Haifa Diary

The Palestinians are doing their best to derail peace talks with Israel

2012-01-26T00:00:00.003+02:00

The following article represents the frustrations of the Israelis who cannot see a peace partner in sight. This report confirms that in spite of Jordan's attempt to start peace talks, there is not a spirit of willingness on the side of the Palestinians

Con Coughlin January 24th, 2012

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/concoughlin/100132355/the-palestinians-are-doing-their-best-to-derail-peace-talks-with-israel/

While the world's attention is fixed on the deepening drama of Iran's nuclear programme and the continuing fall-out from the wave of anti-government protests in the Arab world (I still refuse to countenance the concept of an Arab Spring), it is hardly surprising that attempts to revive the Palestinian-Israeli peace dialogue are generating many headlines.

And yet this crucial issue is quietly reaching its own crisis point as the two sides approach the January 26 deadline set by the Quartet – the US, EU, UN and Russia – for the resumption of direct negotiations, with the aim of reaching a final settlement by the end of the year.

For anyone acquainted with the poisonous politics of the Middle East, resolving the long-standing dispute between Israel and the Palestinians would go a long way in undermining the cause of the Islamist militants who are trying to hijack the current wave of anti-government protests in the region for their own ends. The whole raison d'etre of regimes like Iran is that they claim they are fighting on behalf of the Palestinians to liberate their land from Israel's occupation. But if Israel suddenly did a deal, and made peace Palestinians, the Islamists would suddenly find themselves left high and dry.

Most people in the West believe the main reason the talks are not going anywhere is because of Israel's refusal to compromise on its settlement building programme. But while the Netanyahu government's insistence on building settlements is certainly an obstacle, I am told by Western diplomats close to the exploratory talks that are currently taking place in Jordan between the two sides that the real reason they are running into difficulty is because the Palestinian delegation, led by the veteran Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, is refusing to take the talks seriously.

For example, I am told by a Western diplomat working for the Quartet that when the Israeli delegation arrived for a meeting last weekend in Amman, the Jordanian capital, to present their latest security proposals, Mr Erekat simply refused to enter the room.

My man in the Jordan conference room says that he was surprised at Mr Erekat's behaviour, especially as the topic under discussion was supposed to be one of the two main topics the Palestinian delegation wanted on the agenda for the Jordan talks, which are a precursor for the more formal talks that are supposed to take place once both sides have agreed a negotiating framework.

Mr Erekat's refusal to enter the negotiating room and hear what the Israelis had to say does not bode well for the Quartet's attempts to get the two sides to resume full negotiations, and raises questions about just how serious the Palestinians are about getting a peace deal. With Israel feeling increasingly isolated as world attention focuses on the fall-out from the recent revolts in Libya, Egypt and Syria, there is a growing suspicion among Western diplomats that the Palestinians are working on the basis that, if they draw out the process, they will be able to strike a better deal with Israel.

If that is the case, then they are badly mistaken. The real enemy in the Middle East today is Iran, not Israel, and by playing into the hands of Islamist militants who seek Israel's destruction, the Palestinians could see their cause being overtaken by a far greater regional conflict.

A Gem of a Tourist Center on our Doorstep

2012-01-22T16:38:00.003+02:00

About an hour north of Tel Aviv, nestled in the Carmel Mountains between picturesque Zichron Yaakov and bustling Haifa, a Druze village called Daliat el-Carmel has become a popular weekend destination for bargain-hunting, ethnic cuisine, family activities and exploring history. "This is the southernmost Druze town in the world and the largest in Israel," says Ragaa Mansour, a member of the Druze sect that is based mainly in Lebanon and Syria. "We have a wonderful market, known throughout the world, and also lots of restaurants, cafés and inns."
Activities in Daliat el-Carmel and environs run from olive pressing and weaving demonstrations to biking, horseback riding, nature walks and guided 4x4 excursions.

Visitors also flock to the villages to sample stuffed grape leaves, squash dishes, mansaf (lamb cooked in a sauce of fermented dried yogurt and served with rice or groats), mujadara (a lentil and onion pilaf), bulgur, homemade labaneh cheese and fresh pita bread sprinkled with za'atar and hummus. Villagers even bake and sell pita at roadside stands for those who can't wait to find an eatery.

"The Druze are very polite and really welcome tourists no matter if they are English-speaking, German-speaking or Hebrew-speaking," says licensed tour guide Akiva Oren. "The food and the market are the main attractions, but on weekends the main street is so crowded with Israeli visitors that you may have to wait in line."

Exploring Druze heritage
Two years ago, Mansour opened the Carmel Center for Druze Heritage, a hands-on living museum dedicated to showcasing the traditional dress, foods, crafts and industries of the Druze people, religion and culture.

Home of Israel's national anthem
Mansour points out the little-known fact that the words to Israel's national anthem, Hatikvah, were written in Usfiya, her hometown.

The Saturday market
No matter from which direction you're driving into Daliat el-Carmel, says Oren, the bonus is the beautiful scenery from all approaches. Even from the direction of Usfiya, which is where last year's devastating fire began and burned down much of the Carmel forest, the vistas are breathtaking, he says.

On weekends, hundreds of Israelis from the center and north of the country drive these roads to find bargains in Daliat el-Carmel's old marketplace, located at the heart of the village. Open on Saturdays, when many Israeli retail centers are closed for the Jewish Sabbath, the bazaar boasts dozens of stores offering varied wares, alongside stalls featuring Druze staples such as olive oil, olives and pita bread.

For more details see http://tinyurl.com/728vdcb

Israel continues to help Palestinians despite politics

2012-01-21T22:45:00.000+02:00

Despite political tensions that at times threaten to boil over, cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians in the field of medicine continues to advance. Nearly 115,000 Palestinian patients were treated at Israeli hospitals in 2011, and over 100 Palestinian doctors interned at Israeli hospitals. "Every year more patients are sent to Israeli hospitals," said Civil Administration Health Coordinator, Mrs. Dalia Bassa.

"We hope to train Palestinian doctors and improve Palestinian medicine, strengthening cooperation. Health is a separate issue, Israeli and Palestinian doctors are friends, making medicine a bridge for peace."

In related news, the IDF reported on Frieday that during the month of December, 4,373 trucks carrying 139,678 tons of goods including food, medicine, construction material, clothing and other goods entered the Gaza Strip from Israel through the Kerem Shalom crossing.

One year later, the Carmel is recovering

2012-01-18T23:09:00.001+02:00

In early December 2010, the worst fire in Israel's history claimed the lives of 44 people, burned more than one third of the Carmel Forest - about five million pine, oak, cypress and pistachio trees and countless plants and creatures - and damaged thousands of homes. Firefighters from Israel and 18 countries finally put out the blaze, which displaced 17,000 people.

One year later, there are signs of life. Winter flowers are blooming in the charred areas, and new undergrowth is coloring the landscape green again as the trees slowly regenerate. The University of Haifa has given scholarships to 44 students in memory of each victim of the disaster, in return for a commitment to actively perpetuate his or her memory.

These small steps are significant. But the human and natural damage from the massive fire started by a couple of careless teens will be a long process.

For full report see http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/Mount_Carmel_recovering_fire-Jan_2012.htm

The Israeli Economy 2011

2012-01-12T12:34:00.001+02:00

The Israeli economy continued to withstand the global economic crisis in 2011, while maintaining growth:(source Israeli Finance Ministry) Israel's GDP per-capita is forecasted to grow by 3% in 2011. Also, Israel managed to decrease its unemployment to an historic low level, standing at only 5.5% in the 2nd quarter of 2011, and 5.6% in the 3rd quarter of 2011.

Inflation in the last 12 months (Nov. 2011 compared to Nov. 2010) stands at 2.6%, within the target bandwidth of the Bank of Israel (1%-3%). Average monthly Consumer Price Index (where 2010=100) grew from 101.4 in Nov. 2010 to 104.1 in Oct. 2011. The Bank of Israel Interest rate grew gradually from 2% in Jan. 2011 to 3.25% in June. In between June to September, Bank of Israel interest rate was stagnant, and then was gradually decreased to 2.75% in Dec. 2011.

Both imports and exports knew a recovery in the 1st half of 2011, with a decline in the 3rd quarter. Exports of goods and services are forecasted to grow by 3.8% in 2011, and imports of goods and services are forecasted to grow by 9.2% in 2011.

China was Israel’s third-largest export destination in the first three quarters of 2011, and is expected to bypass the UK and become Israel's second export destination by the end of 2011. That, even without adding Israel's trade figures with Hong Kong to the total trade figures with China.

Argentina became the last of the South American Mercosur trade block of four to sign a free trade agreement with Israel. Trade in 2010 between Israel and other Mercosur countries (Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay) reached $1.8 billion. Trade with Argentina, on the other hand, only reached $130 million due to high tariffs on Israeli goods there.

Another Aspect of Gaza's Flourishing Economy

2012-01-08T23:34:00.002+02:00

The Coordination and Liaison office in "Erez" crossing, had a training and advanced study sessions for florists from the Gaza strip,

"The Palestinians are planning to export and market the carnation flowers from the Gaza strip for quite a while and now that the export season is beginning, they arrived to study how to better their product and understand how to input the knowledge they acquired from the harvesting,
the packing and the importance of maintaining the proper temperature and the actual export." Said the officer of agriculture in the Coordination and Liaison office in Gaza, Mr. Uri Madar.

The beginning of the marketing process is set to last approximately 6 months and end in May, when the peak of the export shall be around Christmas during December, and around the European Valentine's day in February, which brings the consumption of flowers to a peak and the Palestinian production is proud to be a part of this flourishing economy.

The growing of the flowers themselves is only a part of the process. Eventually, the quality is the main component affecting the profit, and the farmers' work is based on the knowledge they acquired in Israel.

The 180 acres of the carnation flower that are spread in the Rafah area, have a growing potential of 25 million flowers which will bring the Gaza strip approximately a profit of 18 million NIS.

To well exploit the short season that had just begun, the Palestinians must maximize the production, maintain the flower's quality and in parallel compete with other hard working competitors in countries such as Columbia and Kenya which market their flowers in the Netherlands, which are of a higher quality which the clients clearly prefer.

The number of workers on the project clearly grows during the export time period and will take up about 540 workers, and is expected to provide about 100,000 work days for the Palestinian workers.

The study sessions that were given by professionals and Israeli flower guides were supported by the "Park Organization", and the government of Holland. These sessions were not to qualify the Rafah farmers just for this export season,
but to acquire them with the helpful knowledge they could use to better their crop and the area's agriculture in general, enter a variety of crops in to the world's market while standing in the international standards.
During the sessions, the topic of changing the growing crops in Gaza, since the Carnation flower is "suffering" from low consumption for the past few years and that is why another day of meeting and studying was agreed upon in January 2012,
with the topic of changing the flowers growing in the area, where new brands will be suggested and proposed in regard to the suitable macro climate in the area.

The Palestinian farmers that are proud of their home crops, will soon use all of the display stages possible to show their product. Who ever would like to visit and get a first impression of the product,
will be able to do so in two main exhibitions in which the Palestinian farmers will take part: The international flower exhibition in Berlin in the beginning of September 2012, during which the farmers will present their home grown carnation flowers in the Palestinian booth, which Holland's government will help set up.

Another exhibition is the Israeli flower exhibition in the Botanical gardens in Jerusalem in April 2012. As a part of the exhibition a booth for these farmers is planned to present their local carnation flowers.

Jerusalem Continues to Reduce Gaps in Arab Neighborhoods

2012-01-06T12:32:00.002+02:00

The inauguration of the first post office in Issawiya, Jerusalem is a landmark event, which follows an intensive year of infrastructure upgrades in Arab neighborhoods. Improvements in Issawiya include:

*Upgrading entrances to the neighborhood *Paving roads *Installing speed bumps throughout the neighborhood *Installing supporting walls and safety fences

*Upgrading roads and fixing damage *Improving drainage systems *Adding garbage cans *Installing new streetlights

Mayor Nir Barkat participated in a tour and ribbon cutting ceremony in the Issawiya neighborhood of Jerusalem on Wednesday, 04.01.12. Wednesday's dedication followed a year of unprecedented upgrading of the infrastructure of the neighborhood, with the maximum adjustments to the needs of the residents. In the framework of the tour, the first post office in the neighborhood—with 1,050 mail boxes—was inaugurated, followed by the unveiling of the sign of the newly named "Al-Madras Street".

Throughout the current administration, the municipality of Jerusalem has worked to improve the quality of life for Arab residents of Jerusalem. Under the leadership of Mayor Nir Barkat, the municipality explored practical solutions for postal services in Arab neighborhoods. A suitable and accessible post-office building was located and renovated with financing of the municipality (NIS 17,000). The "Israel Postal Company" supplied 1,050 mail boxes. The post-office will be operated in coordination with local Community Administration.

Mayor Barkat: "I'd like to thank local officials for understanding the importance of opening a post office in Issawiya for the benefit of all residents. Today we are naming and dedicating the first of 86 roads that were, up to this point, unnamed. There is much work left to be done, but what we have accomplished together thus far is nothing short of exceptional."

Mukhtar Darweesh thanked Mayor Barkat for his visit to Issawiya: "I am happy that you came to dedicate the new street, new school, and improved roads of Issawiya. We thank you for the cooperation, for serving our residents, and for helping to improve their lives."

The post office in Issawiya represents one example of the revolution in postal services begun by Barkat. Besides the renovation of the building and establishing a post office in the neighborhood with municipality financing, a post office has also been opened in the Jabal Mukaber neighborhood and in the future, a post office will be opened in the Ras-al-Amud neighborhood. The reopening of the post office in Abu-Tor is underway.

In 2011, significant infrastructure improvements took place, including upgrading the eastern and southern entrances to the neighborhood, the installation of supporting walls on Munir Hassan road, safety fence installation, repairs to the asphalt of the sidewalks and the installation of road bumps. The Department of Sanitation improved drainage, added 2 large retention pools, replaced 10 garbage cans and added 6 new ones. The Illumination Department at the Municipality Improvements Section installed 17 new streetlights and the Maintenance Department repaired holes and paved several roads.

Mayor Barkat said of the upgrades to the Issawiya neighborhood: "It is our duty to invest in the Arab neighborhoods of the city and to reduce the gaps that are a result of decades of neglect by the government and the municipality. We will not accept a situation in which residents of Jerusalem do not have decent roads, mail, and other basic services. These investments improve the quality of life of Jerusalem residents and the results can already be seen, felt and heard."

News You Won't See in your Media 1.1.12

2012-01-05T23:20:00.002+02:00

With thanks to a partner, the British Israel Group (BIG)

• Hospital acquired infections, one of the leading causes of preventable death in the developed world, may have finally met their match thanks to an inexpensive, genetically engineered cleansing solution developed in Israeli laboratories. The researchers, Aviv Sourasky of Ichilov Medical Centre and Udi Qimron from Tel Aviv University, say that the spray can be applied to any surface where there is a high concentration of germs such as door handles, bed and hand-rails. (Israel 21C)

• Israeli archeologist working on the City of David dig, below Jerusalem’s Old City, have recently unearthed a very rare discovery, a coin-sized clay seal that appears to have a link to rituals performed in the Jewish Temple, about 2,000 years ago. The seal reads, in Aramaic, “Pure for G-d.” According to a Biblical scholar, the seal is very special because it was found right next to the site of the Temple and is similar to what we see described in the Mishna. It may have been used for certifying the ritual purity of oil for use in the Temple or perhaps animals intended for sacrifice.

• Hamas’ Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh recently used the group’s 24th anniversary to remind everyone of its real goals. In his speech made at the ceremony he said that Hamas may work for the “interim objective of liberation of Gaza, the West Bank or Jerusalem,” but added that Hamas’ long term “strategic” goal is to eliminate all of Israel. Also in his speech, Haniyeh stated, “The armed resistance and the armed struggle are the path and the strategic choice for liberating the Palestinian land from the (Mediterranean) sea to the (Jordan) river and for the expulsion of the invaders and usurpers (Israel)….We won’t relinquish one inch of the land of Palestine.” He also promised that Hamas will “lead Intifada after Intifada until we liberate Palestine – all of Palestine, Allah willing. Allah Akbar and praise Allah.”

• There is huge excitement in the scholarly world about the recent discovery of ancient Jewish scrolls in a cave on the Silk Road in Afghanistan. If the scrolls are authenticated this may be the most significant find in the Jewish world since that of the Cairo Geniza (a geniza is a burial site for ancient Jewish texts) in the 19th century. The scrolls date from around 1,000 years ago and are in Arabic, Judeo-Arabic and ancient Persian. Among them is a scroll containing a dirge written for an important person whose identity is not known, an unknown history of the Kingdom of Judea, passages from the Book of Isaiah and some of the works of the 10th century sage, Rabbi Sa’adia Gaon. Rings inscribed with names such as Shmuel Bar-Joseph were also found at the site.

MASHAV's 50th Anniversary Celebration

2012-01-01T00:08:00.003+02:00

As we move into 2012, we can look back in Haifa to the prestigious celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center (MCTC) – the first training extension operated by MASHAV – Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation. MCTC was designed for women specializing in topics of socio-economic advancement, and was one of the first training centers in the world in that area of expertise.

The 2011 Conference topic was Science, Technology and Innovation: Education and Training for Women and Girls. It was intended for approximately 50 women leaders, active at senior policy-making level – ministers, MPs, professionals from the scientific and academic world, as well as senior officials working in NGOs and international and United Nations specialized agencies in developing and industrialized countries.

There were distinguished speakers – from Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cameroon, China, Ecuador, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Honduras, Israel, Kosovo, Lithuania, the Maldives, Mexico, New Zealand, Romania, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, and representatives of the National Innovation Fund (Kazakhstan), Save the Children Norway and UNECE – presented her case, offering persuasive figures, examples or arguments emphasizing the lack of equity in opportunities for the development of a scientific career for women, or inequality in access to decision-making sites in research institutions. Equally distinguished participants from Bhutan, El Salvador, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Myanmar, Nepal, the Palestinian Authority, Thailand and UNESCO participated in the debate. The exchange of experiences after three intense days of discussion was unified in a new proposal which the participants named the Declaration of Haifa.

May the New Year bring continuing success of the efforts of MASHAV in aiding underdeveloped countries

The Hypocrisy of Non Governmental Organisations

2011-12-29T23:16:00.003+02:00

Human Wrongs: The Worst of Amnesty, HRW, and others in 2011

As 2011 concludes, NGO Monitor www.ngo-monitor.org released a list (below) of the most outrageous and absurd NGO actions from the past year, demonstrating the political nature of NGOs involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict. NGO Monitor also published an op-ed in the Jerusalem Post on the NGOs' lack of preparedness in 2011 during the Arab Springs. Another op-ed appeared in JTA as a letter to Tom Friedman and Hillary Clinton, facetiously discussing the state of American democracy.

The list:

1. Amnesty International's new Israel Researcher, Deborah Hyams, has a history of radical anti-Israel activism.

2. HRW's Sarah Leah Whitson race-baited American Jews and ignored the embarrassment of having praised Saif-Islam Qaddafi as a human rights reformer.

3. German NGO "Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future (EVZ)" exploited government funding designated for Holocaust reparations and education in order to join the delegitimization campaign against Israel and added to new antisemitism.

4. Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) condemned as "war crimes" the IDF response to the terror attack in Eilat.

5. A number of NGOs attacked Judge Richard Goldstone after he honestly admitted the need to "reconsider" his UN report.

6. HRW appointed Shawan Jabarin to its Middle East Advisory Board, an alleged senior activist in the PFLP terrorist organization, and head of Al-Haq.

7. Members of Machsom Watch supported and hugged relatives of the murderers of the Fogel family killers.

8. Amnesty International defended Ittijah head Ameer Makhoul, a convicted Hezbollah spy.

9. Coalition of Women for Peace (CWP) accused the New Israel Fund (NIF) of being an "ally" of NGO Monitor, after NIF was forced to finally end funding to the pro-BDS group.

10. Wikileaks revealed that NIF Associate Director in Israel Hedva Radanovitz believed that "the disappearance of a Jewish state would not be the tragedy that Israelis fear since it would become more democratic."

11. Itamar Shapira of Breaking the Silence claimed "we are creating the terror against us, basically."

12. Kathleen Peratis, co-chair of HRW's Middle East and North Africa Advisory Committee, held meetings with Hamas

Eye camp by Israeli doctors in Nepal

2011-12-22T17:43:00.000+02:00

A team of seven Israeli volunteers including three doctors and one nurse visited Nepal for a 13-day stay in April 2011.

A team of seven Israeli volunteers including three doctors and one nurse visited Nepal for a 13-day stay in April 2011. The formal opening of the program "Vision Nepal 2011" took place at Dhulikhel Hospital, the Kathmandu University Hospital, on April 22, inaugurated by the Vice President of Nepal, Mr. Parmananda Jha.

The next day a symposium on cataract and oculoplasty was held at Dhulikhel Hospital in coordination with Embassy of Israel, Eye with Zion and the Nepal Ophthalmic Society. Some 60 participants including ophthalmologists, residents and optometrists from all over Nepal participated in this symposium.

A three-day camp at Mane Kharka, in Langtang Valley, was set up along with a team of medical doctors from Dhulikhel Hospital on April 24, where the Israeli and Nepali doctors together conducted examinations, treatments and surgeries. A total of 485 cases were examined during the camp, among which 54 cases of cataract were identified. Of these, 25 patients were operated on during the camp, and the rest were referred for treatment to Dhulikhel Hospital.

After returning to Kathmandu, the Israeli doctors continued to conduct treatments and cataract surgeries at Dhulikhel Hospital and wrapped up their mission on May 3, 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_gGCEn09LHI

Palestinian Kids Die as a Result of PA Boycott

2011-12-18T23:20:00.003+02:00

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights reported (PCHR) on December 4th that two Palestinian children, members of the same family, died recently as the result of a political decision by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. For the full article see http://tinyurl.com/caevz2h by "Missing Piece" dated Dec 18th

On November 2nd The PA ministry issued a decision decreasing the transfer of seriously ill patients to Israel, citing the high cost of treatment in Israeli hospitals.
The measure has nothing to with finances however, but was the result of the long standing PA policy of boycotting Israel.

PCHR submitted a report on the deaths of Mohammad Azzam Sahwil (9) and his sister Hiba Azzam Shawil (8):

Yearly thousands of Palestinian patients are treated in Israeli hospitals. From the Israeli perspective high costs were never a reason to refuse them treatment.

There have even been cases in which funds for treatment were raised among the Jewish public in Israel. The best known example of this was the story of Mohammed Abu Mustafa, a Palestinian baby from Gaza who was born without an immune system. The baby was saved by Israeli doctors after a anonymous Jewish Israeli donated the costs of the treatment.

The Peres Peace Centre has a special fund known as ‘Saving children’ that enables hundreds of Palestinian children to receive free medical treatment in Israel.

Recently the IDC website No Camels ran a story about a pregnant Palestinian woman who received emergency treatment in the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem.
The woman was pregnant with twins whose blood supply was insufficient. According to No Camels ‘A small catheter was inserted into her womb and using a laser device, her placenta was burnt and separated to two parts – one for each baby. The procedure was carried out successfully and the lives of the twins were saved.’

It is obvious that the decision to deny seriously ill Palestinians treatment in Israeli hospitals has nothing to do with finances but everything with the ongoing political war against Israel by the Palestian Authority.

Last week several planned informal meetings which aimed to promote normalization between Israelis and Palestinians, were thwarted by Fatah. Hatem Abdel Khader, a senior Fatah official, told Palestinian journalist Khaled Abu Toameh that Fatah has declared war on all informal meetings between Israelis and Palestinians.

It is highly doubtful however that this new PA attempt to boycott Israel will succeed.

An earlier economic boycott failed miserably after the Palestinian public refused to participate. One has only to visit the West Bank to see that Palestinians massively buy Israeli goods and are involved in trade with Israel. Despite an ongoing ban thirty thousand Palestinians work in the Jewish communities in the West Bank and their number keeps growing.

The current normalization boycott seems to be ignored as well. While Fatah was busy sabotaging reconciliation meetings in Jerusalem and Beit Jallah last week, Israeli scientists met their Palestinian counterparts at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, in order to discuss further cooperation.

So the real victims of this boycott appear to be the seriously ill Palestinians who do not have the ability to ignore this cynical attempt to destroy normalization with Israel.

Holiday of Holidays Festival - Haifa

2011-12-11T12:54:00.003+02:00

The 18th Holiday of Holidays Festival multicultural event marks Hannukah, Eid Al-Adha and Christmas in interfaith harmony.

It's a happening that brings tens of thousands of happy people to the streets of Haifa every December. Now in its 18th year, the Holiday of Holidays Festival is once again filling the Jewish-Arab mixed Wadi Nisnas neighborhood with good cheer, musical concerts, art exhibits, delicious bites and, most importantly, a feeling of togetherness.

It's actually a combination of holidays of the three main monotheistic religions: Hannukah, Eid Al-Adha and Christmas celebrated in interfaith harmony every Thursday through Saturday in December. "We honor everyone who lives here," says Asaf Ron, CEO of the Beit Hagefen Arab Jewish Center, which organizes the event. "The festival is very important for dialogue, community activity, neighborliness and tolerance."

On the bill are an antiques fair, outdoor art exhibits, crafts fair, Christmas tree decorating, Christmas parades, liturgical concerts, neighborhood tours, concerts, street theater and Israeli street food.

"First of all, visitors must see the art exhibits. This year the artists look at their origins. The art is at the heart of the festival," says Ron. "Secondly, the [concert] stages are a center point and a real Israel mix. You can hear everything on the stage: Baha'i music, modern Arabic music, world music, Israeli music. This is a happening for everyone. It's great to see all the religions in the same festival."

Pilgrimage to Haifa

Travelers tend to go to Haifa to see the Baha'i Gardens, Stella Maris Monastery, the Cave of Prophet Elijah, the Achmadim Mosque and the Old German Colony area. The city does not boast a particular pilgrimage site as found in Jerusalem or Nazareth.

