NY Times-- Wrong Again

"President Bush’s visit to the Middle East last week offered a graphic primer on his failed policies — and the many dangers his successor will face."

At first I thought that there would be some common sense in this New York Times editorial, but then I continued reading. The writer/s has/haven't a clue.

I'm sick and tired of this attitude that Israel and the Arabs are just bickering kids who need a firm hand to "make peace." Now, I'm a mother, grandmother, teacher etc. I've spent close to 40 years living in Israel, and I didn't come here as a toddler.

The Arabs here are blood-thirsty terrorists. That's the truth. There's no way to sugar-coat it, when the proof is dripping with blood and gore, not Al. Take off those rose-colored goggles and unplug your ears. This is no computer game. It's real life!

The Arabs here, cheered on by the world, want us gone, dead, banished--they're not fussy. Bush's dream/goal of another Arab terror state, shared by almost the entire world, is the key to Israel's destruction. You don't have to read "fine print;" the Arabs are very blunt about it.

I hope that the next US President will just busy him/herself with American problems, like the economy, health care for all, better education, safer roads, etc. And butt yourself out of my neighborhood!

Punishment In Which World?

It's hard to believe that for over two years, Ariel Sharon, the once-bulldozer has been hospitalized in an undignified, helpless vegetative state.

Before then, he was one of those people you either hated or loved or both, but you could never be neutral.

The neighborhood I live in was his "inspiration." On a visit to Shiloh in early 1981, he was shown around the small Shiloh community near the ancient Tel. he heard the plans and looked around. Two hills up and over a kilometer away was a gorgeous, large, mostly flat piece of land, much more suitable for building than where Shiloh's founders were excavating for their permanent homes. When they seemed doubtful of his idea, he sweetened it by offering fifty pre-fab homes.

Chazal, our Sages, say that the righteous are punished in this world, so the next will be all rewards. Arik Sharon built, but he also destroyed. He destroyed Yamit so that Begin could give the Sinai to Egypt, and then he was the Prime Minister who declared Disengagement. Only G-d knows how much longer he will have to suffer in this world. Sins between man and his fellow man are the most difficult to repent.

Now, why am I thinking of Arik?

It was announced that Teddy Kennedy of Chappaquiddick Island infamy has a malignant brain tumor.

Does G-d punish non-Jews in the same way as Jews?

Unequal Justice

It's not that I believe that all people are created equal, because we're not. We're all different, very different. But we should all be equal in terms of the law of whatever land we live in.

Unfortunately, here in Israel, there's a blatantly different standard for different people.

Today the Halamish brothers were sent to jail, even though their legal status, awaiting a Supreme Court Final Appeal and Presidential Pardon does not require waiting in jail. But Danny and Itzik Halamish are Jewish nationalists, lovers of the Land of Israel, so they get the "short end" of Israeli Justice.

Compare that to Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister, and supporter of Disengagement and additional destruction of Jewish communities. There are multiple criminal and corruption investigations against Olmert, but since Israel's highly politicized Justice Department supports Olmert's policies, he's home, at leas for now. It seems like the Israeli legal system may have to take the charges against Olmert more seriously, as they are multiplying.

Let's hope and pray that there will be equal justice for all.

Human Rights! Civil Rights!

Where are the great activists, the idealists, those fighting for the rights of the persecuted?

How do they reconcile, excuse their silence in the face of judenrein land?

What does judenrein mean?

It's the German term the Nazis used to describe the goal of cleansing Germany of Jews.

Judenrein and Judenfrei (German: free of Jews) were Nazi terms to designate an area free of Jewish presence.[1] The words bear slightly different connotations; while Judenfrei merely refers to "freeing" an area of all of its Jewish citizens, Judenrein (literally "clean of Jews") demands that any trace of Jewish blood be removed as an impurity.[2]

Now, everyone but Holocaust deniers are adamant that the Nazis were bad. Right?

Then why didn't any of the many human rights or civil rights activists protest the expulsion of Jews and only Jews from Gush Katif during Disengagement?

Then why don't any of the many human rights or civil rights activists protest the fact that many Arab countries don't allow Jews?

Then why don't any of the many human rights or civil rights activists protest Bush, Rice, Blair, the Left etc and Olmert's plan to banish Jews from their homes and communities again?

It seems clear to me that their plans and goals are totally immoral!

"Battling" On The Roads

Those of you who read my husband's blog know that he frequently posts about posters he sees in Jerusalem, especially the chareidi neighborhoods. Well, I don't wander those same streets. We have a different genre where I hang out waiting for rides.

At Givat Asaf, the t-junction to Beit El, and at the "ride stop" outside of Ofra, the latest posters concern Moetzet YESHA, Council of YESHA Communities. Many people are totally disgusted with its activities.

It has been years since Moetzet YESHA has been involved with actually establishing new communities, or even neighborhoods. They headed the totally disastrous, F for Failure campaign to cancel Disengagement.

Now they've been busy negotiating with the government about the destruction of Jewish communities, shades of the Judenrat. I know that many people don't like it when modern Jews are compared to such people, but you can't deny the parallels.

Pinchas Wallerstein, former head/governor of Mateh Binyamin, the Benjamin Regional Council, is now head of Moetzet YESHA. Recently there were reports of opponents damaging his car. This first poster decries the act. A slew of rabbis signed the "emotional" letter.

This second poster claims to have the actual agreement between the government and Moetzet YESHA.
This entire issue of whether or not Moetzet YESHA is doing what it should be doing for yishuv HaAretz, settling our HolyLand, is one of the reasons why the youth has no respect for authority. The phenomena began during the Disengagement protests and has continued. Personally, in all honesty, I must admit that I admire them and am embarrassed that we adults cannot offer them the leadership and role models they deserve.

Blessing or Curse: Praying for us or Preying on us?

Posted by Ellen W. Horowitz

Jews for Jesus invade the Holy Land: “making the Messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to our Jewish people.”...
Targeted proselytizing has made a comeback in Israel. Democracy, liberty, and tolerance rule the day - and so does chaos, blasphemy and idolatry. Is Israel ready for this 5-year, mega-budget campaign? Websites and full page newspaper ads in English and Hebrew, Billboard and bus banner campaigns, and an army of missionaries in public and private places.

