"Stop blaming Israel and wake up: The black flag of jihad is the REAL threat to the world"

[OriZ 3,157]

The point of the article is not don't look at what Israel is doing cause Isis is worse(that alone tells me you never read it).

From the article:

Jews are attacked here in Britain, they are blockaded into a synagogue in Paris and the chant ‘Death to the Jews’ is heard in Germany for the first time in 70 years.

But too few people seem to want to notice this or admit what it means. They think this is just about Israel, or just about Jewish people. It isn’t. It is about all of us.

The decision last month by the Israeli government to respond to Hamas rocket-fire from Gaza is the response any government would choose if rockets were fired at its citizens. The Israeli government has the right - as does any government - to stop the bombarding of its people.

However, in recent weeks it has become plain that much of the world expects a different response from Israel. They expect Israel not to fight for the safety, security and survival of their people, but to lie down in front of the Islamic extremist enemy.

But in expecting Israel to behave differently from the rest of us our societies and governments reveal far more about our own state than the State of Israel.

Because the truth is that behind the demands for Israel to lie down in front of its enemies is a fatal unwillingness of our own to face the problem which is in our midst.

There are those who think that Israel is somehow the cause of the world’s problems, or that in defending themselves from Islamic extremists Israel is somehow causing Islamic extremism. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The extremists of Hamas are the ideological bedfellows of the extremists of ISIS who are rampaging through Syria and Iraq, crucifying and beheading as they go.

The video of the apparent beheading of American journalist James Foley by an ISIS murderer with a British accent has shocked the world. ISIS or IS are the soul-mates of Boko Haram who kidnap and kill Christian villagers in the North of Nigeria and stole 300 schoolgirls earlier this year.

They also share the exact same ideology – if not yet the same means – as those people who were found in Birmingham earlier this year teaching British pupils to hate wider British society and cut themselves off from non-Muslims.

But it is this last part of the equation which many people seem so incapable of dealing with. They see the millions of Muslims who have come to our continent and see how many of them are radical. But it is a problem they fear they cannot deal with.

They believe that if Israel just gave up fighting and disappeared that the rest of us would be able to live in peace. They see the young Muslims who stormed into a supermarket in Birmingham last weekend, trashing the products and assaulting a British policeman and they think “this is caused by Israel.”

They see young Parisian Muslims throw slabs of concrete at police and set fire to cars and they think “If only Israel weren’t responding to Hamas rocket-fire.” And they see Imams in Germany and Italy preach that all Jewish people must be killed and they pretend that it is not a problem for all of us.

How wrong they are. The problem of anti-Semitism, and Islamic anti-Semitism in particular today, is undoubtedly a problem for Jewish people. But it is only a problem for them first. It is a problem for all of us next.

What is it that lies behind this terrible Hamas-driven rage against Israel? What lies behind the desire for Israel to disappear? Today the world is finding out.

Because behind the flags of Hamas and Hezbollah which have flown at anti-Israel demonstrations in recent weeks is another flag. The black flag of jihad – the black flag most recently being waved in Iraq and Syria by ISIS.

Last month the black flag was flown from a car in London’s Blackwall tunnel as East End Muslims blocked the traffic. At the entrance to a council estate in East London earlier this month there were anti-Israel banners and Palestinian flags. And then, on top of the lot, the black flag of jihad was flown. In Oxford Street last week Islamic extremists set up stall to try to recruit people to rally around the black flag of ISIS.

The black flag is not about Jewish people. Today in Iraq and Syria it is about Christians who ISIS is forcing to convert to Islam at gunpoint or face beheading. Many Christians are being killed by ISIS for refusing to renounce their faith. On some occasions Christians have tried to save their lives by “converting” at gunpoint and ISIS have killed them anyway.

And this is not only about Christians. It is also about other minority faiths in Islamist dominated countries. In Iraq it is also about the Yazidis, the Mandeans and other ancient beliefs which predate Islam.

