Fencing them out

Israel’s State Comptroller has been likened to the legendary bogeyman, held in awe by everyone in public office. His principal function is to check on the legality, regularity, efficiency, economy, and ethical conduct of public institutions. The checks are performed by continuous and spot inspections of the financial accounts and activities of all ministries, the armed forces and security services, local government bodies, and any corporations, enterprises, or organsations subsidised or managed by the state in any form.                                               The State Comptroller in Israel also functions as Ombudsman to whom members of the public may address complaints about actions by governmental bodies.

Outgoing Ombudsman / Comptroller Micha  Lindenstrauss is known to be extremely diligent. His critics accuse him of loving the limelight too much.           His reports often seem well-coordinated with the media. Notably, his report regarding alleged corruption involving Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yoav Galant.   The document   was crucial in preventing Galant from being appointed IDF Chief of Staff. His admirers, on the other hand claim his use of the news media is not for self-aggrandisement, but as an auxiliary  to enhance the impact of his reports. Like his predecessors, Micha Lindenstrauss is painstakingly thorough.

Last week Comptroller Lindenstrauss presented his report on the handling of the  Mavi Marmara incident . As expected he criticised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for poor decision-making in the lead-up to the boarding  of the Mavi Marmara two years ago

“Netanyahu,” the state comptroller wrote in a long-awaited report, “failed to heed multiple warnings, including alerts from the IDF chief of staff, that an Israeli military effort to enforce its blockade by intercepting the vessels could erupt into violence.” The report also said he did not sufficiently coordinate or document high-level government discussions on how to handle the flotilla.  The State Comptroller reports and recommends, he is not empowered to enforce his recommendations. Judge Lindenstrauss knows that in many instances unless he makes full use of the news media the recommendations in his reports won’t be implemented.

In addition to the State Comptroller’s office, approximately seventy boards of inquiry, investigating committees and other fact finding bodies have  examined various “shortcomings” during times of war and peace, over the past 64 years. There has been very little “corrective action” as a result of these investigations.

This week too the Comptroller presented another report, the results of his investigation of the devastating Mt. Carmel forest fire that claimed 44 lives in 2010. In this case public outrage prompted corrective action and Israel’s fire-fighting force is gradually improving.  .

Minister of Interior Eli Yishai and Minister of Finance Yuval Steinitz were singled out by the comptroller for direct ministerial responsibility for the inability to deal with the Mt. Carmel blaze. The prime minister was criticized for not intervening to correct his ministers’ shortcomings.

Yuval and Steinitz refuted the criticism and denied ministerial responsibility for  the sorry state of the fire fighting force. In other countries the disclosure of similar failings would require accountability, even the resignation of the minister mentioned in a report. Both ministers received bad media reviews, but they surely know that by next week both reports will be forgotten.

The Minister of the Interior made headlines this week with an expensive repatriation scheme for illegal African infiltrators he is promoting. The first flight to South Sudan left Israel early this week. The passengers accepted Minister Yishai’s voluntary repatriation offer and received in addition to the  free flight home $1300 each. The same day twice as many infiltrators crossed into Israel. Yishai has promised to return all the African infiltrators within three years.

Many people say we will be stuck with 60,000 unskilled African job seekers.

Most of the illegal “immigrants” are from Eritrea and North Sudan and only a relatively small number come from South Sudan. Neither Eritrea nor North Sudan are in a position to repatriate their exiles. A claim that another African country  can be persuaded ( paid) to  accept them is nonsense.

Some of African infiltrators are employed by contractors  constructing the security fence cordoning off the  Sinai Peninsular from Israel. This week a previously unknown terrorist group claiming affiliation to Al-Qaida, cut through the old border fence and ambushed contractors on their way to a section of the new fence under construction. They killed one of the contractors, an Israeli Arab from Haifa.

The incident occurred immediately following the Islamic Brotherhood's victory in Egypt’s presidential elections. The proximity of the two events is a coincidence, yet they are not unrelated.

Arab affairs analyst Ron Ben-Yishai tends to emphasise the Bedouin connection, citing the economic aspect.  He claims that the attack was initiated by Bedouin smugglers in the northern Sinai who want to impair the construction of the new security fence. The new barrier is higher and more robust than its predecessor. Furthermore it will be equipped with state-of- the - art surveillance accessories that are bound to make life difficult for Bedouin smugglers

The Sinai  Bedouins and their collaborators among the Israeli Bedouins in the Negev have an urgent interest in furthering violent border clashes. Their goal is to delay the fence construction as much as possible.

The rapid erecting of the new barrier is reducing the "porosity" of the old fence. In the past Bedouin smugglers had little difficulty crossing the border with  African job seekers, trafficking drugs and transporting weapons for terrorists. Now they are about to lose a very lucrative source of income. Ben-Yishai estimates that the northern Sinai Bedouins have been raking in   hundreds of thousands and possibly millions of dollars from their trans-Sinai “trade route.”   They know they can't prevent the construction of the fence, nevertheless, they are doing everything they can to delay its completion, thereby profiting a little more before the fence finally cuts their economic lifeline.  ..  

The terror and deterrence method they are using against Israel is similar to the tactics they employed  several months ago against Egyptian troops and security agents who attempted to block the smuggling routes to Israel. The Bedouins are not short of weapons; they possess huge arsenals of heavy machine-guns, RPG rockets and launchers of all types, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles, as well as advanced Grad rockets and perhaps longer range rockets..

Most of these weapons arrived from Libya. The Bedouins are gaining experience in using them and are being trained by Palestinian terrorists from Gaza and members of the Global Jihad.

The Bedouins are well acquainted with the rules of the game. They know that under the terms of Israel-Egyptian peace treaty  the IDF  cannot  pursue them across the border into Sinai.

For Egypt, Sinai has for the most part been an almost extraterritorial province.

