Jerusalem- The Wailing Wall
June 7, 1967
An Azure report:
Sometime around 10:15 on the morning of June 7, 1967…
The first reservist paratroopers of Brigade 55 broke through the Lion’s Gate leading into the Old City of Jerusalem and reached the narrow enclave of the Western Wall. Having just fought a fierce two-day battle in the streets of east Jerusalem, they grieved for lost friends, and grieved as well for their own lost innocence in what for many was their first experience of combat. They leaned against the Wall, some in exhaustion, some in prayer. Several wept, instinctively connecting to the Wall’s tradition of mourning the destruction of the Temple and the loss of Jewish sovereignty—precisely at the moment when Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem had been restored.
Will Bush and Olmert ignore that sacrifice?
This was sent to me from Israeli sources this morning:
According to the leading correspondent covering the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, Shimon Shiffer of Yediot Ahronot (Israel’s largest newspaper), President Bush’s address at Annapolis “will not be easy for Israeli ears.” In Friday’s magazine, he argues, in an article co-authored by his colleague Nahum Barnea, that Bush will call for “the establsihment of a Palestinian state, the end of ‘occupation,’ and a return of Israel to the 1967 borders, leaving an opening for land swaps.”
The authors explain that Olmert knows that “this text cannot be changed.”
If the report is true, and both of these reporters have direct access to Olmert, then Bush is close to abandoning the April 2004 gurantees on settlement blocs and “defensible borders” that he gave in writing to former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. That letter was all Israel received for pulling 9,000 Israelis out of their homes in the Gaza Strip. That was the quid pro quo. Back in 1967, President Lyndon Johnson insisted that Israel was not expected to fully withdraw from the territories it captured in the Six Day War (in a war of self-defense) and this US position was enshrined forty years ago in the language of UN Security Council Resolution 242.
It is difficult to believe that Bush, who is known for his consistancy and loyalty, would make this change and demand full withdrawal. In Sunday’s Maariv newspaper, Ben Caspit, its chief foreign affairs correspondent, is reporting that there is a struggle in Washington today over the contents of the Bush Annapolis address, with the Saudis, Rice, and Israel all pulling in different directions. Today, Bush’s old friend Sharon is in a comma in an Israeli hospital and cannot comment on such a change should it occur.
But it is also difficult to explain the sudden decision of the Saudis to attend Annapolis at the level of foreign minister, unless someone in the administration gave them some guarantees.
Now, check this out…
This morning Syria announced that it is planning on attending the talks this week, after the issue of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights was added to the agenda.
It looks like this tip was accurate.
It could be a devastating week for Israel.
MORE… 16 Arab nations and the Arab League are planning on sitting down with Israel for the first time in more than a decade. The Bush Administration will finalize the preparations tonight with representatives from Israel and Fatah.
UPDATE: The latest developments leave Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas miffed at Annapolis.
UPDATE 2: Jeff Emanuel explains this very dangerous situation for Israel.