The ambition of the jihadists – from al-Qaeda to Hamas, Hezbollah, Boko Haram and more – is to subjugate the entire world.

It is now the duty of all decent people – including decent Muslims – to turn on these barbarians and make it clear they will not win.

Rather than offer up beleaguered Israel we should send another message. That the extremists will not win in their desire to take over Israel anymore than they will win in their stated desire to raise the black flag of jihad over Rome, Washington, Downing Street and Buckingham Palace.

Israel is not the cause of the world’s problems. It is simply on the front line of them.

But increasingly so are we all. And if we abandon Israel today then one day – too late – we will realise that in fact what we abandoned was ourselves.

You see? Israel is like the Czechoslovakia of the 21st century. They think if they just sacrifice Israel, all their problems will go away. They will not.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Who thinks that Israel is the cause of the world's problems?

ISIS is the result of the Iraq war which was started by the US/UK under Bush and Blair. It's destabilised the entire region - and whipped up anti-western sentiment.

[OriZ 3,157]

Who thinks that Israel is the cause of the world's problems?

ISIS is the result of the Iraq war which was started by the US/UK under Bush and Blair. It's destabilised the entire region - and whipped up anti-western sentiment.

I am glad you don't. But there are many, many who do. My posts aren't aimed at the first group. So if it doesn't pertain to you, even better and don't bother reading - that's fine. But please understand that just because you don't see it that way - doesn't mean there aren't a whole lot of people out there who do. Some of them even in this forum.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Who in this forum?

[OriZ 3,157]

I really don't want to start getting into names here. If you want we can take it to pm.

[GBCW 397]

dont let them bate you!

[OriZ 3,157]

Uh oh.

Time to boycott Apple.

[OriZ 3,157]

Throughout Operation Protective Edge, the Israel Security Agency interrogated dozens of Hamas terrorists who fought against IDF forces in Gaza. Several of these operatives admitted to using civilian buildings as cover for their military activity.

While being interrogated by the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet Security Service), Hamas terrorists confessed to using mosques and hospitals as hiding places during Operation Protective Edge. According to their testimony, they also built tunnels, launching sites and weapons-storage facilities near playgrounds in Gaza.

During a recent ISA interrogation, terrorist Abd Al-Rahman Ba’aloosha said Hamas regularly gathered its fighters in the Al-Safa and Al-Abra mosques of Khan Yunis. According to Ba’aloosha, Hamas operatives repeatedly met inside of a bunker located underneath the Al-Abra mosque. Another terrorist told Israeli investigators that Hamas first recruited him during a meeting inside of Al-Abra.

Several Hamas fighters said that the terrorist organization used mosques to train operatives and hide explosives. Mohammed Ramadan recalled that Hamas commanders taught him to fire anti-tank missiles inside the Al-Shafi’i mosque in Khan Yunis. The mosque, he said, served as a training base for the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing.

Throughout Operation Protective Edge, the IDF uncovered significant evidence indicating that Hamas used mosques for terror purposes. On several occasions, Israeli forces documented rocket launches from inside mosques or nearby areas. While searching one mosque in Gaza, soldiers uncovered dozens of weapons and shafts leading into underground attack tunnels.

During the ISA’s interrogations, one terrorist confessed that mosques were used to hide guns, RPGs and other kinds of weaponry. Another Hamas operative admitted that hospitals and schools – including the Nasser and Hilal hospitals of Khan Yunis – were used for the same purposes.

Tunnels near playgrounds and weapons in hospitals

According to terrorists Afif and Ahmed Jarrah, Hamas built an attack tunnel just steps away from a playground in Beit Lahia. Another Hamas operative told investigators that he helped dig a similar tunnel near a medical clinic. He added that terrorists planned to hold IDF soldiers hostage in a Gazan playground had they successfully carried out a kidnapping.

