Blowin in the Wind

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is a busy man. When he's not defending his much maligned wife Sara he is cleaning up after his cabinet ministers. Sara has accrued an embarrassing tally of feuds with various housemaids and nannies. This domestic strife has been exploited by two of our largest dailies and in two cases litigation is pending.

Furthermore the need to restrain front line ministers in his motley coalition government has been compounded recently by the ill-considered actions of two junior ministers.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon caused a diplomatic incident when he insulted the Turkish Ambassador to Israel. Netanyahu's damage control, the personal intervention by President Shimon Peres and Minister of Defence Ehud Barak while they were on official visits to Turkey and Ayalon's grudgingly issued apology averted further deterioration in our relations with Turkey.

Last Saturday Minister without Portfolio Yossi Peled added another "unfortunate remark" when he stated that a military conflict with Hezbollah is inevitable. Yossi Peled is well qualified to comment on Lebanon and Hezbollah. From 1986 till 1991 Peled headed the IDF's northern command.

In all he served thirty years in the IDF and retired with the rank of Major General.

Maybe another conflict is inevitable but it doesn't appear to be imminent. Peled's expert opinion could be construed by Hezbollah as sabre rattling.

Later the same day the prime minister quickly distanced himself from Peled's terse observation. Yossi Peled's assessment was made in response to remarks made by outgoing UNIFIL Commander General Claudio Graziano. In an interview he gave to the IDF radio station General Graziano denied that arms have been smuggled to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Loath to find fault with Hezbollah he didn't hesitate to criticise Israel for "flyovers," namely, reconnaissance flights in southern Lebanon. Admittedly these flights violate the conditions of UN Resolution 1701, but they in turn are follow-through surveillance actions for the purpose of monitoring Hezbollah's arms smuggling.

Six months ago a weapons cache exploded at Hirbat Salim only ten kilometers from the Israeli-Lebanese border. Israel claims the arsenal contained weapons that came from Syria and Iran. Graziano confirmed that the weapons shouldn't have been stored so close to the border, nevertheless he insisted that they were old weapons not newly smuggled rockets and missiles. It appears that Hezbollah wants to distance its missile launching sites from UNIFIL observers and Israeli reconnaissance flights while keeping Israeli targets in range.

The Washington Post reported that Hezbollah had moved long-range missile launch pads into both northern Lebanon and its eastern Bekaa Valley, and that there was little the UN presence in the area could do to stop a war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Quoting Middle East analysts, the Washington Post report went on to say Hezbollah launch sites now likely extended to the north of Beirut.

The IDF believes that Hezbollah has obtained Iranian-made Fajr missiles, either the Fajr 3 or Fajr 5. The Fajr 3 is 5 meters long and can carry a 45-kg warhead.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah denounced remarks made by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in a conversation with visiting Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri . Kouchner told Hariri "Israel is our friend, and if there is a threat to Lebanon, it will only come from a military adventure carried out by Hezbollah in the best interests of Iran."

Despite Graziano's claim to the contrary Hezbollah has smuggled into Lebanon large quantities of rockets and missiles since the end of the Second Lebanon War.

On the down side, Hezbollah's showing in last year's parliamentary elections was well below expectations. The organisation's efforts to rebuild dwellings, installations and infrastructure destroyed and damaged in the war are far behind schedule.

Hassan Nasrallah is still holed up in an underground bunker. He lives in constant fear of an Israeli assassination attempt, either real or imagined. Consequently his rare public appearances are always in safe locations and are heavily guarded.

Israel's criticism of UNIFIL, albeit justified, isn't totally negative. Before the Second Lebanon War Hezbollah units manned positions very close to the border with Israel. Any casual traveller along Israel's northern border road could easily make eye-contact with the enemy on the other side of the border.

After the war Hezbollah was pushed back across the Litani River by the UN ceasefire agreement. Since then there has been considerable infiltration of Hezbollah personnel south of the established Litani line. Maybe it is too clandestine for the UNIFIL observers to detect, however Israeli surveillance cameras have captured clear images of these terrorists in the towns and villages adjacent to the border with Israel.

Minister of Defence Barak is usually well coordinated with Prime Minister Netanyahu. They share the camaraderie of the days they served together in the IDF high command's elite special operations unit. Just the same they differ politically and even if they are bonded in the coalition government Barak has to remind his Labour party voters that he is not Bibi Netanyahu's lackey. Likewise Netanyahu needs to show his Likud party followers that Barak is not pulling the puppet strings.

Consequently Ehud Barak's comments on the threats we are facing seemed to be at odds with the prime minister's cautioning words about the Iranian threat.

