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To See or Not to See

February 22, 2007 3:00 PM

By BRUNO NOTA

When a picture is worth so much more than a thousand words...

The front page picture of two of the most circulated daily papers in Israel shows Minister of Defense Amir Peretz and the newly appointed IDF chief of staff Lt.  Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi  observing a military exercise, both using binoculars.  Only one of them, however, actually seeing anything.  Peretz forgot to take the protective caps off,  and the cameras were there to unmercifully immortalize the moment.

Amir Peretz’s appointment as minister of defense by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is still the subject of dispute  among Israelis. Peretz, the politician who vowed to have his Labor  Party aim to fight for social justice, took a sharp turn off course immediately after last year’s elections to head the department of defense. The Labor  Party is the second largest in the present coalition headed by Olmert of Kadima and,  as such, its leader was entitled to the prestigious office. The temptation was too much for Peretz.

During the summer of 2006 Peretz’s skills as the head of the Israeli defense establishment were put to the test. The outcome of the confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based military group, made many Israelis question whether Peretz was the right man for the job. If nothing else, this picture will make some Israelis smile.

In a couple of months Peretz will try to get re-elected as head of the Labor  Party and  retain his post as minister of defense. Among the other candidates running against him will be  former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Ami Ayalon, former commander of the Israeli  Navy and former head of the Israeli General Security Service.  Today is likely not the last  day we will see this photograph of Peretz.

February 22, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (4)

World Leaders Apparently in a Shouting Match

February 21, 2007 12:38 PM

Israel has the most vigorous domestic press. There are few secrets here and almost no scoops in this country. In fact, after the weekly Israeli cabinet meetings even the most delicate issues manage to leak out within hours.

The Israeli press was at it again after the meeting between Rice, Abbas and Olmert, in this latest attempt to get the two sides talking.

Apparently, the meeting spiraled out of control. It became a shouting match. We are told the Palestinian President walked out in protest and Secretary of State Rice had to go get him and bring him back into the meeting.

In the meeting, Olmert actually yelled at Abbas and accused Abbas of 'betraying him' with the Mecca deal that merges the US-backed Abbas with Hamas in the new Palestinian Unity government.

We are told Abbas became furious and then accused Olmert of betraying him with promises that never materialized; freeing up money and easing the checkpoints.

Abbas supporters say he brought Hamas a long way; from bombing Tel Aviv cafes 18 months ago to being part of a government that now 'respects' PLO agreements. Abbas is said to be furious Israel and the U.S. have not made any movement the other way to meet 'them' in the middle.

The leaders won't divulge the gritty details of this meeting. However, it does appear that it was far from boring.

Further proof may be the tone of Rice's press conference that closed the talks. Many expected the three leaders to come out and give a joint press conference.   However, Secretary of State Rice did not seem all that pleased as she read a terse statement in less than two minutes and took no questions.

February 21, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (0)

February 15, 2007 1:16 PM

By WILF DINNICK

The Israeli Antiquities Authority put up three cameras, as promised, to stream live video available to anyone online. You get to see the real time video of the construction work being done on the bridge leading up to the Al-Aksa Mosque.

There were several days of protest last week by many Arab leaders demanding the Israeli Government stop the construction. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert refused to bow to pressure.

After Friday Prayers violence erupted.

The idea of the cameras is to ease tensions. Palestinians can look and see what the Israeli construction work looks like and to show that there is a proper archaeological excavation going on.

The idea of the streaming video reveals how little understanding there appears to be between the two sides on this issue.

Most Palestinian protesters told me the problem is that the dig is going on at all, not just how it is being done.

Most Palestinian do not want any earth to be removed at all. There is small hill that Muslims consider the original walkway up to the Mosque. That is presently under the bridge and being modified.

Most Palestinians want to be guaranteed the hill will remain there and to have Arab consultants part of the construction project.

The video is unlikely to change much.

The level of skepticisms and mistrust is so high I doubt few Palestinians watching the site will actually trust what they see let alone care it is online. 