Another terrorist said it was “widely known” that senior Hamas operatives had been hiding inside of Gaza’s hospitals. During his interrogation, he explained that armed bodyguards protected Hamas’ leaders in medical facilities. He also confirmed that senior terrorists were hiding inside of Shifa hospital, surrounded by guards dressed in civilian clothing.

As IDF footage shows, Hamas uses medical centers for military purposes in order to shield itself from IDF strikes – and to draw international condemnation of Israel if the IDF is forced to respond. Hamas transformed Wafa Hospital, a civilian building in the Shuja’iya neighborhood of Gaza City, into a command center, rocket-launching site, observation point, sniper’s post, weapons storage facility, cover for tunnel infrastructure, and a general base for attacks against Israel and IDF forces. As seen in the video below, it repeatedly opened fire from hospital windows and used anti-tank missiles from the premises.

Samir Abu Luli, another terrorist interrogated by Israel, admitted that Hamas’ police officers had been stationed in the Al-Najar Hospital of Rafah since the beginning of the operation. He said the officers repeatedly closed areas of the hospital and prevented patients’ family members from entering. Nafez Shaluf, an operative from Rafia, added that operatives of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad frequently hid in Al-Najar. On one occasion, he saw terrorists throwing patients out of the hospital and into the street.

The ISA’s interrogations confirm what Israel has always known about Hamas. The terrorist organization shamelessly exploits Gaza’s population as a cover for its terror activity. By attacking Israel from homes, hospitals, schools and mosques, terrorists endanger Gaza’s populated areas and turn civilians into human shields.

http://www.idfblog.com/blog/2014/08/27/hamas-terrorists-confess-using-human-shields/

Edited August 29, 2014 by OriZ

[rlogan 2,036]

You can't hide thousands of people you've killed behind large font sizes on an internet discussion board.

edit: interesting that gigantic font screaming about Hamas using mosques as terrorist facilities has disappeared now...

Edited August 29, 2014 by rlogan

[OriZ 3,157]

Here is exactly what I've been talking about here...that nobody seems to want to understand. The instability in the region does not allow for concessions without the proper security arrangements. I've said it a million times before - if Israel just withdrew out of the west bank - the regime there would be toppled, if not by Hamas then by another terror group. I've said that if Israel had left the Golan Heights it would have Isis at its doorstep. And what happened today? Well it's not Isis yet but it's rebel forces aligned with Al Qaeda. Thankfully, Israeli leaders had the foresight that the choir bashing them obviously did not.

The IDF Northern Command is closely following the recent developments along Syria-Israel border, after Syrian rebel forces, including members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, which is considered more radical than Hamas, on Wednesday seized the Syrian side of the border crossing with Israel in the Golan Heights.

The fate of the 43 UN peacekeeping troops kidnapped by the rebels in Quneitra is still unknown. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the abduction on Thursday, and called for the immediate release of the troops.

The IDF views the latest developments as a further loss of sovereignty of the Syrian army in the Golan Heights. Addressing the issue on Thursday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linked it to the activities of other terrorist organizations in the Middle East.

ISIS flag in the Syrian border

In a meeting with a delegation of the Armed Services Committee of the House of Representatives, Netanyahu said that "just now an extension of al-Qaeda in the Golan Heights has kidnapped dozens of UN forces. We must take a joint position in order to defeat them."

The prime minister added that, "we have common enemies - radical Islamist terrorists who are ruthless executioners, terrorizing people the people under their control."

Al-Qaeda rebels celebrating near the Israeli border

From Israel's perspective, the loss of the Quneitra crossing by the Syrian army for now only means the halt in the transfer of apples or preventing the passage of young Druze studying in Syria. At the moment, the only interaction that the security establishment has with the rebel forces on the Syrian side of the border, concerns humanitarian issues, such as the treatment of the wounded in Israel and helping to deliver basic equipment.

Deeper into the Syrian Golan Heights, Assad's army is still in control and has is fighting the rebels to prevent them from seizing the entire swathe of the county that runs alongside the border with Israel.

