WOMEN FOR ISRAEL'S TOMORROW

*******************************************************

June 1, 2004

It Was Weitzmann Who Was The Dreamer and Jabotinsky Who Was The 
Realist
by SHMUEL KATZ

Sholem Asch, one of the great Yiddish writers of the last century, was not a 
politician but he was convinced, like many others, that in the ongoing 
Zionist conflict of the Twenties and Thirties between Chaim Weizmann and 
Ze'ev Jabotinsky, Weizmann was the rational, levelheaded statesman while 
Jabotinsky was an impractical dreamer.

When I met Asch in the early 1950s, he told me of his pre-Holocaust 
opinions on Zionist politics. "But," he added, "it turned out that I was all 
wrong. After all that happened, it became clear to me that the roles were 
completely reversed. It was Weizmann who was the dreamer, while 
Jabotinsky was the ultimate practical thinker."

We should not now need a national disaster to discover how wrongheaded 
are the people who persist in supporting Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's 
disengagement plan. They indeed preen themselves as the hard-headed 
people who think with their brains, while those who oppose it are clueless 
people, thinking with their emotions, their hearts, with their ossified 
ideologies.

Now Sharon is on the horns of a dilemma. Feverishly he is seeking a 
"formula" that will satisfy everybody. At the cabinet meeting on May 9 he 
asked the ministers a number of "key" questions, to which he wanted a 
reply.

What should Israel do with the homes and synagogues in settlements that 
are to be evacuated? What should Israel do with the Erez Industrial Zone? 
How should Israel deal with the demographic situation in Gaza? With whom 
should Israel be negotiating?

Asking these questions at this stage strongly supports the charge that the 
disengagement policy was not carefully thought out but merely a showy 
quick fix for "running from Gaza."

There are, moreover, several more weighty questions for which he 
evidently did not find answers.

THE WISEACRES who were ready with their sneers and their jibes at the 
poor impractical ideologists who opposed the "rational" and "sensible" 
disengagement plan as the only game in town should stop their sneering 
and jibing; they should pause and reflect the very serious - perfectly 
pragmatic - grounds for opposing the disengagement plan that evidently 
moved the majority in the Likud Party referendum.

True pragmatists understand that the settlements are not the reason for the 
terror, so getting rid of settlements will not rid Israel of the terror - which 
began long, long before the settlements of our day were established.

Otherwise, how come the pogrom in Jerusalem 84 years ago? How come 
the attack on Jews in 1921, beginning with the Immigrants' Hostel in Jaffa? 
How come the massacre of the Hebron Jews in 1929, and the three-year-
long riots of 1936-1939? And then the full-scale wars, beginning with 1948?

When the realization of the Zionist dream of the reconstitution of Jewish 
statehood came onto the political horizon, the Arabs states declared, and 
repeated in one formulation or another, that they would not tolerate a 
sovereign Jewish state even in a part of Palestine.

That, after all, is why the members of the Arab League, formed after WWII, 
determined to destroy Israel at its birth. They said so too, in 1947, even 
before the UN General Assembly had decided on the partition of Palestine - 
and in 1948 launched war to that end.

Not succeeding then, they tried once more in 1967. Then Abdul Nasser, 
president of Egypt, boastfully declared that the object of the war was the 
"annihilation" of Israel.

It isn't the dreamers but the hard-headed who recall why the Arab League, 
failing to destroy Israel at one blow, decided on the policy of "phases," 
getting Israel at each phase - by terror, propaganda, and friendly relations 
with Europe - to hand over a part of its territory and then, with enhanced 
energy and motivation, fighting for the next phase.

What can the Arabs see in Sharon's disengagement idea if not an obvious 
realization of the Arab policy? Here is a piece of the country given to them 
free as a result of their terror. Is this not an ideal prelude to the next 
"phase"?

There is a plethora of declarations on Arab intent, emphasized day after 
day by articles and cartoons in the press, by sermons in the mosques, by 
teachers in the schools, and in the textbooks for the schoolchildren.

The youthful suicide bombers are not killing Jews because of settlers but 
because they have had it drummed into their heads since their childhood 
days that this is their country and the Jews came and stole it from them.

The Israeli people are told, and many seem innocently to believe, that 
handing over Gaza and expelling Jews from Gush Katif and from several 
settlements in Samaria will somehow stop the terror.

All the significant signs are inflexibly pointing in the opposite direction. 
The Israeli leadership, instead of basking in compliments from Washington 
and from Europe for being so generous with Jewish land, should wake up 
and tell the people that we are at war, that in war a surrender of land is a 
victory to the enemy.

This victory the Arabs, becoming ever more sophisticated militarily, will 
exploit to the full. So, in that context, who is being levelheaded and who is 
being emotional?


The writer, who co-founded the Herut Party with Menachem Begin and was 
a member of the first Knesset, is a biographer and essayist.

*******************************************************

June 2, 2004

Why Jerusalem is Not Holy to Muslims 
by Leah Bat-Chaim, Arutz Sheva


We often hear the Muslim claim that Jerusalem is their "third holiest city", 
after Mecca and Medina; and specifically, that this is because our Temple 
Mount is mentioned in the Koran.

As a result, Muslims are allowed sole control over our Temple Mount - to 
visit it whenever they choose, to destroy priceless archaeological relics 
while building additional mosques, etc. - while Jews are only occasionally 
allowed to visit, and never allowed to utter a prayer there. (Like in the old 
joke that ends "...but don't let me catch you praying." Except this isn't a 
joke.)

This situation has always amazed me. Even if Jerusalem and the Temple 
Mount were truly the "third holiest place" for Muslims, why should that give 
them more rights than Jews, for whom the Temple Mount is our first holiest 
place?

But in fact, even the claim of being the "third holiest place" is not true. It 
cannot possibly be true, for several very logical reasons.

First, the claim of being "the third holiest place" is based on a dream 
described in the Koran. That's right, not an actual event, just a dream. In 
the dream, Mohammed "visited" a place referred to as masjid el-aksa, 
which means "the farthest mosque".

The Arabs claim that this refers to their mosque of that name, located on 
the Temple Mount.

But the El Aksa Mosque was built about a hundred years after Mohammed. 
In Mohammed's time, Jerusalem was ruled by the Byzantine Christians, and 
there were no mosques at all in Jerusalem, not on the Temple Mount or 
anywhere else. So obviously, Mohammed couldn't have dreamed about a 
mosque that didn't exist.

Moreover, the very name "El-Aksa" for the imaginary place mentioned in 
Mohammed's dream proves that the reference could not possibly be to 
Jerusalem. Because Jerusalem would never be referred to as "the farthest 
place".

Jerusalem is centrally located. Within the Land of Israel, it is located on the 
mountain ridge between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. On a 
larger scale, it is located at the junction point of three continents: Asia, 
Europe and Africa. We see this shown in ancient maps, such as the 
Medeba map.

In Mohammed's time (or earlier), "the farthest place" would never refer to 
Jerusalem. It would refer either to a coastal city, such as Jaffa, Acre or 
Haifa, or it would refer to the end of the Mediterranean Sea - Spain, 
Gibraltar or Morocco. We see this in the book of Jonah, where the prophet 
attempts to flee to the end of the earth by going to Jaffa and catching a 
boat headed for "Tarshish" (usually considered to be Spain).

So, how did the tradition arise of Jerusalem's "holiness" to Muslims?

It's very simple. It has always been a Muslim policy, when conquering any 
area, to take over the holy places of the local people and to turn them into 
mosques. It is a way of putting down the conquered people - to show them 
that Islam will take away the most important thing to them, and there's 
nothing they can do about it.

They have done this not only in the Land of Israel, regarding both Jewish 
and Christian holy places, but also in India (regarding Hindu holy places), 
in Afghanistan (regarding Buddhist holy places), etc.

So, when the Muslims conquered the Land of Israel in the 7th century, they 
looked for the holiest place around, and found a Byzantine church that was 
built on the Jewish Temple Mount. So here we have a no-brainer - an 
opportunity to take away a holy place from both Jews and Christians at the 
same time!

In addition, the Muslim ruler of the Land of Israel wasn't happy with the fact 
that he was stuck with a backwater province. So, to make it more attractive 
to tourists, he named the new mosque "El-Aksa", and told all the tourists 
that it was the very same one mentioned in the Koran. Voila! The birth of a 
"tradition".

It would be the equivalent of Christians believing that the founder of their 
religion was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, or that he grew up in 
Nazareth, Texas. Obviously, these places are simply named after the 
original Bethlehem and Nazareth; just as El-Aksa Mosque was named after 
the imaginary place described in Mohammed's dream.

It's time that more people were aware of the simple facts and logic 
involved. Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are not holy to Muslims, and 
never have been, except as an attempt to take them away from the Jews.

*******************************************************

June 3, 2004

ISRAEL MUST NOT PLAY THE PART OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA
IN THE GLOBAL WAR AGAINST TERRORISM

LETTER FROM RUTH MATAR (WOMEN IN GREEN) JERUSALEM
Thursday, June 3, 2004


Dear Friends,

This morning, Thursday, June 3, 2004 I woke up to a most disturbing news 
article in the Jerusalem Post, headlined "Bush backs Gaza Withdrawal."

The day before, President Bush had again thrown his support behind Ariel 
Sharon's plan for a unilateral withdrawal from the Biblical Gaza Strip and 
parts of the Biblical Judea and Samaria.

According to the Jerusalem Post Senior U.S. officials said that the 
administration is trying to help Sharon win approval for the plan in the 
cabinet on Sunday.

What happened to President Bush's desire for democracy in the Middle 
East, one of the reasons for which he went to war in Iraq?  As far as 
democracy in Israel is concerned, Prime Minister Sharon has made himself 
a virtual dictator.  He is the head of Israel's largest party, the Likud, with 
forty Knesset Members out of a total of 120 Knesset Members.  Sharon's 
own party voted overwhelmingly against his withdrawal plan: 59.5% 
against and 39.7% for (a 19.8% difference)

Before the referendum vote Sharon stated the he would definitely abide by 
the results.  As soon as it became apparent that the results were hugely 
unfavorable to him, he changed his mind in his dictatorial fashion.

One is reminded of what Prime Minister Golda Meir once said about 
Sharon, whom she did not want to become IDF Chief of Staff.  She said that 
if he were appointed and the Knesset did not do what he wanted, he would 
surround the Knesset building with tanks until it did his bidding.  Is Sharon 
insisting on his unilateral retreat plan simply because he wants to have his 
own way?

Even Sharon's late wife, Lilly, of blessed memory, cautioned against Ariel 
Sharon being elected Prime Minister.  Lilly Sharon said this to an 
unimpeachable source in the Golan many years ago.  Lilly Sharon gave her 
reason as the parable of Jotham (ninth chapter of the book of Judges), but 
refused to elaborate further.

What motivates President Bush to call Sharon's undemocratic behavior "a 
courageous step toward peace", during a speech devoted mostly to the war 
on terrorism and Iraq at an Air Force Academy Commencement Ceremony?  
Doesn't President Bush consider Sharon's behavior in disregarding a 
referendum vote which he himself initiated, clearly undemocratic?

The most upsetting of President Bush's remarks at the Air Force 
Commencement Ceremony was the following:

"His [Sharon] decision provides an historic moment of opportunity to begin 
building a future Palestinian state.  This initiative can stimulate progress 
toward peace by setting the parties on the 'Road Map', the most reliable 
guide to ending the OCCUPATION THAT BEGAN IN 1967. [Emphasis is 
mine -R.M.]"

How can Jews "occupy" their own Land Promised to them by the L-rd?  
How can a supposedly Bible believing Christian President speak in such 
terms?  Doesn't President Bush realize that the Jews cannot possibly 
occupy a fictional country "Palestine" inhabited by a fictional people "the 
Palestinians"?

At this point, some historical background is critically valuable.  The 
following was sent to me by Gilbert Simons from his as yet unpublished 
book on this subject.

"How did this artificial Arab country of Palestine come into being? Ahmed 
Shuqairy, a lawyer, created it out of thin air, at the bequest of Egyptian 
President Gamal Abdel Nasser. From his pen came the Palestine National 
Covenant, a historical revisionist document creating a mythical state, 
concurrently eliminating Israel from the history books. He then created an 
organization, The Palestine Liberation Organization (the PLO), to destroy 
the reborn state of Israel, while 'liberating' his fictitious Arab Palestinian 
state, a circular tour de force. Nasser appointed him the PLO's first 
Chairman. No 'Palestinians' were involved.

"In his memoirs, Shuqairy reminisces: 'Firstly, I started by laying down the 
Palestinian entity on paper, like the engineer who traces the plan of a 
building with all of its foundations, details and measurements. I wrote, 
altered, erased and changed the order of the articles until I formulated the 
'National Covenant' and the 'Fundamental Law' of the Palestine Liberation 
Organization.' (From the Summit to Defeat, with the Kings and the 
Presidents). Ahmed Shuqairy himself acknowledged before the Security 
Council: 'It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern 
Syria' [which itself was not a nation, but a province of the Ottoman Empire 
for about 700 years until the Empire was carved up by the victorious Allies 
in 1918].

