בדד, במשעול אל האין
בדד, בנתיב ללא כלום
בדד, עם הזמן הבורח
והזמן לא שוכח להציב את הגבול
בדד, בלי כף יד מלטפת
בדד, ללא שכם ידיד
בדד, כמה טוב לא לדעת
שידך כבר נוגעת
בידו של אחר
בדד אלך גם תפילה אין לי
בדד בלי עתיד בלי תקווה בלי חלום
בדד אלך גם תפילה אין לי
בדד בלי עתיד בלי תקווה בלי חלום
בדד, כמו השמש אנדודה
בדד, במדבר הלוהט
בדד, גם דמעות הן רק הבל
שיר מזמור אין לסבל
שיר מזמור של אילמים.
בדד אלך...
Ask me what a Blotnik is. This Blog is my Public Blog. Sometimes in Hebrew. I have found that Books and the Internet have something in common, Life is to Short to read all the books you would like to read, (not those that you do not want). Also 24 Hours a day is not Enough for all you would like to do on the Internet!
Friday, December 30, 2005
Thursday, December 29, 2005
2005 was turning point for Linux: Business Week
A Watershed for Open Source By Sarah Lacy
Wed Dec 28, 8:13 AM ET
Open-source software isn't a new phenomenon. It has been winding its way through the tech world for decades, starting with Richard Stallman's Free Software movement in 1980s. But only in recent years have businesses warmed to the promise of low-cost, openly available software. In fact, open-source programs have become so popular, they now pose a legitimate threat to the established software giants.
Looking back, 2005 will likely be viewed as a turning point. It was a year when CIOs signed off on open-source projects, a big change from previous years when that happened only after low-level engineers started such projects on their own initiative. It was a year when venture capitalists woke up to the new business opportunities of open source. It was a year when open source was the word on the lips of not just early adopters but of an early majority. According to a new study by consulting firm Opteros, 87% of organizations are now using open-source software, somewhere.
BusinessWeek Online paused in the final days of 2005 to poll a dozen experts, investors, early adopters, and entrepreneurs to get their take on the five biggest open-source events of 2005 -- as well as what to expect for 2006. The following are based on their responses.
1. Red Hat finally proves to everyone it can make money from free software. It took Red Hat (NasdaqNM:RHAT - News), which sells and supports a version of the Linux operating system for businesses, nearly 10 years to find its footing, but boy has it. On Dec. 22 it announced stellar third-quarter earnings, with revenues up 43.6%, to $73.1 million, and profits up 114%, to 12 cents per share.
Finally, the Linux movement has a pure open-source success story to point to, and as practically the only vendor that's publicly traded, Red Hat has become a hot commodity. The stock is trading north of $28 as of Dec. 27, up from $13.06 at the beginning of 2005 -- a boost of more than 110%.
And Wall Street is bullish about next year. "Red Hat is one of the best-positioned stocks in software and should be able to further capitalize on the growing demand for open source," wrote Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Jason Maynard in a post-earnings research note.
2. Sun Microsystems open sources everything -- except Java. One reason Linux is becoming mainstream is the broad endorsement from just about everyone who matters in techdom, whether it's Dell (NasdaqNM:DELL - News) or Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ - News), whose servers run Linux, or IBM (NYSE:IBM - News), which is making a name in open-source support and integration.
Enter Sun Microsystems (NasdaqNM:SUNW - News), which made a bold move in late November to open-source almost all of its software except Java. The move transformed Sun into one of the largest open-source software players overnight. Yet critics have complained that what open-source developers really want is Java.
Several experts expect that Sun might finally capitulate in 2006. "It took them a long time to realize if you don't open-source and you're not a market leader, you're dead," says Peter Yared, CEO of open-source startup Active Grid and a former Sun executive.
Novell (NasdaqNM:NOVL - News) is another company trying to revive its business through open source. The results have been mixed since it bought Red Hat competitor Suse Linux two years ago. Look for 2006 to be the year it gets its act together -- or gets a new management team (see BW, 10/31/05, "Cold Realities for Novell").
3. Motorola bets big on mobile Linux. Linux is commonplace on servers and is working its way onto many desktops around the world. But desktop- and server-makers don't have to worry about details like battery life. Wireless-phone manufacturers do, and that's Linux' next great frontier. Open Source Development Labs, a nonprofit group that governs and advocates for Linux, formed a Mobile Linux Initiative in October to address these problems.
Even more exciting for penguin lovers, Motorola (NYSE:MOT - News), the second-biggest handset maker in the world, announced that Linux would be its standard operating system for the bulk of its future phones. If the OSDL makes progress on the code, other handset makers could follow suit in 2006 (see BW Online, 11/8/05, "Linux Answers Phone Makers' Call").
4. Firefox goes mainstream. The bulk of open-source strides have been made in the business world, as most Linux phones are only sold in China, and Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) still dominates the desktop. Firefox is an important exception. The popular browser marked its 100 millionth download in October just before its first birthday, proving how well a mass market can accept open-source software when done right.
"There was a question as to whether we (open-source developers) could do user interfaces, and that's much less of a question now," says Bruce Perens, head of developer relations for open-source startup SourceLabs. Perens and some others think Linux desktop programs could gain steam among consumers in 2006, particularly in emerging countries in Asia and South America where Microsoft's Windows hasn't gained dominance.
5. Venture capitalists wake up to open source. Industry estimates show some $400 million was invested in open-source startups in 2005. Two types of companies dominated the landscape: First, so-called application companies, such as SugarCRM which makes customer relationship management software for companies and aims to compete with Siebel (NasdaqNM:SEBL - News) and Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM - News).
The other category is services companies, which play the middleman between open-source projects and the info-tech departments at large corporations. Companies such as SpikeSource and SourceLabs test and maintain applications like SugarCRM for companies (see BW Online, 10/3/05, "Open Source: Now It's an Ecosystem").
There's a lot of skepticism about these newer entrants. A few are hits, such as MySQL, which makes open-source database software and is said to be closing in on $40 million in revenues this year. But not too many others are showing much traction.
In 2006, they'll have to put up real revenues or shut down. "Half the companies that raised venture money in 2005 won't be able to raise money in 2006," says Matt Asay who organizes the annual Open Source Business Conference and is vice-president for business development at Alfresco, an open-source document-management startup.
All in all, it has been a pretty great year for open source. And 2006 may be even bigger and better.
Wed Dec 28, 8:13 AM ET
Open-source software isn't a new phenomenon. It has been winding its way through the tech world for decades, starting with Richard Stallman's Free Software movement in 1980s. But only in recent years have businesses warmed to the promise of low-cost, openly available software. In fact, open-source programs have become so popular, they now pose a legitimate threat to the established software giants.
Looking back, 2005 will likely be viewed as a turning point. It was a year when CIOs signed off on open-source projects, a big change from previous years when that happened only after low-level engineers started such projects on their own initiative. It was a year when venture capitalists woke up to the new business opportunities of open source. It was a year when open source was the word on the lips of not just early adopters but of an early majority. According to a new study by consulting firm Opteros, 87% of organizations are now using open-source software, somewhere.
BusinessWeek Online paused in the final days of 2005 to poll a dozen experts, investors, early adopters, and entrepreneurs to get their take on the five biggest open-source events of 2005 -- as well as what to expect for 2006. The following are based on their responses.
1. Red Hat finally proves to everyone it can make money from free software. It took Red Hat (NasdaqNM:RHAT - News), which sells and supports a version of the Linux operating system for businesses, nearly 10 years to find its footing, but boy has it. On Dec. 22 it announced stellar third-quarter earnings, with revenues up 43.6%, to $73.1 million, and profits up 114%, to 12 cents per share.
Finally, the Linux movement has a pure open-source success story to point to, and as practically the only vendor that's publicly traded, Red Hat has become a hot commodity. The stock is trading north of $28 as of Dec. 27, up from $13.06 at the beginning of 2005 -- a boost of more than 110%.
And Wall Street is bullish about next year. "Red Hat is one of the best-positioned stocks in software and should be able to further capitalize on the growing demand for open source," wrote Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Jason Maynard in a post-earnings research note.
2. Sun Microsystems open sources everything -- except Java. One reason Linux is becoming mainstream is the broad endorsement from just about everyone who matters in techdom, whether it's Dell (NasdaqNM:DELL - News) or Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ - News), whose servers run Linux, or IBM (NYSE:IBM - News), which is making a name in open-source support and integration.
Enter Sun Microsystems (NasdaqNM:SUNW - News), which made a bold move in late November to open-source almost all of its software except Java. The move transformed Sun into one of the largest open-source software players overnight. Yet critics have complained that what open-source developers really want is Java.
Several experts expect that Sun might finally capitulate in 2006. "It took them a long time to realize if you don't open-source and you're not a market leader, you're dead," says Peter Yared, CEO of open-source startup Active Grid and a former Sun executive.
Novell (NasdaqNM:NOVL - News) is another company trying to revive its business through open source. The results have been mixed since it bought Red Hat competitor Suse Linux two years ago. Look for 2006 to be the year it gets its act together -- or gets a new management team (see BW, 10/31/05, "Cold Realities for Novell").
3. Motorola bets big on mobile Linux. Linux is commonplace on servers and is working its way onto many desktops around the world. But desktop- and server-makers don't have to worry about details like battery life. Wireless-phone manufacturers do, and that's Linux' next great frontier. Open Source Development Labs, a nonprofit group that governs and advocates for Linux, formed a Mobile Linux Initiative in October to address these problems.
Even more exciting for penguin lovers, Motorola (NYSE:MOT - News), the second-biggest handset maker in the world, announced that Linux would be its standard operating system for the bulk of its future phones. If the OSDL makes progress on the code, other handset makers could follow suit in 2006 (see BW Online, 11/8/05, "Linux Answers Phone Makers' Call").
4. Firefox goes mainstream. The bulk of open-source strides have been made in the business world, as most Linux phones are only sold in China, and Microsoft (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) still dominates the desktop. Firefox is an important exception. The popular browser marked its 100 millionth download in October just before its first birthday, proving how well a mass market can accept open-source software when done right.
"There was a question as to whether we (open-source developers) could do user interfaces, and that's much less of a question now," says Bruce Perens, head of developer relations for open-source startup SourceLabs. Perens and some others think Linux desktop programs could gain steam among consumers in 2006, particularly in emerging countries in Asia and South America where Microsoft's Windows hasn't gained dominance.
5. Venture capitalists wake up to open source. Industry estimates show some $400 million was invested in open-source startups in 2005. Two types of companies dominated the landscape: First, so-called application companies, such as SugarCRM which makes customer relationship management software for companies and aims to compete with Siebel (NasdaqNM:SEBL - News) and Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM - News).
The other category is services companies, which play the middleman between open-source projects and the info-tech departments at large corporations. Companies such as SpikeSource and SourceLabs test and maintain applications like SugarCRM for companies (see BW Online, 10/3/05, "Open Source: Now It's an Ecosystem").
There's a lot of skepticism about these newer entrants. A few are hits, such as MySQL, which makes open-source database software and is said to be closing in on $40 million in revenues this year. But not too many others are showing much traction.
In 2006, they'll have to put up real revenues or shut down. "Half the companies that raised venture money in 2005 won't be able to raise money in 2006," says Matt Asay who organizes the annual Open Source Business Conference and is vice-president for business development at Alfresco, an open-source document-management startup.
All in all, it has been a pretty great year for open source. And 2006 may be even bigger and better.
Monday, December 26, 2005
Uzi Dayan and a Year to the Tsunami
עוזי בחור טוביום שני, 26 בדצמבר 2005, 9:57 מאת: יוסי שריד, הארץ
יוסי שריד מרוצה שעוזי דיין מצטרף לפוליטיקה, באמת מרוצה, אך מטיל ספק ביכולתו להכנס לכנסת
עוזי דיין הוא בחור טוב, במובן הטוב. מי שיחליט להצביע בעדו, יעשה קרוב לוודאי עסקה טובה, אם כי כרגע קשה לראות איך הוא פורץ בכוחות עצמו את אחוז החסימה, שהוא היום 2 אחוזים. כדי להיכנס לכנסת חייבת רשימה ללקט כ-80 אלף קולות, משימה לגמרי לא קלה; מי שלא התנסה גם לא יודע. השם את קולו על עוזי, אולי שם אותו על קרן-הצבי.
דיין הוא מועמד ראוי, לאו דווקא משום שהוא אלוף במיל'. אלופים לשעבר מסתובבים להם למכביר בפוליטיקה שלנו; אלוף אחד יותר, אלוף אחד פחות, מה זה בעצם משנה; לא מעלה ולא מוריד. הוא מועמד ראוי דווקא בשל תקופת הצינון שעבר. כמעט 5 שנים חלפו מאז פשט את מדיו כסגן רמטכ"ל. הלוואי על כל המשתחררים תקופה כה ארוכה.
כאזרח, הקדיש דיין עצמו לשני נושאים עיקריים: לגדר ההפרדה ולחינוך - נושאים חשובים ומוזנחים מאין כמותם. התמסרותו הבלתי נלאית לגדר ראויה להוקרה, אף כי אכזבה בצדה. פעם הערתי לו שאין אדם יוצא ידי חובתו בקריאה הסתמית: "גדר גדר" - והוא חייב להתייחס גם לשאלת התוואי. אם התוואי הוא שרירותי וביסודו פוליטי, כי אז מוטב לוותר על הגדר, ששכרה יוצא בהפסדה הביטחוני. דיין לא הסכים איתי, כי רצה להניח את דעת הכל, מרחיבים ומקצרים כאחד. טיפוסים משבשבים לא חסרים לנו, במחילה.
לעומת זאת, הגדיל דיין לתרום כשהלך בשדה החינוך, שהוא שדה שדוף ומלא קוצים ודרדרים. שרת החינוך, לימור לבנת, משאירה אחריה אדמה חרוכה. במקום שלא היו הרבה אנשים שהחינוך על ראש דאגתם - היה דיין איש. גם ב"כנס שדרות", שאותו יזם וארגן, הקצה חלקה נכבדת לנטיעות הרכות, שלבנת לא הספיקה לקצץ, וכנראה שכבר לא תספיק.
במסיבת העיתונאים אתמול, שם דיין את הדגש במכת-השחיתות - והיטיב להדגיש. דיין באמת איש נקי בכניסתו לפוליטיקה, ורק צריך לקוות שנקי גם ייצא ממנה ברבות הימים. יותר קל להיכנס בבגדים ללא-רבב, לרבות בגדים תחתונים, והרבה יותר קשה לצאת באותם בגדים רחוצים למשעי, לאחר התבוססות של שנים ארוכות בבוץ.
"בסביבתו של דיין" - כך נכתב - סיפרו שבשבועות האחרונים חיזרו אחריו מפלגות לרוב "מכל הקשת הפוליטית בארץ". הנחשקות הזאת - בעיני, עוזי, איננה בהכרח מחמאה. אם כל-כך הרבה מפלגות מכל העברים ראו בך מועמד מתאים, שאתה ראוי להן והן ראויות לך, סימן שתעודת הזהות שלך עדיין מטושטשת; וטשטוש איננו מעלה יתרה, ואני באופן אישי מעדיף את החיסרון שבבהירות. לא גששים-חיוורים יסלקו מוקשים ויפרצו דרך.
דיין איננו הבכיר היחיד מתחום הביטחון שמצטרף לפוליטיקה. ראש השב"כ לשעבר, אבי דיכטר, גם הוא במצטרפים. אני מעדיף את עוזי דיין, ולא רק משום שהוא מתייצב חשוף, בלי המטרייה השחורה של אריאל שרון. דיכטר מבקש תמיכה על מה ועל מי שהיה, והלך שנים בחושך. לעומתו, דיין מבקש תמיכה על מה שהוא עכשיו, ובשנים האחרונות ראה אור.
עכשיו כבר ברור שהמעבר של שלי יחימוביץ' לפוליטיקה היה מקח טעות. אסור היה לה להשאיר את אילנה דיין לבדה במערכה. שלי היתה חייבת להישאר בערוץ 2 כדי להגיד מאולפניו מה היא חושבת על הון ותקשורת בכלל ועל נוחי דנקנר, מוזי ורטהיים ומנהלי "קשת" בפרט. נוכחותה ה"דעתנית" והלוחמנית במקום עבודתה הקודם, נראית לי עכשיו הרבה יותר חיונית.
יוסי שריד מרוצה שעוזי דיין מצטרף לפוליטיקה, באמת מרוצה, אך מטיל ספק ביכולתו להכנס לכנסת
עוזי דיין הוא בחור טוב, במובן הטוב. מי שיחליט להצביע בעדו, יעשה קרוב לוודאי עסקה טובה, אם כי כרגע קשה לראות איך הוא פורץ בכוחות עצמו את אחוז החסימה, שהוא היום 2 אחוזים. כדי להיכנס לכנסת חייבת רשימה ללקט כ-80 אלף קולות, משימה לגמרי לא קלה; מי שלא התנסה גם לא יודע. השם את קולו על עוזי, אולי שם אותו על קרן-הצבי.
דיין הוא מועמד ראוי, לאו דווקא משום שהוא אלוף במיל'. אלופים לשעבר מסתובבים להם למכביר בפוליטיקה שלנו; אלוף אחד יותר, אלוף אחד פחות, מה זה בעצם משנה; לא מעלה ולא מוריד. הוא מועמד ראוי דווקא בשל תקופת הצינון שעבר. כמעט 5 שנים חלפו מאז פשט את מדיו כסגן רמטכ"ל. הלוואי על כל המשתחררים תקופה כה ארוכה.
כאזרח, הקדיש דיין עצמו לשני נושאים עיקריים: לגדר ההפרדה ולחינוך - נושאים חשובים ומוזנחים מאין כמותם. התמסרותו הבלתי נלאית לגדר ראויה להוקרה, אף כי אכזבה בצדה. פעם הערתי לו שאין אדם יוצא ידי חובתו בקריאה הסתמית: "גדר גדר" - והוא חייב להתייחס גם לשאלת התוואי. אם התוואי הוא שרירותי וביסודו פוליטי, כי אז מוטב לוותר על הגדר, ששכרה יוצא בהפסדה הביטחוני. דיין לא הסכים איתי, כי רצה להניח את דעת הכל, מרחיבים ומקצרים כאחד. טיפוסים משבשבים לא חסרים לנו, במחילה.
לעומת זאת, הגדיל דיין לתרום כשהלך בשדה החינוך, שהוא שדה שדוף ומלא קוצים ודרדרים. שרת החינוך, לימור לבנת, משאירה אחריה אדמה חרוכה. במקום שלא היו הרבה אנשים שהחינוך על ראש דאגתם - היה דיין איש. גם ב"כנס שדרות", שאותו יזם וארגן, הקצה חלקה נכבדת לנטיעות הרכות, שלבנת לא הספיקה לקצץ, וכנראה שכבר לא תספיק.
במסיבת העיתונאים אתמול, שם דיין את הדגש במכת-השחיתות - והיטיב להדגיש. דיין באמת איש נקי בכניסתו לפוליטיקה, ורק צריך לקוות שנקי גם ייצא ממנה ברבות הימים. יותר קל להיכנס בבגדים ללא-רבב, לרבות בגדים תחתונים, והרבה יותר קשה לצאת באותם בגדים רחוצים למשעי, לאחר התבוססות של שנים ארוכות בבוץ.
"בסביבתו של דיין" - כך נכתב - סיפרו שבשבועות האחרונים חיזרו אחריו מפלגות לרוב "מכל הקשת הפוליטית בארץ". הנחשקות הזאת - בעיני, עוזי, איננה בהכרח מחמאה. אם כל-כך הרבה מפלגות מכל העברים ראו בך מועמד מתאים, שאתה ראוי להן והן ראויות לך, סימן שתעודת הזהות שלך עדיין מטושטשת; וטשטוש איננו מעלה יתרה, ואני באופן אישי מעדיף את החיסרון שבבהירות. לא גששים-חיוורים יסלקו מוקשים ויפרצו דרך.
דיין איננו הבכיר היחיד מתחום הביטחון שמצטרף לפוליטיקה. ראש השב"כ לשעבר, אבי דיכטר, גם הוא במצטרפים. אני מעדיף את עוזי דיין, ולא רק משום שהוא מתייצב חשוף, בלי המטרייה השחורה של אריאל שרון. דיכטר מבקש תמיכה על מה ועל מי שהיה, והלך שנים בחושך. לעומתו, דיין מבקש תמיכה על מה שהוא עכשיו, ובשנים האחרונות ראה אור.
עכשיו כבר ברור שהמעבר של שלי יחימוביץ' לפוליטיקה היה מקח טעות. אסור היה לה להשאיר את אילנה דיין לבדה במערכה. שלי היתה חייבת להישאר בערוץ 2 כדי להגיד מאולפניו מה היא חושבת על הון ותקשורת בכלל ועל נוחי דנקנר, מוזי ורטהיים ומנהלי "קשת" בפרט. נוכחותה ה"דעתנית" והלוחמנית במקום עבודתה הקודם, נראית לי עכשיו הרבה יותר חיונית.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
הוחזרה לעבודה בת 61 שפוטרה בשל גילה
הוחזרה לעבודה בת 61 שפוטרה בשל גילה
יום ראשון, 18 בדצמבר 2005, 14:21 מאת: עינב בן יהודה, הארץ
בית המשפט קבע כי "העובדת הופלתה על רקע גילה"
שר התחבורה מאיר שטרית. המשרה תאויש בדרך המקובלת (צילום: אביב חופי)
בית המשפט קיבל את גירסתה של עובדת משרד התחבורה, כי הופלתה בשל גילה. ביקורת על המשרד בעקבות הליך הפיטורים
בית הדין האזורי לעבודה בתל אביב הורה להחזיר לעבודה בכירה במשרד התחבורה שפוטרה מתפקידה, וקיבל את טענתה כי הופלתה על רקע גילה.
העובדת, חסידה קופרברג, בת 61, עבדה במשרד התחבורה כ-30 שנה, מהן 17 שנה כמנהלת אגף בכירה בענף מערכות מידע. לאחרונה היא פוטרה, ופנתה לבית הדין בבקשה להוציא צו שימנע את פיטוריה. היא טענה, כי פוטרה בשל היותה בת 61, ועקב רצונו של שר התחבורה, מאיר שטרית, למנות לתפקיד אדם המקורב לו. קופרברג ביקשה כי בית הדין יקבע, שהליכי הפיטורים בטלים ונעשו מטעמים פסולים, בחוסר הגינות, בניגוד לדין ולהוראות התקשי"ר, ותוך הפרת חוזה עבודתה. עוד ביקשה קופרברג פיצויים בסך של כ-2.3 מיליון שקל.
