Archive for May, 2009
I expect I’ve mentioned my first subject for today before as Israeli news, but unfortunately it happens continuously. And I am talking about the great number of road accidents. The news programs here so often begin with the large number of these, giving the hight statistics of the number of dead and wounded. There seems no end to this. can it be due to the pressure we live under, the constant fight for security? Or do so relatively many accidents also happen in other countries?
And talking of local happenings - there was another honour killing in an Arab village. A father shot his teen-age daughter to death because he said he believed she was having a romantic affair with a man he thought unsuitable. Even if he had been thought “suitable”, a “good” Muslim girl does not talk with male strangers when not accompanied. This is of course not the only “honour killing” to have been committed, and it probably won’t be the last. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Observations
Today I’ll begin by mentioning a rather minor subject, which is the European Song Contest, the “Eurovision” which took place this last Saturday in Moscow. Israel has been taking part in this for many years, and we even came out first a couple of times, when Israel was more popular in the world.
This year Israel finished 16th out of 25 competitors in the finals, which didn’t surprise many of us, seeing how Israel is regarded by so many countries these days. Actually the Israeli singers were an example for peaceful relations, they were Achinoam Nini, who is a well known peace activist - and an Israeli Arab woman singer, Mira Awad. They sang a song in Arabic, Hebrew and English. I think the voting was more political than musical, but even so, I hope those two got their message across.
Tags: This week Israel Independence Day passed quietly, people celebrated, went on picnics in national parks, beaches and forest areas and there were no terrorist acts, although there had been some warnings, and our security forces were on “stand-by”, and the movement in places of believed danger were limited. The Palestinians especially like to perform their despicable deeds on Jewish holidays.
Posted in Observations
Yesterday our Prime Minister Natanyahu met with the Egyptian President Mubarak at Sharm-a-Sheich and the two discussed the peace process. naturally they did not agree on all subjects. Natanyahu said Israel wanted real peace, but needed confirmation that the Palestinians, who unfortunately are under Hamas rule, did not believe in the destruction of Israel. He also said that economic, educational and other conditions should be fulfulled as a beginning. Evidently in another two eeks or so, discussions on this subject will take place with the Arabs. But before that, Prime Minister Natanyahu will be meeting with President Obama in Washington, and we hope that pressure will not be applied on us to give in to all Arab demands. And another visit, this time to Israel, took place yesterday, when in the morning the Pope arrived here, after spending a day in Jordan and meeting the king there, as well as others.
Our president, Shimon Peres, is now visiting the United States. He has a full agenda. Yesterday he addressed the American Israel Public Affairs committee at their annual conference, and later met Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry. He is of course, in a manner, preparing for our Prime Minister’s coming visit to President Obama.
Prime Minister Nataniyahu who is also also coming for a visit in another week, has lately said that he agreed to a two-state solution, but he must have a partner for that amongst the Arabs, one who does not deny the right of Israel to exist. He believes that the Israel-Palestine problems should not be tied to the Iranian nuclear bomb one.
Today Shimon Peres will also meet President Obama , also Vice-President Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House. I hope the two Presidents will have a good meeting.
This week Israel Independence Day passed quietly, people celebrated, went on picnics in national parks, beaches and forest areas and there were no terrorist acts, although there had been some warnings, and our security forces were on “stand-by”, and the movement in places of believed danger were limited. The Palestinians especially like to perform their despicable deeds on Jewish holidays.
Strangely enough, most of the news here these days concerns an international subject, the “Swine Flu”. So far there are two cases of this in Israel, evidently on their way to recovery, and five others were hospitalised, but laboratory results showed that four of them did not have this disease, one other is still waiting for the outcome. But an open phone line has been set up for people to ask questions about the Swine Flu, and the most often asked question apparently is “Should we abstain from going abroad?”. The answer is “No, you can go abroad, but go to Mexico only if it is really only of great importance.”
Posted in Observations