Israel

Jerusalem clashes, seen by our Observers

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:04:16 +0100

Clashes in East Jerusalem. Photo posted on the Arabbab forum.

Palestinian protestors and Israeli police forces met with stones and rubber bullets in East Jerusalem this morning. Our Observers there, Israeli and Palestinian, give us their views on the clashes.

Unlike the west of the city which is located in Israel, East Jerusalem, or the Old City, remains part of the Palestinian Territories. Sacred to both Jews and Muslims, the ancient district has seen continued clashes for the past month.

The clashes first broke out when Palestinians came out in protest of Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to list the biblical Tomb of the Patriarchs (situated in the West Bank) as an Israeli heritage site.

On March 9 tensions were heightened further after it was announced that Israel would build 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem, breaking a five month settlement-freeze.

The last straw came on 15 March when the Israelis held an inauguration ceremony for the restored "Hurva" synagogue, located just 400 metres from the landmark al-Asqa mosque.

On Tuesday morning, the Israeli authorities deployed 3,000 police officers to the Old City to face protestors. Two officers and 16 protestors were injured; several arrests were made.

Gazan farmers forced further away from Israeli buffer zone

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:51:33 +0100

Photo : Eva Bartlett.

In May 2009 the Israeli Army widened the buffer zone between Israel and the Gaza Strip, telling Gazans to keep 300 metres clear of the border. A local farmer there tells us that the no-go zone goes much further into Gazan territory than the supposed limit.

The barren buffer zone (dubbed "hot zone" by the Israeli authorities) was once home to olive groves and cornfields, but since 1995, almost 30% of Gaza's arable land has been confiscated to make way for the buffer's growing girth.

FRANCE 24 has asked the Israeli Army to respond to the following accounts. We'll update this post if we receive an answer. Our Israeli Observers are also welcome to send us their contributions on the subject.

Israel and Syria open up, but only for apples

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:45:25 +0100

The border that separates Syria from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has been firmly closed since 1967, with the two countries still officially at war. In the past few years, however, one type of goods has made it through during the months of March and April: apples.

For the past week, the crossing point at al Qunaytirah, a largely abandoned town some 50km south of Damascus, has been uncharacteristically busy. Every day, Red Cross lorries driven by Kenyans make their way across the Golan Heights and into Syria. During the eight-week project, some 10,000 tonnes of apples will make the journey.

The initiative, which began in 2005, helps local producers sell off the annexed region's yearly 50,000 to 60,000 tonnes of Golden and Starking apples - which they are unable to sell in Israel.

Syria and Israel have been at war since 1948. Citizens from both countries are prohibited from entering the other's territory. Israel stormed the Syrian Golan Heights during the Six Days War in 1967 and annexed the territory in 1981, despite condemnation by the United Nations Security Council (Resolution 497), which refuses to acknowledge the area as Israeli territory.

Israelis are not camel-riding warmongers, and they can prove it

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:09:10 +0100

Israelis are sick and tired of getting a bad rap around the globe. As part of a new publicity campaign, the government has released three video clips mocking the French, Spanish and English for their alleged assumptions about the Jewish state. So, if you happened to think that Israelis were falafel-fed religious fanatics who travel across the desert on camels...

According to many Israelis the country's bad reputation is a consequence of foreigners' exposure to wrong or biased information. In order to reverse the supposed trend, the Information and Diaspora Affairs Ministry has set up a publicity and information campaign at www.masbirim.com. First step, turning Israelis into travelling PR agents. After visitors have watched the sarcastic video clips and decided they want to spread the good Israeli word, they can find out what to say, and how to say it.

For example, the instructions for speaking with foreigners abroad: "Eye contact is very important. If you look to the side, the person you are speaking to will feel uncomfortable. Body language - use wide arm gestures, it shows that we mean well". As for content, the website dispels what it deems as common "myths" about Israel: for example, that it is a religious and primitive country, Israelis only eat falafel, and peace can't be reached because of the settlements. Regarding the latter claim, the ministry explains: "The root of the Arab-Israeli conflict does not lie in the size of the state, but in the very fact of its existence. Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are also likely to be considered by Arabs as settlements".

One of the three clips, this one aimed at an English-speaking audience.

An Israeli ambassador tries to lecture American students…

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:59:24 +0100

When the Israeli ambassador to the United States spoke at the University of California Irvine (UCI), students made such a racket in protest that he was barely able to deliver his speech.

The unfortunate speaker, one Michael Oren, was supposed to be giving a speech on US-Israeli relations (ironically) on Feb. 8. He didn't get very far before a heckler shouted "propagating murder is not an expression of freedom". The student was immediately led away by security, but there were many more to come...

Video published on LiveLeak, Feb. 23 2010, by "Gr8virtue".

Towards the end of the clip (5'20), a member of the audience, supposedly a teacher, tells the protestors "You're failing your exams. You're failing".

According to the UCI, the "trouble-makers" were from the university's Muslim Student Union (MSU). However, the group has denied responsibility and says that the hecklers acted on their own.

Gaza, living in the dark

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:01:00 +0100

Photo from our Observer Ismail Amir.

