Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Vita quotidiana a Hebron

Da Ha'Aretz.
Tanto per capire da dove viene la furia degli attacchi suicidi.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=213083
Cave-men and women
With Hebron under curfew, Jewish pilgrims flock to the Tomb of the
Patriarchs in a Sukkot tour that ends in tragedy. On the armored bus
that made its way from Jerusalem to Hebron sat soldiers and Jewish
settlers from the territories. The soldiers were from Paratroop
Battalion 101, who guard the Jewish settlement in the city. Along the
way the bus went past Palestinian villages. One of the soldiers, his
face pressed up against the armored window, threw out to the officer
sitting next to him: "Does what we're doing to them look okay to you?"
The officer did not reply. 
"Truth is," said the soldier, "I am not able to argue with a
Palestinian child who tells me he wants to visit his mother who is on
the other side. How can I keep a child apart from his mother? What do
you say?"
The officer tried to brush off the pesky soldier. "It really is a
problem," he said.
"My problem," added the soldier, "is that I believe them on a human
basis. Listen, we're also human beings and it's hard for me to see
their suffering in the curfew. My friends in Tel Aviv pester me all
the time about the way we are torturing the Palestinians. What can I
tell them?"
Officer: "Tell them that you're a soldier and you do what you're
told."
Soldier: "What? Do we have to do everything we're told?" 
Officer: "You're mixing politics into the army." 
"But my friends aren't talking about politics," continued the soldier.
"They're talking on a human basis. Isn't there morality in the army?
Has everything become politics?"
A young Jewish settler, who was eavesdropping on the conversation,
sent glances full of understanding and pity in the direction of the
anguished soldier. "Listen, do you understand what I'm saying?" the
soldier called to him.
Settler: "If that's the way you feel, why don't you ask to be released
from the army?"
"You don't understand," corrected the soldier. "I was in America with
my family and I came to Israel especially in order to volunteer for
the Paratroops. All my friends are in elite units like Sayeret Matkal
and Duvdevan and all kinds of combat units. What bothers me is that
we've stopped being combat soldiers. We're just guarding settlers and
chasing after Palestinians."
Another soldier joined the conversation: "Don't pay any attention to
him," he apologized to the young settler. "His leftist friends have
screwed him up with all kinds of nonsense. The guys in the company
aren't like him. He's just deviant."
The bus stopped near Kiryat Arba and the soldiers gathered up their
bags, shouldered their weapons and alighted. More operational duties
awaited them, putting out fires in one of the most flammable places in
the world.
Basking in sanctity 
Morning in Hebron. During the coming hours thousands of the faithful
will stream in to pray at the Tomb of the Patriarchs and stroll
through the twisting alleyways of the Jewish quarter, which is
undergoing renewal. The pilgrimage to Hebron takes place twice a year,
during the intermediate days of Sukkot and during the intermediate
days of Passover. Thousands of pilgrims stream into the city to bask
in its sanctity. The celebrations go on for three days, during which
the inhabitants of the Jewish settlement tell the story of their daily
sacrifice and their struggle to expand the Jewish stronghold in the
city. Time was when tens of thousands flocked here, but in the past
two years the number of visitors dropped to mere hundreds. The
intifada was raging, visiting the Jewish quarter became dangerous and
Israelis stayed away from Hebron, fearing for their lives.
This time the organizers felt that tens of thousands would again come
to the city of the patriarchs. They had good reason to be optimistic.
In recent months it has been quiet in Hebron, with no terror attacks
or shooting incidents between soldiers and Palestinians recorded.
While Israeli tanks rumbled back and forth in other Palestinian cities
in the West Bank, Hebron remained out of the picture.
Bezalel Zur and his wife Rivka wouldn't miss the celebrations in
Hebron for all the money in the world. They live in the Jewish
settlement of Alon Shvut in the Etzion Bloc of the West Bank and twice
a year they come with their children to celebrate the Jews' return to
the city of the patriarchs. This is what they did this week too. Rivka
says that there is no human experience that compares with worshiping