When it comes to soul-snatching even the most secular of Jews will remember who they are and rise to the occasion. Just how provocative is Jews for Jesus in Israel?

The veil momentarily lifted from the eyes of Haaretz…
The very thought of one of their leaflets brought Bradley Burston of Haaretz out of that "Special Place in Hell" to see the light.
This is a must read (from 2006):
Why 'Jews for Jesus' is evil

Zachariah 8:23 gone awry?
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'

It appears that certain gentiles have interpreted the above to mean that they can cling to us like leeches, or rip those hems and spiritually rape us.

Nightmare scenario: Playground from Hell?
Evangelical Christians continue to give generously to Jews in distress, while insisting on their religious and democratic right to express themselves via evangelism in Eretz Yisrael.
Now here’s a frightening thought…
What if, while your child or grandchild is frolicking on a plastic playground donated by evangelical friends, an evangelical Jew for Jesus - who loves and craves Jewish souls – happens to meet up with your child at the bottom of the slide?

I always told my kids to forget the playgrounds and preferred that they climb on the rocks, run up and down the hills, and roll in the dust of Eretz Yisrael. "For Your servants have cherished her stones and favor her dust" (Psalms 102:15).

The obvious solution (and a real blessing) would be for those Christian friends who truly love and respect Israel and the Jewish people to take real action. Rather than issue another denial of their direct involvement in missionary activity, they should issue a clear, public, and unequivocal condemnation of such activity in Israel (but I doubt that an Evangelical can condemn evangelism any more than a Palestinian can condemn terror?). Friends of Israel, take the challenge and prove me wrong!

But then there is another problem. We Jews are so afraid to alienate our best friends and lose our monopoly on the plastic playground market that…
A legal opinion prepared by the Justice Ministry opposes legislation that would strengthen efforts to combat missionary activities in Israel
"Anti-Missionary Bill Undermines Freedom of Expression"

Of Blessings and Curses
Bilaam tries to curse and ends up blessing. I imagine a prophet like Bilaam looked upon the Israelite camp and saw the beauty of a structured, moral and ethical community- and he just couldn’t help himself. So despite all of his rottenness, a blessing emanated from his lips.

And now we have millions of Christians who claim to have every intention of “blessing” the Jewish people, and we know that some of those people are very sincere (and others quite insincere), but if we - the recipients of their “love offerings” - are bereft of Torah guidelines, values, accountability and legislation, than this entire enterprise is in danger of being nothing more than a major curse.

The Righteous Gentile Among Us

I just gotta close with another rare, but grand, Haaretz moment (Mashiach must be around the corner)

Look at this truly moving clip of Jon Voight. His heart is with the Jewish people.

Note that Voight was raised a devout Catholic. He is not affiliated with evangelical groups or mega church leaders. He appears to take and individual, moral, and authentic heartfelt stand with the people of Israel. This is a man who has done some real soul wrestling. And although he is biblically inspired, he handles himself with the utmost respect while in Israel. I doubt you will find him publically referring to Jesus, spreading the gospel, or hailing Christianity while on his visit here.

But you will find him endorsing the Noahide laws and expressing great respect for Judaism as a religion:

Voight was brought up Catholic and has no intention of converting to Judaism. But he says that of all the religions he studies, he has a special fondness for Jewish learning and values. "Judaism is an amazing fountain of information. It’s not the only answer, but I have tremendous regard for it." ...
“,,,They [the Noahide commandments] appeal to my own sense of what I feel is a high purpose, which is to try to get everyone to an understanding of what they’re asked to do, what life’s responsibilities are. These very simple seven laws of Noah are good basics." http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=7338

Haunting

These pictures have been haunting me.

I live here in Shiloh, in relative (bli eyin haraa--don't tempt the evil eye) safety. We're far from the kassams and other rockets the Arab terrorists are launching at southern Israel, and we're far from the missiles launched by the Hezbollah, the Arab terrorists of the north. But I'm finding my nights filled with nightmares just the same.




Bush claims to be anti-terrorist. He gave a rousing speech in the Knesset (of which I'm still trying to find out who wrote it--maybe Eli Wiesel?) Olmert, as Israel's Prime Minister, is supposed to have Israel's defense/survival as his main priority. But at the same time Israel's south is suffering Arab terrorist bombardments, innocent Jews are being killed and injured, the two of them are having a grand time.

My generation, the post World War II baby boomers, of which both Bush and Olmert are members, was raised to mock the excuses of our elders that they "didn't know that there was a Holocaust going on."

In the pre-satellite, pre-Internet, pre-digital, pre-cellphone, pre-cheap phone calls, etc. era it was much easier to hide the cruel anti-Jewish actions of the Nazis.

Today the news is out, the pictures are instantly published, there are no secrets, but we see that nobody cares.

In the 1930's when the democratically elected Nazis began the anti-Jewish laws culminating in the Extermination Camps and the murder of six million Jews, the official Jewish leadership tried to work with the Nazis, rather than broadcast emergency calls for help, condemnation and cessation of the Nazi Regime.

Yes, I do see similarities in the Nazi period with today. The Nazis aimed for a judenrein (an empty of Jews) Germany, later all of Europe, and the Arabs, with the full support of the entire world, including the United States, the United Nations, the world's media and the Israeli Left, want a judenrein Judea, Samaria (Biblical Heartland) and most of the Middle-East.

I'm horrified at myself for continuing my everyday life when our very existence is in danger!

The Israeli People Aren't Tired

In certain circles, at least, Olmert will never live down his "tired speech." Obviously projecting, he kvetched that Israel was tired of fighting and tired of winning.

Well, the polls prove him wrong.

Sunday, May 18, 2008
Poll: 56%:33% Prefer war over ceasefire with Hamas

Poll: 56%:33% Prefer war over ceasefire with Hamas
Dr. Aaron Lerner 18 May 2008

Telephone poll of a representative sample of 507 adult Israelis (including
Arab Israelis) carried out by Maagar Mohot Survey Institute (headed by
Professor Yitzchak Katz for the morning program of Israel Television Channel
10 on 15-16 May 2008.
Statistical error +/- 4.5 percentage points.

