Jordan - PLO - Hamas - UN - EU coy on Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

Jordan, Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Hamas, United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) now have to choose between two very different two-state solutions to end the 100 years old Arab-Jewish conflict.

The first:

 

Unsuccessfully pursued by the United Nations for the last 19 years – was renewed again at the sidelines of the 77th Annual Meeting of the General Assembly on 21 September:

"The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, France, Germany and Jordan met in New York today in the presence of special guests Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process [UNSCMEP –ed] Tor Wennesland, to consult and coordinate their policies with a view to advancing the Middle East Peace Process towards a just, comprehensive and lasting peace on the basis of the two-state solution..."

..."We emphasize that the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on the basis of the two-state solution is indispensable for comprehensive peace in the region. We remain firmly committed to enabling and supporting all efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace in the Middle East based on international law, relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions and agreed parameters, including the Arab Peace Initiative. 

We reiterate our conviction that only a negotiated two-state solution based on June 4, 1967 lines, and consistent with relevant UN Security Council resolution ensuring an independent, contiguous and viable Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel, can fulfil the legitimate aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians."

The second:

Far murkier in its provenance - was published in Al Arabiya News on 8 June 2022:

"The Palestinian problem can only be solved today if it is redefined. The issue in this day and age for people should be not so much the ownership of ancestral land but more the critical need to have a legal identity—a globally respected citizenship that allows a person to operate in the modern world. Labor in this day and age is mobile and having citizenship in a country that facilitates such mobility is critical to human development.

The most logical vehicle for this redefinition and hence for the solution to the Palestine problem is the kingdom of Jordan. Over the last seventy-five years, Jordan has developed into a relatively well-governed state, although the impact of regional political turmoil has caused it to fail economically and become heavily reliant on foreign aid for its survival. It is this Jordanian governance infrastructure that needs to be captured and put to productive use in integrating the millions of Palestinians and Jordanians into a modern, reasonably well-functioning state that would, in an era of real peace and economic integration with Jordan's neighbors, have a much higher chance of growth and prosperity.

This proposed enlarged kingdom would include present-day Jordan, Gaza, and the West Bank (areas populated by Palestinians attached in a contiguous manner and physically connected to Jordan, i.e., not broken up into islands)."

The author Ali Shihabi is a close confidante of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Zalman – Saudi Arabia's next King designate. Al Arabiya News is reportedly 60% owned by the Saudi Government. 

This plan shreds the 1981 and 2002 Saudi Peace Plans and 1980 EU Venice Declaration.

Jordan's King Abdullah, PLO Leader Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and the EU have not uttered one word rejecting this Saudi alternative plan since its publication.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UNSCMEP Tor Wennesland have refused to discuss or even acknowledge the Saudi Plan's existence.

Israeli politicians: choose either - or neither. Being coy is no longer an option.

Author's note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"- one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

UN must evaluate Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution

 

The General Debate of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly to be held from 20 to 26 September will not be hearing the words “Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine” mentioned even once by the Heads of State and Government meeting at the UN Headquarters for their annual talkfest to discuss world issues. 

All these high-powered speakers will continue to bury any discussion of the peace proposal emanating from Saudi Arabia and published in Al-Arabiya News on 8 June 2022 calling for:

• Jordan, Gaza, and part of the West Bank to be merged into one separate territorial entity to be called the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine 
• The capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine to be Amman – not Jerusalem
• The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine to grant Citizenship to all stateless Palestinian Arabs 
• Jewish sovereignty being established in part of the West Bank for the first time in 3000 years

This Saudi proposal offers a new two-State solution: Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine –with Israel sovereign in about 20% of former Palestine and the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine sovereign in about the remaining 80%. 

Saudi Plan author – Ali Shihabi – was brutally frank in explaining why it was time to look at this possibly game-changing solution:

“We have seen from recent experience that state building is a virtually impossible task, particularly in a polarized environment so creating a “Palestinian State” from scratch is a fool's errand...  Yes, a false separate “Jordanian” identity has developed over the last decades from what is really a people with zero differences, ethnic or religious that have been one people since time immemorial..." 

The Annual Report of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People highlights the UN's continuing failure to progress its two-State solution:

“Throughout the reporting period, [2 September 2021 to 31 August 2022] the realization of the two-State solution, as per the relevant United Nations and the prevailing international consensus, failed to advance. The Middle East Peace Process (MEPP) did not resume, and the Middle East Quartet did not create opportunities for negotiations between Israel and the State of Palestine”

The Report misleadingly states:

“The stalled MEPP and the lack of new initiatives to benefit the Palestinian people's quest for self-determination have highlighted the need for enhanced global cooperation to reinvigorate negotiations and provide a political horizon leading to a just solution to the Question of Palestine and lasting peace”.