משרד התחבורה ושירות המדינה טענו בתגובה, כי ההחלטה שלא להאריך את חוזה העסקתה התקבלה משיקולים ענייניים. המשיבים הכחישו כי לשר שטרית יש כוונה למנות את אחד ממקורביו במקומה, וטענו כי אין כל מועמד חלופי לתפקידה, ושמשרתה תאויש בדרך המקובלת.
ואולם בית הדין קיבל את בקשתה של קופרברג, והורה בצו זמני להשיבה לעבודה, תוך מתיחת ביקורת על הליך פיטוריה. בית הדין, בראשות השופטת אריאלה גילצר-כץ, ציין כי מטענות משרד התחבורה "עלול להיווצר הרושם כי עובד בעל ותק יכול ויהיה כאבן ריחיים על צוואר מעבידו", וקבע כי המבקשת הופלתה בידי המשיבים על רקע גילה והוותק שלה.
בהחלטה צוין עוד, כי קופרברג צפויה לפרוש לגמלאות בעוד שנים מעטות, ולכן עלול להיגרם לה עוול אם לא תושב לעבודה בפועל. בית הדין ציין כי בהתחשב בגילה, קופרברג תתקשה מאוד למצוא מקום עבודה חלופי ההולם את כישוריה ואת מעמדה.
בית הדין התקשה להבין את הסיבות להחלטה לפטרה: "ככל שעיינו בראיות שהוצגו בפנינו, התקשינו להבין מה הוביל את המשיבים להפסיק את העסקתה של המבקשת. במקביל, אף נוצר בפנינו הרושם כי הנימוקים אותם מציינים המשיבים כנימוקים לפיטוריה של המבקשת אינם נימוקים סבירים וראויים לפיטוריו של עובד ותיק כל כך".
בית הדין קבע כי קופרברג תישאר בעבודתה עד למתן החלטה אחרת, ולצדדים הוקצבו 30 יום להודיע לבית הדין את עמדתם בדבר ניהול ההליכים בתיק. המשיבים חויבו אף לשלם לקופרברג 7,500 שקל עבור הוצאות המשפט ושכר טרחת עורך הדין.
יום ראשון, 18 בדצמבר 2005, 14:21 מאת: עינב בן יהודה, הארץ
בית המשפט קבע כי "העובדת הופלתה על רקע גילה"
שר התחבורה מאיר שטרית. המשרה תאויש בדרך המקובלת (צילום: אביב חופי)
בית המשפט קיבל את גירסתה של עובדת משרד התחבורה, כי הופלתה בשל גילה. ביקורת על המשרד בעקבות הליך הפיטורים
בית הדין האזורי לעבודה בתל אביב הורה להחזיר לעבודה בכירה במשרד התחבורה שפוטרה מתפקידה, וקיבל את טענתה כי הופלתה על רקע גילה.
העובדת, חסידה קופרברג, בת 61, עבדה במשרד התחבורה כ-30 שנה, מהן 17 שנה כמנהלת אגף בכירה בענף מערכות מידע. לאחרונה היא פוטרה, ופנתה לבית הדין בבקשה להוציא צו שימנע את פיטוריה. היא טענה, כי פוטרה בשל היותה בת 61, ועקב רצונו של שר התחבורה, מאיר שטרית, למנות לתפקיד אדם המקורב לו. קופרברג ביקשה כי בית הדין יקבע, שהליכי הפיטורים בטלים ונעשו מטעמים פסולים, בחוסר הגינות, בניגוד לדין ולהוראות התקשי"ר, ותוך הפרת חוזה עבודתה. עוד ביקשה קופרברג פיצויים בסך של כ-2.3 מיליון שקל.
משרד התחבורה ושירות המדינה טענו בתגובה, כי ההחלטה שלא להאריך את חוזה העסקתה התקבלה משיקולים ענייניים. המשיבים הכחישו כי לשר שטרית יש כוונה למנות את אחד ממקורביו במקומה, וטענו כי אין כל מועמד חלופי לתפקידה, ושמשרתה תאויש בדרך המקובלת.
ואולם בית הדין קיבל את בקשתה של קופרברג, והורה בצו זמני להשיבה לעבודה, תוך מתיחת ביקורת על הליך פיטוריה. בית הדין, בראשות השופטת אריאלה גילצר-כץ, ציין כי מטענות משרד התחבורה "עלול להיווצר הרושם כי עובד בעל ותק יכול ויהיה כאבן ריחיים על צוואר מעבידו", וקבע כי המבקשת הופלתה בידי המשיבים על רקע גילה והוותק שלה.
בהחלטה צוין עוד, כי קופרברג צפויה לפרוש לגמלאות בעוד שנים מעטות, ולכן עלול להיגרם לה עוול אם לא תושב לעבודה בפועל. בית הדין ציין כי בהתחשב בגילה, קופרברג תתקשה מאוד למצוא מקום עבודה חלופי ההולם את כישוריה ואת מעמדה.
בית הדין התקשה להבין את הסיבות להחלטה לפטרה: "ככל שעיינו בראיות שהוצגו בפנינו, התקשינו להבין מה הוביל את המשיבים להפסיק את העסקתה של המבקשת. במקביל, אף נוצר בפנינו הרושם כי הנימוקים אותם מציינים המשיבים כנימוקים לפיטוריה של המבקשת אינם נימוקים סבירים וראויים לפיטוריו של עובד ותיק כל כך".
בית הדין קבע כי קופרברג תישאר בעבודתה עד למתן החלטה אחרת, ולצדדים הוקצבו 30 יום להודיע לבית הדין את עמדתם בדבר ניהול ההליכים בתיק. המשיבים חויבו אף לשלם לקופרברג 7,500 שקל עבור הוצאות המשפט ושכר טרחת עורך הדין.
Saturday, December 17, 2005
IBM: Desktop is next Linux frontier
The Register » Software » Developer »
Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/11/_mills_linux_desktop/
IBM: Desktop is next Linux frontier
By Gavin Clarke in San Francisco
Published Thursday 11th August 2005 07:34 GMT
IBM has told Linux developers the desktop is the next frontier, but they must avoid employing the same tactics used against Unix on servers to conquer it.
Steve Mills, IBM's senior vice president and group executive, told Linux developers they need a new value proposition on the desktop. One option is the "managed desktop", something that - unsurprisingly - looks a lot like IBM's Workplace.
Speaking at LinuxWorld on Wednesday, Mills noted that IBM has seen an enormous number of Unix migrations to Linux. The key driver for this is customer desire to replace expensive, under-used Risc-based servers, with cheaper x86 systems.
Mills also took issue with Microsoft, who has been waging a war against Linux by arguing Windows provides better value through improved cost of ownership.
"The cost benefit gets debated and debated and debated. The independent studies have consistently demonstrated a cost advantage for Linux with any typical workload, and it goes beyond the cost of buying the operating system," Mills said.
Pointing to large growth rates in revenue and unit shipments for Linux servers, Mill said the next opportunity for Linux is on the desktop. The market for Linux desktops is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 37 per cent between 2003 and 2007, with 10 million desktops installed by 2004, according to Mills.
Despite this, and the success of Linux on servers, developers should adopt a new approach to selling Linux and not engage in a server-style debate, he said: "Substituting Linux on less expensive hardware to run the same work, which was the server scenario, does not play out in the same way on the client."
Customers are unlikely to swap out a 1980s client/server codebase for a 1990s client/server codebase just because it uses a different concept, Mills noted. Instead, ISV should devise applications that can provision end-users who are running a variety of desktop, laptop and mobile devices, through a centrally managed architecture that provides high-levels of reliability and performance.
IBM is rolling out this particular concept with Workplace. This uses elements of IBM's software portfolio such as WebSphere Portal to supply a front end to applications and server-based data, while opening up desktop environments such as Lotus Notes through a browser.
According to Mills, the Workplace client provides a consistent model for client applications to map to the back end while allowing navigation, workflow and transaction execution to take place through the portal. "Workplace can take richness out to the client... and do it in way that ensures good performance and low latency, but controls the client," he said. ®
Related stories
Red Hat CEO decries open source pretenders (27 October 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/27/redhat_customer_control/ Read Microsoft's Linux reports, says Novell (5 October 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/05/novell_linux_facts/ Linux on desktop is a diverse market - really (5 October 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/05/cox_linux_desktop/ IBM gets own facts out for Linux v Windows (1 September 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/01/ibm_windowsvlinux/ High-end Unix servers resilient in Q2 (26 August 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/26/idc_q2_server/ Longhorn following Unix on security? (11 July 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/11/longhorn_security/ Microsoft software partner finds Microsoft software cheaper than Linux (24 June 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/24/ms_wipro_study/ Nokia shifting to Linux as it joins with Apple to challenge Windows 2 (21 June 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/21/nokia_apple_browser_analysis/ Wall St. does a numbers job on Linux (9 June 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/09/linux_sgcowen/ IBM and Google find each other in desktop search (19 May 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/19/_google_ibm_schmidt/ IBM outfits blade servers with cheap middleware for the masses (17 May 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/17/ibm_blade_bundle/ Linux on desktop needs better sales people (18 April 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/18/linspire/ Desktop Linux vs. Windows - don't get emotional (7 April 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/07/linux_windows_quocirca/
© Copyright 2005
Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/11/_mills_linux_desktop/
IBM: Desktop is next Linux frontier
By Gavin Clarke in San Francisco
Published Thursday 11th August 2005 07:34 GMT
IBM has told Linux developers the desktop is the next frontier, but they must avoid employing the same tactics used against Unix on servers to conquer it.
Steve Mills, IBM's senior vice president and group executive, told Linux developers they need a new value proposition on the desktop. One option is the "managed desktop", something that - unsurprisingly - looks a lot like IBM's Workplace.
Speaking at LinuxWorld on Wednesday, Mills noted that IBM has seen an enormous number of Unix migrations to Linux. The key driver for this is customer desire to replace expensive, under-used Risc-based servers, with cheaper x86 systems.
Mills also took issue with Microsoft, who has been waging a war against Linux by arguing Windows provides better value through improved cost of ownership.
"The cost benefit gets debated and debated and debated. The independent studies have consistently demonstrated a cost advantage for Linux with any typical workload, and it goes beyond the cost of buying the operating system," Mills said.
Pointing to large growth rates in revenue and unit shipments for Linux servers, Mill said the next opportunity for Linux is on the desktop. The market for Linux desktops is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 37 per cent between 2003 and 2007, with 10 million desktops installed by 2004, according to Mills.
Despite this, and the success of Linux on servers, developers should adopt a new approach to selling Linux and not engage in a server-style debate, he said: "Substituting Linux on less expensive hardware to run the same work, which was the server scenario, does not play out in the same way on the client."
Customers are unlikely to swap out a 1980s client/server codebase for a 1990s client/server codebase just because it uses a different concept, Mills noted. Instead, ISV should devise applications that can provision end-users who are running a variety of desktop, laptop and mobile devices, through a centrally managed architecture that provides high-levels of reliability and performance.
IBM is rolling out this particular concept with Workplace. This uses elements of IBM's software portfolio such as WebSphere Portal to supply a front end to applications and server-based data, while opening up desktop environments such as Lotus Notes through a browser.
According to Mills, the Workplace client provides a consistent model for client applications to map to the back end while allowing navigation, workflow and transaction execution to take place through the portal. "Workplace can take richness out to the client... and do it in way that ensures good performance and low latency, but controls the client," he said. ®
Related stories
Red Hat CEO decries open source pretenders (27 October 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/27/redhat_customer_control/ Read Microsoft's Linux reports, says Novell (5 October 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/05/novell_linux_facts/ Linux on desktop is a diverse market - really (5 October 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/05/cox_linux_desktop/ IBM gets own facts out for Linux v Windows (1 September 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/09/01/ibm_windowsvlinux/ High-end Unix servers resilient in Q2 (26 August 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/08/26/idc_q2_server/ Longhorn following Unix on security? (11 July 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/11/longhorn_security/ Microsoft software partner finds Microsoft software cheaper than Linux (24 June 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/24/ms_wipro_study/ Nokia shifting to Linux as it joins with Apple to challenge Windows 2 (21 June 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/21/nokia_apple_browser_analysis/ Wall St. does a numbers job on Linux (9 June 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/09/linux_sgcowen/ IBM and Google find each other in desktop search (19 May 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/19/_google_ibm_schmidt/ IBM outfits blade servers with cheap middleware for the masses (17 May 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/17/ibm_blade_bundle/ Linux on desktop needs better sales people (18 April 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/18/linspire/ Desktop Linux vs. Windows - don't get emotional (7 April 2005)http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/07/linux_windows_quocirca/
© Copyright 2005
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Medurat Hashevet (2004)
Saw the DVD at our Moadon Lev-Echad Wednesday.
September 9, 2005A Time of Tangled Transition in Israel, and in a Family By STEPHEN HOLDEN nytimes.com
Set in 1981 during the early days of the Israeli settler movement, Joseph Cedar's film "Campfire" has come under fire from religious Jews for its portrayal of a group of early settlers on the West Bank as repressive, self-righteous hypocrites. As Mr. Cedar remarks dryly in the film's production notes, the early settler movement was peopled by "mostly middle-class citizens who used the political atmosphere of the time as an excuse to take advantage of what they considered a good real estate opportunity."
Applying for membership in a rural settlement that has yet to be built is Rachel Gerlik (Michaela Eshet), a lonely, 42-year-old widowed mother of two teenage girls. Acceptance of this fractured family into the community requires that Rachel remarry as quickly as possible. Both children are bitterly opposed to her joining the group.
Beyond casting a jaundiced eye at the community's oppressive communalism, "Campfire" neither endorses nor opposes the settler movement that since 1981 has become an incendiary issue in Israel. But that Mr. Cedar is an Orthodox Jew and former Israeli paratrooper stationed on the West Bank has added to the sting of betrayal felt by the religious conservatives who have boycotted his film.
Despite that hostility, "Campfire" has been warmly embraced by Israel's secular Jews. It won five Israeli Academy Awards, including best picture, director and screenplay, and was that country's Oscar nominee for best foreign film of 2005.
Its broader political implications within Israel notwithstanding, "Campfire" offers an outsider an intimate portrait of family members living in uncomfortably close proximity and straining against one another during a difficult period of transition. Rachel, a tough, attractive woman whose husband died of cancer a year earlier, is tugged this way and that by conflicting desires. She longs for the security and companionship of the community. But because her first marriage was unhappy, she is unwilling to settle for another husband who won't deliver the romantic fireworks the first one didn't provide.
The older daughter, Esti (Maya Maron), blames her father's rapid deterioration from his disease on what she sees as Rachel's neglect and enrages her mother by taking a soldier to the house for sex. The younger daughter, 15-year-old Tami (Hani Furstenberg), is shy but curious about boys; this curiosity precipitates the crisis at the center of the film.
The couple heading the acceptance committee - smug, portly Motkeh (Assi Dayan) and his cold, pragmatic wife, Shula (Edith Teperson) - are the kind of rigid, narrow-minded people you wouldn't want to tangle with on a co-op board. Shula arranges dates for Rachel with two possible candidates for a husband, but when Rachel balks at choosing either one, she loses patience. Neither Yossi (Moshe Ivgy), a kindly 50-year-old bus driver and sad sack who has never slept with a woman and who falls instantly in love with Rachel, nor Moshe (Yehoram Gaon), a plump, self-satisfied cantor, comes close to meeting her pyrotechnical standards.
A crisis erupts when Tami follows a boy on whom she has a crush to a raucous gathering at a holiday bonfire, where a pack of teenage boys are singing lewd songs. The bully of the gang grabs Tami, forces kisses on her, then coerces the other boys to do the same, promising to release her only if she will go further.
This ugly scene of peer pressure and molestation has instant repercussions. As word of the incident spreads, graffiti is sprayed on the outside of the Gerlik house, calling Tami a slut, and Rachel's ability to control her daughters is questioned by the acceptance committee. Motkeh urges Rachel to forget the incident and not report it to the police.
If "Campfire" is solidly acted, it is visually drab and has a haphazard narrative momentum. Even when it visits the site of the future settlement, the camera finds little beauty in the landscape. The movie finally comes apart in a cheery, saccharine finale that feels tacked on, the way a cheap mint consumed after an unpalatable meal is supposed to erase the bad taste with a jolt of sugar.
Campfire
Opens today in New York.
Written (in Hebrew, with English subtitles) and directed by Joseph Cedar; director of photography, Ofer Inov; edited by Einat Glaser-Zarhin; music by Ofer Shalchin; produced by David Mandil and Eyal Shiray; released by Film Movement. Running time: 96 minutes. This film is not rated.
WITH: Michaela Eshet (Rachel Gerlik), Hani Furstenberg (Tami Gerlik), Moshe Ivgy (Yossi), Maya Maron (Esti), Assi Dayan (Motkeh), Edith Teperson (Shula), Oshri Cohen (Rafi) and Yehoram Gaon (Moshe Weinstock).
September 9, 2005A Time of Tangled Transition in Israel, and in a Family By STEPHEN HOLDEN nytimes.com
Set in 1981 during the early days of the Israeli settler movement, Joseph Cedar's film "Campfire" has come under fire from religious Jews for its portrayal of a group of early settlers on the West Bank as repressive, self-righteous hypocrites. As Mr. Cedar remarks dryly in the film's production notes, the early settler movement was peopled by "mostly middle-class citizens who used the political atmosphere of the time as an excuse to take advantage of what they considered a good real estate opportunity."
Applying for membership in a rural settlement that has yet to be built is Rachel Gerlik (Michaela Eshet), a lonely, 42-year-old widowed mother of two teenage girls. Acceptance of this fractured family into the community requires that Rachel remarry as quickly as possible. Both children are bitterly opposed to her joining the group.
Beyond casting a jaundiced eye at the community's oppressive communalism, "Campfire" neither endorses nor opposes the settler movement that since 1981 has become an incendiary issue in Israel. But that Mr. Cedar is an Orthodox Jew and former Israeli paratrooper stationed on the West Bank has added to the sting of betrayal felt by the religious conservatives who have boycotted his film.
Despite that hostility, "Campfire" has been warmly embraced by Israel's secular Jews. It won five Israeli Academy Awards, including best picture, director and screenplay, and was that country's Oscar nominee for best foreign film of 2005.
Its broader political implications within Israel notwithstanding, "Campfire" offers an outsider an intimate portrait of family members living in uncomfortably close proximity and straining against one another during a difficult period of transition. Rachel, a tough, attractive woman whose husband died of cancer a year earlier, is tugged this way and that by conflicting desires. She longs for the security and companionship of the community. But because her first marriage was unhappy, she is unwilling to settle for another husband who won't deliver the romantic fireworks the first one didn't provide.
The older daughter, Esti (Maya Maron), blames her father's rapid deterioration from his disease on what she sees as Rachel's neglect and enrages her mother by taking a soldier to the house for sex. The younger daughter, 15-year-old Tami (Hani Furstenberg), is shy but curious about boys; this curiosity precipitates the crisis at the center of the film.
The couple heading the acceptance committee - smug, portly Motkeh (Assi Dayan) and his cold, pragmatic wife, Shula (Edith Teperson) - are the kind of rigid, narrow-minded people you wouldn't want to tangle with on a co-op board. Shula arranges dates for Rachel with two possible candidates for a husband, but when Rachel balks at choosing either one, she loses patience. Neither Yossi (Moshe Ivgy), a kindly 50-year-old bus driver and sad sack who has never slept with a woman and who falls instantly in love with Rachel, nor Moshe (Yehoram Gaon), a plump, self-satisfied cantor, comes close to meeting her pyrotechnical standards.
A crisis erupts when Tami follows a boy on whom she has a crush to a raucous gathering at a holiday bonfire, where a pack of teenage boys are singing lewd songs. The bully of the gang grabs Tami, forces kisses on her, then coerces the other boys to do the same, promising to release her only if she will go further.
This ugly scene of peer pressure and molestation has instant repercussions. As word of the incident spreads, graffiti is sprayed on the outside of the Gerlik house, calling Tami a slut, and Rachel's ability to control her daughters is questioned by the acceptance committee. Motkeh urges Rachel to forget the incident and not report it to the police.
If "Campfire" is solidly acted, it is visually drab and has a haphazard narrative momentum. Even when it visits the site of the future settlement, the camera finds little beauty in the landscape. The movie finally comes apart in a cheery, saccharine finale that feels tacked on, the way a cheap mint consumed after an unpalatable meal is supposed to erase the bad taste with a jolt of sugar.
Campfire
Opens today in New York.
Written (in Hebrew, with English subtitles) and directed by Joseph Cedar; director of photography, Ofer Inov; edited by Einat Glaser-Zarhin; music by Ofer Shalchin; produced by David Mandil and Eyal Shiray; released by Film Movement. Running time: 96 minutes. This film is not rated.
WITH: Michaela Eshet (Rachel Gerlik), Hani Furstenberg (Tami Gerlik), Moshe Ivgy (Yossi), Maya Maron (Esti), Assi Dayan (Motkeh), Edith Teperson (Shula), Oshri Cohen (Rafi) and Yehoram Gaon (Moshe Weinstock).
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
הצעות לשינוי שיטת הבחירות
הצעות לשינוי שיטת הבחירות
לאור ריבוי המפלגות בישראל והקשיים בהקמת ממשלות לאחר הבחירות, בין היתר בגלל ריבוי המפלגות, הועלו לאורך שנות קיום המדינה הצעות שונות לשינוי שיטת הבחירות. מגמת ההצעות היתה להקטין את מספר המפלגות ובכך לפשט את תהליך הקמת ממשלות לאחר הבחירות. כל ההצעות כללו אלמנטים של בחירות אזוריות, אך אף הצעה לשינוי לא עברה את שלב הקריאה הראשונה בכנסת. במידה רבה נבעה הנהגת הבחירה הישירה של ראש הממשלה מהעדר יכולת לשנות את שיטת הבחירות לכנסת.
