tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16147025772663609282024-03-07T23:11:59.884+02:00israelity bitescontradictions, vexations, discoveries and epiphanies in the Holy LandIzzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.comBlogger632125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-15364411501929343592012-04-10T02:39:00.001+03:002012-04-10T02:39:33.232+03:00Palestinian Collaborators<object height="315" width="420"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Y4rLfja8488?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0">
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<br />
Jamming with South African musicians...an extraordinarily tuneful association. Hat tip to Angela for<br />
this link out of Israel. No more apart-hate anywhere, she advises.Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-35310863016337345542012-01-26T06:19:00.002+02:002012-01-28T10:26:57.530+02:00IDF Snipers - how they cope with intimate kills<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<br />
A recent study about snipers in Israel has shown that snipers are much less
likely than other soldiers to dehumanise their enemy, the BBC's <span class="byline"><span class="byline-name">Stephanie Hegarty</span></span> <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16544490" target="_blank">reports</a>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Part of the reason for this may be that snipers can see their
targets with great clarity and sometimes must observe them for hours or
even days.<br />
"It's killing that is very distant but also very personal," says anthropologist Neta Bar. "I would even say intimate."<br />
<br />
She studied attitudes to killing among 30 Israeli snipers who
served in the Palestinian territories from 2000 to 2003, to examine
whether killing is unnatural or traumatic for human beings. <br />
She chose snipers in particular because, unlike pilots or
tank drivers who shoot at big targets like buildings, the sniper picks
off individual people.<br />
What she found was that while many Israeli soldiers would
refer to Palestinian militants as "terrorists", snipers generally
referred to them as human beings.<br />
<div class="story-feature wide ">
<a class="hidden" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16544490#story_continues_3"><br /></a>There were about 20 gunmen escorting a convoy and one of them
was unlucky enough to get in the sight of my scope. The distance was
about 300m, almost nothing for a sniper.<br />
A few seconds later I saw him lying motionless.<br />
In the heat of the moment my only thought was to shoot more and more. I saw the figures rushing in panic and trying to hide.<br />
<br />
We killed all of them, except three or four who were wounded
and captured. Afterwards I blamed myself for not being cool-headed
enough. I thought that if I had been calmer, I would have killed more
enemies.<br />
<br />
<div id="story_continues_3">
<b></b>"The Hebrew word for human being
is Son of Adam and this was the word they used by far more than any
other when they talked about the people that they killed," she says.</div>
</div>
Snipers almost never referred to the men they killed as
targets, or used animal or machine metaphors. Some interviewees even
said that their victims were legitimate warriors.<br />
<br />
"Here is someone whose friends love him and I am sure he is a
good person because he does this out of ideology," said one sniper who
watched through his scope as a family mourned the man he had just shot.
"But we from our side have prevented the killing of innocents, so we are
not sorry about it."</blockquote>
This justification - which was supported by friends, family
and wider Israeli society -<br />
could be one reason why the snipers didn't
report any trauma after killing, she suggests.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Being prepared for all those things that might crack their
conviction, actually enabled them to kill without suffering too much."<br />
<br />
She also noted that the snipers she studied were rational and intelligent young men.<br />
In most military forces, snipers are subject to rigorous
testing and training and are chosen for aptitude. In the UK, they
complete a three-month training course, with a pass rate of only
one-in-four.</blockquote>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBoJdQd58R7OQosc_HM9GB7D_zER_uIb39RpCGPeLDN4M_R8798Q6hvPWG1UcrctSXhBUibAKoZB3L5hK0OuLGBperTnc94_DjsLeLu1ZcYCphXWlpNxTf6T2TtpEZcNvL1-ranVRwWbyX/s1600/402429_10150558434227958_659757957_9024489_92872169_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBoJdQd58R7OQosc_HM9GB7D_zER_uIb39RpCGPeLDN4M_R8798Q6hvPWG1UcrctSXhBUibAKoZB3L5hK0OuLGBperTnc94_DjsLeLu1ZcYCphXWlpNxTf6T2TtpEZcNvL1-ranVRwWbyX/s320/402429_10150558434227958_659757957_9024489_92872169_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-73328487306471133582012-01-13T21:37:00.000+02:002012-01-13T21:37:07.614+02:00False Flags, Fast Friends, Bang & Boom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Holy Moly. Foreign Policy magazine's Mark Perry has ruffled feathers with its<a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/13/false_flag?page=full" target="_blank"> exclusive investigation</a> into Mossad/ Jundallah links and a spate of killings targeting nuke scientists inside Iran, based on some Bush-era CIA memos and follow-up reporting. Some excerpts:</blockquote>
the memos show that the United States had barred even the most incidental
contact with Jundallah, according to both intelligence officers, the same was
not true for Israel's Mossad. The memos<b> </b>also
detail CIA field reports saying that Israel's recruiting activities occurred under
the nose of U.S. intelligence officers, most notably in London, the capital of
one of Israel's ostensible allies, where Mossad officers posing as CIA
operatives met with Jundallah officials.The
officials did not know whether the Israeli program to recruit and use Jundallah
is ongoing. Nevertheless, they were stunned by the brazenness of the Mossad's
efforts..."The
report sparked White House concerns that Israel's program was putting Americans
at risk," the intelligence officer told me. "There's no question that the U.S.
has cooperated with Israel in intelligence-gathering operations against the
Iranians, but this was different. No matter what anyone thinks, we're not in
the business of assassinating Iranian officials or killing Iranian civilians."Israel's
relationship with Jundallah continued to roil the Bush administration until the
day it left office, this same intelligence officer noted. Israel's activities jeopardized
the administration's fragile relationship with Pakistan, which was coming under
intense pressure from Iran to crack down on Jundallah. It also undermined U.S. claims
that it would never fight terror with terror, and invited attacks in kind on
U.S. personnel."<br />Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-71131689044778024432012-01-09T22:04:00.001+02:002012-01-09T22:34:54.430+02:00Israeli Dancers Defy Ultra-Orthodox Public Orders<object height="315" width="560"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/pZd0kLWP01c?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0">
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<br />
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}" style="font-weight: normal;">Check out this flash-mob of Israeli
women who converged on the town square at Beit Shamesh last Friday to stage a protest dance and counter ultra-orthodox
attempts to segregate this town by gender and ban women from singing and
dancing in public. Hat tip to Peace Now for the link and kudos to </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Renana Levine, the producer of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZd0kLWP01c" target="_blank">this video</a>, which seems to have gone viral. And, of course, to all the unladylike ladies who gathered in the "House of the Rising Sun" to press their point of view.</span><br />
<br />
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<br />Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-91994592377070764242011-12-21T08:37:00.000+02:002011-12-21T08:37:12.444+02:00Skit about how kids might prepare for life in Israel<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/M9Sdkps0Quo" width="560"></iframe>Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-43007792438691864092011-12-15T07:32:00.000+02:002011-12-15T07:40:48.720+02:00Shyne-ing Star: Moshe Levi Raps Ultra<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
From Mexico City, the world's formost Orthodox rapper moved to Jerusalem in 2010, correspondent Karl Vick blogs in <a href="http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/12/14/shyne-ing-in-jerusalem-how-one-rapper-saw-the-light-and-converted-to-ultra-orthodox-judaism/" target="_blank">Time.com</a>. For an ultra-orthodox Jew he seems, well, unorthodox. Read on:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Moshe Levi both fits in and doesn’t.
Race is only part of it. Israeli Jews come in all shades, from the
Falash of Ethiopia to the pinkest German Ashkenazi. When it comes to
religious observance, however, skin color generally signals less than
attire. The round felt hat, formal suit and high white stockings Levi
sports is the uniform of the Ultra-Orthodox, Jews who dress in the
clothes of 18th century Eastern Europe for a reason: They take great
efforts to form communities removed from a modern world riven with
degradations like television, the internet and, yes, rap music. As a
group, they are also the poorest Jews in Israel, families often
subsisting on welfare while the husband spends the day studying
scripture.
<br />
That’s not Levi, who doesn’t actually read Hebrew. “I’m more of a doer than a reader,” he says.<br />
Nor does he follow a particular rabbi, another Ultra-Orthodox norm.
