Dutchblog Israel

Say hello to the newest Dutchblog Israel addition to the blogroll. Dutchblog is a historian, who specialized in modern Jewish history and in history of the Middle East, and who in 1995 emigrated from the Netherlands to Israel. He currently is working on his doctoral thesis, on the subject "Jews and non-Jews in Post-Liberation France, 1944-49. Good for him.

Looking to host websites?

Here's a tender would be Web maintainers might care for. It's an Australian national public toilet map. Around 400 would be toilet users per day so the hit
count won't be much of a problem.

Perhaps it's me, but if I need a public loo, looking at a web page is not my first choice of methods to locate one.

Thanks to the Inquirer for the link. They're nearly as good for IT related matters as Vulture Central.

Perhaps we should reserve Sundays for fun things rather than the normal litany of doom and gloom.

Candidate for a right-on gentile award by Cathy

Julie Burchill at her best, exposing Judeophobia. It’s so sad she’s leaving the Guardian for the Times.

UK civil partnerships coming soon by Cathy

One of the highlights of this year’s Queen’s speech (even better than her slip of the tongue “national hunt” in place of “national health”) was seeing Brenda reading:

“My government will maintain its commitment to increased equality and social justice by bringing forward legislation on the registration of civil partnerships between same sex couples.”

Quite rightly, the government is facing criticism eg. from gay rights groups and in general media comment for failing to offer such rights to unmarried (or more accurately non-married) heterosexual couples. There is talk of an MP introducing an amendment to the bill to extend the scheme to all couples.

There is already a precedent in London: the Greater London Authority (Mayor Ken Livingstone’s gaff) runs a London Partnerships Register open to any same-sex or heterosexual couple where one partner is a London resident.

The argument by some gay activist groups that hetero couples can always get married perpetuates the second class status of same-sex couples and ignores the high percentage of long-term hetero couples in the UK who are non-married. The trouble with civil marriage even with much modernisation is that it is a very historic institution which still confers more rights to one partner as senior to the other.

We are now closer to achieving a new institution which recognises a partnership of two adults on an equal basis full stop.

History

Our local primary school is recreating the founding of Israel on the streets where I live. As well as pretending to be new immigrants, they also have the pleasure of being locked up by brutal British soldiers.

Legal settlements

So the government only has to dismantle 'illegal' settlements. That's OK then just make them legal. This is getting very silly. I notice that there is a Likud convention in January which promises to be stormy. The various parts of the Likud party are at odds with each other. It's partner, Shunui is still learning but getting there. It has some refugees from Labot and Meretz who are getting feisty.

Loud bangs

Having heard a loud bang just now with an accompanying pillar of brown smoke I do not feel happy to find out after the event that it was a film company shooting some footage. Dummy explosion my arse.

EDS, UK government screw up another computer system

Yet another large IT project goes belly up. EDS, UK government screw up another computer system. Which is yet another reason why ID cards in the UK are such a bad idea.

Rugby schmugby by Cathy

Yeah!!! England won the rugby union world cup and returned to a heroes welcome at LHR this morning.

STJ?: Winger Ben Cohen says he is of Jewish origin “a few generations back” and is listed in Club 18-35’s circumcised celebrities list which depending on how you cut it means different things…

Rugby is an infinitely better game to watch and play than football/soccer. And as for American gladiators football, don’t get me started.

Moving on...

The Head Heeb has an excellent post on the Geneva Accord and the attitude of Israelis and Palestinians.

There have been plenty of false dawns in the past, but there are reasons to suspect that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is approaching endgame. With Jews and Arabs at demographic parity between the Jordan and the Mediterranean and with prominent American Jewish leaders openly breaking with the Israeli government, there's no time to play a waiting game. Sharon is nearing the point where he has to jump or be pushed, or else he wouldn't be incurring his own party's displeasure in the way he is doing. The mere mention of unilateral withdrawals has already provoked the most intense coalition crisis of his second term, and there are rumblings of a dump-Sharon movement in the Likud. Sharon wouldn't take this risk unless he meant to follow through.

