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By Ryan Jones www.IsraelToday.co.il

A columnist for the Saudi Arabian daily newspaper Al-Riyadh has finally uncovered the cornerstone of the Jewish plot for world domination. It is Switzerland. Yes, the entire nation of Switzerland is apparently a Jewish plot.

Writing on September 4, Fahd ‘Amr Al-Ahmadi pointed out that over the past four centuries, Europe has experienced numerous major wars, and yet Switzerland sat there right in the middle completely unscathed. At the same time, Switzerland refused to join any major international alliances or organizations. (It only became a UN member in 2002.)

The conclusion for Al-Ahmadi is simple: Switzerland must be the “safe haven where the [Jews'] wealth can be guarded against the wars they themselves spark,” a safe haven spoken of in the czarist blood libel The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

For those in the West who naively believe that Holocaust-inducing anti-Semitism is a thing of the past, blood libels such as The Protocols are actually an increasingly prominent part of political discourse in the Middle East. So much so that major Arab newspapers reference The Protocols as though it were a commonly acknowledged fact that the Jews are planning a global takeover. And to them, it is.

Of course, Al-Ahmadi’s reasoning ignores the subhuman treatment of the Jews throughout all those wars during which their wealth was supposedly piling up and being guarded in Switzerland. A sane person may wonder why such powerful and wealthy Jews, capable of turning a whole nation into their private assistant, did not use some of that money and power to protect themselves from expulsion, forced conversion, pogroms, and genocide.

But anti-Semites rarely allow the facts of history to get in the way of a good Jew-bashing story.

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[Translation of Al-Riyadh article provided by MEMRI]

Saudi Columnist: Switzerland’s Neutrality Is Part Of Jewish Plot To Control World’s Wealth – As In ‘Protocols Of the Elders of Zion’The Middle East Media Research Institute www.MEMRI.org

In his column in the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh, titled “The Swiss Secret,” Fahd ‘Amr Al-Ahmadi claimed that Switzerland’s traditional neutrality was part of a Jewish plot to incite wars and control the world’s wealth by means of the country’s banks. He noted that this was in accordance with The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Following are excerpts from his column: [1]
“In Europe, there have been dozens of brutal wars. Napoleon and Hitler invaded most of the continent, and two world wars burned up most of the countries. Nevertheless, no one attacked Switzerland, which for 500 years has remained an oasis of peace in the heart of a burning hell.

“These days, the world is uniting under economic, political, and military alliances. Nevertheless, Switzerland refuses to join any international alliance or organization, including the EU and the UN [sic].”[2]

“This isolation and absolute neutrality immediately bring to mind The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which discuss a ‘safe haven’ where the [Jews'] wealth [can] be guarded against the wars they themselves spark. They will work to concentrate the world’s wealth [in this 'safe haven'] so that it becomes their delicious slice [of the world's wealth], for when they touch off the world revolution [that they are planning].

“In his book Pawns in the Game, William Guy Carr discusses the Jews’ role in the rise of Napoleon and Hitler and their efforts to prevent an attack on Switzerland. In his book Secret World Government, Cherep[-Spiridovich] explains how world Jewry removed Switzerland from its plans to wreak anarchy and wars, so as to protect their money there. Thus, Switzerland gained a reputation as a safe haven in which to hoard the wealth of the goyim…

“Though I know this hypothesis seems fanciful, reality consistently supports it. Switzerland is the preferred destination for smuggled wealth, and has been since the 16th century. For 400 years, riches have been piling up there, including anonymous accounts, stolen funds, and capital which no one claims any longer. The main attraction of Switzerland is [its] neutrality and secrecy. The Swiss adopted the principle of neutrality in 1515, following their crushing defeat at the hands the French army… They are against any deviation from this principle, and even oppose the expression of any opinion or any solidarity with [a given cause].

“For example, have you ever heard a Swiss position on the invasion of Iraq, the siege on Gaza, or the bombings in New York? Even now, Switzerland refuses to join the UN, the EU, or NATO. Nor has it signed any extradition agreements or security information exchange agreements with any country (making it a paradise for third world tyrants). But the strangest thing of all is that Switzerland doesn’t even have an army capable of initiating conflict with other [countries] – only a civilian defense force and a multitude of ‘non-aggression’ pacts!!

