New Yesha Council Flyer - On Security Provided by Judea & Samaria

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Magen David Adom and Yesha

I recently accused MDA - the Magen David Adom, Israel's Red Cross - of practicing a form of apartheid in that it has kowtowed to immoral demands to remove the Jewish symbol from its ambulances in the areas of Judea and Samaria.

The Yesha Council has been prominent in its criticism and now has uploaded FAQs and the Memorandum of Understanding.

Some highlights:

It all started when, in 2005, the MDA requested to join the IRCC which then demanded that an agreement be signed with the PA emergency services that it would halt operating in all the territories of the Land of Israel, slated to become the Jewish national home as a result of the historic connection of the Jewish people to that geographical area, gained in 1967.

They did.  Here's one page of the document singed by Dr. Noam Yifrah

Let's enlarge for you the most relevant sections:

Note:

1.  not territory 'administered by the Palestinian Authority' but in a sweeping surrender, MDA put its signature to acknowledging territory "occupied by Israel in 1967" without borders and without a different term other than "occupied".

2.  what is this "national society"?  what nationality? in what "Palestian territory"?  all very unclear.

3.  what "internationally recognized borders"?  there are none, at present, vis a vis the PA, only Egypt and Jordan as only those two states have signed a formal peace agreement with Israel.  the other lines are green, or blue, cease-fire or armistice lines.  not borders.

Who provided legal counsel?  B'tselem?  Peace Now?  Gideon Levy?

Do they do not understand that even the Western Wall is outside its area of operations now?

And the Jewish star symbol is banished.  Verbotten.  Is it a religious symbol, therefore prohibited by the ICRC charter? * But the crescent is still there although a "crystal" will be permitted to include a Jewish star - "The crystal was approved over Muslim objections in a hard-fought diplomatic conference in December 2005. The treaty authorizing the new symbol is entering into force six months after Switzerland and Norway became the first two countries to ratify it. “We are pleased they created especially for us a new symbol that will be accepted the world over,” said Dr. Noam Yifrach, chairman of the executive committee of Magen David Adom. The Israeli organization puts the red Star of David inside the crystal’s frame.

Well, here's the Wiki entry:

Service on the West Bank - Controversy arose in 2011 when MDA began to redesign ambulances stationed in the West Bank under the pretense of wishing to differentiate between ambulances directly operated by MDA and those operated by the regional councils. It was suspected that the MDA management agreed to remove the Red Star of David logo as part of the memorandum of understanding signed in 2006 upon being accepted as a member of the ICRC, and stop servicing the area of the West Bank.[9] In October 2011, Yonatan Yagodovsky, director of MDA’s fundraising department, denied the accusations and said regarding the use of their logo in the West Bank that "MDA will continue to use its emblem and logo, and no one ever asked us to take it off."[10] In January 2012, the ICRC confirmed that MDA had in fact agreed to stop all service within the West Bank.[11]

As of November, ICRC wasn't that happy for it needed to reaffirm "the necessity for effective and positive coordination between all components of the Movement of Red Cross and Red Crescent for the full implementation of the MoU between the PRCS and MDA" and pointed out that it:

...2.notes with regrets that full implementation of the MoU has not yet been realised as observed by the monitor;

3. strongly urges MDA to fulfil its obligations without further delay and complete the efforts underway to bring its operations into compliance with the geographic scope provisions of the MoU;...

Did you know that contributions to MDA cannot be employed for services in Yesha?

Did you know that even the president of MDA, Prof. Yehudah Skornick, admitted on IDF radio Galei Tzahal that the agreement was a mistake?  (Ask him: 03-6947287 and his exact words:
עם זאת הודה נשיא מד"א כי ההסכם שחתם הארגון לקראת קבלתו לצלב האדום היה טעות. לדבריו, 14 נקודות ההזנקה של מגן דוד-אדום ביהודה ושומרון ימשיכו לפעול, למרות שהדבר מנוגד להסכם.)

