William K. Langfan

World War II Veteran and Philanthropist

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What The Palestinian Leaders Call Peace

Dear Editor:

Page one of the Oct. 29, 2016 New York Times contained an interview with a West Bank woman who was prepared to be a suicide bomber.  She was arrested before she could perform her act of revenge.  After six years in prison, she claims to have been transformed into an advocate of peace.  She might want peace; however, every act and word in Arabic of the Palestinian leaders is contrary to the meaning of peace.

Are the following examples of “peace” illustrative of what the Palestinian leaders call peace?

  1. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was created in 1964 with its charter calling for the Liberation of Palestine. Israel was within her UN established borders.

The Charter clearly declared that the original dimensions of the former British Mandate were the borders of Palestine, and that the establishment of Israel was illegal and void. Charter clause 24 specifically stated that the PLO does not claim any sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza.  Jordan controlled the West Bank and Egypt controlled Gaza in 1964.  There are several other clauses which call for the Liberation of Palestine.  The PLO was to resort to conflict until Israel was eliminated.

The 1968 charter amended the 1964 charter after the 1967 war by eliminating clause 24 and re-stated most of the 1964 clauses.  They changed the words struggle to liberate Palestine to “armed struggle” including commando action to liberate Palestine.  The Oslo peace process obligated the Palestinian Leadership to eliminate from their 1968 charter the various onerous clauses calling for the destruction of Israel.  Israel did meet her Oslo obligation by conveying control of large segments of the West Bank.

Arafat and the Palestinian leaders went through a series of steps of Chicanery which bamboozled President Clinton, Israeli leaders and the World into believing that they removed these drastic clauses to destroy Israel.  Not one word of this 1968 charter has ever been changed.  This 33 clause 1968 charter with its unchanged clauses to destroy Israel, remains the mantelet of the Palestinian leadership today.

  1. Hamas has a charter which also calls for the destruction of Israel. Clause 11 of this charter very clearly states that every grain of sand of Palestine is sacred Muslim territory.  Fatah has a constitution which is another “peaceful” document.  Each of these three documents speaks a great deal louder than empty words of “peace.”
  2. Constant Palestine leaders’ statements that a peace agreement with Israel is similar to Muḥammad’s peace with the Quraysh. Muḥammad violated this agreement as soon as he had garnered the ability to conquer them.
  3. Palestinian leaders frequently refer to defeating Israel in phases.
  4. Abbas and the Palestinian leaders refer to terrorist murderers of Israeli civilians as martyrs.
  5. Try to find a map of Palestine, which includes Israel, in Palestinian controlled areas.
  6. The Palestinian Authority continuously names schools, buildings, and streets for terrorist murderers of Israeli citizens.

There are many more examples too numerous to mention, which can only be interpreted as the opposite of peace intentions.

If the Palestinian leaders want to exhibit a real desire for peace with Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Fatah and Hamas must annul all three documents pursuant to the language in their 2 charters and constitution.  Additionally, 3/4 of the Palestinians must vote in a carefully monitored election that they want to live side by side in peace with Israel.

 

Respectfully,

William K. Langfan

 

(This letter to the editor was written on 11/2/2016)

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Open Letter to Major General (res.) Amnon Reshef

Dear Major General (res.) Reshef,

You and the other members of the Commanders for Israel’s Security should learn more about your prospective neighbor before you start on your road to the destruction of Israel.

I am a 94 year young American Vet who had fought from Normandy to the most easterly part of Germany when the war ended. I have purchased two ambulances for Magen David Adom and a motorcycle for Hatzalah. My father collected money for arms for Israel in the mid-1940’s. My son and I have been writing, lecturing, and debating for Israel for many years.

We both were very surprised and shocked to hear about your organization “Commanders for Israel’s Security,” and your peace plan for a two-state solution.

The saying that “it takes two to tango” should be considered very carefully before you embark on your campaign.

Is Hamas, Fatah, or the Palestinian Authority to be your Peace Partner; or will it be all three?

Hamas and the Palestinian Authority have charters which call for the elimination of Israel. Fatah has a constitution which also calls for the destruction of Israel. Oslo, thus far, has been the only “peace” agreement that has been signed. The unilateral departure from Gaza was another attempt at peace with the Palestinian leaders.

Arafat, et al promised in the Oslo Agreement to have the Palestine National Council (PNC) annul the onerous charter clauses. They never changed one word of the charter; however, Arafat did convince almost everyone that the April 1996 PNC meeting resulted in twenty-six charter clause annulments and partial annulments. Thus far, Israel pursuant to Oslo, conveyed large segments of land to the Palestinian Arabs and the unchanged 1968 charter still is the Palestinian “Junior Koran.” I don’t have to tell you the result of the Gaza withdrawal.

Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) and Middle East Research Institute (MEMRI) issue frequent translations of the PATV, Press, Palestinian leaders’ utterances, and Friday sermons. If anyone with an open or closed mind would read these translations, nobody would want to enter into any type of peaceful relationship with the advocates of such terrible concepts.

How many times must you hear Palestinian leaders say that an agreement with Israel is similar to the agreement which Muhammad signed with the Quraysh, before you will believe it?

How many times must you hear Palestinian leaders say that we will destroy Israel in phases, before you will believe them?

How many times must you hear Abbas or other Palestinian leaders refer to terrorist murderers of Israeli civilians as martyrs, before you will understand them?

You and your fellow commanders should also study the Cairo Palestinian National Council (PNC) “Political Programme of June 9, 1974.” The Palestinian leaders decided after the Yom Kippur War that a frontal attack against Israel was useless. Thus, they created the concept of destroying Israel in phases in this Programme.

The Declaration by the PNC in Cairo on March 22, 1977 reiterated their 1974 Programme.

Intention is what you must consider before you decide to do anything. I respectfully ask you to find one iota of any Palestinian leaders’ words or deeds in Arabic, which could lead you to conclude that they would settle for any result other than the elimination of Israel from their Muslim Waqf.

Respectfully,

William K. Langfan

 

(Letter to the editor published on 11/2/2016 in http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Generic/Generic/SendPrint?print=1&type=1&item=19703)

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The Rabin Center recently immortalized Rabin as the father of Oslo

Letter to the Editor:

The Rabin Center recently immortalized Rabin as the father of Oslo.

I sincerely feel that the Rabin Center should adjust their bravado dramatically pertaining to Rabin and Oslo.

Oslo did produce 1/2 of its promise of Land for Peace.  Control of significant segments of land was transferred by Israel to the Palestinians; however, Palestinian “Peace” has been a fraud before, during and after Oslo.  The Palestinian leadership has never changed one word of their promise and Oslo obligation to annul the onerous charter clauses to destroy Israel.

Prime Minister Rabin in his September 9, 1993 letter in response to Arafat’s promise that the PLO would submit to the PNC for formal approval the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian Covenant, stated, “In response to your letter of September 9, 1993, I wish to confirm to you that, in light of the PLO commitments included in your letter, the Government of Israel has decided to recognize the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and commence negotiations with the PLO within the Middle East peace process.”  Rabin should have paid attention to Jordan’s late King Hussein’s favorite expression, “Arafat never came to a bridge he would not double-cross.”

More than two years later on October 5, 1997 in a speech to the Knesset, Rabin emphasized the importance of the Palestinian obligation to change the Charter by stating, “the Palestinian Authority has not – up until now – honored its commitment to change the Palestinian Covenant, and that all of the promises on this matter have not been kept. I would like to bring it to the attention of the members of the house that I view these changes as a supreme test of the Palestinian Authority’s willingness and ability, and the changes required will be an important and serious touchstone vis-a-vis the continued implementation of the agreement as a whole.”

The following clause was inserted in the Interim Agreement in an attempt to force the Palestinian leadership to comply with Arafat’s promise to have the PNC change the Charter.  Article XXXI, Paragraph 9: “The PLO undertakes that, within two months of the date of the inauguration of the Council (Interim Agreement), the Palestinian National Council will convene and formally approve the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian Covenant, as undertaken in the letters signed by the Chairman of the PLO and addressed to the Prime Minister of Israel, dated September 9, 1993 and May 4, 1994.”  The inauguration of the Interim Agreement occurred on March 7, 1996.

The PNC did timely meet in April 1996 and did pass a two clause resolution to supposedly respond to the obligation above.  Clause One merely generalized the PNC’s intention to change the Charter pursuant to the September 1993 exchange of letters between Arafat and Rabin.  Clause Two authorized the legal committee to redraft the Charter and present the new charter to Palestinian Central Council (PCC).  There is no language in the 1968 Charter referring to the PCC.  There is no evidence that any new Charter was redrafted pursuant to Clause Two of the Charter.  No specific clause change in the Charter was ever mentioned in either clause of the resolution.  April 1996 PNC meeting is the only meeting which has ever been held by the PNC with respect to changing the Charter.  Clause 33 of the Charter states:  “This Charter shall not be amended save by [vote of] a majority of two-thirds of the total membership of the National Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization [taken] at a special session convened for that purpose.”

Arafat sent a letter to President Clinton in January 13, 1998, in which he alleged that as a result of the PNC resolution, clauses 6-10, 15, 19-23, and 30 were annulled and clauses 1-5, 11-14, 16-18, 25-27 and 29 were partially annulled.  Arafat’s interpretation of Clause One of the resolution, is one of history’s greatest lies.