"Haifa offers something else. We're not a holy site specifically, but we have people that want to live harmoniously; the atmosphere here is special. The feeling is one of pluralism," Ron says.

The annual festival attracts some 200,000 people from across Israel and even from abroad. More than 40 percent of festivalgoers are out-of-towners. "The festival is very important for dialogue and a shared experience of togetherness," Ron says, noting that Beit Hagefen’s goal is to educate toward coexistence by means of cultural and artistic activities.

The festival takes place in the neighborhood of Wadi Nisnas, where Jews, Christians and Muslims live side by side. A few churches are located here, but the area is best known for its art and culinary delicacies. Here you’ll find some 100 works of art by Arab and Jewish artists from across the country. And the marketplace (shuk) is known for its mounds of indigenous herbs and oriental pastries.

During the year Wadi Nisnas is a quaint neighborhood with an open-minded atmosphere. During the festival, it's one of the most energetic and boisterous places in Haifa, if not in all of northern Israel.

Festival highlights

One of the best-loved activities is taking a photo with Haifa's own Santa Claus. "At least 80 percent of those taking pictures with Santa are Jewish," reports Ron. "It's an attraction for everyone."

Another highlight is the coexistence walks. Beit Hagefen conducts these guided tours year-round at NIS 20 per person, but it is at the festival that demand really heats up. The tours are conducted in Hebrew, Arabic, English, Spanish and Russian. Ron says they're working on getting French-speaking guides as well.

The Art Works route includes displays by dozens of Jewish and Arab artists; the Poetry Path includes excerpts by Arab and Jewish poets and explains how their words connect to the neighborhoods; the Taste of Wadi Nisnas route includes samplings of traditional foods like knafeh, baklava and olesh (chicory); and the German Colony route gives a short history of the Templar settlement amid the beautiful historic buildings.

While informative, Ron says, the purpose of the tours is to introduce visitors to the cultural mosaic of Haifa. "Educational messages of peace, pluralism, tolerance, cooperation, neighborliness and joint hope for a better future, are conveyed through the tours," reads the Beit Hagefen website.

And then there's the Christmas parade. Ron says December 22-24, 2011 is "the" weekend to be in Haifa. "Hannukah and Christmas get their start with the Santa parade that winds around the neighborhoods. The parade ends with the lighting of a hannukiah (menorah) and with two Israeli-Jewish and Israeli-Arab bands playing on stage." There really is a little something for everyone.

Big Tent for Israel – A Day to Remember « Ray Cook

2011-12-05T14:49:00.000+02:00

Having been invited to participate in the "BIG TENT for Israel" event in Manchester UK, recently, I wanted to express some thoughts after returning home.

One of the people there I got to know was Ray Cook who wrote up his impressions, so I ask myself, why reinvent the wheel?

For a report see Big Tent for Israel – A Day to Remember « Ray Cook

Muslim-Jewish Friends Forever Meet “Face to Faith” at Leo Baeck

2011-12-01T22:29:00.001+02:00

An Israel first…Muslim students from the Galilee village of Ein Mahal joined their "Friends Forever" Leo Baeck partners to present their unique and life-changing story of shared existence to schools in India and the US via a historic Tony Blair Face to Faith multi-country Video Conference.

In the words of Eden from Leo Baeck: “Friends Forever” opened my eyes. I am learning so much from the Arab students… My political views have completely changed.” Anwar from Ein Mahal added: “Friends Forever has completely changed my life. I am now more open to different people…I believe that we can end the war and that we can all live in peace!”

This special day celebrating the deepening relationship between the village of Ein Mahal and the Leo Baeck community and our capacity in Israel to bridge the gaps that divide our cultures, marked the launching pad for Leo Baeck's Human Rights Month.

The Friends Forever Program is the inspiration for “Step By Step Sauwa Sauwa”, an original Arab-Jewish musical production featuring 38 talented Muslim and Jewish students to be performed in London on 22nd and 24th April 2012.

To watch the students’ presentation click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq4wjics11s&mid=538

Baby Born 600 grams Survives in Israeli Hospital

2011-11-30T22:38:00.001+02:00

A baby born weighing only 600 grams in the 23rd week of pregnancy and whose two siblings died due to their prematurity was sent home this week weighing a hearty 2.24 kg. – four months after his birth, reports the Jerusalem Post http://www.jpost.com/Health/Article.aspx?id=247379.

The baby, Jazen Jamal, was born to a Druse couple, Hend and Haiel, at Western Galilee Government Hospital in Nahariya. The childless couple, who live in Kafr Yarka, had undergone fertility treatments, but the triplet fetuses were very small.

Even though Hend was hospitalized in the high-risk pregnancy unit for a month, the fetuses refused to remain in the womb much longer. A boy and a girl died at 23 weeks of pregnancy, leaving just one of the triplets.Jazen struggled to survive in the premature baby intensive care unit, where Dr. Vered Fleischer-Sheffer was a member of the team that took care of the baby.“Twenty-three weeks is the recognized border between life and death for [premature babies] because the lungs, brain and digestive system are not ripe. It is rare indeed for a baby who is one of a multiple pregnancy to survive when born at that stage,” she said. The chances for survival for a baby born at 23 weeks is only 7 percent, she added.“It was a real miracle,” said the happy father. “I am shaking from excitement.

The baby survived severe infections and diseases, and all this at a very low birthweight and age.” Incredibly, the baby apparently does not suffer from any disability.“We go home with joy and tears combined,” the couple said, “because we are bringing the baby home but without his two siblings. We want to thank the doctors and nurses for the holy work they do.”Hospital director Dr. Masad Barhoum said that keeping the baby alive and healthy was an “impressive achievement; I am proud of the professional medical staff that took care of him from the moment he was born.”

To Be A Forester for a Day

2011-11-29T14:10:00.003+02:00

You can now help to save Israel's forests with a new innovative program sponsored by KKL

Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund have announced the "Forester for Day" program, a new ecological initiative, offering visitors a unique opportunity to help maintain Israel's forests, prevent forest fires, and guarantee a greener tomorrow for Israel.

The program runs for 2-3 hours and is open Sunday-Thursday 8 am – 3pm and Friday 8 – noon. Program participants will have the opportunity to work side-by-side in groups with KKL-JNF foresters to clear underbrush, prune trees, prepare fire breaks and forest paths in the Carmel Region forests.

The forester for a day program is suitable for groups of 15 – 150 and is available in English, French, German and Spanish. Thereis a nominal cost and upon completion, each participant receives a KKL-JNF hat, pin and certificate of appreciation.

Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael - Jewish National Fund is leading the quest for a more environmental Israel: open spaces, forests, recreation areas and appreciation for Israel’s natural and cultural heritage. KKL- JNF's work in Israel is concentrated in six action areas that include water, forestry and environment, education, community development and security, tourism and recreation, research and development.

If you are interested and are liley to be in Israel, call for more information, 02-6707367 or visit : http://www.kkl.org.il/KKL/english/main_subject/forests%20year%202011/forest2332.html

From Israeli Soldier on Egyptian border

2011-11-20T21:31:00.003+02:00

I am 25 years old, was born in Brooklyn NY, and raised in Efrat Israel. Though very busy, I don’t view my life as unusual. Most of the time, I am just another Israeli citizen. During the day I work as a paramedic in Magen David Adom, Israel’s national EMS service. At night, I’m in my first year of law school. I got married this October and am starting a new chapter of life together with my wonderful wife Shulamit.

15-20 days out of every year, I’m called up to the Israeli army to do my reserve duty. I serve as a paramedic in an IDF paratrooper unit. My squad is made up of others like me; people living normal lives who step up to serve whenever responsibility calls. The oldest in my squad is 58, a father of four girls and grandfather of two; there are two bankers, one engineer, a holistic healer, and my 24 year old commander who is still trying to figure out what to do with his life. Most of the year we are just normal people living our lives, but for 15-20 days each year we are soldiers on the front lines preparing for a war that we hope we never have to fight.

This year, our reserve unit was stationed on the border between Israel, Egypt and the Gaza Strip in an area called “Kerem Shalom.” Above and beyond the “typical” things for which we train – war, terrorism, border infiltration, etc., – this year we were confronted by a new challenge. Several years ago, a trend started of African refugees crossing the Egyptian border from Sinai into Israel to seek asylum from the atrocities in Darfur.

What started out as a small number of men, women and children fleeing from the machetes of the Janjaweed and violent fundamentalists to seek a better life elsewhere, turned into an organized industry of human trafficking. In return for huge sums of money, sometimes entire life savings paid to Bedouin “guides,” these refugees are promised to be transported from Sudan, Eritrea, and other African countries through Egypt and the Sinai desert, into the safe haven of Israel.
We increasingly hear horror stories of the atrocities these refugees suffer on their way to freedom. They are subject to, and victims of extortion, rape, murder, and even organ theft, their bodies left to rot in the desert. Then, if lucky, after surviving this gruesome experience whose prize is freedom, when only a barbed wire fence separates them from Israel and their goal, they must go through the final death run and try to evade the bullets of the Egyptian soldiers stationed along the border. Egypt’s soldiers are ordered to shoot to kill anyone trying to cross the border OUT of Egypt and into Israel. It’s an almost nightly event.

For those who finally get across the border, the first people they encounter are Israeli soldiers, people like me and those in my unit, who are tasked with a primary mission of defending the lives of the Israeli people. On one side of the border soldiers shoot to kill. On the other side, they know they will be treated with more respect than in any of the countries they crossed to get to this point.

The region where it all happens is highly sensitive and risky from a security point of view, an area stricken with terror at every turn. It’s just a few miles south of the place where Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. And yet the Israeli soldiers who are confronted with these refugees do it not with rifles aimed at them, but with a helping hand and an open heart. The refugees are taken to a nearby IDF base, given clean clothes, a hot drink, food and medical attention. They are finally safe.
Even though I live Israel and am aware through media reports of the events that take place on the Egyptian border, I never understood the intensity and complexity of the scenario until I experienced it myself.

In the course of the past few nights, I have witnessed much. At 9:00 PM last night, the first reports came in of gunfire heard from the Egyptian border. Minutes later, IDF scouts spotted small groups of people trying to get across the fence. In the period of about one hour, we picked up 13 men – cold, barefoot, dehydrated – some wearing nothing except underpants. Their bodies were covered with lacerations and other wounds. We gathered them in a room, gave them blankets, tea and treated their wounds. I don’t speak a word of their language, but the look on their faces said it all and reminded me once again why I am so proud to be a Jew and an Israeli. Sadly, it was later determined that the gunshots we heard were deadly, killing three others fleeing for their lives.

During the 350 days a year when I am not on active duty, when I am just another man trying to get by, the people tasked with doing this amazing job, this amazing deed, the people witnessing these events, are mostly young Israeli soldiers just out of high school, serving their compulsory time in the IDF, some only 18 years old.
The refugees flooding into Israel are a heavy burden on our small country. More than 100,000 refugees have fled this way, and hundreds more cross the border every month. The social, economic, and humanitarian issues created by this influx of refugees are immense. There are serious security consequences for Israel as well. This influx of African refugees poses a crisis for Israel. Israel has yet to come up with the solutions required to deal with this crisis effectively, balancing its’ sensitive social, economic, and security issues, at the same time striving to care for the refugees.

I don’t have the answers to these complex problems which desperately need to be resolved. I’m not writing these words with the intention of taking a political position or a tactical stand on the issue.

I am writing to tell you and the entire world what’s really happening down here on the Egyptian/Israeli border. And to tell you that despite all the serious problems created by this national crisis, these refugees have no reason to fear us. Because they know, as the entire world needs to know, that Israel has not shut its eyes to their suffering and pain. Israel has not looked the other way. The State of Israel has put politics aside to take the ethical and humane path as it has so often done before, in every instance of human suffering and natural disasters around the globe. We Jews know only too well about suffering and pain. The Jewish people have been there. We have been the refugees and the persecuted so many times, over thousands of years, all over the world.

Today, when African refugees flood our borders in search of freedom and better lives, and some for fear of their lives, it is particularly noteworthy how Israel deals with them, despite the enormous strain it puts on our country on so many levels. Our young and thriving Jewish people and country, built from the ashes of the Holocaust, do not turn their backs on humanity. Though I already knew that, this week I once again experienced it firsthand. I am overwhelmed with emotion and immensely proud to be a member of this nation.

With love of Israel,

INDONESIANS ATTEND RAMBAM SEMINAR

2011-11-15T15:42:00.002+02:00

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, has no diplomatic relations with Israel. Despite this gulf, five medical experts from Indonesia are currently at Rambam, learning to build a system for treating victims of catastrophe, both natural and manmade.

At Rambam, 27 doctors and nurses from 17 countries are taking part in a unique simulation. This staged Mass Casualty Event (MCE) is not unusual in itself. What is special is the human mosaic of participants from Albania, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Burma, Georgia, India, Vietnam, Jordan, Nepal, Kenya, Nigeria, Chile, Peru, Kosovo, Thailand, Ghana and New Zealand. Even Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in world, which has no formal diplomatic relations with Israel, has sent five representatives.

The simulation is part of the eighth course of its kind, titled the “Eighth Seminar on Developing and Organizing a Trauma System and Mass Casualty Event (MCE) Organization. Held from November 6-19, the course is jointly sponsored by Rambam, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Health. It is aimed to teach participants to develop systems for medical operations in emergency, trauma and MCE situations suited to their countries.

Of course, the seminar’s Rambam setting is no coincidence. RHCC ‘enjoys’ the dubious distinction of being an expert in trauma, emergency and mass casualty situations. For years, the hospital has received soldiers injured on Israel’s northern border and beyond, as well as civilians caught in home front wars and terrorist attacks in Northern Israel.
“In the course, we learn how to build a system for operating in emergency, trauma and MCE. We did not come to seek medical information, but guidance on how to get organized in case of these situations,” said Prof of Neurology Andi Asadul Islam, from Hassan Udim University, Makassar, East Indonesia. “Rambam’s system for trauma is the best there is, and we can learn a lot from it.”

“We don’t have a good system,” continued Prof Islam, who explained that Indonesia’s broad geography presents specific challenges in supplying medical care. With 250 million citizens scattered among five large islands and thousands of smaller ones, Indonesia spans an area, from west to east, equal to the length of the United States.

Further, RHCC houses the only trauma system in the region. Severe trauma patients from nine general hospitals feed into Rambam, making it the busiest center for trauma in Israel. The hospital’s Teaching Center for Trauma, Emergency and Mass Casualty Situations [MCS] leads instruction in this field nationwide, and regularly holds international seminars for physicians and nurses from throughout the world. In addition, the center sends representatives to different countries to teach courses and holds workshops for NATO personnel.

“I had heard about the Rambam course from colleagues who had taken it, and they said it was great,” said Asti Puspita Rini, who manages the 118 Emergency Ambulance Service Foundation in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. “It has been an excellent course,” she continued, “we won’t be able to implement each and every thing we learned, but will certainly adopt parts of the program.”

The course involves theoretical lectures, as well as tours in Rambam and different Israeli hospitals. This program allows participants to receive a wide view of activities of the various emergency medicine units. Additionally, they visit IDF simulation centers, and Magen David Adom (MADA) headquarters.

The seminar is hardly all-work-and-no-play. Participants get to know another side of Israel as they visit a number of tourist sites, among them Yad Vashem, and other sites in Jerusalem, Nazareth, Jaffa, Acre, Zichron Yaakov and others

“As a Muslim, it was especially interesting for me to see the Muslim quarter in Jerusalem,” said Prof Islam. “Some of my friends and family were afraid and didn’t want me to come here because of what they see on television,” said Rini, “but it’s totally different than what the media shows.”

“Everything is well-organized and perfect,” added Dr Edi Prasetyo, Medical Advisor of Home Care in Jakarta. “We get to see the big picture – how the whole nationwide system works.”

Judging from these comments, it was obvious that the only connections these Indonesians do not have with Israel are diplomatic. Warm, open and enthusiastic, these visitors had nothing negative to say about the course or the country, except perhaps regarding the national food, hummus, for which they showed no great passion.

And while the visitors clearly learned their lessons on trauma, emergency and MCE, one hopes they will never have to use them.

Is This Really Apartheid?

2011-11-13T16:15:00.002+02:00

Some interesting questions were posed by friends of mine recently in the debate of Israel as an apartheid state.

How, we wonder can Israel possibly be called an Apartheid Country?

a)If this is true, then why, when we needed some medication from the pharmacy in our upmarket Jerusalem shopping mall this week, was the charming and helpful pharmacist who served us and gave us some excellent advice, an Arab?

b) Why, the last time Nxxx had his eyes tested, (in the opticians in the same mall) was the optometrist a young Arab woman?

c) Why are there always a large number of Arabs shopping in said mall? Why, when Lxxx fell last year and needed emergency treatment at Sha’arei Zedek hospital in Jerusalem, was the doctor who examined her an Arab

d) and why, out of the 9 people queueing for X-rays was she only non-Arab?

e) Why is the professor that Lxxx sees every year for a breast-check an Arab who, incidentally, pioneered the liver-transplant programme in Israel.

If someone can explain this to us we would be very pleased to hear from them!

Improving the Economic Situation of the Bedouin

2011-11-10T20:51:00.003+02:00

As part of the Israeli Government's ongoing dialogue with the Bedouin public about improving the living standards and economic viability of the Bedouin in the Negev of, the Prime Minister met last week with the Negev Bedouin community leaders.

The plan constitutes an historic opportunity to bring about a significant improvement in the situation of the Bedouin community in the Negev and advance the Negev for the benefit of all of its residents – Jewish and Bedouin alike. At the start of the meeting, it was stated that "After years in which needs were insufficiently met, this Government decided to take matters in hand and bring about a long-term solution of the issue. The plan will allow the Bedouin, for the first time, to realize their assets and turn them from dead capital into living capital – to receive ownership of the land, which will allow for home construction according to law and for the development of enterprises and employment. This will jump the population forward and provide it with economic independence."

It is now important to invest in areas such as employment and housing so that the Bedouin will take part in this development process and enjoy the fruits of the development and prosperity in the Negev.

Israel is leaping towards the future and the Bedouin are part of this future. The plan will help the Bedouin community to reach economic independence. This plan is designed to bring about development and prosperity.

The United Nations and Human Rights Abuse

2011-11-04T00:01:00.002+02:00

This story by a Muslim lady, Wafa Sultan, a Syrian certified psychiatrist, on October 13, 2011 is asking the questions that should be shouted from every corner of the earth.

The full article can be read at http://www.hudson-ny.org/2485/united-nations-human-rights-abuse

Never did I imagine that one day I would stand outside the United Nations to oppose its perverted conference, to defend against its malicious attempt to single out Israel -- a country that I was taught to hate.

But here I am today, proud to stand for light in the midst of darkness. This darkness brought about by the multiple Muslim countries and their international enablers, who have dishonored the initial objective of the United Nations, only to vilify, and eventually to destroy Israel - the one and the only free democratic country in the entire Middle East.

For the last 1,400 years, since its inception, Islamic ideology has attempted to deprive the Jews of their three most cherished possessions -- their Bible, their Lives, and their Land of Israel.

During my school years, I heard my teachers, family members, neighbors, and the media all bombarding us daily, throughout the Arab world. We, as small kids and young adults, were indoctrinated to share the anti-Semitic vitriol -- to despise and denigrate Jews.
• God condemned the Jews because they falsified the Torah. How did I know it? That is what I was taught.
• Since Jews forged the Bible, they were despised and depicted as pigs and apes. How did I know it? That is what I was taught.
• Jews killed our prophets and were the enemies of Allah. How did I know it? That is what I was taught.
• Therefore, the Jews represent an existential danger to all humanity, so their annihilation, as individuals and as a people, was and would be a legitimate service to God and mankind. How did I know it? That is what I was taught.
•
Yes, killing Jews was always presented to me and my classmates as a religious obligation. We absorbed this evil propaganda with our food and water, and with our school books, each and every day.
As a trained psychiatrist, I assert that seeds of hatred planted in the mind of a child, lead to immense hatred as the child grows into adulthood. Tragically, this hatred generates dangerous actions and even death.

I believe that any nation that grants equal opportunity to every citizen, regardless of race, religion, political affiliation, or gender, thereby, establishes its moral legitimacy. According to this principle, Israel stands alone in the Middle East region, as a nation with moral legitimacy: it grants all citizens equal rights for men and women alike, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech and of the press.

Not a single Arab or Muslim country in the surrounding region does the same. Nor do any of those Arab and Muslim nations allow their citizens personal freedom, or the right to maintain and express opposing points of view.
The United Nations time and again focuses its power on the perpetual manufacturing of false anti-Israel accusations. Painting Palestinians as perennial underdogs provides the perfect cover for their subversive effort.

Without doubt, this trend encourages hatred and violence against the Jewish people in Israel and everywhere else. And that is exactly its point.

Hence, as a woman of an Arab and Islamic background, with that perspective, I join you all today to highlight the hypocrisy of the UN. I challenge the U.N. for neglecting its fundamental mission. They do it under pressure from totalitarian Muslim regimes who put their full faith and credit of their oil wealth behind this anti-Israel campaign.

A Palestinian women's organization reported that Muslim men perpetrate some 40 honor killings annually in the West Bank alone, not including the vast majority of honor killing and abuse of women that go unreported -- as Islamic society maintains secrecy in upholding the popular belief that those "cursed with a sin, [should] hide it."

Where is the UN Human Rights Commission's outcry over the Muslim world's honor killing epidemic? Has the UN adopted the same Islamic philosophy, hiding a societal sin to protect Muslim honor?

I receive countless letters from Arab readers throughout the Middle East, expressing their desperate desire to live as free people with the same human rights we enjoy in the West -- and especially, freedom from Sharia!
One young Arab woman, a student, wrote to me only last month:
"They deprive us of any right to think, and ... remind us each time, how we will burn in hell. They terrorize us, and they do the same with the children. I would like that to stop. I try very hard to change things. I created a little group against sexism. And I hope to be able to defend Arab women one day."

Tell me Mr. Ban Ki-moon, who will defend this young student and her small group fighting Arab sexism and the atrocities committed against Arab women?

Concerning Islamic and Arab violence, the UN remains tragically blind and silent. The UN repeats its denunciation of Israel, the only Middle East nation that grants all citizens the basic human rights this young Arab woman wishes to have for her people.

Those who love liberty and life will strengthen their ties and warm relations with Israel, and stand with her. Israel will continue to shine its light among all nations.

Chemiotherapy versus Grad Missiles

2011-10-30T16:08:00.003+02:00

This from a friend of mine at working at a local hospital

No doubt, you have heard the news reports that Palestinian terrorists in Gaza are once again firing short and long range missiles into Israeli cities. Totally unprovoked.

Yesterday, I happened to be visiting friends in the southern city of Ashdod and we were enjoying a quiet afternoon meal in their home when the air raid sirens began their ominous shrill. Immediately, twelve of us huddled into their bomb shelter that doubles as a walk-in cabinet and we waited in absolute silence (as Israelis do) to hear “the boom”. Hear it we did as a long-range grad missile landed not terribly far away. It was time to head back home to the north.

During that drive, we listened intently to the news while additional barrages of grads were launched against Israeli civilian population centers.

Today in the hospital, I was leading a group of visitors from England on a tour of our School for Hospitalized Children. I introduced the group to Arrif and his fifteen year old son, Mohammed. They come from Gaza. They have been ‘living’ in Emek for ten months as young Mohammed is being treated for severe facial cancer. Arrif speaks fluent Hebrew and I conducted a simultaneously translated Q&A session between him and the British visitors …

Q. How do you feel here, among the Jews of Israel?
A. Perfectly normal and at ease. Grateful – so very grateful.

Q. What does your family back in Gaza say about Mohammed’s treatment here?
A. They are amazed and they send their sincere gratitude. They cannot believe what has and is being done for Mohammed and me.

Q. Do you know that missiles are again being fired from Gaza into Israeli cities?
A. Yes. I am ashamed. The politicians and extremists are not “the people”. We only want to live a normal life alongside you.

Many ask, considering the asymmetrical vortex we are caught in … why do you help ‘them’? The answer is simple – because that is who we are.

It’s chemo vs grads. You decide what and who is the problem.

"One of the Biggest Israeli Exports will be Medical Clowning"

2011-10-26T22:54:00.005+02:00

The International Conference on Medicine and Medical Clowning is currently taking place in Jerusalem.

The goal of the conference, organized by Dream Doctors, is to attempt to touch upon major issues involved in the process of forming clear professional definitions of Medical Clowning from viewpoints of different groups and people all over the world. The conference comprises various workshops on clowning and the use of medical clowning as a unique means of intervention.

“I’m learning that we are definitely a part of a very big, global community,” Wellington Santos, a medical clown from Brazil, told Arutz Sheva. “It’s very important that we all cooperate to take this to the next step.”

Paul Miller, AKA Pauly the Clown who works at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, said that despite his hospital being in third place as far as pediatric institutions are concerned, it only has a few medical clowns who work a few hours a week. He noted he was surprised to see how big and important Medical Clowning is in Israel.
“I think medical clowns will be one of the biggest Israeli exports,” he said. “It’s amazing.”

Hagar Hofesh, a medical clown with Dream Doctors, said that in Israel, the clowns work very closely with doctors and nurses, something which is not the case in other parts of the world. She added that she believes that other places in the world could learn from Israel when it comes to this field.

“There are parts of the world where the experiences are the same as in Israel, but we also heard some clowns say that when the doctor comes into the room, they leave, or that they would not participate in certain procedures,” she added.

“Today, I actually got to scrub in and escort kids to the operating theater,” Miller said. “And we don’t do that in the United States, so it was fascinating.”

Is Anyone Listening?

2011-10-26T12:23:00.003+02:00

The following statements made by Hamas officialdom spells out without any misunderstading, their position vis a vis the conflict with Israel. Is anyone really listening and taking note?

