Ah, The Troublemakers

Orwellian speak in The Chronicle Review, Volume 54, Issue 33, April 25, 2008, Page B15 :

Digging for Trouble
The politics of archaeology in East Jerusalem

Who are they?

Yigal Bronner and Neve Gordon. Yigal Bronner teaches in the department of South Asian languages and civilizations at the University of Chicago. Neve Gordon is a senior lecturer in politics at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. His book Israel's Occupation will be published in November by the University of California Press.

And what do they clainm?

"Archaeology has become a weapon of dispossession," Yonathan Mizrachi, an Israeli archaeologist, said in a recent telephone interview with us [Bronner & Gordon]. He was referring to the way archaeology is being used in Silwan, a Palestinian neighborhood in the oldest part of Jerusalem, where, we believe, archaeological digs are being carried out as part of a concerted campaign to expel Palestinians from their ancestral home.

That effort is orchestrated by an Israeli settler organization called Elad, a name formed from Hebrew letters that stand for "to the City of David."...

...Silwan's residents have begun a campaign, "Citizens for Silwan," to stop the excavations. They are joined by a number of noted international scholars and a handful of Israeli academics, who are trying to help them remain in their homes. Among those involved are David A. Bell, dean of faculty and professor of the humanities at the Johns Hopkins University; Judith Butler, professor of rhetoric and comparative literature at the University of California at Berkeley; Lorraine Daston, director of Berlin's Max Planck Institute for the History of Science; Natalie Zemon Davis, professor of history emerita at Princeton University; Rashid Khalidi, professor of Arab studies at Columbia University; Thomas W. Laqueur, professor of history at the University of California at Berkeley; Sheldon Pollock, professor of Sanskrit and Indian studies at Columbia University; Marshall Sahlins, professor of anthropology and social sciences emeritus at the University of Chicago; and Robert A. Schneider, professor of history at Indiana University at Bloomington and editor of The American Historical Review. We joined David Shulman, professor of South Asian studies, and Yaron Ezrahi, professor of political science, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as Israeli signatories. Notably absent from the list are prominent Israeli archaeologists, many of whom depend on funds from the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Gee, I wonder why?

Well, let's see how they interpret archeology and history:-

...While archaeology's mission is to study the history of peoples by excavating and analyzing their material culture, inscriptions, and other remains, it has often been deployed in the service of nationalism. In Israel, for example, it has typically been used to underscore the Jewish and biblical past of the land to differentiate Zionism from more-traditional colonial ventures. Zionism, after all, has always portrayed itself as a return to the original Jewish homeland and not as a conquest of foreign lands.

According to the Old Testament, King David established Jerusalem as his capital, but the Jews were later conquered and expelled. Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the Six-Day War four decades ago, and ever since Israeli archaeologists have been trying (unsuccessfully) to produce proof of David's presence in that area.

That is so stupid a claim that I wonder why they still hold academic degrees and positions.

Someone Popped Pippa

Reported:-

An Italian artist who planned to hitchhike from Italy to Israel in a white wedding dress in order to bring a message of peace to the Middle East was raped and murdered in Turkey two weeks ago, police announced Saturday. Her body was found over the weekend two weeks after she went missing near the town of Gebze.



The artist has been identified as 33-year-old Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo, also known as Pippa Bacca began hitchhiking March 8 with a friend from her hometown of Milan to the Palestinian territories as part of her "Brides on Tour" project calling for peace in conflict areas.

Police arrested a local 38-year-old man who admitted to the murder.



The Italian Embassy in Ankara says police tracked down the suspect when he switched on di Marineo's mobile phone some time after her March 31 disappearance.



Source


"Her travels were for an artistic performance and to give a message of peace and of trust, but not everyone deserves trust," her sister, Maria, was quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA as saying in Milan.

Artistic?

And to think, she could have stayed in Italy and really gotten married.

Here's a video clip of the start of Pippa's journey.

Miscellaneous Shiloh Sightings

From the occasional series of news from various Shilohs:-

1. Florida

Zetrouer Farm recognized as Century Pioneer Farm

The Zetrouer Farm in the northwest Marion County community of Shiloh, in the county's farm preservation area, has received the state's Century Pioneer Farm designation.

It is one of five Florida farms receiving the designation recently.

2. South Carolina

Customers of the South Camden Water District are being asked to limit their water usage to just essential needs. This after a power fluctuation caused damage and forced a water treatment plant to be shut down.

Specifically, those people living in the Courthouse Township and the Shiloh Township should refrain from washing cars and lawns until further notice.

3. New Jersey

Two vie for one seat in Shiloh, Stow Creek

Both Shiloh and Stow Creek school boards have one seat open and up for grabs this year.

In Shiloh, incumbents Anita DeLuke and Mary Ann Haaf are running for two of three open seats.

Gee, Another Jewish Settlement

No, not in "occupied" territory.

In Wharton, Texas.

Wharton, the county seat of Wharton County, is on the east bank of the lower Colorado River, forty-five miles from the Gulf of Mexico.

Read on:-

The Tee Pee Motel here with its 10 adobe wigwams was up and running again after being closed for 23 years, and Bob Phillips, the Texas Country Reporter, was on it, barreling in with his television crew in his Ford Explorer daubed in the billowing red, white and blue of the Texas flag.

Mr. Phillips fortified himself with barbecue and prepared to zero in on questions concerning the how and why of the reopening of the Tee Pee Motel near Houston after 23 years.

There were pressing questions. Who would buy a rundown 1942 motor court for $60,000 and put $1.6 million into renovating it? And did Geronimo’s great-grandson really show up recently in this old Jewish settlement town(*), birthplace of Dan Rather and Horton Foote, to stay there?

Source


(*)

Congregation Shearith Israel was a Jewish Texan kehilla in Wharton, Texas. This rural Texan kehilla held Jewish services for over 100 years (1899-2002).

Jewish immigrants, arriving as early as the 1850s, established additional businesses and began the Congregation Shearith Israel, the only synagogue in a three-county area. A first synagogue building was erected on S. Rusk Street in 1921. Although centered in the town of Wharton, the community has members in two counties adjacent to Wharton County and the towns of Bay City, El Campo, Edna, East Bernard, Palacios and Boling. The community has over a century of Jewish history and held for many years, the Shearith Israel annual barbecue. This event would be attended by many from the three county area. The present synagogue, holder of an historic landmark, was built in 1956 on Old Lane City Road. A Jewish cemetery was established on N. Alabama Rd. in 1937. The synagogue received an historical marker in 1988. The synagogue held its last service, led by Rabbi Jerome Cohen, in 2002. Worship services began in about 1899.

Can They Last a Week...

...without launching terror attacks?

The flow of fuel from Israel into the Gaza Strip halted Thursday, one day after Palestinian militants attacked a border terminal used to supply Gaza, which is controlled by the militant group Hamas...An official of the European Union, which provides fuel to Gaza’s lone power plant, said the plant had enough fuel on hand to last about a week.

I doubt it.

It seems that it is beginning to be in their nature to kill and maim Jews.

Jewish Anti-Arab Terror Attack in Jaffa

Probably the Sarayiah Building.

1947 News Clip on Jewish Anti-British Resistance

Barry Obama

Remember BO's speech on racism and inter alia blaming his grandmother?

Ann Coulter takes him on and does a great text analysis interpretation:-

Meanwhile, let's revisit the story about Obama's grandmother being guilty of thinking like a "typical white person." As recounted in Obama's autobiography, the only evidence that his grandmother feared black men comes from Obama's good-for-nothing, chronically unemployed white grandfather, who accuses Grandma of racism as his third excuse not to get dressed and drive her to work.

His grandmother wanted a ride to work at 6:30 in the morning because, the day before, she had been aggressively solicited by a homeless man at the bus stop. On her account, the panhandler "was very aggressive, Barry. Very aggressive. I gave him a dollar and he kept asking. If the bus hadn't come, I think he might have hit me over the head."

Even Obama's shiftless grandfather didn't play the race card until pretty far into the argument over whether he would drive Grandma to work. First, the good-for-nothing grandfather told Obama that Grandma was just trying to guilt him into driving her, saying, "(S)he just wants me to feel bad."

Next, he complained about his non-work routine being disrupted, saying: "She's been catching the bus ever since she started at the bank. ... And now, just because she gets pestered a little, she wants to change everything!"

Only after Obama had offered to drive his grandmother to work himself and it was becoming increasingly clear what a selfish lout the grandfather was, did Grandpa produce his trump card. The reason he wouldn't get his lazy butt dressed and drive Grandma to work was ... she was a racist!

