Mystery

Unknown people entered yesterday night the village of Beit Fajr, which is surrounded by settlements on all sides. The unknowns reached the village mosque, set it on fire left graffiti in Hebrew about "Revenge" and "exacting a price".

Shaul Goldstein, the elected leader of the settlers in this area, protested angrily the media assumption that settlers are responsible for the arson. "The investigation is still at its the beginning, all options are open. Why are we blamed? This is part of an incitement campaign!"

Indeed, it is also quite possible that the mosque was torched by aliens who arrived during the night in a spaceship from Mars. This possibility, too, should be looked into.

"Why can't they deport me, instead?"

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire was detained at Ben Gurion Airport. The State of Israel is absolutely unwilling to let her enter the country. Maguire appealed to the Supreme Court, but the state authorities hold firmly to their resolve: no way can she enter the country, not even for a few days. It is dangerous!

"Why can't they deport me, instead?" remarked Mordechai Vanunu, who had come to the Petach Tikva District court to support Maguire.

But: Mordechai Vanunu, the nuclear whistleblower, can't get through Ben Gurion Airport, either. The State of Israel is absolutely unwilling to let him leave the country. Vanunu appealed to the Supreme Court, but the state authorities hold firmly to their resolve: no way can he leave the country, not even for a few days. It is dangerous!

"Why am I singled out?"

PM Netanyahu has a bitter complaint to make. For seventeen years the Palestinians are negotiating with Israel, without demanding the freezing of settlement construction. There were lots of festive ceremonies, lots of handshakes in front of TV cameras, multiple peace processes – an all the time, the bulldozers continued their work, and settlements grew and expanded apace. Seventeen years it lasted, and it seemed such a convenient arrangement!

But suddenly, the nasty Palestinians changed the rules. Now they are fiercely demanding a settlement construction freeze. Otherwise, there will be no negotiations, no meetings, no handshakes, no photo opportunities.

"Why does it have to be me? All these headaches, all this trouble with the Americans, and with the coalition partners, and with the settlers. Why me?"

Logic of our time

- This Bibi is not to be trifled with! Look how he confronted the whole world and won. Obama demanded that he go on freezing the settlement construction. And he did not.

- Who is this Obama, anyway? Who cares a fig about him? He talks and talks, we build on the ground.

- By the way, did you hear about the report of UN commission of inquiry about our operation to stop the Gaza Flotilla? Very annoying, we knew it, a very one-sided report. It's anti-Semitism, pure and simple.

- Yes, it's really annoying. But we'll manage. We just have to talk to the Americans and ask for their help. They'll see to it that this report is not approved.



Peace Tabernacle

Thousands, tens of thousands of tabernacles (Sukkot) are erected this week, to mark an ancient holiday.

The Religious Culture Department at the Ministry of Education of the State of Israel made sure to post this week quotes from different Jewish thinkers about the meaning and significance of this holiday. Among others were published the words of Hermann Cohen, a Jewish philosopher of the 19th century:

"There can be no hatred where peace has spread its tabernacle in a person's heart. That is why the prayer for this holiday uses the term "A Peace tabernacle". Sukkot is the holiday of peace, the holiday when we erect a tabernacle to mark our wanderings in the desert of mundane life. Peace makes life into a holiday."

The Ministry which published these words is not far from Sheikh Jarrah. This is where Israeli peace activists set up a Sukka, jointly with the Palestinians who have been expelled from their homes. But the municipal building inspectors did not read the words of the philosopher and came to destroy it, three times they destroyed it so that the message would be loud and clear: "Enough with this Peace Tabernacle - enough with peace, enough!"

The events around the Sheikh Jarah tabernacle can be seen at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teDol_n6t3c

The Locked Sea

Gaza is closed and locked. By land, and by sea, and by air. Gaza residents may not go out, and those who live elsewhere may not enter.

Those who attempt to defy the ban may come to a bad end. A few months ago, nine Turks returned home in coffins. The reasons why and how it happened this way are now investigated by no less than four commissions of inquiry in different locations around the world. Three days ago the 20 year old Gazan fisherman Mohammed Baker tried to sail into the Mediterranean, away from the shores of Gaza, and got slightly beyond the limits set for him and his fellows by the Navy of the enlightened State of Israel. The gun boats opened fire, and Baker will never again sail anywhere.

Nevertheless, this night a small boat is sailing on the Mediterranean waves, en route to Gaza. A Jewish Peace Boat. Its passengers and crew are all Jews who don’t endorse the policies of a state which insists upon being recognized as a Jewish state, the Jewish State. Jews from Britain and Germany and the United States, as well as Jewish citizens of Israel.

Yonatan Shapira, a former helicopter pilot in the Israel Defense Forces – and whose former colleagues had carried the naval commandos who raided the previous Gaza Flotilla - called from the boat on them to refuse this time.

What will happen when the boat gets near the coast of Gaza? In a few hours we will probably know.

The clock is ticking

The clock is ticking. The decision will fall in 72 hours.

Naftali Bennett, General Manager of the settler Judea and Samaria Council, addressed the Prime Minister via large ads in the Israeli press. He demands that Mr. Netanyahu end the freeze and allow the resumption of full-scale construction in the settlements. If the Prime Minister does not respond to his demand, Mr. Bennett threatens to mobilize Knesset Members and government ministers to topple the government.

Barack Obama, President of the United States addressed the Prime Minister directly and urgently, via a televised speech from the podium of the UN General Assembly. He demands that Mr. Netanyahu continue the freeze and facilitate continuation of negotiations with the Palestinians. The President did not elaborate on what he would do if the prime minister does not respond to his demand.

What will Netanyahu decide? Samer Sirhan of Silwan will never know. He was killed yesterday - by a settler.