Wednesday, September 28, 2011
R' Menashe Klein, One the the Greatest Prominent Poskim of Our Time Passes On, Permitted the Boro-Park Eirev
New York - Right before Rosh hashana of 5772, Rav Menashe Klein was niftar. He was a remarkably prolific writer, having penned two entire series of Teshuvos, numbering into the thousands. He carried on correspondences with the Steipler Gaon zatzal, who had enormous regard for him. Rav Elyashiv too, gave him tremendous respect whenever Rav Menashe went to visit.
He was born in 1924 in Europe. Originally hailing from the town of Ungvar in what was then Czechoslovakia and what is now the Ukraine, Rav Menashe survived the Nazis, Yimach Shmam. In the DP camps as a young man he strengthened people and he taught Torah. He strengthened shattered men and women, and encouraged them – fortifying them with the means to continue. To the older boys he taught Chumash and Rashi. To the younger boys, orphans, he taught Aleph Bais. One of them later grew up to become the chief Rabbi of Israel – Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau Shlita. Recently, I asked Rav Lau about Rabbi Klein. He remembered him vividly and fondly, asking me to send regards.
Rav Menashe’s love for his fellow Jews was profound, one could tell it in his eyes. Once a couple experiencing enormous distress on account of their son went to see him. Rav Menahseh spent hours with them comforting them, strengthening them and inspiring them. They left his presence recharged, and since them, I have never seen them down.
He would cry with parents whose children were on the verge of an intermarriage. He would daven fervently for anyone who was sick or ill, and of late, whenever Bnei Torah would come to visit him, he would ask them to have him in their Tefilos – giving them his name and that of his mother.
He studied under the Ungvar Rov Rabbi Yossef Elimelech Khan and then after the war he came to the United States. He considered the Klausenberger Rebbe zatzal his Rebbe Muvhak. He received his mehalech in learning and in Psak from him. He learned in the Klausenberg Yeshiva when it was in the Bronx, after the war. It was called Yeshiva Sheris HaPleita.
His hasmadah was legendary. He would write responsa well into the wee hours of the morning. He knew Shas and reviewed it constantly. He had an explanation of virtually every Tosfos on the tip of his tongue. One can see from his responsa his grasp of the Talmud. His Seforim are filled with innovative, insightful, and brilliant chiddushim.
He wrote Seforim on Chanukah, Yevamos, and numerous other topics as well.
His responsa dealt with almost every issue one can think about. Often Rav Menashe is the only Posaik that will discuss an esoteric halachic subject. He carried on a halachic discourse with numerous Poskim and luminaries. The Lubavitcher Rebbe carried on halachic conversations with him, as did numerous others.
He also had a warm and genuine laugh, a twinkle in his eye, and a good sense of humor. Once I had asked him about whether there was any stringency in changing a baby with the same hand that one wraps the Tefillin straps. He responded, “By unzer, it is the froi who change babies, so it is nisht ken Shailah. He laughed and then answered the question based upon the various textual variations in the text of the Gemorah.
He loved Kollel Yungeleit and Bnei Torah. Once he saw a Ben Torah who could not afford Seforim but showd interest in what he wrote. Rav Menashe piled him with Seforim before the young man left.
He carried on conversations and discussions with others as well, many holocaust survivors. Indeed, he even carried on a chevrusashcaft with Elie Weisel for a number of years.
Rav Menashe would type his responsa on a computer well into his 80’s. He inspired many others to learn computers as well, at an advanced age. I had once convinced Rav Dovid Kviat zatzal to learn how to write his Chiddushim on the computer. When he heard that Rav Menashe had done so, he did as well.
Rav Klein zatzal was an Anav as well. Once I argued with him about the position of the Mishna Brurah in a halacha in Krias HaTorah. When I got home, I was shocked to hear a message on my answering machine, “Reb Yair, I looked at the lashon of the Mishna Brurah – you are right, Ich gemacht a tooas. Yasher Koach.”
He allowed his responsa to be published in Bar Illan’s Responsa project and was very generous with allowing the reproduction of his Divrei Torah.
Many of his positions of course were remarkably conservative in halacha too. He did not hold of translations of Shas. He disagreed with rendering rulings over the telephone – especially if the Rav did not have a phone number to call back. What will the Rav do if he realizes that he made a mistake?