What would you prefer for the Government of Israel to do today: reach a
ceasefire agreement with Hamas or continue the war against it?
Total: Reach deal 33% Continue war 56% Other replies 11%
Reside in South (Ashkelon and area near Gaza Strip): Deal 39% War 51% Other
10%

Do you think that today the Government of Israel should sign on a ceasefire
agreement with Hamas even without the release of Gilad Schalit?
Total; No 57% Yes 24% Other 19%
Reside in South: No 52% Yes 31% Other 17%

Should the IDF act today to physically destroy the Hamas leaders?
Total: No 22% Yes 49% Other 29%
Reside in South: No 20% Yes 55% Other 25%

Should the ID launch today a large scale land operation in Gaza despite the
possibility of IDF soldiers being hurt?
Total: No 38% Yes 51% Other 11%
Reside in South: No 36% Yes 58% Other 6%

To what extent do you count on the prime minister and defense minister to
handle the situation in Gaza?
Total: Very much not 17% Don't 10% So-so 27% Do 14% Do very much 10% there
replies 22%
Reside in South: Very much 14% Don't 20% So-so 31% Do11% Do very much 10%
Other 14%

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA Independent Media Review & Analysis
mail POB 982 Kfar Sava
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il
Website: http://www.imra.org.il

It's not that we want war for the sake of war, to let out aggression or any other negative reason. We want war to destroy terrorism. We want true leadership for our country. We want to defeat the enemy. If Olmert's tired, he should just resign!

If You Want To Know...

If you want to know what's really happening in Southern Israel, Let My People Know - talk about it now is the place to look. It's a new blog by people in that area.

Life's no picnic. Arab terrorists are launching rockets, kassams, grads etc. Most of the international media are too busy trying to portray the Arab terrorists as suffering idealists, but the people who are really suffering are the Israelis, Jewish Israelis.

Check in to see what's posted and let others know about it.

They're All The Same

I feel like a broken recorded with my repetitions of the fact that the same Arab terrorists who keep attacking us in Israel and to whom the world, including the United State's George Bush and Condeleezza Rice, have promised its very own state are the same terrorists who attacked the USA on 9-11.

America claims to have declared no holds barred war against them, but it's not true at all. Standing by, standing tall are all just ways of saying standing still "against" the unending Arab terror here in the HolyLand.

The Arabs are having a good laugh.

Bin Laden: 'Holy war until Palestine liberated'

Until the world gets to the root of the problem and destroys it, it will just continue to grow. You can't placate terrorists. Being nice, paying them off etc won't make them into peace-loving people. Is Israel breaking its own taboo on talks with Hamas? Israeli politicians are playing a very dangerous game.

Our HolyLand isn't a Monopoly board. Real people live here. Just because the world is cheering us on isn't a good reason to continue this Masada-like slide. It's no surprise that the Olmerts took the Bushes there. We must stop these dangerous policies immediately!

Who Wrote The Speech?

Lots of people are impressed by Bush's Knesset speech. He made lots of fans in Israel. I guess I'm too jaded by a combination of Ronald Reagan's statement that he couldn't understand how someone who wasn't an actor could manage as President of the USA and the great British TV Comedy, Yes, Minister.

I don't judge a politician by one speech, or even two.

Remember that Bush's policies and that speech aren't the same. I go for actions, and Bush at this point is pretty-much powerless. He can't just proclaim something. It has to pass in the various government departments, congress etc, and the United States is in the midst of their presidential elections. Bush is what's called a lame duck. Basically, he's on a pre-retirement "vacation." He's just supposed to stay out of trouble and not make things difficult for his party's nominee. It is so foolish of Israelis to think that he's really powerful.

And back to my question. Who wrote that speech?

Obama's No Different From The Rest

The New York Times has an op-ed mocking Obama's statement about Hizbollah. (It ends with an interview with Obama which shows that he's really no different on defense as a strong Republican.)

Why mock Obama when Bush, Kissinger, the State Department and all but the most determined of Israel's nationalists say basically the same?

Barack Obama issued a statement in response. He called on “all those who have influence with Hezbollah” to “press them to stand down.” Then he declared, “It’s time to engage in diplomatic efforts to help build a new Lebanese consensus that focuses on electoral reform, an end to the current corrupt patronage system, and the development of the economy that provides for a fair distribution of services, opportunities and employment.”
That sentence has the whiff of what President Bush described yesterday as appeasement. Is Obama naïve enough to think that an extremist ideological organization like Hezbollah can be mollified with a less corrupt patronage system and some electoral reform? Does he really believe that Hezbollah is a normal social welfare agency seeking more government services for its followers? Does Obama believe that even the most intractable enemies can be pacified with diplomacy? What “Lebanese consensus” can Hezbollah possibly be a part of? (complete article)

The entire premise that one can negotiate a deal, peace etc is based on the same mistaken idea.

Is Obama naïve enough to think that an extremist ideological organization like Hezbollah can be mollified with a less corrupt patronage system and some electoral reform? Does he really believe that Hezbollah is a normal social welfare agency seeking more government services for its followers? Does Obama believe that even the most intractable enemies can be pacified with diplomacy? What “Lebanese consensus” can Hezbollah possibly be a part of?
If Obama believes all this, he’s not just a Jimmy Carter-style liberal. He’s off in Noam Chomskyland.

The same goes for Hamas, PLO etc as for as I'm concerned. Honestly, what's the real difference between them and Hizbollah?

As far as I'm concerned, if you think that it's possible to negotiate with the terrorists who are trying to destroy Israel, you really do live in some "Noam Chomskyland." All those Arab terrorists are the same and that includes Bin Laden. Don't tell me that the only dangerous ones are the ones America fears and the ones attacking Israel are the nice ones. An Arab terrorist is an Arab terrorist. Don't think that by letting Hamas play bombing Ashkelon it won't get hungry for New York.

Power Of The Editor

Here it is Friday, afternoon, and as if I had nothing to prepare for Shabbat, I returned to the computer for another "quick look" and found this little article.

New Kadima Camp May Challenge Olmert


(IsraelNN.com) A new camp is forming inside the Kadima party, and commentators say it may challenge Ehud Olmert's leadership of the leading party. The group of eight Knesset members will meet Friday in the home of MK Yitzchak Ben-Yisrael. The other members are MKs Otniel Schneller, Menachem Ben-Sasson, Amira Dotan, Michael Nudelman, Yohanan Plesner, Shlomo Mula and Shai Chermesh.