Oh, he says it so well. I read in the Jpost today , print edition, that the Likud party is very unhappy. Too many things coming together too fast. Some Likud MKs got their wrist slapped for voting against the recent budget. The punishment is a ban on introducing new legislation until next year which is a joke. One wants to change the law such that 80 MKs need to approve the dismantling of a settlement. Yuli Edelstein wants to pass an local equivalent to the USA Logan act, prohibiting the likes of Yossie Belin to help the peace process. A number of Likud MKs are unhappy with Sharon. Of course, while all this is going on, I read that science teaching in Israel has reached a 50 year low. We're spending money on the settlements by robbing the education budget. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Yesha Council

The Yesha Council, which represents the settlers in the West Bank and Gaza are preparing a diplomatic initiative to counter the road map. I will watch this one with interest.

Goods from Israel

Let me explain. While Arutz Sheva gets all huffy about Foreign Minister Olmert ,agreeing to mark Israeli goods with the place of origin, it's better than the current system which makes European importers of Israeli stuff leave large deposits in case the tax break given to Israeli imports turns out to to be illegitimate.

Fence and map

Those who haven't seen the latest Security fence map can get it here. You will have to drill down, I can't get the actual link. The red line towards the Jordan river is the start of a North south fence line which even this Government cannot claim is for security.

For those who want to know more about what this means to the ordinary Arab, here's a Grauniad article.

Geneva Accords

It is hovering near the edge as the margin of error is 4% but this poll in Ha'Aretz indicates that there is a bare majority of Israelis in favour of the Geneva accords. This is up from the initial 40% when the plan was first published.

56% of Palestinians are in favour. The figures against are 44% and 39%. Those who thought the whole thing entirely anti democratic will have to sit up and take notice now. I predict a referendum some time next year unless this Government manages to trump it.

Spam

There is a new 'anti spam' law due to become law on the 1st January 2004 in the USA. Anti spam activists are uniformly against the provisions which seem designed to serve big business rather than spam recipients. You can read it here.

It is primarily opt out rather than opt in so that if a business can claim some existing relationship it can spam you untill you squeal. The idea of a 'do not spam' list sounds good but would be very useful for the likes of Alan Ralsky who cares little for laws or contracts anyway. Just think, a free list of working email addresses all up to date and ready for the next offer of Viagra or a larger intromittent organ.

I will quote from the politech mailing list. This was written by John.

This bill makes it a crime to use any false or misleading information
in a domain name or email account application, and then send an email.
That would make a large fraction of hotmail users instant criminals.

It also makes it a crime to remove or alter information in message
headers in ways that would make it harder for a police officer
to determine who had sent the email. Anonymizers will be illegal
as soon as this bill becomes law.

There are MANY, MANY other things wrong with it -- including the fact
that most of its provisions apply to all commercial email, not just
bulk commercial email -- and that it takes zero account of the First
Amendment, attempting to list what topics someone can validly send
messages about, while outlawing all other topics that relate to
commercial transactions.

If it passes, I think I can make a criminal out of just about any
company. Companies are liable for spam that helps them, even if they
had no part in sending it.

Even more annoyingly, the power to prosecute falls to State Attorneys and ISP's who have better things to do rather than individuals such as the California anti spam law and others. In Finland, spamming has been a criminal offence for some years with the obvious result that nobody has been prosecuted. On a scale of 1-10 for rape, arson, burglary, spam comes well down the list.

For those who this makes little sense, here's a spam FAQ.

Breaking news

I still can't quite believe it. Channel 2 has reported that Arik Sharon states he will dismantle settlements in Gaza and the West Bank and rebuild them in the Negev. 'She who Must Get Better' also heard it.

Will Israel disappear through sheer demographics? by Cathy

Israel Absorption Ministry stats just out show that c 760,000 Israeli citizens (600k adults, 160k children) now live abroad, a nearly 40% increase over the number reported in 2000.

