Washington — Freezing the expansion of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank was once seen as a unilateral Israeli obligation. But the Obama administration is now treating this as part of a package that will require concessions from Arab states, as well.
An intensified and more public focus on this principle appears to be one of the byproducts of President Obama’s June 13 pledge to American Jewish communal representatives to address perceptions that he is pressuring only Israel. So far, the Arabs are resistant.
Still, in the wake of Obama’s White House meeting with the Jewish delegation, Israeli, American and Arab leaders have, to varying degrees, shifted their rhetoric in ways that reflect acceptance of a new principle of reciprocity.
“The Americans now understand that if they get anything from us on the settlement issue, it will only be in the broader context of some kind of Arab return,” said an Israeli diplomat, one of many similar comments from Israeli officials recently. The official added that talks between American special envoy George Mitchell and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak have focused on components of a two-sided deal that will include both a settlement freeze and reciprocal steps by Arab countries.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared to confirm this premise in a policy speech two days after Obama’s White House meeting with the Jewish representatives.
“Progress toward peace cannot be the responsibility of the United States — or Israel — alone,” Clinton told the Council on Foreign Relations. “Arab states have a responsibility to support the Palestinian Authority with words and deeds, to take steps to improve relations with Israel and to prepare their publics to embrace peace and accept Israel’s place in the region.”
A State Department official told the Forward that steps by the Arab parties were fundamental to Mitchell’s mission. “Special envoy Mitchell continues to engage in constructive conversations with all parties, including Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states, on steps they could take to help create a climate in which to re-launch negotiations,” he said.
At least some Arab parties to the peace process also now appear to accept this. “The price we pay will depend on what kind of a deal we get on the settlement issue,” said an Arab diplomat in response to questions about Israel’s stand. “In return for a symbolic compromise on the settlements, some Arab states will be willing to pay with some symbolic gestures.”
But so far, the Obama administration appears stymied in its efforts to obtain a commitment to new concessions toward Israel by Arab states, even in the event of an Israeli commitment — nonexistent up to now, even conditionally — to a settlement freeze.
The administration has been frustrated in particular in its quest for flexibility from Saudi Arabia. According to experts and diplomats, tensions between Washington and Riyadh were increasing, even prior to Obama’s meeting with Jewish leaders, as a result of a June 3 meeting between Obama and King Abdullah in the Saudi capital. The meeting ended with a clear disagreement over the issue of Israel.
“Why should the king of Saudi Arabia, who is the leader of the Muslim world and the imam of his Muslim community, give something of this nature to the Israelis for free?” asked Jamal Khashoggi, editor in chief of the Saudi daily Al-Watan. “This is a new idea that was probably developed by Israel’s friends in Washington.”
Khashoggi said the Saudi monarch believes that his 2002 peace initiative, supported by the entire Arab League, already offered concessions and showed the kingdom’s wish for peace.
Israel never responded to the Saudi initiative. But in her speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Clinton said that embracing the 2002 Arab peace plan is not enough, and that concrete initial steps are needed now.
The initiative, which Obama has cited as a helpful basis for discussion, commits the Arab world to an official peace agreement with Israel and “normal” relations with it if Israel withdraws from occupied territory to its pre-1967 borders, accepts the establishment of a Palestinian state and resolves the issue of Palestinian refugees in accordance with United Nations resolutions.
Those U.N. resolutions, however, appear to require the refugees’ return to homes in present-day Israel, constituting one of Israel’s principal objections to the proposal.
America’s request for signs of normalization with Israel is focusing now on symbolic steps. According to Arab and American diplomatic sources, Washington is now asking for the reopening of commercial interest offices of Oman, Qatar and Morocco in Israel and for permission for Israeli commercial airliners to fly over Gulf states, shortening by several hours flight routes from Israel to East Asia.
Public overtures, such as a handshake with Israeli leaders, or providing tourist visas to Israelis seeking to visit Arab countries, are not on the table now, said an Arab diplomat with close knowledge of the talks. The diplomat stressed that such public gestures are viewed as being at the top of the scale of normalization and therefore will be kept for the final phase of the peace process. “The Arab consensus is that normalization is the last card they have to play,” the diplomat said.