The Mayor of Jerusalem suspended the construction and has called for public consultations. There are still small bits of excavation going on in preparation of larger dig to come.

Tensions are still high.

http://www.antiquities.org.il/home_eng.asp

February 15, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (2)

Counting Every Jew Killed in the Holocaust

February 15, 2007 9:31 AM

By WILF DINNICK

While shooting a story on Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust Museum, I got a behind-the-scenes tour of an incredibly important project the museum has been busy with over the last several years.

In the basement of the museum is a small multi-media room. Old film reels whirr and tape machines hum. On the wall are half a dozen monitors showing the old footage being recorded. It is all being transferred into digital formats for hard drives and eventually for the Yad Vashem website.

There are pictures of the Holocaust; the horrific black and white images of the liberation of Auschwitz, interviews with survivors and footage from the Nuremburg trial.

Dana Porat, a content manager of the Yad Vashem website says getting all this material digitized is a race against time. They have hit a ‘wall’ while trying to get every name of every Jew that was killed by the Nazis during World War Two.

In fact, they have only been able to collect about 3.1 million names of the estimated six million killed in the Holocaust. Porat says that is because the Nazi extermination program was chillingly efficient. Entire families, neighborhoods and towns were wiped out. Often no one was left to report what had happened and who was killed in a town or in a family.

Digitizing all the information and getting online is intended to educate young people. Porat says they hope the younger, internet-savvy generation will see all this information on the website and then ask their parents, grandparents and now even their great-grand parents about that dark period of history. It is the hope of those running Yad Vashem, the website will help reveal more names of those killed during the Holocaust.

The site: http://www.yadvashem.org/

February 15, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (1)

A National Unity Government in The Palestinian Territories

February 06, 2007 10:22 AM

By SIMON MCGREGOR-WOOD

It appears that the Palestinians are on the verge of forming a government of National Unity.

At a two day session in Mecca hosted by King Abdullah which starts today, Abbas and Mashaal are expected to hash out a formula for establishing a government which divides ministries between Hamas, Fatah, Independents (most importantly) and minor factions. They must also steer a tortuous course through competing world views and the fog and mistrust created by recent inter factional bloodshed.

The ultimate prize is to end the international boycott and a kick start for negotiations between Olmert and Abbas.

The process has been fraught and the final result may not end the spiral of violence in Gaza. But a framework is emerging which may succeed in at least presenting the US Administration with a dilemma. The new government will present itself under the principles of the Prisoner’s Document, a framework negotiated by leading political and military prisoners in Israeli jails, including Marwan Barghouti.

This is not a soft document and Israelis have already said it does not meet their stringent requirements on non-violence, recognition and acceptance of previously signed agreements, which they and their allies in Washington have demanded.

But don’t forget, it is the Saudis who are invested of themselves this time. America’s most powerful ally in the region wants this deal to work.

In America’s fight in Iraq and growing confrontation with Iran, Saudi support is crucial. The US needs to be wary of Saudi demands. They and other moderate Arab states want movement on Palestine, and to tear the Palestinians out of the clutches of a muscle flexing Iran. Bush says he wants that too.

The price for this has been Saudi Arabia giving almost equal status and respect to Abbas and Mashaal, Fatah and Hamas. Whether the US likes it or not Hamas will be a player in Palestine for the foreseeable future.

In any Mecca deal Abbas will represent Palestinians in future negotiations, but the influence of Hamas will be there. Haniyeh will remain prime minister. Thanks to the region’s cleanest democratic election they represent half of the Palestinians.

Behind the press blackout in the marbled corridors of the King’s palace, the Palestinian factions will also be offered Saudi cash. Perhaps a billion dollars to start behaving themselves. That’s money and support if allowed, President Bush has long been calling for from Palestine’s Arab neighbours and better than the cash from Tehran. That money will come with a price tag for Washington as well assuming it can be delievered.

The alternative to the US accepting the National Unity compromise? Continued financial boycott, increased violence, increased Iranian funding and influence and Abbas’s empty threat to impose new elections.

This will lead to a real civil breakdown and a final resting place for the Road Map.

February 6, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (2)