As I wrote in this post, this is probably the most blogged conflict in the world. The post contains links to Israeli and Lebanese blogs that are hosting ongoing conversations between commenters and bloggers from both sides of the border. This is possibly the first time in history that citizens of two countries at war are able to maintain direct communication and express their feelings to one another in real time. I quote Shachar, an Israeli who commented on Lebanese Bloggers Forum:

I'm an IDF soldier stationed at the Lebanon is border, but got back home for a funeral of someone I knew.

We can’t see all the bombing on Lebanon here from Israel (naturaly we’re focusing on bombs at Israel), so you’re pretty much updating me on what’s going on.

I don’t want to start arguing about who’s right and who’s wrong, the finaly word is that it’s not right that civilians get hurt in the process, from both sides.

I’m sending you my best wishes from here, and hope that you and your family will be strong and be alright until this horrible situation will be over.

At the same time Ami, an Israeli blogger who switched from Hebrew to English in order to reach an international readership, is hosting an open thread for Lebanese commenters on a blog post called Hello Lebanon, Hello Israel (scroll down for English). He invites Lebanese commenters to comment with the words,

I don’t know what will come next, but I was thinking to my self_ maybe we could take advantage of the Blog power and open a channel to…all

Bloggers analyse tactics and goals

Yael sums up the Israeli and Lebanese positions in this post and notes that they are remarkably similar:

So to sum up: The Israelis want Hizbullah gone. The Lebanese want Hizbullah gone.
Why don’t the Lebanese army and the IDF team up to jointly squash Hezbullah like a bug??!!
If this was coordinated between them the strength of each could counter-act the weakness of the other for success with very little loss of civilian life.

In a starkly worded post called A Difficult Lesson, David recalls a vicious bar fight between two sailors that he witnessed whilst serving in the US Navy. One soldier was constantly provoked by another, who was much smaller than him; in the end the smaller soldier, who turns out to be a very strong fighter, beats the larger sailor until he begs for mercy. David describes the fight in vivid, painful detail and uses the incident as a metaphor for the current situation between Israel and Hezbollah.

Robert, a veteran journalist and author who writes excellent daily opinion pieces at his blog/newsite Ariga, wrote a must-read analysis and background piece on July 13, one day after the incident that provided the catalyst for a wider conflict:

Until the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the businessman-politician who financed much of the reconstruction of Beirut, it was impossible to imagine a Lebanese government taking action against Hizbollah, because of its Syrian patrons. But the assassination unleashed a powerful anti-Syrian movement in Lebanon and something deeper, a sense that the time had come for Lebanese, rather than sectarian interests to rule. Hizbollah, the last of the ethnic-religious militias, is an obstacle to that newfound sends of Lebanese nationalism said to be the new mood in Lebanon. Thus, the declared goals of the Israeli military moves, as enunciated this morning by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, is to make the Lebanese government send its army to the Israeli border to replace the Hizbollah positions there. If Beirut won’t do so, he said, Israel would make sure that Hizbollah does not return to the border.

Imshin posts a translation of a letter to Maariv newspaper that describes the French Army's violent reation when nine French soldiers were kidnapped in Cote d'Ivoire in 2004. The letter compares France's actions to Israel's response to the Hezbollah incursion and implies that French President Jacques Chirac is being hypocritical when he says that Israel's military actions are disproportionate.

Taking the national pulse

Shai, who stopped blogging a few months ago, has written a post called A New Reality, in which he describes the atmosphere in Tel Aviv for the Guardian’s newsblog.

Here in Tel Aviv the situation is relatively calm, albeit grim and angry. While people in the north sit in their bomb shelters, those of us in the centre can do little more than check the news every five minutes.
……….
After each round of missiles you wait to hear if anybody has been killed. You wait for the evening news to see if anything has moved on the diplomatic front. You wait to see whether the Israeli Defence Force will decide to send in ground troops.

Allison is back to power blogging, with constant updates and anecdotes written in her typically breezy, amusing and insightful style. I recommend checking her blog several times a day. Some of my favourites include having to clean out the bomb shelter in her home, her response to the Home Front Command’s instructions to “be alert”, and a description of the forced togetherness created when residents of the north seek shelter with friends and families in the south.

The group blog Kishkushim is by a group of Haifa University students who are providing live updates of what life is like in their city as the missiles fall. Like Allison, they are updating constantly and providing some very insightful, intelligent perspectives. Recommended.

Here is an amusing description of a conversation overheard between two Arab-Israeli students in the university library.
And here is a live-blogged description of taking shelter (with the laptop, of course!) as the siren announces incoming missiles.

And here is a roundup of news reports from the Arabic language media after an Israeli fighter plane was mistakenly reported shot down.

Karen Alkalay-Gut (July 17 entry) describes the feeling of unity that war brings:

One strange result of this strange situation is that most people are relatively united around here. That old idea that if there are two Jews together there are three opinions doesn't seem to follow now. Even though I would have liked to handle a lot of things differently in many of the events we've been through in the past 30 years, I am at the moment, along with almost every one else, behind the government, behind the army.

New Israeli blogs

Several new blogs have popped up to blog the conflict:

Live from an Israeli bunker is by a 17 year-old Haifa resident who describes his blog, which has already gained the attention of the Washington Post, thus:

A live blog from an Israeli bunker via laptop and wifi. Provides a unique and unprecedented insight into the rapidly escalating situation in the Middle East. Experience the events thru the eyes of the people who live them, and perhaps get an idea of how it's really like over here. This is much more human and accurate then the major news channels.

2jk, a veteran Hebrew blogger, has started a blog in English because he believes in discourse. In his first post he describes attending an Arab Israeli dialogue group in Malta, several years ago:

We engaged in discussions with all other members there and exchanged ideas. Especially the Israeli and the Palestinians, since my former party, Meretz, and Fatah were in good relations. The problem was with the Lebanese. The four girls from Lebanon refused to acknowledge us and did not talk directly towards us. I felt really ashamed of the horrible crimes committed in Lebanon, where some of them were my country’s, but i couldn’t understand why aren’t they even yelling at us? I wanted some way to talk with them, some mean to be able to communicate.

But nothing.

In order for discourse to exist, there needs to be two sides who are willing to talk. I’m not sure that my government is, but I am.

Ouriel, who previously blogged exclusively about hi-tech, switched over to political blogging with a post called Enough is Enough. His sharp criticism of Hezbollah resulted in so many responses that he felt compelled to write a follow-up post called A blog war will not happen here.

And Tel Aviv resistance dedicates the first post of his new blog to the Lebanese bloggers.

Before launching into my roundup, I'd like to introduce - ta da! - the first site to aggregate Israeli blogs in both English and Hebrew. Click here to view. At the top you will find a tab that links to blogs in Hebrew, as well as a tab called “Our Neighbours,” which links to Toot, the site that aggregates Arab blogs in Arabic and English. The Israeli aggregate site was created by Hanan Cohen, an Israeli blogger and Internet columnist.

Roundup:

The only issue that elicited a comment from more than one blogger is the recent vote of NAFTHE, the British University & College Lecturer's Union, to boycott and blacklist Israeli universities and academics. More recently, the Ontario branch of CUPE, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, also voted to boycott Israel.