Prior to the emerging emphasis on reciprocity, Israel’s obligation to freeze the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank was understood to be an independent requirement of the so-called road map for Middle East peace. The 2002 road map, forged by the Bush administration with international partners, required Israel to “immediately” dismantle settlement outposts that even Israel classifies as unauthorized, and to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth.
The road map also requires the Palestinians to take concrete steps to halt terrorism and violence. But this, too, appears as an independent obligation, untied to any action by Israel.
The most significant sign thus far of Arab willingness to adopt America’s call for normalization has come from the small Gulf kingdom of Bahrain. In a July 16 op-ed published in The Washington Post, Shaikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the Bahraini crown prince, called on Arab countries to reach out and communicate with Israel.
“Essentially, we have not done a good enough job demonstrating to Israelis how our initiative can form part of a peace between equals in a troubled land holy to three great faiths,” Shaikh al Khalifa wrote. He went on to criticize Arabs who wish to perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so that Palestinian victims “can be manipulated as proxies.” The Bahraini leader also urged Arabs not to waste more time in waiting for Israelis to take the first step, calling this approach “small-minded.”
Samuel Lewis, a former American ambassador to Israel who was directly involved in the Israeli-Egyptian peace talks in the late 1970s, equated Shaikh al Khalifa’s article to peace gestures made by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat before signing the treaty with Israel. “This is exactly the kind of message that an Arab leader gives both to the United States while at the same time aiming at other Arab leaders,” Lewis said in a July 17 conference call organized by Israel Policy Forum.
But Bahrain is still a lone voice among Arab countries. Letters that Obama sent out in June to Arab leaders calling on them to be forthcoming in the peace process have remained largely unanswered. This prompted the president to state, in his meeting with Jewish leaders, that “there is not much courage” within the Arab leadership.
Experts argue that the roots of the disagreement with Saudi Arabia, considered a linchpin for progress, go deeper.
Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the Saudis are disappointed with many aspects of Obama’s policy: His drive for ending America’s dependency on foreign oil, the decision not to appoint a close confidant as ambassador to Saudi Arabia and choosing the route of diplomatic engagement with Iran. “There is a Saudi feeling that this administration does not recognize the importance of Saudi Arabia and does not appreciate them,” Alterman said.
Contact Nathan Guttman at guttman@forward.com
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Lets see-Israel stops all settlements, including E Jerusalem, in exchange, the Arabs reduce prices in all restaurants in Dubai on Saturdays by 20%. Its a deal
Anyone with half a brain knows that the settlements have created an apartheid system in the West Bank with for-Jews-only roads and movement restrictions for Palestinians. They may yet bring about a bi-national state. Obama is trying to save Israel from itself. But with the fascist right in power in Israel, he has little hope of success.
Israel must die. 62 years of occupation is enough.
The Arab world must remain steadfast in supporting Israels complete destruction.
American Jews don't support Israel. J Street works for a Palestinian state from the river to the see.
Yes, it's disheartening to see the U.S. trying to *negotiate* a settlement *freeze*, when Israel should have had a settlement freeze in 2002, or earlier.
Meaningful progress would be making meaningful moves to a withdrawal to the 1967 borders.
BTW, I read the Wall Street Journal comments pages, and the reader responses to Israel stories are getting much more anti-Israel, and even anti-Jewish.
These nationalistic policies are harmful not only to Israel, but to the entire Jewish community.
The so called ""west bank" is the heartland of the ancient jewish state. And no one has the right to tell jews where they can live in there homeland. And that includes jews who don't know were they come from, or do and don't care.
"The so called ""west bank" is the heartland of the ancient jewish state." ---- David Schalit
So the logical conclusion is to annex the West Bank to Israel. If this is the case then what do you suggest should be done with the Palestinians? The options are: ethnic cleansing, apartheid or bi-national state. Please enlighten me as to which of these options you would choose or if there are others that I missed.
"reciprocity" interesting deja vu, since this was Netanyahu's catch-phrase last time he was PM. Goes without saying that both sides - Arab and Israeli - are not keen to respond to the Obama demands
On February 25, 1994 Baruch Goldstein, from the far right settlement of Kiryat Arba, walked into a mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs and opened fire on worshippers murdering 39 Palestinians. The government of Ytizchak Rabin forcefully and in no uncertain words condemned this evil act but in the ensuing riots 26 Palestinians and 9 Israelis were killed. The crazies in Kiryat Arba made a shrine to this evil man and one of his rabbi’s referred to him as a saint.
