You may remember that nearly two years ago, in October 12-14 of 2003, on the 10th anniversary of the Oslo Accord, nearly fifty powerful friends of the Zionist state of Israel met in Jerusalem to establish an international think tank that would solidify Israel’s position vis-Ã -vis sanctifying its illegal annexation of Jerusalem and occupation of Palestinian territories.[2] The conference was sponsored by the Michael Cherney Foundation (named after a Russian businessman who’s under investigation in Israel for fraud), Israel’s Tourism Ministry and the National Unity Coalition for Israel, which represents 200 Jewish and Christian groups.
The summit participants came from the US, Israel, India and Europe (France, Slovakia, Serbia), and included Washington insiders like Richard Perle, Resident Fellow at American Enterprise Institute and Member of the Defense Policy Board; Daniel Pipes, Director, Middle East Forum; (former) Ambassador Alan Keyes; Morrie Amitay, Vice-Chairman, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA); Clarence Wagner, International Director of Bridges for Peace; Michael D. Evans, minister and founder of the Jerusalem Prayer Team; Herbert Zweibon, Chairman Americans for a Safe Israel (AFSI); Rachel Ehrenfeld, American Center for Democracy; Morton Klein, President, Zionist Organization of America; John Batchelor, ABC Radio; John Loftus, author; Frank Gaffney Jr., President, Center for Security Policy; Cal Thomas, Christian Syndicated Columnist, Fox News Host; Senator Sam Brownback (joining via live satellite feed); and Congressman Eliot Engle.
During the conference, the United Nations and UNRWA were blamed for “creating and perpetuating” the Palestinian refugee problem. [One may recall that this was a much talked about theme among the neocons before the Summit.][3] The UN was considered a total failure. The presenters were seemingly unanimous in their agreement that the existence of a "Palestinian" state on the west bank of the Jordan River would be suicidal for Israel. They chanted, "Jordan is Palestine." As expected from an ardent Zionist, Herbert Zweibon, AFSI’s Chairman, made it very clear that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people because of their biblical, historic, and moral “entitlement.”[4]
Rabbi Benny Elon, head of the Moledet Party and Tourism Minister, unveiled his much touted “THE RIGHT ROAD TO PEACE” plan calling for the dissolution of the Palestinian Authority and recognition of Jordan as the Palestinian state, with West Bank Arabs becoming citizens of the Palestinian state in Jordan. It also called for Israeli sovereignty over Judea, Samaria and Gaza. [One may recall that the Elon Plan was released just as the "Geneva Accord" peace proposal was made public by Israel’s former justice minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo.] [5]
A major theme of the Jerusalem Summit was the right of Israel to defend itself against terrorism, even if it involved hunting down individuals in civilian areas. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Summit by stating that the IDF must continue to fight terrorism, for Israel’s survival as a nation. He decried that the United Nations had acted as if it was the moral arbitrator in the current Arab-Israeli conflict. He accused countries in the U.N. body of acting in ways that limited them from being able to support a “moral” code within the global community. He also gave a “formula” to curbing the activities of terrorists. “What can stop them is an alliance of free states that have life in them. The U.S. must lead the alliance," claimed Netanyahu.
As if Israel was ever restrained from its marauding activities, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said, “The only way to fight terror is without political restraints." Dismissing the road map, he said, Israel must "decide on a unilateral process -” based on what we want.”[6] He further said, “There will never be a genuine process between us and the Palestinians if they believe and the world will believe that there can be a possibility for the division of Jerusalem. -¦ There will never be a Jewish government that will have the moral authority or the political power to give up any part of the Old City and the Temple Mount, which is the heart of Jewish existence.”
Mr. Perle, like other participants in the Summit, was opposed to the land for peace deal with the Palestinians, and said, “That is a mistake. There is abundant evidence to suggest the fact that the Palestinians have not accepted.” The same accusation was made by Daniel Pipes. He said that Arab-Israeli policy has been based on the assumption that the Palestinians had accepted a Jewish state. He claimed that hasn’t yet happened.
Another participant, Cal Thomas said that the free world had become freer in the last two decades because it stood against communism, but there was a greater threat now. "It is radical, unrepentant, unforgiving and even… evangelical Islam,” he said, “it must be dealt with. It must be defeated.”[7]
Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Zalman Shoval alleged that the goal of Islamic fundamentalism was to destroy the Judeo-Christian tradition, and that this war of ideas must be won militarily.
Congressman Eliot Engel described the lengthy process in getting the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act submitted to the House. Neoconservative U.S. Senator Sam Brownback (Kansas) spoke to the gathering by satellite, emphasizing the importance of Jerusalem being recognized as the eternal, indivisible capital of Israel.[8]
During the event, Perle received the Annual Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson Award (after the name of the first recipient of this award in 1982 -” known for his hawkish foreign policy agenda). The award is sponsored by the JINSA to recognize and thank those whose careers have been distinguished by unshakable support for the Zionist state and the belief that the United States requires a strong military capability for both its own security and that of trustworthy friends and allies like Israel.