מאז שנות ה-50 עלו מדי פעם הצעות לשינוי שיטת הבחירות הארצית-היחסית הנהוגה בישראל. מטרת ההצעות היתה להביא להקטנת מספר המפלגות, או לשפר את מצבן האלקטורלי של מפלגות מסוימות. בין ההצעות שהועלו (כולן כהצעות חוק של חברי כנסת):
* הנהגת 120 אזורי בחירה אשר בכל אחד מהם ייבחר נציג אחד, כנהוג בבריטניה. השיטה ידועה בשם "רובית-אישית". בין מציעיה בשנות ה-50 היה דוד בן-גוריון, וב-13 ביוני, 1980 עברה בקריאה טרומית הצעה כזו שהניחו חברי הכנסת יגאל הורוביץ וזלמן שובל (תל"ם). חסרונה העיקרי של שיטה זו היא שנבחר המועמד שקיבל את המספר הגדול ביותר של קולות, אך במקרה שהתמודדו יותר משני מועמדים, אין הוא נהנה בהכרח מתמיכת הרוב באזור הבחירה.
הנהגת כמה עשרות אזורי בחירה אשר בכל אחד מהם ייבחרו כמה נציגים. השיטה ידועה בשם "אזורית- יחסית", והיא הוצעה עוד בתחילת דרכה של המדינה על-ידי חבר הכנסת דוד בר-רב-האי ממפא"י.
* הנהגת שיטה מעורבת שעל-פיה ייבחרו חלק מהנבחרים בשיטה אזורית-יחסית ,או רובית-אישית, והיתר - על בסיס ארצי-יחסי. ההצעה הועלתה לראשונה על-ידי חבר הכנסת יוסף סרלין מהציונים הכלליים, בדצמבר 1958. הוא הציע שייקבעו 30 אזורי בחירה אשר בכל אחד מהם ייבחרו שלושה חברי כנסת, ושלושים חברי הכנסת הנותרים ייבחרו על בסיס השיטה הקיימת. הצעה ראשונה מהסוג הזה נתקבלה בקריאה טרומית בשנת 1972. ב-14 ביוני 1988 התקבלה בקריאה ראשונה הצעה שהוכנה על-ידי חבר הכנסת מרדכי וירשובסקי (ר"ץ) בצירוף חתימותיהם של 43 חברי כנסת נוספים. ההצעה, כפי שעברה בקריאה ראשונה, הביאה שתי חלופות. על פי הראשונה ייבחרו 80 חברי כנסת ב-20 אזורי בחירה על בסיס אזורי- יחסי, ו-40 ייבחרו מרשימות ארציות של המפלגות על בסיס מספר הקולות היחסי שקיבלו באזורי הבחירה. על-פי השנייה ייבחרו 60 חברי כנסת ב-60 אזורי בחירה והנותרים - בשיטה הקיימת, כלומר, כל בוחר יצביע עבור מועמד ועבור רשימה.
לאחר הקמת ממשלת האחדות הלאומית, בשנת ,1984 נעשה ניסיון להגיע להסכמה בין המערך לליכוד בדבר שינוי שיטת הבחירות. הוקמה ועדת שרים פריטטית, בראשות שר הכלכלה גד יעקובי (מערך), אך לא הושגה התקדמות.
IBM Bank Hapoalim and CCC
Bank Hapoalim have Large IBM Unix Server with Power Technology
With the help of CCC... Triple C...
With the help of CCC... Triple C...
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Burger King Star Wars Watch
http://www.bk.com
A NEW HOPE from Burger King Star Wars Episode IV.
Whopper with watch for 19.90 Shekel
A NEW HOPE from Burger King Star Wars Episode IV.
Whopper with watch for 19.90 Shekel
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
הבנקים יכבדו חריגה מהאשראי עד יוני
הבנקים יכבדו חריגה מהאשראי עד יוני
יום רביעי, 7 בדצמבר 2005, 13:02 מאת: שלומי גולובינסקי, TheMarker.com
המפקח על הבנקים, יואב להמן (צילום: וואלה!)
בבנקים טענו כי החלת ההוראה מינואר עלולה לגרום לקשיים אצל עסקים קטנים. בנק ישראל: לא מדובר בדחייה אלה בתקופת הסתגלותהבהלה עושה את שלה כנראה: בחודשים האחרונים נתקבלו פניות בפיקוח על הבנקים מהבנקים השונים, מהן מסתבר כי הם עדיין אינם ערוכים תפעולית לתחילת ההוראה החדשה, בדבר איסור החריגה ממסגרות האשראי.בבנקים טענו כי החלת ההוראה בתאריך המיועד - תחילת 2006 - עלולה לגרום לתקלות רבות ולקשיים מהותיים אצל עסקים קטנים, שטרם נערכו כיאות להוראה.לאור זאת, הפיץ הפיקוח על הבנקים בבנק ישראל, טיוטת חוזר אל הבנקים, בה ציין כי יש בכוונתו לאפשר תקופת הסתגלות בת שישה חודשים ביישום ההוראה. בבנק ישראל מבהירים כי לא מדובר בדחיית החלת מכלול ההוראה, אלא בהקלות ביישומה בתקופת ההסתגלות.בטיוטה אשר תידון היום עם נציגי הבנקים, פירט המפקח את ההקלות המתוכננות לתקופת המעבר. ראשית, לא מוטלת על הבנק חובה לסרב לכבד משיכות של לקוחות שחשבונם בחריגה ממסגרת האשראי, וניתנה לבנקים אורכה ליישום סעיף זה בהוראה, עד ל-1 ביולי 2006. המפקח הדגיש בהודעתו כי יש לתת עדיפות עליונה לכך שהלקוחות לא ייקלעו לקשיים עקב החזרות מסיבות טכניות, והוא קורא לבנקים לפעול בזהירות מיוחדת בהחזרות אוטומטיות.ההיתר לבנקים לאפשר חריגות בחשבונות בתקופת ההסתגלות, יאפשר מחד שיקול דעת רחב לבנקים - שלא להחזיר צ'קים וחיובים גם ללקוחות שטרם הסדירו את המסגרת המתאימה לפעילותם, או שטרם השלימו את היערכותם - ומאידך, ללקוחות יינתן פרק זמן נוסף להשלמת ההיערכות.שנית, הותר לבנקים להעמיד או לחדש מסגרות אשראי בתקופת ההסתגלות, גם ללווים עסקיים שסיבות מיוחדות גורמות לכך שלא ישלימו את הכנת הדו"חות הכספיים, תוך פרק הזמן המירבי אשר נקבע בהוראות הפיקוח על הבנקים. מטרתה של הקלה זו, היא להקל על הסקטור העסקי ובפרט על העסקים הקטנים, ולמנוע מהם מצוקת אשראי שתיווצר רק עקב איחור בהגשת דו"חות כספיים לבנקים. עם זאת, המפקח הדגיש כי קבלת הדו"חות הכספיים כשלעצמה חשובה לצורך ניהול סיכוני האשראי של הבנק, וקרא לבנקים להמשיך ולהקפיד על דרישה זו מהלקוחות העסקיים.בטיוטה, הדגיש המפקח כי ככלל, אין לחייב לקוח במסגרת אשראי מסוימת אם איננה דרושה לו או אינו חפץ בה. הבהרה זו ניתנת בעקבות תלונות אשר הובאו לידיעת הפיקוח בדבר מקרים כאלה
יום רביעי, 7 בדצמבר 2005, 13:02 מאת: שלומי גולובינסקי, TheMarker.com
המפקח על הבנקים, יואב להמן (צילום: וואלה!)
בבנקים טענו כי החלת ההוראה מינואר עלולה לגרום לקשיים אצל עסקים קטנים. בנק ישראל: לא מדובר בדחייה אלה בתקופת הסתגלותהבהלה עושה את שלה כנראה: בחודשים האחרונים נתקבלו פניות בפיקוח על הבנקים מהבנקים השונים, מהן מסתבר כי הם עדיין אינם ערוכים תפעולית לתחילת ההוראה החדשה, בדבר איסור החריגה ממסגרות האשראי.בבנקים טענו כי החלת ההוראה בתאריך המיועד - תחילת 2006 - עלולה לגרום לתקלות רבות ולקשיים מהותיים אצל עסקים קטנים, שטרם נערכו כיאות להוראה.לאור זאת, הפיץ הפיקוח על הבנקים בבנק ישראל, טיוטת חוזר אל הבנקים, בה ציין כי יש בכוונתו לאפשר תקופת הסתגלות בת שישה חודשים ביישום ההוראה. בבנק ישראל מבהירים כי לא מדובר בדחיית החלת מכלול ההוראה, אלא בהקלות ביישומה בתקופת ההסתגלות.בטיוטה אשר תידון היום עם נציגי הבנקים, פירט המפקח את ההקלות המתוכננות לתקופת המעבר. ראשית, לא מוטלת על הבנק חובה לסרב לכבד משיכות של לקוחות שחשבונם בחריגה ממסגרת האשראי, וניתנה לבנקים אורכה ליישום סעיף זה בהוראה, עד ל-1 ביולי 2006. המפקח הדגיש בהודעתו כי יש לתת עדיפות עליונה לכך שהלקוחות לא ייקלעו לקשיים עקב החזרות מסיבות טכניות, והוא קורא לבנקים לפעול בזהירות מיוחדת בהחזרות אוטומטיות.ההיתר לבנקים לאפשר חריגות בחשבונות בתקופת ההסתגלות, יאפשר מחד שיקול דעת רחב לבנקים - שלא להחזיר צ'קים וחיובים גם ללקוחות שטרם הסדירו את המסגרת המתאימה לפעילותם, או שטרם השלימו את היערכותם - ומאידך, ללקוחות יינתן פרק זמן נוסף להשלמת ההיערכות.שנית, הותר לבנקים להעמיד או לחדש מסגרות אשראי בתקופת ההסתגלות, גם ללווים עסקיים שסיבות מיוחדות גורמות לכך שלא ישלימו את הכנת הדו"חות הכספיים, תוך פרק הזמן המירבי אשר נקבע בהוראות הפיקוח על הבנקים. מטרתה של הקלה זו, היא להקל על הסקטור העסקי ובפרט על העסקים הקטנים, ולמנוע מהם מצוקת אשראי שתיווצר רק עקב איחור בהגשת דו"חות כספיים לבנקים. עם זאת, המפקח הדגיש כי קבלת הדו"חות הכספיים כשלעצמה חשובה לצורך ניהול סיכוני האשראי של הבנק, וקרא לבנקים להמשיך ולהקפיד על דרישה זו מהלקוחות העסקיים.בטיוטה, הדגיש המפקח כי ככלל, אין לחייב לקוח במסגרת אשראי מסוימת אם איננה דרושה לו או אינו חפץ בה. הבהרה זו ניתנת בעקבות תלונות אשר הובאו לידיעת הפיקוח בדבר מקרים כאלה
Sunday, December 04, 2005
ועידת מרצ תכריע בשאלת מעמדו של ביילין
ועידת מרצ תכריע בשאלת מעמדו של ביילין
יום ראשון, 4 בדצמבר 2005, 12:48 מאת: מערכת וואלה!
ותיקי המפלגה כועסים. ביילין (צילום: בוצ'צ'ו)
אורון. סכין בגבו (צילום: אתר הכנסת)
בית הדין של המפלגה קיבל את העתירה לפיה יחוייב היו"ר להתמודד על המקום הראשון ברשימה. להדחתו נדרש רוב של 66%ניסיון נוסף להדיח את יו"ר מרצ, יוסי ביילין. ועידת המפלגה תתכנס ב-17:00 ברמת אפעל ותכריע בסוגיית ביטול שיריון המקום הראשון ברשימה לביילין. על פי חוקת המפלגה, שמור מקומו של ביילין בראש הרשימה, כך שהבחירות לרשימה מתנהלות למעשה על המקום השני ומטה.הצעתו של חבר הוועידה, יונתן קלינגר, שלפיה יצטרך גם ביילין לעמוד לבחירה, בוטלה על ידי נשיאות הוועידה משיקולים פרוצדורליים. יוזמי ההצעה עתרו היום לבית הדין של המפלגה, בדרישה לקיים דיון נוסף בנושא. בית הדין קיבל את טענותיהם וכעת, יידרש רוב של שני שליש מחברי הוועידה כדי לבטל את מקומו של ביילין בראשות הרשימה ולהדיחו.דיון סוער צפוי בוועידה גם סביב השאלה מהו הרוב המיוחס הדרוש להשארת חברי מרצ הוותיקים ברשימת המפלגה לכנסת. לתומכיו של ביילין כוח רב בוועידה. על פי חוקת המפלגה כיום, רן כהן וחיים אורון יזדקקו לרוב של 60% מקולות חברי הוועידה כדי להיבחר לרשימה לכנסת. כעס רב מכוון מצד ותיקי המפלגה - בעיקר הח"כים המכהנים, נציגי הקיבוץ הארצי ודמויות מפתח כמו שולמית אלוני - נגד ביילין, הנתפש כמי שמקדם את אנשיו ברשימה (למשל, רחל דולב ושאול אריאלי) על חשבון הח"כים הוותיקים, ומתנגד להצעה של צבן ואלוני לבטל את הסעיף.הכעס מתחדד גם לנוכח העובדה שאורון נתפש כמי שתיווך בין ביילין למרצ במהלך האיחוד ביניהם, וסייע לו להתבסס במפלגה, ואילו התנגדותו של ביילין לביטול הרוב המיוחס נתפשת כתקיעת סכין בגב. הצעה נוספת שתעלה לדיון היא קידום מקומו המשוריין של הנציג הערבי ברשימת מרצ מהמקום השביעי, הבלתי ריאלי, למקום החמישי. אם תתקבל הצעה זו, יועמד בסימן שאלה מיקומם הריאלי ברשימה של אבשלום וילן, אילן גילאון ומוסי רז - המתחרים אף הם על המקום החמישי.
יום ראשון, 4 בדצמבר 2005, 12:48 מאת: מערכת וואלה!
ותיקי המפלגה כועסים. ביילין (צילום: בוצ'צ'ו)
אורון. סכין בגבו (צילום: אתר הכנסת)
בית הדין של המפלגה קיבל את העתירה לפיה יחוייב היו"ר להתמודד על המקום הראשון ברשימה. להדחתו נדרש רוב של 66%ניסיון נוסף להדיח את יו"ר מרצ, יוסי ביילין. ועידת המפלגה תתכנס ב-17:00 ברמת אפעל ותכריע בסוגיית ביטול שיריון המקום הראשון ברשימה לביילין. על פי חוקת המפלגה, שמור מקומו של ביילין בראש הרשימה, כך שהבחירות לרשימה מתנהלות למעשה על המקום השני ומטה.הצעתו של חבר הוועידה, יונתן קלינגר, שלפיה יצטרך גם ביילין לעמוד לבחירה, בוטלה על ידי נשיאות הוועידה משיקולים פרוצדורליים. יוזמי ההצעה עתרו היום לבית הדין של המפלגה, בדרישה לקיים דיון נוסף בנושא. בית הדין קיבל את טענותיהם וכעת, יידרש רוב של שני שליש מחברי הוועידה כדי לבטל את מקומו של ביילין בראשות הרשימה ולהדיחו.דיון סוער צפוי בוועידה גם סביב השאלה מהו הרוב המיוחס הדרוש להשארת חברי מרצ הוותיקים ברשימת המפלגה לכנסת. לתומכיו של ביילין כוח רב בוועידה. על פי חוקת המפלגה כיום, רן כהן וחיים אורון יזדקקו לרוב של 60% מקולות חברי הוועידה כדי להיבחר לרשימה לכנסת. כעס רב מכוון מצד ותיקי המפלגה - בעיקר הח"כים המכהנים, נציגי הקיבוץ הארצי ודמויות מפתח כמו שולמית אלוני - נגד ביילין, הנתפש כמי שמקדם את אנשיו ברשימה (למשל, רחל דולב ושאול אריאלי) על חשבון הח"כים הוותיקים, ומתנגד להצעה של צבן ואלוני לבטל את הסעיף.הכעס מתחדד גם לנוכח העובדה שאורון נתפש כמי שתיווך בין ביילין למרצ במהלך האיחוד ביניהם, וסייע לו להתבסס במפלגה, ואילו התנגדותו של ביילין לביטול הרוב המיוחס נתפשת כתקיעת סכין בגב. הצעה נוספת שתעלה לדיון היא קידום מקומו המשוריין של הנציג הערבי ברשימת מרצ מהמקום השביעי, הבלתי ריאלי, למקום החמישי. אם תתקבל הצעה זו, יועמד בסימן שאלה מיקומם הריאלי ברשימה של אבשלום וילן, אילן גילאון ומוסי רז - המתחרים אף הם על המקום החמישי.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Sonya Back again after a few years
Shalom Sam,
A friend found your e-mail address while painting my house, while moving my computer desk. I have so much to share and catch up with you about. Do you still have the stained glass you won with the raffle tickets you purchased for my daughters trip to Australia?
I think I told you that I thought I was a crypto Jew, back when we first started chatting years ago. Well my father finally addmitted to me 2 years ago that he has known since he was 6 years old that he was a Jew. I opened Bat-Tzyion Hebrew Learning Center, Inc. to have a place where the anousim/crypto jews can come and learn about their roots that were taken by force from us for the last 500 years. A year after opening the learning center, I met a Rabbi that was willing to work with those who were ready for their next steps, "making their return back to Judaism". I am almost done with my reversion/conversion. My daughter Rachel has transfered schools to be closer to Rabbi so she can start her process as well. I am very proud of her making this decsion to do her return as well. She is my only hope of rasing the next generation of Jew's in our family. My parents now celebrate shabbat with us, my Mom has done Pesach with us for 3 years now. We are waiting for my Mom's DNA testing to come back, my Dad and brother took the DNA test and it came back being what I suspected. We are levittical Jews. Even the research on my name showed that. "Loya" spelt in hebrew is Levi Ha, "Loya" was a province in Narvarra Spain, during the mid-evil times and was a very prominent Jewish community, it is a name found in the morrocan Jews. A friend of mine who's last name is also Cohen, his ex-sister in laws sister's name is Rachel Loya, her dad is Rabbi, they are Morrocan Jews. That is my daughter's name. Isn't life a an interesting journey? It will be good to hear from you and catch up.
Happy Thanksgiving and Ve Bracha's to you and your family.
Sonya Loya
Ruidoso, New Mexico
A friend found your e-mail address while painting my house, while moving my computer desk. I have so much to share and catch up with you about. Do you still have the stained glass you won with the raffle tickets you purchased for my daughters trip to Australia?
I think I told you that I thought I was a crypto Jew, back when we first started chatting years ago. Well my father finally addmitted to me 2 years ago that he has known since he was 6 years old that he was a Jew. I opened Bat-Tzyion Hebrew Learning Center, Inc. to have a place where the anousim/crypto jews can come and learn about their roots that were taken by force from us for the last 500 years. A year after opening the learning center, I met a Rabbi that was willing to work with those who were ready for their next steps, "making their return back to Judaism". I am almost done with my reversion/conversion. My daughter Rachel has transfered schools to be closer to Rabbi so she can start her process as well. I am very proud of her making this decsion to do her return as well. She is my only hope of rasing the next generation of Jew's in our family. My parents now celebrate shabbat with us, my Mom has done Pesach with us for 3 years now. We are waiting for my Mom's DNA testing to come back, my Dad and brother took the DNA test and it came back being what I suspected. We are levittical Jews. Even the research on my name showed that. "Loya" spelt in hebrew is Levi Ha, "Loya" was a province in Narvarra Spain, during the mid-evil times and was a very prominent Jewish community, it is a name found in the morrocan Jews. A friend of mine who's last name is also Cohen, his ex-sister in laws sister's name is Rachel Loya, her dad is Rabbi, they are Morrocan Jews. That is my daughter's name. Isn't life a an interesting journey? It will be good to hear from you and catch up.
Happy Thanksgiving and Ve Bracha's to you and your family.
Sonya Loya
Ruidoso, New Mexico
Saturday, November 12, 2005
Clinton at Rally Ten Years since assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.
I was there of course, Minister of Justice Zipi Livni said she was not there 10 years ago and said that the Rally should not be Political. But all what she said was Political!
David Broza sang Yihiye Tov the way I like it : (Rak Tezu mehashetahim) and Amir Peretz and Shimon Peres both said that we should not wait in Peace Making.
