AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/02/2003 06:34:00 PM
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My poor knowledge of Arabic
This last few days in which I tried to figure out texts in Arabic reminded me that my knowledge of this language is very poor. I did learn Arabic for 4 years in junior high and in high school but I don’t remember much of what I’ve learned. And to tell the truth at the end of those 4 years though I had good scores in Arabic I wasn’t able to say only a few basic sentences. I was able to read quite well though it’s a problem when your vocabulary is poor. It’s just like in Hebrew, there are no vowels but punctuation marks. Most Arabic texts (again just like in Hebrew) lack those punctuation marks so if you don’t know the word you’ll have a hard time figuring how to pronounce it.
Another problem is what they teach in Israeli schools to those who chose to learn Arabic (the other option is French). The students are being taught Literary Arabic which is used in Arabic literature and is different than Spoken Arabic which is the popular dialect of the Arab language.
The Israeli education system should make Arabic a compulsory language to learn. After all Arabic is a formal language in Israel and for many of its citizens it’s their mother tongue, plus all the countries around us speak it be it an enemy state or one that we have reached peace with – it’s important in both cases.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/02/2003 06:11:00 PM
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Mifkad – last update
I did a bit digging and finally found the full text in through the Palestinian site which is listed down one of the ads that were published in an Arabic newspaper.
In that site there is a referral to another site called Hasad which seem to be the complete Palestinian side for the initiative. In that site I found the full list of principals exactly like the one in the Israeli site.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/01/2003 09:42:00 PM
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HaMifkad HaLeumi – update
It’s been more than 48 hours since I’ve emailed my question but I’ve yet to recive an answer.
I thought about it more and I’m guessing that it could be that they sign Palestinians on the same principals as the Israelis are being signed but the Palestinian site (which its address appeared at the bottom of the campaign publications in Palestinian papers) is just not maintained well. That will be awfully amateurish especially in comparison to the Israeli site (let’s not forget it’s a joint venture, If the Palestinian side has problems with getting a proper site up – the Israelis should have helped them) and considering that they put this site address in their publications.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:7/30/2003 09:06:00 PM
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HaMifkad HaLeumi (The National Trust) - update
I've wrote here before about Ami Ayalon and Sari Nusseibeh campaign HaMifkad HaLeumi to gather signatures of Israelis and Palestinians on the plan they declared. According to their Israeli site 30,000 Israelis and 20,000 Palestinians already signed it since they’ve officially launched the initiative about a month ago. You probably also remember that I agreed with the principle for peace they put together.
First let me say that I am sceptic about the amount of Palestinians they claim to have sign by now. If 30 thousand Israelis signed than there is no way that 20 thousand Palestinian have signed it. First because there are far more supporters of peace in the Israeli side (just look at the surveys that show major support for Hamas among the Palestinians) plus I read somewhere that most of the Israeli signatures were collected via the internet and I due to their poor condition the number of Palestinian with internet access is much lower. Anyway that’s not the important thing that I happened to notice.
I’ve linked to the statement of principals as published on the Israeli site. I thought it’s hard on both sides but it is fair and reasonable. The basics are that the Palestinians get 100% of 1967 lands with territorial exchange, and a capital in Jerusalem. The Israelis get the annulment of the Palestinian “right of return”, recognition that Israel is the state of the Jewish people, Palestinian state will be demilitarised and the end of the conflict will be declared.
I took a look at the Palestinian site of the initiative, they call it Peoples Peace Campaign. Parts of the site are in Arabic (which I don’t know), in English and in Hebrew. I look at the principals of the plan as presented on the Palestinian site and was amazed to see that it’s a much shorter version than the one presented in the Israeli site.
There is no mention what so ever to the annulment of the Palestinian “right of return”, nothing about demilitarisation and Israel is not clearly declared as the home of the Jewish people. I took a look on the Arabic part and according to the length, the number of paragraphs in it and the very little that I can read - it looks just like the English and Hebrew (same as English) versions. In the Israeli site there is also an Arabic part which seems to be exactly like the version they “sell” to the Hebrew speaking.
So what is going on here. Feels like a sham to me. Is this shortened pail version on the Palestinian site is what the Palestinians are being signed on? . The Palestinians aren’t giving up anything according to the principals shown on their site. I wouldn’t have signed it if I’d known that.
I’ve emailed the Israeli site with these questions, lets see their reply.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:7/29/2003 11:05:00 PM
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It’s the one-month Hudna anniversary “celebrations”
Okay no one is celebrating but Israeli media focused on this issue today being 1 month after the Hudan was declared and Israel reached local security agreements with the PA in the Gaza Strip and Bethlehem.
So what did we have in this month. No doubt it was relatively quiet, very odd to us after almost 3 years of violence. But let’s not forget that it wasn’t really quiet and you’de know that if you been following those who watch the Hudna – Shmudna; According to IDF’s statistics Palestinians murdered 4 people and 17 were wounded by them (16 out of them civilians).
The 4 dead are: Krastyu Radkov, 46, a construction worker from Bulgaria killed in a shooting attack in northern Samaria; Mazal Afari, 65, of Moshav Kfar Yavetz – killed by a suicide bomber in her house; Amir Simhon, 24, of Bat Yam – stabbed to death in Tel Aviv; IDF soldier Cpl. Oleg Shaichat, 20, of Upper Nazareth who was abducted and murdered in the Galilee. And let’s not forget the other 2 stabbing incidents in Jerusalem and the kidnap of cab driver Eliyahu Gurel.