"PLO Claim: Ahmed Shuqairy, the author of The PLO Covenant or Charter, 
set down in Article 4: 'The Palestinian personality is an innate, persistent 
characteristic that does not disappear, and it is transferred from father to 
son....,' Article 7 reads: 'The Palestinian affiliation and the material, spiritual 
and historical tie with Palestine are permanent realities.' But then, Shuqairy 
ran into a problem. Creating a Palestinian identity on paper was one thing, 
but getting Arabs to behave as if it was real was another. Arabs had to be 
taught these 'innate characteristics,' an oxymoron. Blithely ignoring the 
contradiction, in the same Article 7, quoted above, Shuqairy added: 'The 
upbringing of the Palestinian individual in an Arab and revolutionary 
fashion, the undertaking of all means of forging consciousness and 
training the Palestinian, in order to acquaint him profoundly with his 
homeland, spiritually and materially, and preparing him for the conflict and 
armed struggle, as well as for the sacrifice of his property and life to 
restore his homeland, until the liberation - all this is a national duty.'

"Another contradiction which did not bother Shuqairy was to claim that the 
Arabs of the area were uniquely 'Palestinians,' while simultaneously 
asserting  that 'The Palestinian people are a part of the Arab Nation,' 
(Article 1), thus no different from the Arabs of the Middle East and North 
Africa, which of course is a fact."

There has never been a distinct-Arab Palestinian culture, literature, dialect 
or national consciousness.  Zuhayer Muhsin, head of Sa'iqa [sub-group of 
the PLO], in an interview with James Dorsey for Trouw, 31 March 1977 put 
the whole matter in perspective, admitting: "It is only for political reasons 
that we carefully underline our Palestinian identity, because it is in the 
interest of the Arabs to encourage a separate Palestinian identity in 
contrast to Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity is 
there only for tactical reasons. The establishment of a Palestinian state is a 
new expedient to continue the fight against Zionism and for Arab unity."

***

In last week's Letter of May 27, 2004, I promised to discuss the Palestinian 
National Charter of 1968 in this week's Letter.  It is hereby attached to this 
email (It is in Rich Text Format (rtf), which is incapable of carrying viruses.) 
so that you can compare the two documents.

In 1968, after the Arabs were defeated in the 1967 Arab-Israel War, the 
Palestinian National Charter was supposedly revised.  In the 1968 
Palestinian National Charter the clauses are virtually the same as in the 
1964 Charter.  The only major difference is that Article 24 of the 1964 
Palestinian National Charter was eliminated.  No wonder it was eliminated! I 
want to remind you what Article 24 was all about:

"ARTICLE 24: THIS ORGANIZATION DOES NOT EXERCISE ANY 
TERRITORIAL SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE WEST BANK IN THE HASHEMITE 
KINGDOM OF JORDAN, ON THE GAZA STRIP OR IN THE HIMMAH AREA. 
ITS ACTIVITIES WILL BE ON THE NATIONAL POPULAR LEVEL IN THE 
LIBERATIONAL, ORGANIZATIONAL, POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL FIELDS."

Dear Friends, the Arabs living in the Holy Land are the only group of people 
in this whole world whose openly declared national objective is to destroy 
the country of Israel, and to slaughter its people, the Jews.  It is of utmost 
importance that the American people, who live in the greatest democracy in 
the world, influence their Government to abandon the idea that a fictional 
"Palestinian people" is entitled to regain a fictional homeland called 
"Palestine".  The Jewish People "occupy" only their own Land (and not 
even all of that land) promised to them in the Judeo-Christian Bible.  No 
support of an American President for an Israeli Prime Minister, who has 
abandoned all pretence of democratic government, will change this 
everlasting Word of G-d.

The Arabs are not only trying to occupy the Holy Land, but attempting to 
transfer the Jews from the communities which they have so passionately 
built in their regained Homeland.  The Jewish "Settlers" are not, and never 
were, an obstacle to peace!  In fact, the Hebrew word "Mitnachlim" has 
been mistranslated as "settlers".  The true meaning of the word 
"Mitnachlim" is not "Settlers" but "Inheritors".

The "Inheritors" are not going to allow themselves to be evicted from their 
homes, schools, factories, hothouses and Synagogues in Biblical Gaza, 
Judea and Samaria.

At this critical juncture in history, it is incumbent on each and every one of 
us to make it clear to Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, U.S. President 
George W. Bush, and the rest of the leaders of the Western world, that it is 
counterproductive in the war against the Global Jihad of the Muslims to 
offer G-d's Promised Land as a gift to pacify the Muslim wolves.  This 
would only intensify the Muslim war against Judeo-Christian Western 
Civilization.  The Muslim extremists would rightly understand that terror 
pays, and that worldwide terror would bring even greater dividends.

With Blessings and Love for Israel,

Ruth Matar

*******************************************************

June 4, 2004

PA Engineering Civilian Casualties 
by Itamar Marcus & Barbara Crook
Jerusalem Post Op Ed, June 2 2004

It could have been an invitation to a social event, calling for "all citizens - 
women, children and the elderly" to participate. But the venue was 
anything but hospitable. The event was dangerous and the consequences 
deadly.

Two days before four Palestinian civilians were killed and others injured 
during the recent fighting in Rafah, the Palestinian Authority called on 
women, children and the elderly to stand in front of the IDF bulldozers that 
were searching for weapons tunnels between Gaza and Egypt.

The area was infested with terrorists, and was the location of heavy 
fighting between the IDF and armed Palestinians. Instead of urging civilians 
to stay out of harm's way, the PA intentionally sent them to the front lines 
of an active war zone.

In the words of the official Palestinian Authority daily, the call was to create 
"an impassable barrier for the occupation bulldozers" and to "prevent their 
progress to the Rafah neighborhoods." The principal of a school in Rafah 
"called for all the citizens, women, children and elderly to participate" 
according to the May 17, Al Ayyam newspaper.

The call was answered. Thousands of civilians marched into the heart of 
the battle zone. Tragically, this is not the first time the PA has urged 
civilians into combat zones. It is part of a consistent and disturbing pattern. 
Since the outbreak of violence in October 2000, the PA has been pushing 
civilians, especially children, to leave the safety of their homes and join the 
fighting.

Children have been enticed into battle through manipulative music videos, 
broadcast for hours every day on official PA television, depicting 
youngsters in combat as heroes.

One such video, broadcast repeatedly by the PA, shows young boys and 
girls in army uniform taking part in a frenzied war dance, along with other 
scenes of children participating in the violence at the battlefront. The song 
accompanying the visuals is a musical call to arms for the children:

"Oh, young ones: Shake the earth, raise the stones.

"You will not be saved, O Zionist, From the volcano of my county's stones.

"You are the target of my eyes, I will even willingly fall as a shahid [martyr 
for Allah].
"Allahu akbar! Oh, young ones!"

Children are directed by Palestinian television to go to the front and 
"willingly fall" as martyrs. In this glorification of war for children, even a 
toddler who can barely sit up is filmed breaking stones for the older 
children.

ANOTHER VIDEO, aired repeatedly from 2000 through 2002, instructs very 
young children to attack soldiers with stones and tells them about their 
supposed strength and invincibility.

"Don't be afraid," a 10-year-old sings to a five-year-old. "The stone in their 
hand turns into a rifle."

Every adult knows that stones can't be a match for rifles. But the 
Palestinian leadership mesmerizes its children through music and dance, 
while inculcating the fanciful notion that "the stone in their hand turns into 
a rifle," and that they should therefore be out fighting IDF rifles with their 
stones.

As they have done repeatedly in the past, the United Nations and world 
media have rushed to condemn Israel for the deaths of civilians during 
Operation Rainbow. But very few observers have looked beyond these 
lamentable deaths to ask the crucial questions: Why are PA leaders 
sending civilians, especially children, to the front lines and encouraging 
them to seek death?

What kind of political leaders send their five-year-olds, their "women, 
children and elderly," to the front lines of a war zone?

Yasser Arafat supplied the answer on Palestinian television several years 
back. Asked what message he would like to send to Palestinian children, 
Arafat answered: "This child, who is grasping the stone, facing the tank, is 
it not the greatest message to the world when that hero becomes a shahid? 
We are proud of them" (PATV January 15, 2002).

The PA chairman's explanation that dead children are the greatest message 
to the world finally puts PA policy into perspective. Palestinian leaders 
know that civilian corpses make powerful images and increase global anti-
Israel sentiments. Dead Palestinian children make the Palestinians look like 
victims and create a smoke screen for the PA's terrorism war against Israeli 
civilians.

Photos of dead Palestinian children are manipulated to balance photos of 
dead Israeli civilians killed in pizza shops and on buses, murdered by 
Palestinian terrorists.

Simply put, dead Palestinian children create the illusion of moral 
symmetry. The saddest part of this twisted value system is how well it is 
succeeding. Palestinian civilians continue to flock to the front lines. And, 
tragically, the media have fallen for the Arafat trap, enabling the PA to 
continue its terror war while the world laments the "cycle of violence."

Arafat's propaganda campaign, built on the corpses of these civilian 
pawns, continues to fool even the best-intentioned observers who focus 
only on who inadvertently hit the wrong target, not on who deliberately put 
the target there in the first place.

Marcus is founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch. Crook is PMW's 
North American representative.

*******************************************************

June 4, 2004

MEDIA RELEASE     MEDIA RELEASE

On SUNDAY, JUNE 6, 2004 at the ROSE GARDEN in

Jerusalem, (Opposite the Prime Minister_s Office) at 9:30 A.M.

WOMEN IN GREEN will protest the firing by the PM 
dictator Sharon of AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN, AND RAV BENNY 
ELON, who were loyal and faithful  members of his government.  The 
Reason:  They 
would vote against the harmful suicidal Disengagement Plan being pushed 
by the Prime 
Minister.  

Sharon proposed then ignored the recent democratic Referendum vote of 
members of his own Likud Party who elected him..  He promised to abide 
by such 
a vote,, but when his Party overwhelmingly rejected his Plan, he has, as 
Golda 
Meir predicted he would, figuratively _surrounded the Knesset with tanks_, 
and 
fired the opposing Ministers in true dictatorial fashion.

Bring pots and pans, shofars and whistles and other instruments of 
protest to the demonstration against rule by force, rather than reason.

Ruth and Nadia Matar

*******************************************************

June 5, 2004

Who does Powell think he's kidding?  
By Michael Freund


Colin Powell has got some nerve. After a week in which 13 young Israeli 
soldiers had been killed by Palestinian terrorists, who then paraded the 
body parts of their victims through the streets of Gaza, the US secretary of 
state could find nothing better to do than to cozy up to the Palestinians and 
criticize Israel.

Shortly after arriving in Jordan this past Saturday, Powell met with the 
Palestinian leadership. Afterwards, he told reporters that he was pleased to 
have had a "constructive talk" with Palestinian premier Ahmed Qurei, along 
with "my colleague Nabil Shaath and so many other of my good friends 
from the Palestinian Authority."

His "good friends"?

This is the same Palestinian Authority that has been waging a terrorist war 
against Israel since September 2000 and which is directly responsible for 
the deaths of hundreds of innocent men, women, and children. It is the 
same entity that Powell's own State Department, in its recently released 
report on Patterns of Global Terrorism, has linked to acts of terror against 
the Jewish state. And this is whom Powell considers to be his "good 
friends"?

Not only that, but in his remarks to the press, with a smiling Qurei standing 
at his side, Powell did not even bother to mention the horrific events of the 
preceding week. He did not see fit to condemn the Palestinians' vile 
desecration of Israel's dead, nor did he denounce their ongoing efforts to 
carry out attacks against the Jewish state.

Indeed, not once did Powell even mention the word "terrorism."

As if that weren't bad enough, Powell followed up this appalling 
performance with an even more shameful one the next day. 

Speaking Sunday at a news conference at the World Economic Forum on 
Jordan's Dead Sea coast, Powell slammed Israel for demolishing 
Palestinian structures in Gaza that have been used to stage attacks on 
Israel's soldiers.

"We know that Israel has a right for self-defense," Powell said, "but the 
kind of action they are taking in Rafah with the destruction of Palestinian 
homes, we oppose. We don't think that that is productive," he added.

That Palestinian terrorists use these very same houses to attack and kill 
Jews doesn't seem to move Powell one whit, nor does he seem troubled by 
the fact that his "good friends" in the Palestinian Authority utilize the area 
to smuggle in weapons from Egypt. On those issues, he is strangely silent.

And yet when Israel seeks to thwart such efforts by expanding the 
Philadelphi Route, as the area between Rafah and the Egyptian border is 
known, Powell suddenly finds his voice and lambasts the Jewish state for 
daring to defend itself. NEEDLESS TO say, this is hardly the first time that 
Powell has chosen to denigrate Israel.