By Thursday evening, the fighting between the rebels and Assad's army had calmed down somewhat, after the Syrian army had lost in an unprecedented manner controls over the sole border crossing with Israel. As well as the Syrian side of the crossing, the insurgents also control the old city of Quneitra and in effect most of the border area that abuts Israel.

The only exception is a small zone in the northeast corner of the border, on the slopes of Mount Hermon, close to the Syrian Druze village of Al-Khader. Here too, however, the presence of the Syrian army has dwindled.

Hmmmm...wonder what would have happened if this was not only the Syrian side but also the Israeli side, had Israel surrendered it back to Syria? Lets take a look at how significant it is for Israel, in the next post.

[OriZ 3,157]

The Golan Heights Today

From the western Golan, it is only about 60 miles -- without major terrain obstacles -- to Haifa and Acre, Israel's industrial heartland. The Golan -- rising from 400 to 1700 feet in the western section bordering on pre­1967 Israel -- overlooks the Huleh Valley, Israel's richest agricultural area. In the hands of a friendly neighbor, the escarpment has little military importance. If controlled by a hostile country, however, the Golan has the potential to again become a strategic nightmare for Israel.

From 1948-67, when Syria controlled the Golan Heights, it used the area as a military stronghold from which its troops randomly sniped at Israeli civilians in the Huleh Valley below, forcing children living on kibbutzim to sleep in bomb shelters. In addition, many roads in northern Israel could be crossed only after probing by mine-detection vehicles. In late 1966, a youth was blown to pieces by a mine while playing football near the Lebanon border. In some cases, attacks were carried out by Yasir Arafat's Fatah, which Syria allowed to operate from its territory.

Israel's options for countering the Syrian attacks were constrained by the geography of the Heights. "Counterbattery fires were limited by the lack of observation from the Huleh Valley; air attacks were degraded by well-dug-in Syrian positions with strong overhead cover, and a ground attack against the positions...would require major forces with the attendant risks of heavy casualties and severe political repercussions," U.S. Army Col. (Ret.) Irving Heymont observed.

Israel repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, protested the Syrian bombardments to the UN Mixed Armistice Commission, which was charged with policing the cease-fire. For example, Israel went to the UN in October 1966 to demand a halt to the Fatah attacks. The response from Damascus was defiant. "It is not our duty to stop them, but to encourage and strengthen them," the Syrian ambassador responded. Nothing was done to stop Syria's aggression. A mild Security Councilresolution expressing "regret" for such incidents was vetoed by the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Israel was condemned by the UN when it retaliated. "As far as the Security Council was officially concerned," historian Netanel Lorch wrote, "there was an open season for killing Israelis on their own territory."

After the Six-Day War began, the Syrian air force attempted to bomb oil refineries in Haifa. While Israel was fighting in the Sinai and West Bank, Syrian artillery bombarded Israeli forces in the eastern Galilee, and armored units fired on villages in the Huleh Valley below the Golan Heights.

On June 9, 1967, Israel moved against Syrian forces on the Golan. By late afternoon, June 10, Israel was in complete control of the plateau. Israel's seizure of the strategic heights occurred only after 19 years of provocation from Syria, and after unsuccessful efforts to get the international community to act against the aggressors.

Six years later, in a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the Syrians overran the Golan Heights before being repulsed by Israeli counterattacks. After the war, Syria signed a disengagement agreement that left the Golan in Israel's hands. [See map]

On December 14, 1981, the Knesset voted to annex the Golan Heights. The statute extended Israeli civilian law and administration to the residents of the Golan, replacing the military authority that had ruled the area since 1967.

Since 1974, Syria has adhered to the cease-fire on the Golan, largely because of the presence of Israeli troops within artillery range of Damascus. But during this time, Syria has provided a haven and supported numerous terrorist groupsthat attack Israel from Lebanon and other countries. These include the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP); the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Hezbollah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine­General Command (PFLP­GC). In addition, Syria still deploys hundreds of thousands of troops-as much as 75 percent of its army-on the Israeli front near the Heights.

