Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, November 13, 2010

"Jeopardy!" TV show knows what Israel's capital is

On the popular TV quiz show "Jeopardy!" on Novermber 12, during their College Championship Week, the first round $200 "answer" on the topic of "World Capitals" was:

"This capital of Israel is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world"

The "question," of course, is "What is Jerusalem?," answered correctly by Sam Spaulding, a sophomore from Yale University.

Apparently, people complained to the TV show for the question, but Sony (which owns Jeopardy) deleted the thread about the topic on its message boards and there is nothing in Google's cache. All I can see is what someone responded on the topic as a fragment in the Google search results, which says "Jerusalem has been defined as Israel's capital, and that's that. Jeopardy! is there to report facts, not to make judgment calls."

(h/t Bill)

UPDATE: RP found the Google-cached discussion.

Elder Merchandise Sale!

My Printfection store, with "Ziyonist" apparel, mugs and other items, is having a week-long sale starting tomorrow. Just use the following coupon codes:

FALL2010 $5 off subtotal of $25+
HARVEST2010 $10 off subtotal of $50+
AUTUMN2010 $20 off subtotal of $100+

Disclaimer:

Please enter coupon code FALL2010, HARVEST2010, or AUTUMN2010 before completing checkout. Discount is applied to the subtotal and does not include shipping, taxes, or additional charges. This offer may not be combined with other offers. Coupons valid from 11/14/2010 12:00 am to 11/20/2010 11:59 pm Mountain time.

If the above link doesn't work, use this one.

Weekend bridge open thread

כל העולם כולו גשר צר מאוד, והעיקר - לא לפחד כלל

All the world is a very narrow bridge, and the most important thing is not to fear at all. (R' Nachman of Breslov)

Why aren't Arab countries free? Because of Israel!

The Toronto Star had an amazing interview with Amr Moussa, secretary-general of the Arab League.

While the entire thing is the usual nonsense (he whines about how the "peace process" has taken 20 years but doesn't mention a small thing called the "second intifada") it gets really ridiculous at this point:

I asked Moussa about why the Arab states have failed to embrace democracies; why women still do not have equal rights; and why minorities are being mistreated in Arab lands.

“I would say that indeed we have many problems that we have to resolve. As a citizen of this region, I should not deny that there are lot things that need to change.

“At the same time, we have also seen that the U.S. and others in the West hoisted the flag of democracy and wanted the Arab countries to follow the path of democracy. But when the Palestinians called their bluff and conducted elections and Hamas won, they all forgot about democracy.

“That was a major disappointment, a major disappointment that the promoters and proponents of democracy are not really serious.

“Had they been serious, they would’ve accepted the outcome of the Palestinian election. They should not have punished the Palestinians.

“There’s no sincerity in the Western call for democracy.

“On the other hand, the only solution for Arab societies is to (adopt) a democratic system — one man, one vote. We need that, we need that.”

But it is not happening, I tell him.

“It is not happening now. It will happen in the future — the near future, I am sure, not the distant future.

“Arab societies are not the same as 10 years ago. The political scene is full of NGOs, political parties, opposition newspapers, demonstrations and protests . . . These democratic steps have already been taken.”

Does he really see all the kings just giving up power? Does he see Hosni Mubarak in Egypt giving up his autocratic power?

“If we succeed in solving the Palestinian problem, things will change dramatically towards social and economic development,” Moussa said. “There’ll be less threats of terrorism, less threats of violence, less regional tensions, which will open up the movement of people, more tourism, railways, highways, etc. Once we embark on it, it will happen quickly. That’s why we need peace.”

So the reason that Mubarak and King Abdullah are autocratic is because there is no peace.

Just one problem - they are at peace with Israel.

But surely, Bahrain and Yemen and Saudi Arabia and Syria will democratize very soon. They don't do it only because they are disappointed in the Palestinian Arab democratic experiment. Yeah, that's the reason.