Netanyahu was on a visit to Poland and Barak spoke at a conference in Tel Aviv. "Israel's failure to strike a peace deal with the Palestinians was a greater threat to the country than a nuclear Iran."…."The lack of a solution to the problem of border demarcation within the historic Land of Israel - and not an Iranian bomb - is the most serious threat to Israel's future," Barak said and called on the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, to return to the negotiating table. Abbas has so far refused to restart talks until Israel freezes settlement building in the West bank, including east Jerusalem. Well he may have to wait till Hell freezes over.

According to the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi Abbas complained recently to Saudi King Abdullah about the heavy pressure being brought to bear on him, particularly from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, to renew talks with Israel.
Mubarak told Abbas that Egypt would "wash its hands" of the Palestinian issue unless the Palestinians backed down from demands for a total freeze, the newspaper said.

Just the same Abbas insists on a total construction freeze as a pre-condition for talks with Israel.

Journalist Akiva Eldar writing in Yediot Ahronot claims the freeze is an illusion.
"Two months after the government decision on November 26 to freeze construction in Jewish settlements for 10 months, you'd have to be blind, an idiot, or a member of the Yesha (West Bank) Council of settlements to use the term "freeze" to describe the real estate situation in Judea and Samaria.
Two days ago, when Netanyahu planted a tree in Gush Etzion, he promised to place many more trees in the Ariel bloc as well, which is 20 kilometers east of the Green Line. In the case of Ariel, Netanyahu kept his word even before he gave it; as he was speaking yellow bulldozers were feverishly working on a new site for Ariel's industrial zone."
President Obama sent George Mitchell on yet another mission to the Middle East in an attempt to get the Palestinians and the Israelis to sit down and start negotiating. Abbas blames Israel for the impasse and Israel responds in kind, while President Obama is beginning to realise that this is a no-go situation.

In my search for good news to conclude this week's letter I noticed that despite the bad press we have been receiving over the past year, a number of well known artists and entertainers have been booked to perform in Israel.

Notable among them Sir Elton John who is due to give a single concert in Tel Aviv and Bob Dylan who will also be coming here.

At this juncture I want recycle the story of Bob Dylan's application to join my kibbutz!

In the early seventies, that's as accurate as I can be, one of Bob Dylan's cousins returned home after spending several months as a volunteer in Kibbutz Ein Harod Ihud. During a stopover in New York before flying on to Minnesota she called in on her famous cousin. Apparently her glowing accounts of the time she spent in the kibbutz aroused his interest. At that time Dylan was experiencing a personal and professional crisis and the "Dream in the Valley" described to him appeared to be the solution to his problems.

He applied to join the kibbutz and was rejected!

I'm sure the application and the rejection sounds far fetched, nevertheless it's true. At the time I was a member of the kibbutz secretariat and I remember the application made through an intermediary to the kibbutz secretary. I also recall the discussion that followed and the decision to politely decline Dylan's application. Most of the members of the secretariat doubted if the Dylan family would integrate successfully. In brief the transition from celebrity to kibbutznik was too sharp and was bound to fail. Later I heard that Dylon continued his quest for utopia and applied to at least three other kibbutz communities before his enthusiasm waned.

Have a good weekend

Beni 28^th of January, 2010.

Turning the other cheek

Israel, a small country with a proportionately large population, probably ranks well in acreage allocated to parklands. Moreover, there is a growing awareness of the need to increase the number of parks, nature reserves and greenbelts.

Quarry reclamation projects, though smaller in area, are nevertheless an important addition to the list of pleasant places to visit and enjoy.

An increasing number of exhausted stone, gravel and sand quarries, once abandoned and left as gaping scars in the landscape are being reclaimed and turned into recreational parks.

There are of course a number of commercial sites offering sports, entertainment and recreational facilities.

Utopia Park is yet another type of pleasing-to-the-eye reserve, albeit small with just ten acres of botanical gardens, dedicated mainly to orchid cultivation. There are approximately 20,000 orchids in the park, including tens of different species, some of which are quite rare. A few man-made waterfalls, pools stocked with "ornamental" fish, various species of birds and tens of thousands of tropical plants.

This little Garden of Eden is located in Kibbutz Bachan near Netanya.

Perhaps Paradise Park would have been a more appropriate name for this place. However, a small crowded Arab town and municipal authority bears a similar name. Faradis is situated on the coast south of Haifa and some people claim the name is derived from an Arabic word meaning little Garden of Eden.

In turn this is derived from an Old Persian word with the same meaning, which also entered the English language as 'paradise' from the same source via French.

On Saturday we visited the little paradise called Utopia Park and spent a few enjoyable hours there. The occasion was a family gathering for the purpose of celebrating my wife's birthday.