In response to the CUPE vote,Yonatan, a leftist Israeli academic, posts a list of technologies and medicines that were developed in Israel, ranging from VOIP and Instant Messaging to anti-cancer drugs, and comments:

As you see - and as the blinkered ‘idealists' of the so-called Left in many western countries fail to notice - Israel did contribute a little more to humanity than only that damned occupation. For some reason I believe that the Jewish state has contributed and continues to contribute much, much more to mankind than all those regimes that will never have to fear a boycott by CUPE, NATFHE, and other organizations and individuals who claim to care for the wellbeing of the Palestinian people.

Yael, who teaches at an Israeli university, writes that she is “utterly disgusted” by the NAFTHE vote - but adds that her “…mantra today is ‘I will not rant, I will not rave.'” Instead, she posts the link to Engage, a site maintained by a variety of liberal British academics, journalists and bloggers who oppose the boycott.

In her post about the NAFTHE vote, titled “ Here they go again…“, Allison asks, “Don't British academics have anything better to do? Like maybe teach or conduct research…”

Potpourri of individual posts

Several Israeli bloggers joined the online campaign to free Alaa, the Egyptian blogger who has been detained for one month. A list of local bloggers who mention Alaa's detention is at the bottom of this post.

The Purple Parrot, a leftist blogger who works for a Palestinian NGO in East Jerusalem, accepts West Bank Mama's invitation to document the process of moving from her native England to Israel. In fact, this fascinating post, entitled “Why, indeed, am I here?“, documents what the Parrot describes as her transition from “young, idealistic firebrand Land-Of-Israel warrior to world-weary, cynical Human Rights activist.”

Treppenwitz writes about a Palestinian child from Hebron in the West Bank, or Palestine, who is undergoing treatment for leukemia at Schneider Children's Medical Center in Israel. The hospital and the Peres Center for Peace absorbed the cost of the bone marrow transplant, which is not available in the West Bank; part of the cost was supposed to be paid by the Palestinian Authority, writes Treppenwitz, but the Minister of Health, who is a member of Hamas, declined to pay because “…it would be seen as cooperating with the Zionist enemy.” Treppenwitz wonders why this story is not regarded as newsworthy by the Israeli and international press, and how it can be that politics is regarded as more important than saving a little girl's life.

Sharvul is an interesting blogger whom I've neglected to mention in previous posts. He is an Israeli businessman who is religiously observant, rather intellectual and politically leftist. Recently, he returned with his family to Israel after several years in Japan. His time abroad has caused him to see Israel differently, as he describes in this post about a recent business trip to Basel, Switzerland - the place where Theodore Herzl conceived modern Zionism at the First World Zionist Congress in 1897.

I put my elbows on the stone wall, leaned forward, looked thoughtfully at the other bank and tried to concentrate hard, to capture that unique “Zionist moment”. Conclusion: I have no clue what made Theodor yearn for the dusty landscape of Palestine while watching the beautiful Rhine river flowing vigorously a few feet below. He must have been smoking something. Or perhaps I should have waited longer, enough time to grow a beard.

Additional noteworthy posts from Sharvul include this one, about his abhorrence of “the total lack of basic manners…” he sees in Israel; and this one, a review of Man in the Shadows, the recently published memoirs of ex-Mossad chief Efraim Halevy.

David Brinn, who contributes to the group blog Israelity, links in this post to an article from Haaretz that explains why Israel is the best place to live on earth.

Karen Alkalay-Gut writes (scroll down to June 4 entry) that she has recently found “a hidden truth” in the most recent column written by Sayed Kashua, the bestselling Israeli-Arab author of Dancing Arabs, for Haaretz.

John blogs about a recently handed down court decision that obligates the Jerusalem municipality to fund the annual Gay Pride Parade. The mayor of Jerusalem, Uri Lupolianski, is ultra-Orthodox; last year, the Jerusalem Pride Parade was marred when a bystander stabbed and seriously wounded a participant.

Recently a Lebanese businessmen, whose nom de blog is The Perpetual Refugee, has been writing a series of long posts about his visits to Israel over the past few months. I also blogged about meeting him in Tel Aviv, here. His extraordinary ongoing series (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8) has elicited a great deal of attention from Israeli bloggers, who have been responding in the comments and putting him on their blogroll. Several other Lebanese bloggers have been linking to and writing about Israeli bloggers; their links are in this post from my blog. This dialogue between so-called enemies has been attracting attention from mainstream Western media; I may have further news on that subject in the near future, so stay tuned.

I was planning to write this week's post about how Israelis are observing the Passover holiday, which began last Wednesday night with the festival seder meal, but unfortunately there was a suicide bombing this afternoon in Tel Aviv so I'll start with that, followed by some links to posts about the holiday.

The suicide bombing

I happened to be sitting with a friend in a cafe that was quite near the site of the bombing when it occured, and heard the blast. It was a powerful one and sounded much closer than it actually was. Since I work as a freelance journalist I ran off to cover the story; my post about what I saw is here. I also had my camera with me and posted a set of photos here.

Stephanie Fried wrote a touching post about the phone call she received from her worried father, who lives in the United States. She was reminded of a unique experience she had during the Gulf War in 1991 (read her post for details), when the phone lines to Israel were congested for days and her parents had no idea whether she and her siblings were safe from the Scud missiles launched at Israel from Iraq.

And I hung up the phone realizing: Wow. Here they go again. A child in Israel. The worry is back. And the memory of that videotape returned and tears sprung to my eyes. What we put them through inadvertently.

Allison Kaplan Sommer was on vacation in Eilat, and hadn't heard about the bombing when she called me this afternoon just to chat. “So what's going on in the real world?” she asked. She posted about her reaction to my news here.

Imshin's husband, Bish, works right near the site of the bombing. He took some photos with his cameraphone and Imshin posted them, together with some of her own observations.

Chayyeisarah writes that the only thing she cannot become accustomed to in Israel is the suicide bombings.

I can't get used to thinking about the people who were eating a falafel one minute, and were on their way to the emergency room the next . . . not because of a traffic accident, or a fire, or some other tragic event that may have been preventable but was at worst a case of negligence . . . and not because they were involved in a bad crowd or were unfortunately associated with evil or troubled people . . . but because they happened to be eating a falafel in the wrong place at the wrong time, and there are people who hate us just that much.

Karen Alkalay-Gut, who posts every day almost without fail, writes that it's hard to find the words today. (scroll down to the April 17 entry).

Passover

Jerusalem Gypsy wrote a typically tongue-in-cheek post about the seder she participated in at the home of Orthodox friends. She decided to bring a rather unorthodox Haggada, and her traditional hosts were not terribly amused. But despite their ill-disguised disapproval, the Gypsy enjoyed herself.

It was noisy and fun there. I brought my hand made matzah to the table and read from my Holistic Haggadah by Dr. Michael Kagan. It had alot of touchy-feely stuff to it. Like “feel the salt water as tears running down your cheeks. Free your inner Mitzrayim (Egypt). In Buddhism attachments are the cause of suffering, in Judaism, they are the cause of enslavement…, etc.” And nearly everyone oohh'd and ahh'd at this new Jewish Renewal funky interpretation of the ancient Haggadah, save for about 3 people who clearly weren't interested in all at any interpretations of the text, but preferred to get down to the meal already.

