Monday, February 27, 2017

'But Israel's Supreme Court Declared Israel A "Belligerent Occupier"'

We've heard that charge.

Naftali Bennet was subjected to it (and inadequately responded).

Me, too:





Before we start, let's not be afraid of words.

I am occupying my time writing this and you are occupying your time reading this.  Both of us are probably occupying a chair while reading this.  Your occupation maybe doctor, lawyer or bottle-washer.

First of all, actually there is nothing wrong or illegal in being a belligerent occupier. That's what America was after WW II. It simply means that one country who is administrating territory gained as a result of military action.  In itself, it is not a value judgment but simply a description.

Secondly, that military action of Israel was defensive. 

Thirdly, the territory held now by Israel was part of the original area set aside to become the "reconstituted Jewish national home".  The right of Jews to that territory is certainly no less than Arabs and I would add, more so.

Fourthly, the Arabs of the Mandate area rejected the partition options twice, in 1937 and again in 1947, and in the latter case actually violated UN resolutions to stop their aggression, so Israel is not obliged to respect those dead letters.

Fifth, no Arab state of Palestine ever existed.  No independent "Palestine" was conquered and occupied in 1967 (or in 1948 for that matter).

Sixth, even UN resolution 242 never mentions a "Palestinian people" or a state or whatever.

Seventh, the only reason no Jews resided in the presumed "occupied" territory of Judea, Samaria and formerly Gaza prior to 1967 was an ethnic cleansing campaign carried out violently by riots, pogroms, murders, rapes and other assorted means by local Arabs, many of whom emigrated to the area from other Middle Eastern countries (Jordan's Hashemite family only arrived in Transjordan, itself part of the original mandate area until 1922, from Saudi Arabia in November 1920), as well as Arab states during 1947-1949.

Eight, during 1948-67, the Arabs continued their terror campaign, first as fedayeen and then as the PLO, against Israel that did not possess Judea, Samaria and Gaza in acts of war and aggression thereby displaying a total inability to claim protection as a "conquered people".

Ninth, there are many more real illegal occupations existing that few pay attention to or treat with equal fervor or get that excited over as they do Israel's case.

Tenth, that ICJ judgment was not made on the issue of Israel's legality of possession but the justices simply accepted the presentation made to them.  It was never defended directly.  The "illegality" charge is baseless.

There are more points but ten is a nice figure and I'll stop here.

^

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Perspective on US Anti-Semitism

Yes, anti-Semitism is a problem.

It always has been a problem.

As a kid in Queens I remember incidents.

For example, in the year and a half before the present administration, we read, in part:
"Anti-Semitic Incidents on American College Campuses Nearly DoubledNew York, NY, June 22, 2016 … The number of violent anti-Semitic assaults taking place in the United States rose dramatically last year, contributing to a three (3) percent rise in the total number of anti-Jewish incidents reported in 2015, according to new data from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

ADL’s annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, issued today, recorded a total of 941 incidents in the U.S. in 2015, an increase of about 3 percent from the 912 incidents recorded in 2014.

Fifty-six incidents were assaults, the most violent anti-Semitic category – representing a more than 50 percent rise from the 36 assaults reported in 2014...

And the previous year:

Audit: In 2014 Anti-Semitic Incidents Rose 21 Percent Across The U.S. In A “Particularly Violent Year for Jews”

New York, NY, March 30, 2015 … The total number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States increased by 21 percent in 2014 in a year marked by a violent anti-Semitic shooting attack targeting Jewish community buildings in Kansas and anti-Jewish expressions linked to the war in Gaza.

The Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, issued today, counted a total of 912 anti-Semitic incidents across the U.S. during the 2014 calendar year. This represents a 21 percent increase from the 751 incidents reported during the same period in 2013, and is the first time in nearly a decade of declines where the overall number of incidents has substantially risen.

“While the overall number of anti-Semitic incidents remains lower than we have seen historically, the fact remains that 2014 was a particularly violent year for Jews both overseas and in the United States,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. “The fatal shootings in Overland Park, Kansas at a Jewish community center building and senior residence by a white supremacist whose goal was to “kill Jews” and other violent episodes were tragic reminders that lethal anti-Semitism continues to pose a threat to American Jews and larger society as well.”