From Haaretz: Tonight
w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
Last update - 23:42 12/11/2005
Tens of thousands attend Rabin memorial rally
By Lily Galili and Roni Singer, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz ServiceSome 200,000 people on Saturday evening gathered in Rabin square, Tel Aviv, to take part in a memorial rally marking the 10th anniversary of the assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin by a far-right Jewish terrorist at the exact same square.The central speech at the rally was given by former U.S. president Bill Clinton, who forged a deep bond with Rabin as he sought to broker Mideast peace with the Palestinians and Israel's neighboring Arab states."I loved him very much, and I was in awe of his ability to move from being a soldier to being a peacemaker, a politician to a statesman," Clinton said."If he were here, he would say, 'There is enough of all this missing. If you really think I lived a good life, if you think I made a noble sacrifice in death, than for goodness sakes take up my work and see it through to the end,"' Clinton said."However many days Rabin had left, he gave them up on this spot for you and your future," he said. "He knew he was risking giving them up and he gave them up, too, for all the children of the Palestinians, who deserve the benefit and the blessings of a normal life, as well."On November 4, 1995, while leaving a peace rally, Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, an extremist Jew who considered him a traitor for making concessions to the Palestinians.In his touching speech, Clinton said he "expected to be missing Yitzhak Rabin for the rest of my life."Clinton ended his speech by saying "Shalom Haver," Hebrew for "Goodbye friend," the same words he famously used to bid farewell to Rabin at the Israeli leader's funeral.Images of Rabin, who won a Noble Peace Prize for signing the Oslo interim peace accords with the Palestinians, played on a huge television screen towering over the square.Peretz: Path of Oslo is still aliveAfter receiving a last-minute invitation to the rally, newly-elected Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz said in his speach that "the path of Oslo [peace process] is still very much alive."The Oslo peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, led by Rabin and then-deputy prime minister and foreign minister Shimon Peres, "is Israel's future and hope," said Peretz, whose victory on Wednesday over Shimon Peres in the Labor leadership vote raised a political storm."I have a dream that one day Israeli and Palestinian children will play together," he said."Violence is gnawing at the essence of Israeli democracy," Peretz said. "Violence is not only in the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict, it's between us.""Had we stopped the violence in the territories, we would have stopped violence among us. The ongoing occupation in the territories is a recipe for the loss of values in Israel. We need a road map of morals.""Ending the occupation and a final status agreement are synonymous to protecting human values," he said.Peres: We mustn't delay peace processVice Premier Shimon Peres said at the rally that "there isn't one person here who doesn't know what the image of peace between us and the Palestinians will be.""We mustn't delay the peace process. Now is the time to return with full strength to a true peace, not only to build a fence against terrorists, but also to build gates for cooperation with our neighbors and the world.""Rabin," Peres said, "was a man who did not fear serving peace even when the nation was not ready to accept peace.""I stood here with him exactly 10 years ago. I was able to see what he saw, you wonderful people, you young people jumped into that pool there, cheering 'Long live peace, long live Yitzhak.' He was moved to the depths of his soul by that love and support." said Peres.82-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner Peres called on Israelis to "get into the political life, take the voyage of peace. Peace is in your hands, and I call on all of you to give your lives, to serve this country in its goals, its future; give a true thrust to peace, as Yitzhak did."Peretz hastly invitedUntil Thursday, Clinton was the planned star of the memorial. But Peretz's election as the new Labor leader and the political earthquake that ensued also have also impacted on the memorial. The event will be the first opportunity for left-wing parties and peace movements to react publicly to the new political reality wrought by Peretz's victory. No one on the Israeli left will want to miss out on the opportunity to differentiate themselves one from another in a large-scale public event to be broadcasted on TV channels in Israel and around the world. Amir Peretz was added to the list of speakers scheduled to address the memorial rally. The announcement came after two days of discussions among rally organizers. It is still unclear how Labor will choose to act at the memorial. Prior to the primary result and ensuing upheaval, the party acquiesced to a request by the Rabin Center organizing the memorial not to turn the rally into an internal party event. "Over the ten years we have learned that any diplomatic, security and political development influences the memorial," says Hemi Sell, who produces the memorial for the Rabin Center. "One must distinguish between what happens on stage and what goes on in the crowd," he adds. "I hope the parties and organizations would know to balance their actions at the rally."
David Broza sang Yihiye Tov the way I like it : (Rak Tezu mehashetahim) and Amir Peretz and Shimon Peres both said that we should not wait in Peace Making.
From Haaretz: Tonight
w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
Last update - 23:42 12/11/2005
Tens of thousands attend Rabin memorial rally
By Lily Galili and Roni Singer, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz ServiceSome 200,000 people on Saturday evening gathered in Rabin square, Tel Aviv, to take part in a memorial rally marking the 10th anniversary of the assassination of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin by a far-right Jewish terrorist at the exact same square.The central speech at the rally was given by former U.S. president Bill Clinton, who forged a deep bond with Rabin as he sought to broker Mideast peace with the Palestinians and Israel's neighboring Arab states."I loved him very much, and I was in awe of his ability to move from being a soldier to being a peacemaker, a politician to a statesman," Clinton said."If he were here, he would say, 'There is enough of all this missing. If you really think I lived a good life, if you think I made a noble sacrifice in death, than for goodness sakes take up my work and see it through to the end,"' Clinton said."However many days Rabin had left, he gave them up on this spot for you and your future," he said. "He knew he was risking giving them up and he gave them up, too, for all the children of the Palestinians, who deserve the benefit and the blessings of a normal life, as well."On November 4, 1995, while leaving a peace rally, Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, an extremist Jew who considered him a traitor for making concessions to the Palestinians.In his touching speech, Clinton said he "expected to be missing Yitzhak Rabin for the rest of my life."Clinton ended his speech by saying "Shalom Haver," Hebrew for "Goodbye friend," the same words he famously used to bid farewell to Rabin at the Israeli leader's funeral.Images of Rabin, who won a Noble Peace Prize for signing the Oslo interim peace accords with the Palestinians, played on a huge television screen towering over the square.Peretz: Path of Oslo is still aliveAfter receiving a last-minute invitation to the rally, newly-elected Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz said in his speach that "the path of Oslo [peace process] is still very much alive."The Oslo peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, led by Rabin and then-deputy prime minister and foreign minister Shimon Peres, "is Israel's future and hope," said Peretz, whose victory on Wednesday over Shimon Peres in the Labor leadership vote raised a political storm."I have a dream that one day Israeli and Palestinian children will play together," he said."Violence is gnawing at the essence of Israeli democracy," Peretz said. "Violence is not only in the [Israeli-Palestinian] conflict, it's between us.""Had we stopped the violence in the territories, we would have stopped violence among us. The ongoing occupation in the territories is a recipe for the loss of values in Israel. We need a road map of morals.""Ending the occupation and a final status agreement are synonymous to protecting human values," he said.Peres: We mustn't delay peace processVice Premier Shimon Peres said at the rally that "there isn't one person here who doesn't know what the image of peace between us and the Palestinians will be.""We mustn't delay the peace process. Now is the time to return with full strength to a true peace, not only to build a fence against terrorists, but also to build gates for cooperation with our neighbors and the world.""Rabin," Peres said, "was a man who did not fear serving peace even when the nation was not ready to accept peace.""I stood here with him exactly 10 years ago. I was able to see what he saw, you wonderful people, you young people jumped into that pool there, cheering 'Long live peace, long live Yitzhak.' He was moved to the depths of his soul by that love and support." said Peres.82-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner Peres called on Israelis to "get into the political life, take the voyage of peace. Peace is in your hands, and I call on all of you to give your lives, to serve this country in its goals, its future; give a true thrust to peace, as Yitzhak did."Peretz hastly invitedUntil Thursday, Clinton was the planned star of the memorial. But Peretz's election as the new Labor leader and the political earthquake that ensued also have also impacted on the memorial. The event will be the first opportunity for left-wing parties and peace movements to react publicly to the new political reality wrought by Peretz's victory. No one on the Israeli left will want to miss out on the opportunity to differentiate themselves one from another in a large-scale public event to be broadcasted on TV channels in Israel and around the world. Amir Peretz was added to the list of speakers scheduled to address the memorial rally. The announcement came after two days of discussions among rally organizers. It is still unclear how Labor will choose to act at the memorial. Prior to the primary result and ensuing upheaval, the party acquiesced to a request by the Rabin Center organizing the memorial not to turn the rally into an internal party event. "Over the ten years we have learned that any diplomatic, security and political development influences the memorial," says Hemi Sell, who produces the memorial for the Rabin Center. "One must distinguish between what happens on stage and what goes on in the crowd," he adds. "I hope the parties and organizations would know to balance their actions at the rally."
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Went to bed with Peres and woke up with Peretz!
Last update - 14:22 10/11/2005
Peretz vows to achieve peace, security for Israel
By Yair Ettinger, Mazal Mualem and Daniel Ben-Simon, Haaretz Correspondents
Several hours after he was announced as the new leader of the Labor Party, Histadrut Chairman Amir Peretz on Thursday returned to his political roots to outline his political vision as the Labor candidate for premiership.
The victory is an unexpected result and a blow to the Labor old guard by Histadrut labor federation chairman Amir Peretz who was named Thursday morning the new chairman of the Labor Party, defeating the incumbent and favorite, Vice Premier Shimon Peres.
Speaking near the grave of slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin at the Mount Hertzl cemetery in Jerusalem, Peretz stressed that reaching a peace accord with the Palestinians is at the top of his political priority list.
"We will not rest until we reach a permanent agreement (with the Palestinians) that would secure a safe future for our children and that would provide us with renewed hope to live in a region where people lead a life of cooperation and not, God forbid, where blood is shed from time to time," Peretz said.
The new Labor chairman emphasized this move is a direct continuation of Rabin's political heritage: "I came today to make a vow to Rabin, once again, that I intend to do everything I can to continue his way, I intend to do everything I can so that [Rabin's] assassin would know he failed to murder peace."
Peretz recounted his long tenure as a loyal supporter of the late prime minister: "I was by Rabin's side in the days he struggled for his place in Israeli politics, I was with him in his days of isolation, and also in the days of overwhelming support from the people of Israel when they flooded him with warmth and admiration. I was also next to him on that dreadful night when we lost Yitzhak (Rabin) in the murder that shocked Israel and sought to severe and end his life and his way."
Soon after the official results were announced, the new Labor chief quickly reiterated his intention of pulling the party out of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government, propelling the country into political disarray and advancing the likelihood of early general elections.
"We will notify the prime minister that we want to leave. We want to leave... certainly out of a desire to turn the Labor Party into an alternative that intends to take power in the next elections," he said.
"Amir will discuss with the prime minister an agreed date for an election," said Yuli Tamir, a Labor legislator and Peretz supporter.
Winner of a tightly-run raceThe voting result, which came at dawn, followed a tightly-run race between the two opponents, which initially showed a slight lead for Peres.
Peretz, a fiery union leader, wants to steer the party back to its socialist roots, pull out of the coalition and force early elections. His message has resonated with Israelis disenfranchised by government cuts in social spending and the country's growing gap between rich and poor.
Shortly after 6 A.M., amid cheering from Peretz's supporters, Labor Secretary-General Eitan Cabel announced that Peretz had won with 42.35 percent of the votes, while Peres was backed by 39.96 percent of voters. In third place was Benjamin Ben Eliezer, with 16.82 percent of the vote.
Cabel was quick to rebuff claims of fraud and irregularities in the elections, which caused Peres to issue a last minute call for a halt in the count.
The release of the vote's final results was stalled by several hours as the Labor election committee, led by Cabel, headed early Thursday morning to the vote counting center in Petah Tikva after several claims of fraud in polling stations.
Peres appeals against resultsIn a pre-dawn press conference, Peres called on Labor's legal institutions to look into claims of severe irregularities in polling stations in Sderot and Be'er Sheva, two Peretz strongholds.
Some of the vote results "raised exceptional doubts," Peres said. "It is unreasonable that in communities where I had a majority I have now dropped to seven votes."
"I expected a better evening," Peres said.
Sitting alongside Peres, former prime minister Ehud Barak said the outcome of the primaries did not reflect the will of the party's voters.
But several hours later, the election committee announced it had rejected Peres' claims of fraud and okayed the completing of the counting of the votes in the remaining 13 polling stations from a total of 318.
Peretz did not immediately respond to the accusations, but his supporters were already claiming victory.
The Peretz camp erupted into celebrations when the Histadrut chief took the lead in the vote count early Thursday, and Israel Radio said he was headed to party headquarters to make an announcement. The uncounted districts were believed to favor Peretz, and Israeli radio stations said his victory was imminent.
Implications for governmentThe outcome of the vote will have wide-ranging implications for the future of Sharon's shaky governing coalition, in which Labor is the junior member.
Peres had said that he would keep Labor in the government until the next elections scheduled in November 2006.
The 82-year-old politician led Labor into the government this year to shore up support for Sharon's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The pullout divided Sharon's Likud Party, and without Labor support, the plan could not have been carried out.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Microsoft launches database, business programs. Microsoft's SQL Server 2005
Microsoft launches database, business programs
Mon Nov 7, 3:43 AM ET
Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news), the world's largest software maker, launched on Sunday its corporate database software program aimed at taking market share from Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq:ORCL - news).
Microsoft's SQL Server 2005, delayed several times as engineers sought to make the software more reliable and secure, is a corporate database program designed to store and retrieve business data.
Apart from databases, both Microsoft and Oracle are investing in business software, which allows companies to track customer accounts, manage payroll, finances and human resources.
Along with SQL (pronounced "sequel") Server, Microsoft also launched Visual Studio 2005, a software tools program used to create applications, and said it would launch a program for tracking business processes, called BizTalk Server 2006, next year.
"These three together continue to provide much better capabilities for the biggest enterprises," said Microsoft vice president Steve Guggenheimer. "For enterprise customers (these) give them another reason to look at Microsoft technology."
In order to promote the use of SQL Server and Visual Studio, Microsoft also said that it would offer free versions of the two programs for personal use so that individuals can create their own databases, Web sites and software programs.
The launch of SQL Server kicks off a busy year of product launches for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft.
Later this month, Microsoft will start selling Xbox 360, its newest-generation video game machine, and is planning to launch next year new versions of its Windows and Office software.
Mon Nov 7, 3:43 AM ET
Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news), the world's largest software maker, launched on Sunday its corporate database software program aimed at taking market share from Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq:ORCL - news).
Microsoft's SQL Server 2005, delayed several times as engineers sought to make the software more reliable and secure, is a corporate database program designed to store and retrieve business data.
Apart from databases, both Microsoft and Oracle are investing in business software, which allows companies to track customer accounts, manage payroll, finances and human resources.
Along with SQL (pronounced "sequel") Server, Microsoft also launched Visual Studio 2005, a software tools program used to create applications, and said it would launch a program for tracking business processes, called BizTalk Server 2006, next year.
"These three together continue to provide much better capabilities for the biggest enterprises," said Microsoft vice president Steve Guggenheimer. "For enterprise customers (these) give them another reason to look at Microsoft technology."
In order to promote the use of SQL Server and Visual Studio, Microsoft also said that it would offer free versions of the two programs for personal use so that individuals can create their own databases, Web sites and software programs.
The launch of SQL Server kicks off a busy year of product launches for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft.
Later this month, Microsoft will start selling Xbox 360, its newest-generation video game machine, and is planning to launch next year new versions of its Windows and Office software.
Friday, November 04, 2005
Do You Remember the 4th of November? Now Ten Years
The long shadow of Rabin's legacy
By James Reynolds
BBC News, Jerusalem
Ten years ago the prime minister of Israel addressed a rally in Tel Aviv.
Yitzhak Rabin defended his central gamble - you have to talk to the Palestinians, you have to give up land for peace.
Many Israelis agreed with him, but others did not.
Some made threats, but they were outweighed by an old certainty: Jews do not attack Jews. You are safe among your own.
But that night, a handful of bullets changed Israel's certainties for good.
Yitzhak Rabin was shot and killed by a religious student, Yigal Amir. Amir wanted to destroy the peace process.
Blessed
So, a decade on, did he get his wish?
What he did right now, pulling out of Gaza, is in the same path of my father's concept
Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff
Up until a couple of years ago, in the midst of the second Intifada, the answer was probably yes.
But then things changed. Ariel Sharon announced that he was getting Israel out of Gaza for good.
Mr Sharon's withdrawal has been blessed by the guardians of the Rabin legacy.
"What he did right now, pulling out of Gaza, is in the same path of my father's concept," says Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff, the daughter of the late prime minister.
"So if you want to call him a successor you may call him a successor. But he came to the same conclusion - that to be a Jewish, democratic, independent state we have to separate."
Different approach
So, Yitzhak Rabin's central concept - giving up land to the Palestinians - has survived his assassination.
Indeed it has become a defining principle in mainstream Israeli politics. But there is a key difference between the Rabin way and the Sharon way.
Rabin gave up land by negotiating with the Palestinians. Sharon has done it by ignoring them.
"The difference between them is that Rabin wanted a peace partner and searched for one till he found one," says Mohammed Dajani, a Palestinian academic.
"Sharon has a peace partner yet he cannot see how to deal with this peace partner."
Yigal Amir's bullets have left another legacy. The assassin destroyed the certainty that, no matter what, the Jewish people stick together.
Protection
The memory of the fate of Rabin has hung over Ariel Sharon.
"As soon as Ariel Sharon tried to follow in Rabin's footsteps he received the same threats. And unlike Rabin, Sharon is being guarded, protected, surrounded by 200 bodyguards," says Danny Ben Simon from Israel's Haaretz newspaper.
As soon as Ariel Sharon tried to follow in Rabin's footsteps he received the same threats
Ben Simon
"But I must say, as to the threat, we have not changed. Jews, radical Jews are still after any Prime Minister who dares touch the Holy Land."
But unlike Rabin, Sharon has survived. And the assassin Yigal Amir is still in a prison cell.
He may watch with pleasure, though, as Israel continues to ignore the Palestinians and build settlements.
Amir will be delighted that he has destroyed trust between the two sides, and that there is - as yet - no Palestinian state.
But in one important way the assassin's bullets did not work.
That other soldier politician Ariel Sharon has taken on board part of Yitzhak Rabin's concept... and he has given up land.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4405740.stm
Published: 2005/11/04 04:47:38 GMT
By James Reynolds
BBC News, Jerusalem
Ten years ago the prime minister of Israel addressed a rally in Tel Aviv.
Yitzhak Rabin defended his central gamble - you have to talk to the Palestinians, you have to give up land for peace.
Many Israelis agreed with him, but others did not.
Some made threats, but they were outweighed by an old certainty: Jews do not attack Jews. You are safe among your own.
But that night, a handful of bullets changed Israel's certainties for good.
Yitzhak Rabin was shot and killed by a religious student, Yigal Amir. Amir wanted to destroy the peace process.
Blessed
So, a decade on, did he get his wish?
What he did right now, pulling out of Gaza, is in the same path of my father's concept
Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff
Up until a couple of years ago, in the midst of the second Intifada, the answer was probably yes.
But then things changed. Ariel Sharon announced that he was getting Israel out of Gaza for good.
Mr Sharon's withdrawal has been blessed by the guardians of the Rabin legacy.
"What he did right now, pulling out of Gaza, is in the same path of my father's concept," says Dalia Rabin-Pelosoff, the daughter of the late prime minister.
"So if you want to call him a successor you may call him a successor. But he came to the same conclusion - that to be a Jewish, democratic, independent state we have to separate."
Different approach
So, Yitzhak Rabin's central concept - giving up land to the Palestinians - has survived his assassination.
Indeed it has become a defining principle in mainstream Israeli politics. But there is a key difference between the Rabin way and the Sharon way.
Rabin gave up land by negotiating with the Palestinians. Sharon has done it by ignoring them.
"The difference between them is that Rabin wanted a peace partner and searched for one till he found one," says Mohammed Dajani, a Palestinian academic.
"Sharon has a peace partner yet he cannot see how to deal with this peace partner."
Yigal Amir's bullets have left another legacy. The assassin destroyed the certainty that, no matter what, the Jewish people stick together.
Protection
The memory of the fate of Rabin has hung over Ariel Sharon.
"As soon as Ariel Sharon tried to follow in Rabin's footsteps he received the same threats. And unlike Rabin, Sharon is being guarded, protected, surrounded by 200 bodyguards," says Danny Ben Simon from Israel's Haaretz newspaper.
As soon as Ariel Sharon tried to follow in Rabin's footsteps he received the same threats
Ben Simon
"But I must say, as to the threat, we have not changed. Jews, radical Jews are still after any Prime Minister who dares touch the Holy Land."
But unlike Rabin, Sharon has survived. And the assassin Yigal Amir is still in a prison cell.
He may watch with pleasure, though, as Israel continues to ignore the Palestinians and build settlements.
Amir will be delighted that he has destroyed trust between the two sides, and that there is - as yet - no Palestinian state.
But in one important way the assassin's bullets did not work.
That other soldier politician Ariel Sharon has taken on board part of Yitzhak Rabin's concept... and he has given up land.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/4405740.stm
Published: 2005/11/04 04:47:38 GMT
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Monday, October 17, 2005
Turtles Can Fly. I saw the movie tonight.
Turtles Can Fly
Philip French
Sunday January 9, 2005
The Observer
Turtles Can Fly, the first film to be made in Iraq after the fall of Saddam, is written and directed by Iranian film-maker Bahman Ghobadi. It further explores the problems of tough children attempting to survive in an adult world that he dealt with in his masterly A Time for Drunken Horses.
The earlier film concerned Kurdish children engaged in the dangerous work of smuggling goods back and forth over the heavily mined Iran-Iraq border. Here, they're living in a wretched Kurdish refugee camp near the border between Iraq and Turkey on the eve of the American invasion of 2003, and the movie is ominously framed by the suicide of a female teenage orphan.
The children survive by collecting landmines and most of them are mutilated. Their leader, nicknamed Satellite for his ability to install dishes that enable the community to keep in touch with the news, is a go-getter who keeps the group together through a combination of kindness and brutal authority. He's looking forward to the arrival of the Americans and a new way of life. You don't need to have seen A Time for Drunken Horses to know that Satellite's hopes are going to be dashed - you just need to watch the news. This is a bold, impressive film that deserves a wider audience than it's likely to get.
Philip French
Sunday January 9, 2005
The Observer
Turtles Can Fly, the first film to be made in Iraq after the fall of Saddam, is written and directed by Iranian film-maker Bahman Ghobadi. It further explores the problems of tough children attempting to survive in an adult world that he dealt with in his masterly A Time for Drunken Horses.
The earlier film concerned Kurdish children engaged in the dangerous work of smuggling goods back and forth over the heavily mined Iran-Iraq border. Here, they're living in a wretched Kurdish refugee camp near the border between Iraq and Turkey on the eve of the American invasion of 2003, and the movie is ominously framed by the suicide of a female teenage orphan.
The children survive by collecting landmines and most of them are mutilated. Their leader, nicknamed Satellite for his ability to install dishes that enable the community to keep in touch with the news, is a go-getter who keeps the group together through a combination of kindness and brutal authority. He's looking forward to the arrival of the Americans and a new way of life. You don't need to have seen A Time for Drunken Horses to know that Satellite's hopes are going to be dashed - you just need to watch the news. This is a bold, impressive film that deserves a wider audience than it's likely to get.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Today on Si Himans Forum
תודה למיכל
היה 10 בערוץ 10
והרבה תודות לסי ממני ומכל אלו שנהנים בהופעות.
וסליחה....
