Dorothy Online Newsletter

NOVANEWS

Dear Friends,

 

Just 5 items tonight, all from the Israeli press, or to be more accurate, all from Haaretz.  The international commercial press that I checked out. When it commented did so mostly on the Palestinian-Israeli upcoming meeting in Jordan.  No one appears excited about it, not even the two parties involved, as the Seattle Times put it, “Palestinians don’t expect much in Israel talkshttp://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2017139167_apmlisraelpalestinians.html  Indeed, why should they?  An op-ed in the LA Times puts the whole Israel-Palestinian conflict on personalities.  Obama and Bibi dislike one another.  I found the article neither informative nor brilliant, so did not include it among the 6 items below.  But just in case you are curious, you can find it at http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-miller-bibi-barack-20120102,0,4943925.story

The information in the first 2 items is disgusting, the 2nd worse than the 1st in a sense.

Item one informs us that Israel is allocating funds to teach former IOF soldiers to become sushi chefs.  This in itself sounds innocent.  But the reason that underlies the project shows how afraid Israel’s leaders are that the country might become overrun by non Jews.  You’ve got it.  The purpose in teaching former IOF soldiers (not just anyone, mind you, not in this militaristic country) the tricks of the trade is to replace foreign workers in Asian restaurants!!! The problem is that not enough Jews are coming to Israel anymore.  Hence anyone here not Jewish is a potential threat to the Jewishness of this tribal country.  Well, if you are thinking ‘what has Israel come to?” wait till you hear what item 2 tells us.

Item 2 reports that teenagers are being trained by border police to catch permit-less Palestinians from entering Israel.  The report—how these kids are being trained, and why—reminds me of nothing less than the Nazi youth.  Imagine, first Israel steals Palestinian farm lands, then when former farmers who no longer have land to farm try to find a way nevertheless to feed their families, Israel sics its dogs and youth on them!  And what about the youth that is so trained?  Obviously it will not love Palestinians any more than Hitler’s youth loved Jews.  Israel’s Minister of Education says that he knew nothing about these groups.  Presumably now that he’s heard of them, he will take time to look into the matter. And when he finally does, will he stop them?  Only, and this is a huge only, if he feels that Israel’s image will be dirtied by such acts.  My guess is that not only won’t he quash them, he will expand them. Yep!  This is Israel.

In item 3 Amira Hass promises not to forget the Cast Lead episode.  The English version of Haaretz terms it a war.  Well in a sense it was.  It was a war of power and force on innocent civilians.  It was, more properly, a military operation or campaign meant to kill and to damage as much as possible.  Is this really a country that you can love?  No, I haven’t forgotten the missiles flying into Israel from Gaza, but don’t you forget that Hamas several times offered Israel a long-term truce, which Israel never accepted.

I was so happy to read item 4, not because it’s good news, but because finally someone (in this case a commentator, Merav Michaeli_) reminds Israelis (the relatively few who will read her op-ed) that the Arab world has offered Israel peace at least twice, and Israel has in both cases ignored it.  I point this out when I speak, and Zalman Amit and Daphna Levit call attention to other missed opportunities in their book ‘Israeli Rejectionism: A Hidden Agenda in the Middle East Peace Process.’  Hidden indeed!  And Israelis instead of climbing on their hind legs and demanding that their leaders take the offers—any one of them, but at least one—keep silent.  Till when????

Item 5 is more positive.  It relates that the Palestinians plan diplomatic steps to put Israel under ‘international siege.’  Am not sure that they will succeed, but wish them much luck in their endeavors.  Perhaps if governments begin to pressure Israel, there will someday be change for the better, as, for instance, an end to colonization and occupation.  Such change will benefit not only Palestinians, but also everyone who lives here, including Jews.

That’s it for tonight—the 2nd day into the new year, which seems so far to be carrying on like the old one.  Still, we can hope.

Goodnight all.