The purpose of the meeting, according to one of the MKs, is to decide who can best lead Kadima if Olmert loses his current position. "If we discover that Tzipi Livni can preserve Kadima as a large party we shall have to look at the possibility of supporting her," the MK told Maariv-NRG.

All of the members of the group are placed between slots 20 and 30 on the party's list of candidates for Knesset, and would thus not be elected if Kadima gets less than 20 seats as current polls predict.

The first couple of paragraphs make it seem rather benign, just the usual political maneuverings. Then we get to the last paragraph, which tells a very different story.

All of the members of the group are placed between slots 20 and 30 on the party's list of candidates for Knesset, and would thus not be elected if Kadima gets less than 20 seats as current polls predict.

I would edit the article very differently. I'd start with the information in the last paragraph, that Kadima MK's who just made it into the Knesset after the last elections are panicking, because the polls show that Kadima's prospects are for many fewer MK's. Therefore they are organizing to try to get the strongest possible replacement for Olmert, because they don't want to lose their jobs.

Considering that most people don't make it to the end of even these short articles, I think my approach is better.

Is Israel Really "The World's Happiest Country?"

Can you really "chart," calculate happiness? Or is it like the poetry graph mocked by the Robin Williams character in the movie, "Dead Poets Society?"


That's exactly what I thought of when I saw the article claiming that according to the relationship/differential between fertility and suicide you can calculate the happiness factor.

Now, if that's really true, you must compare the different Israeli sectors.

Actually, I just recently discussed something similar with a friend. We both believe that the human body holds various illnesses and "conditions" which only "come to life" when various other factors exist. For instance, that's why the Disengagement victims, the expellees are suffering from many more illnesses than before. The stress of losing their homes, communities and jobs and the knowledge that Israeli society not only doesn't value their lives, but they mock their idealism. They were much healthier even during the constant Arab terror and kassam attacks. That's because they felt positive purpose in their lives. Disengagement made a mockery of it all. So their physical defenses went down and illnesses rage.

Bottom line: I don't put my faith in those charts. When you have something to live for that means enough to you that you'd die for it, you're happy. That's not what John Lennon wrote in his famous song. "Imagine" yearns for an existence in which there's nothing to die for. I guess that's why he and his friends were so dependent on drugs and similar things.

"I get no kick from champagne." I prefer building Jewish Life in Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel.

The Big Con--Conservative Judaism

There's no need for my commentary after this story from Jewish Action, The Magazine of the Orthodox Union:

An Unintentional Intermarriage

By Gila Davids

The Cycle Continues

Many young adults, raised in non-observant homes, are unaware of or unconcerned about the fact that their maternal grandmothers were improperly converted to Judaism. But these inauthentic conversions jeopardize the integrity of thousands of Jewish marriages outside the realm of Orthodoxy.

Unintentional intermarriages (i.e., when a Jewish male marries a woman who believes she is Jewish but is actually a non-halachic Jew) result in yet another generation of non-Jews who identify Jewishly. The cycle continues.

For observant individuals seeking to get married, a conversion that took place among a prospective shidduch’s grandparents or great-grandparents is a cause for investigation. Indeed, the FFB child of many a FFD (frum for decades) mother may find his or her halachic status judged in the light of his or her mother’s geirut.

Even the “best” conversions are often scrutinized, causing pain and embarrassment to the boy’s or girl’s parents, who may be converts themselves or children of converts who long ago assimilated into the community.

Of course, most children of gerim experience this kind of scrutiny at an earlier time in life. Children and grandchildren of converts are routinely asked to produce the paperwork from a parent or grandparent’s conversion when applying to Jewish schools, camps or volunteer programs, when joining a synagogue or when making aliyah. Certainly the background check is necessary, but it serves as a constant reminder to the ger and to her children that even those of us born with a Jewish identity come from a tainted lineage. No matter how much we are cautioned to love the ger and to avoid causing her pain or embarrassment, an aura of suspicion still hovers.

After years of sincere learning, confusion and struggle, years of fighting the feeling of being isolated and the pain of unintentional insults, I finally stood in the mikvah and declared my acceptance of Torah and mitzvot. I thought, “At last, it’s over.” But it’s not over. The questions, the suspicion, the sense of separateness caused by one rabbi who, half a century ago, chose to subvert the halachah, will follow me, my children and grandchildren at every turn in our lives. It never goes away.


A strange thing happened on the way to my becoming a ba’alat teshuvah: I discovered I was not a Jew.

I made this discovery about fifteen years ago at the happy and lively Shabbat table of an engaging kiruv rabbi and his family, another one of those inspiring Shabbat meals that had attracted us to greater Torah observance. My husband, Allen, and I were a year or so into our Jewish learning at the local outreach kollel in the Midwestern city where we lived. Though we were still members of our Conservative synagogue, we were slowly adding more mitzvot as we saw how they enriched our lives and deepened our connection to God. Our host, a rabbi at the kollel, had just converted our kitchen into a kosher one and my husband and I had taken on observing the family purity laws. At the time, we were also considering the possibility of enrolling our young children in the local Orthodox day school.

A student of our host was also there with his non-religious parents. The student wanted his parents to meet his rabbi’s family, and I think we were invited to represent “normal” people who had come to Torah on their own. I cannot remember how the conversation began, but at some point the boy’s mother commented that she had grown up without knowing her father’s parents and half of her cousins very well because they were not Jewish. I naïvely remarked, “That’s just how I grew up; all my mother’s relatives are not Jewish.” I think it was then that I heard the rebbetzin gasp.

I had learned enough Torah to realize—and the gasp confirmed—that maybe something in addition to my dishes was going to need converting.

My mother had converted to Judaism in a small Indiana town in the early 1950s in order to marry my father. Her conversion was overseen by the rabbi of the local Conservative synagogue, to which my family belonged throughout my childhood. Mom became a dedicated Jewess, learning as much as she could despite the limited resources available to her. We never had pork or shellfish in the house; we were regular attendees at our synagogue; she was president of the sisterhood and was our rabbi’s right-hand volunteer. While we often visited my maternal grandmother, the influence of my father’s family dominated. With eighteen Jewish cousins living nearby, there were plenty of Bar Mitzvahs and weddings to attend and holiday gatherings to anchor us in Jewish family traditions.