“As for the economic advantage that has contributed to building Switzerland’s reputation as a safe haven, it is a matter of [the country's] strict bank secrecy law. Swiss law prohibits the uncovering or revealing of any banking information for any reason. Likewise, for over 200 years, Swiss banks have been using an encoding system which prevents even the bank’s own clerks from knowing the identity of the account holders. Most importantly, the client is free to deposit his wealth under a pseudonym or under a secret number known to no one but himself. If we add to this five centuries of bank dependability and professionalism, we can understand how Switzerland became a refuge for rich people, tyrants, and thieves from all over the world.

“Now, let us consider the result of all this over the [last] 500 years:
“Neutrality and secrecy [not only] make the Swiss regime unique, they also ensure that wealth remains in Switzerland forever. When a client or tyrant dies, like Saddam Hussein or the Shah of Iran, [Switzerland's] bank secrecy and willful neutrality prevent the account from being returned to [the rightful heirs of] its original owner… For instance, to this day, the forgotten wealth of German officers killed in World War II remains in Switzerland. To this day, the same Swiss uniqueness [of neutrality and secrecy] obstructs the return of the millions stolen by Philippines [president Ferdinand] Marcos, by Zaire [president Mobutu] Sese Seko, by Nigerian [president Sani] Abacha, and by the leaders of the military coups in the Arab world and South America.

“In conclusion, this anonymous and forgotten capital now constitutes a large part of Switzerland’s economic wealth, as a result of which the Swiss citizen enjoys a high standard of living, [with] comfort and ease.

“All that is left is to point out one uncommon event that can shed light on the ties between the Zionist organizations and the Swiss banking apparatus. Under pressure from the American-Jewish lobby, Switzerland acknowledged, for the first time, the existence of anonymous accounts belonging to Jews killed in World War II. Ten years ago, it agreed not only to restore the money [to the rightful heirs] but also to [pay] accrued interest from 1940. [This begs] a parallel question: [How much] wealth belonging to non-Jews lays forgotten in Swiss banks, and how much interest has accrued on it?
“The answers can be found in the sixth and 15th protocols of [The Protocols of] the Elders of Zion.”

Endnotes:
[1] Al-Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), September 4, 2011.
[2] Switzerland joined the U.N. in 2002.

Simon Wiesenthal Center www.JewishJournal.com

For each of the last two years, The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish human rights NGO, compiled a list of the top ten anti-Israel and anti-Semitic slurs. The list continues to reflect the growing global anti-Semitism and de-legitimization of Israel coming from mainstream voices. It does not include statements by terrorist organizations, the lunatic fringe, or the government of Iran.

These citations should serve as a wake-up call to those who believe that such rants are the exclusive domain of Neo-Nazis and crackpots.

1. “I come before you today from the Holy Land, the land of Palestine, the land of divine messages, ascension of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the birthplace of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people…”
– Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at his UN General Assembly address, September 23, 2011. Speaking to the world, Abbas omitted any reference to the Jewish people’s connection to the Holy Land. No reference to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or King David, King Solomon, or Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel.

source www.gadebate.un.org/sites/default/files/gastatements/66/PS_en.pdf

2. “I would like to see accurate statistics of how many Israelis have been killed by the bombs thrown by Palestinians or with the rockets that were launched by them?…. we know that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were killed… neither Turkey nor the Muslims in the region have exerted such cruelty on Israel… Israel is inexplicably cruel against innocent Palestinians, hiding behind the Nazi Holocaust and seeking victimhood…. Everybody knows what Israel is about.”
– Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during CNN Interview with Fareed Zakaria, September 25, 2011.

source http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1109/25/fzgps.01.html

3. “Everything that happens today in the world has to do with the Zionists… American Jews are behind the world economic crisis that has hit Greece also.”
– Zorba The Greek composer, Mikis Theodorakis, winner of the International Music Council-UNESCO International Music Prize, also told Greek TV that he was “anti-Israel and anti-Semitic,” February 15, 2011.

source http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=208291

4. “I love Hitler…People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be f****** gassed.”
– The renowned Christian Dior fashion designer John Galliano was fired and later convicted in a French court for his anti-Semitic rants screamed at Jews in a Paris bar. Galliano later apologized.

source http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-02-28/news/28656549_1_semitic-designer-john-galliano-ugly-people

