7 Replies to “Brad Johnson on the new Trump Middle East peace plan”
Caroline B. Glick The Oslo blood libel is over. So is OSLO.
When you read the Trump plan closely, you realize it is a mirror image of the Oslo Accords. Rather than Israel being required to prove its good will, the Palestinians are required to prove their commitment to peace.
From 1994 through 1996, as a captain in the IDF, I served as a member of Israel’s negotiating team with the PLO. Those years were the heyday of the so-called peace process. As the coordinator of negotiations on civil affairs for the Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, I participated in all of the negotiating sessions with the Palestinians that led to a half a dozen or so of agreements… which transferred civil and military authorities in Judea and Samaria to the PLO..…
“In regard to a peace agreement, there is a difference between how the West understands the nature of this agreement as opposed to the Muslim world. “In Islam, the normal situation is war until the world is conquered. However, there are times when the Muslims cannot continue the war because they are not strong enough to win or for other reasons that might cause them to lose the war. The solution for type of situation in Islamic legal terms is called Sulha. This is when the Muslims stop their battles with the non-Muslims for a limited period of time which is the Sulha. This idea has rules and it can be renewed, but it is only temporary since Muslims cannot stop Jihad forever. Jihad is a normal situation, but to stop Jihad temporarily there must be a very good reason – the Muslim needs to have an alibi. However, even if there is a Sulha, it is only valid as long as the Muslims feel they are not strong enough to fight the non-Muslims, the minute this changes, they are required to return to Jihad.”
Iran and Turkey will fight to the last drop of _ARAB_ blood.
We tend to forget that EGYPT is vastly more important than Saudi in the ARAB world. Nowhere else compares in national identity and history.
It has the largest ARAB population in the world. Its borders coherent, its peoples a nation. It’s been the ideological heartland from the Fatimids’ Al-Azhar (970), up to the last century’s Muslim Brotherhood. Ottoman and Cold War opportunism persists up till today, while EGYPT remains what it’s been for millennia.
The rest of the Arab countries are notional imperial constructs that make little sense in geographical terms and NO sense in the sociopolitical dimension. Not so much nations as patchworks of tribes with complex blood-kin relationships.
Just one example of this hairiness: some clans from the Hejaz (the Arabian Peninsula) are linked to others in Syria/Lebanon (the Levant). Loyalties (and feuds) are transcendent everywhere.
The emphasis on the various monarchies has been somewhat exaggerated in the West. Russia and the filthy Turk understand imperial dynamics on a gut level. (Watch how they play proxy wars now in Libya.)
The King of Jordan is widely regarded as illegitimate in the region. This transplant from the Hejaz is sustained by U.K. and U.S. military, Israeli intelligence, and Gulf money. He’s perched atop a seething mess, with helicopters for personal evacuation on standby 24/7.
EVERYTHING that comes out of Jordan is a product of decisions made behind closed doors. Every word, every gesture is calculated to appease warring factions. Riots that seem spontaneous are generated deliberately. (Al-Aksa is in Danger! or, Day of Rage!) The monarchy is advised when to tolerate, when to contain.
The Gulf monarchies are regarded as family gas-stations with flags. It’s all very delicate; they’re all unstable. Don’t invest everything in MbS, don’t forget the Egyptian strongman to assuage a bristly Sultan wannabe.
(See: The Sudden Succession Essay Series at the Washington Institute, https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/search/results/?q=Sudden+Succession+Essay+Series&search=Go. )
“The veteran expert on Islam says that Western officials fail to grasp that the Arab and Islamic world truly see Israel’s establishment as a “reversal of history” and are therefore unable to ever accept peaceful relations with it. From Moslems’ perspective, “Islamic territory was taken away from Islam by Jews. You know by now that this can never be accepted, not even one meter. So everyone who thinks Tel Aviv is safe is making a grave mistake. Territory which at one time was dominated by Islamic rule, now has become non-Muslim. Non-Muslims are independent of Islamic rule and Jews have created their own independent state. It is anathema. Worse, Israel, a non-Muslim state, is ruling over Muslims. It is unthinkable that non-Muslims should rule over Muslims.”
Usama Bin Laden made one of his obnoxious videos speaking exactly that way about Spain.
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Caroline B. Glick
The Oslo blood libel is over. So is OSLO.
When you read the Trump plan closely, you realize it is a mirror image of the Oslo Accords. Rather than Israel being required to prove its good will, the Palestinians are required to prove their commitment to peace.
