Head of Petah Tikva's hesder yeshivah says 'barmen are partners in crime."
Ynet Published: 04.29.08, 13:06
There is no way to work as a bartender since it is an utter and direct partnership in crime, according to Rabbi Yuval Sherlo, head of the Petah Tikva hesder yeshiva.
In the Q&A section of the Moreshet website, one of the surfers wrote Rabbi Sherlo, "I have a question whose mere arising embarrasses me. I know that the profession of a 'barman' (a server of beverages in a bar) is not a fitting profession for someone who abides by the Torah and Mitzvot. And yet, for a person who was hired to work as a barman, aside from the many prohibitions (a place of immorality, etc.), there is the problem of serving wine which is not always kosher.
"For some reason, this is a transgression that worries me more. Am I committing a direct crime by serving potentially non-kosher wine and beverages? Again, I apologize for the question. It seems as if I am asking how to kosher a knife in order to slaughter a pig."
"I can't find a way in which someone can be a barman due to various reasons," answered Rabbi Sherlo in his extensive answer. "This issue derives from an unmistakable partnership with a direct crime."
mardi 29 avril 2008
lundi 28 avril 2008
Rabbi: Revoke citizenship of non-Jews
Prominent Religous-Zionist Rabbi Zalman Melamed suggests conferring Israeli citizenship on all Jews worldwide while stripping rights of 'gentiles striving to undermine the country'
Kobi Nahshoni
Yedioth Aharonoth Published: 04.28.08, 07:18
"There must be legislation allowing Jewish people everywhere in the world to become Israeli citizens, even if they do not live here," asserted Rabbi Zalman Melamed on Sunday at a conference debating Torah-derived teachings as they pertain to minority issues in Israel.
Melamed is regarded as an influential authority in the Religious Zionism movement and currently serves as Beit El's chief rabbi.
Doing so, said Melamed, would strengthen the idea of Israel as the nation of all Jews while simultaneously shoring up the country's Jewish demographic in future elections.
However, he agreed, Jews who do not reside in Israel should not receive monetary benefits so long as they are also exempted from paying taxes and other national duties.
"Our ideal objective is for the land of Israel, on all its borders, to be filled with the people of Israel, as was promised to Abraham our father. For the country to operate in accordance with the Torah of Israel," said the rabbi, adding that Knesset Member Uri Ariel (National Union–National Religious Party) is already working towards legislating such a bill.
Biblical resident aliens
Melamed advocates stripping Israeli Arab's of their civil rights. "Even those with a democratic viewpoint understand that we must limit the rights of those who wish to harm the State. There are many non-Jews in Israel who are striving to undermine the country," he said at the conference.
"These people should not be able to vote who sits in the Knesset or determine who leads the country. The law must dictate that the subversive cannot be citizens."
In his opening statements the rabbi discussed the position of the adjudicators regarding non-Jewish residents under Jewish rule and asserted that in accordance with the Torah, anyone who recognizes Israel as a Jewish nation and pledges to adhere to the seven Noahide Laws should be conferred the status of 'Ger Toshav.' The term literally means 'resident alien' and was used to refer to gentiles living in Israel under during biblical times.
However, said the rabbi, in modern times Israel cannot do as it pleases and uphold democratic values and minority rights. "We can't be isolated from all other nations, be it politically, economically and scientifically, or when it comes to defense."
Israel, said Melamed, must strive to be a "light unto the gentiles" and not just adhere to the way of life dictated by the Torah. "To influence other nations you must communicate with them, you cannot be isolated."
Kobi Nahshoni
Yedioth Aharonoth Published: 04.28.08, 07:18
"There must be legislation allowing Jewish people everywhere in the world to become Israeli citizens, even if they do not live here," asserted Rabbi Zalman Melamed on Sunday at a conference debating Torah-derived teachings as they pertain to minority issues in Israel.
Melamed is regarded as an influential authority in the Religious Zionism movement and currently serves as Beit El's chief rabbi.
Doing so, said Melamed, would strengthen the idea of Israel as the nation of all Jews while simultaneously shoring up the country's Jewish demographic in future elections.
However, he agreed, Jews who do not reside in Israel should not receive monetary benefits so long as they are also exempted from paying taxes and other national duties.
"Our ideal objective is for the land of Israel, on all its borders, to be filled with the people of Israel, as was promised to Abraham our father. For the country to operate in accordance with the Torah of Israel," said the rabbi, adding that Knesset Member Uri Ariel (National Union–National Religious Party) is already working towards legislating such a bill.
Biblical resident aliens
Melamed advocates stripping Israeli Arab's of their civil rights. "Even those with a democratic viewpoint understand that we must limit the rights of those who wish to harm the State. There are many non-Jews in Israel who are striving to undermine the country," he said at the conference.
"These people should not be able to vote who sits in the Knesset or determine who leads the country. The law must dictate that the subversive cannot be citizens."
In his opening statements the rabbi discussed the position of the adjudicators regarding non-Jewish residents under Jewish rule and asserted that in accordance with the Torah, anyone who recognizes Israel as a Jewish nation and pledges to adhere to the seven Noahide Laws should be conferred the status of 'Ger Toshav.' The term literally means 'resident alien' and was used to refer to gentiles living in Israel under during biblical times.
However, said the rabbi, in modern times Israel cannot do as it pleases and uphold democratic values and minority rights. "We can't be isolated from all other nations, be it politically, economically and scientifically, or when it comes to defense."
Israel, said Melamed, must strive to be a "light unto the gentiles" and not just adhere to the way of life dictated by the Torah. "To influence other nations you must communicate with them, you cannot be isolated."
samedi 19 avril 2008
Our reign of terror, by the Israeli army
In shocking testimonies that reveal abductions, beatings and torture, Israeli soldiers confess the horror they have visited on Hebron
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
The Independent Saturday, 19 April 2008
The dark-haired 22-year-old in black T-shirt, blue jeans and red Crocs is understandably hesitant as he sits at a picnic table in the incongruous setting of a beauty spot somewhere in Israel. We know his name and if we used it he would face a criminal investigation and a probable prison sentence.
The birds are singing as he describes in detail some of what he did and saw others do as an enlisted soldier in Hebron. And they are certainly criminal: the incidents in which Palestinian vehicles are stopped for no good reason, the windows smashed and the occupants beaten up for talking back – for saying, for example, they are on the way to hospital; the theft of tobacco from a Palestinian shopkeeper who is then beaten "to a pulp" when he complains; the throwing of stun grenades through the windows of mosques as people prayed. And worse.
The young man left the army only at the end of last year, and his decision to speak is part of a concerted effort to expose the moral price paid by young Israeli conscripts in what is probably the most problematic posting there is in the occupied territories. Not least because Hebron is the only Palestinian city whose centre is directly controlled by the military, 24/7, to protect the notably hardline Jewish settlers there. He says firmly that he now regrets what repeatedly took place during his tour of duty.
But his frequent, if nervous, grins and giggles occasionally show just a hint of the bravado he might have displayed if boasting of his exploits to his mates in a bar. Repeatedly he turns to the older former soldier who has persuaded him to speak to us, and says as if seeking reassurance: "You know how it is in Hebron."
The older ex-soldier is Yehuda Shaul, who does indeed "know how it is in Hebron", having served in the city in a combat unit at the peak of the intifada, and is a founder of Shovrim Shtika, or Breaking the Silence, which will publish tomorrow the disturbing testimonies of 39 Israelis – including this young man – who served in the army in Hebron between 2005 and 2007. They cover a range of experiences, from anger and powerlessness in the face of often violent abuse of Arabs by hardline Jewish settlers, through petty harassment by soldiers, to soldiers beating up Palestinian residents without provocation, looting homes and shops, and opening fire on unarmed demonstrators.
The maltreatment of civilians under occupation is common to many armies in the world – including Britain's, from Northern Ireland to Iraq.
But, paradoxically, few if any countries apart from Israel have an NGO like Breaking the Silence, which seeks – through the experiences of the soldiers themselves – as its website puts it "to force Israeli society to address the reality which it created" in the occupied territories.
The Israeli public was given an unflattering glimpse of military life in Hebron this year when a young lieutenant in the Kfir Brigade called Yaakov Gigi was given a 15-month jail sentence for taking five soldiers with him to hijack a Palestinian taxi, conduct what the Israeli media called a "rampage" in which one of the soldiers shot and wounded a Palestinian civilian who just happened to be in the wrong place, and then tried to lie his way out of it.
In a confessional interview with the Israeli Channel Two investigative programme Uvda, Gigi, who had previously been in many ways a model soldier, talked of "losing the human condition" in Hebron. Asked what he meant, he replied: "To lose the human condition is to become an animal."
The Israeli military did not prosecute the soldier who had fired on the Palestinian, as opposed to Gigi. But the military insists "that the events that occurred within the Kfir Brigade are highly unusual".
But as the 22-year-old soldier, also in the Kfir Brigade, confirms in his testimony to Breaking the Silence, it seems that the event may not have been exceptional. Certainly, our interview tells us, he was "many times" in groups that commandeered taxis, seated the driver in the back, and told him to direct them to places "where they hate the Jews" in order to "make a balagan" – Hebrew for "big mess".
Then there is the inter- clan Palestinian fight: "We were told to go over there and find out what was happening. Our [platoon] commander was a bit screwed in the head. So anyway, we would locate houses, and he'd tell us: 'OK, anyone you see armed with stones or whatever, I don't care what – shoot.' Everyone would think it's the clan fight..." Did the company commander know? "No one knew. Platoon's private initiative, these actions."
Did you hit them? "Sure, not just them. Anyone who came close ... Particularly legs and arms. Some people also sustained abdominal hits ... I think at some point they realised it was soldiers, but they were not sure. Because they could not believe soldiers would do this, you know."
Or using a 10-year-old child to locate and punish a 15-year-old stone-thrower: "So we got hold of just some Palestinian kid nearby, we knew that he knew who it had been. Let's say we beat him a little, to put it mildly, until he told us. You know, the way it goes when your mind's already screwed up, and you have no more patience for Hebron and Arabs and Jews there.
"The kid was really scared, realising we were on to him. We had a commander with us who was a bit of a fanatic. We gave the boy over to this commander, and he really beat the shit out of him ... He showed him all kinds of holes in the ground along the way, asking him: 'Is it here you want to die? Or here?' The kid goes, 'No, no!'
"Anyway, the kid was stood up, and couldn't stay standing on his own two feet. He was already crying ... And the commander continues, 'Don't pretend' and kicks him some more. And then [name withheld], who always had a hard time with such things, went in, caught the squad commander and said, 'Don't touch him any more, that's it.' The commander goes, 'You've become a leftie, what?' And he answers, 'No, I just don't want to see such things.'
"We were right next to this, but did nothing. We were indifferent, you know. OK. Only after the fact you start thinking. Not right away. We were doing such things every day ... It had become a habit...
"And the parents saw it. The commander ordered [the mother], 'Don't get any closer.' He cocked his weapon, already had a bullet inside. She was frightened. He put his weapon literally inside the kid's mouth. 'Anyone gets close, I kill him. Don't bug me. I kill. I have no mercy.' So the father ... got hold of the mother and said, 'Calm down, let them be, so they'll leave him alone.'"
Not every soldier serving in Hebron becomes an "animal". Iftach Arbel, 23, from an upper-middle class, left-of-centre home in Herzylia, served in Hebron as a commander just before the withdrawal from Gaza, when he thinks the army wanted to show it could be tough with settlers, too. And many of the testimonies, including Mr Arbel's, describe how the settlers educate children as young as four to throw stones at Palestinians, attack their homes and even steal their possessions. To Mr Arbel, the Hebron settlers are "pure evil" and the only solution is "to remove the settlers".
He believes it would be possible even within these constraints to treat Palestinians better. He adds: "We did night activity. Choose a house at random, on the aerial photo, so as to practise combat routine and all, which is instructive for the soldiers, I mean, I'm all for it. But then at midnight you wake someone up and turn his whole house upside down with everyone sleeping on the mattresses and all."
But Mr Arbel says that most soldiers are some way between his own extreme and that of the most violent. From just two of his fellow testifiers, you can see what he means.
As one said: "We did all kinds of experiments to see who could do the best split in Abu Snena. We would put [Palestinians] against the wall, make like we were checking them, and ask them to spread their legs. Spread, spread, spread, it was a game to see who could do it best. Or we would check who can hold his breath for longest.
"Choke them. One guy would come, make like he was checking them, and suddenly start yelling like they said something and choke them ... Block their airways; you have to press the adams apple. It's not pleasant. Look at the watch as you're doing it, until he passes out. The one who takes longest to faint wins."
And theft as well as violence. "There's this car accessory shop there. Every time, soldiers would take a tape-disc player, other stuff. This guy, if you go ask him, will tell you plenty of things that soldiers did to him.
"A whole scroll-full ... They would raid his shop regularly. 'Listen, if you tell on us, we'll confiscate your whole store, we'll break everything.' You know, he was afraid to tell. He was already making deals, 'Listen guys, you're damaging me financially.' I personally never took a thing, but I'm telling you, people used to take speakers from him, whole sound systems.
"He'd go, 'Please, give me 500 shekels, I'm losing money here.' 'Listen, if you go on – we'll pick up your whole shop.' 'OK, OK, take it, but listen, don't take more than 10 systems a month.' Something like this.
"'I'm already going bankrupt.' He was so miserable. Guys in our unit used to sell these things back home, make deals with people. People are so stupid."
The military said that Israeli Defence Forces soldiers operate according to "a strict set of moral guidelines" and that their expected adherence to them only "increases wherever and whenever IDF soldiers come in contact with civilians". It added that "if evidence supporting the allegations is uncovered, steps are taken to hold those involved to the level of highest judicial severity". It also said: "The Military Advocate General has issued a number of indictments against soldiers due to allegations of criminal behaviour ... Soldiers found guilty were punished severely by the Military Court, in proportion to the committed offence." It had not by last night quantified such indictments.
In its introduction to the testimonies, Breaking the Silence says: "The soldiers' determination to fulfil their mission yields tragic results: the proper-normative becomes despicable, the inconceivable becomes routine ... [The] testimonies are to illustrate the manner in which they are swept into the brutal reality reigning on the ground, a reality whereby the lives of many thousands of Palestinian families are at the questionable mercy of youths. Hebron turns a focused, flagrant lens at the reality to which Israel's young representatives are constantly sent."
A force for justice
Breaking the Silence was formed four years ago by a group of ex-soldiers, most of whom had served in Israel Defence Forces combat units in Hebron. Many of the soldiers do reserve duty in the military each year. It has collected some 500 testimonies from former soldiers who served in the West Bank and Gaza. Its first public exposure was with an exhibition of photographs by soldiers serving in Hebron and the organisation also runs regular tours of Hebron for Israeli students and diplomats. It receives funding from groups as diverse as the Jewish philanthropic Moriah Fund, the New Israel Fund, the British embassy in Tel Aviv and the EU.
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
The Independent Saturday, 19 April 2008
The dark-haired 22-year-old in black T-shirt, blue jeans and red Crocs is understandably hesitant as he sits at a picnic table in the incongruous setting of a beauty spot somewhere in Israel. We know his name and if we used it he would face a criminal investigation and a probable prison sentence.
The birds are singing as he describes in detail some of what he did and saw others do as an enlisted soldier in Hebron. And they are certainly criminal: the incidents in which Palestinian vehicles are stopped for no good reason, the windows smashed and the occupants beaten up for talking back – for saying, for example, they are on the way to hospital; the theft of tobacco from a Palestinian shopkeeper who is then beaten "to a pulp" when he complains; the throwing of stun grenades through the windows of mosques as people prayed. And worse.
The young man left the army only at the end of last year, and his decision to speak is part of a concerted effort to expose the moral price paid by young Israeli conscripts in what is probably the most problematic posting there is in the occupied territories. Not least because Hebron is the only Palestinian city whose centre is directly controlled by the military, 24/7, to protect the notably hardline Jewish settlers there. He says firmly that he now regrets what repeatedly took place during his tour of duty.
But his frequent, if nervous, grins and giggles occasionally show just a hint of the bravado he might have displayed if boasting of his exploits to his mates in a bar. Repeatedly he turns to the older former soldier who has persuaded him to speak to us, and says as if seeking reassurance: "You know how it is in Hebron."
The older ex-soldier is Yehuda Shaul, who does indeed "know how it is in Hebron", having served in the city in a combat unit at the peak of the intifada, and is a founder of Shovrim Shtika, or Breaking the Silence, which will publish tomorrow the disturbing testimonies of 39 Israelis – including this young man – who served in the army in Hebron between 2005 and 2007. They cover a range of experiences, from anger and powerlessness in the face of often violent abuse of Arabs by hardline Jewish settlers, through petty harassment by soldiers, to soldiers beating up Palestinian residents without provocation, looting homes and shops, and opening fire on unarmed demonstrators.
The maltreatment of civilians under occupation is common to many armies in the world – including Britain's, from Northern Ireland to Iraq.
But, paradoxically, few if any countries apart from Israel have an NGO like Breaking the Silence, which seeks – through the experiences of the soldiers themselves – as its website puts it "to force Israeli society to address the reality which it created" in the occupied territories.
The Israeli public was given an unflattering glimpse of military life in Hebron this year when a young lieutenant in the Kfir Brigade called Yaakov Gigi was given a 15-month jail sentence for taking five soldiers with him to hijack a Palestinian taxi, conduct what the Israeli media called a "rampage" in which one of the soldiers shot and wounded a Palestinian civilian who just happened to be in the wrong place, and then tried to lie his way out of it.
In a confessional interview with the Israeli Channel Two investigative programme Uvda, Gigi, who had previously been in many ways a model soldier, talked of "losing the human condition" in Hebron. Asked what he meant, he replied: "To lose the human condition is to become an animal."
The Israeli military did not prosecute the soldier who had fired on the Palestinian, as opposed to Gigi. But the military insists "that the events that occurred within the Kfir Brigade are highly unusual".
But as the 22-year-old soldier, also in the Kfir Brigade, confirms in his testimony to Breaking the Silence, it seems that the event may not have been exceptional. Certainly, our interview tells us, he was "many times" in groups that commandeered taxis, seated the driver in the back, and told him to direct them to places "where they hate the Jews" in order to "make a balagan" – Hebrew for "big mess".
Then there is the inter- clan Palestinian fight: "We were told to go over there and find out what was happening. Our [platoon] commander was a bit screwed in the head. So anyway, we would locate houses, and he'd tell us: 'OK, anyone you see armed with stones or whatever, I don't care what – shoot.' Everyone would think it's the clan fight..." Did the company commander know? "No one knew. Platoon's private initiative, these actions."
Did you hit them? "Sure, not just them. Anyone who came close ... Particularly legs and arms. Some people also sustained abdominal hits ... I think at some point they realised it was soldiers, but they were not sure. Because they could not believe soldiers would do this, you know."
Or using a 10-year-old child to locate and punish a 15-year-old stone-thrower: "So we got hold of just some Palestinian kid nearby, we knew that he knew who it had been. Let's say we beat him a little, to put it mildly, until he told us. You know, the way it goes when your mind's already screwed up, and you have no more patience for Hebron and Arabs and Jews there.
"The kid was really scared, realising we were on to him. We had a commander with us who was a bit of a fanatic. We gave the boy over to this commander, and he really beat the shit out of him ... He showed him all kinds of holes in the ground along the way, asking him: 'Is it here you want to die? Or here?' The kid goes, 'No, no!'