In addition there are likely to be many Jews like me, with the ‘right of return’ to Israel, who tested the waters by living in Israel for a time before choosing to not go through with aliah - full immigration/taking Israel citizenship – until, eg. in my case, there would be a level of peace and security I would personally feel more comfortable with.

Combined with the relatively larger numbers of Arab babies born in Israel and Palestinian areas makes it appear that the sustained terrorism and associated international anti-Israel initiatives could actually be successful in bringing about a tragic end to the Jewish state.

Say Israel does achieve peace and terrorism is no longer a threat. Would sufficiently large numbers of Israeli expats and not-yet-pats (re-)return to Israel and rebuild the economy, or would most remain in the diaspora?

Comments

... are back.

The bombs in Istanbul really shook me up. As the the situation here in Israel, words fail me. Can someone explain what the hoohaa about Yossi Sarid and the IDF is all about please?

Commenting

Commenting appears to be down for the time being. We'll say when it's back up. Sorry people. We've had 175 unique visitors in the last couple of days so maybe it's tired and squawked out.

Beautiful towns in Israel

Ramat Gan, Nes Ziona win most beautiful town competition; Minister Poraz: Tel Aviv looks like Calcutta slum (Israel Radio)

I don't have a link for the above quote which appeared as a headline in Ha'Aratez. Last year Haifa won as is only right and proper. Minister Poraz evidently hasn't been to Calcutta recently.

Why does it sound so easy by Cathy

Points made about Israel and the Palestinians in Bush’s Whitehall Banqueting House keynote speech:

The aim must be a viable independent Palestinian state and security and peace for Israel. By resolving this issue a major excuse for hatred and resentment in the Middle East would be removed.

The long-suffering Palestinians deserve real leaders who are capable of creating and governing a Palestinian state. Peace will not be achieved by Palestinian leaders who intimidate the opposition, tolerate corruption and maintain ties with terrorist groups.

Israel must stop the construction of settlements, dismantle unauthorised outposts and stop the humiliation of the Palestinian people.

All leaders should strongly oppose anti-semitism which poisons hopes for progress in the Middle East. Arab states must end incitement in their own media, cut off funding for terrorist groups and re-establish normal relations with Israel.

Just like that…(said in Tommy Cooper mode)

Nastygrams to President Bush

The Grauniad publishes some nastygrams written by the usual suspects except that I enjoyed the one from Salam Pax.

Listen, habibi, it is not over yet. Let me explain this in simple terms. You have spilled a glass full of tomato juice on an already dirty carpet and now you have to clean up the whole room. Not all of the mess is your fault but you volunteered to clean it up. I bet if someone had explained it to you like that you would have been less hasty going on our Rambo-in-Baghdad trip.

Speaking just for me, I would like to say 'Welcome, have a nice trip, enjoy yourself and could we push the Israeli road map a little harder please? Oh, and drop the steel tariifs. They've caused more lost jobs than gains.

The God of small things

'She Who Must Be Adored' is off to Tel Aviv to meet visiting friends. I'm staying at home, shivering with my first winter flu.

Who's a naughty boy then?

Army Radio on Monday morning quoted senior U.S.
officials as saying that relations between the
U.S. and Israel were approaching a crisis due to
the policy of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
government.

Oh dear. I doubt that this will change things just yet though

London gets ready for Bush by Cathy

I’m a dual US/UK citizen born in California but not resident there since the 1970s. London is my home (I’m searching for a more accurate term than expat). I was ambivalent about the war – not convinced about the WMD war aims but not really opposed to at last finishing the job (regime change) which should have been completed at the end of the last gulf war.

I agree with Adrian. We are where we are now and we need to make sure Iraq is set on the reconstruction path of a secular(ish) democracy and does not get dragged down into anything approaching a fundamentalist theocracy harbouring international terrorism. Sadly I’m not sure if that’s possible (look at Afghanistan: it remains divided and the Taliban and fiends [sic] are regrouping inside and outside the country).

I certainly will not be protesting against Bush’s visit. The Stop the War coalition (aside from not noticing that, er, the war has stopped) is now made up of a ragbag of anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, anti-American anti-capitalist, anti-car, anti-fun, anti-ad infinitum. See any pattern there? They are not pro-anything!

