Sharon and Israeli PoliticsIsrael and Palestine
Two leaders dominate this discussion -- Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon -- even while the US and Israel try to promote Abu mazen.
There is little need to document the shortcomings of Yasser Arafat -- they are covered every day in the American press.
... But what about the other partner in the peace? What kind of man is Ariel Sharon? What's his history? What's the mentality and political picture in Israel under his leadership?
Friday, December 31, 2004
To be called a tahman (a schemer) is a definite compliment: We are record-breakers in stealing intellectual property and in illegal copying smuggling
Haaretz - Israel News - We re all suckers for playing that game: "December 29, 2004 Tevet 17, 5765
...
For better or worse, this is part of the world of concepts we have created. To be called a tahman (a schemer) is a definite compliment. "Professor" is a disgraceful sobriquet, along with "good soul." As for sucker - there is no one stupider or more ridiculous than the person who wins that particular title.
A sucker is a person who behaves according to the (unwritten) law. He pays his taxes, doesn't link up to cable TV without paying, and doesn't buy into the "one nation-one software program" as others do smilingly, understandingly, with pleasure and even undisguised pride - we'll fix those anti-Semites. We are record-breakers in stealing intellectual property and in illegal copying and smuggling of CDs.
We have become a pariah state not only because our policy is incomprehensible and unacceptable, but also because we have become a major refuge for black-market money, a world center for trafficking in women, and attained seniority status as drug-sellers and smugglers.
...
And it's not limited to everyday behavior. We'll get out of Gaza, but when we do, Hamas will have a victory party and we, heaven forbid, will look like suckers. So let's kill as many as possible, blow up a few hundred houses, before we leave. Nobody can say we ran - they'll beg us to leave! (Army commanders have a sterile, scientific military term for this: "rehabilitation of the force of deterrence".)
I was taught by etiquette expert Hannah Bavli that the greatest success is to get what you want while leaving the other person convinced that he had come out on top. It's much more preferable than attaining your goal and leaving the other person defeated and beaten down - unless you're dealing locust eradication.
...
If we don't go back to being law-abiding suckers, and fast, and denounce in no uncertain terms the "non-suckers," there is a reasonable fear that the coming generations will decide that they are not suckers, and will get out of the country we are creating for them.
The writer is a former deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry.
Haaretz - Israel News - We re all suckers for playing that game: "December 29, 2004 Tevet 17, 5765
...
For better or worse, this is part of the world of concepts we have created. To be called a tahman (a schemer) is a definite compliment. "Professor" is a disgraceful sobriquet, along with "good soul." As for sucker - there is no one stupider or more ridiculous than the person who wins that particular title.
A sucker is a person who behaves according to the (unwritten) law. He pays his taxes, doesn't link up to cable TV without paying, and doesn't buy into the "one nation-one software program" as others do smilingly, understandingly, with pleasure and even undisguised pride - we'll fix those anti-Semites. We are record-breakers in stealing intellectual property and in illegal copying and smuggling of CDs.
We have become a pariah state not only because our policy is incomprehensible and unacceptable, but also because we have become a major refuge for black-market money, a world center for trafficking in women, and attained seniority status as drug-sellers and smugglers.
...
And it's not limited to everyday behavior. We'll get out of Gaza, but when we do, Hamas will have a victory party and we, heaven forbid, will look like suckers. So let's kill as many as possible, blow up a few hundred houses, before we leave. Nobody can say we ran - they'll beg us to leave! (Army commanders have a sterile, scientific military term for this: "rehabilitation of the force of deterrence".)
I was taught by etiquette expert Hannah Bavli that the greatest success is to get what you want while leaving the other person convinced that he had come out on top. It's much more preferable than attaining your goal and leaving the other person defeated and beaten down - unless you're dealing locust eradication.
...
If we don't go back to being law-abiding suckers, and fast, and denounce in no uncertain terms the "non-suckers," there is a reasonable fear that the coming generations will decide that they are not suckers, and will get out of the country we are creating for them.
The writer is a former deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry.