As the peace process faltered in 1996-97, Syria began to renew threats of war with Israel and to make threatening troop movements. Some Israeli analysts have warned of the possibility of a lightning strike by Syrian forces aimed at retaking the Golan. The Israeli Defense Forces have countered the Syrian moves; however, and -- to this point -- preserved the peace.

Prospects for Peace

Druze sector

There are approximately 17,000 Druze inhabitants on the Golan Heights today. In contrast to 1948-1967, when civilian infrastructure and services were almost completely neglected by successive Syrian governments, Israel has invested substantial sums in either installing or upgrading electric and water systems, in agricultural improvements and job training, and in building health clinics, where none had existed previously. The inhabitants also enjoy the benefits of Israel's welfare and social security programs. Israel has built or refurbished schools and classrooms, extended compulsory education from seven years to ten, and made secondary education available to girls for the first time. The Golan's Druze residents enjoy complete freedom of worship; the Israeli authorities have made financial contributions and tax and customs rebates to the local religious establishments.

Jewish sector

Today, there are approximately 14,000 Jewish residents in 33 communities (27 kibbutzim and moshavim, 5 communal settlements and the town of Katzrin) on the Golan Heights and the slopes of Mt. Hermon. (Katzrin has its own mayor and local council; the other 32 communities form the Golan Heights Regional Council.)

Economy

The economy of the Golan Heights is based on both agriculture and industry, including tourism. 8,100 hectares of land are under cultivation, producing a wide variety of crops, including wine grapes. A further 46,575 hectares are dedicated to natural pasturage, supporting 15,000 head of cattle and 5,000 sheep, for both meat and dairy production. The Golan's dairy cattle produce approximately 60 million liters of milk per year. The are approximately 30 industrial enterprises on the Golan, mostly based in the Katzrin Industrial Zone.

There is a substantial tourist infrastructure on the Golan, including the Mt. Hermon ski slopes, archaeological sites, hotels, restaurants, bed-and-breakfast/guest room facilities in many communities, and three Society for the Protection of Nature Field schools. There are also facilities for jeep and bicycle tours, as well as horseback riding. Israel has established 13 nature reserves -totaling 24,908 hectares -- on the Heights. The Golan Archaeological Museum is located in Katzrin.

For Israel, relinquishing the Golan to a hostile

Syria

could jeopardize its early-warning system against surprise attack. Israel has built radars on Mt. Hermon, the highest point in the region. If Israel withdrew from the Golan and had to relocate these facilities to the lowlands of the Galilee, they would lose much of their strategic effectiveness.

One possible compromise might be a partial Israeli withdrawal, along the lines of its 1974 disengagement agreement with

Syria

. Another would be a complete withdrawal, with the Golan becoming a demilitarized zone.

After losing the 1999 election,

Benjamin Netanyahu

confirmed reports that he had engaged in

secret talks

with Syrian President Hafez Assad to withdraw from the Golan and maintain a strategic early-warning station on Mount Hermon. Publicly, Assad continued to insist on a total withdrawal with no compromises and indicated no willingness to go beyond agreeing to a far more limited "non­belligerency" deal with Israel than the full peace treaty Israel has demanded.

The election of

Ehud Barak

stimulated new movement in the peace process, with intensive negotiations held in the United States in January 2000 between

Barak

and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa. These talks raised new hope for the conclusion of a peace treaty, but the discussions did not bear fruit. President Assad died in June 2000 and no further talks have been held as Assad's son and successor, Bashar has moved to consolidate his power. Rhetorically, Bashar has not indicated any shift in Syria's position on the Golan

.

Press reports suggest Israel has expressed a willingness to withdraw from a significant part of the Golan Heights if it can get from Syria security guarantees and normal relations.