“I definitely try not to get into the whole gang affiliation thing,”
Levi says. If on some days he wears a striped suit, other times flat
black, it’s because he admires the traditions. He also jets up to Paris
for Fashion Week.<br />
“I don’t really have time to figure out their thing. I have my thing.”<br />
His thing is not Zionism, the ideology that brought Israel into
existence as a state. “Absolutely not,” Levi says. “I just said I’m
absolutely not into sects or gangs. I love all human beings.”<br />
His thing is music. As Shyne, he has completed two unreleased albums, <i>Gangland</i> and <i>Messiah</i>.
Both are rap, but “totally philosophical and sophisticated,” he says.
“No misogyny. None of that deranged stuff I used to be into” a decade
or so ago, as a protégé of Sean “P. Diddy” Combs at Bad Boy
Entertainment. He was with Combs and his girlfriend at the time,
Jennifer Lopez, when the ruckus broke out in the Club New York. Combs
and his bodyguard were also tried but acquitted.<br />
“I don’t even want to be a rapper,” Levi says at one point in the
interview. “I don’t listen to that music. I’m a musician. I’d rather be
like Bob Marley or Leonard Cohen, one of those guys.”</blockquote>
Read <a href="http://globalspin.blogs.time.com/2011/12/14/shyne-ing-in-jerusalem-how-one-rapper-saw-the-light-and-converted-to-ultra-orthodox-judaism/#ixzz1gZuRNf58" target="_blank">more</a>.Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-23285129590518178352011-12-14T21:23:00.000+02:002011-12-14T21:23:32.064+02:00Israeli democracy 'shackling freedoms' says FT<blockquote class="tr_bq">
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“In recent weeks, the country has been consumed by an
anguished debate over a series of new laws and proposals that many fear
are designed to stifle dissent, weaken minority rights, restrict freedom
of speech and emasculate the judiciary. They include a law that in
effect allows Israeli communities to exclude Arab families; another that
imposes penalties on Israelis advocating a boycott of products made in
West Bank Jewish settlements; and proposals that would subject the
supreme court to greater political oversight.” </blockquote>
so writes Tobias Buck, Jerusalem correspondent for <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ca198710-20d6-11e1-8133-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1gXMo4ZgH" target="_blank">the Financial Times</a>. He adds that, despite the coarsening of domestic political discourse that has unleashed fury and dismay inside the Jewish state, <br />
"the chances of Israel turning into a dictatorship are about as high as those of Saudi Arabia turning into a liberal democracy."<br />
<br />
Faint praise, indeed. When rightwing Israeli extremists attack the IDF troops who are pledged to protect them in the West Bank, as <a href="http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=249345" target="_blank">happened yesterday</a>, the mind boggles at their warped vigilante notion of "price tag." The entire country pays the coast of their shortsighted actions.<br />
<br />
Israelity bites.Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-77547160935292221832011-12-06T10:57:00.001+02:002012-01-18T21:42:27.401+02:00Core Issue: When did the Dead Sea Die?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0kXnVWcNQIYQFmX2TWvNeFhBkTKnEMjHMq6ELnKIgq0zisXcnU6DicUw4U9nl65BcH6kJ97TmRu6Ii36tNVY8aTpXnxp3BjIkjVgJvmfTQ9d2ZtPspibfGEGy9FY_YnhTd9g2O4DdWFNB/s1600/_57112000_013313676.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0kXnVWcNQIYQFmX2TWvNeFhBkTKnEMjHMq6ELnKIgq0zisXcnU6DicUw4U9nl65BcH6kJ97TmRu6Ii36tNVY8aTpXnxp3BjIkjVgJvmfTQ9d2ZtPspibfGEGy9FY_YnhTd9g2O4DdWFNB/s640/_57112000_013313676.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Geo-scientists are drilling for knowledge and located a pebble beach hundreds of meters beneath the Dead Sea. The BBC <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15938294" target="_blank">reports </a>on its significance from a conference on the West Coast of America:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The Dead Sea is an extraordinary place. The surface of the inland
waterway sits at the lowest land point on the planet, more than 400m
below sea level...Lake dry-down happened 120,000 years ago without any human intervention. </blockquote>
<br />
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</script>Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-86948430983692139362011-11-29T02:38:00.004+02:002011-12-06T22:58:21.837+02:00Israel apologizes for treatment of NYT photographer- one month late!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQgi3GqKrictvjqBJr9IkVapY6F5Wt3mgNS3tYh5mRSBQWu-tYtrTv7AeCGTl_eyTZinAh0uq6cxyNaNgvArNJnZsOrzrR-KYvFVFlwC1p-ndIPAPwNMF4OT5xQqhtNkzwFXxTaYcxzrZ/s1600/0322_addario.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5680212969485002178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoQgi3GqKrictvjqBJr9IkVapY6F5Wt3mgNS3tYh5mRSBQWu-tYtrTv7AeCGTl_eyTZinAh0uq6cxyNaNgvArNJnZsOrzrR-KYvFVFlwC1p-ndIPAPwNMF4OT5xQqhtNkzwFXxTaYcxzrZ/s400/0322_addario.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 400px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 338px;" /></a><br />
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<div class="g-section hn-article" id="hostednews-article" itemref="hostednews-article-desc hostednews-article-url" itemscope="">
<div class="g-unit g-first">
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<div class="g-section">
Israel's Defense Ministry apologized Monday for the treatment of a pregnant American news photographer who was repeatedly strip searched and humiliated by Israeli soldiers during a security check, the Associated Press reports.<br />
<blockquote>
Lynsey Addario, who was on assignment for the New York Times, had requested that she not be forced to go through an X-ray machine as she entered Israel from the Gaza Strip because of concerns for her unborn baby.<br />
Instead, she wrote in a letter to the ministry, she was forced through the machine three times as soldiers "watched and laughed from above." She said she was then taken into a room where she was ordered by a female worker to strip down to her underwear.<br />
In the Oct. 25 letter sent by the newspaper said Addario, a Pulitzer Prize winner who is based in India and has worked in more than 60 countries, had never been treated with "such blatant cruelty."<br />
The ministry said an investigation found that the search followed procedures but noted that Addario's request to avoid the X-ray machine had not been properly relayed.<br />
Addario said she made the request not to go through the X-ray machine before arriving at the crossing.<br />
"We would like to apologize for this particular mishap in coordination and any trouble it may subsequently have caused to those involved," the statement said.<br />
It said that security is tight on the border with Gaza "in order to prevent terror from targeting and reaching Israel's citizens."<br />
The defense ministry has "decided to hone the procedure for foreign journalists," it said.<br />
The New York Times bureau chief in Israel, Ethan Bronner, welcomed the planned changes but said the newspaper remains shocked at the treatment Addario received and how long the investigation took.<br />
Foreign journalists working in Israel have repeatedly complained of overly intrusive security checks by of Israeli authorities. Israel says the inspections are necessary measures.<br />
In March, Addario was among four reporters captured in Libya by forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi and held for six days. Another of the four, reporter Anthony Shadid, related later that they were bound with wire, blindfolded, hit with fists and rifle butts and threatened with death. Addario also was groped, he said.</blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
<div id="hn-distributor-copyright">
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.</div>
<div id="hn-distributor-copyright">
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</div>Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-42823320980044049472011-11-21T21:13:00.001+02:002011-12-06T22:59:53.593+02:00Female Voices and Perceived Vices in the IDF<span class="timestamp published" title="2011-11-18T09:15:57+00:00"><span class="date"><i></i></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><i>Shmuel Rosner, political editor for The Jewish Journal, <a href="http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/18/the-voice-of-a-woman/?ref=global" target="_blank">sounds off </a>in the New York Times about orthodoxy and women in the Israeli Defense Forces. (The private pictured below is evidently off duty.) </i></i></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><i> </i></i>On Sept. 5th, nine military cadets of the Israel Defense Force
officer training school, all Orthodox Jews, walked out of an official
event marking operation Cast Lead. [Israel's three-week sustained assault on the Gaza Strip in 2008-9.] A group of soldier-singers had taken
the stage, but when a woman started her solo, nine cadets stormed
out. Four of them refused to come back to the hall, despite being warned
that they were breaching an order, and two days later were expelled
from the school. Their
objection? That Orthodox Judaism forbids a man from hearing a woman
sing. These soldiers adhere to the strict interpretation of the
expression “Kol B’Isha Erva.” This might translate as, “the voice of a
woman is like nakedness.” Or as, <b>“the voice of a woman is like her
vagina.”</b></blockquote>
<div class="entry-content">
<blockquote>
The rabbinical debate over the meaning of this Talmudic
expression is old and complex, and the variations in its interpretation
are many. For some Orthodox Jews, though, it is a clear command: thou
shalt not hear a woman sing.<br />
What’s less clear is how far the
Israeli military should go to help them obey it. Israel’s draft is
mandatory. Every 18-year-old boy and girl is obliged to serve (barring
exceptions too complicated to explain here). Eager to make military
service possible for both the religious and the secular, the Israeli
military has tried to accommodate the sometimes quirky demands of Jewish
religiosity. It adheres to all Jewish dietary laws of kashrut.