The position of the Palestinian Authority is very weak and it is foreseeable that in the not too distant future Hamas could take control of the West Bank. Abbas currently relies on the Israel forces to keep Hamas in check in the West Bank.

And even if an agreement with the PA was finalised, would Hamas, if they came to power, honour the agreement?? Unlikely.

Hamas' Position (with thanks to the The Meir Amit Intelligence and TerrorismInformation Center)

Khalil al-Hayeh, a member of Hamas' political bureau, was strongly critical of Mahmoud Abbas' application the UN and of the Palestinian Authority for preventing terrorist activity on its territory. He also denied that Hamas had removed its offices from Syria and called on the Syrian regime to make haste and carry out reforms in response to the demands of the Syrian people. His main points were the following (from a program organized by the Palestinian Journalists' Forum and called "Political Bulletin," alresalah.net website, October 6, 2011):

• Mahmoud Abbas' application to the UN endangers the future of the PLO, which represents the Palestinian refugees, and their future. That is because recognition of a Palestinian state might lead to the cancellation of the refugees' "right" to their land. He said that "we agree with everything that harms the occupation and defines it as criminal, but this step incurs many risks..."

• A "program of stages" for confronting Israel is the basis for the internal Palestinian reconciliation: However, Mahmoud Abbas, he said, did not honor the "program of stages" which was the foundation for the internal Palestinian reconciliation. He said that there was "a national program of stages based on accepting a state with the 1967 borders, as well as the right of return, defending the Palestinian people and not recognizing the legitimacy of the occupier state [i.e., Israel]. It is the minimal program agreed on, because according to Hamas' program the land of Palestinian reaches from the [Mediterranean] sea to the [Jordan] river. We do not agree to legitimizing the occupation on one inch of that land."

• "The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades work to carry out suicide bombings within Israel, but the security coordination [between Israel and the Palestinian Authority] prevents them." He added that "the resistance [i.e., the terrorist organizations] in the Gaza Strip is protected, as opposed to the West Bank, where it is persecuted by the [Palestinian] Authority's security forces and the [Israeli] occupation."

• The internal Palestinian reconciliation: Al-Hayeh appealed to Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah to again meet with Hamas again under Egyptian or other Arab aegis to discuss the Palestinian cause. He said Hamas did not fear elections but would not agree to them "before the internal Palestinian reconciliation has been achieved."

Oldest Flea Market in the World

2011-10-24T23:16:00.002+02:00

One of the oldest bazaars in the world, the Jaffa flea market is now rapidly becoming the hottest new location in Tel Aviv, famed for fashion and food.

The Jaffa flea market is one of the oldest bazaars in the world. Whereas it used to be a place to find knick-knacks and second-hand furniture or clothing, today it is also rapidly becoming one of the trendiest spots in Israel.

Fashion designers, artists, antique dealers and gourmet chefs have all converged upon the portside area just south of Tel Aviv, making it a destination for bargain hunters and fashionistas from Israel and abroad, and even a newly desirable place to live.

"It's not exactly Soho in NY or Camden in London," says Ava Rodan of Alma Jewelry. "It's an original place where you can find really old antiques or new shops with a lovely atmosphere."

And, of course who does one see there - Jews, Muslims, Christians and others in this "apartheid state" !!

Special playgrounds for handicapped in Israel

2011-10-23T18:43:00.003+02:00

Just because you're in a wheelchair doesn't mean you have to miss out on Israel's many nature parks and picnic areas. You don't even have to forfeit a turn on the playground swing, thanks to a host of projects in recent years to make all these experiences available to people of all ages with impaired vision, hearing and mobility.

The crown jewel is Friendship Park (Park Chaverim), the first accessible, integrated park for children in Israel. Opened in 2005, this nine-acre area within Ra'anana City Park was planned out by a committee of professionals from Beit Issie Shapiro, an organization that develops and provides services for Israelis with developmental disabilities, with input from the National Insurance Institute, community social workers, parents of children with special needs and people with various disabilities.

Friendship Park offers play equipment designed for children in wheelchairs and with hearing and vision impairments. The pathways, surface materials and height of the base underneath each plaything were all taken into account.

Accommodations were even made for motor-disabled parents or grandparents accompanying able-bodied children at the park, says occupational therapist Michele Shapiro, a specialist in sensory design at Beit Issie Shapiro. "I was responsible for leading the design team, but the physical and social part of the park go together strongly, and both are essential to the success of the park," says Shapiro.

For video on the story go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SB5R7R5TZ4I

For the full story go to http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/Special_playgrounds_Israel-Oct_2011.htm

What did Freed Female Palestinian Terrorist say to Gaza Children?

2011-10-20T23:00:00.003+02:00

The freeing of terrorists and murderers in exchange for Gilad Shalit raises concerns amongst the Israeli public, that, as has happened on previous occasions, 25% will return to terror. In the case below, less than one day has elapsed and we are seeing the continuation of incitement by one of the freed terrorists.

From Reuters 10/19/11

A would-be Palestinian suicide bomber freed by Israel in the prisoner swap for soldier Gilad Shalit told cheering schoolchildren in the Gaza Strip the day after her release on Wednesday she hoped they would follow her example.

"I hope you will walk the same path we took and God willing, we will see some of you as martyrs," Wafa al-Biss told dozens of children who came to her home in the northern Gaza Strip.

Biss was travelling to Beersheba's Soroka hospital for medical treatment in 2005 when Israeli soldiers at the Erez border crossing noticed she was walking strangely. They found 10 kgs (22 lbs) of explosives had been sewn into her underwear.

A member of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party, Biss was sentenced to a 12-year term for planning to blow herself up.

After she spoke, the children cheered and waved Palestinian flags and chanted: "We will give souls and blood to redeem the prisoners. We will give souls and blood for you, Palestine."

Biss said she had planned to blow herself up at the checkpoint but her detonator malfunctioned. "Unfortunately, the button did not work at the last minute before I was to be martyred," Biss told Reuters. She said she had not yet adjusted to her freedom and arose early on Wednesday for prison roll call. "This morning I woke up in my room, wore my scarf and stood up awaiting the line-up time before I realised I was home and not in jail," she said.

Once she settles back to her routine, Biss said she plans to complete university psychology studies but added that she remained defiant in the face of Israeli warnings to act against those who return to militancy. "We will pursue our struggle and (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nentanyahu) knows that. Arrests will not deter us from our strong battles and confrontation in the face of Zionist arrogance in the land of Palestine," she said.

Biss was one of 477 Palestinians freed by Israel on Tuesday in the first stage of an exchange with Gaza's Hamas Islamist rulers that ended Shalit's five years of captivity. Another 550 Palestinans will be freed in the second stage later this year.

South Sudanese Slave Sees Israel as "Heaven"

2011-10-17T19:39:00.002+02:00

Simon Deng, a former South Sudanese slave taken by a neighbor as a young boy to Islamist Northern Sudan gave this impassion speech at Durban Watch Conference in New York on 22nd Sept.

He puts the lie to the Zionism is Racism canard of Durban III painting Israel as a pariah state. Rather as he points out it is the Arab Muslim Jihadis who have engaged in racial genocide of millions of Sudanese, whether Muslim or Christian. As he further points out it is Israel that is the ultimate destination of Sudanese refugees, as Egypt has oppressed them.

Below is Simon Deng’s Speech before the Durban Watch Conference. _______________________________________________________

Thank you for those kind words:

I want to thank the organizers of this conference, The Perils of Global Intolerance. It is a great honor for me and it is a privilege really to be among today’s distinguished speakers.

I came here as a friend of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. I came to protest this Durban conference which is based on a set of lies. It is organized by nations who are themselves are guilty of the worst kinds of oppression.

It will not help the victims of racism. It will only isolate and target the Jewish state. It is a tool of the enemies of Israel. The UN has itself become a tool against Israel. For over 50 years, 82 percent of the UN General Assembly emergency meetings have been about condemning one state - Israel. Hitler couldn’t have been made happier.

The Durban Conference is an outrage. All decent people will know that. But friends, I come here today with a radical idea. I come to tell you that there are peoples who suffer from the UN’s anti-Israelism even more than the Israelis. I belong to one of those people.

Please hear me out.

By exaggerating Palestinian suffering, and by blaming the Jews for it, the UN has muffled the cries of those who suffer on a far larger scale.

For over fifty years the indigenous black population of Sudan -- Christians and Muslims alike -- has been the victims of the brutal, racist Arab Muslim regimes in Khartoum.

In South Sudan, my homeland, about 4 million innocent men, women and children were slaughtered from 1955 to 2005. Seven million were ethnically cleansed and they became the largest refugee group since World War II.

The UN is concerned about the so-called Palestinian refugees. They dedicated a separate agency for them, and they are treated with a special privilege.
Meanwhile, my people, ethnically cleansed, murdered and enslaved, are relatively ignored. The UN refuses to tell the world the truth about the real causes of Sudan’s conflicts. Who knows really what is happening in Darfur? It is not a “tribal conflict.”

It is a conflict rooted in Arab colonialism well known in north Africa. In Darfur, a region in the Western Sudan, everybody is Muslim. Everybody is Muslim because the Arabs invaded the North of Africa and converted the indigenous people to Islam. In the eyes of the Islamists in Khartoum, the Darfuris are not Muslim enough. And the Darfuris do not want to be Arabized. They love their own African languages and dress and customs. The Arab response is genocide! But nobody at the UN tells the truth about Darfur.

In the Nuba Mountains, another region of Sudan, genocide is taking place as I speak. The Islamist regime in Khartoum is targeting the black Africans - Muslims and Christians. Nobody at the UN has told the truth about the Nuba Mountains.
Do you hear the UN condemn Arab racism against blacks?

What you find on the pages of the New York Times, or in the record of the UN condemnations is “Israeli crimes” and Palestinian suffering. My people have been driven off the front pages because of the exaggerations about Palestinian suffering. What Israel does is portrayed as a Western sin. But the truth is that the real sin happens when the West abandons us: the victims of Arab/Islamic apartheid.

Chattel slavery was practiced for centuries in Sudan. It was revived as a tool of war in the early 90s. Khartoum declared jihad against my people and this legitimized taking slaves as war booty. Arab militias were sent to destroy Southern villages and were encouraged to take African women and children as slaves. We believe that up to 200,000 were kidnapped, brought to the North and sold into slavery.

I am a living proof of this crime against humanity.

I don’t like talking about my experience as a slave, but I do it because it is important for the world to know that slavery exists even today. I was only nine years old when an Arab neighbor named Abdullahi tricked me into following him to a boat. The boat wound up in Northern Sudan where he gave me as a gift to his family. For three and a half years I was their slave going through something that no child should ever go through: brutal beatings and humiliations; working around the clock; sleeping on the ground with animals; eating the family’s left-overs. During those three years I was unable to say the word “no.” All I could say was “yes,” “yes,” “yes.”

The United Nations knew about the enslavement of South Sudanese by the Arabs. Their own staff reported it. It took UNICEF – under pressure from the Jewish–led American Anti-Slavery Group -- sixteen years to acknowledge what was happening. I want to publicly thank my friend Dr. Charles Jacobs for leading the anti-slavery fight.

But the Sudanese government and the Arab League pressured UNICEF, and UNICEF backtracked, and started to criticize those who worked to liberate Sudanese slaves. In 1998, Dr. Gaspar Biro, the courageous UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Sudan who reported on slavery, resigned in protest of the UN’s actions.

My friends, today, tens of thousands of black South Sudanese still serve their masters in the North and the UN is silent about that. It would offend the OIC and the Arab League.

As a former slave and a victim of the worst sort of racism, allow me to explain why I think calling Israel a racist state is absolutely absurd and immoral.
I have been to Israel five times visiting the Sudanese refugees. Let me tell you how they ended up there. These are Sudanese who fled Arab racism, hoping to find shelter in Egypt. They were wrong. When Egyptian security forces slaughtered twenty six black refugees in Cairo who were protesting Egyptian racism, the Sudanese realized that the Arab racism is the same in Khartoum or Cairo. They needed shelter and they found it in Israel. Dodging the bullets of the Egyptian border patrols and walking for very long distances, the refugees’ only hope was to reach Israel’s side of the fence, where they knew they would be safe.

Black Muslims from Darfur chose Israel above all the other Arab-Muslim states of the area. Do you know what this means!!!?? And the Arabs say Israel is racist!!!?
In Israel, black Sudanese, Christian and Muslim were welcomed and treated like human beings. Just go and ask them, like I have done. They told me that compared to the situation in Egypt, Israel is “heaven.”

Is Israel a racist state? To my people, the people who know racism – the answer is absolutely not. Israel is a state of people who are the colors of the rainbow. Jews themselves come in all colors, even black. I met with Ethiopian Jews in Israel. Beautiful black Jews.

So, yes … I came here today to tell you that the people who suffer most from the UN anti-Israel policy are not the Israelis but all those people who the UN ignores in order to tell its big lie against Israel: we, the victims of Arab/Muslim abuse: women, ethnic minorities, religious minorities, homosexuals, in the Arab/Muslim world. These are the biggest victims of UN Israel hatred.

Look at the situation of the Copts in Egypt, the Christians in Iraq, and Nigeria, and Iran, the Hindus and Bahais who suffer from Islamic oppression. The Sikhs. We - a rainbow coalition of victims and targets of Jihadis - all suffer. We are ignored, we are abandoned. So that the big lie against the Jews can go forward.

In 2005, I visited one of the refugee camps in South Sudan. I met a twelve year old girl who told me about her dream. In a dream she wanted to go to school to become a doctor. And then, she wanted to visit Israel. I was shocked. How could this refugee girl who spent most of her life in the North know about Israel? When I asked why she wanted to visit Israel, she said: “This is our people.” I was never able to find an answer to my question.

On January 9 of 2011 South Sudan became an independent state. For South Sudanese, that means continuation of oppression, brutalization, demonization, Islamization, Arabization and enslavement.

In a similar manner, the Arabs continue denying Jews their right for sovereignty in their homeland and the Durban III conference continues denying Israel’s legitimacy.

As a friend of Israel, I bring you the news that my President, the President of the Republic of South Sudan, Salva Kiir -- publicly stated that the South Sudan embassy in Israel will be built--- not in Tel Aviv, but in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people.

I also want to assure you that my own new nation, and all of its peoples, will oppose racist forums like the Durban III. We will oppose it by simply telling the truth. Our truth.

My Jewish friends taught me something I now want to say with you.
AM YISROEL CHAI! The people of Israel lives!

Palestinian application for UN membership in a topsy turvy world

2011-10-16T00:33:00.002+02:00

By Maurice Ostroff October 14, 2011

It is strange that no query was raised at the UN when Mr. Abbas who has been prevented from visiting Gaza since the Hamas takeover, claimed that he was speaking on behalf of the PLO which he described as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people including Gazans

This claim is sharply contradicted by Article 27 of the Hamas Charter which states that because the PLO has adopted the idea of a secular state it will not be fully accepted until it adopts Islam

In this topsy turvy world, notorious human rights abusers like Zimbabwe, Syria, Pakistan and Gadafi's Libya have been members of the Human rights Council. And now, the UN is seriously considering admitting as a member, an entity of which Hamas, which has been defined as a terrorist organization by the USA and the EU, would be a major component.

In his eloquent address to the UN on September 23, 2011 Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas), president of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) called for an independent state in all the land occupied by Israel in 1967 including Gaza. But anyone with elementary knowledge of Middle East affairs must query his authority to speak in the name of Hamas-ruled Gaza or indeed on behalf of Hamas members anywhere including in the West Bank.

It is strange that no query was raised at the UN when Mr. Abbas who has been prevented from visiting Gaza since the Hamas takeover, claimed that he was speaking on behalf of the PLO which he described as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people including Gazans

This claim is sharply contradicted by Article 27 of the Hamas Charter which states that because the PLO has adopted the idea of a secular state it will not be fully accepted until it adopts Islam.

According to an Al Jazeera report, Alaa al-Rifati, minister of economy in Gaza said that Hamas has not endorsed the PLO bid for statehood because they see it as a Fatah-led initiative and Ahmed Yousef, the deputy foreign minister in Gaza told Al Jazeera, Because nobody consulted us, we, Hamas, do not take this issue seriously."

In the circumstances the UN must clarify whether it is competent to impose PLO rule over an unwilling Gaza.

Conditions for membership

The Palestinian application for UN membership cannot be properly considered until several basic constitutional issues are resolved. For example, article 5 of the UN Charter specifically requires that the admission to membership will be effected by a decision of the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council, not vice-versa as being considered at present.

Since article 4 of the UN Charter states that membership is open to peace-loving states, the question arises as to whether the fractured PLO-Hamas entity can be classified as a state, peace-loving or otherwise. And since Hamas-ruled Gaza comprises a substantial component of the Palestinian entity, the peace-loving requirement is very definitely ruled out by article 13 of the Hamas charter which unambiguously declares, "Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement. There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad.

In fact the PLO is also disqualified as a peace-loving entity by article 9 of its charter which declares bluntly that the armed struggle is not merely tactical, it is the overall strategy.

Contrary to Mr. Abbas statement to the UN that the PLO and the Palestinian people have renounced violence and condemn terrorism, incitement and glorification of terrorism continue to infect Palestinian society. Children continue to be taught to hate from the earliest age. See for example this clip and this

On March 9, 2011, Abu Mazen's advisor Sabri Saidam, delivered a speech in which he emphasized that Palestinian weapons must be turned towards Israel and a few days later some inspired young Palestinians did exactly that.

Recently a town square in Ramallah was named after Dalal al-Mughrabi, the leader of the 1978 bus hijacking in which 37 Israelis were killed and 71 wounded It is hardly surprising that brutal terror attacks are motivated by children attending schools named after terrorists and by popular soccer tournaments that are named after terrorists,

Refugees

Mr. Abbas call for a solution to the Palestine refugee issue in accordance with resolution 194 is strange in view of the fact that all six Arab countries then represented at the UN voted against it.

According to an article in the China Worker by Aysha Zaki, of the Committee for a Workers International, many refugees, who remain suspended in Lebanon without passports, democratic rights of participation in Lebanese society, entitlement to purchase or inherit property, and banned from working in more than 30 professions, fear the statehood bid, at best, carries no weight for their plight and, at worst, places resolution 194 in jeopardy

Since Resolution 194 is a General Assembly resolution it is not binding, and only serves as advisory statements whereas resolution 242 is a biding Security Council resolution that is accepted by Israel and is the basis of the majority of negotiations.

Much has been written about the implications of resolution 242 and if we are to avoid the distortions introduced by propagandists, obviously, the most reliable source from whom to seek clarification are the persons who drafted it. In drafting the resolution, both British Ambassador to the UN in 1967, Lord Caradon, and American Ambassador, Arthur Goldberg, deliberately omitted a demand for Israel to return to the pre-1967 borders. In an interview in the Beirut Daily Star on June 12, 1974, Lord Caradon stated:

"It would have been wrong to demand that Israel return to its positions of June 4, 1967 because these positions were undesirable and artificial. After all, they were just the places where the soldiers on each side happened to be on the day the fighting stopped in 1948. They were just armistice lines. That's why we didn't demand that the Israelis return to them, and I think we were right not to."Click here for more details

According to the article in the China worker, quoted above some Palestinians conclude that the UN bid for statehood is not in the interests of the Palestinian people, while others believe that it can be a step towards uniting the Palestinian people after a period of internal divisions.

27th Haifa Film Festival

2011-10-10T16:26:00.001+02:00

The Haifa International Film Festival, the leading cinematic even in Israel, was founded in 1983 as the first international film festival in the country. Growing steadily in both the number of screenings and attendance, The Haifa Film Festival has earned a world-wide reputation for both the quality of its program and the friendly atmosphere.

The Haifa Film Festival is held on the beautiful Mount Carmel, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The festival brings together each year an ever-growing audience of 70,000 spectators along with hundreds of Israeli and foreign professionals from the film and television industries and premiers some 170 new films (280 screenings). 300,000 people in total take part in the activities of the festival, including the outdoor events, screenings, workshops and more, and dozens of journalists from both the print and broadcast media, from Israel and abroad, cover the event

Who Says We are Isolated?

2011-10-06T22:04:00.003+02:00

So often today, journalists are ready to pontificate on the Middle East with their own agendas in mind rather than reporting the facts on the ground. Far from being isolated, representatatives from many countries are happy to come to Israel to learn.

From 20 different countries, 30 men and women involved in sustainable development in their home countries are visiting Israel for a 25-day course to learn about water, energy and city planning.

The visit includes leaders from government branches, universities, development foundations and other types of NGOs, from Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon, China, India, Kenya, Kyrgzystan, Moldova, Nepal, Nigeria, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Rwanda, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Thailand, Ukraine and Zambia.

The foreign delegates have been able to explore issues of water, waste and energy management, as well as municipal infrastructure. During their last week in Israel, they will be observing agricultural research and development and renewable energy sites in the country’s deserts.

For the full story go to http://www.jpost.com/Sci-Tech/Article.aspx?id=240722

International Bloggers Have a Taste Of Israel

2011-10-05T12:32:00.002+02:00

By Wendy Blumfield
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With the growth of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel activism on campuses throughout the world, it was refreshing to meet a group of young non-Jewish International bloggers who were on a solidarity visit with the organisation "Stand With Us." http://www.standwithus.com

Their hosts in Haifa, Hadassah and Stuart Palmer and some of their friends who are activists for the environment and social change, greeted the group of students on the second day of their trip to Israel. Stuart Palmer is chairman of CoHav, the International Coalition of Hasbarah Volunteers and author of the blog, Haifa Diary.

Stand With Us is an international organization dedicated to bringing peace to the Middle East by education about Israel.. Through brochures, conferences, missions to Israel and internet resources, the organization strives to stop the tide of misinformation about Israel on university campuses, in the media and in the community. Founded in 2001 to ensure that Israel is accurately portrayed and justly represented, Stand With Us, a non-profit organization, has its headquarters in Los Angeles with chapters and activities in the USA, the UK, Australia, South Africa and Europe and of course Israel..

Sitting on the Palmers terrace on Mount Carmel, the group gave their impressions of their first look at Israel.

"Every country has its own story with its own people, it is a great opportunity to exaplore this country which is steeped in so much history," commented Australian Chris Richardson. "meeting beautiful and interesting people, I felt I`d known them for years. Here I was in Israel and the media abroad says: don`t go there, it`s not safe. I want to go out see the rest of Israel and its people because I am in love already."

Asked about his first impressions of the trip, the answer was simple, "I was blown away."

"Even if you are not religious, the sight of so many Jewish men and women praying at the Wailing Wall moved me to tears," said Feng Yimeng from China while Eunice Khong of Singapore can`t wait to write her blog on the culture, food, people and scenery.

Kaustubh Katdare from India related how his family were very worried about his trip to Israel and pleaded with him to take a gun. And now he talks about his visit to the beautiful and peaceful Bahai Gardens where he met Bahais from India. "People in Delhi do not realize that the Lotus Temple is actually a Bahai house of worship."

Marcello Arrambide from South America was bowled over by Haifa. "People are curious and want to know about you and your life, not just about what we think about what`s happening in Israel. It was really refreshing to meet a people that are so genuine."

As they continue their whirlwind tour, it is fortunate that they are experienced bloggers for they want to remember every detail in their journey from the green and fertile Galilee to the harsher conditions of the Arava, visiting cities as diverse as Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

He Wants the Whole Thing

2011-09-25T17:20:00.002+02:00

Naturally there has been a lot of talk and analysis of the speeches by Abbas and Netanyahu at the United Nations last week. The following letter from a friend of mine sums up the reactions of so many.

What is it about “Let's sit down and talk” that Mahmud Abbas doesn't understand?

He gives a tear-jerker speech to the UN laden with all of the politically correct jargon:

Democracy (never mind the fact that he hasn't allowed elections for the last two years because he's afraid he'll be booted out of office).

The colonial occupiers (never mind the fact that Jews have a historical claim to the Land of Israel that goes back 2,500 years).

The plight of refugees (never mind the fact that more than 850,000 Jews who had lived in Arab countries for centuries were evicted from their homes when Israel was established).

In the wake of this speech, the Quartet then proposes that the Israelis and Palestinians meet within a month with an agenda for talks.

The prime minister of Israel says Yes. What does Abbas say? What the Palestinians have always said. "No".

That No is just another is a series of Nos that began in Khartoum in September 1967 when, at an Arab League summit, a resolution was issued calling for "no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it."

In 2000, Israel and the Palestinians signed the Oslo Agreements that would have established a Palestinian state. When the terms were about to be implemented, what did the Palestinians say? No.

In 2008, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza with the goal of moving toward the establishment of a Palestinian state. What did the Palestinians say? No.

This is beginning to sound like a scenario in a marriage counselor's office. One spouse drags the other to therapy. When prompted to talk about the problems between them, the second spouse folds his or her hands and says, No.

Why? Because deep down, the second spouse doesn't want the marriage to work. He or she wants the spouse to just get out of the house and leave it, all of its furnishings, and the bank account to him or her.

Deep down, what Abbas wants is not independent ownership of part of the house.

He wants the whole thing.

Getting Out of the Slums

2011-09-21T10:18:00.003+02:00

About one billion people across the planet live in slums. International development organizations have been investing resources and efforts in tackling this issue, as one of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals is to "achieve significant improvement in lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020." But despite some successes, the situation has continued to worsen as rural-urban migration and natural demographic growth continue to aggravate the problem.

Enter Israel's Weitz Center for Development Studies in Rehovot, which provides month-long training courses on upgrading poor urban neighborhoods and communities. The program is sponsored by MASHAV, Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation.

In July, a group of 31 participants from 15 African, Asian and Eastern European countries came for a session, representing such countries as Kosovo, Montenegro, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Uganda, Myanmar and Thailand.