ADL Audit: Anti-Semitic Incidents Declined 19 Percent Across the United States in 2013Assaults Against Jews on Rise
New York, NY, April 1, 2014 …The total number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States fell by 19 percent in 2013, continuing a decade-long downward slide and marking one of the lowest levels of incidents reported by the Anti-Defamation League since it started keeping records in 1979.

ADL’s annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, released today, reported a total of 751 incidents across the U.S. during the 2013 calendar year, representing a 19 percent decline from the 927 incidents reported during the same period in 2012. In 2013, anti-Semitic incidents were reported in 40 states and the District of Columbia.

^

J St. Description Contest

I have already noted that I do not use Holocaust nor Nazi terminology when dealing with other Jews.

It is not nice. It is unnecessary. It is not proper and there is no possible comparison of circumstances that could justify such linguistic usage.

Would the Senators at David Friedman's confirmation hearing like it if I termed their questioning as an "inquisition"?

Friedman's "worse than kapos" has its own inner logic - that whereas these people were forced, J Streeters seem actually to delight in their destructive work, underrmining Israel's security and diplomatic support while pretending to be "pro-Israel, pro-peace" - but that still does not justify employing the term "kapos".

Jeremy Ben-Ami, who works to the detriment of his father's legacy*, has now, I read, declared that his organization's 

"challenges are not limited to the Middle East"

Well, I guess we're in for some possible pro-Islamist reorienting.

In any case, without resort to Holocaust/Nazi language terms and certainly no profanity, what would you call J Street?

Traitors has already been taken, in a sense.  As has Juedische Selbsthass”.

Can someone come up with a new longuistic form?


______________

*

Who wrote the following:

Western political leaders have acquired a concern for 'Arab-Palestinian homelessness', which is selfishly economic rather than humanitarian.  At the same time they ignore that three quarters of the original Palestine Mandate area is now under Palestinian-Arab rule.  The sooner disaspora Jews and the Hebrew nation recognize these new realities, the stronger they will be.

The Hebrew renaissance offers a painful choice to Jews.  They can live in the diaspora, often  facing isolation, persecution and ambivalent identities, or they can return to their ancient land and face perils, but with a chance for honorable self-fulfillment and an end to wandering...



It was Yitzhaq Ben-Ami, father of Jeremy Ben-Ami, on page 544 of his book. 
Years of Wrath, Days of Glory.

Think about that.


^

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Is the Temple Mount on Israel's Currency?

The Temple Mount is on that of the Palestinian Authority:




a 10 Dinar coin.

And a 20 Dinar Jordanian bill:



Maybe Israel, as a UNESCO decision counter act, should issue currency with a picture of the entire Temple Mount compound?  Even better than US embassy moving to the city, if it ever does.

Maybe the Bank of Israel who has the authority by law to issue currency, should get to work? There is a Committee (as usual).  Maybe contact them through:


​Address: Bank of Israel, PoB 780 , Jerusalem, 91007


^

And The Winner Is....

And the winner of the 6th Annual International Black Jar Honey Tasting Contest which took place in Asheville, North Carolina in the United States in the category of International Multi-Floral is....

...Yael Farbstein, Israel

And where does Yael live and where is her honey produced?

Kedumin.

Her company is Dvash Kedumim.





And Kedumim is where?


That's right: Yesha, aka Judea and Samaria.
Kedumim is within easy commuting distance to all major cities in Israel:  30 minutes to Petach Tikvah, 50 minutes to Tel-Aviv, 20 minutes to Kfar Saba, 60 minutes to Haifa and Jerusalem, 40 minutes to the Jordan Valley. 

Congratulations to Yael and to the land of milk and honey.


Friday, February 24, 2017

What Was and Wasn't in 1938 Compared to Today

This is a 1938 aerial photograph of the Temple Mount, view from south-east:



And in this copy I point out the differences between 1938 and 2017:



A whole building to the east of Al-Aqsa Mosque gone. Alterations in footpaths, planting groves of trees (done to hide Jewish period remains, especially there to the north-west where Herodian-era stones were seen) and more.