Chayyeisarah writes that she attended the best seder ever this year, at the home of friends who creatively re-enacted the Exodus from Egypt with their small children.

Chanit, who writes a food blog, has posted several gorgeous recipes for traditional Passover dishes, which must - according to Jewish law - be free of any leavened ingredients, or chametz. Her recipes - with photos, reminiscences, explanations and commentary - are here, here and here.

Over at the group blog Jewlicious, the contributors decided to mark the holiday that celebrates the ancient story of the exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt in a rather unique and touching way. They have written some heart-rending posts about various forms of slavery that still exist today, and explain how you can contribute funds to alleviate the suffering of people who live in bondage in the 21st century. These are the slaves of today, as described on Jewlicious: Boys who are sold into bondage to cocoa bean farmers in Ivory Coast; women who are brought to Israel from the former USSR by the Russian mafia to work as sex slaves (this post includes a clip taken from an Israeli investigative news show that did a segment on white slavery in Israel); and another post (actually a very well-written article) here.

And Ernesto, a Phillipine diplomat who was recently assigned to his country's consulate in Tel Aviv, writes about his joyous anticipation of celebrating his first Easter in Israel at St. Peter's Church in Jaffa.

I was planning to write this week's post about how Israelis are observing the Passover holiday, which began last Wednesday night with the festival seder meal, but unfortunately there was a suicide bombing this afternoon in Tel Aviv so I'll start with that, followed by some links to posts about the holiday.

The suicide bombing

I happened to be sitting with a friend in a cafe that was quite near the site of the bombing when it occured, and heard the blast. It was a powerful one and sounded much closer than it actually was. Since I work as a freelance journalist I ran off to cover the story; my post about what I saw is here. I also had my camera with me and posted a set of photos here.

Stephanie Fried wrote a touching post about the phone call she received from her worried father, who lives in the United States. She was reminded of a unique experience she had during the Gulf War in 1991 (read her post for details), when the phone lines to Israel were congested for days and her parents had no idea whether she and her siblings were safe from the Scud missiles launched at Israel from Iraq.

And I hung up the phone realizing: Wow. Here they go again. A child in Israel. The worry is back. And the memory of that videotape returned and tears sprung to my eyes. What we put them through inadvertently.

Allison Kaplan Sommer was on vacation in Eilat, and hadn't heard about the bombing when she called me this afternoon just to chat. “So what's going on in the real world?” she asked. She posted about her reaction to my news here.

Imshin's husband, Bish, works right near the site of the bombing. He took some photos with his cameraphone and Imshin posted them, together with some of her own observations.

Chayyeisarah writes that the only thing she cannot become accustomed to in Israel is the suicide bombings.

I can't get used to thinking about the people who were eating a falafel one minute, and were on their way to the emergency room the next . . . not because of a traffic accident, or a fire, or some other tragic event that may have been preventable but was at worst a case of negligence . . . and not because they were involved in a bad crowd or were unfortunately associated with evil or troubled people . . . but because they happened to be eating a falafel in the wrong place at the wrong time, and there are people who hate us just that much.

Karen Alkalay-Gut, who posts every day almost without fail, writes that it's hard to find the words today. (scroll down to the April 17 entry).

Passover

Jerusalem Gypsy wrote a typically tongue-in-cheek post about the seder she participated in at the home of Orthodox friends. She decided to bring a rather unorthodox Haggada, and her traditional hosts were not terribly amused. But despite their ill-disguised disapproval, the Gypsy enjoyed herself.

It was noisy and fun there. I brought my hand made matzah to the table and read from my Holistic Haggadah by Dr. Michael Kagan. It had alot of touchy-feely stuff to it. Like “feel the salt water as tears running down your cheeks. Free your inner Mitzrayim (Egypt). In Buddhism attachments are the cause of suffering, in Judaism, they are the cause of enslavement…, etc.” And nearly everyone oohh'd and ahh'd at this new Jewish Renewal funky interpretation of the ancient Haggadah, save for about 3 people who clearly weren't interested in all at any interpretations of the text, but preferred to get down to the meal already.

Chayyeisarah writes that she attended the best seder ever this year, at the home of friends who creatively re-enacted the Exodus from Egypt with their small children.

Chanit, who writes a food blog, has posted several gorgeous recipes for traditional Passover dishes, which must - according to Jewish law - be free of any leavened ingredients, or chametz. Her recipes - with photos, reminiscences, explanations and commentary - are here, here and here.

Over at the group blog Jewlicious, the contributors decided to mark the holiday that celebrates the ancient story of the exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt in a rather unique and touching way. They have written some heart-rending posts about various forms of slavery that still exist today, and explain how you can contribute funds to alleviate the suffering of people who live in bondage in the 21st century. These are the slaves of today, as described on Jewlicious: Boys who are sold into bondage to cocoa bean farmers in Ivory Coast; women who are brought to Israel from the former USSR by the Russian mafia to work as sex slaves (this post includes a clip taken from an Israeli investigative news show that did a segment on white slavery in Israel); and another post (actually a very well-written article) here.

And Ernesto, a Phillipine diplomat who was recently assigned to his country's consulate in Tel Aviv, writes about his joyous anticipation of celebrating his first Easter in Israel at St. Peter's Church in Jaffa.

Labour, headed by Amir Peretz, came in next with 19 seats. Kadima and Labour have a combined 48 seats and they will form the base of the governing coalition. Now Olmert needs to find additional partners who will give him at least another 13 seats for the minimum of 61 needed to form a government. Who will he invite to join, and what kind of a deal will they make?

Below is a roundup of opinions on the ongoing coalition negotiations, followed by some non-political posts.

With her extensive real time election coverage, Allison left all the other Israeli bloggers in the dust - big time. Her blog is essential reading for excellent (and frequently hilarious) commentary and fantastic links. Journalist Mark Glaser picked her out for special mention in his column for MediaShift on the PBS site. Over the past week she has been updating her blog several times daily with links and commentary on the coalition building process. There are so many great posts that I can't link to just one or two here. Just go over to her blog and take a look - it's the blog fan's equivalent of a candy store.

Don Radlauer serves up an in-depth analysis of what the election results mean. This is essential reading for a sober look at the numbers and what they say about “ideas that won and lost.” What do the results say about Israel's feelings regarding the peace process, further withdrawals from occupied territory (”disengagement“) and their country's social ills - like poverty and the overburdened education system? Read Don to find out.

Fayrouz posts a letter from a friend who thinks that the Arab parties do a bad job of representing their constituents, Israel's Arab minority, in the Knesset.

Shai summarizes Amir Peretz's bizarre attempt to bypass Olmert and try to form a coalition with right-wing parties in order to become prime minister. Peretz and Olmert have since “kissed and made up.”