Of course, Algeria and Libya are keenly interested in freedom and reforms as well, but, after all, there's a remarkably non-violent war going on in Palestine a couple of thousand miles away and that is holding them back.

The problem in the Arab world is that the leaders have no ability to self-criticize and take responsibility for their actions, and Amr Moussa has proven that beautifully.
(h/t Ben Dror Yemini in Ma'ariv)

New book on Jews in Maghreb

Silke points to an interesting article:

An important new book in French drawing on original archive material by the Sorbonne professor Paul Fenton and the historian and human rights campaigner David Littman demolishes the myth that Jews and Muslims lived as equals in the Maghreb. Indeed, it was the collective memory of pre-colonial Jewish suffering which caused the mass Jewish exodus from Algeria and Morocco. Veronique Chemla interviews both authors for her blog.

David G. Littman: We have released documents showing that some Muslim authorities were able to demonstrate an understanding favourable to the Jews at different times. Without the protection ("dhimma") of the Sultan, the fate of the Jews would have been even worse.

The publication of these hundreds of emotionally-charged testimonies does not intend to have a political objective. We do not want to stir up old grudges or stymie attempts at interfaith dialogue.

We believe - as Bat Ye'or has stated in her writings - that any dialogue between Jews and Muslims which does not recognize the historical reality of dhimmitude, is fated to be fruitless guff and breaks away from a future based on the acceptance of an equal Other.

As for the allegation that we are pushing an agenda, these 720 pages show the emptiness and futility of polemical and "political" allegations.

Our book does not pretend to be exhaustive, but we challenge those who challenge us to collect as many texts that show that Jews have lived happily and equal to Muslims in North Africa during the period studied.

Magna veritas, and praevalebit / The truth is powerful, and will triumph.

Paul B. Fenton: Some people want us to believe that the Jewish experience in North Africa was a serene idyll disturbed only by the advent of Zionism in the 20th century.

The evidence gathered in our book, from Jewish and non-Jewish sources, is overwhelming: they reveal an uninterrupted catalogue of suffering through the centuries.

We must extinguish once and for all the myth of the "Golden Age". There has never been happy interfaith coexistence and equality under Islam.

Only under the French and Spanish protectorates did Judaism in the Maghreb experience calm and happiness. "The guest only remembers the night before," says the Jewish-Arab proverb. Memories of good times have distorted our historical vision.

However, a collective Jewish memory kicked in the aftermath of decolonization, otherwise one cannot understand why North African Jewry has opted almost entirely to leave its ancestral homeland.

This does not preclude, at the individual level, strong friendships between Jews and Muslims, when they were not troubled by collective hostility.

Since this is a topic I never really looked at, I went to my favorite avenue for research - Google Books - and found a few supporting items.

Letter from Rev. Joseph Wolff, 1839:

I remained the greater part of 1834, and a part of 1835, at Malta, with my wife and child, occupying myself in preparing the journals of 1831 to 1834, for the press; and beside this, in preaching every Sunday evening the Gospel of Christ, in the Church Missionary House, where divine service was celebrated according to the Church of England. I was also much interested in the frequent arrivals of Jews from Morocco, who were on their journey to Jerusalem, where they intended to end their days; they sometimes visited me. Poor people! whenever they entered my house at Malta, they put off their slippers, as they are accustomed, or, rather, compelled to do, when they enter in Morocco the house of a Muhammedan. They informed me, that among the Mnhammedan tribes in Africa, the following came originally from Palestine:

Beraber, who are called Felishtim by the Jews of Morocco; and Yooshe, called Jebusim (Jebusites) by the Jews.

According to the account of the Jews of Morocco there are in the empire of Morocco, and throughout Africa, one million of Jews. In spite of the oppression they are subject to, they have colleges and synagogues.