His halachic positions were certainly innovative too, if not also controversial. He never recited a bracha on tovelling dishes for fear that the manufacturers were really Jews. Even if there is a majority, how do we really know?
Some of his other positions were even more controversial. He held that giving blood may be a violation of Chovel B’Atzmo. He was the first to argue with Rav Moshe Feinstein zatzal about an Eiruv in Brooklyn. Many a Yeshiva bochur disagreed with his position about street lights acting as a legal type of fence, but all admitted that it was innovative. He also held that Mitzvos cease after one’s death and one does not have the right to give away organs – even if it is Pikuach Nefesh.
Rav Menashe would spend many months out of the year in Eretz Yisroel in Kiryat Ungvar in Ramot. In America, his Yeshiva and Shul was at 16th Avenue and 52nd Street in Borough Park. He was a warm, loving Posaik, who inspired tens of thousands with his hasmada, his dedication to Torah and his steadfastness in halacha.
Within the past year and a half he handed over his Yeshiva and Shul to his son, Reb Amram, a tremendous Talmid Chochom and Baal Middos too. May he be a Mailitz Yosher for all of Klal Yisroel.
The author can be reached at
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Herman Cain Leads Republican Field In Zogby Poll
A new Zogby poll puts Herman Cain at the top of the Republican field, as the top choice of 28% of poll respondents. (IBOPE Zogby International says the polling sample consists of “all likely voters and of likely Republican primary voters.”)
Rounding out the top three are Rick Perry at 18%, and Mitt Romney at 17%. Fourth place goes to Ron Paul at 11%. Paul’s the most solid performer in Zogby’s polling history for the 2012 GOP race – his 11% might as well be chiseled in stone.
Interestingly, this poll was conducted after the Orlando GOP debate, but before Cain won the Florida straw poll. It’s a huge surge for Cain, who was polling at 12% just two weeks previously, and was floating at a campaign low of 8% two weeks before that. Aside from that bitter 8% number, Cain has generally done quite well in the Zogby poll, usually good enough for second or third place.
On the other hand, Rick Perry’s numbers in the Zogby poll have cratered, falling 19% in just two weeks. His debut last month was also his high-water mark thus far, when Zogby had him at 41%.
Michelle Bachmann has also been slipping steadily, chugging in at 4%. That puts her just below Jon Huntsman, which is the same way she finished the Florida straw poll. Bachmann was actually the leading candidate in Zogby’s polling from June 21 through July 25… then she plunged to 9% in the next poll and continued sliding down from there.
Romney’s been holding fairly steady in the Zogby poll. He bounces a few points up and down, but seems to hover in the 15-17% range.
Zogby’s also got President Obama’s approval rating at 42%, with 57% disapproval. That’s actually a bit better than his September 5 low of 39-61. His poor approval numbers seem to hold fairly steady, while his disapproval bounces around.
As always with poll news, the usual caveats apply: it’s one poll, it might be an outlier, Zogby’s accuracy has been questioned in the past, et cetera. Still, these numbers reflect the general shape of the race pretty well: Perry started big but fizzled fast, Romney’s been playing a careful game built around damage control, Paul’s got a loyal following but can’t reach beyond it.
I’d have guessed Cain would rank a bit lower than his Zogby numbers until now, but he had one of the best weekends a candidate could ask for in Orlando, and Zobgy’s poll is telling us the same thing the Florida straw poll did. It will be interesting to compare the first batch of polls from various sources to reflect that straw poll, and Cain’s reaction to it.
Wildlife photographer captures lion rescuing helpless cub from falling to its death .Photos
Stunning photos shot by a wildlife photographer in Kenya capture a mama lion rescuing her cub from plummeting to its death.
The tiny cub had strayed from its pride in the Masai Mara game reserve and slipped more than 12 feet down a steep cliff before becoming stuck, according to news agencies.
As the helpless cat clings for dear life above a ravine, a group of five lions gather at the cliff's edge, the photos show.
Finally, the mother cub begins to slowly edge her way down the sheer slope.
Just as the little lion appears to lose his grip, his mother snatches him in her jaws and claws her way back to the top.
After arriving on level ground again, she gives him a loving lick on the head.