Rich Jewish memories bound our family members to one another, but as I built my own family in a large city far from my childhood home, I found that that was not enough for me. I sought to connect to the deeper riches I saw that Judaism had to offer. With the help of outreach programs and the religious families we met, my husband and I found a great treasure in authentic Torah observance.

Soon after my revelation at the Shabbat table, the niggling suspicion that we were headed for roadblocks in our path to greater observance grew into the realization that I needed to look into my mother’s conversion. I had the conversion certificate, so Allen and I met with the rabbi of the Conservative synagogue where we had been members since our marriage. Judaism is not a club one decides to join, nor is it a democracy where the majority make the rules. The only handbook for admission is the Torah, and the rules were decided by God.After reviewing the forty-year-old document, the rabbi confirmed that some streams of Judaism would question my mother’s conversion—and therefore my Jewish status, as well as my children’s. But not to worry, he said, he knew of an Orthodox rabbi who was coming to town in a few months who could fix the problem if we wanted. Otherwise, I was “Jewish enough” for him.

Some years earlier, we had been inspired by this same rabbi to begin moving towards keeping kosher and learning more about the mitzvot. However, the classes and speakers he brought in just served to whet our appetite. To his credit, this rabbi had responded to our desire to learn even more by suggesting we attend classes taught by the local Orthodox kollel. (The rabbis at the kollel displayed an integrity and consistency we had rarely encountered in our religious, social or business lives. It was their sincerity and complete dedication to the Law of God that kept us going back to learn more.)

As I questioned my halachic status, I slowly started to understand that even with my background, my memories, my desire to grow … it was not enough. It wasn’t that I wasn’t Jewish enough—I wasn’t Jewish at all.

After thirty-eight years of participation in Jewish life, my desire to deepen my commitment brought me face-to-face with the realization that I—who had endured hours of after school classes to learn Hebrew and prepare for my Bat Mitzvah, who had been active in Jewish youth groups and went to Jewish summer camps, who shunned bread on Pesach and all food on Yom Kippur—was not a Jew. I, who reined in my enthusiasm for Torah growth until I thought my husband was ready for each step, could not only enjoy fluffy muffins on Pesach, but could also heartily eat shrimp on any fast day I pleased. Allen, a prime candidate for intermarriage who had never met a rabbi until we were engaged or stepped foot into a synagogue until we were dating, was a 100 percent kosher Jew. And he had indeed intermarried.

Early on in our journey towards observance, a few months before we began learning at the kollel and more than a year before my Shabbat table announcement, Allen and I had visited Israel and had stumbled into a class with the rosh yeshivah of Aish HaTorah, Rabbi Noah Weinberg. We were impressed with the rabbi’s “ABCs” of Judaism—a class that laid out the framework for an authentic Jewish outlook on life. (While we did not manage to remember the A or the B, the C stuck with us.) Rabbi Weinberg had said, “Don’t believe a thing I say today, check it out.” From then on, whenever we heard a new law or idea, an observance or a custom, we made a practice of reading up on it and asking questions until we understood. We found that every Orthodox rabbi we met, every book and article we read, not only confirmed our new understanding but also deepened it. Checking things out had proved to be good advice.

This was the advice we applied to what was proving to be the greatest challenge to our embrace of authentic Judaism: the questions we had about my halachic status. There were three Orthodox synagogues in town. We thought we’d check out what each rabbi had to say about my predicament.

The first rabbi we met with led a small congregation known for its friendly atmosphere. Rabbi S. reviewed the conversion document and surprised us with his frankness when he told us, in no uncertain terms, that my mother’s conversion was not kosher, and since I was therefore not Jewish at all, I should just abandon the idea of Jewish growth, as it was not incumbent on me. His verdict may have been true, but it was also harsh. I felt as if my soul had just been torn out of my body. All I was, my entire identity, I realized, was connected to the holiness, the responsibility and the truth of Judaism. I seemed as if he had forbidden me and my children access to something that I thought was inherently ours. I was truly lost in between two worlds.

“Illegitimate converts” and their offspring are the innocent victims of those who undermine the foundation of holiness upon which halachah stands. The candidate for conversion cannot possibly have a full understanding of the consequences of her choice, but the rabbi who accepts her most certainly does. One who seeks a non-halachic conversion as a means to placate family or to find acceptance upon marrying a Jew may neither realize nor care that her Jewish status is not universally recognized. But if she regards her conversion as an integral element in creating a foundation for the new family she and her husband hope to build, she is misled if she thinks the foundation is a solid one. Unaware of the implications for the future, she will raise her children within the framework of Jewish life, and ironically, may be among the most committed “Jews” in her new family or congregation. The children, raised with a strong Jewish identity, will bear the full brunt of their parents’ naïveté if, in their teen and adult years, they explore, as I did, an authentic Torah lifestyle. Such an investigation will undoubtedly reveal the shaky underpinnings of the Jewish identity to which they lay claim, causing confusion and pain for the entire family.

Allen and I continued our investigation into my status with a rabbi known to be an expert in halachah. Rabbi G. was a congregational rabbi who also taught Jewish law at a local university. The “Who Is a Convert?” issue is a growing and controversial topic, he said, and our case involved contradictory opinions, all of which are laden with agenda. Some try to find a way to accept the sincere non-Orthodox convert while others insist every one of these conversions is invalid. The intellectual rabbi objectively explained several options we could follow and the consequences of these choices. Allen and I learned a lot, but left him without a viable option that rang true for us.

The truth was that my earnest commitment, my core identity, my lifelong affiliation and my membership in Jewish organizations were irrelevant. Judaism is not a club one decides to join, nor is it a democracy where the majority make the rules. The only handbook for admission is the Torah, and the rules were decided by God. The only way “in” was for a beit din to conclude that I honestly wanted to shear away my past as a Gentile (which was painfully ironic), cling only to the Jewish people and sincerely commit to observing all of the 613 mitzvot that pertain to me.