"Anyway, the kid was stood up, and couldn't stay standing on his own two feet. He was already crying ... And the commander continues, 'Don't pretend' and kicks him some more. And then [name withheld], who always had a hard time with such things, went in, caught the squad commander and said, 'Don't touch him any more, that's it.' The commander goes, 'You've become a leftie, what?' And he answers, 'No, I just don't want to see such things.'
"We were right next to this, but did nothing. We were indifferent, you know. OK. Only after the fact you start thinking. Not right away. We were doing such things every day ... It had become a habit...
"And the parents saw it. The commander ordered [the mother], 'Don't get any closer.' He cocked his weapon, already had a bullet inside. She was frightened. He put his weapon literally inside the kid's mouth. 'Anyone gets close, I kill him. Don't bug me. I kill. I have no mercy.' So the father ... got hold of the mother and said, 'Calm down, let them be, so they'll leave him alone.'"
Not every soldier serving in Hebron becomes an "animal". Iftach Arbel, 23, from an upper-middle class, left-of-centre home in Herzylia, served in Hebron as a commander just before the withdrawal from Gaza, when he thinks the army wanted to show it could be tough with settlers, too. And many of the testimonies, including Mr Arbel's, describe how the settlers educate children as young as four to throw stones at Palestinians, attack their homes and even steal their possessions. To Mr Arbel, the Hebron settlers are "pure evil" and the only solution is "to remove the settlers".
He believes it would be possible even within these constraints to treat Palestinians better. He adds: "We did night activity. Choose a house at random, on the aerial photo, so as to practise combat routine and all, which is instructive for the soldiers, I mean, I'm all for it. But then at midnight you wake someone up and turn his whole house upside down with everyone sleeping on the mattresses and all."
But Mr Arbel says that most soldiers are some way between his own extreme and that of the most violent. From just two of his fellow testifiers, you can see what he means.
As one said: "We did all kinds of experiments to see who could do the best split in Abu Snena. We would put [Palestinians] against the wall, make like we were checking them, and ask them to spread their legs. Spread, spread, spread, it was a game to see who could do it best. Or we would check who can hold his breath for longest.
"Choke them. One guy would come, make like he was checking them, and suddenly start yelling like they said something and choke them ... Block their airways; you have to press the adams apple. It's not pleasant. Look at the watch as you're doing it, until he passes out. The one who takes longest to faint wins."
And theft as well as violence. "There's this car accessory shop there. Every time, soldiers would take a tape-disc player, other stuff. This guy, if you go ask him, will tell you plenty of things that soldiers did to him.
"A whole scroll-full ... They would raid his shop regularly. 'Listen, if you tell on us, we'll confiscate your whole store, we'll break everything.' You know, he was afraid to tell. He was already making deals, 'Listen guys, you're damaging me financially.' I personally never took a thing, but I'm telling you, people used to take speakers from him, whole sound systems.
"He'd go, 'Please, give me 500 shekels, I'm losing money here.' 'Listen, if you go on – we'll pick up your whole shop.' 'OK, OK, take it, but listen, don't take more than 10 systems a month.' Something like this.
"'I'm already going bankrupt.' He was so miserable. Guys in our unit used to sell these things back home, make deals with people. People are so stupid."
The military said that Israeli Defence Forces soldiers operate according to "a strict set of moral guidelines" and that their expected adherence to them only "increases wherever and whenever IDF soldiers come in contact with civilians". It added that "if evidence supporting the allegations is uncovered, steps are taken to hold those involved to the level of highest judicial severity". It also said: "The Military Advocate General has issued a number of indictments against soldiers due to allegations of criminal behaviour ... Soldiers found guilty were punished severely by the Military Court, in proportion to the committed offence." It had not by last night quantified such indictments.
In its introduction to the testimonies, Breaking the Silence says: "The soldiers' determination to fulfil their mission yields tragic results: the proper-normative becomes despicable, the inconceivable becomes routine ... [The] testimonies are to illustrate the manner in which they are swept into the brutal reality reigning on the ground, a reality whereby the lives of many thousands of Palestinian families are at the questionable mercy of youths. Hebron turns a focused, flagrant lens at the reality to which Israel's young representatives are constantly sent."
A force for justice
Breaking the Silence was formed four years ago by a group of ex-soldiers, most of whom had served in Israel Defence Forces combat units in Hebron. Many of the soldiers do reserve duty in the military each year. It has collected some 500 testimonies from former soldiers who served in the West Bank and Gaza. Its first public exposure was with an exhibition of photographs by soldiers serving in Hebron and the organisation also runs regular tours of Hebron for Israeli students and diplomats. It receives funding from groups as diverse as the Jewish philanthropic Moriah Fund, the New Israel Fund, the British embassy in Tel Aviv and the EU.
Mario Vargas Llosa: How Arabs have been driven out of Hebron
The Independent Saturday, 19 April 2008
Hebron is the image of desolation and pain. I'm talking of the H-2 sector, the oldest part of this ancient city, which is under Israeli military control and where some 500 colonos – settlers – live in four settlements. It is one of the holiest places of Judaism and Islam, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, where in February 1994, the settler Baruch Goldstein machine-gunned Muslims at prayer, killing 29 and wounding dozens.
To protect these settlers, the zone bristles with barriers, camps and military posts, and is overrun by Israeli patrols. But such mobilisation will soon be unnecessary because this part of Hebron, subject to ethnic and religious cleansing, will soon have no Arab residents.
Its centuries-old market, which was once as multi-coloured, varied and bustling as that of Jerusalem, is now empty and the doors of all the shops are sealed. Travelling around, you feel in limbo. So too when you walk through the surrounding deserted streets, with shopfronts shuttered with metal sheets and on whose roofs you glimpse military posts. The walls of this entire semi-empty neighbourhood are filled with racist inscriptions: "Death to the Arabs".
Some 25,000 residents have been cleared from their homes in H-2 zone in five years. In the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood alone, where there is a settlement of the same name, barely 50 out of 500 Arab families remain.
The extraordinary thing is that they haven't already gone, subjected as they are to systematic and ferocious harassment by settlers, who stone them, throw rubbish and excrement at their houses, invade and destroy their homes, and attack their children when they return from school, to the absolute indifference of Israeli soldiers who witness these atrocities.
No one told me this: I saw it with my own eyes and heard with my own ears from the victims themselves. I have a video of the hair-raising scene of children from Tel Rumeida settlement stoning and kicking Arab schoolchildren and their teachers who, to protect themselves, returned home in groups instead of individually. When I told Israeli friends this, some looked at me with incredulity and I saw they suspected I exaggerated or lied, as novelists often do. It turned out that none had ever set foot in Hebron.
Translated by Elizabeth Nash. This is an edited extract of an article that appeared in El Pais
Hebron is the image of desolation and pain. I'm talking of the H-2 sector, the oldest part of this ancient city, which is under Israeli military control and where some 500 colonos – settlers – live in four settlements. It is one of the holiest places of Judaism and Islam, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, where in February 1994, the settler Baruch Goldstein machine-gunned Muslims at prayer, killing 29 and wounding dozens.
To protect these settlers, the zone bristles with barriers, camps and military posts, and is overrun by Israeli patrols. But such mobilisation will soon be unnecessary because this part of Hebron, subject to ethnic and religious cleansing, will soon have no Arab residents.
Its centuries-old market, which was once as multi-coloured, varied and bustling as that of Jerusalem, is now empty and the doors of all the shops are sealed. Travelling around, you feel in limbo. So too when you walk through the surrounding deserted streets, with shopfronts shuttered with metal sheets and on whose roofs you glimpse military posts. The walls of this entire semi-empty neighbourhood are filled with racist inscriptions: "Death to the Arabs".
Some 25,000 residents have been cleared from their homes in H-2 zone in five years. In the Tel Rumeida neighbourhood alone, where there is a settlement of the same name, barely 50 out of 500 Arab families remain.
The extraordinary thing is that they haven't already gone, subjected as they are to systematic and ferocious harassment by settlers, who stone them, throw rubbish and excrement at their houses, invade and destroy their homes, and attack their children when they return from school, to the absolute indifference of Israeli soldiers who witness these atrocities.
No one told me this: I saw it with my own eyes and heard with my own ears from the victims themselves. I have a video of the hair-raising scene of children from Tel Rumeida settlement stoning and kicking Arab schoolchildren and their teachers who, to protect themselves, returned home in groups instead of individually. When I told Israeli friends this, some looked at me with incredulity and I saw they suspected I exaggerated or lied, as novelists often do. It turned out that none had ever set foot in Hebron.
Translated by Elizabeth Nash. This is an edited extract of an article that appeared in El Pais
Some uncomfortable truths for the Arabs, the Jews and... the British
We took to Palestine the harsh methods we had used in Ireland between 1918 and 1922
By Andreas Whittam Smith
The Independent Monday, 19 March 2001
Fighting terrorists by punishing civilians, as Israel is doing on the West Bank of the Jordan, has a long history. I recently came across this incident. It took place in an Arab village, Halhoul, near Hebron.
Fighting terrorists by punishing civilians, as Israel is doing on the West Bank of the Jordan, has a long history. I recently came across this incident. It took place in an Arab village, Halhoul, near Hebron.
Halhoul had been identified as a source of terrorist activity. The army was sent in. The villagers were rounded up and put into open-air pens, one for men and one for women. It was May and the sun was fierce. Neither water nor food were provided. In the end, eight people died from heat exhaustion. In explaining away the incident, the authorities said the village was "notoriously bad": 26 rifles and eight revolvers had been found. The eight people had died because of a "combination of unfortunate circumstances... the heat had been abnormally intense and the victims were elderly". Most unfortunate. No one had killed the villagers deliberately. There had been no deed that could be called an "atrocity".
Nobody any longer remembers this because it took place in 1939. However, it concerns us, the British. We then governed Palestine under a mandate from the League of Nations. We were attempting to put down an Arab rebellion. The comments on Halhoul were written by the British High Commissioner, Harold MacMichael.
My account comes from Tom Segev's excellent history of the British Mandate, One Palestine Complete. I shouldn't have been shocked - as I was - when I read it. Occupying powers always get involved in this sort of dirty business. We took to Palestine the harsh methods we had used in Ireland between 1918 and 1922. A Colonial Secretary of the period wrote that the comparison between Ireland and Palestine was "singularly complete". In fact, Mr Segev's book is full of uncomfortable truths for the Arabs and the Jews, as well as for the British.
Take the Arab claim that Jewish settlers dispossessed them of their lands. It turns out that during the Mandate period, Arab landowners were often eager sellers to Jewish immigrants. Among them were - in secret - leaders of the Arab national movement. Never mind that the Arab press at the time was full of articles decrying the transactions. Prices were good. But as the hypocritical vendors well knew, the consequence of the transaction was that Arab tenant farmers would be evicted. Many Arab notables, Muslim and Christian, were involved.
Mr Segev, too, must have been shocked, I imagine, by what he discovered about the attitude of the Zionist movement to Jewish immigrants during the late 1930s, when Jews were being persecuted in Germany, Austria and other Eastern European states. The Jews in Palestine, writes Mr Segev, came to realise that the country could not take all Jews; they ceased to see the state as a means of saving the Jewish people and focused on their own needs instead. They made sure that immigration permits were mainly assigned to unmarried male "pioneers" in their twenties. So much for the grandmothers, great-aunts, parents, uncles, cousins also being hounded from their homes. No room at the inn. Indeed, the Jewish Agency went so far as to stipulate that no retarded children should be permitted to come because it would be difficult to make appropriate arrangements for them in Palestine.
Until now, the Mandate period, 1922-1948, has seemed a historical curiosity. The British governments of the time didn't really want the responsibility; Palestine served no Imperial purpose. Worse still, it cost money. Suppressing the Arab revolt required 25,000 British troops and police under the command of "Monty", later Field Marshal Montgomery.
Mr Segev's book is over 500 pages long, yet almost every paragraph finds echoes in Israel today. In the same way that the Halhoul deaths in 1939 weren't an atrocity in British minds, nor a violation of civil rights, so the measures that the Israeli army takes to combat Palestinian violence are described as merely self-defence. They are the terrorists; we are the defenders. The killing of 90 or so Palestinian children in the past five months, is, well, self-defence.
The new Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, flew to Washington yesterday, partly to make sure that the new president and his team are on side, and partly to reassure a restive public opinion. Collective punishment doesn't play very well. It is based on the principle that everyone is guilty until proved innocent.
In our time, we had the embarrassment that Nazi propaganda was quick to highlight the suffering caused by British policy in Palestine. The British believed that their predecessor as great power in the region, Turkey, had invented the system. Colonial civil servants and army officers reminded themselves that the Turks had frequently arrested entire tribes for unlimited periods and flogged sheikhs and mukhtars.
Those were the days! We were more sophisticated. We erected a security fence along the northern border. We built dozens of police fortresses and concrete guard posts. We imported Dobermann dogs from South Africa. And we trained interrogators in torture. The British police chief in Jerusalem, Douglas Duff, described such methods in his memoir published in 1953. He tells how to apply physical force without leaving marks. We destroyed homes - 2,000 houses between 1936 and 1940 according to one estimate. We engaged in assassination. What did we not do that the Israeli army does today? It is hard to say.
One can trace the inheritance through a single soldier, the brilliant Orde Wingate, posted to Palestine as an intelligence officer in 1936. He became a fervent believer in Zionism. He was once described as a kind of Lawrence of the Jews. He set up Special Night Squads comprising British troops and Jewish volunteers that pursued terrorists by night. Their methods were brutal. Among his men was a future prime minister of Israel, Yitzhak Shamir, and the man who was to be Israel's most famous commander, Moshe Dayan. Churchill later described Wingate as "a man of genius and audacity". An official handbook of the Israeli Ministry of Defence states that the "teaching of Orde Charles Wingate, his character and leadership... and his influence can be seen in the Israel Defense Force's combat doctrine."
I am not saying that this ancient history should still all criticisms. Rather it should remove any notion of moral superiority, a very British fault.
aws@globalnet.co.uk
By Andreas Whittam Smith
The Independent Monday, 19 March 2001
Fighting terrorists by punishing civilians, as Israel is doing on the West Bank of the Jordan, has a long history. I recently came across this incident. It took place in an Arab village, Halhoul, near Hebron.
Fighting terrorists by punishing civilians, as Israel is doing on the West Bank of the Jordan, has a long history. I recently came across this incident. It took place in an Arab village, Halhoul, near Hebron.
Halhoul had been identified as a source of terrorist activity. The army was sent in. The villagers were rounded up and put into open-air pens, one for men and one for women. It was May and the sun was fierce. Neither water nor food were provided. In the end, eight people died from heat exhaustion. In explaining away the incident, the authorities said the village was "notoriously bad": 26 rifles and eight revolvers had been found. The eight people had died because of a "combination of unfortunate circumstances... the heat had been abnormally intense and the victims were elderly". Most unfortunate. No one had killed the villagers deliberately. There had been no deed that could be called an "atrocity".
Nobody any longer remembers this because it took place in 1939. However, it concerns us, the British. We then governed Palestine under a mandate from the League of Nations. We were attempting to put down an Arab rebellion. The comments on Halhoul were written by the British High Commissioner, Harold MacMichael.
My account comes from Tom Segev's excellent history of the British Mandate, One Palestine Complete. I shouldn't have been shocked - as I was - when I read it. Occupying powers always get involved in this sort of dirty business. We took to Palestine the harsh methods we had used in Ireland between 1918 and 1922. A Colonial Secretary of the period wrote that the comparison between Ireland and Palestine was "singularly complete". In fact, Mr Segev's book is full of uncomfortable truths for the Arabs and the Jews, as well as for the British.
Take the Arab claim that Jewish settlers dispossessed them of their lands. It turns out that during the Mandate period, Arab landowners were often eager sellers to Jewish immigrants. Among them were - in secret - leaders of the Arab national movement. Never mind that the Arab press at the time was full of articles decrying the transactions. Prices were good. But as the hypocritical vendors well knew, the consequence of the transaction was that Arab tenant farmers would be evicted. Many Arab notables, Muslim and Christian, were involved.
Mr Segev, too, must have been shocked, I imagine, by what he discovered about the attitude of the Zionist movement to Jewish immigrants during the late 1930s, when Jews were being persecuted in Germany, Austria and other Eastern European states. The Jews in Palestine, writes Mr Segev, came to realise that the country could not take all Jews; they ceased to see the state as a means of saving the Jewish people and focused on their own needs instead. They made sure that immigration permits were mainly assigned to unmarried male "pioneers" in their twenties. So much for the grandmothers, great-aunts, parents, uncles, cousins also being hounded from their homes. No room at the inn. Indeed, the Jewish Agency went so far as to stipulate that no retarded children should be permitted to come because it would be difficult to make appropriate arrangements for them in Palestine.
Until now, the Mandate period, 1922-1948, has seemed a historical curiosity. The British governments of the time didn't really want the responsibility; Palestine served no Imperial purpose. Worse still, it cost money. Suppressing the Arab revolt required 25,000 British troops and police under the command of "Monty", later Field Marshal Montgomery.
Mr Segev's book is over 500 pages long, yet almost every paragraph finds echoes in Israel today. In the same way that the Halhoul deaths in 1939 weren't an atrocity in British minds, nor a violation of civil rights, so the measures that the Israeli army takes to combat Palestinian violence are described as merely self-defence. They are the terrorists; we are the defenders. The killing of 90 or so Palestinian children in the past five months, is, well, self-defence.
The new Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, flew to Washington yesterday, partly to make sure that the new president and his team are on side, and partly to reassure a restive public opinion. Collective punishment doesn't play very well. It is based on the principle that everyone is guilty until proved innocent.
In our time, we had the embarrassment that Nazi propaganda was quick to highlight the suffering caused by British policy in Palestine. The British believed that their predecessor as great power in the region, Turkey, had invented the system. Colonial civil servants and army officers reminded themselves that the Turks had frequently arrested entire tribes for unlimited periods and flogged sheikhs and mukhtars.
Those were the days! We were more sophisticated. We erected a security fence along the northern border. We built dozens of police fortresses and concrete guard posts. We imported Dobermann dogs from South Africa. And we trained interrogators in torture. The British police chief in Jerusalem, Douglas Duff, described such methods in his memoir published in 1953. He tells how to apply physical force without leaving marks. We destroyed homes - 2,000 houses between 1936 and 1940 according to one estimate. We engaged in assassination. What did we not do that the Israeli army does today? It is hard to say.
One can trace the inheritance through a single soldier, the brilliant Orde Wingate, posted to Palestine as an intelligence officer in 1936. He became a fervent believer in Zionism. He was once described as a kind of Lawrence of the Jews. He set up Special Night Squads comprising British troops and Jewish volunteers that pursued terrorists by night. Their methods were brutal. Among his men was a future prime minister of Israel, Yitzhak Shamir, and the man who was to be Israel's most famous commander, Moshe Dayan. Churchill later described Wingate as "a man of genius and audacity". An official handbook of the Israeli Ministry of Defence states that the "teaching of Orde Charles Wingate, his character and leadership... and his influence can be seen in the Israel Defense Force's combat doctrine."
I am not saying that this ancient history should still all criticisms. Rather it should remove any notion of moral superiority, a very British fault.
aws@globalnet.co.uk
vendredi 18 avril 2008
Testimonies from Hebron: Soldiers choke, beat Palestinians
Soldiers serving in Hebron testify to violent acts unleashed by troops, settlers on Palestinian residents. Four testimonies below
Hanan Greenberg
Yedioth Ahranoth Published: 04.18.08, 15:56
"Everyone there feels like they are doing something wrong. At least my friends felt they were doing something wrong." This was the opening sentence in a pamphlet over 100 pages long, which tells the stories of dozens of soldiers who have served in Hebron over the last few years.