From 1994 through 1996, as a captain in the IDF, I served as a member of Israel’s negotiating team with the PLO. Those years were the heyday of the so-called peace process. As the coordinator of negotiations on civil affairs for the Coordinator of Government Activities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, I participated in all of the negotiating sessions with the Palestinians that led to a half a dozen or so of agreements… which transferred civil and military authorities in Judea and Samaria to the PLO..…
They didn’t want peace with Israel. They were using the peace process to literally take Israel apart piece by piece.…
https://www.israelhayom.com/opinions/the-oslo-blood-libel-is-over/
Caroline’s inside view, good stuff.
WHAT TRUMP NEEDS TO SAY TO ABBAS
“In regard to a peace agreement, there is a difference between how the West understands the nature of this agreement as opposed to the Muslim world. “In Islam, the normal situation is war until the world is conquered. However, there are times when the Muslims cannot continue the war because they are not strong enough to win or for other reasons that might cause them to lose the war. The solution for type of situation in Islamic legal terms is called Sulha. This is when the Muslims stop their battles with the non-Muslims for a limited period of time which is the Sulha. This idea has rules and it can be renewed, but it is only temporary since Muslims cannot stop Jihad forever. Jihad is a normal situation, but to stop Jihad temporarily there must be a very good reason – the Muslim needs to have an alibi. However, even if there is a Sulha, it is only valid as long as the Muslims feel they are not strong enough to fight the non-Muslims, the minute this changes, they are required to return to Jihad.”
https://archives.frontpagemag.com/fpm/what-trump-needs-say-abbas-gideon-israel/
Iran and Turkey will fight to the last drop of _ARAB_ blood.
We tend to forget that EGYPT is vastly more important than Saudi in the ARAB world. Nowhere else compares in national identity and history.
It has the largest ARAB population in the world. Its borders coherent, its peoples a nation. It’s been the ideological heartland from the Fatimids’ Al-Azhar (970), up to the last century’s Muslim Brotherhood. Ottoman and Cold War opportunism persists up till today, while EGYPT remains what it’s been for millennia.
The rest of the Arab countries are notional imperial constructs that make little sense in geographical terms and NO sense in the sociopolitical dimension. Not so much nations as patchworks of tribes with complex blood-kin relationships.
Just one example of this hairiness: some clans from the Hejaz (the Arabian Peninsula) are linked to others in Syria/Lebanon (the Levant). Loyalties (and feuds) are transcendent everywhere.
The emphasis on the various monarchies has been somewhat exaggerated in the West. Russia and the filthy Turk understand imperial dynamics on a gut level. (Watch how they play proxy wars now in Libya.)
The King of Jordan is widely regarded as illegitimate in the region. This transplant from the Hejaz is sustained by U.K. and U.S. military, Israeli intelligence, and Gulf money. He’s perched atop a seething mess, with helicopters for personal evacuation on standby 24/7.
EVERYTHING that comes out of Jordan is a product of decisions made behind closed doors. Every word, every gesture is calculated to appease warring factions. Riots that seem spontaneous are generated deliberately. (Al-Aksa is in Danger! or, Day of Rage!) The monarchy is advised when to tolerate, when to contain.
The Gulf monarchies are regarded as family gas-stations with flags. It’s all very delicate; they’re all unstable. Don’t invest everything in MbS, don’t forget the Egyptian strongman to assuage a bristly Sultan wannabe.
(See: The Sudden Succession Essay Series at the Washington Institute, https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/search/results/?q=Sudden+Succession+Essay+Series&search=Go. )
This whole series is interesting:
Might at a Critical Moment
A National Security Policy Plan for Israel
https://jiss.org.il/en/might-at-a-critical-moment/
In context of this discussion, see especially:
Chapter Six: Regional Realities and the Eastern Mediterranean
https://jiss.org.il/en/mitve-regional-realities-and-the-eastern-mediterranean/
Sorry, I meant this chapter:
The Palestinian Question
https://jiss.org.il/en/mitve-the-palestinian-question/
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/112066
“The veteran expert on Islam says that Western officials fail to grasp that the Arab and Islamic world truly see Israel’s establishment as a “reversal of history” and are therefore unable to ever accept peaceful relations with it. From Moslems’ perspective, “Islamic territory was taken away from Islam by Jews. You know by now that this can never be accepted, not even one meter. So everyone who thinks Tel Aviv is safe is making a grave mistake. Territory which at one time was dominated by Islamic rule, now has become non-Muslim. Non-Muslims are independent of Islamic rule and Jews have created their own independent state. It is anathema. Worse, Israel, a non-Muslim state, is ruling over Muslims. It is unthinkable that non-Muslims should rule over Muslims.”
Usama Bin Laden made one of his obnoxious videos speaking exactly that way about Spain.