ZOA GPD

Facts at Your Fingertips

If you have ever wanted to refute misinformation about key issues or pro-actively explain Israel's positions on important issues but you lacked the time to look up details or did not even know where to find the info, our "Facts at Your Fingertips" is a handy stick-on-your-refrigerator solution. Culled from public information as well as some of the better sites on the Web, it can help when you contact media, lawmakers or the White House, or when you are discussing the Middle East with friends or family.

To request an emailed or printed copy, contact us at zoa@netreach.net

 Facts at Your Fingertips

 Iran:

• "And God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism" - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (as reported by the Islamic Republic News Agency
• CIA Director Leon Panetta says Iran probably has enough low-enriched uranium for two nuclear weapons. Panetta also says he is doubtful that recent U.N. penalties will put an end to Iran's nuclear ambitions. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on April 2, 2009, "I think the Iranians are on a path to building nuclear weapons...we don't have a lot of time."
• The Islamic Republic of Iran equips, trains and funds Hamas and Hezbollah - groups which the United States government has designated as terrorist organizations. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have murdered innocent Israeli civilians and American citizens, including GIs.
• If Iran has nuclear weapons it can also pose an indirect threat by sharing the technology or an actual weapon with other Muslim countries or terrorists.
• The illicit nuclear activities of the Government of Iran, combined with its development of unconventional weapons and ballistic missiles and its support for international terrorism, represent a threat to the security of the United States, its strong ally Israel, and other allies of the United States around the world. - Text of H. R. 2194 passed by the House and Senate in June, 2010.

 Jerusalem

 American law (the Jerusalem Embassy Act, 1995) recognizes Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel. Jerusalem is the the holiest city in Judaism. Jews all over the world pray in the direction of Jerusalem.

• Israel "captured" Jerusalem in a defensive war from Jordan, which had illegally occupied the city. Jews have lived continuously in Jerusalem for millennia, and have been the majority population in the city since the mid-19^th Century. Jews have lived in Jerusalem for millennia prior to the advent of Islam.
• So-called "East" Jerusalem is the very area where Judaism's holiest and most sacred sites, including the Temple Mount and Western Wall, are located. "Eastern Jerusalem" is where the Jewish Quarter lies. If Jews did not have an historic tie to these neighborhoods, this would not be the location of the Jewish Quarter. When this area was controlled by Jordanian Muslims for 19 years after Jordan attacked Israel in 1948, Jews were not allowed near these places, plus 58 synagogues were destroyed and our Mount of Olives cemetery was violated with heavy vandalism.
• Only under Israeli control have Jews, Christians and Muslims had unprecedented access to their respective holy sites.
• Israel has a recognized right to all of Jerusalem under international law and established legal precedents.
• The Obama administration has never questioned or objected to any building by Arabs - whether legal or illegal -- in Jerusalem.

 The Palestinian Authority Continues to Incite Hatred and Violence:

 "We maintain the right to launch an armed resistance." -- PA President Mahmoud Abbas, August 2009 "It is not possible to rule out or to marginalize the military option. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades [Fatah's armed force and a recognized terrorist group under U.S. law] are the jewel in Fatah's crown." -- senior Fatah figure, Fahmi Al-Za'arir, August 2009 "Resistance to the Israeli occupation is a national obligation, and it is a legitimate right." -- : Jailed Fatah terrorist leader Marwan Barghouti, August, 2009

• Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad paid a condolence call in January to the families of Palestinian terrorists who murdered Rabbi Meir Avshalom Chai in a drive by shooting and who were later killed by Israeli forces. Fayyad and other senior PA officials honored them as "martyrs."
• At a ceremony in Ramallah earlier in 2010, Abbas inaugurated a town square named in memory of Dalal Mughrabi, who commanded the terrorists that perpetrated the 1978 coastal road bus hijacking, in which 37 Israelis, including 12 children, were slaughtered.
• "The Jews, the enemies of Allah and of His Messenger, the enemies of Allah and of His Messenger! Enemies of humanity in general, and of Palestinians in particular ... . The Prophet says: 'You shall fight the Jews and kill them ... ." sermon on official PA TV, Jan. 29, 2010 (Source: Palestinian Media Watch)
• The Palestinian Authority TV's weekly game show between competing Palestinian universities continues to deny Israel's existence through the questions posed to the quiz contestants. One PA TV quiz answer taught that the length of "Palestine's" coast was 235 km. Gaza's coastline is only 45 km. long and Israel's Mediterranean coastline is approximately 190 km. long. Presenting "Palestine's" coast as 235 km. presents a world in which all of Israel is "Palestine." Another quiz answer described the Israeli city of Nazareth as a "Palestinian city." A third answer taught that the size of "Palestine" was 27,000 sq. km. - an area that includes all of the State of Israel, as well as the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The West Bank and Gaza Strip comprise less than 7,000 sq. km. PA TV is under the direct control of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's office. (Source: Palestinian Media Watch)
• Following Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 'Abbas's visit to Washington June 8-11, Fatah Central Committee member 'Abbas Zaki told the Al-Sinara newspaper, which is published in Israel, that the U.S. Congress was controlled by Jewish and Zionist capital and therefore Israel, not the American president, controlled U.S. Middle East policy. When asked about 'Abbas' statements regarding the Washington Jewish community's leaders, according to whom he recognizes the Jewish people's right to the Land of Israel, Zaki said that he had never heard the remarks and therefore could not respond. (Source: Middle East Media Research Institute)
• There is no map in PA stationary, publications, atlases or school texts that show Israel as anything other than "Palestine."
• Under the "Palestinian Basic Law" the Palestinian-Arabs claim all of Jerusalem as their capital, with no willingness to compromise or make concessions on this matter. (Source: http://www.palestinianbasiclaw.org/)
• The Palestinian National Charter considers all of the boundaries of the region during the British Mandate an indivisible territorial unit. (Source:http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/plocov.asp)
• The Palestinian National Charter declares under Article 7: "It is a national duty to bring up individual Palestinians in an Arab revolutionary manner. All means of information and education must be adopted in order to acquaint the Palestinian with his country in the most profound manner, both spiritual and material, that is possible. He must be prepared for the armed struggle and ready to sacrifice his wealth and his life in order to win back his homeland and bring about its liberation." (Source:http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/plocov.asp)
• The Palestinian National Charter declares under Article 9: Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine. This it is the overall strategy, not merely a tactical phase. The Palestinian Arab people assert their absolute determination and firm resolution to continue their armed struggle and to work for an armed popular revolution for the liberation of their country and their return to it. (Source:http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/plocov.asp)

•·          The Palestinian National Charter declares under Article 20: "The Balfour Declaration, the Mandate for Palestine, and everything that has been based upon them, are deemed null and void. Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history and the true conception of what constitutes statehood. ..." (Source:http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/plocov.asp)

• The Palestinian National Charter declares under Article 21: The Arab Palestinian people, expressing themselves by the armed Palestinian revolution, reject all solutions which are substitutes for the total liberation of Palestine and reject all proposals aiming at the liquidation of the Palestinian problem, or its internationalization. (Source:http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/plocov.asp)
• The Fatah Internal Charter declares: "Revolution is our path to freedom, independence, and construction. It is a revolution until victory." Amended August, 2009 (Source: http://www.fas.org/irp/dni/osc/fatah-charter.pdf)

 Gaza and Hamas:

 In August 2005, every Israeli man, woman and child left the territory of Gaza. Israel even exhumed and removed Jewish remains in cemeteries. The only Israeli in Gaza today is kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit, who was captured in Israel and taken into Gaza by Hamas in 2006. He is age 23 now and Hamas has never allowed him a visit by the Red Cross or any humanitarian agency.