Human Rights Issue
Fayyad: IDF operation in Gaza 'crime against humanity' / Ali Waked
Clashes, airstrikes continue throughout day as IDF troops engage Palestinian gunmen. Officials in Gaza put death toll at 18 - including two youths, local photographer. Palestinian Authority declares day of mourning
Full story
The pamphlet was published by an organization called Breaking the Silence, and includes horrifying descriptions about the behavior IDF soldiers have adopted towards the Palestinian residents of Hebron, and that of the settlers.
To read the pamphlet in full, click here
Representatives of Breaking the Silence claim that their goal is "to encourage a public debate about the moral price paid by Israeli society as a whole due to the harsh reality faced by young soldiers forced to take control of a civilian population."
According to the organization, all testimonies were investigated fully before being printed and cross-referenced with witnesses' testimonies and archives of other human rights organizations.
One of the organization's activists said that the situation in Hebron has not changed much during recent years, and that Breaking the Silence has been hearing a lot about the "moral deterioration" of the system as a whole and the soldiers subjected to it. He added that Israeli society has a duty to listen to the soldiers and take responsibility for what is being done in its name.
Four testimonies
Metal wire causes loss of hand:
Soldier: "There was one really crazy soldier in my unit, and he loved torture. One time he caused a man to have his hand cut off."
Interviewer: "What happened?"
Soldier: "Just this Arab… The soldier stole a tobacco box from him. "Suddenly the Arab came and yelled, 'thieves, thieves, I saw you.' He got close to the soldier and we tried to keep him away… We didn't know about the stealing.
"The soldier started to beat him, and everyone started pushing… It became a situation where the Arab was being beaten up badly.
"Then the soldier took a metal wire. He was really screwed up. Grabbed the Arab and started to twist it around…"
Interviewer: "On his hand?"
Soldier: "Yeah, he really twisted it. I tell you, we tried to stop him. 'No, I won't let him go. He lifted a hand on me, he'll be punished.' Around and around… Afterwards we tried to get it off and we couldn't, it actually made a groove in his hand. It was blue. And the guy is yelling, 'I can't feel my hand anymore.'
"I said he would have to have his hand cut off. We even tried to dig with a knife, to get it off, but we couldn't… We told him to go to the hospital. Nothing to do, we couldn't cut the wire off."
Theft:
Soldier: "There was a lot of theft… Once we were at these rich people's house in Hebron. We found a ton of dollar bills in one of the drawers. Insane. The commander said to the two senior guys in the unit, 'Okay, we'll split the money.' They split it. Left a little there and told me, 'If you talk we'll come back and slaughter you.'"
Interviewer: "Was looting normal?"
Soldier: "A little looting was normal. Backgammon and cigarettes, everything… Everything that looked nice we took. Other guys took presents for their girlfriends from stores."
Beating:
Soldier: "We were on a patrol and we saw a guy in a cab that looked like he was hiding something. We stopped the car… There was just an incident of a soldier getting stabbed there or something.
"We found a knife… We asked the guy, 'Why the knife?' and he said, 'It's for my mother, to chop vegetables.' We said, 'what are you, an idiot? Are you kidding? Are you lying?' He really pissed us off. We grabbed him, hit him a little, in the ribs, not the face.
'You're trying to kill us' (Photo: AP)
"Then the rest of the guys on patrol saw the beating. Everyone jumped on him… They beat him up, really beat him up… Hit him with sticks, in the head… And then one started choking him, with two hands. He was 17 or 18 and he started yelling, 'Mama, Baba.' He kept choking him, he was starting to get blue and lose consciousness.
"Suddenly the other guys saw what was happening and started pulling off the soldier. But he wouldn't let go. He wouldn't let go and he yelled, 'You're trying to kill us, you want to kill us, you want to stab me, eh? Son of a bitch, you want to stab me.'
"He was crazy… We pulled him, his legs and stomach. And his whole body was in the air, and we were pulling and pulling… He went at him like a pit-bull. Finally we got him off."
Choking:
Soldier: "We did all kinds of experiments to see who could do the best split in Abu Sneina. We would put them against the wall, make like we were checking them, and ask them to spread their legs. Spread, spread, spread, it was a game to see who could do it best.
"Or we would check who can hold his breath for longest."
Interviewer: "How do you check that?"
"Choke them. One guy would come, make like he was checking them, and suddenly start yelling like they said something and choke them… Block their airways, you have to press the adams apple. It's not pleasant. Look at the watch as you're doing it, until he passes out. The one who takes longest to faint wins."
Hanan Greenberg
Yedioth Ahranoth Published: 04.18.08, 15:56
"Everyone there feels like they are doing something wrong. At least my friends felt they were doing something wrong." This was the opening sentence in a pamphlet over 100 pages long, which tells the stories of dozens of soldiers who have served in Hebron over the last few years.
Human Rights Issue
Fayyad: IDF operation in Gaza 'crime against humanity' / Ali Waked
Clashes, airstrikes continue throughout day as IDF troops engage Palestinian gunmen. Officials in Gaza put death toll at 18 - including two youths, local photographer. Palestinian Authority declares day of mourning
Full story
The pamphlet was published by an organization called Breaking the Silence, and includes horrifying descriptions about the behavior IDF soldiers have adopted towards the Palestinian residents of Hebron, and that of the settlers.
To read the pamphlet in full, click here
Representatives of Breaking the Silence claim that their goal is "to encourage a public debate about the moral price paid by Israeli society as a whole due to the harsh reality faced by young soldiers forced to take control of a civilian population."
According to the organization, all testimonies were investigated fully before being printed and cross-referenced with witnesses' testimonies and archives of other human rights organizations.
One of the organization's activists said that the situation in Hebron has not changed much during recent years, and that Breaking the Silence has been hearing a lot about the "moral deterioration" of the system as a whole and the soldiers subjected to it. He added that Israeli society has a duty to listen to the soldiers and take responsibility for what is being done in its name.
Four testimonies
Metal wire causes loss of hand:
Soldier: "There was one really crazy soldier in my unit, and he loved torture. One time he caused a man to have his hand cut off."
Interviewer: "What happened?"
Soldier: "Just this Arab… The soldier stole a tobacco box from him. "Suddenly the Arab came and yelled, 'thieves, thieves, I saw you.' He got close to the soldier and we tried to keep him away… We didn't know about the stealing.
"The soldier started to beat him, and everyone started pushing… It became a situation where the Arab was being beaten up badly.
"Then the soldier took a metal wire. He was really screwed up. Grabbed the Arab and started to twist it around…"
Interviewer: "On his hand?"
Soldier: "Yeah, he really twisted it. I tell you, we tried to stop him. 'No, I won't let him go. He lifted a hand on me, he'll be punished.' Around and around… Afterwards we tried to get it off and we couldn't, it actually made a groove in his hand. It was blue. And the guy is yelling, 'I can't feel my hand anymore.'
"I said he would have to have his hand cut off. We even tried to dig with a knife, to get it off, but we couldn't… We told him to go to the hospital. Nothing to do, we couldn't cut the wire off."
Theft:
Soldier: "There was a lot of theft… Once we were at these rich people's house in Hebron. We found a ton of dollar bills in one of the drawers. Insane. The commander said to the two senior guys in the unit, 'Okay, we'll split the money.' They split it. Left a little there and told me, 'If you talk we'll come back and slaughter you.'"
Interviewer: "Was looting normal?"
Soldier: "A little looting was normal. Backgammon and cigarettes, everything… Everything that looked nice we took. Other guys took presents for their girlfriends from stores."
Beating:
Soldier: "We were on a patrol and we saw a guy in a cab that looked like he was hiding something. We stopped the car… There was just an incident of a soldier getting stabbed there or something.
"We found a knife… We asked the guy, 'Why the knife?' and he said, 'It's for my mother, to chop vegetables.' We said, 'what are you, an idiot? Are you kidding? Are you lying?' He really pissed us off. We grabbed him, hit him a little, in the ribs, not the face.
'You're trying to kill us' (Photo: AP)
"Then the rest of the guys on patrol saw the beating. Everyone jumped on him… They beat him up, really beat him up… Hit him with sticks, in the head… And then one started choking him, with two hands. He was 17 or 18 and he started yelling, 'Mama, Baba.' He kept choking him, he was starting to get blue and lose consciousness.
"Suddenly the other guys saw what was happening and started pulling off the soldier. But he wouldn't let go. He wouldn't let go and he yelled, 'You're trying to kill us, you want to kill us, you want to stab me, eh? Son of a bitch, you want to stab me.'
"He was crazy… We pulled him, his legs and stomach. And his whole body was in the air, and we were pulling and pulling… He went at him like a pit-bull. Finally we got him off."
Choking:
Soldier: "We did all kinds of experiments to see who could do the best split in Abu Sneina. We would put them against the wall, make like we were checking them, and ask them to spread their legs. Spread, spread, spread, it was a game to see who could do it best.
"Or we would check who can hold his breath for longest."
Interviewer: "How do you check that?"
"Choke them. One guy would come, make like he was checking them, and suddenly start yelling like they said something and choke them… Block their airways, you have to press the adams apple. It's not pleasant. Look at the watch as you're doing it, until he passes out. The one who takes longest to faint wins."
Tank shell that sprays deadly darts killed cameraman in Gaza, say doctors
By Donald Macintyre in central Gaza
The Independent Friday, 18 April 2008
Bordered by lemon trees on one side and an olive grove on the other, the country lane leading to Joher Al Dik, where Fadel Shana was killed doing his job, was all but deserted yesterday afternoon. But two teenage boys from the Nusseirat refugee camp displayed half a dozen of the dull, black, inch-long darts which they said they had found among the cactus growing along the verge opposite where Mr Shana had parked his unarmoured SUV to film a tank on Wednesday afternoon.
According to doctors who examined the body of the 23 -year-old Palestinian Reuters cameraman at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, it was controversial darts like those, flechettes, fired from an Israeli tank shell that explodes in the air, that caused his death. X-rays displayed to Reuters showed several of the flechettes embedded in the dead man's chest and legs, and more were found in his flak jacket, clearly emblazoned, like his vehicle, with "TV" and "Press" signs.
Mr Shana, unmarried, and a talented and popular member of the award-winning, 15-strong Reuters team in the Gaza Strip, had been driving west along the normally quiet road when he and his soundman, Wafa Abu Mizyed, 25, decided to park their vehicle 200 metres or so short of Gaza's main north-south Salahadin Road. They had been touring Gaza to report on the worst day of violence since early March.
A charred black patch yesterday marked the spot where the vehicle, its rear ripped to pieces by the blast, had been towed away.
Mr Shana set up his tripod and faced back east in the direction of the Israeli border to film a tank perhaps a kilometre and a half away across the fields. The last video from Mr Shana's camera showed the tank opening fire. Two seconds later, after the shot raises dust around the tank's gun, the tape goes blank – presumably marking the precise moment at which he was hit. Reuters reported yesterday that a frame-by-frame examination of the tape shows the shell exploding and dark shapes shooting out of it.
The Israeli military was silent last night on whether it planned to launch the "swift, honest, and impartial investigation" into Mr Shana's death, urged by David Shlesinger, the editor-in-chief of Reuters News, who said the medical evidence underlined the case for such an inquiry. While expressing "sorrow" for Mr Shana's death, a military official said the area was one in which there was "ongoing fighting against armed, extreme and dangerous terrorist organisations on a daily basis". The presence of media, photographers and other uninvolved individuals in areas of warfare is extremely dangerous and poses a threat to their lives." But Mr Shlesinger said: "The markings on Fadel Shana's vehicle showed clearly and unambiguously that he was a professional journalist doing his duty. We and the military must work together urgently to understand why this tragedy took place and how similar incidents can be avoided in the future. This tragic incident shows the risks journalists take every day to report the news."
The military would only say that all its weapons "are legal under international law". Israel's Supreme Court rejected a 2003 petition arguing that the use of flechettes as an anti-personnel weapon contravened a 1980 UN convention, but the Israeli human rights group Btselem said last night that flechettes violated international law and demanded a criminal investigation.
Mr Shana's friend and colleague Wissam Nassar, also 23, a photographer with the Maan news agency, said yesterday that, alerted to reports of civilian casualties in central Gaza, he and two colleagues had driven south in the armoured car of photographer Mohammed Abed, of Agence France Presse.
"We parked the car at the corner [of the lane] and saw people looking east. We saw Wafa Abu Mizyed [who was injured by shrapnel in the blast] and he was saying 'Fadel died'." Mr Nassar added that before they managed to get to Mr Shana's car there was an explosion perhaps 30 metres away from what he presumed was another tank shell, which had landed ahead of them to the east of the car.
"We all lay down in the road," he said. "I thought at first I had been injured. There was a lot of smoke." Eventually they reached Mr Shana's car and found his body beside his mangled tripod.
The two teenage boys from Nusseirat, Tareq al-Bana, 16, and Mohammed Abu Hajaj, 19, said they had been there when Mr Shana had been killed by the explosion which also injured or killed several other Palestinians, including at least one teenager with a bicycle. They said some tyres had been burned in the lane but that there had been no shooting from Palestinians.
Mr Nassar said Mr Shana was a fine colleague "who always wanted to make an extra effort. He thought a lot about the future. He really wanted to be something in Reuters." He had photographed Mr Shana last Friday when they met on duty outside a mosque where Hamas's leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was speaking.
The picture shows a smiling man in sunglasses with stubble and hair down to his neck. Mr Nassar added: "He joked with me, saying keep those pictures; you may need them some day."
The Independent Friday, 18 April 2008
Bordered by lemon trees on one side and an olive grove on the other, the country lane leading to Joher Al Dik, where Fadel Shana was killed doing his job, was all but deserted yesterday afternoon. But two teenage boys from the Nusseirat refugee camp displayed half a dozen of the dull, black, inch-long darts which they said they had found among the cactus growing along the verge opposite where Mr Shana had parked his unarmoured SUV to film a tank on Wednesday afternoon.
According to doctors who examined the body of the 23 -year-old Palestinian Reuters cameraman at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital, it was controversial darts like those, flechettes, fired from an Israeli tank shell that explodes in the air, that caused his death. X-rays displayed to Reuters showed several of the flechettes embedded in the dead man's chest and legs, and more were found in his flak jacket, clearly emblazoned, like his vehicle, with "TV" and "Press" signs.
Mr Shana, unmarried, and a talented and popular member of the award-winning, 15-strong Reuters team in the Gaza Strip, had been driving west along the normally quiet road when he and his soundman, Wafa Abu Mizyed, 25, decided to park their vehicle 200 metres or so short of Gaza's main north-south Salahadin Road. They had been touring Gaza to report on the worst day of violence since early March.
A charred black patch yesterday marked the spot where the vehicle, its rear ripped to pieces by the blast, had been towed away.
Mr Shana set up his tripod and faced back east in the direction of the Israeli border to film a tank perhaps a kilometre and a half away across the fields. The last video from Mr Shana's camera showed the tank opening fire. Two seconds later, after the shot raises dust around the tank's gun, the tape goes blank – presumably marking the precise moment at which he was hit. Reuters reported yesterday that a frame-by-frame examination of the tape shows the shell exploding and dark shapes shooting out of it.
The Israeli military was silent last night on whether it planned to launch the "swift, honest, and impartial investigation" into Mr Shana's death, urged by David Shlesinger, the editor-in-chief of Reuters News, who said the medical evidence underlined the case for such an inquiry. While expressing "sorrow" for Mr Shana's death, a military official said the area was one in which there was "ongoing fighting against armed, extreme and dangerous terrorist organisations on a daily basis". The presence of media, photographers and other uninvolved individuals in areas of warfare is extremely dangerous and poses a threat to their lives." But Mr Shlesinger said: "The markings on Fadel Shana's vehicle showed clearly and unambiguously that he was a professional journalist doing his duty. We and the military must work together urgently to understand why this tragedy took place and how similar incidents can be avoided in the future. This tragic incident shows the risks journalists take every day to report the news."
The military would only say that all its weapons "are legal under international law". Israel's Supreme Court rejected a 2003 petition arguing that the use of flechettes as an anti-personnel weapon contravened a 1980 UN convention, but the Israeli human rights group Btselem said last night that flechettes violated international law and demanded a criminal investigation.
Mr Shana's friend and colleague Wissam Nassar, also 23, a photographer with the Maan news agency, said yesterday that, alerted to reports of civilian casualties in central Gaza, he and two colleagues had driven south in the armoured car of photographer Mohammed Abed, of Agence France Presse.
"We parked the car at the corner [of the lane] and saw people looking east. We saw Wafa Abu Mizyed [who was injured by shrapnel in the blast] and he was saying 'Fadel died'." Mr Nassar added that before they managed to get to Mr Shana's car there was an explosion perhaps 30 metres away from what he presumed was another tank shell, which had landed ahead of them to the east of the car.
"We all lay down in the road," he said. "I thought at first I had been injured. There was a lot of smoke." Eventually they reached Mr Shana's car and found his body beside his mangled tripod.
The two teenage boys from Nusseirat, Tareq al-Bana, 16, and Mohammed Abu Hajaj, 19, said they had been there when Mr Shana had been killed by the explosion which also injured or killed several other Palestinians, including at least one teenager with a bicycle. They said some tyres had been burned in the lane but that there had been no shooting from Palestinians.
Mr Nassar said Mr Shana was a fine colleague "who always wanted to make an extra effort. He thought a lot about the future. He really wanted to be something in Reuters." He had photographed Mr Shana last Friday when they met on duty outside a mosque where Hamas's leader, Ismail Haniyeh, was speaking.
The picture shows a smiling man in sunglasses with stubble and hair down to his neck. Mr Nassar added: "He joked with me, saying keep those pictures; you may need them some day."
jeudi 17 avril 2008
Poll: 81% won't buy bread on Passover
Court ruling keeps public's sentiment unchanged towards eating leavened food during holiday
Kobi Nahshoni Yedioth Ahranoth 04.17.08, 10:54
Passover is one of the quintessential "hosting" holidays; some have dozens of guests around the seder (festive dinner) table, but most of the public prefers celebrating Pesach with their closest family at home, the weekly Ynet and Gesher Institute survey shows.
Acting Out
A third of the population will celebrate the seder with family or friends, while a few will choose a hotel getaway or a vacation abroad.
Half of the survey's participants will not shop for groceries during Passover, with businesses taking advantage of the precedential ruling and selling leavened goods, and most of them will ban those stores even after the holiday.
The Ynet-Gesher survey was conducted by the Mutagim company and included 500 interviewees constituting a representative national poll of the elderly Hebrew-speaking Jewish population in Israel.
During the first part of the survey, participants were asked where and with whom they intend to spend the seder this year.
Fifty-six percent said they would spend a family seder at home, 29% will spend it at relatives, 3% prefer being with friends, an additional 3% will spend it with family at a hotel and 2% will travel abroad with family or friends. The remaining participants were undecided or refused to reply.
Almost identical results
Segmentation into religious definitions shows almost identical results in all sectors. However, 7% of the seculars will dine with friends compared to 0%-2% among other participants. Oppositely, 4% of the haredim said they will spend the Seder abroad compared to 1% among the seculars.
The media is having a field day, the religious politicians are fuming, but what will the average citizen do now that the court ruling allows selling bread during the holiday?