Wildlife lensman Jean-Francois Lagrot captured the dramatic scene in Maasai Mara, a giant game reserve in southwest Kenya
Lakewood Yeshivas using Jewish Children "as pawns"
The following copy of a letter written to a Lakewood activist is being circulated around Lakewood. The letter addressed to Hershel Herskowitz, who ran for city office against a Lakewood lackey, threatens to throw his two daughters out of school unless he first asks the opinion of the Lakewood Roshei Yeshivah before he does anything that benefits the Lakewood Community!
Get it?
I don't!
King of Gaffes: Obama confuses Jews with Janitors
Now listen to Rush Limbaugh's take on this:
RUSH: Okay if asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew janitor. Now, is he attacking Jew janitors, or is he pandering to 'em? Well, no. I'm serious about this. Everybody's in there laughing themselves silly. And I understand, I'm a naturally funny guy. But I'm serious about this. I think this is an unguarded moment. If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax as a Jew -- a janitor. Folks, when you mean to say janitor, who in the world says Jew? I don't know how many of them there are, but if there are some Jewish janitors out there, they're not a huge voting bloc.
The point here is, is he pandering to 'em or is he attacking 'em? Is there some vitriol here? 'Cause remember we know he's got vitriol against billionaires, particularly those that don't donate to him, so if asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew... Jew what? Remember what the Washington Post is telling us he's doing here. Here, listen one more time.
You Can Now View The Dead Sea Scrolls Online
By - Sep 26, 2011
The Dead Sea Scrolls, so ancient and fragile that direct light cannot shine on them, are now available to search and read online in a project launched today by the Israel Museum and Google Inc. (GOOG)
“Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it accessible and useful,” said Yossi Matias, managing director of Google’s R&D Center in Israel.
The people who wrote the scrolls hid them in caves along the shore of the Dead Sea, probably about the time the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D., and are generally attributed to an isolated Jewish sect that settled in Qumran in the Judean Desert. The manuscripts were discovered between 1947 and 1956.
Sections of the scrolls are on display at Israel Museum’s Shrine of the book and rotated every three to four months so as to minimize exposure. Only a facsimile of the Great Isaiah Scroll is on display. The Google tool on the Israel Museum website makes entire scrolls accessible and allows browsers to zoom into the text as well as read its translation in English.
“This gives you a way to understand the beginning of biblical history,” said museum director James Snyder. “Nothing could be more important.”
The project follows a Google project that went live in January and put online an archive and search function for photos from Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust museum. The world’s largest Internet search engine is also working on a project in collaboration with the Israel Antiquities Authority that will make available on the Internet fragments of the scrolls so they can be studied by scholars.
Cultural Opportunity
“The opportunity is amazing here for culture and heritage information,” Matias said. “We are trying to expand this and address these historical and heritage archives and there are great things that can be done here.”
Five of the eight scrolls housed at Israel Museum since 1965 have been digitalized, including the Great Isaiah Scroll, the Temple Scroll and the War Scroll. The Great Isaiah Scroll can be searched by column, chapter and verse, including the famous “and the wolf shall dwell with the lamb.” It is accompanied by an English translation tool and includes an option for users to submit translations of verses in their own languages.
“For us, the Dead Sea Scrolls couldn’t be a more important iconic cultural artifact,” said Snyder. “Any opportunity for us to bring them to the widest possible public audience and offer the opportunity to really begin to understand what these amazing documents are all about is something that we embrace.”
Google’s Chief Executive Larry Page is pushing into new markets such as mobile and display advertising, while trying to preserve the company’s leadership in search, an area that generates most of Google’s revenue. Shares of Google have dropped 0.3 percent in the past 12 months, compared with a 1.1 percent decline of the S&P 500 Index.
Both Israel Museum and Google declined to say how much the project cost.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Father & Baby killed in car crash were actually stoned to death by Arabs in Kiryat Arba!!
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| Asher Palmer & Son Yehonatan Z"L |
Police concluded Sunday that Asher Palmer and his son Yehonatan were killed in a car cash after stones were hurled at them on Highway 60.
Asher Palmer, 25, and his 1-year-old son, Yehonatan, were killed Friday when their car overturned near Kiryat Arba. After an initial inquiry, the police ruled out the possibility that the accident had been caused by stones that were hurled at the vehicle by Palestinians.