For recent comparison view from north-east:



No status-quo in this field of Waqf activity.

^

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Linda Sarsour and A Jewish Cemetery

You've read that BDS activist Palestinian Linda Sarsour is raising tens of thousands of dollars for a vandalized Jewish cemetery saying she hopes crowdfunding effort will help bring ‘a sense of security’ to US Jews

Why does she really do this?

Israellycool knows. Go there.

You're frustrated. Angry.

She upstaged the American Jewish community.

She's gaining national attention.

Jewish liberals are flocking to her.

But you have this feeling she's politically and culturally and religiously poison.

So, what's there to do?

Simple. Begin a campaign to have her raise money, from Muslims only, for another desecrated and defaced cemetery: that on the Mount of Olives.


Har HaZeitim — The Mount of Olives — is Judaism’s oldest and holiest cemetery, the resting place of more than 150,000 Jewish souls. And yet through neglect and acts of hatred, it has been desecrated, its graves destroyed, and its visitors and mourners attacked. 

It is a place for Arab youngsters to do drugs:




Where Arabs throw rocks.

And where graves are desecrated by Arabs.

And vandalized:



And smashed.

Shattered as in this photo by Marc Israel Sellem in the Jerusalem Post:




Demand of Linda Sarsour Mulsim money to make up for Muslim crimes against the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

That would be most appropriate.

________________



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Saturday, February 18, 2017

How Many Words Is This Picture Worth?

Found at the MyIsrael FB page.

It shows a snap by Yechezkel Blumstein





The soldier is located at Charesha.

Where is Charesha?

It is in the western section of the Binyamin regional council, in the Talmonim Bloc.

And it is 40 kilometers from Tel Aviv:




That's why demilitarization of any Arab entity is an essential demand of Israel if any possible solution is proposed.   And why its rejection by Abbas and crew is a non-starter for Israel.

^

If Only My Shiloh Had Villas

Found:

Welcome to Shiloh Villas... A special community designed especially for adults 55 & better. Clusters of ranch-style homes invite you into your very own neighborhood, surrounded by trees and lush landscaping. You can enjoy the many benefits of community living without sacrificing your independence. Shiloh Villas will not only meet your expectations, it will exceed them and, best of all, fit your budget. (Income restrictions do apply.) See for yourself the quality of construction, amenities, landscaping and management at Shiloh Villas. Then take a look at the price. You'll find no better rental value for seniors anywhere in the north Dayton area. Come see Shiloh Villas Apartments... 



...in Trotwood, Ohio .

Just north-west of Dayton.

^

It Was More Than 100 Years of Anti-Semitism at the State Department

At 1:34-35 into the confirmation hearing of David Friedman, this was said by Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey):

YOU ALSO ATTACKED THE STATE DEPARTMENT, WITH 100 YEAR HISTORY OF ANTI-SEMITISM -

That should have been "more than 100 years".

Consider this, about Selah Merrill




he was an anti-Semite, opposed to Jewish immigration and settlement in Palestine, he was as good as a sworn enemy to the Yishuv. Indeed, he would famously conclude that "1. Palestine is not ready for the Jews. 2. The Jews are not ready for Palestine." What the Jews wanted, he believed, wasn’t land to colonize, but cities "where they can live on the fortunes or the misfortunes of other people." He even felt that there must have been some hidden justification for the persecution of the Jews in Russia, or that government would not have been so anxious to get rid of them. The effects of this anti-Semitism, unfortunately, were vast: because his first term as consul (1882-84) coincided with the beginnings of Jewish agricultural settlement in Palestine, Merrill’s prejudice would help shape the State Department’s antagonistic attitude to the Jewish people in the Holy Land.

This:

Selah Merrill, having held the post of U.S. Consul at Jerusalem for almost three decades – appointed by three Republican presidents – is here installed in that position for the last time by President McKinley. Added to Merrill’s record of longevity, is this dubious distinction: he is generally considered the greatest reviler of the Jews to ever occupy the post of consul at Jerusalem.