In an interview with the Israeli Defense Ministry’s monthlyBitachon, Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said the topographical concerns associated with withdrawing from the Golan Heights could be offset by demilitarization. "Our red line needs to be a defensible border," Sneh said, "a border where the chief of General Staff can come to the government or the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and say: ‘From this line I can defend the State of Israel with minimum losses.’" Sneh added, "the deeper the demilitarization and the better the early warning, the more we will allow ourselves to be flexible topographically." Sneh also emphasized that Israel could not compromise on water sources.

Besides military security, a key to peace with Syria, Sneh said, would be the normalization of relations between the two countries. "When an Israeli thinks of normalization he wants to get up in the morning and take his wife and kids on a shopping trip to Damascus and come home," Sneh said. "The Syrians see normalization as an exchange of ambassadors and flight links – maximum. We need to demand that it be a peace warmer than with Egypt, closer to the type of peace we have with Jordan."

In the meantime, substantial opposition exists within Israel to withdrawing from the Golan Heights. The expectation of many is that public opinion will shift if and when the Syrians sign an agreement and take measures, such as reigning in Hezbollah attacks on Israel from southern Lebanon, that demonstrate a genuine interest in peace. And public opinion will determine whether a treaty is concluded because

Barak

has said any agreement must be approved in a national referendum (a

law

to this effect was passed under

Netanyahu

).

Absent dramatic changes in Syria's government and its attitude toward Israel; however, the Jewish State's security will depend on its retention of military control over the Golan Heights.

Edited August 29, 2014 by OriZ

[OriZ 3,157]

Next, what does all that have to do with the West Bank?

From the above map one can see the narrow neck in the centre of Israel, barely 7 kilometres wide. For security reasons, regardless of all others, it is clear why any conceivable peace agreement would entail areas of Judea and Samaria either remaining under Israel’s control, or having satisfactory security arrangements.

Edited August 29, 2014 by OriZ

[OriZ 3,157]

More about the Syrian border situation:

A Syrian opposition website published pictures Thursday of an al-Qaeda-affiliated group meters away from the Israeli border on the Golan Heights. The Jabhat al-Nusra fighters were filmed flying the terror organization's black flag near the border crossing with Israel.

Additional pictures released show the group's fighters in their attack on the Quneitra crossing, one of the Syrian regime's last footholds in the Golan Heights. Other pictures allegedly display one of the group's senior members standing in front of the border.

Another picture shows a group of rebels, without clear identification, celebrating the takeover of the crossing near the Israeli side.

The website also published a video in which Syrian rebels are seen firing on a UN building in Quneitra. Earlier on Thursday, Syrian militants fighting with the Jabhat al-Nusra) kidnapped 43 Filipino soldiers from the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights.

Earlier this week, the Philippines announced they would be recalling their 331-strong peacekeeping force after a number of violent incidents. For example, last September some 21 Filipino UN peacekeepers were kidnapped by Syrian rebels, and after a week were handed safely over to Jordan.

Earlier on Thursday, Syrian forces hit the rebels with air strikes after Wednesday's violence wounded two Israelis.

During the fighting Wednesday, two Israelis were wounded by stray bullets and a mortar, a soldier and a civilian, both in the Golan Heights. Israel responded with artillery fire at two Syrian army positions, the Israeli military said on Wednesday.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4565411,00.html

Edited August 29, 2014 by OriZ

[Expat1 971]

the Golan has the potential to again become a strategic nightmare for Israel.

Israel's options for countering the Syrian attacks were constrained by the geography of the Heights.

On December 14, 1981, the Knesset voted to annex the Golan Heights. The statute extended Israeli civilian law and administration to the residents of the Golan, replacing the military authority that had ruled the area since 1967.

There are approximately 17,000 Druze inhabitants on the Golan Heights today. Golan's Druze residents enjoy complete freedom of worship; the Israeli authorities have made financial contributions and tax and customs rebates to the local religious establishments.