As Obama recounts it, on Grandpa's third try at an excuse, he told Obama: "You know why she's so scared this time? I'll tell you why. Before you came in, she told me the fella was black. That's the real reason she's bothered. And I just don't think that's right." So I guess I'll be heading back to the sack now!

That makes sense. It certainly never bothers me when crazy white people harass and threaten me.

This is Obama's own account of what happened, which -- as anyone can see -- consisted of his slacker grandfather making a series of excuses to avoid having to drive the sole bread-earner in the family to work.

But Obama says, "The words were like a fist in my stomach, and I wobbled to regain my composure." (It was as if he had been punched by an aggressive panhandler at a bus stop!) And not because his grandfather's sorry excuse reminded him that he came from a long line of callow, worthless men, both black and white.

No, Obama swallowed his grandfather's pathetic excuse hook, line and sinker, leading Obama to a reverie about his grandparents: "I knew that men who might easily have been my brothers could still inspire their rawest fears." That's true -- assuming his brothers and sisters were menacing people at bus stops.

How deranged would you have to be to cite this incident as evidence that your grandmother thought like a "typical white person" -- as opposed to your grandfather being worthless and lazy? For those keeping score, Obama is aghast at his grandmother's alleged racism, but had no problem with Jeremiah Wright's manifest racism.

Aryeh Eldad Sat for a Portrait

Channel One TV has a program in which a public figure is painted by three portrait artists and he gets to keep one.

Aryeh Eldad is on tonight but I found here the promotion and the Yosef Rault portrait I like:-

They Won't Be Patient for Five Years

O Jerusalem! America drafts plan to cut in 2

Allows Palestinian security control, asks Israel to forfeit Temple Mount

The United States, which has been mediating negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority here, has proposed a plan to divide Jerusalem, WND has learned.

The plan, divided into separate phases, among other things calls for Israel eventually to forfeit parts of the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.

According to the first stage of the U.S. plan, which was obtained by WND, Israel would give the PA some municipal and security sovereignty over key Arab neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem.

The PA would be allowed to open some official institutions in Jerusalem, could elect a mayor for the Palestinian side of the city and would deploy police forces to maintain law and order.

The initial stage also calls for the PA to operate Jerusalem municipal institutions, such as offices to oversee trash collection and maintenance of roads.

After five years, if both sides keep their certain commitments called for in a larger principal agreement, according to the U.S. plan the PA would be given full sovereignty over the eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods and also over sections of the Temple Mount. The plan doesn't specify which parts of the Temple Mount would be forfeited to the Palestinians.

If?

Ha.

They won't keep them for three months.

The Whole Sorry Story

Timeline of Israeli-Arab Peace Initiatives since 1977
Jan. 22, 2008: Israel Continues to Provide Humanitarian Aid and Electricity to Palestinians in Gaza: Despite the increased number of ongoing rocket and mortar fire from Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza; over 4,000 missiles and rockets were fired since Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in August 2005, the country continues to seek peace with the Palestinians. Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni said on Jan. 24, 2008 “The goal is to end the conflict between our two nations, our two peoples, by the creation or giving the answer to the national aspirations of the Palestinians by creating a Palestinian state. Just as Israel is homeland for the Jewish people, the Palestinian state is and should be by its own creation a homeland for the Palestinians.” [1]

Jan. 9-11, 2008: President George W. Bush Visit to Israel: President Bush embarked on a tour of a number of Middle East countries, starting with Israel. The purpose of the visit was to advance peace negotiations initiated at the Annapolis conference in Nov. 2007. Bush urged the Palestinian side to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure and also called on Israel to halt settlement construction and remove unauthorized settler outposts. [2]

Nov. 27, 2007: Annapolis Summit: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sign a joint statement in Annapolis, Md. to lay the groundwork for peace talks. The joint document delineates broad principles of agreements and commitments to peace and stipulates that both sides will establish steering committees, led by the heads of their delegations to the Annapolis talks, that will meet continuously starting Dec. 12, 2007. Both sides agree to meet on a bi-weekly basis and express hope to reach a final peace agreement by the end of 2008. [3]

June 25, 2007: Sharm el-Sheikh Summit II: Olmert meets in Sharm el-Sheikh with Abbas, Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II. The leaders gather to discuss containment of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and to strengthen Abbas' Fatah party in the West Bank. As a goodwill gesture, Olmert announces the Israeli government's intention to release 250 Fatah prisoners who have 'no blood on their hands' and who pledge to renounce violence. [4]

April 1, 2007: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's acceptance of Arab Peace Initiative: In response to the March 28, 2007 Arab League Summit at Riyadh, Olmert welcomes the Arab Initiative, revised since its conception in 2002, and invites the Arab heads of state to a meeting in Israel to further discuss the initiative and collaborate on improving it. [5]

Aug. 15-Aug. 23, 2005: Gaza and West Bank Disengagement: In an effort to relieve the security threats against Israelis living in Gaza and to try to put the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks back on track, Israel unilaterally pulls all of its citizens out of the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank. This dramatic move costs Israel approximately $2 billion, and includes the evacuation of all of the roughly 9,000 Israelis living in the affected areas in addition to exhuming and transferring all graves in Gaza to Israeli territory. On Sept. 12, 2005, the last Israel Defense Forces soldier departs the Gaza Strip, marking a historic step towards peace by Israel. [6]

Feb. 8, 2005: Sharm el-Sheikh Summit I: Sharon meets with PA President Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah of Jordan to announce the implementation of Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. Abbas and Sharon agree upon a ceasefire. Sharon expresses his hope that the disengagement will foster a step forward in the Roadmap for Peace. [7]

Dec. 18, 2003: Fourth Herzliya Conference: At this conference, Prime Minister Sharon presents a plan for Israel's unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria in exchange for peace. The Israeli Cabinet approves the plan on June 6, 2004 and the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) approves it on Oct. 25, 2004. The disengagement plan, a major sacrifice for peace, calls for evacuating nearly 9,000 Israeli residents living in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel also proposes the disengagement plan in hopes of stimulating progress in the peace process on the Palestinian side. [8]

June 4, 2003: Peace Summit at Aqaba: Sharon and Abbas meet in Jordan to reaffirm their commitment to the Roadmap. Sharon promises withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian areas, and Abbas pledges an end to the Intifada and the Palestinian culture of hate against Israel. The prospects of the summit are shattered Aug. 19, 2003, after Palestinian terrorists carry out a suicide bombing in Jerusalem. As a result, on Sept. 1, 2003 the Israeli Cabinet decides to wage war against Hamas and other terrorist groups, and halts the diplomatic process with the Palestinian Authority until it proves it is taking concrete measures to stop terrorism. [9]

Apr. 30, 2003: Roadmap for Peace: Based upon President Bush's speech of June 24, 2002 and principles of the Oslo Accords, this plan is supervised by the Quartet: the United States, the European Union, the Russian Federation and the United Nations. It calls for serious alterations in the Palestinian government and results in the appointment of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. The Roadmap, which charts progress toward a final-status agreement through a series of benchmarks relating to security and political progress, is still the official blueprint towards peace between Israel and the Palestinians, with the Quartet meeting intermittently to track the progress of the plan. [10]

June 24, 2002: Bush's Vision for the Middle East: In a Rose Garden Speech, President George W. Bush outlines a new plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, with the possibility of a sovereign Palestinian state established in the near future. This policy calls for new Palestinian leadership (specifically acknowledging the corruption and unwillingness to stop terrorism that characterized Arafat's regime) and a reformulated democratic government for the Palestinians. The president also calls upon the Palestinians, as well as other Arab states supporting or tolerating terrorism, to cease those activities. The plan focuses mainly on the impediments to the peace process posed by the Palestinians since the Israelis had repeatedly offered and acted upon various concessions for peace, and on greater democratization throughout the Arab world. [11]

March 28, 2002: The Arab Peace Initiative: Leaders of Arab nations come together at the Beirut Summit, where Saudi Arabia proposes a plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This plan is known as the Saudi Initiative, or the Arab Peace Initiative. The plan calls for Israel to withdraw completely to pre-1967 borders; supports the 'right of return' for all Palestinian refugees and their descendents; and the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. The Arab states in attendance pledge not to exercise military action to end the hostilities, and state that if Israel agrees to the aforementioned stipulations without modification, the Arab countries will in return consider the Arab-Israeli conflict to be over and normalize relations with Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres responds to the initiative on behalf of Israel, stating that Israel views the plan as encouraging, but that the agreement must be discussed directly with the Palestinians and that no accord can come to fruition unless terror activities are ceased, a condition not mentioned in the Arab Initiative. [12]