So all by all the number of casualties is defiantly law but still unacceptable. Today a senior IDF officer said that “that it would be safe to go out on a limb and predict that the cease-fire (hudna) declared by Palestinian militant groups approximately one month ago would last longer than the agreed three months”.
On the other hand IDF Chief of Staff said that “it was possible that there would be a temporary lull in the violence, but added that he has started to count the days until the next outbreak of violence.”
It’s probably both true. The Hudna will lasy a bit more untill the Palestinian terror groups will get annoyed with it and spark a fire with a vicious suicde attak in one Of Israel’s major cities. It won’t be surprising since the PM is doing nothing to dismantle and unarme thos fanatics even though they are required to by the Road Map they “cherish” so much. So I belive we’re in for another bloody period of Palestinian madness. If the PA won’t act on the terro groups then it will be the official end of the Road Map and back to square one.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:7/29/2003 08:37:00 PM
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Help upgrade this blog
Hello dear readers this post is directed to your good will. I am going to upgrade this blog, meaning move out of Blogspot into my own domain and leave Blogger for Movable Type.
Following the great heritage of Jewish people it’s time to be a schnorrer (in the good meaning that is) and collect donations. Some of you are long time regular visitors, some of you even if acquainted with the site for a short time are enjoying it (and I know all of this because you told me). So if you want to help me upgrade the blog a bit your contributions are welcomed. No pressure what so ever and don’t worry I’m not going to be offended if you won't throw in your nickel even if we correspond via email. It is all done in good will :)
The site is going to be upgrade soon in any case. To the kind people who’ve donated in the past, please know that your contribution was saved till now and is being used for buying a domain and signing up at a hosting service.
Please use my Paypal account through this link or through the PayPal button on the left side. Thank you in advance.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:7/28/2003 11:16:00 PM
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You should have seen it
Tal wonders who is still under the wrong impression that ISM loonies aren’t promoting violence. If you could have watched tonight’s channel 1 news …
Today some of those nice ISM people among with local Palestinians tried to tear down part of the security fence, which is there to stop Palestinian terror attacks.
Never mind this, you couldn’t have expected something else from those loonies. The news item in Channel 1 showed a video from the scene, it showed a bunch of Palestinians marching with ISM people in front. The ISM members where shouting in English a very familiar Arab slogan:
“From the river to the sea
Palestine will be free”
Translation to those who aren’t familiar with it: The “river” is the Jordan River (the eastern border of Israel). The “sea” is the Mediterranean Sea (west of Israel). “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” – they were not talking about 1967 borders, not even 1948 UN partition plan. Those peace loving ISMs were shouting Hamas slogans calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.
“Peace activists” my ass!
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:7/28/2003 07:27:00 PM
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Music 5
Since Rinat has asked: “Monica Sex – Maka Afora” (Grey Hit (as in blow)). Quite an oldie from the band’s first album 1995 Kisses and Wounds. It was a great hit when first released and still being appreciated as one of the finest songs of the nineties.
The group’s website; Here you can buy their albums; Some one has asked before for guitar tabs so here goes.
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:7/28/2003 06:54:00 PM
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The Separation Fence
So Abu Mazen cried to bush about the fence and was so successful that Bush called the fence a “wall” even though only tiny parts of it are actually a wall and no t a fence. The wall parts are right on the “Green Line” (1967 borders) so what’s the problem there? The wall in those segments was built to prevent direct gunfire from Palestinian towns to Israeli villages (inside Israel if you were wondering)
So Bush is going to pressure Sharon to halt the building of the fence. I don’t think Sharon will agree to that. The good thing that can come out of it is that Sharon will have to change the route into something closer to the green line. There have all kinds of plans to stretch it deep inside to include Ariel – that is not good.
Although the official Israeli line is that the fence is strictly for security issues it’s clear that it will be some kind of a starting point to where the future border will be.
Israel needs to keep it close to the green line in such a way to include as many nearby Israeli settlements and exclude as many Palestinian villages.
The current segment that is about to be finished soon is being built close to the Green Line. Even so some Palestinians lands are confiscated but who said life is easy and who the hell started this 3 year attack? Nonetheless we’re talking about minor adjustments. Look at the map – the fence goes in 5 miles or so. In what I perceive as the future solution these loss of land will be compensated by shifting sovereignty from Israel to the Palestinians of Israeli Arab cities close to the Green Line.
The Palestinians are opposing the fence idea even when it is exactly on the 1967 borders. Why? Because they don’t want to really get separated, a 1967 border Palestinian state is just phase one. Phase two biting Israeli territory in the Negev and Galilee by achivieng overwhelming Arab majority based on Israeli Arabs and massive illegal immigration of Palestinians from the Palestinian state into Israel.
It’s in Israel’s interests to set a border close the 1967 lines all fenced tight. Going from the Palestinian state into Israel will have to be done through a border checkpoint so not every one can get in (just like US – Mexico).
So the fence is to be built in any case even if some sort of peace is achieved and it must be close to the green line because like it or not this is where the border will be some day.
Info on the fence: Israeli Ministry of Defense – Fence website
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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:7/28/2003 03:26:00 PM
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Christopher Reeve visits Israel
Israel21c: ” Calling Israel the "world center" for research on paralysis treatment, Christopher Reeve set off for his first visit to the country this week.
Over the course of his visit, Reeve will learn about Israeli advancements in the field of stem cell research related to paralysis and spinal cord injuries.
Read on.
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