UN: Israel violated truce 7 times in one week
UN records 7 incidents of IDF soldiers attempting to drive Palestinian farmers away from border fence by shooting at them. Only one offence marked against Palestinians for firing on Sderot; report does not include most recent rocket fire
Roi Mandel
Yedioth Ahranoth Published: 06.27.08, 00:31
Since it went into effect last week, at least eight violations of the new ceasefire agreement with Hamas and the Palestinian factions have been recorded, a UN source told Ynet on Thursday. According to the source, seven violations were committed by the IDF, while the Palestinians are responsible for just one.
However the UN report does not include the Qassam fire launched towards the Negev during the day. "It is important that both sides honor the ceasefire, in order for it to be the first constructive step towards a wider and more extensive peace process between the sides," the source said.
Most of the offences committed by the IDF include shots fired by soldiers at Palestinian farmers attempting to reach their land near the border security fence. According to the UN, on June 20 an IDF patrol shot at Palestinian farmers near the fence east of Rafah. The soldiers fired for ten minutes in order to drive the farmers away, but no injuries were reported.
During the evening of the same day a similar incident was recorded, in which IDF forces shot at Palestinian farmers near the Maghazi refugee camp. Soldiers reportedly fired for five minutes, and no injuries were reported. An hour later soldiers fired towards fisherman near the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya in an attempt to drive them away.
Early on June 21 Navy forces opened fire in the same area, and later the same morning forces fired towards Palestinians near the Maghazi refugee camp. No injuries were reported in either case.
70-year old Jamil al-Gahoul was injured from IDF fire two days later, when an army patrol opened fire on a group of Palestinians reportedly gathering wood near Beit Lahiya at 7 am.
Only one Palestinian offence
The first violation committed by the Palestinians was recorded a day later, on June 24, when Islamic Jihad fired three rockets at Sderot from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun.
On Wednesday morning IDF forces opened fire towards Palestinian farmers near the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis. An 82-year old man was seriously injured from the fire, which lasted a few minutes.
Regarding the accusations against Israel the IDF stated that no attacks had been carried out in the Gaza Strip during the past few days, but that some incidents had occurred in which IDF soldiers had carried out operations.
Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the ceasefire agreement. Following the rocket fire at Sderot, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the fire constitutes a blatant violation of the truce. Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided that the Gaza border crossings would remain closed following the fire, causing Hamas to accuse Israel of infringement of the agreement.
Hanan Greenberg contributed to this report
vendredi 27 juin 2008
jeudi 26 juin 2008
Israeli Arab teaches Palestinians about the Holocaust
Haaretz Last update - 15:36 26/06/2008
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
On the way to the Hawara checkpoint, near the West Bank city of Nablus, Khaled Ksab Mahamid says: "You remember that you are American, yes? How is your accent in English?" Mahamid, whose family originates from a destroyed Arab village near what is now Megiddo, is the founder and director of a private Holocaust museum in Nazareth. We are on our way to the Balata refugee camp, where he is scheduled to give a lecture. The tension at the checkpoint is rising.
In general, Palestinians and Arabs try not to talk about the Holocaust. The distance between solidarity with the Jewish people and solidarity with the Jewish state is short, and is not usually up for discussion, especially in a refugee camp. Mahamid has a unique perspective on this issue. He argues that the Palestinian people paid the price for the Holocaust during their Nakba - Arabic for "catastrophe" or the day of Israel's independence. Mahamid says that Palestinians are still paying for the Holocaust, and will continue to do so, if it does not learn what happened to the Jews.
He has lectured in the Nablus area in the past, but this is his first time in Balata. He does not know exactly what to expect. The organizers of the lecture welcome him at the entrance to the camp, shake his hand. The first stop: memorial for the fallen. Mahamid mumbles the fataha, the opening chapter of the Koran, within the palms of his hands extended upward like an open book. After the memorial, we go down to one of the alleyways in the camp. It is exactly like in the movies ? the narrow alleyways of a refugee camp. A dozen or so residents gather next to a clubhouse - which also serves as the headquarters of Al-Alqsa Martyrs Brigade commander and Fatah parliament member, Jamal Tirawi, who was arrested by Israeli forces last year.
Mahamid begins his lecture with the claim that the Zionist movement has failed, in a big way. "Most Jews did not come to Palestine. Also today, there are eight million [Jews] in the world that are not here. Where are they?" The crowd listens quietly. One of the guests gets up to serve juice and cookies. When he stands, the gun in his belt is evident.
Mahamid raises his hands and warns that the Palestinians must not be like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This, he says, plays into the hands of the Zionists. Palestinians must remember the Jews' weak points. "Know your enemy," he says. He does not exactly tell what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust; he hints at it. He shows pictures of Jewish prisoners in the death camps and says Palestinians must use "understand what the other thinks, not deny it." "The Israelis believe in this, the Germans and the French believe in this. We also need to adopt this," he says. Addressing the crowd, he continues: "You, who live in Balata, could you tell somebody this is a lie?"
Mahamid insists that the Palestinians have to end the violent struggle against Israel, as given that they have lost six million of their people, the deaths of 25 in a terrorist attack will not deter them. Another person attending the lecture, of local origin, becomes angry. There is no logic in making the occupation a five-star occupation, he says. He is also against Mahamid's claim that the Zionist movement has failed. "If one Jew comes, if they took my father's orchard in Jaffa, it has not failed. Have you not read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? They sit in a tent but want to control the entire world." As we leave the refugee camp and head back toward Hawara checkpoint, the tension eases. The journalists are already chatting in Hebrew with the guests. At the checkpoint, Mahamid pulls out his ID for the woman soldier. With his ID, he always carries a picture of a Jewish child from the Holocaust - why not shame the soldiers a little? When the woman soldier expresses amazement, he produces more pictures of Jews from the Holocaust and tells her that he just gave a lecture on the subject at Balata.
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
On the way to the Hawara checkpoint, near the West Bank city of Nablus, Khaled Ksab Mahamid says: "You remember that you are American, yes? How is your accent in English?" Mahamid, whose family originates from a destroyed Arab village near what is now Megiddo, is the founder and director of a private Holocaust museum in Nazareth. We are on our way to the Balata refugee camp, where he is scheduled to give a lecture. The tension at the checkpoint is rising.
In general, Palestinians and Arabs try not to talk about the Holocaust. The distance between solidarity with the Jewish people and solidarity with the Jewish state is short, and is not usually up for discussion, especially in a refugee camp. Mahamid has a unique perspective on this issue. He argues that the Palestinian people paid the price for the Holocaust during their Nakba - Arabic for "catastrophe" or the day of Israel's independence. Mahamid says that Palestinians are still paying for the Holocaust, and will continue to do so, if it does not learn what happened to the Jews.
He has lectured in the Nablus area in the past, but this is his first time in Balata. He does not know exactly what to expect. The organizers of the lecture welcome him at the entrance to the camp, shake his hand. The first stop: memorial for the fallen. Mahamid mumbles the fataha, the opening chapter of the Koran, within the palms of his hands extended upward like an open book. After the memorial, we go down to one of the alleyways in the camp. It is exactly like in the movies ? the narrow alleyways of a refugee camp. A dozen or so residents gather next to a clubhouse - which also serves as the headquarters of Al-Alqsa Martyrs Brigade commander and Fatah parliament member, Jamal Tirawi, who was arrested by Israeli forces last year.
Mahamid begins his lecture with the claim that the Zionist movement has failed, in a big way. "Most Jews did not come to Palestine. Also today, there are eight million [Jews] in the world that are not here. Where are they?" The crowd listens quietly. One of the guests gets up to serve juice and cookies. When he stands, the gun in his belt is evident.
Mahamid raises his hands and warns that the Palestinians must not be like Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This, he says, plays into the hands of the Zionists. Palestinians must remember the Jews' weak points. "Know your enemy," he says. He does not exactly tell what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust; he hints at it. He shows pictures of Jewish prisoners in the death camps and says Palestinians must use "understand what the other thinks, not deny it." "The Israelis believe in this, the Germans and the French believe in this. We also need to adopt this," he says. Addressing the crowd, he continues: "You, who live in Balata, could you tell somebody this is a lie?"