Jan. 22-27, 2001: Taba Conference: In the midst of the Second Intifada, and as a follow-up to the Camp David Summit, the Israelis and Palestinians meet for a final attempt to come to an agreement on a Palestinian state. Israel offers 94 percent of the West Bank in addition to Israeli land, culminating in an offer of 97 percent of the total land area requested by the Palestinians. The 'right of return' is also considered. However, the conference ends again in a standstill, and an Israeli-Palestinian Joint Statement is issued asserting that the two parties have never before been so close to an agreement and expressing hope for the future. [13]

July 11-25, 2000: Camp David Summit: To keep to the schedule set by the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum, Arafat and Barak meet with President Clinton at Camp David. In an effort to achieve peace once and for all, Barak offers a series of concessions including Israeli withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip and 95 percent of the West Bank; the subsequent creation of an independent Palestinian state in the aforementioned areas; the dismantlement of all Israeli settlements in those areas given to the Palestinians; land compensation outside of the West Bank for settlements to remain under Israeli sovereignty; and Palestinian rule over East Jerusalem and most of the Old City (excluding the Jewish Quarter) and 'religious sovereignty' on the Temple Mount. In exchange, the agreement called for Arafat to declare an end to the conflict and a prohibition of future claims on Israeli land. Arafat rejects the proposal and makes no counter-offer. The summit ends in failure, but a Tri-Lateral Statement is issued delineating the principles of future talks. [14]

Sept. 4, 1999: Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum: This memorandum addresses the delay in implementation of the Oslo Accords created by Palestinian non-compliance with security obligations and the subsequent Israeli refusal to redeploy troops in the face of a growing terror threat from Area A (which is under full Palestinian administrative and security control). At this time, Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak meet to reaffirm their commitment to the Oslo Peace Process and set a new deadline, Sept. 13, 2000, for the completion of peace talks. [15]

Oct. 23, 1998: Wye River Memorandum: U.S. President Bill Clinton hosts Netanyahu and Arafat to negotiate the details of implementation of Oslo II of 1995. The memorandum emphasizes the need for the Palestinian side to uphold its security obligations. In return, for each phase the Palestinians successfully complete, they are to receive a specified percentage of land (through measures such as Israeli troop deployments). [16]

Jan. 17, 1997: Protocol Concerning the Redeployment in Hebron: The redeployment of Israeli soldiers from Hebron, the last remaining Palestinian city under Israeli control, is orchestrated in the Hebron Agreement. The protocol is signed by Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This marks the first time Israel's Likud party government has supported territorial withdrawal in the West Bank (also known as Judea and Samaria), until then widely considered a Labor party policy. [17]

Sept. 28, 1995: Oslo II: The Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, known as "Oslo II" or "Taba," broadens and supersedes the 1994 Gaza-Jericho Agreement. This agreement deals with many aspects of the transition to Palestinian autonomy, including how Israel will leave Palestinian-populated areas in the West Bank and Gaza; the provision for Palestinians to elect the newly established Palestinian Council; and the division of the area into three sections based on which group retains responsibility for security divided into Areas A, B and C. Israel also releases Palestinian prisoners as a sign of goodwill. [18]

Oct. 26, 1994: Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty: After a series of meetings, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul-Salam Majali sign the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty. The basic provisions of the treaty delineate the international border; prohibit hostilities between the two nations; agree upon water usage from shared bodies of water; allow for freedom of movement between the two countries as well as access to religious sites within Jerusalem; and formally normalize all relations between Israel and Jordan. Diplomatic relations begin Nov. 27, 1994, and additional bilateral agreements are signed in the coming years in areas such as environment, trade and tourism. [19]

July 25, 1994: The Washington Declaration: King Hussein of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin meet publicly in Washington, D.C. for the first time and take important steps toward implementing a peace treaty. The official state of war between the two countries is ended; each nation agrees to follow U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 to seek a total and lasting peace; and Israel acknowledges Jordan's special role in the oversight of Muslim holy places within Jerusalem. The two leaders also focus on future economic cooperation between Israel and Jordan. [20]

May 4, 1994: Gaza-Jericho Agreement: In what is also known as the Cairo Agreement, Israel and the Palestinians outline Israel's initial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Jericho, as well as the creation of the Palestinian Authority. Although Israel is removing all of its forces from these areas (and later from Palestinian cities in the West Bank), Yasser Arafat's PA fails to meet the security conditions requiring it to crack down on terror groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. [21]

Sept. 14, 1993: Israel-Jordan Common Agenda: After almost two years of Madrid Conference-inspired bilateral talks between Israel and Jordan, the two nations sign the Common Agenda which outlines the impending peace treaty between the two countries. [22]

Sept. 13, 1993: The Oslo Accords: After secret negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians in Oslo following the Madrid Peace Conference, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat shake hands and sign the "Declaration of Principles On Interim Self-Government Arrangements," better known as the Oslo Accords. The agreement calls for the transfer of power in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to the Palestinians, beginning with an interim phase, leading to self-government and elections among the Palestinians, and culminating with a final-status agreement in which a permanent Palestinian state will sign an end-of-conflict agreement with Israel. The negotiations phase of the Accords include Rabin and Arafat exchanging letters in which Arafat pledges that the PLO recognizes Israel and commits itself to peace, while Rabin states that Israel recognizes the PLO as a legitimate party in the negotiations for peace. The "land for peace" strategy is heavily employed in these accords. The Oslo Accords are carried out through phased meetings. [23]

Oct. 30-Nov.1, 1991: Madrid Peace Conference: The United States and USSR co-host a conference in Spain to set the framework to negotiate peace between Israel and Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians, the first time direct and open peace talks are held between Israel and these four partners since 1949. The three-day conference sets in motion bilateral talks between Israel and each of its neighbors, as well as multilateral talks, about issues such as trade, resource development and conflict-prevention. Ultimately, however, no agreements develop from the Madrid process. [24]

May 14, 1989: Israel's Peace Initiative: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin announce a plan for peace, based on the Camp David Accords, consisting of four basic parts: strengthening peace with Egypt as a regional cornerstone; promoting full peaceful relations with the Arab states; improving refugee conditions through international efforts; and establishing interim self-rule for Palestinians, including Palestinian elections, during a five-year period leading to a "permanent solution." [25]

-----------------

Footnotes

[1] IDF Spokesman’s Unit, Jan. 2 and Jan. 20, 2008; “Supply of electricity to Gaza continues,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jan. 21, 2008, http://ncane.com/fow; “Remarks by FM Livni at the Davos World Economic Forum,” Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jan. 24, 2008, http://ncane.com/rf9

[2] Heller, Jeffrey and Spetalnick, Matt, "Bush urges end to Israeli occupation," Reuters, Jan. 10, 2008, http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080111/ts_nm/bush_mideast_dc_19

[3] "Bush: Israelis, Palestinians agree on framework for peace talks," CNN, Nov. 27, 2007, http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/11/27/mideast.summit/index.html;
Ravid, Barak, Benn, Aluf and Uni Assaf, "Israel, PA agree to strive for accord by end of 2008," Haaretz, Nov. 27, 2007, http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/928637.html

[4] "Israeli-Arab Negotiations: Background, Conflicts, and U.S. Policy," CRS Report for Congress, April 10, 2007, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33530.pdf
Knickmeyer, Ellen, Washington Post, June 26, 2007, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/25/AR2007062500283.html

[5] "Paying the Price for Peace," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 28, 2005, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/2000_2009/2005/Paying+the+Price+for+Peace+-+July+2005.htm.

[6] "Israeli-Palestine Negotiations," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sept. 7, 2003, http://tinyurl.com/67w5e
"Israel's Disengagement Plan: Renewing the Peace Process," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 20, 2005, http://tinyurl.com/9f3e7

[7] "Israel's Disengagement Plan: Renewing the Peace Process," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 20, 2005, http://tinyurl.com/9f3e7

[8] "Israel's Disengagement Plan: Renewing the Peace Process," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, April 20, 2005, http://tinyurl.com/9f3e7

[9] "Israeli-Palestine Negotiations," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sept. 7, 2003, http://tinyurl.com/67w5e

[10] "What was the 2003 'Road Map' for peace between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs?" Palestine Facts, http://palestinefacts.org/pf_current_roadmap.php, accessed July 17, 2007.