Fifty-two percent of the participants said they will make sure not to buy at a store using the permit, 31% neither on Passover nor afterwards, and 21% during Passover only. An additional 29% will not buy leavened goods but other groceries. Oppositely, 15% expressed satisfaction with the ruling, making it easier for them to find bread during the holiday.
A result analysis shows that only 29% of the seculars are happy with the option of buying leavened goods more easily. The rest will only buy other goods in these stores (48%), will not enter stores at all during holiday (12%) or prefer other stores even after Passover (6%).
Thirty-nine percent of the traditionalists will prefer not to enter these stores at all during the holiday, 33% will do the same after the holiday and 20% will only purchase unleavened goods during Passover as well.
Quizzes and games
And how will we spend the seder night? Twenty-three percent said they would play quizzes and games on Passover-related themes in addition to reading the Haggadah and sitting down for the festive dinner. 18% said they will incorporate current affairs into the traditional text and an additional 18% said they will omit irrelevant sections.
Shoshi Becker, director of Gesher Jewish Education Programs, says that a third of the secular population wants to purchase leavened goods and not bother for such convenience, but the survey proves that "most of the public still sees Judaism as the desired characteristic of Israel as a Jewish state."
Becker beckoned the public to incorporate elements that would emphasize holiday content in addition to reading the Hagadah, saying: "The gathering of family and Jewish people around the seder table is relived each year.
In order to continue the uniqueness of Passover as a holiday shared by the entire Jewish nation, one must shed light on holiday content and the Hagadah as well as incorporate discussions and meaningful experiences linking the present with the Exodus from Egypt, liberation and holiday traditions."
Michel Dor contributed to this report
Kobi Nahshoni Yedioth Ahranoth 04.17.08, 10:54
Passover is one of the quintessential "hosting" holidays; some have dozens of guests around the seder (festive dinner) table, but most of the public prefers celebrating Pesach with their closest family at home, the weekly Ynet and Gesher Institute survey shows.
Acting Out
A third of the population will celebrate the seder with family or friends, while a few will choose a hotel getaway or a vacation abroad.
Half of the survey's participants will not shop for groceries during Passover, with businesses taking advantage of the precedential ruling and selling leavened goods, and most of them will ban those stores even after the holiday.
The Ynet-Gesher survey was conducted by the Mutagim company and included 500 interviewees constituting a representative national poll of the elderly Hebrew-speaking Jewish population in Israel.
During the first part of the survey, participants were asked where and with whom they intend to spend the seder this year.
Fifty-six percent said they would spend a family seder at home, 29% will spend it at relatives, 3% prefer being with friends, an additional 3% will spend it with family at a hotel and 2% will travel abroad with family or friends. The remaining participants were undecided or refused to reply.
Almost identical results
Segmentation into religious definitions shows almost identical results in all sectors. However, 7% of the seculars will dine with friends compared to 0%-2% among other participants. Oppositely, 4% of the haredim said they will spend the Seder abroad compared to 1% among the seculars.
The media is having a field day, the religious politicians are fuming, but what will the average citizen do now that the court ruling allows selling bread during the holiday?
Fifty-two percent of the participants said they will make sure not to buy at a store using the permit, 31% neither on Passover nor afterwards, and 21% during Passover only. An additional 29% will not buy leavened goods but other groceries. Oppositely, 15% expressed satisfaction with the ruling, making it easier for them to find bread during the holiday.
A result analysis shows that only 29% of the seculars are happy with the option of buying leavened goods more easily. The rest will only buy other goods in these stores (48%), will not enter stores at all during holiday (12%) or prefer other stores even after Passover (6%).
Thirty-nine percent of the traditionalists will prefer not to enter these stores at all during the holiday, 33% will do the same after the holiday and 20% will only purchase unleavened goods during Passover as well.
Quizzes and games
And how will we spend the seder night? Twenty-three percent said they would play quizzes and games on Passover-related themes in addition to reading the Haggadah and sitting down for the festive dinner. 18% said they will incorporate current affairs into the traditional text and an additional 18% said they will omit irrelevant sections.
Shoshi Becker, director of Gesher Jewish Education Programs, says that a third of the secular population wants to purchase leavened goods and not bother for such convenience, but the survey proves that "most of the public still sees Judaism as the desired characteristic of Israel as a Jewish state."
Becker beckoned the public to incorporate elements that would emphasize holiday content in addition to reading the Hagadah, saying: "The gathering of family and Jewish people around the seder table is relived each year.
In order to continue the uniqueness of Passover as a holiday shared by the entire Jewish nation, one must shed light on holiday content and the Hagadah as well as incorporate discussions and meaningful experiences linking the present with the Exodus from Egypt, liberation and holiday traditions."
Michel Dor contributed to this report
Rabbinical court forces woman to divorce over medical condition
Great Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem enables husband to force divorce on his wife after she was diagnosed with epilepsy. Ruling based on centuries-old halachic law deeming condition 'a great deformity.' Wife to appeal to High Court
Yoram Yarkoni
Yedioth Ahranoth 04.17.08, 23:01
The Great Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem rendered a rare ruling Thursday, forcing a woman to agree to a divorce because she was diagnosed with epilepsy.
According to a report in Yedioth Ahronoth, the court further ruled the woman will not be eligible for alimony. The husband was, however, obligated to pay her the full amount mentioned in her ketubah – NIS 18,000 (approx $5,000).
Cause and Effect?
The Jerusalem court's ruling cemented a previous decree made by the Tiberias Rabbinical Court, which ruled epilepsy was a "great deformity," thus enabling the husband to force a divorce on his wife.
The couple was married for 12 years and has two children. The woman was reportedly involved in a car accident prior to the marriage and sustained a severe head injury. The husband first filed for divorce two years ago, but was denied by the Tiberias Rabbinical Court, which cited insufficient grounds.
According to the husband's attorney, Zion Smucha, the man became aware of his wife's condition only after witnessing a seizure during an event the two attended separately. He then refiled his petition.
Outdated halachic ruling
The Tiberias Court appointed neurologist Amikam Reshef of Haemek Medical Center in Afula to assess the woman's medical condition, but deemed an examination was unnecessary, ordering the doctor to make his diagnosis based on the woman's medical records – which led Dr. Reshef to diagnose the woman as suffering from epilepsy.
The court further found that the husband was aware of his wife's condition, and the fact that she was treated for it, prior to the marriage, but since she demonstrated no symptoms, the seizure could be construed as a new medical condition.
The court then relied on a halachic ruling, dating back several hundred years, deeming epilepsy a physical deformity that can be used as grounds for divorce.
The woman appealed the Tiberias Court's decision at the Great Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem, saying she was not properly examined and that therefore her diagnosis should be declared null and void. She further claimed that epilepsy could not be used as grounds for divorce.
However, as noted, the Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem chose to side with the husband.
"Have we gone back to the middle ages? What is this? The rabbis are going by a religious ruling rendered centuries ago. People with epilepsy live full lives just like everybody else," said the woman's attorney, Avraham Stern, adding his client intends to file a petition with the High Court to have the ruling overturned.
Yoram Yarkoni
Yedioth Ahranoth 04.17.08, 23:01
The Great Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem rendered a rare ruling Thursday, forcing a woman to agree to a divorce because she was diagnosed with epilepsy.
According to a report in Yedioth Ahronoth, the court further ruled the woman will not be eligible for alimony. The husband was, however, obligated to pay her the full amount mentioned in her ketubah – NIS 18,000 (approx $5,000).
Cause and Effect?
The Jerusalem court's ruling cemented a previous decree made by the Tiberias Rabbinical Court, which ruled epilepsy was a "great deformity," thus enabling the husband to force a divorce on his wife.
The couple was married for 12 years and has two children. The woman was reportedly involved in a car accident prior to the marriage and sustained a severe head injury. The husband first filed for divorce two years ago, but was denied by the Tiberias Rabbinical Court, which cited insufficient grounds.
According to the husband's attorney, Zion Smucha, the man became aware of his wife's condition only after witnessing a seizure during an event the two attended separately. He then refiled his petition.
Outdated halachic ruling
The Tiberias Court appointed neurologist Amikam Reshef of Haemek Medical Center in Afula to assess the woman's medical condition, but deemed an examination was unnecessary, ordering the doctor to make his diagnosis based on the woman's medical records – which led Dr. Reshef to diagnose the woman as suffering from epilepsy.
The court further found that the husband was aware of his wife's condition, and the fact that she was treated for it, prior to the marriage, but since she demonstrated no symptoms, the seizure could be construed as a new medical condition.
The court then relied on a halachic ruling, dating back several hundred years, deeming epilepsy a physical deformity that can be used as grounds for divorce.
The woman appealed the Tiberias Court's decision at the Great Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem, saying she was not properly examined and that therefore her diagnosis should be declared null and void. She further claimed that epilepsy could not be used as grounds for divorce.
However, as noted, the Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem chose to side with the husband.
"Have we gone back to the middle ages? What is this? The rabbis are going by a religious ruling rendered centuries ago. People with epilepsy live full lives just like everybody else," said the woman's attorney, Avraham Stern, adding his client intends to file a petition with the High Court to have the ruling overturned.
mercredi 16 avril 2008
For Chief Rabbinate, click here
Prime Minister's Office, alarmed by poll showing 40% of public believes Rabbinate obsolete, launches new initiative meant to make religious services accessible, friendly to general public
Itamar Eichner Yedioth Ahranoth 04.16.08, 10:25
The Prime Minister's Office is exploring several reforms in the National Authority for Religious Services – the Chief Rabbinate, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.
The PMO's move came after several surveys conducted in the matter, indicated that the Israeli public has lost its faith in the services provided by local religious councils.
One of the options taken under advisements calls for granting the public access to some of the services provided by the Chief Rabbinate – such as applying for a marriage license or issuing bachelor certificates – through the internet.
According to the report, the Prime Minister's Office formed a team, consisting of representatives from various government bureaus, to form recommendations to that effect.
The team, atop taking the Chief Rabbinate into the internet era, is supposed to review other ways in which the services provided by it can be made more citizen-friendly.
The site is also expected to feature a new funeral bureau, aimed at centralizing all Chevra Kadisha operations.
Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel, who initiated the move, will be heading the team. Yehezkel was reportedly appalled by the surveys, which indicated over 70% of the secular sector wants nothing to do with the Chief Rabbinate; and that 61% of them believe it is obsolete – a sentiment shared by 40% of the general public.
Yehezkel wrote to Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar asking him to lend his support to the effort and Rabbi Amar agreed, sending several representatives to join the team.
"We’re not looking to form another not-so-necessary office, but to make the ones which already exist more efficient," said Yehezkel.
"We have enough bodies and sufficient funding and personnel… what we need not is to everything work properly. I'm tired of civil servants who forgot they are here to do just that – serve."
Itamar Eichner Yedioth Ahranoth 04.16.08, 10:25
The Prime Minister's Office is exploring several reforms in the National Authority for Religious Services – the Chief Rabbinate, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday.
The PMO's move came after several surveys conducted in the matter, indicated that the Israeli public has lost its faith in the services provided by local religious councils.
One of the options taken under advisements calls for granting the public access to some of the services provided by the Chief Rabbinate – such as applying for a marriage license or issuing bachelor certificates – through the internet.
According to the report, the Prime Minister's Office formed a team, consisting of representatives from various government bureaus, to form recommendations to that effect.
The team, atop taking the Chief Rabbinate into the internet era, is supposed to review other ways in which the services provided by it can be made more citizen-friendly.
The site is also expected to feature a new funeral bureau, aimed at centralizing all Chevra Kadisha operations.
Cabinet Secretary Oved Yehezkel, who initiated the move, will be heading the team. Yehezkel was reportedly appalled by the surveys, which indicated over 70% of the secular sector wants nothing to do with the Chief Rabbinate; and that 61% of them believe it is obsolete – a sentiment shared by 40% of the general public.
Yehezkel wrote to Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar asking him to lend his support to the effort and Rabbi Amar agreed, sending several representatives to join the team.
"We’re not looking to form another not-so-necessary office, but to make the ones which already exist more efficient," said Yehezkel.
"We have enough bodies and sufficient funding and personnel… what we need not is to everything work properly. I'm tired of civil servants who forgot they are here to do just that – serve."
Fayyad: IDF operation in Gaza 'crime against humanity'
Clashes, airstrikes continue throughout day as IDF troops engage Palestinian gunmen. Officials in Gaza put death toll at 18 - including two youths, local photographer. Palestinian Authority declares day of mourning
Ali Waked
Yedioth Ahronoth Latest Update: 04.16.08, 23:20
The Palestinian government, headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, declared a nation day of morning will commence on Thursday following the deaths of 18 Palestinians in IDF strikes in the Gaza Strip. Fayyad's cabinet harshly condemned the Israeli operations, calling them "crimes against humanity."
Since the early morning hours on Wednesday the death toll in Gaza has risen to 18, several of whom are said to be youths.
Ten people were reported killed in an IDF strike near the region where three IDF soldiers were killed earlier in the day during an exchange of fire with Palestinian gunmen. Witnesses said the attack included at least three Israeli missiles. The army confirmed it had targeted a group of gunmen in northern Gaza.
Most of those killed are members of the 'Army of the Nation' organization, however two youths are also said to be among the dead. At least 17 people were wounded in the attack, which Palestinians say took place near a mosque. Several of the wounded are reportedly in serious condition.
IDF troops briefed (Video: Infolive.tv )
In the early evening hours a second airstrike was reported in central Gaza, A local photographer employed by the London-based Reuters news agency and two Palestinian men were killed.
Clashes were also reported between armed Palestinians and IDF troops near Khan Younis. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is currently visiting Moscow, also slammed the operations. Abbas called on the Israeli government to "end the aggression and cooperate with Egypt's efforts to secure a ceasefire."
Names of fallen Israeli soldiers released
The three Givati Brigade combat soldiers killed in Wednesday's clashes are: Corporal Matan Ovdati (19) from Moshav Patsih in the western Negev, Corporal Menahesh Albinath (20) from the Negev town of Kuseife and Corporal David Papian (21) from Tel Aviv.
Their names were cleared for publication after their families were notified.
Around 6:00 am soldiers manning an IDF observation post near the Gaza border identified a group consisting of six armed Palestinian men approaching the security fence near Kibbutz Be'eri in an apparent attempt to infiltrate the border. A force from Givati's Tzabar Battalion was alerted to the scene and troops crossed some 500 meters into Palestinian territory to engage the gunmen.
The terrorist cell managed to flee to a nearby vantage point, and two gunmen were sent to set off explosives near the Israeli troops.
Meanwhile over 13 Qassam rockets were fired towards Israel on Wednesday afternoon, in the latest
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barrage by Palestinian terror groups from northern Gaza. The rockets landed throughout the western Negev, with one landing in Kibbutz Nir Am and damaging several homes.
Another rocket landed in Sderot's industrial zone. At least 19 rockets have been fired from the Strip since the early morning hours. No injuries have been reported in any of the incidents.
Hanan Greenberg contributed to this report
First Published:
04.16.08, 17:35
Ali Waked
Yedioth Ahronoth Latest Update: 04.16.08, 23:20
The Palestinian government, headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, declared a nation day of morning will commence on Thursday following the deaths of 18 Palestinians in IDF strikes in the Gaza Strip. Fayyad's cabinet harshly condemned the Israeli operations, calling them "crimes against humanity."
Since the early morning hours on Wednesday the death toll in Gaza has risen to 18, several of whom are said to be youths.
Ten people were reported killed in an IDF strike near the region where three IDF soldiers were killed earlier in the day during an exchange of fire with Palestinian gunmen. Witnesses said the attack included at least three Israeli missiles. The army confirmed it had targeted a group of gunmen in northern Gaza.
Most of those killed are members of the 'Army of the Nation' organization, however two youths are also said to be among the dead. At least 17 people were wounded in the attack, which Palestinians say took place near a mosque. Several of the wounded are reportedly in serious condition.
IDF troops briefed (Video: Infolive.tv )
In the early evening hours a second airstrike was reported in central Gaza, A local photographer employed by the London-based Reuters news agency and two Palestinian men were killed.
Clashes were also reported between armed Palestinians and IDF troops near Khan Younis. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is currently visiting Moscow, also slammed the operations. Abbas called on the Israeli government to "end the aggression and cooperate with Egypt's efforts to secure a ceasefire."
Names of fallen Israeli soldiers released
The three Givati Brigade combat soldiers killed in Wednesday's clashes are: Corporal Matan Ovdati (19) from Moshav Patsih in the western Negev, Corporal Menahesh Albinath (20) from the Negev town of Kuseife and Corporal David Papian (21) from Tel Aviv.
Their names were cleared for publication after their families were notified.
Around 6:00 am soldiers manning an IDF observation post near the Gaza border identified a group consisting of six armed Palestinian men approaching the security fence near Kibbutz Be'eri in an apparent attempt to infiltrate the border. A force from Givati's Tzabar Battalion was alerted to the scene and troops crossed some 500 meters into Palestinian territory to engage the gunmen.
The terrorist cell managed to flee to a nearby vantage point, and two gunmen were sent to set off explosives near the Israeli troops.
Meanwhile over 13 Qassam rockets were fired towards Israel on Wednesday afternoon, in the latest
Advertisement
barrage by Palestinian terror groups from northern Gaza. The rockets landed throughout the western Negev, with one landing in Kibbutz Nir Am and damaging several homes.
Another rocket landed in Sderot's industrial zone. At least 19 rockets have been fired from the Strip since the early morning hours. No injuries have been reported in any of the incidents.
Hanan Greenberg contributed to this report
First Published:
04.16.08, 17:35
Breaking ranks with U.S. Jewish 'establishment' on the occupation, by Paul Katz
Haaretz Last update - 16:01 16/04/2008
By Paul Katz
A few weeks ago, I learned that I am anti-Israel, which certainly came as a surprise to me. The cause of the accusation was an exhibit exploring the effect of military service in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on ordinary Israelis. I have always considered myself strongly Zionist and have devoted much of my time at Harvard to advocating for policies to bring the only Jewish, democratic state in the world closer to its most inspiring ideals. Yet, in the wake of the decision by the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA) to host to an exhibit by Israel's own "Shovrim Shtika" ("Breaking the Silence"), I found PJA - and by implication, myself - the target of denunciation. To quote a recent open letter by the president of the Zionist Organization of America, Morton Klein, by facilitating the exhibition, we are guilty of "inciting hatred of Israel" and "playing into the hands of Israel's enemies."
The strangest aspect of much of the criticism PJA has received has been its source - individuals outside of the campus community who have not seen the exhibit themselves. Of course, Shovrim Shtika's exhibit, which includes some 60 photos and several videos, was explained and contextualized by two former Israel Defense Forces soldiers with combat experience in the West Bank, was not uncontroversial on campus. Although it was not sponsored by Harvard Hillel, the exhibit was housed in Hillel's building, a decision which made some members of the campus Jewish community uncomfortable.
Many students disagreed with what they saw as the exhibit's negative characterization of the occupation. Others expressed their concern at the exhibit's lack of context, which they felt would leave students uninformed about the conflict with an unduly negative view of Israel's commitment to human rights. Nonetheless, at Harvard these reasonable criticisms were expressed respectfully and intelligently, and PJA's desire to promote a more just Jewish state was never questioned.