What is going on? Cannot they withdraw from this process and have the government deal with issues which reflect on the political and internal law matters that are contained in this instance?  After all, the 14 stations in Yesha will still be operated in violation of the agreement.

P.S. My friend, Abba Richman from Efrat, disagrees (in Hebrew, though) with the analysis of MyIsrael.
______
*

The Red Cross emblem has aroused controversy for almost as long as it has been around. First adopted in the 1864 Geneva Convention, the red cross on a white background was formally described in the 1949 Geneva Conventions as intended to be a “compliment to Switzerland,” formed by reversing the Swiss federal colors: a white cross on a red background. Turkey, asserting that Muslim soldiers found the cross offensive, unilaterally began using a red crescent in 1876, and this was accepted in the 1929 update of the Geneva Convention along with the now unused “red lion and sun” for Iran. Israel sought approval of the red shield of David, a six-pointed star, at the 1949 Conference that produced the current Geneva Conventions. ICRC officials feared it would lead to a flood of new national and religious symbols and already had requests for recognition of the red flame, shrine, bow, palm, wheel, trident, cedar, and mosque. One delegate suggested a red heart. All such proposals were rejected for fear that abandoning a universally recognized symbol would endanger human lives. The ICRC did not officially recognize societies that used unauthorized symbols: from the red shield of David to the green cross of the Cruz Verde, a renegade national society set up in El Salvador in 1980.


However in December 2005 a diplomatic conference of signatory countries to the Geneva Conventions formally adopted a 3rd Additional Protocol approving the adoption of a new Red Crystal emblem. The emblem was chosen for its neutrality—it has no national, religious or cultural connotations, although national societies can incorporate existing symbols within the Crystal’s center. Following the adoption of the Red Crystal, the Israeli national society, the Magen David Adom, and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society were recognized by the ICRC and admitted into the International Federation.

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Yesha Jewish Residencey - A Traditional US Policy

My op-ed in Israel Hayom

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Peace Blocked? Really?

From Patrick Martin's piece in today's Globe and Mail, entitled:

Do these Israeli settlers block the path to peace?

Excerpts:

The fire started easily. Midway through July, the relentless sun had turned the grass and scrub into tinder. A couple of molotov cocktails tossed on the ground were enough to get it going. A stiff wind out of the west made sure it spread quickly. It raced across the open hillsides where sheep and goats often grazed, and leapt into the olive groves of the Palestinian farmers who live below the Israeli settlement of Yitzhar.

As a reporter watched, the farmers rushed outside and tried hopelessly to tamp out the flames with olive branches. But the flames spread too rapidly, and the groves were quickly overwhelmed. A fire brigade from the nearby Palestinian city of Nablus arrived but could not get its water tank near enough to the fire.

On the hillside above the fire, half a dozen young men from Yitzhar were making their way slowly back to the settlement, stopping every few minutes to turn and look back at their handiwork. Above, inside the guarded settlement, a bunch of the hilltop youth, as they are known, looked down excitedly. “Ayzeh yofi!” some exclaimed (“How beautiful!”), clapping each other on the back. A couple of the youths carried large jugs of water down to their thirsty friends below.

[actually, 4 Arab youths are suspected of setting the blaze and were picked up byt the IDF and Martin adds this at the end: A few days later, the guard at the settlement’s entrance gate explained the cause of the scorched bushes and earth just below the gate – at least as it had been told to him.

“The Arabs set a fire,” he said. “They tried to burn us out.”]

...The extremists are a minority of the settlers, and not large enough in number to defeat a determined government action. But their political and symbolic influence is disproportionate – as is their will to defend their convictions to the end, which alarms Israel’s armed forces...At Israel’s insistence, however, there will have to be adjustments to account for areas where large concentrations of settlers now live. That land is to be swapped for land on Israel’s side of the frontier, which will go to Palestine. The problem is that as many as 160,000 settlers will be outside the blocs that are to be traded to Israel...
Many of them won’t go without a fight. “People talk about the violent resistance when the settlements in Gaza were evacuated,” says Dani Dayan, head of the Yesha Council, the settlers’ political organization. He is referring to the 2005 settlers’ eviction ordered by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and carried out by the Israeli army. “If they think evicting 8,000 people in Gaza was difficult, wait until they try to evict 160,000.”...A secular Israeli, Mr. Dayan was born in Argentina and now runs a software company. From his majestic, modern home in the affluent settlement of Maale Shomron., you can see the office towers of Tel Aviv, just 20 kilometres away.