5. “I understand Hitler… He’s not what you would call a good guy, but yeah, I understand much about him and I sympathize with him a little bit. But come on, I’m not for the Second World War, and I’m not against Jews… I am of course, very much for Jews. No, not too much, because Israel is a pain in the ass… I’m very much for Speer. Albert Speer [Hitler’s Architect]… He was also maybe one of God’s best children… Okay, I’m a Nazi.”
– Director Lars Von Trier was thrown out of the Cannes Film Festival after this rant, May 18, 2011. He later apologized.

source www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/18/lars-von-trier-im-a-nazi-_n_863512.html

6. “[Jews] want that sucker of Syrian blood to remain and continue to prey and suck blood. They not only want their security, but also to enjoy the sight of Syrian blood being spilled…. Asking myself why Jewish support of Bashar [Assad] increased after they saw the rivers of Syrian blood this mass-murderer spilled in Syrian towns, an old image leapt to my mind, of Jews bleeding people and using their blood to prepare matzos. Logic does not accept this, but the facts prove it.”
– Syrian writer Osama Al-Malouhi, an opponent of President Bashar Assad, posted on an opposition website, October 26, 2011, The Middle East Media Research Institute.

source http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5769.htm

7. “Not all the Jews in the world are evil….The ratio is 60-40. Sixty percent are evil to varying degrees, all the way to a level that words cannot describe, while 40 percent are not evil.”
– Tawfiq Okasha, a presidential candidate in post-Mubarak Egypt, added that among the 40% of ‘non-evil’ Jews, only one in a million is blameless and that French President Nicolas Sarkozy is “one of those Jews who adhere to the Zionist ideology…one of the worst ideologies,” Al-Faraeen TV, October 31, 2011.

source www.nmen.org/egyptian-presidential-candidate-tawfiq-okasha-jews-run-u-s-economic-policy-to-subordinate-it-to-global-freemasonry-they-created-the-various-christian-denominations-only-60-of-jews-are-evil

#6 and #7 originally reported in “Praise Arab Spring, Except for Anti-Semitism” by Jeffrey Goldberg. Bloomberg, November 28, 2011

8. “The source that finances and incites all these international organizations… especially in the Arab world… they are led by a single, evil organization, known as Zionism. It is behind all these movements, all these civil wars, and all these evils… Jesus Christ healed the sick among the Jews… and resurrected their dead. [How did they repay him?] They strived to crucify him until he died…”
“Do the people of the opposition [today]… belong to Christianity or to Islam? No. They are deeply rooted in Judaism and in Zionism… Any intelligent person who reads The Protocols of the Elders of Zion will see the extent of its influence on the politics of our region and the world.”
– George Saliba, Bishop of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Lebanon, Al-Dunya TV, July 24, 2011. The Middle East Media Research Institute.

source http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/3047.htm

9. “Oppose the moral blackmail of the so-called Holocaust! [“Arbeit macht Frei!”]Truth makes free!”
– Hermann Dierkes, leader of the Left Party in Duisburg, Germany, April 2011. Dierkes posted a flyer on the website with a swastika morphing into a Star of David and called for a boycott of Israeli products, labeling Israel a “rogue state” and a “warmonger.” “Arbeit macht Frei!” is inscribed on the gates of Nazi concentration camps including Auschwitz and Dachau.

source http://soerenkern.com/web/?p=646

10. “The state of Israel is an illegal, genocidal place… to equate Judaism with the state of Israel is to equate Christianity with [rapper] Flavor Flav.”
– Rev. Jeremiah Wright in a speech to thousands of people, June 14, 2011, Baltimore, Maryland.

source http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2011-06-21/news/bs-ed-mossburg-wright-20110621_1_african-history-american-revolution-barack-obama

By Jack Kinsella www.OmegaLetter.com

According to their website, Butterball is one of the largest global turkey producers in the world, currently exporting 100 million pounds of turkey annually to fifty countries.

“As an international turkey provider, we have the expertise in serving different countries and different customs, and will work with you to meet any and all product needs. We have met the requirements for the following certifications: USDA Approved, Russian Approved and employ a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HAACP) food safety system with Good Manufacturing processes. From great customer service to new product innovation to the proper certifications, Butterball has the experience you need to get our great tasting turkey in your market.”

The ad used to include its halal certification until the website was scrubbed of any reference to halal just before Thanksgiving when America discovered what halal really meant.

According to Jihadwatch’s Robert Spencer, Butterball even managed to scrub the Google cache page, a difficult and expensive proposition. Why go to all that effort if it is no big deal?

