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EDITORIAL
A War This Summer?
Once again, the newspapers headlines
are warning that a war may occur this summer. A war, however, never “occurs,” a
war is initiated by one or several sides. Who may take the initiative? The Syrians? Definitely not: they are doing everything
possible for a rapprochement with Washington,
and openly call, time after time, for peace negotiations with Israel. Bush’s
neoconservative gang is rejecting both Damascus’
attempts to improve its relations with Washington
and their peace moves: in the Neocon Bible, Syria
belongs to the axis of evil and Damascus
delenda est.
Hezbollah? What interests could the
Lebanese organization have in a war: its priority is to re-stabilize the
country and to capitalize on its popularity after the victory of last summer?
The states in the area which may be
interested in a war are the ones who met recently in Sharm
el-Sheikh, where the “Iranian threat” was the central topic. This threat
obviously includes Lebanon
(Hezbollah) and Syria.
They all agreed that Israel
should be the one to do the job, and the Israeli leaders couldn’t say no,
knowing that this is not only the White House’s expectation, but also the
desire of the Israeli military command, eager to “correct” the bad impressions
made last summer and to regain the Israeli power of deterrence.
The danger of war is therefore real,
but, on the other hand, one should not underestimate the hesitations of Ehud Olmert: he knows very well
that the Iran’s capacities
of retaliation are huge, and not only risk missiles falling on Tel Aviv—Iran can close the Strait of
Hormuz and provoke a huge energy crisis in Europe.
The answer to the question whether
or not there will be a war this summer is therefore in Tel Aviv, where hawks
and moderates are putting contradictory pressures on the Prime Minister, who,
as usual, will let the military make the decision, alone.
IN SHORT
One of the most important
institutions in the Israeli government is the National Council for Planning and
Construction, which is responsible for the long-term planning of land
allocation of the State. It has been the main tool for the dispossession of the
Palestinian minority from its lands, after the lands of the refugees had
already been expropriated for the sake of the Judaization
of the country.
Two NGOs—Bimkom
(Israeli architects and town planners), and The Arab Center for Alternative Planning—have just issued a report concerning the presence
of Arabs in the Council. Though the Palestinians represent 20 percent of the
Israeli population, only two Palestinans are members
of the national council of 32 members. Making this disparity even starker, in
the northern council, there are only two Palestinians, although they represent
more than half of the population. In Jerusalem,
where they represent 30 percent of the population, there are no Palestinians at
all in the regional council.
Privatization of Israeli Jails
Two decades ago, Israel decided to change the State
religion to Overall Privatization, and as usual, the believers are more
fundamentalist that the bishops, Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan:
privatization was implemented in the most brutal and heartless
ways. After 20 years, it remained to privatize the prisons. In few days, the
Israeli Parliament will vote on a law aimed to privatize the prison’s system.
According to the Israeli media, the new owner of the Israeli prisons will be no
other than Lev Leviev.
Vanunu: Petty Vengeance
Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear
technician, who, twenty years ago, made public the (well known) existence
of Israeli nuclear armament, and was sent to 18 years of prison, is back in prison.
Judge Yoel Tsur from the
Jerusalem Magistrate Court sentenced him to six months in prison for having
violated 14 times an administrative order of a military commander which forbids
him to speak to foreigners or to foreign media, as well as forbidding him to
leave the country (he was arrested on his way to… Bethlehem).
One should remember that Vanunu has served his full sentence (including 11 years in solitary confinement, and all these
limitations on his freedom of speech and freedom of movement are being issued
while he is supposedly a free citizen. Vanunu’s
lawyer, attorney Avigdor Feldman, made the following
comment: “Vanunu was convicted for violating an order
which has no equivalent in any democratic country…” (Yediot
Aharonot, 3 July 2007)
Demography
Demography is an Israeli national
sport, a national obsession. Every year, it is the central topic of the Herzeliya Conference (a kind of local Davos
Summit where all the Israeli economic, political and security elites exchange
ideas on strategic issues), as important, if not more, than the nuclear
potential of Iran.
Recently, the Israel Central Bureau
of Statistics submitted a report to the Minister of Education on the predicted
demographic composition of Israeli schools in 2012. The results are definitely
interesting: 51 percent of the Jewish pupils will belong to the national
non-religious sector (67 percent in 1992), and 31 percent will belong to the
ultra-orthodox religious sector (12.5 percent in 1992). The moderate-religious
sector will remain in their present situation: 18 percent.
What must be added to these
statistics is the fact that the Knesset has just tabled a new law proposal,
which would cancel the previous regulations conditioning financial support to
schools that are independent from the national system, by a minimum joint
core-curriculum of basic mathematics, Hebrew language and English. From now on,
the State will subsidize schools in which many pupils will not get even that
minimum…
Ehud Barak in Nazareth
The criminal Returns to the Scene of the Crime
Ehud Barak was
the man directly responsible, in October 2000, for the massacre of 13
Palestinian citizens of Israel
who were peacefully demonstrating their solidarity with their brothers and
sisters in the occupied Palestinian territories. The National Commission of Inquiry
which investigated the “October incidents”—as they were described in the local
media—severely censured Barak for his responsibility,
although no practical steps were ever taken against him.
After he was defeated in the
elections, Barak went into business, and, according
to the newspapers, made quite a lot of money. However, his political ambitions
have no limit, as his autism. A few months ago, he was re-elected chairperson
of the Labor Party, joined the cabinet as defense minister, and last week,
decided to parade in Nazareth.
The criminal returned to the scene of the crime. The Committee of the Families
of the Victims of the October Incidents organized a picket in front of the
hotel where Barak was meeting local notables of the
Labor Party, claiming that Barak was definitely not
welcome in Nazareth.
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