David Aaronovitch puts it quite well:

But our enemy is not America. It isn't America that gives the most effective support to Sharonic intransigence - it's Israeli insecurity that does that. It isn't America that sends ambulances to blow up aid workers or Istanbul synagogues. It is America, above all, that is bearing the cost of helping to create a new Iraq - a new Iraq which, despite the violence, is being born in towns such as Hilla and cities such as Basra. And yet some of our writers and protesters - betraying their own professed ideals - identify with bombers and not teachers, administrators and policemen who are building the country.

Where is the red paint to protest against the blasts at Najaf, of the UN in Baghdad, of the Red Cross, of the synagogues, of the Bali night-club, of the Arab-Jewish restaurant in Haifa? Where are the 'No Suicide Bombings' posters in the Muswell Hill windows? Or do you really believe we can save ourselves by constructing a huge wall around these islands, or around America, and painting it with smileys? That maybe then the ills of the world will leave us alone.

Most Londoners seem more worried about the potential inconvenience to their daily lives which will be caused by the tight security measures being put in place for Bush’s visit.

The power of the Internet

Stuart Hughes, a British journalist, who lost part of hisleg in Northern Iraq and features on the blog roll tells an interesting story of demining in Cambodia. I'm also fascinated by how he got his passport back.

The story is a fine example of the power of the internet. The cleaner in a cafe I visited last weekend picked up the passport -- it must have fallen out of my back pocket while my rear end was exploding like a landmine.

She gave it to the western owner of the restaurant....who wasn't sure how to contact me to give it back. He put my name into Google, found the blog, matched the picture on the passport to the pictures on the site and BINGO!! -- he was able to e-mail me and let me know it was safe.

Dr. Rice Briefs on the President's Trip to the UK

Dr. Rice Briefs on the President's Trip to the UK

At the invitation of Her Majesty The Queen, the President will travel to the United Kingdom to affirm the broad and historic alliance shared by the United States and Great Britain. The depth of the special relationship between our two countries cannot be overstated. The United States has no greater friend. We share common interests, a common history and common values. Primarily, the United Kingdom and the United States share the desire to support all of those who seek freedom, democracy and peace. It is that tie that binds us inextricably.

Has the special relationship changed or was it always a myth? Whilst I have consistently been against the Iraq war I wouldn't turn out to demonstrate against President Bush. We can't turn the clock back and the world has to make this work.

I note this is the 11th President that Her Majesty will greet but strangely it's the first one who'll come on a State visit.

It's Sunday

So I'm a:

Robert Heinlein wrote you - your stranger in a
strange land, you.


Which Author's Fiction are You?
brought to you by Quizilla.

Thanks to Siflay Hraka who never seems to sleep.

More jewish dead

This has a depressingly familiar ring to it.Haaretz Article. More Muslim terrorists killing Jews, this time in Turkey.

This is the BBC by Cathy

This week, in response to many protests and meetings, the BBC has appointed a senior editorial watchdog to oversee its middle east news coverage specifically to address the corporation's anti-Israel bias and reporting inaccuracies.

At last the BBC has realised it needs to address what in contemporary thinking could well be institutional anti-semitism. Most recently this was manifest in middle east reporting clearly slanted against Israel eg. not treating the state of Israel/government on a like-for-like basis with other states in the region, and the rest of the world for that matter. Reports broadcast by Orla Guerin have often been particularly odious unhelpful with clear verbal and non-verbal body language biases.

Software and documentation

The bosses here have noticied with approval my habit of generating software specs and commenting my code. I have been tasked with putting together a 15 minute presentation on how to document and why. This is going to make me very unpopular.

Jenin

I welcome the High Court decision to overturn the ban on the documentary ‘Jenin, Jenin,’ by Israeli-Arab director Mohammed Bakri. It's a crap film (yes I have seen it) but I prefer people to make their own minds up about the media rather than have a film board decide. How about a new classification for films? Warning - this film is seriously stupid.

