On
Israel 60th Birthday Bush Tells Iran, Syria, No Appeasement
On Terrorism
Photo:
Joel Leyden / Israel News Agency
By
Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem
----- May 17, 2008 ....... US President George W. Bush will
leave Saudi Arabia this morning for Egypt after having visited
Israel for its 60th birthday celebrations.
Upon
his historic arrival at Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport, Bush stated:
"Israel is our strongest friend and ally in the Middle
East. Our two nations both faced great challenges when they
were founded. And our two nations have both relied on the same
principles to help us succeed. We built strong democracies to
protect the freedoms given to us by an Almighty God."
President
George W. Bush was greeted by Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
Israel President Shimon Peres, several other Israel dignitaries
and an Israel Defense Forces 50-person strong orchestra in a
colorful and warm red carpet welcome.
Bush
was told by Peres: "Welcome to the new Israel: Three thousand
years old, and going on sixty."
Bush
spent three days in Israel visiting the Facing Tomorrow Conference,
the Knesset and Masada before flying off yesterday for Saudi
Arabia.
Just
hours before Bush's Blue and White Air Force One arrived in
Israel, a Grad type rocket produced in Iran and launched from
Gaza slammed into a shopping mall in the southern Israel city
of Ashkelon.
Fourteen
civilians were wounded. Three people suffered severe wounds,
two were moderately injured and five suffered light injuries.
Two women and a young girl were seriously wounded, Magan David
Adom reported. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.
Ashkelon
is a port city of 120,000 people located about 10 miles north
of the Gaza Strip. The Iran rocket which hit the shopping mall
was only one of at least 20 Katyusha-type rockets to have rocked
the city.
Israel
President Shimon Peres responded by saying that it was Hamas'
actions in Gaza and Hezbollah's in Lebanon which are holding
up the establishment of a Palestinian state. Shimon Peres, the
winner of a Nobel Peace Price, went on to remind the world that
Israel could have been living in peace with a Palestine state
if the Palestinians would have accepted a state back in 1948.
But rather than living in peace with the Jewish population which
has a historic roots going back to the first and second temples
in Jerusalem, Masada and Gamla, the Palestinians chose to join
invading Arab armies with the promise of taking all Jewish land.
"As
Iran calls for wiping Israel off the map, inciting hate
and violence against the Jewish people, those in Teheran
are actually delaying the establishment of Palestine and
keeping children in Gaza in poverty," said one participant
at the Facing Tomorrow Conference in Jerusalem. "Iran
is doing exactly the same thing that Arab leaders did with
the minds of those Arabs who lived here in 1948, giving
them false hope of securing all the land and keeping these
people in poverty. It is not Israel which is oppressing
the Palestinian people today, it is Iran and Syria."
This
is President George Bush's second trip to the middle east in
five months, and his second to Israel as president.
After
leaving Israel yesterday, Bush visited Saudi Arabia, where he
and his delegation addressed the high price of oil. Many in
the President's delegation questioned leaders in Saudi Arabia
about their neglect in assisting Palestinians who live in poverty
while those in Saudi Arabia eat caviar, drive Rolls Royce and
fly off to their homes in France, England and the Caribbean
for vacations.
Jewish
leaders in Israel appeared more concerned about the quality
of life for those living in Gaza and the West Bank and truly
advocating the establishment of Palestine in contrast to those
in Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria.
Many
Jewish leaders at Israel 60th birthday Facing Tomorrow Peace
Conference in Jerusalem, including Israel UN Ambassador Dan
Gillerman, ADL Director Abe Foxman, Sir Ronald Cohen and advertising
giant Maurice Levy stated that Israel is ready to assist in
investing in a state named Palestine. But that any investment
in a future entity called Palestine could only be realized when
terror organizations such as Iran backed Hamas, Islamic Jihad
and Hezbollah which call for Israel's total destruction, lay
down their weapons.
"As
Iran calls for wiping Israel off the map, inciting hate and
violence against the Jewish people, those in Teheran are actually
delaying the establishment of Palestine and keeping children
in Gaza in poverty," said one participant to Facing Tomorrow
Conference. "Iran is doing exactly the same thing that
Arab leaders did with the minds of those Arabs who lived here
in 1948, giving them false hope of securing all the land and
keeping these people in poverty. It is not Israel which is oppressing
the Palestinian people today, it is Iran and Syria."
George
Bush used his interviews in both Israel and Saudi Arabia to
criticize Hamas which controls Gaza and opposes recognition
of Israel as a country.
"Their
vision is to destroy Israel," Bush told Israel reporters.
"How about a vision that says we want to coexist with Israel
so we can raise our children in peace? Now, I'm sure, people
say, 'Bush, oh man, he sounds hopelessly idealistic.' But the
truth of the matter is, in order for peace to be secure, it's
that kind of idealism that has got to prevail."
In
his speech to the Knesset, Bush spoke about his visit to Masada
and repeated the Israel pledge, saying, "Masada shall never
fall again."
At
the same time President George W. Bush predicted that Israel's
120th birthday would find it alongside a Palestinian state and
in an all-democratic neighborhood free of today's oppression,
restrictions on freedom and extremist Muslim movements.
During
a speech to the Knesset, the Israel parliament, Bush limited
his mention of Palestinians to just one sentence. "The
Palestinian people will have the homeland they have long dreamed
of and deserved, a democratic state that is governed by law,
and respects human rights, and rejects terror," he said.
The
President stated his opposition to negotiating with terrorists
and radicals, and, invoking Nazi Germany, rejecting the
false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited
by history.
Shortly
after the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, then Israel
Prime Minister Arik Sharon warned the United States not to "appease
the Arabs at Israel's expense." Sharon made reference to
the catastrophic consequences of European democracies appeasing
Hitler prior to World War II, specifically citing the Munich
Pact of 1938 which ceded Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland to Germany:
''Don't repeat the terrible mistakes of 1938, when the enlightened
democracies in Europe decided to sacrifice Czechoslovakia for
a comfortable, temporary solution. Israel will not be Czechoslovakia.''
Bush
began his speech declaring with a broad and warm smile:"Yom
Atzmaut Sameach," or "Happy Independence Day."
President Bush denounced anti-Semitism "in all forms,"
and stated that "Israel has a right to defend itself".
In
reaction to the speech, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said:
"Bush's recognition of Palestine as the national homeland
for the Jews is a very dangerous act of discrimination and racism,
obliterating the right of return for Palestinians and establishing
a genocide at the expense of Palestinian rights." He added:
"We want to tell Bush, Israel is not going to survive another
60 years. Israel's end is drawing closer, and it will take less
than 60 years to achieve it."
"Some
people suggest that if the United States would just break ties
with Israel, all our problems in the Middle East would go away,"
said Bush. "This is a tired argument that buys into the
propaganda of our enemies, and America rejects it utterly. Israel's
population may be just over 7 million. But when you confront
terror and evil, you are 307 million strong, because America
stands with you."
Bush's
trip to Egypt follows a one-day visit to Riyadh, where he met
King Abdullah and secured a promise of a Saudi Arabia increase
in oil output in response to his repeated appeals for help in
easing record world oil prices
President
Bush will meet Egypt President Hosni Mubarak and Afghan President
Hamid Karzai as well as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas today. Bush will meet with Jordan King Abdullah, Pakistan
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Iraq officials on Sunday
at an international economic forum.
The
above text was edited and SEO optimized for the Internet by
Joel Leyden.