Only in the broader national and international press did we morph into self-hating Jews seeking to undermine Israel. The most virulent criticism of the exhibit came from Klein himself, who was quoted in Jewish Week as saying that, "Harvard Hillel should be ashamed of itself and should immediately rescind giving legitimacy to a program that only promotes hatred against Israel and Jews." His criticism was echoed in a recent column by Isi Leibler in The Jerusalem Post, in which Leibler argued that Hillel's "post-modern" commitment to pluralism and free expression led it to allow "a ferociously anti-Israeli exhibition on Hillel premises." Leibler went on to express his outrage that Klein was the only major voice within the American Jewish community to publicly condemn the exhibit. This silence, he claims, is evidence of "the extent to which post-modernism has penetrated the Jewish agenda and blurred distinctions between good and bad."
This criticism stems from the belief - one which PJA strongly contests - that the only appropriate role for American Jews to play in their support of Israel is neatly bounded by one word: Hasbara, or, the promotion of Israel's image abroad. We believe that a real commitment to Israel should be characterized not only by educating others about the strength of Israel's ideals, but advocating for change when those ideals are being obscured by destructive policy decisions as well. Now is a time when an end to the occupation of Judea and Samaria is widely seen as a distant prospect. The failure of unilateral withdrawal from Gaza has bred a frustration in the American Jewish community that translates into a pessimistic refusal to look beyond the status quo: continued occupation and the strategic expansion of settlement blocks in the West Bank.
Yet American Jews must understand that the status quo is not a costless alternative to the difficult and risky prospect of negotiated withdrawal. Shovrim Shtika's exhibit is about measuring its cost in real, human terms. A constructive approach to the current conflict demands an honest Jewish dialogue about the nature of occupation and its costs, instead of the image-centered marketing campaigns that have become the bread and butter of the Israel programming of many of America's major Jewish organizations, including the ZOA.
This sort of dynamic conversation is just what Shovrim Shtikva has been promoting at Harvard and in the Boston community at large. More than most places, Harvard is a forum for open debate and intellectual engagement. Far from alienating Jewish students from supporting Israel - as Klein fears Shovrim Shtika has already done - the exhibit has proven to the Harvard community that it is possible to both support a just and secure Jewish state and criticize policies plainly destructive to that end. Such a position not only expresses our faith in Israel's capacity to fulfill its democratic vision, but also reflects the fact that we at Harvard understand our community.
Our willingness to criticize Israeli policy in the name of the state's Jewish and democratic ideals represents a much more effective response to those at Harvard who attack Israel's legitimacy than Klein's blunt and anti-intellectual attempts to stifle dissent in the name of hasbara. In fact, the potential of Shovrim Shtika to positively influence "our enemy's" thinking was poignantly illustrated to me by a Muslim friend's reaction to the exhibit. "When I lived in the West Bank, I despised the Israeli soldiers," she explained on the Harvard International Review's online blog. But her tour of the photographs and videos, and her conversation with her guide, a former soldier, changed her perspective. "They helped me understand so much why the IDF does what they do in the territories," she wrote. The exhibit, her blog entry explains, helped her to see Israeli soldiers not as impersonal objects of hatred but as human beings pushed into a pattern of behavior by the tactical demands of a dehumanizing policy. This sort of "re-humanization," possible only when we acknowledge rather than ignore the true nature of occupation, is the first step toward understanding and coexistence.
Paul Katz, an undergraduate student at Harvard, is Co-Chair of the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance.
By Paul Katz
A few weeks ago, I learned that I am anti-Israel, which certainly came as a surprise to me. The cause of the accusation was an exhibit exploring the effect of military service in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on ordinary Israelis. I have always considered myself strongly Zionist and have devoted much of my time at Harvard to advocating for policies to bring the only Jewish, democratic state in the world closer to its most inspiring ideals. Yet, in the wake of the decision by the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA) to host to an exhibit by Israel's own "Shovrim Shtika" ("Breaking the Silence"), I found PJA - and by implication, myself - the target of denunciation. To quote a recent open letter by the president of the Zionist Organization of America, Morton Klein, by facilitating the exhibition, we are guilty of "inciting hatred of Israel" and "playing into the hands of Israel's enemies."
The strangest aspect of much of the criticism PJA has received has been its source - individuals outside of the campus community who have not seen the exhibit themselves. Of course, Shovrim Shtika's exhibit, which includes some 60 photos and several videos, was explained and contextualized by two former Israel Defense Forces soldiers with combat experience in the West Bank, was not uncontroversial on campus. Although it was not sponsored by Harvard Hillel, the exhibit was housed in Hillel's building, a decision which made some members of the campus Jewish community uncomfortable.
Many students disagreed with what they saw as the exhibit's negative characterization of the occupation. Others expressed their concern at the exhibit's lack of context, which they felt would leave students uninformed about the conflict with an unduly negative view of Israel's commitment to human rights. Nonetheless, at Harvard these reasonable criticisms were expressed respectfully and intelligently, and PJA's desire to promote a more just Jewish state was never questioned.
Only in the broader national and international press did we morph into self-hating Jews seeking to undermine Israel. The most virulent criticism of the exhibit came from Klein himself, who was quoted in Jewish Week as saying that, "Harvard Hillel should be ashamed of itself and should immediately rescind giving legitimacy to a program that only promotes hatred against Israel and Jews." His criticism was echoed in a recent column by Isi Leibler in The Jerusalem Post, in which Leibler argued that Hillel's "post-modern" commitment to pluralism and free expression led it to allow "a ferociously anti-Israeli exhibition on Hillel premises." Leibler went on to express his outrage that Klein was the only major voice within the American Jewish community to publicly condemn the exhibit. This silence, he claims, is evidence of "the extent to which post-modernism has penetrated the Jewish agenda and blurred distinctions between good and bad."
This criticism stems from the belief - one which PJA strongly contests - that the only appropriate role for American Jews to play in their support of Israel is neatly bounded by one word: Hasbara, or, the promotion of Israel's image abroad. We believe that a real commitment to Israel should be characterized not only by educating others about the strength of Israel's ideals, but advocating for change when those ideals are being obscured by destructive policy decisions as well. Now is a time when an end to the occupation of Judea and Samaria is widely seen as a distant prospect. The failure of unilateral withdrawal from Gaza has bred a frustration in the American Jewish community that translates into a pessimistic refusal to look beyond the status quo: continued occupation and the strategic expansion of settlement blocks in the West Bank.
Yet American Jews must understand that the status quo is not a costless alternative to the difficult and risky prospect of negotiated withdrawal. Shovrim Shtika's exhibit is about measuring its cost in real, human terms. A constructive approach to the current conflict demands an honest Jewish dialogue about the nature of occupation and its costs, instead of the image-centered marketing campaigns that have become the bread and butter of the Israel programming of many of America's major Jewish organizations, including the ZOA.
This sort of dynamic conversation is just what Shovrim Shtikva has been promoting at Harvard and in the Boston community at large. More than most places, Harvard is a forum for open debate and intellectual engagement. Far from alienating Jewish students from supporting Israel - as Klein fears Shovrim Shtika has already done - the exhibit has proven to the Harvard community that it is possible to both support a just and secure Jewish state and criticize policies plainly destructive to that end. Such a position not only expresses our faith in Israel's capacity to fulfill its democratic vision, but also reflects the fact that we at Harvard understand our community.
Our willingness to criticize Israeli policy in the name of the state's Jewish and democratic ideals represents a much more effective response to those at Harvard who attack Israel's legitimacy than Klein's blunt and anti-intellectual attempts to stifle dissent in the name of hasbara. In fact, the potential of Shovrim Shtika to positively influence "our enemy's" thinking was poignantly illustrated to me by a Muslim friend's reaction to the exhibit. "When I lived in the West Bank, I despised the Israeli soldiers," she explained on the Harvard International Review's online blog. But her tour of the photographs and videos, and her conversation with her guide, a former soldier, changed her perspective. "They helped me understand so much why the IDF does what they do in the territories," she wrote. The exhibit, her blog entry explains, helped her to see Israeli soldiers not as impersonal objects of hatred but as human beings pushed into a pattern of behavior by the tactical demands of a dehumanizing policy. This sort of "re-humanization," possible only when we acknowledge rather than ignore the true nature of occupation, is the first step toward understanding and coexistence.
Paul Katz, an undergraduate student at Harvard, is Co-Chair of the Harvard College Progressive Jewish Alliance.
dimanche 13 avril 2008
Malaysian convert denied citizenship since he was born in 'enemy state'
Haaretz Last update - 10:20 13/04/2008
By Shahar Ilan and Daphna Berman
The Interior Ministry has refused to allow a Malaysian-born American citizen to immigrate to Israel with his wife, an Israeli citizen who was living overseas, in what appears to be a blatant contravention of the Law of Return. The ministry refused the would-be immigrant for having been born in an "enemy state," although the Jewish Agency recommended accepting him as an immigrant. "I'm being made to feel like an outlaw," says Syloke Soong, a computer programmer who converted to Judaism in 2001. Soong was forced to enter Israel as a tourist and cannot set up a business here or work, as he had planned to do.
Soong was born to a Christian family in Kuala Lumpur. He left Malaysia for Singapore at the age of 19, gave up his Malaysian citizenship and has not been there for 15 years. In 2000, Soong moved to the United States, where he joined a Reform Jewish community in Maine. A year later he converted to Judaism and in 2003 he received American citizenship. That year he married Mejah, a psychiatrist who left Israel when she was 5. In 2004, Soong visited Israel on a community trip and was so excited that the community rabbi suggested leaving him here. In February 2006, the couple applied to immigrate to Israel. Mejah's request was accepted but Soong's was rejected, as was his appeal. The Jewish Agency told him the Interior Ministry rejected his application because he had been born in an enemy state.
Last October, the couple got tired of waiting. Mejah came to Israel and requested that her husband be recognized as a new immigrant. Soong joined her at the beginning of 2008 - but as a tourist. "The whole process has been a disappointment," he says. His tourist status does not permit him to work or get health insurance. Soong may join the graded naturalization program as an Israeli's partner - an exhausting process that takes at least four and a half years.
"It's important for us both that he is recognized as a Jew and as an immigrant," says Mejah. "I understand that they need to be careful about who they let in, but this is ridiculous. He has all the necessary paperwork and we could get the entire Jewish community in Maine to speak on his behalf," she says. According to Soong, "I knew that I wanted to be Jewish since I was 12. I have always felt a yearning to become a Jew, and not being recognized here is very frustrating."
At the beginning of March, attorney Reut Michaeli of the Israel Religious Action Center asked Mazal Cohen, the Interior Ministry's director of visas to non-citizens, to have Soong issued Israeli citizenship and immigrant status. "The Law of Return gives every Jew the right to immigrate to Israel. One cannot deprive a person of his right merely because he was born in one country or another," she wrote.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said that "place of birth is not in itself a reason to refuse his application for status in Israel. Every request is examined in and of itself." She said the Soongs applied for immigrant status for Syloke on December 17, 2007. Some of the documents the Soongs submitted were unverified, so their request could not be processed. So Haddad says she could not understand the couple's complaints that their request was "not handled" or "refused." In her comment, however, Haddad does not mention the couple's 2006 request. The Jewish Agency said, "The agency recommended approving Soong's request to become an immigrant, but the Interior Ministry is authorized to make the final decision." Haaretz asked the Interior Ministry what its rejection in 2006 was based on, but the ministry declined to comment further.
By Shahar Ilan and Daphna Berman
The Interior Ministry has refused to allow a Malaysian-born American citizen to immigrate to Israel with his wife, an Israeli citizen who was living overseas, in what appears to be a blatant contravention of the Law of Return. The ministry refused the would-be immigrant for having been born in an "enemy state," although the Jewish Agency recommended accepting him as an immigrant. "I'm being made to feel like an outlaw," says Syloke Soong, a computer programmer who converted to Judaism in 2001. Soong was forced to enter Israel as a tourist and cannot set up a business here or work, as he had planned to do.
Soong was born to a Christian family in Kuala Lumpur. He left Malaysia for Singapore at the age of 19, gave up his Malaysian citizenship and has not been there for 15 years. In 2000, Soong moved to the United States, where he joined a Reform Jewish community in Maine. A year later he converted to Judaism and in 2003 he received American citizenship. That year he married Mejah, a psychiatrist who left Israel when she was 5. In 2004, Soong visited Israel on a community trip and was so excited that the community rabbi suggested leaving him here. In February 2006, the couple applied to immigrate to Israel. Mejah's request was accepted but Soong's was rejected, as was his appeal. The Jewish Agency told him the Interior Ministry rejected his application because he had been born in an enemy state.
Last October, the couple got tired of waiting. Mejah came to Israel and requested that her husband be recognized as a new immigrant. Soong joined her at the beginning of 2008 - but as a tourist. "The whole process has been a disappointment," he says. His tourist status does not permit him to work or get health insurance. Soong may join the graded naturalization program as an Israeli's partner - an exhausting process that takes at least four and a half years.
"It's important for us both that he is recognized as a Jew and as an immigrant," says Mejah. "I understand that they need to be careful about who they let in, but this is ridiculous. He has all the necessary paperwork and we could get the entire Jewish community in Maine to speak on his behalf," she says. According to Soong, "I knew that I wanted to be Jewish since I was 12. I have always felt a yearning to become a Jew, and not being recognized here is very frustrating."
At the beginning of March, attorney Reut Michaeli of the Israel Religious Action Center asked Mazal Cohen, the Interior Ministry's director of visas to non-citizens, to have Soong issued Israeli citizenship and immigrant status. "The Law of Return gives every Jew the right to immigrate to Israel. One cannot deprive a person of his right merely because he was born in one country or another," she wrote.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad said that "place of birth is not in itself a reason to refuse his application for status in Israel. Every request is examined in and of itself." She said the Soongs applied for immigrant status for Syloke on December 17, 2007. Some of the documents the Soongs submitted were unverified, so their request could not be processed. So Haddad says she could not understand the couple's complaints that their request was "not handled" or "refused." In her comment, however, Haddad does not mention the couple's 2006 request. The Jewish Agency said, "The agency recommended approving Soong's request to become an immigrant, but the Interior Ministry is authorized to make the final decision." Haaretz asked the Interior Ministry what its rejection in 2006 was based on, but the ministry declined to comment further.
vendredi 11 avril 2008
Parents of Briton killed by IDF fire in Gaza seek compensation
'We claim that the denial to the family of fair and just compensation amounts to supporting a policy of indifference and disregard for innocent civilians,' Tom Hurndall's parents say in letter to Israeli ambassador to London, adding they faced a 'wall of deceit and fabrication over the shooting'
Ynet Yedioth Ahranoth Published: 04.11.08, 08:33
The parents of British student British student Tom Hurndall, who was fatally shot by an IDF soldier in Gaza five years ago, are demanding compensation from the Israeli government and a formal apology as they try to build a criminal case against senior Israeli army officers, The Guardian reported on Friday.
According to the British newspaper, his parents, Jocelyn and Anthony Hurndall, wrote to Israeli ambassador in London, Ron Prosor and asked for an urgent meeting. The family is still trying to gather sufficient evidence to bring war crimes charges in Britain against several Israeli army officers, the report said.
In their letter to Prosor, Hurndall's parents wrote: "We claim that the denial to the family of fair and just compensation amounts to supporting a policy of indifference and disregard for ... innocent civilians. This can lead to an international criminal responsibility for whoever acknowledges such an attitude."
Severe brain injury
According to The Guardian, they said in the letter that they had faced a "wall of deceit and fabrication over the shooting" before the trial and were now facing "a further debilitating and prolonged battle to get meaningful compensation".
The family has not revealed the amount of compensation they are seeking, The Guardian said, but last week the Israeli media put the amount at $988,000, although, according to The Guardian, the correct figure is believed to be higher.
On April 11 2003, Hurndall, a 22-year-old photography student, attended a demonstration in Rafah organized by a group called the International Solidarity Movement. Shots were fired from an Israeli army watchtower and Hurndall, who wore a fluorescent jacket, was helping to pull a group of Palestinian children to safety when he was shot in the head. He suffered a severe brain injury and died nine months later in hospital in London.
At first the IDF denied responsibility, but in August 2005 an Israeli soldier, Taysir Heib, was sentenced to eight years in jail for manslaughter. The following year a British inquest jury ruled that the soldier had shot Hurndall "with the intention of killing him".
Ynet Yedioth Ahranoth Published: 04.11.08, 08:33
The parents of British student British student Tom Hurndall, who was fatally shot by an IDF soldier in Gaza five years ago, are demanding compensation from the Israeli government and a formal apology as they try to build a criminal case against senior Israeli army officers, The Guardian reported on Friday.
According to the British newspaper, his parents, Jocelyn and Anthony Hurndall, wrote to Israeli ambassador in London, Ron Prosor and asked for an urgent meeting. The family is still trying to gather sufficient evidence to bring war crimes charges in Britain against several Israeli army officers, the report said.
In their letter to Prosor, Hurndall's parents wrote: "We claim that the denial to the family of fair and just compensation amounts to supporting a policy of indifference and disregard for ... innocent civilians. This can lead to an international criminal responsibility for whoever acknowledges such an attitude."
Severe brain injury
According to The Guardian, they said in the letter that they had faced a "wall of deceit and fabrication over the shooting" before the trial and were now facing "a further debilitating and prolonged battle to get meaningful compensation".
The family has not revealed the amount of compensation they are seeking, The Guardian said, but last week the Israeli media put the amount at $988,000, although, according to The Guardian, the correct figure is believed to be higher.
On April 11 2003, Hurndall, a 22-year-old photography student, attended a demonstration in Rafah organized by a group called the International Solidarity Movement. Shots were fired from an Israeli army watchtower and Hurndall, who wore a fluorescent jacket, was helping to pull a group of Palestinian children to safety when he was shot in the head. He suffered a severe brain injury and died nine months later in hospital in London.
At first the IDF denied responsibility, but in August 2005 an Israeli soldier, Taysir Heib, was sentenced to eight years in jail for manslaughter. The following year a British inquest jury ruled that the soldier had shot Hurndall "with the intention of killing him".
UN: Israel's removal of W. Bank roadblocks fall short of promise
Haaretz 12:40 11/04/2008
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
Israel has removed 44 roadblocks in the West Bank, short of the number promised to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a United Nations agency has found. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said most of the roadblocks removed were of little or no significance. OCHA, which charts the location of roadblocks in the West Bank, conducted its own field survey of the 61 obstacles that Israel said it removed earlier this month after Rice's visit.
The agency found that 44 of the 61 obstacles had been removed, six remained and 11 could not be found, according to a preliminary report presented to Western donors. The Israel Defense Forces announced last week the removal of 50 roadblocks plus one checkpoint, as promised to Rice. It subsequently said an additional 10 barriers were taken down, but the army would not disclose their locations publicly. Of the 44 obstacles that OCHA confirmed as having been removed, five were classified by the UN agency as "significant" for Palestinians in the area. OCHA said nine of the 44 were of "minimal significance" to Palestinians, noting there was another roadblock nearby or that the obstacle blocked an unpopulated area used by the IDF. OCHA said 17 of the 44 roadblocks were of "no significance", either because they obstructed a closed military zone, had already been removed, were located near a settlement or were in the middle of a field. OCHA cited 13 "questionable circumstances". In those cases, the agency visited the sites where it received repeated reports that obstacles were added at the last minute and then removed.
Rice said during her recent visit that she would push hard to ease West Bank restrictions to try to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose authority has been limited to the West Bank since Hamas Islamists seized the Gaza Strip in June.