Israel has to be a nation of laws and its quite telling that the man who stood before crowds during the campaign for Prime Minister more than fifteen years ago and said nothing when people were calling Rabin a traitor for believing in land for peace and had pictures of Rabin in a nazi uniform was none other than Benjamin Netanyahu. After Rabin was murdered by a right wing fanatic his family refused to acknowledge Netanyahu false condolences. Netanyahu has not uttered one word about settlers rampagiing thru Palestinian fields, setting them aflame and throwing rocks at passing cars driven by Palestinians but he has spoken up calling Jews who work for Obama self haters, anti-semites, and anti-Israel.
The government of Israel must be a nation of laws and adhere to those laws. If it lets these crazy settlers do whatever they want the risk of another conflagration is that much higher, and as happened in 1994, innocent lives on both sides will be lost. I posted a letter on this site two weeks ago expressing my concerns about the vitriol and poisonous comments on several different Israeli online media sites. One can call Obama’s position on Israel naive and it’s perfectly fine to disagree with our President but when I read hundreds of postings from Jews continuing to call him a Moslem and stating that he is “out to destroy Israel” I become very worried. This kind of mania “he’s out to destroy Israel” is only going to serve to enflame and enbolden another fanatic because the exact same words were used against Rabin, a former general, war hero, and prime minister who may not have lost his life if the current prime minister had the guts to tell the people calling Rabin a traitor out to destroy Israel that they were 100% wrong. Israel cannot allow extremist settlers to set the Middle East ablaze again. Too many innocent men, women, and children will pay the price.
In an address to the Knesset, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin denounced the US-born Goldstein as a “foreign implant” and an “errant weed”. He continued, “We say to this horrible man and those like him: you are a shame on Zionism and an embarrassment to Judaism.“ It’s time Netanyahu stand up to these settlers before its too late.
diplos often say ``it is a sensitive issue; we cannot discuss or reveal details``. But peace-war process going on against pal`ns is discussed openly and with at least a few salient demands set dwn as preconditions for talks.
and since, arabs and pal`ns must be aware of this fact, the charade by both sides is on once again; probably, for at least a few decades longer.
and most importantly, US negotiates with no one. Not even with mighty USSR! so, expect a diktat. even if it wld the best yet, one cld not but reject it. followed by condemnation by `free` world of pal`n stupidity and never missing an opportunity to miss and opportunity. and then we wait for new `savior`; new charades so that establishmnet of an israel or `jewish` state be delayed and war-peace process continued. tnx
If Arabs can live in Israel, then Jews can live in Palestine. If Jewish settlement is allowed in Grosse Pointe, or Greenwich, why not in Jerusalem or Hebron?
Mark,
There is a central point to this whole debate, and you've just made it:
Israel must be a nation of laws.
Your fellow Jews here agree. I urge you all to stand up and be counted.
As the Germans say, "Wir schweigen nicht!"
"On February 25, 1994 Baruch Goldstein, from the far right settlement of Kiryat Arba, walked into a mosque at the Cave of the Patriarchs and opened fire on worshippers murdering 39 Palestinians. The government of Ytizchak Rabin forcefully and in no uncertain words condemned this evil act." --- Mark Jeffery Koch
Mark, You make a very good point. You should note though that while Ytizchak Rabin, to his credit, "forcefully and in no uncertain words condemned this evil act" he also imposed a curfew on THE PALESTINIAN RESIDENTS OF HEBRON (and not on the lunatic settlers)!!!! I think the lesson here, in addition to the the necessity of Israel becoming a nation of laws, is that occupation is inherently evil as it creates two classes of people, one of whom with very few rights.
Rabin also said of the Palestinians that the Israelis should "break their bones."
A few IDF soldiers were later caught on videotape breaking some Palestinians' bones.
We should remember that there are no great leaders here. There are only politicians who at different times of their careers did more or less damage.
All that it takes to make a hero is one courageous act at a critical time.
Then, as far as I'm concerned, they can go back to their Swiss banks and mistresses.