The Bedouins have always  been hard to control. They were quick to learn that  Gaza and the Negev presented more lucrative opportunities than their traditional grazing economy.

However the Bedouin involvement in the terrorist attacks possesses an ideological-religious aspect too. Some of them have been influenced by Islamic fundamentalist groups. At present the exact makeup of the terrorist groups is not clear. Part  Palestinian break-away groups from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and part Bedouin fundamentalists and opportunists. They might be a loose coalition of some or all of them.

Ron Ben-Yishai says the Bedouins want to coerce the IDF to boost its security operations, including armed escorts, thorough searches for roadside bombs, and an earlier curfew for workers in the area. All of the above will surely slow the pace of construction, the extra hours will accumulate into nights, and these nights will translate into dollars

Once the whole length of border fence from the Gaza border to Eilat is completed the Bedouins will try to overcome this setback. They will soon discover that the fence and its surveillance teams are smarter than they are. For now, they are mounting a last stand. No doubt the IDF is preparing for the contingency of more frequent attacks and the likelihood that Palestinian/Bedouin terrorist groups will be tempted to use the anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles in their arsenals.

As has been the case in the past, attacks on Israel from Sinai, this week’s attack had repercussions in Gaza. Overnight the whole Gaza Strip periphery, a belt of kibbutz and moshav communities and small towns was targeted by terrorist teams in Gaza firing mortar shells and Qassam rockets. Fierce IDF reprisals caused Hamas to ask Egypt to broker a return to the ostensible ceasefire understanding.

The Egyptians don’t have the inclination or ability to intercede at the moment.

Just the same it seems Hamas and its affiliates have returned to the back-burner mode.

Next week my wife and I will be holidaying in the Black Forest and Alsace-Lorraine, so I won’t be able to write to you.

Have a good weekend.

Beni                            21^st of June, 2012.

The view from Tel Saki

The Friday trip to the Golan Heights was definitely not one of those run-of-the-mill sightseeing tours. Our tour guide Aviram Barkai, a veteran of the Yom Kippur war had carefully chosen the vantage points in his itinerary. Each one was a chapter in his book "Stemming the breach," the untold story of the heroic stand made by the  188^th armoured brigade, blocking the advance of the Syrian army in  the battles waged  on the Golan Heights in October 1973.

We stood by the bunker at Tel Saki where  in 1973 a hopelessly outnumbered and out- gunned group of parachutists and armoured corps crews fought desperately, almost to the point of annihilation, determined to halt the Syrian advance. Not far below us a lone Syrian flag was flying at a border post.

It occurred to me that while we were reliving old battles, new battles were raging not far from where we stood. We are better able to understand what is happening in Syria, than most casual observers outside our region. Still, for most of us Syria is a place we hear about on news bulletins, but in the daily routine it seems to be more distant than a fading star.   Having said that, I hasten to add that we are not insensitive to the atrocities committed by Syrians against Syrians.

One of the best descriptions of what is happening in Syria was published in Foreign Policy Magazine. The author,  Aaron David, Miller assured us that “Everything was going according to plan,” then hastened to add “It just depends on whose plan you are talking about.”    “The key actors -- America, Russia, Turkey, Iran, and the Arabs -- know precisely what they're about (or at least what they want to avoid) and are acting quite willfully to attend to their own interests.”  

“In short, we have a coalition not of the willing but of the disabled, the unwilling, and the opposed. And each has a clear agenda. The tragedy for Syria is that it's just not a common agenda.”

While we were walking back to our bus below Tel Saki I looked back towards the Syrian border, past the flag as far as the horizon. There was nothing in that landscape that could indicate what was really happening in Syria. I’m sure a host of foreign intelligence agencies equipped with the best spy-ware money can buy are trying to see a lot more than I could at Tel Saki.

Spy-satellites, drones and the old fashioned on the ground informer add body to sparse information leaked out from Syria. In Israel journalists, analysts and Middle East researchers whose special sphere of interest is Syria, all of them fluent in Arabic, rely on other sources as well. They have cultivated “associates” inside Syria who they contact frequently for the purpose of gleaning reliable  information. They describe a divided opposition force that has failed so far to unite under a common flag.

Bashar al-Assad’s power basis, a legacy from his father, is held together by fear. Assad is an Alawi and he relies on the support of the minority Alawi community. The Alawis make up 12 percent of Syria’s population, many of them fear persecution or worse at the hands of Sunni Muslim majority if the regime falls. This also explains why key units of the Syrian army have not deserted. About 80% of the well-equipped, well-trained 4^th armoured division are Alawis. For them, the struggle to crush the opposition is potentially an existential one. So far there is no sign that Assad’s regime is about to collapse.

Aaron David, Miller explains why  Obama  is reluctant to intervene in Syria. “Sure, the president is outraged by Assad's brutality, and yes he'd like to do more. But bad options and electoral politics provide little incentive or leeway for heroics on Syria. The president is more focused on the perpetuation of the House of Obama than on the fall of the House of Assad. And rightly so. Americans are tired of costly military interventions, and the election is going to turn not on foreign policy but on the economy. And the Republicans can't find a way to make political hay from an Obama foreign policy that on balance has been smart and competent.

The only issues Americans care about abroad these days are terrorism and high gas prices. The president may pay for the latter but has been very tough on the former. Foreign policy will not help him in November, but a costly stumble abroad could hurt him. And the Syrian crisis offers plenty of opportunities for that. If the president acts, it will be cautiously and in the company of others. “

 Journalist Nicholas D. Kristof is less sympathetic to the president’s hesitancy .In  a piece he called “Dithering while people die,” posted in the  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . Kristof wrote  on assignment in the Nuba Mountains, Sudan

“When a government devours its own people, as in Syria or Sudan, there are never easy solutions. That helps explain President Barack Obama's dithering, for there are more problems in international relations than solutions, and well-meaning interventions can make a crisis worse.    Yet the president is taking prudence to the point of paralysis. I'm generally an admirer of Mr. Obama's foreign policy but his policies toward both Syria and Sudan increasingly seem lame, ineffective and contrary to U.S. interests and values”. ….. “Likewise, in Syria, the United States has not only refused to arm the opposition but has, I believe, discouraged other countries from doing so. Yes, there's an underlying logic: The Syrian opposition includes extreme elements, and the violence is embedded in a regional sectarian conflict. Nonetheless, the failure to arm the opposition allows the conflict to drag on and the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, to massacre more people. The upshot is that the violence spills over into Lebanon, and sectarian poisons make Syria less and less governable.”

Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute. examined Turkey’s relations  with the U.S  with regard to the Syrian dilemma. “Will Turkey Force Obama's Hand on Syria?” he asks. “Ankara and Washington both abhor the Syrian regime's brutal crackdown on demonstrators. But according to some reports, Ankara is hosting the Syrian opposition and possibly even helping arm it.

In contrast, Obama's cautious policy on Syria appears to be driven by a desire to avoid three things: the political unknown after Bashar al-Assad, war in an election year, and a new military campaign in a Muslim country.

Erdogan might find it increasingly difficult to tolerate Obama's "wait-and-see" strategy. For the Turks, slaughter in Syria is not an overseas affair, but rather a tragedy close to home that they cannot ignore.

Turkey's border with Syria spans 510 miles, crisscrossing ethnic groups and families. Some Turks have loved ones in Syria who are in harm's way. These constituents demand that Erdogan do his utmost to stop the al-Assad regime from perpetrating its crimes.”

A few months ago Erdogan used war-like rhetoric, threatening Assad’s regime. Turkey has a strong army, nevertheless, it wouldn’t attack Syria alone.   An alliance with Arab states and active US support  would better  serve its purpose. Cagaptay mentions an additional reason to overthrow Assad

“There is one more reason why Ankara cannot live with the al-Assad regime, even if Washington can. Recent news reports suggest the Syrian regime is allowing the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Kurdish terrorist group that targets Turkey, to operate inside Syrian territory.

Turkey views the PKK as an existential threat, and it considers anyone who hosts the group to be an enemy. So even if Washington were to reach a modus vivendi with Damascus, it is hard for Ankara to ever become friends with al-Assad.

The longer Washington delays action against al-Assad, the more nervous Ankara will become about the PKK's growing strength inside Syria. Eventually, Erdogan will ask Obama to help him oust al-Assad and prevent the PKK from becoming a fighting machine next door. This divergence will test the limits of the Obama-Erdogan relationship.

For the time being, Erdogan might accept U.S. inaction, knowing that Obama's re-election chances depend on his ability to keep America out of an overseas conflict. But what happens after the U.S. elections in November?

Regardless of the winner, Erdogan will demand help from Washington to end the Syrian regime's patronage of the PKK. This is because Erdogan, like Obama, has election fever. The Turkish leader wants to become the country's first popularly elected president in polls to be held in 2013 or 2014. (Until a recent constitutional amendment, Turkish presidents were elected by the country's parliament.)

Should al-Assad continue to reign despite Erdogan's outspoken support for regime change, this will tarnish the Turkish leader's image as the tough guy who gets things done, the very image that has earned him respect and helped him win three successive elections since 2002.

He would also be weakened with the PKK thriving in Syria and using its territory as a springboard to launch attacks against Turkey. Then he would most certainly ask Obama to prove whether he is truly the friend that the Turkish leader thinks he is.”

The view from Tel Saki across the calm arid landscape was deceptive.

Just the same at the present time  we prefer  to maintain our observer status.

Beni                                        15^th of June, 2012.

Scottish stones

The Ulpana Neighbourhood

In this country everything is viewed in fine resolution. We love to zoom in with our “Google Earth” eyes to find something to argue about. The Ulpana neighbourhood is a case in point. In full zoom the crux of the problem is the legality of five houses in the Ulpana neighbourhood of Beit El, a settlement situated just north of Jerusalem in a district universally known as the West Bank. Anywhere else in the world property disputes are rarely of interest to anyone other than the parties concerned. However, here there is a lot more at stake. The implementation of a court ruling regarding the five Ulpana buildings will probably set a precedent for similar cases. Currently about 1200 families live at Beit El. This week the Ulpana neighbourhood controversy threatened to topple the government. Admittedly, so far Prime Minister Netanyahu has managed the crisis with skill and aplomb. However, the problem is far from being resolved, or as the Americans say "It ain't over till the fat lady sings."    In both Israel and the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) we like to be on “terra firma.” Regarding Beit El and its environs we are told that here the patriarch Jacob slept and dreamt of angels descending  and  ascending a ladder. He called the place Beit El.  The modern settlement started in 1977 when a number of Jewish families moved into an IDF base built at the site. Twenty years later Beit El was awarded local council status and two years later construction work was started on an extension to the settlement , known as the Ulpana neighbourhood. A stop-work order was issued by an Israeli court as early as September of that year, but construction has continued, notwithstanding a demolition order issued by the Supreme Court of Israel in 2008  after an appeal was lodged by Palestinians from the village of Dura al-Qar.