Two years ago, while testifying before Congress, he outrageously accused 
Israel of trying to solve the Mideast conflict by killing as many Palestinians 
as possible. "Prime Minister Sharon has to take a hard look at his policies 
to see whether they will work," Powell said. "If you declare war against the 
Palestinians thinking that you can solve the problem by seeing how many 
Palestinians can be killed, I don't think that leads us anywhere" (New York 
Times, March 7, 2002).

In April 2001, after IDF troops entered Gaza to stop Palestinian mortar 
attacks against Sderot, Powell responded by rebuking Israel, saying that its 
actions were "excessive and disproportionate" as if there was something 
wrong in Israel's attempting to protect itself.

But what is truly remarkable about Powell's latest broadside over Israel's 
destruction of Palestinian homes in Gaza is its sheer unvarnished 
hypocrisy. After all, it was just 15 short years ago that a certain American 
general named Colin Powell oversaw the US invasion of Panama in late 
December 1989. In the initial days of the war, US forces bombarded the El 
Chorrillo neighborhood of Panama City, where the headquarters of the 
Panamanian Defense Forces were located alongside the homes of 
thousands of innocent civilians.

According to a report prepared by the UN Economic and Social Council, 
the result of the US attack on El Chorrillo was that "several blocks of 
apartments were totally destroyed, as a result of which their inhabitants 
were forced to seek alternative accommodation, often at a great distance 
from their former dwelling. Other buildings suffered severe damage."

By the UN's estimate, the homes of at least 2,723 Panamanian families, 
totaling approximately 13,500 people, were affected.

An April 7, 1991, the Human Rights Watch report was even more blunt, 
referring to "the devastation" of El Chorrillo and asserting that Powell's 
forces had "violated the rule of proportionality, which mandates that the 
risk of harm to impermissible targets be weighed against the military 
necessity of the objective pursued."

Now, isn't that ironic. The same Colin Powell who blasted Panamanians out 
of their homes 15 years ago to protect American troops now chooses to 
criticize Israel for doing the very same thing. Who does he think he's 
kidding?

But let Powell complain all he wants. Israel has no choice but to safeguard 
its citizens, regardless of what the secretary of state and his "good friends" 
the Palestinians might think. 

---------------------------------
The writer served as Deputy Director of Communications & Policy Planning 
under former premier Binyamin Netanyahu.

*******************************************************

June 7, 2004

Black Day for the Jewish People


It is interesting to note that the Sharon Government's fourteen to seven 
vote to eventually exit from Biblical Gaza, and Northern Shomron was 
taken during the week when a significant Biblical portion will be read in the 
Synagogues throughout the world.  In that Bible portion, Moses sent out 
leaders of each Tribe to view the Promised Land.  They came back with an 
unfavorable report.  While the seven dissidents to the Government vote 
was an improvement over the sparse two that then dissented, the present 
Government's vote was nevertheless a black day indeed for the Jewish 
People.

It is unlikely that the punishment that befell the Jewish People when they 
rejected G-d's Promised Land, will reoccur once again.  The generation that 
lacked the faith in G-d's Promise, was not allowed to enter into the Land of 
Israel.  Only the two who had the necessary faith, Caleb Ben Yefune and 
Yehoshua Ben Nun, were permitted to come to Israel.   In contrast, those in 
the Government who did not have that faith and voted for the exit from 
Gaza, already live here.  Therefore, they are not subject to the Biblical 
punishment.

The Sharon Government, in effect, adopted the Mitzna plan of unilateral 
withdrawal and the uprooting of Jewish Communities, and the deportation 
of Jews from their Homeland.  Sharon, in a dictatorial fashion, pushed 
through this plan of abandonment of Gaza and Northern Shomron.  Sharon, 
unfortunately, is no Moses.  He lacks the faith that distinguishes a great 
Jewish leader.  Faith in the L-rd has been typical of the Jewish People 
throughout its ancient history.  It has been a main and basic attribute of the 
Jewish Religion.

When all is said and done, the vote in question was a victory for Arafat, and 
those Arabs holding the Hamas orientation.  It was a reward for Arab terror.  
Moreover, it is quite ludicrous for Israel to rely on its arch enemy Egypt, to 
supervise the Gaza area.  Egypt has a long history of antagonism towards 
the Jewish People.  Its present dictator and enemy Mubarak, is hardly a 
person to rely on for the safety and welfare of the Jewish People.

The question is: WHAT NOW?  We do not know what punishment, if any, 
lies in store for those who have been unfaithful to G-d's Promise.  However, 
we must make it clear that such a Government decision must be reversed.  
It will never be respected by the People of Israel.  Jewish communities in all 
the Land of Israel must be allowed to grow and develop.  We Jews must 
have the faith in G-d's Promise, and in our Jewish destiny. Israel is the 
Promised Land.  No one is permitted to act in defiance of G-d's Promise to 
the Jewish People.  That Promise is to be found over and over again 
throughout the Bible.  The Bible is our Mandate.  The Torah of Israel must 
be once again our guiding light.  We, who follow in its path, are like a tree 
of life which will forever blossom and bear fruit.

Ruth and Nadia Matar

*******************************************************

June 8, 2004

"How long will this nation provoke me  after all these miracles?"
by Rabbi Eliezer Waldman

In this week's Torah portion, the Almighty says: "How long will this nation 
provoke me ...how long with they not have faith in me despite all the 
miracles that I have performed".
 (Numbers 13:11)

It certainly is no coincidence that the "disengagement" plans of Prime 
Minister Ariel Sharon reached the agenda of the Israeli government 
precisely the same week we read the Torah portion "Shlach Lecha". Here, 
the Torah distinguishes between those Jews who shamefully declared "We 
cannot ascend to Eretz Israel because the enemy is stronger than us" 
(Numbers 13:31) and the faithful Jews who declared "Let us ascend and 
possess the land for we can succeed in overcoming all the hardships". 
(Numbers 13:30)

These Jews of faith continued to explain: "If G-d favors us, He will bring us 
into this land and give it to us". (Numbers 14:8) The determining factor 
creating the difference between the two camps is the recognition of the 
Divine leadership determining the flow of events. Those not imbued with 
the faith in the leadership of the Almighty allowed themselves to be 
frightened by the appearance of the giants, and as a result came to the 
conclusion "When looking upon them we felt like grasshoppers and we are 
sure that that is the way they looked upon us". (Numbers 13:33) This 
breach of faith in the G-d of Israel who miraculously delivered them from 
Egyptian slavery, brought them victory when Amalek attacked, and on the 
desert trek provided them daily with heavenly nutrition; this weakness in 
faith caused the fierce Divine response of the Almighty "How much longer 
will this nation provoke me.... how long with they not have faith in me after 
all these miracles".

I can almost hear these Divine words reverberating in our ears in Hebron 
today in response to the "disengagement" plan being accepted as official 
policy by the Israeli government. Is it happening again? Jewish leaders 
declaring we cannot hold on to our G-d given land, we cannot withstand 
the pains and difficulties, we must "disengage" ð uproot Jews from their 
homes while destroying the towns we have built. We must flee from 
Palestinian terror, hide behind fences and walls, and close our eyes to the 
rockets that explode in our faces. These rockets have reached Sderot, 
Nahal Oz, and Sa'ad, towns not even part of Yesha. How absurd that this 
scenario is presented as a solution for our problems leading towards a 
"peace process". Our leaders guarantee us that this is the right direction 
by the fact that this plan ensures us the support of Mr. Bush, Kofi Annan, 
Mr. Chirac and even Mr. Mubarak, the President of Egypt.

I want to comfort our dear readers, that there is another path that we in 
Yesha have chosen ð the path of faith, the path of life, the path that 
recognizes the Divine dimension leading us in this Zionist process of 
redemption. This is the path of Yehoshua and Calev, who against all odds 
continued to express their faith in the Almighty, and therefore were 
privileged to lead the Children of Israel to their destination in Eretz Israel. 
We are actually continuing the path of classical Zionism. The only realistic 
explanation for the astonishing success of the Zionist process of settling 
and building the Jewish State, is the recognition of the Divine spirit that 
has been a pillar of inspiration and strength. This Divine spirit has created 
the boundless devotion and self sacrifice of pioneers and idealists from 
Hanita, Rosh Pina, Rishon L'zion, Petach Tikva, and Jerusalem, Hebron, 
Bet El, Eli and Shilo. All these pioneering efforts succeeded in the face of 
Arab terror striking against us in the last hundred years; generation after 
generation of Jewish settlers and builders projected the unique character 
of the pioneers of Eretz Israel. Their infinite faith in the power and reality of 
creating facts on the ground became the determining factor in securing the 
boundaries of our holy land.

Thirty seven years ago, the Six Day War elevated us to a higher level of 
perceiving the spirit of the Almighty leading us on the path of redemption. 
This Divine spirit helped create the great reality of Jewish life in Judea, 
Samaria, the Golan and Gush Katif. Close to three hundred thousand Jews 
in villages, towns and cities are living a complete Jewish life of faith, joy 
and appreciation of our blessed lot. Only those who are disengaged from 
the historical reality of Zionism and its Divine spirit can have such terrible 
ideas of uprooting Jews from their homes and destroying Jewish life, while 
thinking that they are bringing peace and security to our people.

We, the descendants of Calev and Yehoshua, feel blessed and privileged to 
be able to continue in their path of faith. Thank G-d there are already three 
generations motivated by this faith living in Yesha, along with thousands of 
Jews in all of Israel who support us. I must admit that we have no choice 
but to continue on this path, because we know what the other alternative is, 
it all appears in this week's portion, "Shlach". I tremble when I read these 
verses again. I turn to my government and Prime Minister: A responsible 
Jewish leadership, especially in these difficult times, must put its mind and 
heart to the Divine words describing the crisis in the desert and the Divine 
solution expressed by the words of two great Jewish leaders Calev and 
Yehoshua. Mr. Sharon, with all due respect, it is not Mr. Bush or Mr. Powell 
or European leaders, and certainly not the terrorists, nor the ancient 
biblical giants, who determine the course of Jewish history but the G-d of 
Israel, whose spirit and inspiration have created the vitality and beauty 
flowing in the stream of Jewish life in all of Israel,  He is the One who 
guides and determines the direction of Jewish destiny.

Always remember the words of Calev and Yehoshua: "Tova Ha'aretz Me'od 
Me'od" "The Land is exceedingly good"  (Numbers 14:7)

*******************************************************

June 10, 2004

THE JEWS MUST GET RID OF SHARON
BEFORE SHARON GETS RID OF THE JEWS

LETTER FROM RUTH MATAR (WOMEN IN GREEN) JERUSALEM
Thursday, June 10, 2004


Dear Friends,

One of the most dangerous men for the survival of Israel as a democratic 
Jewish State is one of its erstwhile Jewish heroes, Ariel Sharon.

After many attacks by the Arab terrorists against the Jews in Gaza during 
the current Oslo War, Sharon decided on a brutal assault of his own -- but 
against his own people, the Jews:

"I have given an order to plan for the evacuation of 17 settlements in the 
Gaza Strip," Sharon said in an interview with the Israeli Ha'Aretz 
newspaper.  "It is my intention to carry out an evacuation - sorry, a 
relocation - of settlements," he said.  "I am working on the assumption that 
in the future there will be no Jews in Gaza."

If this happened anywhere else in the world, were any government to 
declare its intention to expel Jews, and only Jews, from their homes, this 
will be denounced as rampant anti-Semitism and racism.  And all this is to 
take place not in a country like Nazi Germany, but in the Land promised by 
G-d as an everlasting inheritance to the Jews.

Ariel Sharon is caving in to Arab terror and joining forces to realize the 
fondest dreams of the Arabs, namely to drive the Jewish People out of their 
Promised Land, so miraculously regained by a miracle of Biblical 
proportions.  Ironically, Sharon's initial focus is on Gaza, which the Bible 
tells us was apportioned to the Tribe of Judah, (Joshua 15:47 and Judges 
1:18) as part of its eternal patrimony.

Make no mistake about this!  Sharon's planned transfer of Gaza's Jews is 
just the beginning of the dismantling of Israel.  In today's Jerusalem Post, 
we read that Olmert, Sharon's Vice Premier, is announcing a plan for the 
division of Jerusalem as well.  By the way, four Jewish Communities in 
Biblical Samaria are also already on the chopping block as part of Sharon's 
"Unilateral Disengagement Plan".

Simply put, what does Sharon's Unilateral Disengagement Plan entail?  To 
abandon 7,500 Jews, who have built their communities in Gaza, with the 
encouragement of all Israeli governments, and specifically with the 
encouragement of then General Ariel Sharon.  Ariel Sharon was the head of 
the Southern Front Command, which included Gaza, between December 
1969 and February 1972.

Sharon had called for a referendum of all Likud members on his Unilateral 
Disengagement Plan.  The vote went heavily against him - 39.7% for and 
59.5 against (a 19.8% difference).

However, Sharon continued pushing his plan in the cabinet, declaring that 
insignificant cosmetic changes - such as altering the plan's title - were 
sufficient to comply with the referendum results.  In so doing, he made a 
mockery of the referendum, his prior public pledge to honor the results, 
and, most importantly, the democratic process.