While we were indeed on our way towards a more observant life, Allen and I did not think we were ready for the monumental step of becoming totally shomer mitzvot. Doing so would entail selling the home we loved, leaving the synagogue and neighborhood where we had close friends (who did not necessarily understand our situation) and moving to an Orthodox community so we could observe Shabbat and holidays properly. It didn’t seem fair.

Just as when a ba’al teshuvah (BT) introduced to authentic Torah values often feels cheated by the vapidity of the religious system in which he was raised, the child of an illegitimate convert who does teshuvah feels doubly betrayed. He may think and feel Jewish to the core. A born Jew, whether he is Orthodox or agnostic, remains a Jew regardless of his actions or affiliation. But a non-halachic Jew who remains committed to his Jewish identity may one day be faced with the devastating reality that he is not, at his essence, the person he thinks he is.

I could have been resentful and angry, but up until this episode, everything we had learned about authentic Judaism, despite the difficulties, rang of truth and compassion. We knew the truth, but where was the compassion?

We decided to see what the rabbi of the city’s largest Orthodox synagogue would say. At that meeting, we found the first inkling of honest compassion we had seen throughout this heartbreaking ordeal.

Rabbi D. welcomed us into his office, made some small talk and soon got to the subject at hand. He listened intently, as if it were the first time he had heard such a case. Rabbi D. did not turn me away or lecture us on the state of Orthodoxy. He did not prescribe a shortcut. He was the first rabbi who did not make a snap judgment, taking the time to make some investigative calls before ruling that the conversion was not kosher. Then he did what no other rabbi had done—he sympathized and was painfully honest with us; he showed us courageous compassion.

He assured us that the problem was not a terminal one. Rabbi D. explained that the Jewish nation only exists because of the Torah. A Jew was designed to be a particular kind of creation and, as such, the Torah spells out the way we are to wake, eat, pray and sleep. While each of us is unique, halachah is the framework through which we express our uniqueness in serving God, and it is essentially the same for every Jew—and only for the Jew.

Since my identity was firmly Jewish and I had been through thirty-eight cycles of the Jewish calendar (albeit superficially), and since my sincere teshuvah brought me to this discovery, Rabbi D. said he would work with me. When I was ready to be shomer mitzvot, he would convert me.

Allen and I were not ready to make the move to an observant community for almost a year. Since our children were also not halachic Jews, Rabbi D. advised the local day school to accept them as potential converts. Allen and I continued taking classes and slowly took on more mitzvot. On the surface, we seemed like any other BT family. Eventually we became shomer Shabbat, and uprooted ourselves from our home and community.

Finally, the day I was to go before the beit din arrived. Even though I knew and trusted the rabbis in this court of law, they presided with gravity; they were reserved and serious while I was intimidated and afraid. I knew that my life literally hung in the balance; I did not know how I could cope without halachah as the framework for my life.

After a grueling two hours, my new rabbi, Rabbi D., welcomed me as a sister into the Jewish people, and I dissolved into tears of relief and gratitude in his office. I stood in the mikvah and had the awesome opportunity of affirming my commitment to live my life immersed in truth.

Later that day, the rabbis of the beit din spoke with our children before they immersed in the mikvah. Rabbi D. took pains to explain to them, at a level they could understand, how this was a special turning point in their lives. Finally, Allen and I were married in a simple ceremony, surrounded by a few new friends and by the kollel couples who had taught us, counseled us and now celebrated with us.

But our story does not conclude here. For the children and grandchildren of an illegitimate convert, there is no happy ending. Sensitive family issues arise as my sisters, already challenged by our teshuvah, do not understand that they are not Jewish. Owing their strong Jewish identity to the values my parents instilled in us, my sisters married Jews and are raising their children with Jewish youth groups and summer camps, Brises and Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. Also raised in today’s culture of relative rather than absolute truth, my nieces and nephews are not equipped to appreciate the role of halachah in their lives. They ask me questions that have answers they cannot hear. Most likely, they will one day end up at a kiruv event at some college campus, and face the same realization and rejection that I experienced.

Sadly, there are thousands like me, children of non-halachic converts, intermarriage or both. And the number grows. One college campus outreach worker told me that as a rule, of the kids interested in his programming who have Jewish-sounding names (the Cohens and Goldsteins), over 50 percent are not halachically Jewish. Conversely, the kids with non-Jewish-sounding names who show up at his events (the Rogers and MacDonalds) are almost always the children of an intermarried Jewish mother. They are the Jews.

As the clock ticks, we are running out of time to save the millions of remaining Jews from adding to the skyrocketing statistics of intermarriage. Kiruv professionals have the monumental challenge of touching as many Jewish souls as possible and cannot possibly be expected to spend their precious resources counseling the child of a non-Jewish mother.

Do I encourage my interested relatives, give them books, invite them for Shabbat as one would reach out to any Jew with a desire to grow? And if they marry Gentiles, should I, an observant Jew, boycott the weddings because of the appearance of intermarriage? And if they marry Jews, do I risk further ostracization from my family with my objections? The most sensitive issues arise in the relationship between the converted child and the non-halachically converted mother. It is a painful irony that I owe a great deal of my desire to have a true Jewish home to my mother’s sincere commitment to Judaism. After 120 years, I will not be able to sit a proper shivah for either her or my father.

My story is not unique, but for most rabbis, the questions are. The she’eilot that have spun out of my geirut, conversion, have been among the most difficult my rabbi has faced in his career. Unfortunately, the problem is snowballing due to the broadening acceptance of patrilineal descent, and it presents enormous challenges for today’s Orthodox rabbinate. A rabbi advising the BT or ger needs the blessing of an extra dose of insight to help us navigate the large questions and nuances unique to our new identity. Sensitivity is needed as well, as many of us have Jewish-born spouses as well as children in tow. The ability to wisely and compassionately guide us and uphold the incontrovertible truth of the Torah rests heavily on these rabbis’ shoulders.

One can be either a BT or a ger, but not both. However, I feel like both, and I feel like neither. I share the same cultural background as many of my BT friends, made the same choice to claim our inheritance and deal with similar matters concerning our non-observant and intermarried families. Still, they cannot truly understand what it means to be a ger. Emotionally and spiritually, I connect to the family of noble gerim whom I have met. We overcame exclusion, suspicion and great hurdles that a BT cannot understand. We unequivocally affirmed our commitment and were reborn as Jews. And yet I cannot truly understand what it means to shear away a past in the same way that the gerim I met did.

