Shmuel Katz z"l

December 9, 1914 - May 9, 2008

A visit almost two years ago:-



More here

Photos from his life:


In Warsaw, 1937 with Hillel Kook (r) and Chaim Lubinsky (l):



In Paris, 1946, on an Irgun mission:



At Menachem Begin's visit to the Irgun in Jerusalem, August 1948. Moekie, last commander of the Jerusalem Irgun unit is third from left and Begin is to the right:



Here he is at a press conference announcing the disbandment of the Irgun, Jerusalem, September 21, 1948 (Yitzhak Avinoam (c), Yosef Leizrowitz (l))



Here's his publicity portrait for the Hebrew edition of "Days of Fire", 1966:

Talansky (at) Scores, Can You Top This?

Found here:-

Court records include a sworn statement from a police file, dated January 1992, in which a Long Island man said he had met Mr. Talansky one night at Scores, a topless bar in Manhattan, and tried to help him collect a debt from Mr. Penzer.

“He began to tell me about how he took a devastating loss of approximately $2.8 million in a real estate deal that went bad,” the Long Island man, Michael Sciotto, told the police. “He was swindled and he described it as a setup.”

The statement continued, “I told him I would talk to Mr. Penzer and see if I could shake him up a little and possibly could get Talansky’s money back.”

Another profile.

Finally, The News

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted on Thursday that he accepted campaign donations from an American businessman, but denied that they were bribes
and said he would only resign if he were indicted.

Olmert is suspected of illicitly receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from Morris (Moshe) Talansky, according to the details of an investigation currently being carried out against him.

The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court on Thursday relaxed a sweeping media gag order that has prevented the reporting of details on the probe, at the request of police and judicial officials. Olmert was questioned last Friday and the gag order was initially meant to remain in place until early next week.



In a terse, late-night televised statement to journalists at his residence in Jerusalem, Olmert said that a lawyer had handled his finances and that everything had been done legally. "I never took bribes, I never took a penny for myself, he said."

He said he would not fight to stay in office if he is charged. "If I am indicted, I will resign my post," he said, adding that he believed the crisis over the investigation would soon blow over.

and here

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is suspected of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from an American citizen, Moshe Talansky, various media outlets reported Thursday.

Channel 10 reported that Talansky was a middleman for illegal campaign contributions, and that he readily told Israeli interrogators everything he knew about the case.

Cherchez La Femme

Have you seen this?

Aides to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have told the London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat that the person behind the new accusations against Olmert is a well-known Likud party activist.

According to the sources, the woman decided to expose the affair at the current time because of the recent diplomatic progress made by the prime minister.

Hmmm...

Olmert used PMO to further wife's art career

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert used his bureau to promote the artistic career of his wife Aliza, a Haaretz report reveals. The report also says that when the couple were in New York for a private art exhibit by Olmert, their stay at a luxury hotel was paid for by an American association.

In the summer of 2005, Olmert presented an exhibition in New York to which dozens of wealthy and influential people were invited. The invitations were allegedly issued by Rachael Risby Raz, the foreign affairs advisor in Olmert's bureau when he was minister of industry, trade and labor. Invitations for a dinner were printed on official ministry stationary.

The Olmerts stayed at the exclusive Peninsula Hotel in a $2,500-a-night suite, for only $500 a night on the say-so of the hotel chain's Jewish billionaire owner Michael Kadoorie. A pro-Israel group headed by a former Likud activist, Sharon Tzur, paid for the room.

Hmmmmmmmm...



Info:-

Director Media Watch International (MWI)... Her grandparents were both involved in Betar, having fled their native Poland "with all its pogroms and other anti-Jewish problems" to settle in what was then Palestine. Her grandfather, she says, was accused of murdering David Ben-Gurion's friend, Chaim Arlozoroff. "Just for the record, he didn't do it. It was simply another case of blood libel," Tzur notes, dryly.

Tzur was born in Canada, where she lived until the age of 7, when her family made aliyah. She became involved with Betar as a teen, and credits the youth movement for fostering her strong commitment to the Jewish state.

The First Cause

A few days ago, I posted the YouTube clip from the BBC's "50 Years War" program of a decade ago in which we see and hear an Arab, who served as a journalist/PR person in Jerusalem for the Arab Higher Committee admitting that the horror stories of rape and such at Deir Yassin were made up by his superiors but spread by himself. It was that line of publicity that caused tens of thousands of Arabs to leave their homes unnecessarily, joining others who either had picked up and left early in the war for economic reasons or who had guessed that the Arabs were going to surely lose, or who believed instructions to get out of the way of conquering Arab troops or who left their villages after trying to kill as many Jews as possible and having their own homes taken over and, yes, others who, like in Ramleh/Lod, were forced out against their will.

Well, he's back on BBC but this time has a different story:

Israel's President, Shimon Peres, an aide to Mr Ben Gurion in 1948, told the BBC in an interview to mark his country's 60th anniversary that it bore no responsibility for the exodus of Palestinians. "I was present at the occasion," President Peres said. "I don't mind what historians are writing. Ben Gurion did not want the Arabs to leave the country."

The former Jordanian Foreign Minister, Hazem Nusseibeh, a Palestinian who was a journalist in Jerusalem in 1948, expressed surprise when the BBC put the Israeli president's words to him.

"No responsibility whatsoever? Then what caused the exodus to happen? It was the Israeli massacre of the villages of people whom they encountered," he said.

"I can count you the scores of massacres which happened all over the country. Do you think anyone would leave his home unless he was really threatened?"

Scores? By Jews...or Arabs?

What caused the exodus was a silly, stupid and wicked decision by Arabs to support their leadership and attempt to ehtnically cleanse the Mandate area of the Jews and prevent the implementation of the UN resolution to establish a Jewish State. I call that illegal aggression. What the Arabs did at the Hadassah Convoy massacre (79) and at the Gush Etzion Bloc massacre (128) - over 200 Jewish dead in those two acts of killing alone - are glossed over until this day as are the forced abandonment of Atarot, Neveh Yaakov, the Old City quarter of Jerusalem, Bet HaAravah and other communities. That was the first cause.

Correcting Richard Holbrooke

In today's Washington Post, there's a recollection piece by Richard Holbrooke on the birth of Israel and the role that Washington, that is, President Truman and the State Department (at loggerheads), played at the time.

Holbroke writes:-

The Jewish Agency proposed partitioning Palestine into two parts -- one Jewish, one Arab. But the State and Defense departments backed the British plan to turn Palestine over to the United Nations. In March, Truman privately promised Chaim Weizmann, the future president of Israel, that he would support partition -- only to learn the next day that the American ambassador to the United Nations had voted for U.N. trusteeship.

Not quite correct.

The partition proposal was that of the United Nations, which the Jewish Agency accepted (Menachem Begin as well as the Lechi heads most certainly did not), and which came into being on November 29, 1947. In writing the British plan to turn Palestine over to the United Nations, Holbrooke means that the British attempted to renege on the Partiton Plan and the State Dept. aided them in promoting trusteeship. (Review this)

To his credit, Holbrooke makes clear what was the background to the struggle:-

Beneath the surface lay unspoken but real anti-Semitism on the part of some (but not all) policymakers. The position of those opposing recognition was simple -- oil, numbers and history. "There are thirty million Arabs on one side and about 600,000 Jews on the other," Defense Secretary Forrestal told Clifford. "Why don't you face up to the realities?"

In the end, Truman overrode the opposition:-


Don't you wonder if such a harsh reality continued and, perhaps, continues even unto this day at Foggy Bottom?

The Burning Altalena as a Backdrop

The lady in the above picture, taken on June 22, 1948 on Tel Aviv's beach, is Miriam Tzur. Like almost all of Tel Aviv's population that day, she also rushed to the beach to see what all the commotion was about.

She was 16 at the time and she requested a photographer to take her picture.

It appeared in a special Independence Day supplement of Haaretz.

Independence Day Humor

Another Peresim:

I didn't imagine Qassams would be fired from Gaza after pullout

I believed the separation between the West Bank and Gaza would make things easier, not harder. I did not imagine that we would leave Gaza and they would fire Qassams from there; I did not imagine that Hamas would show so strongly in the elections.

