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Posted on 06/23/2005 12:07:13 PM PDT by Esther Ruth
Bethlehem handover next week
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz instructs IDF to start preparations for transfer of security control over West Bank town to Palestinian Authority; Qalqiliya expected to be transferred to Palestinian control a week later By Hanan Greenberg
TEL AVIV - Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has instructed the IDF Thursday to prepare for the transfer of security control over the West Bank town of Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority as early as next week.
During a meeting with senior security officials, Mofaz also said the army should be ready to hand over another West Bank town, Qalqiliya, in two weeks.
The latest decision comes during the most sensitive junction in the relative lull in violence that has prevailed in recent months, after the IDF intensified its counter-terrorism operations against the Islamic Jihad following a string of attacks on Israeli targets.
During Thursday’s session, Mofaz said IDF officers who maintain contacts with their Palestinian counterparts at all levels must continue to demand the PA confiscate the weapons of wanted terror suspects. Otherwise, the IDF would be forced to perform that task, the defense minister said.
The pledge to hand over Bethlehem was made by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a talk with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas earlier this week.
Mofaz also said the IDF should prepare for the implementation of the apparent solution to the razing of evacuees homes in the Gaza Strip, with the Palestinians being tasked with the cleanup.
(06.23.05, 18:11)
(Excerpt) Read more at ynetnews.com ...
The decision to hand over more Palestinian towns comes amid Islamic Jihad threats to offer a harsh response to what it calls the “Israeli manhunt for activists.” The group says Israel has detained 300 Islamic Jihad members in recent days and killed many others.
BEing the slow Conservative that I am,
this handover and others like hit, make absolutely no sense to me.
Perhaps I can explain. They are following the tried and true "Munich method". The idea is that if they cede some their territory, those nasty belligerents' taste for conquest will be satiated and then everyone will join hands and live in peace. Works every time, or so I'm told.
The undisputed birthplace of Jesus, handed over with no ceremony to members of the savage murdering muslim cult?
Is this because it's a Christian place of historical and religious importance? Does islam have precedence over Christianity in the Jewish mind?
Will Mecca one day be forced to be handed over to the Jews?
(not that the Jews would want it, but you get the idea.)
Bethlehem to be handed over to PA next week
margot dudkevitch, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 23, 2005
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Thursday ordered the army to prepare to handover additional West Bank cities to Palestinian Authority security control next week.
According to Mofaz, the security establishment should be prepared to hand over Bethlehem next week, followed by Kalkilya the week after.
At a meeting to asses the situation at his Tel Aviv headquarters this afternoon, Mofaz stressed the need for the Palestinians to disarm all fugitives and ensure they sign a pledge to refrain from terrorist activities.
Mofaz also instructed the army and defense establishment to make the necessary preparations to demolish settlers houses in the Gaza Strip once they are evacuated in the upcoming disengagement. He noted that the Palestinians would be responsible for removing the wreckage from the area.
Earlier on Thursday, the IDF began removing military equipment from three school complexes in the Jabel Johar neighborhood located west of the Machpela Cave in Hebron in order to minimize friction and prevent confrontations with the Palestinian population.
Central Command officers said soldiers will evacuate the positions early next week, and take up new positions elsewhere in the city. The army set up positions in the school compounds in 2002, due to the escalation in violence.
"It is not an appropriate time to hand this over to our enemies," said Hebron settlement spokesman David Wilder. The hill overlooks the Jewish section of the city and the Tomb of Patriarchs, believed to be the burial place of Abraham.
Wilder added that "this will bring only more bloodshed," since the IDF evacuation will facilitate greater freedom of movement for Palestinian gunmen. Palestinian terrorists launched some of the bloodiest suicide attacks from Hebron including the double bus bombing in Beersheba last August that killed 17 Israelis.
Yousef Tarturi head of the Hebron branch of the Information Ministry hailed the move as "great, because we have a lot of problems in the Old City. But this is just the start there are many other things Israel must do to make our lives easier."
Meanwhile, a day after gunmen opened fire outside a building where Palestinian premier Ahmed Qurei was calling for an end to the chaos plaguing his territories, Palestinian officials said on Thursday that hundreds of Nablus gunmen would move into Palestinian police forces as a way of bringing them under control.
The officials said that under the tentative agreement, 700 gunmen would be absorbed into the security services.
However, Palestinians admitted that even with the Nablus accord, large-scale collection of weapons is not on the horizon.
Matthew Gutman and AP contributed to this report
A tin-foil wrapped noggin might suspect that there is a bit of hidden malice here: "Hey Europe/America, you say we have no claims to the Temple Mount, chew on this..."
Nah... just Mideast politics as usual.
This is another very good idea. I'm sure the PA will create a vibrant tourist industry.
As you’ll note below, 20 of the terrorists (militants for those who prefer) who holed up in the Church of the Nativity have tired of Europe and are coming home. What better place to spread terror than their old haunts.
Somewhere in Bethlehem plans for the Mosque of the Nativity are being dusted off.
Israel offered to relinquish Bethlehem and Kalkilya to PA control in the next two weeks, to allow fugitives involved in the 2002 Church of the Nativity siege to return to Bethlehem and to embark on the opening of an airport should the PA take steps to crack down on terror.
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Israel is drawing itself some defensive borders and hunkering down until the Palestinians come up with a rational government.
Essentially, the Israelis are disengaging themselves from the Palestinians.
A damn good question. Most Jews realize who their true friends are: the real Christian. Unfortunately, many Jews and Christians, even some of those who realize the truth, are either so deluded or optimistic that they are willing to try anything if their proven enemy says it will bring peace. I'd say Christianity has precedence over Islam in the Jewish mind, but the unrealistic hope for peace trumps pretty much everything else in some minds.
Many of them don't realize there is a small, but rapidly growing death cult amongst Islam that would do ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING to see Christianity, Judiasm, the United States and Israel wiped out, and Europe recolonized. Talk about an imperial power. *shudders*
I can sympatize. But never agree. Bethlehem should be part of Israel proper, administrated by a Christian authority. Or a coalition of Christian authorities. All we can do is stand together, and be vocal about our position.
Also, we don't want Mecca. Or any part of Saudi Arabia, including the oil. Given the kind of people it seems to produce, the Arabs can have it.
I'm not suggesting that's a good thing, in the long term I'd speculate it may not bode well for access to Christian sites, but to my knowledge no one from Bethlehem, nor Christians worldwide, have asked for a different resolution
See 13. I've never seen any support for Israeli control of Bethlehem. Either from local Christians or internationally. Personally I think it would be best for preservation of and access to religious and historic sites, and for the non-Muslim population, but I'm not sure anyone else does.
No, it won't bode well at all. Christians in that region are under a false hope that the Muslims will continue to tolerate anyting but Islam.
I'm feeling a riot coming on (me) - Bethlehem goes to the Palis? No WAY!
Old news. They took over Bethlehem in 1995 as part of Oslo. There were no riots. Israel went back in in 2002 to stoop the terror attacks.
True
But, let them continue to believe it. And when they discover that those bad ol' Israelis that objected to their proselytizing to minors weren't so bad, especially in the face of the punishment for proselytizing to Muslims, we can look at them and say, "You made your decision, live with it.".
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