The past recipients of the Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson Distinguished Service Award include:[9]
2002 — Dr. Paul D. Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense
2001 — Gordon England, Secretary of the Navy
Dr. James Roche, Secretary of the Air Force
Thomas E. White, Secretary of the Army
2000 — Senator Max Cleland
[The 2004 recipient of the award is Baroness Lady Caroline Cox of UK.] [10]
At the final event of the Jerusalem Summit, chaired by Chaim Silberstein, Senior Advisor to Elon, the attendees joined with hundreds of Evangelical Christians who had gathered in Israel to celebrate the Feast of the Tabernacles. From such hobnobbing ceremonies, it seemed clear that Jewish and Christian friends of the rogue state are trying to find common grounds in the political arena, especially in their interpretation of the ‘Biblical road map’ at the expense of Palestinian Muslims and Christians.
The ideology of the conference could be summed up by its four-point declaration: radical Islam is a threat to civilization, the United Nations is a failure, Israel is in need of defense and the war on terrorism is a righteous cause. Upon their return home, the participants were asked to promote these ideas by: (1) writing articles, op-eds, and books; (2) speaking in public forums and for the media; (3) producing documentaries; (4) generating workshops and seminars; (5) utilizing the Internet creatively for promoting the ideas of the Summit; and (6) reaching out to others to inform them and to involve them in the work of the Summit.[11]
Well, if one were to judge from the flurry of pro-Israeli and anti-Muslim activities of those participants since their first Summit, surely they have been fulfilling the summit objectives rather doggedly. Recently, the Summit organizers published a book “The Jerusalem Alternative: Moral Clarity for Ending the Arab-Israeli Conflict,” which is a collection of presentations from the first Jerusalem Summit. It is edited by Dmitry Radyshevsky and Jenny Grigg.[12]
Zionist apologist Pipes has been preaching his usual anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim stuffs. His activities demonstrate that he knows the upshot of fear-tactic methodology rather too well. Similar to what the fascist ideologue Julius Streicher had done some 70 years ago against his own Jewish people in Germany he is using the methodology to paint a very scary image of Islam, if its followers were ever to become a dominant player again in the global arena.[13] Fear, after all, is one of the most surreptitious and invisible powers that can bring out the worst among those afraid by forcing them to unleash gruesome crimes against their objects of fear.
Christian evangelical friends of Israel, who may more appositely be called the Christian Zionists, have been doing their historical revisionism, claiming that Palestine did not exist as if the place was an empty desert before the state of Israel was created.[14]
Who can tutor them that it was Moshe Dayan who himself had debunked their ‘theory’ by stating, "Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist. Not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahlal arose in the place of Mahlul; Kibbutz Gvat in the place of Jibta; Kibbutz Sarid in the place of Huneifis; and Kefar Yehushua in the place of Tal al-Shuman. There is not a single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population."? [Moshe Dayan, address to the Technion, Haifa, reported in Haaretz, April 4, 1969]
The Christian Zionists have essentially become Sharon’s mouthpieces, calling on their respective governments to legitimize Israel’s illegal annexation of Jerusalem and to move their embassies there, and not to vote against the rogue state at the United Nations.[15]
Neocons – Richard Perle and David Frum (former speech writer for President Bush) – have published their version of the Mein Kamf; "An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror," Random House (2003).[16] There, they advocated establishing an Orwellian government database (including national identity card with biometric data for everyone) and surveillance system that would dwarf the worst form of statism that the world has ever seen. Their advocacy is nothing short of Fascism under a new mask.
In their book, Frum and Perle also dwelt at length on their view of the sickness in the Arab world. They opined wickedly that militant Islam “commands wide support and even wider sympathy, among Muslims worldwide, including Muslim minorities in the West.” They argued that the Saudis "qualify for their own membership in the axis of evil." They are all for pre-emptive strikes against suspected ‘terrorists.’ They are not at all remorseful about how they, in the Iraqi pre-invasion days, deluded the US into believing that Saddam was a threat to the ‘free’ world, esp. Israel.[17] According to them, if Saddam had merely survived, he would have encouraged terrorism worldwide. They are for perpetual war. To them, Iraq is “nowhere near the end of the war on terror,” which must be fought worldwide and at home.
I wonder if they could explain away why the US’s prolonged engagement in Iraq seemed to have been bringing in more terrorist activities, with death toll of US soldiers already surpassing 2000! They are also so wrong about Libya. I am not sure if they realize that their ‘good-guy and bad-guy’ approach to the world is too Utopian, infantile and stupid to be taken seriously. Such an arrogant ‘holier-than-thou’ and ‘me-right you-wrong’ (or, ‘my way or highway’) approach would only make our world more hostile and less secure. And who can deny that those who seek to hastily end evil often commit more evil? Is not the case with tortures practiced in Abu Gharaib enough of a lesson to ponder about?