Want more idiocies?

Go here for Former Prime Minister Shimon Peres In His Own Words, Compilation, introduction and comments by
Roger A. Gerber and Rael Jean Isaac.

Fauxtography al la World War II

New truth revealed about famous WWII Reichstag photo

...new details have been released about the picture, according to weekly news magazine Der Spiegel.

Photographer Yevgeny Khaldei took the photo shortly after the Red Army marched into central Berlin and flew the negatives to Moscow.

It was only when he started to develop them that he realized that one of the three Soviet soldiers on the roof was wearing two watches, one on each wrist – a clear sign of looting which did not fit with the heroic image of the army.

He scratched the second watch from the negative and it was printed as week later in an illustrated magazine.

Later, in alternations already known, Khaldei added more clouds of smoke in the background and even substituted the original flag with a large one filled with wind.

Ever Hear of the PA's Rapporteur of the Presidential Committee for Christian Affairs?

PLO Mission
Washington, DC

May 2, 2008

Subject: Measures taken by Israel during the Easter celebrations

From: Issa Kasseissieh
Sent: Tuesday, April 29, 2008 5:14 PM
To:
Subject: Measures taken by Israel during the Easter celebrations
Importance: High

Dear all,

Please find attached statements issued by different local Christian organizations, including a statement by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, on the measures taken by Israel during the Orthodox Easter celebrations in the Old City of Jerusalem, where Christians were harassed, singled out and prevented from worshiping freely in violation of the Status Quo law that has existed for hundreds of years. These Israeli measures are also a violation of the basic human rights for freedom of worship.

We at the Presidential Committee for Christian Affairs calls upon you to use your good offices to intervene immediately and convey a message to the Israeli authorities that such measures are unacceptable, and freedom of worship must be guaranteed to all and that the Status Quo must be respected.

Please note that earlier the Presidential Committee for Christian Affairs issued a statement cautioning of the impeding harassment of Christians by the Israeli authorities- this statement was issued on April 24th and published in the local media

Best regards,

Issa Kassissieh
Rapporteur of the Presidential Committee for Christian Affairs
Office of the President

And the release:-

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
Arab Orthodox Institutes in East Jerusalem
April 27th, 2008

Arab Orthodox Institutes in East Jerusalem Denounce & Condemn Israeli Measures on Holy Saturday

Arab Orthodox institutes in East Jerusalem denounced and condemned the Israeli measures on Holy Saturday, one of the holiest days for Christians.

The institutes wrote in a special communiqué issued yesterday, "The Israeli police forces denied believers from the Arab Orthodox congregation access to the Church of Holy Sepulcher to perform their religious duties. This violates basic human rights of religious freedom and rights."

The communiqué added, "The Israeli police used stringent force and physically assaulted civilian worshippers with clubs and fists. In addition, the Israeli forces arrested a number of Christian civilians and prevented them from reaching holy places."

The Arab Orthodox institutes called on heads of local Churches in Jerusalem, particularly his Eminence the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in the holy city, to take urgent steps to protect the right of Jerusalemite Christians in performing religious duties in peace and security, far from military checkpoints that deny them access to holy places in Jerusalem.

In addition, the institutes called on the diplomatic missions, Christian organizations and human rights institutions to intervene and put an end to the Israeli human rights violations in the Holy Land.

-End

Contact:

Adv. Nabil Mushahwar
Head of the Orthodox Club in Jerusalem
Mobile: +972 (0)505 365071

Mr. Hanna Karkar
St. Jacobs Orthodox Cathedral in Jerusalem
Mobile: +972 (0)544 546349

Does anyone think I'd be aided in my problem of religious freedom vis a vis the Temple Mount?

New Book Coming

Jewish Fundamentalism and the Temple Mount, to be published by the State University of New York Press, examines a central aspect of religious radicalism. It centers on attitudes within religious Jewish society in Israel toward the Temple Mount, and the idea of establishing the Third Temple. The study also examines those Christian churches, mainly American, that share the vision of rebuilding the Temple. Motti Inbari is the first Post-Doctoral Associate at the newly created Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University. During the 2006-2007 academic year, Dr. Inbari was a Schusterman Visiting Israel Professor at the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Florida. He received his doctoral degree from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research deals with the impact of territorial compromises on Israel's radical right.

RCA Declaration (of War) on an Israeli Beth-Din

RCA Affirms its Support for Israel’s Conversion Authority

RCA Reacts to Ruling of Israeli Rabbinical Appeals Court regarding Past Conversions by the Israeli Conversion Authority

May 6, 2008 — Leviticus 19:33 : “You (plural) shall not oppress the convert in your land.” Commentary of the Netziv: “The plural form of the verse teaches us that a third party who sees the oppression of a convert and does not protest is also guilty of oppression.”

The Rabbinical Council of America, having taken note of the recent ruling of the Bet Din Elyon (Rabbinic Court of Appeals) of Israel, nullifying certain conversions performed by the State Conversion Authority led by Rabbi Chaim Druckman, has today issued the following statement:

Having reviewed the ruling of the Bet Din Elyon in detail, and being fully mindful of the respect due the rulings of duly constituted rabbinical courts in their respective jurisdictions, the RCA finds it necessary to state for the record that in our view the ruling itself, as well as the language and tone thereof, are entirely beyond the pale of acceptable halachic practice, violate numerous Torah laws regarding converts and their families, create a massive desecration of God’s name, insult outstanding rabbinic leaders and halachic scholars in Israel, and are a reprehensible cause of widespread conflict and animosity within the Jewish people in Israel and beyond. The RCA is appalled that such a ruling has been issued by that court.

We have been assured by Israel’s Chief Rabbi Rav Shlomo Moshe Amar, who is also the President of the Rabbinical Courts System of Israel, that in releasing this ruling the court in question directly countermanded his instructions and policies. He has confirmed that the ruling has no legal standing at this time. We commend Rav Amar for his positive role in this matter since its very inception in the Ashdod regional court.

We add our rabbinic voice to those of others who have called for a thorough review and repudiation of the actions of a select few of the Bet Din Elyon, who in this ruling as in other previous instances, have sought to undermine the Conversion Authority.

For this reason, and others, it is more important than ever that the Conversion Authority be strengthened in its important work in bringing about halachicly proper conversions to our faith and to the Jewish people.

Given the very public nature of the challenge posed by the ruling in question, we call on the Chief Rabbis of Israel to reaffirm their support of the Conversion Authority and its leadership in clear and unambiguous terms at the earliest possible time. Until that will happen, each passing day will cause reprehensible anguish to halachic converts, irreparable harm to the fabric of the Jewish people, and a considerable debasement of the good name of Torah, halachah, and tradition.

Got An Itchy Finger?

Click here

Oh, So That's How They Do It

Terrorizing media at its worst:




(Kippah tip: Atlas Shrugs)

How Can He Belong to the Jewish State?

But Israeli Arabs, including the most successfully integrated ones, say a new identity must be found for the country’s long-term survival.

“I am not a Jew,” protested Eman Kassem-Sliman, an Arab radio journalist with impeccable Hebrew, whose children attend a predominantly Jewish school in Jerusalem. “How can I belong to a Jewish state? If they define this as a Jewish state, they deny that I am here.”

Well, for one, there are other options other than "belonging". Like joining a Pal. terror group and trying to destory Israel but since that's been tried for over 80 years now, you'd think someone like Eman would come up with a better idea.

And a better idea would be to make a choice: "Palestinian nationalism" is to be acquired and realized in Jordan. That's the closest. The other option is that once peace is achieved, there's always cultural and educational autonomy, like the Begin idea, but unlike his suggestion, first comes a period of peace, economic intergation, paying full taxes, volunteering for National Service, et al.

The new identity is just another way of watering down the Jewish character of the state. Sorry, that's just not on. Arabs have almost two dozen states in the Middle East to fulfill their nationalism and must define their states as Islamic. So, Israel can't be one Jewish state?