Commanders have to make time for observant soldiers to pray. And the
Jewish Shabbat is a day of rest: security-related operations continue
but all military exercises and maneuvers come to a halt.<br />
These measures seemed sufficient for a while, but three recent trends are now calling the system into question.<br />
<span id="more-1185"></span><br />
The first is a shift among the Orthodox. Orthodox Israelis have
traditionally been divided into two main groups: the so-called
ultra-Orthodox, who are more pious and want little to do with Zionism or
the state, and the Orthodox-Zionists, zealot Zionists who try to
balance religion and modern life by mixing with the general public while
still adhering to religious rules. But in recent years, the religious
Zionists have become less amenable to compromising for the sake of
keeping the peace with secular society. They have become much more like
the ultra-Orthodox, except that they retain their Zionist zeal.<br />
The
military, meanwhile, has grown more dependent on religious soldiers.
According to one report, the number of observant infantry officers has
risen from 2.5 percent in 1990 to more than 31 percent in 2007. The
figure is probably even higher today. According to another report, the
percentage of graduates from religious schools who serve as majors in
combat units has risen from 6.9 percent to 20 percent between 1994 and
2009. For both political and religious reasons, the Orthodox-Zionists
are more motivated to serve on the frontlines than any other group. The
military needs them, and so it needs them to feel wanted, accommodated
and appreciated.<br />
Then add to that the uncompromising (and, of
course, justified) demand of women to be treated equally. Since 1995,
after Israel’s Supreme Court found that the 23-year-old officer Alice
Miller should be allowed to take entry tests to join the air force
flight-training course, women’s participation in all branches of the
Israeli military has increased.<br />
Hence “the problem” of shirat
nashim: of orthodox men being forced to endure the singing of women. And
it’s a problem that many reporters and opinion writers here have been
quick to describe by way of a villain. Some have denounced as
uncompromising the Orthodox men who squirm at a woman’s singing — or,
for that matter, at the idea of serving with one in a crowded tank. Some
have denounced the liberals for putting the right to sing over the
strength of the military. Some have denounced the rigid rabbis for
failing to accommodate the rest of society. Some have denounced the
military for not putting the Orthodox soldiers in their place. Some have
denounced the ever-denounceable politicians for letting the Orthodox
gain too much power in Israeli life overall.<br />
The truth, though, is
that there is no simple way to balance these competing rights.
Religious soldiers can’t be made to violate their faith. The military
can’t be made to alienate its most motivated group of soldiers. And I
can’t educate my daughter to serve in a military that would excise women
from the public sphere to accommodate the radical demands of the super
pious.<br />
And so for now, the only compromise that seems possible is
one that would require abandoning a principle all Israelis grew up to
appreciate: the value of togetherness.</blockquote>
How about old fashioned ear plugs or noise-canceling Bose ear phones?<br />
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</div>Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-81514498810305500552011-11-02T19:35:00.000+02:002011-11-02T19:35:24.531+02:00Political Implications of Palestinians in UNESCO<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3L0W2w_FMSSgd6qG23aoynJNz_2iIx9Tr18-6Hz3YI2NrNaIXN-ce4gjzOJGSiwhjK0r3c4sOXFbOKI4toGxOy1F2C3C-25C722Eq1uFecWSlovcLLEUhyiGd_d3aqfV_8fml2Z8Kvktx/s1600/Obama%2525E2%252580%252599s%252BUN%252BInfatuation%252BMay%252BSave%252BUNESCO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3L0W2w_FMSSgd6qG23aoynJNz_2iIx9Tr18-6Hz3YI2NrNaIXN-ce4gjzOJGSiwhjK0r3c4sOXFbOKI4toGxOy1F2C3C-25C722Eq1uFecWSlovcLLEUhyiGd_d3aqfV_8fml2Z8Kvktx/s1600/Obama%2525E2%252580%252599s%252BUN%252BInfatuation%252BMay%252BSave%252BUNESCO.jpg" /></a></div>
On Monday, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) voted overwhelmingly to admit the Palestinian Authority as a full member -- an accession typically reserved for independent sovereign nations. <br /><br />Both the United States and Israel had strongly opposed the measure, which was tied to the PA's overall strategy of seeking statehood unilaterally at the UN Security Council. UNESCO's admission of the PA at this stage, the US State Department said, was both premature and counterproductive to a permanent resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. <br /><br />The US, which donates more than a fifth of UNESCO's annual budget, has already announced that it will cut $60 million of aid this month as a penalty. Israel, meanwhile, has announced that its response to the accession will be to fast-track the construction of 2,000 new residences in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.<br /><br />Today, The Henry Jackson Society releases a strategic briefing, "Political Implications of the Palestinian Accession to UNESCO," co-written byMichael Weiss and Houriya Ahmed, assessing the background to this historic vote, what it means for the future of the cultural agency, the pursuit of American interests abroad and why, exactly, Israel is wary of PA membership.<br /><br />
Here's a summary of <a href="http://henryjacksonsociety.org/cms/harriercollectionitems/UNESCO.pdf" target="_blank">the report</a>:<br /> <b><br />A diplomatic victory for the Palestinian Authority</b><br /><br />- Admission into UNESCO is a public relations victory for the PA and a deliberate tactic of isolating countries opposed to its statehood bid at the UN Security Council-namely, the US and Israel.<br /><br />- The move is part of the PA's campaign to join independent UN agencies as full members in order to create a moral and political momentum for its statehood recognition. As such, the popular support received for membership in UNESCO will make it harder for countries to oppose the statehood bid.<br /><br />- As a UNESCO member, the PA can-and has indicated that it will-apply for World Heritage classification for historic sites of cultural significance in the Occupied Territories. This would include landmarks which Israel has officially declared part of its national heritage, and which could complicate future final status negotiations.<br /><b><br />Implications for Israel</b><br /><br />- Israel's response to UNESCO membership was negative. Israel views the PA's statehood gambit as a violation of mutually agreed upon parameters for peace negotiations and is considering "cutting all ties" and taking punitive measures against the PA, and is re-considering its ties with UNESCO.<br /><br />- Israel no doubt fears that UNESCO's ability to categorise World Heritage sites will be exploited by the PA to claim ownership over contested religious and cultural landmarks in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem.<br />
<b><br />Implications for the United States</b><br /><br />- The US rejected the UNESCO bid and has stated that the move "undermines" international efforts in trying to achieve peace in the Middle East. The US State Department announced that it would withhold $60 million in financial support due to be given to UNESCO this month-nearly a fifth of its yearly budget.<br /><br /> - Despite financial cuts, the US has emphasised that its membership is not in question. UNESCO is valuable for American business and national security interests in developing countries.<br /><b><br />Implications for UNESCO </b><br /><br />- Unless the shortfall is made up by other donors, the closure of UNESCO operations around the world may be likely because of cuts in US aid. <br /><br />- With its strong commitment to freedom of expression and information, UNESCO may come under renewed criticism for its inclusion of the PA, which has a history of curbing journalistic freedoms in the West Bank and Gaza. If UNESCO fails to hold the PA to the same ethical standards as other members, the agency could be accused of double standards.<br />
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<br />
Hat tip to the Henry Jackson Society for this guest post.<br />Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-19179770021495697082011-11-01T22:24:00.000+02:002011-11-01T23:14:53.891+02:00Female Soldier Jailed for Leaking IDF Assassination Policy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOorZJ3ogCV5mzkeLVyO9uZMBXfEPEXZxFgbQWoJVoggLL5McU6MOsS40ETNZuh2heAIobheAHCIdJm9qBFWdojqRUhbX3eale3bEWBueFuNN06KmFW6xmWWgEZrj3tXrjcRy3N_GQA6S7/s1600/anat_kam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOorZJ3ogCV5mzkeLVyO9uZMBXfEPEXZxFgbQWoJVoggLL5McU6MOsS40ETNZuh2heAIobheAHCIdJm9qBFWdojqRUhbX3eale3bEWBueFuNN06KmFW6xmWWgEZrj3tXrjcRy3N_GQA6S7/s1600/anat_kam.jpg" /></a></div>
