Neglectful and Over Assuming
“It may be, sir that the politicians of the United States are not so fastidious as some gentlemen are, as to disclosing the principles on which they act . They boldly preach what they practice. When they are contending for victory, they avow their intention of enjoying the fruits of it. If they are defeated, they expect to retire from office. If they are successful, they claim, as a matter of right, the advantages of success. They see nothing wrong in the rule, that to the victor belong the spoils of the enemy.” [ NY Senator William L. Marcy, 1831]
President Donald Trump’s Trump trio, Jared Kushner, Jason Greenblatt and David Friedman, have now formally presented Phase 1 of his “Deal of the Century. The reaction to it following the Bahrain assembly is rather mixed. It stretches from” failure”, as referenced in The Arab American, “The Joke of the Century” in the World Daily News to “found no interest—-for ending the Israel/Palestine Conflict” in The Guardian. It is what it is, a financial package to support the so-called Palestinians both for having an infrastructure and relocation where agreed upon.
Bottom line – there is no longer a need for speculation and it is open for consideration by all parties. However, Phase 2, the political issue which has loomed large in the rumor mill remains open for leaks and guessing games.
If it follows on Daniel Pipes , April 9, 2019 Washington Times, “Anticipating Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century'”, then Phase 2 becomes a close copy of the infamous 2 State solution. In other words, Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is not exclusive. According to Pipes, a stream of leaks contains enough internal consistency “that their collation, supplemented by conversations with administration officials, provides a plausible outline of the plan’s contents.”
He reads the plan as a grand exchange: The Arab states recognize Israel and Israel recognizes Palestine, both with capital cities in Jerusalem! This idea apparently developed through the Arab Peace Initiative [2002], the Obama administration [2009], and President Sisi [2016].
Pipes states that these prior plans either had Israel initiate or call for simultaneous steps; In contrast, Trump has Arab states initiate, with Israel responding. In any event, the lack of wisdom was always premised on a fool hardy belief i.e. tackle the less compromising issues 1st so the parties become familiar with one another, and then proceed with the most difficult problems. How many times did we view John Kerry alighting and stepping down aircraft steps. All this accomplished was to charge up his ego with a suggested sense of importance.
Now, Daniel Pipes undoubtedly has a stellar record, and yet on this occasion his assertions do not appear to match media reports. Consider the more recent commentaries. In fairness, at the end of the day Pipes predicts that the plan will fail.
June 26, 2019 The Times UK; Jared Kushner: “Two -state solution for Israel and Palestinians is lost”, by Richard Spencer. As stated by the Times, Kushner publicly announced scrapping American support for the “two-state solution “which had been the basis for negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians for decades. This he did at the commencement of the “Peace to Prosperity Workshop “for the Palestinian economy in Bahrain. In effect, this means withdrawing support for the longstanding Arab Peace Initiative, the one sponsored by Saudi Arabia.
June 26, 2019 JC News; “Jared Kushner indicates end of US support for two-state solution, by Daniel Sugarman “as further confirmation of previous assertions. However, he did not reveal the political elements of his proposed “deal”, but did mention that it would be “—-somewhere between the [Saudi Arabian] initiative and the Israeli position.” What is this supposed to mean – the Palestinian’s awarded 1/4 of Jerusalem and the return of a handful of their refugees?
None of these approaches provide substance in an argument of entitlement. In an earlier period, Kushner stated, “We don’t want a history lesson.” As pointed out by Melanie Phillips, if he really does not think it important, “he won’t get off the starting block—–The Jewish people’s unique claim to the land is rooted in the history of this land.”
When Kushner spoke as he did to a group of congressional interns, he indicated that he had spoken to a lot of people engaged in previous negotiations. Speaking to the established cast of useful idiots is hardly productive. As pointed out by Phillips, without referencing history, it is not possible “to counter the big lie told by the Arab and Muslim world.”
In this paper we shall consider Arab myths, strategies, distortions, claims and identity. President Andrew Jackson is credited with being the 1st to acknowledge saying, “To the victor belong the spoils” [1829]. In fact, from Vae Victis, meaning “Woe to the Vanquished”, we learn that the original quote was “To the victors go the spoils and woe to the vanquished”. The subject book, set in the 1st century Rome and Gaul , covers Julius Caesar’s 8 year war on Gaul. Following the fallacy of returning “the spoils” [land for peace] is ignoring the Arab claims on behalf of the “Palestinians”- a pure fabrication.
The Jewish War [Bellum Judaicum] by Flavius Josephus provides a detailed description of the events leading up to and during the Jewish War of 66-73 CE. He was a leader at the time of the revolt of the Jews against the Romans. Captured by the Romans in 67, while a prisoner, he became a go-between in their negotiations with the local Palestine [Jews} populace.
Josephus was born Joseph ben Mattathias in 37CE in Jerusalem of a priestly and royal family. He excelled in his studies of Jewish law and studied with Sadducees, Pharisees and Essenes, eventually aligning himself with the Pharisees.
The principal sources for the history of this region and period are, besides Josephus, Philo [a Greek-speaking Alexandrian Jew] and the New Testament. Noted, from “time immemorial” was one of Jews, Greeks and Romans – absent “Palestinians.