Engrossed in this min-paradise of orchids, waterfalls, peacocks, tropical birds and ornamental fish it was easy to forget that the world outside is less idyllic. For a few hours we forgot about Haiti and when we did remember we had good reason to be proud. Unfortunately the opinion columns in our local news media weren’t so kind. A random and incomplete survey I made of articles relating to the disaster in Haiti and Israel’s response, yielded a fair amount of self-flagellation.

“Israel's compassion in Haiti can't hide our ugly face in Gaza” was the title of Akiva Eldar's column in Ha’aretz.

“Who said we are shut up inside our Tel Aviv bubble? How many small nations surrounded by enemies set up field hospitals on the other side of the world? Give us an earthquake in Haiti, a tsunami in Thailand or a terror attack in Kenya, and the IDF Spokesman's Office will triumph. A cargo plane can always be found to fly in military journalists to report on our fine young men from the Home Front Command.” Commented Eldar making no attempt to veil his cynicism before turning to a closer to home responsibility, one we have been shirking:
“Indifference to the ongoing suffering of the people of Gaza. Only a little more than an hour's drive from the offices of Israel's major newspapers, 1.5 million people have been besieged on a desert island for two and a half years.”

“What about Gaza?” asked Sever Plocker in Yediot Ahronot and suggested
“Instead of a needless Haiti mission, Israel should establish a Gaza field hospital.”
He too was cynical. ”It’s hard to get rid of the feeling that the desire to ‘make an impression’ played a key role in the Israeli government’s decision to dispatch hundreds of aid workers to Haiti.”

Gershon Baskin who is a co-CEO of the Israel-Palestine Centre for Research and Information, wrote in a similar vein, but devoid of cynicism, in an article that appeared in the Jerusalem Post:

“Humanitarian disasters around the world bring out the best in Israel and in Israelis. The horrific devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti and the scenes of unbearable human suffering brought about an immediate enlistment of both civilian and public efforts to come to the aid of the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.

The sight of the El Al jet laden with medical aid and more than 200 IDF and civilian personnel brought pride to each and every Israeli and to Jews all over the world. Israel is on the ground in the heart of the disaster and we are making a difference. Our experience and capabilities in providing the world's best humanitarian aid in times of real crisis is something that we can certainly be proud of.”

“But what about the humanitarian disaster in our own backyard caused in a large part by our own doing? What about Gaza? More than 1.5 million people are living in total poverty, without sanitary drinking water, under an economic and physical siege, locked in what could easily be called the world's largest prison. While we ask to see in all of the gory details, all of the destruction including hundreds of corpses on the streets of Port-au-Prince, we wish to see none of the human suffering of our Palestinian neighbours in Gaza where we literally hold the keys to the end of their suffering.

Not only don't we see their suffering, we simply don't care. Doesn't the concept of tikkun olam extend to our enemies? (Not all of Gaza's 1.5 million people are enemies; many of them, perhaps even most of them would like to live in peace with us.)

Our high level of morality demonstrated in Haiti will not cover up our immorality in Gaza nor will it postpone the collision course that we are on with the rest of the world. Only real movement toward real peace, which is the morally right thing to do and also serves our interests, will place Israel where it needs to be and where it can easily be - as a welcome member of the community of nations and even perhaps, as a light unto nations. “

Perhaps my news media scan was too selective; however I found little or nothing to really counterbalance these guilt ridden diatribes.

The following extract from a lead article in one of the media watches attempts to lessen our guilt load by sharing it with Egypt.

“For years now almost all the news media when writing about the 'siege' of Gaza has referred to it as the Israeli blockade. This term is misleading, not because there is no Israeli blockade, but because it gives the impression that it is only Israel which prevents the free flow of goods in and out of the territory. Israel imposed the blockade after Hamas took control of Gaza, and tightened it when thousands more rockets were fired into Israel leading to the ‘Operation Cast Lead.. Cairo does not allow goods to pass into Gaza through Rafah because it does not want to recognise the authority of Hamas.

Now the Egyptians, with US assistance, are building a formidable underground steel barrier along the 8 mile border to prevent the rampant smuggling through tunnels. All manner of goods are smuggled into Gaza this way, as well as weapons and terrorists. It is Gaza's lifeline to the outside world.

The steel wall will extend almost 60 feet underground. The Egyptians, knowing that Hamas will attempt to cut through it are fitting it with sensors capable of pinpointing any breach.”

Referring to the blockade a foreign ministry spokesman stated that Israel hasn’t hermetically sealed off the Gaza Strip from the outside world. Last year alone Israel allowed 703, 224 tons of humanitarian aid and 105,600,128 litres of fuel to be delivered to the Gaza Strip.

I’m not sure whether I should jump on the Eldar –Plocker- Baskin bandwagon or toe the line with people who advocate yielding no quarter on the Gaza blockade.