Dear Norman 1.2 million Palestinians living in Israel is not a provocation, but Moskowitz building in E Jerusalem on land that he purchased is like the Nazis marching in Skokie. Cant you see how obscene your analogy is? I refer to Israeli Arabs as Palestinians because the Israeli Arabs themselves consider themselves Palestinians. Anyhow, your ACLU defended the right of Nazis to march in Skokie.
In terms of Palestinians who are not Israeli citizens living in Israel, Israel has the right to put restrictions on enemy aliens, just as any other state would. If North Koreans wanted to buy property in New York City, they would face obstacles as well
Why does the Press & Hussein Obama keep mentioning “2 States in Palestine?” When there’s already 3 states in Palestine: Israel, Jordan, & Gaza. Jordan is the largest State in Palestine, comprising 76% of post-WW I Palestine. In summary, with Jordan and Gaza comprising 77% of Palestine, it clearly does not make sense to carve up Israel to make a 4th State in Palestine; especially one that would be Islamic and harbor terrorists.
Absolutely Itamar, annex it now! It's ours! And i am glad to see you acknowledge history. This is were our state was 2,000 years ago. The Romans renamed it Philistine or Palestine, after the Philistines. I refuse to use a term for our land invented by those who murdered, according to the historian Josephus, over a million and a half of our people. As far as there status in a Jewish State, that's not as big a problem as you think. The U.S. has special Commonwealth type status for Puerto Rico and Guam, and they don't have the same voting rights as other U.S. citizens. A similar type of citizenship can be given to Arabs living in Israel. They could vote for there own Mayors and Town and City Councils. And they could vote for there own Reps. to represent them in the Kenneset. But we would have to change the entire Israeli voting system, to become more like the U.S. It can be done. And if done correctly, there would never be a threat to the Jewish character of the State.
Hanoch: Many of us understand very well what a bi-national state is all about and charges of apartheid against Israel(coming from those who practice it even in their own homes)are nothing but hypocricy of the highest order. As for Jews who are uncomfortable with the Jewish state unapologetically defending its own people, they have already stepped over the threshold on the way out. Good riddance! I, for one, will not miss them one bit. The others are but Islamic cancer infecting all the websites. Now, the Forward announces, almost triumphantly (Shame on thenm!), that their man, Obama, is putting equal pressure on the Arabs in order to show balance in his attitude. Bull! Which Arab country is being asked to pull back to suicide borders? And, if Netanyahu had not dug in his heels and refused to jump as ordered, would have "Master" Obama ever considered "equal treatment"?
This article distorts reality. Pressure is constant from the Obama Administration in all areas. It is building up Palestinian military forces, and economy. It is lobbying all the time for reduced Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria (The West Bank) and even in Jerusalem. Its pressure on the other side is in effect zero. It has no leverage. Fatah, the great partner for peace says it will never recognize a Jewish state. Wake up American- Jewish Lefties. Your hero in the White House is however a remarkable leader in many ways, working to weaken Israel.
Hanoch,
We have the backbone to stand up for the principles of Jewish law: That which is hateful to you, do not do unto others.
We have the backbone to say that it's wrong to steal Palestinian land.
We have the backbone to condemn everyone who commits crimes, even if they are Jews.
When we saw Dr. Ezzeldeen al-Aish's daughters killed, we had the backbone to say that the Jews were wrong.
Do you have the backbone to say that it was wrong to kill Dr. al-Aish's daughters?
Not an accurate story. An explanation worth reading: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443872342&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Norman:
With all due respect, your opinions have absolutely nothing to do with Jewish law or the Torah.
With regard to your comment about Jews stealing Palestinian land, open your Chumash (if you have one) and look at the very first Rashi on the very first pasuk. Rashi asks the fundamental question of why Bereishis begins with Hashem creating the world when it could have begun in a far more direct manner by simply relating the laws to which the Jewish people are subject. Rashi answers this question as follows: Bereishis begins in this way "So that if the nations of the world will say to Israel, 'You are bandits, for you conquered the lands of seven nations [i.e., Canaan]', Israel will say to them, 'The whole earth belongs to the Holy One, Blessed is He. He created it and He gave it to the one found proper in His eyes.'"