Court computer plan wastes millions - and still doesn't work

The Guardian reports that a new court computer system for the UK costs more than was budgeted, is late and doesn't work. I am not surprised. The UK has a dismal history of implementing large scale IT projects. The one I know most about is a failed MOD project to put a PC on everyones desk. Costing 1.2 billion over eleven years, it put custom 286 machines in place running a variant of DOS. Scrapped after one year of non use.

Houses and land

Turning my attention away from work and Israel for a moment, the Egghead family were miffed to lose the nice plot of land we made an offer for due to gazumping. Still, a house we'd rejected after making our mind up to build one came back at a lower price and we've said yes. It has a wonderful subterranean garage which will keep me happy.

Trying to collect the paper we need for the first step is a battle. While there is no general strike at the moment, the various government ministries and agencies are having a work to rule so events are non deterministic.

When it's OK to talk to terrorists

It's OK to talk when nothing that serious is at stake.

Spammers Can Run but They Can’t Hide

A very nice article here in the New York Times about Steve Linford, a London based anti spammer activist. He was also a road manager for Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson for a while.

Geneva Accord

It would appear that Colin Powell has sent a letter of support to the creators of the Geneva Accords. Whilst not exactly official support, it's a step forwards. Paul Wolfowitz has also praised Sari Nusseibeh and Ami Ayalon's peace plan.

The current government has nothing to counter this other than complaints. It has started to move forward to more talks with the PA so there's hope yet. In the meantime, there's a demo in Tel Aviv tonight at the Cinemateque, Ha'Arba'a St at 1900 hrs. You can sign a petition against the fence here.

On MIA

Whatever Jonathon Pollard is , he's not MIA. To equate him with Ron Arad is plain wrong.

PM to face a battle in cabinet on deal for prisoner release

Speaking for myself, I do not agree with Israel releasing murderers to get back three bodies and a drug dealer. Hezbollah will no doubt be busy planning another snatch as this one has been so successful.

News

Feeling slightly down, I will spare us the ever worsening news from Israel. Instead, I shall worry about the impending sand shortage in Saudi Arabia.

60%

I'm only so good.

New tank killer

This report a bit worrying. . The USA is facing a new anti tank weapon. I've never come across anything that can drill a pencil sized hole in a tank, without any spalling. I do hope they don't get here.

Europe and Israel

The Heed Heeb has an interesting post on the row over the EU poll that states that Europeans see Israel as the number one threat.

This means that those Europeans who believe that the PA is a threat to peace weren't represented. Moreover, those who believe that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict represents a threat to world peace were likely to choose Israel as a surrogate. The poll may represent widespread European hostility to Israel, but another interpretation - and maybe a more probable one - is that Europeans view the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general as a major threat to world stability.

I agree.

Blast from the past

While delving in the archives, I came across this little gem I wrote last December. The archives seem to have lost all the formatting so I've given it a facelift. The text is the same.

The Internet is full of interesting, up to date and accurate information. It’s discussion groups are jam-packed with people engaging in civilized discourse, respecting each other opinions and gently debating issues of vital concern to humanity. It is in this spirit, that I offer some lesser-known facts about Israel that might be of some use to non-Israeli readers and tourists in general. Israelis will be familiar with this material but may choose to refresh their memories.

IDF. The IDF were leaders in the field when it came to integrating females into the armed services. It is generally believed that this was due to the spirit of equal opportunities that infused Israel in the 1950’s but was, in fact, due to Playboy sponsoring the Army thus overcoming budget constraints of the time. The latest Merkava tank, another world first from Israel, has been successfully modified to run on chicken soup reducing Israel’s dependence on imported diesel and cutting heavy particle pollution. Our neighbours in the North, Hizbollah, have welcomed this move and fire volleys of gunfire in celebration whenever one is seen.

