From an article in The Australian by Jay Bushinsky, Jerusalem, May 30, 2005.
THE former "captive nations" of Eastern Europe re-emerged as independent states more than a decade ago, but the Jewish communal property left behind by their citizens who perished in the Nazi Holocaust remains beyond the reach of the victims' authorised representatives to retrieve.
It was confiscated by Hitler's SS immediately after the German Wehrmacht's conquests and was nationalised by the local communists after the Red Army's takeover. Since 1992, when the recovery process began, the former synagogues, hospitals, orphanages, cemeteries and ritual baths have been the subject of snail's pace negotiations and impenetrable bureaucracies.
...the private property left behind in these countries by the Holocaust's 6 million Jewish victims is valued in the billions of dollars.
. . .Poland, which had Eastern Europe's largest Jewish population – more than 3 million – has been responding to the WJRO's entreaties, but the restitution process has been agonisingly slow. At the current rate, it will take at least 60 years for the Jewish communal claims to be processed.
...the response of the 10 other former Soviet satellites also has been bureaucratic and legalistic. In short, they, like Poland, have been "stalling"...
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Abbas: Terrorism may be over --- maybe not
From the Jerusalem Post
May. 30, 2005 1:33 Updated May. 30, 2005 13:11
By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview aired on Sunday that the era of suicide bombings may be over.
....But he warned that if progress toward a peace agreement was not achieved in meetings with Sharon next month, "despair and loss of hope will come back and a return to the old ideas" of armed resistance.
...earlier Sunday Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed skepticism over Abbas's ability to quell terror even as he bolstered the Palestinian leader by pushing the cabinet to approve the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners.
Sharon defended the need to support Abbas now in spite of warnings by his security experts that he could be doing more to stop terror.
Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Health Minister Dan Naveh and Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz voted against the prisoner release.
...Also at the cabinet meeting, Sharon warned his ministers to be cautious when meeting with PA ministers and not to think that it bolsters the cause of peace of to do so.
"Not everyone has to run to catch the coattails of a Palestinian minister," he said. "If you knew what they are saying about you, you would refrain from doing it."
May. 30, 2005 1:33 Updated May. 30, 2005 13:11
By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview aired on Sunday that the era of suicide bombings may be over.
....But he warned that if progress toward a peace agreement was not achieved in meetings with Sharon next month, "despair and loss of hope will come back and a return to the old ideas" of armed resistance.
...earlier Sunday Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed skepticism over Abbas's ability to quell terror even as he bolstered the Palestinian leader by pushing the cabinet to approve the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners.
Sharon defended the need to support Abbas now in spite of warnings by his security experts that he could be doing more to stop terror.
Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Health Minister Dan Naveh and Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz voted against the prisoner release.
...Also at the cabinet meeting, Sharon warned his ministers to be cautious when meeting with PA ministers and not to think that it bolsters the cause of peace of to do so.
"Not everyone has to run to catch the coattails of a Palestinian minister," he said. "If you knew what they are saying about you, you would refrain from doing it."
Dahlan denies that Abbas promised not to execute collaborators
From a Jerusalem Post article By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
May. 30, 2005 23:09 Updated May. 30, 2005 23:36
Palestinian Authority Civil Affairs Minister Muhammad Dahlan on Monday called for firm action against Palestinians suspected of "collaboration" with Israel. He also denied that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas had promised Israel that he would not authorize the execution of convicted "collaborators."
Last week the government announced – in response to a petition to the High Court by the Israel Law Center, Shurat Hadin – that it had received assurances from the PA that collaborators would not be executed. The petition was filed in the wake of reports that Abbas was about to approve the execution of dozens of Palestinians who were found guilty of assisting Israel in the killing of wanted gunmen.
Dahlan, who served as commander of the PA's Preventive Security Service in the Gaza Strip between 1994 and 2003, was responsible for the arrest of many suspected "collaborators," who were later sentenced to death by PA courts.
. . .PA Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa said on Monday that the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip did not mean that the occupation had ended, noting that Israel would continue to control the water and airspace of the area. "The Gaza Strip is only part of the territories that were occupied in 1967," he said.
May. 30, 2005 23:09 Updated May. 30, 2005 23:36
Palestinian Authority Civil Affairs Minister Muhammad Dahlan on Monday called for firm action against Palestinians suspected of "collaboration" with Israel. He also denied that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas had promised Israel that he would not authorize the execution of convicted "collaborators."
Last week the government announced – in response to a petition to the High Court by the Israel Law Center, Shurat Hadin – that it had received assurances from the PA that collaborators would not be executed. The petition was filed in the wake of reports that Abbas was about to approve the execution of dozens of Palestinians who were found guilty of assisting Israel in the killing of wanted gunmen.