A new initiative and political horizon for a just solution to the Question of Palestine has emerged: The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution. 

This latest initiative seriously challenges the two-State solution unsuccessfully pursued by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland during their respective tenures - and by the UN for the last 19 years: Creating a brand-new Palestinian Arab state between Israel and Jordan for the first time in recorded history 

Both Guterres and Wennesland have stubbornly refused to present this Saudi initiative to the Security Council for evaluation since its publication. Regrettably hubris has prevented them doing so. It is hard to admit that there might be an alternative solution to the one you have been claiming for years is the only solution.

Ending the 100 years-old conflict between Jews and Arabs - rather than perpetuating that conflict by continuing to pursue a decades-old failed solution – should be Guterres' and Wennesland's joint mantra. 

Guterres and Wennesland: Relent and recognise that the UN two-State solution is dead – that the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine solution to replace it needs to be evaluated by the Security Council. 

Doing so could change the course of history. 

Author's note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Biden & Blinken silent on Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine

 

In the Arab-Israel conflict where every word is dissected and analysed to see whether there could be any change of policy - the use of the words “a two state solution” instead of “the President’s two-state solution” could well signal President Biden’s abandonment of his own two-state solution – Israel and Palestine - in favour of a Saudi two-state solution – Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine. 

Such speculation has arisen following this State Department Media Note issued on 4 September:

“The Assistant Secretary will travel to Israel and the West Bank September 1-3 to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials to discuss a range of priorities, including the ... Administration’s continued support for a two-state solution.

Was the State Department referring to “the two-state solution” articulated by President Biden on 15 July?

“President Biden ... underscored his commitment to a two-state solution on the 1967 lines with land swaps mutually agreed by the Israelis and Palestinians. He also highlighted the importance of direct negotiations leading to an independent, sovereign, viable, and contiguous Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel, both enjoying secure and recognized borders, allowing the two peoples to live side-by-side in peace and security."

Or was the State Department referring to a different two-state solution  – Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine – emanating from Saudi Arabia on 8 June 2022 - calling for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one single territorial entity to be called the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine? 

The Saudi plan’s author – Ali Shihabi - is a confidante of Saudi Arabia’s next King – Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. Shihabi’s Plan was published in Al Arabiya News – owned 60% by the Saudi Government. This latest Saudi plan supersedes the 1981 and 2002 Saudi Peace Plans.  

The rationale for creating the Saudi-proposed merged state as against the Biden-proposed brand new state was recently explained by Shihabi: 

“We have seen from recent experience that state building is a virtually impossible task, particularly in a polarized environment - so creating a “Palestinian State” from scratch is a fool’s errand. At the same time Jordan is a decently run country by regional standards and hence its government infrastructure can be used to incorporate 'Palestine' which will instantly have a globally recognized and respected government with all the basics like security, government bureaucracy etc.”

Shihabi’s two-state solution – if implemented – would consign Biden’s two-state solution – “a fool’s errand” says Shihabi - to the diplomatic graveyard. 

Significantly - Palestinian Authority President Abbas, Jordan’s King Abdullah and Hamas leaders have not voiced any objection to the Saudi proposal since its June publication. Rejection by any of them would have stopped the Saudi plan in its tracks. 

I sought State Department clarification on 6 September:

“I refer to the Peace Plan emanating from Saudi Arabia published in the Al Arabiya Times on 8 June 2022 proposing the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one territorial entity to be called the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine (Saudi Plan): https://english.alarabiya.net/in-translation/2022/06/08/The-Hashemite-Kingdom-of-Palestine 

Could you please advise in relation to Secretary of State Blinken: 

1. When he first became aware of the Saudi plan? 

2. Has he commented on the Saudi plan since its release on 8 June 2022? 

3. If so – when and where were such comments published? 

4. If he has made no comment – would he like to make any comment on the Saudi plan that I can publish verbatim and attribute to him in an article I am writing on the Saudi Plan? 

I would appreciate a reply within the next 72 hours."

The State Department has yet to reply.  

Biden and Blinken’s silence is baffling.

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine: Lapid No Guts No Vision

 

Israel's Prime Minister and candidate for re-election following the November 1, 2022 elections -Yair Lapid - refuses to make any comment on the Saudi Peace Plan published on June 8, 2022 calling for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one territorial entity to be called The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine.