I too was a peace activist and still support the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. I regret my enthusiasm and ardour for peace has been dampened by Palestinian intransigency. I could conveniently blame the impasse we have arrived at on the present Israeli government. However, previous governments have tried without success to reach a peace accord with the Palestinians. It has been said that the bargaining power of each of the negotiating sides is manacled by its respective extremists.

For example, today Netanyahu has his right-wing coalition partners to contend with and Mahmoud Abbas has to face Hamas and the Palestinians in exile.

The latter are unyielding regarding any compromise on territory and the return of Palestinian refugees.

I don’t think placing an Israeli field hospital at the gates of Gaza and lifting the blockade will make the people of Gaza hate us less or love us more.

We tend to forget that the Hamas government was elected by a majority of the people who are suffering there today. Admittedly they were sick of Fatah corruption but they also knew that Hamas’ declared goal was to destroy Israel. Operation Cast Lead was a justified response to the rocket barrages from Gaza. If they are suffering they brought it on themselves. I find it hard to feel empathy for the people who want to destroy us. Maybe there are people in Gaza who would prefer to live in peace with Israel. I doubt if Gershon Baskin’s claim that the majority would prefer to do so is correct. The majority voted for Hamas.

This is not the time to make more than minimal humanitarian gestures. Let’s wait till the Gaza Strip is really sealed off. Once the Egyptian barrier in the south is completed and an Israeli “Iron Dome” unit is deployed to counter rocket attacks.

Have a good weekend.

Beni 22^nd of January,2010.

Hyacinths

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If you drive along route 77 from the Golani Junction in the direction of Tiberias you are bound to notice the prominent rocky outcrop near Kibbutz Lavie. The two protrusions bring to mind giant horns, and indeed since time immemorial this place has been called the "Horns of Hittin."

Originally our Saturday trip to the Golan Heights didn't include a stop there, but that was before we heard about the wild hyacinths flowering near the crater that lies between the horns. The outcrop is in fact an extinct volcano, so our tour guide who added this unscheduled stop to our itinerary for the sake of the hyacinths, simply had to comment on the geological background of this corner of Galilee. After the hyacinths and the geology we couldn't walk away without mentioning the battle. Battles in this country whether they are biblical or recent occurrences always deserve mention.

The Battle of the Horns of Hittin is no exception, especially since it marked a turning point in the history of the Crusades. The devastating defeat of the Crusader army led by Guy de Lusignan by the Saracen Sultan Saladin was perhaps the bloodiest battle fought in the Holy Land.

Chroniclers of the time recorded different estimates of the size of the Crusader army. Between 10,000 – 20,000 cavalry and infantry left a stronghold at Sephoris (Tzippori) on July 3^rd , 1187 determined to lift Saladin's siege on Tiberias, most of them fell in battle or were executed at the Horns of Hittin.

Guy de Lusignan, an ambitious French knight who by guile and cunning managed to dethrone and replace King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, lost his army, his newly acquired kingdom and had it not been for the mercy of Saladin he would have lost his head too.

Even Christian chroniclers praised Saladin for the chivalry he demonstrated on a number of occasions. By comparison his Christian enemies, knights of chivalry admiring realms, were a pack of bloodthirsty backstabbing villains not averse to betraying one another whenever they could.

For all his chivalry Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria was ruthless and handy with a scimitar when riled. I’m sure Richard Goldstone could write a scathing report on the Battle of the Horns of Hittin.

Ironically, not long after his death Saladin was entirely forgotten in the Muslim world. Mainly because his short lived empire was eclipsed by greater longstanding Muslim empires.

Then Sir Walter Scott resurrected the man and his deeds in his novel The Talisman

The Crusaders believing in their holy cause and trusting in their weapons, were nevertheless, more confident with some extra backing, a talisman of their own. After all you can never have too much insurance. So they brought the Bishop of Acre and a relic of the True Cross allegedly found by Saint Helena , the mother of the Emperor Constantine I a mere three hundred years after the crucifixion.

It didn’t help much, the battle was lost, the bishop was killed and the piece of the True Cross was captured and sent with other spoils to Damascus.

While our tour guide recounted the battle the hyacinths reminded me of the poppies in Flanders fields.

The glory and comparative unity of the Arab World under Saladin has been seen as the perfect symbol for the new unity sought by Arab nationalists.

Moreover, the example of the transient Crusader kingdom has been cited many times by Muslim leaders in their struggle against Israel.

The sight of a vapour trail made by an Israeli air-force jet high above the flowering hyacinths brought my train of thought back from the battles of the twelfth century to the present time and our need to contend with enemies on all sides.

Today Israel facing threats from lightly armed Hezbollah and Hamas possessing large quantities of cheap short range rockets, has finally developed what promises to be a comprehensive active defence system.

Although Hezbollah has been effectively neutralised since the Second Lebanon War it still possesses a massive rocket and missile arsenal that could be used if need be.