State recycles promise to remove dozens of roadblocks in W. Bank
More than half of the roadblocks Israel committed to lifting as part of the first stage of measures meant to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank are temporary obstacles that the state had promised the High Court a month ago to remove. On March 11, the state promised to lift 27 dirt obstacles that were used to "separate" the northern West Bank from other parts of the territories, following the February terrorist attack in Dimona, and as a check on the potential movement of cars laden with explosives. These roadblocks did not appear on the OCHA's official map from last December. Responding to a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the heads of Palestinian villages in the area, the state attorney's office said that the orders concerning the movement of Palestinians (which prevented males aged 16-35 from the area of Jenin to exit the area) had expired, and that temporary extensions were issued on February 12 and 20. This was the state's argument for asking the court to reject the petition against the original restrictions.
The petitioners argued that "in order to enforce the restrictions, the army imposed dozens of new physical impediments on the roads in the area, as well as new roadblocks, some of them permanent and some movable. These obstacles and roadblocks created new 'blockades' around the towns and villages in the northern West Bank. Thus the city of Tul Karm has been completely surrounded and cut off from the nearby villages that depend on it. Even though the siege on Nablus has been in place for seven straight years, it has been tightened further though the application of more roadblocks. This causes unexpected travel restrictions, that change frequently and which are now known to the general population."
Human rights groups have carried out checks on the ground, concluding that a significant number of the roadblocks on a list Defense Minister Ehud Barak gave Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Palestinian Authority, are piles of dirt blocking side roads. In many cases, these have already been flattened by locals who bypass them. In the past, there have been cases in which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had promised PA President Mahmoud Abbas that the number of roadblocks would be reduced, however data from OCHA, B'tselem and Machsom Watch suggested that the numbers have not decreased - only increased. In closed sessions held these past few days with Israeli officials, American diplomats assigned to the implementation of the road map expressed their dissatisfaction at the lack of change in Israel's policy restricting the movement of Palestinians. Defense Minister Ehud Barak's office would not comment, referring Haaretz to the IDF Spokesman. "
According to the decision of the political leadership, the IDF lifted on Tuesday, April 1, 50 dirt obstacles and one roadblock, in an effort to improve the lives of Palestinians. In addition, the Central Command has evaluated the situation along with officials from the Civil Administration, and other measures have been agreed upon, including the lifting of 10 other roadblocks, which were lifted on Thursday, April 3. The IDF will continue assessing the situation and exploring the possibility for improving the lives of the Palestinians, while dealing with the terrorist organizations that are trying to strike in Israel's rear and in the area," the IDF Spokesman said.
By Akiva Eldar, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
Israel has removed 44 roadblocks in the West Bank, short of the number promised to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a United Nations agency has found. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said most of the roadblocks removed were of little or no significance. OCHA, which charts the location of roadblocks in the West Bank, conducted its own field survey of the 61 obstacles that Israel said it removed earlier this month after Rice's visit.
The agency found that 44 of the 61 obstacles had been removed, six remained and 11 could not be found, according to a preliminary report presented to Western donors. The Israel Defense Forces announced last week the removal of 50 roadblocks plus one checkpoint, as promised to Rice. It subsequently said an additional 10 barriers were taken down, but the army would not disclose their locations publicly. Of the 44 obstacles that OCHA confirmed as having been removed, five were classified by the UN agency as "significant" for Palestinians in the area. OCHA said nine of the 44 were of "minimal significance" to Palestinians, noting there was another roadblock nearby or that the obstacle blocked an unpopulated area used by the IDF. OCHA said 17 of the 44 roadblocks were of "no significance", either because they obstructed a closed military zone, had already been removed, were located near a settlement or were in the middle of a field. OCHA cited 13 "questionable circumstances". In those cases, the agency visited the sites where it received repeated reports that obstacles were added at the last minute and then removed.
Rice said during her recent visit that she would push hard to ease West Bank restrictions to try to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose authority has been limited to the West Bank since Hamas Islamists seized the Gaza Strip in June.
State recycles promise to remove dozens of roadblocks in W. Bank
More than half of the roadblocks Israel committed to lifting as part of the first stage of measures meant to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank are temporary obstacles that the state had promised the High Court a month ago to remove. On March 11, the state promised to lift 27 dirt obstacles that were used to "separate" the northern West Bank from other parts of the territories, following the February terrorist attack in Dimona, and as a check on the potential movement of cars laden with explosives. These roadblocks did not appear on the OCHA's official map from last December. Responding to a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the heads of Palestinian villages in the area, the state attorney's office said that the orders concerning the movement of Palestinians (which prevented males aged 16-35 from the area of Jenin to exit the area) had expired, and that temporary extensions were issued on February 12 and 20. This was the state's argument for asking the court to reject the petition against the original restrictions.
The petitioners argued that "in order to enforce the restrictions, the army imposed dozens of new physical impediments on the roads in the area, as well as new roadblocks, some of them permanent and some movable. These obstacles and roadblocks created new 'blockades' around the towns and villages in the northern West Bank. Thus the city of Tul Karm has been completely surrounded and cut off from the nearby villages that depend on it. Even though the siege on Nablus has been in place for seven straight years, it has been tightened further though the application of more roadblocks. This causes unexpected travel restrictions, that change frequently and which are now known to the general population."
Human rights groups have carried out checks on the ground, concluding that a significant number of the roadblocks on a list Defense Minister Ehud Barak gave Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Palestinian Authority, are piles of dirt blocking side roads. In many cases, these have already been flattened by locals who bypass them. In the past, there have been cases in which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had promised PA President Mahmoud Abbas that the number of roadblocks would be reduced, however data from OCHA, B'tselem and Machsom Watch suggested that the numbers have not decreased - only increased. In closed sessions held these past few days with Israeli officials, American diplomats assigned to the implementation of the road map expressed their dissatisfaction at the lack of change in Israel's policy restricting the movement of Palestinians. Defense Minister Ehud Barak's office would not comment, referring Haaretz to the IDF Spokesman. "
According to the decision of the political leadership, the IDF lifted on Tuesday, April 1, 50 dirt obstacles and one roadblock, in an effort to improve the lives of Palestinians. In addition, the Central Command has evaluated the situation along with officials from the Civil Administration, and other measures have been agreed upon, including the lifting of 10 other roadblocks, which were lifted on Thursday, April 3. The IDF will continue assessing the situation and exploring the possibility for improving the lives of the Palestinians, while dealing with the terrorist organizations that are trying to strike in Israel's rear and in the area," the IDF Spokesman said.
One-state solution: From a 'card' to a vital interest
Haaretz 02:48 11/04/2008
By Calev Ben-Dor
Following the meeting earlier this week between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and reports of another summit being planned to coincide with U.S. President George W. Bush's visit in May, negotiations seem to have returned to the frequency and seriousness of the pre-Intifada period. A decade, though, is a long time in politics, especially in the Middle East. Yet despite this truism, Israel seems to be approaching negotiations with exactly the same mindset as in the past - a position that may undermine its ability to achieve its interests. Since the Oslo Accords, Israeli policy has been guided by the assumption that the goal of the Palestinian national movement was the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Israel viewed its decision to "grant" its adversaries such a state as a negotiating "card" that could be "traded" for Palestinian concessions in other areas, specifically Israeli security demands. If the Palestinians wanted a state so much, the logic went, they would agree to certain restrictions on their sovereignty - such as demilitarization, Israeli use of Palestinian air space and early-warning stations in the West Bank.
However, recent regional trends have eroded these assumptions to the point of irrelevancy, and are turning the establishment of a Palestinian state from an Israeli "card" into a pressing Israeli interest. For one, the changing demographics and international balance of power are threatening Israel's legitimacy as a Jewish and democratic state. Predictions that Arabs will reach demographic parity with Jews in the Land of Israel within the next decade, coupled with Palestinian and international impatience with developments on the ground, are bringing the threat of a binational state closer. For this reason, many Israelis now consider the creation of a Palestinian state not as a threat to Zionism, but, rather, as its lifeline.
Second, while Israelis increasingly see the desirability of the "two-state solution," more and more Palestinians increasingly doubt its viability. In addition to greater support for Hamas, which promotes a state in place of, rather than alongside, Israel, the lack of progress in negotiations has also taken its toll on more "moderate" Palestinians. Many view the Palestinian Authority as simply granting Israel a "license for occupation," and now suggest dissolving it and returning the full economic and political burden of that occupation to Israel.
Third, those Palestinians who still support the establishment of an independent state alongside Israel are raising the bar regarding what type of state will be acceptable to them. If in the past the Palestinians were willing to consider a state with provisional borders, Abbas now sees this as a trap. If during the Camp David negotiations Palestinians agreed to certain Israeli security demands that infringed on their sovereignty, they now oppose anything less than a full-fledged Palestinian state.
This new situation poses several dilemmas for Israel, most notably in its need to balance between security and political interests. Israel's security interests in relation to the Palestinians dictate, among other things, that it be able to prevent rocket fire on its population centers, the emergence of an eastern front, and the presence of enemy troops in the West Bank. In other words, military logic generally requires that Israel maintain control on the ground, or that it agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state only after its demands are guaranteed.
Israel's political logic, meanwhile, is to avoid having to retake responsibility for the fate of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as stopping the continuing erosion of the two-state option and of the Jewish state's legitimacy in the international community. In contrast to its military logic, Israel's political logic requires further withdrawals from the West Bank and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Whereas Israel traditionally believed that a peace agreement with the Palestinians could ensure both these logics, the changing reality may force Israel to choose - between creating a Palestinian state without seeing its security interests guaranteed, on the one hand, and continued security control without a political solution, on the other. In other words, the choice could well be between an agreement without security interests or no agreement at all.
There are ways Israel could alleviate this situation. It could reframe the negotiation agenda so as to leverage its security demands by discussing them alongside Palestinian demands to "intrude" into Israel's sovereign territory. Such a negotiation agenda could see Israeli demands for Palestinian demilitarization and use of air space "exchanged" for Palestinian demands for safe passage between the West Bank and Gaza, and access to Israel's labor market. At the same time, Israel could begin to formulate a national security doctrine based on deterrence within its own territory rather than on security arrangements around the external perimeter of Palestine.
But regardless of these options, without a comprehensive reevaluation of the new reality, Israel may find it difficult to attain any of its political and security interests vis-a-vis the Palestinians. Nonetheless, to date, such a reevaluation does not seem to have taken place. Calev Ben-Dor is an analyst at the Reut Institute for Policy Planning, in Tel Aviv.
By Calev Ben-Dor
Following the meeting earlier this week between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and reports of another summit being planned to coincide with U.S. President George W. Bush's visit in May, negotiations seem to have returned to the frequency and seriousness of the pre-Intifada period. A decade, though, is a long time in politics, especially in the Middle East. Yet despite this truism, Israel seems to be approaching negotiations with exactly the same mindset as in the past - a position that may undermine its ability to achieve its interests. Since the Oslo Accords, Israeli policy has been guided by the assumption that the goal of the Palestinian national movement was the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Israel viewed its decision to "grant" its adversaries such a state as a negotiating "card" that could be "traded" for Palestinian concessions in other areas, specifically Israeli security demands. If the Palestinians wanted a state so much, the logic went, they would agree to certain restrictions on their sovereignty - such as demilitarization, Israeli use of Palestinian air space and early-warning stations in the West Bank.
However, recent regional trends have eroded these assumptions to the point of irrelevancy, and are turning the establishment of a Palestinian state from an Israeli "card" into a pressing Israeli interest. For one, the changing demographics and international balance of power are threatening Israel's legitimacy as a Jewish and democratic state. Predictions that Arabs will reach demographic parity with Jews in the Land of Israel within the next decade, coupled with Palestinian and international impatience with developments on the ground, are bringing the threat of a binational state closer. For this reason, many Israelis now consider the creation of a Palestinian state not as a threat to Zionism, but, rather, as its lifeline.
Second, while Israelis increasingly see the desirability of the "two-state solution," more and more Palestinians increasingly doubt its viability. In addition to greater support for Hamas, which promotes a state in place of, rather than alongside, Israel, the lack of progress in negotiations has also taken its toll on more "moderate" Palestinians. Many view the Palestinian Authority as simply granting Israel a "license for occupation," and now suggest dissolving it and returning the full economic and political burden of that occupation to Israel.
Third, those Palestinians who still support the establishment of an independent state alongside Israel are raising the bar regarding what type of state will be acceptable to them. If in the past the Palestinians were willing to consider a state with provisional borders, Abbas now sees this as a trap. If during the Camp David negotiations Palestinians agreed to certain Israeli security demands that infringed on their sovereignty, they now oppose anything less than a full-fledged Palestinian state.
This new situation poses several dilemmas for Israel, most notably in its need to balance between security and political interests. Israel's security interests in relation to the Palestinians dictate, among other things, that it be able to prevent rocket fire on its population centers, the emergence of an eastern front, and the presence of enemy troops in the West Bank. In other words, military logic generally requires that Israel maintain control on the ground, or that it agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state only after its demands are guaranteed.
Israel's political logic, meanwhile, is to avoid having to retake responsibility for the fate of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as stopping the continuing erosion of the two-state option and of the Jewish state's legitimacy in the international community. In contrast to its military logic, Israel's political logic requires further withdrawals from the West Bank and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Whereas Israel traditionally believed that a peace agreement with the Palestinians could ensure both these logics, the changing reality may force Israel to choose - between creating a Palestinian state without seeing its security interests guaranteed, on the one hand, and continued security control without a political solution, on the other. In other words, the choice could well be between an agreement without security interests or no agreement at all.
There are ways Israel could alleviate this situation. It could reframe the negotiation agenda so as to leverage its security demands by discussing them alongside Palestinian demands to "intrude" into Israel's sovereign territory. Such a negotiation agenda could see Israeli demands for Palestinian demilitarization and use of air space "exchanged" for Palestinian demands for safe passage between the West Bank and Gaza, and access to Israel's labor market. At the same time, Israel could begin to formulate a national security doctrine based on deterrence within its own territory rather than on security arrangements around the external perimeter of Palestine.
But regardless of these options, without a comprehensive reevaluation of the new reality, Israel may find it difficult to attain any of its political and security interests vis-a-vis the Palestinians. Nonetheless, to date, such a reevaluation does not seem to have taken place. Calev Ben-Dor is an analyst at the Reut Institute for Policy Planning, in Tel Aviv.
Rabbis say AM:PM to close on Shabbat
Haaretz 01:32 11/04/2008
By Nati Toker and Nurit Roth
David Wiessman, the controlling shareholder of Dor Alon, has agreed to keep all new outlets of the company's AM:PM convenience-store chain closed on Shabbat. That's the claim of the Rabbinical Committee for the Sanctity of the Sabbath, which had threatened to call a boycott of Dor Alon's Blue Square and Shefa Shuk supermarket chains as well as its network of gas stations, because of AP:PM stores being open on Saturdays. Committee secretary Rabbi Yitzhak Goldknop said his group has already asked attorney Yaakov Weinroth to draw up the papers. "Blue Square sent us several proposals but for now they're at the talking stage," Goldknop said. "For now we have nothing in writing. Dor Alon has been selling us stories about its being a publicly held company so they don't make the decisions. That's why we brought in Weinroth, who is a major jurist, to present us with a written document."
Goldknop added that once Weinroth hammers out a contract, it will be presented to the rabbis for their approval. Weinroth confirmed that the rabbis had asked him to mediate in their dispute with Wiessman. He said he is still considering whether to take on the task, in part because Wiessman has not confirmed whether he wants to proceed with the mediation. The unofficial boycott against Wiessman's businesses began about two weeks ago, when the committee called on the religious public to avoid his stores.
Haaretz 21:24 09/04/2008
Ultra-Orthodox target supermarket chain open on Sabbath
By Haaretz Staff and Channel 10
The battle that pits Israel's ultra-Orthodox population against secular businesses has resumed. This time, the battleground is AM:PM, a supermarket chain that is open 24 hours a day - including the Sabbath.
Advertisement
Because of AM:PM's business hours, the Rabbinical Committee for the Sanctity of the Sabbath has called on Israel's ultra-Orthodox to avoid businesses owned by David Weissman, who owns both AM:PM and Shefa Shuk, the Haredi supermarket chain.
By Nati Toker and Nurit Roth
David Wiessman, the controlling shareholder of Dor Alon, has agreed to keep all new outlets of the company's AM:PM convenience-store chain closed on Shabbat. That's the claim of the Rabbinical Committee for the Sanctity of the Sabbath, which had threatened to call a boycott of Dor Alon's Blue Square and Shefa Shuk supermarket chains as well as its network of gas stations, because of AP:PM stores being open on Saturdays. Committee secretary Rabbi Yitzhak Goldknop said his group has already asked attorney Yaakov Weinroth to draw up the papers. "Blue Square sent us several proposals but for now they're at the talking stage," Goldknop said. "For now we have nothing in writing. Dor Alon has been selling us stories about its being a publicly held company so they don't make the decisions. That's why we brought in Weinroth, who is a major jurist, to present us with a written document."
Goldknop added that once Weinroth hammers out a contract, it will be presented to the rabbis for their approval. Weinroth confirmed that the rabbis had asked him to mediate in their dispute with Wiessman. He said he is still considering whether to take on the task, in part because Wiessman has not confirmed whether he wants to proceed with the mediation. The unofficial boycott against Wiessman's businesses began about two weeks ago, when the committee called on the religious public to avoid his stores.
Haaretz 21:24 09/04/2008
Ultra-Orthodox target supermarket chain open on Sabbath
By Haaretz Staff and Channel 10
The battle that pits Israel's ultra-Orthodox population against secular businesses has resumed. This time, the battleground is AM:PM, a supermarket chain that is open 24 hours a day - including the Sabbath.
Advertisement
Because of AM:PM's business hours, the Rabbinical Committee for the Sanctity of the Sabbath has called on Israel's ultra-Orthodox to avoid businesses owned by David Weissman, who owns both AM:PM and Shefa Shuk, the Haredi supermarket chain.
Russian immigrants in Israel: Conversion - or genocide?
Haaretz 03:03 08/04/2008
By Lily Galili
Meet Rabbi Naftali Schreiber, an activist from Rabbis Against Conversion. He is a fairly familiar figure among the Russian-speaking public; to veteran Israelis, he is a foreigner. Forget everything you knew about rabbis and conversion: He is not Rabbi Druckman, lenient when it comes to conversion for nationalist reasons; he is not one of those rabbis who makes things difficult in the name of stringent halakha. He is simply opposed to the conversion system for immigrants from the former Soviet Union. As for his motives, it depends who you ask. Some suspect he is serving foreign interests; Schreiber himself is convinced he is preserving Israel while representing a liberal agenda of freedom of choice.
This combination did not really impress MK Marina Solodkin. Ten days ago, she organized a conference, "Conversion in Israel: Religion, politics and society," in the Knesset. Some 40 people attended the discussion, which was in Russian. Solodkin was assured that an Orthodox rabbi also would show up. She certainly did not expect Schreiber. Truth be told, she also was not expecting Anatoly Garasimov, the chairman of the Association of Ethnic Russians (Pravoslavic Russians) in Israel.
For years, Garasimov has been fighting for his community, and now is waging a relentless battle against the campaign to convert immigrants. This transforms him into an ally and true friend of Schreiber. Garasimov was not a welcome guest at the gathering, and when they refused to give him the floor, he took it anyway. Among other things, he accused Israel of conducting a "spiritual genocide" against the ethnic Russians who came here legally (he himself is married to a Jewish woman - L.G.).
Even if this statement seems natural to you, try to find a good definition for Rabbi Schreiber's positions. Schreiber, 30, immigrated to Israel 16 years ago and studied at Chabad yeshivas here. He no longer is a Chabad member, nor is he employed by the rabbinic establishment. A lot of his time is devoted to missionary activity - saving souls from conversion. Among other efforts, his organization distributed a sticker with the Russian flag and the caption: "Conversion is spitting in the face of Mother."