[11] "What was the Middle East plan put forth by Pres. Bush in June 2002?" Palestine Facts, http://palestinefacts.org/pf_current_bushplan_2002.php, accessed July 17, 2007.

[12] "Beirut Declaration on Saudi Peace Initiative - 28-Mar-2002," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, March 28, 2002, http://tinyurl.com/36cwu8; "Response of FM Peres to the decisions of the Arab Summit in Beirut - 28-Mar-2002," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, March 28, 2002, http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il/mfa/about%20the%20ministry/mfa%20spokesman/2002/response%20of%20fm%20peres%20to%20the%20decisions%20of%20the%20arab

[13] "What happened at the Taba Conference in January 2001?" Palestine Facts, http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_alaqsa_taba.php, accessed July 17, 2007.

[14] "What took place at Camp David in 2000?" Palestine Facts, http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_campdavid_2000.php, accessed July 17, 2007.

[15] "What was the Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum in 1999?" Palestine Facts, http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_sharmelsheikh_agreement_1999.php, accessed July 17, 2007.

[16] "The Wye River Memorandum," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oct. 23, 1998, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/The%20Wye%20River%20Memorandum

[17] "What was the Hebron Protocol and Agreement in 1997?" Palestine Facts, http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_hebron_agreement_1997.php, accessed July 17, 2007.

[18] "What was the 'Oslo II' Interim Agreement in 1995?" Palestine Facts, http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_oslo_accords_2.php, accessed July 17, 2007.

[19] "Main Points of Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oct. 26, 1994, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Main%20Points%20of%20Israel-Jordan%20Peace%20Treaty

[20] "The Israel-Jordan Negotiations," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, March 24, 2003, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Israel-Jordan%20Negotiations

[21] "What was the Gaza and Jericho Agreement of 1994?" Palestine Facts, http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_gaza_jericho.php, accessed July 17, 2007.

[22] "The Israel-Jordan Negotiations," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, March 24, 2003, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/Israel-Jordan%20Negotiations

[23] "What were the details of the Oslo Accords?" Palestine Facts, http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1991to_now_oslo_accords.php, accessed July 17, 2007

[24] "The Madrid Framework," Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jan. 28, 1999, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace%20Process/Guide%20to%20the%20Peace%20Process/The%20Madrid%20Framework

[25] "What was Israel's May 1989 peace initiative?" Palestine Facts, http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_israel_peace_1989.php, accessed July 17, 2007.

Source

Back to Madonna and Kabbalah

...Madonna’s philosophical notions, beliefs she has taken from Kabbalah, which is a Hebrew word for the teaching. Kabbalists believe there were two revelations on Mount Sinai: what God told Moses to write on the tablets, and a secret teaching, what the Infinite whispered to the Finite, which was then passed from father to son. Most celebrity religions, which is what Kabbalah became in L.A., offer distinct levels of understanding — one for the masses, another for the elite — which echoes the existing celebrity worldview: outside or inside, onstage or plunged into darkness.

For Madonna, Kabbalah, as taught at the Kabbalah Centre, had the advantage of seeming to reinforce what she already felt to be true: there is no good and evil, no right and wrong. All such distinctions are artificial. “Ultimately everything’s good,” she told me. “Even bad is good, because bad is there to help you resist it. You need to have that resistance to be good, and, let’s face it, the worst things that happen are always the best things that happen. If you look back at your life and say, Well, what did you learn? What happened that changed your life, that made you strong, that made you grow, it’s always things you perceived as bad.

and

I asked Madonna about Kabbalah. She looked at me as if to gauge the nature of my interest, then spoke.

“A lot of people join the group, but don’t know why,” Madonna said. “I was raised a Catholic and was never encouraged to ask questions, or understand the deeper meanings or mystical implications of the New Testament or the history of Jesus, or the fact that he was Jewish, or anything, you know? So I rejected that, because who wants to go through life being told you do things because you do things? When I started going to classes and studying [Kabbalah], I did it out of curiosity. I was told it was the mystical interpretation of the Old Testament.”

She said Kabbalah is a philosophy, a way of understanding, lessons.

“Like what?” I asked.

She said, “One is that we are all responsible for our actions, our behavior, and our words, and we must take responsibility for everything we say and do. When you get your head wrapped around that, you can no longer think of life as a series of random events — you participate in life in a way you didn’t previously. I am the architect of my destiny. I am in charge. I bring that to me, or I push that away. You can no longer blame other people for things that happened to you.

“The other is that there is order in the universe, even though it looks like chaos. We separate the world into categories: this is good and this is bad. But life is set up to trick us. It’s a series of illusions we invest in. And ultimately those investments don’t serve our understanding, because physicality is always going to let you down, because physicality doesn’t last.”

She looked out the window. Los Angeles was there, the hills studded with houses, marbled by streets and ablaze in light, rising and falling, ending at the sea. It seemed to beckon in the way of those crystalline landscapes in old Flemish religious paintings, where Jerusalem looks just like, say, Holland, not because the painter was stupid, or untraveled, or did not know, but because, when you believe, every city is Jerusalem. “You have to get to a point where you care as little about getting smoke blown up your ass as you do when you become a whipping boy in the press,” Madonna said, “because ultimately they both add up to shit. You just have to keep doing your work, and hope and pray somebody’s dialing into your frequency.”

She then said, “If your joy is derived from what society thinks of you, you’re always going to be disappointed.”

From an interview with Rich Cohen

At Least Know Your Hebrew

In a previous post, I had commented on Yonatan Mendel who flayed forth in the London Review of Books, getting all frothy and stuff.

Doesn't aprpeciate Israel's presence in the territories and misrepresented a few things.

Yael Lotan is very lefty but even she couldn't hold back on this translation corruption:

Language of Occupation

Yonatan Mendel translates the verb keter as ‘crowning’ (LRB, 6 March). Keter does mean ‘crown’, but the root verb ktr means ‘circle’, and the verb used in the military sense (lekhater) means ‘to encircle’, not ‘to crown’ (which would be lehakhtir).

Yael Lotan
Givatayim, Israel

Paschal Sacrifice Resurgent

Here.

I ran into Aviad Visouli today and he promised to send me the text of his High Court for Justice petition to allow the sacrifice. Will put it up when I get it.

Okay, Let's Have Your Captions

So, The Catholic Church Has a Nazi Past

A little historical clarification here:-

The Catholic Church has issued a list of 5,900 people who were forced by the Nazis to work as gardeners, grave-diggers and hospital orderlies at Catholic facilities in Germany during World War II...During the Nazi era, huge numbers of Eastern Europeans were forced to do factory or farm work at low pay,

...The church decided to expose its own guilt in greater detail, commissioning a 700-page historical study of the 4,829 laborers and 1,075 prisoners of war it had obtained from the Nazi labor office...Most laborers did not work in churches, but typically in Catholic hospitals and cemeteries, on farms run by monasteries or in domestic service. According to the study, most hailed from Poland, Ukraine and the Soviet Union.

In a radio interview, Hummel said the Church had failed by not speaking out clearly against the Nazi regime..."It's a burden of history that our church will keep facing up to in the future," he said.

And more:-

The report commissioned in 2000 by the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference found that during the war church institutions employed 4,829 civilians and 1,075 prisoners of war as slave labourers.

The Archbishop of Mainz, Cardinal Karl Lehmann said the 700-page history entitled "Forced Labour in the Catholic Church 1939-1945" found that 776 church hospitals, homes, monasteries, farms and gardens were provided with slave labour imported from Russia, Poland and the Ukraine by the Nazi regime.

...Cardinal Lehmann said at a press conference broadcast on German television on April 8...There is no collective guilt, but as Christians and as a church we are aware of the responsibility that results from the burden of the past,” the former president of the German Catholic Bishops Conference said.

"We shouldn't hide the fact that the memory of the Catholic church was blind for too long to the fate and the suffering of the men, women, young people and children dragged to Germany from all over Europe to be put to forced labour," Cardinal Lehmann said.

...Harvard scholar Daniel Jonah Goldhagen in his 2003 book “A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair” denounced the Catholic Church’s collusion with the Nazi regime, placing some of the moral responsibility of the Holocaust upon its shoulders, while John Cornwell in “Hitler’s Pope” denounced Pope Pius XII’s silence.