Since the end of Operation Cast Lead Hamas in Gaza has been careful to restrain dissident groups from firing Qassam rockets and mortar shells at Israeli civilian targets. However, recently some of these maverick splinter groups have managed to fire off a few salvos.

Responding to these attacks by the use of a passive defence system based on air raid shelters and reinforced strong rooms combined with air strikes against the rocket launching teams, was the best we could do until recently.

Repeating punitive actions like last year’s Operation Cast Lead has its limitations and is damaging to our public image.

An active response named the Iron Dome antimissile system has been tested several times recently, boosting the likelihood that it can neutralise or severely weaken the ability of Hamas and Hezbollah to launch successful missile strikes at Israel.

The Iron Dome antimissile system developed over the past 2-1/2 years by Rafael Advanced Defence Systems, a government-owned company, has been successfully tested against Qassam rockets, Grad rockets, and mortar shells. According to Israel TV channel 10 the first unit of the new system is expected to be fully operational in May.

Minister of Defence Ehud Barak was quick to add that complete defence coverage was still a long way off.

Nevertheless this is the first operational unit of its kind.

In February 2008 Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman Space & Mission Systems were awarded $8.6 and $5.9 million contracts (respectively) to design prototype hardware for EAPS (Extended Area Protection and Survivability) Battle Element. Both companies are expected to present their competing systems to the Army by the end of 2012.

One of the advantages of the Iron Dome system is that it can distinguish worthwhile targets - missiles headed for a populated area – from those destined to land in an open field, for example, and not worth trying to knock out of the sky. In wartime, such a tool could be crucial. During the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006, more than 4,000 Katyusha rockets were fired into northern Israel.

Critics of the new system argue that it will cost about $50,000 to shoot down an incoming rocket from the Gaza Strip, while the Gaza rocket makers can make crude Qassam rockets for as little as $200.a piece.

Designed to offer a 'cost effective' active defence against short range ballistic threats, the system can handle multiple threats simultaneously and efficiently. Iron Dome operates effectively under all weather conditions, and can overcome adverse conditions, which typically limit systems relying on line-of-sight, including low clouds, rain, dust storms or fog. The system comprises the multi-mode radar as a primary sensor, a battle management and weapon control system with interceptor missiles stored in stacks of 20 ready to fire from container-launchers. The stacks can be positioned in a central mode, protecting a point target, or dispersed through a wide area, forming optimal protection of a wide area.

Journalist Alex Fishman posed a difficult question and answered it very convincingly. “Is Iron Dome worth it?” asked Fishman and replied,
“The examination of theIron Dome anti-rocket system should not have to do with cost, but rather, with effectiveness. If this system is not effective enough, no sum in the world would justify its acquisition. Yet if it is operationally efficient, it’s worth every penny – and only for the simple reason that there is no alternative for it anywhere in the world.

The security fence between Israel and the West Bank cost us more than $1.8 billion so far. By the time it’s finished it could cost $4 billion. Is it economical? Obviously not, after all it produces nothing tangible. Yet would the average sane Israeli even think of arguing that the fence should not have been built because it’s not a financially sound project? Can anyone imagine life here without this barrier? Does anyone wish to go back to the days where buses were exploding here almost daily? Is it even possible to quantify, in shekels, the physical, social, and economic damages suffered by the State of Israel before the fence was erected?

And so, when it comes to the Iron Dome active defence system, we cannot talk in terms of immediate and direct economic viability. Iron Dome does not come with a business plan that guarantees a return on investment in 10 years. Just like there is no business plan for an F-15 fighter jet. This is not how we measure security. People who compare the price of an Iron Dome rocket to the price of a Scud missile or Grad rocket are mixing apples and oranges.”

For a change we were spectators watching the violent clashes between Hamas and Egyptian security forces near the Rafah border crossing into Egypt when an international relief aid mission was refused entry into Gaza.

An editorial in Ha’aretz earlier this week warned, “Israel needs to rethink its Gaza strategy before it's too late.”
“Incidents involving live fire have aggravated relations between Hamas and Egypt, which is tightening the siege on Gaza. The Egyptians are building an underground steel wall to thwart smuggling through tunnels into Sinai, and are prohibiting supply convoys from entering Gaza through the Rafah crossing. Foreign peace activists who wanted to show support for Gaza were stopped in Cairo.”

The editorial sums up the situation as follows:

“The economic embargo, which has brought severe distress to the inhabitants of Gaza, has not brought down Hamas, nor has it freed kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. The siege has only damaged Israel's image and led to accusations that it has shirked its humanitarian responsibilities in Gaza under international law.
Instead of erring by invoking the default solution of more force, which does not create long-term security or ease the distress of the Palestinians in Gaza, the crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip should be opened and indirect assistance rendered to rebuild its ruins. The same logic that dictates the government's actions in the West Bank - creating an economic incentive to prevent terror - can and must work in the Gaza Strip as well.”