"This sticker is an intentional provocation," says Schreiber, who has not only a set ideology, but also an open fondness for provocation. Following are a few selections from his conversation with Haaretz: "Mass conversion programs for immigrants are a form of collective rape. True, there is no inquisition here, but there is brainwashing. It's like resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by converting the Arabs; instead of transfer, conversion. The Russians see the whole thing as a serious affront, and the affront they endure here makes it to Russia, too. There have been calls there to use the same criteria accepted here, and to make Jews' advancement conditional on conversion to Catholicism. "They say I serve foreign interests? That only flatters me. In this case, our national interest coincides with the spirit of the halakha and the liberal approach. Yes, I really think the IDF should have a Pravoslavic priest appointed alongside the chief military chaplain; every army in the world has diverse religious services. Let me tell you a story: Three months ago, the first military rabbi was appointed in Russia. As a result, the church in Moscow sent an emissary to Israel to look into the parallel position in the IDF. Of course, they turned him down. But I think the time really has come to formalize this position and stop the conversion of IDF soldiers. After all, it's clear that the groups of young neo-Nazis are a result of the conversion system ... but the big problem is, of course, the girls, who are the primary target audience. We appeal to them in ads on our site or in the Russian media, but also approach them in person in order to prevent the mistake ... in personal conversations, there is almost a 100-percent success rate.
"This entire conversion system is one giant fraud ... to the victims, they stress primarily that this will strengthen their ties to the state, and they don't always realize that when converting, they are also abandoning Jesus ... in our assessment, we prevented hundreds of conversions. We came to the Knesset session in order to balance the voices of Solodkin and [MK Avigdor] Lieberman and to counter the argument that the Russians want to convert and only the rabbis are preventing them. It's exactly the opposite: The rabbis are collaborators, and the Russians are not coming to convert because they simply don't want to."
Following the Knesset session, Solodkin drafted a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, asking Olmert to approve the decisions made in the session. In the end of the letter, the MK told the prime minister about what happened behind closed doors during the Russian-language gathering. "The meeting was attended by a group of people who serve the interests of certain circles in Russia, that are hostile to the State of Israel," she wrote. "I approached the Knesset guard and asked that they be barred entry to the Knesset building." Schreiber is very amused by the whole thing.
By Lily Galili
Meet Rabbi Naftali Schreiber, an activist from Rabbis Against Conversion. He is a fairly familiar figure among the Russian-speaking public; to veteran Israelis, he is a foreigner. Forget everything you knew about rabbis and conversion: He is not Rabbi Druckman, lenient when it comes to conversion for nationalist reasons; he is not one of those rabbis who makes things difficult in the name of stringent halakha. He is simply opposed to the conversion system for immigrants from the former Soviet Union. As for his motives, it depends who you ask. Some suspect he is serving foreign interests; Schreiber himself is convinced he is preserving Israel while representing a liberal agenda of freedom of choice.
This combination did not really impress MK Marina Solodkin. Ten days ago, she organized a conference, "Conversion in Israel: Religion, politics and society," in the Knesset. Some 40 people attended the discussion, which was in Russian. Solodkin was assured that an Orthodox rabbi also would show up. She certainly did not expect Schreiber. Truth be told, she also was not expecting Anatoly Garasimov, the chairman of the Association of Ethnic Russians (Pravoslavic Russians) in Israel.
For years, Garasimov has been fighting for his community, and now is waging a relentless battle against the campaign to convert immigrants. This transforms him into an ally and true friend of Schreiber. Garasimov was not a welcome guest at the gathering, and when they refused to give him the floor, he took it anyway. Among other things, he accused Israel of conducting a "spiritual genocide" against the ethnic Russians who came here legally (he himself is married to a Jewish woman - L.G.).
Even if this statement seems natural to you, try to find a good definition for Rabbi Schreiber's positions. Schreiber, 30, immigrated to Israel 16 years ago and studied at Chabad yeshivas here. He no longer is a Chabad member, nor is he employed by the rabbinic establishment. A lot of his time is devoted to missionary activity - saving souls from conversion. Among other efforts, his organization distributed a sticker with the Russian flag and the caption: "Conversion is spitting in the face of Mother."
"This sticker is an intentional provocation," says Schreiber, who has not only a set ideology, but also an open fondness for provocation. Following are a few selections from his conversation with Haaretz: "Mass conversion programs for immigrants are a form of collective rape. True, there is no inquisition here, but there is brainwashing. It's like resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by converting the Arabs; instead of transfer, conversion. The Russians see the whole thing as a serious affront, and the affront they endure here makes it to Russia, too. There have been calls there to use the same criteria accepted here, and to make Jews' advancement conditional on conversion to Catholicism. "They say I serve foreign interests? That only flatters me. In this case, our national interest coincides with the spirit of the halakha and the liberal approach. Yes, I really think the IDF should have a Pravoslavic priest appointed alongside the chief military chaplain; every army in the world has diverse religious services. Let me tell you a story: Three months ago, the first military rabbi was appointed in Russia. As a result, the church in Moscow sent an emissary to Israel to look into the parallel position in the IDF. Of course, they turned him down. But I think the time really has come to formalize this position and stop the conversion of IDF soldiers. After all, it's clear that the groups of young neo-Nazis are a result of the conversion system ... but the big problem is, of course, the girls, who are the primary target audience. We appeal to them in ads on our site or in the Russian media, but also approach them in person in order to prevent the mistake ... in personal conversations, there is almost a 100-percent success rate.
"This entire conversion system is one giant fraud ... to the victims, they stress primarily that this will strengthen their ties to the state, and they don't always realize that when converting, they are also abandoning Jesus ... in our assessment, we prevented hundreds of conversions. We came to the Knesset session in order to balance the voices of Solodkin and [MK Avigdor] Lieberman and to counter the argument that the Russians want to convert and only the rabbis are preventing them. It's exactly the opposite: The rabbis are collaborators, and the Russians are not coming to convert because they simply don't want to."
Following the Knesset session, Solodkin drafted a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, asking Olmert to approve the decisions made in the session. In the end of the letter, the MK told the prime minister about what happened behind closed doors during the Russian-language gathering. "The meeting was attended by a group of people who serve the interests of certain circles in Russia, that are hostile to the State of Israel," she wrote. "I approached the Knesset guard and asked that they be barred entry to the Knesset building." Schreiber is very amused by the whole thing.
State recycles promise to remove dozens of roadblocks in the West Bank
Haaretz - 12:39 11/04/2008
By Akiva Eldar
More than half of the roadblocks Israel committed to lifting as part of the first stage of measures meant to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank are temporary obstacles that the state had promised the High Court a month ago to remove. On March 11, the state promised to lift 27 dirt obstacles that were used to "separate" the northern West Bank from other parts of the territories, following the February terrorist attack in Dimona, and as a check on the potential movement of cars laden with explosives. These roadblocks did not appear on the official map of United Nation's OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) from last December.
Responding to a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the heads of Palestinian villages in the area, the state attorney's office said that the orders concerning the movement of Palestinians (which prevented males aged 16-35 from the area of Jenin to exit the area) had expired, and that temporary extensions were issued on February 12 and 20. This was the state's argument for asking the court to reject the petition against the original restrictions. The petitioners argued that "in order to enforce the restrictions, the army imposed dozens of new physical impediments on the roads in the area, as well as new roadblocks, some of them permanent and some movable. These obstacles and roadblocks created new 'blockades' around the towns and villages in the northern West Bank. Thus the city of Tul Karm has been completely surrounded and cut off from the nearby villages that depend on it. Even though the siege on Nablus has been in place for seven straight years, it has been tightened further though the application of more roadblocks. This causes unexpected travel restrictions, that change frequently and which are now known to the general population."
Human rights groups have carried out checks on the ground, concluding that a significant number of the roadblocks on a list Defense Minister Ehud Barak gave Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Palestinian Authority, are piles of dirt blocking side roads. In many cases, these have already been flattened by locals who bypass them. In the past, there have been cases in which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had promised PA President Mahmoud Abbas that the number of roadblocks would be reduced, however data from OCHA, B'tselem and Machsom Watch suggested that the numbers have not decreased - only increased. In closed sessions held these past few days with Israeli officials, American diplomats assigned to the implementation of the road map expressed their dissatisfaction at the lack of change in Israel's policy restricting the movement of Palestinians.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak's office would not comment, referring Haaretz to the IDF Spokesman. "According to the decision of the political leadership, the IDF lifted on Tuesday, April 1, 50 dirt obstacles and one roadblock, in an effort to improve the lives of Palestinians. In addition, the Central Command has evaluated the situation along with officials from the Civil Administration, and other measures have been agreed upon, including the lifting of 10 other roadblocks, which were lifted on Thursday, April 3. The IDF will continue assessing the situation and exploring the possibility for improving the lives of the Palestinians, while dealing with the terrorist organizations that are trying to strike in Israel's rear and in the area," the IDF Spokesman said.
By Akiva Eldar
More than half of the roadblocks Israel committed to lifting as part of the first stage of measures meant to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank are temporary obstacles that the state had promised the High Court a month ago to remove. On March 11, the state promised to lift 27 dirt obstacles that were used to "separate" the northern West Bank from other parts of the territories, following the February terrorist attack in Dimona, and as a check on the potential movement of cars laden with explosives. These roadblocks did not appear on the official map of United Nation's OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) from last December.
Responding to a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the heads of Palestinian villages in the area, the state attorney's office said that the orders concerning the movement of Palestinians (which prevented males aged 16-35 from the area of Jenin to exit the area) had expired, and that temporary extensions were issued on February 12 and 20. This was the state's argument for asking the court to reject the petition against the original restrictions. The petitioners argued that "in order to enforce the restrictions, the army imposed dozens of new physical impediments on the roads in the area, as well as new roadblocks, some of them permanent and some movable. These obstacles and roadblocks created new 'blockades' around the towns and villages in the northern West Bank. Thus the city of Tul Karm has been completely surrounded and cut off from the nearby villages that depend on it. Even though the siege on Nablus has been in place for seven straight years, it has been tightened further though the application of more roadblocks. This causes unexpected travel restrictions, that change frequently and which are now known to the general population."
Human rights groups have carried out checks on the ground, concluding that a significant number of the roadblocks on a list Defense Minister Ehud Barak gave Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Palestinian Authority, are piles of dirt blocking side roads. In many cases, these have already been flattened by locals who bypass them. In the past, there have been cases in which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had promised PA President Mahmoud Abbas that the number of roadblocks would be reduced, however data from OCHA, B'tselem and Machsom Watch suggested that the numbers have not decreased - only increased. In closed sessions held these past few days with Israeli officials, American diplomats assigned to the implementation of the road map expressed their dissatisfaction at the lack of change in Israel's policy restricting the movement of Palestinians.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak's office would not comment, referring Haaretz to the IDF Spokesman. "According to the decision of the political leadership, the IDF lifted on Tuesday, April 1, 50 dirt obstacles and one roadblock, in an effort to improve the lives of Palestinians. In addition, the Central Command has evaluated the situation along with officials from the Civil Administration, and other measures have been agreed upon, including the lifting of 10 other roadblocks, which were lifted on Thursday, April 3. The IDF will continue assessing the situation and exploring the possibility for improving the lives of the Palestinians, while dealing with the terrorist organizations that are trying to strike in Israel's rear and in the area," the IDF Spokesman said.
Falashmura dream of aliyah fades as deadline approaches
Haaretz Last update - 10:20 11/04/2008
By Anshel Pfeffer
GONDAR - Walelah Alemo last saw her granddaughter four years ago. She knows the child now has an Israeli name, but she doesn't know what it is. Alemo also doesn't know where in Israel her son lives with his family, or what he does for a living, but says she just wants to join him and her brother and sisters who also live in Israel. Alemo is a widow raising five more unmarried children. For the past five years, the Alemo family has lived in uncertainty in this northern Ethiopian city, where they came hoping to immigrate to Israel on a permit for Falashmura. But now, two months before Israel plans to stop the Falashmura immigration, the family's chances seem smaller than ever, along with another 12,000 Falashmura waiting in Gondar. Many say they don't understand why they are not being allowed to move to Israel. They seem to have made peace with their situation, although they believe they will eventually get to Israel. The money from selling Alemo's home in her village - which she left because she was sure she was about to move to Israel - ran out a long time ago and now she scrapes by doing odd jobs. Unlike other Falashmura families, her relatives in Israel don't send her money. Only when she speaks of the dream of aliya does she smile and her face lights up.
"God promised us we would live in Israel," she says, "now is the time to join our relatives there." It seems Alemo is not too worried by the stop in immigration. "I am sure the proper time will arrive," she reiterates. Alemo said she doesn't know why she hasn't received an aliyah permit yet, in contrast to her brothers and sisters. She doesn't think the fact she had no connection to Judaism before she came to the Falashmura compound in Gondar should interfere. "In the village, I was like everyone," she says simply. "I acted like a Christian. When I came here, I returned to Judaism." Stories like Alemo's are typical of the Falashmura who live in three Gondar compounds established by the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry. "I will not go back to my village," says Awanto Bala'ee, a 50-year-old father of eight. He is sure he hasn't gotten to immigrate because he stayed in the village to sell his family's belongings. All his relatives arrived in Gondar before him, including some of his children, and made aliyah some time ago. "I came here seven years ago and got stuck," he recounts. Despite the situation, Bala'ee said he has not lost hope. The possibility that he will not immigrate to Israel is inconceivable. "It will change one day, when God is willing," he says. "It is impossible that the parents are here and the children there. It is true that a few generations back our ancestors converted to Christianity because of problems where they lived, but there were those among us who remained religiously observant."
Twenty-year-old Falecka Gaberro has lived half his life in Gondar. His parents immigrated to Israel years ago - his father 10 years ago and his mother seven years ago. But Gaberro did not receive an aliyah permit and continues to wait with his pregnant wife. He has many plans for his future life in Israel - he wants to serve in the army, study and work as a journalist. A few hundred meters away, at another compound, Jewish Agency representatives are preparing a group of sixty Falashmura who have received aliyah permits, for the two-day trip to the capital, Addis Ababa. From there they will fly to Israel. Among the imminent immigrants there was no mood of celebration, but of making peace with their fate, just like at the compound of those Israel refuses to accept. Two of the group, Smemo and Ayanshahu Abagar, stand patiently in line for photographs for travel documents and medical interviews. According to them, they have no idea why they won the cherished permit after nine years waiting in Gondar. "It took four years until we were summoned for an interview," says Smemo. "My brother got a permit much faster."
End of immigration
In 2003, after pressure from the Ethiopian community in Israel and U.S. Jewish groups, the state determined that 300 Falashmura would immigrate every month. The Falashmura are descendants of Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity. Those who could prove their Jewish roots and have family in Israel, could come under the Law of Entry and not the Law of Return. Since then, 26,000 Falashmura have immigrated. But in 2005, Israel decided to end the immigration, arguing that all those who were entitled already had permits.The state was also concerned that thousands of non-Jewish Ethiopians would claim rights to immigrate. The last 500 Falashmura still in Ethiopia who hold immigration permits will be flown to Israel in early June. The Jewish Agency has already begun dismantling the Gondar compound. Unlike in other places, the Jewish Agency did not deal in Jewish education or strengthening the local community. In addition, it is at the center of the controversy between the state and Falashmura representatives and Jewish organizations demanding the immigration continue.
Israeli and American pro-Falashmura organizations describe the Gondar camps as a humanitarian disaster, including malnourished children and beggars. But in a visit this week, none of that was evident. Dr. Rick Hodes of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee said he saw no evidence of a humanitarian disaster. "There is no hunger and no infectious disease. In fact, more than 1,000 Falashmura children receive two meals a day at an NACOEJ food station. Each family received a kilogram of corn flour a day and once a month, five kilos of the special flour for local bread known as injera. In addition, many Falashmura work in the city or for the NACOEJ and some receive money from their family in Israel. "This is the only place in Africa where healthy people are being fed," says the head of one international aid organization active in Ethiopia. There is no humanitarian crisis, but there is a human crisis. Of the 12,000 Falashmura in the compounds, 4,000 applications have been rejected by Israel's Interior Ministry, and the state refused to even examine the others. The government and the Jewish Agency are convinced these people have no connection to Judaism. Israeli authorities say everyone left in the Gondar camps came there because NACOEJ activists pushed them, selling them false hopes. However, Falashmura and NACOEJ representatives claim that the Israeli government was guilty of smoke and mirrors in deciding to bring the Falashmura to Israel and then limiting their numbers. They demand Israel examine the applications of the remaining 8,700 Falashmura in Gondar. But the state fears that each additional immigrant will demand to bring his relatives in an endless cycle. This is echoed in a comment from Bala'ee. "We have relatives in the villages who stay there because they hear how we suffer here."
By Anshel Pfeffer
GONDAR - Walelah Alemo last saw her granddaughter four years ago. She knows the child now has an Israeli name, but she doesn't know what it is. Alemo also doesn't know where in Israel her son lives with his family, or what he does for a living, but says she just wants to join him and her brother and sisters who also live in Israel. Alemo is a widow raising five more unmarried children. For the past five years, the Alemo family has lived in uncertainty in this northern Ethiopian city, where they came hoping to immigrate to Israel on a permit for Falashmura. But now, two months before Israel plans to stop the Falashmura immigration, the family's chances seem smaller than ever, along with another 12,000 Falashmura waiting in Gondar. Many say they don't understand why they are not being allowed to move to Israel. They seem to have made peace with their situation, although they believe they will eventually get to Israel. The money from selling Alemo's home in her village - which she left because she was sure she was about to move to Israel - ran out a long time ago and now she scrapes by doing odd jobs. Unlike other Falashmura families, her relatives in Israel don't send her money. Only when she speaks of the dream of aliya does she smile and her face lights up.
"God promised us we would live in Israel," she says, "now is the time to join our relatives there." It seems Alemo is not too worried by the stop in immigration. "I am sure the proper time will arrive," she reiterates. Alemo said she doesn't know why she hasn't received an aliyah permit yet, in contrast to her brothers and sisters. She doesn't think the fact she had no connection to Judaism before she came to the Falashmura compound in Gondar should interfere. "In the village, I was like everyone," she says simply. "I acted like a Christian. When I came here, I returned to Judaism." Stories like Alemo's are typical of the Falashmura who live in three Gondar compounds established by the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry. "I will not go back to my village," says Awanto Bala'ee, a 50-year-old father of eight. He is sure he hasn't gotten to immigrate because he stayed in the village to sell his family's belongings. All his relatives arrived in Gondar before him, including some of his children, and made aliyah some time ago. "I came here seven years ago and got stuck," he recounts. Despite the situation, Bala'ee said he has not lost hope. The possibility that he will not immigrate to Israel is inconceivable. "It will change one day, when God is willing," he says. "It is impossible that the parents are here and the children there. It is true that a few generations back our ancestors converted to Christianity because of problems where they lived, but there were those among us who remained religiously observant."