Other scholars have rejected these claims, including Rabbi David Dalin whose book the “Myth of Hitler’s Pope” argues the Catholic Church did more than any other religious body to help Jews in the face of Nazi persecution. [there just had to be a Jew, and a Rabbi at that, to counter Goldhagen]

The Militant BBC

Here's the BBC headline:-

Militant attack on Israeli border

And what was so "militant"?

At least seven people are reported to have been killed following a raid by Palestinian militants near a border crossing between Gaza and Israel.

Seven?

Well, here's how they count:-

Two Israeli workers were killed as a fuel depot at the Nahal Oz crossing in northern Gaza came under attack. The Israeli army said at least two militants were killed as they fled. Another three Palestinians were killed by Israeli missiles, reports said.

That's not fair, bunching the seven together.

That's biased reporting, specious journalism. Moral inequivalancy.

Oh, sorry, we are referring to the BBC, are we not?

An Early 1950s Map

The area where I live:-



Curtesy of the Palestine Arab Refugee Office.

Found here.

Wright is Wrong Again

African Americans suffered, many even horrifically, in the past. But Rev. Wright was not one of them.

How do I know? It happens that, as a Philadelphian, I attended Central High School -- the same public school Jeremiah Wright attended from 1955 to 1959. He could have gone to an integrated neighborhood school, but he chose to go to Central, a virtually all-white school that attracts the most serious academic students in the city. The school then was about 80 percent Jewish and 95 percent white. The African American students, like all the others, were there on merit. Generally speaking, we came from lower- and middle-class backgrounds. Many of our parents had not received a formal education and we tended to live in row houses. In short, economically, we were roughly on par.

I attended Central a few years after Rev. Wright, so I did not know him personally. But I knew of him and I know where he used to live -- in a tree-lined neighborhood of large stone houses in Philadelphia's Germantown section. Rev. Wright's father was a prominent pastor and his mother was a teacher and later vice principal and disciplinarian of the Philadelphia High School for Girls, also a distinguished academic high school. Two of my acquaintances remember her as an intimidating and strict disciplinarian and excellent math teacher. In short, Rev. Wright had a comfortable upper-middle class upbringing. It was hardly the scene of poverty and indignity suggested by Sen. Obama to explain what he calls Wright's anger and what I describe as his hatred.

Source

It's That Time of Year Again

Sortie d'egypte - ×?צ×?×?ת ×?צר×?×?
Uploaded by yossi

Digging In - or Out?

How can intelligent people come up with such a plan?

UCLA and USC archaeologists hope preserving the Middle East's shared past can pave way to protecting the future

USC archaeologist Lynn Dodd and UCLA archaeologist Ran Boytner mobilized a team of Israeli and Palestinian archaeologists to draft a plan for the disposition of the region's archaeological heritage following the establishment of a Palestinian state.

For the first time, the would-be peacemakers publicly revealed the fruits of their negotiations and underlying research to approximately 200 Israeli archaeologists during a four-hour presentation on April 8 at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem. The plan involves the return of artifacts and agreement over the protection of designated archeological sites.

Archaeologists Ran Boytner of UCLA and Lynn Swartz Dodd of USC acknowledge that their 39-point Israeli-Palestinian Archaeology Working Group Agreement, an outgrowth of their Shared Heritage Project, faces massive political and emotional roadblocks, especially on the Israeli side.

"In the Middle East, the archaeological links to the past represent more than scientific knowledge. They underpin each side's claims to the land," said Dodd, curator of USC's Archaeological Research Collection and lecturer in religion.

...so far none of the Palestinian negotiators, and only two of the Israelis, have been willing to go public by name for fear of physical or professional reprisal or intimidation.

The two identified Israeli archaeologists are Rafael Greenberg of Tel Aviv University and David Ilan, director of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology at Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem.

Under the proposed agreement, as well as under international law, Israel would have to make the major concessions, including returning a large number of sites and artifacts located in, or taken from, the territory of a future Palestinian state.

These may include such sites as Qumran, where the scribes of the Dead Sea Scrolls may have lived and worked; Samaria, capital of the ancient kingdom of Israel; and Mount Ibal, where Joshua built an altar to God. [all good Muslim sites, eh?]

Other provisions of the agreement include:

Full protection of all sites and free access for scholars and the public, regardless of ethnicity or religion.

More than tripling the area of Jerusalem under special protection as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which now includes the Temple Mount, Western Wall and the walls of the Old City. The extended area would roughly equal Jerusalem's boundaries during the 10th-century crusades.

Prohibiting the destruction of archaeological sites because of their religious or cultural affiliations.

Support for establishment of archaeological museums, laboratories and storehouses to assure proper handling of returned artifacts.

Deir Yassin Day Today

We read this:

Over 80 New Yorkers from diverse communities gathered last Saturday, April 5th in the Salam Lutheran Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Deir Yassin massacre, which occurred on April 9, 1948...The commemoration began with poetry about Deir Yassin and a slide show on the massacre...the Zionist militias Irgun, the Stern Gang and the Haganah (which were later to form the Israeli army) attacked the village of Deir Yassin, near Jerusalem. In the battle and massacre that followed, between 107 and 120 Palestinians, including women and children, were killed.

Muhammad Jaradat and Eitan Bronstein, on a US tour organized by the American Friends Service Committee, spoke about Deir Yassin and of their work surrounding the Nakbah and Palestinian refugee rights...Eitan Bronstein, an Israeli educator, activist and Director of Zochrot (Hebrew for “remembering”), gave a presentation about his organization’s work to raise awareness among Israeli Jews on the Nakbah. Bronstein noted that “there is almost total ignorance in Israel about the Nakbah. . . . And Deir Yassin is a good example of that. Until today, there is no monument for the Deir Yassin massacre; there are no signs there; someone who passed by on the street in the neighborhood would not know that this is Deir Yassin.” Bronstein showed photos of events Zochrot has organized at Deir Yassin to commemorate the massacre.

Explaining the motivation for Zochrot’s work, Bronstein said, “It’s about time to change this [ignorance] and to know about the Nakbah. This knowledge is the first and essential step to acknowledge what happened to the Palestinians. This acknowledgement is not just a statement of how we are responsible; it is much more than that.” Bronstein expressed his desire that Israeli Jews would rewrite their textbooks, erect monuments to the Nakbah, and acknowledge the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their villages.

And this:-

Deir Yassin Remembered and the Israeli organization Zochrot will commemorate the massacre in a procession with signs and in a ceremony where we shall read the names of those who were massacred.

The event will take place on Thursday, April 10th, 4:00 – 6:00PM.

The procession will leave from the gathering point at 22 Kanfei Nesharim Street (corner Azulay, in the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem). From there we shall walk towards the hospital, known as Kfar Shaul. At the end of Kanfei Nesharim we shall turn left to Katsenelenbogen Street and from there we shall walk through Hafla’a Street behind the hospital. At the end of the street we will hold the ceremony.

A bus will leave Tel-Aviv from Arlozorov train station from the former El-Al terminal at 3 PM.

For the truth, try this.

An Edited Joke

You may have received this joke recently:

The Arch Mullah of Canterbury has announced that British weather has been declared Muslim.

It will be either: Sunni or Shiite

==================================

Now, wasn't that joke just Suffi.

What, There's A Leftist Pro-Pal "Pirate" Station?

Funny, I've been interviewed several times by this station.

Police release 7 peace radio staffers after night in detention

Seven employees of Jewish-owned RAM-FM radio were released from detention Tuesday, a day after Israel Police closed down the station's Jerusalem office, seizing its transmission equipment.

The Foreign Press Association branch in Israel and the Palestinian territories condemned the police for holding the journalists overnight and demanded their immediate release.

Owned by Jewish South African businessman Issy Kirsh, RAM-FM is an English-language station whose mission statement is to encourage Israeli-Palestinian dialog. The station has headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, as well as a Jerusalem office with a local transmitter on another frequency.

The Communications Ministry said it ordered police to shut down the transmitter and close the studio as part of a crackdown on stations broadcasting without a permit.

Is This Olmert's Idea of Security?

Regarding the reports of weapons being removed from Yesha communities, restrictions on reimbursements for safeguarding one's car and other bad news, I was wondering, is this an example of the new security Olmert, backed by the US, has in store for us:-

Police: Chimp stole dart gun, lunged at police officer before he was shot | New details released on the fatal shooting of 17-year-old chimpanzee

A chimpanzee that had escaped from a Bastrop research center in March snatched a tranquilizer gun from an animal attendant, leapt from a truck bed and threatened a police officer by flailing its arms before being shot several times, according to documents released Friday.