And this, that

his views on Jews in then Palestine whose "combination of acute interest in the ancient Hebrews and intense disdain for their modern descendants bears examination...Merrill’s case is especially intriguing because his attitude towards Jews had political consequences. With the advent of Zionism, these ambivalent attitudes affected the consideration of Jewish claims..." 

That was from Shalom Goldman's study which includes also this: “The Jew needs to learn that his place in the world will be determined by what he can do for himself, and not so much by what Abraham did for himself four thousand years ago. It has a most mischevious effect to be always associating the modern Jews with eminent men and deeds in the remote ages of the past.”* So wrote Selah Merrill, U.S. Consul in Jerusalem, in a report on Palestine. Merrill felt impelled to include in his report a long section entitled “Jews and Jewish Colonies in Palestine” in response to the Blackstone Memorial of 1891, which petitioned President Benjamin Harrison to support the convening of an international conference to discuss Jewish claims to Palestine. The Blackstone Memorial had over four hundred prominent signatories, the vast majority of them Protestants; for many of them the contemporary Jews were the natural heirs of the ancient Hebrews: “Why not give Palestine back to them again? According to God’s distribution of nations, it is their home, an inalienable possession, from which they were expelled by force.” 1

It was just such restorationist sentiment that Merrill so vehemently opposed. His report calls the memorial “one of the wildest schemes brought before the public.” It is the “character and habits of the modern Jews” that will doom their Palestine settlement efforts to failure. According to Merrill, the originators of the petition “appear to be ignorant of two great facts, (1) that Palestine is not ready for the Jews and (2) that the Jews are not ready for Palestine.”

And this list from a German language research paper:




This is in addition to this evidence from the text of a note from Secretary of State Robert Lansing to President Woodrow Wilson in 1917 opposing the US's endorsement of the Balfour Declaration.



__________________

P.S.

See now Caroline Glick's piece on institutionalized US anti-Semitism and especially Senator

Menendez’s antisemitic behavior at Friedman’s confirmation hearing and to the general problem of antisemitism in America.

^


Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Adding Zeroes to Zionism and Israel

No, not negative zeroes.

Monetary zeroes.

I'll be attending tomorrow, Thursday February 16, the world’s largest equity crowdfunding conference.

There'll be over 17,000 accredited investors on the platform with $400M invested to date in platform, 110 companies and five funds.

It's reported that the largest funding momentum coming from Asia/Pacific region.

But what's more important are the products which include pioneering investments in new areas including Machine Learning, Robotics, Agtech, SportsTech, Digital Health and Space.

Israel's ability to help mankind is amazing.

And it's all the initiative of OurCrowd, the leading global equity crowdfunding platform.

There'll be 6,000 guests from 82 countries at its OurCrowd Global Investor Summit. 

The event takes place all day this Thursday, February 16th, 2017, at the International Convention Center (ICC), Binyenei HaUmah.

“This is by far the largest equity crowdfunding conference in the world, and Israel’s largest investor event ever,” said Jon Medved, OurCrowd founder and CEO. “We have twice the number of attendees that we had last year, giving proof to the tremendous vitality and dynamism in the global equity crowdfunding market.”

The theme of the Summit is “The Future is Here” and includes over 60 booths demonstrating a variety of frontier technologies already changing the world, including industrial drones, companion care robots, miniature spectrometers to “google” everything, tracking devices with centimeter accuracy, phone based glucose monitors, and much more.

Over 200 multinational corporations are expected.

^

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

He's 'Uber-Wrong'

At Twitter, I put this up:

Please Call Your Senator To Support Trump’s Pro-Israel Nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman http://zoa.org/2017/01/10349087-zoa-and-pjtn-action-alert-please-call-your-senator-to-support-trumps-pro-israel-nominee-for-u-s-ambassador-to-israel-david-friedman-and-moving-the-u-s-embassy-to-jerusalem/#.WKHqBr72wYU.twitter …

Then ‏@UberPollster posted:

@ymedad, please call your Senator and have them request that David Friedman retracts his Anti-Semitic statements and apologizes.

I replied

.@UberPollster Am surprised even in jest you use that terminology,especially with handle of "Uber". Beinart & Co. channel real antiSemitism.

