A List

Masada. Ein Gedi. Dead Sea. Holy Sepulchre. Ναός της Αναστάσεως. Tower of David. Much Tiredness. A coworker came back, so I had to switch workstations. Another left. Went to a better place. In this world. Actually, I don't know if the other place is actually better, but the job title sounds more important. And that's how it is. So my new computer was broken. Had been for months, but no one needed it. It was fixed today. Within 2 hours. It's like that, too. Saw a kid grab a little kitten and chase another kid with it. Then he threw it. Landed about half a foot away from me and ran off. Then another guy marched by with a giant cross and a pack of people singing in Latin. Here come a guy in a black robe. Another one, older, sitting in the corner next to the door holding a fan up in front of his face so you can't see him. Israel finished the ceiling in 2000 because the factions couldn't agree who should do it and the Second Coming was coming. Confessions in English, Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, French, and Greek. Beat that! No head coverings, please. For women, it's okay. But no shorts. Can you perform the Salaat? Sorry, no Jews on the Temple Mount. Here, try some candy. Take my picture. Here, with the white horse. Won't you please give me something for it? Just two shekel? Can you make it 5? Atah hagever!

Give Up Your Right Arm for Peace

Egyptian and Jordanian ministers visited Israel for high level peace talks today. They promised Israel recognition and normal relations in return for Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders and the creation of an independent Palestinian state within Israel's current borders.

Promising. Great. The question is this: Who are they? Meaning, the point of contention is between Israel and the palestinian refugees, who are supposedly represented by the Palestinian Authority. The neighboring Arab countries really have no say in the matter. Sure they can aid in the negotiations and pressure the Palestinians, but they cannot guarantee Palestinian cooperation, nor can they make deals on their behalf. Furthermore, Hamas maintains its refusal to recognize Israel, despite anything Egypt or Jordan or even the Fatah-led PA emergency cabinet can will say.

The whole thing is a misnomer. It is like Chad or Kenya saying, "We will grant recognition to the refugees in Darfur if they give us a pound of flesh." Even if they desperately wanted recognition and gave up a pound of their flesh, Chadese or Kenyan recognition will not help them because they are being pursued by Sudan. The NYT is hopeful. Probably hopeful that it will be able to use this somehow to make Israel look bad.

I am going to start an organization called GUYRAP? Give up your right arm for peace. It will be a parody of the so-called peace organizations that recommend doing essentially just that, only most of these don't seem to fully appreciate their right arms.

Rough Times for Mr. President

Katzav is being dragged through the mud.
Broken Link of the day.

The Du"ch from Yerusalem: Milchama Ba'ir!

So Shabbat was a party, great people, great food, no pressure. Met an IDF officer who said we are likely in for another war very soon; maybe we'll do Syria this time. Met a family of recent olim and hung out with a bunch of college kids. Joined the war. They are playing haredim versus homo'im. I am on both sides and neither, so it's double the danger, double the fun. The yassams are beating people with sticks and the water cannons are back in action: parade season is here. Wow, there wasn't this much commotion in Tel Aviv and their parade was much more ritzini.

I got to climb to the top of an unfinished apartment building, run around the city like a parkour course, and watch the water cannons blast through fourth story windows and dump broken glass on sleeping babies. Doodle, I finally saw your tapuach signs. This country is awesome.

I got to be mekayem the pasuk of "ki mitziyon tetzei torah" for real when I was asked a halakhic question at work and asked a rabbi in yerusalem on shabbat and returned to home with the answer.

Learned to play poker.

The news spent most of its time on Retzuat Aza, every so often they'd say "Surya", and twice an hour they'd cut to Jerusalem and the haredi riots. Just the riots, mind you, never the violent police response. Israeli news is so simple. The female news anchor is gorgeous, but a poor reporter. Then again, I guess that's all you need. Out.

Trouble in Paradise

Tensions are rising in the Israeli suburban town of Ramat Beit Shemesh between English-speaking immigrants and haredi Israelis.

"A group of teenagers were on their way home from an Independence Day celebration last week in the largely Anglo enclave of Ramat Beit Shemesh when they were pelted with eggs and tomatoes." (cross-currents, haaretz)

Very distressing to hear. Very painful.

Mahmoud Abbas to Condi Rice: No!

PA Pres. says "No" to a temporary independent Palestinian state. In doing so, he follows predecessor Yassir Arafat's lead in denying his own people their statehood so they can unfairly blame their plight on Israel which offered concessions. Abbas has again verified the claim that what the Palestinians really seek is the Israel's destruction, not a state of their own. (story here)

This is Outrageous

Outrage as Oxford bans student for being Israeli (see story). Anti-semitism and ethnic discrimination at its worst as Oxford's Professor Wilkie rejects a PhD applicant on ground of having served in the IDF according to Israeli law. A criticism on government policy is one thing, and may be on principle (human rights violations, etc.) or at worst anti-Israel. But once you take it to the personal level, it's just flat out anti semitic, racist. The biggets irony is that Israeli academics are the ones who are most sympathetic to the plight of the Arabs and are most outspokenly critical of their country's mistakes. They are seeking better solutions, but this is an intractable problem. We still need time.

New PM for PA; other News

Mohammed Shbeir is expected to become the new Prime Minister of a unity palestinian government. Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh's (Hamas) government began talks with opposition leader Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah) to create a unity government after his Hamas government was incapacitated by international sanctions. Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist group by the United States, Canada, the European Union, and other nations, has declared that any unity government will not recognize the right of Israel to exist as an independent country:

"The new government has not been asked to recognize the Zionist enemy," Radwan told Haaretz Tuesday, despite the fact that this is one of the conditions that the Quartet laid down for recognizing the Hamas government that is currently serving. The Quartet's other demands were that the government renounce violence and honor previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Moussa Abu Marzouk, the deputy chair of Hamas' political bureau, also said that the new government "has not been asked to recognize Israel, and therefore will not recognize it." Haaretz

"We reject the two-state solution, which is the vision of U.S. President George Bush, because it represents a clear recognition of Israel," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. "Our position in this regard remains unchanged. We reject joining in any government that recognizes Israel." Israel National News

The prospective leader, Shbeir, is an American-educated microbiologist (West Virginia University) from Gaza with no previous political background.

Haaretz, Al-Jazeera, Jerusalem Post, and BBC News have contributed to this story.