Yonatan casts a jaundiced eye on the unseemly haggling that characterizes the coalition building process, pointing out that:

The flawed, primitive ( in my eyes ) voting system gives parties' representatives the opportunity to haggle over parliamentary seats and leaves the public - and the (wo)men who are supposed to build the coalition - in the dark about the final results of the election. That does not help to gain the people's trust in democracy.

Not politics!

Ra'anana Ramblings describes the food drive at her local supermarket. As the Passover holiday approaches, the dire situation of Israel's many poor means that they will not be able to afford a festive seder meal on the first night of the holiday. To help, several organizations have begun collecting donated food.

Over at the group blog One Jerusalem (OJ), Jill is up to Part Seven of her ongoing memoir, Not Jewish?! What are you doing here? It's the middle of Gulf War Two, her boyfriend has been called up for army reserve duty, and suddenly he sorta kinda pops the question. This means that Jill has to face the “C” word (convert), because she knows that her boyfriend would want their children to be Jewish. She never thought of herself as a religious Christian, but suddenly she starts to wonder what religion really means to her.

And Stephanie has written a fabulous post about about an exhibition of cutting edge Israeli graffiti artists' street art at a trendy downtown Manhattan art gallery. Check out her posts for links to the extremely cool sites of some very hip Israeli artists. (I think Rami Meiri's site is amazing).

Israelis go to the polls to elect a new government today. The media have been screaming since 10 a.m. that voter turnout is at an all-time low, even though the polls don't close until 10 p.m.

Kadima, the centrist party founded by comatose-since-January prime minister Ariel Sharon, and now led by acting PM Ehud Olmert, is currently projected to win the most seats and thus form the next government. But there have also been many, many warnings that the pre-election polls are likely to prove very inaccurate because there is also a record number of undecided voters - approximately 20 percent.

As for exit polls, let us not forget that Shimon Peres “won” in 1996, based on the exit polls, but after the votes were counted Benjamin Netanyahu emerged as Israel's prime minister. Given, however, that Netanyahu's Likud party is predicted to take only 14 of the 120 Knesset (parliament) seats in these elections (the party that wins a plurality of seats usually forms a coalition with smaller parties in order to cobble together the necessary majority of at least 61 seats), the chances of him becoming prime minister in 2006 are about zero.

Below is a roundup of what the Israeli blogosphere has to say, going into the elections.

Allison Kaplan Somer is a one-woman blog show. She is updating her blog, An Unsealed Room, several times daily with election news and will continue do so as the results flow in. Keep checking back. This very experienced journalist is on a roll.

Israelycool is also doing live coverage of the elections, with constant updates.

Shai Tsur explains why he voted Kadima, despite his reservations about many of the candidates on the party's list.

I’m voting Kadima, as almost everybody knows. Is it perfect? No it isn’t. I’m not all that crazy about Olmert. I would like the party a hell of a lot better without Tzachi Hanegbi, not to mention Shaul Mofaz, Ruhama Avraham, and Eli Aflalo. But those are the breaks. If the most important thing for me was clean government, and I didn’t have an aversion for voting for small single-issue parties, I would probably cast a vote for Uzi Dayan's Tafnit party.

Shai and I have also been blogging about the elections for the Guardian's newsblog. His third post, “The Worrying Rise of Avigdor Lieberman”, is here; my third post, “Civility Amid the Struggle,” is here.

Niv Calderon, a new contributor to the group blog One Jerusalem (OJ), has written an excellent post that explains how the Israeli Left's core ideology was taken over by the centre-right.

Fayrouz Shaqrawi, a Palestinian-Israeli who blogs at The Land of Sad Oranges, recounts a conversation she had with two fellow Palestinian-Israelis about which parties represent their interests best, and why.

Yonathan Bar On explains why he hopes that the next government will be a Kadima-Labour coalition.

Rinat describes the election day atmosphere in Tel Aviv, as well as the total exhaustion she feels as a journalist who is covering the elections for three different media outlets.

Don Radlauer explains, in a very well-reasoned post, why this election should be viewed as a referundum on unilateral Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

West Bank Blog explains why she is voting for Likud - and why everyone who doesn't follow her example has her head stuck in the sand.

And Jameel of The Muqata gives his interpretation of each of the major party's platforms before explaining why he, too, is voting Likud.

I posted two sets of photos of the elections, taken in Tel Aviv, on my Flickr account - here and here.

Shai Tsur of Shaister, a confessed politics junkie, has been the most prolific elections blogger.

In this post, he summarizes the ad campaigns of each of the major parties and offers a brief analysis of each. He explains that “According to Israeli law, political parties cannot just buy ad time willy nilly. Instead, the three broadcast stations are required to air a daily block (usually 45 minutes long) of political ads during prime time. The parties are awarded broadcast time based on the number of Knesset seats they have, with space reserved for parties that are not currently in the Knesset.”

Shai and I were also asked to write a series of posts for the Guardian’s newsblog. In his first post, The Promise of Kadima, Shai explains why he, a former Labor supporter, plans to vote for Kadima.

“I come from a long-time Labor family. During the '90s I supported the Oslo accords and the peace process with the Palestinians. Then came September 2000 and the second intifada. Like many Israelis who once identified with the left, I became disillusioned with Oslo. My politics shifted rightward with every Palestinian suicide bombing. But I have never been an advocate of the Greater Land of Israel approach. I favour a two-state solution, but one that ensures Israel's security.
In short, I am the classic Kadima voter.”

In his second post for the Guardian, called “The invisible election,” Shai offers an explanation as to why Israelis are so unenthusiastic about the elections.

“Personally, I think the problem is an overdose of history. In the past 10 years, and even more so in the past five, we have become accustomed to one earth-shaking local or regional events after another: everything from suicide bombings, at the rate of three a week, to economic woes, to territorial pull-outs.
After a while you lose the capacity to fully deal with each crisis, so you just shrug your shoulders and move on. In other words, we're dealing with a case of national post-traumatic stress disorder.”

In my first post for the Guardian, Stitching together Israeli identities, I profile two Israelis who will not be voting Kadima – Dmitri Doubov, who immigrated from Tashkent 12 years ago, and Fayrouz Shaqrawi, a Palestinian Israeli who recently started blogging at The Land of Sad Oranges.

Allison Kaplan Sommer of An Unsealed Room explains why she cannot decide between Meretz, a leftwing Zionist party, and Kadima, with its mostly mainstream, slightly right-of-centre message - and why she completely skips over Labour, which rightfully falls between Meretz and Kadima in the left-right political spectrum.

“If I vote Meretz I will be voting my personal social agenda — religious pluralism, racial equality, gender equality. Meretz is the only party who bothers to actually promote it. Labor pays lip service and does nothing. I voted for them in the last election and was less than impressed.
….
If I vote Kadima I will be rewarding the Sharon legacy for the Gaza disengagement and supporting the policy of ‘try to negotiate, but if that fails, disengage unilaterally.’ With Hamas around for the next four years, disengagement is my preferred response instead of sitting around and doing nothing, since they are obviously so not interested in talking peace.”