It seems Ha’aretz has forgotten that a Hamas government rules in Gaza. A regime that refuses to recognise Israel’s right to exist. Whereas in the West Bank despite our inability to further peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas it does recognise Israel and is committed to a two-state solution.

Have a good weekend.

Beni 14^th of January, 2010.

Nazareth

The side road from route 75 near Nazareth that leads to the Mount of the Precipice was once a pitted dirt track. Then last year it was upgraded and sealed for the occasion of the Pope’s visit. His intensive itinerary included a mass scheduled to be held at an appropriate site on the mountain.

So an access road was paved to an open air theatre hewn out of a worked-out quarry on the northern face of the hill. On a clear day the panorama seen from the summit is breathtaking. The Jezreel Valley and its Ksulot Valley enclave on one side and the Nazareth Mountains to the north dominated by the urban spread of Nazareth and Upper Nazareth, are tangible almost hands-on features.

Standing there on a sunny winter's day it occurred to me that even the tactual landscape can be deceptive. Both the Nazareth Mountains and the Mount of the Precipice are lower than the Moreh Hill a short distance east of the place where the Pope prayed and blessed 40,000 believers. However the Moreh Hill is associated with a vague almost forgotten Arab legend, whereas the Mount of the Precipice, according to Christian tradition, is where Jesus leapt from to escape Nazareth's angry synagogue congregation after preaching to them one Saturday.

However, according to Luke he escaped the angry crowd by passing through it. He didn’t jump and wasn’t pushed. However, as is the case in many places in Israel, tradition takes precedence over fact. Inconveniently the mountain fixed by tradition is only a hill and lies 2km from the site of the synagogue, also fixed by tradition, too far for an observant Jew to walk/run on the Sabbath. Alternative precipices have been suggested closer to the synagogue site, but none will replace the Mount of the Precipice.

In a cave not far from the rehabilitated quarry archaeologists found the remains of a Palaeolithic settlement. Perhaps the Hebrew name for the Mount of the Precipice- Har Kedumim alludes to these ancient dwellers. In the sixth century Christian hermits made secondary use of the cave. Maybe they were unaware of the identity of the previous tenants. Once the archaeologists had completed surveying the cave they arranged to have the Palaeolithic skeletons buried. If they acted according to precedent they were given a proper Jewish burial.

On Tuesday when I visited the Mount of the Precipice during a tour of Nazareth and its environs our tour guide Ghada Boulos emphasised this strange mixture of facts, doubts and traditions.

Although I know Nazareth well, I thought I could benefit from seeing Nazareth through the eyes of a “Nazarene”. I often go there with overseas visitors who come to our factory. Nevertheless, I was sure Ghada, pronounced Raada, could teach me something. Ghada, a native of Nazareth is an observant Greek Catholic, a feminist, liberal minded Arab woman who specialises in conducted tours of Nazareth and other places. A card-carrying qualified tour guide she is currently studying at Haifa University for a doctorate degree in Biblical Archaeology and Land of Israel Studies. An outstanding and knowledgeable tour-guide, Ghada blends fact, tradition, wit and her fine singing voice together to produce an all-round experience. When we visited St Joseph's church just north of the Basilica of the Annunciation Ghada gave an unforgettable rendition of Shubert’s Ave Maria.

At this juncture, in order to dispel any misconception, I hasten to add that my interest in Nazareth and Christianity is part and parcel of my pursuit of “Land of Israel” related knowledge.

I noticed how Ghada Boulos was recognised and warmly greeted by Christians and Muslims alike when we “hopped” between churches, nunneries and the market in Nazareth. What appears to be an idyllic religious coexistence is deceptive. Nevertheless, just below the surface there is religious tension in Arab Nazareth.. Two thirds of Nazareth’s 70,000 inhabitants are Muslims. In 1997 an attempt to build a new mosque next to the Basilica of the Annunciation caused riots in the town. The Christians haven’t forgotten the offending encroachment and the Muslims still hope to build a mosque grander and loftier than the impressive basilica.

Our after Christmas tour took place during Christmas according to the Gregorian calendar. Ghada briefly mentioned the message of Christmas – “peace on earth and goodwill to all men,” not long after we walked past a giant banner just below the Basilica of the Annunciation proclaiming in three languages that Islam is the only true religion and anyone who denies this has no place in the after life.

Nazareth’s municipal area is hemmed in by neighbouring towns and villages. Since there is no available land for building new dwellings there is a population spill-over to other places, mainly Upper Nazareth. Not all Jewish residents in Upper Nazareth are happy with their new Arab neighbours. Some choose to move elsewhere and the problem is exacerbated when the apartments they vacate are bought by more Arabs from Nazareth.