On March 12, Tony, a 140-pound, 171/2-year-old chimpanzee got out of the play area by jumping more than 15 feet from a jungle gym and grabbing the top of a corral wall. Tranquilizer darts failed to subdue him. A University of Texas police officer eventually shot and killed the animal.

According to a memo from UT police to executives at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, which manages the Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, the officer who shot Tony watched the animal take a tranquilizer gun from an animal attendant who was trying to capture the animal according to university protocol.

The Fence and the Law

The American fence, that is:-

Challenges Arise to Border Fence Project

Securing the nation’s borders is so important, Congress says, that Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, must have the power to ignore any laws that stand in the way of building a border fence. Any laws at all.

Last week, Mr. Chertoff issued waivers suspending more than 30 laws he said could interfere with “the expeditious construction of barriers” in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. The list included laws protecting the environment, endangered species, migratory birds, the bald eagle, antiquities, farms, deserts, forests, Native American graves and religious freedom.

The secretary of homeland security was granted the power in 2005 to void any federal law that might interfere with fence building on the border. For good measure, Congress forbade the courts to second-guess the secretary’s determinations. So long as Mr. Chertoff is willing to say it is necessary to void a given law, his word is final.

Bond, Tzvi Bond

Tragedy Then Triumph

A month ago, Tzvi Gluck got word of a troubled Jewish teen being treated in Jamaica Estates, New York. A busy investment banker from Brooklyn who doubles as a professional askan, Gluck gave the matter very little thought, if any. After all, Gluck said to himself, there are many frum Jews in Jamaica Estates.

After hearing about 16 year-old Isaac Hersh a few more times in the ensuing weeks, Gluck received confirmation that the boy was being held against his will at Tranquility Bay, a behavior modification center located in Jamaica - the country.

...What has happened since is both supernatural and highly political.

Despite its name, Tranquility Bay has been likened to a concentration camp. Touted by some as a facility proven to straighten out severely disturbed youngsters, Tranquility Bay's staff practices severe disciplinary measures to accomplish its goals. Just for glancing the wrong way, detainees of the boot camp are forced to lie down on mats for 30-hour periods.

And that is the most lenient punishment doled out by the disciplinary academy's correctional officers.

...On March 19, the eve of Purim, a group that included Gluck and with the financial support of Gluck's employer, Joseph Sharashefsky, readied themselves for a private flight to Jamaica. Once there, a small delegation would plead with the American Embassy to release Isaac.

The question was then raised: who would be boarding the plane for the Jamaica rescue mission?

After dozens of consultations, it was decided that Gluck would be joined by Rabbi Wolbe and his father, Rabbi Avorhom Wolbe of Monsey, and Yeshiva University's Straus Professor of Psychology and Education Dr. David Pelcovitz.


...Luckily, the group's Jamaican driver, Garfield, not only knew where the unmarked facility was located, but was familiar with the building's entrances and exits, as well. Leaving the younger Rabbi Wolbe at the main entrance, the others stationed themselves at a back entrance. Not too long after, Isaac, escorted by a team of Tranquility Bay guards, exited the building's back entrance, recognized the elder Rabbi Wolbe and made a break for it.

After a few moments of tearful hugs, Isaac readily agreed to discuss all details of his dreadful experience at the camp. According to one account, members of the New York team and the Embassy cried uncontrollably as Isaac recounted the events of his stay at Tranquility Bay. In one of the easier diagnoses of his career, Dr. Pelcovitz confirmed that Isaac had been physically and mentally abused at the camp.

...And with a cell phone attached to his ear, sixteen year-old Isaac Hersh spoke to his grandparents, themselves survivors of a Holocaust over 60 years ago, for the first time in almost a year.

"Zayde, now we're all survivors." Isaac cried.

And some of us are superheroes.

The whole story is here.

I Am Signed On This Appeal

Israeli Attorney General Moves To Block Shurat Hadin's Prosecution Of Islamic Waqf

The Israeli Attorney General, Menachem Mazuz, has sent a letter of intention to the Jerusalem District Court announcing his intention to seek to dismiss a criminal indictment brought by a group of over 170 Israeli citizens against officials of the Jerusalem WAQF ("Islamic Trust").

A reminder: The unprecedented private indictment, which was filed on November 1, 2007, alleges that the WAQF officials have been engaged in the deliberate destruction of ancient Jewish relics on the Temple Mount. The case is first of its kind in Israeli legal history and utilizes a seldom applied section of the criminal code. If convicted, the WAQF officials face years in prison.

The legal action, which was organized by Shurat HaDin - Israel Law Center, accuses leaders of the WAQF of intentionally demolishing priceless Jewish artifacts, including the remains of the Second Temple.

...Shurat HaDin alleges that the Israeli government, in its political cowardice, has consistently refused to undertake any concrete actions to stop the criminal activities of the WAQF - thus abandoning the millenniums long Jewish claim over the Temple Mount and allowing Islamic extremists to re-write Jerusalem's history.

According to the law, the Attorney General's office had 15 days after the private indictment was filed to decide whether it would like to adopt the prosecution on its own or allow the citizen prosecutors to proceed independently. Recently, after weeks of delays, the Attorney General Mazuz decided to choose none of the above and announced in his letter that he will ask that the entire case be stricken. The government lawyers are arguing that it is in the public's interest not to bring the WAQF official to court! Mazuz claims, that the private indictment is not the proper proceeding in this instance, but refuses to take the prosecution upon himself.

Shurat HaDin has opposed the Attorney General's efforts to interfere with the prosecution of the criminal WAQF and sent an objection to his letter arguing that if the government is too afraid to place those Islamic extremists who seek to eradicate evidence of the Jewish People's historical connection to the Temple Mount in prison, "the Jewish people are entitled to do it on their own".

The Minimum

...when and if serious Palestinian negotiators appear, it will have to be made clear to them that the continued presence of Jews on territory over which
they will have sovereignty in the future, and the assurance of their safety,
must be part of a durable peace agreement between Israel and the
Palestinians.

source

Yehiel Fishzon and Myself and Other Pictures

On an outing of the staff of the Menachem Begin Heritage Center.

That's Yehiel Fishzon, former head of Betar in the former Soviet Union during the 1990s. I was only head of North American Betar, 1967-1969.

And while we're at it, a few more pics from the outing:-

"Rechasim"

The Hebrew word "reches" (רכס) means 'range', like in 'mountain range'.

The thinking behind this is a new attempt to assure a continum of Jewsih presence across the hills to protect against Arab encroachment. That's what the girls were doing the other night (see here).

Well, here's the poster announcing next week's events.



Get ready.

UPDATE

Haim Ramon understands this:-

"Construction in Judea and Samaria, especially the illegal outposts, stems from a wish to establish political facts that will make it difficult for the Israeli governments to adopt a policy different from that of the persons building the illegal outposts. They declare this, and therefore this construction has an open political and ideological nature. People say, we will build without permission so that if the majority in Israel wants to return part of this territory [to the Palestinians], it will be impossible or it will be much more difficult," Ramon said.

Canadians Experience First-Hand Israeli Incompetence

The group was on a hill, near Kibbutz Nir Am, overlooking the Northern Gazan town of Beith Hanoun, from where most rockets are launched.

"At one point, I saw a vehicle approaching the border and our guide, Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, assured us they were probably farmers would would not fire at us," Del Negro said.

"No sooner had he said that, there was a volley of machine-gun fire and then Mati Gil (Dichter's senior aide) fell wounded and I sought refuge behind some cement blocks as bullets were whizzing over my head." "Innocent civilians were targeted and I fail to understand why the international community has not done anything to denounced what is happening," he said.

Source

Girls Only, Part II

I earlier blogged about a poster I saw announcing a "girls only" group planning to assert a Jewish presence in areas threatened by Arab encroachment (see here).

Well, G-d works in mysterious ways. Tonight, at 9:00, I found myself invited to lecture and talk with one of the groups at a site near Shiloh.

Here we are, Daniella Weiss, me and the girls:-



I spoke for over an hour and then the girls had to go eat. They'll be there for a day or so and then continue to plan a further operation after gaining the experience.

Intermarriage Provides "Torah"

The ceremony included traditions of the bridegroom, who is Jewish (breaking a glass, representing, he said, “our wish that our lives together would be longer than it would take to fit the broken pieces of glass back together again”)

Eric Cohen

The Unfortunate "Normal" Existence in Yesha

From my neighbor: Ester Silvers -

This happened to my daughter-in-law's car Monday between the Tapuach Junction and Ariel. Baruch Hahem she's okay.