הוספת תגובה בחלון נפרד
שם: samc
נושא: [סמיילים וסימנים לנושא]
תוכן: [סמיילים וסימנים לתוכן]
◄ מסר למחבר/ת ◄ שליחה באימייל ◄ הדפסה ◄ קישור להודעה ◄ עדכן אותי בSMS X
• תקציר הסיפור ב"סליחות"ו נועם רוזנברג ו 03:13 14/10
• נועם היקר לי מאוד מאודו ט י נ ה ו 15:10 15/10
• היה יפהו sara100 ו 09:30 14/10
• היי שרה ברוכה הבאה ותודה תודהו ט י נ ה ו 15:04 15/10
• שבוע טובו sara100 ו 19:37 15/10
• היה מרגש מאדו א מ א ש ל א ו ר ו 18:08 14/10
• תודה לך אמא של אור היקרה לי מכלו ט י נ ה ו 15:12 15/10
• טוב נו, אם את שרה שם..ו א מ א ש ל א ו ר ו 20:35 15/10
• היי שמואל יקר מה שלומך ?ו ט י נ ה < ההודעה הנוכחית ו 15:13 15/10
ואיך החיים ?< מקווה שעוברים עלייך ימים יפים
מתארת לי שניפגש ליד האנדרטה של רבין ב 04.11 בצהריים שם יהיה כל מחנה השלום. האמיתי .
אם אהיה שם אשיר לזכרו זה בטוח
הוספת תגובה בחלון נפרד
שם: samc
נושא: [סמיילים וסימנים לנושא]
תוכן: [סמיילים וסימנים לתוכן]
◄ מסר למחבר/ת ◄ שליחה באימייל ◄ הדפסה ◄ קישור להודעה ◄ עדכן אותי בSMS X
• תודה טינה האמת:ו samc ו 21:21 15/10
1) העצרת תהיה במוצ"ש 5 לנובמבר.
אני הייתי באנדרטה כאשר לאה רבין הייתה שם,
במשך 5 שנים!
הקבועים של ימי ששי די שנואים עלי (בהכללה כי יש לי גם חברים שם)
בגללם הפסדנו בבחירות ב1996 ובגללם הפכו את המקום
למועדון שירי א"י השלמה עם הגרסה הימנית של "יהיה טוב".
2) אני כותב מאמר על הקשר בין מלחמת יום כיפורים
לבין רצח רבין ז"ל. הקשר הוא המערכת הפוליטית הכושלת
תוצאה של שיטת הבחירות היחסיות.
3) יוסי ביילין בד"כ לא בא לאנדרטה.
לצערי התרבות הפוליטית הישראלית לא הפכה את הכיכר להייד פארק.
אין שם הדברות והקשבה אמיתית.
לactressסליחה אם היא חושבת שזה עוף OFF TOPIC אבל אני עונה
לשאלה. מקווה להגיע ל-שוהם ב20.
אגב מי זוכר את ערב השירים ל-רבין בקאמלוט...
אני זוכר שהיה יפה!
היה 10 בערוץ 10
והרבה תודות לסי ממני ומכל אלו שנהנים בהופעות.
וסליחה....
הוספת תגובה בחלון נפרד
שם: samc
נושא: [סמיילים וסימנים לנושא]
תוכן: [סמיילים וסימנים לתוכן]
◄ מסר למחבר/ת ◄ שליחה באימייל ◄ הדפסה ◄ קישור להודעה ◄ עדכן אותי בSMS X
• תקציר הסיפור ב"סליחות"ו נועם רוזנברג ו 03:13 14/10
• נועם היקר לי מאוד מאודו ט י נ ה ו 15:10 15/10
• היה יפהו sara100 ו 09:30 14/10
• היי שרה ברוכה הבאה ותודה תודהו ט י נ ה ו 15:04 15/10
• שבוע טובו sara100 ו 19:37 15/10
• היה מרגש מאדו א מ א ש ל א ו ר ו 18:08 14/10
• תודה לך אמא של אור היקרה לי מכלו ט י נ ה ו 15:12 15/10
• טוב נו, אם את שרה שם..ו א מ א ש ל א ו ר ו 20:35 15/10
• היי שמואל יקר מה שלומך ?ו ט י נ ה < ההודעה הנוכחית ו 15:13 15/10
ואיך החיים ?< מקווה שעוברים עלייך ימים יפים
מתארת לי שניפגש ליד האנדרטה של רבין ב 04.11 בצהריים שם יהיה כל מחנה השלום. האמיתי .
אם אהיה שם אשיר לזכרו זה בטוח
הוספת תגובה בחלון נפרד
שם: samc
נושא: [סמיילים וסימנים לנושא]
תוכן: [סמיילים וסימנים לתוכן]
◄ מסר למחבר/ת ◄ שליחה באימייל ◄ הדפסה ◄ קישור להודעה ◄ עדכן אותי בSMS X
• תודה טינה האמת:ו samc ו 21:21 15/10
1) העצרת תהיה במוצ"ש 5 לנובמבר.
אני הייתי באנדרטה כאשר לאה רבין הייתה שם,
במשך 5 שנים!
הקבועים של ימי ששי די שנואים עלי (בהכללה כי יש לי גם חברים שם)
בגללם הפסדנו בבחירות ב1996 ובגללם הפכו את המקום
למועדון שירי א"י השלמה עם הגרסה הימנית של "יהיה טוב".
2) אני כותב מאמר על הקשר בין מלחמת יום כיפורים
לבין רצח רבין ז"ל. הקשר הוא המערכת הפוליטית הכושלת
תוצאה של שיטת הבחירות היחסיות.
3) יוסי ביילין בד"כ לא בא לאנדרטה.
לצערי התרבות הפוליטית הישראלית לא הפכה את הכיכר להייד פארק.
אין שם הדברות והקשבה אמיתית.
לactressסליחה אם היא חושבת שזה עוף OFF TOPIC אבל אני עונה
לשאלה. מקווה להגיע ל-שוהם ב20.
אגב מי זוכר את ערב השירים ל-רבין בקאמלוט...
אני זוכר שהיה יפה!
Friday, October 14, 2005
Major Theft At Dalton Winery, Rogov
Post Title: Major Theft At Dalton Winery
Posted by: Rogov at 02:48 October 9,2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During this weekend, thieves broke through the gates at the Dalton Winery in the Upper Galilee, disconnected the alarm system and then loaded 20,000 bottles of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from the 2002 and 2003 vintages onto trucks before making their way to wherever it is that such thieves make their way.
The damage to the winery is major. In addition to the winery's evaluation of the loss at 3 million shekels, this means that many of the 2003 wines, many of which during my barrel and advance tastings showed to be of excellent quality, will not be available for market. The 2003 wines were scheduled to be released in the next few months.
The winery is offering a NIS 25,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of the thieves. Perhaps more important to members of our forum, the bottles are labeled and numbered so should anyone see the 2003 Cabernet or Merlot on the market (the Shiraz has already been released), it would be a good thing either to inform the winery or, if that is not convenient, to let me know, informing of precisely where the wines are being sold. As is obvious, the more details that can be supplied, the better.
I will be receiving copies of the labels either today or tomorrow and will post at least one of those here in order to help in identifying the bottles when they do show up.
Best,
Rogov
Posted by: Rogov at 02:48 October 9,2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During this weekend, thieves broke through the gates at the Dalton Winery in the Upper Galilee, disconnected the alarm system and then loaded 20,000 bottles of Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from the 2002 and 2003 vintages onto trucks before making their way to wherever it is that such thieves make their way.
The damage to the winery is major. In addition to the winery's evaluation of the loss at 3 million shekels, this means that many of the 2003 wines, many of which during my barrel and advance tastings showed to be of excellent quality, will not be available for market. The 2003 wines were scheduled to be released in the next few months.
The winery is offering a NIS 25,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension of the thieves. Perhaps more important to members of our forum, the bottles are labeled and numbered so should anyone see the 2003 Cabernet or Merlot on the market (the Shiraz has already been released), it would be a good thing either to inform the winery or, if that is not convenient, to let me know, informing of precisely where the wines are being sold. As is obvious, the more details that can be supplied, the better.
I will be receiving copies of the labels either today or tomorrow and will post at least one of those here in order to help in identifying the bottles when they do show up.
Best,
Rogov
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Saw the "Downfall" at cinematheque. German Nightmare.
German Nightmare, 9 October 2005
Author: Samuel Cohen from Israel
http://imdb.com/user/ur0498043/comments for my comments of Movies I saw
I had very mixed feelings before and when I saw this film about Hitler Berlin Germany and the end of World War 2. The Film is German Perfection that even Spielberg could not do. It is not enjoyable and I thought of walking out before the end of the movie. And for a correction, The Movie mentions that 50 Million died as a result of the war and 6 Million Jews. The truth is that 13 Million died that were not connected directly to the War Including the Six Million Jews, So Nazism was bad for everyone, not only Jews. For the Germans too. 35 Million Russians etc... Here we see Berlin Bombed and we are not shown how many other cities were destroyed. I suppose I had to see this movie.
Author: Samuel Cohen from Israel
http://imdb.com/user/ur0498043/comments for my comments of Movies I saw
I had very mixed feelings before and when I saw this film about Hitler Berlin Germany and the end of World War 2. The Film is German Perfection that even Spielberg could not do. It is not enjoyable and I thought of walking out before the end of the movie. And for a correction, The Movie mentions that 50 Million died as a result of the war and 6 Million Jews. The truth is that 13 Million died that were not connected directly to the War Including the Six Million Jews, So Nazism was bad for everyone, not only Jews. For the Germans too. 35 Million Russians etc... Here we see Berlin Bombed and we are not shown how many other cities were destroyed. I suppose I had to see this movie.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
הפסטיבל "7 מוזות ב-7 סוכות" יתקיים בשהם
הפסטיבל "7 מוזות ב-7 סוכות" יתקיים בשהם
מאת עירית רוזנבלום"חבק אותי עכשיו - האדמה רועדת" של ניר בן-גל וליאת דרור וקבוצת המחול "אדמה"; סוכת זמר ושלום של סי היימן ו"אחיות הנשמה"; ופרויקט צילום סוכות-מציל בעזה ובתל אביב של הצלם גיא רז - אלו כמה מהיצירות שיתארחו בפסטיבל הרב-תחומי לאמנויות, "7 מוזות ב-7 סוכות", שיתקיים בשהם ב-19-20 באוקטובר, זו השנה החמישית. במוקד הפסטיבל יוצבו שבע סוכות, וכל אחת מהן תהיה אתר להתרחשות לאמנותית הכוללת הופעות חיות והפעלות. הנושא המשותף לאירועים השנה הוא הארעיות, התזוזה, המעבר. לדברי המנהלת האמנותית של הפסטיבל, אפרת אייל, הסוכה המסורתית כסמל של "היהודי הנודד" שוב מחפשת גבולות חדשים. אמנים נוספים שיתארחו השנה הם וי-ג'יי אבירמוס, אמן מחשב המציג דימויים צבעוניים ומוסיקה אלקטרונית; הצייר דייוויד גוס במיצג "דיוטי פרי פלשתין-ישראל"; האמנית עינת לידר במיצב "סוכומאט"; ומפגש תיאטרון מאולתר, "ריאליטי בסוכה". בנוסף יהיו מופע מחול של להקת "שקטק" והופעה של להקת "גאיה" עם דין דין אביב. לצד סוכות האמנות יפעלו בפסטיבל סוכות קהילתיות בשיתוף אמנים תושבי שהם. לראשונה יהיה גם מתחם ילדים ובו פינות יצירה ומפגשי שעת סיפור. אירוע פתיחת הפסטיבל יתקיים ביום רביעי, 19 באוקטובר, בשעה 17:00 בבית מועצת שהם עם פתיחת תערוכתו של אברהם הסגל, "תמונות מספרות". הפסטיבל יתקיים בגן החבל בשעות 18:00-22:30. המופעים בשעה 21:00. המופעים ללא תשלום ומתאימים לכל המשפחה. פרטים בטל' 9723001-03, ובאתר www.shoham.muni.il.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
ברכת שנה טובה מיו"ר מפלגת מרצ-יחד, יוסי ביילין
29/09/2005 מאת: יוסי ביילין
ברכת שנה טובה מיו"ר מפלגת מרצ-יחד, יוסי ביילין
ערב ראש השנה, התשס"ו
חברות וחברים,
השנה שהיתה...
סוף סוף אפשר לומר ש"שנת ההינתקות" מאחורינו. סוף סוף – כי הסתיימה תקופה של 38 שנות התנחלות ברצועת עזה שעלתה לנו מחיר עצום, הן בדם והן בדמים; וסוף סוף - כי השתחררנו מצלה הכבד של תכנית הנסיגה החד צדדית שהוטל על סדר היום הציבורי. ניסינו להחזיר את הויכוח על חזרה לתהליך מדיני, על משא ומתן להסכם קבע ועל תיאום ההינתקות עם הפלסטינים, אך ב"שנת ההינתקות", היה זה קשה במיוחד. כל נושא נדחק לשוליים. מספר העניים בישראל שבר השנה את כל השיאים, גילויי השחיתות בשלטון הגיעו למימדים חסרי תקדים ובמערכת החינוך המשיכו הקיצוצים בשעות הלימוד. הגזענות והשנאה לערבים הגיעו למימדים מבהילים בשני מקרים של רצח בדם קר של ערבים בידי יהודי בשפרעם ובשילה. בתום "שנת ההינתקות", מוטלת עלינו החובה להשמיע קול רם וברור כנגד התופעות הללו, להוות אלטרנטיבה אמיתית ולהחזיר את הסיכוי והתקווה לעתיד.
השנה שתהיה...
שנת תשס"ו תהיה שנת בחירות. אסור לנו לתת לשנה נוספת לחלוף תחת הצל הכבד של הבחירות בלי שום התקדמות מדינית ובלי שינוי חברתי וכלכלי. המתיחות בעזה, המשך ירי הקסאמים על יישובי הנגב המערבי, ההתקפות הישראליות ברצועה והמשך הבנייה המאסיבית בהתנחלויות מהווים איום של ממש על עתיד התהליך המדיני והסיכוי להסכם. תשומת הלב הציבורית ממשיכה להיות מופנית לויכוח של אתמול, למאבקים בתוך הליכוד על מי תמך בהינתקות ומי התנגד לה. עלינו לפעול כבר היום להקדמת הבחירות, ולהביא לכך שהבחירות הבאות יהיו על הויכוח של מחר: האם פנינו למשא ומתן והסכם, או לצעדים חד צדדים וקיפאון מדיני; האם אנו חוזרים למדינת רווחה ולצמצום פערים, או ממשיכים במדיניות של קפיטליזם דורסני.
הויכוח הזה ייקבע לפי סדר היום הציבורי, ועלינו לעשות כל מאמץ להשפיע עליו כבר מעכשיו, בנוכחות ברחובות, בצמתים ובהפגנות. במוצאי שבת שעברה בהפגנה בירושלים וברמאללה, השמענו את אקורד הפתיחה ומחובתנו להמשיך בו ולהתגייס במלוא המרץ.
מרצ-יחד נמצאת בעיצומן של ההכנות לבחירות. במישור הארגוני אנחנו מכינים את התשתיות מול כל הסניפים ואנו זקוקים לעזרתכם להרחבת תאי הפעילות בכל הארץ.
אני מאמין ומקווה שביחד נצליח לממש את הברכה: "תחל שנה וברכותיה".
שנה טובה!
יוסי ביילין
ברכת שנה טובה מיו"ר מפלגת מרצ-יחד, יוסי ביילין
ערב ראש השנה, התשס"ו
חברות וחברים,
השנה שהיתה...
סוף סוף אפשר לומר ש"שנת ההינתקות" מאחורינו. סוף סוף – כי הסתיימה תקופה של 38 שנות התנחלות ברצועת עזה שעלתה לנו מחיר עצום, הן בדם והן בדמים; וסוף סוף - כי השתחררנו מצלה הכבד של תכנית הנסיגה החד צדדית שהוטל על סדר היום הציבורי. ניסינו להחזיר את הויכוח על חזרה לתהליך מדיני, על משא ומתן להסכם קבע ועל תיאום ההינתקות עם הפלסטינים, אך ב"שנת ההינתקות", היה זה קשה במיוחד. כל נושא נדחק לשוליים. מספר העניים בישראל שבר השנה את כל השיאים, גילויי השחיתות בשלטון הגיעו למימדים חסרי תקדים ובמערכת החינוך המשיכו הקיצוצים בשעות הלימוד. הגזענות והשנאה לערבים הגיעו למימדים מבהילים בשני מקרים של רצח בדם קר של ערבים בידי יהודי בשפרעם ובשילה. בתום "שנת ההינתקות", מוטלת עלינו החובה להשמיע קול רם וברור כנגד התופעות הללו, להוות אלטרנטיבה אמיתית ולהחזיר את הסיכוי והתקווה לעתיד.
השנה שתהיה...
שנת תשס"ו תהיה שנת בחירות. אסור לנו לתת לשנה נוספת לחלוף תחת הצל הכבד של הבחירות בלי שום התקדמות מדינית ובלי שינוי חברתי וכלכלי. המתיחות בעזה, המשך ירי הקסאמים על יישובי הנגב המערבי, ההתקפות הישראליות ברצועה והמשך הבנייה המאסיבית בהתנחלויות מהווים איום של ממש על עתיד התהליך המדיני והסיכוי להסכם. תשומת הלב הציבורית ממשיכה להיות מופנית לויכוח של אתמול, למאבקים בתוך הליכוד על מי תמך בהינתקות ומי התנגד לה. עלינו לפעול כבר היום להקדמת הבחירות, ולהביא לכך שהבחירות הבאות יהיו על הויכוח של מחר: האם פנינו למשא ומתן והסכם, או לצעדים חד צדדים וקיפאון מדיני; האם אנו חוזרים למדינת רווחה ולצמצום פערים, או ממשיכים במדיניות של קפיטליזם דורסני.
הויכוח הזה ייקבע לפי סדר היום הציבורי, ועלינו לעשות כל מאמץ להשפיע עליו כבר מעכשיו, בנוכחות ברחובות, בצמתים ובהפגנות. במוצאי שבת שעברה בהפגנה בירושלים וברמאללה, השמענו את אקורד הפתיחה ומחובתנו להמשיך בו ולהתגייס במלוא המרץ.
מרצ-יחד נמצאת בעיצומן של ההכנות לבחירות. במישור הארגוני אנחנו מכינים את התשתיות מול כל הסניפים ואנו זקוקים לעזרתכם להרחבת תאי הפעילות בכל הארץ.
אני מאמין ומקווה שביחד נצליח לממש את הברכה: "תחל שנה וברכותיה".
שנה טובה!
יוסי ביילין
Design of $100 Laptop for Kids Unveiled
Email this Story
Sep 28, 9:01 PM (ET)
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN
(AP) Nicholas Negroponte, leader of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, speaks during...
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - The $100 laptop computers that Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers want to get into the hands of the world's children would be durable, flexible and self-reliant.
The machines' AC adapter would double as a carrying strap, and a hand crank would power them when there's no electricity. They'd be foldable into more positions than traditional notebook PCs, and carried like slim lunchboxes.
For outdoor reading, their display would be able to shift from full color to glare-resistant black and white.
And surrounding it all, the laptops would have a rubber casing that closes tightly, because "they have to be absolutely indestructible," said Nicholas Negroponte, the MIT Media Lab leader who offered an update on the project Wednesday.
Negroponte hatched the $100 laptop idea after seeing children in a Cambodian village benefit from having notebook computers at school that they could also tote home to use on their own.
Those computers had been donated by a foundation run by Negroponte and his wife. He decided that for kids everywhere to benefit from the educational and communications powers of the Internet, someone would have to make laptops inexpensive enough for officials in developing countries to purchase en masse. At least that's Negroponte's plan.
Within a year, Negroponte expects his nonprofit One Laptop Per Child to get 5 million to 15 million of the machines in production, when children in Brazil, China, Egypt, Thailand, South Africa are due to begin getting them.
In the second year - when Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney hopes to start buying them for all 500,000 middle and high-school students in this state - Negroponte envisions 100 million to 150 million being made. (He boasts that these humble $100 notebooks would surpass the world's existing annual production of laptops, which is about 50 million.)
While a prototype isn't expected to be shown off until November, Negroponte unveiled blueprints at Technology Review magazine's Emerging Technologies conference at MIT.
Among the key specs: A 500-megahertz processor (that was fast in the 1990s but slow by today's standards) by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and flash memory instead of a hard drive with moving parts. To save on software costs, the laptops would run the freely available Linux operating system instead of Windows.
The computers would be able to connect to Wi-Fi wireless networks and be part of "mesh" networks in which each laptop would relay data to and from other devices, reducing the need for expensive base stations. Plans call for the machines to have four USB ports for multimedia and data storage.
Perhaps the defining difference is the hand crank, though first-generation users would get no more than 10 minutes of juice from one minute of winding.
This certainly wouldn't be the first effort to bridge the world's so-called digital divide with inexpensive versions of fancy machinery. Other attempts have had a mixed record.
With those in mind, Negroponte says his team is addressing ways this project could be undermined.
For example, to keep the $100 laptops from being widely stolen or sold off in poor countries, he expects to make them so pervasive in schools and so distinctive in design that it would be "socially a stigma to be carrying one if you are not a student or a teacher." He compared it to filching a mail truck or taking something from a church: Everyone would know where it came from.
As a result, he expects to keep no more than 2 percent of the machines from falling into a murky "gray market."
And unlike the classic computing model in which successive generations of devices get more gadgetry at the same price, Negroponte said his group expects to do the reverse. With such tweaks as "electronic ink" displays that will require virtually no power, the MIT team expects to constantly lower the cost.
After all, in much of the world, Negroponte said, even $100 "is still too expensive."
Sep 28, 9:01 PM (ET)
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN
(AP) Nicholas Negroponte, leader of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, speaks during...
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - The $100 laptop computers that Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers want to get into the hands of the world's children would be durable, flexible and self-reliant.
The machines' AC adapter would double as a carrying strap, and a hand crank would power them when there's no electricity. They'd be foldable into more positions than traditional notebook PCs, and carried like slim lunchboxes.
For outdoor reading, their display would be able to shift from full color to glare-resistant black and white.
And surrounding it all, the laptops would have a rubber casing that closes tightly, because "they have to be absolutely indestructible," said Nicholas Negroponte, the MIT Media Lab leader who offered an update on the project Wednesday.
Negroponte hatched the $100 laptop idea after seeing children in a Cambodian village benefit from having notebook computers at school that they could also tote home to use on their own.
Those computers had been donated by a foundation run by Negroponte and his wife. He decided that for kids everywhere to benefit from the educational and communications powers of the Internet, someone would have to make laptops inexpensive enough for officials in developing countries to purchase en masse. At least that's Negroponte's plan.