• Over the past 10 years, Hamas terrorists and other terrorists with the permission of Hamas have fired more than 10,000 missiles and rockets at Israeli civilian cities and communities, resulting in murders, serious injuries, psychological trauma and destruction of homes, businesses, houses of worship and cars. Some 800,000 Israelis live within range of these rockets. The Gazans continue to fire rockets at Israel at the present time.
• On a typical day, Israel transports 100 trucks of humanitarian aidthrough the land crossings from Israel into Gaza daily, or an average of 10,000 tons weekly -in coordination with international organizations. Well over a million tons of humanitarian supplies entered Gaza from Israel over the last 18 months equaling nearly a ton of aid for every man, woman and child in Gaza. (For weekly and monthly updates, see: (http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2009/Increased_humanitarian_aid_Gaza_after_IDF_operation_Jan_2009) Millions of dollars worth of international food aid continually flows through the Israeli humanitarian apparatus, ensuring that there is no food shortage in Gaza. Food and supplies are shipped from Israel to Gaza six days a week. The Financial Times recently reported that there is such a "glut" of goods in Gaza that prices for food, luxury items and clothing are plummeting. Other media reported that an Olympic-sized swimming pool has just been built on the Strip and that fancy restaurants and luxury goods are doing brisk business.
• In 2009 alone, 10,544 patients and their companions left the Gaza Strip for medical treatment in Israel. Moreover, there were 382 emergency evacuations from Gaza for medical purposes. The Hadassah Medical Organization in Jerusalem donates $3 million in aid annually to treat Palestinians in Israel. In 2009, some 4,883 tons of medical equipment and medicine were brought in.
• According to the UN report of May 2010, 120 megawatts (over 70%) of the Strip's electricity supply comes from the Israeli electric grid, while 17 MWs come from Egypt and 30 MWs are produced by the Gaza city power station.
• The Christian Science Monitor reports: "Egypt controls the Rafah crossing, the only gateway to Gaza not controlled by Israel, and cooperates in maintaining the blockade -- a role that has led to fierce criticism of Egypt across the Arab and Muslim world. Egypt rarely opens the crossing, citing arrangements agreed in 2005 with the United States, the European Union, Israel and the Palestinian Authority at the time of Israel's unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
• The Hamas covenant goes beyond being anti-Israel. It call for the murder of Jews as well as members of the Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs and Free Masons. (See: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Favalon.law.yale.edu%2F20th_century%2Fhamas.asp&rct=j&q=hamas+charter+yale+avalon&ei=gQEtTOi1LIjBcbDlufcM&usg=AFQjCNFJAOSNJBSOl8R1Bkfti-EVy3XGFw )
• Maritime blockades are a legitimate and recognized measure under international law as long as they do not block access to the ports and coasts of neutral nations. A state may take action to enforce a blockade. Any vessel that violates or attempts to violate a maritime blockade may be captured or even attacked under international law.The US Commander's Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations sets forth that a vessel is considered to be in attempt to breach a blockade from the time the vessel leaves its port with the intention of evading the blockade.

Jewish communities beyond the "Green Line":

 "Jews have lived in Judea and Samaria - the West Bank - since ancient times. The only time Jews have been prohibited from living in the territories in recent decades was during Jordan's rule from 1948 to 1967. This prohibition was contrary to the Mandate for Palestine adopted by the League of Nations, which provided for the establishment of a Jewish state, and specifically encouraged "close settlement by Jews on the land." (Source: Myths & Facts Online by Mitchell G. Bard)

• "The settlements also do not displace Arabs living in the territories. The media sometimes gives the impression that for every Jew who moves to the West Bank, several hundred Palestinians are forced to leave. The truth is that the vast majority of settlements have been built in uninhabited areas and even the handful established in or near Arab towns did not force any Palestinians to leave." "Altogether, built-up settlement area is less than two percent of the disputed territories. An estimated 80 percent of the settlers live in what are in effect suburbs of major Israeli cities such as Jerusalem and Tel Aviv." (Source: Myths & Facts Online by Mitchell G. Bard)
• "Numerous legal authorities dispute the charge that settlements are "illegal." Stephen Schwebel, formerly President of the International Court of Justice, notes that a country acting in self-defense may seize and occupy territory when necessary to protect itself." "According to Eugene Rostow, a former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs in the Johnson Administration, Resolution 242 gives Israel a legal right to be in the West Bank. The resolution. Rostow noted, "allows Israel to administer the territories" it won in 1967 "until 'a just and lasting peace in the Middle East' is achieved," Rostow wrote." (Source: Myths & Facts Online by Mitchell G. Bard)
• "Those territories never legally belonged to either Jordan or Egypt, and certainly not to the Palestinians, who were never the sovereign authority in any part of Palestine. "The Jewish right of settlement in the area is equivalent in every way to the right of the local population to live there," according to Professor Eugene Rostow, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs." "The implication of many settlement critics is that it would be better for peace if the West Bank were Judenrein (empty of Jews). This idea would be called anti-Semitic if Jews were barred from living in New York, Paris or London; barring them from living in the West Bank, the cradle of Jewish civilization, would be no less objectionable." (Source: Myths & Facts Online by Mitchell G. Bard)
• "Some Jewish settlements, such as in Hebron, existed throughout the centuries of Ottoman rule, while settlements such as Neve Ya'acov, north of Jerusalem, the Gush Etzion bloc in Judea and Samaria, the communities north of the Dead Sea and Kfar Darom in the Gaza region, were established under British Mandatory administration prior to the establishment of the State of Israel. To be sure, many Israeli settlements have been established on sites which were home to Jewish communities in previous generations, in an expression of the Jewish people's deep historic and religious connection with the land." (Source: Myths & Facts Online by Mitchell G. Bard)