Yet, I would do it again. The raison d’etre for the Jew is to change and grow beyond the limits we imagine we have. As I look back fifteen years to the beginning of my odyssey, to the woman I was at the rabbi’s Shabbat table, and see where I sit today, I realize that when I cast my lot with the Jewish people and commit to doing God’s will, anything can happen.

*Gila Davids is a pen name.

Disgracing Her Name

Most of the court Jews who were invited to Bush's party were no surprise. Only one really shocked me. That's Rebbetzen Esther Jungreis, Founder and President of Hineni.

I'm sure she'll find some way to "excuse it," but I consider the Bush-Olmert alliance so totally traif that nothing can possible kasher it.

Her being on that list saddens me.

Shabbat Shalom

Even Those Who Admire Us

There's a very favorable excerpt from an article by a Muslim, Israel Deserves Admiration - Salim Mansur, being passed around, forwarded, sent in emails and blogged about.

Here's the part everyone is excited about:

The birth of Israel has offered Jews a secure home where they may prosper without any fear or apology. If Israel had been born ten years earlier, then a great many Jews who perished in Hitler's death camps likely would have survived. Jews are an insignificant fraction of the present world population of over six and a half billion - around 14 million, or 0.2% of the total. Yet Jewish contributions in the making of the modern world tower above that of any other people in relative terms and the immense odds of survival as a people given the level of hostility directed at them. Turning a desert into one of the rich economies of the world few imagined six decades ago is a proof of how much more could be achieved if those (who are) fighting Jews joined with them instead.
The writer, a Muslim, is an associate professor of political science at the University of Western Ontario.

But if you read the full article, you'll find something not true at all:

"Israel's birth was assisted by Britain, joined by France,..."

For those of us more familiar with the struggle for Israel's independence, it's clear that Great Britain did everything in its power to prevent the Jewish Nation from coming into existence.l It supported the Arabs and ignored Arab aggression and terrorism against the struggling Jewish entity. One of the reasons that Great Britain severely restricted Jewish immigration was to keep the Jewish population too low to facilitate a Jewish State.

Great Britain was also one of the only two countries to recognise Jordanian rule over Judea and Samaria. During the British Mandate, Jewish freedom fighters were jailed, while Arab terrorists were allowed to continue attacking Jews.

In actuality, not a single foreign country did anything to support Israel's establishment. We must remember that.

Olmert, Honest?

First we heard it from Bush, and now from Slim-Fast's S. Daniel Abraham.

Abraham, a strong supporter of Israel who is in the country during its 60th anniversary celebrations, said he believes Olmert is honest and "one of the best prime ministers we have ever had." (complete article)

A billionaire businessman should know better than that.

Talansky's problems are increasing, at least according to the latest news:

Report: Talansky's driver transferred envelopes with cash to Olmert

Achshverosh Bush's Party List

Thanks to David Bedein

Members of the Honorary Delegation accompanying US President George Bush include:


Dr. Miriam Adelson, Chairperson, Dr. Miriam & Sheldon G. Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse Treatment and Research


Mr. Sheldon G. Adelson, Chairman of the Board, Las Vegas Sands Corporation


Mr. Moshe Aflalo, CEO of Aflalo Equities


Mr. Neil Z. Auerbach, Managing Partner, Hudson Clean Energy Partners


Mr. Kenneth Bialkin, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLC


Mr. Elliott B. Broidy, Chairman and CEO of Broidy Capital Management


Mr. Matthew H. Brooks, Executive Director, Republican Jewish Coalition


Mr. Alan I. Casden, Chairman and CEO of Casden Properties LLC


Mr. Stanley M. Chesley, President of the National Jewish Fund


Mr. William C. Daroff, Vice President for Public Policy and Director of the Washington Office United Jewish Communities


Mr. Nathan J. Diament, Director, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations


Rabbi David H. Ellenson, Ph.D., President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion


Mr. Michael David Epstein, President of Sensormatic Security Corporation


Mr. Donald Etra, Attorney, Law Offices of Donald Etra


Ms. Nancy E. Falchuk, National President, Hadassah


Ms. Selma J. Fisch, Founder, Fisch Properties


Mr. David M. Flaum, Chairman, Republican Jewish Coalition


Ms. Marilyn Fox, Chairman of the Fox Family Foundation and Former President of the St. Louis Jewish Community Center


The Honorable Sam Fox, U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium


Mr. Abraham H. Foxman, National Director, Anti-Defamation League Mr. Howard E. Friedman, President, AIPAC


Mr. Tony B. Gelbart, Chairman and Co-Founder of Nefesh B'Nefesh


Mr. Sander R. Gerber, Chairman and CEO, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP


Mr. Marc S. Goldman, Farmland Dairies


The Honorable Phil Gordon, Mayor of the City of Phoenix, Arizona


Mr. Richard S. Gordon, President, American Jewish Congress


Dr. Jeffrey Gunter, President, Beverly Capital Management LLC


Mr. David Hager, President, Hager Pacific


Ms. Cheryl Halpern, Member, CPB Board of Directors


Mr. Uri Harkham, CEO, Jonathan Martin Fashion Group


Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean, Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance


Mr. Malcolm I. Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations


Mr. Murray A. Huberfeld, Chairman, Centurion Credit Management LP



Rebbetzen Esther Jungreis, Founder and President of Hineni


Dr. Henry Kissinger, Chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc.


Dr. Richard Land, President, Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission


Mr. Ronald Lauder, President, World Jewish Congress and Chairman, Jewish National Fund


Mr. Eliot Lauer, Senior Partner, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle


Ms. Linda S. Law, Founder, Law and Associates


Mr. Michael I. Lebovitz, Senior Vice President, CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.