When the Jews in Morocco are too much oppressed they fly to Tefilaleth, where they are protected by the Bedooeens, and hospitality afforded to them. They informed me that the time of the election of a new Emperor is always a time of trouble to the poor Jews, for every Emperor imposes a new tribute upon them. It is remarkable that several European Christians, who were captured by pirates, sought asylum among the Jews of Morocco, Fez and Mihnas, and embraced Judaism; so that there are several thousands of such Gerim (Strangers) among them. There are also a great many Jews upon Mount Atlas, which mountain is called Szalaw by the Jews of Morocco. The black slaves of Morocco are called by them "The children of Canaan."

The Church of England Magazine, 1844:

The population daily increases, chiefly in consequence of a peculiar and despotic law of the emperor, which does not permit a Jewess to leave the country without the payment of a hundred dollars; six dollars only being paid by n Jew. The reason assigned for the anxiety of the emperor to prevent Jews from emigrating is, that the Jews are the principal artisans, tradesmen, merchants, £c., and the finances of the country are almost solely dependant upon the pecuniary transactions of the ricli Jews, of whom there are not a few....

The Jews of Tangier (2,000 in number) pay the emperor a poll-tax of 1,200 Spanish dollars. This is collected by the chiefs of the Israelites, and is exacted very "fairly, according to the means of each family. The Moorish government employs the Jews in many distinguished posts ; for instance, as commissioners of finance, and commissary-generals ; but all this service performed by them is honorary.

However, the Jews are suffering many humiliating thines. When they pass a mosque, a maraboot, or a dwelling of a saint, and even a Moorish school, in which the koran is usually read, they are obliged to take off their shoes. They are compelled to wear black turbans or caps, and black shoes. The women, however, are allowed to dress in all colours. A Jew cannot ride on a horse, and in a town he cannot ride at all. If a Moor curses, or calls a Jew ill names, the Jewmust not retort ; he may, however, report the case to the cadi, or Moorish judge, and then the Jew generally obtains justice. The emperor never employs a Jew as a soldier. European Jews, however, are treated like Christians ; they are, in fact, subjects of the different consular representatives of Christian powers in this city. I should also mention that the Moors respect the religion of the Jews, their burying places, &c., like those of the Christians. If a Jewish criminal professes Islamism, he is immediately pardoned by government, whatever his crimes may be....

As to the enjoyments of the Jews in this country, you can form no conception. During the month 1 have been here, Jewish society, Doth native and European, has been a succession of feasts. What with weddings and circumcisions, and other minor feasts, there is no end to luxurious living amongst these Mogadore Jews ; and it is surprising to observe how the native Jew is advancing in the luxuries (what some would call the civilization) of European society, a hundred times more rapidly than the Moors.

With all this gaiety and splendour, these people suft'er, nevertheless, many and great humiliations, as I have already mentioned. Even the British Jews, both from London and Gibraltar, find great difficulty in riding a horse or a mule through the streets of Mogadore, the Moors making all native Jews dismount before they enter the gates of the city. It is singular, however, that, because European Jews dress like Christians, the Moors call them Christians, "Ensara." An English Jewess, who had married a Jew of this country, was one day insulted in the street by a Moorish boy. She resented it by striking the boy. The Moors flocked around her, and demanded how she dare to flog a true believer. She replied, she would strike them also if they touched her. The Moors complained to her husband, who defended himself by saying, "My wife, you see, is an Englishwoman !"

Morocco of To-day, 1906:

Mohammedanism is so profoundly impressed on Morocco, with its purely Arab or Berber population, that the Jews, the sole racial element living outside Islamism, are compelled, by force of circumstances, to lead an entirely separate existence.

In Mohammedan law no one who is not a Mohammedan can live in the territory of Islam without paying a capitation tax, called djezlya. It is under this principle of common law that the Jews have lived and still live in the Maghreb. But this Mohammedan principle of the tax imposed on non-Mussulmans is complicated for them by an idea peculiar to the country, arising from the feudal system, which persists to the present day—the idea, namely, of placing the Jewish population under the rule and protection of the territorial lords.