One Jerusalem has been covering the elections from a much less serious angle. Here is a post about Ale Yarok (pronounced Ah-LEY Ya-ROK), the Green Leaf party that has a platform of “personal freedom, quality of life and legalization of the cannabis plant and all its applications.” Yup, there's a political party in Israel that wants to make pot smoking legal. They also have a super-liberal social agenda, including the legalization of same-sex marriage. See their hilarious ad campaign, featuring a “traditional” Jewish wedding with two brides (and no groom) here.

Back to serious stuff: last week the Israeli army laid siege to a prison in Jericho, which is under the control of the Palestinian Authority. The stated reason for the siege was to arrest six Palestinians who had been involved in attacks on Israelis; originally the Israeli government and the P.A. had agreed that the captured men would be jailed under Palestinian supervision, but Hamas, which recently won the Palestinian national elections, sent the message that it would not keep the men imprisoned as per the agreement. Israeli reactions to the prison siege were mixed.

Shai thinks it was a good, clean operation.

Allison thinks it was stupid.

And She of SomethingSomething thinks it was shameful.

Okay, one last bit of not-so-good news. Allison reports that bird flu has reached Israel, and it looks as though it may have penetrated the human population.

Since I always feel utterly compelled to end with something funny, how about this: Harry reports that Paris Hilton may be coming to Israel for a model shoot. “This,” intones Harry, “is not hot.”

Given all that drama, you'd think that people would be really fired up about the elections, wouldn't you? But nooooo……

Perhaps next week, once the television broadcasts of the campaign messages are in full swing, Israeli bloggers will have something to say about the elections. Meanwhile, this week I've just put together some random posts that, taken as a whole, give readers a sort of intimate snapshot of what's going on in Israel - behind the headlines.

Stephanie Fried, a freelance journalist who blogs at Stefanella's Drive Thru, illustrates the complexity of life in Israel in this description of the people she met at a Tel Aviv hospital ward, where her son was hospitalized following a fever-induced seizure. Stephanie's son is half Danish; two of his fellow patients were children from Gaza, accompanied by their mothers; and a third was a 12 year-old Israeli girl whose father was an undercover agent in the occupied territories during the first intifada. And there they were, all being treated in the same ward of a Tel Aviv hospital. This post is required reading for anyone who thinks that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can be defined in absolute terms.

Or, as Stephanie puts it,

“With perpetual conflict and enmity in abundance how do Gazans end up sharing a Tel Aviv hospital room with a part American/part Danish kid (he doesn't draw cartoons. Yet) and a former undercover agent?

Grey grey grey. The closer you get the blurrier the view.”

Stephanie just wrote another fascinating post about the refusal of a London-based dance magazine to publish an article about an Israeli dance troupe that just returned from New York, where it performed an originally choreographed piece about breaking down boundaries between cultures and people . The dance troupe is scheduled to perform next in Cuba and around North America. This is what happened when Stephanie called to make her story pitch:

“The head of advertising answers and immediately launches into a quiet but resolute political diatribe upon hearing where the company is based. I'm thinking: ‘WTF? Why is a dance magazine guy talking politics to me?' And never mind my interjections on artistic director Sally-Anne's behalf…that she broke away from apartheid South Africa, that her most recent creation is called Borders and addresses breaking down boundaries both personal and political….

He basically tells me that because of the occupation the magazine doesn't run stories on dance companies out of Israel. He also assures that he is in no way, shape or form racist because he's a Sikh from Northern India. But of course.”

Meanwhile, Shai Tsur of Shaister comments on the Israeli couple whose insane decision to set off firecrackers in Nazareth’s Church of the Annunciation, during prayers, led to violent demonstrations by the Christian Arab residents of the city.

Shai points out that there is ample evidence showing that the Havivis, the couple who set off the firecrackers, are not exactly the most mentally stable people in the world.

“Havivi is in fact certifiable. He is also somewhat infamous. A few years ago, he and his family showed up at the Muqata’ah in Ramallah and begged Yasser Arafat for permission to settle in the Palestinian Authority. That, as it turns out, was a publicity stunt geared to draw attention to the Havivis’ economic problems and their battles with social services. So was the little attack in Nazareth.”

Shai then goes on to criticize Israeli Arab leaders for taking advantage of the event for political gains.

“No sooner had the incident in Nazareth started to cool down that Ahmad Tibi and other Arab MKs rushed to the news studios to decry Havivi’s act as representative of institutional racism in Israel.

In response, acting PM Olmert called for calm and suggested that the incident — “the act of a spaced-out couple”, in his words — not be used to rile up race relations. So, today Hadash MK Mohammad Barakeh attacked Olmert as a racist.

Clearly, it’s election season and the Arab parties have decided to use this incident as a campaign issue. Which is a pity, because it doesn’t deserve to be. There are many legitimate examples of problematic policy (both de jure and de facto) when it comes to Israel’s Arab minority. This isn’t one of them.”

Bert de Bruin, of Dutchblog Israel, echoes Shai when he writes:

Almost all religious officials, political leaders and security forces behaved in a very responsible way, and they did a good job of crisis management and cooperation. The only ones who should be ashamed of themselves, since they showed an absolute lack of responsible leadership by trying to use this incident - which was caused by troubled individuals, not by political or religious fanatics - for their own political gains, are men such as Mohammad Barakeh, Ahmad Tibi, Sheikh Salah and Azmi Bishara.

Further on the subject of Israel’s Arab minority, Don Radlauer, of On the Contrary, takes another Israeli blogger to task for writing a racist post about the rights of Israeli citizens of Palestinian origin.

And over at Slightly Mad, the leftist blogger Purple Parrot confesses to being rather satisfied that Paradise Now, the Palestinian movie about suicide bombers, did not win the Academy Award for best foreign film.

“So for any of you who were assuming I'd be seething at being “robbed”, I will surprise you by saying that I was actually satisfied with this outcome: I do stand by my previous contention that people - Israelis and Jews in particular - should not boycott Paradise Now. But I don't think it deserved this particular statuette, and certainly not the accompanying hype which would have degenerated into a nasty PR war between bereaved families, propagandists on both sides, and the like: I shudder at the very notion.”

Shai Tsur of Shaister has a concise and intelligent roundup of the campaign platforms of the major parties. He writes that he likes the ad campaign of Meretz, a leftist Zionist party, the best.

Each ad features one of the candidates on the Meretz list, a large semi-provocative slogan, and a smaller second line of text which explains it. For instance, a picture of party chairman Yossi Beilin, with the slogan “I don’t have an Arab mother” (a reference to rumors about Peres in elections past), and a sub-line saying “…but I will fight for minority rights.” Or a picture of Meretz’s token religious woman Dr. Tzvia Greenfeld with the slogan “I believe in the Almighty … but I will separate state and religion.”

This Meretz campaign poster shows Knesset member Avshalom Vilan. The slogan is: “I am a happily married man. But I will fight for a civil divorce law.” (In Israel the religious authorities control all matters of marriage and divorce).

And this campaign poster shows Arab-Israeli Meretz candidate Issawi Farij. The slogan, written in Arabic, reads, “Don't patronize me! My voice is influential and my conscience is serene.”