No one years ago had problems with the idea of a "Jewish homeland", meaning one for the Jews where Jews enjoy the primacy in all fiedls and endeavors. Herzl wrote about it, Balfour declared it, the League of Nations reconzied it, the United Nations established it. But the Arabs who wandered into Judea and Samaria and conquered it and then invited friends and relatives over can't seem to acknowledge it.

Plant a Flag

Go here if you would like to see Israel with all its communities marked. This will tempororily load our points on Google Earth (assuming you already have Google Earth downloaded and installed on your computer). It will do nothing permanent, to your computer, to Google, or to the Earth.

See our page for screenshots of what Google Earth looks like with our points added. Each community is clickable with basic information. We hope to increase the amount of information available over time.

Why are we doing this? Our goal is to counter anti-Israel propaganda by providing accurate source material with an accent on the connection between geography and history. Israel is made of a myraid of people from all over the world and each community reflects the variety that is Israel.

Here's The Banned Name

A Long Island mogul is at the center of a sensational bribery scandal that could bring down embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, The Post has learned.

Millionaire financier Morris Talansky - who runs an investment firm out of his tony home in Woodmere - allegedly passed money to Olmert while the politician was mayor of Jerusalem in the '90s, sources said.

In a highly unusual move, Israeli authorities have barred the country's media from publishing Talansky's name - revealed now in The Post - saying it could hamper their investigation. Israeli media has referred only to the involvement of an "American businessman."

Talansky is apparently set to sing to Israeli authorities about his alleged role in the scheme, sources said.

Talansky is/was on the board of Shaare Zedek:

the American committee of Shaare Zedek Medical Center...Morris Talansky, the medical center's executive vice chairman

and lives off of West Shore Raod in Great Neck maybe 20 LONGFELLOW RD Great Neck NY

Israel's Public Opinion - The Peace Index Poll

For those who believe those who say Israel's population is defeatist and concessionist, see these results of the Tel Aviv University Peace Index Poll:

At present the Jewish public’s willingness to “pay” for a peace agreement is particularly low. Only 19% support an Israeli withdrawal from all of the Golan Heights for a full peace treaty with Syria while the overwhelming majority — 5% — oppose it (6% did not know). As for the Palestinians, a majority — 5% — favor holding negotiations with the PA but 34% are against (among these there is, as noted above, a higher representation of the younger age groups, and also of those with less education and of those defining themselves as religious or haredi). An even larger majority of 70% support the formula of “two states for two peoples” (25% oppose this solution; again, among the opponents there is larger representation of the younger age group and of second-generation Israeli natives, and also of those defining themselves as religious or haredi).

But when it comes to substantial concessions — in Jerusalem, for example — the positions of a majority of the Jewish public are quite hard-line. Fifty-five percent (vs. 40%) are not willing to see the Arab neighborhoods handed over to Palestinian sovereignty, 60% are not in favor of joint Israeli-Palestinian administration of the Temple Mount and the Jerusalem holy places, and 83% oppose handing over the Old City to the Palestinians.

Source

Gosh, Goldberg

I have written about Jeffrey Goldberg in the past - I consider him a bit sneaky and untrustworthy, but that's just my opinion based on my experience with him over several days and many hours of interview time.

I also mentioned this article of his but but found The Atlantic's cover at Atlas Shrugs:



Is that "Palestine"?

The Terror Started in 1851

The first official victim of terror

...Rabbi Avraham Shlomo Zalman Tzoref...killed in Jerusalem in 1851, was the first victim of terror recognized by the State of Israel.

Tzoref managed to obtain from Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali, and then later from Turkish authorities, the permits to rebuild the Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City, which Arab creditors burned down in 1721.

...One night unknown assailants tried to kill Tzoref by gunshot, but they missed their target. "The shooter, who fled to one of the courtyards, fell into a cistern and drowned ... " writes Solomon.

The second time, his assailants struck him on the head with a sword. "One night, close to sunrise, when Tzoref was making his way to the vatikin [early morning] prayer services as was his wont, murderers attacked him from behind, and struck him on the head with a sword, until he fell wallowing in his own blood. Jews who were also heading to prayers, found him in a pool of blood and while he was still alive, brought him back to his home." As a result of that sword strike, Tzoref lost his memory. He lived for another three months and then died.

The Hurva Synagogue was dedicated 14 years later.

Surpressing Supersession

Four years ago, I belatedly discovered today, Jeremy Waldron, an academic and a philospher of law, published an article entitled "Settlement, Return and the Supersession Thesis".

This thesis, simply summarized by Waldron, asserts that historic injustice may be overtaken by changes in circumstances so that a situation that was unjust when it was brought about may coincide with what justice requires at a later time. He developed it on the basis of his own national experience of New Zealand where he was born. It seeks to make the best out of a bad situation.

Waldron attempts, and fails in my opinion, to suggest that it is applicable to the issue of Jewish revenant presence in the territories he considers "occupied", whose communities he declares are "unjust" (p. 250). He admits, p. 248, that he hopes he is not too ill-informed but, of course, since most if not all of his sources appear to me to be of extreme and radical post-Zionists and anti-revenant persons, that is more or less what he is when it comes down to details, including a woeful misinterpretation of history. But since Waldron plaunges in as a moralist and philospher, I presume he thinks himself excused.

He automatically excuses himself from having to reply to any criticism of his Theory if it is based on the claim that the residential activities of Jews who are in their national homeland is not "unjust". That, I would suggest, is taking the easy way out. In actuality, what Waldron does is ignore (but not entirely, see his 2003 lecture here on "Who was here first? Two essays on indigeneity and settlement" at the Minerva Center, one of Israel's most post-modern and anti-Zionist academic dens) the essence of Jewish nationalism, the long period of constant return, the weakness of Arab localism, the total negation of Jewish nationalism by those Arabs and the religious aspect of the two movements claiming the same territory.

He ignores the fact that, whether or not I pwersonally think it was the correct path at the time, the pre-state and state institutions of power, i.e., the World Zionist Organization and the Governments of Israel, all promoted, sought out and negotiated compromise. Compromise of immigration, compromise of parity, compromise of territory to this or that extent. Never did the Arabs consider any compromise. In the 1920s, they rejected an Arab Agency. Other proposals of a legislative council and an advisory council came their way, but the Arbas consistently failed to act in a diplomatic fashion, preferring terror from 1920 on until, basically, today. Given that character of a movement, given that character of an approach and outlook, Waldron is so way-off-base in his theorizing that it is difficult to understand why such a brilliant thinker proposes such a theory.

I presume he realizes that he is being political, not philosophical nor moral, when he asserts that peace is not served by the communities or that Israel is guilty of crimes of ethnic cleansing (unlike the Arabs who ethnically-cleansed the Mandate of the Jewish communities of Tel Hai, Hulda and Bee'r Tuvia in the 1920s and 1930s and in the 1947-49 war continued the cleansing of Bet HaAravah, Neveh Yaakov, Atarot, the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's walled section - there not being in truth a west/east divide - and the Etzion Bloc of four kibbuztim, all the while massacring the Jewish inhabitants) and expulsion.

He also avoids the legal question in not dealing with the legitimate Jewish right to settle closely on the Land which at that time, 1922, extended to the Jordan River, at least. This is not being academic, nor philosphical not moralistic. And thwre are many other aspects (constant Return to Zion over the millenia; the military history of this Land; the true Arab origins; etc.) that are not confronted.

I would suggest that if one is to be a genuine moralist, why not have the the Supercession Theory? If one ethnic/national group completely rejects the other's nationalism and its claims, rejects diplomacy always in favor of terror, adopts the most horrific of terror methods like homicidal suicide bombings, cannot build or maintain institutions of political power nor create democratic practices and neither promote human and civil rights and liberties, then that group is superceeded by history and loses out, what Martin Sherman calls "losing out on history".

In short, the Supersession Thesis should be superseded and surpressed.

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

These might be found helpful:

Melanie Phillips' recent post.

Aspects of International Law. More. The booklet. And Efraim Karsh's latest Commentary artcile.

Knocking Out the Naqba

Steve Plaut is always worth mining for quotable sections of text.

Here:-

The Origins of the Term "Nakba" Proves there is no Palestinian Nation

What is the real origin of the term "nakba" and what is its original meaning?

