Hamastan

Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, plans to perform a second "disengagement" from the Gaza strip, says the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. The plan, we is to be presented to Catherine Ashton, the European Union commissioner for foreign affairs, during her scheduled visit to Israel next week, accompanied by six European foreign ministers.


This disengagement will include the complete removal of the naval siege on one hand and on the other will include the removal of all the Palestinian dependencies on Israel. This means that the Palestinians will need to produce their own drinking water, electricity, handle waste water, and so on - or in other words: they'll need to start acting as an independent country, which - everybody presumes - this is what the Palestinians are aiming for.

This plan - which should be considered as a major step in the process of establishing an independent Palestinian country - was already rejected by Hamas officials, saying "This is an (Israeli) attempt to evade its responsibility for the siege. The removal of the siege is a legal right according to international and human rights law, and we must separate between the removal of the siege and the disengagement of the Strip from the rest of the homeland".

... Or in other words: removing the siege from Gaza is nice, establishing an independent state in Gaza is good, but this will not end the conflict, and war will continue until the "rest of the homeland" - commonly known as the State of Israel - is "freed from the Jewish occupation".

So, again in other words, Hamas once again declares that it does not aim for peace or freedom within the borders set in 1967 - Hamas is aiming for the destruction of Israel.



And Israel is the aggressor?

Queen of Hypocrisy

Rania, queen of Jordan recently publised a children's book, along with an American writer - Kelly DiPucchio, and an American illustrator - Tricia Tusa.

The book is called "The Sandwich Swap" and it speaks about two girls who come from different cultures: Salma has pita and humus, representing the Arabic "world", and Lily has a sandwich with peanut butter and jelly, obviously representing America. At first, the two girls don't get together, but later - as the story "evolves" - they become friends and they share their lunch with each other.

As a kids, educational, story - this is all very nice. The problem is when this comes to "real life", and that is where the queen failed: when offered to translate her book to Hebrew - Her Highness refused.

As far as the Jordanian queen - who is originally a Palestinian - is concerned - it's okay to share, trade, become friends - all of this is very nice, but doesn't apply to Israelies, and the only way the queen could make this any clearer was to say that Lily and Salma become friends only to join forces against Sara and her Matzo bread...

It's in our Teva

Teva, in Hebrew, means "nature", but when people speak of Teva this days, it is usually in the context of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, the known Israeli pharmaceuticals company. That's why I was surprised to see the name Teva among Amazon's 100 Best Selling Shoes. Only then did I find that Teva Naot is selling shoes over Amazon, Zappos, and other known websites.

In fact, item #4 in Amazon's best selling shoes, in Teva's Women's Olowahu Sandal. As item #11 you can find Teva again with Women's Mush Flip Flop, and again with item #16, #22, and #25.

I didn't go over Amazon's list beyong the Top 25, but 5 items out of 25 is a very impressive "status" for a small Israeli company, standing equal among world's famous shoes brands.

With Teva Pharmaceutical keeping people healthy, and Teva Naot making shoes, I guess you can really say these Israeli guys keep the world on the move - but that's not surprising - it's in our nature!