And it continued:

@ymedad no jest there. Friedman comments reprehensible. If establishment rightists had any integrity they would oppose until he retracts.

@UberPollster nope. Kapos at least had Nazis lording over them.
Progressives do it of their own free will.

@ymedad another Anti-Semitic comment disparaging other Jews because they have a different vision of Israel than you. The 3rd Exile is coming

.@UberPollster sorry. you can repeat a falsehood but it won't stick.
I hope your polls are better fact-based.

@ymedad  dont know what falsehood you are referring too. You made a number of accusations and disparaging remarks towards others, I didnt.

@UberPollster no I didn't. you slightly misquoted Friedman's remarks as anti-Semitic. not kapos:
"smug advocates of Israel’s destruction"


For the record, here are Friedman's words:

“Finally, are J Street supporters really as bad as kapos? The answer, actually, is no. They are far worse than kapos – Jews who turned in their fellow Jews in the Nazi death camps. The kapos faced extraordinary cruelty, and who knows what any of us would have done under those circumstances to save a loved one? But J Street? They are just smug advocates of Israel’s destruction delivered from the comfort of their secure American sofas – it’s hard to imagine anyone worse.”

He actually does not directly call J Streeters 'kapos' but, in comparing the circumstances, thinks that acting out of free will and from relative comfort, their harmful actions are worse.

And in that piece, he levels an accusation of harshness at President Obama:

any public figure who finds it difficult to condemn it as such without diluting the message with geo-political drivel is engaging in “blatant anti-Semitism.”

To clarify my own thinking, I do not think using Nazi-era vocabulary is a particularly wise or correct tactic.  I personally think Arab terrorists are usually worse than Nazis: have you ever read of a Nazi committing suicide to kill Jews? 

Charging Mr. Friedman with "anti-Semitism" is simply incorrect, uber-wrong.



^

Monday, February 13, 2017

America and Israel's 1949 Geography

I find this in the collection of FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1949, THE NEAR EAST, SOUTH ASIA, AND AFRICA, VOLUME VI

767N.901/12–1549: Telegram
The Chargé in Jordan (Fritzlan) to the Secretary of State
Amman, December 15, 1949—10 a. m.secretpriority421. Legtel 418 December 12. 
Yesterday evening I had hour and half talk with Samir Pasha Rifai re results fourth meeting with Israelis held Shuneh Tuesday nite presence King.
Following questions listed for discussion and trend talks as follows according Samir:
1.Territorial settlement including Jordan access Mediterranean.2.Jerusalem.3.Tulkarm triangle (approved for separate discussion after Israeli opposition).4.Israeli road link along west shore Dead Sea connecting potash works.5.Application British treaty Arab Palestine.6.Present and future treaty obligations both parties (this inserted request Israel and aimed Jordan obligations under AL charter).

First question passed over on insistence Israelis (desiring doubtless test extent Jordan concessions before revealing their hand access to sea) but on Samir’s condition it be discussed before meeting ended as it was crucial question.

Be Jerusalem, Israelis demanded change line afford them contiguity of territory with Jew quarter and Wailing Wall in old city and with Mt. Scopus institutions. Samir recognized reasonableness former and King readily assented but Samir stated Jordan could not consider latter but would be willing guarantee free access. This of course predicated on conclusion general agreement which would change line giving Jordan Nablus, St Pauls and Bethlehem roads and territory east and would provide compensation for certain Arab quarters. Such arrangement seemed in general satisfactory to Israelis.

First, free access was never granted even though it was part of the Armistice Agreement signed, see Article VIII

Second, awarding to Jordan the streets of "St. Paul's", today Shivtei Yisrael, and Bethlehem would have been a debacle and more of a constant security threat than what was during the 19 years of the illegal Jordanian occupation.

Third, the territorial demand of a land access corridor across the Negev illustrates just how crazy some geographical demands can be and how easily America was willing to facilitate such an idea, to Israel's detriment.

^

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Holy Holy Chocolate

As announced:

The International Chocolate Awards is pleased to announce the Winners of the 2016 World Final, which was judged during Chocolate Week in London, 6 – 12 October 2016 and announced live at The Chocolate Show, 6pm, Friday 14 October 2016.