Sharon managed to pass his Unilateral Disengagement Plan in the Cabinet 
by firing those of his ministers who had pledged to vote against his plan, 
and by letting other ministers know that they were expendable if they 
disagreed with him.

In order to understand Sharon's 180 degree turn with regard to the Jews 
reestablishing their communities in Biblical Gaza, Samaria, and Judea, it is 
essential to read Chapter 18 of his autobiography "Warrior".

In this book, Ariel Sharon describes his anti-terrorist effort: "I 
recommended the establishment of several Jewish settlements, Jewish 
'fingers', as I call them, to divide the Gaza district.  I wanted one between 
Gaza and Deir el Balah, one between Deir el Balah and Khan Yunis, one 
between Khan Yunis and Rafah, and another west of Rafah - all of them 
built, like the Judean and Samarian settlements, on state-owned land.  ...  In 
addition, it was essential to create a Jewish buffer zone between Gaza and 
the Sinai to cut off the flow of smuggled weapons and - looking forward to 
a future settlement with Egypt - to divide the two regions." (Page 258, 
"Warrior")

"At the same time we succeeded in maintaining the calm that we had 
worked so hard to achieve.  The settlements we built cut off the flow of 
weapons from Sinai, and we also devised a way of preventing the 
infiltration of arms into Gaza by sea." (Page 261)

"Until the Yom Kippur war I used to think that the Gaza anti-terror 
campaign was one of the most significant Chapters in my military 
experience.  Certainly it was the most interesting. ... Above all, it proved, to 
me at least, that terrorism was neither inevitable nor unresolvable, that a 
population upon whom the worst horrors were being visited could be freed 
from the hold of PLO Organizations that look on terror as their standard 
tool of policy." (Page 262)


Important Background Material on Sharon's Attitude Toward the United 
States

Also in Chapter 18, Sharon speaks about how the United States asked 
Israel to mobilize its forces to prevent a Syrian attack on Jordan.  King 
Hussein of Jordan was fighting for his life against the PLO that had 
established itself in the very heart of his country (as it was to do in 
Lebanon later) and was progressively undermining his ability to govern.  
Arafat's people made several attempts to assassinate the King.  On the 
morning of September 20th Syrian tank columns invaded Jordan.

These events did not take place in a vacuum.  Hussein's attack on the 
Palestinians and the growing tension between Jordan and Syria had 
already triggered a series of moves and countermoves by the American 
government - which maintained close ties with Hussein - and the Soviets - 
whose clients included the Syrians and the threatened PLO.  The Israeli 
Army and Air Force now became crucial to American policy.  Hussein's 
survival was at stake and only Israeli forces were positioned to 
meaningfully threaten the Syrian tank army that had quickly overrun much 
of northern Jordan.  On September 21 the United States asked Israel to 
mobilize her forces.  This we did... aware that their bluff has been called 
and unwilling to risk direct confrontation, the Syrians began to pull back.  
By the 23rd the last Syrian tank was gone from Jordan.

Two days later Henry Kissinger sent a note of thanks to the Israeli 
government: "According to the latest available information, the forces 
which invaded Jordan has withdrawn to Syria.  We believe that the steps 
Israel took have contributed measurably to that withdrawal.  We appreciate 
the prompt and positive Israeli response to our approach."

Now, I quote Sharon's own words: "The resolution of this crisis was 
considered a success by the Americans and the Jordanians.  Most Israelis 
were also pleased with the outcome.  But I was not one of them.  Prior to 
our decision to mobilize, Israel's options had been closely analyzed by 
General Headquarters.  While most of the senior officers favored complying 
with the American request, a minority, including myself, believed that Israel 
should not interfere with events in Jordan.

"In my view, Israel was facing two separate dangers, one immediate, one 
long-term.  The immediate danger was that if the Syrians were allowed to 
defeat Hussein's army, Jordan would become a Palestinian state.  In point 
of fact, Jordan already was a Palestinian state in everything but name.  
Originally Palestine had included Jordan.  The two had only been separated 
in 1922 by the British, who gave what was then known as Transjordan to 
their allies, the Hashemite royal family from Saudi Arabia.  In 1970, 70 to 80 
percent of Jordan's population was Palestinian; its leading political and 
cultural figures were Palestinian; most of its parliament was Palestinian; its 
most prominent cabinet members were Palestinian; many of its prime 
ministers had been Palestinian.  If the PLO unseated Hussein, Jordan 
would formally become a Palestinian political entity.

"I needed no instruction on the dangers a Palestinian state of Jordan could 
pose.  On the other hand, as I said to the general staff, we were also facing 
a long term danger.  And this danger was that the Palestinian issue would 
weigh heavier and heavier over our heads as the years went by.  Though in 
the short term it might appear that the first danger was more serious, in the 
long run it was the Palestinian issue that would be our true bane.  We 
should not doubt that for a moment.  These clouds would only grow thicker 
and thicker.  So if it had now become possible to resolve the most crucial 
of these Palestinian problems, through the formal creation of a Palestinian 
state in Jordan, that is the direction I believed we should move in.

"I did not undervalue in the least the arguments on the opposite side, 
arguments that had to do not just with the Palestinian issue BUT ALSO 
WITH A WEIGHTY MATTER OF OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UNITED 
STATES.  BUT ISRAEL'S FOREIGN POLICY NEEDS WERE MATTERS OF 
SURVIVAL, WHEREAS IN THIS CASE AMERICA'S NEEDS WERE THOSE OF 
GEOPOLITICAL ADVANTAGE.  From this perspective, I had not the least 
uncertainty about which should take precedence.  As a result I argued as 
hard as I could against Israeli intervention in Jordan.  Dayan was also 
against it.  But the majority felt differently, and in the end events took the 
course they did.  EVEN TODAY I BELIEVE THIS WAS ONE OF ISRAEL'S 
MOST CRUCIAL MISTAKES, ONE WHOSE EVIL CONSEQUENCES WE ARE 
CONTINUING TO SUFFER."

***

This was the Sharon we all loved and admired, and most of all trusted.  
Today's Sharon asks approval for Israel's policies, first of all with the 
American President, and even with some European leaders, before he 
bothers to enlighten his own Cabinet, his own Knesset, and his own Jewish 
People.  He has truly become a lackey of foreign powers, instead of fighting 
for the interests of his own People.  This new Sharon has nothing to offer 
us but despair, anguish and retreat, unilaterally and under fire.

The Jewish People desperately need someone like American President 
Ronald Reagan, of blessed memory, who just passed away.  We need 
someone who will stand up to the world, who will stand up to our enemies, 
someone with love for his People, with pride in his country, and faith in 
Israel's G-d given right to the Holy Land.

I do not want to speculate on the reasons why Sharon has changed in such 
a drastic manner.  Many Israelis feel that he is a desperate man resorting to 
desperate measures, one who is putting his own personal interest ahead of 
the country in a transparent attempt to deflect attention away from his 
entanglements with the law.

The Jews must get rid of Sharon, before he gets rid of the Jews.  It is 
urgent to send Sharon back to his sheep farm and to topple his 
government forthwith.  We will not be led like sheep to the slaughter again.

Whatever Sharon's past accomplishments, he is no longer fit to serve as 
leader of the Jewish State and the Jewish People.

With Blessing and Love for Israel,

Ruth Matar

P.S.  Please send this article to President George W. Bush and other 
Government officials, and in general, distribute it as widely as you can.  
This is very urgent!

*******************************************************

June 13, 2004

At the End of 2005 There Will No Longer Be Any Jews in Europe
 

In June 2004 the European Union convened all its members to discuss the 
question of anti-Semitism in Europe. Violent incidents 
against European Jews had greatly increased during recent months - 
firebombs thrown at Jewish schools, the desecration of graves, 
Jews wearing kippot being attacked on the streets, and the like - mainly by 
Muslims.

The European Union resolved to put an end to the phenomenon. After 
lengthy deliberations, a press conference was held in which the 
Chairman of the European Union announced a dramatic program that 
would constitute a final solution to the problem of anti-
Semitism. The name of the program: "Disengagement from Europe." "We 
have resolved to defend the Jews," the Chairman of the 
European Union proclaimed, "and to immediately stop the violence against 
them. To this end, we have formed a program that will 
disengage the Jews from Europe.  The Jews will be evacuated to other 
locations. So as not to interfere with the demographic balance 
in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians, we will do 
everything so that European Jews will not immigrate to Israel. We 
shall rather promote the transfer of Jews to desolate regions in the world, 
such as the Sahara Desert."

"Details concerning the exact location where the Jews will be relocated will 
shortly be specified, but one thing is certain," the 
Chairman continued: "At the end of 2005 there will no longer be any Jews 
in Europe." And thus there will no longer be any anti-
Semitism in Europe, and the Jews will no longer be attacked."

"The Interior Ministries of each European state will prepare the lists of 
Jews, the number of people in each family, and their 
addresses.  Beginning now until the end of 2005 the Jews will be able to 
leave of their own free will and receive set compensation for 
their businesses and homes. The Jewish property will be transferred to the 
Muslim community in Europe, in the hope that this growing 
community will assimilate in its surroundings and aspire to peaceful 
coexistence with its neighbors, the indigenous Europeans."

"The forceful deportation of those Jews who refuse to leave of their own 
free will shall begin in September 2005. For this sensitive 
mission we have chosen elite units of the German army, because of the 
considerable experience they have amassed in previous years."

The "Disengagement from Europe" plan was approvingly accepted by the 
UN, that announced that it would do all in its power to 
facilitate the plan and its implementation. The United States announced 
that it officially opposed the expulsion of Jews from Europe, 
but would remain a member of the United Nations in order to try and 
change the resolution. "Who knows," the American President 
opined, "perhaps by the end of 2005 we will be able to ensure that only the 
Jews of France and Belgium will be expelled, and not all 
the Jews of Europe. This compromise would constitute proof of the 
importance in remaining a member of the United Nations in order 
to exert influence "from within."

The Israeli government issued a strong condemnation of the 
"Disengagement from Europe" program, and charged the European Union 
with hypocrisy and deception. The Israeli announcement stated: "The 
European Union is masquerading as the initiator of programs for 
the defense of Europe's Jews, but the truth is that this is an anti-Semitic 
plan for the forced deportation and ethnic cleansing of 
European Jewry - a plan that is meant to appease the Muslim community in 
Europe, that is growing by terrifying dimensions and 
threatens to take control of all Europe. We call upon the Western world to 
immediately abandon this plan, so as not to give a victory to 
violence."

The Chairman of the European Union responded to the Israeli 
announcement with surprise, and stated: "It is actually the Israeli 
announcement that is hypocritical. We in Europe are merely applying the 
exact program that Ariel Sharon is about to carry out in 
Israel, in order to provide an answer to Arab terror. If a Jewish Prime 
Minister in Israel can evacuate Jews from the Holy Land, then 
we certainly can do so in Europe."
 
Nadia Matar

*******************************************************

June 14, 2004

CLARIFICATION

Women in Green wants to clarify that Nadia's article re the disengagement 
of Jews from Europe was a SATIRE based on what Ariel Sharon plans to do 
to the Jews in Gush Katif and northern Samaria.

Ariel Sharon has announced that "at the end of 2005 there will no longer be 
any Jews in the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria".  In fact, August 14, 2005 
has been set as the last day of the existence of Jews in Gush Katif. It also 
happens to be the Ninth of Av, the day of the destruction of the First and 
Second Temples and the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.

Sharon also announced that from now till August 14, 2005, those Jews can 
leave voluntarily, but after 2005 they will be removed by force.  The entire 
area will be given over to the Arab enemy.

Disgracefully, the world has welcomed Sharon's remarks concerning the 
ethnic cleansing of Jews, and their deportation from Gush Katif and 
Samaria and the destruction of thousands of Jewish homes, synagogues, 
Jewish businesses, etc., with calm and indifference instead of with shock 
and horror.

In her article, Nadia used the same exact terminology that Sharon used 
against the Jews of Gush Katif but attributed it, satirically, to EU leaders re 
the Jews of Europe.  As expected, this was felt to be shocking ...some 
readers even believing the article was true and asking to receive some 
more info re the imminent expulsion of Jews from Europe.

Even though Nadia's article was a satire, Women in Green would like to 
warn that if, G-d forbid Sharon's plan for the deportation of the Jews from 
Gaza and Samaria will be implemented, the scenario of Nadia's article will 
become more and more likely.  Therefore, it is of utmost importance to fight 
Sharon's plan and prevent it from being implemented. The best way to do 
so is to bring down Sharon and send him back home to his farm where he 
will be able to continue to raise his sheep. The People of Israel will not 
accept being Sharon's sheep to be slaughtered by him or anyone else.

Ruth and Nadia Matar

*******************************************************

June 15, 2004

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES:

Women in Green will be going to strengthen the soldiers at the IDF 
checkpoints of 
Bethlehem, A-Ram and 
Shuafat  TOMORROW Wednesday June 16th,2004.