Photo credit: Heidi Levine


He is an outspoken critic of the hilltop youth and other extremists, but he’s convinced that the settlements of the West Bank are “irreversible.” Ordering their forcible eviction, he says, “would break the backbone of Israeli society, and no responsible Israeli prime minister will do that.”

At least, not without paying a steep price.

...The quality-of-lifers, though numerous – about 150,000 – are pragmatic. They will vote to remain in their attractive communities, but they will not fight to retain them. The security patriots – perhaps 20,000 – would never think of fighting against Israeli soldiers, but their numbers have declined as a proportion of the West Bank communities.

It is the religious zealots who have grown in number and intensity.

...“We want everyone to know this land is ours,” says Mrs. Shoham, 48. It was “given to us by God.” She points a little way to east to where God is said to have entered into his covenant with Abraham, promising this area to the chosen people, the Jews.  “No one has the right to give it away,” Mrs. Shoham says, taking a swipe at the government of Benjamin Netanyahu,...

...Last month, the commander of Israel’s forces in the West Bank called for the Od Yosef Hai yeshiva to be closed. General Avi Mizrahi said that several of the yeshiva leaders hold views that are not “consistent with democracy” and incite “Jewish terror” such as the attacks on nearby Arab towns and villages.

Avraham Binyamin, a spokesman for the settlement of Yitzhar, says Gen. Mizrahi, an army commander, had no business making such remarks. Accusations of inciting terrorism are “nonsense,” says Mr. Binyamin. “Terrorism is something that has to be proved – judged in a court of law – and no one has done anything like that with regard to the yeshiva.”

Mr. Binyamin did not deny that there have been acts of violence against Palestinians and their property carried out by youths of Yitzhar. But he argued that “Jews in Judea and Samaria suffer from real terrorism” such as the murder in March of five members of a family in the nearby settlement of Itamar. “To come along and accuse people when they respond to this sort of thing,” he said, “is like accusing a hungry child of stealing bread.”

...“The international community today is obsessed with this immediate solution of two states,” says Mr. Dayan, the Yesha leader. “It is futile.” Having a Palestinian state on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, Mr. Dayan says, is not a formula for peace. “Peace will come if the perception of Israel is that it cannot be beaten,” he says. “We [the settlements] are not an obstacle to peace. … We strengthen Israel’s perception of being a strong country and therefore we bring peace closer.”

...Is compromise possible? Not according to Mr. Dayan. The maximum he believes Israel can afford to offer in negotiations isn’t close to the minimum that Palestinian leaders need. However, “that’s not as terrible as it sounds,” he insists. “We can reach a modus vivendi – an accommodation that is less than peace, less than a final-status solution – but that will make the life of all of us, Israelis and Palestinians, better.”

Such a situation “has its shortcomings,” Mr. Dayan acknowledges, including continuing to withhold full political rights from the Palestinians. But if both sides work to improve Palestinian living conditions, it’s better than the futile peace process, he says.

This idea – a well-provided, semi-autonomous Palestinian authority – is the most today’s West Bank settlers say they’ll agree to. Tomorrow’s settlers, with their radical yeshiva educations, likely won’t support even that...

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Ben Smith Errs

Writing in his Politico column, Ben Smith reviews Mike Huckabee's Israel positions and especially his pro-Yesha stance.

However, he does make an error in writing

"Huckabee isn’t getting any votes in Israel"

Both Democrats and Republicans have "Abroad" organizations in the country.

I would guess there are tens of thousands of American voters in Israel, and in Judea and Samaria alone approximately 10,000. And if we include those who are sympathetic to the rights of Jews in their historic homeland in the rest of Israel and, importantly, in America, both Jewish and non-Jewish, - those who would make that issue an agenda item for their vote - I would say there are millions.