In the late 1950s Ben Gurion launched a plan to offset the burgeoning Arab population in Galilee by encouraging Jewish settlement in this northern region. Upper Nazareth was one of the new towns built to counterbalance the Arab majority.

The end of year and the decade was a time of reckoning. “Terror and a decade of complacency, “proclaimed the British Daily Mail,

“This is the Government, after all, which has introduced human rights laws making it all but impossible to expel terrorists.

In its zeal for 'multiculturalism', it has allowed extremists to preach murder in British mosques, while doing nothing to suppress terrorist cells in our universities.

Meanwhile, its disgracefully lax migration policy has thrown open our borders to new arrivals on an unprecedented scale, with few or no questions asked.

Indeed, since 2000, an astonishing 1.5million visas have been granted to foreign students - including terrorists such as Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, (the would be Christmas day bomber) whose attempt at mass murder was foiled only because his explosives failed to detonate.”

The paper warns that “Britain has become the most notorious centre of Islamist fanaticism in the western world.

In the coming years, this country must face up squarely to the terrorist threat. This will mean effective action against preachers of hate, with amendments to our human rights laws if necessary.”

Israeli analyst Sever Plocker summed up the last ten years in a similar vein
“It was a lousy decade. A decade filled with crises, downfalls, collapses, terror attacks, wars, disasters, victims. It was a decade in which the West found itself, against its will, in a head-on war for life and death against fanatical Islam.”

There was no Christmas cheer in Plocker’s assessment, “But history did not conclude with a happy ending. None of the old conflicts were resolved in the past 10 years. New conflicts have begun and they are bleeding.”

Sever Plocker is one of Israel’s leading economic analysts. So not surprisingly he relates to our local achievements and failures.

“The Israeli economy experienced ups and downs throughout the decade. There were two amazing achievements and two shameful failures.

The first achievement: The introduction of industries based on knowledge and information, science and the human brain. Thanks to them, from a country which owed the world net $12 billion we have turned into a country which the world owes net $60 billion. The greatest threat on Israeli people's standard of living, the threat of a foreign currency shortage, was removed and replaced within a decade with a problem of a foreign currency surplus.

The second achievement: Price stability. The annual inflation rate in the past decade shrank to 1.5%. We recovered from the malady of inflation which had destroyed our economy for generations.

These are the successes. But they are overshadowed by the failures. The first: the ongoing growth in poverty rates, in the percentage of poor families and poor children, making us the West's record-holder. To this we can add the shameful retreat in the achievements of Israel's students, the crisis in Israel's universities and the deepening gaps in education. “

Prize-winning Israeli journalist Ben Dror Yamini wrote about a Jihad against Muslims. In a series marking the end of the decade published in the Israeli daily Ma’ariv he maintains, “ The rhetoric of the world-wide Jihad is anti-western, anti- American and anti-Semitic, but in practice most of its victims are Muslims.

In Gaza the situation is no different. Since Hamas seized power there it has managed to kill and injure a few Israelis by firing at civilian targets in Israel. However, far more Gaza residents were killed in internecine clashes than by the ‘Zionist enemy.’ Among them at least 400 members of Fatah were killed in clashes with Hamas and scores of the radical Islamic Jihad members were butchered by Hamas while they were praying in a mosque.”

Ben Dror Yamini complains about inaccuracies and omissions made in the many terror assessments published recently. He sums up with a six-decade + summary of our region.

“Since the founding of the state, Israel has been accused of causing misery and death in the Arab world, however the fact is that more than twelve million Muslim Arabs have been killed by Muslim Arabs during this period.”

Gloom and pessimism aside, he winds up on an optimistic note claiming that there are signs that the Muslims themselves, aware of this terrible carnage, are beginning to rise against the world-wide Islamic Jihad.

Let’s hope for a better decade and live to see it out.

Beni 8^th of January, 2010.

Nablus

Early last Saturday morning Raed Suragji a Tanzim operative, Anan Subeh, and Ghassan Abu Sharahand , both members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, met their maker.

Two days earlier they were involved in the drive-by murder of Rabbi Meir Hai near Nablus.

A number of foreign news services reported the killing of the three terrorists in more dramatic language,”IDF units blasted their way into the homes of the three wanted Palestinians felling each in a hail of bullets.”

An IDF spokesman said all three wanted men were given an opportunity to surrender before the attack took place. A relative of one of the dead men claimed the call to surrender was never made. Despite these contradictory versions of the event, the indisputable fact is that a large IDF force surrounded their homes for hours before the attack, their families were allowed to leave without being harmed and a surrender offer was made.