Today, there are approximately 14,000 Jewish residents in 33 communities (27 kibbutzim and moshavim, 5 communal settlements and the town of Katzrin) on the Golan Heights and the slopes of Mt. Hermon. (Katzrin has its own mayor and local council; the other 32 communities form the Golan Heights Regional Council.)

There is a substantial tourist infrastructure on the Golan

In the meantime, substantial opposition exists within Israel to withdrawing from the Golan Heights. And public opinion will determine whether a treaty is concluded because Barak has said any agreement must be approved in a national referendum (a law to this effect was passed under Netanyahu).

For Israel, relinquishing the Golan to a hostile Syria could jeopardize its early-warning system against surprise attack. Israel has built radars on Mt. Hermon, the highest point in the region. If Israel withdrew from the Golan and had to relocate these facilities to the lowlands of the Galilee, they would lose much of their strategic effectiveness.

"1001 excuses for keeping possession of stolen property"

You misrepresent the truth again. Unlike in the US (and pretty much everywhere else in the civilized world), Jewish Israeli citizens enjoy rights not accorded to non-Jewish "citizens". If the Druze are treated so great by Israel and so badly by Syria I am wondering why they have an annual rally asking for return of the Golan Heights to Syria? Please include in detail the "master race" policies applied to non-Jews who are so-called "Israeli citizens" when you describe how warmly non-Jews are welcomed and treated there and then in every single post declare "yes America we need your money and weapons and support but WE like to sht all over your principles of equal protection under OUR laws".

Actually - you can just include that in your signature..

Druzes within Israel are Israeli citizens, although like other Arabs they do not have all the rights accorded to Jewish-Israelis. Druze villages get government grants well below the levels given to Jewish-Israeli settlements and marginally higher than other Palestinian settlements. After complaints from some Druze the method of allocating grants was changed in the late 1970s and this has made the grants level per capita in Druze villages rise substantially. In addition Druzes receive individual grants and loans available to ex-servicemen (which in effect excludes most other Arab Israelis except some Beduin). They have also suffered land seizure as do other Palestinians; for example in Bayt Jann in 1987 there were angry clashes between Druze and police. Some younger Druze feel that few of the Druze community have gained high political or military rank and that they are considered to be second-class citizens by Jewish-Israelis. In April 1987 the Israeli government (Moshe Arens) publicly recognized that while it had preferred Druzes to other Palestinians it had not treated them equally with Jews.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/1.574462

Hundreds of Druze Israelis took part in an annual rally on Friday demanding the return of the Golan Heights to Syrian control.

The rally took place in Majdal Shams on the Golan Heights, which stands at the heart of a long-standing conflict between Israel and Syria.

The rally marked the 33rd anniversary of Israel's annexation of the strategic plateau which it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Disclaimer: I do realize that though it is anti-Semitic to not buy into the "Master Race" beliefs that are practiced over there from my side that doesn't mean it is ok to treat you or them, in our country, as a second-class citizen.

[OriZ 3,157]

Distract, Divert, Distort. The Druze only became citizens in the 80's. They have some rights other Israelis don't - such as going to study in Syria, despite its status as an enemy state(however these days most of them much prefer to study in Israel - wonder why), or exporting their product such as apples etc. to Syria. In recent years due to the civil war in Syria many more Druze are asking for Israeli citizenships - cause, well, they know that if the Golan was part of Syria right now, chances are many of them would not be alive anymore. Thankfully, they live in the most stable country in the region, and they are starting to come around.

Golan Heights’ Druze Seek Israeli Citizenship

After 45 years of rejecting [israeli citizenship] — the war in Syria has caused a change

Summary⎙ Print Israeli authorities report that over the last few months dozens of requests have been submitted by the Golan Heights' Druze for Israeli citizenship — a rise undoubtedly related to the escalating war inside Syria. Still, such a move is condemned by most Druze, who consider themselves loyal to their homeland, reports Adi Hashmonai.