The Sultans, who have almost succeeded in destroying the feudal system in submissive regions, have been led to substitute, in the case of the Jews of the Blad tl-Makhzen, their sovereign protection for the ancient protection of the feudal lords. The result is that the Moroccan Jews are looked upon as placed under the itmma—that is, the protection, the guarantee of the Sultan. They are supposed to have concluded a dtmma contract with the Sultan, in virtue of which, in exchange for certain obligations, the chief of which is the payment of the djrziya, they are guaranteed the enjoyment of their possessions and their liberty.

The obligations imposed on the Moroccan Jews have been added one after the other. Their centralisation in special quarters, termed Mellahs, was a measure adopted in the thirteenth century to safeguard them from the persecutions of the populace. In the sixteenth century, after the Mohammedan revival which brought the Shcreefian dynasties to power, they were naturally the first to be exposed to the reaction of the religious enthusiasm excited by the progress of Portuguese and Spanish settlements. They were then subjected to a whole series of restrictive measures and vexatious regulations; notably, they were compelled to wear black clothes and black shoes, walk on foot in the streets of the city, and take off their babouchts when they passed in front of a mosque.

The Moroccan Jew assumes, then, a double character. He is a tributary, in virtue of Mohammedan law, whilst he can, at the same time, claim protection in accordance with the feudal principles of the Maghreb. He lives in a quarter which is completely separated from the Medina, and clings to the walls of the Kasbah. In this quarter, which the popular contempt designates by the name of Mellah (Place of Salt), the houses are often the property of the Makhzen, or even of the Habout. In the imperial cities the Pasha of the guich, and not the Governor of the city, is responsible for their security. This security is complete so long as the Sultan's authority rests intact, but is at the mercy of every oscillation of the central power, so that the Mellahs are always the first to suffer in Moroccan agitations. Single Jews are often assassinated in the country, and sometimes a few Mellahs are actually sacked.

...In Morocco the position of the Jewish population is uniformly wretched. Among the Berbers, where it is subject to the most rigorous exactions, it is reduced to the small trades and menial occupations imposed on it by the lords on whom it is dependent. In Arab territory it has had more chance of development, and, at all times, certain individuals have succeeded in raising themselves from the misery of the Mellahs, and in reaching wealth, and even power. None the less, the great mass of the Jewish population continues to live in poverty and squalor. The Mellahs are overpopulated and are devastated by constant epidemics. The majority of the Jews gain a painful living. However, the number of well-to-do merchants, the agents of firms on the coast, is increasing every day. In certain towns, such as Marrakech and Mekinez, the European post-offices are situated in the Mcllah. Several large capitalists have already begun to think of entering into business relations with the Mahkzen, and there is no tribal Kald who does not have at the neighbouring village a Jew whom he calls his chkara (money-bag), who performs the various functions of banker, commissioner, and agent.

This debasing environment naturally produces a debased type of character. The marks of servility abound among the Jews, especially in the small towns of the Haouz, where their very existence is at the mercy of the caprice of local Kai'ds. It is most distressing to see passing Jews on the highways make a profound inclination and kiss the hand of one's servants, showering Ya sidisj(my lord) upon them, and the most obsequious formula.

Relative to, say, Czarist russia, the Jews did not have it too bad in the Maghreb. But to say that they had full equality is not close to being true.

Latest Fatah/Hamas talks "a waste of time"

In the days before every round of re-unification talks, the Arabic newspapers are always hopeful, with articles saying that the differences between the two sides have narrowed considerably and that there are only one or two minor issues that need to be worked out.

And in the days after every round, we read articles like this one in (pro-Fatah) Palestine Press Agency quoting Azzam al-Ahmad, head of the Fatah delegation as saying that the negotiations in Damascus were a "waste of time" and complaining that Iran was interfering with the process.