The revelation that Butterball turkeys are dedicated to Allah when slaughtered in accordance with Islamic law spawned a media war. The mainstream media immediately pounced on those who objected to eating turkeys sacrificed to idols as “Islamophobes” afraid of “jihad turkeys”.

Astonishingly, Butterball chose at first to cover it up, then denied it, saying only exported turkeys were halal. In the end, Butterball was forced to admit all its turkeys were certified halal, but then took the curious step of denying that Islamic prayers were said during the slaughter.
The denial is made all the more bizarre by the fact that if the denial is true, then Butterball is admitting to selling turkeys as halal that weren’t really halal in the first place. (???)

“Butterball claims that the manner in which the company slaughters its turkeys “allow for Halal certification.” The company, however, qualified that it does not go the extra step in reciting ritual prayers over the meat once slaughtered – that process, according to Butterball, is reserved for Islamic second-party distributors who purchase the company’s turkeys. Once in the hands of Islamic distributors, the turkeys, according to Butterball, can be marketed any way the distributor deems fit.”

This would be extraordinary admission of fraud, if true. If the prayers aren’t recited at the time of slaughter, the birds aren’t halal.
If Butterball is selling them as halal certified when they are not, that is far more offensive to observant Muslims than selling stealth halal turkeys would be to most Christians.

Muslims don’t like to be offended.

Assessment:
“And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.” (Acts 15:1-2)

When Paul arrived in Antioch, he was an outsider. Neither James nor John believed he should be numbered among the Apostles. The Apostle Peter was the top apostle, and was accepted as such by the Church at Jerusalem.

“And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.” (Acts 15:7)

Luke’s account of the Antioch meeting records that James, the brother of Jesus, decreed Gentiles did not have to be circumcised, but instead:
“That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.”

The Apostle Peter, having broken the Jewish law against not keeping kosher and eating with Gentiles, justified it by saying God told him in a vision, “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.”

The question before the Apostles at Antioch was a simply one. Was anything, circumcision or anything else, necessary for justification in addition to faith in Christ Jesus?

What Luke does not reveal about the meeting in Antioch, Paul reveals in his letter to the Galatians.

“But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.” (Galatians 2:11)

The word the KJV translators elected to translate as “blamed” is the Greek word, kataginosko. It means, “to condemn.”

That Paul, the outsider, would take on Peter, the top Apostle, and in his own bailiwick and in front of James and John, is astonishing.

That Paul would publicly condemn the Apostle Peter is more astonishing still. Most astonishing of all, however, is that Peter not only stood there and took it, he backed down.

“For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled [Gk: hupokrisis] likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.” (Galatians 2:12–13)

Why did Peter refuse to eat with the Gentiles? Because they were not ‘of the circumcision’. If Peter was right, Paul reasoned, then circumcision was still for profit, inasmuch as it conferred an advantage on the Jew.

In other words, it would mean that a work of the law must be added to faith in Christ for justification. It seems a small thing, but this “small thing” undermines the whole truth of grace and returns us to the bondage of the law.

It was therefore a supreme moment in the history of the Church. To have accepted this addition to the gospel of Christ would have perverted it, made it “another gospel”.

So Paul didn’t just publicly condemn Peter, he condemned him as hypocrite and accused him of subverting the Gospel. Again, in front of James, John and the assembled elders!

“But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?” (Galatians 2:14)
What was it that Paul thought was so compelling that he was willing to stand down the Apostles, Peter, James and John? It was that “a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. ”

And as a consequence he adds, “we,” [we Jews,] “have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

And so, if circumcision is a work of the law and if the law is a consequence of sin, then that makes Christ a minister of sin, as well.
“For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.” (Galatians 2:18)

Through the law, which had exacted the penalty of transgression from Him who was “made a curse for us,” Paul argues he was made “dead to the law,” for he had been “crucified with Christ”; and the object of his being dead to the law was that he might live unto God.

Additionally, although Paul was crucified with Christ, Paul says, “nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith in the Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me.”

When crucified with Christ, Paul’s old self, over which the law had authority, was dead. It was now Christ that lived in him; and the Christ who lived in him is the object of his faith, not Paul’s ability to keep the law.

The truth exposed by this conflict was forgotten almost as soon as the last Apostle went home, replaced by religions and institutions and rules and sacraments, but it is no less true today than it was the day that Paul stood up to Peter and the Apostles at Antioch.
We are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God lest any man should boast.