No so long ago Nablus looked like a Middle East version of a Wild West town. Gun toting Palestinian militants meted out arbitrary justice, demanded protection money from local businesses and caused havoc and chaos everywhere

The change took place eighteen months ago following the amnesty offered by the IDF to Palestinian terrorists provided they surrender their weapons and sign a pledge to cease all terrorist activities. In addition the US supervised training programme for the Palestinian security forces helped establish a measure of law and order in the town.

Anan Subeh was one of the terrorists who had accepted the amnesty offer. Subeh's family said he had also joined the Preventive Security Service, a branch of the Palestinian security forces. Apparently he was moonlighting in his old occupation

Suragji was released from an Israeli prison in January, after a seven-year term for involvement in shooting attacks. Abu Sharah had been involved in terrorist attacks in the past.

This was the first incursion of Israeli forces in Nablus in months and it undoubtedly damaged the prestige of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

"Israel tried to embarrass the Palestinian Authority and its president," complained Husam Khader, a member of Palestinian parliament who visited one of the mourning tents for the terrorists killed on Saturday morning

A BBC correspondent who visited Nablus said the anger is palpable. “Newly printed martyrdom posters are again ubiquitous in Nablus's Old City and downtown, while tens of thousands of angry mourners over the weekend called for revenge and an end to cooperation between the Israeli and Palestinian security forces.”

The Israeli incursion was a massive show of force, far more than was required to apprehend or kill the three terrorists. Some observers doubted the wisdom of using a”sledgehammer to kill a fly.” Others reasoned that we should have left the job to the Palestinian security forces.

An Associated Press correspondent reporting the incident mentioned the “collateral damage” the Palestinian Authority had suffered. “Since the violent takeover of Gaza by Hamas in 2007, Abbas has gradually strengthened his control in West Bank towns to keep the Islamists there in check.

Palestinian leaders frequently complain that Israel is undermining these efforts by carrying out arrest raids in areas under Palestinian control. Israel counters that while the performance of the Palestinian security forces is improving, its military will step in when necessary.”

When an IDF spokesman was asked why the special unit used in the operation had shot the three Palestinians and not arrested them he said " we had to operate under the assumption that they (the suspects) are dangerous." All three terrorists were armed!

Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad, rushed to Nablus in an apparent attempt at damage control, paying his respects at a large communal wake and condemning Israel. Fayyad told Associated Press correspondent,

"This attack was a clear assassination, and I believe it is targeting our security and stability."

My personal unqualified opinion is that if the three wanted men had been Hamas terrorists the Palestinian security forces would probably have executed the operation diligently, however because the P.A has a historical link to the Tanzim and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades the P.A security forces dragged their feet and looked in the wrong places. Admittedly they made a number of arrests, however it was clear their efforts weren’t leading anywhere.

The IDF show of force conveyed a clear message. Any attempt to return to the old rule of terror will be ruthlessly put down.

The US Administration wasn’t happy with this heavy handed approach. Many European governments were openly critical and a few local columnists feared the Nablus crackdown would precipitate further violence and undermine the standing of the Palestinian Authority. I’m sure the criticism was noted and filed away somewhere.

A brief historical footnote:

The name Nablus is a corrupted form of Flavia Neapolis, a town founded by the Roman Emperor Vespasian in 72 AD. Since then it has been conquered many times. When it fell to the Arabs in 636 Neapolis became Nablus, many of its churches and Samaritan synagogues gradually lost their congregants and found a new use as mosques .

Vespasian was probably aware that Canaanites had settled at Flavia Neapolis long before a Roman cornerstone was set there.

The problematic story of the “Rape of Dinah” mentioned in Genesis 34 could be used to draw a moral comparison, however the killing of the three Palestinian terrorists last Saturday and the slaughter of Shechem and his kinsmen by the gates of the town by Dinah’s brothers have little in common.

Flavia Neapolis also Nablus is called Shechem in Hebrew (Shchem), ironically immortalising the hapless biblical seducer.

I'll conclude on a pleasanter note. This week I hosted the New Zealand Attorney General Christopher Finlayson.

Chris is also Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage in John Key’s National party government. He is also Minister for the Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations.

Overworked with caring for these three portfolios Chris came to Israel for a holiday. He is firm supporter of Israel and this was his third visit here.

I met him on a previous occasion when he stayed here at Ein Harod.

Earlier in the week I took him to visit the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, the Church of the Miracle of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, the Beit Shean antiquities, the Crusader fortress at Belvoir and a few other sites.

Last night we (my wife, our youngest daughter and Chris) ate dinner at a restaurant perched on a brow of the northern slope of Mount Gilboa.

It was a clear night and the view of the lights in the Jezreel Valley below us imparted a tranquil almost optimistic atmosphere as we toasted the New Year in wishing the wishes we all wish.

Happy New Year.

Beni 1^st of January, 2010.