So, who knows how many votes Huckabee mighty garner here.

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The Text of the 2008 National HUMINT Collection Directive (NHCD)

As reported, former Sec'y of State Condoleeza Rice had a cable sent out with instructions and guidance for human intelligent-gathering goals regarding the peace process. 

The vast majority of the cable was actually directed at the Palestinian Authority and I strongly suggest you review the material there. It included these topics:

Palestinian Leadership and Governance
1) Governance Issues (DEPS-1)
2) Security Forces' Capabilities (DEPS-1)
3) Palestinian Leadership (LEAD-1)
4) Fatah-HAMAS Relationship (LEAD-1)
5) Economic and Financial Stability (ECFS-2)
6) Civil Society and the Rule of Law (DEPS-1)
7) US, Regional, and International Foreign Policy (FPOL-4)
Palestinian Internal Security and Control
1) Palestinian Counterterrorism Capabilities and Response (TERR-2)
2) Role of Palestinian Authority Security
Organs/Individuals in Terrorism (TERR-2)
3) Intelligence Services and Security Forces (CINT-5)
4) Illegal Activities (MONY-4)
D. Terrorism and Islamic Activism
1) International and Indigenous Terrorist Activities (TERR-2)
2) Internal and External Support for Palestinian Terrorists (TERR-2)
3) Islamic Activism (DEPS-1)
4) Threats Against American Citizens (TERR-2)
E. Palestinian Social Development and Infrastructure
1) Human Rights (HRWC-3)
2) Demographics (DEMG-3)
3) Water Management (ENVR-4)
4) Infectious Disease and Health (HLTH-5)
5) Civilian Infrastructure (INFR-3)

But what was also intriguing and annoying and potentially damaging was what she wanted collected on the Israel side and, as Caroline Glick wrote that this was a

massive espionage operation against Israel

and

that the US is carrying out a deeply hostile policy against Israel in the face of massive public support for Israel in the US. That is, whereas two-thirds of Americans support Israel, a minority constituency in the US government treats Israel with scorn and hatred.

and she termed it

Rice’s spy cable

all of which lead to a situation whereby

US government officials will be able to continue to implement policies that treat Israel with the contempt due to a banana republic.

Having been engaged with US dipolomats, as well as those of many other countires since 1983 or so, while most of the targets outlined are quite legitimatre and can be culled also from newspapers and other media reports, the requests regarding IDF military operations such as

Details on Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations underway or planned against the HAMAS-controlled Palestinian militants in Gaza, terrorists, or terrorist infrastructure, including targeted assassinations and tactics/techniques used by ground and air units.

or

Israeli leaders' involvement in decisions on response to terrorist attacks

is really outside the realm of normal diplomatic activity.

And to judge for yourself, here is the relevant Israel-connected sections of cable's text (minus the material on the PA):-

R 311525Z OCT 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
INFO AMEMBASSY AMMAN, BEIRUT, CAIRO, DAMASCUS, RIYADH
DIA WASHINGTON DC//DHI-1B/CLM//DP//
CIA WASHINGTON DC//NHTC// 0000
S E C R E T STATE 116392
NOFORN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2033
TAGS: PINR KSPR ECON KPAL PREL PTER XF

SUBJECT: (S) REPORTING AND COLLECTION NEEDS: PALESTINIAN ISSUES

REF: A. 08 STATE 001379
B. 08 STATE 64936
Classified By: CATHERINE BROWN, DAS, INR/IPC. REASON: 1.4(C).

1. (S/NF) SUMMARY: This cable provides the full text of the new National HUMINT Collection Directive (NHCD) on Palestinian Issues (paragraph 3-end) and encourages Department personnel at post to assist in compiling Palestinian biographic information (paragraph 2).

A. (S/NF) The NHCD results from a recent Washington review of reporting and collection needs for Palestinian Issues and sets forth a list of priorities intended to guide participating USG agencies as they allocate resources and update plans to collect information on Palestinian Issues. The priorities may also help the Embassy manage reporting and collection, including formulation of Mission Strategic Plans (MSPs).