...The authoritative source on the origin of "nakba" is none other than George Antonius, supposedly the first "official historian of Palestinian nationalism." Like so many "Palestinians," he actually wasn't 'Palestinian', that is. He was a Christian Lebanese-Egyptian who lived for a while in Jerusalem, where he composed his official advocacy/history of Arab nationalism. The Arab Awakening, a highly biased book, was published in 1938 and for years afterward was the official text used at British universities.

...So how does Antonius provide us with the answer to the current-events quiz concerning the origin of "nakba"? The term was not invented in 1948 but rather in 1920. And it was coined not because of Palestinians suddenly getting nationalistic but because Arabs living in Palestine regarded themselves as Syrian and were enraged at being cut off from their Syrian homeland.

...Palestinian Arabs saw themselves as Syrians and were seen as such by other Syrians. The Palestinian Arabs were enraged that an artificial barrier was being erected within their Syrian homeland by the infidel colonial powers, one that would divide northern Syrian Arabs from southern Syrian Arabs, the latter being those who were later misnamed "Palestinians." The bulk of the Palestinian Arabs had in fact migrated to Palestine from Syria and Lebanon during the previous two generations, largely to benefit from the improving conditions and job opportunities afforded by
Zionist immigration and capital flowing into the area. In 1920, both sets of
Syrian Arabs, those in Syria and those in Palestine, rioted violently and
murderously.

On page 312 of The Arab Awakening, Antonius writes, "The year 1920 has an evil name in Arab annals: it is referred to as the Year of the Catastrophe (Am al-Nakba). It saw the first armed risings that occurred in protest against the post-War settlement imposed by the Allies on the Arab countries...That's 1920 - when there was no Zionist state, no Jewish sovereignty, no "settlements" in "occupied territories," no Israel Defense Forces, no Israeli missiles and choppers targeting terror leaders, and no Jewish control over Jerusalem (which had a Jewish demographic majority going back at least to 1850). The original "nakba" had nothing to do with Jews, and nothing to do with demands by Palestinian Arabs for self-determination, independence and statehood. To the contrary, it had everything to do with the fact that the
Palestinian Arabs saw themselves as Syrians. They rioted at this nakba, at this catastrophe, because they found deeply offensive the very idea that they should be independent from Syria and Syrians.

..the very suggestion that Palestinian Arabs constituted a separate ethnic nationality was enough to send those same Arabs out into the streets to murder and plunder violently in outrage.

...Speaking of Palestinians as Syrians, it is worth noting what one of the early Syrian nationalists had to say. The following quote comes from the great-grandfather of the current Syrian dictator, Bashar Assad:

"Those good Jews brought civilization and peace to the Arab Muslims, and they dispersed gold and prosperity over Palestine without damage to anyone or taking anything by force. Despite this, the Muslims declared holy war against them and did not hesitate to massacre their children and women. Thus a black fate awaits the Jews and other minorities in case the Mandates are cancelled and Muslim Syria is united with Muslim Palestine."

That statement is from a letter sent to the French prime minister in June 1936 by six Syrian Alawi notables (the Alawis are the ruling class in Syria today) in support of Zionism. Bashar's great-grandfather was one of them.

The IDF Won't Be Marching

The IDF won't be marching this 60th Independence Day but in Russia

Putin defends Russia's military parade

Russia's use of heavy weapons at this week's World War II commemoration parades is not intended as a threat to any nation, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday.
"For the first time in many years heavy military equipment will be used. This is not sabre-rattling. We are not threatening anyone and don't plan to," Putin said ahead of the traditional Victory Day parade on Friday.

"This is a demonstration of our growing defence capability.... We are capable of defending our people, citizens, our state, our wealth, which is not small," he said.

Israel is in a "post" age, I guess.

Civilian Targets

I read this NYT report:-

Low-level hostilities continued over the weekend. A Palestinian man was killed early Sunday by Israeli fire in southern Gaza, Palestinian medical officials said. They identified the man as a 40-year-old civilian.

The military said it had carried out an airstrike against a gunman who was seen approaching ground troops in the area. Later in the day, at least three Qassam rockets fired by militants from Gaza landed in the Israeli border town of Sderot, causing damage but no serious injury. One landed on the roof of a supermarket, and another in the town’s cemetery.

and said to myself, well, in the first paragraph Israel claims he was a gunman but the Pals. say he was a civilian. In the second paragraph, the Pals. claim nothing and the paper doesn't say "civilian targets" even though they are identified as a supermarket and the cemetery.

Shouldn't the Times have used the adjective "civilian"?

Not using it, in this circumstance, is biased, no?

Going Out?

Pic by Dan Balilty/Associated Press

Three Recent Unpublished Letters (Oh, Well)

Mr. Saeb Erekat, a negotiator attached to the Palestinian Authority, needs to hear four digits that define for him Israel's permanent borders: "One-nine-six-seven" (May 4). This is problematic. The 1947 borders, much more constricting for Israel, were rejected at that time by the Arab community of Palestine and until 1967 were never recognized. Worse, the terrorists of that time, first the fedayeen until 1956 and then the Fatah starting in 1965, gave expression to that refusal of boundaries by waging a 19-year campaign of bombing, shooting and pillaging.

If compromise is the way to peace, why cannot Erekat compromise and agree to a readjustment of Israel's future borders taking into consideration the technological advancement of weapons such as shoulder-to-air missiles that would wreak havoc with Israel's Ben-Gurion airport, for example, not to mention the Arab aggression that led to the outbreak of the 1967 war?

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

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter favors talking to Hamas terrorists and, after doing so during his trip to the Middle East, but not to Gaza where the terrorists actually reign, believes that "more official consultations with these outlawed leaders" would be beneficial to peace (April 28). Mr. Carter, however, will not talk to me.

I am a resident of a Jewish community in Samaria. In fact, Carter requested that my village be destroyed in 1978, the year it was reestablished on the site of the Jewish people's ancient tribal federation capital. I have extended to him over the years several invitations, timed to coincide with his visits to the Palestinian Authority, to observe the progress we have made since our founding. Carter chose to ignore this attempt at dialogue and made no effort to meet with any representative of our communities. That he insists on meetings with killers and persons, as he admits, who direct and commit despicable crimes against civilians, but avoids another crucial element of an eventual peace process, some 300,000 Jews in over 150 towns and villages, is true indicative of his moral blindness and a political bias.

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

Robert Malley and Hussein Agha's article on a possible Israel-Arab peace arrangement ("Into the Lion's Den", May 1) asserts that the Palestinians rejected the 1947 UN partition plan "because at the time they formed a majority in and controlled most of Mandatory Palestine". That is a misleading statement.
The essence of partition was meant, as it had been back in 1937 when first promoted by the British as official policy, to separate territorially the Arab and Jewish communities. It was intended to resolve the violence that the Arabs initiated as early as 1920 and coninued in several waves in 1921, 1929 and in an especially murderous period between 1936-1939. Partition symbolized the British slide into a reneging on their obligations as outlined in the Balfour Declaration and the League of Nations decision of 1923 to promote a Jewish National Home, originally in an area on both sides of the Jordan River. Their treachery was accomplished in 1939 when, in a White Paper, which Lloyd George described as an act of perfidy and against which Winston Churchill voted, despite he being a minister in the government, it was declared "His Majesty's Government therefore now declare unequivocally that it is not part of their policy that Palestine should become a Jewish State". The closing of the gates to immigration doomed millions of Jews to the Hitlerarian Holocaust.

The Arabs rejected partition because they assumed they could roll back the previous twenty years. They did not want the Jews to live as a sovereign and politically independent entity anywhere in the area they called "Palestine", a Latin name for a supposedly Arab country which had never existed and was envisioned by Christian Arabs. Muslim Arabs had first insisted on the idea of a Greater Syria, a concept Bashir Assad currently supports.

Malley's proposals revive those feelings that Jewish rights and the past twenty years can be ignored and rolled back again.