Allison Kaplan Sommer of An Unsealed Room scooped the mainstream media when she wrote about Ilan Halimi, a Parisian Jew who was kidnapped and tortured to death by a gang called the Barbarians. Halimi’s family claimed that the Muslim gang members were motivated by anti-Semitism; they pointed out that two previous kidnapping victims were also Jewish; that the kidnappers had recited verses from the Koran during their ransom phone calls; and that they had told the family to “get the [ransom] money from their synagogue” if they could not come up with it themselves. Allison was surprised that the story was not covered by any of the wire services, so she started to write about it herself and got an instalanche via links from widely read blogs. Eventually, the papers started to pick up the story – but only about a week after Ilan died. She notes that it took quite a while for the newspapers - and the French government - to confirm that the crime was likely based on anti-Semitic motives.
Allison’s final post on the Halimi saga is here; scroll down to the bottom to find links to all her posts on the Halimi murder, in chronological order.

In another interesting post, Allison explains why Israelis reacted calmly to the victory of Hamas in the Palestinian Authority elections.

Rinat Malkes, a journalist who blogs at Balagan, posted a photograph of herself in Ramallah, wearing a Hamas sash that she was given as a gift while covering the Palestinian elections. Readers reacted very strongly to the photo: some thought it was funny; others accused Rinat of being disloyal to Israel. Some of the negative commenters used very strong language.

Ari Miller, who blogs at Ari Lives in Israel, posts about why Israelis should see Paradise Now. He points out that most of the American Jews who oppose the film’s being categorized as Palestinian for the Oscar awards have not seen it. Ari writes:

“I have seen this movie and I do have personal feelings about it. I found it to be one of the most beautiful, moving, touching and empathetic works of film that I have seen in some time. It was much better than Cats. It presented a window into an existence that I can hardly begin to imagine.

Chayyeisarah, an Orthodox journalist who lives in Jerusalem, has an excellent post that points out the hypocrisy of both left and right wing Israelis in the wake of the Amona riots. After the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the West Bank settlement of Amona was illegal and that nine houses must be destroyed, right-wing demonstrators and Israeli police faced off in a violent confrontation that left several people badly injured. The right wingers accused the police of excessive violence; the left was either indifferent or claimed that the demonstrators had got what they deserved. Sarah takes both sides to task in her well-reasoned post.

Over at One Jerusalem (“frothing at the mouth about politics, ideas and culture”), Jill Cartwright, a non-Jewish Englishwoman who lives in Tel Aviv, is writing an ongoing memoir about how and why she moved to Israel at the height of the second intifada, and what it’s like to be a non-Jew in the State of the Jews. She has a very compelling (and funny) writing style; readers have written that they are hanging on the edge of their seats, waiting for the next installment. (part one; part two).

Jill also wrote a post about a photography exhibition she and I attended in Tel Aviv on Friday. The photographs were taken by the Israeli women volunteers of Machsom Watch (Checkpoint Watch); the volunteers stand in shifts at the Israeli army checkpoints in the West Bank and monitor the behaviour of the soldiers toward the Palestinians.

And finally, a bit of sock it to ‘em, irreverent Israeli humour.

An Israeli graphic artist, Amitai Sandy, has come up with a hilarious response to the Holocaust cartoon contest sponsored by an Iranian newspaper (in response to the Danish Muhammad cartoon-gate). Sandy is sponsoring an Israeli anti-Semitic Cartoon Contest.

“We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published!” said Sandy. “No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!”

So far, the post about the cartoon contest has received 276 responses, from Jews, Muslims and Christians all over the world. Check ‘em out - they make some pretty fascinating reading.

This week one of the country's most prominent journalists, Shelly Yachimovich, quit her profession to enter politics when she joined the Labour Party. Shimon Peres, who has been a Labour member of the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, since 1959, left his party and joined Ariel Sharon’s new Kadima party. Avi Shaked, a multi-millionaire businessman, has declared that he is really a socialist – albeit a millionaire socialist - and joined the Labour party. But that's not all…

As in previous weeks, the roundup of blog entries on political developments will be followed by links to a summary of noteworthy posts on a variety of subjects.

The “big bang” in domestic politics

Shai of Shaister begins his summary of who joined, who quit and who defected with this observation: “Whatever else you may say about this political “big bang” we’ve witnessed over the last two weeks, it has added a lot of interest into what had become an incredibly boring political system.” He goes on to describe the journalist Shelly Yachimovich as “a sour, hatchet-faced activist-journalist with distinct pinko leanings.” (tell us what you really think, Shai!)

Allison of An Unsealed Room writes about the comments Gigi Peres, Shimon Peres’s brother, made about the new Labour leader Amir Peretz’s Moroccan background. “…[Gigi] has sealed the deal and made Shimon an utter political untouchable by adding a little racism to the mix”.

Allison writes that she’s not alone in thinking that “it’s time for Peres to leave politics.”

Bert of Dutchblog Israel asks, “Could it be that I have underestimated Amir Peretz?… His election to the Labor party leadership has directly or indirectly brought about what appear to be very meaningful (and positive) changes in Israel's political landscape.”
Bert also provides some interesting commentary on the political slogans and platforms of several politicians - such as Shaul Mofaz and Silvan Shalom.

Imshin asks why Yachimovich was not criticized for being a “journalist with an agenda” when she decided to enter the political arena.

One Jerusalem posts a photo he took of Avi Shaked’s campaign billboard with the slogan: “Socialist, Millionaire (and not ashamed of it).” The blogger wonders which part Shaked is unashamed of - being a millionaire or being a socialist? One Jerusalem provides more information on how Shaked made his money in this post.

Playing soccer for peace

Anglosaxy and Dave of Israellycool are both interested in a soccer match that was played this week between a Palestinian-Israeli team and the Barcelona team. The game was sponsored by the Peres Center for Peace.

Dave posts and links to an article from the Palestinian press that quotes Palestinian officials who opposed the match because it gives “a false impression that things are alright between Palestinians and Israelis.”

Anglosaxy, who is a huge sports fan, thinks that the idea of a soccer game for peace is “fecking magnificent.” He is particularly chuffed that Ronaldinho is one of the players, and posts a video link to one of the star athlete’s famous “crossbar clips.”

An exchange of views on a controversial political issue

An interesting exchange of differing political views took place between two Orthodox Israeli bloggers. Chayyeisarah takes issue with the right-wing argument against withdrawing from occupied teritory, and Jeffrey R. Woolf of My Obiter Dicta explains why he disagrees with her.

Miscellaneous – political (voices from the Right)

Ze’ev of Israel Perspectives explains why some people might call him an extremist.

“Jameel” of The Muqata criticizes Haaretz newspaper for slanted or selective coverage of incidents involving Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

Yaakov Kirshon, the Dry Bones political cartoonist, wonders why an Indian security fence built on the border with Bangladesh has not attracted the same attention as Israel’s separation barrier.

Miscellaneous – non political

Brian Blum writes about attending a modern dance performance in Jerusalem. To his surprise and initial discomfort, the dancers performed in the nude. But Brian enjoys the performance, and sees it as evidence that , despite its growing Orthodox population, Jerusalem is still a culturally open city.

Savtadotty posts photos and a description of some fantastic urban installation art. (the photos are on her Flickr account ). To mark 70 years since its founding, the Tel Aviv stock exchange commissioned dozens of fiberglass bulls, each decorated by a different artist to express various themes. The bulls have been placed up and down Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard, and are attracting viewers from all over Israel.