Mahamid insists that the Palestinians have to end the violent struggle against Israel, as given that they have lost six million of their people, the deaths of 25 in a terrorist attack will not deter them. Another person attending the lecture, of local origin, becomes angry. There is no logic in making the occupation a five-star occupation, he says. He is also against Mahamid's claim that the Zionist movement has failed. "If one Jew comes, if they took my father's orchard in Jaffa, it has not failed. Have you not read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? They sit in a tent but want to control the entire world." As we leave the refugee camp and head back toward Hawara checkpoint, the tension eases. The journalists are already chatting in Hebrew with the guests. At the checkpoint, Mahamid pulls out his ID for the woman soldier. With his ID, he always carries a picture of a Jewish child from the Holocaust - why not shame the soldiers a little? When the woman soldier expresses amazement, he produces more pictures of Jews from the Holocaust and tells her that he just gave a lecture on the subject at Balata.
'Modesty police' patrols bridge ceremony
'Modesty police' patrols bridge ceremony
Dancers scheduled to appear in opening ceremony of new Chords Bridge in Jerusalem undergo emergency wardrobe change after ultra-Orthodox elements deem original outfits immodest, threaten mass protest
Neta Sela
Yedioth Ahranoth Published: 06.26.08, 10:56
A cover-up: The dancers hired to perform at Wednesday inauguration ceremony of Jerusalem's new Chords Bridge had to undergo a last-minute wardrobe change, after ultra-Orthodox elements deemed their costume "too revealing," and threatened to stage a mass protest at the ceremony.
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski was reportedly under significant pressure to cancel the performance altogether, but eventually, a compromised was reached: The dancers were dressed in long outfits – complete with headdress – which rendered their figures unrecognizable. The performance was also cut from three segments to one.
Yaniv Hoffman, the company's manager, slammed the decision: "The parents and the girls were stunned and we're completely thrown. This company has been performing in every official city event for the past 20 years and this is the first time anything like this has happened. These are 13 to 16-year-old dancers. This is art, it's not like they're go-go dancers."
The secular residents of Jerusalem, added Hoffman, should do something now, before it is too late: "This isn't just the company's fight. The public has to wake up. These are dark days for all of us. It saddens me to see the depths our capital has sunk to."
City Councilman Saar Netanel called the decision "scandalous", adding it serves as an example to the city's "backwards leadership."
"Miraculously, the Gay Pride Parade held in the city on Thursday will represent the exact opposite… The parade belongs not only to the proud members of the capital's gay community, but to the company's dancers as well, and to the rest of the free public," added Netanel.
The Jerusalem Municipality denied any involvement in the decision to change the dancers' outfits.
Dancers scheduled to appear in opening ceremony of new Chords Bridge in Jerusalem undergo emergency wardrobe change after ultra-Orthodox elements deem original outfits immodest, threaten mass protest
Neta Sela
Yedioth Ahranoth Published: 06.26.08, 10:56
A cover-up: The dancers hired to perform at Wednesday inauguration ceremony of Jerusalem's new Chords Bridge had to undergo a last-minute wardrobe change, after ultra-Orthodox elements deemed their costume "too revealing," and threatened to stage a mass protest at the ceremony.
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski was reportedly under significant pressure to cancel the performance altogether, but eventually, a compromised was reached: The dancers were dressed in long outfits – complete with headdress – which rendered their figures unrecognizable. The performance was also cut from three segments to one.
Yaniv Hoffman, the company's manager, slammed the decision: "The parents and the girls were stunned and we're completely thrown. This company has been performing in every official city event for the past 20 years and this is the first time anything like this has happened. These are 13 to 16-year-old dancers. This is art, it's not like they're go-go dancers."
The secular residents of Jerusalem, added Hoffman, should do something now, before it is too late: "This isn't just the company's fight. The public has to wake up. These are dark days for all of us. It saddens me to see the depths our capital has sunk to."
City Councilman Saar Netanel called the decision "scandalous", adding it serves as an example to the city's "backwards leadership."
"Miraculously, the Gay Pride Parade held in the city on Thursday will represent the exact opposite… The parade belongs not only to the proud members of the capital's gay community, but to the company's dancers as well, and to the rest of the free public," added Netanel.
The Jerusalem Municipality denied any involvement in the decision to change the dancers' outfits.
lundi 23 juin 2008
Panel slams Israel's handling of Holocaust survivors
Haaretz Last update - 03:14 23/06/2008
By Anshel Pfeffer
A state committee appointed to review successive governments' aid to Holocaust survivors recommended, in a report submitted yesterday, that the government substantially increase stipends paid to 43,000 survivors, making them comparable to 75 percent of the reparations payment survivors receive from the German government. The committee, headed by retired Supreme Court justice Dalia Dorner, concluded that Israel was under a moral, as well as legal, obligation to take care of those survivors who could not sue Germany directly after the reparations agreement was signed in 1952, and said the state had evaded its responsibility for decades.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Dorner said that by forfeiting reparations on behalf of those survivors, the state had created a situation in which "whoever did not choose to live in Israel received much greater compensation." By the committee's calculations, the value of monies and goods Israel received under the reparations law now computes to NIS 61.5 billion, whereas over the years survivors received payouts and medical services valued only at NIS 38 billion in real terms. Some 43,000 survivors who came to Israel only after the beginning of 1953 were barred from suing Germany, accrued damages of between NIS 1.3 million and NIS 2.2 million per survivor (depending on an individual's disability ranking).
The committee found that the government ignored a High Court of Justice ruling from 12 years ago that ordered parity between the Israeli and German stipends. However, Dorner said the committee took into account the government's budget constraints in recommending that survivors be compensated retroactively only from the beginning of this year, and receive payments equal to only 75 percent of the German pension. This means that 43,000 survivors should soon see their monthly allowance increase by hundreds of shekels (depending on disability ranking), and would also be eligible for a one-time grant of up to NIS 3,900.
On submitting their report yesterday to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the committee members demanded that he take steps to begin implementing their recommendations within three weeks. Olmert ordered that a committee, headed by the director general of his office, Raanan Dinur, work to implement the report's conclusions. Implementing the report will cost an estimated NIS 262 million this year, but that sum is expected to go down in upcoming years, as some survivors die off.
About two-thirds of Holocaust survivors have already died without benefit of improved living conditions, Dorner said yesterday, and half of those still alive today will pass away over the next decade. The committee criticized the conduct of the Finance Ministry office in charge of handling survivors, saying it made things difficult for survivors and treated them in a "random" and sometimes even "arbitrary " manner. A committee member, Prof. Zvi Eisikovitz, said at the press conference that "survivors have to stop being treated like suspects." The committee recommended setting up a sub-unit in the office whose job would be to approach survivors, instead of waiting for them to apply, and help them to maximize their rights. Another recommendation is for the government to establish a special welfare service for Holocaust survivors.
By Anshel Pfeffer
A state committee appointed to review successive governments' aid to Holocaust survivors recommended, in a report submitted yesterday, that the government substantially increase stipends paid to 43,000 survivors, making them comparable to 75 percent of the reparations payment survivors receive from the German government. The committee, headed by retired Supreme Court justice Dalia Dorner, concluded that Israel was under a moral, as well as legal, obligation to take care of those survivors who could not sue Germany directly after the reparations agreement was signed in 1952, and said the state had evaded its responsibility for decades.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Dorner said that by forfeiting reparations on behalf of those survivors, the state had created a situation in which "whoever did not choose to live in Israel received much greater compensation." By the committee's calculations, the value of monies and goods Israel received under the reparations law now computes to NIS 61.5 billion, whereas over the years survivors received payouts and medical services valued only at NIS 38 billion in real terms. Some 43,000 survivors who came to Israel only after the beginning of 1953 were barred from suing Germany, accrued damages of between NIS 1.3 million and NIS 2.2 million per survivor (depending on an individual's disability ranking).
