1. The Real Threat to the Two-State Solution, Commentary Magazine, Evelyn Gordon
2. Vain Hopes and a Fool's Fantasy: The Conspicuous Futility of Israel's "Peace Process", Israel-America Renaissance Institute, Louis Rene Beres
3. The Main Goal of the Palestinian Government, Gatestone Institute, Khaled Abu Toameh
4. Hamas as Violent as Ever, EU and Left as Clueless as Ever, Commentary Magazine, Omri Ceren
5. Hezbollah's Newest Threat, Tablet Magazine, Lee Smith
6. IDF to boost intelligence efforts on Jordanian border, YNet News, Yoav Zitun

The EU accused Israel yesterday of endangering the two-state solution, inter alia via such crimes as failing to allow more Palestinian construction in parts of the West Bank under full Israeli control. How this threatens a two-state solution is never explained, for the simple reason that it obviously doesn’t: Israel’s refusal to authorize certain Palestinian construction now in no way prevents a Palestinian government from authorizing it later if that land becomes Palestinian under a peace deal.

But focusing on such non-problems allows the EU to ignore the real threat to the two-state solution: the ongoing Palestinian refusal to talk to Israel – not only among the official leadership, but among civil society as well.

Last week, for instance, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate in the West Bank announced that any journalist who dared meet with an Israeli colleague would be expelled from the union, and perhaps even from his job, for the crime of “normalization” with Israel. Because many Israeli journalists (unlike the Israeli mainstream) vocally support the Palestinian Authority’s stated preconditions for resuming negotiations – a complete settlement freeze and an upfront Israeli agreement to a final border based on the 1967 lines – one would think Palestinians would want to encourage them. Instead, the journalists’ union has just declared that even Israelis who fully support Palestinian demands will be treated as bitter enemies. And then the “international community” wonders why mainstream Israelis fear that ceding the West Bank would result in yet another enemy state rather than a friendly, peaceful neighbor....

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Once again, on May 15, 2012, “Palestinians” worldwide commemorated “Nakba Day,” a ritual annual remembrance of their displacement that followed Israel’s independence in 1948. Oddly enough, even now, there is no general Palestinian acknowledgment of Arab responsibility for this displacement. Nor, even now, is there any far-reaching willingness to move toward a genuine “Two-State Solution” in the Middle East. Rather, the Arab world, still beating impassioned and relentless drums of sectarian war, retains steadfast commitment to a “One-State Solution.” Unambiguously, such an asymmetrical plan would amount to a Final Solution for Israel.

From the start of the so-called “Middle East Peace Process,” beginning back at Oslo in 1993, all Palestinian “partners” have sought to excise Israel from the map. For these Palestinians—Fatah, Hamas, it makes no real difference—the cartographic objective of every written agreement with “the Jews” has been unhidden. Up to the present moment, all Palestinian factions have held one indelibly core idea in common. This is that every inch of Israel, in addition to all of West Bank (Judea/Samaria) and Gaza, is, irremediably and incontestably, an integral part of “Palestine.” In other words, there is no Jewish land in the Arab Middle East.

More than one year ago, by the end of April, 2011, Fatah, or the Palestinian Authority, and Hamas, had completed a formal détente, or agreement of reconciliation. At that time, Hamas leader Mahmoud Azhar duly noted the still-unchanged Islamic Resistance Movement platform: “No recognition of Israel, and no negotiation.” This plainly refractory position also became the de jure and de facto position of Fatah....

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At a time when many Western governments, the World Bank and various international organizations are continuing to heap praise on the Palestinian Authority for implementing reforms, the deputy speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Hasan Khreishah, announced that financial and administrative corruption was now more widespread than ever.

Khreishah, who is an independent parliamentarian, made it clear that the Palestinian government of Salam Fayyad, which has been hailed for combating corruption and implementing major reforms, was continuing to squander public funds.

One of the charges the deputy parliament speaker makes is related to the Palestinian government's claim that it is facing severe financial crisis.

Khreishah says that the Palestinian government is in fact lying when it talks about a financial crisis; its main goal is to get Western and Arab donors to channel more funds to Ramallah: "Corruption in the Palestinian Authority is more widespread than in the past," he said. "We hear about the suffering and hunger of the poor and the difficulties facing the unemployed, farmers, villagers and civil servants," Khreishah said. "At the same time, we hear about the luxurious life of senior and influential officials and the involvement of some in money laundering."

What Khreishah is saying is that Western donors, specifically the US and EU, are continuing to pour billions of dollars on the Palestinian Authority without holding its leaders fully accountable....

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In February, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh reiterated that Hamas would never give up trying to militarily destroy Israel, declaring while in Tehran that the “gun is our only response to the Zionist regime.” A month later, senior Gaza-based Hamas leader Mahmud Zahar, also visiting Tehran, made functionally the same statement. He also announced that the “principles and strategy of the Palestinian Islamic resistance will not change.”

Soon afterward, the two war advocates squared off in a secret election for placement on, and leadership of, Hamas’s 15-member Gaza politburo. Haniyeh rose above Zahar and is now the institution’s head.

Meanwhile, elections for Hamas’s overall central committee – as opposed to its Gaza politburo – are in the process of wrapping up. Official results should be up in the next 10 days, and in the meantime, somewhat conflicting rumors have emerged. Those reports are about the margins however, and it’s probably safe to assume that paid Iranian stooges Khaled Meshaal and Mussa Abu Marzuk are more or less leading the pack. Meshaal enjoys what counts as an incumbency advantage in that world, and Marzuk just declared unending war against Israel.

No one in charge of Hamas at any level, in other words, is pushing anything but a permanent campaign of violence against the Jewish State. Just this morning Hamas spokesman Hammad al-Ruqab called on Palestinians to kidnap Israeli soldiers, which is a call for Palestinians to start another war....

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Pictured above - Sayyed Muhammad Hassan al-Amine sits next to a poster of Sheikh Hassan Mchaymech, once a part of Hezbollah’s leadership and now imprisoned. (Wael Hamze)

Hezbollah’s goal, in the words of its senior officials, has always been to create a society of resistance among Lebanese Shiite Muslims—one that would share in the setbacks as well as the victories of the militia’s fighters. So, why is Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah now complaining that Israel committed war crimes against civilians? In a culture of total resistance, surely no one is an innocent bystander.

Yet at a celebration this past Friday for the rebuilding of portions of Beirut’s southern suburbs destroyed in the 2006 war with Israel, Nasrallah asked his followers: “Why wasn’t [Israel] content with the killings in the battlefield, or with bombing military bases? Why did it expand its aggression to destroy homes and schools?”

Nasrallah apparently wants it both ways. He runs a guerrilla organization that stores its arms in homes and schools and hides among a civilian population that supports Hezbollah’s brand of asymmetric warfare. At the same time, he seeks to prick the conscience of the international community in order to have Israel sanctioned for crimes against the same population that his group uses as human shields....

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An advanced observation system is set to be deployed along the border with Jordan as defense officials fear growing infiltration attempts. Officials are concerned that efforts to seal the Egyptian border will motivate infiltrators to access Israel via Jordan.

The advanced multi-sensor system allows high-quality observation deep into Jordanian territory. Defense officials hope the system will help thwart terror smuggling. The IDF is planning to considerably enhance the field intelligence collection effort in the Dead Sea region.

The system, which incorporates observation, photography and radar capabilities, is currently being deployed in the Egyptian border area. The Southern Command's Combat Intelligence Collection Corps will track the Sinai region....

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