Israel - working in cooperation with the United Nations agency UN-Habitat for the past two years - has made a name for itself on the international circuit for its experience in upgrading poor urban residential areas.For the full story, read http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/Out_of_slums-Sept_2011.htm

Palestinian Refugees Will Not Be Citizens of the New State

2011-09-18T11:19:00.003+02:00

Palestinian refugees will not become citizens of a new Palestinian state, according to Palestine’s ambassador to Lebanon. From behind a desk topped by a miniature model of Palestine’s hoped-for blue United Nations chair, Ambassador Abdullah Abdullah spoke to The Daily Star newspaper in Lebanon last week about Palestine’s upcoming bid for U.N. statehood.

Let us just remind ourselves that when 700,000 Jews were kicked out of the Arab countries, many with only the clothes they wore, Israel immediately took them in and gave them citizenship.

Sorry, but whether there are left wing or right wing politics at play, this is incredible, this is an Alice in Wonderland scenario.

The ambassador unequivocally says that Palestinian refugees would not become citizens of the sought for U.N.-recognized Palestinian state, an issue that has been much discussed. “They are Palestinians, that’s their identity,” he says. “But … they are not automatically citizens.”

This would not only apply to refugees in countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan or the other 132 countries where Abdullah says Palestinians reside. Abdullah said that “even Palestinian refugees who are living in [refugee camps] inside the [Palestinian] state, they are still refugees. They will not be considered citizens.”

Abdullah said that the new Palestinian state would “absolutely not” be issuing Palestinian passports to refugees.

For the full article see http://tinyurl.com/5wke8nl

Israel Accepted to CERN

2011-09-18T08:57:00.003+02:00

With groups pressing for the deligitimisation of Israel and boycott campaigns against Israeli products, it is interesting to note that the majority of the world sees Israel as a positive partner in so many fields.

The latest was last week when Israel signed an agreement in Geneva with CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, becoming an associate member of the organization, in preparation for its acceptance as a full member. Ambassador Aharon Leshno-Yaar, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, signed the agreement on behalf of the government of Israel.

The signing of the agreement with CERN is the climax of a long and challenging process by various Israel government ministries (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Science, the Planning & Budgeting Committee of the Council for Higher Education, and the Prime Minister's Office), and must be ratified by the Knesset.

Ambassador Leshno-Yaar: The agreement is testimony to Europe's recognition of Israel's scientific and technological capabilities, of the quality of its scientists, and of its contribution throughout many years to the research activities of CERN

View From a Hospital in Northern Israel

2011-09-13T15:48:00.003+02:00

I received the letter below from a friend at a hospital in the north of Israel and I think his views represent a majority of opinions in this country.

I, therefore decided to publish it as received.

When faced with difficult situations / problems, people have a tendency to sometimes look for solutions in the wrong place. This is usually a result of …
• Ignorance
• Being exposed to inaccurate information
• Having been brainwashed
• An inability to understand the facts
• Predetermination to a particular mindset or point of view
• Dogmatic stubbornness
• Being intentionally misinformed (lied to)

So, what does this have to do with Emek Medical Center? First, as a major medical center, our physicians and professional staff are faced with difficult and often life or death situations / decisions every day. Fortunately for our patients, their assessments are based upon years of hard-earned knowledge, shared experiences, consultations and an ability to listen. Emek is located is one of the most volatile regions on earth and our life-saving abilities are often called upon as a result of actions by people who have nothing in common with our values or way of life.

Politicians and theologians are often the catalytic forces behind crazed extremists and Emek’s multi-ethnic staff is often called upon to treat and save the multi-ethnic victims of such radicalism. Emek is a part of Israel and represents all that is sensible between people, however, many in this world blame Israel for the turmoil and conflict that destroys bodies and lives. Enough is enough!

Israel is not the problem.
Jews are not the problem.
This conflict has never been about land or settlers or farms or cities.

The real problem is blind theocratic hatred, fascist intolerance and a vile lust for political power that brings with it staggering amounts of unearned wealth (attained through taxation and gifts to “rulers” by well meaning countries who hope that their gifts will improve the lives of foreign populations). All too often those funds never reach their intended targets and end up lining the greedy pockets of immoral power grabbing gun-wielding despots.

Examples of sanity may be found at eye level, if that is what you seek. Emek is a central player in the Jewish/Arab Middle East saga because here everyone meets everyone and here Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze treat one another and heal together. Emek is an apolitical, often surreal Israeli phenomenon that doesn’t fit any established Middle Eastern mold. It’s simply a place where people care for one another and share a common value … life.

Emek exists in and is a thriving part of Israel. No such institution exists in any other Middle Eastern country.

Emek is a wonderful example of humanitarian sanity; however it is not the solution to the infectious hatred running rampant throughout the Middle East. And Israel is not the problem.

"Smart Classrooms" Open in Acco

2011-09-09T13:11:00.002+02:00

With the return to school completed this week, many pupils in Acco http://www.gemsinisrael.com/index000001057.htm found themselves in "smart classrooms". This has been the culmination of a joint project bewtween a numnber of organisations to equip the school with interactive boards instead of the traditional chalk boards, as well as computerised teaching stations and projectors, all networked for access by pupils at mobilecomputer stations.

Pupils will be able to digitally raise their hands and ask questions, all integrated into the interactive board von the classroom wall.

The Mayor, at the opening of the new school year, said that this epitomises the digital revolution in Acco and will alow pupils to expand their learning skills.

So You Think You know the Terror Stats?

2011-09-05T22:27:00.001+02:00

In August 2011, there were 178 terrorist attacks carried out against Israel - a significant increase from the 53 that occurred in July.

The data was published in a monthly report released by the Israel Security Agency.
134 of the terrorist events were rocket or mortar attacks.
The main source of the increase was from the Gaza Strip, from which 135 attacks originated in August, compared to 20 in July.

The most noteworthy terrorist attack that occurred last month took place on August 18 on the Israel-Egypt border north of Eilat. Eight Israelis (six civilians and two security forces members) were killed in that attack and 29 were wounded.

An increase in terrorist attacks also occurred in Judea and Samaria, where 30 attacks occurred in August, compared to 25 in July.

In Jerusalem, there was a slight decrease, with six attacks in August, compared to eight in July.

On August 29, a Palestinian seized control of a taxi cab in Tel Aviv and ran into a number of people. He also stabbed people before being arrested.
One Israeli was killed when a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip exploded in Be'er Sheva on August 20.

Overall, nine Israelis were killed and 55 wounded in terrorist attacks in August.

During August, 145 rockets and 46 mortars were fired at Israel from the Gaza Strip, compared to 20 rockets and two mortars in July.

Listen to Facts Not to Polemics

2011-09-04T12:03:00.003+02:00

Time after time, I am asked to comment on an article from a newspaper, a lecture, a statement or action undertaken by those with agendas against the existence of the Jewish State of Israel.

So often, the comments made have NO basis in fact but provide an emotional message to the uninformed. Recently, the students of Edinburgh University "decided" to boycott all things Israel. Again the students are throwing out words like "Nazism" and "Apartheid", which goes to show just how ignorant they are of the facts. More worryingly is that if these arew the thoughts processes of the leaders of future, heaven help the rest of the population.

An alumni of the University, a non Jew and an accredited expert inn Middle Eastern affairs has written an open letter to the students which has messages not just for the students but for the world at large.

He writes "University is supposed to be about learning to use your brain, to think rationally, to examine evidence, to reach conclusions based on solid evidence, to compare sources, to weigh up one view against one or more others. If the best Edinburgh can now produce are students who have no idea how to do any of these things, then the future is bleak. I do not object to well documented criticism of Israel. I do object when supposedly intelligent people single the Jewish state out above states that are horrific in their treatment of their populations. We are going through the biggest upheaval in the Middle East since the 7th and 8th centuries, and it's clear that Arabs and Iranians are rebelling against terrifying regimes that fight back by killing their own citizens. Israel citizens, Jews and Arabs alike, do not rebel (though they are free to protest).

Yet Edinburgh students mount no demonstrations and call for no boycotts against Libya, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Iran. They prefer to make false accusations against one of the world's freest countries, the only country in the Middle East that has taken in Darfur refugees, the only country in the Middle East that gives refuge to gay men and women, the only country in the Middle East that protects the Baha'is.... Need I go on? The imbalance is perceptible, and it sheds no credit on anyone who voted for this boycott.

I ask you to show some common sense. Get information from the Israeli embassy. Ask for some speakers. Listen to more than one side. Do not make your minds up until you have given a fair hearing to both parties. You have a duty to your students, and that is to protect them from one-sided argument. They are not at university to be propagandized. And they are certainly not there to be tricked into anti-Semitism by punishing one country among all the countries of the world, which happens to be the only Jewish state. If there had been a single Jewish state in the 1930s (which, sadly, there was not), don't you think Adolf Hitler would have decided to boycott it? Of course he would, and he would not have stopped there. Your generation has a duty to ensure that the perennial racism of anti-Semitism never sets down roots among you. Today, however, there are clear signs that it has done so and is putting down more. You have a chance to avert a very great evil, simply by using reason and a sense of fair play. Please tell me that this makes sense. I have given you some of the evidence. It's up to you to find out more. "

His full letter can be read at http://www.israelifrontline.com/2011/08/scottish-professor-responds-to-boycott.html

The Facts about Water in the Middle East

2011-08-30T20:09:00.003+02:00

Complaints by anti Israel writers continue to point the finger at Israel (who else?) for the problems of water supplies to the Palestinians. Yet nearly all these claims are never backed up by facts. So let’s look at the recent comments and the real situation.

Claim
a) Israel’s ‘discriminatory policies’ are to blame for the lack of water in Palestinian society.
b) Israel uses the Joint Israeli Palestinian Water Committee (JWC) to veto and delay Palestinian water projects.
c) Israel illegally exploits 90% of the shared water sources.
d) Israeli is stealing water and destroying of water wells and treatment plants.

These claims are full of distortions, outright lies and false accusations, and yet another proof of the PA’s intransigence.

To answer these claims, Missing Peace,a European group www.missingpeace.eu obtained authentic papers documenting meetings of the Joint Israeli Palestinian Water Committee (JWC), and correspondence between Colonel Avi Shalev, head of the International relations branch of COGAT, and Dr.Atilli, the Palestinian representative. These documents paint an entirely different picture. In fact, the Palestinian Authority has been sabotaging the two-state solution by preventing the development of an independent water infrastructure for the future Palestinian state.

Claim - Israel delayed and vetoed Palestinian water projects

Facts
a) Article 40 (14) in the Oslo Accords clearly states that all JWC decisions about water projects in the West Bank need mutual agreement. Once approved, JWC projects for the territories under Palestinian control (Areas A and B) do not need any further Israeli involvement.

b) Projects in Area C, where Israel is in control, need approval from the Israeli Civil Administration (ICA). Since 2000 the PWA submitted 76 requests for permits to the office of the ICA. Subsequently 73 permits were issued by ICA and three denied because there was no master plan.

c) In a letter of June 8 2009, Shalev responded to Atilli’s complaint that ICA did not honor a PWA request to issue 12 of these permits. Shalev wrote that these permits had already been issued in 2001, and that ICA wondered why the PWA did not execute these projects.

d) Another 44 JWC-approved projects, the majority in Areas A and B, like the construction of a waste water treatment plant (WWTP) in Jenin that received approval in 2008 - have not been implemented. The German government has even withdraw a plan to build a WWTP in Tulkarm when it concluded that the PWA could not handle the project.

e) When, back in November 2009, the PWA complained about a lack of funds, the Israeli government offered to finance water projects for Palestinian communities. The PA has yet to respond to this offer.

Claim - Israel allocates only 10% of the shared water sources to the Palestinians.

Facts
a) The water quota for the West Bank were mutually agreed upon in the Oslo Accords and 33% of the water in the aquifers under the West Bank is allocated to the Palestinians.

b) In 1993 the Palestinians could pump up 117 million cubic meters and Israel would provide an additional 31 million. In 2007 200 million cubic meters were allocated to the PA, of which Israel provided 51.8 million. However, of those 200 million cubic meters, only 180 million were actually used.

c) The main reason for this is that the PWA did not implement projects in the Eastern aquifer that would have solved much of the Palestinian water crisis. More than half of the wells approved for exploitation of the Eastern aquifer have still not been drilled. The permits were issued in 2000.

d) In a letter written on April 4, 2001, the civil administration urged the PWA to execute these projects. A letter from June 8 2009 repeated that request.

Claim - Palestinians are limited to an average of just 60 liters per capita per day.

Facts -
In 2009 Atliil’s own PWA published a report that mentioned an average supply of 110 liters per capita per day.

Claim - Israel is stealing water and destroying Palestinian water projects

Fact
a) In fact, Palestinians steal millions of cubic meters of water per year by drilling illegal holes into the water pipes of the Israeli water provider Mekorot. The Civil Authority fixes 600 of these illegal taps each year. Furthermore, since 2008 Israel has asked the PA to re-establish the joint JSET water patrols that fought water theft before the Al Aksa intifada. The PA has refused.

b) Another reason for the loss of water is the poor maintenance of the Palestinian water infrastructure. A staggering 33% of the fresh water supply gets lost because of leaks, theft and poor maintenance.

Lack of Action by PA
Other documents provided solid evidence that the closing of 250 illegal wells was agreed upon in the JWC meetings. For example, minutes of the JWC meeting on November 13, 2007 show a consensus decision to destroy ‘illegal drillings and connections.’ Nevertheless, Atilli acted as if he never attended these meetings or co-signed the joint decisions.

He even had the gall to write urgent appeals to the international community as soon as ICA, after numerous appeals to the PWA to follow up on the agreed closure of illegal wells, finally closed those wells.

These are only few examples of the shocking way the Palestinian Authority neglected the basic needs of its citizens and cynically uses water as a weapon in a PR campaign against Israel. It shows that, contrary to reports dealing with progress in state building, the PA is far from ready for statehood.

Conclusion

The stubborn refusal to work with Israel on mutual interests like improvement of the water infrastructure, and the way the PA subsequently uses that lack of improvement to demonize Israel, prove that the PA is not interested in the two-state solution, or peace.

In fact, the bid for UN recognition of a state without a peace agreement, and the way the PA deals with Israel regarding water are part of the same campaign. The goal of that campaign is, as Mahmoud Abbas pointed out in his infamous NYT op-ed, the continuation of the conflict by different means.

By now it has become clear that the use of water as weapon is one of those means.

Don't Bother Me with Facts !!

2011-08-22T19:17:00.002+02:00

I always try to talk or write about Israel on the basis of facts, even though for some people these facts disturb their personal agenda. One correspondent, who entered into an e-mail discussion with me on the subject of allocation of water between Israel and the Palestinians, finally ended the discussion by telling me that “I can’t discuss this issue with you any further, you are always quoting me facts!!”

A friend who I recently had contact with has put this problem in verse, which I would like to share with you.

The Simple Facts

The TV needs action and papers must sell
But just simple facts send the ratings to hell

So they pick up the pictures of ravers and ranters
And print all the words of the slogans and chanters.

Like “Zionism is racism” and “genocidal” –
Give the ranters their due, they’ve been far from idle.

Their words are repeated for print and TV
But the facts that belie them, we’ve yet to see.

So there must be many who patiently wait…
For the simple facts to set the record straight.

Matches made in Bone Marrow Banks for Arabs

2011-08-16T13:21:00.002+02:00

By Avigayil Kadesh

Only about 1.2 million of the world's roughly 400 million ethnic Arabs live in Israel, yet the sole registry for Arab bone marrow donors is located in Jerusalem's Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center. Bone marrow transplanted from a genetically matching donor may be effective against blood cancers and a variety of genetic diseases.

Arab registry director Amal Bishara, an Arab woman with a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Hadassah, has traveled to 60 Arab communities since the registry was created in 2008 as an offshoot of the hospital's 22-year-old Jewish registry. Through lectures, publicity campaigns, newspaper articles and social media, Bishara has brought in 9,000 registrants resulting in six donations.

But before she can collect samples - often with the help of her family or a cadre of retired Arab nurses - she must sell the concept of unrelated, anonymous donors. Since Arabs frequently marry relatives, at least 60 percent of patients find matches within their own extended families (on the flip side, about 90 percent of Arab requests for bone marrow transplants are for children with genetic diseases resulting from consanguineous marriages). Hadassah previously had little success in recruiting Arab registrants. Thanks to Bishara, attitudes are changing.

For the full story see

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/InnovativeIsrael/Bone_marrow_banks-Jan_2011.htm?DisplayMode=print

SIX YEARS LATER

2011-08-12T14:21:00.002+02:00

I think the following letter by Rachel Saperstein, Neve Dekalim/Nitzan in Gaza is worth reprinting, since we tend to forget just how the 8000 Israelis expelled from Gush Kativ are still struggling to get their lives together. The plan was that this should bring peace to the area but we have seen now how it has created just the opposite.

She writes "I’m still paying the mortgage on my house in Gush Katif, the house our government destroyed, and now we've added the mortgage on the house we are building in Nitzan," K says to me. We are sitting in the Nitzan Library. We speak softly. After all, we are in a library. My visiting grandchildren are selecting books.

There is a lingering sadness in each of us. The burden of the expulsion weighs heavily upon us.

Despite the saying 'time heals all wounds' apparently the wound of being forcibly removed from your own home by your own people lays open and continues to fester.

K talks about her sense of loss. "Rachel, I feel as if I'm going through another expulsion. My neighbors in the refugee camp are moving away. Their caravilla is removed from the site as soon as they leave. I experience a sense of loss as good friends leave. I know they are moving to permanent homes but I feel the pain of eviction once again. I tremble when I see the empty space that once was a home. I can't seem to pack my belongings. Having to pack once again leaves me with a sense of dread."

"My two sons are in the army" K continues as she pulls out their picture. They are officers in combat units. "Last week there was a knock on my door. It was my younger son's commanding officer, with a group from his platoon. I froze in terror! 'Has something happened to my son?' I cried.
'Your son is fine' he smiled. 'We've come to help you pack'. Though my heart was pounding, I forced myself to calm down and began to give the soldiers instructions."

There is an ambivalent reaction to our soldiers. Six years ago they came to evict us. This time, as we slowly get ready to move again, they come to help us pack. But moving leaves us with a sense of sadness as we say a temporary goodbye to our dream of returning to Gush Katif.

I hugged K. The grandchildren had selected their books and are ready to return to our caravilla for lunch.

Last night I took a walk around the area. The caravillas that we have called home have begun to disappear. Fields of weeds have taken over. Where homes remain gardens are increasingly neglected.

We who are moving to Lachish still have a long wait as building has yet to begin. We are waiting for our Housing Committee to make a final choice of builder. We are depending on the Committee to make a proper choice, a builder with a good track record. There is also the choice of the contractor for public buildings. We cannot move people into a largely unpopulated area without synagogues, a supermarket, a health clinic, kindergartens and schools. So we wait.

As we complete six years of expulsion this Tisha bAv we contemplate the irony that the stories of expulsions on this terrible date for the Jewish Nation will now include the expulsion of Jews by Jews.

ISRAELI MEDICAL TEAM PERFORM FIRST EVER PEDIATRIC OPEN HEART SURGERY IN MWANZA TANZANIA

2011-08-08T09:20:00.002+02:00

August 7, Tanzania--

A medical team from Israel’s Save a Child’s Heart has successfully performed the first ever pediatric open heart surgery in Mwanza Tanzania and on the youngest child in Tanzania.

Laurencia Simon is four years old, the daughter of two farmers, and lives in a mud hut without electricity or running water. Two years ago she was diagnosed with congenital heart disease. Due to a lack of infrastructure, finance and training, doctors in Tanzania are unable to perform open heart surgery on such young children and so they were unable to help her. After hearing an announcement on the radio she and her mother settled into a three hour bus ride to Mwanza as they knew the only hope for Laurencia’s very serious heart condition was to receive care from the Save a Child’s Heart medical team.

“For the past two years, Laurencia has been too sick to go to school,” says Laurencia’s mother Paulina Bujiku, 27 yrs old. “We’ve been coming to the Bugando medical center once a month. But what Laurencia needs is an operation. Thanks to Save a Child’s Heart she’s about to get it. I’m scared, but I have faith.”

After a long surgery Laurencia was recovering well.

“It required incredible team work to create an operating room that could meet our needs,” says Dr. Lior Sasson, Chief Surgeon Save a Child’s Heart and Head of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department at Wolfson Medical Center. “But we did it- we created an environment where we could carefully and conscientiously perform open heart surgery and we saved the life of little Laurencia. What can I say- I feel incredibly proud.”

Save a Child’s Heart doctors and staff worked in collaboration with the staff at the Bugando hospital in Mwanza Tanzania and Kasbian Nuriel Chirich, Honorary Consul to Israel in Tanzania, to prepare for this moment. And all the hard work paid off, as children with heart disease came from across Tanzania to be examined by the Save a Child’s Heart team of doctors.

“There are about 200 sick Tanzanian children who will be examined by the Save a Child’s Heart team,” says Dr. Akiva Tamir, Chief cardiologist at Save a Child’s Heart and the head of the Pediatric Cardiology Unit at Wolfson Medical Centre. “I am checking over 20 children every day and we all are committed to doing whatever it takes to help them and save their lives.”

8 to 10 pediatric heart surgeries will took place Tanzania. The rest of the children who need operations will be flown to Israel’s Wolfson hospital this upcoming year – with all expenses paid by Save a Child’s Heart.

Once the surgeries are completed 13 volunteers and supporters for Save a Child's Heart will climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak, to raise $1 million dollars in order to save the lives of another 100 children in Africa suffering from heart disease.

Amongst the climbers is Dr. Godwin Godfrey from Tanzania. He has been in Israel the past three years training with Save a Child’s Heart at the Wolfson Medical Centre. Dr. Godfrey assisted in the historic pediatric open heart surgery and will take part in all the surgeries in the coming week.
“It’s extraordinary,” says Dr. Godfrey. “I finally see my people benefit from all my hard work. I now know that when I complete my training and return to Tanzania, I will be treating these children and doing everything I can to give them a second chance at life.”

Since its inception in 1996, the Save a Child’s Heart medical team treated over 2,600 children from 42 countries, including the Palestinian areas and Gaza, and has examined and evaluated more than 6,000 children.

For more information, please visit www.saveachildsheart.org .

PA Depicts a World Without Israel

2011-08-05T08:42:00.002+02:00

Israel is constantly being depicted as reluctant to enter negotiations with the Palestinians. The so called “peace partner” Mahmoud Abbas is touted as being the “best” partner possible. If we look at the way the Palestinian Authority are “preparing” their people for peace, then one has to wonder whether this partner is just an illusion or wishful thinking.

In the article we have chosen below, from Palestinian Media Watch http://www.pmw.org.il/main.aspx?fi=433 we see that the PA depicts a world without Israel.

Further, with the uncertainty surrounding our region, who is to say that Hamas will not take over Judea and Samaria in the foreseeable future.
Only last week Hamas in Gaza stated ‘Palestine means Palestine in its entirety, and Israel cannot exist in our midst’ . For the full report see http://tinyurl.com/3cy9u3b

PA depicts a world without Israel

The Palestinian Authority makes no attempt to educate its people towards peace and coexistence with Israel. On the contrary, from every possible platform it repeatedly rejects Israel's right to exist, presents the conflict as a religious battle for Islam, depicts the establishment of Israel as an act of imperialism, and perpetuates a picture of the Middle East, both verbally and visually, in which Israel does not exist at all. Israel's destruction is said to be both inevitable and a Palestinian obligation.

The following description of Israel's founding in a Palestinian schoolbook represents the dominant dogma about Israel:

"Palestine’s war ended with a catastrophe that is unprecedented in history, when the Zionist gangs stole Palestine … and established the State of Israel."
[Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and Criticism, grade 12, p. 104]

The official PA map of "Palestine,” depicting Palestinian rule over all of Israel, was used in an official PA TV public service ad that ran daily for 3 months, Oct. – Dec. 2007. Similar maps presenting all of Israel as "Palestine" appear in Palestinian schoolbooks and are shown regularly on PATV.

Denying Israel's right to exist

The Palestinian Authority adamantly rejects Israel’s right to exist and rewrites history to deny the 3,000-year-old connection of Jews to the Land Israel. [See "Rewriting History" section.] The essential message of the PA to its people is that Jews have no historical connection to the land, and that the State of Israel was created by the colonial powers for two reasons: to rid their countries of Jews, and to establish a colonial bridgehead in order to control the region. One particularly horrific expression of this ideology appeared in the official PA daily as far back as 1998:

“The difference between Hitler and [British Foreign Minister] Balfour was simple: the former [Hitler] did not have colonies to send the Jews to, so he destroyed them, whereas Balfour ...[turned] Palestine into his colony and sent the Jews. Balfour is Hitler with colonies, while Hitler is Balfour without colonies. They both wanted to get rid of the Jews...Zionism was crucial to the defense of the West, [by] ridding Europe of the burden of the Jews.”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 6, 1998]

The Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon, Abbas Zaki, shows how this distortion continues to be expressed:

"We must understand why Israel was established … [The Europeans] wanted to get rid of the Jews. … At that same time, energy [oil] was discovered in the Arab region … Then, they solved the [Jewish] problem by exporting [the Jews] to Israel [and at same time] they imposed their hegemony on the region’s natural resources. The [purpose of the] State of Israel is not for the Jews but it is an ongoing [colonial] project, an outpost for Imperialism.”
[PA TV, May 14, 2008]

PA TV for children: Israel is "the Interior" and the "the '48 interior"
Source: Palestinian TV (Fatah), July 1, 2011
On PA TV children’s program The Best Home, TV host Walaa talks about the summer vacation, which has begun for PA schools:
“Our friends, children, some of the schools in the Interior, the ’48 interior (i.e., Israel), have not yet finished their examinations, and today we received a letter that some have completed their studies.”

Israeli Supreme Court is the "so-called Israeli Supreme Court," says PA TV
Source: Palestinian TV (Fatah), June 22, 2011
As part of report on commencement of work to change the route of the security fence in the Bil’in area, in compliance with the ruling of the Israeli Supreme Court:
PA TV reporter: “Since early this morning, the occupation authorities have begun removing sections of the fence, in accordance with the decision of the so-called Israeli Supreme Court from 2007.”