Your salvation is eternal and secured by Jesus Christ, not by following a ritual, obeying a set of rules, or behaving in a certain way.
“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39)
And neither could eating a Butterball turkey at Christmas.

(I still won’t buy one. It’s the principle of the thing. But if I already had one in the freezer, I probably wouldn’t throw it away, either.)

By Nadav Shragai www.IsraelHayom.com

Hebron strongman Sheik Farid Khader el-Ja’abari is one of the Palestinian Authority’s most outspoken opponents • He rejects the idea of a Palestinian state and keeps close contact with the IDF and Jewish settlers.

In the winter of 1974, the newspaper Al-Fajr published a cartoon showing the mayor of Hebron, Sheik Mohammed Ali el-Ja’abari, with a slipper stuffed in his mouth. Ja’abari, the all-powerful mayor of Hebron at the time, a friend of Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and of King Hussein of Jordan, was the one who, four years earlier, had allowed the establishment of the Jewish neighborhood in Kiryat Arba. His close relationship with the Israeli administration became a thorn in the sides of Palestinian nationalists.

The editor of Al-Fajr at the time was Yusuf (Joe) Nasser. For the sheik’s loyalists, the cartoon was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Veteran journalist Danny Rubinstein, who covered the Palestinian territories for the newspaper Davar at the time, recalled this week how, at a conference that Ja’abari attended, an elderly man stood up and called out, “Don’t worry, your Excellency – we will bring you the decapitated head of Yusuf Nasser on a tray of food.” Several days later, Yusuf Nasser disappeared from his home on Salah a-Din Street in east Jerusalem and was never seen again. Although the people suspected in the kidnapping, Ja’abari’s men, were arrested and interrogated, they were released due to lack of evidence.

Thirty-seven years later, as the Palestinians advocate in the U.N. for a state of their own, the mythical sheik’s successor, his nephew Sheik Farid Khader el-Ja’abari, faces a similar test. This time, it is not an insulting cartoon at issue, but a more serious matter. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah’s military wing, has made open threats on his life. The reason is the sheik’s firm statements against the Oslo Accords and the idea of establishing a Palestinian state, and his close ties with the settlers of Hebron and Kiryat Arba. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades has demanded that Ja’abari retract his statements. Those loyal to the sheikh, who has hundreds of armed men at his service, are seething with anger, but the 63-year-old has ordered everyone to show restraint.

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Sometimes restraint is power, and sometimes it is not. Five years ago, the Palestinian police killed Mohammed Ja’abari, 17, a member of the Ja’abari clan, by mistake. The sheik asked that the shooter be turned over to him. The Palestinian Authority demurred. That night, his people raided a building belonging to Force 17 in Hebron, torching 14 jeeps and capturing 34 Palestinian police officers. Only after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas contacted Ja’abari and pleaded for a sulha [a formal ceremony of reconciliation] were the police officers released. The PA, which declared the young man a shahid [martyr], continues to pay a salary to his family to this day.

“A state contradicts Islam”

Ja’abari, one of the strong men in the Hebron region today, heads a clan of approximately 35,000 people. The proud descendant of an old tribal-religious line, he is known as al-Hut al-Abiad – “the white whale” – a nickname that stuck because of the white robe that he often wears. Ja’abari’s connections and influence extend far and wide: from the settlers, the Civil Administration and the IDF to officials of the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the jihadist organizations. His opinions and worldview are hard to label. On the one hand, in recent years he has become the ally of the settlers and of the state of Israel. On the other, he is one of the most vigorous opponents of the establishment of a Palestinian state, but not for the reason that the settlers oppose it. Rather, he opposes it for the same reason that Hamas and Islamic Jihad do: Ja’abari believes that it is tantamount to treason and territorial concessions, which Islam strictly forbids.

The latest conflict between Ja’abari and the Palestinian Authority took place over statements that he made several weeks ago at the end of a meal marking the conclusion of Ramadan. The statements barely made waves at the time, perhaps because they were published in the Israeli press only on the Arutz Sheva website [a media outlet associated with the settlement movement], but in Hebron and in the Arab media, they spread like wildfire.