Within a year, Negroponte expects his nonprofit One Laptop Per Child to get 5 million to 15 million of the machines in production, when children in Brazil, China, Egypt, Thailand, South Africa are due to begin getting them.
In the second year - when Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney hopes to start buying them for all 500,000 middle and high-school students in this state - Negroponte envisions 100 million to 150 million being made. (He boasts that these humble $100 notebooks would surpass the world's existing annual production of laptops, which is about 50 million.)
While a prototype isn't expected to be shown off until November, Negroponte unveiled blueprints at Technology Review magazine's Emerging Technologies conference at MIT.
Among the key specs: A 500-megahertz processor (that was fast in the 1990s but slow by today's standards) by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) and flash memory instead of a hard drive with moving parts. To save on software costs, the laptops would run the freely available Linux operating system instead of Windows.
The computers would be able to connect to Wi-Fi wireless networks and be part of "mesh" networks in which each laptop would relay data to and from other devices, reducing the need for expensive base stations. Plans call for the machines to have four USB ports for multimedia and data storage.
Perhaps the defining difference is the hand crank, though first-generation users would get no more than 10 minutes of juice from one minute of winding.
This certainly wouldn't be the first effort to bridge the world's so-called digital divide with inexpensive versions of fancy machinery. Other attempts have had a mixed record.
With those in mind, Negroponte says his team is addressing ways this project could be undermined.
For example, to keep the $100 laptops from being widely stolen or sold off in poor countries, he expects to make them so pervasive in schools and so distinctive in design that it would be "socially a stigma to be carrying one if you are not a student or a teacher." He compared it to filching a mail truck or taking something from a church: Everyone would know where it came from.
As a result, he expects to keep no more than 2 percent of the machines from falling into a murky "gray market."
And unlike the classic computing model in which successive generations of devices get more gadgetry at the same price, Negroponte said his group expects to do the reverse. With such tweaks as "electronic ink" displays that will require virtually no power, the MIT team expects to constantly lower the cost.
After all, in much of the world, Negroponte said, even $100 "is still too expensive."
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Amos Oz , The devil's progress.
The devil's progress
Modern social science has banished concepts of good and evil. But, argues Amos Oz, literature, from Shakespeare and Goethe to Grass and Böll, gives us truer insights into human nature
Amos Oz
Saturday September 3, 2005
Guardian
When I was a child in Jerusalem, our teacher at a Jewish orthodox school taught us the book of Job. All Israeli children, to this day, study the book of Job. Our teacher told us how Satan travelled all the way from that book to the New Testament, and to Goethe's Faust, and to many other works of literature. And although each writer made something new of Satan, the devil, der Teufel, he was always the very same Satan: cool, amused, sarcastic and sceptical. A deconstructor of human faith, love and hope.
Job's Satan, like Faust's Satan, enters upon a wager. His big prize is neither a hidden treasure, nor the heart of a beautiful woman, and not even a promotion to a higher position in the heavenly hierarchy. No: Satan enters a gamble out of some kind of didactic urge. He wishes to make a point. To prove something, and to refute something else. With enormous argumentative zeal, the biblical Satan and the Aufklärung Satan try to show God and his angels that man, when given the choice, will always opt for evil. He will choose bad over good, willingly and consciously.
Shakespeare's Iago may well have been motivated by a very similar didactic zeal. Indeed, so it is with almost every thorough evildoer in world literature. Perhaps this is why Satan is often so charming. So beguiling. John Milton may have misunderstood the devil when he called him "the infernal serpent". Heinrich Heine knew better when he wrote:
I call'd the devil, and he came,
And with wonder his form did I closely scan;
He is not ugly, and is not lame,
But really a handsome and charming man.
A man in the prime of life is the devil,
Obliging, a man of the world, and civil;
A diplomatist too, well skill'd in debate,
He talks quite glibly of church and state.
Man and the devil understood each other so well, because they were, in some ways, so alike. In the book of Job, Satan, the perverse educator, intimately understood how human pain breeds evil: "Put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse thee to thy face". And Shakespeare's witches, in Macbeth, could sense the arrival of an evil man from afar: "I feel a pricking in my thumb; something wicked this way comes." Goethe, for his part, observed that the devil, like so many human beings, is simply a selfish charmer. "Der Teufel ist ein egotist." The devil is an egotist. He only helps others in order to serve his own ends. Not, as God and Kant would have it, for the sake of the good deed alone.
And this is why, ever since the book of Job, and until not so long ago, Satan, man and God lived in the same household. All three seemed to know the difference between good and evil. God, man and the devil knew that evil was evil and that good was good. God commanded one option. Satan seduced to try the other. God and Satan played on the same chessboard. Man was their game-piece. It was as simple as that.
Personally, I believe that every human being, in his or her heart of hearts, is capable of telling good from bad. Even when they pretend not to. We have all eaten from that tree of Eden whose full name is the tree of knowledge of good from evil.
The same distinction may apply to truth and lies: just as it is immensely difficult to define the truth, yet quite easy to smell a lie, it may sometimes be hard to define good; but evil has its unmistakable odour: every child knows what pain is. Therefore, each time we deliberately inflict pain on another, we know what we are doing. We are doing evil.
But the modern age has changed all that. It has blurred the clear distinction that humanity has made since its early childhood, since the Garden of Eden. Some time in the 19th century, not so long after Goethe died, a new thinking entered western culture that brushed evil aside, indeed denied its very existence. That intellectual innovation was called social science. For the new, self-confident, exquisitely rational, optimistic, thoroughly scientific practitioners of psychology, sociology, anthropology, and economics - evil was not an issue. Come to think of it, neither was good. To this very day, certain social scientists simply do not talk about good and evil. To them, all human motives and actions derive from circumstances, which are often beyond personal control. "Demons," said Freud, "do not exist any more than gods do, being only the products of the psychic activity of man." We are controlled by our social background. For about 100 years now, they have been telling us that we are motivated exclusively by economic self-interest, that we are mere products of our ethnic cultures, that we are no more than marionettes of our own subconscious.
In other words, the modern social sciences were the first major attempt to kick both good and evil off the human stage. For the first time in their long history, good and bad were both overruled by the idea that circumstances are always responsible for human decisions, human actions and especially human suffering. Society is to blame. Painful childhood is to blame. The political is to blame. Colonialism. Imperialism. Zionism. Globalisation. What not. So began the great world championship of victimhood.
For the first time since the book of Job, the devil found himself out of a job. He could no longer play his ancient game with human minds. Satan was dismissed. This was the modern age.
Well, the times may be changing again. Satan might have been sacked, but he did not remain unemployed. The 20th century was the worst arena of cold-blooded evil in human history. The social sciences failed to predict, encounter, or even grasp this modern, highly technologised evil. Very often, this 20th-century evil disguised itself as world reforming, as idealism, as re-educating the masses or "opening their eyes". Totalitarianism was presented as secular redemption for some, at the expense of millions of lives.
Today, having emerged from the evil of totalitarian rule, we have enormous respect for cultures. For diversities. For pluralism. I know some people are willing to kill anyone who is not a pluralist. Satan was hired for work once again by postmodernism; but this time his job is verging on kitsch: a small, secretive bunch of "shady forces" are always guilty of everything, from poverty and discrimination, war and global warming to September 11 and the tsunami. Ordinary people are always innocent. Minorities are never to blame. Victims are, by definition, morally pure. Did you notice that today, the devil never seems to invade any individual person? We have no Fausts any more. According to trendy discourse, evil is a conglomerate. Systems are evil. Governments are bad. Faceless institutions run the world for their own sinister gain. Satan is no longer in the details. Individual men and women cannot be "bad", in the ancient sense of the book of Job, or Macbeth, of Iago, of Faust. You and I are always very nice people. The devil is always the establishment. This is, in my view, ethical kitsch.
Let us consult our own most gifted adviser, der Geheimrat [councillor] Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Let us look at his West-Eastern Divan, one of the earliest great tributes of western culture to its own curiosity and attraction to the east. Was Goethe a condescending "orientalist", as Edward Said might have him? Or was he a multiculturalist, in the fashion of today's guilt-ridden Europeans paying lip service to everything distant, to everything different, everything decisively non-European?
I think Goethe was neither an orientalist nor a multiculturalist. It was not the extreme and imagined exoticism of the east that tempted him, but the strong and fresh substance that eastern cultures, eastern poetry and art may give to universal human truths and feelings. The good, and indeed God, are universal:
God is of the east possess'd,
God is ruler of the west;
North and South alike, each land
Rests within His gentle hand.
Even more so, love is universal, whether it is for Gretchen or for Zuleika. So a German poet may well write a love poem for an imagined Persian woman. Or for a real Persian woman. And speak the truth. And yet more touchingly, pain is universal. As one of the finest poems in the West-Eastern Divan has it:
Let me Weep, hemmed-in by night,
In the boundless desert.
Camels are resting, likewise their drivers,
Calculating in silence the Armenian is awake;
But I, beside him, calculate the miles
That separate me from Zuleika, reiterate
The annoying bends that prolong journeys.
Let me weep. It is no shame.
Weeping men are good.
Didn't Achilles weep for his Briseis?
Xerxes wept for his unfallen army;
Over his self-murdered darling
Alexander wept.
Let me weep. Tears give life to dust.
Already it's greening.
Goethe does not recruit the east to prove anything. He takes humans, all humans, seriously. East or west, good men weep.
I would like to take a moment here to weep for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I would like to weep for Weimar. Because Goethe's Weimar is gone for good. Even Thomas Mann's Weimar is gone and cannot return. Not that Weimar today is not a pretty, well renovated historical town. But Weimar today lies across the forest from Buchenwald.
We may lament the passing of memories, the fading of landscape, the growth and change of old towns. But this is not what we are lamenting in Goethe's Weimar. Not the teeth of time, but the extreme and total evil of man, have taken Goethe's Weimar away from us.
Mann, in his novel Lotte in Weimar, made Charlotte Kestner, who was once Lotte Buff, the real-life beloved of the young Werther, come to visit the old and famous Goethe in Weimar. Lotte in Weimar is an exquisite study in the slow fading of recollection: even when Goethe was still alive, the old Goethe-Zeit was slipping away, becoming the stuff of legend. That is normal; that is the way human life and memory, human homes and streets, flow and ebb as history moves on.
But Goethe and his old love Lotte could still walk together to the woodland outside the town of Weimar, and observe the blissful, tranquil scenery of the Thuringian countryside. And maybe they could walk up to the beautiful oak tree there, known for many years to come as Goethe's oak tree. And years went by, and generations died, but the oak tree was still standing. Until it was bombed by an allied aircraft toward the end of the second world war. And Weimar became the neighbouring town, the "market town", of death camp Buchenwald.
And so, the German Nazis killed not only their victims, but also the slow ageing innocence of Weimar and Goethe and Lotte. The subtitle of Lotte in Weimar is "The Beloved Returns". But the beloved can no longer return. Not for evermore.
Which brings me from Lotte Kestner-Buff to another Lotte, Lotte Wreschner, the mother of my son-in-law. She was born in Frankfurt am Main, 174 years after Goethe and not far from his house. Not for nothing did the name Lotte run in her family: she grew up in a home full of books, shelves upon shelves of German, Jewish and German-Jewish spiritual treasures. Schiller and the Talmud. Heine and Kant. Buber and Hölderlin. All were there. One uncle was a rabbi, the other a psychoanalyst. They all knew Goethe's poetry by heart. The Nazis imprisoned her, along with her mother and sister, and sent them to Ravensbrück, where the mother died of typhus and hard labour. She and her sister Margrit were transferred to Theresien-stadt. I wish I could tell you that they were liberated from Theresienstadt by peace demonstrators carrying placards saying "make love not war". But in fact they were set free not by pacifist idealists but by combat soldiers wearing helmets and carrying machine guns. We Israeli peace activists never forget this fact, even as we struggle against our country's attitude towards the Palestinians, even while we work for a livable, peaceful compromise between Israel and Palestine.
Lotte and Margrit Wreschner came home to find all the books waiting, but none of the family. Not a living soul. Margrit Wreschner can bear witness to what all survivors of that mass murder can tell. There are good people in the world. There are evil people in the world. Evil cannot always be repelled by incantations, by demonstrations, by social analysis or by psychoanalysis. Sometimes, in the last resort, it has to be confronted by force.
In my view, the ultimate evil in the world is not war itself, but aggression. Aggression is "the mother of all wars". And sometimes aggression has to be repelled by the force of arms before peace can prevail.
Lotte Wreschner settled in Jerusalem. Eventually she became a leader in the Israeli civil-rights movement, as well as a deputy mayor of Jerusalem under Teddy Kollek. Her son Eli and my daughter Fania are both civil rights and peace activists, as are my other children Galia and Daniel.
Let me turn back to Goethe, and back to my feelings about Germany. Goethe's Faust reminds us forever that the devil is personal, not impersonal. That the devil is putting every individual to the test, which every one of us can pass or fail. That evil is tempting and seducing. That aggression has a potential foothold inside every one of us.
Personal good and evil are not the assets of any religion. They are not necessarily religious terms. The choice whether to inflict pain or not to inflict it, to look it in the face or to turn a blind eye to it, to get personally involved in healing pain, like a devoted country doctor, or to make do with organising angry demonstrations and signing wholesale petitions - this spectrum of choice confronts each one of us several times a day.
Of course, we might occasionally take wrong turns. But even as we take a wrong turn, we still know what we are doing. We know the difference between good and evil, between inflicting pain and healing, between Goethe and Goebbels. Between Heine and Heydrich. Between Weimar and Buchenwald. Between individual responsibility and collective kitsch.
Let me conclude with one more personal recollection: as a very nationalistic, even chauvinistic, little boy in Jerusalem of the 1940s, I vowed never to set foot on German soil, never even to buy any German product. The only thing I could not boycott were German books. If you boycott the books, I told myself, you will become a little bit like "them". At first I limited myself to reading the pre-war German literature and the anti-Nazi writers. But later, in the 1960s, I began to read, in Hebrew translations, the works of the post-war generation of German writers and poets. In particular, the works of the Group 47 writers led by Hans Werner Richter. They made me imagine myself in their place. I'll put it more sharply: they seduced me to imagine myself in their stead, back in the dark years, and just before the dark years, and just after.
Reading these authors, and others, I could no longer go on simply hating everything German, past, present and future.
I believe that imagining the other is a powerful antidote to fanaticism and hatred. I believe that books that make us imagine the other, may turn us more immune to the ploys of the devil, including the inner devil, the Mephisto of the heart. Thus, Günter Grass and Heinrich Böll, Ingeborg Bachmann and Uwe Johnson, and in particular my beloved friend Siegfried Lenz, opened for me the door into Germany. They, along with a number of dear personal German friends, made me break my taboos and open my mind, and eventually my heart. They re-introduced me to the healing powers of literature.
Imagining the other is not only an aesthetic tool. It is, in my view, also a major moral imperative. And finally, imagining the other - if you promise not to quote this little professional secret - imagining the other is also a deep and very subtle human pleasure.
· Amos Oz's memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness is published in paperback by Vintage. To order a copy for £7.99 with free UK p&p call Guardian book service on 0870 836 0875. This article is adapted from a speech given by Amos Oz when he was awarded the Goethe prize in Frankfurt on August 28.
Modern social science has banished concepts of good and evil. But, argues Amos Oz, literature, from Shakespeare and Goethe to Grass and Böll, gives us truer insights into human nature
Amos Oz
Saturday September 3, 2005
Guardian
When I was a child in Jerusalem, our teacher at a Jewish orthodox school taught us the book of Job. All Israeli children, to this day, study the book of Job. Our teacher told us how Satan travelled all the way from that book to the New Testament, and to Goethe's Faust, and to many other works of literature. And although each writer made something new of Satan, the devil, der Teufel, he was always the very same Satan: cool, amused, sarcastic and sceptical. A deconstructor of human faith, love and hope.
Job's Satan, like Faust's Satan, enters upon a wager. His big prize is neither a hidden treasure, nor the heart of a beautiful woman, and not even a promotion to a higher position in the heavenly hierarchy. No: Satan enters a gamble out of some kind of didactic urge. He wishes to make a point. To prove something, and to refute something else. With enormous argumentative zeal, the biblical Satan and the Aufklärung Satan try to show God and his angels that man, when given the choice, will always opt for evil. He will choose bad over good, willingly and consciously.
Shakespeare's Iago may well have been motivated by a very similar didactic zeal. Indeed, so it is with almost every thorough evildoer in world literature. Perhaps this is why Satan is often so charming. So beguiling. John Milton may have misunderstood the devil when he called him "the infernal serpent". Heinrich Heine knew better when he wrote:
I call'd the devil, and he came,
And with wonder his form did I closely scan;
He is not ugly, and is not lame,
But really a handsome and charming man.
A man in the prime of life is the devil,
Obliging, a man of the world, and civil;
A diplomatist too, well skill'd in debate,
He talks quite glibly of church and state.
Man and the devil understood each other so well, because they were, in some ways, so alike. In the book of Job, Satan, the perverse educator, intimately understood how human pain breeds evil: "Put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse thee to thy face". And Shakespeare's witches, in Macbeth, could sense the arrival of an evil man from afar: "I feel a pricking in my thumb; something wicked this way comes." Goethe, for his part, observed that the devil, like so many human beings, is simply a selfish charmer. "Der Teufel ist ein egotist." The devil is an egotist. He only helps others in order to serve his own ends. Not, as God and Kant would have it, for the sake of the good deed alone.
And this is why, ever since the book of Job, and until not so long ago, Satan, man and God lived in the same household. All three seemed to know the difference between good and evil. God, man and the devil knew that evil was evil and that good was good. God commanded one option. Satan seduced to try the other. God and Satan played on the same chessboard. Man was their game-piece. It was as simple as that.
Personally, I believe that every human being, in his or her heart of hearts, is capable of telling good from bad. Even when they pretend not to. We have all eaten from that tree of Eden whose full name is the tree of knowledge of good from evil.
The same distinction may apply to truth and lies: just as it is immensely difficult to define the truth, yet quite easy to smell a lie, it may sometimes be hard to define good; but evil has its unmistakable odour: every child knows what pain is. Therefore, each time we deliberately inflict pain on another, we know what we are doing. We are doing evil.
But the modern age has changed all that. It has blurred the clear distinction that humanity has made since its early childhood, since the Garden of Eden. Some time in the 19th century, not so long after Goethe died, a new thinking entered western culture that brushed evil aside, indeed denied its very existence. That intellectual innovation was called social science. For the new, self-confident, exquisitely rational, optimistic, thoroughly scientific practitioners of psychology, sociology, anthropology, and economics - evil was not an issue. Come to think of it, neither was good. To this very day, certain social scientists simply do not talk about good and evil. To them, all human motives and actions derive from circumstances, which are often beyond personal control. "Demons," said Freud, "do not exist any more than gods do, being only the products of the psychic activity of man." We are controlled by our social background. For about 100 years now, they have been telling us that we are motivated exclusively by economic self-interest, that we are mere products of our ethnic cultures, that we are no more than marionettes of our own subconscious.
In other words, the modern social sciences were the first major attempt to kick both good and evil off the human stage. For the first time in their long history, good and bad were both overruled by the idea that circumstances are always responsible for human decisions, human actions and especially human suffering. Society is to blame. Painful childhood is to blame. The political is to blame. Colonialism. Imperialism. Zionism. Globalisation. What not. So began the great world championship of victimhood.
For the first time since the book of Job, the devil found himself out of a job. He could no longer play his ancient game with human minds. Satan was dismissed. This was the modern age.
Well, the times may be changing again. Satan might have been sacked, but he did not remain unemployed. The 20th century was the worst arena of cold-blooded evil in human history. The social sciences failed to predict, encounter, or even grasp this modern, highly technologised evil. Very often, this 20th-century evil disguised itself as world reforming, as idealism, as re-educating the masses or "opening their eyes". Totalitarianism was presented as secular redemption for some, at the expense of millions of lives.
Today, having emerged from the evil of totalitarian rule, we have enormous respect for cultures. For diversities. For pluralism. I know some people are willing to kill anyone who is not a pluralist. Satan was hired for work once again by postmodernism; but this time his job is verging on kitsch: a small, secretive bunch of "shady forces" are always guilty of everything, from poverty and discrimination, war and global warming to September 11 and the tsunami. Ordinary people are always innocent. Minorities are never to blame. Victims are, by definition, morally pure. Did you notice that today, the devil never seems to invade any individual person? We have no Fausts any more. According to trendy discourse, evil is a conglomerate. Systems are evil. Governments are bad. Faceless institutions run the world for their own sinister gain. Satan is no longer in the details. Individual men and women cannot be "bad", in the ancient sense of the book of Job, or Macbeth, of Iago, of Faust. You and I are always very nice people. The devil is always the establishment. This is, in my view, ethical kitsch.
Let us consult our own most gifted adviser, der Geheimrat [councillor] Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Let us look at his West-Eastern Divan, one of the earliest great tributes of western culture to its own curiosity and attraction to the east. Was Goethe a condescending "orientalist", as Edward Said might have him? Or was he a multiculturalist, in the fashion of today's guilt-ridden Europeans paying lip service to everything distant, to everything different, everything decisively non-European?
I think Goethe was neither an orientalist nor a multiculturalist. It was not the extreme and imagined exoticism of the east that tempted him, but the strong and fresh substance that eastern cultures, eastern poetry and art may give to universal human truths and feelings. The good, and indeed God, are universal:
God is of the east possess'd,
God is ruler of the west;
North and South alike, each land
Rests within His gentle hand.
Even more so, love is universal, whether it is for Gretchen or for Zuleika. So a German poet may well write a love poem for an imagined Persian woman. Or for a real Persian woman. And speak the truth. And yet more touchingly, pain is universal. As one of the finest poems in the West-Eastern Divan has it:
Let me Weep, hemmed-in by night,
In the boundless desert.
Camels are resting, likewise their drivers,
Calculating in silence the Armenian is awake;
But I, beside him, calculate the miles
That separate me from Zuleika, reiterate
The annoying bends that prolong journeys.
Let me weep. It is no shame.
Weeping men are good.
Didn't Achilles weep for his Briseis?
