best but always be prepared for the worst. I fear it is the latter bitter wind.