at the Tomb of the Patriarchs. For believers, Hebron is a lynchpin of
the faith and the Tomb of the Patriarchs is a link to the beginnings
of the Jewish people. Here, the possession of the land began. Here,
according to the tradition of the kabbalistic Book of the Zohar, Adam
and Eve are buried. Here is the beginning of mankind. Here is the
beginning of the kingdom and here is the beginning of Jewish
settlement in the territories that were occupied by Israel in the
Six-Day War.
"The gene of the creation of the world burst forth in our father
Abraham," explained Rivka, her eyes bright with emotion, "and Abraham
is buried here, right here, in the Tomb of the Patriarchs. So what is
more holy than this place? I, for example, have anxieties about the
security situation and all kinds of existential anxieties, and I have
fears for the safety of my children and my relatives. Where can a
woman like me find the answer to this terrible mental disquiet? Only
here, in this cave where the spirit of our father Abraham hovers."
Rivka worked as a hospital nurse before she began to devote her time
to art and painting. Recently, she has returned to her former
profession, because she needs the additional income. In the past, her
burning faith led her to settle in Yamit and when the Jewish
settlements in Sinai were evacuated she moved to the settlement of
Alon Shvut. The visit to the Tomb of the Patriarchs excites her and
reinforces her faith in the justness of her path.
"I come here to take in strength," she added. "When I pray, the tears
fall endlessly. Because this isn't just any tomb - it is the soul of
our father Abraham. My encounter with prayer at the Tomb of the
Patriarchs leads me to touch one of my spiritual heights. When I pray
at the Western Wall, I cry tears of sadness. Here at the Tomb of the
Patriarchs, the prayers shake my foundations and give me more strength
to continue and more meaning to my life."
As she and her husband Bezalel see it, the political dispute in Israel
is nurtured by the asymmetry between the faith of religious people
like themselves and the beliefs of the secular. "The main question is
when the history of the Jewish people began," says Bezalel, "from the
first immigration to Israel or from the First Temple? It all boils
down to the political question about the Land of Israel."
Rivka has firm convictions about the secular. "I feel that their
belief leads them to a dead end; they don't have anything that is
keeping them here and therefore it is reasonable that they leave this
country. If what drives them is sexual satisfaction and career
satisfaction then in the end they will be overloaded. Because there is
overloading in every licentious society. How much can a person satisfy
his lusts? Cream cake that becomes everyday food in the end leads to
disgust. For us, the cream cake is reserved for the Sabbath and
holiday eves, and therefore we sanctify it."
Her two young daughters, Sarah and Bat-Ami, listened avidly to her
words. Their elder brothers have already left home and gone to live in
various places in the territories: Netanel lives in the Migron
stronghold near the settlement of Efrat, Elisha is at Beit El and Ro'i
is at Elon Moreh. Sarah is doing national service and Bat-Ami attends
high school in Kiryat Arba. The children, most of them born after 1967
in territories that Israel occupied, have all built their homes on
disputed land.
"Those poor secular people," continued Rivka. "Their belief has
nothing in it, and it leads them to sadness. No wonder they're
shallow. They buy another car and another plane ticket abroad. They
are already so full up of all the pleasures of this world and they
have nothing in the world to come. I believe that in the Torah there
is a spark of faith and for their sakes, I hope that they achieve some
spirituality. It makes no difference whether in India or anywhere
else. The main thing is that they should have satisfaction for their
souls. As far as this is concerned, we're in good shape. I took this
in back when I was a fetus in my mother's womb. My struggle in the
Land of Israel is the answer to what the Nazis did to my mother and
her family."
From this, she says, derives the political disagreement between the
religious and the secular and their different attitudes toward Hebron
and the Tomb of the Patriarchs. "If the secular knew anything about
the history of the Jewish people, everything would be different," she
added pityingly. "When you are cut off from your root, it's no wonder
that you're prepared to give everything back."
`Too many gentiles' 