Xerxes wept for his unfallen army;
Over his self-murdered darling
Alexander wept.
Let me weep. Tears give life to dust.
Already it's greening.
Goethe does not recruit the east to prove anything. He takes humans, all humans, seriously. East or west, good men weep.
I would like to take a moment here to weep for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I would like to weep for Weimar. Because Goethe's Weimar is gone for good. Even Thomas Mann's Weimar is gone and cannot return. Not that Weimar today is not a pretty, well renovated historical town. But Weimar today lies across the forest from Buchenwald.
We may lament the passing of memories, the fading of landscape, the growth and change of old towns. But this is not what we are lamenting in Goethe's Weimar. Not the teeth of time, but the extreme and total evil of man, have taken Goethe's Weimar away from us.
Mann, in his novel Lotte in Weimar, made Charlotte Kestner, who was once Lotte Buff, the real-life beloved of the young Werther, come to visit the old and famous Goethe in Weimar. Lotte in Weimar is an exquisite study in the slow fading of recollection: even when Goethe was still alive, the old Goethe-Zeit was slipping away, becoming the stuff of legend. That is normal; that is the way human life and memory, human homes and streets, flow and ebb as history moves on.
But Goethe and his old love Lotte could still walk together to the woodland outside the town of Weimar, and observe the blissful, tranquil scenery of the Thuringian countryside. And maybe they could walk up to the beautiful oak tree there, known for many years to come as Goethe's oak tree. And years went by, and generations died, but the oak tree was still standing. Until it was bombed by an allied aircraft toward the end of the second world war. And Weimar became the neighbouring town, the "market town", of death camp Buchenwald.
And so, the German Nazis killed not only their victims, but also the slow ageing innocence of Weimar and Goethe and Lotte. The subtitle of Lotte in Weimar is "The Beloved Returns". But the beloved can no longer return. Not for evermore.
Which brings me from Lotte Kestner-Buff to another Lotte, Lotte Wreschner, the mother of my son-in-law. She was born in Frankfurt am Main, 174 years after Goethe and not far from his house. Not for nothing did the name Lotte run in her family: she grew up in a home full of books, shelves upon shelves of German, Jewish and German-Jewish spiritual treasures. Schiller and the Talmud. Heine and Kant. Buber and Hölderlin. All were there. One uncle was a rabbi, the other a psychoanalyst. They all knew Goethe's poetry by heart. The Nazis imprisoned her, along with her mother and sister, and sent them to Ravensbrück, where the mother died of typhus and hard labour. She and her sister Margrit were transferred to Theresien-stadt. I wish I could tell you that they were liberated from Theresienstadt by peace demonstrators carrying placards saying "make love not war". But in fact they were set free not by pacifist idealists but by combat soldiers wearing helmets and carrying machine guns. We Israeli peace activists never forget this fact, even as we struggle against our country's attitude towards the Palestinians, even while we work for a livable, peaceful compromise between Israel and Palestine.
Lotte and Margrit Wreschner came home to find all the books waiting, but none of the family. Not a living soul. Margrit Wreschner can bear witness to what all survivors of that mass murder can tell. There are good people in the world. There are evil people in the world. Evil cannot always be repelled by incantations, by demonstrations, by social analysis or by psychoanalysis. Sometimes, in the last resort, it has to be confronted by force.
In my view, the ultimate evil in the world is not war itself, but aggression. Aggression is "the mother of all wars". And sometimes aggression has to be repelled by the force of arms before peace can prevail.
Lotte Wreschner settled in Jerusalem. Eventually she became a leader in the Israeli civil-rights movement, as well as a deputy mayor of Jerusalem under Teddy Kollek. Her son Eli and my daughter Fania are both civil rights and peace activists, as are my other children Galia and Daniel.
Let me turn back to Goethe, and back to my feelings about Germany. Goethe's Faust reminds us forever that the devil is personal, not impersonal. That the devil is putting every individual to the test, which every one of us can pass or fail. That evil is tempting and seducing. That aggression has a potential foothold inside every one of us.
Personal good and evil are not the assets of any religion. They are not necessarily religious terms. The choice whether to inflict pain or not to inflict it, to look it in the face or to turn a blind eye to it, to get personally involved in healing pain, like a devoted country doctor, or to make do with organising angry demonstrations and signing wholesale petitions - this spectrum of choice confronts each one of us several times a day.
Of course, we might occasionally take wrong turns. But even as we take a wrong turn, we still know what we are doing. We know the difference between good and evil, between inflicting pain and healing, between Goethe and Goebbels. Between Heine and Heydrich. Between Weimar and Buchenwald. Between individual responsibility and collective kitsch.
Let me conclude with one more personal recollection: as a very nationalistic, even chauvinistic, little boy in Jerusalem of the 1940s, I vowed never to set foot on German soil, never even to buy any German product. The only thing I could not boycott were German books. If you boycott the books, I told myself, you will become a little bit like "them". At first I limited myself to reading the pre-war German literature and the anti-Nazi writers. But later, in the 1960s, I began to read, in Hebrew translations, the works of the post-war generation of German writers and poets. In particular, the works of the Group 47 writers led by Hans Werner Richter. They made me imagine myself in their place. I'll put it more sharply: they seduced me to imagine myself in their stead, back in the dark years, and just before the dark years, and just after.
Reading these authors, and others, I could no longer go on simply hating everything German, past, present and future.
I believe that imagining the other is a powerful antidote to fanaticism and hatred. I believe that books that make us imagine the other, may turn us more immune to the ploys of the devil, including the inner devil, the Mephisto of the heart. Thus, Günter Grass and Heinrich Böll, Ingeborg Bachmann and Uwe Johnson, and in particular my beloved friend Siegfried Lenz, opened for me the door into Germany. They, along with a number of dear personal German friends, made me break my taboos and open my mind, and eventually my heart. They re-introduced me to the healing powers of literature.
Imagining the other is not only an aesthetic tool. It is, in my view, also a major moral imperative. And finally, imagining the other - if you promise not to quote this little professional secret - imagining the other is also a deep and very subtle human pleasure.
· Amos Oz's memoir A Tale of Love and Darkness is published in paperback by Vintage. To order a copy for £7.99 with free UK p&p call Guardian book service on 0870 836 0875. This article is adapted from a speech given by Amos Oz when he was awarded the Goethe prize in Frankfurt on August 28.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
צייד הנאצים שמעון ויזנטל מת בגיל 96 Wiesenthal
Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal, 'conscience of the Holocaust' dies at 96
By Haaretz Service and AP
Simon Wiesenthal, the Holocaust survivor who helped track down numerous Nazi war criminals following World War II then spent the later decades of his life fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people, died Tuesday. He was 96.
Wiesenthal died in his sleep at his home in Vienna, Austria, according to Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
"I think he'll be remembered as the conscience of the Holocaust. In a way he became the permanent representative of the victims of the Holocaust, determined to bring the perpetrators of the greatest crime to justice," Hier said.
Wiesenthal, who had been an architect before World War II, changed his life's mission after surviving the Holocaust by becoming a voice for the 6 million Jews who died during the onslaught.
"When history looks back I want people to know the Nazis weren't able to kill millions of people and get away with it," he once said.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said Tuesday that Wiesenthal "brought justice to those who had escaped justice."
"He acted on behalf of 6 million people who could no longer defend themselves," Regev said. "The state of Israel, the Jewish people and all those who oppose racism recognized Simon Wiesenthal's unique contribution to making our planet a better place."
Calls of sympathy poured into Wiesenthal's office in Vienna, where one of his longtime assistants, Trudi Mergili, struggled to deal with her grief.
"It was expected," she said. "But it is still so hard."
Wiesenthal's quest began after the Americans liberated the Mauthausen death camp in Austria where Wiesenthal was a prisoner in May 1945. It was his fifth death camp among the dozen Nazi camps in which he was imprisoned, and he
weighed just 99 pounds (45 kilograms) when he was freed.
He said he quickly realized "there is no freedom without justice," and decided to dedicate "a few years" to seeking justice.
"It became decades," he added.
Even after reaching the age of 90, Wiesenthal continued to remind and to warn. While appalled at atrocities committed by Serbs against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in the 1990s, he said no one should confuse the tragedy there with the
Holocaust.
"We are living in a time of the trivialization of the word 'Holocaust,"' he said in an interview with The Associated Press in May 1999. "What happened to the Jews cannot be compared with all the other crimes. Every Jew had a death sentence without a date."
Early life and surviving the Holocaust
Wiesenthal's life spanned a violent century.
He was born on Dec. 31, 1908, to Jewish merchants at Buczacs, a small town near the present-day Ukrainian city of Lviv in what was then the Austro-Hungarian empire. He studied in Prague and Warsaw and in 1932 received a degree in civil engineering.
He apprenticed as a building engineer in Russia before returning to Lviv to open an architectural office. Then the Russians and the Germans occupied Lviv and the terror began.
Wiesenthal and his wife, Cyla, managed to escape immediate execution, but were caught and deported to the Janwska concentration camp just outside Lvov, where they were assigned to the forced labor camp serving the Ostbahn Works, the repair shop for Lvov's Eastern Railroad.
Because his wife's blonde hair gave her a chance of passing as an "Aryan," Wiesenthal made a deal with the Polish underground. In return for detailed charts of railroad junction points made by him for use by saboteurs, his wife was provided with false papers identifying her as a Pole , and spirited out of the camp in 1942.
Wiesenthal himself escaped the Ostbahn camp in October 1943, just before the Germans began liquidating all the inmates, but in June 1944, he was recaptured and sent back to Janswka.
In the fall of 1944, because of the Red Army's advance, all Janwska prisoners were forcibly marched by their Nazi captors westward through Plaszow, Gross-Rosen and Buchenwald. Few inmates survived the march that ended at Mauthausen in upper Austria.
Weighing less than 100 pounds and lying helplessly in a barracks, he was liberated by an American armored unit on May 5, 1945
Bringing Nazis to justice
After the war ended, Wiesenthal was reunited with his wife, Cyla, who had survived thanks to the papers given to her.
Wiesenthal began working first with the Americans and later from a cramped Vienna apartment packed floor to ceiling with documents, Wiesenthal tirelessly pursued fugitive Nazi war criminals.
He was perhaps best known for his role in tracking down Adolf Eichmann, the one-time SS leader who organized the extermination of the Jews. Eichmann was found in Argentina, abducted by Mossad agents in 1960, tried and hanged for crimes committed against the Jews.
Wiesenthal often was accused of exaggerating his role in Eichmann's capture. He did not claim sole responsibility, but said he knew by 1954 where Eichmann was.
Eichmann's capture "was a teamwork of many who did not know each other," Wiesenthal told The Associated Press in 1972. "I do not know if and to what extent reports I sent to Israel were used."
Among others Wiesenthal tracked down was Austrian policeman Karl Silberbauer, who he believed arrested the Dutch teenager Anne Frank and sent her to the
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where she died.
Wiesenthal decided to pursue Silberbauer in 1958 after a youth told him he did not believe in Frank's existence and murder, but would if Wiesenthal could find the man who arrested her. His five-year search resulted in Silberbauer's 1963 capture.
Wiesenthal did not bring to justice one prime target - Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous "Angel of Death" of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Mengele died in South America after eluding capture for decades.
Wiesenthal's long quest for justice also stirred controversy.
Austrian Politics and later life
In Austria, which took decades to acknowledge its own role in Nazi crimes, Wiesenthal was ignored and often insulted before finally being honored for his work when he was in his 80s.
In 1975, then-Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, himself a Jew, suggested Wiesenthal was part of a "certain mafia" seeking to besmirch Austria. Kreisky even claimed Wiesenthal collaborated with Nazis to survive.
Ironically, it was the furor over Kurt Waldheim, who became president in 1986 despite lying about his past as an officer in Hitler's army, that gave Wiesenthal stature in Austria.
Wiesenthal's failure to condemn Waldheim as a war criminal drew international ire and conflict with American Jewish groups.
But it made Austrians realize that the Nazi hunter did not condemn everybody who took part in the Nazi war effort.
Wiesenthal did repeatedly demand Waldheim's resignation, seeing him as a symbol of those who suppressed Austria's role as part of Hitler's German war and death machine. But he turned up no proof of widespread allegations that
Waldheim was an accessory to war crimes.
He pursued his crusade of remembrance into old age with the vigor of youth, with patience and determination. But as he entered his 90s, he worried that
his mission would die with him.
"I think in a way the world owes him and his memory a tremendous amount of gratitude," Hier said.
Wiesenthal had more distinguished foreign awards than any other living Austrian citizen. In 1995, the city of Vienna made him an honorary citizen. He also wrote several books, including his memoirs, "The Murderers Among Us," in
1967, and worked regularly at the small downtown office of his Jewish Documentation Center even after turning 90.
"The most important thing I have done is to fight against forgetting and to keep remembrance alive," he said in the 1999 interview with The Associated Press. "It is very important to let people know that our enemies are not
forgotten."
Wiesenthal's beloved wife, Cyla, whom he married in 1936, died in November 2003.
That same year, Wiesenthal announced his retirement. "I have survived them all," Wiesenthal said. "If there were any left, they'd be too old and weak to stand trial today. My work is done."
יום שלישי, 20 בספטמבר 2005, 10:45 מאת: מערכת וואלה!
ויזנטל סייע להביא למשפט מעל 1,100 פעילים וקצינים נאצים. בין היתר סייע באיתורו של אייכמן ושל מפקד טרבלינקה וסוביבור
96 שמעון ויזנטל, צייד הנאצים המפורסם בעולם, נפטר הלילה בביתו בוינה, כשהוא בן ויזנטל, ניצול שואה בעצמו, עזר להביא למשפט מעל 1,100 פעילים וקצינים נאצים, בעזרת מרכז ויזנטל שהקים בלוס אנג'לס, ופעל להנצחת השואה והסברת צעדי ישראל בעולם.
שמעון ויזנטל נולד ב-31 בדצמבר 1908 באוקראינה. הוא למד הנדסת בניין וארכיטקטורה בטכניון של פראג, ונישא ב-1936. לאחר עליית הנאצים לשלטון בגרמניה, וחתימת ההסכם עם רוסיה אמו נשלחה למחנה השמדה, יחד עם רוב קרובי המשפחה האחרים שלו. אשתו חייתה במהלך המלחמה בזהות בדויה של פולניה, ואילו ויזנטל נכלא, עבר בין מחנות שונים, ושוחרר בתום המלחמה ב-5 במאי 1945.
מיד לאחר שחרורו החל ויזנטל לאסוף ראיות על קצינים ופעילים נאציים לבית הדין לפשעי מלחמה של צבא ארה"ב. מאוחר יותר הוא עבד עבור האמריקאים באיתור פושעים נאצים באוסטריה, אף סיפק את המידע שהביא ללכידתו של אדולף אייכמן בארגנטינה.
לאחר משפט אייכמן, פתח ויזנטל את המרכז היהודי למסמכים בווינה, בו התרכז בפושעי מלחמה. במהלך פעילותו סייע בלכידתו של קארל זילברבאואר, קצין הגסטפו שעצר את אנה פרנק. באוקטובר 66 מצא 16 קציני SS שהועמדו לדין בשטוטגארט. פרנץ סטנגל, מפקד מחנות ההשמדה טרבלינקה וסוביבור, נתפס גם הוא בעזרת ויזנטל בארגנטינה, ונשפט למאסר עולם. האחראית על השמדת כמה מאות של ילדים במיידאנק נעצרה בניו-יורק, לאחר מחקר ממושך של ויזנטל ואנשיו.
לפני שנתיים הודיע ויזנטל כי יסגור את התיקים שעליהם עבד בחצי השנה האחרונה לאיתור האחראים לשואה, מכיוון שעבודתו הושלמה. "מצאתי את רוצחי ההמונים אותם חיפשתי וחייתי אחרי מותם", אמר.
ויזנטל קיבל על פועלו תעודות הוקרה רבות, בין היתר אות הוקרה על "מפעל חיים למען האנושות". במקביל, נאלץ להתמודד עם מכתבי איום רבים שהגיעו אליו. ביוני 1982 חמק מניסיון חיסול, כשמטען חבלה התפוצץ ליד דלת ביתו.
כשנשאל ויזנטל על פועלו, ועל האובססיה שלו באיתור הפושעים הנאצים, אמר כי "אני מאמין בחיים אחרי המוות. כשאפגוש את מיליוני היהודים שנרצחו בעולם הבא, והם ישאלו אותי מה עשינו למטה לאחר השמדתם, אני רוצה להגיד להם 'לא שכחתי אתכם'".
By Haaretz Service and AP
Simon Wiesenthal, the Holocaust survivor who helped track down numerous Nazi war criminals following World War II then spent the later decades of his life fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people, died Tuesday. He was 96.
Wiesenthal died in his sleep at his home in Vienna, Austria, according to Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
"I think he'll be remembered as the conscience of the Holocaust. In a way he became the permanent representative of the victims of the Holocaust, determined to bring the perpetrators of the greatest crime to justice," Hier said.
Wiesenthal, who had been an architect before World War II, changed his life's mission after surviving the Holocaust by becoming a voice for the 6 million Jews who died during the onslaught.
"When history looks back I want people to know the Nazis weren't able to kill millions of people and get away with it," he once said.
Mark Regev, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said Tuesday that Wiesenthal "brought justice to those who had escaped justice."
"He acted on behalf of 6 million people who could no longer defend themselves," Regev said. "The state of Israel, the Jewish people and all those who oppose racism recognized Simon Wiesenthal's unique contribution to making our planet a better place."
Calls of sympathy poured into Wiesenthal's office in Vienna, where one of his longtime assistants, Trudi Mergili, struggled to deal with her grief.
"It was expected," she said. "But it is still so hard."
Wiesenthal's quest began after the Americans liberated the Mauthausen death camp in Austria where Wiesenthal was a prisoner in May 1945. It was his fifth death camp among the dozen Nazi camps in which he was imprisoned, and he
weighed just 99 pounds (45 kilograms) when he was freed.
He said he quickly realized "there is no freedom without justice," and decided to dedicate "a few years" to seeking justice.
"It became decades," he added.
Even after reaching the age of 90, Wiesenthal continued to remind and to warn. While appalled at atrocities committed by Serbs against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in the 1990s, he said no one should confuse the tragedy there with the
Holocaust.
"We are living in a time of the trivialization of the word 'Holocaust,"' he said in an interview with The Associated Press in May 1999. "What happened to the Jews cannot be compared with all the other crimes. Every Jew had a death sentence without a date."
Early life and surviving the Holocaust
Wiesenthal's life spanned a violent century.
He was born on Dec. 31, 1908, to Jewish merchants at Buczacs, a small town near the present-day Ukrainian city of Lviv in what was then the Austro-Hungarian empire. He studied in Prague and Warsaw and in 1932 received a degree in civil engineering.
He apprenticed as a building engineer in Russia before returning to Lviv to open an architectural office. Then the Russians and the Germans occupied Lviv and the terror began.
Wiesenthal and his wife, Cyla, managed to escape immediate execution, but were caught and deported to the Janwska concentration camp just outside Lvov, where they were assigned to the forced labor camp serving the Ostbahn Works, the repair shop for Lvov's Eastern Railroad.
Because his wife's blonde hair gave her a chance of passing as an "Aryan," Wiesenthal made a deal with the Polish underground. In return for detailed charts of railroad junction points made by him for use by saboteurs, his wife was provided with false papers identifying her as a Pole , and spirited out of the camp in 1942.
Wiesenthal himself escaped the Ostbahn camp in October 1943, just before the Germans began liquidating all the inmates, but in June 1944, he was recaptured and sent back to Janswka.
In the fall of 1944, because of the Red Army's advance, all Janwska prisoners were forcibly marched by their Nazi captors westward through Plaszow, Gross-Rosen and Buchenwald. Few inmates survived the march that ended at Mauthausen in upper Austria.
Weighing less than 100 pounds and lying helplessly in a barracks, he was liberated by an American armored unit on May 5, 1945
Bringing Nazis to justice
After the war ended, Wiesenthal was reunited with his wife, Cyla, who had survived thanks to the papers given to her.
Wiesenthal began working first with the Americans and later from a cramped Vienna apartment packed floor to ceiling with documents, Wiesenthal tirelessly pursued fugitive Nazi war criminals.
He was perhaps best known for his role in tracking down Adolf Eichmann, the one-time SS leader who organized the extermination of the Jews. Eichmann was found in Argentina, abducted by Mossad agents in 1960, tried and hanged for crimes committed against the Jews.
Wiesenthal often was accused of exaggerating his role in Eichmann's capture. He did not claim sole responsibility, but said he knew by 1954 where Eichmann was.
Eichmann's capture "was a teamwork of many who did not know each other," Wiesenthal told The Associated Press in 1972. "I do not know if and to what extent reports I sent to Israel were used."
Among others Wiesenthal tracked down was Austrian policeman Karl Silberbauer, who he believed arrested the Dutch teenager Anne Frank and sent her to the
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where she died.
Wiesenthal decided to pursue Silberbauer in 1958 after a youth told him he did not believe in Frank's existence and murder, but would if Wiesenthal could find the man who arrested her. His five-year search resulted in Silberbauer's 1963 capture.
Wiesenthal did not bring to justice one prime target - Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous "Angel of Death" of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Mengele died in South America after eluding capture for decades.
Wiesenthal's long quest for justice also stirred controversy.
Austrian Politics and later life
In Austria, which took decades to acknowledge its own role in Nazi crimes, Wiesenthal was ignored and often insulted before finally being honored for his work when he was in his 80s.
In 1975, then-Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, himself a Jew, suggested Wiesenthal was part of a "certain mafia" seeking to besmirch Austria. Kreisky even claimed Wiesenthal collaborated with Nazis to survive.
Ironically, it was the furor over Kurt Waldheim, who became president in 1986 despite lying about his past as an officer in Hitler's army, that gave Wiesenthal stature in Austria.
Wiesenthal's failure to condemn Waldheim as a war criminal drew international ire and conflict with American Jewish groups.
But it made Austrians realize that the Nazi hunter did not condemn everybody who took part in the Nazi war effort.
Wiesenthal did repeatedly demand Waldheim's resignation, seeing him as a symbol of those who suppressed Austria's role as part of Hitler's German war and death machine. But he turned up no proof of widespread allegations that
Waldheim was an accessory to war crimes.