We will be leaving in our cars from the Inbal (Laromme) Hotel at 9:30 am. If 
you 
need seats in our cars 
please call Nadia 050-5- 500834 or Anita 050-5-777254

UPDATE:
Our campaign to protect the soldiers against the harassment of the women 
of the 
extreme leftist group 
Machsomwatch, is growing.  Different crews go to the roadblocks at 
different 
times, sometimes actually 
 encountering the women of the left , sometimes hearing from the soldiers 
about 
the harm those leftist 
women do in exciting the Arab populace against the work of our soldiers.  
Our 
purpose is to type a report 
of the soldier's testimonies and hand it out to the army, with the hope that 
this 
will convince the army to 
stop those Machsomwatch radical ladies from  interfering with the 
important work 
of our soldier's in protecting the Jewish People from Arab terror.

Just a few examples of what those leftist women do at the checkpoints:  
last 
week, at the Kalandya 
checkpoint, the soldiers told us that Arabs had started throwing rocks at 
the 
soldiers, threatening their safety. The soldiers were getting ready to shoot 
teargas canisters at the rioters, the leftist women of 
machsomwatch put themselves in front of the soldiers and said: "you will 
have to 
shoot us first" and thus 
protected, with their bodies, the Arabs who were trying to harm our 
soldiers.

Another soldier told us how the machsomwatch women incite the Arabs to 
complain against the soldiers- 
 After such instigation, an Arab woman pointed her finger at a soldier and 
said 
"that soldier hit me in the 
face"- when it was an absolute lie. A complaint was filed against the soldier 
and 
now he will have to prove 
his innocence.   If the court will believe the Arab liar, the soldier will have a 
stain 
against him even in his 
civilian life.  Unfortunately, Army courts bend over backwards to believe 
Arab lies 
and distortions.

At A-ram, a Druze soldier told us that those leftist women, when they come, 
see 
his badge and his name 
and tell him: oh, you are a Druze! We will not talk to you. You are worse 
than 
Jewish soldiers. You collaborate with the Jews against your own brothers."

We could give you many such reports of the soldiers. Join us and hear and 
see 
for yourself. For those abroad, contribute to this campaign, by sending a 
donation to Women In Green to help do more for our IDf soldiers, and 
protect 
them from unjustified  abuse.

Ruth and Nadia Matar

*******************************************************

June 15, 2004

The Barking of the Intelligence Lapdogs
By Steven Plaut

"Israeli intelligence" has long been an oxymoron, and the Oslo Disaster 
has been more than anything else a total failure 
of Israel's intelligence services.  Israeli intelligence services have been the 
very last to understand what Arafat was up 
to when he started the "Oslo peace process."   Israeli intelligence officers 
were among the last people on earth to 
understand that Arafat was using Oslo, not to reach a peaceful settlement 
but rather, as a way to entrench himself in the 
West Bank and Gaza in order to escalate terror and to prod the Arab states 
into war against Israel.  For 12 years Israeli 
intelligence services played lapdogs for the Oslo political establishment 
and for the Leftist Ascendancy, telling the 
politicians what they wanted to hear, preparing intelligence reports that 
confirmed what the politicians were already 
mis-thinking, refusing to point out to them their errors.  Yitzhak Rabin, who 
had been commander in chief of the 
military, demonstrably made clear to them in 1993 that it was not their 
place to point out where Rabin was in error in 
his assessments of PLO intentions, but rather to back him up in his 
"Conception" with their expert "artillery".

The entire senior officer corps of the Israeli military has long been 
characterized by politicalization and bias, leaning 
towards the Left, not to mention innate McClellenism and perpetual 
preference for finding alternatives to fighting and 
to victory for Israel.  But in many ways the intelligence services are the 
worst of all.  The idea that these intelligence 
services are blind prisoners of their own misconceptions was first born 
and manifested in their Pearl-Harbor-like failure 
to understand what the Egyptians and Syrians were cooking up in October 
1973, when they launched the Yom Kippur 
War against a snoozing Israel.  Completely self-assured, completely self-
persuaded, the spooks found out that their 
absolute confidence that the Egyptians would never try a military assault 
on the Bar-Lev Line died along with 2600 or 
so Israeli troops.  They discovered their complete misjudgment of the 
situation only when the entire world learned the 
truth.  

Some intelligence!  Some early warning system!  That 1973 Yom Kippur 
War intelligence failure came close to 
producing a Second Holocaust.  But the total failure of the Israeli 
intelligence services 
starting with the 1992 Oslo Initiative was in some ways even worse.  Unlike 
the 1973 Debacle, any layman with eyes in 
his head and an ounce of common sense cou! ld analyze in the early 1990s 
just what was wrong with Beilin's and Peres' 
infantile "plans".  Just six weeks after the 1993 White 
House Oslo Pawshake, I published my first anti-Oslo article, in Midstream 
magazine in the US, followed by other 
articles, and explained how  in spite of the Oslo Euphoria at the time  Arafat 
would revert to terror, would use the 
territories, arms and funding he was being granted to launch war and 
atrocities, and I predicted that the PLO would fire 
rockets and mortars from what were about to become the "Palestinian 
Zones" into Israeli civilians areas.  I predicted 
that Arafat would not respond to Israeli generosity and goodwill with 
generosity and goodwill, but with a very short 
period of quiet, during which he would pocket his gains, followed by war 
and terror.  I did not have access to any secret 
intelligence sources.  I did not have a professional staff of hundreds of 
analysts working for me.  I simply read the 
newspaper without blinkers.  

At the time, the entire world was in the throes of Oslo euphoria.It is hard to 
recreate for those who are too young to 
recall it or who have forgotten how universal and overwhelming was the 
Oslo Euphoria, especially in Israel.  I was 
demonized and attacked as a fanatic for expressing doubt about the genius 
of the Rabin-Peres initiative, for claiming it 
would fail and produce a disaster.  I was repeatedly threatened and some 
attempted to sabotage my position in the 
University of Haifa for my daring to express dissident thoughts about the 
"peace process."  The McCarthyism got far 
worse when Rabin himself was assassinated, and every single Israeli who 
had opposed Rabin's "policies" was being 
accused of collective guilt in Rabin's murder.

I was not the only person t see clearly in 1993 what was about to transpire 
and do not claim to have any 
special talent or prescience.There were plenty of people around who called 
things right on the mark, and 
not just in Israel. (Norman Podhoretz of Commentary Magazine was the 
second writer in the American 
media to call things correctly in early 1994, shortly my Midstream article 
appeared.)  A minority of 
commentators inside Israel also scored 100% in perfect foresight.  At the 
time, though, they were 
denounced as haters of peace and as fanatics who put land ahead of 
peace. They were quiet heroes.  
Someday Israel will build a museum in their honor, and a National Museum 
of Folly to document the 
insanity and stupidity of their opponents.   The Jewish people has a long 
collective memory and there is no 
doubt about how things will eventually be remembered.

But none of these dissidents worked for Is! raeli intelligence.  Or  to be 
more precise  the only one with 
correct foresight who DID work for Israeli intelligence was General Yaakov 
Amidror, and he was ignored 
and then forced into retirement.  He still speaks out, but is dismissed by 
the media, themselves under the 
near totalitarian hegemony of the Leftist Ascendancy.

Throughout the 1990s Israeli intelligence was telling Rabin and Peres what 
they wanted to hear.  It refused 
to tell them that the Oslo Emperor was naked.  It refused to point out the 
existential angers.  It refused to 
point out the astronomical stupidity of the "New Middle 
East"preconception.  It refused even to report 
accurately on the preparations - and then on the perpetration - of atrocities 
by the PLO and its surrogates.  
Daily snipings were minimized and pooh-poohed.  The snoops and spooks 
were often effective in catching 
the terrorist perps before they carried out their intentions, but at the same 
time Intelligence reports 
reassured the political leadership that Arafat would indeed suppress the 
Hamas and the Jihad, not 
collaborate with and shelter them.  The intelligence community refused to 
speak out, while every day 
brought new proof that Arafat had no intention of complying with anything 
at all and was seeking nothing 
but escalation.  Even after the fact, their vision was 20-100,000,000, legally 
blind even in retrospect.

By the mid-1990s, one needed no special secret documents nor special 
analytic skills to see what was 
before one's own face.  One needed horse sense.  When Arafat ordered his 
stormtroopers to open fire on 
Israelis, using the very same weapons Israel had provided the PLO, in the 
Tunnel Pogroms under 
Netanyahu, the main people in Israel taken by total surprise were those in t! 
he intelligence services. There 
is an old quip that painters and intelligence officers both  tend to fall in love 
with their models. Year after 
year, the Israeli intelligence services remained captives of the politicians' 
wishful thinking, refusing to take 
heat from their nominal civilian bosses should they dare to state the simple 
truth. When Israel under Ehud 
Barak's people was prepared to offer Arafat absolutely everything he was 
demanding, Arafat spit upon 
them and opened a new round of atrocities,the misnamed "Al-Aqsa 
Intifada."  Among those taken 
completely by surprise at this were the intelligence services, once again.

The intelligence services turned in report after report searching for the 
"half full glass of water", for signs 
of PLO moderation and willingness to compromise.But things have gotten 
completelyOrwellian in the past 
few days. Over the past few weeks, a media cat spat has broken out 
between a handful of ex-intelligence 
officers.  They have been accusing one another in the media of 
misjudgment and of cooking up biased 
intelligence reports to serve the political stablishment.  They accuse one 
another of being captives of false 
preconceptions.But they do NOT mean what you think!

The extent to which Israeli intelligence is STILL prisoner of its nave 
delusions is in fact proved by this 
latest spook cat spat.  What has been happening is that several leftist 
intelligence ex-officers, and notably 
ex-head of military intelligence Amos Malka and senior intelligence officer 
General Ephraim Lavie, have 
been attacking another ex-intelligence officer, General Amos Gilad, for his 
having dared to tell the 
truth.Gilad, for his part, has denied the accusations vigorously!  His two 
critics are for all intents and 
purposes the Daniel Ellsbergs of Israel.

No, that was not a set of typos and misprints in the previous paragraph.  
The problem is this. The Left is 
claiming that over the past two years Israeli intelligence has misled the 
Sharon government by 
providing it with intelligence reports indicating that Arafat is not interested 
in peace, is interested only in 
escalation, is personally behind the violence, and that Israel has no 
"partner" in Arafat or the 
PLO with which it can pursue a negotiated settlement.  In Leftist "minds", 
these reports served to grant 
legitimacy to erroneous actions and strategic notions of the Sharon 
government, and no they do not mean 
the  erroneous plan for expelling the Gush Katif settlers.  In particular, the 
Left is soiling itself in outrage 
because a while back Sharon's people circulate!ed a report in Washington 
prepared by the intelligence 
services proving Arafat was behind the terror, bombings, and other 
atrocities, 
and is in violation of every comma in the Oslo Accords.  

The Left, and this includes the two ex-spooks who ran to the Far-Leftist 
daily Haaretz with their 
accusations, are accusing General  Gilad of sucking up to the Likud 
political establishment and telling 
Sharon's people what they want to hear.  Gosh, when have intelligence 
officers in Israel ever sucked up to 
politicians before and told them what they want to hear?  The Left claims 
this proves incompetence and 
politicalization of the intelligence services.  In a sense it does, but not in 
the way they mean. Israeli senior 
intelligence is so politicized and so incompetent that here 1400 murdered 
Israelis later and tens of 
thousands of destroyed Israeli families later  they are still so passionately 
clinging to their Oslo delusions 
that two of the highest are willing to go public in denouncing anyone who 
dissents from the Grand 
Delusion.  They are in effect accusing General Gilad of telling the truth!   
How dare he?  They are outraged 
that he assisted Sharon's people in their Washington 
"public relations" project in preparing documents proving Arafat was 
behaving treacherously.  Heavens to 
Mergatroyd.  General Gilad, instead of telling them to stuff it, has 
responded by protesting his own 
"innocence", insisting he never bent intelligence reports in the direction of 
the truth.  

One of these days Israeli intelligence might discover that the world is 
round.  If it is up to these Ellsbergian 
leftist intelligence "dissidents", then no one in intelligence should dare to 
report such a 
truth or actual facts.  And if any! one does report that the earth is round, 
then they will be denounced by 
Haaretz.   Just like Seven Up was once calling itself the Un-Cola, Haaretz in 
this affair has behaved as the 
Un-Newspaper.  It makes less and less pretense to be reporting the news, 
and more and more effort to 
distort the news as part of its systematic campaign of anti-Zionist 
indoctrination.  It runs a full-page scoop 
on the ex-spooks today 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/438249.html                                                                          
and 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/438280.html ), in which it denounces 
an intelligence officer for 
stating that Arafat is uninterested in reaching any negotiated settlement.  
Such "journalism" sinks below the 
level of Pravda under Khrushchev.

Haaretz wants a pure set of intell! igence services, one which will do 
nothing but serve as the lapdogs of the 
extremist Left, will continue to throw sand in the eyes of the public, and will 
prepare Israel for 
future Pearl Harbor surprises, or at least new Yom Kippur surprises.