The committee found that the government ignored a High Court of Justice ruling from 12 years ago that ordered parity between the Israeli and German stipends. However, Dorner said the committee took into account the government's budget constraints in recommending that survivors be compensated retroactively only from the beginning of this year, and receive payments equal to only 75 percent of the German pension. This means that 43,000 survivors should soon see their monthly allowance increase by hundreds of shekels (depending on disability ranking), and would also be eligible for a one-time grant of up to NIS 3,900.
On submitting their report yesterday to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the committee members demanded that he take steps to begin implementing their recommendations within three weeks. Olmert ordered that a committee, headed by the director general of his office, Raanan Dinur, work to implement the report's conclusions. Implementing the report will cost an estimated NIS 262 million this year, but that sum is expected to go down in upcoming years, as some survivors die off.
About two-thirds of Holocaust survivors have already died without benefit of improved living conditions, Dorner said yesterday, and half of those still alive today will pass away over the next decade. The committee criticized the conduct of the Finance Ministry office in charge of handling survivors, saying it made things difficult for survivors and treated them in a "random" and sometimes even "arbitrary " manner. A committee member, Prof. Zvi Eisikovitz, said at the press conference that "survivors have to stop being treated like suspects." The committee recommended setting up a sub-unit in the office whose job would be to approach survivors, instead of waiting for them to apply, and help them to maximize their rights. Another recommendation is for the government to establish a special welfare service for Holocaust survivors.
Poll: 77% of Israeli Arabs would rather live in Israel than in any other country in the world
Haaretz Last update - 16:53 23/06/2008
By Bradley Burston, Haaretz Correspondent
A recent opinion poll conducted by Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government found that 77 percent of Israeli Arabs would rather live in Israel than in any other country in the world. The survey of 1,721 Israelis, both Arab and Jewish, also showed that 73 percent of the Jews and 94 percent of the Arabs want Israel to "be a society in which Arab and Jewish citizens have mutual respect and equal opportunities." The Kennedy School said in a statement that the poll produced a number of results it termed surprising, pointing to a higher level of co-existence than might have been anticipated.
The research comes at a period of simmering tensions in some sectors of the Arab-Jewish divide within Israel. The release of the poll coincided with celebrations, accompanied by widespread Israeli Arab boycotts, of the 60th anniversary of the state's declaration of independence. Israeli Arab MKs cited widespread discrimination as the cause of the boycotts. At the same time, MK Limor Livnat (Likud) proposed that the Knesset remove Arabic from its list of the country's official primary languages.
However, Professor Todd Pittinsky, research director of the Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership and lead researcher for the poll, said that the results pointed to a contrary phenomenon. Much media coverage focuses on the divisions between Jewish and Arab citizens in Israel, and not enough on the sincere and concerted efforts to coexist peacefully, Pittinsky said in a statement. According to the poll, 68 percent of Jewish citizens support teaching conversational Arabic in Jewish schools to help bring Arab and Jewish citizens together. The data also showded that more than two-thirds of Israeli Jews (69 percdent) said they believed that contributing to co-existence was a personal responsibility.
"Every day, innovative experiments in coexistence are going on," Pittinsky said. "People on the ground in Israel are running community centers that enable cultural exchanges; in bilingual schools?like the Hand in Hand network of schools - young Jewish and Arab children become culturally conversant with each other. These deserve as much attention as rockets and roadblocks. They should be nurtured, studied, funded, and reported in the media. Ultimately the most successful efforts should be launched on a wider scale."
The study, conducted in Hebrew and Arabic with the assistance of University of Haifa researchers, was funded by the Alan B. Slifka foundation, which has sponsored a number of coexistence projects. "This report supports what we have long suspected?unity among Israel?s Jewish and Arab communities is not only attainable, but there is great public support for it," philanthropist Slifka said. "The critical next step is for Israeli policy makers to bring about the structural changes that the Jewish and Arab publics support, to reshape the educational, income, residential, and other divides that undermine national unity."
By Bradley Burston, Haaretz Correspondent
A recent opinion poll conducted by Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government found that 77 percent of Israeli Arabs would rather live in Israel than in any other country in the world. The survey of 1,721 Israelis, both Arab and Jewish, also showed that 73 percent of the Jews and 94 percent of the Arabs want Israel to "be a society in which Arab and Jewish citizens have mutual respect and equal opportunities." The Kennedy School said in a statement that the poll produced a number of results it termed surprising, pointing to a higher level of co-existence than might have been anticipated.
The research comes at a period of simmering tensions in some sectors of the Arab-Jewish divide within Israel. The release of the poll coincided with celebrations, accompanied by widespread Israeli Arab boycotts, of the 60th anniversary of the state's declaration of independence. Israeli Arab MKs cited widespread discrimination as the cause of the boycotts. At the same time, MK Limor Livnat (Likud) proposed that the Knesset remove Arabic from its list of the country's official primary languages.
However, Professor Todd Pittinsky, research director of the Kennedy School's Center for Public Leadership and lead researcher for the poll, said that the results pointed to a contrary phenomenon. Much media coverage focuses on the divisions between Jewish and Arab citizens in Israel, and not enough on the sincere and concerted efforts to coexist peacefully, Pittinsky said in a statement. According to the poll, 68 percent of Jewish citizens support teaching conversational Arabic in Jewish schools to help bring Arab and Jewish citizens together. The data also showded that more than two-thirds of Israeli Jews (69 percdent) said they believed that contributing to co-existence was a personal responsibility.
"Every day, innovative experiments in coexistence are going on," Pittinsky said. "People on the ground in Israel are running community centers that enable cultural exchanges; in bilingual schools?like the Hand in Hand network of schools - young Jewish and Arab children become culturally conversant with each other. These deserve as much attention as rockets and roadblocks. They should be nurtured, studied, funded, and reported in the media. Ultimately the most successful efforts should be launched on a wider scale."
The study, conducted in Hebrew and Arabic with the assistance of University of Haifa researchers, was funded by the Alan B. Slifka foundation, which has sponsored a number of coexistence projects. "This report supports what we have long suspected?unity among Israel?s Jewish and Arab communities is not only attainable, but there is great public support for it," philanthropist Slifka said. "The critical next step is for Israeli policy makers to bring about the structural changes that the Jewish and Arab publics support, to reshape the educational, income, residential, and other divides that undermine national unity."
Bridge over stormy council - uproar over work performed on Shabbat
Bridge over stormy council
Building of new Chords Bridge in capital's entrance enrages Jerusalem councilmen as final stages of construction reportedly performed on Shabbat with mayor's approval. Contractor says incident was 'severe mistake,' denies Lupolianski had prior knowledge
Ronen Medzini
Yedioth Ahranoth Published: 06.23.08, 08:21
Strident chords: The construction of the new Chords Bridge leading into Jerusalem caused controversy in the city's municipal meeting Sunday, as several of City Hall's coalition members were enraged by reports suggesting several construction workers were spotted working on Shabbat.
The bridge, which is supposed to carry the city's new light train, has been under construction for the past three years. Jerusalem's coalition members believed the some of the work was done on Shabbat in order to finish it in time for Wednesday's inauguration ceremony.
"Not only is it not worth it, it offended many people's emotions, both religious and secular," Shmuel Yitzhaky, a Shas Jerusalem councilman told Ynet Monday.
"The fact that the Jerusalem municipality sponsored this work is very grave. For what? For a ceremony? There is no reason what so ever to finish it of Shabbat."
Under construction. The bridge (Photo: Sasson Tiram)
Yitzhaky also said he believed the work was sanctioned by Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski. The people in City Hall, he added, "are only concerned with their jobs and don't care about the coalition."
Yehoshua Mor Yosef, spokesman for the Moria Company, which was tasked with the bridge's construction and who issued a statement on behalf of both Moria and the Jerusalem Municipality, said that the company sees the incident as severe.
Moreover, "The company has decided to immediately relieve the project's foreman and the construction's supervisor of their duties in order to make sure this kind of mishap never happens again."