He pursued his crusade of remembrance into old age with the vigor of youth, with patience and determination. But as he entered his 90s, he worried that
his mission would die with him.
"I think in a way the world owes him and his memory a tremendous amount of gratitude," Hier said.
Wiesenthal had more distinguished foreign awards than any other living Austrian citizen. In 1995, the city of Vienna made him an honorary citizen. He also wrote several books, including his memoirs, "The Murderers Among Us," in
1967, and worked regularly at the small downtown office of his Jewish Documentation Center even after turning 90.
"The most important thing I have done is to fight against forgetting and to keep remembrance alive," he said in the 1999 interview with The Associated Press. "It is very important to let people know that our enemies are not
forgotten."
Wiesenthal's beloved wife, Cyla, whom he married in 1936, died in November 2003.
That same year, Wiesenthal announced his retirement. "I have survived them all," Wiesenthal said. "If there were any left, they'd be too old and weak to stand trial today. My work is done."
יום שלישי, 20 בספטמבר 2005, 10:45 מאת: מערכת וואלה!
ויזנטל סייע להביא למשפט מעל 1,100 פעילים וקצינים נאצים. בין היתר סייע באיתורו של אייכמן ושל מפקד טרבלינקה וסוביבור
96 שמעון ויזנטל, צייד הנאצים המפורסם בעולם, נפטר הלילה בביתו בוינה, כשהוא בן ויזנטל, ניצול שואה בעצמו, עזר להביא למשפט מעל 1,100 פעילים וקצינים נאצים, בעזרת מרכז ויזנטל שהקים בלוס אנג'לס, ופעל להנצחת השואה והסברת צעדי ישראל בעולם.
שמעון ויזנטל נולד ב-31 בדצמבר 1908 באוקראינה. הוא למד הנדסת בניין וארכיטקטורה בטכניון של פראג, ונישא ב-1936. לאחר עליית הנאצים לשלטון בגרמניה, וחתימת ההסכם עם רוסיה אמו נשלחה למחנה השמדה, יחד עם רוב קרובי המשפחה האחרים שלו. אשתו חייתה במהלך המלחמה בזהות בדויה של פולניה, ואילו ויזנטל נכלא, עבר בין מחנות שונים, ושוחרר בתום המלחמה ב-5 במאי 1945.
מיד לאחר שחרורו החל ויזנטל לאסוף ראיות על קצינים ופעילים נאציים לבית הדין לפשעי מלחמה של צבא ארה"ב. מאוחר יותר הוא עבד עבור האמריקאים באיתור פושעים נאצים באוסטריה, אף סיפק את המידע שהביא ללכידתו של אדולף אייכמן בארגנטינה.
לאחר משפט אייכמן, פתח ויזנטל את המרכז היהודי למסמכים בווינה, בו התרכז בפושעי מלחמה. במהלך פעילותו סייע בלכידתו של קארל זילברבאואר, קצין הגסטפו שעצר את אנה פרנק. באוקטובר 66 מצא 16 קציני SS שהועמדו לדין בשטוטגארט. פרנץ סטנגל, מפקד מחנות ההשמדה טרבלינקה וסוביבור, נתפס גם הוא בעזרת ויזנטל בארגנטינה, ונשפט למאסר עולם. האחראית על השמדת כמה מאות של ילדים במיידאנק נעצרה בניו-יורק, לאחר מחקר ממושך של ויזנטל ואנשיו.
לפני שנתיים הודיע ויזנטל כי יסגור את התיקים שעליהם עבד בחצי השנה האחרונה לאיתור האחראים לשואה, מכיוון שעבודתו הושלמה. "מצאתי את רוצחי ההמונים אותם חיפשתי וחייתי אחרי מותם", אמר.
ויזנטל קיבל על פועלו תעודות הוקרה רבות, בין היתר אות הוקרה על "מפעל חיים למען האנושות". במקביל, נאלץ להתמודד עם מכתבי איום רבים שהגיעו אליו. ביוני 1982 חמק מניסיון חיסול, כשמטען חבלה התפוצץ ליד דלת ביתו.
כשנשאל ויזנטל על פועלו, ועל האובססיה שלו באיתור הפושעים הנאצים, אמר כי "אני מאמין בחיים אחרי המוות. כשאפגוש את מיליוני היהודים שנרצחו בעולם הבא, והם ישאלו אותי מה עשינו למטה לאחר השמדתם, אני רוצה להגיד להם 'לא שכחתי אתכם'".
Saturday, September 17, 2005
ושיר חדש לרדיו בספטבמר
מזל טוב גם לכם חברים יקרים באמת שלי
מאת: ט י נ הו 10/06/05 | 08:27
אז ככה ... קודם כל תודה תודה על כל הברכות המקסימות והאיחולים גם במסרים אישיים במיילים ועוד ... שנית חשוב לי לעדכן שכל נושא הפינג פונג של תאריך החגיגה שלנו ביחד נובע מכך שהשנה חג שבועות יושב לנו על הראש .כלומר על טנא שעל הראש .. ולכן 12 לחודש איתן אהובי היקר אינו מתאים .. אבל אולי אצליח לשרבב לפני תורכיה ואילת את ה 14 או 15 בשעות אחהצ המוקדמות זה בבדיקה .
אם לא אז ידידי ... נחגוג לי כשאהיה בת 44 וחודש מה רע ?
אוהבת אתכם - מעודדת אתכם לכתוב עוד ועוד - רוצה להדגיש 3 תאריכי מופעים חשובים - קרית גת 07.07 מופע קיץ פתוח לכל מי שרק רוצה ובא לו
14 יולי ערד עם אושיק לוי מדהים וחובה לאוהבינו .. 15 יולי זאפא תל אביב אורחת של אריה מוסקונה ולהקתו . ועוד ועוד ... בכל מיקרה חשוב לי שתדעו שאני מאחלת לעצמי ולכם שלווה ואושר יציבות מבפנים ומחוץ ... ושיר חדש לרדיו בספטבמר . זהו לא רוצה יותר מזה . או כמו שמישהי פעםכתבה .. לא מבקשים הרבה אהבה עבודה וחדר קטן ...
יאללה בי
מאת: ט י נ הו 10/06/05 | 08:27
אז ככה ... קודם כל תודה תודה על כל הברכות המקסימות והאיחולים גם במסרים אישיים במיילים ועוד ... שנית חשוב לי לעדכן שכל נושא הפינג פונג של תאריך החגיגה שלנו ביחד נובע מכך שהשנה חג שבועות יושב לנו על הראש .כלומר על טנא שעל הראש .. ולכן 12 לחודש איתן אהובי היקר אינו מתאים .. אבל אולי אצליח לשרבב לפני תורכיה ואילת את ה 14 או 15 בשעות אחהצ המוקדמות זה בבדיקה .
אם לא אז ידידי ... נחגוג לי כשאהיה בת 44 וחודש מה רע ?
אוהבת אתכם - מעודדת אתכם לכתוב עוד ועוד - רוצה להדגיש 3 תאריכי מופעים חשובים - קרית גת 07.07 מופע קיץ פתוח לכל מי שרק רוצה ובא לו
14 יולי ערד עם אושיק לוי מדהים וחובה לאוהבינו .. 15 יולי זאפא תל אביב אורחת של אריה מוסקונה ולהקתו . ועוד ועוד ... בכל מיקרה חשוב לי שתדעו שאני מאחלת לעצמי ולכם שלווה ואושר יציבות מבפנים ומחוץ ... ושיר חדש לרדיו בספטבמר . זהו לא רוצה יותר מזה . או כמו שמישהי פעםכתבה .. לא מבקשים הרבה אהבה עבודה וחדר קטן ...
יאללה בי
Friday, September 16, 2005
Sharon at UN. Historical Speach
Address by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the High Level Plenary Meeting of the 60th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations
2005 UN World Summit
(Translated from Hebrew)
My friends and colleagues, heads and representatives of the UN member states,
I arrived here from Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people for over 3,000 years and the undivided and eternal capital of the State of Israel.
At the outset, I would like to express the profound feelings of empathy of the people of Israel for the American nation, and our sincere condolences to the families who lost their loved ones. I wish to encourage my friend, President George Bush, and the American people, in their determined efforts to assist the victims of the hurricane and rebuild the ruins after the destruction. The State of Israel, which the United States stood beside at times of trial, is ready to extend any assistance at its disposal in this immense humanitarian mission.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I stand before you at the gate of nations as a Jew and as a citizen of the democratic, free, and sovereign State of Israel, a proud representative of an ancient people, whose numbers are few, but whose contribution to civilization and to the values of ethics, justice, and faith, surrounds the world and encompasses history. The Jewish people has a long memory, the memory which united the exiles of Israel for thousands of years: a memory which has its origin in God’s commandment to our forefather Abraham: “Go forth!” and continued with the receiving of the Torah at the foot of Mount Sinai and the wanderings of the children of Israel in the desert, led by Moses on their journey to the promised land, the Land of Israel.
I was born in the Land of Israel, the son of pioneers - people who tilled the land and sought no fights - who did not come to Israel to dispossess its residents. If the circumstances had not demanded it, I would not have become a soldier, but rather a farmer and agriculturist. My first love was, and remains, manual labor; sowing and harvesting, the pastures, the flock and the cattle.
I, as someone whose path of life led him to be a fighter and commander in all Israel’s wars, reach out today to our Palestinian neighbors in a call for reconciliation and compromise to end the bloody conflict, and embark on the path which leads to peace and understanding between our peoples. I view this as my calling and my primary mission for the coming years.
The Land of Israel is precious to me, precious to us, the Jewish people, more than anything. Relinquishing any part of our forefathers’ legacy is heartbreaking, as difficult as the parting of the Red Sea. Every inch of land, every hill and valley, every stream and rock, is saturated with Jewish history, replete with memories. The continuity of Jewish presence in the Land of Israel never ceased. Even those of us who were exiled from our land, against their will, to the ends of the earth - their souls, for all generations, remained connected to their homeland, by thousands of hidden threads of yearning and love, expressed three times a day in prayer and songs of longing.
The Land of Israel is the open Bible, the written testimony, the identity and right of the Jewish people. Under its skies, the prophets of Israel expressed their claims for social justice, and their eternal vision for alliances between peoples, in a world which would know no more war. Its cities, villages, vistas, ridges, deserts, and plains preserve as loyal witnesses its ancient Hebrew names. Page after page, our unique land is unfurled, and at its heart is united Jerusalem, the city of the Temple upon Mount Moriah, the axis of the life of the Jewish people throughout all generations, and the seat of its yearnings and prayers for 3,000 years. The city to which we pledged an eternal vow of faithfulness, which forever beats in every Jewish heart: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its cunning!”
I say these things to you because they are the essence of my Jewish consciousness, and of my belief in the eternal and unimpeachable right of the people of Israel to the Land of Israel. However, I say this here also to emphasize the immensity of the pain I feel deep in my heart at the recognition that we have to make concessions for the sake of peace between us and our Palestinian neighbors.
The right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel does not mean disregarding the rights of others in the land. The Palestinians will always be our neighbors. We respect them, and have no aspirations to rule over them. They are also entitled to freedom and to a national, sovereign existence in a state of their own.
This week, the last Israeli soldier left the Gaza Strip, and military law there was ended. The State of Israel proved that it is ready to make painful concessions in order to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians. The decision to disengage was very difficult for me, and involves a heavy personal price. However, it is the absolute recognition that it is the right path for the future of Israel that guided me. Israeli society is undergoing a difficult crisis as a result of the Disengagement, and now needs to heal the rifts.
Now it is the Palestinians’ turn to prove their desire for peace. The end of Israeli control over and responsibility for the Gaza Strip allows the Palestinians, if they so wish, to develop their economy and build a peace-seeking society, which is developed, free, law-abiding, and transparent, and which adheres to democratic principles. The most important test the Palestinian leadership will face is in fulfilling their commitment to put an end to terrorism and its infrastructures, eliminate the anarchic regime of armed gangs, and cease the incitement and indoctrination of hatred towards Israel and the Jews.
Until they do so - Israel will know how to defend itself from the horrors of terrorism. This is why we built the security fence, and we will continue to build it until it is completed, as would any other country defending its citizens. The security fence prevents terrorists and murderers from arriving in city centers on a daily basis and targeting citizens on their way to work, children on their way to school, and families sitting together in restaurants. This fence is vitally indispensable. This fence saves lives!
The successful implementation of the Disengagement Plan opens up a window of opportunity for advancing toward peace, in accordance with the sequence of the Roadmap. The State of Israel is committed to the Roadmap and to the implementation of the Sharm e-Sheikh understandings. And I hope that it will be possible, through them, to renew the political process.
I am among those who believe that it is possible to reach a fair compromise and coexistence in good neighborly relations between Jews and Arabs. However, I must emphasize one fact: There will be no compromise on the right of the State of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, with defensible borders, in full security and without threats and terrorism.
I call on the Palestinian leadership to show determination and leadership, and to eliminate terrorism, violence, and the culture of hatred from our relations. I am certain that it is in our power to present our peoples with a new and promising horizon, a horizon of hope.
Distinguished representatives,
As I mentioned, the Jewish people has a long memory. We remember events that took place thousands of years ago, and certainly remember events that took place in this hall during the last 60 years. The Jewish people remembers the dramatic vote in the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947, when representatives of the nations recognized our right to national revival in our historic homeland. However, we also remember dozens of harsh and unjust decisions made by the United Nations over the years. And we know that, even today, there are those who sit here as representatives of a country whose leadership calls to wipe Israel off the face of the earth - and no one speaks out.
The attempts of that country to arm itself with nuclear weapons must disturb the sleep of anyone who desires peace and stability in the Middle East and the entire world. The combination of murky fundamentalism and support of terrorist organizations creates a serious threat that every member nation in the UN must stand against.
I hope that the comprehensive reforms which the United Nations is undergoing in its 60th anniversary year will include a fundamental change and improvement in the approach of the United Nations, its organizations and institutions, toward the State of Israel.
My fellow colleagues and representatives,
Peace is a supreme value in the Jewish legacy, and is the desired goal of our policy. After the long journey of wanderings and the hardships of the Jewish people; after the Holocaust which obliterated one third of our people; after the long and arduous struggle for revival; after more than 57 consecutive years of war and terrorism which did not stop the development of the State of Israel; after all this - our heart’s desire was and remains to achieve peace with our neighbors. Our desire for peace is strong enough to ensure that we will achieve it, only if our neighbors are genuine partners in this longed-for goal. If we succeed in working together, we can transform our plot of land, which is dear to both peoples, from a land of contention to a land of peace – for our children and grandchildren.
In a few days' time on the Hebrew calendar, the New Year will begin, the 5,766th year since the Creation. According to Jewish belief, the fates of people and nations are determined at the New Year by the Creator - to be spared or to be doomed. May the Holy One, blessed be He, determine that this year, our fate and the fate of our neighbors is peace, mutual respect, and good neighborly relations.
From this distinguished podium, on behalf of the people of Israel, I wish all the people of the world a good New Year.
2005 UN World Summit
(Translated from Hebrew)
My friends and colleagues, heads and representatives of the UN member states,
I arrived here from Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish people for over 3,000 years and the undivided and eternal capital of the State of Israel.
At the outset, I would like to express the profound feelings of empathy of the people of Israel for the American nation, and our sincere condolences to the families who lost their loved ones. I wish to encourage my friend, President George Bush, and the American people, in their determined efforts to assist the victims of the hurricane and rebuild the ruins after the destruction. The State of Israel, which the United States stood beside at times of trial, is ready to extend any assistance at its disposal in this immense humanitarian mission.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I stand before you at the gate of nations as a Jew and as a citizen of the democratic, free, and sovereign State of Israel, a proud representative of an ancient people, whose numbers are few, but whose contribution to civilization and to the values of ethics, justice, and faith, surrounds the world and encompasses history. The Jewish people has a long memory, the memory which united the exiles of Israel for thousands of years: a memory which has its origin in God’s commandment to our forefather Abraham: “Go forth!” and continued with the receiving of the Torah at the foot of Mount Sinai and the wanderings of the children of Israel in the desert, led by Moses on their journey to the promised land, the Land of Israel.
I was born in the Land of Israel, the son of pioneers - people who tilled the land and sought no fights - who did not come to Israel to dispossess its residents. If the circumstances had not demanded it, I would not have become a soldier, but rather a farmer and agriculturist. My first love was, and remains, manual labor; sowing and harvesting, the pastures, the flock and the cattle.
I, as someone whose path of life led him to be a fighter and commander in all Israel’s wars, reach out today to our Palestinian neighbors in a call for reconciliation and compromise to end the bloody conflict, and embark on the path which leads to peace and understanding between our peoples. I view this as my calling and my primary mission for the coming years.
The Land of Israel is precious to me, precious to us, the Jewish people, more than anything. Relinquishing any part of our forefathers’ legacy is heartbreaking, as difficult as the parting of the Red Sea. Every inch of land, every hill and valley, every stream and rock, is saturated with Jewish history, replete with memories. The continuity of Jewish presence in the Land of Israel never ceased. Even those of us who were exiled from our land, against their will, to the ends of the earth - their souls, for all generations, remained connected to their homeland, by thousands of hidden threads of yearning and love, expressed three times a day in prayer and songs of longing.
The Land of Israel is the open Bible, the written testimony, the identity and right of the Jewish people. Under its skies, the prophets of Israel expressed their claims for social justice, and their eternal vision for alliances between peoples, in a world which would know no more war. Its cities, villages, vistas, ridges, deserts, and plains preserve as loyal witnesses its ancient Hebrew names. Page after page, our unique land is unfurled, and at its heart is united Jerusalem, the city of the Temple upon Mount Moriah, the axis of the life of the Jewish people throughout all generations, and the seat of its yearnings and prayers for 3,000 years. The city to which we pledged an eternal vow of faithfulness, which forever beats in every Jewish heart: “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its cunning!”
I say these things to you because they are the essence of my Jewish consciousness, and of my belief in the eternal and unimpeachable right of the people of Israel to the Land of Israel. However, I say this here also to emphasize the immensity of the pain I feel deep in my heart at the recognition that we have to make concessions for the sake of peace between us and our Palestinian neighbors.
The right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel does not mean disregarding the rights of others in the land. The Palestinians will always be our neighbors. We respect them, and have no aspirations to rule over them. They are also entitled to freedom and to a national, sovereign existence in a state of their own.
This week, the last Israeli soldier left the Gaza Strip, and military law there was ended. The State of Israel proved that it is ready to make painful concessions in order to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians. The decision to disengage was very difficult for me, and involves a heavy personal price. However, it is the absolute recognition that it is the right path for the future of Israel that guided me. Israeli society is undergoing a difficult crisis as a result of the Disengagement, and now needs to heal the rifts.
Now it is the Palestinians’ turn to prove their desire for peace. The end of Israeli control over and responsibility for the Gaza Strip allows the Palestinians, if they so wish, to develop their economy and build a peace-seeking society, which is developed, free, law-abiding, and transparent, and which adheres to democratic principles. The most important test the Palestinian leadership will face is in fulfilling their commitment to put an end to terrorism and its infrastructures, eliminate the anarchic regime of armed gangs, and cease the incitement and indoctrination of hatred towards Israel and the Jews.
Until they do so - Israel will know how to defend itself from the horrors of terrorism. This is why we built the security fence, and we will continue to build it until it is completed, as would any other country defending its citizens. The security fence prevents terrorists and murderers from arriving in city centers on a daily basis and targeting citizens on their way to work, children on their way to school, and families sitting together in restaurants. This fence is vitally indispensable. This fence saves lives!
The successful implementation of the Disengagement Plan opens up a window of opportunity for advancing toward peace, in accordance with the sequence of the Roadmap. The State of Israel is committed to the Roadmap and to the implementation of the Sharm e-Sheikh understandings. And I hope that it will be possible, through them, to renew the political process.
I am among those who believe that it is possible to reach a fair compromise and coexistence in good neighborly relations between Jews and Arabs. However, I must emphasize one fact: There will be no compromise on the right of the State of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, with defensible borders, in full security and without threats and terrorism.
I call on the Palestinian leadership to show determination and leadership, and to eliminate terrorism, violence, and the culture of hatred from our relations. I am certain that it is in our power to present our peoples with a new and promising horizon, a horizon of hope.
Distinguished representatives,
As I mentioned, the Jewish people has a long memory. We remember events that took place thousands of years ago, and certainly remember events that took place in this hall during the last 60 years. The Jewish people remembers the dramatic vote in the UN General Assembly on November 29, 1947, when representatives of the nations recognized our right to national revival in our historic homeland. However, we also remember dozens of harsh and unjust decisions made by the United Nations over the years. And we know that, even today, there are those who sit here as representatives of a country whose leadership calls to wipe Israel off the face of the earth - and no one speaks out.
The attempts of that country to arm itself with nuclear weapons must disturb the sleep of anyone who desires peace and stability in the Middle East and the entire world. The combination of murky fundamentalism and support of terrorist organizations creates a serious threat that every member nation in the UN must stand against.
I hope that the comprehensive reforms which the United Nations is undergoing in its 60th anniversary year will include a fundamental change and improvement in the approach of the United Nations, its organizations and institutions, toward the State of Israel.
My fellow colleagues and representatives,
Peace is a supreme value in the Jewish legacy, and is the desired goal of our policy. After the long journey of wanderings and the hardships of the Jewish people; after the Holocaust which obliterated one third of our people; after the long and arduous struggle for revival; after more than 57 consecutive years of war and terrorism which did not stop the development of the State of Israel; after all this - our heart’s desire was and remains to achieve peace with our neighbors. Our desire for peace is strong enough to ensure that we will achieve it, only if our neighbors are genuine partners in this longed-for goal. If we succeed in working together, we can transform our plot of land, which is dear to both peoples, from a land of contention to a land of peace – for our children and grandchildren.
In a few days' time on the Hebrew calendar, the New Year will begin, the 5,766th year since the Creation. According to Jewish belief, the fates of people and nations are determined at the New Year by the Creator - to be spared or to be doomed. May the Holy One, blessed be He, determine that this year, our fate and the fate of our neighbors is peace, mutual respect, and good neighborly relations.
From this distinguished podium, on behalf of the people of Israel, I wish all the people of the world a good New Year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)