*******************************************************

June 16, 2004

Detached From Reality
by GERALD M.STEINBERG
Jerusalem Post, June 13, 2994

The disastrous outcome of the Oslo process _ seven years of false peace 
negotiations that Yasser Arafat 
exploited to prepare a terror campaign _ can be blamed on many factors. 

It was driven by the personal ambitions and naive optimism of Yossi Beilin, 
Shimon Peres and the Labor 
Party, aided and abetted by eager European mediators and officials in the 
Clinton administration. 
Journalists who forgot that their job was to report the news, and not to 
become cheerleaders for political 
programs, also deserve some of the dubious credit. 

But let's not forget some of my fellow academics who gave the process 
legitimacy, maintained the facade 
of peace long after the failure of Oslo became clear, and, even worse, 
continue today as if nothing has 
changed. This week, Tel Aviv University is hosting a conference on "track-
two diplomacy," but instead of 
offering a much-needed re-examination of this approach, packed the 
program with its architects. 

The meetings in Oslo began under the cover of a track-two academic 
dialogue, such as had been conducted 
for many years by Prof. Herbert Kelman, a well-meaning social 
psychologist who runs Harvard 
University's Middle East Seminar. 

These meetings included generally like-minded Israeli and Arab academics 
who exchanged pleasantries 
and negotiated the agreements that professors of peace studies eagerly 
sought. 

These seminars, and the illusion of "ripeness," helped create the 
foundations for the Oslo process. 
Underpinning it all was the notion that Israelis and Palestinians understood 
each other's desires, 
perspectives, fears and vulnerabilities. But over a decade after the 
establishment of the Palestinian 
Authority, and four years after the process imploded into bitter warfare, we 
know that these assumptions 
were incorrect. 

The expectation that most Palestinians, like most Israelis, were prepared to 
make pragmatic compromises 
to end the conflict on the basis of a two-state solution was disastrously 
wrong. 

Indeed, the evidence clearly shows that when such dialogues go from the 
carefully controlled environment 
of the psychology lab to the world of politics and interests, the results are 
very different. This is true not 
only for Palestinian-Israeli hostilities, but also other bitter ethnic conflicts _ 
the former Yugoslavia, 
Rwanda, Northern Ireland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, etc. 

Time after time, handshakes and personal rapport did not translate into 
grand agreements. Instead, high 
hopes not grounded in the reality of interests, in an environment of 
opposing concepts of historic justice, 
generally ended in disaster. 

WHEN CONFRONTED with stark evidence of suicide bombing and 
Palestinian incitement, academics 
should be the first to rethink the theoretical starting points. However, like 
everyone else, we suffer from 
cognitive dissonance; when presented with evidence contrary to our 
beliefs even academics will try to 
rationalize disturbing data to reinforce their existing worldview. 

As a result, academics like Kelman and Joseph Montville, and their Israeli 
partners, such as Ron Pundak, 
who heads the Peres Center for Peace, cling to the old Oslo mythology. 
Despite four years of unimaginable 
terror, their simplistic ideology based on viewing the Palestinians as 
victims confronting an all-powerful 
Israel remains dominant. 

Their peace dialogues succeeded because they were limited to a small 
group of Israeli participants from the 
self-declared peace camp, partnered with Palestinians who tended to be 
aligned with Arafat's Fatah 
organization. These Palestinian leaders met relatively few Israelis who 
opposed giving up on Jewish 
historic links to Jerusalem or accepting Palestinian refugees claims. When 
these views turned out to reflect 
those of the majority of Israelis _ who reported to their military units to 
fight terror, voted twice for Prime 
Minister Ariel Sharon, and now demand unilateral separation _ Palestinians 
appeared to be taken by 
surprise. 

And at the same time, the Israelis involved in the one-sided dialogues were 
unprepared for the depth of 
Palestinian rejectionism  and the degree to which historic positions on the 
legitimacy of Jewish sovereignty, 
Jerusalem, and refugee claims remained dominant. 

Four year after these myths violently exploded, influential academics 
continue to write articles and run 
meetings extolling the virtues of dialogue and heart-to-heart discussions.  

In a recent op-ed published in The Boston Globe, Kelman promoted the 
Geneva Accords and declared that 
"unilateral steps would have disastrous consequences." 

In addition to their refusal to recognize the failures of Oslo, the idea that 
the same Palestinian and Israeli 
leaders can be trusted to try again is absurd and detached from reality. 

After decades of narrow Arab-Israeli dialogues, summer coexistence 
camps, and summit meetings, it is 
time for the teachers and researchers in the field of peace studies to 
confront reality: The quasi-religious 
belief in "mutually enhancing cooperation" and "reconciliation" is not only 
wrong; it is also dangerous. It 
prevents recognition of the situation on the ground and is readily exploited 
for war and terror, as we have 
seen. 

It is clear that the techniques developed by social psychologists for family 
therapy cannot cope with deep 
political and religious hatreds, irreconcilable interests and the strategy of 
terrorism. 

But this does not mean that there is no hope for stability and conflict 
management. Indeed, a political 
(rather than psychological) framework based on limiting friction while 
enhancing deterrence can greatly 
reduce levels of violence while creating an environment for stability. 

Although far from the idyllic peace that diplomats and social psychologists 
imagine, the conflict 
management approach has the benefit of being realistic, while not 
contributing to increased terrorism and 
violence. 

The time for the academics from Harvard, as well as from Israeli 
universities, to face this reality is long 
overdue. 

The writer is the director of the Program on Conflict Management at Bar-
Ilan University.

*******************************************************

June 17, 2004

SHARON: "BY THE END OF 2005 NOT ONE JEW WILL REMAIN IN GAZA"

LETTER FROM RUTH MATAR (WOMEN IN GREEN) JERUSALEM
Thursday, June 17, 2004

Dear Friends,

Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made a most shocking statement: "BY 
THE END OF 2005 NOT ONE JEW WILL REMAIN IN GAZA".

I want to point out that the Jewish Communities in Gaza are not just a 
collection of a few caravans erected on some desolate sand dunes.

The following are some pertinent facts about Gaza:

*21 communities, most of them founded some 20 years ago 
* Close to 8,000 residents 
* 26 synagogues 
* Over 20 yeshivot, schools and other educational institutions (not 
including nurseries and kindergartens) 

* 900 acres of greenhouses growing bugless lettuce, cherry tomatoes (90% 
of Israel's exports), organic vegetables, spices, flowers, plants and more. 
* $60 million a year in exports - an average of $7,500 for every man, woman 
and child 
* Manufactures 70% of all of Israel's organic produce. 
* Has faced over 4,000 mortar shells and Kassam rocket attacks, as well as 
10,000 shooting incidents, at the hands of Palestinian terrorists over the 
past 3.5 years. 
* A 10% growth in population since the Oslo War began in September 2000.

Why is Sharon so anxious to make Gaza Judenrein? Does he think that this 
will help the stability and security of the rest of the country? Of course it 
will not accomplish this! Quite the opposite! The Kassam rockets, instead 
of being fired on Jewish communities in Gaza, will be fired on southern 
cities, like Ashkelon and Sderot, and may even again target Sharon's farm 
in the Negev! (His farm has actually been hit on one occasion.)

Sharon has handed the Arab terrorists a great victory. They well 
understand that terror has brought them the result of Jews abandoning 
Jewish Land and Jewish Communities, and that additional terror will bring 
them even greater results.

Sharon has also damaged the idea of the existence of global terrorism. 
President Bush said in his address before cadets at the U.S. Air Force 
Academy on June 2, 2004, that the war against Jihad ideology must be 
fought throughout the Arab world. But not in Judea, Samaria and Gaza?

Unfortunately, the United States Government has not as yet realized, that 
the Arabs refusal to recognize Israel's right to its historic Homeland is an 
integral part of Jihad ideology. The fight against the very existence of Israel 
by radical Islam is an important and essential part of global Jihad and is 
the engine which fuels worldwide terrorism.

In fact, the news just broke yesterday that the U.S. independent 
commission investigating the events of 9/11, revealed that al-Qaida 
planned to carry out attacks on American targets during scheduled trips by 
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the White House. This new information is 
based on the interrogations of September 11 plot mastermind Kahlid 
Shaikh Muhammad. This attack was supposedly to punish the United 
States for its perceived support of Israel.

Thus it becomes clear that it does not help the United States in its fight 
against terrorism to target the bullies (Saddam Hussein and Co.) in one 
neighborhood, and protect the very father of modern terrorism (Arafat) and 
his crew in the adjoining neighborhood.

With yesterday's revelation of al-Qaida's motivation for the horrific attack of 
9/11, it is hoped that President Bush will now pursue the policy that should 
certainly be in America's interest, namely to include the Palestinian Arabs 
as an enemy in the struggle against global Jihad and worldwide terrorism. 
America must no longer be afraid to displease its Saudi "friends"(15 of the 
19 hijackers of 9/11 were Saudi citizens.) During the last week we hear 
every day about Americans in Saudi Arabia being killed, taken hostage, or 
threatened with Arab style execution. The Saudi Royal Family has 
continually closed their eyes to terrorism by their subjects, as long as it did 
not affect them. By the way, how come the perpetrators always manage to 
escape from the Saudi jails?

Remember the Khobar Towers attack on American soldiers in Dharan in 
Saudi Arabia on June 25, 1996? 19 U.S. Servicemen lost their lives and 
hundreds were injured. This happened during the Presidency of Bill 
Clinton. It has repeatedly been alleged that the Saudi Government was not 
very cooperative in the investigation of this tragedy.

Moreover, hopefully, even the U.S. State Department will now realize that it 
isn t Israel that is provoking a conflagration in the Muslim world that might 
threaten American interests, it is the very existence of the Holy Land not 
being part of the Islamic Empire, that so enrages al-Qaida and its Saudi 
sponsors.


It is to be hoped, that under these new revelations, President Bush will no 
longer support Ariel Sharon's undemocratic plans which he is trying to 
force down the throats of the Israel people. Sharon has successfully 
manipulated President Bush into believing that the majority of the Israeli 
people want to cut and run from their restored Homeland, and that they 
want to forget the thousands of Jews who fought and died in the wars 
initiated by the Arabs. This is not true! In fact, their sacrifices would be in 
vain if Sharon, G-d forbid, would succeed in his undemocratic 
machinations such as his unilateral disengagement plan from Jewish 
Communities in Biblical Gaza and Samaria, and the establishment of a 
Palestinian state on Jewish Land.

Such realization by President Bush would, of course, have an effect on the 
American fight against terrorists in Iraq. A great many of the so-called 
"foreign fighters" and suicide bombers are actually Palestinian Arabs who 
currently reside in Biblical Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

A potent tool in the struggle to defeat Sharon's dictatorial undemocratic 
behavior is political satire. That is why the Women in Green publish, at 
great expense, the weekly Oleg cartoons in the local and international 
editions of the Jerusalem Post.

On June 11, my co-chair Nadia Matar wrote an excellent satire on the ethnic 
cleansing of Jews planned by Ariel Sharon in Biblical Samaria and Gaza. 
Nadia did not state that her article was meant to be a satire, and for that we 
beg your forgiveness. This certainly was not meant to be like Orson Welles' 
radio production, which in 1938 panicked so many people (The 
performance was an adaptation of the science fiction novel The War of the 
Worlds, about a Martian invasion of the earth.)

You see, dear friends, Nadia never imagined that anyone would fail to 
understand that this was nothing but a "spoof". Everybody in Israel 
realized that this was a direct takeoff on Sharon's statement: "By the end of 
2005 not one Jew will remain in Gaza". However, we now do realize that 
people outside of Israel cannot possibly be expected to have as much 
information about Sharon's shocking political perfidy as people who 
actually live here and are bombarded with Sharon's pronouncements in the 
daily papers, on the radio, and on TV. We certainly will label our articles as 
"satire" in the future when so indicated.

In any case, we received an avalanche of emails, as a matter of fact, 
hundreds of them. I have tried to make the following a representative 
sample:

Nadia, you are brilliant, brilliant, brilliant! My hero! O thank you for being a 
breath of fresh air in an atmosphere of fetid gas emitted by such failed but 
dangerously stubborn social engineers as Shimon Peres and his pathetic 
cabal of euro-fattened, servile, anti-Israel seditionists.

***
Your article should have read... A Satire by Nadia Matar. The way you wrote 
your "satire" gave the impression of an actual event. People who have 
survived the holocaust believe pretty much everything is possible, because 
the unimaginable, the unbelievable was done to us.
Sincerely,
E. R.

***
Unsigned, but the e-mail address indicates that it is from a Rabbi in the 
U.S.:

I am pretty upset, why didn't you say Nadia's article on disengagement was 
a satire to begin with? I got 40 e-mails yesterday from my fellow Jewish 
brethren, and they were terrified! Perhaps you'll be more careful in the 
future.

