Another Media Field Day??

It is somehow inevitable that the events in Acre during the Yom Kippur holiday are going to get the “media’s” treatment with all that that implies.

I would like to start by going back a couple of months to life in Jerusalem. There, three terror attacks occurred within a short space of time and everyone was aware of what happened and the details of the attacks.

Now casting one’s mind forward to Yom Kippur, we find that the streets throughout the country are conspicuous by the absence of vehicles and have been taken over by kids on scooters, bicycles, skateboards, etc. There is a total absence of vehicular traffic.

According to one eyewitness report, a car appeared in the neighbourhood, radio blaring and driving at speed. With the large number of people using the road there was a distinct danger of an accident. But there is another thought, is this yet another terror attack?

These same eyewitnesses contradict the Arab driver's claim that he respected the sanctity of Yom Kippur by driving quietly into the neighborhood on the evening of Yom Kippur. He inexplicably told reporters that his radio was turned off, while Jews in the neighborhood said it was blaring and that he drove at such a high speed that people were afraid he intended to run them over in a repeat of similar terrorist attacks in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria.

Another eyewitness report, translated from the Hebrew http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3607155,00.html , said that Arabs carried out a planned attack against their Jewish neighbours on Yom Kippur. The witness, who said he was standing in the main square of the Jewish neighborhood of Acre, a city with many Muslim residents, when a taxi driven by an Arab entered the neighborhood Yom Kippur evening at high speed with music blaring and almost ran down children in the street. Surrounded by angry Jewish residents, he parked his car, cursed them, and entered a building, where he targeted residents with objects pitched from the seventh floor.

Arab leaders have condemned the driver for disregarding the sanctity of the holy day. They have announced that they will be releasing a flier condemning the man's drive through the Jewish neighborhood on Yom Kippur. However, it appears this is to be in Hebrew and distributed in the Jewish neighborhood. That is, it is designed to placate the Jews and not to advise the Arab community regarding appropriately respectful behavior. The mayor has brushed aside this conciliatory gesture made by the leaders of the Arab community.

Certainly, the stoning of the Arab’s car cannot be condoned in any way. The police were present and should have been allowed to get the driver and his family out of the area.

BUT, BUT – The spread of false rumours that Arabs had been seriously harmed or killed by Jews reached the Old City, and then one has to ask the question, “How is it that so quickly other Arabs drove into the neighborhood at high speed AND in addition, a busload of Arabs arrived and went on a rampage, wielding knives, axes and truncheons and damaging more than 150 stores and cars along a 400 metre stretch of the main street?”

While on the one hand community leaders tried to calm things down, as if to exacerbate the situation further, Knesset member Ahmed Tibi called the riots a "Jewish pogrom," and said the police were handling the "attack against the Arab residents" in a discriminatory manner and another Knesset member Muhammad Barakei echoed Tibi's words, saying that "fascist gangs in Acre carried out a pogrom against Arabs, reminiscent of dark days in human history.

With tensions still high, the city council has for the moment postponed the Acre Theatre festival planned for the Succot holiday. This has infuriated the small shopkeepers, many of them Arab, as they see this resulting in a serious drop in their income. However, the council needs assurances that calm is to be assured.

Isn't the North of Israel an Amazing Region?

This morning’s paper reports on another massive increase in tourism here in Israel, 41% above the first 4 months of last year. There seems to be no doubt we will hit the 2.8 million target for this year.

As well as being good for the economy, this increase offers so many more people to see the real Israel, an Israel certainly not reported in the international press. A recent letter from a contact in Ashkelon says ”We are indeed having a bit of a rough time, 12,14,20 shells a day landing in or around the area. Not only does the BBC / Sky not report it, even our news hardly reports it any more!”

In a recent discussion at the offices of the the local city council, I happened to remark on this increase in tourism and was told that there seems to be reluctance on the part of tour offices to include Haifa in the itinerary of tourists. The local council has offered any group staying a minimum of 2 nights at a city hotel, a free guided tour of the city, yet there still seems to be a reluctance to accept this offer.

Now I know I am prejudiced since living here in Haifa for more than 26 years but I leave you to judge, where would you find such a beautiful daily drive on a visit to the supermarket as that in the picture? There is so much to see in this city of ours.



After attending the Machal dinner for the 1948 war veterans,see last blog, a group of us got together with our Machal friend to take a tour of Acre. Now I have been to Acre many times with friends of ours but our guide, Danny, who lives in Acre was able to show us many new things and we spent 5 hours until our feet felt as though they were dropping. Interestingly, he also commented on how the tourists seem to miss out his city. The tour of the underground Crusader city

New Reservoir inaugurated in Acco

The Water Authority in Israel announced today that last winter 2006-7 only 80% of the average annual rainfall actually fell. In the event that the forthcoming winter will be dry there will have to be cuts in water allowance for agriculture

The level of the Kinneret, as of November 14: was -212.62 metres below sea level and the red alert level: -213.00. Meanwhile, this winter, the rains have not yet arrived and indeed, next week we are expecting hot dry sharab winds

On the positive side, a new reservoir has been commissioned, which will store the effluents of the city of Acco and local villages. The new reservoir covering 415 dunam, has a three million cubic meter storage capacity. As a result, Acco sewage will no longer be dumped into the ocean, and local farmers will use the recycled water for irrigation. The Shomrat Reservoir joins 197 other reservoirs that were built by KKL-JNF throughout Israel and is the sixteenth reservoir in Western Galilee. These reservoirs add about 200 million cubic meters of water to Israel’s water system.

