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Dec. 1, 2008

Max Freidlander, as told to Jacklyn C. Wadler: India Inkings

Mark Steyn: Whodunit!?

Nov. 28, 2008

Rabbi Ahron Rapps: An evil seed that didn't have to be

Melanie Phillips: Carpe diem --- or can we all relax now?

Nov. 26, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet the Orthodox Jew who laid groundwork for scientific development of ordnance that undergirds America's current world leadership

Andrea Simantov: Shades of life

Nov. 25, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Getting Emotional For Influence

The Kosher Gourmet by Ethel G. Hofman : Thanksiving feast!

Nov. 24, 2008

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: 'I just Became a grandchild!'

Barry Rubin: Don't flatter your enemies, protect your friends

Nov. 21, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Money matters?

Caroline B. Glick: Civilization walks the plank

Nov. 20, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bronfman's blindness

The Kosher Gourmet By Linda Gassenheimer: Portobellos add a hearty flavor to pasta with pesto

Nov, 19, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Spread the wealth? Jewish tradition and income equality

Elliot B. Gertel: 'Mad Men': Tackling prejudices or reinforcing them?

Nov, 18, 2008

Dr. Debby Schwarz Hirschhorn: The End of the Age of Reason

Jonathan Tobin: Does Barack + Bibi = Disaster?

Nov, 17, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The End of the Age of Reason

Diana West: Gulling Americans into making terror legit?

Nov, 14, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: The Power of Spiritual Inertia

Caroline B. Glick: The perils ahead

Nov, 13, 2008

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: How Bush and Obama together could change the Middle East dynamic

The Kosher Gourmet by JeanMarie Brownson: Sweet and savory, crispy and meltingly tender bestilla

Nov, 12, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : Tyrannical Co-Workers

Michael Doyle: High Court to consider today donated monuments that may have religious messages in public parks

Nov, 11, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Will Obama stop government officials considering institutionalizing financial jihad?

Jonathan Tobin: They Will Decide Their Own Fate

Nov, 10, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: $8 billion, modern-day Tower of Babel being built?

Barry Rubin: A letter to the president-elect from a Middle East realist

Nov, 7, 2008

Rabbi Francis Nataf: Of Children and Immortality

Caroline B. Glick: Livni's Obama strategy

Nov, 6, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: How I tricked a classroom of apathetic students into grasping the fallacy of moral relativism

The Kosher Gourmet By Gina Kim: Tips for making the perfect soup --- includes recipes

Nov, 5, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist By Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Destitute Debtors

Bruce Weinstein: 'Religulos': Bad title,even worse movie

Nov, 4, 2008

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Treasury Dept. submits to Shariah law

Frida Ghitis: A surprise for Obama in the Middle East

Nov, 3, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Who says Jews are Smart?

Jonathan Tobin: Was He Wrong About Everything?

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review June 11, 2003 / 11 Sivan, 5763

Double suicide

By David Warren

http://www.jewishworldreview.com | I would devote more attention to fine details if I thought the large ones were generally understood. I therefore invite my readers to obtain two crayons, a razorblade, and an outline map of the Middle East.

Use one color of crayon to fill in the Arab countries, as neatly as possible, plus or minus Iran. Now, sharpen the other crayon with the razorblade to as fine a point as you can, and use it to color in Israel -- taking great care not to slip into Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, or the Sinai. The area around Jerusalem will be especially difficult, perhaps you should use a rapidograph.

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Let my readers now dwell on just one crucial, historical fact. It is the single biggest obstacle to obtaining any kind of peace between Israel and the Arabs. All the Arab states, with the arguable exception of Jordan, have consistently demanded a "right of return" for Palestinian refugees and all of their descendants -- to the patch you colored in as Israel. They have confined the great majority of these people to refugee camps for more than half a century, at the expense of the United Nations. The children and grandchildren and now great grandchildren of these refugees have thus been kept from assimilating and making new lives elsewhere, as the ultimate demographic weapon against Israel.

