Peres - Former Labor chair will support PM in election

The end of a great career. Peres joins Sharon and Kadima. Like Tom joining Jerry.

Life in Israel

Work rang me up during the training course. I was asked what kind of massage we'd like at the hotel. This cannot be true. Great time for the motor to drop a wheel bearing. The Nazareth mechanics returned it tonight pointed out the non OEM part put in six months after I brought it from new. Ah well.

Public transport works fairly well here when you plan it right. Just stay away from Tel Aviv taxi drivers. Shysters the bunch of them.

Peres brother rips Peretz as foreign body in Labor

What nonsense. What puffery. Gigi Peres says:

"Peretz and his people are a foreign body in the Labor Party, like General Franco in Spain," Gigi Peres told Army radio in an interview.

Anyone who knows anything about the Spanish Civil War will reject the comparison.

Courses and holidays

Blogging will be light to intermittant with occasional heavy showers of opinion and comment for the next few days. I shall be in Tel Aviv on a three day course followed by a company long weekend in a nice hotel by the Dead Sea with Mrs E. This is the first company paid for anything I've been on since I came to Israel.

Sharon said planning to push for presidential system of government

Sharon lost my vote when :

if re-elected to a third term, may press for a change in Israel's system of government to a "presidential system," in which the prime minister would be elected directly, and members of Knesset would be elected according to regions of the country.

Yes, to the regional style constituency member of the Knesset. No to a 'Presidental' system. You cannot function in Israeli politics without a party behind you.

Prime minister plans to draw 'the final shape of Israel'

I'm sure I'm dreaming. Based on news reports only who quote his advisers, diplomats, friends without naming any of them, Sharon is planning to fix the final borders of Israel if he and his party, gets elected. He is looking more and more electable and , gasp, shock, horror, I might even vote for his party myself.

Note to the new back room boys at Kadima. Better snap up that nice domain kadima.co.il before someone else does. Regretfully kadima.com is gone.

BBC bias complaint upheld

Nice to see Michael Grade and the Beeb governors starting to deal effectively with auntie’s anti-Israel problems. Barbara “blubb blubb” Plett indeed blubbed too much for Yasser without balancing her blubbing with blubbing for Sharon. Next step: further sideline the odious Orla “my boyfriend’s a bomber” Guerin.

Homeless penniless alcoholic dies

So farewell then George Best. Famous in the distant past for 5 minutes as a footballer, drunk for the remaining 55 minutes of his hour-long life. A true role model for the anglo-saxon English heavy drinkers and continuing the tradition of otherwise talented English men to drink themselves into oblivion and die by their 60s (in this case 59).

Is talk of withdrawal premature?

An interesting Guardian blog post here mentioning a paper from the Oxford Research Group which suggests that any talk of winding down US/UK troops from Iraq is premature.

Professor Paul Rogers casts serious doubt on this rosy scenario today. He argues in the Oxford Research Group paper, Iraq and the War on Terror, that occupation of Iraq is a “gift” to the al-Qaida movement. Not only is the occupation a powerful magnet for young jihadists seeking combat experience, it’s a powerful propaganda tool for their belief in a Christian crusader/Zionist plot against Islam. Given their dependence on oil, a US withdrawal in the face of such terrorism would, he concludes, be a strategic catastrophe larger than the retreat from Vietnam.

Since the al-Qaida movement measures its struggle in decades, not years, Prof Rogers believes that maintaining a friendly government in Baghdad will require the US military to stay for decades.

He argues a UK withdrawal in the south is similarly difficult because it would mean handing over military power to pro-Iranian forces which would result in a break with Washington.

Leaving home

Number one son has finally flown the coop and gone to work in a Kibbutz down south. He's probably staring at cows right now finding out for himself the downside of keeping highly productive animals that turn grass and concentrates into milk. Mrs E is distraught of course and since she has become Internet savvy over the last few years mutters about webcams and phone - internet IM.

We of course now have the house to ourselves and can plan the vast expansion of chez nous into something a little less cramped. I had visions of thousands of toiling slaves pulling large granite blocks into place with heartless overseers looking on with a whip in their hands. Reality intrudes and tells me it's going to be the normal gang of local Arabs and Israelis arguing with the architect.