A small woman wearing a head-covering walks near the Tomb of the
Patriarchs, a prayer book in hand. In the Jewish settlement she is
considered to be a mythological figure for having succeeded in bending
a government to her will and overcoming an entire army. Nahshon is the
woman who paved the way to renewing the old cemetery in Hebron more
than 20 years ago. She insisted on burying there her baby Avraham, who
succumbed to crib death when he was four months old, despite the
government's opposition. Nahshon left her home in Kiryat Arba, loaded
her dead baby into a van and set out for Hebron. Settlers and soldiers
were waiting for her. The settlers urged her to go ahead to the old
cemetery, the soldiers tried to send her back to Kiryat Arba. Finally,
the government knuckled under to the threats of the settlers and
ordered the astonished soldiers to allow the funeral at the old
cemetery.
Nahshon's victory made her an admired heroine and a role model among
the Jewish settlers. On Monday this week, as the celebrations were
going on, her face took on a gloomy expression. "There used to be
sanctity here and there were spiritual things here," she explained,
"but today it's gone. In Hebron it still exists, but in Kiryat Arba it
has vanished because of the gentiles. There are too many gentiles who
have come from Ukraine and Russia and Romania. How the hell can they
bring Ukrainians who killed my parents and my ancestors to Kiryat
Arba? I can't understand this crime."
The more she talked, the more agitated she became. "Who needs those
gentiles in our midst?" she screamed. "We are a Jewish state and not a
state of Ukrainian criminals who have killed Jews. All those leftists,
may their name be erased, are the ones who brought them to the Land of
Israel. And do you know why? So that they would vote for them in the
elections. Villains."
Her screaming mingled with the Hasidic singing that came from the
performance stage near the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
Creeping occupation 
Reality never stops in this city. Every death and every murder brings
a change in the purpose of lands and buildings. Before 1967, the
Palestinians took over Jewish property and did what they liked with
it. After 1967 came the revenge of the Jews, who took back what they
believed belonged to them. There has never been a break since in the
creeping occupation by the Jews. For years they coveted the row of
Palestinian shops next to the Avraham Avinu (Our Father Abraham)
neighborhood. The murder of baby Shalhevet Pass afforded a golden
opportunity for additional snatches. On the night after the murder,
shops were burned down, and after awhile their owners were not allowed
to take their property back. The buildings were refurbished and their
purposes changed. From Palestinian shops they became apartments for
Jewish settlers. One of the shops became a kollel (yeshiva for married
men) called Rinat Shalhevet, after the baby girl who was murdered.
In one of the apartments lives a young couple who were married about
half a year ago, Anna Sharabaf - the adopted daughter of Uzi Sharabaf,
who served time in prison for his participation in the Jewish
underground - and Shimshon Haim. Anna grew up in Hebron and Shimshon
in Yizhar. He spent most of his days at the yeshiva at Joseph's Tomb
near Nablus. "They've probably fled to Kuwait or other places," said
Anna of the Palestinian shop owners.
Another row of shops has also been closed down and its proprietors
thrown out by Jewish settlers, as soldiers stood by passively.
"The Abu Sneina neighborhood is also empty," added Anna, firmly
indicating the Palestinian neighborhood that overlooks the houses of
the Jewish settlement in Hebron. From one of the houses on the hill
the bullet that killed Shalhevet Pass was fired about a year and a
half ago. The settlers ordered the army to occupy the hill and the
army obeyed, in part. It took control of the hill, but did not occupy
it. This week, an Israeli flag fluttered in the wind over one of the
houses at the top of Abu Sneina. "We have a position there for
observation," explained a paratrooper.
Shimshon, who wears a large white skullcap that covers his head, says
that now is the time to go into Abu Sneina and occupy it. Anna says
that with a "lily-livered government" like the one we have now,
unfortunately, "There is not a chance that this will happen."
Two paratroopers stood in Gross Square, decked out in protective
devices from head to toe. One of them revealed that the curfew had
been imposed on Hebron with no advance notice. "So that the religious
Jews could hold their celebrations," added the other. "Anyway, why