Israeli Arabs adopt PA language of non-recognition of Israel
Source: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 21, 2011
Headline: “Families of ’48 (i.e., Arab-Israeli) prisoners: Non-inclusion of our sons in the [prisoner] exchange deal is like sentencing them to execution”
“The families of the ’48 prisoners (i.e., Israeli Arabs imprisoned for terror related crimes) said yesterday that the exclusion of their sons in any prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas would be like sentencing them to execution, especially with regard to 20 of them who have sat in the occupation’s prisons for between 20 and 29 years. The families of the prisoners added, in a letter which they sent to the Hamas leadership, a copy of which reached the office of MP Ibrahim Sarsour of the Islamic Party and was passed on to the media: ‘If recent media reports concerning the finalizing of an exchange deal that does not include the prisoners of ’48, are true, then this represents a precedent in the history of our Palestinian people and a deviation from its religious and national principles.’

They wrote in their letter: ‘This decision by the Hamas leadership will lead to the deaths of these prisoners in the gloom of the prisons, and to the deaths of their families from sorrow and terrible lack of hope.’ They demanded of Hamas ‘to engage in profound soul-searching and to retract immediately this unfair decision, which buries our sons and our progeny under the monument of oblivion, only because they adhered to their identity and their people, struggled and fought for… Jerusalem and for Palestine, the land, and the people.’

Circus Students Climb Walls Between Cultures

2011-08-01T11:38:00.005+02:00

The Israel Circus School runs multicultural programs to bring Jewish and Arab schoolchildren together.
If you're swinging from a trapeze or performing a risky acrobatic stunt, you've got to have total faith in the teammate entrusted to synch with you. And so, reasoned Hanita-Caroline Hendelman, circus training could provide a perfect - and perfectly offbeat - setting for building bonds between all cultures in Israel.

"Seven years ago, I initiated the project of having classes from Jewish and Arab schools meet through circus to foster dialogue," says Hendelman, director of the Israel Circus School and the Association for the Development of Circus Arts in the Galilee town of Kfar Yehoshua. Three years ago, she began working with multicultural youth at risk, too. "We try whenever possible to mix groups of different cultures," she says.

"My main interest is how we employ the arts in social healing. I don't mean art or drama therapy, but art in its fullest form. I think art has the biggest potential for healing that I know of, and the Israel Circus School is a fully artistic and professional school for adults, youth and children. They learn to be creative, responsible, artistic members of the community, but as part of their training we involve all our students in our various multicultural projects."

An Israel Circus School aerial performance

Under the banner "Circus Arts for Social Change," she is now creating a local and international network of circus artists and supporters interested in building a new socio-political agenda "to find innovative and creative means of resolving conflict situations and setting up new social priorities towards creating a society that cares, honors and respects all its members."

Hendelman launched this initiative with an international multicultural youth circus convention, July 19-21 in the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Acco (Acre). The event is called "Climbing Walls," at the suggestion of her co-founder and artistic director, David Berry.

"The bottom line of it all is conflict resolution. No matter where we are, there is always the potential for conflict within ourselves and with our neighbors, and these conflicts are the walls which then spread to cultures and nations," says Hendelman. "We need to start climbing these walls. This project is only a pebble, a first step to what I envisage as building a new socio-political agenda in all aspects of life."

Bias and fear give way to friendships

While learning skills including acrobatics, juggling, unicycle-riding, clowning, dance, drumming and improvisation, Israel Circus School students are also learning to rely upon each other and communicate in word and action.
Hendelman has said that this setting is an excellent medium for breaching emotional barriers. "It forces you into a situation of working with one another. You need to touch, and you need to support one another."

Initially arriving with feelings of bias and fear, Arab and Israeli kids - accompanied by their teachers - very quickly relax as they work together to master challenging physical feats. By the end of the day, Hendelman sees many of the students exchanging email addresses and telephone numbers.

Endowed by British benefactors, the Israel Circus School depends on grants. It works closely with other Israeli circus schools and organizations, such as the Galilee Circus sponsored by the Galilee Foundation for Value Education; Circus Maghar in the Druze town of Maghar; and Efshar Acheret (Another Possibility).

Groups of advanced students have performed at Israeli festivals such as the Acre alternative theater festival and the Jacob's Ladder Folk Festival, as well as in Germany and Turkish and Greek Cyprus with a grant from the European Union to create a circus program for Jewish, Muslim and Christian children. In February, the Israel Circus School was invited to entertain the crowd at the Israeli professional basketball finals in the Nokia Stadium in Tel Aviv.

From street theater to conflict resolution

The origins of the school go back to 1992, when Berry, an Australian immigrant, created a street theater group for youth in Kiryat Tivon. After several successful performances in major Israeli festivals, the group started evolving toward circus arts and invited a master acrobat from the Moscow State Circus to come aboard as one of five teachers to open a circus school in 2000.

Two years later, Berry and Hendelman created the Association for the Development of Circus Arts in Israel, a non-profit, charitable organization, with the goal of turning the Israel Circus School into a professionally run training center. They moved to a renovated village hall in Kefar Yehoshua in 2002 and won the ongoing patronage of Arthur Vercoe Pedlar, former World Clown Association president.

For the past six years, the association has participated, along with Circus Maghar and a circus school in Nablus, in summer circus workshops held at Berlin's Circus Shake. "It's sad that we need to travel all the way to Berlin to work with our colleagues in Nablus," Hendelman comments.

Two years ago, the three of them became inaugural members of a new European-Middle East federation of youth circuses, which will have its second annual convention and show, Comedy Shake, later this summer. Participants are also coming from Finland, England, Spain, Germany, Italy, Morocco and Egypt.

Wikimania Goes Ahead in Haifa

2011-07-31T20:33:00.004+02:00

In spite of the calls by anti Israel forces to have the 2011 Wikimania conference cancelled in Haifa, the organisers have not succumbed to the pressure and this week sees the start of a very full program.

Over 480 participants have registered of which 360 are very 56 different countries. Wikipedia has today over 18 million entries on the web in 270 different languages and typically has 400 million hits a month.

On Tuesdsay and Wednesday there will be preliminary sessions prior to the main event starting on Thursdsay with over 125 presentations.

The event will conclude on Saturday night with a big beach party and I can imagine the boadwalk being crowded as it it is also the time of the community folk dancing which draws big crowds and takes place eveey week both on Saturday night and Tuesday evenings.

Finally on Sunday there are a number of tours available which will give the visitors a chance to see a country of the type not normally portrayed in the mass media.

60,000 Palestinian tourists to visit Israel in 2011

2011-07-21T17:43:00.003+02:00

More than 60,000 Palestinians are expected to visit Israel as tourists by
the end of 2011, at least twice as many as last year, a defense official
said.

Israel is planning to double the number of permits issued to Palestinians
this year, due to the improved security in the West Bank, the source said.
However, if the situation deteriorates in September following the
Palestinians' UN bid for statehood, it will be harder to issue permits, he
said.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/more-than-60-000-palestinians-expected-to-visit-israel-as-tourists-in-2011-1.373952

The permits are not usually issued to individuals or families, but mainly
to schools and summer camps wishing to take children to visit beaches
and mixed Jewish-Arab cities in Israel.

In 2010 28,000 Palestinians were given permits to visit Israel. The
permits are granted specifically for touring, as opposed to other permits
given for employment, medical treatment or prisoner visitation.

"We want Palestinians, especially young ones, to see another kind of
Israeli, not only soldiers and settlers. Anything that can help them blow
off steam and relax. Perhaps instead of demonstrating in September
they'll go to the beach," the source said.

Most of the Palestinians visit Arab and mixed towns such as Haifa,
Jaffa and Acre, among other things, because of their beaches. "For
many of these youngsters, this is the first visit to the beach," says an
Israeli guide of West Bank groups.

Another popular destination is the Ramat Gan Safari, which has prepared
Arab-language tours to accommodate the numerous Palestinian visitors.

"They see things differently from Israeli children. They've never seen wild
animals like those in the safari," says Adam Yakobi, one of the safari
guides who works with Palestinian groups.

"In addition to ecologic explanations, we try to convey a message of
coexistence, between animals and human beings, and among people as
well. Politics does not come into it. It's a completely different atmosphere
and they're engrossed in looking at the animals," he said.

Wikimania Comes to Haifa

2011-07-14T17:26:00.003+02:00

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales will mingle among hundreds of people from 52 countries in Haifa from August 4-7, at the annual Wikimania conference, held for the first time in Israel.

Started in 2005 and growing each year, the conference attracts people interested in free and open content/software, global development/education and new trends in the field of knowledge sharing in the Internet age. But mostly, it is a gathering place for those involved in Wikimedia Foundation projects -- primarily the world’s most popular source of information, the Internet-based encyclopedia, Wikipedia available in 279 languages.

A coup for Haifa

The multicultural Mediterranean seaside city – Israel’s third largest, after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv -- won out as the conference venue over Barcelona, Montreal, New York, Tokyo and Toronto. That’s a major feather in the cap of Deror Lin, an Israeli lawyer who is one of about 20 members of the three-year-old Wikimedia Israel group. Lin spearheaded the drive to bring Wikimania to Haifa, along with several other Wikimedia Israel volunteers eager to host Wikipedians from countries including India, China, Macao, Nepal, Uzbekistan, Bolivia, Venezuela and Chile.

“I was born in Haifa, and I think it’s a great city to show what the Middle East should be like, with all religions living and working together,” says Lin.

“This is the first time there will be a beach party at a Wikimania conference, and we have organized free tours for participants to Jerusalem, the Galilee and around Acco [Acre] and Haifa as well.”

The event at the Haifa Auditorium will include 125 sessions as well as workshops dealing with free content, open source, Internet-age copyrights, web communities and networks, education and knowledge acquisition.

Wales will deliver his annual "State of the Wiki" address. Deans from the University of Haifa and Bar-Ilan University are planned speakers along with Prof. Yochai Benkler, professor of law at Harvard University, and Joseph Reagle, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard and author of Good Faith Collaboration: The Culture of Wikipedia.

For more information on this fantastic event see
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/InnovativeIsrael/Wikimania-hits-Haifa-14-JUL-2011.htm

Israel Immediately Sends Help to the New State of Sudan

2011-07-10T13:33:00.001+02:00

As South Sudan’s Independence Day on July 9th was declared, the international community watched the birth of its newest nation. The situation in the country is harsh. Illiteracy reaches nearly 90%, there is little or no infrastructure in the country, and most of the people have no access to basic clean water and security. In recent months over 117,000 people were displaced and almost 1,400 killed following the conflict between the South and the North and across Sudan 4.27 million people are still internally displaced.

IsraAID: The Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid with the support and partnership of The Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto, AJC and local agencies on the ground will be sending a humanitarian aid cargo to assist the people of South Sudan on behalf of the Israeli and Jewish people as a goodwill gesture between both communities.

The IsraAID teams have already begun assessing the longer term needs on the ground for a long term aid mission that would benift children, women and elders in the most affected communities in the country.

“As a small and relatively new born country Israel has gained experience in various factors of water, agriculture, post trauma, education, migration and others that would be valuable to the people of South Sudan who are now building their country. It is our mission and Jewish commitment to reach out to our new friends in any way we can” stated the founding director of IsraAID.

The dangers in premature recognition of a “Palestinian state”

2011-07-05T20:13:00.003+02:00

In addition to the on-going flotilla stories, the attempt by the Palestinians to avoid negotiations with Israel will take another turn in September at the UN.

Whilst any supporter of Israel will give a thousnad reasons why the Palestinians are wrong in this attempt, it is interesting to note that many Arab sources are also saying the same thing.

One example of this is an article by a Kuwaiti journalist published recently and I attach the translation below by Abdallah al-Hadlaq, 22nd June 2011

(Translated from Arabic newspaper “Al Watan” in Kuwait)

http://alwatan.kuwait.tt/ArticleDetails.aspx?Id=120302&YearQuarter=20112 Original Arabic article

International agreements dealing with peace in the Middle East must be respected

The Palestinian side is flaunting UNSC Resolutions 242, 338 and 1850 and the Road Map to Peace, all of which call for agreed solutions for disputes to be reached by direct talks, rejecting unilateral acts that undermine internationally accepted parameters for reaching peace, and defining basic principles for bilateral peace-making.

The Palestinians strive to obtain premature recognition for a “Palestinian State” this September despite the danger of derailing the peace talks, which is implicit in a unilateral declaration.

International agreements dealing with peace in the Middle East must be respected.

Israel indeed upholds them, as well as the principle of direct negotiations as being the only way to solve the dispute, while the Palestinians have long since abandoned direct peace talks, and now act unilaterally, trying to impose a fait accompli on Israel, using international pressure.

The Palestinians want to realize their dream of obtaining international legitimacy (which should be based on finding the agreed solution so necessary for peace) through the forcible imposition of an international diktat on Israel . A unilateral declaration will not conclude the conflict but only make matters worse, making it more intense instead of ending it. The Palestinians seem to have lost their keen interest in negotiation aimed at a reaching a deal, and now only want to act unilaterally in ways that will never solve key problems in the current impasse - which can only be tackled through direct talks between the parties concerned. Continued Palestinian obstinacy just complicates the conflict.

As the Palestinians press on unilaterally for premature recognition of their ”State”, they ignore Israel’s right to exist peacefully as the state of the Jewish people, recognized and living within its borders. The division of the Palestinians themselves between the Palestinian Authority that controls only parts of the West Bank, and the terrorist Hamas movement (loyal to the Persians of Iran) that holds the Gaza Strip negates legal criteria for the establishment of a state in form and character. Added to which, the Palestinian Authority has no authority over the Gaza Strip (which as noted is dominated by Hamas), the recent conciliation agreement between the warring factions notwithstanding.

Premature recognition of a Palestinian State means recognition of a terrorist entity - because Hamas openly intends to destroy Israel and wipe it off the map. Hamas rejects the terms of the international community for its own recognition that would make Hamas into a legal and accepted player in the region. These terms are: recognizing the right of Israel to exist, acceptance of existing international agreements, and an end to violence.

We must not forget that the international community still defines Hamas as a terrorist organization which is banned in Europe and the USA. How then can a terrorist body become the model for a Palestinian state?

Israel has for a long time made strategic concessions for peace, proving her desire for peaceful negotiations. She gave up Sinai in exchange for a peace treaty with Egypt, and withdrew from Gaza and South Lebanon. But the response she earned in the latter cases of Gaza and South Lebanon was a hail of rockets and barrages of artillery. Her towns and villages in the north and south of the country were attacked and many civilians were killed.

That should serve to warn of the dangers she faces from the terrorists of Hizballah and Hamas, and underlines the need for peace through solutions that will answer the needs and interests of all parties to the conflict.

Clearly, a premature recognition of a Palestinian state will negate the negotiating process and shatter the lofty idea of a modus vivendi attained through dialogue.

All those who hope for real peace in the region must reject these reckless unilateral Palestinian moves that block the negotiation process. The Palestinians must be made to understand that the only way to a permanent peace treaty will be through direct talks.

The Flotilla Megilla

2011-06-27T20:40:00.003+02:00

A megilla is defined as a long story and Gaza is certainly a long story.

Having returned from a month in Canada where it is refreshing to hear the vast majority of people speak about the realities of Gaza as they see it and for once truly reflecting the reality, I have returned to the story of the latest flotilla attempts to provoke Israel into actions which will see it once again condemned by the world at large. There are some bigotted Canadians who just can't or won't see the wood for the trees.

The following article in the National Post http://tinyurl.com/6ly834m shows how the bigotted just do not want to be confused by facts.

Kelly McParland - National Post - June 23, 2011

Things must be getting tougher in the Hate Israel industry these days, what with Arab leaders slaughtering their own people everywhere you look, in order to hold onto their jobs.

People were killed in Egypt, people were killed in Tunisia and Bahrain, people are still being killed in Yemen, Libya and especially Syria. They’re being killed because they’d like to change the government, which you can do in Israel just by turning up to vote. They’re being killed because they’d like to be more like Israel. How can you focus the world’s attention on the despicable state of affairs in apartheid Israel when the people in neighbouring countries insist on giving up their lives in hopes of winning similar rights to those Israel already offers? It’s almost like the protesters in all those places didn’t realize that the source of all their troubles lies in Jerusalem, not in their own countries.

Hate Israel people aren’t easy to persuade, though, so they’re persevering despite the headwinds. The folks behind the

Canadian boat to Gaza sent their little contingent off on the weekend to join the heroic struggle to break the murderous Israeli blockade of Gaza and bring life-saving supplies to its besieged people. The people of Gaza aren’t really besieged, and it’s not really that hard to send them supplies, if that’s your intention, but admitting as much would spoil all the drama and self-serving bombast of the Hate Israel folks, so they’re pretending otherwise. If they’re really lucky, Israel will try to turn back the boat and they can try to provoke a confrontation, enabling them to get a ton of international publicity for themselves, which is what they live for. It might be a bit more difficult than in the past, though, since Israel may be reluctant to play along, and since the blockade has already been eased. And Turkey, which has been supportive of the flotillas, has its hands full trying to deal with the flood of civilians fleeing Syria to escape the government’s murderous campaign to put down a popular revolt. (Syria is one of those countries that kills people who challenge the government, a state of affairs the Hate Israel people have to studiously ignore.)

The United Church of Canada, or a faction within it, is also keeping up its campaign to pretend Israel is worse than the countries that want to annihilate it. A “task force” within the church which has all of 15 members

is trying to drum up support for a boycott of firms that do business in Israel. The campaign, as reported by the National Posts’ Charles Lewis, seems a little unfocused. It hasn’t been endorsed by the Church’s national body, “but it hasn’t unendorsed it either,” says Brian McIntosh, a reverend, pastor and spokesman for the campaigners. (The U.S. Senate hasn’t unendorsed it either, so I guess they must also be on board. Kind of a surprise, but there you go.)

Rev. McIntosh acknowledges that the group hasn’t called for boycotts against any of the many oppressive regimes in Africa or the Middle East, or China, where government critics get chucked in jail and members of many religious faiths may be persecuted. So why Israel?

No. 1, because Israel purports to be a democracy. No. 2, they are in violation of international law and even the UN has tried to call Israel to account. So what is left for people who want to see international law enforced? Libya just happened and the U.S. jumped to take on the presumed responsibility to protect civilians; they jumped in with all kinds of force. But they won’t do that against Israel ever because Israel purports to be a democracy.

“Purports to be”, like, they have elections and stuff. Which they don’t bother with in Syria or Libya or Bahrain. They just shoot people, which is evidently cleaner and more effective. One of the companies Rev. McIntosh wants boycotted is Indigo books, because owners Heather Reisman and Gerald Schwartz personally support a foundation that provides scholarships to Israeli soldiers. They do it on their own, but Rev. McIntosh figures they get their money from Indigo, though a quick Google search would show that Mr. Schwartz actually has one or two other business interests as well. So why pick Indigo? Rev. McIntosh doesn’t really have an answer, just as the Hate Israel people don’t really have an answer for why they hate Israel and not its murderous, repressive, anti-democratic neighbours.

They just do.

The Dangers of Premature Recognition of a Palestinian State

2011-06-15T19:04:00.001+02:00

8 Jun 2011
A unilateral declaration harms true peace, challenging the most basic principles of Mideast peacemaking, and undermines all internationally accepted frameworks for peace. All call for a mutually-negotiated and agreed resolution of the conflict. All reject unilateral actions.

Agreements should be respected. They certainly should be respected in the United Nations. Yet in just a few months time, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is expected to violate its agreements with Israel and all the international frameworks for Mideast peace by seeking premature recognition of a Palestinian state in the UN in September.

Israel remains dedicated to direct negotiations as the only method of resolving the conflict. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority has long abandoned peace negotiations. Instead, the Palestinian leadership has embarked on the path of unilateral action, preferring to attempt to force their will on Israel through international pressure. It has long been the dream of the Palestinians to bypass a negotiated settlement, bypass the need for necessary compromises through the application of international coercion on Israel.

A unilateral declaration harms true peace, challenging the most basic principles of Mideast peacemaking. It undermines all internationally accepted frameworks for peace, including UN Security Council Resolutions 242, 338, 1850 and the Roadmap for peace. All call for a mutually-negotiated and agreed resolution of the conflict. All reject unilateral actions.

The declaration of Palestinian statehood outside the context of a negotiated settlement would violate existing bilateral Palestinian-Israeli peace agreements. The important Interim Agreement from 1995, which expressly prohibits unilateral action by either side to change the status of the West Bank and Gaza, would be breached.

A unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood will do nothing to solve the conflict. Indeed, it would intensify rather than end it. The Palestinians would no longer have any incentive to negotiate and compromise. Unilateral measures will not settle any of the key permanent status issues, such as borders, Jerusalem and refugees. As has been agreed previously between the sides - and supported by the international community - these complicated issues can only be resolved in direct negotiations between the parties.

Premature recognition would ignore Israel’s legitimate concerns, especially regarding security issues. It would also allow the Palestinians to continue to avoid the important step of mutual recognition, which includes Israel’s right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people. This issue lies at the core of the conflict and its avoidance will harm efforts to reach a genuine peace.

Moreover, recognition of Palestinian statehood at this time is an untenable move as the Palestinian Authority currently fails to meet the established legal tests for statehood. In particular, the PA does not pass the test of effective government: it does not rule the territory in question. According to existing agreements, the PA exercises varying degrees of control only over relatively small areas of the West Bank. Furthermore, the PA does not have effective control over the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, despite the recent reconciliation agreement among Palestinian factions.

Recognition at this time would constitute recognition of a terrorist entity. Hamas seeks Israel’s destruction and rejects the most basic conditions of the international community for recognition as a legitimate actor in the region (recognition of Israel’s right to exist, acceptance of existing agreements and an end to violence). In preparation for the unilateral declaration of a state, the Palestinian Authority has signed a reconciliation agreement with the Hamas. Supporting this agreement without any change in position by Hamas would serve as de facto international recognition of Hamas' legitimacy. It should be remembered that Hamas continues to be recognized as a terrorist organization, outlawed in numerous states throughout the world, including the UK and the US.

On the other hand, Israel has a long proven track record of making strategic concessions for peace. It has proved its willingness to negotiate land transfers, abandoning Sinai for peace with Egypt and leaving the Gaza Strip and South Lebanon. The fact that Israeli peace steps in the last two instances were answered with rockets and violent attacks should be a sobering warning about the risks Israel takes for peace and the importance of reaching a solution that serves the interest of all sides to the conflict.

Clearly, premature recognition of a Palestinian state would render the negotiating process and the ideals of compromise and dialogue meaningless. All who desire true peace in this region should reject Palestinian efforts to act unilaterally and forsake the negotiating process. Only through direct negotiations can a lasting peace agreement be reached.

Syria's Objectives? Not in Your Newspapers

2011-06-07T08:48:00.000+02:00

Why have the media ignored the following report by RPS (The Syrian Reform Party)?
Whether or not the opinion makers agree with RPS, its existence and activities are highly relevant to understanding the news.

RPS reports that the Assad regime has paid hundreds of farmers $1,000 each to show-up in the attempts to breach the Israel border and $10,000 to their families should any of them succumb to Israeli fire.

RPS states that it "strongly believes in ownership and title of the Golan Heights. But unlike a regime bred on the use of violence, the Syrian people, demonstrating how peaceful they are as they endure one massacre after another, believe in peaceful negotiations to repatriate our land"

Who and what is RPS? Their mission statement includes inter alia the following worthy objectives

a) to build a true democracy in a New Syria where multiple parties are represented and elections are held free from fear, intimidation, and repressive measures.

b) to help pass laws to prohibit the establishments, in a New Syria, of any political parties whose charter calls for violence against other countries or people and to disassociate itself from any other group whose aim, through violence or otherwise, is to impose their ideologies unto others.

c) moderate, in the “New Syria”, our armed forces to protect rather than threaten and to educate our internal police force to safeguard human rights and to respect human dignity.

to vacate from Lebanon and repair the damage done from years of occupation by supporting and helping all Lebanese willing to espouse transparency and accountability and to do so in an environment free from pressure.

THAI Princess Makes Official Visit To RAMBAM

2011-05-16T20:43:00.001+02:00

As part of ongoing cooperation between Thai research centers and Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Princess Chulabhorn of Thailand and her royal entourage visited the medical center this week. At Rambam, the princess signed a formal memorandum of understanding, paving the way for future joint efforts.

Prof. Dr. Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn Mahido arrived on May 15, 2011 for an official visit at the Rambam Health Care Campus. The princess was accompanied by her royal entourage and by representatives of the Thai embassy in Israel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Municipality of Haifa.

This marks the sixth visit to Israel of the princess, the youngest daughter of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit of Thailand. This current visit is being held as part of scientific cooperation between Thai and Israeli research organizations. Within this initiative, Rambam is conducting cancer research with Thailand’s prestigious Chulabhorn Research Institute.

In addition to her royal title, the princess is a Doctor of Biochemistry, and is committed to advancing scientific research in her home country. Likewise, she heads the research center that bears her name, and lectures at different academic institutions. The princess oversees funds that grant scholarships and prizes to researchers, and is a senior member of the UK's Royal Society of Chemistry. In 1986, UNESCO awarded her the Einstein Medal for her promotion of international scientific cooperation.

Upon her arrival to Rambam, the princess was greeted by representatives of the hospital administration. She then attended a seminar delivered by different Rambam researchers and physicians. Opening this event, Rambam Director Prof Rafi Beyar stated that in the last three years, “Delegations from both sides have been cooperating in the fields of oncology and cancer imaging. There is no doubt in my mind,” he continued, “that within ten years, the field of oncology will be transformed through breakthrough technology and a deeper understanding of genetics, imaging, personalized medicine and tailored treatment.”

Discussion on the Status of "Nakba" Day

2011-05-15T22:20:00.002+02:00

The Right to Demonstrate:
Israel believes in the right to demonstrate peacefully, whatever the object of the protest. However, violent rioting that endangers lives cannot be tolerated.