“A Palestinian state,” said the sheik, “has no basis to exist here. Perhaps in Jordan, but not in Israel. It has no land in reality; the Jews will not erase a single chapter from the Torah, and the Muslims will not erase a single verse from the Koran. This is holy soil, and we must not sell it or give it up in negotiations or in return for compensation. The governments of Israel made a mistake in that instead of talking with the sheikhs, they talked with the leaders from Tunis. Before Oslo, all the heads of Palestinian families met and sent a delegation led by Khaider Abu Shafi, but Israel laughed at them and met with the PLO without their knowledge. Israel did not contact the real leadership, which knows the street and the Palestinian population. All the political organizations – Hamas, Fatah and the Popular Front – are no more than 5 percent of the Palestinian people.”

“Recognition of a Palestinian state violates Islam. Even if the government should evacuate all the settlements, there will not be peace … Oslo was a catastrophe for the Palestinian side as well. If only we might have stayed in the time before Oslo. Then the situation was better economically. Today, there is more than 40 percent unemployment … In principle, we are a conservative society. Now there is no conservatism. There is nothing at all.”

The response to these statements was not long in coming. In a flier that they issued, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades accused Ja’abari of making light of the basic rights of the Palestinians, who had made many sacrifices. His statements against the Palestinian Authority and in favor of the settlers were made out to be more extreme. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades demanded that Ja’abari’s relatives distance themselves from the sheik and condemn his statements. They warned that anyone who published an opposing opinion “would find the barrels of our rifles stronger than he or his response … We declare that the man Farid Khader el-Ja’abari is under our surveillance step by step, and if he does not retract, our response will be made with guns … We will not hesitate to take revenge upon all those who betray the Palestinian issue.”

A man of “not one inch”

Ja’abari is not to be underestimated. He is no pet Arab or pet sheik. The constant dialogue that he holds with the army and with the Jews in Hebron are motivated by a well-thought-out religious doctrine. Approximately two weeks ago, we spoke with a contact person and asked to interview him. He agreed, but after a threat from Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the interview was “temporarily postponed.”

Nevertheless, we decided to write to him both because he is a major figure in Palestinian life in Judea and Samaria and because his conflict with the PA is taking place as the PA is working at the U.N. to declare a Palestinian state, which Ja’abari sees as a disaster.

He is a man of “not one inch.” He calls Mahmoud Abbas, who “chatters about dividing the country,” a crook, and says that he has no authority. Ja’abari is not willing to give up “even a millimeter of sacred soil,” not only in Judea and Samaria, but also “in Jerusalem, in Ramle, in Lod and in Haifa.” On the other hand, Ja’abari is a man of honor and of coexistence and practicality, a firm opponent of terrorism and violence who supports dialogue and discourse as values in themselves. Regarding the Jewish presence in Hebron, he says, “It is an indisputable historical fact, and so we must find a way to live with each other.”

How can the contradiction be resolved? How can an ideology held in common with Hamas about the “wholeness of the land” and an alliance with the settlers, who wish to wrest the land from Islam’s power and make it Jewish, live side by side?

One of the sheik’s close associates, a constant visitor to his home, tries to explain. “The sheik is a man of truth and is not willing to participate in games of war and peace. The sheik’s truth is based upon the Koran, which forbids giving up Islamic land, period. One who gives up even a centimeter of it – his blood be upon his own head. Therefore, the formula of evacuating settlements is nonsense. It will solve nothing. In the same breath, the sheik also remembers the statements of the Prophet Muhammad, who said that if the enemy wished for silam (half-peace), half-peace could be made with him, a kind of hudna (temporary cease-fire), until you become stronger and can defeat him.”

“The sheik says: I walk in the way of Islam and combine religion with pragmatism and humanity. He understands that Israel is a fact that cannot be changed, and says: I want to live with the people here in mutual respect. I will help them and I will protect them, and they will help me and protect me. In the end, the Messiah will come. If our Mahdi comes first, all the Jews will become Muslim. If the Messiah of the Jews comes first, we will all become Jews.”

Compromise and dialogue

The sheik has been putting his unique worldview into practice for several years. Statesmen and generals from both peoples come to see him. He spends most of his time in arbitration and mediation between Arabs and Arabs and between Jews and Arabs. In 1978, he left the country to become a successful contractor in Saudi Arabia. Two years later, his uncle, Sheik Mohammed Ja’abari, the mayor of Hebron, died, but only in 1994 did he accede to his family’s command, returning to take up the reins of the tribe.