Dahlan, who served as commander of the PA's Preventive Security Service in the Gaza Strip between 1994 and 2003, was responsible for the arrest of many suspected "collaborators," who were later sentenced to death by PA courts.
. . .PA Foreign Minister Nasser al-Kidwa said on Monday that the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip did not mean that the occupation had ended, noting that Israel would continue to control the water and airspace of the area. "The Gaza Strip is only part of the territories that were occupied in 1967," he said.
IAF foils Jabaliya mortar attack
From a report in Jerusalem Post, by ASSOCIATED PRESS
May. 30, 2005 1:21 Updated May. 30, 2005 9:46
The Israel air force fired missiles at the Jabaliya refugee camp early Monday, where terrorists were preparing a mortar attack, Israeli military officials said, seriously wounding two Palestinians.
...Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying that a few minutes before the Israeli air strike, its cells launched three rockets from northern Gaza at an Israeli village just outside the territory. The Islamic Jihad said its cell was the target of the Israeli attack.
....the military notes that mortar and rocket attacks have been increasing in Gaza in recent days, and Israel charges that the Palestinian Authority is not doing enough to stop the militants.
According to Israeli figures, more than 60 mortars and 10 homemade Kassam rockets have been fired in Gaza in the last two weeks.
A second blast heard later in the Jebaliya camp, where about 100,000 Palestinians live in poverty, turned out to be an accidental explosion of a gas canister.
May. 30, 2005 1:21 Updated May. 30, 2005 9:46
The Israel air force fired missiles at the Jabaliya refugee camp early Monday, where terrorists were preparing a mortar attack, Israeli military officials said, seriously wounding two Palestinians.
...Islamic Jihad issued a statement saying that a few minutes before the Israeli air strike, its cells launched three rockets from northern Gaza at an Israeli village just outside the territory. The Islamic Jihad said its cell was the target of the Israeli attack.
....the military notes that mortar and rocket attacks have been increasing in Gaza in recent days, and Israel charges that the Palestinian Authority is not doing enough to stop the militants.
According to Israeli figures, more than 60 mortars and 10 homemade Kassam rockets have been fired in Gaza in the last two weeks.
A second blast heard later in the Jebaliya camp, where about 100,000 Palestinians live in poverty, turned out to be an accidental explosion of a gas canister.
Telstra could boost imports from Israel
From the Jerusalem Post May. 30, 2005 7:14 by YIGAL GRAYEFF
Australian telecommunications operator Telstra could increase its annual spending on Israeli hi-tech products to $90 million-$100m. a year, Ted Pretty, the group managing director of technology, innovation and products, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Pretty...has been in Israel since Tuesday as part of an Australian trade delegation...
The companies from which Telstra buys products include billing software provider Amdocs and communications software maker Comverse Technology. In addition to deepening existing relationships, Pretty is also looking to create new ones.
One company that could benefit is Ra'anana-based IXI Mobile...He also praised Check Point Software Technologies Ltd...
In addition to buying products from Israeli companies, Telstra is helping them to sell themselves and to adapt their products to the needs of their clients. Telstra sits on the customer and user group forums of Amdocs, Click Software and others, and Pretty will write a report for Israeli companies suggesting what they should focus on when making their presentations.
Despite being impressed by the technology in Israel, Pretty said Telstra had no plans for major investments in the country. "We are not a direct seed investor. Our core business is running networks and you can get distracted by technical developments," he said.
Australian telecommunications operator Telstra could increase its annual spending on Israeli hi-tech products to $90 million-$100m. a year, Ted Pretty, the group managing director of technology, innovation and products, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Pretty...has been in Israel since Tuesday as part of an Australian trade delegation...
The companies from which Telstra buys products include billing software provider Amdocs and communications software maker Comverse Technology. In addition to deepening existing relationships, Pretty is also looking to create new ones.
One company that could benefit is Ra'anana-based IXI Mobile...He also praised Check Point Software Technologies Ltd...
In addition to buying products from Israeli companies, Telstra is helping them to sell themselves and to adapt their products to the needs of their clients. Telstra sits on the customer and user group forums of Amdocs, Click Software and others, and Pretty will write a report for Israeli companies suggesting what they should focus on when making their presentations.
Despite being impressed by the technology in Israel, Pretty said Telstra had no plans for major investments in the country. "We are not a direct seed investor. Our core business is running networks and you can get distracted by technical developments," he said.
Monday, May 30, 2005
Relay Race...
(from the Gamla website
Oleg's cartoon, first published in January, doesn't look like such a joke now....
The Hazards of Making "The Case for Israel"
Noam Chomsky - literary "McCarthyist" and Israel basher
Many thanks to several JIW readers who alerted us to this one....