Meaning of "Nakba Day"
The so-called "Nakba Day" is not a protest against the 1967 "occupation", but a rejection of Israel's basic right to exist, as indicated by its being held on the day of Israel's Declaration of Independence. Instead of promoting a positive agenda of their own, the Palestinians display total negativism, relying on denial, exclusion and rejection of Israel.

On achieving peace:
The obvious needs to be stated again: an end to the conflict can only be achieved through negotiation, compromise and recognition, and not through violence, riots and unilateral moves.

The Infiltration of Israel:
Dozens of Syrian rioters ran over the border between Israel and Syria near the village of Majdal Shams, on the Golan Heights. The Israel Army, the IDF attempted to block this massive breach of the border with the utmost restraint.

This outburst of cross-border violence could not have taken place without the consent – or the active support – of the Syrian army, given its tight control of the border zone. This appears like an attempt by the Syrian regime to create a distraction from the violent crackdown it is currently carrying out throughout the country.

Violent riots in South Lebanon, including attempts to run over the border fence, are organized by Hezbollah, Iran's Lebanese proxy.

Reflections of Remembrance and Independance

2011-05-11T15:25:00.002+02:00

The atmosphere of the Remembrance day and Independance day is hard to express in words, however, a friend wrote the following in his blog which captures the feelings of the vast majority of us who live here. I hope you agree with this description.

In Israel we commemorated the fallen in all our wars and the victims of terrorism on Yom Hazikaron, the Day of Remembrance, the day before Yom Ha'atzmaut, Independence Day, May 9-10. This year, 138 additional names were added to the list of ca. 23,000 people who have died either in uniform or in the name of the State since its inception (i.e. prior to the actual founding of the State). To those who believe in peace with the Arabs, I point out that all of those Jews were killed by Arabs. Included in this number are not only the fallen in our many wars, but the ca. 1000 victims of terrorism, killed by suicide bombings, shootings, stabbings and rocket attacks.

Although this number may seem large, it is miniscule compared to the killings of Jews that went on throughout civilized Europe during WWII, when thousands of Jews were killed every day.by every other nationality (Germans, Russians, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, Romanians, etc. etc.). So we who are Zionists prefer to face the odds with guns rather than being powerless. Although the Arabs have not been successful in destroying us and our State, they are still trying and their culture is still based on hatred of Jews. And now they are joined by a more sinister force, that of Iranian Shia Islam.

However, notwithstanding the constant barrage of violence, we are stronger and more affluent than ever before. Israel's economy was virtually unaffected by the economic crisis that brought most other world economies to their knees. Unlike the similar sized countries - Ireland, Greece and Portugal, we had no Bank failures and no debt crisis, We had 7.5% GDP growth rate this year, and the shekel is one of the strongest currencies in the world. Our armed forces are second to none and our air force is probably the best in the world. Our high tech industry is second only to the US and our computer skills are the top in cyber warfare. And now we have an anti-missile system, Iron Dome, the first in the world that works. We are still surrounded by enemies, but they are undergoing serious internal schisms.

When I sit in the sunshine in Ha'atzmaut Square in Netanya, sipping tea and eating cake, surrounded by Russian and French immigrants, bringing our total population today to 7.7 million I feel great pride. Even the Israeli Arabs, many of whom celebrate the so-called "disaster" (nakba) of Israel's founding, nevertheless the vast majority of them when polled state that they would prefer to remain Israeli citizens than join any Palestinian State, showing that they are not stupid. Tell that to those knee-jerk leftists who claim that Israel carried our "ethnic cleansing" rather than merely defending itself from constant attack by Arab armies and terrorists, or who claim that Israel is an "apartheid" state. Let them come here and see for themselves the falsity of those stupid claims, or are they afraid to face reality.

So we sat in the crowd at the commemoration of Yom Hazikaron and then the next day on Yom Ha'atzmaut we watched on the television the national celebration of the 63rd anniversary of Israel's independence from Har Herzl in Jerusalem, and we were very glad to be part of it. Then we saw the fly-over of our IAF planes celebrating Yom Ha'atzmaut. As it says in our national anthem: To be a free people in our land of Eretz Zion and Jerusalem

Major Growth in Life Sciences Planned

2011-05-08T14:21:00.001+02:00

With positive growth rates in the Israeli economy continuing, attention is now turning to those industries with potential to sustain these growth performances.

The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor have signed an agreement to set up a fund with OrbiMed, an international company that currently manages investments in excess of $5 billion in life sciences companies. The scope of the Israeli fund’s activities will amount to $200 million at the initial stage and is likely to grow in the future.

The fund will invest in life sciences companies, with a significant proportion of the investments being directed toward the biopharma sector, which the State has identified as a field in which Israel has an excellent but not fully tapped infrastructure. The new fund will be one of just a few specializing in the biopharma sector. Hopefully some significant amounts will be invested in Haifa, where the Mayor and council have earmarked an area of land specifically for the development of the life sciences.

OrbiMed Group qualified to make a bid for establishing the fund having met the tender’s high threshold conditions, and at the second stage was required to raise an amount of at least $76 million. OrbiMed succeeded in raising $160 million on the private market, more than double the minimum required. This is an especially noteworthy achievement in view of how hard it as at present to raise venture capital. The total amount that the fund will manage, which, as stated, comprises the amount raised by OrbiMed and the State’s investment, will make the fund into one of the largest venture capital funds in the Israeli industry.

OrbiMed’s entry into Israel is expected to boost international investment in the life sciences industry in Israel by $200 million, through co-investments with foreign funds.

Director General of the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Haim Shani said that, “the establishment of investment funds is one of the ways that the Ministry of Finance and the Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor advance their growth policy, which is intended to assist in maintaining Israel’s status as a technological power that makes a significant contribution to GDP growth”.

Chief Scientist at the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor, Mr. Avi Hasson stated that, “the objective of the investment funds is to bridge the funding gap, thereby removing the obstacles to investing in Israeli biotechnology companies that currently exist in Israel. We have been aware for some time of the potential of the Israeli biotechnology industry and its contribution to the economy, and the setting up of this fund is the crowning achievement in a long line of measures implemented by the Chief Scientist’s Office in recent years aimed at establishing and expanding the activities of companies in this sector”.

Managing Partner of OrbiMed International, Mr. Jonathan Silverstein said that, “the decision to operate in Israel resulted from the recognition of Israel’s vast potential in the life sciences sector in the coming years. In the last two years we have witnessed tremendous momentum in this sector in Israel and major growth in the number of companies at various stages of clinical trials. OrbiMed has examined the government programs of other countries around the world and has concluded that the combination of the programs of the Israeli government together with the potential of the local industry is the most attractive”.

Yet another slew of new products and services to humanity from Israel

2011-05-01T18:36:00.002+02:00

Still saving children from Chernobyl. 25 years after the nuclear accident, Chabad is still bringing children suffering from the effects of radiation to begin new lives in Israel. 93 flights have rescued over 2700 children.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX7BTpbshMA
http://www.ccoc.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=98&Itemid=30

“Whoever saves a life, saves an entire world”. Interview with Bernard Bar-Natan, the Israeli inventor of the amazing new bandage that is now standard NATO issue and has already saved countless lives.
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=218376

Four new anti-cancer proteins. Using “predictive biology” Israeli biotech Compugen has discovered protein several variants that generate antibodies to stimulate the immune system into targeting cancer cells.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000640967&fid=1725

New drug can treat incurable disease. Sufferers of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) die within 6-15 months, but latest trials of Israeli biotech Can-Fite’s drug CF-102 show it is effective on the virus.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000640868&fid=1725

Triple good news for diabetics. First, Israel’s D Medical unit received Canadian certification for its Spring universal infusion sets for insulin pumps. Canada has the 6th highest incidence of Type 1 child diabetes.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000640873&fid=1725

USA FDA approves infusion sets. The Food & Drugs Administration has also approved the Israeli device.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000641701&fid=1725

Israeli cell-based therapy to go global. MacroCure’s breakthrough product treats skin ulcers in the legs of diabetics. The treatment is only available in Israel currently but international trials will commence soon.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000640923&fid=1725

Israel solves “insoluble” problem. Some vital drugs do not dissolve and have to be administered intravenously, often with severe side effects. Now Hebrew Uni head scientist Simon Benita has invented “nano-capsules” which allow such treatments (e.g. anti-cancer drugs) to be taken orally.
http://www.fiercedrugdelivery.com/story/nano-capsules-may-solve-solubility-problem-anti-cancer-drug/2011-04-12

Israeli medical robots set out for Europe. International healthcare & electronics giant Philips is to use remote precision robotic-assisted control solutions from Israel’s Corindus to treat obstructed coronary arteries.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000640910&fid=1725

Israeli shirts are good for you. A joint Israel-Portugal team has developed the Niturit – a T-shirt that monitors your heart and transmits data to a medical centre in real-time. It has been chosen by Europe’s Space Agency.
http://nocamels.com/2011/04/new-t-shirt-can-transmit-heart-activity-straight-to-your-doctor/

Indian governor praises Israel. The North Indian state of Haryana will adopt Israeli technology to process brackish water for agriculture. Haryana is one of India’s most important farming and industrial states.
http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-198595.html

Israel – the largest R&D country in Europe. Of the 40 members of the European inter-state body for Research and Development (EUREKA), Israel has the most approved projects (14 out of 89).
http://israel-lightontonations.blogspot.com/2011/04/eureka-will-invest-in-14-projects.html

Cleaning up in Peru & soon the UK. Mapal’s sewage treatment was Good News in January. Now it has even more orders, thanks to Israeli funding and a unique oxygenation device that reduces maintenance costs by 80%.
http://nocamels.com/2011/04/israeli-purification-techonolgy-chosen-by-peru-to-clean-its-sewages/

Thought-controlled computers. Ben Gurion Uni students have developed innovative technology that could enable people (e.g. disabled) to operate a computer without using a keyboard or mouse – only their brainwaves.
http://in.bgu.ac.il/en/Pages/news/thought_controlled.aspx

Knowing your bees. Researchers at the Hebrew Uni have established a system for matching bees to their favourite flowers. The knowledge will improve crop fertilisation and expand food production.
http://nocamels.com/2011/04/the-truth-about-bees-and-their-love-for-sweets/

Engineering a path to success. The Israeli charity Ort has launched a new program to allow outstanding, highly motivated yet underprivileged students to train as engineers at schools including here in Netanya.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4010840,00.html

Arab and Jewish Israelis unite in Rap group. A unique item – good news from a BBC website.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/12685078

Co-existence in Maternity Ward. Gaza woman and Israeli neighbour recover together with baby daughters.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4051995,00.html

Save a Child’s Heart pilgrimage. Following heart surgery, Muslim and Christian children are taken on a visit to their holy sites in Jerusalem.
http://www.saveachildsheart.org/265-2310-en/News.aspx?pos=1

More Arabs join Israeli Defence Forces. There was a 200% increase in non-Jews joining the IDF. Muslim and Christian Arabs volunteer increasingly in order to improve their career prospects in the Start-up Nation.
http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/2011/04/2603.htm

Goals of the HAMAS

2011-04-30T23:17:00.003+02:00

The the reports of a unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas, it is worth reminding ourselves of the openly declared goals of Hamas. If the world expects Israel to try to reach an agreement here, they must be out of their minds.

The Goals

"The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine." (Article 6)

On the destruction of Israel:

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." (Preamble)

The exclusive Moslem nature of the area:

"The land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [Holy Possession] consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. No one can renounce it or any part, or abandon it or any part of it." (Article 11)

"Palestine is an Islamic land... Since this is the case, the Liberation of Palestine is an individual duty for every Moslem wherever he may be." (Article 13)

The call to jihad:

"The day the enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In the face of the Jews' usurpation, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised." (Article 15)

"Ranks will close, fighters joining other fighters, and masses everywhere in the Islamic world will come forward in response to the call of duty, loudly proclaiming: 'Hail to Jihad!'. This cry will reach the heavens and will go on being resounded until liberation is achieved, the invaders vanquished and Allah's victory comes about." (Article 33)

Rejection of a negotiated peace settlement:

"[Peace] initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement... Those conferences are no more than a means to appoint the infidels as arbitrators in the lands of Islam... There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility." (Article 13)

Condemnation of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty:

"Egypt was, to a great extent, removed from the circle of struggle [against Zionism] through the treacherous Camp David Agreement. The Zionists are trying to draw other Arab countries into similar agreements in order to bring them outside the circle of struggle. ...Leaving the circle of struggle against Zionism is high treason, and cursed be he who perpetrates such an act." (Article 32)

Anti-Semitic incitement:

The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him." (Article 7)

"The enemies have been scheming for a long time ... and have accumulated huge and influential material wealth. With their money, they took control of the world media... With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the globe... They stood behind the French Revolution, the Communist Revolution and most of the revolutions we hear about... With their money they formed secret organizations - such as the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs and the Lions - which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests... They stood behind World War I ... and formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains... There is no war going on anywhere without them having their finger in it." (Article 22)

"Zionism scheming has no end, and after Palestine, they will covet expansion from the Nile to the Euphrates River. When they have finished digesting the area on which they have laid their hand, they will look forward to more expansion. Their scheme has been laid out in the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'." (Article 32)

"The HAMAS regards itself the spearhead and the vanguard of the circle of struggle against World Zionism... Islamic groups all over the Arab world should also do the same, since they are best equipped for their future role in the fight against the warmongering Jews." (Article 32)

Israel Joins Nuclear Research Association

2011-04-17T20:51:00.004+02:00

Today (Sunday), 17.4.11, Israel's membership in the European Organization for Nuclear Research – CERN. was approved. Who says there is a boycott of Israeli expertise?

CERN is the largest scientific organization of its kind in the world, in the field of physics, and it has created the most sophisticated, advanced and expensive scientific infrastructure in the world in the field of particle acceleration and "Big Science." Israel's membership in the organization is a step of the highest scientific, industrial and diplomatic significance.

Joining CERN is a great scientific and diplomatic achievement for Israel: This achievement reflects the latent capabilities of Israeli scientists and constitutes recognition of their ability. Israel is joining an exclusive club, which provides unusual visibility, exposure, prestige and international status.

Bahai temple in Haifa reopens after $6 million renovation

2011-04-15T15:07:00.002+02:00

The Bahai holy site in Haifa reopened Tuesday following two-and-a-half years of renovations.

· The Shrine of the Bab, a UN-designated World Heritage site, reopened following a $6 million renovation, which included covering the temple’s dome with 11,790 new gold-glazed porcelain tiles.

· The structure has been refitted and even strengthened to withstand an earthquake.

· The Shrine is in honour of Bab, who was venerated as a prophet and later buried in the Mediterranean port city of Haifa.

· The project was overseen by a Bahai engineer from California, Saeid Samadi, who was born in Iran, where Bahais have long suffered persecution for their beliefs and where the Bahai faith was declared illegal after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

· The Bahai faith, which has roots in 19th century Iran and has between 5 and 6 million adherents worldwide, is one of Israel’s lesser known religious groups.

· It has been reported that as many as 750,000 people visited the Haifa shrine last year.

And More Good News (Part 2)

2011-04-13T21:29:00.004+02:00

Educating world bankers.

At a Jerusalem conference Prof Stanley Fischer advised senior economists from central banks in the US, Europe, Asia, and South America, from the IMF, the BIS, and the OECD. http://www.bankisrael.org.il/press/eng/110403/110403c.htm

Irish bank fights fraud with Israeli software.

The Bank of Ireland can’t afford to lose any more cash. http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000636089&fid=1725

“Intelligent” advertising.

Israeli startup justAd.TV has developed an application to broadcast advertisements during video on demand shows and movies. http://english.themarker.com/startup-making-app-for-vod-ads-1.354350?localLinksEnabled=false

No need to touch anything.

Israeli companies eyeSight and PrimeSense are at the forefront of touch-free technology. Applications include controlling computers, navigation systems, games, fitness training etc. http://nocamels.com/2011/04/all-hands-touch-free-is-fast-overtaking-touch-screen/

We can test it.

Israeli company uTest provides a service for start-ups to test new smartphone applications. http://nocamels.com/2011/04/israeli-app-testing-company-turns-from-google-and-microsoft-to-startups/

Fast-track to Jerusalem.

New tunnels and bridges will shorten Route 1 between Tel Aviv and Israel’s capital city. Extra lanes will cut travel time by half an hour in 2016. http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000635362&fid=1725

Six (6) year-old Israeli sensation.

Pianist prodigy Yoav Levanon will perform at Carnegie Hall next week. In the second video you can see that he’s too small to sit on the piano stool! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOPNp17gIm0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLBGIUKpyl0

Only in Israel – Deaf-blind theatre.

The world’s only centre for professional deaf & blind actors is in Jaffa. http://www.jpost.com/LifeStyle/Article.aspx?id=215230

Israeli gymnast wins European Silver.

Alexander Shatilov won a silver medal at the 2011 European Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Berlin in the men's floor exercise. Look for him at the London 2012 Olympics. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4054322,00.html

The Iron Dome works!

The newly deployed system successfully intercepted its first Grad rocket fired by Gaza terrorists at residents of Ashkelon. A further 9 were shot down as terrorists fired hundreds of missiles. http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=215635 http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=215882

Don’t blind me with facts!

Palestinian Arabs have one of the world’s highest percentages of home ownership – over 80% - even in Gaza. These are the PA’s own figures. http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=375503

Black student leaders support Israel.

In an open letter, the Vanguard Leadership Group slams as “offensive” accusations of Apartheid by anti-Israel students. http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=215811

Muslims speak out for Israel.

Amran Hassan at the UN and Hasan Afzal of British Muslims for Israel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YZgtpuwFVYs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C2-QkIDnQs

Lots of good News Stories from Israel (Part 1)

2011-04-11T18:54:00.004+02:00

Lots of Good News stories emanationg from Israel this week with thanks to Michael and Lynette Ordman for the compilation

Israeli aid team in Japan. Some clips of the IDF providing assistance in the devastated country. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDwMbwH_Jh8&NR=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPwIRYspJQc&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIGM3mXwgoA

Israeli & Iranian teams work together in Japan. Shhh! Don’t let Mahmoud Ahmadinejad know this. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4051865,00.html

Israeli exoskeleton launches in UK. ReWalk allows paraplegics to stand and walk up stairs. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1374067/Robot-trousers-gives-paraplegics-power-walk-sale-UK.html#ixzz1J307lXcE

Europe approves Israeli treatment. Only last month Brainsway’s trials of its magnetic cortex stimulation treatment for Parkinson’s were successful. This week it received EU CE Mark certification to market it. http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000635390&fid=1725

Vegan alternative for medical testing. An Israeli company, CollPlant, has found a way to replace animal sources for the production of collagen, a major bio-material used in the medical device industry. http://www.greenprophet.com/2011/04/collplant-vegan-collagen/

Treatment for overweight diabetics. MetaCure’s gastric stimulation system is designed to help type II diabetes patients lower their blood glucose and control their eating habits and body weight. http://www.ilsi.org.il/news_item.asp?ID=340

Solving hunger – bigger, healthier seeds. Israeli agricultural research company, Kalima, is developing high-quality crops without using genetic engineering. http://nocamels.com/2011/04/israeli-company-to-help-fight-world-hunger-by-creating-bigger-healthier-seeds/

Stents for the brain. Israel was a pioneer of the medical stent for unblocking arteries around the heart. Now ITGI Medical has successfully completed studies of its brain stents that could save millions of lives. http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000636269&fid=1725

Israeli biotech booms. Four new life-science companies have launched in the first 3 months of 2011 (more than the whole of 2010) and several more are planned for the first half of the year. The 21 winners of the Bio Convention Contest for Life Sciences Companies shows how Israel is at the forefront of medical innovation. http://www.ilsi.org.il/news_item.asp?ID=337 http://www.ilsi.org.il/about_event.asp?ID=97

How a medical start-up grows. SMT has developed a filter to protect the brain from clots during minimally invasive procedures. Its chances for success have just been boosted by $10.5 million of funding. http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000635647&fid=1725

Israel Good Deeds Day. 130,000 Israelis volunteered to help in hundreds of projects around the country. Some examples are pictured here. http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/celebrating-good-deeds-in-israel-a-photo-essay/ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4052131,00.html

ZAKA expands International Rescue Unit. The Israel-based, UN-recognized volunteer rescue and recovery organization will recruit and train teams of volunteers worldwide to act as emergency medical first responders. http://israel-lightontonations.blogspot.com/2011/04/zaka-expands-international-rescue-unit.html

Watch your donation light-up African lives. Israeli solar technology company SolarEdge Technologies and Jewish Heart for Africa show on-line how sponsors are lighting up schools, clinics and orphanages in Africa. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/Israeli_heart_Africa-April_2011.htm http://www.jhasol.org/jhaprojects/ugandacompleted/uganda____completed/uganda.html

Israel-Korea Chamber of Commerce inaugurated. The Korean delegation of coalition and opposition MPs announced South Korea’s goal to advance commercial and economic relations with Israel. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4051027,00.html

Demand for high-tech Israeli workers. On average each job seeker can choose between at least 3 offers. http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000636071&fid=1725

Yes, they can: Israeli call center employs the disabled

2011-04-10T22:07:00.002+02:00

A unique business empowers people with a range of disabilities to succeed in the workplace that traditionally shunned them Call Yachol (www.callyachol.co.il) is a one-of-a-kind Israeli call center employing 180 Jewish and Arab disabled adults.

In Hebrew, the name means “Everyone Can.” Psychologist Gil Winch, founder of the venture, says there is no reason for these employees’ mental or physical limitations to keep them from excelling on the job. But most have suffered from being shunned by mainstream employers and lack self-confidence in their potential. Up to 90 percent of severely disabled adults face chronic unemployment.

Winch implemented a parent-based management model where workers are given affection and have scheduled time for team fun. The unusual arrangement has garnered interest from people in several countries looking to replicate the idea.

See video at http://www.youtube.com/embed/wip61zrjGZs

Now based Rishon Lezion, future Call Yachol centers are planned for Tel Aviv and Jerusalem

A Palestinian ''Gift'' for Passover- A Kick in the Teeth

2011-04-10T14:22:00.003+02:00

Official Palestinian Promotion of Terrorism

The Palestinian Authority has just honored the terrorist mastermind responsible for the ''Passover Massacre'', a terrorist atrocity which claimed the lives of 30 innocent Israeli citizens attending the 'Seder'', the traditional Passover meal, at Netanya's Park Hotel on March 27, 2002. The Seder, symbolizing the liberation f the Jewish People from slavery in Egypt, is the most family oriented of Jewish holidays, somewhat akin to Thanksgiving in terms of sentimental importance.

The Palestinian Authority has chosen a bizarre and troubling way to mark the upcoming Jewish festival of Passover. Despite an often voiced Palestinian commitment to end the glorification of terrorists and incitement to violence, on March 28 Issa Karake, the Palestinian Authority Minister of Prisoners' Affairs, visited the family of Hamas suicide-bomb mastermind Abbas Al-Sayed, awarding them with an official, festive plaque, in celebration of the anniversary of the massacre.

This honor is not the only example of official Palestinian glorification of violence. In recent weeks, the Palestinian leadership named a youth soccer competition in Ramallah after Wafa Idris, the first female suicide bomber. Similarly, they named a square in El Bireh, as well as two schools and a summer camp, in honor of Dalal Mughrabi, commander of the March 11, 1978 massacre of 38 bus passengers on Israel's coastal road.

So that is the Palestinian Authority who many world leaders beleve are interested in peace. And then so many people feel it unjustified that the a large majority of of the Israel population is sceptical

So now we move on the the Hamas in Gaza. As Netanyhu stated very clearly, the tartgeting of a school bus has crossed all red lines. And this is what it was - a deliberate targeting. An anti tank misssile is not like a mortat or Katysha, it is fired on a DIRECT trajectory to a predetermined target and since the target was 100%civilian, this by any definition of the UN is TERRORISM, not militancy as the the world media likes to describe it.

So when Israel reacts to defend its citizens, as one must in this part of the world because this is the nature of the animals we are fighting, suddenly the world starts criticising us again "Israel attacks Gaza Strip in worst violence since 2009 war" cries the Daily Telegraph" in its headline. "Fourteen Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip on Friday, the deadliest day of violence since the war more than two years ago." it continues. Not one word about the 70 missiles fired at Israeli civilians, see http://tinyurl.com/6c3dvp8

And now after another 48 hours, terrorist organizations in Gaza fired over 120 Grad missiles, rockets and mortars at the Israeli home front, throughout southern Israel. Thankfully, since Thursday, about 10 Grad missiles and rockets were intercepted by IAF Aerial Defense Corps forces, using the "Iron Dome" system stationed in Beersheba and Ashkelon.

The farming communities of the Sha'ar Hanegev and Eshkol regional councils have been subjected to continuous mortar and rocket attacks. One of rockets that struck a kibbutz in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council, late on Saturday afternoon, hit a main water pipe. One rocket fell in the Eshkol Regional Council area and caused damage to homes. Three people remained hospitalized at the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon suffering from shock after experiencing rocket attacks. Six other shock victims were released to their homes. Rockets also fell in the Lachish region, in the western Negev.

As a friend of mine writes from these regions under attack “Last Friday an anti-tank missile hit a school bus leaving my Kibbutz after letting off our children from school, if this rocket hit about 5 min sooner a lot more children would have been hurt or killed. Again one child was hurt seriously, not from my Kibbutz and my heart is out to him. One day, I have this fear, one of these rockets will cause many injuries and death. We, in my area, live our daily lives with the fear of rockets falling and this past week, Israel had a warning of terrorist attacks inside communities surround Gaza. In the world media, it makes the headlines only if Israel attacks Gaza, of course this last attack that hit this school bus, it did make the news in the world, but you had to know what to look for. We in Israel want peace, do you in the world think we love sending our children and grandchildren to wars to fight and die in? do you think we love being targeted by rockets in our daily lives? Do you think we love reading about innocent people being killed in Gaza? If you do, then you have no idea of who we are. One last thing, if the Arabs wanted to lay down their weapons and make peace with Israel, life will improve for everyone, Arab and Jews. This area could be one of the leaders in the economy of the world, so instead of killing each other, we should be working together to make our lives better and better for the future of our children.”