He said "I personally conclude that [Hamas] are not ready for reconciliation...[they] do not have the will."

Their next round will take place after Eid al Adha.

"Evil IDF" video - soldiers too happy with house explosions in Gaza

From Ma'an:

Israeli soldiers appear on camera cheering on the destruction of Palestinian houses in Gaza in a video that surfaced Thursday.

The video, shot with a mobile phone during Israel's winter attack on Gaza, shows soldiers laughing and exclaiming as they witness a series of explosions destroying three Palestinian houses. Sporadic gunfire is heard in the background.

After the first two houses are destroyed, one soldier is heard remarking, according to the English subtitles, "It's all documented. It's all on camera. What about the third house? Give me the third house please [laughs]."

Later, after the third explosion, the same soldier is heard saying, "There’s nothing like this [laughs.] Bye, Gaza, bye. Wow, dude, what a thing!"

"How small are we. We're so small compared to this," he says, as the camera pans around to show the soldiers lying on the ground as they witness this destruction.

This is ridiculous, to put it mildly. None of the critics have the slightest idea why the houses were destroyed, but it is clear that the targets were known ahead of time and that they were either empty or had legitimate targets within. (And they were also mansions, not just houses, indicating that they might have had more than one purpose.)

Almost certainly the buildings needed to be destroyed for a military objective. Maybe the land needed to be cleared for visibility, maybe it was to reduce the chance of an ambush. Either way, the context is missing from the Ma'an article and the YouTube description.

Explosions are inherently entertaining. People like fireworks, they like action movies with huge explosions, they like watching old buildings getting demolished. Blowing things up is fun for most men on the planet. The soldiers are not celebrating anyone's misfortune - they are happy that a military objective was met, spectacularly. And, indeed, these were really nice explosions.

I have never seen Ma'an show this level of disgust at Arabs handing out candy celebrating the deaths of children, or Arab leaders praising child murderer Samir Kuntar.

To expect IDF soldiers to be humorless when doing a job is just another double standard that is not demanded of any army in the world. There was nothing immoral shown in this video unless you believe that Israeli soldiers are inherently immoral a priori.

Completely off topic overnight trivia question (Updated with answer)

I was driving on a short errand, listening to the radio, and I started to wonder how many Beatles songs have the lyrics "yeah yeah yeah" within.

I came up with 5 during the trip and didn't think much more about it.

So - can anyone beat that number?

UPDATE: Readers could only name three. Here is my list:

* She Loves You (obviously)
* It Won't be Long (six "yeahs" on a row in the chorus)
* All You Need Is Love (at the very end, they sing part of "She Loves You")
* While My Guitar Gently Weeps (very end of song has many "yeahs")
* Polythene Pam

UPDATE 2: Niece of Ziyon added one I didn't think of: * The Long and Winding Road (very end)

UPDATE 3, three years later: I had missed "Hey Jude" and "Helter Skelter." (h/t Westisthbest, Y. Goodman)

Verified: Iran publishes scenarios where it would use nukes

Last month, NewsMax published an analysis by Ken Timmerman that received no coverage outside some blogs:

For the first time since the expansion of Iran’s nuclear program was exposed in 2002, the Iranian government is dropping the pretense that it is developing nuclear technology purely for peaceful purposes. Iran has developed nuclear war plans to deter U.S. and Israeli aggression and retaliate against it, a top adviser to Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced in a strategic analysis.

Defense Ministry analyst Alireza Saeidabadi’s detailed analysis, published last week on a website that Iran’s intelligence ministry runs, examines several scenarios in which Iran could become embroiled in a shooting war with the United States or Israel.

One of the scenarios Iranian military planners must consider is a strategic nuclear U.S. strike on Iran, he writes. If that occurred, Iranian planning documents call for attacks against U.S. interests “on the world stage,” his analysis says.

The Iranian military should “prioritize its air force and ballistic missile fleet” in dealing with a conventional attack from Israel, Saeidabadi writes.

