[yshavurah] FW: this week's snippets - Happy Hanukah!
- From: "Cherie Kurland" <kurlandc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "yellow springs havurah" <yshavurah@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2003 20:43:42 -0500
----- Original Message -----
From: Cherie Kurland
To: Susan Romer snippets
Sent: 12/14/03 8:59:54 PM
Subject: this week's snippets - Happy Hanukah!
Dayton, OH Set your VCRs: ?Dayton?s Jewish War Veterans? airs on ch. 20, DATV
for those on Time Warner cable in Dayton and areas north of the city, on the
following dates and times: Mon., 12/15 6pm; and Mon., 12/29 8pm.
Editor?s Notes: The more I think about Israel, and publish these "snippets",
the more I want to tell everyone to respond to the repetitive messages of the
Electronic Intifada with the thoughts and questions no one raises. For
examples:
"Oy, the life in the Palestinian refugee camps is so wretched!" Ans: "Yes,
and it would be much better if Arafat hadn't squirreled away $900 million
dollars into his own and his cronies' coffers."
"There should be a right of return." Ans. "And what about the right of return
for the Jews who were kicked out of or fled the Muslim countries around the
disputed territories?" or "Because every Muslim nation that has had a large
Palestinian population has kicked them out - Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon - because
the Palestinians have violently disagreed with, and/or tried to overthrow,
those nations' governments?"
"The Palestinians have no water." Ans. "They'd have more if they didn't tear
up their water pipelines to make pipe bombs and drill illegal wells, and used
the diverted $900 million to build infrastructure."
"The Palestinians' problems are all Israel's fault." Ans. "Has any
Palestinian leader come up with a plan to develop economic self-sufficiency?"
Forward some of yours, and I?ll put them in future issues!
Two paragraphs from Israel?s 1948 Declaration of Independence: from
http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/History/Dec_of_Indep.html :
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering
of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of
all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as
envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social
and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or
sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and
culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be
faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations?..
WE EXTEND our hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of
peace and good neighbourliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of
cooperation and mutual help with the sovereign Jewish people settled in its own
land. The State of Israel is prepared to do its share in a common effort for
the advancement of the entire Middle East.
In stark contrast, From www.jcpa.org/daily for 12/12/03: Riots Follow Hamas
Victory in Ramallah Student Elections - 100 Wounded (NewsFirstClass-Hebrew)
After student elections at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah, which the Islamic
Bloc of Hamas and Islamic Jihad won with 2,600 votes compared with 2,100 for
the Fatah list, Fatah sought to show by force who was "in charge." Together
with Palestinian security forces, primarily from Preventive Security, Fatah
"shabiba" began to beat the candidates of Hamas and Islamic Jihad and their
supporters, and threw rocks and bottles. Palestinian sources report that
security forces opened fire on the crowd, and over 100 students were lightly
wounded. Similar elections are to be held at Bethlehem University on December
17.
The campaign for the student government council at Bir Zeit University ?
featured exploding models of Israeli buses and claims of prowess based on
Israeli casualties. At a debate, the Hamas candidate asked the Fatah candidate:
"Hamas activists in this university killed 135 Zionists. How many did Fatah
activists from Bir Zeit kill?" (AP)
From
http://www.aish.com/chanukahstories/chanukahstoriesdefault/Holocaust_Survival.asp:
The pious Jewish inmates in Bergen-Belsen were determined to kindle Chanukah
lights and chant the appropriate Hebrew blessings. They were abject slaves,
temporarily permitted to live and toil until their strength gave out. Death
lurked on all sides. Even if they could manage to avoid detection by their
taskmasters, they lacked the essential materials: Chanukah candles and a
Menorah. Yet, a seemingly impossible celebration came about on the first night
of Chanukah 1943 in Bergen-Belsen. ?.
Living in the shadow of death, and not knowing when their own turn would come,
the Jewish inmates were determined to celebrate Chanukah in the traditional
manner and draw whatever spiritual strength they could from the story of the
Maccabees.
- From their meager food portions, the men saved up some bits of fat.
The women, for their part, pulled threads from their tattered garments and
twisted them into a makeshift wick.
- For want of a real Menorah, a candle-holder was fashioned out of raw
potato.
- Even Chanukah dreidels for the dozen children in the camp were
carved out of wooden shoes that the inmates wore.
Reactions to capture of Saddam Hussein - From
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=b9fd97fba93906cfb232fbc81a0f5792:
??.Aljazeera.net published a Reuters dispatch [including] ?. ? from Nafiz
Azam of Islamic Jihad, who said, "Iraqi people are fighting for freedom and
there is not just one person behind this resistance."?. MENA, an Egyptian news
agency, ran a Dec. 14 article quoting Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi, the
second-in-command of the Islamic militant group Hamas. He said that he expected
"more resistance" after Saddam Hussein's capture?.?
From
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer&cid=1071395079853
(includes excellent summary of long-term support by Palestinians of Saddam?s
rule ? read whole article): ??.On the streets of Ramallah on Sunday, many
Palestinians expressed sorrow and shock at the capture of Saddam. Jihan
Ajlouni, a 24-year-old university student, said, "This is a big loss for the
Arab nation. Saddam was one of the great Arab leaders who supported the
Palestinian people and many Arabs. We feel very sad today, and we say to all
the traitors and collaborators: Don't rush to celebrate because there are
millions of Saddams in the Arab world."
?.Palestinian legislator Hatem Abdel Kader said he too hopes that Saddam's
capture would serve as a lesson for the rest of the Arab dictators. "I think
the Iraqis can finally celebrate their birthday," he said. "This is the fate of
all tyrants. This is a humiliating end for a dictator, but we wish he had been
caught by the Iraqis and not the Americans." Abdel Kader, one of the top Fatah
leaders, said many Palestinians were disappointed that Saddam did not try to
defend himself. ?.
--- Cherie Kurland
--- kurlandc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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