It is unclear whether Lapid had any actual knowledge or appreciation of the Saudi Plan when--as Israel's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister - he told 26 European Union Foreign Ministers at the European Union Foreign Affairs Council on 11 July that:

"It is no secret that I support a two-state solution. Unfortunately, there is no current plan for this. However, there is one thing we all need to remember. If there is eventually a Palestinian state, it must be a peace-loving democracy".

The Saudi Plan clearly consigns the idea of any Palestinian state between Israel and Jordan to the diplomatic graveyard for burial by its sponsors - the United Nations and the European Union - after forty years of failed attempts to see its creation.  

The Saudi plan also promises the following outcomes:

• It would supersede two previous Saudi peace proposals in 1981 and 2002 calling for Israel to withdraw completely from the West Bank
• Amman - not Jerusalem - will be the capital of The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine
• The right of return to Israel is abandoned.
• Palestinians in the 'West Bank', Gaza and stateless refugees get full citizenship in the merged Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine with all the elements of sovereignty applicable to those Territories that belonging to a fully recognized state in the UN entail.

It beggars belief that not 1 of the 120 members of Israel's current Parliament has uttered one word that I can find anywhere supporting or rejecting the Saudi Plan.

The Saudi Plan's author - Ali Shihabi - a confidant of Saudi Arabia's next King - Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman - expressed his own feelings to me at this veil of silence that had descended over every one of Israel's politicians:

"Israel is the key factor. It holds most of the cards and its military, economic and political success since 1948 has made its leaders arrogant and contemptuous of the Arabs generally since the Israelis have imposed their terms on the region despite all Arab efforts and noise made in decades past. This arrogance is clouding Israeli judgement and blinding them to the opportunity that presents itself today for them to drive a sustainable peace process. They can get a lot of what they want but have to give a bit to get a sustainable solution that will integrate them into the region permanently, but this will require an Israeli De Gaulle with guts and vision, and I don't see one on the horizon unfortunately"

Confident I could meet Shihabi's challenge - I asked Lapid, Defence Minister Gantz and Opposition Leader Netanyahu the following questions:

• When he first became aware of the Saudi plan?
• Has he commented on the Saudi plan since its release on 8 June 2022?
• If so--when and where were such comments published?
• If he has made no comment - would he like to make any comment on the Saudi plan that I can publish verbatim and attribute to him?
• Is he prepared to promise Israeli voters that he will use his best endeavours to implement the Saudi plan if he becomes Israel's next Prime Minister?

Lapid - like Gantz – failed to respond. 

Netanyahu wants an assurance of complete Israeli security control west of the Jordan River - not presently promised in Shihabi's plan. 

Over to you for your considered response Mr. Shihabi 

Author's note: The cartoon -commissioned exclusively for this article- is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones" - one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators - whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine: Gantz - de Gaulle or de Goose?

 

Two statements made this past week by Israel’s current Defence Minister – Benny Gantz - could see his run for Israel’s next Prime Minister ended after it has just started. 

Gantz told Kan Reshet Bet:

"Those who, in a clear left-wing position, consider 'two states for two peoples' as a solution are living in an illusion, and those who, in a radical right-wing position, think of a state without Arabs in the West Bank, are living in a greater illusion," 

Gantz has apparently not heard of or read the 2022 Saudi Peace Plan published on June 8th - which provides for the merger of Jordan, Gaza and parts of the West Bank into one territorial entity to be called The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine. 

Implementation of the Saudi plan in the West Bank could possibly see:

• The State of Israel - sovereign in about 30% (designated green and yellow) on this leaked map -where 1% of the West Bank Arab population live.

• The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine - sovereign in about the remaining 70% (designated red) -where 99% of the West Bank Arab population resides.

Constructing a network of tunnels and roads will enable this subdivision. 

Gantz committed an even bigger gaffe--telling 103 FM Radio:

"I repeat and insist that Jerusalem is the unified capital of the State of Israel ... And I do not see how we can continue towards an arrangement [with the Palestinians] in the coming years, but we must begin by initiating processes to reduce the conflict and strengthen security ... There are villages in the east that the Palestinians call Jerusalem, and they are not in the metropolitan area of Jerusalem. It is possible to define them as a capital."