So, the Irgun Did Have a Role With the "Exodus"

U.K. papers shed light on plan to return Jews to postwar Germany in '47

Newly released documents at the British national archives show how the government tried to send thousands of Palestine-bound Jewish survivors of the Nazi genocide back to postwar Germany, where the "final solution" had been hatched, without inflaming world opinion.

Could it be done? The answer was no. The British decision to turn away more than 4,500 Jews on board the refugee ship Exodus turned into a humanitarian and public relations debacle.

...The story detailed in more than 400 pages of formerly secret documents made available to the public Monday concerns Jewish refugees who were on board the Exodus and trying to enter Palestine illegally during the tumultuous months before the United Nations voted in 1947 to create a Jewish homeland on part of Palestine.

Britain was governing Palestine and the British government felt that it had to keep the would-be immigrants out to help preserve the demographic balance between Arabs and Jews. British forces turned away dozens of leaky immigrant ships carrying desperate refugees. But it did not have a safe place to send the Jews from the Exodus, who were placed on three smaller British steamers.

After much agonizing, the British concluded that the only place they could send them was to the British-controlled zone of postwar Germany, where they could be placed in camps and screened for extremists.

It made sound military sense. But the documents show that diplomats and military officers knew perfectly well that sending Jews back to Germany and putting them in camps would set off a firestorm.

"These documents show the British perspective for the first time," said Mark Dunton, a contemporary-history specialist at the archives...

The first rumblings came from a British diplomat in France who sent a coded warning to the Foreign Office in London in August 1947. The diplomat said bluntly that a public relations scandal lay ahead.

"You will realize that an announcement of decision to send immigrants back to Germany will produce violent hostile outburst in the press," he wrote.

An unsigned cable from the Foreign Office on Aug. 19, 1947, stated that the decision to land the Jews in Germany had been made because it was the only suitable territory under British control that could handle so many people on short notice.

Three days later, a Foreign Office cable warned diplomats that they should be ready to "emphatically" deny that the refugees would be housed in former concentration camps after they reached Germany.

The Aug. 22 cable stated that German guards would not be used to keep the Jews in the "refugee camps" and added that British guards would be withdrawn once the refugees had been screened.

But security concerns were heightened on Aug. 30 when a secret telegram from the British Embassy in Washington warned of a possible terrorist attack by the Irgun and Stern gangs, two Zionist extremist groups determined to prevent the forced landing of the Jewish refugees in Germany. (*)

They were taken off the vessels, though a number were injured in confrontations with British troops

..."It is a very frightening thing to go into a hold full of yelling maniacs when outnumbered 6 or 8 to 1," he said in the report. Gregson said he had considered using tear gas to subdue the refugees but decided not to risk inflaming the situation. "The Jew is liable to panic," he said.

Security fears seemed justified after the refugees were removed when a large, crudely made bomb with a timed fuse was found on one of the three British ships. It was apparently rigged to detonate after the refugees had been removed, cable messages indicated...

(*) And this aspect they couldn't work into the Hollywood version? After all, having Paul Newman and the Hagana take all the credit for the Acre jailbreak, this would have been fair.

(Sheitel tip: RA)

They Keep Killing the Dead in Sderot

The cemetery in Sderot got hit again.

It's the Economy, Stupid

Israel's ultra-Orthodox drive a thriving kosher economy

A community of at least 800,000 people - out of 5.4 million Jews living in Israel, a country of 7.1 million - the ultra-Orthodox, though comparatively poor, form a distinct, growing and important market, and Israeli companies are paying attention. While there are rabbinical strictures against watching television, using computers for leisure, immodest attire and unsupervised mixing of men and women, the Israeli market economy has adjusted in creative and surprising ways.

Some 60 percent of ultra-Orthodox men do not work regular jobs, preferring religious study. More than 50 percent live below the poverty line and get state allowances, compared with 15 percent of the rest of the population, and most families have six to seven children, said Momi Dahan, an economist at the School of Public Policy at Hebrew University.

and more...

Haveil Havalin 164

Here.

Hazem Nusseibeh and A Villager on Deir Yassin "Massacre"

Here's the full clip from the BBC's "50 Years War" on Deir Yassin.

It starts on Deir Yassin at 3:35 and the testimony of Hazem Nusseibeh regarding the fake PR copywriting begins at 7:28 and the testimony of the villager about false rape claims is at 8:05.



Of course, Ezra Yachin is quoted out of context as he was referring not to a "massacre" but to their response, as undisciplined as it was and against their original orders, to the firing upon them that caused them unintentionally to kill civilians and as for Meir Pa'il, well, Uri Milshtein doesn't think highly of him as I have posted previously.

Eli Hertz on Boundaries

"Israeli and Palestinian negotiators should decide once and for all where to draw the line between Israeli and Palestinian territory, ending the argument over Jewish housing expansion on disputed ground."

U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. Thursday, May 1, 2008

And Erekat adds:

Seeking a more active American role in talks with Israel, the Palestinians say they hope that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will “take a stand” on the borders of a future Palestinian state and define them as corresponding with the 1967 lines, a senior Palestinian official said Saturday.

“One-nine-six-seven — we need to hear these four digits,” Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said in a telephone interview.

But the border conflict did not begin with 1-9-6-7. In fact the 1-9-4-7 borders, much smaller then the 1-9-6-7 boundaries were rejected by the Arabs at the time.



Eli Hertz writes:-

The Line Has Already Been Drawn and is Backed by International Law!

On September 16, 1922, the final [not yet, Eli] geographical area of Jewish Palestine was drawn by the League of Nations for the Jewish National Home.

From the League of Nations Report:

PALESTINE [Eretz-Israel]
INTRODUCTORY.
POSITION, ETC.

"Palestine lies on the western edge of the continent of Asia between Latitude 30° N. and 33° N., Longitude 34° 30' E. and 35° 30' E.

On the North it is bounded by the French Mandated Territories of Syria and Lebanon, on the East by Syria and Trans-Jordan, on the South-west by the Egyptian province of Sinai, on the South-east by the Gulf of Aqaba and on the West by the Mediterranean. The frontier with Syria was laid down by the Anglo-French Convention of the 23rd December, 1920, and its delimitation was ratified in 1923. Briefly stated, the boundaries are as follows: -

North. - From Ras en Naqura on the Mediterranean eastwards to a point west of Qadas, thence in a northerly direction to Metulla, thence east to a point west of Banias.

East. - From Banias in a southerly direction east of Lake Hula to Jisr Banat Ya'pub, thence along a line east of the Jordan and the Lake of Tiberias and on to El Hamme station on the Samakh-Deraa railway line, thence along the centre of the river Yarmuq to its confluence with the Jordan, thence along the centres of the Jordan, the Dead Sea and the Wadi Araba to a point on the Gulf of Aqaba two miles west of the town of Aqaba, thence along the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba to Ras Jaba.

South. - From Ras Jaba in a generally north-westerly direction to the junction of the Neki-Aqaba and Gaza-Aqaba Roads, thence to a point west-north-west of Ain Maghara and thence to a point on the Mediterranean coast north-west of Rafa.

West. - The Mediterranean Sea."

Of course, I would insist that the original demarcartion is still relevant, the one that looks like this:



Oh, you think that map above is a Zionist propaganda trick? Well, here's a Pal. version:

L'Chayim, Madonna-style

The IDF video clip

On the Bet Hanoun strike that counters claims that a rocket or tank shell killed the family members.

Here.

Martin Sherman's View on Statehood for the Pals.

Failing the test of history

Merit is no qualification for freedom…. Freedom is enjoyed when you are so well armed, or so turbulent, or inhabit a country so thorny that the expense of your neighbour's occupying you is greater than the profit.
T. E. Lawrence to the Editor of The Times July 22, 1920


This quote from a letter written by "Lawrence of Arabia" almost a century ago, setting out a case for the political independence for the Arabs in the Middle East, has current relevance in assessing the flurry of statements over the last few years - particularly from senior US politicians - that "the Palestinians deserve a state of their own."



...the Palestinians have undermined – indeed invalidated – their claim to statehood by even the more lenient and clearly measurable empirical criterion set out by Lawrence above. For the Palestinians' ongoing failure to achieve statehood reflects the converse – but necessary - corollary of the practical yardstick he stipulates.