...B. (S/NF) When it is available, reporting officers should include as much of the following information as possible: office and organizational titles; names, position titles and other information on business cards; numbers of telephones, cell phones, pagers and faxes; compendia of contact information, such as telephone directories (in compact disc or electronic format if available) and e-mail listings; internet and intranet "handles", internet e-mail addresses, web site identification-URLs; credit card account numbers; frequent flyer account numbers; work schedules, and other relevant biographical information.

3. (S/NF) Palestinian NHCD outline - priority issues:
A. Palestinian-Israeli Peace Process
1) Conflict Resolution and Palestinian Relations with Israel (SRCC-1)
2) Final Status Issues (SRCC-1)
3) Perceptions of US Role in the Peace Process (SRCC-1)
4) Role of Regional Neighbors (SRCC-1)
5) Role of International Community in the Peace Process (SRCC-1)

...F. Government of Israel Plans, Policies, and Actions
1) Israeli Leadership Plans and Intentions on the Peace Process (LEAD-1)
2) Conflict Resolution (SRCC-1)
3) Government of Israel Security Issues (SRCC-1)
4) Military Response to Palestinians and Terrorism (FMCC-2)
5) Settlements (SRCC-1)
6) US and International Community (FPOL-3)

F. Government of Israel Plans, Policies, and Actions

1) Israeli Leadership Plans and Intentions on the Peace Process (LEAD-1).
--Government of Israel (GOI) leadership's negotiating positions, strategies, and goals in interactions with the Fatah-affiliated Palestinian Authority officials, with supporters or elements affiliated with HAMAS, and with other Palestinian parties concerned with the peace process.
--Israeli leaders' perceptions of and relations with Palestinian leaders and negotiating counterparts. Evidence of informal channels, either sanctioned or unsanctioned by the Israeli leadership, to discuss peace steps with Palestinian leaders.
--Israeli leadership views and intentions regarding the impact of their negotiations with Syria on their negotiations with the Palestinians.
--Israel's decision-making process for launching military operations and determining retaliation for terrorist attacks.
--Israeli leaders' involvement in decisions on response to terrorist attacks.
--Israeli leadership intentions and strategy toward managing the US relationship; views of prime minister and advisors toward the US and its counterterrorism policies. Israeli thoughts and views on impact of Israeli domestic politics, including changes in GOI leadership, on GOI approach to and conduct of the peace process and negotiations.
2) Conflict Resolution (SRCC-1).
--Negotiating positions for Israeli talks with Palestinians on bilateral issues, particularly the extent of Israeli control of Jerusalem, right of return of Palestinian refugees to Israel, Israeli settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, exchanges of territory, and "end of claims".
--GOI views and positions on final-status issues; water rights, transportation and energy infrastructure issues, access to the Israeli economy, security, and safe passage between areas of Israeli and Palestinian control, legal matters and prisoners, and Jerusalem (including sovereignty, governance, and access to/control of the "Holy Basin").
--Attitudes of the Israeli public, including Israeli Arabs, toward Israeli-Palestinian talks. Efforts by opposition parties or members of the ruling coalition to influence government positions on the peace process.
--Attitudes of Israeli security forces toward peace negotiations with Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Current plans and intentions regarding Palestinian access and movement, in particular, access and movement with economic consequences, e.g. movement of produce, access to fields, and movement of commercial goods between Palestinian villages.
3) Government of Israel Security Issues (SRCC-1). --Government of Israel (GOI) views and assessments of military strengths and vulnerabilities.
--Perceptions of threats posed by Palestinian rejectionists, including the potential for conflict with their state sponsors, Syria and Iran, and Lebanon.
--GOI negotiating positions, strategies, and goals in interactions with Syria, and Lebanon, especially on final status issues.
--Israeli views of an Egyptian or Jordanian role in the context of final status issues.
--Israeli views on a future regional security pact.
--GOI plans, intentions and reactions to Palestinian intentions to develop Gaza off-shore natural gas reserves.
