AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/08/2003 12:54:00 AM
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BODY: Back on sunday

I’m off for the weekend. Going up north with friends, I’m taking my Camera: Canon EOS 500 with me and hopefully I’ll put a few on the blog next week.

For the meanwhile a Lebanese reader in the US sent me a link for the exact same song I liked to a couple of days ago: Halom Matok, but this time in Arabic. We’re not sure which one is the original but we’re guessing the original song is from Greece. There are a lot of songs translated into and from: Greek, Turkish, Arabic and Hebrew. So here is “Sweet Dream” in Arabic by Fadel Shaker. (If it doesn’t play it when you double click try saving it on your hard disk first)

Enjoy - it's refreshing!

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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/07/2003 06:50:00 PM
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BODY: Speedy Justice (?) – the Palestinian version

Ha’aretz: ”Three masked gunmen shot and killed a Palestinianman they accused of collaborating with Israel in the center of Ramallah on Thursday, witnesses and doctors said.

Palestinian intelligence sources said the man was one of 334 prisoners released by Israel Wednesday, but this could not be immediately confirmed. Doctors identified him as Samer Sharour, in his early 20s, and said he was shot six times in the head and chest and was dead before an ambulance arrived on the scene.

Witnesses said the three gunmen pushed the man into a car and drove to the center of town. Then, one of the gunmen pulled the man from the car and shouted, "In the name of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, we carry out the sentence of death," and shot the man.

The Al Aqsa group is linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement.


I guess poor Samer Sharour should have asked to stay in the safety of Israeli prison than go into the jungle of the Palestinian street.

This is probably only the first of many such murders in the next few weeks. It’s going to be either wasting released prisoners that are suspected of collaborating with Israel or it could be that some of the released prisoners will take revenge in the people they believe helped the Israelis to catch them.

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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/07/2003 12:32:00 PM
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BODY: Instalanch!

So it took almost a year and a half but this “suburban” blog got its first ever Instalanch yesterday. A nice farewell from Blogger I guess.




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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/06/2003 08:12:00 PM
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BODY: The IDF - Howard Dean linkage explained

Aziz Poonawalla over at Howard Dean 2004 blog says he takes full responsibility for using (scroll down one post) the IDF spokesperson gif.

Poonawalla says: “I think the IDF has a noble purpose - to defend it's countrymen against threats. I may disagree with the implementation of that purpose from time to time (ok, often) but the fundamental ethos of the IDF is one of honor and pride. I chose their animated icon as a kind of homage when trying to find a way to represent our Dean Defense Forces group.”.

Poonawalla shares respect for IDF and seems to be a reasonable guy, though I differ his view on the conflict that takes place here in my country (according to his nutshell explanation at the bottom of the post). Oh and he also answers my question – he is going to keep the spokesperson gif on the at Howard Dean 2004 blog. By the way the symbol of the IDF (not its spokesperson unit) is the one displayed at the center of this page.

He then goes on and writes about American Muslims should vote for Dean and so on. Again I have to admit I don’t have a clue about Dean and basically I don’t object nor support him. It looks like Dean has a pretty reasonable stance about the Israeli – Palestinian conflict. Why should the Israeli – Palestinian conflict be of any interest to the general American voters is beyond me. So many other things for American to be concerned about…

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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/06/2003 01:36:00 AM
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BODY: The IDF - Howard Dean linkage!

I have to admit I don’t know much about Howard Dean, it’s too early for me to show any interest in US elections there is still plenty of time.

I browsed my way through The Truth Laid Bear traffic rank Ecosystem and stumbled into this widely popular blog (2362 visits/day) called “Howard Dean 2004”.

Okay it’s not an official site I know that. The sites describes itself as: This blog is intended as a resource for people who want to learn more about Howard Dean and his bid for the presidency... This weblog is not affiliated with the official campaign website.

I scrolled down a bit and on the left just below the DVD add in the “Action” rubric I noticed a familiar gif (screenshot). This animated gif which links to Dean Defense Forces was lifted from the Israeli Defense Force spokesperson official site. Take a look at the bottom of this page.

I think it’s funny. Howard Dean fans stealing animated gifs from the IDF, and not just any gif but the symbol of the army's spokesperson unit. Should they be put on court-martial? :)

Conspiracy lovers can commence thinking about all kind of bizarre theories. I wonder if they’ll keep it up now that it has been reveled.

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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/05/2003 08:52:00 PM
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BODY: Music 6

Who ever said Israelis don’t blend in the Middle East obviously never listened to Israeli Mizrahit music (“Eastern music” as in Middle Eastern) also referred to as Yam Tichonit Music (Mediterranean music).

Widely popular this music is the heritage of Sepharadic/Mizrahi Jews but it is becoming more and more mainstream.

Previous summer one of the biggest hits in Israeli Music was Moshik Afya and Shlomi Saranga duet: “Halom Matok” (Sweet Dream). Afya sings in Hebrew and Saranga (who is also Israeli) sings in Greek. A popular niche in Israeli “Mediterranean music” is influenced by Greek music.

Listen a few times I’m sure you’ll find it catchy. Moshik Afya albums for sale here, Shlomi Srarnga albums for sale here.

I would especially like to hear what if you liked it or not. Email me: gil_shterzer-at-hotmail-dot-com

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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/04/2003 11:06:00 PM
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BODY: Links

Read Dave’s post about how the death statistics in the 3-year conflict need to be interpreted.

Tal examines poor coverage by AP and Reuters in comparison to Ha’aretz on the prisoners’ release.

Meryl checks double standard for Israel on Google News.

Stefan Sharkansky found a disgusting anti-Semitic political cartoon inspired by mid 1930s Nazi propaganda on the Seattle Times.

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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/03/2003 11:30:00 PM
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BODY: Imshin is angry


Imshin: "As an Israeli I am not angry with the Palestinians. I am far too busy trying to defend myself and make sure I survive. I am angry with the Europeans and left-wing Americans who refuse to accept that Israel is in real danger of annihilation in this region and has a right to defend its citizens and itself from those who would destroy it, by whatever means. I am even angrier with those Europeans and left-wing Americans who refuse to accept Israel's right to exist at all. And most of all, I am angry with myself for being taken in by the Palestinians' promises in the early nineteen nineties that they really meant to put down their arms for all times and negotiate a peaceful compromise with us that would allow us all to live here side by side in peace (Although this doesn't mean I don't think we should keep trying. We should, but carefully)".


Read the full post (scroll down to “So I've been reading Thich Nhat Hanh's book”)

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AUTHOR:G.
DATE:8/03/2003 07:42:00 PM
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BODY: Links

New addition to the blogroll: Mutated Monkeys.

I know are struggling with Hebrew, at My Hebrew Picture Dictionary you can find translation of some useful words from English to Hebrew including phonetic translation.

IsraAid is “a coordinating body of Israeli and Jewish organizations and other interested parties based in Israel who are active in development and relief work and are concerned about global issues” You can learn about Israeli assistance to people from Guyana, Tibet, India, Cameroon, Kosovo, Turkey, Czech Republic and more.

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