Gaza survives on a minimal amount of electricity, leaving residents without power for the most part of the day. No television is one thing; no street lighting and hospital equipment is another.

The Israeli Air Force bombed Gaza's main power station in 2006, plunging the strip's 1.5 million residents into darkness. Although the station was repaired, the situation took a turn for the worse in November 2009, when the European Union suspended its monthly aid instalment of 13 million USD, which had paid for the carbon needed to fuel the station. Since then, it has been running at reduced capacity - 30 megawatts instead of 67 - and at only certain times of the day.

Na Nach Jews: religion, tradition and techno music

Team Observers — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:42:16 +0100

Posted on Flickr by Petux.

Na Nachs" travel around Israel by truck with the aim of bringing joy and happiness to everyone they come cross... their method for spreading this joy is encouraging people to dance to "spiritual" techno music. And while they're at it, they also try to enlighten people about their particular brand of Judaism.

The founder of the movement, Rabbi Ber Odesser, claims that in 1922 he discovered a letter personally addressed to him by Rabbi Nachman de Bratslav, who had died in Ukraine 112 years earlier. The miraculous letter, which has become known as the "Letter from Heaven" (Petek), told him how to relieve the world of its suffering. The solution, the letter informed him, was the mantra "Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman".

In 1984, a group of observant Jews adopted this mystic phrase having met Rabbi Ben Odesser. The phrase calls for "consolation" and the expression of joy. Today, the Na Nachs constitute a sub-group of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav's disciples.

Zigzagging through Israel in their little truck, the Na Nachs reach out to the Israeli population in an attempt to communicate their religious fervour. They stop in central Jerusalem or Tel Aviv and dance to blasting electro and trance music whose lyrics repeat the famous Na Nach mantra.

Gaza’s embargoed roses: the dark years

Team Observers — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:03:54 +0100

Picture published on palstreet.

For two and a half years, under heavy blockade by Israel, Gazan flower-growers were forced to give away their produce as cattle feed. The crippling embargo – on flowers at least - has now been lifted.

The export of flowers came to an abrupt halt in 2007 when Israel declared Gaza a “hostile entity”. But finally, on December 11, 2009, Israel allowed the first shipment, destined for the European market, to go through. Some 35 million flowers will have been exported by May. The figure before 2007 was 65 million.

Gaza has been an important centre for growing carnations, roses and chrysanthemums since 1991. They are produced at some one hundred farms in Beit Lahia in the north of the enclave, and Rafah in the south. Most of these flowers are exported to the Netherlands, where they are sold on to the wider European and Russian markets. Our observer recalls the black years for the flower market in the Gaza Strip.

Gazan workers harvest carnations in one of the enclave's huge greenhouses. Published on palstreet.

Published on palstreet.

Saucy billboards to be "buried" for carrying name of God

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:43:23 +0100

Image posted on the Muqata blog.

An Israeli TV network has agreed to take down billboards advertising a saucy soap after rabbis complained about the Judaic scriptures used in the background. The only problem - the ads are emblazoned with the name of God, meaning they'll have to be given a proper burial.

The national advertising campaign was launched to publicise the second series of Israel's favourite TV series, Srugim. The show, which tells the story of a group of 30-something Zionist, religious professionals who, unmarried, become engaged in certain acts, is popular with just about everyone except very strict Jews. So when the new ads went up at the start of the year with a backdrop up of Torah scriptures, those same strict Jews made it their business to have them taken down.

The company which produces the show, "YES! Satellite Broadcasting", agreed to remove them shortly afterwards. But just after their announcement, a new problem arose, when the "Central Organization for the Geniza of Holy Texts" voiced concerns over the fate of the billboards. As the Jewish word for "god" was included in the image, the posters would have to be buried in a geniza, or burial site for holy texts, they said. On Wednesday, YES promised the organisation that they would bury the billboards properly.

The billboard (seen at the top of the page) reads "Second season. Knitted - Twice is better". It refers to the knitted "kipa" (head covering) the men wear, and the phrase: "It was good", spoken by God twice on the third day. See the billboard in big here.

Hamas advocating dialogue through children’s cartoon?

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:15:17 +0100

Hamas owned al Asqa TV is known by many for promoting anti-Semitic values to children through its use of cuddly animals such as "Assoud the ‘holy war' rabbit". Last month however, the channel aired a cartoon which seemed to be advocating dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian kids. Too good to be true? When the Jews in it look like devils, yes.

The cartoon was aired as a part of the children's programme, "The Pioneers of Tomorrow". It features a conversation between a Palestinian boy and a young Israeli Jewish settler. Through their dialogue and interaction, the Jewish settler learns to question everything negative he had been taught about Palestinians.

But while the cartoon is seemingly hinting at the benefits of dialogue, it is marred by the use of negative stereotypes - as one of our Observers points out, the Jews hardly get a fair deal in the cartoon.

Extract from "The Pioneers of Tomorrow", Al-Aqsa TV, Gaza. Translated by Israeli founded, US based Middle East Media Research Institute, Memri TV, Dec. 4, 2009.