The State of Israel was created in 1948, by the same U.N., in the face of an invasion by the armies of all its Arab neighbors. Some three-quarters of the Arabs living in what became Israel fled -- mostly on instructions from their own leaders, who promised they would soon return. The number was between 600,000 and 700,000. At the same time, Jews dispersed throughout the Arab world -- some 860,000 of them, counted on their arrival in Israel -- fled their own homes and left most of their belongings to make new lives in Israel. Forget blame -- I am only saying look at both halves of the apple.

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(W)E-THE PEOPLE
Let your voice be heard! To express your concerns about the administration's plan for the Holy Land, you may contact

President George W. Bush by fax: (202) 456-2461, (Andrew Card, Chief of Staff) or by e-mail.

Dr. Condoleeza Rice, National Security Advisor, FAX (202) 456-2883, PHONE (202) 456-9491

Mr. Elliot Abrams, the Director for Near East and North African Affairs, at FAX (202) 456-9120, and by phone through his secretary Joanna, (202) 456-9121

Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, 1000 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1000 or by e-mail form: http://www.defenselink.mil/

Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1010 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1010 or by e-mail form http://www.defenselink.mil

The Jews of Israel are five million today, plus a million-and-a-quarter Arabs, the descendants of those who did not leave, and in fact flourished. The Palestinian diaspora -- descendants of those who did leave -- has been variously estimated at now five-plus millions. And almost everyone now living in the "occupied territories" can claim at least one ancestor who lived within the Green Line to clinch his own right of return. If Israel can be forced to receive them, Israel ceases to be the only Jewish state, and quickly becomes the 23rd member of the Arab League.

Surprise: Israel does not agree to commit suicide. Surprise: the Arabs will settle for nothing less. The diplomatic "road map" leaves this issue to be resolved "later".

It does, however, demand that Israel begin now, to remove Jewish settlements from the West Bank. For it is commonly accepted, among the world's diplomats, that Jews have no right by history or birth or otherwise to live without invitation in territory "belonging" to Arabs.

Now let us draw in the focus to present events, as recent as yesterday. The Israelis retaliated for the latest terrorist hits on Israeli soldiers and civilians, by attempting to assassinate Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a senior leader of the terrorist organization Hamas. They did this several days after the new Palestinian premier, Mahmoud Abbas, publicly declared that he would "under no circumstances" act against Hamas, and after Hamas itself had publicly pledged to continue terror strikes on Israel. From his hospital bed, Rantisi repeated his call for the extermination of all "criminal Zionists" -- an expression which in the Hamas lexicon means all those Jews not descended exclusively from Arab forebears (who would thus be entitled to "dhimmi" or protected minority status in return for paying special taxes under an Islamic theocracy).

President Bush, through his spokesman, condemned Ariel Sharon for ordering an attack that "will undermine efforts by Palestinian authorities and others to bring an end to terrorist attacks and does not contribute to the security of Israel." As the recipient of the strikes of Sept. 11th, 2001, Mr. Bush should understand that Mr. Sharon will be his own judge of what constitutes a necessary response to terror.

Mr. Sharon and Israel will not stop retaliating for terrorist hits. Nor, for that matter, will they be stopped from dismantling West Bank settlements, if they can see the prospect of something in return. In yesterday's case, there was nothing in return: for Mr. Abbas had already declared he wouldn't himself act against Hamas.

The Israelis will make hard decisions, but not suicidal ones, and granting an open season on Jews to Palestinian terrorists would be suicidal.

The Bush administration is trying to appease Arab opinion by telling the Israelis to do what they just won't do (stop defending themselves); and to assuage Israeli opinion by telling the Palestinian Authority to do what they just won't do (confront the terrorists themselves, and thus sign their own death warrants).

This is not a "road map." It is a demand for a double suicide, and it is absolutely crazy.

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JWR contributor David Warren is a Columnist for the Ottawa Citizen. Click here to comment on this column.

© 2003, David Warren