Mor Yosef further denied Lupolianski's involvement in the decision to finish the project on Shabbat: "The mayor had no knowledge about any activities which were carried out in violation of the building contract, which clearly stipulates that, no work should be done on the bridge on Shabbat. The construction workers involved were Arab's hired by a sub-contractor, who sent them to the site against orders."
The inauguration ceremony itself has encountered some objections in the city council: Nir Bareket, who heads the municipality's opposition, slammed the costs – estimated as NIS 2 million (approximately $600,000) as unnecessarily extravagant.
"These public funds should have found their way to more important causes, such as schools and the city's beautification," he said.
Building of new Chords Bridge in capital's entrance enrages Jerusalem councilmen as final stages of construction reportedly performed on Shabbat with mayor's approval. Contractor says incident was 'severe mistake,' denies Lupolianski had prior knowledge
Ronen Medzini
Yedioth Ahranoth Published: 06.23.08, 08:21
Strident chords: The construction of the new Chords Bridge leading into Jerusalem caused controversy in the city's municipal meeting Sunday, as several of City Hall's coalition members were enraged by reports suggesting several construction workers were spotted working on Shabbat.
The bridge, which is supposed to carry the city's new light train, has been under construction for the past three years. Jerusalem's coalition members believed the some of the work was done on Shabbat in order to finish it in time for Wednesday's inauguration ceremony.
"Not only is it not worth it, it offended many people's emotions, both religious and secular," Shmuel Yitzhaky, a Shas Jerusalem councilman told Ynet Monday.
"The fact that the Jerusalem municipality sponsored this work is very grave. For what? For a ceremony? There is no reason what so ever to finish it of Shabbat."
Under construction. The bridge (Photo: Sasson Tiram)
Yitzhaky also said he believed the work was sanctioned by Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski. The people in City Hall, he added, "are only concerned with their jobs and don't care about the coalition."
Yehoshua Mor Yosef, spokesman for the Moria Company, which was tasked with the bridge's construction and who issued a statement on behalf of both Moria and the Jerusalem Municipality, said that the company sees the incident as severe.
Moreover, "The company has decided to immediately relieve the project's foreman and the construction's supervisor of their duties in order to make sure this kind of mishap never happens again."
Mor Yosef further denied Lupolianski's involvement in the decision to finish the project on Shabbat: "The mayor had no knowledge about any activities which were carried out in violation of the building contract, which clearly stipulates that, no work should be done on the bridge on Shabbat. The construction workers involved were Arab's hired by a sub-contractor, who sent them to the site against orders."
The inauguration ceremony itself has encountered some objections in the city council: Nir Bareket, who heads the municipality's opposition, slammed the costs – estimated as NIS 2 million (approximately $600,000) as unnecessarily extravagant.
"These public funds should have found their way to more important causes, such as schools and the city's beautification," he said.
samedi 21 juin 2008
UNICEF severs ties with Israeli mogul over settlement building
Haaretz Last update - 11:24 21/06/2008
By Reuters
The UN children's fund UNICEF has severed ties with an Israeli billionaire and financial backer due to his suspected involvement in building settlements in the West Bank, UNICEF said on Friday. Lev Leviev, a real estate and diamond mogul who is one of the richest men in Israel, has supported UNICEF with direct contributions and indirectly by sponsoring at least one UNICEF fund-raiser. He is chairman of Africa Israel Investments, a conglomerate whose units include Danya Cebus, which the Arab rights advocacy group Adalah-NY charges has carried out settlement construction, considered illegal by the United Nations.
UNICEF decided to review its relationship with Leviev after a campaign by Adalah-NY and found "at least a reasonable grounds for suspecting" that Leviev companies were building settlements in Palestinian territory, a UNICEF official said. "I can confirm that UNICEF has advised Adalah in New York that it will not be entering into any partnerships or accepting financial contributions from Lev Leviev or his corporate people," Chris de Bono, a senior adviser to the executive director of UNICEF, told Reuters. "We are aware of the controversy surrounding Mr. Leviev because of his reported involvement in construction work in the occupied Palestinian territory," de Bono said, adding that it was UNICEF's policy to have partners who were "as non-controversial as possible." UNICEF could not say how much Leviev had donated as an individual. In his only known partnership with UNICEF, Leviev last year donated jewelry to a fashion event in France that benefited the French national committee for UNICEF, de Bono said. Representatives of Leviev's jewelry and real estate businesses were not immediately available to comment on Friday, in part because of religious observances after dark in Israel.
By Reuters
The UN children's fund UNICEF has severed ties with an Israeli billionaire and financial backer due to his suspected involvement in building settlements in the West Bank, UNICEF said on Friday. Lev Leviev, a real estate and diamond mogul who is one of the richest men in Israel, has supported UNICEF with direct contributions and indirectly by sponsoring at least one UNICEF fund-raiser. He is chairman of Africa Israel Investments, a conglomerate whose units include Danya Cebus, which the Arab rights advocacy group Adalah-NY charges has carried out settlement construction, considered illegal by the United Nations.
UNICEF decided to review its relationship with Leviev after a campaign by Adalah-NY and found "at least a reasonable grounds for suspecting" that Leviev companies were building settlements in Palestinian territory, a UNICEF official said. "I can confirm that UNICEF has advised Adalah in New York that it will not be entering into any partnerships or accepting financial contributions from Lev Leviev or his corporate people," Chris de Bono, a senior adviser to the executive director of UNICEF, told Reuters. "We are aware of the controversy surrounding Mr. Leviev because of his reported involvement in construction work in the occupied Palestinian territory," de Bono said, adding that it was UNICEF's policy to have partners who were "as non-controversial as possible." UNICEF could not say how much Leviev had donated as an individual. In his only known partnership with UNICEF, Leviev last year donated jewelry to a fashion event in France that benefited the French national committee for UNICEF, de Bono said. Representatives of Leviev's jewelry and real estate businesses were not immediately available to comment on Friday, in part because of religious observances after dark in Israel.
Will secret conversion course go on?
Jun. 19, 2008
Matthew Wagner , THE JERUSALEM POST
Shevach Mofet High School on south Tel Aviv's Rehov Hamasger is a living example of what many Israelis perceive to be a danger to the Jewish state's religious-cultural unity.
Perhaps no other high school better embodies the effect of the absorption of hundreds of thousands of non-Jews from the former Soviet Union as part of the waves of immigration in the 1980s and 1990s.
Of the elite math and science school's 1,600-strong student body, hundreds are gentiles by Orthodox Jewish standards.
True, the vast majority of Israelis might not consider themselves Orthodox. But most would grudgingly say Orthodoxy is the most legitimate expression of Judaism.
As a result, the gentile students at Shevach Mofet, part of group of about 300,000 non-Jewish immigrants from the FSU, have to cope with the gnawing feeling that they are not full-fledged citizens of a state that defines itself as both democratic and Jewish - especially the females, since matrilineal descent determines whether the next generation is Jewish or not.
So it comes as no surprise that it was at Shevach Mofet that the Immigrant Absorption Ministry, together with the Education Ministry, the IDF and a few maverick Orthodox rabbis launched a pilot program to instill non-Jewish students with the requisite knowledge and religious experience to prepare for conversion to Judaism.
"The demand came from the students," Avigdor Leviatan, head of the Absorption Ministry's Conversion Division, said on Thursday.
"School psychologists were confronted with dozens of cases of students who were concerned about their lack of Jewishness and how that affected their feeling of belonging to the Jewish people.
"So we decided to set up a curriculum that would prepare high school students for an Orthodox conversion. The first group of seven or eight girls will appear before the conversion court in the coming month."
Participants devote six hours a week for a year to the studies and take part in Shabbatot during which they are immersed in a Orthodox environment on religious kibbutzim.
In the coming year, the program will be expanded to schools in five cities and will include 300 students, Leviatan said.
The program, which was started nearly two years ago, was kept secret to prevent the Ashkenazi haredi establishment from attacking it. Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who is in charge of conversions, defers to the Ashkenazi haredi rabbis.
