AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/08/2002 05:02:00 PM
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Sharav
Its very hot and the air is dry today in Israel - in Hebrew we call such heat waves: "Sharav". So its the first sharav of many yet to come during the summer here.
Temperatures in The sea of Galilee (Kinneret lake), the Jordan valley and Eilat are as high as 44 Celsius = 113 Fahrenheit. Where I live, Hod Hasharon, the temperature is around 39c/102f.
I planned to go to the beach and play volleyball but when I left the air conditioned house and went outside I felt like a chicken in a grill. I quickly went back to the to the house before I got completely evaporated.
According to the weather forecast it is going to be like that for the next 3 days.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/08/2002 04:16:00 PM
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3 Israelis killed, 5 hurt, in infiltration into West Bank settlement
From the Jerusalem Post: "Palestinian gunmen opened fire on mobile homes in the Karmei Tsur community this morning, killing three Israelis, including a man and his pregnant wife at their doorstep.
The slayings brought to 21 the number of Israelis killed in terror attacks this week, following the 17 killed in the bus bombing on Wednesday and an 18-year-old from Ofra shot to death in a roadside shooting on Thursday."
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/08/2002 03:37:00 AM
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Brave girl
A few days ago I was whining about my English skills and the way I write in this blog, but for some people, not like me, learning another language is crucial.
My good friend Renatinha from brazil is making "Aliya" (emigrating) to Israel a month from now. As a good Zionist she knows a little bit of Hebrew. When she will arrive to Israel she will have to learn Hebrew as fast as she can, life in Israel runs in Hebmrew. Of course she will be able to manage in English quite good, but Renatinha wants to do it in Hebrew.
Here is what she writes in her blog: "The language is quite hard and I know it's gonna take me some time to handle this properly. My situation sucks because I must know Hebrew like a native Israeli (a clever one, heheh) due to my job, or I'll never be a journalist in Israel! ... Hebrew is not hard because of the different alphabet, nor the "right-to-left" direction, or even the lack of vowels... It's hard because I realized there are some things that ONLY make sense in Hebrew! It´s not like learning English or Spanish, for example, in which you can compare grammatical structures... Most of the daily expressions in Hebrew cannot be translated to any other language."
(I must admit that I face the same problem Renatinha mentions in the last sentence but in a reverse direction. Its not easy to write in English what I think in Hebrew).
Learning Hebrew is only one of the difficulties facing Renatinha in Israel. I admire her making "Aliya" in those difficult times in Israel. No one is forcing her to leave her good life in Brazil, and yet she chooses to do so. She is coming to Israel all alone - this is not easy. So I urge you to visit her interesting blog and follow her "Aliya" to Israel.
I think you are very brave Renatinha and I'm absolutely sure you will do great in Israel, thanks for joining us when we need it the most !!!
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/07/2002 07:28:00 PM
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Lets hear ya
I've added YACCS comments service to my blog. I'm not sure I have enough volume of readers to comment sufficiently to all the posts. (By sufficient I mean that I don't want to see the comments box stay empty - it gives me a bad feeling to see that). So I hope you will cooperate with me.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/07/2002 07:17:00 PM
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Back to the stone age?
Syria, current president of the Security Council, is playing with fire. Syria is a generous host to no fewer than 10 terror organizations headquartered in its capital Damascus. one of the terror organization Syria hosts is the Islamic Jihad. The orders for Wednesday's Megiddo bus bombing were given by Islamic Jihad leader Abdallah Ramadan Shalah from his base in Damascus.
Syria is also arming Hizbullah and encourage them to attack Israel from (Syrian controlled) Lebanon. Ariel Sharon discussed this issue with Colin Powell at his last visit to Israel. According to a quote in an Israeli newspaper Sharon told Powel that "If Bashar Asad won't act against Hizbullah, Israel will send Syria back to the stone age".
Sharon probably wants to rebuild the Israeli deterrence, that through the years has decreased. Nikita has this to say on the subject:
"IMHO, Bashar is still young and stupid. He hasn't yet learned the lessons of his father's generation. He doesn't yet realize that when you play with fire, you will get burned. And he will be humbled, in the same way that his father's generation was humbled. King Hussein of Jordan spoke quite a big game until 1967. He had to learn the tough way that Israel wasn't going anywhere, but once he learned this in 1967, Jordan's de-facto attitude toward Israel softened considerably (Arab league appeasing rhetoric aside.) I have a feeling though, that while King Hussein of Jordan was an honorable and forward thinking man, Syrian Bashar, like his father, harks from the same gang of thugs as Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Which does not bode well for his future personal well-being."