With regard to your comment about Dr. Ezzeldeen al-Aish's daughters, not surprisingly, you are again off the mark when it comes to Jewish law. Jewish law expressly permits the use of deadly force employed in self-defense, and that is what Israeli action in Gaza was used for. No one forced the Arabs to continuously fire thousands of rockets from Gaza at Israeli civilians. As any other sane nation would do, the Israelis took action to cause it to stop. The unfortunate fact that civilians are harmed in military action is just that -- an unfortunate fact of war -- but it is not a violation of Jewish law.
It is interesting that in raising the case of unintended Arab civilian deaths that occur in a defensive military action, you blithely ignore the fact that the Arab rocket attacks -- the attacks which precipitated the Israeli response -- were intended to cause the death and maiming of innocent Jewish men, women and children. You are a shining example of the eternal wisdom of Chazal, who taught long ago that "He who becomes compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the compassionate."
So Norman, while you are entitled to your opinions -- no matter how immoral and how risible -- do us all a favor and stop purporting to base them upon Jewish law, about which you plainly know nothing.
Hanoch,
Hillel said, "That which is hateful to you, do not do unto others."
We don't need Talmud scholars to justify breaking the law.
We need Jews to tell the lawbreakers to stop breaking the law.
I think the reciprocity should be more symmetrical. Saudi Arabia should open an embassy in Israel, and in exchange, Israel opens an embassy in Saudi Arabia.
Israel Shamir, the Israeli translator, said that the Nazis used to call the Germans who opposed Hitler "self-hating Germans."
Now the nationalist Jews are using the same term against the Jews who oppose them.
So it is an honor to be insulted for opposing war and killing.
Especially by people with so-called German names.
What is this "normalization" that the Arabs are promising Israel? Is it the same normal relations that existed between Poland and Germany, or Russia and Poland before 1939? After all, there were diplomatic ties and embassies. trade, and all that between Germany and Poland, and Poland and the USSR before September 1939. But there was only one problem: neither Germany nor Russia ever recognized Poland's right to exist! That is why first th Red Army came into my mother's home in eastern Poland and kicked them out, as they were considered "bourgeois," and then nearly two years later the Germans came and herded them into ghettos, and soon destroyed her family, with my mother just barely escaping alive. There is no meaning in this term "normalization." Nothing less than full acceptance of ISrael's RIGHT TO EXIST as the state of the Jewish nation should be even be considered! Israel should make it crystal clear it will not sign any so-called peace agreement, or relieve the occupation of Judah, Samaria, Gaza and Golan without FULL RECOGNITION OF THE JEWISH STATE'S RIGHT TO EXIST in the Middle East in permanent peace and security! Period.
The children of these Germans with Jewish blood, or "mischlings" who escaped to Palestine in the 1930s because the Nuremberg Racial laws denied that they were Aryan Germans, now want to destroy Israel from within by undermining Jewish rights in the Jewish homeland. Instead of spewing their hatred for everything Jewish and trying to destroy Israel by echoing Arab propaganda, why don't they go back to Germany and see if the Gentiles there will love them now? Why do they remain in Israel to torture everyone with their leftist lies and seditious rhetoric? Let them return their Jewish Agency apartments and all the other perqs they received from the Jewish agency and go back! Israel is the Jewish National Home, as specified by the League of Nations in 1922, and a Jewish State as specified by the UN Partition plan. It is not for mischlings and mixed up renegade "Jews" to spread their malicious distortions of history to feed the Arab propaganda machine.
How can anyone expect the Saudis to accept a Jewish state, when Muhammad robbed and murdered and ethnically cleansed out the Jews of Medina and Khaybar and the rest of the Hijaz, and Muslim law does not permit them to live on Arabian "holy" soil? Israel should threaten to expel the Muslims from holy Jewish lands in retaliation if they do not agree to accept the right of the Jewish state to exist.
we do not know that people of the hebraic/mosheic faith [much later renamed "judaism"] in hijaz, were israelites or benjamino-judeo-canaanitic people. they cld have been arab or much arab and converted to either mosheism or judaism. canaanitic peoples may have never been extirpated. We know that benjaminim were marrying so many jebusitic girls that sanhedrin had to change the law about being a judean [or is it judaist/mosheist?]
so, even if it cld be ascertained that mohammedans had slain judaists, there is not proof they were either hebraic or hebraic-canaanitic.