The Honorable Jay P. Lefkowitz, Special Envoy on Human Rights in North Korea


Rabbi David H. Lincoln, Senior Rabbi, Park Avenue Synagogue, New York City


The Honorable Linda Lingle, Governor of the State of Hawaii


The Honorable Earle I. Mack, Senior Partner, the Mack Company


Rabbi Isaac Neuman, Rabbi Emeritus of Sinai Temple, Champaign, Illinois


Mr. Michael B. Oren, Senior Fellow, Shalem Center, Jerusalem; Professor Georgetown University


Mr. Ronald Plotkin, Former COO, Monster.com Directional Marketing


Steve L. Poizner, Insurance Commissioner, State of California


Mr. Bruce M. Ramer, Attorney and Partner, Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown


Mr. J. Philip Rosen, Attorney, Partner, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP


Mr. William Safire, Chairman, Dana Foundation


Mr. Lee C. Samson, President and CEO, SNF Management


Mr. Lenny Sands, Chairman, Alchemy Worldwide


Mr. Richard H. Schneider, Managing Member, Bunker Capital LLC


Mr. Fred Schwartz, Founder, The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation


The Honorable Melvin F. Sembler, Chairman of the Board of The Sembler Company


Mr. Dan Senor, Founding Partner, Rosemont Capital


Mr. Joe Shapira, Managing Partner, Java Equities LLC


Ms. Florence Shapiro, Co-Chair of the Education Policy Taskforce for the National Council of State Government


Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Director, Washington Office of American Friends of Lubavitch


Dr. Robert J. Shillman, Ph.D., Founder, Chairman and CEO of Cognex Corporation


Mr. Richard J. Sideman, President, American Jewish Committee


Mr. Mark S. Siegel, President of ReMY Investors & Consultants, Inc.


Rabbi Michael S. Siegel, Norman Asher Rabbinic Chairman and Senior Rabbi


The Honorable Ned L. Siegel, U.S. Ambassador to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas


Mr. Ron Silver, President Emeritus, Actors' Equity Association; Board of Directors, U.S. Institute of Peace


The Honorable Martin J. Silverstein, Private Investor and Senior Counsel, Greenberg Traurig


Mr. Paul E. Singer, General Partner, Elliott Associates, LP


The Honorable Clifford M. Sobel, U.S. Ambassador to Brazil


Mr. Jaime Sohacheski, Chairman, Crown Realty and Development Corporation


Mr. Ronald G. Steinhart, Retired CEO, Commercial Banking, Bank One Corporation


Rabbi Mordechai Suchard, Founder and Director, Gateways Organization


Mr. Stephen J. Trachtenberg, President Emeritus, University Professor of Public Service, George Washington University


Ms. June R. Walker, Chairperson, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations


Mr. Leslie H. Wexner, Chairman of the Board and CEO, Limited Brands


Mr. Elie Wiesel, University Professor; Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities; Professor of Philosophy and Religion in the College of Arts and Sciences; President, The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity


Mr. Fred S. Zeidman, Chairman, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum


Mr. Mark Zucker, Managing Member, Dorchester Capital


Mr. Mort B. Zuckerman, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of U.S. News & World Report; Publisher of the New York Daily News; Co-Founder and Chairman of Boston Properties Inc.

NY Post Floods Olmert's Party

EHUD OLMERT SCANDAL LINKED TO MINI-BAR BIZ - New York Post

The New York Post is proving itself the best source of information about the latest Olmert scandal.

Olmert isn't going to fall very quickly. It doesn't matter what headlines we see, what's revealed to the public and what the "in people" really know. He has been cementing his political climb with great care. Will he succeed to protect himself for decades like J. Edgar Hoover?

Yesterday, the Arab terrorists launched more deadly rockets at Israel, seriously injuring many Israelis in an Ashkelon Mall. All we hear from Olmert and his buddy Bush are vague threats and promises.

The image of all of the Israeli and Jewish "machers" wining and dining with those who want to endanger our existence by establishing an Arab terror state in our Heartland makes me think of how the Purim story is introduced in Megilat The Scroll of Esther. The classic children's story "The Emperor's New Clothes," is really a reworking of our history.

The children's story and the Purim story both have happy endings, and G-d willing ours will, too.

hat tip, ajg

While Olmert Fiddles and Bush Dances A Jig

Ashkelon, a major Israeli city, is being attacked by the same Arab terrorists Olmert, Bush, Blair, Peres, Livni etc, want to reward with a well-endowed "country."

(IsraelNN.com) Arab terrorists in Gaza fired two Grad Katyusha missiles at southern Ashkelon late Wednesday afternoon, and one rocket scored a direct hit on a children's medical clinic inside a shopping center. Parts of the building collapsed, trapping four people for a half-hour. (complete article and picture credit)

Read this first person account--near miss:

Attention K-Mart Shoppers - Incoming Rockets

by Sara Layah Shomron

As I walked into the Nitzan caravilla site, my temporary home away from home - may Gush Katif be speedily rebuilt, I heard and felt a BOOM! Once in my crowded caravilla, I turned on the computer and learned that the earth shake underfoot were 2 rockets that had landed at the Ashkelon Hutzot mall on the health clinic floor from where I was returning.

I met my son at the Hutzot mall in Ashkelon who had traveled there from his Jerusalem Yeshiva specifically for a 5:15pm medical appointment at the Hutzot Mall. He arrived earlier than expected (3:30) on account of concern over traffic of Jerusalem roads caused by American President Bush's visit. I hadn't expected my son so early and was still at the caravilla when he phoned me of his Ashkelon arrival. I instructed him to go to the specialist's waiting room area where hopefully he could be seen earlier - I would be there shortly. Fortunately someone I knew stopped for me as I walked toward the highway to catch a bus headed for Ashkelon. As fate would have it, their destination was the same as mine.

We got him in to see the specialist, stopped in the pharmacy and were out at the bus stop to catch our respective buses - it was 5:15pm.

Had my son's scheduled appointment time been kept I fear ... there but for the grace of G-d go we.

May those injured have a speedy and complete recovery. May what
masquerades as our government quickly understand that George Bush is not the burning bush and act accordingly - with G-d's help fighting the war with a clear and unequivocal victory.

Now, honestly, do you think that US President Bush is a real friend of Israel? And do you think that Olmert and crew are doing what they should be for Israel?

Palestinian Media Watch: US, EU money promotes Palestinian ideology of world without Israel

Bulletin May 14, 2008 Palestinian Media Watch  US, EU money promotes Palestinian ideology of world without Israel  By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook   Palestinian Authority (PA) infrastructures controlled by Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah continue to promote the ideology that "Palestine" wi