One Jerusalem has some lovely photos and a description of Pqiin, a village in the Galilee where Druze, Muslims and Jews live together in harmony.

And Yael of Olehgirl has an amusing post about Israeli taxi drivers. She has discovered that they tend to get a little too personal with their female passengers.

Quite a few prominent Likud members jumped ship to follow their leader, and some well-known Labour politicians have left, or are considering leaving, their party to join Kadima as well. The Israeli parliament, or Knesset, voted to disband the current government in the wake of Sharon’s move, and national elections have been scheduled for March 28.

So now we have Amir Peretz rejuvenating the until-recently moribund Labour Party (see last week’s roundup of reactions to Peretz’s election to chariman of Labour), a shattered and possibly permanently sidelined Likud party and a new centrist party led by Sharon. In two weeks, the domestic political landscape has changed completely. For journalists and politics junkies who happen to be bloggers, this is fabulous stuff. There’ll be tons and tons of material to talk and write about for – oh, weeks and blissful weeks.

But don’t worry if you’re not interested in politics – Israeli bloggers are writing about plenty of other stuff too and there’s a roundup of miscellaneous posts following the political roundup.

Reactions to the Sharon earthquake

Allison Kaplan Sommer of An Unsealed Room has written several insightful and frequently hilarious posts about the events of the past week. For hilarity, check out her interpretation of Ben-Gurion University President Avishay Braverman’s speech, in which he announced that he was joining the Labour party: “The very unsubtle subtext of the speech was, ‘Yuppie Ashkenazi White People! Fear Not from the Labor Party! I won't let Amir Peretz turn into Fidel Castro! We're Social Democrats like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair!’” More of Allison’s not-to-be-missed commentary is here, here and here.

Imshin of Not a Fish writes, “Sharon and Peretz are both nasty bastards, both sly, corrupt, cynical politicians. Is Peretz any nastier than Sharon? I doubt it. Love them or hate them, the thing is that both are people who get things done, make things happen. Who would have believed the Gaza disengagement would actually happen?”

Bert of Dutchblog Israel writes, “The most positive result of Sharon's decision to leave the party of which he was one of the main founders seems to be that in the coming elections Israeli voters will have two very clear options to choose from, at least as far as our presence in the territories is concerned.” But in the same post Bert also worries that Sharon, like Rabin, is a one-man show. Who will carry out his plans if the septuagenarian leader is incapacitated while in office? Read more of Bert’s incisive commentary here, and here.

Batya, who lives in the West Bank (many Israelis call this territory by the biblical names Judea and Samaria) and blogs at Shiloh Musings, has this to say about the Likud: “The ‘real Likud’ of pro-Land of Israel loyalty is dead. It is like a brain dead patient being kept alive by machinery. It's time to pull the plug.”

Shai of Shaister is currently on vacation in the USA, and while he’s mildly irritated at missing the current goings on he has plenty of pithy political analysis: “I see the Israeli political landscape dominated by a number of political blocs at the moment. Sharon’s new party will likely dominate the center, drawing moderate Likud voters and hawkish Labor voters. The new party will more than likely kill Shinui, since it occupies the same political space but lacks both Shinui’s anti-religious message and its odious leader (Tommy Lapid).” More political commentary from Shai here.

Harry of The View from Here took a break from his usual podcasts to write about politics, “It's mindblowing that the political landscape of a country can completely change within a week.”

There’s even a post about the upcoming elections over at the purportedly apolitical group blog Israelity: “The only aspect to look forward to actually, is the campaign commercials for the fringe parties like the taxi drivers’ party, the Green Leaf party for legalizing pot, and the sentimental favorite - the battered husbands’ party. Now that’s entertainment.”

Dave of Israellycool is posting regular media and blog roundups on the upcoming elections. His latest post is here; it includes a link to his previous coverage.

Adrian of Expategghead writes, “If Moshe Feiglin wins [leadership of the Likud] I shall seriously think of seeking work abroad.” (that remark led to a lot of controversy in the comments, which is the main reason I include it here).

Don Radlauer of On the Contrary writes an open letter to Ariel Sharon with some rather interesting advice and commentary – such as: “There is no point in declaring that there will be no further unilateral withdrawals under a National Responsibility government; nobody will believe you even if you believe yourself, and your voters actually like the idea of unilateralism. Your voters want you to do what’s best for Israel, and if negotiating with the Palestinians won’t get us there, that’s the Palestinians’ problem.”

At the spiffily designed One Jerusalem group blog, there is a hilarious post that summarises the fun at one of Israel’s most popular (and totally irreverent) television satire shows, Eretz Nehederet (A Great Country). The show, which is broadcast Friday nights, had a field day this week with sly skits skewering Sharon and Israeli politics in general, and the post includes a link to video clips from the show (the clips are in Hebrew only, I’m afraid, but some of them are universal enough to be enjoyed even by non-Hebrew speakers).

Miscellaneous– political:

One Jerusalem also posted a video clip of Amir Peretz making his first speech in English. The event, which took place at the opening of the new Rabin Centre, was broadcast on Israeli television news to general national hilarity. Peretz speaks great Hebrew; he speaks French and Arabic as well. He does not, however, seem to speak English. Go watch the speech, but make sure you’re not eating or drinking near your keyboard - otherwise there’s liable to be some spillage.

Dave of Israellycool also posts two photos, called “separated at birth,” that mutely - and hilariously - explain why Israeli voters who come from the former USSR might not be too enthusiastic about Amir Peretz.

A week ago Friday, David Bogner of Treppenwitz posted some photos and political commentary about the West Bank settlement of Efrat, where he lives. Bogner writes that none of Efrat’s land was stolen from Palestinians, and posts photos showing parts of his settlement that are still cultivated by Palestinians who live in the area. But the most interesting part of the post is the comments thread: Jewish readers from all across the political spectrum wrote to express their agreement or disagreement with David’s political views regarding Israel’s presence in the West Bank, and a long debate ensued. The comment thread is fascinating for two reasons: (1) it shows that a debate between people from opposing political camps can be conducted with civility; and (2) it is an excellent summary of viewpoints from Israel’s political left, center and right.

At Jewlicious there’s an amusing story about a carrier pigeon that flew from Israel to Lebanon. According to a Lebanese newspaper, the pigeon, which was found by a resident of Kfar Tabnit, was carrying a steamy love letter from an Israeli girl to her boyfriend. The Lebanese man who found the pigeon was less interested in the letter and more concerned that the bird might be carrying Avian flu, so he rushed it over to the local police. But it turns out that there’s a lot more – and less – to the story.

At my blog, I posted a translation of a letter by Nazir Majli, a Palestinian commentator on Israeli affairs for the London-based Al Sharq Al Aswat. The letter, which is addressed to Majli’s three sisters residing in a Jordanian refugee camp, is written in Hebrew and was published in an Israeli periodical. The article is called Enough With the Hatred. Excerpt: “Enough with the hatred, let’s let it go; because we don’t have much time left. We need every day, every hour and every minute we have left to find a change in direction. We want our children to think about their studies and about advancing themselves. We don’t want them to grow up without experiencing childhood. We want our children to hug computers and bicycles, not stones.”