If success in achieving statehood is the sole criterion by which to judge whether such statehood is indeed deserved, then surely it follows that the reverse is true: Failure to achieve statehood is the ultimate indicator in determining that it is not.



And the Palestinian failure has been undeniably staggering. In fact a strong case can be made for the claim that, in the history of modern national independence movements, none have enjoyed conditions more conducive to success, and yet achieved such miserable results, than that of the Palestinians.

...the Palestinians have not managed to produce any semblance of a sustainable society. The Palestinian leadership has done nothing but bring about a repressive and regressive interim regime that provided little but the pillage of the Palestinian people and the squander of the vast amount of resources provided by donor nations.

Nearly a decade and a half after the Oslo Agreements, the Palestinians have shown the world that they simply cannot "cut it." All they have been able to establish was both tenuous and dysfunctional, from a corrupt kleptocracy to a tyrannical theocracy – both now sliding into abysmal anarchy and chronic chaos accompanied by fratricidal fury.

...Clearly then, the time has come for the international community to recognize that rather than a coherent, cohesive national entity, the Palestinians comprise an amorphous amalgam of clans, gangs and bands whose overriding aspiration to not to establish a state for their own people but to dismantle a state of another people.

Clearly the time has come to remove the issue of Palestinian statehood from the international agenda – for the Palestinians themselves have shown that they are patently incapable of maintaining such statehood...

Accordingly, the time has come challenge the validity of the conventional wisdom which holds unquestioningly that "the Palestinians deserve a state of their own.” Not because of any objections raised by the opponents of such a state, but because the Palestinians themselves have manifestly failed the test of history.

(Yes, I know Martin well but his opinions are his own)

The "Defiance" Preview Trailer

The film version of the Bielski brothers heroic anti-Nazi operations.



(Kippah tip: Debbie Schlussel)

Now Who Is Full of Shit?

The blogosphere was abuzz about this op-ed this past week:

Whenever I try to mouth these words [of reassurance for Israel], a remembered smell fills my nostrils. It is the smell of shit.

Across the occupied West Bank, raw untreated sewage is pumped every day out of the Jewish settlements, along large metal pipes, straight onto Palestinian land. From there, it can enter the groundwater and the reservoirs, and become a poison.

Standing near one of these long, stinking brown-and-yellow rivers of waste recently, the local chief medical officer, Dr Bassam Said Nadi, explained to me: "Recently there were very heavy rains, and the shit started to flow into the reservoir that provides water for this whole area. I knew that if we didn't act, people would die. We had to alert everyone not to drink the water for over a week, and distribute bottles. We were lucky it was spotted. Next time..." He shook his head in fear. This is no freak: a 2004 report by Friends of the Earth found that only six per cent of Israeli settlements adequately treat their sewage.

Well, Herr Johann, who's in the shit now?

Gaza sewage pumped into the sea over past three months

Millions of liters of sewage have been released over the past three months into the Mediterranean Sea from the Gaza Strip, according to a new United Nations report.

According to the report, an estimated 50-60 million liters of waste have been pumped into the sea. This was done in an effort to prevent an overflow of sewage in residential areas.

The report prepared by Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) raises concerns that the untreated sewage is carrying Escherichia coli (e. coli) bacteria into the sea which may affect those swimming in its waters.

E. coli bacteria can cause infection in the urinary tract and the digestive system.

The authors of the report also wrote that in areas where the sewage is pumped into the sea, the color of the water is dark brown and a strong odor emanates.

Fishermen in Gaza bay claim the sewage has killed much of the fish in the area.

Officials in the Gaza Strip said there were also concerns that the pumping station in the Zeitun area would not be able to handle the sewage that had accumulated and the treatment pools would overflow.

A Better New Testament Verse

The CAMERA blog points out that, anachronistically, the NYTimes has Jesus in "Palestine":

In an April 22nd New York Times article, "In Syrian Villages, the Language of Jesus Lives", reporter Robert Worth asserted that Jesus spoke Aramaic "in Palestine two millennia ago." There was no such place as "Palestine" in the time of Jesus, since the Romans didn't rename Judea as "Palestina" until a hundred years after the death of Jesus.

I always use Acts 8:1 - "On that day a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria".

Why?

For it uses 'Judea and Samaria' together and there's no east Jerusalem.

Idiots

Here's what I thought when I read this:-

The Palestinian-rights group B'tselem on Wednesday called for a criminal probe into the deaths of the Abu Meatak family, saying the IDF appears to have violated international law by firing the missile close to the family's home, despite the high risk of harming civilians.

B'tselem said firing a missile close to a home would violate the rule of proportionality set by international law.

"In these circumstances, it's highly likely civilians would be at home and be hit by the blast," said Sarit Michaeli, a spokeswoman for B'tselem. "Even if you attack a legitimate military target, the anticipated damage has to be in proportion to the anticipated gain."

a) B'tselem are idiots and evil.

b) Who is a real war criminal in using civilian cover for terror?

Protected civilians must NOT be used to shield military operations or make an area immune from military operations.

Part IV : Civilian population #Section I -- General protection against effects of hostilities #Chapter II -- Civilians and civilian population
Article 51 -- Protection of the civilian population

7. The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations. The Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.

and

The 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War mentions involuntary human shields twice. Whereas article 28 states that “the presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations”, article 34 is more explicit, saying that “the taking of hostages is prohibited.” This idea was reconfirmed in 1977 by article 51 of Protocol I Additional to the Convention, which declares that “the Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.”

c) Maybe all of Israel is too close to an area of hostilities?

d) And what are they actively doing against Hamas in the international arena?

Close but Not Quite

Here is the e-mail trail of my almost appearance on a radio show. The radio network will remain unidentified to protect the guilty:

1)
On 4/17/08, C wrote

Dear Mr Medad,

It was good to speak to you just now, the market sounded in full swing so I'm glad we could catch a few words.

As I said, I am very keen for you to participate in a special radio program to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of Israel.

It will be a one-hour program bringing together three contributors from different areas of Israeli life to discuss the developments in Israel's history, politics and culture over the past sixty years and to look at the challenges of the future. The discussion will be chaired by, P the diplomatic correspondent and former Middle East correspondent, whom I'm sure you will have met during his posting in Jerusalem and his frequent trips to cover events in Israel.

The format of the program will be a conversation between the three contributors, punctuated by short reportages which P will have recorded and which will focus on specific issues such as immigration, Israeli attitudes towards power and security and relations with Palestinians and Arab Israelis. I have not yet confirmed who the other contributors will be but I will of course let you know as soon as possible who else will form the panel. I would like to be clear from the start, though, that the aim is to have a thoughtful and intelligent conversation which generates more light than heat - the last thing I want is to end up with a squabble between implacably opposed views.

I do hope you will be able to take part in this program. I feel that it is an opportunity to discuss the issues in a much more nuanced and in-depth way than is often possible in broadcast news coverage and I believe the program will give the global audience a deeper understanding of the conversations that take place within Israel about where the country stands, 60 years after independence.

I will call you next week so that we can talk about this in more detail but please feel free to give me a call or email me if you have anything you want to discuss in the meantime.

Have a great holiday and I look forward to speaking to you again.

C
=========================================
2)
From: Yisrael Medad
Sent: 17 April 2008 21:21
To: C
Subject: radio special program for Israel's 60th anniversary

C

I was nice of you to ask me to participate (okay, a bit of an honor, too) and I am sure that I can provide the listeners with light (does thunder count instead of heat?). I am sorry that my lack-of-motor-vehicle gets me into awkward situations but I have survived here 38 years almost.

I await your further correspondence.

Yisrael


3)
On 4/21/08, C wrote:
Dear Yisrael,

don't worry about the transport I'm sure we'll work it out.

I wonder if you could suggest a time when I could give you a call to talk through the issues that we'll be covering in the program? We'll need a good half hour or so to talk so let me know when you'll have some peace and quiet for a chat.

In the meantime I've put some information about P below.

All the best

Catherine

…He has been a frequent visitor to the Middle East during that time, returning for Israeli elections, the 2006 Lebanon war and the 2007 Gaza violence.