In the past Amar has backed down to haredi pressure. Many Orthodox rabbis, especially in haredi circles, oppose accepting as converts teenage girls enrolled in a totally secular, coed high school and living in an irreligious household.
An integral part of conversion to Judaism is embracing an Orthodox lifestyle, including maintaining a kosher diet, adhering to the restrictions against work on Shabbat and accepting sexual abstinence until marriage.
Conservative-minded rabbis, with a predisposition to being suspect of the purity of potential converts' intentions, doubt young women who are in a totally secular environment can faithfully embrace Orthodoxy.
Perhaps out of concern that the Shevach Mofet program will encounter stiff rabbinic opposition, more moderate rabbis within the National Conversion Authority, the body approved by the Chief Rabbinate to perform conversions, are denying any knowledge of and trying to downplay the issue.
For instance, the deputy head of the Conversion Authority, Rabbi Moshe Klein, told The Jerusalem Post that he was not familiar with the conversion program at Shevach Mofet.
"I know nothing about the program," Klein said. "I don't know how many students are learning in the program. I don't know what the educational content is and I have not set up a panel of judges to convert anyone."
Klein's comments contradicted statements made by Leviatan, who said that both Klein and Rabbi Haim Druckman, the outgoing head of the authority, knew all about the program and wholeheartedly supported it. "They are afraid of hurting the chances of its success," said Leviatan. "That's why they do not want to comment right now."
Leviatan said that several conversion judges have already agreed to cooperate with the program.
One of the judges named by Leviatan is a well respected rabbi who is not considered particularly lenient. The judge denied that he was involved.
Rabbi Sefi Sherman, who heads Tel Aviv's Beit Midrash Tair, an educational program that brings together secular and religious teenagers, is the educational director of the Shevach Mofet initiative.
Beit Midrash Tair provided young, dynamic rabbis who could teach the young women at Shevach Mofet in an interesting, nonthreatening atmosphere.
Sherman, who is also the principal of a high school in Tel Aviv, declined to comment.
Leviatan said that he agreed to an interview with the Post only after the story was revealed by Tel Aviv, a local weekly. Tel Aviv's breaking of the story also led to coverage on Israel Radio.
"Media exposure will only hurt the chances that this program will succeed," Leviatan said.
Matthew Wagner , THE JERUSALEM POST
Shevach Mofet High School on south Tel Aviv's Rehov Hamasger is a living example of what many Israelis perceive to be a danger to the Jewish state's religious-cultural unity.
Perhaps no other high school better embodies the effect of the absorption of hundreds of thousands of non-Jews from the former Soviet Union as part of the waves of immigration in the 1980s and 1990s.
Of the elite math and science school's 1,600-strong student body, hundreds are gentiles by Orthodox Jewish standards.
True, the vast majority of Israelis might not consider themselves Orthodox. But most would grudgingly say Orthodoxy is the most legitimate expression of Judaism.
As a result, the gentile students at Shevach Mofet, part of group of about 300,000 non-Jewish immigrants from the FSU, have to cope with the gnawing feeling that they are not full-fledged citizens of a state that defines itself as both democratic and Jewish - especially the females, since matrilineal descent determines whether the next generation is Jewish or not.
So it comes as no surprise that it was at Shevach Mofet that the Immigrant Absorption Ministry, together with the Education Ministry, the IDF and a few maverick Orthodox rabbis launched a pilot program to instill non-Jewish students with the requisite knowledge and religious experience to prepare for conversion to Judaism.
"The demand came from the students," Avigdor Leviatan, head of the Absorption Ministry's Conversion Division, said on Thursday.
"School psychologists were confronted with dozens of cases of students who were concerned about their lack of Jewishness and how that affected their feeling of belonging to the Jewish people.
"So we decided to set up a curriculum that would prepare high school students for an Orthodox conversion. The first group of seven or eight girls will appear before the conversion court in the coming month."
Participants devote six hours a week for a year to the studies and take part in Shabbatot during which they are immersed in a Orthodox environment on religious kibbutzim.
In the coming year, the program will be expanded to schools in five cities and will include 300 students, Leviatan said.
The program, which was started nearly two years ago, was kept secret to prevent the Ashkenazi haredi establishment from attacking it. Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who is in charge of conversions, defers to the Ashkenazi haredi rabbis.
In the past Amar has backed down to haredi pressure. Many Orthodox rabbis, especially in haredi circles, oppose accepting as converts teenage girls enrolled in a totally secular, coed high school and living in an irreligious household.
An integral part of conversion to Judaism is embracing an Orthodox lifestyle, including maintaining a kosher diet, adhering to the restrictions against work on Shabbat and accepting sexual abstinence until marriage.
Conservative-minded rabbis, with a predisposition to being suspect of the purity of potential converts' intentions, doubt young women who are in a totally secular environment can faithfully embrace Orthodoxy.
Perhaps out of concern that the Shevach Mofet program will encounter stiff rabbinic opposition, more moderate rabbis within the National Conversion Authority, the body approved by the Chief Rabbinate to perform conversions, are denying any knowledge of and trying to downplay the issue.
For instance, the deputy head of the Conversion Authority, Rabbi Moshe Klein, told The Jerusalem Post that he was not familiar with the conversion program at Shevach Mofet.
"I know nothing about the program," Klein said. "I don't know how many students are learning in the program. I don't know what the educational content is and I have not set up a panel of judges to convert anyone."
Klein's comments contradicted statements made by Leviatan, who said that both Klein and Rabbi Haim Druckman, the outgoing head of the authority, knew all about the program and wholeheartedly supported it. "They are afraid of hurting the chances of its success," said Leviatan. "That's why they do not want to comment right now."
Leviatan said that several conversion judges have already agreed to cooperate with the program.
One of the judges named by Leviatan is a well respected rabbi who is not considered particularly lenient. The judge denied that he was involved.
Rabbi Sefi Sherman, who heads Tel Aviv's Beit Midrash Tair, an educational program that brings together secular and religious teenagers, is the educational director of the Shevach Mofet initiative.
Beit Midrash Tair provided young, dynamic rabbis who could teach the young women at Shevach Mofet in an interesting, nonthreatening atmosphere.
Sherman, who is also the principal of a high school in Tel Aviv, declined to comment.
Leviatan said that he agreed to an interview with the Post only after the story was revealed by Tel Aviv, a local weekly. Tel Aviv's breaking of the story also led to coverage on Israel Radio.
"Media exposure will only hurt the chances that this program will succeed," Leviatan said.
vendredi 20 juin 2008
"Religious freedom now" - but only for Jewish converts
By Reuven Hammer
Haaretz 20/6/2008
At last the problems of conversion in Israel have begun to receive the attention and press coverage they deserve. Not since the Hanaton conversions in 1995, when our Masorti (Conservative) rabbinical court converted adopted children that the Rabbinate had refused to convert because their adoptive parents were not Orthodox, has so much publicity and public discussion been focused on the way in which Israel's official rabbinical establishment treats potential and actual converts. That earlier crisis led to the formation of the Neeman Commission, which ended its work without even issuing a report - because of the opposition of the Chief Rabbinate to any cooperation with other groups. But it also resulted in a 2002 Supreme Court decision requiring the state to register Masorti converts in Israel as Jews. That was a step forward, but no more than that. It took the high beit din's disgraceful treatment of Rabbi Chaim Druckman earlier this spring, and the retroactive voiding of thousands of his conversions, regardless of the consequences for the converts, their partners and their children, to once again arouse public concern about a problem that has been with us for years.
I am hardly the first to respond to the decision of the Rabbinate's highest court not to recognize conversions carried out by the state-appointed conversion administration headed by Druckman, and with the exception of the occasional ultra-Orthodox writer, all have been critical of the Rabbinate's actions. Depending on each individual writer's religious orientation, there have been calls for the replacement of the court's current judges, all of whom are Haredim, by more moderate religious-Zionist rabbis; for the Israeli Supreme Court to overturn the decisions of the rabbinical court; for the state to fully recognize conversions performed by Masorti and Reform rabbis in Israel; and for the creation of secular conversion, so that non-Jews can join the Jewish people without undergoing any religious process whatsoever.