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/07/2002 05:26:00 PM
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Daniel Pearl video
I've had quite a few entries from people who searched for the Daniel Pearl execution video. From the Last 20 Searchengine Referrers to my blog 16 searched for that video.
Some of the searches in Google puts my blog in the first results, though I only had a brief comment on that issue.
It seems that a lot of people want to watch it. I'll say it again: don't watch it.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/07/2002 02:27:00 PM
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New links
I've added a few blogs to my blogs links, they are all very good. First: The Spoons Experience which I read for some time but because of my laziness didn't put a link to it earlier. And 3 New blogs in the blogosphere: Life, the Universe, and everything, Somewhere on A1A... and The Color of Thieves. I had the honor to be among the first blogs they linked to. Check them out.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/06/2002 11:38:00 AM
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Unleash hell
Once again Israel entered Arafat's compound in Ramalla. We destroyed a few buildings, so what?! This action is meaningless. It seems that Sharon is waiting for a major terror attack, 200 people killed at least, to make the drastic move and expel Arafat from the Palestinians territories.
The Palestinians are trying to execute mega-terror attacks (The Pi Glilot fuel depot failed attack and the attempt to knock down the Azrieli skyscrapers). Eventually they will succeed, why should we wait for the lose of hundreds/ thousands of Israelis life? Why not expel Arafat now?
Not that I think that will solve everything but its a step toward somewhere better. We've been warned that a catastrophe will happen if we'll siege Arafat/ enter areas A/ enter the refugee camps/ use jet fighters/ preventing Arafat from going to Bethlehem/ closing the Orient House etc'. Those things were done and the world is still standing.
I don't think it will be any different about expelling Arafat. And if it will trigger something bigger so be it.
With what are the Arabs threatening on us? they want to start a war - I invite them to do so, they lost all the wars till today. maybe a war is needed to end this situation? Only when the barriers on Israel will be lifted we would be able to unleash hell on those who ask for it. No more pin point operations, massive attack wiping out everything. 29 years have passed since the "Yom Kippur" war, the last major war between Israel and the Arabs. Today's Arabs don't know or maybe just forgotten the fierce power of Israel - It looks like they want to be reminded of that.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/06/2002 11:32:00 AM
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My English abilities
I'm an Israeli, born and lived there all my life. Hebrew is my native tongue, not English. I know my English is far from perfect and I'm doing my best to express my self in English in a clear and correct way. No one is being forced to read my blog or the comments I write in other Blogs.
This is from a debate on Dawson's comments board about the Martin Luther King letter. The comment is about my post (which I posted in my blog as well).
"me, i recommend you left justify this thing so that it doesn't break my brain to try to read it. that would be user friendly."
Posted by: meanie on June 5, 2002 04:12 PM
meanie - This is an intelligent comment you made. Any time you like we can start debating in Hebrew: ðøàä àåúê áòáøéú çúéëú àéãéåè, îúðùà îâòéì ùëîåúê. àðé áèåç ùàúä ìà éåãò àó ùôä çåõ îàðâìéú. îöéãé àúä éëåì ìãçåó àú äòøåú ùìê ìúçú.
I'm sure meanie will do just great in Hebrew.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/05/2002 06:17:00 PM
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Is anti-Zionist = anti-Semite
Dawson posted a "Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend" by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that was written in Aug. 1967. King's letter is interesting enough but follows the letter formed a debate about: "Is anti-Zionist = anti-Semite?"