***
It was perfectly clear to me that Nadia's article was a satire and an excellent 
one at that. It was frightening because often satires of this sort tend to 
come true. So much of what we warned the public about for over ten years 
happened and is till happening. Only one G-d can save us from ourselves.
F. H.

***
Good for you writing this article, looks like it woke some people up.
B Shalom, O.

***

Of course! Your satirical piece was brilliant and easily recognized. Can't 
believe some people don't read carefully.
You make us think hard about this problem, as always. I send love and 
prayer.
A. L.
Palm city, Florida

***
Nadia,
I understood your article as it was intended but I did hear some complaints. 
But don't change the way you people write for the sake of the few.
Sadly to say your Satire will most assuredly come true if things keep going 
the way they are because this will be a precedent.
With blessings,
Rev. J. D .S.

***
Please tell me that this is not true but "what could happen".
M. A.

***
Shalom. This article is written "tongue in cheek" right? This is not a real 
news item, right?
Thanks,
B. H.

***
This is a spoof to make a point, isn't it? Please confirm that this is just a 
way of pointing out the travesty which is now going on in Israel.
D. A.

***
Only an idiot wouldn't realize that once a Jewish State calls for the 
expulsion of Jews, other countries will use this expulsion as an example to 
get rid of the "problematic Jews". This is perhaps the most devastating 
part of Sharon's plan and he will go down in infamy for it. He has undone 
all the legitimacy for a Jewish State. This is not some fringe group that 
advocated expulsion, but the highest branches of government. If he is not 
removed from office, it will be the fault of all who allow him to stay!
A.
NJ, US

***

What upsets us greatly in some of these replies is that people were so 
disturbed at the possibility of Jews once again being expelled from Europe, 
but seem to accept with equanimity Sharon's plan to forcibly drag the Jews 
out of their homes in Biblical Gaza and Samaria, and to expel and transfer 
them. This does not seem to make as many people upset and indignant.

Dear Friends, I am very anxious to hear from you as to your thoughts and 
feelings on this situation. Also, please pass this Letter from Jerusalem to 
President George W. Bush and other Government officials, and in general, 
distribute it as widely as you can.

With Blessings and Love for Israel,
Ruth Matar

*******************************************************

June 20, 2004

Supporting Our Soldiers

Women For Israel's Tomorrow (Women in Green) visited 3 army 
checkpoints on 
Wednesday; Bethlehem, A-Ram, and Shuafat. Bethlehem is close to the 
holy 
Jewish site of Rachel's Tomb, A-Ram and Shuafat are located between 
Jerusalem and Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah.

As usual, we had a rapturous welcome from the soldiers at each of these 
IDF 
checkpoints. The soldiers produced their own cameras and wanted to be 
photographed with us. We, of course, brought refreshments to each of 
these 
outposts, for which the soldiers present were extremely grateful. On the 
way to the Bethlehem checkpoint, we met a busload of American tourists 
who 
were visiting Rachel's Tomb. They enthusiastically supported what we were 
doing.

At each of the checkpoints we were told that the leftist women of 
Machsomwatch had been recently there. As usual, these irresponsible 
women 
were critical of our soldiers' behavior with regard to the searching of Arabs.

At A-Ram they were getting ready for an upcoming event which was a 
planned 
demo of leftist Jews and Arabs against the security fence. At Shuafat, the 
soldier's told us that every afternoon between 1 and 2 P.M., when the Arab 
children were let out of school, they would engage in the sport of throwing 
rocks at the soldier's at the army checkpoints, and the leftist Jewish 
women of Machsomwatch would do nothing to stop this characteristic 
Arab 
activity. In general, at all the army checkpoints we visited, we found a 
common complaint of the soldiers against the women of Machsomwatch: 
they 
were highly critical and abusive towards the soldiers, and unjustifiably 
interfered with the work the were doing of checking Arabs entering into 
Israel for explosives and weapons.

In all of our visits to these checkpoints, we have seen the soldiers at 
work, during times of relative quiet, and when things were hectic and 
frenzied. Even when they were at their busiest, when dealing with 
discourteous and aggressive drivers and pedestrians, we have never 
witnessed a moment of "bad treatment" from any soldier. They are at all 
times courteous, firm and consistent in their behavior towards Arabs. They 
always have a few speakers in Arabic at each checkpoint, in the event there 
is a need to make themselves understood.

Contrary to the left leaning women from Machsomwatch who refuse to 
understand the mortal danger to the Jewish community from militant 
Moslems, 
our soldiers deserve our gratitude and support for the vital work they are 
doing in preventing Arab terror. Our bringing refreshments to these 
soldiers, and supporting them is an important phase of the work of the 
Women in Green. We shall continue to expose those who shortsightedly 
aid 
and abet our enemies.

Ruth and Nadia Matar

*******************************************************

June 21, 2004

Tisha B'Av

Dear Friend of Israel,

Our Walk around the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem, on the evening of 
the 9th day of the Hebrew Month of Av, is an ancient custom. It has been 
practiced by the religious community in Jerusalem ever since the 
destruction by the Romans of the Second Temple on the Temple Mount, 
almost 
two thousand years ago.  This year the 9th day of Av falls on Monday 
Evening, July 26, 2004 and is observed as a day of fasting, mourning the 
loss of our Holy Temple.

It is well known in Jewish Tradition that both the First and Second Temples 
were destroyed on the same exact day, the 9th day of Av.  Moreover, it was 
on this day that those whom Moses sent to view the Promised Land came 
back 
with an unfavorable report which greatly angered G-d.  Because the Jewish 
People, by this report, lacked faith in the Lord's Promise,  as a 
punishment for their lack of faith, Tisha B'Av became a day of mourning.

There is irony in the fact that the intolerant Moslems who are in control 
of the Temple Mount today, do not permit neither Jews nor Christians to 
pray on the Holiest Site of the Jewish People. These Moslems also deny the 
historical fact that the First and Second Temples were ever located on the 
Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Women in Green, over the past ten years, have revived the ancient custom 
of 
walking around the Walled Holy City of Jerusalem, and today it is looked 
forward to as one of the spiritual events of the year.  More than 100,000 
people, both Jews and Christians, from all over the world and throughout 
Israel, came to Jerusalem for the Walk last year.

Not everyone, however, was able to come to Jerusalem for this significant 
event. As a result, Women in Green made it possible for people to 
participate by proxy.  We have introduced the concept of sponsoring 
Walkers 
who will participate in the actual Walk.  In this way, everyone can 
vicariously join in the Walk.  The response to this Women in Green 
innovation was heartwarming.  Many people throughout the world chose to 
join the Walk in this manner.  Thus, they too will mourn the fact of the 
destruction of the First and Second Temples.  They also will mourn the fact 
that Moslems prevent prayer by other religions on the Temple Mount.  By 
means of sponsoring Walkers, a contribution is made to cover the 
substantial costs involved in organizing this spiritual event in Jerusalem.

Send in your check today, and announce your participation in this 
important 
occasion.  Tell us how many Walkers you wish to sponsor.  The cost of 
sponsoring each Walker is $25.  After this important Event, we shall send 
you a lovely Card confirming the fact of your participation in this 
meaningful Event.

Faithfully,

Ruth and Nadia Matar

*******************************************************

June 22, 2004

IS THE JEWISH AGENCY ENTITLED TO USE ITS FUNDS TO HELP PM 
SHARON'S 
PLAN FOR THE ETHNIC CLEANSING OF JEWS?

According to the Jerusalem Post of Monday June 21st 2004,  PM Ariel 
Sharon  has 
asked the Jewish Agency to support his unilateral Disengagement Plan and  
use 
its funds  to help "relocate" settlers from Biblical Gaza and Samaria to the 
Negev and the 
Galilee. According to that same article, the Agency has agreed .

The Jewish Agency has let itself be convinced by Sharon that this plan will 
"provide security, give a boost to the economy and improve Israel's 
diplomatic 
standing." This of course is the same pie- in -the-sky reasoning which 
brought 
us the Olso disaster with 
more than a thousand Jews murdered and thousands more maimed for life.

The Jewish Agency writes in its website that it is "committed to assuring 
the 
future of the Jewish People with a strong Israel at its center: through 
immigration to Israel, Jewish Zionistic Education and partnership with and 
for 
Israel".

These by-laws certainly do not empower the Jewish Agency to assist a 
temporary 
Israeli minority government to destroy Jewish Communities, to transfer 
Jews 
from their homes and to hand over our Land to the Arab enemy as a reward 
for 
terror-  especially when Sharon's plan is not supported either by Sharon's 
own 
Likud party, or by a majority in the Knesset or by the majority of Israelis.

Women in Green call upon all to join in a DEMONSTRATION asking the 
Jewish 
Agency to refuse to assist in the unlawful transfer and ethnic cleansing of 
Jews.



When:     Wednesday, June 23, 2004 at 10:30 am
Where:      Jerusalem, outside the Inbal Hotel (formerly the Laromme)

In addition, we call upon all, to bombard the Jewish Agency offices in Israel 
and in the States with faxes, phonecalls and emails protesting this outrage.

The Jewish Agency main email: elibir@jazo.org.il

Sallai Meridor, Chairman
email: sallaim@jazo.org.il  tel: 972-2-620-20-80  fax: 972-2-625-23-52

Carol Salomon, UJC head
email: casuja@aol.com  tel: 212 339 6001  fax: 212 318 6155 

New York Main Jewish Agency office
tel: 212-339-6063/6068/6072  fax: 212 832 1597 ,   212 318 6145 
 
Ruth and Nadia Matar

*******************************************************

June 23, 2004

WHAT WOULD BE THE ATTITUDE OF AMERICA'S FOUNDING FATHERS
TOWARD THE ROAD MAP?

LETTER FROM RUTH MATAR (WOMEN IN GREEN) JERUSALEM
Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Dear Friends,

I dare say the Founding Fathers would be shocked and aghast at what their 
descendants are permitting to be done to G-d's chosen people.

It started with Bill Clinton's remarks at a 50th anniversary celebration of 
Israel's rebirth.  He said: "As a Christian, I wonder if G-d came down to 
earth today, how he would divide the Holy Land?"  What sacrilege! Does G-
d change his mind?  His words are eternal and He has promised faithfully 
that the Holy Land is an eternal inheritance for the Jewish People.

Unfortunately, President George W. Bush, who is supposedly a Bible 
believing Christian, built on Clinton's ideas and proposed that a Palestinian 
(Arab) state be carved out of the Land promised by G-d to the Jews.  He 
joined together with the countries of the European Union, the United 
Nations and Russia, in approving and promoting a "Road Map to Peace", 
thereby basically dispossessing the Jewish People of a large part of their 
Biblical inheritance.

Of course, the Founding Fathers would find this "Road Map" an 
abomination, a most ungodly idea!  As we all know, the Founding Fathers 
were sincerely religious and also overwhelmingly Christian.  They not only 
read the Bible, they lived by the Bible.  They gave their children Biblical 
names, and many of their communities were named after cities in the Holy 
Land.

It is estimated that there are close to a thousand places in the United States 
which bear Biblical names, as for instance, Zion, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, 
Rehoboth, Shiloh, Bethel, Hebron, Moriah, Mt. Carmel, Mt. Gilead, and 
many others.

Eighteenth century Christian Americans saw their revolution in religious 
and largely Biblical terms.  The Declaration of Independence appealed to 
"Nature's G-d", "The Creator", "The Supreme Judge of the World", and 
"Divine Providence" for approval, legitimacy and protection.  The words 
"Separation of Church and State" do not at all appear in the Constitution.  
The purpose of "Separation of Church and State" was not to establish 
freedom FROM religion, but to establish freedom FOR religion.

The one book that was cherished and passed down from generation to 
generation, was the family Bible, which included both the Old Testament 
and the New Testament.

The Founding Fathers took their Bible seriously.  Americans have always 
thought of themselves as a Christian nation, tolerant of all religions, so 
long as they accepted traditional Judeo-Christian morality as set forth in 
the Bible.  Even today, up to 85% of Americans identify themselves as 
Christians.

Can you imagine the shock of the Founding Fathers if they came down to 
earth today (using Bill Clinton's language) and realized that their beloved 
America, still a country with a Christian majority has joined forces with the 
UN, the European Union and Russia, some of which countries largely 
consider themselves secular, and even more importantly irreligious, and 
who do not hesitate to go against G-d's expressed words.  And, of course, 
a large part of the United Nations is made up of Arab Muslim countries, 
who do not even recognize Israel's right to exist, and who believe that their 
religion obligates them to dismantle the Jewish state.

The American Founding fathers would be particularly incensed that their 
descendants, while professing to be Bible believing Christians, are 
following a plan dreamed up by Saudi Arabia, a country which is violently 
anti-Christian and anti-Jewish, and anti-Western Civilization.  Saudi Arabia 
promotes a virulent form of Islam, "Wahabism", all over the world - yes, 
even throughout the United States - which even permits the beheading of 
innocent civilians as part of Jihad, their Holy War against Christians and 
Jews.  This Saudi plan, "The Road Map", aims to dismember the Jewish 
State, and to substitute a terrorist Arab state in what is designated as 
covenant land in the Bible.