These comments indicate that Gantz is totally clueless about the Saudi Plan’s following features:

• The capital of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine will be Amman - not Jerusalem
• Implementing the Saudi plan can be successfully concluded in months - not years – requiring negotiations to determine:
• who exercises security control in the territory of the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine west of the Jordan River 
• the demarcation line between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine
• custodianship of the Islamic Holy Sites in Jerusalem

Gantz is ignorant of the Saudi Plan’s promised further outcomes:

• Abandonment of the 74 years-old claim to the right of return 
• Consigning a separate Palestinian Arab State between Jordan and Israel to the diplomatic graveyard - promoted unsuccessfully by the United Nations for the last 29 years 
• Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and stateless refugees get full citizenship in the merged Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine with all the elements of sovereignty applicable to those Territories that belonging to a fully recognized state in the UN entail.

I have written to Gantz asking him to answer 5 questions for inclusion in this article:

1. When he first became aware of the Saudi plan?
2. Has he commented on the Saudi plan since its release on June 8, 2022?
3. If so - when and where were such comments published?
4. If he has made no comment - would he like to make any comment on the Saudi plan that I can publish verbatim and attribute to him?
5. Is he prepared to promise Israeli voters that he will use his best endeavours to implement the Saudi plan if he becomes Israel's next Prime Minister?

No response has been received. 

The Saudi Plan’s author - Ali Shihabi - sees no Israeli politician with the guts and vision of General de Gaulle to implement the Saudi Plan. 

Gantz is certainly not that de Gaulle - he is de Goose - a fool.

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine - Interviewing author Ali Shihabi

 

A plan proposed by Ali Shihabi  - a Saudi author and commentator on Middle Eastern Politics -proposing the merger of Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into one single territorial entity to be called "The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine" - has received little attention in the Israeli media or been commented on by Israeli politicians since its release on 8 June.

Yet the plan contains the following features which should excite Israel’s reluctant media to be seeking responses from its political leaders:

• It would supersede two previous Saudi peace proposals in 1981 and 2002 calling for Israel to withdraw completely from the West Bank
• The two-state solution – the creation of a separate Palestinian Arab State between Jordan and Israel -  promoted unsuccessfully by the United Nations for the last 29 years – is consigned to the diplomatic graveyard 
• Amman – not Jerusalem - will be the capital of The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine
• The right of return to Israel is abandoned. 
• Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza and stateless refugees get full citizenship in the merged Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine with all the elements of sovereignty applicable to those Territories that belonging to a fully recognized state in the UN entail.

I reached out to the author Ali Shihabi – who kindly gave me the following interview:  

1. What was your idea behind this paper?:  I see a failure of Israeli imagination in looking for a solution to the Palestine tragedy. This combined with a lack of realism dominating Palestinian thinking has provided multiple opportunities for political entrepreneurs like the Iranians to use and misuse the cause. Israelis want to perpetuate this inertia by kicking the can continuously down the road while looking for every excuse to do nothing substantive to solve this problem. Israel sees time to be on its side (and so far it has been proven right) but fundamentals like 7 million Arabs living between the river and the sea are a time bomb that eventually will blow up in their face one way or another
2. Why Jordan?: We have seen from recent experience that state building is a virtually impossible task, particularly in a polarized environment so creating a "Palestinian State" from scratch is a fool’s errand. At the same time Jordan is a decently run country by regional standards and hence its government infrastructure can be used to incorporate Palestine which will instantly have a globally recognized and respected government with all the basics like security, government bureaucracy etc. 
3. But many Jordanians don’t want anything to do with this?: Yes, a false separate "Jordanian" identity has developed over the last decades from what is really a people with zero differences, ethnic or religious that have been one people since time immemorial so that is a problem. That difference has been pushed by some Jordanian elites in a quest to perpetuate their dominance. This formula however does not eliminate Jordanian elites and preserves the monarchy and all its institutions and makes Jordan/Palestine a much more viable and strategically important state with a substantial footprint on the Mediterranean and a state critically important for regional stability, so it is really in their long-term interest. In any event if a consensus among the powers that be decides on this formula Jordanian elites can be convinced. They are a minor obstacle once you separate the noise from the substance.
4. Well, many Palestinians don’t want it also it seems: That is the million-dollar question and is one that should be decided by extensive polling and then confirmed by a plebiscite. My guess is that a majority of Palestinians defined as those that are paying the price daily for the status quo, i.e. those in Gaza, West Bank and the refugee camps in Lebanon Syria and Jordan would vote for it once it is explained clearly to them. It is important that only they should decide and not Palestinians comfortable in the diaspora with citizenships in other countries or other Arabs and Muslims who pay no price for taking an absolutist position. It easy to sit sipping your cappuccino at a Starbucks in Dubai or L.A and demand unrealistic solutions since its no skin off your and your family’s back while the people suffering from the status quo continue to pay the heavy price.
5. So, what is required here to get this process going?: Israel is the key factor. It holds most of the cards and its military, economic and political success since 1948 has made its leaders arrogant and contemptuous of the Arabs generally since the Israelis have imposed their terms on the region despite all Arab efforts and noise made in decades past. This arrogance is clouding Israeli judgement and blinding them to the opportunity that presents itself today for them to drive a sustainable peace process. They can get a lot of what they want but have to give a bit to get a sustainable solution that will integrate them into the region permanently, but this will require an Israeli De Gaulle with guts and vision, and I don’t see one on the horizon unfortunately,