One interesting difference between where I came from and here is planning permission. In the UK, you draw up your plans, ask the local council and some time later , permission arrives. If anyone wants to object, they have to go to the local offices, look at the plans and then object. Here, you take the plans to all your neighbours and if they don't object, they sign two sets and then you go for permission. A much better concept; positive permission rather than negative objections.

Eyeing Likud leadership, Mofaz, Shalom lambasts Netanyahu

There are seven people vying for the leadership of the Likud. Somebody's already updated the Wiki article. Shaul Mofaz is not currently a member of the Knesset. The candidates are:

Netanyahu, Uzi Landau, Shaul Mofaz, Yisrael Katz, Limor Livnat, Silvan Shalom and Moshe Feiglin. If Moshe Feiglin wins I shall seriously think of seeking work abroad.

Holocaust denial charges against Irving

Yippee!. He gets charged at last. He hasn't been in court since the failed libel suit against Deborah Lipstad. There could be 10 years inside for this. I wonder if Landsberg Prison is still in use. Oh wonderful. It's still in use.

UN Council fails to agree on Hizbollah-Israel clash

Algeria was the odd one out this time in not wanting to condemn Hezbollah. This time the world seems fairly united though in blaming them for starting the whole things. It can't have been nice being in shelters all night for the Northern residents of Israel. Israpundit has a go at the EU for failing yet again. A Lebanese commentator puts it all on Syria trying to distract attention away from its current problem set. As Hezbollah has also been blamed for the Argentine bomb in 1994 , they're under the spotlight as well.
I still don't mind jet noise even at 0200 hrs right over my roof.

Did I read this right?

Sharon's new party would likely attempt to form a coaltion with Labor, Shinui, and even Meretz-Yahad, in addition to gaining parliamentary support from Arab factions in the next Knesset.

Even Meretz?

I want to update this with a summary of a conversation with a co-worker over lunch. He is a fervent supporter of Moshe Feiglin and is enthusiastic about Likud now that Sharon has left.

"Yes, we've been entering Likud for some years now and we do have a plan. Kick out the Americans from the Middle East and take over the oil fields. The Arabs can stay and work for us. "

He also mentioned used biological weapons against Arab states. My other co-worker assured me that he is serious. I find it hard to believe.

Elections likely to take place by early March - Sharon leaving Likud

The Likud won't be the same without him whoever gets to lead it. I wonder what the new party will be called. It's going to be an interesting election campaign, full of drama , dirty tricks, hyperbole and passion. Perhaps a separate Israel election blog is needed.

US court rejects genocide petition against Israel

This looks like an example of US-based Palestinians carrying on in a manner similar to that recently departed misguided intellectual Edward Said: blaming others for all their problems instead of facing facts. Here they are, spending money and PR ammunition taking legal action against Israel in US courts instead of dealing with their own challenges such as taking action in destroying terrorism and Jew-hating within their ranks and building a viable modern government.

Meanwhile if these Palestinians are US citizens their motives should be questioned. If they are not US citizens their activities and funding should be closely scrutinised and deportation considered.

U.S. court rejects genocide petition against Israel
A U.S. federal court in Washington has turned down a petition accusing Israel of war crimes against the Palestinians. Petitioners blamed the State of Israel, the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet of crimes against humanity during Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Submitted by Palestinians living in the U.S. the petition also included the names of senior Israeli officials including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz. The judge turned down the petition on the grounds that it relates to political issues. (Tal Rosner)

Lemons ripening

Top News Article | Reuters.co.uk

Well, a news article that finishes with:

The Palestinians have so far failed to meet their road map requirement of disarming militants behind a 5-year-old revolt.

British historian David Irving arrested in Austria on Holocaust denial charges

So I'm overblogging. David Irvine spending a few nights in an Austrian jail makes my heart glad.

Sharon, Peretz agree on early election

Endless months of fatuous insult hurling coming up. I wonder what the parties will be.

Elms in the Yard

Elms in the Yard points out that railway buffs have found a section of Ottomon era track close to Kibbutz Mishmar ha-Negev. For those interested , here's a map showing lines under construction and future plans. Note the railway from Haifa to Bet Shean.