GOI plans and actions to continue construction of security fence including views on boundaries, funding constraints, and external influences on decision-making.
--GOI plans and actions to implement agreements with Palestinians on bilateral security measures and to implement unilateral security measures over Israeli - and Palestinian-controlled areas.
--Views and actions on prisoner swaps/releases; information on Israel's treatment of Palestinian prisoners or detainees, including interrogation methods.
--Information on and motivations for any increased Israeli population emigration from Israel.
4) Military Response to Palestinians and Terrorism FMCC-2).
--Details on Israel Defense Forces (IDF) operations underway or planned against the HAMAS-controlled Palestinian militants in Gaza, terrorists, or terrorist infrastructure, including targeted assassinations and tactics/techniques used by ground and air units.
--Israeli efforts to counter short-range rockets and mortars.
--IDF preparations to conduct increased operations against Palestinian targets in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Lebanon.
--Impact of Israeli efforts against rocket attacks on Israeli views of security.
--IDF preparations to conduct combat operations against Hizballah or Syrian targets along Israel's northern border or inside Lebanon or Syria.
--IDF units, equipment, maintenance levels, training, morale, and operational readiness.
--IDF tactics, techniques and procedures for conducting conventional and unconventional counterinsurgency and counterterrorist operations.
--Israeli assessment of the impact of reserve duty in the territories on IDF readiness.
5) Settlements (SRCC-1).
--Evidence of Government of Israel support for or opposition to actions to limit and/or reduce settlement and outpostgrowth and construction.
--Information on leaders of the Israeli settlement establishment, including Golan settlers, their ideology, motivations and who they claim to represent.
--Divisions among the various settlement groups.
--Details on settlement-related budgets and subsidies.
--Settlers' relationship with the Israeli political and military establishment including their lobbying and settlement methods.
--Golan settlers' views of any potential peace agreement with Syria.
--Support for settlers within Israeli society.
--Indications of Israeli extremist groups becoming more active.
--Perceptions of US demands or requirements of Israeli government regarding, security fences and settlements.
6) US and International Community (FPOL-3).
--Israeli perceptions of US peace process approach; indications of critical or hostile reaction to US policies and views of Israeli leadership after discussions with the US.
--Attitudes of key political and military officials concerning the state of the relationship with the US.
--Plans to influence views and positions of academics, journalists, and business, religious and professional
organizations towards the US and the US-Israeli relationship.
--Views of and responses to role of the Quartet.
--Israeli plans and intentions to support US positions in the UN and other international fora.
--Israeli support for US Iraq/Iran policies and US policies and attitudes toward other Middle Eastern countries, and European Union countries; relations with Russia, China, Turkey, Pakistan and India.

What do you think?

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Copycats

If you go here, you'll see one of the many ads the Yesha Council published leading up to the anti-freeze decision.

It's theme was based on quotations from ministers in the immediate past that the freeze was temporary and woul dnever be renewed.

Well, see who is copying that:

Yep, Peace Now.

They are trying to pressure the Labour Party to bolt the government on the same freeze issue and are using the same theme: quotations by ministers in favor of leaving if their policies are unachieved.

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Message To Bibi Netanyahu

And With Thanks to the Pope

While tens of thousands of work-bound Jerusalem area residents moan the inconvenience caused by the vast road-closings in Jerusalem for the Pope's week-long visit, the residents of Western Binyamin plan to take advantage of the road-opening created to ease Arab inconvenience for the duration of the visit.

Indeed even as all Israeli newspapers printed the absurdly all-encompassing closure of virtually all Jerusalem streets for most of the week, unbeknownst to most of the country, roads long closed in response to Arab terror are being quietly opened for Arab travel so that Arabs won't be troubled by the Pope's visit.