Many of these suggestions are valuable. It would certainly be a step forward if Haredi rabbis of the Rabbinate and its high court were replaced by Zionist ones. This is, after all, a Zionist state, even though, looking at the official rabbinate today, one would not know it. The Rabbinate's current attitude toward conversions constitutes a complete reversal of the halakhic decisions of such eminent chief rabbis of the past as Abraham Isaac Kook, Ben-Zion Uziel and Shlomo Goren, all of whom had a much more realistic and positive attitude toward conversion. Certainly, the time has come for the government of Israel, which continues to fight tooth and nail in the courts with no justification to avoid full recognition of the actions of Masorti and Reform rabbinical courts here, to relinquish its foolish, futile and anti-democratic stance.
Yet none of this goes far enough. None of these suggestions are really sufficient to solve the problems of conversion, in particular, and of religious life in Israel, in general. As long as an official rabbinate continues to function as part of the political structure of the government of Israel, with monopolistic powers in so many realms, including marriage and divorce, these problems will continue to plague us.
Those who really care about the future of Judaism in the Jewish state - and this should certainly include the religious- Zionists - should be at the forefront of a battle to separate these religious powers from the state and to privatize the rabbinate, permitting Jews to freely chose their own rabbinical authorities or none. Regarding marriage, for example, the state should set up a system of civil partnerships entered into legally by those it considers eligible, with ensuing rights, even as the religious ceremony remains within the realm of an individual couple, depending on their religious affiliation.
We do not need a total separation of religion and state - this being a Jewish state, that would be all but impossible. What I am proposing is a system by which the state gives help and support to religious institutions but does not dictate their policies, nor does it grant monopolistic rights to any one clerical group. The state is a secular institution and should step back from dictating religious affairs. This is a development that has occurred in every modern Western country, and it is long overdue in Israel, which remains the only country in the free world in which Jews are not free to make their own choices concerning their religious affairs, and in which a rabbinate is empowered to make such decisions against the free will of the inhabitants.
There are three principal serious problems with which the government-sponsored Haredi rabbinate has failed to deal properly: the case of agunot (women who cannot obtain a divorce), shmita (the rabbinate refused to implement Rabbi Kook's method that made it possible to continue using the produce of the Land of Israel in the current agricultural sabbatical year), and now giyur (conversion). All of these have halakhic solutions that the current rabbinate refuses to adopt. This in itself should be sufficient to make us realize that the existence of a state-sponsored Chief Rabbinate is an anachronism Israel can no longer afford. We need freedom of religion here so that individual rights will no longer be trampled and, most of all, so that religion can flourish in Israel.
Rabbi Reuven Hammer is the head of the Rabbinical Court of the Israeli Masorti (Conservative) Movement and a former president of the movement's International Rabbinical Assembly.
Haaretz 20/6/2008
At last the problems of conversion in Israel have begun to receive the attention and press coverage they deserve. Not since the Hanaton conversions in 1995, when our Masorti (Conservative) rabbinical court converted adopted children that the Rabbinate had refused to convert because their adoptive parents were not Orthodox, has so much publicity and public discussion been focused on the way in which Israel's official rabbinical establishment treats potential and actual converts. That earlier crisis led to the formation of the Neeman Commission, which ended its work without even issuing a report - because of the opposition of the Chief Rabbinate to any cooperation with other groups. But it also resulted in a 2002 Supreme Court decision requiring the state to register Masorti converts in Israel as Jews. That was a step forward, but no more than that. It took the high beit din's disgraceful treatment of Rabbi Chaim Druckman earlier this spring, and the retroactive voiding of thousands of his conversions, regardless of the consequences for the converts, their partners and their children, to once again arouse public concern about a problem that has been with us for years.
I am hardly the first to respond to the decision of the Rabbinate's highest court not to recognize conversions carried out by the state-appointed conversion administration headed by Druckman, and with the exception of the occasional ultra-Orthodox writer, all have been critical of the Rabbinate's actions. Depending on each individual writer's religious orientation, there have been calls for the replacement of the court's current judges, all of whom are Haredim, by more moderate religious-Zionist rabbis; for the Israeli Supreme Court to overturn the decisions of the rabbinical court; for the state to fully recognize conversions performed by Masorti and Reform rabbis in Israel; and for the creation of secular conversion, so that non-Jews can join the Jewish people without undergoing any religious process whatsoever.
Many of these suggestions are valuable. It would certainly be a step forward if Haredi rabbis of the Rabbinate and its high court were replaced by Zionist ones. This is, after all, a Zionist state, even though, looking at the official rabbinate today, one would not know it. The Rabbinate's current attitude toward conversions constitutes a complete reversal of the halakhic decisions of such eminent chief rabbis of the past as Abraham Isaac Kook, Ben-Zion Uziel and Shlomo Goren, all of whom had a much more realistic and positive attitude toward conversion. Certainly, the time has come for the government of Israel, which continues to fight tooth and nail in the courts with no justification to avoid full recognition of the actions of Masorti and Reform rabbinical courts here, to relinquish its foolish, futile and anti-democratic stance.
Yet none of this goes far enough. None of these suggestions are really sufficient to solve the problems of conversion, in particular, and of religious life in Israel, in general. As long as an official rabbinate continues to function as part of the political structure of the government of Israel, with monopolistic powers in so many realms, including marriage and divorce, these problems will continue to plague us.
Those who really care about the future of Judaism in the Jewish state - and this should certainly include the religious- Zionists - should be at the forefront of a battle to separate these religious powers from the state and to privatize the rabbinate, permitting Jews to freely chose their own rabbinical authorities or none. Regarding marriage, for example, the state should set up a system of civil partnerships entered into legally by those it considers eligible, with ensuing rights, even as the religious ceremony remains within the realm of an individual couple, depending on their religious affiliation.
We do not need a total separation of religion and state - this being a Jewish state, that would be all but impossible. What I am proposing is a system by which the state gives help and support to religious institutions but does not dictate their policies, nor does it grant monopolistic rights to any one clerical group. The state is a secular institution and should step back from dictating religious affairs. This is a development that has occurred in every modern Western country, and it is long overdue in Israel, which remains the only country in the free world in which Jews are not free to make their own choices concerning their religious affairs, and in which a rabbinate is empowered to make such decisions against the free will of the inhabitants.
There are three principal serious problems with which the government-sponsored Haredi rabbinate has failed to deal properly: the case of agunot (women who cannot obtain a divorce), shmita (the rabbinate refused to implement Rabbi Kook's method that made it possible to continue using the produce of the Land of Israel in the current agricultural sabbatical year), and now giyur (conversion). All of these have halakhic solutions that the current rabbinate refuses to adopt. This in itself should be sufficient to make us realize that the existence of a state-sponsored Chief Rabbinate is an anachronism Israel can no longer afford. We need freedom of religion here so that individual rights will no longer be trampled and, most of all, so that religion can flourish in Israel.
Rabbi Reuven Hammer is the head of the Rabbinical Court of the Israeli Masorti (Conservative) Movement and a former president of the movement's International Rabbinical Assembly.
jeudi 19 juin 2008
Four police officers injured in clashes with West Bank settlers
Haaretz Last update - 15:10 19/06/2008
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
Four Border Police officers were wounded on Thursday in clashes with settlers, which erupted when security forces came to two illegal outposts near the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar in order to post evacuation orders and to demolish one caravan. Settlers said that 11 of the Yitzhar residents were also wounded, and that one lost consciousness. Several settlers were reportedly arrested after they locked police officers inside Yitzhar following the demolition of a caravan at the nearby illegal outpost of Havat Shaked.
In addition to closing the settlement's gate, the Yitzhar residents also punctured the wheels of the police officers' cars in order to prevent their exit. A Border Police officer taking part in the operation refused orders to assist in the demolition of the caravan, and was arrested by his fellow officers. The officer, an ultra-Orthodox Chabad Hassid, broke down in tears and refused the order after reported pressure from the settlers to do so.
