Provocative Digs undermine conflict resolution in the 'City of David' aka Silwan

Check out this editorial in today's Boston Globe. It has caused a furore:

As a dispute over land and statehood, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is combustible enough. But recent clashes over the site in Jerusalem that Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims call Haram al-Sharif are injecting religious passions into one of the world’s most dangerous confrontations. Extremists on both sides are playing with fire. But since Israel is the dominant power, the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bears primary responsibility for smothering that fire before it erupts into a much larger conflagration.

The current crisis originates in Palestinian fear and anger over archaeological excavations near, but not underneath, the Al Aqsa mosque. The digs are under the control of an ultra-nationalist Israeli group intent on justifying a Jewish claim to Jerusalem by locating remnants of what is called the City of David. Those excavations have weakened the foundations of nearby Arab houses and led critics across the Muslim world to warn of a plot to cause the collapse of the Al Aqsa mosque.

The furor over the excavations has given new force to Palestinian demands that Israel stop settling Jews in East Jerusalem, which would make it much harder to divide the ancient city between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Israel maintains that the influx of Jews into East Jerusalem is a simple matter of families buying homes in a neighborhood that appeals to them. But that’s not the whole story. The Israeli government knows that at least some of the people behind the purchases of Palestinian homes have a political motive.

Jordan, the Arab state most friendly to Israel, has called on the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to halt the excavations and to stop efforts to change the population balance between Arabs and Israelis in East Jerusalem. If President Obama wants to preserve hope of a two-state peace agreement, he must persuade Netanyahu to suspend the influx of Israeli Jews into East Jerusalem and put a stop to recklessly provocative excavations. The surest way to scuttle peace talks before they get started is for one side to give extremists on the other side a reason to call for martyrdom and holy war.

Izzy Bee agrees. Scientific archaeological excavations funded by academic institutes are preferable to these hasty digs, which are financed and carried out with a political and religious agenda. Shovelling shit along with the rubble does not advance anyone's historic understanding. The residents of Silwan are trapped in the trenches of Holy War if this is allowed to continue... and this dispute keeps simmering. Elad, the radical settler NGO, should not be given free rein to relabel the city and befuddle the past just because it has plenty of money!
The world expects higher academic standards from the Jews of Jerusalem.

I Spy Undercover Kosher

It sounds like the opening of a crusty old joke...there were these five Lithuanian rabbis who crossed the border to check out some foreign fruit and veg. But it's a true story.
The Hebrew daily Ma’ariv reports the adventures of a group of Kosher inspectors from Israel who are keen to import fresh produce during this Shmita year, when Jewish fields lie fallow by Biblical commandment. This happens once every seven years and it transpires that some of the usual loopholes for farmers have been closed by ultra-Orthodox decree. Gaza, which normally makes up the shortfall of crops, is barred from exporting to Israel at the moment because of its rocket attacks.According to Ma’ariv, these black hats decided to bypass West Bank sources because they are harvested in Judea and Samaria and went shopping inside Jordan for the tons of produce needed by their communities in the coming months. But, even though Jordan has friendly relations with neighbouring Israel, the rabbis were leery of standing out in an Arab crowd.

At Eilat, before crossing into Aqba, the rabbis underwent a makeover. This was not the typical caution of concealing kippahs beneath baseball caps. No, these fellows ditched their heavy black coats, stuffed their sacred string fringes inside their pants and traded their yarmulkas for red-checked kaffiyehs, the dish towel-like head scarf worn by Palestinians and Bedouins.

Ma’ariv claims that these five Israeli inspectors tried to wander around Jordan, looking for onions and green peppers, but they were hauled in and grilled by the Jordanian police at every new town. The reason? Their disguises were too convincing. Sporting Arafat-style kaffiyehs and unruly beards, these ultra-orthodox Jews were mistaken for Islamist militants of Hamas and al-Qaeda.
Oy vey.

Jordan's role as Palestine's pal is evolving

For a way out of their impasse, some Palestinians now look to Jordan, according to the International Herald Tribune. It's not the kind of two-state solution that once was envisioned.

Inside a drab cellphone shop, in the sprawling Baqaa refugee camp on the outskirts of Amman, Muhammad Khalil and his friends were as gloomy as the fluorescent lights that flickered on the ceiling."Everything has been ruined for us - we've been fighting for 60 years and nothing is left," Khalil said, speaking of the Palestinian cause. Just weeks earlier, he might have been speaking enthusiastically to his friends here, in their usual hangout, about resistance, of fighting for his rights as a Palestinian and of one day returning to a Palestinian state. Last Wednesday, however, he spoke of what he saw as a less satisfying goal for the Palestinians here, and one that raises concerns for many other Jordanians: Palestinian union with Jordan. "It would be better if Jordan ran things in Palestine, if King Abdullah could take control of the West Bank," Khalil said, as his friends nodded. "The issue would be over if Jordan just took control."

That's why some Israelis are troubled that Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is mulling whether to allow Jordanian forces to enter the West Bank.
Mahmoud Abbas is expected to ask Olmert to approve entry of Palestinian Bader Division forces of the Jordanian army to preserve his control over the West Bank. The Palestinian chief will also request Israel’s permission to transfer dozens of armored vehicles from Egypt to Palestinian territories. The two leaders are expected to discuss the matter on Monday during their meeting in Jerusalem.
One of Abbas's concerns is that Hamas keeps torturing and killing Fatah supporters, according to recent a wire report

Adham Mustafa's bullet-riddled and mutilated body, filmed in a morgue two days after he was taken alive by Hamas, belied the Islamic militant group's promises not to harm its Fatah rivals. So did Tarek Asfour's legs, punctured with marks from nails Hamas gunmen banged into him. Hamas declared a general amnesty for members of the vanquished Fatah movement of moderate President Mahmoud Abbas after sweeping to power in the Gaza Strip on June 15, following a week of fighting. But since then, at least nine Fatah loyalists have been killed, according to Mezan, an independent Gaza-based human rights group, which posted the names of the dead on its website.