The heads of all of the Palestinian ministries verbally reaffirmed Arafat’s lying annulments and partial charter annulments.  This vote was accepted by President Clinton and Prime Minister Netanyahu.  These alleged annulments have never appeared in a PNC document or in any Palestinian document.

The 1968 PLO unchanged Charter calling for the destruction of Israel, is still the only Palestinian Charter in existence, other than the Hamas 1998 Charter, which is substantially worse than the PLO Charter.

 

Respectfully,

William K. Langfan

 

(This letter to the editor was written on 9/29/2016)

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Open Letter To Netanyahu

Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu,

I respectfully and unequivocally state that not one word of the 1968 PLO Charter has ever been changed pursuant to Clause 33 of the Charter which states “that no changes in the charter can be made unless 2/3 of the membership of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) vote for a change.”

There is no written PLO Charter in existence other than the original 1964 PLO Charter and its amended 1968 version. The only special PNC session pertaining to the charter which has ever been held occurred in April 1996. Before the resolution was given to the PNC members, PNC Chairman Za’noun delivered a speech and stated the following: “But the version which was drafted is the least damaging that we could submit. It gives us an extension of six months until the Central Council convenes. And then the Central Council will discuss it. And it is within its rights to say they leave it for the National Council.”

Za’noun’s words clearly meant that the resolution was intended to delay any change in the Charter and still fulfill Article XXXI paragraph 9 of the Interim Agreement. This clause required that within two months from the date of the inauguration of the Interim Agreement, the PLO undertakes to have the Palestinian National Council meet to approve the charter changes in the September 1993 exchange of letters between Arafat and Rabin.

The PNC voted for a two-clause resolution. Clause One did not mention one specific clause annulment. It was a generalized statement that the PNC had decided to amend the Charter and cancel articles that opposed the September 1993 exchange of letters between Arafat and Rabin. Clause Two assigns the legal committee the responsibility of redrafting the Palestinian National Charter which will later be presented to the PCC during its first meeting. There is no evidence that any segment of Clause Two was ever fulfilled. There is no mention of Clause Two in any document after the 1996 PNC resolution. No other Palestinian document pertaining to the charter or the 1996 PNC Resolution was ever published until Arafat’s January 1998 letter to President Clinton.

Arafat boldly lied in the letter by stating that the April 1996 PNC Resolution resulted in 12 annulments (clauses 6-10, 15, 19-23, and 30) and 14 partial annulments (clauses 1-5, 11-14, 16-18, 25-27 and 29). Arafat in the letter converted the generalized language of Clause One into his own specific charter annulments and partial annulments. There is not one iota of evidence to sustain this untruthful conversion.

No special PNC session pertaining to the Charter other than the April 1996 meeting has ever been held.

The most powerful arguments Israel has as to why it should not meet with the Palestinians now is that Palestinian leaders have never changed one word of their charter’s declared goal of destroying Israel.

Additionally, Hamas has a charter that is even worse than the PLO’s. The 1998 Hamas Charter preamble states: “Surat Al-Imran (111), verses 109-11: Israel will arise and will remain erect until Islam eliminates it as it had eliminated its predecessors.”

And Clause 11 of the 1998 Hamas Charter declares that the land of Palestine has been and is an Islamic Wafq in perpetuity.

If Israel were to present to world leaders and international bodies some recent PMW and MEMRI translations of PATV programs, some recent Palestinian newspaper articles, some recent inflammatory statements by Palestinian officials, and some Friday sermons by Palestinian imams combined with the above charters, no reasonably objective party could object to your refusal to meet with Abbas or any Hamas official.

Respectfully,

William K. Langfan Palm Beach, FL

 

(Published on 7/14/2016 in http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-423/2016/09/14/0/)

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What would YOU do?

Questions for European leaders and our own John Kerry:

Would you meet with an adjacent neighbor if –

* they possessed many thousands missiles and their three major political parties had formal charters and a constitution calling for your destruction?

* their TV programs taught their people that the area of your country and their country are part of a “WAQF” which is a religious expression meaning it is a sacred area, and that not one grain of soil can belong to anyone else?

* they signed a prior agreement with you requiring them to annul clauses in their charter calling for your destruction in exchange for your conveyance of land to them – and while you did comply with your obligation, they in fact changed not one word of their charter?

* they honored as martyrs terrorists who murdered civilians of your country and almost daily incited their people against yours?

* they stated words of peace in your language and said exactly the opposite in their own language?

 

William K. Langfan

Palm Beach, FL

 

(This letter to the editor was published on 8/17/2016 in http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-419/2016/08/17/)