Reffering to the Gaza Strip cease-fire deal that Israel struck with Hamas, Yigal Amitai, a Yitzhar spokesman, said that "only those who make a deal with terrorists in the south and abandon Gilad Shalit and the residents of Sderot have the strength and the gall to fight residents of Samaria." Samaria is the biblical name for the northern West Bank. Amitai also said that Havat Shaked had already been evacuated four times.
On Wednesday, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told MK Uri Ariel, the faction head of National Union-National Religious Party, that the Israel Defense Forces and police intend to demolish six caravans this week in the illegal outpost of Bracha A., which is roughly 700 meters from Yitzhar. Vilnai defended the legality of the move, saying, "All of the issues on the matter [of the outpost] have been discussed several times in legal proceedings and therefore the state is determined to demolish it." MK Ariel called Vilnai's statement "shameful," and said that he and his colleagues would exercise their right to civil disobedience in the face of every planned demolition.
By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz Correspondent
Four Border Police officers were wounded on Thursday in clashes with settlers, which erupted when security forces came to two illegal outposts near the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar in order to post evacuation orders and to demolish one caravan. Settlers said that 11 of the Yitzhar residents were also wounded, and that one lost consciousness. Several settlers were reportedly arrested after they locked police officers inside Yitzhar following the demolition of a caravan at the nearby illegal outpost of Havat Shaked.
In addition to closing the settlement's gate, the Yitzhar residents also punctured the wheels of the police officers' cars in order to prevent their exit. A Border Police officer taking part in the operation refused orders to assist in the demolition of the caravan, and was arrested by his fellow officers. The officer, an ultra-Orthodox Chabad Hassid, broke down in tears and refused the order after reported pressure from the settlers to do so.
Reffering to the Gaza Strip cease-fire deal that Israel struck with Hamas, Yigal Amitai, a Yitzhar spokesman, said that "only those who make a deal with terrorists in the south and abandon Gilad Shalit and the residents of Sderot have the strength and the gall to fight residents of Samaria." Samaria is the biblical name for the northern West Bank. Amitai also said that Havat Shaked had already been evacuated four times.
On Wednesday, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai told MK Uri Ariel, the faction head of National Union-National Religious Party, that the Israel Defense Forces and police intend to demolish six caravans this week in the illegal outpost of Bracha A., which is roughly 700 meters from Yitzhar. Vilnai defended the legality of the move, saying, "All of the issues on the matter [of the outpost] have been discussed several times in legal proceedings and therefore the state is determined to demolish it." MK Ariel called Vilnai's statement "shameful," and said that he and his colleagues would exercise their right to civil disobedience in the face of every planned demolition.
Secular MKs skip debate on rabbinical courts
Jun. 19, 2008
Dan Izenberg , THE JERUSALEM POST
Except for the chairwoman, Amira Dotan, not a single secular MK on the Knesset Law Committee attended a meeting held Thursday to discuss the structure and the functioning of the rabbinical courts.
Out of 17 MKs on the committee, the only ones who attended were Dotan (Kadima), Zeev Elkin (Kadima), Otniel Schneller (Kadima), Menahem Ben-Sasson (Kadima), Avraham Michaeli (Shas), Nissim Ze'ev (Shas) and Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism.)
Thursday's meeting was one of a series of discussions meant to provide a comprehensive assessment of the operation of the rabbinical courts, its problems and how to solve them. The decision to review the rabbinical courts was sparked, in part, by the latest State Comptroller's Report, which highlighted several problems.
Dotan, who said she was determined to conduct the meetings in a businesslike and quiet way, unlike most Knesset meetings, said her goal was to clarify the rabbinical court procedures so that the court's clients, secular as well as religious, would be able to understand what was going on and what they had to do.
The committee devoted Thursday's meeting to the problem of case files that lay dormant in the secretariat of the law courts for months at a time.
Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, the director-general of the rabbinical courts administration, told the committee that many of these files were divorce files. If a dayan rules that the husband must give his wife a divorce, it is up to the couple to open a divorce file. If, after 30 days, the husband refuses to cooperate, the woman may open a file demanding that sanctions be taken against the husband.
If there is no activity in the file for six months, the case will be brought back to the dayanim who will make contact with the husband and wife to see whether or not they want to proceed. If they still do nothing after two more weeks, the file will automatically be closed.
According to representatives of women's organizations who attended the meeting, the procedure described by Ben-Dahan was in violation of the law. Batya Cahana-Dror, the legal adviser for the women's organization Mavoi Satum (Dead End), told the committee that a law passed in 1995 obliged the court to take the initiative after 30 days and see to it that a decision ordering the husband to grant a divorce was implemented. Since according to halacha, a divorce can only take place when a man gives the divorce decree to the woman and she accepts it, the court cannot grant the divorce in place of the husband. But it can apply one of several quite harsh legal sanctions, including jail, denial of a professional license, denial of a driver's license, and denial of the right to travel abroad to pressure the husband into doing so.
Ben-Dahan and the legal adviser of the rabbinical courts administration, Shimon Ya'acobi, maintained that the dayanim do not want to speed up the process because they hope that in the meantime the couple will make up and drop the proceedings.
But according to Cahana-Dror, often the woman is too frightened or demoralized to ask for sanctions and is not at all thinking of making up with her husband. In these circumstances, by taking the initiative, the court helps the woman by applying sanctions against the recalcitrant husband.
Dan Izenberg , THE JERUSALEM POST
Except for the chairwoman, Amira Dotan, not a single secular MK on the Knesset Law Committee attended a meeting held Thursday to discuss the structure and the functioning of the rabbinical courts.
Out of 17 MKs on the committee, the only ones who attended were Dotan (Kadima), Zeev Elkin (Kadima), Otniel Schneller (Kadima), Menahem Ben-Sasson (Kadima), Avraham Michaeli (Shas), Nissim Ze'ev (Shas) and Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism.)
Thursday's meeting was one of a series of discussions meant to provide a comprehensive assessment of the operation of the rabbinical courts, its problems and how to solve them. The decision to review the rabbinical courts was sparked, in part, by the latest State Comptroller's Report, which highlighted several problems.
Dotan, who said she was determined to conduct the meetings in a businesslike and quiet way, unlike most Knesset meetings, said her goal was to clarify the rabbinical court procedures so that the court's clients, secular as well as religious, would be able to understand what was going on and what they had to do.
The committee devoted Thursday's meeting to the problem of case files that lay dormant in the secretariat of the law courts for months at a time.
Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, the director-general of the rabbinical courts administration, told the committee that many of these files were divorce files. If a dayan rules that the husband must give his wife a divorce, it is up to the couple to open a divorce file. If, after 30 days, the husband refuses to cooperate, the woman may open a file demanding that sanctions be taken against the husband.
If there is no activity in the file for six months, the case will be brought back to the dayanim who will make contact with the husband and wife to see whether or not they want to proceed. If they still do nothing after two more weeks, the file will automatically be closed.
According to representatives of women's organizations who attended the meeting, the procedure described by Ben-Dahan was in violation of the law. Batya Cahana-Dror, the legal adviser for the women's organization Mavoi Satum (Dead End), told the committee that a law passed in 1995 obliged the court to take the initiative after 30 days and see to it that a decision ordering the husband to grant a divorce was implemented. Since according to halacha, a divorce can only take place when a man gives the divorce decree to the woman and she accepts it, the court cannot grant the divorce in place of the husband. But it can apply one of several quite harsh legal sanctions, including jail, denial of a professional license, denial of a driver's license, and denial of the right to travel abroad to pressure the husband into doing so.
Ben-Dahan and the legal adviser of the rabbinical courts administration, Shimon Ya'acobi, maintained that the dayanim do not want to speed up the process because they hope that in the meantime the couple will make up and drop the proceedings.