Israel and Climate change

Interesting reading here. This is Israel's submission to the Un Framework Convention on Climate Change.
A summary.

• Mean temperature increase of 1.6º-1.8ºC
• Reduction in precipitation of (-8)-(-4)%
• Increase in evapotranspiration of 10%
• Delayed winter rains
• Sea level rise of 12-88 cm

None of which looks very nice at all. Note that Israel has not signed up to Kyoto, is addicted to fossil fuels and the standard excuse is 'We'll worry about that when the security situation improves.'. That was always a poor excuse at best for doing nothing. The same reason is given for not enforcing earthquake reisistant construction techniques.

Wired News: Huge Solar Plants Bloom in Desert

At last someone is taking solar power seriously. Stirling Energy Systems will be constructing a farm of 12 metre curved dishes focusing on Stirling engines. Regretfully, it will be in California, not here in Israel. They have a pilot plant running that generates 1 MegaWatt. They plan a 500 acre (800 hectares) plant generating 500 MW. A swift calculation follows.

Israel currently has around 10,000 MW of generating capacity all powered by fossil fuels, primarily coal. The 500 MW plant Stirling Energy plan to build takes up around 800 hectares. Israel would need 20 such farms then around 0.6% of Israel (I assume in the Negev) would be needed. A much better project than building settlements in the West bank. No more coal imports and Israel could meet its Kyoto targets easily . Of course, as Israel refused to sign up, the point is moot.

PM's son Omri Sharon convicted of campaign-linked corruption

Quite a set of charges there. Fictitious registration of corporate documents, lying under oath,violations of the election code,corporate fraud,breaching corporate trust (may be scaled down),receiving illegal donations and falsifying receipts.

Jail time and no more lunches in the Knesset.

Police foil distribution of posters depicting Rabin in SS uniform

We still have a very small and virulent bunch of extreme nutcases here in Israel. This blog comes from the USA though. I found the picture of RabinPeres with bloodstained hands objectionable so go click on the 'Questionable content' button on the top right of the blog page. The blogger page explains what the button does. It's a 'Wisdom of Crowds' vote saying we don't like it, not shut it down.

The Rabin memorial rally. 10 years on.

I wasn't there ten years ago. My first memorial rally was three years afterwards and I remember the crowds, the press of people and S, my guide trying to get us somewhere where we could see anything. We never made it to the square.
This year, we were near the front in plenty of time and we didn't mind the normal 'Israeli - just a few minutes'. Scenes from ten years ago appeared on the giant screen at the front. It was rumored that Jordan’s King Abdullah would be there but he didn't make it.
It was announced that 200,000 people attended. It certainly felt like it. The side streets were packed with people who couldn't get into the main square. The patience and tolerance shown by everyone was impressive. Apart from one small group who made some noise when Bill Clinton started the people were as one.

It is a shame that most of the English media have covered Clinton's speech. Amir Peretz made a very impressive speech. Tzipi Livni, from the Likud party got a round of applause for just standing up in public and speaking in his memory. She got even more for what she said.
The music and singers punctuated the brief speeches and the two and one half hours passed very quickly. The Eggheads even planned the route in, parking and the way out with backup plans but the rally was very well organised and there wasn't the slightest trouble.
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai also spoke as did Rabin’s grandson Yonatan Ben-Artzi. It climaxed with all the people who were on stage ten years ago , coming back and singing

Former Rabin aide Eitan Haber said that if Israel wanted to preserve Rabin's memory "to walk his path of peace and security," Israelis of all political beliefs should gather next year for another memorial.

"Tears have no political color, they are all equally salty," he said.

As Israeli singer Meital Travelski sang a melancholy song, My Captain, about the captain of a sinking ship, Israelis, young and old, stood in sombre reflection, some quietly hugging, others wiping away tears.

Labor party chairman Amir Peretz who declared, "The way of Oslo is the way to peace." "I have a dream that one day Israeli and Palestinian children will play together," he said, echoing Rev. Martin Luther King but shifting his context to his hometown Sderot and the neighboring Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun.