<span class="verdana"><center></center></span><span class="verdana">Israel is punishing its kosher version of Bradley Manning, the fomer IDF conscript and online reporter Anat Kam, who was just sentenced to four and a half years behind bars, despite her lengthy secret house arrest. </span><span class="verdana">But the journalist who reported on her leaked documents about the IDF's hit list, Uri Blau of Haaretz, is presently holed up in Britain --in an odd echo of </span><span class="verdana">Wikileaks'</span><span class="verdana"> Julian Assange. Blau's not as defiant, though. In a plea bargain, he has returned all confidential documents to the Israelis.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="verdana">So, what is the price of speaking truth to power inside Israel?</span><span class="verdana"><i> The Independent </i>of London's <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/exsoldier-jailed-for-leaking-israeli-assassination-policy-6255048.html">Catrina Stewart</a> reports on this crime, its punishment, and the Israeli gag order:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Israel has sentenced a former <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="ORIGHIT_4"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="HIT_4"></a><span class="hit">soldier</span>
to four and a half years in prison for leaking classified documents to a
journalist who used them to expose an alleged army policy to
assassinate wanted Palestinian militants in violation of court rulings.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote>
<span class="verdana">
<div class="loose">
Anat
Kam, 24, was convicted in February for copying 2,085 military documents
on to a disc as she completed her mandatory army service and passing
some of them to Uri Blau, an investigative reporter with the
left-leaning Haaretz newspaper.</div>
<div class="loose">
She escaped the much more serious charges of harming state security after reaching a plea bargain.</div>
</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Her case provoked a domestic uproar - in part because she was held for four months under secret house <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="ORIGHIT_5"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="HIT_5"></a><span class="hit">arrest</span> with the <span class="hit">Israeli</span>
media banned from reporting on it, but also because it was viewed as an
assault on the freedom of the press. The Independent was the first
newspaper to report on Ms Kam's <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="ORIGHIT_7"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="HIT_7"></a><span class="hit">arrest</span>.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span class="verdana">
<div class="loose">
In
passing sentence yesterday, the three-judge panel elected to send a
clear message to other would-be whistleblowers. "If the army cannot
trust the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="ORIGHIT_8"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="HIT_8"></a><span class="hit">soldiers</span>
serving in various units and exposed to sensitive issues, then it
cannot function as a regular army," the judges wrote. They said that Ms
Kam's motive for taking the documents was "mainly ideological". Ms Kam
has already served nearly two years of house <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="ORIGHIT_9"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="HIT_9"></a><span class="hit">arrest</span>, which will not count towards her prison term, and she received a further 18-month suspended sentence.</div>
</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote>
<span class="verdana">
<div class="loose">
As a clerk in the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="ORIGHIT_10"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="HIT_10"></a><span class="hit">Israeli</span>
Defence Forces' central command, Ms Kam stumbled across documents that
appeared to point to the premeditated killing of Palestinian militants
in the West Bank, despite a Supreme Court ruling that severely
restricted such operations, determining that the army should <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="ORIGHIT_11"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1614702577266360928" name="HIT_11"></a><span class="hit">arrest</span> suspects if possible.</div>
</span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br />
The photo of Anat Kam comes courtesy of <a href="http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2010/04/09/how-israel-gagged-on-its-own-gag-order/">SabbahReport</a>, where reporter <i>Gila Svirsky </i> has probed into the scandal of the Shin Bet hit list, the gagging of the gag order, and the perils of whistle blowing.<br />
<br />
Crossposted on <a href="http://feralbeast.blogspot.com/">Feral Beast</a> <br />
<b><br /></b>Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-47530907690090878162011-10-19T01:50:00.001+02:002011-10-19T18:31:49.677+02:00Sergeant Shalit is Home<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One concerned neighbour in Mitzpe Hila <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/18/middle-east-euphoria-tears-divide">commented</a> that Gilad Shalit, newly-released from five years in captivity <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2096876,00.html">in Gaza</a> after Bibi Netanyahu agreed to swap 1027 Palestinian prisoners for him, now resembles a concentration camp victim. But though startlingly scrawny and pale, the IDF tank crewman is <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-4244,00.html">out at last</a> and the nation is caught up with tears and fears and euphoria. Shalit's father told the press:<span class="text14" id="article_content"> "He came out of some dark pit or dark cellar and encountered such commotion out here." Presumably his Arabic language skills had improved, too.</span> An interview with Egyptian anchorwoman Shahira Amin appeared to be opportunistic propaganda that left the confused former prisoner gasping for breath. In response to a prod about the remaining 5500 Palestinian prisoners who were not included in the trade,
Shalit said he would be happy to see them released, as long as they no
longer attack Israel.<br />
<br />
The first Israeli soldier taken captive and returned alive in 26 years has made headlines worldwide. Lawrence Wright <a href="http://ow.ly/70Xg1%20">blogged</a> on the New Yorker webpage:<br />
<blockquote>
In the five years since the abduction, there has been another
exchange going on, not of the living but of the dead. Four hundred
Gazans were killed by Israeli forces in the first few months after he
was taken. Six Israeli soldiers and four civilians also died during that
period. The exchange of one living Israeli for a thousand and twenty-seven living Palestinians is certainly a comment on the disparity of the value of life in each society. As long as Shalit was being held, the exchange of the dead would also continue at the same disproportionate rate. It certainly made sense for Hamas to make the deal. Whether it makes sense for Israel will not be known for decades. If the trade opens up an avenue for real peace negotiations, one that would include Hamas, then it will be a deal worth making for both sides.</blockquote>
But if Netanyahu reneges on his promise to free all the named Palestinians [477 were released today], there may be hell to pay. Using IDF soldiers as currency has little to recommend it as a strategy, and this seems to be a politician's gambit. <br />
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(<i>Getty images published this shot of Shalit's interview in Egypt.) </i><br />
<br />
<br />Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-59673538651799498842011-10-13T08:16:00.002+02:002011-10-19T01:12:12.887+02:00A Thousand Prisoners for One Israeli Soldier<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On Sunday, June 26, 2006, at 5:40 in the morning, several Hamas militants tunneled beneath the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerem_Shalom" title="Kerem Shalom">Kerem Shalom</a> border crossing and killed two IDF soldiers by launching a rocket grenade at their tank, then captured the young corporal <b><b>Gilad Shalit</b></b> and took him back inside the Gaza Strip. (In captivity, he was promoted to Sergeant.) Because Shalit holds French as well as Israeli citizenship, there has been considerable <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6238858.stm">European input</a> into the extended negotiations over his freedom. Now, post-Arab Spring, Shalit's release looks closer than ever, but cynics warn that it is not quite a done deal yet.<br />
<br />
<span id="articleText">Reuters <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/12/us-israel-palestinians-swap-newspro-idUSTRE79B4RF20111012">reported</a> today about the <a href="http://writingtw.blogspot.com/2011/10/shalit-deal-wrong-move.html">reaction</a> inside Israel to the proposed swap of more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners for the single now-famous Israeli conscript:</span><br />
<blockquote>
<span id="articleText">Tens of thousands of Israelis have visited
social media websites, which were in their infancy when tank crewman
Shalit was grabbed, to push their government not to make a deal with
Hamas, a group sworn to Israel's destruction.</span> <span id="articleText">It
appeared an exchange would not get under way before early next week.