But an examination of the father's body revealed fractures to his skull. "It was clearly a terrorist attack, Asher's gun had been stolen, there were rocks inside the vehicle and it was clear Asher was hit by a rock," Palmer's family said after police informed them of their conclusion that the incident was in fact the result of a terror attack. Aharon Peretz, Palmer's brother-in-law, estimated that the police did not announce the incident was the result of a terror attack so as not to "fan the flames." He added: It's very grave that it comes at the expense of a grieving family." The family also claims that in addition to the handgun, Asher's wallet had also been stolen.
Peretz said of his brother-in-law, "He never fought with anyone. He was a quiet and special man and this is a great loss." Asher and Yehonatan Peretz will be laid to rest in Hebron later on Sunday.
Earlier, police motioned to perform an autopsy on the two bodies but the judge accepted the family's rejection. The State then appealed to the High Court of Justice on the matter, but prior to the hearing a compromise was reached whereby only blood samples would be taken from the bodies.
MK Michael Ben Ari criticized the police for its conduct in the affair. "The police spokesperson's office is serving Abu Mazen (Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) over fear of violent protests and did not report this as a terror attack."
Yesha Council Chairman Danny Dayan also slammed the IDF Spokesperson's Office for not explicitly stating that the deaths of Asher Palmer and his infant son in Kiryat Arab last Friday were the result of a terror attack. "There's no other way to put this, the IDF did not tell the truth to the public, the media or the bereaved family," he claimed.
"I am angry and deeply disappointed in the IDF, its commanders and spokesmen who covered up the murder. The IDF chose a dishonest, unwise and indecent path," he exclaimed.
"Nothing creates a worse atmosphere than the feeling one isn't being told the whole truth. The difference between the police's statement to the court and the initial IDF and police statements to the media is very disconcerting," Dayan said, and demanded the publication of a report with all the inquiry details.
Investigators who arrived on the scene of the crash Friday found a hole in the car's windshield that appears like it could have been an entry point of a stone.
A large, blood-stained stone was also found in the car. An analysis showed that it was human blood that stained the stone. The stirring wheel was torn, suggesting that it was hit by the rock.
Moreover, "The deceased's face was crushed in the region of the lip, which immediately raised concerns of the possibility that the car accident could have been caused by a rock that was thrown at the vehicle," the request read.
It was also mentioned that the accident was being investigated by a special Hebron District police force that deals with incidents where rocks are pelted at Israeli vehicles from moving cars. So far, there have been 18 such cases, and it appeared that the current case was no different.
Officials involved in the case said that the investigating authorities assume that it was an act of terror that lead to the father and son's deaths. "There are various indicators that do not match what would have happened if this was an accident," one official told Ynet.
'Police covering up murder'
From the start, settlement leaders claimed that a terror attack was behind the crash, assuming that the police denied the possibility, seeking to maintain public order.
"We demand the security forces to stop the occurrences of stone-throwing, which not only endangers lives but also offends the honor of the state and its citizens," the mayor of the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, Malachi Levinger, said.
"We warn that if the security forces don't put an end to the phenomenon, citizens might find themselves in mortal danger and proceed to protect themselves by any means available.
"There are tens of thousands of Jews driving to Hebron to pray these days, and their safety must be protected," he added.
MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union) demanded that an investigation into the condcut of the Police Spokesman's Office is launched. "There is a concern that the police published a false press release in order to calm the mood, in line with the police's culture of lying," he said. "The Shai District commander should not be dealing with politics."
Kiryat Arba Councilman Bentzi Gupshtain said: "It's shocking to think that the Police Spokesman's Office could have covered up the murder of a baby and his father only to prevent 'price tag' response and a disruption to Netanyahu's speech. The time has come to look into the Israel Police."
Frum Lawyer Causing Huge Chillul Hashem by Suing Treif Restaurants, Putting them out of Business and lining his pockets with millions of $$$!
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| Numerous high-end New York City restaurants have been sued over wage and tip complaints in the last few years -- most by Manhattan lawyer Daniel Maimon Kirschenbaum (above). He has collected $30 million in settlements (with a 30% fee for himself) from a number of eateries. |
Eateries have paid out close to $30 million in settlements over wage and tip complaints in the past few years -- and that’s just from suits filed by one Manhattan lawyer, Daniel Maimon Kirschenbaum.
Money-hungry lawyers, through frivolous lawsuits, are shaking down the very foundation of Manhattan’s restaurant industry,” fumed Joe Bastianich, co-owner of Eataly, Del Posto and Babbo.