How about the "Jewish Connection" to the Founding Fathers? Was there 
such a connection?

Take a $1 bill out of your pocket and look at the back at the Eagle: the stars 
above the Eagle's head are in the six point Star of David, to honor Jews.  If 
you turn the Eagle up-side-down you will see a configuration in the 
likeness of a Menorah, both at the insistence of George Washington, who 
said we should never forget the Jewish People and what they have done in 
the interest of America.

General Washinton's financial advisor and assistant was a Jewish man by 
the name of Hayim Salomon.  During the cold winter months at Valley 
Forge when American soldiers were freezing and running out of food and 
ammunition, it was Hayim Salomon who marshaled all the Jews in America 
and Europe to provide money in relief aid to these stranded American 
troops and thereby changed the course of history.   Without this help, 
Washington's Continental Army and the fate of the American Colonies 
would have perished before they could have defeated the British.

Hayim Salomon (1740-1785) immigrated from Poland to New York at the 
age of 32.  He set up business as a bill-broker, purchasing and selling 
currencies at a discount. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Salomon 
moved to Philadelphia and began to negotiate the sale of Continental 
currency for hard French and Dutch bills. Asking for a nearly negligible 
commission on transactions, he made himself available for Congress, 
which appointed him official Broker to the Office of Finance of the United 
States.  Salomon was able to maintain a thriving private business in 
addition to his official duties, despite his interest-free personal loans to 
such government officials as James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, General 
von Steuben, and General St. Clair. Nevertheless, by the time Salomon died 
at the age of 45, private individuals and the government reputedly owed 
him $638,000.  He died penny-less, having used all his sources to aid the 
newly formed and poorly supplied American Continental Army.

Although Salomon never presented a claim for repayment, his son, Hayim 
B. Salomon, petitioned for such repayment after his father's death.  Other 
descendants continued to petition Congress, although they gave up on 
repayment and simply requested that a commemoration medal be issued in 
honor of Salomon, The "Financier of the Revolution".

In 1893, a bill was presented before the 52nd Congress ordering a gold 
medal struck off in recognition of Salomon's contribution to the United 
States.

What would be the value of $638,000 today?  We would greatly appreciate it 
if some financial wizard could provide us with an estimate of what $638,000 
would actually be worth in today's terms.

Please do not misunderstand me, I don't suggest that the Jewish People 
send the descendants of the Founding Fathers a bill for services rendered!

To repay the debt owed Hayim Salomon and his fellow Jews for the help 
offered to the fledgling American state at the time of the American 
Revolution, the U.S. should stop supporting the ungodly Saudi sponsored 
"Road Map", and instead assist the Jews to fulfill G-d's plan for them to 
return to the Promised Land and not to be uprooted again.

Two Biblical quotations come to mind at this time.  I think both of these 
quotations are very relevant to the current situation:

Amos 9: 14, 15: "I will return the captivity of My people Israel and they will 
rebuild desolate cities and settle them; they will plant vineyards and drink 
their wine; they will cultivate gardens and eat their fruits.  I will plant them 
upon their land and they will never again be uprooted from their land that I 
have given them, said HASHEM, your G-d."

Genesis 12: 3: "I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I 
will curse; and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you."

With Love of the Bible and the Promised Land,

Ruth Matar 

*******************************************************

June 24, 2004

Machsom Watch or Witch?  

by Hodayah Karish-Hazoni

Mekor Rishon, A Hebrew Weekly (Features Section), June 18, 2004, pp. 14-
15

(The women of "MachsomWatch" present themselves as advocates of 
human rights of the Arabs who undergo a [security] check at IDF 
checkpoints.  Lately, Women in Green have been visiting these 
checkpoints claiming that the soldiers at these outposts are subject to 
abuse by the women of MachsomWatch. The Mekor Rishon reporter visited 
these checkpoints to find out what was going on there. Below is found an 
English Translation of the article originally written in Hebrew.)

What is most striking is the look in the soldiers' eyes. When they see the 
group of women leaving the car and approaching them, their look is very 
apprehensive, their eyes are alarmed. When they identify the intent of the 
women civilians, the look changes, and a small smile peeks out from their 

eyes. This is the picture reflected in the faces of dozens of soldiers whom I 
met one morning last week at different checkpoints around Jerusalem.  The 
Palestinians, by the way, respond in the opposite manner: when the group 
of women approaches the checkpoint, a broad smile spreads over their 
faces, but when they understand who it is that's approaching - it vanishes. 
The group of women are Women in Green, under the leadership of Nadia 
Matar, on a "routine" tour of checkpoints to encourage and support the 
soldiers.

Seven In the Morning, the Bethlehem Checkpoint The southern entrance to 
Jerusalem. Six women gather - Nadia, Anita, Gemma, Tsippi, Leah, and 
Zahavah, carrying bottles of cold drinks and cakes, Israeli flags, and large 
signs with the message: "IDF Soldiers, Thank You." They also have 
another, and important, item: a small "Zekhuton," a list of rights that was 
drawn up by Nadia Matar and Adv. Yoram Sheftel, that specifies for 
soldiers stationed at checkpoints their rights as regards the women of 
MachsomWatch.  MachsomWatch, for anyone who missed its extensive 
exposure in the media, is an all-women organization, whose goal is the 
stationing of volunteer "supervisors" at IDF behavior in order to protect the 
human rights of the Palestinians who pass through the checkpoints.  And 
here, seven in the morning at the Bethlehem checkpoint, and the "leftists," 
as Nadia Matar calls them, are still nowhere to be seen.  The young Border 
Patrol soldiers stand and check those entering. One of them is skilled at 
locating those who attempt to bypass the checkpoint and sneak past on 
side paths. A., the first woman Bedouin serving in the IDF, also is at the 
screening post. "It's hard work," she says, "we're standing here from 5 in 
the morning, an eight-hour watch."

Do the women of MachsomWatch come here?  A. doesn't answer.  A 
Border Patrol policeman standing nearby smiles sadly: "They come every 
day. My name stars with them. "What does that mean? Silence.  He already 
folds, too alarmed to explain.  Another soldier volunteers an explanation: 
"They ask why the Palestinians are standing for so long, they threaten to 
file complaints, they don't talk nicely. We try to ignore them, but it's difficult 
when they push themselves into the middle. Obviously, when they are 
around, the examination of those passing through is less thorough."

Nine a.m., The Kalandia checkpoint, northern Jerusalem. It's a madhouse. 
Dozens of Arab vehicles and hundreds of people. The composition of the 
Women in Green group changes a bit. Zahavah left to teach English. Leah 
went to babysit her grandchildren.  They are joined by Bernice, the mother 
of Dinah Horowitz, who was murdered together with her husband Eli in 
their home in Kiryat Arba.  Nadia Matar marches first, resolute. "Shalom, 
dear soldiers," she says, and once again their eyes light up, they take a soft 
drink bottle, a cookie, and the Zekhuton.  There's no need to explain to the 
soldiers here who is MachsomWatch. They glance at the Zekhuton, and 
their frustration bursts forth, by itself. "They drive us crazy," one of them 
relates. "A few days ago, the Arabs started throwing at us rocks, objects, 
whatever you want.  I raise my weapon, and she stands in front of me, 
between me and the throwers, and she says: 'Shoot me if you want.'  Go on 
to that checkpoint," he adds, "the soldiers there will be happy to see you."

At the forward checkpoint stands a soldier with the innocent face of a child. 
"They come every day," he says. "I saw that they give the Arabs money, but 
mainly - they encourage them to complain against us, and the Arabs lie to 
them freely. One Arab pushed me, so I pushed back. He ran to one of them 
and complained that I beat him. You're lying,  I said to him, but he only 
smiled and went away. She took down my personal details. I don't know 
what she'll do with this."  Nadia Matar asks him why he didn't take the 
personal details of that woman, and when he replies that he asked but she 
refused to identify herself, Nadia quickly makes a telephone call to Adv. 
Yoram Sheftel, but she doesn't succeed in getting him. "Come a lot," he 
asks.

Ten in the morning, the a-Ram Checkpoint, the sun has already begun to 
blaze away, and everyone's sweating. "You missed the leftists," the Border 
Patrol soldiers say, "they were here at 7:30."  O. has been stationed at the 
checkpoint since January. He tells that two days after the broadcast of the 
Pegishat Laylah [Night Encounter] [television] program in which Koby 
Meidan interviewed Lia Nirgad, a MachsomWatch activist who recently 
published a book on her checkpoint experiences, "she came here to the 
checkpoint. I asked her: Do you really believe that the outposts  aren't 
effective, like you said on television?  She said that she is aware of the fact 
that the checkpoints prevent some of the terror attacks. I go crazy from 
this: What? preventing some of the attacks is unnecessary? On television 
she said they [the machsomwatch women] intervene only if they are asked, 
but this is incorrect. They come and start talking with detainees and with 
prisoners - asking why this is this way and not that. A few weeks ago we 
discovered an illegal. We brought him up to the watchtower, so that he and 
the other detainees would not match their stories. He sat there in the 
watchtower on a chair, and waited like a king, while I stand here like a dog. 
But she came with her demands: 'Why did you bring him up there?'"

Nadia asks why the soldiers don't file complaints against these nitpickers, 
for disturbing them in the fulfillment of their duties. "It's bureaucracy," O. 
answers, "that would cause us to lose manpower. Who will stand here at 
the checkpoint while someone goes to file a complaint?  We protect them 
[the MachsomWatch women], and they hate us."  Nirgad's book lists 
occasions when she fluently curses soldiers. According to her, one has to 
fight with them, for they can be compared with soldiers in Nazi Germany of 
the 1930s.

Ten-thirty a.m., on the way to the Shuafat checkpoint. We stop on the way 
at a small store that we come across, "Yossi's Minimarket," to buy more 
refreshments. There were more soldiers at the Kalandia checkpoint than we 
had anticipated, and the refreshments ran out. Yossi, the owner of the 
grocery store, beams at Nadia, "I saw you last night on television. I wanted 
to kiss you."

At the Shuafat checkpoint one of the Women in Green asks a Border Patrol 
soldier if there is any stone throwing here. Instinctively, he looks at his 
watch. "Every day, at one o'clock, when the Arab children leave school, we 
get hit," he says. According to the testimony of the soldiers, [the women of] 
MachsomWatch come every Saturday with cold drinks for the Arabs 
waiting at the outpost.

It's eleven o'clock. Today's round of the checkpoints has ended, without 
our seeing the women "checkpointers" in action, but we couldn't miss the 
feelings of the soldiers towards them.

"It all began during Operation Defensive Shield,"  Nadia Matar relates. "We 
began going to the checkpoints to support the soldiers, to give out cookies 
and drinks. In the last year and a half we began seeing those women of the 
extreme left. We thought about ignoring them, just as we ignore the leftist 
demonstrations of Women in Black. But then we began hearing more and 
more stories from soldiers about their distress, and we reached the 
conclusion that they need additional assistance, and not just cold cola. 

I drew up a list of rights entitled 'Dear Soldier - Know Your Rights,' in which 
these women are exposed for masquerading as objective observers who 
are primarily interested in the civil rights of the Arabs, while they actually 
are veteran extreme left activists who are hostile to the State of Israel.  
"Thanks to us, we spell out the soldiers' rights to them, including the right 
to lodge a complaint against anyone who bothers, curses, insults, or 
threatens them, based on the laws against insulting a public servant and 
disturbing a public servant in the fulfillment of his duties. It is important for 
us to show the soldiers that the majority of the people is with them, that 
these troublesome women who harass them are a small minority that does 
not reflect the view of the majority, and that the great majority of us 
appreciate and applaud the hard work that they do. Our goal is not only to 
improve how the soldiers feel, but to help them to immediately remove 
these women. 

Since the official bodies are totally unaware of the severity of the problem, 
we sent a letter detailing how greatly these women harass the soldiers and 
interfere with the work of security checks. We attached to the letter a 
transcript of an interview on IDF Radio with Avi Ohayon, the father of 
Corporal Kfir Ohayon, who was killed at the Erez checkpoint in April this 
year."  In the interview, Avi Ohayon tells that, a few days before he was 
killed, the late Kfir demanded that one of the Arabs passing through the 
checkpoint raise his shirt for the check, and he refused. After Kfir aimed 
his weapon at him and took him for a security check, the father recalls, 
"some woman, some Israeli woman who saw this, went and complained to 
his commanding officer. She said that she would  make a commotion about 
this, that she would complain to the police investigators. Then his officers 
came to Kfir, his commanding officers, and they told him that he shouldn't 
have done that. My son lost his self-confidence. He called me at twelve-
thirty at night. He told me, 'Father, I don't know what to do any longer. I 
can't sleep any longer, I have fears.  Fears that I'll be put up on a complaint, 
and that they'll put me in jail.'"  According to the bereaved father, he is 
certain that this complaint influenced his son's conduct at the Erez 
checkpoint on the day that he was killed. "We will take care of ourselves