Under Israeli law the Palestinian prisoners' names must be published 48
hours ahead of their release to allow legal appeals against granting
them liberty. Israel's Justice Ministry said it intended to publish the
list no later than Sunday.<br />
Hamas
and its supporters in the Gaza Strip have threatened to seize more
Israeli soldiers until all 6,000 Palestinian prisoners are freed from
Israeli jails.<br />
The deal resolves
one of the most emotive and intractable issues between Israel and the
Palestinians, but has no obvious direct effect on peace negotiations
which have been stalled for the past year, apart from potentially
improving the climate for a resumption as urged by Washington and its
allies.<br />
The breakthrough pact was
achieved after many false dawns in years of secret efforts to free
Shalit, who was captured a year after Israeli forces withdrew from the
Gaza Strip. Israel tightened its Gaza blockade after he was seized and
again after Hamas took over the enclave from a rival movement in 2007.<br />
Yoram
Cohen, chief of Israel's Shin Bet internal security service, said he
believed Hamas opted for a deal now because it hoped to strengthen its
ties with Egypt at a time of unrest and uncertainty in <a href="http://www.reuters.com/places/syria" title="Full coverage of Syria">Syria</a>, where the group has its headquarters.</span></blockquote>
<span id="articleText">No one expects </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofer_Prison" title="Ofer Prison">Ofer Prison</a> in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank" title="West Bank">West Bank</a> and the Megiddo and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ktzi%27ot_Prison" title="Ktzi'ot Prison">Ketziot</a>
prisons in Israel to suddenly empty out. In fact, compared to
California, where 30,000 inmates will get out of jail early because of
overcrowding, it's a trifling number. But plenty of people on both sides are doubting that the release
for prisoner exchange is a win-win situation. <br />
<span id="articleText"><br />
</span>Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-83036718615417899192011-10-03T08:41:00.001+02:002011-10-03T08:45:56.204+02:00Hello Yom!"Hi. This is Sarah Palin. Is Senator Lieberman in ?"<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ncBqlhZoHJTnQvNc66aGZPkXqfbSZG1GLOHcYMW0U3D9BC3zOdBU7rksvPn_d9ZTC1MiaGH-cskzHwvyn2xMpo63hrWOVE-01eQ8wFUF8dWi8tB2hc4Tpo6GhnS58VH5p-fpL5Mq4Iiv/s1600/Pakun001.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ncBqlhZoHJTnQvNc66aGZPkXqfbSZG1GLOHcYMW0U3D9BC3zOdBU7rksvPn_d9ZTC1MiaGH-cskzHwvyn2xMpo63hrWOVE-01eQ8wFUF8dWi8tB2hc4Tpo6GhnS58VH5p-fpL5Mq4Iiv/s1600/Pakun001.jpeg" /></a></div>
"No, Governor. It's Yom Kippur!"<br />
<br />
"Well, Hello, Yom. Can I leave a message?"<br />
<br />
Sigh.<br />
<br />
<i>Hat tip to Ms Isaacson for this topical post. </i>Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-61106780460942981822011-09-23T20:13:00.001+03:002011-09-23T20:14:43.714+03:00Secret Sale of Bunker-buster Bombs Revealed<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9dKqK2CXbKCoGnUfkYRIMpY07hSOQLwde87WWW3JobdmWAujmmWIu13VQmFbXLoeVZM8cOJbT4bBkEadSP1rYtH5RGMlJ7BqijQes621Fr955406T4ghyphenhyphenzizbtI2492laWA896OvJQMRL/s1600/israeli-fighter-460_978603c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9dKqK2CXbKCoGnUfkYRIMpY07hSOQLwde87WWW3JobdmWAujmmWIu13VQmFbXLoeVZM8cOJbT4bBkEadSP1rYtH5RGMlJ7BqijQes621Fr955406T4ghyphenhyphenzizbtI2492laWA896OvJQMRL/s320/israeli-fighter-460_978603c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Timing is everything in politics and in war. What do you make of this? The news of the sale of 1000 <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/2963036/US-agrees-to-sell-mini-bunker-busters-to-Israel.html">US mini-bunker busters</a> to Israel was broken by Tim Butcher of London's Daily Telegraph three years ago. Today, as Abbas makes his case for statehood at the United Nations, the story reemerges on the net. (Perhaps it got lost in the blizzard of American presidential election coverage at the time.)<br />
While publicly pressuring <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/09/19/how-obama-lost-on-israel.html">Israel</a> to make deeper concessions to the <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2011/09/21/palestinians-may-delay-u-n-bid.html">Palestinians</a>, <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/22/obama-s-u-n-speech-was-narcissistic-and-delusional.html">President Obama</a>
has secretly authorized significant new aid to the Israeli military
that includes the sale of 55 deep-penetrating bombs known as bunker
busters, according to the <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/23/president-obama-secretly-approved-transfer-of-bunker-buster-bombs-to-israel.html"><i>Daily Beast.</i></a></div>
<blockquote>
<div class="adBreakout" data-breakout="{params: 'pos=breakthrough'}">
<a href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh%3Dv8/3b8b/3/0/%2a/o%3B246144730%3B0-0%3B0%3B65220184%3B4307-300/250%3B44016060/44033847/1%3B%3B%7Eaopt%3D6/1/ff/1%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp://womenintheworld.org/content/home" target="_blank">
</a>U.S. and Israeli officials tell <i>Newsweek</i> that the GBU-28 Hard
Target Penetrators—potentially useful in any future military strike
against Iranian nuclear sites—were delivered to Israel in 2009, just
several months after Obama took office.</div>
<div class="text parbase section">
</div>
<div class="text parbase section">
The military sale was arranged behind the scenes as Obama’s <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2010/11/09/obama-israel-clash-over-settlements.html">demands for Israel to stop building settlements</a> in disputed territories were fraying political relations between the two countries in public.</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="text parbase section">
<blockquote>
The Israelis first requested the
bunker busters in 2005, only to be rebuffed by the Bush administration.
At the time, the Pentagon had frozen almost all U.S.-Israeli joint
defense projects out of concern that Israel was transferring advanced
military technology to China.</blockquote>
</div>
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Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-91152813757521753052011-09-18T21:08:00.002+03:002011-09-19T11:47:03.765+03:001000 Nudes Float on the Dead Sea for Photo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicu_qe5UIhH9adEETZtrmfKgvQS4tjHXvGs8jcfKvJAszCK_Tg6KVd8UH2-eXkhVGFPsd9tbj9KAWTf3tTc8s1SI_vP14KaB6Nb7uVZMmgj2bmS-cBE7qKxgpgxDNOOjo5uFsbtIrlFVZG/s1600/125433910.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="267" width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicu_qe5UIhH9adEETZtrmfKgvQS4tjHXvGs8jcfKvJAszCK_Tg6KVd8UH2-eXkhVGFPsd9tbj9KAWTf3tTc8s1SI_vP14KaB6Nb7uVZMmgj2bmS-cBE7qKxgpgxDNOOjo5uFsbtIrlFVZG/s400/125433910.jpg" /></a></div>
Out of the multitude of volunteers for Jewish-American photographer <a href="www.spencertunick.com/ ">Spencer Tunick's</a> latest art project, only one in three were deemed suitable for posing in the buff on the Dead Sea. During the Sabbath, 1000 unpaid models ranging in age from 20 to sixty-plus, mostly secular Israelis, assembled pre-dawn at Mineral Beach for the epic photo shoot in the salty brine, despite objections from some Orthodox leaders. The artist claims that his stunt demonstrates that Israel is the only Middle Eastern country with enough freedom to allow for such avant garde expression. Apparently, Spencer keeps his tunic on while in the air snapping his subjects, who risk having salt rubbed into any open wound on their bodies. They smiled anyway. The nudes <a href="http://frgdr.com/blog/2011/09/18/hands-to-the-side-my-comments-as-a-participant-in-spencer-tunicks-naked-sea-photo-shoot/">posed </a>in three different ways: in the sea, onshore and covered in Dead Sea mud. According to <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4122825,00.html">Ynet News</a>:
<blockquote>
Spencer Tunick, 44, currently is one of the leading conceptual artists in the world. Since 1994, he has photographed tens of thousands of people in nude photos shoots in 75 different public sites across the world, receiving extensive media coverage. But according to Dov Litvinoff, a local councilman..." The Dead Sea may be the lowest place on earth, but Tunick's intentions may take it to an even lower level." </blockquote>
Many, many moons are shown in the final photos. (The outtake shown above is from Life Magazine's webpage; click <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/1000-israelis-strip-for-spencer-tunick-in-nude-photo-shoot-at-dead-sea/2011/09/17/gIQAHVxtZK_story.html">here</a> for a full gallery courtesy of Associated Press). Some enthusiasts hope this mass posing will focus world attention on the Dead Sea, which is in the running to be included in New 7Wonders of Nature, an international online competition for tourism. Tunick wants to highlight the rate at which the water is evaporating from this famous lake-sized sea near Sodom and Gomorrah.
Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-8667973034761666502011-09-08T20:12:00.004+03:002011-09-08T20:54:47.447+03:00Rachel shops for a home in Judea<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjRBB_dw97W4KddFEX5O_B_sAbsHFJEVeSIURjU-94OXfDvtwGTqQrXIaHtzhGx_M72j7wSe5pYke45WwsabNioSwYNotdJ2PYxbOm7ASm9K-2A9SzfxzAOQoU8g-3QRV38d5gn0-QJPTx/s1600/ISRAEL-SETTLEMENTS.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 257px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjRBB_dw97W4KddFEX5O_B_sAbsHFJEVeSIURjU-94OXfDvtwGTqQrXIaHtzhGx_M72j7wSe5pYke45WwsabNioSwYNotdJ2PYxbOm7ASm9K-2A9SzfxzAOQoU8g-3QRV38d5gn0-QJPTx/s400/ISRAEL-SETTLEMENTS.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5650048515553354146" /></a><br />Rachel <a href="http://theorwellprize.co.uk/shortlists/rachel-shabi/">Shabi</a>, a British-Israeli and daughter of Iraqi Jews, disclosed to <a href="http://tiny.cc/nimpb">the Guardian</a> how easy it is for ordinary secular Israelis to become settlers in a "national priority zone". And her undercover revelations about shopping for a new house in one of the 200 developments for Israelis in occupied territory were shortlisted for the prestigious Orwell Prize for political writing. As her friends quip: not too shabby! Here are some excerpts: <br /><blockquote> The incentives still offered to Israelis to live on Palestinian land are so considerable that, leaving politics aside, it would be silly not to take advantage of them...Almon offers enticingly priced, spacious family homes with a garden and a view. The surrounding neighbourhood, also known as Anatot, sits on a ridge overlooking the Judean hills, near Jerusalem, a blaze of cultivated greenery in the parched landscape. Residents have a relaxed air, and newcomers who have recently relocated from Jerusalem wish they'd made the move years ago...It's a short drive east of Jerusalem, and I've had to cross an Israeli checkpoint, but it's specifically for settler use – a nod, the "right" appearance and Israeli number plates get me waved through...<br />The separation barrier that cuts into the West Bank for around 80% of its path. The barrier route runs, in some places, up to 12 miles deep into the West Bank, but settlements on the Israeli side of it are, broadly speaking, "consensus settlements" – ones that Israelis assume will be conceded to the Jewish state in peace negotiations with the Palestinians.</blockquote>Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-78099447465194031662011-09-02T02:06:00.008+03:002011-09-02T02:25:14.884+03:00Zionist Construction Zone: Settlements in West Bank Sextuple in 2011<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0xF2HUT-RISBX0j9hNay7eeJvteFFO76chZ2ta7WNCeguI092I8hKVLBwwhX3CrgDIC3eVMWIuYzVMIC7rjdJHgOor-EQXZnBhHB_noefxLAKFYUwFVjcGEbKozXGfNUNR8MGWg1nsuvq/s1600/s36_19052595.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 254px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0xF2HUT-RISBX0j9hNay7eeJvteFFO76chZ2ta7WNCeguI092I8hKVLBwwhX3CrgDIC3eVMWIuYzVMIC7rjdJHgOor-EQXZnBhHB_noefxLAKFYUwFVjcGEbKozXGfNUNR8MGWg1nsuvq/s400/s36_19052595.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647535313872497938" /></a>
<br />Construction Freeze? Not any more. In the aftermath of learning that the IDF is training and arming settlers, here's the latest. Construction in Judea and Samaria Rises a Whopping 660%! And the light railway is up and running and connecting them to Israel proper. Nearly 75,000 new homes are under construction in all of Israel right now, according to an Israeli government agency. Hat tip to Angela for <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/147431">the link</a> and to reporter David Lev.
<br /><blockquote>
<br />With the end of the building freeze, construction has started up in Judea and Samaria (Yesha) communities. In fact, said the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), building jumped 660% in Judea and Samaria during the first half of 2011, as compared to the previous year.
<br />
<br />While the statistic was certainly breathtaking, the actual numbers on the ground were less impressive: Construction started on 546 new homes in Yesha communities during the period. Still, it was a sharp improvement over the number of housing starts in the first half of 2010, when only 72 housing starts were announced.
<br />
<br />Officials of the Yesha Council said they were pleased with the increase, but that clearly many more new homes were needed. "We need at least 500 new homes a month, not just in half a year, in order to accomodate all the families who want to live in Yesha." Last week, Arutz Sheva reported on how dozens of American families who sought to buy or rent homes in Efrat were unable to do so because of the lack of housing there.
<br />
<br />The jump in Yesha construction this year was part of a general trend in all of Israel. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, housing starts rose 14.4% overall during the first half of 2011. But certain parts of the country are set to grow far more than that number implies; for example, there are now 7,950 homes under construction in southern Israel, a 55% increase over the 2,495 home starts in the first half of 2010.
<br />
<br />In Asheklon alone, 1,576 new homes are currently under construction – the highest number for any city in Israel. Other cities where building jumped in the first half of 2011 included Kiryat Gat (a 607% increase in housing construction starts), Ramle (252%), Ganei Tikvah (451%), Rehovot (203%), and Yavne (165%).
<br />
<br />Even in the already ultra-expensive Tel Aviv and Jerusalem regions, construction was up 28% and 8% respectively. In the north, housing construction starts were up 11.2% during the period.
<br />
<br />Altogether, construction began on some 22,000 new homes. The CBS said that by the end of 2011, taking into consideration construction that was started in 2010, there will be some 75,000 new apartments under construction. Those apartments are expected to come “on-line” between the end of 2012 and during 2013, helping to satisfy the high demand for housing, hopefully at more reasonable prices.
<br />
<br />Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Housing Minister Ariel Attias both expressed great satisfaction at the CBS announcement.
<br />
<br />“The increasing trend in housing starts reflects the increased successful activity by the government, which we began undertaking as soon as we took power,” Netanyahu said. “The steps we took in the real estate market, including the institution of the Housing Committees Law and the reforms we recently instituted in the Israel Lands Administration, have contributed, and will continue to contribute, to the increased availability of housing – and, as a result, a lowering of prices.”</blockquote>Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-56979462723899827372011-08-23T22:05:00.012+03:002011-08-24T01:29:17.814+03:00Beck and Call - is this radio shock jock friend or foe to Israel?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHDL46gM8NcCN9usRfRe8t3qTewNqX4A2A9i3UF7N0n0eMjI1r3f5VPbAa3eQs-yuqtL3miMOSqTbLfYMCEXwB75rlPWqLrQkyp2lzIbeNsGcGbu4SHja8VNHg03B0cuejfmC0vcgbj7aq/s1600/md_horiz.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHDL46gM8NcCN9usRfRe8t3qTewNqX4A2A9i3UF7N0n0eMjI1r3f5VPbAa3eQs-yuqtL3miMOSqTbLfYMCEXwB75rlPWqLrQkyp2lzIbeNsGcGbu4SHja8VNHg03B0cuejfmC0vcgbj7aq/s320/md_horiz.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5644174340416849810" /></a>
<br />As Glenn Back prepares to lead his so-called "Restoring Courage" <a href="http://www.glennbeck.com/israel/faq-restoring-courage/">rally</a> near Dung Gate, an appropriately named Old City venue,the US consulate cautioned its diplomats from being near the area, for their own safety:
<br />
<br /><blockquote>On Wednesday, August 24, 2011, there will be a rally held near the southeast corner of the Old City. The areas between Dung Gate and Lions Gate are off-limits to official U.S. Government personnel from 4:00pm until 10:00pm on that day due to recent clashes in that area.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />Hmmm. Whose courage does the tear-prone radio shock jock wish to restore? So far, the reception for Beck, who at <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/08/glenn-becks-ambivalent-welcome-in-israel/243917/">Caesaria </a>pointedly criticized Jews for their "2000 year old flinch" from an embrace with Christians, has been decidedly ambivalent. Some Israeli critics shrug him off as a neo-fascist comedian, and the public have far more time for actor Jon Voight, who went to Beersheba hospital to hug rocket victims in front of the cameras. (He is Angelina Jolie's daddy, after all.)
