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Bennett: Every Time We Give Up Land People Are Killed

Mr. Bennett obviously didn't get 'the memo' - where you aren't supposed to state the obvious regarding the so-called 'peace talks'. 

Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday spoke out against President Shimon Peres's calls for the resumption of peace talks based on a two-state solution, saying that "every time we give up land, people are killed."

Speaking at a Bayit Yehudi faction meeting, Bennett stated that "this is the time to say this is our land and it's not for sale."

Bennett added: "Everyday mothers and their children in cars are hit by rocks on main roads in Judea and Samaria."

The Bayit Yehudi leader said that there is no difference between Israeli residents of Tel Aviv and West Bank settlements, and that the IDF must understand that it is also responsible for protecting the 400,000 Israelis living in Judea and Samaria.

Bennet's comments came after Peres on Sunday, speaking at the culmination of the World Economic Forum held at the King Hussein Convention Center on the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea, hailed the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative – amended from a two-state solution on the pre-1967 lines to one that is based on that line and includes minor land swaps of equitable value.

Bennett Says Peres Wrong On Israeli Willingness To Capitulate

Bennett said he respected the president, but that “contrary to his words, most of the Israeli public highly objects to retreating to the pre-1967 borders and understands it will import Hamas terror to the cities in the center of the country.”

“The Israeli public, which witnessed thousands of people killed as a result of the Oslo Accords, knows, with its healthy senses, that the way to peace and security is through strength, not weakness and capitulation.”

The Jewish Home’s Orit Strock also slammed Peres’s speech, saying he was the man “most worthy” of talking about the two-state solution.

“With a salesman like Peres, who’s responsible for the failure of Oslo, the [2005 Gaza] Disengagement and their victims, the chance of the sane public buying another illusion from the left is shrinking,” Strock said. “That’s a good thing.”

Earlier in the day, Steinitz said Peres might be president, but his opinions were not those of the government.

“I didn’t know Peres aspired to be the government’s spokesman,” he said in mock surprise ahead of the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. “Any statement on the eve of negotiations of this sort — How shall we put this gently? — is unhelpful.”

Syria Fighting Rages Amid Reports Of Chemical Attacks

Heavy fighting raged on Monday around the strategic border town of Qusair and the capital Damascus, amid renewed reports of chemical weapons attacks by Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces.

Opposition activists said Syrian troops backed by Lebanese Hezbollah fighters were advancing in areas around Qusair, pressing a sustained assault on a town long used by rebels as a way station for arms and other supplies from Lebanon.

For Assad, Qusair is a crucial link between Damascus and loyalist strongholds on the Mediterranean coast. Recapturing the town, in central Homs province, could also sever connections between rebel-held areas in the north and south of Syria.

Video posted online from the eastern suburb of Harasta showed lines of victims lying on the floor of a large room, covered in blankets and breathing from oxygen masks.

Both sides in the conflict, now in its third year, have accused each other of using chemical weapons. France's Le Mondenewspaper published first-hand accounts on Monday of apparent chemical attacks by Assad's forces in April.

Another video from Harasta overnight showed at least two fighters being put into a van, their eyes watering and struggling to breathe while medics put tubes into their throats.

It was not possible to verify the videos independently, given the difficulties of media access in Syria.

A doctor interviewed in another video said the alleged chemical attack in Harasta was revenge for a rebel raid on nearby military checkpoints. He complained of a severe shortage in staff and medical supplies to treat such victims.

Syrian Flames Jump The Border To Lebanon

All the Arab news outlets report that less than 12 hours after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Sunday to keep his forces in Syria until the Assad regime defeats the Syrian opposition, two missiles were fired at Hezbollah-dominated neighborhoods in Beirut. This has Lebanese citizens from all religious factions worrying that their country may become the next major front in the Syrian civil war.

In an interview with the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi, the chief of staff of the Free Syria Army, Salim Idriss, denied complicity in the attack and called for the conflict to be kept “within Syria.” Still, anonymous Syrian rebels issued statements saying the attacks were a warning to Lebanese officials to reign in Hezbollah. If not, there will be more deadly attacks in the coming days, they threatened.

The Doha-based network Al-Jazeera states that in response to reports that Hezbollah plans to deploy 5,000 militants to Syria, in addition to 5,000 already there, anti-Assad groups in Lebanon have also contributed to bringing the fight closer to Hezbollah’s home. In the past week alone, over 30 Lebanese have been killed in clashes that are being called “a spillover from the Syrian civil war.” Over 130 Hezbollah militants have fallen in battle with Syrian opposition forces.

In light of the backlash against Hezbollah, some Arab editorialists are writing that Nasrallah’s speech stating his unwavering loyalty to Assad’s victory was, in fact, a suicide note.

“Nasrallah has lit a fire he will not be able to put out,” writes Tareq Homayed, the outgoing editor-in-chief of A-Sharq Al-Awsat. “Nasrallah speaks about Lebanon and Syria in a condescending, populist tone. He will not survive this long sectarian battle.”

Hizballah Fires Rocket Towards Israeli Metula, Calls Up Reserves, Enters Damascus

Residents of Israel’s northernmost town of Metula were roused before dawn Monday, May 27 by an exploding rocket fired from the Lebanese town of Marjayoun about 10 kilometers north of the border. 

Hizballah, Iran’s proxy, had joined the war of attrition President Assad has directed against Israel from the Golan.

The IDF has so far made no mention of the widely reported rocket attack although Lebanese media said an Israeli drone was hovering over the Marjayoun area.

Metula was attacked the day after three Grad missiles were fired from a point east of Mt Lebanon to explode in the Hizballah-controlled Dahiya district of Beirut, injuring five people and causing some damage.

It was fired by local Sunni elements sympathetic to the Syrian rebels. 

Nasrallah’s strategy in the face of domestic criticism of his heavy military commitment to Assad is to demonstrate that the troops he sent to fight in the Shiite-Sunni conflict raging in Syria are in fact waging war on the common enemy, the Jewish state.

Neither the United States nor Israel or Turkey has raised a finger to block this dangerous influx of Hizballah fighting forces into Syria although it is strongly tipping the scales of war in Assad’s favor.

Sunday overnight, Hizballah secretly ordered the call-up of reserves to reinforce its strength for fighting on three active fronts, Syria, Israel and opponents at home. Its agents went around Hizballah centers in towns and villages across Lebanon with orders for members to report for duty at once.

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