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Aljazeera.Net - Israeli MP: Arabs are worms
Aljazeera.Net - Israeli MP: Arabs are worms: "Tuesday 14 December 2004, 1:01 Makka Time, 22:01 GMT
An Israeli Knesset member from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ruling Likud party has described all Arabs as worms in a parliamentary debate.
Yehiel Hazan, parliamentary leader of the biggest lobby group for Jewish colonists illegally settling in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, said on Monday:
"The Arabs are worms. You find them everywhere like worms, underground as well as above."
Hazan continued: "Until we understand that we're doing business with a nation of assassins and terrorists who don't want us here, there will be no let up. These worms have not stopped attacking Jews for a century."
The Knesset member refused to rescind his comments as demanded by the speaker of parliament.
Aljazeera.Net - Israeli MP: Arabs are worms: "Tuesday 14 December 2004, 1:01 Makka Time, 22:01 GMT
An Israeli Knesset member from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ruling Likud party has described all Arabs as worms in a parliamentary debate.
Yehiel Hazan, parliamentary leader of the biggest lobby group for Jewish colonists illegally settling in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, said on Monday:
"The Arabs are worms. You find them everywhere like worms, underground as well as above."
Hazan continued: "Until we understand that we're doing business with a nation of assassins and terrorists who don't want us here, there will be no let up. These worms have not stopped attacking Jews for a century."
The Knesset member refused to rescind his comments as demanded by the speaker of parliament.
Saturday, December 11, 2004
Israeli banks profit from Holocaust: Lapid, former justice minister: Leumi is "last bank in the world that refuses to pay money to Shoah survivors"
Aljazeera.Net - Israeli banks profit from Holocaust: "By Jonathan Cook in Jerusalem | Tuesday 07 December 2004, 16:48 Makka Time, 13:48 GMT | Banks object to how Holocaust assets have been calculated
Investigations by the Israeli parliament have dug up disturbing evidence that Israel has been profiting for decades from vast sums invested in local banks by European Jews who died in the Nazi death camps.
And even now the banks are delaying returning the money to their heirs.
But unlike a similar scandal that hit European banks in the mid-90s, almost no pressure is being brought to bear on the Israeli banks by the Israeli government or by Jewish reparation organisations representing Holocaust families, who were the main critics of the European banks.
The Israeli government is believed to be keeping quiet because it is deeply involved in the local banking scandal itself, and the Jewish organisations are reported to be concerned that exposure of the story will damage Israel's international reputation.
Instead the Knesset committee which unearthed the shocking revelations has been forced to sit on its unpublished report for the past 18 months as the banks dictate terms to the inquiry, largely supported by the government.
One dissenting voice has been Tommy Lapid, who this month left his post as justice minister. He called Bank Leumi, the bank believed to hold the lion's share of the Holocaust accounts, "the last bank in the world that refuses to pay money to Shoah survivors". ...
Aljazeera.Net - Israeli banks profit from Holocaust: "By Jonathan Cook in Jerusalem | Tuesday 07 December 2004, 16:48 Makka Time, 13:48 GMT | Banks object to how Holocaust assets have been calculated
Investigations by the Israeli parliament have dug up disturbing evidence that Israel has been profiting for decades from vast sums invested in local banks by European Jews who died in the Nazi death camps.
And even now the banks are delaying returning the money to their heirs.
But unlike a similar scandal that hit European banks in the mid-90s, almost no pressure is being brought to bear on the Israeli banks by the Israeli government or by Jewish reparation organisations representing Holocaust families, who were the main critics of the European banks.
The Israeli government is believed to be keeping quiet because it is deeply involved in the local banking scandal itself, and the Jewish organisations are reported to be concerned that exposure of the story will damage Israel's international reputation.
Instead the Knesset committee which unearthed the shocking revelations has been forced to sit on its unpublished report for the past 18 months as the banks dictate terms to the inquiry, largely supported by the government.
One dissenting voice has been Tommy Lapid, who this month left his post as justice minister. He called Bank Leumi, the bank believed to hold the lion's share of the Holocaust accounts, "the last bank in the world that refuses to pay money to Shoah survivors". ...