give advance notice? Aren't they used to this shit? What kind of life
do they have here when there's no curfew? Really horrible. So there is
a curfew or there isn't a curfew - it makes no difference to them.
They've become so used to living in shit that nothing moves them."
Opposite the square, next to what used to be shops under Palestinian
ownership, a few foreign workers were on their noon break. They came
to Hebron from Shanghai to work on the expansion of the Jewish
presence in the city. They do not know Hebrew, but they never stop
smiling.
Blood in the casbah 
In a generous gesture to the Jewish settlers, the army allowed the
casbah to be added to the list of sites to visit. In any case a curfew
was imposed on both parts of the divided city - the part that is under
Israeli control and the part that is under Palestinian control - and
therefore there was no obstacle to opening the Hebron casbah to
Israeli visitors. Hourly, a group of day-trippers from the Jewish
settlement set out in the direction of the casbah. To protect them,
they were accompanied by paratroopers who surrounded them on all sides
with their weapons at the ready. It was obvious on the soldiers' faces
that they were not altogether pleased with the touristic mission that
had been imposed on them. A young officer with the rank of second
lieutenant warned the trippers of the risk and demanded that they not
deviate from the itinerary that had been set. "If there's shooting,
you have to evacuate the place and let us take action," he said.
As he was giving instructions, hostile Palestinian gazes followed the
tourism activity that was going on under their windows. None of the
trippers felt uncomfortable in this surrealistic situation.
"Why can't they be kept under curfew all the time?" one of the
trippers asked the guide.
"Ask the government," she replied. 
In a large courtyard, the guide, Tehila Ben Yosef from Hebron, pointed
out signs and indications that Jews had been in the casbah in years
past: She identified scars on a wall where a mezuzah had been ripped
off. The curfew is so absolute that no signs of life are heard from
the houses.
"Where are the Arabs?" asked one of the trippers. 
"Don't worry," interjected another tripper. "After the holidays they
will let them out again."
Tehila: "It used to be that Jews and Arabs lived here." 
Tripper: "But it all belongs to the Jews." 
On the shut doors are drawings of the star of David and slogans, in
most of which the word "revenge" appears. On one door, in big letters,
there is the inscription: "I hate you - you stinkers."
On one door frame, Tehila points out signs of a candelabrum that had
been carved on it. "The Arabs try to erase all traces of the Jews.
They plaster over any Jewish sign."
Tripper: "May their name be erased." 
Eliezer Afarsimon joined the tour. He was euphoric. It is not often
that Palestinians are locked into their homes for such a sublime
purpose. "It's all ours," he explained and pointed to the locked and
shuttered houses on either side. "Would you have believed that we
would be here? That we would walk around like this inside the casbah?
We in Hebron feel that we are victorious. The political game is still
going on, but we have won. All of Hebron is now under our control."
All the while, glances of hatred were sent through the barred windows.
The trippers continued enjoying their tour and only the soldiers
walked nervously, as if they sensed immediate danger. As the sun set,
a round of shots tore through the dim casbah and hit a group of
Israeli trippers. Within minutes a great hullabaloo ensued. Shlomo
Shapira was killed by the shooting. His three sons were injured -
Shuki, age 9, seriously and Pinhas and Yehuda lightly.
Marzel marvels 
About two hours after the bloody incident, Baruch Marzel walked around
near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in high spirits. The thousands of
religious and ultra- Orthodox visitors, and the Yiddish that was heard
at high volume, gave the place the look of a Jewish town in Eastern
Europe.
"There's not a Jew in the world that isn't moved by the Tomb of the
Patriarchs," he enthused, "excepting of course spoiled Jews or Jews
who are screwed up in some way. Show me a people that has a monument
like this. Show me a holy site where not a stone has been moved for
2,000 years. Show me anywhere else in the world where both peoples
pray together."
Marzel found it hard to complete his thoughts. The celebrants
identified him, smothered him in embraces and dragged him along to the
celebrations and the dancing.
 