This reservoir solves a serious environmental problem. Until now, the sewage of Acco and local villages flowed untreated into streams and the ocean. This situation was untenable and constituted a serious environmental hazard, which endangered the health of local residents.

Local farmers are also very happy about the new reservoir. While irrigation with freshwater can cost up to NIS 1.87 per cubic meter, irrigation with recycled effluents costs no more than NIS1.00 per cubic meter, which means savings of hundreds of thousands of shekels annually, depending on the size of the irrigated fields.

An official commented: "Over 50% of water used for agriculture is recycled water, which is the highest percentage in the world. Agriculture, as the main customer of recycled water, serves the environment, and lessens the pollution of streams and water sources. Using recycled effluents instead of fresh water is part of our water policy.”

More on the Co Existence in Acre

Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award Winner

On 6th September 17 year-old Alaa Korabi, our first Duke of Edinburgh’s International Gold Award recipient, cast a golden light over the entire Centre, a light which shone even brighter when he represented the Arab sector at the 50th Birthday celebratory event attended by HRH Prince Edward. In perfect English Alaa said, “Six million young people from 120 countries have taken part in the Awards since it began 50 years ago in Gordonstoun School in England. And here I am this evening, standing here before you, Alaa Korabi from The Sir Charles Clore Jewish-Arab Community Center, Acre, a Gold Award Winner… It has changed my life!”

Currently visiting the UK, it is interesting to hear the attitudes of the various Jewish communities towards their life in the UK. There is an underlining trend of serious concern regarding their future in the UK which seems to confirm what many writers and analyists, who are termed "doomsayers" project in their articles.

More on this when I return

Israeli Arab Co-Existence in Acre

The Sir Charles Clore Arab-Jewish community centre in Acre, about 15 miles north of Haifa is involved in many programmes aimed at building cooperation and co-existence between the two communities.See http://www.clore-foundation.org.il/pages.asp?page_id=10

In its recent October report, two examples given:-

a) The Young Enterprise – “Learning By Doing” Business Programme
Last winter twenty 15 year-old Arab elementary school pupils took up the gauntlet and enrolled in this demanding leadership, achievement and business development programme! Working resolutely as a cohesive group, each one has developed exceptional leadership qualities, admirable entrepreneurial skills and according to their teachers, has shown a marked improvement in their school grades. With Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award Alaa Korabi as their mentor, and having won first place in the regional finals with their invention, the versatile Flying Carpet game, the group is heading towards the national finals on October 18th where they will be up against 13 other finalists. If successful, they will compete in the International Finals in Basle, Switzerland next March. Fully aware that good English is essential in the business world; the group is working hard to improve its language skills.

A website has been created and a promotional video. The group will continue to develop marketing and sales techniques in the coming year. At a recent board meeting the members voted to invest a percentage of their (meager) profits in the new Young Enterprise group.

Encouraged by the accomplishments, enthusiasm, improved school performance and growing reputation in Acre, the Centre has begun its recruitment campaign for its pilot mixed Arab-Jewish Young Enterprise group

b) The Women’s Centre - personal, educational & economic empowerment
From 1st November, the new Women’s Coordinators will begin an aggressive campaign to reach out to Acre’s marginalised Arab and Jewish women at risk, in particular single mothers and uneducated women.
· The Women’s Club and Computer Centre
· Baby Massage - Connecting with Newborns
· Mother–Child Parenting, Mentoring & Support Workshops
· High School Matriculation, Job Preparation Empowerment & Development Course
· Women’s Enterprise – Business Mentoring & Training Course
· The Listening Circle – Communication, self-expression & conflict resolution

Such programmes are another small step in the development of improved relationships between the Arab and Jewish communities in Israel

Just "Normal Days at the Office"

The last few days have been interesting, not necessarily because of what we’ve done, more with the people we have come in contact with.

With friends visiting from the UK, we took the opportunity to take them to Acre and visit the old city. I am sure many of you will know that over 40% of the city are Arab citizens and within the old city, the percentage is probably nearer to 80%.

So as we wandered around the narrow alleyways, passing families sitting in their courtyards, all we basically heard spoken was Arabic. Exiting into a piazza, one house of note was the home of Ramonda Tawill, the mother in law of Yassir Arafat. It was Tawill who, with financing of the Ford Foundation and certain European countries, founded the Palestinian Press Service in 1984 and used the service to propogate the revision of history.

The weather was rather warm on that day, so we stopped for some liquid refreshment at a café owned by one of the Arab residents next to the entrance to the large mosque which dominates the skyline of the city.

A day later on a typical train journey to Tel Aviv, I found myself sitting with a family of Arab citizens, who were traveling to enjoy a day out in that city. Their conversation varied between Arabic and Hebrew. I didn’t get the opportunity to engage them in conversation but everything just seemed so natural.

And finally, I received a request from a contact in the States to check out a family in the Christian Arab quarter of Haifa. It seems their son was going out with a girl in the States and the American family wanted to know if the family was known as a good family. Putting on my Sherlock Holmes hat and visiting the local pharmacy, run by a Christian Arab, it transpires that the family is indded known as an honorable family.

Yes this is normal Israel, a picture so often misrepresented by the media.