At this juncture I want to add a few words about the Supreme Court. The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme Court itself.. The Supreme Court can sit as an appellate court and a court of first instance. The Court has ruled on numerous issues relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the rights of Arab citizens of Israel, and on discrimination between Jewish groups in Israel. It is unique in that its rulings can intervene in IDF military operations. Israel's Supreme Court is internationally known as the bulwark of civil and human rights in the country's democracy. On numerous occasions it has used its muscle to scale back the initiatives of our legislature, the Knesset  and its executive branches. But it has taken decades for the court to gather this power and stature.                The main reason for this gradual build-up of stature is the absence of a constitution. In the country's seminal legal document, the May 1948 Declaration of Independence, Israel's founders called for the drafting of a constitution within six months. But in the ensuing chaos of the country's struggle to fend off invading Arab armies, the deadline passed.                 Later, lawmakers bitterly disputed the nature of a potential constitution. Secular representatives wanted the document to reflect the legal values of Western liberal democracies, while religious lawmakers insisted that the Torah and halakhic (Jewish legal) tradition should serve as the basis for the legal system of the Jewish state. Failing to reach a consensus, the lawmakers decided the constitution would be constructed gradually, in a piecemeal fashion. They did this through establishing a special type of legislation known as "Basic Laws." This type of legislation takes precedence over everyday laws, and these laws can only be changed by a special majority. It was envisioned that the Basic Laws would eventually acquire the force of a constitution, but for the time being, they would have a quasi-constitutional force: stronger than regular laws but weaker than a formalised constitution.

Back to  Jacob dreaming on the hilltop, his head snugly resting on a “stone.”           According to a popular legend that stone rolled a considerable distance. It’s reputed to be the same Stone of Scone that was tucked under the royal throne of England for almost 700 years.  Another legend claims the prophet Jeremiah brought the stone to Ireland. The Bible doesn’t say where or how Jeremiah died, it simply recalls him moving to Egypt. Perhaps he fancied a glass of Guinness. Much later during the Viking raids on Ireland, the legend recounts, Irish priests moved it to safety in Scotland. In 1296 Edward I of England invaded Scotland absconded with the Stone of Scone and brought it to Westminster. Yet another legend claims the Abbot of Scone switched stones and gave Edward a fake lump of Scottish rock. More recently geologists examined the stone under the chair in Westminster and pronounced that it was red standstone quarried somewhere near Scone.

In 1996 the worthless replica was returned to the Scots who had been harbouring a grudge for 700 years. They are still peeved, why I don’t know.

If you believe the legend they are still holding the original  Kosher stone Jeremiah brought to Ireland and the cheap Scottish replica.  

 Another legend-like story concerns a contemporary of King Edward, namely Robert Bruce, king of Scotland, who was both ally and foe of Edward. Before he died Bruce asked his friend James Douglas to bury his heart in the Holy Land. Douglas was killed in battle in Spain and the heart was brought back to Scotland. It seems that’s exactly what happened.

Legend aside the Ulpana neighbourhood is still with us.

The last Supreme Court ruling  ordered the state to demolish  the  five Ulpana buildings by the 1^st of July.  At present Netanyahu wants move the buildings to another site. Ulpana’s five contested buildings — home to some 30 families, and built on what the state accepts is privately owned Palestinian land — would be transplanted several hundred metres away. However, in the event that the houses would have to be demolished rather than transplanted, 10 more would be built in Judea and Samaria, pending the approval of Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein

The prime minister proposes sawing them at the base and rail-tracking them to the new site. Some time ago the old Sharona community built by the German Templar settlers in the late nineteenth century was moved fifty metres in the heart of Tel Aviv. The prime minister’s proposal is far more complicated and costly. It’s a lose-lose situation. The prime minister is loath to defy the court order, he doesn’t want to anger the settlers and he hopes the US will understand his predicament.  He has ruled out demolishing the buildings. He briefly considered walling them up but appears to have rejected that idea. So now he has settled for sledging them to another place. To appease the angry settlers who tried through their Knesset representatives to introduce retroactive legislation  on Wednesday to legalise the building on the Ulpana land and offer compensation to the Palestinian landowners. By a majority vote the Knesset rejected the proposal. If it had approved the bill the Supreme Court would have invalidated it at a later date.

By way of  compensation Netanyahu said he would construct thirty new buildings in Beit El for the five buildings that would have to be vacated. Later he increased the number to 850 housing units to be erected in different settlements in Judea and Samaria. As expected the State Department responded immediately criticising the proposal.

While all this has been going on an old idea has been given a fresh airing  by a small group led by Ami Ayalon, a former member of the Knesset for the Labour Party. He was previously head of the Shin Bet (Shabak or GSS), Israel's secret service, and commander-in-chief of the Navy.  Ayalon’s proposal calls for a unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank in places with no Jewish  settlements and then  negotiating  with the Palestinians regarding the final status borders.

Earlier this week Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the West Bank settlements of Ofra and Beit El would be annexed to Israel under a final-status agreement, a remark that raised the ire of the Palestinians.

This marks a change in Barak's position from the 2000 Camp David talks, when he was prime minister. Back then, he offered the Palestinians most of the West Bank and parts of East Jerusalem.

In the past both Presidents Clinton and George W.Bush  recognised “facts on the ground.” namely the need to include the large settlement blocs in Israel and “swap” land to compensate the Palestinians. So far no progress has been made to  “flesh out” this idea. Ayalon hopes his withdrawal proposal will provide the catalyst to set the process in motion.

Have a good weekend

Beni                                                    7^th of June, 2012.

Raz

We are suffering from an unprecedented and inexplicable period of neglect! For decades the news media organs have devoted disproportionate attention to Israel. We have grown to accept both compliments and complaints because we are driven by a national ego that demands attention. Three times the prophet Isaiah describes us as a "light unto the nations." His most flattering prophecy foretells "And unto your light, nations shall walk, and kings unto the brightness of your rising" (Isaiah, 60:3). The current "blackout" is hard to live with.

A lead article in the Economist supplied one explanation for this "nothing is happening" state of affairs.

" Israelis have enjoyed one of their longest spells of relative peace since their army hammered the Gaza Strip more than three years ago. Their hawkish leader, Binyamin Netanyahu, who emerged shortly, afterwards as prime minister for the second time, has been riding high. Israel’s economy, though not without the odd tremor, has boomed in comparison with those of its floundering Arab neighbours, where governments have been driven to distraction or overthrown amid the turbulence of the Arab spring.." The article goes on to warn the prime minister that the present lull won't last for ever. The Palestinians are at the end of their tether and more worrying, "The more than 350m Arabs in the region are losing faith in a two-state solution. Many Europeans put most of the blame for the present impasse on Israel. And under a second-term Mr. Obama even America may start to lose patience with an intransigent Israeli government." The paper suggests, "Mr. Netanyahu is a consummate opportunist; let him grasp this opportunity."