Plain/origin dark chocolate bars:Bronze: Holy Cacao Chocolate (Israel) – 70% Madagascar

High % plain/origin dark chocolate bars (85% and over):Gold: Holy Cacao Chocolate (Israel) – 100% Cacao

Do you like or even crave good chocolate?


Pnei Hever 90420, Israel
02-991-3182
info@holycacao.co.il


^

Um, Those Ummayads Are Where?

The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. 

This caliphate was centred on the Umayyad dynasty, hailing from Mecca...after the end of the First Muslim Civil War in AD 661/41 AH. Syria remained the Umayyads' main power base thereafter, and Damascus was their capital. The Umayyads continued the Muslim conquests, incorporating the Caucasus, Transoxiana, Sindh, the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) into the Muslim world. 

The Dome of the Rock was built by the Ummayads. 

However, the Hashimiyya movement, led by the Abbasid family, overthrew the Umayyad caliphate by 750...Their campaign was framed as one of proselytism (dawah)...Around 746, Abu Muslim assumed leadership of the Hashimiyya in Khurasan. In 747, he successfully initiated an open revolt...In January 750 the two forces met in the Battle of the Zab, and the Umayyads were defeated. Damascus fell to the Abbasids in April...

By the way, 


The victors desecrated the tombs of the Umayyads in Syria, sparing only that of Umar II, and most of the remaining members of the Umayyad family were tracked down and killed. When Abbasids declared amnesty for members of the Umayyad family, eighty gathered to receive pardons, and all were massacred.

This behavior sound familiar?

But that is just historical backdrop for tonight I read this item


and that picture just didn't look correct.  Sparse countryside.  Construction not quite what I know.

These are the correct Ummayad structures right next to the Temple Mount:



Seen this way, it is quite obvious why they should be considered part of the 'Holy Basin' concept (which originated with the British before during their Mandate period) but only during the Israel-Palestine peace talks held at Camp David in 2000 was it first introduced as an idea of a special regime for the Old City and environs. The term "Holy Basin" was first coined in the 1970s by Arthur Kutcher, a planner with the Jerusalem Municipality. Ruth Lapidot acknowledges also Uri Tzvi Greenberg for conceptualizing that vision.

In any case, that Arab media picture is way misleading.

^
.

Friday, February 10, 2017

Jews at War with Jews

Who wrote a book on the life of Muhammed whose main theme was Mohammed's religiously based campaign to destroy the Jews of Arabia, a book that was serialized in 1941 in a Bosnian Muslim paper, Muslimanksa svijest (Muslim Awareness), and most certainly motivated local Muslims to become susceptible on a religious basis to the Mufti's later efforts to recruit a Bosnian Muslim Division to fight in the German SS?

A Jew, Lev Nussimbaum, who converted to Islam in his teens.  



More material.

(thanks to Boris Havel, here footnote 61. more here).

^

Thursday, February 09, 2017

At Least One Tourism Minister Encouraging Temple Mount Visits

Unfortunately, though, the wrong country. Not Israel's Minister:

The Al-Haram Al-Sharif Complex (the Noble Sanctuary) also known as the Temple Mount and the Al-Aqsa Mosque are one, and no work to damage its unity should be allowed, Culture and Tourism Minister Nabi Avcı said during a visit to Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem on Wednesday, as he urged more Turkish citizens to visit the holy site in Jerusalem.

Avcı, who was in Israel as part of an official visit to attend an international tourism summit, marking the first time a Turkish official at the ministry level paid an official visit to Israel since relations between the two countries have been restored, said that the complex is significant for all Muslims as it was the first qibla (the direction for prayers) and is a holy place...Avcı, who was welcomed by the director of Masjid al-Aqsa Omar Kiswani, reportedly prayed in the mosque and urged all Muslims and Turkish citizens to visit the site. Meanwhile, Palestinian officials in the complex welcomed Avcı's visit, and noted that such visits by senior officials means a lot for Palestinians. 

But he did promote its connection to Judaism at least:

Referring to the latest resolutions by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Avcı said that the Temple Mount is a holy site for the Jews, Christians and Muslims, and should be protected as it is a cultural heritage.

^