of course if one identifies one's faith or one's connection to a person of judaic faith, with ethnicity, then that person will call that person judean or in modern time "jew".
however, once to a person her/his faith is also nationality/ethnicity, that person will always be persecuted. and mostly because such a person will, without fail, persecute a nonbelonger. so, when will 'jews' ever land on mother earth and accept the fact they are first of all humans and then whatever. this is natural way of evaluation. Evaluating a 'quality' called "jewishness' as more valuable that being human violates the natural and sane evaluation which nature or 'gods]will not forever tolerate. madoff, dwek, rosenbaum, the fourty rabbis happen solely because these people are first of all jews and then humans. so, is the fourth shoah that far behind?
p.s. the day the Saudis smash the Bin Ladens and their cohorts. The day the Saudis allow Jews and Christians into Mecca, well, that will be the "sea change", not some bones called UAE, Bahrain and Qatar.
If Jews allow Muslims in Jerusalem, - hear this, self-haters - why won't Muslims allow Jews in Mecca!
It's the Saudis, "Stupidly' Obama.
Until then, NOT one Settlement should be moved - and even after, they remain where they are - on traditionally JEWISH land.
Obama New Emphasis on Reciprocity Dear Editor: I see no evidence of reciprocity, with the recent attacks by President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton exclusively on Israel, whether it be an endorsement of the Saudi Arabian "peace plan" which calls for the entry into a truncated Israel of millions of so-called Arab refugees or the red herring of the building of Jewish housing in Jerusalem. It is about time to admit that this is the most anti-Israel administration in U. S. history. With President Obama's background, the Jewish community, before going to the polls, should have been alerted to what is now occurring.
Nelson,
Very well said. You're right, this is the most anti-Israel administration in U.S. History. Even Carter and Bush 1 were more restrained in their hate of Israel than this sick crew who tolerate the rapes and murderers of girls in Iran but heaven forbid a Jew building a room or playground in their own land.
Any Jew who votes Democratic in the next several elections deserves Obamacare aka free prefrontal lobotomies.
Thank you for your succinct comments.
year future disputed began research indicates
If you were a German in Europe in March, 1939, and somehow, magically, you knew all the horrors that were about to be perpetrated against Europe's Jews—the ghettoes, the starvation, the cattle cars, the concentration camps, the gas chambers, the death marches--, what would you do to stop it?
Israel is not occupying any land, it only recaptured in June 1967 land that belong to Israel for many centuries. The Arabs have no right or claims to the lands whatsoever. NO PALESTINIAN STATE – No land concessions R4.
Imagine that the various people who settled in the United States for the past 300 years decided one day that they one to parcel the United States into an independent State just for them, would the American public go for it. The Answer is absolutely NO.
The situation in Israel today is no different. The Arabs there are not Palestinians, there is no such Arab nation as Palestine or Palestinian people.
Europeans countries today are consisting of numerous people from other countries. Would the Europeans people cede part of their country to set up another State in their midst. The answer is absolutely NO.
All the Arabs in Israel and surrounding areas are from the various Arab nations, such as Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon and other Arab nations.
Prominent PLO Arab says there are no 'Palestinians' and no "Palestine"
PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein admitted in a March 31, 1977 interview with a Dutch newspaper Trouw.
"The Palestinian people do not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct 'Palestinian people' to oppose Zionism. "
The Qur'an 17:104 - states the land belongs to the Jewish people If the historic documents, comments written by eyewitnesses and declarations by the most authoritative Arab scholars are still not enough, let us quote the most important source for Muslim Arabs: "And thereafter we [Allah] said to the Children of Israel: 'Dwell securely in the Promised Land. And when the last warning will come to pass, we will gather you together in a mingled crowd'.". 017.104 YUSUFALI: And We said thereafter to the Children of Israel, "Dwell securely in the land (of promise)": but when the second of the warnings came to pass, We gathered you together in a mingled crowd. PICKTHAL: And We said unto the Children of Israel after him: Dwell in the land; but when the promise of the Hereafter cometh to pass We shall bring you as a crowd gathered out of various nations. SHAKIR: And We said to the Israelites after him: Dwell in the land: and when the promise of the next life shall come to pass, we will bring you both together in judgment.