First an electric Car, Now an Israeli Battery

2011-04-06T17:51:00.004+02:00

Evida - an Israeli battery under the hood By Karin Kloosterman - April 03, 2011 Israel 21C

First the Better Place electric car and now in a $250 million deal, Israel's Evida will supply the batteries, cooling systems and software tools to run Mia Electric's vehicles in Europe. Batteries for Mia Electric's vehicles will be supplied by Israeli company Evida. Racing from one business meeting to the next, Asher Bennett, the 42-year-old founder of Israeli electric battery maker Evida, couldn't elaborate on how he came up with the invention in such a short time. But the former military submarine man did say that his company has been in stealth mode for the last two years.

Under the media's radar until now, Evida has just signed a $250 million contract with the French-German automaker Mia Electric to manufacture its batteries. Funded with about $2 million from the Israeli venture capital firm Terra Venture Partners, and backed by private investment, Evida has been contracted to provide 50,000 8-kilowatt/hour battery packs for three of Mia's newest electric models, through to the year 2016. The deal was revealed after intense months of negotiations and was made public at the Geneva International Motor Show at the beginning of March. Mia will start rolling out its cars, powered by Israeli innovation, in June.

Born to American parents, Bennett spent a lot of time in the United States and speaks English fluently. Now living in Kfar Saba, Israel, he gave ISRAEL21c a brief background: "I got battery experience from being an officer in Israeli submarines -- ones that use batteries with fully electric drive trains." His motive for keeping things hush-hush was that he didn't want to create a huge buzz and then fizzle -- something all too common in the startup automotive landscape.

We've all heard about amazing companies attempting to create fuel from hydrogen, or air ... and then we hear nothing more. "We've been in discussion with many companies and were under the radar until recently -- until we'd proven ourselves," he says. Environmentalism fueled Bennett's passion. "The EV [technology] is one of the most cutting edge to come to the market. Where else do you get the opportunity to be part of one of the most important industries in the world - one that hasn't changed in the last 100 years?"

Evida currently runs operations in Israel, the United Kingdom, France and the United States (it's registered officially in California), plus a contracted manufacturing facility in China that employs 200 people. Fourteen of the company's 20 employees in Israel are engineers who have been working on the battery concept since 2009, a few years after the wheels in Bennett's mind began turning around the idea.

At its Jerusalem R&D center, Evida has created its own proprietary lithium-ion-phosphate battery pack. Unlike the extensive, and expensive, charging networks proposed by another Israeli electric car enabler, Better Place, Evida's batteries can be juiced from any ordinary electrical outlet at home, work or the shopping mall. In a pinch, a 10-minute "fast charge" will give the car an added range of about five miles.

Five-year contract

With a five-year contract in place, Evida will supply 10,000 battery packs a year to Mia for its zero-emission three- and four-seater Mia and Mia L, town cars, and a European-sized utility vehicle. Evida will provide a comprehensive vehicle integration solution including batteries, cooling systems, a battery management system and software tools. With a battery charge range of up to 90 kilometers, or 55 miles, Mia's battery can be recharged in three hours when hooked up to a standard European 220V power supply. Mia managing director Laurent Buffeteau said, "We appointed Evida based on their ability to provide a flexible, low-cost and high-quality battery pack solution tailored to the characteristics of our individual models, coupled with access to unrivalled expertise and a high level of durability for our customers." Now, other major players are lining up to talk with Bennett. Some smaller contracts in the range of a million or so dollars have also been signed.

The battery part was "easy"

Bennett reveals that developing the battery was the easy part. The hard part was adapting it to Mia's systems, with all the quality control and reliability checks and balances in place. He tells ISRAEL21c that he does not consider Better Place, now deploying an electric charge network in Israel and Denmark, to be a competitor. As he told the Israeli newspaper Globes: "Better Place will ultimately use another company's batteries, but it is familiar with our product, and I highly esteem the company. It's an amazing company that is driving the entire electric car industry forward, and it will go far."

Harold Wiener of Terra Ventures says that from the VC's perspective, "we believe that the right solution for mobility within cities is all-electric, zero-emissions vehicles including buses, taxis and trucks. There are no technological barriers for this to happen and prices of batteries will go down with escalation of production lines all over the world and mainly in China." Evida, he adds, "will be perfectly positioned to become a leader in this new area and the experience that will be gained in the deployment of 50,000 cars with Mia will be a tremendous advantage for us in the field of all-electric fleets."

Apple transfer aids both sides of Israel-Syria border

2011-04-06T15:05:00.003+02:00

Two countries basically at war can still find the means to encourage better relationships. During a three-month period from mid-February, 12,000 tons of apples are to be transferred across the Syrian border by Israel Army forces via the Quneitra crossing.

The apples, grown in the Golan Heights by Druze farmers, carry a profound message: "Each apple equals assistance to Druze farmers on both sides of the border," explains the commander of the Quneitra crossing. The project began six years ago when Israeli Druze farmers sought another market for their produce to raise prices and create a tangible connection with their brothers across the border. "Some Druze families are separated by the border, and Israel, showing its desire for peace, works to accommodate their needs, making sure they lead normal lives."

Israeli authorities approved the project and the Red Cross served as the neutral envoy needed to launch the project. The Red Cross has representatives on each side of the border and supplies the trucks and Kenyan drivers that transfer the apples from Israeli to Syrian trucks. From Syria, the apples are marketed to Persian Gulf countries. During the transfer, army forces ensure everything runs smoothly and enforce security at the Quneitra crossing. Quneitra is a United Nations crossing and, although it separates two hostile nations, approximately 2,000 people cross it each year, including brides, reunited relatives and students. Also, deceased bodies of people wishing to be buried on the other side of the border are transferred through the crossing. All of these transfers are made possible by cooperation between the Red Cross and the Israeli and Syrian governments.

"This is a very special post, characterized by both tension and serenity" says an officer. "The countries are by no means allies, but the people share a true kinship." The commander adds: "Standing at the border, it seems as if the two countries are at peace, especially during the apple transfer, which gets bigger each year." "Tourists visit here, UN workers cross here, and Israel realizes how important this opportunity is, Quneitra represents Israel's concern for the welfare of civilians, disregarding the obvious security threats posed by a border opening, especially with Syria which considers the Golan Heights to be its land."

Red Cross representatives are responsible for the apple transfer, as well as a variety of other international activities taking place at the Quneitra crossing.

Toothpaste for kangaroos

2011-03-30T20:13:00.001+02:00

We have a great kangeroo park here in the north of the country and "lumpy jaw" disease is a serious – often even fatal – condition for captive kangaroos. Now, an Israeli-innovated tooth varnish is keeping their gums in top shape. The contagious gum disease that tends to plague kangaroos living in captivity presented a major problem for marsupials at Jerusalem’s Tisch Family Zoo and at Gan Garoo Park http://www.gemsinisrael.com/e_article000002706.htm in the Galilee. Until now, the only available antibiotic treatment required anesthetizing the animals daily for 10 days and keeping them quarantined a course that was extremely tough on them and their keepers. Some 40 percent of Gan Garoo’s kangaroos died from the disease or the stress of treatment. And figures were the same at zoos all over the world. But professors at Hebrew University’s dentistry and pharmacy schools came to the rescue. Working with veterinary professionals at the two facilities, they developed a topical, slow-release, one-time treatment. Zoos all over the world are keen to get hold of the preparation for their own animals.

Where’s the international outcry against Arab apartheid?

2011-03-27T00:40:00.001+02:00

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH 17/03/2011

As Israel Apartheid Week continues, a Palestinian boy was left to die at Lebanese hospital because father couldn’t afford treatment.

Mohammed Nabil Taha, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy, died this week at the entrance to a Lebanese hospital after doctors refused to help him because his family could not afford to pay for medical treatment.Taha’s tragic case highlights the plight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who live in squalid refugee camps in Lebanon and who are the victims of an apartheid system that denies them access to work, education and medical care.

Ironically, the boy’s death at the entrance to the hospital coincided with Israeli Apartheid Week, a festival of hatred and incitement organized by anti-Israel activists on university campuses in the US, Canada and other countries.It is highly unlikely that the folks behind the festival have heard about Taha. Judging from past experiences, it is also highly unlikely that they would publicize the case even if they would hear about it.

Why should anyone care about a Palestinian boy who is denied medical treatment by an Arab hospital? The story has no anti-Israel angle to it.Can anyone imagine what would have happened if an Israeli hospital had abandoned a boy to die in its parking lot because his father did not have $1,500 to pay for his treatment? The UN Security Council would hold an emergency session and Israel would be strongly condemned and held responsible for the boy’s death.All this is happening at a time when tens of thousands of Palestinian patients continue to benefit from treatment in Israeli hospitals.Last year alone, some 180,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip entered Israel to receive medical treatment. Many were treated despite the fact that they did not have enough money to cover the bill.

In Israel, even a suicide bomber who is only (!) wounded while trying to kill Jews is entitled to the finest medical treatment. And there have been many instances where Palestinians who were wounded in attacks on Israel later ended up in some of Israel’s best hospitals.Lebanon, by the way, is not the only Arab country that officially applies apartheid laws against Palestinians, denying them proper medical treatment and the right to own property.Just last week it was announced that a medical center in Jordan has decided to stop treating Palestinian cancer patients because the Palestinian Authority has failed to pay its debts to the center.

Other Arab countries have also been giving the Palestinians a very hard time when it comes to receiving medical treatment.It is disgraceful that while Israel admits Palestinian patients to its hospitals, Arab hospitals are denying them medical treatment for various reasons, including money. But then one is reminded that Arab dictators do not care about their own people, so why should they pay attention to an 11-year-old boy who is dying at the entrance to a hospital because his father didn’t have $1,500 handy? But as the death took place in an Arab country – and as the victim is an Arab – why should anyone care about him? Where is the outcry against Arab apartheid?

Reprinted with permission of the Hudson Institute (www.hudson.org)

Yet Another Example of Israeli "Apartheid"?

2011-03-20T14:28:00.003+02:00

To mark Baha'i New Year, an international conference will be held at Hebrew University, Jerusalem on Baha'ism, Judaism, Christianity & Islam

To mark the Baha'i New Year on March 21, an international conference will take place at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on 'Modern Religions and Religious Movements in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Babi-Bahai Faiths'.

"The circle of Baha'i believers is expanding every year – especially in the Western world," says Prof. Moshe Sharon, the conference organizer and head of Baha'i Studies at the Hebrew University. "The number of Baha'i believers has been increasing by about four percent a year, and in recent years there has been an increased penetration into new areas in eastern Europe."

The Baha'i faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are currently about six million adherents of the Baha'i faith around the world, of which 250,000 live in Iran, the birthplace of the religion's prophets. The largest Baha'i population can be found in India.

The Baha'i Faith is the world's only religion run by a local, national and international administration. The Baha'is' World House of Justice sits on Mount Carmel in Haifa. Haifa and Acre are the holy cities of the Baha'i faith, and the Bab himself, the first founder of the religion, is buried in Haifa.

Lectures and sessions during the conference include: 'The spread of the Baha'i faith from East to West', 'A 19th century Zoroastrian-Baha'i dialogue', 'The Bab and the Babis – Early accounts in the Western press 1845-1851' and 'Promoting sexual equality through education: Baha'i girls' schools in Iran'.

Other lectures include 'Stretching the borders of religious legitimacy: Baha'is and latter-day saints in China', 'The Bydzhov Israelites and the Frankists – Two sects in 18th century Bohemia', 'Jewish Christianity in 20th century Russia as a form of Jewish national revival' and 'The promise of Monotheism'.

After massacre, "settlers" help bring new Palestinian life into world

2011-03-18T14:52:00.002+02:00

Israel Army forces (IDF) and local paramedics helped save the life of a Palestinian woman and her newly born infant Wednesday, at the settlement where Fogel relatives are sitting Shiva (the mourning period) for the five Israelis brutally murdered last week.

Just as IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz arrived in Neve Tzuf to offer his condolences, a Palestinian cab raced towards the community's entrance. In it, soldiers and paramedics discovered a Palestinian woman in her 20s in advanced stages of labor and facing a life-threatening situation: The umbilical cord was wrapped around the young baby girl's neck, endangering both her and her mother.

The quick action of settler paramedics and IDF troops deployed in the area saved the mother's and baby's life, prompting great excitement and emotions at the site where residents are still mourning the brutal death of five local family members.

An IDF paramedic, was the first medical team member at the scene and recounted the dramatic situation he faced. "When I arrived, I saw a woman covered by a blanket in a yellow Palestinian van. I moved closer and saw the baby's head and upper body," he told a reporter. "The umbilical cord was around the baby's neck; the baby was grey and didn't move." "I first removed the cord from the neck and at the same time asked paramedics to prepare the baby resuscitation kit. I pinched her to see if she's responding, and she started to cry," he said.

Paramedics also treated the mother, who was in good condition at that point. The paramedic said: "We treat everyone"

Meanwhile, the ambulance driver raced to the scene. "We joined the military paramedic and helped him cut off the umbilical cord…without the medical treatment, the fetus and woman faced genuine life danger," said the driver. "It was touching, but I couldn't help but think that a few meters from there, people were sitting Shiva for another baby, who was murdered, I was touched to see the face of the new baby, but I also thought about the face of the murdered baby." The head of the Magen David Adom team at Neve Tzuf, said this was not the first time settlers assist Palestinians in distress. "They know we have a skilled medical team here, and in any case of accident or injury they arrive and we help them," he said.

The paramedic noted that on the day of the Fogel massacre, settlers saw fireworks and celebrations in nearby Palestinian communities, but added that the local medical team is committed to assisting anyone in need. "Two years ago, we also made sure to treat a terrorist who attempted to place a bomb on the road and was shot by soldiers," he said.

Palestinians from the nearby village of Nabi Salah gathered around the paramedics along with the new grandmother and could not hide their joy. "They thanked us and told us they named the girl Jude," said the paramedic. "I volunteered for Magen David Adom since age 15 and it's the first time I witnessed childbirth. It was an amazing feeling, to hold the girl that was just born in my arms, and to know that in this complex place we did something good."

Israel Navy Uncovers Weaponry on-board Cargo Vessel

2011-03-15T16:37:00.002+02:00

Today, the Israeli Navy intercepted the cargo vessel "Victoria" loaded with various weaponry. The vessel, flying under a Liberian flag, was intercepted some 200 miles west of Israel's coast.

This incident was part of the Navy's routine activity to maintain security and prevent arms smuggling, in light of IDF security assessments.

The force was met with no resistance from the crew on-board.

The vessel is now being led by the Israeli Navy to an Israeli port for further searches and detailed inspection of the cargo.The vessel was on its way from Mersin Port in Turkey to Alexandria Port in Egypt.According to assessments, the various weaponry on-board the vessel was intended for the use of terror organizations operating in the Gaza Strip.

Official responses note that Turkey is not tied to the incident in any way.

Israel alerted Germany authorities about the interception of the "Victoria" due to the German ownership of the ship. In addition, the government of Liberia, whose flag it was flying under, was notified, as well as France, due to the French shipping company.

The vessel's crew and content is being transferred to an Israeli port for questioning and further inspection.

The Israeli army is continuing its intelligence and operational activities in order to maintain Israel's security interests and prevent arms smuggling that will fuel the terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.

Since 2001, there have been repeated attempts to smuggle weapons under the guise of legitimate commerce, using ships, flags and ports of blameless countries. A record of previous attempts can be found at http://bit.ly/ArmsShips .

Netanyahu stated that "we had a solid basis that onboard the ship was weaponry destined for use against Israel. Considerable weaponry – which was destined for terrorist forces in the heart of Gaza – was found onboard the vessel. The operation was carried out at sea in accordance with all international rules. The weaponry originated in Iran, which is trying to arm the Gaza Strip."

In Apartheid Week - Two More Israeli Products to Boycott

2011-03-07T15:01:00.003+02:00

The sheep-like bleating of the BDS campaigners (Boycott, divestment and sanctions) suggesting that Israel is an Apartheid State, is so far from reality. If only these campaigners were prepared to listen to the facts. But, of course, this is too simple - "don't confuse me with facts" they say.

Perhaps BDS is better defined as "Blackmail, Deligitimisation and Slander", this seems to me rather more appropriate.

So if it is the intention to boycott Israeli products, let's stop being hypocritical, stop being choosey. Here are another two products that can be boycotted.

a) SpineAssist – an Israeli invention – is revolutionizing delicate spinal surgery.

Many patients scheduled for a major spinal operation naturally worry that they might find themselves in a wheelchair due to a surgical error, or simple bad luck. While this happens only rarely, it is a possibility.

The results of orthopedic surgery are as good as the specialist who performs it – but today, the risk is much reduced. Not only is there computer-assisted navigation for hip replacement, for example (introduced in the past decade), but now there is a robot that guides orthopedic surgeons in performing operations customized for each patient’s anatomy. The world’s first such robotic system, called SpineAssist, is Israeli – based on the work of a scientist at Haifa’s Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and marketed around the world by Mazor Robotics (http://www.mazorrobotics.com/) of Caesarea.

b) New non-invasive,radiation-free lung imaging system.

The FDA recently approved a groundbreaking system created by Deep Breeze, Ltd, an Israeli company in Or Akiva. It is viewed by some as the most important breakthrough innovation and another amazing Israeli innovation.Please watch video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FcseDRyepA

Israeli Invention Saves London's Water

2011-03-03T13:18:00.002+02:00

Working with infrastructure companies in London, an Israeli start up, TaKaDu measures and monitors the changing pressure and flow throughout London’s water system. The World Bank stresses that solutions to address water leaks and inefficient practices are sorely needed, as drips and leaks amount to a hefty $15 billion in global funds annually - money just literally going down the drain. Generally, municipal workers don't know there is a problem until a pipe bursts. And as many American cities have found out recently, burst pipes - now occurring randomly across the country - cause millions of dollars of damage.

Based on statistical and mathematical algorithms from online and historical data provided by a waterworks source, TaKaDu software can detect leaks and prioritize and confirm repairs. It requires no additional technology or upfront investment on the client's side. With a return of investment of 250 percent within a day, TaKaDu's model is a pay-as-you-play (or monitor) model.

Plugging the world's leaks

Already working in London, TaKaDu now has a contract with Thames Water of London to create a central nervous system for the city's water pipes. The company has also developed software to enable a smart water grid. This high-tech online software, now being used in Rotterdam, Sydney and Melbourne, gives water infrastructure companies a way to manage and monitor leaks and repairs before any damage is done.

The Thames trial lasted six months before the municipal company decided to award TaKaDu a full contract. The system is monitoring the water serving 75 percent of the population in London. The water savings of two percent, though that sounds small, is significant, translating to hundreds of megaliters per day.

Mainly, however, London is counting on TaKaDu to save money. If water companies in England don't manage repairs in a timely manner, they get fined. "We are talking about millions of pounds per year," says VP Marketing Guy Horowitz. Monitoring some 10,000 kilometers of pipes in London alone, TaKaDu estimates that it saved the British capital millions of pounds in fines over the last year.

"As we do every year, we are currently stepping up all our leakage reduction activity before the winter chill sets in," Thames Water CEO Steve Shine reported last fall. "Our new TaKaDu central nervous system helps us focus our efforts in the right places and the right times."

'It's all on our roadmap'

While the company is still in startup mode, there is hope of breaking even by the end of the year - with the $10 million invested so far being funneled toward making the world's cities, like London, better managed.

Customers have not yet been found in the esteemed market of the United States simply because American water works companies are too far behind the times. "The prerequisite is that we need something [some data] to work with," says Horowitz. The situation could change, though, if the US Environment Protection Agency makes water companies accountable for providing data. Then, the sky would be the limit.

"There is so much we can do with the same algorithms," says Horowitz, who can boast what he thinks is a world record on a patent application for the technology.
"We've got so much on our hands. It's all on our road map. We want to grow and do it all properly," says Horowitz, who is proud that his company was the only Israeli one represented at Davos, selected by the World Economic Forum for its sound business development.

Rowing Helps Cancer Survivors and the Disabled

2011-03-01T16:29:00.003+02:00

The Daniel Rowing Centre in Tel Aviv caters to disabled Israeli athletes, breast cancer survivors and at-risk kids, but is open to anyone looking for an effective and fun way to get fit.

Many of the 53 members of the Daniel Rowing Centre in Tel Aviv began rowing as part of their physical rehabilitation program and turned it into a competitive sport.

One disabled former soldier who began at Daniel went on to represent Israel in the Beijing Paralympics. Now he's in training for the 2012 London games.

Others were referred to the center after breast cancer surgery as a way to strengthen arm muscles weakened by treatment and surgical procedures.

Opened in 2003, the center also has a Sea of Friends program for children at risk. But its latest task is getting the word out that rowing is beneficial to just about anyone. See the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O_eiueFHHg

A Snapshot of Today’s United Nations

2011-02-23T23:10:00.003+02:00

I believe that the review below highlights the hypocracy of the UN in its dealings with all countries in the Middle East and the constant "bashing" of Israel to the exclusion of all other countries.

A Snapshot of Today’s United Nations, United...in bashing Israel.

February 22, 2011 - by Anne Bayefsky

Here are some vital statistics on the current crisis in the Arab and Muslim world and the role not being played by the “global leader,” the United Nations.

The UN Security Council job description (The Charter of the United Nations)

The Purposes of the United Nations are:

To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace…

a) Number of UN Security Council presidential statements or resolutions on the current atrocities perpetrated by Arab and Muslim dictators in Iran, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia,Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain. ZERO

b) Number of meetings called by the Security Council to discuss and consider a possible resolution or presidential statement on any of these countries. ZERO

*****
The UN Human Rights Council job description (General Assembly Resolution A/RES/60/251)

The General Assembly
(1) Decides to establish the Human Rights Council…
(2) Decides that the Council shall be responsible for promoting universal respect for the protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction of any kind and in a fair and equal manner;
(3) Decides also that the Council should address situations of violations of human rights, including gross and systematic violations, and make recommendations thereon…
(10) Decides further that the Council…shall be able to hold special sessions, when needed…

a) Number of special sessions called by the Human Rights Council to draw attention to, discuss, consider a possible resolution or decision on the current atrocities perpetrated by Arab and Muslim dictators in Iran, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia,Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain. ZERO

b) Number of resolutions or decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council about the lack of democracy and brutality of the governments of Arab and Muslim dictators in Iran, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia,Yemen, Syria, and Bahrain. ZERO

*****
Membership Qualifications for the United Nations Human Rights Council
– its lead human rights body(General Assembly Resolution A/RES/60/251)

8. Decides that…when electing members of the Council, Member States shall take into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights…
9. Decides also that members elected to the Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights…

Current Members of the UN Human Rights Council
Libya
Saudi Arabia
Bahrain
Egypt just concluded a three-year term in 2010.

*****
On the other hand,

a) Number of Special Sessions on country situations called by the Human Rights Council on Israel 50% (6 of 12)

Number of Resolutions and Decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council critical of the human rights record of specific states directed at Israel 50% (41 of 83)

This Apartheid State? Another Rambam Success

2011-02-23T13:26:00.001+02:00

SAVING WALLAH: EMERGENCY BRAIN SURGERY SAVES GAZA TODDLER

A month and a half ago, two-year old Wallah Omar arrived at Rambam Health Care Campus from Gaza City, listless, apathetic and completely paralyzed on her left side. Her condition was rapidly deteriorating, explained her distraught father, Ayad Hamis Omar.

Wallah had been diagnosed in the Gaza hospital as having a large tumor that was pressing on her brain. The growth had to be removed, but her parents were hesitant about performing the surgery in the small local hospital. On the advice of her oncologist, Walla’s parents opted for what the doctor termed “the first hospital on his list,” Rambam. According to the child’s father, Ayad, the oncologist had likened medical care in Israel with that in the United States. “He told me, ‘Once your daughter will be in Rambam, everything will be fine, and your family can rest assured,’ ” said Ayad.

Having decided that their daughter must get to Israel, Wallah’s parents obtained a letter of request from their local hospital and sent it to Rambam. Without hesitating, Director of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Prof Myriam Ben Arush, replied: Transfer Wallah to Rambam at once. Upon her arrival at Rambam, the child had an MRI scan, which showed that the tumor had reached the size of a large orange. Director of the Pediatric Neurosurgery Unit, Dr Joseph Guilburd operated immediately, removing the entire growth.

Shortly after surgery, Wallah went home to Gaza for a week, and then returned to Rambam for a series of 30 radiation sessions, under the watchful eye of Rambam oncologist Dr Sergey Postovsky. Now a month at the hospital, she has finished the bulk of the treatments, which will be completed within a week.

“She is recovering amazingly. She is perfect, laughing and playing,” says her relieved father, who adds that his daughter looks forward to seeing her sister, Dua, five, and brother, Ahmad, seven months old.

“I feel at home at Rambam,” continues Ayad, who used to work in an events hall in Ness Ziona, and is frequently visited at the hospital by friends, Arab and Jewish. “I like to see the way people live and work together here. The care we received at Rambam saved my daughter’s life. ”

Wallah’s story began four months ago, when she started vomiting. Her family doctor thought she had a stomach virus, which her family treated with common home remedies. The vomiting continued, and her situation was compounded by neurological problems: she was unable to move her fingers or even hold her spoon.

Today, according to Wallah’s surgeon, Dr Guilburd, the girl’s chances for full recovery are very good. "To see a child who recovers so beautifully is a physician's greatest satisfaction," he says.

The Children's Hospital at Rambam provides treatment in oncology, nephrology, orthopedics, cardiology, and neurosurgery to seven hundred children from throughout the Palestinian Authority annually. In past half year Rambam has treated 200 adults and children from Gaza alone, twice the number treated during the same period last year. Of these, 25 have been pediatric oncology cases. Says Prof Ben Arush, "Our department is really a microcosm of an ideal world: Jewish, Christian and Muslim children from all countries receive the best possible care."

