Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Illegal settlements

According to Haaretz;

A secret, two year investigation by the defense establishment shows that there has been rampant illegal construction in dozens of settlements and in many cases involving privately owned Palestinian properties.

The information in the study was presented to two defense ministers, Amir Peretz and his predecessor Shaul Mofaz, but was not released in public and a number of people participating in the investigations were asked to sign non-disclosure agreements.

According to security sources familiar with the study, the material is "political and diplomatic dynamite."

In conversations with Haaretz, the sources maintained that the report is not being made public in order to avoid a crisis with the U.S. government.


This report should cause a lot of concern within Israeli society. We should be held accountable for such illegal activities, and should make huge efforts to remedy this and other similar situations.

I am glad that such a study was done. It has exposed a wrong doing and now it's up to the people to make enough noise to stop the constructions and hold those accountable so no other illegal settlements will be built.

Read rest of article here

Friday, October 20, 2006

Human, Citizen, Jew

This is a nice article about Hannah Arendt

Thursday, October 05, 2006

Restoring the identity of the "Left"

I have been continuously whining about the consistent downfall of the "Left". It has become evident that Anti-Americanism has overtaken all the principles on which the Left was founded.

The Euston Manifesto is a great study that goes into more depth of this new reality plaguing the globe. Here are some quotes from the article:

"The manifesto contains three main points of criticism: against "the anti-Americanism now infecting so much left-liberal (and some conservative) thinking"; against making excuses "to indulgently 'understand' reactionary regimes and movements for which democracy is a hated enemy - regimes that oppress their own peoples and movements that aspire to do so"; and against "some who exploit the legitimate grievances of the Palestinian people under occupation by Israel, and conceal prejudice against the Jewish people behind the formula of 'anti-Zionism'.""

As a result, Lappin explains, the people behind the Stop the War Coalition (which organized mass rallies before and after the invasion of Iraq) have become the mainstream of the left, and bring with them radical positions on Israel and extremist Islam. "Basically," Lappin says, "the anti-American left has not changed. It still sees the U.S. as the source of all evil."

Geras adds: "The situation after 9/11 created some very serious friction on the left, some of which became anti-American at all costs, anti-imperialist. It became a left that sees the world in black and white, where every American initiative is bad."

As a result, the three agree, the manifesto appeared. One of its sections states: "We must define ourselves against those for whom the entire progressive democratic agenda has been subordinated to a blanket and simplistic 'anti-imperialism' and/or hostility to the current U.S. administration." The manifesto's authors consider the conciliatory attitude toward Muslim extremism as part of this trend.

"In the name of cultural relativism, the left now supports Islamic values, primarily because they are anti-American," says Lappin. "The left is also trying to 'understand' terrorism, and understanding in this case is reflected in an attempt to justify it and argue that terrorism stems from poverty and distress. They are not trying to save human lives, only to promote their political objectives."

Geras also feels "a large part of the left is acting indulgently" toward terrorism and Muslim extremism.

Counsell, for his part, is more cautious, saying only, "Most of those on the left who have associated themselves with Muslim extremism are weeds," but makes it clear that he does not accept attempts to justify terrorism.


Read more here

Monday, October 02, 2006

Prisoner exchange rejected by Hamas

Initially, we knew that Israel would reject the idea of a prisoner swap when Shalit was kidnapped. I mean, if Israel release 500 prisoners for one soldier, it would only encourage more kidnapping. On the same token, Israel has freed hundreds of prisoners as part of a swap (including dead soldiers) throughout recent history.

Then you have thousands of people demanding a prisoner swap, especially Shalit's family, and the pressure continues to build - what to do?

As historically proven, Israel is capable of giving into certain demands.

However, we now see that Israel has indeed been talking about a swap, and Hamas rejected an offer.

"Hamas turned down an Israeli offer to free between 900 and 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for captured Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu Gheit said Monday.

"Egypt succeeded in securing a swap deal with Israel to free [Palestinian] women, children, elders and those who have been serving long prison terms in exchange for the soldier," Abu Gheit told Al Arabiya television.

"A deal that could have guaranteed freeing 900-1,000 prisoners - but sadly they have decided to keep holding him [Shalit]," said Abu Gheit."

So what happens now? Nobody knows. All we can hope for is the safe return of Shalit sooner rather than later.

Read the article here