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Likud) told the crowd, "I see the signs and slogans, but this is not a political rally."

I shall remember last night as the most special evening I've spent in Israel and even getting to bed nearer 2 a.m. hasn't dampened my enthusiasm. The BBC World Service gave it headline status with the reporter mentioning that the left in Israel have only nostaglia and good songs to live with. We shall see.

Haaretz - Israel News - Peretz to address Rabin memorial rally in Tel Aviv

How nice. I get to listen to Peres, Peretz and Clinton all on the same night.

On Thursday, Peres was said to have decided to take a break and suspend his political activity in the Labor Party following his defeat to Peretz. His confidants say that he is now considering forming a new party with Sharon.

Several family members and confidants are trying to persuade him to retire. Sources close to him say he will take a few days to ponder the loss, as well as joining Sharon, who called to console him.

'Intelligent design' vote has Robertson warning town

Christian televangelist Pat Robertson has told people that they reject God by voting a school board out that was in favour of Intelligent design being mentioned in school. Around one million brain dead people listen to him every day.

Fight terrorism not passengers

Yo, tube drivers' union. Now is not a good time to threaten to strike. Yo, tube managers. Now is not a good time to excessively squeeze tube drivers.

Attacks at U.S.-Based Hotels in Amman Were Minutes Apart

They won't be able to blame Israel for this lot. Islamofascists strike again damn them.

Peretz defeats Peres to become new Labor leader

Shimon Peres loses yet another election to the younger generation. I have some reservations about Amir Peretz but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. He will be the first non Ashkenazi to lead a political party in Israel as he was born in Morocco. Somebody got to wikipedia before me with an article about him. More work needed here.

Blair's first defeat in Parliament

How could the government have got their strategy so spectacularly wrong? Losing a showpiece bill by over 30 votes!?

Either Mandy is losing it or Tone didn’t listen to Mandy (or he no longer uses Mandy as his private strategist).

It all looked under control at the weekend. The government went public with possible concessions eg on he number of days suspects could be held without being charged. Then on Monday: no, sorry, that’s your lot. Then this morning: for Brown to be recalled from Israel after being there only a few hours (did he even get out of Ben Gurion?) looked like there was no strategy at all. He either shouldn’t have gone at all or not bothered to return for the vote…

Time to go, Tone.

And I haven’t even started on the ‘come on in’ message this sends to terrorists, and how the police should focus on effective intelligence and evidence gathering and not rely on lazy tactics such as rounding up the usual-looking suspects and keeping them for several months whilst evidence is, er, found.

Another death knell for motor trade-sponsored road humps and road-tax cameras

The move for change is accelerating. As I have blogged many times, brute-force measures to calm traffic do nothing of the sort. Humps and bumps enrage drivers and residents alike. Speed cameras only slow speed in their cachement area and speed alone is not an indicator of calm traffic or safe driving. Already more enlightened authorities have already realised this (eg Barnet, Kensington and Chelsea).

Now there’s more ammo. “Psychological traffic calming “ is a just-published report by the Transport Research Laboratory for Department for Transport. The TRL developed and tested a variety of changes in roads which have successfully achieved slowing down of traffic with none of the associated road-rage, noise, expletives, scrapes and damage. Measures such as using different colours and textures, differently spaced lines, trees, build-outs and even removing kerbs and street furniture slow drivers down calmly. And this also improves the look and feel of the built environment.

The other reason why skilled drivers would like these measures is that they effectively sort out those of us who know how to move and dance our cars from those who do not.

We may see the end of road humps sooner than the cameras though as the councils and police would first need to find other ways to tax us…

Thanks to the beeb for the image.

Quotes from Kansas' debate over science standards

I note the Board of Education in Kansas, USA has joined the 'Dum Down America" movement by voting to adopt science standards for Kansas public schools that treat evolution as a flawed theory.

"This is a great day for education. This absolutely raises the standards - I have no doubt about that," board Chairman Steve Abrams, an Arkansas City Republican who supported the new standards.

"This is wonderful," said Julian Abercrombie a science teacher from Elk City. "I can now tell my students about the true Ptolemaic system of plantary motion rather than the discredited Copernican heliocentric system."