What, however, makes neocons like Frum and Perle so dangerous is that they are the most powerful, the most organized, and the best-funded ideologues in the western world. They also run the most sought-after reactionary think tanks and foundations. And the most scary thing is: they have the ears of policy-makers and -executors in Washington -” from a born-again Christian President like George W. Bush (who claims to hear the Voice of God) [18] to "realists" like (former Secretary of State) Colin Powell and others in and around the White House. With the resignation of Colin Powell and the promotion of Condoleezza Rice, along with widespread resignations within the State department, the neoconservative point of view within the Bush administration seems to have become more solidified.
For some time, it thus appeared as if everything was going in neocons’ favor, thanks to the ‘patriotic’ and ’embedded’ (now discredited) journalists and news reporters. Then came doubts and concerns about stories about Saddam’s aluminum tubes, Niger uranium cakes, never-to-be-found WMDs, leaks on identity of Valerie Plame-Wilson, and a plethora of unnerving discoveries, not the least of which includes learning about Israeli spy-nest inside the Pentagon that was passing sensitive information to the rogue state through the AIPAC.
We don’t know how many neocons would be caught in special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s net, outside Dick Cheney’s chief of staff “Scooter” Libby. But one thing is sure: neocons through their very Straussian actions – lying and deceits – or should I say Waterloo, have once again proven that they simply cannot be trusted for making our world safer and better. They cannot, and should not, be allowed to piggy-back the Likudnik-agenda on the US, making a billion and a half people of this planet feel unwanted or hostile. There are better and prudent ways to deal with perceived threat from the Muslim world – the so-called voodoo of Islamism.
Sadly though the current environment in many western countries, especially in the US, is still neither conducive to assertive criticism nor for a serious national discussion and debate on American foreign policy. America and the world need such a debate soon for the health of this planet.
Notes:
[1]. This author’s observations on subsequent summits/seminars by the organizers of the Jerusalem Summit since 2003 will be published in Novermber 2005.
[2]. See this author’s “The Case of Jerusalem -” the Holy City” to understand Muslim claim to the city.
[3]. See, e.g., Daniel Pipes’s article: The Refugee Curse, The New York Post, August 19, ’03 (see, this author’s rejoinder: The Right of Return of the Palestinian People, Media Monitors Network, August 29, 2003).
[4]. http://www.afsi.org/PRESSREL/SUMMIT1/summit1.htm; see this author’s rejoinder: The Case of Jerusalem -” the Holy City.
[5]. The accord divides Jerusalem, gives the Palestinians control over the capital´s Temple Mount and offers Palestinians a state in the West Bank. In return, the Israeli negotiators say, the Palestinians would give up the "right of return" to Israel for millions of Palestinian refugees and their descendants. Palestinians deny that the document includes concessions on the right of return.
[6]. http://www.deepsouthjewishvoice.com/101403roadmap.html
[7]. http://www.townhall.com/news/politics/200310/FOR20031017e.shtml (Jerusalem Summit Aims to Alter Ideas on Middle East Peace By Julie Stahl, CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief, October 17, 2003)
[8]. http://www.afsi.org/PRESSREL/SUMMIT1/summit1.htm
[9]. http://www.jinsa.org/articles/view.html?documentid=2173
[10]. The other recipients are: 1999 Congressman Ike Skelton and Congressman Curt Weldon; 1998 Senator John Warner; 1997 Senator Joseph I. Lieberman; 1996 Congressman Duncan Hunter and Congressman Norm Dicks; 1995 Senator Ted Stevens; 1994 Senator Daniel K. Inouye; 1993 Congressman John P. Murtha; 1992 Congressman Les Aspin; 1991 Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense (currently vice president under George Bush Jr.); 1990 Senator Connie Mack; 1989 Professor Eugene V. Rostow; 1988 Admiral William J. Crowe, Jr., US Navy, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; 1987 Ambassador Max M. Kampelman; 1986 Senator Rudy Boschwitz; 1985 Congressman Jack Kemp; 1984 Ambassador Jeane J. Kirkpatrick; 1982 Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson.
[11]. http://jerusalemsummit.org/eng/goals.php
[12]. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/0892215925/
ref=cm_cr_dp_pt/102-5114962-7811318?%5Fencoding=UTF8&n=
507846&s=books
[13]. The Nazis likened Jews to "poisonous snakes" and infused such imagery into books intended for children. These books were published by Julius Streicher’s Stürmer Publishing House.
[14]. See this author’s rejoinder – Farrah’s lies and distortion of facts about Palestine, Media Monitors Network.
[15]. See part 3 of this author’s article on Jerusalem Summit (to be published).
[16]. Lately David Frum led media barrage against Supreme Court nomination of Ms. Miers, which forced her to withdraw her nomination (October 27, 2005).
[17]. This is a fascinating doctrine given the fact that in 1986, the International Court of Justice found the United States guilty of terrorism against Nicaragua. That case was not based on ‘implanting’ evidence that typified Bush-Cheyney’s invasion of Iraq, but was based on hard facts. The ICJ didn’t order that the U.S. "regime" be destroyed for its terrorism; only that it cease, desist and pay an indemnity for its terrorism.
[18]. http://antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7546