<br />
<br />Rachel Tabachnick, a researcher documenting Christian Zionism and Millennial Jews, sounds off <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/with-friends-like-glenn-beck-1.380155">in Haaretz</a> about his message: <blockquote>Beck headlined this year's conference of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), founded by televangelist John Hagee. Hagee had appeared several times on Beck's show, including one where they speculated the earth as we know it would end within 20 years.
<br />
<br />Beck's embrace by Israeli leaders is further indication to Americans that support for Israel is becoming linked to an extreme political agenda in the United States. This threatens to alienate Jews and Christians, Democrats and Republicans.
<br />
<br />Ironically, this alienation of Israel is seen by Christian Zionists as fulfilling end-times prophecy, which, they claim, requires a second Jewish holocaust before Jesus returns. Surviving Jews must accept Jesus before a 1000-year Christian utopia, ruled from Jerusalem, can begin.
<br />
<br />Beck's cultivation of Israeli leaders follows, step by step, the instructions Christian Zionists have used to gain access to Jewish communities and leaders. One of the most popular of these manuals is the 2001 book, "Your People Shall Be My People," by Don Finto. Finto's network of evangelists is encouraging churches around the world to "bless Israel" by supporting Messianic Jewish ministries and proselytizing Jews. His book has been promoted internationally, including by directors of Hagee's CUFI.
<br />
<br />Finto's book provides instructions to: 1 ) avoid overt proselytizing, 2 ) vocally repent of the Holocaust, 3 ) tell Jews that Christian Zionist support is modeled after the biblical story of Ruth with no strings attached, and 4 ) emphasize that Christian Zionists are Israel's only friends in an increasingly hostile world.
<br />
<br />Simultaneously these evangelists help to foment hostility toward Jews by teaching a narrative in which Jews hold power over the future of Gentiles. </blockquote>
<br />
<br />Beck contemplated switching the location of the event away from the base of the Temple Mount because he feared “40,000 Muslims” were going to gatecrash. It's to be held down in Davidson Center, for increased security. Speaker John Boehner urged US House members not to attend the event (to avoid the appearance of joining a political event while on a policy-related trip to Israel). Consequently, both Rep. Eric Cantor and Sen. Joe Lieberman cancelled their RSVPs. And in the post-earthquake anxiety in Washington DC and elsewhere, the atmosphere is increasingly apocalyptic.Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-23588464648021291232011-08-16T20:06:00.005+03:002011-08-16T20:25:37.961+03:00Unsettling Statistics for Israeli Economy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_q_gxVkzqQ2QvjJJ89cwA_8Dk1MhVCk40kWreSGHupJcaS5-2odusS8xUrbIzAaCpTZB62oxB1CC_LtPnPNkn1SVArWi20Yp29_nxeynIWgDtdfSxpJLSRwrviBlJRKv9HH3aIi3AVsRA/s1600/armedsettlers_1.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 241px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_q_gxVkzqQ2QvjJJ89cwA_8Dk1MhVCk40kWreSGHupJcaS5-2odusS8xUrbIzAaCpTZB62oxB1CC_LtPnPNkn1SVArWi20Yp29_nxeynIWgDtdfSxpJLSRwrviBlJRKv9HH3aIi3AVsRA/s320/armedsettlers_1.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5641505572300862626" /></a>
<br />Peace Now, the grassroots organization, has long maintained that settlements and the occupation are both a moral and economic blight on Israel. Here are the statistics to prove it, from a business study by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development) : <blockquote>"The inclusion of the settlements and east Jerusalem adds about 4% to Israel's gross domestic product, but reduces the GDP per capita by a significant rate of 6.5% a year"</blockquote>
<br />When east Jerusalem, West Bank settlements and Golan Heights are figured in with Israel's overall economic statistics, per capita income is reduced while inequality is increased. With the settlement population growing nearly one hundred percent between 1997 and 2009 (most recent population figures), this does not bode well for the future of the country and the street protestors griping about prices and opportunities. Sever Plocker <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4108350,00.html">analyses the stats</a> in Ynet news. One wag says "gross domestic product" is a good caption for the photo above!
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<br />Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-69456159417115057252011-08-10T10:05:00.006+03:002011-08-10T12:06:03.462+03:00Social Justice advocates - What about the Occupation?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglxswJzrvKkvzetcT3XzkLbDf5XLHC7Q2JI_eg3Csf0exMpTa2ErkGGmpRA-UzSX_S-dKvbmKgFkpXBUU758_-PW4T2KQZ_5d9c3TJ_BXf2_O-bBKgLC0R9daDq065oLMGG2hqqPLb2hRz/s1600/277030_145119862236730_688329_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 180px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglxswJzrvKkvzetcT3XzkLbDf5XLHC7Q2JI_eg3Csf0exMpTa2ErkGGmpRA-UzSX_S-dKvbmKgFkpXBUU758_-PW4T2KQZ_5d9c3TJ_BXf2_O-bBKgLC0R9daDq065oLMGG2hqqPLb2hRz/s320/277030_145119862236730_688329_n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5639121845247957282" /></a>
<br />Writes Joseph Dana in the <a href="http://t.co/tklBsgv">LRB blog:</a>
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<br />Largely shielded from the European and American financial crises, the Israeli economy has been growing at an astonishing rate over the past five years: 4.7 per cent in 2010 alone. But the wealth isn’t evenly distributed: most Israelis living inside the 1967 borders struggle to make ends meet because of the high cost of living and relatively high taxes, which are largely spent on security and the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
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<br />Last month, a group of Tel Aviv residents in their twenties set up camp in the centre of Rothschild Boulevard to protest against housing costs in the city. They didn’t have a serious plan for political change, but the protest tapped into nationwide discontent. Within a few days, hundreds more people had joined them. The <a href="http://grassrootsjerusalem.blogspot.com/">momentum spread</a> quickly through the country, with camps appearing everywhere from Eilat on the Red Sea to Kiryat Shmona on the Lebanese border.
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<br />On Saturday, 250,000 Israelis marched in Tel Aviv and 10,000 marched to the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, demanding ‘social justice’. Netanyahu, the main target of the demonstrators’ placards, was quick to paint the protests as a misdirected reincarnation of the ‘radical left’. But this stale tactic didn’t stop an overwhelming majority of Israelis supporting the protests. According to recent opinion polls, 87 per cent see the demands for economic reform as legitimate.
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<br />The protester’s working definition of ‘social justice’, however, is unclear and full of contradictions. Most glaringly, they have yet to address the question of the Occupied Territories. From the start, organisers maintained that their protests were a rare instance of ‘apolitical’ social organising. The Palestinian issue was understood to be too divisive to be included under the umbrella of Israel’s social justice revolution, and there’s no doubt that, had protesters connected their struggle for social justice to the occupation, many fewer Israelis would have joined the protests.
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<br />The rights of Israelis, however, are inextricably tied with the rights of Palestinians, both inside the 1967 borders and in the Occupied Territories. The protesters, like most of Israeli society, are operating under the assumption that they are disconnected from the Palestinians who live under Israeli military occupation. But the fact is that one regime rules the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and any discussion of the allocation of resources here, not to mention social justice, must take into account the rights of everyone who lives under the regime.
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<br />Despite the attempt to ignore the occupation, dozens of Jewish settlers from the West Bank descended on the protest camp in Tel Aviv last week. Carrying banners that say the solution to the housing problem lies in the West Bank, settlers have been shouting slogans against homosexuals and (non-Jewish) African refugees in Tel Aviv. At the other end of the camp, Jewish and Arab protesters have set up <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tent-No-1948/145119862236730">‘Tent 1948’</a> to commemorate the dispossession of 750,000 Palestinians when Israel was created.