Twenty-year-old Falecka Gaberro has lived half his life in Gondar. His parents immigrated to Israel years ago - his father 10 years ago and his mother seven years ago. But Gaberro did not receive an aliyah permit and continues to wait with his pregnant wife. He has many plans for his future life in Israel - he wants to serve in the army, study and work as a journalist. A few hundred meters away, at another compound, Jewish Agency representatives are preparing a group of sixty Falashmura who have received aliyah permits, for the two-day trip to the capital, Addis Ababa. From there they will fly to Israel. Among the imminent immigrants there was no mood of celebration, but of making peace with their fate, just like at the compound of those Israel refuses to accept. Two of the group, Smemo and Ayanshahu Abagar, stand patiently in line for photographs for travel documents and medical interviews. According to them, they have no idea why they won the cherished permit after nine years waiting in Gondar. "It took four years until we were summoned for an interview," says Smemo. "My brother got a permit much faster."
End of immigration
In 2003, after pressure from the Ethiopian community in Israel and U.S. Jewish groups, the state determined that 300 Falashmura would immigrate every month. The Falashmura are descendants of Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity. Those who could prove their Jewish roots and have family in Israel, could come under the Law of Entry and not the Law of Return. Since then, 26,000 Falashmura have immigrated. But in 2005, Israel decided to end the immigration, arguing that all those who were entitled already had permits.The state was also concerned that thousands of non-Jewish Ethiopians would claim rights to immigrate. The last 500 Falashmura still in Ethiopia who hold immigration permits will be flown to Israel in early June. The Jewish Agency has already begun dismantling the Gondar compound. Unlike in other places, the Jewish Agency did not deal in Jewish education or strengthening the local community. In addition, it is at the center of the controversy between the state and Falashmura representatives and Jewish organizations demanding the immigration continue.
Israeli and American pro-Falashmura organizations describe the Gondar camps as a humanitarian disaster, including malnourished children and beggars. But in a visit this week, none of that was evident. Dr. Rick Hodes of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee said he saw no evidence of a humanitarian disaster. "There is no hunger and no infectious disease. In fact, more than 1,000 Falashmura children receive two meals a day at an NACOEJ food station. Each family received a kilogram of corn flour a day and once a month, five kilos of the special flour for local bread known as injera. In addition, many Falashmura work in the city or for the NACOEJ and some receive money from their family in Israel. "This is the only place in Africa where healthy people are being fed," says the head of one international aid organization active in Ethiopia. There is no humanitarian crisis, but there is a human crisis. Of the 12,000 Falashmura in the compounds, 4,000 applications have been rejected by Israel's Interior Ministry, and the state refused to even examine the others. The government and the Jewish Agency are convinced these people have no connection to Judaism. Israeli authorities say everyone left in the Gondar camps came there because NACOEJ activists pushed them, selling them false hopes. However, Falashmura and NACOEJ representatives claim that the Israeli government was guilty of smoke and mirrors in deciding to bring the Falashmura to Israel and then limiting their numbers. They demand Israel examine the applications of the remaining 8,700 Falashmura in Gondar. But the state fears that each additional immigrant will demand to bring his relatives in an endless cycle. This is echoed in a comment from Bala'ee. "We have relatives in the villages who stay there because they hear how we suffer here."
Jerusalem offices of RAM-FM radio raided, staff arrested and held overnight, equipment seized
The Jerusalem office of the Ramallah-based English-language radio station RAM-FM was raided by Jerusalem Police and officials of the Israeli Ministry of Communications on Monday afternoon, and its staff members were detained, and equipment confiscated, on charges that it has been operating a small transmitter in Jerusalem “without the necessary broadcasting permit in Jerusalem”.
See here.
See here.
jeudi 10 avril 2008
Tel Aviv court convicts four Israeli neo-nazis
Jerusalem Post Apr 10, 2008 9:04 Updated Apr 11, 2008 0:21
By DAN IZENBERG
Tel Aviv District Court convicted four of eight suspects on Thursday who were charged with neo-Nazi activities, following a plea bargain between the Tel Aviv District Attorney's Office and the defendants' lawyers.
A Justice Ministry spokesman said the state would ask for punishments ranging from 15 months to four-and-a-half years, depending on the individual charges regarding each of the defendants and his personal circumstances, such as whether he had a previous criminal record and his family background.
Four other neo-Nazi suspects, suspected of more serious crimes, are still on trial, including the suspected ringleader of the group, Arik Boanayev, 21. The ministry spokesman said the state and lawyers for these four were negotiating a plea bargain.
Those who pleaded guilty on Thursday to the modified indictment were three minors, two from Petah Tikva and one from Holon, and 20-year-old Alex Flich, from Karnei Shomron.
The four suspects still on trial are Boanayev; Eliahu (Ilya) Bonderenko, 21, from Petah Tikva; Kiril Bolenkov, 19, from Holon; and Vladimir Nizvetzov, 18, from Bat Yam.
The suspects were arrested on September 10, 2007. The 22-page indictment, which was filed two days later, included 11 separate charges against one or more of the suspects. The counts included assault in aggravated circumstances, incitement to racism, possession of racist material and conspiracy to commit a crime. Boanayev was included in 10 of the 11 charges.
According to the indictment, the gang had been operating for at least two years. The members called themselves "Patrol 35," and preyed on the weak and minorities; they also desecrated at least two Petah Tikva synagogues. The indictment detailed the members' attacks on foreign workers, drug addicts, homosexuals and others.
By DAN IZENBERG
Tel Aviv District Court convicted four of eight suspects on Thursday who were charged with neo-Nazi activities, following a plea bargain between the Tel Aviv District Attorney's Office and the defendants' lawyers.
A Justice Ministry spokesman said the state would ask for punishments ranging from 15 months to four-and-a-half years, depending on the individual charges regarding each of the defendants and his personal circumstances, such as whether he had a previous criminal record and his family background.
Four other neo-Nazi suspects, suspected of more serious crimes, are still on trial, including the suspected ringleader of the group, Arik Boanayev, 21. The ministry spokesman said the state and lawyers for these four were negotiating a plea bargain.
Those who pleaded guilty on Thursday to the modified indictment were three minors, two from Petah Tikva and one from Holon, and 20-year-old Alex Flich, from Karnei Shomron.
The four suspects still on trial are Boanayev; Eliahu (Ilya) Bonderenko, 21, from Petah Tikva; Kiril Bolenkov, 19, from Holon; and Vladimir Nizvetzov, 18, from Bat Yam.
The suspects were arrested on September 10, 2007. The 22-page indictment, which was filed two days later, included 11 separate charges against one or more of the suspects. The counts included assault in aggravated circumstances, incitement to racism, possession of racist material and conspiracy to commit a crime. Boanayev was included in 10 of the 11 charges.
According to the indictment, the gang had been operating for at least two years. The members called themselves "Patrol 35," and preyed on the weak and minorities; they also desecrated at least two Petah Tikva synagogues. The indictment detailed the members' attacks on foreign workers, drug addicts, homosexuals and others.
mercredi 9 avril 2008
Rabbi Eliyahu: Approve outposts, encourage birth rate
Thousands of religious-Zionist youths rally under slogan 'Rise and be encouraged', in honor of Mercaz Harav attack's 30-day anniversary. Rabbi Eliyahu comforts bereaved parents, strengthens youths
Kobi Nahshoni Yedioth Ahrabnoth Published: 04.09.08, 07:45
"The government's most important mission these days is the establishment of yeshivas and settlements, the approval of outposts, and the encouragement of the national birth rate," former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu told a crowd of religious-Zionist youths assembled at Teddy stadium in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening.
About 8,000 youths participated in the rally commemorating the 30-day anniversary of the attack at Mercaz Harav yeshiva. Eight beacons were lit by youths injured by the attack in honor of the deceased, and Sergeant David Shapiro and Rabbi Yitzhak Dadon were awarded certificates of honor for their brave acts during the attack, in front of the students, rabbis, and faculty seated on the grass.
In a speech carried out by Rabbi Eliyahu, he asked the participants to comfort the bereaved parents. "The dear boys who were murdered are in heaven now, in the company of Rabbi Akiva and his friends, under the wings of the Divine presence," he said. "Parents, be comforted."
'Rise and be encouraged'
Head of the Bnei Akiva yeshivas, Rabbi Abraham Zuckerman, also spoke at the rally, saying, "Once Israel was all ours, and we did not hasten to settle and populate it. This is a sin that requires amending."
Praising the youths, he said, "God demands that we be role models for others, to other nations and to our brothers who are far from love, even brotherly love. We must bring them closer. Our slogan is 'rise and be encouraged', and we must encourage others too."
In video excerpts that were shown to the assembly, other rabbis spoke about the young generation and promised that the yeshiva attack would not threaten the Jews' hold on Israel. They called on the youths to utilize their powers to affect the opinions of others.
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski said, "We mourn and are immersed in sorrow – but we do not despair, we bewail – we have no compassion for ourselves, but you have it in you to turn this disaster into a building block. Israel will emerge victorious; our victory is hidden between the yeshiva walls."
Kobi Nahshoni Yedioth Ahrabnoth Published: 04.09.08, 07:45
"The government's most important mission these days is the establishment of yeshivas and settlements, the approval of outposts, and the encouragement of the national birth rate," former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu told a crowd of religious-Zionist youths assembled at Teddy stadium in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening.
About 8,000 youths participated in the rally commemorating the 30-day anniversary of the attack at Mercaz Harav yeshiva. Eight beacons were lit by youths injured by the attack in honor of the deceased, and Sergeant David Shapiro and Rabbi Yitzhak Dadon were awarded certificates of honor for their brave acts during the attack, in front of the students, rabbis, and faculty seated on the grass.
In a speech carried out by Rabbi Eliyahu, he asked the participants to comfort the bereaved parents. "The dear boys who were murdered are in heaven now, in the company of Rabbi Akiva and his friends, under the wings of the Divine presence," he said. "Parents, be comforted."
'Rise and be encouraged'
Head of the Bnei Akiva yeshivas, Rabbi Abraham Zuckerman, also spoke at the rally, saying, "Once Israel was all ours, and we did not hasten to settle and populate it. This is a sin that requires amending."
Praising the youths, he said, "God demands that we be role models for others, to other nations and to our brothers who are far from love, even brotherly love. We must bring them closer. Our slogan is 'rise and be encouraged', and we must encourage others too."
In video excerpts that were shown to the assembly, other rabbis spoke about the young generation and promised that the yeshiva attack would not threaten the Jews' hold on Israel. They called on the youths to utilize their powers to affect the opinions of others.
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski said, "We mourn and are immersed in sorrow – but we do not despair, we bewail – we have no compassion for ourselves, but you have it in you to turn this disaster into a building block. Israel will emerge victorious; our victory is hidden between the yeshiva walls."
Reuven Hammer: Removing hametz from the heart
Jerusalem Post Apr 8, 2008 21:17 Updated Apr 9, 2008 9:13
By REUVEN HAMMER
The recent furor about the Hametz Law is an unfortunate illustration of the tragic state of secular-religious relations in Israel and of the need to create a more positive attitude toward tradition in this, the Jewish state.
On the one hand, we have religious leaders - mostly political leaders - ranting about the demise of Judaism and virtually cursing the court and the secular public for this ruling. On the other hand, we have secular activists reacting with glee that Jews will be free at last to eat hametz on Pessah without having to patronize Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem to do so.
The religious-political leaders are busily trying to see to it that new legislation is enacted that will force hametz back in hiding, as if that will solve the problem once and for all. The truth is that this is a case in which legislation is not only difficult if not impossible to enforce but one in which such legislation - in the present atmosphere - only makes the situation worse. Of course those of us who value the traditions of Judaism would like to see the absence of hametz in public places, but it is doubtful if more legislation will really accomplish that and if the price will be worth it.
THE TRAGIC reality is that these religious-political leaders do not realize that the more laws they enact the more they alienate so-called secular Jews from Judaism. The more they rant and rave against secular Jews, the less chance they have of creating an atmosphere in which Judaism, Jewish values and Jewish observances will be honored and even followed by the population at large. The more coercion is brought to bear in religious matters, the more the population will rebel against it and revile Judaism.
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Rather than spending their energy in trying to enforce unenforceable laws of dubious value, true religious leaders - as opposed to political leaders wrapped in the cloak of religion - would spend their time teaching and demonstrating the beauties of Judaism. Instead they are busy demonstrating the exact opposite. They use their political leverage to wrest vast sums of money from the government, i.e. from the pockets of the taxpayers, to support thousands who will not serve their country in the army or any other way, thereby creating hatred among the secular. They bring disrespect upon Judaism - and desecrate God's name - by sending to the Knesset those who end up in jail for flaunting the very laws of the Torah they pretend to represent.
Every time a religious leader stands up in the Knesset or elsewhere and spouts nonsense such as the speech we recently heard about homosexuals being responsible for earthquakes or faulty mezuzot bringing on terrorist attacks, every time we hear religious people denouncing the government, the courts, the police and whatever as illegitimate, more and more people are turned away from Judaism.
The monopoly that the secular government has given the Chief Rabbinate in matters of marriage and divorce has similarly harmed religion. Not being able to have the rabbi of your choice officiate at a wedding, having to prove one's eligibility for marriage to unsympathetic clerks and listen to unwanted lectures, the well-known aguna problem, and the obstacles placed in the path of potential converts - all these further alienate secular Jews from Judaism. It is unlikely that we will see a true renaissance of Judaism in this country (as opposed to a rise in the number of ultra-Orthodox Jews dues to their birthrate) until the monopoly of the Chief Rabbinate is broken and coercion is removed from the language of religious life.
BUT SINCE that is unlikely to happen in the near future, it would behoove the secular population to remember that by ignoring or despising Judaism they are depriving themselves of a wonderful cultural and spiritual heritage and of practices and ideas that could enrich their lives. They are also depriving the Jewish state of its heritage and weakening the roots that are the very raison d'etre of the State of Israel. Difficult as it is, they should try to ignore the extremists and the religious politicians, to remember that the vast majority of observant Jews are honest, loyal citizens and above all to remember that those who purport to represent Judaism do not. The vast legacy of Judaism is not to be identified with the Chief Rabbinate or with religious political parties. We dare not throw out the baby with the bath. On the contrary, let us give Judaism a chance.
As for hametz, before rushing to buy it and eat it on Pessah to show how liberated we are, why not consider what it stands for. The prohibition of hametz is a central pillar of the Pessah holiday which celebrates the liberation of our people from bondage. Avoiding hametz is our way of reminding ourselves of our humble origins and that freedom from foreign oppression is the will of God. The enslavement of one people by another is contrary to the will of the Divine and must be overcome. Hametz in our tradition is the symbol of enslavement and of corruption. It is, as the sages called it, "the leaven in the dough," while its absence represents all that is simple, good and pure. When we burn the hametz it is customary to say, "Just as I have removed all hametz from my home and from my ownership, so may I evict the evil inclination from my heart, and so may You dislodge the evil from the earth."
Living in a society surrounded by corruption in high places and in a world in which evil is all around us, is it not worthwhile to dedicate ourselves to the thought that we should make every attempt to rid ourselves of evil, corruption and enslavement, beginning with each of us personally? Hametz will disappear from the streets when it and all it stands for disappears from our hearts. Another law will not accomplish that.
The writer is a former president of the International Rabbinical Assembly and the head of the Rabbinical Court of the Masorti Movement.
By REUVEN HAMMER
The recent furor about the Hametz Law is an unfortunate illustration of the tragic state of secular-religious relations in Israel and of the need to create a more positive attitude toward tradition in this, the Jewish state.
On the one hand, we have religious leaders - mostly political leaders - ranting about the demise of Judaism and virtually cursing the court and the secular public for this ruling. On the other hand, we have secular activists reacting with glee that Jews will be free at last to eat hametz on Pessah without having to patronize Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem to do so.
The religious-political leaders are busily trying to see to it that new legislation is enacted that will force hametz back in hiding, as if that will solve the problem once and for all. The truth is that this is a case in which legislation is not only difficult if not impossible to enforce but one in which such legislation - in the present atmosphere - only makes the situation worse. Of course those of us who value the traditions of Judaism would like to see the absence of hametz in public places, but it is doubtful if more legislation will really accomplish that and if the price will be worth it.
THE TRAGIC reality is that these religious-political leaders do not realize that the more laws they enact the more they alienate so-called secular Jews from Judaism. The more they rant and rave against secular Jews, the less chance they have of creating an atmosphere in which Judaism, Jewish values and Jewish observances will be honored and even followed by the population at large. The more coercion is brought to bear in religious matters, the more the population will rebel against it and revile Judaism.
RELATED
Defining a Jewish democracy
Rather than spending their energy in trying to enforce unenforceable laws of dubious value, true religious leaders - as opposed to political leaders wrapped in the cloak of religion - would spend their time teaching and demonstrating the beauties of Judaism. Instead they are busy demonstrating the exact opposite. They use their political leverage to wrest vast sums of money from the government, i.e. from the pockets of the taxpayers, to support thousands who will not serve their country in the army or any other way, thereby creating hatred among the secular. They bring disrespect upon Judaism - and desecrate God's name - by sending to the Knesset those who end up in jail for flaunting the very laws of the Torah they pretend to represent.
Every time a religious leader stands up in the Knesset or elsewhere and spouts nonsense such as the speech we recently heard about homosexuals being responsible for earthquakes or faulty mezuzot bringing on terrorist attacks, every time we hear religious people denouncing the government, the courts, the police and whatever as illegitimate, more and more people are turned away from Judaism.
The monopoly that the secular government has given the Chief Rabbinate in matters of marriage and divorce has similarly harmed religion. Not being able to have the rabbi of your choice officiate at a wedding, having to prove one's eligibility for marriage to unsympathetic clerks and listen to unwanted lectures, the well-known aguna problem, and the obstacles placed in the path of potential converts - all these further alienate secular Jews from Judaism. It is unlikely that we will see a true renaissance of Judaism in this country (as opposed to a rise in the number of ultra-Orthodox Jews dues to their birthrate) until the monopoly of the Chief Rabbinate is broken and coercion is removed from the language of religious life.
BUT SINCE that is unlikely to happen in the near future, it would behoove the secular population to remember that by ignoring or despising Judaism they are depriving themselves of a wonderful cultural and spiritual heritage and of practices and ideas that could enrich their lives. They are also depriving the Jewish state of its heritage and weakening the roots that are the very raison d'etre of the State of Israel. Difficult as it is, they should try to ignore the extremists and the religious politicians, to remember that the vast majority of observant Jews are honest, loyal citizens and above all to remember that those who purport to represent Judaism do not. The vast legacy of Judaism is not to be identified with the Chief Rabbinate or with religious political parties. We dare not throw out the baby with the bath. On the contrary, let us give Judaism a chance.
As for hametz, before rushing to buy it and eat it on Pessah to show how liberated we are, why not consider what it stands for. The prohibition of hametz is a central pillar of the Pessah holiday which celebrates the liberation of our people from bondage. Avoiding hametz is our way of reminding ourselves of our humble origins and that freedom from foreign oppression is the will of God. The enslavement of one people by another is contrary to the will of the Divine and must be overcome. Hametz in our tradition is the symbol of enslavement and of corruption. It is, as the sages called it, "the leaven in the dough," while its absence represents all that is simple, good and pure. When we burn the hametz it is customary to say, "Just as I have removed all hametz from my home and from my ownership, so may I evict the evil inclination from my heart, and so may You dislodge the evil from the earth."
Living in a society surrounded by corruption in high places and in a world in which evil is all around us, is it not worthwhile to dedicate ourselves to the thought that we should make every attempt to rid ourselves of evil, corruption and enslavement, beginning with each of us personally? Hametz will disappear from the streets when it and all it stands for disappears from our hearts. Another law will not accomplish that.
The writer is a former president of the International Rabbinical Assembly and the head of the Rabbinical Court of the Masorti Movement.
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