We opened Eataly and put 700 jobs in the New York economy. Since then we haven’t opened another restaurant in New York, nor will we,” Bastianich told The Post. “We opened three other restaurants, in California and Connecticut, worth 1,000 jobs that could have been here in New York. Someone in Albany needs to understand the agenda, what this is really costing the greatest restaurant city in the world.”
New wage rules from the state Labor Department, which took effect in January, regulated tip distribution for the first time. For restaurant owners who lose their cases in court, the damages are now much harsher.
“You’re forced to settle. Why go to trial and risk a $5 million settlement if you can settle for a million and a half?” Bastianich said.
The avalanche began five years ago as lawyers filed class-action cases drawing together busboys, waiters and other staff, sometimes by the hundreds. The more plaintiffs, the larger the potential settlement, with lawyers typically taking one-third of the payout.
“I invented this business,” said Kirschenbaum, a Manhattan lawyer who has launched more than 100 suits in federal court, including one against Bastianich and his partner Mario Batali.
The class-action suit claims the restaurant denied overtime to workers, didn’t pay a required premium for long shifts, and illegally kept a portion of tips.
“This is an industry where people thought they were getting away with stuff,” Kirschenbaum said. “They alter time sheets. They get service employees to share their tips with kitchen staff to help pay their salary in the back of the restaurant.
“Restaurants have been getting away with this for a long time.”
But Bastianich maintains that workers in New York eateries are paid the “best restaurant wages in the world.”
“Plaintiffs are waiters and busboys making 70, 80, $100,000 a year,” he said.
The settlements, which usually come with no admission of wrongdoing, often don’t end up enriching waiters and busboys much.
In the case of the $2.5 million Nobu settlement, $833,333 went to Kirschenbaum’s and other firms. The 200 or so workers who sued got an average payment of $3,300 each.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/the_lawyer_who_ate_new_york_SO9DZBVJ4hxnr7jY8rDb2J#ixzz1YyHljey1
Friday, September 23, 2011
Palestinans Ask for State Defying US
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| Abbas with letter asking for a State |
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Defying U.S. and Israeli opposition, Palestinians asked the United Nations on Friday to accept them as a member state, sidestepping nearly two decades of failed negotiations in the hope this dramatic move on the world stage would reenergize their quest for an independent homeland.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was greeted by sustained applause and appreciative whistles as he approached the dais in the General Assembly hall to deliver a speech outlining his people's hopes and dreams of becoming a full member of the United Nations. Some members of the Israeli delegation, including Foreign Minister Avigdor Liebermann, left the hall as Abbas approached the podium.
Negotiations with Israel "will be meaningless" as long as it continues building on lands the Palestinians claim for that state, he declared, warning that his government could collapse if the construction persists. That would put 150,000 people out of work.
"This policy is responsible for the continued failure of the successive international attempts to salvage the peace process," said Abbas, who has refused to negotiate until the construction stops. "This settlement policy threatens to also undermine the structure of the Palestinian National Authority and even end its existence."
To another round of applause, he held up a copy of the formal membership application and said he had asked U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to expedite deliberation of his request to have the United Nations recognize a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
Ban has to examine the application before referring it to the Security Council. Action on the membership request could take weeks, if not months.
Abbas' jubilant mood was matched by the exuberant celebration of thousands of Palestinians who thronged around outdoor screens in town squares across the West Bank on Friday to see their president submit his historic request for recognition of a state of Palestine to the United Nations.
"I am with the president," said Muayad Taha, a 36-year-old physician, who brought his two children, ages 7 and 10, to witness the moment. "After the failure of all other methods (to win independence) we reached a stage of desperation. This is a good attempt to put the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people on the map. Everyone is here to stand behind the leadership."
To be sure, Abbas' appeal to the U.N. to recognize an independent Palestine would not deliver any immediate changes on the ground: Israel would remain an occupying force in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and continue to severely restrict access to Gaza, ruled by Palestinian Hamas militants.
The strategy also put the Palestinians in direct confrontation with the U.S., which has threatened to veto their membership bid in the Council, reasoning, like Israel, that statehood can only be achieved through direct
negotiations between the parties to end the long and bloody conflict.
negotiations between the parties to end the long and bloody conflict.