But in the event Israel uses unconventional weapons against Iran, “then Iran should employ a nuclear strategy.”

Similarly, if Iran and the United States get engaged in naval clashes in the Persian Gulf, Iran should “use its sea power for hit-and-run attacks, commando attacks, and use anti-shipping missiles” against U.S. naval vessels.

“But if the United States launches an unconventional attack, Iran needs to respond with a nuclear strategy,” the Iranian defense ministry analyst contends.

I emailed Ken Timmerman to find out the URL of this document, and he responded back with it.

Google Translate for Farsi is not quite as good as Arabic, but the key paragraph is titled "Military Strategy" and it appears that Timmerman's translation is accurate. Here's my attempt to make it in more easily readable English.

Military strategy
This article sharply details a range of regional and international threats faced by Iran, and each military scenario requires a particular military strategy. In a possible confrontation with the Taliban Iran would rely on a ground strategy; for conflict with Israel, Iran would use especially air and missiles [and respond to an] unconventional mode with a nuclear strategy; to confront the Air Force of the United Arabic Emirates requires an air strategy; and for war with America in the Persian Gulf Iran would require naval and air strategies, and under unusual circumstances it would require a nuclear strategy [as well.]

This is significant.

Arabs broadcasting on Israeli satellites

A number of Arabic news sources are repeating a story (word for word) claiming that six Iranian religious channels are using an Israeli satellite to help spread the (Shia) word of Allah.

According to the articles, a satellite tracking site lists the six Iranian channels being sent through the Israeli AMOS satellite and the RRSat Communications Network, which is Israeli.

The six channels are said to be Fadak, Al Imam Alhussein, Al Alamiya, Aal Al Bayt, Al Anwar and Al Ghadeer.

Because of this, the articles say, it proves that Iran and Israel are collaborating!

It appears that the source of this rumor is a Sunni site (naturally,) DD Sunnah.net.

The problem is - I cannot find any evidence of this. I do see that RRSat broadcasts some Farsi-language programs, like VOA Persia and BidariTV. But I cannot reproduce the evidence that they screen-capture to prove the Iranian Shiite religious channels are on either Amos or RRSat.

However, the Israeli Amos satellites do indeed broadcast Arabic stations. Al Fayhaa (Iraq), Al Masriya (Egypt), MBC (UAE), LBC (Lebanon) and Al Ordoniya (Jordan) all broadcast on the Israeli satellite.

Now, how many people will lose their jobs because of what I just discovered?

Hamas "moderate" pushing closer religio-political alliance with Iran

From Ehud Yaari, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy:

For the last few months, a forty-three-page Arabic-language booklet has been emailed to Hamas activists in the Gaza Strip and to select members of the group in the West Bank and elsewhere. Titled The Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic Revolution in Iran, this new publication represents the most important attempt to date to connect the growing cooperation between Hamas and its Iranian mentors to religious affinities, rather than political expediency. The argument, in essence, is that the Muslim Brotherhood -- with Hamas as its Palestinian branch -- is a natural partner of Iran, with which it shares a common set of values and a joint vision of the revival of the caliphate, despite the divide that historically separates Sunnis from Shiites and often sets them against each other.

Subtitled The Dialectic of State and Nation in the Thought of the Imams al-Banna and Khomeini, the booklet is not being sold openly in stores. The preface was written by Dr. Muhammad al-Hindi, the leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, who warns that "enemies of the nation" are trying to exploit the Sunni-Shiite rift in order to sabotage the struggle for an Islamic state. The booklet's author, sixty-year-old Dr. Ahmed Yousef, is a well-known movement leader who now holds the title of Foreign Ministry director-general in Gaza's Hamas government.