Girls Only

Seems either the separation of the sexes has now taken over the redeeming of the land or, someone has decided that girls are better leaders.

The posters are announcing a "girls only" organization for groups.

Sex and the Synagogue Cantor

I don't usually get to write much about sex on this blog. But it happens.

First of all, it's a political blog and yes, some of our politicians can become embroiled in sexual escapades (Elliot "Shpitz" Spitzer and his #9). Secondly, if you want sex as a topic, believe me, there are many more other intersting and weird sites to go to.

But this item caught my eye if only because I am acquainted with the four gentlemen. Four, you ask?

Read on:-

World-Famous Cantor Allegedly the Target of Entrapment Plot
Scheme Said To Have Involved Hidden Hotel Camera

Naftali Hershtik, the cantor of the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem, has been the target of an entrapment scheme allegedly orchestrated by one of his former students, according to information obtained exclusively by the Forward.

The rumors began weeks ago, when Israeli papers reported that an unnamed cantor had been lured by a young woman into a hotel room wired with a hidden camera, in an attempt to trap the cantor in a compromising position. The Forward has learned from sources close to the case that the target of the entrapment was Hershtik — one of the most famed and respected cantors in the world — and that the man being accused of arranging the plot is Israel Rand, a former student of Hershtik’s.

Photographs of Hershtik, 60, and the young woman, taken by a hidden camera, were sent anonymously to Hershtik’s employer, the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, in an apparent attempt to have Hershtik fired, according to synagogue officials. The Great Synagogue suspended Hershtik, but has since reinstated him, and its officials there are now defending the star cantor.

“It’s a classic case of entrapment except for one fact — that, to my knowledge, the chazzan [cantor] did not fall into that trap of any consequence,” said Rabbi David Fuld, president of the Great Synagogue’s board. Fuld said he reviewed photographs that were sent to the synagogue and that they showed “nothing of significance” that happened between Hershtik and the young woman.

...The scandal turns the spotlight onto the universe of star cantors, where celebrity and flamboyant artistry intermingle with the demands of religious piety...in 1984 Hershtik co-founded the Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute, a school that trains cantors in the classical style, and which has taught many of today’s most important and celebrated cantors, including Yitzhak Meir Helfgot, Eric Moses and Gideon Zelermeyer.

One of those students was Rand, who is still listed on the school’s Web site as one of its prized students...According to his Web site, Rand is currently the chief cantor at the Great Synagogue of Ramat Gan for the High Holidays. In a twist worthy of soap opera, his old position at Schneier’s operation is now held by Netanel Hershtik, Naftali Hershtik’s son and a prominent and respected cantor in his own right.

...On March 17, the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that a young woman claiming to be a graduate student in musicology approached a “world leading cantor” and asked to interview him for a paper on “cantorial art and liturgy.” She allegedly called him several weeks later with follow-up questions and asked him to meet her at her hotel.

Pictures taken by a camera in the hotel room were then sent to the Great Synagogue, arriving sometime before Rosh Hashanah of 2007. Great Synagogue officials familiar with the contents of the tape contested a report in Yediot Aharonot claiming the tape depicted a sordid sexual affair.

There was “no passionate sex,” said Zelli Jaffe, vice president of the Great Synagogue’s board, who told the Forward he has seen the entire tape. “No sex.”

...Over the Sabbath of March 28 and 29, Hershtik and the choir from the Tel Aviv Cantorial Institute appeared at the New York Synagogue before a packed audience. Although most of the singing was done by the institute’s students, and by Netanel Hershtik, Naftali Hershtik did lead a few prayers, demonstrating his still-powerful tenor voice. Both the Friday evening and Saturday morning services closed with duets between the two Hershtiks.

Jaffe said he expects Naftali Hershtik to lead services at the Great Synagogue this coming Sabbath.

Naftali Hershtik has performed concerts and has led cantorial classes at the Begin Cneter wehre I work. Israel Rand ate with us at the same table and performed at a Shabbat last February a year ago in Tel Aviv. Rabbi Fuld is a well-known educator who I know and I've met also with Zelli Jaffee. I have most of Helfgot's recording, though.

I am not a real cantor - although I do led the congregation occasionally - and I have never been invited to a hotel room by any woman, young or old, so I can't comment on that element of the story.

On the other hand, I have heard and read of dalliance stories. After all, would I go to a hotel room (!) to meet a music student?

Wow. Talmudic Fists

The Tale of the Tape and the Talmud

Four days before his first North American Boxing Federation title defense, Yuri Foreman sat in the basement of a Brooklyn brownstone studying Shulchan Aruch, the code of Jewish law. By early afternoon, he would be at Gleason’s Gym to train for his approaching bout with Saul Román, a power puncher from Mexico with 24 knockouts in 28 fights.

This hectic schedule is familiar to Foreman, a 27-year-old rabbinical student and an undefeated professional light middleweight boxer who wears the Star of David on his boxing trunks and a black skullcap when he is studying or praying.

He answered rapid-fire questions from his teacher, Rabbi DovBer Pinson, an author and lecturer. The mental exercise, Foreman said, was tougher than any boxing routine.

“It’s a sharpen-your-mind workout,” he said. “When I go to the gym, I’m training my physical self. With the rabbi, I’m training my spiritual muscles.”

Mufti Checkmates King

Saudi Arabia's grand mufti Abdelaziz al-Sheikh has rejected an attempt by the government to open interreligious dialogue with Jewish rabbis.

According to a report by the official Kuwaiti news agency Kuna on Wednesday, the mufti refused to accept any visit by rabbis to a conference on interreligious dialogue, expected to be held in the kingdom's capital Riyadh.

A week ago, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Ibn Saud announced the conference in what appears to be the first attempt at dialogue between the three monotheistic faiths, Islam, Judaism and Christianity.

Any move to create dialogue between Saudi Arabia's imams and Israel's rabbis would be groundbreaking on a religious and political level in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia currently has no diplomatic relations with Israel.

But Saudi Arabia's mufti tried to quickly distance himself from the announcement by the Saudi monarch.

"I ask the media to check their facts and report the truth before spreading the news," said al-Sheikh.

King Abdullah announced plans to host the conference when he met participants who attended the Japan-Muslim world meeting on dialogue among civilisations last month.

The proposal for an interreligious meeting came after the monarch's visit to the Vatican in Rome last November, where he was received by Pope Benedict XVI.

Source

Oh, well, Rabbis Rosen, Melchior and Fruman will have to postpone their junket.

Your Typical British Understatement (and anti-Israel Bias)

This was suggested to me by AK.

Notice the way the two incidents are treated by UK officialdom:-

Gunmen blow up British cemetery monument in Gaza

Thu 3 Apr 2008, 16:33 GMT

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian gunmen blew up a monument in a British-run cemetery for foreign soldiers in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Thursday, witnesses and British diplomats said.

Witnesses said gunmen blew up the two-metre (6.5-foot) high stone monument in Britain's Gaza War Cemetery in central Gaza. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.

A statement issued by the British Consulate General in Jerusalem said the Gaza War Cemetery contains graves of British and other foreign soldiers who were killed in conflicts in the region from as early as World War One.

Many tombstones in the graveyard are marked with a cross or star of David, indicating that both Christians and Jews were buried there.

"The history of this region is complex. But the right of the dead to lie in peace and dignity is simple and should be respected by all," the statement said. "We hope that the authorities in Gaza will make every effort to apprehend those responsible."

Fury as Israelis damage war cemetery

Last Updated: 1:56am GMT 15/11/2006

Britain has issued a formal complaint after Israeli forces caused significant damage to the Commonwealth war cemetery in Gaza City, the last resting place for thousands of troops who died fighting the Ottomans in 1917.

One of the damaged headstones at the Commonwealth war cemetery in Gaza City. The cemetery is the resting place for 3,686 Commonwealth servicemen, mostly British infantrymen

The British embassy in Tel Aviv wrote to the Israeli government four months ago after six headstones and a perimeter wall were destroyed by an Israeli army bulldozer but has not yet received an answer.

More damage was done last week during an Israeli operation in the nearby town of Beit Hanoun, when an attack helicopter used its cannon to fire at one of the cemetery's larger group memorial stones.

Two dozen other headstones have been pockmarked by shrapnel from Israeli artillery and several have been completely destroyed.