This week Thomas L. Friedman wrote a piece for the New York Times called "Power with Purpose." Pointing to Netanyahu's huge coalition government Friedman remarked, "There are Arab dictators who didn’t have majorities that big after rigged elections. What is unclear is whether Bibi assembled these multitudes to be better able to do nothing or be better able to do something important to secure Israel’s future."

Friedman fears Netanyahu will choose inaction "I’m keeping an open mind, but the temptation for Bibi to do nothing will be enormous. The Palestinians are divided between Hamas in Gaza and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and both populations are tired." Conjuring up a future historian's verdict Friedman wrote, "Netanyahu was the only Israeli leader who had the political power and he missed his moment in history." —. “Now is his moment to decide.”

If, however, Netanyahu sincerely wants to exploit this opportunity and believes he can cut a deal with the Palestinians, he won't be able to do that while he demands no preconditions. The Palestinians won’t talk as long as settlement building continues.

The author of the Economist article speculates "Had Mr. Netanyahu extended a ten-month moratorium on expanding Jewish settlements on Palestinian land back in September 2010, chunks of his coalition would have fallen away, perhaps even bringing down the government. Now, with Kadima in his fold, Mr. Netanyahu has less need to pander to the likes of Mr. Lieberman. Mr. Mofaz plainly accepts a two-state solution, even promoting his own plan, which advocates the immediate creation of a Palestinian state on 60% of the land captured by Israel during the war of 1967, as a step towards an eventual state based on the pre-war borders adjusted with land swaps."

Some analysts argue that the “power with a purpose” that Friedman wrote about has its limits. If the prime minister decides to renew the building moratorium he risks defection of some of his coalition partners. The size factor hasn’t deterred the coalition’s extreme right flank..

If the prime minister makes a sincere effort to reach an agreement with the Palestinians the true-blue right wingers might leave the government. After all they are answerable to the people who voted for them. A smaller coalition with its right flank pared off would probably be more to Netanyahu’s liking, however there is also a right flank within his own Likud party. It too could join the deserters. Of course this defection scenario is no more than conjecture.

Despite the dearth of news two attention grasping events occurred this week.

The first event occurred at the Citi Field and Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens, New York. No it wasn’t the Mets that drew a crowd of 60,000 ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Jews to the stadium, but a symposium to warn about the dangers of ... the Internet. An article in the New York Daily News quoted Rabbi Gershon Tannenbaum of B’nai Israel , Linden Heights in Borough Park, Brooklyn, who mentioned an ironical aspect of the mass gathering. “Word spread from the synagogues like mine, and in newspapers like the Jewish Press, where I write a regular column, and, yes, by Internet, which is a positive use of this powerful tool,” Rabbi Tannenbaum qualified his statement adding, “The Internet can destroy families, be a colossal waste of time, and at times, a useful tool”.. “The speakers at Citi Field said that if improperly used, the internet can destroy families, with gambling, pornography and other addictions,” Tannenbaum says. “But mostly, surfing the Internet is a colossal waste of precious time young people could spend working or studying. I direct Internet surfers to www.HebrewBooks.org, where anyone can download 50,000 scholarly Hebrew books free, an astounding library at your fingertips. God created the Internet just for this site.”

As of 2011, more than 2.2 billion people – nearly a third of our planet’s population — use the services of the Internet.

Israel’s sizeable Haredi community was well represented at the Queens stadium gathering. The ongoing Internet debate in Israel concerns both Haredi and Orthodox Zionist leaders.

The 250 km stretch of border from Eilat to where it convergences with the Gaza Strip periphery fence, was until recently as porous as a sieve.. The impetus for the construction of an effective, cost efficient barrier along our border with Egypt came after a Palestinian terrorist attack launched from Sinai last year. Although the attack was an isolated incident it was considered the harbinger of more attacks of this kind. In addition the problem of mass infiltration of Africans seeking work and asylum in Israel heightened the need to seal off this vulnerable length of border. Probably more than 60,000 Africans have entered the country via the Sinai route. They are often referred to as Sudanese despite the fact that most of them come from Eritrea. Many of them claim to be asylum seekers, however it’s clear working in Israel is their main objective. In their quest for work they tend to move to large population centres. The problem is particularly acute in the poorer neglected area adjacent to Tel Aviv’s old deserted bus terminal. Since it is forbidden by law to employ illegal residents most of them remain jobless, homeless and desperate. The incidence of crime has increased in this particular neighbourhood causing considerable anger and resentment among Israelis living nearby. This is not a municipal problem; the government should be dealing with it. Once again it’s easier to blame previous governments for letting the problem get out of hand. Political opportunists are ever ready to propose popular cure-all solutions. Minister of Internal Affairs Eli Yishai wants to lock them all up in internment camps. He believes his “Gulags” (I purposely avoid using the name of another kind of camp that comes to mind) will deter future job seekers. The Police Commissioner suggested finding them jobs in agriculture and was censured. Eli Yishai has restricted the number of legal foreign workers coming into the country. As a result many farmers are short of temporary workers.

The working class HaTikva neighbourhood isn’t far from the old bus terminal. HaTikva residents gathered this week to protest the government’s inability to deal with the influx of illegal African job seekers. At first about a thousand protesters assembled in an orderly manner. Then the politicians arrived - two Likud party members, Danny Denon and Miri Regev . Denon a one time diplomat used a lot of undiplomatic language. Former IDF spokeswoman Brigadier-General (Res) Miri Regev has a way with words. I don’t know if the Likud Knesset members “comforting language” caused the disgruntled crowd to turn into an uncontrollable mob determined to vent their wrath on anyone and anything related to African job seekers. Fortunately the police were well prepared and succeeded in stopping the protesters in time. A few shop windows were smashed and one African was messed up a bit.