Will an Israeli De Gaulle emerge to endorse Mr Shihabi’s plan as part of his platform in the upcoming Israeli elections on 1 November? 

I hope the media ask the politicians for their answers before Election Day. 

Author’s note: The cartoon — commissioned exclusively for this article — is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"- one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators — whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.

Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine vote winner for Lapid, Gantz, Bibi

 

With Israeli elections due in October--the major players vying to become Israel's next Prime Minister--current caretaker PM -Yair Lapid, current Minister of Defence - Benny Gantz and current Opposition Leader - Bibi Netanyahu have yet to issue any statement on the Saudi plan released on June 8, 2022 to merge Jordan, Gaza and part of the West Bank into a single territorial entity to be called The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine. 

The Plan's author - Ali Shihabi - is a confidante of Saudi Arabia's next King - Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and a member of the Advisory Council appointed by Bin Salman advising him on his personally-driven initiative - a $500 billion development called NEOM - a megacity of the future like none other on this planet - to be built in Northern Saudi Arabia on an expanse of land equal to the size of Israel.

The Saudi Solution offers a lot to excite Lapid, Gantz, Netanyahu and their respective political parties with these game-changing features:

• The plan reverses two previous Saudi peace proposals in 1981 and 2002 calling for Israel to withdraw completely from the West Bank.
• The two-state solution - the creation of a separate Palestinian Arab State between Jordan and Israel - pushed unsuccessfully by the United Nations for the last 29 years and by the European Union since 1980- is consigned to the diplomatic graveyard
• Jerusalem will not be claimed as the capital of The Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine - whose capital would be Amman.
• The right of return to Israel is abandoned
• Citizenship would be offered in the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine to Palestinian Arab refugees living outside the boundaries of the new entity.

Promising voters to negotiate with Jordan on implementing this Saudi Plan is an assured vote winner. 

The most contentious issues in such Israel-Jordan negotiations would be:

• Israel's security concerns in relation to the territory of the new entity West of the Jordan River -where demilitarization and responsibility for maintaining security control would be issues on the negotiating table 
• the carve up of the West Bank and Gaza - where Israel and Jordan would have a good map to focus on for starters: President Trump's 2020 Conceptual Maps "Vision for Peace" (See following diagrams)

The areas designated as "A future State of Palestine" would be the starting point for Jordan's negotiators. 

The areas designated as "The State of Israel" would be the starting point for Israel's negotiators. 

Armed only with sharp pencils, erasers and liquid paper - and motivated to emulate the 1994 Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty - these negotiators could agree on the new international border between Israel and the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine in literally a matter of months as well as the terms of the new peace treaty that would replace the 1994 one. 

Netanyahu and Gantz have already agreed to Israel's starting point - having approved the Trump subdivision in 2020 and the formation of a joint Mapping Committee comprising three members each from Israel and America to define the new border with greater precision.  

One could reasonably assume this would also be Lapid's starting point.

 With Operation Breaking Dawn still fresh in their minds - Lapid, Gantz and Netanyahu need to get off their high horses and break their months-long silence by:

• commenting on the Saudi Plan 
• announcing without any further delay whether negotiations with Jordan on this Saudi plan will be part of each of their parties' election platforms.

Making the Saudi Plan an election issue should not be missed by Lapid, Gantz and Netanyahu. 

If they think otherwise - they risk seeing their party being thrashed at the polling booths. 

Israel's media army needs to confront them for their urgent response. 

Author's note: The cartoon--commissioned exclusively for this article--is by Yaakov Kirschen aka "Dry Bones"- one of Israel's foremost political and social commentators--whose cartoons have graced the columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades.