Do not pursue the past.
Do not lose yourself in the future.
The past no longer is.
The future has not yet come.
Looking deeply at life as it is
in the very here and now,
the wise one dwells
in stability and freedom.
We must be diligent today.
To wait until tomorrow is too late.
Death comes unexpectedly.
How can we bargain with it?

The Buddha

I've got to go pack.
I hope we all have a peaceful weekend.

From Fred Lapides:
Steven Chapman on Daddy War Blogs (one of the best names ever) quotes
Iain Coleman’s interesting theory for explaining why European commentators immediately reach for the Holocaust metaphors when talking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Phew. Let the nice people stop for breath, won’t you, Imshin.

And

A legal expert said on Israel radio, this morning that the law in Israel allows for these guys to be executed for treason. It’s not likely to happen, though. Israeli judges are famous for their mercifulness (not like some judges round these parts).

Hope you enjoy your holiday, Fred.

Looks like I’m not the only Secular Jew seeing a deeper meaning in Tisha B’Av this year.

Oh! Look what came with the morning paper (Haaretz, of course, what else?)
B’tselem, Israeli human rights organization (or more accurately Israeli Palestinian rights organization) has sent me a present - their brand new report on IDF’s wickedness during “Defensive Shield”. Oh, goody. Something to read in Mitzpe Ramon over the weekend. Not!

Sorry, it doesn’t seem to be online, yet. Don’t worry, it’ll be all over the place before you know it. Don’t wait for me to translate it. I got really angry just browsing.

We've decided to go back to Mitzpe Ramon tonight.



Hey, look Bish! I did it! I posted an image! Yippee!

"Due to a missile attack on Israel..."
Excuse me, I'm just having a little private flashback here.

The security room is still full of our neighbors stuff. Here's Ehud Ya'ari, top Israeli expert on Arab affairs, about the upcoming attack on Iraq. Now I know why this guy sticks to television. He sounds better than he reads.

Last day of summer camp
for my youngest. These camps are very expensive so I'm sure this is very much appreciated by many Israeli families.

Thanks to Fred. Which Fred? Lapides, of course. Who else? (No offense to all those other Freds who have been meaning to send me nice articles but just haven't got around to it yet. I'm taking PC up to a whole new level here, have you noticed?).

Go over to Windwalking Nikita
and read this by Dr. Avraham Rivkind, head of the department of
general surgery and the trauma unit at Hadassah University Hospital in
Jerusalem.

Another one.
Nearer home this time.

Mainly illegal foreign workers live in this area. The Palestinians are particularly hostile to them, because they took their jobs. Also these people don't have money for security guards.

Anti-Semitism in Belgium
And a convenient base for terrorists. More from Fred Lapides. I wish I had his free time!

He sent me this, too. A "Letter from America" worth reading. I can't believe Alistair Cooke is still going. I used to listen to him as a child.

And there's more - an article viewing Palestinian "collaborators" as a legitimate opposition to the PA, an actual resistance movement. Interesting, except Uri Dan has contributed quite a lot to the article and I can't stand him.
As I see it, a grass is a grass is a grass. Why try to romanticise them? We need them, they're obviously getting something out of it. Everyone's happy (except the PA whose murderous attacks get thwarted). It's not like they're an alternative leadership or anything.
What the article doesn't say is that you don't actually have to be a stool pigeon to be murdered for collaborating in the PA. It's enough to do business with Israelis or have Israeli friends who are not vehemently pro-Palestine.

Research looks at the fatalities on both sides of the current Palestinian/Israeli conflict
"This interesting site filled with facts and graphics dispells the simplistic notion that compares Palestinian dead with Israeli dead. What it shows is much more realistic and also notes the number of Palestinians killed by Palestinians (lumped into overall stats by newspapers)." Fred Lapides.

Interesting comments on Sari Nusseiba
by Uncommon Sense.

IDF officer killed near Immanuel
in gunfight with perpetrators of yesterday’s terrorist attack.


The Palestinians got it wrong
Yesterday I reread Stefan Sharkansky’s translation of that Die Zeit article from June 7th. It was posted on an Israeli forum and Bish sent it to me. (It does state the translator’s name, which is nice).

It reminded me once again of how much the Palestinian leaders misunderstand Israeli society and Israeli democracy. Unfortunately, the Israeli left’s naivete encouraged these misunderstandings. We seem to have made every mistake in the Middle East negotiation manual. No wonder the Palestinians thought we were such suckers.

“Yassir Arafat's change of direction can be retold like a chapter out
of a historical war epic. For the Palestinian witnesses are slowly beginning to
break their silence. They report on PA strategy sessions (requesting anonymity).
The meetings started even before the outbreak of the Intifada in the Fall of
2000 and apparently ended with the recommendation to launch terror.

One of these meetings occurred in February 2001, shortly before the elections in
Israel. It took place in Jerusalem's Orient House. Two scenarios were discussed.
Option One: Arafat's people would initiate a controlled uprising. The Intifada
had by then been going on for five months, with stones, shots, deaths. Yassir
Arafat had at the outset released jailed assailants and thereby showed that he
now tolerates the radical terror, and would use it. A strategy of murder that at the same time would be instated only in the occupied territories. The Israeli
Prime Minister would supposedly become unnerved and would be forced to
compromise.

Our wish is for Sharon to perpetrate a massacre

Not if Ariel Sharon is elected, countered the aides with Option Two. They
offered a different, putatively modern analysis. Because as Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon would never offer more than his predecessor Ehud Barak offered at the
Camp David negotiations in the previous year, a war would need to be launched.
Was it not shown just a few months earlier that Israel can be defeated? This is
how the group interpreted Israel's retreat from Lebanon. Israelis are incapable
of suffering and would not tolerate ongoing losses. The invisible suicide bomber
is the weapon that would strike at the heart of this mollycoddled western
society. The aides felt this theory would be an even better solution for a
hard-line Prime Minister. If Sharon were sufficiently provoked he would strike
back with brutal force. Arafat's personal troops, the Al-Aksa Brigades, stood
ready. One cynic, placed very high up in the Palestinian hierarchy, said at the
time "Our wish is for Sharon to perpetrate a massacre" After that the "Kosovo
model" should go into action. The world, disgusted at Israel, would hurry to the
rescue. In the end international troops would be stationed in the Holy Land and
protect the new Palestinian state. Even heretofore moderate Palestinians climbed
on board this tragic, feverish dream.”

Boy, did Sharon ever fool them!

When I talk about the Israeli left, I’m talking about ME. I was just as starry-eyed as the rest of them, blinded by euphoria over the “New Middle East”.

Well, that’s over and done with.

But one thing hasn’t changed. Most Israelis still yearn for peace (although it’s no longer with a capital “P”), and are prepared for painful compromise. But not out of weakness, never in surrender or submission. And not one minute before it is completely clear to each and every last Palestinian, and all of the Arab world, that Israel is a strong, durable society and that there’s no getting rid of us. And they can stuff “world opinion”. The “world” doesn’t have to live here with them.


Jenin, again.
Ze'ev Schiff explains in Haaretz how the Jenin massacre myth came about.


Tisha B’Av
Tonight is the beginning of the Jewish holy day commemorating the destruction of the temple. It’s a day usually actively ignored in disgust by secular Jews like myself. Just another opportunity to get annoyed with religious Jews who demand we all close all restaurants, coffee shops, nightclubs, cinemas and anything else enjoyable you can think of. Many secular Jews feel uncomfortable with the idea of the temple, which was a place of ritual animal sacrifice. Also, there are some scary fundamentalist nuts that want to rebuild the temple and keep stirring up trouble. A bit off putting, no?

But I think we secular Jews shouldn’t be so eager to ignore this day and the lessons of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel in ancient times and how it all ended. It may have relevance to our life here today and is worthy of our attention.

European lefties and Arab publicists quip that Israel is just an American colony in the Middle East. Many Israelis would react to that with “We wish…” But we don’t really (no offense to our American friends, may God bless them all). Those Europeans can’t understand why we can’t accept a bi-national state here. That’s why they think we’re racist bastards. But we really can’t (and aren’t). Not just because the Palestinians and us have major differences in philosophy and values. Even if we were sharing this place with a bunch of meek, peace loving Scandinavians (no offense to any unmeek, unpeace loving Scandinavians who may be reading this), we would still need our Jewish state.

Why? Because of countless years of being homeless and persecuted. We’re tired of being pushed around. We want to dwell “safely, every man (and woman) under his (her) vine and under his (her) fig tree.” We need to be able to determine our own fate, for a change.

That’s why Tisha B’Av should be of interest to us secular Jews, too. Because we had all that once and we lost it. Maybe we could learn from our mistakes and do it better this time around.

Bish will, no doubt, say he’d rather have some blonde Scandinavians. Me, I prefer the dark dangerous type.

Early morning update:
More shooting at Immanuel.

From Howard Feinberg (Kesher Talk)
"Leno last night: "Reports that PLO leader Yasser Arafat, you know, Osama bin Laden's 'Mini-Me'...has illegally transferred millions -- millions of dollars from the PLO, that was donated to the Palestinian people into his own personal bank account. PLO. Sounds more like a CEO, doesn't he? What's the world coming to when you can't trust a known terrorist?""

With friends like these...
Four IDF soldiers, all from settlements south of Mount Hebron, were arrested yesterday on suspicion of selling ammunition to hostile Palestinian sources. Two of them were residents of Adora. They were probably neighbors of little five-year-old Danielle Shefi, who, you'll probably remember, was shot in the head on her bed by a terrorist in April of this year.

Update on Immanuel terrorist attack
Among those killed in Immanuel were three members of one family - a woman, her son-in-law and his baby daughter. A wounded pregnant woman had her baby delivered in hospital by Ceasarian section. Mother and baby are fighting for their lives.

Hey, guess what? All the Palestinian terror groups are rushing to take responsibility and bask in the glory. So far the military wing of Fatah (that's Arafat's Fatah); the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, in cooperation with the military wing of Hamas; and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) have all claimed responsibility for the "courageous attack".

This Ya'alon guy
(new IDF Chief of Staff) seems to have his head screwed on right.

It appears Viagra sales in Egypt have not succumbed to the boycott of U.S. goods.
Keep them coming Fred Lapides, pal.

This one's for you , Bish:
"A neo-Nazi fired a rifle at French president Jacques Chirac over the weekend. In what many observers called a surprising turn of events, the French politician did not respond to the gunfire by giving the young man the keys to the city and raising a neo-Nazi flag up the Eiffel Tower."

For more fun, click here.

Al-Qaeda in Lebanon
Scary

Mary Lou White sent me this, hoping it might help me with my laundry problem:

“Hamper Malfunctions During Parents' Absence

YUMA, AZ-- Daryl Judge has been alone in his parents' house since they left on a European vacation on January 2nd. It was at about the same time that his clothes hamper began to malfunction. "The hamper had worked fine until recently," said Daryl, 22. "I have been putting the clothes into it, like I usually do, but they aren't getting clean. Normally, [the clothes] would be in my closet by now." Daryl was unable to contact his mother, who was maybe more familiar with the hamper's operation. Coincidentally, Daryl has noticed similar problems occurring with the dishwasher and the garbage disposal, both of which were working prior to his parents' departure. He also suspects that the refridgerator may not be refilling itself with food.”

Do you think Mary Lou is trying to tell me something here?

I don’t regard her as a credible or impartial source of information, but…
It’s worth reading Amira Hass in today’s Haaretz showing some interesting Palestinian views on suicide bombers. Little Green Footballs also comments on this.


And this here is
another look at Jihad.


Life’s no bed of roses
I was saddened yesterday by Dawson Speaks melancholy musings (but I found it difficult to read him today with all those gruesome photos of Palestinians lynched by fellow Palestinians. Don’t you look, Mum, it’s not for you).

This morning I heard Boaz Shabo talking on Israeli radio (reshet bet). He’s the father of the family in Itamar that was slaughtered on June 20th.

This guy lost his wife, three of his children, his home, and two of his surviving children are recovering from injuries. His son’s leg was amputated above the knee and he’s starting his rehabilitation process. He and his four surviving children are living with relatives, at the moment, but are going to move into rented accommodation soon, because he doesn’t want to be a burden. He’s looking towards starting anew. But he’s worried about how he’ll manage with the laundry. He says there’s a limit to what his daughter can do, she has to go to school, after all.

He was on the radio because a Greek guy, who happened to be in Israel at the time of the attack, is donating him money (I didn’t notice how much).

You know, he just talked. He didn’t complain. His voice didn’t break. He just described things as they are. If you didn’t listen to what he was saying you would never have guessed.

Update: Israel TV says it's 8 dead now.

7 dead, 30 wounded in attack near Immanuel
It seems like a particularly well planned military attack on civilians. First they detonated a roadside device on a passing bullet-proof bus, then three men in army uniforms opened fire on the passengers who were fleeing the bus and other cars that were nearby. On Israel TV they said grenades were thrown as well.

Tal G. talks about Dr. Yossi Beilin's attitude to the right of return
which has been discussed in Haaretz for the last few days, with regard to the "Taba paper".

Breaking News
My family has started to get fed up of the laundry crisis in our home since I started this blog. Bish is demanding to be able to post updates about this developing situation himself. I would prefer an impartial observer. How about we get in Amnesty International?

The FBI has determined that Baby Bomber has Al-Qaeda connections
But maintains that the LAX shooting was a hatecrime.
The murder of a Jew in Canada by skinheads, on the other hand, was not necessarily a hatecrime.

Commentary by Yossi Sarid, Israel's opposition leader, in today’s Yediot Aharonot, is a real gem.
Allow me to translate some of it (well, most of it actually):

“…The situation in the territories is very bad, and it’s getting worse every day. It’s one big pressure cooker, the pressure is increasing, and everyone knows that the cooker will explode – and soon. For how long can curfews, encirclements and closures be imposed on hundreds of thousands of people before they uprise? For how long will people wake up in the morning to another day of unemployment, children at home, no school and no bread either? What have they got to lose, with the cries for help of the sick and the hungry deafening them? Whoever decides to break the hunger – will break with all on the way to food. The pressure cooker will soon explode – and, as usual, the explosion won’t differentiate between Arabs and Jews.

[…] It’s definitely legitimate to fight the terrorism against us. It’s not legitimate to use the weapon of starvation against a whole civilian population. This weapon is wrong in any case, and those who make use of it – Sharon, Fouad (Ben Eliezer), Peres, Efi Eitam and also their partner Bush – is in danger of committing a war crime.

What’s coming is quite clear: In a few days time the situation will be unbearable and the Palestinians will violate the curfew orders. The pain, the suffering, the hardship and the degradation will blind the eyes. They won’t see tanks. They won’t see soldiers. They won’t hear the megaphones. They will just march en masse. Even though it’s no surprise, we’ll all be surprised…

[…] At the moment of uprising, the soldiers and their commanders will have no choice and they will shoot at the enraged crowd. There will be tens of victims. There will be a public uproar, how could this happen? The International community will be agitated and will condemn and demand it’s right to send a commission of inquiry. The government will have no choice but to set up it’s own commission of inquiry. The ensuing situation will force Israel to immediately retreat from all Palestinian population centers. It’s happened before: Operation “Grapes of Wrath” in Lebanon ended with the tragedy of Kafar Kana, and operation “Defensive Shield” ended prematurely with the Jenin tragedy. This will be the end of “Determined Path”, as well…”

Yossi, Yossi, Yossi! We’ve heard all this before. This is exactly what you guys were saying before the current “Intifada” war commenced in September 2000 – It’s too much pressure, they’re suffering too much, the closures and the checkpoints are too cruel, it’s going to explode. (Hey, maybe it’s a reprint of an old article?)

I’m not saying that the situation was not extremely unpleasant for Palestinians in those days, but there was a process going on. There were serious discussions between the Palestinians and us. We thought peace was going to break out any minute. There was hope for the suffering Palestinian masses. That’s why we were surprised. You were right then. It did explode. But were you being prophetic when you warned us, or were you being exploited?

With hindsight, now that it is pretty certain that the so-called “Intifada II” was not a spontaneous street level uprising, it seems to me that you and your friends were unknowingly, naively, being used as mouthpieces for Palestinians master-manipulators (at least one of them bearing a startling resemblance to a certain, rather annoying, but comical character in popular English children’s classical literature - see my posting from yesterday). I’m risking being overly conspiracy-minded here, but it could be that they were purposefully feeding Israeli left-wingers and foreign do-gooders and journalists with this pressure cooker stuff, so that when they began the war against us, it would seem like a popular outburst, and not a planned, orchestrated and particularly brilliant offensive (at least propaganda-wise), which is what it was, in fact. (Anger on the Palestinian streets in those days, was largely aimed at Arafat and the fat cats of the PA).

So what have they been feeding you this time, Yossi? And what’s behind it? Pro-Palestinians have been talking about a million unarmed civilians marching on Jerusalem for months now. This isn’t new. And it hasn’t happened yet.

Is this wishful thinking, Yossi – a complete change in Palestinian tactics to suit your outlook on life? The Palestinians would suddenly all understand the concept of non-violent resistance that you and your pals have been trying to teach them for years now. The problem: Given their cultural background, a large percentage of Palestinians find it difficult to grasp the power of non-violent resistance (as do many Israelis, given their experience of just sixty years ago in Europe).

If you’re not talking about a non-violent march, but about an angry (violent?) hunger demonstration, not unlike those we’ve been seeing recently in Gaza (aimed at the PA, not Israel, or haven’t you noticed?), I think you’re underestimating the ordinary Palestinian’s common sense. Contrary to what Arafat tells us, most Palestinians don’t really want to die. There aren’t really a million Shahids, and most Palestinians would rather hide it out and not face the bullets, whatever they say.

But what if Arafat, has plans, plans to keep him in power, Arafat-survival plans, manipulative plans? Why not use his little Israeli and foreign helpers to prepare the already sympathetic World opinion? It worked so beautifully last time. All he needs is a massacre, one little massacre. Is that too much to ask?

If I had read your commentary without knowing it was written by an Israeli, I have no doubt I would have thought it was written by the other side. What side are you on, Yossi? By the way, what do you mean, exactly, by “the Jenin tragedy”? It is universally accepted that there was no massacre in Jenin. Apparently, our Yossi thinks differently.

All this is not to say that the Palestinian people’s suffering is not real, that it is just propaganda. Their suffering is very real, and I’m truly sorry for them. I feel for Palestinian mothers who can’t get their sick kids to hospitals when they’re having an asthma attack, or worse. I’m deeply saddened that cancer patients may not be able to get to their chemotherapy or radiotherapy sessions. And I know it’s not only people in life-threatening situations that are suffering. I think their situation is horrendous. But I think it’s even more horrendous that many ordinary Israelis seem to care about the Palestinian people’s suffering more than the Palestinian leaders do.

I suggest these so-called leaders share their purloined millions with their people. And then they should think of stopping the violence (the real reason for the Palestinians’ suffering), before they send their Israeli spokesmen, like Yossi Sarid, to soften us up.

Given the impressive failure of the ideas of the Israeli left, I would expect people like Yossi Sarid, always so critical of Israel, to publicly suggest these novel ideas to their corrupt little friends from the Palestinian leadership, before telling us what we’re doing wrong.

Arafat reacts to the accusations that he's been robbing his people
""It's indecent," Arafat reacted angrily in a statement to the Qatar-based satellite television Al-Jazeera, protesting that he and Abu Mazen were being accused of stealing.

"Imagine to what depths (the Israelis) have sunk," he said.

[...] "It is a part of the war that Israel has declared against the Palestinian people and the Palestinian leadership," he said."

I'm visually imagining him saying all this, and all I can think of is Toad in "Wind in the Willows" (by Kenneth Grahame). Wouldn't he be just perfect for the part?

Thank you again, Fred. This time for introducing me to Arabia.com

What do you think of this?
"Israel may deport Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti to Lebanon and then to exile in Europe. Given that exiling Barghouti will raise his international profile, the Jewish state may be helping to groom him to eventually replace Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat."

Thank you, Fred Lapides.

What do I think of this? Dunno. I do think there are a few stronger contenders. But who knows?

Trust the French
to try to assassinate the president with a 0.22

Shin Bet NOT Mossad
A few days ago I said I'd heard that Mossad head had gone to Europe to talk to European leaders. It seems it was head of the Shin Bet, not the Mossad (or maybe it was both?).

More Nusseiba
According to Israeli radio (reshet bet*) Israeli Internal Security Ministry has supplied documents indicating that Nusseiba confirmed a course teaching criminal investigation and allowed students to go and study in Iran.
Pretty lame reason for closing him down. Did they bother to invite him to come to the Police station and question him about it first?

*Hebrew link.

That was quick...
Israeli radio (reshet bet) says* Arafat and Abu Mazen intend to sue Yediot Aharonot if the paper doesn't publish an apology and denial.

They act fast when it suits them.

Wind Rider says "The lawsuit makes perfect sense! Since their money diversion is out in the
light of day, they need to come up with some other source of positive cash
flow to the accounts....settlement check!"


*Hebrew link.

No wonder Oslo didn’t work (because those bastards stole all the money)
According to today’s Yediot Aharonot daily newspaper, Palestinian Authority head (Arafat) and his henchmen have been smuggling tens of millions of dollars to Europe.

“The U.S. has received a report from Israel that states that senior officials in the PA have lately been transferring tens of millions of dollars to bank accounts in Europe – to be at their disposal in the event of the PA collapsing.

High-ranking Israeli officials said yesterday that, “Lately, we’ve been identifying transfers of huge amounts of money by the heads of the PA, who are preparing for their future.”

[…] It is reported that, in the last few days, Yasser Arafat has transferred 5.1 million dollars of Saudi aid to the PA to his Paris bank account. The purpose: To finance the upkeep of his property and the needs of his wife, Suha, and his daughter, Zahwa.”

Remember those hungry demonstrators in Gaza, waving pita (bread) on long poles? What about their needs?

“The Jerusalem officials said that Abu Mazen, PLO no.2, transferred 70 million dollars of PA money to Europe, “funneling” it through the bank accounts of his billionaire businessman brother who operates in the Persian Gulf.

As an example of Palestinian extravagance, the Israeli official said that Arafat’s spokesman is paid a monthly salary of forty thousand dollars.” (My emphasis and translation).

According to Yediot Aharonot, all this was made public by Israel as a response to International demands that Israel thaws Palestinian money frozen in Israel to be used for humanitarian causes. It seems to me that it will all just go to filling more Swiss bank accounts, or financing more massacres.

A Thought
A few hundred at a "Yesh Gvul" rally in support of refusal to serve in the army in the territories; a few hundred have signed the "refusal letter" (468 to date). So that's who was at the rally - the refusers themselves!

Attempts haven't stopped
At least 2 suicide bombings were stopped by IDF during the weekend.


"Yesh Gvul" organization blames threats for poor turnout to event supporting refusal to serve in the territories.

"Poor turnout atYesh Gvul rally
Only 1,000 people attended the happening organized on Friday evening in Tel Aviv by Yesh Gvul ("there is a limit"), a movement that supports soldiers who refuse assignments in the Territories.

"Granted, we were expecting a bigger turnout, but artists have canceled their performances because they were threatened. There were violent threats as well. In all, it was a fun event," spokesman Yishai Menuchin said. Yesh Gvul says that various organizations, like the national students' union, pressured some of the artists not to perform. It is not clear yet whether the revenues will even cover the costs. Whatever is left will be used to support soldiers who were imprisoned because they refused to serve in the territories, Menuchin said."

Since when have threats deterred Israelis who believed in a cause? These people have always been threatened by right-wing radicals.
If a lot of people believed in their cause they would have come, artists or not. Obviously not a lot of people believe in this cause.

Update: Yediot Aharonot say that there were only a few hundred at the rally.

Not a Fish either
But very beautiful.

God Bless America (I'll say anything to get your attention)
In the deep silence of early afternoon in our desert home away from home (two minutes walk away from one of the most breathtaking views in Israel) I sat reading the article in Haaretz (it’s from Thursday, the article’s no longer on their site and their archives aren’t working, sorry) about the Amnesty International report.

You know, the desert has a pace of it’s own, and even when you come for a short while, the sleepiness soon becomes a part of you. All the bad things seemed so far away. This place is probably too far away from anywhere to be interesting to any terrorists. Even at rush hour in the middle of town, seven people on the street at one time is a crowd. A large scale massacre would therefore be difficult.

So there I was sitting reading the paper in the kitchen. Bish was asleep, the girls playing, and we’d all forgotten that we’d planned to go on a hike in the crater. Everything was so peaceful and I’m reading that even Amnesty International has come to their senses…
I felt a surge of amazement and gratitude. I know everyone’s so cynical about this, and why it took them so long, but at that moment I just felt very moved that this should happen.

It’s quite a surprise when out of the blue, an organization we thought was totally against us suddenly notices that what we’ve been going through is wrong, and that we don’t have it coming to us.

Bish says all these changes in the attitude towards us of late are because of the Bush speech. Isn’t that strange? Everyone ridicules George Bush and America, but he just has to say “boo!” and everyone jumps to attention!

Well, I’ll drink to that.



However…
Soon out – two Amnesty reports being prepared about IDF activities in Nablus and Jenin during “Defensive Shield” (according to the same Haaretz missing link).

This is IT. And that's final!
Yesterday, I forgot to say that Interior Minister Uzi Landau explained the closure of Nusseiba's Offices on Israeli T.V. on Tuesday saying that there are things (about Nusseiba? about the university?) not known to the public. They must have information about either goings-on in the university or something Nusseiba's been saying or doing. My guess is the former, which is not necessarily in his power..

Just One Thing More
Jonathan Freedland explains to UK Guardian readers why an academic boycott on Israelis is a mistake.

Do you know, writing this blog is like psychotherapy. I used to hate reading the Guardian. Everything I read used to infuriate me. Now it's one of my favorite reads because I know I can always make nasty remarks about it on the blog.

O.K., O.K., I'm going.

Weekend Break
We're off to our desert hideout in the Negev town of Mitzpe Ramon for the weekend.
Don't know if I'll have time to post again before I go tomorrow. If I don't, have a nice weekend and I'll see you Sunday.

"Arafat appoints Mohammed Dahlan as National Security Advisor"

Sari and Jibril
Israeli Interior Security Minister Uzi Landau closed down the Al-Quds University administrative offices in East Jerusalem, and the office of its president, Dr. Sari Nusseiba, yesterday, which he said were being used as a representative office of the Palestinian Authority. This is not allowed within Israel without a proper permit (and no one’s rushing to give out any permits to Palestinians these days!).

Dr. Nusseiba is known for his moderate views. He has shown courage by publicly condemning suicide bombers and acknowledging that the Palestinian right of return will never become a reality.

Nusseiba has strong connections with Jibril Rajoub, who Arafat deposed at the beginning of the week from the all powerful job of Head of the Preventative Security Forces in the West Bank. Col. (res.) Shalom Harrari, a former member of the Jerusalem security committee and expert on Arab affairs, explained, on Israeli radio on Sunday, that Nusseiba understands that he needs a strong military backing (he has none of his own), in the event of Arafat being out of the picture.

Nusseiba belongs to a wealthy old Jerusalem family, which, along with the Al-Husseini and Al-Nashashibi families, had a lot of power in Jerusalem in the days before the State of Israel. He obviously sees himself as an alternative to Arafat. Maybe we should, as well. Of course, a lot of people see themselves as alternatives to Arafat, but they'll never say it out loud. But maybe with Nusseiba we'd have more chance for real reform.

Unfortunately, I think he’s rather regarded among Palestinians as Yossi Beilin (oops! I mean Dr. Yossi Beilin) is regarded in Israel, (and has as much chance being chosen by the Palestinians as their leader, as Beilin has for being voted PM here). He really doesn’t have any popular following to speak of – another reason for aligning himself with Jibril Rajoub.

But isn’t Rajoub going to lose a lot of his clout, now he’s not Head of Preventative Security, You ask. I wouldn’t bet on it.

Rajoub’s power is much more than a position given him by Arafat, and it’s not so easy to get rid of him. His thousands of underlings in the Preventative Security are extremely loyal to him personally. This has three reasons:

A. He was head of the committee of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons for years. He therefore has very strong bonds with his fellow ex-prisoners, now in the Preventative Security, and many of them are his top officers.

B. Many of those under his command are blood relations. As you probably know, family loyalty is very strong in Arab society.

C. The Preventative Security in the West Bank is a strong economic power in the PA. For instance, they operated the successful Jericho casino, that closed with the onset of the “Intifada” war (they were shooting from the roof, we reltaliated, and so on...and it became too dangerous and later illegal to go there for Israelis).

So you see, the attempt to depose Rajoub is a direct threat to many officers’ honor, and pockets. If that is not enough, the guy they’ve brought in his stead, Zuheir Manasrah, is one of the “Tunisians” that came with Arafat. The Preventative Security in the West Bank is made up of local Palestinians. To say there is tension between these two groups would be a huge understatement. Manasrah has been strongly “advised” not to take up his post and word on the Palestinian street is that Rajoub will continue to be the boss, regardless.

Erm, how does this sound?
Israel is giving Nusseiba a hard time in order to make him more popular on the Palestinian “street”, and lessen his image as a collaborator. Thus we intend to “groom” him for leadership.
No? Oh, well. Just a thought.

The British Guardian seems to think that the only one who wants to attack Iraq (U.S. included) is George Bush. And he only wants it to save face.

Al Qaeda spokesman explains 9/11
Fred also sent me this.

This (sent me by Fred Lapides) is consistant
with a story on Israeli media, yesterday or the day before, that the head of the Mossad went on a secret mission to Europe to try and persuade EU heads to stop funding PA.

Not perhaps the best article to reprint
WSJ yesterday tried to show that the enemy seeming formidable doesn’t mean it’s unbeatable. They reprinted an article first published in 1966, which, if taken out of its original context, can be helpful in evaluating the upcoming war against Iraq, while making us feel good about ourselves (I say “us” because the war in Iraq is just as much ours as yours).

But given the path the Vietnam War took after this piece was written, and the final outcome of that war, I found it less than reassuring.

Dear Diary
14:45 Oh! Oh! Boss says Policeman and civilian shot near Gate of Flowers entrance to the old city in East Jerusalem. O.K. Turn on the radio*. Nothing. Frank Sinatra singing “My Way” on Reshet Bet; some idiot caller arguing with presenter on Galei Zahal. I suppose I’ll have to wait for news on the hour. Fresh news obviously not important enough to break into Sinatra. Good sign.

15:00 The news… Here it is…a Policeman checking I.D.s in East Jerusalem, Palestinian opened fire, wounding Policeman. Then fled, pursued by Police. Gunfight ensued, killing Palestinian passerby. Right. Leave radio on, maybe there’ll be more.

15:10 … Police announces possible congestion on Shitreet St. corner of Rokach Bvd., Tel Aviv, because of burning bus. Advises to use other routes.

Burning bus??


*Only internet connection at end of corridor. Keyboard and mouse in terrible state, detrimental to users mental health. But after all, small price to pay for job permanence.


Another good one (they had a good day yesterday, over at the Wall Street Journal)

Have you seen this fatal foetus?

Toda Bish.

Man of the People
Yesterday I heard Yossi Beilin*, self-professed popular leader, with my own two rather large ears, ticking off an Israeli radio presenter, “It’s Doctor Yossi Beilin!”
Well, excuuuse me!


*this link is a bit outdated. He's no longer a Knesset member.


Welcome to the Club
Brendan Miniter shares his heightened sense of danger since 9/11. It all sounds awfully familiar.


"Vegetarians don't live longer, they just look older."
Courtesy of my James (sigh). Originally from ranchers.net.

Someone was kind enough to take the time to point out to me that N.G. is not shy of publicity, meaning, I think, that I should give her full name.

My reply: I know this. My decision.

Although I do know her personally, what I have written is my attempt to come to terms with what's going on in me with regard to what she did during "Defensive Shield" that brought out very strong feelings in me at the time and still does. Therefore her identity is not the point. She does what she believes in and that's her business. I was writing for me, not for her.

And now I'll be off to the pool, if you don't mind. I'm full to burst with things to say, but they will have to wait.

Take a look at this
Things are looking up vis a vis the security room that's full of our neighbor's stuff. We refused to pay our dues to the building till it's emptied. Just your regular blackmailers, that's us. So the chairman of the house committee came up with a brilliant innovative suggestion that we approach our neighbors and ask them to move their stuff. Now why didn't we think of that?

Anyway it appears the room is also a fire escape and the building has had demands from the Fire Service to empty all the security rooms, so maybe there'll be some pressure on them besides ours.

Talk About Cathartic
Last night I laughed so hard while reading File 13’s Amish Tech Support, Bish had to come and tell me to shut up, because I was waking the kids.


Typical discussion at work today
Where is it safer to live these days? In a Gaza settlement or in a city within the Green Line?


Never So Relevant
Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man,
His enemies say he's on their land.
They got him outnumbered about a million to one,
He got no place to escape to, no place to run.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully just lives to survive,
He's criticized and condemned for being alive.
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin,
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in.
He's the neighborhood bully.

The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land,
He's wandered the earth an exiled man.
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn,
He's always on trial for just being born.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he knocked out a lynch mob, he was criticized,
Old women condemned him, said he should apologize.
Then he destroyed a bomb factory, nobody was glad.
The bombs were meant for him. He was supposed to feel bad.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, the chances are against it and the odds are slim
That he'll live by the rules that the world makes for him,
Cause there's a noose at his neck and a gun at his back
And a license to kill him is given out to every maniac.
He's the neighborhood bully.

He got no allies to really speak of.
What he gets he must pay for, he don't get it out of love.
He buys obsolete weapons and he won't be denied
But no one sends flesh and blood to fight by his side.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Well, he's surrounded by pacifists who all want peace,
They pray for it nightly that the bloodshed must cease.
Now, they wouldn't hurt a fly. To hurt one they would weep.
They lay and they wait for this bully to fall asleep.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Every empire that's enslaved him is gone,
Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon.
He's made a garden of paradise in the desert sand,
In bed with nobody, under no one's command.
He's the neighborhood bully.

Now his holiest books have been trampled upon,
No contract he signed was worth what it was written on.
He took the crumbs of the world and he turned it into wealth,
Took sickness and disease and he turned it into health.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What's anybody indebted to him for?
Nothin', they say. He just likes to cause war.
Pride and prejudice and superstition indeed,
They wait for this bully like a dog waits to feed.
He's the neighborhood bully.

What has he done to wear so many scars?
Does he change the course of rivers? Does he pollute the moon and stars?
Neighborhood bully, standing on the hill,
Running out the clock, time standing still,
Neighborhood bully.

****************Bob Dylan
A new Hebrew version has just come out, sung by Ariel Zilber.


Oy Vey!
Hospital mix up.


To N.G.
It’s been four months now and I’m not any nearer to understanding.

I had always respected what you were doing. You were trying to help ordinary people. You took their suffering on as your own with great compassion and you did your utmost to alleviate it, at personal risk and sacrifice. By letting these people get to know you and by showing your love and concern you hoped to show them that we’re not all bad.

Not all bad.

Don’t you see how condescending that is? You’re underestimating us and them. Us because we really aren’t all bad or even nearly all bad. And them because you don’t think that they have the capacity to grasp that.

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair when I watched you on T.V. fighting Israeli policemen. My stomach turned when I read the article you wrote about a certain “wicked” Israeli soldier.

But when I saw you jauntily marching into Arafat’s compound with other “peace” activists, I knew you were no longer a go-between seeking to further peace between us and them.

You had become them.

U.K. Observer Says U.S. to Attack Iraq from Jordan
I hope this means they'll get to the missile launchers, before the Iraqis have time to do us some serious damage.

When will those pesky neighbors of mine empty their stuff out of the security room????

Wind Rider, of LGB fame wrote me this moving e-mail (I've edited out some paragraphs that are not of interest to the "general public"):

"I believe you've seen some of my comments over at Little Green Footballs. Hopefully it came across that I believe the current situation is one we share. Americans can be very, very shortsighted, and too often, in focusing on the baseball pennant race, or some movie star's hairstyle or love life, they loose sight of what is going on around them. I don't mean on the next street over, or the next small town over. They loose sight of the earth as a finite space, and miss the parallels or possibilities that the things they see and find occasionally distressing or distasteful on the evening newscasts fall in to the "there, but by the grace of G*d go thee" category.

I don't feel extraordinary that I see these things. It is my job to see them. My career is military […] (and) From this perspective, admiration for the IDF, as they perform daily small acts of heroism under the most trying circumstances a military can face, comes very easily. Even more easily comes my admiration of people […] who maintain hope, faith, optimism and humour in the face of daily life or death uncertainty.

[…] When I first joined the military, it was simply for the boyish dream of wanting simply to fly. I was fortunate enough to be able to realize that, and along the way, as I began to grow into my profession, I came to have a sense of larger purpose to it all. This (and quite a bit of procrastination, actually) have kept me at the profession for this long. Not to impose or to conquer and take. But to stand the wall, so that behind me, no harm will come in the night. Bluster and arrogant gushing, sometimes I'm not even sure; but I do know that my sense of it is that Israel and her people are about the best representation in the world today of what it is I am moved to protect.

I sense a bigger storm is coming, and its fury will be mighty. My hopes and prayers that we live to see the sunrises of the days that follow."

Not a Fish
A jelly.

Palestinians Arrest Human Rights Activist
Palestinian “Btselem” (Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories) activist, Khaider Ghanem from Rafiah, was arrested by the Palestinian Preventative Security Force in Gaza, last Wednesday. No reason has been given for the arrest.

Considering Btselem’s main function is looking out for Israeli human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza, this is rather strange, unless someone had something serious to hide.

Still Trying to Understand
Let me get this “hate crime” business straight. This means its being regarded on a par with a homophobe killing a homosexual, right? Not that killing a homosexual is not an abhorrent, horrendous crime. It is. But it’s not the same as the attack on the El Al counter in the L.A. Airport.

It’s not really a question of right or wrong
Uncertainty is a part of life there’s no getting away from. But it’s difficult to live with it staring you in the face all the time. The belief or hope that your children and grandchildren will have lives that are not living nightmares is helpful in keeping you from going mad.

The fear of a repetition of the horrifying not so distant past has been hounding me since the final collapse of Oslo in September 2000. (I know a lot of people are fed up of the “H” word, well, f**k them). I know it's not just me who feels this way.

Some here still stubbornly clutch on to the belief that an end to occupation will magically solve all. Some are just as adamant that we have a divine right to all of the historical land of Israel and that this right is holier than living peacefully with the people we share this land with.

Most are somewhere in the middle, awoken from false hopes of easy solutions, but realistic enough to understand the need for painful compromise to make a future possible here.

This fear of what the future holds in store for me and my descendants in this accursed part of the world is, I think, stronger and deeper than the everyday fear of terrorist attacks. I look at other Israelis around me and try to see how they are affected. Some have hardened their hearts and others have become remarkably compassionate for the other side. Compassionate to a degree that causes them to belittle and disregard the dangers we face.

The other side seems to sense our fear and they also seem to observe our compassion with puzzlement. In their eyes we are weak, easy prey. They see us as European colonialists. But we’re not European. Not really. Not even that percentage of us whose forefathers spent the last ten or twenty centuries there, never accepted, never wanted, sometimes tolerated.

They don’t seem to understand that we can’t “go back to where we came from”. We came from nowhere and we’ve nowhere to go.

This is it. This is our chance for a little corner to call our own. And we have no choice but to fight for it.




Phew!
I feel quite cathartic after writing all that emotional, self-pitying prattle.

Bish says I think too much and worry way too much and should just concentrate on living each day as it comes, grateful for what I have. I know he’s right.

I used to meditate everyday until the thoughts finally completely took over.

Israel's History in a Nutshell
Courtesy of my sister. Ta, our sis.

I am Not a Fish
Cute.

Arafat’s New Finance Minister States his Conditions and Rajoub's not a Clerk to be Fired by Letter.
According to Ehud Ya’ari, Israel’s top media expert* on Arab affairs, the new Palestinian Finance Minister, Salla Fayed, demands full control over the Palestinian Authority’s budget. Ya’ari was speaking on Israeli T.V. last night, channel 2 news. I didn’t see it so we’ll have to take Bish’s word for it. Ya’ari says Fayed intends to give Arafat “pocket money” (this is Bish’s term, I don’t know how Ya’ari described it) to run the Presidential Bureau. If Arafat doesn’t agree to this, Fayed will resign.

Ya'ari also said that the appointment of former Jenin governor Zuhair Manasreh as head of the Preventative Security in the West Bank instead of Jibril Rajoub was not a serious appointment. According to Haaretz, Rajoub and his men say they won't give up the Preventive Security apparatus. Haaretz explains that, "In recent months, there have been sharp differences of opinion between the two, with Rajoub furious that the PA allowed the military wings of Hamas and Fatah to operate independently of the PA. He vehemently objected to terror attacks, which he refers to as "military actions," inside the Green Line and demanded that all Palestinian military actions be limited to inside the territories, if at all."

They all seem to be smelling blood.

*Hebrew link.

Jews in Yemen
Nasser Arrabyee writes in Gulf News, which comes out in Dubai, about the Yemenite Jews who chose not to leave Yemen, about their loyalty to Yemen and their support for the Palestinians. He also tells of Jews who left Yemen and later returned:

“Amran Bin Yahya migrated to the U.S. with his seven-member family eight years ago. Two years later, he decided to return to his hometown of Raydah, leaving his wife and children behind.

He didn't like the traditions and habits which he said are completely different from what he is used to, especially the exaggerated liberation of women.

Yahya said he couldn't control his wife when she suddenly renounced the traditions, customs and morals she had learnt since childhood.

[…] "The social life in Yemen is better. What you have is yours, your wife is yours and so are your children. But there if your wife gets out of your control, you cannot do anything to keep her," Yahya stated.” (Emphasis is mine).

It seems Amran’s wife is fortunate to be rid of him.

More Haaretz
Fred Lapides suggested I read one of the alternatives to Haaretz and J.Post that he has heard are better. My answer to that is: you have to see the printed version of Haaretz to understand - most people can't even read it - too much small print. But it has ... how can I describe it? ...well, a kind of snobby charm. Yediot Aharonot and Maariv are good, I suppose, except you read the daily versions in ten minutes (five if you don't read the op-eds), not enough for news nutters like Bish and me. And most of the news is of the “dog bites man” type.


Air France pilot thinks Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv is in Palestine
"The pilot of an Air France flight to Tel Aviv told the passengers, yesterday, that the plane would be landing in Israel-Palestine in an hour," Galei Zahal (I.D.F. radio) reported yesterday (my translation, Hebrew link). "Arguments and fights broke out between Israeli passengers and the flight crew. When the plane landed at 14:30, the passengers complained to airport authorities and to the Border Police. The Police said the complaint would be passed on to the Foreign Ministry. Air France representatives in Israel apologized and said that the French pilot’s announcement reflected his personal views, and not those of the company."
Maybe he should have dropped the Israeli passengers off in the sea, where he obviously thinks they belong, before the plane reached the Israel coastline.

Bombs kill 35 Algerians while they celebrate Algerian Independence Day.
No evidence that these were terrorist attacks.

"He should have decapitated the original".
The Guardian's John O'Farrell amuses readers by admonishing Paul Kelleher for not assassinating Lady Thatcher and just making do with decapitating her statue.

I don’t understand the U.S. definition of a terrorist attack.
Here in Israel we’ve been having these “isolated” attacks by lone attackers, for ever. Mainly stabbings. People being stabbed in the streets of the Old City in Jerusalem in the small hours of the night, for instance. There were quite a few of those at one time. There were isolated incidents of stabbings and shootings in other parts of the country, too, not just in Jerusalem. In many cases this was part of being accepted into a terrorist cell – you had to go out and kill a Jew to prove you had it in you. But a lot were just individual initiatives, sometimes by people who were accused of being collaborators and needed to clear their name. They were all terrorist attacks. Even if the perpetrators were working alone with no apparent connections.

I don’t see why you need an organization behind you for it to be terrorism. If you do it to terrorize, which Mr. Hedayat was obviously doing, then its terrorism. The Unabomber was out to terrorize and he was on his own. And his attacks were pretty spread out, meaning that each one of them was actually an “isolated incident”. So he wasn’t a terrorist?

Maybe 9/11 has made the F.B.I. think that if it’s not an attack on a colossal scale, then it’s not worthy of our notice. That’s a rather scary thought, isn’t it?

Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram calls Corporate America “As corrupt as they come”
Anayat Durrani says it is "fraught with fraud, corruption and financial misdemeanors".
Just thought you might like to know.

“Cherie Blair has offered to host a charity event at Downing Street for Israeli victims of terrorism”. Hah!

What's Next?
Ze’ev Schiff from Haaretz is worried about the dangers of a political vacuum in the P.A.

He says that, “If the government of Israel, or any of its cabinet ministers, has a political vision and a far-reaching strategic conception, now would be the appropriate moment to make it known - and not in the form of a virtual show to get some headlines, but as an appeal to the Arab world and to the Palestinian public by means of generous proposals for an immediate interim agreement and negotiations on a permanent settlement.

[…] experience shows that if these opportunities are not seized, a bigger wave of terror always follows, bringing in its wake a more vigorous and more extensive Israeli military operation. This could happen again, if Operation Determined Path ends without a political initiative.”

He describes the gradual escalation of hostilities that “began with mass demonstrations and assaults on IDF outposts” and reached the point of “massive suicide bombing, the IDF's incursions into the refugee camps and the temporary seizure of Palestinian cities which could last for months.”

He warns of being “encouraged by the demonstrations mounted by hungry Palestinians in the Gaza Strip this week” because “even if they were aimed at the Palestinian Authority, what they show is the existence of a highly-volatile situation which, when it explodes, will affect Israel as well as Arafat.”

God is Not a Fish Inspector
And don't you forget it.

Shabbat Shalom!

Corsair the Pirate says my name means “Pregnant” in Korean.
Well, well, well! Bish used to say he just had to look at me for me to get pregnant. (Of course, that was before I fooled nature by getting an I.U.D.).

Why is this on the front page of the N.Y. Times?
Looks like the U.S. is going to be counting heavily on the element of surprise.

Stefan Sharkansky offers top ten explanations for the LAX El Al shooting, other than terrorism.

Mohammed Dahlan distorting the facts, for the record
Mohammed Dahlan, member of the Fatah leadership and until last month head of the Palestinian Authority's security organization in Gaza, explains to readers of the British Guardian, why he’ll stand by Arafat as long as Israel’s against him.

“President Bush's plan for the Middle East,” he says, “points … to an American decision to give up on the peace process.” Hah! That’s a laugh! What peace process? Maybe the process of peacefully walking into a pizza parlor and pushing the button.

It gets better: “…there was no serious offer made at Camp David, no solution floated that we would have regretted passing up.” Huh? Oh, sorry, it’s a misprint. Now read that again but exchange an “i” for the “a” in “passing”. F**k off, Dahlan! (Go wash your mouth out, Imshin! Now!)

“If we had been offered at Camp David the kind of outline package we reached at Taba, we could have had a deal. But Ehud Barak, the Israeli prime minister, blocked the attempts to reach agreement because Israeli elections were two weeks down the line.” You liar! You know very well that an agreement in Taba was Barak’s only chance of maybe winning the elections and even that was slim – it was too late. We Israelis were already in a state of shock and horror because of your violent “uprising”, following your turning down an offer so radical, so extremely generous it probably would have plunged Israel into a civil war.

“There was a strategic mistake built into the 1993 Oslo agreement: to go for an interim, transitional deal, when the two peoples were ready for a comprehensive peace. The interim period allowed the Israelis to carry on as they had before, pressing ahead with settlements, closures and land expropriation, behaving like a classic occupier.” Yeah, right. We carried on just as before, except the teeny weeny, little, unimportant, hardly noticeable fact that we let Arafat and his horrid little terrorist pals come and live a few minutes away from us, and gradually let them take over 40% of the West Bank and Gaza. Classic occupiers?

“There were also constant changes of leadership on the Israeli side,” Well, excuse us for being democratic! “…which led to the cancellation of agreements and understandings.” You asshole, even Netanyahu got out of Hebron, despite the intense pressure he was under from the Right-wingers that surrounded him.

“Throughout the Oslo period, we took serious measures to prevent attacks by the opposition (Islamists).” Too little, too late. By the time you got round to it, too many Israeli ”victims of peace” had been blown up. No “confidence-building steps” would convince Israeli skeptics, and your main partner had been murdered.

“But the Islamists grew in the shadow of the failure of the peace process”. Quite the opposite -the Islamists caused the failure of the peace process by blowing up innocent Israelis, unhindered by the Palestinian “Authority”.

“People's frustrations with the continuing occupation, closures, new settlements, postponements and economic squeeze were reaching boiling point.” I remember most of the Palestinians’ frustration at that time being directed at Arafat, who skillfully managed to redirect it against Israel. As always - the master-survivor.

“Even then, if Israel had not resorted to large-scale killings of demonstrators” …AND the armed fighters who were standing in their midst and shooting at the soldiers…

“…as long as the Israelis are against Arafat, I'm with him.” Of course you are. You’re already regarded by some as a collaborator, just because Israel didn’t go into Gaza.

“While the chairman is under siege, it would be wrong to criticise him - that would only serve Israel and America. There is no question of changing the leadership in these circumstances.” Fair enough. Like we shouldn’t evacuate settlements under fire. That’s why we still might have to get rid of Arafat ourselves. Ah, but Dahlan’s thought of that hasn’t he? “If they try to expel or kill (Arafat) … they will come to regret it bitterly.” I think Arafat will be regretting it more. But will you, Dahlan?

And yet, “we need to push ahead with far-reaching reform, not to please the Americans … but from the point of view of Palestinian interests…” Not because it’s a good idea or because the people deserve it. ” We need to change the faces of those in power, hold people to account, cut the number of ministers, reduce wasteful spending and cut back the number of security agencies.” Hey Dahlan! How about we start accountability with your Swiss bank account?

“The biggest obstacle to peace has been the Israeli mindset. They have understood peace solely in terms of their own domestic politics and disputes.” He’s confusing the Israeli public with Israeli politicians, the twerp. (He’s obviously been reading too much Haaretz and not understanding a word. See what you’ve done Mr. Marmari?)

And that’s it, more or less. Except for a very hopeful summing up paragraph (I was moved almost to tears).

You can read the whole article, without my nasty remarks, here.

O.K. Imshin, you’ve had your fun
What is Dahlan actually saying here? In simultaneous translation from Palestinian double-talk, he’s saying: I’m against Arafat and in favor of reform (oh, and by the way, I forgot to mention that Gaza has been sort of, relatively, quiet-ish).
I’m your man.

Fred Lapides wrote
"Hi, Mom! I don't read or speak Hebrew but have been told that there are alternatives to Harretz and J.Post that are better. When in doubt, read both, right? But then there is this to be said: left of center folks have shifted I believe since Intifad II has grown a wave of killer maniacs, and the human reaction (approved by Darwinists) is to kick back. Or flight. I am an old Lefty but see (like Benny Morris) that giving to Palestiniansonly encourages further attacks.
Old game: tit for tat--you try to be nice. If this is not returned, then you play the game your enemy plays. (or: fool me once shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me).
I run a site way off here in Amrierca that no nice Jewish mother would like. But I do what I do to attract readeers...and I daily slip in one or more pro-Israel things. Today, an exception cause we have 4th celebration etc."
Forgive me for not linking to you... this is a family site. But keep up the good work (I think).

So if he shouted "he took my job"
then why didn't he just shoot the guy in question? I know it's happened in the U.S.that a disgruntled sackee went in to work and opened fire on former co-employees (Turtle Boy comments on Little Green Footballs that that could have been a hoax too), but it's never happened in Israel. Sounds too much of a coincidence, doesn't it?

Happy 4th of July to All Americans.
I wish you all a peaceful day.

Interesting Piece about Haaretz Newspaper and International Media Coverage of MidEast conflict.
The June 30th posting of Facts of Israel brings the text of a lecture delivered by Hanoch Marmari, the Ha'aretz editor-in-chief on May 27 as part of the 9th World Editors' Forum in Bruges, Belgium. “Mr. Marmari explains why Ha'aretz journalists show the Palestinian side of the story, and why sometimes they regret it.”

This is a very interesting piece. I am particularly interested in what Mr. Maramari has to say, because I’ve been a subscriber to Haaretz for many years and in the months leading up to the “Defensive Shield” operation in Passover I had been getting gradually more and more fed up with it. Although the news part of the paper generally gives good coverage to events, the opinion columns, editorials and in-depth stories are extremely one-sided. They do have a few token Right-wing columnists, such as Moshe Arens and Yisrael Harel, but there is no voice for the views held by the great majority of Israelis today, including, I believe, a large percentage of Haaretz readers, who have always tended to be Left-wing.

He has some very interesting things to say about foreign coverage of the Israel-Palestinian situation, “the intensive media coverage of the conflict is often so self-absorbed and so harmful to the region. Sometimes it is a disgrace to our profession.

[…] The media in this cruel Israeli-Palestinian conflict are like a very rich junkie, who parks his Mercedes on the high street of a slum. You can be sure that in no time at all, everyone will be out there, pushing a whole variety of merchandise.

[…] it is no simple task to assess to what extent that information reflects reality. On the day-to-day level, it is hard to argue with what the eyes see, though it is preferable to put the visual images into context. What the ears hear, particularly in the Middle East, can be seriously misleading, if it isn't backed up with additional information - or carefully attributed to its source. […] Exaggeration, disinformation and provocation are the region's stock-in-trade.”

Regarding the dissatisfaction of many Haaretz readers in recent months, he says, “As the current Palestinian intifada goes on, Ha'aretz finds itself in a crisis of confidence with some of its readers who want to regard the newspaper as a source of solidarity and consolation, and not only as a mirror, reflecting and exposing reality.” I disagree. He obviously believes that his newspaper is completely impartial, but this is not, in fact, the case. I often find that the actually choice of subjects covered in the daily in-depth stories and in the weekend magazine, not to mention the contents, are obsessive in showing the far-Left point of view. Often coverage of Right-wing or mainstream views is patronizing and condescending. Occasional articles that are supportive of government policy are not too much to ask for in normal times, all the more so, in times of war.

“As attacks proliferated and more and more innocent Israelis fell, antipathy has grown toward those reporters who continue to describe the suffering on the other side, and they are now the main target of criticism leveled against the newspaper, and are cited as the main reason for canceled subscriptions.” I personally accept the importance of the reporting of Amira Hess and Gideon Levi, who write about the ordinary Palestinian’s suffering, even if I find it repetitive and rather boring. After all, I don’t have to actually read it. But there's so much of it, every day. Enough, already! I would also appreciate to have a serious alternative mainstream view, incorporated in the newspaper.

“The newspaper has a strong network of readers and advertisers,” Marmari continues, “and can absorb the shocks, but the ongoing public storm about our coverage is worrying, forcing us to constantly and thoroughly re-examine our approach.” This is not what I’ve heard. I know of people canceling their subscriptions and getting phone calls from Marmari himself (editor-in-chief, no less) trying to persuade them not to cancel. The cancellations seem to be a serious threat to the paper.

For a while I put a lot of pressure on Bish to cancel our subscription, but he argued that although he agrees in principal, he couldn’t stomach any of the other papers (that have a tendency towards being tabloid) with his morning coffee. I’m actually glad we didn’t cancel. What can I do? I’ve been reading this paper for about 15 years now. Old habits die hard.

"Israeli Guy" Discusses Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's T.V. Interview
I really enjoyed your input on Barak's interview, Gil. I agree with most of it. I also enjoyed listening to Barak speak. I voted for him twice and have admired his sagacity ever since he was head of military intelligence. I can envision a time in the future that I would vote for him again. But quite a few things would have to change for that to be possible.

You wrote, "I quite certain that the withdrawal from Lebanon was a smart move. Israel was bleeding there for 20 years and Barak put an end to it. A lot of people in Israel don't agree with me on that point: Imshin J for example is calling the Lebanon withdrawal a "fiasco". "We all sighed with relief when we got our boys out of that hellhole, but the hurried, even hysterical withdrawal whetted the Palestinians appetites and gave us this war". I don't agree with her. I think that the Palestinians would have eventually started this war anyway. If we were still in Lebanon today and had to deal with two fronts it would have been almost impossible to cope with that situation."

Well, maybe "fiasco" was a bit strong. I tend to get carried away.

A friend of mine, who grew up in the streets of a very tough neighborhood, has been trying to persuade me for years, that the rules that held true for him as a child trying to survive in the “shchuna” (neighborhood) are also relevant with regard to how Israel should be behaving with its neighbors in the Middle East. Since Camp David and the following eruption of Palestinian violence, I have gradually began to understand what he’s been talking about, all this time. Among criminals, your perceived strength of character determines what your life is going to be like - if you’re going to be the guy who tells everyone what to do, gets the best women and so on or the one who eats shit (excuse my language) from everyone else, and who’s life is a living hell. It’s the same with animals, in business, wherever. But it’s very clear-cut with criminals. That’s why it’s a good example.

Did you see that movie with Sean Connery as a criminal who does a robbery with his son and grandson? I’ve forgotten the name of the movie. Anyway, at the end of the movie, he’s in the vehicle being transported back to prison with the other convicts. What is the first thing he does? He picks a fight with some guy and beats up on him, right there in the vehicle. Why does he do this? He’s giving out the message that although he’s old, he’s still a force to be reckoned with, and not to be messed about. He knows that, especially at his age, he won’t survive otherwise.

So here we are in the Jessy Cohen (blue-collar neighborhood in the town of Holon south of Tel Aviv) of the world, and we’re behaving like we’re in Herzliya HaYeruka (middle class area in the town of Herzliya north of Tel Aviv). O.K. so we're a democracy and we have certain moral standards. But our neighbors aren't and don't and we mustn't let them take advantage of that.

For years we’ve been acting weak. Remember the Gulf war? We just sat there and did nothing. Maybe it was the right thing to do at the time, but it didn’t look good.

Lebanon was a quagmire. I’m grateful we’re out. I suppose we’ll never know what would have happened if we had got out of there in a different manner. What’s done is done. But we have to try and learn from it, to see how we can better handle similar future challenges, such as evacuating settlements.

Kids Listen Up!
Here's a really persuasive argument for the "can I have a dog?" family discussion:
Dogs can diagnose cancer!

Bish is Ehud Barak's Last Remaining Fan
Last night, Barak gave his first Hebrew interview on Israel television, since he lost the elections.

If you want to understand Israelis
read this. This is the best description I've read of the collective Israeli state of mind right now. Thank you, Tim Blair.

I'm a bit panicky today
Everyone's waiting for a suicide bombing.
This probably would be a good day for the house arrest I was talking about.

How to describe this dread of impending disaster?
Well, the symptoms are more or less the following: My throat feels constricted, my breathing is slightly labored and my heart beats way faster and harder than usual. Oh, and I feel nauseous. (No, I'm not pregnant). And I must have done about 50% of the work I usually do everyday (No wonder the economy's in such dire straits!).

O.K., calm down, Imshin. These hysterics are not helpful. They'll be sending in the guys in the white coats next.

Talk about post-traumatic stress disorder. Looks like I've got pre-traumatic stress disorder!

We've got your name
Grasshoppa linked to this weird thing.

The solution to the Middle East conflict
"A question for world leaders: In a crisis should you 1) send in the Marines? 2) Send in Kofi Annan? 3) Send in the Muppets?" asks Barry James in IHT. The answer? No. 3, of course. Was there really any doubt?

The Israeli version of big bird, by the way, is an enormous hedgehog.

Inner city Zionism
I’m an ideological city dweller. I don’t think this country is big enough for suburban sprawl. So I live in a high-rise on a busy Tel Aviv corner (thankfully, not high enough to be of interest to any passing planes). I’m not actually suffering for a high ideal here. I love Tel Aviv and I love city life.

But there are many difficulties connected to living in the city with a family.

Summer vacation is an extra challenge for city dwellers with kids. Especially nowadays. If perverts and crazy drivers aren’t enough, now I have to worry if it’s safe for my eldest daughter to have an ice cream at the ice cream parlor with her pals, or go to her favorite haunt – the local toyshop. Among some of the other mothers I’m regarded as very liberal, because I allow my daughter to ride the mini-bus to the swimming pool.

What am I to do? Put her under house arrest all summer? (This actually happens when there are warnings of suicide bombers on the loose in my area).


But then again…
I do have some misgivings about not having a little house with a garden. I have this little fantasy about having a “boustan”, which is a traditional fruit garden with figs, vines, carobs, olive trees and other indigenous fruit trees. (Although killjoys tell me these plants attract several types of annoying flying insects). Maybe someday it will happen. Who knows?


Asking forgiveness
Tsila Levi, Bank Leumi clerk from Hadera, was arrested for embezzling six million shekels of her clients’ money. I heard her on Israeli radio today, crying and asking for forgiveness. “I love you all,” she wept, “I didn’t mean to do it.”

I hope no one ever loves me that much.



Palestinian brainwashing
I ventured into Indymedia Israel today and was pleasantly surprised. There was a lot of pro-Israel stuff, which probably means they’re blasted with this stuff faster than they can censor it.

I found this piece about incitement on Palestinian T.V. rather disturbing (we do actually hope to live in peace with these people one day).

An Israeli woman is telling about her changing relationship with her longtime Palestinian friend and her family, because of the fabricated horrors her friend watches on Palestinian T.V.

“Fatima's kids have always watched what seems to me to be a lot of television […] but for the past few months, it was all "news." I put it in quotation marks because it's not really news. It's propaganda. To my college-educated, Western eyes, it's the most blatant, offensive, obvious kind of junk -- bad actors, bad commentators reading from gory scripts of the most inflammatory kind, plainly seeking to inflame the senses of anyone watching.

[…] Fatima called me in a panic one night, saying that they had just heard that Jewish residents of our neighborhood near Jerusalem were marching on their villages and shooting everyone. I looked out the window, saw nothing, then sent my husband up the street to check things out. It was perfectly quiet and peaceful, not a soul in sight, not a sound to be heard. I told her then that she should not believe everything on the TV and radio, that they lied in order to get people upset and angry.

Even as I told her, I could sense her skepticism: "Oh, sure, Shira. You don't know anything more than I do, and of course you don't want to believe that your neighbors would shoot us!"

[…] If anyone could be immune to political propaganda and hate-mongering, I would have thought it was Shiruk. She has spent a lot of time with Jews. After all, she has eaten in our home, been to our parties and synagogue, held our babies. She has a good head on her shoulders, knows English, reads books. But it seems that even the brightest mind is susceptible to hate-mongering, given enough exposure to it.

Kept out of school, Shiruk spends many, many hours watching television. She has seen dramatized, studio-fabricated decapitations, gang rapes, and children being maimed and murdered -- all at the hands of "Israeli soldiers." Her younger siblings watch, too, and I imagine that this is the norm in most homes in hundreds of villages throughout the West Bank.”

A give-away
My Mum's been noticing the times I've been posting. And she's worried I'm not sleeping enough!

Pita on sticks
Thousands of unemployed Palestinians marched in Gaza yesterday to protest “Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's government of corruption and failing to provide them with jobs.”

They showed this demonstration on Israeli T.V. and you could see hundreds of people in the crowd waving pita (round flat Arab bread) on long wooden sticks, obviously symbolic of their hunger.

Maybe the desparate, hopeless Palestinian masses are getting hopeful again…of getting rid of Arafat and his gang.


Irrelevant
Bish says the Israeli Labor Party is irrelevant. That’s what they were saying about Arafat a few months ago. Hmmm.

Magen David Adom
A friend’s brother had a heart attack around the same time as a suicide bomber blew up in the same town. There were no free ambulances for him and by the time an ambulance arrived it was too late. My friend’s brother was dead. I think he was a sort of indirect victim of terrorism.

Laurence Simon is participating in Blogathon 2002 raising money for Magen David Adom. The money he makes will hopefully go towards more ambulances, salaries for more ambulance crews or more equipment.

Names
Even when the names of the dead victims of a terrorist attack mean nothing to me, there’s always someone I know who does know some of the names.

Every day someone else tells me of a close friend or relative who has been killed. Someone’s lunch buddy from work lost her baby; someone else’s brother-in-law was killed, leaving a widow and children; someone’s friend lost his daughter and grandchildren.

To the Labor Party
Here’s one ex-party member who’s not planning to vote for you next time. And not because she’s voting “Meretz”!

I have a suggestion for your Party Convention. How about discussing why you’re so unpopular? You won’t, of course, because you’ll be too busy bickering and scrambling for power. No wonder you’re so clueless (Really clueless, not like Stephen Den Beste who’s only pretending).

Ben-Dror Yemini discussed this in Maariv a few weeks ago (my translation):
“Many (Israelis) that support concessions (to the Palestinians) vote for Right-wing (Parties), just because of their abhorrence of the Israeli Left.

[…] How is it possible to explain this paradox? How is it possible to explain the strong inclination to the Right, as far as voting is concerned, in contrast to the sharp and consistent inclination to the Left, as far as solutions are concerned?

Well, the majority of the (Israeli) public detests the Left more than it supports painful concessions. The feeling, prevalent for many years, that the Left is looking after the Palestinians has not altered. The Left is making every effort to justify its bad reputation. […] A Left that organizes conferences at which patriotism sounds like leprosy is a disconnected Left. A Left that is unable of saying that Arafat is a man of terror and not a leader of peace, is an unreliable Left. A Left that is not capable of declaring that the Palestinian incitement is the cause of the terrorism, and not the occupation, is a Left of deception. A Left that cannot explain to the Palestinians that there will never be a right of return will always be suspected of sleepwalking.”

Guess what?
A whale is not a fish...

What is it with Ronaldo's hair?


More baby bomber stuff
Cute cartoon in Haaretz

Desperate Israeli Mother Makes Impassioned Appeal to J.K. Rowlings:
GET A MOVE ON WITH #5, ALREADY!

More Evacuation Rumination
Bish suggests evacuating settlements as a token of good will to the new Palestinian Leaders that are elected after (if) the Palestinians oust Arafat and his gang. The idea being to evacuate without it being construed as a reward for terrorism.

My Bish is what my great-Grandma Zelda (may she rest in peace) would probably have called "a gutt-hartziker".