British diplomats are understood to be increasingly frustrated at Israel's unwillingness to discuss the issue.

"In spite of the representations, nothing has been heard back: it's all rather exasperating," a diplomat said.

Where'd the 'fury' go?

Oops, There Goes Another Civiian Target

An air strike levels a house.

No, not in Gaza.

In Basra.

And not the Israel Air Force. But that of America.

An air strike in the southern Iraqi city of Basra has destroyed a house and killed at least one occupant.

The US military said a militant died, but would not confirm reports from Iraqi sources that up to six civilians may also have been killed.

The house is in a militia stronghold of which witnessed fierce clashes during a recent government crackdown in Basra.

Arab Student Activity at Hebrew U.

I'll have the exact translation up soon but anyone can "read" the map. Anybody see Israel?

My Haaretz Post Is Gathering Commentary

Here at Arutz 7:-

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky approved this week 600 new housing units in the northern Jerusalem suburb of Pisgat Ze'ev - and the English version of the Haaretz newspaper gave a particular slant to the report.

Widely read abroad, the English Haaretz reported the news by describing the area as "a Jewish settlement surrounded by Arab towns in the West Bank." However, Yisrael Medad, Director of Information and Educational Resources at the Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem, noted that Pisgat Ze'ev is actually not surrounded by Arab towns. In addition, full-fledged Jerusalem neighborhoods are never referred to as "settlements" in any but the most left-wing circles.

Medad noted in his blog that the original, Hebrew version of the Haaretz article said nothing about Pisgat Ze'ev either being a "settlement" or "being surrounded by Arab towns."

"We have a very politicized Haaretz subverting Israel abroad," Medad wrote.

"The left not only wants to destroy Judea and Samaria," Medad later told Arutz-7, "but they even want to give away Pisgat Ze'ev with its tens of thousands of Jews! Not only that, but though they always claim to be working on behalf of the rule of law, in this case they are working against a bona-fide Knesset law that annexed Pisgat Ze'ev and other neighborhoods as part of our capital city."

And here at CAMERA.

Jewish Activism

My Letter is in the Jerusalem Post

A bit edited from the original but it's finally in:-

You can't 'occupy' your own home

Sir, - I suspect that Amnon Rubinstein has allowed personal political ideology to overcome principles of jurisprudence and rational thought. In writing "Settling Jews outside of Israel proper is... illegal in international law and defective morally," while basing himself on the Fourth Geneva Convention, claiming that document "prohibits such settlements," he is misrepresenting facts ("The folly at Givat Ze'ev," March 25).

Firstly, that convention, like any contractual obligation, applies to those who are signatories, defined as the "High Contracting Parties." As there was no "Palestine" when the convention was produced, Israel cannot be considered as occupying its territories.

Secondly, David Ben-Gurion, in a Knesset statement on December 3, 1949, declared that the UN resolution of November 29, 1947 - the Partition Plan - no longer had any moral force and was null and void.

Taken together with the reality that the official representative bodies of the Arab community of the British Mandate refused to acknowledge the plan, the area administered currently by Israel since 1967 - what Rubinstein refers to as "occupied" - is, in essence, still part of what the League of Nations Supreme Council defined on July 24, 1922 as the area to be reconstituted as the national home of the Jewish people.

A state institution representing the Jewish people - Israel - cannot be an "occupier" in its own country.

Moreover, Jews moving to places such as Givat Ze'ev and Shiloh are fulfilling the principle established in the League of Nations decision which guaranteed them the "right to immigration to and close settlement on the land" (paragraph 6). Therefore, even if Israel is not actively encouraging such acts, individual Jews surely maintain those rights up to this day.

Thirdly, since Jews lived in, owned and tilled property in those "territories" for hundreds of years prior to the wars of aggression in which Arabs, local and foreign, sought to eliminate the State of Israel in 1947-49 and 1967, they are only returning home.

Certainly Jews must protect the civil liberties of the non-Jewish population (note: the term "Arab" appears nowhere in the text of the Mandate decision because the international community and its law did not recognize any specific Arab ethnic or national right to the area of the Mandate). But that does not affect Jewish rights as stated above.

YISRAEL MEDAD
Shiloh

The Way They Think

After three thousand years living around the world, suddenly you remembered your homeland!

You said your family came to Palestine because of the spread of Nazism, to escape the Holocaust.

Why should we Palestinians have to pay the price of others' crimes? If the Nazis killed your grandmother's family, why do you kill us in return?

I don't mean you personally of course, but the Israeli state.

Source

Remind Me, When Is Father's Day?

Doubletapper displays a nice wish list:

Can't The Guy Take a Joke?

Woody Allen, of all people, is suing over a joke, I think.

Here:-

Woody Allen asked a federal court on Monday to strip a clothing company known for its racy ads featuring scantily clad models of at least $10 million for using his image on billboards and on the Internet.

In a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the actor-director said he does not endorse commercial products or services in the United States, which makes the May 2007 American Apparel billboards in Hollywood and New York and Web site displays "especially egregious and damaging."

The lawsuit complained of a billboard featuring a frame from "Annie Hall," a film that won Allen a best director Oscar. The image showed Allen, 72, dressed as a Hasidic Jew with a long beard and black hat and Yiddish text meaning "the holy rebbe." The words "American Apparel" also were on the billboard.

Gee, and I only found out about it last month (and Jewess had to inform me that it was from last year with me thinking it was current)

Civilian Casualties are Regrettable - Always

On February 13 and 14, 1945, some 796 RAF Lancasters and 311 USAAF Flying Fortresses dropped over 4,500 tons of high explosives and incendiary devices on Dresden, which had until then hardly been damaged.

Rice Resumes Robust Bashing

As to settlement activity, we continue to state America's position that settlement activity is - should stop, that its expansion should stop, that it is indeed not consistent with Roadmap obligations. That is why, nonetheless, we have a committee that deals with Roadmap obligations. And it is my very strong view that the best thing that we can do is to focus on getting this agreement, because then we won't have these discussions about what belongs in Israel and what belongs in Palestine; we will know. That is why we need a Palestinian state. But let me say very clearly that nothing that is undertaken under any guise from the point of the United States can prejudge a final status outcome. And that has been our position and continues to be.

Source

And from the State Dept. spokeperson:-

QUESTION: Israel -- they have announced today that they will start building 600 units in East Jerusalem. Do you have any reaction on that?

MR. CASEY: Well, nothing beyond what you heard from the Secretary in her remarks in Jordan, which is simply to say that the Roadmap calls for a halt to settlement activities. That's been longstanding U.S. policy and that remains our policy.

Haaretz and It Semantic Subversion

At its English site, Haaretz published this:-

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski approved the expansion in Pisgat Zeev - a Jewish settlement surrounded by Arab towns in the West Bank - as part of a plan to construct 40,000 more homes in the area as foreign interest drives property prices up.

That seemed to me an odd description so I went to the original Hebrew and found this:-

הוועדה המקומית לתכנון ולבנייה בעיריית ירושלים אישרה אתמול (שני) תוכנית להקמת 600 יחידות דיור חדשות בשכונת פסגת זאב, בשוליים המזרחיים של כביש מספר 1. התוכנית החדשה היא חלק מתוכנית כוללת של ראש-עיריית ירושלים, אורי לופוליאנסקי, לבניית 40 אלף דירות בין השאר על רקע המחסור בדירות לזוגות צעירים ומחירן הגבוה של דירות בעיר בעקבות התעניינות מצד תושבי חוץ.

ראש העיר הודיע בעבר כי יקדם את התכניות בעקבות החלטתו על ביטול תוכנית ספדי שאמורה היתה לאפשר את התרחבותה של ירושלים מערבה. לופוליאנסקי הודיע כי אינו רואה כל בעיה בהרחבת הבנייה בשכונות ירושלים המצויות מעבר לקו הירוק ובהן פסגת זאב, נוה יעקב והר חומה. התוכנית הועברה להפקדה בוועדה המחוזית.

The italicized bit translates as: "Jerusalem neighborhoods located across the Green Line". Nothing about "settlement", nothing about "being surrounded". Besides the village of Hizma, there are no "towns" there.

Well, we have a very politicized Haaretz subverting Israel abroad.


And by-the-by, I ran into David Landau yesterday at a funeral. I told him that he should watch the way he talks, referring to "raping Israel" and all that.

He smiled and retorted: "I meant what I said and I understand Condi Rice has taken my advice".

No More MP4 - in Meah She'arim

Another wall poster post:-