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<br />The protest as a whole will soon be forced to confront the question of the occupation. Last week the military announced that it will initiate a massive call up of reserves ahead of the United Nations vote on Palestinian statehood in September. Most of the protesters, young men and woman with reserve duty obligations, will have to decide whether to increase the pressure on the government by refusing to serve, or abandon their protest without having made any concrete gains. At the moment, the latter course seems more likely.</blockquote>
<br />Hat tip to Angela for the link to this thought-provoking pieceIzzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-64721694215651312922011-08-08T00:08:00.006+03:002011-08-08T00:19:18.750+03:00Israelis Take to the Streets in Protest<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGxDG6K3r_5kKDur1Xeh3WM5N_RNz7UHBCw0yphTCZ2ON6DsUInczBgcziHDlM0XqhJjRFkBpkh6EI_cRarg40SsTKKZUjEXez1FppSwhvlelk0YWEvC33GvneGVsVoXms40ilCLphK1q1/s1600/power_to_the_people.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGxDG6K3r_5kKDur1Xeh3WM5N_RNz7UHBCw0yphTCZ2ON6DsUInczBgcziHDlM0XqhJjRFkBpkh6EI_cRarg40SsTKKZUjEXez1FppSwhvlelk0YWEvC33GvneGVsVoXms40ilCLphK1q1/s400/power_to_the_people.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5638226429743239266" /></a><br />Sad irony, pointed out by my friend Meir: Avigdor Lieberman, the head of the "Israel is Our Home" (Yisrael Beitenu) party has so far offered no solution to Israel's housing problems. As 300,000 Israelis take to the streets to join the tent-dwellers of downtown Tel Aviv to complain that their rent is too damn high and the government too damn unresponsive, the Foreign minister suggests that citizens also visit Tel Aviv's upmarket cafes to see that the problem is not so serious! (Let them eat bureikas..or sushi, jibes one weary Jerusalemite.) Ynet news carries the cafe riposte <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4105588,00.html">here.</a>Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-71236040104866043392011-07-26T03:58:00.006+03:002011-07-26T04:17:40.488+03:00Jerusalem - a poem by James Fenton<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiceE_ZC1RcS4DMsiTZx8lEQ_C3u56jtIZXOEpr72Ud8bPbgfUeyltOcGCagmXla0yWhbn_bWk8PgMCijohWyGsocP6fC839s3py8CoZFI_whvyybgaYvlqKLjMBtrLEM9bf-ojf284XSOA/s1600/Ac-jerusalem1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 264px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiceE_ZC1RcS4DMsiTZx8lEQ_C3u56jtIZXOEpr72Ud8bPbgfUeyltOcGCagmXla0yWhbn_bWk8PgMCijohWyGsocP6fC839s3py8CoZFI_whvyybgaYvlqKLjMBtrLEM9bf-ojf284XSOA/s400/Ac-jerusalem1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5633460766909592834" /></a><br />To hear the British poet James Fenton read this work in full, click <a href="http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=5579">this link here.</a> Excerpted from <span style="font-style:italic;">New Selected Poems</span> (2006)<br /><blockquote><br /><br />Stone cries to stone,<br />Heart to heart, heart to stone,<br />And the interrogation will not die<br />For there is no eternal city<br />And there is no pity<br />And there is nothing underneath the sky<br />No rainbow and no guarantee –<br />There is no covenant between your God and me.<br />2<br />It is superb in the air.<br />Suffering is everywhere<br />And each man wears his suffering like a skin.<br />My history is proud.<br />Mine is not allowed.<br />This is the cistern where all wars begin,<br />The laughter from the armoured car.<br />This is the man who won’t believe you’re what you are.<br />3<br />This is your fault.<br />This is a crusader vault.<br />The Brook of Kidron flows from Mea She’arim.<br />I will pray for you.<br />I will tell you what to do.<br />I’ll stone you. I shall break your every limb.<br />Oh, I am not afraid of you,<br />But maybe I should fear the things you make me do.<br />4<br />This is not Golgotha.<br />This is the Holy Sepulchre,<br />The Emperor Hadrian’s temple to a love<br />Which he did not much share.<br />Golgotha could be anywhere.<br />Jerusalem itself is on the move.<br />It leaps and leaps from hill to hill<br />And as it makes its way it also makes its will.<br />5<br />The city was sacked.<br />Jordan was driven back.<br />The pious Christians burned the Jews alive.<br />This is a minaret.<br />I’m not finished yet.<br />We’re waiting for reinforcements to arrive.<br />What was your mother’s real name?<br />Would it be safe today to go to Bethlehem?<br />6<br />This is the Garden Tomb.<br />No, this is the Garden Tomb.<br />I’m an Armenian. I am a Copt.<br />This is Utopia.<br />I came here from Ethiopia.<br />This hole is where the flying carpet dropped<br />The Prophet off to pray one night<br />And from here one hour later he resumed his flight.<br />7<br />Who packed your bag?<br />I packed my bag.<br />Where was your uncle’s mother’s sister born?<br />Have you ever met an Arab?<br />Yes, I am a scarab.<br />I am a worm. I am a thing of scorn.<br />I cry Impure from street to street<br />And see my degradation in the eyes I meet.<br />8<br />I am your enemy.<br />This is Gethsemane.<br />The broken graves look to the Temple Mount.<br />Tell me now, tell me when<br />When shall we all rise again?<br />Shall I be first in that great body count?<br />When shall the tribes be gathered in?<br />When, tell me, when shall the Last Things begin?<br />9<br />You are in error.<br />This is terror.<br />This is your banishment. This land is mine.<br />This is what you earn.<br />This is the Law of No Return.<br />This is the sour dough, this the sweet wine.<br />This is my history, this my race<br />And this unhappy man threw acid in my face.<br />10<br />Stone cries to stone,<br />Heart to heart, heart to stone.<br />These are the warrior archaeologists.<br />This is us and that is them.<br />This is Jerusalem.<br />These are dying men with tattooed wrists.<br />Do this and I’ll destroy your home.<br />I have destroyed your home. You have destroyed my home.</blockquote><br /><br /><br /><br />[Hat tip to Mr Thursday-on a Monday! - for the link to these verses.]Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1614702577266360928.post-67746670441018792122011-07-16T20:56:00.004+03:002011-07-16T21:16:57.583+03:00Waste and Squandered Opportunity<blockquote>Just about everywhere in the Middle East there has been movement — stirring, remarkable, uneven — as the region breaks old chains of despotism and seeks its slice of the modern world. But Palestinians and Israelis remain stuck in their sterile and competitive narratives of victimhood, determined, it seems, to ensure past rancor defeats promise.<br /><br />It’s been a year of terrible waste,</blockquote> concludes Roger Cohen in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/15/opinion/15iht-edcohen15.html">New York Times</a>.<br />The waste is staggering and the looming train wreck appalling.<br /><br />Meanwhile, as 4500 Arabs and leftists <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle-east/israelis-and-arabs-march-in-jerusalem-for-palestinian-statehood/2011/07/15/gIQAQPnSGI_story.html">marched together</a> in Jerusalem to support Palestinian statehood, Haaretz's <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/the-settlers-are-the-real-government-of-israel-1.373415">Yossi Verter</a> lambasts Bibi Netanyahu for his wobbly leadership. He points out how in the Knesset, settlers now appear to be setting the agenda by passing the Boycott Law, introduced by the rightwing MK Zeev Elkin.<br /><blockquote>MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al) asked Elkin if his passion for enacting legislation of this kind had to do with his being beaten up as a kid. The immigrants, veterans and newcomers alike, sometimes carry unpleasant memories from Mother Russia or from the torment of trying to integrate in Israel.<br /><br />As the left continues to crumble and be increasingly irrelevant, the parliamentary right is becoming ever more militant against the Arab public, “the professors,” the Supreme Court, creative artists, so-called intellectuals, donors from abroad and so on.<br /><br />In the past Israel’s right wing was characterized by grace and decorum, as decreed by Revisionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky, and by grace and courage, as per the Betar anthem.<br /><br />These days, Benjamin Netanyahu is not ashamed to take the floor and declare that if not for his support of the problematic law, it would not have come to a vote. If so, why didn’t the government sponsor it? </blockquote>Izzy Beehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02289935006222451301noreply@blogger.com0