Jim had this say (rather disturbing in my opinion):
"I think it's poor Dr. King who has been misled. In 1897 in Basle, Switzerland, the World Zionist Congress met for the first time, in order to discuss creating a national home for Jewish people -- a Jewish state. They considered a number of locations for this state, Palestine included, but also sites in Africa. Palestine was eventually chosen. The sad fact is that before this meeting in 1897, the total Population of Palestine was somewhere around 500,000. Of this total, somewhere between 2% and 6% were Jews. The rest were overwhelmingly Arabs, either Moslem or Christian. The aim of the World Zionist Congress was to let European Jews "return" to a land where over 400,000 non-Jews were living, where Jewish people were only 6% of the population. Arabs have had a significant, continuous presence in Palestine for centuries. The Roman Emperor Titus destroyed the second Jewish Temple in 70 A.D. In 135 A.D., Jews revolted against oppressive Roman rule (the Bar Kokhba revolt), but the revolt was put down. After putting down the revolt, the Roman Empire barred all Jews from Jerusalem, and renamed the city Aelia Capitolina. 135 A.D. pretty much marks the end of a significant Jewish presence in the holy land (though small numbers of faithful have nearly always lived there). What this means is that even in 1897 when the first Zionist Congress was held, it had been over 1,700 years since a significant Jewish population lived in the holy land. In 638 A.D., Palestine was captured from Byzantium by Arabs under Calip 'Umar. From that date until 1897, Arabs and Muslims have ruled the area and lived in the land -- a period of over 1,200 years. This means that by 1897, a Palestinian might well trace his lineage back through 60 generations of forbears who had lived in the area. This is at minimum, since the Arab conquest of Palestine in 638 was not the beginning of the Arab presence in the land -- just the beginning of their rule. Yet it was decided that it was acceptable to take this land from the Arabs living there, and give it to the descendants of people who had been expelled over 1,700 years ago. It sounds noble and just to "return" a homeland to its "rightful" owners, but what happens to the people living there? The Arabs were not the ones who drove the Jews away: Dr. King acknowledges that it was the Romans who did that (in 135 A.D.). The Arabs were not the ones who perpetrated the holocaust: the Europeans did that in WWII. Histoy is full of crimes, and it is noble to seek out justice for those crimes. But it can't have been just to punish the innocent Arab residents of Palestine in order to compensate for the suffering of Jewish people who died at the hands of the Romans over a thousand years ago, or even those who died at the hands of Hitler in the 1940s. The Arab residents of Palestine did not committ those crimes against the Jews. In the days of the first Zionit Congress, the Arabs of Palestine had not done anything to anyone. Why was it fair game to steal their land from them in the name of compensating the Jewish people for the crimes of others?The real answer is probably rooted in European anti-Semitism. The non-Jewish powers-that-be in Europe didn't want Jews in their countries. In the 20th century, Europe supported the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine because such a state was perceived as giving Jewish people a place to go -- a place that wasn't Europe. This was seen as a humane way of unburdening Europe of some of its Jewish population, but it was an inherently anti-Semitic idea. If getting Jewish people out of Europe meant kicking hundreds of thousands of Arabs off of their own land, so be it. As far as Europe and the Zionist project were concerned, the nearly two-thousand-year Arab history on the land counted for nothing. The current presence of hundreds of thousand of people living their lives on the land counted for nothing. But ask yourself: do the lives and homes of the people who were living there count for nothing? Is it right for the Palestinian Arabs to have suffered for crimes that others committed against the Jewish people?"
And here is my response:
Jim wrote: In 1897 The World Zionist Congress considered a number of locations for this state, Palestine included, but also sites in Africa. Palestine was eventually chosen. - The reason that other locations other then Israel were checked is because they were much easier to build the renew Jewish state. The reason that despite all the difficulties the land of Israel was chosen: It is the only place in the world were Jews truly and naturally belong.
Jim wrote: Before this meeting in 1897, the total Population of Palestine was somewhere around 500,000. - The meaning of this number: The land of Israel was at that time sparsely populated, it was a wasteland, an outlying corner of the Ottoman declining empire.
The Jews who came to that land settled mainly in those times harsh areas of the coast that were sand dunes and swamps. The little Arab population was living mainly in the mountains (today's west bank). Before 1948 the Jews who came to the land didn't kick anyone from their homes, they built new towns and villages, and generally brought progress to this miserable land.
So you ask what was the problem? Well the problem was Arab reluctance to live peacefully with the Jews. Instead of joining hands together toward a better future they chose violence. Because the Arabs made it clear they do not want to live with the Jews a search for a solution begun. Till 1948 the Arabs declined all the different U.N , British or Jewish proposals to dissolve this new conflict they have created. Not only that they didn't accept any of the proposals, they didn't offer any solution of their own except killing the Jews (very creative may I say).
1948 - The general assembly of the U.N decides to divide the land to 2 different states, a Jewish and an Arabic. The Jews had their objections to that plan but they said thank you and took what they were given. The Arabs (who were never sovereign of that land - Turks and then British) reaction was to declare war against the Jews, they wanted it all.
7 Arabs states were defeated by the new born small Jewish state. At the end of the war they started they ended loosing land rather then gaining. They same will to annihilate Israel drove them to try again in 1967 only to be defeated once more and lose more territories. That is what I believe Dawson meant by saying: "they have brought it all down on themselves". If you start a war consider that you might lose and learn to deal with the consequences of your acts!
And another brief comment: after 1948 war the lands that were meant to be as an Arab state in the land of Israel were annexed to Jordan and Egypt - There was no noise made then about occupation.