Dorothy

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1 Haaretz

Monday, January 2, 2012

Israel allocates funds to help former IDF soldiers become sushi chefs

Move is part of an effort to reduce the number of foreign workers employed as cooks in Asian restaurants by training Israeli professionals to replace them.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-allocates-funds-to-help-former-idf-soldiers-become-sushi-chefs-1.404985

By Gili Cohen

Demobilized soldiers will be able to study Asian cooking this year at the government’s expense, as part of an effort to reduce the number of foreign workers employed as cooks in Asian restaurants by training Israeli professionals to replace them.

 

The cooking courses are estimated to cost about NIS 4.5 million a year, about NIS 1 million of which will come from the Defense Ministry budget.

 

The government is trying to match recently discharged soldiers with industries facing a shortage of Israeli workers, Defense Ministry officials said.

 

“There is a lack of Israeli workers in this area, and that is why we are building a program that allows them to learn, get a job, and has lots of ‘treats’ for those taking the course,” a ministry official said.

 

Six courses are scheduled for this year in the north, center and south, with a minimum of 25 students in each course.

 

Some recently demobilized soldiers taking the course may receive aid for housing and living expenses for the first few months. Though the NIS 30,000 tuition is fully subsidized, students will have to pay NIS 1,800 each for clothing and equipment.

 

Graduates of the course will receive a large grant if they work in the industry on a regular basis over the course of the first year.

 

The Defense Ministry said the grant, expected to come to a total of tens of thousands of shekels, will be paid for by the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry. The discharged soldiers will also be eligible to receive the grant given to all demobilized soldiers who work in certain jobs classified as “priority work.”

 

The program is jointly sponsored by the Defense Ministry, the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry and the Gross Foundation, which provides scholarships for discharged soldiers.

 

The ministry’s unit for aiding discharged soldiers is publicizing the cooking course, which includes workshops and classroom studies. Graduates are to be placed in jobs all over the country after finishing the course.

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2.  Haaretz

Monday, January 2, 2012

Border Police train Israeli teens to detain illegal Palestinian workers

Several dozen teens between ages of 16-18 take part in project meant to boost security in Modi’in area; Ministry of Education does not recognize program.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/border-police-train-israeli-teens-to-detain-illegal-palestinian-workers-1.405091

By Talila Nesher

Tags: Palestinians

“I consider it a form of pleasure. It simply provides me with values, and I love the action.”

 

This is how Reut, a high school senior from the Modi’in area, describes her experience as part of the “No’ar Magav” Border Police Youth.

 

The initiative is financed by the Public Security Minister of Israel and the Modi’in Regional Council, without any knowledge on the part of Ministry of Education.

 

Approximately 36 teenagers between the ages of 16-18 take part in the project. In their spare time, they help catch “illegal residents”, or stand at checkpoints and help guard the neighboring settlements. According to the regional council, the teenagers have been able to catch dozens of illegal aliens, mostly Palestinian workers who lack Israeli work permits, in the past couple weeks.

 

“I like catching the Palestinian workers,” says Reut. “Generally we look for them because they scare children. The point is to catch them and return them back where they belong.”

 

Eran, another member of the group, describes the activities with joy: “It’s a fun feeling – you are filled with adrenaline and energy during such operations. We also feel pride for protecting our home. For instance, one time we went to a construction site and found a few of them there. We saw them hiding and we caught them, took their identification cards, sat them down in the vehicle, and called our commander to come check them.”

 

Another member, Liad, emphasizes that the Palestinian workers are “taken in gently, the way we were taught. We take them to the patrol vehicle and take them to the station where they undergo investigation. I don’t personally handcuff them.”

 

The official purpose of the Border Police Youth is to aid and strengthen security in the Modi’in area. The presence of teenagers with M-16s is meant to scare away thieves and other threats in the region.

 

“Obviously it’s a good thing that teenagers do this,” says Reut. “I feel that I am doing something for the sake of security, that I’m helping people. Some of my friends told me that they are chased by Arabs that sleep in the construction sites where they work. We make sure they are not there. After they receive their due punishment from the court, they rarely return.”

