My two last posts have been deleted, because I didn’t like them.
posted by Imshin 12:51

Shai links to an excellent comment by Ari Shavit in Haaretz about the Geneva thing. (I knew I'd seen it somewhere before... Allison had it too).
posted by Imshin 23:20

Shabbat Shalom


posted by Imshin 18:07

Harry Potter countdown: Seven more days till the Hebrew version of #5 comes out. Needless to say I ordered it for the girls ages ago. They're very excited.

I've already read it in English, much to Eldest's frustration. I kept leaving it around to try and tempt her to read it in English, but she said it wouldn't be the same.

I found #5 disappointing, but I'm not sure if it's just not as good as the previous ones, or if it's me that has changed. Blogging has made me more critical of what I read. I'm more aware of manipulation than I was, and therefore more resistant to it. Also, I think I've lost interest in the story, because the breaks are too long between the books. I've moved on. Maybe she has lost interest too, J.K. Rowling, I mean. So much money is riding on it, she must be under such pressure. It can't be fun for her any more.

posted by Imshin 09:55

Winter is here!
I spent most of the afternoon walking about with my umbrella in torrential rain, part of the time with Eldest. The legs of my pants were soon drenched and I discovered that my boots weren't completely waterproof. It was fun. Even Eldest enjoyed herself, even though she wasn’t initially very enthusiastic about venturing out. Bish also had fun in the rain. He came home dripping from head to toe, after the ride home on his moped. Let’s hope this weather lasts, with a break on the 18th (Mum’s Yahrzeit).

I was relieved to hear Lynn enjoyed her Negev trip, and wasn’t disappointed. I was a bit worried, because I knew I sort of inspired the trip. She just missed the flash flood. Go read.

posted by Imshin 20:29

Two big suicide bombings were foiled today. The security fence (You know which fence, that Nazi Apartheid fence, that obstacle-to-peace fence) by Jenin stopped the terrorists from waltzing straight in. They had to take the long way round, via the Jordan Valley, and that is why they were apprehended.

One suicide bombing was planned for a school in the town of Yokne'am. A middle school. Eldest is in middle school. I don't want to talk about it.
posted by Imshin 22:05

How nice
Jonathan has nominated me for Best Female Authored Blog in the 2003 Wizbang Weblog Awards. This is very sweet of him. Don't get all excited, Dad, and start telling people, I've got extremely worthy competition (and numerous too), so I don't stand a chance of getting any awards. This is probably just as well, because I don't want to get an inflated ego now, do I? But it's still nice to be thought of.

Update: Well, I'm not on the list of nominees. I hope Meryl wins.
posted by Imshin 20:06

...IDF soldiers chasing after Palestinians and screaming at them in Vietnamese. Surreal, huh?
posted by Imshin 19:15

But I do do something, Helena. I write a blog. I expose my feelings, my experiences, and my life to the world. I do this in the hope that maybe, just maybe, someone, somewhere will read what I have to say, just an ordinary Israeli working mother with everyday hopes and fears, and see that I am not an ogre, and that even if they don’t agree with what I have to say, I am a human being. And maybe that person will be moved slightly to see that things are sometimes more complex than they seem at first glance. That must be worth something.

I know the things I say are nothing special, probably not very different from the thoughts and feelings of many ordinary Israelis. I’m no great scholar, no brilliant columnist. I’m not very right wing, or very left wing, by Israeli standards. I’m somewhere in the middle, a bit mixed up, swayed by emotions. I have no hidden agenda. I just say what enters my mind at a given moment. All I have to offer is my little angle of Israeli life. Could this not be useful for someone who wants to help peace along and needs to really know and understand both sides, and not just what he or she believes is right and just, based on previous life experiences from other parts of the world? Does compromise not take into account the dreams and fears of both sides in a conflict? Is my contribution so far less valuable than that of someone with fury in his or her eyes, standing on a street corner chanting mindless, inflammatory slogans that someone else thought up, and that mean very little, but serve to increase hatred between the sides?

posted by Imshin 00:05

Palestinians
Miki wishes to point out, in reaction to yesterday's post, that no one seems to question the fact that the Palestinians exist as a people. True. In actual fact, if it weren’t for Israel there certainly wouldn’t be a Palestinian nation (Hey, they owe us ;-)). If it weren’t for us, they would be no more than inhabitants of a district in Syria, or in a Greater Transjordan, or in Egypt, maybe even in Iraq (See, without the Israeli threat, Iraq might have swallowed up the Hashemite Jordanian Kingdom years and years ago).