Watch Wallah’s recovery on You Tube:http://www.youtube.com/user/rambamhospital#p/u/6/fUaU7cVfE0Q

Even Judge Goldstone can support Israel??!!

2011-02-20T11:47:00.003+02:00

Most Israelis are suspicious of the UN Human Rights Council and its disproportionate focus on Israel. A good friend of mine wrote an op-ed in the American Thinker http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/02/judge_goldstone_contradicts_th.html which debates this problem. In this article he draws some small comfort for support from non other than Richard Goldstone.

Israel has for years complained about the extreme bias of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) which has issued 35 resolutions condemning Israel since 2006 and only 15 against all other countries in the same period. At a press conference in Jerusalem on February 11, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay denied reports that the HRC unfairly targets Israel.

But Ms. Pillay's views are sharply contradicted by none other than Judge Richard Goldstone who headed the UN Mission to Gaza that produced the controversial Goldstone Report.

During a recent panel discussion on "Civilians in War Zones" at Stanford University, Judge Goldstone mentioned that Ms. Pillay had requested the HRC to establish a Mission to investigate crimes likely to have been committed during the conflict in Sri Lanka and it is indeed notable that he courageously stated publicly that "to their shame" a majority of HRC members refused to do so.

Judge Goldstone's bold statement that punishing war crimes should be "on the basis of the equality of all nations before the law" is encouraging in view of the disproportionate focus on every little wart in Israel while ignoring real gross violations of human rights elsewhere. He said that this indefensible action by the HRC:

"fueled the long-standing and repeated complaints by Israel that the Human Rights Council and the UN in general are biased against it. They repeatedly rush to pass condemnatory resolutions in the face of alleged violations of human rights law by Israel but fail to take similar action in the face of even more serious violations by other States. Until the Gaza Report they failed to condemn the firing of rockets and mortars at Israeli civilian centers."

From an Egyptian correspondent

2011-02-17T13:31:00.001+02:00

It is encouraging that the Egyptian army has said that it will honour the peace treaty with Israel (my words – “in the foreseeable future”) but who really knows what the future will bring. One of my correspondents received a letter from an Egyptian writer which says:-

“Below is my column from today on Egypt. Since I do not have an opportunity to write in public more than one column per week, I am limited to what I can say. I am extremely distressed by the crew in Washington, and in most European capitals. Media is so corrupted by left-leaning thinking that there is not much of an analysis to be expected in the media that is now competing with facebook, twitters, etc. The dumbing down of thinking is itself a huge problem the West is facing now as it tries pathetically to undertstand/explain politics and history of other cultures when it no longer has faith in its own civilizational values. I despair, and so I follow Samuel Pepys who confined himself to his diaries while London burned and I am trying to devote my time to reading and writing of my own (that of course I might not be able to publish, and even if published few will read).

I am more convinced now, as I wasn't when Paul Kennedy wrote about the rise and fall of great powers, that the West has gone over the tipping point in its terminal decline. That intelligent people, or people who claim to be intelligent, (I have in mind the talking heads in the U.S. media such as Chris Matthews or Fareed Zakaria) cannot make the difference between the sham of the Muslim Brotherhood talking about freedom and democracy and the generic thirst in man to be free. These are the people who have like the Bourbons learned nothing and forgotten nothing.

They are glibly about to put the Lenins of our time into trains heading for Moscows of our time, they find nothing odd that they are pushing for the Muslim Brotherhood to be taken into governing when everything needs to be done to keep the Muslim Brotherhood out even as one carefully negotiate the long historic transition of Arab societies from tribal autocracy and military dictatorships to representative rule and constitutionally limited government. I read you when I can, and I wish that you and others like you were closer to the main media control in the West, or in government.

Take care, and God bless.”

Israel, a new jewel in crown of European physics

2011-02-17T10:38:00.004+02:00

What's matter made of? Is there a God particle? How can physics explain life as we know it? These are some of the big questions theoretical and experimental physicists around the world are asking, and Israel plays no small role in finding answers.

With its Large Hadron Collider, the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator built deep underground near Geneva, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is helping shed new light on the deepest questions mankind has ever asked.

Israel, relative to its size, has contributed for years in a disproportionate way to ongoing research projects at CERN. Now the CERN board has taken a major step in asking Israel to become a candidate for full membership in the world's most important particle physics research center. Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Cyprus were also asked to join the 20-country group.

For Prof. Eliezer Rabinovici, chairman of the Israeli High Energy Committee and a researcher at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the move legitimizes decades of research that he and his Israeli colleagues have contributed to CERN, which he calls "the jewel in the crown of European physics."

"First of all, it's recognition for the fact that Israeli high energy physicists, experimental and theoretical, have made significant contributions to the field in general over the years, and at CERN in particular," says Rabinovici. "I think this is a badge of honor, and a recognition of everything [we've] done."

Why CERN's asking now

As CERN changed its rules of membership, member states were asked to decide which significant contributors should be invited to join. While Israel is geographically situated in Asia, and is regarded as part of the Middle East, it is most often classified in research and development as part of Europe - sometimes formally, other times informally. In as little as one hour, an Israeli scientist can fly to Greece and within three or four to Switzerland.

Full membership means full voting rights, and - of particular interest to Israeli businesses - access to tenders above the half-million dollar mark.

To see if Israel has the right stuff, a CERN investigative team came last May to determine if Israeli industries could be useful for CERN today and in the future. They were looking for highly specialized welding, fiber optics and high-tech software in particular. "They reported on the scientific capabilities of Israel and its industry and came back with a very good report," says Rabinovici.

Though Israel is not typically into what he calls "big science," mainly due to the financial commitment required, CERN membership will give Israel an instant upgrade in the scientific community. To join the ranks as a full member, Israel will be asked to contribute a sum in proportion to its gross domestic product, which would be roughly $10 million per year.

But given the prospective dividends in tenders, it could very well turn out to be a lucrative deal, Rabinovici says. The same was true when Israel joined the EU research community. Since then, the required investment has paid for itself.

Middle East and Water

2011-02-14T14:16:00.003+02:00

The Middle East is likely to plunge into serious humanitarian crisis due to depletion of water resources, unless remedial measures are introduced urgently, says a new Strategic Foresight Group report, and reported in a newswire from Mumbai.

The report prepared by the Strategic Foresight Group, with support from the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, and input from almost 100 leaders and experts from Israel, the Palestine Territories, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Turkey, also says that water crisis can be converted into an opportunity for regional peace.

The rivers that flow in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan have been depleted by 50 to 90 per cent from 1960 to 2010. The annual flow of the Yarmouk River declined from 600 MCM to about 250-300 MCM, while the Jordan River has declined from 1300 MCM to 100 MCM. The water level in Barada River Basin in Syria has dropped from 50 meters below ground in 1990 to 200 meters at present.

The renewable freshwater resources in the Mountain Aquifer, shared by Israel and the Palestinian Territories, have been reduced by 7 per cent since the Oslo Accords in 1993 and in the Western Galilee Aquifer by 15-20 per cent. This is assuming full recharge in a normal rainy year.

The water level in the Dead Sea dropped from 390 metres below sea level in the 1960s down to 420 metres below sea level at present and will be 450 metres below sea level by 2040. The water surface area has shrunk by a third, from 950 square kilometres to 637 square kilometres. If the surface water level in the Dead Sea continues to erode, it will be reduced to a lake in 50 years, and will eventually disappear altogether.

Thus there must be a sustainable water management in Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq, building on cooperation between these countries in trade, transit, and energy. A Cooperation Council will enable the countries to have common standards for measuring water flows and quality, develop regional models for combating climate change, spread new technologies, and facilitate basin level integrated water management.

The report also proposes confidence building initiatives between Israel and the Palestine Authority to agree on the status of water resources and method of functioning of the Joint Water Committee. It recommends decentralised waste water treatment plants for the Palestine Territories.

In the long run, it recommends that the threatened water bodies be managed as Regional units and the export of the waters from the Turkish national rivers via the Mediterranean to the Jordan Valley countries.

For the interest of all peoples in the region surely this makes sense?

In Israel there is Free Speech!!

2011-02-09T18:56:00.001+02:00

This week there is a major conference in Jerusalem of European lawmakers and politicians who are members of an organization called “European Friends of Israel”. Unlike many such speeches today in places such as Edinburgh University, Rutgers, and other locations that are interrupted and subsequently cancelled because groups who claim to be working for “human rights” won’t allow people to hear any view except their own, this speech was not interrupted.

In his opening speech, Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the gathering with the following words which are unlikely to appear anywhere in the main stream media:-

I learned that 2500 years, ago the Greeks took the ropes of the bridge across the Bosporus. They burnt the bridge after they won the war against the Persians. They took the ropes and put them in the Acropolis, in the Parthenon, as a testament to their values, the values that they safeguarded in the battle for freedom.

So there were two sources of freedom for Western civilization that grew out of these two places. One was in Athens and the other is in Jerusalem. People say, “well, you don’t really have an attachment to this land. We are new interlopers. We are neo-crusaders.” If I could I would invite each of you into my office. You would see a display of antiquities from the Department of Antiquities. And from the place next to the Temple wall, the Western Wall, from around the time of the Jewish kings, they found a signet ring, a seal of a Jewish official from 2700 years ago, and it has a name on it in Hebrew. You know what that name is? Netanyahu. Now, that’s my last name. My first name, Benjamin, goes back a thousand years earlier to Benjamin the son of Jacob who with his brothers roamed these very hills.

So we do have some connection to this land, but we recognize that others live in it too. We want to make peace with them but we have this basic millennial connection to this land. Part of the campaign against Israel is the attempt to distort not only modern history, but also ancient history. It is said that “There was no Jewish Temple” – did you hear that one? Well, I’d like to know where were those tables that Jesus overturned? Were they in Tibet? There’s an attempt to rewrite history – ancient and modern and to deprive the Jewish people of their connection to their ancestral homeland and this is why I so welcome the fact that you come here to Israel, to Jerusalem – perhaps next time to my office. .

Rambam Hospital Does It Again - Put On A Happy Face

2011-02-02T22:30:00.003+02:00

By participating in a voluntary medical delegation to India, two Rambam doctors put broad smiles on the faces of more than 200 patients with congenital facial defects.

Sponsored by the organization Operation Smile, the delegation provided corrective surgery to people of different ages who had been born with cleft lip or cleft palate.

The operations relieved patients of both physical limitations and social stigma.

At the end of December Dr Itzhak Ramon, a senior physician in the Department of Plastic Surgery and Dr Zach Sharony, who is completing his specialization in plastic surgery, returned from a medical mission to Assam in northeast India. Their delegation was sponsored by the international charity organization, Operation Smile, which is devoted to correcting congenital facial defects, like cleft lip and cleft palate, in places where medical help is limited.

For ten days, more than 50 medical personnel from around the world treated more than 200 patients ranging in age from six months to the mid-forties. The multi-disciplinary team included plastic surgeons, dentists, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, nurses, and speech therapists.

According to Dr Ramon, this was a mission in the truest sense of the word. “These operations improve the health and quality of life for many patients who would otherwise be unable to attain or pay for such treatment,” he says.

Likewise, the team benefits from a sense of great satisfaction, and from coping with unusual medical situations. “I learned a great deal in India – all the doctors share their knowledge and everyone learns from everyone else,” says the plastic surgeon.Dr Ramon first went on an Operation Smile mission in the Philippines over 10 years ago. “The experiences I had there as a young surgeon are still very much alive for me,” says Dr Ramon. “This time I was able to participate as an experienced doctor.”Upon their arrival to India, the Rambam doctors met their colleagues and set out together for the city of Guwahati in Assam. “When we arrived at the local hospital, hundreds of people were already waiting,” recalls Dr Ramon. “There are not enough surgeons or resources there to perform these operations, so Operation Smile decided to send four medical missions there yearly,” says Dr Ramon.

Working in 10 operation rooms simultaneously, the team operated daily on five patients in each room. “You derive immediate reward from performing these operations,” says Dr Ramon. “Already at the end of the procedure, patients can see results and their smiles give us tremendous motivation.”Dr Ramon is glad to report that congenital facial defects are rare in Israel, and when children with such deformities are born here, surgery is usually performed during their first year of life. “In many countries, these deformities are very widespread. Due to lack of resources, people are forced to live with them all their lives,” he says. A trip to India is always a transformative experience, and Dr Ramon also returned with a fresh perspective: “Treating these patients allows the doctor to see everyday reality differently. I was delighted to be able to help, but above all, I felt proud of our own health system, which provides proper treatment to everyone who needs it.”

The Massive Gap between Private Pragmatism and Public Rejectionism in Palestinian Society

2011-01-30T20:57:00.003+02:00

From our friends at Beyond Images www.beyondimages.info comes an excellent analysis of the Palestinian society at large in relation to its preparedness for a peace agreement with Israel

According to the Palestine Papers, PA negotiators were privately willing to accept that Jewish suburbs of Jerusalem (apart from Maale Adumim) could stay in place as part of a two-state solution.

Yet, to the world at large, those self-same negotiators and their supporters worldwide ceaselessly condemn those suburbs as "illegal settlements in occupied Arab East Jerusalem".

According to the Palestine Papers, PA negotiators privately explored only very limited 'rights of return' for Palestinian refugees into Israel. Yet, to the world at large, those self-same Palestinian negotiators ceaselessly proclaim the 'right of return' of all Palestinian people into Israel under UN Resolution 194 and are not willing to consider any compromise on this "inalienable right".

The fact that Palestinian negotiators were privately willing to consider compromise solutions in these areas is not news. To people who have followed the negotiations closely, this has been known for 10 years. But the Palestine Papers reveal the massive gap between private pragmatism and public rejectionism in Palestinian society.

Palestinian negotiators who considered those compromises are frantically denying having made them. They are claiming that they have been falsely accused by al-Jazeera. And they are claiming that they strongly uphold Palestinian rights, and the papers have been tampered with, or taken completely out of context.

Many commentators argue that the Palestine Papers show that the Israelis have a partner for peace. This is too simplistic. All they show is that in private, some 'moderate' Palestinians have begun to realise they must be pragmatic, not ideological. But what they really show is that Palestinian society has not publicly begun to absorb or internalise the changes which will be needed for practical coexistence.

Herb Keinon, diplomatic editor of the Jerusalem Post, points out that the Palestinian reaction "on the street" in the West Bank has been muted (Jerusalem Post, Friday 28 January). He sees this as a glimmer of hope - maybe the people out of sheer weariness with conflict, realise that the behind-the-scenes compromises their negotiators explored are indeed the only way forward. But this is a glimmer of hope, at best.

Key message: Palestinians may be weary of conflict. But they are not ready for the changes in public attitude which will be needed to for a two-state solution to become a reality. Private pragmatism needs to become publicly mainstream for peace to have any chance at all.

Where are the Genuine Human Rights Organisations?

2011-01-24T19:07:00.001+02:00

The rhetoric bandied around by the "high and mighty" operating in the human rights field knows no bounds when Israel is concerned. Fiction becomes fact and the roles of justice and injustice are reversed.Why do these hunan rights organisations not focus on the REAL issues instead of the fictional ones.

Below are a number of links to matters concerning the role of women in Palestinian society. Just why is this matter hidden under the carpet?

Gaza's Women: Who Is Defending Their Rights? Khaled Abu Tomeh December 2010

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=1294 “Hamas to women: Don't laugh and talk in public”. Palestinian Media Watch

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=3574 “PA TV highlights problem of devaluing girls and women in Palestinian society” PMW

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=866 “PA: Women and the sick used as smugglers by Hamas “ PMW

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=587 Miscellaneous examples PMW

Israel's Relationship to the Palestinians - A Jordanian View

2011-01-21T14:22:00.004+02:00

Mudar Zahran is a Jordanian of Palestinian heritage, he attended Southern New Hampshire University, graduatng with two masters. He has served as a strategist for the American Embassy in Amman, reporting to it and the American Embassy in Baghdad until recently. During his time there, Zahran covered major political issues for the embassy. His work has been reported to senior officials in DC, including the Department of State, Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Treasury and DHS.

Zahran writes for several Arab media outlets and has been basically banned from many for his approach towards taboo issues in the Middle East, nonetheless, his articles are available on the Arab Times, the most read Arab newspaper online, and they are highly circulated on Arab internet media. Zahran writes op-eds for the Jerusalem Post. Zahran has also served as an economist and a researcher respectively at the Japanese and the Australian Embassies in Amman. He is considered an insider on Jordanian and Iraqi politic. Zahran is currently a researcher at the University of Bedfordshire, where he will secure a Ph.d in 2011.

One of his latest reports concerns Israel and presents a surprising acknowledgement of what Israel has been saying the whole time but, regretably, the international media ignore these facts.

Israel’s relationship to the Palestinians has always been globally approached with standardized heavy criticism made to Israel. The main charges waved in Israel’s face have always been “the Disapropriate use of force” and “discrimination”.

Israel’s critics, either willingly or out of ignorance, choose to overlook the way many Arab countries mistreat Palestinians. Some Arab countries are almost never blamed for what they have been doing to the Palestinians for decades. Such selective recognition of facts by Israel’s critics is bizarre when weighed by truth instead of myths.

In December of 2008, Israel launched operation “cast lead” against Hamas which was launching rockets on Southern Israel on a daily basis. This operation has resulted in the death of more than 1,400 Palestinians, many said to be civilians; an absolute tragedy, nonetheless, those criticizing Israel fail to recognize that the number of causalities is small comparing to Gaza’s population of 1.5 million, considering the high density of Gaza’s population per square kilometre, the number suggests the Israeli forces were very cautious in carrying out their attacks, despite the fact that they were chasing a moving target, Hamas militants. If Israeli forces were targeting Palestinian civilians, the number of the dead would have reached tens of thousands.

On comparison; in 1976, Lebanese militiamen butchered 2,000 Palestinians; almost wiping out the entire population of Tell al-Zaatar refugee camp within days. This was revisited again in 1982 in Sabra and Shatelah massacre; where, in less than four days, Lebanese militiamen killed thousands of women and children who posed no threat as most Palestinian fighters had left then to Tunisia. Two years ago, al-Jazeera satellite network aired rare footage of Palestinians running to Israeli soldiers for refuge from the massacre.

Furthermore, most Arab atrocities against Palestinians have included documented rape cases, even of children, while not a single rape case has been reported against Israeli forces in more than sixty years of operations.

Arab governments’ oppression of the Palestinians does not stop at bloodshed and wholesale slaughters, in fact the more troubling aspects of the way they treat Palestinians is in the systematic long-range exclusion and discrimination. In Arab countries where Palestinians make up a good percentage of the population; they are depraved of all basic necessities, starting with education, down to basic healthcare. Even at countries that have granted the Palestinians citizenships; the Palestinians stand helpless and banned from every potential to improve their livelihoods.

Israel, on the other hand, has always allowed Palestinians to work there and to get paid in Western standards, and even had allowed them generous access to healthcare. In fact, Israel has also welcomed Palestinians as visitors, patients and even as investors, this generosity was only limited when Hamas started bombing Israeli civilians with no signs of an end in sight.

The complexity Israel has with Palestinians revolves around security rather than ideological issues; Israel does not have an aim to enslave the Palestinians for life or purposely degrade their humanity. While many Arab countries have designed their systems to discriminate and humiliate the Palestinians, squeezing them into illiteracy and poverty while milking them for tax money.

This has become most visible recently with calls in some Arab countries to revoke citizenships of all Palestinians there and actually to force them to seek local guarantors to obtain residency, thus enslaving them for life.

This comes as a deeper shock for Palestinians when they see Israeli Arabs, with many of them describing themselves as “Palestinians in Israel”; those are full citizens of Israel with access to all privileges. Israeli Arabs are fully represented inside the Knesset while Palestinians, in their Arab homeland, are allowed only symbolic presence in parliaments, even at countries where they are the majority. And while some Arab countries selectively withdraw citizenships from Palestinians, many Arab Knesset members do not hesitate to speak against Israel with no fear of losing their citizenships or entitlements.

Still, while the world is most vocal about Israeli military operations, it fails to recognize that Israel has been dealing with non-stop unrest on its soil since the breakout of the Intifada in 1987. Has that Intifada taken place in any Arab country; it would have ended within the first couple of weeks with an Arab army killing more than ten thousands Palestinians, most being civilians. Examples of this are countless and in all Arab countries hosting Palestinians; yet the world seems to think this reality is too overrated to recognize.

Today, with peace negotiations up and running, some Arab governments seem to want to butcher the Palestinians again on the altar of dictatorship by worsening their living conditions and making their lives more miserable, just to secure a better negotiating position or merely a seat at the negotiations table. Not to mention that many of those actually would rather see the negotiations fail in order to keep more international aid money flowing to them for “hosting” the Palestinians.

Quoting a commentator on one of my articles; “the Palestinians, do obviously need a break from their sworn Arab friends”, and perhaps they can reconnect to them when they have learned a lesson or two from their Israeli “enemies”.
Meanwhile, the world will remain silent about the Palestinians’ suffering at the hands of some of their “brothers”, as it’s too occupied with Israel.

First Israeli Arab Woman Becomes a Plastic Surgeon

2011-01-17T22:20:00.003+02:00

Another first for the Rambam hospital in Haifa - click on the title to link to a video of this story

For Dr. Rania Elkhatib, the first Israeli Arab woman to become a plastic surgeon in Israel, the job at Rambam Medical Center is a chance to be an emissary for her community.

The first Israeli Arab woman to become a plastic surgeon, Dr Rania Elkhatib works at the Rambam Medical Center, the largest hospital in northern Israel.

After studying medicine at the Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and then specializing in general surgery, the 28-year-old doctor decided to focus on plastic surgery: "... It was important to me because in our community plastic surgery isn't very advanced and it's not well accepted so I feel a bit like an emissary for my community, to go into this field and take it forward," she says.

Situated in Haifa, Rambam is the referral center for 11 district hospitals. Its plastic surgeons treat a number of conditions, ranging from burns, war injuries and cleft palates to breast and facial reconstruction for cancer patients.

Thirty percent of doctors at Rambam are women, and the representation of Arab physicians is proportionate to the numbers in the population in the north.

While the hospital is committed to providing equal opportunities, Prof. Yehuda Ullmann, head of the plastic surgery department, stresses that doctors are chosen purely on merit: "Plastic surgery residency is the most wanted residency in medicine not just in Israel but all over the world, and she was elected not because she's Arab, not because she's a woman, because she is Dr. Elkhatib and she is good and she is a very good doctor over here so we are lucky to have her here."

An Egyptian's scientist's journey from wariness to warmth

2011-01-16T18:26:00.002+02:00

By Avigayil Kadesh – for full report see http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/IsraelExperience/Egyptian_scientist_journey-Jan_2011.htm

When Dr. Ahmed Moustafa announced his intention to conduct medical research in Israel during the summer of 2008, his family feared for his life and his friends feared for his sanity.

But the Cairo University graduate, who has a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Louisiana, was eager to accept an invitation from Jerusalem's Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Medicine and Al-Quds University to enhance his study of Parkinson's disease.

"Some of my friends in Egypt advised me not to embark on such an 'unethical' trip," Moustafa recently wrote on the Scholars for Peace in the Middle East website. "For many in Egypt, setting foot in Israel is unthinkable. But the Palestinian professors whom I consulted did not voice such criticism; they encouraged me to visit Israel. My friends in the United States did not make such criticisms either, and I realized that many Americans and Europeans who visit Israel hold different views on Israeli politics, yet they discuss their opinions openly with Israelis."

Wariness due to ignorance

Now 33, Moustafa is doing post-doctoral work at Rutgers University in New Jersey – he explains that widespread wariness regarding Israel is not due to educational indoctrination in Egypt, but rather the result of unflattering newspaper reports and cartoons as well as a lack of exposure to anything Israeli.

"I’ve read recently that they tried to show an Israeli movie in Egypt, but it was not allowed," he relates. "If people could see the 'other side' of Israel, its books and movies and science, I think that might make a difference. Now I talk to everyone about my time in Israel," including those friends back home who had discouraged him from going.

He recalls being on his guard when he first arrived, a bit taken aback by the sight of Israeli soldiers on the streets. But after a short while he realized there was nothing to fear and much to be learned about Israel and its Jewish and Arab citizens.

Surprised by Arabic street signs

"The Arabic street signs everywhere surprised me," he relates. "I thought Arabic would be something they’d stay away from, but every sign has Hebrew, Arabic and English. And I met many Jewish people of Arab origin there. I did not know about that before."

Believing strongly that Arab countries need more scientific interaction with the outside world, including Israel, Moustafa has been trying to encourage Arab colleagues to join the ranks of world-class scientists and graduate students from Italy, the United States, Germany, Canada, Japan and many other countries who learn, visit and lecture at Israeli universities and attend scientific conferences in Israel.

Not there yet

"It is sad that neighboring countries do not participate in these activities," he says. "There is no doubt that Israeli science institutions and Israeli researchers would welcome having Arab researchers visit and collaborate with them. It is an overall win-win game for both sides, if not more beneficial for Arab researchers."

If there is one overall message he'd like to get out to his fellow Arab scientists, it is this: "Separate politics from science and give Israel a try. See for yourself."

The Art of Co-Existence

2011-01-13T22:37:00.004+02:00

On the first day of 2011, young artists from the Leo Baeck school in Haifa and local elementary schools of different faiths – Bahai, Christian, Druze, Jews and Moslem- designed, painted and mounted their own unique tiles for the "Let the Sun Rise" Ceramic Peace Wall at Bet Hagefen in the Wadi Nisnass neibourhood of Haifa. The Wall is a tableau of hope, representing the children’s interpretation of the multicultural beauty of Haifa. This ongoing project is being led by Haifa Arab artist Abed Abdi.

This is one of the beauties of Haifa, the constantly untold story of co-existence.