 

The youth’s training lasts several days, during which they participate in workshops regarding the activities they will partake in, as well as visit shooting ranges.

 

“They teach us how operations work, what is allowed and what is not,” explains Liad. “Before we go out for an operation, we gather in one spot for a briefing on how to use weapons, listen to security measures, and then go out to catch illegal workers.”

 

Corinne Chaim, the group’s coordinator, explains that “these teenagers go out, accompanied by Border Police, in order to work at the checkpoints, to check vehicles for illegal workers. They search buildings. A month ago, at a checkpoint on Highway 443, they aided in stopping and searching a bus for suspicious individuals.”

 

Another Border Police Youth course is set to open in a month or so, to the tune of close to 30 new members. “We are bringing presentations to different high schools, hosting conferences in different towns, and sometimes at private homes,” says Chaim. Every teenager that is interested in the project must get permission from both parents and a doctor.

 

According to the head of the Modi’in Regional Council Yossi Elimelech, the project is intended to “occupy the teenagers, strengthen the Border Police, enlarge the percentage of volunteers among the general population and consolidate a feeling of camaraderie among the teens.”

 

Dr. Nir Michaeli, head of the Education Department at Tel Aviv’s Kibbutzim College, says that “it is sad that these teenagers are taught militaristic principles rather than instilling in them a sense of balance that could serve them during their upcoming military service.”

 

“Non-formal education needs to emphasize giving back to society, but in a constructive rather than a militaristic way,” says Michaeli.

 

According to the Ministry of Education, the project is “not recognized”, and will be investigated.

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3.  Haaretz

Monday, January 2, 2011

On third anniversary of Gaza war, we will remember

While Yoav Galant’s name is most prominently mentioned in the context of the third anniversary of Operation Cast Lead, we must recall the other, nameless soldiers, guided by the spirit of the army’s top brass.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/on-third-anniversary-of-gaza-war-we-will-remember-1.405012

By Amira Hass

On the third anniversary of the Cast Lead onslaught, we remember the anonymous soldiers who fired on a red car, in which a father, Mohammed Shurrab, and his two sons were returning home from their farm lands. It is not fair that the officer who then served as GOC Southern Command of the Israel Defense Forces, Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant, will be the only one remembered on this anniversary. Indeed, the list of fighters who should be mentioned and recalled is long.

 

We will remember the pilot who delivered the bomb that killed Mahmoud al-Ghoul, a high-school student, and his uncle Akram, an attorney, at the family’s home in northern Gaza. We will remember the soldiers who analyze photographs taken by drones, who decided that a truck conveying oxyacetylene cylinders for welding, owned by Ahmad Samur, was carrying Grad rockets – a decision that led to an order to bomb the vehicle from the air which, in turn, led to the deaths of eight persons, four of them minors.

 

We will remember the soldiers who turned the Abu Eida family home in eastern Jabalya into a base and place from which to shoot, and confined in one room an elderly invalid, a blind woman and two older women. We will remember how these soldiers did not allow these four persons to go to the restroom for nine days. We will remember the soldiers who herded members of the Samouni family into one house and were themselves positioned 80 meters from it when it was shelled, with all its residents inside, under orders from brigade commander Ilan Malka – someone else whom we will remember, of course.

 

The list goes on and on, and we ask forgiveness from those we haven’t cited due to lack of space. But on this occasion we shall especially remember the soldiers at a certain post in the eastern part of Khan Yunis.

 

On Saturday, January 17, 2009, at 8:46 (a day before the cessation of the attacks ), I received the following letter from the United States in my inbox: “My father and two brothers were attacked yesterday [Friday, January 16th] while driving home from their farm. One brother [Kassab – 27] died, but the father [Mohammed Shurrab – 64] and the remaining brother [Ibrahim – 17] are now wounded and stranded in an Israeli Defense Force (IDF ) controlled area. They were attacked between 1:00-1:30 P.M. local time during the cease-fire time, and emergency services are unable to reach them.”