Religion: Israel is full of Jews from all the countries and cultures of the world. Israelis take great delight in visiting each other’s synagogues to sample alternative forms of worship. In Haifa, a popular synagogue comes from the Polynesian region and was setup by Tahitian Jews immigrating to Israel in the 1960s. Of note are the requirements for woman to appear topless in grass skirts and for the men to have Torah portions tattooed on their backs.

Driving: Israelis have shaken off their image as a nation of impatient drivers. The Minister of Transport recently made an appeal for less politeness after a 16 kilometer traffic jam was caused by two drivers in Tiberias insisting that the other one went first.

History. The recent unfortunate events in World War II have left Israelis feeling very vulnerable. After a visit to Yad Vashem, please take the time to visit the recently opened wild life refuge for anti semites, opened in the spirit of tolerance and reconciliation that Israel is so proud off. Containing real live fascists, these are kept alive as a service to the world so that generations to come can learn. You can experience the hatred so characteristic of the breed close up. Note: For logistical reasons , this has been relocated to Gaza city. Booking required.

Law and Order: The crime rate is Israel is very low as Israelis are obedient to authority and respectful of its laws. As a result, the police force is under worked (apart from a little local difficulty with the neighbours) and drives around with their flashing lights on all the time hoping to drum up business.

Food: Israel has several national dishes, one being hummus, which is a pureed chickpea (Cicer arietinum) mix. New arrivals in Israel have been taught that this is not used to fill holes in walls but is a tasty, nutritious dip that can be used in many dishes. Falafel is another tasty take-away snack made from chick peas, served in pita bread with various salads and dips. Most Israelis will keep one in their pocket just for visitors so don’t be shy to ask.

Environment: Israelis respect their environment and work hard to minimize litter, noise and pollution. Please don’t use a mobile phone in public. Israelis are very quietly spoken so raising your voice is frowned on. Visitors are requested to take home all the garbage they generate. Your airline will be delighted to cooperate with this.

>

Politics is a sensitive subject in Israel. Over the years, Israelis have become ever more uncomfortable about the subject and nowadays, it is next to impossible to get the average Israeli to talk about it.

Travel: When flying to Israel, remember that El Al is very conscious of the need of a traveler to take necessities on to the plane. Feel free to drag large bags as a carry on. Most visitors are expected to take home at least 30 kilos of oranges, 10 kilos of presents from Jerusalem and these are too valuable to be trusted as baggage in the hold. Travel inside Israel is easy. The buses are very efficient and frequent. Try joining in the game locals play. When boarding the bus, the driver will take your money whilst simultaneously driving off. See if you can distract him or her long enough to make him or her miss the next stop. For extra points try to make the passenger next to you fall over.

Language: Israelis are justifiably proud of having resurrected Hebrew, the language of the bible. Now this language has been brought fully up to date , making it ever easier for a new immigrant (Oleh Hadesh) like myself to learn. Recent changes have made all letters vowels thus eliminating the need to guess when reading. The orthography has been revised with all letters having three forms depending on whether it is at the start of a word, the end of a word or just plain lost.

Expat Yank

Please welcomeExpat Yank, the latest blogroll entry which has been pruned lately. He lives in Dorset, down in the proper part of England and qualifies as a 'good bloke'.

Cathy

Cathy will not be posting for a while but is expected back soon. In the meantime, filling the car with petrol has become tricky here in Israel due to the Unions blocking fuel supplies. When this was announced, every Israeli rushed to the pumps including me.

Rabin

I was stunned by the turnout at yesterday's memorial for Rabin. Around 100,000 people turned up. Although the politics tended to the left, this was very much an establishment occasion. Very moving.

'She Who Needs a Guide Dog' still had her cast on which made life tricky. The followers of the fascist extreme-right Kach leader Rabbi Meir Kahane are still around and they vandalised the monument for Rabin early on Friday morning. We see them hanging around on Peace Now demos sometimes, a group of about 10-12 surrounded by 20-30 police.

A long time ago Tal G quried my mentioning Uri Avnery with approval. I now tend to agree with Tal. Uri Avnery is one can short of a six pack.

Finally, I would like to point out that Europeans seem to believe that Israel is the number one threat to the world.

Twits.