Also hanging heavy in the air was the threat of renewed violence over frustrated Palestinian aspirations, in spite of Abbas' vow - perceived by Israeli security officials as genuine - to prevent Palestinian violence. The death on Friday of 35-year-old Issam Badram, in gunfire that erupted after rampaging Jewish settlers destroyed trees in a Palestinian grove, was the type of incident that both Palestinians and Israelis had feared would spark widespread violence.
Yet by seeking approval at a world forum overwhelmingly sympathetic to their quest, Palestinians hope to make it harder for Israel to resist already heavy global pressure to negotiate the borders of a future Palestine based on lines Israel held before capturing the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza in 1967.
"We extend our hands to the Israeli government and the Israeli people for peacemaking," he said. "Let us build the bidges of diolague instead of checkpoints and walls of separation, and build cooperative relations based on parity and equity between two neighboring states - Palestine and Israel - instead of policies of occupation, settlement, war and eliminating the other," he said
.
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It was not clear how serious Abbas was about his very public threat to dissolve his limited self-rule government, born of the landmark accords Israel and the Palestinians signed in the 1990s.
Palestinians say they turned to the U.N. in desperation over 18 failed years of peace talks. But Israelis say the Palestinians are to blame for their own predicament.
Palestinians, omitting mention of years of Palestinian violence against Israel and two spurned peace offers from Israel under previous governments, accuse the Israelis of not wanting to give up territory conquered in the 1967 war. And they refused to return to the negotiating table without a construction freeze in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, where half a million Israeli settlers live.
Netanyahu says he is prepared to sit down immediately to talk peace without conditions. But in practically the same breath, he puts forth two deal-breakers, insisting that a united Jerusalem will remain eternally under Israeli control and insisting on a long-term Israeli military presence on the western frontier of the West Bank even after a Palestinian state is established.
Palestinians say they turned to the U.N. in desperation over 18 failed years of peace talks. But Israelis say the Palestinians are to blame for their own predicament and have turned to the U.N. precisely to avoid negotiating.
In recent weeks, international mediators have been furiously trying to piece together a formula that would let the Palestinians abandon their plan to ask the Security Council for full U.N. membership, and instead make do with asking a sympathetic General Assembly to elevate their status from permanent observer to nonmember observer state. The other part of that formula would include the resumption of negotiations in short order.
The U.S. and Israel have been pressuring Council members to either vote against the plan or abstain when it comes up for a vote. The vote would require the support of nine of the Council's 15 members to pass, but even if the Palestinians could line up that backing, a U.S. veto is assured.
The resumption of talks seems an elusive goal, with both sides digging in to positions that have tripped up negotiations for years. Israel insists that negotiations go ahead without any preconditions. But Palestinians say they will not return to the bargaining table without assurances that Israel would halt settlement building and drop its opposition to basing negotiations on the borders it held before capturing the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza in 1967.
Israel has warned that the Palestinian appeal to the U.N. will have a disastrous effect on negotiations, which have been the cornerstone of international Mideast policy for the past two decades. Netanyahu, who is to address the General Assembly later Friday, shortly after Abbas makes his own address, opposes negotiations based on 1967 lines, saying a return to those frontiers would expose Israel's heartland to rocket fire from the West Bank.
He also fears that if that principle becomes the baseline for negotiations, then Palestinians won't settle for anything less, despite previous understandings between the Palestinians and previous Israeli governments to swap land where settlement blocs stand for Israeli territory.
Talks for all intents and purposes broke down nearly three years ago after Israel went to war in the Gaza Strip and prepared to hold national elections that ultimately propelled Netanyahu to power for a second time. A last round was launched a year ago, with the ambitious aim of producing a framework accord for a peace deal, but broke down just three weeks later after an Israeli settlement construction slowdown expired.
The U.N. recognition bid has won Abbas broad popular support at home, but it is opposed by his main political rival, the Islamic militant Hamas movement that violently wrested control of Gaza in 2007.
Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, accused Abbas on Friday of relinquishing Palestinian rights by seeking recognition for a state in the pre-1967 borders. Hamas' founding charter calls for the destruction of Israel and a state in all of the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, though some Hamas officials have suggested they would support a peace deal based on the 1967 lines.
"The Palestinian people do not beg the world for a state, and the state can't be created through decisions and initiatives," Haniyeh said. "States liberate their land first and then the political body can be established."
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AP correspondent Tarek el-Tablawy contributed to this report from the United Nations.
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