Over a decade ago, a main artery of travel for Western Binyamin residents to their places of employment and education in Jerusalem and Eastern Binyamin, the road going through Ein Arik, was closed due to Arab madness. It led to the doubling of travel time for Jewish residents. Instead of controlling Arab terror, Israel preferred the option of punishing the victims of that terror with this infringement on their daily movement which caused damage to their income and their children's access to quality education.

Western Binyamin residents plan to take advantage of the temporary relief caused inadvertently by the government's show of good will to Arab resdents by travelling the open road through Ein Arik starting Monday morning in groups of dozens of vehicles at a time.

The hope is that the road will remain open - and protected by IDF - once the Pope has flown back to Rome.

Source

The Poster War Goes On

Here's the latest poster in the ongoing battle between the Yesha Council and the satellite communities on the issue of the disband small communities to save bigger ones.

The Poster War Continues

Another Daniella Weiss/Women in Green Pro-settling poster (and anti-Moetzet Yesha):-

Moetzet Yesha's Anti-Daniella Weiss Poster

It's message is "Stop! Halt! Stop!"

Here's Aliza Herbst's opinion:-

A small band of Yesha-style teen thugs ignored the right of Migron residents to invite and host The Yesha Council as their guests for Yom HaAtzmaut.

Creating disturbances before, during and after the Yom HaAtzmaut activities, they were, however, unable to ruin the festive atmosphere as approximately 10,000 people, mostly families with many children, visited the pastoral hill near Psagot during the day.

Even the dressing down in loud tones delivered by HaRav Dov Lior to Daniella Weiss, one of the chief instigators of the rowdy provocateurs, and the criticism of HaRav Levanon of Alon Moreh had no effect on her destructive and divisive behavior.

Not satisfied with the hooliganism and childish catcalls at the Migron event itself, the group also slashed tires of Yesha Council leaders while they were in Migron and later, under protection of darkness, outside the homes of two of the more visible of Yesha's leadership.

Financial damage, however, shrinks in importance when compared to the damage Weiss's personal vendetta and hysteria are doing to these young people by validating the rebellious nature typical of their age by stamping it ideology.

Demo & Rally Next Monday

Demo and Rally and Prayer Assembly, postponed to Monday, Nov. 26:-

Yesha Council Head in Spanish TV Interview

If you comprehend Spanish, like Dani Dayan, presidente de la Asociación de Colonos de Cisjordania, click here.

I Admit It; I Was There

Some of my fans noticed this small report:-

UK ambassador, settlers meet

The British Embassy has embarked on a new initiative to learn more about the settlement movement and last week invited the settler leadership to dinner at a kosher restaurant with its ambassador, Tom Phillips.

The move surprised Dani Dayan, chairman of the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip, who said he hadn't expected to hear from Phillips's office.

"As far as we know, it is the first time an ambassador of such an important country, or any country, has issued an invitation to a delegation from the council," Dayan told The Jerusalem Post.

The meeting, which took place last Wednesday, did not presage any reassessment of Britain's policies toward the settlements, according to British officials. Rather, the meeting, initiated by Phillips, was an attempt by the British Embassy to develop a relationship with the settlers.

It was the first such meeting between settlement leaders and the British Embassy, and there are likely to be follow-up meetings.

The meeting was planned weeks ago and was not connected to Sunday's ministerial meeting on unauthorized settlement outposts and settlement construction.

Settlers who were present at the meeting included Dayan, former council chairman Benzi Lieberman and Gush Etzion council head Shaul Goldstein.

"We discussed the situation in the Middle East and the settlements and life in the settlements," said Dayan. "The atmosphere was good, and the discussion was sincere" - although, he added, there were obviously disagreements on the issues.

Encouraged by the meeting with Phillips, Dayan asked for the ambassador's help in arranging a meeting with Quartet Middle East envoy and former British prime minister Tony Blair, who is due here this week.

If you must know, I was there, too.

It was at a restaurant, gourmet kosher.

So, the food was excellent and the wine flowed.

But to the point, the exchange of views was importartant and a feather in Dani Dayan's hat (he doesn't wear a kippah) and that of Moetzet Yesha.

I hope there will be further opportunities to engage in Yesha diplomacy.