4)
On 4/22/08, C wrote:
Yisrael,

could you please remind me of exactly where you would have to be and at what time on ____________ in order to get back to your home for the evening? I'm wondering how late we could push the recording.

Thanks
Catherine

5)
From: Yisrael Medad
Sent: 23 April 2008 07:11

To: C
Subject: radio special program for Israel's 60th anniversary

I have to be back home in Shiloh by 6:30 PM and to make things easier for you, as there should be a bus from Jerusalem at 5:30, that means that we need to leave Tel Aviv around 4-ish, unless your transport service will come out here and then we could leave Tel Aviv closer to 5.

6)

On 5/1/08, C wrote:
Hi Yisrael,

sorry for the long delay in getting back to you. It's been really hard to try to work out this discussion -- trying to find a group of people who will work well together as a panel, represent different aspects of Israeli life - professions / genders / political opinions - and are all free to do it at the same time.

After a long deliberation I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to include you in the panel. Please understand it is nothing personal! On top of all the other criteria, my editor has specifically asked me to try to find contributors who are not familiar to _________ listeners and I'm afraid that as someone that we hear from fairly regularly that somewhat rules you out. You can take that as a compliment - it's because you are such an articulate speaker that you feature frequently.

I hope I haven't taken up too much of your time with this. Thank you so much for your willingness to take part and your interest in our program and I'm sure we'll find an occasion to speak to you again soon.

All the best

C

7)
From: Yisrael Medad
Date: May 1, 2008 8:50 PM

Well, I won the bet [I had bet with myself that the delay meant bad news]. I'll just have to wait for another radio "frequency" although a better compliment would have been that others didn't want to appear with me. Thanks, really, for thinking of me as suitable.

A Simple Explanation

My father's life was taken at Treblinka...

He was a special man. At our last meeting, as I was taking my leave of him, he told me: "Gather strength and be strong, and God will watch over you."

As we were standing on the doorstep, he recited from Jeremiah 16:6-7: "Both the great and the small shall die in this land; they shall not be buried; neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them; neither shall men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother."

Then he stopped for a while, looked straight into my eyes, and continued, again from Jeremiah, 13:16: "And there is hope for thy future, saith the Lord, And thy children shall return to their own border."

Next he addressed me directly: "If you manage to get out of here, go and return to the Land from which we were expelled, because only there will the Jewish people be itself and become strong enough to prevent such tragedies."

The writer is Naphtali Lau-Lavie

And Just Who Was Blowing Up Arabs?

Attlee cabinet was split over Palestine

Rows between British leaders over the withdrawal of troops from Palestine at the end of the Mandate in May 1948 have been revealed in secret government papers. Files held by the National Archive in Kew, West London, show that as fighting between Jewish and Arab forces reached a peak in the run -up to Israel’s independence there was disarray in the government. Some politicians and military officials, desperate to dampen the violence, suggested giving the Jews early control of Tel Aviv.

Others, including Britain’s High Commissioner for Palestine, General Sir Alan Cunningham, urged delayed withdrawal from Jerusalem to safeguard the city. Both proposals were rejected.

...Confidential minutes revealed that there was a particularly bitter attack on the performance of the army by Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin, following its failure to stop the Haganah — Israeli’s fledgling army — from seizing control of Haifa on April 23, 1948.

Mr Bevin said he felt “let down by the [British] army in Palestine” and deplored the “leaking” of information about the situation by the War Office

Protests from Viscount Montgomery were dismissed by Attlee, who said that “plain speaking is the order of the day in a confidential meeting”.

Mr Bevin pointed out that Haifa was the main embarkation point for British troops leaving Palestine. He said: “We should not have lost control over the perimeter of Haifa. This has allowed so many Arabs to have been driven out of the city.

“We had large forces there and it was a blow to British prestige that it appeared the Jews could do as they liked. Resolute action by the army had been needed.”

Viscount Montgomery denied the army had lost control of Haifa. It was a “big place and for some time troops there had been unsure of the date of withdrawal”.

The high command, he said, had urged withdrawal before the scheduled date of May 15.

Earlier, in a top secret cable to the cabinet, Sir Alan said: “I feel bound to say that if the Jews continue in their policy of blowing up innocent Arabs, as sponsored by the Haganah, the situation will worsen.

“I cannot say that we will not be able to extricate ourselves but it will become increasingly difficult.”

As for Jerusalem, he said, “I feel it cannot be left without protection. We should not leave it until some arrangement is made for the security of the city.”

Throwing Good Money After Bad

the Palestinian Authority is convening the Palestine Investment Conference, in an effort to improve economic and social conditions in the territories, which is a critical component of the broader Middle East peace process.

Walter Isaacson, chairman of the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership and president of the Aspen Institute, says partnership members will attend the May 21-23 business conference in the West Bank city of Bethlehem with the aim of increasing investment in the Palestinian economy.

The joint effort by the U.S. government, private businesses, civic leaders and the Palestinian Authority to help create jobs and educational opportunities for Palestinians was announced December 3, 2007, by President Bush. The investment component is part of an intensive diplomatic initiative, begun at the November 2007 Annapolis Middle East peace conference, that is intended to lead to Palestinian statehood...

"This would complement something that's already been launched, which is the Middle East Investment Initiative {MEII], which supplies small business loans for ... $50,000 to almost up to $500,000 now for businesses operating in the West Bank."

The MEII is a public-private partnership between the Aspen Institute, the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Palestinian Investment Fund that provides a $228 million loan guarantee program. Isaacson said that six Palestinian banks are working with the loan program as partners. There are 11 additional projects being developed and there has been $1.6 million in loans made to support them, he said.

"In order to have a political settlement, you also have to have stability. You have to have economic opportunity," Isaacson said...

The partnership is headed by Isaacson and co-chaired by Sandy Weill, former chairman of Citigroup; Lester Crown, chairman of Material Service Corporation; Ziad Asali, president of the American Task Force on Palestine; and Jean Case, chief executive of the Case Foundation.

Just Over the Next Hill

On Tuesday night, Palestinian gunmen fired at homes in the Adei Ad outpost near the West Bank settlement of Shiloh, causing no casualties.

Source

What Goes for 'Art'

Barbican's tribute to 1948 accused of demonising Israel

As far as the organisers of the exhibition are concerned, these photographs of Arab refugees, displaced from their homes in Israel in 1948, are merely an artistic slice of life from a dramatic point in Middle Eastern history.

...Lior Ben-Dor, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy, said the language used in the exhibition...did not reflect reality.

He claimed it ignored the fact that the "refugee problem" was caused by Arabs refusing to accept a United Nations resolution for the establishment of a Jewish state alongside an Arab one. "They refused a UN resolution and started a war. The result of war was the creation of a refugee problem," Mr Ben-Dor added.

He also criticised the Barbican for not staging an Israeli film festival for 18 years, despite repeated requests, yet regularly hosting a Palestinian festival, the latest of which closes this week. "We would like for them to open their doors to us," Mr Ben-Dor said. "The embassy would be very happy if the Barbican chose to balance its activities with the Palestinian Film Festival with an Israeli one."

Last night, the Barbican dismissed the accusations and insisted it would not bow to political pressure. It said it had received only two other complaints and defended the decision to stage the show, as well as the language used in the captions.

It said: "We appreciate that interpretations of historical events can potentially be controversial and may inspire strong reactions, but are clear that decisions on such matters need to sit firmly with our artistic and curatorial team.

"This exhibition is a serious, thought-provoking examination of the issue of home and exile, juxtaposing portraits of Palestinian exiles with present-day images of the places that they left in 1948."

London's Palestinian Film Festival is Europe's biggest and has been held at the Barbican for four years. The centre is planning a Yiddish film festival next year, and there was an Israeli Cinema Showcase across the capital earlier this month.

For Mr Hoffman, though, a celebration of Yiddish cinema is not enough. "If the Barbican thinks a Yiddish film season in 2009 goes any way towards balancing four successive years of Palestinian film festivals, they are wrong. It is about as much balance as would be putting chicken soup and salt beef on their restaurant menu."