But according to Cahana-Dror, often the woman is too frightened or demoralized to ask for sanctions and is not at all thinking of making up with her husband. In these circumstances, by taking the initiative, the court helps the woman by applying sanctions against the recalcitrant husband.
mardi 17 juin 2008
B'Tselem cameras pay off for victims of settler attacks
B'Tselem cameras pay off for victims of settler attacks
By Yuval Azoulay
Haaretz Last update - 13:38 17/06/2008
Three months ago, the B'Tselem human rights organization gave Muna al-Nawaja a video camera. Nawaja, 24, lives near the Israeli settlement of Sussya, in the southern West Bank. Between caring for her young son and tending the family's sheep, she learned to use the camera, fell in love with it and now carries it with her everywhere. But its "baptism of fire" occurred last week, on Sunday afternoon. Most Israelis were busy preparing for the Shavuot holiday. But some had a different priority: savagely beating Nawaja's relatives. She managed to capture a few seconds of the beating - in which her 57-year-old aunt was severely injured, and two uncles, age 60 and 33 were hurt - on film. But she never dreamed that it would prove to be the main, and possibly only, evidence available to the police investigating the assault. "There have been previous incidents in this area in which Palestinians were beaten; that is why they gave me a camera," she explained two days ago.
A few seconds before the attack occurred, Nawaja saw four masked men, some carrying clubs, approaching her relatives, who were tending the family flock. They were clearly not dropping by for coffee, so she aimed her camera at them. "I saw them coming from the direction of a Jewish settlement," she said. The men began beating her relatives, but the victims' screams brought no succor. "So at that point, I stopped filming and ran to summon help," she recalled. But by the time the police arrived, the assailants had fled.
B'Tselem, which used to make do with collecting oral testimony from Palestinians about alleged crimes against them, concluded last year that more graphic documentation was needed, on the theory that a picture is worth 1,000 words. "From our past experience, in many cases a Palestinian's word is given less weight than that of a soldier, a policeman or a settler," explained Oren Yakobovich, who heads the organization's video distribution project.
He said a large American Jewish organization, whose members visited Hebron and were shocked, donated a substantial sum of money to purchase the cameras. As part of its "Shooting Back" project, B'Tselem has distributed about 100 cameras to Palestinians throughout the West Bank over the last year. Of these, several dozen were handed out in the Hebron area, where friction between Palestinians and Israelis is routine.
Even in its pilot stage, about 18 months ago, the project proved its worth, when Rajah Abu Aisha of Hebron videotaped his Jewish neighbor, Yifat Alkobi, verbally assaulting his wife, including calling her a slut. A soldier was nearby, but did nothing. Since the "Shooting Back" project was launched, Palestinians have filed 15 complaints of assault or other rights violations, backed by video documentation, with the police and army.
"The army and the police welcome this," said Yakobovich. "They have documentation of the incidents, and that makes the investigation much shorter and quicker." He said the free cameras have also proved popular among the Palestinians. "There are people who call me and request a camera, because they want to feel protected. And undoubtedly, when they carry a camera, they suffer less violence, because a camera is a deterrent. There are even some who go around with a broken camera, just so that people won't come near them."
Nasser al-Nawaja, who distributes the cameras to Hebron-area Palestinians on B'Tselem's behalf, concurred. "Now, they feel that they are safer and better protected," he said. "That is our response. It is better than stones or aggressive weapons. We simply will film what happens here and show it to all of Israel, which doesn't really know what goes on in the territories."
By Yuval Azoulay
Haaretz Last update - 13:38 17/06/2008
Three months ago, the B'Tselem human rights organization gave Muna al-Nawaja a video camera. Nawaja, 24, lives near the Israeli settlement of Sussya, in the southern West Bank. Between caring for her young son and tending the family's sheep, she learned to use the camera, fell in love with it and now carries it with her everywhere. But its "baptism of fire" occurred last week, on Sunday afternoon. Most Israelis were busy preparing for the Shavuot holiday. But some had a different priority: savagely beating Nawaja's relatives. She managed to capture a few seconds of the beating - in which her 57-year-old aunt was severely injured, and two uncles, age 60 and 33 were hurt - on film. But she never dreamed that it would prove to be the main, and possibly only, evidence available to the police investigating the assault. "There have been previous incidents in this area in which Palestinians were beaten; that is why they gave me a camera," she explained two days ago.
A few seconds before the attack occurred, Nawaja saw four masked men, some carrying clubs, approaching her relatives, who were tending the family flock. They were clearly not dropping by for coffee, so she aimed her camera at them. "I saw them coming from the direction of a Jewish settlement," she said. The men began beating her relatives, but the victims' screams brought no succor. "So at that point, I stopped filming and ran to summon help," she recalled. But by the time the police arrived, the assailants had fled.
B'Tselem, which used to make do with collecting oral testimony from Palestinians about alleged crimes against them, concluded last year that more graphic documentation was needed, on the theory that a picture is worth 1,000 words. "From our past experience, in many cases a Palestinian's word is given less weight than that of a soldier, a policeman or a settler," explained Oren Yakobovich, who heads the organization's video distribution project.
He said a large American Jewish organization, whose members visited Hebron and were shocked, donated a substantial sum of money to purchase the cameras. As part of its "Shooting Back" project, B'Tselem has distributed about 100 cameras to Palestinians throughout the West Bank over the last year. Of these, several dozen were handed out in the Hebron area, where friction between Palestinians and Israelis is routine.
Even in its pilot stage, about 18 months ago, the project proved its worth, when Rajah Abu Aisha of Hebron videotaped his Jewish neighbor, Yifat Alkobi, verbally assaulting his wife, including calling her a slut. A soldier was nearby, but did nothing. Since the "Shooting Back" project was launched, Palestinians have filed 15 complaints of assault or other rights violations, backed by video documentation, with the police and army.
"The army and the police welcome this," said Yakobovich. "They have documentation of the incidents, and that makes the investigation much shorter and quicker." He said the free cameras have also proved popular among the Palestinians. "There are people who call me and request a camera, because they want to feel protected. And undoubtedly, when they carry a camera, they suffer less violence, because a camera is a deterrent. There are even some who go around with a broken camera, just so that people won't come near them."
Nasser al-Nawaja, who distributes the cameras to Hebron-area Palestinians on B'Tselem's behalf, concurred. "Now, they feel that they are safer and better protected," he said. "That is our response. It is better than stones or aggressive weapons. We simply will film what happens here and show it to all of Israel, which doesn't really know what goes on in the territories."
mardi 3 juin 2008
Settlers rebuild Hebron outpost after IDF razes it for 32nd time
Haaretz Last update - 13:50 03/06/2008
By Haaretz Service
Kiryat Arba settlers rushed overnight to rebuild the synagogue marking Hazon David, an illegal outpost near Hebron, soon after the Israel Defense Forces and its Civil Administration arm destroyed the structure late on Monday. The outpost, built along the "worshipper's path," which connects Hebron to the settlement of Kiryat Arba, has been destroyed and rebuilt at least 32 times. The synagogue was originally constructed inside a tent and dedicated to the memory of David Cohen and Hezi Mualem, who were killed seven years ago in terrorist attacks next to Kiryat Arba.
In contrast to violent confrontations between settlers and the army at outposts like Havat Gilad, Mitzpe Yitzhar and Amona, IDF moves to raze Hazon David have been generally peaceable.
By Haaretz Service
Kiryat Arba settlers rushed overnight to rebuild the synagogue marking Hazon David, an illegal outpost near Hebron, soon after the Israel Defense Forces and its Civil Administration arm destroyed the structure late on Monday. The outpost, built along the "worshipper's path," which connects Hebron to the settlement of Kiryat Arba, has been destroyed and rebuilt at least 32 times. The synagogue was originally constructed inside a tent and dedicated to the memory of David Cohen and Hezi Mualem, who were killed seven years ago in terrorist attacks next to Kiryat Arba.
In contrast to violent confrontations between settlers and the army at outposts like Havat Gilad, Mitzpe Yitzhar and Amona, IDF moves to raze Hazon David have been generally peaceable.
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