Cabinet ministers, Knesset members and other people demanding that we send them back to Africa don’t realise that it is easier said than done.

In a few months the fence will be completed and an additional fence along part of the border with Jordan will be erected to prevent further infiltration.

A suggested gradual repatriation programme seems to be the best course of action.

Without a doubt the event of the week was the Bat Mitzvah of our grand-niece Raz Oz at Tel Adashim in the Jezreel Valley.

Raz is our niece Ma’ayan and her husband Niv’s youngest daughter. Her Bat Mitzvah party celebrated in a corner of the field behind the family home was a very laid-back affair with plenty of rustic trappings. Giant bales of straw demarcated the area where the guests gathered, dined and watched the entertainment provided by Raz, her family and friends. And Raz, what can I say! She has oodles of unaffected charm and exuberance.

Permit me a lit nepotism.

This weekend we are celebrating Shavuot. I’ll write about that next week.

Beni 25^th of May, 2012.

Haredim

The broadcasting of Channel 10 TV's series " Haredim" was timed to a T. The three episode presentation coincided with a public and political debate about fair and equal sharing of the defence burden, namely, conscription for all.

"Hiddush", a local NGO, officially titled - Freedom of Religion for Israel, Inc, is very much a part of this debate. Hiddush president, Rabbi Uri Regev: summed up the situation as follows, “The Israeli public is sick and tired of the politically motivated mass exemption of yeshiva students from sharing in the civic burden of defence of the country” Obviously Rabbi Regev doesn't pitch his tent with the Haredim. Let's pause a moment to examine that definitive title given to a broad swath of Orthodox Jews. It's used to describe the most conservative form of Orthodox Judaism, often referred to by outsiders as ultra-Orthodox. Haredi Jews, like other Orthodox Jews, consider their belief system and religious practices to extend in an unbroken chain back to Moses and the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. As a result, they regard Non-Orthodox, and to an extent Modern Orthodox, streams of Judaism to be deviations from authentic Judaism.

Many people prefer to call them Haredim instead of ultra-Orthodox. However, the term Haredim derived from a phrase in Isaiah 66:5: "Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at His word" (Also in Ezra10:3), when freely translated as "God-fearing" is problematic. It could be applied to all religiously observant Jews. Arguably it can be stretched to include occasional synagogue goers, even the very 'lite' type. So let's stick to the term Haredim.

By and large the Haredim are a marginal group living in their self- imposed ghetto-like communities? Counting them is not easy, mainly because they shy from cooperating with state institutions. Notwithstanding the difficulties in accessing the number of Haredim it's estimated that they comprise one-tenth of Israel’s 7.8 million citizens

Haredi Judaism is not an institutionally cohesive or homogeneous group, but comprises a diversity of spiritual and cultural orientations, generally divided into a broad range of Hasidic factions, Lithuanian Jews with strong Yeshiva affinities, streams from Eastern Europe, and Oriental Sephardic Haredim.

At this juncture it’s important to stress that the Haredim don’t have a monopoly on Jewish religious observance. Their dress code certainly sets them apart, but many less identifiable religious Jews are equally observant.

I realise that much of the content of this newsletter is common knowledge. I mention it here because it helps put the conscription debate in the proper context.

One researcher claims that Israeli Haredi males probably spend more time in formal study than any other group anywhere in the world. However, this dedication to Torah study takes precedence over work.

By contrast, our sages of old emphasised the value of study and work and not just study alone. In addition to studying Torah they were artisans and plied a variety of trades.

Our current conscription imbroglio has its origins in an arrangement made by Ben Gurion to accommodate 400 yeshiva students. That was in 1948 and the arrangement was formalised by the Tal Law in 1999, which was intended to provide a legislated framework for the long standing practice of exempting yeshiva students from military service. At the same time its goal was to encourage greater participation in both military and civil service. The law failed to achieve its service objectives. Ironically, the exemptions granted by the law requiring full-time yeshiva study have contributed to a greater degree of poverty in the Haredi sector. About 60 percent of Haredi men are unemployed. Some women work, but one income does not go far in families with an average of more than six children.

The combination of high birth rates, poverty and an inflexible Haredi school system that avoids teaching a broad curriculum exacerbates the community’s already difficult circumstances. Haredi youth graduate high school with few skills and professional qualifications. As a result the community has become increasingly dependent on state financial support.

The Haredi community in Israel has adopted a policy of cultural dissociation, but at the same time, it has struggled to remain politically active, perceiving itself as the true protector of the country's Jewish nature. This dichotomy between the mainstream Israeli society and the Haredi community can be traced back to the late nineteenth-early twentieth century, with the rise of Zionism The vast majority of Haredi Jews rejected Zionism for a number of reasons. Chief among these was the claim that Jewish political independence could only be obtained through Divine intervention, with the coming of the Messiah. Any attempt to force history was seen as an open rebellion against Judaism.

Over eight hundred years ago Maimonides wrote, “I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and even though he may tarry, nevertheless I wait every day hoping he will come." Israeli rock star Shalom Hanoch isn't so patient. In his 1985 hit “Waiting for the Messiah." He complains "The Messiah hasn't come, he hasn't called." In one verse he is more despondent and concludes, "The Messiah won't come."

Portraying the Haredim as a sector that is completely introspective is misleading and distorts the truth. I certainly didn’t intend to do so.