But all this is speculation, just like trying to wish Israel and the Israelis away into non-existence. The Palestinians exist, like it or not. And their tragedy is a real one; their suffering is not imaginary. However, it could have been avoided had they had the wisdom and foresight to accept the Partition Plan of 1947, dividing the country between Arabs and Jews. We accepted it (What accepted?! We rejoiced! We danced in the streets!). They did not. They waged war. And they paid a terrible price.

And they continue to wage war, and continue to pay a terrible price.

Life is about adapting to change. This is rarely easy. We Jews had our fair share of adapting to change in the twentieth century, as well (and isn't that the understatement of the century?).

One summer, in Sinai, Bish and I made friends with a young Egyptian student. For various reasons, we were the first Israelis he had ever met, and he was amazed at the way we didn't fit the stereotype he had had in his head. He told us about a Palestinian who lived in his village. He explained that this Palestinian was widely disliked in the village (as were many of the Palestinians living in Egypt), because he was regarded as being badly behaved, pushy, money-grabbing ... Sound familiar?

It crossed my mind then that the Palestinians could be to many in the rest of the Arab world what the Jews are to many Europeans and other westerners. They don't like them. They often treat them badly and discriminate against them. They feel obliged to speak out in their favor, as lip service, as a sort of inner-Arabic political correctness, but they are not prepared to accept them, or actually do anything for them. Quite the contrary. Over the years, the Palestinians' Arab brethren have done little but contribute to, and perpetuate, the Palestinians' suffering.

How sad.

Sad also that the Palestinians and we Israelis have so much in common, but can’t get on with one another.

[Miki, thank you for inspiring this post, with your thought-provoking remarks.]

Update: Some interesting observations by Brian Ulrich.

posted by Imshin 17:07

Hurray! It’s a blogiversary!
The Head Heeb ’s this time.

I am completely in awe of this guy.

Mazal Tov!

posted by Imshin 16:30

Americans
In my comment about Americans, yesterday, I meant no offense to Native Americans. I know they were there before. But the American nation, as a nation, as a people, is a new phenomenon. Before Israel, there were Arabs; there were Jews; there were Germans; there were Turks; there were Horanis; there were Samaritans, and others, all living in the Land of Israel. But they weren’t Israelis, even if they are now (and I remind you that one million Arabs are full Israeli citizens). When I said Americans I meant the body of people who inhabit the United States of America, and who are regarded by the world, and regard themselves, as Americans (as opposed to Canadians, Mexicans, Argentinians, etc., who are also Americans, but are not called that).

Hang on…sixty years… few hundred years, what’s the difference? It’s the principle of the thing, after all. Maybe the non-indigenous Americans should get the hell out as well, and go back where they came from. How dare they get away with stealing not a small country, but nearly a whole continent?!

posted by Imshin 06:34

I have found a treasure:
Wonderful old photographs of the Land of Israel.
posted by Imshin 20:44

Mazal Tov to the Frog. A new tadpole.
posted by Imshin 20:09

Guess who I just spent the day with?
Can't tell you right now because I've got to go for parents' night at Eldest's school. Tell you later. (I'm cruel and wicked, aren't I?)

Much later: Okay, okay, I’ll tell you. Don’t be so impatient! With Lynn B., lucky me. We had lunch overlooking the sea in Givat Aliya in the south of Yaffo (Jaffa), and then we visited Yaffo port.

There’s really nothing that can beat sitting in the sun watching the sea with someone nice, instead of going to work.
posted by Imshin 17:11

Israel
Mary sent me the link to the excellent Julie Burchill farewell column yesterday, but I didn’t have time to blog about it. Thank you, Mary. I see it has been dealt with. And this is a very, very interesting article, also in the Guardian (I saw it at Allison's and at Meryl's). I love reading that paper (albeit selectively, for my mental health), even if it is written by, and caters for, people who, on the whole, don’t particularly love me. If Haaretz were anywhere near as interesting and fun to read as the Guardian, as Julie Burchill rightly points out, I would still be subscribed to Haaretz, despite my strong reservations about its journalistic integrity.

Having read the very, very interesting article, I have something to say (for a change), maybe another angle, as an Israeli:

Israel exists. Its inhabitants are Israelis. We are more than just a group of Jews who decided we are a nation. We are a people who live together and belong together. Ask Israeli Jews you meet in the street what they are first: Jews or Israelis. I believe a very large proportion of them will say: Israelis.

I don’t like getting into the anti-Zionism=anti-Semitism argument. I get that old fuzzy brain sensation coming over me when the question comes up. But this I know: Israel exists. Good idea, bad idea. Right, wrong. Irrelevant. Israel exists and is inhabited by Israelis. True, there were no Israelis sixty years ago, just as there were no Americans a few hundred years ago. But now there are. It’s about time people started adjusting their mindsets to this fact.

posted by Imshin 11:15

A joyous occasion?
I see the unelected Dr. Yossi Beilin is signing a peace treaty for us in Geneva today. I read in the paper that Arafat has allowed the Palestinian delegates to leave for Geneva for the signing. Erm, maybe I should repeat that: Arafat has allowed the Palestinian delegates to leave for Geneva for the signing.

Dr. Beilin has been on Reshet Bet radio station all the time pushing the agreement. Or so I’ve been told. I’ve been listening to Reshet Gimel music station. They’ve recently decided to have Mizrahi (Eastern style) music all through the day and not just in special programs. About time too! This way I get much more of a chance to hear Benayoun, mon amour, during the day. Sometimes even Zohar Argov, of blessed memory. So, unfortunately, Dr. Beilin’s persuasion attempts haven’t had much of an affect on me. Oh and someone must have thrown out the pamphlet we got through the mail, with the full agreement, because I can’t find it anywhere. Not that I have really made much of an effort to search for it.

So maybe some people are very excited about the signing of this agreement, I just don’t happen to know any of them.

Please don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against peace treaties, I'm actually quite partial to them. I just don't see the point of this one. Dr. Yossi Beilin explains that it's to show that we do have partners for negotiation after all. So I say fine, we have partners. Now all we have to do is win the war we're fighting with them and then we can sit down and negotiate peace with them.

posted by Imshin 09:55

Here's a silly quiz for bored cat lovers. Nice music (one of my all-time favorites, actually, from back when I was a wee lass). This originated, er, here.
posted by Imshin 07:49

I’m thinking that maybe my previous post might have given some the wrong impression. I’m sad and weary, but that doesn’t change a few basic things:

The current Palestinian leadership has proved itself as a totally unreliable partner for negotiations with Israel. Many, maybe even most, ordinary Israelis feel they were conned by this leadership: taken for a ride; double-crossed; stabbed in the back… (Am I getting through here?). Most Israelis fail to see any change in the current Palestinian attitude, not that they would be taken in a second time as easily as the first.

Not until the current Palestinian leadership begins to treat the Palestinian terrorists as they treat those suspected of collaboration with the Zionist enemy (tortured, dragged through the streets, hanged on electricity poles in the town square to the cheers of the crowd… believe you me, you’d be prepared to pay a lot of money to be a Palestinian terrorist in an Israeli prison, to avoid the fate of a suspected collaborator, or a homosexual, in a Palestinian one), will ordinary Israelis begin to trust the current Palestinian leadership. Maybe.

All these supposedly peace-y people abroad, don’t seem to realize that building trust goes both ways.

Right now, the Israeli people have no choice but to support a government that does the work the current Palestinian leadership swore to do, over and over again: look after the lives of Israeli citizens by taking strong action against Palestinian terrorists.

Note: I would like to point out that I do not, in any way, condone torture, dragging through streets, hanging, or any type of physical violence as means of punishment. Sadly, the current Palestinian leadership does, but only for certain crimes. The mass murder of Israeli innocents is not one of them.

A comment by John Williams:

The phrase, ' The current Palestinian leadership...' might lead the unwary reader to think that there was ever any other Palestinian leadership outside of Arafat. He is the only constant in all the conflicts. I am reminded of Newton's law,

Whenever one body exerts force upon a second body, the second body exerts an equal and opposite force upon the first body

Arafat has been exerting force on Israel since his return to the territories and is in my opinion responsible for the election of equal and opposite force in the shape of three hard Israeli leaders. He provokes, they respond. He is a permanent impediment to peace and should be taken out of the equation.

posted by Imshin 06:22

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