On Gamla (http://gamla.org.il/english/article/2005/may/g5.htm), May 26, 2005, Alan Dershowitz, author of "The Case for Israel," makes a case against Noam Chomsky and co-horts who have engaged in "literary McCarthyism" for decades. The following is extracted from the detailed and well-referenced article.
...A systematic effort to discredit the book, and me, has been undertaken by a well-organized group of Israel bashers led by Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, and Alexander Cockburn. ...They had a model for their attack going back 20 years.
The mode of attack is consistent. Chomsky selects the target and directs Finkelstein to probe the writings in minute detail and conclude that the writer didn’t actually write the work, that it is plagiarized, that it is a hoax and a fraud. Cockburn publicizes these "findings," and then a cadre of fellow travelers bombard the Internet with so many attacks on the target that these attacks jump to the top of Google....when the pattern is examined ...the entire enterprise becomes clear for what it is: ... a form of literary McCarthyism.
Noam Chomsky('s)...record—includ(es) supporting, praising, and working with neo-Nazi Holocaust deniers...(including) Robert Faurisson, who called the Holocaust a "hoax," denied the existence of Hitler’s gas chambers, claimed that the diary of Anne Frank was a "forgery," and described the Jewish claims for Holocaust reparations as a "fraud."
...Ever since his close association with neo-Nazi Holocaust deniers compromised his credibility on "matters pertaining to Jews," Chomsky has tended to leave it to surrogates to continue his campaign of vilification against the Jewish community.
His primary surrogate is Norman Finkelstein....one of his "very close friends"[....a man who boasts of "publicly honoring" and showing "solidarity with Hezbollah...." Finkelstein has ...asserted that Israel’s human rights record is "interchangeable with Iraq’s" when it was ruled by Saddam Hussein..." He has said that most alleged Holocaust survivors—including Elie Wiesel—have fabricated their past, are "bogus," and that those seeking reparations are "cheats" and "greedy." ...He is a popular speaker among German neo-Nazis...Finkelstein has reportedly praised the Holocaust-denying Irving as "a good historian"[15] and as having "made an indispensable" contribution to our knowledge of World War II."[16] .....His books do not sell in America, but they are best-sellers among the growing number of neo-Nazis in Germany.
The third member of this smear team is Alexander Cockburn...(who) is virulently anti-Israel. In 1984 he was fired from the Village Voice for hiding a $10,000 "grant" he received from an anti-Israel organization.[20] ...Columnist Jon Margolis, after exposing several false charges made by Cockburn, asserted that "Cockburn has been abusing reality for decades" and that "as an accuser, Joe McCarthy was more responsible."[22]
The story of this unholy alliance among Chomsky, Finkelstein, and Cockburn begins nearly 20 years ago with the publication of a book entitled From Time Immemorial, by ...Joan Peters. The book...was largely a demographic study of the population of the area that eventually became Israel. Peters’ conclusion was that the Arab political claim that the Palestinians who left or were expelled from Israel during the war of Independence (1947-1948) had lived in the area from time immemorial was exaggerated.
When Noam Chomsky learned of the Peters book, he became outraged because its thesis undercut his ideological opposition to Israel. ...Chomsky telephoned Finkelstein, then a graduate student already notorious for the virulence of his anti-Zionism, and directed him to expose Peters’ book as "a fraud." ...Finkelstein...responded: "Well, you know, I’m a person of the left, and when you get a call from Professor Chomsky, his wish is your command."[29]
...The third member of this nasty attack team, Alexander Cockburn, made similar claims. Cockburn wrote articles publicizing Finkelstein’s unfair attack against Peters. He characterized her conclusions as "fraudulent," "mad,"[33] and immoral.
The Chomsky-Finkelstein-Cockburn mode of ad hominem attack proved particularly successful against Peters because the words "hoax," "fraud," "fake," and "plagiarism" are so dramatic and unforgettable....
To date, Finkelstein has targeted at least the following writers who support Israel and seek justice for Holocaust survivors: Elie Wiesel, Stuart Eizenstat, Martin Gilbert, Daniel Goldhagen, Burt Neuborne, Yehuda Bauer, Gerald Feldman, Richard Overy, Abba Eban – calling these distinguished Jews "hucksters," "hoaxters," "thieves," "extortionists," and worse. The pattern of attack is always similar.
Thus, it was only natural that the anti-Israel triumvirate would target me in a similar manner after the publication of "The Case for Israel". ..(they) employed exactly the same words they had employed so successfully against Peters (and others) ...The only new element in this tired tactic is the creative use of the Internet.
The members of the McCarthyite triumvirate are invited to campuses far more frequently than centrist, moderate pro-Israel speakers. There is something very wrong with this picture, but now that the pattern of literary McCarthyism has been exposed, perhaps the picture will change.
For the full article, with references. . . link to the Gamla site
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