I want to tip the scales a bit by mentioning two voluntary organisations initiated by Haredi Jews and largely run by them. Yad Sarah is the largest national volunteer organisation in Israel. It is operated by more than 6,000 volunteers and employs a salaried staff of 150 men and women. The organisation serves over 350,000 needy people each year. In addition it lends over 244,000 pieces of medical and rehabilitative home-care equipment annually, enabling sick, disabled, elderly and recuperating patients to live at home. This saves Israel's economy an estimated $320 million in hospital fees and long-term care costs each year.^. This loan service is provided free.

.The organisation serves Jews, Christians, Muslims and Druze, as well as tourists with disabilities. Yad Sarah is a recipient of the Israel Prize and has been awarded advisory status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Yad Sarah raises 92% of its operating budget from donations. The organisation does not receive any government assistance.

Zaka is a Hebrew acronym meaning “Disaster Victim Identification” it is comprised of a series of voluntary community emergency response teams in Israel, each operating in a police district. The organisation is officially recognised by the government. Members of ZAKA, most of whom are Orthodox Jews, assist ambulance crews, aid in the identification of the victims of terrorism, road accidents and other disasters, and where necessary gather body parts for proper burial. They also provide first aid and rescue services, and help with the search for missing persons and participate in international rescue and recovery operations.

The Haredi community is a multi-faceted entity. It is characterised more by its diversity than a common purpose. Nevertheless, on the matter of military service it has managed to close ranks. The legal precedent that fixed deferring military service that enabled young men enrolled in Haredi yeshiva academies to complete their studies before their conscription in the IDF.

Haredi Jews maintain that the Torah study when practised by great Torah scholars or their disciples is crucial in defending the state of Israel and its people, equivalent to an additional "praying division" of the Israeli army. (I doubt if IDF C in C Benny Gantz is depending on this extra force.) In practice, the arrangement provides a legal route whereby Haredi Rabbis and their disciples can either enroll for a shortened service period (4 months), or be exempted altogether from compulsory military service.

On February 21, 2012, Israel's High Court of Justice ruled the Tal Law unconstitutional. Now the government is obliged to introduce new legislation or cease to treat the Haredi sector as privileged group.

While Israel’s Druze and Circassian minorities are conscripted like the Jewish majority, the Arab minority, both Christian and Muslim, is not required to serve in the IDF. Members of some Bedouin communities volunteer for service in the army. It has been suggested that in lieu of military service the Arab minorities be conscripted to perform community services.

We celebrate Independence Day according to the Hebrew calendar. However, Israel's declaration of independence was issued on the 14^th of May, 1948, a date regarded by the Palestinians as the date marking their great national tragedy the Naqba.

This year Nakba Day events were relatively quiet. Exceptions were at a few road blocks near crossing points in the West Bank. In our neck of the woods the day was uneventful. There were quiet protests in Nazareth and a gathering at Lajun, the ruins of an Arab village near Kibbutz Megiddo.

I’m told the gathering was more like a “Farmers Market” with stalls stacked with goods for sale and light refreshments, than a demonstration.

Lajun was “vacated” during the War of Independence. The origin of the name can be traced back to a Roman army camp built at the site during the Bar Kochba revolt. The sixth legion known as Legio sexta Ferrata (Sixth Ironclad Legion) was stationed there. With the passage of time the name was corrupted to Lajun.

Former residents of Lajun still conduct a kind of annual pilgrimage to its ruins and preserve the name for later generations born after the village was destroyed - though few remember the name's Roman origin.

Have a good weekend.

Beni 17^th of May, 2012.

The Reunion

Reunions are sad-happy occasions reminding you that no one is spared the ravages of time.

The identity tag displayed on your chest further attests the fact that you are not instantly recognisable. Nonetheless, despite these fears and trepidations the get-together is usually a joyous occasion.

Last Friday I was my wife’s consort at her class reunion held here at Ein Harod.

Her classmates, children from Ein Harod, and other communities in the eastern Jezreel Valley had gathered to celebrate their collective seventieth birthday.

The event began at the top of the hill on a patch of lawn by “Eli’s Lookout,”

a vantage point commanding a magnificent view of the valley

My wife press-ganged me into service as the reunion’s photographer.

After the handshakes, cheek kisses and a fair amount of back slapping followed by coffee and cake, we all walked down to the kibbutz clubhouse where we mingled more and reminisced recalling childhood memories. I’ve heard the anecdotes so many times I almost feel as if I lived them.

Later we ate dinner sang the old familiar songs and saw a revamped black and white movie of their schooldays. The reunion was topped off by cultural renditions that were a trifle too long. Someone said “We must do this more often,” and I added an unspoken thought “Preferably before we are all in geriatric care facilities.”

Tuesday night we went to bed assured that the nation would be going to the polls early in September. The first reading of the bill to dissolve the Knesset ahead of the anticipated elections was approved by an unprecedented majority. Wednesday morning we woke to discover that all is fair in love, war and politics. The prime minister had formed an alliance with the leader of the opposition Kadima party to form a national unity government.

At work our breakfast table parliament had much to say about the perfidious attributes of some of our politicians. I want to disregard the knee-jerk reactions of some of my breakfast table comrades and refer to better qualified opinions..

The Christian Science Monitor wrote, “The deal makes for a massive 94 -member coalition, one that allows Netanyahu to significantly improve political mobility and support for major potential domestic and international moves.

Mutual demands by both sides enabling the mega-coalition include tackling a laundry list of issues, among them mandatory military service for religious seminary students, changing the electoral system, far-reaching socioeconomic reforms, and possible changes in settlement activity and relations with the Palestinian National Authority. Mofaz had also been reportedly committed to supporting the government's policies until its term ends in late 2013.

Internationally, local political observers speculated that Netanyahu may also be seeking to strengthen his coalition ahead of a possible military strike against Iran's nuclear infrastructure, if P5+1 talks with Teheran do not curb their fuel enrichment program.”

