Free Republic

When Israel relinquished control of Bethlehem to Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority as part of the Oslo Accord agreement in 1995, 85% of this prosperous town were middle class Christians. Business and life was good when it was part of Israel. By Christmas 2019, Christians are less than 10% of the population in an economically stricken town. How did this come about? In 1995, Elias Freij was that the last Christian mayor of Bethlehem. He appealed to Israeli Prime Minister, Yizchak Rabin, not to withdraw from the city as part of the Accords due to his fear for the...

Almost 9-Years Ago . . . Before Obama won the Presidency, I wrote extensively about how Obama will accomplish THREE THINGS . . . he would do if Elected: 1 – He would do Enormous Damage to the American Dream. 2 – That he will be Singularly Responsible for the DEMISE of the Democrat Party. 3 – And Obama would do ENORMOUS Damage to the State of Israel. I WAS RIGHT ON TWO OUT OF THREE: AMERICA . . . because of Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Clinton and a BEVY of other LEFTISTS, has been dug so deep into a HOLE,...

A top PA official has reiterated the end-goal of the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel: a Palestinian state instead of Israel. In a seeming re-affirmation of the PLO's 1974 "destroy Israel" program, commonly known as the Phased Plan, Fatah co-founder Farouk Kadumi termed the struggle for a two-state solution just a “stage” on the road to “only one [state].” Kadumi spoke on Nov. 29th with Iran’s Al-Aram television station. When the interviewer asked Kadumi, “What is the future of Palestine?” the PLO leader answered: “At this stage there will be two states. Many years from now there will...

Former US President Jimmy Carter unleashed a fierce attack against the Israeli and American governments in his speech at the Geneva Initiative's ceremony in Switzerland. Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, blamed US President George W. Bush for anti-American sentiment and worldwide terror. "Bush's inordinate support for Israel allows the Palestinians to suffer," Carter said. "This is a source of anti-American sentiment in the world and encourages terror." Carter said Israel's settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the security fence are the main obstacles to peace. He called repeatedly for the return of Palestinian refugees to the...

Earlier this month, Fatah founder, Palestinian Liberation Organization chairman and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat wrote an op-ed for the New York Times. "[W]e seek only what the free world now enjoys and only what Israel insists on for itself: the right to control our own destiny and to take our place among free nations," he wrote. If I didn't know Arafat's past and actions, I would look at his op-ed and vision as a legitimate goal from an honorable man. But I do know his past and present actions and the rhetoric he spits out on a daily ...

In the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Arab states launched a surprise attack against Israel on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Once again they tried to eliminate Israel, further motivated this time by the desire to redeem their honor after their major defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War. Though Israel was initially caught off guard, it then regrouped and repelled the Arab attack, but not before incurring heavy casualties. The war convinced the Arabs that they would not be able to destroy Israel militarily within its post-1967 boundaries. Thus they embarked upon a new three-stage strategy for...