Dialogue groups that include Rabbi Yaakov Meidan of Gush Etzion, Noam Arnon of Hebron and Malachi Levinger of Kiryat Arba have been started in his home near the Cave of the Patriarchs. When Eliakim Haetzni was wounded in a road accident, Ja’abari visited him in the hospital. And when an Arab contractor who built in Elazar tried to “sting” his customer by demanding an astronomical price, the Jewish party contacted Ja’abari, who brokered a compromise between them. Israeli Arabs also contact him, and Civil Administration and IDF officials see him as the go-to person when they have a local problem that needs solving. He is considered one of three clerics in Israel and in the territories who have the power to stop blood feuds, which are still customary in some segments of Muslim and Bedouin society.

The anarchists who operated in Hebron almost drove him out of his mind with anger. He saw them as instigators and troublemakers, and also as a danger to Islam because of their permissive ways and immodest manner of dress. The Jews of Hebron did not like the anarchists in Hebron for exactly the same reasons, and so an unusual cooperation took place that led to the placing of an Arabic-speaking Jewish modesty observer in the streets of the city.

On the Jewish New Year five years ago, Ja’abari put out a large conflagration. The Palestinian landlord on which the Hazon David tent synagogue was erected in Kiryat Arba was about to give the anarchists power of attorney to evacuate the settlers from it by force. This was supposed to take place at the height of the New Year holiday. Ja’abari scuttled the plan. His actions astonished the army, which had tried to evacuate the outpost from the privately-owned Palestinian lot dozens of times. Then came the well-publicized meeting with the settlers in the sheikh’s home, which was attended by additional Arab dignitaries and the brigade commander of Hebron. The Jewish community in Kiryat Arba gave the sheikh its own certificate of appreciation.

The sheikh’s intervention led to a solution to the water problem in the Givat Ha’Avot neighborhood in Kiryat Arba. A pipe to the neighborhood was supposed to pass through privately-owned Palestinian land. The Palestinian Authority threatened the land owner, warning him not to allow the pipe to go through his land. Once again Ja’abari intervened, and an agreement between the land owner and the Jewish community stipulated that the residents of the nearby Arab neighborhood would also benefit from the water that flowed through the pipe. Instead of everybody losing, everybody won.

One of the best-known stories in Hebron, which made a strong impression on the Arab residents and showed that the relationship between the Jews of Hebron and Ja’abari’s people had become a kind of covenant, took place several months ago.

Amir el-Ja’abari, a 16-year-old youth of the Ja’abari clan, quarreled with a youth from the Zreir family and was stabbed in the throat. The injured youth, who lost a great deal of blood, was taken to Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron, but his condition deteriorated rapidly. His family decided to transfer him to an Israeli hospital. The Civil Administration opposed it, but the medical staff of Kiryat Arba joined in the mission. At a certain stage, a military ambulance sped after the ambulance of Kiryat Arba after it received an order from the Civil Administration to return him to the Palestinian hospital. The Kiryat Arba ambulance ignored the order, bypassed the IDF checkpoint and sped toward Soroka Hospital. When hospital officials discovered the patient’s identity, the youth was at death’s door and about to undergo cranial surgery. The hospital demanded a financial guarantee of payment. Within an hour, the sheikh transferred NIS 58,000 to Soroka Hospital. The youth underwent a difficult operation on his brain from which he never recovered. He died three days later.

Tribal loyalty

What sets the Ja’abari clan apart from the rest of the Palestinians in Hebron is their tribal loyalty. The Ja’abaris have thousands of armed “representatives” in Hamas and in the PA’s security services, but their tribal loyalty takes precedence over all other loyalties, and the sheikh’s word is considered sacred.

When Ja’abari returned to Israel in 1994 and took up the reins, the Palestinian Authority entered the area as well. They were two parallel lines that had difficulty meeting. The clerk with the insignia represented the Palestinian Authority. The sheikh represented the tribal authority. After Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades threatened his life, the sheikh kept silence. Several days later, representatives of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades came to his door, swearing that the flier was a forgery. The sheikh investigated. He did not believe them. Now, there is a tense quiet between the two sides.

What will he do if a Palestinian state ends up being established after all? His close associates say that if Israel supports it, he will resign himself to its existence, “as he resigned himself to the existence of the Palestinian Authority, all of whose power and existence,” he says, “depend on Israel. If Israel does not support the PA,” the sheik tells his close associates, “the PA will not last more than two hours. It will be swept quickly from the streets.”