The Washington Post also highlighted the likelihood of a military strike against Iran, “The agreement triggered a new round of speculation about the chances of an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear program, which Israel deems an existential threat. Some commentators said the deal meant that Netanyahu had cleared his calendar to prepare for war. Others said the sudden ascent of Mofaz, a former military chief and defense minister who has expressed opposition to a unilateral Israeli attack, made war less likely.” The paper’s Jerusalem correspondents forgot to mention that Mofaz recently proclaimed he would "never" serve under Netanyahu and repeatedly called the prime minister a liar. Justifying the new alliance Likud and Kadima Knesset members said it is a form of “realpolitik” the nation needs. Whatever they call it the deal stinks.

So far the public reaction has been very subdued. I’m surprised there’s no expression of public outrage or move to punish these fickle politicians.

In the short term Netanyahu stands to profit from the new coalition. The real test will be at the elections next year. Mofaz has gained a new lease of political life. Kadima was well on the way to political extinction.

The other coalition partners are understandably peeved by the new broad unity government. Netanyahu can now afford to ignore their threats.

The Economist speculated that," If Likud and Kadima proceed with the ambitious reforms they have agreed to, many of these smaller parties may flounce out of the government in disgust." The paper also claimed, "Observers are doubtful whether a real sea-change will take place in Israel's policy towards the Palestinians. But Mr Netanyahu can no longer claim he is hamstrung by his rightist-religious coalition partners."…Other analysts here reminded their readers that broad national unity governments tend to be paralysed by conflicting interests.

Paralysed or not the Economist conjectured " Where the new government's programme of reforms may dramatically change things in Israel is in its first provision: legislating a new and fairer arrangement for universal national service. In other words, an end to the exemption of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) young men from army service. This has been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and is the subject of growing public anger.

A new law, which the two parties pledge to pass by August, would require Israeli Arabs to do national service too, but in a civilian context rather than in the army. Success on this front would mean not just social justice (and popularity for Messrs Netanyahu and Mofaz) but also a critical surge in the size of Israel's labour force. IMF economists have pointed to haredi male non-productivity as a serious drag on the country's economy.

The new government will have its hands full pushing it through and will find it tough, therefore, to pursue another potentially momentous reform: a radical change of the electoral system. The purpose, the two parties proclaim, would be to shore up stability and enable elected governments to serve out their terms without constantly facing coalition pressures. In practice, this means strengthening large parties at the expense of smaller ones–a prospect which Israel’s political minnows are certain to oppose."

The new guy on the block Yair Lapid who launched his “There’s a Future” party hoping to contest the elections "penciled- in" for this coming September, has a problem. Admittedly he thanked Mofaz for vacating the centre segment of the Israeli political spectrum; however Lapid is not really happy about the new unity government. He was preparing for a short sprint to the September elections, now he has to maintain a political momentum for the next fifteen months. I’m not sure he can do it.

The New York Times' Jerusalem desk drew on Israeli sources to explain why Netanyahu made his move now,

"Some analysts have noted that the deal emerged barely a week after the death of Mr. Netanyahu’s 102-year-old father, a scholar and hawkish Zionist whom many here thought he had been loath to offend with compromises on settlements and other issues.

Several people close to the prime minister gave their positive assessment, saying the new coalition, whose largest bloc is Kadima’s 28 seats, is better aligned with Mr. Netanyahu’s personal politics than the right-leaning one he had led since his election in 2009. “

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Alex Zabezhinsky chief economist at DS Apex one of Israel’s leading investment houses said, “The ballooning budget deficit requires ‘root canal work’. Spending on laws and programs approved by the agreement, such as salary agreements and the Trajtenberg Committee's recommendations, have resulted in breaching the budget for both this year and subsequent years. This necessitates setting new and clear priorities, and deciding where to invest and what to forego. Such decisions are impossible with the current coalition, and possibly also impossible to make after the elections. By striking a deal with Kadima, it will be possible to cut budgets affecting the special interests of the Likud's small coalition partners and to focus on measures that are better for the economy as a whole.”

David Makovsky called the Netanyahu - Mofaz covenant “A marriage of Convenience.” In an article he published in the Washington Institute’s Policy Watch, he wrote, “On a purely political level, the deal was clearly done to strengthen both Netanyahu and Mofaz. Under its terms, the very risk-averse Netanyahu will likely remain in power for another year-and-a-half before facing a vote. And while he has not said so publicly, he is acutely aware that his previous coalition's dependence on right-wing parties hurt both his and Israel's image. He is also mindful of the fact that unity governments tend to be popular domestically.

The deal offers an opportunity for a center-right alliance (and greater independence and maneuverability for Netanyahu) that was unlikely to present itself after early elections. Although polls had put the prime minister safely ahead of Kadima before the announcement, he has long viewed Mofaz as a formidable opponent who could eat away at the Likud Party's Sephardic populist base. As a Sephardic former chief of staff who has championed economic populism, Mofaz casts an image of political moderation that poses a threat to Netanyahu, who prefers to bring him inside the tent. The prime minister also hopes that a unity government will allow him to openly absorb at least some of Kadima's more hawkish members after the next election, since the party originated in 2005 as a breakaway from Likud, which opposed Ariel Sharon's Gaza disengagement at the time.”

Yesterday was Lag B’omer . Everything about this festival is controversial. From the way it is celebrated at the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai at Mount Meron to Bar Kochba himself the leader of the second or third (depending how you count them) revolt against the Romans. Some people hail him as a hero. Rabbi Akiva thought he might be the Messiah. Some of his contemporaries and later rabbinical leaders decried the national tragedy he brought upon the Jewish people. Ironically, letters he wrote were found by archaeologists, yet there is a dearth of information about the revolt itself. Just the same, children love bonfires so they award Lag B’omer a top rating.

I began this missive with an account of my wife’s class reunion and went on to describe the unholy Netanyahu – Mofaz union.

I have attached photos of both events.

Have a good weekend.

Beni 10^th of May, 2012.