Yousef is widely recognized as one of the main spokesmen for the more moderate wing of Hamas. ...It is, in fact, his reputation as a "moderate" that makes Yousef's recent contribution both interesting and meaningful. He explains that Hamas's dependence on Iran is not an accidental marriage of convenience, as is often claimed by other movement leaders, but an inevitable partnership based on the common aspiration for the divine ideal of the "Islamic State."

He concludes:

Hamas's military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, is well known for its close ties with Iran. Now Yousef, one of the military wing's most outspoken critics, is trying to redefine Hamas's relationship with Iran as a strategic alliance rooted in a similar interpretation of contemporary political Islam. Hamas is seeking a religious justification for its dependence on the Islamic Republic, beyond the political requirements. Yousef, in fact, attempts to rewrite the history of Hamas-Iran relations over the last six decades so that partnership becomes a duty for true believers. No doubt Yousef had the blessing of others in Hamas's top echelon before he published his study -- a clear signal that the movement is rapidly distancing itself from the Saudis and other traditional benefactors in order to strengthen its pact with Iran. If so, we should not expect any shifts in the organization's positions on peace and the further strengthening of ties with Iran and its allies, Syria and Hizballah. Given its efforts to move closer to Iran, Hamas is very unlikely to make more than a mere pretense of reconciliation with the Palestinian Authority.

It is no secret that both the Islamic Republic of Iran and the offshoots of the Muslim Brotherhood (which include Hamas and Al-Qaeda) desire a return to an Islamic caliphate, a pan-Islamic 'umma that would stretch across much of Africa, Asia and Europe. Western analysts have geenrally been so hung up on Shi'ite/Sunni divisions as to not notice that despite those differences, there is enough in common to allow a serious alliance between the two sides against the West.

(h/t SoccerDad)

Hamas arrests journalists, confiscates footage, and more

From Ma'an:

The Foreign Press Association in Israel condemned on Thursday the reported arrest of a television crew at a Rafah event celebrating the life of former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat.

In a statement, the FPA denounced "in the strongest terms," the detention of the journalists, who the association said were detained and ordered to turn over news footage to the authorities.

"The total ban by the authorities on all stills photographers wanting to cover the same event is unacceptable," the statement continued.

Also, Hamas arrested 30 people watching a movie on the life of Abu Jihad in the office of Ashraf Jom'a, a Fatah member.

Real reporting from Ghajar

Israelinurse shows that she is a better reporter than most people who get paid to do so with a great dispatch from the Israel/Lebanese/Syrian town of Ghajar.

Israel said it would cut the town in half in order to make the UN happy - which makes the residents quite unhappy:

Najib Khatib, the spokesman for Ghajar’s local council, was unable to hide his discontent at the fact that no official representative has visited the village to ask what the 2,200 residents want or inform them of decisions which will affect their future.
“We only find out what is going on by way of the media” he said.
Since Israel withdrew from Lebanon, the residents have consistently opposed the division of the village as stipulated by the UN. Najib explained that there are not two halves to the village; it is one community and every resident of it has family members in both the artificially created parts.
“Why put up another Berlin Wall here?” he asked rhetorically, and indeed when one sees where the proposed border would lie, one understands the full absurdity of the UN stipulation.
Most of the agricultural land belonging to the village is situated in the southerly area which means that should the division plan go ahead, the people living today in the northerly part would, according to Najib, find themselves stateless refugees in Lebanon and bereft of their lands. He calls it a “Judgement of Solomon”: a demand to divide something which cannot be divided.
Najib then explained that the village never had any connections with Lebanon, from which it is separated by the natural border of the River Hatzbani. All the old deeds they have for their lands are Syrian and were issued in the Golan Heights town of Kuneitra. The UN mapmakers who drew up the border or “Blue Line” in 2000 relied upon old maps from 1923 created as a result of the Sykes-Picot agreement. As he wryly pointed out, “Those maps were made by the British and the French. There were no Israelis, Lebanese or Syrians then.”

Read the whole thing at CiFWatch, including lots of photographs.