Writing for The Jewish Press of New York on June 17, 2015, on “To the Victor Belong the Spoils: The Status of Jerusalem”, Rabbi Philip Lefkowitz explains the concept as follows. In a war or other contest, “the winner gets the booty.” The 1832 by Senator William L. Marcy of NY. The Rabbi compares the US war with Mexico to the Israeli war against Israel’s Arab neighbors. The former shows the US as an aggressor while Israel’s efforts was in self-defense. Lefkowitz also reminds one that possession is 9 points of the law.
This “…old common law precept means one who has physical control or possession over the property is clearly at an advantage or is in a better possession than a person who has no possession over the property. Even if a person is the rightful owner of the property but has no possession over it, the person who is in possession will be in a better position should the property ever be subject to challenge.”
“To The Victor Goes The Spoils” is the title of Noa Amouval’s Op-Ed as published by the Jerusalem Post on July 9, 2017.He stresses Israel’s being the winner of the many conflicts with Palestinians and Arab nations, while behaving as the loser.
Quoting Gregg Roman, director of the Middle East Forum, he draws attention to the rewarding of 100 years of Palestinian rejection-ism. This, by forcing Israel to make unilateral concessions for nothing while asking for nothing being the root of the conflict.
Roman is an American-Israeli who views the pro-Israel segment in the US as “Not looking at the Oslo narrative, but the Israeli narrative” one whereby they say, ‘Do what you have to do, we’ll back you 100%.”
Alex Ryvchin writing in the Jerusalem Post of January 8, 2012, demonstrates how “To the victors belong the spoils” can assume a role reverse position. His observation – Losing the wars hasn’t stopped the Palestinians from calling the shots. From his observation , the “Palestinians” enjoy equal standing with Israel in post-war negotiations, commanding the sympathies of the international community, having shed the guilt of their failed wars, while successfully projecting themselves as “refugees and victims of events entirely of their own making.”
Forgotten is the role of the “Palestinians” during World War 2. Then, head of the so-called Palestine Supreme Muslim Council, Haj Al-Husseini was an important Axis ally who materially aided the destruction of the European Jews. In addition to recruiting Muslim soldiers to serve in the Waffen-SS and to fight Russians on the Eastern front, his personal intervention and relationship with Holocaust criminal Adolph Eichmann ensured that thousands of Hungarian children who were allowed to flee the clutches of the Nazis, were re-routed and dispatched to the gas chambers of Poland.
Hence, losing the wars, did not stop the “Palestinians” from “calling the shots” and thus negating the victors from gaining the spoils.
The classic, “Hadrian’s Curse – The Invention of Palestine” by Tsafrir Ronen [1945-2008], appeared in Think-Israel of May-June, 2008, the Jewish Press, the author’s website and other media outlets. The author was a former member of secular kibbutz, Ein Charod, a media personality, served in the elite army unit Sayeret Matkal, and was one of the founders of Nahalal Forum on Behalf of the Entire Eretz Yisrael.
His introduction, “The Invention of Palestine as a Psychological Weapon for Conquering Eretz Yisrael” and summary, looms large. Ronen reminds us that almost 2000 years ago, the Roman Emperor Hadrian cursed the Jewish People and decreed that Judea should be henceforth called “Palestine” after the Philistines, an ancient enemy of Israel that had disappeared from the world’s stage more than 600 years earlier. It was his final twist of the knife and legacy after wars, massacres, persecutions, and exiles that had largely extinguished the Jewish presence from Judea.
Tsafrir Ronen noted how the modern enemies of a resurrected Jewish Nation have dusted off Hadrian’s curse and are attempting to pull off a monumental theft: the Arab world had reincarnated “Palestine” to steal Israel’s heritage and the Land of the Jewish People. This twisted story has become one of the biggest most remarkable fraud in history. We have witnessed the power of this propaganda.
In 1977, a member of PLO leadership, Zahir Muhsein, revealed the truth in an interview to the Dutch newspaper Trouw:
“The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese, Arabs who live in Eretz Yisrael and who have disguised themselves as ‘Palestinians ‘for fraudulent purposes.”
The Palestinian fabrication is exposed precisely when we listen to authentic Arab voices. The prominent Arab historian, Dr. Philip Hitti, who expressed himself at the Anglo-American commission of inquiry in the State Department building in 1947, said as follows: “Sir, Palestine never existed throughout history. Absolutely not!”
Moreover, Professor Juhan Hazam, in his testimony before that same commission.”Before 1917, when Balfour made his declaration, there had never been a Palestinian question, and there was no Palestine as a political or geographic unit.”
And Ronen exclaims,” Were there any trace of truth to the claim regarding the historicity of a Palestinian People, we should certainly have expected to find mention of it in the history books and encyclopedias, as well as in archaeological research.” This was such an incredible but successful fabrication that large portions of Israeli society fell into its snare. In the report presented in 1938 to the League of Nations, the British made it very clear: “The name ‘Palestine’ is not a country but a geographic region.'”
Yet another effective strategy was making David into Goliath i.e. renaming the Arab-Israel conflict, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It represented another amazing success story in the history of propaganda.
Ronen’s words have become a constant. Such is the stuff of history. In contemporary times, Hadrian’s ancient curse has become a threat with the hint of a Palestinian state.
On the other hand, we now have a vast array of proofs through archaeology. Every time there is a dig in Israel, it does nothing but support the fact that Jews have had a presence there for 3,000 years. The coins, the cities, the pottery, the culture, predating any claims by others. Even at the present time, the historical Jewish pilgrimage road said to have served as a main artery for Jews to the Temple Mount, can be viewed.
Clearly, President Trump’s designated trio need to redirect their efforts.