When the going gets tough, the tough....

... get going. We hope.

Boy oh boy, the pressure is on. The world as a whole is pretty much jumping on Israel, demanding that we accept their plans to bring “peace” to the Middle East – a “peace” that could only mean the end of Israel.

This isn’t to deny that the end of Israel wouldn’t bring ‘peace’. It would, of course -- there would be an end to the opposition to Arab/Islamist control of this part of the world. They would be free to use the region as terrorist training grounds to further the Islamist plan to wipe out Western democracies and impose Islamic law on the world.

Needless to say, that's not the kind of peace we have in mind.

It started yesterday, when PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas rejected any further talks with Israel. Abbas is better known locally by his nom de guerre, Abu Mazen, which was how he was known during the years when he didn’t dress like a Chicago businessman and carried out terrorist attacks much more openly.

In any event, Abu Mazen’s refusal to talk to Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu means he’s betting on the Community Organizer and the Pope to fight this battle for him – and unfortunately enough, it looks like that’s exactly what they’ll do.

Abu Mazen apparently expects the Community Organizer to pressure Israel into accepting the much-talked-about “two state solution” when the two meet for the first time next week.

Israel rejects the “two state solution” -- what THEY mean by the “two state solution” anyway. They intend to carve a terrorist state within the boundaries of contemporary Israel, taking about a third of Israel’s land mass.

We oppose that, because we know what will happen – exactly the same thing that happened when we (stupidly) turned Aza over to the terrorists. That said, there is a long-standing “two state solution” many of us would heartily endorse: It’s the recognition that there already ARE two states, one for Jews, one for Israeli Arabs. The existing State for the Israeli Arabs is called Jordan.

I laid out the whole history of the thing in one of the SacUnion columns – which is still there, believe it or not.
(www.sacunion.com/pages/columns/articles/time_to_recognize_the_palestinian_state/)

Simply stated, when Israel was created in 1948, a state for the Arabs was created, too. But they rejected it. They didn’t want just a part of the territory back then, they wanted it all.

So here we are again – 61 years later – and in spite of having rejected the State that was offered to them six decades ago, now they insist they must have a State. Not the State of Jordan, obviously – they already have that, in the sense that it’s Arab-controlled. Now they want a hunk of the land that was given to Israel, and which Israel accepted.

So Abu Mazen expects the Community Organizer to pull this deal off for him, to force Israel into agreeing to sacrifice our security in order to maintain some sort of relationship to the US.

That was strike one. The second strike came today when, as expected, the Pope stepped in to help.

According to an AP story datelined Jerusalem, immediately after arriving in Israel, Pope Benedict XVI called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian homeland.

"The hopes of countless men, women and children for a more secure and stable future depend on the outcome of negotiations for peace," the Pope said at an airport ceremony."In union with people of goodwill everywhere, I plead with all those responsible to explore every possible avenue in the search for a just resolution of the outstanding difficulties, so that both peoples may live in peace in a homeland of their own within secure and internationally recognized borders."

Well, if nothing else, it certainly proves that the Pope’s alleged infallibility is limited to issues of faith and morals. Obviously he doesn’t know beans about politics, history or what’s going on in the Middle East right now.

The third strike against Israel came this afternoon from the allegedly ‘moderate’ country of Jordan, when King Abdullah stepped into the fracas to issue his own threat.

The King told the London Times that he was giving Israel a moratorium – he’s giving us 18 months to accept the “Saudi Arabian 2002 Peace Plan” or else. Not surprisingly, the ‘Saudi Plan’ is the same plan the Community Organizer is pushing, probably because it means a relatively quick end to Israel.

What’s the “or else”? What happens if Israel does not accept the Saudi Plan within 18months? “Then the world will be suckered into another conflict in the Middle East.”

Actually, the King was just reiterating a warning he’d issued a month ago when he was the Community Organizer’s guest of honor in Washington. At that time, he warned the US that if the Jewish State did not accept Arab demands, Israel would face war.

What’s interesting about the Arabs is their candor. They tell the world over and over that their goal is to drive us into the sea. They make no bones about their continuing to use terror in order to accomplish that. They openly and repeatedly, and without any hint of embarrassment, call the Jewish State all kinds of names I’d rather not print here. They’re proud of being viciously racist.

So maybe it’s not surprising that King Abdullah was open and candid about the pressure being applied to Israel. Responding to a question about the American-led pressure against Israel and the visit of the Pope, the King openly admitted the strategy to the Times, “It is all part of one major effort,” he said.

So now it’s up to Bibi. He’s meeting with the Community Organizer next week. Can he stand up to the almost inhuman pressure being applied by Israel’s former ally, the US? Can he stand alone against the rest of the world? Will he tell the most powerful man in the world that while we appreciate the advice, we’ll make our own decisions?

Can he do that?

I haven’t a clue. But what I do know is that if he doesn’t, then the world as we know it will change. And not in the direction of peace, either.