By Daniel Ben Simon

Tanto per capire da dove viene la furia degli attacchi suicidi.
Da dove dovrebbe venire?  Sono curioso.
-Stefano


Capire invece che se si fa una guerra se ne patiscono le sofferenze?
NON VOGLIONO LE SOFFERENZE?
FIRMINO LA PACE.
Ad'I

 Ad'I (il felice verme di letame e leccaculo di De Cesari il demente)
=Si . Firmino la pace proposta dal verme di letame
Bis vincit se vincit in victoria
Dente Blu

...

Eggia...
From: Giorgio Torrieri (
luno...@hotmail.com
)
Date: 2002-09-04 17:49:49 PST 
Subject: Sharon respince piano di pace dell'UE 
Newsgroups: it.politica.internazionale
http://www.ansa.it/settori/webnews/20020904213632318860.html
(ANSA) - GERUSALEMME, 4 SET - Il premier israeliano Sharon ha respinto
il piano di pace europeo che prevede la creazione di uno Stato
palestinese indipendente entro il 2005. Sharon ha respinto diversi
punti del piano che gli aveva presentato il ministro degli esteri
danese Moeller, il cui Paese ha la presidenza di turno dell'Unione
Europea. Il premier ha affermato che 'non ci potra' essere il minimo
progresso fino a che Arafat sara' alla guida dell'Autorita'
palestinese. /RED
Tanto per ricordarvi, sia Sharon che Bush hanno respinto, nel 2002, un
piano di pace accettato da tutta la Lega Araba, dagli stati
democratici e moderati (tipo Giordania e Libano) all'Irak e l'Arabia
Saudita, proprio perche' basato sul ritorno ai confini del
1967 ( "a return to the 1967 borders will destroy Israel" ,Ariel
Sharon dal New York Times, 5/4/02).
Ora, erano i Palestinesi a "non volere la pace"?!
GT

 democratici e moderati (tipo Giordania e Libano) 
Il Libano democratico? Vuoi dire che nella composizione del governo e
nelle sue decisioni influisce piu' il popolo libanese del regime
Siriano?
Ale
--
*La sconfitta reclama ad alta voce perche' esige spiegazioni; mentre la
vittoria, come la carita', nasconde un gran numero di peccati*
Alfred T. Mahan

 Siriano?
Hanno un parlamento eletto con diversi candidati, partiti, stampa piu' o meno
indipendente.
Certo, la Siria ha parecchia influenza, ma del resto in altri paesi
definiti democratici (USA prima di tutto) ci sono interessi e lobbies tutt'altro
che democratiche che hanno un potere simile a quello Siriano in Libano.
GT

 GT
Un piccolissimo particolare, il piano prevedeva, da una parte il ritiro di
tutti i coloni, perché la convivenza è impossibile.
Dall'altra prevedeva il diritto per tutti i palestinesi di trasmigrare in
Israele.
Come potrebbe vivere un isola ebrea in un oceano arabo ostile che nel quale
molti stati dichiarano esplicitamente di volerla distruggere; con cinque
milioni di palestinesi all'interno, metà dei quali sostenitori di Hamas e
Jahd.
Tanto varrebbe distruggere subito Israele, eviteremmo almeno la caccia
all'ebreo casa per casa.
Ciao
Ad'I

 di trasmigrare in Israele.
Per i profughi e i loro discendenti.
Anche qui' ,francamente, per principio quella gente dovrebbe avere il
diritto di tornare a casa
e prendere possesso delle terre a loro rubate, anche se, sul piano
pratico, non credo che avverra'.
GT

 Libano.
Non sono d'accordo. La Siria mantiene decine di migliaia di soldati in
Libano, le lobbies USA non mantengono forze militari a Washington D.C.
Mi paiono situazioni non paragonabili.
Proprio a sforzarsi, ma a sforzarsi molto, potremmo definire il Libano
(ma anche la Giordania che senno' mi accusano di parzialita')
proto-democrazie.
Ciao
Ale

No.
far capire le cose a te e' piu' difficile che farle capire ad  Alter Ego 
c'č una differenza .  Lui le spiegazioni non le legge , e tu si  
addio .
credit: sgas (
sg...@despammed.com
)

proto-democrazie.
Facciamo democrazia precaria e da poco uscita da una guerra.
Sulla Giordania ci sarebbe da discutere un po' di piu' (non e' che la Monarchia
la' sia tanto costituzionale:  Abdullah ha annullato le elezioni di quest'anno per
timore di una vittoria Islamica).
GT

 qualcosa di sperabilmente migliore sul  lungo periodo 
L'ho pensato a lungo anchio, ma mi sto ricredendo sul concetto di
despotismo illuminato.
Ciao


 timore di una vittoria Islamica).
Mica ho detto che e' democratica, non lo e' in modo diverso. E' solo
piu' stabile.
ciao