"A great day for science," whooped Susan Green, a geography educator from Hillsboro. "At last, plate tectonics goes the way of the dodo and we can straighten these kids out and get them into the real world of Biblical maps and astrology."

I invented the last two.

Slippers and Nature

'She Who Must Have Her Feet Rubbed' brought me a new pair of slippers. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were made in Israel. Pushing away a vision of a sweatshop staffed by Thais and Chinese illegal immigrants I pondered on the decline of manufacturing , here and other developed countries. That led me to the problems of Israeli agriculture and a scene from the UK many years ago.

Picture the scene. My new girlfriend (not my wife) had come to meet my Mother. I grew up on a smallholding in Somerset with my teenage years full of calves, wheelbarrows full of manure and field drainage. She looked over the expansive lawns (2 hours 16 minutes to cut with a 21" 4-stroke Atco), the well kept rose beds (3 tons of horse manure every two years). Her lovely brown eyes gazed at the sheep in the field (late nights in the rain trying to pull lambs out with your bare hands), the geese, ducks and chickens in the main yard (culling the aged, keeping the fox out and more manure). She exclaimed at the duck pond ( hours of digging and hand mixing concrete) and loved the large sheds (block laying, plumbing and electrics).

Finally she marvelled at the weeping willow by the top garden pond ( more digging), the rows of flowers (mushroom manure from the local factory by the truck load) and the buzzing of bees, the flash of butterflies on a summer day.

"Isn't Nature wonderful", she said.

No it's not. If nature had its way, it would be a mass of bramble, thistle and hawthorn. The foxes would massacre the fowls and the crows would pick over the afterbirth at lambing time following that up with some fresh lamb. What will happen when the farmers leave the land as they are starting to do in the UK and as will happen in Israel?

p.s When I read this to 'She', her only reaction was pursed lips, narrowed eyes and "What was her name?"

Independent Online Edition > Middle East

The family of a 12 year old boy with a toy gun shot dead by mistake by IDF troops have allowed one of kidneys to be transplated into an Israeli patient.
There is hope yet.

IGF-Online: Peace Project Middle East

We went to see a play last night in Nazereth by the IGF. You might care to read about Benjamin von Mendelssohn from Germany. The company gave a powerful message about peace.

We’re everywhere

Apropos the recent 200th anniversary celebrations of Nelson’s victory: according to the AJEX Jewish Military Museum (via a letter in today’s dead-tree JC), there were three Jewish sailors on board the HMS Victory with Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar:

Seaman John Jacobs, 25, from Arundel; Able Seaman William Abrahams, 22, from Amsterdam; and John Edwards, also from Arundel. Edwards, who was only aged only 10 at the time, later became a councillor in Plymouth and warden of the synagogue. He died in 1893 aged 98. His great-great-granddaughter lives in Israel and her children serve in the Israeli army.

Rabin memorial services to begin Thursday around Israel

We'll be there, in Rabin Square Saturday night. Bill and Hilary are coming and Bill will speak as will Peres and Rabin's grandson, Yonatan Ben-Artzi. The Prime Minister will not be attending due to security concerns which is a shame.

Blunkett cancels engagements and heads to No 10. Resigns

A contrast here. Mr Blunkett has had practise at resigning (amongst other things) and has fallen on his sword in the time honoured British way. Here in Israel the State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss says:

There is nothing more important than the fight against public corruption," he said in the meeting, adding, "Public corruption is extremely dangerous because it causes the public to lose trust in the central government, its representatives and public officials, and as a result, is a disaster to a democratic society

Do not expect any resignations soon as the seven officials under investigation by the police will hang on until they are dragged off screaming thier innocence.

Testing passport to UK citizenship

It seems that there will be a written test before you can become a Brit although you can get the answers beforehand. I certainly wouldn't be able to remember when St David's day is. Remembering significant birthdays is a strain. I did know that 112 was an alternative emergency number to 999 but fail to see what this has to do with 'Britishness'. Might as well ask how long the Channel Tunnel is.

What would be the equivalent questions here in Israel I wonder?