Jim I recommend you read what I wrote here as well: http://israeliguyfacts.blogspot.com/
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/05/2002 11:29:00 AM
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17 murdered in a car bomb terror attack
Report from Ha'aretz: "A car packed with explosives destroyed a crowded bus near Megiddo junction in northern Israel at around 7:15 A.M. on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people and seriously wounding at least 10 others. The military wing of the Islamic Jihad organization claimed responsibility for the attack."
The car exploded near the gasoline tank of the bus. The bus was immediately caught on fire, people were burned alive.
I'm really not in the mood to write, sorry for that. Here are Tal G.'s , Christopher Kanis's and Randy Barnes's posts about this terror attack.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/04/2002 03:41:00 PM
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While I was in Fiji
A year passed since the horrendous suicide bombing in the "Dolfinarium" dance club in Tel Aviv. 21 people died, almost all of them were teenagers.
At that time I wasn't in Israel, I was traveling in Fiji. But as I discovered bad news travels fast, even to the other side of the world. I was staying at Beachcomber island resort, and had a great time. In one of the nights there while I was having fun in the pub I learned about the attack. There were no Israelis other then me on the island and heard it from an Italian Jew whom I've met there. It was a few days after the attack, and my Italian friend thought I've already heard about it, I didn't. So there I was, thousands of miles away from home drinking and having fun when I learned about the atrocity. That immediately ruined my good mood, I was worried, the attack was in a Tel Aviv night club, maybe a friend or someone from my family was hurt. I phoned home. Thank god my family and friends were all fine, my family tried to reach meand let me know that they are okay but I was without any means of communication.
Fiji for god's sake! You just can't avoid the bad news where ever you are.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/03/2002 10:33:00 PM
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Expect an unpleasant meeting with destiny
Palestinian Authority's High Court in Gaza decided today that Ahmed Sa'adat should be released from prison. (if you don't know who the hell is he, read the reminder at the bottom of this post)
The final decision is in the hands of Arafat. Will he brake his promise to The US and free Sa'adat? I won't be surprised if he'll do so. There is a chance he will back off and won't release Sa'adat only because his commitment was given no to Israel but to the Americans, maybe that will deter him a bit.
Prime Minister Sharon said today that Israel would know what to do if Sa'adat will be set free. Let me interpret that: If Sa'adat will walk around free he will soon have an unpleasant meeting with one of the IDF elite units or maybe with an apache missile. Good luck Sa'adat!
This just in: The Palestinian cabinet said it would keep Sa'adat in jail despite the High Court order. The reason: Sa'adat release "cannot be implemented under these circumstances because of Israeli threats."
A quick reminder of this thick plot: Sa'adat is the head of the Palestinian terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Sa'adat gave the order to assassinate Israel's tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi. When Israel occupied Ramallah in late March, the five men found refuge in Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah. Israel sieged the headquarters in demand that Sa'adat and the four assassinators of Ze'evi will be extradited. That forced Arafat to agree to a deal: he will be set free from his confinement and Sa'adat, the four assassins and a Palestinian Authority official suspected of arms smuggling were transferred to the Jericho jail under American and British supervision.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/03/2002 10:01:00 AM
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Design
Go check out Dawson's new blog design - It is beautiful. I take this chance to thank Dawson for helping me post pictures in my poorly designed blog.
I'm hoping I'll be able to do something about my blog's design. I can barely write in English and my html and graphics abilities are almost non, so don't expect too much :)
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/03/2002 09:50:00 AM
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Daniel Pearl
Last night I watched on Israeli TV an interview with Daniel Pearl's Israeli grandmother Tova Pearl. Now I know zillion of blogs discussed whether to watch or not to watch Pearl's execution video. Well I made the mistake and watched it, don't do the same.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:6/02/2002 11:01:00 AM
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Immigration, supplemental
It was brought to my attention that some of the things I wrote yesterday about immigration are politically incorrect. So I read it again and yes it is not politically correct but this is what I think. I don't intend to run for a political office, thus I do not care if I'm politically correct in this blog.
I'll make some of my previous points more clear. As I said Jews are welcomed in Israel at all times, others can and do immigrate for professional and marriage reasons. Israel is not a racist country, It's just trying to protect it self.
We can learn from history that Jews suffered from persecution in almost all the countries they lived in. Jewish interests were never taken into consideration in those states. The state of Israel was created to offer an alternative, to act upon Jewish interests.
Israel is tiny and heavily populated we can't allow in who ever who wishes to do so. if we will let everybody in we risk the lost of Jewish majority. And as we know only Jews sincerely care about other Jews.
I think this is an interesting issue and I'll probably write about again in the near future.
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