 

The IDF did not allow an ambulance to approach this area; the letter writer, Amer Shurrab, believed that media pressure would help bring about such authorization. “We are very desperate, and trying as many avenues as possible to get aid to reach them. If you know even a foot soldier who might be able to push the ball by calling a local commander we would really appreciate any help,” he wrote.

 

Shurrab did not know that while he was writing this desperate appeal to a person he did not know, his second brother was already dead, after bleeding in his father’s arms for 10 hours. The bereaved brother also did not know that from 6 A.M. that same Saturday, Tom, a field worker for the Physicians for Human Rights nonprofit organization, was in touch with me.

 

This was a case of death on via live broadcast: Until the battery of the father’s cell phone went dead, Shurrab phoned his relatives in Gaza and the United States, as well as the Red Crescent and the Red Cross, Tom from PHR, and local journalists.

 

The humanitarian cease-fire, as it was called by the IDF, had lasted on that Friday from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M. The father, who was driving, and his two sons passed an IDF checking position, and were allowed to continue on. Around 1 P.M. they reached the Abu Zeidan supermarket, in the Al Fukhary neighborhood in eastern Khan Yunis, whose residents had fled at the start of the ground attack. The neighboring house, the largest building on the street, had been turned into an army base two weeks beforehand. Shots were fired from this base at the Shurrab car. Wounded in his chest, Kassab got out of the jeep, collapsed and died. Ibrahim jumped out of the vehicle, and was then wounded in his leg by unrelenting gunfire.

 

The father was wounded in the arm, but managed to drag his surviving son to a nearby wall. He saw a tank, and soldiers coming and going. The soldiers could see him. At 11 P.M., 10 hours after the shooting, still pinned against the wall, the father noticed that his bleeding son was becoming cold and that his breathing was becoming labored. He managed to carry his son back to the gunshot-riddled vehicle, hoping it would be warmer there. But half an hour after midnight, between Friday and Saturday, the son drew his last breath, in his father’s arms.

 

All this occurred some 50 or 100 meters from the soldiers. Periodically, the newly bereaved father spoke on the phone with Tom who, stationed in his Tel Aviv home throughout the night, joined the Red Cross in efforts to persuade the army to allow an ambulance to come immediately to the scene. The European Gaza Hospital is located some two kilometers, a one- or two-minute ride, from this area.

 

Around 9:30 Saturday morning Tom was informed that the IDF had given authorization for the ambulance to come at noon that day.

 

At the time, the IDF Spokesman relayed that, “In general, during the cease-fire the IDF opened fire only when rockets were fired at Israel, or shots were fired at the IDF. We are unable to investigate and retrieve the facts of every incident, or to verify or deny each piece of information that is brought to our attention. The ambulance’s entry was allowed only after an assessment was made of the situation in the field, and a decision was reached that operational conditions allowed such entry. The wounded persons [!!] were evacuated by the Palestinian health ministry, and brought to the hospital in Rafah.”

 

I well remember those anonymous solders who destroyed the Shurrab family. Upon my arrival at the site on January 24, I discovered that they had left behind not only the usual images of destruction, and the routine filth, at the Palestinian home from which they fired shots against this family: They also left behind the inscription, “Kahane was right.”

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4.  Haaretz

Monday, December 2, 2012

Israel is missing another opportunity for peace

The Israeli government doesn’t want peace; there’s nothing new in that: It has been the proven way since the establishment of the state. But the public, for its part, does want peace.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-is-missing-another-opportunity-for-peace-1.405001

By Merav Michaeli

Tags: Middle East peace Palestinian reconciliation

Reading through the papers these days gives one a sense of deja vu – as if we are back in 2002 and the Saudi peace initiative is being presented for the first time: All the Arab states are offering Israel full normalization of relations “in the context of peace,” in return for an independent Palestinian state in keeping with the 1967 borders and a just solution to the refugee issue.

 

An amazing historic initiative – and, seemingly, Israel’s greatest dream and its perfect triumph. But the Israeli regime doesn’t even respond, displaying total disregard as if the initiative never existed.