...The London-based Palestinian Solidarity Campaign insisted that the language used was "appropriate" and hailed the festival and exhibition as a success. Its spokesman, Martial Kurtz, said: "It is widely accepted that the creation of Israel involved massacres and villages being erased."

Common Sense

From two letters I found (here) in response to a terrible article:-

...The civil war between Palestinians and Jews (November 1947-April 1948) and international war between Arab states and Israel (May-December 1948) would not have been necessary had the Palestinians and Arab states accepted the UN plan for a Jewish and an Arab state in Palestine.

Nor should we accept, as Hari does, Ilan Pappe's inaccurate version of events. It is true that Israeli armed forces did engage in the forced removal of civilian populations, but it is also the case that Palestinian and Arab forces did the same. Indeed, the General Secretary of the Arab League [Azzam] promised a "war of extermination". Such statements could not be easily dismissed as mere rhetoric just two years after the Holocaust. Jews were, to use Pappe's term, ethnically cleansed by Arab forces (for example at the Etzion block and the entire Jewish Quarter of the Old City).

The Jewish and Israeli conduct in the wars has to be seen in the context of a struggle for survival...

John Strawson
Reader in Law, University of East London


Sir: There are currently about one million Arabs living in Israel and no one is killing or evicting them.

David Kravitz
Netanya, Israel

Last and Not Least

From The Independent

Great Grant

No, this is not Avram Grant taking part in a Holocaust-themed play recalling Jewish powerlessness.



It is Chelsea football manager Avram Grant celebrating his side's win to gain a place at the Championship final in Moscow.

Here:-

But how did we end up in one of English football's most dramatic chapters with Avram Grant in charge of one of the protagonists? He finished last night's game on his knees on the pitch genuflecting to persons unknown. Grant said it was a tribute to his father, a Holocaust survivor; it could equally have been to his powerful friend Abramovich sat high in the West Stand, out of sight behind the glass of the executive boxes.

For the first time since he took over from Jose Mourinho at Chelsea in September, Grant felt brave enough to step onto the pitch and wave to the home crowd. It would be fair to say that the response was unremarkable. Stamford Bridge was lost in a rapture that was new to Chelsea fans, but none of them yet seem to think that they owe it all to the unassuming little Israeli in the dark suit.

Some comments:

...his suitability for the job, which can no longer be seriously questioned after taking Chelsea into uncharted territory in Europe and resuscitating their title challenge.

Grant, so often criticised, did a good job against BenÍtez, the master tactician in Europe. It did not require a masterstroke from the Israeli, just common sense.

I also agree that British press is too biased against Grant simply because he's from Israel. What Grant has done so far is outstanding, way better than Mourinho, who likes too much to speak about himself than what's on the pitch.

Louis, North Adam, USA

At some point the British press has to quit making fun of Avram Grant. He has done well at his job. I can't help but wonder whether the press would've treated a guy like Sven Goran Erikson the same way. I doubt it. I think that the British press simply hates Israel and Israelis.

Jonathan, New York, USA

and

And this was a defining match, too. It brought down the curtain on the José Mourinho years at Stamford Bridge, because nobody can omit Avram Grant, his replacement, from this achievement now.

Mourinho has been gone since September of last year but his spectre lingers. This, however, is a triumph of Grant’s own. He has managed all but one of the matches that have taken Chelsea to Moscow and the first all-English European Cup final, while Mourinho’s contribution was a disappointing home draw with Rosenborg, of Norway. Whatever the arguments about the merit of Grant’s appointment, this result means that at the very least he deserves the right to be in charge at Chelsea next season, and the chance to build his own team.

Mark Their Names

This letter published in The Guardian is Exhibit A in the case against anti-Zionists as it displays their ignorance, moral inequivalency and inability to fathom the real world. I've parenthesized some comments. Mark the names of the signors:-

In May, Jewish organisations [and Jewish people] will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. This is understandable in the context of centuries of persecution culminating in the Holocaust. [and even more understandable when you realize that Israel is the Jewish national homeland where all Jews belong] Nevertheless, we are Jews who will not be celebrating. Surely it is now time to acknowledge the narrative of the other, the price paid by another people for European anti-semitism and Hitler's genocidal policies. As Edward Said emphasised, what the Holocaust is to the Jews, the Naqba is to the Palestinians. [what a lack of historical judgement - six million equals a few thousand? and who but five Arab states and the Arab community of the Palestine mandate that attacked Israel?]

In April 1948, the same month as the infamous massacre at Deir Yassin [and the infamous massacre by Arabs of the Hadassah convoy] and the mortar attack on Palestinian civilians in Haifa's market square, Plan Dalet was put into operation. This authorised the destruction of Palestinian villages and the expulsion of the indigenous population outside the borders of the state [borders the Arabs never recognized]. We will not be celebrating.

In July 1948, 70,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes in Lydda and Ramleh in the heat of the summer with no food or water. Hundreds died. It was known as the Death March [so it can be equivalized to the Death Marches of 1945?]. We will not be celebrating.

In all, 750,000 Palestinians became refugees. Some 400 villages were wiped off the map. That did not end the ethnic cleansing. Thousands of Palestinians (Israeli citizens) were expelled from the Galilee in 1956. Many thousands more when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Under international law and sanctioned by UN resolution 194, refugees from war have a right to return or compensation. Israel has never accepted that right. We will not be celebrating.

We cannot celebrate the birthday of a state founded on terrorism, massacres and the dispossession of another people from their land. [er, so an Arab Palestine cannot be recognized because it is based on terror] We cannot celebrate the birthday of a state that even now engages in ethnic cleansing, that violates international law, that is inflicting a monstrous collective punishment on the civilian population of Gaza and that continues to deny to Palestinians their human rights and national aspirations.

We will celebrate when Arab and Jew live as equals in a peaceful Middle East.

Seymour Alexander
Ruth Appleton
Steve Arloff
Rica Bird
Jo Bird
Cllr Jonathan Bloch
Ilse Boas
Prof. Haim Bresheeth
Tanya Bronstein
Sheila Colman
Ruth Clark
Sylvia Cohen
Judith Cravitz
Mike Cushman
Angela Dale
Ivor Dembina
Dr. Linda Edmondson
Nancy Elan
Liz Elkind
Pia Feig
Colin Fine
Deborah Fink
Sylvia Finzi
Brian Fisher MBE
Frank Fisher
Bella Freud
Catherine Fried
Uri Fruchtmann
Stephen Fry
David Garfinkel
Carolyn Gelenter
Claire Glasman
Tony Greenstein
Heinz Grunewald
Michael Halpern
Abe Hayeem
Rosamine Hayeem
Anna Hellman
Amy Hordes
Joan Horrocks
Deborah Hyams
Selma James
Riva Joffe
Yael Oren Kahn
Michael Kalmanovitz
Paul Kaufman
Prof. Adah Kay
Yehudit Keshet
Prof. Eleonore Kofman
Rene Krayer
Stevie Krayer
Berry Kreel
Leah Levane
Les Levidow
Peter Levin
Louis Levy
Ros Levy
Prof. Yosefa Loshitzky
Catherine Lyons
Deborah Maccoby
Daniel Machover
Prof. Emeritus Moshe Machover
Miriam Margolyes OBE
Mike Marqusee
Laura Miller
Simon Natas
Hilda Meers
Martine Miel
Laura Miller
Arthur Neslen
Diana Neslen
Orna Neumann
Harold Pinter
Roland Rance
Frances Rivkin
Sheila Robin
Dr. Brian Robinson
Neil Rogall
Prof. Steven Rose
Mike Rosen
Prof. Jonathan Rosenhead
Leon Rosselson
Michael Sackin
Sabby Sagall
Ian Saville
Alexei Sayle
Anna Schuman
Sidney Schuman
Monika Schwartz
Amanda Sebestyen
Sam Semoff
Linda Shampan
Sybil Shine
Prof. Frances Stewart
Inbar Tamari
Ruth Tenne
Martin Toch
Tirza Waisel
Stanley Walinets
Martin White
Ruth Williams
Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi
Devra Wiseman
Gerry Wolff
Sherry Yanowitz