Author Adi HashmonaiPosted October 7, 2012

Translator(s)Sandy Bloom

In the wake of the ongoing battles and atrocities on the other side of the border, recent months have seen an increase of hundreds of percent in the number of [Golan Heights Druze] applications submitted to the Interior Ministry for Israel citizenship

A Bukata resident says, “The residents are internalizing the fact that they have no longer a reason to return to Syria.”

Is the drawn-out war in Syria beginning to crack the 45-year-long loyalty of the Golan Heights Druze, to their [syrian] homeland across the border? The data of the Population and Immigration Authority show that, in recent months, there has been a sharp increase of hundreds of percents in the numbers of applications to the Ministry of the Interior for Israeli citizenship — among Druze living in four villages in the Northern Golan Heights.

This is an especially sensitive and loaded issue. In fact, all the Druze residents of the Golan Heights that were interviewed for this article, refused to reveal their names and even expressed concern over a “social upheaval” in their villages.

“These are mainly the young folks,” a Majdal Shams resident said angrily. This interviewee had been a security prisoner in an Israeli prison, after he had been convicted of terrorist activity against the IDF [israel Defense Forces]. “People are reaching the conclusion that Israeli citizenship is better than Syrian citizenship, since Syria kills its own citizens. They blame Assad for the situation, but Syria is our homeland. It is the country we belonged to in the past, present and future. In any event, they are not the ones who will decide on the political situation in the Golan. The ones who will decide are us, the Golan Heights residents. The Syrian nation will decide the future of the occupied Golan, in peace or in war.”

Ever since the conquest of the Golan [Heights] in the Six Day War [in 1967], the Druze residents of the four conquered villages have demonstrated their loyalty to their Syrian homeland. This loyalty intensified in 1982 after the Golan Heights Law, when the rule of the military government over the Golan Heights came to an end. Government representatives went to the four villages in the Northern part of the Heights and attempted to distribute blue [israeli] identification cards. Most of the residents responded by burning the ID cards they had received and by conducting protest strikes lasting half a year. In addition, the local Sheikhs announced that anyone who would agree to receive Israeli citizenship and cooperate with the “Zionist enemy” would pay the price of religious and social ostracism, meaning exclusion from communal events, funerals and celebrations. Out of the 20 thousand residents living in Majdal Shams, Masada, Bukata, and Ein Kenya, only several hundred asked for and received Israeli citizenship in the last 30 years.

“The trickle will turn into a river”

Now a change has occurred: the Population and Immigration Authority explains that scores of applications for Israeli citizenship have recently been received, as opposed to the single-digit numbers of applications that were the norm until a year ago.

“I believe that the numbers will only increase,” says a resident of the Masada village who holds Israeli citizenship. “More and more people are internalizing the fact that here is an enlightened country where you can live and bring up children. That is preferable over becoming refugees in another country. There is mass murder in Syria and if they lived under Syrian sovereignty, they could become victims of these atrocities. People see children who are murdered and penniless refugees escaping to Jordan and Turkey, and ask themselves: Where do I want to bring up my children? The answer is clear — in Israel and not Syria.”

Other residents of the Golan villages think that the reason for the sharp increase in applications for Israeli citizenship, is the understanding that Assad will not stay in power for long. “I am an Israeli citizen, but I also support Assad,” says a resident of Bukata. “Even though an Assad opposition-group also rose in the Golan Heights, most of the residents know that Assad is good to the Druze who constitute a minority in Syria. The Druze denomination is second in importance in Syria, after the Alawite denomination to which Assad belongs, and the Alawites are also a minority in Syria. Before his [bashar’s] father Hafez al-Assad rose to power, the Druze suffered greatly under a ruler who abused them. Assad the father caused a changeover in the Syrian government’s treatment of the Druze denomination. Now the residents are internalizing the fact that Assad’s regime will not be long-lived, and already understand that they have no reason to return to Syria.”

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2012/10/the-druze-on-the-golan-heights-w.html##ixzz3BqTle3rN

Edited August 30, 2014 by OriZ