 

In 2007, the Saudi initiative was again approved by the Arab League, and still – not a single voice in response. The initiative was even ratified by the Organization of the Islamic Conference; but from Israel – nothing. It doesn’t even consider the option of entering into negotiations over it.

 

The thing is, it is not only the regime that is displaying total disregard. The Israeli media – frighteningly institutionalized as it has always been – also almost completely ignored the Saudi initiative. In fact, the initiative was so ignored that the vast majority of Israeli citizens – yes, all of you – aren’t even aware of the existence of the initiative and its historic, revolutionary content. And even those who did notice it thought to themselves: If it is getting overlooked that way, it must be really negligible and it’s probably me who misunderstood it.

 

And now, in real time, it is happening once again: Hamas is suspending its acts of terror, opting for popular resistance, recognizing a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders and even joining the Palestine Liberation Organization, the organization empowered to conduct negotiations with Israel. They aren’t saying it outright, but joining the PLO also means accepting the agreements signed with Israel; and there is also the recognition of Israel, as well as responsibility and partnership in political decisions.

 

This, too, is a truly historic event. Granted, Ismail Haniyeh did visit with the Muslim Brotherhood on Saturday and make declarations about the destruction of Israel; but he is the man who wasn’t consulted vis-a-vis joining the PLO and who is about to lose his post as prime minister, and he is kicking and screaming – not at us, but at Khaled Meshal.

 

On the other hand, at the same time, the Palestinian Authority has proposed that Israel release 100 prisoners in return for the resumption of talks – prisoners from the pre-Oslo period, less than one-tenth of the number released in the Shalit deal. But from Israel once again – absolutely nothing.

 

A spokesman for Netanyahu – not even the man himself – explains why it isn’t good and isn’t even being considered; and the media again fall in line, dedicating barely a report and a half with the word “historic,” in the same tone as if the issue at hand was the crowning of the “American Idol” winner.

 

Gideon Levy wrote about it yesterday in an article in Haaretz; and on Thursday, Haaretz published an editorial on the subject – everyone plays his part and the caravan moves on, as if nothing has happened.

 

Instead of drawing our attention to the new opportunity, the media and politicians continue to distract us with their obsessive wallowing in the issue of the yellow stars. The Holocaust again – and again, and again and again. Why give a chance to something that can extricate us from this pattern of the victim that we find so cozy to live in?

 

And meanwhile, in Bibi-land, new settlements are sprouting up and outposts are being authorized; and Minister Yisrael Katz is pushing ahead quickly with the rail line and Israeli sovereignty from Ariel to the Tapuah Junction to ensure the demise of the two-state solution. The Israeli government doesn’t want peace; there’s nothing new in that: It has been the proven way since the establishment of the state.

 

But the public, for its part, does want peace. The public did actually want an agreement. But the public, as usual, is exhausted from it all. Who cares? After all, there aren’t any terror attacks, so we don’t see Palestinians, not even on television. We don’t see the settlements either. Who can remember the particulars about Migron and Ramat Gilad when the cost of living is pressing down so hard?

 

But when the public wakes up one day and wants to know how it became so exploited by its government, how it continued to be sent to man checkpoints and lose sons under the excuse that there is no partner for a deal and no one with whom to make peace, when in fact there was, it would be worthwhile to think back to these very days: Here’s another opportunity that beckons before us, right under our noses; but our noses are stuffed by the stench of political and social rot, which continues to accumulate with every passing day.

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5.  Haaretz

Monday, January 2, 2012

 

Palestinians plan diplomatic steps to put Israel under ‘international siege’

Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to meet Netanyahu’s envoy in Jordan Tuesday for preliminary talks aimed at setting an agenda for peace negotiations.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/palestinians-plan-diplomatic-steps-to-put-israel-under-international-siege-1.404973

By Barak Ravid, Avi Issacharoff and Natasha Mozgovaya

Tags: Palestinian reconciliation Palestinian Authority Benjamin Netanyahu UN Security Council UNESCO Israel settlements

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s envoy Isaac Molho will meet with top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat in Amman Tuesday for preliminary talks aimed at setting an agenda for peace negotiations, even as the Palestinians are preparing a diplomatic campaign that aims to put Israel under “a real international siege.”