Miscellaneous – non-political

Alli Magidsohn, the Tel Aviv-based editor of an English-language site called Jewsweek, has written an article on the Jewish blogosphere and its significance. She mentions and quotes several Israeli bloggers in the article – including moi (of course!).

Stephanie Freid of Stefanella’s Drive Thru has taken a no-politics-on-my-blog vow. Instead she writes lovely posts about her life in Tel Aviv. Recently she composed a list of fun things to do in the city that are either free or cheap. Sample suggestion: “Check out the Interior Ministry's gorgeous, young security guards at the entrance and upstairs. Modeling candidates, every last one. While inside, view the acrylic and oil paintings on the ground floor and the photo-essay exhibit on the 2nd. Are we feeling cultured after our moment of lechery?”

Finally, if you like to cook and are looking for inspiring recipes – or just enjoy looking at luscious photos of homemade cakes, cookies, soups and more, check out Chanit’s blog. It’s called My Mom’s Recipes and More and if you're not hungry now - you will be, after you check it out.

The Amman bombings

Israeli bloggers who wrote about the suicide bombings in Amman did so mostly in order to condemn the act and express sympathy for Jordan.

She of SomethingSomething writes: “This latest attack, this time targeting the people of Jordan, has served to show that these fanatics will stop at nothing, and no one is immune. My hope is that this will finally act as a wake up call to those who have remained silent in the face of such acts.”

Bert of Dutchblog Israel posts a photo of the couple at whose wedding one of the bombings took place. He quotes the bridegroom: “This has nothing to do with Islam.”

On my own blog, I mentioned that I stayed at the Radisson SAS, which was one of the three hotels that was bombed, when I visited Amman. The bombings actually occurred on the same night I attended the screening of a film about Palestinian suicide bombers in Tel Aviv. It’s called Paradise Now, and I mention the film, which is directed by and stars Israeli Arabs, in my post.

Yaakov Kirshen, who for more than two decades drew political cartoons for the Jerusalem Post, posts a cartoon he drew about the bombings. He also mentions his astonishment upon discovering a news report that some Jordanians are blaming Israel for the attacks, which were carried out by Iraqis. He includes a link to the report in his post.

Rally for the memory of Yitzhak Rabin

On Saturday, November 12, an estimated 200,000 Israelis attended the 10th anniversary memorial for assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Tel Aviv’s central square – now called Rabin Square.
The star of the night was Bill Clinton, who gave a short but moving speech that drew tremendous applaud from the crowd. There is a video link to Clinton’s speech on this CNN report.

Chayyeisarah has this to say: “Regarding the media reports that run every year asking “what have we learned from Rabin's death?” and answering: “nothing,” I say: Yes, we have. The specter of Rabin's assassination was present throughout all the rallies protesting the Gaza disengagement last spring and summer, and certainly throughout the disengagement himself. I do not know whether it is fair to say that events would have progressed more violently had Rabin never been assassinated by a right-wing Jew, but I do think it's fair to say that the assassination was one important factor in the fact that things went as non-violently as they did. The religious right-wing should get credit where credit is due.”

Shai has some great photos of the rally, and also includes his take on the speeches that were given. Minister of Justice Tzipi Livni, a member of the Likud party and an opponent of the Oslo Accords, spoke at the rally in order, she said, to condemn those who try to achieve political goals by violence.

As Shai notes: “You can be outraged by the murder and despise the fact that someone tried to change the government in Israel with bullets rather than ballots, but at the same time not think that Oslo was such a hot idea. Which is what Livni was trying to say.”

Bert, who watched the rally on television, echoes Shai when he writes: One of the best speeches was given by Justice Minister Tsipi Livni. She stressed that she did not agree with Rabin or vote for him but that the murderer of Rabin killed the Prime Minister of Israel, the state in which she lives, and that his bullets were aimed at this country's democracy, at all of us.

In a follow-up post, Bert reflects on the Oslo Accords: “There were many faults in the process's planning and implementation, faults for which not only Arafat but also the Israeli and American governments were to blame. Still, it is obvious that the best way out of the mess that Palestinians and Israelis find themselves in will be through some sort of agreement. ”

Other Israeli bloggers who write about their impressions of the rally are Stephanie Freid of Stefanella, here, and Yael Kaynan of Olehgirl, here.

Amir Peretz elected as head of the Labour Party

Quite a few people were surprised by the election of Amir Peretz as head of the Labour Party. Peretz was born in Morocco, raised in an Israeli development town and is best known to Israelis as the leader of the Histadrut – Israel’s largest labour union. This is a marked contrast with former leaders of the Labour party – all of whom were Ashkenazi and many of whom (including Ehud Barak and Yitzhak Rabin) were former army generals. Peretz beat 82 year-old Shimon Peres – who, despite a long career in politics, has never won an election.

Shai thinks that Peretz will be good for Labour, but bad for Israel. “Peretz ran on a platform of “social responsibility,” which in real terms means old-school statist socialism: more government control of industry, much higher taxes, much more welfare. A lot of us feel this is a good way to kill Israel’s economic growth. However, it’s healthy for a democracy to have this kind of choice, so I congratulate Peretz on his victory.”

Bert also has some reservations about Peretz: “If this is a revolution I am not sure if it is a good one. The party needed to be shaken up a bit, but the question is whether Peretz was the ideal man to do that. He symbolizes much of the less positive sides of the Histadrut labor union, not only as an employer, but also as an apparatus through which it is relatively easy to further one's political career.”

She of SomethingSomething is not very enthusiastic about Peretz, either. She this to say about Shimon Peres, who ran against Peretz. “Part of me believes that the time has come for Mr Peres to leave the crumbling world of the Labor party and focus his efforts elsewhere, as there must be many areas and realms in which his talents would receive the proper appreciation, given that he has been so dreadfully underappreciated in Israeli politics throughout his career.”

Jeffrey Woolf , university professor who blogs at My Obertidicta, simply says that Peretz scares him, and links to this article by right-wing columnist Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post to explain why.

On the other hand, the folks at Jewish Voices for Peace think that Peretz is a good thing. “It would be foolish to see Peretz’s victory as anything other than a very positive development, not only for Israeli politics, but also for hopes for an end to the occupation and a just peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.”

Miscellaneous

Rachel Jaskow of Elms in the Yard. Writes about the discovery in Israel of old Turkish railway lines from the Ottoman Empire. The railway tracks are engraved with a blessing from the Sultan.

Rebecca of has a post in which she links to a humorous (because it's supposed to be serious) Israeli version of a hip hop video. “I love Israelis,” she writes. “They try very hard. And they are cute.”

Ari Miller of Ari Lives in Israel writes a tongue-in-cheek (and hilarious) post about why why aliya (the Hebrew term for Jewish immigration to Israel) seemed like a good idea at the time.

And Layla of Jewlicious snapped some close up photos of Hillary Clinton during her recent visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The commemorations began yesterday with the first of a series of ceremonies that will culminate on Saturday,