 

Among those who have been pushing hard for the meeting Tuesday, the first official meeting between Israeli and Palestinian representatives in several months, are Jordan’s King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh and the Quartet’s Mideast envoy, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Senior Israeli officials said there was very little chance that the meeting would lead to the renewal of negotiations.

 

The diplomatic offensive the Palestinians are planning to launch later this month could include pushing the UN Security Council to pass a resolution condemning settlement construction and urging the International Criminal Court to try Israel for war crimes related to its 2008-2009 incursion into the Gaza Strip.

 

2012 “will be the start of an unprecedented diplomatic campaign on the part of the Palestinian leadership, and it will be a year of pressure on Israel that will put it under a real international siege,” said Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Sha’ath, according to an Israeli Foreign Ministry document. “The campaign will be similar to the one waged against apartheid in South Africa.”

 

According to information that has reached Israel, the Palestinians are considering several steps as part of their campaign:

 

* Asking the UN Security Council in February to pass a resolution that would condemn settlement construction and impose international sanctions on Israel. If a resolution were brought to a vote, all Security Council members other than the United States would be expected to vote in favor.

 

* Urging the International Criminal Court in The Hague to try Israel for war crimes related to Operation Cast Lead. If that fails, Palestinian officials are likely to encourage Palestinian citizens to file lawsuits against Israel in Western courts.

 

* Pushing for the implementation the articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention that ban the construction of communities and transfer of populations in occupied territory. The Palestinians have been trying for some time now to persuade the Swiss government to convene the signatories on the document for a special debate on the subject of applying the Geneva Convention in the West Bank.

 

* Asking the UN General Assembly or the UN Human Rights Council to send an international fact-finding committee to look into the settlement issue.

 

* Renewing efforts in the UN Security Council to secure full-membership status for Palestine, or asking the UN General Assembly for status as a nonmember state. A similar move was suspended last October after UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency, accepted Palestine as a member, in response to which Israel froze Palestinian tax revenues.

 

* Organizing mass rallies against Israel in the West Bank, as part of a non-violent popular uprising. In reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah, the head of the Hamas political bureau, Khaled Meshal, said the two movements would focus their activities on a popular uprising in an effort to draw international attention to the Israeli occupation.

 

The diplomatic campaign is expected to begin January 26, which marks the end of the three-month period the Quartet alloted to Israel and the Palestinian Authority for resuming talks and presenting substantive proposals on borders and security arrangements.

 

The Palestinians agreed not to take any unilateral steps in international forums before that date.

 

No breakthrough in Israeli-Palestinian talks is expected before then, according to an Israeli source who met recently with several senior Palestinian officials.

 

In an interview Saturday with Palestinian television, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said that if the Quartet failed in its efforts to renew talks between Israel and the Palestinians before January 26, “all options will be open” as far as the Palestinian Authority is concerned.

 

Speaking about tomorrow’s meeting between Molho and Erekat, senior Israeli officials said there is a deep mistrust on both sides and that the Israelis and Palestinians are each trying to convince the Quartet to hold the other side responsible for the failure to resume peace talks.

 

The meeting does not mark the resumption of negotiations, just a run-up to them that involves deciding on the agenda for future peace talks and the principles on which they would be based.

 

“We’re talking about negotiations on holding negotiations,” said a senior Israeli source.

 

Blair and Judeh will sit in on the first part of tomorrow’s meeting between Molho and Erekat, as will representatives of all the parties that make up the Quartet: the United States, United Nations, Russia and the European Union. In the second part of the meeting, Judeh will hold discussions with Molho and Erekat.

 

In a statement from the Prime Minister’s Bureau, Israel thanked Abdullah and Judeh “for their initiative in convening the sides in keeping with the Quartet guidelines.”

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